HISTORY: Cherokee County From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875 ************************************************* Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************* ________________________________________________________ NOTE: For more information on Cherokee County, Iowa Please visit the Cherokee County, IAGenWeb page at http://iagenweb.org/cherokee/ ________________________________________________________ CHEROKEE COUNTY. Cherokee is the second county east of the west line, and the third from the north line of the state. It is twenty-four miles square, equal to 576 square miles, or 368,640 acres. It is well watered and drained, numerous streams flowing in a south and southeast direction. The largest is Little Sioux River, entering near the northwest corner, and passing out some six or seven miles east of the southwest corner—thus flowing diagonally across the entire extent of the county. West Branch is a tributary which waters three or four townships in the north part of the county. West Fork of Little Sioux is also a tributary, draining and watering several townships. The Little Sioux River is supplied with fish of many kinds. The surface is rolling, and very little of it too broken to be cultivated with ease. The soil is of excellent quality, being composed of the bluff deposit of this part of the state, with a covering of rich vegetable mold, well adapted to the production of all the cereals in the greatest perfection. The valleys of Little Sioux, Maple and Mill Creek, are beautiful and rich farming portions of the county. There are many picturesque views along the Little Sioux River, meandering, as it does, through one of the most fertile and beautiful valleys of the state, skirted in many places with fine groves of native timber. There are no exposures of rock, but boulders are scattered in places over the prairies. They are composed of granite, red quartzite, and occasional masses of light buff-colored magnesian limestone. Pure and excellent water is obtained in all parts of the county at a depth of only a few feet below the surface. The Little Sioux River affords several good mill sites. Along Mill Creek are some groups of artificial mounds that have attracted some attention, as the work of the ancient mound-builders. Traces of ancient pottery are found in the same vicinity. HISTORICAL. The first settlement was made in the Spring of 1856, by a colony from Milford, Massachusetts. This colony had organized themselves as an association, styled, "The Milford Emigration Society." The following persons with their families became settlers during that year, to wit; Doctor Dwite Russell, George W. Labourveau, B. W. Sawtell, Lysander Sawtell, Albert Simons, Daniel Wheeler, Lemuel Parkhurst, Albert Phipps, Carlton Corbett, James A. Brown, Asa J. Slayton, Robert Hammond, and Benjamin Holbrook. The land had just been brought into market, and a sufficient quantity was entered to allow each member of the association about one hundred acres. It was all selected near the center of the county, and included some of the best timber on the Little Sioux River. Other members of the association subsequently came at different times. Most of the colonists were mechanics, a large proportion being shoemakers, consequently some did not succeed as farmers. They laid out a town on a large scale, each member of the association having an interest in it. The first house erected was built of logs, and its dimensions were seventeen by eighteen feet. Four other houses were erected during the season. During the same year settlements were made in other parts of the county. Some twelve or thirteen families located on the Little Sioux River in the southern part of the county. Among them were George W. Banister, John A. Moore, Robert Perry, Jacob Miller, Alpheus Moore, and Tip Lane. A small settlement was also made on the Little Sioux River in the northern part of the county, by Enoch Taylor and two or three others. Taylor was subsequently killed in a difficulty with one of the settlers in Buena Vista County. In February, 1857, a few days preceding the Spirit Lake massacre, the Indians on their return up the valley of the Little Sioux from Smithland, where they had some difficulty with the whites, robbed the settlers in Cherokee County of their guns and some other property. They also killed some of the stock, but committed no personal violence, except to beat Robert Hammond for making resistance when they took his guns. They also shot through the door of his cabin. After remaining two or three days, feasting, carousing, and menacing the settlers, they passed on up the valley in the direction of Spirit Lake, where their fury culminated in deeds that form one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of the Indian ferocity. In August, 1857, the county was organized by the election of the following officers; A. P. Thayer, County Judge; B. W. Sawtell, Clerk; C. Corbett, Prosecuting Attorney; G. W. Labourveau, Treasurer and Recorder; S. W. Haynes, Sheriff; and G. W. Banister, Coroner. The effect of the Spirit Lake massacre was to almost depopulate several of the counties in this part of the state, and the apprehension of Indian raids during the Rebellion also tended to retard settlement. A company of soldiers was stationed at Cherokee, and a stockade and block-house erected. The stockade was constructed of large logs set in the ground, and about ten feet high. This enclosed about one-eighth of an acre in a triangular shape. It was provided with a single gate way. The block-house was a two-story building of hewed logs, provided with port holes. During the time these troops were stationed here no trouble occurred with the Indians, except an attempt of an Indian to steal a horse, for which he atoned in the loss of his life, being shot in the act. The blood- stained visions of Spirit Lake haunted the old settlers, and a fear that the indescribable horrors of an Indian war were about to break upon them, paralyzed the shattered remnants of a once prosperous colony. When news of the massacre reached the colony, Captain Millard advised the settlement to leave, as he felt unable to afford sufficient protection. The people took his advice, and thus a second time Cherokee County was depopulated. But of all that left only six returned. Mr. Corbett was treasurer, and he returned in the Fall to collect the taxes as the law required. The Commander had, in case of danger, notified him that he and his family could find shelter in the fort. The census returns of 1863 show there were but ten males and five females in the county. The census of 1869 returned a population of fifty-eight, showing pretty clearly that matters were in a most unfavorable condition. During the Winter of 1862-'3, the only whites in the county, with the exception of the soldiers, were Mr. and Mrs. Corbett, Mr. Brown and family, Orange Wigh, of Pilot Rock, and Robert Perry, of the same place. For a number of years the settlement had had a monthly mail. At first the mail was carried by Badeaux & Nasson, from Mankato, Minnesota, to Sioux City. In the year 1866, a weekly mail was established, and so continued until the Fall of 1870, at which time a daily mail east and west afforded the citizens complete facilities. FIRST THINGS. Byron Holbrook was the first post master, but he shortly afterwards resigned, and C. Corbett was appointed. The first warrant ever issued in Cherokee County, was drawn October 2, 1858, for the sum of $4.30, payable to D. N. Stoddard, on account of services as chainman on road number one to Plymouth County line, signed by A. P. Thayer, County Judge. The records of 1858 and '59 are very neatly kept and easily read. The bulk of the warrants issued were to pay bounties on "scalps of prairie wolves," each scalp being $1.50, the first of this species being issued to Mallon Holbrook, December 6, 1858. On the 16th of November there was a general settlement of the accounts of the different county officers, and the clerk was allowed $38.85 for his services from October 18, 1859, to November 16, 1860. The treasurer and recorder, $62.95 for his services for the same time, and the sheriff, $2.50, --"halcyon days those." At this time O. S. Wight was the legal incumbent of only four different county offices, but he bore his honors meekly, and the universal testimony of old citizens is that he made a good official. January 19, 1863, the board of supervisors made a contract with J. H. Cornell to erect a court house for the county, at a cost of $1,900, and the present edifice was built that year. The first sermon ever preached in Cherokee Village was in the store of H. A. Fife, by the Reverend Alexander Darley, Presbyterian, in 1870. On the 14th of November the county judge issued the first marriage license to C. Corbett and Rosabella Cummings, who were married on the 20th inst., this being the first wedding in the county. A school was taught during the Summer in the old Cherokee House by Mrs. Parkhurst, the funds being sent from Massachusetts to sustain it. The first bridge over the Sioux River was built by a man named Blain for $1,600, to pay which a seven mill tax was voted by the people, fourteen voting for the tax, and one against it. In January the publication of a newspaper was commenced by J. F. Ford, called the Cherokee Chief. In October the Chief emerged into the Times, published by R. Buchanan. The first house erected was built of logs, and its dimensions were 17 x 18 feet. It was occupied by nine of the settlers. Dr. Dwite Russell was the pioneer physician. The first child born in the county was a daughter to Mr. & Mrs. Twiford in September, 1860, and the first death was Mrs. R. W. Luther. OBJECTS OF INTEREST. One of the noted objects of interest in this county is what is called "Pilot Rock." It is on the southwest quarter of section 15, township 91, north of range 40, west. This is in the south part of the county and about a quarter of a mile east of the Little Sioux River, on a point of the high prairie. It has long been a noted land-mark and guide to travelers across the prairie here, and hence the name. This rock is a hard red granite boulder, and is sixty feet long, forty feet wide, and twenty feet high above the surface of the ground at the west end. At this end hundreds of tons have been broken off, and the enormous masses lie scattered around for rods. The top is nearly a flat surface, with a small basin near the middle. Near the south end, on the upper surface, are several small holes evidently worked out by some artificial process by the Indians. A considerable portion of this king of boulders is doubtless embedded, below the surface. So far as we know this is the largest specimen of the kind to be found in the state. Cherokee County has the best water in Iowa, and more timber than any ten neighboring counties all together. CHEROKEE. Cherokee is the county seat of Cherokee County, and has a tolerable central location. It is situated at the intersection of the Dubuque & Sioux City R.R. with the Little Sioux River, and nearly midway between Fort Dodge and Sioux City. The village has a surpassingly beautiful site, skirted on all sides by gentle bluffs, that swell just enough to shield it from the blasts of winter, yet not enough to impair the beauty of the landscape. Through the vale and to the south of the village the Sioux River winds its devious way in search of the great Missouri, where her crystalline waters are swallowed up in that current of mud. The banks of the Sioux are lined with timber, the first of any consequence that greets the eye of the traveler after leaving Fort Dodge. This greatly adds to the picturesqueness of the scene, and prepossess the traveler in its favor. It was not until August, 1870, that the village was located, though a few small buildings had been put up prior to that date, but only of such a character that they could be removed to whatever point the railway company might locate their depot. The residence of E. Cowles, Esquire, was the first building moved from the "old town" in March, 1870, and was the first dwelling in the present village, but the farm residence of G. W. Lebourveau, adjoining the village, was erected previous to that date. A school house was built in 1873 at a cost of $6,000. It consists of four departments, each of which is presided over by a thoroughly competent teacher. There are five churches in the town, the first erected was the Methodist Episcopal in 1871, cost $1,200. The Presbyterian church was built in 1873, cost $3,500. The Baptist church was the third church edifice erected. Built in 1873, cost $2,500. The Congregational church was organized in 1870, and erected a commodious edifice in 1873, cost $3,000. The Catholic church has a communion of about 100 families, the house of worship was built in 1873, cost $400. The growth of Cherokee has been rapid but quite healthy. Each year has witnessed a large addition to its size and business. Among the fine business buildings lately erected we mention the fine brick bank building, with cut stone trimmings, erected by Scribner, Burrows & Co,. bankers, also the brick block of H. C. Cornish & Co., hardware dealers. There are two newspapers, The Times and Leader, four grain elevators, one tannery, and most kinds of business are well represented. AURELIA. —This is a village and shipping point on the railroad in the eastern part of the county. It is surrounded by a most beautiful and fertile prairie country. HAZARD. —This place is six miles west of Cherokee on the same line of railway. It is surrounded by rich rolling prairies. MARCUS. —On the same railroad, six miles west of Hazard. A fine little stream, Eleven Mile Run, passes through the village. The other post offices are Pilot Rock and Washta.