The Harris Centennial
Harris --The past 100 Years
Old Records From The Courthouse
Pages 23 - 24
Old Records From Courthouse
About Area
1875 Prices
Taken from Historical Atlas, State of Iowa, 1875
Fairview township - males, 29; females, 34; a total of 63 residents; voters, 19; rods of fence, none; acres in cultivation, 319; spring wheat planted, seven acres; Indian corn, 49 acres, harvested 206 bushels; oats, 68 acres, harvested 1641 bushels; hay from wild grass, 211 tons; potatoes, 10 acres, harvested 376 bushels; rods of hedge, 160; head of horses, 15; head of mules, eight; milk cows, 19; pounds of butter made, 1080; cattle, except work oxen, 25; cattle slaughtered, three; hogs, 16; hogs slaughtered or sold for slaughter, 13; dogs, 12; value of products on farm, $1677.
Price of land and tax comparison on a quarter section (160 acres) of land within three miles of Harris: taxes paid on the quarter in 1876 were $26.44 or 16 1/2 cents per acre. The quarter section was sold in 1895, for $3,200,34. In 1951, the same piece of land was sold for $44,500 and the taxes for 1964 are $728.48 or $4.55 per acre (including present buildings).
The original plat of Harris was recorded August 20, 1890.
Winterfield's Addition plat was recorded November 17, 1894.
Wernstrum's 1st Addition plat was recorded September 17, 1897.
Wernstrum's 2nd Addition plat was recorded March 24, 1900.
Park Addition plat was recorded August 23, 1916.
In 1889, the bounty on each wolf scalp was $3.00. The net year, 1890, it dropped to $2.00 per scalp in some instances, while some continued to get $3.00 (perhaps the difference was if the wolf was male or female). An explanation could not be found. Bounties ran the same for 1891, but in 1892 on May 16, a warrant was issued for $18.00 for 18 wolf scalps. (From Supervisors Minute Book, No. 3, Osceola County).
The above information and records were found by Mrs. Dan Watters, assisted by County Auditor Wm. Frick, and Genevieve Truckenmiller, first deputy of county treasurer.
The following record was found by Irvin Bergman assisted by A.J. Doll at the county SCS office.
The original survey of Township 100 N., Range 39
West 5th Mer., or the present Fairview Township, was surveyed in
June, 1858, by Wm. B. Gerby and the boundary between Iowa and
Minnesota on August, 1859. This survey shows 18 different
bodies of water in the present Fairview Township, most of them
north and northwest of the present site of Harris. The
surveyors made the notation that 70 % of the land lying north of
the present location of Harris was marsh land, unfit for human
habitation and good only for beaver. The surveyors also
noted that someone shot at the surveying party.