Iowa Old Press
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa
August 4, 1859
ROUGH NOTES
OF A TRIP TO SPIRIT LAKE.
Correspondence of the Dubuque Times,
Somewhere on West Fork, Des Moines River
Pocahontas Co., Iowa, July 13th, 1859.
DEAR TIMES: - I sent you a letter from Addison this
forenoon, which I wrote late last night, bringing a notice of my journey only
down to my arrival at Fort Dodge. In company with a choice friend I left Fort
Dodge yesterday at 4 o'clock P.M. We waded the Des Moines river - because we
could not raise the ferryman. The water came within an inch of wetting the seat
of the buggy - but for that matter an inch was as good as a foot. We crossed a
magnificent country, consisting of rolling prairies, and reached
"Addison," 12 miles from Fort Dodge, at sunset. This is a new town
lately laid out by the Messrs. Sherman & Son. It is situated on a high
bluff, in the heart of a fine agricultural region, and commands a splendid
prospect of a great extent of country around. When times revive and immigration
again sets this way, it has every prospect of becoming a thriving town. Mr.
Sherman, Sen., resides near the town site. He was a mechanic before turning his
attention to farming, but has done nobly in his new calling since he came to
Iowa.
Though he has been but three years on his farm, one of which
has been wet and unproductive, he has made some very fine improvements. He is a
practical Yankee, and if there is "go in anything he's bound to make it
go." Some of the farmers I have seen in older sections of the country,
would profit by his example. He has a tool-house well supplied with all the
implements that a practical mechanic could desire, and if repairs are to be made
upon any of his agricultural implements, he is prepared to make them without
sending off to town. He has lately invented a machine for making brooms, and one
for making baskets - both of which work to perfection. He made a horse-power
last winter, after a model of his own, and it is attached to a large
coffee-mill, in which he grinds his corn, thus saving long journeys to the mill.
The last season opened his eyes to the necessity of drainage, and he is now
engaged in opening drains through those portions of his farm which most need it.
The manures about his ample stables are carefully saved and protected from
evaporation and washing away, and will be applied in liberal quantities to his
already fertile land. His crops are growing finely, and promise abundance. This
may seem tame and common-place, but let the reader bear in mind that this is the
work of an old gentleman, not bred a farmer, and is but a small part of what he
has accomplished in three short and not very favorable years. When he made his
pre-emption three years ago, there was a little grove of bur oak trees near his
house, so small that he could drive a wagon over them. He protected them from
the prairie fires carefully trimmed them, and they have already formed a fine
grove of trees from twelve to eighteen feet in height. He thinks that one of the
easiest and most profitable of prairie-farm operation is the propagation and
cultivation of timber.
It would amply reward any one who comes this way to call and
look over the farm, and notice the many practicable improvements made by this
eminently practical and dignified old gentleman. I will guarantee that no one
will ever see him out of hay during the spring, nor allow his cattle to suffer
for want of shelter from the wintry winds. Such thorough and observing
farmers ought to be plentier the country through.
We left Addison at 8 1/2 o'clock this A.M., well pleased and
very much instructed by our visit. At this present we are camped at a deserted
cabin to rest and feed our horses, and partake of a lunch ourselves. The country
about is very fine. Off to the right, and skirting the river is one of the most
beautiful tracts of bottom land I ever saw any where. Hundreds of acres are
level as a floor and perfectly dry and tillable. The soil is very rich and just
sandy enough to be warm and quick. There is no section of land which a better
promise is held out to the agriculturist than in the valley of the upper Des
Moines.
?????, July 11.
We have just arrived at the residence of Hon. James Hickey,
Judge of the new county of Palo Alto. This is a very fertile county, and its
population are mostly Irish. There are about 200 inhabitants and 50 voters in
the county. A large amount of splendid land in this section is coming into
market in September next. This is the best opportunity for locating good lands
that will be offered in Northwestern Iowa.
The afternoon has been rainy, and a strenuous effort on the
part of self and comrade to keep dry has been about the only thing that I
remember as having occurred since noon. Yours,
truly.
A.C.
Out on the Prairie, July 14.
DEAR TIMES: - We left the hospitable Hibernian Judge of Palo
Alto county at 8 o'clock this morning, and are now at noon camped on the wide
prairie which intervenes between the Des Moines River and Spirit Lake. The
weather is most excessively hot, and I should think that eggs, as well as men,
might almost be roasted in the sun. One horse came near melting and we were
forced to drive slow and stop early, at the imminent risk of being belated on
the 25 miles prairie that lies ahead of us. But if we have to stay out all night
it will only be a little episode to be laughed over hereafter. The greatest
discomfort of such a lodging at this time of year is the mosquitoes, which are a
thousand times as numerous as Greeley's Buffaloe, and as uncompromising in their
voracity as Shylock himself.
Speaking of mosquitoes, I must relate an instance of canine
sagacity which came under my notice this morning at Judge Hickey's. A fire was
built last evening out of doors to drive away the mosquitoes. This morning the
fire was almost out and the mosquitoes still bent on their bloody errands. Among
the sufferers from their rapacity was a sedate old dog belonging to Judge
Hickey. He seemed to discover that the "smudge" was almost extinct and
began poking the expiring embers together with his nose. This rekindled the
fire, renewed the smoke, drove off the mosquitoes Bose, Bull or Pinto, lay down
perfectly content. Thinks I to myself, there is the dog that evidently (k)nose
considerable, if not more, about the gift of old Prometheus, or some other
mythological deity. This, Mr. Editor, is a true dog story, and if you or any of
your numerous readers dare question its truth, you do it at your own
"peril" - as the Register of the Fort Dodge Land Office would say -
for I saw it myself.
Writing in my covered buggy, I look out and there on a
tall weed, sits a blackbird with her or his mouth open - so intense is the heat.
The flies pursue my faithful mare as though they were bent on getting her last
drop of blood, and the little bird is off after me - alights on a weed close by
her side and is filling its stomach - perhaps I should say "crop" -
with the blood-thirsty insects. - Another big story, you will say, but don't
presume to question the veracity of your most truthful correspondent.
I just let off old "smooth-bore" at a Sandhill
Crane. The distance was fair, my lead just right, my aim deliberate - but I
wouldn't bet "mary red" that I shot within ten rods of him.
I shall reserve the fish stories till I get to the Lake.
It is nearly 2 P.M. and my faithful mare has eaten her corn
and fed liberally off the tall rich prairie grass, and though the heat is most
intense and oppressive, we must budge on. Yours,
hotly.
A.C.
Spirit Lake, July 15, 1859.
DEAR TIMES: - After writing my dog and bird story on the
prairie yesterday, we started at 2 P.M. and traveled on perhaps a mile and a
half, when the intense heat compelled us to stop. It was plainly more than
horseflesh could stand, and we were glad enough ourselves to get in the shade of
the buggy, having been obliged to face a sun hot enough to make cobwebs out of a
fellow's brains. - I never knew what it was to suffer from thirst. We had
traveled since morning without a drop of water, and having partaken of dry
pabulum for our prairie dinner, we as dry as a whisk-soaker after a hard night's
spree. After a while my comrade who used to be a government surveyor and who
"knew the ropes" on a wide prairie as well as a Sioux Indian, took our
pail and started to a distant clump of "black grass," in a ravine.
After an absence of several minutes, he returned with about a quart of aguish
slough water. "You wouldn't have drunk it, eh?" Well you would! It
tasted better than any gin-cock-tail that was ever compounded for your temperate
correspondent. It wet our whistles and made a decided improvement in our
feelings generally.
We started again at six o'clock. Just before the sun dipped
below the horizon, we caught a faint glimpse of the Spirit Lake timber.- We
reached here at two o'clock, tired, and worn out, and our patience completely
exhausted by the "cussed" mosquitoes, who "left their cards"
all over our ??? and hands. The night was calm and clear - the temperature
delicious, and the roads generally very good. Not a breath of air stirring, and
not a sound save the solemn "ker-chung" of the belligerent
"bloody nouns" of the wakeful bull-frogs. Our ride would have been
most pleasant and romantic, but for the insectivorous perforations of the
cuticle which we momentarily underwent.
Well, we got here at last and quartered ourselves upon our
kind friend, Judge Coughton, of whom I shall doubtless speak hereafter. A good
breakfast off a large buffalo fish, just out of Lake Okoboji, has greatly
relieved the exhaustion of yesterday's and last night's journey, and we feel
decidedly better pleased with everything about us. I have drank ever so many
glasses of the excellent water which abounds here in a perfectly revengeful
mood, to compensate for the vexation consequent upon having had to strain
"wiggle-tails" and rotten bull-rushes through my
"white-livered" moustache, as I did yesterday.
Yours, coolly and composedly,
A.C.
Emmet, Emmet Co, Iowa, July 16, '59.
DEAR TIMES: - I have seen Spirit Lake, and have drank from
and bathed in its cool and pure waters. I am disappointed in this lake - greatly
disappointed. I had not expected to see anything remarkable or noteworthy in its
scenery or surroundings, but it certainly is one of the most beautiful and
romantic localities I ever saw. Spirit Lake proper is a magnificent sheet of
water, seven miles long and five miles wide. Its banks are in many places
skirted with beautiful burr oak groves, and in others rise in gentle
flower-enameled slopes. Its waters are quite cool enough for drinking purposes,
and pure and blue as Niagra just below the falls. There must be many degrees
difference between the temperature of Spirit and Okoboji lakes, though they are
but a few rods distant from each other. Notwithstanding the coolness of the
water, it is the most delightful place to swim in that I ever saw. The beach is
composed of clean, coarse sand and fine gravel, and the water gradually
increases in depth until at the middle of the lake it must be from twenty to
thirty feet deep. Lake Okoboji lies just south of Spirit Lake and is shaped like
a letter U. It is fourteen miles long and from a few rods to one and a half
miles wide. The two sides of this lake are called by the settlers East and West
Okoboji lakes though they are one and the same body of water. If you take a
sixteen line pica gothic condensed capital letter U, and let it lay with the
bottom facing south, you have a map of lake Okoboji. Take a capital letter O
from the same fount, or one a little smaller, and lay it just north of and
almost touching the east "prong" of the U, and you have a correct
outline of these lakes. If any person is unable to understand my
"professional" description of these lakes, he can substitute an ox-bow
and a cheese for the "gothic condensed," and get a better
representation of the shape of these lakes than can be seen on any map of the
State yet published. The isthmus between Spirit and East Okoboji lakes is about
forty rods wide and the former is eight feet higher than the latter. A race has
been cut across the isthmus, through which the clear cold water rushes with a
momentum that indicates its value as a water power. The same relative difference
between the levels of these lakes, exists for all seasons of the year. Thus,
without a river for many miles, the settlers have a large and never-failing
water power. A flourishing mill will soon be erected on this artificial outlet.
Spirit Lakes, let me predict, will, one of these days, become
almost as noted a watering place as Saratoga or Newport. It is just the place
for an invalid, or any person suffering from ennui to go and spend a few weeks
during the best summer season. The finest fish you ever saw - pickerel, bass,
perch, buffalo, &c.- may be taken in any desirable quantity and at any
season of the year. Feathered game is plentiful the year round. The bracing air,
the splendid drives and walks, the "magnificent distances," and the
romantic scenery, I have never seen surpassed.
It is difficult to believe that less than three years ago
this romantic and lovely spot was desecrated by one of the most inhuman
massacres that has ever occurred on American soil. In March 1857, Ink-pa-du-tah
and his band of outlaws visited this place and ruthlessly butchered every man,
woman and child except for two or three, whom they carried into captivity. The
settlers were scattered from one to three miles apart, and the Indians were
about ten days in completing the massacre. They would visit a cabin, murder its
inmates, and remain until they had eaten up whatever provisions they could find,
and then go on to the next. The settlers were buried where they fell: one grave
just below the town contains the remains of eleven persons. But I will not
rehearse more of these horrid details - they have already passed into history.
We left Spirit Lake this morning early and came to this
place. We called upon Hon. A. Jenkins, Judge of this county, whom we found
"baching it" on his claim and engaged in building a substantial log
house. He is a hardy pleaser, a ??? Yankee, an enthusiastic Republican, and a
man of great general information. During the last two hours we have partaken of
a substantial dinner, prepared by the hands of the versatile Judge, told
stories, discussed politics, the "County Judge Question," &c., and
are having emphatically a good time.
But the pioneer mail carrier has jut come along, and says if
I close my letter at once he can take it along. The mail only goes once a week
from here, and so I must send this off at once, unread and "with all its
imperfections on its head."
Yours, in a hurry.
A.C.
Emmett, Emmett Co., Iowa, July 16, 1859.
DEAR TIMES: - Contrary to my expectations I find the valley
of the upper Des Moines as rich and fertile as any section of the State I have
ever been in. This (the west) fork is skirted with groves of valuable timber to
the State line, embracing all the kinds that grow in Iowa. The soil is deep,
warm, rich and strong. Vegetation starts early in the spring and is not
surpassed in any section of the State. In addition to the plentiful supplies of
lumber, there is any quantity of choice building stone, lime stone and brick
clays, and unmistakable indications of coal. The even sections of this desirable
portion of our State will come into market in September next, affording every
one an opportunity to secure a splendid home. The timber has not all been
pre-empted and I am told that excellent claims can be made within a mile of
where I am writing. Those who are looking for cheap homes, where in a few years
they may make themselves real nabobs of the soil, I believe, will find this the
most tempting portion of the public domain now open to actual settlers. Those
interested will make a note of these facts and govern themselves accordingly.
This county was organized last February. The present officers
are: Hon. A. Jenkins, County Judge; Stanly Weston, Recorder and Treasurer; Jesse
Cloverdale, Clerk of the District Court; D.N. Hoyt, Sheriff.
A town has been located by Messrs. Reilley, Cloverdale and
the Jenkins Brothers, on a beautiful prairie on three sides by heavy timber. It
is in Tp. 99, R. 34- central in the county, and will no doubt become the county
seat.
This county contains about 200 people and some 50 voters.
Most of them are from the Eastern States, and are of course intelligent and
enterprising. When I tell you that they read the New York Tribune, and make the
finest butter and cheese I have seen in the West, you will readily understand
what sort of people they are.
The Messrs. Jenkins enclose their fields with a kind of fence
I have never seen before, and which I think will bear description. The
supporting frame consists of a stout heavy rail, 6 1/2 feet long, and a stake
one foot shorter. A two inch hole is bored through the rail, and the stake is
cut to fit the hole. When these are thus put together, the rail stands at an
angle of about 45 degrees and the stake slightly inclining towards it. Then
rails ten feet long are fastened with wooden pins to the slanting rail and a
"length" of the fence is complete. The rails of the next are fastened
to this length and so on. This fence is pyramidal in form, and cannot be blown
over; the timber of which it is composed will not rot for a life time; it is
perfectly impervious to unruly cattle and horses; it is rapidly built and easily
removed - and takes up but little room. I consider it the best and most
economical prairie fence I have yet seen. - The farmers here are all building
this fence and will have no other.
This morning my nag is among the missing, and I am 120 miles
from home. If the search now going on for the wicked jade does not reveal her
whereabouts, then your spicy correspondent and his "Hon." comrade are
most truly in a fix.
Yours concernedly. A.C.
Three O'Clock P.M.
One of the "Jenkin Boys" has just came in with my
mare, having found her some five miles away. Of course the spirits of your
lately saddened friends have undergone a decided improvement, and we have
concluded not to try boating down the Des Moines. I would have sold her very
cheap an hour or two since, but you wouldn't buy her now at any price.
A notice of the Jenkins family, with whom we are stopping,
may probably possess as much interest as anything I can write. They were
originally from Warren county N.Y., and there are 7 brothers. They all live
together in one house. Each has a claim of 160 acres, which they will prove up
previous to the approaching land sale. One of them is the County Judge and
another is the Postmaster - Democratic timber being entirely too scarce to
furnish an official of that kind. - One of these days, if you come up
here, you will find them wealthy, intelligent, and independent farmers, and the
leading men of this section. All their farm operations are conducted in good,
substantial, Eastern style.- They have fine teams, a splendid lot of Durham
cattle, and nearly one hundred acres of crops - a pretty good start for the
first year. The "women folks" are engaged in making butter and cheese,
of a very superior quality. I was surprised to taste such luxuries three hundred
miles north-west of Dubuque, in a region so new and so choisely [sic] settled;
and I assure you that I appreciate my stopping place. But our Yankee women can't
be beat.
On this farm, a few rods from the house, there is a row of
tumult, or mounds, evidently of great antiquity. Small pieces of the harder
bones of the human system, teeth, &c. are found just below the surface.
There are 14 of these tumuli, all in a row, and lying upon a level bench of
table land which stretches off towards the South. They are 4 or 5 rods apart,
and some of them are 5 or 6 feet high. That a great battle was fought here long
before the Christian era, cannot be doubted. But who were the people? Evidently
none of the tribes who still linger on our borders.
"Gone are all their Captains
bold,
Gone are all the Knights and Squires.
Not a name
Remains to fame,
From those mouldering days of
old!"
But I must soon be off to Spirit Lake again. Having got my
horse, I feel decidedly better, and am
Yours, contentedly, A.C.
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa
August 11, 1859
ROUGH NOTES
OF A TRIP TO SPIRIT LAKE
Correspondence of the Dubuque Daily Times.
July 19, 1959.
DEAR TIMES: - I returned from Emmett county to Spirit Lake
night before last. Yesterday I spent in visiting various localities about the
lake - becoming more and more pleased with the country. I have swam in its deep
blue waters - speared or "gigged" buffalo-fish in Lake Okoboji - have
met old friends and acquaintances - and have had a fine time generally. I mean
to visit this region again.
Dickinson county, in which Spirit and Okoboji lakes are
situated, was organized in 1857. Its present officers are: Hon. L. Coughton,
County Judge; Heffbott, Recorder and Treasurer; Jasreb Palmer, Clerk of the
District Court; and A.D. Arthur, Sheriff.
Its settlers are in the main enterprising and industrious
Eastern people. They have laid out a fine town, which now contains fifteen or
twenty houses, and are also extensively engaged in opening farms. Spirit Lake
needs a merchant, a blacksmith, and a shoemaker, and the county good, thorough
farmers. Mr. A. Kingman will soon open a good hotel. There are already two steam
saw mills in the county, and a flouring mill will be in operation, as I
have before stated, in time for the coming crops.
Hon. O.C. Howe, Prosecuting Attorney of the 4th judicial
district, resides at this place. He is a native of Erie county, N.Y., a thorough
lawyer, capital good fellow, and a staunch Republican.
We are at this writing camped at noon on the margin of a
beautiful little lake, midway between Des Moines and Spirit Lake. A few moments
since my comrade opened our "bread basket" preparatory to the noon
lunch; but to his ineffable surprise and disgust, found our "hunk" of
cheese alive with innumerable black-headed maggots - "skippers," I
believe, the "huswifes" call them. On a rough estimate I think there
were in round numbers at least ten thousand of them. They rattled out upon the
paper, and then such activity you never beheld! They curl their two ends
together, and then jump up coming down with a decided pattering. For such young
chaps they possess a wonderful taste for gymnastics. Well, the
"condiment" was thrown into the lake. Pretty soon three cat-fish came
along and began to bolt down on the cheese, insects and all. They evidently felt
as rich over this discovery as a Pike's Peaker who has made his pile. Pretty
soon I picked up my double-barrelled gun and sent a grist of shot right among
them. Two of them cut and run, one jumping out of the water as he leaves. But
there on the bottom lie one, his hide as spotted with shot as a huckleberry
pudding. Our cheese thus disposed of, we have to dine off our "Bosting"
crackers, and wet our whistles with tepid lake water. Dry and insipid, wasn't
it!
This is a glorious region, and I with that I might have more
adequately described it. - But I advise anyone who has a few weeks of leisure,
to visit Spirit Lake and the valley of the upper Des Moines. If he is in search
of a farm, he will find some of the most lovely and fertile spots that the sun
shines upon. If only in search of health and recreation, he will find them too.
The rivers and lakes are filled with fish, and the prairies will soon be alive
with feathered game. Fifty miles west of Spirit Lake will bring him into the
buffalo and elk region, where he will find the noblest game that our country can
boast of.
I am now on my homeward journey, and shall not therefore
write to you again. A word before I close in regard to politics. I find the
Republicans all wide-awake and active, and confident that a brilliant success
awaits their ticket this fall. The Democracy will find it difficult to organize
their powers in this pioneer region, and will be obliged to let matters go
pretty much by default.
While at Spirit Lake I saw Dr. Prescott, the alleged
originator of the negro colonization movement. I do not believe that he ever
seriously entertained such notions as were ascribed to him, and the project from
the start has served only one purpose - that of giving Ben. M. Samuels another
opportunity to trot out his "culled person." It is but the visionary
scheme of a speculative enthusiast at best, and if ever seriously entertained,
is in my opinion entirely impracticable. Fertile as is the soil of the
Northwest, and abundant as are its resources, it is no place for
"niggers." There are no boots to black, no hirsute faces to trim or
shave, and no "har" to cut. Levity aside, the negro is not a good
pioneer anywhere. It requires the shrewd, enterprising, indomitable and
undaunted Yankee - the champion and embodiment of the idea of free labor - not
only to subdue the wild prairies of the Northwest, but also to rejuvenate the
worn out soil of "the vales of the Shenandoah." Ben knows this, and
the only reason why he worries himself in regard to the "nigger" is
for the purpose of making a little harmless ?????. There is as little real
prospect that "nigger" colonies, with any invitation that may be
extended to them, or any inducement that may be held out, will ever seek a
permanent lodgement on our soil in the way of pioneering, as that Ben. M.
Samuels will take to hoeing his own cabbage or grooming his own horse.
Well, we have been out over twelve days on the wide prairies,
and are anxious to get back where we can "read the papers," and learn
what battles have been fought, what topics are afloat, what the Democracy are
doing - and last but not least, whether J.B. Dorr has yet ventilated George
Gillaspie's all-healing, all-subduing, and all quieting "goose
question." Adios, A.C.
THE VALLEY OF THE TURKEY.
Having recently visited Audubon, Eldorado, Clermont, Elgin,
Elkader, and other towns on the Turkey river, and consequently made some tracks,
we propose to add a few more.
Our rambles on the Turkey have confirmed all the statements
we have heard in regard to the excellent quality of the timber and soil in its
valley. The walnut, oak, linn, and other kinds of wood are a fine quality, like
the timber on the Cedar, though its belt is not so wide.
The soil on the Turkey, we believe, is unsurpassed in
Northern Iowa. In the twenty-two or twenty-three counties through which we have
traveled during the last six months, we have seen no better land, though some
that is just as good. One may journey round the world without seeing corn of a
better color or rank than now stands on the intervals of the Turkey, or better
wheat and oats than have just been harvested there. The farmers in the valley of
that stream, that have their two hundred acres of land, with good buildings and
fences and fifty acres of timber on the same, are the nabobs of Clayton and
Fayette counties.
Were the Dubuque and Turkey Valley Railroad open to-day to
Clermont, in Fayette county, in a few weeks the vast stores of produce in that
valley would be pouring into the Dubuque market and adding immensely to the
business and life of our city.
The Turkey is a swift stream, and between its mouth and the
confluence of its two branches at Eldorado, and on either branch for several
miles above that point, the water powers will average at least two in every town
through which the river passes. In some towns there are half a dozen. Nothing
like half of them are improved, and less than half of the capacity of those
which are improved is brought into requisition. The time is coming when through
the valley of the Turkey, from its mouth to Winneshiek county, one may travel -
by rail, passing flouring mills, machine shops, clothing factories, paper mills,
churches, and the like, every ten minutes!
At Elgin, in Fayette county, we recently found some fine
specimens of trilobites, settlers in the valley of the Turkey long before Adam
cultivated a taste for bad fruit. The trilobite made his sepulture in the
forming blue limestone, before turkeys were born to make tracks. He may have
heard the dodo, but was never gladdened by the music of the gobble turkey.
Trilobites abounded among the earlier irrational inhabitants
of the earth. Their fossiliforous remains are most abundant in the Silurian
rocks which include the pentamerous limestone. A few are found still higher in
the carboniferous strata, but none above. Their home is in the older
fossiliferous rocks, and they are found in tall the northern parts of Europe, in
both Americas, and at the Cape of Good Hope. A wide range was theirs, but their
race was run, their several species became extinct, "long, long ago!"
Other races of animals followed the trilobites, man coming
last. And at the end, perhaps, of a half million years after the extinction of
those three lobed animals, a Yankee, in quest of news from the ancient world,
comes along and stuffs his carpet bag with these patriarchal crustaceans.
IOWA MATTERS
CLAYTON COUNTY - Elkport - The little village of Elkport is
situated on the Turkey river at the mouth of the Volga, and was started about
twenty years ago. Fredrick Archy, the proprietor of the saw mill, settled there
nineteen years ago last June. He is also proprietor of one of the two hotels of
the place - William Borton of the other.- S.J. Soyster and William Tiedo are the
merchants of the place. It has a cabinet, a shoe and cooper's shop; two
blacksmith shops, a brewery, a school house and a Lutheran church.
Two and a half miles above Elkport, on Elk creek, Isaac Otis
has a flouring mill and a saw mill. Timber in that neighborhood is abundant and
of the best quality.
Elkport village was laid out about six years ago; it has good
water power, and capital and enterprise could build up a town there. It has
between one and two hundred inhabitants.
CLARKE COUNTY - The Osceola Weekly Courier is the name of a
Republican paper just started by Pike & Oldham at the seat of justice of
Clarke county. The proprietors spell Osceola without an S by what authority we
know not. The sheet looks well.
MUSCATINE COUNTY - The Muscatine Journal learns that Mr.
Holderman, of Wapsinonoc township, sowed this season five hundred acres of
wheat, which it is estimated will yield 10,000 bushels. Some time since he
contracted all of his present crop of wheat at one dollar per bushel. Ten
thousand dollars for one years' crop of wheat ought to "pay" about as
well as going to Pike's Peak. So the Journal thinks.
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa
August 18, 1859
IOWA MATTERS
CLAYTON COUNTY - Monona - Since our first visit to Monona,
six months ago, the town has not changed materially. One or two buildings are
going up; some of the young men are getting married; and the hopes of the
people, owing to the great crops, are reviving. These are the few improvements
noted.
The country, as seen from the observatory of the Egbert
Hotel, looks rank and fruitful in the extreme, very unlike a February view of
the landscape. The farmers around Monona must be wealthy.
While in the village of Monona, on the 8th inst., we visited
the garden of Mr. John Leach, who is cultivating the celebrated Hubbard squash.
We never saw vines ranker than his. This squash if preferable to the marrow,
according to the testimony of the best judges in Massachusetts. We would
recommend to our readers to secure some of the seeds of Mr. Leach the coming
fall. This squash does well, we believe, in Iowa. Let us try the
"Hubbard."
ALLAMAKEE COUNTY - Volney and Smithfield - Six miles
north of Monona, twelve from the Mississippi and thirteen south of Waukon, in
the little village of Volney, "squat like a toad" on the north shore
of the Yellow river. Though in a valley, it has a gravelly foundation and must
be a healthy place. As the traveler looks down upon the village, as he enters it
from the north or south, it appears like a snug little nest of happy humans,
like the valley where Rasselas abode long ago. - We trust the people there are
more contented than was the Price of Abyssinia. Some of them are from New
Hampshire, where one finds many hills, much steeper, much stonier, and much
longer, than the one leading northward out of Volney.
The village of which we are speaking, and which we visited on
the ninth of this month, was commenced six or seven years ago. It has good water
power, which has not, we fear, always been in the hands of the most liberal and
enterprising men; consequently the place has not risen very rapidly. It may have
a hundred inhabitants or more. It has a school house, two hotels, a wagon, a
blacksmith and a cabinet shop, a chair factory, a saw mill and a grist mill or
corn cracker.
The Methodists and Presbyterians have organizations in Volney,
and preaching occasionally. No clergyman or physician resides there. J.G. Orr,
Esq., the Justice of the Peace, is an intelligent man, and held in high esteem
by his neighbors.
One mile out of Volney, on the Yellow river, is Smithfield,
James H. Stafford being its proprietor. He has a good flouring mill, a shingle
factory, a turning lathe and a store. At the same place are a cabinet shop, and
a cooper's shop. The water power is excellent, and not all in use. Mechanics
wishing to put up machinery, could find an opportunity there. Smithfield is at
the north of Hickory Creek.
Half a mile farther west on Hickory Creek, is the wool
carding factory of Becker & Wilson - a busy little spot, at times, in a very
retired place. We are under obligations to Samuel C. Thomas of Smithfield for
information and other favors.
THE VILLAGE OF HARDIN - We passed through this little village
on the 10th inst., and finding excellent accommodations at the Barnhart Hotel,
kept by Mr. T.N. Hodge, we were tempted to halt awhile and take a few notes of
the place.
Though containing less than three hundred inhabitants, it has
five general variety stores, their proprietors being A.J. Breedlove, Mott &
Dickerson, H.J. Ingersoll, O. Woodworth and J.C. Beedy. It also has two cabinet
and chair shops; two blacksmith shops; one wagon shop and one shoe shop.
Evans, Burnham & Beard have a steam flouring mill and
Elias Topliff has a steam saw mill. The former mill is said to be a superior one
of its kind.
Hardin has a first class school house, which is also used for
church purposes. The Methodists and Baptists have organizations.
Messrs. Green and Sanford are the physicians of the place;
and Norman Chesley and T.C. Ranson [or Ransom] the lawyers. Mr. Ranson [or
Ransom] is fresh from Connecticut.
Hardin is on the line of Clayton and Allamakee counties, part
of the village being in each county.
About half of its inhabitants go six miles to Monona, to
vote.
WINNESHIEK COUNTY - Sudden Death - Mr. Andrew Stewart, who
resided three miles south-west of Frankville, was found dead a few feet from a
spring on his farm, on the 10th inst. He was well half an hour before, and ate a
hearty dinner. He was found a little past one o'clock. It is supposed that he
drank too freely of the cold spring water. His age is about fifty. We obtained
these facts of his son, when we met at Frankville, a few hours after the
father's death.
LINN COUNTY - The Republicans of Linn county, held a
Convention on the 10th inst., and nominated the following ticket: For Senator,
H.G. Angle; for Representatives, Jennings Crawford and Amos Wittier; for County
Judge, Daniel Lothian; for Sheriff, Thomas J. McKean; for Treasurer and
Recorder, William Cook; for County Superintendent, Ira G. Fairbanks; for
Surveyor, George A. Gray; for Coroner, Mowry Farnum.
MITCHELL COUNTY - The Mitchell County Republican says:
"On Friday night last the Liberty Pole in the east part of the town was
struck by lightning and considerably shivered. On the day following, about 1
o'clock, the house of Thomas McGregor was struck and slightly injured. It was
struck in the gable end fronting the street; the electricity passing down a stud
to the window, badly shivering the window sash and glass, then passing into a
cupboard, and breaking dishes, melting holes in tin pans, &c. and then
passing off into the ground. The family were badly shocked and perhaps worse
frightened. During the same shower Dr. Poindexter lost a valuable two years old
colt, killed by lightning while grazing in a pasture just above town."
ROSSVILLE.
The village of Rossville, in Jefferson township, Allamakee
county, eight miles southeast of the county seat, is situated in the midst of a
well-timbered country with a strong soil, and is likely to be
"continued," in spite of the financial hurricane which swept over the
land two years ago.
The village was laid out only five years ago, though
settlements were commenced there two or three years earlier. The pioneer, we
believe, was W.F. Ross, from whom the place took its name. He went the way of
all the emigrating earth four weeks ago, being carried off by the Arizona fever.
Rossville lies about midway between Yellow river and Paint
creek, in a somewhat broken country, and is a convenient trading point for many
thrifty farmers. At present, it has but one general variety store, kept by
Richard Gamble, and one grocery, J.A. Marietta, the Postmaster of the place,
being the proprietor. Mr. J.J. Brown has a store two stories high, and 50 by 22
feet, nearly ready for use. It has a cellar under it the size of the building,
and designed for pork and beef packing purposes. Mr. B. is proprietor of a steam
flouring mill in Rossville, and is preparing to do a heavy business this fall.
The crops justify such preparations.
In addition to this store, a fine dwelling is going up - the
property of David Skinner, a plow maker. No other improvements are noted.
Rossville has a steam saw mill, steam cabinet works; two shoe
shops; two blacksmith shops; one wagon shop; one plow factory; one harness shop;
one hotel, kept by James Stanley; and a large brickyard, owned by D. Warbaugh.
The place has a school house, but no church building. The
religious organizations are Baptist, J. Scoffeld pastor; and Methodist supplied
with preaching by Mr. McCormick, of Waukon. The Physicians of the place are N.
Philbrick and Robert Smart. It has no lawyers except in the formative state.
With an abundance of timber and stone around it, Rossville
has facilities for growing as fast as the progress of the surrounding country
demands it.
LOCAL AND LITERARY.
RETURNED PEAKER - Henry Moores, who accompanied Bates
& Co. to Pike's Peak, returned last evening. He tells a hard story of gold
mining - didn't make much of anything, hard living, hard traveling, and the Peak
a hard institution generally.
Mr. Bates started for home before Mr. M. The latter walked
all the way from Council Bluffs.
INFORMATION WANTED. - Doctor Burrett died at St. Aubert
station on the Pacific Railroad, on the 9th of July, 1859, leaving a
considerable amount of property and effects. He stated that he was from New
Madrid county, Mo.; that in March last he started for Pike's Peak; he had sold
his team and wagon, and was returning home when he died. He also stated that he
had a son at Pike's Peak, one a clerk on a steamboat on the Upper Mississippi
river, and a daughter living in the city of St. Louis, Dr. Burrett was five feet
eight or nine inches high, light complexion, and had a large tumor on the left
side of his head and a like one on his left jaw. - Information is wanted of his
relatives.
Publishers of papers along the river are requested to publish
the above.
MILITARY CONVENTION - The following Companies have
responded to the call for a State Military Convention, to be held at Davenport,
Sept. 6th:
Captain Robinson, Governor's Greys, Dubuque.
Captain Heath, Washington Guards, Dubuque.
Captain Hayden, City Guards, Dubuque.
Captain Brodbecht, Jackson Guards, Dubuque.
Captain J.H. Wallace, Muscatine Light Guards.
Captain R.M. Littler, Davenport Sarsfield Guards.
Captain W.W. Garner, Union Guards, Columbus City.
Captain A.B. Porter, Mount Pleasant Greys.
Captain Ch. L. Matthius, Burlington Rifles.
Captain Robert B. Tedford, Washington Guards, Burlington.
Lieutenant Com'g Finton Doran, Irish Volunteers Burlington.
Captain Fabian Brydolf, Burlington Blues.
Captain James Pumelty, Keokuk Emmett Guards.
Captain Joseph Hays, Davenport City Artillery.
Captain W. Hammond, Tipton Guards.
Captain J.G. Gower, Iowa City Dragoons.
Captain B. Mahans, Washington Guards, Iowa City.
Captain J. Adeshiem, German Artillery, Iowa City.
Captain G.W. Teas, Washington Guards, Washington.
Captain G.S. Laswell, Ottumwa City Guards.
Major J.G. L??man, Burlington Battalion.
Major W. Croucher, Iowa City Battalion.
The object of our convention is to consider and adopt such
military law as may be needed to organize and govern the ???? Formed militia of
the State, and to bring a united influence to bear, to have it enacted at the
next General Assembly.
The representatives will be confined to companies uniformed
and equipped.
Three representatives from each company will be admitted-
they to be commissioned officers if they can attend- if not other members may
fill their places.
All delegates shall appear in full uniform of their
respective companies.
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque co. Iowa
August 25, 1859
Iowa Matters
Benton County - The Republicans of Benton county nominated the following
ticket on the 18th inst.: For Representative, James McQuinn of Cue; County
Judge, John Treanor of Bruce; Treasurer and Recorder, Alexander Runyon of
Canton; Superintendent, Amos Dean of Le Roy; Sheriff, A.H. Seaburn of Big
Grove; Coroner, J.C. Kinsell of Polk; Surveyor, Wesley Whipple of Taylor.
Dubuque County - Distressing Casualty. We learn from the Dyersville
Mercury, that a little son of George Redman of that place, was scalded to
death last week, by upsetting a coffee pot at the table.
Allamakee County - The Waukon Transcript states that on the 10th inst., Mr.
O. Hanson, residing two miles from the county seat, while engaged in reaping
his grain, met with a serious accident. He had a young pair of steers on
the reaper, when they became frightened and ran away, throwing him off in
front of the machine, and the sickle severing the legs from his body, and
otherwise injuring him. Medical aid was immediately procured, and it is
believed he will recover.
Johnson County - John Straub, a lad, was drowned in the Iowa river, two
miles from Iowa City, last Sunday. He fell into the water from a wild
cherry tree, as we learn from the 'Republican'. Geo. Foster, another lad,
was drowned in the same stream last Monday.
Delaware County - York. This berg, located on Lindsay creek, and in Honey
Creek township, was started four or five years ago, but has progressed very
slowly. George Stewart, we believe, was its founder. His brother
William
is now the Postmaster, and the only merchant of the place. John Todd has a
chair factory and wagon shop, and Major Olmstead a steam saw mill. Vulcan
has two followers there, with the "irons in the fire" - sometimes.
Fayette County - J.W. Crosby, and not S.W. Cole, was nominated for School
Superintendent of Fayette county, at the recent Convention at Clermont.
Delaware County - In a recent article on Colesburg, we omitted to mention
the hotel, kept by H.A. Andrews, an attentive and obliging landlord.
Clayton County - A thief was recently arrested seven miles from McGregor,
while stealing a daguerreotype likeness at the house of C.D. Reynolds. So
says the 'North Iowa Times'. The thief called his name J.G. Byers.
Winneshiek County - Calmar. Ten miles south of Decorah, on high and
beautiful lands, is Calmar, a place which we recently visited in company
with J.B. Smith, Esq., of Decorah. Calmar is but the beginning of a
village
and has not very high expectations. Five leading roads center there,
however, and we see no reason why it may not always be an accommodating
point of trade to a certain extent. The country around it is fertile and
rapidly coming under improvement. The place has two merchants, P.M.
Stanberg, postmaster and W.E. Wiehe - both Swedes, we believe; one hotel,
kept by Oscar Grow, a Vermonter; a fanning mill and wagon shop, Robert
Scott, proprietor; one shoe and one blacksmith shop; a brickyard; a school
house, and a Lutheran Church. Dr. T. Rosiene is the druggist and physician
of the place. Mr. Scott is about to erect a three story stone building,
for
the manufacture of fanning mills and for the storing of Reapers, for which
he is agent. Mr. Grow has a stallion, the Green Mountain Morgan, son of
the
old Billy Root horse, and grandson of the Sherman Morgan. His dam was also
sired by the Sherman horse. He is a noble steed, and of the best blood.
Jones County - Thomas Miller, residing about three miles from Anamosa,
committed suicide by hanging himself, on the 11th inst. He was at the time
engaged in hauling logs, in company with a man named Robinson. During the
temporary absence of his companion, he hung himself from a tree top. He
was
undoubtedly laboring under a fit of derangement.
Sabbath School Celebration - We learn from Mr. J. Dayton, of Hardin village,
that a grand Sabbath School celebration is to come off there on the 15th day
of September. Preparations are making for a great turn-out of children and
their friends both from Clayton and Allamakee counties. They will not
doubt
have a good time.
Yankee Settlement is a spot selected a dozen years ago or more, by
emigrants, largely from Western New York. They were drawn to that place by
the excellence of the soil and of the water, and its proximity to the Turkey
timber. The Post office is in Lodomillo township, Clayton county, through
directly on the line of Delaware county. The village is in both counties.
It has one store, kept by J.S. Belknap, Esp., the Postmaster, who has been a
merchant there for several years; a small public house, kept by W.H.
Gifford; a Congregational and a Methodist church; and four or five mechanic
shops. It has a public and select school. The latter is kept by Dr.
D.F.
Findley. He and Dwight Chase are the physicians of the place.
Schuyler R.
Peet, Esp., is the lawyer, and Rev. A. Graves, Congregationalist, is the
only resident clergyman. Judging by the huge stacks of wheat and oats, and
the large fields of corn of the rankest growth, now seen inthat
neighborhood, Yankee Settlement must be a very fertile section of country.
It has long had the name, justly, we believe, of being so. Farms, well
fenced, and under a good state of improvement, are seen from the village in
every direction. The famous Turkey timber starts one mile north of the
village and stretches to Guttenberg, on the Mississippi. The Cattaraugus
boys and other settlers in that Yankee neighborhood made a good selection
for their Western home.