USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 79
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In February, Mr. Dagger was employed by the city to establish the grade of Johnson, Main and Blondeau streets, at a compensation of $3 per day.
The city secured the M. E. Church for the first term of the District Court held at Keokuk, paying the Trustees $2.50 per day for its use. March 20, the Council allowed a bill of $30 for the use of the church for the first term of the Court.
February, 1848, the Council employed William Telford as City Attor- nev.
Monday, March 6, 1848, the Council proceeded to elect a " Road Super- visor and Street Inspector." Alderman Bassett proposed Hawkins Taylor ; Alderman Houston proposed W. Pattee. Taylor received three votes and Pattee one. The compensation was fixed at $1.50 per day for each day actually employed, and he had to give bond at that. Hawkins Taylor is now a well- known citizen of Washington, and William Pattee is equally familiar to the people of the city of Des Moines.
The second election for city officers (first full term) was held on the 10th of April, 1848. Justin Millard was elected Mayor; A. Van Tuyl and Moses Job were elected Aldermen from the First Ward ; Silas Haight and George Watkins from the Second Ward; and Clark Johnson and Robert P. Creel from Third Ward.
The new Council met April 17, and elected minor officers as follows; T. F. Anderson, Clerk ; James T. Cochran, Assessor (unanimous); M. T. Landon, City Marshal, Collector and Treasurer. Levi Millard was elected Street Com- missioner, April 27, 1848, although a petition signed by 118 citizens was pre- sented the Council praying the re-instatement of Hawkins Taylor, who had been ordered to cease work ten days before.
Monday, May 1. W. C. Read was appointed to be City Attorney.
Hawkins Taylor denied the power of the new Council to remove him from office, admitting that he had done his duty, and the question was submitted to the Judge of the District Court.
The Council meeting of June 5, 1848, was a stormy one. An effort was made to elect a wharfmaster. D. Hine, P. Vushroot and G. C. Harriott were voted for, but there was no election. After four ballots, the Mayor called Alderman Creel to the chair, and verbally tendered his resignation. The question of acceptance was put to vote, and Alderman Johnson was the only man who voted aye. Mr. Johnson then offered his resignation; Messrs. Watkins and Haight voted aye.
October 17, 1848, Mayor Millard's written resignation was read to the Council and unanimously accepted, and an election ordered for the 28th of October, to fill the vacancy. At a meeting of the Council on the 19th of October. the Council voted to depose Clerk Anderson, and Jonas W. Brown was elected to be his successor. Anderson refused to turn over the books and papers, and L. E. H. Houghton was employed to assist City Attorney N. Mun- ger in preparing charges and bringing an action against Thomas F. Anderson, to compel him to turn over the books. The charges filed against Anderson were : (1) Making unnecessary charges in advertising ordinances, by writing
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more words than the ordinances contained ; (2) altering records of Council, and (3) incompetency, from drink.
At the special election for Mayor, on the 28th of October, Uriah Raplee- was elected, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Millard.
At a meeting of the Council on the 6th of November, 1848, it was voted to pay the Clerk a fixed salary of $300 per year.
At a Council meeting December 16, 1848, a resolution was passed fining the members $1.25 for each absence, and also imposing a fine of 25 cents for smoking in the Council-chamber when the Council was in session, the proceeds from these fines to go for lights and stationery. At the same meeting, Jonas W. Brown was elected City Recorder. Messrs. Haight and Walker were- allowed their expenses and $1.50 per day for going to Iowa City in the inter- ests of a new charter. M. F. Landon was elected to be City Marshal.
And thus commenced the city's career. Measures were inaugurated for grading and improving the streets ; roadways and streetways were cut through the hills and bluffs from the river. Improvement succeeded improvement, and. building followed building to the top of the bluffs, along the streets, and then began to scatter out along the cross streets.
In 1851, the bulk of the business had been transferred from the levee and. Front street to Second street, between Main and Johnson streets, and to Main street, between Second and Third. An occasional shanty was built along the ravine that intersected Main street, between Third and Fourth.
At the corner of Sixth and Main there was a deep ravine. Previous to 1842 or 1843, this ravine was impassable. At that time, a German butcher named Long, a member of Jo Smith's Church of Mormon, owned and occupied a small frame house at the corner of Main and Fifth streets, the site now occupied by the savings-bank. He was a good citizen and a man of enterprise and inter- ested in the growth and prosperity of Keokuk. He desired to have Main street opened to the western limits of the town. The only way that could be done was by filling up or bridging that ugly ravine. So he presented the mat- ter to the church of which he was a member, and on a certain day, the Mor- mons came in force from Nauvoo and other localities, with axes, picks, spades, shovels and teams, to undertake the work. The citizens here joined them. Large trees were felled and cut in lengths to suit, and then hauled or rolled to. the bottom of the ravine. Some of the trees were two feet in diameter. Brush was cut and piled on the logs, and then the earth was dug away from the steep places and transferred to the top of the log and brush heap, and the obstruc- tions caused by the ravine were thus overcome, and Main street opened to pub- lic travel.
The logs are there yet, and will remain there until the earth is consumed by fire, as it is written it shall be. It is said by Israel Anderson, H. D. Bart- lett and others, that the Mormons were very liberal in such undertakings and. toward each other. If one of them undertook a contract for clearing land, making rails or cutting cordwood, his brethren all joined in and made short. work of the undertaking.
Dick Richardson, a small man, with sandy hair and whiskers and a large woman for a wife, was one of the first to settle out beyond Sixth street, where he built a small cabin, from very small logs. The logs were so small that two men could carry them from where they were cut to the cabin site. When the cabin was completed, it was so low that " Black Hawk No. 2" (Israel Ander- son) could not stand erect under the eaves of the roof. When he attempted to. enter the door, he had to do so half bent.
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The Richardsons brought with them a high-posted bedstead, and when they came to occupy their cabin it was found the roof was too low for the posts of the bedstead. Dick, the husband, proposed to cut them off to suit the height of the roof, but his wife said him nay ; and when a big wife with a little hus- band says no, she means it. So she had him cut holes through the roof for the tops of the bed-posts, and in that way the bedstead was put up. The posts reached up as much as two feet above the roof, and stood that way for a long time. The Richardson cabin stood near the present site of Fuller's drug store.
In 1853, there were some indications of a removal of business to Third street, between Main and Johnson, and, in 1854, a number of business houses were established in that locality, and also along Main, from Second to Fourth.
When the question of land titles was settled, in 1854, speculation in town lots commenced, and prices went kiting. This speculation continued until interrupted by the financial panic in 1857. Buying and selling lots was the ruling idea. Agents were sent here from New York, Boston, New Orleans, Charleston, S. C., St. Louis, from all the money centers of the United States, and from London, England, to make investments. People went almost mad with excitement.
In the spring of 1857, Hawkins Taylor, - O'Harra and Rufus Wilsey organized a company to build a grand hotel, one that would be in keeping, every way, with the grand future that seemed to be opening out before Keokuk. The corner of Main and Fifth streets was selected for the proposed hotel, and $40,000 were paid for 150 feet front. The erection of the Estes House was commenced and carried up to the fourth story, when the panic came on. There was a wonderful shrinkage in values, and the projectors of that mammoth structure were forced to succumb to the inevitable. In their extremity, they applied to Col. J. K. Hornish for aid to complete the undertaking. Hornish responded, and commenced to advance money to finish this metropolitan enter-' prise. In the end, he had to take the building and ground, and to assume the management of its completion, the entire cost of which was about $187,000. It was never opened as a hotel, and, when the war commenced, it was occupied as a Government hospital.
The following letters of well-known men will show the estimate that was put upon Keokuk real estate about the time the Estes House was building :
KEOKUK, January 9, 1857.
Messrs. GEORGE P. BISSELL & Co .- Gentlemen : Mr. D. Redington has requested me to give my opinion as to the value of Lots Five (5) and Six (6), Block Thirty-one (31), in this city. The lots are on the corner of Fourth and Exchange streets, well situated for business purposes, in a part of the town where extensive improvements are being made and property rapidly advancing. I should consider the lots ample security for $10,000 or $12,000.
I suppose they would now sell on the usual time, one, two and three years, with 10 per cent interest per annum, on which property is sold here, for $21,000 to $25,000.
It gives me pleasure to say that Mr. Redington is a good citizen and an energetic business man, and, I may add, has been quite successful.
Respectfully yours, D. W. KILBOURNE.
P. S .- I am well acquainted with Messrs. Stempel & Harper, of Fort Madison, and have entire confidence in their abstracts of title. D. W. K.
KEOKUK, January 18, 1857.
Mr. GEORGE P. BISSELL-Sir : I am required by Mr. Redington to state to you the cash value of his property on the corner of Exchange and Fourth streets, Lots 5 and 6, Block 31, Keokuk, Iowa.
I am acquainted with the property, and can say it is among the best in the city in its locality, and will soon be in the center of the business part of the city. It would sell now for from $20,000 to $30,000, and if they were mine, I would not sell them for that.
Mr. Redington is one of our best business men, successful in all his undertakings, is doing a very large business, and is considered a reliable and responsible man.
Yours very truly,
SAMUEL R. CURTIS, Mayor's Office, Keokuk.
:
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
In my opinion, Lots Five (5) and Six (6), in Block Thirty-one (31), in the city of Keokuk, are worth from $20,000 to $25.000. I do not think, if they were mine, I would sell them for less than $25,000, and I consider them ample security for the sum of $13,500.
WM. W. BELKNAP,
Agent Phoenix and Hartford Fire Insurance Companies.
Refers to Messrs. S. L. Loomis, H. Kellogg and C. B. Bowers.
KEOKUK, Iowa, February 2, 1857.
In 1854, the railroad land-grant system of Iowa was organized, upon a large land grant from the United States to the State of Iowa. This grant was manipulated in the exclusive interests of roads centering at Chicago. At this date, there were no railroads touching the Mississippi River. and Keokuk was the practical head of unobstructed navigation, and St. Louis was the com- mercial center of all the trade of the Upper Mississippi country. But the railroad land-grant system soon changed all this. Capital, being invited by the land grant, pushed roads from four different points across the State east and west above the rapids, and all in the interests of Chicago. The completion of these roads changed the direction and practically superseded the influence of St. Louis and the river trade.
In 1857, the population of Keokuk was about fifteen thousand. When the panic came on, in September of this year, everything became prostrate, and business combinations discouraged. Property began to depreciate in value, and the population to scatter, so that, at the beginning of the war in 1861, there was a real decrease in population. When the war commenced, there was an apparent revival of business and prosperity, resulting, in a great measure. from the large hospital arrangements and recruiting-stations which were estab- lished here. But there was no substantial increase of population or wealth. As soon as the war ended and Government business was closed up, everything fell back into legitimate channels, and the population was discovered to be at a stand-still, nor has it ever advanced above 15,000 at any time. At one time during the heyday of Keokuk's prosperity, scores of men were engaged in digging down bluffs in one place and filling up ravines in another. The streets were almost completely blocked with great piles of brick, sand, lumber, lime and mortar- beds. But, notwithstanding the fact that many of the old first buildings were torn away to make room for brick structures, of which the city is mainly com- posed, some of the primitive frame buildings, with clapboard weather-boarding, are still standing as reminders of the olden time. When the first houses were built, sawed lumber was scarce, and nearly all of it was brought up the river from St. Louis or from points along the Ohio River. The flooring in the Hardin House was brought from that direction, and some of the floors have never been replaced. In the billiard-hall, in particular, the floor is as good and as solid as when it was first laid down. The lumber from which it was made is of yellow pine, and is good for another quarter of a century, unless destroyed by fire. Since the days of Pittsburgh lumber and clapboard weather- boarding, the pine forests of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin have been utilized and made to pay tribute to all the cities along the entire course of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.
Keokuk is, and must always remain, a trade center of no ordinary impor- tance. It is a natural receiving and distributing point for a large scope of the richest and most' productive country on the American continent. Practically, it is at the head of unobstructed navigation. For many years after Iowa began to settle up, and before the day of railroads, goods were brought from New York, Philadelphia and other markets, by water-craft to New Orleans, or from Pittsburgh, down the Ohio River to its mouth, and then up the Missis-
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
sippi to the foot of the Rapids. Here they were discharged. That part of the cargoes consigned to up-river towns was lightened over the Rapids and then reloaded. Goods consigned to interior points, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Indianola, Winterset, Centreville, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Fairfield and other set- tlements, were hauled overland from Keokuk in prairie-schooners, hundreds of which have been seen along the levee and Front street at one time. When great lines of railways began to be extended from New York and other Eastern trade-centers to Chicago, and then from Chicago west to the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, competing points sprang up, and every possible means was employed to overcome the natural advantages of Keokuk as a commercial city. Added to these natural advantages, it was fortunate that the early merchants, capitalists and public men were of the most liberal and enterprising character, and that they had the nerve and determination to "hold the fort " at whatever cost to themselves. And they succeeded. Nature provided the rock and the hill upon which Dr. Samuel C. Muir and Dr. Isaac Galland founded the city. Nature made the gate of entrance to the Territory of Iowa, and faithful senti- nels have always guarded it. These sentinels never slept. They were always on the alert. Their quick eyes saw every movement made in the interest of rival points, and their enterprise foiled them at every turn. This enter- prise has resulted in not only maintaining the natural advantages of location, but in fortifying it with a net-work of railroads that bids defiance to the com- bined influence of all rival interests between St. Louis and St. Paul, on the one hand, and Chicago and Omaha on the other. Keokuk enterprise and fore- sight secured a combined railway and wagon bridge across the Mississippi River, that not only secured the trade of a large section of Illinois, but opened direct communication with Eastern trade-centers. The same enterprising spirit also bridged the Des Moines River, and brought the trade of North- eastern Missouri to the doors of the merchants and traders. When the. railroad interests sought the right of way to build a bridge, Keokuk enter- prise insisted upon a combined right of way, that farmers and local travel might be benefited as well as moneyed monopolies. The railroad interests stormed and threatened to locate their bridge at some other point. The people were not intimidated by such threats, but demanded that the bridge should be open to local traffic as well as railway traffic. They stood firm, and the result of that firmness is the magnificent combination bridge that is a benefit and an advantage to Keokuk, the farmer and the railway interests alike.
·The same enterprise that planned and completed their mammoth bridge structure, also secured the construction of six different lines of railroad, that radiate from Keokuk. Besides the benefit derived directly from these roads, there are others that serve as feeders.
The supremacy of Keokuk over any other city in Iowa, as a wholesale mar- ket, is unquestioned. She does the largest grocery trade, the largest dry goods and notion trade, and the largest boot and shoe trade of any town or city in the State.
There are five exclusively wholesale grocery houses, the most of which have been in continuous business for more than twenty years.
Burlington has three wholesale grocery houses, the largest and oldest of which does not sell more goods, annually, than the smallest Keokuk house.
Ottumwa has one jobbing grocery house ; Oskaloosa, one; Des Moines, two; Muscatine, two; Davenport, two ; Dubuque, three; Council Bluffs, one; Sioux City, two.
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
Among the dry goods and notion houses, Keokuk, probably, has the largest establishments in the State-one firm alone occupying a building 90x140 feet, three stories high.
Of the boot and shoe dealers, one firm occupies a four-story building, 50x140 feet, which is filled from top to bottom. This firm manufactures largely, and sells in large lots to Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul and many other large jobbing centers, as well as to the legitimate trade in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois.
The wholesale trade in iron, hardware, drugs, clothing, hats, caps, millinery and such lines of goods is as well represented as in any other town or city in Iowa.
The lumber interests are large and rapidly increasing. In the last three years, the volume of this trade has doubled. Large quantities of lumber are sold to Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, and Southern Iowa.
The pioneer lumber-dealer of Keokuk was John W. Scroggs, who came to the city in 1846, and, in connection with his business as a carpenter, established a yard on the northwest corner of Second and Main streets. He is still in the business, on the corner of Fifth and Concert streets. The trade of Keokuk in this line now reaches 20,000,000 feet annually.
The city is able now, as in the past, to maintain its prestige as a jobbing center, by reason of superior freighting facilities. Being a terminal as well as a competing point for all railroad and river lines, it is a question of cost. With four trunk lines from the East, and the river to the East and South, the question of freights is reduced to the minimum.
The outlet westward from Keokuk is unsurpassed by any city in Iowa, and, upon the completion of the line of railroad now in course of construction, will be materially improved. Especial improvement will result from the com- pletion of the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska, and the road down the west bank of the Mississippi to St. Louis.
At this time (March, 1879), freights are being contracted from New Orleans to Keokuk, at 20@25 cents per 100 pounds. These facts show why Keokuk is able to successfully compete with Chicago for the trade of the West. The city's future is as bright with hope as its past has been full of substantial prosperity.
PUBLIC ENTERPRISES.
RAILROAD AND WAGON BRIDGE.
The subject of a railroad and wagon bridge across the river at Keokuk was first agitated in February, 1865, at which time 'articles of incorporation were drawn up and approved, under the name of the Hancock County Bridge Company.
In January, 1866, the present organization, known as the Keokuk & Hamilton Mississippi Bridge Company, was incorporated.
Preliminary surveys, looking to the location and construction of the bridge, were made in March, 1867, by Col. Otley, of the Des Moines Valley road, assisted by Mr. J. S. Smith, under the direction of T. C. Clarke, Engineer-in- chief of the Quincy bridge. The object was to get an estimate of the probable cost of the structure.
From this survey, preliminary plans were made and submitted to the city authorities of Keokuk, in 1868, upon which an ordinance, granting the right of way across the levee, was passed and approved May 25. Final plans, esti- mates and reports were submitted by T. C. Curtis, Esq., to the Directors of the
4
le J. Davis
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company in June, 1868. Then the prospect became a fixed purpose. The contract for constructing the bridge was let to the Keystone Bridge Company, of Pittsburgh, December 6, 1868, for $850,000.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BRIDGE.
The bridge has the longest draw-span on the river-160 feet on the square, and 3763 feet from center to center. Then there are two spans 250 feet each in the clear of the masonry; three spans 162 feet 9 inches from center to center of piers ; one span of 151 feet 4 inches, and four of 164 feet 7 inches. The pivot-pier is 32 feet in diameter on top ; the first pier, 7 feet by 29 on top and 10 by 51.9 at bottom. All the other piers are 6 by 29 at top and 10 by 51.9 at bottom. There are thirteen in all, including the pivot-pier, the average height of which is 35 feet. They reach 10 feet above the high-water mark of 1851. The superstructure is 2,192 feet in length, and, in width, 20 feet in the clear. There is a wagon-track of sufficient width to accommodate all kinds of vehicles, on either side of the railroad-track. The passage-ways for footmen are outside of the superstructure, and are 5 feet in width.
The western terminus of the bridge is at the foot of Blondeau street, the eastern at the depot causeway.
The work was done under the personal supervision of Mr. Joseph S. Smith, resident engineer in charge of substructure ; Walter Katle, in charge of erec- tion of bridge, assisted by Mr. F. S. Kaufman, foreman of the ten permanent spans ; Mr. H. M. Shotts, foreman of the draw-span, and Mr. Frank Reeder, machinist and foreman of the steam-engine and hydraulic works.
The first passage of the bridge by a locomotive and cars was on Tuesday, April 19, 1871. To the engine was attached two passenger-cars, well filled by the officers of the Bridge Company and invited friends. On this first trip, the massive iron pivot center, on which is swung the draw-span, was crushed by the weight of the train ; but a new one was substituted in a few days from the foundry of Sample, Armitage & Co., of Keokuk.
Nothing in the way of a public enterprise has been of such benefit to Keo- kuk as the building of this bridge. Besides the advantages of railroad com- munication, an immense trade is secured from the adjacent country in Illinois, which would otherwise be lost.
THE WATER WORKS.
The Water Works Company was organized April 21, 1877. Capital stock, $100,000, divided into shares of $100 each.
Board of Directors-William Leighton, Guy Wells, W. C. Stripe, Pat Gibbons, S. P. Pond, James H. Anderson.
Officers-President, William Leighton; Vice President, Guy Wells; Treas- urer, Edward Johnstone; Secretary and Engineer, W. C. Stripe.
HISTORY OF THE ENTERPRISE. [From the Gate City, July 19, 1878.]
The great inconvenience to which the citizens of Keokuk have been peri- odically subjected through lack of water, an inconvenience amounting almost to distress at times, induced W. C. Stripe to study the subject of an artificial sup- ply of that indispensable element.
Some three years since, a few citizens, at his invitation, met at the U. S. Engineer's office to inspect his plans and consult respecting the feasibility of
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HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.
erecting Water Works. The plans, so far as they were matured, met their approbation, and he was requested to complete them and make estimates of the probable cost and profits.
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