USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > History of Black Hawk County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 16
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"Then there was no railroad nearer than Freeport in Illinois and it was neces- sary to haul dry goods, groceries and many other things which were needed from Dubuque on wagons. Only seventy-six small tracts of government land had been entered in this county prior to 1853 and after I came to Cedar Falls herds of elk and buffaloes were seen frequently within six miles of the town. At that time, beef, pork, poultry, butter and eggs were very scarce, but venison and fresh fish were plentiful. In 1853 and 1854 there were only four unmarried ladies within five miles of the town and there were no dances, or other social entertainments, but wild game was plentiful and every man had a gun.
"When I came to Black Hawk County nine log cabins were the only improve- ments in Waterloo, and very few settlers were found outside of Cedar Falls and Waterloo in the county. I brought with me to Cedar Falls a much better law library than was in the county at that time, but shortly after my arrival I found that other lawyers had preceded me, and that they had no clients. Therefore, I concluded to dispose of my law books as soon as possible and engage in some other more promising business. As I had studied and practiced land surveying and I was confident that there would be a rush of outsiders to Iowa very soon for govern- ment lands, I bought a surveyor's compass and chain, ordered plats of the govern- ment lands to be sent to me and was ready to answer calls as soon as there should be a demand for my services. Then I helped for several weeks to enlarge the mill race, and when that job was completed I cut 350 saw logs for Edwin Brown in the woods on the east side of the river and worked the remainder of the winter as tail sawyer in the Overman saw mill.
"In the spring of 1854 many strangers came to Cedar Falls and Waterloo, who desired to secure government lands in Iowa, or buy lots in promising towns, and for three years I was kept busy tracing section lines, showing government lands
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and selling lands and town lots. In the spring of 1855 I bought a half interest in thirty-eight acres of land lying west of Main Street and north of what is now Twelfth Street for Sir per acre, which I surveyed and platted as R. P. Speer's addition to Cedar Falls. I sold all of the lots on the east half of this addition within six months for $200 per lot on the west side of Main Street, $150 per lot on both sides of Washington Street, and $too per lot on both sides of Clay Street.
"In 1855 many new houses were built in Cedar Falls, in Waterloo and on farms outside of the towns, of elm, basswood and walnut lumber which was cut in the Cedar Falls saw mills. About that time a few thousand feet of finishing lumber was brought to town on wagons from Dubuque, which cost $104 per 1,000 feet. Then, although times were good, it was impossible for Cedar Falls or Waterloo to grow rapidly, as neither pine lumber, bricks, lime, nails, etc., could be bought at wholesale prices nearer than at Dubuque and to bring them to Black Hawk County over bad roads by horse-power was very expensive.
"In 1865 Dexter and Harrington began to manufacture good bricks west of the mill dam, and in the same year a good lime kiln was built between the mill race and the river. Very soon afterwards many brick houses were built in Cedar Falls, which improved the appearance of the town very much. In 1885 a big frame schoolhouse, 40 by 50 feet, was built by a voluntary subscription on the knoll west of Main Street and opposite the Chicago. Rock Island & Pacific Rail- way depot, out of native lumber. After its completion it was used frequently on Sundays by missionaries who were sent out to preach to the frontier people. On one of such occasions an eccentric old gentleman arose from his seat when the preacher was about half through his sermon and advanced toward him, remark- ing as follows : 'My friend, I do not like to interrupt you, but I have not time to remain here longer and as I expect you will call for a collection, after completing your sermon, I will give you my share now,' and he handed a dime to the preacher and remarked, 'That is the real Jackson money. Good day, sir.'
"While I am at it I will refer to only two other of the amusing incidents which were common on the frontier in 1854 and 1855. A Cedar Falls justice of the peace was requested one Saturday to call at a certain house and marry an old bachelor and an old maid on the following Sunday at i o'clock P. M. When the officer arrived at the house he found it full of neighbors and the woman was stirring a large dishpan full of whiskey and punch, which stood on the cooking stove. After all hands had partaken of the punch three times, the bride and groom took the floor to be married. After the justice of the peace had got about half through with the ceremony the bride interrupted him with the remark, 'Excuse me, 'squire, as I believe I am standing on the wrong side.' The squire's answer was, 'Stand your ground, madam, as one side is as good as the other."
"At another time a farmer was elected to a township office and the law re- quired that he should qualify before a proper officer. When the officer proposed the oath to him as follows : 'Mr. - , you do solemnly swear that you will sup- port the Constitution of the United States and that of the State of lowa and that you will discharge the duties of the office to which you have been elected according to law,' his answer was, 'Yes, as far as is consistent with my views.'
"In 1854 we had a great Indian scare in Black Hawk County. Some of the few people who had settled in Cerro Gordo County, Floyd and Butler, came down
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the river as rapidly as possible-on foot, on horseback and in wagons-on their way to Cedar Rapids: They reported that several hundred Sioux Indians had killed white settlers along Clear Lake and that they were coming down the Cedar River, leaving nothing but death and ruin behind them. And as they were fol- lowed by others who brought worse reports a company of about forty armed men left Cedar Falls the next morning, to hold the Indians back until the women and children could be sent to places of safety. The first night the company camped near what is now Clarksville and the next morning it advanced as rapidly as pos- sible toward Clear Lake, but in the afternoon we were informed that no white people had been molested, but that the Sioux had attacked a small band of Winne- bago Indians and had killed one of them. When we found that the Sioux had in- tended no harm to the whites, we started on our return trip arriving at Janesville in the afternoon of the next day, where we halted and procured a good supply of what some people called 'Cedar River water,' because it would freeze in bottles or jugs out of doors in cold weather. Then the march was resumed again and the company arrived in Cedar Falls about 10 o'clock P. M., when all of our guns were discharged and three cheers were given, which was a bad mistake, as our friends supposed that we had been scalped and that the Sioux had attacked the town. But they trembled and listened until they heard the white men talk, and then everybody was happy, except one man and woman, who lived in the southern part of town and who started on the run for Waterloo and it was reported that they crossed Spring Creek the next morning on the double quick.
"The Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, now the Illinois Central, was com- pleted to Cedar Falls in 1861, but to prevent the construction of this road along Black Hawk Creek, or its crossing the river near the mouth of Beaver Creek it was necessary for the citizens of Cedar Falls to donate land and town lots, which could have sold readily in 1856 for $75.000.
"Before and during the war our hay was stacked out of doors, our domestic animals were kept in sheds, which were covered with straw or prairie hay, our seed corn was dropped by hand, covered with hoes and cultivated after it came up with a shovel plow; generally hay was cut with hand scythes and gathered into windrows with hand rakes and forks, and most of the small grain was cut with cradles and raked and bound in sheaves by hand. Let us glance at some of the improvements which have been made in agricultural implements and the reduction which has been made in their cost within a few years. About 1867 the McCormick reaper, which cost $225, was used by some men who had large farms and enough money to buy it. Six horses were necessary to operate it in the field. The grain was thrown on the ground with the fork by a man who stood on the machine and five men were required to follow it and bind the sheaves by hand. Afterward a much cheaper reaper was offered for sale which dropped the unbound sheaves on the ground and only four horses were required to operate it. In a short time the dropping harvester was followed by another new machine which was so arranged that two men could stand on it and bind loose grain as fast as five men could bind it after a McCormick or dropping machine. Then a skillfully made and durable self- binder was offered to the farmers, which would cut and bind fifteen acres of grain per day and only one man was necessary to mind the team and operate the machine. In 1863 the Buckeye mower, which cut a swath of grass four feet wide, was sold for $110, but now a better machine which will cut a swath six feet wide
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can be bought for $45. In 1870 the best wagon sold for $110, but now equally good wagons can be bought for $62. Fully as great improvements and reductions in cost have been made on corn planters, cultivators, plows, etc., and during the same time equal advancement was made in manufacturing most of the other use- ful things."
AN EARLY LETTER
The following letter was written by Mrs. Elizabeth Kitchen to her sister, Mrs. Margaret Slagel, from Waterloo, February 8. 1855. The Kitchen residence in Waterloo was a log house, standing on the lot later occupied by Edwin Mesick's residence. 227 Commercial Street.
"Dear Sister: Your kind letter came safe to hand near two weeks ago. We have had winter in good earnest for the past three weeks and some yet, but it has moderated enough to snow a little. There has been considerable snow-fall here this winter, but what becomes of it ! can't imagine, unless it blows clear off to Indiana or some other thick-timbered region. Sometimes the young folks try to make believe they are sleigh riding, but they do not find much snow in the road; to be sure there is some just outside in the prairie grass, but that cannot be very smooth traveling.
"The ice on the river is from twelve to eighteen inches thick and furnishes a first rate road for teams to draw down saw logs, fire wood, etc. The river has been returned navigable some distance above Waterloo (for pike and fish of all descriptions and canoes I suppose ) and consequently the islands are not included in the survey. They have or had considerable timber on them and considered public property. There is one up the river about one mile, containing about ten acres, and from which the folks here have been hauling constantly ever since the ice was sufficiently strong to venture on with teams. Wyatt and Solomon went up this week and cut considerable fire wood. We paid $2.50 per day for getting it hauled down and we have a great large pile of wood just in front of our cabin. To be sure not the best in the world, but first rate for Iowa, maple, ash, elm, and cottonwood; not much of the last mentioned for Wyatt despises it so heartily that he won't have it if he can help it. He has a good large oak log down on the bank which he designs splitting for posts to fence our lots. We must have a fence of some kind. for a garden we must have. We will have a small yard all around our house and if you come to see us next summer you will. I think, find the porch 'with vines overgrown.' Shrubbery, currants, gooseberries, etc., are scarce here. AAll kind of herbs are scarce except those which grow on the prairie. The babies, poor things, have to do without their catnip tea, because none grows here.
"Wyatt says nothing will ever make him leave Waterloo but the scarcity of timber. . \ good chance to get wood land would be a great temptation. In other respects we are well enough suited here, but wood will be high and hard to get before many years. Lumber too is dear and scarce. They now ask $2 per hundred and none here now at that price. Mr. Eggers has sold out to Miller & Elwell and they intend remodeling the present saw mill and putting up a flouring mill next spring. also another saw mill will be erected on the other side of the river. Miller & Elwell intend having two upright saws and a lath saw in operation in this mill
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in West Waterloo next spring. If we could get lumber we would weather-board our house on the outside and lath and plaster it inside next spring. At present we have only the large room partitioned with sheets, but Mr. Hudson's are building a log house in east Waterloo and will leave here the first of April. I shall be very glad for I have it very inconvenient now. Wyatt says he will not rent that part of the house again for $10 a month. We can have an excellent cel- lar as there is no danger of water rising in it as at North Manchester, for the wells in West Waterloo are all. I believe, over twenty feet deep. Our lots descend very much from the house. The town plot is not level, but rolling, not abrupt and hilly, but gentle elevations, which adds greatly to the beauty of the place. Almost every- one who sees Waterloo likes the place. If we had a little more woodland this would undoubtedly be one of the best portions of the United States, as it is one of the handsomest. I feel at home here notwithstanding the many privations to which we are subject."
A PIONEER MERCHANT'S STORY
Back in the days of yore, E. A. Raymond was born at Niskeyuna, Schenec- tady County, New York. December 7, 1835. He started for the West April 10, 1855, with a small leather grip and $50.00 in money. He walked down on the ice on the Mohawk River to the Village of Niskeyuna, the railway station on the Troy & Schenectady Railroad line, taking the course for the wild, woolly West.
At that time it was quite a different undertaking for one at the age of nineteen to launch out from under the parental roof than it is today. "That morning," said Mr. Raymond, "when bidding me goodby, my father said, 'My son, I never expect to see you again, the Lord go with you.' My mother was full of hope and cheer ; it was from her that I got the inspiration to go West. My parents had a large family. ten children, six boys and four girls. I being the oldest.
"That noted morning, April 10, 1855, brings many thoughts to mind of my early life. My first step was at Rochester, New York. I was to meet a companion there and we were going West together, he having friends in Ohio, the destination we had talked of. My friend did not make his appearance. I stopped a day at Rochester after the time set for our meeting and was painfully disappointed, for I was rather intending to shift the responsibility on him from Rochester. Finding I was alone in a strange city, I began to make new plans. It came to my mind of a family I knew had gone to Beloit, Wisconsin, the year before, so I decided to take the first train out of Rochester for Chicago and from there to Beloit. When reaching Beloit I learned my friends had moved to Rockton, Illinois. As there were no railroads farther west, with my grip in hand, I walked the rest of the way. Thinking I had gone west far enough, my money about gone, I looked around for work and finally hired out to Mr. C. C. Wright, a farmer, at $20.00 a month. I will here make a statement as an eye-opener to the young men that work for farmers nowadays. Mr. Wright had planted seventy-five acres of corn that spring. He was the assessor that season so started on his work about corn tend- ing time and set me to work cultivating corn with a one-horse, five-shovel culti- vator, one row at a time. All the cultivating that was done on that seventy-five acres was done by myself. I made the day's work to average ten acres, doing all
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the chores morning, noon and night, and it was pronounced the best tended corn- field in that locality.
"In October, 1855. I left Rockton for Waterloo with Christopher Hollister and Mr. Case, the father of Fred and Lafayette Case, the former now in Los Angeles, California, and the latter engaged in the dairy business here in Waterloo. We made the trip in covered wagons and I was the driver of one of their teams.
"Our journey was made in good time and safety. Everything was new and in- teresting to me; the way of traveling with covered wagons, camping out and sleeping under the wagons or alongside of them, was all new experience but I en- joyed it. When getting into lowa, crossing the Mississippi River at Dubuque, I was really disappointed in the looks of the country-rough and bluffy. After climbing the bluff to get out of Dubuque and about twenty miles out. it began to look better and continued to. I became in love and charmed with the new West as we neared Waterloo. We forded the Cedar River just a little below the cement bridge, coming out on the west side back of where the American Express office now stands.
"We landed in Waterloo November 15, 1855, and spent my first night in a log cabin owned by Christopher Hollister, located in a grove near the Melrose land, now Galloway's Addition on the south road to Cedar Falls. That was our head- quarters for several weeks. The next day we went to the Case land which now adjoins Byrnes Park on the west. Mr. Case had previously erected a small house but that fall put up an addition to it. I helping them a few days.
"The fall of 1855 was fine, warm and all sunshine. I was delighted with the new West. Never had I seen such fine weather and it lasted until January.
"The fall of 1855, the City of Waterloo was not much of a town, about one hundred and fifty inhabitants, though some people claimed more. The houses were scattered, being small frame houses and log cabins, there being only two or three brick buildings. The J. C. Hubbard store on Commercial Street between Fifth and Sixth streets was the first brick store building put up, the brick being made by Mr. Sweitzer, from clay dug out near a frog pond back of the Duke and Ben Eaton lots, the latter lots now owned by Mr. Sarvey and Dr. Brinkman, 202 and 206 Randolph Street.
"The first church established was the Methodist, which held services in the basement of a brick building on the corner of Bluff and Eighth or Ninth streets, which is now used as a dwelling house. S. W. Ingham was the minister.
"The first log cabin was Charles Mullan's on Mullan Hill. On Commercial Street fronting Fourth next to the William Snowden drug store was a log cabin boarding house, kept by a man named Jewel. Below the Hubbard store on the opposite side was a cabin and one at 426 South Street where Mr. Emmons John- son now lives, and one on Second Street between South and Randolph. On lower Jefferson Street stood another log cabin. The store buildings could be counted on five fingers.
"That fall I went to work for Judge Hubbard. He was postmaster and kept a general stock of goods. There were two small buildings on the east side.
"The next year. 1856, and part of 1857. a wave of prosperity fanned the city, a regular boom. Much building was done, business of all kinds developed out towards the latter part of 1857 and in 1858 a tightening up came.
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"Everything had to be hauled by teams and wagons during the early days and Dubuque, Iowa City and Davenport were the principal places to get sup- plies. It was not all sport to make these hauling trips. A good deal of exposure and hard knocks had to be endured.
"In the spring of 1856, Judge Hubbard set me to hauling goods. That spring the sloughs were bad, teamsters would travel in gangs. I remember one time there were fifteen teams all in line, that came up to a big slough and we had to hitch two, three and four teams on one wagon and then got stuck and had to carry out the goods, what we could, by hand, then pry up the wagons and pull out. Some days we did not make a mile, going without our dinners, wet and muddy up to our necks, tired and hungry when the setting sun closed our day's work. Only part of the wagons over, we took our teams and returned to the same stopping place that we had left in the morning.
"In the winter of 1856 and 1857 there were heavy snow storms, the road- ways being ridged up two and three feet above the surface of the ground. There were regular places for passing. The frequent winds and the shifting snow would fill up the beaten roadway. It would be impossible to keep on the beaten track. By getting over a little to one side down would go the loads, sometimes horses and all, and many times we must unload and scoop out in order to get straightened up on solid footing.
"The spring of 1857 I brought my brother. Henry, West, he going to work for Mr. Hubbard. I bought on time a team and began teaming. The times were beginning to get hard. / Financial troubles in the East paralyzed the business of the new West. / I started out to make a trip to Dubuque or Iowa City every week for the merchants. The weekly trips soon dropped off for the merchants wanted but few goods. I began taking what orders I could from them and filling out my load with barrels of salt, taking my chances of selling the same. I finally began to buy other goods and made trips up to Waverly, New Hartford and other towns as far up as Algona. I became tired of peddling goods and in the cold seasons could do but very little at it, as everything was sold from the wagon. In order to keep down expenses during these dull times, I would work for just what I could get, fifty or seventy-five cents a day. During these times it caused many of us young men to take up batching. The times were hard and only those who were here during shin-plaster times, years of 1857 and 1858, know what it means.
"The summer of 1859, I concluded to open up a store at Marble Rock, securing a storeroom and hauling up a load of salt. That summer Waterloo merited the name of being the head of navigation. The news spread to all the towns near and far and Waterloo became the renowned city of this section of the West.
"My first order of goods for the Marble Rock Store came from Chicago, via the way of Cedar Rapids and to Waterloo on the first trip the steamboat, Black Hawk, made. Not being quite ready to go to Marble Rock I stored them in the storeroom that John Ercanbrack, a tailor, had vacated at the head of Bridge Street. Mer- chants from Grundy Center, Eldora and other surrounding towns came to Water- loo for supplies. My first shipment of goods included a hogshead of sugar, two sacks of coffee, canned goods and many other things in the grocery line. The de- mands for goods from other towns were numerous. It was known that Raymond had received quite a shipment of groceries. I concluded to sell out what I could and order again for the Marble Rock Store. In the meantime I counseled with
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John 1[. Leavitt about opening up in Waterloo instead of Marble Rock. It then was decided that Waterloo was the place. I at once cancelled and closed up the Marble Rock deal and secured the Redenback storeroom, white-washed the sugar hogshead that had been emptied and engaged W. G. Burbee, the master of all trades, to letter a sign encircling the top of the hogshead. 1 raised it up on a post ten or twelve feet high at the outer edge of the walk and that was our sign. It was known far and near .Raymond Brothers, Sign of the Sugar Hogshead.'
"At this stage of action I made my brother, Henry, my partner. Taking a dry goods box for our writing desk, we opened doors for business. Later in the fall of 1859 we moved from this room to the brick storeroom then owned by John El- well and later by George Snowden, on Commercial, opposite the Henderson drug store. During these years, although the times were hard, Waterloo kept moving to the front.
"Where the Irving Hotel and the Waterloo Savings Bank now stand was a ravine. During seasons of high water it would be five to six feet deep, water would be everywhere. Boating was the only way one could go about. Many a time have I taken the boat where the First Baptist Church now stands and rowed across to the north side of Washington Park and around to Judge Hubbard's store on Commercial Street and beyond up to the corner of Commercial and Fifth streets. I have seen the Mill Square nearly all under water.
"In 1863 we bought the Elwell corner and store building, 20 by 50, two stories. where the Black Hawk National Bank now stands, paying $2,200 for it. On the rear end of the lot was a log cabin, which we used for a storage room. In front of this cabin was a well, said to be the first well dug in Waterloo. Everybody got water from it. It had a home-made windlass, rope and bucket. That well was being used up until the time the building was sold recently, being in the base- ment.
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