USA > Iowa > Dickinson County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 11
USA > Iowa > Emmet County > History of Emmet County and Dickinson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 11
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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 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45
"To the auditor, treasurer, clerk of the courts, recorder, sheriff and superintendent of schools of Emmet County, Iowa :
"You are hereby notified that all the provisions of the law relating to the submission of the question of relocation of the county seat of said county have been fully complied with, and that after canvassing the votes cast for and against the relocation of the county seat of Emmet County, it was found that a majority of all the votes cast were for the relocation of the county seat of Emmet County, Iowa, on the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 99, Range 33, west of the 5th Principal Meridian ; and that, therefore, the board of supervisors determined and ordered that the above designated place was and should be the county seat of Emmet County, Iowa, from and after 12 o'clock noon on Tuesday, the 21st day of October, 1879.
"You will therefore take notice that from and after that day and hour you will hold your respective offices at the village of Swan Lake, on the northeast quarter of Section 25, Township 99 north, Range 33 west of the 5th Principal Meridian."
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The county officers were not inclined to obey the order to move and on the 25th the auditor was ordered by the board to make a copy of the order of the 21st and turn it over to the sheriff, to be by that officer served on Judge E. R. Duffie, then holding court at Emmetsburg. At the same time Supervisors Warren and Christopher were appointed a committee to procure a writ of mandamus from the District Court compelling the officials to obey the order and remove their offices to Swan Lake. Nothing further was accomplished in the year 1879, but on January 9, 1880, an- other order to the county officers "to remove at once" was issued by the board. All obeyed except Dr. E. H. Ballard, then county treasurer, who remained at Estherville until the expiration of his term.
BACK TO ESTHERVILLE
In the meantime it was claimed by some of the citizens of the county that the movement for the removal of the county seat had been instigated by non-residents and proceedings were instituted in the courts to test the legality of the election. The case was sent to Cerro Gordo County, where it was still pending in 1882, when a movement was started for the re- moval of the seat of justice back to Estherville. On June 5, 1882, Soper & Allen, attorneys for R. E. Ridley and others, presented to the board of supervisors a petition signed by 276 legal voters, asking that the question of relocating the county seat at Estherville be submitted to the voters of the county at the next general election. The board granted the petition and ordered the constables of the several townships to post notices in public places notifying the electors that the question would be voted upon at the general election on November 7, 1882. The result of the vote at that election was 348 in favor of relocating the county seat at Estherville and 177 opposed. At that time the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (now the Rock Island) Railroad was under construction and some of the opponents of Estherville set up the claim of fraud, in that a large number of workmen on the railroad, not residents of the county, voted in favor of that town, but the board of supervisors canvassed the vote and announced the result. The first meeting of the board at Estherville after this elec- tion was on January 15, 1883.
THE FIRST COURT-HOUSE
Soon after the county was organized in February, 1859, the proper authorities entered into a contract with Logan & Meservey, of Fort Dodge, for the erection of a court-house and school house in Estherville. For erecting these buildings the contractors were to receive "all the swamp and overflowed lands within the county, except those lying in Township 98, Range 33; Township 99, Range 34; and Township 100, Range 34."
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The contractors employed Davis & Spinney to build the school house, which was completed in time for a "house-warming" on Christmas Eve, 1860. The "free supper" cooked and furnished for the guests by the good women of the village was long remembered by those who were fortunate enough to participate and was pronounced the best meal ever served in Estherville up to that time. The supper was followed by a "temperance" dance.
In making a contract to pay for the public buildings with swamp and overflowed lands, the authorities of Emmet County followed the example of other counties in Northwestern Iowa. The contract was made in good faith and in order to carry it out the county judge, Adolphus Jenkins, entered into an agreement with C. C. Carpenter, by which the latter was to make a survey or selection of the swamp and overflowed lands within the limits of the county, which, under the acts of Congress belonged to the county. Carpenter made the survey, but the surveyor-general refused to accept it, hence the county failed to obtain title to the lands which the authorities had agreed to transfer to the contractors for building the court-house and school house.
The school house was already completed and work had been com- menced upon the court-house when the surveyor-general's decision was promulgated. That official was severely criticized, but criticism would not pay for the buildings. As soon as the contractors learned that the swamp lands in question were not to become the property of the county they stopped work on the court-house. Taking Carpenter's survey as a basis, they obtained a quit claim deed from the county to the lands de- scribed therein, and in order to reimburse themselves for the work they had done resorted to methods that were somewhat questionable, to say the least. They established a system of land agencies in the eastern states and disposed of the lands to unsuspecting persons. It is said that they even went so far as to prepare deeds which had enough of the appearance of a genuine warranty deed to hoodwink the purchaser. Of course, the purchaser under such conditions had no title to the land and was fleeced out of the price paid. Some of those who had bought lands through the agencies came to the county as actual settlers and after their arrival dis- covered that they would have to homestead the land and secure a Govern- ment title.
Similar transactions occurred in other counties, which gave North- .western Iowa the reputation of producing fraudulent deeds and convey- ances, a stigma under which that section of the state labored for years through no fault of its citizens or public officials, land sharks being in every instance responsible for the doubtful titles.
In the winter of 1871-72 the school house above mentioned was re- moved to a new location on North Sixth Street, a short distance north of
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Des Moines Street, where it was used as a court-house until it was de- stroyed by fire in October, 1876.
THE PRESENT COURT-HOUSE
Owing to the litigation over the removal of the county seat to Swan Lake, no court-house was ever built at that place. Soon after the county seat was taken back to Estherville the supervisors took up the subject of erecting some kind of a building in which to transact the county business. On April 4, 1883, a petition asking that the question of borrowing money with which to build a court-house be submitted to the people was filed, and the board adopted the following resolution :
"Resolved, That the petition of E. R. Littell and others as to submit- ting the question to voters of borrowing money to build a court-house, etc., be laid over until June, when it shall be made the first order of business."
On June 4, 1883, the petition came up for consideration and it was ordered that the question of borrowing a sum of money not exceeding $12,000, bearing a rate of interest not exceeding 6 per cent., and the levy- ing of a tax of not more than three mills on the dollar in any one year, should be submitted to the voters of the county at the general election to be held on October 9, 1883. At the election the proposition was carried. by a vote of 259 to 217. On January 12, 1884, the board of supervisors, as a committee of the whole, took the first steps toward procuring plans and specifications for a court-house and jail, and for selecting a location for the building. Foster & Liebe, architects, of Des Moines, were com- missioned to prepare plans and the committee of the whole decided to locate the court-house near the center of the public square. On February 29, 1884, the following advertisement appeared in the Northern Vin- dicator:
"Sealed proposals for the erection of a court-house at Estherville, Emmet County, Iowa, will be received at my office in Estherville until 12 o'clock noon, Tuesday, April 8, 1884. Plans and specifications may be seen at my office on and after March 26th, and prior to that time at the office of Foster and Liebe, architects, Des Moines, Iowa. The right is reserved to reject any or all bids.
"By order of the Board of Supervisors.
"H. W. HALVERSON, "County Auditor."
On April 8, 1884, the bids were opened and the contract was awarded to Zerbe Brothers for $11,718, the building to be completed by November 1, 1884. F. E. Allen, Charles Jarvis and Adolphus Jenkins, members of the board of supervisors, were appointed a building committee to super- intend the erection of the structure. A little delay occurred in June, on
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account of criticisms of the foundation walls. The board then appointed B. Larbig to oversee the stonework, after which the work went on without interruption and on November 22, 1884, the building was accepted by the supervisors. It is still in use, but late in the year 1916 some agitation was started in favor of a new court-house, the business of the county having grown to such an extent that the old one is inadequate to the de- mands.
On the first floor of the court-house are the offices of the auditor, clerk, recorder and treasurer. The vaults connected with all these offices have become too small to accommodate the accumulation of records. The second floor contains the court room, jury rooms, office of the county super- intendent of schools, etc., and in the basement are the jail cells, heating plant, toilet rooms and storage vaults.
CORRECTING THE RECORD
At the time the board of supervisors was looking for a location for the court-house in the spring of 1884, the Estherville City Council passed a resolution tendering to the supervisors of Emmet County "as much of the public square of the said City of Estherville as said supervisors deem · necessary for the use of Emmet County for a court-house building." The offer was accepted, but was not made a matter of record by the county authorities until April 9, 1896, when the board of supervisors, by resolu- tion, ratified the action of the board of 1884 in accepting "a piece of land fifteen and a half rods wide, extending from Sixth to Seventh streets, through the center of the public square in the City of Estherville."
INCIDENTS OF EARLY DAYS
The first marriage in Emmet County was solemnized on April 29, 1859, when Miss Sophronia A. Ridley became the wife of George Jenkins. The first term of. the District Court ever held in the county began at Estherville on May 30, 1862, Judge A. W. Hubbard presiding.
In 1860 the population of the county, according to the United States census, was 105. During the Indian troubles in Minnesota in 1862-63, some of the settlers left the county, but about one hundred people came from Jackson County, Minnesota, and the greater portion of them became permanent settlers in Emmet.
The spring of 1860 was marked by heavy rains which caused all the streams to overflow. The pickerel were "running" at the time of the freshet and myriads of the fish found their way into some of the lakes. When the waters subsided the fish remained and in this way the lakes of Emmet County were stocked with fine, edible fish, without the aid or intervention of a state fish commission or a government hatchery.
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CHORT ANISE.
EMMET COUNTY COURTHOUSE, ESTHERVILLE
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Heavy snows in the winter of 1860-61 prevented the mail carrier from making his regular trips. Lewis Paulson, one of the pioneers of Emmet County, agreed that for nine dollars he would go to Algona, a distance of some forty-five miles, and bring the mail. He started on February 2, 1861, on snow shoes, and made twenty-two miles the first day. That night he staid all night with an Irishman named Jackman. The morning of the third was bright, the air was crisp, and he started out in high spirits to finish the remainder of his journey. About noon he be- came "snow blind" and lost his bearings, wandering around until night- fall. He then camped on a mound not far from McKnight's Point. He took off his snow shoes and began walking in a circle, thinking he would have to walk all night to keep from freezing. While thus occupied, he heard someone calling hogs. Moving in the direction of the sound, he found the cabin of a settler, where he was hospitably received.
He remained with this settler all day of the fourth to let his eyes rest and recover, but on the fifth he resumed his journey and reached Algona. There he remained over night and on the morning of the next day set out upon his return. That night he reached Emmetsburg and the next day he arrived at Estherville late in the afternoon.
In these days of railroad mail routes, long distance telephones, tele- graphs and rural free delivery of mails, it can hardly be realized that the people of Emmet County were ever in such straits for communcation with the outside world that they would make up a purse of nine dollars to employ one of their number to go forty-five miles in the dead of winter for a few letters and newspapers, or that it would take that man five days to go and return. But such were the conditions in the winter of 1860-61. Nine dollars was a considerable sum of money in those days, but Mr. Paulson certainly earned all that he received for his services as a volunteer mail carrier.
On April 6, 1868, Gov. Samuel Merrill approved an act of the Iowa Legislature entitled, "An act to encourage the planting and growing of timber, fruit trees, shade trees and hedges." Under the provisions of this act the board of supervisors of Emmet County, on January 5, 1869, ordered the property of any citizen who would plant one or more acres in forest trees, set not less than eight feet apart, should be exempt from taxation, except for state purposes. Exemptions were also made for each acre of orchard planted, each half mile of hedge, or each mile of shade trees planted along a public highway. Such were the commendable efforts of the county authorities of Emmit County to break the monotony of the treeless prairie districts. The result is seen in the artificial groves around the farm houses, groves in which the trees are now large enough to shelter the house from the fierce winds of winter and furnish a supply of fuel for the family use.
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The summer of 1868 is still remembered by old residents as the year of the "blackbird invasion." The birds came in swarms and destroyed so much of the grain that not enough was harvested to supply the local demand. Transportation facilities then were not what they are today, and breadstuffs had to be hauled long distances by wagon. Flour sold in Estherville in the winter of 1868-69 as high as $12 per 100 pounds. Not every family could afford to pay such a price and bread was a luxury with many of the inhabitants. In the fall of that year large numbers of the buffalo fish were taken from the Des Moines River, salted and preserved for food. Many lived on salt fish and potatoes during the greater part of that severe winter, yet they did not lose heart, but toiled on, firm in the faith of Emmet County's future. And the people of the present generation owe a debt of gratitude to those hardy pioneers that can never be fully repaid. Are they mindful of the debt?
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CHAPTER VI PIONEERS AND THEIR WORK
THEN AND NOW-PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS-HARDWARE A LUXURY- NONE WORE "STORE CLOTHES"-AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES-PER- SONAL MENTION-TRAPPING IN EARLY DAYS THE OLD TRAPPER'S SOLILOQUY.
THEN AND NOW
Looking back over a period of a little more than three score years, to that 27th day of June, 1856, when William Granger, D. W. Hoyt and Henry and Adolphus Jenkins began the settlement of Emmet County, it may be interesting to the young people of the present generation to know how these first settlers in a new country managed to exist. Imagine a vast, unbroken tract of rolling prairie, stretching away in all direc- tions beyond the range of human vision, with little groves of timber here and there along the streams or bordering the lakes. Such was the appearance of Emmet County when the first white men came to estab- lish their homes within its borders. At numerous places in the broad prairie were swamps and ponds, where muskrats and waterfowl abounded. Beaver, otter, mink and other fur-bearing animals inhabited certain local- ities. Big game was plentiful, especially elk and deer. Prairie wolves were also plentiful and their howling at night sometimes caused little children to shudder with fear, as they cuddled closer together in their beds and wished for daylight to come. Roving bands of Indians occa- sionally made their appearance in the settlements and their movements were watched with interest and suspicion. There was neither railroad nor public highway to facilitate travel-nothing but the great unbroken plain, "fresh from the hand of Nature."
Now all is changed. In this year 1916 of the Christian era, when a citizen of Emmet County finds it necessary to pay a visit to the market town or the county seat, he can step into his automobile or, if he has not yet become the possessor of a motor car, he can hitch a horse to a buggy and drive over a well established public highway to his destination. Should occasion require a longer journey, he can take his seat in a coach on one of the great railway systems of the country and be transported across the country at the rate of forty or fifty miles an hour. If he
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happens to live in the City of Estherville, or any of the incorporated towns of the county, upon entering a room at night all he has to do is to push a button or turn a switch and the room is immediately flooded with electric light. He turns a faucet and receives a supply of pure, wholesome water in any quantity he may desire. A mail carrier brings him his letters and newspapers daily. When household supplies are needed, it is an easy matter to telephone to the grocer, the butcher or the coal man, His children attend a modern graded school. He and his family worship in a church heated by steam and lighted by electricity, and listen to the music of a pipe organ that cost hundreds-perhaps thousands of dollars.
But does he ever pause to consider how all these comforts and con- veniences were brought about for him to enjoy? Let him read the opening paragraph of this chapter and then draw upon his imagination for the conditions that existed in what is now Emmet County when the first white men came to establish a settlement.
PIONEER LIFE AND CUSTOMS
Compared with the conditions of the present day, the pioneer encount- ered some actual hardships and a great many inconveniences. One of the first problems with which he was confronted was to provide shelter for himself and family. Most of the early settlers selected claims where there was timber to be obtained and the first houses erected by them were log cabins. The first settler in a community, who had to build his cabin unassisted, selected small logs or poles that he could raise to the walls. Such a dwelling could not be called a "mansion," but it sheltered its inmates from the inclemencies of the weather. Sometimes, when two or more families came together, one cabin would be built, in which all would live until each settler could erect a cabin of his own. As the population grew, the "house raising" became a social as well as an indus- trial event. After the logs were cut into proper lengths and dragged to the site of the proposed cabin, the settler would send invitations to his neighbors, some of whom probably lived several miles away, to attend the "raising." Such invitations were seldom declined, for the pioneers felt their dependence upon each other and were always ready and willing to lend a helping hand.
When all were assembled four men would be selected to "carry up the corners," and took their stations at the four corners of the cabin. These men were chosen because they were skilled in the use of the ax. As the logs were lifted up to them they shaped a "saddle" on the top and cut a notch in the underside to fit upon the saddle of the log below. By cutting the notches a little deeper in the "but end" of logs, and alter-
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BIRTHPLACE OF L. P. STILLMAN
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THE NEW ' .DK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ACTOR, LEMON
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nating the butt and top ends, the walls of the cabin were carried up approximately level. No plumb line was used, the walls being adjusted in this respect entirely by the eye of the cornermen. Doors and windows were sawed out after the walls were up. An opening was also made at one end for the fireplace. Outside of this opening would be con- structed a chimney of small logs, lined inside with clay to prevent its catching fire. Sometimes the chimney would be built of squares of sod, laid up as a mason lays up a wall of bricks. The roof of the cabin was made of clapboards, and the floor, if there was one, was of puncheons -that is, thin slabs of timber split as nearly as possible of the same thickness-the upper surface being smoothed off with an adz after the floor was laid.
HARDWARE A LUXURY
Hardware was a luxury in a new country, and not infrequently a cabin would be completed without a single article of iron being used in its construction. The clapboards of the roof were held in place by poles running the full length of the cabin and fastened to the end logs with wooden pins. The door was made of thin puncheons, fastened together with small wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges and provided with a wooden latch. A thong of deerskin fastened to the latch was passed through a small hole in the door, to provide a means of opening the door from the outside. At night the thong could be drawn inside and the door was locked. This custom gave rise to the expression: "The latchstring is always out," signifying that a visitor would be welcome at any time.
The furniture was in keeping with the house itself, being usually of the "home-made" variety and of the simplest character. In one corner was constructed a bedstead in the following manner: A small sapling, with two forks as nearly at right angles as possible, was selected and a section of it long enough to reach from the floor to the joists overhead was cut and placed about the width of an ordinary bed from one wall and the length of the bed from the other. Poles were then laid in the two forks, the other end resting in one of the cracks between the logs of the cabin wall, or in a large auger hole bored in one of the logs. Across the poles were then laid clapboards, upon which the straw tick, or feather bed, if the family possessed one, was spread. Such a contrivance was sometimes called a "prairie rascal." Springs, there were none, but "honest toil brought sweet repose" to the tired husband- man. Holes bored in the logs were fitted with strong pins, upon which were laid clapboards to form the "china closet," the front of which · was a curtain of some cheap cotton cloth, though in many homes the curtain was lacking. Stools and benches took the place of chairs. A Vol. 1-7
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table was made by "battening" some clapboards together to form the top, which was placed upon a pair of trestles when in use. When not in use the trestles were placed one upon the other and the top leaned against the wall to make more room in the house. Stoves were almost unknown and the cooking was done at the huge fireplace, an iron tea- kettle, a long-handled skillet, a big copper-bottomed coffee pot, and a large iron pot being the principal cooking utensils. Bread was baked in the skillet, which was set upon a bed of live coals and more coals heaped upon the lid, so the bread would bake at both top and bottom. The iron pot was used for preparing the boiled dinner, in which two or three kinds of vegetables were often cooked together. "Johnny cake" was made by spreading a stiff dough of corn meal upon one side of a smooth board and propping it up in front of the fire. When one side was baked sufficiently, the dough would be turned over, to give the other side its inning. Many times a generous supply of "johnny cake" and a mug of fresh milk constituted the only supper of the pioneer. While preparing the meals the housewife would nearly always wear a large "sun-bonnet" to protect her face from the heat.
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