History of Winneshiek and Allamakee counties, Iowa, Part 1

Author: Alexander, W. E; Western Publishing Company (Sioux City, Iowa)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Sioux City, Ia. : Western Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 772


USA > Iowa > Allamakee County > History of Winneshiek and Allamakee counties, Iowa > Part 1
USA > Iowa > Winneshiek County > History of Winneshiek and Allamakee counties, Iowa > Part 1


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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 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80


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1


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Winnechick ...


.


HISTORY


OF


WINNESHIEK and ALLAMAKEE COUNTIES


IOWA.


BY W. E ALEXANDER.


,


:


SIOUX CITY, IOWA: WESTERN PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1882


259373


IDNE


NUNS.


1504 L



-


1.1809 -


7 )


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF IOWA.


Page. | PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS- Page


DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION 9


The Original Owners 18


Pike's Expedition 21


Indian Wars. 23


Indian Purchases, Reserves and Treaties .. 32


The Spanish Grants. 37


The Half-Breed Tract. 39


Early Settlements. 41


TERRITORIAL HISTORY


49


The Boundary Question 54


STATE ORGANIZATION.


59


Growth and Progress. 65


PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.


66


Agricultural College and Farm. 66


State University.


67


The Judiciary . .


107


State Historical Society 73


Congressional Representation


108


WAR RECORD ..


110


HISTORY OF WINNESHIEK COUNTY.


CHAPTER I.


First Settlement.


118


First Birth. 120


First Marriage. 123


First Death ...


124


First Settlements, no longer existing. 120


First Public School and Teacher .. 124


County Organization .. 125


First Assessment and Tax List.


125


First Taxpayers and Settlers by


Townships .. . . .


126


CHAPTER 11.


The Winnebago Indians.


133


Fort Atkinson ... 141


The Chiets Winneshiek and Decorah.141


Indian Traders and Whisky Selling. 144


Bloody Tragedies ..


145


Indian Customs and Habits.


147


CHAPTER. III.


Pioneer Life


152


Pioneer Women 153


An Indian Scare. 155


Oddities of Bench and Bar


155


Interesting Reminiscences


158


CHAPTER IV.


Review of Early History. 169


County Organization


and County


173


Seat Contest.


The Day Family


171


Judge Reed. .


171


Lewiston, Moneek and Decorah


173


Pioneer Norwegians.


185


Protecting Squatters' Rights


189


CHAPTER V.


Political History.


190


First Election and First Officers.


191


Votes Cast in Successive Years.


192


Voting Precincts ..


193


Division Into Townships


194


Successive County Officers, Legisla- tors, etc. .. .195


Political Contests and Representa-


tive Men


.195


Public Officers (continued) to Pres-


ent Tinie.


204


CHAPTER VI.


Population ...


212


Court House and Jail.


218


Poor House and Farm


214


Murder Trials.


.214


Railroad History.


217


The County's Products.


220


Educational and Literary


220


County Finances.


221


Census of 1880.


222


CHAPTER VII.


The War for the Union.


223


Decorah Guards ..


225


Co. H, Iowa Greyhounds


231


Co. G, Twelfth lowa ..


232


Three More Companies.


237


Co. D, Sixth lowa Cavalry


239


CHAPTER VIII.


Chronological Record of Events.


... 239


Hospital for the Insane. 75


lowa College for the Blind ... 76


Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 77 Soldiers' Orphans' Homes 77


State Normal School .. 79


Asylum for Feeble-Minded Chil- dren . 79


The Reform School. 80


Fish Hatching Establishment.


81


THE PUBLIC LANDS.


82


THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 100


POLITICAL RECORD ..


105


Territorial and State Officers 105


The Penitentiary


73


Additional Penitentiary,


74


Iowa Hospital for the Insane. 74


8


CONTENTS.


CHAPTER IX.


Page


History of Decorah. 257


History of West Decorah. .292


History of Freeport .. .292


Printing Establishments.


Pleasure Resorts.


CHAPTER X. Page


Townships and Villages, 299


Rivers and Railroads .. 322


Shape and Size of County


322


.293' Geology, Products and Resources


.323


.297 | Climate, Soil and Scenery


324


HISTORY OF ALLAMAKEE COUNTY.


CHAPTER I.


Origin of County Name. 326


Topography 327


Geology


328


Artesian Wells


339


CHAPTER II.


Botany, Zoology and Entomology .340


Climate .


347


Storms and Tornadoes.


348


Agriculture, Live Stock. Manufac-


tures .. . .


350


Statistical Information.


351


CHAPTER III.


The Aborigines


355


Archæology 357


Advent of the Whites 361


Early Settlements


361


County Organization and First Offi- cerF. 365


Taxable Property in 1849


,367


Sketch of Father Lowery.


368


Indian Missions


368


The Painted Rock


369


County Seat Elections


.371


Sodom and Gomorrah.


371


CHAPTER IV.


First Entries of Government Lands.372


First Importation of Lumber.


372


First Grist Mill .372


First Postoffice.


372


Interesting Reministences


372


First Official Seal


374


First Terms of Court


374


First Party Organization.


376


Systems of County Management.


.377


List of County Officers, Legislators,


etc. from County Organization


to Present Time.


378


The Circuit Court. .


384


CHAPTER V.


Earliest County Records.


385


Township Organizations.


389


History of Paint Creek Township .. . 393 |


CHAPTER VI.


The Villages of Allamakee County. 396 Lybrand .. .396 Lansing, Winfield, Waukon, Colum- bus. .397


Hardin, Smithfield, Postville, Mil- ton, Ion, Rossville. .398 Volney, Cleveland, Johnsonport, Al- lamakee, Nezekaw. .399


Chantry, Alton, Buckland, Manches-


ter. New Albin, Myron ....... .400


Dorchester, Lafayette. Paint Rock,


Waterville, New Galena.


.401


Wexford


403


Union City.


404


CHAPTER VII.


History of Post Township.


404


History of Postville.


410


Myron and Lybrand


415


CHAPTER VIII.


Criminal Episodes.


418


CHAPTER IX.


County Seat Contests.


429


CHAPTER X.


County Buildings


438


Educational


440


Religious Organizations.


446


Gospel Pioneers


447


Statistics of Population, etc.


449


Assessed Valuations


450


Political Statistics.


450


CHAPTER XI.


War Record, Allamakee County Vol-


unteers. .


.451


CHAPTER XII.


Chronological Record of Important


Events


.463


TWO CHIEF TOWNS OF THE COUN-


TY.


669


Chapter I .- Waukon.


669


Chapter II .- Lansing


699


PREFACE.


HE object of this work is to place upon record. in a reliable manner and in a permanent form. whatever incidents of importance have transpired within the limits of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties since their first settlement. As preliminary to this, a brief History of Iowa is given. including an account of its discovery and occupation: its Indian tribes; a sketch of pre- territorial times; an outline of Iowa when a Territory: its State organization. growth and progress; its public institutions, public lands and schools: its polit- ical and war records. These facts are from the pen of a well-known writer, and may be relied upon as accurate.


In the history of the Counties. facts and figures, incidents and reminis- cences, anecdotes and sketches, are given, with a variety and completeness, it is thought, commensurate to their importance. This has necessitated. on the part of the editorial staff, an appreciable quantity of persevering effort: but their labor has been cheered by the cordial assistance and good will of many friends to the enterprise in both Counties, to all of whom grateful acknowledg- ments are tendered. They have enabled us to give to the present generation a valuable reflex, it is believed, of the times and deeds of pioneer days; and to erect to the pioneer men and women of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties a merited and lasting monument.


November, 1882.


W. E. A.


HISTORY OF IOWA,


DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.


The name Iowa is said to signify "The Beautiful Land," and was applied to this magnificent and fruitful region by its ancient owners, to express their appreciation of its superiority of climate, soil and location. Prior to 1803, the Mississippi River was the extreme western boundary of the United States. All the great empire lying west of the "Father of Waters," from the Gulf of Mexico on the south, to British America on the north, and west- ward to the Pacific Ocean, was a Spanish province. A brief his- torical sketch of the discovery and occupation of this great em- pire by the Spanish and French governments will be a fitting introduction to the history of the young and thriving State of Iowa, which, until the commencement of the present century, was a part of the Spanish possessions in America.


Early in the Spring of 1542, Ferdinand DeSoto discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Washita. After the sudden death of DeSoto, in May, of the same year, his followers built a small vessel, and in July, 1543, descended the great river to the Gulf of Mexico.


In accordance with the usage of nations, under which title to the soil was claimed by right of discovery, Spain, having con- quered Florida and discovered the Mississippi, claimed all the ter- ritory bordering on that river and the Gulf of Mexico. But it was also held by the European nations that, while discovery gave title, that title must be perfected by actual possession and occupa- tion. Although Spain claimed the territory by right of first dis- covery, she mode no effort to occupy it; by no permanent settle- ment had she perfected and held her title, and therefore had for- feited it when, at a later period, the Lower Mississippi Valley was re-discovered and occupiedby France.


The labors of the zealous French Jesuits of Canada in pene- trating the unknown region of the West, commencing in 1611, form a history of no ordinary interest, but have no particular con- nection with the scope of the present work, until in the fall of 1665. Pierre Claude Allouez, who had entered Lake Superior in Septem- ber, and sailed along the southern coast in search of copper, had arrived at the great village of the Chippewas at Chegoincegon. Here a grand council of some ten or twelve of the principal In- dian nations was held. The Pottawatomies of Lake Michigan, the Sacs and Foxes of the West, the Hurons from the North, the


10


HISTORY OF IOWA.


Illinois from the South, and the Sioux from the land of the prairie and wild rice, were all assembled there. The Illinois told the story of their ancient glory, and about the noble river on the banks of which they dwelt. The Sioux also told their white brother of the same great river, and Allouez promised to the as- sembled tribes the protection of the French nation against all their enemies, native or foreign.


The purpose of discovering the great river about which the In- dian nations had given such glowing accounts, appears to have originated with Marquette, in 1669. In the year previous, he and Claude Dablon had established the Mission of St. Mary's, the oldest white settlement within the present limits of the State of Michigan. Marquette was delayed in the execution of his great undertaking, and spent the interval in studying the language and habits of the Illinois Indians, among whom he expected to travel.


About this time the French government had determined to ex- tend the Dominion of France to the extreme western borders of Canada. Nicholas Perrot was sent as the agent of the govern- ment to propose a grand council of the Indian nations, at St. Mary's.


When Perrot reached Green Bay, he extended the invitation far and near; and, escorted by Pottawatomies, repaired on a mission of peace and friendship to the Miamis, who occupied the region about the present location of Chicago.


In May, 1671, a great council of Indians gathered at the Falls of St. Mary, from all parts of the northwest, from the head waters of the St Lawrence. from the valley of the Mississippi and from the Red River of the North. Perrot met with them, and after grave con- sultation, formally announced to the assembled nations that their good French Father felt an abiding interest in their welfare, and had placed then all under the powerful protection of the French Government.


Marquette, during that same year had gathered at Point St. Ignace the remnants of one branch of the Hurons. This station, for a long series of years, was considered the key to the unknown West.


The time was now auspicious for the consummation of Mar- quette's grand project. The successful termination of Perrot's mission, and the general friendliness of the native tribes, rendered the contemplated expedition much less perilous. But it was not until 1673 that the intrepid and enthusiastic priest was finally ready to depart on his daring and perilous journey to lands never trod by white men. Having imploring the blessing of God upon his undertaking, on the 13th day of May, 1673, with Joliet and five Canadian-French voyageurs, or boatmen, he left the mission on his daring journey. Ascending Green Bay and Fox River, these bold and enthusiastic pioneers of religion and discovery pro- ceeded until they reached a Miami and Kickapoo village, where


11


HISTORY OF IOWA.


Marquette was delighted to find a "beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town, ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank Him for the pity He had bestowed on them during the winter, in having given them abundant chase." This was the extreme point beyond which the explorations of the French missionaries had not then extended. He called together the principal men of the village, and informed them that his companion, Joliet, had been sent by the French Governor of Canada to discover new countries, to be added to the dominion of France; but that he, himself, had been sent by the Most High God, to carry the glorious religion of the Cross; and assured his wondering hearers that on this mission he had no fear of death, to which he knew he would be exposed on his perilous journey.


Obtaining the services of two Miami guides, to conduct his little band to the Wisconsin River, he left the hospitable Indians on the 10th of June. Conducting them across the portage, their Indian guides returned to their village, and the little party de- scended the Wisconsin, to the great river which had so long been so anxiously looked for, and boldly floated down its unknown waters.


On the 25th of June, the explorers discovered indications of In- dians on the west bank of the river, and landed a little above the mouth of the river now known as Des Moines, and for the first time Europeans trod the soil of Iowa. Leaving the Canadians to guard the canoe, Marquette and Joliet boldly followed the trail in- to the interior for fourteen miles (some authorities say six), to an Indian village situated on the banks of a river, and discovered two other villages, on the rising ground about half a league dis- tant. Their visit, while it created much astonishment, did not seem to be entirely unexpected, for there was a tradition or prophecy among the Indians that white visitors were to come to them. They were, therefore, received with great respect and hospitality, and were cordially tendered the calumet or pipe of peace. They were informed that this band was a part of the Illini nation, and that their village was called Monin-gou-ma or Moin- gona, which was the name of the river on which it stood. This, from its similarity of sound, Marquette corrupted into Des Moines (Monk's River), its present name.


Here the voyagers remained six days, learning much of the manners and customs of their new friends. The new religion they boldly preached, and the authority of the King of France they proclaimed were received without hostility or remonstrance by their savage entertainers. On their departure, they were ac- companied to their canoes by the chiefs and hundreds of warriors. Marquette received from them the sacred calumet, the emblem of peace and safeguard among the nations, and re-embarked for the rest of his journey.


12


HISTORY OF IOWA.


In 1682, LaSalle descended the Missisippi to the Gulf of Mexico. and in the name of the King of France took formal possession of all the immense region watered by the great river and its tributa- ries from its source to its mouth, and named it Louisiana, in honor of his master, Louis XIV. At the close of the seventeenth cen- tury, France claimed, by right of discovery and occupancy, the whole valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries, including Texas, as far as the Rio del Norte.


In 1719, Phillipe Francis Renault arrived in Illinois with two hundred miners and artisans. The war between France and Spain at this time rendered it extremely probable that the Mississippi Valley might become the theater of Spanish hostilities against the French settlements; to prevent this, as well as to extend French claims, a chain of forts was begun, to keep open the connection between the mouth and the sources of the Mississippi. Fort Or- leans, high up the Mississippi River, was built as an outpost in 1720.


The Mississippi scheme was at the zenith of its power and glory in January, 1720, but the gigantic bubble collapsed more suddenly than it had been inflated, and the Company was de- clared hopelessly bankrupt in May following. France was impor- erished by it, both private and public credit was overthrown, capital- ists suddenly found themselves paupers, and labor was left without employment. The effect on the colony of Louisiana was disastrous.


While this was going on in Lower Louisiana the region about the lakes was the theater of Indian hostilities, rendering the passage from Canada to Louisiana extremely dangerous for many years. The English had not only extended their Indian trade in- to the vicinity of the French settlements, but through their friends, the Iroquois, had gained a marked ascendancy over the Foxes, a fierce and powerful tribe, of Iroquois descent, whom they incited to hostilities against the French. The Foxes began their hostilities with the siege of Detroit, in 1712, a siege which continued for nineteen consecutive days, and although the expe- dition resulted in diminishing their numbers and humbling their pride, yet it was not until after several successive campaigns, em- bodying the best military resources of New France, had been directed against them, that they were finally defeated at the great battles of Butte des Morts, and on the Wisconsin river, and driven west in 1746.


The Company, having found that the cost of defending Louisi- ana exceeded the returns from its commerce, solicited leave to sur- render the Mississippi wilderness to the home government. Ac- cordingly, on the 10th of April, 1732, the jurisdiction and control over the commerce reverted to the Crown of France. The Com- pany had held possession of Louisiana fourteen years. In 1735, Bienville returned to assume command for the King.


A glance at a few of the old French settlements will show the progress made in portions of Louisiana during the early part of


13


HISTORY OF IOWA.


the eighteenth century. As early as 1705, traders and hunters had penetrated the fertile regions of the Wabash, and from this re- gion, at that early date, fifteen thousand hides and skins had been collected and sent to Mobile for the European market.


In the year 1716, the French population on the Wabash kept up a lucrative commerce with Mobile by means of traders and voyageurs. The Ohio river was comparatively unknown.


In 1746, agriculture on the Wabash had attained to greater prosperity than in any of the French settlements besides, and in that year six hundred barrels of flour were manufactured and shipped to New Orleans, together with considerable quantities of hay, pel- try, tallow and beeswax.


In the Illinois country, also, considerable settlements had been made, so that, in 1730, they embraced one hundred and forty French families, about six hundred "converted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs.


In 1753, the first actual conflict arose between Louisiana and the Atlantic colonies. From the earliest advent of the Jesuit fathers, up to the period of which we speak, the great ambition of the French had been, not alone to preserve their possessions in the West, but by every possible means to prevent the slightest at- tempt of the English, east of the mountains, to extend their set- tlements towards the Mississippi. France was resolved on retain- ing possession of the great territory which her missionaries had discovered and revealed to the world. French commandants had avowed their intention of seizing every Englishman within the Ohio Valley.


The colonies of Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia were most affected by the encroachments of France in the extension of her dominion; and particularly in the great scheme of uniting Canada with Louisiana. To carry out this purpose the Frenchi had taken possession of a tract of country claimed by Virginia, and had commenced a line of forts extending from the lakes to the Ohio River. Virginia was not only alive to her own interests, but attentive to the vast importance of an immediate and effectual resistance on the part of all the English colonies to the actual and contemplated encroachments of the French.


In 1753, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, sent George Wash- ington, then a young man just twenty-one, to demand of the French commandant "a reason for invading British dominions while a solid peace subsisted." Washington met the French com- mandant, Gardeur de St. Pierre, on the head waters of the Alle- ghany, and having communicated to him the object of his jour- ney, received the insolent answer that the French would not dis- cuss the matter of right, but would make prisoners of every Englishman found trading on the Ohio and its waters. The coun- try, he said, belonged to the French, by virtue of the discoveries of LaSalle, and they would not withdraw from it.


14


HISTORY OF IOWA.


In January, 1754, Washington returned to Virginia, and made his report to the Governor and Council. Forces were at once raised, and Washington, as Lieutenant Colonel, was dispatched at the head of a hundred and fifty men, to the forks of the Ohio, with orders to "finish the fort already begun there by the Ohio Company, and to make prisoners, kill or destroy all who inter- rupted the English settlements."


On his march through the forests of Western Pennsylvania, Washington, through the aid of friendly Indians, discovered the French concealed among the rocks, and as they ran to seize their arms, ordered his men to fire upon them, at the same time, with his own musket, setting the example. An action lasting about a quarter of an hour ensued; ten of the Frenchmen were killed, among them Jumonville, the commander of the party, and twenty- one were made prisoners. The dead were scalped by the Indians, and the chief, bearing a tomahawk and a scalp, visited all the tribes of the Miamis, urging them to join the Six Nations and the English against the French. The French, however, were soon re-enforced and Col. Washington was compelled to return to Fort Necessity. Here, on the 3d day of July, De Villiers invested the fort with 600 French troops and 100 Indians. On the 4th, Wash- ington accepted terms of capitulation and the English garrison withdrew from the valley of the Ohio.


This attack of Washington upon Jumonville aroused the indig- nation of France, and war was formally declared in May, 1756, and the "French and Indian War" devastated the colonies for several years. Montreal, Detroit, and all Canada were surrendered to the English, and on the 10th of February, 1763, by the treaty of Paris-which had been signed, though not formally ratified by the respective governments, on the 3d of November, 1762-France relinquished to great Great Britain all that portion of the prov- ince of Louisiana lying on the east side of the Mississippi, except the island and town of New Orleans. On the same day that the treaty of Paris was signed, France, by a secret treaty, ceded to Spain all her possessions on the west side of the Mississippi, includ- ing the whole country to the head waters of the Great River, and west to the Rocky Mountains, and the jurisdiction of France in America, which had lasted nearly a century, was ended.


At the close of the Revolutionary war, by the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, the English Govern- ment ceded to the latter all the territory on the east side of the Mississippi River, and north of the thirty-first parallel of north latitude. At the same time, Great Britain ceded to Spain all the Floridas, comprising all the territory cast of the Mississipi and south of the southern limits of the United States.


At this time, therefore, the present State of Iowa was a part of the Spanish possessions in North America, as all the territory west


15


HISTORY OF IOWA.


of the Mississippi River was under the dominion of Spain. That government also possessed all the territory of the Floridas east of the great river and south of the thirty-first parallel of north lati- tude. The Mississippi, therefore, so essential to the prosperity of the western portion of the United States, for the last three hun- dred miles of its course flowed wholly within the Spanish do- minions, and that government claimed the exclusive right to use and control it below the southern boundary of the United States.


The free navigation of the Mississippi was a very important . question during all the time that Louisiana remained a dependency of the Spanish Crown, and as the final settlement intimately affected the status of the then future State of Iowa, it will be interesting to trace its progress.


The people of the United States occupied and exercised juris- diction over the entire eastern valley of the Mississippi, embrac- ing all the country drained by its eastern tributaries; they had a natural right, according to the accepted international law, to fol- low these rivers to the sea, and to the use of the Mississippi River accordingly, as the great natural channel of commerce. The river was not only necessary but absolutely indispensable to the pros- perity and growth of the western settlements then rapidly rising into commercial and political importance. They were situated in the heart of the great valley, and with wonderful expansive ener- gies and accumulating resources, it was very evident that no power on earth could deprive them of the free use of the river below them, only while their numbers were insufficient to enable them to maintain their right by force. Inevitably, therefore, immedi- ately after the ratification of the treaty of 1785, the Western people began to demand the free navigation of the Mississippi- not as a favor, but as a right. In 1786, both banks of the river, below the mouth of the Ohio, were occupied by Spain, and mili- tary posts on the east bank enforced her power to exact heavy du- ties on all imports by way of the river for the Ohio region. Every boat descending he river was forced to land and submit to the arbitrary revenue exactions of the Spanish authorities. Under the administration of Governor Miro, these rigorous exactions were somewhat relaxed from 1787 to 1790; but Spain held it as her right to make them. Taking advantage of the claim of the American people, that the Mississippi should be opened to them, in 1791, the Spanish Government concocted a scheme for the dis- membership of the Union. The plan was to induce the Western people to separate from the Eastern States by liberal land grants and extraordinary commercial privileges.




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