A Short Story about the town of Zero, IA

Around 1880 a small mining village named Zero, owned by the Zero Coal Company was formed.  Zero’s life was short lived because the mine was plagued with too much water in its shafts.  Some time before the turn of the 20th century, the Zero experiment failed.  The coal mine was closed.  There are a couple of versions why the town was named Zero.  Some said it was named Zero because it was half way between Melrose and Russell, but others say the name was probably taken from the Zero Coal Co.  In 1881 a vote for a  five per cent tax for railroad construction from Chariton to Russell on to Wabash and Appanoose counties, was taken and it was defeated.  At one time there was a Post Office in town and it even had a broom factory in 1881.  Zero Coal Company had the town platted in 1883.  In 1882 Cook Bros. started laying out the lots in Zero.  By the time they finished there were 61 lots, five streets and three alleys drawn into the town.  By 1887, 20 more lots were officially added.  This small mining town once had a population between 500 and 600 hard working people.  In October of 1883 the Odd Fellows of LaGrange moved their hall to Zero.

Below is the one and only picture of the mine and its workers  -  Labeled - 1886

 This information was obtained from Chariton newspapers and Russell Union.

Some of the residents of Zero from 1882  - 1884

                                                   Mr. Allen                      James Hollenrake
                                                   David Barton                Jacob Gardner
                                                   Mart Barton                  Aquilla Kern
                                                   Mr. Cavett                    Jacob Lemley
                                                   Columbus Chambers     Peter Lemley
                                                   Mr. Comstock               S.G. Lewis
                                                   Wm. Conner                 E. Long           
                                                   Cook Bros.                   Mr. Lutes
                                                   G.R. Dawson                S.G. Morgan
                                                   Jack Dawson                D.W. Powell
                                                   Pat Ford                      R.H. Tabor
                                                   Henry Fuller                Frank Tinker
                                                   Peter Gardner              Thomas Walker
                                                   Mr. Gurwell                 Joel Whittlesey

Earl Blue, Oral Interview

Earl attended Pleasant Mound Country School, where he completed grades one through eight.  When asked if he remembered any of his time at this school, Earl said, “I used to listen to the older children read their stories from their readers, when I should have been studying.”  Earl said he never did anything “ornery”, but the other kids did.  Charles Werts got up in the attic once and stayed up there while school was going on.  Once, after  the door was shut, the teacher rang the bell, and the kids wired the door shut with the teacher inside.  The teacher opened the window and started calling names for them to come open the door.  They all just said to each other, “Don’t you move, don’t you move”.  After grade school, he attended Russell High School for a while.  He got sick with measles and yellow jaundice and went to York to recuperate for about three months.  He stayed with Uncle Bert and Aunt Ethel and worked on their farm.  After he felt better he went back to high school in York.  He came back home after a few years, when his health improved.  Then the family went on a trip to the Western states and this was the first time he saw the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  They had an old Dodge and traveled across terrible roads and barely made it.  When they came back home they left Earl in Lincoln, Nebraska so he could attend Lincoln Business College.

Earl’s parents were George Siglar and Avis June (Callahan) Blue.  George Blue was born December 25, 1867 and died December 28, 1946.  Avis Callahan was born near Oakley, Iowa on March 29, 1876 and died March 18, 1936.  They were married in October 1899.  They are both buried in the Russell Cemetery.  They had two sons, Earl and Warren.

When he finished Business College, he got a job with the C. J. Mosier Typewriter Company.  Not only did he do bookkeeping for this company, he also worked in the shop on the typewriters.  Ron asked him which he enjoyed the most and Earl said he like working on mechanical things better than bookkeeping.  While laughing, Ron asked his dad, “You mean to tell me, you don’t enjoy working on Income Tax returns?”  Earl said, “I sure don’t!”

Earl met his wife, Wretha Teater, way back when he was going to Pleasant Mound Country school when Grandma Teater was teaching at the school.  Wretha’s parents, Winona Mackey, born April 24, 1883, and Walter Teater, born February 14, 1879, were married on July 8, 1903.  Their only child, Wretha, was born on August 26, 1904 and passed away on April 18, 1986. 

Earl didn’t pay too much attention to Wretha in elementary school, but when they got to high school he started dating her.  There was a party at Wretha’s uncle’s house in Chariton, IA and that is where Earl’s interest in her started.  They saw each other off and on while she finished high school.  When she went on to teacher’s college in Cedar Falls, IA and he went to Lincoln, NE, they corresponded.  Earl couldn’t remember when he asker her to marry him, but he did give her a ring and asked her dad for permission to marry his daughter.  Wretha’s father just had one worry and that was, would Earl be taking her away from Russell and that is just what happened.  While they were corresponding, Wretha misunderstood one of the letters and sent the engagement ring back to Earl.  It seems he wanted to wait a while longer to get married and she wasn’t willing to wait.  He immediately wrote her back and told her he was serious and pleaded with her to take the ring back and marry him.  They got married in Russell at the Teater’s Valley View Farm on June 10, 1928.  They had decorated up the parlor and Rev. Archie Beals married them.  It was a double ring ceremony and it was the first one Rev. Beals had performed. 

After the marriage, Earl transferred to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to work in the shop for the Royal Typewriter Company.  He started with them as an assistant shop foreman, but soon after became the shop foreman. hospital. 

After eight years with Royal and during the depression, Earl told them he was quitting his job.  Earl rented a low rent building in the business district and opened his own typewriter sales and repair business in Milwaukee, called Blue Typewriters.  Repair and service contracts were his specialty.  A. O. Smith was one of the companies he provided service to.  They produced large grain elevators for farmers throughout the Midwest.  Harvester was another company he serviced.  So he had some large contracts.  This business grew to be a successful achievement.

Wretha taught school at Chariton, Russell, Corydon, Shell Rock, IA and Business College and Girl’s Provocation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After Earl sold the business and joined his family in Iowa, they moved to Russell and moved into the Blue family home.  Earl bought Warrens half interest in the house by giving him part of the farmland in exchange.  

Earl sold typewriters and adding machines in southern Iowa and Missouri.  He also repaired and serviced them.  He also did some cash register work.  He had the Underwood Typewriter, Victor, and Smith-Corona dealerships and so business was good again.  He had more sales than he did in Milwaukee.  Earl did this business all of his adult life.  Even at ninety years old, when this video was made, Earl was repairing typewriters. 

Earl and Wretha decided to spend the winter of 1983 in Florida.  Shortly after that visit, Wretha discovered she had cancer of the stomach.  She passed away in 1986.  Earl faced a period of adjustment and grieving that no one could identify with.    Earl died in 2002 and is buried in the Russell Cemetery.

Years and Years Ago

Russell Oral Interviews

Everlasting Life in Russell, Iowa

We all would like to live a very long and productive life.  Statistics show that people live longer now than ever before.  Russell residents are no exception.  There are only about 550 residents in town, but a large majority of them are over 80 years old.   The water in town must hold some special ingredient.  The Russell Historical Society did some oral interviews in 2004 with some of its residents and discovered that in 1930, fifty-two students enrolled in the Russell High School Senior Class and 34 of them graduated in the spring of 1931.  This is the largest class Russell has ever had in its school.  At the time of the interview these people were either 91 or 92 years old.  There were 12 former students from this class still alive and seven of them still lived in Russell, Chariton and Cambria.  Another lady lived in Russell and was 91, but she graduated from Chariton High School.  Four others lived away from Russell.  Dennis Drake lived in Colorado; Beulah (Cox) Huntley lived in California; Addison Wells lived in Minnesota; and Louise (Sanborn) Huff lived in Waterloo.

Daisy Chapman is the only one of the twelve we interviewed still living in December of 2010 and she was 97 this year. 

These interviews are in a book at the Russell Historical Society.  During the upcoming weeks I will be posting portions of these stories in this blog.  We hope you enjoy them.

Ivan Ford Oral Interview, July 23, 2004

Ivan was born in Russell, IA on October the 18th 1915.  He lived all his life, 89 years, in Russell, IA. 

Ivan’s Grandfather, Patrick Ford and his Grandmother, (Ivan could not remember her first name, she was always known as Grandma) came to America from Ireland during the Potato famine in Ireland, landing in the USA in 1877.  Why did they come to Iowa?  The saying on the East Coast at that time was “Go West Young Man!”  West they did go, landing in Russell, Iowa.  He, his wife, and two children all headed west.  His Grandmother, at this time, was pregnant with his father, Dennis Ford. 

Employment at that time was - work for the railroads.  He worked for the R.R. about 15 years as Section Forman at nearly every town from Ottumwa to Russell.  In about 1916 he took the examination for Rural Mail Carrier and passed it.  He then carried mail out of Russell for about 25 years.  The Model T. Ford car had not made it to Russell as yet and for the next three years he drove a team of horses 27½ miles, six days a week.  Roads were nothing but trails.  The first day he carried mail he got lost and never got back home that night.  It was out near Olmitz somewhere.  The trails were very hard to follow through the trees and he took the wrong road and went south.  After the Model T came along he still kept his team of horses as a backup to get the mail delivered in bad weather. 
 
After they got vehicles the routes were increased to between 53 and 54 miles, but there were only two carriers.  Now days the routes are as long as 75 miles.  Today, one of the Russell rural carriers delivers mail for Melrose.  Melrose has one mail carrier that goes east and ends up at Rathbun Lake.  The Russell carrier stops at Melrose and sorts his mail then goes out and delivers it.  He then returns to Russell and proceeds with the Russell route.

His mother, Sarah was born on a farm east of Russell.  Her father, Iven , came from Ohio, his wife having past away; he was left with 3 teenage daughters.  Spring came and he headed north, stopping at Russell and purchased a farm.  The original farmhouse is no longer there.  He then had to go back to Ohio and get the three girls he had left behind.  Grandfather Iven then built the farmhouse, which Jimmy Werts now owns, southeast of Russell.  Ricky Elmore now lives in the house Ivan’s grandfather built.   

Ivan had three sisters.  Oldest sister Carmen was born in 1905 and went to school in Russell.  She graduated from Russell High School and then went on to Simpson College, in Indianola, for two years.  Later, Carmen quit teaching at Britt and joined up with the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, in Washington, D.C.  She retired from the FBI. 

Phyllis, his middle sister, was a nurse. She went to Iowa City for her studies.  She was there for five years and worked in their hospital for a little bit after completing her studies.  

Josephine attended and graduated from Simpson College and then taught school.  She later married the Superintendent of Schools in Altoona. 

Ivan worked at Hahne Printing Co. for 3 years as a linotype (typesetter) operator.   Before living and working in Webster City, Ivan had worked at the bank in Russell.  When he was in high school, one summer, he met up with Homer Jeffries and Howard Smith in the bank down here on the corner.  Homer said to Ivan “Why don’t you come in and learn how to run the posting machine?”  So, that summer he did.  This just added to his education.  He even earned a whole $7.50 cents a month.  That was the amount they got for collecting the Iowa Southern Utilities light bill.  Those were rough times.  While there he did learn how to run a Burroughs posting machine and how to feed a press. 

Then the banks in Russell closed.  In the late thirties they reorganized.  Bob Parker worked at the bank from 1935 until 1943 when he became a Rural Mail Carrier.  Bob told Ivan they needed somebody at the bank, would he be interested?   Ivan’s first question was “How much do they pay?”   Bob had no idea.  Ivan wrote the head man in Chariton asking about the job.  He got a letter back from him.  A meeting was set up in Des Moines and Ivan went down from Webster City.  They met in some hotel lobby.    Ivan was hired right there on the spot.  He returned to Webster City to give his notice and then came down to Russell on December 1, 1943.  He worked in the Russell Bank for about ten years.  Then he went to Chariton and worked in that bank as a cashier for about twenty-four years until 1977 when he retired.  

Ivan attended Russell Elementary Schools and later graduated from Russell High School in 1933.  He then went on to college at Simpson College for one year.   

When he was a kid he lost his right eye in an accident.  Cleo Baughman and Ivan were playing in the old barn and had slingshots.  Green apples were about the size of the end of his thumb.  They were trying to shoot through the knothole in the barn wall.  Ivan peeked through the knothole and just at that time Cleo shot the apple right through the hole and hit Ivan in the eye.  He had sight in that eye for a long time, but does not have sight in that eye today.  At first he lost some vision, but eventually it came back and he was getting along with it pretty good.  It was never as good as the other eye, but yet it was his master eye, which he could never understand.  If you take your finger and point at something, one eye will make the object jump off while the master eye brings it back into alignment.  Well, it was his damaged eye that had that control.  He got by with his vision while he worked at the bank and he can drive a car just fine.  He has 20-20 vision in the good eye, today.  He has had no vision in the bad eye for the last 15 or 20 years. 

He was married in 1936 to Kathleen.  Her family lived in the first house south of Campbell Section off the southeast corner of that area.  Ivan was helping him get the mail delivered and took the South route through Bethlehem and New York back to Russell.  This is where he met Kathleen.

Ivan was on the town Council when the first load of free cinder was brought in from the round house in Ottumwa to be placed on the Russell streets.  The first street to get spread was Ames St. just south of the Phippen Oil Co.  They would bring them in the flat car and the men in Russell took the cars over on the sidetracks.  They took a teepee (two big telephone poles) and put it up on the side of the car.  Took a rope and made a pulley at the top of the teepee.  With a scoop they were able to haul the cinder to the streets where they dumped the cinder.  The cinders were only good for a couple of years before they were shot.  The city got tired of all that work just to have the roads last a couple of years.

After that the city got shale for the roads.  Shale was a little bit better than cinder. This shale came from out near the Olmitz mine.  The shale piles were as high as Russell High School.  The slag piles around the Olmitz mine and the mines near Williamson would burn for years and years, giving off a horrible sulfur smell.  Talk about pollution, this was it.

Marilyn was Ivan’s oldest daughter.  She married Cecil who taught school for a little while.

Judy, his next daughter, lives outside of Russell on a farm.  She married Dean. 

Ivan’s son, Gary lives in Cedar Rapids.  They had a business of their own.   He worked with hospitals and is now retired. 

Ivan was on the council when they brought the water into town.  Wells was their source for getting water.  There was a well and a pump right outside the Bank building, along with a horse trough.  There were hitch racks all over town.  At the churches and other locations in town.   The churches used to have outdoor meetings in the summertime, but after the horses were around for a while, they couldn’t have the meetings outdoors because of the flies and the smell.

The wells couldn’t have been too pure.  Ivan said the wells and the outdoor toilets were usually about 40 feet apart.  Even so, the taste of the water was better than the deep well water.  At first the deep well water tasted like sulfur.  Many attempts were made to get rid of the bad taste, including filtering.  They finally succeeded in getting the water to taste better.  But at the beginning it was pretty bad water.  They financed the new water system with bonds.  Lane Western out of Ames was the construction company who came in and constructed the water tower and deep well.   The first tower was constructed where the park is now.  They later constructed the tower that is in Russell today.  Ivan’s Dad always used to say, “Russell would never have water or sewers because they couldn’t afford it.”   

When a farmer came to town, he did two things; he brought a dozen old hens and a cow with him.  There used to be a barn behind every house.  Up and down the alleys you would find the hens and the cows.  Everyone had a little horse-drawn buggy.  In the early twenties, most people did not have a car.  The thought in those days was, “If you don’t buy a car, eventually everyone will go back to horses”.  When people first started driving a car, it was terrible.  The drivers really didn’t know what they were doing.  They were the worst drivers.  In those days the cars never traveled faster than fifteen miles per hour.  Some of them today still only go fifteen miles per hour.  A lot of people just pulled them into the barn in the winter, placed a blanket over them and waited until spring to take them back out of the barn.  The cars had to be cranked to get them started.  They didn’t have batteries in them in those days. 

Because he was a bank employee he ended up involved with the Homecoming activities every year.  The Commercial Club (local merchants) usually sponsored the Homecoming. 

Mr. Winsor ran a hatchery just outside of town near the cemetery.  Ted Smith had the best hatchery in town, but Mr. Winsor had his at about the same time and did just fine.  Ted would have his chicks during the three months of summer and would make as much in that three months as other merchants made in a whole year.  People came from a great distance just to buy Ted Smith’s chicks.  His annual income was $9,000. 

He went on to talk about the accident with his eye and about his hip.  About 20 years ago he was in the parking lot at the Chariton Post Office and he slipped on the ice.  During his stay in the hospital, doctors placed three pins into his hip to repair it.  


If you would like to read the entire interview, please visit the Russell Historical Society Museum/Library.

Bill Winsor Oral Interview

Aug 26, 2004

This is the written version of the Oral Interview done with Wilford “Bill” Winsor on August 26, 2004 at the Russell (Iowa) Historical Society building in Russell, IA.  

Bill was born February 4, 1924 at his family home on Ames St. in Russell, IA.  His parents were Atlee and Florence Winsor.  Bill was named Wilford after his Dad’s buddy.  They were best friends in World War I together.  Atlee was in the army for about a year.  Bill had no brothers or sisters.  Bill has lived all but 5 years of his life in Russell. 

Florence Willits, his mother, was born May 19, 1900 in Russell, IA.  Her parents were Henry and Mary Willits.  Atlee Winsor, Bill’s father, was born in Russell on July 1, 1894.  His parents were Paris and Olive Winsor.  Atlee worked at the Citizens State Bank in Russell and later moved out East of town and farmed until the Second World War began.  Then he started the hatchery business.  Everyone seemed to want and need eggs.  Bill was in the service at this time and didn’t help with the hatchery until he came home from the war.

Grandfather Winsor died when Bill was about 5 years old, so he didn’t remember much about him.  He knew his Grandmother Winsor. She died when he was in the 7th or 8th grade.  He had a fine relationship with his Grandfather Henry Willits up until he was in High School.

Bill attended his entire school years at Russell Schools.  He started in kindergarten and graduated from 12th grade, all in one school.  During these years he played basketball and baseball.  Bill remembered playing basketball against Melrose, IA the year Melrose won the State Championship.  That was the year all schools were thrown together and Melrose went up and won the championship.  Russell got to say that they at least played against them even though they were badly beaten.  Then Russell played against Cambria.  One night they had silver uniforms on and where the lettering was on the back, they had glued dimes onto the numbers.  They also played Ottumwa Walsh and when they came to play they were wearing tiny little beanies on their heads.  Russell beat this team and Ottumwa just about tore the classroom up.  They were not happy about losing.  During that time, when you visited another school to play sports, the visiting players had to use a classroom to get ready in.  Russell never got very high up in any tournaments in those days.  It was called the Chariton Valley Conference back then.  Melrose, Williamson, Russell, Derby, and Lucas were some of the schools that played in this conference.  

In Dec. 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corp and completed 2½ years of active duty in the South Pacific as a nose turret gunner in a B24 bomber.  He remembered being told by his Commander to always pay attention to what was going on around him while on a mission.  When they were sent out, it was emphasized to the men to watch out for any distractions.  The Japanese would do anything to get their attention off of where the plane was headed.  After creating a distraction the Japanese would have an advantage in the battle that ensued.  The time Bill remembers was when the Japanese set off fireworks.  The biggest fireworks display they had ever seen coming up from the ground.  From up in the air, it was a beautiful sight.  And boy right then, Bill heard the old Commander say “watch what your doing because they are just distracting you!”  A couple of minutes later, the fighters were upon them with their anti-aircraft guns firing away.  His rank was Staff Sergeant.  He left the service in May of 1945.  His son David was also in the service and served as a Military Policeman in Korea from December 1966 until August 1969.  Billy would have only been 7 or 8 years old when that war was going on.  Maybe it was the Vietnam conflict in the mid 1960’s) and spent one year overseas.

Within two weeks after returning from World War II, Bill married his sweetheart, Doris.  They were married on May 20, 1945.  The marriage lasted for 58 years before Doris passed away in September of 2003.  From this marriage, two boys were born, David J. and William Paul.    

Bill, Sr. participated in constructing Church Floats for various homecomings through the years.  He also helped with the Methodist and Presbyterian Church merger.  Bill was originally a Presbyterian.  When he and Doris were married, he transferred his membership to the Methodist Church.  The opening services were held at the Presbyterian Church and then everyone walked down to the Methodist Church to continue the merger services.  Wanita McConnell was the minister.  The Historical Society has a copy of the program for that day.  They carried the flags from the Presbyterian Church down to the Methodist Church, but provisions for the flags had not been made and the American flag was placed on the floor.  Walter Phippen went right up and picked it up and stood there and held it.

He remembers how bad it was before Russell put in the sewer system.  People’s sewage would run right out into the ditches creating a very “stinky” unhealthy situation.  Doris had David and Billy all ready to go somewhere when David fell into the ditch.  It was a horrible mess.  There weren’t septic tanks until after the water came into the city.  Bill didn’t have any running water in his house when he first moved into it.  They had a cistern and a pump before the water came into the town.  The sewer was the greatest thing that happened to Russell.  Water arrived in Russell before the sewer.  He remembered the sad events that occurred while the sewer was being installed, the death of Clyde McKinley being one of them.  He also remembers when the paving was done on Russell’s streets in 1929 or 1930.  He wasn’t sure which year.  There were only a few streets that were paved in the beginning, but Russell was ahead of other small towns in Iowa and was very proud to have some of their streets paved.  It was in the 1970’s before the rest of Russell was paved.

The complete interview is at the Russell Historical Society Museum.

Guy W. Smith

Guy was the oldest son of E. A. Smith (born - April 22, 1859 in Ohio) and Carrie Lutz Smith (born in 1863).  He was born, July 21, 1891, on a farm east of Russell and he departed from this life on Dec. 19, 1960 at Wilden Hospital in Des Moines at the age of 69 years, four months and 29 days.  

On March 29, 1916, he was united in marriage to Hazel D. McKinley at Russell, and to this marriage four children were born, of whom one, Nolan Walter, died in infancy.  The other children were Charles Eugene, Vernon Guy and one daughter, Dorcas C.  They all lived in Russell.

Guy graduated from Russell High School in 1908.  He became very active in civic affairs and was always interested in helping the betterment of Russell and its people.

Guy Smith was a former state and regional Department of Agriculture official.  Starting in 1932 he held various positions in agriculture programs.  He was Lucas county chairman of the former Agricultural Adjustment Administration.  Then he became a field-man for several counties.  In 1939 he was appointed state supervisor of federal crop insurance, and in 1941 he became supervisor of the federal crop insurance program for a 10 state area.

He returned to Iowa to serve as state chairman of the AAA program in the north central region of 11 mid-western states.  Mr. Smith resigned this position in 1946 and returned to Russell where he was associated with his sons in farm operations.

He served several years as the mayor of Russell and was chairman of the county democratic central committee for a number of terms.  He served on the platform committee at almost all state conventions of his party, in charge of writing, or assisting in the formation of the agricultural plank.

He was active in many civic projects in Russell and in the county.  An ardent sportsman, he was a leader in the establishment of the Colyn and Brown’s Slough recreation areas in this county.

He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, the Presbyterian Church and the Russell Sportsmen’s Club.

Many people donated blood during the final illness of Guy Smith.  A total of 17 gave blood in addition to the members of the family and many others who had the correct blood type had volunteered.  An ulcer, which led to Mr. Smith’s death, created the need for an unusual amount of blood within a few days.

Those who contributed included Myrle Chester, Donald Relph, Jim Cooper, Keith Lindeman, Jack Prather, Leo Sellers, Bob Prather, James Johnson, Walter Relph, Burl Cherryholmes, Ed Malone, Neal Pierce, John Rupp, Freeman McKinley, Carl Sellers, Kenneth Collins and Glenn Johnston.  The family was very grateful.