Ames Intelligencer. We have in all seven presses, and have seven papers published, weekly, in the County; one at Maxwell, one at Cambridge, one at Ames, one at Story City and three at Nevada. We now have a postoffice at Sheldahl Crossing—April, 1887. Of the postoffices that are of the past. I will name: Camden, Goshen, Johnson Grove, Point Palestine, Willow Grove, New Philadelphia, College Farm and Boardman.
We now have near or quite forty-one church buildings in the County, and a membership of nearly or quite 4,000 members.
We have about seventy organized Sabbath schools. We have 135 or more school houses, besides the nine High or Graded school buildings and the "Iowa State Agricultural College." There are several common school buildings, substantial brick structures.
The High School buildings at Nevada, Ames, Cambridge, Maxwell are substantial houses, built of brick. The High School building at Nevada, cost $22,000; the one at Ames cost $16,000.
We now have five flouring mills of good quality making good flour. We have some others, but of inferior quality. We have now seven or eight tile factories; we have six or seven creameries. We have a good foundry, doing an extensive business. We have now in Story County a population of about 20,000 persons. We also have good schools, probably no better in any county in Iowa. We have a county of good and productive soil. For stock raising and shipping our products of all kinds, we are at home. We have an enterprising and happy people. We have a county that is loyal to our laws with but few exceptions. We gave on the twenty-seventh of June, 1882, 1,921 votes for the "Prohibitory Amendment to the constitution of Iowa," and only 553 votes against it. This vote would seem to indicate something of our moral standing. Good for Story!
But now I will connect this prosperous condition with the hardships of 1853 to 1860 we had to undergo, and it will make a complete contrast in our history. As already said in this chapter, and elsewhere, we've seen the bleak prairies, the wolf, the "Injun" and the "Elephant," (or that other animal,) but will enumerate some things we done in the early times. We eat up our money, what little we had, by sending teams and our money for corn, flour and bacon to Oskaloosa, Pella, Iowa City and elsewhere. The teams, after sloughing down many times, would get back with something to eat, but the money did not return. So we eat our money in that way when we had any to eat. Why those who came here since the war commenced and who are complaining of hard times, such know but little of hard times such as the early settlers can tell what we had to endure then. We had in 1851 a population of 836 persons—403 of them females. In 1860 we had 4,051 population, 1,955 were females. In 1870 the population was 11,651. In 1880, 16,906. At the present time it will nearly or quite reach 20,000.
But I will get back to 1853 and to 1860. We then had trouble to get away with teams, and trouble to get back again. You would