USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > History of O'Brien County, Iowa, from its organization to the present time > Part 2
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
The old Major Inman house on the Waterman was burned in March, 1897. The house was first started in the fall of 1869, and several years after, there was put to it a large addi- tion. The first story was built of stone, the rest was frame. The lumber in the first house was hauled from Fort Dodge. The farm is known as the " Cedar Cliff Farm", and is now owned by Peck, Artherholt & Ingham, and is on Section 26, in Waterman township. On this same section Gov. Hul- bert built a log house in 1867, and sold the claim afterwards to Major Inman.
Among the others in 1868 who came to the county were A. B. Husted, Gus Baker, Charley Hill and John Patchen. W. H. Baker and Gus Baker died several years ago; H. F. Parker is at Cripple Creek, Colorado; Charley Hill is dead; John Patchen moved away, while A. B. Husted still lives on the original claim. Hank Smith resides at Primghar, and Ed. Par- ker at Sanborn. Of the settlers of 1868 there are only four left in the county -H. F. Smith, E. T. Par- ker, A. B. Husted and Mrs. C. W. Inman, and of any previous to that time, only Mr. Waterman and his family.
In 1869 there were sev- JOHN W. KELLEY. eral more came to the county, than did in 1868. In 1869 there were Horace Gilbert, D. B. Harmon, Ezra McOmber, W. H. Wager, Joseph Row- land, A. J. Edwards, Charles Chandler, Obadiah Higbe, Oli- ver Evans, Jack Holliday, Archie McDonald, Hoel Gibbs, R. G. Allen, Hiram Wiard, Sol Wiard, Squire Mack, S. J. Jorden, Wm. Baldwin, Mike O'Neil, George Youde, David Finster,
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
J. G. Arbuckle, A. J. Allen, Ed. Nisson, Thomas McBath, W.C.Green, McCallen Green, Jake Wagoner and Cal Wagoner. Some of these are mentioned elsewhere. A. J. Edwards, who came in 1869, was well known in his day all over the county. He was auditor during the gopher scalp period, was a kind- hearted man, and a good neighbor. He left the county some years ago, and died afterwards. Captain came out in the summer, did some break- ing, put up some hay and built! a house, then win- tered elsewhere, returning with his family in the spring of 1870. He used to tell a story on himself. Said that when they came out in the spring of 1870, they arrived with teams at his claim about dark. A little after dark while walking around the hay stacks, where hay was scattered on the ground E. T. PARKER. considerably, he stepped on something which seemed to make a jump, and apparently for captain, which impressed him with the idea, that some species of animal was hidden under the hay, and that there was nothing to do but retreat for safety. Captain went to the house, and soon the entire family were out with broomsticks, and all sorts of weapons belaboring the hidden animal, which continued to spring at every stroke. They finally gave it up, and went into the house. When morning came, and daylight shed its bright- ness upon the scene of the conflict, and the hay was cleared off in order to discover the character of the animal they had fought, it was found to be a horse collar, which would bound at every stroke, and the collar was just about ruined with the beating. Of others named as settlers in 1869, Horace Gilbert
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
resides in Minnesota; D. B. Harmon on the original claim; Ezra McOmber at Calumet; William Wager still resides in the county; Joseph Rowland died some years ago; J. W. Kelley lives in Sanborn; Charles Chandler in Kansas; Obediah Higbe is dead; Oliver Evans is still in the county; so is Archie McDonald, living at Hartley; Hoel Gibbs resides in Wood- bury county; R. G. Allen at Hartley; Sol Wiard at the Pacific coast; Squire Mack at Spencer, Iowa, and S. J. Jorden on the original claim; Finster is away; Ed. Nisson left for some other part of the country and has not been heard from since; W. C. Green is at Sanborn, while Mike O'Neil and Hiram Wiard died several years ago.
The first school house built in the county was in the fall of 1869, of brick, in Grant township, and Mrs. D. W. Inman was the first teacher in Grant township. The first election in Grant township was in the fall of 1869, at Joe Rowland's house.
The first death in Grant township was Cassa Flathers, in the fall of 1869. The first chimney built in the county, was built for W. H. Baker, on what is now the county poor farm. The brick was hauled from Cher- okee,and the chim- ney built by Ed. Parker and Hank Smith. Hank was a mason by trade, and Ed. wanted to learn it, so Hank started him out to practice on this chimney. He com- menced with it, to reach a hole in the C. W. INMAN. roof, which was several feet, diagonally. Hank was away when he built it, and says, that when he got back the chimney had traveled
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
every point of the compass. Another party who came in 1869 was William Slack. He died several years ago. His son, Charles, lives on the original homestead. A. B. Husted was the first carpenter in the county, and made the first coffin, for some woman just over the line in Clay county. The first threshing machine in the county was owned by Archibald Murry, which was hauled from Dennison, Crawford county. It was a Chicago Pitts machine, was brought up in the fall of 1867, started to work in March, 1868, and was run by Gus Baker, David Watts and Hank Smith. They threshed for Cherokee, Buena Vista and O'Brien counties, for stacks of grain then were few and far between.
After the original log court house, there was built another in 1870, frame, 14x16, which cost several thousand dollars. The records, what few there were, were moved into it, but were moved out soon after, as Dan Inman needed a place to live, and the court house was vacated to him for that purpose. This building was burned next year, and soon after, a similar building was erected, at a cost of sev- eral thousand dollars more, which was used until the county seat was moved to Primghar, then the building was sold to H. A. Shade for a W. C. GREEN. residence. In 1868 H. J. Rice, W. H. Baker and Hank Smith went to Lyon county, at Doon, and built a residence for Rice. This was the first house built in Lyon county, and the intention then was to organize the county, but Hank and Baker returned and left Rice there. Rice, at the time of going up, lived at Peterson. In the summer of 1868 and the winter following, Lafayette Knight taught school at Old O'Brien, and the spring
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
after, followed Rice at Doon. When Smith and Baker were returning from building the log house at Doon, they saw a large herd of elk, which they estimated at 300 head, about where Sheldon now is, but they soon scampered away.
When the first school houses were built, Hank Smith and Ed. Parker gathered the lime stones from the bluff, burned them into lime for use, and laid the brick.
B. F. M'CORMACK.
The first celebration of Fourth of July in the county, was at the In- man school house, in Grant township, in I868. There were thirty there; had exer- cises and dinner, and a dance in the evening. Rev. Clifton made a speech.
Dan Inman was the first blacksmith in the county, and R. B. Crego the first shoemaker. Dan opened up on his claim, and Crego cobbled in old O'Brien. When Peg-leg Allen and J. G. Arbuckle came in the fall of 1869, Crego surren- dered the cobbling business to them.
THE FIRST COURT HOUSE.
The first court house in the county was built of logs on Mr. Waterman's claim, and remained there something over a year. It was built by virtue of a contract made with J. W. Bosler, and was to be eighteen feet square, but was shy a few feet on each side, so that its real dimensions was about 14 by 20. Instead of being used for a court house while on Mr. Water- man's claim, it was used by Moses Lewis as a residence, but a court house was not needed much, as they carried the various departments of the county business, around in their pockets.
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
They tried to purchase of Mr. Waterman forty acres of land for county purposes, but at that time, he wanted the scene of their manipulations as far away as possible. The Moses Lewis spoken of, became weary of life some years ago, and committed suicide at Fort Dodge.
Land for county seat purposes was finally purchased of H. C. Tiffy, and upon the completion of this purchase, and the location of the county seat, old O'Brien was brought into existence as a village. The old log court house was moved to the new location, for the county of O'Brien wanted all of its belongings together, but when it was set up again, it was used as a school house, and for a residence, after- wards by R. G. Allen and Bostwick for a blacksmith shop, and finally by W. C. Green as a stable. We call this building a court house, because that was the name given to it, by the parties who made the contract to build it, but after all it was a curiosity, and a sacrilegious travesty
upon jurisprudence. It was erected not for use, because nobody could use F. L. HERRICK. it for the purpose for which it was supposed to be intended, it was erected, in order that a large number of warrants could be issued in pay for it, and these warrants went into the general pool of the gang. A court house implies a good deal. Gen- erally, that emblem of justice, a blinded female holding in equipoise the scales of justice, stands prominently elevated, and at the fore, to tell the people, that here the wrongs of this wicked world are righted, and there is given unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and that justice is dispensed with im- partial hand.
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA. .
Here was a pile of logs cut from the banks of the Little Sioux, notched, placed together in the form and shape of a building, and the Temple of Justice was complete. About it, and on all sides of it, were the consultations and man- ipulations of men, in devis- ing the various methods of theft, the means of perpe- trating robbery and plun- der, while within, if it had been a court house in fact, the emblem would be truer to the conditions, if that blinded female was weep- ing in shame, and her at- titude that of a devotee at the throne of justice, JAMES BROSH. whose heart was crushed with remorse. Never, within the walls of this illy constructed structure was kept the records of the county, never was court held there, and not the sound of a voice of any advocate ever echoed among its rafters. Court houses were not needed, the elements of wickedness were averse to them, the county records were the warrant books, and the only business of the county officials, was to fill up the blanks and detach them for use.
There were still more settlers in 1870, and in 1871, and on, they came in large numbers. One of the earliest was E. W. McOmber, who came in March, 1869. He selected as a claim, the south half of the southeast quarter of section 12, in Water- man township. Mr. McOmber started from Rockford, Illi- nois, with only an idea of going west, for he had heard of the advice of the lamented Horace. He started with a team and wagon, containing provisions and household goods, with a man by the name of Hobart as a companion. The roads were so bad that he left his load at Iowa Falls, to wait there, until the
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
Illinois Central R. R. was completed further on. When he got to Ft. Dodge he left his wagon and got a lighter vehicle, and with Hobart drove to Mr. Waterman's place.
Mr. Waterman helped them to make a selection, which they both did as squatters, and then returned to Ft. Dodge. This was in the spring of the year when the creeks were overflowed, and when they were obliged to travel across the country, un- inhabited and without bridges. The first night on their return, they traveled most of the night, and coming to a stream of water, they knew not which way to go, and so halted for the night with nothing to eat, and nothing for their horses. To keep warm, they kept up a ceaseless tramp, and when morn- ing came they found themselves on the bank of quite a body of water, a settler's shack on the opposite side, and seemingly no way of crossing. It was near enough to the opposite side for voices to be heard, and they opened up communication with a settler across the water. He told them the water was forty feet deep, but encouraged their cross- ing, so in they went, and having a team that was used to swimming, they were soon across. They were quite hungry, hav- ing been without any- thing to eat since the morning before, and at this shack, when they reached it, nothing could be had. They drove on some little distance fur- ther to another shack, ED. C. BROWN. where some corn was found, with which the horses were fed. The woman of the house was waiting for the men folks to re- turn from Ft. Dodge with provisions, so that this habitation was
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
without food; still, their condition was so desperately a hungry one, that she gathered together a few scraps of bread, made a compound of the last remnants of tea and coffee, and sat them down to the feast. There are times when a hungry man can eat most anything, but this was too much for McOmber and Hobart; they tried, but an empty stomach was not calculated for food like that, so they waited a while, and the supply from Ft. Dodge soon arrived. We mention this as a fair sample of the uncertainty of meals, in traveling any part of this new country at that time. The settlers were too poor to lay in a large supply, and when the little was exhausted, the weather in winter and spring, and the overflowed creeks with- out bridges, made it very uncertain when the settler would return, who went for more. If every detail of incon- venience, and sometimes suffering, which the early settlers of O'Brien experienced, were fully A. B. HUSTED. known, we should all wonder how they survived them. But a settler or a pioneer, who starts out to make for himself a home in a new country, is filled with a peculiar ambition; one that leads all the forces of his nature to the point of surmounting every difficulty. He cares not for cold or hunger. He can cross the most trouble- some waste of water, sleep soundly on the hard, damp ground, scale a cliff, stand the worst of weather, and endure them all gracefully as long as the El Dorado is ahead of him, and he is fighting the battle with a determination to win. Mr. Mc- Omber's wife came in the summer of 1869, and before the fall of that year they were comfortably housed in a shack on the claim.
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
The next year Mr. McOmber, upon some breaking done in 1869, raised a small patch of wheat, which yielded twenty-two bushels to the acre. Mr. McOmber's brother George, came and settled near E. W. in the spring of 1870.
There was then between old O'Brien and Fort Dodge, what was called the twenty mile slough, and this was always diffi- cult to cross. They who traveled it, if it was convenient, went together, several teams of them, carried a rope, and when a stream of water was reached, would first swim the horses, then with the rope fastened to the wagons, would pull one over at a time. On every trip to Fort Dodge this method of crossing was used. When these parties landed in old O'Brien, they stopped at the hotel then kept by C. W. Inman. At the time of this arrival, old O'Brien was of but a few houses, not over six, one of which was the log court house. There were two residences besides the hotel, occupied by two different parties, A. Murry and R. B. Crego. J. W. Kelly settled upon the southeast quarter of section 22 in Waterman town- ship. He first lived in a tent with his family, until he had obtained lumber for a build- ing, which was not long after- wards. The lumber was ob- tained from the Peterson saw mill, and cost Mr. Kelly $45 per thousand, the house was 16 by 22. In May, 1869, Mr. Kelly, with Joseph Row- land and A. J. Edwards, went to Sioux City to file on their respective claims. Sioux City then had no railroad, and of course the trip had to M. G. M'CLELLAN. be made with team. They started from old O'Brien, which was a long drive with streams to cross without bridges, and much of the way unmarked with any traveled road. When
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
they drove over the territory which now comprises the thrifty and promising city of Le Mars, some parties there in advance of the incoming railroad, were just putting up the frame of Le Mars' first building. While stopping to chat with the workmen upon this unpretentious structure, some fellow drove along with a covered wagon, making his exodus from the country, and who was evi- dently filled with deep dis- gust, for he remarked, " that he wouldn't give five dollars for an entire section," and that the act of building was but the scheme of a land shark, who was trying to rope in the tenderfeet from the east.
E. C. FOSKETT.
When Sioux City was reached, they stopped at the "Mountaineer House,"which long since retired from busi- ness as a Sioux City hostelry.
Their papers were made out by T. J. Stone, and the clerk of the office, James Sloan, gave them very courteous treatment. They well remembered, however, that every- thing they got was paid for, and when they left for home, had finished their business, and had gone the rounds of this crude metropolis in those early days, they concluded that Sioux City had sized their pile, for they had naught but empty pocket books.
At the same time Mr. McOmber came to the county, there came also Mr. Kelly, Joseph Rowland and A. J. Edwards, the parties just mentioned. Mr. Kelly had an outfit of his own, and had drove through from Joliet, Illinois. His wife came with him and two daughters, Anna and Mary. He met Mr. Rowland and Capt. Edwards at Ft. Dodge, and these two new settlers rode up with him.
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
This was in April, 1869, and on the 29th of that month they arrived at old O'Brien. C. W. Inman also came along from Ft. Dodge with them, as he was there after supplies.
The filing made by Mr. Kelly on the Sioux City trip before mentioned, was made May 5th, 1869, and was the first home- stead filing made in the county; there had been some filings of preemptions. Mr. Kelly broke five acres the year of 1869, and rented five acres that year belonging to a man by the name of Gibbs. He was to pay $5 an acre as rent, but it raised so little that he offered the crop for the rent, which was refused. Mr. Rowland settled on the south west of 24 and Capt. Edwards on the northeast of 4.
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MEMBERS OF THE SHELDON G. A. R.
1132465
CHAPTER II.
It might be well enough at this point, to say something concerning the early administration of the county, as Mr. Kelly, previously mentioned, cuts somewhat of a figure in its affairs. In the winter of 1859, some parties in Sioux City, intending first to or- ganize the county, and then to plunder it, made their way to the home of Mr. Waterman, looking for the proper location upon which to establish their headquarters, and 1.00 afterwards the county seat. Other parties from Ft. Dodge, hearing of this in- tended invasion, went themselves to the scene of operations, intent upon the MRS. C. F. ALBRIGHIT. same thing. For a brief period there was some conflict be- tween them, until peace was declared, for it is said. when rogues fall out, then honest people get their dues. A coterie of delectable thieves was soon made up from these pilgrims from the two cities mentioned. The early records of the county, copied and inserted in another part of this book, do
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
not contain half of their villainous transactions. There may have been other records, but if so they are not to be found.
Every conceivable device of expenditure known to a prolific mind, was introduced into their transactions. The writer hes- itates in the mention of names, as this book might fall into the hands of some hon- orable descedant, up- on whose cheek we have no wish to cause a blush for that, for which they are in no way to blame. The names, however, of these early organiz- ers, are found among the names of those mentioned in the rec- ords elsewhere in- PATRICK CARROLL. serted, and most of them have long since gone to their final rest. Two of these organizers, Murry and Lewis, had a hand in the orgaization of Sioux county, as will be seen in the following from the pen of another:
"Before any court house was built, and before there was any habitation in the county, a county government was effected under the shade of a cottonwood tree, by those enterprising characters in northwestern Iowa, Arch Murry and Mose Lewis, assisted by lesser lights, and before the sun went down, an appropriation of $25,000 had been made, for the purpose of building a bridge across the Sioux river. Arch Murry was delegated to go to Chicago to negotiate the sale of warrants. He sold to the Lombards, Chicago bankers at that time. There was no reasonable limit to Murry's enterprise, and after he sold the warrants to Lombard, he entered into a contract to
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
convert them into bonds for the firm, the bonds to draw 10 per cent interest, while the warrants only drew 6 per cent. For this he was to get a round fee as attorney. He only re- quired time enough to get the bonds printed in order to earn his fee, and appearing at the bank with the bonds prop- erly executed, he turned them over and secured the warrants, which he was to return for cancellation at the county seat, under the cot- tonwood on the banks of the Sioux. Archie did not de- sire to return to the wild west so soon, after his splen- did success as a financier, and took in the sights of the town for a few days. Dur- D. B. HARMON. ing the time, he heard of other capitalists anxious to invest in western securities, and taking the warrants which he had pre- viously sold to the Lombards, and which at their expense he had converted into bonds, he negotiated another sale of them, but before the money was paid over it leaked out, that they were the same that had been previously sold, and Archie was lodged in jail. But he soon got out and returned to north- western Iowa, which he pronounced the best country for legit- imate speculation he had ever struck."
From the time of the complete organization of the county up to 1869, there had been issued about $200,000 in warrants, . $162,000 of which had been placed in judgments in five sepa- rate suits, and nothing to show for it, save the few books in which the records were kept. A large area of land was ap- propriated for a bridge, as will be seen by the records, but the bridge never materialized, except that it comes by tradition, that the contractor in the winter time laid some boards across the Little Sioux on the ice, upon which the gang triumphantly
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
marched as proof of its building, and to enable the proper committee to duly report its completion. County warrants were accessible whenever they were needed, and we all may be sure that the ne- cessities of the gang were very great. These methods of running the county were continued without interruption un- til 1870, for there seem- ed to be no one to stand in the way, except Mr. Waterman, and a few more, and they were powerless. At the elec- tion of the supervisors in 1869, there were elected. John W. Kelly, MRS. M. G. M'CLELLAN. Hannibal Waterman and O. Higbe, an oasis of honesty in a desert of theft. Mr. Kelly at once took up the cudgel of reform. His real senti- ments were not known when he was elected, and the battle of this valiant warrior, upon the citadel of a corrupt county organi- zation, was not only surprising but startling, to those who had feasted upon this banquet of plunder. As stated, there were judgments rendered outside the county to the amount of $162,000.
Mr. Kelly went to Sioux City and employed Colonel H. B. Wilson, a lawyer then in practice there, but long since dead, to appear in the proper court and move that these judgments be set aside, upon the ground of fraud and irregularity in obtaining them. The proceedings instituted by Colonel Wil- son were prosecuted to a final success, and during the progress of the suit, and before its final termination, Mr. Kelly was offered one-half the amount to let up in the prosecution of the suit. He indignantly refused. Mr. Kelly, before he finally
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HISTORY OF O'BRIEN COUNTY, IOWA.
got through with this war of his own, was completely wore out, as the sympathizers of the gang so much outnumbered the disciples of his own faith. He finally quit, except his con- tinued advocacy along the line of his previous action. In the fall of 1870 there was another election, but neither of the board of 1870 were elected. They retired from office seem- ingly without honors. As the county was then beginning to be settled, each year found new recruits in the growing ranks of reform, until the time came, when the affairs of O'Brien county were honestly administered.
In order that the organization of the county might be per- fected, it required an election to vote for officers, which was held at Mr. Waterman's house February 6, 1860. There was not needed the security of the ballot box, so that an ordinary hat answered every pur- pose in which to cast the ballot. There were seven votes cast, and only five of them could have been legitimately cast had there been opposition, and per- haps not more than four, as it was claimed at the time, that one voter lived in Woodbury county, one in Clay, and one in Buena Vista. This sacrilegious abuse of the bulwark of American institutions so MRS. JOHN CHRYSLER. called, was entered into by these organizers with a feeling of triumph. The log court house heretofore mentioned, was, after this election built near Mr. Waterman's house which is mentioned in the records, as the temporary house built by A. Murry for the county judge. Mr. Waterman was elected to three offices, that of treasurer, recorder and superintendent of schools. This was done in order that he might be taken
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