USA > Iowa > Des Moines County > The history of Des Moines county, Iowa, containing a history of the country, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers > Part 60
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487
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
1856 amount to the sum of $1,031,000, divided among different branches as follows :
Tin, copper and sheet-iron ware
$ 58,200
Furniture ....
20,400
Barrels and cooperage.
57,900
Iron work and machinery.
226,300
Plows ..
110,000
Marble works.
19,000
Millstones
2,500
Cut ston
20,000
Carriages and wagons
31,000
Sash and shingle factories.
75,000
Vinegar and beer
14,000
Oils, soap and candles.
31,000
Brick, 6,000,000.
420,000
Lime
18,000
Confections
15,000
Boots and shoes
20,000
Clothing and millinery.
40,500
Starch factories ..
22,000
Crackers, cakes and bread
36,500
Matches.
20,000
Cigars and tobacco
21,000
Harness and saddles
86,000
EARLY LEGISLATION AFFECTING THE CITY.
As reminders of the early times, we insert the following abstracts of meas- ures adopted by the Legislatures of 1838-39, so far as they relate to Burling- ton or this county :
An act was approved by the Legislature, January 19, 1838, authorizing Lamson, Ladd & Co. to establish a ferry across the Mississippi River, opposite the town of Burlington, with the exclusive privilege below Washington street, as far south as the mouth of Alison Creek, for the period of ten years.
By the same act, David James was authorized to establish a ferry across the Mississippi opposite the town of Burlington, with the exclusive privilege above Washington street to the mouth of Flint Creek.
An act to incorporate the "Iowa Mutual Fire Insurance Company " at Bur- lington was approved by the Legislature January 19, 1838. The names of the incorporators were George H. Beeler, Jesse B. Webber, Nathaniel Chase, Jon- athan Morgan, James W. Grimes, Levi Moffett, George W. Kelley, William James, Amos Ladd, Isaac Leffler, David Rorer and John H. Randolph.
The Burlington Steam-Mill Company was incorporated January 21, 1839, with Enos Lowe, Peter Wagoner, Jesse B. Webber, John S. David and Arthur Bridgman as corporators. The capital stock of the company was $10,000, divided into shares of $50 each, and were empowered to erect mills, warehouses and other necessary buildings and improvements, and to erect and establish all kinds of machinery.
The Burlington & Iowa River Turnpike Company was incorporated Jan- uary 24, 1839. The corporators were James Guest, Israel Trask, Jonathan Parsons, James Irwin, Elisha Hooke, William Creighton, John H. Benson, M. Eastwood, Elias Keever, Daniel Brewer, James Gordon, William L. Toole, Joshua Swank and Alvin Clark of Louisa County, and George W. Hite, James Davidson, Oliver H. Cottle, George W. Kelley, Thomas Cooper, William B. Remey, Charles J. Starr, John S. David, George H. Beeler, Leander J. Lock- wood and Richard F. Barret, of Des Moines County.
The Burlington & Des Moines Transportation Company was incorporated January 24, 1839, and Charles Mason, Isaac Leffler, George H. Beeler, Haw-
488
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
kins Taylor, Richard F. Barret. Robert Ralston, John H. Randolph, B. F. Randolph, B. F. Wallace and William B. Remey were appointed Commission- ers for receiving subscriptions to the capital stock of the corporation.
An act was approved January 24, 1839, by the Council and House of Rep- resentatives of the Territory of Iowa, whose purpose was to improve the police of the city of Burlington. In it was stipulated that " the regularly elected or appointed Constables residing within the corporate limits of the city of Burling- ton, shall at all times be vigilant in maintaining or preserving the peace, order and quiet of said city, and shall aid and assist the Mayor of said city to main- tain and preserve the same, subject to punishment for omission of duty as for a misdemeanor."
LOCATING THIE SEAT OF JUSTICE.
When the county was defined by the Legislature, at Belmont, and again at Burlington, the county seat of Des Moines was fixed at Burlington. When other counties began to be carved out of the Territory further west, a mania seemed to possess the people to have the seat located as near the geographical center of the county as possible. Many claims were made in places then inac- cessible, because of the strong probability that the Locating Commissioners. when appointed, would favor the selection of embryotic towns "laid out" in the center of their respective counties. Mount Pleasant was thus chosen, and Ottumwa was planned before the Indian title was extinct. Under such circum- stances, it was but natural that the people of Central and Western Des Moines should make an effort to change the base of operations. A "town" was started, called "Center." which was rightly named, so far as the locality was concerned. Jeremiah Smith was one of the leading spirits in the movement. The matter came to formal vote March 2, 1840, with the following result :
Townships.
Burlington. 465
Center.
Burlington
40
Augusta
70
21
Union.
3
58
40
155
Yellow Springs
578
274
Majority for Burlington, 304.
This vote settled. probably forever, the question of where the seat of justice shall be.
THE ENTERPRISE OF THE PEOPLE.
The spirit of enterprise-that dominant power which makes the West famous throughout the world-was manifested from the very first. Through the agency of clear-sighted men, the temporary capital of the Territory was secured here, and by that means the best minds of the Territory were induced to locate. When the capital was removed, the larger part of those eminent men retained their residence in Burlington, and through their public acts advertised the town in older regions of the country.
Humanity is characterized by its community of interests. The general tendency is to avoid recluseness, and wherever a band of men congregate others will follow. If intelligent men settle at a given point, they draw to themselves other persons of intelligence. Enterprise not only begets enter- prise-as like produces like-but it also creates a community of enterprising men. Hence it was that the bar, the pulpit and the press became conspicuous in so early a day, and hence it was, also, that the commercial interests of the town early grew into large proportions.
489
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
.
THE LOCATION OF THE CITY.
Those who made the first settlement probably builded better than they knew, when they chose the only landing on the west bank of the Mississippi River, between Fort Madison and Muscatine, a distance of eighty-one miles. Of course, the only means of transit, other than by private conveyance, in those days was by steamboat, and the ability to effect a landing was one of the primal considerations in the selections of sites for river towns. When White made his claim, the wildest dreamer would not have dared to have expressed the belief that Burlington would one day be the center of a vast railway system. Railways were talked of as some new creation of venturesome minds, even in the Territory of Wisconsin, in 1836; but no expectation of such a method of development entered into the calculations of the pioneers of 1833. To them, it seemed all sufficient that the river boats could land safely and easily. Even a decade later, speculation was rife over the internal development of the Territory, by means of water communication.
However, time brings each step in the progress of the nation to light in due order, and Burlington proved to be the most desirable locality for all projectors of transit methods to select as their headquarters. As a precursor of the iron- road came the plankroad, creating a fever of excitement throughout the West. The people of Burlington caught the infection in its severest form, and the old ordinance-books show many measures for the advancement of such projects. The city became a party to the construction of a plankroad to Mount Pleasant; another to Warren, Henderson Co., Ill .; another to Louisa County; and the Mount Pleasant, Trenton, Deedsville & Brighton Plankroad. The people were disposed to do all in their power to make Burlington the terminus of roads over which the travel of the southern part of the State was accomplished. That spirit of enterprise which has ever characterized the town ruled in all these early matters.
When railroads superseded wagon-roads, the city was again at the front, ready with money and libera! proposals to secure the prize. How well it suc- ceeded the chapter on railroads clearly shows.
The city was, as can be seen, rightly located, to obtain a hearing in all councils devoted to the progress of the State. But still another factor in the question of rapid settlement was that of the
HEALTHFULNESS OF BURLINGTON.
One of the first questions asked by visitors to this region is, How does this section compare with the East in point of healthfulness? It is the most important subject, for without a favorable climate to preserve mental and physical vigor, man's enterprise must prove futile. We deem it proper to answer this ques- tion by giving a paper prepared by Philip Harvey, M. D., a gentleman whose acquaintance with Iowa, and especially with Burlington, qualified him to respond to the general inquiry. Dr. Harvey said :
" The southern boundary of Iowa runs between 40° 20' north latitude on the east and 40° 40' on the west. Burlington is on the parallel nearly mid- way between these two points. By close observation, the isothermal line (or line of average annual temperature) of 50º Fahrenheit runs through Burlington, continuing thence eastward, with but little variation, to the Atlantic. This isothermal is considered to be the most favorable one to man, in reference to his mental and physical vigor, longevity, health and comfort. The general eleva- tion of this portion of the State is but little above the sea-level, the Mississippi
490
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
River at Burlington having, at low water, an altitude of between four and five hundred feet. while the Missouri at Council Bluffs is about two hundred feet above this. The intervening country is, I presume, seldom found three hundred feet higher; in fact, the river bluffs surmounted, the whole country is but slightly undulating, nowhere becoming hilly or materially broken. The average rain-fall is nearly the same as it is in New York and Pennsylvania, diminishing, however, somewhat as you approach the Missouri, the annual amount of pre- cipitation being about forty inches at Burlington and thirty-five at Council Bluffs. The average yearly temperature is, as already stated, about 50° Fahren- heit, which is also the spring and autumn averages, while that of summer is about 70°, and that of winter 30°. The high degree of heat and moisture in the season of vegetation that characterizes the climate of Southern Iowa, together with a soil unsurpassed in fertility, gives a remarkable luxuriance to its agricultural products ; these comprise the most valued known to the temperate zones. Vegetation is of rapid growth, and its nutritious properties are well developed. In the valley of the Mississippi the tendency to saccharine produc- tion is a striking feature; the juice of the cornstalk is almost as sweet as the sugar-cane of the tropics. and capable of making excellent sirup. Southern Iowa is about the center of the region most favorable to the growth of Indian corn, which cereal, though a native of the tropics, yields most abundantly under cul- tivation between the fortieth and forty-second parallels of latitude in that region drained by the mighty Father of Waters east of the hundredth meridian, beyond which, on the west, to the base of the mountains, the country becomes barren from a deficiency of moisture. Wheat, oats, barley, rye, most of our indigenous and imported groceries, esculent roots, as potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots and the products of the garden, succeed well in Southern Iowa. Apples, pears and cherries do well in the vicinity of Burlington, as do most of our native grapes when protected by laying down during the winter. Plums and peaches are more doubtful, being apt to suffer from insect depredations and winter frosts. Melons and the cucurbitaceæ generally, being of annual growth and demanding a high summer temperature to bring them to perfection, are here found in great excellence and abundance.
" The greatest causes of disturbance of health in the temperate zones are those that conduce to the production of miasmatic and pulmonary diseases. as intermittent and other fevers are dependent on causes that conduce to the decomposition of organic matters; pulmonary diseases are more dependent on influences that conduce to their preservation. Their causes being antagonistic, we do not find these two classes of disease prevailing at the same time and place. The alluvial regions of the Mississippi are emphatically the home of intermittent fevers, but the miasm that occasions them is not transported any considerable distance ; the nplands of Iowa, remote from the courses, are as free from the ague as are the hills of New England.
"Southern Iowa can boast of a degree of exemption from consumption that is enjoyed in but few parts of the world. This disease destroys one-tenth of all who die in the temperate zones, and in Massachusetts it is fatal to one-half of all who die between the ages of fifteen and thirty. Throughout the United States it is fatal to two per thousand of the whole population annually. It is a disease more prevalent in cities than in the country, and I presume it is, at least, as prevalent in Burlington as throughout the rest of Southern Iowa. By a careful examination of the records kept at all the places of burial in the vicinity of Burlington, I find the deaths from consumption to be considerably less than one per thousand of the population annually. For the year ending January
David Leonard
493
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
1, 1869, the deaths from disease in Burlington and its vicinity were two hundred and fifty-five, of which only twelve were from consumption. The cemeteries whose records I examined may be fairly said to be the receptacles of the dead of a population of 20,000. Two hundred and sixty deaths among this number would make a mortality of thirteen per thousand, which is two less than that of the United States at large. At Boston, the annual mortality is twenty per thou- sand ; at New York and Philadelphia, twenty-six per thousand; and in New Orleans, sixty per thousand. The yearly mortality of England is estimated at twenty-two per thousand, and that of the whole of Europe considerably higher ; so that the climate of the United States must be considered as among the most favorable to longevity, and that of Southern Iowa as among the most favorable of the United States."
The elevation of Burlington above the sea at the shore line in low water is 486 feet. The range between high and low water is 18 feet. The bluffs at the highest points are about 200 feet above low water.
THE GOVERNMENT SURVEY.
When the original survey was made on White's claim, the land was his only by right of "claim." The lines run in the fall of 1833 were only such as claimants were permitted to make. In July, 1836, on the 2d of that month, the President of the United States approved a bill which had been passed by Congress, entitled, " An act for laying off the towns of Fort Madison and Bur- lington, in the county of Des Moines, and the towns of Belleview, Dubuque and Peru, in the county of Dubuque, Territory of Wisconsin, and for other
purposes." The law provided : " That the tracts of land in the Territory of Wisconsin, including the towns of Fort Madison and Burlington, in the county of Des Moines ; Belleview, Dubuque and Peru, in the county of Dubuque ; Mineral Point, in the county of Iowa, shall, under the direction of the Sur- veyor General of the Public Lands, be laid off into town lots, streets, ave- nues, and the lots for public use called public squares, and into outlots, hav- ing regard to the lots and streets already surveyed, in such manner and of such dimensions as he may think proper for the public good and the equitable rights of the settlers and occupants of the said towns; provided, the tracts so to be laid off into town lots, etc., shall not exceed the quantity of one entire section, nor the town lots one-half of an acre; nor shall the outlots exceed the quantity of four acres each. When the survey of the lots shall be completed, a plat thereof shall be returned to the Secretary of the Treasury, and within six months thereafter the lots shall be offered to the highest bidder, at pub- lic 'sale, under the direction of the President of the United States, and at such other times as he shall think proper ; provided, that no town lot shall be sold for a sum less than $5; and provided further, that a quantity of land, of a proper width, on the river-banks, at the towns of Fort Madison, Belleview, Burlington, Dubuque and Peru, and running with the said river the whole length of said towns, shall be reserved from sale (as shall also the pub- lic squares), for public use, and remain forever for public use, as public high- ways, and for other public uses."
The second section of the law provided that the Surveyor should classify the lots already surveyed into three divisions, according to relative value, governed by location, without regard to improvements thereon ; and prior to general sale, the original claimants were permitted to make entry of their respective parcels, at the rate of $40, $20 or $10, according as the said par- cels had been graded first, second or third class. No one person was per-
L
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
Initted to purchase more than one aere of such surveyed lots, and actual improvement or occupation was an essential qualification to purchase under this reserve. A sum of $3,000 of public moneys was appropriated to defray the expense of surveying.
An amendment to the original bill was approved March 3, 1837, delegat- ing to a commission of three the duty of surveying the foregoing cities, and relieving the Territorial Surveyor of the task. Those Commissioners had additional powers to review all contests over claims, and submit the testimony taken by them to the Register and Receiver of the respective land districts, who had authority to determine the cases. After the settlement of such claims, the residue of the lots was offered at public sale at the land offices. Gilbert M. Harrison made the survey, in 1837.
FIRST INCORPORATION.
The original session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, at Belmont, passed a general law, entitled " An act to incorporate the inhabitants of such towns as wish to be incorporated." The bill was approved December 6, 1836. In accordance with that law, the people of Burlington signified a "wish. to be incorporated," and the wish was carried out. An election was held in the spring of 1837, and resulted in the election of the following officers :
President, Amos Ladd ; Trustees, David Rorer, George H. Beeler, Enoch Wade, George W. Kelley.
The first meeting of the Board was held at the office of David Rorer, on the 29th of April, 1837.
THE FIRST RECORDS.
The earliest record-book in the office of the City Clerk is dated April 29, 1837. On the first page, appears a series of twelve rules and regulations for the government of the Board of Trustees of the town of Burlington, when that body was in session. The rules were the ordinary measures adopted in such cases, and were not of sufficient oddity to bear reproduction here.
ORIGINAL BOUNDARIES.
The first ordinance adopted by the Board was one establishing the bounda- ries of the town, as follows : " Beginning on the west bank of the Mississippi River, at the point where the most southern boundary of the survey of the Ad- dition of Enoch Wade to said town strikes said river ; thence with the southern boundary line of said survey to the southwest corner of said addition ; thence by a continuation of said line direct to a point one-half mile due west of the place of beginning ; thence by a direct line to a point one-half mile due west from the center of the mouth of the Town Branch in Leffler's Addition to said town ; thence by a direct line to a point one-half mile due west from a point on the west bank of the Mississippi River, where the most northern line of the survey of Kelley's Addition to said town strikes the same; thence due east to the extreme north- west corner of the survey of said Kelley's Addition; and thence by the north- ern boundary line of said Kelley's Addition, to the Mississippi River ; thence due east to the center of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence down the center of the main channel of said river to a point in the center of the said channel due east of the place of beginning ; thence due west to the place of beginning."
The ordinance provided for the marking-out and surveying of the bounda- ries described, and was signed by Amos Ladd, President of the Board of Trustees, and by Thornton Bayliss, Clerk pro tem.
·
495
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
Ordinance No. 2 provided for the appointment of certain officers of the corporation of the town of Burlington, viz .: The President and Board were authorized to elect by ballot. a Clerk, a Treasurer, an Assessor, a Collector, a Marshal. an Engineer, a Superintendent of Streets, a Solicitor, to hold office for one year. The ordinance also defined the duties of certain officers. Ordinance No. 3 explained the duties of the Assessor. No. 4 regulated the police system. No. 8 provided for the erection of a bridge across the "Town Branch." Then followed sundry measures looking to the general order of the town. No. 16 provided for the erection of a market-house on the block com- monlý called " Market Square," situated on Front and Second streets, and including the mouth of the Town Branch. The Engineer of the streets was authorized to contract for a building, not to exceed $400. No. 24 provided for the levy and collection of a corporation tax. In all, twenty-nine ordinances were passed by the original Board.
ORIGINAL OFFICERS.
The full list of officers is here given : President, Amos Ladd ; Clerk, Thornton Bayliss ; Treasurer, Hanson E. Dickinson ; Assessor, D. Henderson ; Marshals, James Cameron, John Harris, G. W. Kesler ; Collector, J. E. Starr ; Engineers, Thomas S. Easton, John Campbell ; Trustees, David Rorer, George H. Beeler, Enoch Wade, George W. Kelley ; Solicitors, James W. Grimes, J. W. Woods, Charles Mason.
Mr. Grimes appeared before the Board and thanked them for the honor conferred, but admitted that he was not qualified for the position, being yet less than twenty-one years of age! He was born October 20, 1816. The Board, in recognition of his abilities, still insisted upon his retaining the position, and waived the legal points. Mr. Grimes accepted the honor.
THE CITY CHARTER.
In February, 1838, the city of Burlington was organized under a charter granted by the Legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin, dated January 19, 1838. The Legislature met in Burlington. In the bill referred to, the bound- aries of the city were defined as follows ;
" All that part of the territory included within the following-defined limits. to wit : Beginning on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in the County of Des Moines, at a point where the southern boundary line of the official sur- vey of the town of Burlington, ma le by authority of the United States, strikes said river ; thence with the said southern boundary line to the southwestern corner of said survey ; thence with the western boundary of said survey to the northwestern corner of said survey ; thence with the northern boundary line of said survey. to where the same strikes the Mississippi River ; thence due east to the middle of the main channel of said river ; thence down the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point in said main channel due east of the place of beginning ; and thence due west of the place of beginning, shall be, and the same is hereby erected into a corporate city forever, and shall henceforth be called and known by the name of the city of Burlington."
The first election under this act was held at the Wisconsin Hotel, in the said city.
Certain amendments to the general provisions of the bill were passed Jan- uary 24, 1839, and January 15, 1841, by the Legislature of the Territory of Iowa.
496
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY.
RE-INCORPORATION.
June 10, 1845, a bill was approved by the Governor of Iowa Territory, re- incorporating the city of Burlington. This sketch has nothing to do with the several governmental regulations, except as they apply to the history of the various distinet city departments, and need, therefore, quote only so much of the charter of '45, as relates to the boundary lines of the city as then estab- lished. These were:
" Beginning on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in the county of Des Moines, at a point where the southern boundary line of the official survey of the town of Burlington, made by authority of the United States, strikes said river; thence with the said southern boundary line to the southwestern corner of said survey ; thence with the western boundary of said survey to the northwestern corner of said survey; thence with the northwestern boundary line of said survey to where the same strikes the Mississippi River; thence due east to the middle of the main channel of said river; thence down the middle of the main channel thereof to a point in said main channel due east from the place of beginning, and thence due west to the place of beginning."
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