USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > History of Des Moines County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 15
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"It has pleased the Great Spirit that I am here today-I have eaten with my white friends. The earth is our mother-we are now on it, with the Great Spirit above us; it is good. I hope we are all friends here. A few winters ago I was fighting against you. I did wrong, perhaps, but that is past-it is buried-let it be forgotten.
"Rock River was a beautiful country. I liked my towns, my cornfields and the home of my people. I fought for it. It is now yours. Keep it as we did- it will produce you good crops.
"I thank the Great Spirit that I am now friendly with my white brethren. We are here together, we have eaten together; we are friends; it is his wish and mine. I thank you for your friendship.
"I was once a great warrior ; I am now poor. Keokuk has been the cause of my present situation; but I do not attach blame to him. I am now old. I have looked upon the Mississippi since I have been a child. I love the great river. I have dwelt upon its banks from the time I was an infant. I look upon it now. I shake hands with you, and as it is my wish, I hope you are my friends."
The old chief died in the fall of 1839, and his bones now remain in the pos- session of the Historical Society of Burlington. He served his tribe and country well, and his memory will long be cherished.
Sir, when we reflect that but twenty years ago that old man (whose bones we now possess) was the monarch of these prairies, as the representative of an aboriginal race, we are startled at our own progress, as we gaze upon the
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triumphs of steam, the telegraph and the railroad. The tomahawk and scalping knife of the savage have retired before the advancing tread of civilization, and our poor aborigines are dropping in despair at the setting sun.
The age of poetry has passed, because the world of fancy is outrun by fact. It is difficult to realize our own progress. Scarcely half a century ago the poet Campbell was thought to have gone quite to the verge of the "poet's license" when he said :
On Erie's bank, where tigers steal along. Where the dread Indian chants his dismal song ; Where human fiends on midnight errands walk, And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk, There shall their flocks on thy my pastures stray, And shepherds dance at summer's opening day ; Each wandering genius of the lonely glen, Shall start to view the glittering haunts of men, And silence watch the woodland heights around, The village curfew as it tolls profound.
How has this prediction been realized? What cities now stud the banks of Erie, teeming with population and all the improvements and refinements of civ- ilized life? And farther than Erie and the poet's dream, witness the spread of civilization, surging from both oceans towards a common center, soon to be united by a common bond of rail and telegraph, when we may fold our hands and exclaim :
"No pent up Utica contracts our powers, But the whole boundless continent is ours."
I offer you the following sentiment :
THE MEMORY OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS BLACK HAWK-The oldest settler of Burlington-the monarch of the prairies when we were in our cradles. In regard to our red brethren, whilst we "feel power, may we not forget right."
Col. James W. Woods, being loudly called for, responded as follows: Fellow Pioneers of Iowa:
I am happy in meeting my old friends and settlers here on this occasion. I traveled from Wapello this morning, and arrived before II o'clock, in order to be present.
It is doubly cheering to me, as I had but little hope, owing to the almost impassable state of the roads, of being able to reach here in time. But a little of the old settler energy and the exercise of that spirit of early and late toil and travel enabled me to conquer and gain my purpose.
I call myself amongst the oldest settlers of this county. I attended the first court ever held in Burlington. It was held in a little log cabin, without floor, chimney, or scarcely a roof. This whole country was then an almost unbroken waste, and many, very many, of those early pioneers, whose wants and necessi- ties at that day demanded the aid of the judicial arm, have passed away-yet I am able to count several who have withstood the wearing hardships of a new country, and the temptations and seducing influences of western El Dorados. and still remain in our midst.
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Great has been the change that twenty-five years have made ; young men have become old, a new generation has arisen, and I can now see around me many joyful faces, who proudly claim Iowa as their native land.
Upon the conclusion of Colonel Woods' remarks a motion was made and carried that the audience adjourn to Grimes' Hall, where, until a late hour, the old settlers and their invited guests
"Tripped the light, fantastic toe,"
or enjoyed themselves in mutual reminders of the early settlement of the land now grown so populous, rich and great, and at last separated to meet again, as many as may, at the next annual festival.
CORRESPONDENCE.
The following letters were received by the committee of invitation, respond- ing to notes requesting the several writers to honor the festival with their pres- ence as guests.
They are inserted in the order of their date.
Columbus City, Iowa, May 31, 1858.
Gentlemen : I have to express my regret that the state of the roads will prob- ably prevent my acceptance of your "cordial" invitation to attend the anniversary celebration of the Hawk-Eye Pioneer Association on the 2d day of June next.
Reading your note of invitation, my mind reverts to the period of iny first advent to the "far West." On a frosty morning, in the last month of the year 1838, in company with one of your townsmen, who will doubtless be present at your festival, I crossed the Mississippi on a bridge of ice, at your place, and took lodging at the "Old Wisconsin."
Burlington was then a crude, rough village, peopled by some three or four hundred "pioneers." The footprints of the "native American" were still fresh, and the stakes of the wickiup, in some instances, yet sticking in the ground. That does not seem to me to be very long ago, and yet how remarkable the change which has taken place in the condition of your city and Iowa generally ; and, must I say, in the pioneers also? In some respects, yes ; and yet I think it may be said of those of us who survive and remain here that we have not grown old as fast as the country has improved and matured. Take your city as an example, whose growth has been, perhaps, about a general average. At the period I speak of there were no paved sidewalk, no graded streets paved or macadamized ; no majestic squares of brick and mortar; no machine shops, no foundries, no magnetic telegraph, no railroads, no elegant public schoolhouses, no colleges, no stately church edifices, with their spires pointing upward toward the heavens. The village of yesterday is today the matured city, abounding in all the elements of a prosperous and enlightened community. The same may be said of our state generally-her growth and development have been equally vigorous and remark- able, with a future correspondingly bright. But I leave the subject with my thanks for your kind remembrances of me, and offering for your acceptance the subjoined sentiment.
FRANCIS SPRINGER.
Hon. J. C. Hall, A. W. Carpenter, Lyman Cook, committee.
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THE EARLY SETTLERS OF IOWA-Like the sybilline leaves, as they diminish in number, may they appreciate in worth, in usefulness, and in the just regard of their fellow men.
Keokuk, June 1, 1858.
Gentlemen : Your polite invitation to attend the anniversary meeting of the old settlers, came duly to hand, and it was my intention to be present and assist in the celebration, but I regret to say that it will not be possible for me to do so.
Twenty-two years ago today I arrived in Chicago, a youthful adventurer in quest of health and fortune. Chicago at that time contained from twelve hundred to two thousand inhabitants, while Iowa, then known as the "Black-Hawk Pur- chase," was almost an unbroken wilderness. A month later I was traveling up the Mississippi on the good steamer Dubuque, Capt. Geo. W. Atchison, com- manding, and Capt. Le Roy Dodge, clerk. We passed the site of the present City of Keokuk in the night, and the next day-the first day of July, 1836- landed at Burlington (as I find noted in my journal), "a new town in Wiscon- sin." Our stay was brief, but long enough for me to ascertain that the price of the best lots was $500 each, which, from the appearance of the place, I deemed extravagantly high, but readily accounted for in view of the wild mania for speculation then prevailing. I may add that I am happy, however, to learn from some of my "ancient" Burlington friends that an investment at that time, even at the price mentioned, notwithstanding the present stringent times, would have been a remunerative one.
The day following we passed the City of Davenport, then recently laid out, but containing no buildings; Stephenson (now Rock Island), containing about thirty houses, mostly built of logs, and, landing at the Island of Rock Island, Col. George Davenport came on board and went with us to Galena. He informed me that emigrants were going into the "Black-Hawk Purchase" in great numbers, and he was of the opinion, extravagant as it might appear, that not less than from three to four thousand had already settled there. Previous to this time, and up to the 4th of July, the territory constituting the present State of Iowa was under the government of Michigan, and the title to all the lands, to which the Indian title had been extinguished (except the half-breed reservation in Lee County ), remained in the United States, and so remained for a further period of two years.
How wonderful the change! There were then two counties in the territory, and a population of 4,000. Now we have 100 counties, with a population of 600,000 ; and it is gratifying to know that this unparalleled increase in population has brought with it to the early settlers and founders of this fair commonwealth, generally a corresponding increase in wealth, in the comforts and luxuries of life, educational advantages, and all those things which distinguish the dweller in cities from the settler on the frontier.
Trusting the Hawk-Eye Pioneer Association may hold their annual celebra- tion while any of the original band remain, and that I may have the pleasure at some future gathering to meet with them,
I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, yours,
EDWARD KILBOURN.
To Messrs. J. C. Hall, A. W. Carpenter and Lyman Cook, Committee.
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Mr. Henry W. Starr, in his address saying Black Hawk died in the fall of 1839, and that his bones now were in the possession of the Historical Society of Burlington, Mr. Starr is mistaken as to the date of Black Hawk's death, as well as to the remains being then in the possession of that society. Mr. Charles Negus, in Annals of Iowa, 1870-71, page 10, tells of his death and burial, "That early in October, 1838, the commissioner for adjusting claims of the Sac and Fox tribes were to meet at Rock Island, and most of the Indians were there on the first of the month. Black Hawk had been attacked with a violent bilious fever and could not go with them. He seemed to have a presentiment that he was going to die, and said some days before his death, 'He is getting old, he must die, Monotah (God) calls him home.' He died October 3, 1838. While at Wash- ington at the close of the Black Hawk war, the President gave him a uniform of which he was very proud. Dressed in this uniform his corpse was placed upon a bier, made of two poles with bark laid across them, and was carried to the grave which had been prepared to receive his body, by four Indian braves, followed by his family, and about fifty of his tribe. The chiefs were all absent, being at Rock Island at the time. His grave was six feet deep, and of the usual length, situated upon a little eminence about fifty yards from his wigwam. His body was placed in a sitting position upon a seat constructed for that purpose. On his left side was placed in an upright position the cane presented him by Henry Clay, his right hand holding it. Some of the trophies which he had earned were placed in the grave, and some Indian garments, together with his favorite weapons. A mound of earth was raised on his grave and sodded with blue grass sod. At the head of the grave was erected a flag-staff, bearing the national flag. At the foot of his grave was placed a post on which was inscribed in Indian characters many of his heroic deeds, together with his age, which was supposed to be about seventy- two years. The whole was surrounded by a picket fence about twelve feet high. Here rested all that was mortal of one of the most unique Indian characters of the then West. But the white man whom he had fought during his turbulent life, who had followed him and his people, driving them away from their hunting grounds and homes, would not let him rest in peace and "sleep on, in the grave where they had laid him." A Doctor Turner, a resident of Lexington, Van Buren County, for the purpose of making money by exhibiting his bones to gaping crowds, violated the sepulcher of the dead hero, disinterred his ghostly skeleton and carried it away, together with all the trophies, the cane given him by Henry Clay and whatever else was deposited in his grave. His skeleton came into the possession of the Burlington Historical Society in whose room it was kept at the time of the visit of Nash-e-os-kuk, his son, with about fifty other braves who visited Governor Lucas at Burlington, as stated in another chapter. His widow was permitted at that time to look upon them, and it is said went away satisfied.
The room of the Burlington Historical Society was adjoining the office of Doctor Lowe, situated on Main Street. This building took fire on January 16, 1853, in which Black Hawk's skeleton was consumed.
In a postscript, Annals of Iowa, 1870-71, is the following: "The author of this sketch (Charles Negus) of Black Hawk has spent months of time and bother to get a true knowledge of facts, and finds many conflicting statements about the last events of this great warrior, especially in those written of recent Vol. 1 -10
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date. The statements as to the time of his death on pages 50 and 490 of the Annals (1863), are certainly incorrect. The history thus furnished has been gathered from statements which were written about the time the incidents hap- pened, and are believed to be correct."
CHAPTER XIII
EXTENSION OF THE CITY LIMITS
The Legislature of Iowa passed an act, which was approved February 4, 1851, greatly enlarging the limits of the city. The limits as therein defined are as follows: "Commencing in the middle of the channel of the Mississippi River at a point eighty rods south of the line dividing section 4 and 9, township 69, north range 2 west ; thence west and parallel with the line dividing said sections to the west line of section 8 of the same township; thence north along the west line of section 32 of township 70, north of range 2 west, for a distance of 214 miles from the southeast corner of said boundary ; then east with the north line of said section 32 to the middle channel of the Mississippi River to the place of beginning." The limits thus extended embraced all of Smith's Addition ; that part of Leebrick's Addition and Subdivision and subdivision east of Wood Street, Starr and Foster's Addition ; David's Addition, Cameron's Addition, Neiman's Subdivision, Guenter's Subdivision, White and Cook's Addition, Foster's and Warren's Subdivision, Carstens and Isaac's Addition, all the property of Mr. C. E. Perkins north of Dill Street, and a large part of the land laid out in lots south of Dill Street ; Piesley's Subdivision, Starr's Subdivision, Morton's Addition, Chalafant's Addi- tion, Northern Addition, and Bodeman and Guahu's Addition. The northern boundary line of the above described limits, was a line due east and west coin- ciding with the north line of Old Aspen Grove Cemetery grounds, being the south line of Corse Street, from a point where said line would touch the west line of Aspen Grove Cemetery, and from that point east to the Mississippi River. On the 15th of May, 1876, the city council adopted an ordinance further extending the limits of the city, to-wit: "Commencing in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River at a point east of the center of fractional section 28, township 70 north, range 2 west ; thence west on a line passing through the center of section 28 and 29 to the center of section 29; thence north to the quarter- section corner on the north side of section 29; thence west along the northern line of section 29 and 30 in township 70 north, range 2 and 3 ; thence south along said township line to the quarter-section corner on the west side of section 18, township 69 north, range 2 west ; thence east along the center line of section 18, 17 and fractional section 16, township 69, range 2 west and a continuation of said line to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River ; then northerly along the middle of the main channel of said river to the place of beginning."
As heretofore stated, Congress had passed an act granting power to the city to dispose of what is called the "accretions," etc. By an ordinance adopted August 4. 1853, the mayor of the city was directed to have surveyed the land and accretions which the city had been authorized to sell ; and a plat of the same
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HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY
to be made, and was authorized to lease a portion of the same to the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company for the yearly sum of $1 per year, and on the further consideration, that the company would bind itself in the lease, to fill up the premises so leased, and establish thereon its depot, machine shops and other buildings. The proposition whether this lease should be made had to be submitted to a vote of the electors. It was so submitted, and there were 901 votes cast for making the lease and 54 votes against its making. The lease was made on those conditions, and the company built its shops on ground next the bluff and east of where is now located the market yard. On the 5th of December, 1866, the city executed its deed to convey the land (accretions) described therein, which in words provided "That the conveyance was made on condition that the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad Company shall build and place their freight and passenger depot, their proposed machine shops, etc., upon said accretions heretofore conveyed, or upon such other grounds within the limits of said City of Burlington as said company may procure for that purpose." The people had voted to authorize the lease to this company on the conditions contained therein ; but when it came to make this deed, their vote was entirely disregarded by the city council. Can it be said, had the question of the locating of the shops at Leffler's Station on a small portion of ground just opposite on which was to be placed the shops, and adjoining this ground and outside the limits of the city, was to be laid out the Town of West Burlington, the voters of the city would have authorized the sale? But the city council by the express terms of the conveyance left it with the company to select such grounds as it wished, provided they were in the city. At the time of the execution of the deed, the grounds selected by it were not in the city, and did not come within the limits of the city until January 9, 1880. On that date, the city council adopted an ordinance, as it had the right, without submitting it to a vote of the people by which the limits of the city were extended as follows: "Commencing on the township line between ranges 2 and 3, west, at the north line of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company's right of way : thence westerly along the northern line of said right of way 26.38 chains; thence north 27 chains to the center line of section 25, township 70 north, range 3 west ; thence westerly along the center line of said section 25 14.25 chains ; thence north 12.43 chains; thence west 25.05 chains ; thence south 29.77 chains ; thence west 15.30 chains; thence south 17.26 chains to the south line of section 25, township 70, range 3 west ; thence east along the south line of said section 25 to the township line between ranges 2 and 3 west." The purpose of the voters in voting to lease the accretions to the company as a place on which to erect its shops was that the men working in them would be residents of the city, and therefore increase its population and wealth. This has almost been frustrated by what was done. Good faith required the city council under the cir- cumstances, from what had been done, to have submitted the question of extension to the voters of the city. It may be true that the place selected was the one most available on which to locate the shops, still, when the limits of the city was extended, why not made to include all that ground on which is located West Burlington, thereby sustaining the purpose for which the accretions had been voted away. But this action is on a par with the action of the city council in repudiating the obligations of the city in reference to its subscription for stock of the B. & M. R. R. Co. of which we will speak in a separate chapter. It was to be
VIEW OF BURLINGTON, 1871
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expected the company would look after its interests and the council to look after the interest of the city in what was done. We do not place blame on the com- pany. We know we live in a commercial age, one of strife to make the best of opportunities. With weak men at the head of city affairs it cannot be expected the interest of the people will be properly attended to. On the 3d day of March, 1913, the city council adopted an ordinance still further extending the limits of the city as follows, to-wit: "Commencing at a point on the center east and west line of section 20, township 70 north, range 2 west of 5 P. M .; then 340 feet west of the east line of said section ; thence east along said center line of said section and the center line of section 28 of said township and range to low water mark on the bank of O'Connell Slough ( said slough being a part of the Mississippi River) ; thence northerly along the low water line upon the west bank of said slough (the low water line being at an elevation of 510 feet above the Memphis datum) to a point 660 feet north of the north line of said section 28, thence west to the section line between sections 21 and 20, township 70, range 2 west 5 P. M .; thence south to the place of beginning."
The bounded limits of the city now include about eleven square miles. Rome was built on seven hills, Burlington is built on four. Instead of giving a name to a hill because of something done or erected there as in Ancient Rome, Burling- ton gave the names of the hills on which it is built according to the points of the compass, except in one case, that case is "Prospect Hill," that high bluff which juts against the Mississippi a little south of the confluence of the stream in Bogus Hollow, where Bill Calendine manufactured pewter dollars and passed them off on the unsuspecting natives for good money. The original name of this hill was "Vinegar Hill" and was so called for many years because some one had a vinegar factory there, but in later years; after the.city had constructed a bridge over the deep ravine that separated it from the main portion of the city, which gave that part of the city a boom, and many of the wealthy class, because of the beautiful outlook across the river made their homes there, the name "Vinegar" was not in accordance with their taste. They wanted something better, and as no good brand of whisky had ever been manufactured there, they could not give it a liquid name, and called it Prospect Hill, because of the view which is there. Burlington in its extension followed the line of least resistance. It started down near where is now located the gas and waterworks. From there it extended south along the river front and back, including Main Street, until it came to Jefferson Street, which presented fewer obstacles than Washington and Columbia streets, as the ground was more level, besides it offered a better approach from the west and from the southwest and northwest.
CHAPTER XIV
TRIAL, SENTENCE AND EXECUTION OF WILLIAM AND STEPHEN HODGES
No incident has been more talked and written about by the people of Des Moines County than the trial, sentence and execution of William and Stephen Hodges. Theirs was the first and only legal execution in the county and marked an epoch by which old settlers regulated their calendars, events in their lives happening either before or after "the hanging of the Ilodges."
To understand this tragedy in all its relations we must remember that the public mind had been wrought to a fever heat at this time because of depredations committed through this part of the state and of which, to a large extent, the Mormons were charged as being the perpetrators. At this time, a very strong prejudice existed against this band of religionists. They were a new sect which had come into existence and proclaimed beliefs not in harmony with those pre- vailing among the mass of people. They claimed to have revealed to them from Heaven a Bible containing revelations from the Most High. That the days of prophecy had not ended with the death of the prophets of old, that God still revealed to men his wishes concerning his children, as in times past. One Joseph Smith was at the time their prophet. His followers first attempted to found a colony at Kirkland, Ohio, where a minister of the Christian Church lived by the name of Rigdon, who had met Smith soon after he had found the golden plates containing a revelation, and from which the Mormon Bible came into existence. Rigdon and Smith printed the Mormon Bible from translations made by an angel of the writings on these golden plates. Smith and Rigdon on the 6th day of April, 1830, at Kirkland organized a church called the "Church of Latter Day Saints." Both Smith and Rigdon were enthusiastic in propagating the beliefs of the new cult, so much so, that in one year from the foundation of their church they had secured more than one thousand converts. Smith said to his followers that he had a revelation commanding him to go west and found a colony of the "Saints" and to build a temple in the New Jerusalem, which he decided was somewhere near the Town of Independence, Missouri. Missouri was the "Prom- ised Land" towards which they directed their weary march. Here they purchased a large tract of land, built houses and commenced farming in good earnest. Here they began to build their temple as directed by the revelation to Prophet Joseph Smith. Their converts came from all sections of the country ; sold their belong- ings and immigrated to the New Jerusalem, in Missouri. They were there but a short time until they got into trouble with the natives. Such was the opposition to them that a large mob collected, destroyed their printing office, burnt some of the buildings and flogged some of their members. The governor of the state
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