USA > Iowa > Dallas County > The History of Dallas County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 62
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The first school-house in the township was a log cabin, built on section 15, during the spring of 1847, by a claimant who soon moved away and left it vacant, and for some time it was used as a school-house, until a better one was provided. The first school taught in this house was taught either by William P. McCubbin or Miss Malinda Night. Mr. Wright informs us that these were the first two who taught school in the township, but does not remember certainly which taught first.
The first church service was at the house of James Black, some time in 1846. The sermon was preached by Rev. William Busick, a Radical Pro- testant Methodist, who supplied a circuit west of Des Moines. Religious
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
services were then held altogether in private houses and school-houses for some time.
The first church organization formed in the township was that of a Meth- odist Episcopal church, some time during 1847, and the first church build- ing erected and dedicated in the township was probably the one in the town of Van Meter.
The township has five different grave-yards within its limits: one at De Soto, one at Van Meter, one near Levi Wright's, and two others.
The wooden bridge at Van Meter, built by Jonathan Peppard, is 364 feet long, being a double bridge, and is a model in construction. It is by con- siderable the longest bridge in the county, and cost a great amount of money for its construction.
The iron bridge at Van Meter's mill on the Adel and De Soto road is 220 feet long, and is also a model bridge of its kind.
This township has two fine bridges, built by the county, one spanning the main Raccoon river at the town of Van Meter, and the other across the South Raccoon at H. G. Van Meter's mill, near the west line of the town- ship.
The township has also some good stone-quarries, which furnish both sandstone and limestone in abundance, and a good many of the limestone boulders are found scattered on the surface in different places.
It has eight school-houses, besides two graded schools in De Soto and Van Meter; and at least five or six church buildings, counting those in the towns.
There are two thriving towns in the township, De Soto and Van Meter, each of which receive due notice further on, under the head of towns.
Van Meter township affords plenty of coal, and the most extensively worked coal mine in the county, the one at the town of Van Meter owned and worked by the Chicago & Van Meter Coal Company, a sketch of which is previously given under the head of " Coal Mines."
It also has two good water-power grist-mills, and numerous excellent mill sites on the Raccoon river.
H. G. Van Meter's mill is situated on the bank of the South Raccoon, about three miles west of De Soto, on the main road to Adel. On the same site was formerly a saw-mill, built by Glover & McPherson about 1855-6, and the property was sold by them in 1859 to H. G. & Jacob Van Meter, who tore down the old saw-mill and built a grist-mill a little above, or per- haps partly on the old mill site, in 1860-1.
This mill is now owned by H. G. Van Meter, and is said to have one of the best dams on the river, having a head of about seven feet of water. It has three run of stone, one four-foot burr, one three and a-half feet, and one two and a-half feet, only two of which are run at once. One burr is capable of grinding eight bushels per hour as an average. This mill is kept in good running order, and has a large run of custom.
Jacob Van Meter's mill is situated on the bank of the main Raccoon, near the town of Van Meter. It was built about 1866-7, and also has two wheat burrs, each about three feet, and one corn burr about two and a-half feet in diameter. Each of the wheat burrs is capable of grinding about six bushels per hour, and the dam has a head of about six feet fall. This mill is also kept in good repair, and has an extensive custom.
Van Meter township has one good railroad, the C., R. I. & P. R. R., which enters the township at the east side, about a mile from the southeast.
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
corner, and follows the valley of the main Raccoon river as far as the town of Van Meter, where it turns up the valley of Bulger creek, and follows that in a rather crooked course, passing out at the east side of Van Meter town- ship, on section 30, at De Soto.
This road furnishes the township with excellent shipping facilities and market privileges, and gives it two towns within its limits-De Soto and Van Meter-as also two good post-offices at these towns, and daily mails arrive and depart regularly, north, south, east and west.
There are numerous large and elegant farm houses and country residences in the township, among which may be mentioned those of J. J. and H. G. Van Meter, and fine yards and fruit orchards in every direction, all of which indicate thrift and enterprise on the part of the owners of the farms and citizens of the township.
The first election held in Van Meter township was held at the house of Henry Stump, April 5, 1847, that being one of the polling places at the first election, and it was then and there chiefly that the spirited contest was had between the rival candidates for the office of sheriff, when the jug of whisky won the day.
The township officers elected at the last election, 1878, were,
Township clerk-J. W. Welch, Assessor-J. E. Brown.
Trustees:
F. M. Ross, Jesse Dillon, J. J. Van Meter.
Justices:
Z. Whaley, J. W. Welch.
Constables :
J. B. Seaman, G. W. Tomlinson.
ADAMS.
This township is the second one from the west, in the south tier of townships in Dallas county, and is known in the government surveys as congressional township 78, north, of range 28, west, of the 5th principal meridian. The South Raccoon river passes almost centrally through it, east and west, while Panther creek flows into it from the north, and Bear creek from the southwest, each emptying into said river near the middle of the township, about a mile apart.
Adams township is, therefore, well supplied with water, drainage, tim- ber, coal, stone and mill privileges, as well as fertile soil and excellent farm- ing lands, both on the prairies and capacious river bottoms.
The settlements are becoming quite thick, the land being principally taken up and cultivated, and it has a good many well improved farms, the citizens being generally enterprising, thrifty, and well-to-do farmers.
Like that of Van Meter township, the district of country now known as Adams township, was for a long time divided up, and constituted parts of other townships, a strip off the north side about two miles wide being
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
joined to Adel township, and the remainder, in connection with part of the west half of Van Meter, forming what was called 'Coon township for a while, and then finally all was thrown into Adel township, and so remained for a number of years, until the following order, as found on the records, settled it in its present formn, January 4th, 1869:
Ordered, That congressional township No. 78, range No. 28, heretofore included in the town" ship of Adel, be formed into a new township; and that the boundaries of said new township shall be the boundaries of said congressional township 78, range 28; and that said township shall be called and known as Adams township. And it is further
Ordered, That Stephen Adams be appointed to post notices of the organization of said township, in pursuance of statute, in such cases made and provided.
This order established the new township of Adams in its present form, and no order appears on record of its having been changed since, being still bounded by the lines of said congressional township 78, range 28.
The new township was named after Stephen Adams, one of its present honored citizens, who was one of the influential ones in getting it set off from Adel, and organized as a separate township, as above described.
It appears that a difference of opinion existed with regard to a railroad tax about to be voted on in Adel township, to which tax most of the citizens of Adams were opposed. In order to save further trouble and settle the matter peaceably, and in the most satisfactory manner to all, a petition was gotten up, signed by Mr. Adams and others, and presented to the county court, asking that the territory above described be set apart and organized as a separate township, which petition was granted, and Mr. Adams was appointed by the court to complete the organization of the said township in pursuance of law, the township thus taking the name of Adams.
We are indebted to Mr. George S. Hills for the principal information re- garding the early settlement of Adams township, who came in May 18, 1846, and settled on his present homestead, sections 10, 11, 14 and 16, where he still lives, comfortably fixed and well provided. John Longmire, his neighbor, adjoining on the west, and Tristram Davis, who settled just adjoining the latter on the west, were perhaps the first settlers in Adams township. Mr. Longmire and Mr. Davis came in the month of February, 1846, selected their claims, made some improvements, and returned for their families, and then moved out here again, arriving May 14, 1846; at the same time with George S. Hills, John Davis, a brother, and Levi Davis, a son of Tristram Davis, and perhaps others, all came in at the same time and settled along the north side of South Raccoon, adjoining one another, with their farms extending down on the fertile river bottom lands.
Levi A. Davis settled on a claim just east of George S. Hills, while his uncle, John Davis, settled just west of Tristramn's claim, and that fall Archibald Crowl came in and settled on a claim just west of John Davis.
During the summer or early fall of 1847, Nathan and Abner McKeen settled on the west side of Panther creek. There are doubtless other set- tlers who came in during this period of time, whose names and locations and dates of arrival we cannot ascertain, but the above named persons were among the first and, perhaps, the principal ones. The settlement and im- provement gradually increased until the year 1850, when there was quite a brisk immigration which filled up the township quite rapidly. The win- ters of 1847-8, and 1848-9 were considered by the settlers as the hardest
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
they ever witnessed before or since, and it required very careful work and management on the part of all in order to succeed in wintering through.
The north half of Adams township was generally settled first, along the timber and bottom lands of the South Raccoon and Panther creek, and in these localities are now found the greatest number of old settlers, and some of the best farms in the township. Other localities, however, were grad- ually settled, and with their greately increased advantages were not long in catching up with their older neighbors.
The first claim-pen in the township was built by Tristram Davis in the spring of 1846. It was simply a log pen about sixteen feet square, built up hurriedly so as to form the sides of a house, and let stand there for awhile so as to secure his claim. He afterward covered it with bark and lived in it all summer.
John Longmire built the first log house in the township, in the spring of 1846, also. It was 16x18 feet, built of round logs scotched down at the corners during the process of building, and afterward the sides were hewed down, making it a finished hewed-log house, in which he lived many years, until he next built a larger hewed-log house.
George S. Hills built the first frame house in the township, 24x48 feet, a story and a-half high, with a one-story kitchen, in 1857, in which he lived until a few years ago, when he built another new frame house, his present residence.
The first death that occurred in the township was that of a child of some travelers passing through, whose name is unknown.
The child died on the journey and was buried in the Davis burying- ground. This burying-ground was located on the northeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 16, and was a donation of Tristram Davis to the general public for that purpose, but it was never deeded to any one. When he sold out he made a reservation of the grave-yard land, but still failed to deed it to trustees, and it still remains in that unsettled condition, for which reason, perhaps, not very many have felt secure in burying their friends and relations there, not knowing into whose hands it might fall.
The first death among the settlers of the township was that of Miss Matilda Hill, and her sister Malinda also died about two weeks afterward. These deaths occurred in July, 1850, and the remains of both were interred in the Davis burying-ground.
There are at least two other places of burying in the township, though only one of these is regularly fenced. It is south of the river, on section 14, and this one, with the Davis burying-ground, are the only ones fenced in the township.
There is no church building in Adams township, and no church organi- zation that we can learn of; the people generally going to the neighbor- ing towns to church.
The first attempt at building a school-house in the township promised fairly at first but finally proved a failure. The need of such an institution being felt, the citizens met and decided on their plan, each one agreeing to do his share by furnishing necessary materials. Some promised to furnish the materials for the sides, others the ribs, others the roof, others the floor, etc., etc., and the plan seemed to be working nicely; but it turned out that some of those who promised were prompt and faithful to fulfill their promises, while others failed, so the whole scheme fell through, and the re- sult was they had no school-house until one was built by law, in 1853,
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
which was a frame house 16x18 feet, situated on the southeast quarter of section 11.
The contract for building this house was let, with the understanding that when the property of the district so increased as to be sufficient to pay off this debt by a tax of 15 mills on the dollar, a tax should then be levied to that effect and the debt paid off.
At this time the entire township constituted one district, being then only part Penoach township, and the house being so far distant from many parts of the school district when finished, it was not at all profitable or convenient for many families to send to the school, and such did not feel like submitting to the tax levy for this purpose.
It was proposed by George S. Hills and others, in view of these difficul- ties that all those living sufficiently convenient to the new school-house should pay their per cent of the proposed tax in advance, and thus pay off the contractors and workmen. This was done, and a sufficient amount in this way was soon raised and paid in, and all the debt squared, those pay- ing their money, in the mean time, each taking a note from the district for the amount paid, to draw ten per cent interest until the district should be able to lift them, or until the school district should become small enough for all within its bounds to attend the school, then a tax should be levied and the notes raised.
The original cost, including house and apparatus, was $161, and notes were given out by the district for this amount, in return for money paid in, and loaned by individuals to pay off this debt. These notes range in amounts from $3 to $25, and by some mismanagement on the part of those placed in charge of financial affairs of the district, none of these notes have ever yet been paid, but are treasured, rusty and worn, by those who loaned the money for the benefit of the district in the time of need, and for the advancement of the cause of education.
The following is a copy of one of these notes held by George S. Hills, which, after an hour's search, was dug out of a huge pile of old papers, where it had remained buried for years. The original note was not drawn on buckskin but it will wear yet for many years, and would be as good as gold if he could only draw the money on it. But he congratulates himself that he is not alone in the boat, as there are numerous others in with him, and some singing to the tune of $25. The note reads as follows:
To the Treasurer of District No. 4, Penoach Township:
You are hereby authorized to pay Geo. S. Hills ten dollars, with interest at ten per cent per annum until paid, from date. This January the 13th, A. D. 1854.
CLARK HILL,
Attest:
President of School District No. 4, Penoach Township.
J. W. GAROUTTE, Secretary.
This house was built by J. W. Garoutte, in 1853, and was used as the school-house of that district until about six years ago, when a new one was built, and the old one was moved away for a dwelling-house, for which pur- pose it is still in use.
The first public school in the township was taught in this house during the winter of 1854-5, by Samuel J. Garoutte.
Miss Mary Holt succeeded him as teacher the next term, and kept a pri- vate school in the same school-house, being paid by George S. Hills.
Stephen Adams-for whom the township was named-taught the first 32
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
school in the township, on the south side of the river, during the winter of 1856-7, in an old log house belonging to old Mr. Bilderback, and testifies that it was a very cold winter.
There are now ten good school-houses in the township.
The first water-mill in the township was built in 1856, by Charles Bil- derback, on the northwest half of section 16, on the banks of the South Raccoon river, the same site where Mitchel & Payton's mill now stands, and Samuel J. Garoutte was the mill-wright who constructed it.
Messrs. Mitchell & Payton afterward purchased the property and now have a fine water-power flouring mill, kept in good repair and doing a thriving business. This is the only mill in the township.
There is plenty of coal in the township, along the streams, in thin veins eighteen to twenty inches in thickness, but no mines of great importance have yet been opened and worked. Marsh's bank is the only one worked to any extent in the township (which see under " coal mines ").
The Bear creek stone-quarry is also located in Adams township, and is perhaps the most extensive one in the county.
They are not working it now to any great extent but in the summer sea- sons from twenty to thirty hands generally employed. (See building ma- terial.)
Adams township also has one fine iron bridge across the South Raccoon river at Mitchell & Payton's mill, 160 feet long, and also one at Panther creek, built by the county.
The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad passes through the south- east corner of Adams township, and the stone-quarry branch runs up from Earlham, a distance of about a mile and a-half from the south line. The township has no post-office in its limits, but De Soto and Earlham supply the need.
The township officers elected at the last election, 1878, were:
Township Clerk-J. R. Wilson.
Assessor-Stephen Adams.
Trustees-J. W. Forrester, William Brown, William King.
Justices-Stephen Adams, J. D. Marsh. (Both held over from last year.)
Constable-Alden Whitney.
Officers of school board-President, D. W. Snyder; Treasurer, Thomas Bilderback; Secretary, Stephen Adams.
UNION.
This township is situated in the southwestern corner of Dallas county, and is known in the government survey as congressional township 78, range 29, west of the fifth principal meridian.
The South Raccoon river flows entirely across the northern portion of the township in a winding course, and the Middle Raccoon river enters at the northwest corner of the township, and flows in a southeasterly course until it empties into the South Raccoon just below the site of Wiscotta, thus furnishing all the northern portion of the township with abundance of wood, water, mill sites, stone-quarries and coal mines.
The south part of the township, comprising nearly two-thirds of the en-
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
tire area, has excellent, fertile, rolling prairie land, which is now well culti- vated, and in many cases converted into well improved valuable farms.
This township has not so large a per cent of timber land as those east of it, as the river runs farther to the north; but these deficiencies are more than compensated by other redeeming qualities, making Union one of the very best townships in the county.
It is not so old a settled township as some others in the county, but has sprung up with a rapid, healthful growth, and is scarcely surpassed by its neighbors in any of counties adjoining. To show what the people think of their own township we quote part of an article from the Dexter Herald, as follows:
"Iowa is one of the best States in the Union, and Dallas county is one of the best counties in the State, and Union township is one of the best town- ships in the county. The township is in the 78th tier of townships north, and in the 29th west of the 5th principal meridian, and is situated in the southwest corner of the county, and is one of the most thickly popu- lated townships in the county, and is well watered by 'Coon river and its tributaries. It is bounded on the south by Penn township, Madison county, on the west by Penn township, Guthrie county, on the north by Linn town- ship, Dallas county, and on the east by Adams township, Dallas county. While it is mostly prairie, there is an abundance of timber along the banks of 'Coon river to supply it with fuel for the present. There is also an abundance of coal, easy of access, along the banks of the river, and under- lying the whole township. It contains two good business towns, viz: Dex- ter and Redfield; Dexter near the southern and Redfield the northern line. The C., R. I. & P. R. R. goes for quite a distance through the southern part of the township, giving it the advantage of easy access to market.
"The eastern, or Bear Creek, settlement is one of the oldest and best set- tlements in Dallas county, and, we may also add, in Central Iowa. The soil throughout the township is a rich, deep loam, and almost inexhaustible. and capable of producing crops equal to those of the far-famed Miami valley, of Ohio. Stone for building purposes is also found in quantities in various parts. Artificial groves have sprung up as if by magic, and gives it a beau- tiful appearance, as well as greatly enhancing the value of the land. For a person accustomed to living in a timber country, to take a ride over this township on a fine summer day, the view is enchanting. Here you will see a stretch of prairie; over there you will see a beautiful grove surrounding a fine residence, with all modern improvements; and, again, your eye will be delighted with a long row of stately trees, entirely surrounding a field or an entire farm. You will see residences that would be the pride of any community. You will see churches and school-houses that show to the observer that this is a land of religion and education as well as agriculture. You will see mills that grind the grain that is raised here in such abund- ance, and prepare the material for the houses, and the cloth for your clothes. You will see men burrowing in the ground, and bringing forth the black diamonds in abundance. You will see large fields of grain that would put Illinois or Michigan to shame. You will see vineyards that will, in a few years, equal the far-famed vineyards of Kelley's Island in Lake Erie. You will see orchards that will, in a few years, outstrip those of Michigan and New York, for Iowa is no longer behind other States in the culture of fruit. You will find every class of business represented. You will find some as
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HISTORY OF DALLAS COUNTY.
fine farms as your eye would care to look upon, and all in a high state of cultivation."
By the first general division of the county into precincts, the territory now included in Union township formed part of what was called Owens precinct, which included all the present territory of Union and Linn town- ships, together with a two mile strip off the west side of what is now Colfax township. (See previous order of March 5, 1850.)
This arrangement did not continue long however, for under date of April 9, 1850, another order appears on the minutes which throws all the territory of Owens precinct into Penoach precinct. And again in less than a year, January 6, 1851, Union township is formed, including nearly the same ter- ritory as was before included in Owens precinct, as is is shown by the fol- lowing:
Ordered, That all the territory included within the following limits be organized into a township to be called Union township, viz:
Commencing at the southwest corner of Dallas county; running from thence east six miles, from thence north to the correction line; from thence west two miles; from thence north six miles; thence west six miles; thence south with the west line of the county to place of begin- ning; and that the election in April, 1851, be held at the house of John W. Hayes.
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