History of Linn County Iowa : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I, Part 1

Author: Brewer, Luther Albertus, 1858-1933; Wick, Barthinius Larson, 1864-
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago : Pioneer Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 740


USA > Iowa > Linn County > History of Linn County Iowa : from its earliest settlement to the present time, Volume I > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71


NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08192070 8


-


1


( Linn Co., In) Brewery


IVO


1


Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2008 with funding from Microsoft Corporation


http://www.archive.org/details/historyoflinncou01brew


History of Linn County Iowa


History


of


Linn County Iowa


From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time -


BY LUTHER A. BREWER AND BARTHINIUS L. WICK Members Historical Society of Linn County, Iowa


ILLUSTRATED .


Volume I


CHICAGO THE PIONEER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1911


.


459:11


COPYRIGHT 1911 BY LUTHER A. BREWER


THE TORCH PRESS CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA


TO THE MEMORY OF OUR HONORED PIONEERS


INTRODUCTION


The history of Linn county is covered by the events of only a few years, if compared with the history of communities east of the Missis- sippi. The space of one life-time embraces all that has happened here since the first white man looked upon our goodly heritage. True, that life has been prolonged beyond the scriptural three score and ten years. Robert Ellis, who came to this community more than seventy years ago, and who was one of the very early settlers, yet lives in a hale and vigor- ons age on land he "claimed" at that time.


But if the history of the county does not cover many years, it yet is a history crowded with happenings of interest, some of the incidents being more or less stirring.


History is defined as a record of the past. It does not concern itself with the present. It has been the purpose of the editors of this volume to treat somewhat at length of the early days in the county. Those conversant with events occurring prior to the Civil war are rapidly moving on, and it is high time that their recollections of beginnings here were gathered and put in permanent form.


This has been attempted - how imperfectly done no one realizes more keenly than we realize it. But like little Mary Wood of the story, we have done the best we eould in the few months given us to prepare the pages which follow. We have done some things which need not be done again by any one who follows us. We have made definite some things in our history as a county that heretofore have been matters of uncertainty. It is felt that the present volume will make an excellent starting point for some future chronicler.


The task of the historian has been an arduous one - far more ardu- ous than can be imagined by any save those who have done similar work. Withal the task has been one of pleasure and of inspiration. The pursuit of knowledge in this instance has really been a delight.


We have been taught many things by our work that add to the sum of the pleasures of living in a day crowded with all the conveniences of the twentieth century. Our respect for the courageous pioneer men and the equally courageous and self-sacrificing pioneer women of our county has been placed high. Nobly did they suffer, enduring privations now undreamed of, and never complaining that theirs was a hard lot. We stand with uncovered heads and with a reverent feeling in their presence.


It is not possible to make due acknowledgments to all those who aided in gathering the material in this volume. Many who came here in the early years of the county have been consulted, and always with profit. The drudgery of the work of making this book has been greatly lessened


viii


HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY


by their courtesy and their help. We thank them all. Some of them have been credited with their assistance in the narrative itself. In addition to the names mentioned in the text we desire to give thanks for aid and counsel to N. E. Brown, perhaps the best posted man in Cedar Rapids on the early history of the city : to Ed. M. Scott. for most valuable aid in the preparation of the chapter on banks and banking; to Capt. J. O. Stewart and Col. W. G. Dows for appreciated assistance in the writing of the chapter on our military history : to Carle D. Brown, of the Commercial Art Press, who gathered most of the illustrations for the volume: to W. F. Stahl, for aid in giving the history of the United Brethren church in the county. Robert Ellis, Mrs. Susan Mekeel, Mrs. Susan Shields, Mrs. Elizabeth Hrdlicka, Angustus Abbe. J. H. Preston, C. G. Greene. J. S. Ely, Wm. Smyth. C. F. Butler. L. W. Mansfield, and many others have assisted in gathering much valuable material con- verning the lives of the pioneers.


Much that has been gathered concerning times far removed from the present, is from "hearsay. " hence it has been difficult to be certain as to the correct facts in some instances. Inacenracies may be found. but these are due to unavoidable omissions, largely on the part of those who have related these happenings and not from any sense of bias or prejudice.


All prior county histories have been consulted as well as the early state gazetteers, Andreas' Atlas. Carroll's History. History of Crescent Lodge, History of the Bench and Bar of Iowa, History of the Courts and Legal Profession. Proceedings of the Linn County Historical Society; and the files of the newspapers published in the county in an early day. It is needless to add that the early city directories have been largely used with reference to the business men of Cedar Rapids in the early days.


References to persons have been confined to mere statements of facts and have been free from undue flattery on the one hand and from any- thing derogatory on the other. The members of the legal and medical professions have been referred to at some length for the reason that the lawyers and doctors were important factors in pioneer days, both in the organization of the county and in the promotion of the various enterprises in our towns.


Trusting that this history may be of some value in preserving ma- terial which ere long would pass beyond reach of preservation, this work is respectfully dedicated to the early pioneers of the county, whose lives and careers the authors have attempted to describe in the following pages.


LUTHER A. BREWER


BARTHINIU'S L. WICK


CONTENTS


CHAPTER I THE BIRTH OF IOWA . .


1 3


CHAPTER II THE FIRST INHABITANTS .


CHAPTER ILI IOWA HISTORICALLY


13


CHAPTER IV IOWA AND HER PEOPLE .


17 24


CHAPTER VI BEGINNINGS IN LINN COUNTY


31


CHAPTER VII WILLIAM ABBE, FIRST SETTLER .


51


CHAPTER VILI COUNTY SEAT CONTESTS-FIRST RAILROAD IN COUNTY


57


CHAPTER IN THE OLD SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION .


66 82 86


CHAPTER


\' POSTOFFICES AND POLITICS .


.


CHAPTER XI THE PHYSICIANS OF THE COUNTY .


92


CHAPTER XIII RURAL LIFE


98


CHAPTRE XIV A HERO OF THE CANADIAN REBELLION


101


C'HAPTER XT THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE COUNTY


106


CHAPTER XVI THE BOHEMIAN ELEMENT IN THE COUNTY 121


127


CHAPTER XVIII HISTORIC ROADS AND OTHER MONUMENTS


142


CHAPTER XIX SOME OF THE OLD SETTLERS


145


CHAPTER XY EARLY LINN COUNTY LAWYERS AND COURTS


169


CHAPTER XXI CHATTY MENTION OF BENCH AND BAR . 177


194


CHAPTER


XXIII HISTORICAL SKETCH OF CORNELL COLLEGE


201


CHAPTER


XXIV HISTORY OF COE COLLEGE


215


CHAPTER XIT THE OLD BLAIR BUILDING


232


CHAPTER XXVI SOME OF THE OLD CEMETERIES


242


CHAPTER XXVII EARLY EXPERIENCES IN STAGE AND EXPRESS


244


CHAPTER


XXVIII LINN COUNTY LIBRARIES .


248


CHAPTER XXLY WAGES AND PRICES IN COUNTY FROM 1846 TO 1856


253


CHAPTER XXY SOME OF THE FIRST THINGS IN CEDAR RAPIDS AND LINN COUNTY 256


CHAPTER XXXI SOCIETY IN THE EARLY DAYS . .


261


CHAPTER XXXII SOUTHERN INFLUENCE


267


CHAPTER XXXIII SOME TOWNSHIP HISTORY


270


CHAPTER XXXIV LISBON AND THE UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH


291


CHAPTER XXXV COUNTY AND DISTRICT POLITICS .


298


CHAPTER XXXVI CEDAR RAPIDS .


307-


CHAPTER XXXVII BEGINNINGS OF CHURCHES AND FRATERNITIES IN CEDAR RAPIDS . . 395


CHAPTER XXXVIII CATHOLICISM IN LINN COUNTY .


401


CHAPTER XXXIX LINN COUNTY STATISTICS


.


416


.


CHAPTER V' THE GEOLOGY OF LINN COUNTY


.


.


.


CHAPTER XII THE MATERIAL GROWTH OF THE COUNTY . .


CHAPTER XVII THE EARLY MARRIAGE RECORD .


CHAPTER XXII THE SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY .


HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY


CHAPTER XL THE BRIDGES ACROSS THE CEDAR AT CEDAR RAPIDS AND EARLY STEAMBOATING ON THE CEDAR RIVER 420


CHAPTER ALI BANKS AND BANKING IN LINN COUNTY . 435


CHAPTER XLII ROSTER OF COUNTY OFFICERS . 451


CHAPTER XLIII HISTORY OF MARION, THE COUNTY SEAT 460


CHAPTER XLIV LINN COUNTY IN WAR . 470


CHAPTER XLV ODDS AND ENDS OF HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE . 479


ILLUSTRATIONS


LUTHER A. BREWER


Frontispiece . . B. L. WICK


4


LEWIS FIELD LINN


.


8


A SCENE ON THE CEDAR RIVER AT CEDAR RAPIDS IN THE FIFTIES . 12


RESIDENCE OF ISAAC CARROLL IN 1839


12


AN EARLY LAND DEED


.


.


16 20


GEOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS . ·


24


THE ASTOR HOUSE


28


DOUBLE LOG CABIN BUILT BY WILLIAM ABBE


32


FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN CEDAR RAPIDS IN 1851


36


RESIDENCE OF WILLISTON JONES


DANIEL SEWARD HAHN


.


.


.


48 48


FORMER PASTORS UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, LISBON .


52


SAMUEL W. DURHAM


56


SOME EARLY MEMBERS UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, LISBON PRESENT DAY SCENE


60


AN OLD LAND RECEIPT .


64 64


STEAMBOAT ON CEDAR, 1887 /


·


.


64 68


JOHN A. KEARNS .


72


A. J. REID . ·


.


.


72


C. S. HOWARD


72 72


WILLIAM STICK


.


76


FRANKLIN BLOCK AND RESIDENCE OF P. W. EARLE


76


THE LISTEBARGER CABIN, CEDAR RAPIDS .


.


76 80


MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM GIDDINGS


80


MR. AND MRS. ISAAC MILLBURN .


.


80 80


J. P. GLASS


80


F. A. HELBIG


80


PROF. H. H. FREER .


.


84 84


JOSEPH MEKOTA .


84


W. F. SEVERA


.


.


84


DR. J. S. LOVE


.


.


.


.


88


.


.


.


.


.


.


36 40 44


LINN COUNTY SCENES


·


·


GOING SHOPPING .


.


.


DR. JOHN F. ELY . .


.


.


.


.


MR. AND MRS. GODFREY QUASS


.


.


MR. AND MRS. W. A. LACOCK


.


.


.


REV. GEO. B. BOWMAN


.


.


THE VARDY HOUSE, CEDAR RAPIDS


.


INDIAN SCENES .


.


SHEPHERD'S TAVERN


xii


HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY


J. H1. VOSMIEK


92


I.R. T. J. SULLIVAN


.


.


92 92


HON. JAMES URE .


96


JUDGE J. H. ROTHROCK


J. J. DANIELS


1 .. J. PALDA


BRIDGE AT THE PALISADES


101


THE PALISADES OF THE CEDAR


101


BARNEY MCSHANE CABIN .


104


C'ABIN IN " CRACKER SETTLEMENT


104


UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH, LISBON


108


MAIN STREET, MOUNT VERNON .


108


ALEXANDER LAURANCE


112


OLD M. E. CHURCH, MOUNT VERNON


116


STREET SCENE IN LISBON .


116


SCHOOL AT FAIRFAX .


120


METHODIST CHURCH AT FAIRFAX . .


120


THE CHAPEL, CORNELL COLLEGE .


124


CARNEGIE LIBRARY, MOUNT VERNON


124


UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT SCOTCH GROVE WOOD-BURNING ENGINE, 1879


125


128


MAIN BUILDING, CORNELL COLLEGE


132


SOUTH-HALL, CORNELL COLLEGE .


132


HENRY BRUCE HOUSE. SPRINGVILLE


136


FIRST SPRINGVILLE BAND .


136


THE "OLD SEM" CORNELL COLLEGE


140


BOWMAN HALL, CORNELL COLLEGE


140


BUTLER PARK AT SPRINGVILLE


144


BUSINESS DISTRICT AT SPRINGVILLE


144


PICNIC AT HOME OF GEO. L. DURNO, SPRINGVILLE, IN 1884


148


ILLINOIS CENTRAL DEPOT, CENTRAL CITY


148


METHODIST CHURCH, CENTER POINT


152


SOUTH MAIN STREET, TROY MILLS


152


M. E. CHURCH, TROY MILLS


156


MILL AT PRAIRIEBURG


156


AT OLD SETTLERS' REUNION, MARION


160


A PARK SCENE IN MARION


160


COURT HOUSE, MARION


164


WAPSIE RIVER AND MILL AT CENTRAL CITY


164


ISAAC BUTLER


168


PUBLIC SCHOOL AT SPRINGVILLE .


172


METHODIST CHURCH. SPRINGVILLE


176


HOME OF J. F. BUTLER, SPRINGVILLE


176


METHODIST CHURCH AT PALO


180


SCENE AT SPRINGVILLE


180


.


.


96 96 96


DR. E. L. MANSFIELD


.


.


.


.


.


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


xiii


EARLY VIEW OF SPRINGVILLE


184


FIRST STORE IN SPRINGVILLE .


184


LUTHERAN CHURCH, LISBON .


.


MAIN STREET, LISBON


188


PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT SPRINGVILLE


192


THE BUTLER FARM AT SPRINGVILLE


CORNELL COLLEGE IN 1865


192 200 204 204


A STREET SCENE IN MARION


THE DANIELS HOTEL, MARION


208


COMMERCIAL HOTEL, CENTER POINT


212


BRIDGE OVER THE CEDAR AT CENTER POINT


212


W. F. KING, LL. D.


216


MAIN STREET FROM THE NORTH, FAIRFAX


220 220


MAIN STREET LOOKING WEST, CENTRAL CITY


224


REV. J. B. ALBROOK, D. D.


224


PROF. HARRIETTE J. COOK


224 224


MRS. MARGARET MCKELL KING


.


228 22S 232


JAMES E. HARLAN, LL. D.


236


CHRISTIAN CHURCH, CENTRAL CITY


236


SCENE AT TROY MILLS


240


MILL AND DAM AT COGGON


240 244


BRIDGE OVER WAPSIE AT CENTRAL CITY


248


T. S. PARVIN


253


WEST ROWLEY STREET, WALKER


253


MAIN STREET, SPRINGVILLE


256 25€


QUAKER MEETING HOUSE AT WHITTIER WHITTIER


256


MAIN STREET, CENTRAL CITY, FROM THE SOUTH


261


GENERAL STORE AT COVINGTON


261


UPPER WAGON BRIDGE, CENTRAL CITY


264


HENDERSON BRIDGE, CENTRAL CITY


264


BAPTIST CHURCH, PRAIRIEBURG


268


MILWAUKEE BRIDGE, COVINGTON . THE "OLD SCHOOL," COGGON


272


SOUTH SIDE MAIN STREET, COGGON


272


SCENE ON THE CEDAR AT CEDAR RAPIDS .


276


BIRDSEYE VIEW LOOKING EAST, CEDAR RAPIDS


276


CEDAR RIVER DAM, CEDAR RAPIDS


276


QUAKER OATS PLANT, CEDAR RAPIDS


280


AN OLD GRAVE AT SPRINGVILLE


BAPTIST CHURCH, CENTRAL CITY .


OLD BARN AT CENTRAL CITY


CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CENTRAL CITY


HIGH SCHOOL, CENTRAL CITY


244


MAIN STREET, PRAIRIEBURG


268


188


REV. SAMUEL M. FELLOWS, A. M.


xiv


HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY


STREET RAILWAY STATION AT BEVER PARK, CEDAR RAPIDS


280


VIEW OF CEDAR RAPIDS FROM THE ISLAND .


288


RAILROAD YARDS AT CEDAR RAPIDS 288 .


FATHER FLYNN, CEDAR RAPIDS 296


PUBLIC AND COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN CEDAR RAPIDS, 1910 .


300


BIRDSEYE VIEW OF CEDAR RAPIDS IN 1868


304 307


BIRDSEYE VIEW OF CEDAR RAPIDS IN 1889


312


FEDERAL BUILDING, CEDAR RAPIDS .


320


AUDITORIUM, CEDAR RAPIDS


320


PART OF ZOO IN BEVER PARK, CEDAR RAPIDS


328 328


SIXTEENTH AVENUE BRIDGE, CEDAR RAPIDS


336


FIRST STREET, CORNER SECOND AVENUE, IN 1869


336


FIRST U. B. CHURCH WEST OF MISSISSIPPI RIVER COE COLLEGE BUILDINGS


344 352 360


BLACK HAWK .


366


A WINNEBAGO INDIAN


366


THE SLAVE DANCE OF THE SAC AND FOX .


366


CEDAR RAPIDS COUNTRY CLUB HOUSE


368 368


RIVERSIDE PARK, CEDAR RAPIDS


368 369


THE OLD BLAIR BUILDING


371


MONTROSE HOTEL, CEDAR RAPIDS .


376 384


THOMAS GAINER


384


E. D. WALN


384


REV. ELIAS SKINNER


384


J. M. MAY .


392


CAPT. A. BOWMAN .


392


E. M. CROW .


392


FATHER LOWRY


401


ST. WENCESLAUS CHURCH, CEDAR RAPIDS


.


404


THE LATE VERY REVEREND DEAN GUNN QUAKER OATS TRAIN


408


412


SCENE ON CEDAR RIVER


412


ST. PATRICK'S CHURCH, CEDAR RAPIDS


412


MERCY HOSPITAL, CEDAR RAPIDS .


416


JUDGE N. M. HUBBARD


422


VIEWS ALONG THE CEDAR RIVER


424


PARK VIEWS IN CEDAR RAPIDS


432


IN AND AROUND MT. VERNON


436


R. D. STEPHENS .


440


.


404


ST. WENCESLAUS SCHOOL, CEDAR RAPIDS


.


FATHER SURDLIK, CEDAR RAPIDS .


A SCENE IN BEVER PARK, CEDAR RAPIDS


SINCLAIR PACKING PLANT, CEDAR RAPIDS


GEORGE GREENE SQUARE .


CEDAR RAPIDS IN 1856


S. C. BEVER


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


XV


ADDISON DANIELS . .


.


J. B. YOUNG


.


.


.


440


I. M. PRESTON .


440


S. S. JOHNSON


444


THOS. J. MCKEAN


448


N. W. ISBELL


448


WILLIAM GREENE


448


O. S. BOWLING


448


INDEPENDENT HOSE COMPANY, CEDAR RAPIDS, 1875


452


CITY RESIDENCES, CEDAR RAPIDS .


456


VIEW OF MARION, 1868


460 464


JAMES E. BROMWELL, SR.


468


J. O. STEWART .


.


468


COL. T. Z. COOK . ·


472


SOME EARLY CURRENCY .


. 476


STREET VIEWS IN CEDAR RAPIDS, IN 1910


·


480


MAPS


LINN COUNTY 1


SHOWING BLACK HAWK PURCHASE


184


SHOWING DES MOINES COUNTY SUBDIVIDED


185


AFTER THE SAC AND FOX CESSIONS OF 1837


190


LATE DIVISION OF BLACK HAWK PURCHASE


.


191


SHOWING THE TWO CESSIONS AS AT PRESENT DIVIDED


.


197


T. M. SINCLAIR ·


.


440


Er


LENOX ILLDEN FOUNDATION


.....


RING


GROV


١٠٠٠


(


٥ ١LASty


1:


١٨


infRs


.


ـجم


٥٥٠١١


65-7


RAP


J


.....


-


CEDA


CLINTOS


RADIOS


1:


.12


-


-


MAP OF LINN COUNTY


... ...


مر


CHAPTER I


The Birth of Iowa


Iowa is known as a prairie state. Prairie is a French word and signifies meadow. It was the name first applied to the great treeless plains of North America by the French missionaries who were the first white men to explore these regions.


As yet scientists have not been able to explain the origin of the prairies. Different theories have been advanced, but the interesting problem is without satisfactory and conelusive solution.


Agassiz, the scientist, maintained that America is not the "new world." "Hers was the first dry land lifted out of the waters," he wrote; "hers the first shores washed by the ocean that enveloped all the earth besides; and while Europe was represented only by islands rising here and there above the sea, America already stretched one unbroken line of land from Nova Scotia to the far West."


Iowa, also, was born, had a beginning sometime. Just how many years ago this interesting event took place it is difficult to approximate. Prof. Samuel Calvin, state geologist, says that "geological records, untampered with, and unim- peachable, declare that for uneounted years Towa, together with the great valley of the Mississippi, lay beneath the level of the sea. So far as it was inhabited .at all, marine forms of animals and plants were its only occupants."


The soils of the state were produced by the action of the ice in what is known as the glacial period. We are told how by Professor Calvin :


"Glaciers and glacial action have contributed in a very large degree to the making of our magnificent State. What Iowa would have been had it never snf- fered from the effects of the ponderous ice sheets that successively overflowed its surface, is illustrated, but not perfectly, in the driftless area. Here we have an area that was not invaded by glaciers. Allamakee, parts of Jackson, Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, and Winneshiek counties belong to the driftless area. During the last two decades deep wells have been bored through the loose surface deposit. and down into the underlying roeks. The record of these wells shows that the roek surface is very uneven. Before the glacial drift which now mantles nearly the whole of Iowa was deposited, the surface had been carved into an intricate system of hills and valleys. There were narrow gorges hundreds of feet in depth, and there were rugged, rocky cliffs, and isolated buttes corresponding in height, with the depth of the valleys.


"To a person passing from the drift-covered to the driftless part of the state, the topography presents a series of surprises. The principal drainage streams flow in valleys that measure, from the summits of the divides, six hundred or more in depth. The Oneota, or Upper Iowa River. in Allamakce county, for example, flows between picturesque cliffs that rise almost vertieally from three to four hundred feet, while from the summit of the cliffs the land rises gradually to the erest of the divide, three, four or five miles back from the stream. Tribu- tary streams cut the lateral slopes and canyon walls at intervals. These again have tributaries of the second order. In such a region a quarter section of level land would be a curiosity. This is a fair sample of what Iowa would have been had it not been planed down by the leveling effects of the glaciers. Soils of uni- form exeellenee would have been impossible in a non-glacial Towa. The soils of Towa have a value equal to all of the silver and gold mines of the world combined.


2


HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY


"And for this rich heritage of soils we are indebted to great rivers of ice that overflowed Iowa from the north and northwest. The glaciers in their long journey ground up the rocks over which they moved and mingled the fresh rock flour from granites of British America and northern Minnesota with pulverized limestones and shales of more southern regions, and used these rich materials in covering up the bald roeks and leveling the irregular surface of preglacial Jowa. The materials are in places hundreds of feet in depth. They are not oxidized or leached, but retain the carbonates and other soluble constituents that contrib- ute so largely to the growth of plants. The physical condition of the materials is ideal, rendering the soil porous, facilitating the distribution of moisture. and offering unmatched opportunities for the employment of improved machinery in all of the processes connected with enltivation. Even the driftless area received great benefit from the action of glaciers, for although the area was not invaded by ice, it was yet to a large extent covered by a peculiar deposit ealled loess, which is generally connected with one of the later sheets of drift. The loess is a porous clay, rich in carbonate of lime. Throughout the driftless area it has covered up many spots that would otherwise have been bare roeks. It covered the stiff intractable clays that would otherwise have been the only soils of the region. It in itself constitutes a soil of great fertility. Every part of Towa is debtor in some way to the great ice sheets of the glacial period.


"Soils are everywhere the product of rock disintegration. and so the quality of the soils in a given locality must necessarily be determined in large measure by the kind of rock from which they were derived.


"From this point of view, therefore, the history of Iowa's superb soils begins with first steps in rock making. The very oldest rocks of the Mississippi Valley have contributed something to making our soils what they are, and every later formation laid down over the surface of lowa, or regions north of it, has furnished its quota of materials to the same end. The history of Iowa's soils, therefore. embraces the whole sweep of geologie times.


"The chief agents concerned in modifying the surface thronghont most of Iowa since the disappearance of the latest glaciers have been organic. although the physical and chemical influences of air and water have not been without marked effect. The growth and decay of a long series of generations of plants have contributed certain organic constituents to the soil. Earth worms bring up fine material from considerable depths and place it in position to be spread out upon the surface. They drag leaves and any manageable portion of plants into their burrows, and much of the material so taken down into the ground decays and enriches the ground to a depth of several inches. The pocket gopher has done much to furnish a surface layer of loose. mellow, easily cultivated and highly productive soil. Like the earth worm, the gopher for century after century has been bringing up to the surface fine material, to the amount of several tons annually to the aere, avoiding necessarily the pebbles, cobbles and coarser con- stituents. The burrows collapse, the undermined boulders and large fragments sink downwards, rains and winds spread out the gopher hills and worm castings, and the next year, and the next. the process is repeated : and so it has been for all the years making up the centuries since the close of the glacial epoch. Organic agents in the form of plants and burrowing animals have worked unremittingly through many centuries, and accomplished a work of incalculable value in pul- verizing, mellowing and enriching the superficial stratum, and bringing it to the ideal condition in which it was found by the explorers and pioneers from whose advent dates the historical period of our matchless Iowa.'


The last invasion, we are informed, was from 100,000 to 170,000 years ago - somewhat prior to the recollection of the "oldest inhabitant."


CHAPTER II


The First Inhabitants


Who were Iowa's first inhabitants is a question of some interest. Archeolo- gists tell us that there have been found in the Mississippi Valley the remains of two distinct prehistorie races. The first human skulls discovered resemble those of the gorilla. These skulls indicate a low degree of intelligence. The first inhabitants were but a grade above the lower animals. They were small in body, and brute-like in appearance.


Next came the "mound builders." There are evidences that these had some degree of intelligence. Copper and stone implements have been found in the mounds. Whether they built towns and cities or tilled the soil is not known. Pieces of cloth discovered in the mounds would indicate some knowledge of the arts. Their number, their size, color, customs - all are lost to us. We know they existed, and that is all. Several of these mounds have been explored in Iowa. They are found in the eastern parts of the state from Dubuque to Bur- lington. Many interesting articles have been found in them - sea shells, copper axes and spools, stone knives, pottery, pipes carved with effigies of animals and birds. Skeletons and altars of stone were unearthed a few years ago in some of these mounds, and in one were discovered hieroglyphics representing letters and and figures of trees, people and animals.


These mounds have also been discovered in the central part of the state, the valley of the Des Moines river being especially rich in them. Sometimes they are in groups, as though built for defense. It has been suggested that probably the conquerors of the mound builders were the immediate ancestors of the Indians.


When on June 25, 1673, Marquette and Joliet fastened their frail craft to the west bank of the Mississippi river where the Iowa enters it in Louisa county,* the only people living in what is now Iowa were the American Indians. When these venturesome explorers came ashore and ascended a slight eminence they beheld a scene of rare beauty. As far as the eye could carry they looked over an expanse covered with green grass waving in the gentle wind like the billows of the sca, with here and there a grove of oak, elm, walnut, maple, and sycamore. All was peaceful, calm, and restful; the stillness of the desert prevailed. That the country was inhabited was indicated by a thin column of smoke which arose some few miles inland from a small grove.


The travelers soon reached the spot. There they found a small company of Indians in a village on the banks of the stream. The Indians were probably the more astonished of the two parties. They looked with wonder upon the strange be- ings who had come among them so unceremoniously and unannounced. It was prob- ably their first view of the white man. Recovering somewhat from their aston- ishment, they made overtures of friendship by offering the pipe of peace.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.