USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading Events in Johnson County, Iowa, History > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
WIND MILL AT "BLOOMINGTON"
once more. To enumerate the various industries established here is sufficient to give an idea of the power available. In the order of their establishment these have been: Flouring mills, woolen mills, long since shut down and out of date, paper mills, destroyed by an explosion in 1875 and then rebuilt; saw mills, which fed upon the timber in the "big grove"; machine shops, planing mill, oat meal mill, and last of all the electric light power house, and now practically all that is left.
.
The beginnings of the Iowa City Manufacturing Company may be stated as through adoption of "Articles of Associa-
27
Digitized by Google
416
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
tion" in April, 1843. This meeting for the purposes of "im- proving the natural advantages with which they were en- dowed," was held by a number of leading citizens at the Ameri- can Hotel. John M. Coleman, the chairman of the committee appointed for the purpose, reported on the organization. Ten thousand dollars was the capital stock, as determined in the be- ginning, which might be increased to thirty thousand as the di- rectors might determine later. Shares were twenty-five dollars each and work was to commence when four thousand dollars in stock were subscribed. A site for the erection of hydraulic works on the city plat or in its vicinity, and "the securing of ample privileges for the conveyance of water and erection of a dam" were the duties first assigned to the directors.
A committee was appointed at this meeting to examine the ground for proposed sites and to make an estimate of the prob- able expense of canaling, building a dam and other items that might be necessary to consider. This committee included David Switzer, Wm. McCormick, John M. Coleman, Chauncey Swan, and Cyrus Sanders.
A committee was also appointed for opening the books for stock subscription. There were five members, John Powell, Silas Foster, W. L. Gilbert, Walter Butler, and S. H. McCrory.
By an act, approved February 15, 1843, the county commis- sioners in counties containing navigable streams were author- ized to grant permits to construct dams across these streams under certain restrictions. Whether this act applied to the present mill construction depended entirely on the question of the possible navigation of the Iowa river. The commissioners were to have supervising control over these improvements so as to provide for the "free passage of all streams for keel and flat boats, rafts and other water craft." No two dams should be nearer than two miles of each other, unless the board should consider it advisable and should so direct.
By May 20, 1843, the stock subscribed for this new company amounted to $7,000, at which time five directors were chosen to manage the affairs of the concern as before mentioned. The enterprise was commended to the farmers of the community who, it was suggested, "might subscribe for stock and pay for it in produce supplied to the workmen." The meeting for the election of directors was held at the new Mechanics' Academy
Digitized by Google
.
i
1
!
:
1
- --- i i
417
MILLS AND LIVE STOCK
on May 17, 1843. A resolution was adopted here determining who could not be a director. It reads: "Resolved, That no person having an interest in lands adjoining the Iowa River, at or above the town of Iowa City, shall be eligible to the office of director."
In less than three months from the time of organization the company had the ten thousand dollars in stock subscribed and it is mentioned that the stockholders were composed chiefly of those who were doing the work of construction on the property of the Mill Company. The dam projected was to be three hun- dred feet in length which was to furnish power for a flouring mill and a saw mill on this property. The purpose was later to bring this head of water into the city, since there was a fall of fifteen feet in the distance. It was about this same time also that the stockholders were notified to make the first payment of ten percent on their stock, in order that the company could continue the construction. Soon after, in 1844, the company was incorporated by act of the territorial legislature and it became The Iowa City Manufacturing Company.3"1 An inter- esting advertisement appears in the papers of Iowa City in December, 1843, which it is not altogether improper to quote:
"Who Wants Bread?
"The proprietors of the Iowa City Manufacturing Com- pany have the pleasure to inform the Citizens of this com- munity that they will be ready to receive Wheat and other grain at their Mill for the purpose of grinding on the first day of January next.
"S. Foster, Secretary I. C. M. Co. "Iowa City, Dec. 23, 1843."
A little less than two years from this time the company advertised its site and power for sale, not public, but private, by the president and board of directors. The power then avail- able was capable so it was declared, "of propelling from eighty to one hundred pairs of four and one-half or five foot burrs." The company owned two acres of land on the east side of the river and about three-fourths of an acre on the west side. The dam was constructed of square timber and rock and was ad- mitted to be one of the best of its kind in this western country, perhaps the best "west of the Mississippi." One statement
Digitized by Google
.
418
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
here, judging from this time in the history of the vicinity, sounds large, namely : "There is a large body of timber land extending thirty or forty miles up the Iowa River, from the dam, which will for all time to come furnish a sufficient quan- tity of timber for all necessary purposes."
Several propositions were at various times before the citi- zens for bringing water power to the city by canal and dam, none of which matured. Three routes were mentioned: The first was on the city plat where the fall was found to be but eleven inches, insufficient for any practical purpose unless a dam was raised high enough to be independent of the fall of the river which would require one ten feet high. The second route proposed was from a point near the center of section
-
CORALVILLE DAM
thirty-four, in township eighty, now a part of East Lucas township. This route, if one will examine any of the maps used in Chapter VI in this volume, would secure all the fall in the river for a distance of probably three miles and require a canal for one mile. The committee ap- pointed for estimating and surveying these routes reported on the second as practicable but beyond the capital of the pres- ent company, since by neat calculation it could not be con- trolled for less than $60,000. There would need to be a tunnel
Digitized by Google
419
MILLS AND LIVE STOCK
of half a mile in length, of at least six by eight feet, and the balance would average a cut of twenty-five feet.
The third route from Walter Butler's to Iowa City, they deemed practicable, and within the amount of capital proposed to be invested by the company. This began on the east side of the Iowa river opposite Walter Butler's house from which point it then passed by "a southeasterly direction to the bluff S18 feet, then following near the course of the bluff by various courses and distances 3,742 feet to the Rock Point; then fol- lowed near the course of the bluff to the terminus of line num- ber two [this was shown on their plat] at Coles, 4,217 feet; then changing to a southeastly course to station fifty-nine at the Rock point above the quarry, 1,980 feet;" from here it took nearly a straight course, southwest to a station eighty- three, opposite Dillon's Island, 4,680 feet. It continued from here to the south line of the city plat and then a short distance to the river, making the entire distance of the canal projected 18,000 feet, or nearly three and a half miles. This line gave a fall of seven feet and with the dam proposed a fall of fifteen feet while the estimated cost for this improvement was be- yond $17,000. This evidently was the attempt of the Manufac- turing company to carry out their original plan.
The original dam at Coralville was reconstructed in 1844 and a great feast celebrated the occasion when the gathering people were fed on the products of the mills then in running order under the management of the Iowa City Milling and Manufacturing Company. The corn bread and mush made from mill ground in their own plant added to the roast turkey, must have furnished a satisfactory reminder of the great re- sources of the surrounding country. These mills continued in the production of flour and its kindred products longer than any other in the county.
Terrell's dam was established by a special act of the legis- lature approved December 15, 1840, and has an interesting bistory which is now of the past, its work having been recently completed and its energy transferred. This dam built in 1843 was erected according to the requirements of the act establish- ing it. In 1845 a carding machine was added to the equipment, which is understood to be a machine to prepare wool for the spinning wheel. This was a great advantage, as before the
Digitized by Google
420
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
work must be done by hand-carding, a clumsy process at best, and requiring much time. So far as known the carding ma- chine of Terrell's mill is the only part of the machinery pre- served and it must be looked upon with veneration by those who may remember the white rolls of wool as they were re- turned to the homes after the completion of the work which had formerly taken so much drudgery to accomplish.342
The milling industry of the county would include the steam
OLD TERRELL MILL
flouring mills established at Oxford at different times, the first in 1871 or near that time, which were destroyed by the explosion of the power plant. The year of 1874 following the misfortune a larger and more substantial mill was erected, this also being improved again in 1881, until the capacity made it the most important institution of the kind in the county with the exception of the Coralville mills. Its grinding capacity was estimated at one hundred and seventy-five bushels per day, which was supplied by the local production of wheat even then beginning to decline, in favor of corn and stock raising.
The only mill now producing flour in this county is located in Iowa City, under the firm name of The Hummer Mill Com-
Digitized by Google
421
MILLS AND LIVE STOCK
pany. Its history is brief if considered only since the present plant was built, in 1906, after the old mill was burned. Many years ago it was owned by Joseph McConnell and his brother who sold to Lyman Parsons. It was then owned by dif- ferent parties when it came into possession of J. W. John- son by whom it was transferred to W. H. Ohern from whom it was purchased by the Hummer Company. At the time of its rebuilding the capacity was doubled, making it one hundred barrels or more per day. Some grain is brought from the hard wheat sections of the country for the purpose of improv- ing the flour. This mill is operated in connection with the Union bakery and the Hummer Mercantile Company, the lat- ter of forty years standing.
The growing of corn and live stock has made the milling industry of less importance so far as the making.of fine flour, locally, is concerned but it has made a market for much feed that has come to be demanded by economic farming, and the breeding of fine stock. The importance of improved stock did not become a question of much discussion until means of ship- ping were at hand. Cattle and hogs were raised in almost any fashion until then and usually in numbers sufficient only for home consumption and to carry dressed to market to exchange for a supply of cloth, since these were times when no cash. could be had for such a product. Men drove many miles to the Iowa City market and found on arrival that nothing but dry goods could be had for pork; the grocery supply was cash. Personal accounts are available showing that men were unable to obtain a lodging for the night on account of lacking the cash to secure it, being compelled to return long distances to their homes after night.
However when transportation was available and corn be- came a common crop the "hog" was urged as a profitable ani- mal for the farmer to put upon his farm. Some of the argu- ments used in 1859, and possibly a short time before, are still sound enough.
Darlington and Shepherd began the importation of fine breeds in the fall of 1859. These came from Chester county, Pennsylvania, and later the name remained as Chester White, the special individuals brought to Johnson county being prem- ium takers only a short time before. Just at that time they
Digitized by Google
422
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
took precedence of all hog varieties for economical returns to the farmer. For some time they were kept on exhibition at the hardware store of Shepherd, Carson and Company.348
In 1852, so it was stated, Le Grand Byington brought to this part of the state the first thoroughbred cattle, which importa- tion included the Herefords and Shorthorns. Thomas Lindley, Nicholas Winterstine (or Wintersteen), and T. W. Hempsted introduced the Durham cattle, while the popular Jersey be- longed to John Dilatush, and the Devon breed was the property of Franklin Kimball. However, this was but a small beginning and time was necessary to develop the sense of appreciation in those who were engaged in this live stock industry. Now it has been more than thirty years since the county became a center of importance for fine cattle and horses, perhaps more prominent then because of the attention given to large impor- tations.
The Holstein herd of Thos. B. Wales then held first place among fine breeds of cattle, since a famous cow belonging to him had made a world's record in the production of butter, having a total record from May 13 to June 11, 1883, of ninety- nine pounds, as reported under affidavit from her keeper and published in the current news.3" In other products of beef and milk this well-known herd led all. That such progress was made in a short period of time may have been due to the en- couragement of what was termed the Improved Stock Breeders Association of the county, which endeavored by active means to secure records like that of Mr. Wales. Information was sought on subjects of this character, and this may have induced many farmers to undertake the improvement of their herds, for there appears to have been a rapid increase in the growers of fancy stock during this particular period. Among these are found the names of Brown and Son, of Solon, Geo. Borland, E. W. Lucas, Cookson and Sons, W. A. Purdy, Samuel Cozine and Son, H. W. Lathrop, and Thos. McFarlane, who bred the Shorthorns; Thos. B. Wales, Jr., Carey R. Smith, who produced the Holsteins; C. T. Ransom, Levi Robinson, and John Dila- tush, who raised Jerseys; Gen. L. F. Ross and Thos. McFarlane, the Polled cattle; John N. Coldren bred Ayrshires ; Robert Den- ton the Herefords. There were also O. D. Goodrich's Wapsie and C. A. Vogt's Hambletoian horses; Mr. Bickford's Poland
Digitized by Google
!
--
423
MILLS AND LIVE STOCK
China hogs; and Wm. E. Pratt's Berkshires; W. A. Smith's noted Cleveland Bay horses, besides S. H. Thompson's and Isaac Weber's Merino sheep, not forgetting to mention Abner Bradley's native grade cattle.345
While a fine stock sale would be an ordinary event in these times, it was not so common less than thirty years ago when Carey R. Smith made his sale of Holsteins at Mount Prospect farm. Commenting on this sale a leading authority of the time said: "A thrill of regret has gone through every stockman as he has seen announced that our esteemed friend Carey R.
·
TERRELL'S MILL From a Drawing by Mrs. B. F. Shambaugh
Smith, of Iowa City, is compelled by failing health to offer for sale his real home-like place and his fine herd of Holsteins. Every member of the Stock Breeder's Association will receive this news with great reluctance. . . The Holstein people . will be again all aroused, for his noted cow 'Mink' - probably the best cow in the state - will be sold and a number of her calves." Moreover, the Homestead said editorially: "Mr. Smith will offer for sale as fine a farm as there is in Iowa, with ten thousand dollars worth of improvements, and a notable herd of Holsteins. There will be no better chance in the United States for years to come to get the choicest stock."
According to announcement on June 18, 1884, the farm was
Digitized by Google
424 HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
sold to General Ross for $13,700, and the following day the fine cattle went at auction for a total sum of $18,100 paid for fifty-five thoroughbreds. Thos. B. Wales, Jr., secured a large addition to his already fine herd of Holsteins. For the great record cow "Mink" alone, Mr. Wales paid $1,275. The auc- tioneer, Col. John Scott, of Nevada, Iowa, gave a "sketch" of the cow for the benefit of the bidders, in which he said: "There are many good and noted cows in the world, but in the nature of things there can be but one best, and she stands before you - the best cow in the world. She will yield in fourteen days an amount of milk greater than her own weight, having averaged seventy-nine pounds, from which was made three pounds, nine ounces of butter, and on June 7, [1884], she gave ninety-six pounds of milk, from which was made four pounds, eight ounces of butter." 846
In 1886 the National Horse Importing Company, a local con- cern, brought to the county from directly across the sea, a shipment of English Hackneys, Cleveland Bays, English Shires, French Draft, or Norman horses. Not many had ever seen the first breed mentioned, the kind from which the Eng- lish gentleman selects his roadsters and saddle horses.
These were purchased in their respective countries by Cap- tain Jordan for the company, and having been collected at Liverpool, they were shipped by way of Montreal to their des- tination in Johnson county, where the Smith farm, mentioned before, became the headquarters of the company. It was at this time that the following expression was used to describe the prospects: "This county is now the head center for fine stock, in the best stock state in the Union." 347
When these horses were exhibited at the state fair in the fall of 1887, in competition with the famous stables of the country, among them the Elwood show horses, of De Kalb, Illinois, the imported horse "Favorie," which Mr. Jordan brought from France, took the first prize over fifteen of the finest the coun- try produced. From here he was taken to Lincoln, Nebraska, and here the same prize was won in his class and sweepstakes prize over all ages. Eight horses belonging to the Importing Company of Johnson county were entered at these fairs, and they came home with seven first prizes and the one grand prize mentioned. At the same time the cattle breeders from John-
Digitized by Google
·
MILLS AND LIVE STOCK . 425
son county, General Ross and Mr. Wales, with their herds of Red Polled and Holsteins, were winning prizes at the state fairs of Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska. That the local fine stock interests were more than state-wide is indicated by the prominent places held by citizens of Johnson county in organ- izations of the stock men of the northwest. Thos. McFarlane was secretary of the Polled-Angus Association, General Ross being the president, while Thos. B. Wales, Jr., was secretary of the Holstein-Friesian Association, and Mr. Robinson presi- dent of the Jersey Association, Captain Jordan, of the Horse Importing Company, was president of the Draft Horse Asso- ciation, and Mr. Coldren was also connected officially with several fine stock organizations.
Contrasting the high state reached at this period with that of the first settlers before stock laws made it necessary or at all profitable to restrain, or control stock, when "any kind" of animal would do, it is only necessary to refer to the custom of marks which were adopted as a means of recognition when the claims were made for the property that ran loose. This custom, it may be mentioned, came from the early laws govern- ing the Northwest Territory which, in the main, were first adopted from the older states.
When animals ran about freely in the unfenced areas, from which they were rounded up occasionally when wanted for use there was need of some mark of identification. In order to make this serviceable and not subject to imitation it was placed on record with the county clerk. Among these are a few worth reviewing for the purpose of illustrating the "trade marks" of the forties.
Stephen Maynard secured the exclusive privilege of use of a mark described as a "square crop off the right ear;" Lem- uel Humphrey, "a square crop off the left ear and a slit in the right ear;" Edward Conlen, "a square crop off the left ear and an under bit out of each ear;" Patrick McAtee, "a slit in the left ear and an under bit in the same;" Jesse Berry, "a square crop off of each ear;" Absalom Dollarhide, "a crop and a slit in the left ear, and an under bit in the right;" Nathaniel Fellows must have been tender-hearted, for his mark was very simple, "an under bit out of the right ear;" Martin Harless, "a crop and an under bit off of each ear;" Abel Stevens, "a
Digitized by Google
-
426
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
swallow fork in the left ear and a crop off the right;" Edward 'T. Williams entered the following mark : "a square crop off the right ear and two slits in the same;" Oliver Thomas, " a square crop off the right ear and three slits in the same ear;" David Switzer, "a square crop off the left ear and two slits in the same ear;" David Henry, "a square crop off the left ear and an under bit in the right ear;" Charles Cartright, "a square crop off of each ear and an under bit in the right ear;" Arthur Roan, "a square crop off the left ear." John D. Abel must have searched the records to find a new combination, "a crop and a slit in the left ear and an under bit in the right ear;" John Shoup, "a square crop off the right ear and an under bit in the left ear." David Crozier recorded the following: "a square crop off the left ear and a slit in the same and a slit in the right ear." John Harless found a new but simple combina- tion, "an under bit out of each ear;" Henry Earhart used the one of Abel Stevens with variations, "a swallow fork in the right ear and an under bit in the left ear. Virgil Lancaster used "a slit in each ear;" Henry Clements, "a crop off the left ear and a slit in the right." All these were recorded in 1843 to 1845. John Wilson used "a square crop off the right ear and a slit in the same ear;" Michael Stagg, "a crop and an under bit out of each ear;" Michael McGinnis recorded the following: "a square crop off the right ear and a slit in the left;" Nathaniel Scales, "a crop and a slit in each ear and an under bit out of each ear." No mercy in this instance so far as the cutting of ears goes, nor the one following: Thomas D. Jones, "a crop and a slit in the left ear and an upper half crop and an under bit out of the right ear;" Sylvanus Johnson is the last one to complete the record here with "a square crop off of each ear and a slit in each." 848
Doubtless there were many other marks than the ones men- tioned as a matter of record, for men recognized the rights of property owners to the exclusive use of a brand if notice was duly given. This might lead to the imitation among the un- scrupulous, and doubtless did cause some trouble before any law became effective to prevent stock from running at large.
Digitized by Google
---- --
CHAPTER XXV
Early Industries and the County Fair
T HE "machine made" has not all been conducive to added social welfare. The comforts of the "home-made" were not exaggerated when the good butter and cheese of the early settler was placed upon the market, for it was not "doctored" in any patent way. It has been said that the produce of the homes of the county in cheese and butter was shipped to far distant markets, the cheese unboxed, and the butter "dry packed in rolls," and according to the statement of the ship- pers, John Powell and C. H. Buck, they never lost a cheese or roll of butter in the transit.
Weaving and spinning were found in almost every home, except, as one has said, "in the homes of certain Iowa City peo- ple and the cabins of the bachelors, while the needy neighbor was assisted by the more fortunate friend." In 1840 Susan Den- nison was weaving cloth for herself and her neighbor's family. A little later, Fanny Douglass, Sarah Douglass, and their sis- ter, Mrs. Eliza Marvin, having grown the flax, dressed, spun and wove it into a fine article of linen cloth. Not only this but jeans and linsey-woolsey, which is cloth made from the mixing of linen and wool, were made by these women at their homes in Oxford township. Cloth was woven in the north- eastern part of the county, in the present limits of Cedar town- ship, in 1839, by Mrs. S. B. Trotter, while in the southeastern part, Mrs. Elizabeth Walker and Miss Mary Stover were en- gaged in the same occupation. Mrs. Polly Hudson set the loom to work in the neighborhood now comprised in Jefferson town- ship, while far to the south of her was the industrious house- hold of Mrs. Seahorn in Liberty township.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.