The pioneers of Mitchell County came from all parts of the country. Practically every eastern state in the Union was represented. Originally they came, mostly, from the countries of Northern Europe. All of the various religious sects had their advocates. The English were well represented in most parts of the county. The Norwegians, Germans, Czechoslovakians and the Irish came at about the same time and located in different parts of the county. A good example would be the Clausen Colony of Norwegians at St. Ansgar. The people came here from the East, not the North, not the South nor the West, but from the East. They came by way of McGregor and Dubuque across Northeastern Iowa to Mitchell County. It was, therefore, natural for these pioneers, when they were in need of supplies, to go back over the same route they had used to come here; namely, Decorah, McGregor, Waukon and Dubuque.
Pioneers brought with them only the necessities of life. Many men who had preceded their families, wrote back advising them to bring only bare necessities. The clothing they brought with them was worn out before new could be brought from the East. There were no railroads, and shipment was made by horse or ox drawn freight wagons. Accordingly, the original clothing was replaced with homespun and garments made from the skins of animals. In seasonable weather almost everyone went barefoot in order to save their shoes. Finally, moccasins made from the skins of animals were commonly worn. This art had been learned from the Indians. It is said that the Rev. S. W. Ingham, who for many years traveled Northern Iowa as a pioneer Methodist Preacher, was ordained an Elder with moccasins on his feet.
In all things the settlers became self-sufficient. The people of Mitchell were a good example. They built a dam and created water power. They installed a sawmill, bringing it from Dubuque by ox team. The nearby timber was cut and sawn into lumber. A cooper's factory was set up and this lumber made into barrels and tubs and kegs. A flour mill was built. Wheat was grown on the farms nearby and ground into flour at the mill and then packed in the wooden barrels made at the coopers. A woolen mill was installed, and from flax grown in the fields, and from sheep raised on the prairie, flax tow and wool was supplied. From it, fabrics were woven at the mill and from the fabrics; garments were made as well as grain sacks and flour bags. Into these flour bags was also placed some of the flour ground at the mill. The farmers furnished milk and cream from their herds on the nearby prairies. This was brought into the creamery at Mitchell; butter was made and placed in the butter tubs, made at the coopers, and was ready for domestic use and shipment.
All over the county, trees were sawn into lumber from which houses were built. Limestone was quarried for the foundations; lime was slaked from the limestone to make mortar to hold the stones in place, and to make plaster to cover the walls. Even lath and finishing lumber was sawn from the fine oaks, maples and walnuts. So the pioneers of Mitchell County learned to take care of themselves.
When this county was taken over by the white man in the 1850's, it abounded in wild animals of all kinds. As late as 1865 there were straggling herds of buffalo passing through, and small bands of wild horses. Some elk were seen and deer were numerous, providing food for the pioneers and the Indians. The Klemesrud family in the south part of the county, frequently hunted deer, bear and elk. Descendents of the family have placed in the Mitchell County Museum the Norwegian rifle used in hunting this game. Black bears, although not common, were frequently found. In the severe winter of 1857, when traveling was difficult and food supplies were running low, a black bear was discovered by two horsemen and herded towards the settlement of Leo, now Burr Oak. It was promptly surrounded by the men of the town and Alfred Curtis had the honor of bringing the bear down with his musket. That night the half starved residents of Leo feasted on bear meat. There is on exhibition at the Mitchell County Historical Museum a bear trap, the double spring type, which was used to trap bears along the Little Cedar River. It was brought in by a member of the Hultman family.
Early pioneers and travelers through the county stated that the area between the Little Cedar River and the Wapsipinicon River was the wildest part of the county. It abounded in game of all varieties. It was the favorite hunting ground of both whites and Indians. The early settlers did not believe that this area would ever be reduced to farm land.
To quote from T. J. Young; 1911. "There was an abundance of game, such as deer, prairie chickens, and a few elk, and in the fall and spring there were thousands of geese and ducks migrating south in the fall and north in the spring hundreds of ducks and some geese staying in the region all summer. Of fur-bearing animals, the wolf and the wild-cat were the most troublesome, killing sheep, calves and poultry; next to these were the mink, weasel and the coon; the most profitable were the mink, coon, beaver, otter and muskrat. They were very plentiful and their furs brought fair prices. The rivers were well stocked with fish, such as pickerel, pike, bass, rock-bass and suckers. The red-horse was the most plentiful."
A wolf incident worthy of mention occurred during the severe winter of 1857. Eli Schultz a resident of Bull Oak Township discovered towards spring that his supply of flour was exhausted. His neighbors were also low on food supplies. Accordingly he loaded his sleigh box with bags of wheat and drove to Decorah to have it ground into flour. On his return trip he discovered that he was being followed by a pack of timber wolves. He was unarmed and he feared for his own life and that of his horses. He decided to try an experiment. He threw overboard a bag of flour, hoping that it would stop the wolves. It did for a while, but when it was devoured, the wolves came on again. Time after time, all through the night, he threw out bags of flour, to keep back the wolves. At daybreak when he reached his home, the wolves left, but every bag of his flour was gone.
A very valuable species of wild life was the honey bee. They supplied the pioneers with honey, a much needed sweet, in the absence of sugar. Pioneers learned to track honey bees to their homes by noting the direction of their flight from a bed of flowers. They always made a bee-line for their home or hive, which was usually in a hollow tree. The tree was then marked and cut down in the fall when it would be filled with honey.
No account of wild life is complete with-out mention of snakes, which were numerous. There were rattlesnakes, massasanga, blue snakes, garter, water snakes, moccasins and others. All of these except the garter were poisonous to a degree, and the rattlesnake was deadly. It was learned from the Indians that the herb called "Indigo Weed", which grew profusely on the prairie, was helpful in the treatment of snakebite, and was generally used. Men and women commonly wore high boots, when possible, as a protection against snake bite. They also learned that the best cure was not to be bitten at all. The influx of people and the cultivation of the land gradually caused the snakes to disappear. Today, even garter snakes are seldom seen.
The prairies and timber abounded in wild fowl of all kinds, such as, quail, prairie chickens, pheasants and wild turkeys. These were a common and popular source of food supply for the early settlers. All of these except the wild turkey are still found in secluded spots and in recent years the wild turkey has been introduced as a game bird.
One of the great hazards of pioneer life was the prairie fire. In uncultivated areas the prairie grass would attain the height of a man's head and more. In the fall when this grass was dry, it would catch fire easily and burn rapidly. If a wind were blowing, pioneers have stated that a running horse could not keep ahead of a prairie fire. Protection was afforded by plowing furrows around building sites and using green logs in the construction of their buildings. Many of the homes were provided with "look-out towers" on the roofs. These were reached from an inside stairway. From this vantage, prairie be seen a long way off.
Hamlin Garland wrote that as late as 1869 from Burr Oak to Stacyville was one mass of waving grass as high as a man's head. In one fire, the Garland family lost four stacks of grain. It was also said that a furrow was plowed from Burr Oak to Stacyville. When travelers inquired the way to Stacyville, they were told to just follow the furrow. During that period, farmers fenced their cultivated crops and then pastured the rest of the prairie. Their cattle were branded and herded throughout the grazing period. This was particularly true west of the Cedar River which was more sparsely settled.
In the early fall of 1873 prairie fires swept portions of Sections 16 and 17 in southern East Lincoln Township, and caused the death of a 7 year old girl, Liza Cheney. She was the daughter of George B. Cheney and Jane Cheney and the great aunt of the present Lynn Cheney in Osage. This area of East Lincoln Township was sparsely settled and the unbroken prairies were covered with dry grass tall as a man. This adventurous child, Liza, had wandered out in the prairie too far from her house when the fire suddenly came from the west. It was fanned by a strong wind, and advanced at a rapid pace. Before the child could escape, she was enveloped in flames and was dead when her parents found her later. She is buried in the Stillwater cemetery.
Another disastrous fire occurred in Jenkins Township in 1856, after the frost had killed and dried the grass. The fire started in the western part of the township and with a strong wind from the west it raged with great fury. It covered a wide stretch of country, and destroyed the stacks of grain and hay of the few early settlers. Robert Foster lost all he had, except his house. Ed Burke, fearing his shanty would go, caught up his trunk and ran to the middle of a piece of new breaking, where lying flat upon the ground, he nearly suffocated. Mrs. Deremus saved their house, after the supply of water had run out, by pouring milk on the flames.
Probably the opposite of a prairie fire was the blizzard, and it struck suddenly and hard in the open country. There were numerous stories of travelers being caught in blizzards and frozen to death. Sometimes they were not found until the snow melted in the spring. Ann Holbrook Sweney writes of two travelers leaving Holbrook's Inn in the wintertime, after having been warned of an approaching storm. They were caught out on the prairie and froze to death. They were found the following March. A stage coach from the vicinity of Orchard took refuge in the Hitchcock, now the Altick farm house. Another group in a bob sled was caught in a blizzard. The driver turned the horses loose, believing they would find some settlers and bring help. They overturned the sleigh box for a barricade against the storm and thus saved the lives of the passengers. In many cases, travelers would take refuge in haystacks which were common on the prairie. The Garland family in Burr Oak Township kept travelers in their home for three days, while a blizzard raged, in 1873. In the winter time it was common practice to string a rope from the house to the outbuildings. It could be followed to safety in case of a sudden blizzard. On the open prairie a blizzard was much worse than in settled areas today.
The long to be remembered winter of 1856-7 has given ample material from which to write sketches of interest concerning the hardships the early settlers were compelled to endure.
On the second day of December, 1856, Charles Zilk wished to mail a letter, and the nearest post office was at West Union; but by sending the letter to Pettibone, in Howard County, a point 15 miles distant, it would be sent out. August, his son, about 15 years old, offered to carry the letter. They had no team or oxen, so the boy went across the prairie on foot. About the time of his arrival at Pettibone, a fearful storm set in, accompanied by wind and snow. The people of Pettibone, urged him to remain there until after the storm, telling him it would be very dangerous out on an uncharted prairie in a snow storm. But he persisted in making the return journey without delay and set out on his ill-fated trip homeward. He did not arrive home that night and his parents thought he had remained in Pettibone. It was not until the next day that they discovered that he had started for home the day before. The snow was three feet deep on the level, with drifts, and a search was immediately started. The father covered every foot of the desolate snow covered prairie, and did not find the boy's body until the following April, nearly four months later.
Much the same conditions still exist, however. Travelers in automobiles are often caught on the highways in a sudden snow storm or blizzard, and are fortunate to take refuge in some farm home along the road. Often dozens of cars will be stranded in one farm home. In recent years, advance weather reports, improved roads and road maintenance have greatly lessened the dangers from blizzards. Even so, in the severe winters of 1929 and 1936, several were known to have lost their lives in adjoining counties.
Reproduced with the approval of the Mitchell County Historical Society; from THE STORY OF MITCHELL COUNTY 1851 - 1973.
Transcribed in Aug. 2002 by: Neal Du Shane
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PIONEER LIFE MCHS II.doc