CLARK, JOHN KING, a farmer and stockraiser of township 18, range 11, section 29, is operating his 220 acres of land at Bluff Springs in such a manner as to justify his methods and reflect credit upon his excellent management. He was born in Cass County, May 14, 1828, a son of Thomas Clark and Anna (King) Clark, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, farming people. The parents went from Illinois to Iowa and lived in that state for four years, when they traveled further west in 1834, but in 1840, they returned to Iowa, and there the father platted the town of Mount Pleasant. For some years they lived on land in Cass County, in the timber regions, and their hogs were fattened on the nuts they found on the ground. Game was plentiful in those early days, but the privations were many.

John King Clark grew up amid strictly pioneer conditions, and his educational advantages were limited to the country schools. For eight years he conducted a general store and in it received the mail as postmaster at Bluff Springs, and then returned to the farm. In 1872, he was a mail carrier, and interested himself in securing a station at Bluff Springs, and through his efforts the present one was established. Mr. Clark can remember when he hunted game here and made clothing out of the hides of the deer he shot, and wore it. He also killed many wild turkeys in his time, and when the family went to Iowa, he came into contact with Indians. During his boyhood the family lived in a log house of one room, and yet, in looking back, although he recognizes the hardships of those days, he feels that, perhaps, people were less selfish and really happier although they had to get along with much less than now. In addition to acting as postmaster, Mr. Clark was a school director and road commissioner. All his life he has been a Democrat. The Methodist church holds his membership. Mr. Clark has never married. He is a man whose memory relative to bygone events is remarkable, and he relates incidents of earlier days so entertainingly, that he holds his listeners spellbound. His recollections are worthy of a place in some published volume, for they constitute an account of history in the making.