USA > Iowa > Black Hawk County > The history of Black Hawk County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion > Part 22
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Board of Officers .- J. J. Toleston, Secretary ; E. Townsend, Treasurer ; William Pattes, Steward ; Mrs. P. A. Schermerhorn, Matron-all of Cedar Falls.
Faculty .- J. C. Gilchrist, A. M., Principal, Professer of Mental and Moral Philosophy and Didactics ; M. W. Bartlett, A. M., Professor of Lan- guages and Natural Science ; D. S. Wright, A. M., Professor of Mathematies ; Miss Frances L. Webster, Teacher of Geography and History ; E. W. Burnham, Professor of Music.
ASYLUM FOR FEEBLE MINDED CHILDREN. Glenwood, Mills County.
Chapter 152 of the laws of the Sixteenth General Assembly, approved March 17, 1876, provided for the establishment of an asylum for fceble minded children at Glenwood, Mills County, and the buildings and grounds of the
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Soldiers' Orphans' Home at that place were to be used for that purpose. The asylum was placed under the management of three Trustees, one at least of whom should be a resident of Mills County. Children between the ages of 7 and 18 years are admitted. Ten dollars per month for each child actually sup- ported by the State was appropriated by the act, and $2,000 for salaries of officers and teachers for two years.
Hon. J. W. Cattell, of Polk County ; A. J. Russell, of Mills County, and W. S. Robertson, were appointed Trustees, who held their first meeting at Glenwood, April 26, 1876. Mr. Robertson was elected President; Mr. Russell, Treasurer, and Mr. Cattell, Secretary. The Trustees found the house and farm which had been turned over to them in a shamefully dilapidated condition. The fences were broken down and the lumber destroyed or carried away; the win- dows broken, doors off their hinges, floors broken and filthy in the extreme, cellars reeking with offensive odors from decayed vegetables, and every conceiv- able variety of filth and garbage; drains obstructed, cisterns broken, pump demoralized, wind-mill broken, roof leaky, and the whole property in the worst possible condition. It was the first work of the Trustees to make the house tenable. This was done under the direction of Mr. Russell. At the request of the Trustees, Dr. Charles T. Wilbur, Superintendent of the Illinois Asylum, visited Glenwood, and made many valuable suggestions, and gave them much assistance.
O. W. Archibald, M. D., of Glenwood, was appointed Superintendent, and soon after was appointed Secretary of the Board, vice Cattell, resigned. Mrs. S. A. Archibald was appointed Matron, and Miss Maud M. Archibald, Teacher.
The Institution was opened September 1, 1876; the first pupil admitted September 4, and the school was organized September 10, with only five pupils, which number had, in November, 1877, increased to eighty-seven. December 1, 1876, Miss Jennie Van Dorin, of Fairfield, was employed as a teacher and in the Spring of 1877, Miss Sabina J. Archibald was also employed.
THE REFORM SCHOOL. Eldora, Hardin County.
By "An act to establish and organize a State Reform School for Juvenile Offenders," approved March 31, 1868, the General Assembly established a State Reform School at Salem, Lee (Henry) County ; provided for a Board of Trustees, to consist of one person from cach Congressional District. For the purpose of immediately opening the school, the Trustees were directed to accept the proposition of the Trustees of White's Iowa Manual Labor Institute, at Salem, and lease, for not more than ten years, the lands, buildings, etc., of the Institute, and at once proceed to prepare for and open a reform school as a temporary establishment.
The contract for fitting up the buildings was let to Clark & Haddock, Sep- tember 21, 1868, and on the 7th of October following, the first inmate was received from Jasper County. The law provided for the admission of children of both sexes under 18 years of age. In 1876, this was amended, so that they are now received at ages over 7 and under 16 years.
April 19, 1872, the Trustees were directed to make a permanent location for the school, and $45,000 was appropriated for the erection of the necessary buildings. The Trustees were further directed, as soon as practicable, to organize a school for girls in the buildings where the boys were then kept.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
The Trustees located the school at Eldora, Hardin County, and in the Code of 1873, it is permanently located there by law.
The institution is managed by five Trustees, who are paid mileage, but no compensation for their services.
The object is the reformation of the children of both sexes, under the age of 16 years and over 7 years of age, and the law requires that the Trustees shall require the boys and girls under their charge to be instructed in piety and morality, and in such branches of useful knowledge as are adapted to their age and capacity, and in some regular course of labor, either mechanical, manufac- turing or agricultural, as is best suited to their age, strength, disposition and capacity, and as may seem best adapted to secure the reformation and future benefit of the boys and girls.
A boy or girl committed to the State Reform School is there kept, disci- plined, instructed, employed and governed, under the direction of the Trustees, until he or she arrives at the age of majority, or is bound out, reformed or legally discharged. The binding out or discharge of a boy or girl as reformed, or having arrived at the age of majority, is a complete release from all penalties incurred by conviction of the offense for which he or she was committed.
This is one step in the right direction. In the future, however, still further advances will be made, and the right of every individual to the fruits of their labor, even while restrained for the public good, will be recognized.
FISH HATCHING ESTABLISHMENT. Near Anamosa, Jones County.
The Fifteenth General Assembly, in 1874, passed " An act to provide for the appointment of a Board of Fish Commissioners for the construction of Fishways for the protection and propagation of Fish," also " An act to provide for furnishing the rivers and lakes with fish and fish spawn." This act appro- priated $3,000 for the purpose. In accordance with the provisions of the first act above mentioned, on the 9th of April, 1874, S. B. Evans of Ottumwa, Wapello County ; B. F. Shaw of Jones County, and Charles A. Haines, of Black Hawk County, were appointed to be Fish Commissioners by the Governor. These Commissioners met at Des Moines, May 10, 1874, and organized by the election of Mr. Evans, President; Mr. Shaw, Secretary and Superintendent, and Mr. Haines, Treasurer.
The State was partitioned into three districts or divisions to enable the Commissioners to better superintend the construction of fishways as required by law. That part of the State lying south of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad was placed under the especial supervision of Mr. Evans ; that part be- tween that railroad and the Iowa Division of the Illinois Central Railroad, Mr. Shaw, and all north of the Illinois Central Railroad, Mr. Haines. At this meeting, the Superintendent was authorized to build a State Hatching House ; to procure the spawn of valuable fish adapted to the waters of Iowa ; hatch and prepare the young fish for distribution, and assist in putting them into the waters of the State.
In compliance with these instructions, Mr. Shaw at once commenced work, and in the Summer of 1874, erected a " State Hatching House" near Anamosa, 20x40 feet, two stories; the second story being designed for a tenement ; the first story being the "hatching room." The hatching troughs are supplied with water from a magnificent spring four feet deep and about ten feet in diam- eter, affording an abundant and unfailing supply of pure running water. During
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
the first year, from May 10, 1874, to May 10, 1875, the Commissioners distributed within the State 100,000 Shad, 300,000 California Salmon, 10,000 Bass. 80,000 Penobscot (Maine) Salmon, 5,000 land-locked Salmon, 20,000 of other species.
By act approved March 10, 1876, the law was amended so that there should be but one instead of three Fish Commissioners, and B. F. Shaw was appointed, and the Commissioner was authorized to purchase twenty acres of land, on which the State Hatching House was located near Anamosa.
In the Fall of 1876, Commissioner Shaw gathered from the sloughs of the Mississippi, where they would have been destroyed, over a million and a half of small fish, which were distributed in the various rivers of the State and turned into the Mississippi.
In 1875-6, 533,000 California Salmon, and in 1877, 303,500 Lake Trout were distributed in various rivers and lakes in the State. The experiment of stocking the small streams with brook trout is being tried, and 81,000 of the speckled beauties were distributed in 1877. In 1876, 100,000 young eels were distributed. These came from New York and they are increasing rapidly.
At the close of 1877, there were at least a dozen private fish farms in suc- cessful operation in various parts of the State. Commissioner Shaw is en- thusiastically devoted to the duties of his office and has performed an important service for the people of the State by his intelligent and successful operations.
The Sixteenth General Assembly passed an act in 1878, prohibiting the catching of any kind of fish except Brook Trout from March until June of each year. Some varieties are fit for food only during this period.
THE PUBLIC LANDS.
The grants of public lands made in the State of Iowa, for various purposes, are as follows :
1. The 500,000 Acre Grant.
2. The 16th Section Grant.
3. The Mortgage School Lands.
4. The University Grant.
5. The Saline Grant.
6. The Des Moines River Grant.
7. The Des Moines River School Lands.
8. The Swamp Land Grant.
9. The Railroad Grant.
10. The Agricultural College Grant.
I. THE FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND ACRE GRANT.
When the State was admitted into the Union, she became entitled to 500,000 acres of land by virtue of an act of Congress, approved September 4, 1841, which granted to each State therein specified 500,000 acres of public land for internal improvements ; to each State admitted subsequently to the passage of the act, an amount of land which, with the amount that might have been granted to her as a Territory, would amount to 500,000 acres. All these lands were required to be selected within the limits of the State to which they were granted.
The Constitution of Iowa declares that the proceeds of this grant, together with all lands then granted or to be granted by Congress for the benefit of schools, shall constitute a perpetual fund for the support of schools throughout the State. By an act approved January 15, 1849, the Legislature established
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
a board of School Fund Commissioners, and to that board was confided the selection, care and sale of these lands for the benefit of the School Fund. Until 1855, these Commissioners were subordinate to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, but on the 15th of January of that year, they were clothed with exclusive authority in the management and sale of school lands. The office of School Fund Commissioner was abolished March 23, 1858, and that officer in each county was required to transfer all papers to and make full settlement with the County Judge. By this act, County Judges and Township Trustees were made the agents of the State to control and sell the sixteenth sections; but no further provision was made for the sale of the 500,000 acre grant until April 3d, 1860, when the entire management of the school lands was committed to the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties.
II. THE SIXTEENTH SECTIONS.
By the provisions of the act of Congress admitting Iowa to the Union, there was granted to the new State the sixteenth section in every township, or where that section had been sold, other lands of like amount for the use of schools. The Constitution of the State provides that the proceeds arising from the sale of these sections shall constitute a part of the permanent School Fund. The control and sale of these lands were vested in the School Fund Commissioners of the several counties until March 23, 1858, when they were transferred to the County Judges and Township Trustees, and were finally placed under the supervision of the County Boards of Supervisors in January, 1861.
III. THE MORTGAGE SCHOOL LANDS.
These do not belong to any of the grants of land proper. They are lands that have been mortgaged to the school fund, and became school lands when bid off by the State by virtue of a law passed in 1862. Under the provisions of the law regulating the management and investment of the permanent school fund, persons desiring loans from that fund are required to secure the payment thereof with interest at ten per cent. per annum, by promissory notes endorsed by two good sureties and by mortgage on unincumbered real estate, which must be situated in the county where the loan is made, and which must be valued by three appraisers. Making these loans and taking the required securities was made the duty of the County Auditor, who was required to report to the Board of Supervisors at each meeting thereof, all notes, mortgages and abstracts of title connected with the school fund, for examination.
When default was made of payment of money so secured by mortgage, and no arrangement made for extension of time as the law provides, the Board of Supervisors were authorized to bring suit and prosecute it with diligence to secure said fund; and in action in favor of the county for the use of the school fund, an injunction may issue without bonds, and in any such action, when service is made by publication, default and judgment may be entered and enforced without bonds. In case of sale of land on execution founded on any such mortgage, the attorney of the board, or other person duly authorized, shall, on behalf of the State or county for the use of said fund, bid such sum as the interests of said fund may require, and if struck off to the State the land shall be held and disposed of as the other lands belonging to the fund. These lands are known as the Mortgage School Lands, and reports of them, including description and amount, are required to be made to the State Land Office.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
IV. UNIVERSITY LANDS.
By act of Congress, July 20, 1840, a quantity of land not exceeding two entire townships was reserved in the Territory of Iowa for the use and support of a university within said Territory when it should become a State. This land was to be located in tracts of not less than an entire section, and could be used for no other purpose than that designated in the grant. In an act supplemental to that for the admission of Iowa, March 3, 1845, the grant was renewed, and it was provided that the lands should be used "solely for the purpose of such university, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe."
Under this grant there were set apart and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, for the use of the State, the following lands :
ACRES.
In the Iowa City Land District, Feb. 26, 1849. 20,150.49
In the Fairfield Land District, Oct. 17, 1849
9,685.20
In the Iowa City Land District, Jan. 28, 1850. 2,571.81
In the Fairfield Land District, Sept. 10, 1850. 3,198.20
In the Dubuque Land District, May 19, 1852. 10,552.24
Total
45,957.94
These lands were certified to the State November 19, 1859. The University lands are placed by law under the control and management of the Board of Trustees of the Iowa State University. Prior to 1865, there had been selected and located under 282 patents, 22,892 acres in sixteen counties, and 23,036 acres unpatented, making a total of 45,928 acres.
V .- SALINE LANDS.
By act of Congress, approved March 3, 1845, the State of lowa was granted the use of the salt springs within her limits, not exceeding twelve. By a subsequent act, approved May 27, 1852, Congress granted the springs to the State in fee simple, together with six sections of land contiguous to cach, to be disposed of as the Legislature might direct. In 1861, the proceeds of these lands then to be sold were constituted a fund for founding and support- ing a lunatic asylum, but no sales were made. In 1856, the proceeds of the saline lands were appropriated to the Insane Asylum, repealed in 1858. In 1860, the saline lands and funds were made a part of the permanent fund of the State University. These lands were located in Appanoose, Davis, Decatur, Lucas, Monroe, Van Buren and Wayne Counties.
VI .- THE DES MOINES RIVER GRANT.
By act of Congress, approved August 8, 1846, a grant of land was made for the improvement of the navigation of Des Moines River, as follows :
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there be, and hereby is, granted to said Territory of Iowa, for the purpose of aiding said Territory to improve the navigation of the Des Moines River from its mouth to the Raccoon Fork (so called) in said Territory, one equal moiety, in alternate sections, of the public lands (remaining unsold and not otherwise disposed of, incumbered or appropri- ated), in a strip five miles in width on each side of said river, to be selected within said Terri- tory by an agent or agents to be appointed by the Governor thereof, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States.
SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted shall not be conveyed or disposed of by said Territory, nor by any State to be formed out of the same, except as said improvement shall progress; that is, the said Territory or State may sell so much of said lands as shall produce the sum of thirty thousand dollars, and then the sales shall cease until the Gov- ernor of said Territory or State shall certify the fact to the President of the United States that one-half of said sum has been expended upon said improvements, when the said Territory or
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
State may sell and convey a quantity of the residue of said lands sufficient to replace the amount expended, and thus the sales shall progress as the proceeds thereof shall be expended, and the fact of such expenditure shall be certified as aforesaid.
SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said River Des Moines shall be and forever remain a public highway for the use of the Government of the United States, free from any toll or other charge whatever, for any property of the United States or persons in their service passing through or along the same : Provided always, That it shall not be competent for the said Territory or future State of Iowa to dispose of said lands, or any of them, at a price lower than, for the time being, shall be the minimum price of other public lands.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That whenever the Territory of Iowa shall be admitted into the Union as a State, the lands hereby granted for the above purpose shall be and become the property of said State for the purpose contemplated in this act, and for no other : Provided the Legislature of the State of Iowa shall accept the said grant for the said purpose." Approved Aug. 8, 1846.
By joint resolution of the General Assembly of Iowa, approved January 9, 1847, the grant was accepted for the purpose specified. By another act, ap- proved February 24, 1847, entited "An act creating the Board of Public Works, and providing for the improvement of the Des Moines River," the Legislature provided for a Board consisting of a President, Secretary and Treasurer, to be elected by the people. This Board was elected August 2, 1847, and was organized on the 22d of September following. The same act defined the nature of the improvement to be made, and provided that the work should be paid for from the funds to be derived from the sale of lands to be sold by the Board.
Agents appointed by the Governor selected the sections designated by "odd numbers" throughout the whole extent of the grant, and this selection was ap- proved by the Secretary of the Treasury. But there was a conflict of opinion as to the extent of the grant. It was held by some that it extended from the mouth of the Des Moines only to the Raccoon Forks; others held, as the agents to make selection evidently did, that it extended from the mouth to the head waters of the river. Richard M. Young, Commissioner of the General Land Office, on the 23d of February, 1848, construed the grant to mean that "the State is entitled to the alternate sections within five miles of the Des Moines River, throughout the whole extent of that river within the limits of Iowa." Under this construction, the alternate sections above the Raccoon Forks would, of course, belong to the State; but on the 19th of June, 1848, some of these lands were, by proclamation, thrown into market. On the 18th of September, the Board of Public Works filed a remonstrance with the Com- missioner of the General Land Office. The Board also sent in a protest to the State Land Office, at which the sale was ordered to take place. On the 8th of January, 1849, the Senators and Representatives in Congress from lowa also protested against the sale, in a communication to Hon. Robert J. Walker, Sec- retary of the Treasury, to which the Secretary replied, concurring in the opinion that the grant extended the whole length of the Des Moines River in Iowa.
On the 1st of June, 1849, the Commissioner of the General Land Office directed the Register and Receiver of the Land Office at Iowa City " to with- hold from sale all lands situated in the odd numbered sections within five miles on each side of the Des Moines River above the Raccoon Forks." March 13, 1850, the Commissioner of the General Land Office submitted to the Secretary of the Interior a list "showing the tracts falling within the limits of the Des Moines River grant, above the Raccoon Forks, etc., under the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, of March 2, 1849," and on the 6th of April following, Mr. Ewing, then Secretary of the Interior, reversed the decision of Secretary Walker, but ordered the lands to be withheld from sale until Con-
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.
gress could have an opportunity to pass an explanatory act. The Iowa author- ities appealed from this decision to the President (Taylor), who referred the matter to the Attorney General (Mr. Johnson). On the 19th of July, Mr. Johnson submitted as his opinion, that by the terms of the grant itself. it ex- tended to the very source of the Des Moines, but before his opinion was pub- lished President Taylor died. When Mr. Tyler's cabinet was formed, the question was submitted to the new Attorney General (Mr. Crittenden), who. on the 30th of June, 1851, reported that in his opinion the grant did not extend above the Raccoon Forks. Mr. Stewart, Secretary of the Interior, concurred with Mr. Crittenden at first, but subsequently consented to lay the whole sub- jeet before the President and Cabinet, who decided in favor of the State.
October 29, 1851, Mr. Stewart directed the Commissioner of the General Land Office to "submit for his approval such lists as had been prepared, and to proceed to report for like approval lists of the alternate sections claimed by the State of Iowa above the Raccoon Forks, as far as the surveys have progressed, or may hereafter be completed and returned." And on the following day, three lists of these lands were prepared in the General Land Office.
The lands approved and certified to the State of Iowa under this grant, and all lying above the Raccoon Forks, are as follows :
By Secretary Stewart, Oct. 30, 1851 81,707.93 acres.
March 10, 1852 143,908.37
By Secretary Mclellan, Dec. 17, 1853. Dec. 30, 1853 12,813.51
33,142.43
Total. 271,572.24 acres.
The Commissioners and Register of the Des Moines River Improvement, in their report to the Governor, November 30, 1852, estimates the total amount of lands then available for the work, including those in possession of the State and those to be surveyed and approved, at nearly a million acres. The indebtedness then standing against the fund was about $108,000, and the Commissioners estimated the work to be done would cost about $1,200,000.
January 19, 1853, the Legislature authorized the Commissioners to sell "any or all the lands which have or may hereafter be granted, for not less than $1,300,000."
On the 24th of January, 1853, the General Assembly provided for the elec- tion of a Commissioner by the people, and appointed two Assistant Commission- ers, with authority to make a contract, selling the lands of the Improvement for $1,300,000. This new Board made a contract, June 9, 1855, with the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, agreeing to sell all the lands donated to the State by Act of Congress of August 8, 1846, which the State had not sold prior to December 23, 1853, for $1,300,000, to be expended on the im- provement of the river, and in paying the indebtedness then due. This con- traet was duly reported to the Governor and General Assembly.
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