USA > Iowa > Clayton County > History of Clayton County, Iowa : from the earliest historical times down to the present : including a genealogical and biographical record of many representative families, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information, Volume I > Part 30
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The democratic party reached almost the crest of its tide in 1889. Horace Boies was the candidate for governor on a platform for license. D. D. Murphy was chairman of the democratic county committee, the county convention was large and enthusiastic. The result in Clayton county was a victory of almost two to one. The vote for governor was, Boies, 3,395; Hutchinson, 1,735; Boies majority, 1,660. This was regarded not only as a democratic victory, but as a victory against pro- hibition, and Clayton county celebrated accordingly. At Elkader all the stores were ablaze with candles, there was a torch light parade, speeches by Murphy, Bishop, Everall and Bayless and this was fol- lowed by a grand ball.
As a democratic nomination was considered equivalent to an elec- tion the conventions of that party were the scenes of hard fought bat- tles. In 1890 it took one informal and nine formal ballots to nominate a recorder. John G. Hagensick, J. H. Hill, Fred Soll and Theo Krasinsky were the candidates and Soll finally won. D. D. Murphy was candidate for county attorney. The entire democratic ticket was elected, the lowest majority being 1,195. In 1891 was another Boies campaign, and it was another landslide for Clayton county demo- crats. Boies' majority was more than 1,500, and the only contest which approached closeness was that for sheriff, J. J. Kann defeating Fred Bergman, republican, by a vote of 2,950 to 2,579.
The presidential campaign of 1892 maintained the democratic supremacy in this county. The political sensation of the year was a suit for criminal libel against Otis and Widman of the McGregor News, with H. C. Bishop as prosecuting witness. The News had published articles reflecting upon Mr. Bishop's conduct of the office of superin- tendent. After a stormy trial the News' editors were found guilty, but a motion for a new trial was sustained and the case did not come up
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again. In 1892 the Australian ballot was first used in Iowa. The republicans succeeded in reducing the democratic majority to less than 900, but the entire democratic ticket was elected.
In 1893 Frank D. Jackson was the republican candidate for gov- ernor, and the keynote of the platform was that "Prohibition is no test of party fealty." This was taken to presage some modification of the prohibitory law and this, together with the hard times, which struck the country in 1893, invited the return of many former republicans to that party. In Clayton county the republicans were aided by a con- vention fight for the democratic nomination for sheriff. There were several candidates and John K. Molumby was nominated. Fred Cook, his closest opponent, declared that he had been defeated by unfair methods, that he would not support Molumby and that he would be a candidate. The republicans took advantage of this situation and nomi- nated Cook on their ticket. The result was the reduction of the demo- cratic majority on the state ticket to 706, the election of Cook by one of the largest majorities ever given a county official; the vote being Molumby, 1,780; Cook, 3,544; and the election of William Monlux, republican, for supervisor.
The state of the country now forced economic questions to the front. Many Democrats were dissatisfied with the Cleveland admin- istration and this opposition, within his own party, was already strong in 1894. In this election the democratic majority in Clayton county was reduced to a little more than 200 and Updegraff came within 37 of carrying the county for congress. It was in this campaign that John G. Hempel was first a candidate, being defeated for recorder by Fred Soll by less than 100. On the face of the returns Henry Meder, repub- lican, was elected supervisor over George H. Scofield by 9 votes. This election was contested and a commission was appointed, consisting of Charles Mentzel, R. E. Price and Frank Shoulte. The entire vote of the county was recanvassed, the commission taking ten days for its work. Every ballot not marked strictly according to law was thrown out and in this way 1,191 ballots were found defective and Scofield was declared elected by a majority of 6. An appeal was taken and on the recount 14 more were added to Scofield's majority. Under recent decisions it is probable that the majority of these 1,191 ballots would be counted, but at that time the Australian ballot law was new and there were no precedents, and the commission undoubtedly acted with fairness. The contest aroused much feeling and the following year the republican convention denounced the action of the commis- sion, but at the same time nominated R. E. Price, a member of the commission, for the state senate. In 1895 the democratic majority was increased to 484, all democratic nominees were elected, the only close race being between T. J. Sullivan, democrat, who defeated Henry Meder for representative by a majority of 64.
Free Silver Issue -- The year 1896 saw another political revolution. The course of events had caused wide differences in both political parties. Free silver was the great issue and it gained control of democracy. Horace Boies was boomed as a presidential candidate. Clayton was a "Sound Money" county and the democratic county con- vention endorsed the Cleveland administration and opposed free silver.
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D. D. Murphy was the candidate of the sound money democrats for district delegate. The free silver forces won in the state, however, and the great speech delivered by William J. Bryan in reply to the gold speech by David B. Hill at the Chicago convention swept Bryan into the leadership of democracy. In the meantime the passage of the mulct law, by which the provisions of the prohibitory law might be abrogated upon a petition signed by 65 per cent of the voters, had largely taker. the prohibition question out of politics. In those counties where the prohibitory sentiment was strong the law remained in force and in counties, such as Clayton, where the majority opposed prohibition there were licensed and regulated saloons. While the leaders of democracy in this county were loyal to Bryan and preserved their party regularity, the German voters of the county voted largely for Mckinley and against free silver. The result was a republican majority of 450 for Mckinley and the election of the entire republican ticket, with the exception of J. H. Hill, democrat, who was elected recorder by a majority of 121. Reuben Noble was a gold democrat, was outspoken in his convictions and would doubtless have taken an active part in the campaign had his splendid career not been ended by death just prior to this election. Senator Bayless was the candidate for congress, but was defeated by Updegraf, both in the county and the district. It was in 1896 that John G. Hempel was first elected auditor of the county.
In 1897 the political pendulum swung back for Clayton county democrats, and Fred White, the democratic candidate for governor, carried the county against Leslie M. Shaw by a little less than 200. The democratic county candidates were mostly candidates for re-elec- tion. They were popular men, Reugnitz for treasurer and Denton for sheriff being particularly strong. Such democrats as John Everall an- nounced that, while opposed to free silver, they would act with the democratic party, and this was the position of many of the gold demo- crats. As a result H. G. Jenkins, for supervisor, was the only republican elected.
The sensation of 1898 in republican circles was the campaign for the congressional nomination. Mr. Updegraff was again a candidate, and he was opposed by several others, among whom was J. E. Blythe, of Mason City. At the convention more than 300 ballots were taken and the result was the nomination of a "dark horse" in the persen of G. N. Haugen, of Worth county. T. T. Blaise, of Mason City, was the opposing democrat. The election of 1898 was a republican victory ; the complete county ticket being elected, with the exception of J. H. Hill, for recorder, and the republican state ticket receiving 136 majority.
In 1899 the county see-sawed back and White, democrat, defeated Shay, republican, by 148, and the entire democratic ticket was elected by a small majority. This was preliminary to the presidential campaign of 1900, when Mckinley again carried the county by a large majority over Bryan.
County Government -- The county government under the control of the board of three supervisors was in the main satisfactory and efficient. The board was composed of competent men, and while they were sub- ject to criticism, from time to time, there was no scandal connected with their administration. The many serious floods and severe storms
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to which the county was subjected caused a severe strain upon county finances, and the building of bridges occupied a large portion of the time of the board. By 1883 it was found that there were a large num- ber of county warrants outstanding, and that failure to pay these injured the credit of the county and also worked hardship upon creditors who needed their money and could only obtain it by dis- counting their warrants. To meet this the county voted a bond issue of $15,000 to pay warrants issued prior to 1882. Fourteen thousand dollars of these bonds were sold, the issue being almost entirely bought by local parties at a good premium. The first pharmacy permit for the sale of liquors under the Clarke law was issued in 1882 to W. R. White, of Volga City. The board was accused of extravagance in bridge building, and it was pointed out that bridge work was done much more cheaply in Allamakee county. This criticism finally caused the abandonment of the old system and the letting of bridges by con- tract. Outside of its routine business, the board during this period, accomplished several things of permanent importance to the county. The first of these was the building of the splendid stone bridge at Elkader.
Elkader Bridge-The history of the location and building of the Elkader bridge is short and not uninteresting. Prior to the building, the river at this point was spanned by several double iron trusses of the Truesdale patent. This bridge had been defective for years, and repairs were frequently required to keep it in passable condition. Finally the Board of Supervisors, believing the bridge unsafe, decided to take action, and, as a preliminary step, secured the service of M. Tschirgi, Jr., C. E., the engineer of the high bridge at Dubuque, to examine the old structure and report as to its safety. The board at this time consisted of Messrs. S. H. F. Schoulte, James Mckinley and John Luther. The engineer made the examination and reported that the structure was unsafe and should be condemned. The board con- demned the bridge and proceeded to have a new structure built. The board had in mind the construction of a stone arch bridge, as the location was very suitable, it would be permanent and avoid the heavy annual expense of replanking the floor of either an iron or wooden bridge. Also Cole's quarry near town afforded an inexaustible supply of the finest magnesian lime stone, free from all imperfections and which has proven to be proof against the action of frost and water. With all the natural advantages at hand, the board believed it would be a matter of economy to carry out their ideas as to à stone arch bridge, and instructed engineer Tschirgi to prepare a preliminary esti- mate of the cost and to draw up a complete set of plans and specifica- tions for a stone arch bridge. The plan was made, presented to the board, and adopted, and bids invited for the construction of either an iron or stone bridge. The result justified the board's ideas, the bids for the same width of structure and requisite strength showing the iron to be more expensive than the price at which the contract for the stone bridge was let.
The contract was awarded to Messrs. Byrne and Blade, two enter- prising stone masons and contractors from Dubuque, for $13,000. The plans upon which the contract was based called for two spans, each
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84 feet in the clear, with a center pier, 19 feet in width, at the foun- dation. The other dimensions were as follows:
Clear height of each arch. 27.9 feet
Outside width of bridge. 34 feet
Clear width of bridge.
30 feet
Entire length of bridge. 346 feet
The road bed is macadamized with gutter on upper side of road- way, a curb stone and hexagonal block cement sidewalk six feet wide. The contractors, with a large force of men, commenced work on the bridge in August, and it required nine months of actual work to complete it. There are 4,161 cubic yards of material in the bridge, and its estimated weight is 18,618,255 pounds, equal to 9,309 tons. The gentlemen who had charge of its construction deserve great credit for the skill displayed in its erection, and for the care taken to avoid accidents, as no one was injured, nor any accident of any description occurred, and the work was both difficult and dangerous. While the work was progressing the public was allowed to cross the bridge freely, the old structure being kept in position until a crossing could be effected on the new bridge, although the new stands in exactly the same place formerly occupied by the old. The completion of this bridge gave to Elkader and Clayton county the finest and longest stone arch highway bridge in the state, or in fact anywhere west of the Mississippi River. It is not only a credit to its designer, M. Tschirgi, and an ornament to Elkader, but is a most economical structure, when it is considered that it is practically indestructible, needing no repairs, and cost even less than an iron bridge of the same dimensions would have cost.
County Asylum-By the spring of 1880 the county asylum had been built on the poor farm in Reed township. This structure was two stories high, had furnace heat and contained twelve cells. In 1890 it was felt that the institution could be operated with less expense if the farm was larger, and 80 acres was purchased from John Daniels for the sum of $1,550. The number of insane patients increased and these were kept at the state hospital at Independence, at considerable ex- pense. The legislature enacted a law by which counties might erect and maintain hospitals for the incurable insane. A proposition to do this was submitted to the voters in 1897, and was carried by a majority of 846. Immediately after the election, both McGregor and Guttenberg made claim for the location, but the question was decided in favor of Elkader, upon the condition that Elkader should provide a site of at least 6 acres, and should run the city water mains to the building. Elk- ader met these conditions, offering the present beautiful site of the county hospital. The location is an ideal one for such an institution, and Clayton county can congratulate itself that it has provided for its unfortunates in such a generous manner. The board proceeded at once with the plans for this building and contracts were let. William Mon- lux was chairman of the board, and was the commissioner in charge of the construction. The total cost of the building, under the contract was $14,845.55. The building, of brick and stone, consist of two sto- ries and a basement, the dimensions are, length 141 feet 2 inches ; width, wings, 41 feet ; center, 44 feet, with a porch and entrance steps, 17 feet
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wide. The building contains a central or administrative department with a wing on either side containing wards for patients. The cellar and basement walls were constructed by Stoops & Williamson, and are fine specimens of mason work, the rock being taken from the quarry adjacent to the building. J. L. Schneider & Bros. were the contractors for the brick work, etc .; W. F. Kleimpell furnished the heating appara- tus ; Brown & Bahr the plumbing; E. T. Barnum the steel work, and H. L. Griffith did the electric wiring. There is one thing to be said for Clayton county, and that is that no county has come nearer to getting the worth of its money in all of its public buildings than has Clayton. An addition was built to the court house in shape of a tower to con- tain the clock which was donated by the people of Elkader, F. D. Bay- less and J. B. Schmidt being the promoters. The tower cost $1,200, the clock $550 and the bell $190. This work was done in 1896.
In 1895, soon after the passage of the mulct law there was much confusion as to the collection of the mulct tax. Upon advice of counsel many liquor dealers refused to pay the mulct tax pending the decision as to the constitutionality of the law. When this point was decided the saloon men came before the board, asking that a compromise be affected. They stated that not over 50 per cent of the liquor dealers had been taxed and they offered to furnish a complete list of the deal- ers in the county. The board ordered, at a special session, that all penal- ties, interest and costs, also all tax due prior to October 1, 1894, would be remitted on condition that taxes not remitted be promptly paid, and that a correct list of all engaged in the liquor traffic be furnished. There were 44 dealers listed at the time.
Storms and Floods-It has been mentioned that the large part of the work of the board was in building and repairing bridges. The county was the victim of a number of severe storms and damaging floods. In June, 1880, there was a terriffic storm, Bloody Run was flooded, the narrow gauge suffered heavily from washouts at Beulah and St. Olaf, the county bridge at Pony Creek was washed away, Elk- port and Osterdock were under water, the Martin Garber farm was badly damaged and the Mississippi was the highest that had been known. At McGregor the river came to the steps of the Flanders house, Guttenberg was an island and railroad traffic was completely suspended. The next great storm was more in the nature of a cyclone, and occurred in June, 1881. Urdell's timber suffered badly. The storm was on Sunday and the church at Elkport was crowded; the wind struck the building with great fury, trees were blown down, teams stampeded and a panic prevailed. June seemed to be the month of storms, and in 1883 a destructive cyclone swept through Bremer, Fayette and Clayton counties. The cyclone swept down Bear Creek with a noise like a railroad train, destroying everything in its path. The Hartge home, at Elkport, was destroyed, and Mrs. Hartge was injured. At Littleport hail stones, "the size of potatoes," were reported. Just a month later the river at Osterdock is reported as "running from bluff to bluff." Many families were forced to move, boats were used on the main street of the town, and the saw mill was completely under water. The elements were kind for a number of years, but in June, 1890, floods washed out the bridges on the Elkader branch, the Turkey
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was the highest it had been for nine years, the Volga bridge was washed out, the Meder saw mill destroyed, and there was much damage at McGregor. Again in June, 1892, floods swept away a thousand feet of the Beulah line and trains ran to Stulta only. The damage to county bridges at this time was estimated at $25,000.
The big storm of 1895 occurred in August, and the Elkader branch was again put out of commission and 2,000 feet of track destroyed.
Flood of 1896-The most disastrous storm in the history of the county, in loss of life, occurred in the latter part of May, 1896. This was a storm partaking of the nature, both of a cyclone and a cloudburst. This storm was general throughout the west. The most damage was done at St. Louis and among the other losses there, was that of the steamer "Libbie Conger" of the Diamond Jo line, the boat sinking in the middle of the river with Captain Seaman, his wife and six of the crew. In this county the full force of the storm was felt on Bloody Run. It came between 11 and 12 o'clock of a Sunday night. A terrific stream of water poured down Bloody Run Hollow, filling the bottoms to a depth of from ten to twenty feet. About a mile west of Beulah the flood began tearing out railway bridges and the track bed. When it struck the Beulah depot it swept everything away. William Lord, the agent and his family, occupied the upper rooms. They heard the rushing water and escaped to the bluff but lost everything they had. The flood struck the house of Mrs. Patrick Burke, taking her and her grandson, William Burke, down the torrent. Their bodies were found a few miles below. At John Maloney's three young men, John Kodletz, Michael Havljeck and John Levostch had stopped to await the passing of the storm. These three, with Mr. Maloney, his wife and brother Michael were lost in the flood. The water piled up against the bridge and embankment until these gave way and carried the track and bridge against the house, but three of the bodies from this home were recovered. The next home was that of Lawrence Meyer and he and his wife and five children perished. In the McGregor yards, seven canvas men, of Kirkhart and Ryan Circus, were caught in the flood and sought safety in a box car. This was overturned and flooded and the canvas men were lost; thus at least twenty were killed in this storm. At North McGregor, the scene of destruction was startling. Houses, cars, engines and bridges being scattered in a promiscuous heap at the mouth of the valley. The flood rose so quickly that train- men going to work in the yards had to climb onto box cars to save themselves and the men at the round house had to seek the tops of the engines for safety. Tracks, saw mills and lumber piles were also destroyed. It was not until June 12, that railroad traffic was resumed in the county.
Dr. J. W. O'Brien, writing for a New York paper, describes this storm as follows . "There came a cloudburst on the 24th of May, last ; the water came down in a solid sheet from 11 o'clock until I a. m. From Beulah for nine miles down to the outlet at North McGregor an awful flood rolled down. Railroad engines were hurled around like foot balls, and great iron bridges snapped like pipe stems. Houses were caught and flung up against the hill side and their occupants whirled to death with the destructive torrent. Poor John Maloney,
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wife and children, were among the lost; Michael Crimmins' house was hedged in by great bridge girders which held it anchored to the hillside and kept death away. As we pass along the swath of uptorn trees and debris of what were once railroad and houses littering the valley, we are shown where Crimmins', horses ran for their lives to a knoll, where they stayed until the waters abated. Engineer Stephens shows us his locomotive, thirty-one tons weight, which was made to dance a sort of Highland fling or Virginia reel in the surging torrent, the engineer perched the while on the top of his cab with some 200 cars rushing and crashing around him on the crest of the deadly waters. He had been at Bull Run and says Bloody Run beats it."
In May, 1899, there was a cyclone which was at its worst near Colesburg and which swept through Mallory township. Several were killed and much property destroyed. Every house in the path of this storm was wrecked. It will thus be seen that not only the railroad, but the supervisors had their hands full repairing the devastations of these many serious storms.
County Events-In social life and in politics this was pre-eminently the period of the old soldiers. Sufficient time had elapsed so that the memories of the war had grown dearer and the ranks had not been greatly thinned by death. The soldiers, who left Clayton county, as youths, returned to pick up the thread of their life work and, between 1880 and 1900, these warriors were in the very prime of manhood. Thus it was that a large per cent of public offices and public honors were, rightfully, bestowed upon the old soldiers and that their reunions were the great events of the county. This largely accounts for the gradual loss of interest in the old settlers meetings. The pioneer picnic for 1881 held at Garnavillo, was a grand success, however. Main street was spanned by arches, the parade included "Mathews Military Band, Officers in Carriages, Forty-eight Old Settlers on Foot, Walters Family Band, Garnavillo Turn Verein." There were addresses by A. C. Rogers and P. P. Olmstead, followed a lengthy talk by Judge Mur- dock and an original song by J. W. Stahl, of Elkport. Michael Uriell was elected president and A. C. Rogers, secretary. The reunion for 1882 was held at Elkader with the usual parade and address by Judge Murdock. The old officers were re-elected, Elkader was selected as the next meeting place and the innovation consisted of a free dinner for the old settlers and a program of races. In 1883, at Elkader, C. E. Floete was, for the first time, the orator. Among the other speakers were Colonel Crosby, Mr. Dixson, of McGregor, and Robert Read of California, a son of the much loved Captain R. R. Read. A balloon ascension was on the program but it was delayed by rain and when a later effort was made the balloon caught fire. These attempts at outside attractions show that it was felt necessary to have something more than the old settlers program in order to draw a crowd. Gutten- berg was the meeting place, in 1884. There was a fine parade and speeches by Judge Murdock and Frank Shoulte. Michael Uriell pre- sided, and the new officers were John Garber, president, and Charles Reinecke, secretary. In 1885, the old settlers met at Elkport, in the Hartge grove. The attendance was not large but there was a band and a general good time. The reunion of 1886, was held at the same
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