USA > Iowa > Muscatine County > History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time, Volume I > Part 30
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The campus provokes favorable criticism on the part of all who see it. A small ravine courses its way through the grounds in a southeasterly direction, giving a natural relief to what would be otherwise a dead level, and besides aiding drainage and sanitation, contributes materially to the aesthetic appearance of the grounds. The college building is situated on the west side of this ravine and is overshadowed by large maples and elms of more than a half century's growth. At the opposite end of the campus, surrounded by maple, elm, pine, and spruce trees, stands Norton Hall, rising to the height of three stories and a basement. The whole eight acres are enclosed in a neat fence and surrounded by a street sixty feet in width. It is an ideal spot for study, in one of the most beautiful and quiet, yet thrifty, villages in one of the greatest states in the Union.
FULTON TOWNSHIP.
March 4, 1857, Fulton township was organized. It lies in the extreme north- eastern part of the county and is bounded on the north and east by Scott county, on the south by Montpelier township, and on the west by Wilton and Sweet- land township. All of congressional township 78, range I east is within its confines. Fulton is almost exclusively prairie land. No finer agricultural re- gion can be found anywhere, the farms being very productive and their own- ers, prosperous and independent. Among the first settlers in the township were J. C. Newell, Thomas Prickley, Andrew Smith, John Barron, Alfred Nye, Henry Parr, John Stigers, A. D. Silverthorn, who came with his parents in 1838; James Schoonover. Many Germans have settled in the township and today the greater number of residents here are of that nationality or descent. They have succeeded in making Fulton rank with the best in the county.
Fulton has eight school sub-districts and the average duration at each school for teaching is nine months in the year.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad enters on section 9, running north to Petersburg Station, on section 13, and thence northwest forming a junction with the main line of the Rock Island at Stockton. The village of Stockton was laid out about the time the railroad was surveyed through this section. The site of the hamlet is on section 4. 'A. C. Fulton erected the first building in the town, which was used as a hotel. The postoffice was established
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there in 1855. The first death in Stockton was that of Thomas Barron. In 1856, a schoolhouse was built and an addition was made to it in 1875, when it became a graded school. In this section a great many cattle and fine stock are raised, which makes Stockton a great shipping point.
GOSHEN TOWNSHIP.
Goshen township was organized in 1857 and comprises all of township 78, north of range 3 west, is bounded on the east by Moscow, on the west by Wap- sinonoc, on the south by Pike and Lake, and on the north by Cedar county. The Cedar river passes through the southeastern part of the township, while the Chi- cago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad crosses through the northern portion of the township from east to west. It was originally a part of Wapsinonoc. The land of Goshen is undulating, almost exclusively prairie and is adapted to the raising of cereals common to this latitude. It has good churches and schools. Of the latter there are eight, with an average of eight months' school through- out the year. The average attendance for each school is ten and the average cost per pupil is $3.50.
One of the early settlers was W. G. Holmes, who located in the township in 1837 and lived there over fifty years. John Smith was another early settler, who came in 1849. William C. Hudson, who had been pastor of the Presby- terian church of Muscatine, then Bloomington, moved on to a farm in this town- ship in 1849. Of course there were others who came to the township in an early day but their names are not now obtainable.
ATALISSA.
In 1847 William Lundy came to Muscatine county, settling in Goshen town- ship. The town of Atalissa stands on the eighty acres of land which he owned, and is situated in the northeastern part of the township on section II, on the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. This land was surveyed by Peter Houtz and the town plat filed for record by Mr. Lundy and John P. Cook, who later became a partner in the ownership with William Lundy, Jan- uary 31, 1856. While mining in California, Captain Lundy was near a small mining village called Atalissa, named for an Indian queen of one of the tribes. Being pleased with the name, he adopted it for the name of the town in question and at the time remarked that the first female child born on the premises and named Atalissa, should be presented with a corner lot. Miss Atalissa Davis was the fortunate one to receive this lot. Atalissa is one of the best watering places for the railroad between Davenport and Des Moines. An immense spring twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, situated in the northeast corner of the town, furnishes all the water for the railroad tank. This spring was donated to the railroad company by William Lundy. A postoffice was established in the town in 1856, N. C. Swank serving as the first postmaster. He also erected the first building in which he conducted a store. Among the earliest settlers in Goshen township, who came during the years 1837 to 1842, were James Thomp- son, a Mr. Boggs, Thomas Odell, William G. Holmes, John McIntosh, Samuel Fletcher, Elias Overman and James V. Smith.
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The Atalissa Savings Bank occupies a modern brick building on Main street. The bank is capitalized at $12,500 and has a surplus of $6,000. Its deposits aggregate $125,000. The bank was organized in 1902. The officers are : George W. Black, president; J. Ervin Evans, vice president; S. H. Archibald, cashier ; John G. Vanhorn, assistant cashier. The directors are: R. W. Hinkhouse, C. C. Croxen, J. Ervin Evans, Henry Schmidt, John G. Klein, C. G. Brown and G. W. Black.
Atalissa has three churches, Presbyterian, Christian and German Lutheran. The Presbyterians at first held meetings in the depot building in April, 1857, Rev. Charles F. Beach being the pastor. He organized a society with the fol- lowing charter members : William Kelley, J. D. Guild and wife, J. M. Guild and wife, Samuel Croxen and Mrs. Margaret Rilchey. A church was erected the same year and its first pastor was Rev. Dudley.
The Christian church was organized in June, 1870, by Elder J. C. Hay, there being thirty-six charter members. The first church was built in September, I871.
As early as 1857 the Methodists were organized into a society but meeting with indifferent success services have been abandoned and new organizations made at various times.
Atalissa also has a splendid high school for the four-year course and also a grammar school. In the spring of 1911 the contract was let for a new high school building to cost $8,000.
The records of Ionic Lodge, No. 122, A. F. & A. M., were burned but a duplicate charter was issued June 7, 1866. The first officers under this charter were: T. L. 'A'dy, M .; William Lundy, S. W .; James McIntosh, J. W.
Rose of Sharon Lodge, No. 101, I. O. G. T., was organized May 2, 1876. The first officers were: William Lundy, W. C. T .; Eunice Cornwell, W. V. T .; C. F. Aiken, secretary ; Linnie Harris, financial secretary ; O. Cornwell, P .; Lot Parker, chaplain; J. S. Rowe, marshal; Eliza Rowe, I. G .; Walter Walters, sentinel; Zephy Wright, Asst. Sec .; Fanny Neff, deputy marshal; Susan Par- ker, R. H. S .; Josephine H. Clark, L. H. S.
The Atalissa Temperance Reform Club was organized in March, 1876, with John Wilshire, as president; V. R. Rowe, secretary; Samuel Desbro, treasurer.
Atalissa is quite a business center and is noted for its shipments of stock. It has a population of 250 people, who give every evidence of prosperity and contentment. In the matter of live stock there are about one hundred and fifty acres shipped each year, about fifty cars of grain, eighty acres of hay and con- siderable fruit and other stuff. There is shipped from this point from $12,000 to $15,000 worth of cream each year.
The town has two general stores, a drug store, meat shop, good hotel, grain elevator, blacksmith shop and cement factory, good churches, a high school and a grammar school.
ORONO TOWNSHIP.
Orono township was organized March 8, 1858, and is located in the extreme southwestern part of the county. It comprises all of township 76, north of
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range 4 west, lying west of the Cedar river and is bounded on the north by Pike township, on the east by the Cedar river, and on the south and west by Louisa county. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad passes through the township from south to north, having on its line two stations- Port Allen and Conesville, while the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad enters the township at section 19, and passing east, leaves the township at the northeast corner of section 24. Upon entering the township, this road crosses the Burlington about a half mile south of Conesville.
Port Allen was laid out and platted by Cyril Carpenter, November 18, 1871, on section 31, in the southeast corner of the township. Here a depot was built and a store opened, the proprietors of the latter being W. H. Crocker & Com- pany. The village never acquired any importance worthy of mention.
CONESVILLE.
Conesville is a thriving town situated in about the central part of Orono township on the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway, and is in the center of the most prominent watermelon and sweet potato producing section of the state. The town got its name from Beebe S. Cone, an extensive land- owner of many years ago. Cone settled here in the early days and purchased land to the extent of several thousand acres. This village is considered an important one, from the products it sends out to the markets in the way of watermelons and sweet potatoes. At this place is located a good graded school and two churches, the Grace Reformed and the Methodist Episcopal. There are also two fraternal orders.
CONESVILLE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
In 1900 Rev. C. E. Fitzsimmons, pastor of the Conesville Methodist church, started the movement for obtaining subscriptions for a new building for his congregation, which was carried to a successful completion. The work of con- struction was commenced in the spring of 1901 and the cornerstone was laid August 27th of the same year. January 12, 1902, the church was dedicated, the service being conducted by Rev. Manley S. Hard, D. D., of Philadelphia, assisted by the pastor and Rev. Shriver of the Reformed church. The cost of the building was $3,000.
LAKE TOWNSHIP.
This township was organized July 2, 1859, and comprises all of township 77, north of range 3 west, lying east and south of the Cedar river, and that portion of township 77, north of range 4 west, lying east and south of the Cedar river, together with about eight sections of township 77, north of range 2 west. It is bounded on the east by Bloomington, on the west by Pike, on the south by Cedar, Seventy-Six and Bloomington, and on the north by Goshen and Moscow townships. The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad passes through the township from east to west. A good part of Lake is prairie, the soil is
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very fertile and as a consequence farms are highly cultivated and the tillers of the soil prosperous to a very gratifying degree. There are eight school sub- districts which have school nine months in the year, with an average attendance of pupils of seventy-two, the cost of which is $3.75 per capita.
The township was early settled, and in 1839 and previous thereto the fol- lowing had taken claims in Lake and were cultivating their farms: Samuel Lucas was on section 25; Judge Joseph Williams on section 25, where he had built a pretentious "big house" and tenement houses, his aim at that time being to establish a plantation pretty much on the southern order of things. Governor Robert Lucas owned a tract of land on section 27 and at infrequent intervals lived there. General Joseph E. Fletcher had a farm on section 26, on which Colonel Kincaid built for him his first cabin in 1840. David R. Warfield ar- rived in Muscatine in 1834 and later settled in this township, on section 28. Here he built a log cabin. Horatio Sumner located on section II, and George Bum- gardner, first county surveyor and the first one to teach school in the county, on section 30. An improvident well digger by the name of Baker, took up a claim on section 36 and John LaFourette on section 25.
FRUITLAND TOWNSHIP.
The last township in Muscatine county to be organized was that of Fruit- land. This occurred November 9, 1887, and was at the time a part of Bloom- ington township.
The vote for a division was taken in the fall of 1886, and every vote in the north part of Bloomington township was cast for a division, while those on the island were against it. The reason for this is given that the north part was sup- plied with schoolhouses, while on the island they were yet to be built. The north part did not care to be taxed for that purpose, while the island people believed it to be right that they should help build them.
Among the first settlers of the island were A. Barrows, David Freeman, T. H. Drake, S. I. Foss, Elihu Partridge, Mr. Garnes, H. Corwin and William D. Lawrence. The first trustees of the new township were William A. Dolsen, John A. Miller, and P. F. Parmalee. The township is bounded on the north by Bloomington and Lake townships, on the west by Seventy-Six and Keokuk Lake, on the south by Louisa county, and on the east by Muscatine township and the Mississippi river. Fruitland township is well named, for here some of the finest products of the soil are produced, such as melons, sweet potatoes and the like, which has made the locality famous throughout the country. It has good churches and schools. Of the latter, there are five, which keep open nine months in the year, and have an average attendance of seventy-four, with a cost per pupil a year $2.65. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad cuts across the northern tier of townships from east to west. The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific takes a diagonal course through the township from north- east to southwest, and the Muscatine North & South Railroad parallels it from Muscatine to Fruitland Station, where it swerves more directly south. In this
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township is the famous Muscatine Island, of which J. P. Walton wrote enter- tainingly in 1884, as shown by the article below :
THE ISLAND IN EARLY TIMES.
The first settlements on the island commenced in 1836. The Sterne broth- ers built a cabin on the head of the island. There was another near Hershey's lower mill, occupied by Mr. Main. Farther down Adam Ogilvie, William Gor- don, Ahimiaz Blanchard, William St. John, Pliny Fay, Governor Lucas and others had claims. There was an Indian camping ground in a grove of jack oak trees near where Charles Barrows lived, about four miles down on the river shore. During one of those early winters the smallpox broke out among the Indians and quite a number were buried on the bank of the river at that place, and for a number of years afterward their remains were annually washed out. The trinkets buried with them were found along the bank for years.after- ward. Aaron Blanchard lived at the place which was later the home of Elisha Beatty, and his brother and Richard Usher had claims a little farther down. Jerome Walling lived at what was called Walling's Landing, now Port Louisa. All the settlements were along the river, as it was not considered feasible to live farther back.
PRIMITIVE ROADS, FERRIES AND BRIDGES.
The principally traveled thoroughfare was along the river bank. The Grand- view road crossed the island near where it now runs, but it was little more than a trail, as the slough had to be forded, which could not be done when the river was more than five or six feet above low water mark. At the head of the slough there was kept a ferryboat, probably placed there in 1837; it was pulled back and forward with a rope. I presume it was here in connection with a ferryboat that was run by Stanton Prentiss three miles farther down cross- ing the river above Blanchard Island. The Prentiss ferry was discontinued in 1840 or 1841. The head of the slough was spanned with a bent bridge, prob- ably in 1840; it effectually turned the north and south travel across the island during low water. The bridge was passable until the spring of 1844, when it was damaged by the ice. We lived on the island at that time but happened to have our team on this side. We tried to cross on the ice, got our horses in over their backs, but got them out all right. Some of our neighbors went down to the Thornton ford, near the line of Louisa county and crossed over to the island and came home, accomplishing a journey of twenty-five miles to make two. We joined a party that went up in the hollow in the rear of Mr. Foster's nursery, cut some tall red oaks, hewed out sleepers forty-five feet long and re- paired the bridge. During the season the energetic men of our city built a dam across the slough for manufacturing purposes as well as a road. (Bank- ing was one of the privileges included in their charter.) The road was all that was made available and that has been in use ever since. The old bridge was
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abandoned and carried off by the public. Many of the posts were standing for twenty years afterward.
THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
When we first moved to the island in 1842 we found Mr. Magoon, William Gordon, George Martin, A. Blanchard and Abijah Winn settled along the river, all striving to get rich raising corn at ten cents a bushel, in store pay. Corn would not bring money at any price. Ahimiaz Blanchard raised forty acres of oats. They were the largest, heaviest oats we ever saw: He sold them at eight cents a bushel. They were cradled by hand and thrashed with a chaff piler.
RACING-SHEP SMALLEY, RINGMASTER.
In the fall of 1842 the sporting community built a mile race track on the ground west of Mr. Hopson's farm, where they had several horse races. They were making preparations for a big one, but there came an early fall of eight inches of snow, which prevented it. After that, the road in front of Mr. Gur- ley's was used for the race grounds. Almost every Saturday during the sum- mer and fall a crowd of men and horses would come down from the city and run quarter-mile races. Shepherd Smalley was considered the king of the track. He was taken as authority on the horse and on all disputed points of pedigree. He had three of the finest thoroughbreds in the west, which he im- ported from Kentucky.
FISH BY THE HUNDRED ACRES.
In the spring time there was another pastime that was generally indulged in, that of spearing buffalo fish. I have seen in the shallow waters, where the river overflowed the prairie lands, schools of buffalo fish that would cover a hundred acres. I think there were at least ten tons to the acre. Some of them were of immense size. Fifty pounds was no uncommon weight for a buffalo fish. The buffalo fish had a habit then of gathering in the sloughs in the fall and feeding with their backs out of water. They would make a noise very similar to a hog grunting, which could be heard on a still evening for one hun- dred yards. They were a good mark for sportsmen.
A HUNTER'S PARADISE.
In those early days Muscatine Island was the hunter's paradise. Wild geese were more abundant than wild duck are now. I recollect being one of a party of three that killed fifteen in a single day. In the winter of 1843-44 the snow in the big timber was marked all over with wild turkey tracks. They could be seen in flocks of hundreds; they were feeding on pin oak acorns. During the winter deer would drift in from the high prairies. One could see a dozen any day without much trouble. In the low grounds or in the timber could be found species of wild hog. They resembled the pictures of the wild hogs of India- tall, long-legged and thin. A hog that would stand three feet high would be
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no more than six or eight inches through. They were armed with immense tusks and were the worst wild animals we had to meet. I have seen very valu- able dogs killed by them. Their flesh was yellow, oily and strong. Where they came from the earliest settlers could not tell. They disappeared probably about 1845. Wolves were very abundant. The island with its level lands was a fine chasing ground. The greyhound was the popular dog for these hunts. John Vanatta and Robert Davis each had a large pack. On almost every fine Sun- day during the winter they could be seen riding or running across the island.
TALL GRASS AND PRAIRIE FIRES.
In the autumn the island was covered with an immense growth of grass. I have been hunting cattle in the low ground where the grass was so high that I would have to stand upon my horse to see over. I could only tell where the cattle were by the shaking of the grass. A cow bell was a very useful thing in those days. In the fall after the frost had killed the grass some of the most terrific prairie fires could be witnessed. We recollect seeing one start near Keokuk Lake and run across on a west wind to the river at a rate of five or six miles an hour; in many places the flames were thirty feet high. In order to protect our fences we had to plow furrows twenty or thirty feet apart and burn between them. We then had rail fences, and if the fire touched them they were sure to be destroyed.
THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT.
Snakes were abundant. A party of four of us in a single day killed snakes enough to reach a distance of three hundred yards. It was during high water and they were driven to the high grounds. The trees along the Sand Mound were a favorite resort for them. Almost every tree had one or two snakes hung upon it somewhere. It would have been unsafe for one to have gone there without a good club and a pair of sharp eyes. We boys were on the war path that day. Many of these snakes were six feet long and some of them quite venomous.
THE FIRST LEVEE.
During the high water of 1844 the road near where Musser's mill now stands was impassable for a long time, probably two weeks, and a large amount of valuable land was overflowed on the island and on the west side of the slough. It was decided to build a levee in connection with the dam to connect with the high ground near Hershey's lower mill. A subscription paper was cir- culated. The subscribers generally paid in work, most of them coming from the west side of the slough. There were a great number of drift logs floated out on the top of the bank during the high water. These were gathered and placed endwise to each other and covered over with earth dug from a trench, it being considered safer to roll in the logs than to dig up the earth. This levee
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was to be two feet wide on top and one foot above high water mark. It was never fully completed; at all events the first high water washed it all out.
THE FLOOD OF 1851.
I think the high waters did little damage until 1851, when the water swept over the entire upper end and west side of the island. The high ridge of ground where the two-story brick schoolhouse in Musserville now stands was eighteen inches under water. A large raft of lumber got the better of its operators and fetched up against a grove of trees out on the island two miles from the river. We don't think there were 2,000 acres of land on the entire island, beside the Sand Mound, that were not overflowed.
THE SECOND LEVEE.
In 1850 congress donated all the swamp lands along the Mississippi, not sold, to the different states to reclaim them. Our county took advantage of that law and set surveyor G. W. Bumgardner to selecting the overflowed lands and returning the same. G. W. Kincaid was given the contract to build a levee, to be paid for from the sale of these lands. He threw up considerable earth, but the pay not coming as fast as he required, the work was suspended. Louisa county availing itself of the same act, secured considerable money in that man- ner. gave a contract to Mr. Thompson, who built a much better levee for a distance of four miles above Port Louisa than was built in Muscatine county, but it was of little value. Muscatine county never finished her portion of the levee and never closed the gap. After the high water of 1851 subsided, the low price of these fertile lands invited emigration and a more effective levee system became needed.
THE THIRD LEVEE.
J. W. Walton and myself prepared a bill and got our friend, Hon. Royal Prentiss, then living at Port Louisa, to get it through the legislature, taxing all lands subject to overflow for levee purposes. During the existence of this law a very substantial levee was built in Muscatine county and the gap below it and that of Louisa county was nearly closed. When the levee was completed to within a half mile of Louisa county the commissioner, William Hoyt, changed its course to the bank of the river where it is now built, to the Sand Mound, crossing a deep pond requiring a bank twenty-three feet high, a hauling of earth by teams of three hundred feet and leaving out some valuable land. Dr. James S. Horton, the owner of the lands on the south side, applied to Judge Dillon for an injunction. This application brought on quite a contest. It was late in the fall. If the levee was built to the Sand Mound, Mr. Carmichael, the contractor, could work his teams all winter on the high bank, making the big fill; if it ran along the river bank he would have to stop when frost came. Mr. Hoyt, Carmichael, or some one else, conceived an idea of getting a general affi- davit, which was circulated as a petition. Over forty signed it, supposing they were signing a petition. Dr. Horton had five or six affidavits. It was during
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