USA > Iowa > Webster County > Fort Dodge > History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 29
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On the 24th of February following, the state created a board of public works, and to it was assigned the work of construction and management of the river improvement, and the care, control, sale, disposal and management of the lands granted to the state by the act of 1846.
This board was elected by a majority of the voters of the state at an election held on the first Monday in August, 1847. It consisted of a president, secretary and treasurer, each of whom took the oath of office on the 22d day of Septem- ber, 1847. The names of this board were president, Hugh W. Sample ; sec- retary, Charles Corkey; treasurer, Paul Brattain. After filing their bonds and taking the oath of office on the date above named, they entered upon the discharge of their duties.
On the 17th of February, 1848, the commissioner of the general land office in an official communication to the secretary of the board of public works, gave it as the opinion of his office that the river-land grant extended the whole length of the river within the state. This was the second opinion of this same officer, the last one being the exact counterpart of the first. This ruling was the beginning of the confusion, misery and woe of this historic land grant.
On the 19th of June, 1848. the president of the United States, without regard to these rulings, if he knew that such ruling existed, placed on the market by proclamation some of the lands above the Raccoon fork. Here were the acts of two officials relating to the extent of the river-land grant. This conflict of opinion led to a correspondence between the officers of the state and the United States, which resulted in the promulgation of an opinion of the secretary of the treasury of the United States, on March 2, 1849, to the effect that the grant extended to the source of the river. The secretary of the treasury who rendered
REV. J. J. DOLLIVER ("FATHER DOLLIVER")
I.H.I. Co,
HON. M. D. O'CONNELL Solicitor, United States Treasury (1897-1916)
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR LENOX A. TILDEN FOUNDA
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HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
this opinion was Hon. Robert J. Walker, in the last days of the administration of President Polk.
By reason of this ruling, on the first day of the following June, the com- missioner of the general land office directed the receivers of the local land offices to withhold from sale all the odd numbered sections in five miles of the river above the Raccoon fork.
Up to this time, March 2, 1849, four rulings or conclusions had been made and acted upon. As has already been stated, the commissioner of the general land office had decided first that the river-land grant extended only to the Raccoon fork, but in a subsequent ruling decided that the grant extended to the north line of the state. President Polk's proclamation of June 19, 1848, placing the odd numbered sections north of the Raccoon fork upon the market shows that he did not think the grant extended above the fork. But the official opinion of his secretary of the treasury, Robert J. Walker, given March 2, 1849, to the effect that the grant extended to the north line of the state seems to have changed his views so much that his proclamation was withdrawn and the sale of the odd sections above the Raccoon fork by the government discontinued.
The next ruling was made by General Thomas Ewing, who under the new administration of President Taylor was appointed to fill the newly created depart- ment of secretary of the interior, to which all matters pertaining to the public lands had been assigned by law.
On the 6th of April, 1850, Mr. Ewing declined to recognize the grant as extending above the Raccoon fork, without an explanatory act on the part of congress. The state appealed this ruling to President Taylor, who turned the matter over to Reverdy Johnson, his attorney general. Mr. Johnson decided that the grant extended to the north line of the state and that the ruling of Robert J. Walker on the 2d of March, 1849, was a final adjudication of the subject. This decision settled the question until the death of President Taylor, which occurred July 10, 1850. Mr. Fillmore, the vice president, was sworn in and a new cabinet was chosen.
On the 29th of October. 1851, the question of the extent of the river-land grant came up again and it was discussed by Mr. Fillmore's cabinet and it was decided to recognize the claim of the state and approve the selection of the odd sections above the Raccoon fork and to permit the state to go on with disposal of the lands without prejudice to other claimants.
After this ruling the question of extent of the grant rested until 1860, of which more will be said further on in this article.
Up to the date of December, 1853, the state, through its board of public works, carried on the work of improving the river, and the sale of the lands included in the grant. A land office for the sale of these lands had in the mean- time been established at Ottumwa, Iowa.
On January 15, 1849, an act passed the legislature to reorganize the board of public works, making their official terms three years instead of two, but the first term of the secretary was to be two years, and that of the treasurer one year. This would bring about the election of one of the three members of the board every year instead of electing all three of them at one time. The election was held on the first Monday in August, 1849, and the following gentlemen were
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chosen: President, William Patterson; secretary, Jesse Williams; treasurer, George Gillaspy.
The wording of this reorganizing act shows that the law makers of 1849 were not altogether satisfied with the doings of the board of public works for the two preceding years.
The next two years' experience with the reorganized board was but little more satisfactory than that of the first board. The result was that in February, 1851, an act of the legislature abolished the board of public works, and in lieu of it the offices of commissioner and register of the Des Moines river improvement were created and filled by appointment of the governor. The gentlemen appointed to fill the new offices were: For commissioner, Ver Planck Van Antwerp; register, George Gillaspy. The legislature seems to have been very hard to please or else the men so far chosen were a very unsatisfactory lot. At all events the legislature of 1853 made a law providing that the commissioner and register should be elected by the voters of the state at an election to be held on the first Monday in April. 1853. The gentlemen elected were: For commis- sioner, Josiah H. Bonney: register, George Gillaspy. In 1855 William McKay was elected commissioner, and in 1858 William C. Drake was elected, and in 1860 the office was abolished. In 1855 John C. Lockwood was elected register, and in1 1857 that office was abolished.
The legislative act of 1863 providing for the election of these officers also empowered them to enter into a contract with some individual or company to complete the improvement of the river, and thus relieve the state of the prosecu- tion of the work. To assist these officers in making and entering into a contract of this kind, Hon. George C. Wright, of Van Buren county, afterwards United States senator, and Uriah Biggs, of Wapello county, were chosen as assistants. These were the officers who entered into the historic contract, first with Henry O. Reiley, and then with the Des Moines Navigation Company, to complete the work of the improvement of the river.
For their services this navigation company was to have all the lands included in the original land grant not already disposed of by the state. This contract was made June 9. 1854. It was no doubt entered into with good intentions on the part of the state officers, but before the state got rid of the company it was woefully swindled. In fact the whole river-land business from start to finish was poorly managed by the state officers.
The company took charge of the work of river improvement on the date of their contract, and continued it until March 8. 1858, at which time disagreements and misunderstandings arose between the state and the company.
Prior to the time of entering into the contract with the Des Moines Navi- gation & Railroad Company the state had sold 327.314 acres of the river grant, the proceeds of which were paid out for salaries, work and material furnished during the time the state board of public works had charge of the improvement. Of the amount of land above named 48,830 acres were above the Raccoon fork. The 327,314 acres of land were sold at $1.25 per acre, the proceeds of which were $409,142. It is a well settled fact that the state was never benefited a single dollar for all this outlay of money. That any set of men should fritter away such a vast sum of money without any visible results seems incredible.
JOHN PARSONS Pioneer blacksmith of Fort Dodge
MRS. JOHN PARSONS (ANNA E.)
THE NEW YOPY PUBLIC LIBRAS:
ASTOR, LENOX AN , TILDEN FOUNDATION. 1
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The Des Moines Navigation Company had charge of the improvement from June 9, 1854, to March 22, 1858, a period covering nearly four years. During this time but little progress was made on the works of the improvement, and it was this slow and dilatory progress that caused the disagreement between it and the state.
In pursuance of this contract the state on the 14th of May, 1855, conveyed to this company 88,853 acres of the land grant, and again on the 6th of May, 1856, conveyed 116,636 acres more, making in the two conveyances, 205,489 acres. At $1.25 an acre it amounted to $256,861.25. It is not to be wondered at that the state should be dissatisfied. over the avowed expenditure of this amount of money with nothing or next to nothing accomplished.
On the 22d day of March, 1858, a proposition for settlement was made by the state, on the terms of which the company was to execute to the state a full release of. all contracts, agreements and claims against the state, including water rents and dredge boat, and pay the state $20,000, and the state agreed to convey to the navigation company all of the lands granted by congress in the act approved August 8, 1846, which up to that time had been approved and certified to the state by the general government, except such as had been sold.
Although the state gave the company sixty days in which to accept this propo- sition, it was accepted on the double-quick, and the $20,000 was paid. In pur- suance of this settlement the state deeded to the navigation company on the 3d day of May, 1858, 256.713 acres of land, and again on the 18th of May, 1858. another patent was issued to the company by the state conveying 9.395 acres, making a total of 266,108 acres.
As has already been stated, 205,489 acres had been conveyed to this company on May 14, 1855. and May 6, 1856, and in these two conveyances 266,108 acres more, making a total of lands received by this company from the state of 471.597 acres of land, which at $1.25 an acre amounted to $589,496.25.
This settlement was one of the most colossal swindles which up to that date had taken place in the state. The navigation company seems to have had the legislature completely under its control.
In this settlement the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company claimed to have expended on the improvement, from first to last. $554,547.84. The state commissioner on examination of the work figured the amount expended at $274.542. A joint committee of the legislature had also reported upon this expenditure, making it about the same as the state commissioner had figured it. These figures are given in a special message of Governor Ralph P. Lowe to the legislature and dated February 16, 1858, only one month and six days before making the settlement with the company.
The surprising part of this settlement is that the legislature gave to the company lands amounting in cash to several thousand dollars more than it claimed to have expended, as the figures above given show.
At the conclusion of this settlement all further thought of making the Des Moines river navigable was dispensed with. By this time the people were com- pletely disgusted with the navigation scheme and had turned their thoughts toward a railroad.
March 22, 1858, an act passed the legislature granting to the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company all the lands included in the river-land Vol. I-16
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grant not then sold by the state or pledged to the navigation company in the settlement just made. This grant was made to aid in the construction of a railroad from the mouth of the Des Moines river to the north line of the state, provided congress would consent that the remainder of the land should be used for that purpose.
At the fall election in 1858 the proposition to so divert the remainder of these lands from the original purpose of improving the navigation of the river, to the building of the railroad, was submitted to the people of the state and a large major- ity voted in favor of it. After this decision of the people, congress gave its consent that the remainder of the lands might be so diverted.
As it afterwards developed the navigation company was really the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company and that instead of improving the river it had been devoting a portion of its time to the building of the railroad, which at the time of the settlement was completed from Keokuk to Bentonsport, a distance of about forty miles.
Work on the railroad continued and it was completed to Ottumwa early in the year 1860. About this time another conflict of rulings took place in the land department at Washington. In 1859 the Dubuque & Pacific Railroad Com- pany claimed a part of the lands conveyed by the state to the navigation company, and a case entitled Dubuque & Pacific Railroad Company vs. Litchfield was tried in the supreme court in April, 1860.
The court decided that the original river-land grant did not extend above the Raccoon fork. This decision brought the sale of the "river-land," as it was then called, and the further extension of the railroad to a standstill. As a pacification to the settlers on a considerable portion of these lands the commis- sioner of the general land office at Washington gave notice that none of the land would be sold by the government until the matter was thoroughly con- sidered by congress.
On the 2d day of March, 1861, congress passed a joint resolution to quiet title to lands in the state of Iowa. This joint resolution was simply intended to confirm the title of all bona fide purchasers claiming title to these lands above the Raccoon fork, to whom the state or any of its grantees had conveyed title.
After the passage of this resolution the river company claimed title under it, but the courts decided that titles to real estate could not pass by resolution, and that an act of congress would be necessary to pass title.
On the 12th of July, 1862, congress passed an act extending the limits of the river-land grant of August 8, 1864, from the Raccoon fork to the north line of the state. This act confirmed the title of the river company and the railroad com- pany, giving them the privilege of selling their lands to the settlers at an exorb- itant price, a thing that greatly troubled and discouraged the settlers on these lands. It was thought that when this act passed congress that it would settle forever the question of title to the land in dispute, but it worked such a hardship to the settlers that further litigation followed.
From first to last this land grant seems to have been a stumbling block among the officials at Washington. As late as 1863 a patent was issued to Hannah J. Riley for one hundred and sixty acres of land in Webster county, signed by Abraham Lincoln. It seemed to the settlers that this patent would hold the land
MRS. JOHN HAIRE (MARY M.)
JOHN HATRE Pioneer merchant of Fort Dodge
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
and if it held good the government could convey also in like manner any of the lands claimed by a river company.
In 1868 a man named Wells, who was a grantee of the river company brought action to dispossess Mrs. Riley of the home on which she held the patent above referred to. The court decided that the river-land title was good and assessed the cost against Mrs. Riley, after which papers for her eviction were issued and executed. This was the last of the court decisions and under it most of the settlers who did not buy their homes at an advanced price were forced off of them by orders from the courts. Finally in 1894 an act to indemnify the settlers was passed and the few remaining ones received a small compensation for the home they were forced to leave. This ended the historic river-land trouble extending over a period of forty-eight years, beginning in 1846 and ending in 1894.
PREFACE
The last bit of copy has gone to the printer, and now the author writes the preface, the thing which should have been written first, but which can the better be written last.
It has been more than a year since the author began to write what was to be a "History of Fort Dodge and Webster County." At the time, we fully realized the largeness and importance of the subject, and reluctantly began a work which others, far abler, were unwilling to, undertake. The work is now finished, and without apologies it is given to the public. Many times the work has been inter- rupted, and it has been written under the most unfavorable circumstances. Even if it had not so been, it would not be surprising if some errors and misstatements existed. If there be aught of good,we ask your praise ; and for the bad, we bespeak your charity. If its errors prevent the next writer from committing sim- ilar ones, the work will not have been in vain. Many of those who were party to the deeds of the "fifties" are no longer here. Fading memories fail to agree. Records have become illegible and are many times wanting. Often it is difficult to arrive at the truth. Where none agree, the author can claim the privilege of being right.
No matter how comprehensive may have been the ideas and ideals of the author in the beginning, the work as ended is not a complete history of Webster county, nor does it so pretend. It is but a collection of sketches dealing with the incidents of community life, past and present. Many things have been omitted, not so much through lack of merit, as through lack of knowledge of their exist- ence, of time in which to ascertain the facts, or of space in which to publish them.
In order that we may avoid the criticism of plagiarizing. we make no claims to originality. We have begged, borrowed and even stolen-and history often crowns with a halo those who do all three.
The author desires to thus publicly thank the friends who contributed articles, Prof. L. G. Weld, of Chicago. Prof. James H. Lees, of Des Moines, state geologist, Mr. C. L. Lucas, of Madrid, Hon. L. S. Coffin and Mr. C. G. Messerole. Thanks are also due to Miss Cecil Palmer, who gave much valuable assistance in doing research work, as did also the members of the library staff. The writings of Gov. C. C. Carpenter, of Maj. William Williams, and his son, Mr. J. B.
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Williams, were often consulted and quoted. An aid many times referred to was the "scrap books" of Mrs. C. B. Hepler.
Love of country and pride in its past history are the strength of the present and the inspiration of the future. Codified laws form but a small part of the mandates which rule society. Stronger than man-made laws are the bonds of a civilization which stretching back into the past, touch the consciences, hearts and minds of the people of a former time. Our faces may be ever toward the goal, but our way is marked by the "blazed trail" of the pioneer, and our feet follow the well-worn path which he made. American history differs from that of every other country, being the history of the "blazed trail," that marks an ever west- ward advancing frontier. "In the pride of our present achievements," says Hon. George F. Parker, the biographer of Grover Cleveland, "we proceed upon the assumption that we owe nothing to our immediate ancestors, but that every- thing is of our own doing. No duty is more imperative upon any generation than that of looking backward as well as forward." If the look backward which the author has tried to describe, prove either a profit or a pleasure to the reader, the work will not have been in vain.
H. M. PRATT.
Fort Dodge, Iowa. January 20. 1913.
DEDICATION
To those pioneers of the "blazed trail," the records of whose achievements are worthy of a better chronicler, but whose broad-minded charity will overlook its faults, this book is dedicated. .
"The record of the pioneers Whose toils, whose genius, made you great."
S. H. M. BYERS.
CHAPTER XXII
THE CARDIFF GIANT
GEORGE HULL SEEKS GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS-DIFFICULTIES OF TRANSPORTATION- DISCOVERY OF THE GIANT-TIIE DOCTORS BELIEVE-SKEPTICISM BEGINS-THE GIANT IS SOLD-EXPOSURE OF THE HOAX-IIELD FOR STORAGE-HULL IN HIS OLD AGE TELLS HOW THE GIANT CAME TO BE.
It was in the early part of the month of July, 1868, that two young men came to Fort Dodge, and took up their residence for a few days at the Old Saint Charles hotel. They registered as George Hull of Syracuse, N. Y., and Mr. Martin of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They pretended to be here on the mission of studying the geological formations in the vicinity of Fort Dodge. After making some inquiries as to the location of ledges of out-cropping rock they finally selected a tract where there was a ledge of gypsum rock, and purchased an acre of the land. It was their intention to do their own quarrying and work. After several attempts to secure a block of gypsum of the desired shape and size, with a failure added each time, they were informed that there was a man living in the vicinity, who could probably do the job. At that time Michael Foley, a resi- dent of Fort Dodge, was engaged in taking out rock for the railroad, and to him they disclosed their desire for a slab of gypsum rock of a certain size. No satis- factory explanation was given Mr. Foley at that time as to what use was to be made of the stone. The contract, however, was let to Mr. Foley, and he fur- nished them a stone about twenty feet long, three feet wide, and eighteen inches in thickness. The weight of the rock made the matter of transporting it a difficult problem on account of the lack of roads at that early period. It had to be hauled to Boone, Iowa, forty-five miles distant, at that time the nearest railroad station to Fort Dodge.
The rock was loaded upon a wagon to which was hitched six teams of oxen. The original contractor became discouraged with the progress that he was mak- ing. and gave up the job, after hauling the stone as far as a point somewhere between Brushy Creek and Homer. A second man tried the task, and in turn failed. Arrangements were then made with two brothers, living at Border Plains, Joel and Jerid Wilson, who after some deliberation with the principals, chipped off some twelve hundred pounds of the stone, and having thus lightened the load finally reached the railroad station at Boone with the remainder. In hauling it the contractors had followed the stage route between Des Moines. Boone and Fort Dodge, and the passengers saw the strange load, both in transit, and also as it lay beside the road when abandoned by the first party, who had agreed to transport it to Boone. Among the passengers of that early day was
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Mr. A. N. Botsford, now the dean in the practice of law in Fort Dodge, and who says that during the month of August in that year as he was coming to Fort Dodge, he saw the men taking the chips from the stone. The stage passed the load four times a week for three weeks while the rock was on the way to Boone. The job cost Mr. Hull $200.00, and had it not been for his indomitable will, that again and again overcame difficulties, it would have remained on the road.
The stone was loaded upon a flat car at Boone and billed to Chicago. It was then taken to the stone yard of a man named Burghart on North Clark street. Here it was placed in the hands of two German stone cutters, Saile and Menk- ham, who carved it into the form of a giant, pricked it with a leaden mallet faced with needles to give it the resemblance of the human skin, and applied a solution of sulphuric acid to give it the appearance of age. Because the rock had been shortened in order to lighten the weight when hauling, the sculptors in giving it final shape, had to shorten the limbs, and in so doing were compelled to draw up the lower limbs, giving them a strikingly contracted and agonized ap- pearance. Under one side there was a grooved and channeled appearance, as though it had been washed away during the ages that it had passed through.
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