The area surrounding Manning, called "swamp land" on early government surveys, lacked the two things necessary for early inhabitants. There were no rivers for transportation, and few trees for shelter and fuel.

Indians apparently used this area for hunting, but did not dwell here long. Soldiers hired to survey the land traveled near the Boyer River to the west, or the Des Moines River to the east, but did not venture into the western interior.

The first settlers in Carroll County arrived in 1852, six years after Iowa was admitted to the Union. By the time the county government was organized in 1855, the population had only grown to 100, and nearly all of these people lived in the eastern and northern portions of the county, in the Coon Rapids and Carroll areas.

Prairie schooners crossed the southern part of the county, but few stayed. Their destination was California and the gold discovered there in 1848. A spring on the farm owned by Martin Tate from 1883 to 1921, then by Tony Stoberl and now by his son Norbert, was a watering spot along the California Trail.

The rich, fertile soil -- compared to Egypt's Nile Valley -- was the attraction for the county's first residents, who often housed an eight to ten member family in a one-room log cabin. Their diet came from the land: venison, turkey, prairie chicken, squirrel, corn bread, hominy, honey and dried pumpkin.

Corn, elk meat and venison could be used to purchase supplies at the store in Carroll. Opened in 1856, the store received its first goods from Iowa City, the terminus of the first railroad in Iowa, by teams which needed three weeks to cover the 200 mile journey. Costs of the goods were high: a barrel of salt sold for $8, and the first sewing machine in the county, purchased in 1868, brought $285.

The nearest doctor and post office were at Panora, 30 miles from Carroll, and it was 60 miles to the nearest grist mill at Boonesboro.

Through an 1856 act of Congress meant to encourage the growth of railroads across the state, alternate sections of land lying a mile on each side of the railroad line were given to the railroad. The grant was later extended to 20 miles on each side of the line, with half of Carroll County thus becoming railroad property. Land within the railroad zone was sold for $2.50 per acre, and at $1.25 an acre outside of the zone.

Wheat, which had no commercial value before the arrival of the railroad, became the important crop of the 1870's, along with barley, rye and flax. In 1874, 901 rail cars of grain were shipped from the three Carroll County terminals, Carroll, Arcadia and Glidden, along with 142 rail cars of livestock.

Not many improvements were made in the county until after the Civil War, as nearly all the able-bodied men left their farms and stores to fight for the Union. Of the 100 men in the county, 28 volunteered for service and three were drafted.

As the men came home from war, they were followed by a wave of immigrants, especially Germans. Some came from the Dubuque area and others directly from their homeland, brought here through the efforts of the Northwestern Railroad and the State of Iowa.

It was a hardy stock that ventured into the southern part of the county, far from the rail lines, market areas, and supply centers of Carroll and Arcadia. Wood for the homes and buildings had to be hauled by wagon, over dirt trails with no bridges over the streams. Prairie fires were a constant hazard in the dry falls, and deaths from diphtheria, typhoid fever, or from a shooting were weekly occurances. Law enforcement was almost non-existant in the southern part of the county. In 1872, farmers joined together in a "Home Protection Society" to suppress the lawlessness.

William B. Hockett, who settled two miles west of the future town in 1873, served as a marshal for the area. In the 1870's, horse thieves were particularly active in Shelby County, and one made the mistake of stealing Hockett's pony. He traced the animal to Cuppy's Grove south of Des Moines, which was notorious for its gangs of thieves. Hockett was credited for ending the careers of many of the outlaws.

Grasshoppers, hailstorms, and blizzards could be as deadly as the pox. Sam Todd, a resident of Roselle Township, told about a March, 1870, trip into Carroll to deliver wheat and pick up supplies. There was just enough snow to make the three sleds, pulled by a total of four teams, run smooth. Nine men of the settlement were to make the trip, leaving only two elderly men and the women at home.

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By noon, they had completed their business. As a light snow was beginning to fall, they decided to split up and return home. There was no trail to follow, and no houses between Carroll and their community of Hillsdale (now Roselle). The storm kept getting worse and colder; Todd's party of three finally made it home, while the storm continued two more nights and days.

Two others had also reached safety, but there was no word of the other four. Todd and his companions went back to Carroll, where a search party of 50 had been formed. Eventually they found the sled; its four passengers had been frozen into solid chunks of ice.

Despite the hardships, newcomers continued to arrive. In 1870, the county recorded 2,451 residents; in 1880, it had 12,351. By the late 1870's, a string of settlements had sprung up even along the southern portions of the county.

Detlef Grau and his wife Sophia arrived in two prairie schooners, crossing through grass as high as the mighty wagon wheels. Annie and Wallace Carpenter arrived in March, 1881, in the midst of a snow storm, and brought their belongings from the Arcadia rail stop by sled. Ben Myatt and his son Jim who came in 1875, tossed rocks into the streams for crossing.

Seedlings from groves near Denison, Arcadia and Westside were brought along in the wagons, and planted for future use. Until the trees were grown, people with money would get coal for heating from mines east of Coon Rapids, while others would burn cobs, corn stalks or weeds.

Settlements began to dot the countryside, and residents of one settlement would go to another for visits on Sunday afternoons. "Preacher" Martin of Arcadia would conduct church services in a school built in section 16, west of what was to become Manning.

"These people thought nothing of going to Carroll, Westside, Arcadia or Harlan to do their shopping," Jim Myatt recalled 50 years later. "In bad weather, it was a two day trip; they put their teams in the livery barns and stayed in town until the next day, when they journeyed back home."

As the number of people grew, they began to seek closer services such as a mail stop. In 1878, a request was made to establish a post office along the existing Westside to Harlan mail route, and it was proposed that George Nickle be appointed postmaster. A year later, the request was granted, and a post office named Adena was established on the Henry Kuhl farm, 2 1/2 miles northwest of the future town. The Harry Jansen family lives there today.

"This was a wonderful improvement for the settlers, eliminating tire trips of 15 to 20 miles away," the 1931 Monitor noted. "Things were going fine until the winter of 1880, when the snow made it hard for the coaches to get through. In one instance, 11 heavy teams were called to help break the path. It took from morning until three in the afternoon to get to Westside. But the people considered this their duty and did it willingly."

The increased population of the southern portions of the county, their growing need for marketing routes, and the goal of having no spot in Iowa more than 12 miles from a railroad, eventually resulted in plans to extend rail lines southward to Audubon and Harlan and from Council Bluffs to Marian.

The gold rush of 1849 had brought a public demand for transcontinental railroad lines. Construction was rapid after the Civil War, but nearly halted during the financial panic of 1873. By 1880, railroad construction boomed again, and more than 7000 miles of track were laid each year by 1890, including the tracks which intersected and became the basis for Manning.