USA > Iowa > Muscatine County > History of Muscatine County, Iowa, from the earliest settlements to the present time, Volume I > Part 49
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They became involved in the speculative fever of those wild days and had a short career. Colonel Isett, to avoid bankruptcy proceedings, went to Montreal to make his home and spent the remainder of his life there, returning to Muscatine but once for a brief visit.
William C. Brewster, his partner in 1861, became the first cashier of the Merchants' Exchange Bank upon the reorganization of that concern but soon moved to Davenport, where he made his home for some years. He subsequently went to New York, became a director in the Second National Bank, and finally organized and was the first president of the Plaza Bank, one of the most success- ful of the smaller uptown banks. His death occurred in New York in 1900.
ABBOTT, DUTTON & PATTERSON.
Abbott, Dutton, & Patterson were banking in Muscatine for a short time. Their business was merged in 1859 into that of the Muscatine branch of the State Bank of Iowa, A. O. Patterson, who was also a lawyer, having been a member of the state senate at the date of the passage of the bill incorporating the State Bank of Iowa. Mr. Patterson became the first president of the Mus- catine branch and J. W. Dutton became its cashier.
Chester Weed was the first president of the bank, which included all the branches : Davenport, Lyons, Dubuque, McGregor, Council Bluffs, Des Moines. Iowa City, Muscatine, Washington, Mt. Pleasant, Burlington, Fort Madison and Keokuk.
Messrs. Patterson & Dutton were not conservative bankers and the Muscatine branch was soon in trouble and they were compelled to resign. Because of their bad management, but without any reflection whatever upon his character, ca- pacity or management, Mr. Weed, feeling humiliated, resigned his position as president of the State Bank and Hiram Price, who became a member of con- gress from the second district, was elected president in his place. He continued as president of the State Bank of Iowa until its existence was terminated by the imposition of the federal tax upon circulating notes of state banks.
Hon. William F. Brannan was one of the original directors of the Muscatine branch and is the only man now living who was connected with the bank at its organization.
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Asbury O. Warfield was the first elected cashier of the Muscatine branch but refused to accept the appointment.
Mr. Patterson, who in 1860 lived on the place so long owned by Fred Daut on Mulberry street, went to Pike's Peak in that year and Mr. Dutton went back to Illinois. Charles H. Abbott became Colonel of the Twenty-fourth Iowa Regi- ment and gave his life to his country.
AFTER FAILURE OF BANK.
After the failure of Greene & Stone in 1861 and Mr. Stone's removal to Chicago, John B. Dougherty was elected president of the Muscatine branch, re- maining in that position until January, 1869. Mr. Dougherty will be remembered as a man of high character, great dignity and sound judgment. Joseph Richard- son, formerly in the bank of Greene & Stone, returned to Muscatine and was elected cashier to succeed Mr. Harbach. He served the bank and its successor, the Muscatine National, until January, 1869, when he was made president of the National Bank and died while on a visit to his old home in Massachusetts in the summer of 1869, a young man in his thirty-eighth year.
It may be due to the immaturity of my judgment at the time but I look back upon Mr. Richardson with a feeling that he was as good a banker as I have known. He had a wide and accurate knowledge of his business, was tactful, ready and resourceful in every emergency. He was banking in a bad time-from 1864 to 1869-when values were apparently depreciating as the resumption of specie payments was approaching. I remember distinctly the severity with which he spoke of the passage of the Legal Tender Act of 1862, and of the predictions which he made of disaster resulting therefrom. I have lived to see how sound and true he was. From this act have sprung all our currency ills, the greenback and free silver coinage crazes, and we have only just got back to the gold basis and a sound standard. One thing remains to be done to complete our currency reform-the retirement of the legal tender notes.
The Muscatine was the first of the branches of the State Bank to change into a national bank. This it did early in 1865. The other branches gradually fol- lowed its course.
MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE.
After Colonel Isett took up his residence in New York, the firm of Isett & Brewster was merged into the Merchants' Exchange Bank, which a little later became the Merchants' Exchange National Bank and is now the First National Bank. Peter Jackson was the first president of this bank and William C. Brew- ster its first cashier. Mr. Brewster's resignation and removal from the city soon came and S. G. Stein became president and Mr. Jackson cashier.
I entered the Muscatine branch of the State Bank of Iowa, a boy, early in 1864. My first duty in those days was the sorting of the bills of state banks which came to the bank in the regular course of its business. They were issued by the hundreds of banks in all sections of the country. All these notes were at a discount, those of New York and New England at one rate; those of the state banks of Indiana and Ohio at another, and others at still different rates, and all
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these rates were fluctuating from day to day. Telegrams from Chicago announc- ing failures and changes were frequently received and resorting became neces- sary. There were hundreds of counterfeits and altered notes in circulation. The rate paid for exchange on New York and Chicago was high and the business men of today have little idea of the cost of those days of banking privileges.
The directors of the Muscatine branch in 1865 were Jacob Butler, Chester Weed, John B. Dougherty, S. Douglas Viele and Joseph Richardson; of the Merchants' Exchange Bank, Simon G. Stein, William H. Stewart, R. M. Bur- nett, William C. Brewster, Charles Page, D. C. Richman, Henry W. Moore, Peter Jackson and I. L. Graham. Can you find fourteen better men in Musca- tine county today ?
S. Brewster of Cook, Musser & Company entered the office of Isett & Brew- ster soon after I did that of the Muscatine branch. He is the Nestor of banking in Muscatine and has been longer continuously in that business I believe than any man in the state. These two banks served the whole country. Their aggre- gate deposits at no time exceeded $450,000.
BANK AT WILTON.
Joseph L. Reed, of Wilton, started the next bank in the county in his own town. He had been a successful stock and grain merchant and felt the need of banking facilities in his own business. Then followed a bank at West Liberty, later another at Wilton, then the Louisa County National Bank at Columbus Junction and Mark Davidson at Wapello.
After the death of Mr. Richardson in 1869, Jacob Butler was elected presi- dent of the Muscatine National Bank. Mr. Butler moved to Chicago early in 1873 and took an interest in and became vice president of the Marine Company, of which Jonathan Young Scammon was president. This bank became embar- rassed by the bad management of its president in the panic of that year. Mr. Butler made strenuous efforts to correct this management but was unable to do so. By reason of this loss and through the shrinkage of values in property owned by Mr. Butler in Chicago, he became embarrassed and as a result of his em- barrassment, illness and death soon followed.
In the meantime Alexander Jackson had become a director, to succeed his brother-in-law, Mr. Viele, who died while a director in the bank.
In those early days I had no keener enjoyment than to listen on the rainy days and the cold blustering days of winter, to the stories told around our big stove in the rear of the bank by these old settlers, our directors. They had had experiences which they enjoyed telling, of queer characters that lived in still earlier days whom they would caricature and whose weaknesses and strong points they loved to bring out.
MEN WERE TRAINED.
I should fail to do justice to Messrs. Joseph A. Greene, George C. Stone, Joseph Richardson, Thomas M. Isett and William C. Brewster did I not repeat the names of other bankers whom these men trained, many of whom went out
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into other and some to larger fields. Howard M. Holden became cashier of the First National Bank at Washington, Iowa, and later president of the First Na- tionel Bank of Kansas City, Missouri; William H. Hubbard became cashier of the First National Bank of Iowa City; John Kerr, head of the firm of Kerr & Company, and president of the First National Bank of Leavenworth, Kansas; Joseph B. Cass, of the firm of O. D. Cass & Company, of Denver ; John Farns- worth, of Kimbell & Farnsworth, at Cresco, Iowa; Shepard Farnsworth became cashier of the First National Bank of Council Bluffs ; and Henry B. Cragin, who became a large and successful merchant of Chicago.
I became cashier of the Muscatine National Bank in January, 1869, and in November, 1879, president of the Merchants' National Bank of Kansas City. Associated with me at the time I enlisted the Muscatine branch of the State Bank was Charles A. Eggert, who became professor of modern languages in the State University of Iowa.
Among those who served with me were the late Jacob Negley, who became cashier of a bank in Pittsburg, and the late Alfred B. Brown; one of the sound- est and best of men. Of the boys who began their careers in the bank are Will- ard R. Greene, son of Joseph A. Greene, the pioneer banker of the city, and Frank Jackson.
STRONG AND ABLE MEN.
My mind has been so full while writing this that I have had to discard very much that might be of interest to the Muscatiner of today, who is interested in his town. I know of no city anywhere that can show a list of greater or bet- ter men than Muscatine had in the early days. Can they be matched anywhere? -Jacob Butler, Stephen Whicher, Alden B. Robbins, Ralph P. Lowe, Samuel Foster, Jonathan E. Fletcher, Henry O'Connor, William G. Woodward, Adam Ogilvie, Dr. James S. Horton, Chester Weed, Joseph A. Greene, Henry W. Moore, Colonel S. G. Hill, George C. Stone, Thomas M. Isett, David R. War- field, A. M. Burnett, George Reeder. I love to think of these men and of John B. Dougherty, John G. Gordon, Richard Musser, Benjamin Hershey, Simon G. Stein, James Weed, James Jackson, Pliny Fay and Cyrus Hawley.
I speak the names of these and many others, some still this side the grave, with respect and reverence. Many of them might not take high rank as success- ful men in these days of high pressure, but they were all gentlemen, men of character, many of education and fine mental equipment. I hope some day to see a good history written of the State Bank of Iowa. Its memory deserves perpetuation. It is to the credit of the Merchants' branch at Davenport that it redeemed in gold all its outstanding notes when gold was selling at a very large premium. Major Hoyt Sherman, of Des Moines, ought to undertake this mono- graph. He is one of the few men left in the state who had much to do with the making of the bank.
CHAPTER XXI.
TRANSPORTATION.
BUILDING OF THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILROAD-OF THE MISSIS- SIPI & MISSOURI RAILROAD-FIRST TRAIN INTO MUSCATINE AND GRAND CELE- BRATION OF THE EVENT-OTHER RAILROADS-THE STREET RAILWAY.
The transportation facilities of Muscatine county are most excellent. Na- ture already had placed at her hand the far famed Mississippi and then came the stage routes. But wonderful, indeed, was the era that opened the world and its marts to the new and growing city by the advent of the railroad. To- day, five lines enter the county, three of them the seat of government, and the future holds flattering possibilities for others. In another chapter graphic and interesting details are given of the early days on the "Father of Waters" and in this chapter descriptions of the pioneer "stage days" and the celebration of the first train of cars over the Rock Island railroad into Muscatine is portrayed in all its unique details, the former by the late Judge J. Scott Richman and that of the railroad by a versatile writer of the Journal of 1855.
EARLY STAGE COACHES.
"We need but to compare the ease and rapidity of a ride upon a railroad car and in the carriages of the day, with a ride in one of the stage coaches or the horseback and wagon rides of the early time. I use the word coach advisedly here, for although some who were not particular used to call the early stage coaches 'mud wagons,' it was settled in a trial before a territorial court, that any vehicle mounted on thorough braces was a coach. You will, some of you, recall the kind of thorough braces used by Frink & Walker. Beers & St. John improved upon the first public conveyances, and we all felt considerably elated over the arrival of some fine new Troy coaches, in which passengers were in- vited to ride. But when the railroad was built and the cars commenced run- ning, Beers & St. John and Frink & Walker, who succeeded them, and all other stage men commenced going westward, and they have been driven back step by step, just as the Indians have ever since, and there will soon be no abiding place for them." The Enquirer of issue September 7, 1850, published the following : "We learn from the traveling public that Frink & Company are now running a daily line of express coaches from Rock Island to Dixon, seventy miles, in twen- ty-four hours. The coaches are said to be the best medium for indigestion now patented, and the horses have one excellent peculiarity. Their bodies offer no
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impediment to the sunshine and afford the traveler the study of the osseous structure of the animal. How long will the public bear the impositions of these monopolies of one means of inland travel? We further learn that a train of cars from 'Alton into Buffalo on the 20th ult. with one thousand passengers made the trip of three hundred and twenty-five miles in twenty-two hours. Why trav- elers will bear these gross impositions is a mystery. These two lines are links in the route of all our eastern travel and a remedy of the evils should be sought by those interested. A little opposition is sometimes helpful."
From the above one can readily conjecture that the country was preparing - itself for better things in the way of transportation of its goods and chattels and its people. There is no doubt but what the settlers were in the proper mood for a change and it was not long before it came. Of course at that time Mus- catine had a great line of packets and its long line of stage coaches that when ready to start on their various journeys would fill the avenue from Front to Third streets; and there were no stage drivers in Knoxville, one of the termini of a stage route, or anywhere else, who could do such artistic swearing as the Muscatine "whips." The great events in those days were the arrival of the pack- ets, which drew the whole town to the river front, and the coming of the big stage coaches, which brought everybody to the old American House. In those days all Muscatine was curious to see everybody who was to make a home in her midst. The stage coach was in evidence for some time after the advent of the railroad, for in 1858 McChesney's line of coaches was still in operation, con- necting daily "with the cars at Ononwa (now Lettsville) for Grand View, Wapello, Dodgeville, and at Columbus City to Washington, Brighton, Sigourney and Oskaloosa."
THE RAILROAD.
The Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company, by special charter granted by the legislature of Illinois in 1851, was incorporated and a few months there- after work of construction was begun and in August, 1854, the road was com- pleted, the event being made the occasion of a grand celebration. The people of the Mississippi valley hailed the new road as a link uniting them with the outside world. On every side settlements at once began to spring up along the line and the tide of civilization moved steadily westward. Today, with its numerous connections cobwebbing the state of Iowa and other great common- wealths, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad is a part and parcel of one of the greatest transportation systems in the world, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific coast.
In 1852 the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company was incorporated in Iowa with power to build and operate a railroad from the eastern line of the state of Iowa by way of Des Moines to Council Bluffs on the Missouri river. The Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company was organized January 1, 1853; the capital stock was $6,000,000. Each share of the par value was $100. Its franchise was for fifty years. Five per cent of the stock subscribed was to be paid down and the remainder in installments of not more than twenty per cent of the full amount at intervals of not less than three months. The amount of the indebtedness to be incurred was limited to $4,000,000. Jolin A. Dix,
MUSCATINE DEPOT
OLD STREET CAR BARN OF MUSCATINE CITY RAILWAY COMPANY. SOUTHWEST CORNER THIRD AND MULBERRY STREETS
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afterward the war governor of New York, was elected president. In Sep- tember, 1853, the first ground was broken for the road. The first passenger train left Davenport on the 22d of August, 1855. The litigation over the Rock Island bridge rolled up an immense expense account, to such an extent as to involve the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company and it failed to meet its
guarantees. The Chicago & Rock Island assumed the responsibility, paying interest and principal. In 1866 the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company failed to meet the mortgages given to secure the payment of moneys borrowed and expended in its construction. Its land also lapsed through inability to exe- cute its provisions. The mortgages were foreclosed and the property pur- chased by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Company of Iowa, a corporation formed under the organization of the Chicago & Rock Island Railroad Company. On the 20th of August, 1856, the Illinois and Iowa companies consolidated under the name of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. The main line thus connected extended from Chicago to Rock Island in Illinois, and from Daven- port to Kellogg, within forty miles of Des Moines, the former 1811/2 miles, the latter 131 miles. The Oskaloosa branch extended from Wilton Junction, by way of Muscatine, to Muscatine, and was fifty miles in length. During 1867-9 the main line was extended through Des Moines to Council Bluffs, 186 addi- tional miles, the entire line being open to traffic in June, 1869.
The main line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific passes through the townships of Fulton, Wilton, Moscow, Goshen and Wapsinonoc. For years the southwestern branch of the road branched off at Wilton, running to Muscatine and thence to the southwest. It now follows the river from Davenport to Muscatine. The line from Wilton to Muscatine is still continued.
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad passes through the western tier of tonwships, Orono, Pike and Wapsinonoc. At West Liberty it crosses the main line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. A branch of this road, built as the Muscatine Western, runs from Muscatine west intersecting the main line at Nichols. It passes through Bloomington, Lake and Pike town- ships. In the construction of these roads voted large sums of money and the city of Muscatine was also very liberal in that respect. In the fall of 1901, the construction of the Milwaukee cut-off was commenced, and in December, 1901, the track laying was finished from Muscatine to Conesville, a distance of seventeen miles. By June 1, 1903, regular trains were running on this new and important line.
MUSCATINE NORTH & SOUTH RAILWAY.
September 30, 1897, the contract was let for the building of this short line of railroad and the work of construction was begun in August of the following year. January 10, 1899, the road was opened for business and trains com- menced running across the new line, which at that time extended twenty-eight miles from Muscatine to Erick Junction, where connections could be made for Oskaloosa, Marshalltown, Mason City, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and now it will but but a short time before an extension of the road which has been build- ing, will be completed to Burlington. This is a line of no small importance to Muscatine, as it taps a fine section of country between Burlington and Musca-
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tine, over which a great deal of freight is hauled from Chicago, and the pas- senger traffic is increasing from day to day.
CITIZENS RAILWAY & LIGHT COMPANY.
Plans were laid in 1882 for the building of a street railway in Muscatine. The city had grown to the proportions necessary for rapid transit and in 1883 a company was organized for the purpose of constructing and operating a rail- way, and the following officers were elected: Peter Musser, president ; George Dillaway, vice president; T. R. Fitzgerald, secretary; Orange Chapman, superintendent.
The road was built according to plans and on September 11, 1883, there were something over two miles of tracks in the city and the first car was run over the line. The motive power was of mule and horse flesh. Since that time a number of changes have taken place, both in the personnel of the men owning the utility, the physical conditions of the concern and the power used for locomo- tion. As the city grew in numbers and importance, its citizens desired being up with its neighbors in the matter of street car service. May 29, 1893, saw a change. Mules were discarded for electricity and on the day above mentioned the present electric, or trolley system was inaugurated. At this time the Citi- zens Railway & Light Company serves the city in a three-fold capacity. It furnishes the people its gas, electricity for light and power and street railway service, doing it in a manner that meets with no complaint.
It is difficult to realize at this distant day the state of feeling of the pioneer settler of Muscatine when the first iron steed came thundering over the Iowa prairie, cutting time to an unheard of degree and connecting the embyro city with the great marts of the world. Some of those who saw the first train ap- proach the town were not treated to anything new, as they were from the east and a locomotive and a train of cars were no novelty to them. But most of the settlers looked upon the monster iron horse for the first time in their lives and were truly amazed. Every one witnessed the innovation in transportation with the utmost degree of pleasure and renewed hopes for the future. They could see the vast possibilities made certain by this new means of travel and con- veyance to market for the products of their farms; and the occasion of cele- brating the arrival of the first train of cars, ever seen in the state of Iowa within the confines of Muscatine, was made a joyous one. The Journal, then published by J. W. Logan and C. H. Wilson, reported the celebration and as a matter of history it is deemed proper to reprint the account of the festivities as it appeared, word for word. The article here follows :
THE CELEBRATION.
Tuesday was introduced amid a sea of mist and rain. Above, the heavens were arrayed in a shroud of gloom, and beneath, the earth presented one mag- nificent mass of mud. It was a day above all others best calculated to dampen the spirits and chill the ardor of our citizens, and doubtless succeeded in keep- ing hundreds at home, who had every preparation made to spend a joyous day
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in our city. Pardon us if we say that the mist, mud and rain were much in greater abundance than should have been visited upon our heads were our sins mountain high compared with those of any other city in the land. In spite of all opposition of this sort, our streets were thronged with citizens at an early hour, active in preparing for the reception of the guests of the city. Guests from our neighboring inland towns arrived during the morning and indeed, such was the condition of the roads leading into our city from all parts of the state that many were unable to reach us before the evening. At twelve o'clock First street, in the vicinity of the Ogilvie House, and that spacious edifice were thronged with strangers, together with almost the entire population of our city. They were there to witness the advent into our city of the First Train of Cars ever run in the State of Iowa, one of the most sublime triumphs of mind over matter that perhaps the history of the world records. It was an event that can never have its parallel in Iowa. It inaugurated the railroad era of our state, the beginning of a period in our history from which the present and future gen- erations will ever date. From this event civilization with all its attendant bless- ings of religion, the arts and sciences, literature and commerce, will start apart in the great work of redeeming, purifying and saving the world. Can it, in all its vastness of interest and importance, be justly and wholly appreciated? At one o'clock the welcome "snort" of the Iron Horse announced the approach of the cars. They came, six of them, drawn by the new locomotive, "Muscatine," gracefully and proudly, ornate with the ensigns of our country, the glorious stars and stripes, and crowded with the invited guests and many others who en- thusiastically united in the general rejoicing. They arrived amid the stentorian shouts of the assembled people and the soul stirring strains of music which threw a charm into the moment beyond the power of language to describe. Immediately thereafter the guests were welcomed by the mayor of our city, J. H. Wallace, in the following beautiful and appropriate address.
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