Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-05

child, got a long willow stick, ana
showed it into the water towards me.
| caught hold of it and hung on for
dear life. Theodore pulled me our.
Only for the good judgment and quicl:
action of the little boy Theodore
Simmons, | would not be here to tel
the story.
Was Rival for Rock Island.
In the sos and early 40's, Rock Isl
and had a brisk rival, in the village
of Andalusia Rock Island had a ferry,
so did Andalusia. Rock river was not
bridged at that time, and no one eX
pected it would be in their day. The
ice i'll Rock river in the spring and
fall prevented people living south OF
Rock river from crossing and getting
to the ferry at Rock Island for several
months in the year, while the ferry
at Andalusia was always accessible.
There was no ferry at Muscatine, for
merry called Bloomington, and it was
thought there never would be on &C
count of the low land on this side of
the river. Andalusia then had the
best ferry site above ST Louis. Rail
roads were not thought of then ami
it was thought that through Andalusia
would be the great thOroughfare from
this part of Illinois to Iowa and the
far west" This was one of the in
ducements that caused Jonathan Buff
fun, the TitteringtOns, Edgingtons,
Dulaps, Peter Carr and other pioneers
| in this vicinity to locate near Anda-
| lusia.
My father came to this county in
1898. | have heard him say that he
then called Camden, but on account
of the better ferry facilities at Anda-
lusia, he bought the land on which
my brother Willard now lives an |
there he made his home. All of niS
children were born there, and there
he died. In the later years of his life,
l have heard him say that while the
Rock sland ferry had become the
greater of the two, yet he never re-
GREETED settling where he did, and
while he had purchased and owned g
| lot in Chippiannock cemetery at Rock
| Island at the time of his death, y =;
both he and mother wanted to be
buried in the Andalusia cemetery
there to rest forever. They wanted C
happy home Even in death they d.
sired to be surrounded by their oil
friends and neighbors.
An Early Rail splitter.
Among the first rail splitters wnC
came to Andalusia township was Tn
Gle Timothy Dutton. He came to thi:
country i'll 1888 with my father an,
H. H. Parks, the father of John an,
William Parks. Uncle Tim was let
quite a fortune in the east by hi,
father, but he had no business expert
ence and lost his money. He borrow
ed money from his brother and cam;
west to grow up with the country
The first job he got on landing her
was splitting rails in the timber mort
of the John Kane farm. He was no
used to work and could not strike tn
ak twice in the same place, so in Orde
to chop a tree down he would hack al
around it until it was cut about tw
thirds off, he would go from tree t
tree and cut them in the same ma
, ner, then he would wait till a strOn
wind would come and blow theT
down. Uncle Tim tried farming her
/ with Indifferent success. Finally h
borrowed some money i'll the east ?
6 per cent per annum and loaned
, here at 2 per cent per month,
while he could not chop down tres
Y or farm, in time he became shrew
r business man, and was loved bv d"
who knew him. Before he died
amassed a fortune of over $4,000.
= When | commenced blowing corr
h the farmers used a single shovele
n pillow drawn by one horse and wei
n three times in each row. The fir!
= riding pillow for the cultivation of COZ
II that came into Andalusia townshi
O was during the civil war 1t was i
. vented and built by a Lewis II. CASTE
4 who lived out on the prairie near Co
peras creek. 1t was high affair wit
4 wheels as large as buggy wheels,
c worked indifrerently and was final
condemned on account of the POI
n work it turned out and because
. made the horses necks sore. Yet Il
v principle on which it was built w
i, correct John Deere and other plo
II makers took up the idea and the pre-
- cnt corn cultivator is the result.
II First Corn Smelling.
Il The first corn | saw shelled in A
a dalusia township was with horses, al
I'd was done in this fashion: A ring W
l. made on the ground similar to C
III Gus ring; post was set in the cent
" of this span, span of horses wi
he long halter straps was put into t
ring and the halter straps were ii
I'd to the post. Three or four wag
G, loads of corn We're thrown into t
/, ring and then we boys would sta
C. the horses around the ring similar
Id the manner circus horses ira,
ii around the circus ring. In this W
they would tramp the corn off the &C
re When the corn was dry this was n
Id so slow method of sheliing corn
~ it would seem to be-
:, The first sewing machine | ever S;
n, was about so years ago; it was own