Fairfield Township

Fairfield Township

Fairfield township is in the northwest corner of Bureau county, and was not settled until about 1838. At "that time Francis Adams and James D. Binghain made claims on sections 23 and 24. Samuel Brady settled on section 14 in 1839 and was the oldest settler when the swamp land was surveyed in 1852. In 1840 William Adams settled on section 12 ; in 1842 Jacob Sells, Elijah Olmstead, Daniel Davis and Lewis H. Burroughs made a beginning here. The village of Yorktown was started in 1846 on section 6 ; the men who were interested in the enterprise were W. and S. Dow, R. H. and S. W. Sheldon and the McKinzies. Among the first settlers were M. A. Myers, H. Hays, D. Baity, W. H. Chase, Alden Booth and Henry Thackaberry. Much of the land in this township has been reclaimed by a system of ditches and at the present time further improvements in the drainage line is being perfected. The feeder to the Hennepin canal passes through the township, entering on the northeast corner of section 2 and goes out at the southwest corner of section 36. Yorktown Corners has had for many years one and two stores, blacksmith shop and postoffice: the land in this vicinity is of the finest (|uality. The population by the census of 1900 numbered 921. The supervisors of this township have served as follows :

Gold

Gold township was not organized until 1852. Up to that time it was a part of Fairfield township. The first settler that we have any record of was Samuel Mathis, who built on section 12, in 1850, about the same time that Jlilton Cain moved onto section 5 and Jacob Walters on 26, James Limerick on 28, and James Neff on section 20. In 1851 David Marple and George Detro settled on section 27. In 1852 Joseph Johnson from Kentucky came. He was a unique character and for many years had a blacksmith shop near the center of section 26. This township originally had a large amount of low land that was overflowed much of the time and was considered almost worthless. Green river runs through the entire township from east to west, being a sluggish stream with a poor outlet. In times of high water large tracts of land were submerged, but in 1874 the river was straightened and deepened and much of the land has been reclaimed and become productive. Previous to the 1894 ditch some drainage had been perfected. A ditch was started on section 15 and ran southwest to the center of the west line of section 22, then northwest to section six, where it united with the river. Gold originally had some fine timber land. Long Island Grove, Trading House Grove were especially fine bodies of woodland. The latter received its name from a trading post which was located there at a very early date and for years after it was abandoned by the traders the cabin was used by hunters as a camp house. One Thomas Ilartzell was one of the Indian traders as early as 1839 and was stationed at this place. He was from Pennsylvania and his description of this then wild and unsettled country was published throughout the east and attracted much attention. The feeder of the Hennepin canal passes through this township, it enters on section one and has a general direction a little west of south and passes oiit on section 34. The population of Gold township in 1900 was 766. The following iiann'il men have served as supervisors :