NATION 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Shelf ..U'.^-E-g 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
THE 
 
 Rise and Progress 
 
 or 
 
 Civilization in the Hairy Nation, 
 
 A COMPARATIVE TOPICAL REVIEW OF THE STA(iES OP PROGRESS 
 IN THE BRIEF HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY, IOWA. 
 
 By henry C. ETHELL. 
 
 BLOOMFIELD, IOWA: 
 
 H. C. ethell; 
 
 REPUBLICAN STEAM PRINT; 
 
 1883. 
 

 Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1881^, by 
 
 HENliY C. ETIIEI.L, 
 in the oiTiee of the Librarian of Congress, at VVasliington. 
 
 K^^^Hl 
 
To 
 T. O. WALKER, 
 
 The Editor 
 
 Who Published My First Production, 
 
 Twelve Years Ago, 
 
 This, 
 
 MY FIRST BOOK, 
 
 Is Inscribed in Grateful Remembrance 
 
 By 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 This is a book, and nothing else. There are 
 no advertisements in it. It has not been eon- 
 structed or modified to please or displease any- 
 bod3\ I think the title fairly describes the book : 
 that it is what it professes to be — a picture of civ- 
 ilization, in its rise and in the various stages of 
 the short period of its progress, in Davis count}', 
 Iowa, otherwise "the Hairy Nation." The plan 
 of reviewing each topic, from the beginning to 
 the present, separately, seemed to me the best, 
 as affording the best hope of holding the interest 
 of the reader to the end. 
 
 The history of the settlement of the United 
 States may be divided into three periods, as dis- 
 tinct in manner as in time. The first covers the 
 settlement of the Atlantic coast and a fringe 
 west of the Alleghanies. During this period 
 the white race was forcinir an entrance into the 
 
wilderness, b}' rude, unaided strength ; the 
 greater part of the continent lying before, an un- 
 known and dreaded countr}'. The second pe- 
 riod covers the settlement of the country from 
 the Ohio to the Missouri ; when the white inhab- 
 itants of the United States were secure in their 
 mastery of the continent, and were steadil}' 
 pushing the Indians and the wolves before them, 
 mile by mile ; and the railroads and other new 
 and powerful agents of civilization were closely 
 following, and supporting their march. The 
 third period, the one now in progress, covers the 
 settlement of the open country west of the Mis- 
 souri ; where the railroads have gone in front, 
 and where a great proportion of the settlers 
 have gone at one leap from the heart of Amer- 
 ican civilization, carrying with them most of its 
 aids and comforts and some of even its luxuries. 
 The settlement of this region belongs to the 
 second of these periods. It was, as we may sa}', 
 the edge of the woods, where the pushing pi- 
 oneer paused and shivered awhile before he 
 plunged into the wide and windy prairies. The 
 pioneers of the first period are dead. The set- 
 tlers of the new countries of to-day know no 
 experience like that of the settlers of this coun- 
 
VI 
 
 try. The settlement of this region has no coun- 
 terpart in the memory of persons now living. A 
 review of its progress may then be worthy of 
 the attention of the present inhabitants. Since 
 the work is not confined to the narration of local 
 incidents, it will also serve as a picture of the 
 early history of a great region settled under like 
 conditions. 
 
 The author is a child of the Hairy Nation. 
 His life spans the greater portion of its history. 
 The rest is supplied by the stories which his 
 wide-open ears drank in around the wide, open 
 fireplace where he toasted his baby shins and 
 his mother toasted his johnny-cake. Most of the 
 changes he describes took place under his ob- 
 servation. I think these changes must impress 
 such a person more than any other. He had 
 never known any other country. The woods 
 that skirted his native prairie were the boundary 
 of the world to him. The continual changes 
 wrought before his eyes in the face of this little 
 world filled his mind with constant wonder. As 
 he grows older, and learns something of the 
 great world outside, the world of his childhood 
 dwindles to a patch ; and that patch, like the 
 patch on his boyhood's pantaloons, is nothing 
 
Vll 
 
 like the original. The contemplation fills his 
 mind with sadness. The later sojourners know 
 but little of these changes. Even the pioneer 
 had known another country, and perhaps a dif- 
 ferent life. His coming into the countr}' was 
 his own premeditated act. He came into it 
 with his eyes open. The changes have been in 
 a measure the work of his own hand. They af- 
 fect him, but not as the}' affect his children. 
 
 This little book is not designed to take the 
 place of a history ; yet wherever I could, with- 
 out departing from the plan of the book or 
 swelling its size too much, bring out a historical 
 point that seemed to have been neglected, I have 
 tried to do so. Where I have made specific 
 statements of facts, I have taken as much pains 
 as I could afford to secure accuracy. The fol- 
 lowing authorities have been consulted in the 
 preparation of the work : The Bible, the Amer- 
 ican Cyclopaedia, United States history, "Our 
 Wild Indians," Col. Moore's Centennial History 
 of Davis County, C. C. Nourse's Centennial Ad- 
 dress, the recent patent "History of Davis Coun- 
 ty," stray copies of the Annals of Iowa, old 
 newspapers, the traditions of pioneers and a good 
 memory. H. C. E. 
 
\111 
 
 LIST OF TOPICS. 
 
 Period of Discovery . 9 
 
 Our Predecessors. , .^ . . , 13 
 
 The Dawn of Civilization. ............ 24 
 
 The Hairy Nation .... 28 
 
 The Capital of the Nation. . . . . . . . . . ... 33 
 
 Building ... ^6 
 
 Dress 50 
 
 Home and Social Life 63 
 
 Courtship and Marriage 72 
 
 Religion 79 
 
 Education 82 
 
 Agriculture 93 
 
 Roads 1 01 
 
 Business 115 
 
 The Nation in War 1 29 
 
 Politics 137 
 
 The Press 141 
 
 Apologies . 1 44 
 
9 
 
 PERIOD OF DISCOVERY. 
 
 'HE first hundred pages or so of all the 
 histories of the United States which I 
 have read seem to have been printed from the 
 same set of stereotype plates. When I was a 
 small boy, I studied the history of my country 
 at school. As I recollect the course of the 
 earlier part of the narrative, it seems to run 
 thus:^ — First comes the quotation from Genesis: 
 '' In the beginning God created the heaven and 
 the earth.'"* Here the historian dismisses Heaven, 
 as being a country which has never established 
 direct diplomatic relations with the United States; 
 and henceforth his narration is confined exclusive- 
 ly to atlairs of Earth. The second chapter closes 
 with the incident of Noah and his family going 
 to the mountains for their health, to escape the 
 malaria which prevailed in the valleys, and the 
 unusual circumstance of their going 'by boat. 
 
lO 
 
 The third tells how the children oi^ men made <i 
 house-raising and built a tower; and what a con- 
 i^usion the}^ made with their tongues — a habit 
 wiiieh the children of men have to this day. In 
 the fourth chapter, the historian speculates wisely 
 concerning the lost tribes of Israel. The tifth 
 chapter, by another step, brings us to Olaf, the 
 Dane; and the sixth to Columbus. When the 
 narrator reaches Columbus, he gets down to real, 
 solid business. By the time the Revolutionar}' 
 period was reached, the term was ended; and 
 when the next term opened I had to go into a 
 class with a beginner, who had another kind of 
 history, and then we went over the same thing 
 again. 
 
 I do not know that an}'bodv ever disco\'ered 
 the Hairy Nation. The early records do not 
 disclose the name of the discoverer. The period 
 of occupation is limited; but the mind of a true 
 and loyal citizen of the Nation cannot conceive 
 of a time when it was not here, or when its 
 existence was not known. Its location was most 
 probably determined by mathematical rules, after 
 the manner of the discovery of Neptune. Its 
 existence was necessar} to complete the harmon}' 
 of nature. 
 
11 
 
 In very early times, the Hairy N>ition was 
 tributary to France, though there is no account 
 of the collection of tribute within its borders in 
 those times. France traded it to Spain, and in 
 the Inst }'ear of the last century Spain returned 
 it to France. In its earlier years, the go^'ernment 
 of the United States was always wanting to get 
 more land; latterl}', it has seemed to have more 
 than its people needed, and has been ceding large 
 tracts of it to the railroad kings. When Thomas 
 Jefferson was President of the United States, Mr. 
 Bonaparte, Consul of France, having a lot of 
 wild land out this wa}- on which he was not able 
 to pay taxes, and wishing to be on good terms 
 with our go\'ernment, proposed to deed to Mr. 
 Jefferson the whole of the Hairy Nation, with 
 all the circumjacent territory, extending from 
 the Gulf of Mexico to the country claimed b}- 
 Great Britain, and from the Mississippi Ri\er to 
 the Pacific Ocean ; and Mr. Jefferson paid him 
 fifteen million dollars for it. 
 
 About twenty years ago, an early immigrant 
 from Missouri, then an honored member of the 
 Baptist church, related at the table of one of his 
 brethren, in my hearing, a narrati\'e substantially 
 as follows: An earl}' explorer from Missouri, on 
 
12 
 
 his return from this region, described it as a land 
 of perpetual spring ; the streams by which it 
 was watered (or rather milked) flowed with a 
 mixture of milk and honey; on their banks grew" 
 dumpling trees, whereon ripe dumplings grew at 
 all seasons of the year; and all that the happy 
 sojourner had to do to support his existence was 
 to shake the dumplings into the prepared "dip'' 
 in the streams below, and eat. Those halcyon 
 days do not belong to the historic period of the 
 Nation. The dweller within its borders in these 
 times eats his bread in the sweat of his face and 
 in the syrup of sorghum and in the gravy of the 
 hoir, like other men. 
 
i:> 
 
 OUR PREDECESSORS. 
 
 rZ^ 
 
 (M^PVEN the most accurate accounts of the 
 ^^t' Indian tribes are much confused. Ever 
 since the whites began to deal with them, the 
 tribes have been continually shifting their loca- 
 tions. We presume ^it was so in a smaller degree 
 before; and we are apt to think these changes 
 have been greater among the tribes inhabiting 
 our own portion of the country than among 
 those inhabiting the portions settled earlier and 
 more thoroughly treated by historians. 
 
 The central and larger portion of the territory 
 now embraced within the limits of the State of 
 Iowa was occupied at an early da}' by the Indian 
 tribe from which the state derived its name, an 
 Algonquin tribe of secondary rank, allied to the 
 Sacs. But these were not the real aborigines 
 of Iowa. They came from somewhere east of 
 the Mississippi. Even the Pawnees, who pre- 
 
H 
 
 ceded them, and the Pottawattomies, who were 
 nearly parallel with them in the retreat before 
 the ad\-ance of civilization, came from locations 
 much to the east of us. When our present ter- 
 ritory tirst became known as an organized part 
 oi the domain of the ITnited States, the explored 
 portions of it seem to have been occupied prin- 
 cipall}' by the Winnebagoes and Sioux : the 
 former in the east, and the latter in the north; 
 the lowas and Pottawattomies having been 
 crowded farther to the west. These two tribes 
 had formerly occupied the same relative positions 
 bordering on the lakes. The early white settlers 
 of southern and eastern Iowa found the ground 
 occupied b}' the confederated tribes of Sacs and 
 Foxes. The Winnebagoes had been pushed 
 more to the north, and the Sioux were still stub- 
 bornly contesting the northern ground in their 
 retreat to the west. The Pottawattomies oc- 
 cupied the southwestern part of Iowa. 
 
 The Sacs and Foxes were of the great Algon- 
 quin famil}' of tribes, which in early da}'s was 
 seated on both sides of the eastern part of the 
 great lake chain. These two tribes appear to 
 have been united in the latter part of the last 
 century. They were separate when the whites 
 
15 
 
 iirst kne\v them. They were not among the 
 most powerful tribes in numbers ; but in theii- 
 nr.tural state they were very warHke and enter- 
 prising. The Foxes were one of the few tribes 
 that had engaged in wars with the French. vSo 
 long as these tribes remained in the neighbor- 
 hood of the British, the}' were under the in- 
 liuence of the latter. They w^ere the allies of 
 the British in the w^ar of 1812; and thev were 
 generall}' hostile to the people of the United 
 States, even after the nominal cessation of hos- 
 tilities between our government and Great Brit- 
 ain, so long as they remained within the reach 
 of British influence. The influence of the Girt3\s 
 also extended to them, and incited them to hos- 
 tility. These tribes took part in Pontiac's war 
 and in his siege of Detroit, in 1763. Under the 
 lead of Black Hawk, the}' furnished a part of 
 the British and Indian force which attacked Ma- 
 jor Croghan at Fort Stephenson, in 18 13. 
 
 The Indians w^ith w^iom the earl}' settlers of 
 Davis count}' were acquainted were nearly all of 
 the Sac tribe. The principal band of the Foxes, 
 under Appanoose, was just to the north, and 
 some individuals of that band w^ere seen here. 
 Black Haw^k was a Sac. He did not inherit the 
 
t6 
 
 hiofh rank he held in the confederacy as a war- 
 rior. He was the son of the "medicine chief/' 
 or chief magician, of his tribe. A recent writer 
 says that Black Hawk held the same position. 
 It is certain that when his father was killed, he 
 rescued the '^nedicine'"' bag, which was nothing- 
 like a pill-bag, and carried it through the tight. 
 But few men on this continent ever conducted 
 warlike operations covering so great an extent 
 of territor}' and embracing so many different 
 enterprises as those of Black Hawk. They 
 extended from Lakes Huron and Erie and the 
 upper Mississippi to the Meramec and the Char- 
 iton in Missouri, and ransfcd throu^'h the states 
 of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and 
 Missouri. Besides the soldiers and citizens of 
 the United States, he warred against a dozen 
 Indian tribes, some of whom scarcely knew each 
 other, and of whom the Sioux in the north and 
 the Osages and Cherokees in the south were the 
 extremes. Although he was the foremost war- 
 rior of the Sacs and Foxes for many years, and 
 led not only their warriors but those of other 
 tribes in the "Black Hawk war," it does not 
 appear that he ever was the head chief of either 
 tribe. Before Black Hawk's death, Keokuk was 
 
^7 
 
 the head chief of the Sacs, and Appanoose of 
 the Foxes. This ma}^ be accounted for by these 
 circumstances : It seems that the head war chief 
 and the head council chief of the same tribe 
 were often different persons, independent in their 
 separate functions. Keokuk, who was about 
 fifteen years younger than Black Hawk, was, in 
 his younger days, a dashing and skillful warrior. 
 He won his rank parti}' by his success in war;^ 
 and partly by his subtle power as an orator 
 and councillor. After he had established his 
 ascendency in the council, he seems to have re- 
 lied mainly upon his influence there. At the 
 time of the Black Hawk war, he understood the 
 real situation of his people better than Black 
 Hawk did. Besides this, Keokuk had established 
 his ascendency as a councillor; Black Hawk had 
 established his as a warrior. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, it would be just as natural for Ke- 
 okuk as for a white politician to endeavor to 
 restrain the people from going to war. Black 
 Hawk lived on Rock River, Keokuk on Iowa 
 River. The great body of the two tribes lived 
 on the other side. Black Hawk urged the people 
 to go to war. Keokuk tried to persuade them 
 to cross over to his side. There was a division. 
 
i8 
 
 Black Hawk led the majorit}' of the warriors 
 into the war; the rest remained with Keokuk on 
 this side of the Mississippi. It seems that the 
 majority of the Foxes foUowed Black Hawk, 
 though their chief, Appanoose, opposed the war; 
 while the majority of the Sacs stayed with Ke- 
 okuk. Most of the younger Sacs went to war; 
 most of the older Foxes sta}'ed at home. After 
 Black Hawk's defeat, when the war spirit had 
 been crushed out, of course Keokuk's influence 
 was paramount. The policy of the government 
 may have contributed somewhat to this result. 
 Black Hawk died within the present limits of 
 Davis county, beyond the Des Moines, in 1838; 
 and was buried there according to the customs 
 of his people. Although the legs of civilized 
 men have been exposed to the ceaseless swing of 
 Time's relentless scythe for the period of more 
 than forty years which compasses the histor}' of 
 the Hairy Nation, the burial-place of this un- 
 tutored savage still holds the proud preeminence 
 of having received the mortal remains of the 
 most distinguished man that ever found sepulture 
 within its borders — shall I say the most distin- 
 guished that ever had a residence there? This 
 rude grave received, but could not hold the bones 
 
19 
 
 of the chief. A white man stole them from their 
 resting-phice, to serve the interests of science and 
 civiHzation; and other white men, who interposed 
 the arm of the hiw, at the soHcitation of the dead 
 man's sons, to rob the thief of his pre}', instead 
 of restoring- the bones to the claimants or to 
 their original grave, transferred them from a 
 doctor's closet to a museum! 
 
 From seeing the name Sac in the new^spapers 
 and geographies, people now commonly pro- 
 nounce it Sack. Among the pioneers it was 
 pronounced Sock. I am not versed in the Indian 
 languages, and do not know where this form of 
 the word originated. It is doubtless a modifica- 
 tion, through the sound, of "Sauk,'"' which seems 
 to have been the proper Indian name. The In- 
 dians who were here called themselves ^'Sauk-dd/"* 
 with a heavy accent and guttural pronunciation 
 of the last syllable. The termination ''ee^' seems 
 to have been an afhx with a magnifying power 
 — in this case expressive of the greatness of the 
 individual applying it to himself. If a white 
 man meant to call himself "mashockee Saukee,'"* 
 (big Indian), he would pronounce his own name 
 mellifluousl}', thrusting his thumbs into the arm- 
 holes of his vest and rising on tiptoe just as he 
 
20 
 
 Uttered the last syllable. In the minds of the 
 Saukees, a Saukee was the perfeetion of ereation. 
 Even their brethren, the Foxes, with whom the}- 
 were associated in all their affairs, were a little 
 inferior. If there was anything doubtful in their 
 history, or any transaction upon which a white 
 man might look with disapproval, that had been 
 done by an irresponsible Fox. 
 
 The Saukees who were personally known b}' 
 the pioneers of the Hairy Nation are described 
 as a well-formed people, about the same average 
 size as the whites ; straighter, more handsomel}' 
 proportioned, but not so brawny. They seemed 
 perhaps, on the average, a trifle taller, because 
 they were straighter. They were generally of 
 a light, agreeable copper color. Their features 
 were more reofular and less harsh than the fea- 
 tures of the Indian are now generally described. 
 The later descriptions of the Indians mostly rep- 
 resent the plains and Pacific coast Indians. The 
 Saukees sprang from a diflerent stock, and had 
 never experienced the extreme squalor that 
 entered into the life of some of the western In- 
 dians. Sickly persons were rarely seen among 
 them. Sick Indians, like the truly good, die ear- 
 ly. The men were habitually chary of speech. 
 
21 
 
 but fluent and animated when occasion prompt- 
 ed. The squaws were as talkatixe and curious 
 as their white sisters of to-day. In action, the 
 men were deliberate and dignified, but prompt 
 and decisive. The Indian's motto was: ''Never 
 do to-da}' what you can put oti' until to-morrow."" 
 But when the time came when a thing must be 
 done, he went at it and had done with it. Not 
 with a tug and a sweat, as a white man would; 
 but in the most direct manner of doing it that 
 an Indian knew. The squaws were steadily 
 industrious. 
 
 This was a corner of the possessions of the 
 Sacs and Foxes for the few years between the 
 Black Hawk purchase and the extinguishment 
 of their title to these lands, May ist, 1843. 
 During that time, the Indians who frequented 
 these parts had the w^hites for neighbors on two 
 sides. The ''disputed strip'' on the south was 
 claimed by both Iowa and Missouri, and the In- 
 dians had a claim which was equivalent to Iowa's 
 claim. On this account, this strip was occupied 
 by both whites and Indians prior to the date 
 named. The early settlers on this strip had the 
 best opportunity to form a general acquaintance 
 with the Indians. Here, on the North Fabius 
 
22 
 
 .'ind its branches, Keokuk and his band made 
 their winter camp, even before the sale of their 
 lands. They continued to return to these camp- 
 ing grounds until the fall of 1845. When the} 
 settled at their winter camping ground, they cut 
 down a great number of lin and slippery elm 
 saplings, for their ponies to browse upon through 
 the winter. The next winter, these saplings 
 served them for fuel. In the spring, when the 
 sap of the sugju* tree rose, they broke camp and 
 removed to Grand River, to make sugar. The 
 summer was spent mostly in roaming about. 
 
 At the time Keokuk finally left these parts, 
 he was, according to history, about sixty-tive. 
 The settlers who knew him say he did not look 
 so old. They familiarly called him ''old K.'' 
 He is described as a tall, portly man, dignified 
 and rather surly in his bearing. He kept a half- 
 breed (Saukee and French Canadian), a small, 
 shrewd, sprightly man about forty, named Bat- 
 teese, for an interpreter and secretary. Keokuk 
 was a shrewd trader, even knowing what a dol- 
 lar was worth; but it was beneath his dignity to 
 parle}' and chaffer as a man must do in trading 
 with white men. Batteese was his spokesman and 
 agent in all business and personal intercourse 
 
with the whites, though e^'idently acting under 
 Keokuk's directions. Keokuk was famous as an 
 orator. He was one of the most distinguished 
 orators who have ever honored the precincts of 
 the Hairy Nation with their presence. Perhaps 
 he was the most successful, since by his timely 
 eloquence he stemmed the tide of a famous and 
 admired warrior's influence, and rescued a great 
 part of his tribe from that warrior's disastrous 
 leadership — a task much more difficult than that 
 of exciting men to do something to their hurt. 
 Like many another man famous for talents that 
 strongly enlist the emotions, Keokuk died the 
 death of a drunkard. 
 
 In the fall of 1845 ^^^^ ^^^ spring of 1846, 
 the Sacs and Foxes were removed to Kansas. 
 The body of the tribes is now settled on a res- 
 ervation in the Indian Territory. The Musquau- 
 kee band, an offshoot of the Saukee tribe, owns 
 a small tract of land in Tama county, Iowa, and 
 makes that its home, though individuals and 
 small parties of the band roam about, making- 
 visits to Western Iowa, and even to their breth- 
 ren in the south. Including this band, the tribes 
 now number something over one thousand per- 
 sons. 
 
-H 
 
 THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION. 
 
 |T^OM an official point of view, the dawn 
 of civilization for the Hairy Nation at 
 arge was the dawn of the morning of the hrst 
 day of Ma}', 1843. By the terms of a treaty 
 made the year before, the Sacs and Foxes on 
 that day resigned the title to their lands to the 
 United States government. Here was the east- 
 ern limit of their possessions. To speak with 
 precision, the treaty took effect at the midnight 
 previous ; and hundreds of white families were 
 w^aiting on the border, ready to break over the 
 line the moment that hour arrived, and secure 
 the choicest tracts of land, without regard to the 
 presence or the feelings of the former propri- 
 etors. When the sun rose on that morning, the 
 Indians prepared to leave a land which was no 
 longer theirs, and where they were alread}' so 
 rudely jostled b}' newcomers who had no better 
 
23 
 
 individual title than their own. When their 
 horses had been packed, and all was in readiness 
 for the journey, it is said that the whole tribe, 
 including even the bravest warriors, unanimously 
 wept as they took a lingering farewell look at 
 the beautiful grounds where many a time and 
 oft they had hunted the bounding deer and 
 brought the fierce ground-hog to bay, and upon 
 the beloved streams upon whose banks their 
 children and themselves had played, perhaps, for 
 generations; and when their eyes were blinded 
 with the welling tears, they withdrew them from 
 the landscape, set their faces westward, and be- 
 laboring their half-fed ponies into a start, took 
 up their solemn march toward the setting sun, 
 which at that time was supposed to set about 
 the Grand River hills. It was a scene like that 
 which the poet has so feelingly depicted as "The 
 Last Sigh of the Moor.'^ Would that I were a 
 poet! This story is true; for it is told in all the 
 histories of the state, and in the histories of 
 every county in this '^purchase.'' We talk of 
 our love of country. Many a white famih' 
 whose half-dozen children had all been born in 
 these same beautiful regions, has loaded its 
 household effects into a wagon, and with the 
 
26 
 
 dog trudging along underneath and the cow tied 
 behind, started lor Kansas, with no demonstra- 
 tion of grief except a few tears at parting from 
 ''her people ; '' often cursing the land which had 
 nourished them ; and leaving behind an unpaid 
 bill for subscription to the local newspaper. Such 
 is the ditierence between the Indian and the 
 white man, betw^een barbarism and civiHzation. 
 But there were settlers within the present 
 limits o': Davis county six years earlier than 
 this. The Black Hawk purchase, wdiich in- 
 cluded Van Buren count}', took in with it a 
 narrow strip of the present territory of Davis 
 county, four miles wide at the southern bound- 
 ary and coming to a point at the north. This 
 was opened to settlement in 1837. ^ wider 
 strip through the whole southern part of the 
 county was disputed between Iowa and Mis- 
 souri. The purchase was bounded by the limits 
 of Iowa. The claim of the Sacs and Foxes 
 was involved with the claim of our state. The 
 squatters who settled on the disputed strip held 
 their claims under the shadow of Missouri's 
 assumed title ; although, inconsistently, most of 
 them claimed to be citizens of Iowa. Although 
 they were reall}' trespassers on Indian land, the 
 
27 
 
 government troops would not dri\e them off so 
 long as the title was disputed and in doubt. 
 Settlements were made on this strip as early as 
 1839. It being more extensive than the eastern 
 strip, the hea^'iest of the earh' settlements of 
 the county were on the south. This disputed 
 strip included the original '^Hair}' Nation." In 
 view of the facts just stated, it ma}' be said that 
 tlje sun of civilization rose upon the southeast 
 corner of the Hairy Nation, apparentl}^ frorn 
 some point opposite in Scotland count}^ Mis- 
 souri. From this point, at its first appearance 
 above the horizon, it sent out two unequal 
 streaks of light, one along the southern, and the 
 other along the eastern border of the Nation ; 
 until, by the fulfillment of tloe treat}- with Ke- 
 okuk, it surmounted the last barrier, and flooded 
 the whole Nation with its benio'nant ra^'s. 
 
28 
 
 THE HAIRY NATION. 
 
 I HE name "Hairy Nation^' was originaHy 
 applied to a small district in Wyacondah 
 township, about the forks of Wyacondah Creek* 
 or "the Waucondaw," as the early settlers called 
 it. The origin of the name is accounted for in 
 various ways. One account is that in the moun^ 
 tainous regions of Tennessee there was a settle- 
 ment known as "the hairy nation,-^ from the 
 rough, unkempt appearance of the men ; and 
 that some Tennessee immigrants transferred the 
 name to this locality, because of the similar ap- 
 pearance of the men. Another account is that 
 when a settler from Indiana went to his first 
 house-raising, he was struck by the general rude 
 and shaggy appearance of the men, and re* 
 marked to them : "You are the hairiest set of 
 men I ever saw;'^ a remark which caused the 
 tribe to adopt the name "Hairy Nation.'' A 
 
29 
 
 third account is that one of those migratory 
 Hoosier families that used to move to a new 
 countr}' one year, and back to Indiana the naxt^ 
 gave such an account^ on their hrst return, of 
 the grisly appearance of the inhabitants of the 
 district in question that their acquaintances gave 
 it the name of the ''Hairy Nation."*^ The cer^ 
 taint y of the matter is that the name w^as given 
 on account of the rough, unkempt appearance 
 and rude manners of the men. 
 
 Wolf-skin caps, buckskin hunting-shirts and 
 other semi-barbaric articles of dress were fre- 
 quently worn by the ruder men of the Hairy 
 Nation. Wolf-chasing was a favorite pastime* 
 The pugilistic code of honor was universally 
 recognized. Every man, large or small, was 
 supposed to consider himself the best man, phys- 
 ically, that creation had ever produced, and to 
 be ready at all times to resent the direct asser* 
 tion of any superior claim. If a man were re* 
 strained by a wholesome modesty from asserting 
 his claim, his more powerful and more ambitious 
 friends avoided in his presence any pointed asser- 
 tion of superiority that would call upon him to 
 tight; but a man who aspired to be a champion 
 must never allow any other man to boast of 
 
physical superiority in his presence without tig'ht- 
 ing\ whether he had any other cause of quarrel 
 with the other man or not. Puo^ilistic bouts 
 were not contested according to the rules of the 
 London Prize Ring or of the Marquis of Queens- 
 berry, but according to the iTiles of the Hairy 
 Nation. The tight generally took place in the 
 presence of spectators, and the}' generall}' formed 
 a circle around the contestants. Sometimes a 
 rino- was drawn on the o-round. No o:loves were 
 used. The men might have their seconds, but 
 there was no bottle-holding and no sponging of 
 the battered contestants between rounds. The 
 seconds did not examine their man, at the close 
 of a round, and determine whether they should 
 throw up the sponge. It was very important to 
 determine accurately the precise point of time 
 when the losing man was thoroughl}' whipped. 
 In order that this point might be arrived at with 
 the utmost nicety, the victim himself had the 
 first right to declare it, which he did b}' uttering 
 the simple word "enough.''^ The abbreviation 
 " ^nough" was allowable in extremit}'. Prompt- 
 ness in uttering this magic word sometimes saved 
 a man's e3'eballs. In a light under the code, a 
 man must ha\'e no weapon in his hands. Ari}^ 
 
use of them was fair until the beaten man had 
 cried ''enough;'^ he must not be struek after 
 that. Old Joe Carter was the king of the IlairN' 
 Nation. He kept a paek of hounds, and was 
 the leading wolf^chaser and champion fighter. 
 Several men disputed his title to the champion- 
 ship, but alwa}'s with disastrous results. He 
 was a man of only medium size, but compactl}' 
 built, strong and wiry. He was a hard hitter, 
 and had the courage, tenacity and cruelty of a 
 buil-dog. He had no tender scruples about 
 using an}' means, under the code, of disabling 
 his antagonist. Gouging the eyes was his favor"^ 
 ite method. 
 
 The name -Hairy Nation^^ soon came to be 
 applied to the whole township of Wj'acondah. 
 As it became known abroad, the undiscrimina^ 
 ting outer barbarians tinally applied it to the 
 county; and so it is used to-day. The inhabit^ 
 ants of the original Hairy Nation have kept 
 pace with those of the surrounding regions in 
 the march of .civilization. They occupy about 
 the same relative position now that the}' oc* 
 cupied forty years ago. As the wolf disappeared, 
 the fox and raccoon took his place; and the chase 
 o: these animals is still occasionally indul<?ed in. 
 
32 
 
 The wild turkey is no longer plentiful enough 
 for general sport, and there is a law against 
 shooting him at eertain seasons of the year, or 
 catching him in pens. So his domesticated 
 brother is plucked from his perch and tied to a 
 stake, to afford exercise for the bold hunter's 
 marksmanlike skill. There is no law against 
 that. 
 
 The county of Davis was organized March 
 1st, 1844. It was named in honor of Garret 
 Davis, member of Congress from Kentucky, 
 because he had introduced a bill in Congress to 
 pay the Iowa militia for their services in the 
 boundary war. Cheap honor! The bill did not 
 pass. The first county election was held April 
 1st, to choose county officers. The officers 
 chosen were : Samuel W. McAtee, Wm. D. 
 Evans, Abram Weaver, Commissioners ; Miles 
 Tatlock, Probate Judge ; Calvin Taylor, Treas- 
 urer ; Franklin Street, Commissioners' Clerk ; 
 Israel Kister, Recorder ; Gabriel S. Lockman, 
 Surveyor ; Greenbury Willis, Assessor ; For- 
 tunatus C. Humble, Sheriff; Wm. McCormick, 
 Coroner ; Geo. Titus, Sealer of Weights and 
 Measures. Willis immediately resigned, and 
 Samuel Evans was appointed in his stead. 
 
33 
 
 THE CAPITAL OF THE NATION. 
 
 HEN the Hairy Nation threw open its 
 doors to the home-seekers of the world, 
 naturally the possession of real estate in the future 
 capital became a prize much sought by adven- 
 turers. Several parties had made locations near 
 the geogi'aphical center, basing upon loose sur- 
 \eys and favorable ground their expectations of 
 securing the location of the county seat upon the 
 site of their selection. In the winter preceding 
 the organization of the county, the rivalry con- 
 centrated upon two opposing sites : one where 
 the town of Bloomtield now stands, and the 
 other some distance northeast, across Fox River, 
 in the edge of Perr}- township. Dr. J. J. Sel- 
 man was in the Senate, and Andrew Leech in 
 the lower House of the Territorial Legislature, 
 which was in session that winter. Dr. Selman 
 relates that a bill, introduced bv Mr. Leech, 
 
34 
 
 locating- the county seat of Davis county* at 
 Richmond, the northern site, having passed the 
 House, came up in the Senate. He prevailed 
 upon the Senate to lay it on the table. Petitions 
 in behalf of both sites came pouring in. They 
 kept coming until the number of petitioners for 
 each site exceeded the number of voters in the 
 count}'. The lists had been sw^elled by cutting 
 the names from all the old road petitions that 
 could be found. When the proper time came, 
 Selman introduced a bill providing that the lo- 
 cation of the count}' seat should be determined 
 by the vote of the people of the county at the 
 spring election ; and it passed. The location of 
 the county seat was an issue in the election of 
 County Commissioners. The direct vote on this 
 question resulted in a majority of betw^een thirty 
 and forty for the Bloomfield site. 
 
 The Legislature had appointed Charles H. 
 Price, of Van Buren count}', Thomas Wright, 
 of Henry county, and John Brow^n, of Lee 
 county, to locate and establish the seat of justice. 
 On the 25th of April, 1844, these men met with 
 the County Commissioners at the house of No- 
 ble C. Barron, the only house on the town site, 
 to ratify the choice of the electors. Each of the 
 
35 
 
 County Commissioners had a different name h\ 
 whieh he wished to designate the eapital. Me- 
 Atee had chosen Jefferson ; Evans, Bloomtield ; 
 and Weaver, Davis. The names were put into 
 a hat, and the clerk drew^ from the hat the sHp 
 containing the name of Bloomtield. And so the 
 town has been called to this day; and will be, 
 doubtless, until the cows shall come home, and 
 time shall be no more. 
 
36 
 
 BUILDING. 
 
 The Lodge in the Wilderness. — The winter 
 tent or house of the Saukee was not a mean 
 structure. It was more artistic, more sightl}-, 
 cleaner, and for general purposes more comfort- 
 able than some of the habitations of the white 
 settlers in the prairie regions. The framework 
 was of small poles, set in a circle, which formed 
 the circumference of the house, and crossed at 
 the top. Over this was stretched a covering of 
 mats. They were usually made of a kind of 
 flags, but sometimes of the tine, strong inner 
 bark of the lin or bass wood tree. The mats 
 were tightly seamed together. For all such 
 purposes a thread of well tanned buckskin, or of 
 the sinews of deer, or of the same lin bark, was 
 used. For their sewing the Saukee women used 
 a bone needle of their own making. The mats 
 were so closely woven that a house covered 
 
37 
 
 with them could hardl}' be penetrated by wind 
 or water. The houses were comfortable, even 
 in cold or blustering weather. A small tire was 
 built exactly in the center, so as to let the smoke 
 escape through a small aperture at the top of 
 the lodge, where the poles crossed. Around 
 this tire sat the Indian men, when they were at 
 home, making a stool of their feet. The outer 
 space was usually carpeted. The carpeting was 
 principally mats of the same material and con- 
 struction as those with which the house was cov- 
 ered. Sometimes, to help out, they used their 
 "meskimetahs,*" or flat satchels, made of dressed 
 skins. Such a house they called an ^'ekiop.'' 
 
 The Log Cabin. — For many years after the 
 first white men settled within the present domain 
 of the Hairy Nation, the settlements were all in 
 the timber. Of course the houses were all built 
 of logs. That would be considered a great 
 waste of material now. The material was plen- 
 tiful enough then ; generall}' it was not the ab- 
 solute property of the builder ; and that method 
 of converting it to the required use was the onh' 
 one suited to his facilities and conveniences. 
 
 When a newcomer had taken a claim and de- 
 cidq^l to put up a house on it, all his neighbors 
 
•^8 
 
 came to help him build it. A neighbor was an\' 
 man whom he or his new friends knew, and who 
 ^\'as near enough to be reached by an invitation. 
 An invitation to a house-raising was something 
 which no man could slight, and the occasion was 
 l^iiled as a frolic. It gave the prospective house- 
 liolder a chance to become acquainted with the 
 old-timers, who had been in the country a year 
 or two. The old settlers generally initiated the 
 newcomer by relating the trials and hardships 
 of their first experiences, and possibly added an 
 account of some hard scrapes through which 
 the}' had gone ''back w^here they came from.'' 
 If he could match them, he was at once accepted 
 as a promising citizen. 
 
 Usually the house-builder had his logs cut and 
 notched before the day of the raising, sometimes 
 not. A man who was generall}- careless or un- 
 skillful would show it in the selection of his ma- 
 terials. Then men wx^re not building for poster- 
 ity. The builder had no title to his land, and 
 there w^as no certaint}' that a house would be 
 wanted in that place ver}' long. Logs of oak, 
 elm, lin and hickor}' would sometimes be put 
 into the same house. The\- rotted unequall}', 
 and some of them in a \cv\ short time. Most 
 
39 
 
 of the early houses were built of round logs. 
 Often the bark was not taken off. The next 
 touch of art was to score the logs lightl}' on 
 two opposite sides, and chip off a narrow strip. 
 It was a great advance beyond this to hew the 
 outside and inside of the logs. A neat hewer 
 would make a sort of charcoal paint, pour it 
 into a notch in a log, blacken a string with it, 
 and strike a line to hew by. The spaces be- 
 tween the logs were "chinked,'^ and daubed w^ith 
 mud. If the house were built of round logs, it 
 would generally be chinked with slivers or an}^ 
 loose sticks. If it were of hewed logs, and 
 more care was to be taken, the chinks would 
 be split with soine nicety. In the year 1845, 
 a hewed-log house, chinked with split sticks 
 cut to even lengths and all laid with the same 
 slant, and ''pointed" with lime, was as grand 
 a monument of culture as a two-stor}' ba}' win- 
 dow with a magnolia in the lower story is in 
 the year 188^. 
 
 The roof of the house was made of ri^'en 
 boards, held dow^n by ''weight-poles." Large, 
 straight, sound burr oak or white oak trees were 
 often set apart for board-trees, and carefully pre- 
 served for years, by a farmer who had hopes of 
 
40 
 
 some da}' building a barn or another room to his 
 liouse. The chimney was built outside the 
 house. The base was a large square, built of 
 large, tlat stones, or of logs, with a lining of 
 stones. The stem of the chimne}' was a square, 
 hollow tower, built of split sticks, with the inter- 
 stices tilled and the inside plastered with clay. 
 As the clay dried, cracked and fell out, the 
 sticks frequently caught tire; and the family tire 
 department turned out in full force, with gourds 
 and buckets of water, to check the conflagra- 
 tion. The chimneys of the early prairie houses 
 were somt^times built of sod. The fireplace 
 projected into the house, and was laid with 
 large, flat stones. The house was usually 
 floored with hewed puncheons, of oak, lin or 
 ash. Sometimes the floor was of earth, beaten 
 down with a maul. 
 
 The house rarel}' had more than one room. 
 I cannot trace the brush arbor for summer cook- 
 ing back to the very earliest daysf The cook- 
 ing was often done outdoors in summer. There 
 were no stoves. Besides the house, there was a 
 log smoke-house, a small log stable for a span of 
 horses, a log pen to hold the fresh ashes, and a 
 "gum'' (section oi a hollow log) or a clapboard 
 
41 
 
 ash-hopper for leaching ashes for soap-making. 
 These, with two or three rail pens for stock, and 
 possibly a covered pen for corn, comprised the 
 buildings. The angle formed by the chimney 
 and the wall of the house was sometimes en- 
 closed for a pig-pen. 
 
 Sometimes a justice of the peace, or a man 
 who aspired to set up a sort of baronial estate 
 on extensive land claims, built a double cabin. 
 This was two cabins, built ten or tifteen feet 
 apart, and connected b}' extending one roof over 
 both and over the intervening space. This space 
 was called an entry. Luxurious people often 
 paved the entry with flat stones. In other cases, 
 a walk of hewed logs was laid between the 
 doors of the two cabins, and another from the 
 entry to the panel of fence prepared for a 
 "getting-over-place.'^ This panel was always 
 topped by a flat, sway-backed rail ; and care 
 was taken in building it that all the cracks 
 should be large enough to admit a good-sized 
 human foot, encased in heavy shoes. 
 
 Whenever it was possible, in the construction 
 of an}^ of the buildings, hickor}' pins, solid or split 
 and wedged, as their use required, were made 
 to serve instead of nails, hinges, and latches. It 
 
42 
 
 is almost needless to sa}' that all fencing was of 
 rails. 
 
 The Shed Kitchen. — After a few years, when 
 two or three ten-acre additions had been made 
 to the nucleus of the farm, and two or three 
 ten-pound additions had been made to the nu- 
 cleus of the family, the housewife began to say 
 that she must have some place to cook. She 
 was tired of cooking out of doors in summer, 
 and of running over men's legs in winter, when 
 she was in a hurry to lift the lid from the oven, 
 to see if the bread were burning. So an ad- 
 dition was built to the main house, in the shape 
 of what is called in some parts of the countr}' a 
 '4ean-to,'' called here a ''shed.'' It was a light 
 frame, sided usuaWy with clapboards. The 
 structure was low, and the roof formed a slight- 
 1}' elevated tail to the main roof. The new 
 houses built at this time were mostly built with 
 this same loose-jointed attachment. About this 
 time, also, the farmer began to build a similar 
 shed upon the rear of his stable, to serve as a 
 lying-in hospital and nursery for a cow or half a 
 dozen ewes. 
 
 At this time, the opening of farms on the 
 prairie had become general. Each prairie farm- 
 
43 
 
 er endeavored to secure a ten or twenty-acre 
 tract in one of the heavily timbered regions. In 
 the abundance of grass and the sparseness and 
 smallness of farms which had been the rule 
 hitherto, cattle had found no excuse to become 
 breachy. Jumping into an enclosure had been 
 like breaking into a prison. Now the nine-rail, 
 staked-and-ridered fence came into vogue. Oc- 
 casionally a farmer, impressed with the idea of 
 economy in the use of timber, constructed the 
 greatest of all abominations in fence-building, a 
 fence composed of alternate panels of ten-foot 
 and four-foot rails. Fitful experiments in the 
 cultivation of hedges began as early as this. 
 
 The Frame House. — When the steam saw- 
 mill came in, the frame house became general. 
 The prevailing style was still a two-room house, 
 with the hip-shot roof. Native lumber was used 
 throughout. The heavier frame-timbers were 
 usually hewed, and well braced. Plastering 
 soon came into use for the best room, but the 
 kitchen was usually ceiled with lin or cotton- 
 wood lumber. Chimneys began to be built of 
 brick, inside the walls, and narrower. The 
 crook-necked, smoking chimney was introduced 
 into the country about this time. The shaving- 
 
44 
 
 horse came in to supplement the froe, and build- 
 ing-s were generally covered with shaved shin- 
 gles. The word "barn^' became rooted in the 
 dialect of the Hairy Nation in this era. Hith- 
 erto, no kindred word but '^stable^^ had been 
 needed. The more enterprising prairie farmers, 
 tired of hauling rails, began to build plank fenc- 
 es of native lumber. 
 
 Many a bowed and decrepit citizen of the 
 Nation yet looks back to this time with regret 
 for the precious years of his prime wasted in the 
 chimerical attempt to convert the abundant elm 
 timber of the country into useful building mate- 
 rial. For many years it was the favorite sheath- 
 ing lumber for houses. For this purpose it was 
 sawed very thin. Then it was leaned against a 
 fence to season. After one sunn}' day, the hol- 
 low of one broad plank would hold water enough 
 for a washing. The next day the plank was 
 turned, and warped back. On the day appoint- 
 ed for rooting the house, the work began at sun- 
 rise. Two men worked on the roof, and a bo}' 
 was stationed to watch the lumber. Whenever 
 he reported that a plank was warped back far 
 enough to be nearly straight, it was seized and 
 nailed fast. For extracting nails from a fence- 
 
45 
 
 post, no machine has been Invented which can 
 beat an elm plank. Six bits a hundred feet, or 
 half the lumber, was the price of sawing in those 
 days. The slabs went to feed the furnace. 
 
 The (Pine Era.— The advent of railroads 
 made pine lumber plentiful. The overworked 
 farmer soon began to consider it cheaper to buy 
 his lumber where he did his other trading, and 
 haul it home, than to cut and load heavy logs, 
 haul them to and from the mill, wait on the 
 iniller^s convenience to saw them, and throw in 
 the timber to boot. It was not long before the 
 houses throughout, and most of the fences, were 
 built of pine. The light balloon frame and the 
 cottage roof became the prevailing style of arch- 
 itecture. The tireplace had almost entirel}' giv- 
 en way to the stove ; and the old-fashioned win- 
 dow of twelve eight-by-ten panes was replaced 
 by taller windows with larger glass. From this 
 time forward, no farmer could hold a position of 
 any prominence in his community unless he had 
 a story-and-a-half pine cottage. If stock-raising- 
 formed a principal part of his business, he must 
 have a large frame barn; and if he occupied the 
 very front rank, it must be a ''bank'' barn, paint- 
 ed red. 
 
46 
 
 The Court House Era. — I designate the brick 
 and stone age of the Nation by the name of its 
 proudest monument. Of course brick was used 
 in house-buikling, in a small way, at an earh' 
 day. There was here and there a dwelling- 
 house built in whole or part of brick, even in 
 the country, awa}' back almost to the tradition- 
 ary aofes, when Martinis Hotel is said to have 
 been built. Every few years a brick business 
 house was built in Bloomtield, and one was built 
 in Drakeville at a comparatively early day. 
 The years 1874-5 and 188 1-2 were notable 
 building eras. They have left the circuit of 
 the public square of the town of Bloomtield 
 almost solidly built up with substantial brick 
 structures, of two or three stories, most of them 
 having solid stone foundations and ornamental 
 fronts. The numerous large dwelling-houses 
 erected in these years have been built in a style 
 in keeping with the business houses. The more 
 thrivinof villaji'es and country communities have 
 followed the lead of the capital. 
 
 When the rains descend and the floods come 
 and other things go wrong, the afflicted Bloom - 
 fielder takes shelter in his pride in the architect- 
 ure of his beloved town. When the Bloom- 
 
47 
 
 field commercial traveler, who "goeth about like 
 a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,'"' 
 returns ''from going to and fro in the earth and 
 walking up and dow^n in it,'"* some anxious cit- 
 izen always asks him if he finds any other tow^n 
 so well built as Bloomfield ; and the truthful 
 traveler always dutifully replies that in all this 
 favored land the sun nowhere shines upon its 
 like. 
 
 From frequent participation in the ceremo- 
 nies, every Mason and Odd Fellow in the vicin- 
 ity of Bloomtield has learned by heart the ritual 
 used in laying the corner-stone of a public build- 
 ing. The copies of the local newspapers that 
 have been deposited in the crypts of these stones 
 would be sufficient to make bustles for half a 
 dozen lady members of the roller-skating club. 
 The two educational edifices in which our cit- 
 izens feel so great and so just a pride were 
 erected in the first of the building periods men- 
 tioned before. 
 
 In 1844, a two-story, hewed-log courthouse 
 was built, at a cost of about four hundred dol- 
 lars. This building served the purpose for seven 
 years, and was then discarded. For tw^enty-sev- 
 en }'ears after that the county rented rooms for 
 
48 
 
 its offices and court sessions. A lo^^ jail was 
 built in 1848, and was used until it was burned 
 down by the attempt of a prisoner to burn him- 
 self out, in 1876. 
 
 After the disuse of the old log courthouse, 
 live ditferent propositions for the building of a 
 new one were submitted to the people : in 1861, 
 for a building not to exceed $150,000 in cost ; 
 in 1866, for a $24,000 building ; in 1872, for a 
 tive-mill tax for three years ; in 1874, for a 
 $25,000 building ; in 1875, for a building not to 
 exceed $50,000 in cost. The natural aversion 
 of the citizen to being taxed for the benefit of 
 the public of which he is a part prevailed until 
 the last submission. Then one of the costliest 
 propositions was adopted, and executed in a time 
 of the greatest monetar}' stringency our people 
 have ever experienced ; and if there is an}^bod}' 
 who still grumbles about it, he is proud to know 
 that it was done. 
 
 The erection of the courthouse was com- 
 menced in the summer of 1877, and occupied 
 about a year. The traveler from the Hair}' 
 Nation tells ever}' willing listener abroad that 
 we have ''the finest courthouse in the state, '^ or 
 "one of the finest in the west.'' With its w^alls 
 
49 
 
 of brick with ashler facing, mansard roof, tall 
 tower, large and well furnished courtroom, 
 room}' and convenient offices, tire-proof vaults, 
 and all appointments in corresponding style, it is 
 indeed an uncommonly line and substantial ed- 
 ifice of its kind; and it was built so cheaply, and 
 with so little of the usual waste and stealing, 
 that the figures representing its cost afford no 
 criterion by which the unfortunate outsider who 
 has not been favored with a view of its fair pro- 
 portions may estimate its worth. It is the pride 
 of the Nation ; and almost every one of her 
 citizens has at his tongue's end the sum of its 
 cost, even to the odd cents. Including a jail 
 underneath of which any county might well be 
 proud, the clock and the statue of Justice above, 
 a steam heating apparatus, and all other appur- 
 tenances, the total cost was about $61,496.58. 
 It is protected by a strong, but light and elegant 
 iron fence, which cost about $2,500. 
 
 The local reader may think that after reach- 
 ing this climax the book ought to end here ; but 
 however tedious and tasteless a narration may 
 be after the description of its most interesting- 
 object, the narrator must proceed with it con- 
 scientiously to the end. 
 
:o 
 
 DRESS. 
 
 The (Buckskin ^Period. — No animal is so use- 
 ful to us iis the deer was to the Indians who 
 used to live here. They had learned the word 
 ''buckskin'^ from the whites, and everything 
 pertaining to a deer they ealled ''buekee-skin.'"* 
 They had an art of tanning deer skins whieh 
 the whites have lost, without ha^'ing found an 
 equal substitute. Buekskin was the ehief mate- 
 rial of their dress. 
 
 To begin at the bottom, both men and women 
 wore the moceasin, a soleless shoe, made of 
 buckskin, laeed, and coming above the ankle. 
 If circumstances permitted, the moccasin was 
 profusel}' and artisticall}' decorated with bead- 
 work, in fanciiul and regular designs. This was 
 the work of the women. The Indians had the 
 extravagant love of personal ornamentation 
 which distinguishes races and indi\'iduals whose 
 
51 
 
 minds arc in a barbaric state. The Sacs wore 
 no stockings. 
 
 It may properly be said that the base of the 
 man's dress was his breech-ciotli, which was all 
 that its name implies. In summer this was 
 made of cnlico, in winter of buckskin. The 
 description of the minimum summer costume is 
 now complete. Generally, and in winter always, 
 the men wore leg'g'ins of buckskin, fitting the 
 legs closely. The>' extended from the breech- 
 cloth to the moccasin. Each leggin was seamed 
 on the outside. The ends of line, short strips of 
 buckskin were sewed into the seam, so as to 
 form a frino-e down the whole leno^th of the les:- 
 o^in. The ordinary lens^th of this frins^e was 
 about an inch. The more st}'le the wearer 
 could afford to put on, the longer the fringe. 
 In most of the pictures of Indians, it appears 
 to be about six inches long ; and in the pictures 
 of scouts in the Indian tales, a foot long. It 
 seems that each of the les^s^ins was constructed 
 as an independent garment ; but that in most 
 cases they were connected with the breech- 
 cloth, forming with it a sort of pantaloons. 
 When an Indian once got his pantaloons all on, 
 he kept them on until it was time to get a new 
 
pair. There were three reasons for this : he 
 had no chair to hang them on when he went to 
 bed ; he wore no drawers ; and he would have 
 thought it needless labor to put them off and on 
 every day. 
 
 The Saukee man wore a calico shirt, like a 
 white man's shirt. It was not fastened behind. 
 Out of doors (if the expression is a proper one 
 in speaking of a people who had no doors,), in 
 winter, he wore over all a heavy blanket, of the 
 kind known at that time as the "Mackinaw 
 blanket.'' It was not provided with any fasten- 
 ing ; and it was a mystery to the white man by 
 what dexterity he managed to keep it on, in 
 whatever he might be engaged, or however his 
 hands might be occupied. 
 
 Tonsorial customs were lax among the Sauk- 
 ees at this period. Some left the scalp lock in 
 relief, pasted it up and wore feathers in it ; some 
 cropped it so that it was barely distinguishable 
 from the surrounding growth ; and some wore 
 all the hair long. The Indian wore no hat. 
 
 The woman's rights advocates may find cause 
 to criticise this account of the Indian dress as an 
 unwarrantable and unprecedented discrimination 
 against, their sisters, in the apportionment of 
 
53 
 
 space to the sexes. The Saukee women wore 
 moccasins, shirts and blankets Hke those worn 
 by the men. They did not wear the blanket so 
 much as the men, because they sta3^ed at home 
 more closely and labored more. Sometimes, 
 when the}' went out, they wore a sort of hood. 
 The hair was trained in a single pendent braid, 
 tied at the end with a piece of ribbon ; green 
 being the favorite color. It was naturally 
 straight, and was kept smooth and glossy by 
 the use of oil. No perfumed drug-store essen- 
 ces were needed. Whenever, in cooking or 
 dressing meat, the squaw's hands became too 
 slippery with grease to be either dextrous or 
 comfortable, she wiped them on her hair. A 
 skirt was made by folding a piece of blue broad- 
 cloth over a belt ; the width of the cloth allow- 
 ing the skirt to fall to the ankle. A loose leg- 
 gin of broadcloth, reaching above the knee and 
 coming down over the top of the moccasin, 
 completed the apparel of the squaw. 
 
 The copper-colored dames had as little faith 
 in the maxim, "Beaut}^ unadorned adorned the 
 most," as their lily-white sisters of to-day. They 
 embroidered their moccasins and other articles 
 of their attire with colored beads. They wore 
 
54 
 
 bracelets, commonly of brass, whenever the\' 
 could obtain them in traffic with the whites. 
 The}' wore rings in their ears. They did not 
 pierce the ear with a slender needle, and adorn 
 it with a tin}', sparkling drop, pendent from a 
 golden thread. With a knife, they cut in the 
 lobe of the ear a square hole large enough to 
 admit any size or style of ring that might hap- 
 pen to come into their possession. If the}' could 
 obtain nothing lighter or more elegant, they in- 
 serted a bar of lead in the hole, and bent it into 
 a ring. Not a large bar, but often heav^' enough 
 to stretch the ear to an unlovely length. 
 
 The Jeans and Linsey ^Period. — The dress 
 of the pioneers was made almost wholly of 
 home-made materials. Their boots and shoes 
 were obtained mostly at the store ; though the 
 countr}' cobbler plied his trade for a while, in 
 the intervals of his labor on the little farm. 
 Occasionall}', the Indian moccasin encased a 
 white man^s foot. The}' wx're mainl}' depend- 
 ent upon traffic for their head-wear ; the man 
 for his wool hat, and the woman for the mate- 
 rials of her calico sun-bonnet or quilted hood. 
 Now and then, howe^'er, a man w^ore a cap 
 made of the skin of a wolf or raccoon. 
 
55 
 
 Wool and tlax were the ehief materials from 
 whieh the homespun eloth was made. Sheep 
 were not even proportionally so numerous as 
 they are now, and did not }ield so large a erop; 
 but the wool was all worked at home. Near- 
 ness to a earding-maehine was a great eonven- 
 ienee. Even hand-cards wxre used to some ex- 
 tent in the earliest days. The ''big wheeP' (for 
 wool), the ''little wheel" (for flax), and the 
 loom were among the most important articles of 
 furniture ; and the loom w^as the most prom- 
 inent. Almost every woman knew how to spin 
 w^oolen }'arn, and most of them could spin flax 
 thread and weave flannel and linsey. Weaving 
 jeans was a somewhat rarer art. It was a more 
 highly prized accomplishment then to be able to 
 sit a loom-seat well than it is now to sit a piano- 
 stool gracefull}', and went further to make a 
 young lad}' eligible to matrimony. 
 
 The outer garments of the fathers of the 
 Hairy Nation were nearly always made of 
 jeans. The prevailing colors were blue and a 
 brownish-}'ellow ; though a grayish mixture, a 
 combination of blue and white, was common. 
 The brown did not predominate as it did in the 
 interior of Missouri, where the bark of the gen- 
 
56 
 
 nine butternut, or white walnut, could be used in 
 coloring. The bark of the black walnut was the 
 substitute here. The Sunday suit, if the individ- 
 ual could afford a separate Sunda}' suit, was 
 generally of blue jeans ; and the Sunday coat 
 was nearly always a long frock. The everyda}' 
 coat was generally a loose sack or blouse. A 
 very common working garment was the ''wa'm- 
 us," a blouse, with straps sewed fast at the side 
 seams, and buttoned together at the middle of 
 the back, forming- a half belt. The Virsrinia 
 and Kentucky element, coming b}' way of Mis- 
 souri and Southern Indiana, was the predom- 
 inating one in our population at the date of the 
 first general settlement. The elder and middle- 
 aged men of this element nearly all wore pant- 
 aloons with high, full waists, and long, slender 
 legs. The pantaloons were held up by knit 
 "gallowses," drawn as tight as a California 
 cinche. For protection against the weather, 
 perhaps, they were generally made double- 
 breasted, the outer fold letting down in front, 
 like a trap-door. This relic of the olden time 
 may still be seen, in faithful likeness to its an- 
 cient form, where here and there an aged rep- 
 resentative of that sturdy race yet lingers on 
 
57 
 
 the shores of time, alike unwilling to loose his 
 hold on life or pantaloons. 
 
 The small clothes of our fathers were almost 
 exclusively w^oolen, A starched shirt was a 
 rare sight among ..them, and it required a pecu- 
 liar tact and firmness of character to wear one 
 w^ithout incurring popular disfavor. There are 
 men now living among us, some of them in 
 prominent positions, who in their childhood wore 
 nothing at all in summer except a long slip or 
 gown, called a shirt, of tow linen ; possibly they 
 wore occasionally their fathers' discarded hats. 
 Men's summer suits were frequently made of 
 linen, half flax and half tow\ 
 
 The women made their dresses of flannel or 
 linsey. A dress of seven-hundred linsey (seven 
 hundred threads of warp to the yard), with a 
 filling of clear, evenly-spun yarn, carefully wo- 
 ven, and with a pleasing combination of colors, 
 was a Sunday garment which the grandest 
 dame might wear with pride. Summer dresses 
 and aprons were sometimes ma?de of cotton 
 cloth; the material being picked, carded, spun, 
 woven, cut and sewed at home. A shawl was 
 the principal wrap; though a narrow cape and a 
 short circular cloak were common upper gar- 
 
58 
 
 ments. Re\erence for the mothers of the Na- 
 tion, together with a degree of ignorance of the 
 subject, forbids me to descend to more minute 
 particulars in the description of their attire. 
 
 The Casinet and Calico ''Period. — In its in- 
 fancy, the State of Iowa undertook, w^ith the aid 
 of the general government, to pro\'ide for a sys- 
 tem of slack-water na\igation on its principal 
 interior river, the Des Moines. This enterprise 
 w^rought a great re\-olution in the costume of 
 the Hairy Nation. It resulted in the establish- 
 ment of an extensive and prosperous milling 
 industry on the Des Moines, wiiich was of more 
 value to the people on this side than the na\'iga- 
 tion of the river could ever ha\'e been. The 
 farmers began to take their wool-crop to the 
 woolen mills on the river. The women who 
 still did some weaving would ha\'e their wool 
 carded at these mills ; and in an^' case, the\' 
 would have enough carded to make stocking- 
 yarn. Sometimes the producer would hire the 
 mill-owner to work up the wool into cloth. 
 Generally, and especiall}' in later 3'ears, the\' ex- 
 changed the wool for such cloth as the}' could 
 select from the read3'-made stock in the mill 
 store. 
 
' 59 
 
 Meek's cloth, or the cloth manufactured by 
 Meek Brothers, of Bonaparte, the proprietors of 
 the leading mills on the Des Moines, became the 
 staple article for general wear. It still main- 
 tains a firm hold on the trade of an extensive 
 section of country, and many sins have been 
 committed by the retail merchant in its name. 
 The commonest cloth for men's outer wear was 
 a satinet, or ''casinet,'' as it was then generally 
 called ; a thick, heavy, half-wool cloth, w^th 
 w^earing qualities equal to buckskin. A bo>' 
 might slide down hill in a pair of trousers made 
 of it every da}' for a whole winter, and never 
 touch bottom. Its color was a solid gray, of 
 various shades. A ''broadcloth," usually black, 
 was much used for men's finer suits. I well 
 remember with what pride I donned ni}' first 
 pair of pantaloons of light-gray, nappy casinet, 
 very full in the seat and legs ; and what a stren- 
 uous protest I put in when, at some time after 
 that, my mother proposed to make me another 
 pair of brown jeans breeches. My recollection 
 is that she made the breeches, and that I wore 
 them ; but I felt that the hand on the dial-plate of 
 time had been turned back at least three cogs, 
 and I listened for a break in the machinery. 
 
6cj 
 
 The women wore flannel, Iinsev and other 
 goods made at these mills ; but the caheo dress 
 predominated for summer and Sunda\' wear. 
 About this time, the mantilla had its run, and 
 the Shaker bonnet eame into fashion. This w^as- 
 the beginning of the erinoline era. The fem- 
 inine superstructure, outstripping the architect- 
 ural style of the period^ w^as erected on a bal- 
 loon framework. Many a pious father, consid- 
 ering that the female skirt, thus elevated, had 
 too much the appearance of flying in the face of 
 Providence, attempted by the extreme exercise 
 of parental authority to keep the skeleton out of 
 his closet; but his daughters searched the woods 
 for slender grape\'ines, and the petticoats im- 
 perceptibly expanded under his gaze until his 
 will, if not his prejudice, was overcome. 
 
 The Shoddy and (Delaine (Period. — Along 
 with the other innovations introduced into our 
 public and private economy by the war, came 
 the general use of ready-made clothing !)}• men 
 of all classes. Cash had become so abundant 
 with the farmers that they spent it without re- 
 serve for whatever they wanted that could be 
 conveniently purchased. The rural districts 
 were flooded with the shoddy clothing of the 
 
C>i 
 
 period. In my rustic, 3'oiiLhful da3's, when a 
 rustic 3'outh could tirst go awa}' from home with 
 none of the home folks but a mule to keep him 
 compan}', and with his first full suit of store 
 xjlothes on, and a red handkerchief sticking out 
 of the breast pocket, he was a happy boy, and 
 thought himself a happy m^an. If he were wise, 
 as few such youths were, he took along a paper 
 of pins, to fasten up the triangular liaps of cloth 
 which were liable to be torn out by every pro- 
 jecting thorn or splinter. 
 
 Challis delaine w^as the favorite dress goods 
 for the young lady of the period. The straw 
 hat had become her exclusi\'e head-gear for 
 dress occasions. 
 
 The (Broadcloth and Satin (Period. — So I 
 designate the present era : when the merchant 
 tailor and the dressmaker display their pattern 
 charts in their windows, and even the rustic has 
 learned to distinguish them from maps of the 
 latest Eastern war; when the fashions set by the 
 lorettes of Paris and less distant cities, through 
 the foreign man milliners and the fashion mag- 
 azines, are rapidly communicated to the ladies of 
 the Hairy Nation, and by them at once adopted ; 
 and when the flunkies of foreign tourists who go 
 
away from home to make themseh'^es known set 
 the fashions of the s>:arments that enease the 
 manly Hmbs of our noble youth. In tnith, the 
 realy old-fashioned broadeloth is not so eommon 
 an artiele here now as it was in the days of our 
 fathers. Then, ever}' young man who was am- 
 bitious to be somebody eherished the aspiration 
 of having, at least onee in his life, a realh' tine 
 coat. He would have a broadcloth, if possible; 
 and it would be no petersham imitation. The 
 first, the best, perhaps, the onl}' genuine broad- 
 cloth garment that I ever wore was a round- 
 about made of my father^s blue broadcloth wed- 
 ding coat. It is a curious fact that genuine 
 broadcloth was relatively commoner among the 
 Saukees than among us ; and it is a fact equally 
 curious that the women wore more of it than 
 the men. 
 
^K% 
 
 HOME AND SOCIAL LIFPl 
 
 ^4 Ho7ne on Horseback— It has ^ften been 
 said that the Indians were at home on horse- 
 baek. The men spent a great portion of theii' 
 time, espeeiall}' in summer,, on horseback ; and 
 both men and women were skillful, though not 
 graceful riders. But there was a more literal 
 sense in which they had a home on horseback> 
 Their house was a portable one ; in their fre^ 
 quent moves, the}' took the house apart, and 
 carried the materials, with all their household 
 property, along with them; and their only mode 
 of con\'e}^ance was to pack all of these things 
 on the backs of horses. In packing the house 
 at moving time, the load was made up with a 
 broad, flat top ; and the squaw mounted to the 
 top of it, and rode with one side toward the 
 horse ^s head, and her feet pointed straight out 
 from his side. The animal needed but little 
 
64 
 
 guiding : for their horses were trained to follow 
 a leader, in single tile. If the squaw had a pap- 
 poose, she swung it on her back, in a sort of 
 flat-backed pocket, Hke a tall comb-case, made 
 of leather, with a board for a back. This was 
 the pappoose's cradle and perambulator. In 
 it he could be carried, laid down or stood on 
 end against a tree, as convenience required. 
 From causes which should be explained in scien- 
 tific treatises, rather than in such books as this, 
 the pappoose was not so frequent an incum- 
 brance in the Indian as in the white famil}'. 
 Besides this, the rate of infant mortalit}' was 
 proportional 1}' greater among them than even 
 among us ; owing, doubtless, to the hard treat- 
 ment to which children were subjected b}' the 
 conditions of Indian life. 
 
 In nothing is the progress of civilization more 
 strongl}' marked than in the difference in the 
 status of woman between the Indians who lived 
 here fort}' years ago and our own people. The 
 position of the Indian woman was that of a ser- 
 vant. She did all the drudgery of the camp. 
 She put up the house, took care of it and packed 
 it for removal. When her husband came in 
 with game, he threw it down in a convenient 
 
■ 65 
 
 spot, and then his cares were ended for the da}'. 
 She not only skinned the carcasses and prepared 
 the meat, but she took care of the horse which 
 he had ridden. 
 
 The Indian woman was a neat housekeeper, 
 according to her notion ; but her method of 
 cleaning a dish by spitting on it and wiping it 
 with her skirt would not be approved b}' our 
 notable housekeepers. The food of the Indians 
 was mostly animal food. Dog meat was a 
 prime delicacy, and skunk and groundhog was 
 good meat. They had a method of killing and 
 deodorizing the skunk that made the meat pal- 
 atable — to an Indian appetite. If they had a 
 boiled dinner, it was usually cooked all together 
 in a tin or iron kettle ; then the whole family 
 gathered around the kettle, and each individual 
 lished out a portion with a stick, took it in his 
 hands and devoured it. 
 
 The Indians were hospitable. To refuse to 
 partake of their fare was to deepl}' offend them. 
 My father and two or three friends once had the 
 pleasure of dining with Keokuk. The chief's 
 table was furnished with knives, forks and pew- 
 ter plates, and was served in good st}le. A 
 white visitor rarely left an Indian's tent without 
 
66 
 
 a present ; but the Indians of the lower elass 
 calculated on making live visits to every one 
 they received from their white neighbors, and 
 on being proportionally the gainers in the ex- 
 change of gifts. Some of the society customs 
 of the present day look like a refinement of this 
 Indian custom. 
 
 The Old Cabin Ho'tne. — The mistress of the 
 cabin had a range of duties not less varied, nor 
 much less laborious than that of her uncivilized 
 predecessor ; not that the man would not lighten 
 her burdens, but that he had enough of his own 
 without. They were joint conquerors of the 
 wild, and their task called forth all the energies 
 of both. One woman often had to do all the 
 cooking, washing and mending for a large fam- 
 ily; make all their clothes, perhaps the cloth of 
 which the clothes were made, and sometimes 
 the cloth of which her neighbors' clothes were 
 made besides ; make the soap for the famil}' use, 
 milk the cows and churn the butter ; put the 
 house to rights by strokes here and there in the 
 intervals ; and suckle the baby while she was 
 resting. Yet her house was nearly always tidy; 
 and she found time to go to meeting, nurse the 
 sick and make social visits to her few neiirhbors. 
 
f,7 
 
 The children had barel}' thiie to become ac- 
 quainted with their mother before they were 
 doomed to lie alone, watched perhaps b}' an old- 
 er child, while she pursued her accustomed 
 round. They were not allowed to remain long 
 in the condition of helpless burdens ; something 
 was soon found for the little hands to do. Child- 
 ren could not lind pla3'mates b}' going across a 
 lane or alley, The^' did not learn lessons of dis- 
 obedience and profligacy so readily as children 
 do now ; the}' felt their dependence on their 
 parents more, and felt a greater reverence for 
 them ; the affection between parent and child, if 
 it did not always seem so tender, was deeper. 
 
 People, young and old, prized each other's 
 companionship and friendship more than they do 
 in thickly populated communities. Young people 
 treated each other and their elders with more 
 respect. The youth w^as more bashful, the 
 maiden more coy. 
 
 Journeys to meetings, to frolics or on neigh- 
 borly visits were nearly always made on foot or 
 on horseback. A couple, whether husband and 
 wife or lover and sweetheart, frequently rode 
 the same horse ; the man in the saddle, and the 
 woman behind. In fords and other tr}'ing 
 
68 
 
 places, the woman, if she were a maid, would 
 lightly clasp her protector's waist; if a wife, she 
 would hrmly grasp the waistband of his trousers. 
 
 All kinds of working-bees were made occa- 
 sions of social enjoyment b\' all. The evenings 
 were given up to the young. The sports at 
 these parties were principall}' romping plays, 
 composed of singing and promenading, seasoned 
 with kisses according to taste. The difference 
 of tastes in this matter, in all stages of civiliza- 
 tion, seems to be a difference only in degree. 
 
 ^A Transition (Period. — The fusion of el- 
 ements in our population made a confusion in 
 social customs. The twenty years ending about 
 ten years ago may be considered as a period of 
 transition. During that time, different customs 
 embraced within the wide reach of this topic 
 changed very unequally, in relation to each oth- 
 er and to time. The same change occurred at 
 different times in different communities ; as 
 some communities received the full light of the 
 sun of civilization earh' in the morning of our 
 history, while others are just now emerging 
 from the shade. 
 
 In the visiting customs of the Nation, two 
 distinct periods are embraced within the one 
 
69 
 
 here marked out. First, beginning with tlie 
 general opening of farms in all sections and the 
 general organization of communities, it was the 
 custom for many years for each lad}' in a coun- 
 try neighborhood, besides casual calls, to make 
 a reo:ular round of all-day visits to all of her 
 neio^hbors, taking: her work with her. The mat- 
 ter was discussed very much as the fashionable 
 call is now discussed : ''I haven't been to see her 
 to stay all day for a 'coon's age, and I must go;" 
 or, '^I was at her house last, and it is her time." 
 When every farm adjoined another on ever}' 
 side, and jealousies arose between the family 
 that rode in a spring wagon and the family that 
 had an organ or a two-story house, visiting be- 
 came less formal and regular, and, curiously, 
 less friendly. 
 
 In different country communities, at different 
 times within the period described, a revival of 
 the early forms of social festivities, with some 
 modern improvements, has broken out like an 
 epidemic, run for two or three winters, and then 
 subsided. In most cases, this phenomenon was 
 due to a struggle made by the younger portion 
 of the communit}' to throw off the restraints of 
 the rimd habits into which their elders had 
 
settled after the stiug'gles of pioneer life were 
 over. The struggle ended in mutual eonees- 
 sions ; the }'oungsters narrowing the breadth of 
 their wild oats erop, and the old people eonsent- 
 ing to pay the tiddler at the harvest feast. 
 After these spurts of social activity, such com- 
 munities settled into the dead-level course which 
 follows all compromises. Social parties are rare 
 events now in the more cultured country com- 
 munities of the Hairy Nation. Even the spell- 
 ing and singing schools, which were popular 
 sources of amusement awa}^ back to the prim- 
 itive times, can no longer be called fashionable. 
 
 ''The (Period/' — In the cant phrase of the 
 period, any person or object representative of a 
 prevalent social phase is, for example, the girl or 
 the garment "of the period." Among us, more 
 than commonly, the fashion of the town is the 
 fashion of the period. There is a craze among" 
 the- prosperous country' families to become town 
 people; and those who cannot are anxious to be 
 like the town people : wh}-, it would be hard to 
 say.^ 
 
 The ladies of the town do not visit, they call. 
 When a lady has received a call, she owes the 
 caller one. If the caller tinds her friend absent, 
 
7^ 
 
 as the Irish might say, she turns down tlie lower 
 left-hand eorner of a eard, and shoves it under 
 the door. Thus the lady whom she did not see, 
 whom perhaps she has never seen, reeei\'es form- 
 al notice that she owes a social debt to the call- 
 er. She must go and sho\-e her card under the 
 other's door to be on even terms. 
 
 A curious phenomenon in the social life of 
 Bloomfield was the extraordinary social activity 
 which prevailed on the eve of die great panic 
 and for a season or two after its beginning. It 
 was the gayest, and the most distressful^ time 
 the town has ever seen. This was followed by 
 a period of unusual stagnation, when every one 
 who had kept his manhood was immersed in 
 business cares. A similar ht of ga^ ety accom- 
 panied the depression of the past winter. 
 
 The people of the Hair}- Nation ha\'e passed 
 the period of sojourn. They begin to look upon 
 the home as a fixed fact. The rising generation 
 know the land of their birth onh' as a land of 
 civilization; and by virtue of the toils and priva- 
 tions of parents often unlettered and rude, they 
 may cull the brightest flowers of science, liter- 
 ature and art to adorn the homes it now be- 
 comes their turn to make. 
 
72 
 
 COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 
 
 Twin Institutions. — A country could not be 
 properly peopled and subjected to the rule of 
 civilization without the noble institution of mar- 
 riage. The marriage certificate is a naturaliza- 
 tion paper, admitting the bearer to citizenship in 
 the commonwealth of the most advanced civil- 
 ization; all others being aliens. No family should 
 be without one. This is a commonwealth in 
 which the rights and pri\ileges of citizenship 
 are conferred upon both sexes with exact impar- 
 tialit}', and without regard to propert^' or liter- 
 ary qualifications or other restrictions, except 
 the nominal requirement of a sound mind in a 
 sound body ; a requirement w4iich is often 
 waived on account of the rarit}' of the condition. 
 
 Courtship is considered among civilized peo- 
 ples as a necessar}' preliminar^• to marriage. 
 Our predecessors dispensed with it. The ''old, 
 
73 
 
 old stor}'^^ ]s said to be the same in all lan- 
 guages and in all ages ; but it has been told in 
 many different ways and under a great variety 
 of circumstances. 
 
 Early Incidents.—K story, which is at least 
 partly true, is told of a 3'oung man beloncring to 
 one of the least cultured of the pioneer families. 
 Perhaps because he was afraid to be caught 
 courting in his own neighborhood, he went'^to 
 see a young lady who lived at a distance, in 
 Missoui-i. The visit would occupy two or three 
 daj's, lie took in his saddle-bags a provision of 
 corn dodger and bacon sufficient to sustain him 
 through it. To escape observation, he started 
 at night. The girPs people invited him to sit at 
 their table, when a meal was ready; but he 
 steadily refused, saying: "Oh! noj^'lVegota 
 bite here ; '' and he sat apart and gnawed at his 
 bacon and dodger. He married another woman. 
 A young couple had, by the use of sign lan- 
 guage, slate writing or other mysterious meth- 
 ods known to bashful lovers, come to an under- 
 standing that they would be married on a cer- 
 tain evening. At all events, the girl's family 
 had prepared a feast on that evening ; and the 
 young man came, arrayed in garments uncom- 
 
74 
 
 fortable enough to be hung In. There came a 
 time when all present ranged themselves round 
 the room, folded their hands before them, and 
 looked down, terribly silent. The unhappy 3'outh 
 felt that nothing would break the spell but some 
 action of his. Gathering the last of his fleeting- 
 courage, he sprang into the middle of the room, 
 nodded to the girl, and said : ''Come on if you 
 want to." It appeared that she "wanted to ; '' 
 for she came, and the minister pronounced the 
 magic words that removed the scales of bashful- 
 ness from their eyes forever. 
 
 At a wedding which I attended, and which of 
 course was in comparatively modern times, about 
 nine o'clock in the evening, when only young 
 people were left in the sitting-room, the young 
 ladies, after a little whispering among themselves, 
 suddenly left the room, taking with them the 
 bride and the lamp, and leaving the 3'Oung gent- 
 lemen in total darkness. Each man, to find out 
 whether he were alone or not, at once began 
 throwing missiles at the darkest spots he could 
 see. Soon the ladies returned, and we escorted 
 the bridegroom to the bridal chamber. The 
 motionless form of the bride was dimly outlined 
 in the bed-clothes at the farther edge of the bed. 
 
75 
 
 apparently facing the wall. Her raiment was 
 carefully piled on a chair, which some inquis- 
 itive youth took pains to overturn in the floor. 
 The bridegroom was stripped to the pantaloons 
 by officious assistants. Then he sat down on the' 
 side of the bed, and a kind friend made a boot- 
 jack of himself. We saw him stretched on his 
 back on the bed-rail, and the chaplain of the 
 company was about to pronounce a benediction, 
 when the bridegroom, with a very brief, but 
 very decisive formula, dismissed the congrega- 
 tion; and we left him alone in his glory. 
 
 Customs and ^Phrases. — In the early days, 
 when a girl, or her mother acting for her, had 
 given notice, by the cut of her garments and 
 other signs, that she was ready to receive the 
 attentions of gentlemen with a view to matrimo- 
 ny, it was said that she had "set out." 
 
 When a gentleman was paying regular atten- 
 tions to a lady, it was said that he was "setting 
 to'' her. If he went to see her every two weeks 
 for as much as three months, people said they 
 were "promised," or she was "bespoke." If he 
 did not marry her after that, they said he had 
 "fooled" her. I can remember a time when a 
 certain class of young men, considered honor- 
 
^6 
 
 able otherwise, and favorite bcLius, thought 
 themselves no men at all, and not read}' to settle 
 down and marr3% until the}' had ^'fooled'' two 
 or three g:irls. 
 
 In the early and middle ages of the Nation, 
 young men generally went on "sparking'' ex- 
 peditions on horseback; in the middle ages, they 
 often went in couples. A man who had three 
 or four grown daughters found his house a pop- 
 ular resort on Sundays, but he could hardly ever 
 lay up anything. His fences were pulled down, 
 his grain fed out, his provisions eaten, his fuel 
 burned, and his substance wasted generally. It 
 was a matter of great anxiety to a beau on his 
 first visit to know whether the old man would 
 put up his horse or not. If the old man asked 
 him to stay all night, he considered that he was 
 not wanted ; but if he received no such invita- 
 tion, he came every two weeks, and stayed until 
 from one to four in the inorning. 
 
 It used to be fashionable for the young men 
 to go to church or singing school alone, and go 
 home with the girls. At the close of services, 
 at church, a line of young men would be ranged 
 between the ends of the seats near the door, on 
 the "men's side," waiting for the girls, and bar- 
 
77 
 
 ring the way to those behind them. After many 
 false starts, eitlier from timidity or to attract 
 attention, the girls would make a break for the 
 door. Then the bad small boys would begin to 
 shout : '^There he goes!'' "got the mitten!" and 
 like remarks. A bashful youth would often 
 wait outside, grasp a girl's arm, and ask permis- 
 sion to "see her home." 
 
 Following a custom brought by the southern 
 immigrants, a couple desiring to be married, in 
 the earliest days, sometimes went to a minister 
 or justice on horseback, taking a pair of "shuck" 
 collars, .swung on the horses' necks, to pay the 
 wedding fee. 
 
 Traces of all these customs, except the last, 
 may still be seen in some localities. We have 
 not altogether outgrown even the charivari. 
 
 Society Usages. — Society neutralizes its own 
 seductive influences by throwing around its vo- 
 taries safeguards unknown to plainer folks. 
 When a town gallant desires to pay a lady's 
 way to the theater, or to hear her play on her 
 piano for an hour or two, he expresses the wish 
 in a formal note, and hires a boy to carry it to 
 her. The accumulated missives furnish her 
 with documentary evidence of the extent and 
 
78 
 
 vigor of the courtship. Much note paper is 
 consumed, and much "good^' money paid for Hv- 
 ery hire and confections, in social adventures 
 that do not properly belong to the domain of 
 courtship. This subjects the real lover to like 
 exactions, and makes courtship expensive. The 
 expensiveness and comparative publicity of court- 
 ship under such conditions tends to shorten and 
 intensify it. 
 
 When a courtship ends in marriage, or a mar- 
 riage takes place for any cause, the reporter, if 
 the "parties'' are within the range of his vision, 
 hails it as a "society event,'' generally a "bril- 
 liant" one. He publishes a list of those who 
 were present, and of the gifts they brought. 
 Expecting this, the invited persons strive to at- 
 tend and to bring gifts. If they are confessedly 
 poor, they bring cheap gifts ; if they are able to 
 pay for the notoriety, or wish to be thought so, 
 they bring such as will make a great display. 
 With these facts in view, the hosts invite a great 
 number, especiall}' of the rich. The sale of 
 daughters to rich men wanting wives is not un- 
 known among us, though happily not common. 
 
19 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 Religion is an essential element of civilization. 
 
 First Seed. — The Methodist Episcopal was 
 the pioneer religious denomination of the Hairy 
 Nation, as of nearl}' all portions of the West 
 which were settled in a similar manner. They 
 had local organizations in the advance settle- 
 ments, in both the south and the east^ before the 
 general settlement began. Rev. Thomas Kirk- 
 patrick, who preached in the eastern settlements 
 as early as 1840, was probably the first minister 
 who held regular services within our present 
 limits. Dr. Still, a physician and local preacher 
 living in Missouri, conducted services in the 
 southern settlements early in the forties. 
 
 The Baptists were almost abreast of the 
 Methodists in the southern settlements, and were 
 nearl}^ as strong there when those settlements 
 were merged in the organized county. Rev. A. 
 
8a 
 
 T. I lite, a Missouri minister^ and Rev. Henry 
 Dooley, a pioneer resident, were their tirst min- 
 isters. 
 
 The Old and New Sehool Presbyterians ob- 
 tained an early and a strong foothold in Troy 
 and its vicinity. 
 
 The Tioneer Circuit ''Rider. — No more la- 
 borious nor self-den}ing pioneer work was done 
 here by any class of men than that done by the 
 tirst itinerant Methodist preachers. The county 
 was attached to Iowa Conference in 1844. J. F. 
 New was the first pastor of this circuit. Sever- 
 al of the first pastors had a circuit extending 
 through \^n Buren, Davis and Appanoose 
 counties. One year, when two preachers, Rob- 
 erts and Jay, were on the circuit, traveling sep- 
 arately, it took each a month to make the round, 
 preaching several times a week. The country 
 was not well provided with roads and bridges, 
 and their journeys were not pleasure excursions. 
 
 Camp Meetings. — As the county became well 
 settled, the Methodists, and in some localities 
 where they had grown strong the Cumberland 
 Presbyterians, established regular camp-grounds, 
 where annual meetings were held. Usually, the 
 camp-meeting began on Thursday or Friday 
 
8i 
 
 evening, and was held over the second Sunday. 
 Cloth tents or board houses were ranged round 
 a large square, seated with slabs or thick planks. 
 Families livins: several miles awav came and 
 lived in these tents throughout the meeting. A 
 Sunday congregation would often number three 
 or four thousand. 
 
 Churches. — In the early days, religious serv- 
 ices were held mosth' in schoolhouses. Twenty 
 years after the tirst settlements, not more than 
 four or five churches had been built. Our peo- 
 ple have not rendered back to the Lord a large 
 proportion of the means with which he has 
 blessed them in the erection and embellishment 
 of costly edifices devoted J:o his service, 3'et ev- 
 ery community is well provided with comfort- 
 able and sightly houses of worship. 
 
 (Present State. — Most of the denominations 
 represented in the West have organizations here. 
 The Christian denomination has grown in late 
 years to be the second in point of numbers, the 
 Methodist being first. Probably, the proportion 
 of religious people in our population, or the av- 
 erage quantity of piet}^ to the individual, is not 
 greater than it was in the pioneer days ; but the 
 fiercer elements of opposition have been subdued. 
 
bz 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 The Three (R's. — The tirst schoolliouscs were 
 built of logs. Wherever a number of immigrant 
 families had clustered, they built a schoolhouse 
 in such a location as their con\'enience dictated. 
 There were no organized school districts until a 
 year or two after the county organization. The 
 schools were all subscription schools. Each fam- 
 ily agreed to send a c^^rtain number of scholars, 
 and pay so much a head. The usual price of 
 tuition was from a dollar to a dollar and a-half a 
 scholar for a term of three months. The reader, 
 if he has improved our modern educational ad- 
 vantages in the cultivation of his arithmetic, can 
 easily figure out that the teacher's wages would 
 not enable him to indulge in nuich luxury. The 
 teacher usuall}' boarded round among the schol- 
 ars. For twent}' years, it continued to be the 
 custom for the teacher to visit each family once 
 during the term. The mother would put the 
 
8,1 
 
 house in order, and the head of the famil}' con- 
 tingent would invite the teacher to go home 
 with them that evening. The father and mother 
 would amuse or weary him. with discussions of 
 the grammatical puzzles which had worried the 
 scholar and tested the learning of the teacher in 
 their school days. If he were known to be a 
 relipfious man, he would be invited to ask the 
 blessing at table, and to pray out aloud through 
 the back of a chair, while the rest listened. On 
 the day before and the day after the visit, the 
 children wore their good clothes, behaved as 
 well as the}' could, and w^ei-e exempt from ex- 
 treme punishment. On the day after, the teach- 
 er ate dinner with them, and they had wheat 
 bread. A teacher's board-rate was light, even then. 
 The course of study was limited to "the three 
 R's,'"* "reading Vitin' and Vethmetic.'^ A major- 
 it}' of the very earl}' settlers came from sections 
 where education w^as not popular; and many of 
 them would have considered an attempt to ex- 
 tend the rang-e of knowledo^e almost a sacrilesre. 
 
 CD CS O 
 
 They thought it spoiled a boy to know more 
 than his father. A teacher's attainments did not 
 have to bear the test of official examination. 
 The teacher might be, though rareh', a man of 
 
H 
 
 tine education, who hid drifted or been pushed 
 into these wilds ; or, more hkel}', some old ig- 
 noramus whose only recommendation w^is ability 
 to thrash the big bo3^s into subjection; or, oftener 
 still, a young person w^ho knew nothing outside 
 of school books, and very little in them. 
 
 But little class work was done. Arithmetic, 
 which was made the leading study, was rarely- 
 taught in classes at all. liach student w^ent alone. 
 When he found a "sum^^ he could not "work," 
 the teacher helped him. This, with setting cop- 
 ies and making and mending quill pens for the 
 writing pupils, took up most of the teacher's 
 time. The drill in reading was chiefl}^ on the 
 plan: "Read up loud enough for me to hear 
 you at the farther end of the room; count one 
 for a comma, two for a semicolon, three for a 
 colon and four for a period." A class was often 
 left to read away for ten minutes, w^hile the 
 teacher "worked a sum" for some scholar; the 
 teacher pausing in his work, vvdien called upon, 
 to pronounce the hard words. 
 
 The (District School. — A territorial law of 
 1839, providing for the organization of school 
 districts within the different counties, came into 
 actual operation here soon after the county or- 
 
85 
 
 ganization. From this point to the estabHsh- 
 meiit oi the institute S3^stem, twenty-odd years, 
 ma}/ be considered as one stage in our educa- 
 tional progress. By a state law^ of 1858, each 
 township became an independent district, divided 
 into sub-districts. During this period, also, the 
 office of School Fund Commissioner in 1850, 
 and in its place that of County Superintendent 
 in 1858, were created specially to provide, on 
 different plans, for the management of the 
 school affairs of the county. 
 
 This was the perfect reign of the district 
 school. During this time, each school was a 
 little kingdom in itself. Its direct connection 
 with the rest of the educational system of the 
 country was slight, and the masses of the youth 
 knew no other institution of learning. In the 
 last years, the Superintendent issued a certificate 
 to the teacher; and once in a term he made a 
 visit of two or three hours to the school. On 
 the occasion of his visit, special classes were 
 selected or made up for the purpose, and ex- 
 ercised in certain studies which were pat with 
 them, to show the officer the advancement of 
 the school. Then he made a speech, com- 
 plimented the scholars, and went on his round. 
 
86 
 
 For aug'ht I know, Superintendents are cloing- 
 that to this day. Changes in the methods of 
 teaching were gradual. School work was now 
 reduced to the class system. Each school estab- 
 lished a text-book standard, and made steady 
 progress toward uniformity. 
 
 The sub-districts generally contained from six 
 to nine square miles, most of them being three 
 miles square. After the year 1850, the average 
 population of the sub-districts, outside of the 
 towns, was nearly 250; and the average number 
 of children entitled to tuition, from 80 to 100. 
 The country schoolhouses built during this pe- 
 riod w^ere nearly all frame. A few large dis- 
 tricts, which were strong at the time of building, 
 put up houses larger than the common run of 
 schoolhouses of the present da3\ 
 
 Since the times here described, the districts 
 have been generall}' reduced in size, and neat 
 frame schoolhouses, of nearly uniform size and 
 style, built in almost all of them. 
 
 Institutes. — A series of laws, completed about 
 i860, provided for the holding of a six-days 
 institute, annually, in each count}', upon petition 
 of thirty teachers ; and for a fund of lift}' dol- 
 lars, to be used in paying the expenses of each 
 
87 
 
 institute. Institutes were held in this count}' 
 early in the sixties. A. regular succession was 
 established, and a general attendance secured 
 some time before the year 1870. 
 
 x\n institute of this time was managed by a 
 hired instructor, who took up the time in exhib- 
 iting his smartness on subjects of his own selec- 
 tion, calling upon a teacher, now and then, to 
 perform on the blackboard, to give him a fresh 
 butt for criticism. If a teacher voluntarily 
 proffered any original thought, he was snubbed 
 for his pains. I attended such an institute once. 
 I am naturally modest ; I rose only once. Crit- 
 icisms were in order. A fellow teacher, in a 
 criticism, made a violent assault upon the Eng- 
 lish language. I rose to defend my mother 
 tongue. I veiled my criticism of the critic 
 under the guise of a joke. M3' st}'le of joke 
 was one thing the learned professor could not 
 master. He asked me to explain it. That was 
 too much for me. I "sunk to rise no more." 
 
 The present normal institutes were established 
 in 1874. They have been a still more efficient 
 means of systemizing the teacher's work ; en- 
 couraging cooperation, and stimulating impro\'e- 
 ment. System in teaching has become the chief 
 
88 
 
 demand upon the teacher. In faet, in the early 
 da3^s of these institutes, the word was dinned in 
 his ears and eame out of his mouth on all oc- 
 casions. A teacher who never had any system 
 in his school would rise before a full institute, at 
 the call of his name, and unfold a "system^' of 
 organizing and conducting a school, elaborate 
 and faultless, and beyond the possibility of ex- 
 ecution. Then he would sit down with a self- 
 satisfied smile, and another would rise; and with 
 a lamb's-wool eraser and a glib tongue he would 
 demolish the first teacher's system in two min- 
 utes, and in four more produce another equally 
 magnificent and absurd. Of course, these re- 
 marks are not applicable to the present time. 
 
 Troy Academy. — The communit}^ about Troy 
 was noted in the early da3^s for culture and mo- 
 rality. The Odd Fellows were strong here. In 
 1853, they erected a large two story frame build- 
 ing, and established an academ}' ; designed, pri- 
 marily, to give a free academic education to the 
 children of their local members, but open to all. 
 This institution has done more than any other to 
 advance the standard of intelligence in the sur- 
 rounding country. Great numbers of the youth 
 of the Hairy Nation, the author among them, 
 
89 
 
 received their highest schooling at this academy. 
 Through several changes of management and 
 system, it has continued its work to the present 
 day. Competition has greatly narrowed its 
 field ; and now it is proposed to convert it into 
 a township high school. It was a pioneer in its 
 original field, and it may be a pioneer in the 
 next great field which Iowa educators have to 
 bring into culture. In speaking of this academy, 
 a departure may be allowed, for a 'special men- 
 tion of the name of Hon. T. O. Norris, one of 
 the most honorable names in our educational 
 history, and one inseparably linked with the his- 
 tory of the academy in all stages. 
 
 (Bloomfield (Public School. — The Independent 
 District of Bloomfield, having decided to unite 
 its schools, which had overrun the old buildings, 
 purchased a block of ground in a central loca- 
 tion, and in 1875 erected an elegant brick build- 
 ing, of two stories, with mansard roof. The 
 interior arrangement of the building is tasteful 
 and convenient. It is now heated by steam. 
 Its original cost was about $22,000. Few 
 towns in the country of the size of Bloomfield 
 have public schoolhouses equal to it. In the 
 past year, all the class rooms, eight in number, 
 
90 
 
 were fitted up for use, and eight separate grades 
 were maintained. This will not be sufficient for 
 future needs ; and a large audience room in the 
 mansard stor}' will probably be converted into 
 two additional class rooms, in the coming year. 
 Although the town has an excellent institution 
 devoted exclusively to higher education, thor- 
 ough provisions are made for the advancement 
 of the pupils of the public school to a high grade 
 of scholarship. Bloomtield has reason to be 
 proud of its schools. 
 
 The J^ormal School, — At the county institute 
 held in December, 1873, the project of establish- 
 ing a normal school in Bloomfield was set on 
 foot. A stock company was formed, and in 
 1874 a tine brick building, of two stories and 
 basement, was erected on high, level ground, 
 between the public square and the railroad sta- 
 tions. Prof. A. Axline, of Fairfield, was chosen 
 principal; the school was opened in the spring of 
 1874, and in the fall removed into the new build- 
 ing. Prof. G. W. Cullison, from the Troy Nor- 
 mal School, was afterwards associated with Prof. 
 Axline in the management of the school. The 
 pressure of the great panic caused the suspen- 
 sion of the school in 1877. In August, 1878, 
 
91 
 
 it was reestablished, under the name of "South- 
 ern Iowa Normal School and Commercial In- 
 stiute," by Profs. O. A. Shotts and A. H, Con- 
 rad. In 1880, Prof. Conrad retired from the 
 management, and was succeeded by Prof. Jesse 
 Summers, who soon afterward took sole control. 
 In the spring of 1882, Prof. Summers retired; 
 Profs. O. H. Longwell and S. H. Strite, of the 
 faculty, assumed the proprietorship, with Prof, 
 Longwell as principal ; and Prof. Conrad w^as 
 restored to a place in the faculty. The man- 
 agers of the school, since its reestablishment, 
 have all been graduates of the normal school at 
 Valparaiso, Indiana. 
 
 The school has steadily progressed in efficien- 
 cy from the first. It is now on a better footing 
 than ever before ; and its work is of such a char- 
 acter as to inspire confidence in its stability, and 
 justify its friends in inviting students. Prof. 
 Longwell, the principal, is a gentleman of fine 
 scholarship and an ample fund of general in- 
 formation, of unexceptionable deportment, and 
 very thorough in his methods as a teacher. He 
 is well seconded by a strong and harmonious 
 corps of teachers. Aside from its specialty of 
 normal instruction, this school affords to its 
 
92 
 
 students an academic and collegiate education 
 ample for the general needs of the youth of the 
 West. It is a bright star in the crown of the 
 once uncouth and derided Hairy Nation. 
 
 J^ew Features. — The present Superintendent, 
 Prof. J. C. Dooley, a native of the county, has, 
 during his term of office, been laboring to per- 
 fect a graduated system of township, county, 
 district, state and inter-state teachers^ associa- 
 tions ; each association to hold stated sessions, 
 confer upon school matters, engage in literary 
 contests and choose representatives to the next 
 higher association. The plan is now in success- 
 ful operation in this county, has been adopted, 
 with some modifications, by several other coun- 
 ties of the state, has obtained a foothold in Kan- 
 sas, and has received the approval of a number 
 of prominent educators in different parts of the 
 country. Its general adoption would reflect 
 credit upon the county where it originated. 
 
 Prof. Dooley recently commenced the pub- 
 lication of a local school journal, called "The 
 Davis County School Worker ; " a neat little 
 paper of eight three-column pages. It meets 
 with decided favor among the teachers and 
 others who have the care of schools. 
 
93 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Squaw Corn. — The Saukees were not an ag- 
 ricultural people. I have not learned that they 
 ever tilled the soil of the Hairy Nation at all. 
 About their summer villages, the squawks did 
 raise a little corn, v^hich the white settlers called 
 ^^squaw corn.'' It was a blue corn, smoother 
 and with smaller ears than the corn we now 
 cultivate. Ten or twelve years after the last 
 Indian had departed, a mixed variety of the 
 same corn, under the same name, was introduced 
 here, from some of the more eastern states, as 
 something new. The Indians made great use of 
 corn for food. They parched large quantities of 
 it, and took it with them in bags, on their jour- 
 neys. They sometimes gave it to their horses, 
 in cases of extreme necessity. 
 
 The Grubbing Hoe. — As before observed, the 
 heaviest of the early settlements were in the 
 
04 
 
 south. The settlers were mostly of southern 
 stock, and accustomed to a wooded country. 
 They left untouched thousands of acres of the 
 finest lands in the country, which the}' could 
 have had by merely claiming them, and settled 
 in the woods. In so doing they narrowed the 
 bounds of their own life, and built a brush fence 
 between their children and the wicked world. 
 Sometimes the children were very slow in break- 
 ing the fence, but when they had broken it they 
 were like a flock of sheep astra}'. Several of 
 the children of one of the foremost of these 
 families never saw the county seat until the}' 
 were twenty years old ; and this was a sample 
 of their progress in breaking the fence. 
 
 The ax, the brush-scythe and the grubbing- 
 hoe were the pioneer implenients in the opening 
 of the timber farms. It was the way father had 
 done, "back yander,'' and the settler had not yet 
 learned that there was an easier way. He had 
 not learned what the prairies were for, and he 
 was afraid oi them. The farms grew slowly, 
 for a man could clear only a few acres in a year. 
 There was no convenient market for the prod- 
 ucts of the farm, and no great inducement to 
 raise large crops. 
 
95 
 
 The hog was abnost the onl}' animal raised 
 for market. A long-legged, long-nosed, sharp- 
 backed variety was the most commonly bred; 
 for the markets were distant, and a hog was 
 most valued for his traveling qualities. Speed 
 and endurance were points more prized and cul- 
 tivated in the hog than in the horse. The hog- 
 lived almost, sometimes quite to the time of 
 marketing on the mast. So, the demand* for 
 corn was not heavy ; yet it was the principal 
 crop. Oats were perhaps next, and wheat and 
 rye nearly equal. The breadstuffs were copi, 
 rye and wheat, in the order named. Most of 
 the farmers raised some flax and tobacco. 
 
 For breaking ground, the "bar-share^' plow 
 was used to some extent at first ; but the Carey 
 plow mostly. The chief difference was that in 
 the bar-share plow an iron plate lay flat on the 
 ground, and a wooden mold-board was set on 
 the middle of it, with very little slant ; while in 
 the Carey, the rear of the plate was turned up, 
 and formed the lower half of the mold-board. 
 The single-shovel plow and the hoe were used 
 in tending corn. In planting, the ground was 
 checked off with a shovel-plow, and the corn 
 4ropped in the crosses from the hand. Often 
 
96 
 
 the ground was marked only one way, and tlie 
 dropper was guided by a line of stakes set across 
 the furrows. The sickle was still the principal 
 reaping implement. 
 
 The Sod ^Plow. — The opening of a farm in 
 the middle of a prairie was regarded by the 
 early woodsmen as a foolhardy enterprise. The 
 irreatest natural obstacles, instead of stones and 
 Stumps, were the toughness of the sod and the 
 roots of the prairie willow and the "shoestring.'' 
 Until the soil was subdued, it was very hard to 
 get good living wells. The greatest difficulty in 
 the way of the prairie farmers was in getting 
 their fencing timber. To-day, when you ride 
 for hours among the well cultivated fields that 
 cover every foot of our prairies except the high- 
 ways, imagine the founder of one of those farms 
 mauling out of tough timber about thirty-four 
 large rails, hauling them four or five miles, 
 stringing them out, two to the rod, as a begin- 
 nino^ for the "worm'' of the first fence on the 
 prairie, and then looking back "to see how far 
 he had got." Rather a blue prospect! yet that 
 was what many a resolute man faced thirty or 
 thirty-live years ago. Little by little, large 
 tracts of the timbered lands were cut up into 
 
97 
 
 small lots, to furnish fencing timber for the dis- 
 tant prairie farmers. The professional rail- 
 maker flourished in these days. 
 
 The big sod-plow was the pioneer engine of 
 civilization in this era. The owner of a "prairie 
 team" was an important member of the com- 
 munity. This consisted of three or four yoke 
 of large oxen, and was usually worked by two 
 men, who ''broke prairie'' for their neighbors for 
 so much an acre. The diamond plow was now 
 used for breaking old ground, and a small dia- 
 mond sometimes for tending corn. The double- 
 shovel plow and the hand corn-planter soon 
 came into use. The cradle had supplanted the 
 sickle. Wheat, especially spring, was more cul- 
 tivated. The chinch bug introduced himself 
 about this time. If sod were broken in the fall, 
 the first crop was generally wheat ; if it were 
 broken in the spring, it was generally planted in 
 corn. Sod-corn was usually planted by driving 
 an ax through the sod, and dropping the seed 
 in the hole ; sometimes, by dropping the seed at 
 the edge of a furrow, so that it would come up 
 between the sods. About this time, the farmers 
 began to sow timothy meadows. Pork-packing 
 was done nearer home, more care was given to 
 
98 
 
 the breeding of hogs, and the}' were better fat- 
 tened. 
 
 Fencing to the Line. — The farmer kept add- 
 ing a few acres to his farm, and a few cattle to 
 his herds, each year. By and b}', the country 
 became so cut up with -farms, and the supply of 
 grass so Hmited, that a boy had to be sent out 
 every evening to bring the cows home. The 
 man who owned a good deal of outlying land, 
 on which his neighbor who had little or no land 
 was pasturing his cattle, began to see that the 
 ''range'^ was no longer a rehable dependence. 
 He resolved to fence out to the line, and feed 
 his cattle from the products of his own soil. His 
 neighbors soon followed his example, and the 
 farm of fifty or a hundred acres rapidly swelled 
 to twice its size. The enclosed pasture, which 
 had been but a patch before, now became one of 
 the largest and most important divisions of the 
 farm. Probably half the land in the county was 
 enclosed from 1865 to 1875. Every farm was 
 bounded by lanes and other farms. 
 
 Farmers planted large fields of corn, and 
 raised immense crops in the rich, new soil; and 
 great numbers of hogs and cattle were fattened. 
 The reaper and mower, the cultivator, the 
 
99 
 
 riding-plow, the wheeled corn-planter and the 
 check-rower had taken the places of the prim- 
 itive implements of the fathers ; and the farms 
 were bounded and crossed by fences of plank or 
 wire. The farmer^s barn was bulging with hay 
 and grain, and his pocketbook with greenbacks. 
 He was thrifty and prosperous, and began to be 
 purse-proud. 
 
 Then came the panic and the flood. The 
 rains descended, not fort}' days, but nearly forty 
 months. And the wailing voice of the farmer 
 was heard above the roar of the elements, de- 
 claring that he was the most unfortunate and 
 miserable creature in the world; that everybody 
 else lived by plucking him ; and that this was 
 no country for farming, anyhow^; 
 
 Going to Grass. — The farmers of the Hairy 
 Nation are at last learning the lesson of success 
 from the diversity of soil and surface — a divers- 
 ity of products. The}' are learning that grass 
 is their surest crop, the easiest to raise and to 
 feed. Hay has become the most valuable part 
 of the harvest. Blue grass is as thrifty and as 
 rich as in Kentuck}'. 
 
 The improvement of the quality of the live 
 stock has received a large share of attention in 
 
lOO 
 
 late years, and the result is that this is becoming 
 a famous stock region. We can make as good 
 a showing of blooded horses as any county of 
 equal wealth in the country ; and our common 
 horses attract the buyers for distant markets. 
 The scraggy sheep from whose coarse fleece our 
 mothers wove our fathers' brown jeans pant- 
 aloons is now extinct ; and our hills and slopes 
 are grazed by numerous flocks of Leicesters, 
 Cotswolds and Merinos. Our wool crop is one 
 of our largest sources of income. Swine are as 
 numerous as ever, but their rearing and feeding 
 does not form so large a share of the business of 
 the farm as in former days. The}^ do not con- 
 sume so much corn; for breeds that fatten easily 
 and early are raised almost exclusively. In early 
 times, when cattle fed on the rich and abundant 
 native grass, and oxen were kept for work, the 
 cattle were large and strong. When the native 
 grass became scarce, and its place had not been 
 filled by tame pasturage, the stock of cattle be- 
 came scrubby. Latterly, by the admixture of 
 foreign blood, our common stock of cattle has 
 reached a high grade ; and we have many fine 
 herds of pure-bred English cattle. Dairying is 
 becoming an important industry of the Nation. 
 
loi 
 
 ROADS. 
 
 The Indian Trail. — -When the Indian wanted 
 to go an3^where, he got up and went; that was 
 all. He did not have to make the round of the 
 premises before he started, to see that the bars 
 were all up, and that none of his female swine 
 were about to obtain the crown of maternity. 
 He did not have to curry and harness a pair of 
 mules, and get out the tar-bucket and lubricate 
 the axles of his wagon ; the Indian never cur- 
 ried. When he went, he usually took the most 
 direct route. Whether he went on foot or on 
 horseback would make but little difference in 
 his course. His pony was trained to go almost 
 anywhere that he could go. Any of our streams 
 were fordable almost anywhere to an Indian. If 
 he went to the same place again, he would take 
 exactly the same route. If several Indians went 
 together, they would go almost exactly in the 
 
I02 
 
 same track. If the trip became habitual, the 
 track became a regular trail. This wns the In- 
 dian roacL It was never worked. Traces of 
 Indian trails are still to be seen within the bor- 
 ders of the Hair}' Nation. 
 
 The Sod (Road. — The first roads of the white 
 settlers were laid out on the same general prin- 
 ciples : directness and immediate convenience. 
 Roads made to accommodate wagons, or rather 
 made by the frequent passage of wagons in the 
 same place, were a little more devious. The 
 wagons of that time were more cumbrous than 
 those of the present day. The streams were 
 more readily fordable then than now, and bridg- 
 es were scarce!}' known. The wa}' through the 
 woods was less obstructed by the undergrowth 
 than in later years, and the slight deviations 
 made to avoid the trees scarcely made the wind- 
 ings of the road noticeable. A road would 
 sometimes wind a little, to follow the course of 
 an accommodating ridge. With these modifica- 
 tions, the principal roads pursued the most direct 
 course to the village, the mill, the blacksmith 
 shop, the residence of the justice of the peace 
 or the house devoted to the double service of 
 education and religion. 
 
103 
 
 Territorial (Roads. — In territorial times, a 
 number of roads, on important lines of travel, 
 were laid out under the direction of local LX)m- 
 missioners, by special authority of the territorial 
 g'overnment. These were called ''territorial 
 roads. '^ After Iowa became a state, they were 
 for a long time called *'state roads/"" Thrce or 
 four of these roads were laid out through Davis 
 count}'- One of them was to run through the 
 county seats of the whole southern tier of coun> 
 ties. This was the only one of the territorial or 
 state roads that ever received an appropriation 
 from the general fund. The manner in which 
 this appropriation was obtained, as related by 
 Dr. J. J. Selman, shows that the fathers »of the 
 Hairy Nation had mastered the rudiments of 
 American politics, and that the doctor himself 
 might have made his mark in Congress, if he 
 had been successful in his candidacy, eight years 
 later. The people of Davis county wanted the 
 road pushed through to the Missouri River. Dr. 
 Selman w^as a member of the committee on 
 roads in the State Senate. In committee, he 
 proposed an appropriation for this road. All 
 the other members objected to it, as a misap- 
 plication of the public funds. Selman said his 
 
I04 
 
 people wanted the road, and would expect him 
 to introduce the measure : let it go to the Sen- 
 ate, and the members could vote against it there 
 if they wished. It went in as part of an om- 
 nibus bill, like the river and harbor bills in Con- 
 gress, and went through without question ; Sel- 
 man's associates having forgotten all about it. 
 
 ^oad Working. — For over thirty 3'ears, the 
 citizens of the Hairy Nation have been working 
 the roads in nearly the same way. The change 
 from the old serpentine sod road came about as 
 farms began to be thickly located, and their bor- 
 der fences began to push the roads from their 
 natural courses. When the hitherto isolated 
 farmers became competing land-grabbers, every 
 man wanted a county road running by his house ; 
 but he wanted the line of the road removed 
 from its course over his outlying land, and laid 
 out on the section line. 
 
 The plan on which the roads of the Hairy 
 Nation have been worked from that time to this 
 is an original American idea. Historians and 
 archaeologists have nowhere discovered, in an- 
 cient or modern times, a similar system of pub- 
 lic works in general and constant use among a 
 great people. It is one of the peculiar out- 
 
I05 
 
 growths of the pecuHar institutions of a very 
 great and very free countr}' : a country where 
 ever}' man is a so\'ereign, and every sovereign 
 has a voice in the construction- of the highways 
 — and earns a dollar and a-half by exercising his 
 ^'oice, in company with a number of equal sov- 
 ereigns, for eight hours in the day, with a little 
 incidental by-play on a three-pound ax, or the 
 lightest Ames shovel he can find, or even a gar- 
 den-hoe. 
 
 No man w\\\ give an inch rnore than his half 
 of. the land for a road, even where the land is 
 worthless. The road must run exactly on the 
 section line. No matter if the line crosses a 
 stream where there is a high, perpendicular 
 bluff on one side, and a long, low sand-bank on 
 the other : the bridge must be placed there. 
 Whether the line crosses a creek at right angles 
 or runs in its bed for a hundred yards, the 
 bridge must cross on the line. The bridges are 
 generally built of poor materials, and loosel}' 
 filled in at the ends with earth and trash. Often 
 in the spring, when the}' are most needed, they 
 are gone. The workmen build bridges and cul- 
 verts with the full expectation that they shall 
 have to replace them within the year. 
 
ro6 
 
 There is no forethought or consultation pre- 
 vious to election day as to the choice of a super- 
 visor. Six or eight votes often elect a man in a 
 country district. Newcomers are propitiated, 
 and the ambition of young men is spurred by 
 electing them to the office. As a result, the 
 work is mostly in incompetent hands. The su- 
 pervisor's authority is restricted by the propri- 
 etary right of every land-owner; and the landed 
 laborer improves every opportunity to overawe 
 the supervisor by his presence, and obstruct him 
 in the performance of his duty. If one of the 
 owners of two opposite abutting tracts of land 
 is present and the other absent, the most dam- 
 aging furrows are alv/ays cut on the side of the 
 absent one; while every fence-post or stake on 
 the other side is carefully guarded. This is 
 merely human nature, running loose ; but too 
 much loose human nature is hardly ever con- 
 ducive to the common good. 
 
 The laborers beino^ mostlv men who have 
 farms to manage and crops to tend, the work is 
 done with regard to their convenience, I'ather 
 than to the public need. Most of it is done in 
 wet weather, when double labor is required to 
 do the same piece of work, and no good work 
 
 13Sk 
 
lO* 
 
 can be done. The object aimed at is not to se- 
 cure solidity in the road-bed, but wherever a 
 tool can penetrate, to. destroy the soHdity which 
 nature has estabhshed. The earth is left as 
 loose, and as much at the sport of the elements, 
 as possible. The funds are exhausted during 
 the open seasons, and no provision is made for 
 work in winter ; although in at least one year in 
 every three, ever since the roads began to be 
 confined to the lanes, travel has been more ob- 
 structed in winter than in any other season. 
 
 Of late years, a number of good, subtantial 
 truss bridges have been built by contract, out of 
 the county fund ; and a lonesome time the}' 
 often have of it, for weeks at a time, in the 
 spring, when half a mile or so of bottom road, 
 on one side or both, is nearly impassable. 
 
 A Threatened Innovation. — Within the past 
 year, in various places within the borders of the 
 great commonwealth with whose fortunes those 
 of the Hairy Nation are linked, a vigorous 
 agitation for a better system of roads has sprung 
 up. A concerted movement is being made : 
 conventions are being held; boards of trade, 
 town councils and other public bodies are meet- 
 ing and resolving ; and the newspapers are thun- 
 
io8 
 
 dering. The boyish sports of the dawdling 
 road-worker of the present eommunal S3\stem 
 are to be rudely interrupted. It is proposed 
 that all the highwa3^s shall be graded and bal- 
 lasted, or underdrained, and that all the bridges 
 and eulverts shall have stone foundations and 
 approaches : the roads shall be constructed with 
 a view to making them serviceable at all seasons. 
 A s}'stem of hard-bottomed roads connecting 
 the towns of the count}^ and crossing the 
 streams on stone bridges, would give a great 
 impetus to the prosperity of both the mercantile 
 and agricultural communities. The markets 
 would never be closed to the producers, and the 
 outside trade of the towns would never be cut 
 off or diverted. The over-charges which the 
 people of Bloomtield have paid to wood-sellers 
 during the mud blockades of the past ten years 
 would have graded and bridged such a road 
 from the sink-hole by the public well at the 
 northeast corner of the courthouse yard to the 
 heart of the deepest wilds of Hacklebarney. If 
 this extortion had been principally levied upon 
 the rich and influential, instead of mechanics and 
 laborers who were never forehanded enough to 
 lay in a season's supply of wood ahead, or ed- 
 
I09 
 
 itors who waited until the last stick was in the 
 stove for the wood which their subscribers were 
 to bring, some such enterprise might have been 
 inaugurated. 
 
 Time was when Bloomtield and the towns in 
 the southern part of the county had a trade ex- 
 tending into Missouri, If they were now con- 
 nected with the border by roads which would 
 be good all the year round, the effect in bad 
 seasons would be like that of laying a drain 
 from a stagnant pond : the trade would flow 
 where there was an outlet. An Iowa commu- 
 nity could safely invest money so, in the faith of 
 keeping the advantage of a Missouri community 
 for many years, Missouri spends some money 
 in pamphlets to induce the people of more enter- 
 prising states to come in and develop her re- 
 sources. She does not levy taxes and stimulate 
 the energies of her own citizens to develop those 
 resources. This is the boon which the people 
 of the "disputed strip'' gained when their Iowa 
 citizenship was established : the privilege of be- 
 ing taxed for their own benefit, unhindered by 
 the conservatism of an alien majority. 
 
 ^Railroads. — About thirty years ago, the Fort 
 Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield 
 
I lO 
 
 Railroad Company was organized. On the pe- 
 tition of numerous citizens of the county, H. W. 
 Briggs, the County Judge, ordered a special 
 election, which was held on February 4th, 1854, 
 to decide on a proposition to issue county bonds 
 to the amount of $150,000 in aid of this road 
 and the proposed North Missouri Railroad. The 
 proposition was adopted. S. A. Moore succeed- 
 ed Judge Briggs in 1855. He was soon waited 
 upon by officials of the Fort Madison road, who 
 claimed that the North Missouri road was a de- 
 funct enterprise, and demanded that the judge 
 should subscribe to their road nearly the whole 
 amount of the stock provided for. He baiBed 
 them for a while ; but finally agreed to subscribe 
 $25,000 of the stock when the road was com- 
 pleted to the county line, and further install- 
 ments at different stages of its progress. The 
 road was never built ; and the county, through 
 Judge Moore's sagacity and integrity, having es- 
 caped that danger, has never issued any bonds. 
 On the 1 6th of February, 1854, a convention 
 was held in Bloomtield, to promote the exten- 
 sion of the North Missouri Railroad into Iowa. 
 Soon afterwards, the "North Missouri and Iowa 
 Extension Railroad Company'' was organized. 
 
Ill 
 
 Davis county was represented in the directory 
 by J. W, Ellis, H. W. Briggs, H. H, Trimble 
 and J L Earhart, The Hair}' Nation waited 
 nearly fifteen years for a sight of that ix)ad. In 
 1568, it had reached the line, and a company 
 called the *'St. Lonis & Cedar Rapids Railroad 
 Company''"' had been organized, to extend it 
 northward. In that year, a vigorous effort was 
 made to raise a large sum by subscription, to 
 secure its extension through the county. The 
 greater portion was subscribed in Bloomlield, 
 the only considerable town on the line ; and 
 solicitors scoured the country, to swell the list. 
 The unsophisticated farmer v^as made to believe 
 that a depot would be built on his land, which 
 would double its value ; stock would be issued 
 for his subscription; and every stockholder could 
 ride free. The people of the county subscribed 
 $125,000. The road was completed to Bloom- 
 tield about the beginning of 1869, and to Ottum- 
 wa a few months later. The road is here yet ; 
 though its employees often describe it as '^two 
 parallel streaks of rust." Whether it will re- 
 main here long or not admits of question, de- 
 pendent, possibly, upon the outcome of- other 
 railroad projects. It now belongs to the great 
 
112 
 
 Wabash S3'stem, and is owned b}' Ja}' Gould. 
 The people of the Hairy Nation invested more 
 money in this road than they have ever invested 
 in any other enterprise. There are five places 
 in the county where p>ersons may g^et on its cars; 
 there are three^ including- one (the best one,) 
 jointly used by another company, where the}" 
 may be sheltered from the storm while the\' 
 wait for a slow train ; there is not one where 
 more than half a dozen persons can be comfort- 
 ably seated. 
 
 In 187O7 Bloomtield township voted a live-per- 
 cent tax to aid in the construction of the Burl- 
 ington & Southwestern Railroad. The lev}' 
 amounted to nearly $45,000, and it was inr 
 creased by private subscriptions to about $55,- 
 000. A condition of the tax was that the com- 
 pany should run its cars to the depot site at 
 Bloomfield by Christmas, 187 1. It did so ; but 
 so nearly had the limit expired that ties were 
 laid on the sod for some distance, to get the cars 
 to the point on time. In its struggling infancy, 
 the initials of this road were translated ''Burling- 
 ton & Squirt Water ; '^ but even in its independ- 
 ent existence it redeemed itself from obloquy b}' 
 perseverance under difficulties ; and now that it 
 
113 
 
 has become a part of the Chicago, BuHington & 
 Quincy system, the people of the Nation hope 
 for still better things from it. The compan}' 
 pays the Wabash compan}' for the use of a very 
 poor track from Bloomfield to Moulton. It is 
 not likely that the powerful corporation which 
 now owns the road will long be contented with 
 this arrangement. A shorter route south of 
 town would give the road a better grade. The 
 fear that it may some time go there, and leave 
 the town on a spur, is kept alive ; and may be 
 used by the railroad company to extort mone}' 
 from the town, when it decides to build its own 
 line ; especially if it should happen that the 
 Wabash company w^as about to take up its iron. 
 The Chicago & Southwestern, now a line of 
 the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, was built 
 through the county about the same time. It re- 
 ceived considerable aid in private subscriptions. 
 Negotiations were kept up for some time be- 
 tween the company and citizens of Bloomfield, 
 looking to the building of the road to the town, 
 in consideration of a contribution of money; but 
 they came to naught, and the company built its 
 road by way of Drakeville. It is a strong line, 
 and Bloomfield suffered much in losing it. 
 
114 
 
 There are ten places in the county where per- 
 sons may get on the cars. Six of these are mail 
 and express stations, and live are telegraph sta- 
 tions. 
 
 Some part of the county has alwa}'s some 
 new railroad project in view. Hope is kept 
 alive, and the people are kept patientty waiting 
 to see whether the railroad will come or not. 
 Whether Bloomlield or the county will ever 
 have more or better railroad facilities than at 
 present is wholly problematical. The solution of 
 the problem doubtless rests with our own people, 
 and depends upon what they do to make bus- 
 iness for railroads. We have the resources. 
 Shall they be utilized? That is the question. 
 
115 
 
 BUSINESS 
 
 Indian barter. — The early settlers were con- 
 tinually approached by their Indian neighbors 
 with proposals to ''swap." The Indian's com- 
 mon stock in trade consisted of blankets, furs, 
 skins, guns, arrows, bead ornaments, and, after 
 the payment, money. The things he oftenest 
 desired were corn, hogs, beeves and anything 
 that was good to eat ; sometimes whisky and 
 ammunition. Horses were traded both ways. 
 Whatever the Indian could part with he would 
 trade for anything he wanted, with little regard 
 to the relative pecuniary value of the two art- 
 icles. If a white man was ever cheated in an}' 
 of these trades, the record of the transaction is 
 lost. It has. been loosely charged that our fath- 
 ers systematically cheated the Indians. That is 
 a debatable question. The}' might sometimes 
 get a good blanket for an armful of corn, or a 
 
ii6 
 
 gun for a fat dog ; but the Indian was happy, 
 and of course the white man did not grieve. 
 Measuring the two articles by his dollar, the 
 white man had ''made money, '^ which is the 
 chief end of ci\ilized traffic. The Indian had 
 no standard but his wants, and he made no pro- 
 vision for the future The demand regulated 
 the price. His present wants were supplied, and 
 the conditions of his life were fulfilled. He 
 could not be restricted by the white man's iiales 
 of life and have the fun there was in being an 
 Indian. 
 
 The Indians sometimes gave their notes for 
 what they bought. A note signed by Keokuk, 
 Winokee, Wausanan or Nekotwaluskaskuk 
 would have been worth its face to the recent 
 art loan exhibition in Bloomtield. These notes 
 were usually collected by presenting them to the 
 agent at the time of the annual payment. A 
 note always named, without describing the thing 
 for which it was given : as a horse, an ox or a 
 ho":. If it was for a horse, and the amount 
 named seemed too large for an ordinary horse, 
 the note was rejected as a fraud. 
 
 The Long Haul. — There was but little di- 
 versity in general business in the early da}\s of 
 
117 
 
 the Hairy Nation, but greater diversity than 
 now in the business of the individual. Dry 
 goods, ''wet goods, ^' groceries, hats, shoes, 
 leather, hardware, tools, saddles, ''gears, '^ guns, 
 ammunition, quinine, "Number Six^' and Bull's 
 "'Sassaferilla'' were all sold at the same store. 
 All this merchandise was hauled from "the riv- 
 er'' in wagons. It is a maxim of railroad bus- 
 iness that there is profit in "the long haul." It 
 w^as so in the case of the early merchant. His 
 customers were dependent upon him. The cost 
 of transportation was to them an uncertain quan- 
 tity, and the merchant made ample allowance for 
 it. His store was all the home market there was 
 for the products of the farm or the spoils of the 
 woods. He fixed the prices both wa3's, restrict- 
 ed only by the elastic equity of circumstances. 
 The long haul was a big haul to the pioneer 
 merchant in the long run. 
 
 Stiles S. Carpenter was the lirst merchant of 
 the Hairy Nation. He tirst opened a store, 
 about the month of March, 1844, on a claim he 
 had taken up a short distance southeast of 
 Bloomiield. After the town was laid out, he 
 removed to the site now occupied by Gibbons' 
 drug store. Carpenter had been a militia 
 
ii8 
 
 colonel, and he was for several 3'ears prominent 
 in the affairs of this count3\ John Lucas was 
 a representative merchant of the time, and is so 
 well remembered for his oddity that he is often 
 spoken of as the tirst. He came to Bloomtield 
 a few months after Carpenter. He lirst kept 
 his goods in boxes in his dwelling-house, a log- 
 house situated about where John Duffield's res- 
 idence now is, at the old Elliott nursery. 'He 
 afterwards located on the northwest corner of 
 the square, and did business there for several 
 years. On the site of Bradley's Bank, about 
 1850, he built the first brick business house in 
 the town or county. He claimed to sell goods 
 strictl}' at an advance of twenty-live per cent, 
 without regard to the fluctuations of the general 
 market. 
 
 The pork produced in this region was packed 
 at the Mississippi River towns, and, late in the 
 forties, at Keosauqua and other interior points. 
 The farmers usually drove their hogs to these 
 markets. In the latter years, one or two Bloom- 
 field merchants bous^ht hoo:s and drove them to 
 the packing points. Alexandria was the prin- 
 cipal pork market. Hogs could be marketed at 
 onl}' one time in the year — the packing season. 
 
119 
 
 Some miserable horse-power mills were the 
 only chance for grinding short of the Des Moines. 
 
 Settling Into Channels. — The first pork pack- 
 ing in the county was done b}- Samuel Steele, at 
 Bloomfield, as earl}' as 1849. Steele & Duffield, 
 and afterwards George Dut^ield alone, wxre the 
 chief pork-packers in times when the pork was 
 mostly packed at home — a business to which 
 the railroads put an end. Dr. D. C. Greenleaf 
 opened the first drug store, about 1850. Leroy 
 Hagan was the first hardware merchant. He 
 first opened a tin shop at Stringtown, removed it 
 to Bloomfield about 1855, and soon afterwards 
 branched out into the hardware business. The 
 first steam mill was built at Troy, in 1850, by 
 Saw3'ers, Goddard & Hinkle. 
 
 The variety of merchandise increased with 
 the wants of the people, and the different depart- 
 ments were separated. The markets were 
 gradually brought more within the reach of the 
 producer, and he began to depend upon them 
 more for his supplies. While the farmer pro- 
 duced a greater variety within his proper line of 
 business, he gradually ceased to produce many 
 things that did not belong to it. The number 
 of non-producers rapidly increased. 
 
I20 
 
 After the railroads reached Ottiimwa, in 
 1859, the merchandise was mostly hauled from 
 there in wagons. Freighting b}' team between 
 Bloomfield and Ottumwa was a considerable 
 business for several years. The people of the 
 Nation began to go to the railroad for pine lum- 
 ber and other articles which they bought in 
 bulk. No lumber yard was established in the 
 count}' until after the railroad reached Bloom- 
 field. 
 
 High Tide. — The war reconstructed our in- 
 stitutions on a larger pattern. In some places, 
 the foundations were not enlarged in proportion 
 to the structures. Some farmers build their oats 
 stacks in that way. They ma}' pile more oats 
 on a ten-foot foundation, but they make an ugl}' 
 stack, and if a storm unsettles it the ruin is com- 
 plete. The business of the Hairy Nation grew 
 into such top-heavy shape after the war. 
 
 The war made money plentiful, and prices 
 high. The margin of surplus, the real riches, 
 was multiplied. The government became a 
 great consumer, and the competition among pro- 
 ducers was reduced in two ways : one portion of 
 the producing countr}' was cut off, and the ranks 
 of the producers in the remaining portion were 
 
121 
 
 thinned. When the soldiers came home, they 
 entered into competition with the laborers, pro- 
 ducers and traders at home. Those who had 
 saved money invested it ; they carried the vig- 
 orous war methods into their business ; and ev- 
 erything seemed to spin. Under the stimulus of 
 the war, men became infatuated with the "get- 
 up-and-dust'' idea. The desire to do business 
 was unduly elevated above the desire to make a 
 home, the only rational personal end of business. 
 The increased vigor and activity resulted only in 
 a great increase of the volume of transactions; 
 those transactions covered but little new ground. 
 No thriving industries had been added. 
 
 This flood tide of seeming prosperity cul- 
 minated in the town of Bloomfield in a great 
 massing of capital in merchandise, and an un- 
 exampled era of building in 1874-5. 
 
 The Great (Disaster. — Plenty of money and 
 high prices was a good enough plane to stand 
 on; it was a bad one to fall from. The govern- 
 ment gave the push, without sufficient cause or 
 due warning ; and our people, at least, did not 
 save themselves. 
 
 The only direct effect of great consequence 
 which the panic of 1873 had upon our local 
 
122 
 
 business was produced b}' the failure of the 
 *'Great Western Insurance Company,"" an in- 
 stitution in which a number of Bloomiield men 
 had invested. Several of them were crippled 
 by its collapse. 
 
 The event proved that the great amount of 
 building done by the mercantile community of 
 Bloomtield was done on a false foundation. As 
 it has recently happened again, it proved that 
 men were building befoie they were read}-. 
 The money put into the buildings was buried 
 for a time. Some of the investors never recov- 
 ered it. 
 
 The live stock interest had grown to such 
 proportions that men began to recognize its 
 importance, as an independent business. The 
 business was soon overdone in one direction. It 
 was not confined closely enough to the natural 
 basis of the farm. It grew top-heavy, and there 
 was a fall. Of the fifteen or twenty men in the 
 county who were engaged chiefly in feeding and 
 forwarding stock when the stringency began, a 
 small number saw the fall in time to withdraw. 
 Of those who continued the business on a falling 
 market until the crash came, a few have crawled 
 out from under the ruins ; the rest are helping 
 
123 
 
 to build up the great and growing state of 
 Kansas. 
 
 Each of these men, in his fall, helped to pull 
 down several other men. Two of the banks, 
 being heavy sufferers, and unsound before, failed 
 early. In about a year and a-half, fifty -odd 
 tirms failed in Bloomtield alone, and several in 
 the smaller towns. There was an equal or 
 greater number of failures in the farming com- 
 munity, involving many men not engaged in side 
 speculations. 
 
 At any other time in our history, our people 
 w^ould have been enabled, by the sheer product- 
 iveness of the soil, to repair as they went the 
 loss from any one of these causes ; but an extra- 
 ordinary succession of rainy seasons and short 
 crops deprived them of this resource. 
 
 To crown all, the magnificent courthouse in 
 which the people now take so much pride was 
 built in the period of greatest financial distress. 
 It is often said that it was built cheaply. It cost 
 fewer dollars than it would have cost at another 
 time; but they were as hard to get as the Irish- 
 man's shillings. 
 
 It is a remarkable testimony to the fertility of 
 our agricultural resources that, although fully 
 
124 
 
 one-fourth of the farms in the county were un- 
 der mortgage at this time, a very small propor- 
 tion of them were seized. 
 
 (Present and Future. — Our people recovered 
 in a great measure from the effects of the panic. 
 A recent shortage of crops brought back the 
 memories and fears of that calamitous period. 
 Nature smiles again, and hope revives. The 
 Hairy Nation again seems to be master of its 
 own future. What shall the future be.^ 
 
 A taste for luxury seems to have always ac- 
 companied civilization in its progress, but wheth- 
 er it contributes to the progress or not is doubt- 
 ful. Luxury can be supported only b}^ industry. 
 Among us, the taste for luxury has grown faster 
 than the development of industry. There is too 
 much fine merchandise displayed in our stores 
 for the number of wheels we are turning and 
 the number of holes we are boring in the ground. 
 Increased indulgence in luxury makes a tempora- 
 ry increase in the volume of some departments of 
 trade ; but luxury, without a proper basis in 
 healthy industry, will not give permanent 
 strength to even a mercantile business. 
 
 Do those who contemplate the investment of 
 more capital in merchandise in this county. 
 
125 
 
 especially in Bloomlield, take into their calcula- 
 tions these facts? In the first twenty years after 
 the lands of the county were opened to settle- 
 ment, its population increased about thirty fold. 
 In the succeeding twenty years, to the present 
 time, the population increased ten or twelve per 
 cent ; a rate which would double it in some- 
 thing less than two hundred years. Yet in that 
 time the amount of merchandise has certainly 
 more than quadrupled. 
 
 During the convalescence succeeding the fi- 
 nancial prostration, the citizens of Bloomfield 
 organized a board of trade. The efforts of this 
 body were heartily seconded by two newspapers 
 of the town. It did some good, doubtless, that 
 cannot be measured : for instance, a better rep- 
 resentation of the credit of the community. Its 
 accomplished work was the successful establish- 
 ment of a creamery and the fruitless sinking of 
 a prospecting shaft for coal. Three other 
 creameries have been put into successful opera- 
 tion near Pulaski and Drakeville. In the mean- 
 time, without any artificial aid, a wagon and 
 carriage factory has been founded in Bloomfield, 
 and is doing a healthy and prosperous business. 
 From a small beginning is slowly and steadily 
 
126 
 
 growing up a well auger factory that is a real 
 credit to the town ; for it is the tirst venture of 
 the kind that has proved both honest and suc- 
 cessful, after a series of failures and frauds with 
 which the good name of the town has been load- 
 ed in past years. The head proprietor, John R. 
 Davis, is not only the inventor of the machine 
 he manufactures, but the most extensive and 
 successful inventor of whom the Hairy Nation 
 has to boast. 
 
 These are samples of enterprise that brings 
 real prosperity. Any new industry whose end 
 was to advance towards maturity the raw prod- 
 ucts which we now sell too cheaply, or to pro- 
 duce anything which we have to buy, would not 
 only add to the volume of general business, but 
 would give support to the other pursuits. Of 
 these classes, there seems to be an especial need 
 of such establishments as a manufactory of farm 
 implements, a pork-packing house and a canning 
 factory. There ought to be a packing-house in 
 every county ; and the nearest canning factories 
 are at Keokuk, Marshalltown and Indianola; the 
 last having at this writing turned out no product. 
 All such enterprises have been carried to success 
 by communities with less resources than ours. 
 
127 
 
 Bloomtield has an infant college which is 
 growing in popularity and strength. To keep 
 up its present rate of growth, measures should 
 be taken to give it more room. Our citizens 
 should not shrink in discouragement from the 
 effort. To a purely business view, the matter 
 takes this shape : the hundred and more persons 
 whom the school contributes as a continuous 
 addition to the population put down here in a 
 year nearly twenty thousand dollars of the clean- 
 est money that enters into the channels of our 
 trade. This money would not come here if the 
 managers of the school were not able to adver- 
 tise: ''There are no saloons in Bloomfield.'^ 
 
 It is almost certain that most of the surface of 
 the county is underlaid with an abundance of 
 good coal. Heretofore, it has scarcely been 
 mined at all, except by scratching in places into 
 the surface measure. Within the past few 
 months, a steam shaft has been sunk into the 
 second measure, at Laddsdale, on the county 
 line, and mining operations are now carried on 
 there systematically and extensively. This may 
 be considered as the opening of the breach. It 
 cannot be long before steam and enterprise will 
 break the Rip Van Winkle sleep in which our 
 
128 
 
 hidden wealth has Iain. Here comes in a new 
 problem. Will the count}^ seat share in this 
 harvest, and maintain the balance of wealth.'^ 
 Or will it all be reaped by towns more favor- 
 ably situated, as Floris and Drakeville, just as 
 Pulaski is already growing on the production of 
 a rich agricultural section.^ Or will new towns 
 spring up about the mines, to still further divide 
 the business of the county.^ 
 
 If this is speculating too far, it is because the 
 chickens are to be hatched by home effort. 
 The Hairy Nation has some heavy setters, if 
 they only had warmth enough. 
 
129 
 
 THE NATION IN WAR. 
 
 JNo Indian Wars, — There was never any 
 war or bloodshed between the people of the 
 Hairy Nation and their Indian neighbors. 
 
 The (Boundary War. — When Iowa was born 
 as a territory, in 1838, she inherited, through 
 her mother, the Territory of Wisconsin, from 
 her grandmother, the Territory of Michigan, a 
 family dispute concerning the boundary between 
 her patrimony (or matrimony?) and the domain 
 of Missouri. The question was whether the 
 eastern terminus, defined as '^the Des Moines 
 Rapids,^' was the rapids of the Des Moines, be- 
 low Keosauqua, or the "Des Moines Rapids'' of 
 the Mississippi, above Keokuk. When we rec- 
 ollect that a question of priority as to the right 
 to temporarily occupy a strip of the highway 
 for the cultivation of a hedge, or the twisting of 
 the sections half a rod diamond-wise by the gov- 
 
ernment surveyors has often caused irreconcil- 
 able enmities between neighbors hereabouts, we 
 need not wonder that two states, governed en- 
 tirely by men, should quarrel over a triangle of 
 fertile land, nine miles across the base and more 
 than two hundred miles long. 
 
 The eastern border counties of Missouri as- 
 sessed taxes upon the settlers on the '^disputed 
 strip.'^ Their sheriffs attempted to collect these 
 taxes, and in many cases levied upoa the prop- 
 erty of delinquents. In the prosecution of this 
 duty, they were in some cases arrested by Iowa 
 officers. The governors of Missouri and low^a 
 called out their militia to support their respect- 
 ive claims. Five hundred Iowa militia camped 
 on the border of Van Buren county, ready for 
 hostilities. But the time for actual war between 
 Iowa and Missouri had not yet come. Nego- 
 tiations were opened, and it w^as agreed to settle 
 the matter by a lawsuit ; a resort less blood}' 
 than war, though generall}' more expensive. B}' 
 an act of Congress, the case was finally submit- 
 ted to the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 and decided in favor of Iowa. H. B. Hender- 
 shott on the part of Iowa, and Wm. G. Miner 
 on the part of Missouri, were appointed commis- 
 
sioners to survey and establish the boundary. 
 The line was marked by iron posts, set ten miles 
 apart. Since then, the delinquent tax-payers of 
 the disputed strip have had only one sheriff to 
 dodge. This dispute was prolonged through 
 nearly the whole of Iowa''s territorial existence. 
 There were some curious facts and incidents 
 connected with this war. Samuel and Jonathan 
 Riggs were cousins, and Hved near each other, 
 south of Bloomtield, on the disputed strip. In 
 1844-6, Samuel was sheriff of this county. Du- 
 ring a part or all of the same time, Jonathan 
 was sheriff of Schuyler county, Missouri. Sam- 
 uel was at one time arrested by Jonathan, and 
 arraigned before a Missouri justice, on a charge 
 of unlawfully distraining the property of a cit- 
 izen of Missouri. Afterwards, Jonathan was 
 arrested by Samuel, and prosecuted in the Iowa 
 courts on a charge of holding an office in the 
 service of Missouri while residing within the 
 jurisdiction of Iowa. The prosecution was 
 never carried to a conclusion, but he suffered 
 imprisonment for about two months. For this 
 devotion to the cause of that state, the legis- 
 lature of Missouri voted him the sum of two 
 hundred dollars. 
 
132 
 
 As this is not a histor}', I am not restrained 
 from relating the story of two old women who 
 were discussing the boundary question with all 
 the sageness of two Mrs. Spoopendykes. One 
 said : '^I do hope it won't fall to Missouri, for 
 Missouri's so sickly." ''Well," said the other, 
 after a few reflective drafts from her pipe, "1 
 do' know ; they could al'ays raise wheat in Mis- 
 souri." The accident of birth (if it was an ac- 
 cident in their cases,) had left these two good 
 old souls no voice in the arbitrament ; but let 
 the decree be what it might, they could accept 
 it with a truly Christian resignation. The con- 
 sequences expected by these two old ladies from 
 an attachment to either state were whimsical: 
 but we lowans, and as we think all others but a 
 few loyally blind Missourians, can now see that 
 the dwellers on that tract have substantial reas- 
 ons to thank the fortune that cast their lot with 
 this more liberal and progressive commonwealth. 
 
 The Mexican War. — The Hairy Nation was 
 young when the Mexican war began. It sent 
 no organized bodies of troops to the war. Half 
 a dozen or so of its citizens enlisted in two com- 
 panies of Iowa volunteers which were mustered 
 into service at Burlington, some time after the 
 
133 
 
 war began. They took part in the bloody 
 march from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. 
 One of those volunteers, at least, is still a citizen 
 of the Nation, and draws a pension on account 
 of a wound received in that service. 
 
 Our (Boys in (Dixie. — The Hairy Nation 
 made its mark and received its share of scars 
 in the war of the rebellion. It furnished nearly 
 eight hundred soldiers. It was represented by 
 Company G, Second Iowa Infantry ; Compan}' 
 B and most of Company F, Thirtieth Infantry ; 
 Company D, Forty-Fifth Infantry (hundred 
 days) ; Companies A and E and part of Com- 
 pany D, Third Cavalry ; Company D, Tenth 
 Missouri Infantr}' ; and by from one to thirty- 
 men in other companies ; principally in the 
 Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth and Thirty- 
 Sixth Iowa Infantry ; Seventh, Eighth and 
 Ninth Cavalry; Twenty-First Missouri Infantry; 
 Seventh Missouri Cavalry; and Second Cavalry, 
 Missouri State Militia. 
 
 Part of the Second Infantry, including Com- 
 pany G, stormed the works at Fort Donelson. 
 The regiment distinguished itself at Shiloh; at 
 the battle of Corinth, October 3d and 4th, 1862; 
 at Resaca, Kenesaw and other battles in the 
 
Atlanta campaign ; and in many other engage- 
 ments. It proved itself one of the bravest and 
 ^best regiments in the Union service. The 
 Third Ca\alry was its peer. One of the most 
 important movements in the battle of Pea Ridge 
 was the gallant charge of its first battalion on 
 the nth. This and the charge at Donelson are 
 among the most distinguished acts of bravery in 
 the war. The Third engaged in the Vicksburg 
 campaign ; the Mississippi campaigns of 1864; 
 Pleasanton's campaign against Price, in Missou- 
 ri ; Grierson's raid through Mississippi ; and in 
 various other services. The Thirtieth partic- 
 ipated in Sherman's Vicksburg campaign ; took 
 the most distinguished part in the capture of 
 Arkansas Post ; was in the sies^e of Vicksburof; 
 in the battles of Corinth and luka, in 1863; and 
 through Sherman's Georgia campaigns. 
 
 Many individual representatives of the Nation 
 distinguished themselves in the war. Cyrus 
 Bussey, first Colonel of the Third Cavalry, was 
 promoted to be Brigadier General. H. H.. 
 Trimble, Lieutenant Colonel, led the charge at 
 Pea Ridge. His face bears the scar of a ter- 
 rible wound received there from a Minie ball. 
 George Duffield, first Captain of Company E, 
 
^35 
 
 was promoted to be Major. James Baker en- 
 tered the Second Infantry as Captain of Com- 
 pany G ; became Lieutenant Colonel November 
 2d, 1861; Colonel, June 22d, 1862; commanded 
 the regiment at Shiloh, and at Corinth, October, 
 1862 ; was killed at the latter battle. James B. 
 Weaver entered the Second as First Lieutenant 
 of Company G; became Major July 25th, 1862; 
 Colonel after the battle of Corinth ; and after- 
 wards brevet Brigadier General. S. A. Moore 
 entered the Second as Second Lieutenant of 
 Company G ; was Captain in command of the 
 compan}' in the charge at Donelson ; was des- 
 perately wounded at Shiloh ; was Captain of 
 Company G, Forty-Fifth Infantry ; afterwards 
 Lieutenant Colonel. The limit of the volume 
 draws an arbitrary line. 
 
 Invasion. — On October 12, 1864, a band of 
 twelve mounted guerrillas made a circuit through 
 the southern part of the county ; entering near 
 the southeast corner, and going out near the 
 southwest. The}' robbed nearh' every person 
 or house that came in their way. The}' killed 
 Thomas Hardy, a wealthy farmer, as he sat on 
 his wagon, near his house. A little farther on, 
 they killed Eleazar Small, a furloughed soldier 
 
i.?6 
 
 of the Third Cavalry. They took a number of 
 prisoners along their route. x\t the line, they 
 released all these, except Capt. Philip H. Bence, 
 of Company F, Thirtieth Infantr}^ whom they 
 killed. Bence lived at Springville, and the two 
 other men killed within two miles of that place. 
 The manner of the killing of all three was pe- 
 culiarly atrocious. A large body of militia pur- 
 -sued this band, without effect. This raid cre- 
 ated such consternation that for two days people 
 living within a few miles of its course believed 
 that the county had been invaded by a force of 
 several hundred rebels. The belief still prevails 
 in the section visited by these raiders that they 
 were piloted by a man who knew the country. 
 November 7th, 1S64, Captain West, a rebel 
 recruiting officer, with five others, entered the 
 county. That night, West and a companion 
 stopped at the house of Martin Gore, west of 
 Troy. William Wallace, his son John R., and 
 Thomas Dulfield entered the house to arrest 
 them. The rebels opened fire, killed William 
 Wallace, wounded John several times, knocked 
 ])utfield down, and escaped. In 1869, West 
 was arrested in Missouri by Sheriff Daniel Brad- 
 bury, tried for murder, and acquitted. 
 
137 
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 (Parties. — The Democrats held sway in the 
 Hairy Nation in the early days. The Know 
 Nothings carried the election of 1855; then the 
 county returned to its former allegiance. Party 
 lines were not closely drawn in the election of 
 local officers until the struggle between the Re- 
 publican and Democratic parties began. The 
 largest party gathering ever held in the county- 
 was the two-days ^'Douglas camp-meeting," in 
 August, i860. About six thousand persons 
 were present on the first day. The Republican 
 party gained the ascendency in 1863. The 
 Grange movement, in 1873, rapidly acquired 
 great strength here. Ax. the Grange picnic on 
 the Fair Grounds, October 9th, 1873, thirty 
 granges were represented, and about six thou- 
 sand persons were present. The movement was 
 insensibly transformed into the Anti-Monopoly 
 
138 
 
 movement, and that into the Democratic party: 
 and thus the latter, by degrees, returned to pow- 
 er. It was hardly reseated before it was dis- 
 turbed by the Greenback party ; which in 1879 
 became strong enough to elect some officers, and 
 afterwards carried the count}'. Since that year, 
 the three parties have stood, relatively, in this 
 order : Greenback, Democratic, Republican. 
 
 Officers. — The first list of county officers has 
 been given. The offices of Treasurer and Re- 
 corder were united in 1847, W. S. Stevens be- 
 ing the incumbent. They were separated again 
 in 1864. A. H. Hill was elected Recorder in 
 that year, and R. T. Peak Treasurer in 1865. 
 In 1847, ^* ^- Carpenter was elected first Pros- 
 ecuting Attorney, and Wm. Cameron first Clerk 
 of the District Court. In 1868, A. H. Hill, 
 District Clerk, became also Clerk of the newly 
 established Circuit Court. In 1851, the Inspect- 
 orship of Weights and Measures was abolished; 
 and the Probate Judgeship (J. I. Earhart) and 
 the system of three Commissioners gave place 
 to the Count}' Judgeship (H. W. Briggs) and 
 the County Supervisorship (one term — John Al- 
 len). In 1869, Wm. Van Benthusen, last County 
 Judge, became first Auditor. In i860, a Board 
 
of Supervisors, consisting of one member from 
 c.ich township, was elected. The members 
 were : J. D. Dunlavy, Wm, Van Benthusen, 
 Henry Hudgens, James Hamilton, John H, 
 Drake, George Duffield, David Ferguson, J. L 
 Earhart, Hugh Aberneth}^, W. E. Brown, Wm, 
 Fortune, Wm. Evans, John Newton, J. M. Sloan. 
 In 1870, this S3'stem gave place to that of three 
 Supervisors ; and J. P. Fortune, John Edwards 
 and W. S. Monroe were elected. Harvey A. 
 Sloan was elected first School Fund Commis 
 sioner, in 1850 ; and Harvey Dunlavy tirst Su 
 perintendent of Schools, in 1858. Present of 
 licers : S. B. Downing, Representative ; F. W 
 Moore, Clerk ; W. S. Stevens, Auditor; M. M 
 Boyer, Treasurer ; J. W. Pirtle, Sheriff ; A. C 
 Lester, Recorder; J. C. Dooley, Superintendent 
 Albert Power, D. Swinney and E. A. Duck 
 worth. Supervisors ; P. I. Kinsinger, Surveyor; 
 E. J. Shelton, Coroner. 
 
 (Public Men. — S. W. McAtee spent more 
 years in public service than any other man in 
 our history. He was one of the first Commis* 
 ioners, four years Sheriff, eight years County 
 Judge, and held various other public trusts. I. 
 Kister was Recorder 1844-6, and State Treas- 
 
140 
 
 urer 1850-2, besides other public service. J. J., 
 Selman was President of the State Senate 1848, 
 member 1858, candidate for Congress 1856. 
 S. A. Moore was County Judge 1855, State 
 Senator 1863, candidate for other places, latel}' 
 Postmaster at Bloomfield. H. H. Trimble was 
 District Attorney 1852, State Senator 1856, 
 District Judge 1862, since candidate for Su- 
 preme Judge, District Judge, Congress and Go\ - 
 ernor. J. B. Weaver was District Attorney 
 1866, Congressman 1878, candidate for Pres- 
 ident 1880, for Congress 1882. D. P, Palmer 
 was State Senator 1852, delegate to state con- 
 stitutional convention 1856, since candidate for 
 Representative. H. C. Traverse was Represent- 
 ative 1865, State Senator 1867 and 1879, Cir- 
 cuit Judge 1880. J. A. T. Hull was Secretary 
 of State Senate four terms, now in his third term 
 as Secretary of State. In 1878, the Nation fur- 
 nished J. B. Weaver, candidate for Congress, and 
 J. A. T. Hull and T. O. Walker, for Secretary 
 of State ; 1879, Trimble for Governor, M. H. 
 Jones for Supreme Judge, Traverse and Walker 
 for State Senator; 1882, Hull and Walker again 
 for Secretary, Weaver for Congress, and Samuel 
 Jones elected District Attorney. 
 
141 
 
 THE PRESS. 
 
 May, 13, 1854, Geo. W. Johnson issued the 
 first newspaper in the count}', the Gazette, a six- 
 cohimn paper. It was afterwards changed- to 
 the (Radiator, by Rev. J. B. Bowen ; again, to 
 Ober's Trite Flag, by Harry Ober. In 1856, 
 J. B. Bowen issued the Weekly Union, and after- 
 wards the (Davis County (Democrat. He was 
 succeeded by Wm. G. Ward, as pubhsher of 
 Ward's Own, and afterwards of the Iowa Flag, 
 For a time, about 1857, Hosea B. Horn, an able 
 writer and the first historian of the Hairy Na- 
 tion, pubHshed the (Davis County Index. In 
 1858, the (Democratic Clarion was started by 
 A. P. Bentley and Amos Steckel. In 1861, 
 they sold it to W. G. Ward ; a sweet singer, 
 but a poor, though persevering publisher. It 
 suspended in 1863, was revived by Barr & Ham- 
 lin, and died in 1864. In 1863, the Union Guard 
 
142 
 
 was started by a stock compan}' ; A. M. Karns 
 being publisher, and M. H. Jones and S. A. 
 Moore, and afterwards J, B. Weaver, editors. 
 In 1866, it passed into the hands of H. II. Jones 
 and C. II. Young. In 1868, E. T. White pur- 
 chased it, changed its name to (Davis County 
 (R^epuhlican , and put in a power press. No 
 paper before this had been larger than six col- 
 umns. J. A. T. Hull bought the ^Republican in 
 May, 1873. C. B. Whitford was associated with 
 him for most of 1876. A. H. Fortune entered 
 the firm in May, 1877. By lease, John J. Ham- 
 ilton succeeded Hull as editor and publisher in 
 1879. A. H. Fortune conducted the paper for a 
 few months past. Hull & Fortune are now own- 
 ers. Fortune & Heizer publishers, E. P. Heizer 
 editor. T. O. Walker started the (Bloomfield 
 (Democrat in September, 1869; lately sold it to 
 H. C. Evans and J. F. Mounts. J. B. King re- 
 moved the Grangers' Advocate here from Moul- 
 ton late in 1873. August, 1874, F. W. Moore 
 and Will Van Benthusen converted it into The 
 Commonwealth, an independent Republican pa- 
 per. I purchased Mr. Van Benthusen's interest. 
 May 3d, 1876; and leased Mr. Moore ^s interest, 
 March 20th, 1877. Under Moore & Ethell, the 
 
M3 
 
 paper espoused the Greenback cause, in August, 
 1876. About June, 15th, 1878, I was succeed- 
 ed in the control of the paper by Dr. E. J. Shel- 
 ton, 'who changed the name to Legal Tender 
 Greenback. A few da3's afterwards, he sold it 
 to C. F. Davis, who still conducts it. From 
 March, 1875, to February, 1876, Richard B. B. 
 Wood, who has done better journalistic work, 
 published the Drakeville Sun,' a three-column 
 sheet, the only paper ever published in the coun- 
 ty, outside of Bloomtield. The Odd Fellows' 
 (Banner was started in 1875, by J. B. King ; S. 
 H. Glenn was afterwards associated ; circulation 
 reached six thousand; removed to Cedar Rapids 
 early in 1878. The Teacher at Work was con- 
 ducted by Prof. A. Axline for a while in 1876. 
 The (People's Monthly Journal, an advertising 
 paper, was published by Mitchell Brothers, 1878- 
 80. In company at first with L. A. and Geo. A. 
 Morgan, I published The (Bloomfield Mercury, 
 June 19th to October 3d, 1879. The (Democrat 
 first used ''patent outsides," in 1872. Before 
 May 2 1st, 1878, all three newspapers were using 
 them. On that date. The Commonwealth dis- 
 carded them ; the (Republican soon after. The 
 (Republican first used steam; the Greenback later. 
 
144 
 
 APOLOGIES. 
 
 Here, if anywhere, is the place for an apology. 
 The reader knows now what need there is of it. 
 
 I regret that my time and means were so lim- 
 ited that I could not make this book larger, and 
 print the names of more people in its beautiful 
 large type. I regret the mistakes I have made, 
 and the others which the reader will find ; tax 
 them all to haste. I regret, especially, a small 
 injustice which I have, in forgetfulness, done to 
 an absent man. If any man feels aggrieved, let 
 him accept this apology; if the right man apply, 
 I will make amends. I hope the book will find 
 a thousand critics who will have the right to 
 criticise. When I make another book, which 
 I expect to do soon, I hope I shall be able to do 
 better. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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