USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Dickinson County, Iowa, together with an account of the Spirit Lake massacre, and the Indian troubles on the northwestern frontier > Part 24
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Lloyd, were similar to those already noted for Richland. The first settlement was made in 1869, the early settlers being John B. Smith, John Lloyd, John Wilkinson and Ole Gilbert- son in the west part of the township, with Joseph Kinney, A. G. Saxe and J. Johnson on the north. Berg Bergeson and quite a colony of Norwegians occupied the east part. Other carly settlers were J. S. Bingham, R. R. Haugen, A. Dodge, G. S. Randall, M. Chappell and several others. The Norwe- gians in the east part of the township transacted the most of their business at Estherville, so that they were not as well known here as the balance of the settlers.
The development of the township since the grasshopper in- vasion, although slow at first, has been stable and substantial. As before stated, the township was named for John Lloyd, one of its first settlers. Other prominent settlers in these townships at that thime were, in Lakeville, Samuel and T. Emerson, James Stinehart, John and Jake Snyder, George Edmunds and a few others, and in Westport, J. Lusian, C. Ladd, Randall Root, J. Putnam, White and several others whose stay was temporary.
Okoboji was one of the older townships and its first settle- ment noticed farther back. Indeed all of the settlements for the first ten years were confined to the three townships, Cen- ter Grove, Spirit Lake and Okoboji. The other nine were in 1868 and 1869, although the boundaries were not estab- lished until 1872. The name Lakeville is in consequence of the many small lakes in the township together with the fact that West Okoboji forms almost the entire eastern boundary. H. J. Bennett and J. Heldridge are responsible for the name. G. Anderson first suggested Excelsior as a proper name for that township. R. A. Smith is responsible for naming Oko- boji, and Seymour, Foster & Company, Milford. Center Grove was the name applied to the principal grove in the
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EMIGRATION IN 1869
township long before it was applied to the township at large. The name Silver Lake was applied to the lake by the old trap- pers long before a name was wanted for the township. On the contrary Diamond Lake was named by the first settlers, as that name was not known among the trappers.
Diamond Lake was first settled in 1869 and 1870. The first settlers were M. W. Lemmon, P. P. Pierce, P. Nelson, A. J. Welch, O. W. Savage, O. Sanford, Peter Vick, J. T., J. R. and H. Tuttle, William and L. H. Vreeland, G. Horn, S. W. Harris and several others. 1. J. Welch was a veteran of the Mexican war. So far as known, he and Christopher Davidson of Center Grove were the only Mexican veterans settling in this county. But few of the first settlers survived the grasshoppers. The more prominent of these were M. W. Lemmon, the Vreelands, the Horns, Peter Viek, A. J. Welch and possibly one or two others. Of the settlement and growth of the township since that time, it will be impossible to write in detail.
The first settlement in Superior township was made as early as 1867 by Robert MeCulla and his sons. He was soon followed by others in the southeast corner of the township. Mr. MeCulla had the distinction of having the largest family ever residing in the county, he having at one time twenty- three living children. Estherville was the trading place of these first settlers in the east part of the township. Promi- nent among those who came a little later were R. S. Hopkins, Oscar Norby, Gilbert Anderson, AAlfred Davis, M. and C. Reiter, John Morgan, Fred Jacobs and possibly some others.
A few of these old timers, R. S. Hopkins, O. Norby and a few others, are still living on the old places. Some have passed over the river and their homesteads remain in the possession of surviving members of the family. In addition to those already mentioned, there were a large number that took
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claims and some had built pretty fair houses, that is, fair for that time, but during the grasshopper visitation they weakened and either abandoned their places or sold out for what they could get, which in most instances was little enough. The town was organized in 1872. It is supposed R. S. Hopkins is re- sponsible for the name. He, together with Gilbert Anderson, Robert MeCulla, O. Norby and the Everetts, who came a lit- tle later, were in some way connected with all the early enter- prises incident to the growth and development of the town- ship.
To persons settling on the open prairie the fuel question was an all important one. At first it was the practice of those who took up elaims on the prairie to buy a timber lot of from one to five acres and eut the timber off as their necessities required. In this manner most of the groves were divided up and their timber taken off. This practice accounts for many of the care- less, irregular and perplexing descriptions with which the county records are encumbered. A man who wanted to buy a wood lot would go to the owner, and together they would pace it off from some known corner. Then they would make a description which they thought would cover it, and a deed would be made, the purchaser caring little what his title was or whether his description was correet or not so long as he was not disturbed while taking off the timber. These lots were afterwards sold for a mere nominal sum. The three aercs comprising the Okoboji Cemetery were purchased for $2.50. These careless descriptions and titles have since then been the source of much vexation. But some were not able to buy tim- ber lots, and those that were found that when they lived from five to fifteen miles from their timber patch it required a vast amount of hard work to keep up their needed supply of fuel. In many instances it was necessary to leave home before daylight in the morning, taking the "little dinner pail"
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THE FUEL QUESTION
along, work all day preparing a load of wood, and then, if they succeeded in reaching home in the early evening, they had made a pretty good day of it.
But it was to those who hadn't the timber lot nor means to buy fuel that the country was indebted for a practical solution of the fuel problem. The use of prairie hay for fuel origi- nated in this county and was practiced to a limited extent as early as 1870, but its use never became so general here as in Osceola and O'Brien Counties. At first thought it would seem impossible to maintain existence, and much less to enjoy any comfort from it, with nothing but prairie hay for fuel, but necessity is an apt teacher and the frontiersman a quick learner.
In a short time the art of twisting hay for fuel came to be an acknowledged accomplishment. After throwing a lock of coarse slough hay upon the ground, placing the left foot upon it. and then with the right hand taking enough of the coarse grass to make a rope of the required size, twisting it hard and drawing it out at the same time until it had reached the re- quired length, then it was coiled back upon itself and the euds neatly secured, thus resembling in shape an enormous old- fashioned New England doughnut. In many families it came to be a part of the daily routine to twist hay enough in the evening to answer for the following day's fuel. The litter which the use of it caused was something to which it was ditti- cult for the neat and thrifty housewife to accustom herself. but in the language of a sturdy boy of that period, "In was a heap better than freezing."
One thrifty inventor thought to make his fortune by invent- ing a hay twister, which, by the way, did very good work. Another invented a stove for burning hay under pressure which was really a success and would have gone into pretty general use but for the fact that building railroads through
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the country brought down the price of coal and enhanced the price of hay so that burning coal was the cheapest.
Burning corn was also practiced in some localities. Corn on the cob makes an excellent fuel, comparing well with either wood or coal, and with the low prices prevailing in many places in the West, was as cheap as anything, yet there were many who found it hard to reconcile themselves to burning corn for fuel. Many can remember the adverse criticisms in- dulged in by writers in the eastern papers condemning the wastefulness of the western people in using an article of food for that purpose. A moment's consideration will illustrate how senseless these criticisms were. In using corn for fuel they were using an article that one season would reproduce, while the wanton destruction of the eastern forests that is con- tinually going on cannot be remedied in a hundred years and probably never will be.
Another makeshift of this period was the sod shanty, and it is truly wonderful the amount of genius that may be expend- ed in the construction of a sod shanty. There was as much difference in the construction, appearance and arrangement of the sod shanties of those times as has been expended on the more pretentious residences that have succeeded them. Some had the rare faculty of endowing these primitive abodes with an air of comfort, convenience and even neatness, so as to give . them a real homelike appearance. Others remained what they were at first, simply a hole in the ground. But the sod shanty era was of short duration. The opening up of the country by building railroads through it, placed building ma- terial within reach of the settlers, and as soon as circumstances would permit, the sod shanty was replaced by a more preten- tious abode, but the memory of life in a sod shanty, with twist- ed hay for fuel, will be among the early recollections of many who now rank among the more prominent and progressive citi- zens of northwestern Towa.
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Fort Dodge Point.
Pillsbury's Point.
Pillsbury's Point.
Brown's]Bay.
Brown's Point.
Emerson's Bay.
Bluff Point.
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WEST OKOBOJI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SIOUX CITY & ST. PAUL RAILROAD-THE BUILDING OF THE MILFORD MILLS-SEVERAL CONTROVERSIES-THE LEVEL OF THE WATER IN THE LAKES-THE COURTHOUSE BURNED-AN- OTHER ONE BUILT ON THE SAME SITE.
T WILL be remembered that the passage of the law granting land for the building of the St. Paul & Sioux City Railroad was what first attracted the atten- tion of the early settlers to this county and induced them to make their selections here. The first grant applied exclusively to Minnesota and did not affect Iowa at all, but in 1865 Congress passed another law granting the Sioux City & St. Paul road through Iowa the same subsidies that were granted to the St. Paul & Sioux City road through Minne- sota ten years before. Originally two companies controlled that line. The Minnesota end of the line was known as the St. Paul & Sioux City road, while the Iowa end was known as the Sioux City & St. Paul road. This was due to the fact that neither state would turn its grant over to a foreign company, but insisted on having a resident company ; accord- ingly, when the Iowa grant was made a local company was organized in Sioux City with J. C. C. Hoskins, president, and S. T. Davis, secretary, for the development of the Iowa end of the line. The two roads were afterwards consolidated.
A law was also passed at this time granting a subsidy of land for building the MeGregor & Western road, which became a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. The prospect of the early completion of these roads gave quite an impetus to emigration. The St. Paul & Sioux City Com-
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THE SIOUX CITY & ST. PAUL R. R.
pany, in locating their line, found that they could get a larger quantity of land by swinging around to the west, and accordingly did so, thus passing through Osceola County in- stead of this, as was the original expectation. The road was completed in the fall of 1871 and for the next eight years, or until the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul was completed to Spencer, stations on that route were the nearest railroad points for the people of this county. The inhabitants in the north part of the county divided their patronage about equally be- tween Worthington, Sibley and Windom, the distance to either place being about the same. The south part of the county transacted their business almost entirely at Sibley. This state of affairs continued in force until the building of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the main line of which was built through Spencer in the fall of 1878.
In the early days this county was noted for the fine quality of wheat raised here, but inasmuch as there were no mills short of Mankato or Fort Dodge, but little attention was given to its production. As the population increased the want of a good flouring mill was keenly felt. It was generally be- lieved that the outlet to the lakes would furnish a sufficient water power for that purpose. Indeed an attempt was made to improve it as early as 1861 by J. S. Prescott and Henry Meeker, who went as far as to put up a frame and get in the machinery for a first-class mill, but getting discouraged at the time of the Indian raid of 1862 and the extremely low water occasioned by the drouth of that and the following year, they sold off the machinery and abandoned the project, and the country had to depend upon the distant points for breadstuff -.
In the fall of 1868, Mr. A. D. Foster of Hudson, Wiscon- sin, in company with Frank Boyd of Humboldt County in this state, visited this place in search of a location for erect- ing a flouring mill. Mr. Foster had been traveling extensive-
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
ly through northwestern Iowa and southern Minnesota in search of a suitable location for that purpose, and not having found anything that fully suited him, he had about given up the objeet of his search when he fell in company with Frank Boyd at Fort Dodge. Mr. Boyd had visited the vicinity of the lakes the June previous and had noticed the faet that their out- let would probably furnish a water power of more than ordinary valne. After making the acquaintance of Mr. Foster he told him of his trip to the lakes and induced him to go np there and make an examination for himself, at the same time offering to accompany him on the trip. They arrived here some time in the month of Sep- tember and Mr. Foster was so well pleased with the appear- ance of the country at large and with the water power afforded by the lakes that he decided to look no further but to locate here and commence operations as soon as possible. He imme- diately returned to Wisconsin, where he made the necessary preparations and returned here some time in the month of October, when he made his selection of a location and com- menced operations at once. The site selected had previously been taken as a homestead, but afterwards abandoned. Mr. A. D. Inman and Wallace Smith were the only persons living in that locality.
The labor and expense necessary for the accomplishment of an enterprise of that kind was a different thing then from what it would be at present. Labor was high and provisions remarkably dear. The nearest railway station was at Man- kato, and everything had to be transported by team from there. Again, the nature of the ground required the work to be done on a more extensive scale than was at first contem- plated and the fact soon became apparent to Mr. Foster that the expense of getting the mill into operation would be more than double his original estimate and greater than he was
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THE MILFORD MILL
at that time prepared to meet. To abandon the enterprise would be to lose the considerable amount already expended and also to relinquish what promised to be, if properly de- veloped, one of the biggest things in the Northwest; while to proceed was to subject himself to uninterrupted toil, priva- tion, anxiety and embarrassment. He decided to accept the latter alternative and take the chances. The people in that locality were much interested and favored the project by every means in their power. Mr. R. R. Wilcox had charge of build- ing the mill.
The sawmill was put in operation July 4, 1869, and the gristmill in the December following. The success of the mills was complete from the start. The flouring mill commanded work from a range of country nearly seventy miles in every direction and it was no uncommon occurrence for thirty or forty teams to be camped there at a time waiting their turns for getting their grists and it finally became necessary to have their grists registered months in advance. Of course, this state of affairs was a harvest for the proprietors and they soon succeeded in relieving themselves of the embarrassment occasioned by the extra cost and outlay to which they had sub- jected themselves in thus exceeding their original plan.
A question out of which. has grown a considerable strife and contention is the right of the mill company to maintain an auxiliary dam for the purpose of regulating the flow of water. The very first act of Mr. Foster when he commenced operations for building his mill was to throw a dam across the outlet at the foot of the lake so as to stop the flow of water. The season being dry and the water low, this' was an easy job. A half day with two or three men and a team was sufficient to accomplish it. But during the winter there were heavy snows followed by heavy rains in the spring, thereby causing a material rise in the lakes, and Foster was obliged to
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
build up and strengthen his upper dam accordingly. This state of affairs continued two or three years, at the end of which time the mill company had a strong dam in there some six or seven feet high and solid in proportion.
At the first Mr. Foster had no thought of maintaining this upper dam permanently but simply put it in as a protection for his main work while building, with the intention of re- moving it as soon as his main dam was completed. But the high water of two or three seasons about that time soon made it evident that they were at any time liable to be overwhelmed with more water than they had made provision for, and con- sequently the upper dam was allowed to remain.
Just previous to this time Stimpson had been overhauling the "old red mill" on the isthmus, and had just commenced business when the sudden and unparalleled rise in the lower lake so backed the water into his race that he claimed it ma- terially affected the efficiency of his water power and presented a claim to Foster for damages. Foster did not acknowledge the validity of his claim, but rather than go into court at that time, he compromised with him. In addition to the money consideration, one of the conditions of this compromise was that the lower lakes should be drawn down to a certain point by the first day of September. A dry summer following the wet spring made this part of the stipulation possible; but this was only the commencement of the trouble.
As has been before stated, Stimpson in 1870 disposed of his mill on the isthmus to (. Compton, who overhauled it, putting in entirely new machinery. But his wheel was so large and the head so low that it took a perfect flood of water to run it, and soon Spirit Lake began to draw down, while Okoboji was higher than ever. Compton now made his claim for damages by "backwater."
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SEVERAL CONTROVERSIES
This the owners of the Milford mill refused to allow. They saw that they would soon be compelled to take a stand and defend themselves and they might as well do it then as any time, and so refused all terms of compromise. This so en- raged Compton's friends that a party of them, some fifteen or twenty strong, went down for the purpose of destroying the upper dam. They filled a jug with powder, attached a piece of fuse thereto, and placing it under the planking of the waste gate, they succeeded in blowing it ont. The mill company at onee put on a force of men and soon had the dam so far repaired as to have everything safe once more. In a short time Compton's men came down a second time and tore ont the dam, this time more thoroughly than before. Again the mill company put on men and repaired the damages. In this way the contention was kept up for some time, but finally it began to be apparent that the isthmus water power was a fail- ure. When the lake was drawn down it was too long filling up.
After the controversy between the owners of the two mills was closed, parties owning land bordering on the lake began to claim damages by reason of their low land being overflowed, or the banks of their land being caved off by the action of the water. There were several cases of this kind, but only one of them ever came to trial in the courts. That was the one of B. B. Van Steenburg, which was stubbornly contested by both sides, and finally decided in favor of the mill company. Van Steenburg appealed to the supreme court, where the de- cision of the district court was affirmed, but this decision did not decide anything, from the fact that the supreme court in rendering it said that the testimony was so conflicting that they did not feel justified in disturbing the decision of the lower court.
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Several other cases were in process of being worked up, bnt this decision by the supreme court discouraged them and they were never brought to trial. In the meantime the upper dam has been destroyed and rebuilt at pretty regular inter- vals by different parties as their interests seemed to dictate, while the vexed question of rights of parties is just as far from being settled as ever and public opinion shifts from one side of the question to the other just as the water in the lakes shifts from high to low and back again. For the last few years the continued dry seasons have so affected the stage of water in the lakes that it is difficult to believe that for years they afforded a water power of great value. But such was the case nevertheless.
The question of the rise and fall and average level of the water in the lakes is one that has first and last attracted a great deal of attention and caused a great deal of speculation. The question is of such importance that every known fact tending in any way to make the subject better understood be- comes at once both interesting and valuable. Upon the ar- rival of the first settlers here after the massacre in the spring of 1857 the water in the Okobojis was just about at the me- dinm level between high and low water. It will be remem- bered that this was immediately after the "hard winter" when the entire northwest part of the state was covered with from three to five feet of snow. There was also the usual fall of rain that spring. These conditions under ordinary circum- stances would cause a rise in the lakes of from two and a half to three feet. The conclusion is therefore irresistible that the lakes were very low the fall before.
Again, the sandhar at the south end of the Okoboji bridge was from two to three rods wide and covered with a black alluvial soil on which was a rank growth of vegetation such as gooseberry bushes, prickly ash, wild roses and wild grape vines,
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THE LEVEL OF THE LAKES
while along the central or higher part there was a growth of trees some of which must have been from twenty-five to forty years old. It is absolutely certain that the water had not swept across this bar for a great many years previous to that time.
In Center Lake there is a small island which was at that time under water and covered with dead timber. The water in which the trees were standing was from six inches to three feet deep. The timber was principally ironwood, white a-h and cottonwood. It had evidently been dead from two to live years. In several of the small lakes northwest of Spirit Lake, the same conditions existed. There were in all several acres of dead timber standing in the water. During the succeeding win- ter most of the settlers who wintered here depended largely on this dry wood for fuel. One man had two yoke of cattle shod on purpose to haul this dry wood across Spirit Lake. The loads he hauled were something marvelous.
Now the question is when, and under what circumstances, did this timber grow? It didn't grow in the water. That's certain, and yet some of the dead trees were standing in fully three feet of water, and that, too, with the lakes' below a me- dium level. Governor Carpenter visited the lakes in the sum- mer of 1855, which was before there was any settlement here whatever. In giving an account of this trip, he always insisted that he drove his mules across the straits where the Okoboji bridge now is and that the water wasn't more than two feet deep. Now all of these circumstances go to prove that during the carly part of the present century the water in the lakes was low and had remained so for a series of years.
The summer of 1858 was a very wet one, and as a conse- quence the lakes were high, evidently higher than they had been for a great many years. The water made a breach over the bar at the south end of the bridge for the first time. From
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DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
that time on and until 1881 there were wet seasons and there were dry seasons, the wet ones predominating, and as a con- sequence the lakes gradually were rising. The summer of 1866 was a phenomenally wet summer and the lakes were corre- spondingly high ; higher than at any time since the first set- tlement, but it was not until about 1872 or 1873 that the last of the trees and vegetation on the bar south of the bridge was entirely washed away. Of course there were some dry sum- mers sandwiched in between the wet ones. For instance, the summer of 1863 was a remarkably dry one.
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