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 5
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"On July 28, 1804. the party disembarked just north of the mouth of Indian creek (now called Pigeon creek), some eight or ten miles north of the present city of Council Bluffs, 'at the spot where the "Ayuway" Indians for- meriy lived, before emigrating to the Des Moines river.' A few days later Lewis and Clark held a council with the Otoes on the west side of the Mis- souri river and called the place 'Council Bluffs.'
"Lewis and Clark reported that the tribes west of the Missouri river traded with the merchants of St. Louis, and were on friendly terms with the Indians east of the river : the 'Ayouways' and the 'Saukees and Foxes,' all of whom laid claim to the western Jowa country. The former were said to be a 'turbulent race, frequently abuse their traders, and commit depredations on those ascending and descending the Missouri ; their trade can't be expected to increase much.' They were reported to have one village of possibly eight hundred souls, including two hundred warriors, forty leagues up the river Des Moines, on the southeast side. They traded with Mr. Crawford, and other merchants from Michilimackinac, at their village and hunting camps, and supplied deer skins principally, also skins of black bear, beaver, otter, grey fox, raccoon, muskrat and mink. It was asserted that with encouragement they might be induced to furnish elk and deer's tallow and bear's oil.
"Lewis and Clark also ordered their men to pitch camp just below Soldier river (Harrison county ), and a few miles above the Little Sioux river ( Monona county ). Here the interpreter told all he knew about the river's sources, also of the Des Moines river. On the 8th, gth, roth and HIth of August the party again tarried in what later became Monona county. Then, at noon on August 20th, the party put to shore just below the site of Sioux City. 'Here we had the misfortune to lose one of our sergeants. Charles
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Floyd. Died of billions colle. Buried on top of bluff with the honors due to brave soldiers ; the place of his interment was marked by a cedar post, on which his name and the date of his death was inscribed. We called this place Floyd, also a small river about thirty yards wide, where we camped.' "
[Note: It should be stated in this connection that the citizens of Sioux City, aided by a state appropriation, about twenty years ago, erected a fine, costly monument on the site of Sergeant Floyd's grave, and it may now be seen at the right hand as one goes by rail from Missouri Valley to Sioux City.]
CAMPS OF LEWIS AND CLARK.
This expeditionary party had for their camping places within Harrison county, as now known, the following locations, as shown by records in the hands of Mr. Wattles, civil engineer at Missouri Valley, and who ob- tained the same from the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C., a few years since, the same being certified by the government :
August 4, 180.1, they camped, and made journal entries on the section line between what is now 29 and 30, of township 78, range 45.
August 5, 1804, they selected a camping place in section 29. township 79, range 45.
August 6, 1804, they camped in section 9, township So, range 45. These camping places are better described to the reader by stating that they were in civil townships, Cincinnati, Clay and Morgan townships. This was mostly a river expedition, hence the party did not get far back from the banks of the Missouri river. It may be of interest to know that in 1804 the main channel of the Missouri river was exactly where the village of River Sioux now stands. The river is now a mile to the west.
In ISII Breckenridge and his trading party passed "Floyd's Bluff" and made the following sentimental entry in their journal :
"The grave occupies a beautiful rising ground, now covered with grass and wild flowers. The pretty little river, which bears his name, is neatly fringed with willow and shrubbery. Involuntary tribute was paid the spot, by the feeling even of the most thoughtless. as we passed by. It is several year since he was buried here: no one has disturbed the cross which marks the grave; even the Indians who pass, venerate the place, and often leave a present or offering near it. Brave, adventurous youth! thou art not forgotten -for although thy bones are deposited far from thy native home, in the desert waste, yet the cternal silence of the plain shall mourn thee, and men- ory will dwell upon thy grave!"
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Another journal account of the coming and going of white men in the vicinity of Harrison county reads as follows :
"On Sunday, the 2d of July, 1820. five army officers, including Captain Stephen W. Kearny, fifteen sokliers, four servants, an Indian guide with his wife and pappoose, and eight mules and seven horses, were ferried from 'Council Bluffs' across the Missouri to mouth of the Boyer and landed on Iowa soil. They were dispatched as a government expedition to discover a practicable route for the passage of United States troops between Camp Missouri and Camp Cold Water (later called Fort St. Anthony, on the St. Peter river, Minnesota). After traveling northward about thirty miles they celebrated the Fourth of July 'to the extent of our means; an extra gill of whisky was issued to each man and we made our dinner on pork and biscuit and drank to the memory of our forefathers in a mint julep.' Following the course of the Boyer and Little Sioux rivers, then cast and northeast to Lake Pepin, and then northwest. the party arrived at the northern post, where Captain Kearny declared the officers 'were a little astonished at the sight of us, we having been the first whites that ever crossed at such a distance from the Missouri to the Mississippi river.' For various reasons Captain Kearny re- ported that the circuitous route was impracticable and almost impassable throughout the entire year for more than very small military forces, and hence troops seem never again to have traversed this particular region."
INDIAN TRAILS.
From 1848 to 1855, there were well marked trails of the Indian tribes in this county. The first of these trails which will be noted was the one fol- lowing up the divide near the old traveled road from Harris Grove to Crescent City. This, in the center of Harris Grove, was intersected by one which followed the divide, reaching down to the farm of Joe Hills at the brow of the bluffs on the Missouri bottoms, on the north line of Potta- wattamie county. This trail followed up Harris creek on the east bank, crossing the creek named about three quarters of a mile east of Reeder's Mill, thence in a northwesterly direction to Elk Grove; then a little north of east to Six Mile Grove, crossing Six Mile creek a little west of the farm later owned by Jason Hunt; thence on a little grove, once called Braden's Grove; then to Twelve Mile Grove, crossing the farm of Matthew Hall, as well as that of old Mr. Mefford; thence crossing the Picayune creek, near or at the farm of Samnel De Cou. From the rising of the divide at this point, the trail parted into three directions, one to Big Tree Grove, one
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to Coon Grove and the other direct to Galiand's Grove, in Sheiby county. Near the correction line in Harris Grove, the trail last mentioned, branched off to the east and ran direct, by the divides as nearly as could be had, to the nearest point on the Nishnabotna, in Shelby county. Another trail fol- lowed up the brow of the bluffs, from Joe Hills', crossing the Boyer river at a point where Missouri Valley is now situated, then known as McIntosh's Point, and there rising the bluffs to the high divide, followed on to Spen- cer's Grove, thence in a northwesterly direction, touching Reel's Grove, near where present Logan stands: thence along the divide in a northeasterly direction to Bigler's Grove, and from that point in the last named direction to Weimer's Grove (then called Dunham's Grove), on the north line of the county, and from there on toward Boyer Lake, the head of the Boyer river.
An old trail came into the bluffs, just to the west of Henry Garner's in Raglan township, followed down the edge of the bluffs along the bot- toms until it reached the old pioneer farm of Ira Perjue, a half mile north- west of old Calhoun, at which point it raised the back-bone, passed within fifty feet of the collection of mounds, numbering six in all. From here the Indian trail went north, through Magnolia Grove, Spink's Grove, thence northeast on the divide, west of Elk creek, and east of Allen until the north line of the county was reached and passed. Another trail branched from the main trail, which came from the Missouri river, and rising the back- bone of the bluffs, struck Raglan Grove; thence on through the grove named nearly north, crossing Steer creek near the farm later known as the S. E. Streeter place, and from there to Coffman's Grove, and from this place up the divide on the east side of the Soldier river to the north line of the county. It also had convenient runways across the trails proper, up the Boyer and to other trails already inentioned.
Be not deceived, reader, as to the beauty and well-formed highway you may have had in mind when reading accounts of "trails." Remember these trails were no "Lincoln Highway" of the twentieth century, but simply indentures made in the surface of the soil, by the tramping of the ponies' feet and the scratchings occasioned by the tepee-poles which were dragged by the ponies, one end of the poles being lashed to the back of the pony and the other end dragging on the ground. At many places in Harrison county, farmers have, while plowing, unearthed skeletons of an- other race of people. George Hardy, in 1854, found a skeleton of one oi these people on a promontory along Allen creek, near Magnolia. Porter Streeter, of Raglan township, about 1886, plowed from one of his grain
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fields, a skull bone, which was kicked around his door-yard by the chiktren for months. Within twenty years prior to 1890, there were not less than cighity such skulls plowed or dug up from Harrison county soil.
When the Indians moved from place to place, the pappooses were stuck into baskets and these baskets were tied together and thrown across some pony, and astride the same pony the old "buck" Indian, or father, rode as peacefully as though he were the Czar of Russia, while the okl squaw mother trudged along on foot, sad and silent, expecting no better treatment from her lord. The camp equipage was transported by being strapped to the backs of ponies, or by being thrown into a sort of recept- acle constructed by tying a buffalo robe or blanket to two tent or tepee poles ; these were fastened at one end to the back of the pony, and the other ends left to drag on the ground. The blanket or robe being fastened to the tent poles nearly equi-distant from the respective ends, so that the seat, or sack, formed by the spreading of the poles constituted the scat. or boot, for the camp equipage, or the sick of the company, as the case demanded.
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CHAPTER IN.
PIONEER SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY AND FIRST EVENTS.
To establish the fact as to who was the first settler in a given county, in any state, is not always an easy task, and especially is this true in a county like Harrison, where the Mormon people made the first settlements, after they had been driven from Illinois and Missouri. between 1844 and 1847. Many of such families remained in Harrison county, before it was really organized and known as a county, and after a few years moved on to other locations, some going on with the Mormons to the "promised land" in Utah, while thousands of them remained in southwestern Iowa and became prime movers, and among the hest citizens in laying solid the foundation stones of this and adjoining counties. Very likely the first deaths, births, and mar- riages here were among these people, but without any form of county gov- ernment, they left no record of such facts in the history they made. But from all that seems good evidence. it has been established years ago, in the minds of both the Latter-Day Saints and the "Gentiles," that the facts sur- rounding Harrison county's first settlement were about as follows :
It should be stated, at the outset, that there may have been a first man to locate and that he may have not been the first man to remain a perma- nent settler -- this is true in most counties in Iowa. But that our people know who was the first person to become a permanent resident is beyond doubt. Such person was Daniel Brown, who with his family, first settled this county in the antun of 1846 and March, 18447. Mr. Brown was with : the exodus of Mormon people who stopped at Florence, or "Winter Quar- ters," just north of the present site of the city of Omaha. in the fall of 1816. He had trouble with President Brigham Young, the head of the Mormon church at that date, as did thousands of others of the Mormon religious faith. He soon left that branch of the church and made hunting and exploring trips over the country, including trips over Harrison county, and finally found a suitable place in which to build a home for him- self and family. The spot chosen was where the village of Calhoun was later situated. It was in January, 1847, that Brown made his second trip to this county and built a log cabin and split some rails with which to fence
(5)
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his land. During March, 1847, his daughter. Mrs. Hammond, was taken ill at Florence, Nebraska, where the family still remained. and on this account he went back to that place, where the daughter died in March. In April of that spring (and early in the month it is claimed by his daughters ), he brought his family to Calhoun, the spot selected for his new home. There seems no good evidence that there had up to this date ever been any set- tlement effected within this county, and certainly there were none that re- mained long enough to make improvements, or really be entitled to the honor of being styled "first settlers." A few weeks later, Mr. Brown went to Mis- souri, leaving the family at Calhoun. He remained down there until after harvest, then returned to the family in Harrison county. On July 10. 1847 -the year of Brown's settlement --- came Uriah Hawkins and family. who located in section 20, of what is now Cass township, and there the family remained and were still on the same spot in the nineties. The head of the household died in September. 1869.
The next settlement in the county was made by the following persons : Barney brothers, in the fall of 1817. located in Cass township. They re- mained but a few years and sold out and removed to other parts.
John Reynolds and family came in 1848, and finally located in Boyer township, but lived in a rude pole shanty, or cabin, at the west side of Big- ler's Grove, in Magnolia township, one winter, residing in St. John town- ship from 1848 to 1852.
John Harris settled in 1848 at the beautiful grove still bearing his name; Amos S. Chase also came the same year and wintered in 1848-49. in Clay township, feeding his stock in the rush beds, near the Missouri river. Silas W. Condit came that year also.
In 18.19 the settlement was increased by the advent of Orville M. Allen and Alonzo Hunt. There were all Mormon believers, except possibly the last named. Reynolds, Chase. Condit and Allen became permanent resi- dents of the county.
The first land purchased from the United States government was that sold to Daniel Brown, for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. at the Council Bluffs land office, in December, 1852. This was the eighty-acre tract upon which Brown later platted the village of Calhoun, and where he attempted to have the county seat located, but failed.
By townships, it may be stated that the settlements were effected as follows:
Magnolia township was first settled by George Blackman in section 29. in 1850. Mr. Blackman came to the township the year before, and selected
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HARRISON COUNTY, JOW.A.
his lands. He claimed a half section of land. He was a native of Canada. born April, 1828, and in 1843 his parents moved to Missouri, but owing to the feelings against the Mormons they went to Nauvoo, Illinois, and in 1846 came to Council Bluffs. Here he remained with his parents until 1849. when he commenced working on his own account, and came to Harrison county. He married, in Pottawattamie county. Miss Harriet Staley, on June 11, 1850, and the issue by such union was: Stephen, Charles. Helena, John. Juliet, George, Hattie. Harry and Laura. . The entire family were of the Mormon faith, except Stephen and Harry.
In Jefferson township, the first to settle was Jason Z. Hunt, who left the State of New York in the spring of 1850. landing in this county that year in the month of May. He located in section 13. of Jefferson township. remained ten years and moved to section 12, where he erected the second brick house in Harrison county. He owned almost three hundred acres of excellent land. He was a brother-in-law of Stephen King, and died in Sep- tember, 1891. Mr. Hunt was born in Saratoga county, New York, Feb- ruary 20, 1822, and was the son of Walter and Susan ( Deming ) Hunt. The grandfather, Capt. Ziba Hunt, was born in Connecticut. January 4. 1746, and died September 10, 1820, at North Hampton, New York. His wife was Joanna Blount, whom he married in early life, and reared a family of thirteen children.
Walter Hunt, father of Jason Ziba Hunt, was born September 24, 1782, at Stephensontown, New York, and married Susanna Deming. December 5, 1802, and died at Edinburg, New York, March 23, 1863. his wife dying at the same place in the month of October. 1872. They reared a family of ten children, Amos, Joanna, Isaac, Betsy, Sallie, George Washington, Will- iam W .. Jason Ziba, Amanda M. and Alonzo R.
IIAD SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS ON ARRIVAL.
Jason Ziba Hunt and wife were the parents of six children : Camilla S .. Livy M., Hattie M., Orville B., Mary E. and Hon. Charles W .. now of Logan. Pioneer Hunt taught the Cass township school in 1852, the term being completed by Judge Stephen King. Mr. Hunt also taught two months at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs). He studied civil engineering in his young manhood, which was invaluable to him in the western country. . In an interview in the nineties, he stated that in early times he had to walk to Council Bluffs three times -- once to purchase an axe. , Upon coming to this county he had but seventy-five cents, but made use of his energies in mak-
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ing for himself a home in Harrison county and died a well-to-do man. In church matters, he was of the Methodist Episcopal church, while in politics he voted the Republican ticket.
Boyer township was first settled by Charles Smith, of sectoin 29, either i 1849 or 1850. His aged father lived with him here. Charles died in 18Gy. The family was of the Mormon religious faith.
The next to settle in this township was Richard Musgrave and son, . George. They located at Twelve Mile Grove. in section 25. The father died in the eighties. The son was the well-known newspaper man of Logan and other towns of the county. Politically the family were Democratic. The year of their settlement was 1851. The same year came John Jeffrey. who purchased a Mormon claim in section 18. He was Scotch, and saw many pioncer hardships. Another well-known settler in 1851 was Lorenzo D. Butler, a Mormon, who came from Council Bluffs, settling in Twelve Mile Grove, locating his claim in section 12, but later buying a claim in section 15. He built one of the first mills in the county. It is now known ( though not operated on account of the big dredge ditch ) as the Woodbine Flouring Mill. He opened a general store in 1855. As a Mormon missionary he went to England. He died in 1884. and his widow, who named the town of Wood- bine from her birthplace in England, survived until the spring of 1914. when she was almost ninety years of age and universally beloved.
In 1852. Thomas Thompson settled at Bigler's Grove. See township ·history for further settlers of Boyer township.
Little Sioux township was first settled by Silas W. Condit. now de- ceased, who came in 1848. He was among the great body of Mormons who came as far west as Council Bluffs, and there left the Mormon church on account of the teaching of President Young relative to polygamy. His settlement was the first on the Little Sioux river in Harrison county. Mr. Condit was by birth a New Jerseyite. By trade he was a shoemaker and worked at it in Ohio, where he united with the Mormon church. He fol- lowed this body on to Council Bluffs and while surveying lots, at old Trader's Point. it is believed that the Mormons murdered Amos, his brother. who was connected with the survey, as they believed the lines encroached on their rights. Mr. Condit thought the elders had something to do with allow- ing the murderer to escape. For this, and other reasons, he left the church and came to Harrison county. Subsequently, he platted the town of Little Sioux. His nearest neighbor was Daniel Brown. His first house was a log structure with a bark roof. He established a ferry boat over the waters of the Little Sioux.
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HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
Morgan township had for its first settler Mr. Orinder and family, who located in 1854, remained a short time and went on to Kansas. In 1856 a large number of people came in to this township from Ohio, among them being Captain John Noyes, Jolm Hendrickson, Eli Coon and David Gamet- see township history for more on this settlement.
David Gamet settled near Magnolia in 1853, and in 1857 moved to section 35, Morgan township. In 1892 he owned over eight hundred acres of choice Ilarrison county land, and was in mercantile business at Mon- damin.
EARLY INVASION OF CASS TOWNSIHP.
Cass township was first invaded by a settler in the person of Uriah Hawkins, who landed in this township, with his wife and five children, July 10, 1847-the second settler in Harrison county-Daniel Brown being the first. He claimed land in section 20, and remained there until his death in September, 1869. Of this the second actual settler in the county it should be recorded that he was born in New York state. September 27, 1800. He accompanied his aged father to Jackson county, lowa, in 1846, and there the father died. Uriah Hawkins had come to Iowa in 1835. while it was yet a territory. When he came to Harrison county in 1847, he took a "squatter's" claim of a quarter section, but later paid the government price of $1.25 per acre, and had his land patented to him. He had but little property upon coming here. This included two yoke of oxen, four cows, which he yoked up as oxen, a yearling heifer, a wagon and a scanty amount of houschold goods. He finally succeeded, and died in good financial cir- cumstances. . He lived a faithful member of the Latter-Day Saints church for thirty-eight years. His only son. Edward Hawkins, was born in Jack- son county, this state, in 1841. and accompanied his father to Harrison county.
The first pioneer to locate in Clay township was Amos S. Chase, who came in the fall of 1848. to the mouth of the Soldier river. He had a large drove of cattle which he herded on the rash beds during the winter. But as the spring floods of the Missouri drove him out, he concluded to locate in Little Sioux township, which he did. His claim was taken by Seth Chase, known as "Spanky," who came in about 1853. The next to settle in this township were Job Ross. T. A. Dennis, John Sharpnack and George Burcham. Dr. Libbius T. Coon was also a very early settler. He compounded and sold what he styled "bog-hay" for ague. In the sixties he sold his place to Doctor Patton and moved to Ciah.
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HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA.
In Union township, no white man had disturbed the solitary wilds of this portion of Harrison county previous to 1849, when Thomas Dobson and Riley Hough came in. Ilough located at the point of the grove where Unionburg later existed. The next settler to these two was Samuel Wood. familiarly known as "Uncle Sammy." who arrived in 1850, in the month of November, and selected lands in section 23. where he ever afterward resided and finally died. He was a Latter-Day Saint and came to the county with only five dollars, but with the passage of years he owned a good amount of valuable land in the township. This grand old character used to relate many exciting and hard-to-bear tasks, in his first ten years in this county. It required twenty-five cents to get a letter out of the post- office from all points out of lowa and fifteen cents within the state. "Due 25 cents" invariably appeared upon the face of all letters received. And even the fifteen cents was not always easily obtainable. Mr. Wood related that he gathered sod corn growing over in Missouri for one-tenth of the crop. in order to procure seed corn to plant his first crop in this township. Eight acres were planted from such seed and in the harvest time he re- joiced exceedingly at gathering fifty bushels of fine corn.
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