USA > Iowa > Buena Vista County > Past and present of Buena Vista County, Iowa > Part 2
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By an act approved March 3, 1845. the House adopted the following bound- ary by vote of ninety for and forty against : "Beginning at the mouth of the Des Moines river, thence by the middle channel of the Mississippi to a parallel of latitude passing through the mouth of the Mankato or Blue Earth river ; thence west along said parallel of latitude to a point where it is intersected by the merid- ian line seventeen degrees thirty minutes west of the meridian of Washington City ; thence dne south to the northern boundary line of the state of Missouri; thence eastward following that boundary to a point at which the same interseets with the Des Moines river ; thence by the middle channel of that river to the place of beginning."
Had this boundary line been accepted, the line of our state would have been forty-two miles north of the present one and would have included eleven counties of the state of Minnesota. The state would have been abont one hundred and eighty miles wide from east to west and about two hundred and fifty miles long from north to south and we would have lost the Missouri slope. The western boundary would have been on a line beginning from Green and Carroll counties to a point a short distance west of the town of Prescott in Adams eounty. The
proposed boundaries were considered by the people of the territory as an outrage and, rather than submit, they determined to wait patiently, believing that in all probability the natural geographical boundary- the Missouri river-would in time be conceded. The eagerness for statehood came near throwing the western counties beyond the border of Iowa. So doubtful did the proposition seem that even the representative in Congress, Hon. A. C. Dodge, advised the people to ratify the constitution and accept the proposed boundaries, stating that he knew
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"the country along the Missouri was fertile, but the dividing ridge of the waters running into the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, which had been called 'the hills of the prairie' is barren and sterile." He also said that he "believed it would be impossible under the circumstances to obtain a single square mile more." The people however, rejected the proposition by a majority of nine hundred and ninety-six. the result being a surprise to all. They were not so much interested in national policies as they were in creating a grand and com- pact state between the two rivers. One member of Congress declared that it was simply an outrage for the people to endeavor to carve ont a state to snit themselves ; that they might even become so whimsical as to extend the boundary line westward to the Columbia river.
Stephen A. Douglas of the Committee on Territories, acting in harmony with his idea, which afterwards became the established principle of this eminent statesman-the doctrine of "Squatter Sovereignty" (allowing the people to settle their local affairs in their own way) reported in favor of the present boundaries of our state. What was known as the "Imcas Boundary" was supplanted by the "Duncan Amendment." but it was only by a sharp contest both in Iowa and Washington, and. consequently, much delay that both branches of Congress agreed upon the Lneas Boundary, by which the western limits of our state were fixed by the Missouri river on the west and the middle channel of the Big Sioux river until it is interseeted by the parallel of forty-three degrees and thirty minutes, then east until said parallel intersects the middle channel of the Mississippi. The boundary question from the first was of absorbing interest. It wrecked the constitution of 1844 and narrowly escaped defeat in 1846, when it carried by a majority of four hundred and fifty-six out of a total of eighteen thousand five hundred and twenty-eight votes.
At the first election, Ansel Briggs, a democrat, was elected by a majority of sixty-one votes. The same party also elected a majority of the members of the General Assembly.
Gathered in the old stone capitol at Iowa City, in the presence of the General Assembly, Judge Charles Mason, chief justice of the supreme court, administered the oath of the first governor of Iowa. Sixteen days later the constitution received the signature of President Polk, it having been in the meantime submitted to Congress and approved. Therefore from the 28th day of December. 1846, Iowa has been on equal footing with the other commonwealths of the American Union.
"In the evolution of human society, the making of a state follows the law of progress plainly indicated by nature. The glory of the state is not in fertility of its soil, the beauty of its scenery, or desirable water courses, but rather in the character, intelligence, enterprise, and patriotism of its citizens. In tracing the history of our territorial epoch, it becomes a matter of wonder that the people of the formative period should have had the wisdom to lay the governmental foundation so securely and to insist on what appears to us now to be the natural as well as the most logical boundary lines, and to frame a constitution that has so well met the needs of our commonwealth with little or no important altera- tion. The most eminent judges and lawyers of the present day declare the
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first Code of Iowa to have been a monument of legal wisdom and a model for succeeding legislation.
The main actors at this stage of our history "were the political pathfinders in our political history ; the real makers of our fundamental laws." They are typical Americans-the western yankees, if you please-men of spirit, of nerve, of broad and liberal views, of tolerance of opinion; in fact, the typical man whose spirit still today dominates this great state of ours. They were farmers, lawyers, merchants, preachers, and teachers. They were welded together by the law of attraction for a common purpose and a common end, their only law.
THE INDIANS.
All that is known of this strange people has been learned since the dis- covery of America by the Europeans. Theories that are both plausible and impossible have been advanced, relating to their origin. At a very remote period of time there existed in Iowa human beings possessed of some degree of intelligence and skill. as shown by the mute testimony of ancient mounds and their contents, such as rude engravings on stone, showing images of animals not now native to this country. It is idle to speculate as to the time when, and the purposes for which these mounds were built or who were the successors to the mound builders. The white man and the untutored Indian are both alike in the dark. The ancestors of the American Indian may or may not have been the mound builders. We are content to write, not of his origin, but of his modern history, and in brief and fragmentary manner of his occupancy of Iowa and of Buena Vista county long before the state acquired statehood or the county in which we live was thought of.
As to the monnd builders, it is not probable that they ever occupied this particular portion of the state. No trace of them has ever been found, nor is there anything that would lead to the belief that they ever built any mute evidences of their occupancy, which are found in other counties. Near Marathon there is a large mound, called "Green Mound." which has the appear- ance of artificial origin, arising as it does to a height of a hundred or more feet in the midst of a level plain. But those who have examined it closely deny the thought that it is not a natural elevation of the surface of the ground. A series of smaller mounds are near this one, and it is probable that this is some unex- plained freak of nature.
But of the Indians we have some trace, although it is feeble. At the time of the earliest visit of white men to this continent there were two great families of Indians, the Algonquins and the Sioux. The former occupied the territory along the New England coast, and later the New England country. They were there in or about the year 1000. They were still there when John and Sebastian Cabot landed on the same coast five hundred years later.
But they traveled westward like the white man, by the waters of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, and in time gained the great Mississippi Valley.
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They were identified by their language, which was radically different from the eight "tongues" spoken by the other Indians which were found upon the continent.
Ilere in the Mississippi valley they met that other great family, The Sionx. This division of the Indians had. like their eastern brothers. followed the Missouri river and its branches, down into the broad plains of the middle west. It was here that the two great forces met and contended in bloody strife for supremacy. It has been suggested, and it may be true, that the mound builders, eanght between these two fierce combatants. were crushed as between the upper and the nether mill stones.
It is a matter of history that the Sioux and the Algonquins never were friendly, but on the other hand it is a fact that there was a feeling of bitterness and hatred between the two great families. "The Sionx were civil and bold; the Algonquins (the Sacs and the Foxes) were erafty and brave." And there are ample evidences that the plains of the middle west were wet with the blood of the contending forces, and that the Sioux were the victors in this warfare.
The Sioux played a conspicuous part in the Indian history of Iowa territory. The Iowas were a tribe of the Dakota Sionx. but were never on friendly terms with them, owing to the treacherous murder of one of their chiefs on the Iowa river. They were early identified with the Sionx but later became a separate tribe and were in possession of a greater part of the state when it was first pene- trated by the white men.
They were brave and intelligent and had villages in many of the eastern counties. But race prejudice existed, and without apparent reason Black Hawk, the chief of the Saes, with a large force completely surprised the Iowas a short distance from their village at Iowaville and practically exteriminated the tribe. The Iowas were engaged in peaceful sports and, unaware of the approach of their foes, had left their arms in camp with their women, children and the old men. The Sacs fired one volley, mowing them down in indiscriminate slaughter, and completed their work with the tomahawk and the knife. The women and children were spared and taken into captivity, and the disaster to the Iowas was so complete that they never rallied their shattered forces. The remnant became wanderers but their tribe practically ceased to exist after this ealamity, which happened in 1823.
Frequent battles between the Saes and Foxes and the Sioux occurred in northwest Iowa. At Algona, in Kossuth county, a confliet of historie interest took place in 1852, and twenty years afterward a visitor to the battle field described it as yet strewn with portions of skeletons, mercilessly hewn with tomahawks and clubs, and other relies of the battle.
This battle, and other outbreaks in which whites were involved, caused the government to station a considerable body of troops at Fort Dodge to keep the Indians in subjection. The immediate cause was an outrage perpetrated upon some surveyors who were working in Webster county. The Indians surrounded them, after having warned the whites away, broke their instruments, destroyed their marks, and stole their horses and provision. The soldiers remained at the Fort for three or four years, but were later taken away, and by removing this
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protection to the few settlers in northwest Iowa it is believed the Indians became bolder, and the Spirit Lake massacre resulted.
At this time northwestern Iowa abounded in wild game, elk and deer in large herds roaming over the prairie. The rivers were full of fish and fur bearing animals in great numbers were to be found along the streams. The Indians were loth to leave this paradise and resented the appearance of the white man bitterly.
ORGANIZATION OF IOWA COUNTIES.
The Legislative Assembly of Michigan Territory provided by legislation in 1834 for the ereation of counties within the limits of the territory which later became the state of Iowa as follows :
An act to lay off and organize counties west of the Mississippi river.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, That all that district or country which was attached to the territory of the United States west of the Mississippi river and north of the state of Missouri, to the Territory of Michigan, and to which the Indian title has been extinguished, which is north of a line to be drawn due west from the lower end of Rock Island to the Missouri river, shall constitute a county and be ealled Dubnque; said county shall constitute a township which shall be called Julien, and the seat of justice shall be at the village of Dubuque.
SECTION 2. All that part of the district aforesaid which was attached to the Territory of Michigan situated south of said line to be drawn due west of the lower end of Rock Island, shall constitute a county and be called Demoine; said county shall constitute a township and be ealled Flint Hill; the seat of justice shall be at such place as shall be designated by the judge of the county court of said county.
SECTION 4 of the act, provided "That all laws now in force in the county of Iowa not locally inapplicable, shall be and are hereby extended to the counties of Dubuque and Demoine and shall be in force therein."
At that time the Indian title had been extinguished to the lands in the region lying between the north line of Missouri and the mouth of the Upper Iowa river and fifty miles to the west of the Mississippi river. Thus the two new counties, Dubuque and Demoine, embraced the entire tract known as the "Black Hawk Purchase," and were the only counties created by the Legislative Assembly of Michigan while this region was a part of that territory. Later it beeame a part of Wisconsin Territory and during that period twenty-two counties were created, and when Iowa territory was created twenty-three other counties were added. After it became a state the boundaries were enlarged, divisions made and the total number of Iowa counties, ninety-nine in number, were created.
In 1837, while Iowa was still a part of the Territory of Wisconsin, the territorial legislature established four counties in what was afterward set out
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as the Territory of Iowa, and which was later made the state of lowa. These counties were Benton. Buchanan, Keokuk and Fayette. It was plainly the intention of the legislature to create temporary counties only, as the aet of December 21, 1837, creating these counties reads :
"The whole of the country lying west of the Mississippi and north of the southern boundary of Clayton, extending westward to the southern boundary of Wisconsin Territory and not included within the proper limits of the said connty of Clayton, as hereinbefore described, shall for temporary purposes be attached to, and in all respects be considered a part of the county of Clayton, and be called Fayette."
The temporary purpose intended by the act was judicial purpose, and was (mite common at that early date.
The most southerly of these counties was Keokuk, which began at or near the boundary of what is now Johnson county, and is described in the act as "all of the country lying west of the County of Johnson and between the lines dividing townships seventy-six and seventy-seven and the line dividing townships eighty-one and eighty-two north, extending to the western boundary of the territory" which boundary was the Missouri river. Keokuk county included within its territory all of the present counties of Iowa, Poweshiek, Jasper. Polk, Dallas, Guthrie, Audubon, Shelby, and Harrison, together with the northern one-fourth of the counties of Pottawattamie, Cass. Adair, Madison, Warren, Marion, Mahaska, and Keokuk, and the northern township of Washington. The county as may be seen, extended across the state and was one of the largest counties ever formed.
Next on the north came Benton county, created by the same act. The boundaries given in the act were as follows: "All of the country lying west of the county of Linn and between the line dividing townships eighty-one and eighty-two north, and the line dividing townships eighty-six and eighty-seven, extended to the western boundary of the territory." The western boundary was the Missouri river and Benton county thus extended from Linn county clear across the state of Iowa. As thus constituted it included within its borders the territory of Benton, Tama, Marshall, Story, Boone. Greene, Carroll, Crawford, and Monona counties, together with the southern tier of townships, in the counties of Woodbury, Ida, Sac, Calhoun, Webster, Hamilton, Hardin and Grunday, as these counties exist today.
At the time these counties were established the Indian title had been extin- gnished to only a portion of the territory. Vast areas were still in the hands of the Indians.
Clayton county was bounded in section 1 of the act, and was nearly the same as at the present time. although its shape was slightly different. The western boundary of the Wisconsin territory was the Missouri and White Earth rivers; the northern boundary was the Canadian border. The new county, Fayette, extended to the northern and western boundaries. and covered, roughly speaking, the eastern two-thirds of the Dakotas and the western half of Minne- sota, in addition to the northern quarter of lowa. Its area was upward of one hundred and forty thousand square miles, making it the largest county ever established in the United States. The Indian titles had been extinguished in
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the southeastern part only, including our small county, which was ceded to the United States by treaty with the Santee Sioux, the Saes and Foxes, Omahas, Iowas, Otoes and Missouris. on July 15. 1830.
In its temporary form Fayette county included, in Iowa, all the territory of the present counties of Lyon. Sioux. Osceola, O'Brien, Dickinson, Clay, Emmett, Palo Alto. Kossuth, Winnebago. Hancock. Worth, Cerro Gordo, Mitchell, Floyd, Howard, Chickasaw, Humboldt, Bremer, and Fayette, and the northern three-fourths, approximately, of Buena Vista, Plymouth, Cherokee, Pocahontas, Wright, Franklin, Butler, and Allamakee and a corner of Clayton.
Buena Vista, as has been stated, was included only in part in Fayette county. The southern tier of townships, or about one-fourth of the present boundaries of the county, was embraced in Buchanan county. The original county of Buchanan was established by the same act that created the temporary county, or shall we say, Empire, of Fayette. enacted by the Territorial Legisla- ture of Wisconsin on December 21, 1837. Its boundaries were described in section 5 of the act, as including "All of the country lying west of the county of Delaware and between the line dividing townships eighty-six and eighty- seven, and the line dividing townships ninety and ninety-one north, extending to the western boundary of the territory." The boundaries of Delaware county had been defined in the preceding section of the act, which placed the western line of that county on the line between ranges six and seven west. The "western boundary" of the territory can refer only to the western limit of the Territory of Wisconsin, the legislature of which passed the act just quoted, and meant the Missouri river. The new county of Buchanan thus extended from the western boundary of Delaware county clear across the state, and even into the state of South Dakota. As thus constituted Buchanan county included all of the territory of the present counties of Buchanan and Black Hawk; all except the southern tier of townships in the counties of Grundy, Hardin, Hamilton, Webster, Calhoun, Sac. Ida and Woodbury, and the southern tier of townships of Plymouth, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Pocahontas, Wright. Franklin and Butler. The county of Buchanan was thus perhaps the largest ever established all in Iowa, and was peculiar in its character. In the formation of counties in Iowa the rule has nearly always been to include only those territories to which the Indian title had been extinguished, but the law of 1837 made an exception to this rule and in Buchanan county only a relatively small part had passed from Indian ownership and control.
Buchanan county was reduced in size by the act of February 17, 1843, and the western portion of the county was apparently restored, by implication at least, to the Indians. The life of the temporary county was about five years and two months.
Fayette, the largest of all temporary counties, included, as has been seen, all or part of thirty Iowa counties, and also more than half of three states, Minnesota, North and South Dakotas. It had a longer period of duration than Buchanan, and endured until the act of February. 1847. or almost ten years, when it was discontinued. Nothing was heard of the temporary county of Fayette after the present boundaries were defined.
The boundaries of Buena Vista county have never been altered since the
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county was established by an act of the legislature of the State of Iowa, ap- proved on January 15, 185]. The territory of the entire county was acquired by the United States government by the terms of the treaty of July 15, 1830, when all elaims to western Iowa were surrendered by the Sacs and Foxes, the Omahas, Iowa, Otoes, Missouris and the Santee Sioux.
THE ACT THAT ESTABLISHED TIIE COUNTY.
AN ACT TO ESTABLISHI NEW COUNTIES AND TO DEFINE THEIR BOUNDARIES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa :
SECTION XXX. That the following shall be the boundaries of a new county, which shall be called Buena Vista, to-wit :
Beginning at the northwest corner of townships 93 north, range 34, thenee west on the line dividing townships 93 and 94 to the northwest corner of town- ship 98 north, range 38 west ; thence south to the southwest corner of township 90 north, range 38 west; thence east to the southwest corner of township 90 north, range 34; thenre north to the place of beginning.
SURVEYING THE COUNTY.
An act of Congress was passed May 20, 1785, providing for the survey of all public lands, divisions of six miles square to constitute townships, the ranges of townships to be numbered from the Pennsylvania boundary west, and the numbering of the townships themselves to be from a point on the Ohio river dne north of the western termination of the southern boundary line of Pennsyl- vania. A township was to include thirty-six sections, one mile square. Legis- lation since has made some changes but the system is practically the same at the present time.
Fifty-three years ago surveyors for the first time traversed the area that is now Buena Vista county, crossing streams and divides and running lines and establishing corners. It may be of interest to look into the details of their work. Surveying was of the first importance to the pioneers as the boundaries of their land must be defined by the goverment before the settler could be given a legal claim to his home. Hence the survey always preceded or elosly followed the first immigrant.
The surveyors and assistants, equipped with compass or transit, ehain and ramp equipage, and supplied with food for perhaps months, began their work. They first located the starting point, which had been determined for them in advance. Otherwise they must start at a point near the mouth of the Arkansas river where an imaginary line, known as the base line, had been established by the national government, and they must also locate another imaginary line crossing it at right angles, extending north and south. This latter line is called the meridian line. In locating for Buena Vista county the surveyor
FE
BUSINESS SECTION OF STORM LAAKE.
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HISTORY OF BUENA VISTA COUNTY
1
must follow the line known as the fifth principal meridian. Beginning where the two lines crossed, they marked by spaces six miles apart, one, two, three, and so on.
Six miles north of the base line on the meridian line, township number one is marked, and the township adjoining it on the west would be deseribed as- township No. 1. range No. 2, west, and so on, numbering until township 90 is reached, this being the south line of Buena Vista county. The meridian lines are astronomical lines and certain calculations have to be made owing to the eurvature of the earth, to preserve exaetness in the guide lines.
The government survey of the public lands cannot in the nature of things be exact, consequently there are fractional pieces of land on the north and west sides of townships, and in describing lands the words "more or less, according to government survey" are always inserted. It often occurs that the townships are a trifle short or a little in excess of the six miles square. Beginning is made at the northeast corner section of the township, and the sections are num- bered from one to thirty-six, by counting from east to west alternately. Thus section six is the northwest corner section, while section seven adjoins it on the south, and section twelve would be next south of one, and so on until thirty-six is reached. Thomas Jefferson is said to have been the author of this system of surveying, dividing lands and numbering by ranges, townships and sections.
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