History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 60

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879

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surveys previously made which were of no avail, many people looked with sus- picion on the Milwaukee survey, fearing that after all the road might be run elsewhere. The first real assurance they had that the road would be built on the surveyed line was when the grading stakes were being placed in position.

Soon after, the scenes along the line were those of activity. Contractor Carpenter, who had the work to do from Clear Lake to Algona, sub-let in sec- tions the grading to various parties, who in turn sub-let in smaller sections to others. Boarding shanties were built, workmen congregated and a large number of teams appeared along with the grading outfits. Crowds of people visited the scenes and watched with admiring eyes the advancement of the work. They seemed to have an admiration for Captain Woodman, who had charge of the surveying crew, for holding such an important position. Among those who were constructing the road bed were many homesteaders who engaged in the work to acquire a little ready money. Some worked with teams and scrapers, some with wheelbarrows, others used only their spades, while the Scotch farmers used four-tined forks for leveling and smoothing the surface of the road bed.

After the trains began coming in on regular time, Conductor Cadwell was very accommodating to the residents. At that time the home of the Dormoy Brothers was the first house along the line west of the station at Wesley. There was no Sexton then or other regular station between Algona and Wesley. People who lived away from the track, and about midway between these two places, were frequently let off the train at Pine's crossing, by the conductor's causing the train to stop. On one occasion the writer was on the train when it stopped at Dormoy's to let a man off and then it stopped again opposite Doctor Hudson's to give the writer himself a chance to alight.

From the time the road started westward from McGregor, thirteen years elapsed before the trains were run over it to Algona. In fact it took ten years for it to reach Calmar. It was this slow movement in the progress of the road that kept Kossuth county citizens on the anxious seat. The foremost resident promoter of railroad enterprises in the county was Judge Call. It was this east and west road which he longed to see enter the county, and towards securing this he bent his energies.

Several companies were organized from time to time to carry the work for- ward, as one after another failed to comply with the terms of its contract. To construct the line of road from McGregor to the Missouri river, the McGregor, St. Peters and Missouri River Railroad Company, was organized in 1857, but soon abandoning the work, the McGregor Western Railroad Company began carrying it slowly forward. To aid this company, it received in 1864 a grant of land comprising each alternate section within ten miles of each side of the line. This gift was with the understanding that twenty miles of the road should be built each year. Failing to comply with the terms, it surrendered its claims to the land, and then they were donated in 1868 to the MeGregor and Sioux City Railway Company with the proviso that the road should be completed by Decem- ber, 1875, to a point where the survey reached the proposed line running from Sioux City to the southern boundary line of Minnesota. This company was also compelled to abandon the work and relinquish its claims to the grant.

The road came to a halt after having reached Algona in 1870. Six years later the MeGregor and Missouri River Railway Company received the grant of

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land from the Legislature to enable the work to be pushed forward without further delay. The terms required the company to complete the road by De- cember, 1877, but failing to comply with the requirements, the grant was given to the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company in 1878 with the understanding that the road should reach Sheldon during the year 1880.

This last named company made good, much better than the Legislature antici- pated; for the cars during the year 1878 not only left Algona on their way westward, but reached Sheldon in November.

For more than twenty years various propositions had been entertained for the establishment of a north and south road, but all of them failed to be pro- ductive of any benefit until the project was started in 1880 to have the North- western line run through the county. In May of that year a mass meeting was held at the courthouse to consider the proposition to be advocated by the speak- ers, Colonel Smart and Colonel Wilson. They agreed to see that the road was completed through the county by the last of the year 1881, for a bonus of $2,000 per mile and the right of way. One depot was to be located, according to the terms, within three-fourths of a mile of the courthouse, and three others in the county. A five per cent tax from each township was demanded, one-half to be paid when the road should be completed to Algona, and the other half when the road reached the state line.

The proposition meeting with popular favor, in due course of time caused the road to be constructed as the result. J. R. Jones has always had the credit for having done as much towards securing that road as any one, and it came about in this way: While he was taking a lunch at a restaurant in Des Moines, he heard Colonel Smart and another man, who were also lunching, talking about devising a plan to run the road north from Des Moines through Emmetsburg. Mr. Jones told them that if they would run the road through Algona that the county would vote them a five per cent tax. He gave them such an earnest talk that they decided to entertain his proposition, provided he should go home and have a mass meeting called where they could talk to the citizens on the subject.

Colonel Smart and his partner owned the first sixty miles of the road north of Des Moines when it was first built. He also located the depot at Algona. After the survey had been made, securing the right of way was the next move. This could not be done until the value of the land to be taken was assessed by competent judges. The six chosen to perform this duty were George E. Boyle, D. A. Haggard, C. C. Chubb, William Peck, William Ward and Joseph Thomp- son. As it was in bleak December when they traveled over the route, they en- countered some severe storms. All except the first two named above have passed over the silent river.

In the fall of 1881 the first passenger train passed over the new road, the mail service beginning on the 21st day of September. As the result of the road's being built, the towns of LuVerne, the present Irvington, Burt, Bancroft and Ledyard, and the Galbraith siding sprang into existence.

The Fox lake branch of the road, which started from the main line at Burt, was hurried through during the year 1899, causing the villages of Lone Rock and Fenton to come into being.

During the summer of 1892 joy came to the people in the north end of the county when they observed the B. C. R. and N. Ry. Co., grading

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the road bed from the east towards Swea City. The company didn't take the time to ask for a tax to be levied for its benefit in the townships through which it was to pass, but hurried on so as to prevent some other com- pany from having its road reach Estherville first. Regular trains began run- ning over the track as far as Reynolds (Swea City ), about the first of January, 1893, and when the road reached Armstrong it went no further west for two or three years. Germania and Swea City owe their existence to the "Burling- ton" for having established its line of road to run through the townships where it does. Then, too, Gerled would not be designated on the map, if that station had been located elsewhere than in the township which contains "Ger" mania and "Led" yard.

The M. and St. I .. cut across the southeast corner of the county on its way to Fort Dodge during the year 1880 and the B. C. R. and N. in 1882 clipped the southwest corner in reaching West Bend. Lu Verne township alone receives the benefit of the tax from the former and Garfield from the latter.

It took an agitation of more than ten years on the subject to cause the Bel- mond extension of the Iowa Central to reach Algona. This agitation, however, was more spasmodic than continuous, As early as in May, 1886, Mayor D. A. Haggard presided over a meeting, held at the court house to boom the propo- sition. Doctor McCoy, Colonel Spencer, H. S. Vaughn, C. L. Lund and Thomas Earley composed the appointed committee to confer with the railroad officials on the matter. This action caused President W. L. Dudley and Assistant J. J. John- son, a few days later, to come to Algona to address the citizens on the subject. A five per cent tax, in the townships along the line, was what they demanded to have the engines on the track puffing their smoke at the terminus of the track, in the county seat of Kossuth. After further speeches had been made by A. F. and George C. Call, Harvey Ingham, C. L. Lund, Mayor Haggard, Colonel Spencer, Doctor Sheetz, A. A. Call, Thomas Earley, J. M. Comstock, and M. L. Clarke, the meeting resolved "that it is the sense of this meeting that we pledge a five per cent tax to aid the extension of the Iowa Central."

Nothing of importance was further done about the matter until up in the eighties when George C. Call became very active in promoting the project that had been allowed to slumber for several years. The line having been previously surveyed, the voting of the tax was the next requirement. In this Algona took the lead in 1898 and cast 424 votes for the proposition to fifty-eight against the measure. The other townships soon following. the grading proceeded rapidly un- til the road was completed, during the year 1899. The county gained one new town on the line immediately-St. Benedict.

The Iowa Central lost its name at the beginning of the year 1912 when the road passed into the control of the M. and St. L. Station Agent J. H. Morgan was given his walking papers at precisely midnight by the former company, and after enduring the torments of the lost for one minute, he was engaged at 12:01 by the latter company to resume his position. We have never heard whether or not he was docked on his salary for January for that one lost minute. If he had the disposition of that other Morgan of guerilla fame, he would have had the funds of both companies in his pockets before that minute had expired, if there had been any in the till.

The company is preparing to establish a station on the southeast quarter of

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section 9 in Irvington township, to be known as Rich Point. The name is an appropriate one, because the territory from which the grain will be gathered to be delivered at the elevator soon to be erected, is a rich, fertile, grain-produc- ing section.

The C. R. G. and N. Ry. came into the county from the east, stopped at Titonka, and has gone no further into the county since it reached that village in 1898. Buffalo township ought to have a right to the monopoly of the road's patronage, since that was the only township that was assessed in the county in the aid of its construction. Its property owners cheerfully paid a five per cent tax to have the road come. This tax was voted May 23, 1898, on condition that the road should be completed "into Buffalo township to a point within two miles of the southeast corner of section 16, on or before January 1, 1899."

THE VARIOUS MILLING PROJECTS

Mills, erected and operated for sawing lumber and manufacturing flour and meal, appear to have had their day in Kossuth county. For over forty years a mill of either one kind or the other had been doing service somewhere in the county, much of the time until recently. In the chapters on the early history of the county the 1856 milling enterprises have been historically noticed. Suffice it to state at this place that the one at Irvington was built first, and was owned by the town proprietors-L. L. Treat, Kendall Young and Geo. Smith. The other was at Algona and was set in operation a few weeks later. Judge Call was the owner of this "up and down" saw mill which had a grist attachment. About the beginning of the war it was burned to the ground and never replaced.

Nothing more was done about starting new mills until in August, 1865, when M. M. Foster, after purchasing the four-acre site of Judge Call, began building a dam across the river north of town and erecting a saw mill to be propelled by water power. Acting against the advice of those who were experienced millers, he con- structed his dam partly of brush and other light material. The water wheel soon began turning and the rotary saw began to revolve ; but a muskrat plowed its way into the dam, and a good share of it went out. "Mill" Foster reinforced the dam, using slabs and more brush in its construction. It soon went out again. He never was able to get away from the idea that a dam would stand if properly made of slabs and light material. He kept on until the fall of 1867 with his usual experience until his expenses were far more than his income. In the meantime the water had cut a channel across the bottom north of the dam. The bottom in the vicinity where the tile factory stands was covered with an innumerable number of logs ready to be made into lumber, but as the mill was inactive so much of the time, the logs were disposed of very slowly. One of the several mill hands about the premises in those early days was Rod Jain, who had come in 1864. John Hackert had his turning lathe in the building when the water washed the frame away. Several still remember how he mourned the loss of his gouges that were swept away with the mill.

In November, 1867, Foster sold a half interest in the mill to J. E. Stacy, and then the dam was made more secure and other improvements installed, one run of stone for grinding purposes being one feature of the improvements, and the piling of the new cut channel was another. Foster then, in the spring of 1868, sold his

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remaining interest to Mr. Stacy who in turn immediately sold a half interest to D. W. King. Stacy & King soon abandoned the sawing and ran the mill for grind- ing alone. The junior partner had his home on the hillside near by, and gave the work his whole attention until he sold his interest back to Stacy in December, 1870. During the next six years Stacy had worlds of trouble in keeping the dam in place and the channel from cutting deeper across the bottom. In doing this he nearly bankrupted himself by expending every dollar he could raise. In May, 1876. he sold a half interest to J. B. Jones and in September of that year disposed of the other half to I. F. Richards. The latter becoming dissatisfied with his purchase, sold it back to Stacy in August, 1881.

The firm of Jones & Stacy existed for about sixteen years. During that period the building was enlarged and remodeled, the plant converted into a roller mill, a large steam engine and boiler installed, the north channels piled and the main dam strengthened and repaired at a cost of nearly $5,000.00. In order to make the mill do first class work in turning out flour, Mr. Stacy sold tract after tract of fine land to procure the necessary money. It is remembered that the firm put in over two hundred cords of stone to make the dam secure.

During the year 1897 Jones sold his half interest to his partner, and then J. F. Stacy ran it alone until May, 1898, when he sold the entire property to The Farm- ers Milling Company. On Friday night, January 31, 1902, the mill from some mysterious cause burned to the ground, a portion of the loss being a large amount of wheat and flour that was stored in the building. The loss to the owners of the mill amounted to about $8,000,00, for the insurance policy of $5,000.00 had expired only a few days before. There were about 125 stockholders, and the board con- sisted of Chester Rickard, president : M. Schenck, secretary ; J. W. Wadsworth, treasurer, the other directors being C. Byson, H. W. Dryer, C. E. Heise, J. E. Stacy, jas. Nolan, and Sam Steussy. The heaviest losers were Orrin Inglesby, Kossuth County State Bank, J. E. Stacy and C. Byson.

Had Mr. Stacy never seen the mill and hung on to the land he was forced to sell to keep it going, he would have been worth $50,000.00 more than he was when he died. Besides this fact a sadness is experienced when one thinks of the lives that were lost while the dam was in existence. O. A. Atwood took his last dive when he attempted to swim behind the falling waters of the lower dam, and F. M. Shippey gave his wife and child their last row when the boat went over the dam at the head of the larger channel.

The old Irvington saw mill was sold to Lewis H. Smith and E. N. Weaver in 1866 and moved up to the county seat. Samuel Reed set it up and started it on a spot in the swale just north of where L. J. Dickinson's residence is located. J. E. Blackford soon bought a half interest, and then a little later the remainder. He ran it for several years until it was worn out and useless.

The next saw mill enterprise was conducted by Ambrose A. Call, who during the year 1867 began making arrangements to start a mill south of town, on the south side of the river. Jas. Henderson went to some distant point to bring the boiler here on a wide sled which he had made for the purpose; but he had the hard time of his life in performing the task. So many difficulties had to be encountered that the mill was not set in operation until April, 1869. This mill was located near what is known as the old Nestman place. Call sold the mill in October. 1872, to J. M. Pinkerton, who moved it into town the next spring and established it in the swale

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near where the Andrew Peterson family is living. The firm of Pinkerton & Briggs ran it for a few years and then Pinkerton moved it to the Black Hills. That was the last mill in the county for the sawing of lumber except the few small portable mills of recent date.

For several years prior to 1873 O. J. Hack had been running a grist mill in the northern part of Humboldt county. Having been offered some financial in- ducements to move his equipment to Algona, he tore down his building and had it and his machinery transported to the Milwaukee depot. After a few years he became engaged in a lawsuit with Dr. James Barr, and lost heavily in the slander suit in which he was the defendant. Thereupon J. J. Wilson soon became the owner of the mill. The latter added costly improvements and was succeeding admirably when fire wiped out the building and totally destroyed the equipment. Mr. Wilson then built a more substantial building, fully adequate to the wants of a large patronage. In it he installed the best flouring machinery that money could pur- chase and added the necessary fixtures to make the property up-to-date in every way. The flour made at the Wilson roller mill had a large sale both in Kossuth, Palo Alto and other counties adjoining. There are those yet in the community who were trusty employees about the mill for a long period, among them being Krate Lamberson and Walt Stebbins. Harry Wilson represented his father's interests at Emmetsburg in the meantime.

After the death of J. J. Wilson the Algona Milling Company was organized to take over the property from the Wilson estate. That company incorporated August 30, 1897, and consisted of J. W. Sullivan, F. W. Dingley, J. T. Chrischilles, A. D. Clarke, Jas. Patterson and E. E. Sayers. Under the active management of the company, with Mr. Dingley at its head, the business flourished for several years.

I. W. Beers was the next purchaser. He operated The Interstate Roller Mill until 1906 when he sold to A. M. Jasperson, who in turn sold a half interest to O. W. McMurray the next spring. After they had run it for about two years the partner- ship dissolved, and in the settlement Jasperson took for his share the elevator, which he has moved to a new location near the freight depot on the Northwestern. The milling machinery fell to the lot of the junior partner, O. W. McMurray, who will either sell it or move it to some other town.

The only other milling enterprise in the county was at Wesley where the milling company, organized at that place, was incorporated in July, 1899. It was a stock company of which the Kunz Bros. held the largest amount. With suitable ma- chinery, enclosed in a substantial building, the mill was run for a few years, but the enterprise was not a paying one, so the milling was abandoned. Tom Gray, one of the stockholders, traded the machinery for Red river land, and it was shipped to parties at Mason City. During the fall of 1912 the building took fire and was burned to the ground. Thus closes the account of the milling enterprises of merry old Kossuth.

CAREER OF COMPANY F (WITH ADDENDA)

A vacancy having occurred in the Sixth Regiment, Iowa National Guard, in the spring of 1889, fifty young men of Algona and vicinity who had been enthused on the subject by Thos. F. Cooke, signed an agreement to become members of a company if successful in being accepted. Lieut. Col. L. B. Raymond came up from Hampton, noted the general appearance of the company, which had assembled at

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the G. A. R. hall, and stated that he would recommend to Col. C. W. Boutin that the company be accepted into the Sixth Regiment. At the courthouse hall, July 2, 1889. Colonel Boutin mustered the company of forty-nine members to serve for five years. Another member was added in a few days. This was the beginning of Company F. It then elected the captain and both lieutenants, and then in a few days the captain appointed the non-commissioned officers so that the roll of the company was as follows.

Captain, Thos. F. Cooke; First Lieutenant. B. W. Haggard; Second Lieuten- ant, Austin W. Creed; First Sergeant, J. O. Reaver ; Sergeants, Frank Hedrick, W. E. Ward, Elbert C. Tuttle ; Quartermaster Sergeant, H. J. Edens ; Corporals, W. P. Jones, C. T. Chubb, G. A. Brunson, Grant W. Heckart ; musicians, John S. Adams, Frank M. Dailey.

Privates. Bertram Barr, Jesse L. Bray, Frank Benjamin, George Brooks, W. J. Brunson, James Chapin, Lee Clarke, Charles A. Cohenour, W. C. Danson, S. M. Ferris, Ellery Garfield, Melzar P. Haggard, William Hall, Charles W. Hanna, Bernard Hough, Harvey Ingham, William Laird, George A. Leight, Horace Mann, Nathan Mann, C. B. Matson, G. L. Minkler, W. E. Naudain, Henry Newman, C. F. Nolte, G. F. Peek, W. F. Price, Grant Ramsey, J. E. Ray, George Reed, Lloyd Shadle, E. H. Stephens, S. S. Sessions, C. A. Tellier, John K. Walker.

The company began drilling under the direction of Lieutenant Haggard, who had belonged to the State University battalion while a student at Iowa City. In a few weeks it left for the annual encampment at Iowa Falls. A large crowd was at the depot to see the boys embark for their first encampment.

A rifle range that fall was established on the bottom northwest of town where the company frequently practiced at target shooting. After Sergeant Stahl, of the Second U. S. infantry, came up from Fort Omaha and drilled the boys for one month they were in good trim for action. Upon the resignation of First Lieuten- ant B. W. Haggard, Second Lieutenant Creed was elected to fill the position, and First Sergeant Reaver was promoted to the position of second lieutenant. The company attended camp at Lake Okoboji in 1890 and at Webster city the next year.

When there was a reconstruction of the regiments of the Iowa National Guard in the spring of 1892, Company F was assigned to the Fourth Regiment which had Col. C. E. Foster at its head. The company came very nearly getting into action and seeing the blood flow in the summer of 1894. At midnight July 3d, Capt. M P. Haggard, who was then commanding the company, received orders to assemble his company and report for duty. All was excitement for a couple of hours ; for within that time the boys with their field outfits were at the Northwestern depot in heavy marching order ready to embark on the special train that was there waiting for the force.

An exciting railroad strike was in progress at Sioux City where the strikers had impeded the mail trains. The sheriff of Woodbury county, having appealed to the Governor for troops to clear the streets of the mob, gave rise to the order for the company, with others, to proceed to the scene of disturbance. This was upon the authority of Governor Jackson. At Ames the train took on board four other companies and a detachment with a gatling gun. This field piece was placed on a flat car in front of the engine after the train had reached LeMars. On reaching the railroad yards at Sioux City the train came in contact with the strikers where the yards were filled with a wild yelling crowd of men, women and children, The

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History of Kossuth County, Iowa, Part 60

Author: Reed, Benjamin F Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 879

Author: Reed, Benjamin F
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 879