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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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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