Chapter VII
The western part of the County was settled first,
owing to the prospective incoming railroad. Goewey Township and
Gilman were as early settled as any, and, indeed, the very first
settler took his claim in Gilman.
In 1871 there was living in O'Brien County, where Primghar now
is, Mr. Charles F. Allbright. His home was a small one, we should
judge 14x20, one story, with small addition. This house was the
general stopping place, not only for people from the north part
of O'Brien County, but also Southern Osceola. It will be
understood that at this time there was no railroad, and freight
was hauled mostly from Cherokee, and the Allbright house was
about the only one on the road in O'Brien County in making trips
to and from Cherokee.
Mr. A.H. Lyman made the first track across the County from
Allbright's to Goewey Township, and Mr. Lyman came into Osceola
County in March 1871. He came from Grant County, Wisconsin, and
first settled upon and done his filing on the northeast quarter
of Section 26, Township 98, Range 41, now Goewey Township. He put
up a residence with a shingled roof, but the walls of which were
built of sod. He broke about thirty acres that season; put in
beans, potatoes, turnips and melons, and of these had quite a
crop. His family came in October 1871. Mr. Lyman's house then
became the stopping place for that part of the country, and it
was often crowded with people, sometimes the whole floor covered
with lodgers, and, if not cold, some outside.
On this same section, in 1871, Douglas E. Ball and B.F. Mundorf
took claims, and Adam Batie took his claim on the same section in
the spring of 1872. Mr. Lyman still lives in Goewey Township. His
reputation is that of an honest and hard working man, but Lyman
is considered quite a talker. He is a man of ideas and likes to
express them. Several were at Lymans' one day and a fellow by the
name of Patch bet $1 with Lyman that he couldn't keep from
speaking for one hour. The money was deposited with the
stakeholder, and the hour of silence commenced. In the course of
half an hour some fellow came to the house to make some
inquiries, and the rest of them kept in the house to see Lyman
wrestle with the stranger. His motions were the most awkward, for
he couldn't answer the questions as his dollar was at stake, and
finally the stranger left with the idea that Lyman had gone
crazy.
The fore part of the summer of 1871 was a very dry one. There was
not a drop of rain from the middle of March until the 16th day of
June, and during that time of dryness several got out of the
County, as they have got out of Dakota, for the reason, as they
said, the County was too dry ever to raise crops.
In April 1872 Walter Fisher and Reed Patch started west from
Spencer to Lyman's place. They knew the quarter that Lyman was
on, so took the bearings and navigated as the sailors do, by
compass. They made it all right and reached the Lyman place
safely. These three then went to Sibley with a sleigh. The ground
was soft, however, and the creeks had some water in. While
crossing the Otter the horses suddenly went down in the soft,
watery snow, and went so suddenly it pitched Lyman out, who went
in up to his neck. Lyman was got out and over the river, and
Fisher, by careful work, got himself across, and the horses were
unhitched and they safely landed. Patch determined to stick to
the sleigh and not get wet, the other fellows he thought could
look out for themselves. After the horses were got over, the boys
hitched a rope to the end of the tongue of the sleigh to pull
that out, and Patch was sort of crowing over his safe and
dry-shod transportation. The horses started and the first jerk of
the sleigh landed Patch into the creek and up to his neck. The
boys got him out, but he was not only a sorry looking object, but
had the appearance of a man disgustingly disappointed. Lyman
thought honors were easy, and they soon got where their condition
was made dry and comfortable.
In June 1871 J. B. Lent, who was Treasurer of Osceola County,
preceding Mr. Townsend, arrived at the Lyman place. Mr. Lent also
came from Grant County, Wisconsin and had started with some
others for Nebraska. The others who started with him with teams
kept on to Cherokee, while Lent diverted his course to go to
Lyman's for the purpose of leaving some stock there for Lyman,
they having lived in the same neighborhood in their Wisconsin
home. The reason that the 16th of June arrival is so well
remembered is that on that day the dry spell was broken, and
Lyman and Lent gazed upon the falling water with supreme
satisfaction and delight. Lent, after leaving the stock at
Lyman's, went to Cherokee and told the rest of his party he was
so delighted with Osceola County that he would settle there and
go no further; they went on, except Louis Folsom and Lent, and
these returned to Lyman's place. The first night they slept out
under the wagon cover set on the ground and during the night the
wind blew that over, when they went into the house. Lent and
Folsom soon did their settlement and filing, Lent on southwest
quarter of Section 24, Township 98, Range 41, and Folsom on south
half of southeast quarter of Section 24, Township 98, Range 41.
The great thing to be feared then on an open prairie was a
blizzard. The early settlers encountered several of them. In
December 1871, Dr. Hall, then living in Goewey Township, and his
son, Arthur, a boy, started to the creek for some willows for
fuel. While they were gone a terrible blizzard came up and they
were caught in it. They made their way toward home the best they
could, but the blinding snow and extreme cold made it slow
progress, and the oxen, too, were hard to get along. Soon the boy
discovered that the father was missing and could not be found
anywhere. Of course no search could be made, for the boy was
struggling to take care of himself, but all at once Mr. Hall
himself had disappeared, either strayed away from the boy or
fallen in sheer exhaustion unable to go further. The boy went
west for awhile, then turned and went east again, and after
traveling a few miles the oxen gave out; the boy then hollered as
loud as he could, and as luck would have it he was near enough to
the house of F. O. Messenger so that Messenger heard him and went
in the direction from where the sound came until he reached the
boy. The boy's hands and feet were frozen, but Messenger got him
to the house and after a while the boy got around all right
again. The oxen were also rescued. Dr. Hall himself perished in
that December blizzard, and was not found until the spring of
1872, and was then found by Mr. Messenger's dog bringing to the
house the bone from a human body, which was noticed, and Mrs.
Messenger then directed the dog back and followed him to Dr.
Hall's remains, which were but his bones. The boy, Arthur Hall,
grown to manhood, now lives in Washington State. The blizzard in
February 1872, the same in which Nagg perished, was also a
fearful one. The first day of that blizzard, Lyman, with others,
went to Sibley to buy goods at Rogers' store. The blizzard
commenced while they were in town, and they hurried up their
purchases in order to return, and were soon on their way back
again. It was a foolish start, but still they got through and no
lives were lost. There were Lyman, B.F. Mundorf, Lon Sanfrisco,
Eve Adler and A. Carpenter. When they got to the house of A.
Romey, Mundorf and Lyman had about eight miles further to go, and
Mundorf insisted on going and was bound to go. All the others
objected to any such thing, and Mr. Romey declared that not one
of them should leave his house. Mundorf, however, had made up his
mind to go and go he would, and as there was no other
alternative, Lyman, knowing that Mundorf would surely get lost,
started with him. Nothing saved them but the team of horses Mr.
Lyman was driving. They who are accustomed to the road know the
great difference between horses in knowing the direction to go,
and Mr. Lyman's team was of that kind which could find their way
home in the darkest night or in any storm in which they could
travel. This was the reason Lyman went with Mundorf, and Lyman
made no attempt to guide his team, but let them take their own
way, and they landed these storm-driven settlers safely home.
At this time there was considerable of an attempt, and some of it
successful, to hold claims in fictitious names and cover them up,
so called. It was done by filing applications in the land office
at Sioux City, and the filer signing some name which would make
it appear of record that the claim was taken. It took an incoming
stranger a little time, using a western expression, "to
catch on to the racket," but he soon did, and there was no
much after all made in that kind of speculation. Soon after Lent
and Folsom got here, and they, with Lyman and some others, were
taking it easy sitting on the prairie grass at Lent's claim, a
stranger, who gave his name as Freman, drove up and informed
these gentlemen that they were trespassers on other people's
claims; that he had done the filing for them, and they were now
on the road to settle. Lent cross-questioned the fellow a little,
Lyman gathered himself together for a controversy, and when the
stranger had told all he knew about it and the boys had sized the
thing up so that a conclusion was reached, Mr. Freman was told in
a most emphatic manner, and in language that was not doubtful of
construction, that if he was seen in that part of the country in
just sixty minutes after that interview, they would hang him; and
Lyman went to hunting a rope and to get the well ready to drop
him in, when he started, to use Lyman's expression, as though the
devil was after him, and was never seen afterwards.
Mr. A. Romey, who is now a merchant in Sibley, came to Osceola
County in April 1871. He drove through from Fayette County, Iowa,
and William Barkhuff started and drove through with him; also,
Mr. A. Carpenter. On the road, Mr. J. F. Jones, Joshua Stevens and
Waldo joined them; also W. H. Lean. Mr. Stephens and Mr. Waldo
have since died. Mr. Jones and Mr. Carpenter are still residents
of the county. Mr. Romey filed on the northwest quarter of
Section 4, Goewey Township. He put up a sod house, with shingled
roof, and hauled his lumber from Sioux City. He broke about
fifteen acres in 1871, but put in no crop.