USA > Iowa > Scott County > Davenport > History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I > Part 19
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Cash paid note and interest on account road fund
1,081.67
Cash paid interest, commission and expense Davenport Gas stock
204.00
$37,081.02 Schedule of Property Belonging to the City of Davenport, March 31, 1857. 27 shares Chicago & Rock Island R. R. stock at $100. $ 2,700.00
Interest scrip, Mississippi & Missouri R. R. company. 54.14 40 shares Davenport Gas Light & Coke company. 1,000.00 162 shares Mississippi & Missouri R. R. stock at $100 16,200.00
Estimated amount due from county treasurer to road fund. . 4,000.00
Due from real estate owners on Main street. 1,845.00
Due from real estate owners on Front street. 60.96
Cash in treasury 8,384.05
City tax list for 1856 1.900.00
Due from city clerk 634.00
$39,778.15
Deduct estimated expenditures due and maturing 5,000.00
Leaving nominally a balance over indebtedness. $44.778.15
The assessed property of the city at this time amounted to $5.225.091. Such had been the increase since 1851 when it amounted to only $100,000.00 and in 1854, to $1,500,000, and in 1855, $3,000,000, and in 1856 to $3,500,000. The population had increased to 18,000; real estate had steadily risen to "New York prices," and all the elements of prosperity seemed sure and lasting. The year was one of uncommon energy and life. But few that desired business or labor could be found out of employment.
Some dissatisfaction arose among the residents and owners of property on Fifth street on account of the non-fulfillment of the contract on the part of
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
the Mississippi and Missouri railroad to grade and pave the street for the right of way. This was agitated and the mayor recommended the city council to prosecute the railroad company without delay, and suit was ordered, when the company offered $50,000 in their bonds issued upon the third division of their road west for a release of their contract. To the astonishment of parties interested the proposition was accepted by the council and the railroad company was released. Since which time suit has been brought to invalidate the acts, not only of the council who granted the right of way to the company, but to the council of 1857 who released them from their contract. A late decision of the supreme court of Iowa in a case where the city of Dubuque brought suit against the proprietor of an adjacent lot for digging out into the street in order to make a coal or wood scuttle decided "that the fee in the public streets of Iowa belong to the adjacent lots, to the center of the street. That the public have a fee in the highway only for its use as a highway and that corporations have no such interest in the streets as will empower them to use or permit them to be used for any other purposes than a highway."
We copy from the annual report of the board of trade in this city the following statistics showing the progress of business, in the different branches of trade up to the close of the year :
"The footings in some of the principal branches of trade for the year end- ing December 31, 1857, show an aggregate in the same of $14,485,812.24. Of this amount
$8,539.744.28 has been banking and exchange ;
2,628,602.57, sales of merchandise ;
1,158,000.00, sales of grain and provisions ;
853,000.00, sales of consignments and forwarding ;
751,059.00, manufacturing, not estimated in sales ;
450,029.00, freight and cartage; 555,406.39, lumber, doors, sash, etc.
The banking department shows an aggregate of $6,616.737.34 for exchange, and $1.923.006.94 for discounts.
The sales of merchandise, together with the stock on hand show as follows :
Sales.
Stock.
Agricultural implements
$ 25,000.00
$ 12,000.00
Boots and shoes
72,000.00
34,000.00
Books, wall paper, etc
34.000.00
12,000.00
Bakery, confectionery, etc.
8,000.00
3,000.00
Clothing
163,700.00
61,000.00
Dry goods
600,902.57
164,500.00
Furniture, mattresses, carpeting
89,000.00
44,300.00
Groceries
771,800.00
163,000.00
Hardware, iron and nails
264.500.00
I 20,500.00
Hats, caps and furs
34,000.00
14.000.00
Jewelry, watches, etc.
27,000.00
18,500.00
Leather and saddlery hardware.
87,000.00
24,200.00
Millinery
42,000.00
12.700.00
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROW'S HISTORY.
Drugs, paints, oils, etc.
70,000.00
35,300.00
Queensware
25,000.00
18,000.00
Stoves, house furnishings, etc.
125,000.00
44.000.00
Assorted merchandise
I 16,200.00
16,000.00
Tobacco and cigars
59,000.00
14,000.00
Wines and liquors
13.500.00
7,000.00
Total stock on hand
$818.700.00
"Owing to the monetary difficulties which came upon us so suddenly in Oc- tober there has been a falling off in all branches of trade. In no department have the figures been so affected as in banking. During sixty of the last ninety days exchange has not been procurable at any price or under any circumstances except in very small sums. Notwithstanding this our local business has suf- fered far less diminution than was at first apprehended.
"Careful inquiries have developed the fact beyond dispute that during the last few months we have had important accessions to our trade from various sec- tions of the country hitherto tributary to other points. It is presuming very little to say that the acquaintances thus formed cannot but result mutually and ad- vantageously. Whether the first introduction was the result of purely superior in- ducements in stock and prices which our merchants are ever ready to offer, or more directly the effect of the local currency that has been so exclusively the agent of our transactions, is not left for decision here, and indeed it is no mat- ter, having gained so much of a point, it only remains to retain it.
"The high price of exchange has operated more manifestly upon the stocks of grocers, in the articles of coffee, sugar and molasses, and has maintained the price of these articles at quotations much above the ordinary margin between this and eastern and southern markets. The indications being favorable for a speedy equal- ization of funds, we may reasonably hope for an improvement in these articles and a corresponding increase of sales of the same. The estimates of grain and provisions exhibit as follows :
Bushels wheat
1,019,005
value $509,000
Bushels barley
34,000
value
13.600
Barrels flour
175.800
value
879.000
Tons shipped stuff
8,640
value
129,600
Bushels of potatoes
20.000
value
5.000
Bushels of onions
25.000
value
12,000
Barrels pork
3.500
value
52,000
Tierces bacon
1,280
value
32.000
"Of the wheat received during the comprised period there were manufactured into flour, 879,000 barrels.
"The number of hogs packed at this point was 13.000. The estimated value of the same, after allowing for the wheat, etc., manufactured is $1. 1 58,000.
"The commission and forwarding business with an aggregate of $353.000 shows an advance for freight and charges of $150,000.
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
"The following list of different branches of manufactures shows for
Agricultural implements $ 49,000
Boots and shoes . 20,000
Book binding, printing, etc
108,000
Bakeries and confectionery
35,000
Clothing
28,000
Carriages, wagons, etc
87,000
Furniture and mattresses
67,000
Plows, castings and iron work
205,000
Paints, oils, etc
4,000
Stove furnishing, etc.
1,000
Cooperage
105,130
Lumber, sash, etc.
235,154
Flour, feed, etc. 957,000
Hog products
113.750
Sundry manufactures
32,909
"There are few points in the west where the manufacture of flour is more largely engaged in.
"The value of this department alone approximates $1,000,000, while the brands of the different mills enjoy an enviable reputation in foreign markets."
1858 .- The Pioneer Settlers' association of Scott county was organized in January and its first festival held at the Burtis House on the 22d of February. It was decidedly the greatest occasion of the season. Some time during the month of December, 1857, a call was made through the city papers for all the old settlers of Scott county who had become residents prior to the 31st of December, 1840, to meet at LeClaire hall on the 23d of January, 1858. In answer to this call about sixty were present. The meeting was called to order by D. C. Eldridge, Esq., one of the first settlers of the county, and E. Cook, Esq., was elected chairman and John L. Coffin, secretary of the meeting. At this meeting an association was formed, a preamble and resolutions were passed and Antoine LeClaire elected the first president. At a second meeting on the 30th of January a constitution and by-laws for the society were presented, ap- proved and adopted, and the Pioneer Settlers' association was duly organized. The constitution provides for an annual festival to be held on the 22d of February of each year, the first of which came off at the Burtis House on the 22d of that month. It was an occasion of deep interest to the old settlers who have braved the storms of many winters and for long years of poverty and exile watched with anxiety the slow but sure results of their trials and hardships. The honor of dedicating the spacious building in which the festival was held was conferred upon the association, and the most magnificent entertainment was prepared by Dr. Burtis, the proprietor, that probably ever graced a table in the city of Davenport. The meeting was a happy one to all parties. The number present on the occasion including invited guests, composed of the press and clergy, was not far from 800. It was a gathering such as never had been seen before this side the Mississippi river. The Hon. John P. Cook delivered the annual address. A gold headed cane, made from a native growth of hickory
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
was presented to the president by the Hon. John F. Dillon, as insignia of his office, with the name of the society and its first president engraved upon it.
It was a noble sight to look upon, as the vast assembly were gathered in the spacious dining hall where the greetings took place. None but those present can ever realize the scenes of that interview. There was no loud and boisterous mirth, but a still, subdued hum of voices that told the deep and silent thoughit.
The aged pioneer was there with his whitened locks and bowed head, and as the earnest gaze, the familiar nod, the grasping hand were passed from one to another the silent tear would trickle down the furrowed cheek unforbidden. The weary soldiers wept that night. It was manliness to weep. The battles had been fought, the victory won, and as the pioneer fathers and mothers met, after years of toil and separation, it was meet that their tears and their sym- pathies should mingle at one common altar, as they recounted the trials and hardships through which they had passed and called to remembrance the name of some loved one who in the "heat and burden of the day" had been laid away in earth's last resting place.
The rich repast was served, speeches were made, toasts drunk until a late hour when the gathering broke up. Long will the first meeting of the Pioneer Settlers' association be remembered. Friends met on this occasion that had not seen each other for twenty years. Many came from the adjoining counties and states who had been absent for years and could scarcely recognize the once little village of Davenport.
The second festival was held in 1859 at the Burtis House, and the reunion was pleasant and agreeable, answering the most sanguine expectations of the associa- tion. A. LeClaire was still the president. The annual address was delivered by W. Barrows. The attendance was not so large as the year previous, but was a very happy meeting for the pioneers.
The year opened with the financial crisis close upon us. The east was but slowly recovering from a severe commercial panic and looked upon the west with suspicion. Eastern capitalists had invested largely here and some of them had purchased at unwarranted rates during the inflated prices of real estate. Mer- chants and manufacturers, who had been doing business on borrowed capital at high rates of interest, found themselves suddenly bankrupt. The farming por- tions of the county were brought to a sudden stand by the loss of their crops. Many of them had borrowed money to invest in lands at ruinous rates of interest and not having any products from their land, much distress ensued among that class.
At the April county election A. S. Kissell was elected county superintendent of schools. At the October election Ira M. Gifford was elected clerk of the dis- trict court. Thirty-four hundred and fifteen votes were polled in the county. In December an election was held to vote for or against a loan and a tax to build the Cedar Valley railroad, which was carried by a good majority. but an injunc- tion was issued against issuing the bonds of the county. At the same election a loan and tax were voted for and carried to build a railroad from Davenport to LeClaire. Also a tax of one mill on the dollar for making and repairing bridges.
The city election resulted in the choice of Hon. Ebenezer Cook for mayor ; John Bechtel, marshal: Lorenzo Schricker, treasurer ; and Hallet Kilbourn, clerk.
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
The aldermen were, J. M. Cannon, I. P. Coates, Theodore Guelich, Henry Ram- ming. Austin Corbin, James Mackintosh, Thomas H. Morley, John C. Washburn, George E. Hubbell, James O'Brien, Robert Christie, and I. H. Sears. This year was one of much financial distress. Money became very scarce and agricultural products failed. For the census returns of the year 1858, we clip the following from the Davenport Gazette, of June 9. 1859, as furnished by Mr. Gifford, clerk of the district court :
Census for Scott County .- We are indebted to Mr. Gifford for the census re- turns for the county for 1858 from which we learn that the total population was: Males, 13.507 ; females, 12,344; total, 25,861. Number 'entitled to vote, 5.108; of militia, 5,501 ; of foreigners not naturalized, 1,751 ; between the ages of 5 and 21 years. 7,859. Whole number of dwelling houses, 4,998; against 1.386, as reported by the census of 1856. Number of acres of improved land, 124,499, against 74,226 of 1856, an increase of over 50,000. This leaves 48,171 acres in our county unimproved.
"A new feature presented by this census report over that of 1856 is the num- ber of acres, 46, devoted to sorghum, and the quantity of molasses manufactured, 3.005 gallons. The present year will see a vast increase in this article. Another new production introduced since the last census returns is that of Hungarian grass. Last season there were 461 acres sown in our country, producing I.III tons of hay. Last season there were 7,862 acres in meadow, against 3,628 in 1856, and 15,847 tons of hay produced, against 8,514 and 904 bushels of grass seed, against 372 in 1856. Acres in orchard, 970; fruit produced valued at $9,122.
"Number of acres of spring wheat, 47,278, against 23,661 in 1856. Yet in the former year, owing to the failure of the crops, only 336,166 bushels were har- vested, whereas in 1856 the yield was 536,621 bushels, an average of nearly twenty-three bushels to the acre. This shows something of the productiveness of the soil of Scott county. Very little winter wheat was harvested in our county last year. Of oats, there were 10,780 acres sown, against 5,218 in 1856; yet last year there were only 73.843 bushels produced, while the yield in 1856 was 179,- 896 bushels, an average of almost thirty-five bushels to the acre. Of corn, there were 23,068 acres planted, against 15,703 in 1856, but, owing to the same cause, the yield last year was only 664,243 bushels, against 780,787 in 1856. Potatoes. 2,437 acres ; yield, 101,417 bushels. In 1856 there were only 1,053 acres planted in potatoes, while the produce was 128,392 bushels, or an average of about 122 to the acre. Last year there were 5,568 hogs sold, valued at $36,397: and 1,807 head of cattle, valued at $45,367 ; 2,049 pounds of wool were produced, 247,096 pounds of butter and 14,072 pounds of cheese made.
"The census returns for 1858 show a rapid advance in Scott county and an increase in all the mediums for augmenting her productions. Pleasant Valley township shows the heaviest farm productions of any in the county. Last season her farmers put ninety-four acres in onions, which, notwithstanding the failure of the crops, produced 13,814 bushels, an average of over 157 bushels to the acre, valued at $6,987. Davenport, according to the census, shows a population of 15,190, with 2,888 voters, 3.048 dwelling houses.
"The following is the population and the number of voters in each precinct of the county : Liberty, 540 citizens, 121 voters ; Blue Grass, citizens 972, voters
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
185; Rockingham, citizens, 358, voters 79; LeClaire, citizens, 2,564, voters, 565 ; Cleona, citizens 204, voters 47 ; Buffalo, citizens 962, voters 172; Pleasant Valley, citizens, 727, voters, 164 ; Winfield, citizens, 1,667, voters, 272; Hickory Grove, cit- izens 909, voters 189; Princeton, citizens 1,319, voters 301 ; Allen's Grove, citi- zens 449, voters 105."
1859 .- At the city election this spring, Ebenezer Cook was reelected mayor ; Lorin C. Burwell, clerk; John Bechtel, marshal; Lorenzo Schricker, treasurer; John Johns, police magistrate; James T. Lane, city attorney; Edwin Baker, street commissioner ; R. A. O'Hea, city engineer ; Robert M. Littler, chief en- gineer of the fire department; aldermen, T. H. Morley, H. B. Evans, James Mackintosh, H. Ramming, J. P. Ankerson, H. Andresen, T. J. Holmes, I. P. Coates, J. A. LeClaire, James O'Brien, C. A. Haviland and Robert Christie.
The October election resulted in returning John W. Thompson to the state senate; W. H. F. Gurley, B. F. Gue, and James Quinn, representatives ; Rufus Linderman, county judge; James Thorington, sheriff ; James McCosh, treasurer and recorder ; Thomas J. Saunders, superintendent of public instruction ; Wm. P. Campbell, county surveyor ; Dr. J. W. H. Baker, coroner, and H. S. Finley, drain- age commissioner.
The times still continued hard with but little money in circulation. A partial failure in the crops this year did add much to the financial distress of the coun- try. A large amount of grain was sown and much exertion made among farm- ers to raise a large crop, but the early drouth blasted the wheat and the crop was not more than half the usual quantity.
We can no better represent the wholesale trade of Davenport at the present time than by copying the following article from the Davenport Gazette of Novem- ber 30:
"Perhaps few of the people of this vicinity are fully aware of the extent and value of the wholesale trade of this city. We, who have pretty good chances to be posted, cannot give the figures, but certain it is that load after load of dry goods, groceries and all articles usually kept in country stores are purchased and shipped from our merchants to their customers in the towns and villages of the interior of the state and into the counties of Illinois adjacent to Rock Island. This trade has silently but steadily increased and Davenport is being looked upon by every city and village in Iowa as the emporium of trade, and from her advantage of location, etc., bids fair to be to Iowa what Chicago is to Illinois, St. Louis to Missouri and Cincinnati to Ohio. The establishments of Joshua Burr, McCarn & Coates, Evans, Chew & Co., Burrows, Prettyman & Dalzell, Alvord & Van- Patten, T. H. Morley & Co., T. H. McGhee, Haight & Sears, T. J. Becket, J. C. Washburn, Smith & Remington, Stevenson & Carnahan, Eldridge & Williams, Wm. Inslee & Co., C. T. Webb, George W. Ells & Co., Miner, Haskell & Co., in their respective kinds of trade, have from industrious efforts, fair dealings and the keeping of the well-assorted stocks secured such patronage from country. dealers as to afford the most gratifying evidence of the permanent growth of our young city. On Saturday last, accompanied by an acquaintance who for a number of years has been engaged in the wholesale trade east and who has been on a bus- iness tour to the towns on the upper Mississippi, we visited a number of our leading concerns and were gratified to hear our eastern friend express the opinion
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
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that our city was certainly enjoying as large a share of business prosperity as any town he had visited on the river. The wholesale dry goods house of Miner, Haskell & Co., corner of Front and Perry streets, is a concern that would compare creditably with the majority of the jobbing houses in the eastern cities. We were shown through the establishment, which occupies four large rooms, all of which were well stocked with every kind of dry goods suitable for this market. The stock on hand is estimated at $80,000, to which additions are made monthly from the importers and from extensive factories of the eastern states. Messrs. Miner & Brother, the original firm, commenced business in this city in March, 1857. Their first year's sales were $94,000, which was pretty fair for strangers. The second year, which was one of the hardest for wholesale trade ever known in the west, their sales amounted to $104,000. From the commencement of the third year to the present time, a period of scarcely nine months, they have reached $110,000. We have merely alluded to this firm as an illustration of what one wholesale business house can do, to show something of what is being done here in the way of wholesaling. When our facilities of intercourse with the interior are increased, the wholesale trade of Davenport will be augmented proportionally. But few men seem to be aware of the extent of this trade. We shall make this better known in future articles."
BRIDGE ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
On the 17th day of January, 1853, an act was passed by the general assembly of the state of Illinois entitled, "An Act to Incorporate a Bridge Company by the Title Herein Named," of which Joseph H. Sheffield, Henry Farnam, J. A. Matte- son and N. B. Judd were the sole incorporators. This company was incorporated for the purpose of constructing a railroad bridge across the Mississippi river, con- necting the Chicago & Rock Island railroad at Rock Island, Illinois, with the Mis- sissippi & Missouri railroad at Davenport, Iowa. Who was the author of the grand project of spanning this majestic river with such a noble work of art is unknown to the writer. The capital stock was $400,000, raised on 400 bonds of $1,000 each, the payment of which was guaranteed by the Chicago & Rock Is- land Railroad company and the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad company. The work of location and construction commenced in the spring of 1854, under Henry Farnam as chief engineer, and John B. Jarvis as consulting engineer. B. B. Bray- ton of Davenport, had charge of the work as resident engineer. The cornerstone of the first pier erected at said bridge was laid in the presence of a large number of citizens of Rock Island and Davenport, Hon. Joseph Knox, Ebenezer Cook, George E. Hubbell and others making appropriate remarks on the occasion. By the spring of 1856 the entire work was completed and attracted the attention of travelers, historians and scholars from every part of the country. It was deemed a great triumph of art, a noble achievement of enterprise. to connect the eastern and western banks of this old Father of Waters with a continuous railway over which the products of Iowa might roll onward to eastern markets without delay.
This bridge is 1,580 feet long and thirty feet high across the Mississippi to the island and 450 feet across the slough from the island to the Illinois shore. The
THE WELL, CENTRAL PARK
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HISTORY OF SCOTT COUNTY
THE WILLARD BARROWS HISTORY.
entire cost of both bridges and the railroad connecting them across the island was about $400,000.
The number of boats that passed through the draw during the year 1857 was I,024, and the number of rafts during the same time was 594. On the 6th of May, 1856, a large and splendid steamboat called the Effie Afton, while attempt- ing to pass the Rock Island draw of the bridge in a gale of wind was thrown against the draw-pier and rebounding, swung around the stone pier east of the draw and the smoke pipes coming in contact with the superstructure were thrown down, setting fire to the boat in several places. She stuck fast under the bridge and the flames from the boat ignited the framework of the bridge and burned off the end of the span which fell and with the burning hull of the boat floated three-quarters of a mile down the river. During the summer and fall of 1856 this burned span was constructed anew.
The accident of the Effie Afton was the signal for the bursting forth of the long suppressed wrath of the citizens of St. Louis who had from the commence- ment of the project placed every obstruction in the way of the erection of the bridge and deemed it as the beginning of a series of similar structures over the Mississippi river at various points, tending to divert from St. Louis the commerce whch formerly followed this natural highway from St. Paul southward. At the instigation of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, the owners of the Effie Afton commenced a suit in Chicago against the bridge company for damages to recover the value of the lost boat, but the jury failing to agree the suit was abandoned. But the St. Louis merchants fancied that they saw certain ruin to their previous monopoly of the river trade if the bridge remained, and the Chamber of Com- merce of that city procured the services of Josiah W. Bissell, a quondam civil en- gineer of Rochester, New York, to undertake the task of procuring testimony sufficient to authorize the courts to declare the bridge a material obstruction to navigation, and therefore a nuisance which could be legally abolished. They found Bissell a ready instrument for the undertaking and raised from time to time $37,000 to aid him in this enterprise.
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