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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XV
Yell Township

When Boone County was organized August 6 , 1849, the north one-third of the present Township of Yell was contained in Boone River Township , and the south two-thirds were contained in Boone Township. This division continued until March 8 , 1852, at which date Boone River Township passed from the map of Boone County and Dodge and Yell Townships were organized in its stead. This division was made by S. B. McCall, who had full legal authority to do so. The boundaries of Yell Township as laid out in 1852 show that it contained  all  of  the  territory in its present boundaries except the south tier of sections, all of the present Township of Pilot Mound, all of the present Township of Grant and all of the present Township of Amaqua, except the south tier of sections. This division continued until September, 1858, at which date Pilot Mound Township was organized. This act cut ofT from Yell the territory now contained in theTownships of Pilot Mound and Grant. This division of September, 1858, continued until 1871, at which date the townshipwas  reduced to its present boundaries. The first election was held at Badger Point. The township was named in honor of Archibald Yell, of Arkansas. He was the colonel of a regiment of Arkansas cavalry, and was killed at the battle of Buena Vista, February 23, 1847, in a charge of the Mexican lancers. He was buried on the battlefield, but his body was later disinterred and buried at Fayetteville, the place of his residence. He was the second governor of Arkansas,  having  been  inaugurated  November 5, 1840. Yell Township is bounded on the east by the Des Moines River, on the north by Pilot Mound Township, on the west by Amaqua Township, and on the south by Marcy Township. Among the names of the first settlers may be mentioned Solomon Smith. Lewis Kinney, P. A. Dutell, Rollen Spurrier, David Hamilton, John Buffington, a Mr. Crawford, Elisha Spickelmier, Esau Daily, A. M. Cline, William Cline, Jehu Johnson, James Corbin, Henry Fisher, George Colwell, William Crooks, William Hall and Andrew Johnson. These pioneers were the first settlers of the township. Their names all appear on  the assessor's book of 1853. William Hall was the township assessor for the year 1853, which was the first assessment in the township. He was five days assessing the township and two days attending the County Court, for which he received $1.50  per day, being a total of $10.50. The pioneers of Yell Township endured the same hardships in common with the other early settlers, and this they did with courage and heroism. They came to secure and build up homes in a new country and thev had figured upon the difficulties to be encountered while doing so. Yell Township consists of all that part of township 84, range 27, situated west of the Des Moines River. The eastern boundary is very irregular, being governed by the windings of the river. The township is therefore a little less than a full congressional township. That part of the township which is composed of prairie land is very fertile and well adapted to farming. But that part of it bordering on the river is very broken, in the early settlement this land was covered with a heavy growth of timber. This has been nearly all cut off and disposed of and manv acres of this land is in a high state of cultivation. The greater part of it, however, is now used for pasture, for which it is well adapted. Generally speaking, the township is in a high state of cultivation. The farmers are industrious and energetic, which is well attested to by the splendid farms and beautiful homes they have built up. There is no home so substantial and so inviting as a beautiful farm home. In 1867 steps were taken to organize an agricultural society for Boone County. In October of that year a meeting was held in thecourthouse at Boonesboro, at which a committee of five  persons in each of the townships of the county were appointed, and to them was assigned the duty of organizing the society. The members of the committee appointed for Yell Township were as follows: James Spickelmier, G. W. Berry, Jacob Myers, Lewis Kinney and G. W. Cline. The first birth in YellTownship was that of Theodore Crawford. The first death was that of a man named King. He was buried in what was afterward known as the Spickelmier Cemetery. This was the death of an actual settler, but the first death which occurred in Yell Township, and also in Boone County, was that of Milton Lott, which was on December 18, 1846. He froze to death in an effort to escape the Sioux Indians, who had raided his father'  house at the mouth of Boone River. His body was found near the center of section 13, township 84, range 27, a few days later by his father, Henry Lott, and John Pea. A little monument has been placed near where his body was found, by the Madrid Historical Society. This was done December 18, 1905. There is no date at hand as to when the first schoolhouse in the township was built, nor the date at which the first school was taught. But it will be safe to conclude that these essentials were looked after and attended to by the pioneers of Yell Township as soon as they were needed. The township now has six school districts and six schoolhouses, outside of the district of Ogden. These schoolhouses are all kept in good repair and each of them has eight months of school every year. Competent teachers are employed and the schools are in a prosperous condition. Among the early teachers in the township were Reuben Parcell, V. B. Crooks, Joshua Corbin, M. T. Harlan, William Hall and Miss Mary Williams. The first religious services in the township were held at Badger Point, in the house of Solomon Smith, by Rev. William Sparks of Marcy Township. The people of Yell Township have been quiet and law-abiding, but on two occasions they took the law into their own hands andundertook to enforce it to suit themselves. One of these occasions was in April, 1858. During the winter and spring of that year many articles, such as corn, meat, chickens, log chains and otherthings were missed and after looking the matter up for a while the blame was centered on the Pardee family, consisting of John Pardee and his three sons, Nat, Ben and Bart. The Pardees were notified to leave the country, but they did not go, and whether by accident or purpose, all the Pardees occupied the senior Pardee's house, which was a large, hewed log building that stood in the east part of section 33, township 84, range 27. One morning the Pardees found themselves besieged in their own house. If one of them exposed his person he was fired upon. The siege lasted a day or so. There were four of the besieged and twenty of the besiegers. Finding it impossible to dislodge the Pardees without using more drastic measures, and fearing they had means to continue their resistance to the besiegers, they resolved to use a different method. They loaded a wagon with hay and Joseph Masters, provided with a firebrand, hid himself in the hay, while two others, Washington Phipps and Peter Harshman, pushed the wagon down the descent to the house. Just as Masters raised to throw the firebrand on the house, a bullet from one of the guns within pierced his brain and he fell dead. At the same time the men in the house shot under thewagon, wounding Washington Phipps in the leg and lodging a bullet in Peter Harshman's foot. This spread dismay among the besiegers. They had not intended to kill any one nor intended that any of them should be killed. Their intention was to intimidate the Pardees and drive them out of the country; and had the house taken fire and the Pardees run out, thev would not have been shot. But the Pardees were in earnest and shot to kill. It was said the boy Bart shot Masters, contrary to the wishes and orders of his father and older brothers. Under a flag of truce the besiegers carried off the body of Masters, took care of the wounded and withdrew from the field, leaving thePardeesmasters of the situation. The matter soon found its way into court. Warrants were issued and thirty residents of Yell Township, at least half of whom were innocent, were arrested and brought before County Judge McCall, acting as magistrate. The times grew so hot that the judge dismissed the proceedings and advised all of the parties to go and sin no more. But the grand jury indicted a good number of them and all were ultimately fined. One of the men who took part in the siege said that it cost every one of those indicted and tried seventy-five dollars. The night after the shooting of Masters, the Pardees abandoned the house they were besieged in and the next morning it was burned. Some time after this a man named Miles Randall, a friend of the Pardees, was caught and unmercifully whipped, but the parties who did the whipping were never found. Randall left the country in a short time after the whipping and the Pardees sold out and did likewise. During the notorious river land troubles, a man employed by the River Land Company as log brander for the west side of the river, whose name was Farr, was caught in the timber of Yell Township and terribly whipped. The men were all masked, so that Farr could not identify any of them. After whipping Farr, the masked men told him to leave the country and never return. He obeyed. Yell Township has two railroads. The Chicago & Northwestern runs across the south part of the township from east to west. The Minneapolis & St. Louis runs through the west tier of sections of the township from north to south, the roads forming a junction at Ogden, which is the only railroad station in the township. Bluff Creek is the only stream in Yell Township of any importance and the only one named on the map of the county. The coal shaft which was doing a good business in 1880, at Incline in Yell Township, has long since been abandoned. The vein has been worked out, the machinery moved to other parts and nothing is left to mark the place but a large mound of cinders and the brick and stone contained in the foundations of the buildings which composed the Village of Incline. Incline was situated on section 23, township 84, range 27. Another shaft has been sunk on the lands of the Boone Valley Coal & Railway Company, in section 3, township 84, range 27, which is a new venture. The Town of Fraser is looking anxiously toward the success of this venture. As near as can be ascertained, the following list is the number of men who went from Yell Township as soldiers in the Civil war: J. W. Kurkendall, Bartley N. Pardee, A. C. Ross, W. A. Spurrier, J. J. Spurrier, W. P. Berry, Reuben Parcell, Barclay Benbow, W. C. Crooks, F. M. Spurrier, W. S. Berry, J. W. Cline, B. N. Hickman, L. S. Hickman, W. C. Hickman, T. H. Spickelmier, R. S. Williams, J. J. Moriarty, Jesse Fisher and John Buchanan. Considering the sparsely settled condition of the township from 1861 to 1865, the above is a good showing. There is but one postoflice in Yell Township at the present time and this is at Ogden. A country postoflice is no longer a necessity. Rural delivery and the telephone have come in as a substitute. Rural delivery has given the country people a daily mail, while the telephone has placed them in communication with all the other parts of the county in which they live. This is a wonderful contrast to the time when there was no telephone and mail was received but once a week. CENTERVILLE There have been threetowns laid out in Yell Township. In 1855 James Corbin and Henry Fisher laid out a town which they named Centerville. It is situated on the west bank of the Des Moines River, in section 12, township 84, range 26. Mr. Corbin and Mr. Fisher expected to see Centerville grow into a town of some importance. A mill was in operation on the river when the town was laid out and it was supposed this would help the town to put on a healthy growth. The place after the lapse of years grew large enough to have two stores and a blacksmith shop. This was during the time that the heavy body of timber near the village was being cut off. The town only lasted about three years and then the break commenced. About the same time the mill was washed away by a freshet of the river, which sealed the doom of Centerville. A village of a half dozen houses is all there is left. In 1852 Lewis Kinney, who owned the mill at the site of Centerville, was elected prosecuting attorney. In 1854 James Corbin, one of the proprietors of Centerville, was elected to the same oflice to succeed Mr. Kinney. This was very complimentary to Centerville and a very interesting item in its history. DAILY  CITY The town of Daily City was laid out July 26, 1855, by Jacob Daily. It was situated on section 4, township 84, range 27, in Yell Township. Its proprietor fondly hoped to see it prosper and thrive, but in this he was doomed to disappointment. Daily City never materialized. It was never even a hamlet, nor did it have a place upon any of the county maps. In the sketch of Dodge Township, mention is made that three companies of the First Regiment of United States Dragoons on the march from Old Fort Des Moines to Wabasha's Village camped within the present bounds of that township on the night of June 21, 1835. According to the trail of the march and the dots of the encampments as they appear on the map of Lt. Albert M. Lea, another encampment was made on the return march upon the soil of Boone County. This encampment was on Bluff Creek, in the present limits of Yell Township. On the return march the Dragoons crossed the west fork of the Des Moines near the northwest corner of Humboldt County and marched south on the west side of the river. The note in the journal on the date of this encampment is as follows: "Thursday, August 6, 1835. Marched 25 miles. Encampment good; much game killed by our men and Indians." The map above referred to locates this encampment to be on Bluff Creek in Veil Township. The Indians mentioned in the note of the journal were six Sac and Fox Indians who belonged to Keokuk's Village, near the present Town of Agency, in Wapello County. Among these was Frank Labasher, the half-breed interpreter and guide. These Dragoons were the first white people to set foot upon the soil of YeIl Township. Click image to enlarge New Bank Building Swedish Evangelical Mission Church State Bank Main Street Methodist Episcopal Church Congregational Church Opera House VIEWS OF OGDEN Yell Township has been well remembered in the way of county offices which have been bestowed upon her citizens. The record shows that the first county office accorded to Yell Township was that of prosecuting attorney, held by Lewis Kinney from 1852 to 1854; James Corbin, same office, from 1854 to 1856; Wesley Williams, township supervisor, from 1861 to 1864; M. E. Cline, same office, from 1864 to 1866; T. P. Coin, same office, from 1866 to 1868; member of the Board of Supervisors, Peter V. Farley, from 1876 to 1878; county auditor, L. L. Sawyer, from 1874 to 1876. J. H. Eads held the office of clerk of the District Court two terms; J. J. Snell also filled the same office two terms. Mr. Lorenzen was elected treasurer of Boone County. He qualified and entered upon the discharge of his duties but resigned at the end of six months. Mr. Clark and Mr. Howell have each served as members of the Board of Supervisors. According to the census of 1910 the population of Yell Township, including Ogden and a small part of Fraser, was 2,322. Deducting the population of Ogden, which was 1,298, and of West Fraser, which was fifty, the population of the township proper was 974. The present township officers are: Trustees, H. C. Heldt, Clinton McCaskey and O. J. Wilcox; assessor, Lincoln McCaskey; clerk, D. Jones, Jr.; justice of the peace, E. L. Merriam; constable, J. C. Piper. OGDEN Ogden is the metropolis not only of Yell Township, but of the west half of Boone County.  It is the largest town and the most active commercial center between Boone and Jeflferson. In fact, there are few towns in Central Iowa better equipped with territorial surroundings than Ogden. Its chances for putting on a future growth are encouraging. The Town of Ogden is a product of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. It was laid out by John I. Blair and the plat was recorded June 6, 1866. About this time a dispute arose as to the title of a part of the land on which Ogden was laid out, between the railroad company and E. C. Litchfield, one of the beneficiaries of the old Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. Mr. Litchfield came out victorious in the legal contest as to the title of the land, and his agent, a Mr. Brown, resurveyed the town, together with Brown Addition. This plat was dated May 6, 1870.The town is located on sections 31 and 32, township 84, range 27. It was named m honor ot W. B. Ogden, a distinguished railroad man and capitalist. During the time of the litigation the town did not make much progress, but since then its growth has been steady. The first residents of the town were William Patterson, John Regan and George Stanley, who were railroad laborers. About this time Pattcrson and Stanley had a quarrel and Patterson went to Ames; Stanley followed, the quarrel was renewed and Stanley killed Patterson. Stanley was sentenced to a life term in the state penitentiary, but has since died. In 1867 Dr. J. H. Noves located in Ogden and commenced the practice of his profession. With the exception of Dr. Grimmel, of Quincy, in Marcy Township, and Dr. Mower, of Buffalo Grove in Union Township, he was the first of his profession to practice in the west half of Boone County. Dr. Noyes was the first to engage in the drug business in Ogden. He sold his drug business in 1875 that he might devote his entire time to his professional duties. A. W. Blumberg was among the first merchants of Ogden, but he failed in 1872 and moved to California. J. C. Soward was also among the early merchants of Ogden. He and a partner opened a general store, but they soon failed and went to Nebraska, seeking a new location. A firm by the name of Heath & Shaw succeeded Soward & Company, and this in a short time also failed. This succession of failures had rather a gloomy effect upon the progress of the town. So many failures in so short a time made it appear that a business venture at that place would be an unsafe thing. But the country around Ogden was settling up with industrious and energetic farmers,  which gave assurance of good business in the years to come, and it did come. About the time of the failures above mentioned, Peter Rattray opened a general store and  by  economical management and the increase of business he became a prosperous merchant. The Town of Ogden was incorporated in May, 1878. The namesof the town  officers were as follows: Mayor, Oscar Whitehead, who, after serving three months, resigned and Dr. Noyes was elected as his successor; recorder, J. Eversoll; treasurer, J. J. Snell; marshal, Charles Jewell; attorney, Earl Billings; councilmen, N. Eads, T. H. Webster, Dr. Orson Clark and A. H. Mertz. The following year the officers elected were: Mayor, Dr. J. H. Noyes; recorder, E. Evans; treasurer, H. B. Wagers; assessor, JamesSickler;  marshal,   L.  Jones;   attorney. Earl Billings; councilmen, Benjamin Blanford, A. Green, Dr. Orson Clark, J. J. Snell, J. H. Powers and Edward Amey. The following is a list of the business houses of Ogden in 1879 as given bv the Union Historical Society, which is of sufficient interest to include in this sketch. Although the list may not be complete, it is believed it embraces the more important places of business and that the list is accurate so far as it extends. The list is as follows: The first hotel was called the Ogden House and was presided over by G. A. Tobey; general merchants, Peter Rattray, H. Shryver & Atwood, Brice & Wagers, Brammer & Lorenzen; drugs and medicines, J. S. Pitman, T. J. Goodvkoontz; millinery and dressmaking, Mrs. E. M. Jones, Miss E. A. Ratkie; hardware, Nelson & Farley,O. L. Sturtevant; grain dealers, Sylvester Huntley and Osborne; bankers, Sylvester Huntley and J. D. Gillett; blacksmiths, F. Emerson, T. J. Finch, John Botdorf; photographer, C. Rhodes; wagonmakers, John Johnson, Olif Oberg, James McElroy; shoemakers, A. Youngberg, C. J. Alum; hotels, L. A. Caswell, Mrs. C. B. Stiles, James Lamb; physicians, Dr. J. H. Noyes, Dr. E. H. Melott, Dr. D. Sickler, Dr. Orson Clark; newspaper and  lawyer. Earl Billings; flouring mill, John S. Lord; bakery and restaurant, C. L. Zollinger; jeweler, A. C. Roberts; carpenters, W. C. Wells, F. Wilkins, G. C. Miller, J. S. Sperry, J. Eversoll, I. Blake; livery stable, Allen & Nelson and C. W. Clark. There is no postoffice in Yell Township outside of Ogden. Prior to the time Ogden was laid out there was a postoffice at the house of Wesley Williams, near the central part of the township. It was later moved to Ogden. The first postmaster at Ogden was William Lee. The first birth in Ogden was a child born to Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Bathrick. The first marriage was that of Charles Soward and Jennie Vancuren. The Ogden Reporter was the first newspaper issued in the Town of Ogden or in the west half of Boone County. It was established June 4, 1874. The founder and first editor of the Reporter was Edward Adams, a young man who was in the lumber business at that place. He was a printer of some experience and becoming convinced that Ogden needed a newspaper even in that early stage of its career, sent for a press and commenced the publication of the Ogden Reporter. Mr. Adams was not an experienced newspaper man, but he continued to edit the Reporter until October of the same year, when he sold the press and paper to Earl Billings and retired from the  newspaper business. Mr. Billings was a bold, defiant newspaper man, very complimentary at times and at other times very abusive. But he had a long career as editor of the Reporter and made fast friends and bitter enemies during the time. On October 4, 1904, Billings sold the Reporter to Williams & Lund, who continued to give the people of Ogden a good, live paper until February i, 1914, when they sold the Reporter to W. D. Miller, its present editor and proprietor. It will thus be seen that the Reporter is now in its forty-first  year. The Ogden Messenger was the second newspaper venture in Ogden. Its publication commenced in 1890, its proprietors and editors being Thompson & Weaver. They believed that the west side of the river needed another newspaper. The Reporter had been in good, healthy condition for sixteen years, and as it was republican in politics, the second newspaper should be democratic. At the end of two years Mr. Weaver sold his interest in the Messenger to his partner, Mr. Thompson, and became the foreman printer of the Boone Democrat. Mr. Thompson continued to publish the Messenger until some time in the year 1908, when its publication was discontinued and Mr. Thompson, its editor, retired from the newspaper business. About the year 1909, Marshall Cooper started a paper called the Ogden Democrat. Its career was short and in about six months its publication was suspended. W. D. Miller, the present editor of the Reporter, is a gentleman of and ability and he will, without doubt, give the people of Ogden a good local paper. He has been a citizen of Ogden twelve years. He came to Ogden as station agent of the Milwaukee & St. Louis Railroad and continued in this place four years. He then assisted in organizing the Farmers State Bank of Ogden, remaining with it one year. He then acted as assistant postmaster one term and was acting postmaster about six months during the year 1913. At the present time Ogden has five general stores, two grocery stores, two drug stores, one milliner store, two clothing stores, one harness shop, two lumberyards, two hardware stores, four grain dealers, two stock buyers and four banks -  the Farmers State Bank, the City State Bank, the Ogden State Bank and the Farmers Security Bank. There are also four practicing physicians, as follows: Drs. Mellotte, Noland, Ganoe and Clark. There is one flouring mill, three bakeries and restaurants, two dentists, one jewelry store, two garages, one livery barn, one hotel and one lawyer, in the person of B. F. Porter. Ogden ha two school buildings, one being the high school building, the other the graded school building. Both these are good structures and speak well for the educational enterprise of the people of Ogden. The enrollment in the schools exceeds four hundred. The school board employs thirteen teachers. There were ten graduates at the close of the last term. J. R. Nevelen is the present superintendent of the Ogden schools, and Miss Geneva Way is the principal. The other teachers for the fall term of 1914 have not been elected. The schools are in a prosperous condition. Ogden has seven church organizations and seven church buildings. There is a Catholic, a Methodist Episcopal, a Free Methodist, Swedish Lutheran, Swedish Mission, Congregational and German Lutheran. These all are said to have fair sized congregations, and each has a Sunday school. Ogden Lodge No. 281, I. O. O. F., was organized May 2, 1874. The following are the names of the charter members: R. U. Wheetock, Amos DeHaven, George G. Miller, John M. Bellon, Ephraim Sayres. The order now has one hundred members. The present officers are: John Christianson, N. G.; Arthur Stanburg, V. G.; C. E. Beck, secretary; J. W. McCollum, treasurer. On the 3d of April, 1871, there was granted a dispensation to organize an order of Free and Accepted Masons in Ogden by John Scott, then grand master of the State of Iowa. This was granted upon the petition of James Sickler, Orson Clark, Richard Tembv, Cyrus K. Babb, David H. Randall, Fairfield Sylvester, Dr. James H. Noyes, O. L. Sturtevant, A. W. Blumberg and C. B. Sylvester, who were the charter members. The first regular communication was held April 21, 1871, when the following officers were elected: James Sickler, W. M.; Orson Clark, S. W.; Richard Temby, J. W.; O. L. Sturtevant, treasurer; D. H. Randall, secretary; F. Sylvester, S. D.; Dr. James Noyes, J. D. The lodge under dispensation was very prosperous and it continued to work until July 1, 1872, when it held its first meeting under a charter from the grand lodge of Iowa, at which time they read the name and number of Rhodes Lodge, No. 303. The lodge now has ninety members. The present officers are: W. D. Miller, W. M.; Orson Clark, S. W.; Charles Morgan, J. W.; S. P. Clark, treasurer; James H. Noyes, secretary. The names of the present officers of the Town of Ogden are as follows: Mayor, D. Sickler; treasurer, W. D. Kruse; assessor, D. O. Clark; marshal, Fred Taylor; attorney, B. F. Porter; councilmen, Henry Klepple, Henry Ehler, Charles Morgan, William Bakley and Charles Erickson. There are several coal shafts near Ogden - three north of town and three south of town. These mines employ 300 men. Some of them are not running now but they expect to be in a short time. The coal is said to be of good quality and the vein four feet thick. The Town of Ogden is putting on a healthy growth. The beautiful country that surrounds it, with the aid of the coal mines near it, give assurance that Ogden will grow into a city of considerable importance. Its outlook is good. According to the census of 1910 the population of Ogden was 1,298. The census to be taken next year will give it a much greater population than this, as the most of its mining population has been added since the last census was taken. There is a Grand Army Post in Ogden, consisting of forty members. They have regularly elected officers and hold regular meetings. The people of Ogden most certainlv have a high appreciation of this membership of the veterans of the Civil war. There is no association of men more deserving of respect and honor than they are.

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