USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume I > Part 7
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When all were assembled four men would be selected to "earry up the corners," and took their stations at the four corners of the cabin. As the logs were lifted up to them they shaped a "saddle" upon the top of one log and cut a notch in the underside of the next to fit upon the saddle. By cutting the notches in the "butt end" of the logs a little deeper and alternating the butt and top ends the walls of the cabin were carried up approximately level. No openings were left for the doors and windows, these being sawed out after the walls were up. An opening would also be cut at one end for a fire- place, outside of which would be constructed a chimney of logs, lined inside with clay to prevent its catching fire. Sometimes the chimney would be built of squares of sod, laid up as a mason lays np a wall of bricks. The roof of the cabin was invariably of clapboards and the floor, if there was one, was of puncheons-that is, slabs of timber split as nearly as possible of the same thickness. After the floor was laid the upper surface would be smoothed off with an adz. Hard- ware was a luxury in a new country, and not infrequently an entire cabin would be completed without a single article of iron being used in its construction. The elapboards of the roof would be held in place by poles running the full length of the cabin and fastened to
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the end logs with wooden pins. The door, made of thin puncheons. was also fastened together with wooden pins, hung on wooden hinges and provided with a wooden latch. To raise the latch from the out- side. a thong of deerskin was passed through a small hole in the door. At night the thong was drawn inside and the door was locked. This custom gave rise to the expression, "The latchstring is always out," signifying that a visitor would be welcome at any time.
The furniture was generally of the "home-made" variety and was of the simplest character. Holes bored in the logs of the walls were fitted with strong pins, upon which were laid clapboards to form the "china closet," the front of which was a curtain of some cheap cotton cloth, though in many cases the curtain was lacking. Stools and benches took the place of chairs. Stoves were almost unknown and the cooking was done at the great fireplace, an iron teakettle, a long- handled skillet and a large iron pot being the principal cooking nten- sils. Bread was baked in the skillet, which was set upon a bed of live coals and more coals heaped upon the lid, so that the bread would bake at both top and bottom. The iron pot was used for the "boiled dinner," two or three kinds of vegetables often being cooked together. "Johnny cake" was made by spreading a stiff dough of cornmeal upon one side of a smooth board, which was propped up in front of the fire. When one side was sufficiently baked, the dough would be turned over, to give the other side of the cake its inning. Many times a generous supply of "johnny cake" and a mug of fresh milk constituted the only supper of the pioneer. While preparing the meals. the housewife would nearly always wear a deep "sunbonnet" to protect her face from the heat.
Somewhere in the cabin, two hooks, formed from the forks of small trees, would be pinned against the wall to form a "gun rack," in which rested the long, heavy rifle of the settler, while suspended from its muzzle, or from one of the hooks, hung the bullet-pouch and powder-horn. The rifle was depended upon to furnish the family supply of meat.
In the early days there were no sawmills to furnish a supply of lumber; there were no brickyards, henee, frame or brick houses were out of the question, and the log cabin was the universal type of dwelling. A little later, when the settlement of the prairies began, many of the pioneers constructed sod houses by cutting squares of the native turf and laying them up in a wall to the required height. Occasionally a frame house would be built of rough boards, around which would be built a wall of sod for greater protection from the
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eold. If lumber could be obtained, the roof of the sod house would be laid of boards eight or ten inches wide running from the peak to the eaves. the joints being covered with narrower boards to keep out the rain. Where lumber could not be procured, the roof consisted of a framework of small poles covered with a thateh of prairie grass. From an architectural standpoint, the sod house was not a "thing of beauty," but it constituted the only home of a large number of the early settlers of Calhoun County, and quite a number of the prominent citizens can recall incidents of their ehildhood when they lived in sod houses, such as finding "bull snakes" in the walls, etc.
In this twentieth century, with banks in every town of any eonse- quence and plenty of money in eirculation, when anyone needs assist- anee he can hire someone to come and help him. When the first white men eame to Calhoun County, money was exceedingly searee and they overcame the lack of money by "swapping work." Fre- quently ten or a dozen men would gather in some neighbor's wheat- field, and while some would swing the eradle the others would bind and shock the sheaves. When one field was finished the whole party would move on to the next where the wheat was ripest, until the wheat crop of the entire neighborhood was made ready for threshing.
While the men were engaged in the harvest field, the women folks would get together and prepare dinner, each bringing from her own store some little delieacy that she thought the others might not be able to supply. Elk meat and venison were common on such oeca- sions, and. as each man had a good appetite by the time dinner was ready, when they arose from the table it "looked like a eyelone had struck it." But each family had its turn in providing for the har- vesters, and by the time the work of the neighborhood was all done no one was placed at any disadvantage as to the amount of provi- sions eonsumed.
In 1855 Alford White bought a "King of the West" threshing machine in Michigan, shipped it from there to Rock Island, Ill., and then hauled it to Polk County, Ia. Two years later William Oxen- ford purchased an interest in the machine, when it was brought to Calhoun County, the first threshing machine in this part of Iowa. The second machine, of the same type, was brought to the county by E. M. Reynolds, in 1860.
The problem of fuel was one of difficult solution for some of the pioneers of Calhoun County. Those who settled in the timber could burn wood, but the settlers upon the prairie were less fortunate. The prairies were covered in many places with a sort of shrub which had a
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strong root of a dark red color, from which the settlers gave the plant the name of "red root." In the older plants the roots attained to a considerable size, often strong enough to break a plow. As the pio- neer husbandman broke the raw prairie the children would follow and colleet the "red roots" to be used for fuel. Before the advent of the railroad many of the early settlers would go to the coal banks on the Des Moines River near Fort Dodge for coal. The trip required two days-one to go and one to return-and in bad weather it was a trip more to be dreaded than desired. Hundreds of bushels of corn were burned during the early days, when the price was so low that it would not pay to haul the corn long distances to exchange for coal. But the building of railroads brought the market in touch with the Calhoun County farmer, so that his eorn could be easily transported to some commercial center and a supply of coal brought back for his eonsumption. Matches were rare in the new settlements and a little fire was always kept somewhere on the premises "for seed." In the fall, winter and early spring, the fire was kept in the fireplace, but when the summer months came and the weather became so warm that a fire in the house would be uncomfortable, it was kept ont of doors. If, by some mishap, the fire was allowed to become extinguished. one of the family would have to make a pilgrimage to the nearest neighbor's to "borrow" a fresh supply.
How easy it is at the present time to enter a room, turn a switch and flood the whole place with electric light! It was not so sixty years ago when the first settlers eame to Calhoun County. The kero- sene lamp had not yet been invented and the housewife constructed a lamp of her own by using a shallow dish, partially filled with lard or some other kind of grease. Into this grease was placed a loosely twisted cotton rag, one end of which projeeted over the side of the dish. The projecting end was then lighted, and though the smoke and odor emitted by such a lamp would be almost intolerable to fas- tidions persons now, it answered the purpose then. Next eame the tallow candle, which was made by pouring melted tallow into moulds of tin, a cotton wick having previously been placed in position in the center of the mould. Sometimes a new settlement eould boast but one set of candle moulds, which passed freely from house to house until all had a supply of candles laid away in a cool, dry place, suffi- cient to last for many weeks. During the winter seasons the family would often sit in front of the fireplace, with no light in the cabin except that which eame from the roaring fire.
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Just now it is a connnon thing for one to telephone to the groeer to send np a saek of flour, a few pounds of sugar, a basket of tropical fruit, a package of salt- in faet almost anything necessary to supply the household larder. But in the days before the Civil war to provide the family supplies was no light affair. Des Moines was the most convenient trading post and several days were required to go and return. There were no roads opened and traveling was a matter attended by many difficulties. Once the settler returned to his cabin with the barest necessities, economy was the watchword, for waste meant another long, dreary journey to the trading post. Breadstuff's were obtained by taking a "turn of corn" or a few bushels of wheat to the nearest mill and waiting until the grain could be ground. While thus waiting the settlers would while away the time by running foot-races, wrestling, shooting at a mark, or pitching horseshoes. Oxenford's Mill. already mentioned, was for some years the only one in Calhoun County and provided flour and meal for the early settlers scattered over a wide territory. After a time Fort Dodge came into prominence as a trading point and other mills were built, when the trips to Des Moines were practically abandoned and bread- stuff's conkl be more easily obtained.
Before the swamps and ponds were drained they formed a veri- table breeding ground for mosquitoes- a great annoyance to the early settlers. As evening approached myriads of these inseets would besiege the cabin and in many a family the members went to sleep fighting mosquitoes. Screens had not been invented then, and even if they had many of the pioneers were not able to afford them. The only method of combating the pests was to build a fire, or "smindge," which was fed at intervals with damp grass, or some fuel that would create a great deal of smoke. The smoke eansed some coughing and watery eyes, but it kept the mosquitoes off. As one old settler expressed it recently. "It's a wonder the people of Calhoun County had any complexion left."
One feature of early life in Calhoun County shonkl not be over- looked, and that was the manner of marking live stock so that animals could be identified by the owner. Stock of all kinds was permitted to run at large and often strayed far from home. To protect himself against loss, the frontier farmer marked his cattle, hogs and sheep in a peculiar manner and the marks were filed with the county recorder with the same eare as titles to real estate. Among the most common marks were the under and upper bits, the round hole, the smooth crop, the slit and the swallow fork. By the combination of these and
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a few others each settler could mark his stock in such a way that his marks would not conflict with those of his neighbors. The "upper bit" was a small notch eut in the upper side of the ear; the "under bit" was just the reverse, being cut in the lower side; the round hole needs no explanation : the "smooth erop" was made by cutting off a small portion of the ear squarely across the end; the "swallow fork" was a fork eut in the end of the ear, similar in shape to a swallow's tail, from which it derived its name, and so on. The traveler through a new country might have seen posted up on trees along the roadside such notices as this: "Lost, a two-year-old heifer, red and white spot- ted, marked with a crop off the left ear and a swallow fork in the right. Finder please communicate with John Doe," ete. The marks were seldom violated and they protected the owner of live stock as surely as the manufacturer is protected against infringement by his registered trade-mark.
AMUSEMENTS AND PASTIMES
Although the pioneers had their hardships, it must not be imag- ined for a moment that their lives were utterly devoid of relaxation and entertainment. One form of amusement was the "husking bee," in which pleasure and profit were combined. On such oceasions the corn to be husked would be divided into two piles, as nearly equal in size as possible. Two of the guests would then "choose up"-that is, divide those present into two companies, the contest being to see which side would first finish its pile of corn. Men and women both took part in the "bee" and the young man who found a red ear was permitted by the rules of the game to kiss the lassie next to him. "Many a merry laugh went round" when someone found a red ear and the lassie objected to being kissed. Quite frequently the young men would play an underhand game by passing the red ear surrep- titiously from one to another.
The women had their quilting parties, when a number would take their needles and thimbles and assemble at some house to join in making a quilt. Here there was friendly rivalry to see who could run the straightest line or make the neatest stitches.
Corn huskings and quiltings were frequently followed by a dance. Nearly every frontier settlement had at least one man who could play a violin. The "fiddler," as he was universally called, would be called into requisition and the guests would spend an hour or two in "tripping the light fantistie toe," though it must be confessed that Vol. 1-5
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oftentimes the toes were neither light nor fantastic. The tango, the fox trot and the hesitation waltz had not then made their appearance, but the Virginia reel, the stately minuet or the old-fashioned eotillion, in which someone called the figures in a voice that could be heard some distance from the cabin, were very much in evidence. The old- time fiddler may not have been much of a musician, when measured by classic standards, but he could make his old violin respond to such tunes as "Turkey in the Straw," "Money Musk," "The Bowery Gals," "The Irish Washerwoman," etc., and it is quite probable that some of these frontier people derived more real pleasure from their social dance than do many of the aristocracy at the inaugural ball of a President.
If the host had conscientious scruples against dancing, some other form of amusement was substituted. In that case "Old Sister Phoebe would sit under the juniper tree," or the "Happy old miller would live by his mill."
Then there were the spelling schools that eame in with the intro- duction of the public school system. On a given evening the whole community-men, women and children-would gather at the school- house to engage in a spelling eontest. As at the husking bec, two persons would be selected to "choose up," the winner selecting the best speller first, and so on until all who eared to take part were arranged upon two sides. Usually, words were given first to one side and then to the other. If a speller missed a word he took his seat and the contest went on until only the victor was left standing. To "spell down" a whole school distriet was considered an honor. At the close of the exercises the young men, with quickened pulse for fear of "getting the mitten," would ask permission to "see the girls home." If one of these acquaintances ripened into an intimacy that ended in a wedding, it was usually followed by a charivari, or, as it was pronounced on the frontier, a shivaree-a serenade in which noise took the place of harmony. The serenade was generally kept up until the bride and groom showed themselves, and the affair ended all the more pleasantly if each of the serenaders was treated to a piece of the wedding cake. Doubtless the young men of that period were no more superstitious than those of more recent years, but it is certain that many of them placed the morsel of wedding cake under their pillows upon retiring, hoping that it would bring some pleasant dream that would come true.
Another favorite pastime of early days was the fishing parties. After the spring planting was done the whole neighborhood would
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gather on the banks of the Coon River, Lake Creek or the Twin Lakes for a day's recreation in luring the finest specimens of the finny tribe from their watery home. When the narrow gauge (now the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul) railroad was completed through the county, special trains were run from Des Moines carrying hun- dreds of fishermen to Twin Lakes. Jolley is the nearest railway station to the lakes and many an honest penny was earned by some of the early settlers in conveying the fishermen from the railroad to the lake shores.
Unfortunately, in these days when everybody wears "store clothes." there are some people inclined to sneer at the homely and uneventful life of the pioneers and their homespun elothing. Then the wool raised upon the farm was spun into yarn by the good house- wife and her daughters, the yarn was woven into eloth upon the old hand loom and the cloth was made into garments with the needle. A girl sixteen years of age who could not spin her "six euts" a day or make her own dresses could rarely be found in a new settlement, and if such a girl was found she was looked upon as a curiosity and would hardly be considered as qualified for the duties of matrimony. Yet how many of the young ladies who graduated from the various high schools of Calhoun County in the year 1915 know what the term "six cuts" means? All things considered, the pioneer is entitled to a place of honor in the memories of the present generation. He braved the dangers of the frontier and amid adverse conditions overcame all obstacles, building up an empire in the wilderness. His life was hard and his reward meager, when compared with more modern conditions, but his work was well done. It was of such an environment as his that Robert Burns wrote:
"But buirdly chiels and elever hizzies Are bred in sie a way as this is."
THE FIRST ELECTION
By the aet of January 12, 1853, Calhoun County was attached to the County of Greene for judicial and tax purposes. In the spring of 1855 the few settlers in Calhoun observed that they were paying taxes to Greene County and that very little of the revenue came baek to them in the way of needed improvements. They therefore decided to take the necessary steps for organizing the county. Pur- suant to the provisions of the act of January 12, 1853, they submitted a petition to William Phillips, then county judge of Greene County,
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asking him to order an election for county officers. Judge Phillips granted the petition and designated the first Monday in August, 1855, as the day on which such election should be held. At that time Peter Smith was elected county judge: Joel Golden, elerk; Christian Smith, recorder and treasurer; William Oxenford, sheriff; and Ebenezer Comstock, prosecuting attorney. Christian Smith resigned his office on January 7, 1856, and Eli Van Horne was appointed to the vacancy.
LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT
Having elected officers, the next step toward perfecting the county organization was to petition the district judge to appoint commis- sioners to locate the county seat. Accordingly a petition was pre- sented to Judge C. J. McFarland, of the Fifth Judicial District, at the October term of the Boone County Court. After hearing the petition, Judge McFarland, on October 10, 1855, appointed William Phillips, John F. Howes and Rufus Keigley as such commissioners, and instructed them to meet at the house of Peter Smith on November 7, 1855, for the performance of their duty. The commissioners met at the time and place appointed and after looking over the field made the following report:
"We. the undersigned, commissioners appointed by his honor, C. J. MeFarland, judge of the Fifth Judicial District, Iowa, for the location of the county seat of Calhoun County, Iowa, met at the office of the county judge of said county on the 7th of November, A. D. 1855, and proceeded to view and locate the seat of justice of said county, after being duly sworn by the county judge aforesaid. And we, as said commissioners, beg leave to report that we have located said seat of justice for said County of Calhoun on the south half of the southeast quarter of section 27. and also on the north half of the northeast quarter of section 34, all in township 87 north of range mumber 33 west of the fifth principal meridian, Iowa, said tract of land containing 160 acres, more or less; and we do hereby name and call said seat of justice Brooklyn."
The report was dated November 9, 1855, and was signed by all three of the commissioners. The site of the Town of Brooklyn, as selected by the commissioners, is about four miles northeast of the present Town of Lake City, in the southeastern part of Lake Creek Township. The act of January 12, 1853, provided that the com- missioners should receive $2.00 per day for the time actually
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employed "to be paid out of the first money received from the sale of town lots in the county seat so located." In the case of Calhoun County payment was anticipated, as the commissioners received war- rants on the county on the same day they prepared their report- November 9, 1855. Warrant No. 1 was drawn in favor of John F. Howes, for fees and mileage, in the sum of $33.00; warrant No. 2, for $17.00, was issued to William Phillips for like serviees, and war- rant No. 3, for $28.00, was issued to Rufus Keigley. These were the first warrants drawn upon the treasury of Calhoun County.
The reader should remember that in 1855 the only settlements in Calhoun County were located along the Coon River and the lower waters of Lake Creek, in what are now Jackson and Calhoun town- ships. When the commissioners reported the selection of a site for the seat of justice at such a distance from the nearest actual settle- ment, their aet was almost universally condemned by the people. Consequently, on January 7, 1856, a petition "of sundry citizens of the county" was presented to the County Court by Jacob Young, ask- ing for the removal of the county seat "to the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 18, and the southwest quarter of the southeast quarter of section 7, township 86 north, range 33 west."
Mr. Young made the necessary affidavit that the petition was signed by a majority of the legal voters of the county, whereupon Peter Smith, in his official capacity as county judge, ordered the question of removal to be submitted to the people at an election on the first Monday in April following. The election was held at the house of Peter Smith on April 7, 1856, the same being the first Mon- day in the month. Levi Tharp east the first vote and the total num- ber of votes polled was twenty-five. On the question of removing the county seat four voters failed to express themselves, but the twenty-one votes cast were all in favor of the removal. At this elee- tion William Oxenford was re-elected sheriff and Eli Van Horne, treasurer and recorder; Allen McCoy was elected surveyor; Henry W. Smith, school fund commissioner: and Joshua McCoy, coroner.
The site selected by the voters at this election for a seat of justice is now within the corporate limits of Lake City. On May 10, 1856, Charles Amy was employed to lay out the town and three days later Alford White and Peter Smith and their wives deeded the land to the county, in consideration of one-half the proceeds arising from the sale of town lots. The first public sale of lots was on July 1, 1856. A courthouse was built the next year and Calhoun County took her place among the regularly organized counties of the state.
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COUNTY SEAT REMOVED TO ROCKWELL CITY
Shortly after the close of the Civil war settlers began coming into the northern part of the county. Several new civil townships were established, the Illinois Central Railroad was built through that sec- tion of the county in 1870 and by 1875 Manson and Pomeroy had grown to villages of considerable size. A movement was then started to have the seat of justice removed to some point nearer the geo- graphical center of the county. A committee of citizens was chosen to select a site and prepare a petition to be presented to the board of supervisors, asking that the question be submitted to the voters, At the head of that committee was John Somerville, of Manson, after- ward a member of the board of supervisors. G. R. Pearson, of Fort Dodge, offered to donate all the land the county would need if the committee should select section 19 in Center Township. He represented to the committee that the land was dry and rolling, Lake Creek running through the section, and that the location would be only a mile and a half north of the center of the county. John M. Rockwell also came forward with an offer to donate every other lot in a tract twenty acres in the northeast quarter of section 36 in Twin Lakes Township, almost in the exact geographical center. On June 17, 1876, the committee met at the house of Calvin Childs, near the site proposed by Mr. Rockwell, selected that location and pre- pared the petition, which was circulated over the county by Mr. Somerville, M. M. Smith and others. In due time the petition was presented to the board of supervisors and on September 5, 1876, that body adopted the following resolution :
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