USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 43
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No particular damage was done to any buildings, although several were flooded and two saloons were temporarily deserted by their ocenpants but "no case" of watered stock or adulterated booze was found on the court records.
On Tuesday the water had fallen until people could wade across the street to the bridge, and this the west siders were forced to do. It was a laughable sight, so history states, to see the county judge, lawyers and other dignitaries roll up their pants and wade in like school boys. At Quasqueton, the bridge was swept away and considerable damage was done to the erops, all along the river banks.
Mr. Heman Morse lost his entire wheat crop which was cut and bound in sheaves ready for stacking. Again in the spring of 1862 the dissolving of the immense amount of snow precipitated another flood which although not so disastrous as the one of 1858 carried off the bridge at Littleton, a structure but recently built at a cost of $1,000 and considered strong and substantial, the other having been swept away by the flood of 1858. No damage to speak
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of was done at Independener only the water, being eight or ten feet deep below the dam, as usual over-flowed the east end of the bridge for a few days and the S. C. & D. R. R. bridge was slightly impaired.
Then again in the spring of 1865, the streams swollen by heavy snow and the terrifie rains eaused the most unusual and destructive floods of which we have record.
"Great Freshet-Part of Independence Bridge given away. A complete sweep expected," is the starting headlines of an item in the Guardian of March 22, 1865. Then below this "The bridge gone." The heavy snow of the preceding winter followed by a down pour of rain for about thirty-six hours precipitated this flood when carried off the bridge on Tuesday afternoon, March 21, 1865. On Monday night one length of the bridge had given way and fallen into the water and held there by one end. The water was so high that there was no declivity over the dam. Crowds of people stood watching anxiously for what might happen, and momentarily expecting the crash- at last the expected happened-at 3 P. M. Tuesday it went out. The ice came crashing down and took what had previously withstood the raging, dashing torrent. It came up to the lower windows of the stores. Tupper's new store containing a harness shop went down with the bridge. It was a great incon- venienee to business men as many whose business was on the east side resided on the west.
This flood did great damage throughout the county along all the river courses. The bridge and dam at Quasqueton together with the saw and grist- mill of Mr. Pratt were swept away. At Littleton, the beautiful new bridge, and twenty-five feet of the dam and all the tressel work of the logway to the saw mill had been washed out. Fairbank, too, shared the general ruin-losing its bridge, and a new mill, all these on the Wapsie. Then the bridge over Otter Creek at Otterville, and another farther north were demoralized by the torrent. Buchanan County had hardly a bridge of any importance left. This was a terrible blow to the county's finances, coming so soon after the depletion of the treasury by the safe robbery. It was a most disheartening state of affairs, especially since the eitizens had voted down the loan-but the citizens of Independence were not to be thwarted-they called a publie meeting at the courthouse to take immediate measures for constructing a new bridge and also concerning temporary arrange- ments for crossing the river. A publie subscription was taken which resulted in $500 being contributed and a free ferry was immediately installed with Mr. Slack as captain. The committee contracted to have a boat built. It was 40 feet long and could accommodate three teams, as many as 160 people at a time rode over and sometimes 200 teams a day. The cable was 380 feet long. On April 1st, the new ferryboat was launched with crowds of people and teams waiting passage. The only difficulty to be foreseen was the laek of sufficient water in dry weather, but most assuredly there would be a fine substantial bridge spanning the Wapsie before any such predicament would arise, but in case the enrrent got too low and narrow it was proposed to let the boat rest aeross the channel and finish out with planks by way of a temporary bridge-but this was simply a precautionary forethought which would not have to be used. But alas and alaek, "The best laid plans aft gang aglee-"
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It was months before the bridge was built, and no amount of inconvenience, numerous accidents, extra expense, constant complaint or urging could induce the board of supervisors to act. Any number of propositions and suggestions were forthcoming to raise the necessary funds, but as usual, "great bodies move slowly," and this board could not be budged-until the spirit moved them.
Many times the ferryboat broke its guy ropes and floated off down stream where the occupants would have either to wade ashore or wait for assistance until finally a heavy chain was purchased. The recital of these numerous aeci- dents in the weekly papers would fill a volume and as none proved serious they were very ludicrous and highly entertaining reading.
Toll was required of everyone not a resident of the county and owing to the great number of immigrants' teams going over, the ferry brought in quite an amount of revenue, but ferrying did not contine long when fording became possible. Finally in June the supervisors voted $2,000 toward building a bridge and the additional amount was to be gotten by subscription. Two thousand, five hundred and fifty dollars was subscribed on short order, and the contraet was let for a $5,000 bridge-but the cost exceeded this amount by $1,500, making it $6,500. The contract was given to Mr. Samuel Sherwood to be completed in three months and the last of November saw its completion. It was a six span bridge, quite a good structure. A temporary foot bridge was built while the bridge was being constructed, but this was rather a dangerous concern-several people becoming dizzy, were precipitated into the river below, and every storm caused some sort of trouble with it, then skiffs and boats had to be utilized- which was quite an expensive luxury at 10 and 15 cents a trip. The ferryboat and cable afterwards were sold for $150 to parties in Linn County and floated down the river with quite a deal of ceremony and fun with this notice of her departure "Port of Independener-First Departure Tuesday, A. M., April 10, 1866. Ferryboat Enterprise sailed for Linn County via Qnasqueton Dam from Jones' Wharf Independence, committed to a crew of six." Thus the ferry departed to continue elsewhere the good service she did here. Peace to her future, cherished be the memory of the past! and thus ended our ferry days.
In 1871, another very spectaenlar flood occurred. The winter had been exceptionally cold and the river had frozen at a time of high water to a depth of three feet or more, then in the spring there were unusually heavy rains, con- sequently when the ice broke up. there was plenty of excitement and trouble in store for the inhabitants along its course. Great masses of this ice came crashing down and demolished whatever stopped or hindered it. Three or four iee- breakers built like large eribs and filled with boulders which had been built above the dam at Independence were demolished like houses built of straw or as if they had been little muskrat houses. The water was so deep that it made only a ripple as it passed over the mill-dam, which was ten or twelve feet in height. The dam was the old wooden structure that the mill company replaced with the splendid cement one built a few years ago and which we will give fuller notice of later on.
The huge eakes riding majestically along on the raging torrent seemed to gain strength and momentnm as they went. Tumbling and writhing over the dam, then crowding together and piling up on each other like demon monsters ready for a final onslaught they hurled themselves against the piers of the bridge
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below. What bridge of like construction could withstand the strength and fury of the elements, certainly not a wooden structure sneh as this was. It was built of heavy timbers with two piers, which, like the ice breakers, consisted of cribs built of heavy timbers and filled with boulders. The principal attack was upon the pier nearest the eastern abutment. This, like the other, was protected by a wooden guard, built of large timbers and extending out into the water in the form of an angular inclined plane. Against this the huge masses of iee were hurled with such tremendous force that they were crowded up this incline to its summit, then erashed down in a chaotic mass.
The guard was soon worn away and then the huge piles came crashing directly against the piers. The bridge trembled with every onslaught of the ice and the crowds of people assembled on the banks realized that it was doomed. A breach was already made in the pier, the boulders began to tumble out, then the top began to settle down and the floor of the bridge tipped up, the whole structure became more and more askew till suddenly the rest of the pier gave way and the whole east end of the bridge went down with a tremendous erash. And although the other pier and abutments stood the test so that less than half the bridge was washed away, the authorities wisely decided to remove the rest of the old structure and replace it with another, more substantial and permanent. The result was an iron bridge of two spans (strong and graceful) aeeording to ancient lore, resting upon two abutments and one large pier, all built of solid masonry which it was reasonably believed no ice-jams would ever be able to bat- ter down and they haven't up until the present day-but still support an iron bridge, but not the one referred to, built in 1871. Our present bridge-much heavier and more substantial and larger in every way, was built in 1890 at a cost of $13,000.
The former structure was divided, one span forming the middle seetion of a bridge about three and one-half miles up the river from Quasqueton and eight miles southeast of Independence. The other half forms the middle section of a bridge about six miles north of Independence.
All anxiety concerning a drought which had existed for some weeks was a thing of the past and the old saying that "it never rains but it pours," most aptly describes the third week in May, 1902. Just one decade before, in 1892, the high water mark was set. The streets ran with water, the flooded cellars, and overflowed water works building had been subjects of discussion ever since, but Sunday's flood (May 18th) overreached the high water mark between seven and eight inches and aside from the water works and electric light build- ing, the damage was much greater all along the river course.
There was a terrifie rain storm on Saturday night and on Sunday morn- ing, about 3 o'clock, the water began to rise rapidly and for fourteen hours its progress was upward. About 5 P. M. it started to recede and a note of relief was sounded along the line of anxious watchers. Its decline, however, was slow, and at 9 A. M. Monday the water mark was the same height it had attained on Sunday morning at 9 o'clock. The storm was of wide extent, cover- ing parts of all the states surrounding and floods in the north eaused the Wap- sipinicon to overreach its banks for some time.
One source of damage ordinarily not taken into account is the gardens. For a depth of two blocks on either side of the river the gardens were a total loss,
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either by being washed out entirely or covered with a mud deposit that retarded all development.
Sheds, boat houses and other out buildings along the river afforded con- tinuous spectacles for thousands of spectators. The greatest regret was experi- eneed when the steamboat Iowa was washed from its bed in the river and dashed to pieces in the volume of water below the dam. Nearly everyone who wit- nessed this destruction had spent happy hours upon its deck. Water measures showed that over five inches fell during the night.
While the loss within the city limits would hardly exceed three thousand dollars, yet so widely was it distributed that many business firms and families were afflicted. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon the pier on the east side of the river with its guard of boulders gave way and the water made a mad rush into the adjacent Main Street abutment. Cellars that had never before known more than an inch or two of water were at once filled to a depth of three feet. Nearly all the basements were used for the storage of surplus goods and con- sequently considerable damage was done.
The greatest loss was in the Steam Laundry, the Bowling Alley and the Economy Store basements. The stoeks in all basements as far east as Logan's Dry Goods Store on the south side and Roany's Grocery on the north side of the street were injured to a greater or less extent. The Gas Works and the Megow Foundry each were damaged about two hundred dollars worth. The Mill Company's loss to the pier was about two hundred dollars. The Economy Store had $1,000 in surplus stock in the cellar but about three. fourths of it was saved. The Telephone Company suffered considerable dam- age and great inconvenience. The West End Grocery had a large quantity of sugar and soap stored in their basement, the probable loss of which was about three hundred dollars. The large barn on the farm of C. E. Boies, south of town, was completely demolished by the wind. This barn was about 50x80 feet, built at a cost of $2,000. It was reported that thirty head of cattle were drowned below Quasqueton on the Agnew Farm. They were pastured on the bottom lands and had drowned before the rise of the water was discovered. Another pasture of hogs was similarly destroyed.
This was the highest stage of water in forty years. The damage at the waterworks was one spot that compared favorably with the work of the flood ten years before. The water rose in the building to a point three to five inches higher than ever before and the giving way of the pier was the one accident that saved the fires. The rush of water on the east side slightly relieved the pressure on the west side. Two inches more of water would have put out the fires. It was necessary to cut off all portions of the city from eleetrie lights except the business houses and railway stations. Ten years previous the water main in the middle of the stream was broken and the foundation of the ground was washed away which resulted in the building of the high boulder wall which passed through the present flood undamaged.
The water dashed the steel supports of the second bridge in the city out and came within a foot of the Illinois Central Railway Bridge. An immense reservoir of water was hell baek of the railway embankment which reached to the stock yards. Deep gullies were washed into the embankment and en- dangered the switch plant. The Burlington Bridge above was washed by the
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water and a large portion of the track lay under water. No trains were run over the line on Sunday and the damage on the upper part of the line was so severe that regular trains were not run for several days. From the Burlington Bridge north over two thousand feet of track lay four inches deep under water and on Monday there was still eighteen inches of river still upon it. It was necessary to carry through the wrecking train and two engineers waded ahead to test the tracks. The train was carried through the flooded portion, the fires rebuilt and then proceeded on its way to Maynard.
The wash-outs caused the wreck of a freight train on the Ilinois Central tracks, one and one-half miles east of Independence. It was heavily loaded with coal and the spreading of the rails caused the derailing of nine ears. The wreck was a serious one and delayed traffie for seventeen hours, when a track was constructed around the wreck and travel was resumed at 3:30 P. M. An incident of the storm was that those who worshipped at the Evangelical Church, situated in the Fourth Ward on that Sunday morning walked in and were canoed out.
On Wednesday and Thursday nights, July 5 and 6, 1892, heavier rains had visited Independence than had ever been known within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. The railroad embankments above the city prevented the water from raising below them, which it would otherwise have done and prevented what might have been a great catastrophe. Above the railroad tracks north of the city there was a sea of water the level of which was several feet above the river below. Few people realized at the time the great peril of those living on the flats would have been had either of the railroad embankments given away. Had they given away water would have come half way up Main Street. The false work under the Illinois Central Bridge went out and as the timbers approached the dam one of them broke the 10-inch water main which ran through the mill pond to supply the east side of the river; thus the east side was for a time without water or fire protection. All approaches to the B., C. R. & N. Bridge were badly washed ont. From their exposed condition the waterworks buildings and lots were most valiantly attacked by the rising tide, and when the water level became dangerous the city officials hastened to provide means to protect the property. The fire alarm was sounded and the firemen were set to work carrying planks to the waterworks lots. These were placed along the exposed fronts and heavy iron from the old bridge placed on them to hold them down.
The water continued to rise until it completely covered the lot and was nearly one foot deep in the building. The working of the machinery was not interfered with, although the engineers waded in water knee deep. The flat west of the waterworks building was completely under water and most of the inhabitants had to move ont.
The rainfall during the first hour on Wednesday evening was the heaviest on record at this place for a like length of time. It measured 1.9 inches. There were three feet of water in the Steam Laundry and Heege & Delaney's work room was similarly flooded. The Forrester Bridge, which had been washed out several weeks previous, had been replaced and was again washed out. The bridge two blocks north, across the same stream, on East Tennessee Street, was struck by heavy trees from land just above and washed away.
CHAPTER XVII PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS
TIIE INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY-TIIE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL THE MUNSON BUILDING-TABOR LIBRARY-Y. M. C. A .- CIVIC IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE-COUNTY HOME-CEMETERIES.
TIIE INDEPENDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY
This notice in the Civilian of March 19, 1857, is the first intimation of a public library which we found: "The festival at the Empire House, on Thurs day of last week, was well attended by 'fair women and brave men.' The pro- ceeds, which amounted to some two hundred dollars, are to be appropriated to the foundation of a public library." This sum seems very insignificant in purchas- ing a collection of books, but was a good beginning and served as a nucleus for a growth which has continued until now we have an exceptionally fine library for the size of the town. However, the growth of the library has not been unre- tarded, for in the big fire of May, 1874, everything was burned but the record book and those books which individuals had in their possession. But this com- plete destruction but served as an incentive to greater effort along this line and a much better collection of books was purchased than before the fire. The pub- lie library was organized in September, 1873, and received the books of the Independence Library Association, numbering about six hundred volumes. This was a voluntary association, which had been in existence for a few years previous and had been maintained by annual fees.
On August 8, 1869, the Independence Library Association was organized in Independence. Committees who had previously been appointed to eanvass the different wards to solicit for membership reported eighty-one new members out- side the First Ward.
The officers elected were as follows: President, Rev. W. L. Hunter; vice president, D. S. Deering; secretary, William Toman; treasurer, George B. Warne; executive committee, J. P. Sampson, J. L. Loomis, L. A. Main, and George Woodruff.
The library was to be situated in the office of Dr. C. A. Clarke, in the Wilcox building on the south side of Main Street, next the river. Doetor Clarke con- sented to act as librarian. New cases were to be made, and the volumes already in possession of the association and many new and valuable books were to be added. This society had succeeded the old Independence Lyceum formed about 1857, by C. F. Leavitt, D. S. Deering, and others. This first library consisted of some three hundred volumes, mostly standard literature, donated by the several members, and loaned for a small fee in order to cover the running expenses of the publie reading room which they maintained. This society in its benevolent
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intent furnished both profitable and pleasant entertainment to many people who would otherwise have been deprived of this necessary indulgence. The formation of the library association in 1869 and the purchase of new books in 1871 and 1872, had awakened in the people a desire to improve the library and when the act passed by the state Legislature authorizing city councils to appropri- ate by taxation, on the vote of the people, a levy of 1 mill on the dollar for library purposes, it is a noteworthy fact that Independence was the first city in the state to take advantage of the law. After the library was burned in the big fire of 1874 rooms were leased in the second story of the Morse building (now occupied by the D. F. Logan Dry Goods Store). for the library proper, and the rooms across the hall over Tabor's Drug Store (and now occupied by Chappell and Todd's Law Office ) served as a reading room. These were fitted up and fur- nished by publie subscription : the annual revenue derived from the city tax levy could not be used for such purposes as it was only sufficient to meet the current expenses and provide a small sum yearly for the purchase of books. Five hundred and fifty dollars was needed to buy the necessary furnishings and shelv- ing. Ilere it remained until March 1, 1895, when it was removed to the second story of the Munson building, which was built by Mr. Perry Munson especially for that purpose and generously given to the city. At different times generous donations were given to the public library. Doctor Warne and Mr. J. B. Jones each gave $500 to the library fund toward the purchase of books. Doctor Bryant gave $500 toward finishing the third story of the Munson building and Col. Jed Lake the ground on which the building is situated, which is valued at $1,000, and Perry Munson bequeathed to it the $15,000 building for the public library and industrial school purposes.
Mrs. E. A. Sanford was the librarian for many years. She was succeeded by Mrs. Emneline Jacobs, who officiated for seventeen years. She was followed by a librarian who only remained a short time and then by Miss Markham, who has held the position about six years. Miss Markham is an accomplished librarian and eminently fitted for the position. She is always pleasant and accommodat- ing to everyone and thoroughly conversant with the work, having taken special training at the state university, and keeps in constant touch with new and im- proved methods and, furthermore, has read extensively.
In 1881 the munber of volumes in the library list was 1,750 and valued at about eighteen hundred dollars. Nine monthly periodicals, nine weeklies, four dailies were subscribed for, and all of these were among the very best of their kind published : six county papers were contributed by the publishers and one monthly periodical was donated by an individual.
Besides the funds from taxation, the library was imhursed with contributions from different societies for special purposes. These gifts added greatly to the convenience and benefits of the patrons, as well as keeping up the interest of the publie in its welfare. In 1880 the dramatic association donated $50 for the purchase of a new carpet, ete., and the Young Ladies' Social Club gave $22.26. The rules governing the loaning of books were in some respeets entirely different then than now. Patrons residing outside the city paid an annual fee of $2, just as they do now. This is because they are not taxed for this benefit.
Books drawn from the library might be retained two weeks and renewed for one week on presentation. Now there are one and two-week books. The two-
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week books can be renewed for one week. The late one-week books which are in great demand cannot be renewed except on different card. A fine of 3 cents was imposed for every day over-due, whereas it is now 2 cents. Formerly if it was not paid in two weeks it was collected by messenger, with an additional charge of 25 cents, and out-of-town subscribers were charged mileage of 25 cents per mile when a messenger was sent to collect a fine. No messengers are employed now- adays.
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