USA > Iowa > Osceola County > History of Osceola county, Iowa, from its organization to the present time > Part 15
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Treasurer-N. W. Emery.
Directors-I. B. Titus, August Bremer.
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FAIRVIEW.
IIORTON.
Geo. Hamilton, B. F. Webster.
Directors
Fairview
Horton
Wilson
Viola
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houses, as follows :
Schools, and his official management in that department is
There are at present in the county eighty-one school
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efficient and highly satisfactory.
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Ocheyedan, town
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
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252
HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
WILSON.
President-W. A. Cloud. Secretary-A. B. Evarts. Treasurer-Will Thomas. Directors-W. C. Connor, Mons. Soren, C. E. Yates, F. A. Klampe, Joseph Zweck.
VIOLA.
President-Joseph Raine.
Secretary-George Downend. Treasurer-J. P. Wallran.
Directors-S. Newman, Pat Piesley.
HOLMAN.
President-W. L. Taylor. Secretary-M. Harvey. Treasurer-P. A. Cajacob.
Directors-T. Ling, John Gallagher, Thomas Reycraft, D. W. Whitney, John Karpen, James Hunter, O. C. Staplin, John Schroeder, Will Morse, J. B. Jenny, John Wagner, John Melcher.
OCHEYEDAN.
President-W. E. Ely.
Secretary-E. N. Moore. Treasurer-L. B. Boyd.
Directors-G. W. Thomas, Joseph Smith.
HARRISON.
President-J. W. Wardrip.
Secretary-T. Hemmig.
Treasurer-F. H. Newkirk.
Directors-George Krukenberg, Daniel Tzards.
BAKER.
President-Hans Graves. Secretary-C. W. Bryan. Treasurer-W. H. Lean. Directors-J. L. McAnnich, Fred. Kuester.
GOEWEY.
President-H. C. Allen. Secretary-Henry Huffman. Treasurer-Alex. Gilkinson.
Directors-O. B. Harding, A. Brunson, Charles Bangert, Jacob Brandt, George Spaulding, Eugene Girton.
M. A. TATUM.
.A. E. BEAUMONT.
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IHISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
GILMAN.
President-B. T. Pettingell. Secretary-J. C. Wilmarth. Treasurer-W. C. Craig.
Directors-A. Schent, R. Lensen, H. H. Nolte, R. J. Stemm, E. Beckwith, Nels Porter.
INDEPENDENT DISTRICT OF SIBLEY.
President-H. Neill. Secretary-W. P. Webster. Treasurer-Levi Shell.
Directors-A. Romey, M. J. Campbell, J. B. Lent, Geo. Learned, W. H. Chambers.
INDEPENDENT DISTRICT OF ASHTON.
President-I. B. Lucas.
Secretary-J. W. Reagan. Treasurer-W. L. Benjamin. Directors-N. Boor, H. S. Grant.
The school sections, so-called, are numbered sixteen in each township, which were donated by the general govern- ment, to the State, for the benefit of the schools. These sec- tions are sold, and the proceeds constitute a fund which re- mains and not disposed of, but it is loaned out upon good real estate security, and the income from it by way of interest, is distributed over the State to each township according to its number of scholars. Osceola County has now of this fund, and as proceeds from the sale of land in this county, about $100,000. The first sale made of school lands in Osceola, was in July, 1881, and the first quarter sold was bought by Close Bros. in Gilman Township. These school lands have all been disposed of except one quarter, and this will go to sale soon.
There are in Osceola County at the present time, about twenty-one hundred persons of school age, and the best of teachers are secured, so that our schools are of a high order and the means of much advancement. Several school build- ings have been erected this present season. Prof. Trainer, mentioned elsewhere, did much for Osceola County in the line of education. He constantly contributed to the public press articles intended to stimulate the young in the line of their studies. The following is one of his contributions :
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
"A PLEA FOR THE CHILDREN.
"Children hunger perpetually for new ideas. They will learn with pleasure from the lips of others what they deem drudgery to study in books; and even if they have the mis- fortune to be deprived of many educational advantages, they grow up intelligent people.
" We sometimes see people who are the life of every com- pany which they enter, dull, silent and uninteresting among children; such cannot teach. The teacher must be the life of the school. How can we expect life and energy to come from dry, cold, silent books! The use of books is a detriment rather than an aid to the younger pupils. When the pupil enters school at the age of five years he already has learned more than any teacher on earth can teach him in a long life time. Teachers, did you ever think that the child at that age has learned two of the most difficult things mortals have to learn -- walking and talking ? How many works in philosophy has it been necessary for him to consult? What university has he graduated from to be able to walk perfectly? What authors on language has he studied, or how many lectures on philosophy has he heard to be able to make known his thoughts by talking. We know that these and a thousand other attainments have been reached by doing for himself. Yet without a knowledge of these things, from the first hour the child enters school many teachers attempt to change the whole course of nature by forcing upon him that which is as foreign to his nature as day is from night. What we need is the teacher who will give the children a chance to observe, experiment and to think for themselves, and let us remember that language is the instrument of thought, and that without language there can be no thought."
JAMES PORTER.
B&B
PAUL
J. C. HEIM.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Early in the seventies there was much discussion as to the depreciation of county warrants, which were down then to fifty cents on the dollar. Some writer in the local press, in Janu- ary, 1874, has the following :
" Northwestern Iowa needs assistance, and such assist- ance can only be granted by the State Legislature. The mu- nificence of individuals can relieve the wants of individuals, but it takes legislation to relieve the embarrassments of counties.
" In no part of the state is there more fertile soil, more healthful climate, larger yearly improvements, or more rapid increase in population, than in Northwestern Iowa. In a few years the counties will be as independent as any in the state. But circumstances, over which the county had no control, for the very reason that they were, themselves, controlled by de- signing men, brought the credit of many of them into great disrepute, owing to the issuing of warrants for no valid con- sideration, so that after affairs began to be economically man- aged the warrants were worth, in the market, but half their face.
" It may be safely said that the New Code of Iowa went into operation finding the administration of our northwestern counties in as good hands as other portions of the state, but just as the New Code took force the bonding law expired by statute limitation, thereby taking away that which had caused warrants to be, at least in some degree, in demand, as offering an investment which yielded a fair rate of interest.
" By economical management it was hoped that warrants would not depreciate very much, but when the Supreme Court's decision was announced there was no longer a mar- ket, something, of course, must be done. The counties can- not remedy the matter ; it rests with the Legislature.
" Our assessment is $612,000. At four mills the revenue amounts to $2,448 ; this, with the present amount of property, is all that can be raised for county purposes.
" Now, see what county expenses are to be paid out of this sum : Section 3844 of the Code provides that 'The Board of Supervisors shall furnish the Clerk of District and
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HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
Circuit Courts, Sheriff, Recorder, Treasurer, Auditor and County Superintendent with offices at the county-seat, to- gether with fuel, lights, blanks, books and stationery neces- sary and proper to enable them to discharge the duties of their respective offices.'
" The compensation of the officers is fixed by the board, and paid out of the county fund, except such as paid in the shape of fees. The sum total of fees received in the different offices is no more than sufficient to afford one officer a rea- sonable and fair compensation, leaving four or five officers to be paid out of the county fund. The sum total of fees and expenses, fixed by law, and that cannot be reduced, amounted, for the last year, to $4,625.94 ; add to this amount compensa- tion for officers and the amount necessary to pay the interest on bonds drawing ten per cent., payable semi-annually, and you have, at the least calculation, a sum three or four times the amount of the revenue. At present it would take just about a twenty mill tax to keep up all the drafts on the county fund.
" In view of the above condition of affairs, we appeal to the Legislature to provide for a revenue. We submit that it is an outrage on the Board of Supervisors, to the people of the county, to the name of legislator or legislation, that a body of men, chosen to legislate for the interests of the whole state, should compel Boards of Supervisors to provide for the pay- ment of bills of expenses and provide for only one-fourth the necessary revenue.
" We must have the bonding law revived, a higher levy, and direct taxes voted by the people. We need one, or more, or all these means of relief. There is no reason why, if sufficient revenue is provided, the paper of a county cannot be just as good as the paper money of the government."
PRICES IN 1873.
In 1873, prices in Sibley ranged about as follows: Six- teen and one-half pounds of dried apples for $1.00; prunes 71/2 pounds for $1.00; blackberries, 71/2 pounds for $1.00; peaches, 10 pounds for $1.00; Standard "A " sugar, 712 pounds for $1.00; brown sugar, 10 pounds for $1.00; bacon, 12 cents per pound; shoulders, 7 cents per pound; hams, 16 cents per pound; oil, 35 cents per pound.
The above was from a local dealer advertising his goods. The market report in a June, 1873, number of the Gazette, was as follows:
A. W. HARRIS.
RESIDENCE OF A. W. HARRIS, SIBLEY.
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75@86
40
25
35@40
3.25
1.90
1.50
IS
30
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30
20 I5 1212
1212 72@I. SO
29@34
1.00 1212 @17 So
18.00@37.00
3.00@5.00
HISTORY OF OSCEOLA COUNTY, IOWA.
Wheat, No. I,
Corn, # bush
Oats, $ bush
Barley, ₹ bush
Flour, $ hundred Ibs
Corn meal, # hundred Ibs Beans, # bush
Pork, 4 1b
Hams, $ 1b
Shoulders, $ 1b Potatoes
Lard, # 1b
Butter, $ 1b
Cheese, $ 1b
Eggs, { doz
Dried peaches, # fb Dried apples, 40 tb
Tea, 48 1b
Kerosene, ₩ gal Syrups, $ gal Sugars, @ b Coffee, & tb Molasses, 1 gal
Shingles, 8 M Nails, 40 1b Lumber, $ M
correspondingly.
Whatever the farmer raises in Osceola County he finds a
omitted from the Sibley write-up, is iness house in Sibley, Ocheyedan and Harris, inadvertently good market for in either of the towns, and a prominent bus-
The town of Harris was named after the head of this also in the towns of Harris and Ocheyedan. This firm has a large grain and coal business in Sibley,
prominent in their line of business in Osceola County. there. This firm located in Sibley in 1887, and are very Harris townsite, and at present are the only grain buyers lots have been sold. They put up the first building on the firm, who laid out the townsite, and still owns it except what
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Hard coal was then selling at $25 per ton, and soft coal
A. W. HARRIS & CO.
bush
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CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
The condition of Osceola County in this year of our Lord, 1892, is one of general prosperity. Pauperism does not exist, and opportunities for labor, for securing homes, and for establishing business are on every hand. There has been an abundant harvest, and each year is an advancement in farm- ing interests and in all classes of business.
The last assessed valuation of the county was $1,726,582. The indebtedness of the county has been, at it highest, about $90,000. Its present indebtedness is $60,500. The amount of school money now loaned out, and under contract for loan by the county on farm land, is $96,500.75. The amount paid out for school purposes in 1891 was $29,040. This came from taxation except $611, which was derived from the permanent school fund interest. The running expenses of the county in 1891 required $18,568. The income to the county from taxa- tion for 1891 was $61,375.
The county has a substantial court house and every school district has the required buildings for school purposes.
The people are thrifty, intelligent and law-abiding, and as a class are comparable with those of any county in the state.
The County has changed in its inhabitants since the first settlement, some coming and going, some remaining yet, and others with the fate that must follow all of us, are lying in the cemetery. Western people are given to changing their busi- ness locations more than are the people of the East; here, if anywhere, is the spirit of unrest, implanted seemingly in our . very nature on the first move, and with many it becomes a fixed feeling and irresistible. Osceola County has had its share of this tidal change, this flowing in and out of popula- tion, and of the original settlers, those who came here in 1871, '72 and '73, there are not a great many left.
AM ARRIS & Co.
A. W. HARRIS & CO. ELEVATOR, SIBLEY.
Yo
T MANZ 3_
2
REV. L. R. FITCH.
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We close this book with a poem that has fallen under our observation without knowing to whom credit is due.
COMING TO OSCEOLA COUNTY.
They are coming from the deserts of the dim and dusky East, Where to raise a stunted turnip is the prospect of a feast ; Where the farms are inade of gravel and they plow with dynamite, Where the festive chattel mortgage sings its dirges day and night ; They are coming in their wagons, they are coming on the train, They are coming from the regions where they struggled long in vain ; They are coming from the cabin, they are coming from the ball, They are coming to Osceola County where there's plenty for them all.
They are coming from the South-land, they are coming from the North From the valleys and the mountains they in droves are coming forth ; They are coming with their husbands, they are coming with their wives, They are coming with their hammers, with their axes and their knives; With their harrows, with their rakes, with their seeders and their guns, They are coming with their fathers and their mothers and their sons; They are coming stout and slender, they are coming short and tall, They are coming to Osceola County, where there's plenty for them all.
Where the savage used to wander searching for a crop of hair, The farmer takes his porker to the nearest county fair ; And the corn is daily growing where the greasy wigwams stood, Where he burned the wailing captive, now the poultry scratch for food ; And the people who are coming to this pleasantest of climes, Show a happy knack of keeping with the progress of the times ; They will find a country beaming from the spring-time to the fall, If they land here in Osceola County, where there's plenty for them all.
music
FLORENCE L. MCCALLUM.
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C. M. MANVILLE.
B&B Si!
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C. A. CHARLES.
HI
MRS. D. D. MCCALLUM.
J. C. TRAINOR.
J. MANZ 3 50 IN
J. C. BRICKER.
A. ROMEY.
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C. B. KNOX.
C. L. DAVIDSON.
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AN OSCEOLA COUNTY SOD HOUSE, 1872.
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THE TORCH PRESS BOOK SHOP.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 016 086 692 5
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