A little history

Reminisce with us for a little while and let us go back even before 1872. Imagine seeing miles and miles of just prairie grass land that was cleared by our pioneer forefathers with horses, wooden plow shares and, yes, by hand and the sweat of their brow. If they had the work done by hired labor, our History of Jackson County tells us, they paid $3.25 an acre for the job of clearing it. Our little town of Miles was one of the last settlements in Jackson County because of the lack of the two essentials -wood and water. The first record of a settlement where the town now stands was in 1850 when Edwin S. Hatheway entered a quarter section of land. O. K. Legg and Eli Denton entered land in the immediate vicinity in 1851. James Miles came in 1853, followed by his brother, Justin. Edward B. Legg was the first child born here. There was no prospect of a town until the railroad (Sabula, Ackley and Dakota) was surveyed in 1870. F. M. Miles deeded twenty acres of land on condition that the railroad would build a depot, etc. Main street was then upon the township line as most of the lots were in Iowa Township. Most of the agreements were not lived up to by the railroad so no lots were sold for several years. When Mr. Mi les began to sell lots, things started to move rapidly between 1870 and 1879. A plat of the town was laid out and dated October 10, 1872. It contained lots 1 to 61 inclusive and comprised what is now the east part of Miles as far east as the lots facing west on Lincoln Street.

**This information is from the "A Century of our Town" book used by permission