USA > Iowa > Jackson County > The history of Jackson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Iowa miscellaneous matters, &c > Part 68
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572
HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
The Company has purchased the packing-house of P. G. Stiles, of Sabula. Mr. Stiles began the business of pork-packing in Sabula in 1860, being, at that time, in partnership with his brother, Josiah Stiles. The latter has been living, most of the time, in Chicago, but has been more or less interested in the packing-house since its beginning. We can give no better idea of the small beginning from which this enterprise sprang, and the growth which it has attained, than by giving the number of hogs slaughtered by Mr. Stiles since 1860, year by year: 1860, 588; 1861, 751; 1862, 3,384; 1863, 2,627 ; 1864, 2,778; 1865, 7,820; 1866, 9,256 ; 1867, 12,666 ; 1868, 9,852; 1869, 9,033; 1870, 9,637; 1871, 13,539; 1872, 22,643; 1873, 31,456; 1874, 37,318 ; 1875, 32,355 ; 1876, 37,910; 1877, 60,596; 1878, 91,800.
Last season, Sabula ranked as the fourth largest packing-house in the State, being preceded by Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Dubuque. The present indications are that these points will have to look to their laurels if they do not take a second place in 1879-80.
The present packing-house is 40x360 feet, and is two and three stories in height. There is now building an addition of brick and stone, three stories high and basement, along the entire east side of the packing-house, which will give it a horizontal area of 70x360 feet on four floors, or a total flooring area of more than two acres.
The packing-house is arranged for summer and winter packing, and can dispose, next winter, of 2,000 hogs per day. The ice-houses adjoining will contain 10,000 tons of ice. The number of men employed varies from fifty to one hundred and fifty.
From 1864 to 1872, a part of this building was occupied as a grain elevator. The elevator machinery has been entirely removed, and the entire structure used as a packing-house.
SABULA FLOURING-MILLS.
These were erected about 1869 by Messrs. Risley & Day, who equipped them with two runs of stone, and conducted the same until 1872. During this year, after the mills had lain idle for several months, they were sold to Young Brothers, a firm composed of William and F. C. Young. These gentlemen have made enlargements and improvements almost every year since they pur- chased the enterprise, and are now the proprietors of an extensive establish- ment, with a capacity of grinding 390 bushels of wheat per day. The mills now contain four runs of stone, which are kept in motion eighteen hours out of twenty-four.
The mill is engaged both upon custom and merchandise work, and employs both the old and new process in grinding, the former being usually employed upon custom work. A third partner was received into the firm in August, 1878, and the mills are now owned and operated by Young Brothers & Beasley. These gentlemen have a trade in Dubuque demanding 100 barrels per week, besides local trade in various parts of the Northwest. Their surplus product is shipped to New York.
The same firm have operated in the southern part of the town since 1877, an establishment known as the Octennial Oat Mill, for the manufacture of oat- meal exclusively. This mill was first called the Centennial Mill, but the firm soon afterward discovered this name to be copyrighted by some parties in the East, and were compelled to find another name for their enterprise. There were, at the time of the building of this mill, but three similar establishments in Iowa.
E. A. Wood!
SABULA
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
The mill has a capacity of forty barrels of meal per day, and the firm sell all they can manufacture. The grain is first kiln-dried, then hulled and cut, not ground. Most of the meal is shipped to New York, though the firm have three salesmen on the road, and have established a trade into Nebraska and Minnesota, as well as Iowa. The enterprise has proved a decided success from the start, and is growing in favor.
SAW-MILL.
E. and M. H. Long came to Sabula in May, 1863, and engaged in the lumber business. The firm is composed of father and son, the former of whom has been mentioned as one of the pioneers of the West, having come to Illinois in 1819.
The saw-mill owned by this firm was built in 1871. The mill is a frame building, and, though ordinary in appearance, is equipped with the best of machinery. A double-rotary and gang-edger saw, besides lath and shingle saws, are driven by a 45-horse-power engine. The saws are fed from their own waste, the fuel used being the sawdust made in the mill. Of the quantity of dust made, only about one-fourth is necessary to feed the furnace. The capac- ity of this mill is about 25,000 feet of lumber per day, the sawing season being usually from April to November. The firm handle about 2,000,000 feet of lumber annually.
PLANING-MILLS.
The planing-mill of D. L. Bowen & Son was built in 1875, and is located near the C., M. & St. P. Depot. The capacity of the mill is from 8,000 to 10,000 feet per day. The firm deal exclusively in dressed lumber.
Francis Esmay built a planing-mill in the northern part of Sabula in the fall of 1870, at an expense of $5,000. The capacity of the mill is the dress- ing of 50,000 feet per day. One machine alone will plane 40,000 feet daily. The mill was burned in 1877, and was rebuilt the following spring.
MISSISSIPPI SHELL JEWELRY.
An enterprise has sprung up at Sabula, which, while yet of small propor- tions and of no great importance, is worthy of mention on account of its nov- elty and the probable success that will attend it in the future. This is the manufacture of shell jewelry, consisting of sleeve-buttons, combs, brooches, etc. These are manufactured from the shells of muscles, which are taken alive from the bottom of the river. The process of muscle-fishing is to drag the river with small wire. The mollusk usually has its shell or valves open, and, as soon as a wire touches the flesh of the animal, the shell closes over the wire, and it is caught. The articles manufactured from the polished shells are of exquisite tint and beautiful finish, beside possessing the quality of cheapness. Henry Rogers was the first to engage in the manufacture of these articles, which he is making now by machinery. Others are engaged in the same business by hand, the most successful is whom is J. J. Gray.
SCHOOLS.
The first schools in the village were kept in private houses and maintained by subscription. In 1844, the first schoolhouse was erected on this wise : The
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Methodists desired a building for church purposes, and agreed with the citizens that, if the latter would assist them with subscriptions, they would allow their' church to be used as a schoolhouse. This arrangement was entered into, and in this was kept the village school until the building of the two-story stone structure now occupied for that purpose and adjoining the Sabula Public Square on the south.
This continued a part of Subdistrict No. 1, Union Township, until 1860. October 8, of that year, twenty-nine citizens of Sabula petitioned the Board of Trustees, of Union Township, for an election in the village of Sabula to take the sense of the people upon the question of organizing an independent school district. This petition was granted, and the election held October 15, 1860, at the Western Hotel, which resulted in twenty votes in favor of the district and none opposed.
The first school election of the Sabula City District was held October 20, 1860, and resulted as follows: Israel Day, President; H. G. Crary, Vice Presi- dent ; John Hilsinger, Secretary ; Josiah Stiles, Treasurer. Directors, W. H. Eldredge, O. G. Risley and Thomas Esmay.
The following is the first annual report of the Secretary of the Sabula School District : "The number of persons between five and twenty-one years in the Sabula City District-males, 57; females, 93; number of schools, 1. Number of pupils in each school, 96 ; average attendance, 45. Number of teachers-males, 1; females, 1. Compensation of teachers per week-males, $7.50; females, $6.25. Length of school, in days-summer, 60; winter, 60. Average cost of tuition per week, each pupil-summer, $1.18; winter, 78 cents. Aggregate amount paid teachers during the year, $165. Number of schools, and of what material constructed, 1, stone ; value of schoolhouse, $1,500. For building, repairing and furnishing schoolhouses, $3.50. For fire, $30.33. Amount of annual appropriation received from county treasury $149.20. The branches taught in the school are orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, algebra and philosophy."
April 10, 1869, the sealed proposals for building two frame schoolhouses and repairing the stone schoolhouse were received, and the contract awarded to Henry Heckert, for $2,953. At a meeting of the School Board September 7, 1871, a system for the grading of the schools was adopted. Among the rules adopted for the regulation of the schools, was one requiring the Principal upon each alternate week, to convene the teachers, and require a note of the progress of their classes, and assign them such exercises, and so conduct the meetings as to tend to preserve and elevate the standard of scholarship in the Board of Teachers, and to the adoption of the best methods of instruction and school government ; and, if deemed preferable, a teachers' association may be formed, of which teachers from adjoining districts, scholars intending to become teachers, and citizens interested in education may become members.
At a meeting of the Board held July 23, 1879, a preamble and resolutions were adopted, setting forth the necessity of new school accommodations, the advisability of issuing school district bonds, and the question of whether or not the Board should issue such bonds, will be submitted to vote of the electors of this school district, at an election to be held on the 12th day of August, A. D. 1879. This election has not been held at the time of writing this sketch.
The following is the substance of the report of the Secretary of the Board for the year ending September 15, 1878 :
There are four graded schoolrooms; there were ten months of school ; there were one male and three female teachers employed. Compensation-Male,
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
$65; female, averaged, $33.33}. Number of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years in district-males, 140; females, 150. Average daily attendance, 154.8. Average cost of tuition for each pupil, per month, $1.06. Number of schoolhouses-frame, two; stone, one; value, $4,000. Value of apparatus, $100. No library. Branches and text-books taught : Orthography, Edwards' and Sheldon's ; reading, Sheldon's ; writing, Spencerian system ; arith- metic, Goff's series and Ray's rudiments ; geography, Guyot's; English grammar, Harvey's ; Physiology, Hooker's ; History, United States, Quack- enbos'.
The teachers elect are: P. W. Spring, Principal ; Lizzie P. Dean, Inter- mediate ; Miss A. Esmay, First Ward Primary ; Miss Lizzie James, Second Ward Primary.
The Board of Directors is as follows: G. W. Confare, President; L. H. Steen, I. D. Marr, J. F. Fairbank, E. S. Day and W. H. Young. The Sec- retary is J. J. Gray ; Treasurer, J. Hilsinger.
SABULA PIONEERS' ASSOCIATION.
This Association had its beginning in a meeting called at the office of Dr. J. G. Sugg, of Sabula, November 22, 1875, at which meeting were present E. A. Wood, J. G. Sugg, James Murphy, J. S. Dominy, George Canfield, Robert C. Westbrook, Royal L. Westbrook, Joseph McElroy. John McElroy, John Scarborough and Oliver Emerson. Dr. E. A. Wood was chosen Chairman and Dr. J. G. Sugg, Secretary.
The preamble to the Articles of Association is as follows : "We, the early settlers of Sabula and adjacent country, mindful that in a few more years we shall have passed away, as so many of our old-time friends and neighbors have already done, do, in commemoration of the many trials we have endured together and the mutual assistance afforded each other, and for the purpose of continuing those kindly feelings, hereby agree to associate as a band of veterans."
The Articles of Association made those eligible to membership who lived within eight miles of Sabula and who took up their residence within said boundary on or before March 3, 1846, they being at that time of adult age.
The first annual meeting for social intercourse was held at the Eldredge House, Sabula, January 3, 1876. A second meeting was held one year later at the same place. About eighty persons were present and enjoyed the hospi- tality of this reunion.
A semi-annual meeting was held in the grove adjoining the schoolhouse in Subdivision No. 2, in June, 1877. The weather was not favorable, but some two hundred persons were in attendance. At the annual meeting in Sabula in January, 1878, the Articles of the Association were so amended that all adults who settled within eight miles of Sabula, or within the limits of Van Buren Township since March 3, 1856, should be eligible to membership in the Asso- ciation, provided, those who came previous to 1846, should be known as " Pioneers " and those of a more recent date as " Old Settlers," and with the provision that so long as two pioneers continued members of the Association, they should be elected president and vice president ; and so long as one remained, he should be president, unless said pioneer or pioneers should waive their right to this office. At a still later meeting the Articles were amended to make eligible any one who settled in the Mississippi Valley at an early day now residing in the limits of the Association.
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
Some time during 1876, at the time of the improvement of the public square in Sabula, the Pioneer Association planted in the center of the same a polygon of shade trees, which was to be known as the "Pioneer Polygon."
At the annual meeting, Jannary, 1879, at the Eldridge House, in Sabula, the following officers were re-elected and are therefore the present officers of the Association : E. A. Wood, President; J. Murphy, Vice President; J. G. Sugg, Secretary.
From the report of the Executive Committee at this meeting, we make the following extracts :
" FELLOW PIONEERS AND OLD SETTLERS: Another cycle of time has brought us to our annual gathering. Once more we assemble to enjoy a social re-union and to review the past. We have reached another milestone on the journey of our life, by which we are reminded of the shortening distance between us and the final goal. Time, with its silent, but ceaseless and irre- sistible force is marshaling us on to 'that undiscovered country whence no traveler returns.' Since our first advent on Iowa soil, it has been constantly marking us with its influence. The child has become of middle age, and the robust man has passed into the aged veteran, who, 'with tottering steps and slow,' is ready to surrender into younger hands the active duties of life.
"Since our meeting in June last, death has invaded our ranks and further reduced our ever-lessening numbers. Our fellow-pioneer, Royal L. Westbrook, after a tedious and painful sickness, died of misplaced rheumatism, at the resi- dence of his brother, Luther H. Westbrook, in Savanna, Ill., on the 23d of November last, aged sixty years. His remains were brought to this place for burial, and, after a suitable discourse, delivered at the Congregational Church, by Rev. J. Alderson, were followed by a numerous company of friends and acquaintances to their last resting-place, in Evergreen Cemetery.
" Thus are we slowly and surely passing away, and, from the very nature of things, the time cannot be far distant when the sole survivor of the pioneers may say with the poet :
"' I feel like one who treads alone Some banquet hall deserted, Whose lights are fled, whose garlands dead, And all but him departed.' "
" Happy is he who, at the close of a lengthened and eventful career, can look back on a life well spent ; on faculties improved and well employed, and can say with him of old, 'Now, Sovereign Master, release Thy servant in peace.' Such an one can hardly be said to die-he is merely seen no more among men, while his conduct and teaching remain to influence and govern, to some extent, at least, those who shall succeed to his place and duties.'
The time of the annual meeting has been changed to June, and the place of holding it to Grovedale, near the town of Sabula. About five hundred persons were present at this summer meeting in June, 1879. The assembly was addressed by Rev. Oliver Emerson, George A. Griswold and others.
The biographies of only nine of the old settlers appear upon the book of the Secretary prepared for their reception.
SOCIETY OF UNION VETERANS.
This Society was organized in the summer of 1878, and is composed of survivors of the Union army engaged in the war of the rebellion who live in and abont Sabula. The Society was established " to better promote the pres- ervation of those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together, with
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
the strong cords of love and affection, the comrades in arms of many battles, sieges, marches and cruises-the soldiers and sailors of the Union army and navy during the war of the rebellion."
The purpose of the Society is to have four or five meetings a year, which shall, in part, be in the nature of re-unions. Decoration Day, especially, is celebrated by them, and, likewise, the Fourth of July is to come in for its share of the veterans' patriotism. Meetings are to be held at Preston, Miles and Sabula, and, so far as possible, to be appointed on July 22, the anniver- sary of Atlanta, and on October 19, the anniversary of the battle of Cedar Creek. The annual meeting for the election of officers is held May 16, the anniversary of the battle of Champion Hills.
The Society will take charge of the funeral services of a deceased comrade when requested to do so. The uniform of the Society, for parade or ceremony, is a blue sash worn over the left shoulder and around the waist, representing the cartridge-box belt and waist-belt.
The object of the Society is largely historical. The Orderly Sergeant of the organization is the Historian, who has now in progress of compilation, in a book prepared for that purpose, a historical sketch of each member of the Society. These sketches are to be prepared by the members themselves.
The Constitution provides that, when the Society, by death or removal, becomes so far reduced as to be unable to keep up the association, that all records and memorials shall be deposited with the Adjutant General's Depart- ment of the State of Iowa, or with a historical society of the State of Iowa or of Jackson County, as may then be deemed best. The roll of the Society comprises 140 names.
The officers of the Society for 1879-80, are as follows :
Charles Davis, Captain ; Norman C. White, First Lieutenant ; Benjamin Van Steenburg, Second Lieutenant ; Harvey Reid, Orderly Sergeant; Jacob H. Guenther, Quartermaster Sergeant; Forrest M. Miles, Commissary Ser- geant ; Aaron W. Day, Color Sergeant ; Horace Lawrance, John Seitzburg, Musicians ; W. S. Kellogg, James H. Cottral, Henry McNeil, Gus. L. Mills, ' Corporals. .
The celebration at Miles, July 22, 1879, was quite a success, and was favored with a large attendance.
From the Sabula Gazette we clip the following account of Decoration Day observance in Sabula :
" At the church the soldiers erected a catafalque, or representative tomb, appropriately draped with United States flags and crape, at the head of which arose a monument eight feet high, surmounted with the 'Crown of Liberty ' wreathed in mourning, while on the shaft of the pillar appeared the names of all those who enlisted from this town and vicinity, and who fell in the late war, together with the names of those of the war of 1812 who had died here, and on the base of the structure was inscribed in large letters, ' We Mourn.' The ladies, with willing hands and kindly hearts, not only robbed their flower-gar- dens and house-plants of their choicest productions, but they worked like beavers in festooning and decorating the church and monument. Across the altar appeared in letters of evergreen the words 'In Memory of our Fallen Heroes ;' between the windows appeared in wreaths the various army corps badges ; from the ceiling, walls and chandeliers, hung flags, flowers and mottoes innumerable, until but for the mourning hues displayed, one would have thought he had entered into some fairy grotto of ' buds spontaneous.'
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
" At 10 A. M., the soldiers began to arrive and report at their headquarters in the clubroom, where after signing the roll-book prepared for the purpose, they with their families were assigned to different places among the citizens for dinner. Prompt at 1:30 P. M., the soldiers present formed in line, each wear- ing a blue sash as a mark of distinction, and under command of Capt. John Snyder, and with martial music marched to the Eldredge House, where they were joined by the citizens' procession in carriages and on foot, headed by the Sabula Cornet Band, all under command of Maj. N. C. White, Marshal of the day, who escorted them through the principal streets of the town to the church where the memorial services were held. The house was densely packed with an interested throng, every available spot of sitting room being occupied, and the platforms erected around the church crowded with anxious people to hear and see through the open windows the services going on within. These were peculiarly touching and impressive. The prayer of Chaplain Anderson was one of his finest efforts, and the welcome address of Hon. J. Hilsinger to the soldier and citizen was worthy of his head and heart. The decoration ceremony by the soldiers as they arose and one by one silently dropped their floral offer- ings prepared by the ladies, upon the cenotaph, accompanied by the solemn words ' dead, dead,' from the choir, brought tears to the eyes of many, but the silence of death itself reigned as Mrs. Nancy Clevinger, an enlisted soldier nurse, arose, robed in sash of blue, and deposited her gift in memory of those whose dying words she had heard, and whose eyes she had closed in their last dream- less sleep in the hospitals at Memphis, Tenn. The reading of ' The Blue and the Gray,' by Miss Lulu Day, received that meed of praise it so richly deserved. The declamation of F. D. Kelsy was a noble effort. It seemed as though the boy was inspired, and drew his inspiration from the sword of his dead father, that lay draped in mourning before him.
" The oration of Thomas E. Blanchard, Esq., of Maquoketa, member of Company A, Twenty-fourth Regiment, was a masterly production-and during its delivery not a sound was heard, save the occasonal sob of some soldier whose heart was touched by the speaker's reminiscences of the past.
" The address of Dr. Fairbank was listened to with marked attention, par- ticularly that portion of it wherein the name and rank of each dead soldier was given, with their place of death and cause thereof, together with other memo- ries of the widows and orphans left upon the charities of the world.
"Hon. A. R. Cotton, of Lyons, being present, was called upon, who responded in a short but well-rounded speech, full of noble thought and gener- ous sentiment, for which he received well inerited applause. The valedictory by Rev. Frazelle was overrunning with good sayings and his exordium to soldier and citizen well befitted the man and the position he occupies in society. Of the music, both band and choir, too much of praise cannot be said. Their pieces were well selected, justly appropriate to the occasion, and were rendered in the grandest style of the musical art. The services concluded, the proces- sion re-formed and marched back to the clubroom, where, in a brief but per- tinent speech from Capt. Snyder, they were disbanded.
" Sabula never witnessed such a gathering of deeply interested people as con- . vened in her streets and church that day, and, true to her love of sixteen years ago, the doors of her citizens were thrown open to soldiers and visitors from abroad for supper, preparatory to another grand gathering at the church in the evening. Hardly had the shades of evening commenced to fall ere the church was as densely packed as in the afternoon, with hundreds on the platforms out- side. The exercises of the evening consisted of a general experience meeting
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HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.
among the soldiers, interspersed with music and remarks from citizens. Inter- esting speeches were made by H. Lawrence, J. W. Seeber, N. W. Church, J. H. Cottral and Mr. Dunn, of the Twenty-fourth, and N. C. White, of the Ninth Iowa Infantry ; John Snyder and H. S. Heberling, of the First and Second Iowa Cavalry; Harvey Reid, of the Twenty-first Wisconsin ; David C. Whitney, of the Sixth Maine, and Mrs. Clevinger, each of whom gave personal reminiscences of the late war that the general public had heretofore not known. One of the pleasant episodes of the evening was the presentation of a mag- nificent bouquet of rare flowers to Ben Van Steinberg, a one-armed soldier, by the ladies of Sabula. This came so unexpected to the gentleman as to rob him of language, but, with tearful eye, he bowed his thanks amid the cheers of comrades and friends.
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