USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 39
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deer after taking a good look at the intruders, started down the creek, towards the southeast corner of the county, and were soon out of sight. Dalton and Chapin returning home, reported what they had seen. A hunting party, consist- ing of John G. Smith, Andrew L. Seeley, Abe Hill and A. K. Kennedy, was organized a day or two later to give chase to the elk if it could again be dis- covered. These hunters on fleet-footed horses and well provided with guns and ammunition succeeded in finding, chasing and killing the identical game they were seeking. The following account of how this was accomplished was given the Upper Des Moines Republican for publication by Mr. Smith, one of the party, in 1904:
"No more elk and deer roam over the prairies. Thirty-six years ago the last elk was killed. He was a splendid specimen, weighing about 800 pounds. His fine horns were given to Kossuth county by Messrs. Seeley, Hill, Kennedy and Smith and may be seen in the court house. The chase after that elk was the most exciting that I have ever participated in. It was a fine November day, just cool enough for comfort. Some men had told us that they had seen this elk 'out on the great plains east of Algona,' and we determined to capture him. I left Algona at half past two o'clock in the morning. I had a good horse for the work before me. I went up to Abe Hill's where I met A. L. Seeley. Messrs. Hill, Seeley and myself then went across to Mr. Kennedy's. We routed Mr. Kennedy out, told him what we were after and he said he would be ready in a few minutes to go with us. We went out to the plains, passing the 'big spring,' located northeast of Wesley, on the old 'Belmond road.' This spring was about four by ten feet and I do not know its depth. It was a great watering place for large game. They had tramped the grass all down for ten feet around the spring. After we left the big spring we got out our glasses and commenced to look for the elk. From the bluffs east of Wesley we could see eight or ten miles. Part of the prairie was burned over. We traveled over the plains till after one o'clock in the afternoon without seeing any large game. Finally we were rewarded by discovering the elk and three deer about two miles southeast of us. We dismounted, looked over our saddles to see that everything was in good order. We then mounted and walked the horses slowly towards the elk. He did not notice us till we were within about a half mile of him. Then he threw up his head and I never saw a more beautiful game picture. His horns must have reached ten feet in the air. The background was the 'burned prairie,' and the sun shone on him in such a way that it made him look like the great monarch of the prairie that he truly was. It was the grandest game picture I have ever seen. He acted at first as though he was bound to defy us. But he soon concluded that his legs were the best protection, and started like a pacing horse in a race. The deer started with him, but they were no match for his swift gait. We set the spurs to our horses, and then it was every man for him- self. It was the wildest chase I had ever been mixed in. We had not gone more than two miles when Mr. Hill's horse struck a soft place in the prairie. The horse overreached and threw Mr. Hill over his head with such force that he must have landed fifteen or twenty feet in front of the horse. Both barrels of his gun were discharged. I pulled my horse up and asked him if he was hurt. He said, 'No, go on.' The elk paced about two miles further and came to a stand. We were then about forty rods from him. Mr. Seeley thought he could
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kill him where he stood. We pulled up our horses. Mr. Seeley got off his horse, shot and missed. The elk again started faster than ever. Mr. Seeley yelled at me to ride as fast as I could for fear the elk would get into the bluffs towards Irvington. I set the spurs to my horse and chased the elk up within two miles of Irvington, where I turned him towards the Boone river. I ran him back over almost the same tracks, and after I had run about four or five miles saw the rest of the boys coming to my help. I needed it, as my horse was somewhat tired, and the elk seemed to be as fresh as ever. When I came up with the boys I told them to take him and I would take the inside track and spell my horse. We chased the elk till near four o'clock and brought him to a stand in the head waters of the Boone, where we killed him. We were then about twenty-five miles from home. We hitched a picket rope to his horns and Mr. Seeley's horse drew him out of the river. We then took some coffee sacks from under our saddles and spread over the elk and sprinkled a lot of powder over him to keep the wolves and foxes away, and then left for home. I had had nothing to eat since morning, when I left Algona. I put a half dozen large soda crackers into my pocket the night before. Two of these I fed to the horse, two to my pointer dog Mack, and ate two myself-not a large meal, but they tasted good. I walked all the way home, as I wanted to spare my faithful horse. The night was clear and I had the 'polar star' to guide me. So I had no trouble, but was quite tired and hungry. I reached home early the next morning."
DEER CHASING ON PRAIRIE CREEK
The exciting chases after game were by no means confined to those where hunting parties rode rapidly over hills and valleys in their endeavor to overtake herds of pacing elk and buffaloes. Many a chase after deer was as much enjoyed by those engaged in the sport as though the game had been of a rarer and larger kind. The prairie creek country on the flat between where Wesley and LuVerne are situated was a favorite section where deer grazed in numerous herds. It was counted no trick for a settler with a good rifle to slip up on them through the rank slough grass, that grew over the bottom lands, and bring down a buck or a doe whenever he desired. But to give chase to deer after giving them a fair chance for their lives was a very different matter. In riding over gopher mounds, where the horses would sink down to their knees, many a horseman has been thrown over his horse's head, and then had the pleasure of walking home, after the horse had whirled and left him alone on the prairie.
Occasionally a rider would undertake to run down a deer, but would find the task of doing so impossible with the horse he was riding. Some of the deer were very swift runners and would leave the remainder of the herd in the rear. A. L. Seeley was an experienced hunter and usually rode horses that were as speedy as the game he was after. Once he came down from the upper country into the Irvington neighborhood to test his skill at chasing and killing deer, which he had been informed were so plentiful over towards the Prairie creek bot- tom. He struck the creek down in the vicinity of the present north line of Lu- Verne township, and then followed along the creek northward. There were two or three young fellows along with him who lived in the Irvington vicinity. They started up a herd of deer which started at a rapid gait for the ridge. The
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riders were surprised and disappointed, for they did not have a horse that could come anywhere near overtaking the game. The deer reached the ridge and several of them were killed by others, sometime before the Seeley party arrived. The early settlers in that region cared but little about the excitement of a chase. When they killed a deer they wanted it for the meat, and if it could be downed more easily by slipping up through the tall grass and firing, they did so. It was not until after the War that the excitement of a chase was rel- ished. In fact chasing was carried on much more frequently in the latter 60's than at any other period. This was due to the fact that a better class of horses and a different type of settlers had made their appearence. Scores of men, in giving their experiences in making chases over the flat after deer, could fur- nish stories that would be interesting reading if they chose to do so.
The chase was enjoyed not only by the sporting hunters, but by their horses as well. Horses soon learned what they were required to do, and the object of the fast riding. When they observed a herd at a distance they became as ner- vous and unmanageable as a horse when about to start on a race on the track. The well trained horses, when given the freedom of the rein, would start in a direct line for the herd and allow their riders to discharge their revolvers without dismounting. Generally, however, it was risky to fire while riding at a rapid gait. Many riders in doing so have found themselves unhorsed in short order. The favorite method employed by good hunters, with well trained horses, was to overtake the herd, ride in among the deer and shoot them down through their backs as they ran. It seems wicked as one now reflects how these innocent and beautiful animals were needlessly slaughtered on the Prairie creek bottom in the long ago.
Samuel Reed, one of the early settlers on the ridge northeast of Irvington, was the first hunter to go after game in the Prairie creek country. He found much pleasure in locating a herd of deer and in bringing in one to eat. He kept the neighboring families quite well supplied with fresh venison as well as his own. His long Kentucky rifle, powder horn and powder gauge were familiar objects which he highly prized, and which were always with him on his hunting trips. When later residents began chasing for the pleasure it produced, he took a hand in the sport and enjoyed it full as well as any. He raised a fine breed of horses that had wonderful power of endurance, as well as being spirited and fleet- footed. They were well adapted to the chase and needed but little training. The Reed boys frequently accompanied their father in the chases. James B. Reed of LuVerne, Minnesota, gives this description of one of them :
"During the month of January, 1874, my father, Samuel Reed, organized a hunting party to make a raid on the deer that were roaming over the eastern edge of the county. It was a bitter cold morning with the mercury ten degrees below zero when four of the party left the Reed premises, at four o'clock, while it was quite dark. These four were Samuel Reed, Gaylord C. Burtis, William H. Reed and James B. Reed. We went east about five miles to the old Pettin- gall farm, where the Burtis family were living, and there were joined by three of the Burtis boys-Harrison R., Frank and Bailey. Frank Burtis, my brother Will and myself followed along in the sled with a team, while the others were well mounted on fleet-footed horses. My father was riding old Balley, a magni- ficent sorrel with well developed muscles and large nostrils. He was a solidly built
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horse, and not of the type of racers usually seen on the track, but when in the chase he was there to stay. Gayl Burtis rode the little blocky mare, Lady, which my father had raised and often used in the chase. She was by far the best deer chaser that was ever ridden over the swampy lands of the flat. She was run on the race track about that time and left in the rear some of the best thorough- bred racers in the country. Bailey Burtis rode a horse with white nose and feet, and his brother, Harrison, Gypsy, a dark mahogany mare, both being good in the chase.
"The party proceeded eastward to the headwaters of the Boone, arriving there just as the sun was coming up. It was so cold that the riders for some considerable distance had been walking and leading their horses. While the men were shivering and walking through the tall brakes, a large buck and two doe started from their hiding place. The horses were instantly wild with excite- ment. Some of them reared and plunged so that they could not be mounted for some time. It took about all the men present to hold the horses until the riders could get seated in their saddles. By this time the deer in the distance looked like jack rabbits on the prairie. The dogs now being turned loose the four horse- men gave chase. They swept over the plain like a whirlwind and made one of the prettiest chases that I ever saw. Deer, horses, riders and dogs were disappearing in the west as they neared Prairie creek, and left us in the sled far behind. While the chase was assuming the form of a large half circle, we in the sled gained on the party and came quite near to them. The deer entering the creek bottom near the old Thomas place, went into hiding in the brakes where they were soon routed. They were crowded so much by the horsemen that one doe started for the west with Gayl Burtis fairly flying through the air after the game.
"The big buck and the other doe were crowded to run in the direction of where Corwith is situated. Whether Harrison and Bailey Burtis chased the doe I have forgotten, but I remember how my father joined in an exciting race with the buck for a couple of miles before finally overtaking him. The buck then turned and showed a disposition to fight, but when father drew his Colt's army revolver and fired, the coveted game fell. Putting his revolver into his overcoat pocket, father dismounted and was cutting the skin on the buck's throat, pre- paratory to sticking the knife to the heart, when suddenly the buck's hind feet came up with such force that they knocked the hunter down and cast him sev- eral feet away. The buck then jumping up was off again to the surprise of everyone. The rider managed to mount and after passing over a distance of a mile or two overtook the buck, but it did him no good, for his revolver had come out of his pocket and was lost on the prairie. The buck seemed to realize this situation and again turned to put up a fight. Our sled party and others now appearing upon the scene, father took from the sled a shotgun, killed the buck, loaded him on the sled and brought the trophy home, arriving about ten o'clock at night.
"Gayl Burtis arrived an hour earlier, after having killed the doe which he chased towards the west. He followed it over hill and valley. across the flat and over the ridge until noon when he came to a point south of the Reed home. He stopped to get some dinner while his game was going like a streak towards the southwest. After resting his horse he again took up the chase and scared up
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his game on a spot now in the Sample field. When he went to level his shotgun, Lady began plunging, and both barrels were accidentally discharged. He fol- lowed on at a whirlwind rate, passing through Hodges' field, then west, then south and finally into David Dutton's field, where he came upon the doe lying down in a small ravine. When the game jumped up and started to run again, Gayl gave it a charge of shot that brought it suddenly to the ground. Throwing the deer across the back of the horse he walked all the way home arriving as above stated about nine o'clock.
"The antlers of the buck, when examined, showed why father's revolver shot on Prairie creek was of such little effect that the buck not only kicked him over but got up and ran away. The ball found half embedded in the horn, about three inches from the head, explained the reason. It was the severe shock and not the wound that brought the game down. My brother, Ben, has these antlers at his home, and the bullet is still sticking in them. The revolver father lost was found seventeen years later by Tom Beecher, on some grass land nearly a mile west of Corwith. It is now the property of my brother, Will, and is in his possession."
GRASSHOPPER INVASIONS
This chapter on Interesting Historical Events would be far from being complete if no account was presented of the various grasshopper invasions of the county. Their first appearance in great numbers was about the middle of June, 1867, a little more than a year after the prairie settlements had begun to form. They did considerable damage especially to the settlers along the western side of the county.
The invasion of 1873 caused ten times more distress, sorrow and financial loss than all the other invasions combined. It will long be remembered as one of the most distressing events connected with the history of the county. Every man, woman and child was affected by the scourge which at that time amounted almost to a calamity. It drove many people from the county and made many more who remained too poor to get away. Money was scarce and exceedingly hard to get before the myriads of pests came, owing to the general financial depression experienced throughout the whole country. Even in sections of the country where the hoppers did not visit, the people realized that it was one of the years of the hard times period. The farmers by practicing a little more economy than usual could have managed to support their families during that period without being much distressed, had not those flying torments of the sandy plains of the southwest come to make the situation more deplorable.
During the spring and early summer of 1873 the crops gave evidence of furnishing a good yield at maturity, as the season had been quite favorable to their growth. Along about the middle of June hot, dry winds from the south- west continued for several days, then changing came from the northwest. Soon it was discovered that the air at quite a distance above the earth was filled with grasshoppers apparently flying towards the southeast. Millions of them passed over. At times they were so thick that the rays of the sun were much darkened. People stood in groups with up-turned faces looking towards the sun, where the flying invaders could most easily be seen. At first it was thought by many that what was seen in the air was some kind of fibrous matter that had become detached
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from vegetation growing far away. But when occasionally some of these flying objects dropped upon the ground that idea was forced to be changed, Finally they began dropping rapidly. As they struck the roofs of buildings it sounded much like the falling of large hailstones. They were of a variety quite different from our native grasshoppers. They were much larger, more plump, greener in color and could fly continuously like a bird. Besides this they had mouths that seemed to work in four directions-up and down and in and out sidewise. By this double-action sucking process they could destroy an oat field in a short time, where they settled in great numbers. There was such an abundance of other green forage for them to feast upon during the summer and fall that they did not find it necessary to suck the juice from all the stand- ing grain in the county, though they more or less damaged the crops on every farm. In some portions of the county the damage was very small, but in other parts entire fields were completely ruined. The upper Black Cat country had an especial attraction for them that fall. There they destroyed numerous crops entirely. John Reed was living then where Stephen Tjaden now lives on section ten north of the creek. On his way to church and Sunday school on the south side one Sunday he passed in sight of his ten-acre wheat field, remarking to his family that it would be ready to be reaped in a few days. On his return in two of three hours he was astonished and disheartened on observing that his crop was totally ruined by the invading pests. Ilis neighbors soon experienced the same misfortune. The gardens and corn fields in some localities were injured, some slightly and some to a considerable extent. In some places the oat fields were left undisturbed where the corn and wheat were destroyed. In other places the oats seemed to have had more of an attraction for the hoppers than any other kind of grain in the vicinity. These destructive pests were of the locust type, and when they covered a field it went down in a very short time While here that year they deposited millions of eggs in the ground. They had a special fondness for hard soil in which to make their deposits. They would bore down in the hardest roads for the purpose and fairly cover them with their egg holes. Each of these breeding places contained a sack, about two inches long, made of fuzzy material and having the appearance of felt. More than one hundred eggs have been found in a single nest. Most people were not very much concerned about the innumerable number of these deposits that had been made, for they were sure the coming winter would completely destroy the life of every egg. They assumed to be wise philosophers. They couldn't be mis- taken about that theory. In fact they welcomed the approach of winter, so that the work of the grasshopper extermination could begin. Nothing could be more sure to them than that the invaders from the sandy plains were so tender that a good freezing would put an end to the scourge. A few experimented during the winter by thawing out frozen clods containing the deposit nests. They plainly saw that the freezing had not destroyed the eggs and knew what to expect when warm weather came. The great majority of the people, however, believed that there would be no hoppers in the spring. With this assurance the farmers went to work with renewed energy preparing for the next year's crop to make up for what they had lost.
The spring of 1874 finally came, and after the deep snow had melted away the small grain was sown and covered with more than usual care. Then it was
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soon discovered that the hoppers were hatching out all over the county by mil- lions and coming out of their breeding places. In a few days it became evident that a crisis was at hand when all learned of the fact that these young hoppers were taking the wheat and oats as fast as the blades appeared above ground. They worked without respect to persons for they served all alike, eating up everything that was attempted to be raised and everything that was of native growth that was green and tender. Oats, wheat, barley, corn and garden vege- tables all were destroyed completely. Moreover, the leaves from the willow hedges were stripped off and the branches left as barren as if it had been mid- winter instead of the hot-weather months. The pests made a clean sweep, even to injuring the prairie grass excepting the blue joint which for some reason they appeared to pass by without molesting. The burdocks, furthermore, were unfortunately not disturbed, but Pete Hegarty's tobacco plants helped to whet the appetites of the hoppers and were destroyed. The hundreds of farmers who had not even seen a blade of grass from the grain they had sown had good rea- sons for feeling discouraged, for the destruction was complete and universal. The situation was bad enough the year before, but on the whole probably not one-tenth as bad as it was in 1874. Hard times set in and continued to increase in their severity for a couple of years. Crops were gone again, debts were owed by many for that year's seed, no provisions were in sight for the family or grain for the stock during the year, and no resources upon which to draw to meet the obligations which surely would have to be made.
The people were sorely distressed and in want of support from outside sources. So were those in many of the counties to the west and southwest of us. A state committee was appointed to manage the solicitation of funds, coal, clothing and provisions for the needy in those counties. Various meetings were held at Algona to consider the local situation. Dr. H. C. McCoy and D. H. Hutchins became active in soliciting and distributing the supplies as members of the relief committee. The latter visited his old home in Clayton county and interested Governor Larrabee and others in the welfare of our citizens. Fifteen persons were designated in that county by members of the state committee to solicit aid for Kossuth county alone. Clothing, boots and shoes, bedding, pro- visions and money were asked for and received. Many in this way were helped to assistance that was badly needed. Some families that had been quite well- to-do were forced to accept the aid procured through the relief committees.
There was one product, however, that all farmers had in abundance to sell or trade for anything that could be used by the family. That product was a rare kind of eggs, rare because no eggs had ever been on the market before with yolks of crimson color. They had to be eaten, but always with feelings of regret. They were not very salable, but could be exchanged for something of small value. It was a hard task for some town people to masticate them, but they did so because it was either that or nothing. The hens fattened on grasshop- pers as they had never done on any other food. They soon learned the habits of the hoppers and got their fill with no exertion. About an hour before sun- down these hoppers would begin jumping upon the west side of the buildings and remain there over night if not disturbed. If the buildings stood north and south the hoppers would cover the entire west surface, roof and all. But they never went over the ridge board to the east side. As soon as they became settled
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