USA > Iowa > Pocahontas County > The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122
On Feb. 4-6, 1881, there occurred an- other three days fall of snow from the During the fall of 1880 and the winter following, the demand for coal southeast that drifted greatly and blockaded the Ill. Central R. R. from in northwestern Iowa was greater than Saturday, Feb. 5 to the 11th-six full the supply, so that at Fonda and other
270
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
stations along the Ill. Central R. R. C. R. I. & P. railroad was so long de- cars that were temporarily sidetracked layed that the citizens of Gilmore City, were unloaded and sometimes the rail- on account of their immediate need of way company was compelled to con- supplies of fuel and bread, sent a pe- fiscate the contents of private cars to tition to Gov. Sherman, requesting supply their engines. In Fonda the him to take steps to have that railroad schools were kept open by means of opened for their relief.
fuel furnished by private citizens, but
During the winter of 1885 two great in Swan Lake township and other snow storms occurred that blockaded places the schools were closed during the railroads for several days, namely the entire winter because they had no on Jan. 15-18 and Feb. 9-13, the block- coal. On Dec. 8th Geo. Fairburn went ades in the south part of the connty to Fort Dodge and succeeded in mak- lasting three and four days respec- ing arrangements for the shipment of tively. one car of coal a day to Fonda, which
The year 1886 was not only ushered was then the only railroad station in in, in this county, with an ever mem- this county. During the blockades in orable blizzard, but was rounded out February a coal famine at Fonda was with another of the same proportions averted by securing possession at one in November. time of four cars and at another three
On Saturday afternoon, Jan. 2d, the cars of coal that, while on the way to snow began to fall, accompanied with stations further west, were providenti- a high wind and the storm continued ally sidetracked at this place.
This coal famine in the fall of 1880 was not due to snow blockades but rather to a greatly increased demand as a result of the large immigration that year and the fact the Fort Dodge Coal Co. could not obtain a sufficient number of men to mine the coal. In response to numerous appeals for relief the Iowa state railway commissioners, on Feb. 12, 1881, sent the following rc- sponse: "All communities in those portions of the state where coal is the principal article of fuel ought to pro- cure their winter supply before the earliest date of winter's opening. The unexampled demand suddenly precip- itated upon the state by the early and continued cold weather of November and December could not be wholly and promptly met."
with unabated fury until Monday night. The drifting snow was left in great artistic piles upon the streets, in the front yards, and every railroad cut was filled. On Wednesday night following, the railroads south and east of Fonda had been opened but before the first trains had passed over them another three days blizzard from the northwest commenced that night that made the blockade worse than ever. On the two roads at Fonda the block- ade continued longer than on any previous occasion. On the Ill. Cent. it lasted ten days, from noon Jan. 3 to the 13th. Fortunately the dealers at Fonda had a full supply of coal and breadstuffs.
It was on this occasion that the board of supervisors and the editors of the local county papers held their merry winter chatauqua at Pocahon-
On Monday, Jan. 30, 1883, another tas and published their sayings and great snow storm occurred, lasting doings in The Daily Blizzard, the first three days, that blockaded all the rail- daily paper issued in Pocahontas ways for many days so that supplies of county. The board this time was not coal and flour were exhausted in the able to get together until late on Tues- towns as well as in the rural districts. day and the second storm commenced The removal of the blockade on the after the arrival of the editors the
.
271
SECOND PERIOD, 1870-1882.
next day.
state on the 17th. The temperature
On Friday the visiting editors and fell to 20 degrees below zero. printers, organizing under P. C. Barron,
On Jan. 12-13, 1888, another se- editor-in-chief, took possession of the vere blizzard occurred that caused a office of the Pocahontas Record, and blockade of several days. It was 27 on Saturday morning, Jan. 9, 1886, degrees below zero and John, a son of issued the first copy of the famous little Richard Olney, aged 16 years, froze daily. The other members of the edi- to death about two miles west of torial staff consisted of George San- Laurens. This storm extended to the born, assistant editor; Will Chiquet, the Gulf of Mexico and more than 100 hoss reporter; Supt. J. P. Robinson, persons perished in Dakota, Minne- farm editor; Ed. Donohue, city editor; sota, Nebraska and Iowa. This large Will Hodges, society reporter; and loss of life was due to the fact that the Rufus Thornton, foreman. Its motto storm in Dakota caught many of the was,
teachers and their pupils either in
Laugh and the world laughs with school or on the way home, and many you. Weep and you weep alone.
farmers and their wives trading in town, and they perished in the effort Langh till you shake like agne, And your wife will stay at home. to return to their homes. Two little This paper was the occasion of con- girls of A. H. Strouse of Swan Lake siderable merriment, especially to township were so badly frozen that one those whose "sayings and doings" were of them lost a hand. Samuel Tibbits, not reported. The following state- his daughter and child, encountered ments are gleaned from its introduc- the storm near Laurens and the team tory editorial: "This is a great news- refusing to face it, he unhitched them, paper. We make this solemn state- overturned the sleigh and all sought refuge under it. They remained on the open prairie with no other protec- tion, while the storm was raging, for fourteen hours and were very much fre slbitten.
ment for fear you would take this great paper for a patent medicine ad- vertisement or a soap box label. Every great paper should have an object and the object of this one is to benefit man- kind and elevate them from the slough These accounts of the snow storms of despond. What grander, nobler during the 70's and 80's have been given object could any man ask for? As we with considerable fullness, for they unfurl our banner to the breeze wede- were events that affected the welfare sire to inform our unsuspec' ing victims of every resident of the county in those how this great aggregation of brains, days. It remains to be said, that these and stupendous constellation of intel- great snow storms were not peculiar to lect associated together to throw forth this section but prevailed over a large this sheet to the world. It was a bliz- part of this country. Their severity, zard!"'
however, was felt far more keenly by
On Nov. 15-17, 1886, a b'izzard oc- the early pioneers in their humble and curred that blockaded the trains on unprotected cabins than by those liv- the Illinois Central railroad eight days. ing in older communities, and the rail- The train west on Tuesday, the 16th, roads suffered more then than now for struck the snow at Storm Lake and they were also almost wholly unpro- remained there till the road was tected. The situation is now so greatly opened The severity of th's storm changed, both with respect to the was felt most seriously in northwestern railroads and the homes of the people, Iowa, but all railroad business and that, although similar storms may oc- traffic was suspended throughout the cur in the future, nevertheless their
272
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
severity will never again be so seriously felt by the people, and the railroads of timber. may never be so badly blockaded.
The reasons for these observations are obvious. An era of better times has been ushered in, the settlement of the country has been completed, the Geo. E. Thompson each one acre.
people now live in comfortable homes
and observation, have perfected the means for their complete protection against a blockade.
TREE EXEMPTIONS.
In order to encourage the planting of artificial groves for the natural pro- tection of the homes of the lonely pio- neer on the prairies, and to alleviate the burden of taxation to all who were actual residents of the county during the period of hard times, the board of supervisors on Jan. 2, 1872, authorized an exemption, except for state pur- poses, on the real or personal property of each and every taxpayer who should within the county plant and suitably cultivate one or more acres of forest trees. The amount of this exemption was $250 for each acre of forest trees planted not more than eight feet apart each way and properly cultivated.
June 3, Wm. Lynch, Cedar, 2 acres
Nov. 12 W. J. Curtis, 3 acres, John A. Hay, Harvey W. Hay and John Brown each 2 acres; Henry Shields, A. Brown, D. W. Brown, Eliza Forey and
On Jan. 6, 1873, the following per- that are protected by artificial groves sons were added to the list: Wm. and the dealers have ample facilities Bott and H. C. Tollefsrude each 3 acres; for carrying abundant supplies. Be- Theodore Dunn, Wm. Stenson; W. sides the snow no longer drifts for Richards, J. C. Strong and Marcus miles over an open prairie but is held Lind, each 2 acres; Geo. Wallace, H. by numerous fields and fences; and the H. Wallace, John Dooley, P. Shea, H. railroads, profiting by their experience B. Vaughan, B. McCartan, R. C. Brownell and M. E. Owens each one acre.
April 7 and later in 1873, J. W. Brown, Wm. Snell and Michael Wiese each 3 acres; A. O. Garlock, W. E. Garlock, John Wiese, Edward Til- ley, and Samuel Booth each 2 acres; E. D. Seeley, R. L. Sherman, John Proctor, G. G. Wheeler, C. M. Saylor and A. Hoover each one acre.
In 1874 the following additional per- sons: C. H. Tollefsrude, A. F. Hub- bell, Fred Gintz, J. D. Adams, N. Keefer each three or more acres; John Soder, Wm. Orcutt, David Slosson and Nancy A. Hancher (for 1871) each two acres; David Wallace, B. F. Osburn, Ephraim Garlock, W. B. Harris, Rob- ert Dixon, Hans Leib, Geo. O. Pinneo and O. I. Strong each one acre.
The exemption on forest trees was
On April 1 following, the board in- discontinued on trees planted creased the amount of this exemption after Sept. 1, 1874 aud on Feb. 2, 1875 to $350 an acre and the treasurer was the exemption on fruit trees was re- authorized to deduct this exemption duced to $250 an acre. Those who re- from the assessor's returns for the year ceived this exemption for fruit trees 1871. This measure had the effect of in 1875 were Mrs M. E. Wagner, Peter ascertaining in an official way the Peterson and Henry Elsen each on one names of those who were pioneer tree acre for the years 1871, 1872, and 1873; planters in this county. A few of Peter Wendell two acres and J. B. these names are as follows:
Thomas one, both for the years 1872
May 6, 1872, A. M. Thornton of and 1873; M. Byrne, A. C. Blakeslee, Thornton, Greene & Co., Marshall E. Mullen and H. Falconer on one acre township, 2} acres, consisting of one each for 1873; C. H. Booth, J. H. John- acre of timber, one acre of orchard and son and J. F. Clark on one acre each one half mile of hedge. for 1874: John Lampe, J. D. Hilton,
273
SECOND PERIOD, 1870-1882.
Wm. Gilson, S. E. Heathman and H. Strong, Oscar Brown, John Freeman, Heathman one acre each for 1875; and A. Baker, E. P. Gorton, Charles Ne- J. T. Cary for 1872 and 1873. In the mick, Frank Payer, Wm. Lynch, C. H. fall of 1876 the exemption on forest Tollefsrude, T. Shimon, C. L. Van Al- trees was renewed and in 1877 W. J. stine, G. J. Gibson, J. Kregci and F, Busby, N. C. Synstelien and a host of others received it.
Encouraged by these exemptions the settlers on the prairies planted groves and orchards, some on a scale so liberal that they soon became not only objects of beauty and convenience but of great value for the shelter they afforded. Those that protected their young trees from live stock and prairie fires, and gave them proper cultivation began to have a beautiful grove in a half dozen years. The soft maple makes a very rapid growth but the black walnut, after the lapse of ten years, grows nearly as fast and its timber is more valuable. The elm, oak, white ash, honey locust, cottonwood and willow have been planted with good success for their timber, and the white pine, cedar, fir, spruce and box elder for or- namentation and windbreak. The broad prairies have been relieved of their wild magnificence by intelligent industry and made more beatiful by these serviceable ornamentations-the handiwork of industrious settlers.
PRAIRIE WOLVES.
Another means of cooperating with the pioneer and at the same time pro- creek south of the Hubbell farm. In moting the public welfare was the payment of a bounty on prairie wolves. The state which now pays a bounty of Lizard creek that had followed Charles $5 for the scalp of an adult wolf, dur- Keeler about two miles.
ing the '70's and '80's paid only $1, but
Hronek. In 1879 a boy of John Soders caught eight little wolves in one day, and in 1881 Harold and John Shull captured 23 wolves and a number of otter and mink in Swan Lake town- ship. During the years 1884 and 1885 the county bounty on wolves was re- newed but not to exceed $2.50 includ- ing the state bounty.
The prairie wolf was about the size of a large cat and the timber wolf con- siderably larger. Both were of a gray color and they carried their ears erect. Their movement was similar to that of a dog and their howl was usually preceded by two barks similar to those of a pug dog. They lived in the banks along the streams and sauntered forth after nightfall in packs of a half dozen or more in search of their food. They were very fond of chickens, and if a pioneer located his cabin near their haunts, they would sometimes sur- round his premises during the night and favor him with a howling sere- nade. Early one morning when Mr. and Mrs. D. M. Woodin of Dover were bringing a lot of live chickens to Fonda, two timber wolves followed them a distance of two miles from the November 1876, W. S. Fegles shot a timber wolf along the north branch of
They were very timid, never hurt during the year 1871 this county offered anybody and nobody was afraid of an additional bounty of $2 and the them; nevertheless their peculiarly lucky recipients that year were A. O. doleful howl around a settler's cabin, Garlock and Joseph Clason, who re- especially on a rainy or stormy night, ported the capture of one and two tended to produce a feeling of uncom- wolves respectively. Others who were fortable loneliness. fortunate enough during the '70's to MUSKRATS. win the state bounty by the capture The surface drainage of this section of one or more wolves were Edward of country did not begin until after Calligan, Nelson Palmatier, Philander 1880, and during the '70's it continued
274
PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
to be covered with numerous ponds instances of this sort occurred in Swan and sloughs where the muskrats multi- Lake township and the number of per- plied rapidly from year to year until sons involved made the danger of a about the close of this period. The pitched battle quite imminent.
sloughs were so dotted with their houses that they presented the appear- ance of a hayfield thickly set with piles of hay partially submerged with water.
The muskrat, as a providential helper to the pioneers of this section during the '70's, performed a more im- portant part than is ordinarily ac- corded to himn. If the negro was slighted and few persons appreciated his claim to recognition until Harriet Beecher Stowe espoused his cause and wrote that familiar volume, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," something like this is true of the muskrat. Like the native grasses on which he lived he was a natural product of this section, and, all unconscious to himself was as help- ful and profitable to the early pioneer during this period as the ravens to Elijah, yet, comparatively few care to acknowledge his worth to them in the time of their greatest need.
The muskrat lived where he de- stroyed nothing valuable and his fur was always in demand. In 1857 when the banks suspended specie payment and issued their own notes for money, the people called it "wild cat" and "red dog" money, because the farmer found that much of it became worth- less in his pocket the next day after he got it. Every old settler, however, remembers that when there was no other money in circulation on the frontier the "muskrat hide" was al-
The trapper usually placed his stecl ways to be relied on; and during the traps in or near their houses, and this grasshopper period it was about the was the principal method of catching only money, or reliable source of in- them. In the fall of the year when come, that some of them had.
In those days the trapper was as spear them through the ice, and one jealous of his trapping claim as of his homestead, and this right was en- forced, when necessary by an appeal to arms if the trespasser did not leave within two or three hours after a proper notice had been given. Several
A half dozen persons from a distance located at the northwest part of Swan Lake and by their trapping trespassed on the territory claimed by John B. Strouse and David Hays, settlers in that vicinity. These two men noti- ficd the trespassers that if they did not leave within two and one half hours they would return with others, divide their furs and throw their traps in the lake. In this instance the notice was promptly obeyed.
About the first of December, 1878, four trappers from Sioux Rapids took possession of the vacant house of Rev. Wm. McCready in Washington town- ship and began to trap in the sloughs in that vicinity, that had already been flagged by the settlers, who discovered what was going on and politely re- quested the intruders to go to some other locality. The trappers defiantly boasted that they would not leave and if it became necessary they would throw lead. The next day eight men headed by J. C. Strong as captain made their way to the trappers' cabin and found them supplied with spears, knives and firearms. Capt. Strong now ordered them to gather their traps and leave immediately. This brought matters to a dangerous crisis, but for- tunately a conflict was avoided by the trappers beating a hasty retreat.
the ice was clear, it was great sport to man in this way has caught as many as 75 in a day. Their pelts or hides seldom brought less than fifteen cents cach, and sometimes they were worth two or three times that amount.
Two trappers from Omaha two seas-
275
SECOND PERIOD, 1870-1882.
ons in succession, 1868 and 1869, occu- chimney. They lined the inner wal's pied a dugout on Devil's Island on sec- of this hunter's parlor with willow tion 9, Grant township. They brought poles laid one on top of another and their supplies with them and when covered the floor with dry prairie they returned in the spring they took grass. The fire was always made on with them wagon loads of furs. After the ground in one corner of the room a terrible snowstorm in January, 1870, and their fuel consisted of dry prairie they found a man frozen to death two grass and green willows. During their miles north of that place. He was stay in that section they saw the large driving an ox team from Sioux Rapids drove of elk in that vicinity and fol- to Fort Dodge and, becoming bewil- lowing them until dark two men got dered, had lost the road.
close enough to shoot at them but
Herkimer L. Norton, a resident of killed none. This pursuit took them Fonda but then of Grant township, fifteen miles from their underground realized $105 from furs obtained by parlor, and they were compelled to trapping at Devil's Lake in one month, February, 1870, and about $500 from erect a tent they had with them for the night. They did this upon the ice his catch during that winter, which in a slough of tall grass, making a fire included a few otter and mink. John of slough grass at the door of the tent. W. Wallace and I. E. Parrish by trap- The next morning they found they ping six weeks in Grant township the were only a half mile from the cabin same winter obtained 1,835 muskrat of a Polander, who gave them their hides that brought them about $300. breakfast, the first meal they had The trapping that year was splendid. after taking their previous noon lunch, Later Wm. F. Bridges received $96 for and it consisted of coffee and brown one lot and some pioneers built their houses from funds thus obtained.
In the fall of 1878 the price of their fur was high and the drought of that season made it easier to catch them.
bread spread with lard. They caught two beavers and a large quantity of muskrats but their hunt was not so successful as they anticipated.
While the otter lives on fish and Theodore Dunn at Fonda in one day snapping turtles the beaver and musk- from one set of trappers received 2,000 rat live on a vegetable diet. When muskrat hides, and on March 1, 1879, other game was scarce it was not an it was found that the number of hides unusual thing for an early settler to received and shipped from Pomeroy make use of the hind quarters of the the previous fall and winter was 57,- latter for food, and sometimes jokes 000. The fact that this section of were perpetrated on those who could country was once very full of them is not bear the idea of "eating a rat." commemorated by the name given to Such an instance has been related as . "Muskrat Slough" in the northwest having occurred as follows: A certain part of Colfax township.
new settler had occasion to call upon
During the winter of 1870 and 1871, a neighbor before breakfast. He par- John W. Wallace, L. M. Schoonmaker, took freely of the family meal and A. R. Vansickle and two others spent supposed at the time he was eating six weeks in hunting and trapping in chicken, but as he rose from the table Osceola county. They built a hunter's his astonishment and horror can be shanty on Ocheydan river, which con- better imagined than described when sisted of an underground room so dug the neighbor said to his wife: "Wife out that the frozen ground overhead you got an extra good fry on the musk- was left undisturbed except in one cor- rats this morning." per where a hole was made for the This incident reminds one of the
-
276 PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.
first experience with the, oyster con- greatest drought in this section of cerning which it has been said, he country, was larger and higher than must have had a palate covered over any of its predecessors, being about with brass or steel, who on the four feet high and ten feet wide at the rocky shore,
"First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat,
And risked the living morsel down his throat."
BEES AND RABBITS.
base. It tapered to a narrow width at the top. Trees, eight inches in di- ameter, were gnawed off by their sharp teeth and formed into a foundation for the dam. This was overlaid with the branches of the trees and the slen-
In the early days there was current der willows in the vicinity, so as to a tradition to the effect that the form a firm and suitable base for their
Indians have said "when bees and mortar which consisted of mud. The rabbits appear in the timber it is time dam thus built from these crude ma- for them to depart." In the timber terials by means of their paws, noses along the Des Moines river in the and powerful jaws awakened the sur- northeast part of this county, there prise of all who saw it, and it backed were no wild bees until Perry Nowlen, the water in the creek for a consider- the pioneer bee keeper of Des Moines able distance .* township, brought bees to that sec- tion. No rabbits were seen in that This section was once the home of ELK. the highest types of wild animal life known to the American continent -the buffalo, elk and deer. The buf- falo, wildest by nature, finding that the hunter was after his hide and horns, fled first; the elk and the deer lingered a few years longer. township, or even the sign of any, un- til the season of 1860 and quail did not make their appearance there until 1867, although prairie chickens were very abundant. The large jack rabbit or hare did not make his appearance in this county until 1885, when two of them were caught, one west of Fonda and the other west of Pocahontas. In 1888 Thomas Reamer of Grant town- ship caught a rabbit weighing eight and one-half pounds that was perfectly white in color and differed materially from the jack rabbit. It was of a species not seen in this section until that year and its flesh had the rich flavor of the English hare. Others of the same species were caught that year.
A considerable drove of elk, num- bering 200 or more, found feeding grounds and comparative security for rearing their young, in the unsettled region of northwestern Iowa around the head waters of the Little Sioux and Rock rivers, in Osceola and neigh. boring counties. The new settlements of 1869 and 1870, in southern Minne- sota and Iowa, forced this herd to take refuge in the valley of Ocheydan river, a tributary of the little Sioux. There they remained in comparative security
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.