The Oskaloosa herald., 1905-02-02

| scented. Kish-ke-kosii, our Mahaska
county chief, ran up a bill amount
ing to almost two hundred dollars.
Other prominent chiefs whose names
appear on these books are Wapello,
P~ashe-pa-ho and the wife Of KeokuR.
Nj. Eddy had a grant from the gov
eminent of GAO acres, Of land lying
on the east bank of the Des Moines
river, and when the Indians moved
toward the west in 1S43 he laid off
leo acres into a town plat and call
ed it Eddyville. AZ this time about
one hundred of its population is in
Mahaska county.
By the FIRST of May, 1913, the date
when the reservation was opened
to settlement, many of the anxious
settlers had quietly worked their
way across the borders in spite of
the vigilance of the patrolling dra-
goons, who kept constant watch on
the eastern and southern border of
the Indian reservation to keep off
~intruders. Wagons were not allowed
to- cross the line but a small COM
pany Of men on foot without axes
were permitted to pass into the
Promised Land" and make such
observations as suited their fancy.
hatchets and axes were. almost in
varianly smuggled in without han
dies in bundles or under the clotn-
ing, and handles were improvised
when needed. These hardy children
of nature when worn by the days
tramping would lie down wherever
night overlook them, and with some
slight protection from the wild
beasts would rest until the welcome
dawn Of another day.
Richard Parker, whowas an early ar
rival in the New Purchase, told the
writer that he had often found him
self alone when night came on when
on these frontier exploits and would
crawl into the thickest hazel brush,
so as to make it quite impossible
for wolves, which he dreaded most,
or any other animal, to approach
his hiding place without making
sufficient noise to awaken him.
Here, with mis- trusty gun we'll load
ed and lying by his side, he would
sleep soundly and sweetly until
morning. These adventures, which
seem thrilling to us, were a part of
the life Of those who followed close
upon the heels of the r~etreating In
dians. They simply made the best
of their surroundings and thought
but little about it.
There was considerable relaxation
in the rules governing the settlers as
the time approached when all re-
strictions should be removed. Per-
haps thousands of the newcomers
had their claims selected before that
date, and on the night of April 80
camped on the ground and had
s~narpened stakes and primitive
torches already manufactured, so
that when the moon and stars indi-
Gated the midnight hour they left
their campfires with exultation and
rejoicing to measure off as accur
ately as possible the three hundred
and twenty acres which should be
the home. of the family, which
awaited their return, near the bor-
der of the reservation. It was a
nigh. of 90 much joy and gladness
to sleep and we are told that the
woods rang with many a hurrah and
cheer as they went with torch in
hand over hill and valley, here driv-
ing a stake or there blazing a tree,
or in some definite way marking
the M and lines of the land
which should be the muchtcoveted
abiding place of themselves and their
children in the peaceful passing of
the years. This was the delightful
dream of the early settler. The first
settlers avoided the prairies. Their
ideal vas a comfortable cabin in the
edge of the timber, near a spring or
a running stream, where game
would be plentiful and fuel close at
hand.
DR.. E. A. Boyer, VINO was one OF
the early pioneers in Scott town.
ship, was born in Maryland March
10, 1915. His father was a slave
holder at the time Of mis- birth but
liberated tnem and removed to Ohio
where the doctor grew to manhood,
receiving a medical education. DIR.
Boyer was married in 1910 to Miss
Mary Wiley, who survives her hus-
band and still presides over the old
home, which was built near where
the first cabin stood ON the banks
of the Des Moines. river, in Scott
township. Although far advanced
in years she has q distinct
memory of most Of the events
that have transpired in the west in
the sixty-two years of her residence
in Iowa, Mr.. and Mrs. Boyer came
to Iowa the same year of their mar
riage and made their home in Van
Buren, county until the opening of
the New Purchase. He was one of
those who staked Of his land at
midnight April 90, 1843. A cabin
was built at once and his family re-
moved TO the new home. Mrs.