USA > Iowa > Palo Alto County > History of Palo Alto county, Iowa > Part 8
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A DECADE OF GROWTH - 1863-1872
wood, so I was obliged to walk a quarter of a mile to Rev. B. C. Hammond's to get wood to build a fire. At first I lost my way in the raging blast, but finally succeeded in reaching Rev. Hammond's house. Loading myself with all the cordwood I could carry on my back, I started for home. I arrived home about nine o'clock after having been gone an hour. I immediately set about cleaning snow off the floor and made ready to build a fire so that the rest of the family could get up and not perish from cold. At the time of the storm the grain was nearly all sowed and up, and as the snow melted away nature showed forth its beautiful garments. The fields were turning green and bright blades of grass shone in the sunshine. In 1871 I was able to secure work of John Robbins at $1.50 per day, walking five miles morning and evening to and from the Old Town. In 1872 I worked for Mckinley,
who ran an implement shop or hardware store. For two years I teamed it to Algona for Mr. Mckinley. In the winter of 1873 another severe storm swept the prairie, a blizzard lasting the length of three days. Dur- ing the afternoon of the first day about four o'clock I started to the barn, hoping that I would be able to reach it in safety as my stock was badly in need of attention. Having gone as I thought in the direction of the barn and far enough as I supposed to have reached it, the thought suddenly filled my mind that I had lost my way and I began plodding back in the tracks I had already made in the snow to find myself running against the barn which I had previously been within one foot of without knowing it. I set about feeding the stock, but immediately the question arose, how will I find my way back to the house? I called and my wife came at once to the door and responded. So I asked her to keep up a yell until I reached the house. I resolved, however, to not attempt another trip to the barn until the storm had abated. After the storm the snow
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
being very deep, I could not reach the river, the accus- tomed place for procuring my wood. Passing Pat Nolan's on the way to the Old Town, I spied a half cord of rotten wood near the house. I asked Pat what he would take for it. His reply was three dollars. I told him that I thought that pretty steep, but he assured me that it was very cheap at that price. I purchased the wood, however, and on returning home from town loaded it on my sled. Later on I found a job with Nolan hauling hay. I helped him six days and was allowed three dollars for my work, which exactly paid for my half cord of wood. And by this time the wood was burned. For three successive years the grasshoppers took the crops. After having sold the cows and calves to get seed again, I lost all. After the grasshoppers had taken their flight, naught remained but a wife, two children, and a yoke of cattle. And so with my small start I made my way for the Old Town to begin life anew after many hardships. And here I have remained until the present day." 1
Mrs. Slater writes as follows: "I too shared the hard- ships of my husband in those early days when there was a constant struggle with poverty. It was not an easy thing for me to see my husband, thinly clad, wend his way across the bleak prairie in search of work. How often, lonely and afraid, I sat by the roadside with my two children awaiting his return, when the weather was such that we could wander out-doors. Sometimes we sat for hours un- til far across the fields I heard a whistle that made my heart glad, for then I knew that he was returning to his little flock at home. I wanted to do something to help him in his struggle to earn a living, but I could think of only a few ways that a woman with a family could earn a dollar. I asked him to inquire of Mrs. McKinley, for whose hus- band he was working at the time, if there was any work
1 Letter of Thomas Slater.
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she could give me to do. She sent me a sack of carpet rags which I sewed and was given a dollar in return. This dollar was not spent for luxuries I assure you, but it was carefully invested in some of the common necessities of life. After the grasshoppers had destroyed our crops and we had taken up our residence in the Old Town, I continued to earn a dollar at every opportunity. I was ambitious and desired to work and save that in later years we might have a comfortable living. I was also anxious for my children's welfare. I was willing to toil if they, through my help, might be able to acquire an education. But I realized that we were poor, very poor, and that only through hard work would we be able to rear our family and keep back the wolf from the door."1
"Perhaps it will be interesting to know something of the prices in those times. In 1871 we paid five dollars and fifty cents a hundred for flour and then could only get a few pounds apiece. This being brought by a mail car- rier, from Estherville. We paid one dollar per bushel for corn, seventy-five cents per bushel for oats and a dollar and a half a bushel for potatoes. In that year I paid one dollar and half per bushel for potatoes and after they were raised I could only get ten cents a bushel if I were able to sell them. But no one wanted them even at that. We had a larger crop of potatoes that year than we have ever had since. There was also a large crop of other kinds of grain." 2
The prairies were covered with a luxuriant growth of grass in the early days. The surface water collected in ponds and these tended to produce large and rank growths of grass and vegetation. The grass in turn prevented rapid evaporation, so that the prevalence of tall grass and numerous sloughs was one of the characteristic feat-
1 Letter of Mrs. Thomas Slater.
2 Statement of Thos. Slater.
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ures of those periods. These numerous ponds were pro- lific breeding places for mosquitoes. All the old settlers have vivid remembrances of these pests, and they describe the monstrous size, strenuous singing power, and keen penetration with feelings intensified by years of experi- ence on the frontier plains.
The pleasures of these people were very simple, and their gala days were few and far apart. The youths of those days, now at a ripe old age, recall with smiles the frolics that lightened the long days of heavy toil and pri- vation.
The women of these families were among the bravest and most self-sacrificing in time of need or danger. It is no easy lot to be cast upon the broad prairie of a new country surrounded by the broad expanses of land and sky, with scarcely an object to break the monotony of the prospect. Often the nearest neighbor was miles away, and only at long intervals came the news from the east that was so eagerly awaited. Provisions and fuel were sometimes scarce and the good wives often had to work and save to eke out the scanty living in times of scarcity. Content with little of the material things of life, but pos- sessed of boundless hope and courage, the good women of the pioneer days shared the dangers and hardships of the frontier and thus contributed to the making of history on the western prairies.
This decade from 1863 to 1872 was indeed a period of growth for Palo Alto County. In population, organiza- tion and material prosperity, the advance had been sub- stantial. The reverses and hard times of the year 1873 brought this growth to an abrupt stop. During the next few years everything was at a standstill, and this interval was the time of quiet that preceded the next period of development so soon to follow.
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THE "OLD TOWN" OF EMMETSBURG :
THRESHING FOR MARTIN COONAN IN 1871
CHAPTER XI
The Old Town
The first attempts at building a county-seat were fail- ures because they were purely speculative. They were premature and lacked natural advantages that would com- pel rapid advancement. The first town in the county was a natural growth. It was unplanned and unheralded, located by force of circumstances, and grew from a natural and spontaneous necessity.
Martin Coonan had built a log cabin in 1858 on the east bank of the Des Moines River on section 23-96-33. This hospitable little home was the stopping place for weary travelers for several years. About 1865, Mr. Coonan hauled brick that was left over when the court house at Paoli was rebuilt and built a new brick house about 16 x 24, two stories high. He used his old cabin as an addition or lean-to. This pretentious dwelling at once became the "tavern" of the county and many a wayfarer found shel- ter and good cheer within its walls. A traveler coming to Palo Alto County for the first time in 1869, thus de- scribes his impressions : "The next day we plodded west- ward and crossed into Palo Alto County and later in the day first beheld Medium Lake at a point north of the Michael Jackman home. When we passed the house the children came out and stood in a row (like an old fashioned spelling class) the largest at the head and ranging down to one just able to stand alone. We came along the east shore and around the foot of the lake (where Call's Addi- tion is now platted) and thence northwesterly. When near where the Scott Ormsby home now stands we came
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across three small children herding some cows. We asked them, 'Where is Emmetsburg?' One of them, a girl, re- plied, 'You are there now, sir.' 'Yes, but where is the town?' 'Right here is where it is.' 'But we don't see any town.' 'Sure, and don't you see that stake there in the grass, and that one there - that's Emmetsburg.' 'But where is the hotel?' 'Oh, it's Coonan's you want. It's over there beyond the hill.' So on over the hill and just as the sun was setting we arrived at Coonan's." 1
The name still clung to the stakes of the abandoned town that Hoolihan and his friends had so confidently laid out. But Coonan's "Hotel" was the magnet that drew all com- ers. Mr. Coonan had made quite a road in hauling the brick to his house and with an eye for business, put up a sign some distance out, "Emmetsburg," with a hand point- ing toward his home. This deflected travel from the staked-ont town of Emmetsburg on the shore of Medium Lake, and from the deserted town of Paoli. Mr. Coonan also secured the postoffice and that added to the prestige. The Coonan place thus became the objective point for all travelers and settlers.
In the fall of 1868 Thomas C. Davis came to the county, bringing with him an old saw-mill outfit. He formed a partnership with E. G. Pond and together they built a brush dam across the Des Moines River a short distance from Coonan's and set up the saw-mill. They began to saw some lumber for the settlers and this new industry was the final step in the locating of the real town, which soon began to straggle along the road leading to the Coo- nan house.
The next spring "N. D. Bearss built a small shed 10 x 12, about 6 feet high on one side and 7 feet on the other. This was built by setting some old slabs and poles in the ground and tacking tarred paper on and then banking up on the
1 "Recollections of Early Palo Alto County," Geo. B. McCarty.
GEO. B. M. CARTY
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THE OLD TOWN
outside with hay. The roof was made with poles and hay. In this 'store' he had about a wheelbarrow full of goods, some pipes and smoking tobacco, etc. He was alone and lived in this shed, boarding himself." 1
The same summer "M. D. Daniels built a one-story building about 12x14, which I think was made entirely out of native lumber. Daniels and his wife and two child- ren lived in this. He was a blacksmith and had a shop about 10x12 made by standing poles on end and with slabs nailed on them. The roof, what there was of it, was of slabs." 2
That fall George B. McCarty came out to Palo Alto County to cast his fortunes with the new town. He thus described the journey and his experiences in getting set- tled : 3 "I had then decided to locate at Emmetsburg, and in October, 1869, having remained until after election to vote and work for my townsman, Samuel Merrill, for gov- ernor of Iowa, two days later Al Jones and myself with my few belongings started for Emmetsburg. We went from McGregor via boat to Dubuque and from Dubuque to Fort Dodge via railroad. At Fort Dodge we hired teams, Al Jones having purchased a stock of goods with which to start a store at Emmetsburg, when we should get there. We had three teams loaded with lumber and goods; were three days getting through. Had to unload three or four times and carry the lumber and goods out when the teams would get stuck in sloughs, which was not only hard work, but wet and muddy as well. We arrived at Emmetsburg October 20, 1869, after dark. We put up and covered up
1 Statement of Geo. B. McCarty. Chas. Nolan, J. J. Mahan, and other settlers' descriptions agree with the one here given.
2 Statement of Geo. B. McCarty.
3 He had previously taken an extended trip through western Iowa with Ben Johnson in 1869, and spent four or five days in Emmetsburg, examin- ing the surrounding country. Al Jones was then stopping at Coonan's. Statement of Geo. B. McCarty.
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
our goods. The next morning we unloaded the goods and our personal effects on the ground and put some of the lumber over them. Commenced to look for a carpenter and found there were only two in the county - Thos. C. Davis, who was building a small house for Rev. B. C. Hammond on his homestead, the east half of the southwest quarter 30-97-32; and W. H. Caner, who was somewhere in the southeast part of the county putting up a shanty. Jones had a saw and hatchet; I had a hammer and jack- knife; and being thus supplied with tools, we commenced a building 16 x20 from the lumber we had brought. As we expected to get some native lumber at the saw-mill, we had only brought a small amount of dimension lumber and finding no native lumber, we used the lumber we had for temporary sills and plates and a few rafters. Joists were not needed, because we had no flooring material and mother earth made a good solid floor, as we had found a high spot where it was reasonably solid. By night we had the frame work well up and not having any shingles and a small amount of boards, we had to use them sparingly, but had quite a large roll of building paper which in that case covered a multitude of omissions and quite a pile of goods. That night we had our goods piled up in one corner, yet in the boxes, in fair shape. And the heavens smiled upon us and no rain fell. The second day with what lumber we had and our building paper we had the building well en- closed and roofed in.
" On the third day it rained. The fourth day I started to Fort Dodge with Jo Smith, Culver, and Clark, three homesteaders, who had recently located in the county but had horse teams, for more lumber and materials. It was damp and rainy in the morning, but about eight o'clock, when we were about five miles on our way the wind sud- denly turned to the northwest and blew a gale. In less than an hour the mud began to freeze on our wagon wheels
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THE OLD TOWN
and ice form on the water standing in the grass and sloughs, and I believe I never saw so cold a day. We walked nearly all the time and then nearly froze. We reached Humboldt about nine o'clock that night, and so cold it was that ice formed on the shallow sloughs that would almost bear our horses. They would climb on the ice and it would break in, while the mud would freeze on our wagon till we would have to chop it off with hatchets so that the team could haul the wagons. Next morning we started and reached Fort Dodge at noon, the ice in the sloughs bearing the horses and wagon. Loaded up and next day started on our return trip. The weather was some warmer, but the ice would break and cut through and our wagons would become stalled. For three days we worked, unloaded and carried out our loads and re-loaded often in water and ice far above our knees, and always wet and cold. We finally reached Emmets- burg on the night of the fifth day and then set to shingling the building. Took the tarred paper off the sides and put in studs and joists and finished up the building. This time we brought one door and two windows and 12-inch wide boards to lay across the joists for floor. We also brought some flour, 1 barrel of pork, 1 barrel of molasses and 1 barrel of salt. I remember this fact well from the fact that when we would get stalled those barrels would have to be rolled off and rolled out through the mud and water to dry land and then reloaded, which, when I now well remember that the mud and water were often more than knee deep - well, we had one man in our crowd who was inclined to swear, and it took a great amount of effort on the part of the other three of us to convince him that no amount of swearing could better a job like that.
" Coonan's farm house was of brick 16x24, with a small wood addition. The brick part was 12 feet high, giving an attic chamber, one room, and what Mrs. Coonan
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
called the ' landing,' a small space at the head of the stairs partitioned off by itself. The balance of this attic chamber in one room was commonly known as the ' school section.' This contained four beds, one in each corner, and the bal- ance of the floor space was occupied by the 10 to 30 other male guests and members of the family and when all the floor space, including that under the beds, was fully taken, later guests had to 'sit it out ' down stairs.1 The lower story was divided into a kitchen (very small), a small bed room and a living room, but usually the cooking was done in the living room. The small bed room was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Coonan, but when women were there Mrs. Coonan sent Martin to the 'section' and the women oc- cupied the bed room.
" I boarded at Coonan's for nearly two months and then Al Jones and I went and slept in the old saw-mill. We could look out and see the stars and during that Jan- uary and February and March it was cold and we had three or four big snows and blizzards. I remember one February morning when Jones and I awoke the snow had blown in and formed a drift completely covering our bed with more than two feet of snow. We used to take such of our clothes as we took off and our shoes in bed with us. We had a bedstead made of willow poles which was about 11% feet high, and we nailed a piece of slab on the head and foot and had a big army blanket which we would stretch over these slabs from head to foot and it protected us against the snow, unless it was a regular blizzard, when it would fill up over the bed so that in the morning we could only with difficulty extricate ourselves. But if cold, the air was of a better quality than in the school section and we could get it first hand. This mill building was owned by Thos. C. Davis and E. G. Pond. Davis had par-
1 This was, as T. W. Harrison says, "A silent inducement to retire early." Statement of T. W. Harrison.
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THE OLD TOWN
titioned off a room in one end of the mill building about 12 or 14 feet square. This partition was made by setting poles upright and then nailing other poles and a few pieces of slabs to the upright and then setting another row of poles and filling in between with hay. Davis and his wife and two small children lived in that room and Pond, who was a single man, boarded with Davis. Sometimes when it was too stormy, Al Jones and I would camp in the store building, but it was so small that we could not have a bed there but would roll up in blankets on the floor.
" Aside from the Coonan house and the old mill build- ing already described, there were three other buildings: Bearss, Daniels, and the building built by Jones and my- self. During the fall and winter of 1869 and 1870 the reg- ular inhabitants of Emmetsburg were:
"Martin Coonan and wife and five boys, Mart, Will, Dan, Tom and John.
"T. C. Davis and wife and two children.
"E. G. Pond.
"N. D. Bearss.
"M. D. Daniels and wife and two children.
"Al Jones.
"W. H. Shea.
"Geo. B. McCarty.
"James P. White was county treasurer and lived on sec- tion 18-95-32, Nevada township. He would come up to town nearly every day and when the weather was too bad to make the drive he would stay over night. In addition to these there were a number of other parties who stayed a few weeks: M. E. Griffin, now a banker at Spencer; G. R. Badgrow, now postmaster at Sioux City; Wm. Starr of Monticello, Iowa, and others. While there was scarcely a day or night that there were not travelers at Coonan's, I remember one night while I roomed at Coonan's, there were 48 persons there, and all had accommodations, such
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
as they were. Shelter at least on a stormy January night meant a good deal." 1
Mother Coonan was noted for her hospitality. " Bless her dear, big, Irish heart," writes T. W. Harrison, who stopped there in those days. "She always had a smile and a kind word and a little joke and a hearty meal for everyone who came along. I boarded there for weeks afterwards, and such hearty meals and heartily relished by everyone; a milk pan full of hard fried eggs, boiled potatoes, elegant white bread, good butter, strong coffee with sugar and cream, and dried apple sauce, was the bill of fare three times a day and seven days in a week, and no one wanted anything more or different.'' 2
In February, 1870, T. W. Harrison first came to the frontier town of Emmetsburg. "For several days," he says, "I borrowed Jim White's saddle horse and rode around the country to see the lay of the land, and in the course of a week I became satisfied that this land, which would grow natural grasses from six to eight feet high on the bottom lands and two to three feet high on the up- land prairie, must have a desirable future, and that I was willing to settle here and take my chances on its develop- ment. Another inducement was the fact that two val- uable railroad land grants crossed each other at or near the location of Emmetsburg, and I reasoned that those two railroads must be built at some time and that there would be a town where they crossed each other. So I an-
1 "Recollections of Early Palo Alto County, " by Geo. B. McCarty. This statement from which quotations are made from time to time, has never been published, but will be found preserved in the Semi-Centennial Record Book.
2 "Fifty Years Ago in Palo Alto County," by T. W. Harrison, Des Moines Register and Leader, July 8, 1906. This statement was originally prepared at my request and was considered of sufficient general interest to have same published at that time. It appeared in several of the Em- metsburg papers in 1906. It will also be found pasted in the Semi-Cen- tennial Record Book, pp. 387-8.
T. W. HARRISON
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THE OLD TOWN
nounced to the 'Old Settlers' that I had decided to lo- cate here. They asked me what my business was. I said, ' Lawyer and Real Estate.' They said, 'You will starve to death at that trade.' I said, " I will take my chances with the rest of you,' and they laughed heartily." 1
Mr. McCarty, during the winter, had a table and a few books in one corner of the Jones & Johnson store building which he had helped to build, and that was his law office. In March he had lumber hauled from Fort Dodge, and built an office building 14x16. This was the first office building in the old town.2
Among the new arrivals that spring were H. L. Burnell and wife, and E. J. Hartshorn. Harrison formed a part- nership with Burnell and they put up a small building and used it as an office and residence. McCarty and Harts- horn formed a partnership in the law and land business about the same time. James P. White and W. H. Shea also put up an office building. Later M. L. Brown and his brother, P. S. Brown, came and built a small hardware and agricultural implement building. About this time James Fitzgerald and his wife bought the small Daniels house and opened up their store. Ketchen and Lenhart put up a building for a clothing store. That summer A. D. Gallop built the " Valley House " and the little settlement began to take on the airs of a town.
W. J. Brown and Alex Peddie were among the new- comers in 1871 who cast their destinies with Emmetsburg. In 1872 F. H. Roper became the landlord of the " Valley
1 Statement of T. W. Harrison.
2 "I paid $50 per M for dimension lumber, and for flooring and siding, etc., about $65 per M. When I got the lumber home, I figured up and found my lumber had cost me, including the expenses of the trip, about $120 per M." Statement of Gco. B. McCarty. This historic old building was moved to the new town and stood (on lot 2, block 51, Corbin & Lawler's plat) just south of McCarty & McCarty's office until it was destroyed by fire in April, 1909.
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HISTORY OF PALO ALTO COUNTY
House " and did a thriving business, clearing $1,000 in the first five months.1
James Fitzgerald was a genial but thrifty merchant and his quaint mannerisms furnished amusement for the town. Many are the stories told about " Fitz," as he was pop- ularly known. Three of them are worth recording. In the early days of the town the boys used to buy cigars, etc., at Fitz's little store and he was always willing to give change for a ten dollar bill if the customer made a pur- chase but " no buy, no change " was an inflexible rule of the store. W. H. Shea, Jas. P. White and Al Jones put up a job on Fitz and began buying cigars, etc., and telling him to "charge them to McCarty." This was done and in the course of a week or so Fitz presented his bill of $7.40 to McCarty for payment, whereupon the account was indig- nantly repudiated as not of his making. Fitz mourned as for a lost friend over being swindled in this manner, but quietly bided his time and one day White and his two friends came into the store and asked for some cigars in order to get change for a $10 bill. Fitz took the bill and quietly tucked it into his inside pocket and busied himself arranging his goods. When White asked for the change, Fitz coolly answered, " Oh, charge it to McCarty." On another occasion when a customer came in to buy a pocket- book but had no money to pay for it, Fitz sorrowfully put the pocket-book back on the shelf, remarking, " You must think me green to sell you a pocket-book on tick when you've no money to put in it." One day a lady came into his store and wanted to buy a darning needle, for which he charged her five cents and when she complained of the price, Fitz exclaimed, " The freight, the freight, lady. I can't sell it for less, the freight is so high." But everyone liked good old Jimmie Fitzgerald and his " old woman "
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