USA > Iowa > Story County > History of Story County, Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization. > Part 31
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In this case, the bonus to be looked after was mainly the swamp lands of the county. The congressional grant to the state for aid in construc- tion of the railroad on or near the line of the 42d parallel had, in due time, been declared forfeited as to the Iowa Central Air Line, and had been tendered formally to the Cedar Rapids and Missouri River Company ; but, in addition to this grant, there had been conveyed first by the government to the state, and afterwards by the state to the counties concerned, the swamp lands that might be in the counties of the state. Story County hav- ing been in the early days and before the time of tile and up to the time of tile drainage, more than an ordinarily swampy country, its share of swamp lands was perhaps more than the ordinary amount; but, of course, the county had not yet developed to the point where the higher and more readily tillable lands were by any means exhausted, and the value that therefore was put upon the swamp lands, was not very great. Whatever
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the value of the lands may have been, however, the railroad company de- sired the same, and following the survey north of Nevada it was given to be understood that if Nevada wanted the railroad, it must induce the county to convey the swamp lands as consideration therefore. The propo- sition was regarded much in the nature of a bluff, but the people of Ne- vada though it wiser not to call the bluff, and the people of the county sustained them in their position. Accordingly, it was agreed that if the county should convey the swamp lands, the railroad would locate its depot within a thousand yards of the court house; and the question being sub- mitted to the people of the county, they by a large majority voted to make the grant.
Besides this grant, there was a demand, for reasons not quite so clearly understood, for a cash donation from the business men of Nevada, and the urgency of this demand was also such that the subscription was circu- lated and liberally signed. In due time accordingly, the railroad came. After its arrival, demand was made upon the county for the performance of its contract as to the conveyance of the swamp lands. The board of supervisors having, in the meantime, gotten the railroad to Nevada, did not care about completing the contract ; but the matter was in sufficiently definite a shape, so that its completion could not be avoided, and in due time the railroad got the swamp lands, and the same were conveyed by the rail- road to the Iowa Railroad Land Company, which had its headquarters in Cedar Rapids, and out of which those who were on the inside of the rail- road proposition are supposed to have made very considerable fortunes. For many years afterwards, the company ran advertisements in the local papers, describing the lands of this grant, that were for sale in the county; but in the course of about twenty years, the lands were all disposed of and the advertisements discontinued, but not until the lands had been disposed of.
As to the donation, however, there appears to have been better luck for those who would be glad to avoid payment of the donation which was very much in the nature of a hold-up. As Mr. Sam Statler tells the story: The subscription paper was in the possession of Mr. Hawthorn, who was then the local director of the railroad, and was also Mr. Statler's employer. On one occasion, Mr. S. S. Webb, who was elected county clerk of the county in 1858 and died in Texas during the present year of 1911, and who was interested in the matter of the subscription, came to Mr. Statler, who was in charge of the office, and wanted that subscription paper. Later on, the paper was looked for and Webb referred to; but somehow the paper never showed up, and the subscriptions were never collected.
As for the work of construction it progressed very much as such work is supposed to progress. Marshalltown was reached in 1863, and in the spring of 1864, the work was pushed to Colo, which was, for a time, head- quarters of the advance work. Then it was pushed on towards Nevada. As the last weeks in June came, the local interest in the matter increased, and was weekly reported by the Ægis. At one time, the editor could hear
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the whistle; at another, he could see what he called the "bulgine," and finally, on the 4th day of July, the country hereabout celebrated by going down to the north side of town and seeing the construction train come in. In a very short time thereafter, the regular train service was established at Nevada.
The year following the completion of the road to Nevada was the busiest, locally, that ever had been known in this community, and perhaps that ever has been known here. The very material fact was that Nevada had be- come the terminal of railroad transportation from the east for traffic to the far west. The Union Pacific had already been begun, and was working west from Omaha; but its eastern connection was by steamboat on the Missouri river, and not by railroad across Iowa. It would seem that the railroad might have been pushed on readily from Nevada to some point farther west, during that same year of 1864; but for reasons not ap- parent at this distance, the further construction was not pushed rapidly, and Nevada was permitted to be the terminal for the rest of that year. Forthwith, the railway was organized as the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska, and the local editor published acknowledgement of the fact that he had a railroad pass, which he used with evident satisfaction on his first trip to Marshalltown. More important to the community in general, the Western Stage Company inaugurated regular service of tri-weekly stages to De- catur, Nebraska, while about the same time, a daily mail service was estab- lished between Nevada and Des Moines.
These two arrangements together were fine for Nevada, and were also a great institution for Des Moines and Decatur. Des Moines, from this start continued to grow and has since become quite a city, but one has to consult the index of the map to find out where Decatur now is. As a matter of fact, it is on the west side of the Missouri river, nearly opposite Onawa. In the shuffling of railroad construction it failed to get a deal closer than ten miles, and it passed out of its glories when the stage service was discontinued, and the Missouri river failed longer to count in matters of transportation. At Nevada, the idea of the railroad management was to build up a business center in the northeastern part of town. Blair's Addi- tion and the Blair Town Lot and Land Company addition were both laid out in the vicinity of the railroad, and the station was located on the east side of what is now Pine street in that immediate locality. Here there were barns for the stage service and most of the establishments of one sort or another that are incidental to the general transfer from rail to wagon travel. The understanding has been that the merchants who were at that time engaged in Nevada in the sale of general merchandise got rich rapidly in the furnishing of outfits to departing emigrants. What this traffic meant is faintly suggested by a paragraph in the Ægis at the end of the following matter, in which under the head of "Another Western Train," it is reported that "a train of wagons, loaded with gold mining machinery, bound for Denver City or thereabouts, which has been fitting out under the manage-
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ment of Captain Bradford for some weeks past, started on Thursday last. It was a source of considerable amusement to ourselves and others to wit- ness the performance of getting under way, where both mules and drivers were essentially green to their duties. The captain and his men, most all of whom were from Boston, have made many friends by their gentlemanly course, so much so in contrast with some other trains which have started from this point."
Of course, the business of outfitting for the far west was discontinued here as soon as the railroad was completed to Boone, or "Montana," as the new town was then called on the prairie this side of Boonsborough; but the railroad company did not attempt to establish any intermediate terminal between these two points, and all of the terminal traffic was done here until the location at Boone was reached; but while the far western traffic was then suspended, the Des Moines traffic continued for some time longer. It was not until 1866 that a railroad at all reached Des Moines, and when it did reach there, it was the Des Moines Valley Line and not the direct line east and west of what is now the Rock Island system; so for two or three years, the stage traffic between Nevada and Des Moines was very heavy, and shipments to Des Moines were very largely made to this point. It was at one time attempted by the railroad, or stage company, to transfer the Des Moines business from Nevada to Boone, but this arrangement did not prove satisfactory, and the stage line was changed back to Nevada, where it continued to have its connection with the Northwestern until the construction of the Narrow Gauge from Des Moines to Ames occasioned its discontinuance.
What Nevada probably saved for itself by getting the county to back it in the matter of granting the swamp lands in return for the satisfactory location of the depot at Nevada is illustrated by the occurrence at Boons- borough. Boonsborough was an older town than Nevada, migration up the Des Moines river having reached the center of Boone County before there had developed any particular disposition to cross Squaw Fork into Story ; and the town was in the time of the war a better established town than was Nevada; although both towns were alike in the fact that neither of them then had any real rival in its county; but the position of Boons- borough as the political and business center of Boone County was seem- ingly so secure that the people there seem to have been governed by the idea that they did not need to meet the demands of the railroad for do- nations in return for local favors; as the people of Nevada had to meet the similar demands. The survey of the railroad carried the line directly along the north side of the village of Boonsborough, about where the people of the village would prefer to have it, and the most favorable crossing of the Des Moines river upon a high grade from the bluff on one side to the bluff on the other, was almost directly west from Boonsborough; so Boonsborough refused to make the desired concessions.
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After this refusal, John I. Blair, who was the great capitalist of New Jersey, and was putting his money into the building of the west, and who was the directing spirit with regard to the construction of what is now the Northwestern Railroad, came out to Boone to look over the situation. Blair had an idea of economical construction as well as of the gathering in of donations for location; and accordingly he had the line radically changed, the same being turned near where it reached Honey creek, east of Boonsborough and made to follow the creek to the Des Moines river bottoms. A gully made by a similar creek was found on the other side of the river, and thus the crossing of the river was effected by a very much cheaper bridge than would have been necessary at the higher cross- ing west of Boonsborough. As a matter of railroad engineering, this change of program was probably quite as unfortunate for the Northwestern Railroad as it was for the village of Boonsborough; for, after operating upon the steep grades and many curves of the line down to and out of Moingona, the Northwestern Railroad went back to the original line and built its million dollar crossing of the Des Moines river between Boone and Ogden; but this far belated return of the railroad to its original line was of only very incidental benefit to Boonsborough. The railroad located its terminal and permanent depot out at the turn in the line near Honey creek, and proceeded to lay out there a new town. The people of Boons- borough smiled for a time, but the new town soon got ahead, become the city, and in later years has annexed Boonsborough as its fifth ward.
Nevada, in 1864 could not have withstood a commercial assault such as was made upon Boonsborough by the Northwestern; and, while it does not appear that by changing the line two or three miles to the northward, there could have been any such saving of expense as was made for the time being in the change at the Des Moines river crossing; yet, in the laying out of a new town in some favorable locality, there would have been a specu- lation in town lots; and the numerousness of Blairs' Additions in nearly all of the towns along the line of the Northwestern Railroad is evidence of the fact that the railroad management was fully alive to the advantage of such town lot speculation. The price for the railroad may have been high, but Nevada had to pay it; and the town was distinctly fortunate in being able to get the county to make the principal payment in the swamp land dona- tion, and finally to get out of the rest of the payment through the disap- pearance of the subscription paper.
Up to the time when the railroad reached Nevada and for several months thereafter the traffic, such as it was, over the line, was embarrassed by the crossing of the Mississippi at Clinton, where there was as yet no bridge and where the transfer had to be made in summer by ferry, and in winter over the ice, if the ice would bear it, and it is not stated how, when the ice would not bear it. In January, 1865, however, it was announced that the Northwestern bridge at Clinton was open, and from that time Story County has had an all-rail connection with the east. The bridge
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opening was welcomed with evidences of local enthusiasm, and for a time the idea seemed to obtain that serious troubles on the subject of transporta- tion were over.
THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
The influence of national finance on local conditions in the war, de- serves some attention. The government in carrying on the war resorted to about every means that was legitimate and to some that were of doubt- ful constitutionality. Stamp taxes were resorted to in very numerous ways; but as to the income tax, which was a direct burden upon those persons of sufficient income to bring them within the classification of the law, there happens to be a definite statement showing how many people were hit and in what amounts. The statement suggests not so much that the tax was a considerable public burden in these parts, as it does the general fact that in war time this was still a community of very moderate incomes. Alto- gether there were forty-one persons, in February, 1865, against whom charges were made for income tax and the charges so made were as follows :
Jas. Hawthorn, $64; Otis Briggs, $12; F. M. Baldwin, $151; Judiah Ray, $127.51 ; Wm. Yarnall, $20; John Richardson, $18; M. D. Livingston, $28.08; Oliver Chamberlain, $10.40; John Severson, $4; Joseph Seals & Sons, $24; Wm. B. Hopkins, $11.72; Thomas Hughes, $32; John H. Keig- ley, $32; J. B. Groves, $22; P. F. Jones, $8; M. D. Sheldon, $16; Ole Ap- land, $13.50; Milo McCartney, $54; Jacob Erb, $8; John Pearson, $5.14; T. E. Alderman, $15.60; J. H. Sinclaire, $200; W. K. Wood, $60; George N. Kirkman, $40; J. D. Gamble, $10; Daniel F. Shope, $12; Chas. Hogan, $8.50; George Dye, $8; Isaac L. Miller, $19.60; O. Hambleton, $28; Bald- win & Co. $140.80; Charles Wells, $13.36; A. L. Groves, $31.20; Sereno Adams, $280; James Wills, $8; Dwight Fenn, $80; John Scott, $83.80; Thomas McCall, $42.75; George Child, $31.85; D. P. Ballard, $34.80; J. Cadwallader, $42; total revenue, $1,589.41. But troubles about stamp taxes and income taxes were insignificant, at least with respect to the newspaper attention they invited, in comparison with the disturbance occasioned by the fluctuations in the value of the currency. These fluctuations were meas- ured by the quotations of the price of gold on the New York stock ex- change. And the quotations were influenced from time to time both by the increasing volume of irredeemable greenbacks that were issued by the gov- ernment, and by the varying fortunes of the war. The depreciation of the greenbacks and the quotation of gold reached their maximum in the sum- mer of 1864 when Grant had fought his way from the wilderness to City Point without taking Richmond or crushing Lee, when Sherman had made his way at very heavy expense down the line of the Georgia Central Rail- road without crushing Johnston's army or yet taking Atlanta, and when the democratic national convention had met in Chicago and declared the war a failure. Under such conditions the price of gold went up to $2.85 and the value of greenbacks down to 35 cents. Such fluctuations in the
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currency made troubles everywhere in the country that were quite as per- plexing as the fighting of rebels and not nearly so exciting. They affected every business and rendered uncertain almost any man's financial status; and then when Grant had taken the railroad south of Petersburg, and Sher- man had taken Atlanta and started through Georgia for the sea, and Thomas had crushed Hood at Nashville, and Lincoln had been re-elected, the price of gold began to go down and the value of greenbacks to go up, notwith- standing the fact that the war expenditures continued at the maximum. So the return toward normal finances was only moderate until Grant be- gan to close in on Lee, Sherman to press upon Johnston in North Caro- lina and the country to understand that the war was about over and the Union preserved. The financial results appear almost to have been an off- set to some of the victories, and the matter was discussed by the Ægis of March 29, 1865, under the title, "The Great Fall in Gold," as follows:
"The decline in gold during the past week has been fearfully rapid. From 205 it has successively and quickly jumped to 175, to 160, 155 to 147, rallying to about 151. 'Lame ducks' are plenty in Wall street and other old gambling thoroughfares. As far as these gentry themselves are concerned, we have but little sympathy for them. They have gambled in gold, 'building' it when its rise was daily becoming a serious embarrass- ment to the cause of the Union and a fearful and unnecessary tax upon consumers; and if they have now got their fingers burnt, there are but few to cry pity. The greatest strain, however, and one in which all are generally interested, is upon the legitimate business of the country. These sudden falls must find some unprepared, and failures are the result. When failures become general, confidence is displaced, business deranged, money becomes worthless, and the people are poor. To prevent such a catas- trophe it is to be hoped the fall in gold will be steady and gradual, and if it is, the business of the country can accommodate itself to the change with- out damage, and all descend from the pinnacle of high prices without danger."
And as the military events were brought rapidly to a close, and the rebel armies dissolved and surrendered, the financial movement became ac- celerated; and not only the falling quotations of gold but also the unequal readjustment of business to the new conditions was illustrated in the fol- lowing paragraph of May 17, 1865:
"Gold is still going down, being quoted at 12934. We predict that it will reach 125 before the week is out. How comes it that prices of goods are going up while gold is going down? It is not the thing that was preached to us two years ago by the merchants and traders as a reason for the ad- vance. We fail to see the consistency of the present arrangements."
Without having any opportunity to refer to the story of the merchants whose neglect to reduce prices is here complained of, it may be surmised that they had on hand stocks of goods which they had purchased at war prices and on which they were liable to sustain very heavy losses.
Vol. 1-18
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Along about this time, there are frequent references in the papers to the government's seven-thirty loan. This was a very popular loan and it assisted the government materially in cleaning up the finances of the war. It bore a rate of interest that figured two cents a day on a hundred dollars, Sundays included. The aggregate for the year being seven and thirty hundredths per cent, whence was the derivation of the name. The time came before long when the government could borrow money at six per cent and the seven-thirties were rapidly retired with the money so borrowed. But while the seven-thirties lasted they circulated; and the fact that the people were backing the government financially, for a consideration is evidenced by the following note in the Ægis of May 5, 1865:
"Mr. Ross, our county treasurer, has within a few weeks past pro- cured for parties resident in this town and in the county over $6,000 in the popular seven-thirty loan. Most of this was in small sums, a hundred here and a few hundred there, as the farmers and others found they had a few surplus dollars. It may be well to remark here that only two hun- dred millions of this loan remain, and those who want it had better pitch in soon, as it is going at the rate of forty millions a week, and is the last that will be issued by the government, now that the war is over."
THE DRAFT.
One subject pertaining to the war that is very numerously discussed in the files of the newspapers of that period and that very greatly con- cerned many of the folks at home was the draft to make up local de- ficiencies in the quota of volunteers which each community was supposed to furnish. The draft, however, appears to have been much more talked about than actually employed. There was a prejudice, both in and out of the service, against drafted men, although there were undoubtedly very many such men with respect to whom the prejudice was quite unjust. At this late day it is pleasant to assume that the prejudice was unjust as to all and there will be no attempt here to distinguish between drafted men and volunteers. The fact undoubtedly is that not a little of the volunteer- ing was done with a view to avoiding. the disagreeable consequences of entering the service by compulsion of the draft. And altogether it came about that by one means or another, loyal enthusiasm, patriotic duty, prom- ise of bounties and fear of the draft, the.quota of the county was made up with very little actual resort to the draft.
But the draft was very much of a nightmare all the same. It was based on the law of congress for the enrollment of all men in the loyal states who were fit for service, and the requirement was that each community should furnish its just proportion of soldiers, taking into account the number pre- viously furnished. In the beginning of the war the raising of volunteers was easy; but as the war progressed and its awful burdens came to be felt, the filling of the ranks to the required extent, became a matter of common
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effort. Personal solicitations were reinforced by public offers of bounties as well as with the standing appeals not to wait to be drafted. But with all the efforts the situation was often trying. For instance, in the Ægis of Jan- uary 13, 1864, there is a statement of the recent enlistments for the sev- eral townships showing that the quota to be raised at that time was sixty- four, and that the number of enlistments to correspond was forty-six. Just how much trouble there was over the other eighteen we do not know, but the publication reveals the local stage of the enlistment proposition at the beginning of the most trying year of the war.
At this time the status for the several townships was as follows :
Washington,-Quota 7, enlistments 5, deficiencies 2.
Nevada-Quota 18, enlistments 20, surplus 2.
Franklin-Quota 4, enlistment o.
Collins-Quota I, enlistment o.
Indian Creek-Quota 7, enlistments 4, deficiencies 3. Palestine-Quota 3, enlistments 3.
Union-Quota 7, enlistments 4, deficiencies 3.
Milford-Quota 3, enlistments 3.
Howard-Quota 6, enlistment I, deficiencies 5.
Lafayette-Quota I, enlistment I.
New Albany-Quota 7, enlistment 5, deficiencies 2.
In August of the same year, when it was being sought to replenish the lines that had been depleted in Grant's campaign from the Rapidan to the Appomattox, and in Sherman's from Chattanooga to Atlanta, there was a further statement on the authority of the provost marshal of the sixth congressional districts, showing the situation as to the several townships of the county with respect to the calls for men up to that time.
The deficiencies were: Washington 16, Franklin 8, Collins 3, Indian Creek 12, Union 10, Howard 4, Lafayette 3, New Albany II, total 67; and the surpluses: Nevada 14, Palestine 5, Milford 2, total 21; leaving a net deficiency for the county of forty-six. The editor of the Ægis was then disposed to complain that information as to the deficiency had not sooner been officially furnished, and he indicated that the quota of the county would have been filled reasonably if it had been known. At the same time there was an earnest appeal to the board of supervisors to offer a bounty for the enlistments needed.
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