USA > Iowa > Johnson County > History of Johnson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, and its townships, cities and villages from 1836 to 1882 > Part 31
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The following gentlemen were appointed a committee on correspon- dence, in accordance with the last resolution:
David Miller, of Jefferson. H. Scofield, of Washington.
N. B. Holbrook, of Iowa. A. B. Cornell, of Johnson.
O. H. Buchanan, of Henry. John Mahin, of Muscatine.
Robert Gower, of Cedar. Judge Clagget, of Lee.
Col. S. F. Cooper, of Poweshiek. G. W. Edwards, of Des Moines.
On motion, John Mahin was appointed chairman of the committee.
Such was the wisdom of the hour. It was the old story of Laocoon and his sons in the coils of the python, re-enacted on the shores of the Mississippi river. The resolutions were clear and just, but they had no bowels of compulsion to stay the ravenous greed of the bond-headed beast with railroad switches in his tail, and taxes by the million in his insatiable belly.
In 1870 and 1871 the county made strong efforts to lift its great burden and vexatious load of railroad debt, and in June, 1871, the railroad bond fund account stood thus:
Balance on hand January 1 $ 1,392.43
Tax collected to June 1 22,507.52 $23,899.95
By payment on judgments 15,417.35
By purchase of bonds 6,918.90
By balance 1,563.70 $23,899.95
R. R. BOND PAYMENTS, 1874.
The following from proceedings of county board of supervisors, January 8, 1875, explains itself:
Supervisor Nelson from finance committee of last year, made the fol- lowing report, which was approved:
To the Board of Supervisors, Johnson county :
GENTLEMEN .- Your committee of finance respectfully report that they have paid Lyons railroad bonds as follows:
April 4, 1874, to P. A. Dey, president of the First National Bank of Iowa City, bonds Nos. 2, 4, 10, 18, 20, 25 and 27. Principal, interest and
255
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
exchange amounted to $8,493.62, and August 18, 1874, to T. J. Cox, cash- ier of the Iowa City National Bank, Nos. 32, 42, 44 and 50, principal, interest and exchange amounting to $4,339.16. There are still outstand- ing three Lyons bonds upon which no coupons have been paid, the hold- ers of which have not been found, notwithstanding all efforts in that direc- tion.
G. W. NELSON, T. COMB, J. OVERHOLSER, Committee. RAILROAD BOND JUDGMENTS.
On September 10, 1872, George B. Corkhill, clerk of the United States District Court for Iowa, certified to the correctness of the following state- ment of judgments rendered against Johnson county, on her coupon bonds issued to aid in building railroads:
Name of Plaintiff. Date of Judgment. Am't of Judgment.
RemarkN.
Marcus C. Rigg
May 12, 1864.
$ 5,189.26.
Satisfied.
Marcus C. Rigg
May 15, 1867. 20,583.26.
John A. Dix ...
. May 15, 1867. 1,521.54.
Henry Vandeveer
May 16, 1867.
6,094.15.
Satisfied.
George Bliss
May 12, 1866.
25,427.00.
66
F. L. Burch
May 27, 1868.
3,599.82. 1
Theo. L. Minear
Oct. 26, 186S.
33,486.21
1
C. F. Blake.
Oct. 26, 1868.
7,627.70.
John Weber
May 15, 1869.
3,780.11.
C. E. Parker
May 15, 1869.
1,696.90.
John Weber
May 12, 1870.
2,387.30.
66
Theo. Minear
May 12, 1870.
2,015.10.
Samuel C. Weed
Oct. 19, 1870.
3,897.74.
Theo. Minear
May 10, 1871.
651.36.
Theo. Minear .
May 10, 1871.
673.73.
66
Henry Amy.
Oct. 20, 1869.
5,125.10.
66
JOHN A. DIX'S COMPLIMENTS.
Ex-Governor, ex-Major General, ex-"shoot-him-on-the-spot" John A. Dix of New York, held $12,000 of Iowa City bonds, and had often laughed in his sleeve at the infantile struggles of the corporations in swaddling clothes out on the prairies of Iowa, when he and other "inno- cent percussers" of their bonds tapped them for interest. Well, the infants having kicked and rebelled lustily till there wasn't an ounce of kick left in them, cried "quit." In 1874, Moses Bloom was Mayor of the city, and he wrote the General to see what he would do about selling his bonds to some Iowa City capitalist so they could be taken up in small sums and stop interest whenever there were funds on hand to do it with. What the people had been denouncing and resisting as a swindle-he sweetly terms " their honest obligations;" and here is his historic reply:
STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ALBANY, 14th July, 1874.
Gentlemen :- I have so high an appreciation of the desire on the part of corporations, as well as individuals, to meet their honest obligations
66 Reduced by Court to $26,411.25.
Satisfied. 66
256
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
with fidelity that I cannot refuse your request, and I will take pleasure in surrendering the bonds I hold against your city as soon as I can find some object of investment for the proceeds. I think this need not delay the arrangement more than two or three weeks.
I have $12,000, of your bonds, numbered as follows: 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 22, 23, 24, 25, 63, 68, 69, 70, 71, 82, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98,-$500 each. JOHN A. DIX.
Truly yours,
IOWA CITY IN THE U. S. SUPREME COURT.
In January, 1875, a decision was rendered in the United States Supreme . Court, in which Iowa City was a party litigant; and we preserve here so much of the document as pertains distinctly to the Iowa City case, omit- ting 'a lengthy discussion of certain Kentucky and Wisconsin cases cited by counsel for the plaintiff.
Supreme Court of the United States in error to Circuit Court of the United States for the district of Iowa :
Luther C. Clark vs. Iowa City.
James Grant, attorney for plaintiff.
Robinson & Patterson, attorneys for defendant.
Mr. Justice Field delivered the opinion of the court:
In 1856, Iowa City issued certain bonds in sums of five hundred dollars each, payable to the bearer in the city of New York, on the first day of January, 1876, with annual interest at the rate of ten per cent a year, pay- able on the first day of January of each year. For the different install- ments of interest, coupons were annexed.
The bonds were taken up and canceled before the commencement of this action, but previous to such cancellation the coupons for interest due on the first of January, 1860, upon which the action was brought, were detached and negotiated to other parties, until by purchase they came to the possession of the plaintiff. In bar of the action the defendant pleaded the statute of limitations of Iowa.
That statute prescribes the limitation of ten years to actions on all writ- ten contracts, whether under seal or otherwise. The simple question, therefore, presented for our determination is, whether the statute is a bar to an action upon the coupons detached from the bonds, and transferred to parties other than the holders of the bonds, when it would not be a bar to an action on the bonds themselves had they not been canceled.
Most of the bonds of municipal bodies, and private corporations in this country are issued in order to raise funds for works of large extent and cost, and their payment is, therefore, made at distant periods, not unfre- quently beyond a quarter of a century ; coupons for the different install- ments of interest are usually attached to these bonds, in the expectation that they will be paid as they mature, however distant the period fixed for the payment of the principal.
These coupons when severed from the bonds are negotiable, and pass by delivery. They then cease to be incidents of the bonds, and become in fact, independant claims; they do not lose their validity, if for any cause the bonds are canceled or paid before maturity; nor their negotiable character; nor their ability to support separate actions; and the amount for which they are issued draws interest from its maturity. They then possess the essential attributes of commercial paper, as has been held by this court in repeated instances. Every consideration, therefore, which
257
HISTORY OF JOIINSON COUNTY.
gives efficacy to the statute of limitations when applied to actions on the bonds after their maturity, equally requires that similar limitations should be applied to actions upon the coupons after their maturity.
Coupons, when severed from the bonds to which they were orginally attached, are in legal effect, equivalent to separate bonds for the different installments of interest. The like action may be brought upon each of them, when they respectively become due, as upon the bond itselt when the principal matures; and to each action-to that upon the bond and to each of those upon the coupons-the same limitation must upon principle apply. All statutes of limitation begin to run when the right of action is
complete, and it would be exceptional and illogical to hold that the statute sleeps with respect to claims upon detached coupons, whilst a complete right of action upon such claim exists in the holder. We answer, there- fore the question certified to us, that the statute of Iowa, which extends the same limitation to actions on all written contracts, sealed or unsealed, began to run against the coupons in suit from their respective maturities; and accordingly affirm the judgment.
R. R. VALUATION, 1861.
On June 6, 1861, the county board of equalization made this record:
The assessment upon the M. & M. R. R., having been made in the several townships through which it runs at unequal amounts, verying from $7,000.00 to $30,000.00 per mile, your committee recommend that the valuation of $10,000 per mile be fixed as the uniform rate, making the total assessment upon the road for twenty-seven miles, the estimated length of the road in the county $270,000 00
Freight depot at Iowa City estimated
3,000 00
Engine house and tank.
2,000 00
Passenger depot and ticket office
5 00
Three locomotives.
20,000 00
Two passenger cars.
1,000 00
Twenty-five freight cars
5,000 00
Total assessment .$301,005 00
The valuation of "Five Dollars" on depot and ticket office seems to have been a "figure of contempt " for the failure of the railroad company to comply with their agreement in regard to passenger depot.
RAILROAD ASSESSMENT-MARCH 30, 1882.
Name of Road.
Miles. 16.05
Val. $5,550
Total. 89,077
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern .
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, Iowa
City Div.
19.59
2,000
39,180
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, Musca- tine Div.
7.06
2,500
17,650
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific.
27.16
12,700
344,932
490,839
BYINGTON'S RAILROAD HISTORY.
Legrand Byington, Esq., was a prominent actor in the early railroad schemes of Johnson county. Several years ago (1874) he published a
258
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
series of trenchant newspaper articles under the title of the "Secret History of Railroads in Johnson County." There is no doubt that Mr. Byington had some personal objects to serve in making his publication, but that does not alter the historical facts and matters of record which he made public. His writings and papers were frankly and generously placed at our service, to use or not, just as we might deem best, after searching the public records and other sources of information. His sketches present many facts of historic interest not elsewhere found, and we select from them such as serve well to show the workings of public sentiment and public endeavor in regard to securing railroad connections, in the days before any of these nest-eggs of railroad fraud had hatched out, and shows what gigantic sort of beastly birds they were, to tramp over and devour the county. Mr. Byington says:
The earliest railroad projected in Iowa, was to have run from Du- buque through Iowa City to Keokuk. Anterior to the first State consti- tution, congress was memorialized by the territorial legislature, Įfor a grant of public lands in aid of its construction. When I came to the State in 1849, it divided public attention with the scheme of slackwater navigation of the Des Moines river (which controlled the politics of Iowa for years) and was so pretentious that in a State railroad convention called in its interest at Iowa City, in 1850, the utmost efforts of Judge James Grant and myself were unavailing to have a resolution in favor of a road from Dav- enport to Council Bluffs, attached as an amendment to a petition on behalf of the Dubuque and Keokuk project.
It was always vehemently opposed by all the influences which the aspir- ing young cities of Burlington and Muscatine could marshal against it, which led to a protracted newspaper and convention controversy over it, between the latter and the interior towns along its projected line.
The most notable incident of this sectional contest, was the defeat of Judge Lincoln Clark, for congress, by John P. Cook, of Davenport. The district contained a large majority of the political friends of Clark, but he was regarded as so much under the influence of Burlington, though resi- dent at Dubuque, that political considerations were almost entirely ignored by the people of the counties interested in the Dubuque & Keokuk road, who held a protesting convention at Cedar Rapids, and voted very gen- erally for Cook, on that consideration alone.
Burlington, however, always found effectual means of defeating the land grant, and eventually, the road itself, in whatsoever shape it afterwards presented itself.
As early as 1850, the Davenport and Council Bluffs road found earnest advocates. Defeated in first state convention, the people of Johnson county, under the inspiration of the late James P. Carleton and myself, took practical steps, in the summer of 1850, in its behalf, by organizing a company under the style of the Davenport & Iowa City R. R. Co., of
259
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
which J. P. Carleton was made president; H. W. Lathrop, secretary; Legrand Byington, treasurer, and Henry Murray, M. J. Morsman, Syl- vanus Johnson, Samuel Workman, and some others, were directors.
In August, 1850, a public meeting upon the subject raised a committee of correspondence, who immediately dispatched to Davenport the follow- ing letter to Judge Grant, Mr. LeClaire, Ebenezer Cook, and other prom- inent citizens of that place, viz:
IOWA CITY, Aug. 25, 1850.
GENTLEMEN :- A public meeting of the citizens of Johnson county, which recently assembled at this place, devolved upon the undersigned the duty of endeavoring to secure the co-operation of the people of your county, in some measure which will be likely to secure the location and early commencement of a railroad from Davenport to Iowa City. The entire proceedings of the above named meeting are enclosed to you, to elicit from you and others upon the line of said road, either co-operation in our plans, or a suggestion of such other measures as you may deem preferable, to accomplish the end in view. It is confidently expected of your interest and zeal in this matter, that you will immediately take such order in the premises as will present us at an early day with an expression of wishes and determination of your community.
very respectfully yours,
LEGRAND BYINGTON, JAS. MCINTOSH,
ANSON HART, W. H. HENDERSON,
JAS. HARLAN, G. D. PALMER,
SAMUEL WORKMAN, THOS. HUGHES, Corresponding Committee.
September 5, a response came back from Davenport in the form of the following resolutions, adopted in a public meeting at that place, viz:
Resolved, That we concur with the people of Iowa City in the propriety of the immediate survey of the proposed road from Davenport to Iowa City, and that a committee of such number as the chairman of this meet- ing thinks advisable, be appointed to solicit subscriptions for that purpose, and correspond with the committee at Iowa City.
Resolved, That we cordially approve the public spirit and enterprise of the citizens of Johnson county in their laudable efforts to immediately sur- vey and locate the route of a railroad from Davenport to Iowa City, and that we will do all that in our power lies to aid them in this great work.
Judge Grant also wrote me an enthusiastic letter upon the subject, com- mencing as follows:
DAVENPORT, August 19, 1850.
LEGRAND BYINGTON, Esq .:- I don't know that any public demonstration in a long time has given me so much satisfaction, as your Iowa City meeting to build a railroad from that place to this. The best way in the world to accomplish any great thing is to go at it in earnest.
In deference to rival projects already started by Lyons on the one side and Muscatine upon the other, an immediate survey and location of the Davenport and Iowa City line was deemed essential. Accordingly, the record shows:
At a special meeting of the board of directors of the Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company, called by the president, and held at Iowa City on the 21st of October, 1850, a quorum being present, it was, on motion,
Resolved, That Legrand Byington be and he is hereby authorized and required to proceed to Davenport and Rock Island for the purpose of procuring stock, etc., in the Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company,
260
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
and the services of an engineer to commence an immediate survey of said road. JAMES P. CARLETON, President.
H. W. LATHROP, Secretary.
This journey to Davenport was made by myself and Dr. W. H. White, in a buggy, direct, by the way of Moscow, occupying two and a half days (no house being then visible between Cedar river and Blue Grass, near Davenport), and resulted in the following contract, viz .:
In consideration of the undertakings of the Davenport & Iowa City R. R. Company, hereinafter mentioned, I, Richard P. Morgan, of Kendall county, Illinois, agree with said company to make a survey and estimates of a railway route, upon the most practicable ground, from the town of Davenport, in Scott county, to Iowa City, in Johnson county, in Iowa. Said survey and estimates to be completed and a report thereof, accom- panied by the field notes and suitable maps or diagrams, to be made to said company on or before the tenth day of December next. In consider- ation whereof said company agree to pay to said Morgan, for said survey and estimates, after the same shall have been completed, the sum of four hundred dollars. Said survey is to be made by said Morgan with such care, judgment and accuracy that a locationof the bed of said road may be made thereon, and the right of way, with reasonable certainty, obtained upon the basis of such survey and location. In witness whereof, said com- pany, by Legrand Byington, their authorized agent, and said Morgan, have hereunto set their hands this 26th day of October, 1850.
THE DAVENPORT & IOWA CITY R. R. Co. by LEGRAND BYINGTON, Agent. RICHARD P. MORGAN.
Capital stock being minus, volunteer subscriptions were started to meet the expenses of this survey, and from one of them, now before me, I find the following " old settlers" down at an average of five dollars each, to-wit:
Theodore Sanxay, Jesse Bowen, H. D. Downey, Eastin Morris, John Crummey, John Powell, Henry Murray, Isaac Bowen, Franklin Kimball, Jacob Ricord, G. Crosthwait, John M. Colman, Enoch Lewis, M. J. Mors- man, Legrand Byington, C. H. Berryhill, E. C. Lyon, Anson Hart, Samuel H. McCrory, John M. Kidder, Thos. H. Benton, Jr., Wm. All- man, A. H. Thompson, Peter Roberts, Morgan Reno.
At this distance, the foregoing would seem to be the day of small things, but in the actual surroundings, and in the midst of the fierce war over the question of routes, which raged for several years, it was the leverage which finally fixed the line of the existing Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific road, through Iowa City; for the tier of counties south of us were very active, on behalf of their rival line, and possessed decided advantages in much greater population and wealth, &c.
This survey was completed and Col. Morgan made his report to me in November, 1850. It was printed as an eight page pamphlet, with an engraved map, showing the route and its future connections, and exten-
261
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY,
sively circulated throughout the country, as far as New York and Boston. After detailing the local characteristics of the route, Col. Morgan says:
If this railroad is considered simply as a medium to hasten the settle- ment of the country, it is quite plain that it will exercise an immense influ- ence, but it will also contribute to the wealth and progress of the State, with still more particular effect, by forming the first division west of the Mississippi, of the great National Avenue, which is, eventually, to stretch across this immense continent. This first effectual impulse which is given to the rapid development of the resources of Iowa, will soon be followed by a second, which will not stop short of the Missouri. *
There is another reason which militates greatly in favor of this route. It is exactly adapted for the extension westward of the Rock Island and Chi- cago railroad, to be connected at first by a ferry, but within a few years, by a high bridge across the Mississippi, opening an uninterrupted com- munication at all seasons of the year, with the great system of railroads in Illinois and other States, and in consequence, establishing the Davenport and Iowa City railroad as part of the great national trunk railroad from the Atlantic by way of Council Bluffs, the Platte Valley and the South Pass to the Pacific.
[It is interesting to note the prophetic forecast in this report, made thirty-two years ago, and then think how wonderfully it is now fulfilled.] HISTORIAN.
May 25, 1853, it was announced, that preliminary steps would be taken at Chicago, to organize a company to construct an east and west road through the State of Iowa, as an extension of the Rock Island line.
In the midst of the fierce warfare upon routes, then raging, through newspaper and convention media, between rival towns, it was determined that Iowa City must be represented at this meeting, and be prepared to throw therein the best card for her line of road. Accordingly, the Dav- enport & Iowa City company, the city council, and prominent citizens of the county, all took harmonious action, which resulted in the selection of Wm. Penn Clarke and myself, as delegates, clothed with plenary powers in the premises,-the great object being to secure Iowa City as a fixed point in the road that now loomed in the immediate future.
The following are the credentials under which we acted:
At a special meeting of the board of directors of the Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company, held at their office of business in Iowa City, on the 20th day of May, A. D. 1853, a quorum ( Messrs. Carleton, Byington, Murray, Morsman, Workman, Johnson and Lathrop), being present and the president in the chair.
On motion, it was resolved, that in the final organization of the Missis- sippi & Missouri R. R. Co., or in any necessary proceedings preliminary or subsequent thereto, at the proposed meeting of the incorporators at Chicago on the 25th day of May, 1853, or at any other suitable time and place, Legrand Byington as the authorized agent of this company may negotiate with said Mississippi & Missouri railroad company or any author- ized agent or committee thereof for the sale or transfer or surrender to said last named company of all the rights, franchises, property, stock and muniments belonging or appertaining to said Davenport & Iowa City railroad company, on condition that said Mississippi & Missouri railroad
17
262
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
company shall make Iowa City a point in the construction and operation of their railroad. JAMES P. CARLETON, Pres't.
[L. S.] H. W. LATHTOP, Sec'y.
At a special meeting of the city council of Iowa City, called by the mayor, and held at their council chamber on the 20th day of May, A. D. 1853, the mayor being absent, on motion of Alderman Snyder, H. W. Lathrop was chosen president pro tem and Ald. Van Fleet recorder pro tem, whereupon the following resolutions were unanimously passed:
Resolved, By the city council of Iowa City, that in the final organiza- tion of the Mississippi & Missouri railroad company or in any necessary proceedings preliminary or subsequent thereto at the proposed meeting of the corporators at Chicago, on the 25th day of May, A. D. 1853, or at any other suitable time and place, Legrand Byington and Wm. Penn Clarke delegates to said meeting on behalf of the people of said Iowa City, are authorized in their discretion to subscribe to the capital stock of said company in the name of said Iowa City thousand dollars, upon condition that said city is made a point in said road by irrevocable order of the managing board of said railroad company, and upon further condition that said stock shall be payable in the bonds of said city, bear- ing interest at the rate of per cent. per annum and subject to the approval of a majority vote of the electors of said city at an election which may be hereafter held for that purpose.
Resolved further, That in the event of any subscription of stock being made undur the terms of the foregoing resolution upon which any votes may be predicated to said Chicago meeting, the said Byington and Clarke are hereby authorized to cast the said stock votes for and in the name of said Iowa City. H. W. LATHROP, Pres. pro tem.
JOHN R. VAN FLEET, Rec. pro tem.
[L. S.] Witness our hands and the seal of said city hereto attached this 20th day of May, A. D. 1853.
To Chicago we went and there for three eventful and anxious days fought again the battle of the routes with the chosen men of Muscatine, Cedar Rapids and Burlington. The Mississippi & Missouri railroad company was organized, with some six hundred thousand dollars of capi- tal subscribed, mostly by Henry Farnum, T. C. Durant, Mr. Sheffield, Mr. Wolcott, Wm. B. Ogden, N. B. Judd, and some others, as principal stockholders and officers.
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