W. H. Taylor, John Johnson, Nelson Hill, and J. A. Donelaw. Therefore it is ordered that further proceedings in this matter be had at the next regular session of this board, and in the meantime shall take the lawful steps necessary to ascertain the amounts of actual damage to the several claims aforesaid.

The construction of the ditch was not unattended by opposition, though all matters pertaining thereto were adjusted satisfactorly with a single exception. Damages were assessed, and the final proceedings had in the October term, 1878, as follows:

In the matter of the Watkins ditch: Now, on this 15th day of October, 1878, it is made to appear to the board that the damages heretofore assessed have been secured to be paid, and further, that the public health, convenience and welfare will be promoted by carrying forward to completion the improvement prayed for; therefore, it is ordered unanimously by this board that this ditch and drainage improvement is hereby established on the route specified in the return of Seth Dean, county surveyor, filed July 22, 1878, and the plat and profile accompanying said return, and of the dimensions therein specified; and that the Auditor proceed as provided by law to let the same by contracts and in sections, divided by this board, as follows: Section No. 1 being embankment above the Williams mill-dam, 3,000 feet long, and marked on the ground; sections 2 to 14 inclusive, to be each 1,500 feet in length, and as marked on the ground; sections 15 and 16 to be 1,500 feet long each; section 17 and last, to be 4,000 feet in length more or less, the work on each of said sections to be completed on or before December 1, 1879.

The position of this needed improvement may be noted on the map accompanying this volume. It is sufficient to say that it has already demonstrated the wisdom of the measures which inaugurated and carried to a successful issue its construction.

THE COURT HOUSE.

No records exist relative to the building of this structure. The original legislation, the notices, the elections, the contract, all have disappeared from the county records for reasons best known to those immediately connected with their disappearance. The building is a brick structure, two stories in height, the upper of which is used for court purposes. On the first floor are the offices devoted to the use of the county officials. The building was erected in 1857, and cost about forty thousand dollars -perhaps a sufficient reason for the loss of all records pertaining to it.

FAIR ASSOCIATIONS.

"The principal advantage of academies consists in the philosophical spirit naturally engendered by them, which spreads itself throughout society, and extends to all objects. The isolated inquirer may resign himself without fear to the spirit of system; he only hears afar off the contradiction which he incurs. But in a learned society the conflict of systematic

opinions soon results in their overthrow, and the desire of being mutually satisfied necessarily establishes between the members an agreement to admit nothing but the results of observation and calculation. Hence, as experience has shown, true philosophy has been generally diffused since the rise of academies. By setting the example of subjecting everything to the examination of a rigorous analysis, they have dissipated the prejudices which had too long tyrannized in the sciences, and in which the best intellects of preceding ages had shared. Their useful influence over opinion has, in our day, dispelled errors which had been received with an enthusiasm that in other times would have perpetuated them. Equally exempt from the credulity which would admit everything, and the prejudice which disposes to the rejection of whatever departs from received ideas, these enlightened bodies have always, in difficult questions, and with reference to extraordinary phenomena, wisely awaited the answers of observation and experiment, which they have at the same time solicited by prizes and by their own labors. Proportioning their appreciation, as well to the magnitude and difficulty of a discovery as to its immediate utility, and convinced by many examples that the most sterile in appearance may some day lead to important consequences, they have encouraged the research for truth in regard to all objects, with the exclusion of those only which the limits of man's understanding render forever inaccessible. Finally, it is from their bosom that those great theories have arisen whose generality places them beyond the common reach, and which, spreading themselves by numerous applications over nature and the arts, have become inexhaustible sources of light and fruition. Wise governments, convinced of the glory and prosperity of empires, have not only instituted them, but attached them to their own service, that they might derive from them that knowledge which has often proved of the highest public advantage."-Laplace, (Precis de l' Historie de l' Astronomie p. 99.)

It was on this principle that the farming community of this county established the various fair organizations that have conduced so largely to foster its agricultural interests. But their value is little understood. Many suppose that mere theories fine-spun from the imaginations of pseudo-farmers and the opportunity to present them, or their results, are the main objects of organizations of this kind. But their real and true object is to present the great principles which lie at the foundation of the practical pursuits of life. It would be an exceedingly difficult matter to point out any single occupation which more directly and profoundly affects the general public than that of tilling the soil-all the experience of all the past should therefore be brought to aid in reducing that occupation to the standard of exact science. None but the unskillful farmers say they want no scientific farming. In their occupation they have given them Nature in all her richness, the richest domain for experiment in the

known world. As yet, in the west, little has been done; Nature has done so much the cultivators of the soil have been content with her gifts. While in the older east the practical deductions of science have infused new life and given a new impulse and a new energy to all the departments of human industry, and husbandry among the rest, here the farms are being cultivated as they were by the sires and grandsires of long ago. Progress and improvement are stamped on every feature of western life save this single one, and farmers are plodding on "in the good old way of our fathers."

To obviate this dangerous tendency, local fair associations have been organized and maintained, and with most remarkable results. A kind of generous rivalry has been inaugurated, a rivalry which manifests itself in the improvement of stock and fruit, in the more careful tilling of the soil and consequent increase of crops. The farming community is beginning to learn that rich as is the soil they cultivate, it is not inexhaustible, and may even yet be improved. At the fairs, are brought together from all parts of the adjacent country the finest and best of the year's harvesting; implements and tools for inspection and comparison; articles of home manufacture and handiwork to care for these necessary interests of the farmer's home, and even the products of educated taste to foster a love for the fine arts and the beautiful in Nature and art. All these things are subserved more or less successfully by the various fair associations of the county.

The oldest of these is the Mills County Agricultural Society, which was organized September 20, 1856, with Josiah Farrer as president, and Lewis W. Tubbs as secretary. The organization had a short life, and ceased to be before a single fair had been held. A second attempt was made March 16, 1858, which resulted in electing as president the gentleman who had served in that capacity in the preceding organization, and as secretary, W. S. Graff. A board of directors, consisting of one member for each township, was appointed, who were to report at a future meeting, a constitution and necessary by-laws. When the constitution was drafted, the objects of the association were stated as follows:

ART. 1. The object of this society shall be the encouragment and improvement of agriculture, domestic manufactures and mechanical arts, and shall be known as the Mills county Agricultural Society.

The first article and those that followed it, with a few verbal changes, were adopted from the constitution of the Des Moines county association. The last meeting held by the society organized in 1858, bears the date of May 21, 1859. In September of 1859 the last fair was held, the enterprise not meeting with the support that its importance would seem to have warranted. From that time until March 3, 1866, there was nothing

done in the county in this direction. On that day the citizens of the county met at the court house in Glenwood to " re-organize" the society. A committee, consisting of L. A. Williams, William E. Dean and H. A. Copeland, was appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws. This committee reported April 21, 1866, when the constitution was adopted and the organization again had an existence. In March of 1867 the following entry appears in the minute book of the secretary, from which it appears this second attempt ended in failure:

Mr. Mickelwait offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the people of Mills county are unwilling to keep up an agricultural society, and after an ineffectual attempt on the part of the few to create an interest in this matter, we deem it expedient to dissolve this organization and it is further resolved that the sum of twenty-five dollars be paid to the secretary for services and that the remaining funds on hand be appropriated to the Soldier's Orphans' Home at Glenwood, Iowa.

"res

Two years later, May 15, 1869, another attempt was made "to resuscitate the Mills County Agricultural Society," which resulted in the enrollment of twenty-two names on the membership list. George Mickelwait was elected president; E. C. Bosbyshell, treasurer; and S. A. Williams, secretary. The constitution and by-laws of the organization for 1866, were provisionally adopted as those which should govern the new urrection." From that time until the present the society has had a kind of existence, not always successful nor so useful as it might be made, but of this the reader is well aware. It would be a matter calling for congratulation should the residents of the county rally to the support of their fair and make it the success it eminently deserves to be. Only in this way can the best interests of the farming community be subserved, interests which, as has been above indicated, are the sole source of wealth and prosperity to the county.

In the summer of 1873 the second fair society was organized at Malvern, under the name of the Mills County Central Agricultural and Mechanical Association. It was the outgrowth of a strong public opinion that the interests of the farming community could best be served at some point more central than that chosen as the headquarters of the society whose history has just been given. The prime movers in the enterprise were J. M. Strahan, D. M. Whitfield, and Joseph Foxworthy, aided by the leading men of that portion of the county. A joint stock company was organized and shares issued at five dollars each. The proceeds thus derived were expended in the purchase of suitable grounds and the erection of buildings. The grounds owned by the society comprise some twenty-eight acres, situated on section thirty-two, at the geographical center of the county. When the first meeting for the election of permanent officers was called, an enthusiastic gathering convened and chose as presi

dent, John Barnum; vice-president, S. Van Orsdale; secretary, J. D. Paddock; and treasurer, W. D. Evans. At the same time and place a

board of directors consisting of sixteen persons was chosen. The first fair was held in September, 1873. The prosperity of the organization has been so marked that the price of shares has been advanced to ten dollars each. It is entirely out of debt, and bids fair to rival any similar organization of this portion of the state. The entries at the first fair numbered three hundred, while those for 1880 made a grand total of thirteen hundred.

To these societies are entrusted all the interests of the county that pertain to farming. What they have accomplished can perhaps never be fully known or its value estimated. Many have doubtless been incited to renewed endeavor, and thus directly been benefitted by the exhibitions of stock and produce which yearly find their way to these trysting places. One feature must always militate against a completely successful fair, and that is the division of interest that will result from duplicate societies. The area to which the operations of such a society are confined is so small that one or both must finally succumb. In these matters, as in those of a more far-reaching and different nature, community of interests and oneness of purpose must obtain if ever permanent success is to be assured.

COUNCIL BLUFFS MEDICAL SOCIETY.

There have been long periods in the history of the race when men engaged in a special work or employed in special pursuits kept wholly to themselves the results of their toil and their speculation. Little comes down to us from those earlier days when men began first to wrestle with the great problems of life and mind, of disease and health. This was not because they thought little, nor because what they did compass in the world of intellect possessed no value, but because the interests of each individual necessitated such action as this. Later on, men engaged in the same occupation or professions banded together to interchange experiences and opinions, to review theories and present doctrines. An impulse was thus given to the learned professions that has never yet ceased to have its value; an impulse which is maintained by the same means and fostered for the same ends. In accordance with this idea the Council Bluffs Medical Society was organized, August 2, 1869. The association holds its annual meeting on the first Tuesday in August. Its objects are those pertaining directly to the profession from which its members come. They come together in annual convention and present not only their experiences but relate test cases, present theses on diseases in special forms