USA > Iowa > Davis County > History of Davis County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 37
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 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83
NAME AND LOCATION.
NAME.
Davis county was named in honor of Garret Davis, at the time a repre- sentative in Congress from the Lexington, Kentnekey, district; and later a United States senator from that State, who became somewhat distinguished in National affairs. The evidence of this fact is contained in an extract from a letter addressed by Dr. John G. Elbert, of Van Buren county, to Capt. Hosea B. Horn, then an old and prominent citizen of Davis county; who, by the way, had given much attention to the traditional history of its early settlements, which he contributed, in 1866, to the Annals of Iowa,
326
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
the publication of the State Historical Society. The following is the extraet referred to and explains itself:
" Mr James Jenkins and myself were members of the Territorial Conneit at the time Davis county was organized. The name was adopted at the suggestion of some of us Kentuckians, who wanted to honor a distinguished politician and Congressman, by the name of GARRET DAVIS, of the Lexington, Kentucky, district, who had endeared himself to the West, and was thought worthy of the honor."
In addition to this fact it appears from the testimony of Capt. J. H. Bonney, who, at that time, was a citizen of Van Buren county, and at the Territorial capital when the act was passed giving to the county the name of DAVIS, and defining its boundaries; and from David Ferguson, James M. Wray, and other pioneer citizens of this county, that soon after the termination of the conflict between the State of Missouri and the Territory of Iowa over the strip of territory lying along our southern border, which the former sought to steal from the latter; that those citizens of Iowa who were called out by the Governor of the Territory, and the United States Marshal as militia, to serve in maintaining the rights of Iowa, and in defense of their homes against the unwarranted attempt of Missouri to seize territory which it well knew did not belong to her; thought the General Government should compensate them for the time spent and expenses incurred; and therefore forwarded an application to their delegate in Congress, which was presented in the House, and referred to the Committee on Claims, of which Garret Davis was chairman, who reported it favorably to the House, accompanied with a bill providing for the allowance of the claims. During the pendeney of this bill in Congress, the Iowa Territorial Legislature was in session, and passed the act of February 17, 1843, defining the boundaries of the new county to which it gave the name of DAVIS, in honor of the distinguished Kentnekian, not more for his statesmanship than for his kindly regard for the pioneer militia who rallied to the service of the General Government when a portion of its territory was imperiled by a sovereign State. Whether the name of Davis was given to this county upon the suggestion of Dr. John D. Elbert and James Jenkins, members of the Territorial Couneil at the time it was given, or, because of Mr. Davis' kindly offices as chairman of the Committee on Claims in the National House of Representatives, in championing the claims of the pioneer militia who were called into service, does not clearly appear. Whichever may have been the prevailing reason, one thing appears quite certain, that Mr. Davis' bill never passed into a law. Neither did the Territorial militiamen ever receive any pay for their services and expenses from either the General or Territorial governments, however just this may appear to have been.
327
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
LOCATION.
Davis county is situated in the southern tier of counties bordering on the north line of the State of Missouri, and the third west from the Mississippi River. It is surrounded by the counties of Wapello on the north, Van Bu- ren on the east, Schuyler, Missouri, on the south, and Appanoose on the west. It contains fourteen congressional townships, with an area of about 322,560 acres, being four townships, twenty-four miles, in length from east to west, and three and a half townships, twenty-one miles, in width, from north to south; the four halt congressional townships are those bordering along the Missouri State line.
By aet of the Territorial Legislature, approved February 17, 1843, the boundaries of Davis county were defined as follows:
"SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county which shall be called ' Davis,' to-wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of township seventy, north of range twelve west; thence west on the township line dividing townships seventy and seventy-one, to range sixteen west; thence south on said range line to the Missouri State line; thence east on said State line to the southwest corner of Van Buren county; thence north with the west line of said county of Van Buren, to the place of beginning."
The first white men to view the beautiful landscape now covered by Fowa, of which Davis county forms a prominent part, were two Frenehmen-one a Franciscan friar-James Marquette; the other, a French explorer, Lonis Joliette. On their way from the straits of the upper lakes, in their frail canoes, "to find out and explore the great river lying to the west of them, of which they had heard marvelous accounts from the Indians about Lake Michigan," says Marquette, they reached and ascended Green Bay and Fox River to Lake Winnebago to a village of the Kickapoo and Miami In- dians. Here the Franciscan priest assembled the chief's and old men of the village; and, pointing to Joliette, said: " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new countries, and I am an Embassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." On the 10th of June, 1673, they pushed on from this Indian village toward the great river. They launched their canoes on the Wisconsin, not far from the present Portage City, and descending they reached the bosom of that great and mysterious river of which they had heard so much, on the following 17th of June. On the 25th they landed on the west bank wear the present town of Montrose, in Lee county ; and thus, so far as known, theirs were the foot prints of the first white persons ever made upon Iowa soil. Then, and there, in the name of France, they proclaimed jurisdiction over the vast domain watered by the
328
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
Mississippi and its tributaries, by right of this discovery; to which the name of " Louisiana " was subsequently given, in honor of Louis XIV, King of France. This vast possession Franee retained until 1763, when she ceded it to spain; and in 1801, Spain ceded it back to France; and by treaty dated April 30, 1803, the United States acquired this vast domain of Louis- iana, for which she paid fifteen million dollars. This acquisition extended the domain of our young republic from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Gulf of Mexico to British America on the north.
When the United States goverment had thus secured the " right, title and interest " of all foreign nations to the vast domain covered by the " Lou- isiana Purchase," it seemed to have lost sight of the fact that it was, during all the period from the year that Marquette and Joliette discovered it, 1673, to the year the Territory of Iowa was created, 1838, in the possession of its original owners-the red men-a race of people, or the decendents of a raee of people existing here centuries before the Anglo-Saxon Puritans settled upon the coast of New England, or before Columbus first visited the continent. Of this people, and the acquisition of the soil of Iowa from them by the government of the United States, more will be said in the chapter entitled " The Red Man," farther on.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
The surface character of Davis county is somewhat irregular, the result of its natural and ample drainage system; though its general surface is level. While no large rivers course through it, every township is traversed by living streams. The Des Moines river passes across the northeast corner of the county, from the northwest to the southeast, severing something over a thousand acres, or about two sections of land, in the corner, which has become historie as the home and burial place of Black Hawk, the celebrated chief of the Sac and Fox Indians.
The general course of the streams north of Bloomfield, the county seat, is from west to east, and that of those sonth of the center of the connty- Bloomfield-is from northwest to southeast-all falling into the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers. The streams which so thoroughly water this county are Loaf Creek, Fox River, Wyacondah Creek, Fabius Creek, Carter's Creek, Liek Creek, besides various minor tributaries to these. Of these, Soap Creek is the largest. It rises in the northeast part of Appanoose county, and courses its way through the northern tier of townships of Davis county, and empties into the Des Moines in the southeast corner of Wapello county. It has several tributaries like Little Soap Creek, rising in Wapello county,
329
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
and emptying into the main stream in section one, Lick Creek township; besides Bear Creek, in Marion township, two or three nameless tributaries in Soap Creck township, Lick Creek, in Lick Creek township, and Salt Creek in Salt Creek township. The next in size and importance is Fox River, which also rises, in two branches, north and south, in Appanoose county, which form a junction in Fox River township, Davis county, and thus it courses its way in an easterly direction through Drakeville, Bloom- field, Perry, Union, and Prairie townships, entering Van Buren county near the line between Union and Prairie, and thus in a sontheastern direction into Missouri, and so on to the Mississippi, near Alexandria, Mis- souri. This river, like Soap Creek, is fed with numerous small tributaries in all the townships through which it passes. The next stream, in point of size, is Wyacondah, an Indian name pronounced Wań-kin-daw. There are two branches of this stream rising in this county; the south, or main branch, rises in West Grove township, near the west side, and courses in a south- castern direction, touching the townships of Bloomfield on the south, crossing the northeast corner of Wyacondah township, thence through Grove township, from the northwest corner to near the southeast corner thereof, thence into Missouri from the sontheast corner of Rosco township. The north branch of this stream, called Little Wyacondal, rises in Bloomfield township, and courses parallel on the northeast with the south branch, across the northeast corner of Grove township, through Rosco township from the northwest corner to near the southeast corner thereof, where it passes into Missouri in which the two branches form a junction in Clark connty, thence on to the Mississippi, at La Grange, Missouri. Numerous small tributaries flow into both branches, as well as the main stream of the Wyacondah. Fabins is the next stream in size, and has its rise in Appanoose county, and enters Davis in section thirty, Fabins township; thence coursing in an easterly direction to the east line of that township: thence it bears southeastward, through Wyacondal township, to the middle of its southern line, where it flows into Missouri. A branch of this stream also rises near the north line of Fabins township, and courses sonthwest until it joins the main stream a short distance before it passes into Wyacondah township. The branches and main stream are joined by minor streams from various directions. Chequest Creek is the next in size and importance, and is formed near the cast line of the county by two main branches, called " North Chequest Creek " and "South Cheqnest Creek." The largest of these is the North Chequest, which has its rise in section thirty-three, in Soap Creek township, west of Belknap, and courses across the northeast corner of Bloomfield township, and along the north side of
330
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
Perry township for some three miles, then bearing northeastward crosses the southeast corner of Lick Creek township, entering Salt Creek township some two miles from its southwest corner, thence bearing southeastward across the northeast corner of Union township, to near the west line of Van Buren county where it forms a junction with the South Chequest Creek. Among other tributaries of the North Cheqnest is a branch rising in section twenty-seven, Soap Creek township. north of the main branch, near Belknap, and this, coursing eastward through Liek Creek township, joins the main north branch near the east line of this township, in section twenty-five. The South Chequest Creek rises in section sixteen, Perry township, and courses its way eastwardly, in an irregular direction through the northern portion of Union township to near the east line of the county, where it forms a junction with the main creek which enters Van Buren county and falls into Des Moines River at Pittsburg, on the great bend near Keosauqna. The Bur Oak branch is the largest among several tributaries of the South Chequest. It rises in section twenty-five, Perry township, and passing northeastward into Union township, it continues in a northeast course to section fifteen, where it joins the South Chequest. Carter's Creek is a branch of the Fabius, and ranks next in size to the Chequest. It rises in section eighteen, West Grove township, near the west line of the county, and coursing in an eastern direction through the south side of this township, it bears in a southlicastern direction from near its southeast corner, through Wyaeondah, crossing the southwest corner of Grove township into Missouri. It forms a junction with the main Fabius at the town of Fabius, Scotland county, Missouri, and from thence it falls into the Mississippi River below Quiney. Hickory Branch rises in section thirty, west side of Grove township, and courses southeast to section fifteen, from whence it passes into Missouri, and unites with the Fabius Creek in its course to the Mississippi. The Little Fox Creek is the last and least of the streams of the county. It rises in section eighteen, west side of Prairie township, and southwest of the main Fox River, and flows eastward through the southern part thereof into Van Buren county, and thence into Missouri, where it joins the main stream in Clark county, which, thus united, flows on to the Mississippi at Alexandria.
As before noted, the general surface of Davis county is comparatively level, broken only by the vallies of the various water courses and ravines. The vallies of some of the larger streams extend deep below the general upland surface, which thus presents various configurations in the general contour of the county-from the level surface of the flood bottoms of the vallies, to the more rolling formation of the uplands between them. Of
.
331
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
these, the valley of Soap Creek is about a hundred feet deep along some portions of it; while the valley of Fox River is some ninety feet deep along some portions of it; each with flood lands extending from a quarter to a mile in width, at intervals along their course. The depth of the vallies of the other streams are comparatively slight, not generally extending beyond the channels they themselves have made.
Thus, it will be seen that the natural drainage system of Davis county is excellent-wholly ample to carry off the surplus water from its surface, and thus prevent its remaining in localities here and there to the injury of crops; and to create miasmatie eess-pools as breeders ot disease.
Along all these streams, the varions species of timber indigenous to this latitude, given in abundance, such as the white, black, burr, and jack oak, red and white elm, bass wood, cotton wood, soft maple, black walnut, hiekory, ash and some other varieties. Along Soap Creek in the northern part of the county hard, or sugar maple is found, which is, to some extent, utilized for sugar-making purposes. In addition to the generous growth of forest trees and brushwood, along the varions water courses of the county, about one-third of its surface is quite heavily covered with excellent forest timber, extending mainly from the north side southward, which is abundantly ample for all the economie uses of the people for generations to come. The soil of this portion of the county thus covered with forest timber, is of a clayey nature, and is not so warm and prolifie as that of a loamy formation. The remaining portion of the county is gently rolling prairie, of rich, black, loamy soil and beautiful surface.
Besides the abundant timber grown in Davis county, it has a generous supply of good coal underlying a large scope of its surface; and inexaust- ible qualities of sand stone in the northern part of the county, which is used for building and other economic uses; and besides good briek, pottery and tile clay abonnds to a large extent in the timbered portion of the county. Of these economic prodnets, eoal, stone, elay, ete., more will be said in the chapter entitled " Geological Outline." further on in this work. And, too, of the productive character of the soil of the county, in its rela- tion to agricultural products and industries, will be more elaborately refered to in the chapter further on, entitled " Agricultural Interests."
Davis county contains no lakes within its borders. Its general elevation is high and healthy. It lies one hundred and twenty-five feet above low water mark in the Mississippi River at Burlington, and abont seven hun- dred and eleven feet above the level of the sea. A straight line drawn from Burlington westward, passes through Davis county less than a mile south of Belknap. It also lies one hundred and seventy-five feet above low water
332
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
mark in the Mississippi River at Keokuk, which low water mark in the river at Keokuk is four hundred and forty-four feet above the level of the sea, which is the lowest point in the State; and low water mark in the river at Burlington is four hundred and eighty-six feet above the level of the sea. It will thus be seen that Davis county lies within the drainage system com- prising the tributaries of the Mississippi. The general descent of the county is east and south-east, as will be observed by the course of its streams, but this descent is slight, not exceeding an average of two feet to the mile.
The surface deposits, which forms the soil of Davis county, as we see it to-day, are classified by geologists as Drift, Bluff, and Alluvium deposits, all resting upon the stratified rocks for their foundation. Of these, the "drift deposits" form a wider and deeper distribution over the surface than any other. We see it everywhere forming the sufrace of the earth, and hiding its foundation-the stratified rocks-from view, except where the action of water has exposed them. It forms the soil and subsoil of the county, as it does the greater portion of the State; and in it, the crops are planted, and the fruits, and vegetation generally, take root therein. The drift deposit is composed of sand, clay, gravel and boulders promiscuously intermixed, without stratification or other regular arrangement of its mate- rials, which have been transported from high places at the north, over the continent, by glacial movements, or other natural agencies, sufficiently powerful to carry rocks and other material substances imbeded in immense masses of iee, over the surface; and which were not always dependent for their motion to the declivity of the slopes, but more generally to glacial currents similar to the currents of the streams.
The Alluvium deposit is that which has aceumulated in the valleys of rivers and streams by the action of their own eurrents; and the material composing it is derived from the rocks or deposits which the water courses erode or wash out from their valley slopes and distribute over the flood plains or bottoms, as well as on some of the terraces of their valleys. It forms a rich and productive soil.
The Bluff deposit is a fine yellowish ash colored species of sand, and is very adhesive in its composition, as shown in the high bluff's along rivers, in their finely rounded summits, ent here and there with sharp ridges, smooth and abruptly retreating slopes; configurations which not unfrequently rise from one to two and three hundred feet above the flood bottoms of the larger rivers.
This glacial, or whatever natural agency it was that caused these various drift deposits over the general surface, and along the flood bottoms and
333
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
bluffy sides of the valleys of the rivers, had, doubtless, much to do with the formation of the present surface changes of this continent-in its mountains and hills, its valleys and bluff's, its lakes and rivers.
Beneath the deep, rich vegetable mould of the prairie uplands of Davis county, is the drift formation. In many localities along the valleys and broken border lands of the streams the vegetable monld, and more or less of the drift deposit, are carried from their slopes into the valleys.
As before noted, the general surface of the upland of the county is gently undulating prairie, except the timbered portion of the northern part. The rich productive prairie land is the delight of the western husbandman. The term " prairie " means meadows, which was first applied to the broad scopes of treeless land bordering the two great rivers of the continent, by its early French explorers, and included in the vast central plain, the largest not only in North America, but in the world. The natural meadow lands, covered mainly with grass and plants, and presenting in the growing season, the grandest display of floral beauty the sun ever illumined, are included in three divisions-bushy prairies, wet or swampy prairies, and rolling prairies. The latter mainly forms the surface of Davis county; and the English language cannot be worded in a description of the beauty, nor of the tra- ditions they suggest, finer than the following production by America's grandest poet, William Cullen Bryant:
THE PRAIRIES.
These are the gardens of the desert, these
The unshorn fields, boundless and beautiful,
For which the speech of England has no name-
The prairies. I behold them for the first, And my heart swells, while the dilated sight Takes in the encircling vastness. Lo! they stretch In airy undulations far away,
As if the ocean, in his gentlest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded billows fixed,
And motionless forever Motionless? No-they are all unchained again. The clouds Sweep over with their shadows, and, beneath,
The surface rolls and fluctuates to the eye; Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase The sunny ridges. Breezes of the South! Who toss the golden and flame-like flowers. And pass the prairie-hawk that, poised on high, Flaps his broad wings, yet moves not-ye have played Among the palms of Mexico and vines Of Texas, and have crisped the limped brooks
334
HISTORY OF DAVIS COUNTY.
That from the fountains of Sonora glide Into the calm Pacific-have ye fanned A nobler or lovelier scene than this ? Man hath no part in this glorious work; The hand that built the firmament hath heaved And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes With herbage, planted them with Island groves, And hedged them 'round with forests. Fitting floor For this magnificent temple of the sky- With flowers whose glory and whose multitude Rival the constellation! The great heavens Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love- A nearer vault, and of tenderer blue, Than that which bends above the eastern hills. As o'er the verdant vast I guide my steed, Among the high, rank grass that sweeps his sides, The hollow beating of his footsteps seems A sacrilegious sound. I think of those Upon whose rest he tramples. Are they here- The dead of other days ?- and did the dust Of those fair solitudes once stir with life And burn with passion ? Let the mighty mounds That overlook the rivers, or that rise In the dim forest, crowded with old oaks,
Answer. A race that long has passed away Built them; a disciplined and populous race Heaped, with long toil, the earth, while yet the Greek Was hewing the Penteliens to forms Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock The glittering Parthenon. These ample fields Nourished their harvests: here their herds were fed, When haply by their stalls the bison lowed, And bowed his maned shoulder to the yoke. All day this desert murmured with their toils; Till twilight blushed, and lovers walked and wooed In a forgotten language, and old tunes, From instruments of unremembered form, (Have the soft winds a voice.
The valleys and the unbroken border-lands, are usually thiekly covered with forest trees and brushwood, which are fairly distributed along the numerous water courses throughout the county.
An English traveler" in this country, several years ago, published an interesting description of the prairie and its forest borders, from which we, quote:
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.