USA > Iowa > Polk County > The history of Polk County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 46
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Several brothers by the name of Bennett, a family by the name of Crow, and John Evans, were also early settlers.
Presley Bennett, a native of Kentucky, came from Indiana in the spring of 1848, located in this part of the county, and at present resides on section 11, township 78, range 25. When he arrived in the county he had noth- ing except indomitable courage and his strong arm; but with these for capital he has steadily prospered, till now he is in very comfortable circumstances.
A small tributary of Walnut Creek passes through the south western part of section 28. On the south side of the branch, and near the bank of the stream, S. H. Lewis settled in the spring of 1848. He was from Indiana, and after having spent his youth assisting in the conquest of the dense for- ests of Henry county, in that State, he was sufficiently inured to hardship to be able to make an easy conquest of the less obstinate soil of Iowa. He now resides in section 3, immediately south of Walnut creek.
R. Campbell, who now resides south of Walnut, on section 6, came and located in the Walnut Creek neighborhood in the spring of 1848. He is a native of Ohio, and emigrated to Iowa, first locating in Van Buren county, from where he removed after three years to Polk county. He was one of the first settlers in the Walnut Creek neighborhood, and located where he now lives in 1870.
John Crow is a native of Kentucky; removed to Indiana in 1819. In the fall of 1850 he emigrated to Iowa, and settled in the Walnut Creek neighborhood, where he still resides.
Calvin Bennett and Benjamin Bennett came from Indiana in the summer of 1847, and settled about six miles west of Des Moines, between Walnut Creek and Raccoon river. They are both residents of the county at the present time.
Charles Murrow came from Indiana in 1844, and located in Henry county, this State. He came to Polk county in 1848, where he settled with a numerous family; one of the sons, D. B. Murrow, still lives on the old homestead. Some of the early settlers of the neighborhood removed to Kansas and other portions of the western country. Samuel Shaw, James Henton, Leroy Lambert, Joseph Mott and Samuel Lewis were also early settlers in this neighborhood.
The foregoing account of the early settlements of Polk county is neces- sarily imperfect, and may not be strictly accurate in some particulars, but in years to come will be a valuable compendium of facts relating to the first settlers, many of whom have already been forgotten.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
PIONEER LIFE.
The pioneer's peculiarities -- Conveniences and inconveniences-The historical log cabin- Agricultural implements-Household furniture-Pioneer corn bread-Hand mills and hominy-blocks-Going to mill-Trading points-The pioneer stock-dealer-Hunting and trapping-The California gold excitement-The Western Stage Company-Claim clubs and club laws-A border sketch-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 the settlement of Polk 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 people took no care to preserve history-they were too busily engaged in making it. Historically speaking, those were the most important years of the county, for it was then the foundation and corner- stones of all the country's history and prosperity were laid. Yet this period was not remarkable for stirring events. It was, however, a time of self- reliance and brave, persevering toil; of privations cheerfully endured through faith in a good time coming. The experience of one settler was just about the same as that of others. They were almost invariably poor, they faced the same hardships and stood generally on an equal 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 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 com- mon sympathy bound them together with the strongest ties. They were a ยท 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 such a community of interest that there existed a community of feeling. There were no castes, except an aristocracy of benevolence, and no nobility, except a nobility of generosity. They were bound together with such a strong bond of sympathy, inspired by the consciousness of common hardship, that they were practically com- munists.
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
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
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 Polk county the settlers lived for quite a time before there was a single officer of the law in the county. Each man's protection was in the good will and friendship of those about him, and the thing any man might well dread was the ill will of the community. It was more terrible than the law. It was no uncommon thing in the early times for hardened men, who had no fears of jails or penitentiaries, to stand in great fear of the indig- nation of a pioneer community. Such were some of the early characteris- tics of the early settlers of Polk county.
HOUSES AND HOME COMFORTS.
The first buildings in the county were not just like the log cabins that immediately succeeded them. These latter required some help and a good deal of labor to build. The very first buildings constructed were a cross between " hoop cabins " and Indian bark huts. As soon as enough men could be got together for a "cabin raising" then log cabins were in style. Many a pioneer can remember the happiest time of his life as that when he lived in one of these homely but comfortable and profitable old cabins.
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 between the logs, without either chinking or daubing, was the dependence for light and air.
The doors were fastened with old-fashioned wooden latches, and for a friend, or neighbor, or traveler, the string always hung out, for the 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 clap- board 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 transpar- ency. 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 holes corres- ponding 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 con- secutively 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
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cooking was done by the faithful housewife in pots, kettles and skillets, on and about the big fire-place, and very frequently over and around, too, the distended pedal extremities of the legal sovereigns of the household, while the latter were indulging in the luxuries of a cob pipe, and discussing the probable results of a contemplated elk hunt up and about Walled Lake."
These log cabins were really not so bad, after all.
The people of to-day familiarized with "Charter Oak cooking stoves " and ranges would be ill at home were they compelled to prepare a meal with no other conveniences than those provided in a pioneer cabin. Rude fire-places were built in chimneys composed of mud and sticks or at best undressed stone. These fire-places served for heating and cooking pur- poses; 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 re- marked 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.
Before the country became supplied with mills which were of easy access, and even in some instances afterward, hominy-blocks were used. These exist now 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 measured 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 commenced. 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 resembled 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 timber with an iron wedge attached, the large end down. This completed the ma- chinery, and the block was ready for use. Sometimes one hominy-block accommodated an entire neigborhood, and was the means of staying the hunger of many mouths.
In giving the bill of fire above we should have added meat, for of this they had plenty. Deer would be seen daily trooping over the prairie in droves of from twelve to twenty, and sometimes as many as fifty would be seen grazing together. Elk were also found, and wild turkeys and prairie chickens without number. Bears were not unknown. Music of the natural order was not wanting, and every night the pioneers were lulled to rest by the screeching of panthers and the howling of wolves. When the dogs ventured too far out from the cabins at night they would be driven back by the wolves chasing them up to the very cabin doors. Trapping wolves be-
28
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
came quite a profitable business after the State began to pay a bounty for wolf scalps.
All the streams of water also abounded in fish, and a good supply of the very best could be procured by the expense of a little time and labor. Those who years ago improved the fishing advantages of the country, never tire telling of the dainty meals which the streams afforded. Sometimes large parties would get together, and having been provided with cooking utensils and facilities for camping out, would go off some distance and spend weeks together. No danger then of being ordered off a man's premises or arrested for trespass.
One of the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the early life of the pioneers was a strange loneliness. The solitude seemed almost to oppress them. Months would pass during which they would see scarcely a human face outside their own families. The isolation of these early days worked upon some of the settlers an affect that has never passed away. Some of them say that they lived in such a lonely way when they first came here that afterward, when the county began to fill up, they always found them- selves bashful and constrained in the presence of strangers. But when the people were once started in this way the long pent-up feelings of joviality and sociability fairly boiled over, and their meetings frequently became enthusiastic and jovial in the highest degree. It seems singular to note bashfulness as one of the characteristics of the strong, stalwart settlers, but we are assured by the old settlers themselves that this was a prominent characteristic of the pioneers. And some of them declare that this feeling became so strong during the early years of isolation and loneliness that they have never since been able to shake it off.
But there were certainly some occasions when the settlers were not in the least degree affected by anything in the nature of bashfulness. When their rights were threatened or invaded they had "muscles of iron and hearts of flint." It was only when brought together for merely social pur- poses that they seemed ill at ease. If any emergency arose or any busi- ness was to be attended to, they were always equal to the occasion.
On occasions of special interest, such as elections, holiday celebrations or camp-meetings, it was nothing unusual for a few settlers who lived in the immediate neighborhood of the meeting to entertain scores of those who had come from a distance.
Rough and rude though the surroundings may have been, the pioneers were none the less honest, sincere, hospitable and kind in their relations. It is true, as a rule, and of universal application, that there is a greater de- gree of real humanity among the pioneers of any country than there is when the country becomes older and richer. If there is an absence of re- finement, that absence is more than compensated in the presence of gen- erous hearts and truthful lives. They are bold, courageous, industrious, enterprising and energetic. Generally speaking, they are earnest thinkers and possessed of a diversified fund of useful, practical information. As a rule, they do not arrive at a conclusion by means of a course of rational reasoning, but, nevertheless have a queer way of getting at the facts. They hate cowards and shams of every kind, and above all things falsehood and deception, and cultivate an integrity which seldom permits them to prosti- tute themselves to a narrow policy of imposture.
Such were the characteristics of the men and women who pioneered the way to the country of the Sac and Fox Indians. Many of them yet re-
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
main, and, although as a general thing they are among the wealthiest and most substantial of the people of the county, they have not forgotten their old-time hospitality and free and easy ways. In contrasting the present social affairs with pioneer times, one has well said:
"Then, if a house was to be raised, every man 'turned out,' and often the women too, and while the men piled up the logs that fashioned the primitive dwelling-place, the women prepared the dinner. Sometimes it was cooked by big log fires near the site where the cabin was building; in other cases it was prepared at the nearest cabin, and at the proper hour was carried to where the men were at work. If one man. in the neighborhood killed a beef, a pig or a deer, every other family in the neighborhood was sure to receive a piece.
" We were all on an an equality. Aristocratic feelings were unknown and would not have been tolerated. What one had we all had, and that was the happiest period of my life. But to-day, if you lean against a neigh- bor's shade tree he will charge you for it. If you are poor and fall sick you may lie and suffer almost unnoticed and unattended, and probably go to the poor-house; and just as like as not the man who would report you to the authorities as a subject of county care would charge the county for mak- ing the report."
Of the old settlers some are still living in the county, in the enjoyment of the fortunes they founded in early times, " having reaped an hundred- fold." Others have passed away, and many of them will not long survive. Several of them have gone to the Far West, and are still playing the part of pioneers. But wherever they may be, and whatever fate may betide them, it is but truth to say that they were excellent men, as a class, and have left a deep and enduring impression upon Polk county and the State. "They builded better than they knew." They were, of course, men of activity and energy or they would never have decided to face the trials of pioneer life. They were almost invariably poor, but the lessons taught them in the early days were of such a character that few of them have remained so. They made their mistakes in business pursuits like other men. Scarcely one of them but allowed golden opportunities, for pecuniary profit at least, to pass by unheeded. What are now some of the choicest farms in Polk county were not taken up by the pioneers, who preferred land of very much less value. They have seen many of their prophecies fulfilled, and others come to naught. Whether they have attained the success they desired their own hearts can tell.
To one looking over the situation then from the standpoint now, it cer- tainly does not seem very cheering, and yet, from the testimony of some old pioneers, it was a most enjoyable time, and we of the present live in de- generate days.
At that time it certainly would have been much more difficult for those old settlers to understand how it could be possible that thirty-five years hence the citizens at the present age of the county's progress would be complaining of hard times and destitution, and that they themselves, per- haps, would be among that number, than it is now for us to appreciate how they could feel so cheerful and contented with their meager means and humble lot of hardships and deprivations during those early, pioneer days.
The secret was, doubtless, that they lived within their means, however limited, not coveting more of luxury and comfort than their income would afford, and the natural result was prosperity and contentment, with always
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room for one more stranger at the fireside, and a cordial welcome to a place at their table for even the most hungry guest.
Humanity, with all its ills, is, nevertheless, fortunately characterized with remarkable flexibility, which enables it to accommodate itself to cir- cumstances. After all, the secret of happiness lies in ones ability to ac- commodate himself to his surroundings.
It is sometimes remarked that there were no places for public entertain- ment till later years. The fact is there were many such places; in fact, every cabin was a place of entertainment, and these hotels were sometimes crowded to their utmost capacity. On such an occasion, when bed time came, the first family would take the back part of the cabin, and so continue filling up by families until the limit was reached. The young men slept in the wagons outside. In the morning those nearest the door arose first and went outside to dress. Meals were served on the hind end of a wagon, and consisted of corn bread, buttermilk, and fat pork, and occasionally coffee to take away the morning chill. On Sundays, for a change, they had bread made of wheat "treed out" on the ground by horses, cleaned with a sheet, and pounded by hand. This was the best the most fastidious could obtain, and this only one day in seven.
Not a moment of time was lost. It was necessary that they should raise enough sod corn to take them through the coming winter, and also get as much breaking done as possible. They brought with them enough corn to give the horses an occasional feed in order to keep them able for hard work, but in the main they had to live on prairie grass. The cattle got nothing else than grass.
Still farther about the living in those days: If the average family had corn bread the boarders were all satisfied, and well they might be, for flour was at first very scarce, and in many families was an unknown commodity, and they had corn bread in those days "as was corn bread," such as many a resident of the county of this day knows nothing of; and the pone made by the grandmothers of the young people of the present day was something for pride.
It is said that a certain landlord "up the river" used to charge five cents more for biscuit than when corn bread was placed before his guests. The poet of that region probably alludes to the same individual in enumerating the early settlers. The reader will recognize the quotation as being from Leonard Brown's Centennial Poem, entitled "Big Creek":
And Ives Marks's great chair factory, And his hotel on the corner, And his twenty-five cent dinners, With "corn bread and common doin's" -- And his half a dollar dinners, With "wheat bread and chicken fixin's," Giving to the hungry traveler Bill of fare and choice of dishes, And due notice as to prices.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
An interesting comparison might be drawn between the conveniences which now make the life of a farmer a comparatively easy one, and the almost total lack of such conveniences in early days. A brief description of the accommodations possessed by the first tillers of this soil will be now given.
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HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY.
Let the children of such illustrious sires draw their own comparisons, and may the results of these comparisons silence the voice of complaint which so often is heard in the land.
The only plows they had at first were what they styled "bull plows." The mould-boards were generally of wood, but in some cases they were half wood and half iron. The man who had one of the latter description was looked upon as something of an aristocrat. But these old "bull plows" did good service, and they must be awarded the honor of first stirring the soil of Polk county as well as that of all . the first-class counties of this State.
The amount of money which some farmers annually invest in agricultural implements would have kept the pioneer farmer in farming utensils during a whole lifetime. The pioneer farmer invested little money in such things, because he had little money to spare, and then again because the expensive ma- chinery now used would not have been at all adapted to the requirements of pioneer farming. The bull plow was probably better adapted to the fields abounding in stumps and roots than would the modern sulky plow have been, and the old-fashioned wheat cradle did better execution than would a modern harvester, under like circumstances. The prairies were seldom settled till after the pioneer period, and that portion of the country which was the hardest to put under cultivation, and the most difficult to cultivate after it was improved, first was cultivated; it is well for the country that such was the case, for the present generation, familiarized as it is with farming machinery of such complicated pattern, would scarcely undertake the clearing off of dense forests and cultivating the ground with the kind of implements their fathers used, and which they would have to use for some kinds of work.
MILLS AND TRADING POINTS.
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