USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 22
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In the southern part of the county the most deer grazed on the Prairie creek bottom. In fact no place was a more popular hunting ground than in that region. Although they were continually being chased and slaughtered they still made that bottom their home for years. They became a nuisance to the settlers who located in that vicinity. On the eastern edge of what is now Prairie creek township Ray, Stuart and Geo. Fish started their little farms, but their crops were destroyed by night by these animals. In the morning they would be gone, but with well filled stomachs. Later they became more daring and raided the corn fields in the day time. In the fall of 1875, James B. Reed taught the Pelton school, and from the schoolhouse window he frequently saw droves of fifteen or twenty going into Ray's corn field. Bailey Burtis, now living at Lu Verne, became very expert in killing them, by giving chase and shooting them down through their backs while on horseback.
The writer distinctly remembers husking corn on his father's farm in the latter 60's while deer remained in the field, on that portion already harvested. They would hunt along the rail fence until they came to a place where the rider was off and then jump over. Near the hog pasture was a low crib about four rails high which was filled with corn for the swine. One morning a big buck was found lying on top of the corn, chewing his cud. He scampered away without being molested, jumped over the fence and disappeared. In the fall of 1870, several parties from the Ridge settlement, near Irvington, went up on the high land further north to look at the train of flat cars on the new Milwaukee road, going out and coming in. While standing there they saw at a distance some deer apparently watching the same object. They lingered in various sections of the county until civilization made it impossible for them to remain any longer.
An occasional bear was known to haunt the groves during the first few years of the county's first settlements, but the cold winter also caused them to disap- pear. The last known to be seen or killed in this region was during the war when one was killed in the northern part of Humboldt county and another in Poca- hontas. The big timber wolves left with the bears. We still have with us the howling prairie wolves, watching the settlers' sheep pens, but the timber wolf is gone. Foxes are now much more scarce than wolves. Many exciting chases over the prairies have been made after the foxes which were numerous even through war time. In a chase after them they would run like a streak away from their holes when very much crowded, and then suddenly turn, and then almost run under the horses, as they started back to reach their holes. Racing them was great fun for the boys for many years, but that sport has not been enjoyed in the county for a long time.
Local sports would think they had the exciting time of their lives if they could ride out on the prairie, run down a deer, catch and rope it with a picket rope and bring it home, as Robert J. Hunt once did in the long ago. In chasing the fleet-footed deer the riders frequently found themselves far into other coun- ties, and sometimes in other states. In December, 1870, Lewis H. Smith and his brother, John G., started at one o'clock in the morning, in a cutter, for the north part of the county in hopes of getting a chance to kill some deer. As they had a good team and the sleighing was fine they made good time. Daybreak found them in the Mud creek country, some four miles north of where Ban- croft is located. They soon started up some deer, shot at and wounded one
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of them. Before they succeeded in killing it they were within six miles of Blue Earth. They came home the next day in a storm, but well pleased with their trip. The last deer killed by John G. Smith was in "Council Grove," just east of the Phoenix hotel in Bancroft.
The passing of the wild animal life, so abundant previous to 1857, includes that of the beavers which were the wisest and the most wonderful of all the wild animals that ever inhabited this region. The first settlers soon discov- ered that there was a vast army of these mysterious workers scattered in col- onies along the river and its tributaries. They made many interesting sights in and along the streams. The Buffalo Fork and the Black Cat were the favorite creeks where they carried on extensive operations in constructing their dams and colony homes. The Black Cat was alive with them, and their dams ap- peared here and there on the stream from its mouth up towards its source as far as the timber grew. The dams on the Buffalo Fork were not only numerous, but were constructed with all the skill that a modern engineer could devise. Nor did they confine their operations to the small streams alone: the river itself was dammed in several places in the most wonderful manner. The beavers worked in secret, for night was the only time when they operated. They acted as though they did not intend that man should learn how they managed to do their work. When the Haggard surveying party camped on the banks of the Buffalo Fork, in the fall of 1854, the beavers made so much racket that the men couldn't sleep, so they quietly went and watched the shingle-tailed ani- mals do their construction work by moon-light.
The beavers worked with an intelligence that is remarkable. They seemed to possess a thinking power equal to the average human being. All the old set- tlers saw many trees which the beavers had started to gnaw down, but which for some cause were still left standing. All of these girdled trees leaned towards the stream, so that if they fell the tops would be in the water or close to it. The question naturally arises how did those beavers learn that the trees leaned towards the stream? Did they look up the trees to determine that fact? or did they have to climb them first to find out? No philosopher has ever yet been able to answer the question. Moreover they frequently cut more pieces from the trees they had gnawed down than they could use to advantage,, and these pieces lay close to the banks undisturbed for some time after the first settlers came. The surprising part of the work thus done is the fact that the lighter portion of the tops were in long lengths, while the pieces grew shorter and shorter as they neared the butt end of the tree. By what process of reasoning did they arrive at the conclusion that they could not handle the heavier portion of the tree unless it was cut in short pieces? Then again where and how did they learn that principle of philosophy that a dam with an arch bowing up stream is stronger than one built straight across? Many a dam in modern times has been swept away because the engineers did not know as much about strengthening it as did the beavers in doing that line of work.
W. H. Ingham, settling first near.the mouth of the Black Cat and then liv- ing later near Plum creek, had abundant opportunity for observing the work that had been done and work that was then being done by the beavers. His curiosity being aroused, he spent considerable time in trying to learn about the methods
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CAPT. WILLIAM H. INGHAM (1854) President of Kossuth County State Bank. He was captain of Com- pany A, Northern Border Bri- gade, which erected Fort Defiance at Estherville in 1862-3
D. W. KING (1855)
Has lived longer in the county than any other man except Captain Ingham
REV. CHAUNCEY TAYLOR (1856)
Organizer of the Algona Congrega- tional Church. For twenty years he was the leading spirit in the promotion of religion, mo- rality and higher education
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employed by these ingenious dam-builders. His own words on the subject will be of interest to the reader :
"The summer of 1856 was rather dry, so that the water was low in the river -too low for the beaver to store away a winter's supply of brush and small trees, where it might be gotten during the winter under the ice and taken to the din- ing room in the bank above the water, where the inner bark could be gnawed off for food. In order to have a sufficient depth the neighboring families-some three in number-were ordered out to work in making a dam, after a fine selec- tion had been made just below the mouth of Plum creek in section 17, 96-28. I have not been able to find out how the selection was made or how the orders were given; but it was a well directed organized force under good management. The work was watched from day to day hoping I might get some insight as to their methods. At first I noticed they had placed a couple of ash trees, some ten or twelve inches in diameter, with their butts against opposite banks of the river and then swung their tops out in the current until they met. This forced the butts into the banks and still left quite an arch up the river. After filling under them and on the tops with brush, stones, and mud, they floated down two more rather larger than the first and placed them, and then filled in with smaller brush, trees, mud, gravel and stones. This was kept up for some three weeks until the water was raised from three to four feet for quite a distance up the river, and for half a mile up the creek. The dam being finished, the different families began cutting brush during the night and hauling the willows and ash to the river and then sunk in some ten feet of water where they were fastened down at the bottom in some way, so that a pile some twenty feet across at the top, when finished, would almost support me when walking on it and not cause me to sink more than a foot and a half, thus showing that it was very com- pactly built. At that time I was in hopes of getting some insight as to their methods of communication, and so watched them carefully. They always kept out pickets so that at the least sign of danger, a heavy stroke of the tail on the surface of the water, that I could hear at least a quarter of a mile, was given. Then all sounds from the cutters and haulers ceased for some ten minutes, or until a signal probably was given to begin work again. I repeated the experi- ment several times that brought out the danger signal, but was unable to find out how they were ordered to begin their work again. Possibly the signal might have been slight taps on the water that I could not hear."
The fur of the beaver being valuable and always in demand, the trappers did an extensive business in obtaining and selling the skins even long before the first settlers arrived. There are no means of knowing when they first began to set their traps in this county. They wickedly pierced the beaver lodges with their long, sharp spears and fastened the little prisoner so that it could be secured. Many were captured in this manner. Some of the early settlers also did a paying business trafficking in beaver skins. From one trapper, Mr. Ingham bought $700 worth that had been caught on the river and its tributaries. Other parties also dealt in furs but on a smaller scale. The early settlers over on the West Fork did as thriving a business as was carried on in this county. Dwight G. Mc- Carty in his history of Palo Alto county says that Ned Mahan made $75 in one day trapping. Many of the beavers must have perished during the winter of 1856-7 when the ice on the streams froze to the bottom so that they could not Vol. 1-11
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swim out and get the bark they had fastened down at the bottom of their dams. There was a noticeable absence of these intelligent animals after that time.
THE FEATHERED GAME
Those settlers who have become residents during the last forty years have but little idea of the vast amount of feathered game that once was to be found in the county. Prairie chickens were everywhere and could easily be killed by any boy who could properly handle a shot gun. Their nests in the spring and sum- mer were to be found all over the prairies. Sometimes when the old grass was burned off a tract, the ground would be dotted thickly with these nests. At every cabin and every shanty fried chicken was served as often as desired. The disappearance of the prairie chickens was so gradual that no one can name the time when they first ceased to be quite plentiful.
The day of sandhill cranes is past and gone. What a sight they were! Out on the ridges and knolls they could almost always be seen in the spring, suinmer and fall dancing in a circle or jumping up and down while they flapped their wings. They were sometimes killed, but it took an experienced hunter to do it. It was seldom that one could creep near enough to them to inflict any damage with a rifle. While flapping their wings and going through with their antics, they were frequently mistaken for Indians in the early days. Old Luther Bullis nearly paralyzed the whole Irvington community in the spring of 1857, by reporting that a band of Sioux was approaching. He was mistaken. The foe was simply sandhill cranes. Referring to this incident, L. L. Treat, one of the proprietors of old Irvington, but now living at Webster City, says he would like to meet the shade of that man Bullis who passed in his checks a long time ago, but who "slunk the chills up and down the backs of many and nearly depopulated the whole country by reporting, he had seen a whole regiment of Indians with their guns shouldered, not far from Algona."
Long billed snipes, short billed snipes, pelicans, eagles and thunder pumpers, where are they? There is no feeling of sadness that they have taken their de- parture. They were here, no doubt to help make up the frontier conditions so that enjoyment could be all the more appreciated when a better civilization ap- peared. The driver of the breaking team now can perform his duty and not be disturbed by the hideous sounds of the snipe's squall.
The testimony of an experienced hunter, as to the great abundance of the feathered game at one time in this region, will be interesting and satisfactory evidence. John G. Smith became a resident of the county in 1866, and knows of the large quantity of game there was then and for several years later. Here is what he gave to the press for publication, on that subject in 1904:
"I have often thought that if I knew of a country like Kossuth county forty years ago I would go there. Kossuth county might not have looked to me at the present time as it did between thirty and forty years ago. I was young. The country was new. The river was full of fish. Large and small game were to be found in every part of the county. One found no wire fences or deep ditches in his pathway. There was an air of freedom wherever one went. When we traveled over the vast prairies we were glad to come across a large slough where the wild geese, cranes and ducks made their spring, summer and autumn homes.
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In the slough grass we would see the deer and elk beds and perhaps a deer or elk would jump up and run over the wild prairies; the wild fowl would fly and scream and the commotion made by the wild game would cause the blood to rush through one's veins and create an excitement that was very pleasant to one that was fond of the chase or of shooting the wild fowl.
"I do not think there was ever a better 'game country' than Kossuth county forty or fifty years ago, while near any stream could be found otter, beaver, mink and muskrats. Plenty of coons and some fishers ran wild in the timber. Forty years ago, I believe, there were ten thousand wild geese nests in Kossuth county. Allowing four young ones to each nest, and I think that would be a small estimate, there would be forty thousand young geese reared in the county. At the same time there were ten times as many wild ducks nested in the county as wild geese. It must have taken many tons of food to keep all these wild fowl. Thousands of sandhill and whooping crane bred here every year. I think I have seen five thousand cranes in one day. The whooping crane was a very beautiful bird, pure white except the black wing tips, large and stately, some of them standing over six feet in height; they would weigh when full grown from fifteen to twenty pounds. Once when hunting down on the ridge about five miles southeast of Algona I crept through the long grass on to a pair of whooping cranes, and when I got up to shoot I was so near them that I could almost touch them with my gun. They were taller than I was, and when I first got up they were inclined to fight, but thought better of it and started to fly. When they got a fair distance from me I killed them both. If they had fought me I am afraid I should have had very serious trouble. One of them stood six feet and four inches high and was the largest one I have ever killed. Out of over a hundred whooping cranes that I have killed there were but few that were under five feet in height. The sandhills are still quite plenty in the spring, but the whooping crane are seldom seen here.
"Thirty years ago there were thousands of canvas back ducks to be found in northwestern lowa. The wild celery grew in almost every lake. There is no food that the wild ducks like so well. The celery and wild rice gave the wild ducks a very fine flavor. The northwest Iowa ducks were considered the best for the table of any wild ducks to be found in any country. The new settlers of Iowa have but a little idea of the number of wild ducks that were here years ago. I believe I have seen ten thousand canvas back ducks in Elbow lake at one time. At the same time there were more red heads and blue bills in the lakes than canvas backs. The noise of the ducks' wings would at times sound like thunder.
"The 'prairie chickens' that were so plentiful years ago will soon be things of the past. Their breeding places are all destroyed and they have had to go west. The first years I was here, my old pointer dog, Mark, was the only chicken dog in the county. He was everyone's friend and would hunt with any one that carried a gun. One morning, when going to town, as I passed the Meth- odist minister's house, I saw the minister's wife feeding Mark. She told me she wanted Mark taken good care of, as he furnished prairie chickens for the whole town. I could go out and in three or four hours' time kill forty or fifty chickens.
"There have been but few wild geese bred here in the past ten years. We see
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them when they make their spring and fall flights, and many of them stop in the fields to feed. The cultivation of the lands has destroyed their breeding places and they are obliged to seek other homes. Quite a good many wild ducks still breed here. The day will soon come when the sloughs will be drained and we shall have but few wild ducks with us."
THE DREADED RATTLESNAKE
There are those yet living in the county who vividly remember how numer- ous the dreaded rattlesnakes were in the early days. They were to be found in the most unexpected places and at the most unexpected times. They were thick in the tall grass on the low lands and in the short grass on the ridges and hills. The "bell wether" heading a flock of sheep, on discovering the presence of a rattler, would jump over it and the others would do the same as though jumping over a pair of bars. Dogs soon learned never to attack them when curled up, but to wait until the snakes were stretched out full length. A rattler never bites, as is generally supposed, but strikes so as to make the poisoned fangs in its upper jaw pierce its victim. Hay loaders frequently found them on the load under their feet, and the pitchers often had them drop from the up-lifted forkful and land entirely too close for comfort. Harvesters always feared them when taking up a sheaf to bind, for they never knew when their right hands would touch them as they stooped to pick up the sheaves. The writer once turned up a baker's dozen when breaking up some sod in a low place just east of his father's farm home. There were four old ones and nine young. At another time he was plowing corn barefooted, and when turning the horse at the end of the row, he heard the familiar rattle not far away. Going back about fifteen feet, he saw the snake in a hill of corn and the print of his right foot within six inches of where the reptile was curled up and shooting out his forked tongue like streaks of fire. After killing the snake he went to the house, put on his boots and never again was known to plow corn in his bare feet. Although, cattle, horses and dogs were frequently struck by the rattlers, the writer can- not now remember of but two persons who were struck by them. Den Paine was struck by one and his father saved his life by sucking out the poison before it entered his system. Geo. Dunton was struck, and after being brought to town nearly died while having all the medical attendance possible. Present day settlers often ask why there are so few such deadly snakes in the county now when they were so numerous in early days. One of the principal reasons is the fact that the unwritten law of the settlements in those days permitted no one to discover a rattler and allow it to escape. It was considered an offense, at least in the southern part of the county, not to kill one at all hazards when once located. Boys have been known to get off their horses, take them by the fore- tops with their left hands and then beat the snakes to death with the bridles. This practice was strictly adhered to for a long term of years and no doubt had much to do with thinning out the rattlers.
Many stories about narrow escapes from these snakes went floating around the settlements, but most of them had no foundation in fact. One was told over and over again of how young John Fox, of Algona, in starting a fire one morning in the cook stove, put his hand in the ashes in front and touched a big
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rattler which instantly wound itself around his forearm. This story has made the cold chills run down the backs of the members of family circles when re- minded of John's snake experience. When asked about the truth of the story, a few years ago, John told the writer that it was all a hoax. He said that he never had any such experience and did not know of anyone who ever found a snake in the ashes in the stove.
FAMILIAR OLD-TIME NAMES
During the ten or fifteen years following the establishment of the first set- tlements, all were familiar with the names of certain places which are unknown to the settlers of recent years. Johnson's Point was the name of the grove in the northern part of Humboldt county and some eight or ten miles south of Irvington. It was named after two early settlers-Michael and John John- son. Later the grove was called Miner's Point after Harlow Miner. Owl lake, a few miles east was well known to all the old-time residents. They also were well informed as to Skunk grove, an early-day stopping place, a few miles east of Webster City. North of that town there lived on the Boone river a man by the name of Okerson who kept travelers over night. So many were acquainted with him that he almost seemed to belong to this community. It is seldom that one hears his name mentioned in these days. Buffalo grove and Upper grove, both in Hancock county, were referred to with great frequency as was also McKnight's Point in the northeastern corner of Pocahontas county. "The head waters of the Boone" was an expression often used when referring to the flat country lying east of Kossuth. The Big Brush country included the region where Forest City is located. The half-way house was the Richards home be- tween Dakota City and Lotts creek. There the carriers of the mail between Algona and Fort Dodge got their dinners and sometimes changed horses. Liberty, in Wright county, has become Goldfield, and Luni gave way to Renwick which was built up in that vicinity. The once well-known Packard settlement,-near old Luni, has long since ceased to be called by that name. The Irish colony and Soda Bar are names suggesting early days in Palo Alto-names familiar to the settlers here of that period. The Hand settlement in Humboldt county was referred to more often, perhaps, than was any other settlement outside of this county.
The word "point" as applied to a body of timber suggests days of 1855, so far as this county is concerned. The only grove well known by that term was Purcell's Point, in Irvington, named after Reuben Purcell, a settler of that year. That grove, however, is still ocasionally called by that name by the old settlers. After the town site of Algona was surveyed in 1856, the term "Call's grove" went out of use. The grove on section 24, in Union township, was first referred to as Ingham's claim, but after he had sold his interest to Reibhoff, Schenck and the two Moores it became widely known as the Reibhoff grove. After Craw sold his claim-right to the grove on section 20, in Plum Creek, it was referred to by many as the Ingham timber. The groves in Irvington were known as the Wright timber, the Robison timber, the. Wiltfong timber, the Crocket timber and Malachi Clark's woods. The Indian ford was a crossing at the river about a mile north of Irvington. It had the appearance of having been
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