USA > Iowa > Iowa County > The history of Iowa County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 40
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. During the early settlements of this county, as in the settlements of other counties of the West, the population at first was largely composed of shiftless adventurers who made of the country but a mere camping ground, ready to move at the first advance of civilization westward; some of the first settlers of this county, however, as has been the case in nearly every county of the State, were men of more than ordinary strength of will and force of character, and became permanently and prominently connected with the interests of the county.
Such, in the main, were the men whose first location and first acts have herein been briefly sketched. They were subjected to strange and trying vicissitudes and built much more wisely than they knew. The hardships and trials, the amusements and enjoyments which in general were the lot of the people of Iowa county during pioneer times will be more fully nar- rated in the following chapter.
CHAPTER V.
PIONEER LIFE.
The Pioneer's Peculiarities-Conveniences and Inconveniences-The Historical Log Cabin- Agricultural Implements-Household Furniture-Corn Bread-Hand Mills and Hominy Blocks-Going to Mill-Trading Points-The Pioneer Stock-dealer-Hunting and Trapping -California Gold Excitement-Western Stage Company-Claim Clubs and Club Laws- The Barn Burners-Surveys and Land Sales-The First Records-Growth of the County- Table of Events.
DURING the decade which comprehends the first ten years of its history, Iowa county was in its earliest stage of pioneer life. All that can be known of this period must be drawn chiefly from tradition. In those days the peo- ple took no care to preserve history; they were too busily engaged in mak- ing it. Historically speaking, those were the most important years of the county, for it was then the foundation and corner-stone of all the country's history and prosperity was laid. Yet, this period was not remarkable for stirring events. It was, however, a time of self-reliance and brave, perse- vering toil; of privations patiently endured through faith in the good time coming. The experiences of one settler were very much the same as those of all others. They were almost all invariably poor, they all faced the same hardships and generally stood on the same footing.
All the experience of the early pioneer of this county goes far to con- firm the theory that, after all, happiness is pretty evenly balanced in this world. They had their privations and hardships, but they had, also, their own peculiar joys. If they were poor, they were free from the burden of
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pride and vanity: free, also, from the anxiety and care that always attend the possession of wealth. Other people's eyes cost them nothing. If they had few neighbors, they were on the best of terms with those they had. Envy, jealousy, and strife had not crept in. A common interest and a. common sympathy bound them together with the strongest ties. They were a little world to themselves, and the good feeling that prevailed was all the stronger because they were so far removed from the great world of the East.
Among these pioneers there was realized a community of feeling arising from a community of interest. There were no castes, no aristocracy, except an aristocracy of benevolence. They were bound together with a bond of sympathy begotten by the consciousness of common hardships, and they were practical communists.
Neighbors did not even wait for an invitation or request to help one an- other. Was a settler's cabin burned or blown down, no sooner was the fact known throughout the neighborhood than the settlers assembled to as- sist the unfortunate one to rebuild his home. They came with as little hesitation, and with as much alacrity, as though they were all members of the same family, and bound together by ties of blood. One man's interest was every other man's interest also. Now this general state of feeling among the pioneers was by no means peculiar to this county, although it was strongly illustrated here. It prevailed generally throughout the West during the time of the early settlement. The very nature of things taught the settlers the necessity of dwelling together in this spirit. It was their only protection. They had come far away from the well established reign of law, and entered a new country, where the civil authority was still feeble, and totally unable to afford protection and redress grievances. Here in Iowa county the settlers lived for quite a time before there was a single officer of law in the county. Each man's protection was in the good will and friendship of those about him, and the one thing any man might well dread was the ill will of the community; it was far more terrible than the law. The law has its squabbles and delays, but no squabbling or delaying at the court of public sentiment. It was no uncommon thing in early times for hardened men who had no fear of jails to stand greatly in awe of the indignant community. Such were some of the characteristics of the first settlers of Iowa county.
HOUSES AND HOME COMFORTS.
The first buildings in the county were not just like the log cabins which succeeded them; these latter required some help and considerable labor to build. The first buildings constructed were a cross between " hoop cabins" and Indian bark huts. As soon as enough men could be gotten together for a " raising," log houses were in style. Many a pioneer can remember the happiest time in his life as that when he lived in one of these homely but comfortable old houses.
A window with sash and glass was a rarity, and was an evidence of wealth and aristocracy which but few could support. They were often made with greased paper put over the window, which admitted a little light, but more often there was nothing whatever over it, or the cracks be- tween the logs, without chinking or daubing, was the dependence for light and air.
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The doors were fastened with old-fashioned wooden latches, and for a friend, or neighbor, or traveler, the string always hung out; for pioneers of the West were hospitable, and entertained visitors to the best of their ability.
It is noticeable with what affection the pioneers speak of their old log cabins. It may be doubted whether palaces ever sheltered happier hearts than those homely cabins. The following is a good description of these old landmarks, but few of which now remain:
" These were of round logs, notched together at the corners, ribbed with poles, and covered with boards split from a tree. A puncheon floor was then laid down, a hole cut in the end, and a stick chimney run up. A clapboard door is made, a window is opened by cutting out a hole in the side or end about two feet square, and it is finished, without glass or trans- parency. The house is then 'chinked,' and 'daubed' with mud made of the top soil.
" The cabin is now ready to go into. The household and kitchen furni- ture is adjusted, and life on the frontier is begun in earnest.
"The one-legged bedstead, now a piece of furniture of the past, was made by cutting a stick the proper length, boring holes at one end one and a half inches in diameter, at right angles, and the same-sized hole correspon- ding with these in the logs, of the cabin the length and breadth desired for the bed, in which are inserted poles. Upon these poles clapboards are laid or lind bark is interwoven consecutively from pole to pole. Upon this primitive structure the bed is laid.
" The convenience of a cook stove was not thought of then, but instead the cooking was done by the faithful housewife in pots and kettles and skil- lets, on and about the big fire-place, and very frequently over and around, too, the distended pedal extremities of the legal sovereign of the house- hold, while the latter was indulging in the luxuries of a cob pipe and dis- coursing the monotonous issues of a township election or contemplating the probable result of a proposed hunting excursion up the river."
These log cabins were really not so bad after all.
The people of to-day, familiarized with "Charter Oak cooking stoves " and cooking ranges, would be ill at home were they compelled to prepare a meal with no other conveniences than such as were found in the pioneer cabin. Rude fire-places were constructed of mud and sticks; the mud was to keep the sticks from catching fire, and the sticks were to keep the mud from falling down.
These fire-places served for heating and cooking purposes, also for ventilation. Around the cheerful blaze of this fire the meal was prepared, and these meals were not so bad after all. As elsewhere remarked, they were not such as would tempt the epicure, but such as afforded the most healthy nourishment for a race of people who were driven to the exposure and hardships which were their lot; we hear of few dyspeptics in those days. Another advantage of these cooking arrangements was that the stove-pipe never fell down, and the pioneer was spared being subjected to the most trying of ordeals and one probably more productive of profanity than any other.
It must not be imagined that there were not occasionally circumstances which made these old fashioned fire-places likewise conducive of profanity ; for instance, if when the pot of soup was about ready for the tableit should unexpectedly receive a quantity of seasoning in the shape of some sticks
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and mud suddenly detached from the chimney, or a dead swallow, or what is still worse a live snake, which was a frequent occurrence in some parts of the country. It is said that in early times in some parts of the country these vile serpents would be attracted by the smell of the victuals carried off up the chimney, and upon becoming paralyzed by the hot smoke would come tumbling down among the victuals.
A gentleman who had managed to get along without a cooking stove for a number of years, was so favorably impressed by the first one which was brought to his neighborhood that he offered a yoke of his best oxen for it, but the owner of the stove refused the offer.
HAND MILLS AND HOMINY BLOCKS.
Before there were mills of easy access, and even in some instances after- terward, hominy blocks were used. These now exist only in the memory of the oldest settlers, but as relics of the "long ago," a description of them will not be uninteresting.
A tree of suitable size, say from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, was selected in the forest and felled to the ground. If a cross-cut saw hap- pened to be convenient, the tree was "butted"-that is, the kerf end was sawed off so that it would stand steady when ready for use. If there were no cross-cut saw in the neighborhood, strong arms and sharp axes were ready to do the work. Then the proper length, from four to five feet, was meas- ured off and sawed or cut square. When this was done the block was raised on end, and the work of cutting out a hollow in one of the ends was com- menced. This was generally done with a common chopping ax. Some- times a smaller one was used. When the cavity was judged to be large enough, a fire was built in it and carefully watched till the ragged edges were burned away. When completed the hominy block somewhat resem- bled a druggist's mortar. Then a pestle, or something to crush the corn, was necessary. This was usually made from a suitably sized piece of tim- ber with an iron wedge attached, the large end down. This completed the machinery, and the block was ready for use. Sometimes one hominy block accomodated an entire neighborhood, and was the means of staying the hunger of many mouths.
Sometimes in cases of rare necessity when the snow was too deep to travel or swollen streams intervened between the settler's home and the mill, a grist mill was extemporized from the coffee mill whereby sufficient corn was ground to furnish meal for the family. Numerous instances might be adduced to show how families and even whole neighborhoods subsisted in this way for days and even weeks. Instances of this kind were very nu- merous during the winter of the great snow in 1848. From the forego- ing observations the mind is readily lead to consider the matter of
EARLY MILLS AND TRADING POINTS.
The streams of the county afforded many eligible sites, nevertheless it required time and capital to construct grist mills; and going to mill in early days, when there were no roads, no bridges, no ferry-boats and scacely any conveniences of travel, was no small undertaking where so many treach- erous streams had to be crossed; and such trips were often attended with danger when the streams were swollen beyond the capacity of their banks.
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But even under these circumstances some of the more ingenious and adven- turesome ones, in case of emergency, found the ways and means of crossing the swollen streams and completing the trip. At other times, again, all attempts failed them, and they were compelled to remain at home until the waters subsided, and were thrown on the generosity of more fortunate neighbors.
Some stories about forced travels to mills and for provisions are related which remind one of forced marches in military campaigns, and when we hear of the heroic and daring conduct of the hardy pioneer in procuring ยท bread for his loved ones, we are lead to consider that here were heroes more valiant than any of the soldiers who followed either a Napoleon or a Hanni- bal, and in the peaceful walks of life there were men in early days all along up and down the valley of the Iowa River, who endured as great hardships as did the patriot fathers under Washington. There was, there- fore, some significance in the calling of the county seat of the county "Val- ley Forge," a name suggested by some of the leading settlers when the county was organized.
During the first three years, and perhaps not until sometime afterward, there was not a public highway established and worked on which they could travel; and as the settlers were generally far apart, and mills and trading points were at great distances, going from place to place was not only very tedious but attended sometimes with great danger. Not a rail- road had yet entered the State, and there was scarcely a thought in the minds of the people here of such a thing ever reaching the wild West; and, if thought of, people had no conception of what a revolution a rail- road and telegraph through here would cause in the progress of the country. Then there were less than 5,000 miles of railroad in the United States, and not a mile of track laid this side of Ohio, while now there are over 100.000 miles of railroads extending their trunks and branches in every direction over our land.
Supplies in those days came to the western country entirely by river and wagon transportation. Mails were carried to and fro in the same way, and telegraph despatches were transmitted by the memory and lips of emigrants coming in, or strangers passing through.
The first mill erected in the county was the Kitchens mill on Bear Creek, near the present site of Ladora. This was at first a saw mill and nothing more. But it must not be supposed that it was unimportant on that ac- connt. It was almost as important to the settlers to have lumber as bread, and while flour and meal could be transported some distance with compara- tive ease, transporting lumber was a very tedious and difficult task.
After Kitchens' saw mill had been in operation some little time an ar- rangement was added for grinding corn. In the winter of 1844 and 1845 a mill was constructed at Iowa City. There were, most probably, facilities for making flour at that place prior to that time, but the mill completed in 1845 was the first regular flouring mill of capacity constructed there.
Men were employed from the whole surrounding region of country to assist in the work, and at least two of the early settlers from this county as- sisted in putting in the dam. They were Lewis F. Wilson and Robert McKee. When the mill at Iowa City finally got to work, the people of this county mostly took their grists there to be ground. It would be re- garded quite a hardship if the people of Iowa county had to go to Iowa
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City at the present day to do their milling, but in early days they may be regarded as having been very fortunately situated in this respect.
In the course of a few years a mill was erected at Marengo by a man named Dillon. Though this mill was found to be faulty in its machin- ery, and the race was defective, yet it did good work for those early times.
The old mill-race passing directly through the town, but little over a square from the public park, is still in existence, though not used for the purpose for which it was constructed. This relic of the first mill enterprise of Marengo will doubtless remain for many years as a reminder of what, at the time, was a most perilous undertaking.
Steam mills and water mills of all kinds are now so numerous in the county that no one experiences any of the difficulties peculiar to pioneer times. The larger part of the people of Iowa county probably never go to mill now, and instead of the consumer troubling himself about getting flour, the millers compete with each other in getting people to take it.
In pioneer times the question of accessible trading points was nearly as important as was that of mills. Saw mills were first necessary in order to procure lumber for the construction of dwellings; grist mills were needed, for without them the early settler would have been driven to the verge of starvation. But after the pioneer was snugly quartered in his newly built cabin, and he had enough wheat and corn ground for the winter, it was then his business to dispose of his surplus farm products whereby he alone could hope to purchase the necessary amount of clothing and groceries, and begin to lay up a little money to enter the land he had preempted. Trad- ing points, where the pioneer could dispose of his farm products, were far off and difficult of access.
The number of persons ready to engage in merchandising is always equal to, and frequently exceeds the demand of the producing class. This was true in early times, and the establishment of stores soon followed the open- ing of farms. Marengo was, at an early day, quite a trading point; so was Millersburg, but the merchants of the county were not anxious to trade their goods for country produce, and when they did exchange the cost of trans- porting goods to the county and the prospective cost of carrying the pro- duce to Davenport or Keokuk was so large in both cases, that the producer, if he disposed of his goods at the county store, got no money, and if he got goods he got them at a ruinous rate; every yard of calico, every pound of sugar, every ax, hoe or knife, by the time he got it into his cabin, repre- sented days of hard labor. Even those who had brought with them from the East horses, cattle, hogs and sheep for the purpose of entering into the stock-raising business, soon found that, while the country was extremely well adapted to that kind of industry, they could not succeed in the busi- ness on account of the great distance to market. In this day of traffic and bargaining, when there are stock-buyers and grain-dealers at nearly every cross-road, we can scarcely realize the difficulty and uncertainty of getting anything. This trouble originated in the fact of there being no means of transportation. It was true then, even as now, that consumers in the older settled parts of the country were anxious to buy Iowa corn, hogs and cat- tle; it was true then as now that hundreds of mnen, with money, and of a speculative turn of mind, were ready for trade and traffic; it was the two hundred miles of comparative wilderness and impassable roads which de- prived the pioneer of the just rewards of his labor.
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
As has already been stated, there were, at the time spoken of, no rail- roads in the State, and less than five thousand miles of railroad in the United States-not a single track had yet entered Chicago, and not a mile of track west of Ohio. Under these circumstances the people could only hope for an outlet by the way of the Mississippi River. The people looked confidently forward to the time in the far future when a railroad would pass near their doors, and meanwhile they could but content them- selves by disposing of their produce at Burlington or Keokuk. By making long and tedious journeys to these places, all of which afforded at least a very uncertain or a very distant market, they could, by industry and econ- omy, lay by a very little money, and by the postponement of the land sales finally be able to procure a good title to their homesteads. The induce- ments, however, for new emigrants to locate here, when there was so much available land nearer the great water outlet of the Mississippi, were so small, and the objections which were urged by prospectors, on account of the distance from market were great.
Iowa City was quite a pioneer town, and the early settlers of Iowa county did much to encourage and develop the trade of that ambitious trading point. Davenport, Burlington and Keokuk, however, were the great ship- ping points of the State, and the expense of conveying all kinds of country produce by wagon to these places in the end came off the farmers, and their expense was so great that the prices were very small. Once in a while an individual of more than ordinary adventuresome disposition started with a drove of cattle or hogs to Chicago. .
In one case three gentlemen entered upon the hazardous enterprise of buying a drove of fat cattle and driving them to the city of the lakes. They crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry-boat and arrived at their destina- tion at the expiration of twenty days. They could find no market even in Chicago for their cattle at that time, and so they were compelled to butcher them themselves, and then sold them on the hook at prices ranging from two and a half to three and a half cents per pound. The men made money by the operation-the total expenses of the trip amounting to ninety dol- lars. Notwithstanding this venture was a fortunate one the gentlemen did not repeat it, but as stock became more plentiful, persons of a speculative turn bought the surplus cattle and hogs and drove them to the leading Iowa or Mississippi River towns, where they were usually sold or shipped to St. Louis. As before remarked, Keokuk was the favorite trading point for such dealers. The stock-dealer of pioneer days was not at all such a char- acter as his successor of to-day; the disposition, equipment and furnishing of the pioneer stock-dealer and the present one form a marked contrast. The basis upon which operations of this kind were carried on in those days forms, also, a marked contast with the basis of such operations in this day of quick returns and small profits. The dealer bought his stock and give his note for the purchase price. After he had accumulated a drove suffi- ciently large he started for the market, and this, owing to the great distance and the slow movements of the fattened stock, often required weeks for the round trip. There was indeed one circumstance with expedited business. In the language of one who knows, "the hogs were good travelers." After disposing of the drove and returning, the stock-dealer again made the round of his circuit and paid for the stock. If his venture proved a fortunate one, he could pay all his bills and have something left as a compensation for his trouble; if not, some of the stock-raisers had to wait until the drover
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made another trip. The money which the drovers thus circulated through the country was principally bank bills on the State banks of Ohio and Indiana.
THE PIONEER STOCK-DEALERS.
An incident peculiar to pioneer times, illustrating the status of commer- cial operations, is related of a gentleman who kept a store in Iowa, and as and adjunct, more of necessity than choice founded in the scarcity of cash among his customers, was also given to barter in farm products, of which the frisky swine formed a leading factor. Mr. M. was his name, and he carried on an extensive trade with the farmers of that section, and was doing a flourishing business. However, as was generally the case with estab- lishments of that time, there accumlated quite a large amount of old goods, out of style and out of date. Under these circumstances some merchants would have offered these goods at "less that cost" or employed a loqna- cious auctioneer to dispose of them to the highest bidder, but not so Mr. M. He proceeded as follows: It being a prosperous year with farmers, he entered the market early as a hog buyer, buying hogs of all sizes, colors and breeds; bought late and early and bought continuously for a number of weeks, giving his note for the purchase-money, as was customary in those days. After he had bought all the hogs in the county that were for sale, and which were old enough to travel, the word was passed around that all hogs thus purchased should be delivered at the county seat on a given day. The hogs came, filling the town and the region round about. Mr. M., in the mean- time, had employed quite a force of medium-sized boys and vocal men, who on the given day, were to take charge of the hogs and drive them to Keo- kuk, Mr. M. accompanying them.
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