Illinois bottoms and at one time caught a fawn on Blanchard's Island, which they sold to Jacob Bowman, the hack man. It lived for a number of years at Bowman's barn.

Another famous deer hunter was Jacob Horr, who kept a baker shop in the neighborhood of George Eichenaurer's cigar store on Second street. "Jake” hung out in front of his store, as a result of his excellent marksmanship, many wild geese, but his "long suit" was wild deer.

Madison Stein, son of John G. Stein, proprietor of the hotel known in early days as the Pennsylvania House, then located at the corner of Chestnut and Walnut streets, delighted in hunting and had in his possession a collection which was captured alive, comprising eagles, wild geese, wolves, coon, prairie chickens and opossum. This collection he offered to P. T. Barnum, but the latter declined the offer.

Captain Fisher, the owner of the steamboat Pearl, which sank at the mouth of Eagle Slough, afterward spent the rest of his life where the boat went down, hunting. Just across from this point is the Walton bar, where the Walton brothers, great geese hunters, bagged their famous piles of geese. John Stark was also a great goose hunter in his day. Clough brothers, all three of them, were famous hunters. One of them still living will even to this day go hunting upon the slightest invitation. The Clough brothers have brought to Muscatine all kinds of game, from snipe to deer.

Colonel William B. Keeler, colonel of the Thirty-fifth Iowa Regiment, was among the nimrods of the '60s. His dignified and military bearing could be seen in company with Charles Draper hunting duck, woodcock and prairie chicken. The colonel today still retains the military bearing and can be seen at the corner of Madison street and Wabash avenue in Chicago in the jewelry store of H. W. Graves & Company, of which he is a partner.

Barney Beil was not only a hunter but also a great factor as the best gunsmith, who knew all the boys, knew their guns and knew their peculiarities. Benjamin Hershey, G. 'A'. Garrettson, Charles Draper, Dr. McAllister, Sr., J. Richardson, William Halstead, Richard and Peter Musser and Major Warfield, with their fine English guns and their spotted dogs, could be seen in these bottoms hunting wild pigeon, woodcock and duck.

C. L. Mull, Sr., and Ben Middleton, with their high leather boots and brown, liver-colored pointers, also hunted here. George Leffingwell, Ben Beach, Amos Schott, Aul Lenhardt, Gal Bitzer, Albert and Charles Barrows, Adam Hettinger, Jake Worst and Andrew Kirsch were famous geese and duck hun

ters.

Among the other hunters of the '60s were Henry Beckman, Michael Braunwarth, Conrad Kranz, J. A. Bishop, Jacob Miller, Julius Molis, Mr. Leffler, John Lantz, Ed Hoch, Joe Berrick, "Butcher" Koehler, Chris Ruckdeschel, George Lamar, Giles Humes, Mr. Painter, Jack Leffingwell, Charles Kessler, F. H. Wienker, Adam Hacker, John Watson, Yates Washburn, Charles Stroupe, Sr., John Ake, Bill Delaney, Ben Brower, Lambert Skinnkle, Henry

Smull, Dr. Walker, Charles Mauck, Johnnie Bowman and brother, Colonel Horton, Fred Dayton, Charles McCampbell and Charles Winnig.

BOIL COFFEE IN A WASH BASIN.

Frank Freeman, the undismayed hunter, has been seen shooting ducks at King Lake on crutches, with a broken leg, with a five by eight inch board nailed to the bottom of the crutch to keep from sinking into soft ground. C. C. Braunwarth hunted at Barrow's Point, with his Parker gun, and rubber boots up to his ears, only a collar button being in sight, having with him his two dogs, Bum-Bum and Major. Charles Fisch with his dog Duke on the opposite point was a familiar sight. "Billy" Musser also shot lots of ducks. Another famous hunter was Captain Johnnie Hoehl with his fighting dog Dan and camping outfit in his sailboat Endyminion boiling coffee in a wash basin with Judge Walter I. Hayes as scullery cook. Jim Wier and Jake Worst could be seen pulling in alongside of the Endyminion with twenty-five wild geese and over a hundred mallard ducks.

Professor Witter spent many days in the Illinois bottoms hunting ducks, always alert for rare specimens for the taxidermist's skill, and studying natural history. Alex Dunsmore was a persistent hunter and says to this day the sight of duck sets him crazy. Johnnie Van Buren's spiel was "take a nip and the next time the ducks will come closer." "Navy" Kranz, better known as George Kranz, used to squat in the mud at Five Points, using a pond lily leaf a la umbrella, and would hide for hours at a time so the wood duck could not see him. John Gorman was a prize winner at glass ball shooting, but always failed at ducks. He never got a feather. Billy Ament, the well known circus owner, often sat all day in a flat boat playing Home Sweet Home on a mouth harp for the ducks.

Will Reeder, now Rear Admiral Reeder of the United States navy, always enjoyed hunting at "good old Muscatine" when on a leave of absence either from Annapolis or when at home after his long cruises. The old boys tell of him falling in while crossing a swollen stream when out with a party of four. They describe his nautical language and ruddy appearance as his head came above the water and he realized the depleted condition of the commissary department.

SHOOT PELICANS ON THE LAKE.

At one time Andy Mull and Will Braunwarth, in company with three others, were hunting ducks at Barrow's Point when a big flock of strange birds came in sight. The birds circled around King Lake and came in range of the hunters. Then all the boys let loose with their breach loaders. The air fairly rained feathers and nearly a dozen pelicans dropped in the lake, one of the boys getting three birds. This Barrow's Point extended almost midway into King Lake and was noted not only as one of the best places for ducks, but also as a place where all of the larger denizens of the air made for when passing north or south in these parts. Many swans have been seen at this point and were a great delight to the hunters as they would circle them for hours, keeping just

out of gun range, always singing that doleful yet sweetly melodious song of theirs. One hunter of this period tells of killing a beautiful specimen of this bird and being haunted until this day with the quaint melody of its death song. Another beautiful bird that at times was quite often seen at this point is the blue and white heron. These birds are prized very highly, for of their plumage secured at maternity time is made "My Lady's aigrette." When studded with diamonds and worn in the hair these feathers are counted the most beautiful adornment a woman can wear, and alas! has caused the extinction of this bird. The Sunday papers of our large cities and the Audubon Society conducted a campaign against the cruel fashion that robs the young herons of their mother bird in order to secure for society dames the proud emblem of the motherhood of the heron to wear in their hair.

We have digressed a little in speaking of the larger birds once found in these hunting grounds. At Barrow's Point the following have been killed: Mallard duck, canvasback, Sprigtail, wood duck (cannon ball or black jack, blue wing teal, green wing teal, spoonbill, butter duck, winter duck, whiffle duck, fish duck, or saw-bill, mud hen and hell diver.

KEYSTONE GUN CLUB.

It is worthy of comment in this article that the very first cultivation of the soil in these bottoms, between the toll road and Copperas creek, the Mississippi river and the Illinois bluffs was done by hunters to supply their tables with vegetables. In 1882 a hunting club, or an association of hunters known as the Keystone Gun Club was formed. They purchased twenty-three acres of land known as Braunwarth's Landing, upon which they built a hunting lodge. In 1883 other buildings were erected and in the spring of that year they started the cultivation of the soil at the very point where now stands the new pumping station at the Drury drainage system. A few years later more ground was purchased, their holdings being increased to one hundred and twenty acres and farming was inaugurated on a larger scale. In recent years this ground has grown over one hundred bushels of corn to the acre. Nearly all this bottom land is capable of doing as well, but these low lands do not excel in corn and wheat but rather in producing cabbage and other vegetables, which should make Muscatine one of the greatest canning localities in the land.

In the years to come it will be hardly possible for the people of this locality to realize that the latter half of the "eighteen hundreds" saw deer in herds of six to ten, and that all along any of the sloughs wolf, beaver, otter, coon, mink, muskrat, fox, squirrel, rabbits, opossum and wild cat would be seen, or that wild geese, duck, brant, swan, pelican, blue and white heron, wild turkey, rail, prairie chicken, quail, wild pigeon and snipe built a part of the year. This article has been confined to but a small portion of the area of the hunting grounds in these bottoms and practically the people we knew, or knew of. Ten times as much could be written should we cover the upper and lower bottoms in this great tract of land and relate of the hunters who have enjoyed hunting over it from Davenport, Rock Island, Monmouth, Aledo, Kewanee, Spring

field, Peoria and Chicago, and who have maintained hunting clubs, some of them to the present day, in these bottoms.

The events of the recent years of the early twentieth century must be left to others, as our guns and hunting outfits have long been laid away, although we fondly take them out to oil once in a while and feel again the old inspiration and remember with pleasure and regret combined the dear old associations. "The call of the wild" will no longer come from the Illinois bottoms opposite Muscatine. That famous and delightful hunting ground will henceforth know the farmer, the plow, the harrow and the reaper far better than the hunter, his boat, his dog and gun, and this is the better, for the richest of soil capable of supporting immense communities of people lies just beyond the river.

CHAPTER XIII.

GERMANY'S CONTRIBUTION.

FROM "DER FADERLAND" CAME MANY TO MUSCATINE COUNTY-THEIR IMPRESS

UPON SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS-FOUNDER OF THE BUTTON INDUSTRY A GERMAN-CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, SOCIETIES OF THEIR FOUNDING—PATRIOTIC, A HOST OF BRAVE SONS FOUGHT FOR THE UNION-THE GERMAN PRESS-BANDS AND BREWERIES.

It appears that most of the early German settlers from the old "fatherland" came to Muscatine county by way of New Orleans and up the Mississippi river by steamboat. Later on, they came by way of Baltimore and New York city. While from 1838 to 1850 quite a number of German pioneers arrived in this county, a much greater number came from 1850 to 1870. But undoubtedly the greatest part of Muscatine's large German population came here in the years following the French-Prussian war. Most of the Germans locating here, hail from Hessen and Hanover. Our citizens of German descent in Muscatine county, as well as elsewhere, are known to be, as a rule, industrious, honest, sociable, and their love of freedom is proverbial. They have done their full share in the upbuilding of thrifty cities and towns, and were largely instrumental in transforming the prairies into beautiful farms and orchards. In common with all other citizens, originally coming here from various countries of the old world, they have shown up true to the land of their adoption, and when the call to arms for the preservation of the Union resounded, they responded in large numbers and gave additional proof of their worth and patriotism on many bloody fields of battle. Muscatine county was no exception, as the reader will find on perusal of the long list of German names of warriors, appearing in this sketch hereafter. In times of peace, too, our citizens of German descent take rank with the best. They are fond of home life and champions of athletics, music and song. This fact will be more clearly revealed in the historical statements regarding the German Turner societies, bands and choirs in Muscatine, appearing in connection with this article.

On account of the limited period of time allotted to the writer for this purpose, it is simply impossible to give a complete and correct statement of the arrival of all the German settlers in Muscatine county prior to 1870, but we have endeavored to secure the names of as many of them as possible, circumstances considered, and trust that the reader may thereby readily notice, in a measure, that our citizens of German descent were and still continue to be a great factor in shaping and maintaining the progressive affairs of Muscatine county.