But the island is not Much grain and other of produce which is annually grown in that district. given over entirely to melons and sweet potatoes. produce, small fruits and garden truck have become yearly crops in that vicinity. The first store in Fruitland was owned and operated by James Strouse. The town now has a blacksmith shop, cooper shop, hotel, amusement hall and church, and everything to make a village comfortable and happy. One of the town's chief distinctions is that it has never had a saloon within its limits. Vol. 1-17 CHAPTER XII. THE HUNTSMAN'S PARADISE. GENEVA ISLAND A COLONY OF HUNTERS' COTTAGES-MANY PLACES IN THE VICIN ITY TO HUNT AND FISH-MACKEY WRITES ENTERTAININGLY OF ALL OF THEM -THE OLD GUN MAKER-BOIL COFFEE IN A WASH BASIN-SHOOT PELICANS ON THE LAKE-KEYSTONE GUN CLUB. With the completion of the Drury township (Illinois) levee, which can be readily seen from Muscatine's Water street, all that is left of one of the greatest hunting grounds and most primeval and greatly interesting large tracts or bodies of land in the Upper Mississippi valley passes from its wild native state to surpassing fertile farm lands. When we first knew this tract of land it rivaled in wilderness any region we had ever seen, read or heard of. All along the Illinois bottoms from Drury's Landing to Boston Bay, dense underbrush and timber skirted the Mississippi's edge, which with wild grape vines and rank growth of weeds were for miles and miles well nigh impassable, while skirting the numerous sloughs and lakes further in toward the Illinois bluff land, grew the most luxuriant of bottom grasses, often reaching the height of ten or twelve feet and completely hiding, from a short distance view, men and cattle and even horses with their riders. In the '70s of the last century one main road led from the old Muscatine ferry docks on the Illinois side to the bluffs. This was a typical bottom road with logs rolled into the low or wet spots and a few rudely made bridge crossing streams. Several roads branched from this but it was only a person familiar with the Illinois bottoms who could follow for even a mile these partial roads. The rest of this immense jungle had only cow paths or trails which the hunters followed, crawling under fallen trees and over flat lying logs or parting the tall weeds, rushes or taller grasses with their gun or hands, and should one stray fifty feet from the trail and not know general directions, it was a question, sometimes for hours, whether he could again find it. The older and experienced hunter would part the grasses with his hands to see the sun, or listen with his hand to his ear to catch the distant buzzing of the saws at Hershey sawmill in order to get his bearings. This paradise for the hunter was known to many of our citizens and many others who lived miles from Muscatine. Here are some of the old landmarks dear to a thousand hunters from east to west, from north to south, most charming spots, known to them as the Molis Lake, Lone Elm, the Pin Oaks, Two Points, Blind Man's Lake, Murdock Lake, King Lake, Barrow's Point, Clapp's Island, the Bluff Slash, the Willow Tree, Brent's Slash and Goose Lake, which comprise a chain of lakes and hunting points from the toll road to Copperas Creek. The mouth of the bayou known as the Fourth Slough, was a popular gateway or entrance from the river to these famous shooting grounds. This slough comes into the Mississippi about one mile below the sandy beach that gives color variety to the opposite shore when viewed from the city, known as Nestlebusch's Point. On the south bank of the Fourth Slough, about one hundred yards from the river, was the best landing for skiffs and small craft. This bank furnished the highest grounds, or ridge among the bottom lands, and was a most beautiful camping ground. A GREAT HUNTER. We think no story of hunters and hunting in Muscatine would be complete without including J. P. Walton's tale of James Davis, A Great Hunter and a Very Successful One. We are constrained to tell this story and to borrow some other items from Walton's Pioneer Papers. Although we have no positive evidence that any of the parties we mention as hunters of the '40s and '50s of the nineteenth century hunted in Illinois, beyond the belief that it would be perfectly natural for the very early settlers to cross the river when looking for game. James Davis, according to Mr. Walton, was the first sheriff of Muscatine county. In 1839 and 1840 he resided at a beautiful little village or town called Geneva, located about three miles up the river from the Rock Island passenger station, on what until late years was known as the Colonel Hare farm. This town had five or six houses or cabins, a store, a postoffice and a steamboat landing and rivaled Bloomington in importance. Not a vestige or sign of the town remains today. Mr. Walton says Davis kept the postoffice well supplied with game. We recollect seeing him bring in two bucks with their horns locked so tightly that they were never separated. The larger one had killed the smaller and he in turn fell a prey to Davis' rifle. A's evidence of the plentifulness of game in the '40s, read the following taken from the Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser of January 1, 1842: "Game has never been so abundant in our markets as during the present winter. Quails-by epicures accounted one of the rarest delicacies-from the number brought in have got to be a mere drug, selling at twenty-five and thirty-seven and a half cents the dozen ready for cooking. So, too, the supply of venison and turkeys is greater than usual and prices consequently low. We have noticed but few grouse or prairie fowls in the streets, but this probably is owing to the lowness of the prices paid." In the newly settled town of Bloomington, later Muscatine, in the '40s and '50s money was a scarce article and the hunters used the skins of the various animals which fell to their marksmanship as a medium of exchange. Old timers tell us when an early settler paid the merchant for a small purchase with a coon skin, it was a common sight to see a rabbit or a muskrat given back in exchange. Mr. Walton mentioned an advertisement in the Bloomington Herald of October 26, 1840, in which John Zeigler set forth the merits of his large stock of general merchandise and winds up by saying "all of which will be sold for cash, or exchanged for dry hides, deer skins, etc." Among other hunters of this period the best records all mention the Warfields: Charles A., Major A. O. and their cousin, David R. J. P. Walton says: "David R. Warfield was a man of horses, dogs and guns, kept batch on the classic banks of Mad creek with Benjamin Mathews as master of ceremonies, and enjoyed frontier life hugely. This Benjamin Mathews was our old friend. 'Uncle Ben,' colored. We had a high regard for him in our youth." Andrew J. Fimple was also recorded as a hunter of wild geese, turkeys and ducks in the '40s and '50s. Mr. Fimple was a tailor by trade and one of the first to keep a shop in Muscatine. During the twenty years after the first settlements upon the Mississippi river in this locality, it should be borne in mind the accoutrements of the hunter were rather crude. The flintlock gun was in use and no shot was on the market. The hunter purchased his lead in bars and with the aid of a hand mold manufactured his own leaden missiles. In the latter part of these years and in the early '60s gunsmiths were kept busy changing the flintlock guns, placing tubes in them and attaching the new mechanical arrangement for exploding the percussion cap. An advertisement in the Iowa Territorial Gazette and Advertiser of May 15, 1841, under caption of gunsmithing and lock making, says: "Percussion powder, flints, gun worms, rifle powder, lead and almost every article usually kept in such establishments, kept constantly on hand. L. W. Babbitt." THE OLD GUN MAKER. Among the hunters of the '60s the first name which comes to our mind is that of George Terry, the old gunmaker, the man who made the first big swivel gun. With this gun placed in the bow of his boat and a number of tree branches nailed to the side of the boat he floated down the river looking like a veritable floating island. In this way he approached near enough to wild brant and geese to do great havoc when he turned the swivel gun loose on them. Many of his makes of hunting and carving knives are still in use in Muscatine. Ed Kertendall and Malin Brown were among the first builders of hunting boats and were great hunters. Captain Downer, Noah Fiauk and "Old Man Blough" were famous pilots and ferried the boys across the river and up the different sloughs. "Old Uncle Billy" Parvin, with his extra long rifle and his spectacles had the record for bringing squirrels from the highest trees, while "Grandpa" Chambers, father of the Chambers Brothers, owners of the sawmill, was in the same class. Hiram Gilbert with his brother and Vincent Chambers brought to Muscatine many a fine deer and proudly exhibited it at Graham's corner on Second street. George Sheeley, with his brothers Andrew and "Snider," with their ox team were a close second with interesting exhibitions of freshly killed venison. Ben and William Mull and Lon Fox hunted deer in those days in the |