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Audubon County |
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CHAPTER I.GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, ETC. (CONT'D)From History of Audubon Co., Iowa (1915)
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WILD ANIMALS.When the first settlers came, there were bear, panther, lynx, bobcat, otter, beaver, mink, muskrat, gray wolf, coyote, elk, deer, fox and gray squirrel, and, occasionally, a white squirrel, chipmunk, weasel, gray and striped ground squirrel, pocket gopher, skunk, rabbit, sand hill crane, heron, wild turkey, swan, wild goose, brant, several varieties of duck, prairie chicken, quail, curlew, several varieties of snipe, plover, eagle, turkey buzzard, several varieties of hawk, robin, meadow lark, blackbird, crow, woodpecker, bluejay, yellowhammer, bluebird, sparrow, snowbird, several varieties of owl, oriole, catbird, bee martin, swallow, martin, chimneyswallow, wren, bluebird. There were some small scale fish, sucker, chub, dace, silverside, sunfish; but they have all gone, and in their place have come bullhead, catfish and carp. Snakes were quite numerous, among them being rattlesnake, bullsnake, blue racer and gartersnake. The elk and deer abounded and settlers took them in large numbers for food, and for their skins, until the severe winter of 1857, after which they were not so plentiful. "Uncle" John Jenkins once said that he counted over one hundred elk in a band on the high point of land on what is now John I. Hensley's farm, west of the Botna, near West Exira. In the spring of 1866 the writer visited that spot and found there a large elk skull, with a noble set of antlers attached, nearly six feet in length, partly decayed and gnawed by wolves. Elk horns were found plentifully here at that time on the prairie, where they had been killed or where they had shed them. A large set of elk antlers would weigh as much as twenty-five pounds, and it is a fact that they were shed annually about February. A new set grew each year during the summer. They were at first about the consistency of cheese and very tender, being covered with a beautiful, delicate purple membrane, called the "velvet," which material it resembled. The deer had very much the same habit about the shedding and growth of horns. There were some hunters who lived in what is now known as Davidson's Grove, in section 18, Douglas township, who killed considerable numbers of elk and deer about 1867-8. One of them was said to have been killed by lightning in the fall or early winter of 1867 in the west part of what is now Lincoln township, several miles north of their camp. His body was covered with snow and found the next spring, with his rifle near him. A thunderstorm was known to have occurred at the time he was lost and from the appearance of the body and gun, which was broken, it was reported that he was killed by lightning. It was said that he appeared to have been following elk tracks when killed. There were also rumors that he met death by foul means. No legal proceedings were ever taken about the event. The last bands of elks in the county were on Indian creek, Blue Grass and West Botna. Lone Willow was a favorite resort for them. They disappeared about 1870-1. The last hunters to kill elk were John Huntley, Edwin C. Wadsworth, Stephen Bowdish and Frank Harrington. Possibly Christopher C. Luccock and the Indians may have killed some about the same time. The deer gradually disappeared, though a few have been seen here almost to the present time; possibly there may be a few yet. In 1868 the writer took thirty saddles of vension from Exira to Des Moines. The tracks of three deer were seen near the railroad depot at Exira in 1880. The writer killed several deer here before 1870. Being at "Uncle" John Jenkins's place in the fall of 1865, I went with George Jenkins to hunt for some cattle. In a brush patch we jumped up half a dozen deer, which scampered away. I had a Colts' revolver, but was so much excited at my first sight of deer that I forgot the gun entirely. Returning to the house, I related the experience to Mr. Jenkins, who consoled me by remarking: "Well, sir, it's a mighty pooty sight to the eye of a hunter--but you had the 'Buck Ager;' I've had it myself before now and had to bite my finger till it hurt like the very devil to steady my nerves." I thought it a novel method of quieting nervousness, but do not remember ever practicing it. The theory seemed to be that the pain of the gnawed finger exceeded the nervousness produced at the presence of the game. It is a fact that old hunters sometimes become excited at the near proximity of wild game. William Powell, who lived where Ad. Seibert now resides at Exira, while out hunting near "Towhead" (section 1, Exira township), discovered some bear, but, being alone, feared to attack them. He came home and reported his find. Alex Kincaid, who lived in the Big Grove, south of the Burton place, John Jenkins, John Hoggard and Philip Arthur Decker took some dogs and went in pursuit. They found the bear and killed them, after the old bear had killed one of the dogs. This account was related by John T. Jenkins, of the hunters mentioned. A large bear skull was found many years ago in a small stream in the "big grove" on section 21, Exira township, which is now in the museum of the State Historical Society. Howard J. Green, Folly Herrick and others have told about killing wild turkey here, saying that they were plentiful in early days. There was a well-defined beaver-dam a mile above Exira, on the Botna, in 1866. Perk Smith saw where the beaver had cut down trees there as large as a stove pipe. Swans, wild geese, brants, ducks and sandhill cranes were plentiful in the spring and fair for many years. Howard J. Green and Folly Herrick told the writer that they had killed wild turkey in the timber where Walter B. Temple now lives. Prairie chickens were very plentiful until after the railroad came in 1878, and large numbers of them were taken by sportsmen. The following letter, written from Farrall, Wyoming, in 1909, by Mrs. Cymanthia A. Smith, daughter of William P. Hamlin, gives a fairly good picture of the early times here: "I happened to see one of the Audubon County Journals, telling about the early settlement of Audubon county. You say you have never seen any one that claimed to have seen a panther there. There must have been several there, or in Cass county. My father and a man named John Prat saw one as they were going across the prairie from our place on Buck creek. They were in a wagon and when the panther saw them it dropped down on an ant-hill and witched them as they passed, only about ten steps from the road. Father said he could have shot it if he had had a gun. And, as for bears, they were plenty, at least on Buck creek. We lived at the lower grove, two miles below Barney Harris' grove, and there was another between them, called Middle grove. We used to hear the bears at night fighting and squalling in the Middle grove. Father went at one time to move a man to Nebraska, and Martha Johnston, afterwards Mrs. William Carpenter, stayed with our family while father was gone. One night during his absence, we heard something walking around the house and were greatly frightened. There was no door to the house, only a quilt hung up, with chairs set against it to shut the entrance. The next day we found bear tracks around the house, which proved who our visitor was. It made no attempt to enter the house. There were lots of wild turkeys in the Big grove; but father killed only the young ones, which were nice to fry. I have seen my father chasing hundreds of elk at a time, which came near our house. He killed nine elk one Christmas and brought home a large one alive. We kept it until the next summer, fattened and killed it to eat. There was a crust on the deep snow which enabled father to kill those on that Christmas. Something funny happened when we lived on the Goodale place. One night the hounds wakened us by chasing something around the house. Father jumped up to see what it was and just as he got out, a deer ran past him, which he caught by the horns. He called to mother to bring the butcher knife, and with it he killed the deer. One time, on Buck creek, when father was absent from home, five wolves came close to the house. Our dog would chase them a short distance; then the wolves would turn and drive him back faster than he had driven them away. When the dog got near the house he would get brave and go after them again. Mother and us children watched the performance from the yard. "Father and Uncle Natty lived near each other on Skunk river, in Mahaska county. Ben and Ike Jenkins helped to move us from Mahaska to Cass county with an ox team in the fall of 1851. I was only three years old, but remember it well. There was but one house on the hill east of the river at Des Moines, and I think only three houses on the west side. "I remember the ferry boat was so old and rotten mother was afraid to go on it, and I think our only cow thought the same way, for she jumped overboard and swam ashore. "The first election in Cass county was held at our house on the old Goodale place. We moved to Exira in the fall of 1860 (from Buck creek). "Mrs. W. F. Smith."
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