USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. I > Part 14
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In 1854, the State, through its functionaries, the Board of Pub- lic Works, having disposed of nearly all the land embraced in the grant below the "Forks," and incurred a debt of seventy thousand dollars, sold out to Bangs & Company, of New York, who agreed to assume the debt, take the land grant, and complete the river improvements; but in 1854, they abandoned the work, secured a franchise as the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines and Minnesota Rail- way Company, and started the building of the road, reaching Eddy- ville in 1861, where it practically stopped for want of funds. In 1862, the Legislature granted the Des Moines Valley Railroad Company what little of the grant lands were left, and had not been sequestrated or stolen outright, to complete the road to Des Moines. This gave new impetus to the railroad question, which was agitat- ing the whole country, and Des Moines especially. Immediately, there was a rumor that a strong effort was being made to divert the road away from Des Moines, by an offer of big bonuses. The company was short of funds, and needed the money. Calvin Leigh- ton, who was interested in the road, and friendly to Des Moines, quietly told Judge Casady, Jordan, and others that a fund of sev- enty thousand dollars would secure the completion of the road to Des Moines. Jordan, who had increased his land area to eighteen
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hundred acres, and was raising, buying and shipping cattle by the hundreds, at once offered to be one of two hundred to raise one hundred thousand dollars. It was done; it cost him over one thou- sand dollars. So pleased was Keokuk, she got the subscribers to the fund there, gave them a grand ovation, an excursion down the Mississippi, and jollied them extravagantly. The road was com- pleted, the first passenger train entered Des Moines on August Twenty-ninth, 1866. It stopped on the East Side, there being no bridge over the river, and was greeted with a large crowd of people, who had waited long and patiently for the coming of the first railway.
"Uncle Jimmy" was an ardent Methodist. His cabin and his later elegant mansion were the Mecca of circuit-riders and preach- ers. They liked his yellow-legged chickens and sumptuous table spread, for he was a good provider.
All his life, he was an earnest church worker and liberal sup- porter of churches, colleges, schools and the ministry. Under his cabin roof, religious services were first held in Walnut Township. In 1862, he organized a chapel and built a church, which was called the "Jordan." After a few years, its location was changed, when he and his wife joined the First Methodist Church, in the city, and practically became citizens of the town.
In 1862, during the Civil War, a rumor came that a band of Missouri bush-whackers were on their way to loot Des Moines, and there was great excitement. The banks at once sought a refuge for their funds. Those of the State Bank were removed to "Uncle Jimmy's" place, where he cached them beyond the probability of seizure. The marauders, however, ran up against some of Uncle Sam's "blue-coats" and didn't get here.
In 1865, the maintenance of the indigent, deserving poor people of the county had become a serious question. Hitherto, their care and support had been farmed out among divers persons, and the expenses were frequently exorbitant. A more economical system was demanded by the taxpayers. The County Supervisors, there- fore, decided to purchase a Poor Farm, and Jordan, Doctor Brooks, and D. C. Marts were elected to purchase one hundred and twenty acres, and the same is a part of the present provision made for the care of the poor and incurable insane persons of the county.
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JAMES C. JORDAN
In 1868, he joined the Brotherhood of Early Settlers, and when the Old Settlers' Association was organized, Jordan was elected one of the Vice-Presidents, and was always an active member, and present at all its social functions.
In 1879, he was elected a member of the Lower House of the Eighteenth General Assembly, which inaugurated the fight against oleomargarine, for pure butter, established the State Pharmacy Commission, State Board of Health, and Coal Mine Inspection, in which he took an active and helpful part.
Having accumulated abundant wealth, Jordan, during his later life, disposed of much of his land, lived on Easy Street, dividing his time with the town and his rural home, until he went to his Eternal Home.
November Nineteenth, 1904.
FRANK M. MILLS
FRANK M. MILLS
O NE of the most active, energetic men who came here in the early days, and who impressed his individuality upon pass- ing events, was Frank M. Mills. Small of stature, but a perfect bundle of restless energy and force, which permeated every political, social and business affair of the city and the state-in fact, several states-his sole idea seemed to be to make Des Moines the center of all territory west of the Mississippi, and in certain ways he succeeded very well. He was the head and moving spirit in what became the most extensive enterprise of its kind west of Chicago.
He came here in April, 1856, and opened a shoe store on Court Avenue, between Second and Third streets, in a small wooden building on the north side of the street, and diligently sought the welfare of the soles of the people of the little town; but it was not to his temperament. He was a practical printer. His brother, N. W. ("Web," as everybody called him), came in the Fall and started a small job printing office in the Gatling Building, down on Second Street below Market, near the newspaper and law offices. Frank-everybody calls him "Frank"-soon quit his sole-caring business, joined his brother, and they made a good team, for they were both hustlers and good mixers. It being the only strictly job printing office in town, the business kept pace with the rapid devel- opment of events. The first handbill printed-they didn't have presses nor type for poster printing-was for Woodward (Aleck.) and Hepburn (the redoubtable "Add"), dry goods merchants.
The little printing office, costing six hundred dollars, was a win- ner from the start, and so increased that in 1859 a three-story brick building was erected on Court Avenue, adjoining the old well- known Baker drug store at the southeast corner of Third, and Frank began to spread out. He added an old-fashioned Adams press for book printing, an "alligator" job press, which kept the
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surgeons busy repairing fingers it chewed up, an Ericson hot air engine, which wheezed and rattled like a threshing machine, was whimsical and uncertain as a mule, would often, when work was pressing, give a despairing groan, like a lost soul, and stop. Then the "devil" had to go for one or two stout natives of Ireland to turn the wheels of the presses until the "caloric" got over the sulks. There were no clectric motors, few steam engines, and wood for "caloric" fuel was cheaper than coal. The Adams press did good printing, but was slow, its speed being about five hundred impres- sions an hour. It was a very different outfit than its successors of to-day.
In 1858, Frank added another feature to his enterprise. He got into the good graces of the Legislature, and was elected State Binder. He managed to hold the place until 1867. In 1869, he was elected State Printer, and reclected in 1878 and 1880. So popular was he that it was a common saying that all he had to do was to ask for the office.
These appointments gave an immense impetus to his business. New machinery was purchased, and the establishment equipped to meet the demand. Blank book making, book printing, lithograph- ing, map making, wood engraving, stereotyping, music printing, a book, stationery and music store were added, and a large corps of men were put on the road, who traversed every county in Iowa, and seven other states, and brought an immense amount of business to Des Moines, not only in their lines, but many side lines, for they were rustlers and popular. Of them I recall Cranston, Pelton, Norman, Blackmar, Dickenson, Ecker, Burns, C. T. Haskins, "Charley" Greene, and "Bob" Flynn, the last two notorious jokers and exaggerating yarn-spinners. They are all dead, I think. "Will" Lehman, still with us, who graduated from the music department, was cutting obituaries on headstones to be set in Woodland Ceme- tery when Frank was selling boots and shoes, but the cemetery didn't populate fast enough to secure him a good living, and he took charge of the music department.
In book making, Frank's genius inclined to law. The first book was The Civil Code of Iowa, written by Hon. John A. Kasson. This was followed by fifty-six volumes of Iowa Supreme Court
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Reports, Kansas, Nebraska, and Arkansas Court Reports, and several extensive books on special subjects by eminent lawyers, White's Geological Survey of Iowa, in three costly volumes, the Western Jurist, a law magazine, seventeen years, and in 1866 the first City Directory, which contained four thousand five hundred and twelve names. He personally prepared an index Digest of ten volumes of the American Turf Register, which is the standard authority among horsemen to-day. He employed the best talent he could find to edit his publications, as in all the business depart- ments. On his payroll at times, there was a Governor, an United States Senator, two Congressmen, a Foreign Minister, two United States Consuls, one United States Supreme Court Judge, three state Supreme Court Judges, and two First Assistant Postmaster- Generals.
The mechanical departments were occupied by one hundred and fifty to two hundred men and women, skilled in their several duties, among whom I recall Al. Swalm, Jut. Rhoads, Lafe Young, Philo Kenyon, George A. Miller, Lewis Bolton, the Bishard boys, Bernard Murphy, State Printer,, the ubiquitous "Tac" Hussey, W. S. Welch, Ella McLoney, City Librarian, and Charles Sheldon, now the celebrated artist and illustrator for a leading London pub- lication, "Ret" Clarkson, and Henry Sheppard, now publisher of the Inland Printer, the finest trade journal in the world. Every Saturday, Frank was confronted with a cash demand for about two thousand dollars to meet the payroll.
In 1861, when the call was made for the Tenth Iowa Infantry, during the Civil War, one Sunday "Hub" Hoxie, Wiley C. Bur- ton, Judge John Mitchell, and Doctor Brownell brought Frank a commission as Adjutant, and earnestly solicited him, because of his energy and popularity, to raise the regiment, another having attempted to and failed, on condition that he would not be required to go with it to the field, owing to the demoralized condition of his business, his brother, "Web" having, as Major and Captain of the Capital Guards, gone into the Second Regiment, and taken with him nearly every eligible man of the establishment. Frank assented and at once went to the task. After riding over the country day and night for several weeks, he secured the men, swore them in, subsisted them, and went with them to the rendezvous at Iowa City.
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In 1865, Frank concluded there was room for further enlarge- ment of the business. The lot on Fourth Street, where the Western Union Telegraph office and Munger's Hotel are, was purchased, Father Bird's church torn down, and a three-story brick erected. His elder brother, J. W., joined him, and in December, 1866, the Daily Register was purchased, and consolidated with the other busi- ness. The daily was a small six-column folio sheet. It was soon enlarged-in fact, was enlarged four times under Frank's manage- ment. Frank Palmer continued as editor two years, and was suc- ceeded by J. W. and a score of special writers. An early move of the management was to put new, young blood into the paper. Among the "type-stickers" were "Ret" Clarkson, Al. Swalm, and Lafe Young. They were assigned to the reportorial department, where they quickly impressed their individuality so distinctly it needed no confirming signature. "Ret's" forte was panegyrics and politics, in both of which he developed remarkable brilliancy. He soon became editor-in-chief, and one of the most important factors in Iowa politics, and, with John S. Runnells and Judge N. M. Hubbard, became what was known as the Republican Regency.
During Frank's management, he institued a series of descriptive sketches of the counties of this state, especially in the Northwest, then uninhabited, written by Judge A. R. Fulton. The sketches were printed in the Register, accompanied with a map showing every unoccupied forty acres in each county, and set forth the inducement to home-seekers. The result was the immediate settle- ment of the whole region by an intelligent, sturdy people.
After four years' newspaper experience, the Register was sold to C. F. Clarkson and his two sons, Richard P. and James S. ("Ret.").
In 1872, the Iowa Exposition Company was organized, and a three-story brick building 132x132, erected on Walnut street west of Eighth, to be used as a permanent exposition of the goods and wares of merchants and manufacturers of the state, and also of curios and the State Horticultural Society. A large, fine organ was put in, and several exhibitions were given, but public interest waned; it was ahead of time; too far out, and for several months was closed. That was Frank's opportunity. He bought the build- ing, remodeled it, removed from Fourth Street, and occupied it
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until 1886, when he closed his business. The building was sold and transformed into what is now the Iliad Hotel.
A notable feature of the big establishment was its educational facilities. Embracing as it did a multiplicity of branches, book, job, music, lithographing, blauk books and newspapers-at one time, four newspapers-it was a veritable printers' college. Good printers were scarce, and the best way to get them was to make them, hence there were always several apprentices, and they began with the rudiments of the business-Frank was exacting on rudi- ments-and worked their way through the several departments. Sometimes they demurred to so much time spent on rudiments, but he would tell them the more time spent on rudiments, the better craftsmen they would make. The result was there graduated from the college many who became foremen or superintendents in estab- lishments all over the country, newspaper publishers, or went into business themselves. When the first typesetting machine was inaug- urated in Chicago, Frank was requested to send a person competent to run it, and he sent Miss Ella MeLoney, now City Librarian, who was an expert book compositor and good proofreader. She went and made good, as she always does.
Sometimes the apprentices chafed at their slow progress, and thought they were worth promotion and more pay than they were getting, and would come to me as Superintendent for a raise. I recall an instance when Lafe Young one day very gently informed Frank that a boy of his caliber, superior ability, and large experi- ence-less than a year-was worth more than three dollars and a half a week-it was too small pay entirely. Frank solaced him by telling him that too much money was bad for a boy; that to succeed in business, he must learn the business, practice economy ; that then was the time to acquire habits of economy. He gradu- ated from the establishment as the city editor of the Daily Register and is now the publisher of the Des Moines Daily Capital, with a circulation of over forty-six thousand.
At one time Frank had a notion to revolutionize the horse indus- try of the state. He bought a big farm, not far out, on which he proposed to breed Percheron horses from the finest specimens that could be found in France. After he had got his project well
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advanced, he invited an old, experienced live-stock man to go out there and make observations. After going over the premises and eating a good, square meal, he asked his visitor what he thought of it.
"It's all very nice, Frank," he replied, "but you have made a mistake. You'll find that farmers are a good deal more interested in cattle and hogs than one-ton horses. They haven't got to that yet."
Among his live-stock was a herd of Polled Angus cattle, of very fine blood. There was one heifer he was proud of, which produced more champion-herd individuals than any other in the state. In 1902, three of her progeny were sold for ten thousand dollars. But live-stock prices took a big slump, and he had so many irons in the fire, he sold the farm. But his venture, so far as he went, was a success.
In 1873, he was elected Alderman from the Second Ward, on purely local issues. He didn't want it, but had to yield to public demand.
During the forty years of his business activity here, he assisted very materially in building the town in many ways. His books show that he paid as wages to employés while in business over two million five hundred thousand dollars. He is now running a daily paper in Springfield, Illinois, and building an electric street rail- way in Salt Lake City, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and an inter- urban electric road at Benton Harbor, Michigan, but still claims Des Moines as his home city, to which he will some time return and abide.
December Fourth, 1904.
BENJAMIN B. BRYANT
A MONG the earliest settlers in this region, antedating Barlow Granger and his clan of "pioneers," was Benjamin B. Bry- ant, small of stature, active, energetic, unique in many ways, social, genial, who became quite popular and held many places of public trust, the duties of which he performed with strict integrity.
He came here in 1842, with others, to make preparation for removing the Wapello Indian Agency to this locality. Subse- quently, he joined the Trading Company as Chief Clerk and Trader with the Indians, being familiar with their language and acquainted with nearly everyone on the reservation, their villages or camps being about three miles down the river. He was rigidly honest, and had the most implicit faith of the Indians. He often related incidents of his transactions with them. He had more faith in the "honest Indian" than he did in white men. He gave them credit for whatever they purchased, and put it on record in a book in the form of a promissory note, payable at a certain price, after certain moons, the only almanac the Indians understood. They signed the notes in the same way Martin Tucker, an early tavern keeper on 'Coon Row did, with a big "X." Ben used to say the notes were paid, and he never lost a dollar. His old book is still in existence, and would be an interesting addition to "Charley" Aldrich's State Historical Collection.
His knowledge of the language induced me to inquire of him the Indian name of the river we call Des Moines. He said it was "Keosauk-sepo," from its mouth to its source, "Keosauk" meaning "dark, rolling water," and "sepo" meaning "river." They didn't accept the corrupted, misapplied misnomer we now have, a sui generis, the only distinctive quality of which is it has never been duplicated by any other community, a feature appreciated only by the postal clerks. It is unfortunate the Indian name was not perpetuated.
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It may not be generally known that Des Moines came very near being given another name, officially. In 1833, Lewis Cass, then Secretary of War, in his annual report, recommended that dragoons be sent west of the Mississippi to protect emigrants from outrages committed by predatory bands of Indians. The President, in his message to Congress, approved the plan, and in accordance therewith, by order of the War Department, Colonel Kearney, with three companies of dragoons, in May, 1834, was ordered to move to the right bank of the Mississippi River, near the mouth of the Des Moines River, for Winter quarters. Through sickness of his troop and other causes, he did not get under way until September. On the Second, he wrote the Department he would leave the next day with four companies, and requested that a name be given the new post, and that it be declared a "double-ration" post.
The troops arrived on the Twenty-eighth. The Winter was very severe, and there was much suffering from uncomfortable quarters. In February, 1835, he repeated his request that a name be given the post, and stating that, merely for convenience, he had designated it "Camp Des Moines, Michigan Territory." On the back of this letter, Secretary Cass wrote, "Let the post be called Fort Des Moines, and let it be a double-ration post."
During the year 1834, emigrants came into the territory west- ward along the river, and in March, Kearney was ordered to go up to Raccoon Fork and reconnoiter for the selection of a military post. He arrived August Eighth, and after going over the field, reported unfavorable to the project; that he saw nothing to make it necessary or advisable; the land was covered with timber and underbrush; no stone or other material for making chimneys; no springs, and the river unnavigable for boats to carry stores to it, etc., etc.
The War Department did not agree with Kearney's opinion, and Colonel Croghan, Insepctor-General, was detailed to make a more careful examination and report upon the expedieney of removing the garrison from Fort Armstrong, at Rock River, to a place up the Des Moines, which he did, and reported that so rapid was the emigration in that direction, before a suitable post and garrison could be established, the emigrants would be abundantly
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able to take care of themselves, and it was needless to expend so much money, only to be abandoned in a couple of years.
The War Department did not accept his opinion, and decided that not only was it a duty to protect emigrants, but also those Indian tribes with whom treaties had been made, against whom emigrants, unscrupulous land sharks, and speculators were making encroachments, and marauding bands of other tribes continually making raids.
To this end, General Scott decided to send a detachment of dragoons to the reservation of the Sauks (Sacs) and Foxes, and in October, 1842, Captain James Allen came and selected "The Point made by the junction of Des Moines and Raccoon rivers." He reported that "during next Summer a good, comfortable establish- ment could be made for one company of dragoons for two thousand dollars."
His report was accepted, but it failed to get though the circumlo- cution office at Washington until February, 1843, when an order was made establishing the post, and directing Captain Allen to fix the site. He reported May Tenth that he had located the post, named it Fort Raccoon, and requested that it be made a double- ration post. The War Department didn't like the name ; declared it was shocking, too "wild and woolly West." Adjutant-General Jones suggested "Fort Iowa." Soon after, however, Captain Allen received notice from General Scott that "Raccoon" would not be a proper name, and until further direction by the War Department, he would call it "Fort Des Moines." To this Captain Allen forc- ibly objected, because of the liability to be confused with the late post on the Mississippi (it having been abandoned), and the old post in Wisconsin, causing great delay and inconvenience in busi- ness transactions-which, in fact, had already been experienced. He therefore asked that some other name be given. He also renewed his request for a double-ration post, to all of which General Scott was willing to accede, but the War and Treasury Department had got at loggerheads as to the rights of a post to double rations, asked for by Colonel Kearney. Captain Allen's request was pigeonholed pending a decision of that question, but before it was decided- if it ever was-public use and common consent to a fortuity of
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corroborative circumstances, had so fixed the name that a change was unnecessary.
On the convening of the first session of the District Court, in 1846, "Ben" was appointed Bailiff of the court.
The early records of the county were kept in very unintelligible form, on loose sheets of paper, and otherwise, which have been lost, so that not until Judge Rice and Hoyt Sherman came into office as County Clerk, in 1852, were the records kept in complete and per- manent form.
August Sixth, 1849, he was elected County Treasurer, and he must have been quite sure of his election, for a presumed record shows that his official bond was filed July Fourteenth. As he was a good Democrat, and as Barlow Granger, Judge Casady and R. L. Tidrick ran the machine in those days, and no Whig had even a hope of public office, the particularity of records was of little account. "Ben" served the term and was reelected.
In 1853, he was elected a member of the Town Council, and reclected in 1854-55-56-57, and was a very active and influential member at that formative period, when good judgment was an important factor in public affairs.
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