USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of Dubuque County, Iowa; being a general survey of Dubuque County history, including a history of the city of Dubuque and special account of districts throughout the county, from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 10
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"It must be apparent to every observing man that our fair city was never in a more flourishing condition. Strangers are constantly pouring into the city from every quarter seeking opportunities for investing capital. Property to the amount of thousands is changing hands; buildings going up in every direction; and new business firms opening on almost every square of Main street. * The health of the city was never better."-(Express.)
In March, 1851, the Daily Tribune, A. P. Wood, editor, made its appearance, but after a year was discontinued, but was issued again about 1854 by Adams and Hackley. The Daily Miners' Express appeared first August 19, 1851, under William H. Merritt & Co.
"Cholera-We understand there have been one or two cases of cholera in the city since our last issue. It behooves our citizens to give diligent attention to all such means for the prevention of the disease as have so frequently been recommended."-(Herald, July 14, 1851.)
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In 1851 new and better buildings in all directions were taking the place of the pioneer structures. Never before were there to be seen on the streets so many strangers looking for homes and business opportunities. So rapidly were buildings going up, materials ran out and artisans were lacking and thus operations were checked. During 1851 the dredge boat did excellent work on the harbor, cutting through the island without trouble. Mexican war land warrants for 160 acres were worth here $170 in 1851. T. L. Rivers took daguerrotypes in September. A town clock was called for. J. D. Jennings was connected with the Express in August. "Dubuque is destined to be the Queen City of the Northwest, the opposition of interested parties and rival towns to the contrary notwithstanding." said the Express, September 5. At this date the city had about 4,100 population. It had two fine hotels and many others; two steam flour mills; nine churches and two others going up; one Mason, three Odd Fellows and one Temperance lodges; three fer- ries-two in the city and one at Eagle Point ; one pottery yard ; one marble yard; two railways approaching from the east; a railway projected westward ; many schools, etc. In 1851 the city was liter- ally deluged with showers of shinplasters-many of doubtful value and unknown parentage.
Late in September, 1851, work was begun by Abel Hawley of Milwaukee to cut the channel from Lorimier's furnace to Eagle Point, one hundred feet wide and four feet deep at low water, for $24,300. Between Fifth and Sixth streets the channel was to be 200 feet wide. Late in 1851 the work was pushed rapidly ; Hawley was paid by installments as the work progressed. B. J. O'Halloran, Caleb H. Booth, Henry A. Wiltse and Edward Langworthy were the committee of supervision. The work was to be completed in two years. "The part of said improvement along the surveyed por- tion of the city is to be constructed so as to leave a levee at least one hundred feet wide between the lots fronting the water and the extreme outer edge of said improvement."
The year 1851 was wet and cold. High water prevailed the whole year. There were landed here in 1851 from steamboats 2,824 per- sons. The numerous rains ruined crops and prevented mining. Dubuque exported 4,287 tons of merchandise and imported 24,663 tons. Work on the Dubuque and Sageville plank road was com- inenced in September, 1851, under Joseph C. Jennings, engineer. The road was to be completed by April, 1852. In September, 1851, exchange on New York was 114 per cent, St. Louis I per cent, Chicago I per cent.
The Dubuque and Maquoketa plank road was projected in 1851, but languished ; it was the original intention to lay the planks as far as Table Mound before winter set in. The Erpress, Herald and Tribune were the dailies in 1851. D. A. Mahony assisted Holt on the Herald; so did A. A. White and WV. A. Adams. The Dubuque
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Athenæum was established in 1851 under J. J. Dyer, president, and P. W. Crawford, secretary.
The custom of the early settlers to enter and cut timber on gov- ernment land for their own private gain had become so firmly grounded in 1852 that when they were taken into court by govern- ment agents they became indignant and in January of that year held a large meeting at Dubuque to protest against any interference with such custom. A steady revenue was obtained from the sale of city lots ; this was a state of affairs not fully appreciated by the city fathers, in view of the lack of such revenues in other cities. In April, 1852, an appropriation of $20 was made to pay for an oyster supper to the city officers. At this time 300 forest trees for the public square were contracted for. At the suggestion of Charles Corkery the methods, or lack of methods, of keeping the city records were reorganized and improved. A temporary quarantine hospital was located a quarter of a mile south of Webb's old furnace below Dirty Hollow. Bogy's steam ferry boat was required to land only between Fourth and Fifth streets. Fanning's ferry landed at Sec- ond and Fourth streets. The city calaboose was in the second story of the market house. The temporary quarantine hospital was opened about June 1, 1852, and cost $325; mattresses cost $8. It was agreed at this time that the government's plans for the harbor and the city's plan conflicted in several important particulars. In June, 1852, the city borrowed $10,000 and issued bonds for the loan; the sum was used in street and sewer improvements. The vote stood-For the loan 131, against it 46. There were found shallow places in Barney's cut ; they were deepened. Fanning com- menced suit against Gregoire and Bogy, alleging they were inter- fering with his ferry rights. The council had granted to Gregoire and Bogy ferry rights against the advice of the city attorney. James Jones was warden of the temporary hospital. L. H. Langworthy exchanged ten acres adjoining the hospital for a tract called "Grave- yard" on the hill at the northern boundary. In 1852 the city becom- ing delinquent in the payment of county tax on city lots, was ordered by County Judge Lovell to make payment or take the consequences. The $10,000 in city bonds sold for $10,438.89 in New York city; the city received net $10, 188.89.
"The improvements in Dubuque during the current year, includ- ing dwelling, storehouses and offices, will not fall short of one hun- dred."-(Daily Miners' Express, July 27, 1852.) "Why is it that property has advanced some 30 or 50 per cent within the last year in this city and that so many married men are flocking to the place, anxious to invest their means among us?"-( Daily Miners' Express, May 20, 1852. ) "Never did a spring open in Dubuque with more flattering prospects of a healthy and lucrative trade. Our hotels are crowded beyond their capacity to accommodate; our merchants, builders and mechanics are active; our smelting mills and foun-
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dries, etc., are enjoying a season of the highest prosperity ; our streets are crowded with immigrant wagons; the demand for dwellings and business houses is beyond the capacity of our prop- erty holders to meet ; the best and fastest steam ferry boat on the Mississippi is actively engaged ; the harbor improvement is pro- gressing rapidly ; and everywhere is seen growth and prosperity."- (Daily Miners' Express, April 9, 1852. ) "Within a few months there has been established in this city a large foundry, rope works, soap and candle factory and steam saw mill, and there is now being erected an additional steam saw mill."-(Express, August 12, 1852. )
A strong temperance movement swept the city early in the fifties ; the Maine liquor law was advocated by inany. Steps to raise Locust street above high water from Fifth south to the city limits were taken in April, 1852. G. J. Adams was manager of the National theater at this time; his rendition of Macbeth was praised. Mr. Mobley's bank offered 6 per cent on all deposits of six months or longer. Mount Pleasant and Air Hill were located back on the bluffs. W. A. Jones sold his interest in the Erpress at this date. At this time the land agencies of W. J. Barney & Co., Clark & Bissell and Wiltse & Lovell did an enormous business. About July 1, 1852, Dennis A. Mahony bought Dr. Harrison Holt's inter- est in the Herald; F. J. Stanton later secured this interest. Mr. Stanton's father lived at Dyersville, where later Mr. Stanton con- ducted the Dyersville Mercury. The telegraph line which had long been suspended resumed operations in July, 1852; the company was the Illinois and Mississippi Telegraph Company, in which sev- eral citizens of Dubuque held stock. Connected with the plank road were J. J. Dyer, J. P. Farley, Platt Smith, L. Maloney and H. Thompson ; three-inch oak plank were used and the cost was $3,175 per mile. The levee between Fourth and Fifth streets was com- pleted in August. The council of 1852-3 deserved and received great credit for wide improvements to the city.
Treasurer O'Halloran, in October, 1852, roused the ire of the council by making charges against them which reflected on their integrity ; a committee was appointed to see what action if any should be taken. Several meetings were held and much difference of opinion was expressed. A draft of the council was refused payment by Mr. O'Halloran on a disputed point, whereupon he was fined $100 by the unanimous vote of the council. The draft was for $3,000, which called for 612 sovereigns at $4.90 each and $1.20 in change. But the treasurer had only offered to give for sovereigns $4.85 each, thereby causing a loss of $30.60 to the agent or the city. The treasurer the next day claimed that the market valute of sovereigns in New York was only $4.85. Legal action resulted, Mr. Burt serving as counsel for the city and Mr. Clark as counsel for Mr. O'Halloran. Due charges were preferred against
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the latter, to which Judge Clark demurred on the ground of want of jurisdiction. The treasurer finally asked for a compromise on a proposition suggested by one of the aldermen and approved by the mayor. The council refused to accept the compromise offered. Mr. Jennings, also representing the treasurer, appealed to the coun- cil not to pass the expelling resolution, declaring that action was taken "to save the treasurer harmless from loss in the receipt of currency." The mayor and Mr. Stout, alderman, opposed the resolution. Mr. Burt spoke at length for the city. The resolution removing him from office passed, Mr. Stout alone voting in the negative. Robert C. Waples, after a sharp contest in the council, was chosen treasurer to succeed Mr. O'Halloran. The latter was ordered to turn over all books, etc., belonging to the city and make final report.
In 1851 the city exports were 4,287 tons; in 1852 they were 13,284. The boat arrivals in 1851 were 351 and in 1852 were 417. A census of the city in February, 1852, showed over 5,000 inhabit- ants ; by January, 1853, the population was about 6,500. In 1852 about 100 new buildings of all kinds were erected, many of them were large brick structures.
The new land districts of Chariton, Northern and Missouri river in 1852 took much business away from Dubuque. Sealed bids to raise all streets in the southern section above high water were called for in August. The capital of the Plank Road Company was raised from $8,000 to $25,000, but the road languished and failed to pay dividends. Permission to cut a channel through the outer island opposite Barney's cut was granted to a number of citizens. The lower part of Main street was paved in 1852. A new market place for the northern section was established between Eleventh and Twelfth streets on White; cost, $2,500. In the summer of 1852 cholera again made its appearance here. Private individuals claiming an extension of their lots into the public cemetery caused contention and bitterness in 1852; there was a strong demand for a new and better cemetery at once. A ten-acre tract bought of Timothy Davis in 1851 for a future cemetery was enclosed for hospital purposes. The old graveyard at what is now Jackson park was first laid out in 1833-34, and was fenced by subscription. In 1853 the new cemetery was first opened, lots were sold and improvements were made. People whose fences had protected in part the old cemetery now removed them, leaving the graves exposed to cattle and hogs.
Early in 1853 the new territory brought within the city limits was attached to the old wards. In February, Colonel McHenry was sent East to buy a fire engine. A loan of $20,000 was desired to carry on the following improvements: To continue the present harbor work ; to extend the work on the levee : to improve the main roads leading out of the city ; to secure grounds for public
RUINS OF THE OLD MILL
LINWOOD
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
building, including schoolhouses; to purchase fire apparatus; to improve streets ; to put in operation a system of common schools as per charter. In November, 1853, the five wards were bounded as follows: First-All west of Main and south of Fifth; Second- All east of Main and south of Eighth; Third-All east of Main between Eighth and Seventeenth; Fourth-All west of Main and between Fifth and Seventeenth; Fifth-All north of Seventeenth and Mineral streets. Propositions to light the city with gas were received in August, 1853, from George Oelwine and others of Bos- ton, and Barker & Spellman of Cleveland. For schools $10,000 of the $20,000 loan was used. Temporary markets were permitted in 1853. Bee Branch was being improved. Washington Fire Com- pany No. I presented its constitution in October, 1853, and asked for apparatus and buildings. A mass meeting in January, 1853. petitioned the council to buy an up-to-date fire engine and at once proceeded to organize hook and ladder and hose companies. M. Mobley was chairman of the citizens' fire committee. In 1853 there was a strong element in the city which began to oppose the con- struction of the canal along the city front ; they demanded that the work on the canal should be abandoned and the inner and other sloughs should be filled. Their plan meant the ultimate filling of all the sloughs and islands out to the main river channel.
Early in 1853 the corporate limits were extended as follows : "Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river in the south line continued of section 31, township 89 north, range 3 east; thence west and on the south line of said section and of sections 36 and 35 in the same township and range 2 east to the west line of said section 35 ; thence north on the west line of sections 35, 26, 23 and 14 to the north line of section 14; thence east on the north line of sections 13 and 14 to the range line between ranges 2 and 3 east ; thence north along the same to the north line of section 7 of same township in range 3 east; thence east along the north line of said section 7 and on the same continued to the middle of the main channel of the river, thence down said river to the beginning."
Cook, Sargent, Barney & Co. began a banking and exchange business in April, 1853. The old banking house of W. J. Barney & Co. was dissolved. The work of Abel Hawley and of Captain Barney on the harbor continued to conflict, but peace was patched up by the council. F. S. Jesup & Co. began banking in April, 1853. Mr. Mobley was still doing a general banking business. The famous Iowa Iron Works began operations about this date, under Farley & Rouse. By the spring of 1853 work on the canal was not profitable to the contractors and opera- tions languished. Dorzan, Delay & Murphy were contractors. The four original squares given to the city were the cemetery, after- ward Jackson park; a ten-acre tract where the courthouse stands
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and northward; one where the old jail stood; and one where Wash- ington square now is. The ten-acre tract was secured in order to be used as a donation to secure the state capital, and if that object should fail, to be used for any other public object. The ground at Washington square was intended originally for a sem- inary. It was declared in 1853 that all these squares except Wash- ington, had been diverted from the uses originally intended .-- (Express, February 23, 1853.) In April a fire engine was ordered from Hunnerman & Co. In 1852-3 Waple's cut afforded access of boats to the wharf; it was where the ice harbor now is.
"We never saw more strange faces in Dubuque than at the present time. Applications for dwellings and business houses are daily made, but with little success. We want more buildings in Dubuque. Rents are high."-(Express, May 4, 1853.)
Bricks, lumber and other building materials were so scarce in the spring of 1853 that frantic calls for more were made by citizens and newspapers.
"Strangers-Our city is crowded at this time with strangers. Every other man we meet on the street, nearly, is a stranger. Many of them are seeking locations for business." -- (E.rpress, May 18, 1853.)
In May, 1853, James Burt, M. McNamara and H. L. Stout, a committee of the council appointed to investigate and report upon the finances, issued a statement showing that for the previous year, instead of there having been a shortage of $2,116.24, there was really a surplus of $508.76 due to a mistake in figures. Hospital grounds costing $625 and bonds to J. P. Farley on the dredge boat to the amount of $2,000, wrongly charged, made this difference. Another $2,000 on the dredge boat had been wrongly charged. It was now figured that there was in the treasury $360.18. The har- bor tax of 1852 realized by May, 1853, $10,999.50; city tax of 1852, $2,780.59; sale of bonds (filling up), $4,000; $10,000 city bonds sold, $10, 188.89 ; Bogy's ferry license, $100 ; wharfage, $195; fine on B. J. O'Halloran, $100 ; tax on dogs, $120. These and other items gave a total of $32,104.65. Among the expenses were $232.85 on the public square; lime for streets, $164.83; coffins, digging graves, etc., $212.73 ; fencing graveyard, etc., $191.41 ; Marine hos- pital building, $325; furnishing and attending the same, $170.26: candles for the council, $5.43 ; city health officer, $27 ; raising Locust street south, $734.48; raising other streets south of First, $4,000; work on wharf and landing, $1,626.04; sewer on Fourteenth street, etc., $2,249.65 ; spent on Bluff street, $576.75 ; spent on Second and Fourth streets, $900; improvements north of Tenth street, $650; spent on Sixth street, $800; harbor bond and interest to Farley, $2,374.70; paid A. Hawley on dredging contract, $2,750; same dredging slough, $1,200; canal excavation, $710. Quite a large sum was paid ont for interest on the various loans. The total
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expenses were $24,859.21, leaving on hand $7,245.44. During the fiscal year 1852-3 there was received in city scrip $4,938.55; and in harbor and loan fund orders, $14,770.90. Of bonds and scrip there was only a small amount left outstanding. Fault was found that the merchants' licenses should aggregate less than $400. "The enlarged limits of the city will yield a large increase of revenue for the coming year at the lowest rate of levy heretofore adopted ; and your committee anticipate with pleasure the relief granted to their fellow citizens from the harbor taxation which has been levied for the past two years, but which has now expired," said the committee. The citizens were congratulated on the promptness with which they had paid their harbor tax, there being delinquent at the close of the year $16,885, and $186.51 paid by the city at tax sales .- (Express, May 18, 1853.)
The city printing went from the Express to the Herald in May, 1853. All of the positions except two in the surveyor general's office went to the Democrats as a result of the change in the national administration in the spring of 1853. Captain E. Vanmeter and Andrew Keesecker became connected with the Express in June, 1853. The city vote on the question of borrowing $20,000 was III for the loan and 55 against it. In June, 1853, Dubuque suc- ceeded in securing the postoffice distributing station from Galena, to the intense regret of the latter and the joy of the former. There were several.
"Never did the general appearance of things in our midst indi- cate so much life, buoyancy and prosperity in every description of business. New houses are going up in all parts of the city on ground hitherto unoccupied and old buildings (and often good ones ) are tearing down to make room for more substantial and magnifi- cent edifices. Our hotels are thronged with strangers and the tide of immigration, though the season is far advanced, is still unchecked. Business of all kinds is stirred with astonishing activity. These things are apparent to every eye. The natural advantages of Dubuque are rapidly developing under the thoroughgoing enter- prise of her people. These things let us know that a brilliant future for Dubuque is no longer hypothetical."-(E.rpress, June 29, 1853.)
"No period within the history of Dubuque has presented a greater amount and variety of improvements than the present. Buildings are going up or being torn down in all directions. One year ago we predicted 20,000 population in the space of five years. We were then laughed at. One thing is settled, Dubuque is to be the great central business focus of the Northwest."-(Express, August 3, 1853.)
In August, 1853, the river was at the lowest stage and two dredge boats were at work on the harbor. In August, 1853, Patrick Quigley, receiver, took from this land office to St. Louis by the steamer Lamartine $260,000 in specie; this sum had been received
1
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at Dubuque, Iowa City, Fort Des Moines and Chariton. The new fire engine was expected in September, 1853, and steps to organize companies were taken, but many asked, "Why organize when we have no water?" It was argued that the reservoirs along Main street were amply sufficient, but they were private property.
In August, 1853, Jesup & Co. agreed to take the entire issue of $20,000 city bonds, providing the city would give them a mortgage on the islands opposite the city as security. They agreed on the same conditions to take the former issue of $10,000 in bonds. All of this was agreed to by the city council. Barker & Spellman were awarded the gas contract in August for a term of twenty-five years. J. A. Linnell wrote good poetry for the newspapers in 1853. The Dubuque savings bank was opened by Jesup & Co. in 1853. The large store of Waples & Co. in McClure's building at Main and Seventh streets was burned in September, 1853; the total loss was about $20,000 ; Waples' net loss was $9,500. Cherry Hill was the name given in 1853 to the new cemetery. The contract for gas with Barker & Spellman provided that the cost to the city should not exceed $2.50 nor to individuals should not exceed $3.50 per thou- sand feet. The organization became known as the Key City Gas Company. Their charter has been continued from time to time down to the present date. In September, 1853, a large bar had formed in the main river and was a great hindrance to navigation.
In 1853 there was much conflict between the upper and lower sections of the city over council favors ; neither received an improve- ment that was not begrudged by the other. "If one got a plum the other must have two." Late in 1853 the location of the depot of the Dubuque & Pacific railway became a bone of contention between the two or three sections and caused much ill will and vexation. Late in 1853 the demand to change harbor plans became too strong to be hushed or ignored. "Fill up, fill up!" was the cry. The Herald favored filling the sloughs; so did General Jones. Orig- inally, and but a short time before, the citizens had voted almost unanimously in favor of the canal plan.
"Two short years ago the almost unanimous vote of the citizens of Dubuque was in favor of the present harbor improvement that is now denounced. Much time and labor was expended in adopting the present projected improvement which is now condemned by persons who have never taken the trouble of examining the subject for themselves. Thus too it was with the Dubuque and Keokuk railroad ; thus it was with the Big Sioux railroad ; thus it is with the Dubuque and Pacific railroad, and thus it is with all our steam- boat projects ; they excite us for the time by their novelty, but that over they are consigned to oblivion. Dubuquers, hear me! Such a vacillating course never attained an extraordinary advantage, nor never will. Question: Has anyone any idea of what it would cost to fill up the sloughs and islands above high water mark to the main
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river along the whole front of the city?"-(A Tax Payer, in Express, February 14, 1854. )
In January, 1854, there were two dailies-Herald and Miners' Express; one tri-weekly, the Herald; four weeklies, Tribune (Whig), Iowa State Democrat, Miners' Express, North West Demokrat (in German) ; two monthlies, School Journal and Legal Inquisitor. There was demanded here early in 1854-better harbor work ; improvement of city finances ; more wholesale houses ; better fire protection; improvement of the mail service; better market places ; a new jail ; better sanitation ; better men in office, and more dwellings and business houses. The proposition of giving Brush island to the Dubuque and Pacific Railway Company as a site for their depot was considered early in 1854 and submitted to the voters with the following result: For the grant, 666; against the grant, 285. The Third and Fifth wards voted against it. This vote was understood to indicate that the sloughs and islands were in time to be filled up. The Herald favored the grant and the Erpress opposed it. Companies to fill up the sloughs were projected early in 1854. One causeway was planned to extend along the south side of Waples' cut (now the ice harbor). Its cost was estimated at $74,000.
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