USA > Missouri > Grundy County > The History of Grundy County, Missouri : an encyclopedia of useful information, and a compendium of actual facts > Part 27
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On July 6, 1876, the people were surprised and shocked in learning of the death of Wm. H. Mason, resulting from an over dose of opium. He was a young man, highly respected, in the twenty-eighth year of his age,
249
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
and the son of John and Amelia Mason. He had been suffering great agony from an attack of neuralgia, and to relieve himself from the torture which he was not able to bear longer, took a dose of opium, but it was be- lieved more than he was aware of, and under its influence died, it being impossible to awaken him from his sleep until death claimed him for its OWI. He had taken it before for the same complaint, and it had relieved him; but in this last he had evidently made a mistake in the dose, and died from its effects.
In August a contract was entered into with the Missouri Valley Bridge Company for repairing Trenton bridge across Grand River, and to maintain the same for four years in good repair. It was to have a span of 192 feet, double intersections and Pratt truss. The price agreed upon was $4,876.80. The county, in the January term, 1877, ordered the treasurer a salary of $200 per annum, from January 1, 1877. The treasurer's bond at that time was $35,000, with approved sureties. The completion of the new bridge across Grand River having been finished, the court ordered a new flooring should be put in the Rainbow bridge across or over the Weldon River, and the old flooring of the Trenton bridge was magnanimously donated by the County Court to Lincoln township for that important work, and at the same time that the court evoked this liberality of spirit, ordered the balance of the old timber of said Trenton bridge to be sold to the highest and best bidder by the sheriff.
The assessed valuation of land and stock for different years had varied somewhat, and in the year 1877 the assessment was far more carefully con- sidered than usual. A fair valuation was at last agreed upon, and this agreement on value has been the basis of future years. The assessment was as follows: Land average for the county, $5.77 per acre, of which Trenton township was the highest, at $7.63 per acre, and Taylor township, at $3.81 per acre, the lowest. Horses were assessed at $31; mules $32.25; cat- tle $10.75. The same year the National Bank of Trenton was assessed on a capital of $60,000.
MAIL.
On Sunday, April 20, 1880, a violent rain and hail-storm passed over the north part of the county, and did considerable damage by the breaking of window-glass in Taylor, Harrison and Washington townships. The hail- stones were reported of various sizes, some smooth ones measuring five and a half inches in circumference, while rough ones measured more. The build- ing known as Half Rock Church, in Washington township, was moved from its foundation by the violence of the wind. Judge Spiekard, and many of his neighbors in Washington, and Henry Lewis, in Taylor town- ship, suffered the entire destruction of the window-glass in their residences facing the hail, while cattle exposed to the storm were severely injured.
16
250
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
NEW JUDICIAL DISTRICTS.
The session of the County Court, on March 4, 1878, made the new judicial districts, as provided for under the new constitution, and in accordance with the law. The first district was composed of the townships of Wilson, Jack- son, Jefferson, Madison and Trenton. The second district of Marion, Liber- ty, Myres, Franklin, Washington, Taylor, Harrison and Lincoln.
The temperance craze struck Grundy county in 1878, and while it proba- bly did little harm, no very lasting good seemed to have resulted. Still there are some pretty strong temperance advocates in the county, and these have exercised a powerful influence for good. Drunken men are the excep- tion and not the rule among the people.
WOOL.
The Wool-growers' Association is still one of the institutions of Grundy and has done much to advance the sheep industry of the county. The care of sheep and improved breeds has caused some pretty heavy fleeces of wool to be produced, and the sheep raisers are taking a just pride in their work. The organization is energetically pursuing its work of im- provement. Its president is S. Asher, and secretary, L. Gass. At a com- petitive shearing in May, 1881, fourteen sheep were sheared, and the fleeces and sheep weighed as follows:
OWNERS.
Sex.
Ages.
Fl'ce.
Car- cass.
Haynes.
ewe
1
13
51 lbs
Haynes.
ewe
1
13
50
..
Haynes.
ram
3
2416
120
Asher
ewe
1
1013
44
Asher.
ram
2
183%
91
Asher.
ram
2
2014
107
Asher.
ram
1
13
77
Asher.
ewe
1
1034
51
Downing
ram
3
181%
76
66
Limes.
ram
4
1434
89
Evans.
ram
4
17
115
Griffith
ram
2
2034
96
Griffith
ewel
2
24-7
77 ‘
Griffith.
rami
2
18-13
80
66
The average was just seventeen pounds. Afterward four other fine rep- resentatives were sheared; one buck, two years old, twenty-four and three- fourths; said to be the heaviest fleece ever sheared in Grundy county. The other three weighed respectively, twenty and one-half, ram; and sixteen and one-half, and fifteen, ewes. Four bucks sheared eighty-four and three- fourths pounds.
251
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
MARRIAGE LICENSE.
The first marriage license issued from the recorder's office of Grundy county, was to Wm. A. Brock and Sarah F. Atkinson. It was issued on Sunday, June 26th, 1881, the first day that the law went into effect; a second license was issued on the same day, to Win. C. Urton and Maggie A. Evans.
This is the first license law of the State and is likely to bring in quite a revenue.
The Circuit Court docket at the April term, 1881, showed an even one hundred cases to be disposed of.
TIIOSE BONDS. ·
About the time the philosophers of the city of Trenton were delving in the burial mounds of a pre-historic race, the home people put in some prac- tical work in the shape of voting to cancel the present indebtedness of the county by issuing a new series of bonds, drawing six per cent interest to take up the present bonded debt upon which they were paying eight per cent. The vote was taken June 14th and carried by 103 majority, but only a light vote was polled. The city debt was, also, carried by a large major- ity for the same purpose.
COUNTY DEBT.
The county debt at this writing amounts to $155,000 and the city debt $46,000. The new series of 5-20 bonds are now being engraved for both. When received they will be exchanged for the old bonds, or sold at not less than par, and the old bonds purchased with the proceeds. The old bonds are now legally subject to redemption and being at a higher rate of interest, eight per cent, quite a saving is made in issuing the new bonds and taking up the old. Mr. D. C. Pugli, the efficient county clerk, was offered a pre- minm of two per cent, August 29th, 1881, for $1,000 bonds. The credit of Grundy county stands high.
252
IIISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
CHAPTER VI.
RESOURCES.
Central Location-Surface-Coal-Building Stone-Timber and Prairie-Climate -- Soil- Cereals-Tobacco-Average Crop-Fruits and Vegetables-Vintage-Grasses-Stock- Number of Head of Live Stock.
" The fatter earth by handling we may find, With ease distinguished from the meager kind; Poor soil will crumble into dust; the rich Will to the fingers cleave like clammy pitch ."
Grundy county has a commanding and central location, in central north Missouri, and in the heart of the rich and prosperous valley of the Grand River. It is bounded on the north by Mercer county; on the east, by Sulli- van and Linn; south by Livingston, and on the west by Daviess and Har- rison. Its northern border is about twenty-two miles south of the Iowa State line, on the fortieth parallel of latitude, and at an altitude of 900 feet above the water level.
In climate, soil, production and in the face of the country, it has no su- perior and few equals in the State of Missouri, and at this time presents to the eye a magnificent field of what can be accomplished by the earnest hearts and willing hands of an active, enterprising and educated people. The value of its location is further enhanced by the fact that the counties surrounding are alike rich in the productiveness of their soil, the energy and culture of their people, and that this surrounding is tributary in a large degree to the prosperity of Grundy county and her chief city, Trenton.
ITS SURFACE.
The face of the country is gently undulating and is beautifully diversified by rolling prairie, timbered hills and valleys, with intervals of groves, giving the whole country the appearance of a grand park, especially adapted not only to the wants of man, but to his pleasures. Hills, and vales, and open prai- ries, here and there patches of woodland, running streams of pure water, springs bubbling up, cool and refreshing their liquid light, building sites with grand views, and mill sites with good water-power, all these tend not only to please the eye, but show plainly to the close observer, the farmer and the manufacturer, the fact that solid wealth, as well as pleasure, can be found within the borders of Grundy county. About two-thirds of the county is prairie, and the remainder woodland. Her prairies, as remarked before, are high and rolling, while her timbered upland and the banks of her run- ning streams are covered with groves of white. burr, red, spotted, pin, black and water oaks, hard and soft maple, white and black shell-bark hickory, grey ash, walnut, elm, hackberry, sycamore, linden, mulberry and cotton-
253
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
wood, and a large variety of small growth. The Grand River, the principal stream in the county, is formed by the junction of the Thompson River, coming in from the northwest section of the county until it meets the Wel- don or east fork of the river which comes in from the north, about one and a half miles north of Trenton, the county seat, flowing sonthward, next westward, then curving and winding around the south of the city; thence sontherly as far as Chillicothe. From that city it takes a southeasterly course through Livingston county, forming the dividing line between Car- roll and Chariton counties, and empties into the waters of the Missouri near Brunswick. Among lesser streams are Big Muddy, Honey Creek and their numerous branches, No Creek and Medicine River, east of the Grand, with Gees, Hickory, Wolf, Coon, Sugar and Middle creeks, west, giving abund- ant water. This grand water supply is, and can be, supplemented by wells, where excellent water is reached at a depth of from fifteen to fifty feet. In Grand River and Thompson's Fork can be found an abundance of water- power for milling purposes, and it is already utilized to a considerable ex- tent by flouring and saw mills. Other streams have, also, power for mill- ing purposes, and for the present and in the prospective wants of the future, the water-power of Grundy county is complete.'
Of other native resources of the county which are likely to have great bearing upon her future prosperity, and which will add largely to the wealth and population are the
COAL AND BUILDING STONE,
which cover a large area, and are found in considerable quantities. Sand- stone rock, a good building and macadamizing stone, is found in nearly every section of the county, and in quantity to meet all practical demands. Limestone is also found in large quantities; in fact Grundy county is under- laid with limestone, and the famous blue-grass, which has given Kentucky a world-wide fame, is indigenous to her soil, and has already given her the name of the blue-grass region of Missouri. She will, ere long, become the home of the race-horse and the blooded cattle of the State.
Coal underlies at least two-thirds of the county. Up to the present, little attention has been paid to coal mining. With the exception of the mines worked at the county seat this inexhaustible supply of wealth is yet to be developed.
We have thus placed on record that Grundy county is rich in timber, rich in her prairie lands, while the wealth of a State lies under her soil in limestone, in sandstone and her coal strata. Her water power can be util- ized to add to this aggregate of productiveness, and yet not half has been told. We have spoken of her forests and streams, of the glorious beauty of her prairies and woodland, and the wealth of her mineral resources, but of her soil and its wonderful richness, of her health-giving climate, of her peo-
·
254
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
ple, noted for their energy, enterprise and culture, we have yet to speak. There is beauty and life-giving health enough in her broad fields and bound- less prairies to charm even the heart of an anchorite, and draw him from his life of solitude to the bright and charming light of a happier and more glorious day.
Perhaps one of the greatest attractions, and which, when generally known, will make this region of country more sought after, is its
MILD AND HEALTHFUL CLIMATE,
caused in a great measure by its splendid drainage system. You find no marshes or stagnant pools to breed malaria, but a climate that gives a spirit and a healthful tone to all forms of life, without the bitter extremes of a northern temperature, and with that mildness which avoids the heat and hu . midity of the more southern latitudes. It has thus become well known that the valley of the Grand River has no superior in health-giving proper- ties, and that nowhere in the Western States can be found a better or more salubrious climate.
THE SOIL.
The soil of Grundy county can be divided into two parts. That is, the top soil and the subsoil. The quality of the soil, its depth; and the ques- tion of tillage are the primary questions which arise to those who make farming their profession. The soil of Grundy county is a rich, black loam, a vegetable mold, varying in depth from six to thirty-six inches on the upland prairies, and in the valleys of the rivers and creeks is an aggrega- tion and deposit of earth, sand and other transported matter forming a rich alluvium, from three to five feet deep, and in its generating and life-giving properties, inexhaustible.
This soil, which has been chemically analyzed, is found to be composed of carbonate of lime, phosphate of lime, magnesia, and silicious matter, is easily worked, the plow and the harrow giving it the softness of an ash bed. This salubriousness of climate and richness of soil give a wide range of production, and all the cereals, vegetables and fruits of the temperate zone are easily and successfully raised. All seem to be indigenous to the soil. With care and cultivation ample crops are raised, and the husbandman finds no cause to complain. Wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, corn, hemp, tobacco, millet, sorghum, broom-corn, etc., all of the vegetables, and grasses of which there are several hundred varieties, white and red top clo- ver, all yield abundantly.
CEREALS.
The principal crops grown in the county are wheat, corn, oats, rye and buckwheat, the latter but little sown, the crop of 1880 being but 271 bushels. Corn, from the large quantity raised, is the leading crop, wheat in value
255
IIISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
comes next, yet oats exceed wheat in bushels by at least one hundred per cent. Tobacco is grown to the extent of from ten to twelve thousand pounds, the bottom and the uplands producing a good grade.
CORN.
Corn may be considered the leading crop, both in value as well as pro- duction. The crop is enormous and taking the size of Grundy it leads in that staple over surrounding counties, excepting Harrison. The crop . of Indian corn for 1880 amounted to 1,963,523 bushels. The crop will be increased from year to year as the county becomes more thickly set- tled, as it is sure and always brings a fair price. Stock raising demands it, cheap corn makes stock raising profitable. There were 53,677 acres of corn planted yielding the above crop.
WHEAT.
Wheat follows corn as a valuable and important crop. The yield in 1880 was 138,440 bushels, and the number of acres sown, 10,329. It is not likely that the area devoted to wheat will be very rapidly increased in this county. Stock raising, grass growing, and pasture and hay lands, will prob- ably prevent any more than the natural increase which would be seeded for the usuals urplus over the home supply. The wheat crop is generally a pretty sure one, and the result is a steady showing from year to year, but not an increase that would prove it to have any particular run over other crops. It will always lead, next to corn, as a grain raising crop.
OATS.
Oats are a staple crop and they return a handsome yield of from twenty- five to thirty bushels per acre. The crop of 1880 amounted to 302,806 bushels, an average, that year, of about twenty-nine bushels per acre. There were sown, for the year, 10,375 acres.
RYE AND BUCKWHEAT.
There is not much attention paid to these crops. There seems to be but little demand for them. There is no question but what the people could do as well by raising a small patch of buckwheat as to buy it. The number of bushels raised in the county last year was only 271, and undoubtedly ten times that amount was used. It yields prolifically and one acre of buck- wheat would supply a family, and, perhaps, as far as it goes it is the equal in value of any other cereal. Rye is also lightly invested in. It is not much used for bread, and the demand has therefore been light. The manu- facturer of whisky is not making a very great demand for it in these parts. The crop of 1880 amounted to 11,434 bushels.
256
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
TOBACCO.
This is also a light crop in this county. Livingston, the county south, raised a crop last year of 305,073 pounds, while the yield of Grundy county was only 11,755 pounds. There is no question but what tobacco is easy of production, a most profitable plant, and why it should be a leading crop in Livingston and adjoining counties, and so little raised in Grundy, the writer · has failed to learn. The crop of 1880 averaged 4812 pounds of tobacco to the acre, which being a light yield may be the cause of so little being planted. It was also but a little over half the yield per acre of the crop in Livingston for the same year.
There is no barley raised in Grundy county, but this is because there is no demand for it.
AVERAGE CROP.
The average crop of the several products grown in Grundy county is a good and just criterion of her value as an agricultural county. There is no evidence that the average production of this county has fallen below the average crop of the State, since the report here printed, but enough is known to assert, without fear of successful contradiction, that the great av- erage over that of the State, as published in the agricultural report of 1871, is still held by this county. The average of the four leading products in the State of Missouri for the year 1871 was: wheat, 13 4-100 bushels; rye, 17 1-100 bushels; oats, 26 17-100 bushels, and corn, 38 bushels per acre. Grundy county's average for the same year, taken from the same report, gave wheat at twenty bushels; rye, twenty-five; oats, twenty-nine, and corn, forty-five bushels, per acre. This gives wheat and rye an average over that of the State of nearly fifty per cent, while oats and corn were about twenty per cent better. This is sufficient evidence of the good quality and strength of the soil, and places Grundy in the front rank of agricultural counties in the State. In fact, the great excess over the average here shown was not excelled by a half dozen counties in the State. Agriculturally speaking, Grundy county ranks A 1, and this fact should be remembered.
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.
Of course it is to be supposed that a county so rich in soil, with a cli- mate unsurpassed and producing such bountiful crops, would be equally fruitful in the yield of the numerous roots which compose the vegetable kingdom, and the supposition is correct. They are, one and all, you might say, natives of the soil, and their growth as prolific as desired. The mel- lowness of the ground makes cultivation easy, and while the farmer raises large crops of cereals the garden is not neglected. Still the crops of pota- toes, turnips, beets, etc., are not confined to the garden, but are largely
257
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
grown for use and profit, by sale. These all do well, give immense yields. and prove to be a first-class auxiliary for stock food. Peas, beans, carrots. parsnips, all find a natural home in the soil of this county. Hops do well. but the demand being light are not much planted. It is thus shown that there is nothing in the vegetable line but what, if planted, will yield an abundant return.
FRUITS.
Fruits are "natives and to the manor born"; the correct quotation should be "to the manner born," but it does not suit the writer, and it ex- presses what is meant as first written. The orchard product of Grundy county forms no mean part of her wealth. Nearly, or quite, every farmer has his orchard, and, besides being a paying investment it gives a great deal of pleasure and is very conducive to health. The hot summer season is gone through with a far greater degree of health by the use of fruits in season, and discarding meats, than if not used. The apple, in the State of Missouri, is the king of fruit, and it can be grown in no greater perfection than within the borders of this county. The varieties are numerous. There is the summer apple, the fall apple and the winter apple, and of each, es- pecially the two last, there are a wonderful number of different kinds, all having some special claim to the attention of the farmer. As a result of the examination into the merits of north central Missouri as a fruit-grow- ing country, the remarks of a distinguished pomologist, in regard to the apple, are given. He said: "The counties of north central Missouri, and in the valley of the Grand River, can show apples in as great a variety and excellence as any ten States outside of Missouri." This, coming from one who had made fruit-culture a study, is sufficient evidence of the value of this section in that line.
The orchard product is not confined, by any means, to the apple. Peaches, pears, plums, apricots, quinces, nectarines, etc., all grow well, and are equally at home with the apple in this soil and climate. Both peaches and pears have their seasons of failure, but there are always enough for home consumption, except in unprecedented bad years. A very fine peach is grown, and there are several kinds which are very palatable, being of a most delicious flavor. The pear grows to a large size, is very rich and luscious, and resembles the California pear in size and appearance. Neither the peach nor pear erop is as certain as the apple, still the peach is largely grown throughout the county. 'A good year for peaches is a good year for the farmer who has them for sale. Very few plums are raised, and why is an enigma. Wild plums, about the size of the common blue plum, grow abundantly in the woods and are brought to town for sale, but no other. There are a few trees in towns, grown in gardens, which yield largely, but as yet, like the apricot, nectarine and quince, cannot be called a product of
258
HISTORY OF GRUNDY COUNTY.
the county. These fruits would all grow and give handsome returns for their cultivation.
CHERRIES.
Cherries are indigenous to the soil and climate, and grow spontaneously. The county, and the town of Trenton, are full of cherry trees, and in an abundant season they are an absolute drug in the market. As nearly everybody raises them the demand is limited. They are "put up" by the housewife in quantities, and cherry wine might be made so as to fill an aching void in the list of temperance drinks.
BERRIES,
Like cherries, are as plentiful as flies in summer. They can all be found in this section. Blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries, cur- rants, etc., etc., are to be found in all the gardens, and, with the exception of the currant, in the woods and the corners of the fences. While the market supply, in some years, exceeds the demand, there is no question but what the Grundy county people are a berry-loving and a berry-eating people. Farmers have been seen on the streets of Trenton eating cherries which they had purchased, because they couldn't wait until they returned home, where they had plenty. They were simply hungry, and as every store in town held a supply they didn't propose to starve. They eat all kinds of fruit in season, morning, noon and night, before breakfast, after supper and between meals, and carry more sound health about with them, from one year's end to another, than any other people of any other State can boast. They live way up into the eighties and nineties, and many to a hundred years of age, and if they lived five centuries the people of Grundy would eat fruit and berries to their dying day.
GRAPES.
Grape culture is in its infancy in the State of Missouri; it is in still greater infancy in northern Missouri and in Grundy county. Yet the State is noted for its climate, soil and production as a grape growing State. When its vast resources in the growing of vineyards and in the making of wine shall become fully developed, Missouri. will become no more noted in any other branch of industry, nor receive a greater reward or profit from the investment, than in her graperies. The grape flourishes in this county, and a large number of farmers are giving attention to its culture. Both in town and country grape arbors are common, and very many raise enough for home use. The grape has proven so prolific in this county that there are few if any counties in the State that can be found its superior. The leading grape grown is the Concord variety, but the Elvira, Martha, Norton's Virginia Seedling, Cynthiana, Isabella, Clinton, etc., are all
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