Hook's Point - First Settlement - First Murder
The year was 1850 and the state legislature created two new counties: Risley and Yell. Presley Bell, who had settled upstream from the mouth of the Boone River a year earlier, became the first settler. In 1852 Risley and Yell were combined due to the efforts of Granville Burkley. He was the lawyer who laid out the town of Homer, which became the county seat of the new Webster County. Another county name change took place in 1856 when Walter C. Willson was elected to the state legislature. He had one purpose in mind, and that was to divide Webster back into two counties. On January 1, 1857, Hamilton County was created with Webster City as the county seat.
In the early 1850's Isaac David Hook and his brother, James, followed the Des Moines River north from Des Moines into what was then Risley County. They settled just north of present day Stratford. As other settlers arrived, following their route, a settlement grew and took the name Hook's Point. There is minor dispute about the exact arrival date of Isaac and his brother. J. W. Lee, the definitive authority on our history, wrote in his 1912 History of Hamilton County that Isaac and James arrived in 1851. Clara Madsen, author of Hook's Point Echoes, states that they arrived in 1849. She based this on a letter from the last son of Isaac Hook, Granville Finch Hook. The 1850 United States Census lists both Isaac and James as residents of Lee County, Iowa.
Whichever date is correct, the fact remains that Isaac and James created the first settlement in our county. The brothers drove into present day Hamilton County in a wagon pulled by two horses, Prince and Pat. They had heard that much of the Bell family was located west of the mouth of the Boone River, and they wanted to settle near them. The brothers went to work clearing an area for a log cabin to prepare for the arrival of Isaac's family the following spring. The walls of the cabin were round walnut logs, chinked with split sticks and daubed with mud. The cabin measured 16 X 24 feet. Holes were drilled into the logs in which hickory sticks were driven to support a bed in one corner of the cabin. This way only one post was needed to support the bed in a corner of the room. In April of the next year two wagons arrived carrying Isaac's wife, Sarah Amanda (usually called Mandy), and their three children; Frank age 15; Sarah, age 13; and Hannah, age 8. Traveling in the second wagon were Mandy's parents, John Everhart and his wife, Beulah. Soon after their arrival, brother James decided to strike out on his own, eventually settling in Missouri Valley, Iowa.
The trail from the south passed by the east side of the Hook and Everhart cabins, continued north to cross the Boone River at Fishtrap Ford, then went up the hill to Homer. From Homer, the trail turned west to Fort Dodge. Other settlers followed the trail, and a few put up their own cabins near Hook's.
In 1852, Hook's family gained a daughter, Elizabeth. Also that year, Isaac bought a steam-powered sawmill, and Isaac, his son Frank, and Everhart worked to saw up walnut boards to sell to the new arrivals. Hook added an addition to his own house and put a small store in it. In 1853, the stagecoach arrived following the same trail. It stopped at Isaac's store before going on to Homer and Fort Dodge. Hook saw the need for traveler's lodging so he built a hotel to accommodate them. Mandy cooked the meals for those stopping there. Dan Pointer drifted into Hook's Point and stayed in the hotel. He told Hook that he could make bricks using local materials. In 1854 he started a brick operation. Isaac then built a brick home for his family. Another son, William, was born that fall. Soon after, the oldest son, Frank, announced that he was going to marry and move on to South Dakota. The last child of Isaac and Mandy was Granville Finch Hook, born in 1857.
Isaac decided to plat a town and re-named it Marion City, as it would be situated in Marion Township. He named his hotel Marion Hotel. A map of Hamilton County, dated 1857, showed only four towns in the county. They were Webster City, Hawley, Homer, and Marion City. But the settlers rejected the name Marion City. They stole Hook's hotel sign and proclaimed that this was Hook's Point, and the hotel was Hook's Hotel. The unofficial postoffice was a metal box, measuring 18" X 8" X 10", in which he kept all of the settlement mail. It was kept under his bed. An official post office was established on August 21, 1863.
Among the many new settlers were Wes and Sarah Hook, with sons David and Steve, and Will and Sarah Hook. They built cabins about a mile north of the settlement. In 1858, when the river was very deep, the Riverland Company ran the Charlie Rodgers Steamboat upstream passed the Bell settlement. Most of Hook's Point residents watched from the banks of the river. The company claimed parcels of land from the government on both sides of the river. Much of these lands are now under the management of the Litchfield Land Company.
In this same year, two men, George Smith and Charles Gatchell, operated a lumber business. They felled trees from the timber area west of Hook's Point for logs and split fence rails. The rails were left with Isaac Hook to sell at his store. One Saturday night, the men came to Isaac's store to purchase supplies and settle up accounts. Half of one batch of rails were walnut and half were oak. The walnut rails were more valuable. When Isaac gave the men their money, Smith argued that he had split most of the walnut logs and deserved more than half of the money. Gatchell stood his ground and insisted that they had always split the profit "half and half." The argument became heated, and Gatchell hit Smith, knocking him off his feet. Isaac, Dan Pointer, and others in the store separated the men and told them to take their argument outside.
Smith and Gatchell both went to the barroom, which was attended by young Dave Hook. The men went to opposite ends of the bar. Dan stepped between them. Things seemed to settle down as the men both drank. When the argument flared up again, Dan asked the men to leave the bar. Smith whirled about and headed for the door. As he got to the door, he spotted a rifle leaning against the wall. It had been left there by another patron, Olaf Ferlen. Smith grabbed the gun, spun around, leveled the gun at Gatchell and pulled the trigger. Gatchell cried out, "I'm shot. Why?" The settlement had no doctor, so there was no one to attend Gatchell. He lay there in the bar for 25 minutes until he died.
The news traveled to Webster City, and Sheriff Leonard arrived to arrest Smith. The sheriff took Smith to Judge J. D. Maxwell, who determined that he would be held for trial. Webster City had no jail so Smith was put in a room at the Willson House. The McFarland Clinic parking lot is presently there. After remaining in the hotel a few days, Smith slipped out through a window and ran away. A posse was formed to ride out and find him, but it returned empty handed.
Gatchell, the first person murdered in our county, was buried at the north end of the new Hook's Point Cemetery. The land was donated by Isaac Hook. Much later, when the cemetery was fenced, it was discovered that Gatchell had been buried just north of the fence and outside of the cemetery. He was left outside the cemetery until the 1940's when Fred Runkle, editor of the Stanhope Observer, called people from Webster and Hamilton Counties to a meeting. They raised funds, bought a strip of land and moved the fence. From that time until the present, Gatchell rests inside the Hook's Point Cemetery.