USA > Iowa > Winneshiek County > History of Winneshiek county with biographical sketches of its eminent men > Part 15
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" Besides being a railroad center, and the home of scores of railroad employes (thus making the railroad directly tributary to the trade and prosperity of our town) it is in the very heart and center of the famous Winneshiek wheat-fields, and as Winneshiek is the banner wheat county of the State, so is Calmar the banner township. There are many cattle and hogs raised for market by the surrounding farmers, and may be con-
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sidered among the staples. Good building-stone is found in unlimited quantity only a short distance from town.
" The population of Calmar is from 700 to 900, consisting of native- born, or Americans, and Norwegians in about equal third parts, the remaining third being composed of Germans, Irish, Swedes and Bo- hemians, altogether forming quite a diversified, energetic and very indus- trious community. With a most delightful and healthy location, with a population containing no drones, with her excellent railroad facilities- about to be further extended by the continuation of the Iowa & Dakota division of the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, still further west-with her central position in the great wheat fields, and the growing impor- tance of her trade and manufactures, Calmar has every reason to antici- pate a future of unusual growth and prosperity, and it scarcely needs a prophet to foretell that her anticipations will be realized."
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CHAPTER XVIII.
RIDGEWAY.
Early Settlers of Lincoln Township - Water Courses - Danger of Pioneer Prairie Life - The Pioneer House and its Accommodations - Ridgeway's Birth and Christening-A Flower Blooms that Bears Seed-The Railroad Company becomes Magnanimous and Builds a Coop for the Accommodation of Travelers-Death of an Invalid- The Demon who Presides over the Ruling Evil, and his Victims- The First Nasby, and Others who followed him-Ridgeway becomes an Independent School District-Fury of the Fire King-Ridgeway Falls its Victim and is nearly Obliterated - Death of Daniel Rice -Recapitulation of the Losses Sustained by the Fire -Conclusion.
The first settlement was made in Lincoln township in the spring of 1852. Knud Alfson built a small house and broke up a few acres on Section 27, while Lars Thomson commenced about the same time on Section 34. In the fall of the same year, Jacob Knudson and Kittle Sanderson established themselves on Section 22. The next year Gun- der Kittleson, Albert Kittleson, Gullick Thompson, Tove Thompson and Thomas Thompson, settled in the immediate neighborhood, while John Seleir, Michael Farrel, Charles Straun, John Wholehan, Nels Olsen, Charles Junck, H. W. Klemme, Andrew Michael, Phillip Kratz and Wm. Blackburn, came in during the two or three years following.
The township of Lincoln was formerly reckoned as an integral part of Decorah, an arrangement that did not last very long, however, as I am informed a reconstruction of the map was soon effected, by which the present township was apportioned to Sumner, and upon the authorized survey and platting of townships, was given its present name.
The first birth in Lincoln was a daughter of K. Alfson, an intelligent young lady, still unmarried, I believe.
The Turkey River runs through the western portion of the township,
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affording considerable power, some of which is improved. Dauber- smith's mill, about two and one-half miles from Ridgeway, is on the stream, and doing a fair milling business. There are several small water courses arising from springs in other portions of the township, which wend their way through sloughs and sharper depressions towards both the Turkey and Iowa.
Those who have settled upon the prairies of the west since the genius of enterprise commenced the building of railroads over their trackless wilds, can form but a faint conception of the hardships, trials and dangers to which the pioneers were exposed. For years the only mar- kets for the products of their farm were trading posts, some times a hundred miles away ; and in the fall of 1863, most of their wheat was hauled by horses and oxen to McGregor, over a hundred miles, and by " ways that were dark " at that. The farmers of Lincoln were not ex- empt from the general inconvenience and harhships of pioneer life, and many thrilling stories have I heard them tell of snow blockades wherein the proceeds of the sale of a load of wheat would all go to pay hotel bills, while their families at home were anxiously looking for their return.
In 1866, Ridgeway existed only in name. About this time the railroad company built a house for their accommodation, and Mr. S. Pike soon afterwards took charge of it. The building was 16x32 feet base, one and a half stories high, divided into several compartments, and ceiled throughout with good matched flooring. Mr. Pike with his wife moved into the house December 4, 1866, a day ever to be remem- bered in their experiences of housekeeping. Though the ground had been frozen for some time previous, the heavy rains that had fallen the preceeding week had thawed the earth again, and the different gangs who were grading the prospective grounds, and also a gang of track- layers who were putting in a switch and laying a spur of track for present accommodation, had made the house a place of resort for shelter during the heaviest of the rains, and when they reached there about dark of that rainy December night, the prospect was dreary enough. The mud was over an inch deep on the floor, but they succeeded in getting a stove up, and, with boards laid upon chairs, made their couches for the night, not, however, until the boys had shoveled a cart load or two of mud out of the house. In a few days they had the house so that it presented a more cheerful aspect. Adapting themselves as best they could to the circumstances, they lived nearly isolated from their kind through a long and cheerless winter, being all alone, with the exception of two families who had followed the work from Conover, and reached that place about
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two weeks before. The parties were Fred. Ganshorn and James Kinney; who antedate Mr. Pike's claim to the title, " oldest inhabitant," by about two or three weeks. They did not live within the limits of the present village, however, but were about a hundred rods below. The winter was unusually severe and protracted, the last passage of the snow plow being on March 28, 1876, and that after a three days' effort from McGregor.
The village of Ridgeway lies in Lincoln township, about midway between Calmar and Cresco, on the line of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway. The place had neither pope, bishop nor priest at its christening ; nor was it developed under patronage, but " growed," like Topsy, under rather discouraging circumstances. Its horoscope was cast by a class of juggling peculators, whose interests centered in the railroad towns on either side of it, and whose prophetic afflatus against the place was further augmented by a few subsidized echoes in the employ of the railroad company. In fact, so faithfully did misrepresentation do its work for the first two years after the railroad was completed, that hardly any one could be found with temerity or pluck enough to take advantage of the inducements offered in the natural capacities of the place for a grain market. A settled indifference on the part of the rail- road company, manifest in their inattention to their own interests here up to that time, and for a year or two subsequent, grew out of the active opposition of certain officials at an earlier day. It appears from the records that Judge Noggle, attorney for the railroad company, who secured the right of way through this region, bought the quarter section upon which the village is now located, for S. S. Merrill, general manager of the road, at first, but soon after secured it for himself, but failed to divide as had been done at Conover and Cresco, hence the war. The place remained for nearly a year after the road was completed to Cresco without a single effort being put forth in the way of improvements, and to J. L. Flowers, formerly of Fort Atkinson, belongs the honor of break- ing the spell. Braving the force of an ill-boding prophecy, he came to the place in the month of July, 1867, and built a grain warehouse. The ice being broken, he was soon followed by Gilchrist & Co., who built another. Other parties of different professions and business came to the place, and some, with some fear and trembling, began to build.
Dr. A. M. Blackman, who with W. H. Allen, of Beloit, Wis., had bought the quarter section of Noggle about the time Flowers began to build, came on in October and put up a large building for a drug store and dwelling. Allen, who meantime had established a lumber yard in the 19
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the place, set a force at work about the same time on another large building for a general merchandise store, which was soon completed and filled by D. C. Monty, from Conover, for the winter trade. About the same time Flowers built a small dwelling house for his family. Two or three more were erected by other parties, and by the time winter set in the place was fairly alive with business. The next year improvements went on rapidly. Several more grain warehouses were put up, and the activity in the grain trade at this place since has been perceptibly felt, not only by the railroad towns on either side of it, but even in Decorah itself.
Up to this time the railroad company had no building for the accom- modation of either passengers or freight, but at a special meeting of the stockholders, directors and principal officers of the company, in the summer of 1867, a bill favoring the building of a depot at this place was introduced,and after considerable discussion, carried, and an appro- priation of $257.75 voted for that purpose. The seventy-five cent was not in the original appropriation, but was a contingent, specifically for repairs on the platform alreany standing, a structure 50 feet in length, 18 inches high, and 4 feet 21/2 inches wide, built the year before for the accommodation of the public, and which, from hard usage and constant wear was in a sadly dilapidated condition. In accordance with the de- cision of the council, a force of carpenters, under the inspiration of the $257, was set at work, and a depot built-an imposing structure, 16x24 feet base, and towering heavenward not quite enough to endanger the language of the builders. The building when completed consisted of one reception room for the traveling public, a ticket office, baggage room, telegraph office, smoking room, and store room for general merchandise. Whenever business was at flood tide, a vacant room, 7x12 feet, in the hand car house, which was built double and stood near the depot, was used as a store room for surplus merchandise, and sometimes the overplus was shielded for a few days by the canopy of heaven. Seriously, the whole institution as it stood, was a disgrace to the company, and a pointed insult to its patrons and to the town. The platform from which travelers had to enter the the cars, or to alight therefrom, if by chance the train stopped opposite it, which did not always occur, as a means of exit or entrance, was really dangerous to life and limb. I will give one instance of the many that occurred here under the old regime, to show the inconvenience and danger to which the traveling public were sub- jected from insufficient accommodations. A lady, the wife of J. Mc- Evoy, of Beloit, Wis., an invalid suffering from that baleful disease:
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consumption, came through on the cars to this place early in March, 1869. The trip was undertaken under advice, as a change, it was thought, might benefit her. The train stopped as usual, baggage and express cars opposite the platform ; passenger coaches stretching way back, with a ditch on either side, wherein passengers might alight if they wished to stop. The invalid, with a child in charge, two years old, attempted to get off, but the distance from the car step to the ditch was so great that she failed on the first trial, and, as the bell rang at that moment for a start, she caught the child in her arms, and in sheer des- paration was about to jump from the train, when a lady who fortunately happened to be passing at that moment, noticing her dilemma, came to her aid. Taking the child from her arms she placed it on the bank, of the ditch, and then helped the invalid down just as the train was starting. In striving to reach the platform; some fifty feet away, she wet her feet; a severe cold followed, attended with such unfavorable symptoms that it was deemed advisable for her to return home the next week. Attended by one of her sisters-there were two here at the time, whom she came to see-she went back, and in about two weeks thereafter, was laid in the grave.
Although the moral element has been steadily on the increase for a few years, the place had been up to this time the theatre of a full aver- age of disgraceful brawls, street fights, accidents, and fatalities conse- quent upon the demands of the insatiate demon who presides over the ruling evil-strong drink. The first serious case of probationary pen- nance was a broken leg. The next victim, Lars Thompson, fell under the rear car of a freight train that was backing in upon the side-track, at ro o'clock at night, and had both legs cut or crushed off below the knees. A few weeks later the chapter closed for the time in the death of John Wholehan, who, under the influence of liquor, wandered from the village a couple of miles up the railroad track, and was struck in the breast by an engine coming down and instantly killed. The case of Thompson, the first serious railroad accident at this place, threw the town into considerable excitement, and while everybody was anxious, and nobody willing to act the part of the Good Samaritan, C. Larsen, a poor man, but one whose humanitarian principles were not warped or chained by considerations of self-interest, cane forward and offered his home as an asylum for the sufferer. He was, accordingly, under the directions of Dr. A. M. Blackman, who just then arrived upon the spot, carried to Larsen's house, followed by an excited crowd, who immedi- ately filled the room into which he was taken, clamoring to know if
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there was any hope in the case. "You shall see," said the doctor, throwing off his coat and rolling up his sleeves, at the same time draw- ing a huge jack-knife from his pocket, a hint coupled with an admoni- tory objurgation to the crowd (considerably varied from any form laid down in the Sacred Canon) that sent them out of the room in a jiffy .. Having cleared the room, the doctor called to his assistance three or four whose nerves were not altogether unstrung, and after explaining to them in a few words the desperate nature of the case and the necessity of immediate action, said he would undertake to amputate the man's limbs and save his life, if they would but obey implicitly his directions. The amputation was performed, the poor fellow's limbs dressed, and he comfortably arranged on a couch. In about two months thereafter he was "stumping " the town apparently unaffected morally by the chas- tisement-one of those cases wherein the mercy of the Lord, signally manifested in connection with the rod, would appear to be without avail.
: . About the time Flowers began to build his warehouse, Mr. S. Pike sent in a petition to the Postmaster General containing the names of nearly all the men in the township, for a postoffice-a petition that met with prompt attention-and by the time business opened Ridgway had a postoffice in running order, Mr. Pike receiving the appointment as postmaster with a salary commensurate with its prospective business- $12 per year. Though not only willing but anxious to serve the coun- try, the new postmaster, after getting the machine in running order and attending it a few weeks conjointly with Hank Garfield, who had been appointed deputy, turned the business over to Louis Heinberg. Monty failing in business soon after, the postoffice was kept in the same build- ing by Heinberg until fall, when Dr. George Bolles, of Decorah, who in a brief visit to the place detected the inducements offered to capital, bought it of Allen, and put in a good stock of goods. This occurred in the fall of 1868. As the Doctor's store was the best place for the office, Mr. Pike transferred it to him, and he held it during the five years he remained in trade here. After building up a prosperous trade, the Doctor sold out and went to California. J. I. Ringstad, who bought him out, succeeded to the postoffice, at which time the office was pay- ing a respectable revenue. Ringstad was one of the chief sufferers by the fire which swept the village with the besom of destruction the next spring (1874) losing his store and nearly all his stock. His loss was, however, pretty well covered by insurance, so that it did not fall so heavy on him as some others.
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HISTORY OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY.
Ridgway was organized into an independent school district during the year 1875, since which time it may be said our scholars are advanc- ing in their studies. It has a good school house, with an average attendance of scholars during school terms; but they are not well advanced. Educational interests have always dragged here, but there are hopeful indications of a more general effort in that direction in the immediate future, for which the people of Ridgway may be thankful. There is but one church edifice in town, and that a small wooden structure built by a body of dissenters from the old established Luth- eran Church among the Norwegians. This house is not completed, and is seldom used. The Methodists and Adventists hold meetings in the school house.
In the spring of 1874 (May 9) Ridgway was swept by a fire that seemed for a time determined to wipe out the entire village. The fire started in a small untenanted wooden structure on the corner where the Herchmer House now stands. A continuous blast from the south swept across the Square, taking everything in the line of the wind. The weather had been very dry for some time previous, and the densely- packed wooden row fronting the railroad was simply a line of tinder- boxes through which the fire swept without let or hinderance, and one hour from the time the alarm was given four-fifths of the business inter- ests of the town were in ashes. The fire originated with two little boys, 4 years old, lighting a cigar in the house above mentioned. The fire devoured everything in its course, including, besides the business row and dwellings, four grain warehouses, the depot (unlamented) and a fine water-tank, which the Railroad Company had just completed. The entire loss could not, however, be reckoned in dollars and cents, as one human life was sacrificed to the destroying element. Daniel Rice, a saloon-keeper, who, in the excitement attending the awful holocust, had been trying to check the flames and save his house, finding that all must go, removed his horse and buggy from the barn to a place of safety, and then, entering the saloon, took what money he had in the drawer, together with a small tin box containing notes, other papers, and about $200 in money, and rushed out with them just as the fire swooped down upon his house. Passing through his barn, which stood about thirty feet from the rear end of the saloon, he crossed to the other street and threw the box into his buggy. Just then he remem- bered a package of $700 in greenbacks which he had stowed away in a little snuggery back of his money drawer but a few days before. He
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hastened back to the house, which was then in flames, as well as his barn. As he passed through the barn the fire struck him, but, thinking only of his money, he crossed the yard to the rear door of the house. But the flames barred his entrance. Reluctantly he turned back, pressed his way through the burning barn, and was discovered as he emerged from it, his clothes all on fire. A party of men were guarding Gulbran- son's harness shop at the time, and one of them, with a bucket of water, hastened to extinguish the fire. But it was too late to save him. He had inhaled the fiery blast, and, as the event proved, was beyond hope. He passed into David Dorn's house, and was followed by Mr. Pike a few moments after. S. Pike cut the shirts, two heavy cotton ones, from his back, which was severely burned, as were his arms, from which the sleeves hung in fragments. Not much concern was mani- fested toward the unfortunate man, as it was supposed that he had not inhaled the flames, and would recover. When Dr. Blackman arrived in town about an hour later, however, the case appeared more serious. The Doctor found his lips and spots on his face literally cooked, and said he had undoubtedly drawn the flames into his lungs, a statement verified next morning, when it was apparent exudation had commenced. No reaction took place from the first, and he died at 9 o'clock on the morning of the 11th. The loss of property was very severe. The total number of buildings-stores, saloons, dwellings and barns-burned, were thirty-four, leaving fifty-nine unburned-the latter being almost wholly dwellings and outbuildings. A careful estimate of the total losses incurred amounted to $48,730, of which amount only $11,850 was covered by insurance.
Immediately after the fire the Railroad Company set to work build- ing a depot. The structure, when finished, presented a striking con- trast to the old one destroyed by fire. Instead of the narrow and cramped accommodations of the old trap dignified by the name, they have now ample room for every department of their business. The water-tank was also rebuilt, and with one of the best wells on the road, is an important adjunct in the management of its rolling stock.
To-day the village has completely recovered from the severe losses it sustained by the fire. Its business interests have continued to increase, and, as a result, larger and better business buildings serve the accom- modations of trade.
The pressure of hard times is very sensibly felt in every branch of business ; but in a young town like this, of strong and vigorous growth,
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its interests are too firmly interwoven with the general weal of the coun- try around, to suffer any lasting depression from this cause. With the retrenchment and reform " forced upon its citizens by dire necessity " from the failure of crops and other causes, they are made familiar with economy in its strictest sense, and will, in common with others, profit thereby.
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HISTORY OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY.
APPENDIX.
:
Among the settlers who came to the county in 1851 were the follow- ing persons :
E. C. Dunning and wife, Decorah.
E. E. Clement, Springfield.
D. D. Huff and wife, Hesper. Peter E. Haugen, Decorah.
Simeon M. Leach and wife, Canoe.
A. V. Anderson and wife, Decorah.
Torkel Hanson and wife, Decorah.
Christopher Evans, Glenwood.
Iver G. Ringstadt and wife, Madison. Herbrand Onstine, Madison. Helge Nelson, Myran, Madison.
Ole M. Asleson and wife, Madison.
Ole Kittleson and wife, Decorah.
William Birdsall and wife, Frankville.
Gulbrand T. Lommen, Decorah.
Gulbrand Erickson, Wig, Madison.
Philip Husted, Frankville. IV. L. Iverson, Pleasant.
Isaac Birdsall, Frankville.
Ole Tolefson, Wig, and wife, Decorah.
George V. Puntey, Burr Oak.
A. K. Drake, Decorah. Erick Olsen, Bakke, and wife, Frankville.
Nathan Drake, Glenwood.
Rolland Tobiason and wife, Decorah.
The following persons settled in Winneshiek County during the year 1852 :
Andrew Sheets and wife, Decorah Township. Silas B. Irvin and wife, Burr Oak. E. L. Reynolds, Decorah. B. F. Giles, Canoe.
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Nelson Burdick and wife, Decorah Township.
Lucy P. Fannon, Decorah.
Austid Guneson and wife, Lincoln.
Elling Olsen and wife, Frankville. Hans Gilbertson, Mellaas, Bluffton. Alonzo Bradish and wife, Decorah.
L. S. Pederson and wife, Pleasant.
Gulbrand Gulbrandson and wife, Springfield.
Peter Sampson and wife, Pleasant.
Leonard Cutler and wife, Frankville.
Leonard Cutler, Jr., Frankville.
James Lennon, Madison.
William Beard and wife, Frankville.
Charles L. Child and wife, Decorah. K. Kendsen, J. J. Running, Springfield. William M. Fannon and wife, Decorah.
In 1853 the following persons took up their permanent settlement in the county :
Henry Kniss, Glenwood. Martin N. Rotner, Canoe. Amos Smith and wife, Canoe. Hiram Manning and Wife, Burr Oak. Erick G. Egge and wife, Madison.
A. Vance and wife, Bloomfield. Svend Olsen, Bedne, and wife, Pleasant. Lewis L. Cook and wife, Glenwood. Ole O. Rovang, Springfield. Alexander McKay, Decorah. James Tyler and wife, Canoe. John Lennon, Decorah. Knud Knudson, Sr., Madison.
Knud Knudson, Madison. John Van Pelt, Decorah. H. Henterman and wife, Decorah.
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