USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 12
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October Second, 1904.
CAPTAIN F. R. WEST
CAPTAIN F. R. WEST
A N early settler and prominent man in business affairs was Captain F. R. West. His title was gained from his former connection with a Packet Line on the old Pennsylvania Canal, long ago abandoned.
He came to Des Moines in 1854, with some capital, and at once made investments in real estate, a large portion of which is now in North Des Moines.
In 1856, he built what is now the Register and Leader Build- ing. The ground floor was occupied by B. F. Allen's Bank, the rear portion by the United States Land Office, the second floor by the Congregational Church, the third floor by the Journal news- paper. The east half of the building was occupied by Keyes & Crawford for general merchandise, and for many years by Ran- dolph and John Knight for a dry goods store, and was the center of attraction of matrons and maidens, who wanted something to wear; it was the headquarters of Fashion.
In 1857, when the whole country was staggering under one of the worst financial panics known in history, the Western states were flooded with currency turned out by "wild-cat" mills. It had little or no foundation, and included every form of "red-dog," "stump-tail," "wild-cat," and other rotten bank circulation. It would be gathered up by speculators and land sharks, and used in business transactions in isolated communities. While there were circulating notes of Eastern and Western states, having some value, many were based largely on bonds of Southern states, of uncertain value, so that the financial condition of the state was deplorable. Business men made haste to get their currency into a bank at the close of each day, with no assurance it would have any value the next morning, for the banks would accept it only at what it was worth from day to day. It was not uncommon for a merchant to send a package of the stuff to Keokuk or St. Louis to pay for goods,
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and be informed that most of it was worthless on arriving at its destination.
The new State Constitution of 1857 authorized the Legislature to provide a system of legitimate banking and the issue of bank- notes. In accordance therewith, an Act was passed providing for a State Bank, with branches in different localities, to meet the demands of business. In 1858, the first branch was established at Des Moines, with B. F. Allen, President, and Hoyt Sherman, Cashier. In 1861, Sherman entered the United States military service, and West was elected Cashier. The bank did an enormous business, its deposits at one time amounting to one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1865, it was reorganized under the National Banking Law, as the National State Bank. In 1876, the Captain purchased most of the stock, surrendered the charter, and established an independent bank, as F. R. West & Sons. In 1877, he became heavily involved in his effort to help Allen, husband of his daughter, ont of a financial struggle, and he finally went down in the whirlpool which swallowed Allen's mil- lions and wrought financial wreck and ruin all over the state.
For eighteen years, as a banker, the Captain, by his safe, wise and conservative business methods, had the support and confidence of the entire business community, and his great personal sacrifice to aid in avoiding an inevitable fate was deemed by many as with- out reason or justification.
In 1861, he was selected as one of the Commissioners of Iowa War Claims, arising from the clothing and equipping of Iowa sol- diers during the Civil War. So complete and just was their record the State had no difficulty in settling its war claims.
In 1855, when the college of the Lutheran Church was located here, the Captain was one of the Board of Trustees, and was elected President. The project got to the cornerstone-laying stage, and succumbed to the general adversities of 1857.
In September, 1853, the first real Fair of the Polk County Agricultural Society was held, on the old Fair Grounds, on 'Coon bottoms, at the foot of Ninth Street. A slim and primitive exhibi- tion was held in the previous October, in the Court House yard. Captain West was one of the Society Directors, and was very active in promoting the Society.
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At that September meeting, there were shown several fine thor- oughbred Shorthorns, several fine wooled sheep, and of corn, wheat, potatoes, and other vegetables, as fine specimens as have been seen at any Fair since. The women gave it the cold shoulder, exhibiting nothing.
In 1855, the Captain was elected a member of the City Council, when Barlow Granger was Mayor. There were no wards then, and no scrimmages over a division of funds, the Council representing the city at large. In 1857, the city having been re-incorporated, he was elected Alderman for the Second Ward.
While he was in the Council, the city was in a bad financial con- dition, as were all other communities. The prevalence of "wild- cat" currency had demoralized business generally. The city was badly in debt, and how to pay it with a currency having no specific value over twenty-four hours, was the problem. After much delib- eration, it was decided that the city do a little banking on its own account, by issuing "City Script." Well-executed notes, in sums for One, Two, Three, and Five Dollars, were issued, and furnished a convenient and acceptable circulating medium in the local trade and city business affairs. Having served the purpose of its crea- tion, it was withdrawn without loss to anybody.
Occasionally, a bonfire was made of it, as witness the following, found among Sherman's papers after his decease :
"Received of L. P. Sherman, Treasurer of the City of Des Moines, One Hundred and Twenty-nine Dollars of City Script, which has been signed and in circulation.
"J. A. WILLIAMSON, "G. W. CLEAVELAND, "J. H. MCCLELLAND, "Committee Appointed to Burn the Same.
"FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIRST, 1859."
He was public-spirited and helpful in many ways to advance the welfare of the community. When the scrimmage came for the location of the State House, he evidenced his preference for the West Side by subscribing ten thousand dollars to have it put on Grimmel's Hill. Especially was he helpful to young men engaged
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in safe, legitimate business, who sometimes got into cramped condi- tions and needed extension of credit, for business was then done, perforce, largely on credit. Application to the Captain for aid would be met with the inflexible rule of the bank forbidding the indorsement of negotiable paper by any officer thereof-he was a man of few words and very quiet-but if the request was worthy, a letter of credit would be quickly given, good at the bank, for the amount and time necessary to keep the young man on his feet.
In 1876, when the Equitable Life Insurance Company, now one of the best financial institutions in the state, was incorporated, the Captain was made one of the Trustees.
His first place of residence was in a small frame house on Third Street, nearly opposite Judge Casady's first bank building, now occupied by Colonel Eiboeck's Staats Anzeiger. In that house, January Thirteenth, 1854, his daughter, Arathusa, was married to B. F. Allen by Elder J. A. Nash, who was the favorite marital splicer in those days, and probably married more people than any minister in the state during his lifetime. The occasion was a bril- liant affair. The bride's schoolmates were all present and showered her with kisses, for she was beloved by all. The music was fur- nished with an old-fashioned square piano-not a "grand square" -which came with the family, and the first piano brought to the town.
Soon after, the Captain purchased of L. D. Winchester the first brick dwelling erected on the west side of Des Moines River. It was one-story, on the block now occupied by the Valley National Bank, and there "Billy" Moore was married by Elder Nash, in December, 1851, with all the concomitant hilarity known to the unconventional early settlers, for in those days, "Billy" was one of "the boys." When the hands of the clock had reached midnight, an incident occurred, which-well, ask "Billy" about it.
In that house, the Captain and his good wife lived until 1875, when it was torn down. Their home was the center of frequent and most enjoyable social functions. They were both of large physique-the very embodiment of genial good nature. Mrs. West was a special favorite with young people. She was a home builder, beloved by everybody, ever ready and zealous in any movement for
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the good of the community. During the Civil War, she devoted nearly all her time to the immense labor and service of the Sol- diers' Relief Commission.
In taking a retrospective view of the pioneer days, the wives and mothers should not be overlooked. The trials, deprivations and struggles they endured entitles them to honorable mention. While men fashioned and reared the civic structure, the mothers moulded and formed the character of those who are now among our best, most enterprising citizens. In those early days, there was no distinction nor caste, except the nobility of charity ; no aristocracy but that of magnanimity. Bound together by the common tie of sympathy and a common interest, there was more real humanity among the pioneers than we have now in social life.
In 1883, the Captain and his wife celebrated their golden wed- ding, which was attended by a large gathering of old-timers and friends. They never overcame the shock of the financial wreck of 1877, and they passed their remaining days in the quietude of their home. She went to her long rest in 1895, and he a few months later.
October Sixteenth, 1904.
GEORGE M. HIPPEE
GEORGE M. HIPPEE
O F the pioneers who came here in 1855, and who have been notably identified with the growth of the city, was George M. Hippee.
Soon after his arrival, he opened a drug store, in a log cabin on the west side of Second Street, down near 'Coon bridge, where he remained several years in a quiet, unpretentious way.
In 1856, when the State House location fight was on, he was a non-combatant and took no part, though his mental reservations were with the West Siders.
In 1859, business on Second Street began to get crowded, and he ventured up to Court Avenue, purchased the southeast corner lot for one thousand dollars-the owner at first demanding twelve hundred dollars-and erected the first brick building for exclusive store use from bottom to top on that street. The Sherman Block, at Third, and the building adjoining the Register and Leader office, built in 1858, were largely office buildings.
In 1864, Hippee organized the Second National Bank, with himself as President and George W. Jones, Cashier. It occupied a basement room on Court Avenue. In 1870, its charter was sur- rendered, and it, with the First National, was merged into the National State Bank.
Early in January, 1865-6, rumors were rife about town that petroleum could be found in Polk County. Soon after, A. C. Tichenor, a well-known, unscrupulous speculator, N. H. Hibbard, and L. H. Gano, of Chicago, turned up here. They had rooms at the Savery House (now Kirkwood), where they expounded the gospel of petroleum. They had samples of the "ile," the real "Simon pure article," right out of the earth in Polk County. Their rooms were thronged with people seeking knowledge. The furore was equal to that in 1857, when Uncle "Davy" Norris discovered gold at the mouth of Bird's Run.
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One day, when a crowd was present, a man picked up a sample of the petroleum, gave it a nasal sniff, put it down, and simply said, "Humbug." Tichenor quickly drew from his pocket a roll of money, planked one thousand dollars on the table, and said to him :
"Just cover that; we will select a committee to investigate, and if you are not satisfied within twenty-four hours that petroleum does exist in Polk County, the money is yours."
That was a clincher. There could be no doubt of it by anybody. Tichener leased several thousand acres in the vicinity of Adelphi, and went to Chicago to purchase machinery to bore for oil. Mean- while, the oil fever became epidemic. There was vigorous poking in pockets for dollars to invest. Imagination was acute. Visions as vivid as Hamlet pictured in- the clouds to Polonius were plenti- ful. There were indications of oil in all directions. "When the wind was right," the odor of petroleum permeated all the farm- houses along Four Mile Creek-so it was declared.
Dixon, the wag of the Daily Register, boosted the business by announcing one day that he had bought a big chunk of the tail of Rattlesnake Bend, with seventeen rattles included; was boring with proper machinery ; had struck "ile" in paying quantities, and was ready to sell one rattle only to each customer.
When Tichenor returned, he took Doctor C. H. Rawson, Mayor Cleaveland, Seward Smith, John Brown, and Frank Palmer, editor of the Register, out to Spring Creek. They first visited Depew's farm, a half mile from Adelphi, where was a well, dry a short time prior, in which was water covered with oil. They then went to the creek spring, clambered down the steep, ragged bluff through the thick, tangled brush, where the oleaginous fluid was seen floating away, its distinctive flourescence glinting in the sunlight. They scooped it up in their hands; sniffed it, and declared it was the genuine article. Thenceforth, the Register from day to day pic- tured visions of the millions which the narrow valley of Four Mile held in soak.
The next day, General J. M. Tuttle went out with a large party. They sopped up the oil with woolen cloth, pumped all the farmers thereabout, and came home so saturated with the stuff that Tuttle
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organized a Petroleum Company, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars.
Hippee organized another company, with himself as President; Hoyt Sherman, Cashier ; Frank Allen, Treasurer, and five hundred thousand dollars capital.
George Crawford organized another company with five hundred thousand dollars capital.
Tichenor had a big company in Chicago, and advertised, with big type, in the daily papers there. Options were taken on farms all over the county. There was a constant procession of people going to Spring Creek. Meanwhile, Tichenor's boring machine was making a hole in the ground, while he caught "suckers" in Chicago.
It was in August, I think, rumors came that the drill had struck an impenetrable rock, broken and plugged the hole.
Very late in the year, a fellow blew into town with a big bunch of Tichenor's Spring Creek petroleum stock for sale. Tuttle, Hippee, and Crawford had early retired from the field. All the fellow would say was: "The machinery broke, the well caved in, and the company busted."
No petroleum has been seen since on Spring Creek.
In 1873, Hippee, with J. J. Towne, purchased the northwest corner of Fourth Street and Court Avenue, where Captain West lived, erected a banking and office building, and established the Valley Bank, with which Hippee was connected until it was changed to the present Valley National Bank.
In 1876, Hippee became a heavy stockholder in the Iowa Loan and Trust Company, and is now one of the Trustees for the bond- holders of $2,354,580 of debentures of the company. He is also a stockholder in the Hawkeye Insurance Company.
In 1879, he, with Ira Cook and others, organized the Des Moines Syrup and Refining Company, with a capital of fifty thou- sand dollars, to make syrups and glucose from corn. A large build- ing was erected on Vine Street, and the project started with prom- ising prospects, but during the Summer of 1880, the circumam- bient atmosphere was so saturated with sulphurous acid gas and vigorous stenches shot out from its chimneys, the Board of Health sat down on it.
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In 1881, Hippee started the Des Moines Bank. About the same time, Judge Casady started a Savings Bank. Soon after, they were united and formed what has become the present Des Moines Sav- ings Bank. Hippee is one of the directors, and a heavy stock- holder, but everybody, from habit, calls it "Judge Casady's Bank." Starting off in a dingy, little, old shanty on Third Street, with deposits the Judge could carry in his pocket, it soon began to grow, and the Judge gave it the stone-front building now occupied by the Staats Anzeiger; next it went to an asbestine stone building at Third and Walnut streets, and from thence to its present location, where it carries deposits amounting to over five million dollars regularly.
In 1889, when the Des Moines Street Railway Company was organized, and purchased all the rights, title and property of other street railways, and consolidated them into the present system, Hippee became a stockholder, is one of the Board of Directors, and Vice-President of the company.
He is a very quiet, taciturn person, a mighty good thinker, of strong, firm convictions, and when confronted with important busi- ness or public questions is "from Missouri"-he must be shown. With no speculative tendency, conservative, cautious, of strict integ- rity, firmly grounded in public confidence and trust, he has been an important factor in business and financial affairs of the city.
Politically, he was a Democrat to 1896, when he voted for Mckinley for President, and has since affiliated with the Repub- lican party. He is not a politician ; he simply goes to the polls and casts his ballot-that's all. Though often solicited, he has refused public office, except to serve nine years, from 1872, on the non- partisan West Des Moines School Board.
October Twenty-third, 1904.
-
THE NEW YORK
Astor
1
CALVIN W. KEYES
CALVIN W. KEYES
N the early part of 1858, Calvin W. Keyes, who traces his fam- ily thread through eight generations to the first governor of Plymouth Colony, came into town, looked over the field, and, with the inalienable province of a Yankee, "guessed" he could "get a living here." He opened a general merchandise store down on Second Street, then the trade center. In September, he decided to make another venture. George Crawford joined with him, and they moved into what was called the "West" Building, just com- pleted, adjoining the present Register and Leader Block on the east, then the only brick block on Court Avenue, except the Sherman Block, at the corner of Third street. They were jibed and jeered by the Second Streeters for their temerity in going so far away from trade-"couldn't pay their rent ;" "might as well go to Adel."
Having gone out into the country-as it were-they concluded to do business with the country. The sheep industry was in its infancy. It needed boosting. Keyes, coming from Vermont, the home of Merino sheep, naturally inclined to the wool trade, and later in the Fall the firm, for the first time in the county, bought all the wool offered-four hundred pounds-and shipped it to a New England factory. Seven years after, five hundred thousand pounds were shipped from Des Moines.
In 1858, Napier, the County Judge, was building a new Court House. The East Siders had opposed the project with various dilatory tactics, hoping, it was declared by West Siders, to get the building on the East Side, but the Judge went on. The next year he got short of funds. Money was scarce. To issue bonds was the only source of relief, to which proposition the fight was resumed vigorously, but he won, and thirty bonds for one thousand dollars each were issued. They were not considered gilt-edged by investors -in fact, risky-but Keyes, being then a new-comer, and therefore not affected with the State House feud of 1856, he and Crawford,
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with a firm faith in the growth and prosperity of the town and county, took twenty-two of the bonds at ten per cent interest, which quite surprised the East Siders, and Second Streeters as well.
Soon after opening the store in the "West" Building, Keyes bought in Boston the first barrel of coal oil brought to the town. It was shipped over five different railroads to Iowa City, and hauled from there by teams. It was sold to consumers for two dol- lars per gallon. It was extracted from anthracite coal, and known as rock oil. A few years after, when oil was produced from wells, it was sold for fifty cents per gallon, but it was received with great caution because of its explosiveness. A fellow blew into town one day from Adel, however, who had discovered a process to render the stuff non-explosive, and he did a profitable business, selling it for seventy-five cents a gallon, until it was discovered his preven- tion was the addition of common salt. He has been periodically succeeded by similar fakirs. Science has not yet discovered any process of destroying the explosive properties of the naphtha con- tained in kerosene, but legislative restrictions have so regulated its manufacture and sale that it has become the universal illuminant without "salting."
In those early days, there were no railroads, no theaters, no itinerating concert troupes and barn-stormers. For amusements, home talent was the only source, and there was plenty of it, for con- certs, masquerades, dances, surprise parties, serenades, and the "mellar dramer." There was always something doing, memories of which abide yet with the old boys and girls. The three thousand people were contented and happy.
Mr. Keyes was a musical genius and always ready to "jine in" for amusement. In 1869, he organized the second brass band, Mosier's Band having blowed itself out. The aggregation con- sisted of Wilson T. Smith, Eb bugle; George Childs, cornet ; Chris- topher Howell, ophicleide; N. W. Mills, piccolo; C. W. Keyes, bass trombone; Add. Hepburn, bass drum. The day after its birth, it was employed to furnish music for a public "doings" at the State House, and escorted a procession from the West Side thereto. Its repertoire comprised only one tune, "The Old Pine Tree," and it stretched that Pine tree from the Court House to the Capitol without a halt or break, winding up amid rapturous applause.
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In 1860, Keyes imported the first pipe organ brought to the city. It was placed in the Episcopal Church, a small frame build- ing which stood on the west side of Seventh Street at the alley north of Younker's store.
That was the year of Lincoln's first campaign for President. Politics raged at fever heat. Among the Lincoln supporters was Alexander Bowers, familiarly known as "Alex.," a German, weigh- ing about three hundred pounds, brusque, active, somewhat pomp- ous and authoritative. He had been for several years a freighter, hauling goods from Keokuk. He also carried money packages and other small parcels with notable trust and fidelity, to the great convenience of banks and business men. A package of twenty thousand dollars given him to deliver at Keokuk caused no more solicitude than if it were a pound of nails. In some way, he had become United States Marshal. He was a strong Lincoln sup- porter, a radical Abolitionist, and always active in politics. On the day of election, M. M. Crocker, Captain F. R. West, Wesley Redhead, C. W. Keyes, and nine others had formed in line at the polls to vote for J. C. Breckinridge, of Kentucky. "Alex." stood at the ballot box, watching, and as Crocker presented his ballot, "Alex." stopped him and declared that "no man shall vote for that Southerner, Breckinridge."
Crocker, of spare, frail physique, stepped quickly aside, pale with excitement, eyes flashing, threw off his coat, and said to "Alex.":
"If you want ever to vote again, stand aside; get away from this."
Old-timers, familiar with Crocker, the snap of his eye, his fear- lessness, will readily realize what "Alex." quickly discovered, that trouble was brewing. He went away.
I believe that was the last time either of those thirteen men voted a Democratic ticket.
In 1861, Keyes decided to relieve the farmers of their surplus hogs. He bought two thousand at one and one-half cents per pound, killed them in a small packing-house up on the Saylor Bottoms, built a flat-boat, loaded it with forty tons of pork and lard, and, with himself as sailing master, a crew of five roustabouts, started
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it down the river to Ottumwa, where transfer to the railroad was to be made. When within one mile of Red Rock, the boat was seuttled by a sharp rock, and sunk in ten feet of water. Keyes and crew got themselves safely on shore, where they remained two days, sleeping on the sand, and eating raw salt pork, with roily river water as a thirst slaker, until a flat-boat was sent up from Ottumwa with a push-pole crew. The pork and lard was hoisted on board of it, and safely delivered at Ottumwa.
In 1862, when the public heart was stirred with efforts to secure commissary aid for the soldiers, Keyes, who was a leader in musical affairs, and the singers of all the churches, volunteered to give a grand concert to raise funds for such aid. The only hall large enough for such an event was the third floor of the Sherman Block, at Third Street and Court Avenue. Hoyt Sherman, owner of the hall, had joined the army, leaving the custody of the building with "Alex." Bowers, who refused to permit the use of the hall for the concert, even at a good rental, for which refusal he would give no reason. So opposite was it to the well-known patriotism and gen- erosity of Sherman, the singers were indignant. It was generally believed that "Alex.'s" refusal was because he thought some of the singers were prominent Democrats, for he abhorred a Democrat.
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