fort was built at the mouth of the Raccoon fork of the Des Moines. Under the last named treaty, known as the "Second Black Hawk Purchase," the eastern half of Jasper County was open to settlement, and was somewhat occupied during the years immediately prior to 1847. This brought the settlement comparatively near to the eastern border of Story County.
The removal of the Indians to their Kansas reservation, in 1846, opened up the greater portion of Central Iowa to occupancy by the whites, but it was not until 1850, and within the year or two following, that there was any scramble for the choice locations in Story County. But about this time people began to pour in from the direction of Jasper County on the southeast, and from Fort Des Moines on the south, the Ballards on one line and Parker on the other, being the advance guard. Thus for about two or three years the settlements in the southeastern part of the county and those on the west were separated by Skunk River and an expanse of prairie that was seldom crossed., each party seeking necessary supplies by the route on which he had found his way into the county.
The matter of securing supplies was one of grave consideration. William Parker states that he went sixty miles to mill. It took him a week to make the trip. Subsequently the neighborhood procured a cast iron mill on which corn could be partially broken up, and it was quite a favor to get a peck of corn cracked on it. Farms were soon opened in both settlements, of which those of the Ballards were the first to afford anything more than was needed by the family. George N. Kirkman was probably the first citizen of the county who raised a crop on his own land, having taken the title from the government April 8, 1851. For several years it was necessary to supply much of the rapidly increasing population with grain and flour from the older settlements. Even as late as 1857 corn was hauled from Marion and Mahaska Counties. The trip would require not less than four days, and in mid-winter the time was often protracted indefinitely by storms and accidents, or casualties to the teams. In illustration of the difficulties to be met with it may be stated that even so light a package as the weekly and semi-weekly mail from Des Moines was at times delayed for fifteen or twenty days. This was not so much from a want of bridges and highways as from the severity of the wintry weather, and from the drifting of the heavy snows in the unchecked blasts on the great prairies. The cold bridged the streams in those times, and the winds and snows obliterated every sign of travel in a few hours. The higher lands might be bare of snow, while the depressions were drifted many feet in depth. If there had been warmth enough to soften the top, and followed by cold enough to make everything solid, loaded teams would travel on the prairie in every direction, without hindrance; but this would rarely happen. At other times it was necessary for the lone traveler to provide himself with a coil of rope and a large shovel, and he might consider himself fortunate if not called on to use them many times during the drive. But the usual precaution was to go in companies of from two to ten teams. In that way obstruction would be rapidly overcome by the larger force, and teams could be doubled or tripled, as became necessary.
In this way trains of corn, flour and bacon were brought from Pella or Oskaloosa, or farther east, and groceries, iron, nails, hardware, stoves, salt, and many of the necessaries and a few of the luxuries of life, were brought from Keokuk, or other places on the Mississippi River. The customary freight charges from Keokuk were $2 per hundred pounds.