USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 61
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AGRICULTURAL.
As early as 1841, the organization of an agricultural society was thought feasible, and a meeting was called for that purpose at West Point, for July 17, of that year. At this meeting, Col. William Patterson, then of West Point, occupied the chair ; James H. Cowles, a lawyer, afterward connected with J. B. Howell in the publication of the Des Moines Valley Whig, and who died at Mobile, April 5, 1851, was Secretary. Gen. H. T. Reid and Hon. D. F. Mil- ler, at that time young lawyers of Fort Madison, and William A. Thurston addressed the meeting. A committee of five was appointed to draft a consti- tution and report at a meeting to be held at Fort Madison on the first Monday in October following.
' This meeting (at West Point) was attended by about one hundred and fifty persons, and many of the finest horned cattle of the Durham breed were brought in and exhibited on that occasion."
It does not appear that the meeting appointed at Fort Madison was ever held, at least no record of it can be found, and it is supposed the project was abandoned.
506
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
The next year, a three-days exhibition, consisting principally of races, was held near Keokuk, under the auspices of the "Lee County Association," an organization which was short-lived. The programme of this exhibition has been preserved and is here inserted, as a curiosity of the days of small beginnings :
RACES AND STOCK SHOW
over the Lee County Association Course, will commence on Thursday, the 8th day of September, A. D. 1842, and continue three days.
First Day .- A show of Hogs, for which a premium of $5 will be awarded for the best Boar and Sow, each. After which, a sweepstake for two-year-old Colts, owned in Lee County. $50 entrance, half forfeit; one-mile heats : feather weights ; now three entries and closed.
Same Day .- A purse of $30, $20 entrance added to purse; free for any Stallion that has made the season of 1842 in Iowa Territory. One single dash of one mile ; catch weights.
Second Day .- A show of Cattle. There will be awarded to the best Bull, a premium of $10; also, one of $5 to the best Cow exhibited. After which, the Association purse, for $100, will be run for ; free for any Horse, Mare or Gelding ; two-mile heats; $15 entrance ; weight for age.
Same Day .- A sweepstake for two-year-olds ; one mile out ; $15 entrance ; free for any Colt or Filly.
Third Day .- Show of Horses. A premium of $5, to the best Stallion ; one of $5, to the best Brood Mare, and one of $2, to the best Colt foaled in Lee County, the season of 1842.
Same Day .- The Association purse of $50; mile-heats; free for any Horse, Mare or Gelding; $5 entrance. After which, a saddle-purse of $10; $1 entrance added to the purse ; free for saddle-nags only.
For the satisfaction of Judges, it will be necessary for persons contending for premiums to produce satisfactory evidence of the stock being owned in the county ; also, as to the age of each animal, and all persons not members of the Association, who enter stock for premiums, will be charged 20 per cent upon the amount contended for, and in all cases of single entry, the animal must be considered worth the premium.
RULES OF THE COURSE.
1st. Every species of gambling or gaming device is positively prohibited on the premises.
2d. All matters of dispute or quarrel (should any occur) must be settled elsewhere than on the premises.
For the character of the Association, it is expected that the above rules will be complied with.
The Association Course lies five miles north of Keokuk, within a few hun- dred yards of the residence of Maj. R. B. Hughes, where persons from a dis- tance wishing to attend the meeting, can find excellent accommodations.
The entrances for the Premiums to close each morning of the show at 10 o'clock ; and entrances for the Purses, at 9 o'clock the evening preceding the day the race is run.
The whole to be governed by the rules of the St. Louis Track, so far as regards the races.
THE LEE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
was organized at a meeting held in the Court House at Keokuk, November 1, 1851. Gen. A. Bridgman was Chairman, and R. L. Doyle, Secretary. T.
507
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
B. Cumming, G. W. Edmondson and T. J. Chenowith, were appointed a Com- mittee to draft a constitution and by-laws, which were presented and adopted at the same meeting. William Lamb was elected President, William Leighton, Vice President, Gen. R. P. Lowe, Treasurer, and G. W. Edmondson, Secre- tary. Article 6 of the by-laws provided that no officer should receive any compensation for his services. The first Board of Directors consisted of Smith Hamill, of Jackson Township; Garry Lewis, of Montrose; Adam Wier, of West Point; Joshua Owen, of Washington, and W. J. Cochran, of Charleston.
The first exhibition was held October 13 and 14, 1852, on the grounds of the Iowa Medical College, which at that time stood on the corner of Third and Palean streets, in Keokuk. Premiums were offered amounting to $588, divided as follows : On cattle, $50; horses, $65; sheep, $40; hogs, $30; poultry, $15; farm implements, $158; domestic manufactures, $39; grain, seeds, vegetables, butter, fancy articles, etc., $121; and plowing-match, $70. The total amount awarded was $219.
At the close of the fair, the Directors met in the lecture-room of the Medical College and elected officers for the following year, as follows : Thomas W. Clagett, President ; Absalom Anderson, Vice President; William Leighton, Secretary ; Arthur Bridgman, Treasurer. In the evening, a supper was given the competitors at the Ivins House. During the evening, Judge Clagett per- sonally promised a premium of $50, for the best ten acres of corn raised in the county in 1853.
The second and third fairs were held at Keokuk, after which the place of exhibition was changed to West Point, where it remained until 1870. In the fall of that year the citizens of Fort Madison prepared grounds at that place and offered inducements which decided the Directors to remove the fair to that place, where it was held for three or four years. Here the society became involved and its existence terminated until 1870, when it was re-organized and twenty acres of ground leased at Donnellson, which was fitted up and a success- ful fair held that fall. The receipts at this meeting were sufficient to pay all premiums in full, besides paying expenses incurred in improving the grounds. The society is now on a good footing, and it is believed the annual fair at Don- nellson will be a permanent feature of the county.
When the society removed from West Point, the citizens of that place and vicinity, organized under the name of the West Point District Association, which has since continued to hold successful fairs at that place. They occupy the same grounds prepared for the Lee County Agricultural Society on its removal from Keokuk.
The Iowa State Agricultural Society held its annual meetings in Keokuk in 1869, 1870 and 1874, on the grounds of the Union Agricultural Association. These meetings were the most successful in the history of the State Society, and a large surplus over expenses was left in the hands of the Treasurer.
RAILROADS.
THE "RAM'S-HORN."
" It wired in and it wired out, And left the people still in doubt, Whether the snake that made the track Was going South or coming back."-Old Political Song.
In 1851, a project for building a railroad from Keokuk to Dubuque, with a branch to Council Bluffs, was agitated, and received the support of many of
.
508
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
the leading politicians and newspapers of that day. Because of the crooked- ness of the proposed line between Keokuk and Dubuque, the opponents of the scheme gave it the name of the "Ram's-Horn Railroad," by which synonym it is still remembered. Col. Reid says in his "Old Settlers": "The idea advanced was that it was to be mainly, if not altogether, built by a grant of lands from Congress to the State of Iowa for that purpose. Every town of any pretensions on and off the river expected to get this railroad. Surveys were made, not for the purpose of establishing any route, but to attract public atten- tion and to keep up the excitement ; and it answered its purpose. It had its day till the election of United States Senator was over, and then it died. Like the track of a snake in the dusty road, it ran everywhere, or appeared to run every- where but ran nowhere. It was ridiculed as the 'Ram's-Horn Railroad,' as it was as crooked as a ram's horn. This was necessary to accommodate everybody.
" The local politicians of the different counties advocated the ' Ram's-Horn,' and held it up before the people as the thing that was to enrich them. It was to run through every county and by every man's door. The Dispatch and Sharp Stick, edited by T. B. Cuming (afterward Governor of Nebraska), Keo- kuk daily and weekly papers, of which he was the editor, was its loudest cham- pion, and he was going to have a railroad -- the 'Ram's-Horn Railroad '-built from Keokuk to Dubuque without fail, via Iowa City and no mistake. It was a big thing for Cuming, and just the thing on which to make a United States Senator from whom he could get an office-which he did. It was a bold and successful strategy, and Cuming was an able writer and played his hand so skillfully as to accomplish his purpose.
" Maj. McKean, who was a graduate of West Point, and distinguished himself as an officer in the Mexican war, was the Chief Engineer of the ' Ram's- Horn Railroad.' He then lived at Cedar Rapids, was a Brigadier General in the late war, commanded a division, and was a very gallant officer, and as honest as the day is long ; for he was not a politician.
It was a political scheme, planned for political purposes, and died the death.
AID TO RAILROADS.
It was in 1853 that the mania of voting aid to railroads and other improve- . ments attacked Lee County. Judge Edward Johnstone was then County Judge, and, in obedience to numerously signed petitions, he called an election for November 26, of that year, on the proposition, "Shall the county of Lee aid within the limits of said county in the construction of said roads, to wit : The Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad, and the Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Railroad, by subscribing two hundred thousand dollars to the capital stock of each of the companies of said roads."
County bonds were to be issued therefor, payable within twenty years from their date, bearing interest at a rate not exceeding 7 per cent, payable semi- annually ; and that whenever either of said companies had obtained a sufficient amount of subscription to its stock as would, in the opinion of the County Judge, secure the completion of its road, then county bonds, in proportion to the subscription above stated, were to be issued to the company.
The call for the election also stated that a tax not to exceed 1 per cent on the county valuation should be levied annually, to be applied to the liquidation of the interest and principal of the bonds, provided dividends on the stock were not sufficient.
509
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
The vote at that election for and against the subscription by townships was as follows :
For.
Against.
Green Bay
41
12
Denmark
43
42
Pleasant Ridge.
69
27
Marion
54
38
Cedar.
40
18
Harrison
29
70
Franklin
30
105
Washington
90
16
Madison
464
1
Jefferson
44
96
Van Buren
24
36
Des Moines
11
73
Montrose.
803
13
Jackson ..
180
17
West Point
1,964
805
Thus was the measure carried, and it appears by the record that the sub- scription to the stock was made by the County Judge April 4, 1855.
In the mean time, a petition from more than one-fourth of the legal voters of the county had been filed with the County Judge, praying that the question of a rescission of the subscription be submitted to the people, and an election was ordered for the first Monday in April, 1855. Before that date, however, other petitions flowed in, asking that the election be postponed for a time, and a new proclamation be made in which it should appear that the word "each " in the proposition carried at the first election had occasioned the change of sentiment in the minds of the people. Accordingly, an election was called by the County Judge and the question submitted to vote, as follows :
" That the subscription of Lee County, Iowa, of $200,000 to the capital stock of each of the companies of the Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines & Minnesota Rail- road, and the Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Railroads, as voted November 26, 1853, be rescinded, and held for naught."
The vote on the rescission, by townships, was as follows :
For.
Against.
Green Bay
66
13
Pleasant Ridge.
36
71
Marion
48
58
Cedar
50
33
Harrison
132
Franklin
172
4
West Point.
24
187
Washington
10
104
Madison
1
908
Jefferson
46
15
Charleston
175
2
Van Buren
73
7
Des Moines.
102
1
Montrose
180
3
Jackson
438
54
1,553
1,521
The question of rescission was carried by a majority of 32 votes.
There was an evident desire among the people to encourage the building of railroads, and on the 3d of August, 1856, another petition was presented to the County Court, Samuel Boyles, County Judge, and an election ordered for
M
27
40
Charleston.
15
201
61
Denmark
510
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
Wednesday, September 10. 1856, on which day the propositions were voted upon in the following form :
" Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Company ?"
"Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant & Muscatine Railroad Company ?"
" Shall the county subscribe $150,000 to the capital stock of the Fort Mad- ison, West Point, Keosanqua & Bloomfield Railroad Company ? "
Each proposition was to be voted on separately, and no stock was to be sub- scribed unless each and all propositions received an affirmative majority, the roads to give bonds that proceeds of the sale of bonds should be expended within the county, and all stocks taken under previous election to be sur- rendered.
The total vote on the first proposition was 3,474, and it was carried by 1,600 majority ; the second was carried by 1,652, and the third by 1,602 majority.
KEOKUK, DES MOINES & MINNESOTA RAILROAD.
In 1853, a company was organized to build a railroad up the Des Moines Valley from Keokuk to Fort Des Moines and thence north to Minnesota. A survey of the route was made in 1854, under direction of Col. J. K. Hornish, and the contract for its construction was let to Smith, Leighton & Co., who commenced operations early in the season of 1855. In the spring of 1857, the road was ironed to Bentonsport, Van Buren County, where it remained in abeyance until 1860, when it was extended to Eddyville. It was completed to Des Moines in 1863-64.
KEOKUK, MOUNT PLEASANT & MUSCATINE RAILROAD.
The Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant & Muscatine Railroad Company was organized at Mt. Pleasant in 1854. In 1855, the company voted to place the entire management of the construction of the proposed road under the supervision and control of Col. Hornish. for a period of one year. In the spring and sum- mer of 1856, the road was finished from Keokuk to Montrose. The citizens of Keokuk voted an issue of $100,000 in bonds in aid of this enterprise, and $52,500 were raised by private subscriptions among the commercial men and capitalists of St. Louis. As soon as Col. Hornish assumed the entire manage- ment of the construction of this road, he went to St. Louis and met the repre- sentative men at the Chamber of Commerce, to whom he presented his plans. He entered into a detailed argument to show that, with this road completed, the price per ton for lightening freight around the rapids would be reduced from $2 to 50 cents. His statements were so concise and convincing that, with a commendable spirit of enterprise and liberality, they readily subscribed the sum above named in aid of the enterprise he represented. That liberality was not only valuable to the business interests of St. Louis, but of almost incalculable benefit to the country tributary to the Mississippi above the Rapids. as it saved to the people of the upper country $1.50 on every ton of freight consigned to them, and but for that liberality the accomplishment of this economic measure might have been delayed until the completion of the canal.
The two first locomotive-engines used on this road were brought from St. Louis, where they were manufactured by Messrs. Palm & Robinson. They were not so large as some of more recent manufacture, but were every way as good, and among the best ever used on Iowa railroads. The company named
511
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
one of them after Col. Hornish, out of compliment to his energy and fidelity in the unaided management of their interests, and the other one was named " St. Louis," out of compliment to the liberality of the citizens of St. Louis.
While the road from Keokuk to Montrose was building, the Fort Madison" people took measures to build a railroad to Viele Station, and, in 1857, the Keokuk, Mount Pleasant & Muscatine road was extended from Montrose to Viele, thus connecting Keokuk and Fort Madison by bonds of iron. The road terminated at Fort Madison, and remained in abeyance until 1869. In that year it passed into the ownership of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Com- pany, and was completed to Burlington in 1870.
LOGANSPORT, PEORIA & WARSAW RAILROAD.
The Logansport, Peoria & Warsaw Railroad Company was organized in 1853. In 1856, that portion of the line between Hamilton and Carthage was taken in charge by Hugh W. Sample, as Commissioner, and completed between the two points. After that, the work of construction was suspended until 1859, when Col. Hornish, Guy Wells and June McCune undertook to extend the road from Carthage south to . Clayton, in Adams County, Ill. This was known as the Illinois & Southern Iowa road, and was designed to connect with the Toledo, Wabash & Western road at Clayton, and thus secure a direct eastern outlet for Keokuk. Active work was commenced in 1860. In 1861, the war came on, and, in consequence of a scarcity of men, the progress of the work was slow and tedious. In the fall of 1862, they commenced laying the iron, and in March, 1863, the extension was completed. No local aid was given to this undertaking. The projectors and builders, aided by parties in interest with the Toledo, Wabash & Western line, advanced all the money needed for its completion. In 1863, Charley Frost. and the Secors, of New York, built the road from Carthage to Peoria.
BURLINGTON & SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD.
This road was built under the management of a company that organized at Burlington in 1869. The active members and managers of the company were Hon. Joshua Tracy, James Putnam and John H. Davey, of Burlington, and Col. Hornish, of Keokuk. From Burlington to Viele, the cars of this road use the track of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road. The independent track commences at Viele, and runs due west, through the central part of the county, to Farmington, in Van Buren County ; there crosses the track of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, and terminates at Laclede, Mo. Work commenced at Viele in the summer of 1870, and. was completed to Farmington in the spring of 1871.
MISSOURI, IOWA & NEBRASKA RAILROAD.
This enterprise was first undertaken by E. Platt Buell, of Warsaw, Ill, in connection with enterprising citizens and capitalists of Clark County, Mo. Part of the track was graded by Mr. Buell, in 1867-68. In 1867 -- 68, Gen. Drake, of Centerville, Iowa, and his associates succeeded Mr. Buell. the company was re-organized, the route was changed, and, aided by a combination of Pennsylvania railroad interests, work was recommenced and vigorously prosecuted from Alex- andria, Mo., to Centerville, to which point it was completed about 1874. In 1878, arrangements were made to extend the road up to Keokuk over the track of the road known as the Keokuk route.
512
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
FORT MADISON AND NORTHWESTERN NARROW-GAUGE.
This road is a Fort Madison enterprise. The company was organized on Monday, July 17, 1871. The object was to build a narrow-gange road from Fort Madison via West Point, Birmingham, Fairfield and Oskaloosa, to Coun- cil Bluffs. The present Directors of the company are Dr. A. C. Roberts, J. C. Walker, Charles Doerr, A. L. Courtright, John Van Valkenburg. J. J. Atlee, George Schlapp. Fort Madison; R. W. Pitman, West Point : E. Pitkins. Bir- mingham. Dr. A. C. Roberts. President: J. C. Walker. Vice President : Charles Doerr. Secretary, and A. L. Courtright. Treasurer.
The road is being built by the Fort Madison Construction Company. com- posed of the following-named business men and capitalists: S. & J. C. Atlee, George Schlapp. A. B. Garner, N. C. Roberts, Charles Doerr. A. L. Conrt- right, E. Pitkin, Henry Cattermole. W. H. Kretsinger and Peters & Barnhart. J. C. Atlee, President : W. H. Kretsinger, Vice President : Charles Doerr. Secretary : Charles H. Peters, Treasurer.
The road is graded to West Point, a distance of twelve miles, and ready for the iron, which is contracted for and would have been delivered by the 20th of March, 1878, but for the burning of the mills. It is in contemplation to have the cars running between Fort Madison and West Point by the first of May, 1879. and to Birmingham, forty-one miles, by the Ist of January, 1880.
ST. LOUIS, KEOKUK & NORTHERN RAILROAD,
In 1872, E. Pratt Buell, of Warsaw, Ill., and citizens of Alexandria and Canton. Mo., organized a company to build a road from Alexandria along the west bank of the Mississippi River to a point opposite Quincy. Ill. The road was completed abont 1874. After the road was completed. it passed under new management, and was extended north to Keokuk, and is also being extended south to St. Louis.
DISPOSITION OF THE RAILROAD AID.
Of the $450.000 voted in aid of railroads by the people of Lee County. $150.000 was expended under the management controlling the Fort Madison, West Point & Bloomfield road, which was built from Fort Madison to Viele. The $150.000 voted to the Keokuk. Mount Pleasant & Muscatine road was applied to the extension of the road from Montrose and in ironing the road to Viele. The other $150.000 was used in building the Des Moines Valley road from Keokuk to Bentonsport.
The railroad indebtedness of the county. ineluding accumulated interest, is now about $750.000.
FIRST RAILROAD TICKET OFFICE.
J. R. Tewksbury, now of Fort Madison, has the honor of selling the first railroad ticket sold at Keokuk. In the spring of 1856, he opened a general tieket and freight office on Second street, between Main and Johnson, which was conducted in the interests of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Com- pany. The office was afterward removed to Main street, at the Laclede House. Mr. Tewksbury remained in railroad business until about 1862. He is now in the photograph business at Fort Madison.
PLANK ROAD.
The Des Moines Valley Plankroad Company was organized in 1851, and in May the contract was let to Brownell. Connable & Cunningham, from Keo-
513
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
kuk to Clinton, at $2,390 per mile. The road was to be completed as far as the end of Muddy Lane by November 1, and the balance to be done the next sca- son. The road was originally located to run to Birmingham, in Van Buren County. Branches to Salem and Fairfield were contemplated, but never com- pleted.
DES MOINES RAPIDS. THE CANAL.
The Des Moines or Lower Rapids, are situated near the mouth of the Des Moines River, and extend from Keokuk to Montrose, a distance of eleven miles.
Above these Rapids, the contour lines of the range of bluff's on either side indicate that, at some period in the history of the Mississippi Valley, the river widened and assumed the dimensions of a small lake.
The outlet of this lake was at the present head of the Rapids. The waters, by their ceaseless action, through ages of time, aided by ice and other geolog- ical agencies, gradually eroded a channel through the rocks, until it has increased to its present dimensions.
The bluffs on each side of the river are contiguous to the shore line, and vary from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet above the water. The river-bottom is a broad, smooth rock, seamed by a narrow, crooked channel, or, in some places, several of them, alternately widening and narrowing, shoaling and deepening-nowhere good navigation. The Rapids, therefore, are not broken and noisy, but, the descent being gradual, the water flows over its bed in a broad, smooth, unbroken sheet, with nothing but the faintest ripple on its surface to indicate the dangerous places. The casual observer would not sus- peet the presence of the Rapids, were he not informed beforehand."
The fall in eleven miles is 22 feet; average width of the Mississippi River, 4,500 feet ; its mean depth, 2 and 4-10 feet; and its mean surface velocity, 2 and 88-100 feet per second.
The tortuous, uncertain channel over these Rapids precludes the possibility of any craft navigating them in low-water. Even if the channel itself was wide and decp, no pilot would dare to undertake to pass them at night.
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