USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 14
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"Chauncey Swan and ten others" publish a card in the Star from Trader's Point in which they thank Messrs. Clark, Brophy & Co., for service rendered them by Dr. Clark, of the company for "laying out a new road, at great ex- pense, from Fort Desmoines to the Missouri river, . at least sixty miles nearer than any other that is traveled at present, and by which teams that were four days behind those who went the other route arrived at the river first." 1
It is evident that Dr. Clark understood his business, the advertising end of it especially.
Major Hoyt Sherman in one of his interesting reminiscent talks before the Early Settlers, remarked that in 1849 began the overland exodus to the gold fields of California. The roads were poor and the streams were not bridged. "Men would bundle their wives and children into a rickety two-horse wagon, with a small supply of the coarsest food, hitch it to a couple of worn-out horses, or two yoke of oxen, and relying on the wayside growth of grass for support of animals, swing away from civilization for a two to four months' journey towards the Pacific."
The importance of this emigration to the merchants of Des Moines may be estimated by the figures Major Sherman gave showing that in the Spring of 1850, down to May 24, the ferry at Des Moines carried 1,081 emigrant teams, representing a transfer of nearly 3,000 persons, and every team added to the demand for supplies at this "jumping off place," and many of them gave work to blacksmith Fuller and other local mechanics.
In the Star of September 14, '49, a new ferry across the Missouri is ad- vertised by Clark, Townsend, Wheeling & Co. All north of the Iowa were ad- vised to "pass through Iowa City, via Trading House, 25 miles; (Bob Hutchin- son's residence,) Snook's grove, 24 miles; to Newton, 34 miles, to Fort Des Moines, (Raccoon Forks,) 30 miles; here goods and stores of every kind needed can be had on fair terms. From this place the road is the best of any in the State."
The Star's Iowa City correspondent, in its issue of April 5, 1850, noting the exodus, comments sadly on the "hundreds upon hundreds of men, women
1 Star, July 26, 1849-date of card May 31, 1849.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
and children that completely line the way in hot pursuit of that ignis fatuus, California gold."
The Gazette of April 26, 1850, notes the unabated rush for California. It reports the number of teams that had crossed the Des Moines at the Fort the previous week as 199, with 540 men, making a total during the season of 690 teams and 1,797 persons. Two teams from Polk county were among the number, one owned by A. McClintock with five persons; the other, by T. J. Henderson, with three persons.
In its issue of May 1, 1851, the Star editor notes a company of Oregon emigrants, twelve wagons in all, that had recently passed through Fort Des Moines, also "several companies previously." He complacently adds: "But most of those who come from the east this year remain here, satis- fied that they can find no better country by going farther west, and probably not as good."
Porter in his Annals of Polk County (page 178) quotes from "a keen observer," as follows:
"It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. A continuous line of wagons stretched away to the west as far as the eye could reach. If a wagon was detained by being broken down or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken and die, the corpse was buried hurriedly by the wayside, without coffin or burial service. When night came on, the line of wagons was turned. aside and their proprietors would go into camp. Very often the sound of revelry would then begin around the campfires thickly set on every hand, and whisky, cards and curses would follow in their course. These poor, deluded votaries of mammon scattered the dreadful scourge of smallpox everywhere they came in contact with the settlers. Game cards and broken and empty bottles were strewn all along their line of travel."
The Journal of the period gives place to a Des Moines poet who sings this sad refrain :
" 'Oh, California gold mines, what a fearful curse they've brought, With what heartrending sorrows has that search for dross been fraught, How many tearful partings and how many lives untold Have been laid upon the altar of this raging thirst for gold.' "
The importance of Fort Des Moines as a postoffice in '49 is noticeable in the long list of letters remaining uncalled for on the 30th of September, the number of names being more than 170. Most of the letters were evidently addressed to emigrants on their way to California, letters which had come in advance of the arrival of the parties to whom they were addressed, or too late to reach them at this point.
There have been argonauts in all ages. In every age there have been men to whom the lure of gold has been irresistible. But only here and there in history have there been men in whom the desire for "freedom to worship God" in their own' way has been the controlling factor of their lives. In the Fifties occurred another westward movement, even more remarkable than that of 1849. The forty-niners responded to the lure of gold: the "Latter-day Saints" of the Fifties, however deluded they may have been, took up their westward march with no less of courage, and endured its privations with no less fortitude, than characterized the Pilgrim Fathers in their brave escape from old-world persecution.
The one discoverable reference to this movement made by the newspapers of Des Moines is found copied into the Charles City Intelligencer of September
JAMES W. GRIMES
MAJ. S. H. M. BYERS When a private in '61
WESLEY REDHEAD
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18, 1856. The pathetic picture given is worthy of reproduction. It notes the recent passing of a band of Mormon emigrants through Fort Des Moines. "In the broiling sun, these poor creatures, the majority of whom are women, moved along slowly in Indian file, dragging behind them in little carts the necessaries of the journey, sometimes two women dragging the cart, at other times a man and a woman together: The company was from Europe, and mostly consisted of English people, who had left their comfortable homes, their early associations, and all the attachments which render the English people such unwilling emigrants, and here, with a journey of more than a thousand miles before them, of which 200 would be through a perfect desert, without shade or water, these miserably deluded people were trudging forward." 2
The St. Charles paper nearly three years later notes the coming of a Mor- man elder who had made arrangements for the manufacture of from fifty to a hundred hand-carts, to be used in crossing the plains during the coming sum- mer. Between three and four thousand converts were expected. They were to buy wagons in Chicago, but would stock up with provisions for the journey here in Iowa. The Mormons were reported to be mostly English, Welsh and Danes, and were thought to be better prepared to endure the hardships of the journey than those who went out in 1856.
2 Annals of Iowa, v. 8, p. 59.
Vol. 1-7
CHAPTER IX.
FORT DES MOINES' VARIED EXPERIENCE AS THE "HEAD OF NAVIGATION."
A pioneer historian of Iowa,1 in a chapter on "The River of the Mounds," says: "Nearly every state has one particular river which especially attracts! the attention of its citizens, on which their minds delight to dwell, about which! they bestow their praise. Iowa has the beautiful river Des Moines. More has been said, done and thought about this river than all the other rivers in the State. In beauty of native scenery, in productiveness of soil, in mineral wealth, and in the many things which attract the attention, and add to the com- fort of man, the valley Des Moines is not surpassed by any locality in the world."
To the historian's statement, that more has been said, done and thought about the Des Moines river than all the other rivers in the state, may be added the sad fact, of record, that many times more money and effort have been spent in the attempt to make the river navigable than all the other rivers of Iowa, and all the State and nation have to show for the money and labor expended are a few unpicturesque ruins of what were once embankments, and the remains of a dam at Bonaparte the mission of which was to obstruct the free course of the river on its way to the Mississippi.
The long story of the ill-starred attempt of the State of Iowa backed by the Government of the United States, to make the Des Moines navigable from its mouth to Raccoon Fork is told in detail in Book I. The author's present purpose is to show the close relation existing between the Des Moines river and the town, which was destined to bear the name of the river and make that name famous.
The flood of '51, even yet a vivid memory to not a few pioneers, is an interesting episode in the story of the river.
Mr. Hussey in his account of the flood of 1851 in the Annals 2 shows by the rain gauge that the rain-fall of 1851 was 7412 inches, or more than six feet of rain in less than five months !
"Hundreds of stately trees were uprooted and swept down stream by the resistless current. "Business was completely paralyzed. .
The rains were almost incessant from early in May until the middle of July, and three times during the season the waters broke beyond the bank's confining, in each instance adding gloom to the situation. The east side of the river opposite Des Moines was covered with water, with a swift current rush- ing down where the Chicago & Northwestern depot now stands; and the few buildings which stood on the river bottoms here were swept away, or hopelessly wrecked. On the west side of the river there was a stretch of low ground running in a southerly direction beginning at the mouth of Bird's run and continuing nearly or quite where the Rock Island depot now stands. At Third street and Court avenue the water partially covered the street, and William
1 Charles Negus, author of Early History of Iowa, in the Annals of Iowa. First Series.
2 Annals of Iowa, v. 5, pp. 401-24. The Annals editorially says of Mr. Hussey's "His- tory of Steamboating on the Des Moines," "It will undoubtedly remain the sole history of this important business interest which has so totally vanished from the valley of the Des Moines."
98
Eignen
ocurt sort
Fir Stavet
Market Street
Habaut
Vine
VAN'S HILL
GARDENS
ARADE
Court
9
1 CAPT. ALLENS QUARTERS
2 OFFICERS QUARTERS
3 SOLDIERS QUARTERS
4 ADJUTANTS OFFICE
S SURGEONS OFFICE
6 COMMISSARY WAREHOUSE
7 SUTLERS STORE
8 GUARD HOUSE
9 SUTLERS RESIDENCE
10 DRAGOON'S STABLES
O FLAG STAFF
B BLACKSMITHS SHUP
W PUBLIC WELL
C CORRALS
FORT DES MOINES-THE GOVERNMENT SURVEY WITH STREETS AND ALLEYS DRAWN IN
RACCO
MINHA NOO?
DES ING
MOINES RIVER
FORT DES MOINES IN 1844
BIRDS RUN
-RACCOON RIVER
C
BROUND
HALL'S RIDGE
Street
DES MOINES RIVER
₹
Water Street
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Moore, Aurelius Reynolds, B. F. Allen, A. J. Stevens, Chapman and Thomas, William Kraus, Hoyt Sherman, Madison Young and others, all gay young men in those days, who boarded at the Marvin House, near Third and Walnut, were compelled to build a raft on which to cross the 'back water' coming from Des Moines and pole themselves across six times a day."
A notch in an elm in Union Park, cut by one of the Thompson boys, at the bend indicated to a surveyor that the water during the flood rose about 23 feet above low water mark.
For months trade was almost at a standstill and many spent the season catch- ing driftwood. While catching sawlogs the Senior Conrad Youngerman was drowned, his boat capsizing.
The Fort Des Moines Star of May 29, 1851, said: "For three weeks it has rained almost incessantly, pouring down from the clouds as if the very windows of heaven were opened." In the memory of old settlers and Indians no such flood had ever been known. "The Coon and Des Moines are higher by sev- eral feet than they were in the spring of 1849, which was the greatest rise of water ever known up to that time."
The after effects of the flood-sickness, scarcity of food, financial discourage- ment, business depression and glowing accounts of continued success in min- ing in California, altogether gave impetus to the hegira from Iowa to the gold fields, and in this movement the dwellers in the Des Moines valley were most numerous because they had suffered most. The westward movement was much in evidence in Fort Des Moines, for the State road to Council Bluffs was one of the principal feeders for the trail which began at the Bluffs. The demand for horses, mules, oxen, cows, corn-everything an emigrant could use on the' way or after reaching his destination, found ready sale at the Forks, and soon restored the prosperity of the town and the farmers contributory thereto.
Major Hoyt Sherman contributes to Mr. Hussey's "Early Steamboating on the Des Moines," 3 a vivid picture of the great flood in the spring of 1851, which throws light upon the period. He tells of the "rope ferries, or flats, pushed across by poles," of the grist mills, "propelled by water or horse power," and of life lived in the upper Des Moines valley in the Fifties, everybody "de- pendent upon Mississippi river shipping points for dry-goods and all the neces- sary supplies of life," except corn, pork and eggs.
"Such was the condition of affairs around 'the Forks'" he says, "when, early in the month of May, the rains fell and the floods came, filling the watercourses and overrunning their banks, cutting off all prospect of a crop that season, for most of the farms were in the flooded valleys." The stock of supplies at the time was running low. Keokuk, 170 miles away, was Des Moines' main point of supply. It was known that there were steamers on the Missis- sippi that could be chartered and there was an abundance of supplies in Keo- kuk. But, how to connect with these was the question. The roads were well nigh impassable. The only remedy for the situation which the flood had created was in turn the flood.
Two men tried floating down the swollen stream, but after a trial of a few miles, abandoned the attempt. Then a party of four attempted-and they succeeded. The party consisted of J. M. Griffiths, merchant; W. T. Marvin, proprietor of the Marvin House; Peter Myers, general operator and speculator, and Hoyt Sherman, postmaster and county clerk. The first two were directly interested in the question of supplies; the other two were evidently public spirited citizens --- the "boosters" of '51. They embarked in a small, rough- board flat-bottom skiff. Once seated, they were obliged to stay seated until a stop was made.
One cloudy June morning the venturesome quartet started on their long, hard, perilous journey. The water was high, overflowing the banks rendering
3 Annals of Iowa, v. 4, pp. 341-44.
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it impossible to tell just where to guide their craft. On the following day they reached Eddyville in safety and thence to Ottumwa. There they obtained a map of the water-course which enabled them to keep the skiff headed in the right direction. On the afternoon of the fourth day they landed at Keokuk. Thence they took a packet to St. Louis, where they chartered the steamer "Kentucky," loading her with flour and other provisions. They added to their passenger list three ladies, a nurse girl and a baby. At Keokuk they took on other stores. The Kentucky passed the obstructions at Croton and Farm-
ington, but at Bonaparte, Meek's dam proved an impassable barrier. The steamer was a stern-wheeler, and when the boat itself had passed the dam, it lifted the wheel out of the water. The wheel revolved rapidly in air. The boat, without propelling power floated helplessly back below the dam. The attempt was repeated several times, but with no better success. The trip was abandoned. The cargo was stored and the steamer returned to St. Louis. Griffith, Marvin and Myers went with the steamer. Sherman attempted to find other transportation for the ladies and their luggage. The road up the valley was impassable. They therefore took the ridge road, between the Des Moines and the Skunk, known as "The Divide." They engaged a two horse wagon and a driver to take them to Oskaloosa. The women sat upon their trunks in the wagon, while Sherman and the driver trudged through the mud on foot. Major Sherman draws a vivid picture of that hard three days' journey over rough roads, through swampy sloughs and swollen streams. Os- kaloosa finally reached, the way became easier. A roomy two-horse hack used for carrying mail to and from the Forks was pressed into service, and after two days more, with a stop for the night at Tool's Point (Monroe) the party reached Fort Des Moines.
The three other members of the original party who returned to St. Louis, there chartered the steamer "Caleb Cope," Captain Joseph Price, and Bonaparte was soon reached and the dam safely passed. They distributed supplies at all points along the river, and arrived at Fort Des Moines on the 5th of July, and were enthusiastically received. Mr. Hussey relates that, a few days prior to the arrival of the stores, ladies of the village made a canvass of the situation, as to a Fourth of July celebration; but found very little flour and the supply of everything else very limited; but they were patriotic and hopeful and went ahead with their celebration, trusting Providence for the outcome. The cele- bration was held in the Court House square, under bowers constructed for the occasion. It is related that two ladies attended the celebration in white dresses, but the weather was so cold they returned home and donned woolen garments.
Mr. Hussey relates that Captain Price, elated with the financial success of the trip, gave the citizens of Fort Des Moines an excursion up the river. Fifty or sixty leading citizens accepted the invitation,4 and the event of a steam- boat ride in '51 passed into tradition. Many an amusing story is told of those who participated in the excursion. The ride extended to the mouth of Beaver creek, a few miles northwest of the Forks.
Other steamboats made Fort Des Moines in. 1851, but their names are not recalled. Mr. Hussey incidentally speaks of the steamer Add Hine as loaded with goods for Lyon & Allen of Fort Des Moines in the year 1850. He also mentions the boat, N. L. Milburn, built and owned by the Des Moines Steam- boat Company, as making Fort Des Moines June 4, 1853, and of the "Badger State," heavily loaded for Fort Des Moines, lying on the rocks below Ottumwa. The Milburn went alongside the disabled steamer, took on its freight and started, on the first of July, '53 for the Fort. The story is told by Mr. Hussey
4 Among the excursionists were: R. W. Sypher, J. M. Griffiths, Max Strauss, Dr. Barnett, Dr. Murdoch, Tom McMullin, Samuel Keene, Wesley Redhead, Andrew J. Ste- vens, Peter Myers, James Thompson, Charley Van, Tom Campbell, John Tyler, L. D. Win- chester, Ed. R. Clapp, Barlow Granger, W. T. Marvin, Alex Scott, John Humstead, John Perkins, L. P. Sherman, James Stanton, Billy Moore, Hoyt Sherman, and Adam Dickey.
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of an exciting race between the J. B. Gordon and the Milburn. The purpose of each to reach a coal mine before the other, and so take on coal for the rest of the journey.
"When the Milburn had arrived within four or five miles of the mine at which the coal had been ordered, the sharp ears of the pilot caught the sound of the puffing of a steamboat behind them and at a bend of the river, as he looked back, he recognized the J. B. Gordon running at a greater rate of speed than is usual for a loaded steamboat, unless the captain has some definite object in view. It flashed over the captain at once that the pursuing boat intended to try to cut him out of his promised supply of coal. Then all was excitement, and it extended to the passengers, stokers and everybody on board. The engineer was made acquainted with the situation and laid his plans. When about a mile intervened between the Milburn and the coal mine, she being pretty well in the lead, the Gordon gave her signal whistle for passing. The engineer of the Milburn was giving his engines a 'half-stroke,' and was ac- cumulating a big head of steam for a sudden burst of speed, and the race was becoming exciting. Colonel Easton saw the engineer's game and seat- ing himself on the capstan in front of the furnace doors, superintended the firing.
" 'Roll out a barrel of tar!' he roared. 'Knock in the head there, some of you! Stick your wood into the barrel as far as you can get it and shove it into the furnace and shut the doors ! More of it! More of it! Let us see her move ! There, that's business ! Now we are moving !'
"The Gordon was creeping alongside inch by inch, while the engineer of the Milburn watched her narrowly not wishing to let her have any advantage, nor forge ahead too far. Now the two boats were running side by side, the Gordon creeping up on her antagonist little by little. The passengers and crew of the Gordon, supposing the race had been won, sent up a mighty cheer. There were about two hundred yards yet intervening. It was at this time that the design of the wily engineer of the Milburn was made manifest. He gave his engines their full stroke and opened both throttles wide! The boat sprang forward as if she had been hurled from a catapult, passing the crest- fallen Gordon by two full lengths, making the landing with such a bump as to nearly throw the passengers off their feet. And such cheering from the Mil- burn! The officers, passengers and crew almost yelled themselves hoarse, while the victorious boat gave the defeated one several triumphant notes from her whistle as she passed around the bend out of sight. It furnished Colonel Easton a theme for congratulatory remark during the rest of the trip.
"When the Milburn reached 'Rattlesnake Bend,' a few miles below Des Moines, the passage looked a little dangerous, and Jesse Dicks and J. M. Grif- fifths begged to be allowed to land and walk across the point and take the boat. Accordingly they were put ashore and the boat made the passage with entire safety. On reaching the point named, the passengers were not to be seen. The captain waited for them a reasonable time, rang the bell and blew signal whistles, but as time was precious finally gave orders to go ahead. An hour or so after the boat had landed at the 'Point,' or junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, the missing passengers appeared on the Raccoon river side."
In an old journal of 1853, doubtless a record of arrivals and departures of steamboats at Keosauqua in that year, Mr. Hussey brings to the surface the following :
"April 30th, the Jenny Lind arrived from Fort Des Moines and departed for St. Louis.
"May 2d, the Badger State and John B. Gordon arrived and de- parted for Fort Des Moines.
"May 5th, the Globe arrived from Keokuk, loaded down to the guards with freight for Fort Des Moines.
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"May 8th, Badger State and John B. Gordon arrived from Fort Des Moines and left same day for Keokuk.
"Wednesday May IIth, Globe arrived from Fort Des Moines and left same day for Keokuk.
"May 12th, Jenny Lind arrived from St. Louis, and departed same day for Des Moines.
"May 15th, John B. Gordon No. 2, arrived and departed on the 17th for Fort Des Moines.
"May 27th, the Badger State arrived from Keokuk, and left same day for Fort Des Moines. On this trip the boat struck a rock below Ottumwa and sank in five feet of water. She was heavily loaded with flour, dry goods and groceries, and was insured at St. Louis for $5,000. Goods were taken to Fort Des Moines on the N. L. Milburn. The boat was afterwards raised and taken to St. Louis for repairs.
"June 8th, the N. L. Milburn arrived from . Fort Des Moines, to which place she had taken the cargo of the sunken Badger State. Her destination was St. Louis.
In 1854, the first arrival at Fort Des Moines was the Luella. On her return trip to Keokuk, Col. Barlow Granger of Des Moines was among the passengers.
The Globe followed the Luella in April, bringing a big load of goods for Des Moines merchants.
Among the May arrivals were True and Tide, Colonel Morgan, Luella and Julia Dean. The last named brought a cargo for Burnham & Lusby grocers, Billy Moore, R. W. Sypher, B. F. Allen and others. E. L. Burnham, who came from Ottumwa reported many difficulties in rounding Rattlesnake Bend.
Mr. Hussey chronicles these arrivals in Fort Des Moines in May and June of 1854:
"Badger State, May 12; Globe and John B. Gordon, May 14, Luella, May 25, Globe, June I, John B. Gordon, June 3."
With characteristic humor Mr. Hussey thus pleasantly illustrates the great- ness of the event of a steamer arrival :
"On Sunday evening about the middle of June the John B. Gordon made a third arrival, at 'early candle lighting.' It is probable that this arrival gave rise to the story that the worshippers at the various churches slipped out at the sound of the whistle far down the river, and headed for the landing, sexton and all, without waiting for the benediction, leaving the ministers to put out the lights and follow in a more dignified manner if they wished. It was once said by a humorous pioneer that he supposed if at a wedding the minister had gotten so far along in the ceremony as the question, 'Will you have this woman-' and a steamboat whistle should be heard in the distance, he would by force of circumstances be compelled to say, 'the remainder of the service will be completed at the steamboat landing.'"
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