Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-07-19
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HAZEL NUT AND IRONVOOD
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HAZEL NUT AND IRONWOOD
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w. H. H. Barker in the Knoxville Ex-
press: There was but one edible nut
bearing shrub, strictly speaking, found
in Marion county-the hazel Immense
thickets Of hazel. acres in extent, often
extended for miles along the riages,
bordering creeks and streams. A singu
lar feature OF their growth was quite
prominent when they were so amer
OuSly in evidence and before the plow
wiped them out entirely, for at pres
ent not a single one remains this fea-
ture was their first circular form.
standing out all alone from all other
vegetation, save the surrounding prairie
grass
| These thicketS were of all sizes. from
One-half acre to those covering larger
areas. Not even the destructive
prairie fires would wipe them out. In
these thickets, however, were many of
the other smaller shrubs and trees. No
one who has ever eaten the hazel nut
land who in Iowa has not?) can for
get its sweet appetizing flavor. These
nuts could he and were formerly gath
cred by bushels and there was no lin
it, SO plentiful were they that great
numbers Of swine, that wandered where
they will in the pioneer days, literally
fattened on them. The writer has seen
hundreds of acres OF these thickets
ridden down to the ground almost rs
fiat as swath of prairie hay and
stripped to the bone OF every nut
bearing pod.
How large and how high did the
hazel bush grow? In view OF the fact
that 1t is now practically extinct. rec
ord might not be without interest and
value. Several specimens, until with
in the last five years, growing in Clay
township, Marion county, were exactly
fourteen feet in height and proportion
ately as large. But they are gone, and
their like will never be seen again in
all this region.
The only other nut-bearing shrub In
digenous to this locality was the buck
eye, not an edible nut and OF no eco
nomic value, save as ''charm" against
the most prevalent disease, rheuma-
tism, when carried in the pocket by
those who believed in "hOodOOs."
The iron wood, swiftly on it's way to
extinction in this region, Is our hard
lest, toughest Iowa wood. Its location
is found only on rocky, bluff land, and
is in these places exceedingly rare, even
now. 1t seldom reaches the dimensions
of even a small tree, but when it does
lit is gnarled and twisted, having the
appearance Of great age, and the bole
OF the same is not capable Of cleavage.
In pioneer days it held II conspicu-
Gus place. In places it grew in thickets,
something like the hazel, and crowded
out all other grOwths. Here 1t grew tall
and slender, and from this source
alone came almost all the ox-whip
stocks, so much in vogue and 50 neces-
sary in managing the stubborn. OK, that
needful servant, when the wilderness
must be subdued by the huge prairie
breakers or to bring in the caravans OF
new immigrants, even to the gOldfelds
of California. Nothing but irOnwOod
could so we'll fill the bill or stand the
test. The rail splitter land almost ev-
cry pioneer was rail splitter) knew
the value of irOnwOod, Of which the
wooden CLUBS" or wooden wedges We're
made, the only kind that could stand
the battering- ramlike maui that rent
asunder the timbers and fashioned the
old time rail, OF which untold thOus-
ands of miles of fence were made.
The old rail fence, the old OK team,
and the old pioneer have long since
passed on, and it is but fitting that the
ironwood should follow. 1t is not prob
able that an ironwOOd whip-stOck
could be found in all Marion county,
but there are specimens enough left
OF the shrub itself to make all the
CLUBS needed for what rails may
possibly be needed hereafter.