The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 10

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058

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Abundant supplies of good building rock are found in the Trenton and Galena limestone formations. The former is a very compact rock of blue- ish tint, interesting to an observer on account of the large number and beau- ty of the fossil remains enclosed in some of the strata and is widely dis- tributed along the Mississippi and the

ly direction from Fort Dodge to Keo- kuk, along the Valley of the Des Moines river. The coal in this belt is of excellent quality and the supply in- exhaustible.

"Coal," says Newberry, "is entitled to be considered as the mainspring of civilization. By the power developed in its combustion, all the wheels of in- dustry are kept in motion, commerce eastern part of the state. The Galena is carried on with rapidity and cer- limestone, a heavily bedded rock of brownish tint overlying the Trenton in the northeast part of the state, has proved the greatest source of wealth tainty over all portions of the earth's surface, and the useful metals are brought from the deep caves in which they have hidden themselves, are puri- to Dubuque county where the princi- fied and wrought to serve the purposes pal quarries are located. The high of man. By coal, night is, in one sense, converted into day, winter into summer, and the life of man, measur- ed by its fruits, greatly prolonged. Wealth with all the comforts, the lux- uries and triumphs it brings, is its gift. Though black, sooty and often repulsive in its aspect, it is the em- bluffs at the city of Dubuque are of this rock. It contains no fossils, but is the formation in which the lead is found that has been so extensively and profitably mined since the days of Ju- lien Dubuque. It makes a superior quality of lime, which is used, like the rock, for building purposes, no one as bodiment of a power more potent than yet thinking of applying it to the land as a fertilizer.

that attributed to the genii in orient- al tales. Its possession, is therefore, craved by a community or nation. Coal is also not without its poetry. It

Other valuable rock formations are the highest material boon that can be the Niagara limestone (upper Silurian) along Turkey river and the Mississippi south of it, massive dolomites, yellow- has been formed under the stimulus ish or brown in color; the Devonian of the sunshine of long past ages, and limestone of Cedar Valley, which is the light and power it holds are noth- highly charged with fossils of many ing else than such sunshine stored in kinds; the Montpelier limestone of the black casket, to await the coming, Muscatine county; the St. Louis lime- and serve the purposes of man. In the stone of southeastern and Nishna- process of formation it composed the botna sandstone of southwestern tissues of those strange trees that lift- Iowa. ed up their scaled trunks and waved their feathery foliage over the marshy SOFT COAL. shores of the carboniferous continent,

Of all sources of mineral wealth in where not only no man was, but gi- Iowa the deposits of soft coal are the gantic salamanders and mail clad fish- most important, The coal area of the es were the monarchs of the animated

72 PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA,

"Commend me to the barn-yard, and the corn-mou man."-ROBERT BURNS.

THE FARM, BARNS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AMES, ICWA.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTHI.

world. " *

manufactures, and from her little isle

Filling a place of so great import- has extended her possessions around ance in the material advancement of the globe. The area of England is our modern civilization coal must long about the same as that of Iowa and rank first among the mineral resources her coal fields approximately 10,000 to be desired in a country.

square miles, which is the estimated

Being one of the prairie states, hav- extent of Iowa's coal bearing territory. ing a surface with no marked contrasts

The coal fields of Germany embrace of altitude, and possessing a soil unri- not more than 3,000 square miles, valed in fertility by any country on those of Belgium and France together the face of the earth, it has been cus- only 2,500; Spain has about the same tomary to regard Iowa as a strictly agricultural province. Comparisons are made with sister states, and the The coal fields of Iowa, therefore, are as extensive as those of the great- est of European nations, and several area of coal lands and other countries of Europe, less. fact is noted that as a producer of corn, oats and potatoes, Iowa stands first on the list, and second in the pro- times greater than those of the other duction of flax, barley and hay. The great nations of that continent.

conclusion that Iowa is a great farm- ing country is irresistible, and this is true.

·It must not, however, be forgotten that Iowa has other resources as boundless as her agricultural produc- tions-resources which half the na- tions of the globe would consider of priceless worth if they only possessed them-untold wealth that Nature has bestowed with lavish hand and that is destined to contribute to the onward progress of humanity. These are her mineral resources, the inherited pos- sessions bound up in the coals, the clays and the metallic ores.

In the production of coal, Iowa ranks first among the states west of the Mississippi and fifth among the states of the Union. The only states surpassing Iowa in the annual produc- tion of coal are Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and West Virginia.

England, the richest and most pow- lead mines of Dubuque this ore is erful of European countries, owes her high position almost entirely to her

*The coals of Iowa often contain iron py - riles and occasionally small flakes of lime or gypsum. along the line of fracture. The coal beds, almost without exception, are under- laid with a stratum of soft, while clay, which is excellent for the manufacture of fire brick. The roots of lepidodendrons are gusually found abundantly in this under clav.

IRON, ZINC, LEAD.

The production of iron in Iowa has not attracted publie attention, owing to the fact that it is an industry as yet undeveloped. There is, however, a bed of excellent iron ore, of brown hematite, a short distance northeast of Waukon, in Allamakee county, that covers more than three hundred acres of land. This bed is found under a surface soil ranging from one to four feet in depth, is itself more than thirty feet in depth and is described as being "an almost solid mass of iron ore," of which hundreds of tons have already been mined. It has been estimated that 500 tons daily could be mined here for 100 years.

Zinc in the form of the sulphuret, has been found in very small quanti- ties in the sub-carboniferous and low- er coal measures of Wapello, Webster and several other counties. In the

found both in the form of the carbon- ate and sulphuret, and quite exten- sive works have been recently erected in that city for the preparation of this metal for commerce.

The productive lead region of the Upper Mississippi occupies the larger portion of the territory along that river from the Apple river in Illinois,

74 PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

northward to the Wisconsin river. ing furnaces import it, in large quanti- The Mississippi runs near the west- ties for their work, from this state. ern edge of the district, but there is The silica or quartz sand found in a considerable area of productive ter- Clayton county is of exceeding fineness ritory on the west side of that river. and whiteness and is returned to us The mines in the vicinity of Dubuque, from Missouri manufactured into the on the west side of the river, are finest plate glass.

among the most interesting and prof-

Clay has come to be an essential ele- itable of this region. They are found ment in manufactures. "The savage upon a belt about four miles in width, may build his wigwam frame of poles extending from Catfish creek in a and cover it with grass, skins or bark. northwesterly direction as far as the The pioneer may build his cabin of middle fork of the Little Maquoketa, logs or sod, but by industry and econ- in Dubuque county. This belt in- omy he soon provides the means for cludes about fifteen square miles, and better things. The services of the there is probably no district of equal brick-maker and mason are soon need- extent in the Mississippi Valley that

ed, openings invite the pottery and has produced so large an amount of tile factory, and search is made for ore. The ore is found in the vertical clays suitable for these manufac- sheets or upright crevices of the galena tories."

limestone formation forming the high river bluffs of this section. The great softness and purity of the lead of this locality, attracted adventurers to this section many years before the territory of Iowa was opened for set- tlement, and has since secured for it a higher price than for the imported article.

SAND, CLAY AND GYPSUM.

The clays of Iowa have been moved to their present positions by glacial action, and may be divided into the impure drift and those more or less pure; the latter having been softened and modified by exposure to the at- mosphere and frost. Pure clay (sili- cate of alumina) alone, does not make good brick, and ordinarily the clay of no one spot contains the proper pro-

Sand is an essential element in our portions of ingredients to insure the industries. Many important mechan- production of the best quality of ical and manufacturing operations de- brick, but ordinarily the ingredients mand its use. Although upon the that are lacking in the Iowa clays prairies and other upland surfaces, may be obtained in the same vicinity. there are no accumulations of it where These clays are found near the sur- it would impair the fertility of the face, and there is no large part of the soil, yet nature has provided numer- state destitute of the materials for ous banks or deposits of sand for these the successful manufacture of good purposes, along the shallows, shores brick and tile.

and flood-plains, wherever the streams "The day of building cheap, perish- have cut their channels or valleys able shanties for residences and struct- through the surface drift. These ac- ures, of cheap, combustible and per- cumulations are of sufficient purity ishable material for business uses, for all practical purposes and, as the has been outgrown in this state. Our streams are numerous, furnish nearly cities and towns have their 'fire- all the sand used in the state. The limits' and the erection of cheap, un- builder, brick-maker and iron-moulder attractive, combustible structures in readily find sand suited to their re- our business centers is largely prohib- spective needs, while the manufactur- ited. This wise provision encourages ers of glass, and proprietors of smelt- improved architecture and the use of

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

building material of substantial qual- Northwest Iowa, especially in Sac, ity, and so the brick-maker's art is Woodbury and Sioux counties, that is encouraged and his business enlarged. as valuable as any in England and No better clays can be found for the that, in the not distant future, will manufacture of the finest quality of doubtless furnish the raw material for pressed brick than are now obtained a number of important manufact- in numerous places in this state." Sn- uring industries.

perior clay for the manufacture of

This chalk formation consists of stoneware and the finer forms of pot- fine calcareous layers not unlike clay, tery is found in numerous places.

Gypsum is found along the Des Moines river in the vicinity of Fort Dodge, Webster county. About three miles south of Fort Dodge, including the bluffs on both sides of the river, is the largest and most important de- posit of gypsum yet discovered in the United States. It is found here not in "heaps" or "nests," as in the states farther east, but in the form of a "regularly stratified, continuous formation as uniform in texture, color and quality throughout the entire region from top to bottom of the de-

This chalk deposit, found only in posit (about thirty feet,) as is the the cretaceous series of this section, granite of the Quincy quarries in New England."*

This bed of gypsum extends about seven miles along the river and is ap- parently inexhaustible. The rock is of a gray color, but becomes quite white by grinding and still whiter by the calcining process necessary in the preparation of plaster of Paris. It is used as a building rock, a fertilizer and for the manufacture of stucco. In the latter form it was very largely used in the manufacture of "staff," that formed the external covering of the World's Fair buildings in Chicago in 1893. This gypsum industry gives employment to about sixty men and the annual production is about $55,000.

CHALK.

There is a deposit of chalk in the vicinity of the Big Sioux river, in

* This bed of gypsum is found under the drift and over the coal measures; it is there- fore older than the former and newer than the latter. It contains no fossils and seems to be a formation of the Mesozoic age.

and has a thickness of 25 feet along the Sioux river in Iowa, 50 feet at Ponca, Nebraska, 130 at Yankton, South Dakota, and 200 feet at the mouth of the Niobrara river. This rock, wherever it is exposed, is of a pure white or yellowish color, soft in texture and may be quarried in great blocks that are easily cut with a com- mon saw into any required dimension. It is composed of the more or less broken skeletons of the little shell creatures called Foraminifera and of minute coralline plants known as Coccoliths. It is formed only in the bottom of a clear; open sea, remote from land, flood deposits or other dis- turbances.

is intensely interesting to the student of Nature, since it proves beyond a doubt that this whole region was once the bottom of a wide and deep sea. It rests upon a bed of Dakota limestone, an accumulation that was doubtless formed when the region about Sioux City was covered with shallow, brackish water. "The sand composing this deposit was carried into the sea from land that was not very far away, probably only a few miles eastward. The sea be- tween was not stationary, but was slowly subsiding, the rate of subsid- ence being greater, however than the rate at which the sandstone accumu- lated.

"As a result of the subsidence, the sea became deeper over the given area, as at Sioux City, and for the same reason encroached gradually up- on the land, and the shore line be- came more and more remote. With increasing depth of sea and increas- ing distance of the shore, the coarser sand failed to reach Sioux City. Only the finer mechanical sediments were carried so far seaward. The waters deepened still more over the site of Sioux City until the bottom was no longer affected by waves and currents, and the shore line, now east

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

of the middle of the state, was so re- of growth, and their inverse order mote that practically no flood materi- their relative value for fuel: Cotton- wood, white maple, box-elder, black walnut, oak, sugar maple and hickory. al from the land found its way to the area we are considering. Neither sand nor clay was deposited in any appreciable amount as far west as Yankton, St. Helena or even Sioux City.

The black walnut and hickory suc- ceed well upon the prairie by artificial propagation from the seed and with Now it was in this clear, open, quiet sea that the Niobrara chalk was slow- ly deposited. The little shell creat- ures called Foraminifera, flourished upon the bottom of it or serenely floated in its depths. And either floating or resting upon the bottom, were the peculiar coralline plants of which the bodies called Coccoliths and Rhabdoliths were constituent parts. very little labor. So rapid is the growth of the cottonwood that, it is estimated, ten acres planted, at the end of five years, will supply a large family continually with all the nec- essary fuel. For rapidity of growth the white maple ranks next to the cot- tonwood and makes better fuel. It All these organisms secrete carbon- ate of lime, and it was the dead skel- etons of successive generations of such organisms, accumulating under the conditions described, that made the entire bulk of our American succeeds well upon all varieties of soil and is readily propagated from the seed. These facts indicate that in a prairie region the farmer may not only determine "the location of his chalk, the region of which extends fields and woodlands, but also the kinds of crop, whether of grain or trees, that shall be grown upon each."

from Iowa to the Rocky Mountains, and from Texas to the Arctic Sea. It was about the time that the subsid- ence reached its maximum that the chalk was deposited near Auburn, in Sac county." *

FOREST AND SHADE TREES.

WATER.

It would be difficult to find a region more bountifully watered than the state of Iowa, and so general is the drainage through its numerous rivers, creeks and rivulets, that almost its entire surface is available for agricul- tural purposes. Valuable springs are frequent in the valleys, and even upon the highest prairies no difficulty has been experienced in obtaining excel- lent water a few feet beneath the sur- face.

Wood, for many years, wasthe prin- cipal and preferred fuel of the people of this state. Forest trees can be cul- tivated upon all varieties of the soil of the state as successfully as a crop of corn. The principal kinds of native trees that have been used as fuel, be- fore the general use of coal, are the following, their order indicating their estimated relative abundance: Oaks, All the water of Iowa is hard, hold- ing in solution more or less carbonate several varieties, including white, lau- rel, burr and black; cottonwood, elm, of lime. It is nevertheless pure and white maple, linden, hickory, sugar maple and black walnut. Other native trees, such as the hackberry, ash, honey-locust, slippery elm and butter- nut, have also been used, but their number has been more limited. wholesome, giving vigor to youth, strength to manhood and solace to age. In the moonlight fountains and the sunny rills, in the warbling brook and the giant river, the water of Iowa is clear, beautiful and invigorating.

Experience and observation indicate "The beneficent Creator gave to Iowa that the following named forest trees a wealth of resources of more priceless give good results under cultivation, value than mountains of precious met- their order indicating their rapidity als. in her ever recurring showers, *Samuel Calvin in Geology of Iowa, Vol. 3, her numerous springs and perennial 318.

streams, "

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

"Merry laughing, sparkling water, O'er the prairies flowing free; Making all so bright and happy, In the vale and on the lea, How I love thee!"

Waters of medicinal value are also found here. There are streams that flow from fountains that give strength to the weak and restore health to the sick.

The mineral springs at Colfax have become so famous that that health re- sort has been designated the "Saratoga of the West." This fountain flows from a boring sunk for coal four hun- dred and fifteen feet in depth. Other medicinal wells are found at Des Moines, Cherokee, Lineville and other places. On the western shore of Wall Lake, Sac county, there is a natural spring known as the Lake View Min- eral Spring, that has a considerable reputation for the cure of many of the ills to which our mortal nature is subject.

CLIMATE. *

Of the two essential elements of ag- ricultural prosperity, a fertile soil and a favorable climate, the latter may be said to be the more important, for nothing can fully compensate for the lack of rainfall during the growing season. Only a small portion of any arid region can be made productive by irrigation.

The claim may be made that in re- spect to these two essentials, soil and climate, Iowa stands foremost among the agricultural states of the Union. There is no question as to the exceed- ing richness and depth of the soil, for it has maintained a large measure of its original fertility under a system of continuous cropping that would have reduced to barrenness the thinner soils of less favored sections. And its climate has served as a fit complement of its soil in the production of those vast crops that have figured so con-

* Gleaned from Climatology, by John R. Sage, Director of the Iowa Weather and Crop Service.

spicuously in the agricultural statist- ics of the country.

Situated midway between the oceans the climate of Iowa is strictly conti- nental. Its altitude ranges from four hundred and forty-four feet above the sea level at the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi, to one thou- sand six hundred and fifty feet at a point near Spirit Lake; and as there are no mountain ranges nor extensive forests the physical conditions give to the state a climate very similar throughout.

The moisture precipitated over Iowa comes almost entirely, either directly or indirectly, from the Gulf of Mex- ico. And as the gulf is permanent there is no danger that this region will ever become arid or unproductive.

Blodget's rain chart for the conti- nent shows the average annual rain- fall in the eastern and southeastern counties is forty-two inches, through the central belt from southwest to northeast it is thirty, and in the ex- treme northwestern section twenty- five inches.

The annual precipitation in Iowa is equal to that of any of the Atlantic or Middle states in the same latitude, with the exception of points along the sea-coast or in mountainous districts.

Dr. Gustavus Hinrichs, who origi- nated the Iowa Weather Service and served over twelve years as its director, said in his last annual report: "While Iowa has a continental climate in re- gard to temperature, it enjoys the fer- tilizing advantages of a high and well distributed rainfall usually restricted to the coast only. In fact, there is no region in the interior of any continent that has a climate like that of Iowa, in which the extremes of temperature are coupled with an abundance of fer -. tilizing moisture. Right close to the south the immense boiler of the gulf is furnishing vapor; the heated conti- nental expanse north causes the south- erly current prevailing throughout the

78 PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

CLOSE HALL, ONE OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY BUILDINGS, IOWA CITY.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

summer. These southerly winds car- yield of corn equaled a production of ry the moisture of the gulf all over 9,480 pounds for every inhabitant of the Mississippi valley, where it de- the state; of wheat 1156 pounds; of scends normally in great abundance, oats 997 pounds and of all cereals making it the best watered valley in 11,809 pounds. There was also raised the world." that year 371 pounds of potatoes for

In Iowa the summers are decidedly each inhabitant. The production of warmer and the winters slightly cold- these elements of food that year in er, though marked by a diminution Iowa reached the enormous aggregate in the amount of snow, than in the of 12,180 pounds, or six tons and one eastern states on the same parallels. hundred and eighty pounds for every The relatively dry atmosphere during man, woman and child within her the winter months has a favorable ef- borders. The state thus produced fect upon the health and comfort of nearly four times as much of these el- the inhabitants of this region, enab- ements of food, proportionately, as ling them to easily withstand the low did the country at large. It is be- temperature of that season of the lieved this aggregate of production in year.

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES.

The following exhibit will serve to show the marvelous development of the agricultural resources and the in- dustrial condition of the state of Iowa in the years 1850, 1880 and 1895, re- spectively:

1850

1880

1895

Wheat, bus.

.1,530,381

31,154,205

14,612,054*

Oats

.1,524,315

50,610,591

201.600,000

Corn

... 8,656,799

275,024,247

285,000,000

Potatoes

282,368

10,084,905

Butter, lbs.

16,700,000* 45,245,627 449,416

Horses

Cows.

Hogs.

Sheep.

In 1880, Iowa ranked fourth in the 2,171,188 55,481,958 Cheese 209,840 1,075,988 : production of butter, New York, 38,536 792,322 1,393,302 1,087,279 45,704 854,857 Pennsylvania and Ohio producing a larger quantity; but in the manufact- 323,247 6,034,336 5,044,577 ure of creamery butter, Iowa stood 149,960 455,359 492,875 Other cattle. 91,000 1,755,343 2,110,305 *1896. first, making nearly one-third of the creamery product in the United In 1897, the aggregate value of farm products amounted to $130,934,- state 773 creameries, 118 skim stations 328.00. States. In 1897, there were in the and 76 cheese factories. The value of In the year 1891, the estimated val- the butter products shipped by the ue of all the agricultural products of railroads was $13,936,680.17.

Iowa, including the crops and stock of all kinds, was $464,219,308.

In 1870, six states raised more swine, but ten years later Iowa had nearly a

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 10

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846 Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058