The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1876-07-20
COUNTY HISTORY,
Sketch Of Springdalc Township
compiled for The Centennial,
Held III Upton July 4lh, 1876.
DY E. GRINNELL.

DY e. GRINNEIL.
| This Township is situated in tn,
southwest corner of Cedar county
| lying between the Cedar and Iows
rivers. The surface is high, rolling
prairie land, with two central brachc!
| of the Wapsienonoc with their numcr
Gus tributaries as dram. The view
of this land as first beheld by the
early settlers was magnificent. The
beautiful, undulating prairie stretch
ing away in either direction as far as
the eye could behold, with only here
and there hazel thcket, Or small
cluster of trees, as hickory, or elm
groves, or i'll the southern part, the
timber on the Wapsienonoc, or per-
chance to those with visions OF long
range, the dim outlines Of the timber
on the Cedar or the Iowa river could
be discerncd. There was a wild, ma.
jestic grandeur to the lone traveller as
he beheld this fair land for the frs,
time, fresh from the hands of the
Creator, the only inhabitants being
the prairie wolf, deer, rabbit, and a
few varieties of birds; among which
we're the prairie hen and the quail.
In this condition, the progressive
Buckeye first found this land, enter
ing it from the southeast, and settling
in the southern part.
Among these, perhaps the first was
f. X. Morse, then a young and single
man, who in 1898 entered a tract of
land on the Muscatine county line,
one ald one-half miles east of John
son county line, where he built a
cabin, one half of which was covered
with clap-boards, and the other with
prairie grass. In 1910, he sold this
claim to Andrew and VIM. Brisbinc
two brothers. who still own and
live upon the land. They with A
G. Smith, Mr.. Nice, Geo. Barns and
Chester Coleman, formed the first
settlement i'm this Township; their
nearest mill was Rock Island or Mo-
line; their privations were many and
great. The Indians were then very
numerous, and presumed to own this
country as their happy hunting
ground, and did not regard the en-
croachments of the Pale-facc with
favor; they would tear down the
fences Of the settlers whenever they
crossed trail, and drive their herds
of ponies through the growing crops.
In 1889, they killed man near where
Downey now is, by the name Of At
kins, who was on his way home from
Iowa City with some meat, which
they took for themselves.
The next settlers, in 1917, were
| John Larue, and Simeon Barns. In
1919, A. 3. Cornwall, Reuben Elliott,
Hanson Gregg and John Wright.
Some of these had been in Iowa one
and two years previous to this time,
but not in Cedar county. In 1850,
when the history of the settling OF
this Township began in earnest, an
exciting incident occurred in this
settlement. A small child of VIM.
Henderson, two years old, its mother
having gone to one Of the neighbors
some distance north, left the little
girl at home with an older sister. The
little girl-Lizzie-slipped off and at
tempted to follow the mother; the
older daughter, thinking her mother
had little Lizzie with her, did not
look for her, and when the mother
came home they neither Of them knew
where she was. The alarm was Civ
en-, and search began; this was about
four o'clock in the afternoon, in Sep.
tember. The tracks of the lost Liz
zie could be found for some distance
in the direction which her mother
had been, but all traces were lost be-
yond this point, and by dark, about
thirty men from far and near, with
women and children were out search
ing in every direction; the night was
cold, SO cold that those on horseback
suffered. The child was only dressed
in calico slip with moccasins, and
the opinion of all was that it could
not live until morning on account Of
the cold, if it should escape the raw
ages Of the wolves, which were nu.
merous and fierce in those days
They proceeded to search in every
direction by forming a solid column,
leaving no point unexplored. In this
manner they hunted till about two
o'clock in the morning when many of
the women and children went to the
house. The men, however, kept on
in their weary search until morning
when just as the sun was rising in the
east, the little Lizzie was found in a
patch of weeds about one and quar-.
ter miles from the house, where she
was fast asleep; and when the first
man found the child and gave the
news to his companions, there was
one grand re-echo along the line;
"Lizzie is found, alive and WELL" Sc
great was the interest taken in the
matter that not one complaint was
heard from the company though they
had gone from their work and
searched all night for the lost child.