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t.adn9I.rvrtniHVwtr.isdVItr.aSamuel Cross OfIBaxterRelatesEarlyHistoryFSettled Ne»r Irm,D f 'mediately to Hi* new Baxter rdteThe first town was located northpresent Town of Bax- t and west of the track*, about theter Had Started.Samuel Cross, 87 year old resident of Baxter and h pioneer set tier near Ira. can tell some real pioneer stories of the early days when he came with his family intothe new country—later to become known as Jasper county.Mr Cross was a lad of 10 years when his father and uncle Beniamin and Jesse Cross, came down the Ohio river in 1857 to Keokuk, lt;roused the Mississippi there, andvicinity of tho lumber yard now. Mr. Cross hauled the first load of lumber from Rhodes to build the blacksmith sh p at Baxter. Hehauled it across country. Ole Wilson's father built it where theRhode prodult; o house H now locat ed.Baxter Pe-toff ice moved i instore at p, \t Postoffice disappeared at about this time, he abandoning his ;tore for other regions. The name of Baxter postoffice, which had b u*n named after him. stuck, however, and so the presentaifcti01h;tlfarted the long trek up across the town is known A Sidney Higgins ppit Pie lands of Towa to a spot tmar where Ira nov stands. They had two yoke of oxen hitched to ,4 A jdc tread wagon. These pulled their belongings through while the if of the family walked. It w as a long n^ige, requiring two weeks to complete the journey.Lived in Log Houle The family moved into a log hous** east of Ira for the first wmter. And as was the custom during those early years, all of •1mm came down with the ague.There as no school in those d, ’ hut the neighbors got to-0 tin !• and orgnnDel one with a v, Van Dyke a? the teacher. The1 ip 1 sat on log slabs and studied v* ;id ng and spelling. School lasted rlt; • oi 1 about three months a year then, ,Mi Cross was quite a young man wsrn the Diagonal railroad came 11 ugh that part of the country, pufHtig old Baxter Postoffiee to rout and establishing first Baxter nd then Ira. It was about the vear 18S2 that the road came *h.ough, and Mr. Cross helped with thi* r idiug, using a team of horses tir.nl it had passed Ira.Baxter Poctoffica H.i ;*r Postoffice moved ira-ran a store in old Baxter for a c; time hut it burin d down in the tl 1890's and that ended the town.The mail route went up one day,past the Pros- homo near ira, on to , -Baxter Postoffice and to Clyde, NN and came back the next making 1* three trip- a week. It followed thedivide down to Newton.nUsed to Drill Soldierstna(hIaivCaptain Thomas, Mr. Cross recalls, used ti drill the Civil War soldiers in tin* early 1880s across the site now occupied by the town of P- ’Shipping hog* v a- a problem m the early days. 1 hen were no railroad on one occasion, Mr. Cross relates, a drove of 7*) hogs was driven overland to Crlnnell when the railroad came that far. It took two days to make the drive, so they would top overnight at ahouse along the wav. The custom-I* ary stopping plae was at Hiatt .i'Mr. Cross can remember Dr. | *Perry Kngle piom-cr Newton doctor, when he plied h' trade all ic over the cun w ... :ni 1 n ’Vtrwas sick much. he comment d, 1 “But I tan renn-mber Mr. Kngle stopping on uu KMh m rasioiK atour house/*i\tl
Newspaper Details
Newton Daily News
Newton, Iowa, US
Fri, Mar 01, 1935
Page 51
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 22 Jan 2019
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