USA > Iowa > Benton County > History of Benton County, Iowa. From materials in the public archives, the Iowa Historical society's collection, the newspapers, and data of personal interviews > Part 4
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In the southern portion of the county, where the rocks are buried deeply with the drift. there are occasional beds of gravel which furnish a cheap and very satisfactory material for road- making purposes. Gravel beds out-erop in Saint Clair. Florence. Eldorado. Canton. Taylor and Iowa townships, being near the sur- face and easily worked. They have been used with excellent results on the wagon road between sections 25 and 36, in Florence
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
township, and also on the road crossing the middle of section 24, of the township of Iowa.
Abundance of sand. well adapted for use in mortar, cement or plaster, occurs at a number of places in the county. Large quantities are annually taken from the flood plain of the Cedar river, and the larger of its tributary streams. At Vinton the supply for building purposes is drawn almost exclusively from the river's bed within its limits. Hills of sand of requisite purity and quality for general purposes occur in Polk, Taylor, Harrison, Iowa and Leroy townships. The sand used at Shellsburg is taken from the channel of Bear creek close at hand. The beds of the Iowa river and of Prairie creek contain a large amount of com- mon, clean sand. which supplies the demand of a large area in the southern portion of the county.
CLAYS AND COAL.
Clays suitable for the manufacture of common brick and drain tile are widely distributed over the area under discussion. The only deposits utilized are the loess and alluvium. For the production of the cheaper grades of common clay goods these beds furnish a supply of raw material that is excellent in quality. inexhaustible in quantity. and inexpensively worked. The common kinds of clay wares from clay have been produced on a small scale at Vinton, Shellsburg. Garrison, Norway. Belle Plaine and Newhall. but probably at no time has the total output of brick and tile in Benton county exceeded $50.000 annually. The only considerable factory now in operation is that at Garrison. the clay being taken from the flood plain of llinkle ereck. In this case. as at other points, the output is solely for local consumption.
Although it is impossible to find any deposits of coal that would be of commercial importance. in Benton county, about ten years ago a shaft was sunk by a prospector in section 14 of Benton township. on the south bank of the Cedar river at a point locally known as Barr's Bluff. It is reported by local authorities that a little coal was actually found at a depth of some thirty feet ; but the enterprise was soon abandoned. Of course there is no possibility of finding seams of workable coal in strata of Devonian age.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
TIMBER AND GROVES.
The various kinds of oak. hickory, maple, walnut, ash, bass- wood. elm. cottonwood. willow and hackberry . flourished in the rich soil of Benton county.
"Cedar Timber," the timber skirting the Cedar river. especially on the north and cast, in Polk, Harrison, Taylor and Benton townships.
"Big Grove," a large grove of several thousand acres. in township 84, range 11, Big Grove township.
"Scotch Grove." in northeast part of township 82, range 9. Florence, and extends into Lin county.
"Parker's Grove." on sections 26, 27, 33 and 34, township 84, range 9 (Canton).
"U're's Grove." on Prairie creek, in sections 14 and 18, town- ship 82, range 9 ( Florence township).
"Darnell's Grove." on Prairie creek, in sections 20 and 21. township 82. range 9.
"Che's Grove." on sections 16 and 17, township 82, range 9.
"Buckeye Grove." extends for several miles on the west side of Buckeye creek. in Jowa, township 82. range 12.
"Van Metre's Grove, " on section 32. township 83. range 11 (Union township).
"Lost Grove." sections 31 and 32. township 84. range 9 (Canton township).
"Crab Apple Grove," sections 31 and 32, township 83, range 9 (Fremont township).
"Wild Cat Grove," section 8, township 84, range 9 (Can- ton township). a continuation of "Cedar Timber."
"Round Grove, " section 12, township 84. range 11 (Big Grove township).
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"Garrison's Grove." in sections 19. 29 and 30, township S5. range 11 (Jackson township).
"School Grove, " on sections 15. 16, 17 and 22. township 85. range 11.
"Helin's Grove." on section 13. township 85, range 11.
"Yankee Grove." on seetions 15 and 22, township S5, range 12 (Monroe township).
"Brush Grove," on section 31. township 86, range 12 ( Bruce township).
"Spencer's Grove," on sections 2. 3. and 11. township 86. range 9 (Polk township).
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
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The southwest has but little timber, except in Iowa town- ship and along Prairie creek, where there are some small forest areas. Added to this amount, nearly every farmer in the county has planted a grove of cotton-wood, silver-leaf maple, or other fast-growing wood, which has reached a sufficient size to be ex- tensively used for the ordinary purposes of fencing and fuel. The broad prairies of the county are thus dotted over with culti- vated groves, which not only beautify and adorn the surface of the county, but form an attractive feature to travelers and emi- grants seeking a home in the state, and add very materially to the real wealth of the county.
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CHAPTER II.
THE INDIANS AND TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
BENTON COUNTY, LOUISIANA PURCHASE-WHY BLACK HAWK JOINED THE BRITISH-KEOKUK, DIPLOMAT AND ORATOR -- INDIAN TREATIES-HALF-BREED TRACT -- DIRECTLY CONCERNING BENTON COUNTY-NEUTRAL GROUND BETWEEN INDIAN FOES-RESULTS OF THE BLACK HAWK WAR -- THE BLACK HAWK PURCHASE -- KEOKUK'S RESERVE AND DEATH-WHITES ON THE HEELS OF INDIANS-ROV- ING INDIAN BANDS-BIRTH OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT-SUB-DIVISION OF COUNTIES-FIXING THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL -- IOWA BECOMES A STATE-BENTON, ONE OF NINETY-NINE COUNTIES.
It is undoubtedly interesting to the historical student to de- finitely trace the governmental ownership of any special fragment. of the earth's surface, irrespective of its comparative values among the forces which count for progress in civilization. But there is always a question as to the real worth of such literature, and the great majority of readers-the publie of the author -- would vote to virtually commence the historical narrative with the actual advent of humankind to the segment of the earth under consideration. This chapter will therefore deal, in a somewhat cursory manner, of the great government domains which included Benton county within their bounds prior to the coming of white settlers to its fertile and pleasant prairies in 1839, seven years after the close of the Black Hawk war, which was the signal for the first permanent influx to the southeastern seetion of the pres- ont state.
In 1788 the French-Canadian traders, headed by Julien Du- bnque, commeneed to work the lead mines and buy furs of the Sacs and Foxes, Sioux and Winnebagoes. Potawattamies and Iowas, bringing back in their small boats from St. Louis merchandise and supplies for both themselves and the Red men. The chief field of their activities included the territory of Jowa now included with- in Dubuque, Clayton and Lee counties, but they came merely as traders and pioneer exploiters of the country, and it was not until some twenty-three years after the death of Dubuque that really permanent settlement commenced in the state.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
BENTON COUNTY, LOUISIANA PURCHASE.
The Lonisiana Purchase, which included the present Iowa and Benton county (territorially considered), was made in 1803. and in November of the following year the United States govern- ment entered into its first treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians. who were so long among the leading lords of the soil embracing the Hawkeye state of today and its special political division which is treated in this chapter. In fact, until 1843 much the larger portion of Benton county was in nominal possession of these tribes. But in 1804 their claim to the western lands was so obscure that the national government obtained from the Saes and Foxes their title to this portion of the territory of the future states. I 1803 a military post was established on the west side of the Missis- sippi river on Indian lands, named Fort Madison (Lee county), and as this was in violation of treaty stipulations it led, four years after, to the formal enrollment of the Indians on the side of the British in the war of 1812. In fact, they attacked Fort Madison so vig- orously and persistently that in 1813 it was abandoned by its small garrison. and in 1815 various treaties were concluded with the Saes and Foxes confirmatory of the original agreement of 1804.
This epoch in the history of Iowa, while it was successively attached (for government purposes) to the District of the Territory of Louisiana and the Territory of Missouri, has so direct a bearing nipon the final departure of the Saes and Foxes and the consequent permanent settlement of the state, that it is entered into somewhat at length.
The most powerful native ally of the British in the war of 1812 was Black Hawk. the able and brave chieftain of the Sac and Fox Indians. But with all his skill and courage he was unable to lead all the members of these tribes against the United States. Keokuk, the Watchful Fox, persisted in remaining neutral and carried with him a considerable following. So that throughout the conflict the Indians on Iowa soil were divided into the War and the Peace parties.
WHY BLACK HAWK JOINED THE BRITISH.
Still, Black Hawk was the determining force, and, convinced that he and his tribe (he was a Sac) had been grossly deceived he entered into the conflict with all the fury and ability of his
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
nature. He himself relates the circumstances which led to his decision, as follows: "Several of the chiefs and head men of the Saes and Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see their Great Father. On their return, they related what had been said and done. They said the Great Father wished them, in the event of a war taking place with England, not to interfere on either side, but to remain neutral. He did not want our help, but wished us to hunt and support our families, and live in peace. He said that British traders would not be permitted to come on the Miss- issippi to furnish us with goods, but that we should be supplied with an American trader. Our chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the fall for guns. powder and goods. to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. He repeated that the traders at Fort Madison would have plenty of goods; that we should go there in the fall and he would supply us on credit, as the British traders had done."
Black Hawk seems to have accepted this proposition, and he and his people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out for their winter's hunt, and went to Fort Madison in high spirits to receive from the trader their outfit of supplies. But after waiting some time, they were told by the trader that he would not trust them. It was in vain that they pleaded the promise of their Great Father at Washington. The trader was inexorable; and. disappointed and crestfallen. they turned sadly toward their own village. "Few of us," says Black Hawk." slept that night ; all was gloom and discontent. In the morning, a canoe was seen ascending the river; it soon arrived, bearing an express, who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Rock Island with two boats loaded with goods, and requested us to come up immediately, because he had good news for us, and a variety of presents. The express presented us with tobacco. pipes and wampum. The news ran through our camp like fire on a prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down, and all started for Rock Island. Here ended all hopes of our remaining at peace, having been forced into the war by being deceived."
lle joined the British, who flattered him, styled him "Gen. Black Hawk." decked him with medals. excited his jealousies against the Americans, and armed his band; but he met with de- feat and dissappointment, and soon abandoned the service and came home.
Black Hawk says he was informed, after he had gone to the war that the nation, which had been reduced to so small a body
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
of fighting men, were unable to defend themselves in case the Americans should attack them, and leaving all the old men and women and children belonging to the warriors who had joined the British on their hands to provide for, a council was held, and it was agreed that Quash-qua-me (the Lance) and other chiefs. together with the old men, women and children, and such others as chose to accompany them, should go to St. Louis and place themselves under the American chief stationed there. They ac- cordingly went down, and were received as the "friendly band" of the Saes and Foxes, and were provided for and sent up the Missouri river.
KEOKUK, DIPLOMAT AND ORATOR.
On Black Hawk's return from the British army. he says Keokuk was introduced to him as the war chief of the braves then in the village. He inquired how he had become chief, and was informed that their spies had seen a large armed force going toward Peoria, and fears were entertained of an attack upon the village; whereupon a council was held, which concluded to leave the village and cross over to the west side of the Mississippi. Keokuk had been standing at the door of the lodge where the council was held, not being allowed to enter on account of never having killed an enemy, where he remained until Wa-co-me came out. Keokuk asked permission to speak in the council. which Wa-co-me obtained for him. Keokuk then addressed the chiefs; he remonstrated against the desertion of their village, their own homes and the graves of their fathers. and of- ferred to defend the village. The council consented that he should be their war chief. He marshaled his braves, sent out spies. and advanced on the trail leading to Peoria, but returned without see- ing the enemy. The Americans did not disturb the village. and all were satisfied with the appointment of Keokuk.
Keokuk, like Black Hawk, was a descendant of the Sac branch of the nation, and was born on Rock river, in 1780. He was of a pacific disposition. but possessed the elements of true courage. and could fight. when occasion required, with a cool judgment and heroic energy. In his first battle. he encountered and killed a Sions, which placed him in the rank of warriors, and he was honored with a public feast by his tribe in commemoration of the event.
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
Keokuk has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most gifted of his race. In person, he was tall and of portly bearing; in his public speeches, he displayed a commanding at- titude and graceful gestures ; he spoke rapidly, but his enunciation was clear, distinet and forcible; he culled his figures from the stores of nature and based his arguments on skilful logic. Un- fortunately for the reputation of Keokuk, as an orator among white people, he was never able to obtain an interpreter who could claim even a slight acquaintance with philosophy. With one ex- ception only. his interpreters were unacquainted with the elements of their mother-tongue. Of this serions hindranee to his fame. Keokuk was well aware, and retained Frank Labershure, who had received a rudimentary education in the French and English lan- guages. until the latter broke down by dissipation and died. But during the meridian of his career among the white people he was compelled to submit his speeches for translation to uneducated men, whose range of thought fell below the flights of a gifted mind, and the fine imagery drawn from nature was beyond their power of reproduction. He had sufficient knowledge of the English language to make him sensible of this bad rendering of his thoughts, and often a feeling of mortification at the bungling efforts was depicted on his countenance while speaking. The proper place to form a correct estimate of his ability as an orator was in the Indian council, where he addressed himself exclusively to those who understood his language, and witness the electrical effeet of his eloquence upon his audience.
Keokuk seems to have possessed a more sober judgment, and to have had a more intelligent view of the great strength and re- sources of the United States, than his noted and restless contemp- orary, Black Hawk. He knew from the first that the reckless war which Black Hawk and his band had determined to carry on could result in nothing but defeat and disaster, and used every argument against it.
WISE AND ELOQUENT KEOKUK.
The large number of warriors whom he had dissuaded from following Black Hawk became, however, greatly excited with the war spirit after Stillman's defeat, and but for the signal tact dis- played by Keokuk on that occasion would have forced him to submit to their wishes in joining the rest of the warriors in the field. A war-dance was held. and Keokuk took part in it, seeming to be
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
moved with the current of the rising storm. When the dance was over he called the council to prepare for war. He made a speech. in which he admitted the justice of their complaints against the Americans. To seek redress was a noble aspiration of their nature. The blood of their brethren had been shed by the white man, and the spirits of their braves, slain in battle, called loudly for Ver- geance.
"I am your chief," he said. "and it is my duty to lead you to battle, if. after fully considering the matter, you are determined to go. But before you decide on taking this important step. it is wise to inquire into the chances of success." He then portrayed to them the great power of the United States, against whom they would have to contend. that their chance of success was utterly hopeless. "But," said he, "if you determine to go upon the war- path, I will agree to lead yon, on one condition, viz: that befor- We go. we kill all our old men and our wives and children. to save them from a lingering death by starvation, and that every one of us determine to leave our homes on the other side of the Miss's- sippi."
This was a strong but truthful picture of the prospect before then. and was presented in such a forcible light as to cool their ardor, and cause them to abandon the rash undertaking.
But during the war of 1832. it is now considered certain that small bands of Indians, from the west side of the Mississippi, mad: incursions into the white settlements, in the lead mining region. and committed some murders and depredations.
INDIAN TREATIES.
When peace was declared between the United States at England, Black Hawk was required to make peace with the former. and entered into a treaty at Portage des Sioux. September 14. 1815. but did not "touch the goose-quill to it until May 13. 1816. when he smoked the pipe of peace with the great white chief." at St. Louis. This treaty was a renewal of the treaty of 1804. but Black Ilawk declared he had been deceived; that he did not know that by signing the treaty he was giving away his village. This weighed upon his mind, already soured by previous disappointment and the irresistible encroachments of the white; and when. a few years later, he and his people were driven from their possessions by th- military. he determined to return to the home of his fathers.
Following the conclusion of the war with Great Britain, in
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HISTORY. OF BENTON COUNTY
1815. various treaties were made with the Saes, Foxes. Iowas and Sionx, establishing peace between the hostile tribes and the United States; re-affirming the treaty of 1804 and drawing a sharp line between the Saes who fought under Black Hawk and those who had remained neutral under Keokuk. The result of the conflict. as far as the Indians was concerned, was to confirm the position of the Sacs and Foxes as the most powerful combination of Indian tribes in what are now Illinois and lowa.
HALF-BREED TRACT.
Within the succeeding decade there was considerable inter- marrying between traders and army men and Sac and Fox women, and even from the time of Dubuque the custom had been more or less in vogue .. The result was a considerable class of half-breeds in southeastern lowa. for which provision was made by the United States in August. 1824, the treaty with those tribes reserving for this class a triangular piece of land. containing nearly 120.000 aeres lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers and in- (Ided within the present limits of Lee county. Those who thus occupied the Half Breed Tract had the right to the use of the soil. but could not convey it. In January. 1834. however, by act of congress the half breeds acquired the land in fee simple, which caused an endless amount of trouble and property complications. the difficulties being unsettled for several years. But the details of these complications do not specially concern Benton county.
DIRECTLY CONCERNING BENTON COUNTY.
In the year following the session of the Half Breed Tract, however. au Indian treaty was ratified which directly concerned the tribal relations of the Redmen who retained title to the soil of Benton county until 1843. On August 19. 1825, the Chippewas. Saes and Foxes. Menomonees. Winnebagoes and a portion of the Ot- tawas and Potawattamies met at Prairie du Chien (since 1819 the present lowa had been politically attached. first. to Arkansas, and later to the state of Missouri). At the town named, which is now in the state of Wisconsin. these tribes. through their representatives. met William Clark and Lewis Cass. and the agreement in the articles of the treaty which chiefly concerns this history was made between them and the Sioux, Sacs and Foxes. In order to insure peace between these powerful contending tribes it was agreed
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HISTORY OF BENTON COUNTY
that the United States government should run a dividing line be- tween their respective hunting grounds, as follows: Commencing at the mouth of the Upper Iowa river on the west bank of the Miss- issippi and ascending said Iowa river to. its west fork; thence up the fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of Red Cedar river in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines river: thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet river, and down that river to its junction with the Missouri river.
NEUTRAL GROUND BETWEEN INDIAN FOES.
Instead of settling the difficulties between these hereditary enemies, the running of the line seemed to be the signal for fiercer quarrels than ever, as each was continually alleging that, the other had crossed the demarkation into the tribal hunting grounds. In 1830 the confederate tribes of the Saes and Foxes were induced to cede to the United States a strip of country twenty miles wide south of the line mentioned, and the Sioux. a strip of the same dimensions, north of it. This was called Neutral Ground and re- mained open to all these tribes until it was occupied as a Winne- bago reservation in 1841.
RESULTS OF THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
The incidents of the Black Hawk war pertain rather to the history of Illinois than to that of Iowa. but the results of it were vital to the progress of Iowa and Benton county as the domain of the white settlers and progressive citizens. In September. 1832, at the close of the war, the Winnebagoes ceded to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi river and the goverment granted them the Neutral Ground, which, as stated. afterward became their regn- lar reservation. The national government also made other conces- sions, covering a period of twenty-seven years, and embracing an ammal tribal allowance and agricultural and educational privileges.
THE BLACK HAWK PURCHASE.
: But the all-important treaty to lowans was that of September 21st of that year, which resulted in the Black Hawk Purchase. The fiere leader of the war and his two sons were in irons. as prisoners of war, but Keokuk and some thirty other chiefs and warriors of the Sac and Fox nation were present at the council,
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HISTORY- OF BENTON COUNTY
which was held on the future site of Davenport and presided over. en the part of the government, by General Winfield Scott and Governor Reynolds. of Illinois. By this treaty the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a fifty-mile strip of land on the eastern border of Iowa, from the northern boundary of Missouri (to which state the present Hawk Eye domain was still attached) to the mouth of the Upper Iowa river. It is not necessary to describe in detail the terms of the consideration on the part of the govern- ment. It is sufficient to know that the Saes and Foxes were satisfied and in June, 1833. peacefully vacated the ceded territory and that the tide of white immigration immediately commenced to flow from across the Mississippi.
KEOKUK'S RESERVE AND DEATII.
By the terms of the treaty. ont of the Black Hawk Purchase was reserved for the Sacs and Foxes four-hundred square miles of land situated on the Iowa river, and including within its limits Keokuk's village on the right bank of that river. This tract was known as " Koekuk's Reserve," and was occupied by the Indians until 1836, when by a treaty made in September between them and Governor Dodge of Wisconsin territory, it was ceded to the United States. The council was held on the banks of the Mississippi. above Davenport, and was the largest assemblage of the kind ever held by the Saes and Foxes to treat for the sale of lands. About one thousand of their chiefs and braves were present, and Keokuk was their leading spirit and principal speaker on the occasion. By the ternis of the treaty, the Saes and Foxes were removed to another reservation on the Des Moines river, where an ageney was estab- lished for them at what is now the town of Agency City.
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