first jealousy was between the north and south sides. After this some business houses were built where the jail now stands. Then the business from the north was moved to the south side, and finally the true prophet, in the person of J. H. Sinclair, took the corner now occupied by Mr. Ringhiem. There was also a furniture house, that of Cessna & Frazier, south of the park. Davis & Cory were pioneer merchants at Iowa Center. From all accounts business was run on very primitive and inartistic methods by this firm. Cory was a Baptist exhorter, or preacher, and Davis an awkward, honest, good-natured man, who was afterward elected county treasurer, and generally spoken of as " Uncle Tommy." Baldwin & Young and M. M. & T. J. Ross also were early business houses at Iowa Center. T. J. Ross became county treasurer. F. M. Baldwin has continued in business from that time, and has long been the senior of the firm of Baldwin & Maxwell, a house that has probably done a total volume of business greater than that of any other firm in Central Iowa.
J. C. Sladden did business in an early period at Cambridge and Iowa Center. The Larsons are very old merchants of Fairview (Story City).
The general surface of this county is that of a comparatively level plain. In the early times many people thought much of it too nearly level for general husbandry. It is true that Skunk River flows across the entire length of the county from north to south, and has many miles of tributaries from the east and the west, all of which are so far below the general level as to furnish opportunity for the easy outflow of any superabundant moisture. The same condition is seen on the borders of Minerva Creek, in the northeast, and Clear Creek, in the southeast, but in seasons of excessive rainfall, when the face of the country was covered with the heavy coating of the native grasses as then seen, the wild sod was like a sponge from which the grasses prevented evaporation. There were also innumerable depressions in the general surface, shallow cups of a few square rods in extent, or covering several acres, as the case might be, in which the water would stand throughout the summer. Some of these ponds would have a depth of two or three feet, while others would have but a few inches. But to such an extent did water prevail on the surface that several thousand acres were condemned as swamp and overflowed lands, and so certified and granted by the general Government.
This character of the surface gave the lands of the county for many years an unsavory reputation. Thousands of acres were in reality at that time almost without value for crops of grain or grass. The settlers could see that by the treading of domestic live stock the outlets of these ponds were lowered, and lost their spongy character, and that gradually the surfaces of the ponds were contracting. But to many an emigrant seeking a home the representation that such were the richest lands, and would in time be more valuable than the lighter soils in other counties, was not heeded, and they went farther, often, perhaps, faring worse. The passing traveler, too, sometimes found himself mired in a pond or slough, and went his way deriding and cursing "the frog-ponds" of Story County. All this has greatly changed. The mere settlement of the country has in places turned the quaking bog into a pasture of solid footing. The destruction of the wild sod has opened surface drains that leave the low places dry and firm. Grading up highways and opening roadside ditches have given increased drainage facilities. Above all these perhaps the use of tile in the farms and on the highways has had the greatest effect in