USA > Iowa > Warren County > History of Warren County, Iowa : from its earliest settlement to 1908; with biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 5
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they are about to ask of us. Begin by making them the overture without any subterfuge. You will acquaint me, day by day, hour by hour, of your progress. The cabinet of London is informed of the measures adopted at Washington, but it ean have no suspicion of those which I am now taking. Observe the greatest seereey, and recommend it to the American ministers; they have not a less interest than yourself in conforming to this counsel. You will correspond with M. de Talleyrand, who alone knows my intentions. If I attended to his advice, France would confine her. ambition to the left bank of the Rhine, and would only make war to protect any dismemberment of her possessions. But he also admits that the cession of Louisiana is not a dismemberment of France. Keep him informed of the progress of this affair." Negotiations were at once begun between Marbois and Livingston soon after Monroe arrived, and the treaty was soon completed, and the immense territory passed into the hands of the United States in consideration of the sum of fifteen million dollars. Eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand was to be paid to France, and three million seven hundred and fifty thousand was reserved to be paid to American citizens who had claims against France. There is no other transaction of equal import- ance of this character ou record. The area embraced nearly or quite one million square miles. The boundaries of this ceded territory were of interest to Spain, France, Great Britain, and the United States. The eastern limit was undisputed; it was to be the Mississippi river from its source to the 31st parallel of latitude. After much discussion the southern boundary was settled. The northern boun- dary concerned the United States and Great Britain. It was not until the treaty of 1819 that Spain assented to the boundaries as fixed by the other nations. When the matter came before the United States Congress for ratification, strange to say that a number of wise statesmen objected to the purchase, alleging that Jefferson had transcended his constitutional limits; but a large majority favored the purchase that added so much to the United States. No wonder that Mr. Livingston said to the French minister when they completed the treaty: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives." At an early date the United States took possession of the territory and sent Governor Claiborne to New Orleans to preside over the affairs of Louisiana territory. Soon after the territory was divided and that portion constituting the state of Louisiana was called Orleans territory. The remainder of the territory still retained the name of Louisiana, which was organized on the third of March, 1805, and General James Wilkinson was appointed governor. The white popula- tion of this vast territory at that time did not exceed one thousand. Saint Louis remained the seat of government and Governor Wilkinson took up his residence there. One year before this, President Jefferson appointed an expe- dition to explore the Missouri river and its tributaries, and then to go west to the Pacific ocean. Lewis and Clark and twenty-four others constituted the company that set out on this perilous journey. They had wintered at a village opposite the mouth of the Missouri river. On the 14th of May, 1804, they embarked, rowing their boats up the swift and everchanging current of the Missouri river. They kept minute records of every incident that occurred, and the observations made. Wherever possible they held parleys with the Indians.
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When they had reached a point near where the city of Council Bluffs is now located, they held a council with six chiefs, and named the place Council Bluffs. However, it is generally supposed that this was a short distance above the present city. They informed the Indians of the change of government, that the Spaniards were no longer in possession of the country, but that it had passed into the jurisdiction of the United States. They also made it plain to the Indians that the object of this government was to live in peace with all native tribes, and that constant care would be taken to preserve all their rights. They then gave presents to the Indians and continued their journey up the river. On reaching a point near the present site of Sioux City, they had the misfortune to lose a prominent man of their company, Charles Floyd, who was buried in that lonely region. The annual foods made inroads upon the bluff where Floyd was buried, until in 1837, the bones of the young soldier were exposed. Some of the residents of Sioux City reburied Floyd's remains with appropriate cere- monies. They found the red cedar headboard which had been placed there by Captain Lewis, to mark the resting place of his lamented comrade. This simple miseription was on the board: "Charles Floyd died Angust 20. 1804." Re- cently, an appropriate monument has been erected to commemorate this man, who was the first white man buried in lowa. More than n hundred years before the Lewis and Clark expedition. French trappers had gone up and down the Missouri river and its tributaries, but had failed to furnish acenrate descriptions of the country. They were simply seeking profit in furs and not exploring for the benefit of coming generations. After the publication of Lewis and Clark's discoveries, no less a personage than Thomas II. Benton, the distinguished Missouri senator, said that the broad prairies of the upper Missouri valley will never be inhabited by civilized man, except along the water courses. Considering the means that the pioneer settlers hnd at that time for settling prairie regions. this statement of Senator Benton was not so much out of place. When farms had to be fenced with rails, it required much timber and labor to protect a grain fickl. but after the invention of barbed wire and the introduction of railroads, by which lumber could be brought to the very verge of the settlement. it was comparatively easy to fence a farm, and put up buildings, and make a delightful home on the fertile prairies. In a conneil with the Indians. Lewis and Clark learned from them of the upper Des Moines river. Spirit and Okoboji lakes. and the close proximity of the head of Little Sioux river to the Des Moines.
After the organization of the two territories. Orleans and Louisiana. settlers logan to pour into the southern part of Louisiana territory with amazing rapid ity. St. Louis had been located forty years. Its prosperity began to indicate the fact that it was destined to be one of the great cities of the United States. The Indians in this territory were inclined to be much more peareable than those of the Northwest territory, and did not seriously impede the progress of the settlements. So rapidly did population increase, that the territory of Louisiana became the territory of Missouri, and by 1814. the Missouri territory was divided ; that part comprising the present state of Arkansas and the country west was organized as the territory of Arkansas. On the 28th of June, 1534, the territory west of the Mississippi river and north of the state of Missouri was
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made a part of the territory of Michigan and continued so until July 4, 1836. when Wisconsin territory was organized, which embraced the present states of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. An act of Congress, approved July 12th, 1838, created the territory of Iowa, embracing not only the present state of Iowa but northward to the British possessions. The territorial development of the Louisiana purchase has been followed sufficiently in order to meet the purposes of this work. The territory of Orleans was organized into the state of Louisiana, and admitted into the Union in 1812. Missouri was admitted as a state in 1820. When the bill for the admission of Missouri was introduced in Congress, it precipitated the first alarming and bitter discussion of slavery. The people of the slave holding states were determined to have their share of the United States territory organized withont restrictions in the matter of slavery, so severe was the discussion and so universal, north and south, the excitement, that the very foundations of the government were shaken. The celebrated Missouri Compromise was finally adopted, which provided that all that part of Louisiana territory lying north of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, should forever prohibit slavery, except Missouri. This measure was carried through Congress by the untiring and persistent efforts of llenry Clay. "The principal conditions of the plan were these: First, the admission of Missouri as a slave holding state; secondly, the division of the rest of the Louisiana purchase by the parallel thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thirdly, the admission of new states to be formed out of the territory south of that line, with or without slavery, as the people might determine; fourthly, the prohibition of slavery in all the new states to be organized ont of the territory north of the dividing line." This put a quietus upon the slavery agitation for thirty years. By this compromise the south gained the immediate point in disenssion, namely, the admission of Missouri as a slave state, but in the end the north was the great gainer. Below the compromise line there was only enough room for Arkansas and a good sized state west of it, while north of the line there was room for at least nine good sized states with parts of others. Afterward the south felt the need of more slave holding territory, and promulgated a scheme for the annexation of Texas, which led to the war with Mexico. This was purely a slave holders' scheme, although the results of the Mexican war were greatly advantageons to the United States. The principle involved was not based upon sound morality. Some thought that the slave question could be satisfactorily settled by extending the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific coast, and allowing slavery to the south of it. Soon after the war with Mexico, California asked for admission as a free state, when part of California lies sonth of the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. This convinced all that the plan of prolonging the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific coast was a mere bubble, and bursted at the admission of California. Arkansas came into the Union as a slave state nader the Compromise in 1836. Jowa was admitted as a state in 1846; Minnesota, in 1858; Kansas, in 1861; Nebraska, in 1867. In Benjamin Harrison's administration, North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana were admitted. In 1907, Oklahoma, including
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the territory of Oklahoma and the Indian Territory, was admitted as the state of Oklahoma. Thus the entire Louisiana purchase was developed into states, which took their places in the Union. The history of the Louisiana purchase is one of the most interesting on record. At each step, magnificent development takes place which enchant the reader from page to page. The mineral resources are vast : iron, copper, lead, gold, and vast fields of bituminons coal are no small part of the wealth of this territory, but the corn annually produced far exceeds in value all of the minerals in the United States. The beanty and fertility of the farms and the magnificence of the rivers are not surpassed anywhere in the world. The supply of the best quality of timber is equal to that of any other portion of the United States.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND ORGANIZATION OF IOWA TERRITORY.
In a preceding page it has been stated that Marquette and Joliet were the first white men to set their feet upon lowa soil, in the year of 1673. It was more than a century after this before any white men attempted to make a permanent settlement in Iowa. During all this time the Indians, doubtless, as they roamed about, kept in memory the visit of the Black Robed Chief and his companion, Joliet. In 1788. a Frenchman, Julien du Buque, crossed the Missis- sippi river with a small party of miners, having heard that there were extensive lead mines on the west side of the river, which had been discovered by an Indian squaw.
Ile was a native of France, but had immigrated to Canada, and engaged in fur trading with the Indians. When he came into the region of the Mississippi he acquired great influence among the chiefs of the Sac and Fox Indians. The married an Indian squaw and engaged in mining on the west side of the river, and named his place of business The Mines of Spain, in 1796. in honor of the Spanish governor. It will be remembered that the Louisiana territory belonged to Spain at that time. Du Buque continued in the mining business until March 24th, 1810, having been a resident of that place twenty-two years, at which tine he died, and was buried on a bluff near the present rity which was named after him. In 1830, James L. Langworthy and Leins H. Langworthy and some other miners crossed the river and engaged in mining. having obtained per- mission from the Indians. They adopted a code of laws or rules which was the first civil government established by white men in Iowa. Some time after this Colonel Zachary Taylor, who was in command of the military post at Prairie du Chien, under direction of the war department, issued an order requiring all the miners to leave the west side of the river. With much reluctance, the winter- evacuated their camps, but not until troops were sent in enforce the order. After the Black Hawk war. Jume 1. 1833. the Laneworthy brothers returned and took possession of their claims, and soon there was a considerable village at
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Dubuque. It was at a meeting of the settlers in 1834, that the place was named Dubuque. Here, the first schoolhouse in lowa was erected, and about five hundred white people had settled in the mining district. The next permanent settlement was at Montrose in Lee county in 1832. Troops were stationed at this point, which was called Fort Des Moines. Captain James White was the first man who made a elaim on the present site of Montrose. In 1832, this elaim and some others, that had been made, were purchased by the Knapp Brothers, and in 1835, they laid out the town of Montrose. In the same year, 1832, Daniel Tothero eame with his family, and settled near where the town of Burlington now stands. This was before the government had acquired the Indian title, which was known as the Black Hawk Purchase. Samnel White, about the same time, erected a cabin in the same neighborhood. Some dragoons from the military post at Rock Island, during the next winter, drove Tothero and White across the river, burning their cabins. As soon as the Black Hawk Purchase was com- pleted, White returned and built his second cabin. After the Black Hawk War, the settlements began to increase rapidly. In 1834, the Black Hawk Purchase was attached to Michigan for temporary government. During the same year, the legislature of Michigan established a line running west from the south end of Rock Island, and organized the territory north of that line into Dubuque county, and the territory south of the line into Des Moines county. Captain B. W. Clarke, a native of Virginia, who had made some improvements on the east side of the river, moved across the river in 1833, and made the first claim in what is now Scott county, where the town of Buffalo was laid ont. His son, David H. Clarke, was the first white child born in Scott county. After the Black Hawk Purchase, the Sae and Fox tribes removed to Des Moines river where they remained until the Ageney Treaty, when they were removed by the government to Kansas. In 1836, the territory of Michigan was divided, and Wisconsin territory organized, which embraced the state of lowa. At the first session of the Wisconsin legisla- ture held October 25, 1836, at Belmont, which had been designated by the governor as the temporary capital of the newly organized territory, Des Moines county was divided and the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, and Cook, afterward called Scott, were organized. The first court ever held in Iowa was in a log house in Burlington, in April, 1835, presided over by Judge Isaac Loeffler, who was appointed by the Governor of Michigan. At the same time, John King of Dubuque was appointed judge of that county. Soon after the organization of Wisconsin territory, the governor caused the census of Dubuque and Des Moines counties to be taken, which showed that there was over ten thousand inhabitants. The population continued to increase rapidly. In 1833, the first postoffice was established at Dubuque, Milo II. Prentice was appointed postmaster. The first schoolhouse was erected also in Dubuque in the same year, and the first Methodist society was formed there. In the year 1836, the people began to agitate for another division of territory, claiming that the people of the west side of the river needed a separate government. They had some interests that required especial attention, in which the inhabitants on the east side of the river were not particularly concerned. The disenssion continued and became
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more general, until the inhabitants of Dubuque, Des Moines, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine. Louisa, and Lee connties assembled in convention in the town of Bur- lington. The following were recognized as delegates from the several counties in this convention, the object of which was to memorialize congress to grant the right of pre-emption to actual settlers on government lands. The dispute had already arisen between the state of Missouri and the inhabitants north of them in regard to the boundary line, so that this convention memorialized Congress on this important subject. The primary object of the convention was to memorial- ize congress for the division of the Wisconsin territory, and the establishment of a new territory on the west side of the river. Delegates. Dubuque county : P. Il. Engle. J. T. Fales. G. W. Harris. W. A. Warren. W. B. Watts. A. F. Rus- well. W. II. Patton. J. W. Parker. JJ. D. Bell. J. H. Rose. Des Moines county : David Rorer, Robert Ralston, Cyrus S. Jacobs. Van Buren county : Van Caldwell. J. G. Kenner. James ITall. Henry county: W. II. Wallace, J. D. Payne, and .J.T. Myers. Muscatine county : J. R. Struthers, M. Couch. Eli Reynolds. S C. Hastings, James Davis. S. Jeuner. A. Smith. and E. K. Fay. Lonisa emmty : J. M. Clark, Wm. M. Toole, and J. J. Rinearson. Lee county : Henry Eno. J. Claypool. and Hawkins Taylor. Cyrus S. Jacobs was chosen president and .T. M. Clark, vice-president. J. W. Parker and JJ. R. Struthers, secretaries. The convention continued in session three days. It was affirmed by the con- vention that there were twenty-five thousand inhabitants west of the Mississippi river. The memorial in regard to pre-emptions recited at length a request that congress provide that all settlers should be entitled to enter their claims at the minimum price of government lands. Up to this time, no lands west of the Mississippi had been offered for sale by the government; and the inhabitants on these lands were called "Squatters." They kept the matter prominent in all their memorials, that there were twenty-five thousand inhabitants west of the river .. The memorial in regard to the southern boundary line between the state uf Missouri and Wisconsin territory set forth very miuntely, the fact that Mis- souri was eneroaching upon the territory. The real cause of dispute in regard to this line was slavery, Missouri was a slave state, and The Missouri Compro- mise had definitely fixed the line north of which there should be no more slave territory : yet. the south was clamorons for more slave territory, and embraced every opportunity for so contending. The memorial. praying for the division of the territory, was so clear and wise a measure that the petitioners had no difficulty in setting forth their claim. None of the territories that had been hitherto .organized possessed a larger mumber of inhabitants than was now west of the Mississippi river. They brought no acensation of unfairness or injustice against the Governor of Wisconsin territory or against the citizens on that side of the river ; but alleged that their interests were separate and distinct in many regards from those on the east side of the river. Their chief argument, however. for the new territory was that they had more inhabitants than the former terri- tories which had been organized. This was a memorable convention. conducted in a wise and discreet manner, and brought forth the desired fruit. Congress took the matter under consideration. but it was not all smooth sailing There
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was much bitter opposition to the establishment of this territory. Slavery was the underlying ennse that entered into the acrimonious discussion. Everywhere its advocates were quick to perceive and oppose any measure that tended to cir- emmseribe slave territory. The question of the admission of Texas was being discussed all over the United States, and bitter feeling engendered. Seven years later, Texas was admitted, and the Mexican War followed. Mr. Mason of Ohio objected to the division of the territory on the ground that the settlers west of the river were there in opposition to law. Mr. Waddy Thompson was opposed to the territorial government of the northwest because the people in the north were opposed to the annexation of Texas. He said : "I will never consent to the organization of these territories or the admission of new states into the Union when the fanatical spirit of the north is ponring into the House, memorials against the annexation of Texas, simply because it is cursed with the peculiar institution of the south." He was pleading for the balance of power, that the sonth ought to have a prospective slave stato for each free state admitted into the Union. Mr. Mercer moved that lowa be organized as a territory. when Wis- consin was admitted as a state, but this motion failed. Mr. Shepard of North Carolina, with more earnestness said: "A fresh. rich field might be opened to those who speculate in public linds, and a batch of new offices created for such as seek exeentive favor." He, too regarded the settlers west of the Mississippi as aggressors on public lands, without any authority whatever. He said: "Who are these that ... . pray for the establishment of a new territory ! Individuals who have left their own homes and seized on the public lands. ... these men pouneed on the choicest spots, ent down the timber. built honses, and enltivated the soil as if it were their own property, without the authority of law and in defiance of the government they have taken possession of what belongs to the whole nation, and appropriated to a private use, that which was intended for the publie welfare. These are they, who require a governor, judge, conneil, and marshals, when every act of their lives is contrary to justice, and every petition which they make is an evidence of their guilt and violence. We who are in- sulted, whose authority is trampled under foot. are asked for new favors and privileges; the guardians of the law approached by its open contemners, and begged to erect these modest gentlemen into a dignified government ... . I cannot sanction their condnet : if they would not move peaceably, they should go at the point of the bayonet, if they forget what is due to their country and their distant fellow citizens they ought to be punished. The majesty of the laws should be vindicated .... " He went on to say: "If the territory of Iowa be now estab- lished, it will soon become a state; and if we now eross the Mississippi. under the beautiful patronage of this government, the cupidity and enterprise of our people will carry the system still farther. and ere long the Rocky Mountains will be scaled and the valley of the Columbia be embraced in our domain. This then is the time to panse; if happiness depended entirely upon the number of hogs raised, or the quanity of corn gathered. then the citizens should be dispersed so as to oreupy the most fertile spots in our whole territory .... Whatever may be the effect of this land policy on the general welfare, it has been deeply injur-
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ions to the south portion of the Confederacy .... If all of the people born in North Carolina had remained in its limits, our swamps and low grounds would have rivaled the valley of the Nile in production, and our pine barrens would have been flourishing with the vine, the olive and the mulberry. We have, there- fore, reason to complain of the policy of this government .. . . Others may aet as pleases them, but I will never sustain a policy so detrimental to the people with whom I am connected. .. . If these remarks be unavailing, the patriots should frar for the permanence of the republic." Mr. Shepard's speech clearly indi- rated the gathering storm which burst with such great fury in 1861. Every liseussion of this kind seemed to intensify slavery advocates of the south, and no lis did it establish the people of the north in their views of the eternal principles of human liberty. The territory was divided and on the 12th of Jime. 1838, President Van Buren, approved the act which was to take offert and be in full force on and after July 3. 1838. The territory embraced all that part of the territory of Wisconsin lying west of the Mississippi river, and west of a line drawn due north from the head waters or sources of the Mississippi to the terri- torial line. Consequently, it included the present state of Iowa, nearly all of Minnesota, and the Dakotas, The art also appropriated five thousand dollars for a public library, and twenty thousand dollars for the erection of public
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