USA > Iowa > Woodbury County > Sioux City > Past and present of Sioux City and Woodbury County, Iowa > Part 68
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At the west end of the county in the year 1855 the settlement was more rapid.
The immigration included all classes, farm- ers seeking a home, business men and meehan-
ies looking for a new, growing, town, real es- tate men, and speculators hunting a get-rich- quick location, young men ready to turn their hand to anything that would give them a start in the world, and adventurers and migratory frontiersmen looking for new excitement.
A sort of western fever pervaded the whole United States. The vast possibilities of this great western empire had just begun to be real- ized, railroads were being built, others were projected, and the advance pioneer sent back a glowing account of the country and the possi- bilities on the frontier.
The California gold excitement had sent many across the continent who returned to the east with their descriptions of this Iowa conn- try, and among our early settlers were many of these California gold seekers, even from the extreme east, and the spirit of western immi- gration was aronsed in many a home all along the line from Maine to eastern Iowa. The set- tlement and growth of the country and the cities, in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, they were sure would be repeated farther west.
The promoters of the rival towns of Ser- geants Bhiffs City and Sioux City were getting their plans in order, building great hopes of making their paper towns of three or four houses expand into great commercial centers, and a brave few came to each of these places.
At the lower settlement George Murphy opened a farm early in the spring of 1855 on the Conneil Bluffs road on seetion 30, township 86, range 46, near where Sloan is located, and kept of necessity a sort of travelers' stopping place, and it later became one of the stage houses. He put in a crop west of there at the southwest corner of Sand Hill lake in the weed land, about thirty acres, living there in a tent before he built his house. To show how busi- ness begins in a new country, Mr. Murphy re- lates that shortly after he came to that locality, he met in the road a party of men in a wagon, coming from the north, who had been up look- ing at the country and going baek not just sat-
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isfied. Among them was one John Freidline, a stranger.
In talking Mr. Murphy told them what he planned to do; plant a crop and build a house on the road, that he could sell his crop to im- migrants, and thought his prospect good. Up- on this Freidline jumped out of the wagon with his small bag of personal effects, and said "I am with you." He was a good partner, and helped raise about 1,000 bushels of corn that year, and put up about twenty tons of hay, which all became a valuable year's work, as it was in great demand the next winter and spring.
Old man Benner lived at the upper end of Sand Hill lake that year in J. M. Brown's house, and Stephen Tillson, J. M. Brush, Ja- cob H. Halluck, John S. Bay, A. W. Puett, John Miller, T. C. McCall, Luther M. Brown, Henry Mulhollen, Alexander Smith, Charles M. Latchey and Joseph A. Marr were among the settlers and new comers, also J. K. Myers. The names of some others will be found in the petition for removal of the county seat to Ser- geants Bluffs City. Some of those may have been visitors who did not remain long.
At Sioux City quite a number of young men came, mostly interested in town settlement. George Weare came, and as soon as there was anything to do opened up a branch real estate and banking house under the name of Greene, Weare, Graves & Co., the head house having its headquarters at Marion, Iowa, and this house has continued in business ever since in Sioux City, most of the time after the first year or two as Weare & Allison, and lately merged into the Iowa State National Bank, of which Mr. George Weare is president.
M. F. Moore, the first resident judge of the District Court, afterwards governor of Wash- ington Territory, was a prominent citizen. C. B. Rustin was another one of the young colony who was active here for many years, especially at the time of the Indian troubles, and later became a prominent eitizen of Omaha.
Also J. M. White, Andrew Teech, Jacob T. Coplan and Charles K. Smith. Most of these young men in Sioux City that fall of 1855 and subsequent winter were boarding at the log hotels, popularly called the "Terrific," "Se- vere," and the "Spondulic," the two former probably burlesques on the common hotel names of "Pacific" and "Revere," and the last to emphasize the fact that no credit was given. The "Terrific" was the most popular, and was kept by C. and W. Benner, called the Benner boys. The furniture and trimmings of this hotel were largely obtained from the steamer "Kate Sweeny," wrecked the year before near here. There were about fifty young men at these hotels, and only four married men, and they had jolly lively times dealing in town lots, additions and prospective town sites. Many logs were cut across the river in Nebraska and hauled over for houses, and the campaign for the removal of the county seat from Sergeants Bluffs was organized.
Austin Cole, Stephen Gardner and Charles Sangster came here from Iowa City that year. Cole got a claim on what is Cole's Addition, and was a justice of the peace. Sangster opened up a general trading store, including liquors, located near the foot of Douglas street, and next year, March 12, 1856, married Mary Ann Lapora, widow, a sister of Joseph Leon- nais.
David Dodson settled here in the spring of 1855 near the Floyd, near where the starch works buildings now are, and his son Charles was born April 17 that year, said to be the first white child born in Sioux City, though Joseph Leonnais, Jr., who has but one-fourth Indian blood in his veins, might perhaps claim that distinction.
Bill Craven, who was afterward killed in a street fight, came that year, the first man to die in the city, it is said. He was buried near the brick yard at Springdale, and this was aft- erward utilized as an argument in favor of the healthfulness of the town, "That it was so
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healthy they had to kill a man to start a grave yard."
Dr. Cook, after his survey in the early sum- mer of 1834, went to Council Bluffs and then to Fairfield, Iowa, to consult with his associates, and late in the fall came back to locate his townsite. It is said he tried to negotiate with Dr. J. D. M. Crockwell and T. Ellwood Clark for the purchase of their new city in embryo, Sergeants Bluffs City, and made a very liberal offer, but Dr. Crockwell was a very sanguine enthusiast, who had great hopes of his town and was not willing to sell it out, but was anxious to sell lots or a fractional interest in his town. It is more likely Dr. Cook was not over anxious to buy them out, as he does not appear to have delayed long.
"Bill" Thompson's town was somewhat lim- ited in area of level land, and Thompson was also a stubborn, willful landowner, who never would sell, so Dr. Cook passed on up to Jo Leonnais' and settled down to live with him late in the year 1854, finding new arrivals since he was there in the summer, Louis D. Lettel- lier, claiming what is now Middle Sioux City, Elie Bedard, East Sioux City, then Amable Gallerneaux and John B. LaPlant lived where the stock yards now are. So all the river front was taken from Sawyer's Bluff nearly to Pros- pect Hill, and as a steamboat landing was nee- essary to a town, Dr. Cook took a claim to what there was next west, the east half of see- tion 29, being most of which is now platted as Sioux City, west of Perry Creek, and he soon built his elaim house about where the park is now on West Third street.
This gave him a small piece of river front east of Prospeet Hill about as wide as the space the brewery now occupies, with the level tract west of that hill at the foot of Main street. He assumed to his friends that this was all the town he needed and commeneed to stake out the lots in December of that year, and eon- tinued it through the early winter, as it was an open one.
Samuel F. Watts, who had been Dr. Cook's assistant in the survey of the township, helped in this survey; at least, in the first plat filed he was named as surveyor. A crude map or plat of this survey was made as surveyed by Samuel Watts and presented by John K. Cook to Theophile Bruguier, acting county judge, who on May 2, 1855, certified that he was sat- isfied with said plat, and ordered it to be re- corded, and it was recorded May 5, 1855, in the office of the recorder of Pottawattamie county, Iowa, so marked by Lewis Cumming- ham, recorder.
In the meantime he had been negotiating with Leonnais for the purchase of his claim, and had communicated with his backers, one of whom, Daniel Rider, came up. They told Leonnais they wanted the land for an orchard, but others told Leonnais they wanted the land for a town site, but he had not much experience or faith in town site, and finally concluded to sell for $3,000.00 cash. His sister, Mrs. La- pora, who had come from Canada to live with him the fall before, advised against the sale, but that did not stop it, so early in the spring they came into possession of this new tract. That winter Cook and Rider purchased from the territorial legislature of Nebraska, which then was in session at Omaha, a charter for a ferry for a company named the Sioux City Ferry Company over the Missouri river, for a distance of a mile or more up and down oppo- site Sioux City. This act of the legislature was approved March 14, 1855.
George Chamberlain had taken as a pre-emp- tion in part and laid claim to another part of the north half of section 28, that is, all of Sioux City East Addition north of Seventh street, and had his house at the northeast cor- ner of Seventh and Jones street, where his permanent house, built a few years after, still stands. At some time during that year of 1855 or early in 1856 this town site syndicate made a bargain with Chamberlain for the pur- chase of a half interest in his whole elaim, it
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was said for $3,000.00, by the terms of which the land was to be platted into lots, the syndi- cate to plat the west half and Chamberlain the east half, and that the syndicate were to enter from the United States the northwest quarter, and Chamberlain the northeast quarter and plat and divide afterward.
This syndicate was composed at first of Henn & Williams, owning two-sixths, John K. Cook one-sixth. The two Iowa United States senators, Augustus C. Dodge and George W. Jones, Daniel Rider and James A. Jackson each own- ing one-eighth. Cook & Rider were the agents here on the ground, Henn & Williams were ex- tensive bankers in Iowa and both of these men had considerable political influence, Bernhart Henn being a congressman up to that time, and Jesse Williams, a former territorial official, and the two senators politically able to secure a land office, a postoffice, or any needed help at Washington. It made a pretty strong influen- tial company, and they named themselves the Sioux City Company, taking that name early in 1855, when they commenced the business of platting the town, taking the name from the Big Sioux river, which then emptied into the Missouri only about a mile and a half west of their west line.
The Sioux City Company at first undertook to enter their whole tract, the west half of sec- tion 28 and east half of section 29. Under the Town Site Act of the United States, by which settlers upon a tract having a town organization of a council or trustees could enter in the town name for the use of the settlers, or if there was no town organization the county judge could enter it for the same uses, but they could not in fact enter more than half a section in that way.
Their application had been made at the land office at Council Bluffs. Watts had made a survey of the Leonnais tract also. The com- pany then decided to enter the east half of section 29 and used the same maps in the Unit- ed States land office as that first surveyed by
Watts, and in the plat filed at Council Bluffs, which differed somewhat from the later official plat finally adopted.
In this first plat all the land was not platted, the lots around the park running east and west, the same as the other lots.
This town site entry of the east half of sec- tion 29 was made at the Sioux City land office April 14, 1856, cash entry No. 280, in the name of John K. Cook, county judge, in trust for the occupants and owners of lots in Sioux City, Woodbury county, Iowa. This land was patented December 15, 1857.
Withont at this time following chronologie- ally the settlement and growth of Sioux City during this period we will complete the history of this town site company.
It procured an act of Congress March 3, 1855, by which a landoffice was ordered estab- lished at Sioux City, Iowa, which was opened October 22, 1855, with Dr. S. P. Yeomans, who came at that time, as register, but not much business was done that spring. Dr. Yeo- mans procured his appointment through the influence of Senator Jones, whose election to the United States senate had been greatly as- sisted by the doctor, who was at the time a member of the Iowa Legislature. Dr. Yeo- mans had bought a one-fourth interest of Dan- iel Rider's one-eighth share in the town.
Andrew Leech was appointed register of the land office, and had a small interest in some manner in the property, but this interest passed to Dr. Yeomans. Leech owed his appointment to the other members of the company.
Horace C. Bacon, who had been a law part- ner of United States Senator Wells, of Exeter, N. H., in 1855 got the western fever, and had heard of the prospective Sioux City, possibly from Senator Wells, who probably had learned of it from the Iowa senators, Dodge and Jones. He had been a law student in the office of Franklin Pierce, then president. Mr. Bacon eame west in the summer of 1855 and reached Sioux City by way of Conneil Bluffs. He
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found the town composed chiefly of about eight- een men who lived in the Jo Leonnais house, but was convinced of the great prospects of the town, and decided to become interested and went to Fairfield, Iowa, the headquarters of the boom town, and bought a one-sixth interest of Henn & Williams' one-third interest. He was no doubt considered a great acquisition, from his supposed acquaintance and influence with the president, and he in faet became a leading factor in the company. He returned to Sioux City in December, 1855.
By the spring of 1856 the prospects looked bright for the future of the company, and there was need of a better organization, so a meet- ing was held of those interested, in Sioux City, April 1, 1856. There were present at this meeting, Dr. John K. Cook, Jesse Williams, Horace C. Bacon, S. P. Yeomans and possibly Daniel Rider, some of those present represent- ing absent partners, Jones, Dodge, Jackson and Henn. Contracts for sale of lots had been made before that by John K. Cook, as agent of the Sioux City Company, and it was decided to merge all the interests in a new company, which should own all the others and which could do a general business in promoting the town, including the ownership of the Sioux City Ferry Company, which owned the ferry franchise from the state of Nebraska, and they contemplated controlling the town across the river, as Dr. Cook had a elaim there.
They named the new company the Sioux City Land & Ferry Company and elected Dr. John K. Cook as president, Horace C. Bacon, secretary, and Dr. S. P. Yeomans, treasurer, and these men constituted a sort of resident executive committee, that transacted all the business. Books were opened and records and accounts were kept, but in faet it was a part- nership. They continued to use the name of the Sioux City Company in contracts for sale of lots but the records of these transactions went on the books of the Sioux City Land & Ferry Company. They resurveyed the town
plat of Sioux City East Addition, the work being done chiefly by G. W. F. Sherwin in the spring of 1856, and this plat was used in their lot sales after that. It is said they de- eided on some changes in the map, but had sold some one or two lots by umbers and by the new survey the description of these lots would not naturally correspond to the old num- bers, hence the irregular numbering of the lots in the first row of blocks south of Seventh street, in which the lots commence with num- ber 1 on the east side of the block one lot south of the northeast corner, whereas in all other blocks the lots commence to number at the northwest corner of the block, Seventh street be- ing the limit of the claim bought of Jo Leon- nais, and first surveyed.
Another matter that remains of interest is that all the lots in this addition, or nearly all, now exceed in size a few inches the 50x150 feet, the platted size; there is one notable ex- ception, which is the tier of blocks between Nebraska and Jackson streets that are shorter in length than that given.
Mr. Luther C. Sanborn, who came here in the spring of 1856, a friend of Horace C. Ba- con, used to relate that he brought a compass and chain with him, and one of the first things he did was to help Mr. Sherwin survey Sioux City East Addition, south of Seventh street, and that Sherwin desired to use Mr. Sanborn's ehain, but on comparing it with his own found Mr. Sanborn's shorter; and, not wishing to discredit his own chain, took Mr. Sanborn's to a blacksmith and had it lengthened to eorre- spond with his own, though Mr. Sanborn was sure his own was correct.
The method of marking the lines of the streets was principally by chaining the length of the lots, streets and alleys, east and west, near the river front, and from this base line with the compass sighting north and running the north and south lines, and chaining north setting the lot stakes without in all cases meas- uring the length of the lots east and west, so
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a slight variation in the line of the streets would make some of the blocks wider than others east and west; these two things account for some of the blocks being narrower than others, but averaging more than a present measurement would show.
May 14, 1856, Congress, through the influ- ence of our Iowa delegation, had made a grant of lands in aid of a railroad from Dubuque to Sioux City; and to prevent settlers from rushing in and pre-empting or entering the odd numbered sections of land that would fall with- in the limits of this grant, where the line of railroad was surveyed, an order was made sus- pending all entries within those limits, and an order of the General Land Office was also made withdrawing this land from market, and sus- pending further entries. So this company, by its delay in getting this land as a town site were stopped from entering it, and hence had a rap- idly growing town with many lots that they had contracted to sell with no title, and this condition lasted for two years, till July 1, 1858, when it again came into market. But September 16, 1836, they filed with the coun- ty recorder a plat of their town, of the parts they claimed, of Sioux City and Sioux City East Addition, the west half of section 28 and the east half of section 29, controlling as they did the United States land offices, and with the influence they had at Washington, they felt secure. But many threats were made from time to time that some one would make an ef- fort to enter the land away from them, that is, some one of the settlers would try and claim a pre-emption on it, or a number of them would combine and beat the old company out of it. Mr. S. T. Davis, one of the settlers of 1856, an attorney, used to say that he was offered $1,000.00 by a client if he would secure him the entry from the United States of this tract.
The company also controlled the county judge who then acted with all the authority of the present board of supervisors, and on April 14, 1856, when they entered what is Sioux
City, they filed the following documents with the county judge, the first one to apply to Sioux City then entered, and the last one to Sioux City East Addition, on the west half of section 28, which they then named as East Sionx City, but intended for what they later called Sioux City East Addition, Elie Bedard for his tract having adopted the name of East Sioux City for the plat of his tract. This entry on the county judge's record is as follows :
P. 14, 1856, April 14. To the Hon. County Judge of Woodbury County, Iowa: The un- dersigned, proprietors of Sioux City, respect- fully petition you to deed the property entered as a town site in trust for our use and benefit to Stephen P. Yeomans, who is authorized to act as trustee for us in making sale and con- veyance of lots in said town to persons who have or may have hereafter make purchase.
Respectfully, etc., BERNHART HENN, JESSE WILLIAMS, AND OTHIERS.
April 15. To the County Judge of Wood- bury County. Sir :- The undersigned respect- fully petition you to enter as County Judge the west half of section No. 28, township 89, range 47, in trust for the benefit of the owners and occupants of lots in the town of East Sioux City, according to the provisions of the laws of the United States, and of the state of Iowa, in reference to town sites, April 15, 1856. BERNHART HENN, JESSE WILLIAMS, AND OTHIERS.
Some of the original owners up to this time had sold portions of their interest. Senator Jones had sold to Pairo & Nourse, some Wash- ington bankers, one-fourth of his interest; James A. Jackson had sold to Robert Boyce, of South Carolina, one-fourth of his interest ; Daniel Rider sold most of his interest as fol- lows: one-sixth of it to Cyrus Strong, of Bing- hamton, N. Y .; one-sixth of it to G. S. Thompson ; one-fourth of it to William Mont-
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gomery, a Pennsylvania congressman, and one- tracted to be sold, and the Chamberlain quar- eighth of it to William R. Oliver, another Pennsylvania congressman. This still left him with one-eighth of his original one-eighth share. These new men took no active part in the com- pany's affairs.
The method pursued by the company in sell- ing lots was to give a receipt or bond signed by John K. Cook as "trustee for Sioux City Company," to the purchaser of any lot, agree- ing to give a deed as soon as title could be ob- tained from the United States. The sales com- mencing in the fall of 1855 and ending in the fall of 1856. These bonds in some instances were recorded, and in many cases assigned, but generally the company was notified of the as- signment, and when the time came that it could make deeds, these bonds were presented. Sales were generally for cash.
In some instances lots were given to persons who would build, as for instance, October 17, 1855, Abraham Kniss was given Lot 6, block 17 in East Addition to Sioux City (northeast cor- ner of Fourth and Pearl streets) if he would ercet a good hewed log house one and a half stories high. This became a sort of hotel where it is said fried eggs were ten cents each, and boiled eggs five cents each, because the land- lord took all the risk of the soundness of the fried egg, and the guest took his own chances on the boiled egg.
This peculiar contract, before a deed was signed, was twice assigned, once by Kniss to Austin Cole, and by him to Thomas L. Griffey and deeded to still another party.
December 6, 1856, the active members of the company got together in Sioux City and decided to divide up the lots. They already had title to most of the part west of Perry Creek in the east half of section 29, and had no doubts as to getting the rest, so reserving the saw mill site just east of the month of Perry creek, the depot site where the North- western depot now is, and a few other unim- portant pieces, and leaving out the lots con-
ter section, proceeded to put prices on cach lot, and then divided according to the value and the shares of each, some of those present act- ing for those absent, taking turns in making choice of about a quarter of a block apiece each time around, all were divided, then deeds were made by Cook as county judge to cach; and giving a bond for a deed to each one for the part they had not yet entered; they evidently had not kept track of Daniel Rider's transfers uf his interest, but gave deed and bond to Rider for all his share except that owned by Yeo- mans, which, years later, led to much litigation in establishing the interests of Strong, Thomp- son, Montgomery and Oliver.
The company by this division, and by subse- quent hard times depreciating the value of what they had left, stripped itself of financial abil- ity to further promote the town.
Finally, July 1, 1838, the railroad land grant being adjusted, the west half of section 28 again came into market, and was to be of- fered at public sale by the land offices. The great boom had collapsed in June, 1857. Then the general financial crash that spread over the whole country came, and now that the land was to be sold, it strained the finances of the company to raise the $2.50 an acre to pay for this west half of section 28, as it had disposed of nearly all its assets before the division of the lots the fall before. It is said a man, one Mc- Clellan, came along about that time and bought a lot for cash and put them in funds. But there was the danger that someone or some syndicate would bid on the land and run it up at the land office sale, and precautions were taken to prevent this, but every man living here then in the city had bought a lot and paid for it, and depended on the company to furnish him a title, and times were desperately hard, money scarce, and the vast majority of the peo- ple were in a mood to hang a man who would interfere with the company getting the title.
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