USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > History of Black Hawk County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
Disgusted and discouraged about the farming proposition, but invigorated and strengthened by the novel experiences and out-of-door life which the really enjoyable trip afforded, I returned to Dubuque by steamer on the Mississippi.
To replenish my depleted purse I taught school in a log house in Dubuque County during the following winter, canvassed the county on horseback as deputy assessor in the spring, and in the summer, my health being restored, my ambi- tion renewed and my purse refilled, and delighted with the climate and country, I entered the law office of Judge Pollock to prepare for the practice of law in Iowa.
At this, my first visit to Waterloo in 1855, I found it a village of some three hundred inhabitants; no school or church buildings (a log house being used for school purposes), a few one-story wooden structures in which general merchandise was sold, but one of which was on the east side of Cedar River. one log house hotel, a few scattered and incomplete dwellings of the pioneer sort, a sawmill, a brush dam but no bridge across the river, a one-story one-room build- ing located on Commercial Street where the Russell Block afterwards stood, occupied by Hosford & Miller as a bank, real estate and general business office.
The land surrounding the village, although taken up by private entry. was virtually unoccupied except here and there by a little shack, corral and stable, with one notable exception, a large house and outbuildings, built on the east side of Elk Run and occupied by Job Engle and family.
Though at this time the village was so insignificant and unimportant, and Cedar Falls, the older town, was the county seat, yet its central situation in the county, the beauty of its location, the attractiveness of the Cedar River bordered on both sides by a belt of heavy timber, the fertility of the soil and extent of the almost boundless prairie surrounding it, so impressed me with the natural ad- vantages it possessed for a large, thriving and important city that afterwards, in
99
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
casting about for a permanent location for the practice of my profession, I could not, however much I tried, discard Waterloo from my mind.
After beginning the practice in Dubuque and finding that the bar of Dubuque city and county consisted of about ninety older and experienced lawyers, I con- sidered it the part of wisdom to seek some newer field, and was naturally drawn toward Waterloo, so, in the first week of January, 1857, I started for Waterloo in a four-horse stage coach on runners, with the snow from two to three feet deep and the mercury down to 20° below zero. When, on the second day out, we arrived in Waterloo, the mercury stood at 26° below and did not rise above that point for six days thereafter.
A survey of the village at this time disclosed a population of five or six hun- dred, a great improvement in the number and quality of its dwellings, brick houses having been built by G. W. Hanna on Mill Square, Reverend Ingham on Fourth and Jefferson streets; Beauchaine, the Frenchman, the one now occupied by Leckington near the old paper mill on the west side, and Myron Smith on Water Street between Seventh and Eighth on the east side. Henry Sherman had built a brick store on Commercial at the head of Bridge Street, and Mr. Bird a brick hotel on Lafayette between Eighth and Ninth streets, and the brick court- house facing the Cedar on the east side was enclosed and in process of comple- tion by the contractor, G. M. Tinker. The residence now owned by J. E. Sedg- wick on South and Third streets was in process of construction by the same party. Another sawmill had been built where the east side flour mill now stands and was operated by Corson & Whitaker, also a sawmill on the upper end of Com- mercial Street, operated by F. S. Washburn, and a small grist mill had been erected where the Y. M. C. A. building now stands. These, so far as I remem- ber, were all the factories then existing and in operation in Waterloo.
The following is a business directory of Waterloo for the years 1857 and 1858:
Attorneys-S. P. Brainard, Wm. M. Newton, C. D. Gray, J. E. Baker, James S. George, W. H. Curtiss, John Randall, S. W. Rawson, J. O. Williams, Sylvester Bagg and H. B. Allen.
Bankers-Hosford & Miller and Hammond & Leavitt.
Barbers-William Blowers and George Grabner.
Carpenters-Nathan Bullock, Orra Alexander, John Forbus, Peter Hopkins and C. J. Maynard.
Doctors-P. J. Barber, J. M. Harper, Peabody & Davidson, W. O. Richards, Drs. Rich, Bowen & McFatrich, and A. Middleditch.
Dentist-A. B. Mason.
Druggists-W. W. Forry and Parmenter & Davis.
Furniture-O. W. Ellsworth and Esquire Fisk.
Groceries-Raymond Bros., Williams Bros., B. J. Capwell, Mr. Jewell and William Evans.
Hardware-Frank Strayer and Maverick & Siberling.
Harness-J. H. Wilkins.
Hotels-Henry Sherman, Seth Lake, Morris Case, Joe Henry, and Mrs. May. Liveries-Wm. Groves, O. E. Hardy, T. S. Leonard.
Merchandise-J. M. McD. Benight, Henry Sherman, N. S. Hungerford, J. W. Hankinson and William Evans.
100
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
Newspapers-William Haddock and Hartman & Ingersoll.
Shoe Shop-Beck & Kruse.
Sawmill-Hosford & Miller and Corson & Whitaker.
Blacksmiths-Benjamin Stewart and Mr. Winne.
Tailors-E. Ercanback and John Reddenback.
Saloons-B. J. Capwell, J. J. Dunnwald, George Grabner, William Jewell, Captain Aldrich and Edward Scott.
County Officers-J. C. Hubbard, judge ; J. B. Severance, clerk ; B. F. Thomas, sheriff ; P. E. Fowler, deputy sheriff ; Martin Baily, treasurer; John Ball, sur- veyor; S. R. Crittenden, justice : Esquire Fisk, justice ; and George Stewart, constable.
In 1857 there was one paper published in Black Hawk County, the State Register, of which William Haddock was the proprietor and editor, and W. H. Hartman the printer. Coming to Waterloo about the same time as I did, being about the same age, and somewhat ambitious, Hartman and I became quite chummy and conceived the idea of publishing a paper of our own that would be a great improvement on the Register. It was to be called the Black Hawk Chief. I wrote the prospectus and Hartman printed it. It portrayed in glowing terms and with editorial flourish and phraseology its present plans and its future course and usefulness. I do not remember its contents fully, but I distinctly remember that it was to be "Independent in Politics" and "Neutral in Religion." The pros- pectus was its first and last issue. It ingloriously failed for lack of capital. The year following, however, Mr. Hartman succeeded Mr. Haddock, named the paper the Waterloo Courier, and by his executive ability, strict honesty and economy and persistent industry, and made of it one of the most permanent, interesting, useful and influential publications in the state.
During the administration of County Judge Pratt, the election was held by virtue of which the county seat was moved from Cedar Falls to Waterloo. Judge Randall, as successor to Judge Pratt, was endowed with authority to locate the courthouse in Waterloo. Prior to the election which changed the county seat, and when the then owners of the land on the east side of the river filed the original plat of that portion of Waterloo, the block that is now known as Lincoln Park was designated as "Courthouse Square" and was so marked on the county record of the plat. The owner evidently generously intended to dedicate the block to the public for courthouse purposes when Waterloo, if it ever did, became the county seat. The owners, when platting the land on the west side of the river, with equal magnanimity, designated the block now known as Washington Park, "Public Square."
When the county seat was finally established by the voters of the county, in Waterloo, it was generally supposed that if the courthouse site was located by the county judge on the east side of the Cedar River, the place selected would be the block designated as Courthouse Square-that location being without cost, cen- tral, spacious and sightly. When the announcement was made that the site was permanently located on a quarter of a block facing the river on the east side, be- tween Tenth and Eleventh streets, the surprise and indignation of the people of the county knew no bounds. Why was it located so far out of the way where it accommodated no one, and inconvenienced everybody? The construction of the courthouse on that site must be enjoined, but what was everybody's business
101
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
was no one's, and while the public was fuming and swearing about it, the judge let the contract for its construction to one G. M. Tinker on the site selected and it was completed and occupied in 1857 and served as a courthouse until 1902.
Not only did the people of that time wonder what were the reasons that im- pelled its location in such an out of the way place, but all the taxpayers, court and county officials, practicing lawyers and every class of citizens who have ever since been compelled to travel back and forth to and from that distant location to perform the official duties and transact their business have wondered and are wondering still. It may be true, and probably is, that I am the only living person that knows the real considerations that induced such unreasonable and unaccount- able action on the part of the county judge. The facts were disclosed to me in the early '60s. As the knowledge was imparted to me in the course of the dis- charge of my professional duties as an attorney, I have been reluctant and am still reluctant to publish them. However, as no secrecy was imposed when the facts were revealed, and as all the actors in this little drama have long since passed away, I have concluded as a matter of early history, to avail myself of this opportunity to make them known to the public.
A few years after the foregoing events transpired, Lewis Hallock, who was then owner of and platted quite a large tract of land on the west side of the river and opposite the selected courthouse site and resided there, died, and his widow, Lady Hallock, was appointed administratrix of his estate. I was em- ployed as attorney to aid in its settlement. In due time there was sent from some town in Wisconsin, to which place Judge Randall had previously removed, and filed as a claim against the estate a promissory note signed by Lewis Hallock, for $1,000, payable to the order of John Randall and indorsed by him. On inquiry of the administratrix as to the consideration for the note, I was informed by her that the note and quite a block of land, together with a like or larger amount in cash and land given by the owner or owners of the property on the east side of the river in the vicinity of the selected site, was the consideration given to Judge Randall to induce him to locate the courthouse were he did. I at once informed the party who filed the claim that the consideration for the note was unlawful and that it could not, for that reason, be paid. The claim was pressed no further, and I think the note was withdrawn ; at least, it was not paid.
I 'cannot refrain from contrasting the mental conduct of the county judge who located the courthouse site with the stand his successor, the Hon. J. C. Hub- bard, took when solicited by the officers and agents of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad Company to issue to it $200,000 of 10 per cent bonds voted by the people of Black Hawk County as a subsidy to said company that had not complied with the conditions imposed and had not built the road. He manfully and stub- bornly resisted coaxing, flattery, threats and offers of bribery, and thus saved to the taxpayers of succeeding generations millions of dollars which they would have been compelled to pay by the courts if he had issued the bonds and they had passed into the hands of innocent purchasers.
As I review the events of these pioneer days and recall the early residents, many of whom have gone to their reward, a great number of incidents, some sad and sorrowful, some funny and laughable, all stirring and interesting to its participants, come rushing upon the memory, one of which I beg leave to relate.
102
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
In the early days prairie wolves and coyotes infested the country, preying upon the poultry yards of the farmers and out-lying premises of the new towns, destroying young stock and making night hideous with their yelping howl. It occurred to a few of the public-spirited and enterprising citizens of Waterloo that it would be a wise and benevolent thing to do, to form a company of mounted men and devote a day or so out of each week to utterly annihilating the marauding pests. Accordingly, a meeting for organization was held, consisting of some forty or fifty of the picked and brave young men of the village. George Ordway was made captain. The plan of attack was to start out in full force early in the morning, start a flank movement and endeavor to envelop the enemy by gradu- ally drawing in the lines of offense until the enemy was entirely surrounded and then by a sudden rush to the center, the whole brigade of frightened animals would surrender to be killed or captured. Guns of every description were taboo. Each soklier was to be armed with a club and when the attack was ordered by the captain, each private was to select his victim and go for him with the club until he was taken or vanquished. Mount Vernon Township, lying north between Waterloo and the Big Woods, was selected as the first field of battle.
So. one bright and sunny morning in April or May, 1857, at a given signal, we assembled at the appointed place of rendezvous and marched in double file to the south line of Mount Vernon Township. Here half of the company de- ployed to the right, and half to the left, and started our enveloping movement by marching in single file, some distant apart, so as to encircle the whole township and envelop all of the arch enemy that was supposed to occupy the inner field. Slowly and cautiously the lines were drawn in, until the center field was reached, when, to our utter amazement, not a single coyote was in sight. Without the aid of aeroplane or wireless, their native cunnings and instinct for safety had enabled them to scent the attack. They had evacuated the field and took to the tall timber in the Big Woods.
Disappointed and chagrined at our failure, tired and hungry, we beat a hasty retreat to our homes, sadly reflecting on the vanity, uncertainty and folly of war.
EAST WATERLOO'S FIRST SETTLER
The first settlement on the ground on which the modern and progressive City of Waterloo is now built was made in the year 1846 by Charles Mullan. One of the next white men to visit this region was James Virden, who passed through this section early in 1846 and went on to Cedar Falls, where a few settlers were then located and where Mr. Virden, then a young man, engaged in helping William Sturgis build a dam across the river.
In the early spring of 1846 Mr. Virden left his home in Wayne County. Illinois, and went down to St. Louis, making the journey to a large extent on foot. When he started on the journey to St. Louis, Mr. Virden accepted a commission to collect for a neighbor a debt from a man who had left Wayne County and located near the Missouri city. He found the man who owed the money but in settlement was obliged to take a horse in payment. He rode the animal back to Illinois, but found the man who had given him the commission had in the meantime moved to Wisconsin. Mr. Virden continued the journey north until he found where his man was located and delivered the animal to him
103
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
at a town named Fairplay. About this time, learning that his brother-in-law, Charles Mullan, and family, had decided to emigrate from Wayne County to Iowa to a point on the Red Cedar River, located about one hundred miles west of Dubuque, he decided to precede them and that same spring started for the new country alone and on foot. On arrival at Dubuque after some hard walk- ing, he became acquainted with another adventurous spirit by the name of Flemuel Saunders and the two, encumbered only by their packs and guns, started out from the Key City on the stage road by way of Anamosa and Marion, cross- ing the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids and making the rest of the journey up the west bank of the river. The journey was accomplished during the last week in May and Mr. Virden says the weather was in good condition for walking.
When they reached what is now the thriving little Town of Vinton these men found only a bleak stretch of prairie with a cross stuck in the ground at a certain point, on which had been scrawled in good-sized letters the name of the town. The only house in that vicinity then was a log cabin located on the bank of a creek. The travelers continued their journey without visiting the cabin and at a point four miles north of Vinton they stopped for the night at a cabin of a settler named Pratt, who was afterwards Judge Jonathan R. Pratt of this county.
Mr. Virden and his companion continued their journey north along the bank of the river the next morning, but they did not find another house or habitation until they reached the cabin of George W. Hanna, about four miles southeast of Cedar Falls, a distance of fully thirty miles.
Mr. Pratt accompanied the two a distance from his cabin and on parting with them asked where they were expecting to locate. Mr. Virden while in the cabin had noticed that Mr. Pratt was the possessor of a couple of daughters. young ladies of vivacity and good looks, and in reply to the question he said they intended to locate at Sturgis Falls, which is now Cedar Falls, and that when he had built a cabin for himself he intended to return to the hospitable cabin of his host and claim the hand of one of his winsome daughters in marriage. The remark was made in half jest, but it turned out that the young frontiersman was speaking the truth, for a few years afterward he was married to Miss Char- lotte Pratt at Cedar City, the exact date being February 27, 1851.
On the afternoon of the day the travelers left the Pratt cabin, June 1, 1846, they reached the point on Cedar River where Waterloo now stands. They found no signs of habitation anywhere excepting a well-worn Indian trail, which led to and crossed the river somewhere near the present Fourth Street Bridge. Passing over the site of Waterloo they found at the Black Hawk Creek an emigrant by the name of Taylor, who was traveling across the country with a covered wagon and several yoke of oxen, but who had been stopped by the high waters in the creek. They accepted Mr. Taylor's hospitality for the night and the next morning, being anxious to finish their journey, the travelers swam the creek and soon came to the cabins of George W. Hanna and William Virden a few miles distant. The next day they took a canoe from Mr. Virden's back to the creek and with it helped to get Taylor and his outfit across.
After a short visit with his brother and with the Hannas, James Virden went on to Cedar Falls, where he found two white settlers located. They were Erastus Adams and William Sturgis. Adams had erected a cabin on the bank of what is now Dry Run Creek and Sturgis had built a habitation for himself near the river.
104
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
Virden engaged to work for Sturgis, who was engaged in building across the Cedar at that point the first dam constructed in this part of the state. He worked for Sturgis the balance of the summer.
In 1848 Mr. Virden preempted three fractional pieces of Government land, one part of which includes today the greater portion of the Third ward of Water- loo. On this land he erected a cabin near the river. Mr. Virden held the opinion with other early settlers that no one would ever reside on the prairie back from the river, and considered the prairie land practically valueless.
Shortly after making this settlement Mr. Virden came into possession of two Indian canoes and utilized them for some time ferrying travelers across the river. These canoes were made by the native Indians and the largest and best one had been hewn from a walnut tree and had considerable of a history. In the winter of 1847-48 a large party of Indians, of the Winnebago Tribe, camped between the present Mullan residence on the Cedar Falls Road and the Black Hawk Creek on Mr. Mullan's claim. Two very large walnut trees then stood on the bank of the round pond in what is now known as Red Cedar AAddition. One day when Mr. Mullan made a trip to the creek from his cabin he made the discovery that the Indians had cut down both the trees and were engaged in shaping the trunk of the largest of them into a canoe. He ordered the Indians to cease their work, informing them that the trees belonged to him. The Indians stopped their labors but the next morning a delegation from the camp visited the Mullan cabin and made overtures which resulted in their being allowed to proceed with their work of making the canoes. They informed Mr. Mullan that they would need the canoes badly when the spring hunting season opened and promised that after the season closed they would bring them back and present them to him. In the spring the Indians started out on their hunt and several days after they were gone Mr. Virden, who was exploring along the river near Cedar Falls, found one of the vessels turned over on the bank of the river. He saw no signs of the red men and, believing they had abandoned the boat, appropriated it to his own use. He says it was splendidly built, strong, swift and safe.
The nearest postoffice which Mr. Virden and other settlers in this section had then was located at Marion, about sixty miles distant. For their mill grists a drive to Cedar Rapids or to Quasqueton, both about the same distance away, was necessary.
Mr. Virden remembers that the winter of 1847 was very severe, with the snow covering the ground to a great depth and forming in such massive drifts as to hide all sign of the roads and trails. The settlers were cooped in their cabins most of the winter and compelled to subsist principally on potatoes and meat, which was not so bad, but which became somewhat monotonous before the spring suns came up and liberated them.
Mr. Virden remembers of making hay several seasons on the ground where East Waterloo is now built and recalls many times the shooting of wolves and other wild game which roamed over that section.
Mr. Virden recalls that the early settlers, while they often looked and longed for a familiar white face, were not lacking in an abundance of company. He says the wandering Indian tribes, the Pottawattomies, Winnebagoes and Musqua- kies, were almost constant neighbors of himself. They seemed peaceably inclined as a general thing and he visited them and received them at his cabin. He says
105
HISTORY OF BLACK HAWK COUNTY
on only one occasion did he have his fears aroused. One winter a large band of Indians encamped on what is now the old cemetery grounds above Cedar Falls. In the early spring they had crossed the river to an island, and had tapped a large number of maples in order to secure the syrup for sugar. To carry the syrup from the trees the Indians had constructed a number of rude troughs out of butter-nut trees. A settler named Barrick claimed to be the owner of the maple grove, and in order to be avenged on the Indians for taking possession of the trees, this settler one night visited the grove and with an ax destroyed all the troughs and spoiled the plans of the Indians. The next day Mr. Virden heard the Indians were holding a council of war and that they were on the verge of starting out on a massacring expedition. He fearlessly visited their camp and secured an audience with one of the influential men, a man he had known for some time and who could talk considerable English. From this brave Virden learned the true state of affairs. The Indians were greatly incensed and the younger members of the camp were anxious to start out on the warpath, but their old chieftain, after talking to them a long time, convinced them that the murder of the whites would do no good. The Government he said had many soldiers "and a massacre would result in the soldiers coming and killing all the Indians. The chief's counsel prevailed and the Indians broke camp and moved south toward the Iowa River.
Mr. Virden tells another incident relative to the Indians which shows that the red man's appetite for whiskey or "fire-water" was acquired at an early day. He had been away from home for a load of provisions and on his way home had stopped near Miller's Creek, below Washburn, to let his team rest. While there a couple of Indians came out of the woods, approached the wagon and asked if "white man got fire-water." Virden had a jug of good whiskey hid under some of the provisions, but he informed the Indians that he did not bring any with him. They refused to believe him and began a search. Not wishing to provoke the redskins and hoping they might fail in their search, Mr. Virden did not in- terfere. It turned out that one of them soon spied the jug. Then there was a series of grunts of satisfaction and the second Indian, who had been standing guard with a gun while his companion searched for the fire-water, dropped the weapon on the ground Virden saw that the Indians would soon become intoxi- cated and prepared to get away from them. While he was hitching up his team he stepped around to where the gun was lying and without the Indian noticing the move, picked it up and drove away. He says the red buck followed him for some time, pleading for the return of his gun and threatening all kinds of vengeance, but that he paid no attention to him and never heard from him afterwards.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.