depth of the pit is limited to about four feet. The clay is spaded from the bank and hauled to the works in two-wheeled carts. The product is of a high class and the local demand large. A considerable portion of the output is shipped into Mason county.

Splendid varieties of blue and yellow clay are found near Sheffield, from which all sizes of tile are made.

CHAPTER VI

franklin county erected and organized—selection of the seat of government—effort to make maysville the county seat—early proceedings of the county court.

Up to the convening of the Third General Assembly at Iowa City, December 2, 1850, the greater part of Iowa was unorganized territory, and as far as the records go it appears that no white man had entered the confines of Franklin county until August, 1849, when James M. Marsh came here to run township lines. He was assisted by William M. Dean and N. P. Cook, chainmen; B. H. Springer, flagman; James Casteel, axman. The work was finished in about one month. Certain of the townships were subdivided into sections in October, 1849, by John G. McDonald, deputy surveyor, presumably of Hardin county. His work consisted of sectionizing township 90, ranges 19, 20, 21 and 22, which now comprise the civil townships of Osceola, Grant, Lee and Oakland. There was then a hiatus. of several months. During June, July, August and September, 1851, Alonzo Shaw marked out the section lines of Reeve, Geneva and Ingham townships. In 1852, John T. Everett surveyed into sections Hamilton, Marion, Richland, Ross, Clinton, Scott and Wisner townships. In the same year Charles Gilliam subdivided into sections townships Morgan and West Fork.

franklin county created

At the adjourned session of the Third General Assembly, in the winter of 1851, fifty counties were created out of a vast territory belonging to the state, and among them was Franklin. The act was approved by Stephen Hempstead, Governor of the state, January 15, 1851, and on that day this county was born.

The boundary lines of the several counties erected by the act of 1851 were set forth in distinct terms in the legislative measure. That part of the act relating to Franklin reads as follows:

"Section 12—That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county, which shall be called Franklin, to wit: Beginning at the northwest corner of township 93 north, range 18 west, thence west on the line between 93 and 94 to the northwest corner of township 93 north, range 22 west, thence south on the line between ranges 22 and 23, to the southwest corner of township 90 north, range 22 west, thence east on the line dividing townships 89 and 90 to the southwest corner of township 90, range 18 west, thence north to the place of beginning."

Franklin county stands fifth from the Mississippi and seventh from the Missouri river in the third tier of counties from the Minnesota line. The county lies between Cerro Gordo and Hardin counties to the north and south respectively; while Butler and Wright counties form the east and west boundaries. In outline it is square and contains sixteen standard sized townships. It has an area therefore of 576 square miles, or 368,640 acres.

the county is organized

When the county of Franklin was created there were not enough inhabitants within her borders to warrant the formalities of organization for civil or judicial purposes. Hence, Franklin was attached to Hardin county and later to Chickasaw county. In July, 1855, the county judge of Chickasaw issued an order for the holding of an election in Franklin county and on the 5th day of August, 1855, forty-eight male residents of the county, of legal age, met at the house of James B. Reeve, in what is now Reeve township, and cast their ballots for the first officials of the county, and by that act completed the organization of the new civil entity. The result of the election showed that James B. Reeve was the choice for county judge; Isaac Miller, treasurer and recorder; Dr. S. R. Mitchell, clerk of courts; Solomon Staley, sheriff; Henry Shroyer, school fund commissioner; John I. Popejoy, assessor; H. P. Allen, surveyor; Q. A. Jordan, prosecuting attorney; C. M. Leggett and J. Jones, justices of the peace.

After the election John Mitchell, who was one of the election judges, took the returns to Bradford, the county seat of Chickasaw county, and the newly elected judge and treasurer went all the way to Davenport, there to secure books and blanks to be used in the business of the county.

The formality of inducting the various officials into office devolved on the sheriff, Solomon Staley. That officer having been sworn to do his duty by the presiding judge at Bradford, received the official oaths of his confreres and thus qualified them for their new and somewhat difficult positions. The sheriff also copied and certified to the new treasurer the assessment levied against Franklin county by Judge Ellis Parker of Hardin, and thus the new bailiwick began its career.

For business purposes the county was practically in embryo. The officials had no one near to instruct them in their duties. Each one had been supplied with a record book and a few blanks. There was not, as a matter of course, a building for county purposes, so that the public business was transacted at the homes of the officials, but mainly at the house of the pioneer settler and judge, James B. Reeve. The Reeve home became the court house and at times the family had little space left in which to turn around, as the settlers gathered there in numbers and filled every inch of the log cabin.

selection of the county seat

It does not appear that the appointment of commissioners to select a seat of government for Franklin county was made by the Legislature. This duty therefore devolved upon Judge Cave J. McFarland, who chose Dr. Adam T. Ault, M. M. Trumbull, of Butler county, and J. D. Thompson, of Hardin, to perform that office; not, however, without some show of dissatisfaction on the part of those most interested in having the matter properly and impartially arranged. It appeared to the settlers, by the arbitrary manner in which the commissioners were appointed and the appearance of what was then known as "land sharks," that they were to be made the victims of a county seat ring and that if possible the county's capital city would be located without consulting their wishes or best interests. This was made all the more certain when it became known that Thomas B. Abel, of Marshall county, a man of consummate business acumen and shrewdness, had entered into an agreement with William Loughridge, of Oskaloosa, and a man named Farner, whereby they planned to control the situation. Abel owned a tract of land near the present site of Hampton and with the persons just mentioned, acquired several hundred acres in other parts of Reeve township. It later developed that Judge McFarland