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 87
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The Saint Croix sandstone is of interest also because it is the chief aquifer, or water-bearing horizon, from which deep wells derive their supply. While for some reason the water from this horizon in the Greenwood park well was not suitable for use, in many parts of Iowa the water from the Cambrian is of excellent quality. The rock is exposed over large areas in Wisconsin and adjoining parts of Iowa and Minnesota, and as it is very porous it absorbs large quantities of rain water and transmits it to distant parts of its extent.
After a great thickness of Saint Croix sandstones and associated rocks- probably a thousand feet-had been laid down, a remarkable extension of the ocean occurred and hence the rocks formed during the next succeeding age over the area which is now Polk county, were massive limestones, deposited in clear, quiet waters, far from shore. The dolomites, or magnesian limestones, the sandstones and the shales which were now laid down on the bottom of the fluctuating Ordovician sea belong to the Prairie du Chien stage.
After a period of quiet the ocean appears to have again shallowed and a very widespread stratum of sand, the Saint Peter, was laid down, not only in our immediate territory, but also over nearly the whole or parts of Iowa and several other states. The Saint Peter is another of our reliable sources of ' artesian waters even though it is not so thick by far as are the sandstones of the Saint Croix.
It will be seen from the chart that after the deposition of the Saint Peter sands there were a few shale beds formed and then a great thickness of dolo-
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
mite, the Galena and Platteville, not separated in our area. These deposits indicate a fairly deep, quiet ocean, far from shore and receiving but little detritus from the distant, low-lying lands. But in course of time the land seems to have been elevated so that the streams were rejuvenated and their cutting and carrying powers increased. Probably the ocean shoaled at the same time and hence the sea bottom received a great load of silt and mud which later became the Maquoketa shales. It should be noted in passing that the Platteville lime- stones, known also as the Trenton, are in Ohio and Indiana richly oil-bearing. While in some parts of Iowa they contain enough petroleum so that they may be burned somewhat readily, yet the oil content is too small to allow them to be exploited commercially.
Note briefly the succeeding ages through which Polk county passed. The Silurian and Devonian systems tell chiefly of quiet periods when Polk county stood for the most part far from land and there were built up large deposits of limestone. There were, however, gaps in the history of rock formation when the sea receded, doubtless to the south, and left the new-formed lands exposed to all the elements which, then as now, carried on the processes of erosion and tearing down of land forms. Such a gap occurred at the close of the Ordovi- cian. A similar recession of the sea after the Niagaran epoch again brought Polk county above the surface, where it seems to have remained until the middle of the Devonian period. Another remarkable detail of Silurian history is the formation of beds of gypsum intercalated with the limestones. The presence of gypsum is generally taken to indicate an arid climate, and so we may imagine Polk county as suffering at times from conditions similar to those now prevail- ing in southwestern United States, with the difference that here and there were salt water lagoons which by the evaporation of their waters gave rise to the lay- ers of gypsum found in drilling the park well.
The Devonian period is but slightly represented in our record, but in reality, it was a long and important period. During the Devonian the fishes underwent a tremendous development and became so important that the period is known as the age of fishes. Strange, uncouth creatures many of them were, bearing but little resemblance to modern types, but the progenitors, nevertheless, of the fishes of today. And, indeed some of our present-day types have retained many of the primitive characters of their ancestors.
In our particular area the Devonian graded into the Carboniferous without any break in deposition of sediments. There are evidences of fluctuating shore- lines, but for a long time the Mississippian sea rested over Polk county and most of Iowa. This sea swarmed with life and the rocks abound in re- mains of crinoids, corals, brachiopods, mollusca and other forms. Before the closing stage of the Mississippian, Polk county, in common with all of Iowa, had been elevated above sea level and a period of prolonged erosion followed. The length of this period may be inferred from the fact that after the Saint Louis limestone had hardened, it was deeply dissected by streams and the various agencies which are continually attacking the land. Thus an extremely irregular surface was formed. In the Greenwood park well, for instance, the Saint Louis was reached at an altitude of 373 feet above sea level. At Valley Junc- tion and near Carbondale the upper surface of the Saint Louis is about 600 feet above tide. while at Commerce it is about 300 feet above tide. At Mitchellville, on the other hand, the top of the Saint Louis is about 760 feet.
In course of time this period of severe erosion came to a close, and a new series of events was inaugurated. Either the land had been reduced to a low plain by erosion, or a crustal movement took place which brought vast areas very close to sea level, so close that only a slight further depression was need- ful to submerge the coast lands. On these low swampy coastal plains there formed great peat bogs and widespread forests. The plant remains accumu- lated year after year and century after century, the water of the swamps pre- venting decay, until in some cases scores of feet had been piled up. Then a
Plate III
Pit of the Flint Brick Company, Des Moines. About fifty feet of shales are exposed
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
slight oscillation brought in the sea, or possibly a fresh-water lake; the trees and other plants were killed and buried under mud or sand 1 or, occasionally limestone and this bed of peat was gradually compressed and changed to coal. After the overlying sediments had accumulated sufficiently vegetation would again take hold, another swamp or bog would form and the process would be re- peated.2 In many cases in Polk county, four or five seams of coal have been penetrated in prospecting and in some parts of America the number is much greater.3 For instance in the Nova Scotia field there are seventy-six distinct seams, each of which implies the repetition of the conditions outlined above.
This was the Des Moines age of the Pennsylvanian epoch, the age of coal, an age when plant life flourished in such profusion as it had never reached before. We need not think of the Des Moines as a time of tropical climate, for all the evidence points rather to moderate temperatures, moist conditions and a fairly uniform climate over great areas, shown by similarity of plant remains from the arctics to the tropics.
Although the coal beds form only a very small percentage of the total thick- ness of the Lower Coal Measures, or Des Moines beds, they are by far the most important. Upon them is based the great mining industry, an industry which adds three million dollars to Polk county's wealth every year and upon which largely depends much of the industrial life of the community.4
During the year 1910 the output of coal in Polk county amounted, in round numbers, to 1,778,000 tons and it is safe to predict that it will increase for many years to come.5
The first coal mined in the county was taken from a vein exposed in the river bank near the present Center Street dam at Des Moines. The soldiers stationed at Fort Des Moines are credited with being the first to use this fuel, the date being about 1843.6 Very little coal was used, however, until 1865. In that year Wesley Redhead began the first extensive operations and from that time the industry really dates. The census for 1856 gives Polk county an output of 600 tons while the figures given for 1870 are 45,600 tons, the largest output of any Iowa county in that year. In 1901 the production from this county reached the million, ton mark and every succeeding year has seen the growth of the industry to its pres- ent proportions.
There is another stage of the Pennsylvanian series, the Missouri, or Upper Coal Measures, which followed the Lower Coal Measures, or Des Moines stage. The nearest known exposures are in Dallas and Madison counties. They contain much limestone, such as that quarried at Earlham, which speaks of more truly marine conditions than prevailed in Des Moines time. Although since the close of Carboniferous times the sea has invaded Iowa twice, so far as we know Polk county has never been under the waters of the ocean from the time of the Lower Coal Measures to the present.
With the close of the Des Moines age, Polk county may be said to have en- tered upon the second chapter of its history, although probably the first chapter was very much longer than the second one has been.
During this second period Polk county, instead of being most of the time under water and subjected to the upbuilding processes of sedimentation, has been ex- posed to those processes and agencies which tend to the cutting down and destruction and carrying away of those materials formerly deposited.7
For a long time after the end of the Des Moines age the climate was warm and equable with at least one period of aridity, when the gypsum beds of Fort Dodge
1 See Iowa Geological Survey, Vol. VII, Figure 45, p. 296.
2 See A and B. See also Op. cit., Plate VIII, op. p. 302; Vol. XIX, Plate III, p. 151.
3 See Figure 3. See also Op. cit., Vol. II, Figure 92, p. 289, Figure 94, p. 291 ; · Vol. VII, Figure 52, p. 313, Figure 53, P. 314; Vol. XIX, Figure 33, p. 128, Figure 32, p. 127. 4 See Figure 4. See also Op. cit., Vol. XIX, Figure 35, p. 13I.
5 See Figure 5. See also Op. cit., Vol. VII, Figure 58, p. 356. See Figure 6. See also Op. cit., Vol. II, Figure 85, p. 279; Vol. XIX, Figure 29, p. 110.
6 See Op. cit., Vol. II, Figure 80, p. 270; Vol. VII, Figure 48, p. 303.
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
were laid down. We have no traces of the land life of the State during these times but we know that elsewhere it was approaching the forms which are com- mon today. But, in time, the climate became cold. Vast snow fields accumulated in Canada and from them there crept southward great glaciers which over- whelmed the entire Mississippi valley and buried our county beneath an unknown thickness of ice. This is known as the Nebraskan glacier of the Pleistocene epoch. How long ago it was that this glacier came down or how long it stayed we do not know, but certainly the answer to the first question must be given in hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years and our knowledge of modern glaciers teaches us that this old-time ice sheet must have covered Polk county for many, many years. But in time the climate moderated, the ice melted away and our area again enjoyed the summer sun. But, instead of its surface being diver- sified by hill and valley, a flat, monotonous plain similar to that now occupying the northern part of the county, covered the whole region for miles around.
Let us see how these changes were made. As the great ice plow forced its way southward it dug up the loose material in its path, and stones, clay, sand and all the products of ages of rock weathering were ground up and shoved along or gathered into the glacier's mass. When at last the ice disappeared this loose material was left behind, spread out as a sheet of glacial drift or till, filling up the valleys and extending over the divides and hills.
As soon as the ice left the county, streams began their work of cutting val- leys into the beds of drift and before long the surface began to assume a condi- tion not unlike that before the beginning of the Pleistocene. This is the Aftonian interglacial age. It is represented by beds of sand and gravel, peat and forest beds and in some places by remarkable fossil remains, as of the elephant, masto- don, bear, camel, horse and the like. One of the best exposures of the Nebraskan and Aftonian in Polk county is in the river bluff below Hastie where the dark blue clay of the Nebraskan is overlaid by fine sands probably Aftonian.8
The pleasant conditions of the Aftonian lasted a long time and then there came a recurrence of those conditions which had led to the formation of the ice sheets of the Nebraskan. Once more the climate grew colder and colder, the summers shorter and the winters longer, until finally there was no cessation of the cold. The snow, piled up from year to year, congealed to solid ice and again the ice sheets came down from the frozen north and covered our area with a great white mantle-the Kansan glacier. These conditions ruled for unknown years but finally there came a change and again the ice was melted back and springtime reigned. All the processes of erosion were once more set to work and they have made the surface of Polk county as we find it south of Des Moines today.
Three times since the Kansan, have the glaciers invaded Iowa, namely those of the Illinoian, the Iowan and the Wisconsin glacial stages. Only the last of these, however, reached Polk county and this stopped at the latitude of Des Moines. A line drawn through Nobleton, South Des Moines, Valley Junction and Ashawa will very nearly give the southern limits of the Wisconsin drift sheet. The topography north of this line gives a fair idea of how the surface must have looked at the close of the Nebraskan or Kansan age. The accompanying illustrations will aid the imagination in restoring the world of those days.9
Spread over much of the area where the Kansan drift comes to the surface is a fine silt-like material known as the loess. It is largely a wind-blown deposit and was formed partly after the retreat of the Kansan ice and partly after the Iowan. The older loess is bluish gray, while the upper is yellow. Both are free from pebbles or other coarse material except lime balls, called loess-kindchen.
The main drainage lines of Polk county were developed in pre-glacial times, although they are very much younger than the Des Moines beds and have no
7 See Figures 8, 9 and 10. See also Op. cit., Vol. II, Figures 20, 21 and 22, pp. 182, 184 and 185; Vol. VII, Figure 49, p. 304; Vol. XIX, Figures 4, 5 and 6, pp. 28 and 29. See Figure II. See also Op. cit., Vol. VII, Figure 40, p. 274.
9 See Figures 12 and 13. See also Op. cit., Vol. VII, Figures 56 and 57, pp. 346 and 347.
Fig. 3 Sandstones at the foot of Capitol Hill, Des Moines
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Fig. 5 Coal seams exposed in a railroad cut one mile east of Hastie
Fig. 4 Section showing coal seams penetrated in a coal mine near Avon
The cuts used in connection with this chapter are loaned by the Geological Depart- ment of Iowa, and the footnotes referring to them follow the numbering on the cuts, and, as will be seen, are not consecutive.
T. XXIV W.
T XXIII W
1
15
17
16
15
14
ENTERPRISE
ANKENY 24
20
2
22
23
DOU 30
GIL A 2
S
26
ORA
LABOR
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34
35
3
3.
9.4
WORTH
R
6
2
AU!
SAYLOR STA
DELAWARE
BERWICK
FORT
MARQUISVILLE
14
182
16
1.5
14
n
WEST SCHOOL
Fig. 6 Maps showing location of principal Polk county mines outside of the Des Moines district
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Fig. 9 Bluff on Des Moines river above dam at Des Moines, shows seam first mined by soldiers Shows also sandstone bands separating coal seams
Fig. 10 Carboniferous erosion: sandstone occupying "cut out" in coal seam
75000
SAYLOR
NELL
ORWOODVILLE 17
22
23
2
1218++
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
relation to the coal seams. When the glaciers came down they of course filled up the valleys but these seem to have been excavated again so that there have not been very great changes. However, the Wisconsin ice sheet made one change of considerable interest which is illustrated in the sketches herewith.10 The first shows the river valleys before Pleistocene times, the second as they were just before the Wisconsin age, and the third the present system. It will be seen that Beaver creek occupies part of the old Des Moines channel and that the portion east of Capitol Hill has been abandoned and filled in. It is now repre- sented by the wide flat between the Hill and the Fair grounds.11
It may be in place at this point to mention briefly the clay working industries. These make use of both the shales of the Des Moines stage and the loess and surface clays. The shales especially are well adapted to the manufacture of high grade brick, sewer pipe, drain tile and similar materials.12 The output of the kilns of the county is valued at considerably over one-half million dollars yearly, and Polk county ranks among the leading counties of the State in the output of clay wares. It is the judgment of those who are engaged in the manufactures which group about these industries that in the near future there will be great increase in the development of the beds of clay in Polk county.
This brief survey will have shown how varied and wonderful has been the course of the events which have shaped Polk county and must inspire admiration for the orderly progress which has brought the county to its present form. There has been no slip or retrogression, but always advance and growth through seem- ing chaos and disorder. Polk county may not present those features of grandeur and magnificence which add attractiveness to some parts of our land; but the pages here unfolded to us reveal forces as inspiring and agencies as grand as any which have built and sculptured any part of America.
10 See Figures 15 and 16. See also . Op. cit., Vol. VII, Figures 41, 42 and 43, pp. 278, 281 and 282.
11 Figures 17 and 18 represent the topography of parts of the county as seen in profile. See also Op. cit., Vol. VII, Figures 38 and 39, pp. 269 and 27I.
12 See plate III, and Figures 19 and 20. See also Op. cit., Vol. XIV, Plates XXIII, XXIV and XXVI, and Figures 52-56, pp. 467-478.
F
CHAPTER II.
POLK COUNTY'S EVOLUTION GEOGRAPHICALLY.
The county of Polk, named in honor of President Polk, was from 1837 to 1840 part of the county of Keokuk.
Established by the Eighth territorial legislature, by an act which received the approval of Governor Clarke, January 13, 1846, its boundaries were de- scribed as follows :1
"Beginning at the north-west corner of Jasper county ; thence west, to the north-west corner of township 81, north of range 24 west; thence south, to the south-west corner of township 78, north of range 24 west; thence east to the south-west corner of Jasper county ; thence north to the place of beginning."
These boundary lines included all of the present townships of Clear Creek and Washington and nearly all of Poweshiek and Des Moines townships in Jasper county; and did not include the present Polk county townships of Madi- son and Webster, and the larger part of Jefferson and Valley and a part of Bloomfield.
This initial act proved disappointing and a second followed which became a law January 17, four days after the first. The evident intent of the second act was to create a county four townships square. The boundaries described in the act of January 17, 1846, were as follows : 2
"Beginning at the north-east corner of township 81, north, of range 22 west ; thence west, to the north-west corner of township 81, north, of range 25 west ; thence south to the south-west corner of township 77, north, of range 22 west ; and thence north, to the place of beginning."
This act transferred range 21 to Jasper, and range 25 from Dallas to Polk; but the omission of the southeastern boundary gave the new county an indefin- iteness which called for a third attempt, which was made by the First General Assembly of the State of Iowa in 1848, to which reference will be made farther on.
A bill for the organization of the newly created counties of Jasper and Polk also became a law January 17, 1846,3 directing that the two counties be or- ganized "from and after the first day of March next," said counties to consti- tute a part of the second judicial district of the territory; directing also that a special election be held on the first Monday in April following, at which time county officers for each of these counties should be elected, also such number of justices of the peace, and constables for each county, as should be ordered by the clerks of the District Court for their respective counties, each clerk to act as sheriff until a sheriff should be elected; ordering also that the judicial authorities of Mahaska county should have cognizance of violations of crimi- nal law within the limits of Polk county prior to the initial election. The law designated three commissioners for each county to locate and establish a seat of justice in said county. The commissioners for Polk were Thomas Hughes of Johnson, M. T. Williams of Mahaska and Giles M. Pinneo, of Scott. The com- missioners named Fort Des Moines as the temporary seat of justice; and the 6th of the following April was the day fixed for the election of county officers.
1 Territorial Laws of 1846, p. 74.
2 Territorial Laws of 1846, p. 76.
3 Territorial Laws of 1846, p. 92.
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Camp
Crack
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Mud
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Mile
Crack
Comp
FOUR MILE RIDGE
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Creek
Mua
RIVER
CAPITOL MILLS
Creek
Fig. 17
Spring/
Vader
RIVER
DES MOINES
Four
Mil
Saylor ·
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HIGHLAND PARK
RIVER
Crack
Tippkar aba
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WEST WILL
Creek
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RIVER
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Creek
Wainut
RACCOON
Male
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RIVER
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RACCOON
CAPITOL MILLE
DES MOINES
Fig. 18
DES MOINES
Beaver
Present Drainage near Des Moines
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Pre-Wisconsin Drainage near Des Moines
RIVER
Creek
DES MOINES
MISMLAND PARK
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WEST HILL
Creek
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Creek
equals fifty feet
Des Moines
Capitol Hill
East Des Moines. Bottoms
Saylor
Des Moines River
Fig. 8
Four mile Creek Berwick
Bonduran
Santiago
Skunk River
Vertical
Valeria
× 10
Profile along the Chicago Great Western railroad crossing the Des Moines and Skunk valleys and showing the upland. The width of the
Scale, horizontal: one space equals one mile; vertical: one space equals
fifty feet
Oril
valleys is much exaggerated owing to the direction of the section.
Millman
Oralabor
Ankeny
Fig. 20
Crocker
Polk City Junction
Sheldahl
Profile along the Chicago and Northwestern Railway in Polk county. Scale, horizontal: one space equals one-third mile; vertical: one space
Scale Horizontal 1 mile
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Section showing undulatory character of the coal seam in the Flint mine, No. 2
Fig. 19
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
Also on the 17th day of January, 1846, a bill became a law fixing the terms of district courts in the territory. In the Second District, to which Polk be- longed, the fourth Monday after the second Monday of March and the second Monday after the second Monday of September were that county's assignments.
With the machinery thus officially put in motion nothing remained to com- plete the organization but the calling and holding of an election and the in- stallation of the officers chosen.
The incomplete boundary of the county was made complete by a bill in the First General Assembly of Iowa which became a law January 28, 1847, estab- lishing the boundaries of Polk county. The boundaries as established in '47 were identical with those of January 17, 1846, except as indicated by italics in the following description.4
"Beginning at the northeast corner of township number 81 north, of range number 22 west; thence west to the northwest corner of township number 81 north, of range number 25 west; thence south to the southwest corner of town- ship number 77 north, of range 25 west; thence east to the southeast corner of township number 77 north, of range number 22 west, and thence north to the place of beginning."
Following the history of Polk county's varying boundaries to the point at which they became fixed-probably for all time-we now turn to a law passed by the Fourth General Assembly, and approved January 14, 1853, entitled "an act to change the boundaries of Warren county," the effect of which was to restore to Warren the northern tier of townships borrowed by Polk in '46- "provided that all that part of township 77 north, of range No. 22 west, which lies north of the Des Moines River shall remain as a part of Polk county." By the act of '53 the boundary line of Warren on the north and Polk on the south -with the one exception noted-was "the line dividing townships 77 north, of range 25 west."
The county of Polk was, on February 2, 1847, divided into four townships, -- Des Moines, Madison, Camp and Skunk. The several sub-divisions of these townships are noted in returns made to the Secretary of State in 1882.5 The township history of the county is epitomized in these returns, of which the fol- lowing is a summary :
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