"An Interesting Early History of Decatur County"by Mrs. O.N. Kellogg |
| Chapter Eleven COURT HOUSE-FIRST SESSION OF THE DISTRICT COURT-FIRST HOTEL- THE CALIFORNIA HOUSE-REMINISCENSES |
| In 1851 C. C. Leachman came into the county by way of Trenton, Mo.
And inquired for the county seat. He was directed to Decatur City. He
traveled along patiently several miles without seeing a house or any
sign of a town, and finally passed the square of a log house in process
of erection, and proceeding a half a mile further he reached Mr. Black's
residence and again enquired for the county seat. The lady of the town
informed him that he had just passed it. That unfinished log building
was the court house. There was nothing but the waving grass and nodding
flowers to keep it in countenance. And that was enough. The eye never
rested upon a lovelier scene. The prairie was a mass of flowers of every
color, shaded and variegated in endless variety. Phlox was the
prevailing species, but of the thousands and millions of them everywhere
on the prairie in the Spring and early Summer, I never have been able to
find two stalks which bore flowers exactly alike. Mr. Leach says he
would like to go to another new country if he could find one as lovely
as this was in a state of nature. And when a little improvement was
made, the crops were so luxuriant one could almost walk on pumpkins all
over a field in addition to a full crop of corn. Sixty bushels to the
acre was considered a good crop but extra effort brings its reward here
as elsewhere. Proceeding on his way he reached Osceola, the county seat
of Clarke County. There was one house there, a double log house, a
hotel, in half of which there was a floor, in the other half there was
none except terra-firma. He returned to this county and was the first
white man who built a house west of Grand River. In '53 he went to
Trenton, 65 miles, to get milling done, or to Indianola, about the same
distance. The following is from the first book of records in the county and relates to the first session of court. “May term, 1851. At a district court, begun and held at the house of Daniel Moad, in the County of Decatur, and State of Iowa, on Monday, the 19th day of May, A.D. 1851, present the Hon. Wm. McKay, presiding judge of the fifth judicial district for the said State, the following proceedings were hat-to-wit. John Blades vs. Maria Blades, bill for divorce filed.” There were two other cases. Alfred Logan vs. John Price, and Abraham Miller vs. George Newman. Henry B. Notson acted as attorney. At the May term in '52 there were sixteen cases, and another attorney, Brumfield. About this time Mr. Notson's father came with his family and settled at Decatur City, where he kept a store. In the Spring of '52 H. B. Notson was married to Miss Elizabeth Stanley. He was consumptive and in very delicate health when he first came to Garden Grove in '49. His death occurred at Pleasant Plain (later Pleasanton) in the Spring of 1854. In the Winter of '49-'50, my husband enlarged our dwelling by the addition of another room the same size of the original cabin, 16X18, with a porch between them. The walls were of logs, but the floors, door, window sash, etc. were made of whip-sawed lumber. The modus operandi of producing lumber of this kind is as follows. A platform is erected usually in a valley or hollow, for convenience in rolling logs upon it, and one man underneath and another upon the scaffold, operating the saw by hand on the same principle of the cross-cut—the one running length-wise of the log, the other across. With two windows, a board floor and a clay fireplace, the new cabin was rather a pretentious affair and it was but fitting that the artist, Joshua B. Munroe, in the event of the inaugurating a hotel of such dimensions should require a board twelve feet long, a foot and a half wide, with a cornice all around on which to inscribe it's name, “California House.” There was then a public square of about five acres, open in front of the house, as pretty a bit of ground as the sun ever shown upon, and the sign was raised upon it, supported by two pillars. The California travel overland was so great as to tax to the utmost all the resources available in the way of food and shelter for man and beast during two or three months of the latter part of Winter and early in the Spring-the trains separating upon all the different roads in order to supply themselves. There was once during a snowstorm over thirty horses and mules hitched under our shed (the stable being already full) and when it was remarked that mules were addicted to kicking, all fears in that quarter were allayed by the information that “they were jammed so tight they couldn't kick.” In the Autumn of 1850, the California House was made a two-story edifice, the second story extending over the two rooms and twelve foot porch, and there were also two additional rooms back, one a story and a half in which there were the stairs, the other a single story. The long chamber, with seats on both sides, accommodated the Mormon young folks extremely well as a dancing hall and was the more hospitable since their log church was becoming by this time somewhat dilapidated, and as they were on the wing, as it were, intending to go “forward to the valley” just as soon as they were able, of course they had no interest in improving public buildings. At the hall they observed their usual formula, opening the exercises with prayer. In January of 1851, three or four gentlemen from Keokuk being out through the State on business were weather-bound at our house three days, the cold being intense, accompanied by a high wind, which made it entirely unsafe to venture out upon the open prairie. Dr. Roberts was also with us a few days. The second day “min host” thought to entertain them by giving them a little party and accordingly notified the few settlers and the Mormon young folks that the entertainment would be free, excepting the music, and respectfully inviting them to be present. The hall was warmed by two box stoves, and in such weather it required quite an outlay to bring it to the required temperature and maintain it during half a night, but it was done. The little company waited below stairs, whiling away the time in conversation until ten o'clock, momently expecting the young people and finally adjourned to the hall, having unearthed an old fiddle somewhere, the doctor being expert in the use of that instrument. A cotillion was attempted but proved a failure and one of the strangers insisted that the doctor should lead out a lady, and resign the role of musician to him. In vain he protested that he had not attempted such a feat in thirty years, yet after persistent urging he led out the lady most distinguished in the company and the set being soon made up the music began. The music was bad, but he got through “all promenade” and “all hands around”, but when it came to “all right and left” all was confusion. Endeavoring to restore order the musician said, “Doctor, give your right hand to the first lady, and your left to the second, and so on around.” He stood in helpless bewilderment for a moment, then exclaimed with an expletive, “I don't know my right hand from my left.” Dancing now gave place to some less intricate amusements and the evening wore on, but no Mormons came. The reason was partly the informal manner in which it was gotten up, the authorities had not been interviewed and their permission obtained, but more particularly because they felt that they had no occasion to humiliate themselves by entering upon any amusement merely to entertain a company of Gentiles. |
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