Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1876 — JASPER COUNTY REMINISCENSES. [ARTICLE]

JASPER COUNTY REMINISCENSES.

Compiled jtnd Written bjf,C. W, 2, lly home mietuko we wero iflado to wyr, .Inst 1 week. tlmi Now lou county was struck od in lb to, instead of 18C'd we should have eal4COUNTI UaOWTfl. The first settlement!! nratlo i truths territory of Jasper, were in 1831, but tile growth of the county was m-cossnrily alow for many masons. Thin vast domain was at that time the property of t be Pottawattamie?, and only becamo United States properly in 1832, and Indiana State property, eereral yearn later. Tllo earlier seekers of a homo had no protection beyond that given them by the ritlo, or thu trcachorous friendship of the Indiana. Vury few settlements were made previous to the removal of the Indians iu 1833. Moat of the ludians being removed that your and a county organization effected, the growth was more markod. Emigrants to the Per West began to settle the more available parts of the new frontier. In 1840, nine yours from tho dale of its settlement, and' two from The county organisation, tho total number of voters was one hundred and twenty-oight. Taxable property, $20,847. The revenue collected in the county in 1841 was only $467.87, In 1865 tuxuble property had appreciated to $1,640,000, and the collected revenuo to SO,OOO. Only four or fivo settlements wero made in Newton, Jasper and Benton previous to tho county organisation—one in Benton county, on Big Pine ; one in Newton county, near Brook; in Gillam township, Barkley township, and on tho Rapids of tho Iroquois, in Jasper county. Borides danger from hostile Indians, many other causes impeded the growth of the hew county. The nearest settlements were on the Tippecanoe and Wabnsh. All provisions and overy convenience must be obtained from thare. Vary ww’wsun dkie fHo”

inevitable privation of making a now home until the hardy few had by their energy and perseverance overcome these many difficulties by establishing stores, mills and shops within .the present limits of the county. Another hindrance to the settlement of Jaspor county was tho wide-sptead and general foreign opinion that it was but a body of swamp lands, a succession of sterile sand ridges, or a level waste of flat prairie. .Wlion tiiuo had proven all those opinions to be false, the tide of immigration set in constant and unbroken. The swamp lands wero found to be easily drained and proved to be, as they invariably will, tho mbat productive corn land% in the State; The sand lulls with lint few exceptions have proved to be far richer in natural productiveness, and easier kept in such a state than the rocky hills of New England, while in the production of sweet and Irish potatoes, and of email fruit, they are superior to any lunds In the State. The reputation of tho prairie lands of our county as the most fertile lands in the Mississippi, valley Ims long been established. If wo might ■coin such a phrase, it pro veil tho Stock. Garden? of the Stalk Faster and faster •came /lie influx of settlers. The industrious Gorman and Norwegian soon made know* their preference for the sandy and hilly north part ,us the county and their •settlements have been almost invariably (made is that section. At this date it is iJIBPiI a young Nonv.-y. Last year, 1875, thoy had a project on foot lor cutting off their settlements, forming a new township, and calling it Norway, and having the civil offices of the township filled by people of their own nationality. Some of their loading men, however, wisely oppose the project for the reason, as they say, that foreigners, to succeed in America, must learn .the English language. As they are now situated, necessity compels them to learn it, while ) if isolated, as they would bo should the project be put. in execution, there would be but little necessity for anything but their nativo tongue, and they would learn no ot her. Cattle men, os they are hero called, soon became aware of the great facilities and natural advantages of this section for stock growing. Many stock.farms wero openod, and thousands of hoad of cattle roamed over the fertile prairies and openings of the timber lands, finding abundant natural wild pasture from April to November, while they were easily kept through the winter on hay made from tho wild prairie grass. Tramping of cattlo, and the spade and plow of the laborer,.have made the county as dry as any in the State, and to-day, whore, twenty years ago, standing on tho top of my father’s liouso, 1 could only count seven houses in a radius of five miles, can now be counted from the same /observatory upwards of seventy. Where we could reach thtf'pbstoflice by a near cut of five miles across lots, it now requires eight miles of travel between - lines of fonoe and hedge. The few acres now forming the commons arc os close shaven by the farmer’s stook as a sheep pasture, while on the same ground could onco ride within fifty yards of our cattle and not find them, so high and luxuriant grew the “blue stem" sage grass, and compass plant, or rosin wood, as it II more familiarly known. Thousands of aores on whioh a duck would mire are now producing from fifty to one hundred bushels of corn per acre. Prqocts are on foot for reclaiming the few thousands of acres *£ swampland that still remain, by judicious ditching. The bad roputation, although an untrtie one, that Jasper ouunty obtained on account of its swamps has done more than uught else tp retard its settlement. Owing to this, there arc yet many thousands of acres to bo had at reasonable rates, where the searcher for a home can do far better than to spend all his means in reaching the Far West, to find himself a victim of land sharks, railroad swindlers and grasshoppers. TOPOGRAPHY. I. There have been many changes in tho appearance of the county. It mow appears to be much more rolling than formerly. A moment’s thought will majte plain tliis illusion, for illusion it is. The hills hive not grown higher, nor have the depressions ‘ 'flunk lower, it existed then as new, bin appearances were nut the same. The explanation .U simply this: On the high grounds the gms grow shorter than oh {he low where it grew very high ; much than many who were not eye wit-

nesses would believe. Although it may appear incredible to many younger people, or to MW corners In this neenlythere WBW lqw places wbtjre the gross would sweep the body of a horseman, and hide entirely the cattle grating in it: others where the gross equally high was so matted with wild pea vines that stock could only with the greatest difficulty force their way through-it. Therefore, the depression being fillod with this rank vsge la lion, nndthsi on the higher lunds being shorter, tho sensible waa much less than tho actual elevation or depression. But time and vast herds of siook have laid bare all the unfenoed prairies, and we cun see them in all the beauty of their undulations and graceful swells, while the wide slpughs have been narrowed tp channels only sufficient to curry uway any superabundance of water. Ia the timbor lands tho change hits been still more marked. The dense forests"bf young growth, underbrush and saplings, did not exist forty years ago. Thon the oaks and other troee that stood were only tho larger ones, while far us tho eye could, reach was only one range of trunks of standing trees, carpotod underneath by a luxuriant growth of grass on whioh the thousands of dcor luxuriated and bade defiance to the sportsmen, for no underbrush obstructed their keen vision or hid the wary approach of their pitiless enomy. Tho Indians kopt it burned off cleanly every year, no underbrush was allowed to obtain a foothol.l, and old settlers say that a more beautiful sight eye never witnessed than could then bo seen in the timber lands

of the county. The fires that kept this beautiful panorama of woodland unobstructed, were the most to be dreaded of all the early enemies that settlers hud to contend with. Those who at that early day were awakenod at the dead hour of night by the lurid light of tho approaching fire fiend can only appreciate the horrors connected with such an event. Hurried from their beds, to meet in futile combat the destroying flames that liko a burning wall ten to fifty feet high sped towards them with the speed of a race-Lorse; birds and fowls flying affrighted and screaming from its approach; the flight of the frightened deer, wolves and other animals, that dashed by their human enemies unmindful of their presence, in proximity to the greater danger ; the frightful sublimity of its approach; the suffocation and heat of its {presence ; the smokojblackened waste that followed its wake ; the bewilderment nf the lonely family grouped in the only bare spot that offered solvation from the destroying element in Its relentless march ; all this cannot he imagined; it must be felt to bo appreciated. The excitement of its approach, passage, and retreat, followed by the contemplation of the smoking ruins of a house and improvements that cost months of labor, or a crop that was the only hope of sustenance for an approaching winter, burns upon the bruin of an interested spectator never to be forgotten, and one they took pains never to see repeated.

The fires were soon confined to tho prairies or the swamps. The falling Aoorus soon Took root. A thick underbrush took the place of the green sward. Hunters in ’4O and ’46 shot deer over the tops of the toMtyrafga gravda th&t now cover The couuty. Many old gen tlemen tell me that In groves wl-.aro they now ydit saplings Into four and six rails to the cut. they could not get a stick, forty years ago, big enough for a grubbing-hoe handle. HOADS.. Of courso in the early settlement of any country there are no roads, nothing to guide tho traveler but an Indian trail, a blazed way through the yoodg, “or a staked roiql across the prairies. Tho Indian trails were very plain and many of them worn deep, especially tlioso tending from their main town on the old “Bobby Mallatt fixrm” to tho olher Indian towns. The trails were not all obliteruted twenty years ago. An Indian always follows in single file after his leader. A hundred ludians starting off on a hunt, or a visK, or for any purpose will fall in, one after the olher, and thus continue in single file, with a monotonous tramp, tramp, tramp, mile after mile, until they reach their destination ; unless they wish to conceal their movements, in which case they break up into detached parlies and scatter out something after the manner in which a squad of white men would move from place to place. Moving thus in single file, tho trails between their towns soon becamo worn quite deep, and so remained for many years. •

A blazed road is constructed as follows: A guide whose long acquaintance with the country enables him to piek out the best and dryest way, takes the lead, while the men following with their axes, -blaze’’ off the bark of the trees which He in the line of the proposed road. A staked road is constructed in the same way with the exception that over the prairies the glased trees are replaced by stakes driven into the ground at regular distances apart, and high enough to be easily followed. The old “horse head road” so well known to all d welters in eastern Jasper was first staked out in. this way, aud took its name from the fact that in planting the stakes the skull of a horse was affixed to the top of one of the stukos where it remained for many years. (TO BB CONTINUED.)

To all whom IT may CONOSBN.— Having a large amount of notes and accounts carried over from last year, and being short of money, notice is hereby given to those who owe me than all these notes and account* which are unsettled on the first day of March, 1876, will be placed in process of collection by law. I mean business. I must havemonpy. pfC. Stake. Facts. —The candid, unprejudiced judgment of the many convince the few. For twenty-five years D. B. DeLand & Co.’s Best Chemical Saleratus has been before the public, and ]tqa constantly been adding to its many friendSHtß few to see how it stood the test of time. It still occupies the position it occupied -years ago. fhe.hotasekeeper who has used it says it is one of the perfect articles which you will find always the same —healthful and pure. H. A. DeLand k Co. warrant it to he the i< best Solcratus offered for ealc v

Additional local items on opposite page. Wild lucks are reported plentiful in the rive* and ponds. Johtyty Hemphill bos gone to Evanston. 111., to attend sahool. Best brand of white winter, wheat flour, at Best brands of flour for the lowest price at Starr's, in the new hriok block. Bev. S. E. Rogers will preach in tho Presbyterian church Sunday morning at 10:80 o’clock. Tobacco Tind cigars, the largest stock and finest goods ever brought to the oounty, at Starr’s grooery. They say tho best and cheapest coffoe can be bought at Charles Platt’s grocery. Only 516 cents a pound.' Give him a call. Roads liavo been nearly impassablo tho -post week, very much impeding travel and Several times interrupting the carrying of mails. Messrs. Willoy & Sigler announces a determination to sell no more goods on long time. They propose to reaoh a ready pay basis as rapidly as possible. A continuous plank side walk now ex. tends on the south side of Washington street from Hopkins’ hotel to McCoy & Thompson’s bank. It is the best walk in town. At 0. C. Starr’s grocery is kept dried peaches, dried apples, prunes, currants, etc. Quoensware, glassware, lamps, lamp fixtures, and the best lamp chimneys in tho market, at C. Starr’s. It is reported that a few fine fish have been taken on the Iroquois rapids within a week past. They are pike, and individuals were caught that weighed eight or ten pounds. > A series of interesting meetings is in progress at theAlothqdwk Episcopal church. Twenty to twenty-five have expressed contrition for sin and asked the prayers of the church.

Go to C. C. Starr, in the new brick block, for groceries. He has the largest stock ever brought to the oounty. Mr. Calvin White gives notice that be will make a jublic sale of horses, cattle, hogs, corn in crib, farm implements, etc., at his residence in Newton township, five miles northwest of Rensselaer, Tuesday, February 29th. Seven months credit given. Fine cranberries and genuine maple syrup at Starr’s. Also, raisins, canned peaches, cherries, strawberries and tomatoes. One hundred barrels of choice Minnesota flour just received, which we will Bell for less money than any other house in the county. Call on either Charles Platt or A. Leopold. Don't fail to call and see it. We are requested to say to the numerous readers of Tub Union and Republican that Messrs. Mahlon Johnson and Luther Itiley have established n feed, seed and flour store in the town of Remington. If you want good, fresh tea, go to C. C. Starr. Good ten for 60 cents - a pound. Best Japan tea reduced from $1 a pound to 90 oents. Pays the Remington Record : The corn receipts at the two elevators in this place _®are 8,834 bushels on the 6th, and 11,550 bushels on the 7th, for which about $6,000 was paid to tho producers. Tho market quotation for the 11th was 2<* cents for ear and 28 cents for shelled corn.

During the past the mercury ran the gamut of the thermometer from summer heat down to zero. There were thunder showers and snow, blue birds and chicadces, mu-1 and icicles, all jumbled together like scrambled eggs and broab crumbs on a city boarding house breakfast fable. __ Talk about T! I defy competition hi this commodity. Young liysou for 60 cents n pound; genuine imperial-for sl. Charles Platt. Marriage licenses have been issued by the clerk of Jasper county during the past week to Samuel G. Pass and Martha AGratner; Peter R. Kissenger and Libbie Hendricks; Geo. H. Powley and Annnda Gubtell. The last named couple were mar-, ried in the clerk’s office yesterday, by Elder D. T. Halstead. Mr. George Besse will make a public sale at his residence five miles southwest of Rensselaer, west side of Carpenter creek, Thursday, March 9th, of four work horses, one brcod mare, one two-year-old colt, four cowb, one two-year-old heifer, fifteen tons wild hay, wagon, two sets doublejliarness, farm implements, house furniture, etc. Ten months credit given. For a general assortment of nlll kinds of groceries go to Chkrles Platt, below the Stone Store. All goods in this linewill be sold at reduced prices. I soil for cash only, make no bad debts, buy for cash and get my purchases at the lowest market rates. Please bear this in mind

The Rensselaer Dramatic Club is giving a series of popular dramatic entertainments in the court house this week. They are assisted by Messrs. Armstrong and Burr, of the Herbcrt-Armstrong company, which porformed to delighted audiences several weeks since in this place. The play tonight is a thrilling melo-drama called The Charcoal Burner, or Tha Dropping Well ot Knaresborough; followed by a negro extravaganza. The Club will give othej performances to-morroW and Saturday nights, with change ot programme each evening. Foe 30 dats only.-- At the Stone Store. A new way of doing business. For 30 days from and after the date of this publication (February 16th, 1876) I will sell my entire stock of goods at cost, hut for cash only, or on four months’ credit on-amounts exceeding $lO, purchaser giving note at 0 per cent, interest per annum from date. The stock consists of overcoats, easslmere suits, boys’ clothing and all kinds of common and fine goods usually kept hi that line ; dress goods of best quality and latest patterns ; all calicoes at 8 cents per yard—only the best brands sold in my store. These goods must be sold out before I go to New York to purchase my spring stock. Don’t be deceived about this, I mean what 1 say and say what I m|an. *Wr. Doerley has charge of my dry goods department, and spares no pains to please all customers; he isrecently from the East, and understands the dry goods trade thoroughly. A. LdoTolo.