USA > Iowa > Wright County > History of Wright County, Iowa, its peoples, industries and institutions > Part 8
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COUNTY AIDS IN HOTEL BUILDING.
While Clarion was yet styled Grant, in September, 1868, the supervisors of the county resolved to donate to any responsible person who would erect a public house or hotel in Grant, the northwest quarter of the southwest quar- ter of section 31, adjoining the platted town, and also block ro of the town of Grant, the clerk being authorized to contract on behalf of the county. One year later-1869-the offer was accepted by J. C. Young, who built a hotel on block To, the present site of the Clarion House, which latter building was erected in 1881.
The townships of Woolstock and Clarion were both formed in 1868. and were represented on the board the next year by R. K. Eastman and Gilbert Perry, William Stryker appearing as a supervisor from Troy township.
At the June session of the board in 1869, Will F. Smith, of the W'right County Monitor, was allowed the sum of two hundred dollars per year, pay- able quarterly, for publishing the proceedings of the board. In less than one year, however, the board rescinded its action because of the irregularity of issue and other grievances enumerated. Mr. Smith soll the paper to .1. M. White, with whom the contract was renewed, and ever since that day the Monitor has been the official county paper.
COUNTY EXPERIMENTS WITH PENT.
On account of the scarcity of timber and the high prices for coal, the county board at its June session in 1860, determined to experiment, to the amount of fifty dollars, with the digging and drying of a certain quantity of
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peat, which is but a decayed vegetable matter, resembling turf, cut out of the bogs, this fuel being desired for use in the stoves of the court house in Clarion. Coal had to be hauled by team over a trackless prairie from the coal banks at Lehigh and other points near Ft. Dodge, and it was almost impossible to secure sufficient fuel at the time most needed. Some counties in northern Iowa experimented on a much larger scale, but all came to the one conclusion : that while peat would produce a very intense heat, it was neither a desirable fuel nor much cheaper than ordinary fuel. For this reason the enterprise was not carried further, despite the fact that there were hundreds of acres of fine peat underlying the surface in the more swampy portions of Wright county.
NEW NAME FOR COUNTY SENT.
In June 1870, five years after the county seat of Wright county had been designated as Grant, on petition of L. P. Davis and others, the name was changed to Clarion.
By the act of the Legislature in 1869 the number of county supervisors was reduced from one from each township to three for the entire county, the members being elected at large. Hence the board that met on January 1, 1870, was composed of only three members, J. W. Parmalee, who was chosen for three years; D. S. Pierce, chosen for two years, and D. M. Inman, for one year.
During that same year the people adopted the herd law, which was an act to restrain stock from running at large. A few years previously sheep and swine had been restrained, but now all live stock came under the act. A special tax levy was made that year for the purpose of building new bridges, one across the lowa at Belmond, and one across the Boone near Middleton's place, in Troy township. The Belmond bridge had been swept away a short time before, and out of this special levy the first iron bridge used in Wright county was constructed, at a cost of $4,870, outside of the expenses for making proper approachways.
FIRST RAILWAY DREAM SHATTERED.
In 1871 a five per cent. tax was ordered in the townships of Belmond, Clarion, Iowa, Pleasant, Wall Lake, and Vernon to aid in the construction of the proposed lowa & Minnesota railroad. The tax was collected and the roadbed was graded, though the piles rotted down many years later, the road never being completed. It was styled the "Duncombe grade" and this
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passed into the hands of the Mason City & Ft. Dodge Railroad, which is now within the Chicago Great Western system. This first attempt at railroad building in Wright county was a dismal failure.
In April. 1876, Lake and Dayton townships were formed, and held their first elections to choose township officers in October of that year. It was dur- ing this year that the county board made a deal with the American Emigra- tion Company by which the county sold its swamp-land rights for four thou- sand dollars, or about one dollar per acre. (See account of this case on another page in this volume. )
In 1877 the county made its first start toward providing a "poor farm" on which its unfortunate poor might be cared for. The southwest quarter of section 5. township 91, range 24, was purchased by the board of super- visors for one thousand two hundred and eighty dollars. However, it was not much improved for the purpose intended until 1893. when better build- ings were erected thereon. A quarter section of land was added at that date. making one-half section in all.
DEFAULTING COUNTY TREASURER.
In only one instance has the treasurer of Wright county been unable to make a correct settlement with the people for the moneys received and paid out by him. This case was in 1878, when J. H. Rowen, who had been elected treasurer of the county in 1873, failed to make good as an official. At the time there was much talk and considerable bitterness was engendered, but after a thorough investigation as to the facts in the whole case, it was finally believed by a majority of the people of this county that there was no intention on the part of Mr. Rowen to embezzle the funds of Wright county. The shortage seemed to have been the result of careless manner of book- keeping and over-confidence on the part of the big-hearted man, who did not know the true secret of saying "No." However, the county lost nothing. because the shortage of the unfortunate treasurer was made good by his worthy father.
COUNTY SEAT WAR.
The following is from the pen of N. B. Paine, who in early days was known as the "Bean Poet." All of the survivors of the earlier settlers in this county know of the talent he possessed and of the variety of subjects upon which he wrote. This poem of his treats on the removal of the county seat from Liberty to Clarion :
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Wright county with its prairie lands, And timber sparse provided, . Was geographically divided- Very much two-sided.
The timber-skirted banks of Boone Its western border bounded; Iowa near its eastern line, With green glad groves surrounded.
Between these timber-skirted streams, The sky and prairie blending ; As far as human eyes could see, The prairie waves extending.
The settlers along the Boone Were sometimes bellicocious ; The settlers of the lowa Like badgers were ferocious.
For Boone had got the county seat, AAnd county judge to judge it ; And not a lawyer in the west, In district court could budge it.
And so we had a local war, No party fairly winning, Before Wright county's county seat Received its underpinning.
The local politicians lead Their squatter sovereigns, local; But not a drop of blood was shed, The fighting was all vocal.
We had some very busy scenes, And lawyers' tongues did rattle. When Boone and the Iowa clinched . In one long law-suit battle.
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And Eagleville and Liberty, Ontario, and so on. Were county-seated just enough For paper men to blow on.
So both sides found chin-music dear, With neither party winning Enough to gain a county seat That had an underpinning.
So both sides wore their warpaint off, Both sick of local lawing; While local lawyers and land. sharks Were at their purses gnawing.
When both sides raised their flag of truce And sent each other greeting ; Both pledged Wright county's county seat, Should be a half-way meeting.
Peace o'er Wright county waved her wand, And nothing could prevent her ; She placed Wright county's county seat, Right in Wright county's center.
And curs'd be he whose venal soul Thinks stolen wealth worth winning ; Or tries to move Wright's county seat From off its underpinning.
IOWA RIVER CONVENTION AND ELECTION-1855.
The election held on the east side of this county, at the same date the Boone river election was held at the flewett log cabin, in which the county was really organized, has been written up by a correspondent known as "lowa." It runs thus: "Doctor Cutler was in those days the great Mogul of the upper lowa country and concluded to consolidate his forces in the effort of organizing a county here, at the same time cursing the Boone river effort of securing the seat of justice. But when it was all over it was found that the superior talents and abilities for filling the county offices had curi-
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onsly enough, by the law of natural selection-or some other law-centered at Belmond ( though the meeting was held at Horse Grove ). Robert Rowen was nominated justice of the peace and the next important office, that of coroner, was given to the Grove settlement-the only county office with which it was honored, although the loss was small, for those terrible fellows on the Boone won the fight, leaving the lowa nominees only their convention honors.
"In connection with the aforesaid nomination for coroner occurred an incident worth relating. Among the first settlers of Horse Grove was found the squatter, old man Ford, who, it will be remembered, had kept just on the outskirts of civilized life, and, beginning with lowa City, by actual count, had made ten claims, selling out as fast as settlers came in and had the money. llis claim in Horse Grove was purchased by Robert Rowen, and at the time of the above-named convention Ford was living in the new house later occu- pied by J. E. Moore, he having built the house after having settled on his claim. Of course, as a leading representative of the squatter element, his interest must needs be consulted, and so he was given the nomination of coroner, but on going home at night he was about to select him a deputy, when he was questioned by his good wife after this fashion : "Pap, what did they give you?' He answered, 'Well. mammy, they made me coroner.' Then the fire flew. 'Crowner! crowner! to the devil with your crowner! Who is going to hang or drown themselves to give you any business?'
"Well, after dinner at Rowen's the 'harmonious' convention broke up and then went to war with the Boone settlers and got licked plenty!"
THE SEVERAL COURT HOUSES.
The first court house in Wright county was the log cabin owned by S. B. Hewett, Sr., just to the west of the present city of Eagle Grove, where the Hewett and Paine settlement had been effected. This is termed the first court house, from the fact that it was where the county was organized in Angust, 1855, but in reality, it was only the private property of S. B. Hewett, Sr., pioneer. Upon the organization of the county, the seat of justice was located at the village plat of Liberty (now included in Goldfield ). The loca- tion of the log cabin of Mr. Hewett was at what was styled "Eagleville," a paper town in fact, and hence pioneer Paine, the poet, said :
"And Eagleville and Liberty Ontario, and so on, Were county-seated just enough, For paper men to blow on."
THE OLD LOG CABIN. NORTHWEST OF EAGLE GROVE. WHERE THE FIRST OFFICIAL BUSINESS OF WRIGHT COUNTY WAS TRANSACTED.
WRIGHT COUNTY COURT HOUSE.
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The election of April, 1858, determined that the county seat should be at Liberty, and on June 18, 1858, the county obtained a deed to its first court house site from O. W. Melntosh and the first real court house was erected that season. This was a two-story frame structure built where Mr. Braden's fine residence later stood. Subsequently, it was used as a store below and a residence above. Still later, it was used as a barn by J. S. Braden. It was finally torn down, in July, 1913. thus removing an old landmark of the county. This building served the county for its court house until 1866, when the county seat was changed to Clarion, first styled Grant. The building at Liberty was sold about 1869 to J. W. Parmalee, who converted it into a store, where he conducted a thriving and profitable business in general mer- chandise.
The second court house, proper, was the frame building, two stories in height, which now forms the greater part of the Avondale Hotel, formerly the Park House, which stands on the north side of the public square, at the northeast corner and across the street from the square. This is the building erected for the county by Mr. Perry, the facts concerning which have already been set out elsewhere in this chapter. Although this two-story frame struc- ture was erected almost fifty years ago, it still bears the evidence of good workmanship and material, and is in good condition, notwithstanding the severe elements, the rains and snows of forty-nine years, that beat upon its surface. Its builders and all the county officials then at the head of the Wright county government have passed from the busy, ever-changing world. This court house served well its purpose until the present fine edifice of red brick was built in 1891-92, at a total cost of about fifty thousand dollars. The resolution passed by the board of supervisors that caused this new struc- ture- the third court house in the county-to be erected was as follows : "At a meeting of the board of supervisors for Wright county, convened Septem- ber, 1800, Resolved, that we submit to the voters of Wright county a propo- sition to build a new court house and jail not to exceed in cost forty thou- sand dollars."
ONLY ONE FRIEND IN EAGLE GROVE.
The election was held and the result was a majority of two hundred and ninety-five votes in favor of building. The assessed valuation of the property in the county was then three million dollars. It is a noteworthy fact that Eagle Grove township cast only one vote for this court house, and its vote against the measure was five hundred and fifty.
(7)
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When it was known that the new court house measure had carried there was great glee in the central part of the county, especially at Clarion, where a jollification meeting was held, and no little excitement and merriment pre- vailed. The town's calaboose was saturated with oil and set on fire by the over-zealous citizens and onlookers.
It should be remembered that when the vote to remove the county seat to Clarion from Goldfield was taken, there was only a majority of twenty- five votes cast for the removal to Clarion. Both the lowa river and Boone river portions of the county still had hopes that they might secure the county seat. but the wisdom of locating centrally is now generally acknowledged, and is placed to the credit of the early supervisors and their backers.
The old brick vault building that stood on the public square, erected in 1874. when the present court house was erected, was sold in April, 1801, to M. 11. Austin, of Clarion, for the sum of forty dollars, and he was to remove the same from the grounds.
Plans for the new court house and county jail were examined at the January session of the board in 1891. The bonds that were to be issued to pay for the court house and jail were to draw five per cent. per annum, and were to run ten years, a two-mill annual tax to be levied each year until it was paid for. The contract was let to W. R. Parsons & Company, of Des Moines, on January 14, 1801, the county board then consisting of Messrs. A. Elder. S. I. Gillespie, John Wasem, II. H. Kinghorn and George Curry, A. A. Taft being the county auditor. The steel work and cells for the new jail cost the county three thousand five hundred dollars. Electric lights were installed in the new court house in November, 1803, the rate to be twelve dollars and fifty cents a month. With a few repairs, these buildings have served the county well to the present date.
THE COUNTY POOR FARM. .
In 1877 the county bought the southwest quarter of section 5, township 91, range 24, for the purpose of establishing a county poor farm, but no use was made of the tract for some time. In 1890 the people voted, by a majority of sixty-eight, to purchase the southeast quarter of the above section, also to be used for the county farm. The last tract cost the county thirty-five dollars an acre, the same being paid for by a tax levy in 1900 of one and one-half mills on the dollar.
When the county bought the original tract of the poor farm it was improved and had a fair farm house on it; this served the county till later.
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when another quarter section was added to the farm and the house materially enlarged to meet the needs of the county. In 1906 a barn was built, costing two thousand five hundred dollars. The farm is under a superintendent, who manages to make it almost self-sustaining. The average of paupers on this place is about seven-a good showing for Wright county thrift and industry. Most of these unfortunates are old people.
ASSESSED VALUATION OF COUNTY IN 1884.
The records of the June, 1884, board proceedings show the following valuations : Value of land in the county, $1, 471,036; value of realty in towns, $136,200; railroads, $117,606; cattle, $06.645; horses, $104,101; shecp, $1,177: swine, $18,034; personal, $307,172. 'It should be remembered that under the rule then obtaining the "assessed" value was much lower than it is at present.
"CASHI ON HAND."
In January, 1907, the county treasurer had on hand one hundred thon- sand dollars, the most the county had ever had up to that date. It may be stated, however, that a goodly portion of this amount belonged to the ditch fund and was soon to be paid out for work on such improvements in the county.
WOLF SCALPS WERE HIGH.
In 1913 the county auditor paid out sixty dollars for three wolf scalps under the new law providing for such a price, in order to rid the county of these pests, which made great havoc here in years gone by. These three wolves were all captured along the Boone river.
THE SWAMP LAND FUND.
Wright county was not so fortimate in disposing of her interests in what was known as "the swamp lands," which were apportioned by the state or general government, as was many another county in lowa. For instance, Hamilton county, just to the south of this, after many years finally disposed of enough of such lands, or moneys derived from the sale of the same, to erect a twenty-five thousand-dollar court house, completed in 1876. In many counties speculators and county sharks, working through designing, untrue and dishonest men, squandered all such funds. These lands were originally set apart for the purpose of draining certain portions of the state of lowa.
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The lands were given the counties by the government for such purpose, and it was up to the various counties to make such disposition of them as they saw fit. In cases where there were no swamp lands the county had the right to select certain lands in other counties in the state for such purpose. Out of this, the various county judges and earlier boards of county supervisors, in some counties, used and abused this gift of the land department of the gov- ernment, with fearful consequences to the honest tax-payers. For instance, they would contract with certain parties to construct a bridge and pay for the same in "swamp land" scrip. Possibly the bridge would turn out to be only a straw or prairie-hay bridge over some prairie slough, and for the same hundreds of acres of valuable land were bartered away, the several parties to the transaction dividing the spoils. The early railroads took advantage of this situation and sought to get large tracts of this land, amounting in all to thousands of acres, to aid in constructing a railroad. The lands passed into their hands at the hands of county officials, but the roads were never built. Wright county got very little, in the end, from her former swamp land appor- tionment, which was more than seven thousand acres. These lands were not available in Wright county when the act went into effect, and were mostly located in Kossuth county.
The first board of county supervisors for Wright county, which board went into session in the first week in January, 1861, employed Hon. D. D. Chase, of Webster City, father of State Senator D. C. Chase, to investigate the interests of the county in these lands, and contracted to give him ten per cent. of all lands or serip obtained for his services, but before he was able to accomplish much in this direction the board soll the county's interest, in July, 1862, to the American Emigrant Company, an eastern corporation, that proved to be a gigantic swindle, almost equal to that of the well-known Des Moines River Navigation Co., which sought to obtain, and did obtain, thou- sands of acres of the finest land within the now prosperous Des Moines val- ley. This company promised to bring about navigation on that stream as far as the headwaters of the river, but, as a matter of fact, never ran a steam- boat farther upstream than Des Moines City, and that one only during the high waters of June, 1857. The selling of the Wright county swamp lands to this American Emigrant Company, which had speciously promised to bring to this western Iowa country thousands of industrious settlers, was a very peculiar bargain, indeed. The county was not aware of the extent of its real interests, and although the company was required to give a consideration of five hundred dollars. it was tied up with conditions, such as making
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improvements, selling to actual settlers, etc., that it was not able to fill its part of the contract ; consequently, it is found, by reading over the records of that day, that in January, 1877, D. D. Miracle, of Webster City, later judge, was employed by Wright county to prosecute the claim against the American Emigrant Company to nullify its title. This terminated in a long- drawn-out lawsuit, in which the emigrant company was defeated. This suit restored the swamp lands to Wright county, but it also involved the payment of attorney fees amounting to five thousand dollars. To settle that claim the county made a new bargain with its attorney, by which he was to settle all accounts against the county in consequence of the swamp land deal and receive as compensation one-half of all the lands reclaimed or restored. This bargain required that the attorney repay. certain moneys that had been advanced to him, which may have been embarrassing to him, for, in April, 1878, a new bargain was made by which he was to settle all costs as before stipulated, except the warrants obtained from Wright county, and then receive as full remuneration one thousand seven hundred acres of land from the swamp land grant, and the balance of the Kossuth lands, four thousand one hundred and twenty acres, was conveyed to the agent of the American Emi- grant Company. The price was undoubtedly low, but the company still had a claim that it did not propose to relinquish. Furthermore, Wright county had, about five years before that date, given as a bonus to a couple of rail- road-construction companies, which proposed to build railroads in this county. these lands, and though these contractors had forfeited their rights, they had not relinquished their claims, and trouble was liable to ensure from that source, therefore it is likely the county did the best thing it could have done at that late date. This deal, however, did not take in the lands actually within this county, but such apportionments as had been made in Kossuth-the six thousand acres. In 1802 there were still three hundred and twenty acres of swamp land in Wright county, that being situated in Wall Lake township. This in brief, is the story of swamp lands in Wright county --- a story show - ing little revenue and less profit to the people of the county.
In June, 1912, the Wall Lake swamp lands were sold to the highest bidder. C. M. Haas, of Eldora, purchased five of the forty-acre tracts; W. H. Gade, of Iowa Falls, secured two pieces and S. W. Patterson, of Galt, one tract. The last named brought fifty-one dollars an acre, double its appraised vahe, all the tracts being sold for much in excess of their appraisement.
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COST OF COUNTY DRAINAGE.
Wright county has of recent years constructed hundreds of miles of open ditches and canals for the drainage of its lands. It is not practical here to enter into all the array of engineer's figures, showing the vast amount of land drained and the cost in the more than one hundred and thirty different drainage districts, together with the cost of each. However, in order to give a comprehensive view of the cost, thus far, on these great public works, which are still being pushed forward, year by year, the following figures as to the cost of many of these districts ( where work is practically completed ) are here presented: No. 2. $22,611; No. 3, $32,000; No. 4, $29.980; No. 5, $0,500; No. 7. $32,500; No. 10, $40,179; No. , $12,200; No. 13, $3,700; No. 14, $40,000; No. 16. $6,000; No. 18, $6,500; No. 19, $18,000; No. 20, $7,500; No. 23, $3,600: No. 27. $14,175: No. 28, $4,000; No. 30, $9,000; No. 32, $11,900; No. 33. $2,900; No. 34, $8,200; No. 35, $5. 299: No. 30. $00,824; No. 55, $10,000; No. 71, $2,400; No. 72, $8,500; No. 75, $2,900; No. 76, $10,000: No. 77. $5,500: No. So, $17,200; No. 81, $0.500; No. 84. $8,800; No. 85 $4.900; No. 86 $18,25; No. 88 $11940; No. 89, $3,300; No. 91, $3,572: No. 25. $2,450; No. 78. $7.271; No. 93. $15.986; No. 95. $1.855: No. 97, $5.739; No. 103. $7.511; No. 38, $2,200; No. 39, $13.330; No. 40, $11,000; No. 41, $76,225: No. 42, $3,000; No. 46, $4.700: No. 48. $4,116: No. 49. $4,900; No. 50, $3,250; No. 52, $12,000; No. 53, $2,500; No. 56, $9,600; No. 57. $4,600: No. 58, $5.500; No. 60, $6,660; No. 61, $16.480; No. 62, $13,000; No. 63. $8,800; No. 64, $3.400; No. 65. $5,500; No. 67, $6.475, making a grand total of over $791,000.
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