Iowa Cattle Drive

Russel Bonander (1915-2011) was a neighbor to my family and the Charlie Swanson he writes about below is my Great Grandfather. Russel shared this story years ago with me during a church coffee time and was wondering how he could pass it on, I was proud to include it in my book, A West Ender's Scrapbook. I've added a few photos to his words below. Thank you Russel for preserving this bit of local history!

Iowa Cattle Drive
by Russel Bonander, Larchwood, IA, written in approximately 1992

In the early days of Granite, Sioux Township, Lyon County, Iowa, the town had an elevator, a grocery store, a combination grocery store and post office, a bank, a depot and stockyards. Now it has six houses and is the location of the annual Granite Threshing Bee.
Western stories of the dangerous cattle drives from Texas to Dodge City were filled with exciting adventures but we had our share of excitement in the little town of Granite when the large cattle feeders in the community pooled their shipments of fat cattle to Chicago via the Rock Island Railroad. These shipments reached their peak shortly after World War I and continued until the late 1920’s. It was a period when Chicago’s south side was king of the meat packing industry and the railroads carried the nation’s freight.
Cattlefeeders in the Granite area bought cattle for their feedlots from local beef raisers, however, most of their cattle came off the ranches of South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. They carried range brands like the Lazy J, the Rocking W and the Roaring Gulch.
Range cattle were best handled on horseback because that was about all they saw on the Western ranches which spread out for miles and miles. They were easily frightened and would smash right through a fence if they were spooked by unfamiliar sounds or sights. Our neighbor, Charlie Swanson, who lived down the hill south of us, was one of the largest cattlefeeders in the area. During nighttime thunderstorms his cattle often broke out and he and his hired men would have to track them down and round them up. He said range cattle always headed into the storm so he checked the path of the storm as well as the tracks of the steers.
Left: An early photo of the C.T. Swanson farm
Charlie and the other feeders bought most of their cattle after the fall roundup on the western ranges. Some of them made trips out West and bought cattle direct from the ranchers while others purchased them when they came to the stockyards in Sioux Falls, SD. If there had been plenty of rain on the ranches the cattle came in carrying good weight. A dry season meant skinny cattle.
Keeping about five hundred head of cattle in the feed yard required a lot of help in those days when all the feeding was done by hand. Charlie had two sons and three hired men. They kept feed bunks full of corn and hauled in hay for the mangers and the feed racks. He bought wagonload after wagonload of corn from his neighbors and weighed it over the Fairbanks Morse scale on the west end of the feedlot. During the winter months his men were out in cold and snowy weather feeding the cattle and hogs that Charlie kept on his large land holdings.
When field work began in the spring, the work day began long before the sun peeked over the eastern horizon. Meanwhile, the cattle in the feedyard, enjoying the spring warmth, continued to put on the fat that was necessary for them to bring top price on the Chicago market. By the middle of June when all hands were busy cultivating corn and making hay, the fat cattle were about ready for market.
Left: The Granite Depot
Now the Rock Island Railroad men began preparations for their part in the cattle drive. Snow fences from up and down the line were shipped into Granite and set up by the section men as extra pens for the large shipment of beef. Livestock cars began to be lined up on the siding two or three weeks in advance of the shipping date. Freight agents and commission men converged on the little town two or three days before the farmers brought their cattle in for shipment. Although the railroad spent large sums of money prior to loading the cattle, they received all the money they spent plus a lot more when they collected their freight bill.

Right: Granite Depot & stockyards

At that time it was not practical for the farmers at Granite to ship only a carload or two of cattle to Chicago by local freight because the livestock cars would get pushed onto sidings to let passenger trains go past. The cattle could be enroute for several days, be unloaded for feed and water, reloaded and sent on. Consequently, the shippers lost money because of shrinkage and death loss. However, when a special trainload was made up, they were given the right of way and the Rock Island guaranteed them delivery at the Chicago Stockyards early Monday morning when shipment was made on Saturday afternoon. Prices were higher than at the local stockyards in Sioux Falls, SD or Sioux City, IA.
The stockmen brought hayracks full of straw to bed down the cars before the cattle were loaded. John Anderson, one of Charlie Swanson’s hired men, lost a gold pocket watch while pitching straw into the livestock cars and spreading it around. He did not discover his loss until they had all the cars bedded down. It was a watch that had been given to him and he was determined not to lose it. So he started back through the cars, shaking the straw and checking the floor. He missed out on dinner that day but he found his watch halfway back through the livestock cars.
Left: An early photo of the Granite Stockyards
Saturday morning a scheduled movement of fat cattle were herded out of fattening pens and on the road toward the Granite Stockyards. They staggered their departure times so they would not arrive all at the same time and get their herds mixed together.

Right: An early photo of the Granite Stockyards

The Iversons who lived over in South Dakota just across the Big Sioux River, had a long drive to bring their cattle into the stockyards and often had trouble starting their herd across the river bridge. August Swanson, Charlie’s brother, lived south of Granite along the Big Sioux River on the South Dakota side and he had several steep hills to bring his cattle over before they came to level ground. Another big shipper was Phil Jacobson who lived to the North of Granite just over the state line near Rowena, South Dakota. There were also a half dozen or so smaller feeders who brought their cattle in for shipment.
Left: An early photo of the Granite Stockyards
Charlie Swanson had his herd at the stockyards shortly after 7:00 a.m. They were herded into pens and loading the cars began. Twenty to twenty-five head of steers, depending on their size were herded onto the big stockyards scales and weighed. Experienced freight agents knew how many pounds of beef each cattle car would hold. From there they went up the chute and into the cattle car. Quickly another bunch was weighed up and loaded.
Meanwhile, as other feeders brought in their large herds, the village echoed with the sound of bawling beef herds. The few people who lived in the little town came out on their porches to watch the show and hang onto their kids.
All hands pitched in to help as car after car was loaded and moved ahead. Time came for the noon meal and it was eaten in shifts in a railroad diner car that had been pulled in for the occasion. Loading of the cattle continued at a fast pace until the last car was closed and sealed by 3:30 p.m. The shippers yelled last minute instructions to their hired men before they boarded the caboose of the long train. Here they would ride on a free pass from the Rock Island Railroad into Chicago.
Standing back by the caboose, the brakeman signaled the engineers in the double header steam engines and the train, over one hundred cars long, began moving slowly as the engines chugged and snorted. They crept off the Granite siding onto the main track heading east, carrying over two thousand head of cattle into Chicago.
Now the race against time began in earnest. This was Saturday afternoon and the railroad guaranteed the shippers that they would have the cattle into the Chicago stockyards and unloaded on Monday morning in time for the packing house buyers to start putting bids on the fat cattle.
The long train snaked over the tracks slowly at first, then picked up speed as it rolled past the fertile Iowa farm land. At many small towns, people turned out to see the long train go past. They had the right of way over all traffic. Even passenger trains pulled on to the side tracks while the livestock special highballed past.
Darkness came and the men in the caboose nodded off to an uncomfortable sleep but the train kept rolling. Their only stop was at division points where they changed crews, took on coal and water and at a midnight stop, the brakeman brought on hot coffee for his passengers. “We’re right on schedule.” he told them. “It won’t be long before we hit the main line of the Rock Island. Then we’ll really highball it.” Of course, twenty-five to thirty miles was considered top speed.
Anxious shippers worried about the possibility of hot weather. They had lost cattle on previous runs into Chicago when the weather turned excessively hot and humid. This time nature cooperated with them and they ran in and out of thunder showers as they rolled across the western plains of Illinois.

Right: Union Stockyards, Chicago, IL

The Windy City of Chicago was wrapped in sleep when the special train pulled off the main line onto the stockyard siding shortly after 2:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Although the men were tired after their long train ride, they watched the stockyard workers unload bawling, bewildered cattle and put them in commission company pens. It was only after they saw their livestock safely put away that they went to an all night cafe in the sprawling building where the commission firms had their offices. There they had an early morning breakfast with several cups of hot coffee.
Promptly at 9:00 a.m., buyers from Swift, Armour and Cudahay descended on the yards and began haggling prices with commission firm sellers. In the 1920’s it took a good steer to bring a nickel a pound but the buyers and sellers bargained just as intensely as if they were bringing a dollar a pound. Deals were made, the cattle weighed up and one by one the Iowa cattle feeders picked up their checks at the various commission firms. Most of the cattle were probably slaughtered that day.
The commission men, no doubt thinking of next year’s shipment, glad handed the Iowa farmers and treated them to dinner in the old commission building restaurant. Presumably they ate roast beef.
It had been a hectic three days for the cattle men as they concentrated on moving their fat cattle from the feedlot to market. With checks in their pockets, they were now anxious to return home. They were escorted to the Union Train Station to board a Rock Island passenger train with a free pass back to Granite. On the return trip the riding was much more comfortable than bouncing in the old caboose of the freight train. Most of them fell asleep and perhaps they dreamed about next year’s trip to the Chicago Stockyards.

Granite, Sioux Township, Lyon Co., IA

Granite will celebrate it's 125th Quasquicentennial in 2012, who's making plans for the celebration? :-) I compiled and wrote the following years ago with some help, first for a sign placed in Granite and adapted it later adding more information for the book I wrote, "A West Ender's Scrapbook", finishing it in 2004. It's my heritage, close to home, and full of familiar people and places to my minds eye. Think of all the seeds spread by these early pioneers of our community.

This area, where Blood Run Creek passes on its way to the Big Sioux River, was inhabited by Native Americans between 1300 and 1750. As many as 10,000 Oneota Indians lived on the surrounding fertile prairies. There is also evidence of the Sioux inhabiting the area for some time in smaller numbers. The first European explorers and traders arrived in the area in the late 1600’s. Pioneers would follow full of courage and faith, to build dugouts and sod houses, on the 1870’s prairie and Sioux River Valley they chose to call home.
D. C. Rice surveyed and staked out blocks, lots, streets and alleys in the southwest quarter of Section 19, Township 100, Range 48 on June 12, 1886, at the request of the owners; Richard and Bessie Pettigrew and Samuel and Bell Tate. The town of Iuka was officially filed March 14, 1887.
Left: Book 1 of Town Plats of Lyon County, Iowa, pg. 384. Feb. 1887
Transportation through this area was new as stagecoach trails passed on their way to Dakota Territory. Railroads traveling west across the prairies brought the Cedar Rapids, IA, Northwestern Railway coming through in 1886, bringing the need for waterwells and tanks where they could fill their steam engines. In 1893, the Board of Supervisors established a “Granite Highway” to go through the Village of Iuka, easing the way for transportation to and from the young town.
The town name of Iuka was officially changed to Granite in late 1887. Although many documents still used Iuka, the new name of Granite appeared on state maps as early as 1895. In 1900, fifty people resided here with A. Parker serving as postmaster and shopkeeper.
A blacksmith was vital to a community and Gust Anderson wore that title.
The railroad changed in 1903 to the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and had W. J. Brown serving as its agent. The Depot, on the southeast edge of town found many visitors gracing it’s doors and platform. A passenger train went west through Granite about 10 a.m. daily. People often left their horse and buggy at the depot and would go to Sioux Falls to conduct their business. There they could shop at the dime store or other stores on Phillips Avenue or maybe go to see a doctor. They made sure to be on the train when it left Sioux Falls and arrived in Granite about 3 p.m. They were the first commuters. The freight train came thru later and on the return trip they pulled several cars of meat from Morrells.
Organized baseball was played in the “ball park” that was a pasture on the north edge of town. The Granite team had competitors nearby, playing teams from area towns. In 1915 the team included players; Ralph Anderson, Melvin Anderson, Sam Bennett, Herman Grotewold, Walter Grotewold, Bill Hughes, Tom Hughes, Claire Lind, Francis Martin, Henry Parkinson, Ed Portice, Charlie Riley, and Melvin Scott. A later team included Malc Rabey, Frank Lewis, the Grotewolds, Herb Gottlob and sometimes Melvin Burns.
Left: Looking North in Granite, the white building on the left is the DeZotell grocery store and the dark middle building is the Granite Savings Bank. Years later the grocery store was turned into a hatchery and the bank and bank building were moved to Larchwood. The white building on the right is the Zimmer grocery store and post office. The silhouette of one of Granite’s two elevators is seen on the left edge of the photo and the railroad tracks for the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad are visible near the fence line. Willow Street, running east and west, and First Street, running north and south can also be seen. (Granite Threshing Bee book 1997)
James DeZotell moved into town in 1918 and started a grocery store where a sack of candy accompanied grocery orders. DeZotell’s Store was a community gathering center. On cold winter days Herbert Bjork, Pete Cox, the Swanson brothers Anton and Ed, Henry Viereck, and Clint Vosberg could be seen playing Whist, the card game of choice, around the pot bellied heater in the back. There were some hot games but when it came time to go home and milk the cows, they left as friends until the next game. He also had a gas station and later operated a “night club” in the basement of the store. Locals smile when talking about the happenings in DeZotell’s basement but some excitement came to the community as a result of it.
In 1920, J.C. Zimmer moved into town and became the new postmaster, opening a Drug Store that included a soda fountain. Area residents often found the need to “call central” where the phone operator in Granite routed their call to its destination.
A parsonage for the Grand View Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Mission Church, that was located south of town, was also a gathering place for many community members.
Two grain elevators with titles over the years such as the Farmers Mutual Elevator Co., the Sioux Elevator Co. and Skewis-Monen Elevator, operated next to the railroad tracks providing for area farmers’ needs.
Stockyards and a scale house operated by Charlie Riley, were put to use by farmers who brought their livestock to Granite. In late June of each year, preparations were begun for a special trainload of cattle to be shipped to the Chicago Union Stockyards. The railroad made a commitment to the area farmers that if a whole trainload of beef was shipped at one time, they would guarantee arrival in Chicago early Monday morning if loaded the prior Saturday afternoon. The special train had right-of-way over all other rail traffic for the incredible 36 hour trip. These shipments reached their peak shortly after World War I, and continued until the late 1920’s.
Right: The Granite Depot, next to the Rock Island railroad tracks, and the elevator office.
A Saturday night in the summer found Granite the favorite shopping and visiting place. After the eggs and cream were traded for groceries, the women folks visited from car to car while the men talked about crops and livestock, the kids played games after they got their pop and ice cream if there was money left over from the cream and egg money.
Early in the fall, DeZotell’s store started taking orders for a carload of flour. Farmers with large families ordered 25 to 30 sacks of flour. They came with a team and wagon to haul the flour home. Periodically they would move the sacks to keep the flour from spoiling. Store bought bread never tasted as good as home baked bread.
The Granite Savings Bank, chartered in 1920, had Oscar E. Holly as its first president and L.L. Penning was cashier. Original board members were T. G. Bennett, Wm. Grotewold, Oscar Holly, Lars Jensen, Nels Martin, C. T. Swanson, and Ed Swanson. In 1931, C.T. Swanson, president and R.W. Wyant, cashier, saw the Granite bank become the only bank in Lyon County to remain open through The Great Depression. In the fall of 1934, as the small village was disappearing, the bank and bank building were moved to Larchwood by Brandt Engineering Co. of Sioux Falls. The brick building was 22 x 42 feet and moved a distance of eight and one half miles on November 19, 1934 without breaking a glass window or dislodging a brick. Now known as the Security Savings Bank, it is the oldest chartered bank in Lyon County.
Well known to the long time residents, Paul the Prophet came to Granite in the mid 1920’s. He was a drifter, walking the tracks but Jim DeZotell took him in and gave him a bed and food for doing some work around the store. He knew his Bible and in the evenings the farmers gathered around to hear him prophesy. Paul told them that dry weather was coming and the dust would blow so thick they wouldn’t be able to see the depot as they stood in the store. He also predicted the great depression. No one believed him but we got the dust bowl and many farmers went broke and moved to CA.
All of the business places are now but fading memories as the years go by. The flood of 1972 took out the railroad tracks. The last old store building to go was the DeZotell Store, purchased by Ralph Wineman, who turned it into a chicken hatchery that was in operation until 1973. A few homes and one business, Miller Loaders Inc., are what remain of Granite today.
It does thrive once again, when the town swells with people who travel from near and far to reminisce those days of long ago, during the Annual Threshing Bee in July. What once was a prosperous business and farming community is now a community full of shared memories, of those who came to this area before us and the days that have passed since they walked our path.
Right: A drawing by Dolly Zangger, of Larchwood, gives an overview of where the old buildings once were.

Compiled and written by Diane Johnson in 1999. Excerpts of this article are on a sign in Granite. Sources for this document include:
- Alvord Centennial Book, 1893-1993
- Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, IA 1974.
- Historical Sketch of Lyon County, IA by, S.C. Hyde, Perkins Bros., Printers and binders, Sioux City, IA 1873.
- Larchwood Centennial Book, 1872-1972
- Personal Papers of C. T. Swanson (1862-1954)
- Remembrances of Russell Bonander, Ruth (Bjork) Hansen, Calvin & Darlene (Wettestad) Johnson, Larchwood, IA

Sioux Township was set off from Larchwood in January, 1879. It is comprised of all of township 100, range 48, and so much of range 49 as is east of the Big Sioux river. Its population is 449, including the hamlet of Granite, on section 19, which has about fifty persons (1900 Census). This township is bounded on the north by South Dakota and Minnesota, on the east by Larchwood township, on the south by Centennial township and on the west by the meanderings of the Big Sioux river. A line of the Rock Island system of railway passes from east to west through its territory en route to Sioux Falls. (Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa., 1904-1905)
The 1880 Census listed people of the area under Lyon Township, Lyon County, Iowa.