USA > Iowa > Muscatine County > History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time, Volume I > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
255
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
the first term of Dillon's administration. The injunction was not granted. Dr. Horton appreciating the difference between a judge running over the whole state of Iowa and one running in a single district where forty votes might change the election, appealed to the supreme court where the injunction was granted. Winter had set in and the ground was frozen so that work was stopped. Dur- ing the winter some of the citizens living on the upper part of the island, think- ing they had levee enough to protect themselves, got the levee law repealed.
THE FRESHET OF 1870.
Very little trouble was experienced on the upper end of the island until the spring of 1870, when the high water broke through the levee where Musser's mill now stands. At this time the low grounds on the northwest side of the railroad track were quite well settled up. The water was held in check by the railroad, giving the inhabitants time to get away with most of their effects. The railroad bridge was washed out and trains delayed for several days. There were little or no crops raised that season on fully three-quarters of the best part of the island and no traveling by team to and from the city for a month or six weeks. Immediately afterward the Musser Company commenced build- ing their mill in the gap of the levee made by the high water, the county and individuals assisting in filling up the gap.
THE FLOODS OF 1880 AND 1881.
There was no further serious trouble from the river until the spring of 1880, when nearly the whole of the population, including women in some in- stances, were called out to work on the levee. The street commissioner of the city worked his entire force of men and teams to keep the water from breaking over. There was such an interest felt in the city that it was arranged that should a break occur, all the bells in the city should be rung. (The mayor is- sued a proclamation to that effect.) No break occurred, but back water flooded most of the low ground on the northwest of the railroad. Very small crops were raised on the island in 1880, the most productive lands lying useless. Fol- lowing this high water, as has been the case with most high waters, fever and ague set in. A teacher in one of the schools told me that almost every day some one of her pupils went home sick with the ague. While the high water of 1880 prevented large crops from being raised, the high water in the au- tumn of 1881 destroyed more property than any one before, coming as it did when the crops were upon the ground. Hundreds of acres of corn were flooded. Wherever water stood around it, the wild ducks gathered the corn. Hay stacks were flooded, roads impeded, in some cases the sweet potato crop had to be boated to the city.
THE PRESENT LEVEE.
Thinking that the time had come for another levee, in the autumn of 1880 we consulted our representative, Hon. Hiram Price, upon the propriety of get- ting congress to help us. Under his approval we had a number of memorials
256
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
circulated, asking an appropriation. We secured more than 2,500 names to these. A series of political events prevented us from obtaining any help from that source. While the measure was before congress, concluding that the island inhabitants would have to help themselves, we got up a petition to the legisla- ture to have the ditch law amended so as to apply to the construction of levees. We quietly circulated this around and got the signatures of forty of the leading citizens interested in the levee. We wrote out an amendment to the ditch and drain law and sent it with the petition to Hon. J. A. Pickler, our member in the legislature. We soon got it through the house. We then wrote to Senator Pliny Nichols, who got it through the senate. Thinking that the way had been prepared for a permanent levee, we concluded to let others do some of the gratuitous work. In the spring of 1882 S. E. Whicher came to our relief. He got the required petition and gave the necessary bonds and the general gratuitous supervision of the work of construction fell upon him.
We now have a successful levee, one that will be of vast benefit to the is- land, costing in all $80,000. It is twelve feet wide and two feet above high water mark. During the recent (1884) high water we rode over it and found in many places that there was six feet difference in the height of the water on its two sides.
FRUITLAND STATION.
Muscatine Island is famous as the melon garden spot of the world, and Fruitland takes equal rank with the island as being a great shipping point for melons and sweet potatoes. In the winter of 1879 Alexander McDermott, one of the leading farmers at that time, called a meeting for the purpose of consid- ering what could be done to meet the desire of the neighboring farmers for a local point from which to ship their products. As a result of this meeting a committee was appointed to wait upon the Rock Island Railroad Company and ask that a station be established near where once stood the old town of Owega, or at a point west of the Island church. The president of the railroad company offered to establish a station at the point where Fruitland is now located and plat a town site on conditions that the farmers pay to the company $1,000 for the town plat and also put up a building suitable for a store and postoffice. At once a stock company was organized to meet the conditions of the railroad com- pany, and in the spring of 1880 a town plat in accordance with the views of the people was made and called Island, which was subsequently changed to Fruit- land by the postoffice department. W. J. Fitzsimmons was appointed post- master and agent for the Rock Island Railroad and the first shipment from the new station was made to Perlee, Iowa, August 14, 1880. The first shipment of melons was in August of the same year. During that year there were about thirty carloads of melons shipped from this point, which gave evidence of the railroad having made a good investment in establishing the station, while it saved the farmers miles of heavy hauling. From this small beginning the melon and sweet potato business on the island has gradually grown until the shipments from Fruitland amount to hundreds and hundreds of cars of melons each year. In the winter of 1898 the Muscatine North & South Railroad passed through the little town, affording increased facilities for handling the immense amount
-
=
n
NORTH FROM COURT HOUSE DOME
257
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
of produce which is annually grown in that district. But the island is not given over entirely to melons and sweet potatoes. Much grain and other produce, small fruits and garden truck have become yearly crops in that vi- cinity. The first store in Fruitland was owned and operated by James Strouse. The town now has a blacksmith shop, cooper shop, hotel, amusement hall and church, and everything to make a village comfortable and happy. One of the town's chief distinctions is that it has never had a saloon within its limits.
Vol. I-17
CHAPTER XII.
THE HUNTSMAN'S PARADISE.
GENEVA ISLAND A COLONY OF HUNTERS' COTTAGES-MANY PLACES IN THE VICIN- ITY TO HUNT AND FISH-MACKEY WRITES ENTERTAININGLY OF ALL OF THEM -THE OLD GUN MAKER-BOIL COFFEE IN A WASH BASIN-SHOOT PELICANS ON THE LAKE-KEYSTONE GUN CLUB.
With the completion of the Drury township (Illinois) levee, which can be readily seen from Muscatine's Water street, all that is left of one of the great- est hunting grounds and most primeval and greatly interesting large tracts or bodies of land in the Upper Mississippi valley passes from its wild native state to surpassing fertile farm lands.
When we first knew this tract of land it rivaled in wilderness any region we had ever seen, read or heard of. All along the Illinois bottoms from Drury's Landing to Boston Bay, dense underbrush and timber skirted the Mississippi's. edge, which with wild grape vines and rank growth of weeds were for miles and miles well nigh impassable, while skirting the numerous sloughs and lakes fur- ther in toward the Illinois bluff land, grew the most luxuriant of bottom grasses, often reaching the height of ten or twelve feet and completely hiding, from a short distance view, men and cattle and even horses with their riders.
In the '70s of the last century one main road led from the old Muscatine ferry docks on the Illinois side to the bluffs. This was a typical bottom road with logs rolled into the low or wet spots and a few rudely made bridge cross- ing streams. Several roads branched from this but it was only a person fa- miliar with the Illinois bottoms who could follow for even a mile these partial roads. The rest of this immense jungle had only cow paths or trails which the hunters followed, crawling under fallen trees and over flat lying logs or parting the tall weeds, rushes or taller grasses with their gun or hands, and should one stray fifty feet from the trail and not know general directions, it was a ques- tion, sometimes for hours, whether he could again find it. The older and 'ex- perienced hunter would part the grasses with his hands to see the sun, or listen with his hand to his ear to catch the distant buzzing of the saws at Hershey sawmill in order to get his bearings.
This paradise for the hunter was known to many of our citizens and many others who lived miles from Muscatine. Here are some of the old landmarks dear to a thousand hunters from east to west, from north to south, most charm- ing spots, known to them as the Molis Lake, Lone Elm, the Pin Oaks, Two Points, Blind Man's Lake, Murdock Lake, King Lake, Barrow's Point, Clapp's.
258
259
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
Island, the Bluff Slash, the Willow Tree, Brent's Slash and Goose Lake, which comprise a chain of lakes and hunting points from the toll road to Copperas Creek.
The mouth of the bayou known as the Fourth Slough, was a popular gate- way or entrance from the river to these famous shooting grounds. This slough comes into the Mississippi about one mile below the sandy beach that gives color variety to the opposite shore when viewed from the city, known as Nestle- busch's Point. On the south bank of the Fourth Slough, about one hundred yards from the river, was the best landing for skiffs and small craft. This bank furnished the highest grounds, or ridge among the bottom lands, and was a most beautiful camping ground.
A GREAT HUNTER.
We think no story of hunters and hunting in Muscatine would be complete without including J. P. Walton's tale of James Davis, A Great Hunter and a Very Successful One. We are constrained to tell this story and to borrow some other items from Walton's Pioneer Papers. Although we have no posi- tive evidence that any of the parties we mention as hunters of the '40s and '50s of the nineteenth century hunted in Illinois, beyond the belief that it would be perfectly natural for the very early settlers to cross the river when looking for game.
James Davis, according to Mr. Walton, was the first sheriff of Muscatine county. In 1839 and 1840 he resided at a beautiful little village or town called Geneva, located about three miles up the river from the Rock Island passenger station, on what until late years was known as the Colonel Hare farm. This town had five or six houses or cabins, a store, a postoffice and a steamboat landing and rivaled Bloomington in importance. Not a vestige or sign of the town remains today. Mr. Walton says Davis kept the postoffice well supplied with game. We recollect seeing him bring in two bucks with their horns locked so tightly that they were never separated. The larger one had killed the smaller and he in turn fell a prey to Davis' rifle.
'A's evidence of the plentifulness of game in the '40s, read the following taken from the Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser of January 1, 1842: "Game has never been so abundant in our markets as during the present winter. Quails-by epicures accounted one of the rarest delicacies-from the number brought in have got to be a mere drug, selling at twenty-five and thirty-seven and a half cents the dozen ready for cooking. So, too, the supply of venison and turkeys is greater than usual and prices consequently low. We have no- ticed but few grouse or prairie fowls in the streets, but this probably is owing to the lowness of the prices paid."
In the newly settled town of Bloomington, later Muscatine, in the '40s and '50s money was a scarce article and the hunters used the skins of the various animals which fell to their marksmanship as a medium of exchange. Old timers tell us when an early settler paid the merchant for a small purchase with a coon skin, it was a common sight to see a rabbit or a muskrat given back in ex- change. Mr. Walton mentioned an advertisement in the Bloomington Herald
260
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
of October 26, 1840, in which John Zeigler set forth the merits of his large stock of general merchandise and winds up by saying "all of which will be sold for cash, or exchanged for dry hides, deer skins, etc."
Among other hunters of this period the best records all mention the War- fields : Charles A., Major A. O. and their cousin, David R. J. P. Walton says : "David R. Warfield was a man of horses, dogs and guns, kept batch on the classic banks of Mad creek with Benjamin Mathews as master of ceremonies, and enjoyed frontier life hugely. This Benjamin Mathews was our old friend 'Uncle Ben,' colored. We had a high regard for him in our youth."
Andrew J. Fimple was also recorded as a hunter of wild geese, turkeys and ducks in the '40s and '50s. Mr. Fimple was a tailor by trade and one of the first to keep a shop in Muscatine.
During the twenty years after the first settlements upon the Mississippi river in this locality, it should be borne in mind the accoutrements of the hun- ter were rather crude. The flintlock gun was in use and no shot was on the market. The hunter purchased his lead in bars and with the aid of a hand mold manufactured his own leaden missiles. In the latter part of these years and in the early '6os gunsmiths were kept busy changing the flintlock guns, placing tubes in them and attaching the new mechanical arrangement for ex- ploding the percussion cap.
An advertisement in the Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser of May 15, 1841, under caption of gunsmithing and lock making, says: "Percussion powder, flints, gun worms, rifle powder, lead and almost every article usually kept in such establishments, kept constantly on hand. L. W. Babbitt."
THE OLD GUN MAKER.
Among the hunters of the '6os the first name which comes to our mind is that of George Terry, the old gunmaker, the man who made the first big swivel gun. With this gun placed in the bow of his boat and a number of tree branches nailed to the side of the boat he floated down the river looking like a veritable floating island. In this way he approached near enough to wild brant and geese to do great havoc when he turned the swivel gun loose on them. Many of his makes of hunting and carving knives are still in use in Muscatine. Ed Kertendall and Malin Brown were among the first builders of hunting boats and were great hunters. Captain Downer, Noah Fiauk and "Old Man Blough" were famous pilots and ferried the boys across the river and up the different sloughs.
"Old Uncle Billy" Parvin, with his extra long rifle and his spectacles had the record for bringing squirrels from the highest trees, while "Grandpa" Chambers, father of the Chambers Brothers, owners of the sawmill, was in the same class.
Hiram Gilbert with his brother and Vincent Chambers brought to Musca- tine many a fine deer and proudly exhibited it at Graham's corner on Second street. George Sheeley, with his brothers Andrew and "Snider," with their ox team were a close second with interesting exhibitions of freshly killed veni- son. Ben and William Mull and Lon Fox hunted deer in those days in the
261
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
Illinois bottoms and at one time caught a fawn on Blanchard's Island, which they sold to Jacob Bowman, the hack man. It lived for a number of years at Bowman's barn.
Another famous deer hunter was Jacob Horr, who kept a baker shop in the neighborhood of George Eichenaurer's cigar store on Second street. "Jake" hung out in front of his store, as a result of his excellent marksmanship, many wild geese, but his "long suit" was wild deer.
Madison Stein, son of John G. Stein, proprietor of the hotel known in early days as the Pennsylvania House, then located at the corner of Chestnut and Walnut streets, delighted in hunting and had in his possession a collection which was captured alive, comprising eagles, wild geese, wolves, coon, prairie chickens and opossum. This collection he offered to P. T. Barnum, but the latter declined the offer.
Captain Fisher, the owner of the steamboat Pearl, which sank at the mouth of Eagle Slough, afterward spent the rest of his life where the boat went down, hunting. Just across from this point is the Walton bar, where the Walton brothers, great geese hunters, bagged their famous piles of geese. John Stark was also a great goose hunter in his day. Clough brothers, all three of them, were famous hunters. One of them still living will even to this day go hunting upon the slightest invitation. The Clough brothers have brought to Muscatine all kinds of game, from snipe to deer.
Colonel William B. Keeler, colonel of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Regiment, was among the nimrods of the '60s. His dignified and military bearing could be seen in company with Charles Draper hunting duck, woodcock and prairie chicken. The colonel today still retains the military bearing and can be seen at the corner of Madison street and Wabash avenue in Chicago in the jewelry store of H. W. Graves & Company, of which he is a partner.
Barney Beil was not only a hunter but also a great factor as the best gun- smith, who knew all the boys, knew their guns and knew their peculiarities. Benjamin Hershey, G. 'A'. Garrettson, Charles Draper, Dr. McAllister, Sr., J. Richardson, William Halstead, Richard and Peter Musser and Major Warfield, with their fine English guns and their spotted dogs, could be seen in these bot- toms hunting wild pigeon, woodcock and duck.
C. L. Mull, Sr., and Ben Middleton, with their high leather boots and brown, liver-colored pointers, also hunted here. George Leffingwell, Ben Beach, Amos Schott, Aul Lenhardt, Gal Bitzer, Albert and Charles Barrows, Adam Hettinger, Jake Worst and Andrew Kirsch were famous geese and duck hun- ters.
Among the other hunters of the '60s were Henry Beckman, Michael Braun- warth, Conrad Kranz, J. A. Bishop, Jacob Miller, Julius Molis, Mr. Leffler, John Lantz, Ed Hoch, Joe Berrick, "Butcher" Koehler, Chris Ruckdeschel, George Lamar, Giles Humes, Mr. Painter, Jack Leffingwell, Charles Kessler, F. H. Wienker, Adam Hacker, John Watson, Yates Washburn, Charles Stroupe, Sr., John Ake, Bill Delaney, Ben Brower, Lambert Skinnkle, Henry
262
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
Smull, Dr. Walker, Charles Mauck, Johnnie Bowman and brother, Colonel Horton, Fred Dayton, Charles McCampbell and Charles Winnig.
BOIL COFFEE IN A WASH BASIN.
Frank Freeman, the undismayed hunter, has been seen shooting ducks at King Lake on crutches, with a broken leg, with a five by eight inch board nailed to the bottom of the crutch to keep from sinking into soft ground. C. C. Braunwarth hunted at Barrow's Point, with his Parker gun, and rubber boots up to his ears, only a collar button being in sight, having with him his two dogs, Bum-Bum and Major. Charles Fisch with his dog Duke on the opposite point was a familiar sight. "Billy" Musser also shot lots of ducks. Another famous hunter was Captain Johnnie Hoehl with his fighting dog Dan and camping out- fit in his sailboat Endyminion boiling coffee in a wash basin with Judge Walter I. Hayes as scullery cook. Jim Wier and Jake Worst could be seen pulling in alongside of the Endyminion with twenty-five wild geese and over a hundred mallard ducks.
Professor Witter spent many days in the Illinois bottoms hunting ducks, al- ways alert for rare specimens for the taxidermist's skill, and studying natural history. Alex Dunsmore was a persistent hunter and says to this day the sight of duck sets him crazy. Johnnie Van Buren's spiel was "take a nip and the next time the ducks will come closer." "Navy" Kranz, better known as George Kranz, used to squat in the mud at Five Points, using a pond lily leaf a la um- brella, and would hide for hours at a time so the wood duck could not see him. John Gorman was a prize winner at glass ball shooting, but always failed at ducks. He never got a feather. Billy Ament, the well known circus owner, often sat all day in a flat boat playing Home Sweet Home on a mouth harp for the ducks.
Will Reeder, now Rear Admiral Reeder of the United States navy, always enjoyed hunting at "good old Muscatine" when on a leave of absence either from Annapolis or when at home after his long cruises. The old boys tell of him falling in while crossing a swollen stream when out with a party of four. They describe his nautical language and ruddy appearance as his head came above the water and he realized the depleted condition of the commissary de- partment.
SHOOT PELICANS ON THE LAKE.
At one time Andy Mull and Will Braunwarth, in company with three others, were hunting ducks at Barrow's Point when a big flock of strange birds came in sight. The birds circled around King Lake and came in range of the hun- ters. Then all the boys let loose with their breach loaders. The air fairly rained feathers and nearly a dozen pelicans dropped in the lake, one of the boys get- ting three birds. This Barrow's Point extended almost midway into King Lake and was noted not only as one of the best places for ducks, but also as a place where all of the larger denizens of the air made for when passing north or south in these parts. Many swans have been seen at this point and were a great delight to the hunters as they would circle them for hours, keeping just
263
HISTORY OF MUSCATINE COUNTY
out of gun range, always singing that doleful yet sweetly melodious song of theirs. One hunter of this period tells of killing a beautiful specimen of this bird and being haunted until this day with the quaint melody of its death song. Another beautiful bird that at times was quite often seen at this point is the blue and white heron. These birds are prized very highly, for of their plumage secured at maternity time is made "My Lady's aigrette." When studded with diamonds and worn in the hair these feathers are counted the most beautiful adornment a woman can wear, and alas! has caused the extinction of this bird. The Sunday papers of our large cities and the Audubon Society conducted a campaign against the cruel fashion that robs the young herons of their mother bird in order to secure for society dames the proud emblem of the motherhood of the heron to wear in their hair.
We have digressed a little in speaking of the larger birds once found in these hunting grounds. At Barrow's Point the following have been killed : Mallard duck, canvasback, Sprigtail, wood duck (cannon ball or black jack, blue wing teal, green wing teal, spoonbill, butter duck, winter duck, whiffle duck, fish duck, or saw-bill, mud hen and hell diver.
KEYSTONE GUN CLUB.
It is worthy of comment in this article that the very first cultivation of the soil in these bottoms, between the toll road and Copperas creek, the Mississippi river and the Illinois bluffs was done by hunters to supply their tables with vegetables. In 1882 a hunting club, or an association of hunters known as the Keystone Gun Club was formed. They purchased twenty-three acres of land known as Braunwarth's Landing, upon which they built a hunting lodge. In 1883 other buildings were erected and in the spring of that year they started the cultivation of the soil at the very point where now stands the new pumping station at the Drury drainage system. A few years later more ground was pur- chased, their holdings being increased to one hundred and twenty acres and farming was inaugurated on a larger scale. In recent years this ground has grown over one hundred bushels of corn to the acre. Nearly all this bottom land is capable of doing as well, but these low lands do not excel in corn and wheat but rather in producing cabbage and other vegetables, which should make Muscatine one of the greatest canning localities in the land.
In the years to come it will be hardly possible for the people of this locality to realize that the latter half of the "eighteen hundreds" saw deer in herds of six to ten, and that all along any of the sloughs wolf, beaver, otter, coon, mink, muskrat, fox, squirrel, rabbits, opossum and wild cat would be seen, or that wild geese, duck, brant, swan, pelican, blue and white heron, wild turkey, rail, prairie chicken, quail, wild pigeon and snipe built a part of the year. This article has been confined to but a small portion of the area of the hunting grounds in these bottoms and practically the people we knew, or knew of. Ten times as much could be written should we cover the upper and lower bottoms in this great tract of land and relate of the hunters who have enjoyed hunting over it from Davenport, Rock Island, Monmouth, Aledo, Kewanee, Spring-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.