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 90
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One day Perkins appeared on the scene. Finding his indignant neighbors armed and organized to defend Fleming in his rights, he mounted a horse and fled. Several parting shots were fired at him, but without effect. The "solitary horseman" reached the south bank of the Raccoon, trembling with fright, his horse foaming. He induced Ferryman Scott to deliver him with all speed at Fort Des Moines, which he regarded as a veritable city of refuge. A few days
13 "Pioneers of Polk County," Vol. I, p. 81.
14 Turrill spells it "Flemming."
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later, recovered from his fright, ignoring the advice of his friends, he swore out a warrant against Fleming, charging him with assault with intent to kill. Fleming was arrested by Constable Mitchell, and was brought before Squire Luce for examination. While the examination was in progress, a party of sympathizers surrounded the justice's office,-a log house near "the Point" --- carried the prisoner away by force and escorted him to his home. He was again arrested and brought to the Fort. Another attempt was made to rescue him. Some eighty "embattled, farmers" appeared on the river bank and demanded to be ferried over. Coroner Phillips assumed authority to proclaim martial law in the town, commanding the business men to close their stores, arm them- selves and be in readiness to act under his orders. Alexander Scott, the ferry- man, held the key to the situation. He refused to ferry the combatants across, so long as they retained their arms. Finally the farmers stacked arms and the Charon of the 'Coon relented.
The Fleming sympathizers appeared at court-as many of them as could squeeze into the log cabin-but made no demonstration: Fleming was re-ex- amined and was compelled to give bonds for his appearance at the next term of the District Court. The Grand Jury refused to find a true bill against him, and he returned to his well-earned home.
Perkins found his course so universally condemned, and himself so execrated by his neighbors, that he was glad to end the matter and "save his bacon," by executing to Fleming a bond in which it was stipulated that Fleming should have a warranty deed for the claim in dispute as soon as a patent could be obtained, on paying to Perkins $1.25 per acre. The execution of the bond ended the Perkins-Fleming war.
Several other conflicts of interest in Polk county that same year are referred to by Turrill, one of them thought to be a sequel to the Perkins-Fleming Affair. One Holland, a stranger suspected of being a land speculator, and thought to be operating with Perkins, was convicted, on suspicion, of being an "undesirable citizen," and was turned over to the tender mercies of "Judge Lynch." Holland was made aware of the "absent treatment" to which he had been subjected, but gave no evidence of good results therefrom. He was fearless, and even defiant. Some thirty men surrounded Holland's home, and the ringleader ordered him to come out and take what was coming to him. Holland, undismayed, appeared and expressed himself, "willing to submit to their will and pleasure," but asked the privilege of making a speech. Though some heard the request with impatience, the majority decided to hear what the culprit had to say. Mounting a box, and, calmly viewing his audience, he began. Averse to spoiling a "story" for truth's sake, the pioneer historian dilates on the magic eloquence of this modern Mark Antony, converting thirty bloodthirsty foes into so many would-be friends, who, after asking and generously receiving the man's pardon, adjourned to the nearest grocery, on Holland's invitation and there drowned in whisky the last vestige of the old resentment.
Long before these apochryphal incidents could have occurred, the mission of the Claims Club of Polk county had been accomplished, and the club as an or- ganized force had given way before the majesty of the law.
CHAPTER IX.
"ALL ROADS LEAD TO POLK."
The important part played by the territorial legislature in the development of Polk county has already been referred to in the History of Des Moines. The road from Fairfield to Oskaloosa, and thence "to the Indian boundary in the direction of Raccoon fork," was in due time pushed to completion to "the fork," and was a much-used thoroughfare, being for years the principal land connec- tion of the county with the outside world.
Then came the territorial road from Iowa City to Fort Des Moines, giving another valuable outlet to the Mississippi. John Scott, prominent in county affairs was the locating commissioner named for Polk county.
The new State of Iowa did nothing worth mentioning for Polk county un- til '53, when the Fourth General Assembly took up the matter of road extension with due regard to its importance in the development of the interior counties. In response to the demand from all parts of the new and fast-growing State, the legislature early in January passed an omnibus bill-containing sixty-six sections -which was approved by Governor Hempstead on the 22d of January, 1853.1
The roads named in this bill which directly affected Polk county and her county seat are the following :
From Fort Des Moines to Wahtawah, Adair county, O. D. Small[e]y of Dallas, W. W. Jones of Polk and Wilson Miller of Dallas, commissioners.
From Centerville, via Chariton, Indianola, to Fort Des Moines.
From Monroe via Lafayette in Polk county to Indianola, commissioners I.
Q. Doekin of Jasper, C. W. Freel of Polk and R. W. Steele of Warren.
From Newton, via C. Brady's through Polk county to Marietta, commission- ers, William H. McHenry of Polk, J. Hobbe of Marshall and Thomas Reese of Jasper.
From the bridge on south Skunk via Webb's point, through Polk county, to Marietta, commissioners, John McLain and D. Bryant of Polk and J. M. Fergu- son. of Marshall.
In a resolution approved at the same time, instructing our senators and re- questing our representatives to procure additional mail facilities, the following routes were mentioned : 2
From Fort Des Moines to Chariton, via Indianola.
From Alexandria, Mo., via Bloomfield, Drakesville, Albia and Knoxville, to Fort Des Moines.
From Fort Des Moines, via Laytonville, Polk city, Hopkins' Grove Rapids and Belle Point, tri-weekly.
From Keokuk to Fort Des Moines, via Charleston, Primrose, Birmingham, Agency City, Dahlonega, Oskaloosa, Pella and Monroe,-daily, in four-horse coaches.
From Fort Des Moines, via Lewis, to Council Bluffs, tri-weekly in four- horse coaches.
From Delhi, Delaware county, to Fremont, thence through Poweshiek and Jasper counties to Fort Des Moines ; thence to Lewis, county seat of Cass, thence to Glenwood, the county seat of Mills.
1 Laws of Iowa, Fourth General Assembly, Chapter 106, Secs. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
2 Laws of Iowa, Fourth General Assembly, R. 13, pp. 208-10.
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From Fort Des Moines via Saylorville, Polk county, Sweet Point, Boonsboro, and Dakotah, to Fort Dodge, ---- at the same time vacating "so much of the old State road from Fort Des Moines to Booneville as runs from David Parker's to Booneville."
The Fifth General Assembly renewed its petitions to congress for better mail facilities for Iowa. In resolutions passed and approved in January, 1855, occur numerous items affecting Polk county. These are as follows: One, calling for a mail from Fort Des Moines via Boone, Adel, Mckay, Panora and Bear Grove to Council Bluffs, "twice a week, in two-horse coaches;" another asking for several mail routes including one from Fort Des Moines, via /Winterset, Quincy, Clarinda and Sidney, to Nebraska City, with post coaches twice a week. Still others, asking for routes from Fort Des Moines, via Leming's Point, Horn- buckle's Point, Kinney's Mill and Carson's Point, to Fort Dodge, in two-horse coaches once a week; from Fort Des Moines, via Nevada, Minerva Grove, Henry Grove and Eldora to Cedar Falls, in two-horse coaches once a week. Another asking an increase of service to a tri-weekly mail, from Fort Des Moines, via Taylorsville, Polk city, Hopkins' Grove, Rapid, Belle Point, Boonesboro, Bridge- port and Homer, to Fort Dodge; and still another, asking for additional mail facilities from Fort Des Moines to Bear grove, thence on new route to Council Bluffs. Also a memorial praying for additional mail facilities in the interior of the State, included a tri-weekly mail, in two-horse coaches, from Fort Des Moines, via Indianola, Osceola and Leon to Princeton, Mo.
In an omnibus road bill which passed and was approved along with these sev- eral resolutions, was an item creating a road from Fort Des Moines, by way of Frelinger's Grove, to Newton, Jasper county,-with Simon Doran, Antony Yant and L. G. Case, named as commissioners, all of whom were residents of Polk county.
By an act of the Sixth General Assembly, approved January 23, 1857, com- missioners Albert Ship of Jasper, John Saylor of Polk and Peter T. Russell of Jasper, were appointed commissioners to locate a state road from Newton, Jasper county, to Adel, Dallas county, via Saylorville, Polk county. This road, running north on the east and north side of the river, is still known everywhere on the line as the old Saylorville road.
On the same day two other roads were located; one, from a point in Fre- mont county, Iowa, on the Missouri river, opposite Nebraska City, to Sidney and thence to the city of Fort Des Moines, Polk county; another, commencing at Fort Des Moines, in Polk county, via Greenbush, Osceola, Hopeville, Mount Ayr, thence in a southwesterly direction via Hopeville and Mount Ayr to the south line of the State of Iowa, in the direction of St. Joseph, Missouri.
By an omnibus road law approved January 28, 1857, State roads leading to the county seat of Polk were ordered as follows :
From Keith's tavern in Polk county via Carlisle and Greenbush to "Winter- sett," Madison county. "Mr." Keith of Polk, the county surveyor of Warren, and Aaron Howell of Madison were named as commissioners.
From "Ft. Desmoines," "via Greenbush, St. Charles, Laport in Clarke county," to form a junction with the State road authorized to be estab- lished from Fort Desmoines via Indianola, Osceola, Hopeville and "Mt. Air."
From the northern terminus of Fort Des Moines and Boonesboro road in a northeasterly direction, via Webster City and Fremont to the Minnesota line.
From Knoxville, to Pleasantville, thence via Wheeling to the county line between Marion and Warren near James Thornburgh's there "connecting with the State road leading to Fort Desmoines."
A second omnibus road bill was approved on the same day, in which were several sections affecting Polk county, as follows :
"From Ft. Desmoines to Sac City by way of Heirs Grove on to Bears Creek, to Buffalo Grove in Boone county," thence by way of "Rippley" and Jefferson, to the mouth of Cedar Creek, thence to Lake City and thence to Sac City. Thomas
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CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
Cavanaugh of Polk, James H. Phillips of Dallas and J. Orr of Greene were the commissioners named. "From Ft. Desmoines to St. Charles and Peru and thence to Afton, Union county. From Desmoines city "commencing at the junction of Ninth and Desmoines streets, and running with the last named street to cor- poration limits, thence on the most practicable route to the bridge across Four Mile Creek, in Delaware township, Polk county, thence to the county seat of Marshall county." The commissioners named were L. S. Case and D. Eliott of Polk and M. Barker of Marshall.
"From Ft. Desmoines 'in a westerly direction on the south side of the Coon river, and on the north side of the North river, via Pennsburgh to Delmanutha, at Bear Grove, in Guthrie county,-commissioners, Aaron Coppuck, Andrew Hubbard and David Bowles, Senr.' "
From Dyersville, Delaware county, via Hopkinton and Vinton to Fort Des- moines.
From Fort Desmoines to Pleasant Plain, Decatur county, via Indianola, Ocola, Clark county, and Linn, Decatur county.
From Ashton, Monona county, through Denison, Crawford county, to in- tersect the State road from Fort Des Moines to Sioux City at Dunham's Grove, Crawford county.
"Commencing at a certain hickory pole" at a point where the State road leading from Ft. Des Moines to Plattsmouth, Adair county, "to a stake near George B. Wilson's, called Wahtawah, thence west in Cass county" to the in- tersection of the State road from Fort Des Moines to Council Bluffs.
A third grist of State roads went through the Governor's hands on the 28th of January, 1857, included in which are the following directly affecting Des Moines and Polk county :
A road from the southeast corner of Story county, thence west on the Story county line to the southwest corner of section 36, in town 82, north, of range 22 west, thence in a southwesterly direction to intersect the State road known as the Marietta and Fort Des Moines road, on the divide between. Calamer's run and Skunk bottom. The commissioners named were Zenor Lame, Story, U. Wiley, Jasper, and George Hobaugh, Polk.
Commencing at Clarksville, Butler county, through Butler Center, Fountain and Steamboat Rock and Nevada to Fort Des Moines.
From Cedar Falls, via Steamboat Rock to Fort Des Moines, -- Commissioners, S. B. Cunningham, Harden, James E. Hull, Polk, and Thomas Davis, Story.
From Waterloo, through Lafayette, Marietta and Edwinville, to Fort Des Moines,-Commissioners, John H. Levitt, Blackhawk, C. B. Rhodes, Marshall, and John Lewis, Polk.
With these omnibus bills the State roads movement ceased to exist as a movement. The demand for roads had been fairly well satisfied. But the people of interior Iowa were by this time looking to the immediate future for relief from dependence on long-distance hauls by wagon, as years before they had ceased to depend altogether on the Des Moines river for the delivery of freight.
CHAPTER X.
SAW MILLS IN POLK IN 1850.
As early as 1850 there was one grist mill, and there were several saw mills in Polk county. The Fort Des Moines Gazette of January 25, 1850, printed this list of them, which, the editor said, was complete in so far as it could be made with accuracy at the time :
"Hickman's Saw Mill, on Beaver, 9 miles above Fort Des Moines, capacity about 2,000 feet per day.
"Stutsman's, on Big Creek, 15 miles up the Des Moines, has a good head of water and can cut 2,500 feet.
"Gilpin's, 8 miles up the Des Moines; capacity about 1,000 feet.
"Thompson's, on Four Mile River ; 2,000 feet.
"Napier's, on same river ; cuts about 2,000 feet and has a run of burrs.
"There is another mill a few mills above Keeny's, on the same river, the proprietor's name we could not learn,-2,500 feet.
"Perkins & Jones' on same stream, 10 miles from town; capacity 2,500 feet.
"Parmelee's two mills, on North river, one 8 and the other 12 miles distant ; capacity 2,000 and 3,000 feet respectively, with burrs attached to each.
["Wright & Stump's 12 miles, in Dallas county, has 14 head, and cuts 2,000 feet.] 1
"B. F. Jesse's, on Walnut, 3 miles ; cuts 2,000 feet.
"Meacham's, a circular saw, propelled by six horses, situated on the opposite side of the Des Moines ; can cut 1,500 feet.
"Bundrem's, another horse mill, 6 miles from town, 12 horse power, capacity 2500 feet.
"Snodgrass, on Beaver, 6 miles ; capacity 2,500 feet.
"A. Grosclose's, exclusively Grist Mill, 17 miles up the Des Moines ; can turn out 150 bushels per day."
With an estimated capacity of 30,500 feet per day, the saw mills of Polk county were certainly performing their part in the transformation of the valley of the Des Moines from wooded lowlands into farmers' homes and local trade centers. And the one grist mill in the county at the time was doing brave pioneer work in helping Des Moines valley farmers to attain to at least some slight measure of independence of Oskaloosa, Fairfield, Bonaparte and the cities on the Mississippi.
These mills were reported as principally in good running order, and all of them would be running by spring. The editor reviews the list complacently and exclaims : "What county in the State can present such a list!" He further says that "these mills, and the steam mills heretofore noticed, altogether cannot cut a foot more lumber than they will readily dispose of the coming season."
As to the steam mills referred to, the Fort Des Moines Star of January 18, 1850, has a column editorial, waxing eloquent over the nearly completed steam mill of Messrs. Van & Allen, south of the 'Coon, and another soon to follow, by Messrs. Dean & Cole, near the east end of the present Locust street bridge. He eloquently writes :
1 Not properly in this list; but included probably because contributory to the needs of farmers in the west end of Polk county. ,
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"Then will be heard on either side the shrill whistle of the panting engine. while our streets will resound with the noise of the hammer and the saw, and broad and deep will be laid the foundation of many a stately edifice. Our town will emerge from infancy to youth, from youth to a vigorous manhood and its 'area' will be extended over the beautiful slopes that surround it. Washed on either side by the broad Des Moines and the rapid 'Coon, and girted in by a circle of crescent hills, whose summits are drawn in bold relief against the sky, it will appear to the distant traveler, a brilliant gem upon the bosom of beauty."
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A TYPICAL OLD MILL
THE DES MOINES RIVER BELOW THE DAM-WATER-WORKS ON THE RIGHT
CHAPTER XI.
THE RIVERS AND CREEKS OF POLK.
The pioneer farmers who first sought homes in the country now designated as Polk county were embarrassed by the riches with which Nature had endowed this region. Cropping out along the river banks was sure promise of coal. In the bottom lands were long stretches of forest. Between rivers were vast areas of rolling prairie, the fertility of which was apparent.
Winding through this region, with many a graceful curve, from the northwest to the southeast, flowed the Des Moines river, its rippling surface, above Raccoon Fork, unbroken by the white man's canoe since the adventurous Faribault, early in the last century, floated down from its far-off headwaters to the Mississippi.
But this region was not alone dependent upon the Des Moines. It was rich in rivers and creeks. Next in size was the Raccoon, flowing into the Des Moines at a point familiarly called "the Fork," at which point was located the Fort Des Moines of the early Forties. The river doubtless received its name from the abundance of raccoons along its densely wooded banks. This river was a source of power for several mills in the days of saw-mills and grist-mills run by water- power. It is now, and for years has been, the source of water-supply for the city of Des Moines. The north fork of the Raccoon, in fact a continuation of the main stream, has its source nearly as far to the north as the headwaters of the Des Moines.
The third river in importance is the Checaqua. The practical pioneers found it easier to call this river by its all-too-suggestive English name, "Skunk." The Skunk proper is formed by the junction of North and South Skunk creeks, and flows into the Mississippi about twenty miles north of the mouth of the Des Moines. The main branch, the South Fork, is that which penetrates Polk county and has its source in Hamilton county. It flows in a southeasterly direction through Elkhart, Washington and Franklin townships, in the northeastern part of Polk county, a distance of about fifteen miles, thence through Jasper county Its principal tributaries, once far more in evidence than now, were called the Swan, the Byers, and White Oak creek, all flowing in a northeasterly direction. Swan creek in old times ran through a good-sized lagoon which appeared on the map as Swan Lake.
Four Mile Creek received its unromantic name from the fact that the point at which the main road between Iowa City and Fort Des Moines crossed the creek was four miles distant from the Fort. Over this historic stream was built the first bridge erected within the present limits of Polk county. The bridge was built near the point at which the Rock Island bridge now spans the creek. Four Mile Creek, in an early day more river than creek, rises beyond the Minnesota boundary, and flows in a south-southeasterly direction through Lincoln, Crocker, Douglas, Delaware and Grant townships, emptying into the Des Moines, on the western edge of Four Mile township.
Beaver Creek was known to the Indians as Amaqua Creek. It is supposed to have received its name from the abundance of beavers that once practiced their clever carpentry in its bottoms. Its source is in Boone county. It flows in a wind- ing way in a southeasterly direction between the 'Coon and the Des Moines and empties into the Des Moines a short distance northwest of the city. In the Vol. 1-43
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old times it ran through a heavily timbered region, and when the valley was flooded had the appearance of a great river.
Walnut Creek, rising in Dallas county, enters Polk in Webster township about eight miles from the southern boundary of the county. It flows through Walnut township and empties into the Raccoon about five miles from the mouth of that river.
Camp Creek and Mud Creek are small streams flowing in a south-by-south- easterly direction, in nearly parallel directions in the southeastern portion of the county.
Mud Creek rises in Clay township, and Camp creek in Beaver township. Both flow through Camp township, emptying into the Des Moines, the first-named in Polk, the second in Jasper county.
Big creek has its rise in Boone county and flows in a south-by-south-easterly direction through Madison township, past Polk City and Corydon, emptying into the Des Moines.
Indian creek flows across the northeastern corner of Polk county in Washing- ton township. It rises in Boone county and flows into the Skunk river at a point in Jasper county.
In the old days a number of small creeks emptied into the creeks and rivers here named ; but the cutting away of the timber has dried up most of them, until now even the larger creeks and rivers, robbed of their many sources of supply, are not greatly in evidence except when the early and late rains overflow their banks. At such times are to be seen, in some measure, the primitive glories of · this favored region.
These wooded streams undoubtedly inclined many an adventurous pioneer of the Forties to locate in Polk county. Coming from the well-watered and well- wooded sections of the East, the early settlers could scarcely be induced to occupy the rich rolling prairie lands between-streams. Hence the river-bottoms were first chosen. But, as experience and observation gradually overcame their East- ern prejudices, there was a gradual reaching out after tracts remote from the river bottoms-lands far more easily cultivated, and found to be abundantly supplied with water.
Then, too, the incoming railroads, in the late Sixties, greatly facilitated trans- portation, rendering the prairie farmer independent of the timber in the neigh- boring valley and of river navigation.
Æsthetically, too, the Des Moines valley and its tributaries possessed a pecu- liar fascination to the emigrant from the hill-country of the East. The prairie country over which he had passed on his westward way had made him sigh for the hills and valleys he had left behind; but the wooded bluffs along the streams of the Des Moines valley rejoiced his heart, for here he felt he could settle down contentedly and make for his family a permanent home.
CHAPTER XII.
THE WATERCOURSES OF POLK SO MANY GATEWAYS TO FUTURE SETTLEMENTS.
The story of old Fort Des Moines, already told, is in a general sense the story of beginnings in Polk county. In an address before the Early Settlers in 1890, "Tom" Mitchell mentioned William Lamb and Alexander Scott, of Lee township, as the pioneer farmers of Polk county. Dixon and other pioneer historians mention Lamb as having erected one of the first dwellings in the county. Mr. Scott's success-as a pioneer -- in Lee township and his generous contribution of land for the location of the Capitol are part of the early history of the county and its county seat and of the State as well.
In Harper's Weekly of February, 1861, appears a small picture (here re- produced) of the old Indian Agency of Fort Des Moines, built in 1843 and occupied by John Beach, Indian Agent. It stood not far from the present pack- ing house. It was described as a double-log house, and was for years the best of its kind in the upper Des Moines valley. After the expiration of the Indian treaty, and the ceding of the land to the government, the abandoned agency became part of the claim entered by Dr. Thomas K. Brooks. For a time, after the abandonment of the trading post, it was the Doctor's home, also the govern- ment postoffice for a wide area of country east of the river. A few years ago, the only present evidence of the existence of this old trading post, in which was transacted all the business of the government with the Indians for three years, was a pile of rock on the edge of a ravine on the north side of East Court avenue and east of East Seventeenth street.
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