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1914 History of Boone County
Chapter XIX
Cass Township

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Cass Township is situated on the west side of the Des Moines River and is but little more than half a congressional township. From 1849 to 1852 Cass was a part of Pleasant Township. From March 8, 1852, to March 6, 1858, it was a part of Berry Township. At the last named date Cass Township was established and named by S. B. McCall, county judge. At that date the township of Cass contained all of the territory within its present boundaries and four tiers of sections off of the east side of Peoples Township. It was named in honor of Gen. Lewis Cass, a much honored and distinguished statesman and politician. When Peoples Township was established in 1871 the four tiers of sections mentioned above were taken from Cass, at which time it was reduced to its present size. There are some early items of history to be found in the southeast part of Cass Township of which mention will be made. The two large mounds found there have from time immemorial attracted the attention of both the Indian and white men. When the treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians expired, October 11, 1845, fhe great chief Keokuk, and the Sac Indians went to Kansas Territory to live, but the Foxes went up the river thirty miles and established a lodge around these mounds. Captain Allen sent Lieut. R. S. Granger with a company of Dragoons after them and he took them to Fort Des Moines and they remained there until the next spring, when they were also sent to Kansas. Five years ago a stone tablet was found near the largest of these two mounds, with the following inscription on it: "December 10, 1845. "Found 200 Indians hid on and around these mounds. "They cried no go! no go! but we took them to Fort D. "Lt. R. S. Granger." This tablet is now in the possession of the Madrid Historical Society. The first family of permanent settlers to cross the Des Moines River at Elk Rapids was that of O. D. Smalley, the Christopher Columbus of Dallas County, who in company with some other men and teams moved from North Missouri to Fort Des Moines, and from thence up along the river on the east side and camped on the site of the present town of Madrid. This was in the spring of 1846. Finding that the land at the point of timber here was already claimed, Mr. Smalley made up his mind to cross the Des Moines River and look for a location on the west side. The next morning he and the parties with him drove to Elk Rapids, intending to cross the river there, but found the stream full of water from bank to bank. On the large expanse of bottom land to the south of the rapids there were hundreds of hard maple trees. A band of Pottawattamie Indians had a lodge among these maples and every spring they manufactured large quantities of maple sugar. At the time Mr. Smalley arrived there the sugar season was over and the Indians were off on a hunting tour. Mr. Smalley took the large troughs, which the Indians had made and used for storing the sap of the maple trees, and made a raft of them on which the families, the wagons and ccmtents were taken across the river in safety. The horses and cattle were forced to swim the river. This company of emigrants were the first to cross the river at Elk Rapids and they were the first homeseekers to set foot on what is now the soil of Cass Township. Mr. Smalley cleared out a way up the river hill on the west side and the teams were driven up the hill exactly where the road is now located. Mr. Smalley turned south when he reached the prairie on the west side and located near Snyder Point, in Dallas County. He was the first settler there, lived there many years and was honored with two county offices. The first mill built in Boone County, or in the Des Moines Valley north of the Raccoon Fork, was situated at the lower end of Elk Rapids on the west bank of the Des Moines River, in what is now Cass Township. This mill was built by Adam and Jonathan Boles in 1849 and 1850. It was known for many miles in all directions as the Elk Rapids mill, and it was of much advantage to many of the settlers. Near this mill site there is a famous stone quarry, which has furnished stone for the foundations of many buildings. Manv loads of this stone were in pioneer times hauled on wagons to Des Moines and used in the erection of buildings. In this part of Cass Township is the western terminus of the great Elk Rapids viaduct across the Des Moines River, erected in 1913 by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. This viaduct is a solid steel structure, 2,380 feet long and 146 feet above the ordinary stage of water in the river. The west end of the viaduct is six feet above the natural bluff on the west side of the river. When looked at from the summit of either of the mounds above referred to, it presents a most beautiful sight to look at. On the right of way of the railroad on the slope of the river hill and about seventy-five feet from the west end of the viaduct is the grave of Crawford Cole, one of the pioneers of this part of the country. He was buried here at his own request, in 1874. As the grave is many feet below the viaduct and fifty feet north of it, the railroad company made no request that the remains be removed. As Crawford Cole was a prominent member of the Masonic lodge at Madrid, Iowa, the members of that lodge have improved and beautified the grave of this brother until it now attracts the attention of all who pass near it. Right here in this corner of Cass Township is the junction of two pioneer roads, one of which was laid out by the authorities of Dallas County, and the other by the authorities of Boone County. The Dallas County road was established in the spring of 1850 and it ran from Panoach (now Adel) northeast and terminated at Boles Mill. The Boone County road commenced at the north line of the County a little north of the present town of Ridgeport, and running south and a little east intersected the Dallas Countv road at Boles Mill. This road was petitioned for in the fall of 1849 and established the following year. These were the first roads established in Boone and Dallas Counties. The junction of these two roads in Cass Township is a historic event, well worthy of mention. In fact the whole number of events mentioned in connection with the southeast corner of Cass Township are sufficiently interesting to merit the mention here given. The first settlements in Cass Township were made in 1848. In that year Jonathan Boles, John Woods, V. Preston, Crawford Cole and Jacob Rhodes settled. Just which of these was the first settler of the township is a thing that cannot now be definitely determined. In 1849 J. H. Rhodes, William Noland and James Noland settled in the township. In 1850 Roland Spurrier, George Spurrier, Lawda Hurst, James Hurst, Henry Hurst, S. B. Williams, Jesse Williams and William P. Berry all located and became citizens of Cass Township. In 1851 William Harlow, Perry Scott, J. O. Harris, Andrew and Orlow Oviatt, J. B. Vernon, Elisha Bennett and many others became residents of Cass Township. The first land purchase was made by Alfred Williams in November, 1848. He purchased the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of Section 28. In July, 1849, Albert G. Preston purchased the southwest quarter of Section 28 and the southeast quarter of Section 30. The first marriage in the township was that of James Hurst to Susan Messmore in the spring of 1850. The first birth in the township was that of Samuel Preston, son of Mr. and Mrs. V. Preston, in November, 1849. He died in December of the same year. This was also the first death in the township. These first settlers had the hardships and privations of frontier life to encounter in their endeavor to make homes in a new country. At first they went a long distance to find mills that manufactured breadstuffs. Their nearest postoffice was Fort Des Moines, where they had to go to get their mail and purchase their groceries. It took men and women of courage and endurance to overcome these difficulties. Among the early settlers who yet have descendants in the township are the Harlows, the Prestons, the Hursts, the Williams, the Oviatts, the Le Masters, the Vernons, the Nolands, the Woods, all of whom are prosperous citizens of the township, and all of whom date back into the pioneer families. At least one-third of the surface of Cass Township was originally timbered land. Most of this has been cut ofif and used up or disposed of and many small farms have been cleared up and placed under cultivation. Much of this timbered land is underlaid with coal, none of which has been developed. There are also numerous gravel beds in Cass Township, which will some time be valuable.  Some time in the future there will be a railroad switch built into the coal fields and gravel beds and they will be worked and utilized. Among the pioneer families which have not been mentioned are the Hornbuckles, James and Melvin Nance, Moses Eversoll and Joshua Eversoll. During the Civil war Jefferson Hornbuckle was appointed deputy provost marshal and he exercised his official authority in a way that did not at all times meet with the approval of his superiors and certainly not with those over whom he exercised his authority. The Nance families were good, law-abiding citizens and well respected by all of their neighbors. Moses Eversoll was justice of the peace of Cass Township for eighteen consecutive years. He was as a rule the only justice in Cass Township and this gave him considerable legal business. It is claimed that there never was a decision of his reversed in the District Court. Joshua Eversoll was one of the pioneer schoolteachers of the township. The first schoolhouse erected in Cass Township was a log building located on Section 2. In this house Joshua Eversoll taught three or four terms. It is claimed that Claiborne Wright taught the first school in the township in a house that stood near where the McClellan schoolhouse now stands. Mr. Wright was an Indiana schoolteacher, who was at one time a student in what is now De Pauw University. Cass Township now has five schoolhouses, all of which are in good repair. The schools are all in a prosperous condition. There was no effort made to lay out or build up a town in Cass Township. There was no inducement at any time to make a venture of this kind. Joseph Rhodes at one time kept a small store near the Elk Rapids mill and J. G. Porter kept another near the center of the township, but neither of these ventures lasted very long. Dr. C. E. Porter is the only medical man who ever located in the township. For about ten years he practiced his profession and he met with good success. But in time his farm interests grew so large that he abandoned his practice and now gives all his time to farming. About the year 1857 Andrew Orlow and John Oviatt established a wagon and blacksmith shop on the farm of Andrew Oviatt, where they did the work in this line for all the people in that part of the country. They also manufactured a number of good wagons. This was the only manufacturing concern that Cass Township ever had. The soil of this township is very fertile and the farms as a rule are of medium size. There are no very large farms in the township. The largest landholders are the Harlows and Burrels in the south part of the township, the Porters and Ramseys in the central part and the Oviatts and Williams in the north part. Of the local schoolteachers may be mentioned John A. Keys, F. M. Betteys, Tom Davis, Mrs. Enos Rhoads and Mary Preston. The Union Historical Society says that the first religious services in the township were conducted by Rev. John De Mass at the residence of Jonathan Boies during the fall of 1851. There is nothing said as lo what part of the township Mr. Boles lived in at the time, but as he and his brother were the builders of the Elk Rapids Mill, which was completed about that time, the service must have been in the southeast part of the township in Section 34. The first Methodist Episcopal church organized in Cass Township was in I'ebruary, 1880. The first members were Andrew Oviatt and wife, Orlow Oviatt and wife, Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Hurdman, Mrs. Meek, Mrs. Halsey, Mrs. Bernard, Emma and Ella Vernon, Phillip Carrel and wife, John Perry and wife and Charles Russell and wife. This church still survives and is now called Liberty Church. It has a good church building, with regluar preaching services and a good Sunday school. The present pastor is Rev. W. H. Harvey, of Madrid. Elijah Pierce was the only one of the early settlers of the township who was a minister of the Gospel. He worked on his farm and preached when his services were required. He belonged to the Church of Christ, and at one time there was a small congregation of this denomination in this township. Reverend Pierce died at his home in the township some years ago, loved and respected by all of his neighbors. There was at one time a congregation of Presbyterians in the township, but it long since ceased to exist. The people of Cass have been a very law-abiding people. No crime of a serious nature is found on the records against them. There is a cemetery near the Liberty Church, but this is the only one there is in the township. In 1855 a large bufTalo was chased down and killed in Cass Township. This incident raised a little excitement among the hunters of the township iri that early day. This wild animal had become separated from the herd to which it belonged and had come into Cass Township from the north. It had probably been chased bv other hunting parties before coming into the township. This buffalo was headed toward the south, as was the custom of the buffalo herds in the fall season of the year. When this buffalo came into Cass Township it was seen bv S. B. Williams, who lived near the north line, and he saddled his horse, took his gun, and calling his dogs began the final chase of this lost animal. He had not gone far until he was joined by Phillip Carrel, John Carrel, Melvin Nance and Moses Eversoll, each on horseback and rifle in hand. The buffalo being hard pressed left the prairie and passed into the timber a little south of the Eversoll place, with half a dozen dogs close after him. The dogs brought the doomed animal to bay on Section 22. S. B. Williams, who was in the lead of all the pursuers, succeeded in sending a bullet through the animal just behind the shoulders, which brought him to the ground. The dogs were called off, the bufifalo was dressed and the meat divided among the settlers. This was the only bufifalo chase that ever occurred in Cass Township. There were sixteen citizens of Cass Township who became soldiers in the Civil war, as follows: Andrew Hurst, G. W. Hornbuckle, Melvin Needham, Nathaniel Noland, A. C. Noland, S. C. Needham, J. H. Hurst, J. A. Waldo, William Waldo, C. O. Needham, Charles Peck, John A. Keys, Jasper Pierce, William Noland, J. B. Vernon and A. Preston. Whether any of the sixteen men whose names appear in the above list are still living cannot be here stated. But it is reduced to a certainty that not one of them is now a citizen of Cass Township. The streams of Cass Township are the Preston Branch, the Caton Branch and the Eversoll Branch. A sketch of these is given in an article to be found in another part of this work, under the heading of "The Small Streams of Boone County." It was not until the year 1913 that there was any railroad track in Cass Township. In relocating the track between Madrid and Woodward the new track of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad runs across the southeast corner of the township, but there is no station within its borders. The State Colony for Epileptics recently established by the Board of Control of State Institutions consists of 960 acres of land. Of this body of land 900 acres are situated in Cass Township, Boone County, and 60 acres in Des Moines Township, Dallas County. The 900 acres in Cass Township are situated as follows: Four hundred and eighty acres in Section 31 and 420 acres in Sections 29 and 30, all in Township 82, Range 26. The board of control had arranged for the extension of the interurban line north to the colony, a distance from its depot in Woodward of about one mile north, but the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul authorities have objected to the crossing of its track and it will be some time before this matter is settled. It is understood that there will be no improvement in the way of the erection of buildings in the present year. There is perhaps no township in the county that has as well preserved records as Cass Township, George Mougin, the township clerk, is still using the same record book which was purchased and used when Berry Township was organized in April, 1852 - sixty-two years ago. It contains many interesting records. When Berry Township was discontinued in March, 1858, this record book became the property of Cass Township and it has been used by the township clerks of Cass Township to the present time. Mr. Mougin estimates that it will last fifty years longer. The book is a large, leather bound volume of about five hundred pages of blue tinted paper. The trustees elected at the organization of Cass Township in 1858 were J. O. Harris, Samuel Williams and W. W. Wade. The present township officers are as follows: Trustees, Augustus Mougin, Hugh Oviatt and Archibald Williams; clerk, George Mougin; assessor, James Swisher. There has not been a justice of the peace elected in the township for the past eight years. J. O. Harris was elected a member of the board of supervisors in 1860 when each organized township was entitled to a member of that body. He held the office for two terms and was succeeded by James Bausman, who held the office until the membership of the board was reduced by law to three members. Charles Olson of Cass was elected and has served two terms in the office of county recorder. These are the only county officials that Cass Township ever had.

Source: History of Boone County, Iowa
N. E. Goldthwait, Supervising Editor
Illustrated, Volume I
Chicago, Pioneer Publishing Company
1914

Transcribed by Lynn Diemer-Mathews and uploaded June 11, 2024.

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