History of Boone County, IowaThis history of Boone County, of her people and institutions, has been carefully prepared under no little difficulty and many tribulations. The great majority of the pioneers are gone and but a few of those remaining place sufficient reliance upon their memories to venture a positive assertion in relation to the important and interesting events which took place during the formative period of the county; from them no assistance in securing data was obtained. However, the people of this community are fortunate in having still among them such men of sterling worth, intellectual capacity and integrity as C.L. Lucas, of Madrid, and George W. Crooks, of Boone. Their memories seem to be faultless as to facts, and to them Boone County is indebted for the excellence and accuracy of this chronicle of local events. C.L. Lucas prepared many of the chapters herein, in their entirety, including all the townships; Mr. Crooks prepared certain of the articles and furnished a fund of information as a foundation for others. To them the editor and publishers by this token desire to give thanks, and also to numerous other courteous and encouraging citizens of the county, who contributed in any way toward making this work possible.
Table of Contents.
Read the Book - Free Download the Book - Free ( 28.0 MB PDF ) VOLUME 2 (Biographical)
Read the Book - Free Download the Book - Free ( 33.6 MB PDF ) A century ago all that part of the great and beautiful State of Iowa, of which the County of Boone is a part, was practically terra incognita, a vast wilderness, given over by the Almighty to wild beasts, birds of the air and their masters, the Indians, who roamed the plains and forests at will, claiming and securing an existence from the bounteous hand of Nature. Here the deer, buffalo and other fur- bearing animals found a habitat and the main streams gave generously of the palatable fish. The red man had no care for the morrow. No thought came to him that his possessions would ever be disturbed by the paleface. So he continued his dreams. The hunt was his daily avocation, broken in upon at intervals by a set-to with a hostile tribe of aborigines, that was always cruel and bloody in its results and added spoils to the victor and captives for torture. He knew not of the future and cared less. But the time was coming, was upon him, when he was called upon to make way for a stronger and a progressive race of men; when the fair land that was his birthright and his hunting grounds, resplendent with the gorgeous flower and emerald sod, must yield to the husbandman. The time had come for the buffalo, deer and elk to seek pastures new, that the alluvial soil might be turned to the sun and fed with grain, to yield in their seasons the richest of harvests. |