DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 438 240 SO 031 550

AUTHOR Frese, Millie K., Ed.TITLE A Treasure Hunt through History.INSTITUTION Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City.ISSN ISSN-0278-0208PUB DATE 1999-00-00NOTE 34p.; Theme Issue. published quarterly. For other issues on

Iowa history, see ED 417 095-096.AVAILABLE FROM Goldfinch, State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa

Avenue, Iowa City, IA 52240-1806 (subscription: $10 for 4issues). Tel: 319-335-3916.

PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) Guides ClassroomLearner (051)

JOURNAL CIT Goldfinch: Iowa History for Young People; v21 n2 Win1999/2000

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Community Involvement; *Cultural Enrichment; Elementary

Education; Heritage Education; *Local History; MaterialCulture; Primary Sources; *Social Studies; *State History

IDENTIFIERS Historical Background; *Iowa

ABSTRACTThe "Goldfinch" is a magazine that introduces young children

to different aspects of Iowa history. Each issue contains articles to providein-depth knowledge about Iowa. The theme of this issue is searching throughhistorical sources, such as letters, diaries, manuscripts, newspapers,clothing, old buildings, time capsules, statistics, and photographs. Thearticles include: (1) "Digging for History"; (2) "Buried Treasure!"; (3)

"Iowa's Biggest Time Capsule; (4) "A New Century in the News"; (5) "A Pieceof History? or a 'Goldfinch' Mystery"; and (6) "Making History on a FamilyFarm." Activities include: (1) "Create Your Own Time Capsule!"; and (2) "HowCan Math Help Me Learn about History?" A cookie recipe taken from a student'sgreat-great-great grandmother's recipe book concludes the issue. (BT)

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

CO)kr)tr)

C4f)OO

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)

4!

A Treasure Hunt Through History.

The GoldfinchIowa History for Young People

Volume 21, Number 2Winter 1999/2000

PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE ANDDISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS

BEEN GRANTED BY

D. Gore,

2

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCAT AL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

This document has been reproduced asreceived from the person or organizationoriginating it.Minor changes have been made toimprove reproduction quality.

Points of view or opinions stated in thisdocument do not necessarily representofficial OERI position or policy.

vo,

Iowa History for Young People Volume 21, Number 2 Winter 1999/2000 $3

3

:X/r-vig4.02T6.W.Ani4 7117-5,44417 iKtpteTy-1Goldie: Wild Rosie, we need to get our tools together for this adventure! Well need a

shovel, a flashlight, maybe a metal detector Oh, and well need a super secret

treasure map that shows us exactly where to dig...

Wild 17-06i0: What are you talking about, Goldie? Shovels? Maps?

Goldie: This issue of The Goldfinch is taking us on a treasure hunt, right? How can we

find the treasure without the right tools?

Wild gosie: Hang on to your tail feathers, Goldie.

I think you may have misunderstood...

Goldie: Gold! Silver! Jewels! Well be rich!

Kensett0

Sioux cite,Fortdoclge

Iowa Falls

OGrand junction

Guthrie Center D2Moines

Decorah

Cascade

°LostCora Wale

Ka City

Sal0 em 5u

D©mark

Eddri Ile0

ati

6Desiv qeaievg,Join Wild Rosie and Goldie as they dig through Iowa history insearch of buried treasure. The Iowa map on this page showssome of the places we'll visit. Rosie is rightit's a different kindof treasure you'll be seeking. This issue of The Goldfinch will bethe "map" to help you begin your search. Start digging!

ranee 42 The Goldfinch

Volume 21, Number 2 Winter 1999/2000

Educational PressAssociation of America

Member

Winner of a 1998Parents' Choice

Silver Honor Award

EDITOR: Millie K. FresePUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR: Shaner Magalh5esPUBLICATIONS ASSISTANT: Susanne Leibold

CONSULTING EDITOR: Matt Schaefer, SpecialCollections Assistant, State Historical Societyof Iowa, Iowa City.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Katherine House,Emily Johnson, and Jessica Myers.

EDUCATORS' ADVISORY BOARD: Carol Dighton,West Delaware Middle School, Manchester;Janice L. Gobble, Danville Elementary School,Danville; Valerie Kreutner, Black HawkElementary School, Burlington; and Clen A.Lincpin, Fair Oaks Middle School. Fort Dodge.

STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD: Ben Butler, CedarRapids; Stephen Frese, Marshalltown; EmilyJohnson, Fort Dodge; Jessica Myers, Coralville;and Katie Zittergruen, Van Home.

SPECIAL THANKS to Joe Anderson, director ofhistory and interpretation at Living HistoryFarms, Urbandale. Also, thanks to HowardHolden, deputy state statistician with IowaAgricultural Statistics, U.S. Department ofAgriculture, Des Moines, for providinginformation for the activity on pp. 28 and 29.

COVER: Treasure chest drawing by Kyle Hansen,Solon High School. Typography by Sarah Frese.

CREDITS: All photos SHSI (Iowa City) unlessotherwise noted. The Characters Wild Rosie andGoldie created by SHSI exhibit designer JerryBrown.

The Goldfinch (ISSN 0278-0208) is published by theState Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue, IowaCity, Iowa 52240.1806 (319/335-3916). Second-classpostage paid at Iowa City, Iowa.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Carol Carey,subscriptions coordinator, The Goldfinch, StateHistorical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue, Iowa City,Iowa 52240-1806. m State Historical Society of Iowa,2000. No portion of The Goldfinch may be reproducedwithout prior permission except for classroom use.

The Goldfinch is also available on cassettetape for those with visual impairments,

physical disabilities, and learning disabilities. Formore information contact the Iowa Department forthe Blind, 1-800-362-2587. Or write to the IowaDepartment for the Blind Library, 524 4th St.,Des Moines, Iowa 50309.

grmigggizDear Readers

elk Dear Diary

36 History Make ;swistevy s 2.146-rs

vichnif4z16 Make Your Own Time Capsule!

'rgnibwz6)4 Digging for History

-le Buried Treasure!

ell Iowa's Biggest Time Capsule

Vel. A New Century in the News

A Piece of Historyor aG-eiciftqcl? tifys4evyi

(R-k Making History on a Family Farm

R: How Can Math Help-Me Learn About History?

5The Goldfinch 3

Not all treasure hunts involve digging for buriedchests bursting with silver, gold, and glitteringjewels. This issue of The Goldfinch is going totake you on a treasure huntbut not exactly thetype Goldie imagined.

Our treasure hunt begins as we sift throughhistorical sources. In fact, that's where everyissue of The Goldfinch begins!

Before stories are written, we studyletters, diaries, manu-scripts, newspapers,and photographs to findout as much as we canabout our topic. Thesesources are known asprimary sources. Theydocument the people andevents of history firsthand. Recordings of radio and television newsbroadcasts are also considered primary sources.So are interviews with people (famous or not)who participated in or witnessed events in the past.

Historians study primary sources to learneverything they can about a subject. They interpretwhat they've discovered and write books or articlesto communicate what they've learned. Those booksand articles are "secondary sources" because theyare written by people who were not directly in-volved in the events they studied.

History isn't just for scholars. Everyone hasa history to learn about and pass on. Anyone whois eager to learn about what life was like in

another time can study history. Do your grand-parents tell stories about when they were kids?Learning more about what was going on in theirtown, state, nation, and the world at the timemight help those stories make more sense to you.It will help you find your place in history.

But wait a minutethis doesn't sound muchlike a treasure hunt. It sounds like work! It is

workbut so is digging deep holes inthe ground in hopes of discovering aburied fortune. When you dig throughhistory, each discovery is like finding anugget of gold. You may be looking forsomething specific, but insteadstumble over an interesting story, fact,or clue you never expected. Forexample, The Goldfinch paged

The first issue of The Goldfinch

ears ago. It

was published25 y

included storiesabout the

Amish in Iowadents wrote

many of the articles.

4 The Goldfinch

through 100-year-old newspapers to see whatIowans thought, experienced, and predicted asthe year 1899 turned into 1900. Along the way weuncovered a story that raised more questions thanit answered. Read more about this Goldfinchmystery starting on page 22!

Where do you begin your quest for clues tosolve your own history mysteries?

Historians find primary sources in archives.An archive is a place where collections of histori-cal documents are preserved for study. Most ofthe photographs and other items featured in TheGoldfinch are kept in the archives of the StateHistorical Society of Iowa (SHSI) at buildingslocated in Iowa City and Des Moines. Anyone

conducting historical research can use SHSIcollections. Photographs, documents, diaries, andother papers are kept in special acid-free envelopesand boxes. When handling some of the items, you'llhave to wear white cotton gloves to prevent oilsfrom your skin from damaging fragile, often one-of-a-kind materials.

Where else can you find history? Historicalsources may be as close as your basement, in anold dresser filled with family photographs andpapers. You might find history in a bundle ofletters in a trunk in the attic. There could behistory in your great-grandmother's recipe file.How about in your desk or locker at school? Itmight take an archeologist to dig through thecontents, but would you find history?

41

The items shownbelow are from astudent workbookpreserved in a collec-tion at the SHSIarchive in Iowa City.Lora Ankeny was inkindergarten,probably in 1900, when she didthis embroidery on paper (right). She wove thepattern on the left with narrow strips of paper.Did you do the same type of activities when youwere in kindergarten? Did you save any of yourkindergarten work? If someone 100 years fromnow looked at artifacts from your grade schoolyears, what would they learn about you?

In the late 19th century,paper made of wood pulp,which is highly acidic, cameinto commonuse. Over time,the acid eats away

the pulp,causing documentstodiscolor and

items incrumble.

Storingn a©%-gac3,8 containershelps preservethem.

7

6Digeng fay 1Ktv-6e-ry t lArha4 Ye VeaviYou might find history in clothing. Look at thefollowing photographs taken in the late 1800s andearly 1900s of kids in Iowa. What things do thesephotographs have in common?

One thing you probably noticed is that all ofthe children are wearing dresses. But when youread the captions, you will also notice that someof the children are boys. Boys wearing dresses?Why do you think boys and girls from this periodwere dressed so much alike?

da

John on a rockinghorse, Iowa Falls, ca.1898. From the FosterCollection, SHSI, IowaCity.

6 The Goldfinch

The garments were loose fitting for comfortand so children wouldn't outgrow them soquickly. They were made of durable, easy-carefabrics and could be handed down for youngerbrothers and sisters to wear. Making clothes thatcould be worn by both boys and girls saved timeand money. Dresses also made changing a baby'sdiaper easier!

These photos ofunidentified children

A come from the Nels L.Roslien Collection,SHSI, Iowa City. Roslienwas a bachelor farmerand amateurphotographer. Hisimages portray rurallife around Kensett,Iowa, from about1905 to 1915.

8

Titled "No Milk ForSupper," this photofrom the FosterCollection was takenabout 1896 in IowaFalls.

Have someone take pictures of you and some of your friends

wearing your favorite clothes. Then ask your parents,

grandparents, and older brothers and sisters (and anyone else

who is waling to help out) to find photographs of themselves

when they were your age. Make color photocopies of the

photos, making sure to note the date the photo was tam and

who is in the shot.

Now it's time to analyze your data. Did girls and boys

dress similarly or differently in your parents generation? How

about in your generation? What differences and similarities

do you notice in clothing styles across the years you've

explored? Are there certain styles and colors that go out of

style and return in later generations? Can you identify any

events in history that affected clothing styles? These are just

a few questions to get you started. The more you dig, the

more you'll discover!

The Goldfinch can't wait to hear about the

treasures you find! Write to us at 402 Iowa Ave.,

Iowa City, IA 52240-18019.

Playing with a tree swingand a wagon, these twoyoung boys werephotographed ca. 1900.

,er1.1 Py.O.

's,c`72,'""

The young girl in thisphoto, also from theRoslien Collection, ispulling a string to releasethe camera shutter.

The Goldfinch 7

6Dtggtqg fav li-Uu-6evy -he/

Diaries offer historians another way to dig into thepast. The following excerpts come from a diarykept by Maggie Lathrop in 1872.Sat. Feb. 24 I was talQn sikwith the Diptheria. georgeJ-hand came

over today. J-Le said he was sorry to see me sick can play splendid-ar

the fiddle. The doctor came over about eight o'clockand I e some

little pills.

)'Lon. Feb. 26 I am invited up to.jVLr.jVtiller's to a party, but I expect I

can't go for I am sikIt is going to be on the first oplarch, my

birthday.

Fri.}I.ar.tI was fifteen years old today; did not get any presents.

Mother says I can't go to the party for it is so damp. Fred [Maggie's

brother] is going.

Thurs. }fay 2 I was down to,Angie's [Alaggie's friend] today.}Irs.J-fill

has had [a visit from] Dr. Boucher. I do hope she will get well now...

Fri.}'Lay 3 ...0 what a bother it is to clean house. I wish houses were

made so we would not have to clean them.

}lon.}fay 20 I came out to the farm today and am nearly sick as it is

going to be so awful lonesome out here. Everything is in a hubbub, if I

/Tow what that is. I had rather give all I possess than come out here. If

Father would only get me a pony I could stay content.

Wed.june 12 Angie was out here today and stayed all day. We had a

gay old time once more together. She made me get on her pony.... J-fe is

splendid to ride....

Fri. Sept. 27 Today as I was going down tojVtrs. J-fill's I met}'Lr.

r&binson, and he told me the sad news optIrs. death. I met,Angie

at the door and she said, "0}1aggie I haven't any mother now." If

anything ever went to my heart those words did....

Maggie was born in Iowa City on March 1, 1857.Her full name was Margaret Adele Lathrop. Her

8 The Goldfinch

parents, Henry and Mary (Welton) Lathrop, cameto Iowa from New York in 1847. Both were teach-ers. Her father also edited a newspaper andpracticed law before becoming a full-time farmer.During school sessions, the Lathrop family livedin the city. They lived on the farm the rest of theyear. Maggie married Frank Luse on November21, 1877. She was very ill at the time, probablywith tuberculosis. She died on March 9, 1878.

Maggie's diary offers a glimpse of what lifewas like for a teenager in Iowa City after the CivilWar. She enjoyed spending time with friends anddidn't care for house cleaning. (Some things haven'tchanged much through history!)

Reading Maggie's diary might spark aninterest in the history of medical practices in

a

Maggie was 21 when shedied of tuberculosis, one ofthe leading causes of deathat the end of the 19thcentury. In 1900, theaverage life expectancy wasabout 47 years. Now, theaverage life expectancy isapproximately 77 years.

Iowa. Her diary mentions that the doctor visitedAngie's mother in their home. Was this commonat that time? Mrs. Hill (and eventually Maggieherself) died at a young age. Why has life expect-ancy increased over the years? How were com-mon diseases treated in Maggie's lifetime? Howare those same diseases treated today? Werethere hospitals available for severely ill patients?

What about the social lives of teens in the1870s? What did they do for fun? The Lathropfarm was less than six miles from town, yetMaggie dreads the isolation of being so far fromher friends. How has improved transportationchanged our perception of distance? Whendigging into history, each interesting story youdiscover leads to many more topics to explore!

'Dtggtrig fev I-Uotavy atYour own community is another great place tohunt for treasure in history. Are there interestingbuildings where you can walk through the frontdoors and enter places where history happened?Can you find old maps or photo-graphs of your community? Howhas the town changed? Are thereareas that haven't changed? TheGoldfinch asked student advisoryboard member Emily Johnson toexplore history in her home town.

Everyone is talking about the class of 2000.

This year in Fort Dodge, an estimated 32-0

students will graduate. Sut did you know

that between the years of 1891 and isgs, 43

boys and So girls graduatedonly 12-3 total!

That gives you a lot to think about. Lots has

happened since the century began.

Let's say you want to get a hamburger

I-low would you get there? Today, most people

If you want to see your cousin who lives far away, you could fly in

an airplane. In Fort Dodge in the year 1900, horses and buggies

were the way to get around. You could hop on a train for longer

trips. (5ut you wouldn't find a McDonald's until after 1953D

Today, people in Fort Dodge are talking about the soon-

to-be-built library. The original one-room library was open one

afternoon and evening a week. Then, with a $30,000 gift from

Andrew Carnegie, a second library was completed in 1q02-. The

total cost of that library, located on First Avenue North, was

$40,000. The new library will be built at the end of the square

and is expected to cost around $5.3 million.

My mom reads the Fort Dodge Messenger every morning.

l3tAt at the turn of the century, it was printed twice a week, on

Tuesdays and Fridays.

Fort Dodge has really changed since the turn of the century.

Tust think how much it will change in the next too years!

Emily Tohnon

After you collect a "trunk full of treasure" (ora notebook filled with fascinating information!)about your community, create a time line byplotting the information in davadefsjeat order

on a long sheet of paper. A roll of news-print works well for this. (Art supplystores often sell newsprint, or call yourlocal newspaper office to see if they sell orgive away end rolls.) Describe events,festivals, and traditions that are importantto your community. Use drawings andphotos to help tell the story. Add details IV/from your family history, too.

Emily Johnson, 12,digs for history inFort Dodge.

from McDonald's.

would go in a car.

Maybe you will write history books inthe future, or just read about history, dig-ging into topics that interest you as a hobby.Either way, you are part of the rapidly

changing world around you. You are part ofhistory. You can't escape it!

C(-7\''OVICA09./C0k. arranged in the order that ei./elits aaened. The Goldfinch 9

2ormanum2 Canopy GEMTgG2 `TCCD,DIM ne Min _G000

uried reasure!by Susanne Leibold

Jerry Hoffman stood in awe of St. Mary's School when he attended first gradethere. As a high school student, he watched as the building was torn down tomake room for a parking lot. Today (more than 24 years later) Hoffmanremembers the day he and some friends discovered history in a cornerstone!

erry Hoffman watched his old grade school crumbleinto a tangled pile of wreckage. When the demolitioncrew left at the end of the day, Hoffman and his friendsWally Knapp and Barney and Leo Otting siftedthrough the rubble looking for souvenirs.

St. Mary's grade school in Cascade, Iowa, wasbuilt in 1894 and torn down in 1975. "We found those

10 The Goldfinch

4i J

old sinks with bubblers and pulled them out of thepile," Hoffman told The Goldfinch. 'We had fun rum-maging around the site." Hoffman remembered therumor that a time capsule was embedded in the cor-nerstone of the old school. With a hammer andchisel, they chipped away at the cornerstone to findout if the rumor was true. Soon they discovered a

2 bubbkeTs.. KiNVO3 foUloto,;105

tyros: COURTESYFRED M Was

small metal box. It wasstuck in the stone, so theboys asked the demolitionforeman for help. Hepried the dented boxloose. Inside they found

several issues of two localnewspapers dated 1894,some 19th-century coins, amedal inscribed in Ger-man, notes from two menwho helped build theschool, and a letter writ-ten in Latin from thepriest serving St. Mary'sparish at the time.

Items placed in time capsules commemoratespecial events such as construction of a new build-ing, a significant anniversary, or the coming of anew century. What is put inside depends on whatpeople think is important enough to be preservedfor future generations to see. Time capsules becomeburied treasures for future generations to uncover.

The time capsule Jerry Hoffman and hisfriends found offers clues about the people of Cas-cade who assembled its contents and aboutthe times in which they lived. The headlinein one 1894 edition of the Cascade Pioneerplaced in the time capsule screamed: "Mur-der! Albert Francois Shot by Joshua Brady"Perhaps that newspaper was selected be-cause it described a major and unusualevent in the community. Memories fadeover timemaybe those who assembledthe time capsule didn't want this story tobe lost in history.

TheSiouxCity ArtCentertimecapsulewill beopened 'in 2023.

One ff©u the flaws-.In 1998, people in Sioux City, Iowa, celebrated thefirst birthday of the Sioux City Art Center by put-ting together a time capsule to be opened in 25years. Their time capsule is filled with art createdby kids. Molly Boyle, a sophomore at Heelan HighSchool in Sioux City made a collage and wrote aletter to herself documenting what she was think-ing and feeling as a freshman in high school. "Itwill be fun to read it again in 25 years to see what Ifound interesting and important," Boyle said.

Adults were invited to submit items, too. Somecontributed copies of their wills or family pictures.Others put in lyrics to their favorite songs or pic-tures of pets.

A time capsule craze has cropped up all over theworld this year as people anticipate the dawn of a newmillennium. Most time capsules today are made ofmore sophisticated materials than the old metal boxhidden in St. Mary's in 1894. Waterproof, airtight con-tainers are best for long term preservation. If you wereto put together a time capsule for future generationsto uncover, what would you put in it?

Ts-

The Goldfinch 11

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Goldfinch readers born after1982 have never seen the

state capitol withoutscaffolding. Follow TheGoldfinch inside andtravel back in time! V 4y4

41.

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Architect Scott Allen led the Way down a vitalstaircase into the basement of the Idwa StateCapitol in Des Moines. He was wearing a suitbut don't.let that fool you into thinking Allen swork on the capitol restoratift project is alldesign, drawing, and desk work. You might, findhim outside in the bucket of a crane suspendedover the dome inspecting replacement windows.Or exploring secret rooms. Or crawling throughvoid spaces between floors. Or in an archive

187\1

0.74.1 4

digging for clues so that carpet, light fixtures, andpaint colors may he decurate1v reproduced.

rfro (Ink/finch followed Allen into a narrowmom with stonewalls: Bright HON hanging fromthe low ceiling illuminated a workbench andshelves lined with artifacts discovered during therenovation which help tell the building's story.

Some of the objects are only a few yearsoldsuch as the collection of cans and bottles ofdrinking watershipped in

1876

Work continues onthe ground level.

Workers lay the foundation for the Iowa State Capitol.

A Capitol Timeline

from all over the country when the 1993 floodcontaminated the Des Moines water supply. Nextin line were much older artifacts: batteries thatpowered the capitol's first telephones.

"There are lots of air shafts throughout thebuilding," Allen explained. When telephonebatteries died, people dropped them down anopen shaft.

A painter working in the "lantern"theobservation level of the main domefound a .30caliber spent cartridge behind a bolt securing thedome's steel stairway. Rolled up inside the car-tridge, where the bullet would have been, was apiece of paper dated in the 1890s. "It was signedby a worker from Guthrie Center," said CurtisSmall, project superintendent for NeumannBrothers, Inc., general contractor for the restora-tion project. "He probably stuck it there whileputting the stairway together."

While working on the west gable arches, CarlCrees, masonry foreman for Forrest & Associatesof Des Moines, found an old wooden mallet used totap stones into place. "The handle was broken, so[workers] threw it into the arch," Crees said.

1889

Thisil 880photo ofthe Cover-nor's officehelpedarchitectsreproduce

t

Ti;t

_ 6 tt=R - fi

the original light fixtures during the currentrenovation. The Capitol was completed in 1884.

Allen demonstrated a gadget used to light thegas chandeliers originally installed in the capitol.The long-handled tool holds a wick to light thelamps and a slot that fits onto key-like knobs be-neath each lamp that could be adjusted to regulatethe size of the flames. The tool was found whenworkers cut into a steam pipe. "It was in line with thepipe, stuffed into the insulation," Allen explained.Eventually, the tool will be displayed in the lawlibrary, where fluorescent lights will be replaced byelectric reproductions of the original gas fixtures.

Workers have found Indian head pennies andbuffalo nickels. "Those may have accidentallyfallen out of workers' pockets," Crees guessed.An architect doing survey work in a crawl spacefound a trowelmore than a century after anotherworker misplaced it.

Some items discovered during restorationoffer clues enabling new materials to match whatwas originally used in the building. "We recentlyfound a piece of carpet under a bookcase thatdated before 1895. It was probably original car-pet," Allen said. While a chunk of carpet may not

1901

Fire damaged the house chambers (above), theSupreme Court room, and first floor corridor.

seem like an exciting find, it saves architectsand designers working on the project hours ofresearch.

When they don't have samples of originalcarpet, the architects search for historic photo-graphs revealing details of the decor. "We can take ablack and white photo, figure out about when it wastaken, then go to carpet manufacturers in existenceat the time," Allen explained. "They go into theirarchives and determine the colorways and fibersavailable at the time." Allen also looks for contractsdescribing original materials used. Research is thekey to accurate restoration. "You can get hooked onprojects like this!" he said.

Hundreds of old Western Union forms forsending holiday telegrams were found in thedome. In 1937, people could compose their own15-word messages and send the telegrams any-where in the country for 35 cents. If the senderchose a preprinted message, the telegram cost aquarter.

Workers also found abundle of expired electionballots ("They wereblank," Allen said), two

1982By the time renovationbegan in 1982, the exteriorhad deteriorated to thepoint that sandstone piecesfell from the building.Stone carvings had erodedbeyond recognition.

2.4 The Goldfinch16

9C6W a triangular wall section at the end of a slanted roof.

secret rooms (so far), and a dumbwaiter on thesenate side running behind the men's restroom tothe basement (no one knows what it was used foror if it ever worked).

Painters who worked on the outside of thedome in 1884 wrote their names above the win-dows. "You have to be on scaffolding to see thenames," Small said. In the law library, carpenterssigned their names on a plaster wall before install-ing shelves and panelling.

Workers today are leaving their marks, too.'We put the names of people who worked on thecapitol in a box inside one of the stone urns"before putting it in place, Crees said. 'We oftenthrow a quarter or a nickel into spaces beforesealing them off," he continued.

Workers sign and date the backs of woodentrim pieces before nailing them in place. They'vealso soldered a penny on each of the four smallerdomes with dates that correspond to the years thecopper roofs were replaced."The last thing Carl

and I did on a scaffold in front ofLiberty (the center statue on the westgable) was [to glue] a 1991 penny tothe top of her head," Small said,grinning. clF

The Iowa State Capitol,1999. Workers find coolstuff during renovation!

200:1

Exterior workwill becompleted.Interiorrenovationswill continue.

Carl CreesdemonstratesLewis Pinsystem forlifting stone.Two holes aredrilled anglingfrom the endstoward thecenter. A pair of7-inch pins isinserted, thenjoined with aring and hookedto a crane. Thisstone weighs3,000 pounds.The pins can liftup to 12 tons.

Carl Crees has lived in Iowa all his life, but he'd never visitedthe State Capitol until he went to work there as a stonemason in 1989. "The capitol is part of me now," Cress said.It's hard for him to imagine working anywhere else.

"I didn't realize the architecture and workmanship--that was here," said Cress. Many of the exterior stone walls

are six or seven feet thick. Turn-of-the century workers whobuilt the capitol were only one-quarter of an inch off levelfrom one end of the enormous building to the other, Cressexplained. "I'm amazed at how straight and true it was,"Gress said.

The two largest stones that have been replacedweighed 7 tons eachand they were placed 100 feet abovethe ground. "I would have liked to have seen how they placed

the originals," Gress said. "We have a 70-ton crane that canreach 150 feet to get the job done." Workers in the late1800s used steam engines, ramps, and derricks to placeheavy stones.

"If they would let me go back [in time] for about twomonthsand promise me I could come backI'd go there[to the 1870s] to see how they did it!" Cress said.

(12V;OW.framework used to hoist heavy objects.

g7

Curtis Small admits that renovating the historic IowaState Capitol isn't all work and no play. Workers removedthe five statues from the west gable, then put them on aflatbed semi so they could be transported to stonecarvers in Indiana. "We put a University of Iowa scarf andhat on Liberty [the largest of the statues, standing abouttwo and one-half times taller than an adult], then sent hereast into Hoosier country," Small explained. When the newstatues were shipped back, the Indiana stone carvers goteven. Liberty sported Hoosier attire.

Small has been involved with thecapitol restoration since 1989. "It's achallenge working on something thatwas built 120 years ago," he said.

Curtis Small found thishammer (above) whenhe opened the ceiling of

a corridor on the first floor to update the sprinklersystem. Marks on the head show that thehammer was manufactured between 1840 and1892 by David Maydole of New York, whoinvented the method of securing the head to thehandle that tool makers still use today. Batteries(above, left) found in air shafts once powered

phones at thecapitol.

Scott Allen andCurtis Smalloutside thecapitol.

The Goldfinch 15

2mwe WOMT Fnrikaoriy fF©T ahe AICCUAT,2

Cvea66% yezxv oval? 'rive CarstiWould you like to send a little bit of yourself into the future? Try

putting together your own time capsule. Choose things to putinside that have special meaning for youthings that will introduce ,you to people you may never meet. Consider making this a family <,

project. As you introduce the future to members of your family, youmight get to know each other a little better along the way.

am a 'ems t® Rea yeau zamciaasaf

1. Select a container that is leak proof and airtight, such as a resealable plastic bag. It's a goodidea to double bag the contents. A glass canningjar with a wide mouth and a lid that screws ontightly works well, too.

2. Your container must be as full as possible tokeep air out.

3. Make sure the items and the container arethoroughly dry.

4. Black and white photographs will last longerthan color prints. Your photos will stay preservedbetter if you put acid-free tissue paper betweenthem to keep them from sticking together.

5. Label your time capsule articles in pencil so thewriting doesn't deteriorate and fade with time.

6. Making photocopies of newspaper articles onhigh quality paper will help the images last longer.

7. Label the outside of the time capsule clearlywith a permanent marker.

16 The Goldfinch

8. For added protection if you're using a canningjar, put heavy plastic over the mouth of the jarbefore you put on the lid. Then trim off theexcess plastic and seal the edges with paraffinwax. Let the wax harden overnight before hidingor burying your time capsule.

9. Include a list explaining the contents in the timecapsule. Keep a separate list of the contents in a safeplace along with directions to the location where thetime capsule is hidden or buried. Determine whenyou want the time capsule to be opened-25 years?50? 100? Make sure that information is includedwith the directions.

10. Make a detailed map of where to locate thetime capsule in case the landscape changes in thearea where it is buried.

11. Make sure the ground is dry when and whereyou bury your treasures for the future. Dig a holethat is 12-18 inches deep.

J.8

12. Mark the site with a large stoneisorburie

other objectto indicate where the time capsule d.Rememberyou want your time capsule to befound when the time comes, so make sure that thelocation is well marked and detailed directions arewaiting for future treasure hunters!

Irhtngz you nli'fighfiLb'neludle tin your ems caqnle...1. Your own predictions for the future. If you wantthe time capsule to be opened in 50 years, writeabout what you think life will be like then.

2. Your family tree.

3. Coins from the year you were born or from theyear you assembled the time capsule.

4. Photos of your family, pets, and activities youenjoy.

5. Report cards and samples of school work.

6. Trading cards.

7. A copy of an award you received.

8. A picture you drew or a poem you wrote.

How diddid time capsules get their name?(Whether it's a few itemsplaced in acornerstone before sealing it, an elaboratevault filled with the objects of a lifetime, or asimple metal box buried in a backyard, forcenturies people have been hiding stuff forpeople in the future to find. In 1938, "TimeCapsules" became the universal label forthese attempts to preserve bits of materialculture for the future. The

WestinghouseElectric andManufacturing Company (NewYork) put together a 72 -foot

torpedo filledwith a variety of items including toys,messages from Nobel Prize winners, andlight bulbs. They called it a time capsule andthe name stuck.Considering the container'sshape, they almost called it a "Time Bomb."

/ .Time

The Problems voth Tune Capsules:

Many timehidden, are

capsules, onceain sealed,

never founddon't rem

allowing the contents to deteriorate.

Itemsselected tor a time capsule may only

tell part of a story. People creating time

capsules chooseitems that reflect the

parts of history they want to preserve.

Thingcommchange sorapidly that items in

on use today may not be recognizeds

in the futurel

The Goldfinch .17

ith all the attention focused on 1999 turning to 2000,The Goldfinch wondered if the same type of hype was

present 100 years ago as 1899 turned to 1900. We expectedor at least hopedto find detailed diary entries describing whatpeople were thinking, feeling, and doing at that time, along withpredictions for the 1900s.

In one way, our search was disappointing. Few diaries inthe State Historical Society of Iowa collections containedthe material we hoped to find. But at the same time, thesearch was intriguing because we got to see what lifewas like for a few Iowans who recorded theirexperiences a century ago.

Thomas M. Terrill, for example, probably wasn't thetype of person who spent time making predictions or assemblingand burying time capsules for future generations to unearth.

Terrill, a farmer from Grand Junction, Iowa, received his firstdiary from a friend in 1871, the year he turned 21. For the nextforty-one years, he made an entry almost every day.

Monday, Yanuaiy 1, 1900I went tothe Jct afoot and helped invoicegoods in the Farmers Storefrom 9 A.M. till 5 P.M. Workedwith Wm. H. Smith Mostlyshoes. G.M. Thomson helpedtoo. He & I ate dinner at O.V.Blaylock. I paid 25C for same.Home late as I had to walk fromG M's. Otis stayed from schooland did the chores.

Sunday 7At Home all day. Noone here but little travel as it was

18 The Goldfinch

quite muddy. Snow is about allgone. The folks went to BethelU.B. Church in the Eve....Thawedand was a pleasant day. Frozehard during the night.

Monday 8I went to Bennetts &Flairs mine and got 2250 of coalfor which I paid $2.25. Roughgoing down but soft comingback. Lost one of my fur mit-tens.... S.E. wind.

20

Friday, December 21, 1900...Ihauled two loads of corn for H.Amrhine from his place toRippey one load A.M. and oneload P.M. He hauled one loadtoo P.M. Home Late. Fineweathergood roads. S.E.wind.

Saturday 22...I hauled andscattered 2 loads of manureA.M. Willie, Bert & I went tothe Jct PM Rec'd $8.00 of JohnHenderson Gave the boys 50(25C each for X presents. Rainedquite hard P.M. Came homethrough it colder.

"Jct" wArrill's abbreviation for Grand Junction.

Sunday 23At home all day. Noone here. Snow during thenight. Ground would have beencovered only it drifted. Strongwind from N.W. all day. Stormy.Did not turn the cattle out. Putthe hogs in yard by sheds.Colder.

Tuesday 25Ma & I went toAmrhines. Helped take upcarpet. Came back for dinner.Had Rabbit and Chicken fordinner. The boys hunted andskated about all day. They got 4or 5 rabbits. Billy Thorntoncame in the Eve and was hereall night. He and I sat up late.

Sunday 30At home all day.Blustery and disagreeable. Itsnowed a little. Strong windfrom the N.W. Geo Herrick washere for dinner. They triedskating but froze out.

Monday 31Zero. At home allday. Cold. Did not do much.Bert had the stomach ache. Notserious. Walter Tassel died thismorning at 3 A.M.... Good byeold year. Bought a book for1901...pd 75C.

Be a Lary tectivelTerrill's diary suggests he is avery practical person. Herecorded details of farm work,kept track of what his familyearned and spent, and docu-mented work he did away fromhis farm. He may not haveintended to create a timecapsule, but in a way, that'sexactly what he did. His timecapsule was "opened" in 1981when the diaries were tran-scribed and published. Todaythey are an important resourcefor people studying 19th-century farm life in Iowa.

Ask yourmallg2

1. Terrill mentions weatherconditions almost daily in hisdiary. Why was this so impor-tant to him?

2. Terrill mentions giving "theboys" money to buy Christmasgifts on Saturday, December22. See if you can find acatalog from 1900. Whatitems could the boys havepurchased for gifts with themoney that they received?

3. What kind of jobs did Terrilldo off the farm?

Eli Mendenhall kept a diarywhile living in Hardin County,Iowa, at the turn of the cen-tury. He wasTh when 1899turned to 1900.

Sun., Dec. 31, 1899. Clear. 8 below.At meeting and Sunday School.Both good. Jesse Lloyd waspresent and preached at bothmorning and evening services.Both able sermons. At Endeavormeeting & evening meeting. Iliked the evening meeting verymuch. The day has been cold.Adieu, 1899. We have buriedthee.

yanuary 1, 1900. Clear. Then 8.Hail glad new year! Bright andbeautiful is thy advent. Andthough we write thee onethousand nine hundred andnothing, we welcome thee justthe same. Bring gladness andpeace on thy pinions. What thouhas in store for us we may knowby thy unfolding days.

"Thev." stands for "thermometer." Th Simber that follows The Goldfinch 19is the temperature measured in degreVsYahrenheit.

Mendenhall filled every bit ofspace available in his smalldiary book for the final day ofthe 19th century. Here's whathe wrote:

December 31, 1900. Clear. Then 4below. What all have I done thisbusy day. Some two inches ofsnow last night. Had to do somegoing of course. Opened thesewers, letting the wash watersgo freely. Ah! True it is that theyear is dying to night and the19th century as well. Adieu1900; go quickly and join thyselfto the dead years and be buriedin the grave of the past. Yes, andadieu to thee, 19th century;what historic events; whatprogress have marked thycoming and going.

As rumen1. What doMendenhall'sdiary entrieshave in commonwith Terrill's?

2. What are somedifferences betweenthe two diaries?

20 The Goldfinch

3. A history of Hardin Countytells us that Mendenhall is amember of the Society ofFriends (Quakers). How is thisapparent in his writing?

=orin A. Rowe, who managedLegetts Opera House inEddyville, Iowa, wrote this inhis diary at the turn of thecentury:

Eddyviffe, Ia. Monday Dec. 31st, 1900.

This is the last day of theNineteenth Century: Whatwonderful changes have beenwrought in the century just nowat its end; nothing now seems toamaze people in general: Steamcars, steamboats, Electric lightsand motors, Telegraphs,Telephones, Phonographs(Talking machines) Life-likemoving pictures, etc. etc.

Ask youFS3N`o'

1. What do you think are thebiggest changes in the 20thcentury?

2. Do you keep a diary? Ifsomeone 100 years from nowreads it, what would they learnabout the 20th century?

`R12

Christopher Evans, born in1840, began keeping his daybook or diary when he was 45years old. He made periodicentries until a year before hisdeath in 1918. Many of the one-line entries record descriptionsof the weather or note thedeaths of members of his familyand community. Here are his"New Year" comments from1900:

yanuary,1900. Rain. The year 1800ended with war in South Africaand the new year 1900 began witha continuation of the same warEngland against the Boers inTransvaal. One hundred yearsago it was Napoleon who was theworld's slaughterer. Now it isthose who call themselves theworld's light the enlightenedEngland as leader of those whowould rule. When I today, the 9thof January, 1900, see in my mindthe next 100 years then mythoughts get dizzybut muchmore importantEternity!

Ask youlFZ3N:

1. Do your thoughts "get dizzy"thinking about the next 100years? What are your pre-dictions for the 21st century?

Vev CeizUrryITPiaQ WN

he diarists we found allidentified 1901 as the first yearof the new, 20th century. News-papers across the state, how-ever, debated that fact as Janu-ary 1, 1900, approached.

Frank Leverett of Denmark,Iowa, believed the 20th centurystarted in 1900. His letter to theeditor of the Burlington Hawk-Eyeappeared on December 20, 1899:

THE CENTURY DISCUSSION

Conflicting Opinions of

Correspondents and the Press

Editor Hawk-Eye: ...[Those] whothink the century will not begin untilJanuary 1, 1901, are generallymore dogmatic than those whothink it will begin January 1,1900....As I am inclined to favorJanuary 1, 1900, I will venture tooffer the reason for my opinion andif you think it worthy of publication Iam willing to go into print as asupporter of that date....

If it be granted that there wasa zero year at the beginning of thefirst century just as there is a zeroyear at the beginning of eachindividual life there would be a full100 years at the close of the year1899....

dogmatic: stating beliefs

Mr. Prat, editorof the Iowa FallsSentinel worksat his desk in1900. Are youinterested in thecentury debate?Dig into news-papers from1899 and 1900at your library!

711r1I,

Leverett went on to arguethat a bicycle cyclometer (aninstrument which measures thedistance traveled) registers 99miles when the 99th mile iscompleted, and 100 miles whenthe 100th mile is completed.Therefore, he claimed, whenthe year is 1899, 99 years of thecentury are complete. When theyear is 1900, a full 100 years (acentury) have passed, making1900 the "zero" year of the newcentury. According to hissystem, the very first day of thevery first year would have beenJanuary 1, 0 (year zero).

J. C. Marshall of Salem,Iowa, expressed an opposingviewpoint in his letter to theHawk Eye.

Ed. Hawk-Eye: If you have notalready devoted too much space to

in ag)sitive, often arrogant manner.

the much discussed subject of theclosing of the century, I would liketo offer the following: When thenew era was ushered in...the firstdate to be written would beJanuary 1 of the year one (orJanuary 1st, 1). This then wouldbe the first day of the first yearand not the first day after the firstyear....

Hence, January 1, 1900does not indicate the beginning ofthe twentieth century but thebeginning of the last year of thenineteenth century....

In the final weeks of 1999,similar articles appeared innewspapers debating when the21st century (and in this case thenew millennium) begins. Perhapsthe best thing about the ongoingdiscussion: you can celebrate thedawn of the 21st century and the2nd millennium twice! &F,

23The Goldfinch 21

A Goldfinch Mystery.Not everyone agrees on when a new century begins. Some say the 21st centurybegan on January 1, 2000. Others believe it begins January 1, 2001, and thatthe year 2000 is the final (the 100th) year of the 20th century and the last (orthe 1000th) year of the current millennium. This debate is not new. In 1899, a

similar controversy resulted in the embarrassment of one small Iowa town.

by Susanne Leibold

n the final days of 1899, Henry Barber, "long- There never was in the history of Lost Nation a manhaired and wild-eyed," walked through the streets living in it by the name of Barber."of Lost Nation, Iowa, snapping at objects and writ- The origins of the Henry Barber story were aing the number 1900 on fences and billboards. Bar- mystery. "Just how such a villainous story origi-ber had gone insane trying to prove when the 20th nated we have up to the present been unable to dis-century began. When police officers came to arrest cover," Gable wrote. "That some of our best citi-him, he fought them all the way to his jail cell. De- --------\ zens have discussed thetails of the incident appear in the 29. 1-899' '

\ twentieth century we doDecember 29, 1899, edition of r"--- Cascade Dec.

\ not attempt to deny, but\ From the Ca" , it 1the Cascade Pioneer newspaper \ that any of our people

Could this be true?anCeouvld.\

ealityliniii:t....b:"_..eeGeolate.trj:,0

have worked themselvessomeone actually go insane over up to a proper conditionthe question of whether the 20th \ to become an inmate ofcentury began in 1900 or 1901?

pc roloinentel:.:.1:i.;1":e:e:rell'lelt:71r°1:::::aftl'tgIL.°'.11'15-1:13a:::::::::;:ubilwalked

\ a lunatic asylum overtwentieth colton* bekgiiiii%of the 1)Nblenl:

It seems Henry Barber did. 'thae fl"fes, the matter, we say is ut-

Or did he? terly without any foun-R.M. Gable, editor of The Lost dation whatever."

Nation Chronicle in 1899, claimed the \ was picked Chicago

vects ana

iThet---storyincident never happened and that

t&A., on. fences

--a-nd--by other Iowa newspapers such as theHenry Barber did not exist. 'We have not now, nor Monticello Express. Was this a joke at the expensehave we ever had any long haired wild-eyed, un- of the town of Lost Nation? Or was Henry Barber atamed mathematician running loose on our streets. closely guarded secret?

22 The Goldfinch 24

The Goldfinch encountered Henry Barber byaccident while searching through 100-year-oldnewspapers to see if writers made predictions aboutwhat they thought the 20th century would be like.Where the story originated is still a Goldfinch mys-tery. After much research, no trace of Henry Bar-ber can be found. No birth or death certificate couldbe found. Nor could we find copies of the ChicagoSaturday Blade, one of the first newspapers to carrythe story. Was the crazed mathematician storymerely a rumor started by a neighboring town en-vious of Lost Nation's recent prosperity? Was thestory invented to make a point in the debate aboutwhen the 20th century began?

According to Stephen Bloom, a journalismprofessor at the University of Iowa, newspapers didoccasionally invent stories, especially if a town hadcompetition from a new newspaper. Inventing sto-ries was a way to attract readers. "It is possible thatthe story could have been invented to prove apoint about the 20th century," Bloom said."Without knowing where the story originated,there is no way of knowing the true reasoningbehind the story."

Journalists today sometimes invent sto-ries to make a point or to attract readers.Bloom recalled an incident at The Washing-ton Post in 1980 where a journalist wrote fea-ture stories about a fictional 8-year-oldheroin addict named Jimmy. When usingnewspaper accounts as sources in histori-cal research, it's important to double checkthe facts. Sometimes even news expertscan be fooled!

Lost Nation Chronicle.

THE CHRONICLE

+ AUCTION!

cm.?TN. awl. .4011.

HIRSDAT eecempex 21

LOOK HERE,glite, yam X.I.4 nit VI.

., N.M..

, juntr...1,ro,

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MMILLOPION

. wt. Atla:/4,OTCE

;tor,"

®wLost atio aot

NezqmLost Nationis located

in ClintonCounty.

Some say Lost

Nation receivedits name

when a party of hunterssaw the town

from a hill andone remarked

that it lookedlike a lost nation.

Anotherstory claims

that a tribe of Instarved

and froze

to deathat the site upon

which Lost Nationwas later built.

Others claim that a Germanman was

Balm becamelost

while tryinto locate relatives

in thearea. Some

claim it was

named LostNation because

of the wild inaccessiblecountry.

25 The Goldfinch 23

The Scheuring farmhouse and the families who haVelived in it are a living time capsule bf the history ofagriculture in Iowa. More than 100 years have passedand many changes experienced on the farm sincJoseph Scheuring purchased the pr perty in--189 .

Making

on a

A l Slyby Katherine House

hen the Scheuring sistersof Defiance hunt for history,they don't have to look very far.The farm where Amanda,Carmen, Jennifer, Elizabeth, andTiffany live has been owned bytheir family for more than 100years.

Great-Grandfather JosephScheuring purchased theproperty in 1897. He expandedan existing shack, then rebuiltthe home after a tornado de-stroyed it. He added a secondfloor to the structure around1900. Today, the farmhousewhere the Scheurings live looks

24 The Goldfinch

Today, Amanda, Carmen, Jennifer (front row), Cindy, Elizabeth, Tiffany,and Joe Scheuring (back row) live on the family farm near Defiance.

much like it did at the turn ofthe last century. The nearbybarn was built in 1904, and acorn crib was erected in 1913.

The farm was passed on tothe girls' grandfather, AustinScheuring, who was born in1918. His son Joe (the girls'father) farmed the propertywith Austin until Austin died 16years ago. Grandma Scheuringlives in a newer home built onthe farm in the early 1980s. Anuncle also farms part of the 480acre property.

As another century dawns,the girls help carry on the

legacy of running the familyfarm. "It's part of my historyliving on this farm," says Jenni-fer, age 14. "That's why it's soimportant to me." Like genera-tions of Iowa children, the girlshelp with chores.

"I feed the bottle calves,"explains Carmen, age 12. "Theone we have now was born inJanuary [1999]." Initially, thecalf had to be fed with a bottlejust as many babies are. Nowthe calf drinks water and eatscorn and hay. Nine-year-oldAmanda helps her father feedthe pigs, cows, and turkeys. She

PHOTOS: COURTESY THE SCHEURING FAMILY

often fills buckets with feedstored in the barn her great-grandfather built.

When livestock acciden-tally escape from their pens,Jennifer and her sisters helpround them up. She has alsovaccinated pigs with her dad.The girls have also helped theirparents butcher turkeys.Amanda recalls carrying theturkeys out of the barn beforebutchering. Carmen helpedclean them afterwards. Al-though the Scheurings still raiseturkeys, they hire someone elseto do the butchering now.

Tending the animalsremains one constant on thefarm, where rapid changes havetaken place this century. Jenni-fer is learning to drive a trac-torthe workhorse of thefarmjust as her father didmore than 30 years ago. ButTherese Scheuring, the girls'grandmother, remembers lifebefore tractors. She grew up inthe 1930s on a farm on the otherside of Defiance. "I remembermy dad walked behind horsesto plow land, and they planted

corn with horses," she said. "Wedid everything with horses."

Like other farm children,the Scheurings have all riddenon tractors. For Amanda,though, autumn is thrillingbecause she gets to ride in thecombine. "I like the combinebetter because it's bigger and itonly comes out once a year,"she explained. When hergrandparents were married in1950, there was no combine onthe farm, just a threshingmachine. It took a crew of mento prepare the harvest backthen, something one person can'do today. And, when Grandma

Joseph and Susan Scheuring

Josephbought the farm in

1897. The house has changed

very little since he added the

second story in 1900.

Joe and Susan with their sons,Austin and Vernon. Austin, whowas born in 1918, inheritedthe farm.

i1 A 27

Austin (center) withhis sons, Dick andJoe, in 1952.

The Goldfinch 25

Scheuring was a child, corn waspicked by hand.

Because peoplenot ma-chinesdid more of the worklong ago, farm children often didnot finish high school. AustinScheuring graduated from highschool in the mid-1930s, whichwas a rarity at that time,according to his son. "Hewas very, very fortunate tofinish high school," JoeScheuring said. Joe's sib-lings all went to college,while he chose to stayhome and help on thefarm after high schoolgraduation. He expectsthat all of his daughterswill attend college in the21st century.

Technologicalchange has made life easierinside the farmhouse, too.When the Scheuring housewas built, it did not have mod-ern conveniences such as in-door plumbing or electricity.The family was one of the first inthe area to have running waterand an indoor bathroom. That im-provement occurred in the late1920s or early 1930s, Mr.Scheuring said.

When his parents got mar-ried in 1950, they did not own an

automatic washing machine ordryer. Grandma Scheuring re-calls using an old wringer wash-ing machine in a small buildingon the farm called the washhouse. Wash was dried on aclothesline. She heated water ona stove in the wash house for

Scheurings, however. Falling hogprices mean the Scheurings nolonger farrow to finish hogs (rais-ing hogs from birth until they'reready for slaughter). Instead, theyfeed and take care of pigs deliv-ered by another farmer. Up untila few years ago, Mr. Scheuring

rented some extra land sohe could make a good liv-ing as a farmer. Risingcosts made renting theextra land unaffordable,so he had to take a factoryjob. "I never worked 'offthe farm' [before]," hesaid. "But things aretough." In the fall of 1999,his wife began workingfull-time off the farm, too.

Cindy Scheuring, thegirls' mother, said, "I

know we both put the effortin working off the farm so wecan stay on the farm." Herhusband sums up his feelingsabout the farm by saying, "Itmakes me real proud to have

lived here all my life." He loves towalk in the buildings and see toolsthat his father and grandfatherused. And, best of all, he said, "Iwas able to work side by side withmy father every day, day in andday out."

CAF

26 The Goldfinch

.6f

Joe Scheruing (back left), the sonof Austin and grandson of Joseph)inherited the farm from his fatherin 1983. He grew up on the farmwith his brothers and sisters:Susan and Dick (front), andYvonne and Stephen (back).

baths and other purposes. Thehouse's hot water heater operatedby stove, which was too warm torun in the summertime. Todaythe Scheuring sisters use thewash house as a play house.

Not all the changes on thefarm have made life easier for the

28

0 How has farming has changed inthe last 100 years?

® What are some ways kids contribute tothe success of a family farm?

0 Machinery that has grown morepowerful, complex, and dangerousover the last century contributes tomaking farming one of the nation'smost dangerous industries, accordingto federal statistics. As many as 300kids are killed on farms nationwideeach year. Farming often depends onchild labor, but it is exempt from manychild-labor laws. What do you think canbe done to make farms safer places for kids?

10 What are your predictions for the future offarming in Iowa?

29Turn the page to see how math and

history go together to illustratea century of change in Iowa agriculture>

LHe-lp

U

How (an

by Katherine House

statistics is one tool that we can use to comparelife today with life in the past. Comparing num-bers from one century to another leads historiansto look for reasons behind changes. For example,we know that there are fewer farms in Iowa todaythan there were in 1900. Historians can then lookat other numbers and clues in diaries, letters, andnewspapers to find out why that happened andwhat it means.

Solve some of these math problems to painta picture of changes in Iowa agriculture duringthe last century. You may want to add a calculatorto the supply of tools you're acquiring as a historydetective!

0 Today, corn and soybeans are the two princi-pal crops grown in Iowa. But soybeans weren'tintroduced in the state until the 1930s. At the turnof the century, oats were a very important crop.In fact, in 1900, Iowa farmers harvested 4,695,391acres of oats. In 1999, that number had droppedto 200,000 acres. What is the difference betweenacres devoted to oats in 1900 and 1999?

0 Just how important were oats to Iowa farm-ers 100 years ago? What follows is a list of har-

28 The Goldfinch

z

vested acres of major crops in the state in 1900.The list is arranged alphabetically. Rearrange thelist so the products are ranked by size. (Hint: thecrop with the largest number of harvested acresshould be at the top.) Where did oats rank?ACRES IIARVESTIED IN 1900:Barley 627,851 Oats 4,695,391Corn 9,804,076 ye 89,172Hay 4,649,378 Wheat 1,689,705

0 Oats and hay were important because theywere used to feed horses. In 1900, there were1,391,601 horses on Iowa farms. In 1997, there wereonly 60,421 horses on Iowa farms. How many morehorses lived on Iowa farms in 1900 than in 1997?

a) Approximately 5 times as manyb) Approximately 11 times as manyc) Approximately 23 times as manyd) Approximately 31 times as many

0 Before tractors and other machines wereinvented, horses supplied the power needed onIowa farms. Machines have helped farmersbecome more efficient, increasing yields (the

30

number of bushels harvested per acre). Othertechnological changes were responsible forincreased yields, too. In the 1930s, corn hybrid-ization was developed. This meant that farmerscould grow stronger, healthier plants. Farmchemicals also helped increase yields. In 1900,the average yield per acre for all corn in Iowa was45 bushels. In 1999, it was 149 bushels per acre.What percentage increase is this?

0 The price of Iowa farmland has increaseddramatically over time. The average value of anacre of farmland in 1997 was $1,697. The averagevalue in 1900 was $18.07. (A large part of thischange can be attributed to the changing value ofthe dollar.) If you had $10,000 in 1900, how manyacres of land could you buy? How many acreswould $10,000 buy in 1997?

0 In 1900, there were 228,622 farms in Iowa.By 1997, that number had dropped to 97,000.Although the number of farms has droppedsignificantly, the average size of farms has in-creased. The average size of an Iowa farm in 1900

was 151 acres. In 1997, it was 343 acres. Below isdata showing the number of different sized farmsin 1900 and 1997. How many farms were 500 acresin size or larger in 1900? What percent of the totalwas that? In 1997, how many farms were 500 acresor larger? What percent of the total was that?

Farm Size Number of Farms1900 1997

Less than 10 acres 5,731 5,39410-49 acres 27,392 12,37250-99 acres 49,665 10,578100-259 acres 118,067 26,690260-499 acres 24,609 19,829500-999 acres 2,818 15,8471,000+ acres 340 6,290

TOTAL 228,622 97,000

0 Hog production has always been importantto Iowa farmers. In 1900, hogs were raised on202,894 farms. In 1997, the number of farms withhogs had dropped to 16,440. At the same time,the number of hogs on farms increased from9,720,179 to 14,619,552. What does this tell youabout the average size of the swine herd on Iowafarms?

CDMany of today's farmers buy meat, milk, andeggs at the grocery store. In 1900, Iowa farmerswere much more reliant on the land for their ownfood. Dairy cows were kept on 210,133 of the228,622 farms in Iowa in 1900. What percentagedoes this represent? How does this compare to1997 when only 4,496 of Iowa's 97,000 farms haddairy cows? exF.

Send your solutions to The Goldfinch. !]t, answers are correct, we'll send you a prize!4-'

The Goldfinch 29

31

by Jessica Myers

Is

This is about hidden treaures.I decided to look into whatevertreasures may lie in the recipebook of my great-great-greatgrandmother, Ruth Glaspell.

Ruth Glaspell was born onNovember 1, 1823, in HamiltonCounty, Ohio. She was thesecond youngest of sevenchildren, several of whom diedas infants. I know little of herchildhood, up until she wasabout fifteen, when she movedto Scott County, Iowa, in what is

30 The Goldfinch

now Davenport. Her father wasJames Glaspell, and her motherwas Jane Stathem Glaspell.James Glaspell established afarm in what is now FejeveryPark in Davenport.

In 1848, Ruth Glaspellmarried Lewis Waters Burrows.As a wedding present, Lewisgave Ruth a bedroom suitewhich included two dressers, abed, and other items. One of thedressers is now owned by mygrandfather's sister. When taken

32

Jessica Myers, 13,is a member of

The Goldfinch Student AdvisoryBoard. She's in 8th grade at

Northwest Junior High Schoolin Coralville.

to be refinished, this dresserwas found to be pre-Civil War,because the top was made out ofa single block of walnut. Walnuttrees large enough to have beenused for this have not beenavailable for many years.

Ruth and her father, mother,sister, and brother-in-law werecharter members of the FirstChristian Church in Davenport,and Ruth was a devoted churchmember all her life. She died onDecember 21, 1900.

I decided to make cookiesfrom an old recipe of Ruth's.They are called drop cookies. Ienjoyed making and eatingthem, and learned somethingabout how they were made backin the 1800s. The recipe wastaken from a card of herdaughter's, with the notationthat it was Ruth's recipe. Thedrop cookie recipe called forsome things that you cannotbuy at the store, which sur-prised me.

When we were ready tostart, we went to buy sour milk,only to discover that you can'tget sour milk at the grocerystore. Instead, we bought wholemilk and added lemon juice tomake it curdle. The batter wasfun to make and tasted good. Ihad some problems getting thesize of the cookies right as Idropped spoonfuls onto the

Taste history by trying this recipefrom Jessica's family. Then see if anycookbooks have been savedthrough generations of your family.If you find something good, shareit with The Goldfinch!

Ruth Glaspellin 1892

cookie sheet, and not all of themwere round when they came outof the oven. I made about twoand a half sheets of the cookies,and shared them with everyone.I am now the 7th generation inmy family to have made thesedrop cookies.

In all, it was a wonderfulexperience, and I think that mygreat-great-great grand-mother's recipe book doesindeed contain hidden trea-sures. You just have to knowwhere to look.

P?P__te,g3 eggs1 cup lard (or vegetable shortening)3 cup sour milk3 teaspoons cinnamon+ teaspoon cloves1 cup chopped raisins+ teaspoon soda1 +cups sugar1 teaspoon saltabout 3 cups flour

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix anddrop dough by the spoonful on acookie sheet. Bake 10 to 15minutes.

The Goldfinch 31

El

THE

US ISSN 0278-0208State Historical Society of Iowa402 Iowa AvenueIowa City, Iowa 52240-1806

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Second-class postage paidat Iowa City, Iowa

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