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Mail Service
In
1882 - There is only one post office in the township, that of Solon, of
which C. G. Safford is postmaster since July. Before that Mrs. M.
McCune held the office.
Orchards
Rudolph
Stortzer, on section 6, has an orchard of about 500 trees - mostly
apples of winter varieties. He says the Fulton and Ben Davis are the
best varieties for this climate. Charles Pratt has a fine orchard of
about seven acres.
Grain Mills
Mr.
Pratt relates: "We had to go to mill across Cedar river and on to near
where the town of Tipton, the county seat of Cedar county, now stands.
In 1840 we paid 50 cents per bushel for corn, and hauled it 25 or 30
miles. But it was harder times afterward, when we had grain to sell,
for we couldn't get money for it at any price."
The
first flouring mill built in Big Grove township, was by Thomas Lingle
in 1840, on section 9, on the stream which has ever since
been known as Lingle creek. This mill was built of hewed logs, sixteen
feet square and two stories high. The burrs were made of "niggar head"
stones and found here on the prairies; they ground corn, wheat, and
buckwheat, which were all sifted in the same bolt. The people for
twenty miles around flocked here to get grinding done. The Lingle mill
kept running for eight or nine years. There is now a small mill at the
same place, owned by F. Riddle, a Bohemian gentleman, and is known as
the "Bohemian Mill."
Fine Stock
Charles
Pratt, one mile north of Solon, has a herd of thirty-two pure bred
Short-Horns; he has been engaged about six years in rearing this breed
of cattle. He also has about 600 head of sheep - supposed to be the
largest flock now in the county.
Charles W. McCune commenced in 1876
the breeding of Short-Horn cattle. He bought a herd of twenty-five pure
bred imported Short-Horns, from the well-known Boothe and Bates strains
of this favorite English breed. The pries he paid for this herd ranged
from $150 to $1400 per head. He hash made two sales - the first in
1878, when he sold fifty head of pure breds; the second, in August,
1880, when he sold sixty head. He now (1882) has but nine head left of
the imported thoroughbreds.
Township Fatal Accidents
Peter
Stortzer, who lived on section 6, was killed in April, 1864, by a
harrow falling on him. He was loading it into a wagon, when by
some mishap it fell back, knocking him down and one of the teeth
pierced into his head just by the ear, from which he died in a very
short time. This happened but a few rods west of where Rudolph Stortzer
now lives.
August 14, 1865, Sebastian Heid, son of John Heid,
Sr., was walking on a board in the saw mill on section 28, 2h3n the
board tipped and threw him across a buzz saw which was in motion.
It sawed him completely through from one shoulder to the opposite
hip, of course killing him instantly.
In the summer of 1862, Dr.
Greis, of Solon, saw a storm coming up and went out to fix up his rain
barrel, when he was struck by lightning and instantly killed.
Creeks
In
the early settlement days a Mr. Clarkson fell into an unknown stream.
He said laughingly that he had been "dipped in Jordan." The joke
hitched on so well to the disputes about the true "Bible baptism that
it was kept going; and that stream has been called Jordan creek ever
since.
Mill creek was so called from the first saw mill in the township being located on it, in 1839.
Lingle creek was named after Thomas Lingle, who built a flouring mill on this stream in 1840.
Source: History of Johnson County 1836-1882, pgs 692 - 696
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