USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 11
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In 1853, he moved to The Fort and became a permanent resi- dent, locating on a tract where the Water Works office and Ball Park now are, on Grand Avenue and Fifth Street. Soon after, he was appointed Chief Clerk in the office of the Register of the Uni- ted States Land Office, a post of great responsibility, the daily receipts often amounting to twenty-five thousand dollars in gold. Uncle Sam would not accept checks, nor "red-dog," "wild-cat" currency.
In 1857, he was elected a member of the Town Council from the Third Ward. The same year, the County Judge, Napier, began to agitate a project for a new Court House, and kept at it for a
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whole year. He wanted one worth not less than fifty thousand dollars. The farmers and taxpayers thought that was an enormous lot of money to put into one building-there was no good reason for it; it was preposterous ; it was setting up a bad precedent to put so much money into the hands of one man. It was discussed over farm fences and in stores, but the Judge, who was a law unto him- self, decided to go ahead, and in June, 1855, made a contract with Cooper to erect it for sixty-three thousand dollars, according to plans made by D. H. Young. It was to be an elaborate affair, 66×102, fifty feet high, surmounted by a dome and town clock- the clock never got beyond the dial stage-the porticos and roof peaks to be ornamented with life-size Basswood goddesses represent- ing several kinds of mythology.
In those days, money did not grow on bushes, and the rural people queried as to where the Judge would get the money.
Cooper had only got fairly started when he wanted money, and in May, 1859, the Judge ordered an election to vote on a proposi- tion to issue bonds to the amount of thirty thousand dollars. The proposition was adopted by one thousand and seventeen to seven hundred and ninety votes. The bonds were issued and sold for 23,768.61. Cooper took three at ninety per cent, and eleven at eighty per cent.
The bonds issued, the next problem was the interest and prin- cipal. How were they to be paid ? Public sentiment got hot. The Judge was lambasted on all sides. Contention, bitterness and strife were rampant. While none questioned the integrity and honesty of the Judge, his judgment was severely criticised. He was inves- tigated, and every few days called up to explain things, and so intense became the agitation that at the election, October, 1859, he lost his job, and was succeeded by John H. McClelland, an esti- mable, conservative business man, who went on with the work, but soon found himself short of funds. With the clamor of county officers, and courts parceled out in discommodious quarters in the Exchange Block, on Walnut Street, and the Sherman Block, on Court Avenue, and impatient lawyers on one side and a disgruntled populace on the other, the Judge was in sore straits. To issue more bonds was not to be considered at all. The Judge was at his wits' end, but he must have more money.
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When Uncle Sam made his survey of the state, there was found fourteen thousand five hundred acres in Polk County which were deemed unsuitable for cultivation, and they were transferred to the state as "swamp lands," much of which has since been transformed into valuable farms. The Judge, in his extremity, hit upon these "swamp lands." There was money in them, but to get it required legislative action. The General Assembly was "seen," and an Act authorizing the Judge to sell the swamp lands and use so much of the proceeds as was necessary to complete the Court House, pro- vided the electors of the county approved the same, was passed. The Judge thereupon ordered an election, at which the proposition was unanimously approved.
The next General Assembly, in 1861-2, passed an Act placing all court houses under control of the County Boards of Super- visors. The first move of the Polk County Board was to get pos- session and boss the job. They attempted to oust Cooper, but he had a good contract, and those who know him, know he doesn't scare easily ; he was of such temperament that he could be led where he could not be driven, but he was so continually harassed and embar- rassed that he surrendered his contract, and the Supervisors fin- ished the main structure so it could be occupied in 1863. Then came the dome, and the whole was not completed until 1865-in fact, was never completed, for, so soon as the dome was finished, Jupiter Pluvius disclosed holes in the roof, and from then on there was constant repairing, alteration and reconstruction until its final destruction. The cost of it was near one hundred thousand dol- lars. It was, at best, an architectural monstrosity, and, with the jail in the cellar, always a nuisance and abomination. I have no doubt, the demise of several judges, county officers and lawyers could be traced to the unhealthfulness of that old rookery, with its walls completely saturated with the poison of sewer air, one of the most insidious foes of human life.
After retiring from the Court House, Cooper turned to real estate investments and settlement with the County Supervisors, until 1875, when, with impaired health, he went to California, where he made his temporary home.
Politically, he was a Democrat, but had little to do with politics. He was a plain man, of few words, of most positive temperament,
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never vacillating, his "yea" and "nay" were final; never identified himself with the strifes between the East and West Side, and, in the early days, was helpful in many ways in developing the county and town .*
September Fourth, 1904.
*Died August Thirteenth, 1902, aged eighty-nine.
VOL. I-(10)
R. W. SYPHER
R. W. SYPHER
NE of the very first merchants to open a store in Des Moines was R. W. Sypher, who came early in 1846. He occupied a double log cabin on the Phelps Fur Company claim, about a mile east on the plateau, near the river, as all trade and business, outside of the military garrison, was in that direc- tion. A double log cabin of the settlers was different from that at The Fort. The settlers' cabin was composed of two cabins of equal size, with a space between equal to the size of the cabin. The space was roofed from cabin to cabin, the space being utilized for a stor- age shed. At The Fort, the structures were the same, except that the space between the cabins was walled up with logs, between which ports, or loop-holes, were made through which soldiers could thrust their guns when necessary.
Sypher's store was stocked with groceries, dry goods, hardware, queensware (now called crockery), boots, shoes, glass, nails, and everything liable to be needed in the community, and was largely advertised in the Star. Immediately the soldiers leaving, he built a frame store at the northwest corner of Second and Vine streets, adjoining that of Frank Allen. He soon began to branch out by establishing branch stores at Booneville (now Boone), and other places, and became a merchant prince. His greatest source of trouble was the River Improvement dams, down at Bonaparte, which obstructed the passage of steamboats then, and to-day the fish. His goods required frequent replenishment. There were no railroads, the land roads were often impassable for teaming from Keokuk and Burlington, the nearest source of supply, and more than one hundred and seventy miles away.
In June, 1851, the year of the "great flood"-nothing like it before nor since the whole country bordering the water courses was under water. The pioneer settlers made their claims along rivers and creeks. The flood destroyed all hope of making a crop.
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At The Fort, affairs were in serious condition. Food supplies were scarce; there was no flour. Keokuk and Burlington had an abundance, but their merchants and shippers were not disposed to assume the expense and risk of sending merchandise and supplies up a wild, turbulent river, obstructed by half completed dams, and completely damned by river boatmen. It became apparent that relief could come only by home industry. Accordingly, Sypher, Colonel J. M. Griffith, W. T. Marvin, who kept the Marvin House, on Third Street near Walnut, and others planned to go to St. Louis, charter a steamboat, and get supplies. A small, flat-bottomed skiff was made, and Griffith, Marvin, Peter Myers, a politician and speculator, Hoyt Sherman, Postmaster, boarded it, the last two as supercargo, not being personally interested in family supplies, to float down to Keokuk, where they arrived on the fourth day, tying up at night wherever they could reach an accessible place to get "grub." From Keokuk, they went to St. Louis, where they char- tered a stern-wheel steamboat, loaded it with a cargo of flour and general merchandise, and started for home. On arriving at Bona- parte, they met the River Improvement Company's submerged dam. Several ineffectual attempts were made to get over it, but the rushing torrent was too strong. The cargo was transferred to a warchouse, and another trip made to St. Louis to get a boat that could climb dams.
The Caleb Cope was secured and soon reached the stored freight, which was put on board and the trip completed without delay, arriving on the Fifth of July.
The Star said of the coming: "The steamboat Caleb Cope arrived Sunday with a large barge, heavily laden with flour, salt, iron, nails, groceries, and dry goods. This will relieve the wants of the community."
The whistle of the steamboat was the signal for a stampede from the churches to give it a welcome, which was done with waving 'kerchiefs and cheers. It was an important event, in which the entire community was gastronomically interested.
The next day after the arrival, the Captain invited the people to take a picnic excursion on his boat up the river. With the under- standing that no refreshments, liquid or otherwise, would be served
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on the boat, about fifty prominent citizens, and their feminine belongings, with well-filled lunch baskets, and "something else" to add cheer to the occasion, accepted the invitation, and, as one of the party said to me last week, it was an hilarious and spirited affair.
After the boat had got under way, "Billy" Moore came up the hatchway in his shirtsleeves, and very distraught. He had been in the hold looking for a special brand of calico, of "fast color," wanted by one of his country customers, and had expected to get off before the boat started. He insisted on being put ashore, as he was not "dressed up for company," and his store was open, but he was informed that no stops were to be made. The clerk came to the rescue, furnished him a coat, soap and water did the rest, and, in good presentable shape, "Billy" "jined in." He got so elated that he declared he would start a bank, and began to throw gold coins to the fishes. Between Beaver Creek and Thompson's Bend lies nearly two hundred dollars he sowed as they went along.
Mercantile business in those early days was done very unlike what it is now. It was largely barter and credit. Money was scarce, much of it "wild-cat." Settlers were generally poor, yet strictly honest; markets for what they produced were far away. Often family supplies were exhausted, and badly needed. To get them without money was vexatious. On one occasion, a merchant swapped two pounds of salt for a bushel of buckwheat, and the settler was glad to make the trade.
In 1849, the County Commissioners made a contract to build the first county jail. It was 24x15 feet, two stories. It was a double wall of logs, the space between the walls filled with stone. One of the contractors died during the construction, and the con- tract was transferred to Sypher, who finished it. It stood where the east end of the Union Depot now is, and cost seven hundred and fifty dollars.
In May, 1852, The Fort having been incorporated as a town, Sypher was elected a member of the Council, and served one term, declining reelection for business reasons. There were no wards. The Council met in the Court House.
In 1855, when the State Commissioners came here to locate the Seat of Government, Sypher took an active part in the effort to
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secure the location on Grimmel's Hill. He subscribed ten thousand dollars to be paid to the state if the West Side won.
In 1856, the Lutheran Church decided to establish a denomina- tional college here. A corporation was formed, and Sypher was elected one of the Trustees. Land was purchased, a building par- tially constructed, when the hard times and panic of 1857 came, the project was abandoned, and the property sold to the Baptists.
Sypher had a large number of sails spread, and found it neces- sary to begin furling some, to weather the gale. He had a clerk named Tyler, to whom he intrusted much of his financial affairs. Tyler robbed him of a large sum of money, ran away to Nebraska, where he joined the notorious Small gang of horse thieves, who stole Nebraska horses, ran them into Iowa, then stole Iowa horses and ran them into other states. Tyler finally got into the peniten- tiary in Nebraska and died there. His stealings and the panic necessitated Sypher closing his affairs. Practically, it put the whole town out of business. As a retrospective rhymester puts it:
"We all remember how, in 'Fifty-seven,
All enterprises seemed to have a leaven Of failure in them. Then came the panic, That scattered banker, merchant and mechanic, Professors, Christians, sinners-people all Participated in the general fall.
Blest was he then, and free from all this shocking, Who made a banker of his wife's long stocking."
In 1860, the firm of Newton & Keene, merchants in Exchange Block, at Third and Walnut streets, having failed, Sypher was appointed assignee, and closed up their business.
In 1874, he opened a coal shaft south of 'Coon River, which he operated until his death, in 1879.
He was an enterprising, public-spirited, prominent citizen, social and genial. His home on Fourth Street, where the Brins- maids' store is, was the headquarters for social functions. It was an open house to young people, and some gay times were had there, for Mrs. Sypher was immensely popular. Many of the partici- pants in those frolics have ceased to be, but I think "Tom" Hat- ton, "Friday" Eason, Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Clapp, and "Tac" Hussey
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will remember some of the gatherings there. They will never be duplicated.
The query is often made as to the origin of Eason's nickname, "Friday." When he was a youngster among the Vermont hills, he was a vigorous book reader. Robinson Crusoe was his favorite, and its leading character, "Friday," was his ideal hero, the splen- dors of whom he so strenuously and persistently impressed upon his playmates, they dubbed him "Friday," and it has stuck to the present day. He accepts it with genuine good humor, and some of his best friends don't know his real name.
September Eighteenth, 1904.
DR. M. P. TURNER
DOCTOR M. P. TURNER
O F the early settlers who occupied a prominent place in the building of Des Moines, mention must be made of Doctor Mahlon P. Turner.
Though not one of the earliest, he came at a time when there was an open field for energy, foresight, perseverance and hard work-a time to lay the foundation of big enterprises.
He and his good wife came in 1858, each being in good financial circumstances. Their first objective was a living place, but dwell- ing places were scarce. The influx of population was beyond the supply of homes. Two-sometimes three-families in one house was not uncommon, and they were not apartment houses, either. Dwelling houses in those days were small. The only house I could get in which to begin housekeeping when I came here was a one- story structure with two rooms about 12×14, with no cellar, on Locust Street, near the present Crocker Building.
After a few months, the Doctor found a house far out in the country, where North Des Moines now is, quite unlike the elegant home on Forest Avenue where he ended his life.
His first impression of the town and its surroundings was that it was a good place to plant himself. He at once began to invest his money in real estate, which was easily done, for there were many whole squares of vacant lots. He was also ready for whatever might "turn up," or to "turn up" something.
One of the pressing needs of the community was adequate means to get over the rivers. Ferries were cumbersome, inefficient, and too slow. The Doctor was emphatically a moving spirit-he wanted to see things go.
In the Spring of 1861, he secured a thirty-year charter for a toll bridge over 'Coon River-charters were cheap then-and at once proceeded to erect it, and, of course, captured all the travel from the south. It was not long before a hue-and-cry was rife that the
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Doctor was getting rich with his toll bridge. The Town Council also got uneasy. The town treasury was getting no benefit from the privileges conferred.
In 1865, the bridge was carried away by a flood. An incident of its going was that a man who had been in town on business, having completed it, took the stage to return to his home. The stage was crowded inside and on top. On reaching the bridge, one of the passengers discovered he had forgotten something of great value and earnestly requested the driver to return to the hotel, to which he acceded. On again approaching the bridge, there was a heavy grind, a crash, and the bridge, tangled and torn, floated down the turbulent 'Coon.
Immediately, the "city dads" took advantage of the situation, and put in a ferry, to oust the Doctor, who was equal to the occa- sion. He went up the river one night, bought a small steamboat which was lying idle, and the next morning was running in opposi- tion to the town ferry. Mayor Lamareaux was out early, and read the riot act to the Doctor, denouncing him in bitter terms, and charged him with skulduggery in getting the steamboat, to which the Doctor responded, with his usual suavity and good nature:
"It don't make a bit of difference to you how I got this boat. I am here to carry people across the river until I can build a new bridge."
He at once rebuilt the bridge and went on with his toll gather- ing, but the opposition to it became so extensive and strenuous he changed tactics. He was noted for expediency ; he never got into a place so tight he didn't find a way to get out. He went quietly among the farmers and those who used the bridge, and secured sub- scriptions for their estimated value of the bridge to them, and thus collected the entire cost of the bridge, whereupon he tendered it to the Town Council, conditioned that it was to be free to the public from that time-1868-"forever and forever."
In 1871, when bridging Des Moines River had become quite expensive, the City Council ordered collection of toll on all bridges, but they very soon ran up against the Doctor's perpetual free bridge. The people from south of 'Coon refused to pay toll on a bridge they had bought and paid for. There was no getting around
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the valid contract made with the Doctor. To get out of the dilemma, the Council declared the bridge unsafe, condemned it, and sent men to take up the floor. While they were at work, a body of Bloom- field citizens swept down on them like a Japanese assault, routed them and relaid the floor. It looked warlike for a time. Both sides were belligerent, but wise counsel prevailed. The bridge was torn down in 1872, a new one erected, and it is there now, but in shaky condition. Thus ended the Doctor's "forever and forever free" contract.
In 1866, with U. B. White, the Doctor built the second bridge over the Des Moines, at Court Avenue, the first having been torn down. In 1869, it floated down-stream on a high wave, and was replaced by an iron bridge.
In 1866, the Doctor organized and procured a perpetual charter for a street railway on all streets, to be operated by animal power- another instance in which he outwitted the "city dads"-and became the putative father of the present magnificent street railway system, with its one hundred and seven big cars and sixty-two and one-half miles of track, unlike in uniqueness any in the United States. He secured the financial aid of J. S. Polk, Fred. M. Hub- bell, and U. B. White, and built the first mile of road from the Court House, on Court Avenue, to Capitol Hill. It was a chimeri- cal undertaking. It began nowhere and ended the same. The town was small, the population scattered, and Court Avenue was the only business east-and-west street. The track-narrow-gauge- was laid on the surface; there was no pavement. The cars were small, having a capacity for about twenty persons. The motive power was a pair of mules. Their speed limit under the charter was six miles an hour, to go around street corners at a walk, and cars to be kept two hundred feet apart when in motion, but the Doctor was never made defendant in an action for damages for "fast running," or runaways from defective brakes, for, if the brakes failed to hold the cars on a down grade, the mules would, as John Hamilton, now a motorman on the Sevastopol line, can prob- ably testify, for he drove them to the end of the mule-car service.
The road was a great accommodation to women and children. It was too slow for men, except in bad, wet weather, and then it
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was not uncommon that the car would slip off the rail, and tho men would have to get off and lift it back in place. Sometimes the mules, in floundering through the slippery clay mud, would fall and both lay flat on their back, which gave John no uneasiness-the mules were used to it-but it made the women and children hysterical.
It was a mirth-provoking outfit, and the Doctor was often given humorous jibes thercon, but he always received them in his genial way, with the reply :
"Never mind; just wait. This is only a beginning. This town is going to grow. Just give us a chance."
With firm faith in Des Moines, patience and perseverance, the Doctor worked on, despite discouragements which would have balked many men.
After several months, the track was laid through an alley at the foot of the hill to Walnut Street, then east to Fourth Street, then to place of beginning, thus forming a loop.
In 1872, he had added two and one-half miles of track west on Walnut and High streets, and east on Grand Avenue to Tenth Street, but it did not pay one hundred per cent to his partners, and they seceded, the Doctor purchasing all their interest except that of White, which was taken by Mrs. Turner. A new company was formed, with the Doctor as President and Manager, and his wife as Secretary and Treasurer, and for fourteen years they extended and operated the "Des Moines Street Railway Company."
In the meantime, H. E. Teachout formed a company and got a charter for a broad-gauge road on Locust and other streets, the motive power being horses. The equipment was more up-to-date than that of the Doctor's, and soon began to crowd him. He went into court with his perpetual charter and asked an injunction against the use of animal power by the Teachout company, in viola- tion of an exclusive prior charter. The courts sustained the Doc- tor's claim, whereupon Teachout changed his motive power to elec- tricity, and competition with the Doctor became lively in the occu- pation of streets, etc.
Mr. Polk was also developing a street railway system under a charter for the Rapid Transit Company, which gave the right to
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use steam, cable or electricity as the motive power, and, in 1895, he purchased all the rights, title and interest of the other com- panies, consolidated them under the name of the Des Moines City Railway Company, established an entire new system, and pro- ceeded to gridiron the city with his tracks.
The first, and for many years the only amusement hall, was built by the Doctor. It is the building now occupied by the Purity Candy Company, on Court Avenue, at the alley corner east of Fourth Street.
After disposing of his street railway, he devoted his time to improving his holdings of real estate, a notable example of which is the elegant seven-story building, corner of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue, recently occupied by the Studebaker Carriage Repository.
The ground occupied by Drake University was purchased from him.
The Doctor was not a politician, and never sought a partisan office, but, being a man of affairs, with large property interests, and being popular, he was elected Alderman for the Fourth Ward in 1854 and 1855, the ward being strongly Democratic and Anti- Prohibition, the Doctor being a radical Republican and anti-saloon man.
He was an earnest and helpful supporter of schools and churches, a real friend of the laboring class, kind-hearted, benevolent, genial, optimistic to eccentricity, for he saw only the bright side of things ; in business undertakings, whatever the discouragements, he saw only the "greater Des Moines," ultimate success. Even in the last year of his life, when disease was slowly eating away his vital- ity, he clung to hope. Meeting him on the streets a few days before he lay down never to rise, in reply to a query as to his health,, he replied : "Oh, I am gaining a little every day. I believe I will come out all right." That was the spirit of the man in all things.
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