Pioneer Life in Iowa–Clayton County circa 1845

A delightful description of early days in Iowa by a witty teller. The text is unedited from a 1936 reprinting of a speech given in 1876 in Strawberry Point, Iowa, regarding the early history of Cass Township and Strawberry Point, Clayton County, Iowa, and giving a sense of the experience of being an early settler in untamed territory.

“In those days we had a County Assessor. Once a year or once in two years he would come in this township, stay overnight with some settler, who would readily give him a list of the property in the town­ship belonging to the other settlers, and if he thought any of them de­served taxing he would put them down.” 

Link–Pioneer Story–Cass Township