HISTORY:  Adams County, Iowa
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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ADAMS COUNTY.

	This county is the third east from the Missouri river, and in the second 
tier from the southern boundary of the state, and contains twelve congressional 
townships or four hundred and thirty-two square miles.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND RESOURCES.

	The county lies wholly upon the Missouri river drainage slope, and is 
principally drained by the East and Middle Nodaway Rivers, and their branches, 
which run diagonally through it from the northeast to the southwest. Several 
branches of One Hundred and Two head in the south part of the county, while 
the Platte flows from some distance along the east line. Numerous small streams 
and branches are so distributed as to drain nearly every portion of the county. 
The East and Middle Nodaway afford a number of good water-powers for 
machinery during the greater portion of the year. There is a good flouring mill 
on the former, with a saw mill connected, and two on the latter, each having saw 
mills also connected with them. The supply of water-power sufficient for mill 
purposes on Middle Nodaway, will average about nine months in each year. 
There are also in the county some three or four steam saw mills, and a woolen 
factory on Middle Nodaway, about three and a half miles from Quincy. The 
latter is provided both with steam and water power, and in its operations 
embraces carding, spinning, and weaving. These streams and their tributaries 
furnish excellent water for stock. Good wells are also obtained at reasonable 
depths in all parts of the county. The valleys are narrow, but beautiful and 
fertile. The larger bodies of timber are along the Middle Nodaway, but there are 
also fine groves on East Nodaway. The west half of the county is much better 
supplied with timber than the east. The timber is rapidly encroaching upon the 
prairies from the borders of the streams since the people have kept the fires out 
for the protection of their farms. The principal kinds of timber are oak, hickory, 
walnut, elm, cottonwood, soft maple, linn, hackberry, cherry, and buckeye. The 
principle wild fruits are crab-apples, plum, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, and 
gooseberries. It is estimated that about one-tenth of the county is timber. Much 
of it, however, is a young growth, but in a few years will become quite valuable. 
	This is the last county west that has yielded coal in sufficient quantity 
to pay for working. A vein of about twenty inches in thickness seems to extend 
across the county from the southeast to the northwest corner, and nearly at right 
angles with the streams. It makes its appearance in several places in that general 
direction, and it lies about the surface of low water mark, with a slate formation, 
as usual, just above it, and limestone above and below. One or two banks on 
Middle Nodaway have been worked for some fifteen years, not only to supply 
the local demand, but prior to the completion of railroads to Council Bluffs, 
considerable quantities of coal were taken from Adams County to Council 
Bluffs, Omaha, Nebraska City, and other points west. It is now mined to supply 
the demand of this and adjoining counties. It is not so well adapted to 
mechanical as heating purposes, but is used by blacksmiths in the vicinity. It is 
considerably impregnated with sulphur, but burns freely, and makes excellent 
fuel. So far as known, the workable beds are mainly limited to Middle Nodaway 
and its tributaries, the principal exposures being at some four or five different 
points within a distance of twelve miles. Only one seam has been discovered 
which belongs to the upper coal measure deposits. Extending in the same 
general course from southeast to northwest, the same geological strata, including 
this coal formation, make their appearance on West Nodaway near the northeast 
corner of Montgomery County. Although it has only been worked at points 
where it is easily accessible along the streams, it is quite likely to be obtained by 
sinking a shaft at any point within the range of the several exposures. The depth 
to which it may be necessary to go may be pretty accurately ascertained by 
finding the elevation of the surface at any required point, above the vein where it 
is exposed to view along the streams. An effort has been made by sinking a shaft 
to find a still lower bed, but as yet without success. So far the bed which is now 
being worked is the only one discovered upon the Missouri Slope, and 
geologically lies higher in the coal series than the beds worked along the Des 
Moines River. 
	Good stone, suitable for building purposes, is obtained at several places 
in the county, but the best quarries are found along the East Nodaway, especially 
in the southwest part of the county. One of the best is that belonging to the 
"Icarian Community," southwest of Queen City. But little of it has been 
quarried, except for their own purposes. It works easily, and makes a good and 
substantial wall, as may be seen where they have used it at their village on the 
Nodaway. Good lime is manufactured at various places. Brick of a good quality 
have also been manufactured in a number of places. 
	The general surface of the county is rolling or undulating, and in some 
places, particularly in the northwest, is somewhat broken or hilly. The deepest 
and most characteristic valleys are those of the two Nodaways, that possess 
interesting scenery which is frequently quite picturesque and beautiful. If the 
county were divided directly through the middle from north to south, it will be 
found that the eastern half is almost wholly prairie, belts of woodland being 
found only along the banks of the East Nodaway, with a few clumps of trees 
upon the borders of the other small streams, while the surface is gently 
undulating, with scarcely an acre of waste land. The west half is no less valuable 
for agricultural purposes, but contains a very small proportion of land not so 
easily tillable on account of its greater unevenness. This is however more than 
compensated for by the presence of stone and coal in its valleys, neither of 
which are found to any considerable extent in the eastern half.

EARLY HISTORY.

	This county was separately organized in 1853, and the first county 
judge was Samuel Baker, who was elected in that year. The first settler in the 
county was Elijah Walters, who in 1849, settled at a place about two miles south 
of the former county seat. As deer, and other game disappeared from the 
country, he also moved westward. Among the early settlers were Samuel Baker, 
Samuel Hardesty, and Morgan Warren. Prior to 1858 the county settled up 
rapidly, but after that time, and up to 1866, it remained in population nearly 
stationary, as many other counties did during the same period. Since the latter 
date there has been a steady increase of population, which has been greatly 
accelerated within the past few years. 
	The first deed which appears on record in the county, is one from Jacob 
M. B. Miller and wife to the County of Adams, conveying all the even 
numbered lots in the Town of Quincy, and also the public square, to the county. 
This conveyance is dated August 24, 1853, and was filed for record September 
21st, of the same year. John H. Colvin was the recorder. The town was laid out 
by Jacob M. B. Miller, and embraces the northwest quarter of section 17, 
township 72 north, range 34 west. W. Trippet had been appointed to the office 
of county surveyor by the county judge, and was employed by Mr. Miller to 
survey the town. The first order of Judge Baker that appears on record, was one 
allowing to William David $26 for thirteen days' services as one of the 
commissioners to locate the county seat. Mr. Miller entered the land on which 
the county seat was located, and built the second house on the town site in 
October, 1853. The first store was kept by J. R. Holbrook, and was opened in 
September of the same year. The next Spring he sold the establishment to R. B. 
Lockwood. Mr. Holbrook built the first house in August 1853, and in September 
he opened in it the first store. The first child born in Quincy was Ellen Miller, 
daughter of J. M. B. Miller, February, 1854. Mr. Miller himself was the first 
who died in the town, his death taking place in November, 1854.
	The Congregational Church was organized in Quincy, October 21st, 
1865, with a membership of eight. Rev. A. V. House was the first pastor, since 
which Rev. J. D. Sands and Rev. S. Barrows have succeeded to the charge. A 
Sabbath school was organized in connection with the church, December 31, 
1865, with 35 pupils. The Methodist Episcopal Church was first organized in 
Quincy in 1856, by Rev. John W. Anderson, who was the first pastor. 

ICARIAN COMMUNITY.

	This county is the home of what is known as the "Icarian Community," 
who commenced their settlement as a colony on East Nodaway in 1853. Their 
organization upon the basis of a community of interest was the result of a social 
movement promulgated in France by Mons. Cabet and others, about forty years 
ago. In 1852, E. Cabet, one of the leaders of the proposed social revolution, 
published in Paris a book, the title of which may be translated as the "Voyage 
and Adventures of Lord Carisdal in Icaria." It was a fiction illustrating the 
organization of a great nation upon the principle of a community of interest. 
From "Icaria," Mons. Cabet's ideal Utopia, comes the name of the community 
he subsequently founded in America. In February, 1848, his colony sailed from 
Havre for Texas, where he had secured a large tract of land on the banks of Red 
River. Cabet himself followed in 1849, but found his colony broken up by 
sickness and other causes, and most of its members had returned to New 
Orleans. He collected as many as he could, and embarked for Nauvoo, the scene 
of the then recent Mormon disaster. The colony, consisting of 280 persons, 
settled at Nauvoo, and in 1851, Cabet returned to France, when for some 
political offence he was arrested and thrown into prison, but was subsequently 
sent to England, and again returned to American in 1853. The community 
wishing to secure more land than they had at Nauvoo, sent out agents who 
entered 3,000 acres in Adams County, and commenced the new settlement. They 
have since prospered, though in 1856, owing to some difficulty in the election of 
their officers, Cabet and a party of his adherents withdrew to form a separate 
community at St. Louis, where he died the same year. Cabet, the founder of 
Icaria, was twice exiled and once imprisoned for propagating his plan of 
socialism which he declared to be equally adapted to the formation of a city, 
state or nation. 
	The business of the community is transacted by the General Assembly, 
composed of all the male members over 20 years of age. The women attend the 
meetings of the General Assembly, and give their views of the various matters 
under consideration, and especially upon all matters relating to themselves. Five 
directors are annually elected, one of whom is chosen president. New members 
are received by a three-fourths vote of all the male members over 20 years of 
age, and the applicant is required to remain on probation six months. He gives to 
the community all money, or other property, that he may have suitable for public 
use, but in case of his withdrawal, all such amounts or articles are to be returned. 
He is required to give his time and labor to the community, in accordance with 
its regulations and the directions of its officers, receiving equally with all the 
members the benefits of the community therefor, but no money or other 
consideration.
	Fraternity is declared to be the fundamental principle which has given 
birth to the Icarian Community, and the natives of all countries can become 
members, provided they fully adopt the Icarian doctrine, and comply with the 
conditions necessary for admission. They have no forms of public worship, or 
meetings therefor. Music and dancing are favorite amusements, especially with 
the young. Sunday is regarded as other days of the week, except, perhaps, that it 
is more devoted to recreation than any of the other six. 

RAILROADS, SCHOOLS, ETC.

	The railroad advantages of Adams County, though not equal to some of 
the more favored portions of Iowa, are certainly good, as the Burlington and 
Missouri River Railroad, now operated by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Company, one of the four great lines crossing the state, connecting the 
undeveloped resources of the West with the civilization of the East, in short, one 
of the main connecting links between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, passes east 
and west through this county. There are four stations at convenient distances, 
affording all portions of the county ready access for shipment or receipt of 
freight to or from the great markets of the country. 
	For a newly settled and but partially developed county, the educational 
advantages of Adams County are excellent. Being settled quite largely by people 
from the Eastern states, who have enjoyed and fully appreciate the value of 
education, this important auxiliary of a free government, the common school, 
has not been neglected, and neat commodious school houses every where dot the 
prairies, nestle among the beautiful groves and valleys of the county. Teachers 
of ability and experience are employed who are emulous of attaining the high 
standard for which the State of Iowa has become justly renowned. By the report 
of 1873 there were in the county sixty-one ungraded and two graded schools, 
employing forty male and sixty female teachers, with an enrollment of seventeen 
hundred and eighty-seven pupils. The value of school property is about $40,000; 
the annual expenditure upwards of $17,000, while $31,577.89 is the amount of 
the permanent school fund.
	The war record of this county during the recent rebellion, is creditable 
to the patriotism and bravery of its soldiers. Out of less than 400 voters, the 
county furnished over 150 troops for the Union service. Among its 
commissioned officers who distinguished themselves more or less, may be 
mentioned the following; Capts. E. Y. Burgan, M. Davis, and Lieuts. James 
Munns, Jr., Thomas Alexander and Lyman Parcher. During the struggle the 
county lost about 40 men.

THE PRESS.

	Being unable to secure the data for a history of the press of Adams 
County, the historian can only present some meager facts in regard to the 
newspapers that are now published in the county. The Adams County Union, a 
neat eight column paper, printed entirely at home and Republican in politics, 
was first established by Ed. C. Russell, as the True Union, at Creston, in 1872. It 
was then a six column sheet and Democratic in politics, but passing into the 
hands of O. E. Paul in March, 1876, it became Republican. It is now owned and 
edited by G. E. King and E. S. Cook, two young, practical and enterprising 
newspaper men. 
	The Corning Gazette, is a neat, well printed and ably conducted 
newspaper, under the editorial management of W. H. Hoxie, who is making it 
popular and receiving a large and paying local support. 

COUNTY OFFICERS FOR 1875.

	WALTER E. McDUFFEE, Auditor.	JAMES WIDNER, Clerk 
of Courts.
	WASTLEY HOMAN, Treasurer.		JONAS P. CUPP, 
Recorder.
	JOHN W. LARIMER, Sheriff.		WM. W. ROBERTS, 
Supt. of Common Schools.
JOSEPH S. MARTIN, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

CORNING.

	Among the enterprising, wide awake railroad towns of Iowa which are 
now attracting attention, few are more worthy of a passing notice than Corning, 
the present county seat of Adams County. The town was surveyed and laid out 
about 1855 or 6, by D. N. Smith, and was named in honor of Erastus Corning, of 
Albany, New York. The enthusiast, with an eye for the picturesque and the 
beautiful, could hardly ask a more charming landscape than that presented from 
the slopes and elevations in and around this embryo city. The greater portion of 
the town rises with a gradual ascent from the banks of the East Nodaway river 
toward the north, thus presenting a fine dry southern slope, overlooking one of 
the grandest little valleys in Iowa. The river winds through the south part of the 
town, fringed on either side with timber, adjoining which there is a plateau of 
high bottom land on which the railroad depot grounds are located. The railroad, 
owing to a southern bend in the river here, crosses the Nodaway twice within, or 
very near the limits of the town, and two fine railroad bridges, as seen from the 
higher portions of the town, add variety to the scene; while Nature has 
embellished this part of her domain with many of the graces of her handiwork. 
Belts, or groves of timber, with fertile intervening prairie lands, clothed in her 
native verdure, or transformed to harvest fields, form a part of the enchanting 
picture. On the north and west, adjoining and within the town, are beautiful 
groves of oak, elm, walnut, hickory, and other kinds of trees. Here are many 
pleasant sites for residences, and a number of neat cottages are already 
embowered amid these sylvan retreats. A block of ground nearly three hundred 
feet square, called by the appropriate name of Grove Park, is set apart for public 
use in the northwest part of the town, is studded with a fine thrifty growth of 
young trees of various kinds, and enclosed and otherwise improved. This forms 
a delightful resort for pleasure parties and meetings of various kinds during the 
summer season. Central Park is located between the two principal business 
avenues, and is one hundred feet wide by nearly three hundred feet long.
	At the time of its location, it was expected that the B. & M. R. R. 
would be speedily built across the state, and Corning was then confidently 
believed to be upon the line of that road. Its enterprising founder, D. N. Smith, at 
that time gave evidence of his faith in the new town by his works, for he then 
erected, or caused to be erected, a number of good buildings, including the 
commodious hotel known as the "Corning House," and the two story building 
then occupied in part as a printing office. The two story brick building owned 
and occupied by D. Ritchey, was also built at the same time. A good school 
house was erected and a number of dwellings. A newspaper was started in the 
Winter of 1858-9, and for some time the Corning Sentinel, as it was called, 
continued to proclaim to the world the advantages and future prospects of the 
coming city. Of this pioneer newspaper of Corning, D. N. Smith was proprietor, 
and L. Raguet, editor. But the war came on, and owing to this and other causes, 
the construction of railroads in Iowa was suspended. The terminus of the B. & 
M. R. R. was then at Ottumwa, 135 miles eastward. In the general uncertainty of 
things during those dark years, it is not strange that the Corning Sentinel ceased 
to be issued, and that the town for a time, not only ceased to improve, but was 
even abandoned by some of its first settlers. A few however, patiently awaited 
the march of events, and such are now realizing the fact that their faith was not 
misplaced. The town is handsomely laid off in uniform blocks	 of eight lots 
each, with streets and alleys crossing each other at right angles, running east and 
west and north and south. The streets are each 66 feet wide, except three of 
them, running north and south, which are called Avenues, and are each 100 feet 
wide. The alleys are 161/2 feet wide. Some of the business lots are 30x100 feet, 
and others 44x132 feet. The lots designed for residences are 66x132 feet, two of 
them forming a quarter block eight rods square, with streets and alleys on all 
sides. The streets running east and west are numbered, progressively, from First 
to Eleventh, and the others have appropriate names.
	The character of the business houses, residences, and public buildings 
is much above the general average of new western towns, showing that 
enterprising far-seeing capitalists have liberally invested their money here, 
having implicit confidence in the future development and growth of the place. A 
large and costly public school building and several handsome churches adorn 
the town, and show that the intellectual and moral wants of the community have 
not been neglected. Lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, and Knights of Pythias, 
have been established; have pleasant halls, and are in a flourishing condition. 
Surrounded by a rich and rapidly improving farming country, with water, wood, 
stone, and coal convenient, possessing a healthy and salubrious climate, good 
society and fine natural scenery, the future of Corning is an assured success, and 
the time is not far distant when it will become one of the most important inland 
cities on the Missouri Slope in Iowa.
	QUINCY, the former county seat is located about five miles west, and 
a little north of the center of the county on elevated land, with fine bodies of 
timber convenient, and commands a fine view of the surrounding country. When 
originally laid out, a great portion of the town plat was covered with timber and 
brush. It was then on the line of a principal stage route running across the state. 
It contains a number of business houses, churches, etc., etc.
	BROOKS is about six miles south of Quincy, on the north side of East 
Nodaway. Among its first settlers were William Young, Perry Mark, John 
Bixler, James Walker, and David Burton.
	QUEEN CITY is a little over a mile south of the center of the county, 
with the East Nodaway passing through a portion of the town plat. It has timber 
and good building stone convenient, and is surrounded by an excellent farming 
country. There is a good bridge over East Nodaway at this place. Samuel 
Larimer was the original proprietor of the land on which the town is located. A. 
Smas was among the early settlers.
	NEVINSVILLE is in the northeast corner township, twenty miles from 
Quincy, and ten miles from Fontanelle, the former county seat of Adair County. 
It is laid out in lots containing two and a half, five and ten acres, and was settled 
mostly by families from New England. 
	MT. ETNA is a village in the northwest part of the county. There is in 
the vicinity a settlement of Dunkards, who have a church in which they hold 
monthly meetings.
	The remaining villages and post offices are Nodaway, Icaria, Prescot, 
Cave, Carbon.