son, in September, 1853, and G. W. Hobaugh in October, 1856. They were buried in section two, where there was a cemetery laid out in 1853, which is still used for burial purposes. Seth Pearson died in 1856, who was also buried in that cemetery.

Peoria City, a village bordering on the Story county line, was laid out at the time settlements were first made in that part of the county, and Mr. J. K. Hobaugh, with a number of his relatives, were the first residents of the place. The fact that Peoria City had a population of two hundred, two years after it was first laid out, shows that the settlement of that part of the county was very rapid.

Dr. John W. Rawls, from DeKalb county, Indiana, located in that neighborhood in June, 1854; he was the first physician who located there. In the spring of 1861 Dr. Rawls returned to Indiana. Religious services were held at the house of Aaron Pearson in 1853, conducted by Dr. Jessup, of the Christian Church.

THE BEAVER CREEK SETTLEMENT.

After the country was thrown open for settlement the country east of the Des Moines river, and west of the Des Moines and south of the Raccoon, filled up rapidly. There was not so much disposition manifested by early settlers to locate west of the Des Moines and north of the Raccoon. We have already seen, however, that as early as 1848 the McLeans, Fouts, Hunt and others, settled within the bounds of Jefferson township between Beaver Creek and the Des Moines river.

W. H. McHenry, one of the early mayors of Des Moines, and at present (1880) Judge of the District Court, settled on Beaver Creek at a very early day. He was one of the most active members of the claim club, and did much to protect the settlers of his neighborhood in their rights. He says that the people were a law unto themselves, and in 1848, when he first settled on Beaver Creek, it was no unusual thing for Judge Lynch to assume jurisdiction, and thus make up for the lack of the imperfectly executed civil law. He states further that the club laws were drafted by Thomas Baker, Mr. Watts and himself, and that it was made his duty to attend the land sales at Iowa City. From this we are led to conclude that the settlers in the Beaver Creek neighborhood organized a claim club of their own as the club which was first organized at a general meeting of the settlers of the county, held at Des Moines, was held in April, 1848, probably before Judge McHenry came to the county; the persons who drafted the resolutions were Winchester, Mitchell, Scott, Sypher, and Saylor, and Mr. Tidrick was appointed bidder.

A man by the name of Doggett laid out a town in this neighborhood at an early day; another village called Lovington was laid out at the mouth of Beaver Creek in December, 1854.

A family by the name of Murray, consisting of the parents and seventeen children, located in the Beaver Creek settlement about the year 1850.

WALNUT CREEK SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement in this locality was made in 1846, by a gentleman named Towne Hall. He settled early in the year, and his claim included the Presley Bennett farm. Soon afterward came Samuel Shaw, and during

the same spring John Jordan settled in what is now called Hiner's Grove. A Mr. Hinton lived where Mr. Clegg now resides. Jacob Lion settled on a claim where the Crow farm is now located. This region of country gradually, but not very rapidly, settled up, and in 1846 Mr. J. C. Jordan located a claim near the west part of the county between Raccoon and Walnut. His claim was in section 16, township 78, range 25. The lumber which he used in the erection of his house he procured at the Parmelee mill. Mr. Jordan, in the course of time, acquired considerable property and the reputation of being one of the first citizens of the county. His rude cabin, constructed of logs and green boards, has long since been replaced by a commodious and elegant residence. For some time after locating on his claim, Mr. Jordan's nearest neighbors were in Dallas county. A Methodist preacher, by the name of Raynor, preached in Mr. Jordan's house as early

as 1849.

Several brothers by the name of Bennett, a family by the name of Crow, and John Evans, were also early settlers.

Presley Bennett, a native of Kentucky, came from Indiana in the spring of 1848, located in this part of the county, and at present resides on section 11, township 78, range 25. When he arrived in the county he had nothing except indomitable courage and his strong arm; but with these for capital he has steadily prospered, till now he is in very comfortable circumstances.

A small tributary of Walnut Creek passes through the southwestern part of section 28. On the south side of the branch, and near the bank of the stream, S. H. Lewis settled in the spring of 1848. He was from Indiana, and after having spent his youth assisting in the conquest of the dense forests of Henry county, in that State, he was sufficiently inured to hardship to be able to make an easy conquest of the less obstinate soil of Iowa. now resides in section 3, immediately south of Walnut creek.

He

R. Campbell, who now resides south of Walnut, on section 6, came and located in the Walnut Creek neighborhood in the spring of 1848. He is a native of Ohio, and emigrated to Iowa, first locating in Van Buren county, from where he removed after three years to Polk county. He was one of the first settlers in the Walnut Creek neighborhood, and located where he now lives in 1870.

John Crow is a native of Kentucky; removed to Indiana in 1819. In the fall of 1850 he emigrated to Iowa, and settled in the Walnut Creek neighborhood, where he still resides.

Calvin Bennett and Benjamin Bennett came from Indiana in the summer of 1847, and settled about six miles west of Des Moines, between Walnut Creek and Raccoon river. They are both residents of the county at the present time.

Charles Murrow came from Indiana in 1844, and located in Henry county, this State. He came to Polk county in 1848, where he settled with a numerous family; one of the sons, D. B. Murrow, still lives on the old homestead. Some of the early settlers of the neighborhood removed to Kansas and other portions of the western country. Samuel Shaw, James Henton, Leroy Lambert, Joseph Mott and Samuel Lewis were also early settlers in this neighborhood.

The foregoing account of the early settlements of Polk county is necessarily imperfect, and may not be strictly accurate in some particulars, but in years to come will be a valuable compendium of facts relating to the first settlers, many of whom have already been forgotten.

CHAPTER V.

PIONEER LIFE.

The pioneer's peculiarities-Conveniences and inconveniences-The historical log cabinAgricultural implements-Household furniture-Pioneer corn bread-Hand mills and hominy-blocks-Going to mill-Trading points-The pioneer stock-dealer-Hunting and trapping The California gold excitement--The Western Stage Company-Claim clubs and club laws-A border sketch-Surveys and land sales-The first records-Growth of the county-Table of events.

DURING the decade which comprehends the first ten years of its history the settlement of Polk county was in its earliest stage of pioneer life. All that can be known of this period must be drawn chiefly from tradition.

In those days the people took no care to preserve history-they were too busily engaged in making it. Historically speaking, those were the most important years of the county, for it was then the foundation and cornerstones of all the country's history and prosperity were laid. Yet this period was not remarkable for stirring events. It was, however, a time of selfreliance and brave, persevering toil; of privations cheerfully endured through faith in a good time coming. The experience of one settler was just about the same as that of others. They were almost invariably poor, they faced the same hardships and stood generally on an equal footing.

All the experience of the early pioneer of this county goes far to confirm the theory that, after all, happiness is pretty evenly balanced in this world. They had their privations and hardships, but they had also their own peculiar joys. If they were poor they were free from the burden of pride and vanity; free, also, from the anxiety and care that always attend the possession of wealth. Other people's eyes cost them nothing. If they had few neighbors, they were on the best of terms with those they had. Envy, jealousy and strife had not crept in. A common interest and a common sympathy bound them together with the strongest ties. They were a little world to themselves, and the good feeling that prevailed was all the stronger because they were so far removed from the great world of the East.

Among these pioneers there was realized such a community of interest that there existed a community of feeling. There were no castes, except an aristocracy of benevolence, and no nobility, except a nobility of generosity. They were bound together with such a strong bond of sympathy, inspired by the consciousness of common hardship, that they were practically communists.

Neighbors did not even wait for an invitation or request to help one another. Was a settler's cabin burned or blown down? No sooner was the fact known throughout the neighborhood than the settlers assembled to assist the unfortunate one to rebuild his home. They came with as little hesitation, and with as much alacrity, as though they were all members of the same family, and bound together by ties of blood. One man's interest was every other man's interest also. Now this general state of feeling among the pioneers was by no means peculiar to this county, although it was strongly illustrated here. It prevailed generally throughout the West during the time of the early settlement. The very nature of things taught the settlers the necessity of dwelling together in this spirit. It was their only protection. They had come far away from the well established reign

of law and entered a new country where the civil authority was still feeble and totally unable to afford protection and redress grievances. Here in Polk county the settlers lived for quite a time before there was a single officer of the law in the county. Each man's protection was in the good will and friendship of those about him, and the thing any man might well dread was the ill will of the community. It was more terrible than the law. It was no uncommon thing in the early times for hardened men, who had no fears of jails or penitentiaries, to stand in great fear of the indignation of a pioneer community. Such were some of the early characteristics of the early settlers of Polk county.

HOUSES AND HOME COMFORTS.

The first buildings in the county were not just like the log cabins that immediately succeeded them. These latter required some help and a good deal of labor to build. The very first buildings constructed were a cross between "hoop cabins" and Indian bark huts. As soon as enough men could be got together for a "cabin raising" then log cabins were in style. Many a pioneer can remember the happiest time of his life as that when he lived in one of these homely but comfortable and profitable old cabins.

A window with sash and glass was a rarity, and was an evidence of wealth and aristocracy which but few could support. They were often made with greased paper put over the window, which admitted a little light, but more often there was nothing whatever over it, or the cracks between the logs, without either chinking or daubing, was the dependence for light and air.

The doors were fastened with old-fashioned wooden latches, and for a friend, or neighbor, or traveler, the string always hung out, for the pioneers of the West were hospitable, and entertained visitors to the best of their ability.

It is noticeable with what affection the pioneers speak of their old log cabins. It may be doubted whether palaces ever sheltered happier hearts than those homely cabins. The following is a good description of these old landmarks, but few of which now remain:

"These were of round logs notched together at the corners, ribbed with poles and covered with boards split from a tree. A puncheon floor was then laid down, a hole cut in the end and a stick chimney run up. A clapboard door is made, a window is opened by cutting out a hole in the side or end about two feet square, and it is finished without glass or transparency. The house is then chinked' and 'daubed' with mud made of the top soil.

"The cabin is now ready to go into. The household and kitchen furniture is adjusted, and life on the frontier is begun in earnest.

"The one-legged bedstead, now a piece of furniture of the past, was made by cutting a stick the proper length, boring holes at one end one and a half inches in diameter, at right angles, and the same-sized holes corresponding with these in the logs of the cabin the length and breadth desired for the bed, in which are inserted poles.

"Upon these poles clapboards are laid, or lind bark is interwoven consecutively from pole to pole. Upon this primitive structure the bed is laid. The convenience of a cook stove was not thought of then, but instead the

cooking was done by the faithful housewife in pots, kettles and skillets, on and about the big fire-place, and very frequently over and around, too, the distended pedal extremities of the legal sovereigns of the household, while the latter were indulging in the luxuries of a cob pipe, and discussing the probable results of a contemplated elk hunt up and about Walled Lake."

These log cabins were really not so bad, after all.

The people of to-day familiarized with "Charter Oak cooking stoves and ranges would be ill at home were they compelled to prepare a meal with no other conveniences than those provided in a pioneer cabin. Rude fire-places were built in chimneys composed of mud and sticks or at best undressed stone. These fire-places served for heating and cooking purposes; also for ventilation. Around the cheerful blaze of this fire the meal was prepared, and these meals were not so bad after all. As elsewhere remarked they were not such as would tempt the epicure, but such as afforded the most healthy nourishment for a race of people who were driven to the exposure and hardships which were their lot; we hear of few dyspeptics in those days. Another advantage of these cooking arrangements was that the stove pipe never fell down, and the pioneer was spared being subjected to the most trying of ordeals, and one probably more productive of profanity than any other.

Before the country became supplied with mills which were of easy access, and even in some instances afterward, hominy-blocks were used. These exist now only in the memory of the oldest settlers, but as relics of the "long ago" a description of them will not be uninteresting:

A tree of suitable size, say from eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, was selected in the forest and felled to the ground. If a cross-cut saw happened to be convenient, the tree was "butted "-that is, the kerf end was sawed off so that it would stand steady when ready for use. If there were

no cross-cut saw in the neighborhood, strong arms and sharp axes were ready to do the work. Then the proper length, from four to five feet, was measured off, and sawed or cut square. When this was done the block was raised on end, and the work of cutting out a hollow in one of the ends was commenced. This was generally done with a common chopping ax. Sometimes a smaller one was used. When the cavity was judged to be large enough, a fire was built in it and carefully watched till the ragged edges were burned away. When completed the hominy-block somewhat resembled a druggist's mortar. Then a pestle or something to crush the corn was necessary. This was usually made from a suitably sized piece of timber with an iron wedge attached, the large end down. This coinpleted the machinery, and the block was ready for use. Sometimes one hominy-block accommodated an entire neigborhood, and was the means of staying the hunger of many mouths.

In giving the bill of fre above we should have added meat, for of this they had plenty. Deer would be seen daily trooping over the prairie in droves of from twelve to twenty, and sometimes as many as fifty would be seen grazing together. Elk were also found, and wild turkeys and prairie chickens without number. Bears were not unknown. Music of the natural order was not wanting, and every night the pioneers were lulled to rest by the screeching of panthers and the howling of wolves. When the dogs ventured too far out from the cabins at night they would be driven back by the wolves chasing them up to the very cabin doors. Trapping wolves be