Its First Hundred Years
It is well known that before any white men settled here this township and neighboring areas to the south and east had been inhabited by the Delaware Indians, who had a village and burial ground on the James River, about five miles northeast of Clever, near the present Delaware Church.
After the Indians had gone the region remained unoccupied for a number of years before any white settlers came. The southwestern part of this township was an open prairie with patches of brush on the level land. In the northern and eastern part, along Terrel Creek and the James River, the land was rolling to hilly and covered with small timber.
Naturally when white settlers located here they chose sites near established roads and where wood and water were available. Many settlements were made along Terrel Creek, the James River, or an important spring, such as Luce's Branch Spring, Dug, Double, Cabe, Reynolds, and Craig Springs.
One of the principal roads west of the Mississippi River was the "Old Wire Road" leading from St. Louis to the southwest via Springfield and Fort Smith. This historic road received its name from the telegraph line which was constructed along it during the Civil War. It was also the route traveled by the Butterfield Mail in 1858 to 1861. The road was much used before and after the Civil War and was traveled by forces of both Federal and Confederate armies. Detachments of troops camped at Dug Spring on this road about one mile southwest of Clever. On one occasion a skirmish between opposing forces occurred here and the Southern forces were re-