Conservation Resources Lig-Free® Type I P 629 .E7 U8 Copy 1 m The City of Estherville • WiTrznj). T-^'Oa^A: Items of Interest... JANUARY. 1904 I^W ,(7 To know that which before us lies In daily life is the prime wisdom. — Milton. 'T has been suggested that a gathering together of some of the more or less important data with regard to Estherville affairs might prove interesting both to ourselves and to the resident farmers of the vicinity to whose liberal patronage the city is so largely indebted. Numerous facts and basis of estimates have been gathered from the Federal Census of 1900 and other reference works in our public library; from the state library at Des Moines; from the Boston statisuican, Edward Atkinson, and from the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of x^griculture at Washington. Man}^ of our towns- people have also contributed valuable informa- tion not otherwise obtainable. Their kindness and the assistance of L. L. Bingham in prepar- ing the material for publication, is gratefully acknowledged. Lookisi^ Backward. The winter of 1880 was not overly encour- aging to the 138 inhabitants of the village. Prosperity seemed to be smiling- more kindly on the thriving towns north and scmth, for they had railroads, while we were still obliged to team-ireight and stage it for 25 miles down the river before boarding the ears at Emmetsburg. Even Spirit Lake was unjustly boasting of double Estherville's population, and many of the prominent traders and professional men of the booming burgs about were soliciting Emmet county patronage in Frank Davey's ably edited Northern Vindicator. The ox teams had not yet brought the lumber from Sherburn for the first Estherville church— the Methodist. The county seat had been carried to the then prom- ising, new and centrally located rival town of Swan Lake, where the early advent of the Northwestern railroad from Algona was fondly expected to put an eternal quietus to Esther- ville's boast of a speedy recapture of the kid- napped seat of political authority. But "he laughs best wdio laughs last" and today our wide-awake, pushing, successful city, railroad center and county capitol, has outstripped her old rivals and is easily the foremost in this sec- tion of the state. Population. If you will ask Harry or Mable, whichever is doing that part of arithmetic this term, to work out the following problem in proportion: The enumeration of children of school age in 1900 (1,217) is to the population in 1900 (3,237) as the enumeration of children of school age in 1903(1,390) is to the population iu 1903, I think the answer will be 3,697, or practically 3,700, as the approximately correct population for this year. During the 10-year census period, 1890 to 1900, while the population of the state was in- creasing 17 per cent., Des Moines 24 per cent., Algona 40 per cent., Emmetsburg 48 per cent.. Spirit Lake 56 per cent, and Spencer 65 per cent.. Estherville easily distanced them all with a growth of 119 per cent. If the comparison were made for a 20-year period the showing would be yet more remarkable — for instance a 2245 per cent, gain for Esther vnlle to one of 179 per cent, for Emmetsburg. City's Wealth. The value of the various properties owned by the city — electric light and water works plant and distributing systems, public parks, library building, fire company equipment, real estate by the river, etc., may be estimated as $80,000.00. If the value of all school property in the city, buildings, sites and equipment, were added, this estimate would be materially in- creased; but technicall}^ the school property be- longs to the district, and that includes the town- ship. Some idea of the fairly satisfactory con- dition of private interests may be gained from the fact of the present assessed valuation of $608,829.00, when it is remembered that the assessed valuation is but one-fourth of the offi- cial valuation and that the official valuation is often 10 to 25 per cent, short of the market value. City's Debt. The council's published report showed a total municipal indebtedness of $37,558.50, the 1st of April 1903 — enough to be sure, but only $10.15 per capita, while Sioux City carries a debt of $22, Omaha $26, Minneapolis $28 and St. Paul $48 per capita. Owing to the careful administration of city affairs by the present council, the debt as reported last spring" now shows a material reduction. Considering- the value of the city's publicly owned property, its debt situation is about that of the buyer of a well improved farm who has paid over half the purchase price. Taxes. Suppose you are the owner of a snug little home which you wouldn't care to sell for less than $1,250, but which the assessor and board of review placed conservatively at $1,000 as the official valuation. One-fourth of this, or $250, would be the assessed valuation and on the basis of the 69 mill levy on which we paid taxes last year, your payment to Treasurer Peterson was $17.25. Of this amount $1.00 went to the state, $3.40 to the county, $5.35 to the school board and $7.50 to the city. Some of the items were county bridge, 25 cents; county school fund 25 cents; poor 25 cents; insane 12i cents; soldier's relief 2i cents; roads 25 cents; teachers $3. 57i; electric lights $1.25; street improvements $1.00 and library 75 cents. Then if you were near enough to the hydrants for fire protection, you paid an extra 5 mills, or $1.25, to the water works fund. This year's 27 mills municipal levy should bring into the treasury during- 1904, $16,438.38, aside from the water tax, which will be something over $2,000. Fire . When the wierd, piercing, powerful, siren fire whistle rouses us from midnight slumbers, it is a comfort to know that an ever ready and well organized company of 46 volunteer firemen, two 125- horse power boilers, a 500,000 gallon steam pump, 1,800 feet of hose and all the water in the Des Moines river between here and Lake Shetek are read}^ for the fray and will make short work of the red-tongued destroyer. The only compensation the firemen receive is ex- em. ption from poll tax and $1.00 to each member who answers to roll call after the victory. If, however, a fake alarm has been turned in, or the fire has been put out before they arriv^e, they have to content themselves v/ith the exercise of the run and go without the dollar. It cost $616.19 to maintain the ^ve department last year. Water. The city's water is forced b}^ direct pressure through the 18,480 feet of distributing mains, wliich foi'iii a net work under our streets to the 23 iiydrants, the drinking fountain and the 156 connections of private users. If the total amount for the year were brought in tank cars from Spirit Lake, it would take a long train load every day, with a frequent extra, to supply us. Lidht. One luxury that the city indulges in is its excellent lighting service. Comparatively few places of the size Estherville provide their streets with 88,000 candle i30wer illumination, and many cities of far larger population content themselves with less, affirming they cannot afford such light as ours. Marshalltown and Ottumwa for instance, furnish their streets with but 14-candle power per inhabitant, while we furnish 23 — over 60 per cent. more. And then our meter rate to private consum- ers for their upwards of 5,000 incandescent lights is but 10 cents, while 15 cents is very common and in many cities of the state the rate is 20 cents. This too while we are paying near- ly double the price per ton for coal. If we con- tented ourselves with as little public light as some cities, could buy our coal as cheap, and would charge our citizens as much for the cur- rent they use, as is demanded elsewhere, our water works and electric light indebtedness would speedily be liquidated and a handsome revenue turned into the city treasury. Schools. $18,500.00 was the amount expended during the last fiscal year for the maintenance of our public schools. The. enrollment probably reach- ed 925, giving each of the 21 teachers an aver- age of 44 pupils. Considering that the school item is much the largest on our tax roll and of how far higher than financial importance are the character formation and mental training of our citizens of tomorrow, it is remarkable how little interest many of us take in school elec- tions and how uninformed we please to remain with regard to the school board's administration of the important interests with which we en- trust them. Post Office. Postmaster Whelan reports a total of 13 resident employes of the postal service, bring-- ing to the city from Uncle Sam's treasury, an annual salary item of $11,000.00. During- the year we have registered 3,419 pieces of mail matter, have purchased 4,809 money orders of a value of $22,215.28, and received from the postoffice $31,330.95 in payment of the 4,142 orders which the mail broug-ht to us — a balance in the town's favor of nearly enough to pay our $10,077.97 postag-e bill. That means a lot of letters and is indicative of our intelligent inter- est in persons and affairs outside the city. Six- teen mails are received and dispatched daily. Library. When in 1881, after much planning and many socials and picnics, for revenue mainly, 20 books were purchased and placed on Mi's. Frankie Barber's parlor table, as the nucleus of a public library, the workers little dreamed of the elegance of the commodious structure, which, thanks to Mr. Carnegie, now houses the multi- plied harvest of their early sowing. For the year ending Jan. 1st, 1903, there were borrowed from the library for reading at home, 12,856 books and 17,063 persons visited the rooms. With the increased use since moving into the new buikling, that record will doubtless be greatly exceeded during the coming tw^elve months. In addition to the circulating* and reference departments, there are reading tables supplied with two daily papers, 11 weeklies and 22 magazines. All residents of the city are en- titled to free use of the books and current read- ing matter, subject of course to the rules of the board of trustees, and persons living outside the city are welcome to make use of the library when in town, but are charged a fee of 5 cents each for books to take to their homes. Biirths and Deaths. Last year the stork brought to various ex- pectant home nests about town, 56 interesting new residents. During the same twelve months 38 of our towns-people took passage with the sombre boatman for other shores. This mor- tality of but 10 to each thousand of inhabitants is extremely low and marks Estherville as one of the most healthful of localities. Fifteen to twent}^ deaths to the thousand are not uncommon in the eastern states and from that up to 45 at Shreveport, La. Even at Los Angeles the death rate is 18, 80 percent, greater than Estherville, and at San Diego, 22i, 125 per cent, greater. Our medium humidity, medium temperature and medium altitude explain in part the healthful- ness of this vicinity. Estherville is 158 feet hig-her tlian the hig-hest point in Indiana and nearly 300 feet above the tip top of Illinois. Banking. It's banks are the heart of the city's life. In and out flows the golden current of its wealth, vitalizing and keeping in healthful ac- tivity all the members of the civic body. The Hon. Howard Graves' original :S510,000 bank has grown with the town and others have been or- ganized until now the combined capital of our six banking houses is $225,000.00, and the de- posits have increased from $15,000.00 to $757,- 100.00. Railroads. Next to the quantities and values of farm products, listed elsewhere, the most important contributors to the city's interests are our rail- roads with their five lines reaching out in as many directions, busy with outward bound and incoming" freightage and travel. Their number of resident employes naturally varies somewhat at different seasons of the year, from 250 to 395, and their monthly pay checks from $12,000 to $16,000. The city has reason to appreciate that cash item of $165,000.00 per year. The execu- tive council at Des Moines fixes the assessed valuation of railroad property in the state. That in Esther ville was placed at $18,615.00 for 1903 and brought to the schools $398.36 and to the city $651.52. A Few Bills. It will be at least of passing interest to note the relative draft on the domestic wallet of a few of our aggregate annual expenditures as tabulated on another page — for instance 20 per cent more for the comfort we derive from our tobacco than for the education of our children. Business Opportunities* A first-rate brick and tile factory is assured. We have abundant water for a large canning factory and a paper mill, and water power to turn the wheels in an up-to-date wood working plant and sash factory. The unusually large number of thriving towns reached daily by local freight makes this an admirable distributing- point, as our wholesale implement, grocery, creamery supply and fruit houses bear witness. Other lines would have the same advantages. Then Estherville needs a mammoth creamery to centralize the butter industry for 50 miles around and a good, large, well equipped machine shop. If some bright citizen could hit on an inexpensive method of getting the aluminum out of the clay hereabout, he would have a bonanza, for there is enough on each quarter section to equal the total annual United States production 6,000,000 pounds for 50 years and to make each acre yield 1600,000.00 at present prices. Number? Until very recently we managed to live quite comfortably without the convenience of the telephone. Now-a-days if the city wire transmitted conversation of a day were crowd- ed into the space of a single room, it would be equal to a boiler-shop and sewing society com- bined. Then we talk on an average, 50 times a day with out of town people. This costs us per- haps 12,325.00 a year, for they pay half the time, and with our bill of $3,732.00 for the rent- al of the 268 'phones here in town, makes an annual total conversational expense of $6,057.00 — and this is a country dedicated to free speech. Fraternal Insurance. Complete data was not readily obtainable, but from the figures furnished by twelve local insurance lodg-es, it would appear that the yearly amount sent out of town in carrying- the policies of their 738 members is something over $11,700.00. Possibly an equal amount goes to the old line companies. Church and Lod^e. In comparing the local organizations it must be remembered that usually a person holds membership in but one church, while a lodge man may be a confirmed "jiner", pay dues to several, and be counted as many times. The following figures are subject to correction: — Membership in the ten protestant and Catholic churches of the city, 1,539; membership in twenty-five civic societies, 1,743. Annual church incidental expenses, $1,932. Civic society annual expense and benefits, $4,328.00. The churches pay their pastors $7,280.00 per year. Women's Clubs. The various departments of the Woman's club, and the North Side, Ladies' Literary, Search Light, Tea Cup, Bon Ami, D. D. D., and K. K. K. clubs, as well as the P. E. O., and possibly other exclusively femenine organiza- tions of whose existence the writer has not been informed, are evidence of broadening- interests and an intellectual activitv that refuses to be satisfied with the run-in-and-gossip, and charact- eristically aimless social life of ye olden times. Conclusion. So runs the tale. Take it all in all we have a city to be proud of and to enjoy living in, and the limit to whose possibilities still lies away in the future. It is ambitious, progressive, self- reliant and successful, because we make proper use of its natural advantages and are somewhat that way ourselves. We scrap a little occasion- ally, to be sure, — enough to keep mentally keen, but find qualities to admire in the other fellow after all. We are after the dollar of course, but not first, last and all the time, for we realize that life means more than cash, — helping our neighbor enjoy the journey for instance, giving him a lift at the hard places, and seeing that the metal of our own character rings true. Estherville's Mayors. DR. E. H. BALLARD M. L. ARCHER J. H. BARNHART A. W. DAWSON E. J. WOODS E. E. HARTUNG A. O. PETERSON E. J. BREEN MACK J. GROVES Some of Our Aiiiiiia! Expenditures. Bread and Cereals $48,100.00 Meat 44,000.00 Tobacco 22,200.00 Butter 18,870.00 Boots and Shoes 18,520.00 Schools 18,500.00 Sugar . . 14,800.00 Poultry and Eggs 13,650.00 Milk 13,505.00 Coffee 10,878.00 Potatoes 6,475.00 Tea 1,391.00 Salt 1,110.00 A Year's Results From Emmet County's Fertile Acres. Compiled from Government Reports and Expressed in Car Loads. Of course Only a Part of the Quantities Here Given Was Sliipped, Mucii Beiu^ Used at Home 1 car of Wool 9 cars of Butter 27 cars of Flax 34 cars of Egg-s 110 cars of Potatoes 219 cars of Wheat 5] 2 cars of Milk 546 cars of Barley 598 cars of Oats 2156 cars of , Corn 5000 cars of Hay 9212 cars in all, or 230 trains of 40 cars each. VALUES IF ALL HAD BEEN SOLD Corn ; $ 539,080.50 Cattle, Hog-s and Sheep 436,784.00 Hay 242,680.00 Oats 201,811.50 Dairy Products 142, 107.00 Barley 136,512.00 Wheat 87,516.00 Poultry 50,275.00 Eg-g-s 44,913.60 Potatoes 36,600.00 Flax 20,560.00 Wool 5,514.00 Total, $1,944,353.60 "ffN compiling and presenting this little work, the publisher has of necessity been com- pelled to treat all matters briefly. Those de- siring additional information on any of the mat- ters herein treated, will be cheerfully furnished the same by addressing, FRANK P. WOODS, ESTHERVILLE, lOWA. THE IOWA SAVINGS BANK OF ESTHERVILLE. IOWA CAPITAL, - - $50,000.00 SURPLUS, - - - $10,000.00 BOARD OF DIRECTORS: E. J. Breen Jno. Amundson, Jr. L. R. Woods P. S. Converse C. M. Brown Mack J. Groves C. C. Stover E. E. Hartung- Frank P. Woods OFFICERS: E. J. Breen, Frank P. Woods, President Cashier Mack J. Groves, F. W. Converse, Vice-President Assistant Cashier Interest Paid on Deposits. Farm Loans Made. Accounts Solicited. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 016 086 519 2( TO hold the same views at forty as we hold at twenty is to have been stupefied for a score of years, and take rank, not as a prophet, but as an unteachable brat, well birched and none the wiser. A LL who have meant ^ o o d work with their ■*^ whole hearts, have done ^ood work, although they may die before they have time to si^n it. Every heart that has beat strong and cheerfully has left a hopeful impulse behind it in the world, and bettered the tradition of mankind. —ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.