USA > Iowa > Mills County > History of Mills County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 39
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The history of a county exhibits a much more limited series of facts in
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their proper connection, of which, indeed, each individual one is interest- ing in its proper place-doubly interesting, perhaps, because it marks the progress of thinking, toiling men, in our very presence; men who have lived in the same moral and social atmosphere, struggled for the same ends for which we have struggled, acquired their experience and reputa- tion in the same manner, and exhibited the same loves and hates, the same proclivities and sympathies. This is the purely biographical element of history-that element which opens to us the sources of human activity, and enables us to read how far and in what manner the views of individ- uals became impressed on public life and morals. It enables us to know the kind of'men who become leaders, to note the conditions and results of their successes or defeats. This is the part of history directly affecting the individual man, for from it does he select his type of character, of thought, and of conduct. The remark of Plutarch is most applicable to the realization of individual hopes and wishes, for it depicts the true con- ditions of success.
Says he: "Whenever we begin an enterprise, or take possession of a charge, or experience a calamity, we place before our eyes the example of the greatest men of our own or of by-gone ages, and we ask ourselves how Plato or Epaminondas, Lycurgus or Agesilaus, would have acted. Looking into these personages as into a faithful mirror, we can remedy our defects in word or deed. Whenever any perplexity arrives, or any passion disturbs the mind, the student of philosophy pictures to himself some of those who have been celebrated for their virtue, and the recol- lection sustains his tottering steps and prevents his fall." Such inspiring examples as these are the kind that have given to the world names in every walk of life that will never die.
NAME AND POSITION.
The county of Mills is so named in memory of Frederick Mills, a brave young officer, of Burlington, Iowa, who was killed in one of the battles of the Mexican war. Foremost in the conflict he was seen, among the first to fall. The battle-field was searched and researched by his comrades, but his body was never found. The heroic bravery of young Mills, and the mysterious disappearance of his remains excited general interest and sympathy, and when the county came to be organized, the tragic story of the gallant officer readily suggested a name, and thus will the memory of Frederick Mills be perpetuated, when monuments of marble have yielded to the ravages of time.
The county to which the name of Mills is given, lies in the extreme west of the second tier, with the Missouri river for its western boundary. The counties bounding it are Pottawattamie on the north, Montgomery
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HISTORY OF MILLS COUNTY.
on the least, and Freinont on the south. It comprises two hundred eighty-eight thousand acres, or about four hundred forty square miles, thus classing it among the smallest counties in the state. From the nor- thern to the southern boundary it is but eighteen miles, and in its widest part about twenty-four miles from west to east. Its western boundary is irregular, rendered so by the sinuous course of the great river which there bounds it.
DRAINAGE AND SURFACE CHARACTERS.
The general dip of the county-averaging two feet to the mile-as indeed of the remaining portions of southwestern Iowa, is a little west of south, its surface waters finding their way to the Missouri-the "Big Muddy." The entire eastern portion of the county is drained by the Nishnabotna, along the valley of which some beautiful scenery is to be found, and which enters the county in section three, Anderson township, and leaves it in section thirty-two, White Cloud township. The central por- tions of the county are drained by Silver creek, entering it in section six, Ingraham township, and discharging its waters into the Nishnabotna, in section sixteen, White Cloud township. Indian Creek drains the greater portion of the township of that name, entering on section twenty-five, from Montgomery county, its water being thus tributary to the Nishna- botna. There are numerous other small streams, many of them dry the greater portion of the year, in the east and central parts of the county. West of Silver Creek the most considerable stream in the county is Keg Creek * which enters the county on sections three of Ingraham and five of Oak township. It pursues a very sinuous course, sometimes doubling on itself before it passes through the bluffs and reaches the bottom land along the Missouri. It approaches the course of the latter river in sec- tion seven of Lyons township, and after a course of six miles in the county, finally leaves it to enter Fremont county on section thirty-two of the same township. The most considerable tributary to Keg creek is Pony creek, which rises in section two of Oak township and empties its waters in section sixteen of Platteville township. Its course is nearly a straight one from north to south, Mosquito Creek, in the extreme north- west, is a tributary to the Missouri and drains the greater portion of the small township of St. Marys, flowing in a course which is almost circular. There remains but one other stream of any importance, Wahbonsie Creek, which leaves this to enter Fremont county on section thirty-six of Lyons
*This stream, on old maps of the county and state is called " Five Barrel Creek," taking that name from the circumstance of so many half barrels of whisky having been found by the United States dragoons, buried in its banks near the present town of Glenwood. They had been secreted there by persons carrying on a contraband trade with the Indians.
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township, having flowed in a southerly course from its place of rising just west of Hillsdale. The name is given it in memory of a celebrated chieftain of the Pottawattamies, an account of whose legal trials may be elsewhere found. The drainage of the Missouri consists almost entirely of small creeks and ravines-the latter yearly growing deeper and larger -through which the waters of the upland regions reach its flood plain, and in which they are lost, none of them flowing through the land in the ordinary manner of streams of running water, but reaching the Missouri by percolation through the earth. The heavily wooded sections are on the west third of the county, while the streams of the eastern side are less heavily wooded, and partake more of the true character of prairie streams.
The surface of the county is uneven, gently undulating with hills and valleys, such as is characteristic of rolling prairie. Here, as in every other part of the world, there is a most intimate connection between the configuration of the surface and the geological structure of any particular district, and it will be shown in the chapter devoted to the geology of this county that every peculiarity in its topography is due to the nature of the underlying strata, modified by those agencies which are to-day operating to change the entire aspect of Nature. Nowhere in this county are there eminences of material height, nor is it true that its several water-shed's are marked by distinct ridges, easily recognized. The county is situated on the western slope of the great divide between the "Big Muddy " and the " Father of Waters," and though so near the former, it has still a much higher elevation than the counties along the Mississippi-the differ- ence being two hundred and sixty-three feet above the level of low water in the last named river. A most striking feature in the topography of this county is the region of prairies-a term first applied by the early French settlers, and now almost universally adopted, to designate natural grass lands .* The prairie occupies the whole of the higher portion of
*The following by Capt. Basil Hall, an intelligent English traveler, is highly descriptive of the prairie :
" The charm of a prairie consists in its extension, its green, flowery carpet, its undulat- ing surface and the spirt of forest whereby it is surrounded; the latter being of all others, the most significant and expressive, since it characterizes the landscape and defines the form and' boundary of the plain. If the prairie is little its greatest beauty consists in the vicinity of the encompassing edge of forests, which may be compared to the shores of a lake, being intersected with many deep inward bends, as so many inlets, and, at intervals, projecting very far, not unlike a promontory, or protruding arm of land. These projec- tions sometimes so closely approach each other, that the traveler passing through between them, may be said to walk in the midst of an alley overshadowed by the forest, before he enters again upon another broad prairie. Where the plain is extensive the delineations of the forests in the far background appear as would a misty coast at some distance upon the ocean The eye sometimes surveys the green prairie without discovering on the illimitable plain a tree or bush or any object, save the wilderness of flower and grass, while on other
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the county, with here and there the exception of an isolated group of trees, standing like an island in the midst of the ocean.
In ascending from the level of a river tothe high land in its vicinity, we first cross the "bottom land" or "bottom," the portion of the valley which is level, and being but little elevated above the surface of the stream is usually liable to overflow, especially at the time of the spring freshets. These bottom lands are almost always heavily timbered and with a vari- ety of trees, among which the elm, linden, black walnut, black and burr oak, poplar and ash are the most common. The breadth of the bottom may be variable, in some places from six to eight miles, and in others
occasions the view is enlivened by the groves, dispersed like islands over the plain, or by a solitary tree rising above the wilderness. The resemblance to the sea, which some of these prairies exhibited, was really most striking. I had heard of this before, but always sup- posed the account exaggerated. There is one spot in particular, near the middle of Grand Prairie, if I recollect rightly, where the ground happened to be of the rolling character, above alluded to, and where, excepting in the article of color, and that was not widely dif -- ferent from the tinge of some seas, the similarity was so striking that I almost forgot where I was. This deception was heightened by a circumstance which I had often heard men tioned, but the farce of which perhaps none but a seaman could fully estimate; I mean the appearance of the distant isolated trees as they gradually rose above the horizon, or receded from our view.
"In spring, when the young grass has just clothed the soil with a soddy carpet of the most delicate green, especially when the sun, rising behind a distant elevation of the ground, its rays reflected by myriads of dew-drops, a more pleasing and more eye-benefit- ting view cannot be imagined. You see the fallow deer quietly feeding on the herbage; the bee flies humming through the air; the wolf, with lowered tail, sneaks away to its dis- tant lair, with the timorous pace of a creature only too conscious of having disturbed the peace of Nature; prairie-fowls, either in entire tribes, like our own domestic fowls, or in couples, cover the surface; the males rambling, and, like turkeys or peacocks, inflating their plumage, make the air resound with a drawled, loud, and melancholy cry, resembling the cooing of a wood-pigeon, or still more, the sound produced by rapidly rubbing a tam- bourine with the finger.
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"On turning from the verdant plain to the forests or groups of high-grown timber, the eye, at the said season, will find them clad also in the most lively colors. The rich under and brushwood stands out in full blossom. The andromedas, the dog-wood, the wood- apple, the wild plum and cherry, grow exuberantly in the rich soil, and the invisible blos- som of the wild vine impregnates the air with its delicious perfume. The variety of the wild fruit-trees, and of blooming bushes is so great, and so immense the abundance of the blossoms they are covered with, that the branches seem to break down under their weight.
"The delightful aspect of the prairie, its amenities, and the absence of that sombre awe inspired by forests, contribute to forcing away that sentiment of loneliness which usually steals upon the mind of the solitary wanderer in the wilderness, for although he espies no habitation, and sees no human being, and knows himself to be far off from any settlement of man, he can scarcely defend himself from believing that he is traveling through a land- scape embellished by humain art. The flowers are so delicate and elegant as apparently to be distributed for mere ornament over the plain ; the groves and groups of trees seem to be dispersed over the prairie to enliven the landscape, and we can scarcely get rid of the impression invading our imagination of the whole scene being flung out and created for the satisfaction of the sentiment of beauty in refined man."
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again with hardly more than room for the stream itself to pass between the bluffs. These latter are usually met with just after leaving the bot- tom land, and rise on either hand from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet. The bluffs which border the broad flood-plain or bottom land of the Missouri river along all that part of its course which forms the western boundary of Iowa, are so peculiar in character and appearance, that they cannot fail to attract the attention of every one who sees them for the first time. Their strangely and beautifully rounded summits, oc- casionally mingled with sharply-cut ridges, smooth and abruptly retreat- ing slopes, and the entire absence of rocky ledges, except in rare instances, where they appear only at their base, cause them to present a marked con- trast with those of the Mississippi and other rivers of the eastern part of the state where rocky ledges support and compose the greater part of their bulk. From the mouth of the Big Sioux to the southern boundary of the state, these bluffs present a continuous, serrated and buttressed front to the flood-plain of the great river, from which they rise abruptly to a maximum height in different parts of the line, varying from one hundred to little less than three hundred feet. Although the front they present is so definite and continuous, it is nevertheless frequently and deeply cleft, not only by the tributaries of the great river, but also by small creeks and short ravines that drain the surface-water from the up-lands beyond, in which the bluffy character is soon lost. Sometimes the bluff range, de- parting a little from the general direct line, presents a full crescentic front to the plain with an arc of several miles in length. At these places their peculiar outlines are shown in an interesting manner, and the form and arrangement of the numerous rounded prominences presents views of impressive beauty as they stretch away in the distance, or form bold curves in the line of hills; while the broad flood-plain of the Missouri river, level as a floor, stretches miles away to the westward to meet the turbid stream near the line of bluffs which borders the western, as those of Iowa do the eastern side. Trees often fill the sides of the deeper ravines or skirt their bases, but usually their only covering is a growth of wild grasses and an- nnal plants; and, as the mound-like peaks and rounded ridges jut over each other, or diverge in various directions, while they reach upward to the upland, the setting sun throws strange and weird shadows across them, producing a scene quite in keeping with that wonderful history of the past of which they form a part.
The wealth of Mills county is due to the prevalence of the deposit known as the "bluff deposit," and which covers its entire surface. The origin and nature of this material may be fully learned from the geological history of the county. It forms, however, one of the richest of the rich soils for which Iowa is so famous. Analyses of its composition show it
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to have a very small per centage of clay, and a very great per centage of purely silicious material. The county is peculiarly adapted to the growth of those cereals and fruits that contribute to the maintenance of man, and well deserves its appellation of "the garden of Iowa." Its fertility is suffi- ciently well indicated by the rank, luxuriant growth of prairie grass, and the strength of most of the common wild plants. For centuries the earth has been giving of its substance to the nourishment of plant life-but the return it has gleaned only adds to its powers. The humus-soil contain- ing the remains of vegetation-seems almost endowed, not only with the life-sustaining but a life-producing principle. The broad acres of Mills were not subjected to the wonderful changes which have passed over their face without a purpose, and that purpose is sufficiently clear to need no comment. For ages the earth has brought its increase, and for ages more the process of growth and decay may go on, without destroying the fer- tility of this wonderful soil.
The nature of the soils of a given district is sufficiently distinct to ad- mit of a kind of rude classification, which serves the double purpose of nomenclature, and indicates their value. To two of the three classes into which they are usually divided-namely, drift, bluff, and alluvial-the soil of Mills county belongs, and to the two last named. As has been said, the bluff deposit or soil covers the surface of the entire county to a depth varying from five feet to one hundred feet. In the " bottom " lands, how- ever, is to be found the so-called "alluvium," a soil, which, from the nature of its origin, is probably the very richest material known. This latter is the residue or fine sedimentary matter left by the waters of a stream when at its highest flood. Rushing down declivities the waters of both the ancient and modern streams wore away their soft embankments, car- rying the material thus derived to the lower lands, depositing them at all points where the waters were comparatively at rest. These constitute the "flat " or "bottom land,"-the present flood plains of the county's rivers. Beneath this bluff deposit, the probable origin of which will be indicated further on, is found the " drift," a most fertile material, the dis- cussion of the origin of which also properly belongs to the chapter on geology. Not only will the physical peculiarities of these two formations serve to distinguish them, but the different characters of their vegetations will make an excellent criterion. The flora of the deeply wooded valleys will be found to differ in many essential points from that of the prairies, each of which is characteristic. This feature is a most noticeable one in Mills county, especially on its western side, which is infinitely diversified with hills and valleys strangely and confusedly mingled together in the wildest manner. Riding west from Glenwood toward the Missouri bot- tom, many valleys are crossed and hills surmounted-valleys and hills that
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were formed by great streams that raged through these narrow passes ages ago-and the wonderful and rapid changes in vegetation, from a prairie to a woodland flora, is a sufficiently plain indication of the changes in the formations on which they flourish. This remarkable adaptability to certain plants in particular regions, whereas in others their very exist- ence is critical, has induced a vast amount of speculation and experiment as to the adaptability of Iowa soils for the growth of forest trees. What is true of this great state as a whole, is true of the county of Mills. Dr. White's admirable summary of discussions on this much mooted point, has demonstrated that notwithstanding the fact that the distance from the northern to the southern limits of the state is more than three degrees of latitude, in consequence of the slight difference in surface elevation, and the great degree of uniformity in the character of the soil, there is a strik- ing uniformity in the character of the native vegetation; for the same rea- sons also there is an equal uniformity in the adaptability of the soil and climate to the production of cultivated crops. There are indeed, many species of indigenous plants restricted to certain parts of the state, and others that are found only in habitats rendered congenial by moisture, dry- ness, barrenness, unusual fertility, etc., as the case may be; yet these are only exceptions to the general uniformity throughout the state, of all indi- genous vegetation, including the forest trees. The subject of the distri- bution of indigenous vegetation is a very suggestive and interesting one in all its bearings, but especially when applied to the growth of forest trees, it becomes one of unusual practical importance to every citizen of Iowa. The great importance which attaches to this part of the subject is apparent from the fact that the wood of forest trees for fuel, no less than for other purposes, is an indispensable element in the prosperity, and even the inhabitation of any country, not to mention the beneficial effects of forests upon the climate, the beautifying and adornment of its landscapes, and the shading and sheltering of its homes. Dr. White continues: "If there is really an unfitness of prairie soil for the growth of forest trees, then at least one-third of our state is worthless indeed. But this is not the case, for personal observation in all parts of the state, extending through a period of thirty years, has established a knowledge of the fact that all varieties of our indigenous forest trees will grow thriftily upon all varieties of our soil; even those whose most congenial habitat is upon the alluvial soil of our river valleys, or upon the rugged slopes of the valley sides.
As has been previously indicated, this county is remarkably well drained; on the east by the Nishnabotna, and west by the numerous small streams, the waters of which ultimately find their way to the Missouri. The char- acter of these streams is determined by the nature of the surface over
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which they flow. The clear, sparkling rills and the dancing blue waves of New England streams are all wanting in the waters of Mills. 'These latter flow throughout their entire courses in this county, in narrow, sinuous, ditch-like depressions in their flood plains, and over the materials previously mentioned as " bluff" and "alluvial." This is the cause of their excessive muddiness. Notwithstanding the fact that the beds of the Nish- nabotnas dip in the direction of their courses at the average rate of 2.68 feet per mile, their sinuosity is so great, and the specific gravity of their waters so largely increased by reason of the finely comminuted material held in suspension, that they are excessively sluggish, and it would seem decidedly inappropriate to dignify them with the title of river. Yet there are times when it would seem that in their rage, during heavy rains or the floods of spring, they defy the power of the very hills to withstand them. Then are they seen in their full force and in all their destructiveness; then, if at all, can be appreciated the mighty eroding power of water, that power which shall ultimately level the mountains, and carry away the lands to be swallowed up in the dark recesses of the sea. Observing one of these streams at high flood, no one will longer wonder how they be- come such an important factor in earth sculpture, and how the deep valleys and lofty bluffs of Mills county came to be as they are. On the extreme west of the county flows the Missouri, to-day as patiently rolling its earth- laden waters onward to the sea as when it first began the great work of digging its own valley. Grand, silent, majestic, it sweeps ever onward in its course, as quietly now as hundreds of centuries ago when its waters expanded scores of miles to the east and west, forming a great inland sea, the bottom of which was the surface of Mills county. " The only dis- cussion of this remarkable river that can be given in this report must relate alone to the character of the stream and its valley along that part of its course which goes to form the western boundary of Mills county. We have no information of the amount of water anually flowing past the state of Iowa in this great river, because no detailed hydrographic survey of it has been made along our border.
" It is, however, one of the muddiest streams on the globe, and its waters are known to be very turbid far toward its source. Two collections of its water have been made from its channel at Council Bluffs, and the solid contents determined by Prof. Emery. One parcel was collected at low water, on November 9, 1868, and the other on July 5, 1868, when the river was just bank-full. The amount of sediment filtered out of the water in both instances was as follows: Low water, 462 grains in one liter=52 grains in one gallon; high water, 5.672 grains in one liter=404 grains in one gallon, from which it is readily seen that the amount of suspended sediment at times of high water is more than twelve times as great as it is at low water." -- White.
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