Clinton Centennial
Not Case of All Work, No Play: Railroads Affected Early-Day Life
The life of the early settlers in the Clinton area 100 years ago comparedwith the pioneers in the Eastern forests, was quiet and uneventful. That,perhaps, was one of the principal causes for the rapid and stable prosperity ofearly Iowa.
The red man had vanished years before, and never visited his old hauntsexcept as an exile or captive. Social life would have been more intense hadthere been a common enemy to knit them together for general defense, but theyhad none of the "terror by night and the arrow that flieth by day,"that affected the pioneers on other frontiers.
Many of the conditions of life in this area were completely different. The fertile acres prevented there being any occasion for neighborlyclearing-bees or log-rollings. The corn was so plentiful that to stack orhouse the stalks would have been a waste of time.
But in the winter time, social gatherings were frequent and merry. Though many of the elders disapproved of dancing, the frolicsome juniors managedto console themselves with lively kissing games. As the night wore on, theromping and fun grew fast and furious, until it became impossible to tell where"carrying-on" ended and dancing began.
Spirited young men, and gay young ladies as well, thought nothing of riding adozen miles to a sportive gathering. With it all there was a freedom fromcare, an absolute equality and freedom from snobbishness and hearty enjoyment ofthe hour's merriment.
It is difficult to portray the changes in a peaceful community like Clintoncounty, where the stages have been almost imperceptible. There was avisible development, not by leaps, but by a steady upward and forward movement.
Had the tide of emigration been turned elsewhere, or cut off so that Clintoncounty for many years would have remained sparsely settled, and with andexclusively agricultural population, without markets for their surplus, or tosupply their wants being accessible, residents could not have helped sufferingthe fate of other isolated people.
Had Iowa been settled many years before the introduction of railroads,several generations would have grown up comparatively isolated. But beforethe children of the pioneers had time to grow up, they were awakened by thetread of the locomotive, rattle of the printing press and the click of thetelegraph, to take their position in the advancement of progress. Iowa,and especially Clinton county, could not have been settled at a more favorabletime.
The railroad is one of the principal reasons that the energy of the immigrantto the northwest augmented rather than diminished. The generalintroduction of horse-power and steam farming implements likewise released themfrom the exhausting and excessive physical labor to which their fathers weresubjected. Had any of these elements been lacking, a plentiful foodsupply, a healthy and reasonably regular climate, cheap water and swift railwaycommunication, abundant books and newspapers, the civilization of this countywould have been decidedly less complete.
Or had these benefits not been realized and utilized by the faithful courageousand industrious men and women, undisturbed by foreign or domestic enemies, thiscounty could not have made such rapid advancement.
SOURCE: Centennial Edition, Clinton Herald, Clinton Iowa, 18 June 1955
