USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume I > Part 10
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"The said American Emigrant Company is to pay to the said county the sum of $2,300 in cash and pay all costs and expenses of said suit heretofore ineurred, including the said Miraele's fees, exeept $500, which the said county shall pay in addition $300 already ad- vaneed by the said county to the said Miraele, and this resolution and action of said board of supervisors shall be sufficient authority for so adjusting said suit."
Again the vexed question was settled for a brief period, but the swamp land problem was a veritable Banquo's ghost to Calhoun County and would not down. After the suit was compromised under the above resolution, the board listed the lands of the com- pany for taxation. The company refused to pay the tax, claim-
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ing that such action on the part of the county authorities was a violation of the original agreement, and in 1873 procured an injune- tion in the courts against W. T. Smith, then county treasurer, pro- hibiting him from putting said lands upon the delinquent tax list, or from collecting the taxes already due. Thereupon the county employed Judge James Grant, of Davenport, to test the matter in the courts, and after about two years of litigation in the United States Circuit and Supreme courts, the county was defeated, the injunction being sustained by the highest tribunal in the nation. This eaused a loss of some five or six thousand dollars to the county in court costs, attorney's fees and taxes that it was fully expected could be collected.
In 1887-88 an agent of the American Emigrant Company came to Calhoun County and was noticed examining lands here and there. The rumor then became current that the company was preparing to make a new selection of swamp lands. As a matter of fact the com- pany did at that time make what purported to be a new selection of some fifty-three thousand aeres, after which the company conveyed their interest in the swamp lands of Calhoun County to Callanan & Savery, of Des Moines.
When the news of this action reached Calhoun County an indig- nation meeting was called at Rockwell City and was attended by a large number of people, particularly those whose titles were in dis- pute. At that meeting it was decided to bring the matter into the courts and the owners of nearly two thousand aeres of the lands in question were made the plaintiff's in the test case to determine the title of the American Emigrant Company and their successors. Cal- lanan & Savery. The suit was set for trial at the June term of the District Court, but by that time it was learned that a large number of the settlers had adjusted the matter with Callanan & Savery by y paying a small amount and receiving a clear title to their lands. Other oeeupants of the lands followed the same course and the ques- tion that had kept Calhoun County in a turmoil for more than a quarter of a century was finally settled.
An account of the improvement and reelamation of the swamp lands of Calhoun County will be found in Chapter XIII. Lands that were once considered worthless are now among the most pro- ductive in the State of Iowa and are worth all they cost in litigation and compromise extending over so many years.
CHAPTER VHI
TOWNSHIP HISTORY
CONGRESSIONAL AND CIVIL TOWNSHIPS-ORIGIN OF THE TOWNSHIP- FIRST TOWNSHIPS IN IOWA-CALIIOUN COUNTY A PART OF JULIEN TOWNSHIP- THE SIXTEEN TOWNSHIPS OF CALHOUN COUNTY- BUTLER-CALHOUN-CEDAR-CENTER-ELM GROVE - GARFIELD- GREENFIELD-JACKSON-INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE EARLY SETTLEMENT-ORGANIZATION - BRIEF SKETCHES OF PIONEERS - PRESENT DAY CONDITIONS-RAILROADS-POPULATION AND WEALTH -SCHOOLS, ETC.
The term "township," as applied to minor politieal or topograph- jeal subdivisions of the United States, has a double signifieance, refer- ring alike to the congressional township and the civil township. The former, as established by the official survey of the publie domain, is always six miles square and contains an area of thirty-six square miles -or at least theoretically so, fraetional sections sometimes oceurring on account of the convergence of the meridians of longitude as the surveyor proceeds northward. To correet the errors resulting from this convergence correetion lines are established every sixty miles. Two of these correction lines are to be seen in the State of lowa, the first running east and west through the City of Des Moines, and the second through Calhoun County, six miles south of the northern boundary. The congressional township is designated by a number and is bounded on the east and west by range lines.
The eivil township varies in size. the boundaries often being formed by natural features, such as creeks or rivers. It is distinguished by a name instead of a number and differs from the congressional town- ship in that it has a local government as a minor political subdivision of the county.
In Calhoun County the congressional and eivil townships coin- cide. Each township of the official survey has been given a name and government. The county, being twenty-four miles square, is
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composed of sixteen townships, viz .: Butler, Calhoun, Cedar, Center, Elm Grove, Garfield, Greenfield, Jackson, Lake Creek, Lincoln, Logan, Reading, Sherman, Twin Lakes, Union and Williams.
The township as a body politie came into existence in England during the old Anglo-Saxon regime, where it was known as the "tunseipe." A popular assemblage, in which every citizen had a voice and vote on all questions relating to the local public welfare, was called the "tun moot," and the chief executive officer of the "tunscipe" was designated as the "tun reeve." He, with the parish priest and four lay delegates, represented the "tunscipe" in the popular assembly of the county or shire.
Upon the establishment of English settlements in America, the system was transplanted and the "tun moot," or town meeting, as it was afterward ealled, was in existence in this country for many years before the actual creation of eivil townships marked by well defined boundary lines.
Even yet in the New England States the township is of more importance in the settlement of local questions of a political ehar- acter, or the administration of local affairs, than the county. The town meetings are still held regularly and through them most of the business of the local government is transacted. Every proposition to expend any considerable sum of money for any publie purpose whatever is first submitted to the people at a town meeting. In the Middle and Western States the township is of less influence and prestige than in New England, though the custom provided or sanc- tioned by law in most of those states of submitting to the people at a general election the question of issuing bonds, or the incurrenee of publie indebtedness beyond a certain figure, is a relic of the old town meeting system. In the Southern States the township government is of still less importance, the business all being taken care of by the county officials, and in some of these states the civil township is little more than a name.
The first attempt to establish local eivil government in what is now the State of Iowa was made in September, 1834, when the Leg- islature of Michigan, to which Iowa was then attached, created two counties west of the Mississippi River. All that part of the state lying north of a line drawn due west from the foot of Rock Island was called Dubuque County, and that portion south of the line was called the County of Demoine. The northern county, which embraced about two-thirds of the state, was named in honor of Julien Dubuque, who founded the first white settlement in Towa, and the whole county
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was ereeted into "Julien Township." Calhoun County was there- fore originally a part of Julien Township, Dubuque County, while lowa was still under the jurisdiction of the Territory of Michigan. An old map, published in 1836, shows a region between the Lizard and Coon rivers-about where Calhoun County is now-marked as the "Thousand Lakes," indicating that even in that 'early day some knowledge of the country, with its numerous ponds and marshes, had been obtained by the early explorers and adventurers.
Calhoun County was organized in August, 1855, and in March, 1856, the entire county was designated as a civil township, "to be known as Calhoun." Each of the sixteen townships of the present day was therefore once a part of Calhoun Township. The object of this chapter and the succeeding one is to give some historical aeeount of the settlement and organization of the several townships of the county. For the convenience of the reader they have been arranged in alphabetical order. beginning with
BUTLER TOWNSHIP
This township is one of the northern tier, embracing congressional township 89, range 33, and has an area of a little over thirty-six square miles. It is bounded on the north by Pocahontas County, on the east by the Township of Sherman. on the south by Twin Lakes and Garfield, and on the west by Williams Township.
On December 15, 1854, R. O. C. Anderson, a surveyor in the employ of the United States. certified to Warner Lewis. surveyor general for the State of Iowa, that the survey of township 89, range 33, was completed and the lands ready for entry. Several years elapsed. however, before any settlements were made in that part of the county.
The first change in township lines that affected the present Town- ship of Butler was made in the summer of 1866, when Lincoln Town- ship was organized and included within its limits the six northeastern townships of the county. Butler then remained a part of Lincoln Township until the organization of Sherman Township, which in- cluded Butler, as it is known today. On June 5, 1871 a petition, signed by a number of citizens living in the western half of Sherman Township, was presented to the board of supervisors asking for the division of that township and the establishment of a new civil town- ship. to include township 89, range 33. The petition was granted by the supervisors at the same session and it was ordered "that said
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new township be called Butler." The county auditor was ordered to organize the township in the manner provided by law.
As thus established Butler Township included only the eongres- sional township named in the petition. On July 18, 1899, a petition signed by nine residents living in seetion 6 and the west half of see- tion 7 in Sherman Township, was presented to the board of super- visors, showing that they had been annexed to the Town of Pomeroy, located in Butler Township, and asking for a change in the line divid- ing the two townships so that the territory mentioned in the petition might be taken from Sherman and added to Butler. The petition was granted and in this way the area of Butler was inereased to a little more than the original thirty-six square miles.
Most of the land in the odd-numbered seetions of Butler Town- ship was included in the land grant to the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company. Among the first land entries in the even-num- bered seetions was a traet in seetion 12, which was entered by William Knoke on September 4, 1868. On the 12th of the same month Claus Holtorf entered a part of section 10, and John Heide on the 15th entered part of the same section. Others who entered land prior to 1870 were: Jacob Foster, John Shaw, George Smith, Edward J. Priee, Benjamin and John W. Dunn and Arthur J. Briggs.
Edmund Briggs, who located in the northeastern part of the town- ship, near the present Town of Pomeroy, was one of the first white men to locate in what is now Butler Township. He came from Tama City, Ia., in 1868, and his nearest neighbors were Brown, Joslyn and Cornell, who lived near Twin Lakes. Mr. Briggs was one of the carly justiees of the peace after the township was organized. He built the first house on the site of the present Town of Pomeroy and also built the first schoolhouse in that part of the township.
C. C. Holtorf came from Germany in the spring of 1868 and. after a short stop in Benton County, Ia., came on to Calhoun and entered land in seetion 10 of Butler Township, as above stated. He was the first German settler in that part of the county. He hauled the lumber for his first residence from Fort Dodge. Mr. Holtorf was one of the charter members of the German Lutheran Church at Pomeroy, and was the first president of the German Mutual Insur- ance Company of Calhoun County.
Other early settlers were J. L. Williams, Charles and Alexander Lockie, N. Keefer, Edward J. Priee, Thomas Miller, Enoch Morrill, J. M. Teach and R. C. Stewart, all of whom settled about Pomeroy and are mentioned in connection with the history of that town.
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Much of the land in Butler Township was originally marshy and a considerable portion of it was included in the swamp land grant to the State of Iowa by the act of 1850. As the white settlers came in the swamps and the muskrates disappeared. Ditches and tile drains have redeemed much of the wet lands, groves have been planted around the farm houses, highways have been opened, railroads built, churches and schoolhouses erected, and on every hand are to be seen abundant evidences of civilization. In 1914 the property of the township was valued for taxation at $372,114, which was about one-fourth of its real value. The population in 1910, including the incorporated towns of Jolley and Pomeroy, was 2,508.
The Illinois Central Railroad crosses the northeast corner, passing through the Town of Pomeroy, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul runs northwest and southeast through the towns of Jolley and Knoke, furnishing good shipping and transportation facilities to all parts of the township.
Butler has six school districts, employs six teachers, and enrolled in 1914 in the rural schools 179 pupils. This does not include the schools in Jolley and Pomeroy.
In 1915 the officials of the township were as follows: Fred W. Hout, F. C. Muse and F. H. Meyer, trustees; H. C. Albrecht, assessor; R. C. Berry, clerk; George N. Davy and E. C. Clark, jus- tices of the peace.
CALHOUN TOWNSHIP
Calhoun Township, as originally created by order of the county judge on March 3, 1856, included the entire county. One by one the other fifteen civil townships were organized and all that is left for the Calhoun Township of the present day is congressional town- ship 86, range 33. It is therefore six miles square and has an area of thirty-six square miles. On the north it is bounded by Lake Creek . Township, on the east by Union, on the south by Carroll County, and on the west by the Township of Jackson. The surface of Calhoun is more rolling than some other parts of the county and it is well pro- vided with streams affording natural drainage. Lake Creek flows in a southwesterly direction across the northwest corner; Coon River touches the southwest corner; Purgatory Creek drains three sections in the southeast corner, and a small stream called Bone Creek rises near the center of the township and flows south into Carroll County.
On October 14, 1853, HI. C. Caldwell, a United States deputy sur- vevor, certified to Warner Lewis, then surveyor general for the State Vol I- 7
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of lowa, that he had completed the official survey in township 86, north, range 33 west. A land office had been opened at Des Moines in March of that year. The early completion of the Government survey may have had something to do with the fact that the first set- tlements were made in the southwestern part of the county, in what are now Calhoun and Jackson townships, but it is quite likely that the rolling surface and presence of some native timber along the streams wielded a greater influence than the surveyor.
The first land entered in Calhoun Township was the southwest quarter of section 5, township 86, range 33, which was entered in the name of Jesse Marmon early in October, 1854. Peter Smith also entered land in the township about the same time. Jesse Marmon was the first white man to build a house in the township. It was a log structure, like all the early residences on the frontier where there was timber enough to afford logs. Mr. Marmon was still living in the county in the spring of 1915.
Peter Smith's house of basswood logs, a story and a half high, is deseribed in Chapter IV. IIe had four sons when he settled in Calhoun Township, all of whom afterward became active business men in Lake City. About 1863 he engaged in mercantile pursuits at Lake City and continued in that business for ten years or more. A few years later, with two of his sons, he went to Glidden, Ia., and embarked in the lumber and grain business. Subsequently he returned to Lake City and started a bank, which was the predecessor of the First National Bank of that city. He was the first county judge of Calhoun County, served as a member of the board of super- visors, and was identified with nearly every important movement for the development of the county in early days.
Others who entered land in Calhoun Township prior to the begin- ning of the Civil war were: William G. Parr, John J. Delatour, Reuben C. Hall, Christian Smith. John R. Evans, Anson Bigelow, Erastus Partridge, William Hogg and Abijah Williams. Some of these men were speculators, who entered their lands solely for the purpose of selling them at an advanced price to actual settlers.
Late in the fall of 1854, Levi D. Tharp entered land in section 5, adjoining the traet entered by Mr. Marmon, and built a cabin. Ile was born in Logan County, Ohio, about 1820, accompanied his father to Michigan in 1843, and in 1852 removed to Iowa, settling at that time near Oskaloosa. In 1856 he sold his farm in Calhoun County to Greenlee Seott and went to Marion County, Ia. The following year he joined a hunting expedition to the headwaters of the Boyer
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River. On the return trip he was taken violently ill and was carried to the home of Greenlee Scott, where he died in the cabin he had built nearly three years before.
When the first settlements were made in Calhoun County and Township, the nearest postoffice was at Des Moines. Persons going to the land offiee to enter land would bring back the mail for the whole community, often not more than three or four letters. Trips on horse- back or with an ox team were made to Des Moines to purchase such necessities as the loeal settlement could not supply. A story is told of a race between Peter Smith and a speeulator named Cavanaugh to see which would be the one to enter a certain traet of desirable land. Cavanaugh was mounted on a good horse, while Smith went on foot. Feeling that he could beat the humble pedestrian without much effort, Cavanaugh, upon arriving at Des Moines, went to a tavern for a good night's rest before going to the land office. It was the old story of the hare and the tortoise, for while the speeulator slept Peter walked all night and was waiting at the door of the land office the next morn- ing when it opened. An hour or two later Cavanaugh appeared and was courteously informed that the traet in question had just been entered "by a man named Smith." It is said that Cavanaugh's remarks were hardly fit for print, but the ehanees are that the next time he came into competition with one of those hardy frontiersmen, who did so much to build up Calhoun County, he transaeted his busi- ness first and then took his nap afterward.
During the early settlement of the county the land offices were crowded with persons seeking to acquire lands. Speeulators were numerous and furnished money to purchase land at $1.25 per aere, knowing well that it would never be worth less. Frequently these men charged the borrower 40 per cent for the use of the money, and hardly ever was the interest rate less than 20 per ent. In 1855 many had to wait for several days before they could get an opportunity to enter their lands. When the land office was established at Fort Dodge, in the fall of 1855. the officials adopted the plan of visiting each township and range, after giving due notice of the time when they would be there, and upon their arrival permitted entries only in the township and range where they were then located. This relieved the eongestion and enabled many to acquire their lands without delay. Some of the lands in Calhoun Township were entered in this way.
After the location of the county seat at Lake City in the spring of 1856, most of the immigrants sought lands near the new town, and of the 147 population in 1860 it is quite probable that two-thirds
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lived in Calhoun Township and the majority of the other third in Jackson.
Game was plentiful, especially elk and deer, and the settlers depended largely upon their rifles and their skill as marksmen to keep the family supplied with meat. Christian Smith used to tell of an expedient once resorted to by some of the hunters to protect the body of an elk they had killed. The elk was killed late in the day and some distance from the settlement. It was too heavy for the hunters to earry, so they resorted to the following triek: The entrails were removed, after which the two men laid their guns upon the eareass and went home. When they returned next morning with a convey- anee, there were abundant evidences that the wolves had been about the eareass of the elk during the night, but doubtless thinking the two rifles formed some sort of a trap, did not molest it.
Prairie chiekens could be found almost any time, and around the ponds were wild dueks and geese. When the settler could not find an elk or deer he could easily find enough wild fowl to keep the wolf from the door until large game could be killed. In the winter time many a catch of fish has been made through holes eut in the iee on the Coon River or Lake Creek.
At the time of the Spirit Lake massacre in the spring of 1857, when the bloodthirsty Sioux chief. Inkpadutah, and his band killed a number of the early settlers of Dickinson County and carried others into eaptivity, the few settlers living in Calhoun Township became alarmed for their safety. Fearing that the Indians might move south- ward, they fortified a eabin just over the line in Jackson Township and joined with the settlers there in taking measures for protection. William Oxenford and John Lumpkin, two of the pioneers, joined the volunteer company that went in pursuit of Inkpadutah. But the Indians came not, and after a short period of terror the settlers returned to their homes and vocations.
Calhoun is the most populous township in the county. In 1910 the population, including Lake City, was 2,510, or nearly one-eighth of the entire population of the county. The Chieago & Northwestern Railroad erosses the township from east to west a little north of the eenter, passing through Lake City, and the Chicago Great Western touches the southeast corner. Lake City, however, is the only rail- road station within the township limits. In 1914 the taxable value of the property was $423,279. The township has seven school dis- triets, outside of Lake City, and employs seven teachers during the school year.
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In 1915 the township officials, as shown by the files in the office of the county auditor, were as follows: R. P. DeHart, E. T. Gorton and M. W. Madsen, trustees: F. J. Seivert, clerk; D. J. Wright, assessor; Edward Freeman, justice of the peace.
CEDAR TOWNSHIP
As in the case of all the civil townships of the county, Cedar was once a part of the Township of Calhoun. It remained a part of that township until June, 1870, when it was taken to form a part of Green- field. On September 6, 1877. A. M. Boyles, Lewis Lakey and others living in the southern half of Greenfield, presented a petition to the board of county supervisors, asking for the erection of a new town- ship to embrace congressional township 87. range 31. The super- visors granted the petition the same day and ordered that the new township be called Cedar. A. M. Boyles, George W. Wells and R. G. Allison were appointed judges, and Lewis Lakey clerk, to conduct the first election. Later in the month the election was held at the house of Lewis Lakey, but no returns can be found.
Cedar Township is one of the eastern tier. It is bounded on the north by the Township of Greenfield. on the east by Webster County, on the south by Reading Township, and on the west by Logan. It has an area of thirty-six square miles, practically all prairie, and some of the finest farms in Calhoun County are situated in this township. The surface is undulating and a good natural outlet for drainage is afforded by the creeks. The east fork of Cedar Creek, from which the township takes its name, flows diagonally across the township from northeast to southwest: the west fork of the same stream flows southward through the western tier of sections, and the southeastern portion is drained by Hardin Creek.
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