North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1869-06-09

when we reached his residence. The keys
unlocked. in part, the history of strange
! adventurous life, and told us that his
!, name was "William Wallace Hutcherson,'
} descendant Of the "Maynower.'
About mile above the Wayman Branch
the waters of Elk Greek, after flowing in q
northerly direction about eight miles,
empty into the Turkey. This stream
received its name from Louis Reynolds,
who in the summer of 1884, while explor>
ing the creek in search of mill site came
upon herd of elk that were messing in
its waters, from which circumstance he
} named the stream Elk Greek. Reynolds
was bachelor of n romantic turn Of
mind, who manifested on all social occa>
sions, the most extrayagant politeness
His educational attainments seemed to
centre in knowledge of Clothes
Sorrows of Werter," small volume of
which he constantly carried about his
person, and which had been so literally
saturated with, coon 8 oil and deer's tallow,
/ that much of its contents had become
wholly obliterated. Enough, however,
| remained to enable him, as he believed, to
triumph in discussion. no matter what the
subject might be. In the fall of 1885,
near the close of days hunt, we came
upon his cabin situated upon the Blue
Belt, and was invited to place our rifle on
the gun rack. During the early part of
the evening, an Indian came in with
| ham of venison which he wished to ex-
change for corn meal. Reynolds had Just
succeedcl in extracting splinter from
beneath the nail of one of his fingers,
which h become located there while in
| the act Of scraping from the bottom of his
meal barrel material sufficient to make a
dodger for two, and accordingly the In
| dian could not he accommodated. But as
Reynolds stood in ne Of the venison, it
occurred to him that he could satisfy the
Indian by reading to him page or two
of Werter." Accordingly he took the
ham, hung it up, and after seating the
Indian upon key, squatted himself down
in the chimney corner, where. by leaning
in sideling manner towards the blaze of
the fire, he was enabled to read from the
Teutonic volume, occasionally pausing to
explain and gestieulate away the Difficult
ties that seemed to obscure the latent
beauties of some flowing passage. The
Indian who could understand nothing. had
fixed his eyes intently upon the fire, while
his mind seemingly in its efforts to grasp
the subject, had plunged into the most
profound thought upon some other theme.
Reynolds after having amply paid for the
ham, as he believed, arose, and taking the
Indian by the arm led him to the door,
where, with profuse display of polite
ness, he thanked him for the venison The
Indian after casting a sorrowful glance
back in the direction of the meat,
departed.
Now Reynolds, had but one shirt in the
world, calico garment with an ample
display of ruffles running perpendicularly
through the centre of its bosom, and hav-
ing learned that family would locate in
his neighborhood in few days, among
which, there was female of an attractive
character, be at once determined to be
ready to receive them; accordingly he
had Just completed the washing of his
shirt in the creek and had hung it upon
bush to dry,--in the morning the garment
was gone. The few mockasin tracks in
the vicinity of the bush, bespoke the
visitation Of an Indian, incapable Of ap>
preciating the "Sorrows of Werter."-
Reyrolds soon after left the county.
There is tributary of the Elk, known
as "Wolf Creek" it received its name
from Dennis Quigley, who was the first
settler upon the stream. During the first
evening of his residence here, surprise
party Of wolves called upon the few sheep
that be had brought with him, and well
coined them to their new home. From
which circumstance he honored the creek
with the name of its il labitants.
About mile above the Elk, Volga |
River unites it's waters with the Turkey |
This stream, which is about thirty FIVE
miles in length, rises in the centre of
Fay cite County. During the early settle /
ment of the country, it was known by the |
name of the south fork of Turkey. In |
1886, when NJ. Lyon established by sur
vey the township lines Of northern Iowa, |
he bestowed upon it the name of VOlga |
River, which was adopted by the settlers
of the county. 1t is one of the most |
beautiful streams of northern Iowa. There |
are number of towns and villages situa-
ted upon its banks, among which none is
more prominent than the town of Fayette, |
in Fayette County. 1t is here that the |
North Iowa University; is situated. The |
stream is sometimes called Classic Volga, |
from the following literary incident. A |
student from Wisconsin attending the |
University, had prepared poem to be
delivered at the closing exhibition of the |
institute. His fellow students who had I
manifested some skepticism as to the |
Arcadian qualities of the people of Wis
consin, stood all on envous tip-toe, eager |
to hear its sentiment and delivery, while |
Professor Brush who had jgst been inaug>
urated. felt that the fame of his University |
10
pine forests Of Wisconsin, pausing for |
fisheries of the State, that it might take |
it's way with wider, loftier fight through |
town and hamlet,-westward no. The
Badger boy, proud of his native State,
selfpoised and confident, assembled the |
rostrum and commenced his poetic essay |
as follows:
.Thcre where the classic yolga goes
With logs and sticks and oveffows,
And in the farmhouse runs its nose"
Here the professor commenced coughing |
SO loud and incessant, that nothing more
of the poem could be heard. Sufficient
however was preserved to secure for our
beautiful Volga the proud literary prefix,
..Classic."
A short distance from the mouth of the |
Volga, there is a tributary known as Bear |
Creek 1t received its name from the fol- |
lowing hunting incident Missouri Dixon
and his brother Samuel having started
large bear in the timber of Turkey River.
in the winter Of 1898. followed it's foot
prints in the snow until they reached the |
vicinity of this stream, where they separ>
ated, Missouri following the trail, and his
brother making circuit in the hope of |
meeting the bear. Soon after. they parted. |
Missouri came up with the animal, which |
had coled down to sleep beneath an over>