USA > Iowa > Dallas County > The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 45
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
They could not get away any distance to supply themselves with corn or any of the necessaries of comfortable living, on account of the heavy snow and driving winds, and as a general thing they had no great supply of these things on hand. Their only hope and relief in this extremity was to de- pend on their generous and more fortunate neighbors, who had been here long enough to have raised and harvested a crop, both for supplies for their families and their stock.
And in all such appeals in cases of emergency, those seeking aid and relief, seldom, if ever, failed to have their requests granted abundantly, with cheerfulness on the part of their more favored neighbors, and most generally without remuneration.
One of the greatest difficulties and severest trials these new-comers had to undergo during that hard winter was that of procuring the necessary food and shelter for their stock which they had brought along with which to make a comfortable commencement on improvement during the coming year. This stock necessarily suffered a great deal during the cold and
348
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
stormy weather from want of sufficient food and shelter, and much of it died from hunger and constant exposure, causing serious loss and incon- venience to the owners.
In the absence of hay, corn, stalk-fields and straw-piles in this extremity the settlers were obliged to cut down linn and elm trees in the most con- venient and sheltered places, from the tops and branches of which the hungry stock could browse, as a substitute for the more nutritious food, and behind whose bushy tops the poor animals could find a partial shelter from the chilling winter winds. In this way many of the settlers who came in late succeeded in bringing the most of their stock through the hard winter, but could not have endured the siege much longer, as they found in the spring that there was not much more vitality and locomotive power than was absolutely necessary on the part of these dumb brutes to enable them to get around and graze upon the new grass sufficiently to recruit their diminished strength and wasted bodies.
Even many of those who had been here for a longer time, having pre- pared, in the summer and fall, what they supposed would be sufficient fod- der for their stock through an average winter, and not looking for such a fearful siege of snow and storm, were glad to resort to the browsing sys- tem also, and cut down trees plentifully near their stock yards, in order that the animals might fill up on the twigs and branches, and thus get along on a smaller quantity of the prepared fodder, lest the supply should fail before spring set in. Many such ingenious plans were resorted to in these cases of necessity in order to "winter through."
From all accounts of those who were compelled to endure it on the frontier, it was certainly a desperate winter, thoroughly fitted to try the hearts and test the powers of endurance of those who were obliged to bat- tle with the trials of pioneer life in the West.
Such a winter coming even now, when people are thoroughly fixed for it, with fine houses and barns, and food and shelter for man and beast, and with all the conveniences and comforts and provisions that could reasonably be desired, would be considered as a " stormer," which must cause destitu- tion and suffering on the part of very many. No wonder, then, that the early settlers still living, who endured it here with meager preparations, ever remember and refer to it as the "hard winter of 1848-49."
THE FIRST POST-OFFICE.
Penoach was then quite a pioneer village, consisting of several log cabins, each one of which was thoroughly inhabited. Something of an assortment was now being kept in the line of a stock of groceries, dry-goods, notions, and other essential family supplies, so that the settlers could there be accommodated with many necessary articles for home use. Bnt during this hard winter it was very difficult getting to the village to obtain these. A post-office had also been established there, as before stated, during the previous fall (1847), when the postmaster, J. C. Corbell, had built a log house which he used both for a dwelling-house and post-office, being the first house built in the town.
About the only way the settlers could reach this post-office during the winter of heavy snow was en foot, by following the river on the ice where the snow had not drifted so deeply.
349
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
Even then they were compelled to be very vigilant, lest, in their journey for the mail matter, they might run into an air-hole, or break through the thin ice, as the heavy coat of snow had prevented the ice from freezing very thickly, and the settlers did not dare to venture upon it with teams or on horseback.
The building in which the mail matter was kept must have been a shackly old structure, poorly finished and furnished, and not well adapted either for convenience or comfort, from the description given in the fol- lowing incident related by Judge Burns:
" S. K. Scovell was deputy postmaster in 1848, under Squire Corbell, chief. In June of that year we called at the post-office at Penoach for a magazine we were taking at the time. We found the deputy postmaster sprawling on the dirt floor of the office, with his leonine head pillowed on a rick of 'Session Laws,' fast asleep.
"Intone, the deputy, got up, yawning and scratching his head, and began to look through his pillow, in which the uncalled for mail matter was interlaid, for the magazine asked for. It could not be found, and the deputy remarked that 'it must be here somewhere, for I have certainly read it. May be possible it has blown out through these tarnal cracks, for it's powerful windy here sometimes. I'll look and see.'
" The deputy went out doors, and, on looking around in the tall grass, found it some thirty feet away, where, sure enough, it had been blown."
Of course the amount of mail matter at that time passing through this post-office was very limited in comparison with that of the present day; but the scarcity, the great length of time elapsing between the dates of arrival of the different mails, and the difficulties and trials encountered in securing and bringing it home made it all the more precious to those receiving the long-looked-for messages and periodicals. A week then, perhaps, seemed shorter than a day does now to one looking for a delayed letter.
A WELCOME SPRING.
The fearful winter referred to gradually began to loosen its hold in the following February, and before the month of March was gone the snow had all disappeared, except occasional remnants of massive drifts that had existed on the north side of high banks and hills, where the sun had not been permitted to shine so powerfully, and the spring of 1849 was ushered in quite early, with a kindly welcome, bringing encouragement and hope to many anxious hearts, as well as comfort and warmth to many needy, suf- fering homes.
The heavy snow lying so constantly on the ground during the previous winter had not allowed the ground to become frozen very solid or deep, so that the stock could take care of themselves quite comfortably during the latter part of March, and until the grass began to start in the sloughs and bottom-lands in sufficient quantities to furnish feed in abundance. Every thing seemed most favorable also for producing an early growth of vegeta- tion as if to recompense for the want and suffering of the past winter.
By the time the snow was melted the frost was nearly all out of the ground, so that the constant rays of the sun soon produced warmth enough
350
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
in the earth to start the growth of grass and hurry the much-wished-for pasture along, and furnished food for the famishing herds. This was, in- deed, an inestimable blessing to all those who had settled here late in the previous fall, and had not been enabled to procure either feed for their stock, or sufficient food and comforts for themselves and families.
The felling of trees for the browsing and shelter of stock had proven a good thing in time of need, but all were heartily glad that the time had at last come when this custom need not longer be pursued, and whien stock could take care of themselves, leaving the owners to go about their spring work and improvements.
Great preparation was made on all hands during the spring for securing as good and large a crop during the coming harvest as possible. Every available acre and square foot of ground that was at all arable and fitted for receiving the seed with any chance of producing a reasonable growth of grain or garden stuffs, was seeded or planted with the utmost care and dili- gence. During that spring quite a large crop was planted, considering the age of the settlements and the great disadvantages under which the citizens labored for making improvements, and again their faithful labors were re- warded with a fruitful harvest.
Quite a large increase of emigration also came into the county during that spring and summer, almost doubling the population of the county be- fore the end of that year.
As one who was present and witnessed the scene of progress says of it:
"The year of grace, 1849, was crowned with an abundant harvest, and witnessed the incoming of many immigrants within our borders, who were greeted with a hearty welcome by all."
No doubt those coming in during that year did receive a hearty welcome from all those who had preceded them, and found the way opened with far more encouraging prospects than those did who first made permanent settlements in Dallas county. It was, in general, a summer of peaceful prosperity. Many of the new-comers bringing in more or less money, to be distributed, to some extent, among those already living here, who had been fortunate enough to have something left from last year's crop to sell for the supply of others.
FLOOD OF 1849.
When the immense coat of snow that covered the ground during the pre- vious winter, began to melt in the spring, it caused a terrible flood, which swept down the ravines and bottoms into the rivers, carrying every thing before it. The melting of the snow began about the first of March, and continued, under the increasing power of the sun's rays, to swell the rivers until far beyond their banks and well up on the bluffs on either side, thus ren- dering it impossible to cross them, and shutting the settlers in from com- munication with those living on the other side, for weeks and months.
A great many heavy rains also came during that spring, and kept the flood raging from March until July of that year. There was very little getting to mill, or any place else, while that continued, if the desired trip was to be made across a stream or two of any considerable size, and under
351
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
such circumstances the settlers must still remain contented with their alloted apportionment of "hog and hominy" until the "floods of water" subsided so that crossing could again be accomplished.
Sometimes very risky, and generally fruitless, attempts were made at crossing during the high waters, by the more adventurous and daring ones.
A temporary raft was made of logs or home-made canoes and dug-outs fastened together, on which the grist and wagons were taken across, piece by piece, and then the oxen caused to swim to the other shore, when all things were again put in running order, and the mill-goers moved onward on their journey.
But not very many of the settlers chose to risk such an hazardous under- taking, and sometimes those who did undertake it found more on their hands than they were able to manage, and were glad to get back safely to shore with all their effects and wait until a more convenient season, as was the case with the Ellis boys, before related.
As a general thing the citizens were content to remain near their homes attending to the work to be done there during the high waters, and make the best of the circumstances living on just such as they had and could get near home.
FLOOD OF 1851.
Two years later, also, during the spring of 1851 there was another great flood, as great, if not greater in extent and amount of damages than the previous one. The rainfall throughout Iowa in that spring was unprece- dented, and the smaller rivers in the State attained a high water mark which has not since been reached, and for some time the earth's surface was like an immense sea of mud and water, rather than like terra firma.
It is said that at times the rain fell literally in torrents for the space of an hour, giving the face of the whole country the appearance of a vast lake or sheet of rushing water.
The Des Moines river reached an immense size, tearing down and carry- ing off everything that came within reach of its current, and reaching out in many places to a width of two to four miles, as the high water marks plainly showed by measurement after the waters had subsided.
The Raccoon river, in all its branches and tributaries, was swollen in equal proportions, bearing along with its current everything that could not withstand the power of its sweeping, rushing waters, and thus causing much damage by floating away fencing and other improvements along its banks and bottom lands that had been made since the previous flood of 1849, and flooding many of the farms on the low lands along it so that the owners were unable to go forward with their work for many weeks. This overflow finally reached its culmination about the last of May.
SECOND DISTRICT COURT.
On June 4, 1849, after a lapse of nearly two years from the date of the first court session in the county, the second district court convened in Pe- noach.
Hon. William McKay who had been appointed prosecuting attorney at
*
352
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
the first court, had been promoted to the position of judge of the fifth ju- dicial district, in the meantime, and presided over this second session.
This was really the first one at which any cases appeared upon the docket, and there seems to have been but one case at this session, which was of minor importance and was dismissed from the docket, as the follow- ing record shows:
WILLIAM D. BOONE vs. JOHN WRIGHT.
The parties now come, and thereupon the said defendant files his motion for a continu- ance, and also a motion to dismiss the case from the docket; and thereupon, by agreement of said parties, a change of venue is granted to the court of Polk, in this Judicial District.
S. K. Scovell was clerk, Eli Smithson, sheriff, and Henry Stump, prose- cuting attorney.
ELECTIONS OF 1849.
The April election of this year created no unusual interest, as there were only few offices to be filled, and not very important ones.
At their January meeting the board of county commissioners had again provided for three places of voting, one at Penoach, one in Boone, and one in Des Moines township.
The whole number of votes cast at this election was sixty-seven.
There were only four officers elected at this time: a probate judge, Sam- uel Miller, to succeed Uriah Stotts; a school-fund commissioner, Ira Sher- man, to succeed S. K. Scovell; and two justices of the peace, F. C. Case and Judah Leaming, Sr.
The temperance issue at this election is noted further on under the head of temperance.
The August election of 1849 elicited a greater interest on the part of the voters generally throughout the county.
The principal offices of importance now to be filled were that of district clerk and sheriff, and over the filling of these two offices there was quite an enthusiastic fight, causing rather a lively campaign, and some earnest work was carried forward on both sides with considerable earnestness of feeling. But it is said that, "notwithstanding the activity of the chief contestants for the succession in this election, there were no thorns left in the flesh to irritate and inflame in after days. On the contrary, the kindest feelings seemed to prevail among all."
The voting precincts, at this time, stood as at the previous April election, three in number, and the highest number of votes cast for any one office was ninety-five (95), which was, perhaps, about all the available votes in the county at that time.
There were numerous candidates for the various offices, several having four different contestants and one reaching as high as five, but these were principally for offices of minor note. The more important offices only had the two opposing candidates, and the largest number of votes possible on either side was cast for them.
The following table shows the various candidates for the respective offices, and the number of votes each received; also, the successful ones, as shown by the majority column:
J. a.Callvert
ג
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
353
NAMES OF CANDIDATES
No. of Votes
Major- ity
Probate Judge:
J. C. Goodson . .
49
36
William D. Boone.
12
James V. Pierce.
13
Barney Morrison.
2
District Clerk :
S. K. Scovell.
44
7
Lot P. Patty.
37
L. D. Burns .
11
Sheriff:
Samuel Marrs
48
5
Thomas Butler
43
Treasurer and Recorder:
Samuel Dilly.
63
42
John Clayton.
21
County Commissioner :
William W. Miller
51
18
Thomas J. Drummond
33
Commissioners' Clerk:
S. K. Scovell.
44
6
Lot P. Patty.
38
L. D. Burns
5
Thomas J. Drummond.
8
Prosecuting Attorney :
Benjamin Greene.
45
16
William Miller
29
Surveyor :
John S. Sammis
84
76
Aaron L. Johns
8
Coroner :
Harvey Adams.
46
36
George B. Warden
1
William Ellis.
10
William D. Boone.
1
Samuel Dilly.
1
Sealer of Weights and Measures :
Z. Babcock.
38
36
George S. Hills
1
George B. Warden.
1
Thomas Butler.
2
While there was a great increase of emigration to the county during the entire year of 1849 there was also in that fall quite a perceptible decrease in the population on account of the great excitement in these parts caused by the opening of the rich gold mines of California, taking many away from their settlements here, and vacating a number of the important offices so recently filled at the late August election. This movement necessitated the appointment, October 9, 1849, of Aaron L. Johns as sheriff, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of John S. Sammis; and also the calling of a new election, by the board of county commissioners, to fill this and other offices vacated for the same reason, which election should be held early the following year, on February 23, 1850, the results of which are given further on, under the proper date.
The gold excitement of California was the means of drawing away about thirty persons from this county during that fall, many of whom were num- bered among the first citizens of the county.
The winter which followed was also quite severe, but not so much so as - the preceding one, and the citizens were much better prepared for enduring
23
354
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
it than they were a year before. The crop had been abundant, so that all who had spent the summer here were well supplied with food and shelter and other necessaries for making them and their stock comfortable through the winter; besides, they had learned a most important lesson from their past experience, that was not likely soon to be forgotten.
There was enough raised in the county to furnish a reasonable supply for all the new-comers, as well as for the former settlers, and this winter was passed with comparative convenience and comfort, with no unusual stir except that caused by the gold excitement of California.
GOLD-HUNTERS OF 1850.
The California gold excitement, which was first manifested here in the fall of 1849, taking away from this county many good citizens that could illy be spared, and unsettling the minds of many more, did not die out in the least during the siege of winter, but rather increased in its intensity, spreading to a wonderful extent throughout the country, and enlisting the sympathies of multitudes, who became only too anxious to dispose of the little property or comfortable homes they might be possessing or enjoying in peace and contentment, and pushing on to the strange new land in pur- suit of more gold.
The winter season in very many localities, as well as in several settle- 'ments of this county, was spent principally in making the necessary prep- aration for joining the throng and starting westward as soon as the weather and grass would permit. And in the spring of 1850 the rush of emigra- tion along the overland route to California passing through here presented a scene never to be forgotten by those who beheld it, and especially by those whose friends, the nearest and dearest of earth, had parted from them and joined the throng, perhaps never to return again. It was one continuous line of wagons, extending east and west as far as the eye could see, moving westward, and drawing in from the country on either side as it passed along very many from their quiet homes and peaceful pursuits, until about the first of June of that year, when the great rush had passed by here, and left the remaining citizens to pursue the even tenor of their ways.
The scene along this line, through this vicinity, is thus described by one who was an eye-witness:
"It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose.
"A continuous line of wagons, stretching away to the west as far as the
eye could see. * * * * * *
* * * If a wagon was detained by being broken down, or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken and die, the corpse was buried hurriedly by the way-side, without coffin or burial service. When night came on, the line of wagons was turned aside and their proprietors would go into camp.
"Very soon the sound of revelry would begin around the camp-fires thickly set on every hand, first to bottle and then to cards, to the echo of the most horrid oaths and imprecations that were ever conceived or uttered since the fall of man.
"These poor deluded votaries of Mammon scattered that dreadful scourge,
355
HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
small-pox, everywhere that they came in contact with the settlers on the way. Game cards were strewn all along the line of travel. Glass bottles, after being emptied of their nefarious contents down the throats of the men, were dashed against wagon wheels, pieces of which were thickly strewn all along the road, as if to mock the madness of the advancing col- umn of these fervent janizaries of the golden calf.
"At the time of the treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, the population of Cali- fornia did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time of which we are writing (1850), there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people that had found their way thither.
"Of which number at least one hundred thousand were 'gold-hunters ' from the States.
"There had been taken from the auriferous beds of California, up to Janu- ary, 1850, over $40,000,000 in gold.
"Out of a population of a little less than three hundred, our county lost one-tenth of that population in the tide to California.
"The evil effects of this gold mania upon the moral status of the people of the United States is still seen and felt everywhere, and among all classes of society, and no man can see the end. It has popularized the worship of Mammnon to an alarming extent throughout the country, and to this wor- ship may be imputed, to a great extent, the moral declension of to-day."
GENERAL PROSPERITY IN 1850.
The draft from the citizenship of this county, which the passing rush of emigration carried away to the gold-fields, was very sensibly felt in this young settlement for awhile during this spring, and it was feared that it might prove even much more disastrous while the high excitement was raging. But as a general thing, the people here soon concluded they had been hav- ing, during the past few years, experience enough, in frontier life and new settlements, to do them for a while, and became contented to cling to the more certain pessession for which they had already toiled so hard and en- dured so much, though they might not hasten along quite so rapidly on the road to riches and lavish pleasures, rather than dispose of their humble estates and rush off wildly after the uncertain possessions and happiness offered by the placer mines of California.
Many of the marvelous stories regarding that great Eldorado of the West, began to appear incredible and lost the power of exciting the more stable minded ones, so as to lure them from their quiet homes and peaceful pos- sessions.
When the flush of excitement was once over, and the more exciteable, restless ones had been sifted out and carried away, the remainder settled down again to active, steady work, on their homesteads, carrying the work of general improvement steadily forward, and multiplying inducements for bringing in other settlers to increase their number and further their home interests.
The embarrassment experienced for a few months in the spring was soon afterward more than doubly counteracted by the increase of immigration within the county bounds during the following summer and fall. And before the year 1850 had closed, the population of Dallas county numbered about 850 persons, all told.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.