Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1909-03-25
Ballard Continued

AT one time he had small com
/ bined steam griSt and saW-mill near
his residence. The grist mill part
was not a success: but he sawed con-
4 siderable native lumber from his own
timber. Some OF the ties for the first
street ears at Council Bluffs were
/ sawed at this mill. II went out of
use before his death.
One thing that our old settlers will
remember Mas his fayorite saddle
horse, sold Tige.
Quite a number of the early settlers
lived on his lands or near him, among
whom: Ben Hiatt, The English
Samuel Smith, stephen Campbell,
Colbert Strahl, James Brown and per-
haps others. He owned the finest Sc
lection of land in the County, timber
and prairie, we'll located and watered;
principally in Sections %, 20, 81, 81,
80 and 36, In Oallfield township; also
100 acres of timber in Sections 30 and
81 in Extra townships; and large
tract adjoining in Cass county. These
were embraced in the home place.
Then he had piece of timber in Sec
tion p. Hamlin township. Besides
| these lands he had possessions in Iowa
City; also near Council Bluffs; and
another large place on Indian Creek
| in Cass county.
Much of the home place was in cul-
| tivaton, carried on by tenants or
hired help.
The dwellings and farm buildings
located on different parts of the es-
tate were of the cheapest kind of
board shanties, barely sufficient to
shelter the tenants and stock neces-
sary to cultivate the place He kept
large herds of cattle and hogs: the
latter multiplied and roamed through
| hundreds of acres of timber pastures.
His stock was noted for its fine quail
ty. ltswas not uncommon to see fine
animals on the premises of his neigh
bofs bearing the characteristics of the
Ballard strains. Perhaps their ances-
| tors had shaken hands with the doc
tors fine bred stock. He bought large
| ly of the corn and crops of his tenants.
His estate was little principality
and he partook of the style of the
ancient .feudal barons of the south.
WhileIsurrounded by so many adj
vantages and sosmuch wealth, he was
unpopular with his neighbors, and had
much troublesand difficulty. lie com
| planned of losing many cattle and
hogs by thieves; and to have lost much
timber by treSSpaSserS. Some of these
losses no doubt occurred through the
| dishonesty of his agents and assis-
tlnts (:)
/ remember of riding with him once
from Extra to .Oakfied When near
the latter place we meta man with a
team and load of hogs. The doctor
Immediately stopped and claimed the
hogs. and asked the man what he was
doing with them. He admitted that
they We're the doctors hogs and said
he was delivering to a certain man
near by whom he named. The doe
tor said he had not sold any hogs to
the man in question, and directed the
driver to take them back home and
not to take anymore away without his
order.
Some of his land was fenced with
fine pine board fences.
After he became too old to person
ally look after his estate, for several
years the boards were stolen from his
fences, for miles, and carried away.
| once noticed a barn made of this
kind of lumber, which showed the
marks where the boards had been
nailed to fedce posts, supposed tohaye
been the DOCTORS lumber
The stealing of his stock became so
flagrant that he decided to sell it all.
My father and Benjamin Harris
bought several hundred cattle from
him at that time. The sale was ne
gOulaueQ ana the catlle counted and
put into alcertain lot, to be delivered
a littlellater
On the day of delivery about fifty of
the cattle were missing and no trace
OF them found, except few, claimed
| by another person. In the fall of 1882
it was discovered, where nine of his
fat hogs had been stolen, killed in his
timber pasture and carried away.
The last year of his life, 1928 he
was confined to his bed being over 80
years old did considerable legal
work for him and was frequently at
his home that winter, making leases,
contracts, settling with tenants, etc.
One night two robbers broke open his
front door, entered the house and