USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization. > Part 12
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Railroad, which railroad is frequently referred to in the early discussions as the "Iowa Central" and as the "Air Line," and which, of course, had no rela- tion whatever to the Iowa Central as that name is now applied.
The Air Line was organized as Dubuque; and its proposal was to make that city the river point for this line as well as for the line which it was hoped later to build across the state in the latitude of 42 degrees and 30 minutes, where the Dubuque and Sioux City was originally built and the Illinois Central is now operated. The first and vital condition of this con- veyance by the state to the Air Line Railroad, was that the railroad company should actually construct a railroad from Dubuque to Cedar Rapids on or before the Ist of January, 1859. Concerning the initial arrangement with this company, there does not appear to have been any violent controversy, but the company in time proved itself not equal to the proposition under- taken; in other words, it was not able to work additional money out of the people or put up money of its own in amounts sufficient for actual construc- tion. It did about thirty miles of grading, but built no railroad. It had at its eastern terminal a practicable or at least possible connection with the Chicago and Galena Railroad that had already been built from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, and Dubuque political influence was strongly behind the enter- prise of pushing westward. Possibly, the difficulties of the Air Line may have been no more than those which are inevitably confronted by men who at first undertake a great enterprise in a new country; but the fact is that their time limit expired and their road was not built.
The management of the company, however, still had hopes, and they did not yield the field and their claims to the land grant at all readily. They quit-claimed the Air Line's title to the expired concession to a new company, known as the Dubuque, Marion and Western; and for the support necessary for the construction of the prospective railroad by this latter company a most determined political fight was made. People along the route, however, in the counties most concerned, had generally lost faith in the Air Line and in the men connected with it. At the same time, the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska company, with rather less influence but apparently more capital, and perhaps under more favoring conditions, was pushing a line westward from a point on the Mississippi-just below Lyons-and now known as Clinton, in the direction of Cedar Rapids. In the eyes of the people west of Cedar Rapids, and at Cedar Rapids for that matter, the actual money that was being put into this piece of road, talked; and gradually they became enlisted in the proposition of having the state revoke the conveyance to the Air Line and make a similar conveyance to the new company which should co-operate with the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska.
This sentiment culminated in the holding of a railroad convention for counties concerned, at Cedar Rapids, on the 13th and 14th of June, 1859. At this convention, there were delegations formally accredited from the counties of Linn, Benton, Tama, Marshall, Story and Greene. It would appear that Boone County should have been represented also, but it appears
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not to have had any man of sufficient enterprise actually to be there. The delegates accredited by Story County were T. C. McCall, W. J. Graham, John Scott, Samuel S. Statler, James Hawthorn, E. B. Potter, and George M. Maxwell. In fact, however, the men in actual attendance are understood to have been McCall and Hawthorn. Scott and Statler fully expected to be there, but they went first to Davenport to a meeting of the Masonic Grand Lodge and were prevented, by a washout, from getting back to Cedar Rapids in time for the railroad meeting. To McCall and Hawthorn, therefore, it actually fell, to represent the interests of the county in this meeting, and they manifestly did so effectively. McCall was a member of the committee to confer with the railroad representatives, and Hawthorn was elected a director of the new railroad.
The proceedings of this convention were quite fully published in the newspapers of the counties along the line, and the reports plainly indicated that the convention was conducted with much soundness of judgment and with a determination to reach results. Proposals to organize a new company were presented early in the discussion, but were side-tracked until the rep- resentatives of the different companies should be heard from. Such repre- sentatives were heard both in committee and by the convention as a whole. The report of the commitee was that the Iowa Central Air Line and its protege, the Dubuque, Marion and Western, were unable to present any plan for the actual construction of the road, but that the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska would submit a proposition if the occasion should offer. The Air Line people appear to have put up the best fight they could; but in the end, the sentiment was overwhelmingly for the organization of a new company. To this plan of operation, the eastern capitalists, who were backing the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska and at least one of whom became very con- spicious later as the chief promoter of the Union Pacific, apparently lent their hearty co-operation; so the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Railroad Company was formally organized, directors were nominated, their names in- cluded in Articles of Incorporation, and the articles adopted. The eastern capitalists, whose names headed the directory were John Bertran of Salem, Mass .; Oakes Ames of Boston; L. B. Crocker of Oswego; and John Went- worth and Chas. Walker of Chicago; and there was also one director for each county from Linn to Greene, the director for Story County, as before noted, being James Hawthorn.
This Cedar Rapids convention was the most important event in a busi- ness way, that the people of the central tier of counties in Iowa have had anything to do with. In the ultimate, the plans there formed worked out successfully. The claims of the Iowa Central Air Line to the government land grant, were by the general assembly declared to be forfeited, and the grant was in turn conveyed to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Com- pany. The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska, whose leading spirit appears to have been Oakes Ames, was in charge of men who had money and believed in the exploitation of the country beyond the Mississippi river; and the co-
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operation which it leant to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Company was always in good faith. The road was actually constructed by the com- pany which was organized for the purpose of its construction; and as it was gotten ready for operation, it was turned over to the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska, which operated it. About the time that the work was completed to the Missouri river, the whole enterprise was reorganized as a part of the Chicago & North-Western System. These results, however, were not at- tained without tribulation. The Air Line did not quit its political efforts merely because it had been beaten at Cedar Rapids. Its own hopes of con- structing the road in its own name were, of course, at an end when its time limit expired; but there was nothing in the way of its asking that the land grant be next tendered to the Dubuque, Marion and Western for which it stood sponsor, and the latter company put forth the best endeavors it could to give the appearance of being entitled to the preference.
Contemporary discussion, however, in papers at both Cedar Rapids and Dubuque indicates quite clearly that the Air Line was hopelessly insolvent ; and that one object, perhaps the main one, of its efforts in co-operation with the Dubuque, Marion and Western, was to protect the creditors of the Air Line, the arrangement being, apparently, that the Marion Company should assume the obligations of the Air Line in consideration of the relinquish- ment of the latter's claims to the land grant. What the people were con- cerned in, however, was the construction of a railroad, and to accomplish this, there were enough difficulties without having to take care of the creditors of an insolvent concern. When the matter came before the gen- eral assembly, the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Company, with its financial and popular support, prevailed over the broken down company from Dubuque and received the vote of the land grant. As before noted, the war intervened before the road was built, and the ultimate results of the Cedar Rapids convention were not realized so soon as had been hoped, but all proved to be well in due season.
But more striking even than the successful organization of what was to be part of the greatest trans-continental railroad, was the attainment by the people of the new county in the same year, and indeed in the same month of June, 1859, of the location of the Iowa State College. The contrast is not in the relative importance of the two achievements ; for it is hardly possible for anything to be more important to a community like Story than a great rail- road; but the railroad, or at least some sort of a railroad, was bound to come, while the college might have gone to any one of a great many other localities, and might indeed to have been expected almost certainly to go to some lo- cality in a more settled and better developed portion of the state. Very likely there were some favoring conditions that are not now very apparent; and indeed if there had not been some such conditions, it is impossible now to understand how success should actually have been achieved; but there certainly were no conditions pointing this way so strongly that the college and farm could have possibly been located here if there had not been most ex-
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ceptional and strenuous endeavors here to secure it. Conditions which may now be imagined to have been favoring were that under the constitution of the state which had been adopted in 1857, the state capitol had been fixed at Des Moines and the state university established at Iowa City. The eastern part of the state thus having what was expected to be the leading state educa- tional institution, and the most important county in the interior being rec- ognized with the state capitol, the location of the college and farm, if there were to be one, appears in a sense to have been something to be fairly con- tested for by the minor counties in the interior of the state. Indeed that seems to have been the view taken; for, as the matter of the location prog- ressed, the counties which proved to be the strongest contestants were Polk, Story and Hardin, Polk apparently insisting upon the now widely recognized principle that Polk county is entitled to anything it can get, and Hardin be- cause it really was in position to meet the conditions suggested.
Story county, in this critical time, seems to have been fortunate in hav- ing as its first member of the General Assembly elected from within its own borders, a young man who lived here long, and never afterwards filled any important office, but who always showed himself to be very persistent con- cerning matters to which he gave his attention. This young legislator was John L. Dana of Nevada, a young lawyer who had located here about 1856, and who in 1857 was elected the state representative for the counties of Story, Hardin and Grundy. It was during the ensuing session of the general assembly that the act was passed to recognize in an educational sense the dominant interest of the state by locating, with a view to ultimate establish- ment, an agricultural college and farm. However much or little Mr. Dana himself may have had to do with the passage of this bill, he certainly lost no opportunity to promote the location in this county of the institution which was thus proposed to be established.
The legislative act in question appropriated $10,000 for the purchasing of a farm and nominated a board of trustees, consisting of one member from each of the eleven judicial districts of the state, to conduct its affairs and make the location. A bonus was expected from the county that should act- ually secure the location; and in the ultimate, the determination became largely one of the generosity of this bonus. One of the trustees so appointed, doubtless at the instance of Mr. Dana, was E. G. Day of Story County and of Nevada, whose presence on the board was unquestionably a material factor in the ultimate determination. The question of securing the institu- tion, however, did not become an active one until the following Christmas on which day a public meeting was appointed at the court house in Nevada to give form and impetus to the enterprise. The meeting was very success- ful, and a committee, consisting of W. G. Allen, J. L. Dana, T. C. McCall, John Scott, and Judge E. C. Evans, was appointed to represent the interests of the county before the locating board. To back the committee properly, George A. Kellogg, then county judge, was petitioned to call an election for the purpose of voting $10,000 bonds in aid of the college, which election was
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held on the 7th of February, 1859, and resulted almost unanimously in favor of the bonds. Concerning all that happened between this time and the actual vote of the trustees making the election, there is much obscurity ; but the Story County people very soon found out that the $10,000 alone would not secure the institution.
It became, therefore, a matter of necessity to support the public donation with private liberality, and such support was, in fact, very generously given ; although the individual resources of the people at the time were undoubtedly limited. The support thus given, however, was not yet sufficient for the pur- pose, and it is known that Mr. Dana reached Dan McCarthy's one evening from Des Moines, with the advice that, "Something more had got to be done." Just what more, and how much more, was done, and how it was accomplished, it would be difficult now accurately to tell, but somehow, the conditions were met, and the choice which had seemed to be almost certain to be in favor of Hardin or Polk was ultimately made in favor of Story by a vote of six to four. In the endeavors to reach a favorable conclusion, the private donations of the Story County people had been pushed above the donation of the county as a whole. The entire amount of both public and private donations exceeding $21,000. The donation and the activity of the citizens, however, were not the whole case in favor of the location that was finally made. In the act for establishing the institution, it had been specified that there should be variety of soils and of other conditions so that the farm to be located should be typical of as many different sections and interests of the state as possible. As a matter of fact, the ground chosen is exceptional for Story County in the variety of its local conditions. The ponds which were originally so numerous in various parts of the county, are not notice- able in that immediate vicinity. There was timber and prairie, bottom land and up land, a considerable stream and abundant water supply. The condi- tions of the act were fully met, and the enterprise of the people was very exceptional.
In this connection, it is to be observed that the effort to secure the college and farm was strictly a county matter and not a west side proposition. The local division which had been apparent among the squatters at the first elec- tion for the organization of the county, had entirely disappeared, and the committee which was appointed to represent the county was wholly a Nevada committee. The fact that from such beginnings and under such management, the institution should have been located on the west side of the county has been sometimes a matter of wonderment. Certainly it has appeared to show a spirit of unselfishness in the county seat, and also it has suggested an ap- parent lack of foresight on the part of citizens of the county seats. The facts appear to warrant the conclusion that the Nevada men acted in the matter with the best judgment that was possible and from most commendable motives ; although the truth undoubtedly does stand out that, by their action, they made it possible later on for a rival town to get started.
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Two conditions operated against the hopes which were undoubtedly en- tertained to have the college and farm located in the immediate vicinity of Nevada. One was that the country around Nevada was too flat and had too many ponds and did not offer the required variety of soil. The other was that Story County, in its endeavors to secure the institution, was receiving some important political support from Boone County, and that this sup- port was conditioned upon the institution being located in that portion of Story County which was most accessible to the people of Boone County. Also, Nevada had from the beginning of the county, up to that time been so nearly the whole thing in all the general affairs of the county, and the matter of eight, ten or fifteen miles was yet regarded so lightly by the people in the estimating of neighborhood relations, that probably it did not very seriously occur to the people here that the institution they were securing within ten miles could reasonably be regarded or regard itself as other than a Nevada institution. At any rate, the people of Nevada went heartily into the enterprise, pushed the vote of public funds and the sub- scription of private funds, and gave their most earnest and successful polit- ical endeavors toward the location of the college and farm in Story County.
The decision to locate the college had been indicated by a vote of the trustees on the 21st of June, 1859, and was formally entered on the follow- ing day, the 22d. The news, of course, spread rapidly in the vicinity of the prospective institution, and public interest in the institution became very alert in both Story and Boone Counties. The first manifestation of this interest was an almost spontaneous agreement to hold on the location selected a celebration of the approaching Fourth of July. The consequence was the holding on what is now the college campus of the most notable cele- bration, up to that time in the county, of National Independence. It was, of course, before the days of railroads, and the only transportation to the place was by wagon or on horseback; but the people of Boone and Story Counties both took proper interest, and especially the people of Nevada and Boonsborough. Very numerous delegations went from both towns, and were joined from all about, by as great a concourse of people as the population of the country would warrant. Showers fell while the delega- tions were on their way, but nothing dampened their ardor, and they ar- rived in full force at the scene, the Nevada delegation arriving before that from Boonsborough.
The celebration was organized with James Phelan of Boone as presi- dent, and the Declaration of Independence was read by Paul A. Queal of Nevada. John A. Hull of Boonsborough was orator of the day, and Col. Scott of Nevada, the other principal speaker. While this speaking was in progress, a picnic dinner was being spread, which was very greatly enjoyed, as such occasions are supposed to be enjoyed. Following the dinner, there were toasts to "The Day We Celebrate," by John A. Hull; "The American Flag," by Mr. Guinn of Boone; "The Memory of Washington," by John Scott of Nevada; "The Heroes of the Revolution," by P. A. Queal; "The
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State Agricultural College and Farm," by J. L. Dana; "The President of the United States (Buchanan)," by J. S. Frazier; the "Army and Navy," by Jeremiah Marks of Nevada, who was also marshal of the day; "Our Mothers and Sisters," by R. D. Coldren of Story; "The Hawkeye State," by Mr. Ballinger of Boone, the father, we suppose, of the lately retired Secretary of the Interior, in President Taft's Cabinet; "The Commissioners of the Farmers' College." by E. G. Day; "The Farmers of Iowa," by Mr. Foster of Boone; "The Rising Generation, the Hope of the World, and a Mighty Sure Crop in the Hawkeye State," by Prof. Brunning of Boons- borough.
This celebration was a great success. The common rejoicing over the securing of the college serving doubtless to ameliorate political asperities of the time. The chairman of the committee on arrangements at this celebration was Dan McCarthy of Washington Township, whose special pleasure and honor it was fifty years afterwards, as will later be noted, to be president of the day and general master of ceremonies at a Fourth of July celebration on the same ground in 1909. At this celebration, the orator was John A. Hull, Jr., of Boone, son of the orator of fifty years before, and a very great multitude from Story and Boone Counties joined with quite a number of the original celebrators in the felicitations over the event of July 4, 1859.
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CHAPTER XI.
COUNTY AFFAIRS BEFORE THE WAR-(CONTINUED).
The politics of the county, as has been before noted, was in the first instance, strictly local, and Skunk River Township, with its 37 votes out- voted Indian Creek Township with its 27 votes in the original county elec- tion, held on April 4, 1853. Elections in those days came on quite fre- quently, and the next election was held in August of the same year, with apparently not so much of controversy, and consequently with a smaller vote; for notwithstanding the fact that unquestionably many settlers had, in the meantime, come into the county, less than 60 votes were cast for any office, and the successful candidates were John J. Zenor for sheriff; Otho French for surveyor; R. H. Robinson for coroner; Adolphus Prouty for drainage commissioner and Stephen P. O'Brien for school fund com- missioner. Of these officers elected, Zenor and O'Brien were west-siders, while French, Robinson and Prouty were east-siders. In the following April, there was another election for school fund commissioner, and T. E. Alderman was elected over S. P. O'Brien by a vote of 59 to 43. In August of 1854, Judge Evans was again elected county judge over Adolphus Prouty by a vote of 66 to 36. Austin Prouty defeated Nathaniel Jennings for clerk by 58 to 51, and E. H. French was elected without opposition both prose- cuting attorney and surveyor. In August of 1855, Evans was again elected county judge by 198 votes to 40 for J. H. McLain, and 12 for J. P. Robin- son; J. C. Moss also had a large majority for county treasurer, as did D. J. Norris for surveyor, and R. Hackley for coroner, but Zenor for sheriff, had only six majority over Geo. Child. In April, 1856, E. G. Day was elected clerk. practically without opposition; John J. Bell was elected school fund commissioner over S. S. Webb, both being democrats. In August of the same year, Wm. Thompson defeated E. G. Day for clerk, and J. S. Frazier was elected prosecuting attorney. In April, 1857, Isaac Romaine was elected county assessor over W. G. Allen, and T. E. Alderman and I. T. Evans had a tie vote for drainage commissioner, while J. W. Cessna was elected coroner over W. G. Boswell, by a small majority. In this year the new constitution of the state was adopted, and the practice of holding two elections a year was discontinued, save that there was a special elec- tion for school superintendent, in the spring of 1858. Prior to that time,
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however, in August, 1857, Geo. A. Kellogg had been elected county judge over E. B. Fenn, Judge Evans not being this time a candidate. Wm. Lockridge was elected recorder and treasurer over Ed. Schoonover. Geo. Child was elected sheriff over W. B. Sweeney, and R. H. Mitchell was elected surveyor over D. J. Norris. Kellogg and Lockridge were dem- ocrats, and their party was gradually getting control of the county, the original rivalries of personal preference yielding to those of political align- ment. In the April election of 1858, this political condition was further manifested in the election'of Geo. M. Maxwell as superintendent of schools by 331 votes to 289, for A. G. Shaw, republican; and in the October fol- lowing, S. S. Webb, democrat, was elected clerk over D. P. Ballard by 339 to 319. These were both clear cut democratic victories, and there was no mistaking the political situation in the county.
In 1859, however, there came the closest and hardest political fight that was ever engaged in by the two leading political parties of the county. Both sides put up strong candidates, particularly for the more important offices. The republicans again nominated Evans for judge and the dem- ocrats renominated Kellogg. The democrats nominated Sam S. Statler for treasurer, he being then deputy under Lockridge; and the republicans nominated T. J. Ross, who was a young merchant at Iowa Center. The republicans renominated Geo. Child for sheriff and the democrats nominated H. B. Young. Also there was the warmest kind of a legislative fight. The senatorial district then consisted of Hardin, Story, Hamilton and Boone Counties, and the representative district, of Story and Hamilton. The legislative conventions of both parties were held at Nevada, and the situation here in the county was thoroughly developed. The republican nominee for senator was John Scott of Story County; the democrat nomi- nee, Henry B. Huff of Hardin. The representative candidates were S. B. Rosenkranz of Hamilton and W. J. Graham of Story. The candidates for governor that year were Samuel J. Kirkwood on the republican side, and Augustus Caesar Dodge, the last territorial delegate and one of the first senators of the state and always an idol of democracy, on the other side. The time was one of intense political excitement everywhere, and Mr. Thrall's endeavor to hold down the political discussions through the columns of his paper, were only moderately successful.
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