Grundy County, Missouri - Chapter 1: Introductory, 1881

Geological Formation - Surface - Boundaries - Name - Early Inhabitants - The Home of the Indian - Irresistible March of Civilization - When Grundy County Was Settled - Tlie Vanguard of Progress - ''The Good Old Times" - Reverence for the Pioneer.

There is, perhaps, no portion of the temperate zone showing a more desirable climate than that which we have in the State of Missouri, or one wherein the demands of an advanced and progressive civilization are so well met. While all portions of the State have their separate or local advantages, we are inclined to think that in such comparison Grundy county and central north Missouri hold their full share. The geology of the State shows that the carboniferous period gave to Missouri much of that magic element of which the soil. is composed, and at the age of man, or quartenary age, developed her most valuable resources. The coal of the former period, and the soil, sand, marl, peat, clay and gravel of the latter, formed the groundwork of the State of Missouri for the liabitation of man. Much might be given from tlie geological historj^ of the State that would interest the reader, but in this work it would be of little practical value.

When this continent rose from its waste of waters, it left its rugged surface to be worn bv the elements for asres before it became habitable for man : but with that we ha^'e little to do.

Missouri in her magnificent proportions and unlimited productive wealth, her mild and salubrious climate, and that part of her municipal corporation bounded by the line forming Grundy county, is what we have at present to record. The present boundary of Grundy county was first made the home of the pale-face in 1833.

That year the first white man gave to civilization a habitation and a name within its border. At that time it was a part of Livingston county, but still the home of the red men - a home which they were loth to part with, and which for years after they continued to visit and occupy as a huntingground. God had given them this beautiful valley of the Grand River as their home. It was a migratory field for the restless buffalo; the elk and the bear roamed its wooded hills; the deer and wild turkey made it their home; the valleys and the uplands were filled with smaller game; fish sported in the cool, placid waters of her rivers and creeks ; and in shady nooks and near bubbling springs, the aborigines built their wigwams. It was a paradise for the hunter, and the red man was the lord of all.

Nature had indeed been lavish of her gifts. The tribes of Sacs, Foxes, Pottawattamies and Musquakies who inhabited this magnificent country were indeed loth to leave it, and it is no wonder that many, very many, of these warriors were more willing to join their departed braves, in the happy hunting-grounds of the " Great Spirit," tlian give to the pale-faces the lands of their fathers. But manifest destiny knew no obstacle. The Saxon and Gallic races had decreed that this should be their home and that of their posterity. They came as the leaves of the forest in number, they pressed forward and the gallant, heroic and vengeful struggle of the Indian for his home is written in letters of blood, in burning cabins and wide-spread desolation, but all gave way before the irresistible march of civilization. The cabin of the hardy pioneer took the place of the wigwams of the savages. The war-whoop and the war-dance gave way to the woodman's ax, the stealthy tread of the Indian hunter, to the sturdy walk of the old pioneer, and civilization and Christianity walked arm in arm to the glorious future of to-day. Let us drop a silent tear to the memory of the red man. He had a beautiful home and he was despoiled of it; he had the hunting-ground of his father, it became his burial-place. We can rejoice in the glory of our country, but the fate of the original possessors of the. soil is a dark and bloody chapter in the record which gives the history of the onward march of civilization. However, when Grundy county was first settled the struggle for supremacy had ceased, and the Indians had given way to the palefaces, who had full possession of the country. The remnants of tlie dift'erent tribes found here became the friends of the whites, and they roamed the country at will. There is no record of aught but friendly greeting between the whites and the Indians when this county assumed a place upon the page of history.

The advance-guard of civilization, the heroic and self-sacrificing band of pioneers now took possession of tlie country. They - whose place is ever to the front of progress - began blazing the wa}^ (in the light of burning cabins, and ofttimes the victim of the scalping-knife) which was to guide the grand army of occupation, an army imbued with the spirit of true i-eligion, and a faith which builds and populates a country, and makes it great and prosperous. We hear much of the good old times in the earlier history of our country, but the people of to-day have little knowledge and less realization of the troubles, trials and privations of the early settlers. The men and M'omen of the present generation may feel thankful that they know, by bitter experience, nothing of the lives of those who gave a score or more of years in their struggles to make a home for their children, and their cliildren's children, free from the cares, tlie trials and vexations of a pioneer's life. The people of to-day should reverence these people of a past half century, and those who are spared tons at this late day should have all the care that loving hearts can give. Years of devotion-is but a small recompense for the heroic sacrifices made by the pioneer in the early settlement of the county.