on freight received for May, 1890, being $147.22, and for forwarding $2,002.19, the latter being about twice that of an average month.
They have two churches, but no newspapers, banks, or secret societies. They have held to their old incorporation. The grain shipment keeps the town in existence; nearly $2,000 in charges for forwarding being on grain alone.
In her palmy days Sheldahl had two newspapers at different times. The Sheldahl Journal came out in a new dress, May 7, 1880, and with seven columns in folio. The editor, W. G. Cambridge, avowed his Republican intentions, and all went well until January 7, 1881, Charles H. Lee secured it, and for a time had a partner - Rash. A. L. Rowen succeeded Lee in December, 1881, but the spring flowers of 1882 bloomed over its grave, and a juvenile effort, called the Iowa Cyclone, ran long enough to celebrate both its own and the Journal's funeral.
Kelley is a little clump of elevator, depot, store, tile and brick works, all compactly set in around the depot of the Des Moines & Minneapolis Branch of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, between Slater and Ames, and with a population of about eighty persons. This site was entered July 20, 1855, by Thomas E. Judd, and it lay idle until the arrival of the Narrow Gauge Railway in 1874; then Bardwell & Bardwell opened a store, and laid out the town in August, 1875, on both sides of the township line. They afterward sold out to Shields & Cook, and later Mr. A. Wortman secured it, and with the creamery is the leader of the place; this together with the fine tile works of J. M. Stark makes the leading business of the place. The grain shipment is large, and with the creamery business and tile interests the town leads a busy life. The postmasters have been as follows: H. R. Bardwell, June 8, 1875; W. Peckard, January 31, 1876; M. C. Stevens, April 3, 1876; J. McCoy, June 7, 1880; J. M. Tanner, April 19, 1887; A. Wortman, April 8, 1889.
Collins boasts of 275 people, and a goodly number of these are retired farmers. The little plat lying north of the St. Paul tracks and grounds and Railroad Street spreads its business along Main Street to the north, and presents a thriving appearance, as the capital of Collins Township should. Its comely elevators and depot, too, look business-like; and the average monthly charges on received freight, $355.17, and $1,082.65 on that forwarded, with $119.04 for ticket sales, show that it does not belie its appearance. This is not bad for a St. Paul eight-year-old.
Collins began really about a mile to the northeast, about 1875, in the store of James Plumb. This was afterward secured by James Chapman, who obtained the establishment of Collins Center post-office January 20, 1879. Then, almost three years later, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway line concluded to have a station on the present site. This had been entered September 25, 1855, by J. S. Easley and Edgar Beardsley ; but by this time Henry and John Angelo had secured the land, and the former sold it to the railway company, i. e., an east and west forty acres. The east forty acres has since been vacated, although both were platted and recorded in February, 1882. Before it was platted Riley Hampton built a hotel, and the plat placed him on the back end of his lot, and he had to move. The second house was erected by C. W. Eatherton. About third was the Hidy Bros.' store, the first on Main and Railroad Streets, and now used as a warehouse. Very soon James Chapman and the post-office came in, and the name changed on December 9, 1881. Mr. Woods, the Bradshaw Bros., the Ozmun Bros. and others also built in the spring following. Business sprang