John H Douglas, one of the early settlers who had
removed his family to Allamakee County for the winter, came back
to his claim with his family, wagon, team, household goods, and
some livestock. It was early spring, 1872, and the wagon went
well over the frozen ground. But when Douglass and his family
reached the Ocheyedan River, their troubles began. The river was
filled with packed snow.
Before attempting to make the crossing with the wagon, Mr.
Douglass helped his family over on foot and got them to the
Buchman home on the opposite shore. It was evening by then, but
Douglass, a brawny Scot, decided he could get the team and wagon
across before nightfall.
When he started back across the river, however, he noticed that
the snow had begun to soften. It was still strong enough to
support his weight, but would it support the combined weight of
the team and the wagon? He decided against experimenting. But
there was, he thought, a possibility that he could get the team
across and then, by running a long rope back to the wagon, bring
it over afterward.
This he decided to try. He hitched a long rope to the horses, not
wanting to be too near them in case they fell through, and
started across the river. But just then something happened. The
river had broken loose somewhere above him and water began to
rush down about him. In a moment Douglass was up to his neck in
the icy water and could go no farther. Neither could he get back
to the bank that he had just left.
He was rescued before nightfall by the combined help of his own
family, the Buchman family, and H.G. Doolittle and his brother,
who were visiting the Buchmans. The following morning the river
was worse than it had been the night before. But Douglass went
across it, determined this time to succeed in bringing back with
him his belongings. Upon reaching the other side, he hit upon the
idea of making a raft out of Mrs. Douglass' huge red cedar
bedstead. This he did and, with the aid of a rope and the people
across the river, he ferried the most valuable of their
possessions over.
Next he tied the horses single-file and swam them across,
carrying with him a long rope that was tied to the wagon. After
getting the team over he hitched them to the rope and let them
pull the wagon across. But, as the wagon came down the steep
bank, a box on the back of it broke loose and the two pigs that
were in the box ran squealing away through the long grass.
Douglass had to go back across the river again with the family
dog and round up his pigs. By the time all this was accomplished
it was evening again, and the Douglass family was forced to spend
another night at the Buchman place.
Others who had spent the first winter away were also coming back,
and there were many new settlers on the trails. New ground was
plowed and the hills of green prairie grass gave way to the black
of freshly turned soil. Those who had plowed their fields the
year before dragged and cross-dragged the ground and then sowed
their wheat. Corn was planted by hand as before. The women
planted garden seeds and set out onions. Trees were planted and
one nursery was started. Herds grazed on unplowed plains and
hills, tended by a boy or man who received his pay from the
owners of the cattle.
A Fourth of July celebration was held in the hotel barn at
Sibley. A troupe of clowns was there and John Douglass (of the
hazardous Ocheyedan River crossing) added to the fun with his
hilarious Scotch wit. A speaker form Sioux City gave a patriotic
address. It was cold enough that Fourth for coats.
At about this time the county's officials, elected October 1871,
began to make trouble, both for themselves and their
constituents. These officians had authorized themselves to select
the swamplands within the county and to use those lands to raise
county funds. Considering how many claims of the people had
swamps upon them, this was not very good news to the settlers,
who were, for the most part, impoverished veterans who could not
afford attorney fees to fight their land cases in court.
They called a meeting to discuss the problem and blamed J.H.
Winspear, one of the supervisors, for most of the trouble. In
defense of himself he claimed that it was the railroad swamplands
he was after and that he had hired attorneys to help him acquire
them. These attorneys cost the county $6,000 in fees, and it was
guessed that Winspear had also been paid by the county for the
building of schools in out-of-the-way places, schools that later
became residences for some of the people who were friends of the
county officials.
Warrants were being sold against the county for various thinly
explained enterprises. The settlers finally discovered that their
officials had put the county into debt to the amount of about
$20,000. And there seemed to be little chance of the county's
paying these debts because the only taxable land at that time was
a few acres that had been purchased by speculators. The claims of
the settlers were un-taxable until "proved up" and the
railroad lands were exempt from taxation.
Finally a committee of 27 men appointed to get the resignation of
objectionable members of the Board of Supervisors. This committee
visited the home of Winspear one evening, determined to rid the
county of him. But Winspear had been forewarned by someone, and
had availed himself of protection of Sheriff Stiles.
The committee went to the home of another official that evening,
but that man, also forewarned, was not at home. For a time it
seemed there might be serious trouble, and in view of this
Sheriff Stiles deputized several men and armed them, hoping in
this way to keep down violence. This small army of men made its
headquarters at Sibley and were on 24-hour call.
In spite of the situation's graveness, it had its funny aspects.
One day the deputies had congregated in a saloon and had placed
their firearms along one wall. Douglass, the Scotsman, was in
town. He saw this laxness of discipline and decided to unleash a
bit of wit for which he was famous. Calling a friend to him, he
gave the man certain instructions to be followed.
A few minutes later, back in the saloon, the deputies heard an
excited shout of "Fire! Fire!" They went hurrying out
through the door of the saloon as fast as possible in search of
the conflagration. While they were gone Douglass slipped in
through the back door, gathered up all the firearms that were
left, and dumped them through the trapdoor in the floor into a
hole which, perhaps unknown to him, contained about four feet of
water. After that he left town quietly and went back to his
claim.
The committee of 27 men was not successful that year in ridding
the county of undesirable officials. There were many other things
that claimed their time. Waving fields of wheat and oats were
ripe, corn stood tall and green on the land, and vegetables were
plentiful.
The first threshing machine appeared in the county in that year.
It was a crude horse-powered machine owned and operated by John
A. Hass. It had no self feeder, no band cutter, no stacker, and
no blower. But with the aid of this machine the people of Osceola
County harvested over 5,000 bushels of wheat and nearly 5,000
bushels of oats that fall. Later in the season the settlers
picked nearly 14,000 bushels of corn from the fields. Thus
encouraged, they began to buy farm machinery in the hope of being
able to handle still better crops the following year. But money
was extremely scarce, and to get it they mortgaged whatever they
had: livestock, furniture, wagons, and future crops.
The Osceola County Agricultural Society was organized, and it
officers were: President, L.C. Ireland; Secretary, E. Hogan; and
Treasurer, F.M. Robinson. The first fair was held in Sibley on
the steps of the newly finished courthouse. It consisted mostly
of a display of the various crops raised during the year. The
fair lasted two days, October 11 and 12, 1872, and was considered
a success. Here the farmers had an opportunity to talk over their
problems and to exchange ideas of planting, cultivating,
harvesting, and seeding.
The members of the First Methodist Church met a week later,
October 18, to elect a board of trustees for the purpose of
procuring subscriptions for the building of a church. By the end
of that year they put up a building 22 by 50 feet square and 16
feet high. I was clear of debt except for $300 which was to be
paid off at the rate of $100 a year, beginning January 1, 1875.
Compiled by the Iowa Writers' Program for WPA in Iowa
Transcribed by Kevin Tadd