USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 13
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The County Commissioners, however, came to their relief and offered the free use of one of the large unfurnished rooms in the then new Court House. The settees-churches didn't have pews then-were all taken from the Methodist Church on Fifth Street, and two days of vigorous work given by the singers to fit up the courtroom. The concert was a great success. The poet laureate of that day, a well-known lawyer, whose familiar face is seen on our streets every day, and whom time later proved a better District Judge than poet, improvised a song for the occasion, which was sung by a quartette of "picked men," to the tune of "Gideon's Band"-it was so printed on the program. Add. Hepburn-every- body knew the jolly Add .- was given the last verse, which ran :
"They say this new Court House of ours Is about as big as Alex. Bowers."
Alex. nursed and kept his wrath against that "Gideon's Band" to the end of his days.
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CALVIN W. KEYES
During the same year, there was great excitement in the town and country over the call for enlistment in the army. Though the response was prompt and liberal, there was a strong undercurrent of opposition. There were quite positive indications of the pres- ence of Knights of the Golden Circle. Union sentiment was rapidly crystallizing into measures for its suppression. One day, Frank Palmer, editor of the Register, had a private consultation with one of the most vociferous of the suspected clan, and in very posi- tive, emphatic terms, told him that he could either join the army and stand up for his country, or go to jail, and within a very few hours, too. Coming from a person of such well-known, genial nature, left no other inference than that there was something behind it. The man joined the army, made a splendid record as a soldier, won high distinctive honors, came home, and became one of our most honored and influential citizens.
In 1869, Keyes built a two-story frame store on Court Avenue, next east of the present Purity Candy Factory, opened a crockery store, and imported from England the first one hundred crates of queensware that came to the city.
In 1870, he instituted a valuable public benefaction in the mak- ing of sugar-cured hams by a special process, which now seems to have become a lost art. For a dozen years or more, his Des Moines hams were in highest favor all over the West, even so far as San Francisco.
In 1879, he cut along Des Moines, Raccoon, North and Middle rivers, one hundred cars of Black Walnut logs, which were shipped to New York City, probably the last of that kind of shipment from the city.
Having raised others to assume the burden of business, he has for many years ceased from active life, and is enjoying a well- earned rest in a community which he has helped in many ways.
October Thirtieth, 1904.
DR. A. Y. HULL
1
DOCTOR A. Y. HULL
O F the men who figured quite prominently in political and civic affairs in the early days, was Doctor A. Y. Hull, father of our Congressman, Captain J. A. T. Hull. He came here in 1849, intending to make this his abiding place. He reconnoitered the town-what there was of it-to find a suitable corner lot on which to build a home. Having selected a favorable location, he went down to the "corner lot market," on Second Street, where he was very blandly informed that corner lots had gone up-the price was twenty-five dollars. The corner where the Kirkwood House now is was thirty dollars. He declared it was outrageous ; he would not pay it; there was nothing in nor of the town to warrant such prices; he would go and start a town of his own.
The town had, just prior, received a little boost. Speculation was rife. The year before, the United States Geological Survey had sent Doctor Owen here to make a survey of the Des Moines Valley. The surveying party consisted of seven persons, who, with teams and instruments, started up the river in June. When up in Minnesota, a band of Sisseton Sioux attacked them, destroyed their instruments, and probably would have scalped them had not a band of Fox Indians come to their rescue. The outfit returned here in somewhat dilapidated condition. Doctor Owen was given an ova- tion. He was invited to give a talk to the people, which he accepted, and during his remarks, he tickled the crowd present with many good sayings, which, viewed from the standpoint of to-day, were not a little prophetic. He said :
"Located as your town is, in the center of this great state-a state midway between the two great oceans of the world, and washed on two sides by the two mighty rivers of the continent- with a soil of unsurpassed fertility, and vast stores of mineral wealth, yours must assume a broad place among the states of the
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Union. When, in a few years, the Atlantic and Pacific are united by a railway, it will, in all probability pierce your state, and scale your town, giving you communication with every part of the world. This is Nature's choice for the great interior city of the state, and it needs not the spirit of prophecy to foresee that such must be its destiny."
The address tiekled the real estate dealers down on Second Street, and they boosted the price on corner lots.
Doctor Hull went down the river, to a point where, in 1848, Charles Freel had started a little settlement in Camp Township, near the southeast corner of the county, and purchased a large tract of land. With his father's family, and his own, nineteen persons, they made their home in a log cabin fifteen feet square, with puncheon floor, and pole bedsteads. He laid out a town of large dimensions, and boomed it vigorously.
In the Star, in January, 1850, Doctor Hull advertised in big type a lot sale at low prices, one-third down, one-third in six months, and one-third in twelve months. The prices were made low, on condition that the purchaser was to build a house, or other- wise improve it. If he couldn't get a price, he would give a lot, provided a house was built on it.
He was a good mixer. He got on the warm side of the people, and his town, which he named Lafayette, grew. He had a big cele- bration one day, attended by one of the largest gatherings had in the county. Long tables, loaded with choicest viands, were spread under improvised leafy bowers. There were toasts and speeches, in which it was hinted that The Fort must look to her laurels, with her two hundred people, while Lafayette, with her one hundred and seventy-five-actual count-her busy stores and shops, was growing fast. He established two rope ferries over the river, to catch the large number of emigrants going west. He started a big shipping point, and in April, 1851, Lamp. Sherman, in his Gazette, said of it:
"Steamboats, when they succeed in climbing over the dam at Bonaparte, make regular stops there, and the blowing of the steamer whistle is a signal for the whole town to turn out."
It was a lively, bustling place, and worried The Fort folks not a little.
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Early in April, 1851, the Doctor built two flat-boats, 16x63 feet, to carry corn and other produce to Keokuk, the first thus laden in the county, and of great benefit to farmers. There was haste and bustle to get them off, fearing they might be stranded at the Bona- parte dam on the return trip. There were no railroads. In the navigation of the river then rested the hope of the entire country. Schemes galore were projected at all towns along its banks for building craft suitable for river traffic, to be in readiness for the completion of the work of the River Improvement Company. The Fort, at the head of navigation, was to become the trade center for the whole of Central Iowa, and the State Capital-if the rival towns didn't prevent it.
In May, heavy rains came, the river got high-rose twenty-two feet above the low-water mark. The whole country along the river was deluged. Houses, horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep were carried away; ruin and devastation swept over the bottom lands. "Uncle Jerry" Church's town of Dudley, an embryo Capital of Iowa, floated away with the common wreckage, and as the last building started, he climbed on the roof and fiddled a requiem of "departed days." The water crept up about the house of Doctor Hull, at Lafayette, over the floor, up into the beds and bureau drawers. Three times the family moved to higher places, and later, steam- boats, which found unobstructed passage in a waterway nearly three miles wide, sailed over the town. When the flood subsided, the town had gone, but the public well was left standing in the middle of the river channel.
That was the historic "year of the great flood." Streams every- where were over-swollen, bridges carried away, mills forced to stop, causing great scarcity of meal and flour. In many families, parched corn stood for coffee, and corn pounded with a Hickory stick in a Poplar log hollowed out for a mortar, was used for bread. The losses and devastation were more notable because the settlements and towns were principally located along rivers and creeks.
In 1852, Judge Casady, having served as State Senator in the second and third sessions of the Legislature, and declined a renomi- nation, the Doctor was nominated, and elected by a large majority, for he was immensely popular with the early settlers, and had much
VOL. I-(12).
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influence with them from his many acts of kindness and helpfulness as a physician. He was well educated, a fluent talker, and had a hankering for editorial work-in fact, he was, for a time, editor of the Star, giving zest and notable spirit to the early twinkler in the effort to elect Curtis Bates Governor against Grimes, Barlow Granger having become satisfied with newspaper glory and retired. The opposing candidate of the Doctor was John Lewis, a man of advanced age-too old to tramp the district, which embraced sev- eral counties-and Lewis Todhunter, a brother of the Doctor's wife, took the stump for Lewis. It was a peculiar and lively cam- paign, unlike any before or since. The Presidential contest was on ; the Fugitive Slave Law excitement was stirring up the body politic; the Slack Water Navigation Company's dam and obstruc- tion to river navigation had incensed the people to the vituperative stage, and they were clamoring for railroads, the Whigs laying all the river troubles to the Democrats, while the Democrats, in turn, charged it all to the vacillating acts of Tom Ewing, in charge of the Land Department at Washington. There was also the "strip" question. Warren County was vociferously demanding the return of the six townships taken from her to help Des Moines get the County Seat. P. Gad. Bryan was her mouthpiece, and was saying ugly things, denouncing it not only robbery, but disrupting the legislative districts. To the surrender of this territory, Polk County was naturally opposed. To all this was added the local pride and interest in the candidacy of Judge Bates.
The contest became so hot and grossly personal between the newspapers and the supporters of the two Senatorial candidates, respecting their positions on the various issues, that the Doctor and Lewis published a joint statement in the newspapers, and by handbills, that upon the "strip," river dam nuisance, and railroad questions, they were agreed, and requested that personal abuse be stopped, and both be treated like gentlemen.
Immediately the Doctor took his seat in the Senate, he prepared and introduced the first bill to remove the Seat of Government to Des Moines. Instantly, there was opposition from all sides. Iowa City was ferocious, the counties of Marshall, Jasper, Mahaska, and Story at once showed their teeth, the latter county having located
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at State Center the geographical center of the state. The Doctor was obstructed at every move, by dilatory and conflicting amend- ments, throughout the entire session. He failed to secure the change, but he defeated all schemes to fix the location elsewhere.
P. Gad. Bryan, the Representative from Warren County in the Lower House, had a bill before that body, restoring Warren County the "stolen strip."
When the Government survey was made, the south line of the county was run straight due east and west. At the then southwest corner of Camp Township, the river bends to the south, thus leaving a strip of several sections between the line of original survey and the river, which was part of the territory taken from Warren, and on which the Doctor had his town of Lafayette, and on which he then resided. Bryan's bill restored the entire territory taken. The Doctor vigorously opposed it, as it practically legislated him out of office, located him in another county and another senatorial district, but Bryan secured its passage. The effect of it was so glaringly unjust that the Doctor secured an amendment to the law by which the river was made the boundary line, and all of the "strip" north of it was to remain a part of Polk County. The bill, however, cut Allen Township in twain and set "Uncle Jerry" Church and his town of Carlisle over into Warren County. Thus ended the first chapter in the many exciting incidents of the contest to perma- nently fix the Seat of Government at Des Moines, extending over eighteen years, to the Fourteenth General Assembly, in 1870, when the final quietus was put to it in the appropriation to build the New Capitol, an event with a history full of exciting scenes, to be disclosed later on.
At the close of his senatorial term, in 1854, the Doctor disposed of his land in the "strip," came to town, bought two lots on East Locust Street, where the Mirror Theater now is, built a fine cottage, opened a law office, and became an active participant in many legal skirmishes in the courts with "Dan" Finch, J. E. Jewett, M. M. Crocker, and other prominent lawyers, in Judge McFarland's court. The Judge, though a good jurist, was eccentric in many ways, and loved whiskey. The stories the lawyers used to tell of him would fill a book. The conventionalities of the court in those
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days were not quite up to the standard of to-day. On one occasion, it was said, a well-known lawyer came into court while a trial was on, and during a lull in the proceedings, arose near the bench, and very sedately asked the court if a motion could be received. "Yes, sir," replied the Judge. "Motions are always in order in this court."
"Well, then, take notice of the motion of my elbow," said the lawyer, as he held up a bottle of good "Old Rye."
"Yes, yes ; but, d-n ye, don't drink it all up before I get there," said the Judge, as he left his seat, went down and helped the lawyer dispose of his "motion." He then resumed his seat, and court went on as though nothing had happened.
In the notable contest over the location of the State House, the Doctor was an East Sider, and took an active part in defeating the West Side, though he had nothing to do with the alleged pecu- liar land deals, in which a large number of city lots on the East Side got into possession of certain of the Legislative Commission sent to fix the site of the State House.
The Doctor continued his law practice here until 1860, when he removed to Sedalia, Missouri, where he edited a newspaper several years. He died at Kiowa, Kansas, in December, 1900. His remains were brought here and deposited in Woodland.
November Twelfth, 1904.
こどくし
JAMES C. JORDAN
JAMES C. JORDAN
T O continue the record of the location of the Capital at Des Moines, mention must be made of James C. Jordan, or "Uncle Jimmy," as everybody called him, one of the most prominent among the early settlers, and closely identified with the growth and prosperity of the county and town.
He came in the early Fall of 1846, and selected a location about six miles west of The Fort, in Des Moines Township, which then embraced what are now the townships of Saylor, Valley, Bloom- field, Webster, Lee, Grant, Allen, Four Mile, Delaware, part of Clay, and The Fort. His claim was between 'Coon River and Walnut Creek. The first night, he camped under two large Oak trees, where he later erected a log cabin. It was an ideal spot for a person of rural taste and habit. His cabin was large, and fur- nished with "battened" doors, and window frames made from lum- ber purchased from Parmelee's mill, near Carlisle. His near neigh- bors were in Dallas County. Later, he replaced the cabin with an elegant dwelling, where, as in the cabin, there was ever a broad hospitality, a hearty welcome to rich and poor, white or black. His latchstring was always out, and many a weary or storm-beaten traveler found cheerful welcome and comfort therein, for "Uncle Jimmy" was a friend to all mankind. He passed through all the vicissitudes of pioneer life in those days. Sometimes the empty flour or meal box necessitated a long trip to Oskaloosa to get a supply. For meat, the surrounding timberland provided deer, squirrels and coons-the skins of which were legal tender at the stores for groceries and dry goods, and they were not an insignifi- cant source of revenue, either. The boys used to tell this of one of "Uncle Jimmy's" raids on coons. One day, he, with others, had driven some coons into a large hollow tree. A fellow would reach in, grab a coon by the tail, and throw it out for his comrades to quiet with a club. Finally, "Uncle Jimmy" made a grab, but the coon
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had turned, and he got hold of the wrong end, which laid him up a week for repairs.
The Winter of 1847 was very severe, and wolves were a source of much trouble to settlers on bottom lands along the streams. "Uncle Jimmy" walked to The Fort nearly every day to make and build a rail fence around Hoxie's big cornfield, which lay along what is now Grand Avenue and west. of Twelfth Street. He was the architect and builder of what was the most aristocratic resi- dence at The Fort. It was at the corner of Twelfth and Walnut streets, and at an acute angle to the street, there being no platted streets then west of Seventh Street. It was built of hewn logs, cov- ered with clapboards; had a lean-to on the west side and big brick chimney. It was surrounded by several large trees. There being but two other houses visible from it-one, Doctor Grimmel's, where Saint Ambrose Catholic Church now stands, the other where Cownie's Glove Factory is-it was a conspicuous landmark for many years. In 1849, it was sold to S. G. Keene, a dry goods merchant, and was the center for social functions and frolics, Mrs. Keene being fond of amusements and very popular with the young people. Some of the "old girls" tell of lively times had there- things said and done which would not comport with present society exactness. The old house was torn down in 1876.
In 1849, "Uncle Jimmy" built, at or near Valley Junction, the first schoolhouse in what is now Walnut Township. The work was done by Samuel Hiner, a brother of "Jack" Hiner, who so myste- riously disappeared in 1869. It was of logs, and cost him sixty- nine dollars. He was a firm believer in the school and church as promoters of civilization and good government, and his labor and purse were freely given to each.
In 1851, the flood year, Walnut Creek, like all other streams, was unprecedently swollen. Bridges were carried away, fording was impossible. Flour and meal got short. To go to mill, the grist was placed on the back of a horse, which swam across. The owner could wade or swim.
In 1854, Jordan was nominated for State Senator, to succeed Doctor Hull. He at first resisted the nomination, but finally yielded on the earnest request of Whigs, and Free Soil Democrats-the
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Kansas-Nebraska issue being before the people. The Legislature had to elect a United States Senator, which added great interest to the contest, as the Whigs were getting numerous enough to be counted upon. Jordan's opponent was Theophilus Bryan, of Guth- rie County. The Democratic candidate for United States Senator was Augustus Cæsar Dodge, of Burlington. The congressional district embraced all the state south and west of the north line of Marshall County. At the election, on the face of the returns, Bryan had a majority. He was given the commission, took his seat, and voted for Dodge for United States Senator. The Whigs soon after discovered that down in Jasper County, just before election, there had been employed on streets and roads a large number of aliens, whose names had got on the poll books. A contest was made, the votes re-counted, and Bryan was eighty-five votes short. He was ousted, and because of some irregularity in the vote for Dodge, it was also set aside. Jordan was seated, and voted for James Har- lan, who was elected Senator.
On taking his seat, Jordan at once resumed the work of his predecessor, Doctor Hull. He introduced the second bill to remove the Capital to Fort Des Moines. Bills which had been before the Legislature in 1846 and 1848, were to remove the Capital to a more central point in the state, the location to be selected by a spe- cial commission, a proviso inserted to make it possible to prevent it coming to Fort Des Moines. The first commission selected were all Quakers. They did their work admirably. They chose a spot down in Jasper County, on an open prairie, punctured with gopher holes and inhabited with prairie dogs, six miles from the Des Moines River, and several miles from a settler's cabin, laid out the future Capital, sold corner lots, put the money in their pockets, and went home. Their report to the next Legislature of their doings was so permeated with evidence that they had been defiled by the "world, the flesh and the devil," the whole business was repudiated, the money paid for corner lots returned to the purchasers, and the gophers and little dogs left undisturbed.
When the Quakers' report was submitted, McFarland, who sub- sequently became the notorious Judge, moved that the report be referred to a special committee to report how much of the site selected was under water and how much had been burned up.
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Jordan's bill was specific; it designated Fort Des Moines as the objective point. Immediately it was loaded with amendments and dilatory motions. Naturally, Iowa City had cause for objection, as it robbed her of considerable prestige as the Seat of Government. Marshalltown, Newton, Oskaloosa, and other towns were ambitious for the prize, but Jordan, with his genial, conservative ways, and the aid of his colleagues in the Lower House, and active lobbies from The Fort, carried the bill through, the Seat of Government to be located by a commission, within two miles of the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. To placate Iowa City, she was given the State House, then uncompleted, for a State University.
In 1856, he was reelected as a Free Soiler. When the Kansas- Nebraska contest and the Fugitive Slave Law were exciting the people, and John Brown's agents were shipping negroes to Canada over the Underground Railroad, there were several stations in Polk County. The tricks and devices practiced to escape the vigilance of slave-hunters, close on their track, were numerous and often ludi- crous, for there was a strong pro-slavery sentiment in the county, the Statesman frequently giving voice to it in vigorous editorials, denouncing the opposition to the Fugitive Slave Law, with special anathemas against the Methodists. In fact, Slavery existed here at one time. Joseph Smart, the Indian Interpreter at the Trading Post, went to Missouri, bought two negro women, brought them here, and kept them for some time as servants. When he got though with them, he took them South and sold them. Jordan was born and raised in a slave state, yet always abhorred slave- holding. He was a staunch Methodist, and during the John Brown raid, his home was always open to the fugitive. At one time, Brown, with twenty-four negroes, were quartered there, and it required good engineering to get them disposed of, for the stations were at many angles. There was one with Reverend Demas Robinson, a pioneer Baptist preacher, in Four Mile Township; another at Grin- nell, and at other places. Frequently, to elude the hunters, the negroes would have to be returned to stations passed, and routed another way.
In 1858, when the Des Moines branch of the State Bank was organized, the first authorized by law to issue bank-notes, Jordan
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was a stockholder and elected one of the Directors, and thereby became largely interested in and identified with town affairs-in fact, he was always considered a part of the city. He was several times elected a member of the county Board of Supervisors, and would have been continued ad infinitum, but he got tired of it.
In 1846, Congress granted to the State of Iowa the alternate sections of land on each side of Des Moines River, in an area of five miles wide, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river from the Mississippi to Raccoon Forks. The land was to be sold at the highest market price. In 1847, the State organized a Board of Public Works, the Slack Water Navigation Company came into being; dams were partially constructed at Bentonsport, Croton, and Keosauqua ; stone was quarried all along the river for several years, but the only evidence of progress was the regularity with which the public lands were demanded and turned over to the companies improving the river.
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