The story of
Osceola County is marked by two characteristics of the American
way of life - the love of freedom and the stamina for the long
pull. The entire country was a treeless prairie covered with
grass that grew man-high and waived like an ocean in the wind.
There was no timber for log cabins nor did any building stone
crop up. Lumber had to be hauled long distances. In winter,
blizzards covered all signs of habitation and froze to death all
unsheltered living things. In summer the hot sun burned the
growing green to parched brown. Often, when the settlers had
raised good crops, hordes of locusts devoured them. Prairie fires
raced over the plain, leaving it a blackened waste. But the
settlers hung on, until hard work and the American way of pulling
together made Osceola a successful county.
This new Osceola County History, written by the Iowa WPA Writers'
Program, gives a truthful and clear account of the growth of our
county, and in these days, hectic with war and shifting values,
we are especially glad to look back in its pages upon the
unwavering courage of our forefathers.
Earle M. Grasswrih
County Superintendent of Schools
Osceola County 1942
Transcribed by Kevin Tadd