The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa : containing a history of the County, its cities, towns, &c.,., Part 41

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Des Moines : Union Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1004

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Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through -sights that may never be again seen in the county, perhaps. Some of the wagons were drawn by cows; other gold-hunters went on foot and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold-hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of disorder and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.

Early in the spring of 1850 the rush began, one line of the trail to Cali- fornia passing through this county. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of wagons from east to west, as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cy- clone, drawing into its course on the right and left many of those residing along its pathway. The gold-hunters from Poweshiek county crowded eagarly into the gaps in the wagon-train, bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder farewells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their

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quiet, peaceful homes only to find in the " Far West " utter disappoint- ment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor." The persons who really gained by the gold ex- citement were those who remained on their farms and sold their produce to the gold-crazy emigrants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great tide began to abate, although belated gold-hunters kept passing through for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the contagion now settled down in quiet to pursue the even tenor of their way.

The scene along this line, through this vicinity, is thus described by one who was an eye-witness:

" It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. A continuous line of wagons stretched away to the West as far as the eye conld see. If a wagon was detained by being broken down, or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken and die, the corpse was buried hurriedly by the way- side, without coffin or burial service. When night came on, the line of wagons was turned aside, and their proprietors would go into camp. Very soon the sound of revelry would begin around the camp-fires thickly set on every hand; first to bottle and then to cards, to the echo of the most horrid oaths and imprecations that were ever conceived or uttered since the fall of man. These poor deluded votaries of Mammon scattered that dreadful scourge, small-pox, everywhere that they came in contact with the settlers on the way. Game cards were strewn all along the line of travel. Glass bottles after being emptied of their nefarious contents down the throats of men, were dashed against wagon wheels, pieces of which were strewn all along the road, as if to mock the madness of the advancing column of these fervent janizaries of the golden calf.

" At the time of the treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, the population of California did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time of which we are writing (1850) there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people who had found their way thither, of which number at least one hun- dred thousand were gold-hunters from the States. There had been taken from the auriferious beds of California, up to January, 1850, over $40,000,- 000 in gold.

" The evil effects of this gold mania upon the moral status of the people of the United States is still seen and felt everywhere, and among all classes of society, and no man can see the end. It has popularized the worship of Mammon to an alarming extent throughout the country, and to this wor- ship, to a great extent, is attrb utable the moral declension of to-day."

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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY.

Years after, this county had another gold excitement, which, happily, was not so serious as the first, and did not produce the same evil effects. But it is an equally good illustration to show how quickly men will lose their sense when they hope to gain wealth more rapidly than by honest work and thrift.

The excitement over the discovery of gold at at Pike's Peak in 1859, drew off large numbers of the citizens of this county, many of whom re- turned poorer than they went, and glad and anxious to get home again from that land of high prices and small profits from mining. We have been un- able to discover that any of the gold-seekers from this county ever became ·" Bonanza Kings."

The Des Moines Gazette, from time to time gave graphic accounts of the gold-hunters as they thronged through the country. As all the persons who went west across this county crossed the ferry at Fort Des Moines, some idea of the rush may be gathered from the following statistics as published in the Des Moines Gazette during the three weeks when the rush was greatest:

List of companies which crossed the river at Des Moines for California for week ending Wednesday evening, April 17, 1850.

Person .675

Wagons 252

Of the teams about 50 were ox teams, averaging 3 yoke to a team, 205 horse teams averaging 3} to a wagon, making 717 horses.

A gentleman who had just come to Des Moines from the Bluffs says 2,000 were encamped there and he met three or four hundred between there and here.

Week ending April 24-199 teams and 540 men, making total for sea- son of 690 teams and 1,797 persons.

Week ending May 1st-156 teams, 459 persons; total for season, 846 teams and 2,256 persons.

Next week 130 teams, 363 persons; total for season 976 teams and 2.629 persons.

Next week 73 teams, 184 persons; total for season 1,049 teams and 2,813 persons.

One whose friends had joined in this exodus to California, and met with nothing but disaster, sought the aid of the muses to properly express his idea of the gold mania. The result of his meditations appeared in the form of a short poem, in the Des Moines Journal of February, 1851, as follows:

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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY.

Oh! California gold mines what a fearful curse they've brought, With what heart-rending sorrows has that search for dross been fraught; How many tearful partings and how many lives untold Have been laid upon the altar of this raging thirst for gold.

THE WESTERN STAGE COMPANY.

During pioneer times, public travel was exclusively by stage. The jour- ney was often long and wearisome. The sloughs were not bridged and du- ring the spring it was no uncommon thing for a passenger on the stage to make his journey on foot and carry a fence rail with which to help pry the stage out of the mire. This was " high toned " traveling, and from this may be imagined what sort of a journey was that of a lone settler and an ox team.

A history of the county would not be complete without mention of the transportation company which preceded railroads. It was called the Wes- tern Stage Company, and by examining the early court records it will be seen that this corporation figured extensive in the early litigation of Powes- hiek county.

Among the prominent partners of this company were E. S. Alvord, of Indianapolis, president; Kimball Porter, of Iowa City; Messrs. Shoemaker, W. H. Sullivan, D. Talmadge and Campbell of Ohio, and Col. E. F. Hooker of Des Moines.

The headquarters of the company were at the Everett House in Fort Des- Moines; the office of the company being located there July 1, 1854, when A. Morris was the proprietor of the hotel. The general manager of the stage lines was Col. E. F. Hooker, whose residence and business office were located in what is now the capital city of the State. A gentleman of the name of Smith was the first agent of the company, and he was suc- ceeded by W. H. McChesney, who died in 1858. The last agent was A. T. Johnson, who is now favorably known by the people of Des Moines and vicinity as proprietor of an omnibus line. E. B. Alvord, T. R. Fletcher, E. W. Sparhawk and E. G. Sears were secretaries of the company at various times and resided in Des Moines.

The shops and barn of the company were located on the present site of Getchell's lumber yard, corner of Eighth and Vine streets. These shops were divided into five departments; in one of them the wood work was done, in another the iron work, in the third the painting, in the fourth the horse-shoeing, and in the other the harness-making, all of which were for some time under the superintendency of A. B. Woodbury.

Col. E. F. Hooker retired from the superintendency of the company in 1866, and was succeeded by R. Lounsberry, who was the last one filling

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this office. H. B. Alvord settled up the affairs of the company at its close, with great profit to the corporation. To give some idea of the business of the company, it is proper to state in this connection that the receipts for one year on the line between Des Moines and Boone reached the extraordi- nary sum of $100,000. After the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail- road was completed to Council Bluffs, the Boone line fell into insignificance and the days of the Western Stage Company, as far as Iowa was concerned, were numbered. The stages of this corporation transported to Davenport, with all their personal equipments, the members of the Thirty-third and Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry, requiring just two days to take an entire regi- ment. In this way parts of the Second, Sixth, Tenth and Fifteenth regi- ments were taken to their rendezvous. On the day after the adjournment, in olden times, the members of the Legislature living abroad, were either at their homes or far on the way to their destination.

The last coach belonging to the company in Des Moines was sold to James Stephenson, of Omaha, in 1874. Mr. Johnson rode on the driver's seat from the stage barn to the freight depot of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, and as he left the old vehicle to take its journey west- ward on the cars, he bade it an affectionate farewell. The Western Stage Company was quite an important factor in all central Iowa. It had two lines to Council Bluffs, one to Fort Dodge, by the way of Boonesboro, and other lines reaching out in all directions. They changed from semi-weekly to tri-weekly, and then to daily trips, as the country settled up and business warranted it. It was the only means of conveyance for travelers and the mails, and many were the anxious ones who waited for news or friends by the old stage company. It was like all other human agencies, in that it was fallible, and complaints were made against it. It was some of these complaints which provoked the following newspaper article in 1858:

" We notice a number of our exchanges are raking down the Western Stage Company for the manner in which they convey passengers over their lines. A little reflection will doubtless show to those who are censuring the stage company that they are wrong in their censures. The company, we think, deserves the praise of the people of Iowa for its indomitable per- severance in ploughing through snow, rain, sleet and mud, for the past eight months, imperiling the lives of their drivers and teams in crossing swollen streams to accommodate the traveling public and deliver the mails at the post-offices. But few persons would endure the privations and hardships which the company has passed through in Iowa during the past eight months for double the money. We believe the company has done more to forward the mails and passengers than the public could reasonably expect

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at their hands, taking into consideration the awful condition of the roads. A little more work on the highways, and a little more patience on the part of passengers, would be a good thing just at this time."

CLAIM CLUBS.

Some time before the lands were all surveyed, and, consequently, before any were offered for sale, speculators came from the East with plenty of money in their pockets, and diligently scoured the county over, noting the more valuable portions, although they were claims, and were prepared to give high prices for them when they came into the market, thus robbing the first settlers, who had by industry and privation made valuable im- provements.

The homesteads which they had wrested from the primitive wilderness of prairie or forest and changed by enterprise and industry into cultivated fields, laden with yellow corn or waving grain, were liable to become the property of land-sharks, whose avaracious eyes saw the value of the land, and cared little for justice or right, provided themselves might secure a handsome profit. With longer purses they could afford to pay higher prices than the poor settler; while the latter, sensible of their rights, and aware with what labor, exposure and self-denial they had acquired these rights, felt, in the view of these prospects, indignant and exasperated, and felt so justly.

So highly incensed did the people become at the idea of speculators over- bidding them at the land sales, that they viewed every stranger with dis- trust, lest his errand among them should be to note the numbers of some choice tracts, and make them his own by giving prices beyond the reach of the claimant. A unity of feeling on this subject filled the entire country. They were determined to save their claims despite any effort or interven- tion to the contrary, and, if possible, their intention was to pay no more than the lowest government price. Strangers passing through the country had to be careful not to meddle with the lands claimed, otherwise than honestly buying them from the possessors. If the object was thought to be different, if they were suspected of being engaged in any scheme for the unjust deprival of any settler of what were considered his unquestion- able rights, they at once incurred the hostile feeling of every inhabitant, and were not safe until they had entirely left the country.

It soon became evident that some regular organization was needed among the settlers the better to control any outbreaks of popular rage, and cause non-residents to pay due respect to the claims which had been made, as also

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to prevent difficulties among the settlers themselves, the dishonest of whom did not scruple to take advantage of a neighbor's temporay absence, sick- ness, or remoteness from aid, and "jump his claim," that is, take and hold possession of it vi et armis, depriving him totally of his rights in the premises.

In accordance with the plan which was adopted in other counties, the settlers of Poweshiek county held a meeting to consider the proper course to pursue, and resolved to organize a claim club for mutual protection. These clubs existed in almost every community, and were by no means a new institution when introduced here. The claim rights of settlers were then regulated by what was called the claim law, which had its origin in Jefferson county, and was sanctioned by the Legislature of 1839.

The plan of organization was very simple. A captain was selected, and each member of the club signed a pledge in the form of resolutions, which resolutions form a curiosity well worth preserving.

In addition to a captain, whose duty it was to direct the action of the club and act as a general executive officer, the club had another officer still more important, whose duty it was to attend the land sales and bid off such tracts of land as he was ordered to purchase by the direction of the club. These organizations usually embraced the claim-holders of one particular neighborhood, or voting precinct, and as the resolutions which governed the different clubs were similar, they aided each other in enforcing the claim law for the common good. The following resolutions adopted by a club in this vicinity, are reproduced to give the reader some idea of the plan of oper- ations:

1. Resolved, That we will protect all persons who do or may hold claims, against the in- terference of any person or persons, who shall attempt to deprive such claim-holders of their claims by preemptions or otherwise.

2. Resolved, That we will, in all cases, discountenance the speculator or other person who shall thus attempt any innovation upon the homes of the rightful settlers; that we will not hold any fellowship with such person, and that he be regarded a nuisance in the com- munity.

3. Resolved, That no person shall be allowed to preempt or purchase in any form from the government, any land which shall be held as a claim, unless he shall first obtain the consent of the claimant.

4. Resolved, That the filing of an intention to preempt, contrary to the rights of the settler, be regarded as an attempt to wrongfully deprive the citizen of his home and his claim.

5. Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed, and that it shall be their duty to inquire into and adjust all difficulties and contentions in cases where claims are in dispute.

6. Resolved, That it shall be the duty of said committee to notify any person who shall preempt or attempt to do so, by filing his intentions to preempt, the claim of any other per-

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son, to leave the vicinity and the county; and that they have authority to enforce a compli- ance with said notice.

7. Resolved, That we will sustain and uphold such committee in their decisions, and in the discharge of all their duties as defined in the foregoing resolutions.

8. Resolved, That all persons be invited to sign the foregoing resolutions, and that the signers pledge themselves to be governed by, and to aid in sustaining the same.

As a rule, land speculators had very tender consciences, which caused them to respect the rights of such settlers as were backed by such a form- idable organization as a claim club. A certain club had among its resolu- tions the following:

"Resolved, That the filing of any intention to preempt, in contravention of the right of any member hereof, shall be regarded as an attempt to deprive one member of his rights, under the eternal fitness of things, and we pledge ourselves, one to the other, to meet the offender on the home stretch, with the logic of life or death."

Notwithstanding this, there were occasional instances in which persons dared to contend with the clubs, but the logic proved too much for them on the "home stretch." We relate two incidents, one characterized by vio- lence, and the other amusing, rather than pathetic, illustrating the condi- tion of affairs at that time. Both events which we shall relate occurred in neighboring counties.

A man, named Holland, was trading through the country, stopping at various places, where his business called him, and, while temporarily re- maining in a certain county seat town, the report was circulated that he was a speculator, and was engaged in selecting choice claims, which he in- tended to purchase. He was also suspected of being connected with one Perkins, in his attempted frauds. These statements, though false, as far as is known, being spread far and wide among the settlers, caused no little excitement among the settlers, and their exasperation soon raised to that pitch that a crowd of them resolved to give Mr. Holland a sample of pio- neer justice, in the prompt application of that notorious branch of jurispru- dence which Judge Lynch has the merit of introducing. Holland was made aware of the inhospitable intention, but he took it very coolly, mani- festing no uneasiness whatever. He cared not a whit for the mob, whether they were many or few, or however they were armed or infuriated. He was a match for them, and would meet them, and had no doubt they would go away faster than they came. They probably would not come near him at all, and if they did, it was all right. He knew how to fix them; and so he did.

However, they came, a mob of fierce, determined, bloodthirsty men, bent on taking the most signal and exemplary vengeance. The infuriated crew numbered about thirty. Their oaths and threats loaded the air with

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their pestilential burden. Surrounding Holland's house with a guard of armed men, to prevent the possibility of his escape, the ringleader ordered him to come forth and meet his doom, the doom of all men who should tamper with the interests of the county by fraudulent schemes. As called for, Holland appeared, told the mob he was willing to submit to their will, if they would first allow him to make a speech. None could deny permis- sion, though some viewed it with impatience, and Holland, mounting a box that stood near, and, gazing with calm, unmoving eye into the faces of his hostile auditory, commenced his vindication.

He was an orator and accustomed to sway at will the minds of an audi- ence, and direct the feelings of his hearers into any channel he chose. With a voice whose deep, impressive, and skillfully inflected tones arrested and held spell bound the most careless listener, with language, if imagina- tive, which clothed every thought with the most fascinating garb, and, if argumentative, in an impregnable armor, and the mysterious, undefinable spirit of eloquence, permeating through, and rendering irresistably power- ful, every tone, word, and gesture, he stirred the hearts of the murderous crowd, impatient for his blood, and turned their sympathies enthusiastically in his favor. Their faces, before distorted with rage, were wreathed with smiles, not only of friendship, but of admiration. Their hands, which lately had clinched, with angry grasp, the most deadly weapons, were frankly extended toward him, with all the kindness of intimacy and respect. At the conclusion of his speech, they all asked his pardon for the wrong they had done, in the impetuosity of their passion, conceived, and almost accomplished, and, having assured Holland of their unfaltering attachment, they with- drew, in the very best of humor, to the nearest grocery, where each drank a glass of whisky, in commemoration of the occasion, the expense of which Holland, who accompanied them, generously defrayed.

The other incident was published many years ago, in one of the first newspapers established in the State. While it may not be very amusing, it is not by any means pathetic; but, as it well illustrates the determin- ation, as well as the forbearance, of the early settlers, we copy it. It is en- titled

"A BORDER SKETCH.

"Traveling, last summer, through the frontier counties of Iowa, and one day becoming somewhat weary, I put up, a short time before night, at the principal inn of a little town, which, for the present incident, I shall call Cambridge. Supper not yet being ready, and finding my hotel somewhat deserted, I concluded to take a stroll through the village; and, seeing quite a crowd collected about a common covered wagon, which stood in the direc-

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tion which I had taken, I soon mingled among them, hoping to gain some information, or, perchance, to see some familiar face. My acquaintance, however, did not embrace any of the crowd, though I cannot say I did not receive some information.

"The wagon contained two men; one a regular looking, out and out frontiersman; the other, a merry son of Erin, who seemed to enjoy every- thing, and rejoiced that he lived, which, perhaps, was the result of himself and his companion being fully ' half seas over.'

"They were on their way, or, rather, intended to proceed to the land of- fice at Fairfield, to secure the title to some government land; and, as is sometimes the case with men in their condition, were very independent citizens; plenty of money, whisky, good span of horses, and a wagon, they felt themselves a little above the ordinary, and, of course, only condescended to hear what some of the crowd had to communicate to them.

" It seems, as I learned from a good natured Hoosier, who stood looking on, that the team had just been stopped, by the good citizens, to 'argue the question ' as to the propriety of entering a tract of land, for which purpose they had started, upon the ground that the claim belonged to another person.

"Through the influence of this other person, the citizens generally had given judgment in his favor; and if Judge Lynch was not presiding, it was because the 'committee' were not present, to order summary justice to be done, all governments, I believe, taking measures to prevent the commis- sion of offenses, as well as to punish the offender.

" Our teamsters were quietly requested to return, and abandon their pur- pose, expostulated with, and even threatened with subsequent punishment if they persisted in, and accomplished, their design, but all to no purpose; go they would; and, as yet, they had done nothing more than declare their intention, it was deemed sufficient to administer to them but light speci- mens of retributive justice.

" Accordingly, some half dozen began quite a pleasant conversation with our patrons of the liquor dealer at the front end of the wagon, while the hinder wheels, through the quiet efforts of some half dozen more, were undergoing the process of losing their linch-pins.

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The History of Poweshiek County, Iowa : containing a history of the County, its cities, towns, &c.,., Part 41

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Des Moines : Union Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1004

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Des Moines : Union Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1004