USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. : a biographical directory of many of its leading citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men, history of Iowa and the Northwest, map of Page County, constitution of the state of Iowa, reminiscences, miscellaneous matters, etc > Part 39
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THE TREES AND SHRUBS.
The following list comprises all the trees, shrubs, and woody climbing plants known in the county. The major part of them may be found along the bottom lands of the principal streams-one only being extremely lo- cal-the pawpaw, a small patch of which is found on the Nodaway below Clarinda. It will be seen that the county is well wooded with varieties valuable both as fuel and in the arts. The varieties are many, but, as is usual in wooded districts, a few kinds largely predominate. It is a pecul- iarity of botanical science that many forms-small in themselves-rejoice in a nomenclature the length of which is altogether disproportionate to their size. Yet, such is the looseness with which popular names are used that identification is simply an impossibility, unless recourse is had to the proper botanical nomenclature. It is a matter of deep regret that no one has, up to the present time, entered upon an exhaustive study of the botany of the county. No attempt has been made to discuss the relations of the flora to that of the remainder of the state, nor to point out the few species of plants peculiar to it. The design has been simply to present a list-with brief notes-of the more valuable and large plants, and it is be- lieved the following list fairly well represents the resources of the county in this particular :
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
CATALOGUE.
Negundo aceroides, box elder, common; handsome.
Quercus alba, white oak, very rare; invaluable.
Quercus rubra, red oak, common; excellent fuel.
Quercus nigra, black oak, abundant; valuable.
Quercus palustris, pin oak, rare; a coarse grained variety.
Quercus obtusiloba, post oak, common; acorns edible and nutritive.
Quercus ilicifolia, scrub oak, abundant; fruit valuable for swine.
Quercus bicolor, swamp white oak, common; excellent fuel.
Quercus castanea, chestnut oak, fairly common.
Quercus imbricaria, laurel oak, rare; valuable only for fuel.
Ulmus americana, white elm, common in bottoms.
Ulmus fulva, slippery elm, common; medicinal.
Quercus phellos, willow oak, rare; valuable for fuel.
Quercus tinctoria, yellow bark oak, very rare; on the Nodaway.
Acer rubrum, red maple, rare; valuable in cabinet work.
Acer dasycarpum, white maple, not common.
Acer saccharinum, hard maple, rare ; valuable for sugar and fuel. Salix nigrum, black maple, not common ; fuel.
Salix viminalis, osier willow, rare ; used in basket making.
Salıx tristis (?) glaucus willow, common.
Salix petiolaris, petioled willow, very common.
Salix nigra, black willow, very rare. Salix longifolio, long-eared willow, very common. 1 Salix candida, white willow, rare.
Populus tremuloides, aspen, very rare.
Populusangulata, water poplar, not common; a large tree.
Populus monilifera, cottonwood, abundant ; tall and large.
Platanus occidentalis, sycamore, common along streams; the largest though not the tallest tree in the American forest; conspicuous} by its whit eness.
Tillia americana, basswood linn, common; large. fuglans nigra, black walnut, valuable in the arts.
Juglans cinerea, butternut, not common; medicinal cathartic. Carya alba, shell-bark hickory, common; valuable.
Carya glabra, pignut hickory, abundant; fruit, bitter. Carya olivæformis, pecan nuts, doubtful in the county. Betula nigra, red birch, a stately tree; common.
Fraxinus quadrangulata, blue ash, common; strong and elastic.
Fraxinus americana, white ash, common; valuable.
Fraxinus viridis, green ash, rare.
Fraxinus sambucifolia, black ash, abundant; valuable for rails.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Liriodendron tulipifera, tulip tree, valuable substitute for pine. Gymnocladus canadensis, coffee tree, rare; fruit peculiar. Gleditschia triacanthus, honey locust, not rare; wood heavy. Carpinus americana, hornbeam, doubtfully referred to the county. Alnus incana, black alder, common.
Alnus serrulata, smooth alder, doubtful, rare, if at all. Comus canadensis, dogwood, rare; fetid odor.
Comus florida, comel, abundant; very pretty. Comus paniculata, panicled dogwood, common; flowers white. Rhus toxicodendron, poison ivy, dangerous; easily recognized. Rhus glabra, sumac, common; poisonous.
Rhus radicans, three-leaved ivy, rare; poisonous.
Robinia pseudacacia, locust, fragrant; valuable; common. Sambuccus canadensis, elderberry, fairly common; edible. Corylus americanus, hazel-nut, very abundant; edible.
Spiræa tomentosa, hackberry, common. Morus rubra, mulberry, common; edible. Ostrya virginica, ironwood, common along bottoms; heavy. Rhamnus catharticus, buckthorn, common; medicinal. Cratægus tomentosa, blackthorn, rare; very tough.
Cratægus coccinea, white thorn, abundant. Cratægus viridis, red haw, everywhere; a misnomer. Amelanchler canadensis, service berry, common; edible. Prunus americana, wild plum, abundant; edible.
Cerasus pennsylvanica wild red cherry, common; edible.
Cerasus virginaina, choke cherry, abundant; insipid.
Cerasus serotina, black cherry, common; edible, but bitter. Aesculus glabra, buckeye, abundant; fetid. Asimina triloba, pawpaw, rare and local; edible. Fagus sylvatica, blue beech, rare; valuable. Rosa lucida, wild rose; everywhere; pretty. Rosa setigua, early wild rose, prairies; beautiful.
Pyrus ioensis, wild crab apple, abundant; fruit useless unless preserved. Ribes hirtellum, smooth gooseberry, common; edible. Ribes cynosbati, prickly goosberry, abundant; edible. Ribes floridum, wild black currant, common; fruit insipid. Lonicera flora, wild honeysuckle, hillsides, common. Ampelopsis quinquefolia, Virginia creeper, rare; harmless.
Xanthroxylus americanum, prickly ash, common; medicinal. Vitis cordifolia, frost grape, common; edible. Vitis aestiralis, river bank grape, abundant; edible. Ceanothus americanus, Jersey tea; abundant on prairies. Ceanthus sp., red root, pernicious; abundant.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Staphylea tripolia, bladdernut; rare.
Amorpha fruticosa, lead plant; abundant.
Cercis canadensis, red bud, common; used for dyeing.
Sheep berry, Not familiar with botanical equivalents. Both com- Buffalo berry, mon.
The major part of the above named plants are not found away from the water courses or their immediate vicinity. Associated with them are in- numerable herbs, such as are commonly found in low or wood districts, and mostly distinct from the plants of the higher and more exposed por- tions.
The prairie is peculiarly rich in that order of flowering plants known as the compositæ. Riding across the country one may see thousands of beau- tiful blossoms raising their brilliant selves above the grasses that would obscure their beauty. The golden solidagos, the purple asters, or the bril- liant iron-weed, vie each with the other in claiming the attention of the passer-by. In the more moist places are to be seen the pure white penny- royal, and by its sides blossom the invaluable boneset. Who would rec- ognize in this brilliant white flower, the nauseous mixtures our "gran- dames and aunts " were want to prepare for us. To see the prairie in all its beauty it is needful that not one trip, but many, should be made-and let the occasion suit the season. In the early summer the omnipresent " nigger-head "-(echinacea purpurea)-lifts its form as defiantly and jauntily withal as the "ox eye" daisy for which the meadows of New England are so famous. Then, in the valleys, bloom the "iron-weeds," (vernonia fascienlata), while on the prairies "rosin-weed," (silphinus laci- natum), lifts its cheerful golden face to nod knowingly at you as you pass by. Here, there, everywhere, some beautiful blossom smiles at you, and awakens feelings in your heart that only a prairie flora can. What won- der our fathers stopped here amid so much splendor-a splendor withal that marked the great fertility of this virgin soil. From early spring when first appears the "Johnny jump ups," (viola cucullate), and " Bird's foot violet " (viola delphinisfolia), to late autumn when the last aster and gol- den-rod succumb to nature's inexorable laws, this prairie region forms the botanists paradise. Inviting, did you say? Aye, more than that, instruct- ive in the highest sense, for here some orders reach a degree of develop- ment unknown elsewhere on the globe.
REPTILIA-TOADS, FROGS, SNAKES AND TURTLES.
In the number and varieties of reptiles the county is equal to any in the state. The dry prairies form congenial homes for the skinks (E. septen- trionalis), its streams are the homes of several species of turtles and ba- trachians, and its woods and fields shelter a large number of serpents. Of all the latter that are here listed, only two species, the rattlesnak (C.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
tergermina and C. horridus), are poisonous. While local and popular tra- dition arms most of the remaining, and especially the " blowing-viper," Heterodon simus), with deadly powers, the fact is that without a single ex- ception they are perfectly harmless. In the economy of farming they are beneficial, ridding the fields and gardens of many destructive forms. Of all the forms mentioned in the following lists the toads and turtles are beyond a doubt the most beneficial to the farmer. The first rid him of many destructive insects; the latter clear his streams from dead and de- leterious matters.
OPHIDIA-SERPENTS.
Reptiles, not shielded, with an epidermal covering of imbricated scales, which is shed as a whole and replaced at regular intervals ; mouth very dilatable; the bones of the lower jaw separate from each other, only united by ligaments; limbs wanting or represented by small spurs on the sides of the vent-a transverse slit. Various anatomical characters distin- guish the snakes, but the elongated form and absence of limbs separate them at once from all our other vertebrates, excepting the lizard Opheo- saurus, and this is not in any other respect, snake-like. (fordan.)
COLUBRIDÆ-CLUBRINE SNAKES.
1. Heterodon platyrhinus, blowing viper, perfectly harmless.
2. Heterodon simus, hog-nosed snake, innocent.
3. Tropidonotus erythrogaster, red-bellied water snake.
4 rhombifer, Holbrook's water snake.
5. grahami, Graham's snake.
6. Tropidoclonium kırklandi, Kirkland's snake, pretty.
(?) Storeria occipitomaculata, red-bellied snake, doubtful.
Eutænia saurita, Riband snake, handsome; little snake.
7. 8. 9.
66 fiareyi, Fairie's garter snake.
10.
proxima, Say's garter snake.
66 sirtalis, striped snake.
11. 12. Pityophis sayi, western pine snake, seventy inches long. Coluber obsoletus, racer, one of the largest snakes.
13. 14.
66 vulpinus, fox snake.
emoryi, Emory's racer.
15. 16 Cyclophis æstirus, Summer green snake, splendid.
17. Diadophis punctalus, ring-necked snake.
18. 66 arnyi, Arny's ring-necked snake.
19. Ophibolus sayi, king snake. 66 doliatus, corn snake.
20. 21.
66 triangulus, spotted adder, harmless.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
calligaster, Kennicott's chain snake.
22 23. (?) Virginia elegans, Kennicott's brown snake, doubtful.
24. Carphophiops amænus, ground snake.
25. 66 vermis, worm snake.
CROTALIDÆ-CROTALID SNAKES.
(These snakes are all renowned for the deadliness of their venom.) 26. Crotalus horridus, rattlesnake; deadly.
27. Candısoma tergemina, prairie rattlesnake; abundant.
BATRACHIA.
Cold-blooded vertebrates, allied to the fishes, but differing in several re- spects, notably in the absence of rayed fins, the limbs being usually devel- oped and functional, with the skeletal elements of the limbs of reptiles; toes usually without claws.
The batrachians undergo a more or less complete metamorphosis, the young ("tadpoles") being aquatic and fish-like, breathing by means of. external gills or branchiæ; later in life lungs are developed and, with one exception, the gills disappear; skin naked and moist, (rarely having im- bedded scales) and used to some extent as an organ of respiration; heart with two auricles and a single venricle; reproduction by means of eggs, which are of comparatively small size, without hard shell, developed in water or in moist situations.
RANIDÆ-FROGS.
28. Rana halecina, leopard frog; common.
29. clamitans, green frog.
30 catisbiana, bull frog; well noted for its rich bass notes.
31. temporania, wood frog; variety.
HYLIDÆ-TREE FROGS.
32. Hyla versicola, common tree toad.
33. Acris gryllus, cricket frog.
BUFONIDÆ-TOADS.
34. Bufo lentiginosus, American toad; variable.
PLETHODONTIDÆE-SALAMANDER.
35. Hemidactyljum scutatum, four-toed salamander.
36. Spelerpes bilincatus, two-striped salamander.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
37. Spelerpes longicandus, cave salamander.
38. Spelerpes ruber, red triton.
AMBLYSTOMIDÆE-AMBLYSTOMAS.
39. Amblystoma opacum, opaque salamander; handsome.
40. Amblystoma tigrinum, tiger salamander; common.
41. Amblystoma microstonum, small mouthed salamander.
42. Menopoma Alleghanicuse, hell bender; common.
LACOTILIA-THE LIZARDS.
43. Ophiosaurus ventralis, glass snobe; tail breaks into pieces when caught.
44. Cnemidophorus sexlineatus, six-lined lizard.
SCINCIDÆ-SKINKS.
45. Eumeces faciatus, blue-tailed lizard; common.
46. Eumeces septentrionalis, northern skink; common.
TESTUDINATA-THE TURTLES.
47. Cistudo clausa, common box turtle.
48. Cistudo ornata, northern box turtle.
49. Malacoclemmys geographieus, map turtle.
50. Psendemys trortii, yellow-bellied terrapin.
51. Psendemys elegans, elegant terrapin.
52. Chelydra serpentina, snapping turtle.
Among mammals the more common kinds of squines and other small game occur in some considerable abundance.
INDIAN AFFAIRS.
The territory of which Page county is now composed was once owned by the Pottawattamie and Sac and Fox Indians, and was so held by the two latter tribes until 1842, when according to a treaty made on the 11th of October, of that year, between the Sacs and Foxes, and the government, they ceded to the government their title and interest therein, the treaty be- ing held at the Sac and Fox agency, being where Agency City is now located. The treaty was ratified by the senate on March 23, 1843. The council lasted something near one week, Gov. Chambers, of Iowa territo- ry, appearing as commissioner on the part of the United States govern- ment ; the Indians were represented by such chiefs as Keokuk, Appa- noose, Poweshiek and Panassa. The treaty was an important one for the government, and especially so for the organization and prosperity of our
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
state and county ; and yet it was a difficult one to make, and at one time during the council-meeting it seriously threatened to prove a failure.
The Indians demanded the reservation of a certain tract of land, and positively refused to treat peaceably without this stipulation. While on the other hand, the instructions of the government were positively op- posed to any reservation.
The principal cause of this difficulty on the part of the Indians, doubt- less, was their profound regard for a white man, who had been to them a true friend in need ; their determination to fulfill their promise to his fam- ily after his death, and their sacred regard for his last resting place, made it hard for them to yield. But in order to properly understand the points of difference between these two parties, and be able to give an intelligent history of this important negotiation, it is necessary to go back several years.
In 1835 Gen. J. M. Street, who had been Indian agent among the Win- nebagoes since 1827, was removed to the Sac and Fox agency, first at Rock Island, and, in 1838, at Agency City. Gen. Street was a great fa- vorite among the Indians, and they were accustomed to call him their father. This gentleman died in May, 1840. His family procured an air- tight coffin, and announced their intention of burying his remains at Prai- rie du Chien, where some of his relatives were interred. The chiefs held a council and remonstrated, offering any part of their country which might be chosen as Gen. Street's burying-ground, and adding, that if their wishes were complied with, they would give to Gen. Street's widow a sec- tion of land, and a half section to each of his children. Accordingly, Gen. Street's remains were interred near the agency, and no reference was ever made to the land promised until the time of this treaty.
About the evening of the second day of the treaty council, one of the government officers came to Gen. Street's son, Wm. B. Street, then em- ployed at the agency, and said, "I do not think we will succeed in mak- ing a treaty." "Why?" Because," said the officer, "the chiefs demand a reservation of one section for Gen. Street's widow, and a half section each for her ten children, and also a half section each for Smart's two children, who are half-breeds. The instructions of the government are opposed to any reservation, and positive against reservation for half- breeds."
Mr. Street, not wishing a treaty to fail for any such reason, held a consultation with some of the principal chiefs, telling them he did not care for any reservation, and his brothers and sisters were all in another terri- tory, that he thought they would willingly relinquish the offer of the chiefs, and as for any obligation they were under to the Smart children, they could pay that in money.
Keokuk and some of the others assented reluctantly, but old Poweshiek
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
insisted that all the reservation they desired should be demanded. Mr. Street remonstrated with him as to the result in failure of the treaty, and again told him he did not care for the reservation. "What, do you de- cline the gift?" said the indignant old chief-for this was considered an in- sult among the Indians to refuse a present. Mr. Street relates that Poweshiek refused to speak to him for six months afterward, when one day, while Poweshiek was a little merry under the influence of whisky, Mr. Street presented the old chief with a pony, and again they were good friends.
Finally, the Indians demanded the reservation of a single section to be given Mrs. Street. Gov. Chambers would not consent. Then old Keo- kuk, rising, addressed the council thus: "There lies," said he, pointing to the grave of Gen. Street, "there lies the grave of our father, the best white friend we have ever had, and without the reservation this land shall never, never be sold while a single one of our tribe remains." On the next day, Gov. Chambers agreed to the reservation of one section, and directed the Indians to make choice. They selected that on which the agency building was situated, and included Gen. Street's grave.
Again the commissioner halted. He claimed the government had spent some $3,000 or $4,000 in improving that section, and he could not allow that to be reserved. The Indians then proposed to pay for the im- provements, which they afterward did, paying $2,500, which was consid- ered a fair valuation at that time. The treaty being thus concluded, Keo- kuk remarked to the commissioner that if the senate changed it by a single scratch of the pen, it would not be agreed to by the Indians. It came before the senate. A motion was made to strike out the reserva- tion. Keokuk's remark was repeated in the senate. And on March 23d, 1843, was ratified an Indian treaty for the first time in the history of the senate without an erasure. By this treaty a tract of land comprising probably more than two-thirds the present state of Iowa was transferred to the United States, for which the Sac and Fox Indians were to receive $800,000 in good state stocks, on which the government should guarantee five per cent. interest per annum. In the words of the treaty, they "ceded to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim or title." It was stipulated that they were to be removed from the country at the expiration of three years, and all who remained after that were to remove at their own expense. Part of them were removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the remainder in the spring of 1846.
In consequence of this peaceable arrangement, the early settlers of Page county encountered no difficulty with the red man, and the historian has to record no price of blood paid for the possession of their primitive homes.
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
Few Indians ever put in their appearance after the work of settlement had once thoroughly begun.
By the various treaties made with the Sac and Fox Indians, the gov- ernment paid them $80,000 per year, by families. Mr. Street was dis- bursing clerk for John Beach, Indian agent, during the year 1841, and still retains in his possession the receipts for the part payment of the an- nuity, in his own hand writing, and the marks of the chiefs in signing.
According to the stipulations of this treaty, given above, the govern- ment secured the right to extend the limits of emigration westward from the old boundary line, passing north and south through Locust Grove, Jefferson county, to a new line established farther west, extending north and south through the meridian of Red Rock, Marion county, and the Sacs and Foxes were entitled to occupy a territory west of this temporary line until October 11th, 1845, when they must again move westward to their reservation in Kansas.
During the month of May, 1843, nearly all of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines river, and took possession of their new home, in the place which soon became known as Keokuk's village, situated about three miles southeast of the present capital of the state, and in that vicinity they remained until the three years had expired, and the time for their final re- moval had come.
But even before they left their old camping grounds, the tide of emigra- tion was rapidly pressing in upon them. The day was also fixed upon by the treaty for the Indians to give up the right of occupancy of all the ter- ritory east of the Red Rock line, and for emigrants to move westward and occupy the newly vacated lands.
Those expecting to make settlements on the "New Purchase " were forbidden to come on the reserve until the time of its delivery into the hands of the government by the Indians, May 1st, 1843. Dragoons were stationed all along the border, whose duty it was to keep the whites out of the country until the appointed time. For some weeks previous to the date assigned, settlers came up into the new country, prospecting for homes, and were quietly permitted to cross the border and look around, so long as they were unaccompanied by wagon and carried no ax. This latter weapon was sometimes placed without a handle in the knapsack of the traveler and an impromptu handle fitted in by a penknife when neces- sity called for its use. During the last few days of April the dragoons re- laxed their strict discipline, and an occasional wagon slipped in through the brush. The night of April 30th found some scores of new-comers on the ground, who had been prospecting the country, who had decided men- tally what claims they would make, and had various agreements among themselves. These settlers were mostly along or near the Des Moines
-
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HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.
river, it then being thought that prairie land was not half so desirable as the river and timber country.
As it neared midnight on the morning of May 1st, settler after settler took his place upon the border of his claim with his bunch of sharpened stakes and lantern, or his blazing torch, and when it was thought twelve o'clock had arrived, there was some lively surveying by amateur engi- neers in the dark. The claims were paced off, and strange to say there were few cases of dispute, the matter having been pretty generally un- derstood on the preceding day. Some of the claims were pretty large, more, in fact, than the law suffered the claimants to hold, some of whom were not unmindful of the wholesome advice of a mother in Hoosierdom, who possibly lived in a later day, but who counseled, " Git a plenty while you're gittin'," to which the settler added, " and git the best."
The memorable midnight of that " last day" of April, 1843, dark as it may have been, opened to the welcome dawning of a "May day" in the prosperity of this heaven-favored land as the crowds of anxious emi- grants, so long held in check by the old boundaries, began to cross the · line in multitudes and press forward to "possess the land" and secure their claims of 320 acres each in this goodly heritage. It was a rapid, successful movement in the advancement of emigration and civilization, which gave evident and assuring proof of the wisdom of the government in promptly securing the title to this valuable territory. It is estimated that before the nightfall of May 1st, 1843, there were nearly one thousand of such claims occupied by pioneers, and including in the count the fami- lies and attendants of these, in so short a time an aggregate population of about four thousand souls had crossed the old limits to find homes in the new possessions, and convert the Indian's hunting ground into the white man's earthly Eden. From the spring of 1843 until the fall of 1845 the Indians remained quietly and peacefully enjoying their newly defined camps and hunting grounds, neither disturbing nor being disturbed by their white neighbors; and true to the instincts of their nature, while liv- ing at peace with their neighbors, they inclined to revel in a fruitless life of indolence and debauch. They were restrained from trespass on their eastern border only by the imaginary Red Rock line of reservation, which effectually and distinctly separated between civilization and barbarism. On the other hand, for a short time longer they were permitted to rove at will westward and northward over these yet uncultivated and seemingly boundless prairies, and seek to gratify the desires of their wild, rude na- ture in hunt, and chase, and war-dance, while taking their last farewell of this beautiful, broad domain, which for years had been their dwelling-place, and so lately they had called their own. During this same period, in all the territory east of that temporary line of reservation, the work of civil- ization was steadily and rapidly progressing. Active, daring, energetic
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