Station to Manito, with a change in name to that of the village. The prayer of the petition was granted, and Smith Mosher was appointed first Postmaster. He was succeeded in office by his brother, John Mosher, in 1865. In 1866, A. M. Pollard was appointed, and, in 1869, E. A. Rosher received the appointment, and still holds the position.

In 1870, J. N. Shanholtzer erected a steam grist-mill in the village. This is the first and only mill ever built in the township. The cost of construction was about $6,000. It has two runs of stone, and is capable of turning out about eighteen or twenty barrels of flour per day. It has a fine run of custom, and manufactures a first-class quality of flour.

Manito Lodge, A., F. and A. Masons, was organized under dispensation from Most Worshipful Deputy Grand Master J. M. Gorin, in 1865. In October, 1866, a charter was issued from the Grand Lodge, over the signatures of II. P. H. Bromwell, Most Worshipful Grand Master, and H. G. Reynolds, Grand Secretary, to Henry A. Sweet, R. S. Eakin, A. G. H. Conover, John Thomas, Peter W. Gay, B. Ruthenburg, A. A. Griffin, Smith Mosher, Perry W. Thomas, Hubbard Latham, Zachariah Miller and W. W. Pierce as charter members. Henry A. Sweet was appointed W. M.; R. S. Eakin, S. W.; A. G. H. Conover, J. W. Regular meetings occur on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. In 1878, the lodge room was built by a joint-stock association. In the destructive fire which occurred December 22, 1878, the Lodge sustained heavy loss, the records, furniture and paraphernalia being entirely consumed. At present it has a membership of twenty-two. The present officers are: R. S. Eakin, W. M.; W. B. Robison, S. W.; E. S. Starrett, J.W.; J. P. Cowan, Treasurer: Fred Knollhoff, Secretary; J. C. Perkins, S. D.; R.W. Whiteford, J. D.; M. W. Rodgers, Tiler. A Lodge of I. O. O. F. was organized about the year 1871, but has some time since ceased to exist.

The village at present has a population of about 600, and has four general merchandise stores, two groceries, two drug and notion stores, one harness-shop, two boot and shoe shops, one hardware store and tin-shop, one millinery, notion and fancy goods establishment, three general blacksmithing and repair shops. Drs. J. S. Walker and J. R. McCluggage are resident physicians, and deal out pills and powders for the pains and aches of the people, while William Maloney deals out coal in quantities to suit the purchaser.

The early settlers of the village were fond of playing practical jokes upon each other, and frequently did not scruple to tackle even strangers. Before corporate powers were conferred, it is stated that a man by the name of Moore came in and desired to start a saloon. He approached Joe Cranwill on the subject, and Joe furnished him the necessary license, for which he charged him the round sum of $25. Joe shoved the money down in his own pocket, and let the boys into the secret, and, as he spent most if not all of it in "setting 'em up," nothing was said about it, and it was many moons before Moore found out that his license was a fraud, and that he had been tricked out of his money. Many

of the early denizens of the village will remember the days when "High Cod Court," as it was called, was in vogue. This was not a chartered institution, so far as we could learn, nor do we know that it had the sanction of the powers that be, ordained to meet in solemn conclave at Springfield biennially, in its establishment. But certain it is that it existed. Having charged some individual with an offense against the peace and dignity of the village, the Court would assemble and proceed to try the offender. The person presiding was dubbed the Hon. Judge Advocate, to whom all matters of difference between the lawyers for prosecution and defense were submitted, and from whose decision there was no appeal. Witnesses were called and examined, who were not expected to tell the truth any more than a witness of to-day is expected to testify to facts before a Congressional Investigating Committee. Indeed, the oath administered had a saving clause for the prosecution, couched in these words: “And you furthermore swear that you will not tell the truth in the case now pending, wherein," etc. No matter how clearly the defendant might prove his innocence, conviction was sure to follow. The penalty was generally drinks for the crowd, and usually cost the accused about $1. But these days have long since passed away, and the citizens of Manito are as staid and sober-going people as are their neighbors. And yet the old citizens love to recount these days of fun and frolic, and, in imagination, live over again the scenes and incidents of their early manhood's years. The name Manito was undoubtedly taken from the Indian word Manitou, though with just what significance it was applied to the village, we have no means of determining.

ALLEN'S GROVE TOWNSHIP.

This division is on the eastern line of the county, and is known as Township 21 and 22 north, Range 5 west of the Third Principal Meridian. It embraces in its limits thirty-six full sections-a Congressional Township—but does not exactly coincide with the Congressional survey. In establishing the boundaries of the townships, the southern tier of sections of Town 21, Range. 5, was included in Mason City Township, and the southern tier of Town 22, same range, was made the northern limit of Allen's Grove Township. The position of the township is north of Mason City Township, east of Pennsylvania Township, south of Tazewell County and west of Logan County. Excepting two or three copses or groves of timber of limited extent, which stand out in the prairie like islands in the ocean, the entire area of the township is prairie land. The most important of these is Allen's Grove, from which the township took its name. It comprises about five hundred acres, mostly in Section 9, and is the point in and around which the early settlements in the township were made. In an early day, before the clear, ringing note of the woodman's ax was heard reverberating throughout its aisles and along its corridors, much timber, valuable for building and other purposes, was here found.

At present, but little that is valuable, except for fencing and firewood, remains. Swamp Grove, in the northwest corner, and Lake Grove, on Sections 19 and 20, are of far less importance, and contain no valuable timber. These three groves, together with a portion of Cherry Grove, on the line between Mason City and Allen's Grove Townships, constitute the entire woodland districts of this section. No natural water-course is found in any portion of the township. Norton's Lake, in Section 23, occupying the space of about one hundred and twenty acres, is the only body of water of any consequence within its limits. This is a place of resort for bathing and fishing. The eastern and southern sections of the township are well adapted to the growth of vegetables, corn, wheat, rye, barley and oats. The soil is of a somewhat sandy nature, very similar in character to that found in adjacent townships and in the western part of Logan County. To the willing husbandman it yields rich and bounteous harvests. The northwestern portion is low and level, and is embraced within the district known as swamp-lands. By a system of artificial drainage much of this has been rendered arable, and when sufficiently drained for farming purposes it is found to be highly productive, possessing a soil of almost exhaustless fertility. In the past few years, many fine farms have been opened up in this heretofore discarded section of the township. The early settlers found this portion of the county covered with tall grass and the flower-producing weeds. In the summer, the plains seemed an ocean of flowers of various hues, gracefully waving to the breezes that swept over them. In the language of poesy it may be fitly said that

"Travelers entering here, behold around

A large and spacious plain on every side,
Strewed with beauty, whose fair grassy mound
Mantled with green, and goodly beautified
With all the ornaments of Flora's pride."

The township contains two villages, San Jose and Natrona, the history of which will be given in detail at the close of this chapter. The Jacksonville Branch of the C. & A. Railway enters the township near the northeast corner of Section 1, and; traversing it in a general southwestern direction, leaves it near the center of the southern boundary of Section 28, giving about seven miles of road-bed to the township. That we find the eastern portion of the county but sparsely settled until recently, when compared with other sections, is doubtless owing to the fact that a large district of swamp-land, occupying the more central portion of the county, completely cut off the eastern settler from Havana, the only shipping-point, at that time, for his various products. The absence of timber and water-course also exercised a retarding influence over the early settlement. Not until the advent of railroads through this section, and the bringing of market-places and shipping-points to their very doors, did settlements begin to be made in rapid succession.