USA > Iowa > Iowa County > The history of Iowa County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 42
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Humanity, with all its ills, is, nevertheless, fortunately characterized by remarkable flexibility, which enables it to accommodate itself to circum- stances. After all, the secret of happiness lies in one's ability to accommo- date himself to his surroundings.
yours Truly Elvin Til Hilton
327
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
THE CALIFORNIA GOLD EXCITEMENT.
No doubt the desire for gold has been a mainspring of all progress and enterprise in the county from the beginning till the present time, and will. so continue till remote ages. Usually, however, this desire has been mani- fested in the common avenues of thrift, industry and enterprise. On one occasion, however, it passed beyond the bounds of reason and assumed the character of a mania. The early settlers of this county, which lay in the direct route of one of the most popular emigrant trails, saw much of the workings of this mania, and those who remained at home and cultivated : their claims profited by it.
The gold mania first broke out in the fall of 1849, when stories began to . be first spread abroad of the wonderful richness of the placer mines of Cali- fornia. The excitement grew daily, feeding the marvelous reports that came from the Pacific slope, and nothing was talked of but the achievements of the Argonauts of '49.
Instead of dying out, the fever mounted higher and higher. It was too late to cross the plains, but thousands of people throughout the States be- gan their preparations for starting the following spring, and among the number were many in Iowa county. The one great subject of discussion about the firesides and in the log cabins that winter, was the gold of Cali- fornia. It is said that at one time the majority of the able-bodied men of the county were unsettled in mind and were considering the project of starting to California. Even the most thoughtful and sober-minded found it difficult to resist the infection.
Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through -sights that may never be again seen in the county, perhaps. Some of the wagons were drawn by cows; other gold-hunters went on foot and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold-hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of disorder and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.
Early in the spring of 1850 the rush began, one line of the trail to Cali- fornia passing through this county. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of wagons from east to west, as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cyclone, drawing into its course on the right and left many of those residing along its pathway. The gold-hunters from Iowa county crowded eagerly into the gaps in the wagon-train, bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder fare- wells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their quiet, peace- ful homes only to find in the " Far West " utter disappointment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor." The persons who really gained by the gold excitement were those who remained on their farms and sold their produce to the gold-crazy emi- grants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great tide began to abate, although belated gold-hunters kept passing through for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the contagion now settled down in quiet to pursue the even tenor of their way.
21
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
The scene along this line, through this vicinity, is thus described by one who was an eye-witness:
" It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. A continuous line of wagons stretched away to the west as far as the eye could see. If a wagon was detained by being broken down, or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken and die, the corpse was buried hurriedly by the way- side, without coffin or burial service. When night came on, the line of wagons was turned aside, and their proprietors would go into camp. Very soon the sound of revelry would begin around the camp-fires thickly set on every hand; first to bottle and then to cards, to the echo of the most horrid paths and imprecations that were ever conceived or uttered since the fall of man. These poor deluded votaries of Mammon scattered that dreadful scourge, small-pox, everywhere that they came in contact with the settlers on the way. Game cards were strewn all along the line of travel. Glass bottles, after being emptied of their nefarious contents down the throats of men, were dashed against wagon wheels, pieces of which were strewn all along the road, as if to mock the madness of the advancing column of these fervent janizaries of the golden calf.
"At the time of the treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, the population of California did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time of which we are writing (1850) there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people who had found their way thither, of which number at least one hun- dred thousand were gold-hunters from the States. There had been taken from the auriferious beds of California, up to January, 1850, over $40,000,- 000 in gold.
" The evil effects of this gold mania upon the moral status of the people of the United States is still seen and felt everywhere, and among all classes of society, and no man can see the end. It has popularized the worship of Mammon to an alarming extent throughout the country, and to this· wor- ship, to a great extent, is attributable the moral declension of to-day."
Years after, this county had another gold excitement, which happily was not so serious as the first, and did not produce the same evil effects. But it is an equally good illustration to show how quickly men will lose their sense when they hope to gain wealth more rapidly than by honest work and thrift.
The excitement over the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak in 1859 drew off large numbers of the citizens of this county, many of whom returned poorer than they went, and glad and anxious to get home again from that land of high prices and small profits from mining. We have been unable to discover that any of the gold -seekers from this county ever became " Bo- nanza Kings."
The Des Moines Gazette from time to time gave graphic accounts of the gold-hunters as they thronged through the country. As all the persons who went west across this county crossed the ferry at Fort Des Moines, some idea of the rush may be gathered from the following statistics as published in the Des Moines Gazette during the three weeks when the rush was greatest.
List of companies which crossed the river at Des Moines for California for week ending Wednesday evening, April 17, 1850:
Persons
675
Wagons 252
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
Of the teams about 50 were ox teams, averaging 3 yoke to a team, 205 horse teams averaging 3} to a wagon, making 717 horses.
A gentleman who had just come to Des Moines from the Bluffs says 2,000 were encamped there and he met three or four hundred between there and here.
Week ending April 24-199 teams and 540 men, making total for season of 690 teams and 1,797 persons.
.! Week ending May 1st-156 teams, 459 persons; total for season, 846 teams and 2 256 persons.
Next week 130 teams, 363 persons; total for season 976 teams and 2,629 persons.
Next week 73 teams, 184 persons; total for season 1,049 teams and 2,813 persons.
One whose friends had joined in this exodus to California, and met with nothing but disaster, sought the aid of the muses to properly express his idea of the gold mania. The result of his meditations appeared in the form of a short poem, in the Des Moines Journal of February, 1851, as follows:
Oh! California gold mines, what a fearful curse they've brought,
With what heart-rending sorrows has that search for dross been fraught;
How many tearful partings and how many lives untold
Have been laid upon the altar of this raging thirst for gold.
THE WESTERN STAGE COMPANY.
During pioneer times, public travel was exclusively by stage. The jour- ney was often long and wearisome. The sloughs were not bridged and dur- ing the spring it was no uncommon thing for a passenger on the stage to make his journeys on foot and carry a fence rail with which to help pry the stage out of the mire. This was " high toned " traveling, and from this may be imagined what sort of a journey was that of a lone settler and an ox team.
A history of the county would not be complete without mention of the transportation company which preceded railroads. It was called the Wes- tern Stage Company, and by examining the early court records it will be seen that this corporation figured extensively in the early litigation of Iowa county.
Among the prominent partners of this company were E. S. Alford of Indianapolis, president; Kimball Porter, of Iowa City; Messrs. Shoemaker, W. H. Sullivan, D. Talmadge and Campbell of Ohio, and E. F. Hooker, of Des Moines.
The headquarters of the company were at the Everett House in Fort Des Moines; the office of the company being located there July 1, 1854, when A. Morris was proprietor of the hotel. The general manager of the stage lines was Col. E. F. Hooker, whose residence and business office were located in what is now the capital city of the State. A gentleman of the name of Smith was the first agent of the company, and he was succeeded by W. H. Chesney, who died in 1858. 'The last agent was A. T. Johnson, who is now favorably known by the people of Des Moines and vicinity as proprietor of an omnibus line. E. B. Alvord, T. R. Fletcher, E. W. Spar- hawk and E. G. Sears were secretaries of the company at various times and resided in Des Moines.
330
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
The shops and barn of the company were located on the present site of Getchell's lumber yard, corner of Eighth and Vine streets. These shops were divided into five departments; in one of them the wood work was done, in another the iron work, in the third the painting, in the fourth the horse-shoeing, and in the other the harness-making, all of which were for some time under the superintendency of A. B. Woodbury.
Col. E. F. Hooker retired from the superintendency of the company in 1866, and was succeeded by R. Lounsberry, who was the last one filling this office. H. B. Alford settled up the affairs of the company at its close. with great profit to the corporation. To give some idea of the business of the company, it is proper to state in this connection that the receipts for one year on the line between Des Moines and Boone reached the extraordin- ary sum of $100,000. After the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Rail- road was completed to Council Bluffs, the Boone line fell into insignificance and the days of the Western Stage Company, as far as Iowa was concerned, were numbered. The stages of this corporation transported to Davenport, with all their personal equipments, the members of the Twenty-third and Thirty-ninth Iowa infantry, requiring just two days to take an entire regi- ment. In this way parts of the Second, Sixth, Tenth and Fifteenth regi- ments were taken to their rendezvous. On the day after the adjournment, in olden times, the members of the Legislature living abroad were either at their homes or far on the way to their destination.
The last coach belonging to the company in Des Moines was sold to James Stephenson, of Omaha, in 1874. Mr. Johnson rode on the driver's seat from the stage barn to the freight depot of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, and as he left the old vehicle to take its journey westward on the cars, he bade it an affectionate farewell. The Western Stage Com- pany was quite an important factor in all central Iowa. It had two lines to Council Bluffs, one to Fort Dodge, by the way of Boonsboro, and other lines reaching out in all directions. They changed from semi-weekly to tri- weekly, and then to daily trips, as the country settled up and business war- ranted it. It was the only means of conveyance for travelers and the mails, and many were the anxious ones who waited for news or friends by the old stage company. It was like all other human agencies, in that it was fallible, and complaints were made against it. It was some of these com- plaints which provoked the following newspaper article in 1858:
" We notice a number of our exchanges are raking down the Western Stage Company for the manner in which they convey passengers over their lines. A little reflection will doubtless show to those who are censuring the 'stage company that they are wrong in their censures. The company, we think, deserves the praise of the people of Iowa for its indomitable per- serverance in ploughing through snow, rain, sleet and mud, for the past eight months, imperiling the lives of their drivers and teams in crossing swollen streams to accomodate the traveling public and deliver the mails at the post-offices. But few persons would endure the privations and hard- ships which the company has passed through in Iowa during the past eight months for double the money. We believe the company has done more to forward the mails and passengers than the public could reasonably expect at their hands. A little more work on the highways and a little patience on the part of the passengers would be a good thing just now."
The company had two lines across the county, one leading from Iowa City southwest through Millersburg, and one through Marengo. It is said
331
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
that a son of Mr. Wm. Downard drove the first stage coach which left Mar- engo for Des Moines.
CLAIM CLUBS.
Sometime before the lands were all surveyed, and consequently before any were offered for sale speculators came from the East with plenty of money, and diligently searched the country over, noting the more valuable portions, although they were improved claims, and being prepared to pay higher prices than the settlers, there was danger that the men who had im- proved the claims would be driven away from them and thus lose all the rewards of their years of trial and hardship. While this would have worked a manifest hardship to the settlers it would have been done under the forms of law.
The homesteads which they had wrested from this primitive wilderness of prairie or forest and changed by enterprise and industry into cultivated fields, laden with yellow corn or waving grain, were liable to become the property of land-sharks, whose avaracious eyes saw the value of the land, and cared little for justice or right, provided themselves might secure a handsome profit. With longer purses they could afford to pay higher prices than the poor settler: while the latter, sensible of their rights, and aware with what labor, exposure and self-denial they had acquired these rights, felt, in view of these prospects, indignant and exasperated, and felt so justly.
So highly incensed did the people become at the idea of speculators overbidding them at the land sales that they viewed every stranger with distrust, lest his errand among them should be to note the numbers of some choice tracts, and make them his own by giving prices beyond the reach of the claimant. A unity of feeling on this subject filled the entire country. They were determined to save their claims despite any effort or intervention to the contrary, and, if possible, their intention was to pay no more than the lowest government price. Strangers passing through the country had to be careful not to meddle with lands claimed, otherwise than honestly buying them from the possessors. If the object was thought to be different, if they were suspected of being engaged in any scheme for the unjust deprival of any settler of what were considered his unquestion- able rights, they at once incurred the hostile feeling of every inhabitant, and were not safe until they had entirely left the country.
It soon became evident that some regular organization was needed among the settlers, the better to control outbreaks of popular rage and cause non. residents to pay due respect to the claims which had been made as also to prevent difficulties among themselves, the dishonest of whom did not scruple to take advantage of a neighbor's temporary absence, sickness or remoteness from aid and "jump his claim," that is take and hold posses- sion of it vi et armis, depriving him totally of his rights in the premises.
In accordance with the plan which was adopted in other counties, the settlers of Iowa county held meetings to consider the proper course to pur- sue, and resolved to organize claim clubs for. mutual protection. These clubs existed in almost every community, and were by no means a new in- stitution when introduced here. The claim rights of settlers were then regulated by what was called the claim law, which had its origin in Jeffer- son county, and was sanctioned by the Legislature of 1839.
The plan of organization was very simple. A captain was selected, and
332
HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
each member of the club signed a pledge in the form of resolutions, which resolutions form a curiosity well worth preserving.
In addition to a captain, whose duty it was to direct the action of the club and act as a general executive officer, the club had another officer still more important, whose duty it was to attend the land sales and bid off such tracts of land as he was ordered to purchase by the direction of the club. These organizations usually embraced the claim-holders of one particular neighborhood, or voting precinct, and as the resolutions which governed the different clubs were similiar, they aided each other in enforcing the claim law for the common good. The following resolutions adopted by a club in this vicinity, are reproduced to give the reader some idea of the plan of operations.
The rules and regulations of the Marengo claim club were in the posses- sion of the Kitchens, who were the leading members. They have all left the country and the original documents have been destroyed. The rules as herewith given will answer in showing their tenor as all the claim clubs were ruled by regulations similar in their nature.
1. Resolved, That we will protect all persons who do or may hold claims, against the in- terference of any person or persons, who shall attempt to deprive such claim-holders of their claims by preemptions or otherwise.
2. Resolved, That we will, in all cases, discountenance the speculator or other person who shall thus attempt any innovation upon the homes of the rightful settlers; that we will not hold any fellowship with such person, and that he be regarded a nuisance in the community.
3. Resolved, That no person shall be allowed to preempt or purchase in any form from the government, any land which shall be held as a claim, unless he shall first obtain the con- sent of the claimant.
4. Resolved, That the filing of an intention to preempt, contrary to the rights of the settler, be regarded as an attempt to wrongfully deprive the citizen of his home and his claim.
5. Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed, and that it shall be their duty to in- quire into and adjust all difficulties and contentions in cases where claims are in dispute.
6. Resolved, That it shall be the duty of said committee to notify any person who shall preempt or attempt to do so, by filing his intentions to preempt, the claim of any other per- son, to leave the vicinity and the county; and that they have authority to enforce a compli- ance with said notice.
7. Resolved, That we will sustain and uphold such committee in their decisions, and in the discharge of all their duties as defined in the foregoing resolutions.
8. Resolved, That all persons be invited to sign the foregoing resolutions, and that the signers pledge themselves to be governed by, and to aid in sustaining the same.
As a rule, land speculators had very tender consciences, which caused them to respect the rights of such settlers as were backed by such a formi- dable organization as a claim club. A certain club had among its resolu- tions the following:
Resolved, That the filing of any intention to preempt, in contravention of the right of any member hereof, shall be regarded as an attempt to deprive one member of his rights, under the eternal fitness of things, and we pledge ourselves, one to the other, to meet the offender on the home stretch, with the logic of life or death.
Notwithstanding this, there were occasional instances in which persons dared to contend with the clubs, but the logic proved too much for them on the "home stretch." We relate two incidents, one characterized by vio- lence, and the other amusing, rather than pathetic, illustrating the condi- tion of affairs at that time. Both events which we shall relate occurred in neighboring counties.
During some of the difficulties growing out of these disputes between persons entering lands and the members of the claim clubs several barns
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
were burned and dwellings just about complete awaiting the reception of the prescribed owner were burned. Valuable timber thus entered in opposi- tion to the rules of the claim clubs was girdled and valuable property de- stroyed. It is not our purpose to give the names of persons in this county engaged in these disturbances but will relate an incident which oc- curred in a neighboring county.
A man, named Holland, was trading through the country, stopping at various places, where his business called him, and, while temporarily re- maining in a certain county seat town, the report was circulated that he was a speculator, and was engaged in selecting choice claims, which he in- tended to purchase. He was also suspected of being connected with one Perkins, in his attempted frauds. These statements, though false, as far as is known, being spread far and wide among the settlers, caused no little excitement among them, and their exasperation soon raised to that pitch that a crowd of them resolved to give Mr. Holland a sample of pio- neer justice, in the prompt application of that notorious branch of juris- prudence which Judge Lynch has the merit of introducing. Holland was made aware of the inhospitable intention, but he took it very cooly, mani- festing no uneasiness whatever. He cared not a whit for the mob, whether they were many or few, or however they were armed or infuriated. He was a match for them, and would meet them, and had no doubt they would go away faster than they came. They probably would not come near him at all, and if they did, it was all right. He knew how to fix them ; and so he did.
However, they came, a mob of fierce, determined, bloodthirsty men, bent on taking the most signal and exemplary vengeance. The infuriated crew numbered about thirty. Their oaths and threats loaded the air with their pestilential burden. Surrounding Holland's house with a guard of armed men to prevent the possibility of his escape, the ringleader ordered him to come forth and meet his doom, the doom of all men who should tamper with the interests of the county by fraudulent schemes. As called for, Holland appeared, told the mob he was willing to submit to their will, if they would first allow him to make a speech. None could deny permis- sion, though some viewed it with impatience, and Holland mounting a box that stood near, and, gazing with calm, unmoving eye into the faces of his hostile auditory, commenced his vindication.
He was an orator and accustomed to sway at will the minds of an audi- ence, and direct the feelings of his hearers into any channel he chose. With a voice whose deep, impressive, and skilfully inflected tones arrested and held spell bound the most careless listener, with language, if imagina- tive, which clothed every thought with the most fascinating garb, and, if argumentative, in an impregnable armor, and the mysterious, undefinable spirit of eloquence, permeating through, and rendering irresistably power- ful, every tone, word and gesture, he stirred the hearts of the murderous crowd, impatient for his blood, and turned their sympathies enthusiastically in his favor. Their faces, before distorted with rage, were wreathed with smiles, not only of friendship, but of admiration. Their hands, which lately had clenched, with angry grasp, the most deadly weapons, were frankly extended toward him, with all the kindness of intimacy and respect. At the conclusion of his speech, they all asked his pardon for the wrong they had done in the impetuosity of their passion, conceived and almost accomplished, and, having assured Holland of their unfaltering at-
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HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY.
tachment, they withdrew, in the very best of humor, to the nearest gro- cery, where each drank a glass of whisky, in commemoration of the occa- sion, the expense of which Holland, who accompanied them, generously defrayed.
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