USA > Iowa > Cedar County > The history of Cedar County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. : a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics, portraits of early settlers and prominent men > Part 51
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The right of way not having all been secured, the amount found necessary to complete the same according to agreement, being $779, was voluntarily sub- scribed and paid by a few citizens of Tipton-to the following persons: J. H. Starr, $214; D. K. Deardorf, $100; A. Morton, and costs, $350; George Schmucker, $40; Joseplı Little, $15; Gordon Dallas, $60.
IOWA SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD.
This enterprise originated in Tipton and Iowa City. The prime movers in Tipton were Messrs. Wolf & Landt, Piatt & Carr, Judge J. H. Rothrock, J. W. Casad, William Gilmore, William Dean. Charles Hammond, William H. Tut- hill and other representative business men. The Iowa City workers were Ex-Gov. Kirkwood, George J. Boals, C. T. Ransom, Ezekiel Clark, Rush Clark, et als. The company was organized in 1870. Messrs. Wolf & Landt, Judge Rothrock and William Dean were nominal stockholders in Tipton. These gentlemen did not expect to realize any pecuniary benefit from the enterprise, their sole purpose being to benefit Tipton and Cedar County by the building of a road from east to west through the county.
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY
William P. Wolf and William Dean were elected as Directors from Tipton, and C. T. Ransom, Samuel Sharpless, Rush Clark and Kirkwood, from Iowa City.
The first plan was to build a railroad from some point on the Chicago & North-Western Railway, in Cedar County, via Tipton to Iowa City, and thence to Ottumwa, and so on to the Missouri River, in the Southwest. After the. organization of the company, the Clinton interests, represented in the inain by E. H. Thayer, of the Clinton Age, urged the propriety and economy of making Clinton the eastern starting point, with a view of ultimately making connection with the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Road, and thus establish railroad com- munication with the lumber districts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Then the Oskaloosa people united in the enterprise with a view of securing the extension of the road to that city and county.
In aid of the Iowa Southwestern, the people of Inland Township voted a. tax of five per cent., and the people of Center Township a tax of three per cent. The line was established, and, in the Spring of 1871, F. E. Hinckley contracted to build the road, payable in the stock and bonds of the company. Work was commenced at Rock Creek, two miles West of Tipton, in June, 1871, with Patrick Carlin as foreman, and for a time the work progressed rapidly.
The parties who originated the enterprise were assured by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy management that Mr. Hinckley was acting in their inter- ests, and, when the bonds were ready to be put on the market, endorsed on them a guaranty that the road, when completed, should be operated in connec- tion with that road, and that forty per cent. of the gross earnings of the road should be applied to the payment of the interest on the bonds. The bonds were properly issued and executed, and capitalists interested in the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad had agreed to take them and advance the ready money thereon. The bonds were on deposit there when the great fire in that city, in October, 1871, entailed general disaster upon the Northwest, and deranged the plans of all connected or associated with the building of this road. The bonds had not been transferred, and capitalists found other and better investments for their money. There was no money in sight with which to com- plete the road. The plans of James F. Joy, of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, for the payment of the interest on the bonds were "thrown out of gear," and Mr. Hinckley was forced to look elsewhere for money to carry on the work. At this time, the most of the grading was done in Cedar County, and the stone culverts were nearly all built. Piers were built for the bridge at the Cedar River crossing, but, for reasons already stated-want of money- work was suspended at the end of the season of 1871.
In the Winter of 1871-2, the company was reorganized under the name of the Chicago, Omaha & St. Joseph Railroad Company. Representing that he had assurances of financial relief from responsible parties connected with the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company, of New York, Mr. Hinckley proceeded to make large contracts for materials, etc. The money promised was not realized, and through the influence of the Chicago & North-Western Railway, and the Rock Island Railroad Companies, and the unnecessary noise about the so-called Granger Railroad laws of the Northwest, capitalists were discouraged from ren- dering any help to the Iowa Southwestern, or, as it was called under the reorganization of the company, the Chicago, Omaha & St. Joseph Railroad.
In the Spring of 1875, the name of the road was again changed to the Chicago, Clinton & Western Railroad, and work was commenced on the Clinton
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
end and the Cedar County division, west of Cedar River. About seventeen miles of track was ironed out from Clinton, the old grade repaired, and consid- erable new grading done in Cedar and Johnson Counties, when, apparently for want of funds, work was suspended, and the iron then laid down has never been used, but still rests in abeyance. In the Fall of 1876, about nine miles of the road was constructed between the B., C. R. & N. Railroad and Iowa City, on which regular daily trains are being operated. A large amount of money was expended in Cedar County, and the friends of the enterprise are of the opinion that the road will yet be completed. At present, however, the affairs of the road are in statu quo.
CHICAGO, IOWA AND NEBRASKA RAILROAD.
In 1858, the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Railroad Company completed a line from Clinton to Cedar Rapids. This road enters Cedar County at the southeast corner of Section 1, in Springfield Township, runs in a northwesterly direction, passing Louden, Clarence, Stanwood and Mechanicsville, and leaves the county near the southwest corner of Section 7, in Pioneer Township. On the 3d of July, 1862, the Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Company leased this line to the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company. In 1860, the Cedar Rapids & Missouri Railroad Company commenced the construction of a road from Cedar Rapids westward, of which the first twenty-seven miles were com- pleted that year, and extended from time to time until having forty miles com- pleted, it was also leased to the Galena & Chicago Union Company July 8, 1862. These Iowa roads, together with the roads built by the Galena & Chicago Union Company, came under the management of the Chicago & North-Western Railway Company by consolidation, June 2, 1864. The extension through Iowa was continued and finally completed to the Missouri River, March 15, 1867, ready to join the Union Pacific in its march toward the Pacific Ocean.
The great iron bridge at Clinton was commenced in 1864,
BURLINGTON, CEDAR RAPIDS AND NORTHERN RAILROAD.
This road enters Cedar County from Burlington at the southeast corner of Section 35, in Springdale Township, passes up through Springdale Township in a northwesterly direction, enters Gower Township at the southeast corner of Section 31, and leaves the county from the southwest corner of Section 30, in Gower Township.
CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC.
This road enters the county at nearly the center of Section 36, Farmington Township, bearing easily to the northwest until it reaches the center of Section 35, when it turns southwest and enters Muscatine County from Section 33, Township 79, Range 1 west. This road re-enters the county near the south- east corner of Section 33, Springdale, bears northwest until it enters Section 29, thence runs nearly due west and enters Johnson County from the south half of Section 30, Township 79, Range 4 west. This road was finished through Durant in 1855.
DAVENPORT AND NORTHI-WESTERN.
This road enters the county from Davenport, near the southcast corner of Section 13, Massillon Township, bears directly northwest until it crosses the section line between Sections 11 and 14, not far from the southeast corner of Section 11, and then bearing a little to the northeast leaves the county from the center of the north line of Section 2, in Massillon Township. It was com- pleted in 1871.
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
STATISTICAL .- In all there are 52.99 miles of completed railroad in Cedar County, the assessed valuation of which, with the depot buildings, ete., is $405,970. This aggregate of miles is divided as follows :
North-Western 24.98
B., C. R. & N 8.93
C., R. I. & P
6.88
D. & N. W. 3.70
3.50
Tipton & Stanwood.
52.99
TORNADOES.
About 4 P. M., June 4, 1843, a terrible storm crossed the southern part of Cedar County. It first struek the ground in Springdale Township, 12 miles southwest of Tipton. A spectator describes its first appearance as a thick, dark cloud, lower than the others, and large enough to cover a forty-aere lot. In a few minutes it came down in the shape of a funnel and took an easterly course, going at the rate of fifty or sixty miles an hour, and sweeping a strip of country about one-fourth of a mile in width. It partially destroyed the house of Will- iam Maxon, and tore his wagon into fragments ; E. A. Gray, also, lost a wagon. A breaking team of three yokes of oxen was picked up and partially unyoked, some of the cattle being injured. Striking the house of Mr. Acker, it tore it down almost to the ground, the family escaping by going to the cellar. Mr. Vanderburgh's house was the next in its course, and was completely destroyed. This family also took refuge in the cellar, Mr. Vanderburgh being the last to enter. His wagon was carried off and his beds and bedding were seattered for miles. It next struek Mr. Mudge's house, two and a half miles from Vander- burgh's, tore it to pieces, fractured Mr. Mudge's skull and broke the limb of a child and considerably injured Mrs. Mudge. It destroyed the house of William Long, the family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Long, Belinda Wymer, Moses Shelheimer and a little boy 3 years old; but they all escaped with very slight injuries, although the house and household goods were scattered in every direction. Striking the prairie east of Sugar Creek, in the McCroskey neigh- borhood, it picked up nine head of cattle and some hogs, belonging to William Miller, and hurled them to the ground a lifeless mass. It next destroyed the house of Mrs. Reynolds and killed her as it swept on in its course to the Missis- sippi, which it crossed some three miles below Camanche. Throughout its course, it leveled the standing timber to the ground, leaving nothing behind but devas- tation and ruin. The small loss of life was, doubtless, owing to the sparseness of the population at that time.
The cyclone here mentioned was a disastrous one, but trifling as compared with one that occurred on Sunday, June 3, 1860, crossing the northern end of Cedar County. Considerable rain had fallen in the early part of the day, and the sky was thickly covered over with dark, black elouds, drifting hither and thither, when suddenly a funnel-shaped eloud was formed, reaching down to the earth. It began near Cedar Rapids, and, taking a strip of country varying from twenty rods to a mile in width, swept across the country to Camanche, which it totally destroyed, and, crossing the Mississippi, stretched well across Illinois toward Lake Michigan. The early settlers of Cedar County will long and vividly remember the horrors attending that cyelone.
This storm first struek the county near the northwest corner of Pioneer Township, and swept everything before it; the heaviest timber was laid as flat as if felled by the woodman's ax. In Pioneer Township, it killed one whole
·
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
family of seven persons, named Allen, and seriously injured a young man named Baumgardner, making him a cripple for life. In addition to this, it destroyed a large amount of property. In crossing Fremont Township, it did very little serious damage. moving one school house into the road and tearing down fences wherever they happened to be in its course.
At Onion Grove, now Clarence, in Dayton Township, and at Louden, on the line between Massillon and Springfield Townships, much damage was done to property. Houses, barns and fences were destroyed and stock of all kinds killed and injured
Meetings were held everywhere in aid of the tornado sufferers. Clinton, then but a village, raised $350. Col. Milo Smith, then Superintendent of the railway, placed hand cars and a train at the disposal of the people who desired to aid the sufferers. At a meeting in Chicago, $2,085 were raised. The follow- ing poem, composed for the occasion by Benjamin F. Taylor, was read at this meeting. It was entitled
TORNADO SUNDAY.
The winds sweetly sung In the elms as they swung, And the woods were in time and the robins in tune ; One cloud, just forgiven, Lay at anchor in heaven, And Iowa asleep on the threshold of June.
All the air a great calm, And the prairie a palm, For the Lord, when He blessed, left the print of His hand; All the roses in blow, All the rivers aglow, Thus the Sabbath came down on the bud-laden land.
On the bride and the bold, On the clay and the gold,
On the furrow unfinished, on fame to be won, On the turbulent tide, On the rivers' green side, Where the flocks of white villages lay in the sun.
All the world was in rhyme, Bid good morning to Time ! Oh, sweet bells and sweet words of the dear golden then ; It is fair all abroad, From blue sky to green sod ; Let us pray while we can ; blessed Sabbath. Amen.
Not a murmur in the air, Nor lambent anywhere, And no footfall of God on the ledges of cloud ; 'Twas a breath, and it fled- . Song and Sabbath were dead, And the threads of gold sunshine the roof of the shroud.
Oh, words never spoken, Oh, heart and hearth broken,
Oh, beautiful paths, such as loving feet near ; All erased from the land, Like a name in the sand, All the thistledown drifts on a billow of air.
Like the sighing of leaves When the Winter wind grieves,
Like the rattle of chariots driving afar, Like the wailing of woods, Like the rushing of floods, Like the clang of huge hammers forging a star !
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
Like a shriek of despair In the shivering air, Like the rustle of fanners with tempest afraid, Like a soul out of heaven, Like a tomb trumpet-riven, Like a syllable dropp'd from the thunder of God.
Then these to their weeping, And those to their sleeping, And the blue wing of heaven was over them all ; Oh, " sweet south," that singeth, Oh, flower girl, that bringeth
The gushes of fragrance to hovel and hall.
Oh, blue bird, shed Spring With the flash of thy wing
Where December drifts cold in the bosom of June; Set our hearts to the words, Dearest songs of first birds, We are brothers at night that were strangers at noon.
MISCELLANEOUS.
A CURIOUS ACCIDENT.
In the latter part of 1842, Mr. Joseph Olds, one of the old settlers of 1836, met with an accident that resulted in his death. A year or two previous to the occurrence of which we are writing, Mr. Olds plowed up an old gun-barrel, which, from appearance, says our informant, might have been in the ground for fifty or one hundred years. He took the old relic to his house, where it was kept more as a curiosity than an article of use. One day, when Mr. Olds was confined to his house, in consequence of rain and snow (in December, 1842) he concluded to overhaul the old " shooter," and see if he could remove the breech- pin. After working at it some time, he put it in the fire, for the purpose of loosening the rust, ignorant of the fact that it contained an old charge. When it reached a red heat an explosion ensued, the entire charge entering his thigh, near the hip joint, passing through the thigh and inflicting an ugly wound, and one from which he died in a few days.
" SALLY ACKER."
In October, 1843, William M. Knott and two or three other young men, who contemplated going South to work or hunt during the Winter, in the Arkansas country, conceived the idea of building a boat or yawl, on " Goose Pond," in which to make the trip. The necessary material was secured and the making of the boat commenced and completed. There was not water enough in " Goose Creek," now filled up and built over with fine houses (as is Goose Pond), to float the vessel out into Rock Creek, and thence to Cedar River, at Rochester; so they hauled it by wagon to Rochester. There the craft was committed to the current of Cedar River, and the boys went on board and started on their Arkansas trip.
When they reached Keokuk they were tired of their bargain and concluded on a change of programme. They took passage, by steamboat, for St. Louis, and had their " Goose Pond " craft towed astern. At St. Louis, they hired to take a keel boat to Randolph, Tenn., for which they were to receive $20.00, with the privilege of taking "Sally Acker" along. After delivering the keel boat at Randolph, and receiving their $20.00, they launched " Sally Acker " on the broad bosom of the Mississippi and floated down to Vicksburg, where
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
they left their Tipton-made craft in the hands of an agent, to be sold. The boat was sold, but the agent pocketed the money and "skipped out" for his home in Indiana.
The boys went to work chopping cord wood, in the vicinity of Vicksburg, but never saw " Sally Acker " after they left her at the Vicksburg wharf. We will not attempt to commit to these pages all the incidents of that (to them) eventful trip, but will return to Tipton, and the name under which their craft was christened.
Knott was then a young man, and (ahem! ) not bad looking ; and, as a con- sequence, was quite a beau among the girls. Among the others to whom he had paid some attention was a young lady by the name of Sally Acker, " fat, fair," and, if not "forty," at least of 250 pounds avoirdupois. When the boat was completed and ready for the trial trip, some of the Tipton wags procured some blaek paint, and labeled it " Sally Acker." The boys, if they had been so disposed, did not have time to erase the name, and so the boat that was built in the "Goose Pond " dock yard went on its way as " Sally Acker."
The affair was then-as it is now, when spoken of-the subject of a good many jokes at Knott's expense ; but he enjoyed the "fun," as he still does, as heartily as Mose Bunker or any other of the boys of thirty-five years ago.
OLD CLIPPINGS.
Judge Tuthill is noted throughout Iowa-aye, wherever books are known and appreciated-for his love of books; and he has gathered around him the largest and best private library anywhere between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and that is saying a good deal, for the neck of land between these two mighty water courses is an empire in extent as well as in wealth. Of this library, a detailed mention is made elsewhere. With his love of books, Judge Tuthill is something of an antiquarian in his tastes and inclinations, and has hunted up and preserved a great many incidents and happenings of early times that are eminently worthy of a place in a printed history of Cedar County.
Some years ago, the Judge published a series of articles in the Tipton news- papers, under the nom de plume of " Anti Quary," from which we make a few selections. The articles were entitled, " Anti Quary's Manuscripts," number two of which related to an elegy on the untimely death of " Bobbie," and is herewith presented :
As the untimely death of "Bobbie " occurred in the Spring of 1848, it may be considered advisable and proper to make a brief statement of the subject matter which gave rise to the elegy.
Rev. Ebenezer Alden, Jr., a lineal descendent of Jolin Alden of the May Flower, was the first settled minister in Tipton. He came from Massachusetts in 1844, and organized the First Congregational Church in this place, which continued under his pastoral charge some three years, when, having received a call from Marshfield, Mass., he left Tipton for that place, where he has remained in the ministry up to the present time, with eminent success. He has always borne the reputation of a sincere, devout man, and possessing more than ordinary talent and ability as a preacher. He delivered the funcral address at the obsequies of Daniel Webster, at Marshfield, in 1852.
While living in Tipton he was highly respected and beloved by all who knew him ; affable and courteous in his deportment, with a kindness of heart rarely equaled, but with, at that time, little experience of the sharp practice of Western horse dealers, he was induced to trade off a good, young animal, that was somewhat too spirited for his use, for a spavined, halting, bob-tailed nag, that, as Bill Knott said, " could trot half a day in his own shadow," and was absolutely worthless.
Our reverend friend, however, appeared to prize " Bobbie," notwithstanding his defects, fully as much as though he had been a " steed of Araby," and his grief and sorrow at the sudden demise was attempted to be sympathised with and condoled in the elegy, which appears to have been written and presented to him at the time.
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
THE ELEGY.
The sounds of woe, alas ! alack ! Our feelings rend, our heart-strings crack ! Think how our Pastor's mind 'twill rack To hear it read : " Hung be the hemisphere with black," Poor Bobbie's dead.
Not that the loss of paltry pence Could e'er create such sorrow dense ; Banish the thought forever hence, Nor be it said : For truth is aye the best defense, Poor Bobbie's dead.
Sad cause of grief ! for ne'er again, From Walnut Fork to Tipton's plain, Will Bobbie, with a loosened rein And drooping head, In buggy draw the youthful Jane ; Poor Bobbie's dead.
Guiltless of tricks, sedate and slow, Ne'er was a nag so prized below, With many a friend and ne'er a foe, Green be his bed : Posterity his worth shall know, Poor Bobbie's dead.
No blooded sire, or dam, indeed, Nor Ishmaelitish Arab breed Did Bobbie boast-that did not need His praise to spread : He was a faithful, honest steed- Poor Bobbie's dead.
Take him for all in all, in vain We'll look here for his like again, His shortened tail and roughened mane And mincing tread, Dwell in our memory's greenest lane ; l'oor Bobbie's dead.
Tune, then, your harps, ye sisters nine, A requiem sing, that all may join And hymn his praise-the task be mine, By sorrow led, To write his epitaph in one short line: Poor Bobbie's dead.
It is reasonable to suppose that Judge Tuthill was the author of this elegy, as his pen and fertile brain have been known to furnish more than one commu- nication from the realms of poetry and fancy.
In his third contribution to the Cedar Post, a very enterprising sheet, and one that ought to have been kept alive because of its enterprise and devotion to the affairs of Cedar County, "Anti Quary" furnishes some legal reminiscences that are rich, rare and racy. He says, addressing the editors :
GENTLEMEN : I give you another specimen of the MSS. collection, being a communication addressed to the " Spirit of the Times, New York," and published in that popular paper on the 31st of May, 1851, as a letter from their Western correspondent. It does not seem necessary to append any notes or explanations, save that the author was unknown at the time, and doubtless would have remained so had not the original MSS. been discovered.
TIPTON, Iowa, April 26th, 1851.
DEAR SPIRIT : I was very comfortably and cosily seated, a few days ago, in Cook & Sargent's office, in Davenport, enjoying a fine Regalia with Eb. Cook, the prince of smokers, wheu who
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HISTORY OF CEDAR COUNTY.
should bolt in but old Judge Grant, who, in his off hand manner, proposed that I should accom- pany him on the Circuit, and see life in the courts of the back counties, where the laws of Iowa were administered secundum artem, according to the best lights in this prairie country, as radiating and scintillating from a certain refulgent body of expounders of Blackstone and Kent. I acceded to the proposal, knowing by the peculiar twinkle of the Judge's eye that there would be fun on hand. We arrived safely at the flourishing little town of Tipton, the county seat of Cedar County, on the day previous to the commencement of the term, and found the place crowded with expectant suitors, witnesses, officers and jurors.
The legal profession was well represented. John P. Cook, the ex-State Senator and young lion of the Whig party ; William H. Tuthill, whose poetical squib of " Hummer's Bell" has given him some celebrity as a satirist ; Samuel A. Bissell, too, was on hand in ordinary costume, having divested himself of his buck-skin garments-together with Stephen Whicher, of Muscatine, and William Smyth (Smith with a y) from Linn County, thus making an olla podrida which promised much for the forthcoming week.
Monday morning came at last. The Court was duly opened and the grand jury empineled and sworn, The cases all called ovr, and about one-third of them were dispatched, nolens volens, by the ominous expression, "judgment by default."
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