| History Told Of Postville |
Waukon, Wed., Nov. 14, 1917
Reminiscences of Pioneer Days.
Complying with a request by the Allamakee County Historical and
Archeological Society, this article was written by Mrs. Jennie
Leui from memoranda of conversations with her father and mother,
Mr. and Mrs. James Orr, about the early days of the settlement of
the country in and about Postville.
My father, James Orr, came to Iowa from Tyrone, New York, in the
spring of 1855. This was then the land of "The Far
West" and was considered by the people of old "York
State" to be practically out of the world.
Chicago was but a village with unpaved streets and the railroad
was built only as far as Galena, Illinois. Transportation
from there to Dunleith, (now East Dubuque) and from there up the
Mississippi river by steamboat to McGregor. The steamboats
did a big business in those days carrying settlers and their
goods into the new country and their produce out. McGregor
was then and for many years after a very important shipping
point.
Postville in 1855 consisted of a log tavern located where now
stands the McEwen home, three small dwelling houses and a small
grocery store west of where the German Lutheran church now
stands. At that time Springfield ("Whisky
Hollow") was a close competitor and Hardin was away ahead,
boasting of grist mill run by steam, blacksmith shops (where oxen
were shod) and wagon shops, stores, a postoffice and a school
house.
The log tavern in Postville originally stood on the NW of the NE
of Section 33, town 96 north, Range 6 west, on what is now a part
of Darias Orr's farm, and was built in 1841, being first occupied
by Joel Post, after whom Postville and Post township were named,
and who had a contract to furnish supplies to Fort Atkinson.
For reasons stated in the County History it was torn down in 1843
and moved to the location given above. To this day pieces
of old blue dishes, crockery and horse shoes are occasionally
plowed up in the field where it stood. What lucky ones they
should be. In 1855 the cholera was brought to
Postville. A number died of it and were buried in the new
"Burying Ground". Land in Iowa then could be
bought of the Government for ten shillings an acre. Later
the land that had some improvements such as plowing or fencing,
for eight, nine or ten dollars per acre.
Currency in use was mostly gold and it was that that the
government required in payment for its land. The settlers
then banked what little they had of this in some hiding place,
often under a rock in the "root hole" as the excavation
under the house for holding vegetables was called. There
was also a bank paper currency in circulation but the settlers
were afraid of it and often refused two dollars for one in gold.
After buying an eighty of Section 28 on which was a log cabin and
twenty-five acres of improved (plowed) land, my father returned
to New York, returning the following spring with my mother, Miss
Margaret A. Ellison, (a bride). The railroad was then
completed to Dunleith. From there they journeyed to
McGregor by steamboat. The twenty-five miles inland to
their new home was made partly by stage, (a four horse stage
running from McGregor to Fort Atkinson), and the rest of the way
with an ox team. If they could have glimpsed ahead fifty
years and seen the hundred, more or less, of autos that travel
daily over this same "Old Military Road" what an
unbelieveable vision it would have been. However the wide
sweep of the prairie, the many wild flowers, trees and birds, new
and strange to the young pioneer women, furnished a ride that was
a never ending novelty. She was curious to learn about
these new and strange things and they were nowise backward in
"stuffing" her with such choice information as that the
burr oak in its season was covered with beautiful white flowers
like a snowball bush.
Let us accompany the bride to her home and see how the pioneers
lived "the simple life" in those days. We will
see a log cabin, 16 X 16, whitewashed inside and out, one story
high, one door and one window, and a shake roof split from oak
logs. There was but one room. That was the home and
its furnishings were a rag carpet, a stove, two bedsteads
standing end to end with room for a flour barrel between, a
table, a cup-board, a couch and a few chairs. A spring of
pure water gurgled up near the door. Song birds were more
numerous than now and a world of wild flowers was
everywhere. This home was typical of those of the neighbors
only perhaps a little more luxurious than some. With one
exception all the settlers lived in log houses, the exception
being the Dobson home on what is now the Arthur Marston farm and
which is still standing, being used for a granary. None of
these old log cabins are standing now. The "Old Stone
House" on Yellow River was built in 1855 by Reuben Smith and
is now almost too far gone to be restored.
Wild pigeons, prairie chickens, quails and the deadly rattle
snake were over abundant. The quails are plentiful no more,
the wild pigeon is extinct and the rattle snake of the prairie,
the massasauga, too, is extinct. Of all the birds the
whip-poor-will was the most tame, coming evenings to sit on the
cabin door step to sing its lonesome song. The wild pigeons
were so numerous that they were at times like clouds in the sky,
and from their nesting grounds on Yellow River the noise of their
activities could be heard for several miles. You can
imagine how plentiful they were when they ate the young corn,
roots and all, from a forty acre field. They fed their
young mostly by going south to the Illinois wheat fields,
returning with the wheat in their crops and feeding by
regurgitation. My father never heard or saw panthers, but a
black bear was killed not far from the home and wild cats were
common. At one time he saw twenty-two deer in one herd and
wolves were only too plentiful for years. Wild plums,
crab-apples, blackberries and red raspberries were exceeding
abundant and of the finest quality and flavor as were the wild
strawberries. Apples were a great luxury, the only orchard
in this part of the country being the Laughlin orchard of four
acres, and the fruit although mostly seedlings, sold readily for
$1.00 per bushel. This orchard was set about 1854 but every
tree died long since and now not a trace of it remains.
The "Past and Present of Allamakee County" states that
the second school house in Allamakee county was built in 1852 on
Section 28. This was on the land my father bought. He
is confident it was built before that date, possibly in 1850, as
the contract which the settlers had with the government
permitting them to build on the land which then belonged to the
government, and which was for a school house several years after
for five years, expired in '55, and he let the building be used
for a school house several years after that. Among the
teachers were Miss Higby, Sam Orr and my mother. A township
board attended to their hiring. My mother had fifty pupils
and received the munificent salary of $3.00 per week. This
was in 1857. This log school house, located about forty
rods northwest and across the wide prairie slough and little
creek from where the Post log tavern stood in 1841. This
school house served both for school and church purposes and there
were not a few who came to worship in the little building.
Among them were the Henderson's, Williams, Aleck, George and
David who afterwards was Speaker of the House of Representatives
in Congress, John Moir and sister, Mrs. Post, Mr. and Mrs.
Russell, Mrs. Lassey, Mrs. Early, the Stiles, Stephensons,
Mackeys, Bates, Higbys, Suttons, Laughlins, Minerts, Pattersons
and Orrs. Mr. Marston was the preacher and came every
Sunday across the scrub brush lands with an ox team and lumber
wagon, his wife sitting in a chair in the back of the
wagon. The men's Sunday shirts were of a cloth called
"hickory" and the women's Sunday finery was shawls and
shaker bonnets. I have been told that these bonnets were a
most unpleasant head gear, as one could neither see nor hear well
though the inability to see was then not so great an objection
for there was no curiosity to see what the other women wore as
all bonnets were alike. The men sat on one side and the
women on the other. The singing was strictly congregational
and those pioneers had lusty voices and used them, some being
very good singers and could boast of singing in the choir back
east. Sometimes it is said they fairly raised the
roof. My father tells that the first Sunday my mother
attended service the building was packed full to see the new
bride from way down east. The women especially were curious
as to the latest styles which she was supposed to bring with
her. Her bonnet made a great hit.
A frame school house was built in 1858 in the extreme southwest
corner of Section 33, about four rods from the section corner and
just south of where the Lutheran parsonage now stands.
School was then discontinued in the log house on Sec. 28, the
district being divided, a part of the pupils going to the Minert
school a mile north where for a time school was held in Mr.
Minert's frame granary. The present Minert school house was
built in 1862. The pupils of the other half of the old
district went to the new school at Postville. The old log
building was afterwards moved on to Sec. 33 and rebuilt almost on
the site of Mrs. Post's log tavern and was for years the home of
James Whalen, an old Irish railroader who worked with pick and
shovel and wheelbarrow in the construction of railroads in
England and Wales and on the "York and Erie" railroad
and canal and on the levees of the Mississippi river in the
United States. Afterwards the land was bought by James Orr
and later the building was torn down. James Orr was the
first teacher in the new school house beginning school in
1859. Among his pupils was D. B. Henderson, afterwards
Speaker of the House of Representatives. Church services
were held in this new building till the different churches were
built. The first church donation was held in what was known
as Russell Hall. The support netted $94 and wishing to make
it $100 a number ate a second time, among them Mr. (afterwards
Governor) William Larrabee who took Mrs. Post to her second meal
for the evening. The first and only barbecue ever held in
this part of the county was held at Postville in the fall of '63
and was given as an incentive to patriotism. David
Henderson and Wm. B. Allison were the speakers. It was a
great success. Feeling ran high between the Democrats and
Republicans then and there were many that went home with bloody
noses that night. It was on that day that it was known who
had to go to war on President Lincoln's first draft for
soldiers. The railroad was completed to Postville in 1864,
the first train arriving August 8th. First a box car and
then a board shanty served as a depot and then the building which
stands here at the present time and which was built over fifty
year ago. (Since the above was written this depot has been
replaced by a fine new one finished in pebble dash, 1916)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When the railroad came and left Hardin to one side its glory
faded as did that of Lybrand, a town with expectations located
near the northwest corner of Section 15 and on the "Stage
Road" from McGregor to Decorah. The mill was torn down
and moved away and the stores were closed but for years one of
the blacksmith shops persisted. In front of it was the
quaint sign, "Horse and Ox Shoeing."
- source: clipping from my
mother's scrapbook entitled "Postville". She has
not hand dated it and it is from the Postville
Herald.
- contributed by Mary Durr