USA > Iowa > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 8
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THIE HOTEL SIGN
About this time "Uncle Ike Ilook," having a hotel at [look's Point, concluded that the dignity of the place would be enhanced if a nice sign was painted and erected in front of it. The sign was to be a square board hung in a frame in
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which it would swing and elevated upon a post. The sign was painted which should announce the locality of "THE MARIAN HOTEL." The pole was pro- vided upon which it was to be placed and a few neighbors had been invited to help raise the sign and celebrate the occasion. On the night before the pole was to be raised, the boys of the neighborhood carried the pole off and hid it. The old man was in a towering passion when it was discovered that it was gone, and swore and threatened, but all to no purpose. No one seemed to know anything about it. In a few days, however, "Uncle Ike" changed the front, told the boys it would be all right and offered a small reward for the pole. It is needless to say that the pole was found and a new day was set for raising. This time the sign had been fastened on, the hole dug in which to plant it, the neighbors invited and the old man was on the lookout for tricks, but the boys were too many for him, and while a few of them engaged in business in the house, the others carried off the pole, sign, and all, and planted in good shape on a knoll in an adjoining cornfield where in plain view, it was seen next morning, the sign gaily swinging in the wind in the midst of the growing corn. When the neighbors came next day to raise the sign, the old man treated the matter as a joke, the whole crowd "irrigated" and then the sign was brought from the corn field and placed in its legitimate position.
MOVING THE COUNTY SEAT
And now the project of moving the county seat from Homer to Fort Dodge began to be agitated by citizens of the latter place and New Castle. But the Homerites paid little heed to it for, were they not prospering and growing without precedent ? All over the town, houses were springing up or were projected. A large two-story wholesale and retail store added dignity and importance to the place that not even Des Moines could rival. A brick yard was a thing being pre- pared for, and which, when completed, was to furnish materials out of which brick blocks were to be made and citified airs be taken on as well as to make substantial, that, which as yet, was but temporary. The settlements around Homer were more populous than anywhere else, hence the idea of removing the county seat was little less than madness, as viewed from a Homer standpoint. But they reckoned without their host, for John F. Duncombe, as leader of the Fort Dodge forces, made an agreement with the people of New Castle by which both towns were to join in removing the county seat to Fort Dodge after which the counties were to be divided and the Fort Dodgers were to assist in securing the county seat of the new county for Newcastle. A proposition, therefore, was submitted to the voters at the April election, 1856, to remove the county seat to Fort Dodge. The very greatest interest was manifest on all sides in the result of this election.
BALLOT BOX STUFFING
Each side sent emissaries to the voting precincts of the other to watch and see that no illegal votes were polled ; and notwithstanding the greatest precaution, the result of the election showed plainly enough that each party had been busily engaged in trying to get in all the votes it could on its own side regardless of the right of the matter. Homer, to prevent illegal votes from being cast at New Castle sent Lawyer Granville Burkley there to watch the polls. But a future
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county scat here was at stake, and so the boys and transients who were willing to vote if they could get a chance, got in readiness, and then a crowd would surround Burkley and engage him in a heated discussion, during which many votes would be cast.
A good many people were daily arriving on the stage from the east and a man was sent out to meet the stage and secure as many votes as possible among the pas- sengers. The passengers of that time were usually willing enough to enter into any project that brought the treats and cost nothing, and as a rule they passed right on out of the country. So when the stage arrived. the settlers surrounded Burkley and got up an unusual hub-hub and while it was going on ran in the stage passengers and voted them. It is not improbable that they voted again when they arrived at Fort Dodge where most of them were going. And yet, what was being done at New Castle or Webster City, was scarcely up to the average ballot stuffing at other places, for when election was over it was found that about three times as many votes had been cast as at any previous election and Fort Dodge suc- ceeded by a vote of 407 against 264. The Homer people felt very confident that they were carrying the election for they were polling within about 20 votes of as many as the whole vote of the county had ever been before. They knew, too, that by an honest vote, they could not count much more than half that number. Imagine their surprise, when the returns were brought in to find them- selves so far outdone at their own game. That game, which they fondly be- lieved they were playing alone, had been more than discounted at Fort Dodge and New Castle.
Had an honest vote and a fair count been had, it is more than probable that Ilomer would have retained the county seat ; however, the record of both sides was too rotten to bear inspection, and no contest was made over the election. In- deed it is doubtful whether anyone desired the matter brought before the courts where an investigation might involve so many in personal difficulty on account of illegal voting. Instead of a contest, a good many Homer people declared that the election was a monstrous fraud and the county records should not be moved. Guns were cleaned up and no little amount of large talk indulged in, but it all amounted to nothing and the books were removed and nobody hurt.
At this election, some of the Homer people thought it would be a good joke on John F. Duncombe to elect him coroner and 110 of them voted for him for that office. Having in view. perhaps, Homer's probable triumph at the election, they no doubt thought that Duncombe would be a proper person to sit upon the remains of the dead town of Fort Dodge. But Rev. John Johns received 420 votes and was elected. Granville Burkley was elected prosecuting attorney at this election and the question of restraining stock was defeated.
Another election was held on the first Monday of August following, and while perhaps two hundred voters had been added to the population since the county seat contest, only 565 votes were polled, of which Elias Pecock had 290 votes and W. C. Willson 275.
S. B. Rosencrans was at this election selected for district clerk. He did not personally take charge of his office, but on the 19th day of August appointed Hezikial Beecher as his deputy. This arrangement did not prove satisfactory however, and on the 29th day of August, he revoked that appointment and appointed Chas. A. Sherman as his deputy.
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Among the new comers this year who have reported to have signed in the Old Settlers' Register are: Gil Perry, F. J. McConnel, C. T. Fenton, Morg Everts, W. H. Richardson, Thos. Bonebright, W. B. Howard, A. Keplar. S. B. Rosencrans, F. A. Harris, H. C. Hillock, S. L. Richardson, A. Mclaughlin, Simon Day, W. L. Clark, Wm. Howell, M. W. Howland. Chas. Stoddard, Wm. Oleson, Geo. Shipp, W. H. Bates, G. H. Daniels, J. P. Tucker, W. H. Frasier, Wm. Willis, J. M. Jones, S. Rickard, G. W. Perry, John Whaley, W. S. Worth- ington, N. H. Hellen, Robt. W. Martin, Isaiah Doane and Theodore Phillips.
One-third of these have held offices of some kind, county, township or school, and the reader of today, looking over this list will be struck by the very important part in the county development so many of them have played. None of them were legal voters at the election above mentioned. Four of them were here at the election when the county seat question was voted upon. JUDGE DOANE was one of the four. He arrived in March and but a few days prior to the election, and, coming as he did when the ground was covered with snow and slush, the scene was dreary in the extreme. The Judge and his family were so dis- heartened and homesick at the first that he didn't care if they moved the county seat to "Tophet." But a few weeks changed the aspect of affairs, and becom- ing satisfied with the country and its prospects, a home was purchased and he has remained ever since. He was among the unfortunate persons whose selec- tion and entry of land was upon what is known as the Des Moines river grant, but finding that no certain title was likely to be soon, if ever, obtained, he sold out his claim and never dabbled in that class of lands. He was a farmer in summer and taught school in winter, and no old settler was to be found whose fund of anecdote of early times was greater than his. From his great store of information we have drawn largely for material in the makeup of this history.
W. H. Frazier lived until '59, near, and just east of Homer, when he pur- chased land and built a house in what is now Clear Lake township At this time there was only one house within the present limits of that township; that of Theodore Phillips, who moved there in '56 and was, therefore, the first, while W. H. Frazier was the second settler in that township. He had only just com- pleted and moved into his new house when he concluded to return east, and went to Illinois, remaining six years, and returned in 1865. He was a member of the first jury drawn in Hamilton county.
THE FIRST STEAM MILL
In the spring of 1856, J. M. Funk and Sumler Willson brought from Dubuque, by teams, a steam mill, the first set up within Hamilton county. There were but two or three bridges on the whole route, and as the streams were swollen by recent rains and the melting snow that had fallen during the winter, the work was arduous and sometimes full of danger. When the steam mill was in opera- tion, S. B. Rosencrans and C. T. Fenton purchased a half interest in it, and in connection with J. M. Jones and J. M. Funk, owned and ran the mill for several years. The first year Rosencrans was superintendent and J. M. Jones engineer.
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HISTORY OF HAMILTON COUNTY
THE MOON HOUSE
What was then considered as the "first class" hotel of Webster City was the Moon House, a plank structure 16x40 feet, one and a half stories high, with a lean-to on one side. The main building had one partition in the center, making a barroom in front, out of which was a stairway; the back part had a partition lengthwise, making a bedroom and sitting-room. The lean-to on one side was the kitchen and dining-room, while the whole upstairs without partition. was filled with beds except a narrow alley down the center between them. These were filled nightly with men, as were also the floors of the barroom and sitting- room, the men bunking down on the floor with buffalo robes under them and blankets for covering. The bill of fare was as unpretentious as the other sur- roundings, for vegetables were scarce, and the main articles of diet were bread. butter, ham, bacon, beans and coffee.
There was what is usually called a "cold snap" in April, freezing up the river so that people could cross it on the ice, making the spring very late and considerable of the planting was not done until June. Indeed the whole winter of '55-6 was a very. severe one, so much worse than had ever occurred before that the deer were all driven out of the country and but very few of them ever returned.
THE "OLD WILLSON HOUSE"
During the season, the old Willson House, now the Park House, on the corner of Seneca and Bank streets, was built and opened. Most, if not all of the houses in town, were then east of that house and to illustrate the wildness of the surroundings, we mention the fact that a few deer were, during the year, seen upon the town plat, and in the fall a prairie fire burned over most of the ground where the business portion of Webster City is now situated. burning around the residence of S. B. Rosencrans, which was then being built and which was only saved from the fire by great effort.
HON. W. C. WILLSON
At the fall election, Walter C. Willson was elected to the state legislature and was the first Hamilton county man to sit as a member of that body. The one grand object Mr. Willson had in view was the passage of a law organizing the present county, and having the county seat located at Webster City. In this he succeeded admirably as will be seen as we progress with this history.
RAILROAD BOND ELECTION
On the 19th day of August, 1856, John F. Duncombe appeared before the county judge with a petition signed by one hundred and fifty residents of the county, asking the county court to call an election for the 22d day of September. at which the question, "Whether Webster county would subscribe for the $200,- 000 of the capital stock of the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad and issne bonds therefor, payable in seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty years, with ten per cent per annum, to provide for payment of the principal and interest thereof."
WEBSTER CITY'S OLDEST HOTEL
Once known as the Willson House, later, for many years, as the Hamilton House, and now as the Park Hotel
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The judge granted the request and entered an order calling said election, but we have been unable to find any record of the election having been held. and what makes the matter all the more uncertain is the fact that while part of the old settlers declare the vote was taken and carried, about an equal number declare that no vote was ever taken. Those who hold that the election did take place and carried say that after the division of the county it was put upon Hamilton county to assume $90,000 of the bonds, and Webster to assume $II0,- 000, and that when Hamilton county came to vote to ratify the agreement and issue the bonds, the voters repudiated the whole matter.
While Hamilton county was united with Webster, nine townships were made, four of them being within the limits of this county. They were Cass, Boone, Webster and Clear Lake, and they probably extended clear across the county, twenty-four miles, and were six miles wide, and these were the organized town- ships of the county when the separation took place the next spring. Benjamin Millard was one of the first justices of the peace of Boone township, but he soon tired of the office, and August 7, 1856, resigned, and Ammon Moon was appointed to fill the vacancy.
A HARD WINTER
All of the old settlers will yet remember the winter of 1856, the longest and most severe that has yet been seen here. In the fall the weather up to about 3 o'clock in the afternoon of December Ist had been unusually fine, when the sky became overcast with black clouds; the wind rose almost to a hurricane and by night the snow was falling, blowing, drifting, and the storm lasted for three days, during which time it was dangerous, and most of the time impossible to leave the house. The air was so full of flying snow, that objects at only a few feet distant could not be seen. Many were unable, during those three days, to even feed or care for their stock, and when at last the wind died down and the snow had ceased to fall or fly, stables and houses had, many of them, to be dug out of the snow. In places drifts of snow were twenty or thirty feet high and especially was the drifting to be seen around the houses and stock yards, where it seemed all the snow had been collected. So hard had the wind blown and so solidly was the snow packed, that horses and cattle could walk over the highest drifts without any danger of breaking through, and many farmers fed their stock on top of the rifts clear above the stake and ridered fence that enclosed the yards. To illustrate the depth of the snow it is related on good authority, that one of Judge Pierce's horses had its leg badly injured by the snow giving way just over the end of a tall stake and letting the foot down the side of the stake, where it was not so tightly packed. This storm was only the beginning of a series of blizzards lasting all winter and until late in the spring. There seemed to be very little "let up" to the storms and it kept the settlers busy between storms to provide fuel and keep their stock dug out of the drifts and fed. The roads were almost impassable, and it was dangerous to go out of sight of the settlement for fear of getting caught in a blizzard and freezing. Flour became scarce, indeed, in many instances nothing like flour or meal was to be had, and whole families subsisted for days upon corn ground in a coffee mill and made into coarse mush or bread. Others varied the monotony of such
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a diet, with what is known as lye hominy and these delectable viands,-this attenuated menu,-of Johnnie cake, hog and hominy was a compulsory diet, though we cannot say that the settlers came out any thinner in flesh on account of it. But when the storms let up, flour was produced and wheat bread was again upon the table, what a luxury, indeed, it seemed.
PORK AND HOMINY
Speaking of hominy, we should mention a kind that was made by some of the settlers without lye. To make this a hominy mortar had to be made. A log from sixteen to twenty inches thick, and about three feet long. was cut square at both ends. Its outside was shaped something like a druggist's mortar. At one end a cavity about ten or twelve inches deep was dug and made smooth. An iron wedge fastened into the end of a cleft stick with a band around it to prevent the stick from splitting was prepared, and these two tools completed the equipment. Corn was then washed and soaked in warm water and put into the mortar and pounded with the iron wedge until the hull of the grain was beaten off and the grain broken into pieces. The corn was then taken out and dried and the husk blown out, leaving the grain clean. It was put into a large kettle and boiled, sometimes for a whole day, and before the boiling process was finished, a huge chunk of fat pork was put into the kettle and cooked with it. The whole mass was then taken out and was fried and used as it was wanted. This was a tedious and laborious way of getting hominy, but when made by this process it surpassed in sweetness and richness all other kinds and was a favorite wherever found.
During the hard winter we have just described, many incidents are told of narrow escapes from being frozen to death and numerous were the heels and toes, fingers, ears and noses that were frozen and peeled off. Schools could only be kept going about half the time and then only the larger pupils, or those living near the schoolhouse dared to venture, for fear of being caught away from home in a storm. Persons were often caught out when a storm came up and would put up at the first cabin reached, and stay for days, fearing to attempt to reach home, while their friends would worry about them, not knowing where they were and fearing they had perished in the storm. Of all the winters in Iowa, this one of '56 and '57 is looked back to by the settlers as the hardest ever seen here, and it tried the nerve and stirring qualities of those who were here for the first time, making them heartily wish themselves "back east."
HAMILTON COUNTY ORGANIZED
The legislature of the state, early in its session in 1856, passed the following act providing for the organization of Hamilton county.
"AN ACT TO CREATE THE COUNTY OF HAMILTON
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa. That so much of the county of Webster, as lies east of range twenty-seven, west of the fifth principal meridian, according to the official survey of lands by the
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United States Government be, and the same is, hereby created and organized into a new county to be called Hamilton.
"Sec. 2. All the estate of which the county of Webster is now seized shall belong to, and the county be seized thereof to its own use, in which such real estate may be situated, after the division by the organization of such new county.
"Sec. 3. The said county of Webster, and said county of Hamilton, shall both be and remain liable for any and all indebtedness existing against the county of Webster, at the time this act takes effect, to the same extent as if this act had not been passed, and the money rights and credits or other personal property belonging to the said county of Webster at the time this act takes effect, shall be apportioned between said counties, in such manner as shall be just and equitable.
"Sec. 4. For the purpose of ascertaining and fixing upon such apportion- ment of money, rights and credits, or other personal property provided for in the preceding section, the Governor shall, on the complete organization of said county of Hamilton by the election of county officers, and upon the request of the county Judge of said county of Hamilton, form a Commission who shall meet at a time to be fixed by the Governor, at the County Seat of Webster County, and make such apportionment of said money, rights and credits or other property above mentioned, as to them shall appear just and equitable. The decision of said Commissioners or any two of them, shall be final, and such decision shall be reduced to writing, and signed by the Commissioners making the same, and a Commissioner to be appointed by the Governor, shall, before proceeding to act as such, take and subscribe an oath for the faithful performance of his duties.
"Sec. 5. Said Commissioners shall each receive three dollars per day, for every day they shall be actually employed in making such apportionment to be paid by the county of Hamilton.
"Sec. 6. At the next April election after the passage of this act, there shall be elected by the qualified voters, residing within the county of Hamilton, the same county and township officers as are now allowed and required by law in organized counties : Provided, township officers shall be elected only in cases where an election would have taken place had this act not been passed; And further provided, that the said county officers so elected shall hold their offices as if elected to fill vacancies. The votes cast at such election shall be returned to and canvassed by the county Judge of Webster county who shall canvass the same, and notify the persons elected of their election. The person elected county Judge of Hamilton County shall qualify before the county Judge of Webster County ; and when so qualified, the organization of said county shall be deemed complete. The expenses of said election shall be paid by the county of Hamilton.
"Sec. 7. The Judge of Hamilton County may, whenever he shall deem it expedient so to do, cause to be transcribed so much of the public records of the county of Hamilton, and the copies so made, if duly certified to be true and correct copies by the proper officer having the original records in his custody as a public officer, at the time of so certifying, shall be received by all Courts with like effect as if the original records were offered in evidence.
"Sec. 8. Webster City is designated as the county seat of Hamilton County, subject however to the provisions of the general law relating to the re-locating county seats.
Vol. 1-5
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"Sec. 9. This shall be in force from and after its publication in the Iowa City Republican and Fort Dodge Sentinel. Approved 22nd Dec .. 1856.
"I certify that the foregoing act was published in the Iowa City Republican and in the Fort Dodge Sentinel, Jan. 8, 1857.
"ELEJAH SELLS, Sec'y of State."
ยท CHOOSING THE NAME
The county was named Hamilton in honor of Judge Wm. W. Hamilton of Dubuque, who was president of the senate, and who rendered Mr. Willson much valuable assistance in securing the passage of the act.
We cannot find that the question of a name for the new county was ever discussed among the settlers and it is probable that it was generally supposed the old name of Risley would have to be adopted. But Mr. Willson felt very grateful to Judge Hamilton for his kindly and efficient assistance in preparing and securing the passage of the act, and the new name was received by the settlers with great satisfaction and was liked much better than the original name of Risley had been.
FIRST HAMILTON COUNTY ELECTION
In accordance with this law, the first election of officers of the new county of Hamilton was held on the first Monday in April, 1857, at which there were 347 votes cast as follows :
County Judge-J. D. Maxwell, 204. Hampton Corbin, 143.
District Clerk-G. W. McClure, 206. J. C. Pemberton, 119.
Prosecuting Attorney-E. R. Green, 197. Wm. R. Daniels, 139. Treas. and Recorder-Cyrus Smith, 206. J. C. Pemberton. 119. County Assessor -- R. D. Remington, 154. Alex Turner. 142. E. Lakin, 44 Sheriff-Wm. Royster, 343. S. Sufficool, 2.
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