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 7
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In September, 1839, the trustees met in a back room of the building occupied by Nightingale & Dougherty. The center of the embankment being built at Front street was ordered located forty feet east of the west line of Main street. The contractors of the embankment were James Currin, John McMahon, John Blake, Hugh Tranor (Treanor) and John Chapman; they were each required to give bond for $100 and obligate themselves to complete the work by November 1, 1839. Several of the contractors backed out and were released and others were appointed. Contractors were paid forty-four cents per square yard. F. Guerin was one of the contractors. They were permitted to take dirt out of Third and other nearby streets. In October, 1839, an embankment was ordered as follows: From First street, on the east side of Main street, until it should intersect the embankment leading to the lower landing. A committee was appointed to memorialize the legislature to the effect that the ferry privileges here were the property of the corporation of Dubuque. In order to continue Eightli street west- ward the board bought a portion of the garden of Mr. Lorimier late in 1839. In November, 1839, the board borrowed $100 of the Miners' Bank of Dubuque. After November 11, 1839, the trustees
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met at the office of Dr. Timothy Mason, who had become a member of the board.
On December 16, 1839, the proposed city charter was referred to a committee. It was duly considered by the board ten days later, amended and a copy forwarded to Edward Langworthy, member of the legislature. On February 10, 1840, an election on the city charter was ordered held at the court house on the first Monday in March, 1840. A. Butterworth, J. F. Fales and Leroy Jackson were appointed judges of election. On March 18, 1840, the board decided to memorialize Congress concerning the disposal of the proceeds of the sale of town lots. Timothy Mason prepared the memorial.
On April 1, 1840, B. F. Davis was allowed a bill as per ordinance "informing on O'Mara, Hedges, Downs and LaPage for violation of the Sabbath." The vote on the city charter was polled in a house at the corner of Main and Third streets. E. M. Bissell, for with- holding the "profiles" from the board, was ordered sued in trover in April, 1840.
The trustees in April, 1840, were Quigley, Dixon, Mason, Wheeler, Farley and Miller. Benjamin Rupert became clerk. The board met in the store of Mr. Hawkins on Main street. Persons who were using the graveyard as a pasture were ordered to desist.
The lowa News of February 1. 1840, contained the following editorial : "Du Buque .- Never to our knowledge has our city been so well supplied with all the necessaries of life at this season of the year as at the present time. Flour which in the winter time was always held at the prodigious and extortionate price of $18 and even $20 a barrel can now be had readily at $7, $8 and $9 per barrel, and all otlier articles in the same proportion. It is true, money is scarce, but the great difference in the price of provisions is not owing to that circumstance. The soil is beginning to be extensively cultivated. In addition our citizens are occasionally treated with luxuries which our eastern brethren do not enjoy. Prairie chickens by the sled load are frequently peddled out through the streets at a bit apiece and venison is in abundance. The time is near at hand when we will no longer have to depend upon the lower country for our supplies of provisions. Indeed, that sort of speculation may be considered at an end already." Jordan's Ferry was opposite Dubuque. There stood a tavern, grocery, stable and there ferry privileges could be had. In 1840 there were a first class new horse boat, a flat, and skiffs. This property was offered for rent in February, 1840, by George W. Jones.
"Upon a level we suppose the snow to be about ten inches deep, which, together with the others before it, makes a greater fall this winter than any one since the settlement of the country."-(Iowa Notes, February 15. 1840. )
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"NOTICE .- Ran away from the subscriber on the 22nd inst. a servant girl about eleven years of age; had on a small figured blue calico dress, short black hair and black eyes. I hereby caution all persons against harboring or trusting her, under penalty of the law, as I will enforce it against anyone to the uttermost extent.
"Du Buque, Jan. 25, 1840. Charles Swift."
Dubuque was incorporated as a city at the legislative session of 1839-40, with the following boundary : "Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the river Mississippi, east and parallel with the south line of the town of Dubuque, as surveyed and laid off by the commissioners appointed under an act of Congress to lay off the towns of Fort Madison, Burlington, Du Buque, etc., and running westwardly with the said line to a stone which marks the southwest corner of said town ; thence northwardly to a stone which marks the northwest corner of said town; thence with the line of said town to the slough ; thence east northeast to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence with said channel to the place of beginning." An election of one mayor and six aldermen was ordered held on the first Monday of April, 1840; they were to hold their offices for one year.
"The mails are getting far behind. For the last ten days we have had but one eastern mail. A southern breeze for a few days past, together with a moderate rain, has poured such a quantity of water on the ice as to threaten a breaking up soon. Mr. Karrick, mail contractor, informs us that in crossing the river last evening one of his horses broke through the ice and would have gone under but for the firm footing and strong exertions of the other. There is no safety in the ice at the present time."-(Iowa News, February 22, 1840.)
"When Dubuque first became a corporate town, very little interest was manifested about it-the meeting was not attended by many citizens and very few of the large property holders and influential citizens attended. The first board of trustees was composed of men every way worthy of their station. The Hon. Judge Wilson was president of the board and I am happy to say they discharged their duties with fidelity, but the people generally evinced an apathy in their acts-they stood aloof and when they happened to enforce the laws they were not backed and supported by their fellow citizens." -(Civis, in Iowa News, February 22, 1840. )
The News was suspended from March 7, 1840, to May 5, same year, and was then revived by W. W. Coriell and Edwin Reeves ; the former was owner and the latter associate editor. The Dubuque Sawmill Company was dissolved in May. 1840, the members being Caleb H. Booth, Francis K. O'Ferrall, Charles E. Harbeson and Peter Hill Engle. At the monthly meeting of the Catholic Tem- perance Society in March, 1840, over three hundred persons were
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present, including many ladies; nineteen persons took the pledge. Among the speakers were Quigley, Benton, Davis, Bradford, Good- rich and Collins, nearly all of whom were lawyers. The Protestants also had a large temperance society. It was thought at this date that soon one-third of all Dubuque would have signed the pledge. There were weekly lectures during February and March, 1840, at the Lyceum; Mr. Collins lectured there on "Education" to three hundred persons. The office of town marshal was created May 5, 1840.
NOTICE.
To Pre-emption Claimants to Town Lots in the Town of Dubuque, Iowa Territory:
You are hereby notified that all lots in the above town not entered by pre-emption before the 20th day of June next will be then advertised to be sold at public auction to the highest bidder in accordance with the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1837, at this office.
B. Rush Petrikin, Register. Thomas McKnight, Receiver.
Many settlers gathered here to attend the land sales advertised for May 18, 1840. About one hundred encamped on an island in the river in front of the town. The hotels and boarding houses were filled. No speculators were here-they dared not appear. The buyers who came had the cash for their lands. Here was seen the pioneer in all his might and all his glory. At this sale lands in Taylor, Iowa, New Wine and Cascade in Dubuque county were offered.
In May, 1840, several new buildings were in progress ; lumber was abundant and cheap; there were many new mining prospects ; the smelters were busy and credit was getting better. There was a duty of 3 cents a pound on pig lead : 31/2 cents on leaden shot and balls ; 4 cents on red or white lead, dry or ground in oil, and 2 cents on lead ore or mineral. The streets of the town were infested with hogs and there was much complaint.
"As the season for fleas is approaching we beg leave to direct the attention of the corporation to the droves of hogs which infest our streets."-(Iowa Notes, June 16, 1840. )
"The taxes assessed by order of the board of trustees upon houses and lots in the town of Du Buque, to which the government title has not yet been extinguished, being illegal, our citizens are not willing to pay, without better evidence is furnished them, that the inoney lieretofore collected has been expended in a way to benefit the town. It is time enough to pay our taxes when we have our evidences of title in our pockets."-(Iowa News, June 16, 1840. )
On June 20, 1840. private entries of town lots by pre-emption
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were permitted. In June $70,000 was received at the land office in one week. The steam sawmill of Booth & Martin, in June, 1840, was busy cutting from 2,000 to 3,000 feet of pine lumber per day. Their logs came from the Chippewa and Black rivers. Business here was dull in June, 1840.
A large raft of sawed pine lumber arrived here from Plover portage on June 16 and fifteen more from the same place were on their way down. "If the water in the Chippewa and Wisconsin rivers should continue high a little while longer, the towns on the upper Mississippi will be literally deluged with pine lumber."- (Iowa News, June 23, 1840. )
John King was postmaster in 1840. The Iowa News was sus- pended from June 14, 1840, to May 29, 1841. The Fourth of July, 1840, was celebrated on an immense scale. In September, 1840, there were many lots in Dubuque to which no certificates of pre- emption under the act of March 3, 1838, had been issued ; also lots the certificates of pre-emption to which were granted and issued illegally and the claims to which had been rejected; also a few forfeited lots.
On June 29, 1840, the marshal reported that he had completed the fence around the graveyard. Provision for the safe keeping of gun powder was made. On July 11, 1840, it was "ordered that the note held by William E. Trask for the fire engine, amounting to $400, be renewed by another payable October 18, 1840, for $410.66. at 8 per cent interest. Work on the south end of Main street was in progress in August, 1840. Proposals for building a town powder magazine were ordered received.
The act of Congress of March 3, 1837, gave to the inhabitants of Dubuque the net proceeds of the sale of 640 acres of land on which the town was located, to enable them to construct streets, wharves, etc. By September, 1840, there were left about sixty lots upon which no pre-emption claim had yet been made. In view of these facts the trustees determined "to see that all lots left as public lots should be sold at a fair public sale open to all bidders." In September, 1840, a committee was appointed "to petition the Secre- tary of War for the survey of the port and harbor of the town of Dubuque. In November, 1840, there was pending a case entitled United States vs. President and Trustees of the Town of Dubuque. As a measure to prevent fires an examination of all stove pipes and chimneys in town was made in December, 1840. Hay scales were ordered bought in January, 1841.
"Lately visiting Dubuque we found it progressing finely in build- ings, mining and dry goods business : but the retail grocers (wet) wore long faces. A complete temperance reformation has been effected by the zeal of the Catholic clergy among its much abused Irish citizens in whose hands the glass has given place to implements of industry. Nor is the reformation confined to them alone-it has
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spread throughout the community, embracing every class and every denomination. Almost every Irish Catholic has signed the pledge of total abstinence. In politics she is slumbering-not a movement save secret caucuses which are held weekly by the leaders of the party. This is no time for Democrats to be idle ; wake up to duty, Democrats." -- (Bloomington Herald, April 16, 1841.)
"We are happy to perceive a spirit of energy in the movements of our new corporation which will before long remedy the evils under which our citizens have so long suffered. The work of straightening Eighth street and repairing the road through Lorimier Hollow, over which a considerable portion of the business of the town with the country in its rear is done, will not only be of great benefit to our trade, but will stop the rush of water which for the past two years has been ruining the property at the south end of Locust street. It is also in contemplation to commence the excava- tion of the long-desired canal between the outer and inner sloughs as soon as the fall of water will permit. After this improvement is completed a current will be thrown into the inner slough which will render its waters sweet and healthy and enable steamboats to approach the wharves in ordinary stages of water. We have too long remained in a state of apathy in regard to the disadvantages suffered on account of the obstructions to our harbor and the conse- quent injury to the health and business of this place. No towns on the upper Mississippi has so many natural resources as Dubu que. It is only necessary to apply the enterprise of an industrious and vigorous population to insure a rapid advance to prosperity. After this canal is commenced all our citizens who feel interested in its speedy completion will have an opportunity of affording :uch assistance to the corporation as they may deem expedient either in teams or labor."-(Iowa News, May 29, 1841.)
In 1841 the citizens petitioned Congress for a survey of Dubuque harbor with a view of improving navigation. In the spring of 1841 a bill for the final settlement of the Dubuque claim was introduced in the United States Senate.
In March, 1841, the ladies of the Dubuque Benevolent Associa- tion gave a public dinner and were patronized by almost everybody. The voluntary speakers were Patrick Quigley, Charles Corkery, G. C. Collins, Timothy Davis and Rev. J. Cretin. In the spring of 1841 bills of the Miners' Bank to the amount of about $1.2,000 were deposited and as usual a certificate of deposit for specie was issued. but when the specie was demanded two days later it was announced that the bank had suspended.
The first number of the Miners' Express was issued ahout August I, 1841, by Thomas and Keesecker. Avery Thomas, of Dubuque, went to Cincinnati by boat and purchased the materials. The citi- zens previously had urged the need of such a sheet here. No doubt proper encouragement and perhaps pecuniary assistance were ex-
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tended. D. S. Wilson related that when it came to naming the paper many titles were proposed ; finally the Miners' Express was unani- mously chosen. During its existence it was often called "The Thiun- derer," like the London Times, because it swayed at will the old democracy of this portion of the West.
On March 1, 1841. the citizens of the town voted on the question of a charter and city government-fifty-eight votes for the charter and thirty-eight votes against it. This vote was an acceptance of the charter and an election of mayor and six aldermen was ordered held April 5, 1841. H. W. Sanford, Augustus Coriell and Dr. Timothy Mason were appointed judges of that election.
The first city officers elected were C. H. Booth, mayor, and J. P. Farley, Charles Miller, E. Langworthy, W. W. Coriell, H. Simplot and T. Fanning, aldermen. Mr. Coriell was chosen president of the board. On May 3, 1841, Benjamin Rupert was elected city clerk : B. F. Davis, marshal and collector ; E. C. Dougherty, assessor and street commissioner ; William Lawther, treasurer, and Charles Miller, weigh-master. At this time there was considerable money in the land office liere due the city from the sale of city lands; it was decided to ask the Secretary of the Treasury to order this sum paid to the city of Dubuque.
On May 26, 1841, it was determined by the board to begin at once the improvement of the harbor under the supervision of the street commissioner, who was directed to open a canal to connect the outer and inner sloughs at the best practical points. He was directed "to deepen the channel which now connects the slough at the lower landing with the inner slough and levee the same on the side next the town so as to make as good a steamboat landing as may be practicable." Mr. Farley voted against this ordinance.
The board opened Eighth street and appointed a jury to assess the damage thereby to the property of Peter A. Lorimier; they found the damage to be $70. On May 31, 1841, the board ordered issucd in the denominations of $1, $2, $3 and $5 blank orders to the amount of $2,000. Proposals for work on the canal were called for in June, 1841 ; this work was paid for in city scrip. Another $1,000 was appropriated for canal work on June 21, 1841. Steps to deepen the mouth of the inner slough at the lower landing were taken in August, 1841. Another $1,000 for canal work was appropriated late in August, 1841. Previous to September 6, 1841, there had been appropriated for the opening of this canal a total of $3,500 ; the canal to connect the outer and inner sloughs. The board on September 6, 1841, pledged the fund due the city from the land office from the sale of public lots for the payment of the above appropriation. The board investigated the accounts of the land office so far as the sale of city lots was concerned. A great many grocery (wet ) licenses were issued about this time ; the license was $100.
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Gen. James Wilson was appointed surveyor general for Iowa and Wisconsin in the fall of 1841. It was stated at the time though denied that he bought the printing plant of the Iowa News with the intention of establishing here a Whig newspaper.
The Dubuque Insurance Company was organized in February, 1842, by Edward Langworthy, William Lawther, J. P. Farley, Charles D. Townsend, Timothy Davis, Patrick Quigley, Robert Waller and Henry Simplot. A mechanics' institute was incorpo- rated a little while before this date. D. S. Wilson and A. Keesecker were editors of the Miners' Erpress. The winter of 1842-3 was unparalleled for its long continuance and exceptional severity. It began about the middle of November with snow after show and severe cold. Aside from a dozen fair days late in January, it was snowing nearly all the time. Nine days in February, 1843, the mercury was below zero and of the first twenty-three days in March eleven were below zero. The river did not open until late in April and the ice was more than thirty inches thick. In 1842 the Miners' Bank, after suspension, changed owners and afterward was con- trolled by the Gas Light Company of St. Louis, under which it resumed for a short time, but then suspended again. A bill was introduced in the legislature to repeal its charter, but this step roused the citizens of Dubuque who agreed to raise $50,000 in specie to strengthen the bank, providing the charter was not re- pealed ; whereupon the bill was defeated in the council though it passed the House. It was still the only bank in Iowa territory, and though the Democrats opposed it the Whigs fought hard to retain it.
"The Miners' Bank of Dubuque a few weeks ago was selected by the brokers of St. Louis as their next victim. They refused its notes, decried them, and soon they were finding their way to the shaving shop at a discount. Two somebodys were sent up to Dubuque to examine its affairs, who returned and reported that she would resume specie payments on the first of July next. This story told, the brokers could pass her notes at par, which they had taken in at a great discount."-( Bloomington Herald, July 17, 1842.)
"The Miners' Bank of Dubuque has, we are informed, gone to the -, where we wish all banks could be sent. Give us the barrel and we know when we put our hands upon it that it is there and no mistake."-( Bloomington Herald, July 22, 1842.)
In April, 1842, Samuel D. Dixon was elected mayor and John Thompson, J. P. Farley, James Fanning, Joseph Ogilby, A. Cline and Joseph T. Fales, aldermen. The council elected the other city officers. The water which came down Lorimier Hollow (Eighthi street ) in early flood times caused severe losses and was very troublesome. Much time was spent in examining the extravagant charges of the commissioners appointed originally to lay off Du- buque. A ditch carried the water down Eighth street to the slough and had to be bridged at several places. The fire engine was ordered
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transferred to a company of firemen formed about this time. The trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church agreed to sell the old meeting house to the city council for $100. John D. Bush and William B. Smith, who laid claim to lots on the public square, refused to vacate until they were paid $100 per lot each.
The old fire engine on May 2, 1842, was turned over to the following enrolled fire company : Jolin R. Harvey, Warren Emer- son, D. McGouldrich, James M. Emerson, William H. Robbins. James V. Campton, David S. Wilson, A. Keesecker, Rufus Miller. Charles Miller, Samuel Dodge. R. C. Anderson, William Rebman. Jacob Evans, B. F. Davis, J. E. Whitcher, George W. Starr, William Young, James H. Warren, William Newman, C. Pelon, Timothy Smith and William W. Anderson.
On May 9, 1842, the council prepared a memorial to Congress asking that body to donate to the city authorities the islands in the Mississippi river opposite the city ; the memorial was forwarded to Hon A. C. Dodge, delegate in Congress.
"Orders have been received at the land office to suspend business until the new register shall arrive and be duly qualified. The conse- quence of this will be detrimental to hundreds of settlers who have not yet proved up their pre-emptions under the act of 1840 and the time will expire in a month from this."-( Miners' Express, May 19. 1842.)
The erection of a market house was first broached June 20, 1842. and again considered July 11. The city procured considerable lum- ber at Hale's mill. On July 12 Cline, Fales, Fanning and Ogilby voted in favor of a market house and Farley against it. A com- mittee of three prepared plans and specifications for the building. The council, in October, 1842. inquired into the expediency of erect- ing bridges across the sloughs, so that access to the main channel of the river could be secured. In December. 1842, the receiver of the land office here issued a statement as to the amount of money due the city, the number of lots yet to be sold, etc. In December the fire company petitioned for ladders and hooks which were made for them by Joseph Ogilby upon order of the council.
In 1842 the Washingtonians and other temperance organizations had strong followings in Dubuque. In 1843-4 Congress appro- priated $14,500 for the Dubuque harbor. In the fall of 1843 the trade of Dubuque was much larger than ever before; grain and pork in enormous quantities came here in wagons from a hundred miles to the westward. Every business here felt the stimulus. In No- vember, 1843, Prof. M. De Bonneville who had taught French at Harvard University lectured here on animal magnetism. It was said he could stop a woman's tongue by merely shaking his finger at her. He organized a private class and it was declared humorously that all who had scolding wives became inembers. It was claimed that he performed several remarkable cures-deafness, lameness, etc. The first number of the Iowa Transcript was issued late in
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May, 1843, by H. H. Houghton, of the Galena Gasette. It claimed to be Democratic, but favored Clay for President. The Express favored Van Buren. Owing to ill health Mr. Houghton was forced to suspend the paper temporarily about August 1, 1843. The Miners' Express said February 17, 1843, that mercury a few days before stood in Dubuque at 40 degrees below zero .- ( Bloomington Herald, February 24, 1843.)
"We had a tremendous hail storm here on Tuesday evening last. It broke upwards of twenty panes of glass in the house in which our office is situated. Six of the hailstones weighed a pound."- ( Miners' Express, May, 1843.)
The famous "Bill Johnson" who had played the part of a villain in Maine and along the Canadian border came west to Buchanan county, Iowa, in 1843 and began similar tactics. He had spread consternation along the entire Canadian border. It was alleged that the man of that name in the West was not the same person as the Maine buccaneer. The one in the West was finally lynched by a party of regulators, but his lynchers were sent to the penitentiary by the United States District Court sitting at Dubuque. The western "Bill Johnson" had a lovely daughter who attended the trial and riveted all eyes by her unusual feminine charms. Mr. Keesecker, of the Miners' Express, wrote of her in extravagant terms-"heavenly charms, deep blue eyes, matchless grace, piercing glances, queen-like dignity, soul-subduing countenance," etc., and was laughed at by the whole press of the West. He resented this interference and came near having a duel with John B. Russell, the editor of the Bloomington Herald. Apparently the only obstacle to the encounter was their disagreement as to the place of meeting. The blood curdling articles of the editors make good reading.
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