USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 36
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No. of
No. of
No. of
Acres
Acres
Acres
Spring Wheat.
Winter Wheat.
Indian Corn.
Oats.
Value of
COUNTIES.
Products
of Im-
Unim-
under
proved
proved
Culti-
No. of
vation
No. of
Bushels
No. of
No. of
No. of
of Farm
Land.
Acres.
Harv'ı'd
Bushels
No. of
No. of
No. of
Land.
in
in 1874.
Acres.
Harv't'd
Acres.
Bushels
Harv't'd
Acres.
Bushels
Harv't'd
Dollars.
Appanoose ..
161059
161083
125188
9606
77789
1049
10838
64871
2383243
905920
13756
387346
$1611937
Alamakee.
134767
2114G
156821
109389
61880
93,639
181
1964
24325
12776
442829
1415769
Audubon.
23819
15986
6876
89235
10
97
9225
394655
Adams
65459
43735
54352
17947
281376
174
25474
969777
788
33233
3951
141293
184153
695318
Adair
83182
Buena Vista
55680
66265
27350
435014
TO
3500
30860
1402428
4455
159739
828171
33118
37031
27010
15514
162737
7888
228231
67069
83244
3328921
2791
445070
20,828
Benton
297518
239408
99106
1343666
7
280
15490
2664995
Boone.
156987
53911
11
84
46151
1595752
404620
149498
71810
108642
124377
32305
429237
779167
38685
1270878
10101
13827
421719
1018453
Butler.
20
700
104810
1209785
Bremer
145067
58908
47001
57907
48878
644795
28754
1026641
14259
Black Hawk
213025
150881
181256
89361
1108024
56592
1939590
16804
518571
1144620
538196
Buchanan
19056
157210
1899424
71418
Clay.
37059
39919
33375
64291
812342
48831
1811250
17481
153159
8797
180120
17431
556209
2615949
Cherokee
54639
28974
45412
31693
401507
9459
315215
4436
98766
123343
3513
115595
35019
Cass.
Crawford
110864
45304
92785
40123
676209
40582
1901062
9079
176281
1284899
58038
248869
283414
15262
21000
321894
17957
78221
648658
2902
99158
Cedar
295
2845921
20213
483357
Cerro Gordo.
52930
41417
166485
40167
640544
26
809995
48648
28199
415163
265443
675837
228097
2606149
9512
Clayton
212291
151908
173622
86883
1305125
1 47
2.030
7199
379 18
1471263
20024
669895
591617
Clinton
293855
57337
68683
1010345
12
4.8
89297
3061338
23701
702059
2081793
Chickasaw
96504
94772
74104
63
446300
3049019
3
16821
514279
11744
Carroll
59065
309744
39159
40162
643519
26:56
340161
3
20
16014
550041
3238
107577
894656
451865
Clarkc ..
93694
50487
78803
17968
217090
7
53
39066
1580260
12337
367643
7054987
Calhoun
26996
26618
11040
109631
10
150
10656
351120
2993
73182
221613
Davis.
150933
115751
116003
87172
131597
Decatur
95275
5378
30993
77169
56405
62127
2115569
13643
345707
1608090
Dubuqu
8211
53"9
817
1:339
50484
1763140
146244
10555
344551
1024541
187831
985G1
49240
634135
1702391
Des Moines
97618
84
1720
67118
102924
2307938
25115
643322
143665
9242
287392
1636132
58165
10615
11339G
8688
117310
1772992
Delaware
412029
62305
Dickinson.
15770
29850
161357
60401
71728
5
56150
1690535
20577
632113
11961
5701
23822
50
3183
2403
37282
1693314
15334
Dallas
44455
Emmet
132435
57765
114625
186
2484898
9937
335124
9989
25586
8387
29256
445848
7
5.632
1502047
8911
1510
2197
14273
1549
3241
15244
Floyd .
147098
32130
110708
62067
26462
Fayette.
941439
642448
15461
487729
1367377
179301
98156
133758
60779
863670
46
37091
1296480
758983
20770
704407
Franklin
968
9532
328679
1503127
24066
Fremont
69839
31096
455909
777106
115907
43 46
198932
65590
206901
73845
5419
Grundy
146039
47926
103039
135108
13229
841
16625
1703985
, 179645
1046066
976607
40175
1482582
401948
1593977
Green
59940
52823
67384
11786
Guthrie
87259
49838
76892
19391
27489
257760
2
44
560
783037
38902
783027
4227
41-15
120948
620905
128831
47220
22
1669134
Hardin
39930
97765
27013
38464
893574
497251
41304
1879961
153505
792461
10982
3569 15
Humboldt
29114
36906
20902
115923
9998
297381
8974
90944
1066627
200001
Howard
94818
171018
120 16
61871
36115
582803
9916
307912
10210
340268
Harrison
837451
72281
23918
734409
143701
1200
1620192
69140
10162
44720
3462
341615
786677
Hancock
9003
4889
70006
84
2067
57899
.1353
48816
89405
Hamilton
63966
Henry
182030
39935
52050
20676
294682
20141
670731
5108
168262
52762
7292
50249
110831
15026
180220
9041
115203
13393
358221
Ida .
9494
62672
2415670
1765670
3109
455
Iowa
191041
89357
6514
48815
142401
670247
2301
108465
14060
158488
48 110
1080
€2518
2713830
7482212
36
193290
11756
319071
2005049
Jackson
Johnson
241021
142401
43515
550000
491
7942
53962
1665518
23652
521156
1750091
100
Jasper
278881
71257
193019
45306
666719
1274
77142
3158178
17760
522197
2447875
203907
179752
216949
79926
1107170
100217
4525999
15267
532239
2916838
Jones ..
167389
63298
140684
36090
462478
31
409
65423
1909534
18260
464824
Jefferson
208125
66979
125590
16237
164904
6192
66739
55061
1695510
14005
446128
1696416
447603
1530140
Keokuk
98999
149672
83278
368528
148
1363
75697
3327282
15582
1919728
Kossuth.
31550
48793
29835
10798
13139
140
9781
119777
5143
27857
105306
Lee
183832
78692
133580
10851
72621
15400
200407
59757
59863
2190306
11817
279069
Lucas.
108952
1631518
15872
318811
88857
12766
13954
153587
12665
Lyon ..
281118
8132
76742
31
929
47022
1902530
3177
342164
1030554
54
2645
10396
13,89
32651
Linn
62649
175655
52178
656597
12
160
91773
3439923
22670
585648
2590052
Louisa.
151007
52922
1388
218-1658
175755
1665739
Mitchell.
126384
100066
19:64
6.5534
189939
70176
9 1133
1083811
16267
49642
11274
411961
6792
542662
Mahaska
232398
122190
199669
82779
150368
153214
31362
895532
205
2697
83775
3768209
14078
3835063
166-16
496248
1591878
Marion
45136
5.29663
189
2212
84630
1533976
10937
335746
2195785
2181346
Mille
141512
53604
99337
24385
342961
32
6528
232639
1003509
Madison ..
161998
183709
137979
5.13
102215
91730
37553
628314
59543
25
484
69494
2933630
8743
1709030
Monroe
Marshall
223735
78206
11638
101413
263
5584
1738916
285103
11512
241081
938362
52242
41552
117303
69995
1125382
45575
21
200
67699
2808256
13611
465245
2368278
Monona ..
56278
2304
Muscatine.
48832
39944
129699
15331
183811
21577
818388
1715973
18287
66475
447665
Montgomery.
178945
32375
416471
63
629
54760
405562
1747906
104638
86026
1381
O'Brien
33626
50607
32070
26181
14904
551539
8
166
39251
1441467
5322
201635
1072127
106052
3107
18190
31 106
157526
6379
17279
1390
53931
26829
191542
Osceola
207689
14651
8769
74757
2510
69581
Polk
394
77497
3272040
2140023
Pochahontas.
21928
56841
431841
35572
140450
37686
563389
21
124630
419489
19219
90679
7434
30774
8981
229263
12188
2541
40494
112666
Pottawattomie
33369
588971
63
475
47258
1750038
5278
169081
1252629
Poweshcik
208989
48697
171589
57312
762826
3571105
11416
833565
2393022
Page ..
156782
175471
115484
2.2689
Plymouth
41379
355792
1220
20235
85748
71386
2239043
9758
346507
1293463
58233
51912
32225
33629
442736
10
160
10097
175778
4161
120437
434123
Palo Alto.
18317
16679
8606
23208
325
Ringgold
50373
66-11
142957
2979
96616
18400
58829
10026
78851
125
1762
35613
1145937
9118
46859
255007
1115782
Scott
235515
19123
183742
4,698
762315
40
618
59071
2226346
528868
1783477
15915
343265
3041873
Story .
148649
43974
39326
99387
47290
26658
330897
8
1033743
Shelby
53180
30824
36.394
22029
317944
20
51273
11273
Sioux
33315
229G
17674
689556
2254
71676
573026
31336
47201
231286
6780
32038
4591
45096
166980
Sac.
24179
8662
279716
8035
6599
238880
Taylor.
233515
79 142
11056
13146
110094
10
102861
20G813
2.1
3068
48260
1419690
8718
269657
908476
Tama
Union
255182
90222
57005
211941
45926
9:013
1437807
73251
24063
2842859
1130930
13574
6127
384469
2316405
33216
Van Buren
53
153674
10386
141188
960
187748
624260
99328
Wayne.
113263
7 135
58808
10928
121854
50211
1823622
12396
353698
1439586
14766
66795
117689
10375
42175
76346
143
191265
1236
65625
2405187
13242
367396
1361376
Warren.
Winnesheik
216140
167178
159737
131670
259 169
654679
61
910
80280
3561363
8391
281510
2208392
112175
1813465
27185
977316
24307
8216508
2265252
Woodbury
44179
5:097
33097
15243
218875
14647
490371
3072
91647
298209
Worth ..
48927
45937
32157
23092
410487
8530
122291
4445
161557
896506
Washington
225176
Webster.
97238
55552
61744
157884
469879
70910
41616
1439
14193
73265
2832241
453320
2035264
12 121
30351
891051
5
270
28713
15701
Winnebago
917911
7491
207493
733342
Wright
17589
30625
85516
32387
28957
8939
1374
52425
1327
45109
140219
13629
162281
11
Wapello.
196166
281821
4134
135176
288685
150209
135173
17368
157585
1617
10089
63491
16159
57035
2143791
11570
293590
1455319
Totals
12627850
8410435
9354905
3690711
42669731
60188
759277
4700176 136284542
982994
29144332.$181536747
IL Long worthy
(DECEASED) DUBUQUE.
J
HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
INTRODUCTORY.
Dubuque County is situated on the Mississippi River, in the third tier of counties south of the Minnesota line. It is bounded on the north by Clayton County and Mississippi River, east by the Mississippi River, south by Jackson and Jones Counties, west by Delaware County, and contains seventcen town- ships, to wit : Cascade, Center, Concord, Dodge, Iowa, Jefferson, Julian, Lib- erty, Mosalem, New Vienna, Peru, Prairie Creek, Table Mound, Taylor, Ver- non, Washington and Whitewater, each about six miles square, except Peru and Mosalem, containing a total of 112 square miles, or 391,680 acres.
TOPOGRAPHY.
With regard to the country about Dubuque, its soil, climate and produc- tions, one cannot do better than apply the language of Lieut. Lea in his notes on the subject.
"The soil," he observes, "is generally about two feet deep, composed of clay, sand and vegetable mould. Much of it, until remedied by drainage facil- ities, was too tenacious of water for the most convenient production of such grains as are planted in the spring. It is of a dark brown color near the surface, gradually becoming lighter in descending, till it imperceptibly passcs into a yellowish clay, which, in turn is based upon a blue marl, containing pebbles, which afford good water when penetrated. This latter stratum is found from fifteen to thirty feet below the surface in the upland prairies, so that it is only necessary to sink a well to that depth to obtain excellent water wherever it may be wanted. This is the character of the soil of the higher prairics.
"In the bottom-lands along the rivers, the soil is more sandy, and is but little affected by excessive rains, except such portions as are liable to overflow. The low lands are peculiarly adapted to the growth of Indian corn, and the upper lands to the growth of smaller grains, though the yellow maize of the north succeeds remarkably well on the coldest soils of the dry prairies.
"The general appearance of the country is one of great beauty. It may be represented as one grand rolling prairie, along one side of which flows the mightiest river in the world, through which numerous navigable streams pur- sue their devious ways toward the ocean. In various parts of this district, beautiful crceks are to be found, whose transparent waters are perpetually renewed by the springs from which they flow, and their supply of water is remarkably uniform throughout the scasons. They are in many places skirted by woods, which afford timber necessary for building purposes, and so admira- bly are they distributed throughout, that nature appears to have made an effort to arrange them in the most desirable manner possible. Where tlicre is no
A
324
HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
water, isolated groves are frequently found to break the monotony of the prairie, or to be fashioned to the uses of the farmer. No part of the county is without good timber.
"Could I present to the mind of the reader that view of this country now before my eyes, he would not deem my assertion unfounded. He would see the broad Mississippi flowing gently and lingeringly, as if in regret at leaving so delightful a region ; he would see streams taking their sources in far-distant regions, and gradually accumulating their waters as they glide steadily along through this favored region to pay tribute to the great 'Father of Waters;' he would see innumerable creeks and rivulets meandering through rich pasturages ; he would see neat groves of oak, elm and walnut, half shading, half concealing beautiful little lakes that mirror back their waving branches ; neat-looking prairies, apparently inclosed by woods on all sides, with the fields of the husbandman stretching far into the prairies ; villages along the banks of the streams and distributed through the interior, and steamboats plying up and down the Mississippi, supplying the wants of the inhabitants, transporting their surplus products to market, and bringing accessions to the growing pop- ulation, anxious to participate in the enjoyment of nature's bounties so liberally dispensed."
The chief mineral wealth of the county consists in its lead mines, the rich- est in the United States.
The agricultural products consist chiefly of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and potatoes, all of which grow abundantly and are famous for their fine quality.
The Little Maquoketa and its numerous branches water the northern and central portions of the county, while the Big Maquoketa and its tributaries run through the southern, southeastern and western townships, furnishing con- siderable water power.
Taking the county all in all, for convenience of navigation, water, fuel and timber, richness of soil, beauty of landscape and hospitable climate, no section of the country offers superior inducements to those who seek a permanent home for themselves and their posterity.
GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS.
"The nature of the surface and soil," observes Prof. Whittlesey, "varies considerably in the different portions of the county. In the northeastern townships, the streams have cut deep valleys, exposing the rocks in deep bluffs ; the surface is, therefore, quite broken, and a large part of it well timbered, mostly with oak of good quality. The soil of these townships is rather sandy, except in the river bottoms, where it is of the most fertile description. Dubuque Township is mostly high, rolling prairie, with very little timber, except on the bluffs which line the Mississippi, and mark the line of outcrop of the Niag- ara limestone. The township immediately west of this is very much broken and intersected with deep ravines ; it is almost entirely covered with timber of vigorous growth and a great variety of species. Further west, in the same tier of townships, the country becomes more elevated and less broken, the propor- tion of timbered land to prairie constantly increasing. In the southern half of the county, the same gradual passage from a broken timbered region to the high rolling prairie, takes place in going from the east to the west. The cen- tral and western townships are almost entirely prairie, except in the extreme southwestern corner of the county, where the Maquoketa River and its tributaries have cut deep into the rocks.
325
HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
"The geological formations which are exposed in this county include the various groups from the Trenton, or blue limestone, up to the Niagara limestone ; the exposures of the rocks, especially in the eastern part of the county, being numerous and satisfactory.
" Trenton Limestone .- This rock first makes its appearance in ascending the Mississippi, in the neighborhood of Dubuque, and is exposed to a sufficient extent to be quarried, at Eagle Point, about two miles above the city. Here, layers are from six to twelve inches in thickness, consisting of a tolerably com- pact, bluish-gray limestone, which contains Ceraurus pleu rexanthemus, Iso- telas gigas, Orthis testudinaria, Strophomena alternata, Leptæna sericea, and other fossils commonly found in this geological position throughout this region. There is, at this point, a thickness of from twenty to thirty feet of this rock above low-water mark. On the opposite side of the river, at Dunleith, quarries are opened all along the bank, at about high-water mark, for a distance of a mile or two above the town. The rocks are similar in character to those of Eagle Point, but certain layers near lower-water mark are much more fossilif- erous, and furnishing the best specimens illustrating the character of organic life at this period which have been procured in this region. These layers are of a light gray color, and thin bedded, with argillaceous partings, which become light yellow on exposure to the air, and are made up of a mass of brachiopods, crustaceans and bryozoa, weathering out with quite perfect forms, although composed of carbonate of lime, and apparently quite homogeneous in character with the surrounding rocks. The fact that this rock splits in layers of a suit- able size for building purposes, and that it dresses well, being quite free from chert, renders it a desirable building stone, and it is much used for that purpose at Dubuque. The undulations of the strata are such in this region that the whole thickness of the Trenton limestone is brought up in ascending the river, near the mouth of the Platte, the upper sandstone being exposed at that point. The strata decline to the north again rapidly, so as to bring the sandstone below the water at Cassville. The Trenton beds have not been noticed in Dubuque County, except on the Mississippi River.
" Galena Limestone .- This rock is of great importance in this county, as the source of the lead ore which has been so extensively mined in the vicinity of Dubuque. Bluffs of this rock border the Mississippi along its whole course on the east boundary of the county, and it is finely exposed on the Little Maquo- keta and its branches, as also on the smaller streams emptying directly into the Mississippi. At Buena Vista, the whole height of the bluffs which border the river is of galena limestone. but at a distance of between two and three miles from the river, the precipitous cliffs of the Niagara limestone may be seen, and can be followed in a southeasterly direction, passing about seven miles west of Dubuque, and gradually approaching the river again, finally reaching it a little south of the Tete des Morts Valley, in Jackson County. The space thus inclosed between the Niagara limestone and the river, forming a belt of some eight or ten miles wide in its widest part, is chiefly occupied by the galena limestone, which may also be traced for some distance up all the valleys of the streams running down from the Niagara plateau.
" The lithological character of the galena limestone, as seen in this county, where it is as well developed as in any part of the Northwest, is everywhere nearly the same. It is an almost pure dolomite, containing from 3 to 8 per cent of silicious substances intermixed with the double carbonate of lime and magnesia, and tinged with a light grayish color by a little carbonate of iron,
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
where it has not been exposed, but which soon changes to a light buff by the oxida- tion of the iron, when acted on by air and moisture. A thickness of a little over 250 feet of this formation is exposed at Dubuque, and that seems to be about its maximum development.
"One of the most characteristic features of the galena limestone is its peculiar mode of weathering. It seems to decompose very unequally, and thus gives rise to a great variety of interesting forms, which give to the landscape, where this rock predominates, a singularly picturesque character. The sum- mits of the bluffs bordering all the streams in the eastern and northeastern parts of the county are crowned with almost perpendicular ledges of this rock, which, in many places, have a castellated appearance, like the half-ruined wall of some ancient fortified city. Occasionally isolated masses of rocks rise abruptly from the valleys, resembling lofty watch-towers. Some of the most curious of these outcrops may be scen on the little Maquoketa.
" The upper portion of this limestone is more regularly bedded than the lower, and hence the quarries near Dubuque are mostly at an elevation of about two hundred feet above the river. At this level the layers are from six to eight inches in thickness, and comparatively free from cherty nodules, which abound in the heavy-bedded portions below. As a building stone, this rock answers quite well, having an agreeable tint, but it does not dress smoothly, or weather uniformly for the best work. The custom house at Galena, a city surrounded by bluffs of the galena, is built of rock from the carboniferous limestone group, brought from a point on the river 200 miles distant.
" The shelly and easily decomposing nature of the rocks of which the Hud- son River group is made up renders natural sections very uncommon ; and although evidence of its existence has been obtained at many points, yet it has usually been by means of artificial excavations. In the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad cut, a little west of the town of Julien, the bluc shales have been intersected for a considerable distance, and the whole thickness of the group exposed; but the rock is so soft and crumbly, and the sides so much washed down, that no satisfactory section could be observed. Within the limits of the city of Dubuque, on Julien avenue, at an elevation of 235 feet above the river, the blue shales have been intersected in digging a well, and a fine specimen of Isotelus gigas obtained. In all the shafts which have been sunk for lead, on the highest ground between the streams in the vicinity of Dubuque, a greater or less thickness of this rock has been cut through. As the shales which are thrown out in the excavations are soon covered up at the mouth of the shaft by the underlying limestone, there is usually no opportunity to sce the character of the section, except when one is on the spot when the digging is commenced. This accounts for the fact that the extension of the Hudson River group over so much of the lead region was only so recently recognized. On Sections 15 and 16 in Dubuque Township, the rock thrown out in the digging consists mostly of a light gray but highly bituminous shale, with a few graptolitic impressions and occasional layers filled with orthoceratites. On a small stream flowing north through Sections 18, 7 and 6, and a branch of the same in Sec- tions 17 and 8, there are natural exposures of a few feet in thickness of a light colorcd, coarse-grained, impure magncsian limestone, in which the orthocera- tities are crowded together in greater numbers, and in a morc perfect state of preservation, than at any locality examined. The bed of the stream is filled with fragments of fossiliferous rock, containing great numbers of Murchisonia resembling Pleurctomia, Lingula, Tellmomya and fragments of orthoceratites. The best natural sections of the Hudson River group, however, as before
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY.
noticed, are on the Little Maquoketa River, between Sims' Mill and Channings- ville, and in the small streams coming into it from the northwest. No doubt, careful exploration will reveal other exposures on the Middle Fork of the Maquoketa and its branches. As we proceed toward the north from the middle branch of the Catfish, where this group occupies the highest portions of the region over a width of six or seven miles, we find more and more of it removed by denudation ; and on the northern edge of the county, it forms only a very narrow strip along the base of the bluffs of the Niagara limestone.
"Niagara Limestone .- This formation occupies all the elevated prairie region of Dubuque County, comprising about three-fourths of its surface. The line of outcrop is well marked, and may be traced in a range of precipitous bluffs, having a very irregular outline, and with occasional outliers, in a direction par- allel with Turkey River, and at a distance of from one to two miles from it, diagonally across the country, gradually curving in toward the Mississippi to the south of the city of Dubuque, and approaching it within a distance of half a mile, near the Tete des Morts Valley. The numerous small streams which descend from the elevated plateau of the Niagara have cut deeply into the rocks, so that the lower formations may be followed up the valleys far above the point where the Niagara occupies the general level of the country. For this reason, and also partly on account of the irregular . denudation, the range of bluffs indicating the outcrop of the Niagara is very irregular, with numerous project- ing spurs, which extend out sometimes in long, narrow, flat-topped ridges with almost vertical sides, giving a peculiar and almost picturesque character to the landscape. The elevation of these ridges is usually from 500 to 600 feet above the Mississippi, and from 150 to 200 feet above the rolling and gently declining belt occupied by the Hudson River shales at their base.
"The Niagara limestone throughout this region presents nearly the same lithological character. It is nearly pure dolomite, not differing materially in chemical composition from the galena limestone, but being usually a little less crystalline in its texture and more distinctly stratified than that rock. It con- tains, also, numerous intercalated bands or irregular layers of chert, which are especially abundant in the middle portion of the series, and which, as the strata become disaggregated by exposure, accumulate on the surface, espe- cially on the elevations from which the soil has been washed down into the valleys, and which on this account are frequently designated as 'flint ridges.' This rock, when not too cherty, forms a valuable building material, and is quarried in numerous places for that purpose.
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