| A History of STRUM and the TOWN OF UNITY by Roy Matson |
| THIS IS PAGE 11 | TABLE OF CONTENTS | PAGE BACK | PAGE FORWARD |
| That First Assessment (1878) Big Ole Thomasgaard had been elected as Unity assessor at the first town meeting in 1878, the first of many terms as an official of this township. Incidently he was also the first of the local immigrants to obtain full citizenship. Thomasgaard’s records are clearly recorded and show the township to be sparsely settled. Over sixty 40-acre parcels of land were assessed as railroad property although many of these parcels may have been in the process of sale. Speculators were buying at the railroad price of $1.25 per acre and easily doubling any investment. Forty acres of land usually carried an assessment of $50. A house added $300-400 to this amount. Actually some new settlers spent the first year or two in dugouts. Personal property was recorded in great detail. A horse was valued at $40-75. Peter Hanson and Hans Mathison each had 5. Chairman Williams was a horse dealer, he had 12. Williams also had the most meat cattle, 14. Andrew Call was next with 13. Several settlers also had swine, usually 4 or 5, but Jack Carter had 7 and civil war veteran Sam Hogue was assessed for 12 hogs. Sleighs and wagons were counted. Few had more than one of each but M. P. Imislund had 3. Three reed organs were assessed, one at $50 and 2 at $75. The highest assessment was charged to J. LeBarron at $650. Andrew Call had $5 less. The total of all personal property was $25,460.00. Real estate totaled $91,325.00 for a grand total of $116,785.00. An interesting comparison of farm domestic animal population is worth some space. Year Horses Sheep Swine Cattle 1878 148 147 145 491 1900 415 436 469 969 1936 not assessed 885 169 2279 1971 not assessed 53 204 3717 Hog prices bottomed at $.02 per pound in 1936. No wonder farmers quit hogs. The 1971 sheep count of 53 is hard to believe. There were only two teams of horses used on farms that year although several were pastured. Some change. Unity citizens had an opportunity to vote on the county seat controversy that first year and delivered a majority favoring Whitehall. The following spring Thomas Howery presented a resolution at the annual meeting opposing the borrowing of any money to build a county courthouse. It was adopted. P. B. Williams was not a candidate for chairman in 1880 and Even Evenson succeeded to that post. The first resolution concerning the restraining of cattle from roaming at will was made by P. B. Williams in 1881 and was adopted, although the minutes mentioned a “divided house.” Then in the fall of 1881 came the first real calamity to hit the fledging township. Unity was sued for $5,500.00. It seems A. D. Moon was freighting a load of foods from the Augusta depot to R. P. Goddard’s store in Eleva some time in late 1881. A bridge of some sort must have existed over the river near the St. Paul’s Church because Mr. Moon, wagon team, and the whole load of goods crashed through the structure. Mr. Goddard asked for $500 damage but Moon served notice that his loss would come to ten times that amount. A special meeting was called of all taxpayers to meet at the Howery School. $300 was voted to obtain a good lawyer with the authority to spend $750 if needed. Goddard quickly settled for $250, but Moon held out for a couple of years. Finally an order shows he accepted $187.50. Attorneys fees were $15. It seems a little over $100 was spent on plank and bridge work in December, 1881. The township bought 8,000 feet of planking from Bennet’s Mill to be hauled and piled on Clement Thompson’s farm, hauling to be let to the lowest bidder. Esten Johnson was awarded the job at $4.25 per thousand feet. The lumber bill came to $43.92. Ole Thomasgaard succeeded Evenson as chairman and served off and on for the next 25 years. A most unusual report was made by town officials at the spring annual meeting in 1882. No poor fund tax had to be raised |