USA > Iowa > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Iowa : its people, industries and institutions, with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 24
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THE GRASSIIOPPER SCOURGE.
Those who resided in western Iowa prior to the eighties, know full well what the visitation of the seventcen-year-locusts ( grasshoppers) meant to the people of the territory devastated by these little pests, which the Bible said should become a "burden." But to those of a younger generation, and those coming to our state since those days, when the "sun was literally dark- ened at noonday" by grasshoppers, the following may be of unusual interest in a work calculated to give the events that have transpired since white men first knew the county.
Five times have these pests visited and more or Iss afflicted the farmers by destroying crops, and that without remedy or recourse.
They first made their appearance in Harrison county, as a real plague, in Angust, 1857. About four o'oclock on the twenty-third of that month, they began to light in such great numbers that the noise made resembled that of
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falling leaves or a light snow. This was continued until sunset. One writer who saw the funny side of the pests wrote: "The fences and outbuildings were covered with them, giving every object a dirty lead-color-they tar- ried, were sociable, deposited their eggs, and by October ist of the same year had nearly all died."
Slight damage was done, from the fact that most of this county was then uninhabited and prairie grass and weeds were everywhere in excess of the tilled fields. In March, 1858. they commenced hatching out in great numbers, and remained until July 11.
The next visit they paid this county was August 27, 1867, at one o'clock P. M. They came in such numbers and were so weighty that they bent the growing cornstalks over beneath their weight. Whole fields of corn were thus infested and great damage was done, their work not ceasing until late at night. The trains on the Chicago & Northwestern railroad were in some instances impeded and actually stopped by them collecting on and between the rails, making a paste as hard to overcome as a quantity of grease or soap would have been. Only by the free use of sand were the engineers able to pull the trains through such places which usually were found in a deep cut.
One writer said: ""Their appetites were as ravenous as their saw- toothed jaws were destructive. They spared neither the garden-lot nor corn- field; cabbage, turnips, tobacco chews, old boots, fork handles, ax helyes and clothing, all pershied beneath their touch. They alighted without request and tarried without invitation ; assumed such a familiarity on short acquaintance, that soon their presence became disgusting."
After having destroped what they could, they commenced depositing their eggs with a view of not having "race suicide" charged to their account in the day of final reckoning! Nature has provided an air and water-tight sack which encases their eggs in lots of from seventy to twice that amount each. This casing is so perfect that neither rain nor frost can possibly injure the germ; even the biting frosts of an Iowa winter seem to have no effect upon them. This time, the old grasshoppers remained until October and then died of old age, but early in April their descendants hatched out in un- told, countless numbers. When about six weeks old they shed their coats, made free use of the wings given them, and were ready for their work of destruction, as has been the custom of their species ever since the ancient days in Egypt.
In June, when the wheat was far advanced, the grasshoppers were so numerous and so busy that the atmosphere was filled with a smell not unlike that of a cow's breath when she is feeding on pasture lands in springtime.
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About seven days after their wings came out into perfection the pests went with the north wind, taking their flight at mid-day.
EXTERMINATING THE "HOPPERS."
Early in the month of August. 1873. near Magnolia, and a little later, at Harris' Grove they came down in great numbers and destroyed both corn and oats. Owing to the direction of the wind. they remained twenty days, and left a valueless crop in several portions of Harrison county. They also deposited their eggs and the following spring there were ten grasshoppers where one had existed in the autumn. It became a serious proposition. Some tried to exterminate them by digging trenches a foot wide and sixteen inches deep, with deeper holes at greater distances, as relays. When coming to this trench the "hoppers" would tumble in, and, when once in, would follow it until they came to the deeper holes in the bottom of the trench into which they would fall. When these holes were filled the grasshoppers would be destroyed by fire or other means.
Others attempted to protect themselves from the "hoppers" by scatter- ing straw or hay along their line of travel, and setting fire to it at night.
Still another plan (used extensively in Cherokee county) was to con- struct a dust-pan shaped device, twelve feet long by two feet in width, to which ropes were fastened. The arrangement would then be filled with kero- sene oil and dragged over the land. The grasshoppers, forced into the oil, soon died.
Again, in 1875, they came light a mightywhirlwind, an d in a few hours destroyed hundreds of fields of corn and grain.
In 1876 they came again in multiplied numbers, deposited eggs and died. These eggs hatched in April, 1877; but farmers, having become schooled by this time, kept the pest well under control by the use of french, torch and pan- scraper. They left this county on July 20, 1877. Upon their departure south- ward the very heavens were darkened each day for two full weeks. This was the last time grasshoppers have visited the county in sufficient numbers to do great damage to field crops and garden. They usually came from the north and northwest and, when ready to leave, waited for a northwest wind. The ruin which remained after a few days of the work of these singular pests (sent for what purpose the best of scientific minds know not) was indeed sickening. Fields of wheat and corn that at sunrise bid fare for many bush- els per acre, were in many instances merely masses of cut and broken stalks (18)
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and half cut wheat, with heads eaten off and pulled apart. The people at that date were in no financial condition to meet such great losses.
A local observer ( J. JI. Smith) speaks of the grasshopper in these words : "When the time comes for the female to deposit her eggs, the male, by the use of his legs or claws, burrows a hole in the apparently solid carth quite a half inch in depth and then the female takes possession of the place pre- pared, when a deposit of some mucous is placed in the cavity so as to make the place of depot water tight. The eggs are then deposited therein by the female and, when completed, the eggs, or bundles of eggs, are scaled by the same kind of mucous substance placed on top of the deposit, and when the same is exposed to the air it hardens and all dampness is excluded from the nest. In each of these plum-shaped receptacles, or deposits, there are usu- all placed from seventy to one hundred and thirty eggs, and no matter as to the severity of the weather and constant freezing, or abundance of rain- fall. when the spring comes and the rays of the sun catches these places of deposit, the eggs hatch and the young hopper is on hand and never relin- quishes his claims to earth until he is crushed by the foot or has rusticated until the following September."
"SQUATTERS" AND "REGULATORS."
In 1830 Iowa had part in the United States treaty which covered the reservation for the Pottawattamie Indian tribe, and from the completion of that act to 1846, that tribe held exclusive sway and occupied all the lands named in that treaty, including what is now Harrison county. In June, 1846, the general government made a new treaty with the Indians, which the latter went beyond the waters of the Missouri river, giving control of all this rich territory to the white men. As far north as this county the government made no surveys for the purpose of actual settlement until 1852. What was known as "squatter sovereignty" from about 1847 to 1853. pos- sibly later in special cases and locations, was forceful in its character. When a pioneer "claimed" land all that he was expected to do was to remain on such land until such time as the government could and would survey and sell the same to him, which many "squatters" did. For more than one decade in this portion of Iowa it was not "healthy" for any person to "jump" a claim thus secured by right of first occupancy. The offender must either swing from the end of a rope or leave the country at once. Pioneers were of one accord in this respect and, revolutionary like, stood shoulder
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to shoulder. When lands could be entered at the Council Bluffs land office, a few trusty men from the settlement would usually accompany the register- ing settler, to see that justice was done and that he was protected from "land sharks" and mere land speculators. The country was full of this lat- ter type of men, and they had to be dealt with according to pioneer severity. This committee asked not a cent for such services, but of course would, in many instances, allow the man who was getting title of his land to pay for a drink of liquor. When one actual settler was imposed upon the whole settlement would quickly hurry to his rescut, day or night, rain or shine. Sometimes regular, formal notices were served on would-be "jumpers" that if they did not relinquish all supposed rights to a certain piece of land, that they would receive free transportation to the great unknown country, whence "claim jumpers" were never known to return.
What were styled "Regulators" consisted of a band of pioneers who were organized and had their regular officers. This society became a law of itself and none dared question their authority. Sometimes one would presume that this society was not legal, but in such cases "Judge Lynch" tried the case with but little argument, and sentence was at once executed in a nearby grove. But such cases were rare and seldom resulted in death, the usual outcome being a speedy flight from Harrison county, then a king- dom by itself.
In the nineties a list of some of the hardy pioneers who belonged to this society of protection-"Regulators"-was prepared by one of their number, still living in the county, and it contained the following, then well- known and highly-honored citizens of the county: J. W. Chatburn, Ste- phen Mahoney, Daniel Brown. Robert Hall, James W. Bates, George Black- man, William T. Fallon, N. G. Wyatt, Thomas B. Neeley, James Hardy, Lucius Merchant, Joel Patch, Peter Barnett, Solomon Barnett, H. H. Loch- ling, Ezra Vincent. Henry George, Horation Caywood, Thomas Durham, Jacob Huffman, Chester Staley, Chester M. Hamilton, Jacob Mintun, Joseph Crom, B. F. La Porte, Amos S. Chase, Ira Perjue, Benjamin Denice, John Ennis, O. M. Allen, Gay Cleveland, Eleazer Davis, and others whose names have been lost sight of with the shifting years. But few of these men, who, in their own way. sought to see that honorable men seeking homes in this county should not be imposed upon and beaten out of their rights, are now living, but their sons and daughters are still numerous here.
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TERRIBLE "LOGAN RAILWAY WRECK" OF 1896.
On July 15. 1896, occurred one of the most disastrous railway wrecks that ever took place in the state of Iowa. The Union Pacific Pioneers, of Omaha, were holding their annual picnic at Logan on that day, having a special train of their sixteen passenger cars and one baggage car. Towards evening, when they were returning home, a misconstrued train order caused the special to collide with a fast freight train, just around the sharp curve southwest of Logan and about half a mile from the station. The train they met was "No. 38," fast freight and return mail coaches, east bound. The excursion train was to wait for No. 2, and the passengers were all occupy- ing their seats. A freight had passed then, which they supposed was the fast freight, but which proved to be another train. The train orders for No. 38 had been overlooked or forgotten by the agent and train crew; hence the awful disaster. W. R. Shaffer, an old-time agent at Logan, was then stationed at that town.
The two trains met full speed, and the result was fearful. The bag- gage car was driven entirely through the first passenger coach. Several passengers were beheaded and many were badly mutilated. The mecting of the fated trains was plainly seen by John F. Smeadley, a farmer living three miles north of Missouri Valley, who was near the curve at the time of the collision. He stated at the inquest: "When I saw the two trains they must have been fully twenty rods apart. I realized that nothing could pre- vent a collision. I stood up in my buggy, swung my hat and cried out in an effort to signal the engineers of the two trains. That my signs were not observed is apparent to my mind for the reason that there was no effort made to stop either of the trains, or, at least, not as far as I could see. } screamed at the top of my voice, but still the two trains moved toward each other. Then I waited. It seemed like an hour. The cold sweat streamed from my face as I stood there waiting for the crash which must have been but a few seconds later. I was but a few rods ahead of the excursion train and not to exceed five hundred feet from the track when the two engines came together.
COLLISION GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBED.
"The moment the two iron monsters struck was the most trying of all my life. I had served in the Civil War and was in twelve battles, but never did I experience such a feeling as I did when I stood upon the Jowa prairie,
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knowing that in a very short time scores, and perhaps hundreds of brave men, delicate women and innocent children would be killed, and that no power could prevent the catastrophe. At last the end came and that strange spell passed from me.
"As the two trains continued toward each other, there was a dull, heavy shock that seemed like the rumbling of distant thunder. This was followed by a hissing sound and in an instant the two engines and the front car of each train became enveloped in clouds of steam, completely obscuring them from view. Soon the clouds cleared away and as it did I saw the engine of the freight train climbing on top of the one attached to the excursion train. Behind the engine of the excursion train there seemed to be cars crowding and pressing together. The floors of the baggage car seemed to rise almost at the same instant it struck the body of the coach immediately behind. As the floor struck, it plowed into the coach, just above the win- dows and continued on in its course until it reached within a few feet of the rear end, when it seemed to waver, topple and then settle down upon the coach, crushing it to what seemed to be but a mass of kindling wood. . \s the noise of crashing timbers subsided there arose upon the air the cries of men, women and children mingled with groans of the maimed and dying."
There were forty-two maimed for life and twenty-five killed outright.
The rescue work commenced within ten minutes after the wreck oc- curred. The sides of the passenger coaches were broken in and the work of taking om of the dead and injured begun. Dr. I. C. Wood, of Logan, was near the scene, and, after giving instructions, went hastily back to town to prepare the old skating rink for the reception of the dead and injured. as they should be brought in. Doctors Watt and Weise were on the grounds directing the rescue work.
The wrecking train reached the place at 10:30 p. m. A "special" from Missouri Valley with Doctors Coit. MeGavren, Mason and Tamisica ar- rived before the wrecking train. Doctor Beattie, of Dunlap, and others from nearby towns soon responded to calls for help.
The scenes at Omaha, upon the arrival of the train at the Union depot at 8:30 o'clock the next morning, when two cars-a passenger coach and what seemed to be a "chamber of horrors," the other car of the train- beggars all description by pen or tongue. The entrance was guarded by police and seventeen bodies covered with muslin shrouds and laid on pine boards were carried, one at a time, to the baggage room and placed in a long row on the floor. The silent forms gave evidence of the awful col- lision at Logan the day before. Headless trunks, bodies without limbs, and
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limbs without bodies, a gruesome spectable, were all gathered in that small space.
The coroner's inquest ( Doctor Macfarlane being coroner) had as jury- men, J. A. Berry, Albert Loss and T. F. Vanderhoof.
Suits for damages amounting to almost a million dollars, were worry- ing their way through the courts for nearly, if not quite ten years after the wreck. Counting the large amounts received by friends of the deceased, and by the injured, together with the large amount of property destroyed, it was one of the most financially expensive wrecks that ever occurred on Jowa soil. It was also the worst in way of loss of life and limb.
A POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.
Frank Hill, now an abstractor and realty dealer and one of the hustling type of business nien of the county, doing business at Logan, but formerly of Magnolia, was the son of Captain Hill of early-day fame in the county. At the time of the Civil War, Captain Hill was arrested for supposed sym- pathy with the South, and was treated in a most shameful manner by the government officers. It was later proved that he was only trying to get his wife through the lines to the loyal states when arrested, and was, in fact, no worse than hundreds of others, who, at first, did not favor the rebellion. The son, Frank, reared in Magnolia, sought election to the office of county clerk of Harrison county in a recent political campaign, having received the nomination at the hands of his friends, on the Democratic ticket, and, to make his claim more potent, he published the following unique circular in poem style in the various county newspapers :
"Frank Hill's Card"-
I wish to state that Frank Hill I was named,
The reputation I bear I am not ashamed. The record of my life is open for you to see, As candidate for office that is the way it should be. My age I have not often told,
But really, I am thirty-eight years old.
I was born in Harrison county, in old Magnolia town,
Noted for producing men of great renownl.
Newell Dwight Hillis was a Magnolia boy, but now in front rank, As for me, I was simply elected cashier of the Magnolia Bank, I served as postmaster and business manager of the butter factory; The services I rendered the people say were satisfactory.
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Should you honor me and elect me county clerk,
You can rest assured my duties I will not shirk.
I did not seek the nomination, but accepted for my father's sake-
Read Joe H. Smith's history of the county-it's no fake!
He states my father was outrageously treated,
And I think his account true.
For my father's sake only now I wish to win;
I have, as you know, a large majority to overcome,
But your vote will help me some.
This is the first time for office I ever ran;
If you think I am competent and worthy, and feel as though you can, Then kindly vote for me,
For this I will thankful be.
FRANK HILL. Logan, lowa.
(Candidate for Clerk of the District Court, on the Democratic ticket.) See election returns.
PRESENT AND DISCONTINUED POSTOFFICES.
In Harrison county there are, or have been, the following postoffices : The present offices are California, Logan, Missouri Valley, Modale, Mon- damin, Persia, Pisgah, Woodbine and Yorkshire.
The discontinued offices are Whitesboro, now supplied from Woodbine; Crisp, supplied from Logan; Beebeetown, supplied from Logan; Allen, sup- plied from Woodbine; Unionburg, Union township, Valley View and pos- sibly others in the south half of the county, with Olympus, in Lincoln town- ship; Soldier Valley, in Jackson county, and Echo, in Raglan township.
PRESENTED TO THIL COUNTY.
About 1904 Almor Stern, of Logan, donated to the county authorities, enclosed in a large frame, a picture of the old court house, built in 1856, at Magnolia. Surrounding the picture of the pioneer court house were the pictures of Hon. Stephen King, P. G. Cooper, James Hardy, D. E. Brain- ard, Jonas Chatburn, James M. Harvey, Marcellus Holbrook, Samuel Moore and H. C. Harshbarger, all of whom served as county judges between 1853 and I869, when the office was abolished. It has much historic value at- tached to it.
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HARRISON COUNTY IHISTORICAL SOCIETY.
In the month of June, 1914. the initial steps were taken to form a his- torical society for this county, with plans for a county museum and general society headquarters to be kept at the court house, where all the society's papers, records. books, maps, charts and articles of historic value, with In- dian and Mound Builders' relics, etc., might be preserved to future genera- tions. Judge Thomas Arthur was chosen president ; A. M. Fyrando. secre- tary, and J. M. Albertson. W. L. Stern and H. A. Kunney, members of a committee on permanent organization. It is believed that the board of county supervisors will cheerfully give the use of one of the rooms in the court house for headquarters. This association will work in conjunction with the Old Settlers' meetings and thus give, what should have been in existence long ago, some means of preserving the past history and serve as a medium by which collections and contributions may hereafter be made of all that concerns the real, vital history of Harrison county. Many valuable documents have been allowed to perish in the past. but from now on it is hoped that every scrap of historical data will be carefully preserved.
Nothing speaks better for any people than the care and preservation of their history and traditions.
OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.
In every intelligent, thinking community the pioneer settlers have al- ways organized Old Settlers' Reunion Societies of one sort or another, and . Harrison county is no exception to the rule. This idea obtains in a special degree in the states west of the Allegheny mountains, states that have been settled during the last hundred years and less. These associations have done, and are still doing, much to preserve local history and promote a friendly feeling among both the pioneers and their sons and daughters. The fires of patriotism and love of country or of home are strengthened by a narration of such important events as tend to stir the blood and quicken to life those divine affections of man. The love of home and parents and kindred have thus been strengthened by oft-told tales of aged fathers or mothers, especially of those pioneer fathers and mothers who toiled early and late, hard and long, in order to give their descendants the priceless boon of a home and plenty, of refinement and love of God and humanity.
The pioneers, in gathering in these annual reunions, seem to live over again those early days and year -. Their eyes sparkle and they grow young
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as the fading reminiscences of other days are recalled. As was well stated by a pioneer in an adjoining county, at a meeting of this character :
"You come together with varied emotions. Some of you, almost at the foot of life's hill, look back and upward at the path you have trod, while others, who have just reached life's summit, gaze down into the valley of tears with many a hope and fear. You, gray-headed fathers, have done your work; you have done it well; and now as the sunset of life is closing around you, you are given the rare boon of enjoying the fruits of your own labor. You can see the land won by your own right arm from its wilderness state and from a savage foe, passed to your children and your children's children-literally 'a land flowing with milk and honey': a land over which hover the white-robed angels of religion and peace: a land fairer and brighter and more glorious than any other land beneath the blue arch of heaven. You have done your work well, and when the time of rest shall come, you will sink to the dreamless repose with the calm consciousness of duty donc.
"In this hour let memory state her strongest sway; tear aside the thin veil that shrouds the misty past in gloom; call up before you the long-for- gotten scenes of years ago: live over once again the toils, the struggles, the hopes and fears of other days. Let this day be a day sacred to the memory of the olden time. In that oldlen time there are no doubt scenes of sadness as well joy. Perhaps you remember standing by the bedside of a loved and cherished but dying wife-one who, in the days of her youth and beauty when you proposed to her to seek a home in a new wild land, took your hand in hers and spoke to you in words like this: 'Whither thon goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people and thy God my God; when thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried; the Lord do so to me and also if aught but death part me and thee.' Or perhaps some brave boy stricken down in the pride of his strength: or some gentle daughter fading away in her glorious beauty: or some little prattling babe folding its weary eyes in the dreamless sleep. If there are memories like these, and the unbidden tear wells up to the eye, let it come, and today one and all shed a tear or two to the memory of the loved and lost."
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