Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 3: Physical Features, 1882

Chapter 3: Physical Features

Nodaway County is in the northwest corner of the state, and is the last county in Missouri, save one. It is nearly the same parallel as Philadelphia and Sacramento, and about the same meridian as Lake of the Woods and Galveston.

It is bounded on the north by Page and Taylor Counties, Iowa ; on the east by Worth and Gentry Counties ; on the south by Andrew, and in part by Holt and Atchison Counties, and on the west by Holt and Atchison Counties. The area of the county is about 791 square miles.

Surface

The land in the county, away from the streams, is undulating prairie, and has altogether a diversity of country seldom found in so small a space. Rising to the higher points of ground, the eye commands views of exquisite loveliness, embracing the silvery course of the stream, the waving foliage of trees, the changing outlines of gentle elevations, and the undulating surface of flower-decked prairie, with cultivated farms, farm houses, including the log-hut of the first settler and the brick or painted houses and barns of the more advanced cultivator of the soil.

Along the water courses there are hills and gentle slopes, as well as bottom lands. On Platte River the table lands are elevated from thirty to fifty feet above the water. On the One Hundred and Two River, near Howard's Mill, the bluffs are often ninety feet high, and steep, and the country hilly. The country is somewhat hilly on the White Cloud. On the west side of Nodaway River, in township sixty-six, the hills are high and rounded, and the country rolling to the west. East of the Platte River, the country is rolling and the slopes gentle.

Maryville is located on the top of the divide, west of the One Hundred and Two River and at an elevation of about two hundred feet above the river bottoms.

There is not a section of country of equal extent, in the state, that possesses a better distributed drainage system than Nodaway County. There is, proportionately, such a small area of waste and swamp lands, and the facilities for drainage are so admirable, that waste lands, arising from this cause, are too insignificant to be worthy of particular mention. The county presented to the first settler an easy task in subduing the wild land. Its natural prairies were fields almost ready for the planting of the crop, and its rich, black soil seemed to be waiting the opportunity of paying rewards as a tribute to the labor of the husbandman. The farms of Nodaway County are generally large, level or undulating, unbroken by impassable sloughs, without stumps or other obstructions, and furnish the best of conditions favorable to the use of reaping machines, mowers, corn planters, and other kinds of labor-saving machinery.

Nodaway County is so well supplied with living streams of water, and they are so well distributed that the people of the county could not possibly make an improvement upon the arrangement, if they were allowed the privilege and endowed with the power to make a readjustment of the system of streams and water courses. Some of these streams have fine mill sites, and, by reason of the water power, thus made so accessible, the early settler was spared many of the hardships and inconveniences experienced by the pioneers of other sections.

The principal water courses of the county, are the Platte, Nodaway and One Hundred and Two Rivers. There are besides these, a number of smaller streams, among which are the White Cloud, Florida, Mill, Kiogha, Clear, Honey and Sand Creeks, and Long and Mowery Branch.

Good springs occur at the following localities, viz.: in sections twenty-two and twenty-seven, township sixty-three, range thirty-seven. We may find many springs issuing from the Nodaway bluffs at Guilford, in section fifteen, township sixty-two, range thirty-four ; at Prather's, in section twenty-nine, township sixty:three, range thirty-five; at Martin's, in northeast section twenty-six, township sixty-four, range thirtyseven ; at Shaller's, in section eighteen, township sixty-six, range thirtyseven.

Timber

The circumstance, which, more than any other, favored the early and rapid settlement of Nodaway County was the abundance of timber. The presence of timber aided materially in an early settlement, and it aided in two ways : first, the county had to depend on immigration from the older settled states of the Union for its population - Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. These states were originally almost entirely covered with dense forests, and farms were made by clearing off certain portions of the timber. Almost every farm there, after it became thoroughly improved, still retained a certain tract of timber, commonly known as " the woods." The woods is generally regarded as the most important part of the farm, and the average farmer regarded it as indispensable when he immigrated west.

The great objection to the country was the scarcity of timber as compared to the eastern states, and he did not suppose that it would be possible to open up a farm on the bleak prairie. To live in a region devoid of the familiar sight of timber seemed unendurable, and the average Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky emigrant could not endure the idea of founding a home far away from the familiar sight of forest trees. Then again the idea entertained by the early emigrants that timber was a necessity, was not simply theoretical and ethical. The early settler had to have a house to live in, fuel for cooking and heating purposes, and fences to enclose his claim. At that time there were no railroads whereby lumber could be transported from the pineries ; no coal mines had yet been opened or discovered. Timber was an absolute necessity, without which personal existence, as well as material improvement, was an impossibility. No wonder that a gentleman from the east, who in early times came to the prairie region of Missouri on a prospecting tour with a view of permanent location, returned home in disgust and embodied his views of the country in the following rhyme :

As before remarked, there are two reasons why the first settlers refused to locate at a distance from the timber, and why the timbered regions bordering upon the rivers became densely populated while the more fertile and more easily cultivated prairies remained for many years unclaimed. The pioneers were in the main the descendants of those hardy backwoodsmen who conquered the dense forests of the south and east. When farms are opened up in those countries a large belt of timber was invariably reserved from which the farmer could draw his supply of logs for lumber for fence rails, and fuel for heating and cooking purposes. Even at the present day a farm without its patch ot timber is exceedingly rare in those courtnes. Having from their youth up been accustomed to timber, the emigrant from these timbered regions of the east would have ever felt lonesome and solitary deprived of the familiar sight of the tall forest trees and shut off from the familiar sound of the wind passing through the branches of the venerable oaks. Then again, timber was an actual necessity to the early settler. In this day of railroads, herd laws, cheap lumber and cheap fuel, it is easy enough to open a farm and build up a comfortable home away out on the prairie, far from the sight of timber. But not so under the circumstances surrounding the first settlers. There was no way of shipping lumber from the markets of the east, coal mines were unknown, and before a parcel of land could be cultivated it was necessary to fence it. In order to settle the prairie countries it was necessary to have railroads, and in order to have railroads, it was necessary that at least a portion of the country should be settled. Hence the most important resource in the development of this western country was the belts of timber which skirted the streams ; and the settlers who first hewed out homes in the timber, while at present not the most enterprising and progressive, were nevertheless an essential factor in the solution of the problem.

Much of this primeval forest has been removed ; part of it was economically manufactured into lumber, which entered into the construction of the early dwelling houses, many of which still remain ; much of it was ruthlessly and recklessly destroyed. From the fact that attention was early given to the culture of artificial groves, Nodaway County now has probably about as much timber as formerly, and the state much more.

Among the most abundant of all trees originally found was the black walnut, so highly prized in all countries for manufacturing purposes. Timber of this kind was very plentiful and of good quality originally, but the high prices paid for this kind of timber presented itself as a temptation to destroy it, which the people, frequently in straightened circumstances, could not resist. Red, white and black oak are still very plentiful, although they have for many years been extensively used as fuel. Crab apple, elm, walnut, maple, ash, cottonwood and wild cherry are also found. Some of the best timber in the state is to be found in this county.

A line of timber follows the course of all the streams. Detached groves, both natural and artificial, are found at many placee throughout the county, which are not only ornamental, in that they vary the monotony of the prairie, but likewise very useful, in that they have a very important bearing on the climate. It is a fact fully demonstrated by the best authority that climate varies with the surface of a country.

The following article is from the pen of Dr. J. B. Morrison, who has for many years been a resident physician of Maryville, the county seat of Nodaway County :

The question is very frequently asked, how does Nodaway County compare with other sections of the country in regard to health ? To answer, "very favorably, indeed," would be strictly true ; for there are no endemics peculiar to this section, and epidemics are no more frequent, and no more severe, than in other sections of country of like extent ; and, indeed, it can be said that they are much less frequent and much less severe than in many other localities.

The land, except the valleys along the largest streams, is rolling, almost hilly, indeed, and this circumstance renders drainage almost perfect, and with a little effort on the part of the citizens, could be made entirely perfect. There are no extensive bogs or marshes, and those of limited extent, are, for the most part, drained.

There are three streams, called rivers, traversing the county from north to south ; namely, the Nodaway, on the west side, the One-Hundred-and-Two (102), in the middle section, and the Platte on the east side. These have many tributaries, so that the county is admirably watered, as well as drained.

Water for house use is easily obtained from natural springs, and from wells, which are usually from twenty to thirty feet in depth, and the water, for the most part, is of an excellent quality. The soil is a deep, rich, black loam, with here and there spots more or less sandy or gravelly.

The climate is somewhat changeable, though it compares favorably with that of Southern Pennsylvania, Central Ohio, Central Indiana and Central Illinois. Very severe drouths are not common, nor are very severe winters usual. The spring season will compare very favorably with that of other localities of the same latitude, and the autumns generally are charming.

There is more or less malaria (so-called) along the river bottoms, and, indeed, on the upland, but much less than along large rivers, and it is very seldom that a case of severe, " old-fashioned ague," is seen, "such as will cause the stoves and windows to shake." Indeed, this so-called malaria is so attenuated in Nodaway County, that its meagre density or concentration cannot be relied upon by theorists to prove that it ought to be considered an entity.

Typical typhoid fever is seldom seen here, as it usually is of the typho-malarial form ; though occasionally a case occurs as typically pure as those that occur in crowded cities or in illy ventilated hospitals ; but such cases can mostly or always be traced to crowded prisons or something very similar, and therefore will occur in every section of country - not one more than another - where people breathe for a considerable time air that is surcharged with the exhalations from the lungs or other organs and from the surface of the body ; or where they eat pork or drink water surcharged with like poison.

Remittent and intermittent fevers prevail to some extent, but they cannot be said to be more prevalent than in other localities on the same parallel of latitude.

Malaria, so called, is quite often associated with other diseases not generally regarded as of a malarial nature ; but this is hot at all a peculiar circumstance, for this association is found in all localities.

Phthisis Pulmonalis (old-fashioned consumption) is hardly known here, except cases established prior to locating in the county, and it is commonly believed that the climate is antagonistic to that disease.

Catarrh, or rather, nasal catarrh, is somewhat prevalent, but in all probability it is due to the kind of houses that have been and that are still, to some extent used, rather than to any peculiarity of climate ; for it is a lamentable fact, that many of the houses or huts so common in all new countries are still quite numerous here, and and many of the better class of houses are only one story and a half high, thus putting those who sleep up stairs too near a cold roof, where they are constantly exposed to a cold current of air. And those who sleep on the lower floor, or first floor, are in very many houses exposed to currents entering the room through crevices in the wall, or rather in the siding of the house. It is a cheering fact, however, that this state of affairs is rapidly changing, for good houses are rapidly taking the place of the bad ones, and the inhabitants are not at all lacking in thrift. It is entirely within the bounds of truth to say that Nodaway County is a desirable place to live, considered from the standpoint of health, as well as from many other standpoints.

Rainfall

The average yearly rainfall and melted snow, for twenty-five years, has been 36.62 inches. The average rainfall and melted snow, for each month respectively, for this period, has been as follows : January, 1.68 inches; February, 1.67; March, 2.10; April, 3.49; May, 4.39; June, 475 ; July> 4-^9 ; August, 4.66 ; September, 3.30 ; October, 2.33 ; November, 1.69; December, 1.89 inches. The rain and melted snow for winter, 5.25 inches; spring, 9.25 ; summer, 14.10; autumn, 7.32 inches.

Prairie

A little more than one-fifth of the county is prairie, and of a veryexcellent quality. In fact there is no better soil in the state than that found in the prairies of Nodaway County. On nearly all of the divides between the running streams are found large tracts of beautiful, rolling prairie lands, well drained, easily cultivated, highly productive and conveniently located to water, timber, mills and markets. The character of the soil in these prairies is such that good crops are raised even during the very wet and very dry seasons. The soil is light and porous, so that ten hours of bright sunshine will dry the roads after a heavy rain and fit the plowed fields to be cultivated. The same peculiarity of soil which enables crops to withstand much moisture and thrive during a very wet season, also enables them to endure prolonged drouths - the soil, being very porous, is capable of absorbing a large amount of water during the rainy season, and when the drouth sets in, the forces of nature bring back to the surface the surplus moisture from the subterraneous storehouses with as much ease as the water in the first place was absorbed. This is not the case with that quality of soil commonly known as hard-pan ; the subsoil not being porous, only a small quantity of water is absorbed, after which it gathers on the surface in pools, and is then carried away by the process of evaporation ; drouth sets in, and as soon as the moisture is exhausted from the surface soil, plants wither and die.