USA > Iowa > Buena Vista County > Past and present of Buena Vista County, Iowa > Part 5
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
off to their camp his seventeen year old daughter, Hattie, keeping her in their camp all night. They also took a younger girl. Emma, ten years old. but she resisted so hard and cried so lustily that an Indian picked up a stick and whipped her all the way back to the cabin. A neighbor. Enoch Taylor, was at the Mead home, and he was knocked down, his son being kieked into the fireplace, burning him so that he carried the scar on his leg for years. Mrs. Taylor was taken from her home to the Indian camp, a prisoner, but she and Ilattie Mead were allowed to return to their homes the next morning.
When they arrived at the little settlement at Sionx Rapids the outrages were repeated. Mrs. Totten and Mrs. Weaver are said to have been taken to the Indian camp and there kept for two or three days, during which time they were subjected to the most shocking indignities and ontrages. The men were ill treated and beaten, and those of their possessions that seemed to attract the fancy of the Indian brutes, were taken away. This no doubt caused the deep hatred and resentment that Abner Bell ever after showed toward the Indians and he never neglected an opportunity to show how thoroughly he despised the red men.
Ip to this time no murders had been committed, but it was only a matter of a few days after the Indians left the settlement at Sionx Rapids that word came down the river telling of the awful butchery at Spirit Lake. When the news reached Bell he and one companion immediately set out across the old Fort Dodge road and carried the news of the massacre to Fort Dodge, and he remained until he saw the relief expedition start out from there.
There were fourteen members of the Indian band which made this raid. and their names. as given by Mrs. Abbie Gardner Sharpe. in her account of the Spirit Lake massacre, were as follows :
Ink-pa-du-ta, or Scarlet Point.
Mak-pe-a-ho-to-man. or Roaring Clond, and
Mak-pi-op-e-ta. or Fire Clond. twins, and sons of Inkpaduta.
Taw-a-che-ha-wa-kan, or His Mysterious Father.
Ba-ha-ta, or Okl Man.
Ke-cho-man, or Putting on as He Walks.
Ka-ha-dat. or Ratling (son-in-law of Inkpaduta).
Fe-to-a-ton-ka, or Big Face.
Ta-te-li-da-shink-sha-man-i, or One Who Makes a Crooked Wind as he Walks.
Ta-chan-cho-ga-ho-ta, or His Great Gun.
Hu-san. or One Leg.
Those who saw Inkpaduta at the time of the raid have described him as a man about fifty years of age. six feet in height and very strongly built. was deeply pitted by small-pox. and of a repulsive appearance. His family consisted of himself, a squaw and four sons and a daughter. He hated white men and regarded them as enemies of his race. interlopers who were taking away from his people the choice hunting grounds which they had ocenpied for generations. Although he looked upon himself. and the members of his band.
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
as onteasts among his own people, he and his followers were ready at all times to offer insult and violence to the settlers.
A few weeks after the Spirit bake massacre, as the raid was ever after known, and the settlers had returned to the ruins of their humble homes, when the excitement had begun to subside, two graceless rogues came down the river again spreading news of a recurrenee of the Indian ontbreak. The Reds were said to be on the war path and the settlers were warned to flee. They did so with alacrity, and parties strnek out across the prairie to seek refuge at Sae City, Cedar Falls, and places farther east. One party of men and women, with several little children, made their way across the prairie from near Peter- son, and camped one night on the shores of Storm Lake, where there was a
The next day they hastened on to Sac City, where they
fine grove of timber. felt themselves safe. There was snow on the ground and their privations were severe. Meanwhile the two rogues, who had caused all this excitement for eanses of plunder, were robbing the abandoned homes of their most valuable contents, and before the truth could be ascertained and the settlers returned to their homes, they had made way with their booty and were never caught.
During the year of 1857 little of importance. save the raid, transpired. That fall Hiram and William Brooke came out from Cedar Falls and settled in Brooke township. They acquired four quarter sections of fine timber and upland and the remarkable thing about this is the fact that as this is written William Brooke still lives on the place he took when he came here fifty-two years ago. He is easily our oldest inhabitant, by many years.
In 1858 the present site of Sioux Rapids was laid out in town lots by Inther Il. Barnes, who came to the county with considerable money. secured the west half and the northeast quarter of section twelve in Barnes and the west half of the northwest quarter and the west half of the southwest quarter of section seven in Lee, all of which was laid out and destined by the founder to be a city of great magnitude and importance. He called the place Sioux Rapids, for no partienlar reason but his own faney. Afterward this was known as Hollingsworth Ford, but when the town actually came in later years it was called Sioux Rapids. the name selected by Mr. Barnes. Barnes also bought the Templeton claim, which had been settled on by Lane and Ray.
The city did not materialize, and few settlers came. During the winter the settlement at Sioux Rapids was isolated, and in the spring rumors of an- other threatened raid by the Indians threw our little settlement into another excitement. There was little ammunition in the homes of the settlers and as soon as possible S. Il. Packard, a son-in-law of Luther H. Barnes, went to Fort Dodge to procure arms and ammunition. Near the Fort he fell through the ice and froze both feet. Amputation was necessary and he never returned to the county. Mr. Barnes, discouraged and disheartened. soon left the county also and all that was left of his projected city was the stakes which laid ont the squares and streets. These the thrifty settlers gathered for fire wood, and the land was taken for farming purposes when new settlers arrived. The re- minders of Barnes' sojourn in the county are found in Barnes township, named after him, and for years Barnes' Grove, the beautiful grove southwest of Sioux Rapids, was a place of interest.
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
W. S. Lee eame to the county in 1858, and with him came M. S. Jameson. Lee was a New York man by birth, but came west in the early fifties and located in southwestern Wisconsin. where he lived until he came here. More will be said of Lee later, as he was without doubt the shrewdest man in the county in his day, and he entered into public affairs with a vigor. Moses VanKirk came about the same time, and settled on section 2 in Barnes.
A man by the name of Cole built a log house on section 6 in Lee, this being afterward owned by Stengrin Ilesla. "The Shoemaker." as he was known, a character in pioneer days and named from the avocation he plied, settled on section I in Barnes.
Owing to the Indian scare in 1857. after the Spirit Lake raid and the false alarm. a few soldiers were stationed at the Nessler place to protect the settlers. One of these died, and his grave, unmarked and unknown, is still to be found in Lone Tree cemetery, south of Sioux Rapids.
In 1858. Barnes circulated a petition to the District Court of Woodbury county, asking that a commission be issued for the organization of our county. The petition was signed by Luther Barnes, Lennox Barnes. W. S. Lee. M. S. Jameson. Abner Bell. W. R. Weaver. The Shoemaker. Morris Metcalf, Charles (. Metcalf. John W. Tucker. Arthur Reeves. Cole. Moses VanKirk and S. H. Packard. These, it may be assumed. constituted about all of the voters of the county at that time, as the interest in the organization was so great there could have been but a few dissenting voices. The records of the court at Sioux ('ity are given to show the order for the organization, the poll list and the result :
County Court, Woodbury county. 11th September. 1858.
Now comes S. Il. Packard. Lennox II. Barnes, and thirteen other citizens of Buena Vista county, who petition the court for a county organized. The
court not being satisfied that the petitioners are a majority of the legal voters of said county, did not grant their prayer, but ordered that L. B. Crittenden act as organizing sheriff to post notices of township elections, at least ten days previous to the election on the second Tuesday in October, 1858, which will be the 12th of said month. It is ordered that said county be constituted a town- ship for election purposes, and that the first election to be holden in said township be at the home of Luther Il. Barnes in Sioux Rapids. on the day above named and that the electors be authorized to vote for state. distriet and township officers at said election, and that said S. II. Packard. Lennox Il. Barnes and Hiram Brooks aet as judges of said election and that they make due returns of their doings according to law.
Signed, JOHN L. CAMPBELL. County Judge.
On page 112 of the Woodbury county record we find:
County Court, Woodbury county. 21st October. 1858.
In the matter of the organization of Buena Vista county. Iowa. Whereas, a petition has this day been presented to the county court by
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
S. II. Packard. and twentyone other legal voters of Buena Vista county, and Luther H. Barnes, one of said petitioners, having made oath that said petitioners are a majority of the legal voters of said county, and whereas. the said petitioners ask that said county may be organized according to the statute in such cases made and provided.
FIRST: Now, therefore 1. John L. Campbell. county judge of Woodbury county, lowa, do order that the county of Buena Vista be. and the same is hereby organized from and after the third Monday in November. 1858.
SECOND: That an election be holden in Buena Vista county, state aforesaid, at the house of Luther Il. Barnes. in Sioux Rapids on the third Monday in November. A. D. 1858. for county and township officers and that S. H. Packard, Win. R. Weaver and Luther HI. Barnes aet as judges of said election.
THIRD: It is ordered that Lennox H. Barnes act as an organizing sheriff of said county and that he post notice thereof in at least three of the most populous places in said county ten days preceding said election.
FOURTH: It is further ordered that said judges on the organizing thereof. notify this court of their doings in the premises according to law. Signed. JOHN L. CAMPBELL, County Judge.
And on page 129, of the record. we find further:
County Court. Woodbury county, Iowa, 20th November, 1858.
Now comes Arthur T. Reeve who has been duly elected county judge of Buena Vista county. Iowa, who presented his bond approved by Charles E. Hedges, treasurer and recorder. when the court administered to him the oath of office and gave him a certificate of his qualification.
Signed, JOHN L. CAMPBELL. County Judge.
On the Election Book of Woodbury county, we find on page 40:
20th November. 1858
The board of canvassers, consisting of John L. Campbell, county judge. John O. Allison, justice of the peace, and William R. Huey. special justice of the peace. proceeded to canvass a special election holden in Buena Vista county Von the 15th of November. 1858. for county and township officers.
There were fifteen votes polled for the office of county judge of which Arthur T. Reeve received nine (9) and S. H. Packard received six (6).
There were fifteen votes polled for the office of treasurer and recorder, of which John W. Smith received nine (9) and Luther H. Barnes received six (6).
There were fifteen votes cast for the office of clerk of the district court of which Aquilla Cook received nine (9) and Lennox H. Barnes received (6).
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
There were thirteen votes polled for the office drainage commissioner of which Aquilla Cook received ten (10) and A. Bell received three (3).
There were fifteen votes polled for the office of sheriff of which Abner Bell received (9) votes and Moses VanKirk received six (6).
There were fifteen votes east for the office of superintendent of common schools of which Mordecai S. Jameson received seven (7) votes, Mordecai Jameson received three (3 ) votes; A. Cook received two (2) votes; Cook received three (3) votes.
There were fifteen votes cast for the office of county surveyor, of which Charles C. Metcalf received nine (9) votes. Charles Metcalf received one (1) vote, Gilbert Pulver received five (5) votes.
There were fifteen votes cast for the office of coroner of which M. L. Metcalf received nine (9) votes. M. Metcalf received one (1) vote and Morris Metcalf received five (5) votes.
There were forty-five votes cast for the office of township trustees of which Morris W. Metcalf received ten (10) votes. William R. Weaver received ten (10). William Brooks received ten (10) votes, John Tucker received (5) votes, MI. VanKirk received five (5) votes. Albert Hum received five (5) votes.
There were fifteen votes cast for the office of township clerk, of which Moses VanKirk received ten (10) votes, M. S. Jameson received five (5) votes.
There were fifteen votes east for the office of supervisor, of which William R. Weaver received ten (10) votes. William Weaver received five (5) votes.
There were thirty votes cast for the office of justice of the peace, of which John W. Tucker received ten (10) votes. Mendel L. Metcalf received ten (10) votes, Mendel Metcalf received five (5) votes, William R. Weaver received (5) votes.
There were thirty votes cast for the office of constable of which Hiram Brooks received fifteen (15) votes, buther II. Barnes received nine (9) votes. Charles Metcalf received six (6) votes.
There were fifteen votes cast for the office of township assessor, of which Oliver W. Barker received ten (10) votes. William Brooks received five (5) votes.
John L. Campbell, County JJudge, John O. Allison. Justice of the Peace. Win. R. Huey. Special JJustice of the Peace. Board of Canvassers.
POLL BOOK OF ELECTION VF SIOUX RAPIDS, IOWA.
The poll book for the election in Buena Vista county. November 15, 1858, shows :
Judges : Sylvester II. Packard. William R. Weaver and Inther H. Barnes. Clerks: Lennox H. Barnes. Moses VanKirk.
S. H. Packard took the oath of office before the clerk of the district court in Woodbury county October 22, 1858, and the other judges and clerks were sworn in by Packard.
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
POLL LIST.
The poll list of this, the first election, shows the following names: Aquilla Cook. J. N. Newcomb. S. II. Packard (sworn). Arthur T. Reeve. A. Bell (sworn). Luther H. Barnes, Moses VanKirk, John W. Smith, Charles C. Metcalf. Mendell L. Metealf. Oliver W. Barker. Morris W. Metcalf. Lennox II. Barnes (sworn). William R. Weaver.
Where the fifteenth vote comes in has never been explained.
It may thus be seen that the first officials to be chosen in Buena Vista county were as follows:
Arthur T. Reeves, County Judge: William R. Weaver, Treasurer and Re- vorder; John W. Tucker. Clerk ; Abner Bell. Sheriff.
The county judge had legislative power and his duties were the same as are now filled by the board of supervisors. This office continued until 1861, when the duties were changed and the office of county supervisor was created.
Before the county was organized, in 1856 to be exact, Judge Asahel W. IInbbard of Sioux City. then acting for Woodbury county, to which this county was attached for judicial purposes, appointed a committee consisting of D. Carr Early of Sac City. John Kindlesperyer of Clay county and a Mr. Sauter or Sawtelle, the exact name cannot be ascertained, to lay out a county seat for our county. The only settlement at that time, it will be remembered, was at Sioux Rapids and the commission after mature deliberation selected ten acres of the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 18 of Lee township as the site. This was about one mile south from the present site of the town of Sioux Rapids, and was selected because it was up on the prairie, while the settlement was along the bottom land of the river. The county seat was called "Prairieville." but after W. S. Lee acquired the land upon which it was located. it was sometimes known as "Leesburg." The old maps show it as "Prairieville" and that was the only name it bore in an official way. No
courthouse was ever erected, and but few buildings ever graced the site. W. S. Lee built a log house on the place and this was used for a dwelling. to hold religious services, for county official purposes and as a courthouse. The old structure is still standing.
The officers elected in 1858. upon the organization of the county, at once assumed their duties and one of the first arts was to levy a six mill road and bridge tax. which brought in about two hundred dollars in 1859. It was needed as the county had not a bridge nor a road.
Isaac Enders came in 1859. In the same year W. S. Lee went back to Wisconsin and upon his return brought with him Knudt Stennerson, O. A. Rang. Christian Johnson and Henry and Ole Gullickson. These men came from Allamakee county. and formed the nucleus of the strong Norwegian col- ony that afterward settled in Lee and Barnes townships until they comprised the larger part of these two townships.
In 1859 the swamp or overflowed lands of the county were surveyed by order of the county judge. The contract was let to J. S. Ringland and he com-
-
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
pleted his task in sixteen days, prepared his report and sent it to the proper anthorities at Des Moines. But Abner Bell. who had ideas of his own upon this proceeding. and who in this instance had the welfare of the county at heart. was dissatisfied with the whole proceeding and was not słow to say so. Ile alleged that it would be impossible to intelligently survey the county in the time that was employed, and asserted that during the time the men were supposed to be at work locating the swamp lands they were in fact lying in camp on a hill near Sioux Rapids, drinking whiskey, playing poker and telling stories. Bell secured the services of Charles C. Smeltzer, a young attorney at Peterson, and had a remonstrance drawn and signed, and then mounting a horse he rode early and Jate until he reached Des Moines before the report arrived at its destination. Ilow potent this action was may never be ascer- tained, but it is a faet that no swamp lands were ever patented to the county. W. S. Lee afterward published an article upon this phase of the question and he states that the reason none of these lands were patented to the county was simply because no one looked after it and it was allowed to go by default.
A census of the county was taken in 1860 by C. C. Smeltzer of Peterson and revealed that the population of the county was but fifty-seven souls. During the following decade few additions were made. and it was not until early in the seventies that the county began to settle up fast.
An idea of the isolation of the settlers may be gathered from the fact that there were few settlements in northwest Iowa at that date and they were small and unimportant. Sae City was a town of considerable importance and Spencer was becoming heard of. Peterson was the county seat of Clay county and was the headquarters for all matters relating to court proceedings for Clay, O'Brien and Buena Vista counties. Cherokee had a mill and was also a town of some pretensions. To the east Fort Dodge was the largest place until Webster City was reached. To the west Sioux City was beginning to put on the airs of a country town. It is true that Spirit Lake was then of some im- portance, but it was far away and the roads were at times almost impassable, through the sloughs and swamp lands to the north.
During the year 1859 the first murder in the county took place near Linn Grove, an account of which is given in another chapter.
Of the citizens who were here in 1859 and 1860 Isaac Enders, James Il. Gleason and John Stanley lived on section 12 in Barnes; Moses VanKirk on section 2. Weaver and Bell lived on the hill cast of Sionx Rapids on what was afterward known as the Struble place. James Rucker lived with his family on section 6 in Lee ; Morris Meteall' and son Charles were located on section 1. Brooke, below Linn Grove and Metcalf's son-in-law, W. O. Sluyter and Lansing M. Lewis were living near the present site of Linn Grove. The widow of Enoch Taylor, the man who was murdered in 1859, also lived near Sluyter.
In 1860 Moses VanKirk, county judge, entered into a contract with James II. Gleason and John Stanley to build a bridge over the Little Sioux river at Sioux Rapids. It was completed in 1861 by Jasper N. Lindsey, a sub con- tractor, but went ont in 1862, in high water. Gleason and Stanley received as payment five thousand acres of swamp land.
The transaction was wholly
STORY LAKE PILOT.
NORTH LAKE AVENUE, STORM LAKE, IN 1872.
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
illegal as no vote was taken on the proposition, and the law did not authorize the granting of land for that purpose.
The following year Charles A. Lee, brother to William S. came to the county and become prominent in the affairs of a publie nature.
In 1861 Judge VanKirk made a contract with Isaac Enders to build a schoolhouse in the northeast corner of section 12 in Lee township, and with Hiram and William Brooke to build one on section 6 in Barnes, but these con- traets were never carried out., A special election was called and the contracts were ratified. The contractors began work, but the houses were never Immber was sawed for public use. and for the settlers, on a porta- ble sawmill operated by John Gilbert at Peterson, aand Mr. Lee that year laid the first floor of sawed lumber in the county. Ile also dug the first well in 1861, all of the water before that date having been secured at the river and from springs.
fininshed.
On July 4th of this year Isaac Enders gave a dance at his home and this is said to have been the first event of this character in the county. We may believe the carefree pioneers enjoyed themselves and entered into the festivi- ties of the Nation's birthday with abandon and exuberance.
It was during this year that the law was changed and the office of county judge was changed, a board of supervisors being substituted therefor.
In the fall of 1861 John Cofer, a notorious and somewhat unscrupulous operator in swamp land contracts. came to the county from O'Brien county. and opened negotiations with the county officials for the purchase of all of our swamp lands. The lands were considered almost worthless, being in the south and central part of the county, far from timber and the river. He proposed that a contract be entered into, by which he would build a courthouse for the county in exchange for the overflowed lands, and attempted to interest other parties, among them being William S. Lee, in the transaction. But Lee did not propose to have any good thing go to a stranger, and having some influence with the officials he made another proposal which was accepted, by which the county deeded to Lee all its right. title and interest in sixty-four thousand eight hundred and eighty and eighty-eight hundreth acres of swamp land at the nominal price of sixteen cents an acre. The contraet was entered into September 2, 1861, and was ratified by the people at an election held the following October.
1
Lee commenced work on the courthouse. causing a quantity of lumber to be ent, but it was allowed to remain in the grove where it was felled, and the thrifty settlers soon appropriated it to their own nse. It never was used in the courthouse, and the courthouse was never built. Later Mr. Lee made a contract with Richard Ridgway to erect the courthouse. this contract being submitted to the Board of Supervisors, who ratified it. It was claimed by Lee that he was released from the contract, but that the deed stood, and this entire transaction was the subject of severe denunciation and controversy for many years.
This contraet was made by virtue of a law passed by the Congress of the United States on September 28. 1850, by which all of the swamp and overflowed
V
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
lands in the state were granted to the state of Iowa, which were then undis- posed of. Two years later the State. by an act of the General Assembly granted these lands to the different counties under certain conditions, and made provision for their selection. One of these provisions was a survey. to be approved by the county officials, by a competent surveyor. It has already been told how the Buena Vista county "swamps" were surveyed.
It seems incredible at this day to see how almost sixty-five thousand acres of overflowed land could be found in the county. One thing may be said in explanation : they did not exist. The system of letting a contract to a sur- veyor by which he received his pay according to the number of acres returned was vicious and led to gross abuse. There never were sixty-five thousand aeres of swamp or overflowed land in the county even in the wettest times, and when drainage was not dreamed of. In these days a transaction by which such a report would be returned would be ealled "graft." Another reason. that has already been suggested. was the fact that the settlers at that time did not deem the treeless prairies of much value. It may also be said that the cupidity of men who desired to obtain these lands for a nominal sum aided in the return of such preposterous reports.
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