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 32
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Jail Deliveries-During this period there were three more or less successful attempts at jail delivery. In 1881 five prisoners made a sudden attack on jailer John Jack. Jack was overpowered and his wife was knocked down. Four of the prisoners escaped, but two were quickly recaptured. In 1886 John Blake, confined to the county jail, contrived to make wooden keys to fit the locks and by this means effected his escape and there is no record that he was recaptured. Blake left behind him a note for the sheriff which must be one of the most unique bits of criminal literature. He said in part: "Mr. Berman, Esq. Dear Sir :- You will, no doubt, be a little surprised to find me gone, but I hope you will not think hard of me for this rash act for I have thought the matter over and have come to the conclusion that I can take care of myself. I do wish it was some other man that I was leaving instead of you, but it is a ground hog case. I must go for I have business to attend to. Hoping I will meet you some day, but when you are out of office, I bid you good-bye with my best wishes. J. W. B." Isaac Thompson and Will Sargent were arrested for assist- ing in this escape, but Blake was not recaptured. Again, in 1894, a prisoner named Carter, held at the county jail for robbery, beat Lee Cook, a son of Sheriff Cook, over the head with a club and made his escape.
Growth of Towns-Turning from these darker pages there are found many evidences of increasing prosperity in all the towns of the county. In 1880 Garnavillo reports much building and boasts of a new cigar factory, and a new store, creamery, public library and brewery. An item worthy of note concerning Garnavillo is that in 1880 a pipe organ was completed for the Lutheran church. This organ was made by L. Keller, of Guttenberg, and required two years of labor by him- self and son. The organ was 13 feet wide, 15 feet deep and 17 feet high, and contained 1,060 pipes, the longest being 16 feet. Mr. Keller learned his trade in Germany, and this was one of the very few pipe organs ever constructed in the state of Iowa. In 1884 the Garnavillo
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creamery burned, but it was soon rebuilt. During this period an at- tempt was made to establish a newspaper at Garnavillo, but this venture failed and it became a department of the Elkader Register. Garna- villo continued to develop keeping pace with the rich agricultural dis- trict round about it. Of the county in general the Elkader Register says, in 1886, "The farmers are doing better. Large barns are building and the towns are full of business. In Elkader every house is occu- pied and from McGregor, Strawberry Point, Volga and all the other towns come none but good reports." Land was beginning to rise in value, but in 1881 a farm of 142 acres near the Colony with improve- ments said to have been worth $1,600, sold for $2,300. In 1881 Clay- ton was the tenth county in the state, in point of school population, the school census showing 10,961 of school age and the county receiving $2,192.20 from the state. Guttenberg was one of the most conservative towns of the county, but it made continued progress. In 1882 the citizens of this town interpreted a ruling that German might be taught in the schools, to permit of instruction in all branches in the German language, and decided to have the schools taught one-half of the week in English and the other half in German. This program was soon blocked, however, by a ruling of the state superintendent. In 1883 Gut- tenberg suffered a severe loss when the flouring mill owned by C. F. Weise, which had just been fitted with new improvements, was burned with a loss of $30,000. Telephone communication between the towns of the county was established in the 80s, first at McGregor, then at Elkader and, in 1885, it was extended to National, Garnavillo and Clay- ton. That Guttenberg was continually striving for betterment is shown by the establishment of an excelsior factory in 1892. This was pro- moted by the citizens and, in March of that year, the city of Guttenberg voted a donation of $5,000 to this enterprise. The depot at Guttenberg was destroyed by fire, in July, 1893, the wife and child of the agent narrowly escaping. September, 1893, saw the beginning of the Gutten- berg system of water works and 2,000 feet of six-inch water mains were laid. The year following Guttenberg voted $18,000 for its water works system. This was shortly after the disastrous fire when Du- buque was called on for aid and the fire engine from that city reached Guttenberg in 55 minutes. The Guttenberg Press was established in 1897, the town having been without a newspaper for some time.
It will be impossible within the limits of this history to give in detail all the story of the growth and changes in the various towns. Some of the important facts, however, stand out. In 1881, the busi- ness section of Volga was moved from its location on the hill to the immediate vicinity of the depot. Clayton, in 1882, reports a high tide of business, $10,000 having been paid out for hogs in a single day. In 1887, the flour mill at Mederville, built in 1867, was totally destroyed by fire involving a great loss to that community, and in 1889, A. C. Tiede & Co. erected a fine new mill at Elkport, taking the place of the old Elk Valley mill erected in 1855. This was reported as being thoroughly modern and one of the best mills in the country and the "Diamond T" became a noted brand of flour. The capacity was 100 barrels per day and the new mill began operation, August 4, 1890. The County Horticultural Society was founded in 1892, with Samuel Mur-
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dock president and T. M. Davidson secretary. J. O. Crosby had been appointed commissioner to the World's Fair and his efforts to secure an exhibit had created considerable interest in horticultural lines. The society started with thirty-six members and the first permanent officers were O. A. Kenyon, president, and J. E. Corlett, secretary. Monona enjoyed exceptional growth and in 1892, it arose to the dignity of a newspaper of its own. George H. Otis, the veteran newspaper man, who established the Elkader Register and who was later editor of the McGregor News, founding the Monona Leader on May 26, 1892. That June witnessed the first commencement exercises of the Monona schools and in August the city took steps looking to incorporation. At this time Monona had numerous business houses, three churches and a school of four rooms with Prof. J. Clark as principal. Volga also had a newspaper, the Vindicator, established in November, 1895, with Mr. Dowe as editor, but in the April following there was a fire which destroyed three of the principal stores and in which the Vin- dicator office was entirely consumed.
McGregor persevered during these years, firmly resolved, if it could not be a second Chicago, that at least it could be a thriving and enterprising little city. In 1881, the project was started for the new hotel to cost $30,000 and it was said that the transient hotel busi- ness at that time amounted to $200 a day. The building of the hotel was the occasion for much controversy as to the location. The busi- ness men's association was revived and interest was taken, particularly on the good roads question. In order to get away from any confusion in names it was suggested that the name of North McGregor be changed to Mendon. In February, 1882, McGregor lost one of its prominent citizens when John T. Stoneman moved to Cedar Rapids. McGregor staggered under a heavy load of debt and in 1883, a settle- ment was made with its creditors, the city wiping out its old indebted- ness by the issue of bonds for $40,000 running two years and bearing 5 per cent interest. The city had its traditional bad luck with fires and, in August, 1883, business properties of $50,000 were wiped out, with but $26,000 of insurance. In February, 1886, a fearful tragedy occurred five miles from McGregor when the log home occupied by Mr. Cooley and his family of five was destroyed by fire and the entire family burned to death. In May, 1891, a meeting was held at McGregor to secure a knitting factory and Thomas Updegraff and J. M. Gilchrist were appointed as a committee to visit Chicago to secure the enterprise and the same week it is announced that the Hofer brothers have sold the McGregor News to J. F. Widman. McGregor was one of the first cities of northeastern Iowa to have an electric light plant and this important addition to the town was completed in 1895. In 1897, an election was held relative to the establishment of water works. This was carried by a vote of 158 to 72, and, as a result, the council proceeded to act, appointing a committee to investigate, with Charles F. Lowethe as engineer and, in April, $15,000 bonds were voted for water works purposes; one argument in favor of the bond issue being the fire, in March, when the Wood drug store and several other business houses were destroyed and Mrs. Wood and her baby were barely rescued from the burning building. In 1898, there was a
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movement for the improvement of McGregor Heights and in the same year the Bergman Bros. erected a fine new opera house.
Elkader also had its ups and downs although as a whole the village was highly prosperous. In 1880, Elkader was without a railroad. The Iowa Eastern still extended a feeble finger from Beulah, but it was broken and bankrupt and well night hopeless. Gov. Larrabee had. become largely interested in the road and it was predicted that it would be rebuilt into Elkader the coming season. The Milwaukee was con- solidating all the lines of northeastern Iowa under its control and this was exceedingly unpopular, as it was felt that there would be no com- petition. This was one of the reasons why Elkader was exceedingly anxious to find a direct outlet to Dubuque and, in October, 1880, a meeting was held, addressed by Judge Murdock, R. E. Price, F. D. Payless and others, and $20,000 was offered for a broad gauge road connecting with Dubuque. In December of the same year the Iowa Eastern served notice that it had suspended business until further notice and that all freight must be brought from Beulah by team. This was while negotiations were pending between Judge Williams and the Milwaukee and it was later announced that the officials had inspected the line and that shipments would continue until all stock already pur- chased was shipped, when the road would again suspend. This calamity was averted, however ; the suspension lasting but a few days. By spring, 1881, the road was out of commission. The only engine was badly damaged and the work of repair was very slow. The old-time stage was again used and the merchants had great difficulty in getting their freight. Joe Lamm performed prodigies by loading the freight onto the cars, pushing them up the grade and letting them go down by gravity. In this way he managed to clear the accumulated freight at Beulah. Elkader's complaints were loud and long. The city had donated a mile of track and a depot which was rotting from unuse. The engine had been useless for six months, the angry citizens talked of a line to Elkport and urged the Northwestern to build a line from Strawberry Point to Elkader. A ray of hope came in May, when it was given out that surveys were being made for the Larrabee inter- ests, from Beulah to Manchester, via Elkader. Still later it was reported that the McGregor and Des Moines Railroad, with William Larrabee as president, had absorbed the Iowa Eastern, would build from Elkader to Des Moines and that the Northwestern was interested in the movement. It was not until August, 1881, that trains again ran on the Iowa Eastern and were connected by Lamm's bus with Elkader. A new passenger coach was added, however. In November of that year the sale of the Iowa Eastern was rumored, and later confirmed, but the transfer did not take place until March 31, 1882. Work on changing to a broad gauge began in May and by July the standard gauge was built as far as Stulta.
In the meantime Elkader became interested in "The Great Diago- nal Route." This was to extend from McGregor to Des Moines via Waterloo and Marshaltown. The newspapers of this period fairly bristle with paragraphs and editorials concerning this road. A 5 per cent tax was urged and a meeting was held with certain of the offi- cials, who offered much encouragement. In September, 1882, Elkader
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voted the 5 per cent tax to the Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. McGregor also was enthusiastic for the new railroad, although the Milwaukee railway interests opposed it. The vote at Elkader was 197 for, and 156 against. This victory for progress was duly celebrated with a bonfire and speeches by S. K. Adams and R. E. Price. Volga, however, defeated the project by 81 to 179. This road failed to materialize and Elkader was still without a railroad. The Milwaukee was finally persuaded to send an engineer to look over the field and the citizens sent R. E. Price to Milwaukee to expostulate. He was told that the extension would be made but that it was too late in the fall to begin operations. In fact it was not until June, 1884, that the officials visited Elkader again and then no action was taken. In the meantime Elkader waxed wrathier every succeeding day as it saw its trade diverted to towns having railroad facilities. In May, 1885, a meeting was held at Price's office, the object being to force the Milwaukee to build. Funds were solicited to prepare evidence and R. E. Price was placed in charge. The Milwaukee announced that they would await the decision of a similar case concerning Northwood and the Elkader Register waxed so angry that it urged merchants to ship their goods via Elgin so as to take business from the Milwaukee. In January, 1886, the Iowa railroad commission ordered a hearing on the petition of Elkader, Price and Murdock acting as Elkader's attorneys. Another meeting was held and money was raised and the meeting resolved itself into a permanent citizen's association, with R. E. Price, president, and G. A. Fairfield, secretary. The grounds of their com- plaint to the railroad commission were that Elkader had donated a mile of track together with depot grounds and right of way to the Iowa Eastern; the consideration being that the railroad be operated and that, when the Milwaukee purchased the road, it was bound to fulfill this obligation. In March the Milwaukee's officials announced that they would lay the track and asked that the proceedings be dropped. Price and Murdock were thanked by the citizens for their efforts, at a meeting which was attended by the ladies. In June, work began on the Elkader line and September 15, 1886, was the eventful day when the first Milwaukee train ran into Elkader. For more than a year, however, there was no telegraph line and the business men petitioned for it in vain. In 1889, the railroad commission was appealed to to compel the Milwaukee to maintain a station at Bismark. The station had been discontinued and Niel and Campbell protested, in as much as they had donated land to the Iowa Eastern for station pur- poses and it had been accepted as such. The commission ordered the station restored.
In 1897, the railroad commission visited Elkader to investigate the petition for better service and better accommodation. The com- mission decided in favor of Elkader and ordered a second train which was put on in September, 1897. During these years the feeling of Elkader toward the railroad was decidedly unfriendly and it is a fact that the Milwaukee did nothing which was not forced upon it.
These were not the only discouragements under which Elkader labored. In 1880, the Davis interests in the mill were sold to Wolf- gand Schmidt and the name of the concern was changed to W. Schmidt
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& Bros. This in itself was a good thing for the town, as the new owners showed added enterprise, but, in July of 1881, the mill was damaged by floods to the extent of nearly $5,000 and it was not reopened for business until December. In the meantime the bridge was also declared unsafe. Notwithstanding all this Elkader was a good market, the hog buyers paying out $90,000 in 1880 and the mill buying 40,000 bu. of wheat, although idle half the year. The year 1881 saw a gain through the establishment of a creamery by A. C. Tiede & Co. and the mills were improved by the addition of the Stevens roller process. A Dubuque paper at this time declares "the court house better than the one at Dubuque, the race track good and the schools fine, but says the railroad is only a slight improvement over a one-horse wheel barrow line." In 1882, the mills were rebuilt, using what was called the Hungarian system. A fair was held and tele- phone wires installed but for some time there were no instruments. In August, 1882, for the third time, the mills were rebuilt and were made equal to any in this section of the state. In the social life of the town there was much interest taken in the Irish land league. Meet- ings were held at which Judge Murdock spoke and Michael Uriell was president. The interest was sustained for some time and liberal con- tributions made to the cause. One of the prominent business men to die in 1881 was Thomas Thompson, who came to Garnavillo in 1848 and who was known throughout the county as the agricultural imple- ment man, having brought the first threshing machine into the county by team from Chicago, a six weeks' journey.
In 1883, a Turner Hall was built at a cost of $2,500 and, in June, Boardman Post G. A. R. was instituted with 19 members and T. M. Davidson as commander. The Register issued semi-weekly during a portion of 1884, but soon found it unsatisfactory and returned to the weekly. The founding of the Grand Army Post heightened interest in memorial day and this, in turn, called attention to the condition of the cemetery. Part of the cemetery was open to the public and there was no record of burials; a part belonged to Mrs. Julia M. Boardman and a part to Carter & Thompson. An association was suggested and this was acted upon "at a meeting at which H. H. Bernard presided, when a permanent organization was formed with Isaac Havens, pres- ident, and D. G. Griffith, secretary.
The death of Gen. U. S. Grant evoked the patriotic spirit of the city and memorial services were held, Judge Murdock delivering the address. One June morning of 1886, the people were scandalized to learn that the post office had been burglarized and more than $500 taken. Two men, Howard and Hill, were arrested. Hill confessed and offered to take the officers to the place where the plunder was hid- den. He started with the officers but managed to escape but he was afterward arrested at Dubuque and brought to trial. A decided improvement was made, in 1886, when a board walk was laid from the east end of the bridge along the river to the depot. The building of the stone arch bridge, in 1889, was of great help to the city both on account of the labor employed and on account of the permanent improvement which it made. An event which shocked Elkader during this year was the death, by suicide, of A. Papin, a former teacher in
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the schools and the editor of the Herald, which he had previously sold to Mr. Reinecke.
In 1894 an informal vote was taken as to whether the council should take steps to inaugurate a lighting system. This was carried, but nothing further was done at the time. The following year the water works question was advocated and R. E. Price and A. Kramer were appointed to visit Guttenberg and inspect the system there. In the meantime the citizens were urged to be sure to carry a pail when they went to a fire. The Fayette Postal Card, commenting on Elka- der in 1895 says, "the Elkader councilmen receive but one dollar per year. A Union caucus is held, but one ticket is named, there is har- mony and the town prospers. Without taxation thousands have been expended on the streets and there is $1,000 in the treasury."
The plans for the water works were pushed, the cost estimated at $15,000 and an election was held resulting favorably for the water works system. Land was purchased of H. Mayer on the bluff for the reservoir and the creamery lots near the river were bought for the pumping station. Before the system was completed, however, Elkader had its first big fire, the block containing the Clark House being destroyed. This was the old hotel, built in 1850, and known as the Boardman House, until 1889, when it was purchased by Clark. Work on the water works progressed and a fine well was sunk with a flow of 25 gallons per minute. The water works were completed by Decem- ber, 1896. Eighteen ninety-seven was a great year for Elkader. It saw the building of the Bayless Hotel which was at that time one of the best hotel buildings in northeastern Iowa and which is still a credit to the city. The Molumby Block, the largest business building in town, and the Congregational church were all built, in 1897. The building of the Catholic church was also commenced and the improve- ments for the year totaled $60,000.
The Spanish War-Clayton county did not take a prominent part in the Spanish-American war, of 1898. There was no company of the national guard in the county, but immediately upon the outbreak of the war T. M. Davidson and John Everall, Jr., enrolled 90 in a military company which was ready to volunteer. The governor was notified that these men would be subject to call and at one time it was thought that they might be needed, but with the filling of the national guard regiments it was found that no more troops would be required. X. V. Coleman, of North Buena Vista, enlisted and was one of the few Clayton county men to take part in this war. Three young men from Guttenberg enlisted in the regiment which was sent to the Philippines, August Boehn, Charles Boehn and William Burnes. The only Clayton county man who was a victim of this war was Thomas L. Wilson, a lieutenant in Company I, of the Forty-ninth Iowa, who died at Jack- sonville, Florida, with typhoid fever and was buried at Garnavillo.
Building Progress-The next year was, also, the time of much building and the county asylum was built in this year. In 1899, there was a disastrous flood which carried away two-thirds of the dam, put- ting the mill out of commission for eight months. In June, the Bor- man corner was destroyed by fire. This was not a bad thing for the town, as the lots were purchased by the owners of the state bank and
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plans made for the handsome structure which now adorns that corner. In the closing days of the century St. Joseph's church was dedicated with appropriate services by Monsignor Ryan.
A matter which interested the entire county occurred in 1895, when John Witmer, of Des Moines, filed on 160 acres in Clayton town- ship as his homestead, paying the filing fee of $18 and claiming that, through an error, the land had never been properly pre-empted. On the other hand, it was claimed that this land was entered by John Thompson, in 1841, and transferred by him to Augustus Corriell in 1842. It was deeded to J. F. Beerbaum, in 1857, and 80 acres later transferred to J. H. Miller and 474 acres to J. H. Schoulte. It seemed that some error was made between the land office at Des Moines and the land office at Washington. The property claimed by Witmer was valued at $8,000. It was not until 1898 that this case was finally decided in favor of the Clayton county owners, W. A. Preston having fought it successfully through all the courts. Very naturally the sym- pathies of Clayton county people were with the owners here and there was much rejoicing when a favorable decision was rendered.
In 1898, while some of the boys were enlisting for the war, others enlisted in the search for gold, when the discoveries in Alaska made the gold fever rage in the pulse of all America. Capt. Henry Schadle, of Volga, led the party of a gold seekers, a number of the adventurous ones being "staked" by Clayton county capitalists. None of the party found sudden wealth and several were glad to wire for gold from Clayton county to get them safely back home.
THE LAST PIONEER
The years played havoc with the pioneers and with the old settlers, so that with the beginning of the new century none of those who first settled the county were living and but few remained of those who par- ticipated in its early struggles. Some men like Col. J. O. Crosby are still with us, splendid reminders of an heroic age. Croesus said, "Count ye no man happy until ye know the manner of his death." And so it is well to consider briefly these pioneers, not only the lives they lived but the deaths they died. It would be impossible even to name all who died within the twenty years from 1880 to 1900, but there are some who, through their work for the community, gained such place in the affections of the people that a history of the county would be incomplete without a mention of them. Death was very kind to Clayton county during 1880 and for a number of months no death among the prominent men of the county is recorded and it was not until December that the county was called upon to mourn the death of one of its oldest and most prominent pioneers, Judge Eliphalet Price. Judge Price was preeminently the historian of the county and in added chapters will be found a number of his writings together with a sketch of his illustrious career. Mr. Price's death occurred December 10, 1880. On December 18, occurred the death of a well beloved woman, Mrs. Jane Davis, wife of Hon. Timothy Davis who had been a resi- dent of Elkader since 1867.
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