USA > Iowa > Polk County > Pioneers of Polk County, Iowa, and reminiscences of early days, Vol. II > Part 9
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Burton testified that he was one of the "getters-up" of the sub- scription for two hundred thousand dollars on the West Side, to be given to the state provided the Capitol was located on that side; that he went, with Granville Holland and J. M. Griffiths, on the Twenty-second of April, 1856, to notify the Commissioners that the money was being raised; that they were told no location had been made; that any offer would be taken into consideration the next day. It was shown the location had then been agreed upon.
C. C. Van, who owned a large tract of land south of the 'Coon, built a mill there, and started a town known for several years as Vantown, which has developed into the present Sevastopol, testified that Pegram said to him one day something about lots he was to get as a bonus; that a few days after the location was made, he said he had sold the lots, taking notes for them, made payable at Council Bluffs. Since then, he told him they had been paid. He said there were two hundred and fifty lots; that he was to have
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fifty. Baldwin was here, and appeared to know what was going on. He said if the West Siders would raise fifty thousand dollars, the Capitol would be located on that side of the river; that he was in favor of the West Side, and believed the Commissioners were; that two hundred and fifty lots had been set apart for the Commis- sioners on the East Side; he was to have a share; that he had one thousand dollars the Commissioners did not know of. He asked what the West Side would give. He said Pegram had made his mark at ten thousand dollars, and they would have to come down.
Several witnesses interested in the lots said to be in the pool were called, but they refused to give answers, by advice of counsel.
W. A. Scott, who owned part of the Capitol grounds, and the land on which the old Capitol was built, being sworn, testified as follows :
"Question .- Where did you reside at the time of the location of the Capitol ?
"Answer .- At this place on the east side of the river.
"Question .- Did you see the Commissioners when they were here to locate the Capitol ?
"Answer .- I did.
"Question .- Did you have any conversation with them in refer- ence to the location before it was determined ?
"Answer .- Yes, sir.
"Question .- On which of these additions which I point out on the map was the Capitol located ?
"Answer .- It was partly on Scott's Addition to the Town of Demoine, and partly on Lyon's Addition .
"Question .- Did you, at or about the time of the location of the Capitol, sell and convey, or agree to convey, or agree to hold in trust, any part of your said property to or for said Commissioners, or to any or either of them ?"
Witness refused to answer, "on the ground, and for the reason, that if any act done, or transaction had, between the said Commis- sioners and the affiant, would tend to impeach the conduct of the Commissioners, it would and will operate to impeach and disgrace affiant; and, further, the answer he would be compelled to give, taken in connection with the evidence already taken, and questions that might follow, will tend to disgrace the affiant."
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The Legislative Committee in its report said :
"From the testimony, it appears that twenty acres of land, worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars, was offered to the Capitol Commissioners for the state; that, besides this, various persons offered two hundred thousand dollars' worth of real estate as a further inducement to locate the Capitol on the west side of Des Moines River; that when the Commissioners received notice that the two hundred thousand dollars would be offered them, they signified a willingness to give it due consideration, and delay their final decision until the next day, but, instead, they came to a deci- sion which barred the interested parties from presenting their sub- scription.
"The memorialists presented several witnesses on whose testi- mony they relied to show that a property worth fifty thousand dol- lars was given the Commissioners as a bribe, or bonus, or gratuity, but the witnesses refused to answer interrogatories put to them, by which only it could be proved that all of the Commissioners could be positively identified with fraud and corruption, was withheld, and it was not in the power of your Committee to bring it ont.
"It appears, from the testimony, that two hundred and fifty lots were set apart on the east side of the river to influence the location of the Capitol; that town lots, or interests in town lots, were given to effect the location; that Pegram was bribed; that Baldwin was the go-between with Pegram, if not more of the Commissioners, and the proprietors of land on both sides of the river; that he appeared to have Pegram, if not a majority of the Commissioners, for sale to the highest bidder. There is nothing in the testimony implicating Commissioner Goodrell in the frands alleged in the second charge."
The Committee recommended that the Attorney General be instructed to institute proceedings for recovery of any bonuses the Commissioners had received for locating the Capitol, as such bonus should have been for the state, and not for the Commissioners.
The report was referred to a committee and is there yet.
In May, under the new charter, Wiley was again elected to the City Council, to represent the Third Ward. It was an impor- tant period in municipal affairs, as the whole system of civil gov- ernment had to be reorganized to meet the changed conditions.
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WILEY C. BURTON
In 1867, he was elected Street Commissioner. The streets were mere dirt roads, though much cutting and grading was being done, and plank sidewalks were laid on some of the streets below Fifth. Cows ran at large, and when they wanted a change from grazing on vacant lots, they made a raid on gardens and the sleds and wagons of farmers, usually, unless there was a good dog on guard, leaving only the box.
That was the end of office-holding for Wiley. He then turned his attention to trading and speculating, but retained an interest in public affairs.
Politically, he was a Whig. He voted for William Henry Har- rison for President in 1840. In 1854, he joined the Know-Noth- ing Party, which elected Grimes for Governor, and put an end to Democratic rule in Iowa. He says he wants to live to vote for Roosevelt in 1908. He is now living in South Dakota.
July First, 1906.
VOL. II-(8).
DANIEL TRULLINGER
DANIEL TRULLINGER
T HE pioneer of pioneers of Polk County and Des Moines was Daniel Trullinger, the only living man who was at Fort Raccoon when it was only a soldiers' camp. There was no cannon, no stockade, no block houses. It was not a fort, but sim- ply a military camp, really more like a community of camping settlers; the difference being, they were sent here by Uncle Sam to protect from the marauding Sioux, the Sauk and Fox Indians, who had a reservation at or near where Avon now is, on what was called Keokuk's Prairie; also villages along Skunk River and Four Mile Creek. When Trullinger arrived, the soldiers were living in tents, having preceded him but a few days.
Born in Ohio, in 1818, Trullinger was raised on a farm, get- ting what education he could in the common schools of that day. From Ohio, he removed to Indiana, near Perrysville, where he and four brothers had small tracts of land. While there, he learned brick-making with his uncle, Benjamin Gordy.
In May, 1843, he and his brothers decided to come West, where land was cheaper and could be purchased in large quantities. Pack- ing such necessary household goods, as pioneers usually did, into prairie schooners, with oxen for motor power, they started for Iowa, and June Thirteenth crossed the Mississippi at Fort Madison, and went on to Jefferson County, where they stopped near Fairfield, then the most frontier point, a few days, and where Daniel learned of the establishment of the new fort at Raccoon Forks.
Harking back to the event a few days ago, he said :
"With my wife and baby, and Uncle Ben. Gordy, an ox team and wagons, we left Fairfield, and five days later arrived at The Fort, the Fifteenth of June. We forded the river near where the Grand Avenue bridge is, the water being very low, not up to the hubs of the wagon wheels. The soldiers of the garrison had been here about three weeks, and were living in tents pitched along the
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heavy timber belt which skirted the river, or about where Second Street is now. The day we arrived, they were putting the roof on the commissary store building, near Des Moines River, just north of the 'Coon. There was a sutler's store where the south end of Prouty's wholesale grocery store is now, and the logs up for a Guard House a little south and west of the sutler's store. Nothing had been done about dwellings, though logs were being eut for cabins in the timber ou the east side of the Des Moines, and along the bluff on the west side.
"So soon as the sutler's store was ready to occupy, they began to put up cabins for dwellings. The first row was for the officers, along the Des Moines, where First Street is, and fronted west. They were double, with a portico between them, the entrance to each half being from the portico. Some were roofed with shingles, and some with clapboards. They had good doors, windows, and flooring, the material for which was hauled from Keokuk in Gor- ernment wagons. The logs were cut and hauled by the soldiers. The cabins for the soldiers were along the 'Coon. The building was done by five carpenters, who came with the soldiers. All the necessary material for building was at hand, except brick, and that was my opportunity. My uncle was an expert brick-maker, and I had learned of him to make brick. We were just the men Captain Allen, commander of The Fort, was looking for. Brick was wanted for chimneys and fireplaces of the cabins and stores. There were no stoves. I at once went prospecting for clay, and about half a mile up Raccoon River found a deposit of clay and sand, and not far away a pond, about fifty feet long and nearly as wide-I think it was about the south end of what is now Sixth Avenue-with no bottom, as we tested it for at least sixty feet and found none, and I am told that the early settlers at The Fort said it had no bottom at all. My uncle built a mill to grind the clay on a rise of ground near it, and there we established a brick yard, making from two thousand to four thousand brick per day, of what was known as sand brick, and they were good brick, too. During that Summer, we made about two hundred and eighty thousand brick. For mor- tar, my son, Aaron, found a lot of stone lying on the ground along Four Mile Creek, which he gathered and burned, making splendid lime.
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"We worked every day in the week, as Captain Allen was anx- ious to get the buildings all completed before Winter set in, and we had to keep the fire going under the kilns, anyhow. A day's work was from sunrise to sundown. There were no labor unions, and no holidays. There were no churches, nor preachers. In fact, the only way we knew when Sunday came was seeing the soldiers lined up for drill and inspection, and a general cleaning up of the camp. There were nearly three hundred soldiers in the camp, about one third of whom were cavalry, or Dragoons, as they called them. They were all a rugged, honest lot of fellows, used to roughing it, and ready to fight Indians or anything else that ran up against them, though they were quiet and orderly about the camp, for they had to be, as Captain Allen was a strict disciplinarian ; but some- times, Lieutenant Grier, who had more direct charge of the boys and had more humor in his nature, would give a little relaxation- if the Captain was not around.
"There were no settlers in the county that Summer, as the whole country was under military control. Alexander Scott, Alex- ander Turner, Peter Newcomer, and William Lamb, came in about two weeks before I did, and Captain Allen gave them permits to cultivate tracts of land to raise provisions for the camp. They immediately broke ground and planted corn as they plowed. Lamb, I understand, sowed the first wheat and oats in the county. They got good crops, which had to go to the soldiers' camp, as they were not allowed to sell a bushel to anybody. Scott's land was on the east side of the Des Moines, extending down near the starch works. Lamb and Turner were east of him, and Newcomer was on Four Mile Creek. Subsequently, they filed claims and made farms of their land. Aside from these, we had no neighbors except Indians.
"Inside the garrison or fort, aside from the soldiers, there were only the carpenters and bricklayers There were only five women during that Summer-the wife of Doctor Griffin, the post surgeon ; of Lieutenant Grier, of two carpenters, and my wife-so we didn't have any women's clubs or society doings. There were no amuse- ments except occasionally the soldier boys would play fiddles, vet everybody was happy. It was like a big family working together in harmony, sharing with each other their fifty cents a day wages,
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tobacco, and whiskey. In fact, as the days were long, when night eame everybody was ready to go to bed. We had little use for the tallow dips Unele Sam furnished for lights. The Doctor and five women were kept busy, for there was much sickness from Fever and Ague. At one time, there was less than two dozen men in camp able to work.
"We had good living, and the eabins, when completed, were comfortable. The Government furnished rations of sugar, flour, bacon, ham, codfish, rice, other provisions, tobacco, and a pint of whiskey free to every person in the camp, daily-the women, though, were not allowed the whiskey. It wasn't the kind you get now. If a man got drunk with it, he wasn't sick a week afterward. A good deal of it, however, went to break the 'shakes.'
"The men worked hard : wages were low ; the common laborers got fifty cents a day, the bricklavers one dollar, the boss carpenter two dollars, the boss bricklayer one dollar and seventy-five eents, but all got the daily allowance of rations and a eabin for a home, as fast as they were completed. Attached to every cabin was a small garden.
"One great trouble we had was to get mail. The nearest post- office was Fairfield, and the only way to get mail was by sending a soldier after it, and of course newspapers and reading-matter were scarce.
"During the Summer, Captain Allen was talking one day about fixing a point nearer The Fort, where mail could be deposited, and finding a man to take charge of it. I recommended "Unele Tommy" Mitchell, whom I had known for some time. He accepted him, and gave him a permit to select a traet of land to enltivate, which he did the next Spring, at a place sonth of what is now Mitchellville, known as Apple Grove, from a large grove of wild erabapples, on Camp Creek. It was a good place, as the wagon trails from Keo- kuk, Iowa City, and Fairfield came together a few miles eastward. He put up a large log cabin, settlers soon began to come in, and travel increased so that he opened a tavern and did a big business.
"No, the Indians were very peaceable and quiet. Squads of them frequently came into the camp, and the brick-making was a great enriosity to them. They would sit around for hours and
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watch the operation, jabbering away, and some could talk good English. They were great to ask questions. There were three bands, numbering about one thousand. Keokuk had a large village on his prairie, which was just north of where Avon now is, and not as pictured at page Three Hundred and Sixty, in Fulton's 'Red Men of Iowa,' as lying from Des Moines River eastward to the starch works. There were bands along the Skunk and Four Mile Creek. They were friendly, and seemed to realize that the soldiers were here to protect them from their mortal enemy, the Sioux. Sometimes they would go up north hunting, and get on the terri- tory called neutral ground, the Sioux would get after them, and the soldiers would be called out to drive the marauders off. One day, a Sioux chief came to Captain Allen and proposed to join his sol- diers, kill all the Indians on the reservation, and then let the white people have it. When the Captain told him he was here to protect them and keep the Sioux where they belonged, the old chief gave a grunt and went off in high dudgeon.
"In October, the buildings had nearly all been completed ; there was no further demand for brick, and I decided to leave. Captain Allen offered me ten dollars a month, rations and cabin, but I thought it was not enough, and declined. I returned to Fairfield, and went into the teaming business. In April, 1846, I left Fair- field, to go to my brother, Eli, who had bought a large claim where 'Trullinger's Grove' is, in Franklin Township. On the Sixth, I arrived at 'Uncle Tommy' Mitchell's tavern, where they were hold- ing the first election in Polk County, to elect county officers.
" 'Tommy' said he was mighty glad to see me; that I was just in time to vote, and I threw my vote into his hat. I hadn't been in the county fifteen minutes. Everybody voted who wanted to, and no questions asked. Some came fifteen miles. After voting, they went home and left 'Tommy' to count the votes. That was the trust and confidence the pioneers had in one another. It wouldn't do nowadays, I think.
"I stopped with 'Tommy' three days, went on to my brother, made a claim for one hundred and sixty acres near him, broke and planted twenty-four acres, and in the Fall sold out and returned to Fairfield, and went into brick-making and teaming. I remember
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that in 1849 I hauled a load of corn and some provisions to 'Uncle Tommy'-he had got short, his tavern consuming more than his farm produced-and on the way, in Jasper County, I ran up against the Quaker Commissioners the Legislature had sent out to locate a site for the new Capital of the state. They had laid ont a big town on the open prairie, no timber or buildings in sight, nor any water within five miles. I didn't think it was a very good place for the Capital.
"I also remember hauling young hogs weighing about one hun- dred and fifty pounds, butter, eggs, and potatoes to The Fort. I had to get a permit to sell them from Captain Allen, and he would fix the maximum price on them-the pork at fifty cents, butter fifty cents, and eggs twenty-five cents per dozen. I could sell below his price, but not above it."
In 1864, Trullinger got the gold fever, and, with a friend, started for Montana, but when he got to Julesberg, changed his mind and went into the mountains to prospect for gold, but found it too hard work, and went to Denver, where he ran against a man from the East with a slaughter house, meat market, and grocery, worth two thousand dollars, who was suffering from Nostalgia- that is, he wanted "to get back home." Trullinger offered him one thousand dollars for the outfit, got it, and ran it nine years. Sub- sequently, he speculated, prospected, burned charcoal, and bossed silver mines in Colorado until 1879, when he came back to Iowa, bought a big farm in Calhoun County, held it until March, 1900, when he came to Des Moines, invested his surplus shekels in town lots, and made his home with a widowed daughter on Morton Street -a few rods east of the Danish College, where he spends his time at ease. In Summer, he cultivates shrubbery, flowers, fruit, and vegetables, which, as I saw them a few days ago, indicate that he knows how. He is rugged, active, has perfect health, can do a good day's work, eats three square meals a day, has no use for breakfast foods or patent concoctions for old age, and the day I visited him I found him on a ladder trimming his shade trees.
Politically, he is a Hardshell Democrat; never voted any but the straight ticket, except once for his old friend, Ford, a Whig, for Treasurer of Jefferson County. He is a Standpatter, and says
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if he was a Republican he would vote against Cummins for Gov- ernor, because he is opposed to more than two terms for any state officer, on principle. He never sought a political office, though for several years he held the office of School Director, consequent upon his active interest in educational affairs and public schools.
Socially, he is genial, frank, and conversational. An hour's recital of reminiscences of people, conditions, and circumstances he has rubbed up against in his long life is replete with interest, and a pleasing diversion.
Religiously, he is not a member of any denomination, though he attends the Christian Church from choice.
July Eighth, 1906.
FIRST THINGS IN DES MOINES
N May Twentieth, 1843, Captain James Allen, with four officers and forty-four soldiers, arrived at the forks of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, on the steamboat Ione, the first steamboat to reach The Forks. It landed where the west end of the Court Avenue bridge now is. The mission of the soldiery was to establish a temporary military post. With them came four civilians, Doctor John S Griffin, who was made Post Surgeon ; J. M. Thrift, a discharged soldier, father of the present Adjutant General Thrift, who was made Post Tailor, and Charles Worthing- ton, who was assigned to duty as Blacksmith. His shop was on the bottoms near the 'Coon, and in the rear of the soldiers' quar- ters. That was the roster of Fort Raccoon, as Captain Allen had named the post.
J. M. Thrift was the only one of the post roster who remained and became a resident and citizen of the new community, and there- fore was the first white man of record in and for Des Moines.
First Political Meeting-February Fourteenth, 1846, to select candidates for the several county officers to organize Polk County.
First Election-April Sixth, 1846.
First District Court-April Sixth, 1846, in one of the log barrack buildings on 'Coon Row.
First Clerk of the District Court-Perry L. Crossman.
First Sheriff-"Uncle Tommy" Mitchell.
First Church Organized-Methodist, January Fifth, 1845.
First Sunday School-Organized, with seven children, in the Spring of 1845, by B. T. Hoxie and the Reverend Ezra Rathbun.
First Sermon-Ezra Rathbun, at the funeral of a child of Colonel Grier, September, 1845.
First Church Building-1848, on Fifth Street, a two-story frame, where the Iowa Loan and Trust Building stands, for the Methodists.
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First Presbyterian Church-Organized the first Sabbath in June, 1848, under rather unique circumstances. Reverend Thomp- son Bird came to Fort Des Moines the Jannary previous, as a mis- sionary of Des Moines Presbytery, and at once began arrangements to organize a church of the New School faith, and for that purpose a meeting was held in the fourth cabin from the right end of the row, along the west bank of Des Moines River (see Frontispiece), which had been occupied as one of the officers' quarters, and now the southwest corner of First and Vine streets. There were five cabins in the row, and they fronted west. The following is the record of the meeting, made in the handwriting of Father Bird :
"FORT DES MOINES, IOWA, "JUNE, FIRST SABBATH, 1848.
"According to previous notice, publicly given, on the Sabbath above named, the following persons were, at their own request, organized into a church under the name of the Central Presby- terian Church, of Fort Des Moines, Iowa, to-wit:
"Mrs. Anna P. Bird, Samuel Kellogg Kirkpatrick and his wife, Mary Kellogg Kirkpatrick, Mrs. Ruth Jane Shell, Mrs. Francis Guerant, Mrs. Hannah Yates."
Simultaneous with Father Bird's movement, there was another inaugurated by John S. Dean, and several families, who lived on the East Side ,to organize a church of the Old School faith, to be known as the First Presbyterian Church. They fixed upon the same day and hour selected by Father Bird, but a severe storm the Saturday night previous did such damage to some of their cabins, it was necessary to postpone their meeting until repairs could be made, and it was not held until late in the afternoon, after Father Bird's meeting had adjourned. It was held in the two-room cabin of Mr. Dean, which stood fronting the east bank of Des Moines River, nearly opposite the new City Library. The record says :
"According to understanding, a number of Presbyterians (Old School), met together at the home of John S. Dean, and, after mutual consultation, agreed to be organized into a church, to be called the Presbyterian Church of Fort Des Moines. The Reverend Samuel Cowles presided. The following persons were recieved upon certificate as members: John S. Dean and wife, Mrs. Nancy
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Dean; Miss Hannah C. Dean, William Garrett and wife, Mrs. Mary Garrett; Miss Margaret A. Garrett; James H. Finch and wife, Sarah J. Finch; Abram S. Dean and wife, Ann Dean; Mrs. Eleanor B. Garrett, Miss Sarah Frederick, and Mrs. Esther Myers."
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