Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-02-27
E. ]. CURTIN GETS BIG
WR<uP IN CHICAGO
Sundays Pap, 'pntains Lengthy
Article abou, e Curtin and
His Father. 4 Late
John Cur.
BOTH MEN HAVE
OWNED MANY GOOD HORSES.
Tells About Billy BarfOOt, Famous
Horse Mr.. Curtin Sold for $4,000
Which Was Thought Good
Price Those Days

The following article which appear
ed in the Chicago Tribune of Sunday
will be read with much interest by
our readers. 1t gives little history
of the activities Of the late John Cur
tin and his son E. j., of this city,
who has owned many good horses.
BY w. H. GOCHER.
In 1857 John Curtin disposed of
his business IL Angelica, county, N.
Y, and turned his face toward the
setting sun. With a drove of horses
and their equipment he aimed at
Chicago and hit Decorah, Ia. He
went there to sell, but remained to
to buy and grow up with the country.
The star of the state had been shin
ing for eleven years in the group on
Old Glory when he crossed the Miss
issippi river and while the red skin
ned chiefs no longer smoked their
pipes on the clay hills near Council
Bluffs, the ink on the Indian bill of
sale to President Pierce for the site
of Omaha across the Missouri was
scarcely dry.
While John Curtin could not be
rated as pioneer, with the French
Canadian Julian Dubuque, whose
fort on the Mississippi bank fastened
his name on one of the fairist cities
in Iowa. he dates back to the tall
grass days, in the horse business,
while his son Ed has kept the ball
rolling up to date
Everybody Knows Ed.
Every one in Iowa knows Ed Cur
tin, and while not a sage by any
means, he is identified with such
larg. number of enterprises, many of
which have been wished on him by
his friends, that he is forced to keep
a card index in order to appear at the
proper place at the right time. He
is an officer of two national banks in
North Dakota, as well as president of
a bank il Decorah, while his friends
report that he is the president of the
Great Western circuit, the only rival
of the Grand circuit, is responsible
for the brand of racing at the Iowa
state fair as we'll as the county fair
at his home town, AID also pays the
bills on a stable of race horses that
are aired annually on the half mile
tracks of the Mississippi valley, or
on the larger ova.ls if they develop
enough speed.
Trotters, PAGERS, aid hoppled birds
all look alike to Ed Curtin. The
only question that he asks his horses,
when they are fit, is to race for the
money or sell for the high dollar il
true western style. Win or lose, he
keeps them going, and if few of
them come home limpi1g or wheez-
ing it is a very easy matter to find
others that can make another bid for
the pot of gold at the end of the rain
bow.
Some Early Day Stuff.
In the early days the Curtin fam
lily daIbbled in Indian ponies, light
drivers, and Morgans, there being
strain OF Vermont blood somewhere,
although at times it was rather hard
to find. Those were also the days
when trainers had to sit up by can
delight trying to devise coltrivances
that would make speedy horse go
on trot and when owners were fore
ed to lay awake nights planning ways
and means to pay the bills, until a
stranger came from the city looking
for a prospect. II the early seven
ties il horse took hop, skip, and
a jump occasionally, nothing was
said, so long as he kept on a trot
part OF the way, even if it was of the
dot and carry variety, but it required
more than hand picked judges'to cor
vince buyer that he could win with |
q wild eyed one that persisted in |
running at least quarter of a mile |
in each heat.
The head OF the Curtin family was |
we'll aware of this fact when farmer |
named Barefoot drove into Decorah |
early in 1872 with horse that he |
considered fair prospect. He look
ed him over carefully and found the
prize package was close made 6 |
year old black gelding Of the Morgan
TYPE and also true bred one, as he