History of Northwestern Iowa
Osceola County
Osceola County, to the West of Dickinson, is
different in its physical features from the lake counties of
Northern Iowa. It has no lakes of importance and even its sloughs
have nearly all been ditched and drained and the bottom lands
been made productive. This county was originally an open prairie
and destitute of timber with the exception of a little willow
brush that escaped the annual prairie fires along Ocheyedan
Creek. Otter and Ocheyedan creeks are the only streams of
importance in the county, the former draining its western
sections into Little Rock River, Lyon County, and Ocheyedan
Creek, its eastern and central districts, into the Little Sioux,
which it joins in Clay County to the south. The land along both
these streams is nearly all tillable and excellent for farming.
The surface of the county is generally rolling, with small level
districts both in the eastern and western portions. The soil is a
dark prairie loam, with porous clay subsoil, which ensures crops
against seasons which are unusually wet or dry. It is from two to
four feet deep, of fine quality and free from stone and, with
proper cultivation and rotation of crops, is practically
inexhaustible.
Although one of the younger counties of
Northwestern Iowa in point of settlement, Osceola has made rapid
advances in agricultural matters for the past twenty-five years.
The Government census of 1920 showed that its properties devoted
to raising of crops and live stock were valued at $70,500,000 ;
1910, at $21,000,000 and 1900, at $10,600,000. At the completion
of the last census year, its 18,000 beef cattle were valued at
$902,000, and its dairy stock (13,000 animals) at $731,000. Its
35,000 swine were assessed at nearly $1,370,000. An important
item in the development of its live stock interests was the
raising of its crops of corn and hay and forage, represented by
nearly 2,6000,000 bushels of the former, and 62,000 tons of the
latter.
- Source: History of Northwestern Iowa, Its History and
Traditions 1804--1926; by Arthur F. Allen; Volume I; Chapter 7; Pages 250-251
-Transcribed by Kevin Tadd
