Mr. Fred. Eckard, residing three miles north of Ontario, was one of the earliest settlers of Story County, having lived here over thirty years. He says he spent nearly all his early life on the frontier, and claims he " never was in a school room in time of books."—(Feb. 4, 1886.)
Yesterday morning the thermometer indicated twenty-eight to thirty-two degrees below zero according to location. That is quite comfortable, particularly close to a red hot stove.—(February 4, 1886.)
The Mississippi river, for sixty-five miles in the vicinity of St. Louis, is blocked with ice.—(February 5, 1886.).
John Thompson, president of the Wolf Creek Coal Company, Collins, was in town Monday, and reported the coal prospects good. —(February 10, 1886.)
GROVES FOR STOCK.
This winter is bringing home to the minds of thoughtful farmers the necessity of groves. Many farmers in the Northwest are provided with natural groves, and these men are fortunate in having this natural protection for stock in the severe storms of the present winter. But even then there would be a great improvement if the north and west sides of every stock yard were lined with a good grove of evergreen trees. It is a matter of astonishment that these have not been long since provided. It can be accounted for only on two grounds—one the impression that evergreens were hard to raise, as well as high priced, and the other that their value as windbreaks has not been appreciated until the stock interest obtained its present development. ]'Put whatever may have been the mistakes of the past, there is not a year to be lost. The stock interest will develop every year. Severe winters and heavy snows seem to have come to stay. The work of protecting our stock in this way is a work, in the language of the catechism both of "necessity and mercy." The quicker we set about it the better. —(February 10, 1884.)
The tax of the Northwestern Railroad in Story County for the year 1885 amounted to $8,122.34.—(February 10, 1886.)
We have the change at last. Mr. M. Swartout took charge of the Post-office on Monday February 1, 1886.—(Story City, February 10, 1886.)
Extremes of the weather for the season have been experienced during the past week. Thursday morning was perhaps the coldest of the season, the thermometer, at eight o'clock, registering thirty