USA > Iowa > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882 > Part 79
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SEC. 2. The privileges hereby granted are upon the express condition that the said John N. Coldren & Co., their associates, successors and assigns, shall within eight (8) months from the passage of this ordinance put down three thousand and two hundred (3,200) feet of main pipe within said Iowa City, and that the price of gas to the inhabitants of said city shall be at the following rates, that is to say: whilst the number of private consumers of gas within said city shall be less than two hundred (200), the price of gas shall be five dollars and fifty cents ($5.50) per thousand cubic feet; when the number of private consumers of gas in said city shall be between two hundred (200) and three hundred and fifty (350), the price of gas shall be five dollars ($5.00) per thousand cubic feet; and when the number of private consumers shall exceed three hundred and fifty (350), the price of gas shall be four dollars and fifty cents ($4.50) por thousand cubic feet.
Passed April 8, 1870.
Gas Bills .- The city pays for 115 lamps-$3,600-to the Iowa City Gas and Light Company, now owned and controlled by J. K. Graves & Co., of Dubuque, Iowa. In 1879 the city council put up about sixty kerosene lamps on the outskirts of the city.
THE CITY WATER WORKS.
The ordinance under which the water works were erected was passed July 17, 1882. Among other things, it provides, in section 9, for seventy- five hydrants, at $60 each per year, and $50 each for any additional num- ber the city may order. Free use of water is stipulated for washing streets and alleys, sprinkling public grounds, cleaning fire apparatus, use in city hall, two public fountains, four watering troughs, and as many public drinking faucets on fire hydrants as the city council may order.
686
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Section 12 provides that a tax levy, not to exceed five mills on the dol- lar, may be assessed only on property within the limit of fire protection by the water works.
Section 7 provides that " the machinery used in the construction of said works shall consist of one Holly's quadruplex compound condensing pumping engines, in complete working order, and having a capacity to deliver into the mains one and one-half million gallons of water in twenty- four hours. This engine and pumps will consist of four engines and four pumps, and can be run with one, two, three, or four pumps at pleasure of engineer. There shall also be placed in pumping-house a duplex pump of one million gallons daily capacity, making a daily pumping capacity of two and one half million gallons in twenty-four hours. There shall be erected a stone and brick pumping-house to contain said machinery.
SEC. 10. The said grantees, their heirs, or assigns, shall at all times, in case of fire alarm cause a sufficient pressure to be kept up at the fire hydrants in use to throw six streams of water simultaneously out of one and one-fourth inch nozzles or eight streams from one inch nozzles a dis- tance of 150 feet horizontally, or 100 feet perpendicularly from any hydrant or hose attached thereto in the city, such streams to be thrown from at least 150 feet of hose.
SEC. 16. The water furnished to said city by said grantees, their heirs, or assigns shall be well filtered, and at all times clean, pure, and wholesome, and all filters shall be cleaned as often as necessary, and all mains, pipes, and hydrants shall be well washed and cleaned at least once a month, or oftener, if necessary. .
The above are the main points of general public interest, the rest is merely the ordinary working details of the contract between the city corpor- ation and the water-works company. There were to be five and one-fourth miles of main pipes laid, and seventy double discharge fire hydrants ready for service by January 1, 1883. The pumping-house and filter are on the river bank at the junction of Bloomington and Madison streets.
ALCOHOL WORKS.
The company was organized June 2, 1879. Works started November, 10, 1879. Buildings and machinery cost $50,000. Average run within the last year, 600 bushels per day. Suspended temporarily in 1882 because supply of grain was short, and not a good season for feeding cat- tle. Average number of hands employed, 40-not including the five U. S. revenue officers. The product was nearly all exported-principally to Spain. Their tax-paying market was Rock Island and New York. Total working capital in the business, $100,000. Have large ice-house; 12 cattle-sheds; 8 cribs, besides other storage room ; total capacity of grain storage, 100,000 bushels. Up to October, 1882, no serious accident had ever occurred in these works.
GLUCOSE WORKS.
Iowa City Grape Sugar Company Works first started March 1, 1881. Cost of grounds, buildings and machinery, $160,000. Present capital in the business $200,000. Daily capacity of works, 2,000 bushels of corn,
687
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
for which three car loads of coal is used. Average number of hands employed 100-two sets: twelve hours on and twelve off. Products last year, total, 12,000 cases of goods. Goods prepared for table use, and sold to wholesale houses, grocers and confectioners. Manufacture grape sugar, glucose, and corn syrups. No accident has ever happened in these work (Sept. 10, 1882). W. P. Coast, president; W. J. Allen, super- intendent; Samuel Sharpless, treasurer; E. G. Fracker, secretary till June, 1882-after that time A. J. Hershire was the secretary.
THE IOWA CITY PACKING COMPANY.
Situated on the switch of the B., C. R. & N. R. R. in the south part of Iowa City, not far from the distillery. It was completed in the fall of 1881, and the company operated all winter, and until hogs could not be had, then closed up; but opened again Nov. 1, 1882. It is one of the chief business enterprises of Iowa City. Its capacity is 500 hogs per day. The officers of the company are the Hon. Ezekiel Clark, president, and A. C. Younkin, secretary; T. G. Glover, superintendent. There are three car and four wagon shutes for unloading hogs into the pens. The usual parti- tions, gates and means of sorting and separating the animals are used, and the floored pens lead into a way to the platform of the great Victor scale which weighs a car load at a draught. When slaughtering begins the animals are driven from the pens into the elevator, by which they enter the building at the second story. Once inside, they wind up and up approaching the knife by easy stages until they reach the top floor where in a close corner they are caught, hung up by the heels, stuck, and passed on to be dropped into the scalding vat. From the time they take the knife till they take the water they pass over and parallel to a trough which catches their blood, as the dish did the gore of cock robin. Plunged into the hot bath they go through it, are thrown by a mechanical contriv- ance on to a long table and pass under the hands of the "scrapers." Cleaned of their hair they are gambreled and pass to the "gutters," are disembowled and robbed of their rough lard.
"The gambrels are hung on wheels which run on an iron way and carry the hog into the cooling room," a great apartment well aired and with a capacity of 2,200 hogs. Here, still on the gambrels, they are ranged in long rows and allowed to cool off. At the end of each row is a trap door. Below are the dungeons called the "chill room" that holds 3,000 hogs Cages of ice makes its temperature arctic. The carcasses are split and dropped through the traps to be hung up in that cold air, where the last pulse of animal heat is soon chilled and the meat becomes firm and solid. Out of this they go into the cutting room and are cut into the various parts and pieces known to commerce. From this room is one shute for the "long and short clear" and another for the shoulders and hams, through which they go into the "bulking" room below. This room is chilled also,
688
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
and the temperature is kept even by quadruple sashed windows and thick walls. Here the meat is cured.
What becomes of the rest of the hog? To begin with, his blood is caught in that trough away up under his death bed and passes into a great iron pipe and starts back down stairs. His viscera and rough lard are taken from the gutters, and thrown into great tanks and pass thence into retorts nearty full of water. At the upper end of these are pipes which carry off the lard as it rises from the boiling, while the lower ends open and discharge the residue down below. Going down stairs, we enter the "fertilizing room" where the bones, blood and all the offal come for con- version into manure. The iron pipe discharges the blood into vats where it is steam cooked until you can cut it with a knife and it looks like liver. It is then put into the dryer, a device which reduces it to a dry powder and one of the best manures for use on pasture, meadow or corn, and first on the list of the cotton planters, so when we put on a clean shirt we are clad in the hog we slopped and fed and ran after a year before, for his blood has passed in the chemistry of nature, into the cotton plant to per- fect its fiber. To this room come the bones and all of the hog that is uneatable and is reduced to powder and caked for manure. The fine lard is steamed and its "cracklings" come here too. The completion of this best building and its successful operation for one year are important events in the growth and history of Iowa City.
The following reminiscence of old-time pork enterprise is from the State Press, and comes in here appropriately for comparison with the great modern packing-house above described:
"In early days when hogs were not so plenty nor so well bred, there was a packing-house here. It was built, owned and run by the late John Powell, a merchant and factor who wrought great results out of the small opportunities offered by frontier commerce. His pork-house stood not far from the site of the Washington House, west side of the University campus, then the "Capital Square," and in 1851, it stood with its founda- tion in the waters of the great flood and its walls a lonely sentinel over the waste of wet which stretched from the hills on Clear creek west of the Rock Island track to the west line of the campus, and again from the line of hills which close upon the river at Richard Sanders', clear across to the ridge of Gen. Morris' 'Tulip Hill' farm. In that old house Mr. Powell bulked pork in winter. The hogs were hazel splitters, with lots of lean. The meat was cured and sent to St. Louis in the spring on flat- boats which were poled down the rivers. There it was exchanged for merchandise, which would be brought back on a steamboat."
THE GREAT WESTERN BREWERY.
One of the largest breweries in the State, is owned by John P. Dostal, and is located on the corner of Gilbert and Market streets. The first building of this brewery was built by Rupert in 1857. Dostal bought this property in 1873, and built the malt house, and in 1877 he built an addition and put in steam. The capacity is 25,000 barrels a year. There
689
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
is a cellar under the whole building, and a fine ice house was built in 1878, 150 feet in length, 35 feet wide and 20 feet high. He also manu- factures mineral water.
An official report made by collector Davis for 1866 shows that 4,119 barrels of beer were manufactured and sold in Iowa City during that year.
June 23, 1867, a fire occurred which destroyed eight buildings, on Iowa avenue and Clinton street. Among them was the first . brick building erected in the city twenty-seven years before, by a Mr. Bostwick, and of which George T. Andrews was the architect. Mr. Crum's printing office was burned at the same time, after having occupied the same room for twenty-six years. The Iowa City Standard was printed there in 1840.
IOWA CITY CONDENSED.
At Iowa City steam and river turn many wheels.
No. of Employes.
Iowa alcohol works. 40
Iowa City grape sugar works .75
Iowa City glass works. .60
Pearl oat meal mill at Coralville. 12
Marsh & Holubar, cornice makers. 20
M. T. Close & Sons, paper mill, Coralville. .40
M. T. Close & Co., oil mill. .30
Val Miller's flour mill, Coralville. 10
Iowa City flour mills, Lyman Parsons
6
Ryerson & Son, flour mill 7
Hawkeye machine shops. 20
Sheets, Getsburg & Co., planing mill 30
Hotz & Co., brewery.
6
Englest & Rittenmyer, brewery .
S
J. P. Dostal's brewery 10
Jaym, bridge-builder.
6
Long & Sons, bridge builders 10
Steam heating shop 10
Broom factory S
Water works 20
Gas works 10
C., R. I. & P. R. R. Co. 30
B., C. R. & N. R. R. Co. .30
In addition to this we may add that Iowa City has 3 good banks, 30 . benevolent institutions, 15 churches, 25 manufacturing establishments of all kinds, 340 business places, 10 wholesale houses, and the most public buildings of State and county of any city in Iowa.
690
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
ROSTER OF TOWNSHIP OFFICERS FOR 1882.
Big Grove Township-J. P., P. B. Andrews, U. C. Brown; constables, W. A. Palmar, Jas. Payn; clerk, M. Schircliff; assessor, A. M. White; trustees, P. Hauptman, A. W. Beuter and Jacob Kessler.
Cedar Township .- J. P., Nelson Paxson, Eli Dickey; constable, N. Swafford; clerk, S. M. Bowman; assessor, J. L. Adams; trustees, James Drabek, John E. Adams, and D. Malony.
Clear Creek Township .- J. P., Geo. W. Watson, Lorenzo Davis; con- stables, David Walker, Pat. Murphy; clerk, John D. Colony; assessor, J. M. Douglass; trustees, Nath. Bowers, J. C Hamilton.
Fremont Township .- J. P., Richard Huskins, Eli Fountain; constables, Geo. Edmonds, E. Reppert; clerk, G. W. Hensley; assessor, Isaac Fair- child; trustees, Geo. Pepple, D. Carey, and T. Carl.
Graham Township .- J. P., F. A. Beranek and Geo. Atkinson; consta- bles, J. A. Holland, John Lumpa; clerk, J. W. Holland; assessor, Eugene Sullivan; trustees, Thomas Metcalf, J. M. Huffman and Charles Dingle- berry.
Hardin Township .- J. P., John Reynolds and Thos. Watson; constable, John Dooley: clerk, J. R. Healy; assessor, Owen T. Gallagy; trustees, Nathan Crow and A. Smith.
Iowa City Township .- J. P., G. W. Dodder, D. S. Barber; constables, W. W. Paterson, James Havlik; clerk, L. A. Allen; assessor, J. P. Pisha; trustees, J. N. Clark, F. W. Rabenau and J. P. Pisha.
Jefferson Township .- J. P., Geo. C. Andrews, F. J. Pudill; constables, M. Anderson, A. Nerba; clerk, Paul Korab; assessor, Joseph Horak; trustees, Frank Sulek, J. S. Bowersox and J. W. Graham.
Liberty Township .- J. P., Gregory Gross, M. Birrer; constables, Anthony Miller, John Melleker; clerk, Gregory Gross; assessor, Jacob Overholtzer; trustees, Jo. S. Ruppencamp, Joseph Hirt and Jones Hart- man.
Lincoln Township .- J. P., James McFadden and Hugh Crawford; con- stables, John Peckham, Gus. Seiver; clerk, Charles Sheppard; assessor, A. R. Cherry; trustees, A. Sheland, Wm. Dodd and Claus Lutze.
Lucas Township .- J. P., G. R. Irish and Alix Kozer; constable, George T. Borland and Wm. Davis; clerk, J. G. Sperry; assessor, S. P. Fry; trustees, Paul Causter, Wm. Hanke and J. G. Crain.
Monroe Township .- J. P., A. P. Miller, Graham Thorn; constables, Levi Anderson, Joseph Konasek; clerk, Graham Thorn; assessor, Joseph Konasek; trustees, Josiah Millward, A. D. Slezak, A. Holubar.
Madison Township .- J. P., A. J. Rope, James Chamberlain ; constable, Samuel Alloway; clerk, R. H. Wray; assessor, M. Young; trustees, James Bridenstine, O. P. Babcock and John Sherman.
Newport Township .- J. P., Wm. Shuck, A. M. Hubbard; constables, J.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
K. McCallough, Henry Scharf; clerk, Joseph Kost; assessor, Thomas McCallough; trustees, W. J. Mullen, Frank Kasper and James Geary.
Oxford Township .- J. P., Geo. Rentz and W. H. Cotton; constables, John Berline, John Gamble; clerk, S. M. Stouffer; assessor, A. F. Bos- worth; trustee, John Masten, J. Sherlock, James Hardy.
Penn Township .- J. P., Nathan Owens, T. R. Hackett; consatbles, J. F. Price, T. R. Largents; clerk, H. A. White; assessor, S. B. Myers; trus- tees, Abe Albright, P. Long, Isaac Myers.
Pleasant Valley Township .- J. P., Lewis Miller and Abe Rarick; con- stables, John Hall and Joseph Hart; clerk, Melvin Smith; assessor, Jas. S. Wilson: trustees, Geo. W. Loan, G. B. DeSellem, A. Oathout.
Scott .-- J. P., J. T. Struble, W. W. Thompson ; constables, J. J. Parrott, Jr., Geo. Stagg; clerk, A. (). Price; assessor, Thos. B. Allen; trustees, A. C. Whitacre, John Paulus, Emory Wescott.
Sharon Township .- J. P., T. D. Davis, Geo. W. Wagner; constables, B. B. Hughes, E. Stickler; clerk, J. S. Weeber: assessor, G. A. Yoder; trustees, Jno. T. Jones, J. Durst, R. Johnson.
Union Township .- J. P., Jeremiah Nolan, Michael Wagner; constables, Louis Rohret, Henry Weeber; clerk, John J. Bradley; assessor, Peter Rohret; trustees, T. O. Thomas, D. R. Lewis, H. Herring.
Washington Township .- J. P., Wm. Haines, J. H. McKray; constables, John Archer, Wm. Hamilton; clerk, Peter Kettles; assessor, M. Zimmer- man; trustees, Wilson Murphy, Isaac Graham, D. F. Rogers.
COUNTY OFFICERS.
Auditor, A. Medowell; sheriff, John Coldren; clerk, Stephen Bradley; treasurer, Hugh McGovern; recorder, J. J. Hatz; surveyor, Ed. Worden; county superintendent, Wilson Blaine; coroner, Will Hohenschuh: board of supervisors, Jas. B. Strang, Bruce Patterson, Geo. Ulch, Frank Tan- ner, John Doerres; county physician, A. C. Rockey; county attorney, Samuel H. Fairall.
Township Histories.
BIG GROVE TOWNSHIP.
On April 9, 1845, by the county board it was-
Ordered, That township No. 81 north, of range No. 6 west, be and the same is hereby established as a civil township, in Johnson county, and shall be known as "Big Grove township:" That the first election for the organization of said township shall be held at the "Big Grove school house," in said township, on the first Monday of April, 1846.
Prior to this date, this territory was included first, in election precinct No. 2, and afterward in Big Grove precinct; for we find, January 9, 1842, it was
Ordered, That the place of holding elections in the second election pre- cinct be removed from the house of Hamilton. H. Kerr, to the town of Solon in said precinct.
On April 5, 1843, the above named " second election precinct " was first mentioned in the county records as Big Grove precinct. [See chap- ter on "Earliest Civil Subdivisions."]
WHISKY AGENCY IN BIG GROVE.
On this day, to-wit, April 6, 1857, it is-
Ordered by the county court, that the agency for the sale of intoxicat- ing liquors in the township of Big Grove be and the same is hereby dis- continued and suppressed. Whereupon Presley Connelly, the agent, made settlement, and it was found that there was a balance in his hands of the sum of $153 due the county, which was ordered to be paid into the treasury.
CLERK'S REPORT.
M. S. Shircliff, clerk of Solon city, furnishes the following report:
Big Grove township was organized in 1845. The first board of trus- tees were D. D. Smith, Warner Stiles and Warner Spurrier. The first clerk was Charles Connelly, and Warner Spurrier was the first assessor. The first official meetings were held at Warren Stiles' house. Jesse McGrew taught the first school; the first schoolhouse was built of logs, and was located on Mill creek, about a mile southwest of Solon. The cemetery was first used used in 1840, and is yet in use. The first person buried there was Oscar Allen. There are eight independent school districts in the township, and eight road districts. The present trustees are M. Cor- regan, A. W. Benton and Jacob Kessler. Clerk, J. N. Devalt. [1882.]
There is only one postoffice in the township, that of Solon, of which C. G. Swafford is postmaster since July. Before that Mrs. M. McCune held the office.
693
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
EARLIEST EVENTS.
From items furnished mostly by D. A. Pratt, but with some additional points by John Lingle, Strawder Devault and other old settlers, we com- pile the following record of early events in the settlement of what now forms Big Grove township.
Settler. Year.
Section. Where from.
Robert Mathews
.36
England.
Warren Stiles
1839 26. New York State.
Jehiel Parks
1839 36. . . . Ohio.
P. C. Brown
. 1839 13. . . . Ohio.
E. M. and Moses Adams 1839
20 in Cedar twp .- Ohio.
Abner Arasmith. 1839 32. . . . Ohio.
Harvey Lyman
1840.
36. . . . Ohio and New York.
J. B. McGrew
1839. 25 . Pennsylvania.
A. W. Blain .
1840 12 Pennsylvania.
W. D. Canon
1840 Ohio and Conn.
E. T. Pratt 1840. . Ohio and Maine.
All of the above are furnished by Mr. Pratt. Mr. Lingle adds the fol-
lowing:
Charles Fowler
1838 9. .. New York.
W. Fackler. 1838 3. .. Indiana.
Warner Spurrier 1838 15. . Ohio.
Charles Connelley
21
Mr. Devault adds:
Thomas King . 1839 19 .... Indiana.
Strawder Devault. 1839. 19 .... Indiana.
Mr Lingle reports the first marriage in the settlement was that of Joseph Gros to Elizabeth Goetz, in February, 1841. The second one was Wendell Goetz to Miss Katie Ensinger, Sept. 28, 1841, on section four.
The first baby born was Wilber D. Cannon, son of William D. and Julia A. Cannon. [Date not given.]
Mr. Lingle reports the first death to have been George Fackler, in 1838 or '39, and buried in the Fackler grove grave yard .. The first one given by Mr. Pratt was that of Cotton T. Pratt, who died February 15, 1840; buried on section thirty-six.
The first physician was a Dr. Adams, whospent the winter of 1839-'40 with J. B. McGrew. But Dr. James A. Crane was the first one that per- manently located here as a physician. [Date not given.]
The first preaching was in a log cabin on section thirty-five, by a Methodist circuit rider named Faree. [No date.]
Mr. Pratt reports, the first school was taught by Mrs. Fanny Pratt at her house on section thirty-one in Cedar township (on line between Cedar and Big Grove) in the summer of 1841, charging one dollar per 44
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
month per pupil. She afterward married Anderson Meacham, and the first school house was built by the neighbors clubbing together, in 1842; a log house, on the southwest quarter of section twenty-three.
But Mr. Lingle reports the first school house as built on section 9, by Chauncy Fowler, in 1843 or '44. He says it was about fourteen feet square-built of round logs: but there was one log left out, and the hole was covered with greased paper for a window. There was no floor; and a big fireplace at one end, with huge back-log and forestick, and then plenty of small wood, served to keep it warm in the coldest days.
One report says the first weaving of cloth was done by Mr. Valentine Fackler; and another says, by Mrs. Fanny Pratt. [No date given in either case.]
Mr. Pratt relates: "We had to go to mill across Cedar river and on to near where the town of Tipton, the county seat of Cedar county, now stands. In 1840 we paid 50 cents per bushel for corn, and hauled it 25 or or 30 miles. But it was harder times afterward, when we had grain to sell, for we couldn't get money for it at any price."
H. H. Kerr built the first house where the town of Solon now stands. The house is now [1882] occupied by A. J. Beuter.
FINE STOCK.
Charles Pratt, one mile north of Solon, has a herd of thirty-two pure bred Short-Horns; he has been engaged about six years in rearing this breed of cattle. He also has about 600 head of sheep-supposed to be the largest flock now in the county.
Charles W. McCune commenced in 1876 the breeding of Short-Horn cattle. He bought a herd of twenty-five pure bred importd Short-Horns, from the well-known Boothe and Bates strains of this favorite English breed. The prices he paid for this herd ranged from $150 to $1,400 per head. He has made two sales-the first in 1878, when he sold fifty head of pure breds; the second, in August, 1880, when he sold sixty head. He now [2882] has but nine head left of the imported thorougbreds.
ORCHARDS.
Rudolph Stortzer, on section 6, has an orchard of about 500 trees- mostly apples of winter varieties. He says the Fulton and Ben Davis are the best varieties for this climate.
Charles Pratt has a fine orchard of about seven acres.
[See fruit list for Johnson county in chapter on "Agriculture, Horticul- ture, etc."]
ACCIDENTS.
Peter Stortzer, who lived on section 6, was killed in April, 1864, by a harrow falling on him. He was loading it into a wagon, when by some mishap it fell back, knocking him down, and one of the teeth pierced into his head just by the ear, from which he died in a very short time. This hap- pened but a few rods west of where Rudolph Stortzer now lives.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
August 14, 1865, Sebastian Heid, son of John Heid, Sr., was walking on a board in the saw mill on section 28, when the board tipped and threw him across a buzz saw which was in motion. It sawed him completely through from one shoulder to the opposite hip, of course killing him instantly.
In the summer of 1862, Dr. Greis, of Solon, saw a storm coming up and went out to fix up his rain barrel, when he was struck by lightning and instantly killed.
CREEKS.
In the early settlement days a Mr. Clarkson fell into an unknown stream. He said laughingly that he had been "dipped in Jordan." The joke hitched on so well to the disputes about true Bible baptism that it was kept agoing; and that stream has been called Jordan creek ever since.
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