USA > Iowa > Monroe County > The history of Monroe County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion > Part 47
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
Poland-Chinas. Only a little more than three per cent. of the entire hog crop was blooded ; while the long-nosed, thin-flanked animal was pushed upon the market, bringing less in price per pound and a less number of pounds in weight than better animals would have done with the same care and feeding.
There is no animal so exceedingly sensitive to climatic changes as a hog. The best of care should be bestowed upon it. Bushes or low sheds should be furnished for protection against sharp winds or scorching sun, while stagnant pools are as injurious to a hog as they are to a man. Pens should be kept dry and clean, deodorized and disinfected several times each week by the use of carbolic acid and water. The too prevalent typhoid fever, which infects the air and the wells of so many farm homes, arises from the filthy sty or the un- cared for barnyard.
Man and animal alike demand cleanliness, or disease will surely follow the violation of natural laws.
SHEEP CULTURE.
Although the culture of sheep does not properly belong to this chapter, we introduce it here in order that our prediction may be comprehensive.
This is a grand region for sheep, when the proper grades are decided upon and necessary preparations made. The flock numbered only 15,039 in 1874, but the farmers are becoming satisfied that there is money in sheep-raising. The best informed men agree with this statement. Forty thousand pounds of wool were clipped that year.
At present, there is little or nothing done in the way of sheep, but the product will be greatly increased during the next decade.
A PREDICTION.
On the strength of the reasonings briefly outlined herein, we feel safe in prophesying that Monroe County is destined to become one of the richest and most profitable dairying regions in the State, and that it will become noted for the excellence and size of its flocks and herds.
That it is destined to become one of the greatest hog-raising counties of the State.
That it is destined to become one of the most noted sheep-growing regions of the State.
The county is new, and men have not determined what branches of industry to pursue ; but nature will settle the problem for thein, and bear us out in our assertions. The historian who takes up our work fifty years from to- day will refer to this prediction, and admit that it was based on solid calcu- lation.
FRUIT CULTURE.
The first obstacle in the way of successful fruit-growing here is an igno- rance of the varieties which can be grown in this climate. This difficulty can be obviated only by careful and intelligent experiment.
When the pioneers first settled on the prairies of Monroe County, they gave neither thought nor labor to the planting of fruit trees. The wild crab- apple, the wild grape and the prolific small fruits which filled wood and marsh, were sufficient to satisfy taste for variety of diet.
It was several years before trees were set out in any numbers, and then a majority of the farmers merely stuck small trees into the ground, and expected that the marvelous stories told by traveling venders would prove true, without care on the part of the farmer.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
The result of such orcharding was naturally very discouraging. If the trees were not killed during the first Winter, they were so stunted by trans- planting in unsuitable soil and climate that years of patient nursing alone could save them or make them profitable. As no such attention was given them, they struggled into a blighted life and proved barren.
In 1866, there were 10,770 fruit trees in bearing, while 27,733 were un- productive. Only 6,990 pounds of grapes were gathered in all the county. This was at a time when the fruit crop should have been abundant, but the causes assigned were too powerful to be overcome by a mere desire on the part of the farmers.
In 1875, there were 28,745 apple trees, 6,255 cherry trees, 1,817 plum trees, 276 pear trees and 526 other varieties of fruits, all in bearing. The number of trees not in bearing aggregated only 57,651, and these included young orchards.
These figures show that fruit can be raised here. In most parts of the county, apples will eventually become an excellent crop ; but the prize can be won only by skillful management.
A farmer would not think of using an unknown variety of wheat for seed, or a new kind of corn for planting, and then expect to reap a full harvest with- out proper cultivation of the soil. Why, then, should he expect to grow fruit from unknown trees, without even watching them, to protect them in their early stages from weather and insects ?
The best orchards in the county are those which receive the best care. In five years' time, thrifty yield of fruit may be taken from trees which are three or four years old when planted, if prudent selections of varieties are made. The noble orchard on W. G. Clark's farm is cited in support of this theory.
Let those who wish to have good orchards, first visit the fruit farms of experienced men, and from them learn what to do. Then let the instructions so received be followed to the letter-and within a decade this county will be famous for its fruits, especially for its apples.
THE COAL FIELDS OF MONROE COUNTY.
Almost in the center of the recognized coal fields of Iowa lies the county of Monroe. For many years the pioneers did not dream of the vast mines of wealth which rested beneath the surface of the earth. The fertility of the soil was the first consideration with them in selecting farms ; next, the availability of timber for building, fencing and fuel. When scientists apprised them of the store-houses of mineral riches upon which their houses were built, the full value of the deposit was not understood. Then it was that the superficial strata of coal was stripped and made to yield a revenue to the owners of the amateur banks, but inexhaustible beds far under the late deposits were scarcely dreamed of.
The cause of this slow recognition of a now established fact, was the singu- larity of the primary coal banks. The order of deposition in Indiana, and other sections of the coal regions, was here reversed. Instead of finding the coal in highlands, or of rich deposit in the hills, the veins were seen to work out and disappear as the higher surfaces of the lands were explored. It became appar- ent to skilled minds that the deposits of coal were in the valleys, in basins or cups, and were not in uninterrupted layers. Prof. White displayed an unusual
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
degree of shrewdness in his researches in the coal regions. He predicted the finding of large amounts of marketable coal by deep mining.
Iowa coal averages much above the specimens of bituminous coals of Europe, in value. For practical purposes it falls but six per cent. below the anthracite coal of Pennsylvania. As compared with the various products of this State, Monroe County furnishes an admirable quality of coal. From Prof. White's Geological Report of Iowa the following valuable table is prepared, showing the average richness of coal at that time. The development of the industry since this report was made, increases the average rate of value instead of lower- ing it.
TABLE OF ANALYSES : AVERAGES OF COUNTIES.
COMPOSITION OF UNDRIED COAL.
COMPOSITION OF DRIED COAL.
CONSUMPTION
COUNTIES.
Moisture.
Volatile combustible.,
Flaxed carbon.
Total volatile.
Total combustible.
Coke.
Volatile combustible.
Fixed carbon.
Ash.
Coke.
Carbon.
Ash.
Monroe
4.97 41.78 47.70
5.55 46.75 89.48 53.25 43.96 50.20 5.84 94.16 56.04 89.62 10.30
Marion
5.87 39.88 47.55
6.60 45.85 87.43 54.15 42.40 50.56 6.20 44.25 88.07.55.75 41.48 52.00
7.04 92.96 57.60 88.14 11.86 6.52 93.18 58.52 89.37 10.63
Mahaska.
4.73 39.52 49.55
Webster
12.14 37.03 49.01 11.82 49. 17 76.04 50.83 42. 15 44.49 13.36 86.64 57.85 76.91 23.09
Wapello
4.96 40.94 46.25| 7.85 45.90 87.19 54.10 43.07 48.69 8.24 91.76 56.93 86.24 13.76 6.13 93.87 54.46 88.77 11.23 5.39 52.23 82.34 47.77 45.54 48.33
Warren
12.27 39.95 42.38
6.75 31.85 45.43 15.97 38.60 77.28 61.40 34.17 48.77 17.06 82.94 65.83 72.36 27.64
Guthrie
12.84 36.02|45.78
Jasper
4.61 44.41 43.30
Adams
10.35 36.72 47.88
Dallas
12.83 37.30 46.44
Boone
12.37 38.19 43.72
Greene
9.92 54.39 43.53
Hardin
7.92 41.67 43.77
6.56 93.44 58.64 88.85 11.15
Poweshiek
5.94 38.95 49.04
Mean
8.57 39.24 45.42 6.77 47,81,84.66.52.19 42.92 49.70, 7.38 92.62 57.08 87.25 12.75
Prof. White adds, in explanation of the table of analyses : "With regard to the practical application of these analyses to the valuation of coals, it is per- haps sufficient to state :
"1. The value of coal as fuel is inversely proportional to the amount of water contained in it; that is, the more water it contains the less is its value. And moisture is a damage to the coal, not only because it takes the place of what might otherwise be occupied by combustible matter, but also because it re- quires some of the heat generated by the burning of the combustible matter to transform it into steam, and thus to expel it. It will thus be seen that the presence of large quantities of moisture in coal seriously impairs its value. But in looking over the analyses given, it should be remembered that some of the coals were taken fresh from the mine, others had been kept for some time in a damp room, while others had been subjected to the high temperature of a heated room for a considerable length of time.
"2. The greater the per centage of ash, the less is the value of the coal.
"3. The more fixed carbon which the coal contains, the greater is its . value.
F
Total combustible.
Ash.
5.36 48.86 81.80 51.14 41.33 52.55 7.68 49.02 87.71 50.98 46.56 45.39 5.05 47.07 84.60 52.93 40.96 53.41 3.43 50.13 83.74 49.87 42.79 53.28 5.72 50.56 81.91 49.44 43.58 49.90 2.16 54.31 87.92 45.69 49.28 48.32 6.64 49.59,85.44 50.41 45.25 47.54 6.17 44.79 87.99 55.21 41.36 52.08
6.12 93.88 58.67 89.68 10.32 8.05 81.65 53.44 84.93 15.07 5.63 94.37 59.04 90.49 9.51 3.93 96.07 57.21 93.14 6.86 6.52 93.48 56.42 88.22 11.78 2.40 97.60 50.72 95.27 4.73 7.21 92.79 54.75 86.83 13.17
Madison
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
"4. The same holds true with regard to the volatile combustible matter, to a limited extent, the precise limits of which cannot be determined until we know the composition of this combustible matter."
Since it is a matter of general knowledge that the surface of Monroe County is almost entirely underlaid with a stratum of coal, varying from a thickness of three or four inches to some twenty-two inches, it is needless to write of that fact. Farmers in many localities find small banks, which enable them to strip out wagon loads of an inferior grade of coal, which they sell to the people of Albia and other places, and by which means they are enabled to carry on a limited system of trade, as farmers in timbered regions do with wood.
The real source of wealth to Monroe County is the admirable grade of coal produced by deep and systematic mining, by organized companies. Of these we desire to write more particularly.
The mining interests have been more fully developed in the townships of Pleasant and Troy. In the former che Consolidated Coal Company is operating very extensively at Coalfield, on the line of the Central Railroad of Iowa. The incorporation is a large one, and has caused the building up of a little town near its works.
The Union Coal and Mining Company has large interests at Avery, on the line of the C., B. & Q. R. R., about six miles east of Albia. West of Albia, the Cedar Valley Coal Company and the Albia Coal Company have mines. The latter concern has a very complete mine, which may be taken as a specimen mine of the region.
The entire product of the county, in a commercial line, exclusive of ama- teur mining, aggregates at least 500 tons daily, on the average. There are from 600 to 800 men engaged in the business, while at times the number may exceed even those figures.
The writer visited the Albia Coal Company's mines, and, at the invitation of one of the proprietors-for the' concern is a copartnership-inspected the subterranean works. The mines cover a superficial area of 480 acres, and are located on the main line of the C., B. & Q. R. R., about three miles west of Albia.
The surface conveniences are admirable. Three trains daily carry the loaded cars from the side tracks, and shipping facilities are all that could be desired. A little hamlet has grown up in the neighborhood of the mines. At the works we were met by Mr. Miller, the Superintendent, and shown the outer machinery. A double-cylinder stationary engine operates the hoisting appa- ratus in the shaft. Over the mouth of the pit is the usual derriek for dumping the cars, and beneath the spouts a side track is laid.
The external arrangements of a mine are well known to all who reside in the county, but it is safe to say that there are thousands here who have never descended the shaft. As many persons have lived within sound of the roar of Niagara, and yet never have seen the falls, merely because they were so easy of access as to be nothing of a curiosity-so, undoubtedly, many have dwelt within a few miles of the mines of Monroe County without entering the gloomy cav- erns of the earth.
It was not without some sense of the risk incurred that we contemplated the journey before us, as Mr. Miller announced that all was ready, and the engineer placed his hand on the lever of his engine. We cast a glance at the wire cable, wound so tightly about the drum, and ventured the observation that probably sueli a cable would sustain an immense weight. It was our first trip beneath
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
the earth, and a feeling of pride struggled hard with a natural spirit of caution. We stepped to the mouth of the shaft and looked downward. Blackness alone was visible. One hundred and thirty-five feet below, in the mine, rested the cage that was to ascend as the one at our feet passed down into perpetual night. The shaft is some six by twelve feet in size, divided into two sections by a partition of planks and timbers. The hoisting machinery works with a reverse motion, so that one cage ascends while the other descends.
Mr. Miller stepped boldly on the cage and told us to follow. It was surely a pardonable bit of egotism if we tried to step lightly on the platform, suspended thus over that awful abyss. The fabled grasshopper thought to relieve the stalled oxen, who could not drag the load of hay, by jumping off.
" All ready !" cried Mr. Miller to the engineer. A creak, a fierce puffing of the escaping steam, and without jolt or shock the cage whizzed downward. An instant later and Mr. Miller told us to look upward. Far in the distance a square patch of daylight told us that, come what might, there was no escape now. We had been favored by the engineer with an "easy " descent, but in ten seconds a slight jolt, an announcement, "here we are !" a voice from some- where, and a strange glimmer of smoky lamps told us that the cavern had been reached.
" Sit down low," said a voice in our ear, and as we obeyed the car slid rapidly from the platform into a gulf of darkness. We were in the mine.
As we scrambled out of the car and attempted to stand upright, the flash of a pair of tiny mule's heels awakened a lively sense of personal insecurity. There in the main corridor stood a diminutive specimen of a mule, and we were informed that he was a new importation, unused as yet to the ways and manners of a mine. It was convenient just then to make as extended a detour as possible around the peculiarly demonstrative little animal, as the Superintendent led the way along the "road."
A double railroad track extended ahead and was lost in the darkness. Along this we struggled by the dim light of a lamp which served to render the darkness visible.
From somewhere there suddenly echoed a volley of imprecations, accom- . panied with an emphatic desire for something to "get up," and a rumbling began in the distance. No such language could emanate from the lips of any mortal but a mule-driver, and no other beast of burden ever needed the earnest supplication thus bestowed upon it.
Something sounded like the slamming of a door, and the noise of car and driver grew indistinct.
On and on we groped our way. Now stooping our head to avoid an over- hanging beam, anon relieving our strained back by standing erect. A cold blast of air rushed past us and filled our lungs with a grateful breath.
Mr. Miller paused and stood before a barrier across our way. The myste- rious noise of a jarring door was explained. "This," said the Superintendent, " is a door for turning the currents of air and ventilating the rooms in which the miners are at work."
But where do the currents of air come from ? We pushed aside another door, and the question was answered. The infernal regions were revealed ! We looked about us, half expecting some undefined realization of the Inferno. The door opened. Instead of Lucifer, a swarthy miner entered the glowing recess. Before us, in an arch so deep and far-reaching as to defy the range of vision, notwithstanding the lurid glare of the fire that raged upon the forward grate, there leaped and flashed long tongues of flame.
I
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
We were in the furnace room. A vaulted chamber overhead, around on every side walls of coal, opened in numerous places by yawning pits that re- vealed nothing ; but from whence issued such blasts of air ?
The furnace is an arch of brick masonry, extending backward into the solid coal for thirty feet. There it intersects a shaft six feet in diameter, opening to the surface of the earth, and rendered greater by a wooden structure fully fifty feet in height. The heat generated by the fire on the single grate now used is suf- ficient to create a draft of air through every eranny of the mine. Another grate, however, might be paced with safety in the furnace, and the heat intensified a hundred-fold. If that were done, the ventilating shaft would purify a mine of twice the capacity of the one now owned.
As we stood gazing at the marvelous construction of this system of ventila- tion and contemplating the plat of the mine, the door of the chamber was again opened, and Mr. Ramsey, a graduate of the best mining and civil engineering college of England, was introduced. To this gentleman's skill is due the suc- cess of the mine in which we stood.
Under Mr. Ramsey's guidance, the inspection of the mine was continued. Down into chambers that were worked as far as prudence would permit and into solitary corridors we passed, close behind the little flickering lamp that seemed determined to be blown out by the savage gusts of air. Now turning to the right, now to the left, and again going we knew not whither, under low-arched passages and through deserted rooms, but always, everywhere in blackness, with but one little spot of red where the lamp flared, on we scrambled. The foot- ing was insecure in places, because of the bits of coal that lay strewed about.
Suddenly, when our nerves were wrought to as intense a pitch as seemed consistent with comfort, a crash like smothered thunder sounded in our ears ! Was the mine falling in ? Would Mr. Ramsey be kind enough to tell a suffer- ing mortal what that report was ? Were we near the main shaft ? Why, that was merely a "shot." We were glad to know that, but was anybody killed, did he suppose ?
A look of amusement passed over the broad, intelligent face of the English- man. Then came a roar of infernal artillery: boom ! boom ! boom !
" The miners are blasting in this part of the works. Let us go around there and see them do it," said Mr. Ramsey. To stay where we were was to be lost ; to go over to the works seemed like sealing our doom. We thought a moment, and then concluded to go.
A fire-fly light shone far ahead. A gruff voice sounded quite near at hand : " Good day !" it said. Good day, and in that night ! "Good day," we answered and pushed on. The sepulchral voice sounded a moment in conversa- tion with some other somber vocal shade, and ceased.
Here the miners are at work. The blast which sounded so loudly a moment before had scattered huge masses of coal about, filling the "room " with frag- ments. One man was working to secure these for transportation on the cars, which ran on the track at the mouth of the cavern. Another man was picking into the solid wall, with a small pick-ax, cutting a perpendicular trench, or crevice, several inches in depth and six inches in width. When this was done, he intended to drill into the wall, several feet away, and there insert a cartridge of powder, of perhaps two pounds in weight. The explosion of such mines had caused the Titanic thunders which had so reverberated through the galleries.
The "rooms," as the compartments are called, are worked by two men in each. The plan of the mine is like that of a town. Accurate surveys are made and main streets laid out. From these, at regular intervals, passages are
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
cut, at right angles, and massive columns of coal are left as supports for the slated roof. When several yards in depth are reached. the passages are widened into "rooms," as though town lots were excavated leaving a wall between. The walls are left until the mine is exhausted in the limits, when they, also, may be partially removed. The blocks of coal are put into cars, from each of these many rooms, and run to the main shaft, where they are lifted to the surface of the earth and dumped into flat cars on the railway.
Mules are employed to do the hauling. The smaller animals are chosen, because of the limited space in the roadways. In this mine there are seven mules, which live under ground. Stables are fitted, and with the the exception of sunlight, every convenience of a surface stable is there supplied. These mules become very wise. They soon learn what is required of them, and respond as readily to the profanity of a subterranean driver as they would to the imprecations of an adept army teamster.
Mr. Ramsey has a convenient little office fitted up near the shaft, and tool rooms are also cut out of the coal wall. Owing to the admirable ventilation of the mine, it is always cool there. The mine is regarded as one of the best arranged in the State.
The miners get so accustomed to their work that they often express pity for the poor fellows who have to labor in the sun. They are a world unto them- selves. Ten hours out of the twenty-four are spent in the earth, the workmen taking their dinners with them into the pit. They are paid by the amount done, not by the day. As a general thing they are a hardy, healthy class.
When the shaft was reached, after our trip, a cage was just ready to ascend. We stepped aboard. Mr. Ramsey rang the bell, there was a feeling of inseeu- rity beneath our feet for eight seconds. and we stepped once more on solid ground.
THE ECLIPSE OF 1869.
Every inhabitant of Monroe County, save those deprived by misfortune of sight, had ample opportunity to observe the startling phenomena attending the total eclipse of the sun on the afternoon of August 7, 1869, the whole of the county being within the line of the totality. or within the belt 156 miles in breadth in which the body of the moon completely hid the sun from view. In the absence of any local description of the sublime spectacle, recourse is had to an account written by the well-known astronomer and graphie writer. E. Colbert, who was one of the observers from the station at Des Moines. Noth- ing was specially noticeable during the encroaching motion of the moon, until only a slender crescent of sunlight remained, except a diminution of light, giving a pallid cast to objects in the far horizon. When the disk of the sun was almost covered and the light began to diminish sensibly, a chilliness crept into the air, not like the coolness of a Summer evening, but like the biting fingers of a Winter storm. This reduction in temperature was almost awful in its swift approach. Birds and domestic fowls sought their roosts, dogs and horses manifested 'much uneasiness and in some instances positive terror, and even cattle huddled together in fear at the swiftly approaching dark- ness.
The corona, as viewed through an excellent glass, was remarkably different from all preconceived notions on the subject, and from all previous descriptions, both in size and shape. It has always been represented as nearly annular (ring formed), of about equal breadth all the way round the edge of the moon, and not more than one-tenth of her apparent diameter. The corona of the 7th was exceedingly irregular in its outline, and in some places projected to a distance
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY.
fully half the apparent diameter of the moon, or nearly 500,000 miles. The greatest length was almost identical with the direction of the moon's path across the face of the sun, which very nearly coincided with the plane of the ecliptic. From the east side a mass of light shot out to a distance of five or six digits ; it was about thirty degrees wide at the base, and shaped nearly like the remote half of a silver-poplar leaf. Near the moon it shone with an almost uniform white light, but within a short space it broke up into brilliant rays, almost parallel with each other, and all pointing nearly toward the center. Still further out, these rays assumed more of a streaky character, seeming to lie against a darker background, and toward the summit they faded away into a more diffused and milder light, though still distinct and bright. Near the ex- tremity it appeared more like a cumulus cloud, but the central direction of the rays was plainly visible. It melted away into the azure background almost imperceptibly, but the outline was perfect, except at the very extremity of the leaf-shaped mass. On the other side of the disk was a corresponding tongue. but less regular, and extending only about two-thirds as far into the void. This portion was more brilliant near the base than its counterpart, and was sharply defined at the very extremity, the rays blending so thickly that it required a steady gaze to separate them. The extent of this portion was about 285,000 miles. One observer saw the light reflected from the moon's edge at a distance of 54,000 miles from the sun's body, while the light was reflected from the other edge at a distance of 74,000 miles. The total width of the corona was about 1,600,000 miles.
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