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 83
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The second preacher was a Presbyterian, named Samuel Storrs Howe; he preached for the Lutherans at the school house. He is still living, in Iowa City. The Methodists held meetings at the Hog Ridge school house about the same time, and the religious services were conducted by J. D. Templin, of Iowa City, who afterwards became a prominent lawyer, and died in 1882. He was the first minister to preach in the township.
Gregory Gross was the first justice of the peace, in 1848, and has been justice of the peace ever since. Mart. Bims is the other justice of the peace.
ACCIDENTS.
Fred Fessler was killed while running a horse race with young Figg; his horse ran against a wagon and crushed his breast, and he died the next morning after suffering great pain.
Mart. Earhart accidentally shot himself and died in about five hours.
S. Runnelhart accidentally shot himself in the right arm, and died in about ten days from mortification.
In 1870 Nicholas Birrer was drowned in Old Man's creek, and his body was found one week afterwards.
CHURCHES.
Mr. Michael Dall furnishes the following sketch of St. Stanislaus (Catho- lic) Church, located on section 30, in Liberty township. This church was organized February 8, 1854, by Bishop Laurus, of Dubuque. The origi- nal members were: Michael Dall, Gregory Gross, B. Dagenhart, Fidell Heitzman, Adam Amish, N. Birrer, Joseph Rummelhart, and others.
They have a frame church building, which was erected in 1853-'54, at a cost of about $1,500, and was dedicated in February, 1854, by Bishop Laurus. The first regular pastor was Rev. Father George Snyder; and following him have been Father Fenty, Father Sheafmacher, Father Knepley, Father Molloy, Father Haire, Father Brumenshingle. The present membership is about forty.
There are forty acres of land belonging to the church, twenty of which was donated by Michael Dall and twenty by Gregory Gross. A burying ground was laid out adjoining the church about a year after that was built. The first burial there was a child of F. Burke.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.
ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.
June 8, 1870, Supervisor John Dillatus offered the following:
WHEREAS, the township of Pleasant Valley, Johnson county, Iowa, is eight and a half miles in length east and west, and six miles wide north and south, making fifty-one square miles of territory; and whereas, incon- venience to the people of different portions of said township on account of the great distance they have to travel to elections and public meetings, exists to such an extent as to cause great and general complaint through- out the entire eastern half of said township; and whereas, the territory of Pleasant Valley is large enough for two good sized townships, and a large majority of the citizens thereof are in favor of a division; therefore, be it
Resolved, That said Pleasant Valley township be divided into two town- ships by a line running due north and south on half section lines of sections 5, 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32, and that the territory west of said line retain the name of Pleasant Valley towship, and the territory east of said line be named Lincoln township.
This resolution was adopted June 10.
June 11, 1870, the following resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That the present township officers of the old township of Pleasant Valley, Johnson county, Iowa, shall continue to exercise all the functions of their respective offices until an election is ordered and had for officers of the new township of Lincoln, organized from a part of said Pleasant Valley township.
At the September session petitions both in favor and against the new township were presented, but no change was made in the boundaries at that time. And an order for the first election in Lincoln township was made, thus:
Resolved, That the warrant of this Board of Supervisors of Johnson Iowa, do issue to the people of the new township of Lincoln in said county, organized by this board at its June session, 1870, that an election be held by the people of said Lincoln township on the second Tuesday, the 11th day of October, 1870, it being the day of the annual township election for said year 1870, at the house of Peter Vetters in said Lincoln township, to elect two justices of the peace, two constables, three township trustees, one township clerk, one assessor, and road supervisors for the various road districts in said Lincoln township.
April 4, 1871, the board had to wrestle again with the Lincoln township boundary question, and made the following record:
In the matter of the application to change the boundary line between Pleasant Valley and Lincoln townships:
This case having been adjourned from the last session of this board to this day, and now comes the parties by their agents and attorney, and thereupon the applicants for the said change in the boundary line, filed the statement of I. N. DeSellem, T. W. Wilson and George W. Wilson, and the contestants filed the protest of the citizens and property holders in the several school districts of Lincoln township, and this cause now
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
coming on to be heard, and the board having heard the said statement and protest read, and also having heard all the evidence offered by either party and the arguments of counsel, and not being sufficiently advised in the premises took time to consider of the same.
The next day the following order was adopted:
Resolved, That the line between Pleasant Valley and Lincoln townships be and is hereby established on the line between sections four and five on the north line of said townships and running straight south between sec- tions 32 and 33 to the south line of said townships, placing said division one-half mile farther east than it has been heretofore established.
Mr. A. Mead, clerk of Lincoln township, furnishes the following sta- tistics:
The township was organized in 1870. The first trustees were Alexander Waldron, B. F. Wagner and Jacob Openheimer, and the first clerk was Amos R. Cherry. The first assessor was Otto Means. The first official meetings of the board were held at the office of the township clerk, Amos R. Cherry. The first school house was called the Craw- ford or Cherry school house.
The entire township constitutes one school district, with eight sub- districts.
The equalized value of the real estate in the township last year (1881) was $169,085.
The equalized value of the personal property in 1881 was $31,641. In 1882 it was $32,685.
The township is divided into nine road districts. The levied rate of road tax was 31 mills.
The present township trustees are Albert Shiland, Mercer Hall, Enoch Kimble; township clerk, A. W. Mead; assessor, James Hollingsworth; justice of the peace, John Dillatush; constables, J. C. Hall, J. S. Watson.
There are no churches, no graveyards, no saloons and no post-offices in this township.
INDIAN REVENGE.
A man named Oliver Atwood was killed in Lincoln township in the fall of 1838. He lived near Wapsienonock (now West Liberty) and had been up near Marengo working on the new trading post and Indian agency which was being established there for the Poweshiek band of Indians, after they were removed from their old place four miles below Iowa City. Mr. Atwood sent word to his young wife, by some one going down, that he would be home in two weeks. Accordingly he came down to the old trading house (see diagram in Chapter II, Part 2,) and after getting some bacon and other supplies for his family, started on foot for home. Hisroute was along the Indian trail from Poweshiek's village eastward, bearing a little south, and leading across the north part of what is now Lincoln township. Here he was killed and his body thrown into a slough. As he did not reach home at the time promised, and no tidings
46
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
was heard from him, his wife grew alarmed and sent inquiries up to the trading house. This was about a week after he had been there, and those who knew him and remembered of his being there and starting for home on foot and alone, only a week before, at once suspected some foul play. Search was made immediately, and the body found. It was not scalped, but the legs were cut off, and other marks of revengeful mutilation. Harry Earhart remembers passing the spot several weeks afterward and seeing some of the hair still lying there. Mr. Atwood was a small man, a preacher or exhorter, and friendly, trusting and unsuspicious toward all; he would fall an easy victim to any cowardly redskin that might hap- pen to meet him; and the explanation of his murder is not far to seek.
A few months previously a man named Ross killed an Indian over at Moscow, in Muscatine county, by knocking him down with a rail and then driving it endwise into his skull, thus mashing his brains out. As was usual in affrays of any sort between white men and Indians, Ross was not punished; it is said that he ran away. Some of the Indians vowed that they would kill some white man to appease the ghost of their slain brave, and avenge his blood. In all their ideas of society a whole band or nation was responsible for the bad deeds of any one of its members; hence to them the whole white race was responsible for what Ross had done, and any white man they could catch would satisfy the vengeance which their law and usage required. And in this case Mr. Atwood hap- pened to be the vicarious victim.
THE LINCOLN MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY.
The first officers of this company were: Thos. Birkett, president; Hiram Heath, secretary; Ira Nichols, treasurer; B. F. Wagner, John M. Purvis, John Bregman, O. Higbee, J. M. Clark, and E. P. Whitacre, directors. The company is strictly à mutual fire and lightning insurance company. The principal office is in Lincoln township, at the residence of Hiram Heath. They do insurance business only in Scott, Lincoln, Pleasant Valley and Fremont townships, in Johnson county, and Wapsi- nonock, Goshen and Pike townships, in Muscatine county. Agents restricted to $3,000 on any one risk, and not exceed two-thirds of the value of the property; and certificates for insurance issued for not to exceed five years. Annual election, first Saturday in October of each year.
LUCAS TOWNSHIP.
(FORMERLY IOWA CITY TOWNSHIP.)
IOWA CITY PRECINCT.
January 4, 1844,-
Ordered, that all that part of township 79 north, of range 6 west, of the fifth principal meridian, which lies west of the Iowa river, shall hereafter be attached to and included in the Iowa City precinct in said county of
·
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Johnson. (This territory now constitutes what is called West Lucas pre- cinct.)
IOWA CITY TOWNSHIP.
February 10, 1846,-
Ordered, that all that part of Johnson county known as congressional township No. 79 north, of range 6 west, of the fifth principal meridian, be and the same is hereby set apart as a civil township, and shall be known as " Iowa City township," and that the first election shall be held at the court house in Iowa City. (This includes what is now called Lucas town- ship, with Iowa City inside of it.)
ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES OF IOWA CITY AND NEWPORT TOWNSHIP.
January 3, 1859,-
The petition of Sylvanus Johnson and others, for a change of the boun- daries of said township, came on to be heard, and it appearing that notice of the pendency of said petition had been given in accordance with the order of this court, and no person objecting thereto; therefore, in con- sideration of the premises, it is
Ordered by the court, that the prayer of petitioners be granted, and that all of sections 33 and 34, township 80 north, of range 6 west, lying east of the Iowa river, be detached from Newport township, and attached and made a part of Iowa City township.
IOWA CITY TOWNSHIP PRECINCTS.
June 6, 1871, ---
Resolved, That the township of Iowa City be divided into two precincts for election purposes, by a line commencing at the west side of said town- ship in the centre of the Snooks Grove road, following said road east to Iowa City, through Iowa City in the center of College street, east of Iowa City on the line of the Griswold road to the east line of the township. All that portion of the township north of said line to be called the north precinct of Iowa City township, and all that portion of the township south of said line shall be called the south precinct of Iowa City township.
September 4, 1871, we find, on motion of supervisor Morseman, it is
Ordered, that Charles Lewis be and is hereby appointed judge of the next election in the south precinct in Iowa City township, and that William Lewis and Thomas Hughes be and they are hereby appointed clerks of said election in said north precinct; and it is further ordered that Harvey W. Fyffe and Samuel H. McCrory be and they are hereby appointed judges of the next election in said south precinct of Iowa City township, and S. M. Finch be and he is hereby appointed clerk of the said election in the said south precinct.
January 19, 1872, the dividing line between these precincts was "so amended as to place the division line between the north and south pre- cincts in Iowa City on the line of Iowa avenue, and thence in the centre of the road running east from the east end of Iowa avenue until it inter- sects the Griswold road."
728
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
ORGANIZATION OF LUCAS TOWNSHIP.
January 15, 1873: Report to the county board:
Your special committee appointed to examine the petition of citizens of Iowa City township outside of the corporate limits of Iowa City, would beg leave to report, that upon examination of a copy of the State census report for the year 1869, being the last State census taken, I find that the population of Iowa City exceeds 4,000 -- namely 6,548. And that upon an examination of the poll book, as returned by the assessor for the year 1872, the number of legal voters outside the corporate limits of Iowa City are 472, and that the number of signers upon the petition by actual count are 284, being a majority of the whole number of legal voters outside of said Iowa City: * * *
It is ordered that said Iowa City township be divided into (2) civil town- ships, one of said townships to be composed of the territory embraced within the corporate limits of Iowa City, and be called Iowa City town- ship, and the other township to be composed of the territory of Iowa City township outside of the corporate limits of Iowa City, and to be called Lucas township, and that the place for holding the the next general elec- tion in Iowa City township shall be the court house, and the place for holding the next general election shall be the fair grounds in Lucas town- ship."
Lucas township contains thirty-four and one-half sections. Iowa City is in this territory, and is a township by itself, containing about two sec- tions. It lies on both sides of the Iowa river, Iowa City township all being on the east side. Lucas township has eleven school houses, five of them west of the river in what is called West Lucas, and six school houses in East Lucas. George Borland is president of the school board. Teachers' fund levied for 1882 was $2,000; school house fund, $6500; contingent fund, $400. There are four stone quarries in the township, and three flouring mills. The village of Coralville is situated on the west side of the Iowa river, on section 5.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad and the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern railroad, pass through this township. The C., R. I. & P. R. R. has put in one of the finest iron bridges on this line of road over the Iowa river, the east end of the bridge resting on block 23, between Des Moines and Lafayette streets in Iowa City. The road tax alone for Lucas township for 1882, due from the C., R. I. & P. R. R. company is $238.
Among the earliest settlers on land now embraced in Lucas township were Philip Clark, S. H. McCrory, S. C. Trowbridge, Cyrus Sanders, Capt. F. M. Irish, Yale Hamilton, Sylvanus Johnson, Silas Foster, Jesse McCart, and many others. Its intimate connection with the first and sec- ond county seats, the first territorial and State capital, the State University and other matters that reach far beyond mere township interest, has made its local history to be almost entirely embodied in the several chapters of the county history. [See Chapter XI in this volume.] Lucas township, has only one post-office, Coralville, of which J. H. Clark is postmaster.
The first settlement of a land claim in Johnson county was made in this
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
township by Philip Clark, on section 27, being the farm now owned by James McCollister. The fair grounds of the Johnson County Agricultural Society is on section 16, on the west side of the Iowa river, about one mile from the principal streets of the city.
VILLAGE OF CORALVILLE.
A New Town .- A new town was born into this winter weather last week, up at the woolen mills and was christened Coralville.
The name was suggested by the fact, which was developed in digging for the foundation for the various works on that water power, that the rock was of coral formation. Therefore the paper mill was christened the "Coral," and now the town takes the same name .- State Press, Dec. 19, 1866.
THE FIRST MILLS.
From Capt. F. M. Irish's sketches in " Annals of Iowa " (1868), we make a few extracts:
Near the close of the year 1841, David and Joshua Switzer erected a grist-mill on Clear creek upon the site now [1868] occupied by the woolen factory of Mr. Stickler. In this mill was ground the first flour and meal ever manufactured in Johnson county, and the people for a great distance around realized the benefit of it. But this mill was not able long to sup- ply the demands of the rapidly increasing population, and steps were taken to improve and make use of the water-power of the Iowa river. Walter Terrill commenced and completed the erection of his mill-dam in the autumn of 1843. This dam is situated one-half mile above the city. Mr. Terrill completed the erection of his mill in 1844, and put two run of stone in operation. In 1845 he attached to the mill a carding machine, which was a great convenience to the community.
On the 19th of May, 1843, the Iowa City Manufacturing Company was organized by electing Chauncey Swan president; Silas Foster, secretary; and Augustus E. McArthur, treasurer. A. J. Willis, Ferdinand Harbe- stroh, and Thomas Snyder were chosen a board of directors, with a capital stock subscribed of $5,000, in shares of $25 each. This company commenced the erection of a dam upon one of the best mill-sites upon the Iowa river, two and a half miles above the city, upon the property owned by Walter Butler. The bed of the river at this point is of solid rock, with a handsome fall below. In the month of June, 1843, A. B. Newcomb, as superintendent of the work, commenced getting out timber for the dam, and notwithstanding the many obstacles and unforeseen difficulties which had to be encountered, this great and important task was so far completed by January, 1844, as to enable the company to put a small grist-mill into operation. A sore misfortune lay in store for these enterprising citizens, for in the spring of 1844 a rapid rise of the river brought down large fields of heavy ice, and the dam being in an unfinished state, a considerable portion of it was carried away. This disaster was felt most severely by the company, their funds being exhausted, and the financial condition of the country at this time being such as to render it very difficult for them to replenish their treasury. All these difficulties were at length overcome, the breach repaired, and a substantial dam ten feet in height was completed. This was the finest structure of the kind west of the Mississippi, and affords one of the finest water powers in the state, the hydraulic force in an ordinary stage of
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
water, with the ten-foot dam, being equal to seven hundred and eighty horse power. This property, after passing from the hands of the Iowa City Manufacturing Company into the hands of different persons not having the means to suitably improve it, was purchased by Ezekiel Clarke in 1848, and a large flouring-mill erected and put into active operation in 1850. The mill was driven day and night, and furnished the greater portion of the flour for the inhabitants of the northwestern part of our state. It was no unusual sight to see fifty or sixty wagons arranged at this mill at one time, some of them from as far northwest as Woodbury county, from all the intermediate settlements, and from southern Minne- sota.
Home Manufacturing Company at Coralville; capital $60,000. Mill erected in 1866-67; dimensions, 42x143 feet; intended for three sets of machinery and having two in active operation, with a capacity of 10,000 yards of cloth per month. Manufacture cassimeres, flannels, jeans, blank- ets, yarns, etc. Now under the direction of Humphrey Taylor, superin- tendent; T. Sanxay, president; D. F. Wells, vice-president; L. B. Patter- son, treasurer; L. Robinson, secretary.
SWEPT THROUGH A FLUME.
In May, 1876, little Charlie Rink, a five year old son of Chas. A. Rink, Esq., fell or was pushed into the Coralville mill dam, and the Iowa City Daily Press, of May 3d, gives the following account of the boy's marvel- ous escape from drowning:
He was playing with two boys of his own age, five years, on the brink of the pool, out of which a head-gate ten feet under water lets the water into the flume leading to the paper mill. This flume is ten feet or more under ground through its whole length of 150 feet, and the water fills it full. Into this he was sucked and through its whole length he was shot so suddenly that he had not time to breath, and reaching its lower end he popped up from ten feet under the water and seized a post under the paper mill floor, clinging to it with his arms and legs in the attitude of climbing a tree. He was missed at home and an elder sister went to hunt him; finding on the bank the lads with whom he had been playing, she asked them where Charley was, and they innocently answered, that he had fallen into the river. The alarm was given, the mills were all stopped, and the pool was dragged, but no result. About three quarter of an hour after he fell in Mr. Ab. Davis went down to a trap door which opens into the dark place into which the flume debauches, and there heard the boy from his grasp on the post calling for help. It was impossible to reach him from where Mr. Davis was, and so after telling him to hold on, a hole was cut in the floor eight feet above his head through which Mr. John H. Clark was able to see him, and Alexander Murray was let down by a rope and brought him up. He had hung to the post so long that his hair was dried. Considering the tender age of the child, and the appalling danger of such a journey, it is one of the most wonderful of happenings. Just a week after little Charlie went through the flume, he fell into the river above the Coralville dam and was carried over it, the dam being
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
thirteen feet high at the crest or overflow. But somehow or other he floated, and the swift plunge from the overchute or apron of the dam shot him ashore away below the mills, where his father founded him half an hour afterward, stripped naked, drying his clothes, "so mother wouldn't lick him for getting wet."
Charlie called at the History Company's office to show this historian that he still lives-as wonderfully escaped from a watery grave, as Moses or Jonah of old. He is a bright lid, and after two such miraculous escapes, he is just likely to become a United States Senator or President, as other boys were at his age who afterward got there.
The " Coral Mill," at Coralville, Valentine Miller, proprietor, was built in 1843, [?] by V. Miller and William Kirkwood at a cost of $19,000, there then being but three run of stone. After running about two years Mr. Miller bought one-half of Mr. K's interest, and S. J. Kirkwood the other half. Mr. Miller now owning three-fourths and S. J. Kirkwood one- fourth. The mill was enlarged and improved, and now has five run of stone and two sets of E. T. Ellis rolls.
The mill has capacity of 100 barrels per day, and employs five men in the mill and three teams, and three men in their store in the city. Mill generally runs day and night. Size of building 40x66 feet, brick, three stories high besides basement and has the latest improved machinery.
The Iowa City Paper Mills at Coralville, M. T. Close & Sons, proprie- tors, were built in 1865 by the Close Brothers-M. T., C. D. and S. M. Close and cost about $45,000. After running about one year it was rented tojS. M. Close & Co., they running it five years. The mill was then enlarged and run by M. T. Close & Sons, who are the present owners. The mill employs 45 to 50 men, and manufactures straw wrapping paper, straw board, and building paper; they have about $100,000 capital invested. Use 4,000 tons of straw annually. They have two steam engines, one 150 and the other 120 horse power; and eleven rag engines or beaters. The capacity of mills is nine tons of paper per day of twenty- four hours. It runs day and night. There are two paper machines, one forty-eight and the other sixty-two inches. They are Rice, Barton & Fales make, of Worcester, Mass. There are seven boilers-four forty- eight inches in diameter, eighteen feet long, and three forty-eight inches, sixteen feet long-which in connection with six water wheels, supply the power for running the machinery. The company owns a dam on the Iowa river of 100 feet long and ten feet in height. In 1875 a terrible explosion occurred in this mill instantly killing six persons. See account of it in chapter VII, Part 1.
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