USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Oelwein > The Telegraph-herald's abridged history of the state of Iowa and directory of Fayette County, including the city of Oelwein, with a complete classified business directory; > Part 17
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It was estimated that this decision saved to the farmers of lowa, who were owners of drive wells, not less than $2,000,000; while the heavy expense for carrying on the litigation for nine years had been borne by one hundred and twenty farmers of moderate means. Too much credit cannot be awarded the courageous and public-spirited citizens who fought this great battle against an extortion of such magnitude in which the farmers of the entire country were deeply interested. In Minnesota the Legislature made an appropriation of $7,500 to enable the farmers of that State to resist the claim, but in Iowa the entire expense fell upon a few private citizens.
The legal questions involved in the drive well suits were in many respects similar to those raised in the barbed wire contests. The final triumph of the people in both cases was far reaching, as an adverse decision would have enabled the combinations to have extorted for many years an annual tax upon the farmers of the entire country that would have reached high up into the millions and gone to enrich a few Eastern capitalists.
CHAPTER XLIX.
The last message of Governor Larrabee showed a better financial condition for the State than had existed for several years. The public debt, which in January, 1886, had amounted to $817,857.35, had been reduced to $39,388.33. The assessed value of property of the State was now $516,509,409. The Government strongly recommended the abolition of corporal punishment in the public schools as a relic of barbarism. The permanent fund of the State University at this time was $226,899; and the annual income derived from it the past two years, $31,119. The receipts from the Agricultural College from the endowment fund for the same period were $94,130. The endowment fund at this time amounted to $649,306, most of which was invested in mortgages drawing interest from seven to eight per cent. The total agricultural products of the State for 1889 were stated to be worth $134,060,725.
Governor Larrabee reviewed the working of the new railroad laws enacted by the last Legislature in which he said:
"Experience has now demonstrated the wisdom and justice of the measure. 'The commissioners proceeded under the law to prepare a schedule of rates for the roads, having in view the general prosperity of the State. The roads have never been so crowded with business as at present, nor has the service ever been more satisfactory to the people. It is now admitted that our present local freight rates are more equitable than any previously in force in the State, and it affords me pleasure to say that there is at present but little friction between the railroad companies and the people. The gross earnings of the railroads of the State for the year ending June 30th, 1889, were $37,469,276, being an increase of $193,698 over the preceding year. It must be evident to the impartial observer that the legislation of the Twenty-second General Assembly has had most gratifying results.
"Railroads have been called into being by the people to promote the com- mon' welfare and the State can tolerate neither usurpation of power nor con- spiracy on ine part of its creatures. We are building for the future and the importance of keeping intact those principles which lie at the foundation of every government of, for and by the people cannot be overestimated."
Governor Larrabee's message clearly reviewed the lengthened conflict which
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had been going on between the railroad managers and the people for more than twenty years. Numerous attempts had been made during this period to bring the corporations directly under legislative control, but without success. The co- operation of the Governor and the Twenty-second General Assembly had at last brought a remedy for most of the extortions of the railroads which had long cppressed the people. The legislation of that General Assembly, which had been strongly urged by the Governor in devising and applying the control by law to these corporations, has stood the test of time and the courts. It has become the settled policy of the State, has inflicted no wrong upon the railroads and has been of inestimable benefit to the people. The evil effects of attempts to influenc public officials with free passes still remains so strongly entrenched that all attempts to eradicate that dangerous form of bribery have failed.
The Governor made a powerful argument in his retiring message for the maintenance and enforcement of the prohibitory laws and against the establish- ment of legalized saloons in Iowa by any kind of license. He states the follow- ing facts in support of his position:
"While the number of convicts in the country at large rose from one in every 3,442 ot population in 1850 to one in every 860 in 1880, the ratio in Iowa at the present time is only one to every 3,130. The jails of many counties are now empty a good portion of the year and the number of convicts in our peni- tentiaries has been reduced from 750 in March, 1886, to 604 July 1st, 1889. It is the testimony of the judges of our courts that criminal expenses have dimin- ished in like proportion. We have fewer paupers and tramps in our State in proportion to its population than ever before. The poorer classes have better fare, better clothing, better schooling and better houses. It is safe to say that not one-tenth and probably not one-twentieth as much liquor is con- sumed in the State as was five years ago. The standard of temperance has leen greatly raised, even in those cities where the law has not yet been enforced. The present law was enacted in response to a popular demand, as evidenced by a majority of nearly 30,000 votes cast in favor of the prohibitory amendment. Had the women of lawful age been permitted to vote, the majority would prob- ably have been more than 200,000. It is the duty of the legislative power to respect the rights of all citizens of the commonwealth, of non-voters as well as of voters. If provision were made for suspending for gross negligence such officers as are charged with the enforcement of the law and ample funds were placed at the command of the Governor to aid prosecutions, the saloon would soon be a thing of the past in Iowa."
In his inaugural address, Governor Boies made a strong plea for a license law to be adopted by such localities as preferred it to prohibition. He believed that the people in the recent election had by a considerable majority declared for such a change in the liquor laws and that the Legislature was bound to respect this verdict. The Governor said:
"The people have not undertaken to deprive any locality in the State where public sentiment upholds it, of our present prohibitory law or its equivalent. They have simply declared that each city, town or township shall have the right to determine for itself whether it will be governed by the prohibitory law or by a carefully guarded license law. Those who believe in this decision and feel it their duty to respect it cannot rightfully depart from the letter of that decision as it was made. The license law which is to supersede prohibition must be all that has been promised. We are bound in honor to
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
furnish for localities adopting it a most carefully guarded license law. The greatest care should be exercised to take the traffic out of the hands of immoral and irresponsible parties. Every safeguard should be thrown about those who are in this respect legitimate subjects of legal control. A wilful sale to a minor or drunkard should be cause for revoking a license. What Iowa needs is practical legislation on this subject, legislation that is broad enough to meet the views of more than a single class, that is liberal enough to command the respect of all her people, that is generous enough to invite to her borders every class of respectable persons, that is just enough to protect the person and property of every one of her citizens and wise enough to exercise a practical control over a traffic that today is unrestrained in most of her centers of popula- tion."
All efforts to enact a local option license law in accord with the recom. mendations of Governor Boies failed.
CHAPTER L.
On the afternoon of July 6th, 1893, on the west side of the Little Sioux River, Cherokee County, the people observed a dark cloud lying low in the western horizon. When first seen it presented no unusual appearance, but as it slowly arose, with varying currents of air frequently shifting suddenly, angry clouds were seen in the southwest approaching another swiftly moving cloud from the northwest, which seemed to be driven by a strong wind. The distant roar of thunder and sharp flashes of lightning indicated the gathering of a severe storni. The two light-colored, swiftly-moving clouds soon came together and a great commotion was observed. Soon the funnel shape indicating a tornado descended towards the earth and a distant roar was heard. In Rock township, where two women were killed, the iron bridge over the Sioux, a 120- foot span, was hurled from its piers into the river. As the storm neared the Buena Vista County line the cloud lifted for several miles and no damage was done, when it again descended to the earth and destruction again began. It crossed the county about half a mile south of the town of Storm Lake, plowing through the waters of the lake, raising a waterspout nearly a hundred feet in height and wrecking a steamboat. The tornado kept nearly parallel with the Illinois Central Railroad and far enough south of it to miss the villages along its line until Pomeroy, in Calhoun County, was reached. Several miles west of the town it is described as presenting an appearance quite similar to that observed when first discovered in Cherokee County. A steady roar was heard and great masses of white clouds were rushing swiftly together from the northwest and southwest. Where they seemed to come in violent collision, a dense mass of inky biack vapor in violent commotion was forming into elongated trunks dropping down towards the earth, one of which reached and trailed upon the ground, swaying back and forth, while the others bounded up and down as they swung along like the trunk of an elephant. The one reaching the ground seemed to be sweeping everything into its path-trees, fences, buildings and animals were raised into the vortex, then hurled with terrific force back to the earth. Cattle and horses crouched to the earth in terror and the hogs tried to bury themselves in straw stacks. Within and along the surface of the storm cloud there was'an incessant play of electricity and fearful jagged bolts shot out of the white clouds on either side of the black mass from which the tongues
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depended. As seen from Pomeroy the sky was a fearful sight to behold. Clouds of inky blackness filled the entire west, rolling and swaying in wild commotion. One cloud came from the northwest and united with another moving from the southwest and trailing beneath the place of collision was the black, whirling column dragging upon the earth, from which came a continuous discharge of electricity.
The heavy and incessant roar of the approaching storm seemed to make the earth tremble. Persons just outside of its track described the tornado as it struck the town as a rolling, writhing mass of greenish blackness, through which thousands of tongues of electric flame were darting. There was one wild crash and all was blackness and desolation where but a moment before Pomeroy stood. For a few moments every survivor seemed dazed and not a living form or a building could be seen in the ruins. The shrieks of the wounded and cries for help were heard on every side. Roused to a realization of the calamity that had suddenly come upon the town the survivors hastened to rescue the wounded from the wrecks of their homes. For four hours they worked with the energy of despair amid rain, hail and gathering darkness, guided by the cries and groans of the sufferers imprisoned by falling timbers and crippled by ghastly wounds, not ceasing until all were cared for. All through the night search among the ruins for the dead went on, as assistance from the surrounding country and neighboring towns came.
Dr. D. J. Townsend, one of the physicians who was prominent upon attending the wounded, gives a vivid description of the peculiar character of the injuries that came under his observation. He says:
"The wounds were not of a class that were met with in any other calamity than a tornado. The tissues were bruised, punctured, incised, lacerated, with the addition of having foreign matter of every conceivable kind literally ground into the flesh and broken off in such a manner that no matter how proficient the surgeon, they would escape his notice. Inflammation and pain in a certain region did not always justify exploratory incisions, as many were contused from one end of the body to the other. The dirt and sand were plastered upon and into the skin in such a manner that it was extremely difficult to remove them.'
Such was the terrible nature of the injuries that had suddenly come upon more than a hundred people. From a population of more than a thousand but twenty-one families were left with no dead or wounded of their own to care for The dead in the village numbered forty-two the day after the tornado.
Governor Boies issued an appeal for aid and the people of the State re- sponded generously, not only furnishing all the temporary assistance needed. but sufficient to rebuild the homes destroyed and to supply furniture, clothing and food. Besides providing a large amount of lumber, provisions and clothing, nearly $70,000 in money was contributed for relief of the sufferers. The total number of deaths from the tornado along its entire path of about one hundred miles was seventy-one in all, of which there were in Cherokee County twelve, in Buena Vista six, in Pocahontas four, in and around Pomeroy, in Calhour County, forty-nine.
On the 11th of July, 1896, there occurred a collision of trains on the main line of the Chicago & Northwestern railway near Logan, in Harrison County, the most destructive of human life that has ever been known within the State.
From an investigation made by the Railway Commissioners, the following
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
facts were gathered: The Society of Union Pacific Pioneers of Nebraska had arranged for a special train to carry the members and their families, to the number of 1,200, on an excursion to Logan. There were sixteen passenger coaches filled with men, women and children. When the party was ready to return the train was on a sidetrack at Logan about 6:40 p. m., awaiting the regular east-bound passenger train to pass that point, as it does not stop at Logan. This train came on time and carried a signal that another train was following it. Disregarding this danger signal the engineer and conductor of the excursion train started out on the main track and at a curve at about a quarter of a mile west of Logan collided with the east-bound fast mail train running at a speed of thirty-five miles an hour. The shock was terrific as the heavy engines struck each other and a moment later cries and groans of the mutilated passengers arose from the wreck of the crowded cars of the excursion train. Men, women and children were crushed and mangled beneath the broken and twisted fragments of wood and iron in an awful scene of confusion, terror and agony that defies description. Twenty-seven persons were killed and thirty-two injured, some of them fatally. The citizens of Logan rendered every assistance in their power and were untiring in their efforts to relieve the suffering. The Railway Commissioners made an investigation of the affair and found the facts as here stated.
At the State election November 8, 1904.
Theodore Roosevelt, the Republican candidate for President, received 307,- 907 votes;
Alton B. Parker, the Democratic candidate, received 149,141 votes;
Silas C. Swallow, Prohibition candidate, received 11,601 votes;
Eugene V. Debs, Socialist candidate, received 14,837 votes; and
Thomas E. Watson, the People's candidate, received 2,207 votes.
On the question of biennial elections and redistricting the State the vote was in the affirmative.
The Indians sold their Iowa lands for a trifle more than eight cents an acre. It is not certain that they actually got $2,877,547.87, but on the basis of the price at which they sold the lands recorded and known, including Minnesota, they should have had that much from Iowa.
This information is disclosed by the State census of 1905. One of the interesting chapters is that relating to the purchase of lands in which there is a specific discussion of each of the purchasers made, as follows:
1830, Sioux, Sac, and Fox tribes, neutral strip $ 284,132
1837, Yankton Sioux 4,000
1837, Missouri Sac and Fox 40,000
1837, lowa 2,500
1838,Iowa 39,375
Black Hawk Purchase-
1832, Sac and Fox 655,000
Keokuk Reserve-
1836, Sac and Fox
198,588
Second Purchase-
1837, Sac and Fox
377,000
Cession of 1842-
1842, Sac and Fox 1,058,566
1828, Iowa 39,375
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
1837, Missouri Sac and Fox
Cession of 1851-
1851, Sioux 139,000
40,000
Total
$2,877,547
Many interesting facts as to the contracts between the Indians and the whites are disclosed by the census chapter on these purchases. For instance, for the 7,500 square miles in the Black Hawk purchase $655,000 was paid, but in addition there was contracted to be given annually for thirty years forty kegs of tobacco and forty bushels of salt.
At the time of making the treaty the tribe was given, for the benefit more particularly of the women who had lost their husbands in the war, a present of thirty-five beef cattle, twelve bushels of salt, thirty barrels of pork, sixty barrels of flour and six thousand bushels of Indian corn. Without estimating the value of these latter products, the cost of the tract to the United States was about ยท fourteen cents per acre.
The Keokuk reserve was secured for $198,599.871/2, giving the United States 4,000 square miles of the lowa Valley at a little less than eight cents per acre. The land immediately west of this tract was more expensive. The purchase included 1,250,000 acres of land, and was secured for $377,000, or a little over thirty cents per acre. Of this sum $200,000 was to be held in trust, the Govern- ment agreeing to pay at least 5 per cent interest per annum upon the same. The remainder not required for debts or presents was to be expended to procure laborers to help in agricultural pursuits, break up and fence the land still in their possession to the westward, erect two grist mills and purchase a large amount of goods desired by the Indians
HOW TO IMPROVE THE MIND.
This is a question that springs spontaneously in the mind of every progres. sive boy and girl as well as man and woman. It is said that the mind is susceptible of a high state of improvement. The writer when a boy read a statement to this effect, and one of his teachers, an old gentleman, filled with sober thought, speaking on the subject said: "The mind could be improved to a very high degree, much higher than the muscular system," but he never read or heard how the mind could be improved, hence he was compelled to solve that problem for himself. He devoted considerable time and thought to the subject. He debated it over and over to himself; but inasmuch as there is nothing tangible about the mind he was unable to see how it could be improved.
He understood how putty, wood or heated steel could be worked and shaped at pleasure; but those were tangible substances. It was different with the mind. It had neither form nor shape nor color nor substance that could be modeled, modified or improved. It was invisible, intangible and incomprehen- sible, and the profound conclusion which he arrived at was that the mind could not be improved; that it was inflexible and whatever way nature had gifted it, so it must be and remain. It was something beyond human power, control or conception.
Up to this time he had read but little of Shakespeare, Milton, Byron, Burns,
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
Moore, or in fact any of the authors, and he did not conceive how the mind could be improved until he attained. the period of manhood.
It then dawned upon him that the mind might be improved by exercise, the same as the muscular system could be improved by exercise; that while the exercise for the muscular system consisted of physical labor, walking, sawing wood, etc., the exercise for the mind consisted of thinking, memorizing, fixing dates, etc., and by a proper application of thought, conditions being equal, the mind can be improved more rapidly than the muscular system by physical exercise. And the best feature of it is, the mind can be exercised and improved without loss of time or neglect of business. For instance, while a man or boy is plowing, hoeing, or at any other kind of work, instead of letting his mind run to frivolous, perhaps licentious thoughts, let him think over subjects which he had read or heard discussed; or he can recall the names, features and wearing apparel of persons whom he met during the previous day, week or month, and recall the conversations had. if any. Then let him memorize select poems and prose. He will find this difficult at first, but perseverance will accomplish it. Let him write the article to be memorized and refer to it frequently until he has it fixed in his memory. After a little time he will observe how much easier it is for him to memorize. Observe also how the words are used to express the idea. By all means memorize the Declaration of Independence and Patrick Henry's great speech delivered at the Virginia Con- vention, March 23, 1775, closing with "Give me liberty or give me death!" Then let him fix in his mind the dates of the important events in our national his- tory as set forth in this volume. Then let him name the Presidents of the United States and when their respective terms of office expired. Then let him think over and fix in his memory the principal events and dates in the history of Iowa. He will find it difficult, at first, to fix dates in his memory, but let him keep on thinking and trying until he succeeds. What may seem almost impossible at first will, after a little practice, become easy. Let him also remember that he has a whole lifetime to work at improving his mind; that he muts keep constantly at work exercising his mind by thinking and acquiring knowledge as the day he discontinues he commences to go down. Memory is continually fading and unless the void caused by this loss is filled, by new acquiition of knowledge, we shall have lost ground. In order to keep our place in the social and intellectual world we must work continually. For while we are idly looking on the varied fate of our neighbors, we are sinking. It is like placing a man in a boat in the current of a river. In order to retain his place, relative to points on shore, he must work at the oars continually, because the current is continually drawing him down.
So it is with the mind, the fading of memory is continually going on and we must work, in order to keep from sinking. This continual work, however, should not discourage us, especially when we consider the reward which it brings. Moreover once we get our minds trained in the art of thinking, we derive the greatest pleasure from the exercise.
Let us not indulge in the thought, so common among men, that great men are born not made, because this is a mistake. If George Washington spent his boyhood days and his youthful prime and vigorous manhood, in thinking of balls and parties and pleasure, perhaps wine and women, he would not have died the father of his country, beloved by all; and if Abraham Lincoln, had depended on the limited scholastic opportunities afforded him, he would not
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have been President of the United States and the world's greatest liberator. And so it is with all the self-made men, who have attained distinction among their fellowmen, they acquired their knowledge and talent by reading and studying, by Jamp light, and while at the plow or hoe or other manual labor mentally reviewing what they had read and originating thoughts and theories and plans. Thus acquiring knowledge and improving the mind by close study and thinking and the same road is open to every young man and woman in this republic.
While you are memorizing poetry and prose and dates of events, don't overlook the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John, for it is the grandest production in our language-we might say in any language. In order that you may more fully understand and appreciate it, learn and study the facts and circumstances which prompted the great apostle to write it. Re- member also that this "life is but a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two eternities," and that its relation to eternity is but the merest dot in the firmament. And what is Eternity?
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