USA > Iowa > Pocahontas County > The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 17
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These men surveyed the boundaries of
Comparatively few, if any of the the several townships of Pocahontas original stakes are now found at the county, under a contract of date June corners of the sections, Prairie fire's 14, 1853.
EXHIBIT
Of the Government Survey of Pocahontas County, showing Number and Range of Townships, alphabetically arranged.
TOWNSHIP.
Name.
TR
Date of Survey.
Deputy Surveyor.
Chainmen.
Axeman.
Flagman.
Bellville
90 32 1854, July 25-Aug. 1. Geo. Berry.
James Ridgeway. Asa F. Sellers. Alexander Willson. William P. Hall. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. Jeremiah Huff. Joseph Richey. Josiah Scott.
Andrew J. Sears.
Cyrus Clay Carpenter.
T. Vanbuskirk.
James W. Miller, (Compassman.)
Mason Crouch.
Center
92 32 1851, Oct. 9-15.
Robt. O. C. Anderson.
Wm. H. Brakey.
Wm. H Brakey.
Mason Crouch.
Clinton
92 31 1854, Oct. 30-Nov. 7. Robt. O C. Anderson.
Colfax
90 33 1854, Sept. 12-22.
Robt. O. C. Anderson. Andrew Leach.
Des Moines.
93 31 1854, Oct. 9 -
Francis Bell.
Alfred Bebe.
Haryey Norris.
Dover,
91 34 1855, July 5-11.
Joshua T. Nowlin.
Thornton Vanbuskirk.
James W. Miller, (Compassman.)
Grant.
91 33 1854, Sept. 23-29.
Robt. O. C. Anderson.
Wm. H. Brakey.
Mason Crouch.
Mason Crouch.
Lake
91 31 1854, Oct. 23-30.
Robt. O. C. Anderson.
Wm. H. Brakey
Lincoln
91 32 1854, Oct. 16-21.
Robt. O. C. Anderson.
Wm. H. Brakey.
Mason Crouch.
Lizard
90 31 1854, Aug. 3-10.
Marshall
92 34 1855, Oct. 16-21.
Powhatan. ..
93 32 1851, Oct. 1-6.
Jesse T. Janett.
Not given.
Not given.
Sherman
92 33 1851, Oct. 2-7.
Robt. O. C. Anderson.
Wm. H. Brakey.
Mason Crouch.
Swan Lake.
93 34 1855, Sept. 16-29.
Adam Sherrill.
Daniel Dicus.
Isaac Welsh.
Washington.
93 33 1854, Oct. 7-12.
Jesse T. Janett.
Alex. McIntyre, Alex. Willson. Wm. P. Hall. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. James Ridgeway. Asa F. Sellers. Isaac A. Cory. Wm. S. Wesley. Ephraim Hartman. Elisha Lackey. A. L. Palmer. C. C. Stevens. A. P. Hull Charles C. Perry. Ephraim Hartman. Elisha Lackey.
Not given.
Not given.
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
Cedar ..
90 34 1855, June 25-July 3. Joshua T. Nowlin.
Wm. H. Brakey.
Mason Crouch.
John W. Deeman.
Wm. R. Wooldridge.
Andrew J. Sears.
Cyrus Clay Carpenter.
Geo. Berry. Wm. W. Smith.
Edward M. Stiffey.
Isaac Welch.
138
MOUND MAKERS.
139
THE SURVEY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY.
The variation of the compass, in Po-
The same is true of the parallels of cahontas county at the time of this latitude, from which distances are government survey, was noted as rang- measured north and south. Since all ing from 11º 15' to 11º 35' east on the distances and bearings are measured north and south lines, and 10° 20' to from two lines that are at right angles 11° 15' east on the south and west to each other, the one a true meridian lines.
of longitude and the other a true par-
These government surveys were allel of latitude, the system is rectan- made by deputy surveyors, under the gular. appointment and direction of Warner
. All lands in Iowa by townships are
Lewis, surveyor general of Iowa and numbered eastward and westward Wisconsin, whose office at that time from the 5th principal meridian which, was at Dubuque, Iowa. extending due north from the mouth
The following general notes made of the Arkansas river, passes through by the surveyors at the conclusion of the eastern part of Iowa twelve miles their work, on the main features or west of Dubuque. This meridian, characteristics of the townships sur- which is the 14th west from Wash- veyed, are already of historic interest ington, gives the range of the town- and no doubt throw some light on the ships east and west; and from it the early impressions that affected, to east tier of townships of Pocahontas some extent, the settlement of this county is numbered 31, the second 32, section of the country. the third 33 and the west tier 34.
They classed a great part of the land as "second rate, full of irreclaim- able marshes, although producing grass, canes, rushes, flags, brakes and pea vines, abundantly." They were careful to note the fact there was no timber in many of the townships, and the presence of timber must have been regarded as an absolute necessity in order to render these lands inhab- itable; for the surveyor of Des Moines township, which had more timber than perhaps any other township in the county, writes: "There is suffi- cient timber in this township to war- rant but a few settlers, at least for some time to come."
PLAN OF THE GOVERNMENT SURVEY.
The method of the United States base line, are called townships. The government in the survey of these boundary lines on the east and west western lands is an admirable one and sides of a township are called range has for its basis the invariable direc- lines, and the tiers of townships run- tion of the true meridians of longi- ning north and south along these lines, tude. All bearings taken from these which are parallel to the principal me- meridians are called true, to distin- ridian, are called ranges. The bound- guish them from magnetic bearings; ary lines of a section are called section and in their direction they are as in- lines, and all interior corners, neces- variable as is the meridian from which sary for the division of a section, were they are measured.
All the townships in Iowa are num- bered northward from a base line, a true parallel that, extending due east and west, crosses the 5th principal meridian forty-eight miles north of the mouth of the Arkansas river. This is the 35th parallel of north lati- tude and forms the north boundary line of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Counting from this base line, the south tier of townships of Pocahontas county is numbered 90, the second 91, the third 92 and the north tier 93.
The boundary lines on the north and south sides of a township are called township lines, and the rows or tiers of townships running east and west on these lines, which are parallel to the
left by the government surveyors to :
140
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
be located by local or county survey- ors.
Each township is divided by paral- lel lines into thirty-six equal parts,
Since the meridians of longitude called sections. Each section is one converge toward each other as we pass mile square and contains 640 acres. northward from the equator, it fol- The section is divided into quarter- lows that the north line of a town- sections of 160 acres each and the lat- ship would naturally be a little short- ter into quarters of forty acres each. er than the south line. Pocahontas The sections are always numbered county is located between the 42d and from 1 to 36 in regular order, com- 43d parallels and in this latitude the mencing with the one at the north- convergence is about forty-three feet east corner of the township and pro- to each township. This convergence ceeding west, then east and so on, un- is remedied by an occasional correc- til the southeast corner is reached, as tion line, one of which may be seen may be seen in the accompanying plat. upon the map of Iowa extending east
It is of interest to note that the and west six miles south of Pocahon- government survey of public lands in tas county. The correction is made Iowa was begun in the autumn of 1836, in the tier of townships south of this by A. Bent & Son, from Michigan, line. While the distances on the who received their commission as U. north side of this line are all six miles, S. deputies, from the office of the Sur- those on the south side of it are all veyor General at Cincinnati, Ohio. less than six miles by the amount of Their first contract was for the sur- the convergence for the distance the vey of Scott county, of which Daven- township lines have been run. All port is the county, seat, and it was the other townships are intended to completed in the spring of 1837. be six miles square.
The survey of lands in northwest
NORTH
5
4.
2
8
9
10
11
12.
·18
17
16
15
14
13.
WEST
EAST
20
21
22
23
24
...
30
29
28
27
26.
25
3.
32;
33
34
35
+36
SOUTH PLAT OF A TOWNSHIP-T. 90, R. 34.
The numbers "T. 90, R. 34" are those of Cedar township and show that it is township number 90 and range 34 west from the 5th principal meridian.
The different divisions of a Section are described as follows:
C
a
d
b
a-N. E. 14-Northeast Quarter.
b-S. 12-South Half.
c-N. 1% N. W. 44-North Half of the North-West Quarter.
d -- S. W. X{ N. W. 14-South-west Quar- ter of the North - West Quarter.
Section 16 of every township in Iowa was set apart by the government for the support of the public schools; and they are called "school lands."
141
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
Iowa, including all the territory north the Sioux, when they crossed the Des of Des Moines, was not commenced Moines river in Webster county. This until the fall of 1848, when Marsh and work was resumed at a later date and his company undertook to run the when, in the settlement of Woodbury correction line from the Mississippi, county, a town was located on this near Dubuque, to the Missouri, near line, it was very significantly named Sioux City, and were driven back by Correctionville.
IV.
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
"Cease all this parlance about hills and dales."-Duo. LOCATION AND SURFACE FEATURES. *
P
OCAHONTAS Coun-
Pocahontas county is situated in ty lies just east of the northwest part of the state, being the summit of the two tiers of counties south of its ridge or watershed- northern and three tiers east of its extending from Dick- inson western boundary. It is bounded on to Audubon the north by Palo Alto county, on the counties-that divides the waters of west by Buena Vista, on the south by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Calhoun and on the east by Webster This summit is near Marathon, Bue- and Humboldt counties. Its eleva- na Vista county, and some of the tion is about 1400 feet above the level streams of Buena Vista find their way of the sea and its surface has a grad- to the Missouri, while others empty ual slope to the south and east. The into the Father of Waters. The drain- average slope of the county is a trifle age of Pocahontas county is wholly less than four feet to the mile, which into the Mississippi and is effected, to is about the same as that of the state a greater extent, by Lizard creek and from Spirit Lake to Keokuk.
its branches than by any other stream. The remaining surface is drained by Cedar creek, an upper branch of the Raccoon river, that has its source in Rush lake, a few miles northwest of Laurens, and by the West Branch of the Des Moines river and its tribu- taries, Beaver and Pilot creeks.
Pocahontas, like a large proportion of the counties in Iowa, is perfectly square in outline and contains sixteen congressional townships, making it twenty-four miles across from north to south and from east to west. It contains an area of 576 square miles, or 368,640 acres. Technically described it embraces townships 90, 91, 92 and 93 north, of ranges 31, 32, 33 and 34, west of the 5th principal meridian.
The only bodies of natural timber in the county are, a strip ranging from a quarter to a half mile in width along the Des Moines river in the north- east, a similar skirting, though less in size, on the east side of Lizard lake and along Lizard creek in the south- east, at Swan Lake in the northwest, a little along Cedar creek where it crosses the line into Calhoun, and at Sunk Grove, an island of some eighty acres in a slough in the northwest part of Cedar township. During the sixties, this island was covered with a heavy growth of fine, large timber consisting of maple, elm, basswood,
*The greater part under this head was written by L. C. Thornton, county surveyor, 1884-5 and 1888 .9, for the Reveille, Jan. 30, 1896.
142
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
cottonwood, oak, hackberry, box-elder no convulsions have marred thie con- and other woods. The early settlers tour of its surface. In washing out traveled many miles to levy tribute on their channels the streams have some- this unusual supply of good timber, what cut the crust, but on the whole and it was not long before unsightly it is safe to say the general lay of the stumps were all that were left to tell land is the same as when it rose above of the beautiful grove that existed the waters.
here previous to the year 1870. At
In the northwest part of the county the present time there is a fine body are Swan and Muskrat lakes, shallow of young timber, or second growth, at bodies of water with mud bottoms. this place. These bodies of natural The main body of the former, extend- timber, affording material for fuel ing north and south, is about a mile and the construction of buildings, as long and a half-mile wide. It has a well as a grateful protection to stock small, curved arm on the west, re- both in summer and winter, became sembling the neck and bill of a swan the most attractive places to the and from this circumstance received early pioneer.
its name. Muskrat lake which is
Pocahontas county is almost an un- about the same size, but extending interrupted prairie that extends also east and west is but a few rods east of into all the adjoining counties. Its the former and is connected with it beautiful prairie surface is gently un- by a creek, a link of the Cedar. Clear dulating and is slightly broken only in lake, in the west central part of the the northeast by the Des Moines river, county, lying partly in Dover and in the southeast by Lizard and in the partly in Marshall townships, is shaped ¿ like the letter L, the stem pointing
southwest by Cedar creek. All Northwestern Iowa is noted for its west and the arm north. It is prob- beauty,and fertility, and in these re- ably two miles long by half a mile spects Pocahontas is unsurpassed by wide and is drained by the little or any of the neighboring counties. Oth- west branch of the Cedar. During er parts of this northwestern section the long continued drought of 1894, are more rolling and their elevated these lakes, except a part of the last, portions, in the earlier days, were became dry and, during the season of prized because they were tillable, but 1895, good crops of grain were pro- these elevated and valuable portions duced in the beds of all of them. Liz- were interspersed with unappreciated ard lake in Lake township, extending and impassable sloughs and other northeast and southwest, is about waste places. In Pocahontas county one mile long by half a mile wide and these extremes are not found. The has an outlet through which it emp- entire surface of the county is that of ties into the north branch of Lizard an elevated plain with a gentle slope creek.
to the southeast and having no waste land except the channels of the river and creeks-and these are essential to its occupancy and fertility.
In the days of early settlement there were in this county sloughs without number and some of the principal ones were named Devil's Island, Purgatory, Muskrat and Six- teen-Mile Slough. These were great
As its elevation is so high it is alto- gether probable the surface of Poca- hontas county has not changed mate- places for muskrats and ducks, and rially since its transition from the gave rise to the familiar proverbs that bottom of a lake-bed to the elevation "a flat-boat should be included in a of a blooming prairie. Since that farmer's list of apparatus necessary time no floods have swept over it and for cropping here" and that "a man
143
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
became web-footed after living in Po- greater proportion of sand and less cahontas county a year. " clay, a circumstance that imparts
But a great change has taken place. physical properties to it that are very Where once there was nothing but beneficial in agriculture, giving it a muskrat houses and duck ponds, there warmth and mellowness that is favor- are now finely cultivated fields. Great able not only to the growth of crops expanses that once seemed to be but their maturity in this locality, worthless swamps, save that they as early as upon the more clayey soils, yielded a thousand muskrats each two hundred miles further south. It year, are now the most productive has also the additional advantage of portions and yield annually many becoming sufficiently dry for cultiva- thousands of bushels of corn. A few tion sooner after the frosts of early years ago the high and dry lands spring have ceased, or the showers of brought two and three times as much summer have ended, than those that as the low, flat pieces, but now this al- contain a greater proportion of clay. so is changed. There is now little or It is a soil that is easily subdued, may no waste land in the county.
There has been no upheaval, the manner with the latest improved ma- land has not "risen above the waters, " but the ditching machine, that great stand the extremes of drought or ex- enemy of the duck and muskrat, has cessive rainfall.
be cultivated in the most convenient chinery and is well calculated to with-
been abroad in the land, considerable In these characteristics of the soil tiling has been done and the tangle of is found the secret of the uniform pro- the grasses has been broken by the ductiveness of this locality under all plow. Through these means the sur- conditions of the weather, and of the face water has been removed and superiority of Northwest Iowa over the surplus moisture allowed to evap- some other parts of the state. The orate. These instrumentalities have wonderful power of this soil to with- contributed greatly to make Pocahon- stand the injury arising from either tas county what it is today-one of excessive drought or moisture, has the healthiest, most beautiful and been demonstrated year by year, ever productive in the state. since the first settlers turned the first furrows in this section.
THE SOIL.
"Other skies may be fair,
Other lands be brilliant with beauty, Or rich with their treasures Of rock-hidden gold.
But hearts that are true To affection and duty,
Best ever and dearest
Will 'Pocahontas County' hold. " -A. L. F.
During a series of seasons in the eighties, when the crops in many other localities were seriously dam- aged by unusual rainfall, the farmers of Northwestern Iowa moved steadily forward, gathering abundant harvests. This ability to withstand excessive moisture is no doubt due to the fact that the subsoil of this region is rare- ly an impenetrable clayey hardpan near the surface, acting as a bowl to hold the water in great quantities, but is sufficiently porous to allow an excessive rainfall to percolate to an indefinite depth and leave the surface available for cultivation.
The soil of this county is a rich, dark loam, that varies in thickness from two to eight feet. It is an un- disturbed drift soil underlaid with a deep subsoil of porous clay mixed slightly with gravel, and possesses a uniform richness and fertility through- out the county. It differs somewhat from similar soils in other parts of In 1886 and during the period from the state, in that it contains a slightly 1894 to 1895, there was afforded a strik-
144
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
ing illustration of the remarkable ca- putting these beautiful prairies under pacity of this section to resist the that judicious care and cultivation general blighting effects of drought. they merit. Such a teeming, trusty In February, 1895, when the famine soil rapidly develops beautiful rural "prevailed in Central Nebraska and homes, builds cities, towns and rail- the unusual drought was more or less roads, and flings wealth into every severely felt in all parts of this and willing hand that touches it.
the neighboring states, two carloads of grain and provisions were freely do- nated by the citizens of Pocahontas county and sent to the sufferers of Custer county, Nebraska. This inci- dent will always be a reminder not only of the generosity of the people but of the bountiful harvests gath- ered here at a time of general scarcity elsewhere. In this particular instance the local showers that visited this section in the summer of 1894, con- tributed greatly to insure the crops of that year. It remains however, to ob- serve there never has been a failure of crops, on account of drought, in Poca- hontas county. The secret of this ability to endure long droughts is also found to a great extent in the subsoil of this locality, the porous nature of which enables it to receive and retain moisture to a great depth, so that while the surface cultivation acts as a sort of mulch, the roots of growing crops strike deeper in search of need- ed moisture.
It is to these singularly propitious qualities of the soil, together with a healthful and invigorating climate and an abundant supply of good water, that the unrivaled prosperity and en- richment of the people of Pocahontas county are due.
The country west of the Mississippi can afford no parallel to the prosperity of Northwestern Iowa. The surplus of one year has not been consumed in making good the losses of the preced- ing one, but a surplus has been pro- duced every year. It is for this rea- son that farmers and stockraisers of this section have been growing rich and that that they should do so is not strange. It is the natural result of
LIMESTONE BEDS, CLINTON TOWNSHIP.
An interesting exposure of strati- fied rocks is found in the limestone beds of Clinton township, near the eastern border of the county. In Northwestern Iowa there are but two other similar exposures of stratified rocks and they are found, one in the southwest corner of Plymouth county, consisting of Woodbury sandstones and shales, and belonging to the cre- taceous (chalk or reptilian) age; and the other is in Lyon county, in the extreme northwest corner of the state, consisting of Sioux Quartzite, a brownish red granite, and belonging to the azoic* age.
The stratified rocks in the southeast part of Clinton township, have been referred by State Geologist Charles A White, to the Kinderhook beds, constituting the lowest formation of the sub-carboniferous group that is found immediately underneath the coal-bearing strata. These Kinder- hook beds in Iowa are about 175 feet in thickness and consist of alternate layers of sandstone and limestone, the latter partly magnesian. The ex- posures in Clinton township are con- fined to a small space upon the gentle slope of the prairie valley, yet consid- erable quantities of rock have been quarried here for lime and building purposes.
The rock at this place has a slight westward dip and consists of thin layers of limestone that is slightly oolitic (granular) but chiefly sub-crys- talline in texture and contains numer-
*The age preceding organic life, and there- fore containing no fossils or organicremains. All granite formations, including the boul- ders of the prairies, belong to this age.
145
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE COUNTY.
ous small fossil remains. The fossils measure formation of Iowa beneath are those of marine animals and be- the cretaceous (chalk) strata of Ne- long chiefly to the orthis (straight, braska and they are not seen in that rather thin) and spirifer (spiral) fami- direction until they come to the sur- lies of brachiop'oda (arm and foot), face again near Salt Lake, a thousand miles distant. The most northern ex- species of mollusks (soft) or bivalves, of which the clam"and oyster are fa- posures of these rocks, extending from miliar illustrations.
The first exposure "of stratified rocks due north of Pocahontas county, is found at New Ulm, in the valley of the Minnesota river, Minn., and it consists of a single exposure of the azoic age, having the same formation as the Sioux Quartzite found in the extreme northwestern corner of Iowa.
Harrison through Guthrie and Greene. to Webster county, indicate that the coal-bearing formations of Missouri and Southern Iowa have ended by thinning out somewhere beneath the drift of this broad, stoneless area.
OTHER ROCK-BEDS IN IOWA.
It will be of interest to note that the oldest stratified rocks in Iowa are the Sioux Quartzite or brownish red granite, found in the extreme north- west corner of the state. These be-
If a square that shall represent one hundred miles east and west, and the same distance north and south be placed on the north line of Iowa, so long to the Azoic or Algonkian age, that it shall extend southward be- the age preceding the existence of either plant or animal life. tween the 29th and 30th ranges of townships from Kossuth to Greene
The next oldest rocks are found in counties, thence westward from the northeast part of the state, in the Grand Junction to Onawa and thence territory extending from Dubuque to the north line of the state so as to county to the north line of the state include the east ranges of townships and westward to Winneshiek county. in Plymouth, Sioux and Lyon These belong to the Lower Silurian counties, it will represent 10,000 square age, so called after the Silures, the an- miles, embracing more than 12 coun- cient Celtic inhabitants of that part ties, in the most elevated portion of of Wales where they were first found. Iowa on which there are no exposures It is also called the age of inverte- of stratified rocks to be found except brates (destitute of a backbone) be- the quarry, on section 25, Clinton cause during this period animal life township, Pocahontas county .*
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