History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I, Part 1

Author: Stuart, I. L., b. 1855, ed
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 519


USA > Iowa > Franklin County > History of Franklin County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 1


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HISTORY OF


FRANKLIN COUNTY IOWA


A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement


By I. L. STUART Supervising Editor


VOLUME I


ILLUSTRATED


CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914


200202


L


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CONTENTS


CHAPTER I


FOUR SCORE YEARS AGO-RED MAN, WILD GAME AND VIRGIN PRAIRIE -INDIAN CONFLICTS AND INDIAN TREATIES-IOWA TERRITORY BECOMES A STATE-TOPOGRAPHY-FIRST LAND TITLES-STATE INSTITUTIONS 9


CHAPTER II


THE LOG CABIN WAS THE PALACE OF THE PIONEER-CHINKED LOGS, COVERED WITH CLAPBOARDS-RIFLE AND SPINNING WHEEL-AL- MOST ANYTHING WAS A BEDROOM-COOKING WAS PRIMITIVE FOR SHARP APPETITES-WELCOME FOR THE WAYFARER-PRAIRIE FIRES AND WOLF HUNTS-AMUSEMENTS FOR THE FRONTIER PEOPLE WERE NOT LACKING-WHAT UNREMITTING TOIL HAS ACCOM- PLISHED 57


CHAPTER III


IOWA'S FIRST LEGISLATURE-GRAPHIC, AMUSING AND INTERESTING PEN PICTURES BY A VETERAN MEMBER OF THAT HISTORIC BODY- HAWKINS TAYLOR'S PORTRAYAL OF THE FIRST IOWA LAW MAKERS- FRANKLIN COUNTY IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 71


CHAPTER IV


BEFORE THE CREATION OF FRANKLIN COUNTY- THE FIRST TO SETTLE HERE-MAYNE'S GROVE SELECTED BY THEM-SKETCHES OF PIO- NEERS-THE INDIAN SCARE -- HUNTING STORIES 81


CHAPTER V


GEOLOGIC FEATURES OF FRANKLIN COUNTY-ITS ROCKS, STREAMS AND HILLS-WOODS, FRUITS, SOIL AND COMMERCIAL CLAY-TO THE STUDENT THIS IS AN INTERESTING CHAPTER . IOI


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CONTENTS


CHAPTER VI


FRANKLIN COUNTY ERECTED AND ORGANIZED-SELECTION OF THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT-EFFORT TO MAKE MAYSVILLE THE COUNTY SEAT- EARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY COURT. .


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CHAPTER VII


MEN WHO HAVE SERVED THE COUNTY-JUDGE J. B. REEVE THE FIRST OFFICIAL-ESTABLISHMENT OF VARIOUS OFFICES-BOARD OF SUPER- VISORS 127


CHAPTER VIII


PUBLIC BUILDINGS OF THE COUNTY-COURTHOUSES-THE JAIL- COUNTY FARM-FIRST AND LAST TAX LEVY-POPULATION-FRANK- LIN COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 135


CHAPTER IX


CIVIL WAR-PRESIDENT LINCOLN CALLS FOR SEVENTY-FIVE THOUSAND MEN TO PUT DOWN REBELLION-FRANKLIN COUNTY PATRIOTIC AND SENDS MANY OF HER SONS TO BATTLE -- NAMES OF THE HEROES --- PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES-SOLDIERS' MEMORIAL TEMPLE-SOLDIERS' MONUMENT 143


CHAPTER X


REMINISCENT- LEANDER REEVE HARKS BACK TO THE EARLY DAYS- AMONG MANY THINGS TELLS OF HUNTING BUFFALO-JOB GARNER PREACHES FOR A FARM-TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS I71


CHAPTER XI


WHAT THE YEARS HAVE SHOWN -- WILD LAND CHANGED INTO VALU- ABLE FARMS-GOOD ROADS, SPLENDID COUNTRY HOMES, ABUNDANT CROPS-BEAUTIFUL STREAMS AND GROVES 181


CHAPTER XII


THE FIRST PHYSICIANS ENDURED HARDSHIPS AND WERE POORLY PAID -PILLS AND QUININE COMPOSED THE PIONEER DOCTOR'S PHARMA- COEPIA-PLACED GREAT RELIANCE ON THE LANCET AND BLED HIS PATIENT WITH OR WITHOUT PROVOCATION-SOME OF THE PIONEER AND LATER PHYSICIANS OF THE COUNTY 191


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CONTENTS


CHAPTER XIII


HONORABLE PROFESSION OF THE LAW-MEMBERS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY BAR MEN OF ABILITY-JUDGES WHO HAVE PRESIDED IN


HAMPTON-PREMIER JURIES-SKETCHES OF THE EARLY LAWYERS


.199


CHAPTER XIV


NEWSPAPERS EARLY IN FRANKLIN COUNTY-MANY ABLE MEN CON- NECTED WITH THEM-THE RECORDER THE PREMIER-SKETCH OF L. B. RAYMOND .213


CHAPTER XV


D. W. DOW, PIONEER LAWYER, BECOMES REMINISCENT-HIS CAMPAIGN IN 1860-EFFICACY OF "CHEWIN' TERBACKER"-HOW HAMPTON LOOKED IN 1859 . 223


CHAPTER XVI


TRANSPORTATION-BUILDING OF THE CENTRAL RAILWAY OF IOWA- THE FIRST TRAIN INTO HAMPTON AND WHAT IT ENTAILED-BURLING- TON, CEDAR RAPIDS & NORTHERN-CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN- THE DES MOINES, IOWA FALLS & NORTHERN 231


CHAPTER XVII


DRAINAGE DITCH DISTRICTS-A LATTER DAY IMPROVEMENT WORTH MILLIONS TO LOCAL FARMS-LARGE TRACTS OF LAND RECLAIMED BY BIG DITCHES-B. H. MALLORY, MEMBER FRANKLIN COUNTY BAR, TELLS THE STORY 237


CHAPTER XVIII


WHY DID YOU COME HERE ?- THE QUESTION ASKED BY EDITOR RAY- MOND-ANSWERED BY THE QUERIST- INFLUENCE OF FRIENDS A COGENT AGENCY. . 243


CHAPTER XIX


THE TOWNSHIPS- REEVE, MORGAN, WEST FORK, OSCEOLA, INGHAM- THE FIRST SETTLEMENT MADE IN REEVE-MORGAN ONE OF THE INITIAL THREE TOWNSHIPS ORGANIZED-THE EARLY FARMS, TOWNS AND INHABITANTS 249


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CONTENTS


CHAPTER XX


THE TOWNSHIPS CONTINUED - GENEVA - OAKLAND - HAMILTON - GRANT-LEE-GENEVA EARLY SETTLED-JOB GARNER CAME TO THIS TOWNSHIP IN 1854 AND WAS FOUNDER OF HAMPTON-DATES OF TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATIONS 283


CHAPTER XXI


THE TOWNSHIPS CONTINUED-WISNER-RICHLAND-SCOTT-MARION -ROSS-MOTT-THE TWO LATTER TOWNSHIPS IMPORTANT AS EARLY SETTLEMENTS-MOTT WAS ORIGINALLY PART OF WASHING- TON IN WHICH IS THE COUNTY SEAT 319


CHAPTER XXII


CLINTON TOWNSHIP AND THE TOWN OF SHEFFIELD-SECOND TOWN OF IMPORTANCE IN FRANKLIN COUNTY-WHEN FOUNDED AND BY WHOM-BUSINESS ACTIVITIES, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, ETC. . .. . 351


CHAPTER XXIII


THE COUNTY SEAT-LAID OUT AND PLATTED IN 1856-JOB GARNER AND GEORGE RYAN, FOUNDERS-GROWTH OF THE VILLAGE-INCOR- PORATED AS A TOWN IN 1871-INCORPORATED AS A CITY OF THE SECOND CLASS IN 1893-THE BUILDERS OF HAMPTON-PUBLIC UTILITIES-MODERN IMPROVEMENTS-BUSINESS HOUSES, ETC. 369


CHAPTER XXIV


EDUCATIONAL-SCHOOLS OF HAMPTON AND THEIR ADVANTAGES- FIRST SCHOOL TAUGHT AND THE SCHOOLHOUSES-PRESENT SCHOOL BUILDINGS-DISTRICT SCHOOLS AND THEIR PROGRESS. . 403


CHAPTER XXV


HAMPTON PUBLIC LIBRARY-DIFFICULTY IN THE WAY OF ESTABLISH- ING THE INSTITUTION-INTERESTING DESCRIPTIVE STORY BY ONE WHO KNEW-THE CARNEGIE GIFT OF TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS- DEDICATION OF THE LIBRARY BUILDING. 409


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CONTENTS


CHAPTER XXVI


HAMPTON'S FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS-BANKING A BUSINESS OF GREAT ANTIQUITY-EARLY BANKS IN THE COUNTY SEAT-DEPOSITS IN HAMPTON BANKS OVER TWO MILLION DOLLARS-INDUSTRIAL HAMPTON 417


CHAPTER XXVII


RELIGIOUS-THE CHURCHES OF HAMPTON-THE CITY IS MADE UP OF A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE AND HAS THE BEST CHURCH EDIFICES OF ANY PLACE OF ITS SIZE IN IOWA- THEIR HISTORY-HAMPTON CEME- TERY 427


CHAPTER XXVIII


MAYORS OF FRANKLIN COUNTY'S CHIEF CITY-OTHER OFFICIALS OF THE MUNICIPALITY-SKETCHES OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVES FROM 1871 TO 1903 443


CHAPTER XXIX


AN HISTORIC OLD MILL-BUILT IN 1859 BY A. K. HANSBERRY WHO LIVED WITH HIS FAMILY IN THE LOWER STORY-KNOWN AS BEED'S MILL OVER A HALF CENTURY-BEED'S LAKE AND PLEASURE RESORT 453


THE N PUBLIC MBRARY


A .. i-BOX TILD. JI DATIONS


I. S. Stuart


History of Franklin County


CHAPTER I


FOUR SCORE YEARS AGO-RED MAN, WILD GAME AND VIRGIN PRAIRIE -INDIAN CONFLICTS AND INDIAN TREATIES-IOWA TERRITORY BECOMES A STATE-TOPOGRAPHY-FIRST LAND TITLES-STATE INSTITUTIONS.


Four score years ago all that part of the great and beautiful State of Iowa, of which the county of Franklin is a part, was practically terra incognita, a vast wilderness, given over by the Almighty to wild beasts, birds of the air and their masters, the Indians, who roamed the plains and forests at will, claiming and securing an existence from the bounteous hand of nature. Here the deer, buf- falo and other fur-bearing animals found a habitat, and the main streams gave generously of the palatable fish. The red man had no care for the morrow. No thought came to him that his posses- sions would ever be disturbed by the pale face. So he continued his dreams. The hunt was his daily avocation, broken in upon at intervals by a set-to with a hostile tribe of aborigines, that was always cruel and bloody in its results and added spoils to the victor and captives for torture. He knew not of the future and cared less. But the time was coming, was upon him, when he was called upon to make way for a stronger and a progressive race of men; when the fair land that was his birthright and his hunting grounds, re- splendent with the gorgeous flower and emerald sod, must yield to the husbandman. The time had come for the buffalo, deer and elk to seek pastures new, that the alluvial soil might be turned to the sun and fed with grain, to yield in their seasons the richest of harvests.


It is hard for the present generation to realize the rapid pace of civilization on the western continent in the past one hundred years; and when one confines his attention to the advancement of the State Vol. 1-1


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


of Iowa in the past seventy-five years, his amazement is all the more intense. Evidences of progress are on every hand as one wends one's way across the beautiful state. Manufacturing plants are springing up hither and yon; magnificent edifices for religious worship point their spires heavenward; schoolhouses, colleges, and other places of learning and instruction make the state stand out prominently among her sisters of this great republic. Villages are growing into towns, and towns are taking on the dignity of a city government, until today Iowa is noted throughout the Union for the number, beauty and thrift of her towns and cities. The commonwealth is cobwebbed with her telegraph, telephone and railroad lines, and all these things above mentioned have been made possible by the thrift, determi- nation and high character of the people who claim citizenship within her borders.


THE INDIAN AND HIS FATE


It is conceded by historians who have given the subject deep thought and careful research that this country was inhabited by a race of human beings distinct from the red man. But that is beyond the province of this work. The men and women who opened up the State of Iowa and the county of Franklin to civilization had only the red man to dispute their coming and obstruct their progress ; and in that regard something should be recorded in these pages.


So far as the writer can ascertain, the Indians were the first in- habitants of Iowa. For more than one hundred years after Mar- quette and Joliet had trod the virgin soil of Iowa and admired its fertile plains, not a single settlement had been made or attempted ; nor even a trading post established. The whole country remained in the undisputed possession of the native tribes. These tribes fought among themselves and against each other for supremacy and the choicest hunting grounds became the reward for the strongest and most valiant of them.


When Marquette visited this country in 1673, the Illini were a powerful people and occupied a large portion of the state, but when the country was again visited by the whites, not a remnant of that once powerful tribe remained on the west side of the Mississippi. and Iowa was principally in the possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a warlike tribe which, originally two distinct nations residing in New York and on the waters of the St. Lawrence, had gradually fought their way westward and united, probably after the Foxes


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


had been driven out of the Fox river country in 1846 and crossed the Mississippi. The death of Pontiac, a famous Sac chieftain, was made the pretext for war against the Illini, and a fierce and bloody struggle ensued, which continued until the Illini were nearly de- stroyed, and their possessions went into the hands of their victorious foes. The Iowas also occupied a portion of the state for a time, in common with the Sacs, but they, too, were nearly destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes and in the "Beautiful Land," these natives met their equally warlike and bloodthirsty enemies, the Northern Sioux, with whom they maintained a constant warfare for the possession of the country for a great many years.


In 1803, when, under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States. Louisiana was purchased from Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of France, the Sacs, Foxes and Iowas possessed the entire State of Iowa and the two former tribes also occupied most of Illinois. The Sacs had four principal villages, where most of them resided. Their largest and most important town, from which emanated most of the obstacles encountered by the Government in the extinguishment of Indian titles to land in this region, was on the Rock river, near Rock Island; another was on the east bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Henderson river; the third was at the head of the Des Moines rapids, near the present site of Montrose; and the fourth was near the mouth of the Upper Iowa. The Foxes had three principal villages. One was on the west side of the Mississippi, six miles above the rapids of Rock river, another was about twelve miles from the river, in the rear of the Dubuque lead mines ; and the third was on Turkey river.


The Iowas, at one time identified with the Sacs of Rock river, had withdrawn from them and become a separate tribe. Their principal village was on the Des Moines river, in Van Buren county, on the site where Iowaville now stands. Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas was fought, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, commanded one division of the attack- ing forces. The following account of the battle has been given :


"Contrary to long established custom of Indian attack, this battle was commenced in the daytime, the attending circumstances justify- ing this departure from the well settled usages of Indian warfare. The battlefield was a level river bottom, about four miles in length and two miles wide near the middle, narrowing to a point at either end. The main area of this bottom rises perhaps twenty feet above the river, leaving a narrow strip of low bottom along the shore


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


covered with trees that belted the prairie on the river side with a thick forest, and the immediate bank of the river was fringed with a dense growth of willows. Near the lower end of this prairie, near the river bank, was situated the Iowa village. About two miles above it and near the middle of the prairie is a mound, covered at the time with a small clump of trees and underbrush growing on its summit. In the rear of this little elevation, or mound, lay a belt of wet prairie, covered at that time with a dense growth of rank, coarse grass. Bordering this wet prairie on the north, the country rises abruptly into elevated, broken river bluffs, covered with a heavy forest for miles in extent and in places thickly clustered with under- growth, affording convenient shelter for the stealthy approach of an enemy.


"Through this forest the Sac and Fox war party made their way in the night and secreted themselves in the tall grass spoken of above, intending to remain in ambush during the day and make such observations as this near proximity to their intended victims might afford, to aid them in their contemplated attack on the town during the following night. From this situation their spies could take a full survey of the village and watch every movement of the inhab- itants, by which means they were soon convinced that the Iowas had no suspicion of their presence.


"At the foot of the mound above mentioned the Iowas had their race course, where they diverted themselves with the excitement of horse racing and schooled their young warriors in cavalry evolu- tions. In these exercises mock battles were fought and the Indian tactics of attack and defense carefully inculcated, by which means a skill in horsemanship was acquired that is rarely excelled. Un- fortunately for them, this day was selected for their equestrian sports and, wholly unconscious of the proximity of their foes, the warriors repaired to the race ground, leaving most of their arms in the vil- lage, and their old men, women and children unprotected.


"Pash-a-popo, who was chief in command of the Sacs and Foxes, perceived at once this state of things afforded for a complete sur- prise of his now doomed victims, and ordered Black Hawk to file off with his young warriors through the tall grass and gain the cover of the timber along the river bank, and with the utmost speed reach the village and commence the battle, while he remained with his division in the ambush to make a simultaneous attack on the un- armed men whose attention was engrossed with the excitement of the races. The plan was skillfully laid and dexterously executed.


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


Black Hawk with his forces reached the village undiscovered, and made a furious onslaught upon the defenseless inhabitants by firing one general volley into their midst and completing the slaughter with the tomahawk and scalping knife, aided by the devouring flames with which they enveloped the village as soon as the fire- brand could be spread from lodge to lodge.


"On the instant of the report of firearms at the village, the forces under Pash-a-popo leaped from their couchant position in the grass and sprang, tigerlike, upon the unarmed Iowas in the midst of their racing sports. The first impulse of the latter naturally led them to make the utmost speed toward their arms in the village, and protect, if possible, their wives and children from the attack of their merci- less assailants. The distance from the place of attack on the prairie was two miles, and a great number fell in their flight by the bullets and tomahawks of their enemies, who pressed them closely with a running fire the whole way and the survivors only reached their town to witness the horrors of its destruction. Their whole village was in flames and the dearest objects of their lives lay in slaughtered heaps amidst the devouring element, and the agonizing groans of the dying, mingled with the hideously exulting shouts of the enemy, filled their hearts with maddening despair. Their wives and chil- dren who had been spared the general massacre were prisoners, and their weapons in the hands of the victorious savages; all that could be done was to draw off their shattered and defenseless forces, and save as many lives as possible by a retreat across the Des Moines river, which they effected in the best possible manner, and took a position among the Soap Creek hills."


The Sioux located their hunting grounds north of the Sacs and Foxes. They were a fierce and warlike nation and often disputed possession in savage and fiendish warfare. The possessions of these tribes were mostly located in Minnesota but extended over a portion of northern and western Iowa to the Missouri river. Their descent from the north upon the hunting grounds of Iowa frequently brought them into collision with the Sacs and Foxes and after many a san- guine conflict, a boundary line was established between them by the Government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. Instead of settling the difficulties, this caused them to quarrel all the more, in consequence of alleged trespasses upon each other's side of the line. So bitter and unrelenting became these contests that in 1830 the Government purchased of their respective tribes of the Sacs and Foxes and the Sioux, a strip of land twenty miles wide on


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


both sides of the line, thus throwing them forty miles apart by creat- ing a "neutral ground," and commanded them to cease their hostil- ities. They were, however, allowed to fish on the ground unmolested, provided they did not interfere with each other on United States territory.


Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States gov- ernment adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and also the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clark, with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the head- headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieutenant Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp near St. Louis, in a keel boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present limits of the State of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian agent at this point; a French interpreter, four chiefs, fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Mont- rose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows:


"Your great father, the President of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana and has ordered the General to send a number of his warriors in dif- ferent directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required."


At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whiskey. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as "being on a hill, forty miles above the River de Moyne rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude about forty degrees twenty-one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet per- pendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie, fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which cor- responds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its waters into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison but from the distance, latitude, descrip- tion and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi "Flint Hills." In company with one of his men Pike went on shore on a hunting ex- pedition and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi they were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted, and he left them on the prairie, sup- posing they would follow him as soon as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited for some time for his canine friends but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volun- teered to go in pursuit of them. He then continued on his way up the river, expecting the men would soon overtake him. They lost their way, however, and for six days were without food, except a few mor- sels gathered from the stream. They might have perished had they not accidentally met a trader from St. Louis, who induced two Indians to take them up the river, overtaking the boat at Dubuque. At the latter place Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a French- man, who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain. He had an old field piece and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first American who had visited that part of the territory. He was not, however, disposed to publish the wealth of his mines and the young, and evidently inquisitive, officer obtained but little information in that regard.


Upon leaving this place Pike pursued his way up the river but as he passed beyond the limits of the present State of Iowa, a detailed history of his explorations does not properly belong to this volume. It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, he held a council with the Sioux, September 23d, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land.


Before the Territory of Iowa could be opened to settlement by the whites it was first necessary that the Indian title should be ex- tinguished and the aborigines removed. The territory had been purchased by the United States but was still occupied by the Indians,


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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY


who claimed title to the soil by right of possession. In order to ac- complish this purpose, large sums of money were expended, war- ring tribes had to be appeased by treaty stipulations and oppression by the whites discouraged.


BLACK HAWK WAR


When the United States assumed control of the country, by rea- son of its purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in pos- session of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights of the pale faces. Among the most noted chiefs and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites oc- casioned more trouble to the Government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village, on Rock river, in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors; but by his energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nation of the Sacs and Foxes, and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led cam- paigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he began to appear prominent in affairs on the Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill feeling against the Americans. -




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