CHAPTER VI. (CONT'D)

RECOLLECTIONS OF A PIONEER.

(R. D. McGeehon.)

In Cass county, as most every where else, the first settlers always located in the edges of the groves, or near by them. This they did to get shelter for their stock and to be convenient to the timber when fuel was needed. The opening of the road from Des Moines to Council Bluffs, by the way of Dalmanutha and Morrison's Grove, and the placing of a line of four horse coaches, making daily trips upon it, brought a large emigration through that part of the county, and made, for the settlers, a market for their surplus produce. The stage stock needed hay and corn; the passengers had to be fed, and these made a demand for what they had to sell. In the spring of the year, long trains of wagons passing by daily, bound for the land of gold — California and Oregon — which, also, made a demand for all the corn, oats, hay, potatoes, etc., that we had to spare. Corn brought from fifty cents to a dollar a bushel; hay, ten to fifteen dollars a ton; potatoes, fifty cents to a dollar per bushel; butter, twenty to thirty cents a pound, and other things in proportion. These prices will, no doubt look high, but it must be taken into consideration that these early settlers had had to pay from two to two dollars and a half a bushel for corn, and twenty dollars a ton for hay when they arrived here themselves, in the spring of 1851 and 1852, or even in 1853, the corn then being hauled here, with ox teams from points in Missouri, a hundred and twenty-five miles distant. In December, 1852, Morris Hoblitt went to Glenwood, Mills county, Iowa, a distance of sixty miles, with three yoke of oxen and a wagon for provisions for me. He camped on the way, and on leaving his last camp before reaching Glenwood, which was still seven miles distant, on the morning of the 17th, it was raining. Suddenly the wind shifted into the northeast, and it became bittercold, while the wind blew a perfect gale. In a few minutes Hoblitt's clothes became frozen stiff, and the ground a perfect sheet of ice. It was only with the greatest difficulty that he succeeded in reaching the village for which he was bound, and that in a nearly perishing condition. The storm lasted for three days without intermission, and was one of the severest ever experienced in the northwest. It is yet known by old settlers, all over this part of the State, as the "Sudden change" or "Severe storm of December 17, 1852. On the 18th of November, 1852, I crossed the Nishnabotna river, at a ford just above the mouth of Turkey creek, with three yoke of oxen and a loaded wagon, on the ice, and the snow was about ten inches deep. By the morning of the 20th, snow had fallen enough to make it two and a half feet deep, in the timber, where it had not drifted. The night of January 1, 1853, a son of Adam Vinnage, about twelve years old, died, and was buried on a high spot of ground in the prairie near the house, and the ground was frozen to the bottom of the grave, which was five feet deep. The forepart of that winter was very severe, but from the last week in January until spring, it was pleasant winter weather. The winter of 1856-7 was the severest one known to the oldest settlers. The month of November was bright and beautiful up to the last day, but, on the 1st of December, the wind shifted into the northwest and it commenced snowing, and it snowed and blew for three days, growing colder and colder every day. When the wind had died down, and the snow had ceased to fall, the thermometer showed a temperature of about thirty degrees below zero, and the snow lay about two feet where not drifted, but in places it stood in great heaps ten to fifteen feet deep. During the fall of 1856, D. A. Barnett and I bought a steam saw mill in St. Lois, and had it shipped by steamboat to Council Bluffs. When the boat reached St. Joseph, Missouri, it unloaded the mill there. About the 22d of November, seven teams started to bring it here. Of these, six were horse teams and one oxen. The latter to haul the boiler. They were gone from three to five weeks, and all of them did not bring home what would have been one good two horse load, on good roads. Peter Kanawyer drove the ox team, and hauled the boiler as far as Lewis. In crossing the prairie, southwest of that town, he lost his course, there being no road, and had to abandon his team, and strike out to hunt a place of shelter. Luckily he found a house about nine o'clock P.M., by seeing the light of a candle in the window. He quickly approached, and entering in, was supplied with supper, the first bite he had had to eat since four o'clock in the morning. He was nearly perished with cold, hunger and exhaustion, when he reached here, but a good meal and a night's rest restored him, and in the morning he went back to hunt up his property. He found the oxen in a hollow, walking around in a circle, one yoke following the other. He hitched them to the wagon and reached Lewis that day. In May, 1855, the Western Stage Company put a line of four horse coaches through from Des Moines to Council Bluffs on this road. G. S. Morrison kept the first station west of Dalmanutha, a distance of eighteen miles, without a house; the next station was J. R. Kirk's, twelve miles from Morrison's. Iranistan was the next. The early settlers of Cass county looked upon the advent of four horse coaches, at that time passing by their door, with more pride than would be shown now by the laying out of two or three new railroads through the county. The first settlers hauled their provisions principally from Rockport, Missouri, distant one hundred and twenty-five miles; seventy-five miles of that distance was without a house. It took about three weeks with an ox team to make the trip. The first two years that I lived in Cass county, all the meat my family had was what my trusty rifle would kill. I spent but little time in hunting, yet was seldom without meat, it being no trouble to kill a deer or two almost any time I wanted to. Once, I counted forty-five deer in sight, while standing on the hill, near where Judge Dickerson's house now stands in Atlantic. The coaches from Des Moines to Council Bluffs were on runners for thirteen weeks during that winter. Many of the lanes were filled with snow, and sleds run over the tops of the fences, as they were buried out of sight. The thermometer was down to forty degrees below zero, two or three times during the winter, and the snow was three feet deep on the level, where not drifted. At one time a heavy crust on it, and a common cur dog could catch any deer that he happened to spy, in the brush or timber, as the crust on the snow would carry the dog, but when the deer jumped, it went through and cut its legs and was overtaken. July 4th, 1858, Cass county was visited with the highest water ever known. Nearly all the streams overflowed the entire bottom from bluff to bluff. Thomas and Nelson Prall were living in a small frame house on what was called Jim branch, on section 19 or 20, in Franklin township. About ten o'clock at night, the water took the house off its foundation and carried it down stream some distance, when it struck some object, and was mashed to pieces. Nelson Prall and his wife and two of his children and a child of Thomas Prall's were overwhelmed in the raging waters and drowned. Thomas Prall swam with his wife holding to him, until he came to two trees growing together. He caught hold of the branches and he and his wife climbed into the fork formed by the trees and remained there until daylight, when they made their way to George Magee's, about three quarters of a mile distant. All this time neither had anything on except their night clothes. All the neighbors turned out in search of the bodies of those drowned and by the evening of the 5th, all of them were found and buried. Turkey Grove presented a sorry sight, there being clothing, beds, bedding, and household and kitchen furniture, strung along the Jim branch, for more than a mile through the timber. At Albert Wakefield's mill on Turkey creek, just below the mouth of the branch, the water rose twenty-three feet in three hours. I do not believe there was a bridge left in the county. Charles Baldwin, the county clerk, was drowned the morning of the 5th, in trying to swim across Seven Mile creek, near Gaylord's Grove, in Union township, a stream that a man could step across in dry weather. In the spring of 1859, the "gold fever" broke out in Cass county, and took a number of people to Pike's Peak, as it was then called, but most of them came back before arriving there, as at first, it appeared to be a humbug. During the summer of 1859 and spring of 1860, the people ascertained that there was gold there in paying quantities, and a large part of the able bodied inhabitants went to Denver and its vicinity. Some stayed and made money, but the larger portion came back with but very little. From 1858 until 1864, times were very hard and money was very scarce. Many persons that owned land enough to make two or three good farms, could not raise money enough to pay their taxes. In the spring and summer of 1862, you could buy a good cow for from eight to ten dollars. During that year I hauled two loads of wheat to Council Bluffs, and sold it for thirty seven and half cents per bushel, taking a two hundred pound sack of salt at $9.00, and the balance in groceries. There was no money in the county and people had to live on what their farms produced. The settlers parched wheat for coffee, and when they wanted a change parched peas, if they had them. Dressed hogs sold in Des Moines and Council Bluffs at prices varying from one and a quarter to two cents per pound. These places were our only markets. In the fall of 1862, Oliver Mills, at Lewis, and I, at Grove City, bought hogs for Stewart & Haas, of Council Bluffs, paying from one and a half to one and three quarter cents per pound, gross. The fall of 1863, the same parties paid three cents, and in 1864, five and six cents. Those who had hogs to sell, at that time thought themselves in luck, but those who bought store goods had to pay for them. The following prices will give some idea: Coffee, 55 cents per pound; tea, $2 to $2.50; prints, 40 to 48 cents per yards, and others in like proportion. The spring of 1868, brought the builders of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad through the county, and made money plenty and opened a sale for our surplus potatoes, etc. George Conrad and I, each had a store at Grove City, but the building of the railroad brought other stores as well as saloons. Among the former were, J. W. Winslow, now of the Atlantic National Bank, dry goods, and groceries; P. Kearney, groceries; Montgomery & Wynkoop, drugs; P. Kirby, boots and shoes, as well as some others. Grove City, at that time had great expectations of getting a depot, but by September all these were gone, and the depot established on the prairie, where Atlantic now stands, and in about one year, Grove City was principally moved to Atlantic.

FRUIT GROWING AND NURSERY BUSINESS.

The Spring of 1871, Silas and S. W. Wilson located at Grove City, and engaged in the Nursery business. Previous to this time there had been a number of orchards planted in the county, but for want of care and proper knowledge what varieties to plant, they were as a rule a failure. People generally supposed that varieties adapted to the same latitude in Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York, would do well there, but in a few years found this to be a mistake. After the Wilson's got started they urged the farmers to plant apple trees of varieties they could recommend as iron clad, and the result has been that the older settled part of the county now has plenty of apples. About 1875 the Wilson's dissolved partnership. Silas Wilson then went into growing grape vines and seedlings and raised over half a million apple, pear, and mulberry seedlings and has not got enough to supply demand. He has built up the largest wholesale trade in this line of business west of New York, if not in the United States. S. W. Wilson & Co. also raised large quantities of grape vines and seedling apple and catalpa trees as well as general nursery stock. In 1878, R. D. McGeehon, of Atlantic, commenced raising small fruits and plants for sale, on about one and half acres of ground. Nearly every one that saw what he was doing prophesied it would be a failure, as no one here had yet raised enough strawberries for family use, nevertheless he kept digging along for four years, when his trade outran his capital. He then gave up his business to his son-in-law, Ira M. Needles, who now has about twenty-five acres in strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, apple seedlings, grape cuttings and blackberry plants. Last spring his sales of plants was, of strawberries 250,000; blackberries, 20,000; raspberries, 18,000; Russian mulberries, 30,000; besides grape vines, gooseberry bushes, currant bushes, etc. His nursery and fruit farm is one mile east of the Court House, and is known as the Spring Brook small fruit farm and nursery. From present appearance Atlantic is going to be one of the main points in the West in the nursery business. The United States Express Company's agent says that the Spring Brook nursery shipped more strawberry plants last spring, than any other office in the State. August 28, 1882, a few of those interested in fruit growing, met at the Temperance Hall, in Atlantic, and organized the Cass County Horticultural Society. John Gingery was elected president and R. D. McGeehon, secretary. The next meeting was appointed for September 27th and at that meeting M. Northup was elected president; E. D. Smith, vice president; R. D. McGeehon, secretary; Silas Wilson, treasurer; and seventeen members joined the society. The society has held semi-annual meetings since its organization, all of which have been well attended and were very interesting. The object of the society is to encourage fruit growing and tree planting; in fact, Horticulture in all its branches.

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Transcribed by Deb Lightcap-Wagner, March, 2014 from:"History of Cass County, Together with Sketches of Its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens", published in 1884, Springfield, Ill: Continental Historical Co., pp. 274-278.