USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa, including a condensed history of the state, the early settlement of the county together with sketches of its pioneers > Part 5
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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
Concurrent with Mr. Mckinney, in the same neighborhood, were Mr. William Tucker, Mr. James Henderson, Mr. James Rogers and Mr. William Daken, and six or ten miles to the north- west of these Hon. Phineas Cadwell and Elijah Palmer of Big- lers' Grove, Mr. Patrick Morrow, a resident of the Soldier Val- ley, and Josiah Crom, then residing near the old town of Mag- nolia. These gentlemen all had full faith in the productive quali- ties of this soil and climate, in the matter of the successful growing of fruit, and by persistent efforts demonstrated that this was emphatically a fruit growing country.
In 1863 there were only 101 bearing trees and 4,424 not bear- ing trees in the limits of the county, and from this small show- ing the same territory in 1884 possessed 31,194 apple bearing
55
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
trees, then yielding 27,410 bushels. At no time in the history of the county has there ever been any yield so abundant as the year of 1887, nor could the quality be surpassed in any place. The yield of apples within this county for the last year named will not fall short of 40,000 bushels, while the varieties and quality equal if not surpass any in the United States.
At the Harrison County Fair, held at Missouri Valley in Oc- tober, 1887, the exhibition of apples, cherries, grapes, plums, etc., the production of Harrison county orchard and garden, while not equal in quantity to that on exhibition the same year at Des Moines, during the State Fair, nevertheless very many who compared the qualities at both places, unhesitatingly said that the exhibition of the product of this county surpassed any on exhibition at the State Fair.
The successful orchardists of the county at the present. are Capt. Geo. S. Bacon of Magnolia, who at the present has uearly 3,500 bearing trees; John W. Wood of the same township, with a magnificent young orchard in fine bearing condition; John Williams, James Rogers, H. V. Armstrong, James Henderson and William Tucker, of Harris Grove; John T. Coffman and numerous others, of Raglan; D. F. Eaton, J. B. Akers, Hiram Smith, Dr. J. H. Rice, all near Magnolia; Col. F. W. Hart, J. H. M. Edwards, James McCoid and Henry Reel, in the near vicinity of Logan; H. B. Cox, and a vast number of others, near Missouri Valley; Mr. Wadsworth, at Calhoun; Mr. Henry DeCou and the Pugsley Brothers, Mr. Jas. H. Farnsworth, and an innumerable number of others that time forbids to mention. All produce a large quantity of apples per year; and the citizens of the county are no longer necessitated to send to Missouri or Michigan for this luxury. The names above given only designate the princi- pal apple-growers at this date, while there are hundreds of others who not only produce a sufficiency for their own use, but have parts of their crops for sale.
During the fall of 1887, Captain Bacon shipped quite a large
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
quantity of the product of his orchard to Des Moines, from the fact, as was stated by him, that his fruit was the finest to be found in the market at that place.
The leading sorts, or varieties, of standard apple trees which weather the blast and land, at last in good shape, in the spring, are the following, viz .:
Summer Apples-Astrachan, red; Benoni, Duchess of Olden- burg, Early Harvest and Pennock, Fourth of July, Golden Sweet, Keswick Codlin, Red June, and Sops of Wine.
Autumn Apples-Baily Sweet, Strawberry, Fameuse, Maiden's Blush, Rambo, Twenty-ounce, and Wealthy.
Winter Apples-Dominie, English Golden Russet, Golden Pippin, Janet or Janeton, Jonathan, Limber Twig, Ben Davis, Northern Spy, Perry Russet, Utter's Large Red, Seek-no-further, Willow Twig and Winesap.
These have been well tried by the most competent orchardists and pronounced to be the hardiest and best varieties for this soil and climate.
Of all the varieties last above named, none are as profitable to the grower as the Ben Davis, from the fact that this variety is a vigorous grower, hardy, and withal a splendid bearer. While it is conceded that the Ben Davis apple, when compared to the majority of those herein named, bears the same comparison thereto as does the old-fashioned, large, red Irish potatoe, to the Pink-eye, Early Rose, etc., yet there is a charm in the appear- ance of this apple which never fails to procure a purchaser.
Some of the readers may think that the above figures, of 40,000 bushels of apples, the product of the county for the year 1887, somewhat strained. but a moment's reflection will convince the most skeptical that the statement is very nearly correct, from the fact that one man alone, viz .: Capt. Bacon, gathered from his orchard 5,000 of winter and 1,000 bushels of autumn apples- this being one-seventh, there can be no question but that the remainder of the orchards in the county produce the other six-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
sevenths. These 5,000 bushels selling at $1.00 per bushel for the winter, and the 1,000 autumn at 75 cents per bushel, makes a very entertaining revenue to the owner.
The cherry is a perfect success, and in 1884 there were 3,795 bearing trees, furnishing a yield of 1,312 bushels.
Grapes are as easily raised as corn. What I wish to say, is this: that but little effort in the way of transplanting of slips is needed, and when once in the ground, the same care given to them as should be given to the corn, assures a vigorous, healthy growth. This county in the year 1884, produced 134,468 pounds of grapes, equal to 672 tons.
Plums are natural, and make themselves at home in the soil here as if they had existed soon after Noah's flood. The Miner, Wild Goose, and divers other varieties bear splendidly. Thirty years last past, there could be found among the thickets of wild plum trees more than fifty different varieties, and of such size and flavor as cannot be had at this day and date. Many times those of the freestone quality, and as large as peaches, could be found, then a deep red plum, as round as an unhulled walnut, and equal the latter in size. These varieties have all yielded to the prairie fires, or the equally unmerciful breaking plow.
RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE.
Through the politeness of Mr. Jacob T. Stern, of Logan, Iowa, I am furnished with a report of the average rainfall and tem- perature of each year, from 1860 to 1885, of this county, for which I at this time tender him my sincere thanks.
In 1860, Mr. Stern, then a resident on Lynnwood farm, in Harris Grove, in this county, was appointed by the Smith- sonian Institute to keep a record of the rainfall and temperature of this locality and report the same to that institution, once per month, which Mr. Stern promptly performed until this business was taken out of the hands of the aforesaid institution by the War Department, since which time Father Stern has been con-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
tinned in position and reported as formerly, once per month, to the proper officer. When Mr. Stern first took upon himself this task, there was not another station west of Des Moines, which status continued for more than ten years. This business of keep- a record of the rainfall and temperature of each year, was done by Mr. Stern for his own satisfaction and the reporting thereof to the Smithsonian Institute and War Department, an act pro bono publico, and like the old gospel plan of salvation, without money and without price.
I take great pride in having the privilege of inserting this report herein, from the fact that there is not another report of this character of any county west of Des Moines, nor can there be, because no such record was kept.
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE.
1861-26.
inches
43.º80
1875-42. inches
44.º41
1862-25.6
45. 40
1876-28.8
46. 88
1863-20.
47. 67
1877-45.7
49. 41
1864-24.5
48. 00
1878-46.9
53. 80
1865 -- 34.1
49.90
1879-32.4
¥
49. 89
1866-24.2
47. 50
1880-25.8
50. 55
1867-28.7
45. 50 45. 85
1882-37.3
50. 48
1869-50.5
45. 53
1883-39.9
66
48. 53
1870-24.9
47. 42
1884-36.6
48. 80
1871-27.
48. 60
1885-43.3
48. 00
1072-33.9
46. 10
1873-46.7
46. 80
Av. 34.6
Av. 48.º
1874-28.
48. 44
1881-57.5
49. 77
1868-35.7
CHAPTER II.
SETTLEMENT.
IT has long been supposed that this part, as well as all of Iowa, was inhabited by a race of people prior to the time of its occu- pancy by the Indian or red race. Some suppose that this people were the mound builders, from the fact that there exists at this day very many mounds in different parts of the county possessing a wonderful degree of preservation. These mounds have a uni- form diameter and all measure quite the same height, or so nearly so, that unless resort was had to actual measurement every be- holder would be compelled to say that they were all constructed after the same pattern. The length of time intervening since these were constructed is unknown to the oldest settler, for they who have lived in the immediate neighborhoods of these say that there has not been within the last thirty-seven years the least perceptible change in the appearance of either and that at the present they are the same as they were when first , seen by the present whites. When built and by whom, neither record, memory nor tradition informs us of the present, but it is improbable to suppose that they are the handiwork of nature, from the fact there would have been some of them located in places not commanding the most magnificent views of the entire surrounding country; for be it known that not one of all these mounds, observatories or burial places exists, without possessing a most magnificent view of the surrounding country. Nature, in the exhibition of her freaks of fancy, would not have selected on each occasion these prominent bluff points. Some contend that these were used as observatories; others advance the opin- ion that they are the ruins of sodhouses, built in the long ago, and
(59)
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
were constructed in a circular form and were drawn in, layer by layer, until the top or orifice, at the top, left sufficient space for the escape of smoke; while others, seemingly as sanguine, con- tend that these are the burial places of the illustrious dead of some Indian tribe, or some former race ante-dating the Indian.
The two largest and most imposing groups of these are located as follows: The first on the farm formerly owned by Mr. Wm. McDonald, near the old town of Calhoun; here there are six mounds, each ninety feet in diameter and quite fifteen feet in height, and all in a direct line running north and south, and from fifteen to twenty rods apart. The other bevy is on the farm of Mr. A. W. Locklin, north of those just mentioned, and located on section 7, township 79, range 43. In this row there are twelve of same size and of identical appearance as those on the McDonald farm, and are in a row north and south direct. having the same space intervening. These last named are the most imposing group in the county, for at and near this place, in a ravine or hollow near by, numerous stone hatchets, stone sledges, pieces of pottery of a make unknown at the present, as well as curious specimens of copper, ornamental tools or instru- ments, have been found at the depth of twenty-four and more feet from the surface of the soil.
The specimens of pottery taken from this ravine last named are apparently formed by the following method, viz .: the centre of the same is composed of fine gravel cemented together, then a thin layer of earthen substance, and this, without any glazing process, is burned, so that the qualities of the same for preserv- ing fluids from escaping therefrom is in the inside of the mater- ial, rather than on the outside, as is the custom of the present day. These present the appearance of dishes, small skillets, drinking cups and jars. At the same place, just between the res- dence of Mr. H. H. Locklin and his father Mr. A. W. Locklin, the spring rain, freshets and atmospheric action, have excavated or gouged out a gully in the hill, and on the 10th day of May,
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
1888, at the bottom of this washout, and twenty-five feet from the surface of the earth, a well preserved cedar tree was found, some twenty inches in diameter, and immediately over this stood a large white oak tree, at least four feet in diameter, not less than one thousand years old. Near the same cedar was a number of old buffalo skulls which had washed out of the banks, having been buried in the ground fifteen feet or more. Where did this cedar come from, and how long has it been taking a " Rip Van- Winkle" nap?
The oak above referred to, without question, has made its growth since the burial of the cedar, and the animal skeletons could only have place by artificial burial, since the growth of the tree, or else have had place there before the growing of this king of the forest. A son of Mr. H. H. Locklin has in his pos- session the under jaw-bone of some animal of wonderful size found in this same place. This bone only represents the one side, is four feet long, with three grinding teeth and one tooth in front, of the tearing kind. The grinders are three inches by two and a half on the cap or crown, and the front tooth is quite three inches in width by quite one in thickness. Near the same place where these mounds last spoken of are located, Mr. P. R. Shupe, who resides adjoining the farm of Mr. Locklin, in the spring of 1886, while plowing in the field of Mr. Locklin, and at a locality quite near the mounds, thought he recognized his plow striking a stone or some other hard substance, and being of an inquiring disposition, went to the house, got a spade and dug down into the earth about eighteen inches and found a sort of furnace constructed of bricks. These bricks were six inches by six inches and two inches think, burned to a deep red, and hard as any of the hardest brick of the present age. This furnace was three feet by two and a half and ran up to the height of four feet. How did this come there, is the query of the neighbor- hood, from the fact that Mr. Locklin has lived upon this farm for the last thirty-five years, was the first settler thereon, and
62
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
no person could have placed the same there unless the same would have been known to him, and besides no such bricks were ever manufactured in the county, unless within the last year, paving brick have been so manufacted. There can be no question that these bricks have laid hidden in the earth at this place for the last forty years, and how much greater period of time each can guess for himself.
An old Indian trail passed within twenty feet of both of these groups, being on the east side thereof, and so constantly had been the travel thereon, that in 1848 the little path was worn into the soil six to ten inches.
There are two mounds in section 35, township 80, range 44, in Raglan township, which are of the same as last described; each in a direct line north and south, and located at the highest point on the bluff, which possess the grandest view of the surrounding country in that immediate neighborhood. Standing on either of these, all the country to the west, northwest and south lies spread out to the view of the beholder, and furnishes such a vast- ness of territory that the eye tires in trying to mark the swells of prairie, the belts of timber that intervene, until all mellow down into lines of light and shadow.
It these mounds were used as places for burial, unquestionably some noted old warrior had signalized himself in some conspicu- ous battle, and had been accorded a burial like the triumphs given the old Roman Generals, when returning with the laurels of victory. The opinion which seems to find the greater support is this: that these mounds were ruins of sod-houses, such as were constructed by the Omahas, for there are yet persons residing in our midst who have seen the sod-houses of this tribe, and from their description little doubt remains as to the former use of these ruins, which are so numerous and of which so little, at the present, is known.
Perhaps the most noted mounds in all the neighborhoods are those in or upon the farm of Mr. Jesse J, Peck, near the line of
63
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
Harrison county on the north, in Monona county. Here are three separate, distinct mounds, which are situate some two hun- dred yards from the bluffs, on the west side or west bank of the Soldier river, and are of such dimensions as to eclipse any on the bluffs in Harrison county. At the locus of these they seem sev- ered from the bluff, and are so situate that it is hard to conjec- ture the purpose and intent of their construction. These evi- dently were not the handiwork of the Creator, but unquestion- ably give evidence of human workmanship, for at the place where the same are located, the Soldier bottoms are nearly one mile in width, three-fourths of this distance being on the right or west bank. These at the base, at the present, are quite two hundred feet in diameter and thirty feet in height, presenting an appearance as uniform as though the same had been made by the deposit of earth at these places by human hands. As in all other mounds in the county, they possess the finest status for an extended view of the country that could possibly be selected.
On the farm of Mr. D. W. Kennedy, in section 3, township 79, range 42, on Six Mile Creek, in Jefferson township, there is a large mound which has been the wonder of the people of the county for the last forty years. This, though the very largest in the county, presents, as is the case of all others, such appear- ances as beyond doubt convince the beholder that the same is not the natural condition in which the surface of the land was left by unseen agencies, but was the result of the labor of human hands.
Could men, in the rush and hurly-burly of life, spare sufficient time by which to explore these different mounds, much might be learned as to the origin thereof; but so long as the Almighty Dollar is the objective point, and the capture of this the entire business of life, there is little care as to what race of persons constructed this or that mound, so long as it is known that there is not a dollar hid beneath their surface.
Some of the most notable implements that have fallen into
64
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
the possession of the present residents of this county are now before me, and can be described as follows, viz .: Stone sledges, hatchets, darts of stone, spear heads, stone ripping or butchering knives, and stone troughs used for the purpose of pulverizing or mashing corn or other articles of food. Here is a stone sledge, weighing exactly eight pounds, and a stone hatchet, both found on the farm of Mr. James Henderson, a short distance from Reed- ers' Mills. As above stated, the stone hammer weighs exactly eight pounds, and is as justly balanced as any made by the most skillful worker in iron of the present age. This is made out of the hard flint stone, like unto that which is seen so frequently on the surface of the soil in the central or eastern part of the State, and instead of having an eye for the helve, has a large groove cut entirely around it in the middle, to the width of one and one-half inch and to the depth of half an inch.
This groove served the same purpose as does the eye to the modern sledge hammer; was the way by which the helve was attached to the implement; for those who have lived thirty-six or more years in the county say at and about the time they first settled here, they often found these stone hammers or hatchets, with the helve attached thereto, in the following manner: the helve nicely fitted in a groove and the smaller ends of the same so skillfully knotted and fastened to the helve that this handle was as firmly fastened to the sledge or hatchet as it could be done in the modern way of placing the helve in the eye. The hatchet is of the same material as the sledge, and is a little beauty, weighing six and one-fourth ounces, and polished as smoothly as the monument in the modern graveyard. These, just de- scribed, belong to a collection of Dr. J. L. Witt, of Logan. Three other sledges are in my possession; one presented me by Lehi Ellison, of Cass township; one by Mr. Snyder, ex-County Surveyor, and the other by Benj. Purcell, jr., of Boyer township. These are the same as the one last described, but vary a little in
65
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
weight and finish; there being two of them which indicate that they have seen hard service at some time in the far past.
Mr. Henry Young, residing one mile north of Logan, presents me a stone hatchet which he found twenty years ago in a spring of water, in a grove of timber near town, known as the Reel's Grove. This is one pound three ounces heavier than the one be- longing to Dr. Witt, yet, in every respect, suggests that it was hewn from the same rock and chipped out by the same or similar hands. The one last mentioned is five and one-half inches in length, with the groove within one-half inch of the poll, the sides nicely rounded and the outer parts concave.
Prof. J. D. Hornby has called my attention to one of his col- lection, in all respects similar to those above named, except that it is a medium in size. I have in my possession sixteen speci- mens of the sledge and hatchet variety, all varying in size, and some very handsome specimens of handiwork; but the most peculiar and curious evidence of past conditions that has met my observation, is in the nature of a stone mortar found on the farm of Pierson Vore, in Harris Grove, in 1852. This is a cavity scooped out of a flint stone fifteen inches in thickness, eighteen and twenty-eight inches in length and width. This cavity is of the depth of six inches, being an oblong-and looking a little like an old-time sugar trough. This has unquestionably seen hard service as a mortar, in which corn and other articles for food were cracked or pulverized by pestle or stone sledge.
In the autumn of 1887, while workmen were excavating the surface of a parcel of ground preparatory to the laying of a foundation for a dwelling house on the very point of the bluff in the southwest of Logan, they at the distance of two feet from the surface exhumed the skeletons of six persons, whose bones indicated that they were of the Indian race. This place has been occupied by Mr. Henry Reel since 1852, and, not to his recollec- tion, neither to the memory of the oldest inhabitant, had ever any person or persons been buried at this particular place. The
5
66
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
skull of the larger, as well as the skeletons of all of the six, unmis- takably showed that the Indian features were very pronounced. In this grave, or graves, at the same time was found a stone butcher or ripping knife, exactly six inches in length, at the widest place two and three-quarters inches, at no part thicker than one-fourth of an inch, and on the edge, nearly equidistant, two niches are cut so as to fasten the same to the handle. This is of the same flinty material as all the arrow- heads so often found in all parts of this county and the northern states. Whether these mounds were built by the Aztec, Toltec, Mound-builders or the Indian is not known. Each individual is left, as heretofore stated, to form his own conclusions. The stone sledges, hatchets and darts may have been the implements of war or those which were carried in the chase by the Indians, but of what date. none can form any accurate opinion. The opinion finds as much credence, that the stone sledges were part and parcel of the Indian war club, as that they were only used for the purpose of mashing the corn or other edibles, and if used as the business end of the war club, a friend at my elbow thanks the good Lord that he was not born until the disappearance of these barbarians.
Great doubts exist in the minds of the present residents of the county as to which tribe of Indians occupied these lands up to and until the time of the first settlement in 1847. Some claim that this was the hunting grounds of the Pottawattamies, others the Omahas, and by others, who are equally sanguine, that here the war-like Sioux followed the retreating deer, or woed and won his dusky maid.
This county being nearer to the southwestern corner of the state than that of the northwestern, would be really within the territory belonging to the Pottawattamies, because in June of 1846, the Pottawattamies relinquished all of their rights to their reservation in southwestern Iowa and removed west of the Mis- souri river.
The ever treacherous Sioux retained and occupied the north-
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY.
western part of the state until 1853, and the Omahas on the west side of the Missouri river, having as their central east- ern border the site on which the city of Omaha is now located, up to and until 1854.
At frequent intervals since 1849, disintegrated parts of the Omahas and Pottawattamies have hunted and fished in this county, and from them it is learned that at some time during the forties the Omahas and Pottawattamies banded together, met and fought a severe and protracted battle with the Sioux at and near the Smith lake, within two miles of the village of Little Sioux.
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