I've always found the Buxton story to be very interesting. At the State fair last year there was a small display with info and some cool items from their semi pro baseball team, the Buxton Wonders
Iowa Gold Rush and other lost History
- Thread starter StClone
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You can still find iron markers that were set to try to mark the border - that is before the border went clear to the Missouri River. The markers are over a century and a half old.
https://iowahighwayends.net/blog/2016/02/sullivans-corner-on-the-iowa-missouri-line/
I think I’d prefer watching the Buxom Wonders.
A famous court case from Mahaska County, from 1971. Lesson: don't booby trap your unoccupied dwelling.
Katko_v._Briney
Briney inherited an old farmhouse in Mahaska County, Iowa, which he had left vacant for the last ten years prior to the incident. He had the house boarded up and placed "No Trespassing" signs around the property. The house was in poor condition and was subject to frequent burglaries and break-ins. To defend the house against intruders, Briney mounted a 20-gauge spring-loaded shotgun in the farmhouse and rigged it to fire when the north bedroom door was opened. The gun was aimed downward so as to shoot an intruder's legs, rather than cause a mortal injury. Briney also covered the bedroom window with steel. A month later, on July 16, 1967, Katko entered the farmhouse with the intent of stealing some old bottles and dated fruit jars that Katko considered antiques. He was aware of their presence because he and a friend had broken into the house two weeks earlier. When Katko entered the bedroom, he tripped the trigger mechanism and the shotgun fired into his legs at point blank range. The gunshot wounds were sufficiently severe to require hospitalization, and Katko sued Briney after his release from the hospital.
Katko_v._Briney
Briney inherited an old farmhouse in Mahaska County, Iowa, which he had left vacant for the last ten years prior to the incident. He had the house boarded up and placed "No Trespassing" signs around the property. The house was in poor condition and was subject to frequent burglaries and break-ins. To defend the house against intruders, Briney mounted a 20-gauge spring-loaded shotgun in the farmhouse and rigged it to fire when the north bedroom door was opened. The gun was aimed downward so as to shoot an intruder's legs, rather than cause a mortal injury. Briney also covered the bedroom window with steel. A month later, on July 16, 1967, Katko entered the farmhouse with the intent of stealing some old bottles and dated fruit jars that Katko considered antiques. He was aware of their presence because he and a friend had broken into the house two weeks earlier. When Katko entered the bedroom, he tripped the trigger mechanism and the shotgun fired into his legs at point blank range. The gunshot wounds were sufficiently severe to require hospitalization, and Katko sued Briney after his release from the hospital.
ha they do, its a pale ale with cucumber. Not sure if I've had that one.
No kidding. Think I'll head over to Three Bridges and do some panning this weekend.
How about this Iowa/Missouri Civil War battle?
http://www.iowacivilwarmonuments.com/cgi-bin/gaarddetails.pl?1210279629~1
In a nutshell the confederates were shelling Athens, Missouri and (possibly accidentally) shelled Croton, Iowa across the Des Moines River. Keokuk militia units moved in and returned fire across the river driving off the confederates. It was the northernmost battle in the entire war.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/4...!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d40.590716!4d-91.691216?hl=en
http://www.iowacivilwarmonuments.com/cgi-bin/gaarddetails.pl?1210279629~1
In a nutshell the confederates were shelling Athens, Missouri and (possibly accidentally) shelled Croton, Iowa across the Des Moines River. Keokuk militia units moved in and returned fire across the river driving off the confederates. It was the northernmost battle in the entire war.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/4...!1s0x0:0x0!8m2!3d40.590716!4d-91.691216?hl=en
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Quite a few people are probably familiar with Antonin Dvorak and his summer in Spillville.
Some believe that his time in Spillville influenced his finishing touches on his "New World Symphony".
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...in-dvorak-composer-iowa-spillville/694711002/
Dvorak's three years in the United States (he returned to Bohemia in 1895) were enormously productive: in Spillville alone a quartet and a quintet, and in New York the Cello Concerto and of course, the great symphony. The idea for his opera, "Rusalka," came most likely from the Iowan water nymph he encountered by accident as she bathed nude in the Turkey River. All this music would have been written with or without America, but it would have sounded nowhere near the same.
from: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/09/arts/dvorak-s-spirit-returns-to-the-iowa-he-loved.html
https://www.thegazette.com/subject/.../time-machine-dvoraks-summer-in-iowa-20170703
Some believe that his time in Spillville influenced his finishing touches on his "New World Symphony".
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...in-dvorak-composer-iowa-spillville/694711002/
Dvorak's three years in the United States (he returned to Bohemia in 1895) were enormously productive: in Spillville alone a quartet and a quintet, and in New York the Cello Concerto and of course, the great symphony. The idea for his opera, "Rusalka," came most likely from the Iowan water nymph he encountered by accident as she bathed nude in the Turkey River. All this music would have been written with or without America, but it would have sounded nowhere near the same.
from: https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/09/arts/dvorak-s-spirit-returns-to-the-iowa-he-loved.html
https://www.thegazette.com/subject/.../time-machine-dvoraks-summer-in-iowa-20170703
Everyone knows about “the day the music died,” but I was surprised to learn about this celebrity plane crash:
https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-death-of-rocky-marciano-an-avoidable-tragedy/
https://www.boxingmonthly.com/stories/the-death-of-rocky-marciano-an-avoidable-tragedy/
Thank you to everyone that has posted something. This is a really interesting thread!
Dillon's Furrow
I learned in college that what is now highway 151, particularly most of the stretch between Dubuque and Cedar Rapids was actually commissioned by President Martin Van Buren in 1839 (Iowa became a territory in 1838 and a state in 1846). R.C Tilghman surveyed the route and hired a Cascade (some sources say Dubuque but he had a business in and was buried in Cascade) man, Lyman Dillon, with his team and a sod busting plow to survey the route and plow a furrow that would mark the road. As I recall, he was given a bonus for each county seat he took the route through on the way. This was referred to as Dillon's furrow and it stretched from Dubuque to Iowa City.
Later a good portion of it was called primary road 28 or the Red X Route. That became part of the original federal highway system in 1925 as a part of US Route 161. Highway 161 was divvied up as parts of 151 and 218 and the 161 name was abandoned.
Dillon's furrow was about 100 miles long and considered the longest of its kind. Remember this was plowed through virgin prairie so this would have been some serious sod busting as the sod would have been measured in thicknesses of feet rather than inches for most of the route.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNJ6T_Dillons_Furrow
https://www.tricountyhistoricalsociety.com/lyman-dillon-military-road.php
http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=MILITARY_ROAD
I learned in college that what is now highway 151, particularly most of the stretch between Dubuque and Cedar Rapids was actually commissioned by President Martin Van Buren in 1839 (Iowa became a territory in 1838 and a state in 1846). R.C Tilghman surveyed the route and hired a Cascade (some sources say Dubuque but he had a business in and was buried in Cascade) man, Lyman Dillon, with his team and a sod busting plow to survey the route and plow a furrow that would mark the road. As I recall, he was given a bonus for each county seat he took the route through on the way. This was referred to as Dillon's furrow and it stretched from Dubuque to Iowa City.
Later a good portion of it was called primary road 28 or the Red X Route. That became part of the original federal highway system in 1925 as a part of US Route 161. Highway 161 was divvied up as parts of 151 and 218 and the 161 name was abandoned.
Dillon's furrow was about 100 miles long and considered the longest of its kind. Remember this was plowed through virgin prairie so this would have been some serious sod busting as the sod would have been measured in thicknesses of feet rather than inches for most of the route.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMNJ6T_Dillons_Furrow
https://www.tricountyhistoricalsociety.com/lyman-dillon-military-road.php
http://www.encyclopediadubuque.org/index.php?title=MILITARY_ROAD
The 32 saloons doesnt surprise me for back then. In the 1800s, alcohol consumption peaked out at around 7 gallons of pure alcohol per capita per year nationally. The average today per capita is 2 gallons. People drank a ton back then
"Four years after the case was decided, Briney was asked if he would change anything about the situation. Briney replied, 'There's one thing I'd do different, though: I'd have aimed that gun a few feet higher.' "
Supposedly a member of my grandpa-in-law's (is that a thing?) family played for the baseball team and someone still has a jersey someplace. Could be just a rumor though.
We visited the Buxton cemetery and also some of the leftover buildings. That is a really interesting piece of Iowa history.
Lennox. I have a friend who lives in an area named for a college (Rutherford College, NC) which no longer exits. I got interested in the whole of closed colleges and came to find Lennox among the Iowa schools closed: https://www.lostcolleges.com/lenox-college
There is a curious story within the Holly story:
The Strange Case of Buddy Holly's Final Pair of Glasses
http://mentalfloss.com/article/76207/strange-case-buddy-hollys-final-pair-glasses
