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 27
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
In addition to the pupils residing in the district there were several non-residents who attended school that winter for the first time after coming to the frontier. Among these were Miss Emma Blake, T. J. Francis, Albert Arthur and some others. The attendance that winter was fully up to the average of our best country schools of the present time, and far ahead of many of them. It was astonishing the number of children that little log cabin was made to accommodate. As before stated the first sum- mer school was taught by Miss Julia Bennett, but whether it was before or after the winter school above described cannot now be determined. Other early teachers were G. Fairchild, Misses Ardella and Arletta Waugh, C. II. Rogers, A. C. Justice and George Hilbert. George Hilbert was the last teacher in the old log schoolhouse, the last term being for the winter of 1874 and 1875. The district was organized as an independent dis-
365
OTHER INCIDENTS
triet under the law of 1872 authorizing rural independent dis- tricts. The law was repealed at the next session of the legis- lature and this was the only distriet in the county organized under it. The old schoolhouse was sold and torn down in 1875 and a larger and more commodious one erected. The first teacher in the new schoolhouse was A. C. Justice.
As has been before stated, the first public school in the county was taught by Miss Myra Smith in the Okoboji dis- trict. This school was taught in the original Harvey Luce cabin. During the summer of 1864 the school was held in Prescott's barn and was taught by Miss Esther Pillsbury. Prescott had just built a new frame barn and during the summer it was used for school, church and Sabbath school purposes, as well as for those for which it was originally intended. The next winter the school was taught by Miss Syrena Pillsbury in an ad- dition to the old "log cabin" then owned and occupied by Rev. S. Pillsbury. About this time Prescott donated to the district a frame building, sixteen by twenty feet in size, on condition that they would move it to a proper site and finish it off as a school- house. They made a bee and moved the building, but before getting it to the proposed site an accident occurred which pre- vented their completing their work at that time, and they left it intending to finish it later on. About this time Prescott's dwelling house was destroyed by fire, so he moved his family, into the building he had intended to donate to the district for a schoolhouse.
During the summer of 1865 it was decided to erect a build- ing by subscription and this plan was substantially carried ont, each one donating such materials as he had and all donat- ing their labor, thus obtaining a very respectable building. It was of native lumber, twenty by thirty feet in size, and ten feet high. The walls were at first bricked up instead of being lathed and plastered. As near as can be determined,
366
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
the first school in the schoolhouse was taught by Miss Syrena Pillsbury, succeeded by M. J. Smith. After that some of the old time teachers were Mrs. A. L. Buckland, W. F. Pillsbury, Miss Anna Fairchild and several others whose names are for- gotten.
As was customary in the early days, the building was utilized for school, church, Sabbath school, dancing parties and every- thing else that such a building could be used for. It was after- wards finished off in better shape and furnished with modern furniture, and ranked among the better class of schoolhouses in the county.
The pioneer school in the Tusculum district was in the old Thatcher cabin. It will be remembered that Thatcher was one of the settlers previous to the massacre, and that his wife was one of the women taken prisoner by the Indians, and that he was away from home after provisions at the time of the mas- sacre, and therefore escaped the fate that overtook his neigh- bors. He sold his claim to Prescott, who in turn sold it to H. D. Arthur, and the place has been known as the Arthur place since that time. The first school was taught by Miss Theresa Ridley of Estherville. She was succeeded by Christopher Rasmussen, of the same place. Other early teachers were Burgess Jones, Miss Nellie Arthur and perhaps one or two others.
The old cabin was used as a schoolhouse until 1870, when a more commodious building was erected. These four early schools form a quartet around which a great many pleasant recollections gather. While everything was rough, crude, irregular and unconventional, there was a - heartiness, genuineness and earnestness of purpose in these early efforts that it is pleasant to recall and not unprofitable to contemplate.
It was about the year 1870 that settlers began to scatter out on the prairies away from the lakes and groves, and the settle- ments continued quite rapid until the public land was ex-
.
367
THE EARLY TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONS
hansted, and the schools multiplied in proportion. The Lake- ville district was the pioneer in this respect. During the sum- mer of 1869 the settlers there erected a schoolhouse which was then considered quite an affair. It was the largest in the county at that time and for many years later. The first school taught there was by Mrs. Esther Carleton, who taught several terms in succession. The house was utilized for school, meet- ings and all kinds of public gatherings, and all of the old set- tlers in that locality recall with much pleasure the really en- jovable occasions connected with those pioneer days. From this time forward- schools multiplied, school districts were or- ganized and the school work was systematized along more modern lines.
Prominent among the instrumentalities that tended to fos- ter and stimulate the interest in educational matters in that early day, was the Dickinson County Teachers' Association, and a few words in regard to its history will not be out of place here. This organization had many unique and original feat- ures which would hardly find place in a teachers' association at the present time, but it was a pronounced success all the same. It was a movable affair, and the meetings were held in the schoolhouses in the different parts of the county, which were always crowded to their utmost capacity. A two days'. session was the rule, and the interest never flagged, but was kept on the increase to the close. The Association was organized in November, 1873, at which time was held the first Teachers' Institute in this county. This Institute was held and conduct- ed by Prof. James L. Enos, of Cedar Rapids, and although at the time it was not counted a phenomenal success, yet it was the first move in a series of events that afterward became of great benefit to the educational interests of the county. The Association was organized with Mrs. A. L. Buekland as presi- dent and R. B. Nicol, secretary, who were assisted by an able executive committee whose names have not been preserved.
368
DICKINSON COUNTY . IOWA
For several years the Association held its meetings quarterly. It took the management of the Teachers' Institute into its own hands, in which it was very successful. These institutes became very popular at once, each one outdoing its predeces- sor in the extent of attendance and the amount of interest and enthusiasm manifested by all concerned. A. W. Osborn was county superintendent at that time, and he was succeeded in that office by Dr. H. C. Crary.
For several years the Institutes were managed entirely h. home talent, and it was fairly demonstrated that at that early day we had those among us who were fully as competent to manage affairs of this kind as could have been secured by send- ing away and engaging professionals at a much greater ex- pense. Those most prominent in this work were: A. W. Os- born and wife, Dr. H. C. Crary and wife, Mrs. A. L. Buek- land, W. F. Pillsbury, R. B. Nicol and Rev. J. R. Upton. For the first two or three sessions they received no compensa- tion whatever, and yet it is very much of a question whether better institute work was ever done in any county in north- western Iowa. Certainly the interest and enthusiasm was far ahead of that manifested in later days.
After the first few years the original promoters dropped out one by one and the Institutes were conducted more on the plan in vogue in other localities. The first non-resident conductor employed was Prof. J. Wernli, of Le Mars, and right here again is shown the tendency in those early times to look for strong men. As an institute eonduetor Prof. Wernli never had a superior in the state of Towa, and has not today. The organization of the Association was kept up some six or eight years, when the changing conditions of society made more modern methods seem more in harmony with the public needs. Other associations have been organized and their efforts attend- ed with a good degree of success, but it will not be possible to give their history in detail.
CHAPTER XXX.
TIIE NEED OF A RAILROAD-LOCAL SCHEMES- THE SPIRIT LAKE & SIOUX VALLEY RAILROAD COMPANY ORGANIZED-SURVEY MADE-AID VOTED -THE SCHEME A FAILURE-TIIE CHICAGO, MIL- WAUKEE & ST. PAUL INDUCED TO MAKE A SUR- VEY-THE CHICAGO & NORTHWESTERN-THE BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN THE FIRST TO BUILD IN THE COUNTY-J. S. POLK AND THE NARROW GAUGE-THE CHICAGO, MILWAU- KEE & ST. PAUL PLAN TO BUILD A SUMMER RE-
SORT AT OKOBOJI- THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT MITCHELL AND SUPERINTENDENT MERRILL PRE- VENT THIE PLAN BEING CARRIED OUT.
HE PRESSING need of railroad facilities had long been seriously felt and each year emphasized more forcibly the disadvantages we labored under by reason of our isolation from railroad connections. It will be re- membered that the granting of the government land to the state of Minnesota for the purpose of aiding in building the St. Paul & Sioux City road was an important factor in first directing the course of emigration and settlement to this county, and the diverting of that road from its direct route to the counties west of here was a great disappointment. As has been previously stated, that road was built through Osceola and O'Brien Counties in 1871, and Sibley was for several years the nearest railroad station, the distance from the different business points in Dickinson County being from twenty-five to forty miles. The terminus and nearest point on the Chicago,
1
370
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
Milwaukee & St. Paul was at Algona, some sixty miles dis- tant. The latter road was built on west across the state in 1878, with Spencer as the nearest station.
Many schemes were agitated having for their object the in- ducing of some railroad company to give this county a rail- road connection. The first movement in this direction was the organization of a local company in the summer of 1871, known as the Spirit Lake & Sioux Valley Railroad Company, hav- ing for its object the building of a railroad from Storm Lake, Iowa, to Jackson, Minnesota. The initiatory move was made by citizens of Sioux Rapids, under the lead of D. C. Thomas, Esq., and Stephen Olney, Jr. The company was organized at Spirit Lake, July 6, 1871. The committee to draft arti- cles of incorporation were D. C. Thomas and Stephen Olney, Jr., of Sioux Rapids ; C. M. Squire and J. F. Calkins of Spencer ; R. L. ยก Wilcox and O. Rice of Spirit Lake, and H. S. Bailey of Jackson. The organization was completed by the selection of Henry Barkman of Spirit Lake, president ; Stephen Olney, Jr., secretary. Emmet F. Hill of Spirit Lake was appointed engineer.
The scheme was to call elections all along the line and get what aid voted they could, and then try to get some strong company to take it off their hands. A careful survey of the entire line was made in the fall of 1871, and the route was found to be in every way feasible. Elections were called in all of the townships of this county and the proposed aid voted in all but one or two. The people of Jackson and Sioux Rapids, as well as those of Milford and Spirit Lake, were enthusiastic in support of the enterprise, but the people of Clay County hesitated. They thought the move was premature and could see no chance of success in it at that time, and consequently declined having anything to do with it, even to calling an election.
371
EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS
In the light of subsequent events, it is not very probable that the scheme would have succeeded at that time had all of the towns along the line taken hold of it and voted the required aid, but with the sentiment divided, the case was hopeless. and the organization was soon allowed to go to pieces, and it was several years before any other plan was tried for procuring a road.
In the fall of 1878, shortly after the building of the main line through Spencer by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road, that company, at the earnest solicitation of B. B. Van Steenburg, T. S. Seymour, Henry Barkman and others, made a preliminary survey of a line from Spencer to Spirit Lake, but the company could not see it to be for their interest at that time to build the branch, and this move like the former one was barren of results.
The next move for a road into this county was by the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company in the summer of 1880. . Their plan was to construet a branch from Goldfield, or some other point on their north and south line westward, eventually reaching Dakota and the Black Hills. Their proposed route was practically the one that was afterward adopted by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad. The com- pany required a certain amount of aid to be voted by the inhab- itants along the line. As usual in this county there was a divi- sion of sentiment as to whether the proposed road should be built on the north or the south side of the lakes. The northern route was the one selected by the company. Elections were called in all of the townships of the county to vote on the ques- tion of furnishing the required aid. The tax carried in Center Grove, Excelsior, Silver Lake, Diamond Lake, Spirit Lake and Superior. This was not as many towns as they had insisted on voting the tax before they would promise to build into the county, and consequently they violated no previous promises
372
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
by their failure to do so. At the time they were working up local aid here they were also making a survey and working up local aid for their line from Eagle Grove to Hawarden by way of Sioux Rapids and Peterson, and it is not at all proba- ble that they would have built through this county even if all of the towns had voted the tax, as they found a clearer field and less competition on their more southern route. This was the last of the move by the Chicago & Northwestern.
The next summer, or in 1881, Hon. S. L. Dows, of the Bur- lington, Cedar Rapids & Northern made a proposition to the people for building their road through the county, and for a third time the question of voting aid for building a railroad across the county was submitted to the people. The towns voting aid to this road were Center Grove, Spirit Lake, Silver Lake, Diamond Lake and Superior. The question was defeated in Superior the first time it was voted on, but upon the com- pany promising to build and maintain a depot in the township they reconsidered their action and voted the tax. The number of towns voting the tax were not as many as the company at first required as a condition for locating the road through the county, but as soon as they saw it was all they were likely to get, they notified the authorities of their acceptance of it and the tax was levied by the auditor. Of all the taxes voted in aid of railroad projects in this county this is the only one so far that has been collected.
The building of the road was pushed as rapidly as possible during the remainder of that season and the early part of the next, and the road so far completed that the first train of cars was run into Spirit Lake on the eleventh day of July, 1882.
About the same time that the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern were working their railroad projeet in the north part of the county, J. S. Polk of Des Moines, representing the Des Moines & Northwestern, appeared in the interests of his road.
373
EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS
This road had previously been located to Fonda, in Pocahontas County, and a portion of it built. It was now proposed to ex- tend it from there to Jackson, Minnesota. Mr. Wilkins, the local engineer, made a survey of the line during the summer of 18S1. Aid was voted in the towns of Milford, Okoboji, Ex- celsior, Lloyd, Richland and Lakeville. The right-of-way was secured and grading commenced and carried forward with vigor until most of the work between Spencer and Spirit Lake was completed, when for some unexplained reason the work was sus- pended and finally abandoned. Why the company abandoned the project as they did, thereby forfeiting the aid that had been voted them, is something the publie never fully understood. It cannot be sufficiently accounted for on the theory that the Chicago. Milwaukee & St. Paul were occupying the same ground, as their connections were so widely different that they could hardly be said to come into competition at all. But be this as it may the old embankments remain a fitting represen- tation of many of the ambitions and aspirations of pioneer times.
During this time the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul were closely watching the other companies, and when it became evi- dent that if they did not occupy the ground some rival com- pany would, they with a great show of reluctance commenced preparations for building a branch into this county. They had seemed to regard this county as their legitimate field of operations, inasmuch as they had lines both to the north and south of it and yet they were apparently determined not to make a move until compelled to do so by the movements of their more active and progressive rivals. In the fall of 1881. seeing that longer delay might prejudice their interests, they made their survey and putting on a large force of laborers soon had the entire line from Spencer to Spirit Lake under con- struction. The first train of cars crossed the south line of the county on the first day of August, 1882, but the road was not
374
DICKINSON COUNTY - IOWA
completed to Spirit Lake until the following spring. While this branch was under construction some of the active officers of the road conceived the idea of organizing a company for the purpose of building up a summer resort at Okoboji. This com- pany was composed of S. S. Merrill, general manager; Mr. Pryor, general superintendent; George W. Sanborn, division superintendent : Mr. Kimball, chief engineer, and two or three others.
Their plan was to secure what they could of the most desir- able land in that immediate locality and lay out a town and get their scheme under way, when they claimed they had the promise of the railroad company that they would appropriate a liberal amount for the development of the place. The land was purchased, the town laid out, plans for improvement adopted, and everything indicated the success of the en- terprise, when Mr. Merrill, the general manager of the road, was stricken with paralysis, which eventually resulted in his death. It was Merrill who it was claimed had made the promise on the part of the road that they would help the enterprise, but there was no binding contract to that effect, and as the man- agement now passed into the hands of men not in the scheme, the project was allowed to fall through and the parties disposed of their land as best they could. Later this property has come into the hands of J. A. Beck, who has fitted it up as one of the chief summer resorts of the place.
As in all other communities the building of railroads into this county marked an era in the history of its growth and develop- ment. It seems to serve as a kind of dividing line between the old and the new, a kind of partition fence between the sturdy, rugged life of pioneer times and the more luxurious and less laborious life of the later days. The new order of things is doubtless a vast improvement on the old. It is better, far better, to have railroads, telegraphs and telephones, street cars and electric lights, prosperous communities, comfortable school-
375
EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS
houses and churches, convenient mills and factories, and the thousand and one other improvements and conveniences that have come with the new order of things, than to have continued in the primitive way of living that was inseparable from the life of the early pioneers. Now, while this is true it is equally true that the rugged discipline of the early days has some advan- tages over the present more effeminate times. People are sub- stituting ease, comfort, and luxury for the battle and strug- gle of the early days. But battle and struggle are necessary ele- ments for the development of strength of body and vigor of mind. Again there was a vast deal of enjoyment in the rough and rugged life of those early times, and many will remem- ber with a peculiar regret the really happy lives they lived in the midst of the danger, exposure and toil of the pioneer days.
But pioneering as exemplified in the history of Iowa is a thing of the past. The covered wagon, known as the "prairie schooner," drawn by three or four yoke of slow plodding oxen, and followed by a drove of loose cattle more or less numerous according to the means of the owner, and bearing the family and household goods of some hardy adventurer far beyond the confines of civilization to some favored grove, lake or stream which he has seen or of which he has heard, there to build up a home for himself and family and await the development which the next generation may bring, is now only a memory. The long drives over the prairie with the fun and jollity of the night spent around the cheerful campfire, where several families of emigrants were traveling in company, are but a pleasant recollection. With the inauguration of the new order of things the American pioneer has passed down and out. For nearly three hundred years he has occupied a prominent place in the fore- front of American history. But his days are numbered. As we look away to the West we are forcibly reminded that there is no longer an American frontier, and when the frontier shall have faded away the "pioneer" will live only in history.
CHAPTER XXXI.
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE GAME-THE LAST BUE- FALO KILLED IN IOWA- HEGIRA OF THE ELK - EXTRACT FROM A PAPER WRITTEN BY J. A. SMITH FOR THE MIDLAND MONTHLY-THE DEER-NEVER PLENTY IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA1-A SUCCESSFUL DEER HUNT-WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF A CHICKEN DOG-WOLVES-"BOB-CATS."
FEW INCIDENTS connected with the disappearance of the game in this locality may not be wholly devoid of interest. Aside from the fur-bearing animals which have already been mentioned, the more common were badgers, coyotes, foxes and prairie wolves. In addition to these the timber wolf and the lynx, or bob-cat, as the trappers called it, were occasionally met with. Raccoons were common enough in the groves but didn't venture ont much on the prairie, and since the groves were limited they were not plenty. There is no account of any bear ever having been seen here. The larger game were deer, elk and buffalo. It is an open question whether buffalo were ever so plenty here as has been popularly supposed or as they are known to have been in the "buffalo grass" region of the Dakotas and beyond. Fabulous stories were carly told of the hunting grounds of northwestern Iowa and it is possible many have formed somewhat extravagant ideas of the richness of it.
So far as relates to the fur-bearing animals, no description of them has ever exceeded the truth, and the same is true of the birds, but when it comes to the larger game such statements need to be taken with some degree of allowance. It was held by some the lakes being the favorite headquarters of certain bands
377
DISAPPEARANCE OF THE GAME
of Sioux Indians they kept the game hunted down closer than was done in other localities. This was doubtless true to some extent. Be that as it may, the buffalo had practically disap- peared at the time of the first attempt to settle the county in 1856. So far as can now be ascertained there are no accounts or traditions of any having been seen in the vicinity of the lakes for three or four years along about that time. Trappers and others coming across from the Big Sioux and beyond, occasion- ally reported having seen buffalo sometimes in large droves and then again in small numbers. But that was contiguous to the buffalo grass region. None came about the lakes at that time.
Along about 1861 and 1862 there used to be occasional re- ports of stragglers being sighted on the prairie, but so far as is known none were killed at that time, although some reports are going the rounds of the papers that one was killed in Osceola County in 1860. One was killed in this county in the latter part of the summer of 1861 or 1862. He was evidently a two-year-old. He must have straggled in around the north end of West Okoboji Lake, for the first seen of him he was coming down along what is now known as Des Moines Beach, and on reaching Given's Point he took a course, swimming straight across the bay. He landed at the mouth of a ditch, which had been dug from the lake inland to supply a steam mill, located there, with water. The ditch was nearly a hun- dred and fifty feet long, and although shallow where it entered the lake, it gradually increased in depth as it neared the mill until at the upper end it was about twelve feet deep. The buf- falo entered this ditch without hesitation, and as he made his way toward the upper end he soon found himself in a trap. He couldn't go ahead, he couldn't climb up the sides, and he couldn't back out, and the mill hands putting in an appearance about that time soon dispatched him.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.