USA > Iowa > Kossuth County > History of Kossuth County, Iowa > Part 42
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Wallace & Reed by converting all their cheese factories, in 1879, into cream- eries, became the originators of that line of industry in the county.
In the summer of 1879 K. S. Lamberson brought to the county the first merry-
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go-round and set it going near the old Bongey house in Algona. It was turned by one horse that circled around the pole in the center. That was as much of an attraction to the young people as was the first circus.
At the county fair in the fall of 1897 Montgomery Ward & Co. had on ex- hibition a horseless carriage, but it was out of repair and couldn't be forced to run on the track. It was the first vehicle of the kind in the county. A few months later Garry Garfield purchased the first auotmobile. O. B. Durdall, Doctor Morse and Doctor Peters in turn made similar purchases. The last two named had "buckboards" and they rattled like a McCormick mower in a hay field.
No senator represented this district who was a resident of the county, till Charles C. Chubb was elected to that position in November, 1883. He served in the legislature during the twentieth and twenty-first sessions.
R. J. Danson has the honor of having been the first county attorney. He was elected to that position in November, 1886, after the Legislature had abolished the office of district attorney.
The first tiling done in the county was during the year 1887 for C. R. Lewis on what is now the Skilling farm, about one mile north of Irvington. He put in about three car loads of 4's and 5's, the work being done by Charles Swanson and Charles Madine.
Geo. C. Shelley started the Algona marble works during the year 1888. This was the first establishment of that kind in the county. He is still doing business at the same old stand, but now as manager for the present proprietors.
William B. Quarton at the polls in November, 1894, was elected one of the judges for the fourteenth judicial district. No resident of the county had been chosen for that honorable position before that time.
Jacob Winkel, in Union township, was the first to own a traction engine for drawing gang plows. He made this purchase in the summer of 1912, and then in a few weeks C. D. Ward and Myron Schenck went in together and made a similar purchase.
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CHAPTER XVII OUR REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
It has been the policy of the government since its organization not to give the white people any right or encouragement to enter upon any of the public lands for the purpose of making homes, until after the Indian titles to the same had been extinguished. While it adhered to this theory, it frequently found itself almost compelled to deviate from the rule in practice, because of the rush of people from the East seeking homes on cheaper and more fertile lands yet possessed by the Indians. In many well known instances these invading hosts, seeing the prom- ised land before them, defied government authority by "squatting" among the savages and waiting until preemption days arrived or the land became subject to private entry. The government from the very beginning had dealt with the Indians in such a way as to recognize them as being practically the original owners of the soil by right of occupancy. It purchased their right to possession, tract by tract, on the best terms it could, thus crowding them continually westward where "they will soon hear the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever."
On their arrival in 1854 the first settlers did not have to wait for the Indian titles to be extinguished before beginning operations to found homes and engage in enterprise, because the government had purchased by a treaty with the Sioux, all their interest in and to land in Iowa three years before the first settlers came to Kossuth. At that time the entire acreage of the county belonged to the general government, except such portions of it as had been granted to the state for various purposes or by the state in turn to the county or to some improvement company. By degrees the government parted with its title to the land until today, after a lapse of more than half a century, the county is dotted over with the homes of the owners of the land on which they are located. The great majority of these owners secured their titles by purchase from corporations or private individuals, in strik- ing contrast with the way in which homes were secured in the days of the early settlements. The government had no use for the lands in this or any other county in Iowa, further than to dispose of them in such a way as to induce homes to be made on them in order that the vast quantities of vacant land might become settled and industrial progress encouraged. It gave some of the lands to sup- port the public schools, some to endow institutions of higher learning, some to railway coroporations to encourage immigration into the county, some of the wet lands to be sold so that the proceeds might be used in defraying the expense of bridging, draining and making fit for cultivation the remaining swampy por- tions of the county, and some of them for other laudable purposes. The various
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grants the government made to the state for educational purposes indicate the interest the administration has had in the welfare of its citizens. "Schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged," has been its expressed sen- timent ever since that famous declaration was embodied into the ordinance of the old Northwest Territory in 1787. When the territory of Wisconsin was carved from that great territory it carried with it that sacred pledge, and when the territory of Iowa was separated from the former it also took upon itself that important obligation. Moreover, the state itself came into the Union with a gift from the government of section 16 of every congressional township in the state for the use of schools.
The tracts of land which the earliest settlers in the county secured for homes did not come into their possession by reason of any of these grants or donations from the government to the state, but by reason of the prevailing preemption law which made it possible for settlers under certain conditions to obtain lands at the rate of $1.25 per acre, or $2.00 per quarter section. There was considerable governmental machinery maintained in order that settlers might be enabled to procure homes, and that a record of each particular tract so procured might be preserved at Washington. To accomplish this feature the western portion of the United States was divided into surveying districts, Iowa and Nebraska consti- tuting one of them. In each of these resided a surveyor-general whose duties required him to have all lands surveyed before they could be disposed of on any conditions. Such official for this district had his office at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Land districts were also established, in each of which at some point convenient to the people was the office of the register and receiver. This very important official, acting under orders from the commissioner of the general land office at Washington, who in turn was subject to the dictates of the secretary of the in- terior, was the one into whose possession came all the records, notes and plats caused to be made by the surveyor-general pertaining to the lands in the district in which such office was located. To the register and receiver all parties went in person to make applications for securing land for homes. To him they went for desired information concerning settlers' claims, and to him they went to have their grievances over preemption land troubles adjusted. He was the middleman between the government and the people and the mutual friend of both.
All Kossuth county land lay in the Fort Dodge district. It was at that little pioneer village where the register and receiver had his office and where our early settlers went to procure their lands at $1.25 per acre. John M. Stockdale, who held that office from 1857 to 1861, was better known to our residents of that period than was any other official outside of the county. He was regarded in a large measure as being one who figured conspicuously in making history in the early days not only for Webster county, the place of his residence, but for Kossuth and all other counties in his district as well. None of the counties to which allu- sion has been made can have their histories justly written without at least a passing notice of his official position and the service he rendered those whose early settle- ments entitle them to the worthy name of pioneers. His successor, C. B. Richards, who held the office until 1869, was there during the "homestead" period when this county took on a new lease of life as the prairie began filling with hopeful settlers. He, too, in consequence became well known to those who sought free homes from the government.
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PRE-EMPTION, HOMESTEAD AND COLLEGE LEASE. PRIVILEGES
To procure a quarter section home under the preemption privileges, a strict compliance with the required regulations had to be observed. The chosen loca- tion having been selected and slightly improved, the applicant then proceeded to the land office at Fort Dodge where he made oath to his declaratory statements in effect that he had never had the benefit of any preemption right; that he was not the owner of 320 acres of land in any state or territory; that he had not settled upon and improved his selected land to sell the same on speculation, but in good faith to appropriate it to his own exclusive use; and that he had not, directly or indirectly, made any agreement or contract, in any way, with any person by which the title which he might acquire from the government should inure in whole or in part to the benefit of any person except himself. The register and receiver re- tained this affidavit at his office and a duplicate of it was forwarded to the gen- eral land office at Washington. After this declaratory statement was made the applicant could not change his mind and file upon any other tract of land than the one he then designated. Upon this land he had to live and make substantial im- provements. Before he was allowed to purchase it at the rate of $1.25 per acre he had to produce such proof to the register and receiver as would justify that official in believing that the home of the applicant after the declaratory statements were made had been on the land. There had to be a house on the land in which he was living and making his home at the time the proof was produced. Some ten acres of land must have been broken on the premises to show the applicant's good faith. The proof was generally made on the evidence of two witnesses who had no claims upon the land. The payment for the land could be made whenever the required improvements and actual settlement could be established by the proper proof. Generally, however, the payment was postponed as long as pos- sible, which was until the land was thrown upon the market for sale at private entry. As a result many did not prove up on their preemptive claims for several years. Money not being very abundant in this locality in those days, the young fellows on their preemptions were in no hurry to make the final proof. When- ever Uncle Sam was satisfied that the claimant had complied with all the require- ments the patent followed in due course of time. The names of James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln used to be seen frequently at the end of these evidences of transfer of title from the government to the preemptors. They were written, however, by their secretaries or some official clerk. The timber tracts having been preempted first, there were but few desirable ones of that kind that could be taken after the year 1855. Lewis H. Smith came into the settlement on the 4th of July in that year and was obliged to take a prairie preemption west of town. He took it, lived on it, proved up, received his patent and still owns the land. It has neither been transferred nor encumbered during all these years. It is doubt- ful if there is another quarter section in the county with such a record. The northeast quarter of section 4 in Cresco is the land to which reference is made.
The homestead act which enabled hundreds of families to obtain free quar- ter section homes in the county became a law by the approval of Congress in May. 1862. The new law at that time received but little attention, for the minds of the people were concerned more about the disasters of the war than about taking homesteads and locating on them. These gifts to the homeless from the govern- ment were the means of our fertile prairies receiving their first settlements. The
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poor were not the only ones who took advantage of the liberal terms of the gov- ernment to acquire a home in that way. Men of moderate means, and even the wealthy, acquired land under the provisions of the act of congress. Some who had been well established in business either sold out or rented to become home- steaders. Many a family had a hard time to get along on the new home farm that were doing well before they made their temporary shift to the prairie.
Applicants for the homestead privilege after choosing their location went to the land office at Fort Dodge and before C. B. Richards, the register and receiver, made oath to declaratory statements similar to those made by their preemption neighbors. The land selected must have been in good faith for a home and not for speculation. An actual home upon the tract was what the law demanded, and this home must have been maintained for full five years before any title would pass from the government to the homesteader. Two witnesses had to swear that he had lived on the land for the required time and had made his real home on the premises. He paid for his land by simply living on it for the five years, while his preemption neighbor had to finally pay $200 for his quarter. In both cases in order to maintain their homes a certain amount of improvements had to be made in the meantime to satisfy the demands of the law. Many who had complied with all the requirements and were ready to make final proof were in no hurry to do so or to have the patents issued, because no lands so acquired were liable for debts con- tracted before the date of the issuance of the patents. That was an extraordi- nary privilege which was not enjoyed by many of their neighbors. Moreover, until the patents were recorded the lands were not entered on the books for taxa- tion. This double favor made the owners of the land, taking advantage of the law, well to do financially years before they otherwise would have been. Such wealth-making factors do not come to the citizens of the county in these later years. They are remembered by those having knowledge of the fact as conditions which once prevailed, but which have "faded away like the stars of the morning."
"College land" and "College leases" were familiar terms in this county during the latter preemption and homestead years and for a long time after. As many procured their farms on the most favorable terms through these leases, a state- ment, as to what these terms meant and as to what method was employed to procure such lands, seems appropriate for this chapter.
In July, 1862. Congress granted to each state and territory as many as thirty thousand acres of land as it had senators and representatives in Congress, on the condition that the states so receiving the gift must devote it to the founding of a college for teaching branches related to agriculture and the mechanic arts. Iowa on that promise was entitled to 240,000 acres of "College land." The Iowa Legislature in March, 1858, made provisions for establishing the required educational institution. In September, 1862, our law-makers accepted the gift on the proposed conditions. The Governor was authorized to appoint a com- missioner to select and locate the lands. This selection had to be made from lands subject to private entry at $1.25 per acre and were not to include any of those previously selected as swamp lands. After the selected list had been reported to the Governor and then by him to the board of trustees of the Agri- cultural College, and had been approved by the latter, the Secretary of the Interior in due course of time certified the list of lands to the state. Peter Melendy of Cedar Falls, did the selecting in 1863, and the Secretary of the Interior approved
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the same in December, 1864. All lands selected within the railroad limits were approved at twice the value of other college lands. This county in 1865 had 84,198 acres outside of these limits and none within, according to the report of the register of the state land office that year. These lands had been donated to the Agricultural College in March, 1864.
Complying with the terms of the grant the proceeds arising from the sale of the lands were invested in stocks of the United States or other safe stocks yielding not less than five per cent interest on the par value. This became the college permanent endowment fund, the principal of which was never to be diminished under any pretext whatever. Furthermore, the state itself became responsible for any portion of its loss.
A person could lease a quarter section of these lands at first for a term of ten years or more by paying six per cent interest on its approved value, which was never less than $1.25 per acre. He, moreover, had the privilege of purchas- ing it at the end of the lease period at its approved value when the term of the lease began. During the year 1865 a large number of settlers secured these leases, the lands then being rated at about $1.50. Ten years later the purchasers paid for their farms at that price. That was the homeseekers' bonanza age. These terms were so modified the very next year that purchasers had to pay at least double the 1865 appraised value, but they needed only to pay one-fourth down. The remainder could be paid at any time within ten years, eight per cent interest being required on all deferred payments. By later regulations none of the lands could be leased for a longer term than ten years. As late as 1869, while the road bed of the Milwaukee line was being constructed to Algona, these lands were valued at only $2.39 per acre, according to G. W. Basset, the agent for the college, who was disposing of them. Is it any wonder then that patented preemption or homestead lands went begging for $5 purchasers in the early 70's while college lands were being sold on such favorable terms?
If there were any spot on earth today where such fertile lands could be procured on such extraordinary terms as they were here in that period. the whole county would become almost depopulated on account of the citizens rush- ing out to avail themselves of the privilege.
RISE IN LAND VALUES
The gradual increase of land values in the county, from early preemption days to the time when the $150 mark was reached, makes an interesting study for those who endeavor to become informed on that subject. The oldest settlers waited about fifty-five years before the time came when a quarter section could be sold in the market for $16,000. That price had been frequently named, years before, by land men as being the amount lands favorably located would bring some day not far distant. Such talk, however, was regarded by the settlers generally as being a visionary dream which never would be realized. When Judge Call assured some of the newcomers in the latter 60's that they would live to see the lands near Algona sell for $100 per acre they neither believed the prediction nor thought that he had expressed an honest opinion. They settled, it is true, but with no thought that their lands ever would be worth anything like that figure. The fact is they concerned themselves but little about future
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prices, hoping only to obtain enough from the products of the soil to support their families comfortably and give their children a fair common school educa- tion. As they had bought their farms for homes and not for speculation, they had but little interest in what their farms were liable to be worth in thirty or forty years from that time.
As strange as it may seem now, there was nothing in the prevailing conditions, up to even as late a date as the year 1882, to convince the average citizen that five dollar lands in less than thirty years would be worth twenty times that amount. This too was regardless of the fact that the county was crossed by two railways lines at the time. But prices refused to become stagnant and lands began moving. Gradually values climbed upward until the fall of 1909 when farms favorably located and having substantial improvements began changing owners for a consideration of $100 per acre, and even more than that sum. It was then when many men began to realize how much they had lost by trifling away the tracts of land they at one time had owned. Then began the cry "Back from the towns and villages to the country !" But that desire had come years too late. The very farms they had abandoned had increased in value until they could have no hopes of ever possessing them again. They had left farm life under the delusion that they could make an easier and a better living where their village cousins were residing. Moreover, they realized that when they slept their earning power lay dormant, while those who purchased their farms were gaining in wealth by the growth of their flocks and herds and the increase in value of their farms. With unemployed children around them, and old age appearing in full view, they began sighing for some location elsewhere where the lands were as fertile and as low in price as they were here at the time when they first became the owners of Kossuth county soil. Gladly would they have moved to such a locality, but they did not simply because no such favorable conditions could be found anywhere. The fact is the time for taking advantage of such golden opportunities has passed forever. Fertile corn-productive soil without irrigation, free grazing lands and hay meadows, intelligent neighbors, good schools and railroad facilities are conditions nowhere to be found in regions where lands are selling at prices within reach of the man who has but little means to purchase them.
There are hundreds of farmers in the county who would have been worth five times their present wealth if they could have been convinced that land values would be increased materially in a few years. No matter at what prices lands were held, for them they were too high, so high in fact, they said, that the reaction which was sure to come would so lower the prices that they could then purchase. But that reaction never came. When the prices advanced a few dollars they made the same complaint, and wished they had bought before the prices raised. They still waited for the reaction time to come and were amazed to see the prices going higher and higher. They tried to console themselves by their American independence. They reasoned that as they had a little land, and free range for their cattle over the prairies, they could easily get along with what they had and let the land robbers starve. Soon this happy condition changed. Strangers came and bought all the land around them, destroying the freedom of range. The lands which lay before their own dooryards, which they might have purchased at a reasonable price, were sold often to undesirable parties, thus
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handicapping them in handling their herds. Today they would gladly pay seventy- five dollars per acre for some of these tracts, which they refused to buy in the long ago for one-tenth of that price, but they would have to nearly double that sum if they became the owners. They have stood in their own light and have been their own worst enemies in the accumulation of wealth derived from real- estate sources.
There are many in the county who never have owned any land. They could have done so when prices were less than ten dollars, but no, they would not be robbed. They had money then enough to secure possession but they sought lower prices and refused to buy. Lands were offered them at $12.50, at $15, at $17, at $20, at $22, at $25, at $28 and at $31.25. On the approach of this last named price they simply collapsed and never afterwards entertained any idea of being the owners of farm homes.
Prices will not cease to advance simply because they have reached the $100 mark. They have in numerous instances since that time gone considerably above that figure and will go still higher. Well improved farms have sold as high as $125, and for choice locations where good buildings are situated on small tracts $150 have been paid as consideration per acre. Judging from the way the Illinois lands advanced after they had begun selling for $100 per acre, the residents of this county may rest assured that there are those still living who will see the choicest and most favorably located farms sell for double the prices now asked for them. In Logan county for instance, it took seventy years for the lands to rise in price from preemption rates of $1.25 per acre to $100. But it only took ten years more for the same land to be worth $200 in the market. The price went slowly up until it reached $90, then every man who could raise the money bought on speculation, for all could see that ten dollars more was sure to be added soon to the values. Then again when they reached $190 there was the same stampede to purchase and thus make ten dollars per acre in a short time. We beat that county ten or fifteen years in reaching the $100 point, but whether or not we can even equal Logan in receiving $200 at the end of ten years remains to be seen.
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