Nodaway County, Missouri - Chapter 33: White Cloud Township, 1910

Chapter 33: White Cloud Township

White Cloud township is on the south line of Nodaway county and is centrally located east and west. It is bounded on the north by Polk town¬ ship. on the east by Grant township, on the south by Andrew county, and on the west by Hughes township. It contains fifty-three square miles. As it has met with territorial changes since its first organization, the court orders will here be given, showing when and how such changes were ef¬ fected. At the April term of county court, in 1845, the record reads:

"All the territory within the following limits shall be called and known as White Cloud township, to-wit : Beginning at the southeast corner of Hughes township, on the line dividing Nodaway and Andrew counties; thence east with said line to the river One Hundred and Two: thence up said river to township 63 ; thence east with said township line to the north part of Gent's Grove: thence north to the north line of said township: thence west on the line dividing townships 63 and 64, to the east boundaries of Hughes .township; thence south with said township line to place of beginning."

General Features

The streams that touch and run through this township are the One Hundred and Two river. White Cloud creek and their small tributaries. The * . general lay of land is rolling and possessed of fertile soil. On the uplands 1M it is a deep black loam about two inches thick. Along the White Cloud there . , is very little bottom land. The timber runs to the very water's edge in many A V.'pja^es. Corn and wheat grow here in all their best qualities and perfection. Tfrere is an abundance of lime rock and sandstone for all building uses.

The Early Settlers

Hiram Hall was the first settler to locate within this township. It was in 1840 that he settled one and a fourth miles southeast of the present site of

Arkoe. He entered a claim and improved a farm several years, but about i860 sold and moved to Kansas. In 1842 Thomas Groves came from Tenn¬ essee, settling, on section 6, township 63, range 35. Hiram Groves, a brother of Thomas Groves, emigrated from Tennessee in 1842 and preempted the southwest quarter of section 18, township 63, range 35. He sold five years later to Alfred Jones, who came from Rush county, Indiana, arriving April 13, 1847. In 1882 he remarked that the only crop failure he had in all those years was in i860. When he came he saw no elk or buffalo, as they had all disappeared before that date. One buffalo was chased across the Missouri river on the ice, where the White Cloud ferry was located. The river was heavily frozen and teams with large loads easily crossed. A buffalo was pursued by hunters into Nodaway county and the animal was killed about four miles west of the Jones farm. Mr. Groves saw many elk and deer horns strewn along the prairies and in the groves. So thick were these bones that no modern mower could have mowed a swathe evenly over the prairies. He related how he had more than once killed five deers in one day. At times he hunted deer at night time, his child carrying a lantern, and he, going care¬ fully beside the child, would see the eyes of the deer glisten and shoot them. He stated that at one time he counted fifty-six deer and at another time thirty-three. The tame turkeys and wild ones often fought, and in some other instances the tame birds would take up with the wild ones and then follow them off ; he lost four flocks of domestic turkeys in this manner. This pioneer also told of how Doctor Talbott, who was murdered by his sons a few years later, had caught otter sufficient in number to make for himself a fine large overcoat. With much interest was also told the story of bee trees and wild honey, which was produced in great abundance on account of the great numbers of prairie wild flowers which made the best gradq 0T honey.

Another noteworthy point brought out by pioneer Groves was that of the unlimited cattle range and how cattle would fatten on the native grass, and deer, fattened on the same kind of grass, would, when hung up a short time, look as white as a dressed sheep. The cattle were turned out on the range in the spring and no more attention paid to them until the season for a* "round up" in the fall, when each pioneer would claim his own and drive them home. Corn left out in the shock was generally half destroyed by deer and wild turkey.

Another prominent settler in White Cloud township was Isaac Newton Prather, who came from Kentucky in 1841 and located two miles west of the present site of Arkoe. He owned one thousand eight hundred acres of land. Isaac Cox came in 1843 from Kentucky, and R. J. Boatright came from the same state in 1845, locating on section 18, township 63, range 35. John and George McLain, brothers-in-law of Hiram Groves, came from Kentucky about the same time, settling four miles northwest of Arkoe. James Bryant, a half breed, took land three miles west of present Arkoe. Mrs. Martha Yandervert emigrated from Kentucky in 1843, settling a mile and a half west of Arkoe. In 1846 comes James Saunders from Virginia. Others soon came in and the township was rapidly settled, here and there, with neigh¬ borhoods, not far apart.

The Weather

On May 6, 1850, there came a snowfall four inches deep. It came off warm the next day and the snow went oft' at once. On August 26, 1863, there was a severe spell of weather; roasting ears of corn froze so hard that hogs could not well eat them. The valley corn was all ruined that month. On June 3, 1875, it snowed some, but very little of it reached the surface of the earth. On September 16, 1881, it snowed hard. Although it melted very rapidly, snow fell to the depth of four inches. It went off the next day and left the earth as green and beautiful as a garden plot.

Old Settlers

Bridgewater was located on land originally owned by O. A. Howard, who cultivated it as a farm. At a very early day there was a mill built on the One Hundred and Two river by J. B.Cox, and this was the site later chosen for Bridgewater. In 1870 Page. Warren & Phelps, contractors of the Branch railroad, bought the Howard tract of land and upon it laid off the town. The river at this point makes an elbow towards the west. At this bend in the river were constructed two railroad bridges within one thousand feet of each other, with a county bridge located between them and from this fact comes the name Bridgewater. Here William Elrod & Son built the first house in the town and in it they opened a general store. A postoffice was established and John W. Walker was appointed postmaster. Nelson Wilson also added a general stock in 1871.

But the life of Bridgewater was doomed to fate, because Dr. P. H. Tal¬ bott (later murdered) had granted the right-of-way to the railroad through his land, on conditions such as necessitated another town site nearby, and that place was called Arkoe.

Arkoe is about one mile to the north of old Bridgewater, which was abandoned on account of the new railroad station. Dr. P. H. Talbott and S. K. Snively laid off the town of Arkoe September 15, 1874, and Judge John Brady surveyed the plat. The Doctor found the name "Arkoe" in the book entitled "Twenty Thousand Fathoms Under the Sea." Nelson Wilson moved a building from old Bridgewater to Arkoe and in it opened a general store this being the first building in the place. The second building was erected in 1875 by W. G. Turner. The third building in the town was a dwelling erected in 1876 by C. A. Dewey. In 1877 Dr. W. M. Simms erected an office build¬ ing. In 1875 a lot was donated to James Buckridge by Mr. Snively, upon which he built a blacksmith shop. The first postmaster at the new town was Nelson Wilson.

Early in the town's history S. K. Snively erected a wind engine in the vil¬ lage. near his store, which forced the water from a living spring, or stream that flows a few feet below the surface in the rocks, into a tank for the use of the public.

With the passing of the years, Arkoe has come to be a thriving village and now has a population of about one hundred and twenty-five. It has the following business interests, and society functions :

The postmasters serving here have included Nelson Wilson, Scott Snively, H. T. Colter, J. F. Moberly, and the present postmaster, A. P. Bolin.