USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume I > Part 29
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"On one occasion when Hiram and his father were returning home by moon- light from a trip up in the Buffalo timber they discovered a flock of turkeys roost- ing in trees at some distance. Hiram mimicked a hoot owl and that started the gobblers going. Hiram slipped through the brush until within reach, sighted along the glimmering gun barrel in the moonlight, fired and downed his bird. This was about a mile northwest of the George Perkins place, near the Buffalo. At that time many of the roads were little more than Indian trails.
"Mr. Joslin recalled a fishing trip in which he, his brothers John and Har- rison and their father and George and Eli Brown joined. While on their way to the Wapsie they ran on a couple of elk. The Browns had a rifle and shot the biggest of the pair, but the other waded across the river and escaped. After dark two torches were set aflame and borne quietly along the shore. John Joslin speared a sturgeon weighing sixty pounds. This was their biggest prize, but before they concluded their night's sport they also had captured six or eight muskellunge, and when they were hung on poles suspended on their shoulders some of their tails touched the ground. This is not an incredible story, by any means, for we remember to have seen muskellunge weighing from twenty-two to twenty-eight pounds, and have known of their being occasionally taken that weighed from thirty to forty pounds, a fact that Mr. Joslin, we doubt not, can corroborate from his personal knowledge.
"Wild geese, ducks and pigeons in their season by the millions, and prairie chickens and quails innumerable-a mere mention is sufficient, for they were a
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drug in the market. But those days are gone, never to return, and we are com- pelled to accept what we call advanced civilization and find the best compensa- tions we can to take the place of the superb, unequaled, near-to-nature delights and experiences of the huntsmen and fishermen who made this veritable paradise their home in the days of the early pioneers."
The Thirty-third General Assembly of the State of Iowa passed a law that no person shall hunt, pursue, kill or take any wild animals, bird or game in this State with a gun, without first procuring a license known as a hunter's license. This license must be procured at the office of the County Auditor and costs the sum of one dollar, which money is transferred to the Treasurer of State and placed to the credit of a fund known as the fish and game protection fund.
The number of citizens of Jones county who have procured a license from the County Auditor's office up to December 1, 1909, was one thousand and twenty- four. This indicates that a good proportion of our citizens are interested to a greater or less degree in hunting.
THE FIRST POSTOFFICE.
In 1840, a weekly horseback mail was placed on the route between Dubuque and Iowa City, via Edinburg, the then county seat, and coming into the military road at Dartmouth, now Anamosa. In 1841, Gideon N. Peet procured the estab- lishment of a postoffice at his residence, a mile west of Russell's, and was ap- pointed postmaster. This was the first postoffice and postmaster in the township, the nearest postoffice being then at Edinburg, James Hutton, postmaster; Big Woods, Mr. Grauel, postmaster; Rome (now Olin), Norman B. Seely, post- master; Springville, Colonel Butler, postmaster, and Monticello, William Clark, postmaster. Mr. Peet conducted his postoffice well, but the business was light, for the people were few, and the rates of letter postage were burdensome. Money was a scarce article, the country not having recovered from the effects of the crash of 1837, and the government accepting nothing at the land offices or post- offices except gold and silver. The money mostly current was "red-dog," "wild- cat," and "stumptail," that is, the money of the state banks, and no man receiving it one day could tell what it would be worth the next. In such a condition of things, and every man hoarding to pay the government for his land, the amount of mail sent and received was small. After some months, Mr. Peet wished to rid himself of the care of the office. Russell desired the position, as he said, "so that he could read all the papers," and the expression may have been one of his many jests. In some way, and through his personal friend, Senator A. C. Dodge, at Washington, his wish was gratified. Months passed. The mail came weekly at about the noon hour. Almost daily, Russell might be seen stepping to his door after dinner, and, with vexation depicted on his face, looking up the road leading into the timber and to the Wapsipinicon bridge. Waiting for the mail kept him from his farm work. and finally he declared the postoffice was "nothing but a plague," and sent into Washington his resignation in favor of A. B. Dumont.
Dumont was a carpenter, one of the two sons of J. B. Dumont, then recently arrived from the State of New York, and settled in Fairview. The other son was Fred, an invalid at the time, and now one of the substantial farmers near
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Fairview. The new postmaster, Mr. Dumont, had a job at Marion, Linn county, and placed the office in charge of Edmund Booth, his next-door neighbor, for a few weeks. The time ran into six months, and still having work at Marion, Dumont concluded to resign. Dr. Sylvester G. Matson, then living on the military road just south of Reed's Creek, desired it, and Mr. Dumont resigned in his favor. Mr. Booth remarks that during the six months the postoffice was in his care, the sum total of his compensation, that is postmaster's percentage on re- ceipts, was just six dollars. Dr. Matson held the position one month, and, like his predecessors, found the glory small and the pay still smaller. He, too, threw up the affair, and another man succeeded him. The name of the office all this time was Pamaho, suggested by Mr. Peet in his petition to the department in 1841, Mr. Peet stating it was the name of an Indian chief in Wisconsin ..
The following is a complete list of postmasters of the village of Fairview, once called Pamaho, from September 16, 1840, when the postoffice was estab- lished until the twenty-fourth day of October, 1904, when the postoffice was discontinued and mail was carried by rural mail carriers from Springville, Iowa :
Pamaho (changed to Fairview). Gideon N. Peet (Estab.) Sept. 16, 1840. Clement Russell, appointed July 8, 1843.
Sylvester G. Matson, appointed, March 2, 1844.
Amasa B. Dumont, appointed April 27, 1846.
S. G. Matson, appointed March 16, 1848.
Burton Peet, appointed July 3, 1849.
John Craighead, appointed July 29, 1850.
Amos Merrill, appointed March 20, 1854.
Joseph A. Secrest, appointed October 11, 1854.
Eli Jessup, appointed February 9, 1855. Eli Gilbert, appointed December 12, 1855. Giles J. Hakes, appointed July 12, 1856. William F. Arnold, appointed May 9, 1862.
Calvin McGowen, appointed November 2, 1866. Ames Merritt, appointed October 9, 1868.
Geo. D. McKay, appointed March 24, 1869. Amos Merrill, appointed June 8, 1874. Samuel B. Coleman, appointed October 8, 1877. Amos Merrill, appointed November 12, 1877. Calvin McGowen, appointed January 21, 1880.
Miss Elizabeth Wood, appointed January 18, 1881.
Miss Elizabeth Warner, appointed September 1I, 1882. Joseph D. Secrest, appointed March 3, 1886. Mrs. Jane McGowan, appointed November 9, 1886. James Northrup, appointed October 16, 1888. Mrs. Vesta Holden, appointed December 12, 1894. James W. Allee, appointed August 22, 1898. William T. Cason, appointed September 6, 1900.
Harry L. Keam (or Kearn), appointed May 8, 1901. Albertus Somers, appointed March 10, 1902. Katharine M. Mott, appointed August 13, 1902.
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Discontinued October 24, 1904. Effective November 14, 1904. Mail to Springville.
ANAMOSA.
On June 28, 1840, Colonel Thomas Cox, at the solicitation of J. D. Wal- worth laid out the town which was called Dartmouth and which is now the pres- ent location of Anamosa. The plat made by him was never recorded and amounted to nothing. The platting of Dartmouth was done the day after the locating of the county seat by the county commissioners, Thomas S. Denson and Charles Hutton, June 20, 1840, in section 36, township 83, north range 3, which was called Edinburg. R. J. Cleaveland of Olin, in the year 1846, laid the town of Lexington, and the name Lexington was changed Anamosa, and that portion of the city now called "down town" by some and "Dublin" by others, corresponds to the original town of Lexington.
To the original town there has been made the following additions and sub- divisions :
I. Crockwell's Addition in the year 1848.
2. Crockwell's Out-Lots in the year 1847.
3. Ford's Addition in the year 1848.
4. Walworth's Addition in the year 1849.
5. Walworth's Out-Lots in the year 1849.
6. Fisher's East Anamosa in the year 1850.
7. Fisher's Addition in the year 1865.
8. Webster's Out-Lots in the year 1854.
9. Hadock's Out-Lots 27, East Anamosa.
IO. Keller's Subdivision of lot 1, Fisher's Addition.
II. Warren's Subdivision of part of Walworth's Addition.
12. Shaw's Subdivision of lot I, section 11, town 84, range 4.
13. Soper & Boardman's Subdivision of lots 25, 26, 28, 29, Fisher's East Anamosa.
14. Kimball's Subdivision of 5, 6 and part of 7, Webster's Out-Lots.
15. Peter's Subdivision of the west half of lot 4 of Fisher's Addition.
16. Gibb's Addition.
17. Skinner's Addition.
18. Boardman's Subdivision of lots 2 and 3 of Webster's Out-Lots.
19. Peter's Subdivision of lot 30, and west half of lot 31 of Walworth's Addition.
20. Huber's Subdivision.
21. Shaw's Subdivision of the east half of lot 4 of Fisher's Addition, and part of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 2, town 84, range 4.
22. Hick's Addition.
23. Shaw's Subdivision of lot 25 of Fisher's East Anamosa.
24. Sale's Subdivision of Out-Lot I of Walworth's Addition.
25. Boardman & Soper's Subdivision of lots 6, 7 and 10 of Anamosa.
26. Booth's Subdivision of lot 2 of Fisher's Addition.
27. Crane's Subdivision of part of Walworth's Addition.
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28. Osborne's Subdivision of part of Walworth's Addition.
29. Fisher's Subdivision of part of Walworth's Addition.
30. Subdivision A, of Skinner's Addition.
31. Shaw's Subdivision of lot 26 of Fisher's East Anamosa.
32. Shaw's Subdivision of part of lot 4, and the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 10, town 84, range 4, west of the fifth principal meridian.
The first settlers located in Anamosa in the year 1838.
The census of 1875 shows the population of 1,598 as taken by the township assessor, but the accuracy of this census was seriously questioned by a great many people. The census of 1885 showed a population of 1,874; 1890, 2,078; 1895, 2,006; 1900, 2,891 ; 1905, 2,878; and it is estimated that the census of 1910 will show a population of over 3,000. Anamosa was incorporated as a village in 1856 and as a city in 1872.
Anamosa is a beautiful city of 2,878 inhabitants, 930 feet above the sea level, situated at the junction of the Wapsipinicon and Buffalo Creek and at the foot of three hills, thus being well protected from wind and storm. The scenery in and around the city is most romantic and attractive and the bluffs near the Wapsipinicon River and particularly at High Bluff are often compared to the scenery along the Hudson. On account of the attractiveness of the scenery at High Bluff and its convenience to Anamosa many picnics are held there and during the months of June, July and August it is the scene of many camping parties and frequently families will be there in tents most of the summer. Another pretty place is Saum's Creek, which is commonly called Horse Shoe Bend, being at the junction of Saum's Creek and the Buffalo Creek about three-quarters of a mile northwest of the State quarries. This also is a favorable picnic ground and has been for a number of years.
THE COUNTY SEAT.
Anamosa is the county seat of Jones county and has been since the year 1847. The town of Newport being selected as the county seat in June, 1846, was a political joke as it was a hard place to reach at that time and a long dis- tance from the center of population.
Preparations were made for the erection of a log courthouse, and some of the timbers were placed on the ground, but nothing was ever done toward its completion. The commissioners rented a room from Adam Overacker for their meeting, and made arrangements with him to supply rooms to accommodate the court at the proper season.
When Judge Wilson reached the spot, and found there was no place prepared for holding court, save in a room of the log shanty ; saw no other house in the vicinity, and nought in view save trees and waving prairie-grass, he got into his buggy and drove off to his home in Dubuque. No term of court was held during the time the county seat was at Newport. The result of the election which fixed upon Newport was generally looked upon as a joke. It satisfied no one except Adam Overacker, and was much less suited to the needs of the county than Edinburg. As soon as possible, the assistance of the legislature was again
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PARK AVENUE, ANAMOSA
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called in, and privilege was granted by that body to vote for a county seat, ac- cording to their own inclinations. If this election should not show a majority for any one point, a second election should be held, in which the two places having the greatest number of votes in the first election should be the only ones in the field.
On the first election, in the spring of 1847, five points were returned, viz .: Lexington, Newport, Rome, Monticello and Scotch Grove. No votes were given to Edinburg, Newport and Lexington stood highest, and in the second contest, about two weeks later, a victory resulted in favor of Lexington, whose name was afterward changed by authority of Judge Wilson, of the district court, to Anamosa.
After the election, the commissioners met June 10, 1847, at Edinburg. They adjourned till 7 o'clock, June 11, when they immediately took a recess to meet at 8 o'clock in the afternoon at Lexington. We might, therefore, say that this town became the county seat between 7 A. M. and 8 P. M., June 11, 1847. The house of G. H. Ford was temporarily secured for court purposes and the trans- action of county business.
Lexington had been surveyed by R. J. Cleaveland, June 18. 1846, with Mahan & Crockwell as proprietors. It was replatted, with provision for a public square, in June, 1847, by H. Mahan, John D. Crockwell and G. H. Ford, who, in accord- ance with a previous pledge, donated to the county of Jones, fifty lots of the new town and a public square. Of these lots, forty-eight were sold at the July term of the Commissioners' Board, realizing to the county seven hundred and tu enty-five dollars.
The contract for building a two-story frame courthouse was let to G. H. Ford at eight hundred dollars. This building was 30x40 feet, and could not have been built at so low a price had it not been that most of the necessary material was already donated to the county. This courthouse was first occupied January 3, 1848. Various attempts have been made in later years to remove the county seat from Anamosa to a more central locality. In the vote of April 6, 1857, a contest was waged between Anamosa and Madison, with a result of 1,024 to 717 in favor of the former. In the following year, an attempt to remove the seat of justice to the northeast quarter of section 1, Jackson township, failed of a ma- jority by 33 votes. The ballot stood 1,278 to 1,245. In October, 1874, the people were called upon to decide between Anamosa and Center Junction. The contest was a bitter one, and not without some fear on the part of the friends of Anamosa. The latter, however, were successful by a vote of 1,993 to 1,592.
The courthouse above mentioned, as built by G. H. Ford in 1847, was used by the county until 1864. Some brick offices had also been erected, which stood, with the courthouse, down in the part known as the "old town" of Anamosa. Though the old building did good service for the county for some eighteen years, yet it was not free from the gnawings of the "tooth of time," and we find, in the midwinter meeting of the board of supervisors, the following reso- lations offered :
WHEREAS, H. C. Metcalf has generously offered to Jones county suitable rooms for county offices and a commodious hall in which to hold the district court, for the term of two years free of rent, with the privilege of using the
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same three years longer for such rent as the board of supervisors may see fit to allow, and
WHEREAS, The ruinous and dilapidated condition of the building known as the Jones county courthouse, now only renders it a fit habitation for bats and owls, and as we, the representatives of Jones county, do not desire longer to dispute possession with a class of tenants whose claims are vastly superior to ours, therefore
Resolved, That this board accept said proposition and order a removal of the public records as soon as said Metcalf shall make to the county a lease of the aforesaid rooms, in accordance with the conditions above stated.
This resolution was finally adopted on the sixth day of the term, January, 1864. The old courthouse was sold at auction November 15, 1864, to E. B. Alderman for two hundred and fifty dollars, and was moved up town.
The rooms rented of Mr. Metcalf were occupied free of rent for two years, when they were leased at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars per year. The county offices remained here until the fall of 1871 when they were removed to their present location in Shaw's block. The courtroom was removed to Lehm- kuhl's block in January, 1871, the hall in Metcalf's building being inadequate to the needs of the county. For three years, the county rented the rooms occupied by the county officers. During the time of the contest for the county seat between Center Junction and Anamosa, the latter city in its corporate capacity appro- priated three thousand dollars and private citizens subscribed two thousand dol- lars more, with which amount and one thousand dollars additional pledged, the entire second floor of Shaw's block and the auditor's office on the first floor were purchased and conveyed to the county of Jones, to belong to said county so long as they were occupied for county and court purposes. In the event that the county seat is removed from Anamosa, these rooms are to revert to their for- mer owners, the city and citizens of Anamosa.
Four terms of court are held in Jones county each year, viz .: March, May, September and December. The longest terms usually being March and Septem- ber. Three judges preside over the court in Anamosa : Hon. F. O. Ellison, Hon. Milo P. Smith, Hon. W. N. Treichler. Judge F. O. Ellison living in Anamosa holds two terms of court and each of the other judges one. The county officers all reside in Anamosa and frequently remain after their term of office expires and become permanent residents of the city.
BUSINESS INTERESTS.
.As a business center Anamosa leads the county as is indexed by the vast amount of freight shipped in and out by its three railroads, viz .; Chicago, Mil- waukee & St. Paul Railway Company, Chicago & Northwestern Railway Com- pany and Chicago, Anamosa & Northern Railway Company. It has three pros- perous and substantial banks: Niles & Watters Savings Bank with a deposit of six hundred and five thousand, two hundred and seventy-two dollars and ninety- two cents on the 10th day of August, 1909, the Anamosa National Bank with a deposit of four hundred and ninety-six thousand, one hundred and seventy-one dollars and twenty-six cents on the 16th day of November, 1909, and the Citi-
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zens Savings Bank with a deposit of one hundred and two thousand, and eighty- seven dollars and seventy-seven cents on the 10th day of August, 1909.
Anamosa has ten blocks of brick paving, ten miles of permanent walks, good water works system, good electric light company, good gas company, good fire department, good public schools, good postal service and a good free public library. Its fire department is one of the best volunteer fire departments in the state of Iowa, which in former times took a prominent part in the state tourna- ments and has always responded promptly and cheerfully to all fires. It has been the means of saving thousands of dollars to the citizens of Anamosa and is one of the most beneficial organizations in the city.
ANAMOSA WATER WORKS.
It also has a good water works system which is now owned by the city. The Anamosa water works was incorporated February 20, 1875, by J. C. Dietz, C. H. Lull, N. S. Noble, B. F. Shaw, M. Heisy, T. W. Shapley, J. G. McGuire, T. R. Ercanbrack, E. B. Alderman, H. C. Metcalf, J. H. Williams, George Watters, John Watters and E. Blakeslee. The corporation stock of the company was fixed at ten thousand dollars, with the privilege of increasing to twenty thousand dollars. On April 20, 1875, the city of Anamosa gave the water works company a twenty- five year franchise. The pump station of the water works company is situated near the bridge on the Wapsipinicon River. The reservoir is on the hill between South Ford and Booth street and has a capacity of one hundred thousand gallons. The majority stock of the company was purchased by John G. Griffith who had control of the company for many years. In 1909 the water works company was purchased by the city of Anamosa for the sum of twenty thousand dollars. The city has already made arrangements to put in new machinery at the pump house, which shall be operated by electricity obtained from the electric light company, and is already extending the water mains so as to accommodate all citizens.
MERCANTILE AND PROFESSIONAL.
Anamosa has many prominent professional and business men and many first class stores. It has ten lawyers, six doctors and five dentists. It has six grocery stores, five shoe stores, four dry-goods stores, two meat markets, four drug stores, three jewelry stores, one furniture store, three millinery stores, two newspapers, two livery stables, one large school book and supply company, the W. M. Welch Company ; one tile spade company, owned and operated by J. A. Belknap; one cooperage company known as the American Cooperage Company, with a large plant at Wilson, Arkansas, and a butter tub factory operated in the state reformatory, one steam laundry, two blacksmith shops, two lumber yards, six churches and a very pretty well kept city park.
STRAWBERRY HILL.
Strawberry Hill up until the year 1901 was an independent village adjacent to the city of Anamosa but was no part of the city of Anamosa. It maintained
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its own municipal government. The division line betweenAnamosa and Straw- berry Hill was Division street and all east of Division street constituted Straw- berry Hill. By a vote of the people on August 20, 1901, Strawberry Hill was annexed and became a part of the city of Anamosa and has been ever since. When it was annexed two councilmen were elected from Strawberry Hill so that she might have representation in the city affairs. In February, 1904, the city of Anamosa reduced the number of councilmen from six to four and also reduced the number of wards from six to four, and that part of Strawberry Hill north of Main street and east of Division street was added to the first ward of Ana- mosa, and that part south of Main street and east of Division street became part of the fourth ward of Anamosa. At the present time Anamosa has a mayor and six councilmen, two elected at large and one from each ward.
ANAMOSA INCORPORATED. -
In the early part of 1854, a petition was presented to the county judge of Jones county, requesting the appointment of an election to decide whether or not Anamosa should become an incorporated town. The judge granted the petition and named May 1, 1854, as the day on which said election should be held, and at which election persons residing in the platted village of Anamosa should be electors. The result was in favor of an incorporation.
A second election was ordered to be held in the courthouse of Anamosa on the 27th of May following, to choose five persons who should prepare a charter for the proposed town. This election resulted in the choice of C. L. D. Crockwell. D. Kinert, P. R. Skinner, S. T. Pierce and Joseph Dimmitt.
The charter was not submitted for adoption for almost two years, being adopted March 19, 1856, and submitted for the consideration of the county judge. By him the first election was immediately ordered, resulting in the choice of William T. Shaw, mayor ; C. C. Peet, recorder and G. W. Keller, Joseph Mann, S. T. Buxton and H. C. Metcalf, councilmen.
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