CHAPTER 2
THE WAGONS ROLL IN
In 1847 Osceola County was part of a large unsurveyed
section of land called Fayette County, which contained some 20
future counties of Iowa.
By an act of the Iowa Legislature on January 15, 1851, all
unsurveyed lands in the State were to have their county
boundaries definitely established. Thus a group of men went into
Osceola County during the spring of the year to mark out and plat
the borders, sections, and quarter sections.
Due to the absence of trees, the township corners were marked by
mounds of earth about four feet in height. The sections and
quarter sections were marked in a similar manner by lesser
mounds, and still more were built up along the State boundary to
the north. Small posts of red cedar were set into these mounds
with figures cut into them to indicate the section, township, and
range.
But settlers did not come. Osceola County was known to the people
of Iowa as the "great American desert." There were no
trees, and there were no roads on which lumber for homes could be
shipped in. What about the soil? Would it be possible to raise
crops there? Could a man grow crops where trees didn't grow? No
one wanted to take up land there and then find out that crops
could not be raised on it. Another consideration that discouraged
settlement during the next several years was the danger of
Indians. For it happened that the only Indian massacre in all of
Iowa had occurred a few miles east of Osceola County. This was
the Sprit Lake Massacre in 1857, in which 46 men, women, and
children were murdered by the Sioux Chief Inkpaduta and his band.
Osceola County might have gone on for many more years without
attracting settlers had it not been for the Railroad Grant of
1865. At this time, Congress passed a law granting the St. Paul
and Sioux City Railroad a right-of-way through the county. But
the State of Iowa would not give a grant of land to a railroad
company from the State of Minnesota, and the State of Minnesota
would not grant land on its territory to a railroad company from
Iowa.
This deadlock was finally solved when a company called the Sioux
City and St. Paul was organized at Sioux City, and another, the
St. Paul and Sioux City was organized at St. Paul. In this way,
the Sioux City company received a grant of land extending to the
Minnesota line, and the St. Paul company received a grant
extending to the Iowa line. There they joined.
The preliminary surveying of the Sioux City and St. Paul land
grant was begun during the summer of 1866, and the news of it
spread through all of Iowa and many of its neighboring states. So
far, the only people who had set foot upon the soil of the county
were the travelers, explorers, surveyors, or lone trappers who
occasionally came into the county during the winter to trap the
fur-bearing animals that frequented the marshes and streams.
The Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad Company grants included all
the even-numbered sections of land for ten miles on both sides of
the proposed railroad, and this land was held for sale by the
railroad company at a cost varying from three to five dollars an
acre. The railroad company would not, however, sell land to
eastern speculators. They held it for settlers; settlers along
the railroad would mean more business and more shipping.
The homestead law was in effect, also. Anyone desiring a
homestead in Osceola County could obtain not more than 160 acres
by proving in writing that upon a certain date he had entered
upon the land with intention of occupying it for actual
settlement and cultivation. This affidavit had to be accompanied
by a few of ten dollars, after which the settler was allowed time
to get settled upon his chosen homestead and to make improvements
on it. Five years later he could "prove up" on his land
and get a clear title of ownership.
Strange as it may seem, Osceola County was named for the noted
Seminole Chief, who brilliantly commanded his warriors in their
struggle against the United States until he was captured by the
United States forces and died as a prisoner in Fort Moultrie,
Florida, in January 1838. It is a long way from the everglades of
Florida, Osceola's home, to northwest Iowa, but his memory lived
after him and the story of his heroism traveled far. The settlers
liked to talk about his exploits and about the romance that led
to his marriage with the Creek Indian Princess, Oskaloosa.
As they set about their hearth fires on wintry evenings, the
pioneers wove legends about the colorful chief and his bride.
According to one of these stories, the chieftain's bride was
named Lucy, and she was said to have been a Negro slave girl who
had worked for an aristocratic family in the south. Upon coming
north as the bride of Osceola, she began to feel the strength of
her position as the wife of a chief. In her tent beside a trail
near the site that was later to become Osceola, Lucy held
afternoon "teas" for whoever would come. She was hailed
as the welcoming and entertainment committee for all weary
travelers who passed her door.
Thus Osceola and his tribe became well known throughout Iowa.
Travelers would give directions to reach a certain place by
saying, "Take the right fork of the trail when you come to
Osceola's and Lucy's tent." Or, "It is a day's journey
south of Oskey's and Lucy's'."
Later, many actually believed the Indian and his wife had come
north and that the city of Oskaloosa got its name by the
combination of Oskey and Lucy. In reality, however, the city was
named directly for the wife of Osceola, though the warrior had
never set foot on Iowa soil.
By the beginning of 1870, Osceola County had been named and
surveyed, the railroad that was soon to cross the county had been
carefully planned, a land office had been setup at Sioux City,
and the homestead law was in effect. But still no one had driven
his wagon into the county in the actual search for a home.
In the fall of 1870 a lone wagon came slowly across the grassy
plain. It was driven by Captain E. Huff, a soldier who had fought
with the Northern armies in the Civil War. He had heard of the
great stretches of land in Osceola County, and had heard of the
railroad that was soon to cross this territory. Here, perhaps, he
could find the home that he wanted.
Captain Huff brought with him, from Sioux City, food supplies and
enough lumber to build himself a shelter. He came in from the
south, and followed the general course of Otter Creek to the
northwest. Once he passed the sod hut of a lone trapper who had
come in for the winter in quest of forbearing animals. That lone
trapper was the only man Captain Huff saw.
A few miles up the stream from the trapper's hut, Captain Huff
came to a place where the right-of-way of the proposed railroad
came near to the banks of Otter Creek. Here the ground was black
and rich, with a sandy subsoil that would make the spot ideal for
the growing of small grain. There was abundant water and forage
for the horses.
Captain Huff unhitched his team and set to work. During the days
that followed, he built his shelter from the lumber he had
brought along. It was a crude shack, with neither floor nor
windows, but it marked the beginning of the settler's attempt to
tame the wilderness of which Osceola County was a part.
After having finished his crude house, Captain Huff did not waste
time on the banks of Otter Creek. Winter was coming on, there was
no fuel to be had, and the flimsy structure he had put up would
offer but slight protection against the bitter cold for which the
county was noted. Hitching up his team again, he went westward
into Lyon County to spend the winter with friends.
The following spring he went south to Sioux City to file his
claim at the land office. While there he met C.M. Brooks, who was
planning to go into Nebraska in search of land. Brooks, however,
on hearing Captain Huff's glowing account of Osceola County, gave
up the idea of the Nebraska venture and decided instead to go
into Osceola County.
Several of Brook's friends were depending upon his report
concerning Nebraska soil, and he wrote letters to them explaining
the change in his plans, and at the same time inviting them to
meet him in Osceola County that spring as soon as they could get
packed and get away.
When Huff returned to his claim that spring, he found that
another man had moved into the vicinity. This was A.H. Lyman, who
later became know as "Windy Jake" because of his
lengthy conversation.
A.H. Lyman made the trip into the county from Wisconsin early in
March before the frost was out of the ground. He brought no
lumber with him, and was therefore forced to build a shelter from
what material the surrounding country offered. He set to work
with his team, cutting long strips of the tough sod from the
earth. "Snaking" the widest and heaviest of them to the
spot he had selected for his residence, he made a square
"foundation" of the thick strips. One after another, he
piled other strips of sod upon this foundation until he had the
walls of his home built up to a suitable height. Then he brought
back the sturdiest willow poles he could find along the banks of
Otter Creek and crisscrossed them across the top of the walls.
Over these poles he piled great quantities of slough hay to serve
as a thatch roof.
When the house was finally completed, it was far from beautiful.
There was an open square hole in the east wall which served as a
window, and a larger hole in the south wall to be used as a door.
The walls themselves were dirty, grassy, and uneven, and the
thatched roof resembled a low-crowned haystack.
W.W. Webb, C.L. McCausland, and M.J. Campbell responded to the
letter they received from C.M. Brooks and were among the first
new arrivals in the county that spring. Webb and McCausland made
the trip in a covered wagon drawn by oxen, M.J. Campbell came
with Brooks. They brought their equipment by rail to LeMars,
where they purchased a team and a wagon for the rest of the
journey. The four men met at Captain Huff's shack beside Otter
Creek, and went from there to section 8, township 99, range 41, a
few miles north of Huff's. There they laid claim to all of
section 8, each man filing upon a quarter of the section.
During the early part of May, many white-topped wagons rolled
across the wide prairie. These prairie schooners were built for
the most part in eastern manufacturing canters. They were very
large and deep for those who could afford the best equipment, and
approximately four feet wide across the base of the wagon box.
To see one of these wagons at a distance as it rolled across the
prairie was indeed an inspiring sight. At some points the tall,
wind-ripped grass shut the oxen completely from view and the
white-topped wagon seemed to roll and pitch along the very top of
the waving grass like a tiny ship on a wind-swept sea. When the
wagon reached a stream it actually became a scow, for the
water-tight box of the wagon permitted it to be floated upon the
water.
These early settlers brought with them as many of their
possessions as possible. One man brought with him in one wagon,
besides his wife and eight children, three trunks, two sets of
work harness, several bushels of potatoes, two dozen hens, a
sheet-iron stove, many iron pots, numerous kettles, and enough
feed to last the team for the extent of this journey.
Whenever the travelers sighted a lone hut or shack, they stopped
to visit and to inquire about the new land. A.H. Lyman's little
sod hut was the scene of many of these stop-overs, and on some
nights the entire floor of the sod house was covered by sleeping
people.
There was an early spring that first year. Thousands of brants,
ducks, geese, and sand hill cranes fed along the small streams
and lakes. The marshes were rife with cattails, water lilies, and
tiger lilies. Plovers and meadowlarks sent out calls from the
tall grass upon the hills.
H.G. Doolittle and James Richardson from Floyd County drove into
Osceola County and stopped one day at Captain Huff's shack, where
they spent the night. The following morning they took their
leave, and, following Captain Huff's directions, finally laid
claim to two quarter sections of land in section 24, township 99,
range 41.
John H. Douglass brought his family and all his belongings from
Wisconsin by wagon. After laying out a claim on section 14 and
making some improvements, he removed his family to Allamakee
County to avoid the rigors of the winter.
Mr. John Neff brought his family into the county from Ohio and
located on a homestead east of the site of the future town of
Gilman. Among the members of his family was his daughter, Adorah
Annette Neff, 13 years old.
On the long trek from Ohio, Adorah Annette had watched the
country unfold before her, her eyes ever scanning the broad
prairie ahead, wondering what new sight might lie in wait for her
just over the next knoll ahead. Sometimes, when the constant
jolting of the spring-less wagon grew too much for her, she
walked through the tall grass beside the plodding oxen, stopping
now and again perhaps to pluck a wild flower or to mimic the song
of the lark.
At times, when the wagon was stopped to rest the oxen, the entire
family would climb down to the ground and walk around to limber
up cramped muscles. In early evening the oxen were unhitched and
allowed to graze upon the lush grass, water was carried from the
nearest stream, and the family gathered about a tiny campfire to
prepare meals from the food brought along in the wagon or shot by
the trail.
Adorah Neff dreamed at night about the new home and the new land
that lay somewhere ahead of her. She was to watch this country
grow out of its wilderness and to see the maturity of Osceola
County.
Compiled by the Iowa Writers' Program for WPA in Iowa
Transcribed by Kevin Tadd
