The Big Snake Hunt of 1848

BILDERBACK, COMBS, COOPER, GASTON, GENTRY, GUYE, HENRY, JONES, PETERS, WILKINSON

Posted By: Judy Wight Branson (email)
Date: 6/29/2006 at 19:28:30

The Big Snake Hunt In 1848

Much has been said at one time or another about the “Great Snake Hunt,” as it was called, which took place in this county in the spring and summer of 1848.

As is well known, when this county was first settled the rattlesnakes were very numerous and it is natural that the settlers would be very uneasy lest some of their loved ones should become victims of the deadly sting of these reptiles, so during the fall and winter previous to that spring, there was as much talk about the cabbage snake the last year or two, and with better reason.

After talking the matter over among themselves for some time they called meeting of the settlers to form some plan of concerted action to get rid of snakes, and they concluded that the best way to get rid of the snakes was to kill them. So it was agreed to have a general snake hunt the coming season. To increase the interest in the enterprise it was decided to divide the settlers into two companies by the line running through the center of the county east and west. This line divided the settlers about evenly.

Those living on the north side of that line were in the North Company and those living south of it were in the South Company. To give form to the movement each company selected a captain. William Combs was captain of the North Company and Ephraim Bilderback was captain of the South Company, and to add still more interest to the hunt it was agreed that the company killing the greatest number of snakes was to receive from each man of the defeated company a certain amount of corn to be delivered at Hart & Hinkle's mill, which was being built that summer. As to the amount of corn there seems to be some difference in recollection. Mr. Davies has it two bushels to the man; Mr. Guye thinks it was 2 ½, but Mr. Wilkinson thinks that it was a peck of corn to the man. but it matters little about the amount; it was a small amount of corn but the corn was never paid, though I think (W. S. Wilkinson, writer of the article speaking) it would have been if it had ever been demanded, and the circumstances had been such that it could well have been done, but the snow was so deep that winter that the settlers could scarcely get the corn to the mill to make meal for their corn bread and by time their crops were in the next spring, there was not one settler in a dozen that had any corn above what would bread their family through the summer. And the object of the hunt was accomplished; the snakes were killed and little was thought of the bonus.

All the instructions given were to go forth and kill all the snakes they could; to sneak out and watch the dens as the snakes were coming out in the spring and kill as many as possible before they got abroad. You may be sure that all were pretty busy that spring getting their ground ready and planting crops, but at noon every nice, warm day, while the snakes were coming out of their dens, some one would run down to the snake dens to see if there were any snakes lying around in the sun, and usually some were caught. Most of the snakes killed were caught before leaving their dens.

It is the habit of the rattlesnake at the approach of winter to den up in the rockv bluffs along the streams where there is an open ledge of rocks affording an entrance. They remain in their dens until the weather begins to get quite warm in the spring. About the last of April or the first of May, according to the season, they begin to come out in the warm part of the day and lie around the sun a while and then crawl back into the den. As the weather grows warmer they leave the den by degrees, coming back to the den at night for a while before leaving it entirely, affording the vigilant snake hunter a good opportunity to kill them before they get off into the woods and brush. Many snakes were found and killed after getting away from their dens that summer and fall.

The settlers were on the lookout for snakes at all times and Sunday was given over to the hunting and killing of them. Quite a few were killed in the fall as they were returning to their dens. It was customary to go around armed with clubs and when watching the dens in the spring have a wire hook driven into the end of a stick to pull the snakes out of holes and from under rocks. The rattles of the snakes were saved and were counted at the celebration held in Guye's Grove on the Fourth of July. 1848—the first celebration ever held in this county.

There was a committee appointed to count the rattles, consisting of Jacob Combs and William Gentry, of the North Company, and David Bishop and some one whose name is not now remembered, from the South Company. A. D. Jones of the North Company was appointed clerk of the committee. The rattles counted that day amounted to between three thousand and four thousand. The north side counted the most rattles. Few kept count of the snakes killed after that season, but from some who did keep count there were ten or twelve per cent of the snakes killed after the count, which would run the total number killed that season to something over four thousand.

There was no organized "snake hunt'' after 1848 but the settlers kept up their vigilance and watched the snake dens just as closely for several years after the "hunt" until the snakes became quite scarce, so that they ceased to cause any great uneasiness.

Some very interesting and successful snake frolics were engaged in that season, some of which have already been told in county history that seems a little large, which, no doubt, are true. It should be understood that these large frolics took place on Sunday, when the whole force would go forth in crowds and make a general round up of dens. One of these was where George Guye and some others of the north side killed over one hundred snakes one Sunday. Mr. Guye is still living to testify to these facts. The first den they went to in the morning, when it was cool, they found about thirty-seven snakes rolled up in a ball, supposedly to keep warm, and during the day they killed the number given. Of course this took place in the spring when the snakes were coming out of their dens.

At first there was no town, mill, church or schoolhouse, and nothing to draw the people, together, so there were no beaten roads and nothing more than a narrow path from house to house or anywhere else and there were high weeds and grass everywhere. It seems fortunate, as numerous as the rattlesnakes were in this county, that there were not more people bitten by them. The boys, and many of the men, went in their bare feet in the warm weather and ran some very close chances of being bitten by rattlesnakes while in the weeds. But the large kind were considered slow of action until thoroughly aroused and it is said they would always rattle before making their strike. Men and boys would jump higher and farther at the sound of the rattle of a snake than they were apt to do under any other circumstances. The constant vigilance of the people and the inertness of the snakes was probably the reason so few were bitten. There were but two cases of snake bite in the Wilkinson neighborhood, neither of which proved fatal. There were other cases in the county and there were some deaths.

Sam Peter's boy was bitten on the finger or hand while playing near the house and died in a few hours. Of the two spoken of in the Wilkinson neighborhood, one is still living but not in this state. They were both confident that their lives were saved by the use of whisky — the only sure cure for snake bite. It was so popular a remedy that people usually kept some on hand in case of need. Some people used to think it was as good a preventative as a cure. When the first prohibition law was passed in this state it was opposed by a good many on the ground that whisky was the only sure cure for snake bite. People do not seem to think so much of whisky for snake bite as they used to. The doctors do not use as much for snake bites as they did but they use it for other things.

Stock was sometimes bitten by rattlesnakes, or supposed to be, and the remedy in that case was rattlesnakes master, a weed that grew everywhere on the prairie, with a stem, flag leaves and a large burr on top. This weed was gathered, the juice pounded out and mixed with sweet milk and the animal drenched with it; a poultice was also made of this weed and bound to the wound. There
were but few deaths among stock caused by snake bite.

Some of the habits of the rattlesnake are hard to understand. So many stories have been told about snakes that are so unreasonable that one is apt to consider all stories which are not understood as "snake stories."

Uncle Davy Henry, a very nice, jovial fellow, settled on Cedar Creek, on the bottom place now occupied by J. J. Gaston. He was liked by everybody but was counted a little high on snake stories and every one had a laugh at Uncle Davy's stories. He used to tell of seeing a dozen or two young snakes run into their mother's mouth. Every one knew that was not true but people repeated it to laugh about and the boys laughed about it. They knew it was not true because the old folks said it was not true, but everybody liked Uncle Davy, he was such a nice clever man and so truthful in everything except snakes. Sarah Cooper states in her work on the subject of snakes that "the young rattlesnakes are hatched in broods of eight or ten and cared for by the mother snake until well grown, and on the approach of danger they run into their mother's mouth." How now about Uncle Davy's story? It don't look so bad after all.

Some of the snake stories told are snake stories indeed, but others that look unreasonable are nevertheless true. W. S. Wilkinson once opened an old snake and found in it thirty-four young ones and he helped his mother skin an old one to get the oil for medical purposes and found in it over ninety young snakes, ranging in length from one and one-half to two inches. Henry Rogers, a neighbor of the Wilkinsons, afterward counted ninety-four young snakes in an old one.

Note - From some cause Mr. Davies got the date of the snake hunt wrong. He has it 1849. It should be 1848. See A. D. Jones letter in "Madison County History."

It is thought to be a disputed question among naturalists whether or not rattlesnakes care for their young in this way.

Taken from the book, “The History of Madison County, Iowa, 1915,”, Vol. 1, pages 236 -239.