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Audubon County |
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CHAPTER IV.SETTLEMENT OF AUDUBON COUNTY. (Cont'd)From History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915)
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THE HOMESTEADERS.In 1856 Congress granted large amounts of land in Iowa to aid in the construction of railroads. One of those grants was for a railroad from Davenport to Council Bluffs, made to the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company. It gave to the company all land not then already disposed of, in odd numbered sections on each side of the proposed route for six miles, or not to exceed fifteen miles. The grant was in the nature of a float, the title not fully vested, but conditioned upon future acts of the government, and of their compliance by the proposed railroad company. The principal requirements were the survey of the proposed route, the selection of their lands, and the building of the road. The survey was soon made by Granville M. Dodge, of Council Bluffs, who is still living, and passed through the town of Exira. It was called the Dodge survey. The lands were promptly selected in conformity with the survey. Afterwards, the rights of the Mississippi & Missouri Company were transferred to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. A new survey was made, deflecting south from the original line, the new line running from what is now the town of Adair, by way of what is now Atlantic, thence on to Council Bluffs. The new line was about thirteen miles south of Exira. A new and additional grant of land was made by Congress to further aid in construction of the road, giving to the company all lands not previously disposed of, for twenty miles on each side of the route. The railroad was completed through to Council Bluffs on the new route in 1869, and the lands were certified by the government to the company in conformity with the grants. It was disclosed by the survey and selection of the lands, that most of the government lands across Iowa along the route of the proposed road, had already been disposed of at the time the grants were made. The bulk of the lands actually selected for the company were found to be located in Audubon and Shelby counties. About 1870, a lawyer, named Joseph A. Straight, a pleasant, accomplished gentleman, located at Exira. He conceived the opinion that the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company had forfeited its right to the grants in question in so far as they related to lands lying more than twenty miles from the line of the road as actually constructed. His opinion was promulgated and caught like wildfire; people here and from abroad adopted and acted upon it, and by the hundreds rushed to secure the unoccupied railroad lands as homesteads. They settled and built upon the lands and proceeded to improve and convert them into farms and homes. It was the prominent theme of business in the northern portion of the county for several years. Actions were brought against the so-called "homesteaders" to eject them from the lands. George W. Capron came here from Illinois, bought land from the railroad company, partially improved and built a house upon it, then sold the house which was removed, and returned to Illinois. Three forty-acre tracts of his land were settled on by William Emery, H. P. Emery and Robert Campbell, respectively, who sought to hold the lands homesteads. Here was a dilemma. Capron did not desire to lose his property and could not recover his purchase money from the railroad company until he was legally ousted from the land. So he reluctantly brought actions in 1874 against each of the parties to eject them from his lands. The case of George W. Capron vs. William Emery involved the title to the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 27, township 80, range 35, and was the first of the many homestead cases. It was tried by a jury, before Hon. T. R. Stockton, circuit judge, and decree was entered for plaintiff, October i, 1874. The other two cases were decided in favor of plaintiff. H. F. Andrews was attorney for plaintiff, assisted by Thomas S. Wright on behalf of the railroad company. Charles D. Gray was attorney for defendants. The contention of plaintiff in these cases was that the conditions in the grants to the railroad company, which had not been actually performed by the company, had been waived by implication by the government, and that the title to the lands had fully vested in the railroad company before the attempted homestead entries. A large number of ejectment suits were afterwards maintained against the homesteaders by the railroad company. None of the homestead claimants were successful, but they caused a world of trouble and unsettled the title to the railroad lands for several years. A large number of claimants were forcibly ejected and removed from the lands by the sheriff, who set out their property and household effects into the public highway. Some of the claimants yielded, compromised and bought their lands from the railroad company. Joseph Tharnish was the first homestead settler on Blue Grass creek about 1871. His claim included part of the present site of the town of Audubon. These affairs engendered much bitterness against the railroad company; but, on the whole, the contentions were conducted with decorum. Happily, the whole of that unpleasantness has long since vanished. |
