of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 260-262
THE OLD GUN MAKER. Among the hunters of the '60s the first name which comes to our mind is that of George Terry, the old gunmaker, the man who made the first big swivel gun. With this gun placed in the bow of his boat and a number of tree branches nailed to the side of the boat he floated down the river looking like a veritable floating island. In this way he approached near enough to wild brant and geese to do great havoc when he turned the swivel gun loose on them. Many of his makes of hunting and carving knives are still in use in Muscatine. Ed Kertendall and Malin Brown were among the first builders of hunting boats and were great hunters. Captain Downer, Noah Fiauk and "Old Man Blough" were famous pilots and ferried the boys across the river and up the different sloughs.
"Old Uncle Billy" Parvin, with his extra long rifle and his spectacles had the record for bringing squirrels from the highest trees, while "Grandpa" Chambers, father of the Chambers Brothers, owners of the sawmill, was in the same class.
Hiram Gilbert with his brother and Vincent Chambers brought to Muscatine many a fine deer and proudly exhibited it at Graham's corner on Second street. George Sheeley, with his brothers Andrew and "Snider," with their ox team were a close second with interesting exhibitions of freshly killed venison. Ben and William Mull and Lon Fox hunted deer in those days in the Illinois bottoms and at one time caught a fawn on Blanchard's Island, which they sold to Jacob Bowman, the hack man. It lived for a number of years at Bowman's barn.
Another famous deer hunter was Jacob Horr, who kept a baker shop in the neighborhood of George Eichenaurer's cigar store on Second street. "Jake" hung out in front of his store, as a result of his excellent marksmanship, many wild geese, but his "long suit" was wild deer.
Madison Stein, son of John G. Stein, proprietor of the hotel known in early days as the Pennsylvania House, then located at the corner of Chestnut and Walnut streets, delighted in hunting and had in his possession a collection which was captured alive, comprising eagles, wild geese, wolves, coon, prairie chickens and opossum. This collection he offered to P. T. Barnum, but the latter declined the offer.
Captain Fisher, the owner of the steamboat Pearl, which sank at the mouth of Eagle Slough, afterward spent the rest of his life where the boat went down, hunting. Just across from this point is the Walton bar, where the Walton brothers, great geese hunters, bagged their famous piles of geese. John Stark was also a great goose hunter in his day. Clough brothers, all three of them, were famous hunters. One of them still living will even to this day go hunting upon the slightest invitation. The Clough brothers have brought to Muscatine all kinds of game, from snipe to deer.
Colonel William B. Keeler, colonel of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Regiment, was among the nimrods of the '60s. His dignified and military bearing could be seen in company with Charles Draper hunting duck, woodcock and prairie chicken. The colonel today still retains the military bearing and can be seen at the corner of Madison street and Wabash avenue in Chicago in the jewelry store of H. W. Graves & Company, of which he is a partner.
Barney Beil was not only a hunter but also a great factor as the best gunsmith, who knew all the boys, knew their guns and knew their peculiarities. Benjamin Hershey, G. A. Garrettson, Charles Draper, Dr. McAllister, Sr., J. Richardson, William Halstead, Richard and Peter Musser and Major Warfield, with their fine English guns and their spotted dogs, could be seen in these bottoms hunting wild pigeon, woodcock and duck.
C. L. Mull, Sr., and Ben Middleton, with their high leather boots and brown, liver-colored pointers, also hunted here. George Leffingwell, Ben Beach, Amos Schott, Aul Lenhardt, Gal Bitzer, Albert and Charles Barrows, Adam Hettinger, Jake Worst and Andrew Kirsch were famous geese and duck hunters.
Among the other hunters of the '60s were Henry Beckman, Michael Braunwarth, Conrad Kranz, J. A. Bishop, Jacob Miller, Julius Molis, Mr. Leffler, John Lantz, Ed Hoch, Joe Berrick, "Butcher" Koehler, Chris Ruckdeschel, George Lamar, Giles Humes, Mr. Painter, Jack Leffingwell, Charles Kessler, F. H. Wienker, Adam Hacker, John Watson, Yates Washburn, Charles Stroupe, Sr., John Ake, Bill Delaney, Ben Brower, Lambert Skinnkle, Henry Smull, Dr. Walker, Charles Mauck, Johnnie Bowman and brother, Colonel Horton, Fred Dayton, Charles McCampbell and Charles Winnig.
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