Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages, Part 73

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Greene County > Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages > Part 73
USA > Ohio > Carroll County > Biographical and historical record of Greene and Carroll counties, Iowa. Containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Cleveland, with accompanying biographies of each; portraits and biographies of the governors of the state and a concise history of the two counties and their cities and villages > Part 73

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Bears and panthers were almost unknown. Wildeats were numerous in the timber, but were not to be feared, except in a elose encounter. The most troublesome and alto- gether vicions enemies of the pioneers were the wolves. These pests would not only howl around the lonely cabin all night, but were always ravenons and ready to pounce upon any unguarded calf, pig, sheep or chicken that they could get at, and the settlers were obliged to build pens against their cabins in which to keep their small stock. Chiekens were frequently taken into the house in order to preserve them from the attacks of wolves, poleeats and weasels.

Prairie rattlesnakes were very numerous for many years after the county was settled. Gophers were very troublesome to farmers, too. The county established bonnties on wolf scalps, gophers and other enemies of eivilized living.

CLAIMS AND FIRST IMPROVEMENTS.

Future generations will inquire, not only how this country appeared before the hand of civilized inan had marred its virgin beauty, but how the first comers managed to live, to protect themselves from the elements, and to proenre the means of subsistence; how they met the varied requirements of civilization to which they had been acenstomed, and with what resignation they dispensed with such as could not be had.

If correctly told, it would be a tale of intense interest; but it would require a master-hand to draw a picture that would

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

show the seene in all its details-personal experience alone could only unfold the tale. When a new comer arrived he first selected a location where he could make his future home, and the question naturally arises, of whom did he get permission to occupy it? The answer might be given in the language usually used when defining political or eivil rights -- every one was free to do as he pleased so he did not interfere with his neighbor. When the Government had extinguished the Indian title the land was subject to settle- ment either before or after survey. The settler had no paper title, but simply the right of possession, which he got by moving on to and occupying it; this gave him the right to hold it against all others till some une eame with a better title, which better title conld only be got by purchasing the fee of the Government when surveyed and brought into market. The right of posses- sion thinsobtained constituted what was called a claim. These were regarded as valid titles by the settlers, and were often sold. in some instances for large amounts. Pre-emption laws were passed at different times by Con- gress, giving to claimants who had made certain specified improvements the exclusive right to purchase the premises at the mini- inum priee of $1.25 per acre, provided they would prove their pre-emption.

When the settler had selected his location or made his claim, his first attention was directed to procuring a shelter for himself and family. If in the vieinity of others already provided, he was readily welcomed to share their scanty accommodations, two, and frequently three families, together occupying a eabin with one room, perhaps 12 x 14, more or less. But if far removed from neighbors, he had to occupy his eovered wagon in which he came, sleeping in or under it, and cooking and eating in the open

air, or some other rude contrivance, frequently a tent made of blankets, till a shelter could be provided. This was usually a log cabin, for the raising of which help was needed. When help was not available, his eabin must be built of such logs or poles as, with the aid of his family, could be handled. In raising a log cabin considerable skill is required. What were termed eorner hands-one at each corner, or where hands were scarce, one for two corners-should have some experience. The bottom log must be saddled or ent to a sloping edge or angle to receive the eross log, which must be notched to fit the saddle. A failure, requiring the log to be removed to be refitted, was sure to bring some pleasant raillery on the enlprit. If well done a door or window can be cut, and the parts of the logs will remain firm in their place, but if not a perfect fit, when a space is cut for the door, the accumulated weight from above will bring the logs to a fit at the corner, and throw the ends at the entting wide from their place. When the walls were completed, or about ten feet high, the gables were carried up by laying on logs, each shortened in sue- eession to give the proper slope for the roof, and held by straight logs, or large poles, placed about three feet from, and parallel with, the plate, rising upward to receive the shingles, resting on and holding the short logs at the gables, and terminating with a ridge pole at the center of the building and top of the roof. On these were placed long shingles or elapboards four feet long, laid double so the top course broke joints with the first, on which was laid another log or pole held by a pin at each end; this pole held the shingles in place without nailing, and each succeeding course was laid and fastened in the same way. The floor was made of split logs hewn on the split side, and spotted on to the sleepers on the round side so as to

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make a tolerable floor; these were called puncheons.

The chimney was built outside of the building at one end and a hole cut through the logs for a fireplace. It was made of tim- ber, lined with stone or clay for four or five feet, and then with a crib of sticks plastered inside with elay mortar. The spaces between the logs were filled with pieces of split tim- ber, ealled chinking, and plastered inside and ont with clay mortar, making a warm and quite comfortable house; but snow and rain, when falling with a high wind, would get in- side through the elapboard roof- and where leisure and means justified, a roof of boards and short shingles was substituted.

A one-post bedstead was made as follows: Bore a hole in a log four feet from the corner of the room, and insert a rail six feet long; then bore a hole in the log on the other side of the room six feet from the same corner, and insert a piece of rail four feet long; then insert the opposite ends of these rails where they meet in a post, which com- pletes the frame; then lay slats crosswise from the side on to the log opposite, or on to a rail pinned on the log at the proper height, and the one-post bedstead is complete, on which the weary pioneer slept as sweetly as on the most costly one. These rough buildings were quite comfortable, and, as most of the old settlers will testify, wit- nessed much of real enjoyment. Some of our greatest men were born and reared in such a dwelling. A shelter provided, the next thing was to prepare to raise whereon to sub- sist.

had to be turned, and the erop put in. At an early day the sod was turned by an ox team of six to ten yoke, with a plow that ent a furrow from two to three feet wide. The plow beam, which was from eight to twelve feet long, was framed into an axle, on each end of which was a wheel sawed from an oak log; this held the plow upright. It was a heavy, unwieldy-looking apparatus, but did good work, and the broad black furrow, as it rolled from the plow, was a sight worth see- ing. The nice adjustment and filling of the coulter and broad share required a practiced hand, as a slight deviation in the tip of the share, or even filing the coulter, would throw the plow on a twist and require a strong man to hold it in place, but if nicely done the plow would run a long distance without support.

This is the primitive plow, but Yankee in- genuity soon found that a smaller plow and less team did cheaper and better work. It was found that the best time to break the sod was when the grass was rapidly growing, as it would then decay quickly, and the soil soon be mellow and kind; but if broken too early or too late in the season it would re- quire two or three years to become as mellow as it would be in three months when broken at the right time. Very shallow plowing re- quired less team, and would mellow much sooner than deep breaking.

The first erop was mostly eorn, planted by entting a gash with an ax into the inverted sod, dropping the corn and closing it by an- other blow along side the first. Or it was dropped in every third furrow and the fur- row turned on: if the corn was so placed as to find the space between the furrows it would find daylight, if not it was doubtful. Corn so planted would, as cultivation was impossible, prodnee a partial crop, sometimes

The prairie region offered advantages for an ocenpant far superior to a timbered coun- try; in the latter an immense amount of labor had to be done to remove the timber, and for years after the stumps prevented free cultivation; while on the prairie the sod only ! a full one. Prairie sod turned in June would

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

be in condition to sow with wheat in Septem- ber, or to put in with corn or oats the spring following. Vines of all kinds grew well on the fresh-turned sod, melons especially, though the wolves usually took their full share of these.

After the first erop the soil was kind, and produced any crop suited to the climate. But when his erops were growing the settler was not relieved from toil. ITis chickens must have shelter; closed at night to protect them from the owls and wolves; his pigs re- quired equal protection; and although his cows and oxen roamed on the wide prairie in a profusion of the richest pasture, still a yard must be made for his eows at night and his calves by day. The cows were turned in with the calves for a short time at night, and then the calves turned on the prairie to feed during the night; in the morn- ing the calves were turned in and the cows were turned out for their day's pasture; this was necessary to induce the cows to come up at night. for if the calves were weaned the cows wonld fail to come. And the stock all needed some protection from the fierce win- try blast, though sometimes they got but little. Add to this the fencing of the farm, the out-buildings, hunting the oxen and cows on the limitless prairies through the heavy dews of late evening and early morning, go- ing long distances to market and to mill, aid- ing a new-comer to build his cabin, fighting the prairie fires which swept over the coun- try yearly, and with his family encountering that pest of a new country, the fever and ague, and other malarious diseases, and the toil and endurance of a settler in a new country may be partially, but not fully ap- preciated.

A visitor from the Eastern States has often taunted the toiling pioneers with sneh remarks as these: " Why do you stack out

your hay and grain?" "Why don't you have barns, comfortable houses, stables for your cattle and other conveniences as we have?" He should have been answered, " You are enjoying the fruits of the labor of genera- tions of your ancestors, while we have to cre- ate all we have. We have made necessarily rude and cheap shelters for ourselves and ani- mals, have fenced our farms, dug our wells, have to make our roads, bridge our streams, build our school-houses, churches, court- houses and jails, and when one improvement is complete, another want stares us in the face." All this taxed the energies of the new settler to the extent of human endurance, and many fell by the way, unable to meet the demands upon their energies.

The only wonder is that so much has been accomplished; that so many comforts, conveniences and luxuries have crowned the efforts of our people; that we have reached a point for which a century of effort might well have been allowed. Political and finan- cial theorists have tauntingly tokl the farm- ers of Iowa that they knew nothing of finance, except what wiser heads have told them; that they have made nothing by farm- ing, and would be poor except for the ad- vance in price of their farms.

These Solons should be told that it is the toil of those farmers that has made their farms increase in price; their toil has clothed them with valuable improvements, planted orchards and fruit gardens, made roads and bridges, converted a wilderness into a land of beauty, and made it the happy abode of in- telligent men. All this had to be done to make these farms advance in price, and those who have done this, and raised and educated their families, have done well; and if the advance in the price of their farms has given them a competence, it is what they antici- pated, and nothing but the most persevering

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industry and frugality would have accom- plished it.

In addition to the labor and multitude of cares that beset the new comer, he had it all to accomplish under disadvantages, and to encounter dangers that of themselves were sufficient to discourage men not of stern re- solve. Traveling unworked roads, and cross- ing streams without bridges, was often a perilous adventure.

Crossing the wide prairie at night, with not even the wind or stars for guides, was a very uncertain adventure, and often the way- farer traveled till exhausted, and encamped till the morning light should guide him on his way. In warm weather, although an un- pleasant exposure, this was not a dangerous one; and although the sensation of being lost is more irksome, and the lonely silence in the middle of a prairie, broken only by the howl of the wolves, is more unpleasant than one inexperienced would imagine, and the gnawing of a stomach innocent of supper adds much to the discomfort, it all passes with the night, and a brighter view and hap- pier feelings dawn with the breaking morn. But crossing the trackless prairie when covered with a dreary expanse of snow, with the fierce, unbroken wintry blasts sweeping over its glistening surface, penetrating to the very marrow, was sometimes a fearful and dangerous experience. No condition could inspire a more perfect idea of lonely desola- tion, of entire discomfort, of helplessness, and of dismal forebodings, than to find one's self lost on the snow-covered prairie, with no object in sight in any direction but the cold, undulating snow wreaths, and a dark and tempestuons winter night fast closing around his chilled and exhausted frame. Ilis saga- cious horse, by spasmodic efforts and contin- nous neighing, shows that, with his master, he appreciates the danger and shares his fear-

ful anticipations. With what longing the lost one reflects on the cozy fireside of his warin cabin, surrounded by his loved ones, which he fears he may never see; and when the dark shadow of night has closed around and shut in the landscape, and chance alone can bring relief, a joyous neigh and powerful spring from his noble horse calls his eye in the direction he has taken; he sees over the bleak expanse a faint light in the distance, toward which his horse is bounding with accelerated speed, equally with his master cheered and exhilarated by the beacon light which the hand of affection has placed at the window to lead the lost one to his home. Nearly every early settler can remember such an ex- perience, while some never reached the home they sought, but, chilled to a painless slum- ber, they found the sleep that knows no waking.

Crossing the uncultivated prairie in a cloudy night, or in a snowy or foggy day. was very liable to have an uncertain come- out. In a clear night the stars were a very reliable guide, and like the Eastern magi on the plains of Syria, the settlers came to have a close acquaintance with the constellations. A steady wind was a very reliable guide; the traveler would get his bearing, then notice how the wind struck his nose, right or left ear, etc., and then keep that same sensation, regardless of any other guide, and he would generally come out right. But if the wind changed, of course he went with it. With- out these guides, it was a mere accident if a person sueceeded in a still atmosphere, in a cloudy night, or snowy or foggy day, in cross- ing a prairie of any extent. There is always a tendency to go in a circle; the world moves in a circle: planets and suns, comets and me- teors all move in circles. Blindfold a person, place him in a large hall, let him be a novice, uncautioned, and in a majority of cases he

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HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY.

will go several times around the hall before he hits the side. The writer, with an ox team, in a dark evening started to go about three-fourths of a mile to strike a point of timber, but failing to do so, kept traveling till late in the evening, when aeeidentally the timber was found, and followed to the desired point. The next morning developed the faet that the ox team had traveled three times around about a quarter seetion, follow- ing very nearly the same traek each time.

PRAIRIE FIRES.

The yearly burning of the heavy annual growth of grass on the prairie, which had oecnrred from time immemorial, either from natural causes or from being set by human hands, was continued after the white settlers came in, and was a source of mueh annoyance, apprehension, and frequently of severe loss. From the time the grass would burn, which was soon after the first frost, usually about the first of October, till the surrounding prairie was all burnt over, or if not all burnt, till the green grass in the spring had grown sufficiently to prevent the rapid progress of the fire, the carly settlers were continually on the watch, and as they usually expressed the idea, " slept with one eye open." When the ground was covered with snow, or during rainy weather, the apprehension was quieted, and both eyes could be safely closed.

A statute law forbade setting the prairie on fire, and one doing so was subject to a penalty, and liable in an action of trespass for the damage acerning. But convictions were seldom effected, as the proof was difficult, though the fire was often set.

Fires set on the leeward side of an improve- ment, while very dangerous to the improve- inents to the leeward, were not so to the windward, as fire progressing against the wind is easily extinguished.

Imagine the feelings of the man who, alone in a strange land, has made a comforta- ble home for his family; has raised and stored his corn, wheat and oats, and fodder for stock, and has his premises surrounded by a sea of standing grass, dry as tinder, stretehing away for miles in every direction, over which the wild prairie wind howls a dismal requiem, and knowing that a spark or mateh applied in all that distance will send a sea of fire wherever the wind may waft it; and conscious of the fact that there are men who would embrace the first opportunity to send the fire from outside their own fields, regardless as to whom it might eonsume, only so it protected their own.

Various means were resorted to for protee- tion; a common one was to plow with a prairie plow several furrows around a strip several rods wide, outside the improvements, and then burn out the strip; or wait till the prairie was on fire and then set fire outside, reserving the strip for a late burn, that is, till the following summer, and in July burn both old grass and new. The grass would start immediately, and the eattle would feed it close in preference to the older grass, so that the fire would not pass over in the following antumn. This process repeated would soon, or in a few years, run out the prairie grass, and in time it would become stocked with blue grass, which will never burn to any extent. But all this took time and labor, and the crowd of business on the hands of a new settler, of which a novice has no eoneep- tion, would prevent him doing what would now seem a small matter; and all such effort was often futile; a prairie fire driven by a high wind would often leap all such barriers and seem to put human effort at defianee. A prairie fire when first started goes straight forward with a velocity proportioned to the force of the wind, widening as it goes, but

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the center keeping ahead; it spreads sideways, but burning laterally, it burns comparatively slow, and if the wind is moderate and steady, is not difficult to manage, but if the wind veers a point or two, first one way and then the other, it sends the side fire beyond con- trol. The head fire in dry grass and a high wind is fearful, and pretty sure to have its own way unless there is some defensible point from which to meet it. A contest with such a fire requires an engineering skill and taet which can be learned only by experi- ence, and a neighborhood of settlers called out by such an exigeney at once put them- selves under the direction of the oldest and most experienced of the number, and go to work with the alaerity and energy of men defending their homes and property from destruction.

The usual way of meeting an advancing fire is to begin the defense where the head of the fire will strike, which is known by the smoke and ashes brought by the wind long in advance of the fire. A road, cattle path or furrow is of great value at such a place; if there is none such, a strip of the grass ean be wet, if water can be procured, which is generally scarce at the time of the annual fires. On the outside, or side next the com- ing fire, of such road or path, the grass is set on fire, and it burns slowly against the wind till it meets the coming conflagration, which stops, of course, for want of fuel, provided there has been sufficient time to burn a strip that will not be leaped by the head fire as it comes in. This is called back-firing; great care is necessary to prevent the fire getting over the furrow, path, or whatever is used as a base of operations. If it gets over and once under way, there is no remedy but to fall back to a more defensible position, if such a one exists. If the head of the fire is successfully checked, then the forces are

divided, half going to the right, and half to the left, and the back-firing eontinned, to meet the side fires as they come up; this must be continued till the fire is checked along the entire front of the premises endan- gered, and the sides secured.

Various implements were used to put out a side or back fire, or even the head of a fire in a moderate wind. A fence board, about four to six feet long, with one end shaved down for a handle, is very effective, if struck flat upon the narrow strip of fire. A bundle of hazel-brush does very well, and a spade or shovel is often used. The women often lent their aid, in cases of danger; their weapon was usually the kitchen mop, which, when thoroughly wet, was very effective, especially in extinguishing a fence on fire. When the fire overcame all opposition, and seemed bound to sweep over the settlement, a fear of personal loss would paralyze, for the mo- ment, every faculty, and as soon as that fact seemed imminent, united effort ceased, and each one hastened to defend his own as best he could. It is due to historical truth to say that the actual losses were much less than might have been expected, though fre- mently quite severe. The physical efforts made in extinguishing a dangerous fire, and in protecting one's home from the devouring element, was very often severe, and even dangerous, and the author has known of more than one instance where it resulted fatally.

The premises about the residences and yards being tramped by the family and do- mnestie animals, after a year or two became tolerably safe from fire, but the fences, corn and stubble fields were frequently burnt over. When the prairie was all feneed and under enltivation, so that prairie fires were among the things of the past, the denizens of the prairie were happily released from the

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constant fear and apprehension which for years had rested like a nightmare on their quiet and happiness. disturbing their sleep by night, and causing anxiety by day, espe- cially when called from home, knowing that on their return they might look on a black- ened scene of desolation, instead of the pleas- ant home they left. And when returning after a day's absence, the sight of a fire in the direction of home, although it might prove to be several miles beyond, would try the mettle of the team, by putting them to a speed proportioned to the anxiety of the driver. And here it may be well to throw a little coll water over the thrilling and fear- ful stories, got up to adorn a tale, of hair- breadth eseapes of travelers and settlers from prairie fires; sueh stories are not told by the old settlers who know whereof they speak. It is true a family might encamp in the middle of a dense growth of dry grass, and let a fire sweep over their eanip, to their serious injury. But with ordinary intelli- gence and caution, a traveler on the prairie need have no fear of a fatal catastrophe, or even of any serious danger. If the head of a fire is approaching, it is usually an easy inatter to get to one side of it, and when it has passed, pass over the side fire on to the burnt prairie, which can easily be done by getting on to a spot of dry, rolling prairie, where the grass is seldom more than eight to twelve inches high. Or, if the head fire

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company Number of Pages: 728

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis publishing company
Number of Pages: 728