The Oskaloosa herald., 1905-02-02
CHAPTER FOUR.
Some Early Mahaska Settlers.

first organizing counties along the
west bank of the Mississippi river.
AS each county was organized and
the settlements moved westward it
was made to include all settlers be-
yond its western border. This
was done for legal and judicial pur-
poses. 1t gave settlers located be-
yond the geographical borders on
Ae west, election privileges and
equal protection under the law. In
this way Mahaska county commits
sioners exercised jurisdiction over
the region as far west as the terri
tory now included in the city Of Des
Moines. Among the county records
is an order granting a license for
one year to John Scott allowing him
the liberty of keeping a ferry
across the Des MONIES river 1T the
mouth of the Raccoon river near
Fort Des Moines on the payment of
the sum Of ten dollars into the
county treasury" The license Inn
tied the ferryman to specific charg-
es, ranging from five cents for sheep
and hogs to. fifty cents for four
horses and wagon.
The first cabin erected within the
boundary of what is now Mahaska
county was built on the fiat north of
Eddyville in the fall of 1912 by a Mr..
William McIllvain, who was a hunt
er and trader of that period. Mr..
McIllvain obtained permission from
the Indians, as no settlements were
allowed by the government until the
following spring. The winter of
1S42-43 was an unusually severe
winter. The snow which fell in the
fall remained on the ground until
late in the spring. This cabin was
occupied by the family of John B.
Gray, VINO had arrived from Texas
November 1st of that year. The
cabin has only been destroyed in re-
cent years.
Mrs. F. A. French of Keokuk, who
is the youngest child of the Gray
family, states to the writer, who
was well acquainted with the family,
that she distinctly remembers about
her mother relating the incidents
and the experiences of that trying
winter, located as they were so far
from civilization.
1t has been stated by several his
torians of the county and state that
a man by the name of McBeth had
built the first cabin and that Mr..
Gray secured it from him. This,
however, must stand corrected, as
ave have this information from those
VINO were on the scene. Mrs. Gray
and Mrs. McIlvain were sisters.
Mr.. McIlvain came from Indiana,
and afterwards entered land out
near Six-Mile where he remained
until the yea 1850, when he Joined
n of the many which
crossed the plains to Colorado in
the search for gold.
Mr.. Gray was born in. Caledonia
county. Vermont, April 9, 1909. His
grandfather was a member of a New
Hampshire regiment and lost his
life while serving as a soldier in the
Revolutionary war. In February,
1884, be emigrated to what was then
known as Black Hawk Purchase,
Michigan Territory, stopping near
the little village of Flint Hills, now
Burlington. The town had been laid
out the previous fall. Had a small
general store and a ferry boat. At
q meeting of its citizens to give the
town a better name hr. Gray sug-
gested Burlington, the name of his
home town in Vermont. : 1t was well
received, and the company agreed
That If Mr.. Gray would put in a gen.
eral store he should have the honor
or naming the place. He consented
to this proposition and remained in
business in Burlington until 1888,
when he removed to the republic of
Texas. Finding things very unset
tied in that country he turned all
his property into horses and drove
them north overland, selling them
AZ he came through the states. The
tan of 1912 found him as above stat
ed. When the Sac and Fox reser-
walton was opened for settlement on
May /, 1913, he entered three hun
dred and sixty acres of land two
and one-half miles west Of Eddyville
where he remained until his death
In 1876.
Mrs. Gray was the daughter of a
pioneer fiatboat captain on the Mis-
sissippi and was Injured to frontier
life. She drove a team through on
the return trip from Texas.
Eddyville was then known ais Hard
Ffsh's Village, this being the name
of the chief who presided over the
inhabitants. At this time J.. p.
Eddy had a trading post neal the
Indian village and supplied the In
dians and hardy woodsmen for
twenty-five miles distant, or more,
with blankets. saddles, guns, ammu-
milton and other frontier necessi-
ties. His books were kept by Rich
ard Butcher. These books are still
in existence and show the names
representing 1904 Indians who mad