USA > Iowa > Appanoose County > Past and present of Appanoose County, Iowa : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. I > Part 16
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Let a depression of the lower Mississippi valley take place, whereby the sea shall flow in and cover these "cypress swamps" during a long procession of years, and a coal bed will result. It appears from the researches of Liebig and other eminent chemists, that when wood and vegetable matter are buried in the earth, exposed to moisture, and partially or entirely excluded from the air. they
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decompose slowly and evolve carbonic-acid gas, thus parting with a portion of their original oxygen. By this means, they become gradually converted into lignite, or wood coal, such as is found in the Tertiary beds of Wyoming, and which contains a larger proportion of hydrogen than wood does. A continuance of the decomposition changes this lignite into common or bituminous coal, chiefty by the discharge of carbureted hydrogen, or the gas by which we illuminate our cities and houses. The disengagement of all these gradually transforms ordinary or bituminous coal into the anthracite found in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The gases and water which are made to penetrate through the cracks in the rocks forming above the coal, are probably effective as metamorphic agents, by increased temperature derived from the interior. It is well known that at the present period thermal waters and hot vapors burst out from the earth during earthquakes, and these would not fail to promote the disengagement of volatile matter in the carboniferous rocks.
The whole subject is of absorbing interest, but the above outline must suffice. especially as enough has been said to account for the origin of the Middle Car- boniferous bed, which is the sole matter in hand. It is enough to add that, in all about one hundred and fifty species of vegetable life have been discovered among the fossil remains in the various coal fields of the world.
LOCAL OBSERVATIONS
It is stated that the first coal shaft ever sunk in the country was by B. F. Kindig, who found the coal bed about sixteen feet below the limestone rock which crops out in the vicinity. This was in 1863 or 1864, but coal had been known to exist in the county long before, for it crops out in several places along Shoal Creek and its tributaries, and had been mined for several years for lócal uses.
The shaft of the Appanoose Coal Company, near the railway junction at Centerville, was sunk, it is said, twenty or thirty feet below where the coal was afterward found. An experienced miner suggested that a side drift be made at a depth of one hundred and twenty feet. The experiment was tried, and the coal was found a few fcet from the shaft. Other shafts have been sunk below where the coal ought to lie, and trunks of trees, buried in clay, have been found, indicating that the coal has, since its formation, been gashed and broken by some disturbing cause. This would seem to have been a local upheaval, for the reason that the limestone overlying the coal, lying west and south of Centerville. has a positive dip toward the southwest of perhaps fifteen degrees, which can be ascertained by visiting the mine owned by Mr. Kindig, and that worked by Mr. McClard. Further, the coal bed itself dips at the same angle. The bed probably does not possess this dip for any great distance, for, as stated above, it appears near water mark along Shoal creek, and along the streams in the north- west part of the county. The line of disturbance or breakage then passes nearly north and south in the vicinity of Centerville.
The following is given as the order in which the rocks were found in sinking the shaft of Oliver. Phillips & Dargaval's mine, in the eastern part of Centerville about the year 1875. after passing through the surface of soil and clay: Hard lime-rock, 8 feet ; soapstone ; hard sand-rock. 2 feet ; soapstone : limestone, nearly
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4 feet ; soapstone ; limestone, i foot ; soapstone; "black rock" or shale, 2 feet ; coal. The sand-rock appears between two layers of lime-rock, in the ledge near Talbot's mill, on Cooper creek, but the soapstone is wanting, having apparently thinned out or been dissolved away by the action of water. The rock near lal- bot's is filled with fossils from top to bottom, all apparently of the same species.
The shaft of the Watson Coal Company, a short distance south of the Rock Island depot, is stated to have shown the following stratifications: Soil, clay and gravel, So feet ; hard lime-rock, laying in layers and broken by joints, 12 feet : shale and soapstone. 8 feet : fossil-bearing ( mountain) limestone, 9 feet ; black slate, 15 feet ; lime-rock, 3 feet ; shale, 16 feet ; lime-rock, 3 feet ; slate 4 feet ; lime-rock, 6 feet : coal. 3 feet. It may be noticed as a curious circumstance that the sand bed in the Oliver mine and at Talbot's Mill is wanting in the Watson mine. However, as many layers are entirely wanting in the lowa coal system which are noticed elsewhere, these local variations may be expected.
In some places in the western part of the county, a thin layer of coal or shale has been noticed, which goes to show that the Upper Carboniferous touches Appanoose on the west. The group of rocks covering the coal belong to the "mountain limestone." as named by Dana and sanctioned by Lyell.
APPANOOSE COAL MINES
The coal industry of AAppanoose county has reached vast proportions in the past few years, as the products of over fifty mines will attest. In the year ending December 11, 1911, there were taken from the bowels of the earth in this county, one and one-third millions tons of coal, which meant the employment of over three thousand men and a vast expenditure of money for labor and work- ing material. Most if not all, of the money was spent in the county and as a consequence, the operating of the mines has increased the wealth of the county to a very appreciable extent. From the fact that the lands of Appanoose county are teeming with coal,-rich and deep veins of the black diamond of a splendid quality, -- the owners of these lands, many of them, have become enriched from royalties received on the coal mined and unmined and from the products of the soil. Appanoose coal finds a ready market and from shafts dotted here and there in different parts of the county comes a steady stream of the article that is shipped broadcast over the land.
A list of the mines now operating in the county follows :
Peacock-Peacock Coal Company, owners, Brazil.
Walnut Block-Walnut Block Coal Company, owners, Brazil.
Laneville-Louis Anderson, owner. Centerville.
No. 30-Carbon Block Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Center and Dewey-Center Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Nos. 1, 2. 3. 5. 9 and 10-Centerville Block Coal Company, owners, Center- ville.
Citizens-Citizens Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Koontz-J. A. Koontz, owner, Centerville.
Maggie Lynn-Maggie Lynn Coal Company, owners, 103 South Main street. Centerville.
Monitor-Monitor Coal Company, ( J. Hitchins), owner. Centerville.
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Oriental-Oriental Coal & Mining Company, owners, Centerville.
Peerless, Nos. 2, 5 and 6-Peerless Coal Company, (Lee Brothers), owners, Centerville.
Phoenix-Phoenix Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Streepy-A. G. Widmer, owner, Centerville.
Scandinavian, Nos. I and 2-Scandinavian Coal Company, owners, Center- ville.
Sunshine-Sunshine Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Trio-Dan Clark, owner, Centerville.
White Oak-White Oak Coal Company, owners, Centerville.
Woodland-Woodland Coal Company, owners, 916 West Washington street, Centerville.
Armstrong-Armstrong Coal Company, owners, Cincinnati.
Domestic-Domestic Coal Company, owners, Cincinnati.
Hocking Valley-F. C. Hand, owner, Cincinnati.
Thistle, Nos. 1, 2 and 3-Thistle Coal Company, owners, Cincinnati.
Guinn-I. A. Guinn Coal Company, owners .. Dean.
Morrow-Evans & Morrow Coal Company, owners, Dean.
Exline, Nos. 1 and 2-Exline Coal Company, owners, Exline.
No. 1-Iowa Block Coal Company, owners, Exline.
Royal-Royal Block Coal Company ( P. N. May), owner, Exline.
Sundeen-Sundeen Coal & Mining Company, owners, Exline.
Big Four-Consumers' Coal Company, owners. Jerome.
Acken-Acken Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
Barrett-Barrett Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
Beggs-Beggs Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
No. 5-Diamond Block Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
Egypt Block, No. 1-Egypt Coal Company (A. B. Duddy), owner, Mystic.
Orville, No. 6-Interocean Coal Company ( James Horridge), owner, Mystic.
Nos. 3. 12, 22 and 29-Lodwick Brothers Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
Little Creek-Charles Galagher, Cowan & Booth, owners, Mystic.
Horridge, Nos. 1 and 2-Mystic Coal Company ( James Horridge), owner, Mystic.
Lady Mary (Lodwick )-Winifred Coal Company, owners, Mystic.
Nos. 1. 2 and 3-Anchor Coal Company (also in Wapello county). owners. Ottumwa.
Rathbun, No. 1-Fowler-Wilson Coal Company, owners, Ottumwa.
Rosebrook-Farmers Coal Company ( Anderson & Mcveigh ), owners, Rath- bun.
Darby, No. 1-Unity Block Coal Company, owners. Rathbun.
Numa, No. I-Numa Block Coal Company ( also in Wayne county), owners, Seymour.
No. 1 and Juckett-Big Jo Block Coal Company, owners. 407 Dearborn street. Chicago.
Albert and Appanoose-Mendota Coal Company (also in Missouri), owners, Mendota, Missouri.
Martin Block Coal Mine-Martin Block Coal Company, owners, Numa.
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
STREAMS
The Chariton river is the principal stream in Appanoose county. The main stream takes its rise in Lucas county and enters Appanoose near the northwest corner. The south fork of the same stream rises in Clark and Decatur counties, and discharges into the main stream on section 14, Independence. The union of the two forms a considerable stream, which takes a southeastern direction through the county, passing into the state of Missouri between Caldwell and Wells town- ships. There are several mill sites along the river, which have been made avail- able for many years. Thirty years ago, the river was regarded as sufficiently for- midable to require the establishment of ferries. This stream empties into the Missouri river.
South Fox and Middle Fox rise in Washington township, and the north fork of the same stream rises in U'dell. These flow eastward into Davis county and thence to the Mississippi.
South Soap rises in Taylor, and North Soap in Union. These are tributaries of Fox river.
Big Walnut creek rises in Wayne county and flows in a direction north of east. through Johns. Bellair and Walnut, and discharges into the Chariton.
Cooper creek drains the southern part of Lincoln, flows through Bellair, the northern part of Center, receiving the water of Hickory creek north of Center- ville and emptying into the Chariton in Sharon.
Shoal creek originates in Wayne county, passes through the northern part of Franklin and Pleasant, and in the latter takes a southeastern direction into Caldwell. and flows thence into Missouri.
There are numerous other small streams and but few sections in Appanoosc are destitute of running streams.
Appanoose this lies on the water shed separating the Missouri and Missis- sippi rivers, the Chariton draining into the former great stream, and the Fox into the latter.
TIMBER
This county enjoyed above most Iowa counties, a very equal distribution of timbered and prairie land, almost every little stream having been skirted with timber. Hence, the groves, which in other counties become distinctive features and landmarks to the pioneers, known by characteristic names, were not often so designated in Appanoose and localities were designated by the streams or by the names of pioneer settlers. "Packard's Grove," east of Chariton, was, however, and still remains a well known landmark.
CHAPTER VILL
THE FIRST WHITE MEN IN APPANOOSE COUNTY-DRAGOON TRMIL AND BEE TRACE -- MORMONS-FIRST PERMANENT SETTLER-OTHERS CLOSE ON HIS HEELS-FIRST WEDDING-FIRST LAND ENTRIES AND DEED RECORDED-THE CIRCUIT RIDER, ETC.
The first white men to traverse the soil of Appanoose county, so it is said, were of a company of dragoons, who departed from the island of Rock Island. then known as Fort Armstrong, in the summer of 1832, with the purpose of reconnoitering the country as far west as Kansas. The company, taking a southwesterly course, struck the locality now known as Agency, in Wapello county. Other points touched by the dragoons in their way were the future sites of the villages of Drakesville and Moulton. They then struck off south- west through Appanoose and entered Missouri near the southwest corner of Franklin township. The country between this county and Davenport had not been at that time organized into civil divisions. In fact the treaty between the Sacs and Fox Indians, ceding the land, had not been completed and, as a matter of fact, the country had not come under the jurisdiction of the govern- ment, to the extent of throwing it open for settlement. Appanoose county was at this time terra incognita to the whites and the dragoons from Fort Arm- strong, as far as is known, were the first white men to tread its soil. They met the owners of the prairies, the hills, the streams and their wild inhabitants, the Sacs and Fox Indians, who were soon to give over their birthright to the "pale faces" and be driven from their hunting grounds.
The dragoons left a trail that for some time after their departure was notice- able to the hardy pioneer who happened this way. Joseph Shaddon, who lived in the county at one time, and was well known to the late Dr. Sturdivant, made the statement to him, that he tramped over a good part of Appanoose county in 1833, hunting for deer and other animals and found many deer and wild turkeys. Shaddon, the first hunter and trapper to visit this section, of which there is any record, noticed the tracks of the dragoons and said they were cast of the Chariton river and in the neighborhood of Moulton. However, pros- pectors coming into the county, with the view of looking up claims, found two trails, the one made by the dragoons; the other had a general trend of Bee Trace, in Washington township, and was known by that name by the Missou- rians. This "trace" may have been made by the Indians, but early settlers declare the trail was really a wagon road, as traces of wheel tracks were plainly visible. These tracks, it might be well to say, were probably made by bee hunters. who hauled the honey, then abounding in the hollow of trees, in wagons to their homes in the wilderness. Joseph Shaddon is accredited with being the first civil-
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
ian to enter this region. But the claim is set up for William Kirby, that he was here in 1839, and that he found bee trees in profusion, having in their forks or hollow trunks large stores of delicious honey, which he procured and conveyed to his home in Putnam county, Missouri.
THE MORMONS
The history of the religio-political sect designated as the Mormons, is generally known. By reason of doctrines expounded and certain practices performed they were driven from pillar to post and in 1838 and 1839 began their great movement to the northwest, which terminated at Salt Lake City. Dissensions arose in their ranks and many who believed in the main tenets of Mormonism refused to believe in or adhere to the advanced ideas of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and seceded. Many of these people while on the move toward the mecca of Mormonism passed along the dragoon trail through Appanoose county and some remained here and formed the nucleus of the Church of the Latter Day Saints, still in existence in this county. Large bodies of Mormons passed over this route through this country and made the road so distinct and passable that it was long designated by many as the "Mormon trail."
FIRST PERMANENT SETTLER
A history of Appanoose county was written in the year 1878 and published by the Western Historical Society. From what the compiler of this work can gather by strenuous research, the history is as true a relation of facts as con- ditions would permit when the work of research was in progress. It was much easier in that day, however, to gather the data for a local history than now. Then a great many of the first settlers were living and in their prime. They were just emerging from a primary state, so to speak, and the recollection of the first years spent in this new country was still fresh in their memories. The men and women who had left comfortable homes in the castern states and friends of a life time, coming here when there was nothing to greet their eyes but a wilderness, the haunt of wild animals and untamed savages, still were here and were brimming over with tales of their early fears, privations and struggles in building new homes, new towns and cities and should have been seen and interviewed. But they were not and posterity is the loser.
Few there are today, who know out of their own experience what were the conditions of this section when thrown open for settlement by the government. There are men and women still living, who can tell you of the experiences here of fifty or sixty years ago in this county, but they are few in number and becom- ing less as the days go by. Those who can tell you of the early days of Appa- noose know of events, but are woefully lacking in names and dates, the most salient and important features of any occurrence. So it is that the historian of the present day, if not possessed of unlimited time and patience. is sadly handicapped in his researches and his readers are deprived of their just dues.
This digression is the result of a doubt in the writer's mind as to who was the first settler in Appanoose county. The former history, heretofore men- tioned, places the distinction on Ewen Kirby, a young Missourian, who came
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
into the county in 1838, and built a cabin near the cast line of Pleasant town- ship and not far from the present village of Cincinnati. Here Kirby lived with his family and trafficked with the Indians for about two years. At the expira- tion of that time he gathered up his family treasures, burned down his cabin and departed with his family for other scenes of activity. To Ewen Kirby, while living in the county and in the year 1838, was born, most probably, the first white child in the county. The baby was named Elizabeth, who grew to womanhood and married a Missourian by the name of Tate. Elizabeth's aunt, Mrs. William Kirby, whose husband gathered honey along the bee trace in 1839, resided in this county nearly a half century, part of which time was spent with her daughter, in Caldwell township, whose husband was Dr. J. H. Worthington, who came to this county in 1846 and was the first "regular" physician to locate in this section of the country.
If two years' residence in a community is sufficient duration to establish what may be termed a permanent residence, then Kirby was the first settler, or pioneer, of Appanoose county. Those who are versed in matters of this kind are permitted to solve the problem to their own satisfaction. Kirby was a resident of the county two years, that seems to be undisputed. He built a log cabin on a tract of land and established his family therein. He also culti- vated a patch of ground and, as he came here mainly for that purpose, it is presumed he bartered and traded with the Indians.
PERMANENT IMPROVEMENTS
The first person to enter the county and take up a claim, locating thereon and making permanent improvements, was Colonel James Wells, who selected a tract of land in section 16, township 67 ( Wells), range 16, in the summer of 1839, one year before Kirby had left. On this land, near the timber, Wells put up a rudely-constructed log cabin, in which he installed his family and a few household goods. Two years following his location he constructed a saw- mill on his claim and sawed the logs that entered into the construction of habi- tations for his neighbors, who had come in the preceding year. This was no great task, however. The Wells family had no neighbors until Adolphus Stevens and Austin Jones took up claims in the locality in 1841. Stevens stayed, improved his holdings and added to his possessions. He remained on this farm over forty years. Jones was not a "stayer" and after a few years of "roughing it," sold out and went to California. It is very probable that in 1841, Jack Klinkenbeard was a settler in the Stevens neighborhood, but if he was, nothing remains to identify him with the pioneers of the county.
J. F. STRATTON
J. F. Stratton must be placed in the honorary list of pioneers of Appanoose county. for it was as early as the year 1841 when, leaving his family in St. Francisville, Missouri, he found his way here in search of a claim and selected what he desired in section 2, township 67 ( Pleasant ), range 18, and about a mile cast of the present village of Cincinnati. On this land Mr. Stratton built a cabin and then returned to Missouri for his family and chattels. Prior to this
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HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY
and while prospecting for a claim, Stratton had left a chest of tools with a Mr. Robinson, who was then living in a cabin just over the Iowa line in Missouri, and Mr. Stratton said that Robinson was the only settler in that vicinity. If this is true the claim made for one Jack Vinton that he was a settler near "the spring" as early as 1837 has been refuted, as Mr. Stratton saw no evidence of a habitation anywhere in that locality.
"UNDESIRABLE CITIZENS"
That part of the county now known as Caldwell township was probably inhabited about the year 1841, or shortly thereafter, by a man named Moore, who was certainly, to use an expression of President Roosevelt, an "undesir- able citizen," if it were true, as was broadly hinted at the time, that he was possessed of too many wives. He came to stay, as his building of a cabin indi- cated. But officers of the law got on his trail and when the doors of the peni- tentiary closed upon him his career as a citizen of Appanoose county came to an unsavory end.
William Level was another "undesirable," who sought the tall timber of Appanoose for a habitation and a place of seclusion. He came to the locality now within the confines of Caldwell and settled down with one wife, and what may be termed, a near wife, a young woman called Jane, for whom, in the Mormon fashion, he built a separate cabin. But one man maintaining two fami- lies in the manner laid down by Level was not according to the code of ethics even at that day. Some time in 1844 he was arrested, convicted of the charge brought against him and sentenced to jail. There being no institution of that kind at hand, he was placed in charge of a deputy sheriff, who gave him em- ployment as a clerk, accepting his word that he would not attempt to escape. He was allowed to spend Sunday with his "families" and in the course of time Level, with both women, sold his property and went to California. The girl while here bore children and was attended by Dr. Worthington, who related the facts in the case as here stated.
Colonel James Wells' family secured neighbors in the fall of 1841, or spring of 1842, when William Cooksey and family settled not far from their cabin. In 1842 Solomon Hobbs made a claim not very far away, in town- ship 69 (Caldwell), range 17. About this time Robert Caughran and George Buckner also made locations in the southern part of the county. Other set- tlers came into the county in the spring of 1842 and put up rude habitations of logs, the furniture of which was mostly "homemade."
All these settlements in the county up to this time were in direct opposition to the treaty ceding the lands to the government, which prohibited settlement on the land until May 1, 1843, and under the treaty no white man was even allowed to go upon the land for any purpose. Notwithstanding these inhibi- tions, settlers came into the Indian country and took their chances of remain- ing unmolested. Some were fortunate, as the Wells, Stevens. Cookseys. Jones, Buckner and Caughrans, but others were not. for in the summer of 1842, a party of dragoons from the post at Agency, Wapello county, was sent out
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under instructions from the war department, to warn off the settlers and destroy their improvements. Many of them lost all they possessed and were driven out of the country.
A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY
Tales of the beauty and fertility of the country had reached the people of the middle, eastern and southern states. The "Black Hawk Purchase" then became a loadstone, which drew from the older and thickly populated states the ambitious and courageous men and women who desired better opportuni- ties for making a living and building homes for themselves and their children. Months before the day set for the opening of the new country to settlements, its borders were crowded with impatient men and women, who with their chil- dren and a few household necessaries, were waiting anxiously and eagerly the word to proceed to the land of promise and choose from the millions of acres of farms to suit their individual tastes. Soon the western borders of the "Black Hawk Purchase," up the principal streams, began to take on a new life and the habiliments of civilization. First, the timber country was the more sought after and chosen, for little faith was then placed in the virtue and productiveness of the open prairie land. But it was not long before this great mistake became apparent and the prairies were turned into farms that are now the wonder and admiration of the world. Jowa, "the beautiful land," was "a sight to delight the eyes of all comers from every land-its noble streams, beau- tiful and picturesque hills and valleys, broad and fertile prairies, extending as far as the eye could reach, with a soil surpassing in richness anything they had ever seen. It is not to be wondered at that immigration into lowa was rapid and that within less than a decade from the organization of the territory it contained 150,000 people."
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