USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa; a record of organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 46
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The most notable public appearance of the "R. E. C. A." company was on the occasion of the laying of the corner-stone of the new court house. Flaming posters had long announced that on a certain night the ceremony would take place, and at the appointed time there was a great crowd about the mounds of earth and foundation stones that marked the site where now the court house stands. As is apt to be the case at
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such times, the performers were the slowest of all in arriving upon the scene; but along about ten o'clock the wierd procession solemnly sallied forth from the portals of its den of terror. It is not possible now to re- produce the whole scene; but the procession wound about to its scene of action and there went through a pantomine that was calculated duly to impress the curious and the youthful. Then the sable band passed about the hole on the top of the rock at the north corner, and each in turn put his fingers into the hole. There was a hole; for we inspected it before the performance; and after the performance there was still the hole; for we inspected it again; but it was as empty afterwards as it was before; and if anything ever was put in the place where it is wont to put things when new and great buildings are to be built, we do not know about it. But the performance was a success in entertaining the crowd and in fixing the "R. E. C. A." in the minds of a generation. Following the exercise the members had a banquet at the hotel, which banquet was different from one other which they had there on some other occasion, and upon which occasion the order in token of its modesty feasted upon water and raw potatoes.
But every order has its day, and this was like the others. When all of the eligible young or youngish men of the village that would do so had passed through the initiatory ceremonies, the interest in the proceed- ings naturally waned. There was no general organization to give strength and permanency to the order; the funds had been expended in doing good; the hall in which it had lodged was torn down; and it did not establish itself in other quarters. It was worthy and jovial, however. while it lasted ; and its memory is green among its old members and with those who were beneficiaries of its thoughtful kindness.
THIE CENTENNIAL FOURTH.
The first Fourth of July which the editor passed in Story County was the Centennial Fourth of 1876. The whole county celebrated that year at Nevada, and the celebration was one worthy to be remembered. From the amount of display it was manifest that subscriptions for the expenditures of the day had been liberal. Very few of the showier matters are now recalled in detail but recollection is clear that one brave man rode in a wooden cage with a very large dog that had been sheared like a lion, the combination representing "Daniel in the Lion's Den." The procession of which this was a feature led the throng to the Dunkel- barger grove across the creek southwest from the cemetery. At the opening of the exercises, there was a call, to which there were very few responses, for all who had lived in the county for twenty-five years to take seats on the platform. What impressed the editor then was the remark of a bystander that this invitation would not catch many and as nearly as we can now make out the heads of families to whom it applied
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were William Parker, Daniel and Mormon Ballard, John H. Keigley, Isaac S. French and possibly a very few others, but not many.
In the formal exercises, the Declaration of Independence was read by W. D. Lucas of Ames and the oration was by Col. John Scott of Nevada. In accordance with a plan quite generally urged in the state for the celebrations of that year, this oration was, in the main, a review of the history of the county up to that time. It was published by the Representative in red, white and blue, and it has been a standard work of reference for the enquirer into Story County history ever since. The sentiment in this address that most impressed at the moment, was one of disappointment on the part of the people of Nevada who had made the great and necessary effort to secure the location of the Agricultural College without any thought that they might thereby build up a rival town which should antagonize the interests of Nevada-referring doubt- less to the then very fresh controversy over the new court house.
The entertainments of the afternoon have passed from memory, but in the evening an elaborate program of fireworks and tableaux was begun. This part of the entertainment was on the then wholly vacant block on the northeast corner of which is now the Nevada West school and the stage was near the northwest corner of the block. There were arrangements for a spectacle worthy of the occasion but it was only fairly begun when the rain began to fall heavily and the entertainment was postponed until the next Saturday night, when it was finished to a smaller crowd, but with entire success.
The storm which thus interrupted the closing festivities was a mem- orable one. It was not one of the very few great floods in the county but no other great storm here ever caught so many people away from home. It was a storm which made impracticable the return home of the country people that night. Those who had friends in town, who could provide them with shelter were especially fortunate. As for the rest, and these were much the greater number, the store keepers opened up the stores of the city and made them as comfortable for the night as was possible on the counters and cracker boxes.
SOME OTHER STORMS.
The storm of the Centennial Fourth was a famous storm, but at least three floods have been much greater and according to local tradition have been in a class by themselves since the white man came to this country. The first of these was in 1866. This was before our coming to the country and we know nothing of it personally. But it carried away the bridge which had been built over the creek at the ford on Sycamore street in Nevada and because of the desire to get the new bridge above the reach of high water, it was rebuilt not on the old site but at the now familiar crossing on South street or Fifth avenue south. One consequence of this
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change has been that for forty-five years the travellers to Nevada from the southwest have climbed the hill to the east of the later crossing instead of approaching town by the much easier grades from the ford.
The second storm was in June, 1877, and was in the nature of a water spout around the head waters of the East and West Indian creeks, par- ticularly the West Indian. The resulting flood took out the most or all of the bridges on both streams including the Northwestern railroad bridges. And it gave the West Indian a width of probably 400 feet at the cross- ing southwest of town. An incident of this storm was of interest to the boys of the community for many years this interest pertaining to the excavation of a swimming hole under the west railroad bridge. Prior to this storm the stream where it flowed under the bridge flowed over a gravel bottom, its depth being as little as the stage of water would permit. But this storm sent down the valley a flood which was turned into a whirlpool by the railroad embankments and the whirlpool dug a great pit under the bridge. The trestle work which carried the railroad was dropped in and carried away and the ties were left hanging from the rails. The railroad company drove piles to hold up its track ; but until after many years the stream filled up the hole again that was the only good swimming hole there ever was around Nevada.
The third great storm was in July, 1881. This storm was much wider in extent and its flood in this vicinity was no greater than in other counties about. It was on the night of this storm that Kate Shelley made her famous trip across the Des Moines river bridge at Maingona to warn an approaching passenger train of a washed out bridge on Iloney creek. And in Story County the washouts of 1877 were generally repeated. Railroad traffic was interrupted for several days and the county had to build a new set of bridges on the most of its highways. These three storms and their resulting floods are distinguished as being much the greatest since the settle- ment of the county.
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
IN THE LATTER SEVENTIES.
The impressions of the county to the youthful observer in the latter seventies have been set forth in the preceding chapter. The more mature judgment tends to strengthen the youthful view that the county at the time had reached its period of maturity and was about to enter upon the period of fuller development which comes with the gradual improvement of any country and community. The erection in this period of the new court house, which was the best in this portion of Iowa at the time it was built, and the beginnings of organized high schools were two matters of much significance. The exceptional character of the people; who, in a time when top buggies were yet a great rarity and much of the land in the county was yet unoccupied voted upon themselves an indebtedness of $40,000 with interest at ten per cent, all for the purpose of having a suitable seat of justice and suitable offices for the county officials, is something that is con- clusive.
The school matter was also suggestive of a long step forward. As has already been shown, Nevada had established a regular organized high school, with a definite course of study, and was beginning to graduate classes. This was the first high school so organized in this part of the state, and the first graduation of a high school class in Nevada antedated the first graduation at Marshalltown, at Boone and we think at any other similar town about. The example of Nevada was, however, in this respect not left long without imitation. In due time, Ames organized its High school, and the smaller towns of the county, as they became better developed, did the same thing. This development of the high school was a matter of profound importance to the youth, not only of the towns but of the country as well. The high schools in the first instance, were town enterprises, but they were open to the attendance of boys and girls from the country, upon the payment of tuition ; and the privileges thuis afforded were eagerly seized. Boys and girls from the country joined with the boys and girls from the town in filling up the schools, pursuing the more advanced branches and qualifying themselves for entry into the colleges, to which many of them later went. In a very short time the contrast which might have been made with the conditions in the county ten years before, was very marked. At the earlier time, the
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college at Ames was about opening, and the classification of the students who first entered and who filled the college for the first few years, shows plainly that in this portion of the state, there were at that time practically no youth whose educational advancement had reached the standard which is now recognized as necessary for admission to college. The few who did go to college entered as preparatory students ; and the average of the best public education that was to be had in towns of the class of Nevada or Ames, was at least two years short of what is now recognized and estab- lished as the standard for high school graduation. In communities where educational advantages had, therefore, up to this time, been so restricted. the inauguration of the high schools in the latter seventies and earlier eighties, marked a very material stage in educational development.
Another educational institution, which in these times became recognized as of considerable value and importance, was the Normal Institute. Prior to the latter seventies, it had been the fashion to hold annually or semi- annually, Teachers' Conventions, at which the more active teachers of the county assembled and organized somewhat upon a town meeting basis. But along about the period now under consideration, the Normal Institute became a school of a few weeks' duration, in the summer. devoted largely to the review of those branches in which the teachers of the country school had greatest need of proficiency ; and the opportunity which they afforded to graduates of the town high schools and to others of somewhat similar attainment for becoming thoroughly grounded in the rudimentary studies, was improved by probably the large majority, at one time or another, of the more ambitious youth of the county. Supplementing the high school, together perhaps with some practical experience in teaching country schools, the normals gave the finishing touches to the schooling of great numbers of capable young men and women, and were the source of corresponding profit to those to whom favorable fortune gave the chance to go on to col- lege. This institution probably reached its maximum of popularity and usefulness during the ten year administration of Ole O. Roe as county superintendent from 1881 to 1891. he being possessed of especial talent for its successful management.
The Agricultural College at this time was also gradually gaining in use- fulness and prestige. Its standard for admission was about that which it was possible to reach in the country schools and schools of the towns that had not yet organized high schools ; but the students whom it attracted were likely to be of greater years and experience than is the case with the aver- age youth who now enters college, and the general work of the institution. therefore, probably did not differ so very greatly from what that work is today, save of course, that in the intervening years the scope of the institu- tion and its opportunities for choosing between various courses of study. have been very greatly enlarged. The time was years before the construc- tion of the Motor Line between Ames and the college, and still longer be- fore the construction of the cinder path over which the youth of the present
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time are wont to pass and save their nickles; so the relation between the college and the town of Ames was very much less intimate that it is now. The students very generally lived upon the campus, and their number was not so great but that the most of them could find accommodation in the dormitories provided. The old main building of the college was admirably suited to the uses of such an institution in the country, and the other homes and houses upon the campus, which, in increasing numbers, supplemented the main building as the years passed by, helped the institution to grow without in any wise impairing its unity or compactness. In these days all the public exercises of the college were held in the chapel on the main floor of the north wing of the main building; and the Nevada young people, who upon occasion found it pleasant to drive over to the college for a junior exhibition or similar exercises, discovered that the college chapel and the college audience fitted each other fairly well. At these college exercises, President Welch always presided with tactfulness and grace, and the gen- eral merit of the institution for the purpose of its founding was already well established.
In the matter of transportation, the event of this period, was the ex- tension of the Narrow Gauge north from Ames, the absorption of the whole Narrow Gauge Line by the North-Western, and the conversion of the Narrow Gauge road to one of standard gauge. The extension north from Ames was made about 1877, and in the summer of 1878 the line is remembered as terminating abruptly at a newly built village called Calla- nan. There was no apparent reason for ending the road at that point ; but the road had been brought up across the prairie to a grove and work suspended and the village started. Some time later, when the road was standardized, and extended to Webster City and Eagle Grove, the railroad management laid out a new town near by, which new town was Jewell Junction and Callanan was laid away in the cemetery of prairie towns that the railroads have failed to support. It was in 1878 that the Northwestern bought the Narrow Gauge and the conversion of the line between Ames and Des Moines to standard gauge was made about as speedily as possible. It was at state fair time in this year that the writer made, over this line, his first and only trip to Des Moines and back. The accommodation of the state fair patronage, even though the patronage was but a tithe of the present state fair rush, taxed the facilities of the road to the utmost. All of the passenger equipment, and, we think, substantially all of the freight equipment, were devoted to the purpose; and the editorial recollection is clear that a seat on a plank in a box car was something that he was fortu- nate to get. Our clear recollections of the trip are that the line went through Polk City and up a rather steep grade on the South side, and that, on the return trip, there was much chorus singing, and that Ike Hawthorn led in the ditty, "Go Tell Aunt Rhoda." But it was only a few weeks after this that the standardizing of the Narrow Gauge began, and this incident may be set down as one of the matters of more or less humor to
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be related concerning the Narrow Gauge. The widening and reconstruc- tion of the road south of Ames and soon afterwards north of Ames and extension north, gave Story County its first railroad of consequence cross- ing the county north and south. Gilbert Station was added to the other towns that had been established in the county, and the general facilities for getting away from home and getting back were very greatly improved.
It was along about this time that the more prosperous of the farmers began to build a better class of farm residences. W. K. Wood had. a few years before, built his residence south of Iowa Center, which residence at the time of its erection, was undoubtedly the most pretentious farm home in the county. About 1878, Frank Curtiss, then one of the most pros- perous farmers of Milford township and representative of the county in the general assembly, built on his farm, what, we think, was the first brick residence upon a farm in the county; and a year or more later. his similarly prosperous neighbor. Turner Melain, built another brick residence and made it slightly larger than the Curtiss one. These two residences put Milford Township distinctly to the fore in the matter of farm residences. They also put Milford ahead of the towns so far as our recollection goes, and we are sure that it was later than this that Otis Briggs built the first pretentious brick residence in Nevada ; although, we think, Oscar Alderman had, about the same time, converted the brick of the old school house into his house in town. The example of Milford, however, was followed only with much moderation. The farmers, as a rule, had about all they wanted to do to pay for their farms, improve their live stock and put up buildings of standard architecture.
LIVE STOCK.
It was about this time also that a very important change was intro- duced in the matter of raising live stock in the county. The Shorthorn cattle came to be talked about, and the drove of Shorthorns which Col. Scott had was a subject of considerable interest, and was looked upon as much of a novelty. The difference between the Shorthorns and the com- mon scrub cattle that had been in the county was important, and is abun- dantly understood now by everyone who has anything to do with live stock ; but more important yet was the introduction of heavy draft horses. Prior to this time, Story County horses had as a rule, been small, as the size of horses is now understood ; and interest in horses, where it was at all active. pertained to trotting stock. Around Nevada at that time, there were numerous horses of Hambletonian ancestry or qualities, and numerous of the townsmen in particular, and some farmers near town, were giving much of their time and attention to the development of speed in their colts. The subject gave bent to much of the local conversation, and the numerous race meetings, more or less formal, at the county fair grounds, were occasions of considerable excitement. The most speedy of this breed of horses was
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a mare that was named Trampoline, and the question as to how fast Trampoline could go, and whether she would develop so as to take the world's record from the Goldsmith Maid, was one of the most vivid with which the local public had to deal. She was a good mare ; but it may be said, in passing, that she was also slightly dyspeptic and did not feed as well as she should in order to realize the hopes of her owners and the confident expectations of the local public. She was taken down east, where she made something of a record and was sold to advantage ; but her fame was lost soon after her permanent removal.
While the race meetings were interesting and the hopes of Trampoline high, the local interest in fast horses was undoubtedly one of the real difficulties with which the local community had to deal and which it had to overcome before it could enter upon its ultimate prosperity. The re- moval of the difficulty began when a bunch of farmers in and about Mil- ford, joined together and imported the first French draft stallion. The importation proved to be profitable to the men who made the venture, while the idea also spread very rapidly that it would be a good thing for the county to breed a heavier grade of horses than was then to be found in the county. There soon arose, therefore, considerable emulation in the matter of such importations, and Black Normans, Gray Percherons, Bay Clydesdales and Bay English Shires were all brought in, and their merits were sharply contrasted and much discussed at the county fairs. The dis- cussion was not so lively nor the excitement so high as it had been when the sons and daughters of old "Tramp" used to come down the home stretch, nose to nose, as they approached the wire; but there was a lot more money in it for Story County, and some of the results are indicated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of fine draft horses that are shipped out of the county every year. In this matter of breeding draft horses, Story County seems to have been first in this part of the state almost as distinctly as it was in its bidding for the Agricultural Col- lege in pioneer days, or in its voting for the court house and establishing high schools later on. In all there was demonstrated a characteristic ability to appreciate really good things and to make them a part of the community.
COUNTY POLITICS.
It was in the period now under consideration that the editor of this commentary first became an observer of Republican County conventions. The first convention after we came to the county was that of 1876, but the boyish interest had not yet been sufficiently stimulated in politics. We are clear, however, that the main issue of the convention was the nomina- tion of a new county clerk. J. A. Fitchpatrick, who had been first nomi- nated for the vacancy in 1865 and had held the office without much difficulty against all opposition, for eleven years, had concluded voluntarily to retire. His deputy, in the last years of his service, had been Captain I. L. Smith,
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of Ames, and the latter became a candidate for the place, with the backing of the Ames contingent. The Nevada candidates were M. C. Allen and J. R. McDonald, who divided both the Nevada delegation and the Nevada influence, with the general result that, after some balloting, Smith was nominated, and thus was enabled to enter upon his ten years of very suc- cessful service in the clerk's office. Ole K. Hill was renominated, as a matter of course, for recorder, and S. I. Shearer was renominated for supervisor. There was no fight in this year over the congressional nomi- nation, and Judge Addison Oliver, of Onawa, received his second nomi- nation, without open or latent opposition. Judge Bradley was also renomi- nated for circuit judge, and it being presidential year, and county politics having pretty well settled down, and lowa being that year the banner Re- publican state in the Union, the Republican ticket was elected without diffi- culty.
The convention of 1877 was a very good one for a person of political bent to begin on. It had some hard fighting and protracted balloting. The leading contest in the convention was over representative. Dan MeCarthy was a candidate, with the West side support, and the Nevada factions, as usual, had divided their influence and the delegation, the candidates being T. C. McCall and T. J. Ross. Frank Curtiss was also a candidate, with the backing of Milford, Howard and Warren Townships. It was before the day of open roll call in the county convention, and the ballots were taken by the passing of the hat. It was not apparent, therefore, by the record, what delegations were supporting which candidate, but the number of votes cast by the larger delegations indicated the situation fairly ; and. after a time, Nevada got together on McCall, which was a good deal for Nevada to do in behalf of anybody, but this coalition was not effected soon enough, if it ever would have done any good, and, in time, the support of both the leaders was broken up. A strong movement was started in the convention for J. W. Maxwell, whose vote grew until it took first place ; but the movement towards Maxwell was met by a counter-movement towards Curtiss ; and, as Curtiss had a bunch of nine votes to start with. he was thus able to land the nomination. Jay A. King for treasurer ; John R. Hays for auditor, and J. F. Gillespie for sheriff, were renominated with- out opposition. The Ames crowd made what was really something of a score by nominating D. A. Bigelow for supervisor. Bigelow served for only one term ; but he was a very capable officer and much devoted to the interests of his own locality. So he secured for the roads leading toward Ames, appropriations for improvements that were very important for the roads, and that were consequently of much value to Ames. The principal fight in this convention for a county office was that for county superin- tendent. C. H. Balliet had been nominated two years before and had ousted Jerry Franks from the superintendency; but Franks had a genius for making trouble for his successor and his plan of operation was to beat Balliet in the Republican convention. This he succeeded in doing.
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