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 34
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Statement showing the county and district agricultural societies entitled to State aid under section 1112, of the code of 1873, also total receipts of said societies, receipts for membership only, and the amount paid each society for the year 1880: Total receipts, $2,481.10; receipts for mem- bership, $107; amount of State aid, $107.
Statement of resources and liabilities Johnson County Savings Bank, doing business under the laws of the State, up to, and including Septem, ber 30, 1881, made to the Auditor of State, as required by chapter 9, title XI, of the code of 1873:
Resources .- Loans and discounts, $285,730.29; other stocks, bonds, etc., $13,011.67; overdrafts, $20,028.77; real estate, $40,893.82; other instru- ments, $5,149.87; due from banks, $18,718.20; expenses, $2,391.19; specie, $9,793.55; legal tender, national bank notes, silver and subsidiary coin, $20,701.05; cash items, $4,418.39; total resources, $420,836.80.
Liabilities .- Capital stock, $125,000; unpaid dividends, $4,480; undivided profits, $3,890.56; liabilities of officers and directors, $15,504; total liabili- ties, $420,836.80.
Statement showing the number of miles of railroad, the assessed value- and the aggregate assessed value, in Johnson county, January 1, 1881, as assessed by the executive council, March 3, 1881:
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, number of miles, 16.05; assessed value per mile, $5,000; aggregate asssessed value, $80,250; Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, Iowa City division, number of miles, 19.59; assessed value per mile, $2,000; aggregate assessed value,
283
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
$39,180. Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, Muscatine division, number of miles, 7.06; assessed value per mile, $2,500; aggregate assessed value, $17,650. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, number of miles, 27.16; assessed value per mile, $12,600; aggregate assessed value, $342,216.
Statement showing the assessed value per mile and the aggregate assessed value in Johnson county of sleeping-cars not owned by the rail-" roads, January 1, 1881, as provided in chapter 114, acts of the Seventeenth General Assembly:
Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern, number of miles, 16.05; assessed value per mile, $50.00; aggregate assessed value, $802.50.
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, number of miles, 27.16; assessed value per mile, $100.00; aggregate assessed value, $2,716.00.
The State Auditor's table of the outstanding indebtedness of the several counties shows that Johnson county HAS NO DEBT; and forty other coun- ties of our State, are in the same happy condition of debtless blessedness.
COUNTY FINANCES .- 1881-82.
It would take a "picked nine" of Philadelphia lawyers to unravel all the riddles in the county records, and make a complete exhibit of the county finances for all the years. Of some years the records are well kept and very complete, while of other years they are poorly kept, blind, unex- plainable; and some records which should be in the court house are entirely missing, as shown from official authority, elsewhere in this work. But the last report of the county auditor, made January 2, 1882, and covering the fiscal year 1881-together with the treasurer's reports of January and June, 1882, will show the present state of the county funds. The auditor's report is very full and well itemized, as also are the reports for several years back. The general 'summary of this last report shows what kind of expenses the county has constantly to meet, and the total amount of each kind for that year, 1881:
COUNTY AUDITOR'S REPORT FOR 1881.
Balance on hand January 1, 1881 $ 18,385.31
Received from all sources. 177,085.91
Total
$195,471.22
Paid for all purposes.
$182,226.52
Balance on hand January 1, 1882. 13,244.80
Total
$195,471.22
SUBDIVISION A.
Paid on account of county $ 26,353.89
Paid on account of poor.
10,452.04
Paid on account of State. 11,658.53
Paid on account of schools
53,276.09
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Paid on account of school loans 4,750.00
Paid on account of insane
4,018.63
Paid on account of bridges.
15,727.75
Paid on account of township roads. 3,713.28
Paid on account of city taxes 21,057.42
Paid on account of W. & D. bonds.
3,596.87
Paid on account of Solon side-walk.
10.12
Paid on account of Orphans' home
516.62
Paid on account of school interest.
2,813.68
Paid on account of refundings.
50.63
Paid on account of Fremont drain
77.82
Paid on account of railroad taxes
24,153.11
Total
$182,226.52
SUBDIVISION B.
Court expenses .
$ 9,523.18
Township officers
3,129.90
County officers
4,272.39
Board of Supervisors
1,482.78
Janitor .
400.00
Livery.
145.20
Wolf bounty .
176.00
Taxes Poweshiek county ,
31.07
Delinquent tax list
364.00
Gas bills .
125.00
Printing, blank books, stationery
2,964.73
Fuel. ..
245.62
Publishing proceedings, etc.
1,251.92
Repairs court house.
635.00
Miscellaneous items, stone, etc.
1,607.20
Total.
$ 26,353.89
SUBDIVISION C.
Gross expenses of poor farm $ 4,067.62
Township trustees for care of poor.
83.50
Board of tramps and transportation
374.51
County physician and other physicians
433.70
Support of poor not in poor house.
4,642.82 .
Muscatine, Scott and Blackhawk counties for the sup- port of poor . .
535.94
Digging graves, and coffins for. pauper
170.03
Sundry minor bills
143.92
Total
$ 10,452.04
SUBDIVISION D.
District and circuit court jurors.
$ 2,860.00
Grand jurors
651.80
Reporters
478.00
Bailiffs 874.00
Prosecuting attorney
155.00
.
285
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Board of prisoners
1,660.00
Board of jurors ..
72.70
Grand jury witnesses
339.10
Fees in criminal cases
1,789.52
Sheriff's fees, salary, conveying prisoners
365.94
Jail expenses. .
109.81
Attorneys appointed by court.
74.00
· Sundry expenses, stationery, etc.
93.31
Total.
.
$ 9,523.18
RECAPITULATION.
Drawn on county fund.
$ 26,353.89
Drawn on poor fund.
10,452.04
Drawn on insane hospital fund.
4,018.63
Drawn for orphans' home fund.
516.66
Total
$ 41,341.22
COUNTY TREASURER'S REPORT OF 1881 .- RECAPITULATION.
Balance on hand January 1, 1882:
State.
$ 721.19
School.
894.92
Insane hospital
1,513.69
Bridge .
177.20
Teachers.
2,463.59
School house.
281.50
Contingent .
675.05
Township road .
376.63
School fund interest
285.33
Permanent school
9,679.00
Institute. .
64.50
Cemetery .
35.00
Drainage
139.39
Unclaimed fees.
70.90
War and defense bonds
20.23
Younkin judgment.
36.44
Muscatine Western Railway
9.54
Board of Health.
10.88
City general.
214.13
City bond interest.
91.85
City sinking
47.51
City sidewalk
20.59
County
$ 2,089.08
Poor.
2,480.44
Total cash on hand
13,244.70
$17,814.22 $17,814.22
Iowa City & Western Railway 12 per cent.
19.81
286
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
COUNTY TREASURER'S REPORT .- RECAPITULATION.
Balance on hand June 1, 1882:
County fund
$ 2,157.56
State fund . 2,005.29
School fund .
1,151.20
Insane hospital fund.
380.75
Bridge fund .
10,593.39
Teachers' fund .
3,827.65
School house fund
367.68
Contingent fund.
1,108.80
Township road fund.
447.52
School fund interest .
243.26
Permanent school fund
8,389.00
Institute fund .
64.50
Cemetery fund.
.35
Iowa City & Western Railway, 3 per cent fund.
20.75
Iowa City & Western Railway 13 per cent fund.
33.15
Drainage fund.
129.39
Unclaimed fees fund .
70.90
War and defense bonds fund .
1.68
Muscatine Western Railway fund .
9.54
Board of health fund
32.58
City general fund.
150.90
City bond interest fund
67.90
City sinking fund.
33.55
City poll fund
8.09
Poor fund.
$ 94.02
Refunded
117.34
Cash
31,083.21
$31,294.57 $31,294,57
The officers making the above report were A. Medowell, auditor, and C. M. Reno, treasurer, in 1881, and Hugh McGovern, treasurer in 1882.
TAX LEVY FOR 1882.
The following action of the county board, on September 8, 1882, serves to show in part, the present financial condition and tax requirements:
Resolved, That the auditor certify the tax list to the county treasurer, as provided by law:
For State revenue, two and one-half mills on each dollar valuation, and a poll tax of fifty cents.
For county fund, three mills on each dollar valuation.
For poor fund, one mill on each dollar valuation.
For school fund, one mill on each dollar valuation.
For insane hospital, one-half mill on each dollar valuation.
For bridge fund, two mills on each dollar valuation.
And it is further ordered, that for Iowa City corporate purposes there be levied as certified to this board by the city council of Iowa City as fol- lows, to-wit:
For general fund, ten mills on each dollar valuation.
Bond interest fund, three and one-half mills on each dollar valuation.
For sinking fund, two mills on each dollar valuation.
For macadam fund, one mill on each dollar valuation.
287
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
Also the several funds assessed by said city council upon certain lots and parcels of ground for sidewalks and repairs, together with the several delinquent poll taxes, and also a special tax for water works of three mills on each dollar valuation of certain lots and parcels of ground, etc. [Des- criptions here omitted.]
The following was adopted the next day, September 9:
Resolved, That the chairman of the board of supervisors be, and he is hereby authorized to borrow $3,000 for six months, for the use of the county.
The railroads do something toward paying the cost of running the county. They pay taxes for State and county purposes, as follows in Johnson county, in 1882:
L
Graham twp.
$692.03
Scott. 136.50
B. C. R. & N. ¿ Lucas.
168.90
Iowa City 805.44
Liberty 192.00
Total.
$1,994.87
Scott twp
$1,442.47
Iowa City 1,517.03
Lucas. 632.93
C. R. I. & P. { Coralville. .
565.53
Clear Creek
1,832.15
Oxford twp. 1,608.63
Oxford Village. 553.81
Total $8,152.56
Making a total paid by these roads $10,147.43, not including school taxes.
In the agricultural division of Chapter V., Part 2, in this volume, will be found sundry tables of real estate and personal property valuations, and the equalized value per acre, by townships.
The total valuation in 1882 was as follows: Realty, $5,563,686; personal, $2,093,318; railroad, $490,839. Total, $8,147,843.
288
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV .- PART 1.
Mound-Builders-Ancient Mounds-Indians-Etc.,-in Johnson County. MOUND-BUILDERS AND INDIANS.
Every place has a pre-historic history; and so has Johnson county. Relics of the ancient, pre-historic Mound-builder race of America are found in this county. The reader will naturally want to know who and what were these mysterious people. This is just what scientists have been trying to find out for fifty years past; and we can only say, " they are gaining on it." An eminent scientist, Prof. John S. Newberry of Ohio, delivered a lecture last winter (1881-82) before the Academy of Science of New York, on the ancient civilization of America; and he speaks thus of the Mound-builder peoples:
When the savages were pressed back by advancing civilization between the lakes and the Mexican gulf, it was discovered that they were not autochthonous, for mounds, caves, palaces and remains of cities showed the existence of a race that lived in the highest style of civilization. Inves- tigation and research by historians, geologists and archæologists have brought to light much concerning these wonderful people. They can be divided in two classes which, with local differences, are generally the same. One is the mound-builders, who dwelt in the fertile valley of the Missis- sippi, following a sedentary and peaceful life. Mounds built by them and instruments and pottery and copper ornaments made by them, have been discovered all through the Mississippi valley. They were miners, far - mers, raised tobacco, and remains of their oil wells still exist at Titusville, Pa. In numbers they probably equaled the inhabitants of the region at present and enough is known of their osteology to say they were of medium size, fair proportions, with a cranial development not unlike our red Indian. Their teeth were large and strong .* " They buried their dead with great ceremony. When and why, and how the mound-builder disappeared we do not know. Their ultimate fate was probably entire extinction. The second class of these early Americans was the palace- builders of the table-land, a class that was spread from Chili, on the south, to Utah, on the north, reaching their greatest degree of power and civiliza- tion in Central America, Mexico and Peru. The Incas and Montezumas were types of this race, and though when swept from the earth by the brutality of Pizarro and Cortez, their glory was already in its decadence, we can scarcely conceive of the extent of their magnificence. This Mexi- can and Peruvian era far surpassed anything in our day in the construc- tion of public works, roads, aqueducts, palaces and cities. The macadam- ized road that led from Callao to Lima exceeded in cost the Union Pacific railroad; and if all the forts within our borders were put into one, it would not equal the fortified structure that is yet to be seen on the Peruvian coast. Louis Hoffman, an engineer who was with Maximilian, has described the ruins of a large seaport town on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Central American country abounds in evidences of the Aztec race, and last winter many archæologists went thither, and from their labors we
*See a Johnson county specimen of jaw and teeth, at M. W. Davis' drug store, in Iowa City.
289
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
shall soon learn more of this wondrous people. Their origin is lost in antiquity. They may have come from the seed borne across the sea by Phoenician traders-perhaps they sprang from the fabled race of Atlantis. They were either indigenous or imported in an embryotic state from the oriental archæpelago-the latter the most likely.
Such is a brief summing up of facts regarding the human races that occupied this land prior to our modern Indian tribes. Of these latter we have history enough; but the former are properly pre-historic.
ANCIENT MOUNDS.
The pre-historic remains of an ancient race that once inhabited Johnson county in considerable numbers are fast passing away. Many mounds which were plainly visible when white men first came here are now entirely obliterated by being plowed down in cultivated fields or dug open by relic hunters, and in other ways; and fifty years hence there will scarcely be a mound left to prove that such evidences of a former race ever existed. From M. W. Davis, the druggist, and Col. S. C. Trow- bridge, we gather the following points:
There were mounds and evidences of an ancient town near Solon, in Big Grove township.
On section thirty-three in Liberty township there were about fifty mounds visible some twenty years ago, with trees a foot and a half to two feet in diameter growing on top of them.
On section three in Lucas township there were perhaps twenty mounds, some of which are still visible [August, 1882,] while others of them have disappeared. They are on land belonging to Lewis Englert's vineyard.
There are a considerable number of mounds on sections three and four in Lucas township, on land owned by Wm. Burger.
In Newport township, on section 27, there is a large group or neigh- borhood of mounds, probably fifty or more in number, and all situated on knolls or ridges, from which there is drainage every way. In 1863 and '64 Mr. Davis and others opened several of these mounds. They all con- tained human bones, arranged in such ways as to show that the body had been buried either in a sitting posture or lying down, but bent in the same way as for sitting; all had their faces toward the west; and all the skele- tons were found to have been covered with wood ashes from an inch to an inch and a half deep before the earth which formed the mound had been piled upon them. In one they found a malé skeleton which had a prodigiously large and powerful lower jaw, with a comparatively small cranium; these and some of the leg bones of the same individual Mr. Davis still has, preserved in his collection. They also found a child's skeleton, and with it a small jug or bottle. This was of a grayish-black colored earthenware, with a round body about three inches in diameter; on one side were some rude markings, as if a ring with two cross-lines and some dots had been drawn with a fine-pointed stick when the clay was
290
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
soft, and then straight marks made from the ring outward in one direction, and this is supposed to have been designed to represent the sun. The top of the vessel was narrowed to a neck, then a head fashioned on it which has some possible resemblance to a turtle's beak, and on one side a pout- lipped opening or spout; this was the only inlet or outlet to the vessel, the terminal hole being about the size of a man's finger. The vessel would hold about half a pint. Dr. B. H. Aylworth made a plaster cast of this rare relic, but Mr. Davis still has the original in his collection.
Every mother who has lost a dear child can picture to herself the prob- able story of this ancient earthen bottle, and realize with what sorrowful and teder care the pre-historic mother fashioned it with her own hands and placed it in her child's burial place, containing a supply of food or drink for its journey to the spiritual sun-land beyond the western sky.
The specimen is one of rare interest to the archæologist, as well as to the student of ethnology and æsthetic evolution in sentiment and art.
INDIAN TOWNS IN JOHNSON COUNTY.
When the first white settlers came to Johnson county there were three Indian villages within its bounds, all belonging to remnant bands of the once powerful Sac and Fox tribe. Poweshiek had a village right where David B. Cox, Esq., now resides, in Pleasant Valley township; and his sub-chief named Wapashashiek had a village about a mile further up the river. Another chief named Totokonock had a village in what is now Fremont township, near where Chas. Fernstrom now resides (1882). These were the Musquaka branch of the Sac and Fox tribe. Totokonock was Black Hawk's prophet, and prophesied success for him in the historic escapade known as "the Black Hawk war," although Keokuk at the same time prophesied failure. Poweshiek also refused to join in Black Hawk's war scheme. [The position of the Poweshiek and Wapashashiek villages may be seen on the diagram on page 207.]
THE OLD "FORT."
In the winter of 1837-3S there was a big scare both among the Indians and their few white neighbors, lest the hostile and warlike Sioux Indians should make a war visit down here to fight their ancient enemies of the Sac and Fox tribe. So the Indians got some of the white men to build them a "fort." Some persons who were knowing to the case have always claimed that the whole business of the "scare" and building the " fort" was a trick of some white men to find employment, in which they succeeded admirably. They took the contract to build the "fort" for the Indians, receiving a few ponies at the time as first payment, and taking the balance out of their government annuities when that was paid to the Indians. These men worked all winter cutting logs and splitting them, hauling them up and setting them endwise deep in the ground so as to make a sort of stockade inclosure. For this job they got $3,000 out of the
291
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
government annuities due the Indians. And we are assured that this is all there ever was to the so-called old "Indian fort." The Sioux didn't come, and our Indians made a feast of gratitude and sacrificed three dogs in token of their thankfulness to the Great Spirit for being saved from their enemies.
These Indians cultivated corn, beans, squashes, pumpkins and melons, all the work of cultivation being done by the women, on spots of light, sandy soil that could be easily worked with their rude hand-hoes. Hence, of course, they did not " plow deep." The women scraped green corn (partly boiled) off from the cobs with a clam-shell and dried it for winter use. Then when they boiled a dog or a muskrat and sprinkled a little of this dried corn into the soup, it made a very palatable and nourishing mess for those who could stomach it.
The women wove bark into sacks and baskets to preserve their dried corn and beans and dried meat in, so they could hang it up beyond the reach of the dogs. They also had a way of building a sort of outside cellar by digging a hole in a dry place, making an arch of strong slabs of bark, then piling dead leaves, bark and earth on top. And inside of this they could keep ripe corn and other provisions in strong baskets.
In the spring of 1839 Poweshiek moved up to the Dupont settlement in or on the west line of what is now Monroe township, and planted corn there. But many of his people were sick that fall and winter with ague, and some died. Wapashashiek had moved about the same time to their new agency and trading-post five miles below Marengo; and the follow- ing year Poweshiek's people went there also.
The new treaty which required these Indians all to move out of Johnson county had made them all subject to Keokuk as their head chief. ' This Totokonock refused to submit to, regarding it as a special indignity to himself and Black Hawk. Some of his band therefore went and joined the Poweshiek and Wapashashiek villages, while Totokonock himself and his personal adherents distributed themselves and went north and joined the Winnebago tribe.
In 1843 our ex-Johnson county Indians were all moved to Fort Des Moines, where a company of U. S. troops was stationed to guard the frontier; and on this occasion a party of Iowa City people went up to Marengo to see the Indians start. This party consisted of Hugh D. Downey, Dr. Metcalf and his niece, Miss Higgins, two Mrs. Robinsons (one of them now Mrs. Banberry), S. C. Trowbridge and Micajah T. Williams, who was then a visitor here from the east, but now (18$2) resides at Oskaloosa.
In 1845 and '46 most of the Sac and Fox Indians were removed to their reservation in Kansas; but a small remnant of them, or their half-breed descendants, still live in Tama county (1882), and have become civilized people.
292
HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY.
THE JOHNSON COUNTY CHIEFS.
POWESHIEK was originally one of the minor civil chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, who inherited their rank by birthright, but could not become war chiefs except by distinguished bravery and success in battle. He is supposed to have been born while his tribe or nation was settled along the banks of the Rock river, Illinois, and probably about the years 1787 to 1790, for he was reckoned to be of about the same age as Wapello, who was born at Prairie du Chien in 1787. When his tribe moved west of the Mississippi after the treaty of 1832, known in history as "the Black Hawk purchase," Poweshiek located on the Iowa river, and still remained here when most of the tribe went further southwest onto the Des Moines river; and Poweshiek's people received the name of the Musquaka band. If they had thrived and prospered, and grown powerful, they would have become in a few years an entirely new tribe or nation-for such is the law of evolution, and that is the way nations arise; but instead of that they dwindled away and became extinct, just as many of the mightiest nations of old times have done. The origin of this name, "Mus- quaka," is not entirely known; we find that the island opposite Muscatine was formerly occupied by these Indians, who called it Mus-qua-keen, and from this the name of Muscatine City originated and also the nickname of Poweshiek's band. Poweshiek was one of the chiefs who visited Wash- ington and other eastern cities in 1837, others being Keokuk, Black Hawk, Wapello, Appanoose, and over thirty other chiefs and braves, accompanied by Col. Geo. Davenport, of the Rock Island trading-post. In May, 1838, Gen. Joseph M. Street organized a party to explore the new purchase, and was accompanied by a band of thirty Musquaka braves under the command of Poweshiek.
When Col. S. C. Trowbridge first came to Johnson county, in 1837, Poweshiek's village stood where 'Squire Cox's residence is now standing in Pleasant Valley township, and Trowbridge became quite an intimate friend of the old chief. He says Poweshiek was a large, fat, lazy man, weighing about 250 pounds, and fond of whisky; often drunk. He had a strong sense of justice, and was brave, true to his word and faithful to a friend; his word was sacred; and any gift from a friend was kept with a sacred reverence bordering on superstition. He was rather slow to be aroused, but when fairly aroused to action, showed a great deal of energy and force of character, combined with a fair degree of executive talent and judicial faculty. His word was law in the two villages. He was, on the whole, rather a noble specimen of the American red man.
WAPASHASHIEK was a sub-chief under Poweshiek and was strictly just and honest like his head chief, and had the added virtue of being sober; saw the ruin which whisky was working among his people, and sturdily shunned it. He was a tall, thin, spare man; had far less executive talent and weight of character than Poweshiek; he managed his own vil-
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