Chapter Twenty Four

HISTORY OF SCOTT, SPRING CREEK, UNION, WEST DES MOINES, AND WHITE OAK TOWNSHIPS.

SCOTT.

As originally surveyed, Scott township was a full congressional township, but in more recent years almost the entire southern tier of sections which are south of the Des Moines river have been set off into Jefferson township. It is known on the surveys as No. 75 north of 17 west of the 5th principal meridian. The Des Moines river cuts off the southwest corner of the township. Along the river in the southwest portion it is somewhat rough and there is an excellent growth of walnut, white oak and other timbers. In the north and west are undulating prairies, rich and productive. Dr. E. A. Boyer, one of the very earliest settlers in the township, sold $12,000 worth of black walnut lumber from his river lands on the Des Moines. When the township was organized it was named Jackson by the county commissioners. In the election of 1852, when Scott and Pierce ran for president, the township cast a soiid vote for the Mexican war veteran. When making the election returns to the county officials, Dr. Boyer requested that the name of the township be changed to that of Scott, not appreciating the democratic name. When asked for the petition he called attention to the solid vote in his returns. The board so accepted the election returns and granted his request. Mrs. Hiram Covey taught the first school in the township, at Rochester. The house was a well built structure for its day and served the district for several generations.

Among the very early settlers in this township were Dr. E. A. Boyer, Van B. Delashmutt, Jacob H. Majors, John Majors, Joseph Tally, R. Garden, John Thompson and J. E. Utter. There were numerous settlements along the river from the first. In the summer of 1843 when everything was new and wild and occasional bands of Indians were passing through the country, several families, after locating their claims, built their cabins on Dr. Boyer's place in a circle for better protection and lived in common for the first year or two. They called their settlement "the Phalanx." Of this primitive community we have the name of Dr. Boxer, a man by the name of Norton, and John Pope, with their families, and two single men, George and John Rose. There were doubtless others whose names have not come down to us. During the first years there was abundance of game along the river. Dr. Boyer was a hunter of that period, always keeping choice hunting dogs and a spirited horse for the chase. During the first year he shot ninety-three wolves. Mr. R. L Garden, of Tracy, has done valuable service in quite a number of well written descriptive letters of the early history of Scott township. He is the son of the pioneer, R. Garden, and has been an interested observer of its growth and development from the beginning. Of the old town of Bellefountaine Mr. Garden writes: "The first town in Scott township was laid out at Talley's Ford, on the west bank of the Des Moines river, by Nathan Gregory and Ezra H.Thissell, August 24, 1846. The first log cabin erected was by Ezra Thissell, with a log shed addition. One room was a residence and the addition for a store room. Mrs. Malinda Thissell was the first woman to live in the town and to her was given the honor of naming the town, which she named Bellefountaine, that being the name of a town in Ohio, near which she had resided before moving to Iowa. Thissell opened a grocery store, which was a big boom for the settlement. It is not generally known, but true, that when the fifth general assembly, which convened at Iowa City on December 4, 1854, passed an act to relocate the state capital, that when the first ballot was taken on a new location, Bellefountaine came within one vote of being the choice and securing the location. Doubtless this vote was influenced by the large calculations, then thought to be perfectly feasible, of making the Des Moines river a navigable stream the year round by means of a system of dams and locks at different places along its course. Rochester had been selected as the point in this county where there was to be built a succession of dams for slack water purposes, and locks through which the boats might pass with an abundant supply of water. As late as 1858 steamers made regular trips up the Des Moines river. James Hayes, who came to this county in 1856, had charge of Gateless ferry during the summer of the first named year, and states that twelve boats passed up and down the river regularly. Among them were the following vessels: Clara Hine, Alice Skipper, Emma Harmon, Defiance, Michigan City, Des Moines City and the Des Moines Bell. Bellefontaine had a hotel and several general stores in its more prosperous years, but necessarily retrograded with the coming of the railroads. In the year 1846 Joseph Tally built and operated a ferryboat at the new village for the accommodation of westward travel. Prior to this time all transportation of travelers with their wagons and goods was made with a skiff and the horses or oxen swam the stream. This ferry boat was operated by means of poles and oars for some time, when it was changed into a rope ferry. One of the clearest headed pioneers we have consulted states that the first appropriation for a highway made in Mahaska county was made by Judge Crookham in the early '50s for a rope to be used on the Bellefountaine ferry. The village of Rochester, further down the river, was laid out by John Wright on October 26, 1850. About this time there was a great air line railroad route projected from Muscatine through Iowa, known as the Mississippi &. Missouri River Railroad. In its survey through Mahaska county it was to cross the Des Moines river at Rochester. There was a good boat landing and quite a good country trade at its stores. In the late '50s Dr. Boyer ran a general store, both at Rochester and Bellefountaine. State Bank, had charge of both stores at difBank, had charge of both of these stores at different times. Marion White also had a store. The village never attained any prominence.

Olivet, a village located on section 9, is a station on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad. The village took its name from the Olivet Presbyterian church, which had been organized several years before. The village was laid out in 1877. The first house was erected by William Sumner; who also opened the first store. Samuel Casey was the first station agent and H. D. Ross was the first postmaster. The village never made much growth, and now contains ten or a dozen families. Scott township has some rich coal mines. It has seven schoolhouses. The county poor farm is located on section 24, in this township. The township has 221 farms, whose value is $169,669, and personal property to the value of $33,407. Its present population is 1,200.

SPRING CREEK TOWNSHIP.

This township took its name from the creek flowing through it, which in some part is sustained by a number of springs along its banks. Until 1882 what are now Spring Creek, Oskaloosa, Lincoln and Garfield townships, were known as Oskaloosa township. Poultney Loughridge, John McAllister, Edwin and Robert Mitchell and Patterson Martin were among those who staked off their claims by torchlight May 1, 1843. Poultney Loughridge was the founder of the United Presbyterian church in Oskaloosa. It was organized in the first schoolhouse built in the county, in about 1847. For a number of years services were held during the winter in his cabin and in the summer in the open groves. Thomas Stafford and family came in the summer of 1843. Mr. Stafford belonged to the Society of Friends and formed a nucleus for quite a large settlement of those of his own religious views. The first Friends meeting house in the county was built in that settlement. In later years a building was erected and an academy established which finally led to the establishment of Penn College. The first Friends yearly meeting in Iowa was held in Spring Creek grove in 1863. Just how much of all these beneficent results is tracable to the life and character of Thomas Stafford it is difficult to tell, but the influence of the life of a man with a conviction grows like leaven. Mr. Stafford refused to become a member of the claim association because he was conscientiously opposed to its contemplated violent measures. Nevertheless the association gave him the same protection which they took to themselves. William Stafford's marriage to Miss Eliza Stanley was the first marriage in the township. The first birth was that of John Mitchell in 1844. The first schoolhouse in the county was built and the first school taught in this township in the fall and winter of 1844 by Miss Semira A. Hobbs. A more complete account of this school is given in another chapter. The township now has ten schools. In the summer of 1862 there occurred a freak in the big bend of the Skunk river, a description of which is worthy the pen of John James Audubon, the ornithologist. We refer to an old-time pigeon roost. It is the custom of these birds to repair in countless numbers to a selected spot in the forest and make it a rendezvous for a sufficient length of time to hatch and rear their young. This year they gathered on the Skunk river about four miles east of Oskaloosa on the William K. Sopher farm. Their roost covered between forty and fifty acres of timber land on both sides of the river. They covered the trees like swarms of bees. There was a never-ending roar and din that could be heard for miles away, especially in the evening on the return of the flocks from their foraging excursions through the day hundreds of miles away. Those who lived only a few miles away say that the noise was like the roar of a cataract or an approaching hurricane. Branches of the trees were constantly swaying and breaking under the weight of the settling myriads that were constantly circling in the air or lighting on the tree tops. They came in such numbers as to darken the sun. Pandemonium reigned at the roost day and night. Out of such an aggregation of flocks, amounting to millions of individual birds, the air was constantly filled with the screams and fluttering of the wounded, the greetings of the incoming flocks and the departure of others. The constant fatalities of the living, and the falling of broken branches kept up a constant roar and confusion. Those who visited the roost killed pigeons and young squabs by wagon loads with clubs and poles. They were sold in the villages and towns about the country until there was no market for them. Naturalists tell us that these swift-winged little creatures will fly a mile in two and a half minutes and will keep it up for hundreds of miles. They assemble at these roosts for the annual hatching and rearing of their young, which grow into maturity in a few months and swell the vast migratory throng. The following year several hundred came back to the old roost for a time, but the gathering described above was the only genuine pigeon roost that ever occurred in the history of Mahaska county since the coming of the white man. Spring Creek township has a number of rich coal mines. In the early '90S the mining village of Carbonado, several miles northeast of Oskaloosa, was a busy camp with a varying population· for a number of years until the coal in the vicinity was worked out. The north half has been covered with timber and is somewhat broken, while the south portion is a rolling prairie. The township has 324 farms whose value is $280,475, and personal property to the value of $69,906: Its population is 1,600.

UNION.

When this township was first formed it comprised five congressional townships, viz.: Union and Pleasant Grove in Mahaska, and Union, Jackson and Deep River in Poweshiek county. Hence its name .. In the organization of Poweshiek county the last-named three townships went with it, and Pleasant Grove was organiz.ed in January, 1850, leaving Union· the ordinary sized township containing thirtysix square miles and known as township No. 77 north of range 15 west of the 5th principal meridian. The township lines were run by Alvin Burt in July, 1843, and the section lines by Stiles C. Carpenter in October, 1847. The North Skunk river runs diagonally across the township from the northwest. Except in the southern sections the country is somewhat broken and was originally covered with timber. There are, however, very few farms that are not rich and productive. The very first settlers were John Morrison, Jacob Klinker and Jesse Moore. Among those who came a little later were John and James Widows, Nathan Brown, Jacob Dalby and Isaac N. Griffith near the county line, and farther south were the Bradshaws, John Graham, Robert Telford, John Deardorf, David, James and Reuben Kisor, Daniel Rogers, John McMaines, Benj. Groves, Anderso.n James, Fred Weimer and others. The books of original entry among the county records show that the first lands purchased from the government in this township were the following: October 9, 1848, by Simeon Johnson, a part of section I. Same date, by R. B. Ogden, a part of section 4. October 12, by Joshua Gorsuch, a part of section II, Same date. Robert Telford purchased section 12. The first school was taught by Mrs. Dr. Fry, on section I I, and the next at Union Mills. This village was laid out by Jacob Weimer in 1849, and called Middletown, on account of its being about half way between Montezuma and Oskaloosa. Later the village took the name of the mills which were built by Mr. Weimer and C. Brolliar. Several stores sprang up and flourished on account of the patronage at the mills. At one time there was a carding mill and a chair factory attached to the mill. A postoffice was established in 1855. The old mill and the village are things of the past. The abundant timber lands were inviting for wild game in the early years. Mrs. David Kisor recalls many pleasant memories of the log cabin days. One afternoon while sitting at her cabin window she saw a herd of deer pass quietly by the cabin window and out into the range. Like most of the pioneers the good old lady resolutely clings to the old home place where herself and her husband spent their happiest days and from which the family have gone out to found homes of their own. We are told that somewhere back in the late '40s three young men lost their lives during a flood in the river, and these were among the first who were buried in the beautiful cemetery grounds near Union Mills. Some thirty years ago James Stiles Chew and others were instrumental in purchasing Bethel Grove, located on section II, and having it deeded to the Methodist Episcopal church forever for camp meeting purposes. A chapel has been erected on the ground and the place serves as an ihviting gathering place for the neighborhood. Since its purchase the community has changed, and but few members of that church remain, but the terms of the deed are unalterable, and as long as there is someone to see that the tax is paid, it must remain the property of the church who first accepted it. There is a good Methodist Episcopal chu'rch on section 33, known as the Fairview church. The neat frame church standing on the eminence at Union Mills belongs to the Christian church. An organization of this church was formed here back in the '60s by N. E. Cory. Union township has 225 farms, whose vallle is $231,404 with personal property valued at $54,819. Its population is 1,200.

WEST DES MOINES.

The settlement and history of this township are closely connected with East Des Moines because it has only existed as a separate organization since 1885. Among its old settlers are: A. Brundage, John B. Thomas, Henderson England, J. P. McCrea and John Taylor. Recent years have brought great developments in the coal fields in that part of the county. The Northwestern Railroad has extended its branch as far west as Buxton, which is a large mining center, almost wholly across the line in Monroe county, Lakonta is the only post office in the township. It contains a population at present of about one hundred and fifty, but is growing. It has two general stores, a blacksmiths shop and a lumber yard. The large railroad yards located here require the constant services of three engines. The yards have eight or ten miles of track and are still enlarging. This township has I I I farms, whose value is $1°9,957. The value of its personal property is $25,312, with a population of 700.

WHITE OAK TOWNSHIP.

VVhite Oak township took its name from the abundant timber of that name predominating along the South Skunk river, which nms diagonally across the township. Among the first settlers in the township were Alexander Troy, M. Kinsman, Henry Bond, vVilliam Bridges, James Stanfield, John and \iVilliam Butler, John N. Kinsman and others. On each side of the river channel for several miles the land is quite broken and has been pretty heavily timbered. There are seven or eight hundred acres of low lands which are not tillable, but valuable for their timber and pasture. Rose Hill is located on sections 3 and 10, and was laid out on the completion of the Oskaloosa branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific to Oskaloosa in 1875. It is located about ten miles east of Oskaloosa. The first business house was built in that year by Baily & Stubbs. It prospered for a time and was incorporated in 1877. The post office was established in 1876 with H. L. Orr as first postmaster. It has several good general stores, a bank, three churches, a good school and is a good market for the rich farming country of which it forms the center. There are a number of well kept homes, but the population is not more than about 250. Where White Oak postoffice now stands William Bond built a crude saw mill in the beginning years, to help the settlers make a better use of some of the fine timber in its then quite extensive forests. The power was produced by the treading of a team of oxen. Because of the presence of these faithful creatures it took the name of Oxford. Then for a change it was called Slabtown for a time. It is said that in the early years several acres of ground were laid out in town lots and a number of buildings were erected. Later a steam engine was used.  A pair of corn crackers were added to the mill, and it did grinding for the community. O. R. Gaskill ran a blacksmith shop, to which he added a few groceries to accommodate his trade. His stock began gradually to grow until it developed into a good general store in which he continued to serve his neighbors as postmaster and storekeeper for some twenty - five years. The first school in the township was taught by Miss Sarah Kinsman. It is the persons who do the unusual thing that find a place in history. S. M. Peddichord came from Kentucky in 1854. He was a wheelwright by trade, and constructed a lathe . run by foot-power by the use of which he made chairs and the old-fashioned spinning wheels for the spinning of flax and wool for the neighborhood. Some of the chairs of his manufacture are still in use in the township. Currier's mill, located on section 7, has served several generations with flour, corn meal and other· milling products. Near the postoffice is located White Oak church, and back of it the· cemetery grounds. The Indian village of Kish-ke-kosh stood where Oscar McCurdy's barn now stands, and just east on the hill was their graveyard, . where they buried their dead. The settlers who came very early made use of the bark huts which they found still standing. Henry Bond lived in one of these huts until he got his cabin built. The dense woods and thickets of this township were a favorite-resort for the pioneer hunter. He was almost sure to find game. This may have been the reason for the Indians locating their village here. White Oak township contains 277 farms valued at $193,774, with personal property worth $38,891. Its population is 1,800.