Pioneers of Marion County by Wm. M. Donnel, 1872

Part II, Chapter II

Clay Township Continued - Wild Bees - Trapping Wolves - A Wolf Story - Hunting Stray Horses -
Indian Treating the Dead - Postoffice and Postmaster - Small-pox

During the first two or three years after the township was first settled, game was quite plentiful, and the settlers had little or no difficulty in supplying themselves with an abundance of fresh meat. Bees were also so plentiful that it required but little search by persons ordinarily skilled in the art of bee-hunting, to find trees filled with the delicious sweetness culled from a wilderness of wild flowers, by those proverbially industrious workers. And, as there were none to claim exclusive proprietorship of these hunting grounds, the finder of a bee-tree became the undisputed owner of it by right of discovery.*

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*They were so plentiful that the women would sometimes hunt them as a sort of diversion.
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Here, also, as in other parts of the country, wolves were a great annoyance to the settlers. Many of these animals were destroyed in various ways, but they were so numerous that no apparent diminution was observed for some time. One of the settlers had a sow that fell a prey to these ravenous beasts. Such a loss was too aggravating to go unrevenged; so he immediately set a spring trap near the carcass of the hog, so that, in coming to feed upon it, the wolves would be compelled to pass over the concealed instrument, and would be almost sure to put a foot upon it, and instantly find it securely held by a pair of iron jaws. Thus captured, the culprit would submit to his fate with a meekness that might, in the case of almost any animal except the wolf, excite a feeling of pity in the executioner. [It is a somewhat surprising fact that this usually bloodthirsty and often dangerously combative animal, when caught in a trap, and finding itself completely in the power of its captor, will offer no more resistance than a cur, and will humbly submit to any treatment.] Thus quite a number of these mischievous creatures were destroyed.

An instance is related showing the strength and power of endurance of the wolf. It was in the case of a large black wolf who inadvertently put his foot between the jaws of a heavy steel trap, and found it impossible to get rid of the encumbrance. But, by a violent effort, he broke the fastening by which it was supposed the trap was secured. There was a heavy block also attached to the chain, but the resolute animal took trap and block with him, going by a route not very smooth or even. He was tracked by the trail, and found two miles from where he was caught, still persevering in his efforts to escape.

A somewhat amusing story may be in order here illustrative of the daring character of at least one wolf, if not of the tribe generally. It happened on a cold day in winter, as Messrs. Ose Mathews and Wm. Beckwith were, with wagon and team, crossing a small prairie in the vicinity of English creek. Observing a wolf seated near the middle of the prairie, apparently watching their approach with a coolness quite unnatural to this species of the canine race, they concluded to get as near to him as possible in order to discover what was meant by such unaccountable tameness.

Having cautiously driven to within a few rods of him, they halted, quite surprised at the steady, defiant look that apparently gleamed form his wolfish eyes, and showed yet more unmistakably threatening in the snarling, up-turned lip, displaying a set of dangerous looking teeth. As it happened, the adventurers had no gun, else master wolf would have been speedily punished for his audacity. Still they determined to give him a sample of their courage at close quarters, provided the reckless creature persisted in thus challenging them to the combat. For this purpose they unhitched the team and armed themselves, one with a single tree and the other with a neck yoke, and, with all the caution that the critical situation demanded, marched upon the enemy. To their increased surprise the latter still sat unmoved, and the nearer they got to him the more savage he looked. At length one of the men got within striking distance of the ferocious monster, and was just about to deal him a death blow with the neck yoke, when the glassy look of his eyes betrayed the fact that he was already as dead as he could be, and frozen as hard as a horn. The cause of his death was not apparent, but it was probable that some person had seated him in this attitude for some one else to shoot at.

At an early date the want of enclosures in which to secure their animals, compelled the settlers to turn them out upon the range for pasturage. To prevent horses thus turned loose form meandering too far away, they were sometimes hobbled with ropes. But even this precaution did not always prevent them from straying so far as to give their owners no little trouble to find them. In such a vast range full of little valleys, ravines, groves and large forests, the difficulty of such a search may be easily imagined. Mr. D. T. Durham thus relates an instance of his experience in hunting stray horses:

“Having in the fall of 1844, gone to Ft. Des Moines, at the time of the annual Indian payment, in company with Joseph Clark, we lost our horses whilst there. After hunting for them one or two days, we concluded they might have returned home. We therefore came home on foot, but our horses were not there. So I procured another horse, and returned to look after them. On the way up I called early in the morning, at Jordan’s trading house on the river opposite Red Rock, to make inquiries about the trail up the south side of the river, as I had never traveled it. Here they informed me that there was an Indian about to take the trail, and advised me to go with him so that I might have the benefit of his knowledge of it.

“Our preparations were soon made, and my Indian guide mountedh is pony, laden with two small kegs of whisky, one on each side of his saddle, and a large bladder full in his hand, led the way. As we rode along he partook of the contents of the bladder occasionally, but not enough to intoxicate.

“Whilst passing over the undulating prairies, in what was called the “Three River Country,” my guide rode forward at a rapid gait, telling me as he started, that he would wait for me beyond the hill. So I rode along leisurely and, on rounding the point of a grove I came in sight of him. He had dismounted at some Indian graves, and was standing with his head bowed, talking to himself, or perhaps to the spirit of his departed friends. After remaining in that posture a short time, he raised up, took his bladder and poured some of the whisky on the head of one of the graves. Then he would converse a little and pour again. Whilst this was going on I rode up, and would have stopped, but he motioned to me to pass on. I obeyed; and when he overtook me, I asked him the meaning of his conduct at the graves, and if those buried there were his friends. He was not much disposed to be communicative on the subject, but, by pointing to the graves, then to himself, then putting two of his fingers in his mouth, he gave me to understand that they were brothers or near relation.

“My guide kept tolerably sober till towards night, when we occasionally met other Indians, whom he treated, and drank freely himself at every meeting. So, by the time we came within sight of the fort, he had became apparently quite indifferent as to whether he went any farther or not, and I left him ‘alone in his glory.’ “

Next day Mr. D. found his horses in the hands of a party of Indians, a few miles below the fort. The legs of some the animals were severely gaulded by the ropes with which they were hobbled, and the Indians were endeavoring to cure them and with some success. They readily gave them up.

The first post office that was established in this township was at Durham’s Ford in the latter part of the winter, or early in the spring of 1849, Chas. H. Durham, P. M. In 1850 it was moved farther south, to section 4, township 75, and the name changed to “English Settlement,” John H. Whaley, P. M. In 1852 the office was again removed to section 18, with Samuel Brekenridge as P. M., where it still remains under the management of Macklan Copeland. Pola Post Office, section 31, town. 76, was established in 1854, with Joseph Clark as P. M. D. T. Hurham, present incumbent, appointed in 1856. Daily mails east and west between Pella and Knoxville.

In the summer of 1849 the township was visited by the small pox that prevailed to such an extent as caused quite a panic among the people. This was partly owing to its unexpected appearance many being exposed to it ere they were aware of its presence. About sixty cases of it, and of that mild type known as the varioloid occurred, and much suffering was experienced by the afflicted in consequence of lack of attention. So prevalent was the fear of contracting the disease that a number of cases proved fatal. Otherwise the township has been known to be generally healthy, more especially since it has been well settled and the most of its surface reduced to cultivation.

Population of Clay by the United States census of 1870:

Native . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342
Foreign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1372

Transcribed by Mary E. Boyer, 12/06, reformatted by Al Hibbard 12 Oct 2013