USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume I > Part 16
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In the spring of 1880 the municipal authorities entered into a contract with the firm of Ware & O'Conner, of Dubuque, to sink an artesian well, that firm having just completed a well on the Blanden stock farm north of the town. In July, after several mishaps, the firm abandoned the work and a lawsuit resulted, in which the town was defeated, the costs being considerable. Several small wells, fitted with ordinary pumps, were then depended upon for a water supply and fire protection until 1890, when the first deep well was sunk and contraets let for about three blocks of mains on the prin-
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cipal streets, a large wooden tank and the ereetion of a windmill. The well did not afford enough water to fill the tank and in 1891 a well twelve feet in diameter and eighty feet deep was put down. Ten years later the town had grown beyond the resources of this well and in 1901 work was commeneed on another deep well, which was com- pleted in 1902 at a cost of $5,000. Since the sinking of this well Manson has an abundant supply of excellent water. A pumping sta- tion and some additional mains were established in 1902. Connected with the station is a building for housing the fire-fighting apparatus belonging to the town, and on the second floor a room is fitted up for council meetings, etc. The total cost of Manson's waterworks, up to 1915, amounts to about $18,000.
Hoek Brothers erected an electric lighting plant in 1890, but about two years later sold out to G. E. Haney, who was granted a franchise for twenty years by the town council. Under the new man- agement the plant was practically rebuilt, greatly inereasing its effi- cieney. Mr. Haney afterward sold to a Mr. Fiddler and he to par- ties in Minneapolis, Minn., by whom the works are still operated, giving Manson plenty of eurrent for lighting purposes and power for small manufacturing eoneerns.
About the beginning of the present century the Gowrie & Sibley division of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railway system was completed through Manson, giving the town facilities for shipping and transportation in all directions and adding materially to its pros- perity.
Jonathan P. Dolliver, who represented the Tenth Iowa Distriet in Congress from 1889 to 1899, and who was afterward one of the United States senators from lowa until his death on October 15, 1910, began the practice of law in Manson.
Manson is pleasantly situated in the western part of Lincoln Township, about fourteen miles northeast of Roekwell City. It has two banks, one of which is the sueeessor of the first bank started in Calhoun County in 1879; ehurehes of various denominations have handsome church edifices; there are two weekly newspapers-the Journal and the Demoerat-and a number of stores that handle all lines of merchandise. Eleven teachers are employed in the publie schools and in the spring of 1915 the sehool board let a contract for a new high school building to eost $40,000. The principal officers for 1915 were J. P. Calmer, mayor; W. C. Moody, clerk; J. V. Gro- shong, assessor. In 1910 the population was 1,236.
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MUDDY
The extinet Town of Muddy was located in Cedar Township, a little more than a mile southwest of the present Town of Somers. It was located on the farms of Albert Craven, Robert Felton and a man named Humbert, but no plat of the place was ever filed with the county recorder. W. C. Parks and Thomas Michael opened a gen- eral store and W. E. Barton established a blacksmith shop. In the fall of 1889, when a movement was under way to secure a postoffice for the new town, the subject of a name came up for consideration. Cedarville and Parksville were proposed, but met with some objee- tions. Someone suggested that, as the roads were rather muddy at the time, the place be called "Muddy." Although proposed in a spirit of jest, the name was adopted. A Methodist church was soon afterward built and a lodge of Odd Fellows was organized. In 1900, when the Chieago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was completed and the Town of Somers was started, the church, the lodge and all the business concerns of Muddy were removed to the new town on the line of the railroad and Muddy passed into history.
PIPER
Piper is a small station on the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & South- ern Railroad (commonly ealled the interurban), in the northern part of Logan Township and four miles southeast of Roekwell City. It has no business interests of importanee.
POMEROY
Situated in the southeast corner of Butler Township, on the Chi- eago & Sioux City division of the Illinois Central Railroad, is the incorporated Town of Pomeroy. The town was laid off by Fred- erick Hess about the first of September. 1870, on land belonging to John I. Blair. The original plat shows 152 lots, all south of the rail- road. Parallel to the railroad are First, Seeond and Third Streets and the cross streets, beginning at the east, are Cayuga, Ontario and Otsego.
On June 19, 1880, J. Van Deventer, president of the Sioux City & lowa Falls Town Lot and Land Company, filed a plat of the first addition to the Town of Pomeroy, showing twenty-one lots east and thirty-one west of the original town. The plat of the second addi-
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HIGH SCHOOL, POMEROY
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tion, by the same company, was filed on September 16, 1887, and shows thirty-two lots.
Sinee then seven additions to the town have been made by the Iowa Railroad Land Company and two additions by individuals. Moody & Davy's addition, filed February 23, 1892, shows seventy lots, and Peterson's addition, filed January 3, 1900, shows five large ontlots north of the railroad. The seven additions of the lowa Rail- road Land Company aggregate nearly two hundred lots.
The first settler in the vicinity of Pomeroy was Edmund Briggs, who came from Tama City in 1868. In the spring of 1870, when it beeame assured that the railroad was soon to be completed to the site of Pomeroy, N. Keefer opened a store at that point. Soon after- ward a postoffice was established and Mr. Keefer was appointed the first postmaster. He also dealt in coal and lumber. In the fall, shortly after the town was officially surveyed, Alexander Lockie eame from Illinois and built a hotel: E. J. Priee started a blacksmith shop; R. C. Stewart, a shoe shop: B. B. Spencer and Daniel Harvey em- barked in the mereantile business: M. F. Mullan established a drug store and it was not long until it was plainly to be seen that Pomeroy had "come to stay."
Other early merchants were E. Morrill & Son, Blomberg Broth- ers, Williams & Long, who came from Wiseonsin together and formed a partnership soon after their arrival. F. M. Virden began dealing in grain : T. M. Mellvain opened a harness shop; J. A. Gould was the first attorney and Jacob Stehman the first tailor. Dr. J. M. Carroll came to Pomeroy in 1875.
In March, 1880, a petition was presented to the Cirenit Court, signed by the requisite number of citizens, asking for the incorpora- tion of Pomeroy. J. M. Carroll, F. M. Virden, Alexander Loekie, Enoch Morrill and G. C. Lowrey were appointed commissioners to hold an election and submit the question to a vote of the citizens. The election was held on Thursday, April 22, 1880, and the proposition to incorporate was carried by a vote of thirty-five to three. Returns were made to the judge of the Circuit Court, who ordered the ineor- poration of the town to be made a matter of reeord. The offieers in 1915 were: W. J. Johnson, mayor: S. H. McClure, elerk; G. A. Stewart, assessor.
On the evening of July 6, 1893, the Town of Pomeroy was almost completely "wiped off' the map" by one of the most destructive tor- nadoes that ever visited Northwestern Iowa. A full aeeount of this frightful storm will be found in another chapter. Another disaster
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that came to Pomeroy was the destruction by fire of the public school building on the night of March 4, 1899.
In 1904 the town authorities took up the question of establishing a system of waterworks. A well 165 feet in depth was drilled and two large tanks constructed. from which the citizens are generally supplied with plenty of good, wholesome water for all domestic pur- poses. Mains were laid on all the principal streets and for a town of its size Pomeroy has a source of water supply and system of distribu- tion above the average.
On the evening of November 27. 1913, Thanksgiving Day, Pom- eroy was lighted for the first time by electricity. The town has no electric lighting plant of its own, current being supplied by the elec- tric light and power plant at Humboldt, Ia.
Pomeroy is one of the active business eenters of Calhoun County. Grain and live stock are shipped in considerable quantities every year and the merchants have a large trade with the farmers of Butler and Sherman Townships and of the southern part of Pocahontas County. The town has two banks, a eement bloek factory, large grain ele- vators, lumber yards, a number of up-to-date mercantile establish- ments. a hotel, a weekly newspaper (the Herald), an opera house and many cozy homes. Six religious denominations have organized societies and church edifices. Six teachers are employed in the public schools and the school library is the largest in the county, numbering in 1914 over eighteen hundred volumes. The population in 1910 was 744.
RANDS
The little Village of Rands is located a little south of the center of Logan Township, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, five miles from Rockwell City. It was surveyed by James McClure for O. P. Hayes on December 2, 1891, and is officially described as being "in the west part of the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of seetion 21, township 87, range 32." The plat shows fifteen lots and two large outlots on the west side of the railroad. A plat of A. J. Scott's Addition of twenty-four lots was filed with the county recorder on December 21, 1895, and Haves' Addition of four small lots and three outlots was recorded on December 9, 1899.
A postoffice was established at Rands soon after the town was laid off. On the night of April 24, 1902, burglars broke into the store of Richards & Son, where the postoffice was kept, took abont four dollars in money, a few postage stamps and some fifty dollars'
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worth of goods, mostly shoes. On May 28, 1902, Sheriff A. L. Rise- ley arrested James Rogers at Grand Junction. Greene County, and brought him back to Rockwell City. Mr. Richards identified some of the stolen goods that had been sold by Rogers at Lake City and the latter pleaded guilty to the burglary. He was sentenced to the pen- itentiary for one year. A few years later the postoffice was discon- tinued and the people of Rands now receive mail by rural carrier from Rockwell City. A general store and grain elevator are the only business concerns of any importance.
RICHARDS
On May 3-4, 1900, Geoorge E. Boyd laid off a town in the south- west quarter of section 13, township 88, range 32, for E. A. and Bes- sie P. Richards. The plat, showing 101 lots, was filed with the county recorder on June 6. 1900, and the town was given the name of the proprietors. The plat of Braginton's Addition-eighteen lots-was filed on October 31, 1900.
Richards is located in the eastern part of Center Township, on the main line of the Illinois Central Railroad between Chicago and Omaha, six miles from Rockwell City. It has a money order post- office, two general stores, a telegraph office, grain elevator and a few minor shops. Polk's Iowa Gazeteer for 1914 gives the population of Richards as 53.
RINARD
Rinard was surveyed in June, 1904, by order of R. C. Wight and G. F. Phillips, president and secretary respectively of the Iowa Town- site Company. The original plat, which was filed in the recorder's office at Rockwell City on June 21, 1904, shows 158 lots and two large outlots, in the southeast quarter of section 17, township 87. range 31.
Being situated at the junction of the Chicago Great Western and the Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern railways, Rinard soon came into notice as a shipping point and trading center for the adja- cent farming country. A postoffice was established soon after the town was laid off and a bank was opened in 1907.
On September 28, 1914, a petition signed by twenty-six legal voters of the town was presented to the District Court asking for the incorporation of Rinard. The judge appointed Charles H. Wetter, Herman E. Nevens. A. J. Shriver, F. D. Harmon and Fred Simpson commissioners to conduct an election, which was held on Tuesday,
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October 27, 1914. Thirty-five votes were east, of which twenty-two were in favor of the proposition to incorporate and thirteen were opposed. Upon returns being made to the eout the order for ineor- poration was issued and the same commissioners were directed to hold an election for town officers on Tuesday, December 8, 1914. At that election John Parsons was chosen mayor; J. C. Carnes, treasurer; M. B. Cafferty, assessor: Will Heath, Charles Hurd, John Tulis, A. J. Shriver and F. A. Simpson, eouneilmen.
The business interests of Rinard are represented by the bank, a general store, a hotel, a telegraph office and a few other enterprises. The town has Christian and Methodist Episcopal churches and a population of about one hundred and fifty.
SHERWOOD
The plat of this town was filed in the county recorder's office on December 20, 1899, under the name of Mosely. It was surveyed a short time prior to that date by H. C. Allen for R. E. Mosely and wife, for whom the town was named. The original plat shows fifty- eight lots, with Main and Hobson streets running north and south, and Iowa, Allen and Dewey streets running east and west, and is described as being loeated "in the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 8, township 87, range 33.
Sherwood is located on the Chieago & Omaha division of the Illi- nois Central Railway System, five miles southwest of Rockwell City. It is the only town in Lake Creek Township. When the postoffice was established it was given the name of Sherwood, and that name has been adopted by the railroad company. Polk's Gazetteer for 1914 gives the population as thirty-five. Sherwood has a general store, an express offiee, a postoffice, a grain elevator and is connected with the surrounding country by telephone.
SOMERS
The incorporated Town of Somers is situated in the northeast part of Cedar Township, at the junetion of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Chicago Great Western railroads, about twelve miles east of Rockwell City. It was surveyed by F. A. Maleolm for A. R. Daughenbangh and in his report Mr. Malcolm deseribes the location as being "in the south half of the northwest quarter of section 2, township 87, range 31." The plat was filed with the eounty
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recorder on April 19, 1900, showing 105 lots. Harvey's Addition of forty-six lots was filed on August 4, 1900; the Central Addition was filed by the lowa Townsite Company on December 26, 1902, showing fifty lots immediately north of the original plat, and the Southern Addition was filed on February 16, 1904-fifty-eight lots across the Chicago, Roek Island & Paeifie Railroad from the original plat. In Harvey's Addition a tract of ground was set apart for a park and named "McKinley Park."
In March, 1900, E. F. Riehey opened a general store and was the first business man of Somers. When the postoffice was removed from Muddy and the name changed to Somers, Mr. Riehey was appointed postmaster and up to May, 1915, he has been the ineumbent of that position. The second merehant was C. I. Johnson. W. H. Haber- mehil started in the blacksmithing business on February 22, 1900, and claims to have been the first resident of the new town. A bank was opened in the spring of 1901 and after the Chieago Great Western Railroad was built through Somers the next year a number of new business concerns eame in.
At the February term of the District Court in 1902 a petition signed by a number of citizens was presented to the eourt asking that Somers be incorporated. Judge Church appointed E. F. Riehey, W. H. Martin, W. O. Smouse, C. I. Johnson and B. L. Ham com- missioners to hold an election and submit the question to the legal voters. The election was held on Monday, March 17, 1902 (St. Patrick's day), and the proposition to incorporate was carried by a vote of twenty-six to fifteen. The first offieers of the town were: J. W. Crouch, mayor; George W. Jacobs, elerk; Lewis Wing, treas- urer; W. E. Lanning, C. I. Johnson, C. W. Hanson, E. F. Richey, B. L. Ham and C. F. Sperry, couneilmen. In 1915 W. H. Lotspeich held the office of mayor; R. E. Lewis, elerk; and H. C. Hesser, assessor.
One of the early business coneern, the elevator near the Chieago, Rock Island & Pacific Station and belonging to the Relianee Elevator Company, of Minneapolis, Minn., was totally destroyed by fire on January 15, 1909, with about seven thousand bushels of wheat and oats. The loss was in the neighborhood of ten thousand dollars. This is the only disastrous fire Somers has ever experienced.
In 1910 the population of Somers was 169, but the growth since that time has added quite a number of inhabitants. The town has the usual complement of business houses to be found in towns of its size. The Congregationalists and the Methodists have neat houses of wor- Vol. I-11
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ship; each of the two railroad stations has a telegraph office; and the public schools employ four teachers.
WIGHTMAN
On September 29, 1903, Arthur H. Heitland surveyed the Town of Wightman for R. C. Wight and G. F. Phillips, president and secretary of the Iowa Townsite Company. In his report Mr. Ileit- land describes the site as "a piece or parcel of land, being the west half of the northwest quarter of section 29, township 86, range 34." The plat was filed in the county recorder's office on October 26, 1903, and shows 170 lots of ordinary size and three large outlots.
Wightman is located in the southwestern part of Union Township and is the outgrowth of the Chicago Great Western Railroad, which was built through that part of the county in 1902. It has a postoffice, a general store, a grain elevator, an agricultural implement house, and is the principal trading and shipping point for a rich farming district in Union and Calhoun townships.
YETTER
Yetter, the only town in Elm Grove Township, was laid off on July 15, 1899, by E. K. Blanchard for L. M. Yetter and wife, for whom the town was named. On July 27, 1899, the plat was filed in the office of the county recorder at Rockwell City. The description accompanying the plat gives the location of the town as "in the northeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 30, township 87, range 34." Seventy-eight lots are shown, with North, Plum and South streets running east and west, and Main Street and West View Avenue running north and south. On November 19, 1902, the plat of Yetter's first addition-twenty-eight lots-was filed for record.
A petition signed by twenty-seven citizens was presented to the District Court on October 30, 1903, asking that the proper legal steps be taken to incorporate the Town of Yetter. Judge Church appointed HI. C. Nicholson, C. E. Richards, Jasper Yepsen, A. E. Clark and Leonard Brugger commissioners to hold an election and submit the question to the legal voters residing within the territory it was pro- posed to incorporate. The election was accordingly held on the first day of December and the vote resulted seventeen for and three against incorporation. Returns were made according to law and on Decem- ber 15, 1903, Judge Church ordered the incorporation of Yetter to be
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made a matter of record. At the same time he ordered an election to be held on the second Monday in January, 1904, when Leonard Brugger was elected mayor; W. O. Miles, clerk; C. E. Richards, treasurer; H. C. Reaman, D. W. Swender, William Ashford, Law- rence M. Yetter, D. H. Shea and August Ausborn, councilmen. In 1915 H. C. Nicholson was mayor; II. S. Alexander, clerk; and L. C. French, assessor.
Yetter is located on the Chicago & Omaha division of the Illinois Central Railway System, twelve miles southwest of Rockwell City and one mile from the Sae County line. It has a bank, a general store, a hotel, a grain elevator and some other business enterprises, and in 1910 reported a population of 107. From its money order postoffice one rural route supplies mail daily to the farmers of the surrounding neighborhood.
POSTOFFICES
The United States Postal Guide gives the following offices in Calhoun County, the figures in parentheses after the name indicating the number of rural free delivery routes from the office: Farnham- ville (1), Jolley (1), Knierim (1), Knoke, Lake City (4), Lavinia, Lohrville (4), Manson (4), Pomeroy (2), Richards, Rinard, Rock- well City (6), Sherwood, Somers (1), Wightman, Yetter (1). All are money order offices except Knoke and Wightman, and the offices at Lake City, Lohrville, Manson, Pomeroy and Rockwell City are authorized to issue money orders on foreign countries within the postal union.
CHAPTER XI MILITARY HISTORY
CAUSES LEADING UP TO THE CIVIL WAR-THE SLAVERY QUESTION-THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE-THIE OMNIBUS BILL-THE KANSAS-NE- BRASKA BILL-POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1860- SECESSION OF SEVEN STATES BEFORE LINCOLN'S INAUGURATION-FORMATION OF THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY-FALL OF FORT SUMTER-PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR VOLUNTEERS-IOWA READY -GOVERNOR KIRKWOOD'S CALL FOR TROOPS-SPECIAL SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE-IN CALHOUN COUNTY-TENTH AND THIRTY- NINTH IOWA INFANTRY-MISCELLANEOUS ENLISTMENTS-THE WORK AT HOME-SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR-UPRISINGS IN CUBA AGAINST SPANISH RULE-THE OSTEND MANIFESTO-THE TEN YEARS' WAR-REVOLT OF 1895-WEYLER'S CRUELTY-SENTIMENT IN THE UNITED STATES-DESTRUCTION OF THE MAINE-WAR DECLARED --- FIFTY-FIRST AND FIFTY-SECOND IOWA INFANTRY.
Unfortunately, the pages of the history of human progress are too often darkened with stories of war, rapine and bloodshed, and it has been said that "war brings an element of patriotism that ean never be awakened in the people by any other agency." Aggressive wars have been waged by strong nations for the conquest of a weaker peo- ple, or to uphold the regal power and "divine right" of kings; and defensive wars have been fought to maintain established governments or to safeguard the rights and liberties of the people. The independ- enee of the United States was gained by an eight years' war, and of all the civilized countries of the world the United States is the only one that has never deelared war exeept to defend her institutions or to seeure greater liberties for downtrodden humanity.
One of the greatest wars in history was the Civil war of 1861-65, between the northern and southern states, commonly known as the "War of the Rebellion," in which the North fought to preserve and the South to dissolve the Union.
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Almost from the very beginning of the American Republie, the slavery question beeame a dominant issue in political affairs and a "bone of contention" between the free states on one side and the slave states on the other. Slavery was introduced in America in 1619, when a Dutch trader sold a few negroes to the planters of the Jamestown Colony. The custom of owning negro slaves gradually spread to the other colonies, but by 1819 seven of the original thirteen states had made provisions for the emaneipation of the slaves within their bor- ders. The first elause of section 9, article 1, of the Federal Constitu- tion provides that "The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year 1808."
Under this elause Congress had no power to interfere with the foreign slave trade until 1808, but in that year a law was passed pro- hibiting the further traffie in or importation of negro slaves. The British parliament also passed a law about the same time forbidding English merehauts and traders to engage in the slave trade.
Between the time the Constitution was adopted and the year 1819, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama had been admitted as slave states, and Vermont, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as free states. Six of the original thirteen states had retained slavery and seven had abolished it, so that in 1819 the country was equally divided-eleven free and eleven slave states. Such was the situation when Missouri sought admission into the Union in 1820. After a tedious and at times acrimonious debate, that state was admitted under the act known as the "Missouri Compromise," which provided for the admission of Missouri without any restrictions as to slavery, but ex- pressly stipulated that in all the remaining portion of the Louisiana Purchase north of the line marking; the latitude of 36° 30' slavery should be forever prohibited.
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