Grundy County, Missouri - Chapter 5: Coming Dawn, 1881

Chapter 5: Coming Dawn

Miscellaneous - Eailroads, Look out for the Cars - Its First Officers - Description - County and Totvn Subscription - Economy - The Jail - The Most Accomplished Unfortunate - Iron Bridge - New Townships - Metes and 'Bounds - Township Registration - Election - Loiv Assessment on Railroad Property - Poorfarm - The Centennial Year - Hail, Rain and Wind Storm - New Judicial Districts - Wool-grower's Association - First Marriage License - The County Debt.

The war had not yet come to a close when the people began to take an interest in home improvements. The dawn of peace began to light up the eastern horizon, and although it was not yet known just when it would come, yet it was certain not to be in a far distant future. Thus it was that the people at home came to study the problem of advanced progress, and what w^ould most add to advance the material interests of all, and it fell to railroads to become the open sesame of that prosperit3\

It was not alone that Grundy county did her duty in furnishing men for the army, but in the matter of taxes she paid her part. In 1862 forty-one counties paid nearly all the taxes and seventy-three paid none. Adair and Harrison were the only two counties in the State that paid the State tax in full. The tax of Grundy county was $3,725.47, and she paid $2,745.17, and that was above the average of the other thirty-eight counties which paid a portion of their State tax.

The death of Colonel Tindall, at Shiloh, necessitated another election for a member of the State convention and J. H. Shanklin was elected to fill the important position, and proved a prominent and one of the ablest of its representatives.

In the matter of shinplaster currency a few Trentonites furnished a portion, and found it necessary to get a bill of relief passed through the legislature, which was accomplished upon the ground that all was to be re. deemed.

In 1864, at the fire of the probate judge's office, besides the records of the office, the volumes of decisions of the Supreme Court were also burned. After that the County Court invested $180 in purchasing a second-hand safe of W. H. Robinson.

In 1865 R. P. Carnes was appointed military claim agent for the count}- ? and in 1866 B. Wyatt was elected supervisor of registration, but removed from the county in 1868, and David C. Pugh was appointed in his place and held the office until it was abolished.

Railroad

The first railroad projected, and in whicli the people ofGrnndy county, and more especial I3' Trenton township felt an interest, was the old Plannibal & St. Josej)]! Railroad. That road was building west and had surveyed two lines, or partially so, and subscriptions were asked all along the routes. Some of those connected with the road paid Grundy county a visit and the result was that a proposition to subscribe |25,000 was submitted to the people. The election was held and carried, and tlie $25,000 was to be subscribed on condition that the money so voted should be expended within the limits of Grundy county. As the road was farther south, through the next tier of counties below, it was never called for. The election cost the people $150.

The railroad fever again broke out as early as 1863, even before the close of the war. This time it assumed proportions that gave hope that before it abated the iron horse might come snorting over the prairies and woodland of the county in triumph. The Chillicothe & Des Moines City, which changed to Chicago & Southwestern, and still later to the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacitic, was tlie first road to take practical shape and to promise gratifying results. The history of this road forms a very interesting chapter in the progress of Grundy county, and a full account of its progress and final success will be found full of interest to future generations and to many even of this day. It requires energy and perseverance to accomplish any great work, and fortunately for Grundy county she was blessed with a good many of that kind of people.

Chillicothe And Des Moines City R. R.

It was believed that the result of the war would bring about a new order of things in the State, and the people along the Grand River country were not slow to partake of this spirit, so that as early as 1864 they procured a charter for the Brunswick & Chillicothe Railroad, and in February, 1865 a charter was also secured for the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railway Company. It was the design that the people of Iowa should cooperate in the movement to secure a railroad from the capital of Iowa, south through the Grand River country, via Brunswick to St. Louis.

In the act creating the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company, Dr. James B. Bell, J. J. Clark, J. W. McMillan, J. H. Ellis, John A. Lowe and Robert L. Moore, of Livingston county, Daniel Berry, G. W. Moberly, A. Y. Shanklin, C. Ramage, E. L. AVinters, S. Wilson, William Metcalf, William Bennett and William Wyatt, of Grundy county, J. A. Kennedy, John Brown, T. J. Wyatt, A. Lowrey, J. Bradle}-, John Snyder, J. F. Stevens, I. Patton and F. M. Evans, of Mercer, were made the first board of directors.

On the 6tli of Jime,1865, a new constitution was adopted which had a provision allowin_^ the people of counties and towns throughout the State to vote aid to the construction of raih-oads, provided two-thirds of the voters voting at an election for that purpose would vote for such aid. Under this provision in the constitution, the people of Chillicothe and Grundy and Mercer counties cooperating together, finally succeeded in voting a large subscription to the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company; to-wit,

So far as Grundy county was concerned, success in voting the $200,000 came by the hardest work. No less than three elections were lield before a two-third vote for the subscription could be obtained. At the fall election in 1866 a proposition to subscribe $200,000 was defeated; afterward, on the 8th day of January, 1867 the same proj^osition, at a- special election held for that purpose, was again defeated, but the people were determined to have railroad connection with the " outer world," and by their zeal and energy kept on jjressing the question and in March, 1868, a mass-meeting was held at which resolutions requesting the County Court to submit the question again were passed. Accordingly, on the 11th of April, 1868, a special election was held and the proposition to subscribe $200,000 to tlie Chillicothe & Des Moines City Company was carried by more than a two-third vote, and the people were happy. On the 19th of February, 1868, the very day when the right to meet and organize under the act creating the corporation, expired, fifteen of the charter members met in a called meeting at Chillicothe, and effected a temporary organization by electing Hon. Geo. W. Moberly, president; Hon. Robert S. Moore, secretary; and Wm. Wyatt, treasurer. At a meeting held at Trenton on the 22d of April, 1868, the following named persons were elected directors to serve until the annual election in June following; to-wit, J. H. Shanklin, M. Y. Thompson, Wm. Dunlap, Stephen Peery, I. B. Bell, Smith Turner, S. H. Ferryman, Ira B. Hyde, Israel Patton, R. B. Ballew, Wm. B. Rogers, H. I. Ally and Feter Cain, who organized by electing Col. J. H. Shanklin, president; S. H. Ferryman, secretary; and R. B. Ballew, treasurer. The president's salary was fixed at $3,500 per annum and expenses, and "the secretary's salary, to include services for canvassing for subscriptions of stock to the company, was fixed at $2,000. At the same meeting, Hon. Ira B. Hyde was ap])ointed attorney for the company, and the treasurer ordered to give a bond for $50,000. On the 1st day of June anew board was elected substantially the same and the same officers being continued, except that Ira B. Hyde was made secretary, vice Ferryman, resigned. The company being now permanently organized and ready for work, the president, secretary and others gave nearly their whole time to the project of building a railroad from Chillicothe, where it would connect with the Brunswick & Chillicothe Road (now

Wabasli) north through Griiiidy and Mercer counties in the direction of Des Moines and of cooperating^ with a company in Iowa, known as the Chillicothe, Leon & Des Moines lioad. Stock books were opened and during tlie year the total capital stock subscribed amounted to $451,500, as follows; to- wit,

Grundy county, payable in l)onds at eiglit per cent interest, $200,000; Mercer county, payable in bonds at eight per cent interest, $200,000; city of Chillicothe, $40,000, payable in bonds at eight per cent interest. Private subscriptions - cash, $3,750, and lands in various conditions, $7,750.

Steps were at once taken to employ a corps of engineers to locate the road, and early in June, 1868, a strong force was put to work to survey and locate the road, with Peter Markey as chief, and H. N. Armstrong as assistant engineers. This work was vigorously pressed, so that as early as the 10th of February 1869, the road was ready to be let for construction; and on the said 10th of February the contract for grading, bridging and tieing the road, from Cliillicothe to Princeton, a distance of forty-nine miles, was awarded to Messrs. Nolan & Moore, for $320,000, in bonds of the company, which proved not to be sufficient. The construction of the road-bed was at once commenced and vigorously prosecuted till in July, wlien a rainy season set in and almost totally stopped the work, and as no contract for ii-oning, equipping and operating the road up to this time had been secured, the spirit of criticism was developed, and considerable opposition manifested itself against the further issuing of county bonds in payment of its subscription, which at this time amounted to about $50,000. The county committee, composed of Hon. A. H. Burkeholder, president, and William V. Denslow and G. A. Spickard, withstood the opposition, and the president of the committee continued to issue bonds as the work on the road progressed, as the committee had agreed to do, and notwithstanding " Black Friday " (27th of September, 1869), and its eifect upon the financial condition of the country, which strengthened local opposition, the board of directors and the members of the county courts of Grundy and Mercer counties, met at Trenton, October 19, 1869, and resolved to cooperate together, and go ahead with the construction of the road-bed, and between that time and the 1st of May, 1870, the president of the County Court continued to issue bonds, as the work in the construction of the road progressed, until the entire subscription of the county had been paid in bonds.

About the middle of February, 1870, negotiations w^ere opened between the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad Company and the Chicago <fc Southwestern Railroad Company, which, on the 20th day of April, 1870, resulted in an am'eement as follows: That the Chillicothe & Des Moines Company let and lease to the Chicago & Southwestern Company, all that portion of the road-bed between Princeton and Trenton, and such further portion south of Trenton as may be necessary to make a convenient crossing of East Fork of Grand Kiver, for the full term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, on the condition that tlie lessees shoukl, witliin eighteen months from that time, iron and operate the road. This contract was in th^e main put into writing on the 3d of June, 1870. Prior to the opening of these negotiations, the people generally had become despondent - there did not seem any way out - no feasible plan in sight to get the road ironed, equipped and operated, because at that time the North Missouri and tlie Hannibal & St. Joseph roads were loaded down with mortgages, and were unable to undertake any new enterprise. So when the Chicago & Southwestern came in sight, and it became known that the foregoing lease was effected, the people felt that though there had been " groping in the dark,'' yet "there was light behind the clouds," and that the money that the county had furnished was well invested, as the management was better than had been expected, that it would place Grundy county on a great through line of railway, connecting with Chicago and the East on the one side, with the great grain and cattle producing regions of the Southwest, and the people were again happy. And the sequel shows that it was a wise movement, as the completion of the road soon followed, reaching Trenton from the north on the 24:tli day of June, 1871, and as early as September the road was completed clear through the county, and ready for through business to Leavenworth as early as October, 1871.

In July and August the question of locating the railroad machine-shops agitated the people. The people of Trenton voted $10,000 and secured about $3,000 worth of land and offered it to the Chicago & Southwestern, if the company would establish a division round-house and machine-shops at Trenton permanently. The company accepted the proposition and the people were again well satisfied with tlieir investment, as it has made Trenton a first-class town and a splendid home market for the people of the county. In addition to the above, the Chicago & Southwestern Railway company also received $50,000 in eight per cent bonds, from tlie town of Trenton, in payment of a subscription voted to the company as early as July, 1869, on the condition that their road should pass through Trenton.

In the contract made on the 20th of April, 1870, between the Chicago & Des Moines Railway Company and the Chicago & Southwestern Railway Compau}'', the latter company had the right, at their option, within eighteen months, to complete and operate that portion of the line between Muddy Creek and Chillicothe, belonging to the former, which was then nearly ready for the ii-on. The Chicago & Southwestern did not, however, elect to complete and operate the same, and after fruitless efforts to get some other corporation to do so, the board of directors sold the ties along that part of their line, and the same remains in an unfinished condition to-day. The board of directors elected in 1868 remained in the board, with very few changes, till June, 1877, when a new set of men were elected as directors of the Chillicothe <fe Des Moines City Kailroad Company, who at once worked up a feasible plan to iron and operate the road between Trenton and Chillicothe, but the great "railroad strike," that took place in July, 1877 frustrated their plan, and the same was afterward abandoned, and this branch still remains uncompleted. The present management, headed by Judge George Hall as president and E. M. Harber as secretary, is sanguine that at no distant day the road will be completed and operated, and the railroads at Chillicothe and Trenton be connected. It may be added here that while it was originally contemplated to build a railroad from the city of Des Moines, Iowa, south, and down along the Grand River, via Bruns- Avick, to St. Louis, the friends of the project succeeded in building a road from Chillicothe to Brunswick, where connection was made with a St. Louis line, and from Trenton to Princeton, leaving a gap between Chillicothe and Trenton and between Princeton and Des Moines in the line as originally designed.

It may here be I'emarked that the board, who had the management of building the Chillicothe & Des Moines City Railroad, had many difficulties to contend with; mud in the winter and spring of 1869, and a rainy season in the following summer, as well as local criticism and financial embarrassments. Nearly all the capital stock of the company consisted in county bonds, which went off stubbornly at seventy cents on the dollar, and had not the county courts of Grundy and Mercer counties sup]3lemented the efforts of the board, the project doubtless would not have been a success.

In February, 1877, a few months before the old board retired, they published a financial statement concerning the entire labors from April, 1868, which, in substance, shows that the subscribed capital stock by the counties of Grundy and Mercer was all paid; to-wit, $400,000, which, in the main, was disposed of at seventy cents on the dollar, and realized to the company $280,000 in cash. That from subscriptions on private stock the company received $2,439. From the Omaha Railroad Company, on the right of way, the company received $989. From the (Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company, $11,000, in aid of construction. From sale of Grundy county bonds in excess of seventy cents, $450. From sale of Mercer county bonds, in excess of seventy cents, $591, making a total of actual, available cash funds with which to build the road the sum of $295,469.50. And the records of the company show that the treasurer of the board paid out the following amounts: For engineering salaries, $48,226.93; to contractors Nolan and Moore, including work done after Messrs. Nolan and Moore had failed, in cash, $246,267.18, making a total of $294,494.11, and leaving a balance of $575.39 in the treasury, August 25, 1871, and which was afterward paid out.

of Chillicothe failed to pay her subscription of $40,000 and wliich the people of Grundy c ounty regarded, and at the time the city council refused to issue and deliver the bonds, charged as bad faith on the part of Chillicothe.

It may be added that the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad was a mere construction company backed up and indorsed by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific which was the real party in interest and wliich was seeking an outlet to tlie Missouri River at Leavenworth and the connection the Rock Island has since made at Atchison and Kansas City has made the road through Grundy a grand trunk line, between the east and the west.

Tlie foregoing is a concise and succinct des cription of the birth, growth and development of the first railroad built through the county, and is a sufUcient statement, for this volume, of the public spirit of her citizens in voting aid for the construction of the road, as well as the public services, the zeal and determination manifested by some of her citizens who took a government official grant in the first succes sful railroad enterprise of the county.

The following bit of history will show the spirit of perseverance, which characterized the efforts of the citizens of Grundy county to secure railroad connections. In 1850 a proposition of $25,000 was voted to the aid of the construction of the Hannibal & St. Joe Railroad. $500 were expended by the County Court in 1866 in surveying routes through the county for the location of the Chillicothe & Des Moines Railroad.

A proposition to subscribe $200,000 to the Chillicothe & Des Moines Railroad was voted down at the November election in 1866, and the same was again voted down on the 8th of January, 1867, but was carried at a special election on the 11th of April, 1868. At the July term of the County Court in 186j9, orders were made submitting the question to the people of subscribing $150,000 to the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company and $150,000 to the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad Company and $50,000 to the Brookfield & Trenton Railroad Company but these propositions all failed.

In May, 1870, the township of Madison voted down a proposition to vote $25,000 to the capital stock of the Chicago & Southwestern Railroad Company. On the 20th of July, 1871, Marion township voted $50,000 to the capital stock of the Lexington & Utica Railroad Company. In the spring of 1873 Madison township voted down a proposition to subscribe $25,U00 to the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad and Marion township carried a like proposition and Trenton township voted $50,000 to the Quincy, Missouri <k Pacific Railroad at the same time. On the 22d of October, 1875, Marion township voted $15,000 more to the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad.

City Subscrh'Tions

The city of Trenton voted $50,000 to the capital stock of the Chicaf^o cV Southwestern Ilaih'oad Company in the month of July, 1809, ^50,000 to the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Eoad in October, 1875, $50,000 to the Chillicothe & Des Moines City llailroad Company in November, 1875, and $13,000 for the repair and machine-shops in 1871; all together out of the various proposition? $528,000 of county, town and township subscriptions were carried by a two-third vote as the law required, and bonds by the county and city of Trenton to the amount of $263,000 were issued. The respective railroads to which the remainder of the subscriptions were voted never complied with the conditions of the subscriptions and hence the same were never paid in bonds. The last effort of the people of Trenton and vicinity made to secure further railroad connection was in July, 1880, which resulted in raising $40,000 by private subscriptions to the Quincj^ Missouri & Pacific Road payable in one and two years on the condition that the road would be built through the corporate limits of Trenton by the first of July, 1881, so that the subscriptions, both public and private, amount to a little over $300,000 but in return for this the people of the county have secured railroad property of an assessed value of nearly $400,000.

Economy

The county judges still continued to hold to the policy of economy, and while allowing the probate judge $10 per month in excess of fees, knocked off sixty dollars in a lump they iiad agreed to pay him. Judge Burkeholder made an application for a salary as probate judge, but the court was not in favor of any such extravagance and concluded that Judge Biirkeholder could live on glory and such occasional fees as he could pick up, and this closes the year 1867, for that refusal was dated December 31, 1867.

The jail, however, is deserving of mention. It was ordered built in January and completed June 4th. It was a building which for its beauty and strength particularly pleased the editor of the Trenton Rejpuljlican^ who took occasion to say: "The jail is completed. There are four cells below, and up stairs three rooms for the use of the sheriff and other officers. The plans were by Capt. Herrick; W. H. Smith was the builder." Of the cells the editor says that " they are well ventilated and strong enough to hold the most accomplished unfortunate." This was June 9th, and on June 16th, the next issue, the editor felt constrained to remark, that " the jail was a good deal 'Fuller' the other day than it is now." The facts of the case were that a burglar by the name of Fuller was caught and locked up in one of those cells which were "strong enough to hold the »rost accomplished unfortunate," and it didn't take but three days to get out, and he was resting about three-fourths of that time. The next week a couple of accused murderers were incarcerated, and they, too, left without bidding the sheriff good bje. The genial Eogers felt sick, and apologized to the "accomplished unfortunates" and admitted they knew more about jails than he did, and the next jail delivery he simply stated that another " accomplished unfortunate" had left. The editor will confine his judgment to board fences in the future, if allowed to see the posts set.

The iron bridge across the river by the woolen mills cost $9,000 and was built by the Suiith Truss Bridge Company. It was afterward decided to have iron piers and they were added at a cost of $1,800. The old railroad bridge across the Weldon fork, was rebuilt and this bridge cost $2,000. The railroad and the machine-shops brought a large number of families here and lumljer was in demand.

Twenty saw-mills were in operation in the county in 1870, and then it took three lumber yards to fill the demand. The opening of the first railroad, the Chicago Hock Island & Pacific, in the county, took place July 29th, 1871, and an excursion train and party from Chicago came over the line September 25th. The first shipment from the county was from Trenton, and in three days there were sent out twelve cars of stock and six car loads of grain. It will thus be seen that the farmers took prompt advantage of their opportunity.

In 1871 $150 w^hich were asked for by the Agricultural and Mechanical Association as a donation was disallowed, but 1^800 were voted as a yearly compensation to the man who held the office of treasurer.

In the matter of taxation of the railroad, the city of Trenton being a subscriber to the stock, called upon the county for a fair divide. The city's representatives met the County Court, and the basis of the compromise was that the county subscription amounted to $200,000 and the city's $64,- 200 and the taxation it was agreed to divide upon that basis.

The new township organization law which passed, and which so far as this county was concerned, by nearly a unanimous vote in its favor, was put in force in Grundy county, by the prompt act of the County Court. "At the November term of the County Court, 1872, the following members of the court being present; viz., G. Williams, James McCane, G. W. Moberly; clerk, W. H. lioberts and N. A. Winters, sheriff, the court proceeded to organize the township into municipal districts as required by the township organization law, at adjourned session of the 26th General Assembly of the state of Missouri, and adopted by the qualified voters of Grundy county at the election held on the 5th day of November, 1872. The township organization law was carried in Grundy county by a vote of 1,205 in its favor, to 33 against it. The boundaries of the several townships were then made, and the county divided into thirteen municipal districts, in place of the original seven which had stood from 1845 to the date of the new districting. The names of the new metes and bounds of the several municipal divisions seemed ta meet with general favor, and no opposition of moment was made against them. The new townships were given the following names:

Washington, Franklin, Mjres, Liberty, Marion, Wilson, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Harrison, Taylor, Lincohi, Trenton, The order for their several iurisdictions was made bv the Countv Court at the said November term and is of record as foUow^s:

Metes And Bounds

60, of range No. 22, lying in Grundj'' county, Missouri and all that part of township No. 60, of range No. 23, lying east of sections 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32 be a municipal township and named and known as Wilson township.

Marion - Ordered that all the part of township No. 61, of range No. 22, lying in Grundy count}'^, Missouri, and also all that part of township No-

Liberty - Ordered that all that part of township No. 62, of range 22, in Grundy county and lying south of sections No. 4, 5 and 6, and all that part of township 62, of range 23, lying south of sections 1, 2, 3 and 4, and all that part lying east of sections 8, 17, 20, 29 and 32, be known as Liberty township.

Myres - Ordered that all that part of township No. 63, of range No. 22, lying in Grundy county, Missouri, and sections No. 4, 5 and 6, of township No. 62, of range No. 22, and all of sections No. 1, 2, 3 and 4, of township No. 62, of range No. 23, and all that jjart of township No, 63, of range No.

Fraiiklin - Ordered that all of township No. 63, of range No. 24, lying in Grundy county, Missouri, sections No. 17, 18, 19, 20. 29, 30 and 32, of township No. 63, of range No. 23, be the municipal township of Franklin.

Harrison - Ordered that all of township No. 61, of range No. 25, lying east of Grand River, and all of township No. 62, of range No. 25, lying east of Grand River be known as Harrison township.

Washington - Ordered that all that part of township No. 63, of range No. 25, lying east of Grand River, and lying in Grundy county be known as Washington township.

Taylor - Ordered by the court that all that part of township No. 62, of range No. 25, lying west of Grand River, and all that part of township No. 63, of range No. 25, lying west of Grand River, and in Grundy county, Missouri, be known as Taylor township.

These townships with their present metes and bounds constitute the municipal divisions of Grundy county and are correctly represented by a map made b}' B. F. Thomas, with the exception of the northeast corner of Madison township, which is north and east of Thompson River. This corner, next to the Trenton township line, is a part of Harrison township, the Thompson Fork being the township line between Taylor and Madison, and Harrison. It has been thought by some that the County Coui't erred in not making the Grand River and East Fork the township line of both Madison and Harrison townships, as was and is that of Jefferson.

The two constitutional amendments M'ere carried at the same time of the township organization - the first by 1,821 to 182, and the second 1,943 to 122 votes against. As the registration law was in force the county court appointed registers for the several townships, and the following gentlemen were appointed: Wikson, F. M. Lawhead; Marion, Geo. W. Fa3^ton; Liberty, S. J. Atkinson ; Myres, Lewis Meyers; Franklin, T. J.Wyatt; Lincoln, Edward Chambers; Trenton, J. M. Leedy: Jackson, Nathan Arnold; Jefferson, Robt. Laird; Madison, And. McClure; Taylor, Sparks McClure; Harrison, Isaac Yeach; Washington, Wysom Fox.

Under this new township organization law five judges were to be elected instead of three - one to be elected at large, and the other four b}^ districts. The election took place in May, 1873, and the question of Jicense or no license was voted V on at the same election. The judges elected were: at large, Judge Valentine Briegel of Lincoln township, and in the districts as follows: first district, Clement A. Conrad; second district, Felix Wild; third district, Casy Tate; fourth district, Marshall Humphreys; Judge Briegel being president of the court, or presiding justice. There was to be a new county judge elected every year, and, therefore, the district judges drew for their respective terms: Judge Tate, one year; Judge Wild, two

The liquor question was decided in favor of license by a vote of 714 in favor to 431 against. The spirit of the old pioneer still held sway, and a little for the stomach's sake was not voted a crime.

At the June term the County Court took up the question of license, as the same had been carried by a majority of 283 votes in a poll of alxjut 1,150, and at the above term of the court license was put at the moderate sum of $600 to sell liquor. This was not relished by the saloon men, and they fought against the price vigorously, and viciously in some respects. They claimed that the vote was a majority sufficient to convince the court not only that the people favored license, but no extortionate rates should be demanded. The six months' license having expired in November, that being the time for which licenses were granted, the County Court revised its charge and reduced it to $400, with $50 to the State.

The business of settlement with the collector was decided by the County Court at the October term, 1873, for a monthly settlement, and to further the honesty of both collector and treasurer it was ordered that all county warrants received for taxes, or redeemed at the treasury, should have indorsed on the back of each the amount of principal and interest paid, and the date of such payment.

The belief that the new township organization law would be a boon to the county was more than verified by a much closer collection of taxes, and with far less cost to the county. This was proven very gratifying to the people, and the ground-work of their faith was in the promptness of F. W. Bain, of Lincoln township, who was collector, the first under the new law.

" Collector Bain made complete settlement of collections on 1873 tax-book with the court last week. He filed the smallest delinquent list that any collector has ever returned. On the personal list there were five hundred and ten names. The tax summed up as follows: State, $230.24; State interest, $397.28 ; county revenue, $460.40.

" On the land list he returned one thousand, four hundred and seventy tracts with tax as follows: State tax, $454.81; State interest, $568.51; county revenue, $909.62.

Low Assessments

About this time a note of dissatisfaction was heard in regard to the assessed vahiation of the raih-oad property in Grnnd}^ county. The vicepresident of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Road had returned the valuation of the road-bed and other property of the corporation in the county at the sum of $125,639, and divided the same as follows: Franklin township, $15,280; Lincoln township, $21,710; Trenton township, $54,505 (this included city of Trenton); Jackson township, $6,381, and Jefferson township at $27,763; which made the above total of $125,639. This was a depreciation in value so unprecedented as to rather astonish the people and they gave expression to their views through the County Court, which appointed appraisers to appraise this property at a fair vahiation for assessment. Orundy county had invested $200,000 in the road, Trenton $64,200, the railroad claimed they had invested in round-house, machine-shops, depots, reservoir, tools, etc., over $200,000 more, and this sum of actual expenditure of about $500,000 had got down to one-fourth its original value, when the general supposition was that the property could not be purchased without a considerable advance made on its original cost. The appraisers or committee appointed set to work, and at the next session of the County Court returned the following figures as the total assessed valuation within the county, $354,376. This seemed to be a fair assessment, being about half of the real value of the property. The next year, 1874, it was assessed at $354,572. The vice-president was somewhat astounded at this tremenduous valuation and there was for a time a disposition to kick, but better counsel prevailed and a full compromise was agreed upon. The road has cost the people of Grund}^ county a good deal of mone}', but no one would be willing to give up the property and wealth the railroad has brought to the county for what it cost. And then, again, it is not so much of the wealth and prosperity brought in that made the Rock Island Road so popular with the people. It has giv^en the people an outlet north and south, and has proven, as all railroads are known to be, the pioneer of progressive civilization. It does away with the slow travel of the wagon, it enlarges the crops of the agriculturist and makes transportation light, it causes the stock-raiser to increase tlie size of his ranch and the number of his cattle, it brings population, for there is an outlet, and when population increases we find schools and churches growing in number and in attendance. The railroads and the press may well be stamped as the true pioneers of progressive civilization. Without them the wilderness would not blossom like the rose in a century.

Pook-Farm

The necessity of making provision for the poor of the county becoming apparent, the County Court at its March term, which opened on the 7th, 1871, ordered that twenty cents on the one hundred dollars be levied on all taxable property in the county, to be known as the poor-fund, to be used for the purchase and improvement of a poor farm. The court examined a piece of land, containing eighty-four acres, three miles north of Trenton, purchased the same, and ordered suitable buildings to be erected. At the January term, 1872, Geo. AY. Gibson was appointed by the court superintendent of the poor-farm for one year, commencing March 1st, 1872. One half acre of this farm was fenced off, in the southeast corner, as a burialplace for the pauper dead. The cost of a pauper burial outfit was fixed at ten dollars for a burial suit and five dollars for a CDftin. This price was fixed in 1873. In 1874 bids to furnish cofiins for the poor were received and opened by the court, and that of Yerian & McMullen was accepted, it beino- at the price of one dollar per lineal foot, and all over three feet in leno-th to have raised lids. There was no record kept the first three years of those who had been received at the county house, but at the suggestion of the county physician, the County Court ordered a book of record, and all inmates have their full name entered and such facts as are of value for the identification of all who may be compelled by misfortune to accept a pauper living and fill a pauper's grave. Mr. David Wigle succeeded Mr. Gibson as superintendent of the poor-farm March 1st, 1873, and has continued in oflice ever since, having proven himself to be the right man in the management of the farm and the poor intrusted to his care. As high as one dollar and fifty cents per week has been allowed for board of those unable to work.

Miscellaneous

A sad accident occurred just beyond the city, on the Rock Island Road on August 5th, 1873, when a cow getting on the track was run over, which - threw the train from the track, killing a young man named Morgan, fireman, and wounding severely four others.

The County Court, in 1874, took, temporarily, a new departure, and felt to relax that economy which had been chronic in its application to county afiairs. They placed licenses for the State at ten dollars, and county, sixty dollars. They even went so far as to appropriate $150 to the agricultural and mechanical association, to be given as premiums at the fall fair of that year. The swamp land imbroglio, with the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad was also brought out that year, and an attempt to settle the dift'erence resulted at first in a failure. The court got its blood up, and gave the company ninety days to consider whether they would pay $2,000 for a quitclaim deed from the county, or the latter would take jDossession. This was in l^overaber, 1874. This had the desired effect of fovcing a negotiation, and the raih'oad company offered $1,500* for the said deed. This was at last accepted, in April, 1875, and the great swamp land suit, in prospective, was summarily disposed of for all time.

Not much histor}^ has been made tlie past few years. In fact, the decade from 1870 to 1880 was barren of stirring incidents. Peace and prosperity hovered over the land. The crops of all kinds were good, advancing steadily in wealth and population, and a general state of good health pervaded the Grand River country. The wool crop of 1875 amounted to 64,270 pounds, and in 1879 this was increased to 105,500 pounds. The iron bridge was completed across Muddy Creek, on the Lindley road, at a cost of $500, in 1875, the old wooden structure having been carried aw^ay by a freshet. This year (1875) was also known as the grasshopper year. There were millions of them, and their stay was in the neighborhood of ten days in Grundy county. They came late, their stay was short, and the damage done so sliffht as not to be M'orth recording. The vote on the new State constitution was a feature of the political part of the year 1875, and it was carried by the handsome majority of 249. Or there was in its favor 373 votes, and against it 124.

The Centennial Year

The centennial year, 1876, opened witli the same outlook of peace, prosperity, and additional happiness over the promised centennial exhibit, at Philadelphia, Many citizens of Grundy county visited that famed exhibition, where was told, in deeds as well as words, the astounding progress in all that makes a country great and j^rosperous. The woi-ld itself stood with wondering eyes, looking at the work a free people had wrought in one century of existence, which the effete monarchies of the old world had taken many centuries to perform. That year was a renew'al of the patriotic lires which burned with such intense fierceness in the glorious days of 1776, and which culminated in the eloquence of a Henry, and that glorious and noble declaration which proclaimed a nation of freemen and a spirit to maintain that freedom with their life's blood. The fourth of July, 1876, was duly celebrated by the people of Grundy, and in Trenton, on that day, gathered the sons and daughters of freedom to rejoice at the nation's prosperity and their own hapjHuess. Hon. George H. Hubbell read a short but comprehensive history of Grundy county, and Dr. Coles read a poem well worthy of the author's reputation, and the day was celebrated as no other fourth of July had been for years, because not only was it the fourth of July, but it was the centennial year of our national existence.

On July 6, 1876, the people were surprised and shocked in learning of the death of Wm. H. Mason, resulting from an over dose of opium. He was a young man, highly respected, in the twentj^-eighth year of his age,

5111(1 tlie son of John and Aineli.a Mason. He had been snffering threat agony from an attack of neuralgia, and to relieve himself from the torture whicli he was not able to bear longer, took a dose of opium, but it was bejieved more than he was aware of, and under its influence died, it being impossible to awaken him from his sleej) until death claimed him for its own. lie had taken it before for the same com})laint, and it had relieved him; but in this last he had evidently made a mistake in the dose, and died from its effects.

In August a conti-act was entered into with the Missouri Valley Bridge Company for repairing Trenton bridge across Grand River, and to maintain the same for four years in good repair. It was to have a span of 192 feet, double intersections and Pratt truss. The price agreed upon was $4,876.80. The county, in the January term, 1877, ordered the treasurer a salary of $200 per annum, from January 1, 1877. The treasurer's bond at that time was $35,000, with approved sureties. The completion of the new bridge across Grand River having been finished, the court ordered a neio flooring should be put in the Rainbow bridge across or over the Weldon River, and the old flooring of the Trenton bridge was magnanimously donated by the County Court to Lincoln township for that important work, and at the same time that the court evoked this liberality of spirit, ordered the balance of the old timber of said Trenton bridge to be sold to the highest and best bidder by the sheriff".

The assessed valuation of land and stock for different years had varied somewhat, and in the year 1877 the assessment was far more carefully considered than usual. A fair valuation was at last agreed upon, and this agreement on value has been the basis of future years. The assessment was as follows: Land average for the county, $5.77 per acre, of whicli Trenton township was the highest, at $7.63 per acre, and Taylor township, at $3.81 per acre, the lowest. Horses were assessed at $31; mules $32.25; cattle $10.75. The same year the National Bank of Trenton Avas assessed on a capital of $60,000.

Hail

On Sunday, April 20, 1880, a violent rain and hail-storm passed over the north part of the county, and did considerable damage by the breaking of window-glass in Taylor, Harrison and Washington townships. The hailstones were reported of various sizes, some smooth ones measuring five and a half inches in circumference, while rough ones measured more. The building known as Half Rock Church, in Washington township, was moved from its foundation by the violence of the wind. Judge Spickard, and many of his neighbors in "Washington, and Henry Lewis, in Taylor township, suffered the entire destruction of the window-glass in their residences facing the hail, while cattle exposed to the storm were severely injured. ' 16

New Judicial Districts

The session of the County Court, on March 4, 1878, made the new judicial districts, as provided for under the new constitution, and in accordance with the law. The first district was composed of the townships of Wilson, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison and Trenton. The second district of Marion, Liberty, Myres, Franklin, Washington, Taylor, Harrison and Lincoln.

The temperance craze struck Grundy county in 1878, and while it probably did little harm, no very lasting good seemed to have resulted. Still there are some pretty strong temperance advocates in the county, and these have exercised a powerful influence for good. Drunken men are the exception and not the rule among the people.

Wool

The Wool-growers' Association is still one of the institutions of Grundy and has done much to advance the sheep industry of the county. The care of sheep and improved breeds has caused some pretty heavy fleeces of wool to be produced, and the sheep raisers are taking a just pride in their work. The organization is energetically pursuing its work of improvement. Its president is S. Aslier, and secretary, L. Gass. At a competitive shearing in May, 1881, fourteen sheep were sheared, and the fleeces and sheep weighed as follows:

The average was just seventeen pounds. Afterward four other fine representatives were sheared; one buck, two years old, twenty-four and threefourths; said to be the heaviest fleece ever sheared in Grundy county. The other three weighed respectively, twenty and one-half, ram; and sixteen and one-half, and flfteen, ewes. Four bucks sheared eighty-four and threefourths pounds.

Marriage License

Tlie first marriacye license issued from the recorder's office of Grundy county, was to Wm. A. Brock and Sarah F. Atkinson. It was issued on Sunday, June 26th, 1881, tlie first day that the law went into effect; a second license was issued on the same day, to "Wra. C. Urton and Maggie A. Evans.

Those Bonds

About the time the philosophers of the city of Trenton were delving in the burial mounds of a pre-historic race, the home people put in some practical work in the shape of voting to cancel the present indebtedness of the county by issuing a new series of bonds, drawing six per cent interest to take up the present bonded debt upon which they were paying eight per cent. The vote was taken June 14tli and carried by 103 majority, but only a, light vote was polled. The city debt was, also, carried by a large majority for the same purpose.

County Debt

The county debt at this writing amounts to $155,000 and the city debt S46,000. The new series of 5-20 bonds are now being engraved for both. When received they will be exchanged for the old bonds, or sold at not less than par, and the old bonds purchased with the proceeds. The old bonds are now legally subject to redemption and being at a higher rate of interest, eight per cent, quite a saving is made in issuing the new bonds and taking up the old. Mr. D. C. Pugh, the efficient county clerk, was offered a prejnium of two per cent, August 29th, 1881, for $1,000 bonds. The credit of Grundy county stands high.