H. Whipple, L. L. Alexander & K. W. Macomber
December 22d, 1853, H. Whipple moved into a log cabin not far from the present site of the bridge across Troublesome creek, just north of Atlantic. He had great difficulty in getting across the creek, as there was no bridge. In order to get a crossing made he built a log-heap fire on either bank, to take the frost out of the ground so that he might dig it away and make a crossing. The second night that the family were there, Mrs. Whipple stayed all night in the cabin with no company but her two small children. Mr. Whipple had gone to Iranistan for lumber with which to make a floor, and did not get home until the next day. The cabin had no door-shutter, and Mrs. Whipple set the kitchen table up to stop the aperture, which it did not quite do. The wolves came around the house and put in the night snapping and growling over the meat rinds which had been thrown out. They made night hideous, and Mrs. Whipple being unused to such things could not sleep. Indeed it was no wonder, for the family were just from a thickly settled part of Ohio, where wolves did not annoy folks in their own homes. It was six months after Mrs. Whipple began keeping house in their cabin, before she saw another woman. Mr. Whipple being a cooper by trade, made the first barrels that were made in the county, more than twenty years ago, and some of those barrels are still in the county, in a good state of preservation and continue to do good service.
L.L. Alexander, a single gentleman then, came in May 1855, and entered the land north of Atlantic, which he still owns. While he remained in the county at that time he boarded with Mr. Whipple. Soon afterward, his brother-in-law, Mr. Macomber, arrived. Mr. Alexander remained but a short time returning to Michigan, where he stopped until 1859, when he returned to Cass to abide permanently. While he was first here he built a cabin which Mr. Macomber and family occupied when they came.
July 21st, 1855, Mr. and Mrs. Whipple were made glad by the arrival of neighbors--K. W. Macomber and family, direct from Northhampton, Massachusetts. Mr. Macomber, improved what is now known as the Alexander farm. He built the house that is now on the farm, in 1857. The lumber for the house was sawed at Davenport & Ross' steam saw mill, which then stood not far from the present site of Mr. Enfield's farm house, near Lewis. The owners of the mill were none other than E. W. Davenport and L. W. Ross, both of whom are at this time prosperous citizens of Council Bluffs. Mr. Macomber has resided in Lewis since 1860.
From "History of Cass County, Iowa Together With Brief Mention of Old Settlers," by Lafe Young, Atlantic, Iowa, Telegraph Steam Printing House, 1877, pg. 11-12.
