USA > Iowa > Linn County > The history of Linn county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &t., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest etc > Part 36
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These quotations will convey a brief idea of what may be found elsewhere of the early existence of man, when search has been made as thorough and intelligently as in Europe. We can likewise gather from this where remains
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
may be looked for, and what we may expect to find. Again, we can note that, in France, where these relics have been found, geologically speaking, it is a much more recent formation than our own. We likewise have made these quo- tations to pave the way for our remarks on the subject of this notice-the Mound Builders. If it is really true that there were pre-historic peoples, then the oldest continent would be, in all probability, the first inhabited; and as this is the oldest continent in the formations of the geological period, and as there are found relics of man in England in identically the same strata as are shown in Linn County, why may we not reasonably expect to find relics of man- relics as old as any-in Linn County ? If man once existed here, why may he not have always existed here? It is certainly unreasonable to think young Europe should alone have early relics of man.
What place the " Mound Builders " are entitled to in the world's history, since they have left no relics but mounds of earth, which mounds are probably funereal pyres or places of sepulture, we can simply conjecture. We believe some rude carvings on slabs have been exhumed at Grand Traverse, Mich., Davenport, Iowa, and Rockford, Ill. These carvings may have reference to the sun, moon and stars ; we believe the savants favor such an interpretation. As to where he lived, careful geological study of his mound may some day deter- mine. He was a link in the chain of man's existence ; tracing it to its source, we may discover some hitherto unknown facts regarding man's origin, or the ancient history of America. This continent may have been more intimately connected with Asia than is at present considered. It was a spontaneous expres- sion of the poet-
" Westward the Star of Empire takes its way."
It is westward the march of peoples has been. Let us trace it back. Philol- ogy, an unerring guide, points out the line of progress. The preservation of the mother tongue, in the roots of speech, are like mile-stones carried forward and set up, to ever after indicate the distance of language from the cradle of its birth. In a word, with rare exceptions, Europe was peopled from Asia, South- ern Asia from Eastern and Northern Asia ; and at a very early day, the Egyp- tian, passing along the shore of the Indian Ocean toward the west, rested at last on the fertile plains of the Nile. Language indicates that Europe and Asia were settled by peoples which came from the northeast of Asia-from the west. Came from America ? From the isles of the Pacific? Let time tell. How many times man has passed around the earth, seeking new fields and pastures green, pressed on from old and worn to new and rich, impelled by his great and ever present hunger, with flocks and herds and increased population, is a topic for speculative thought.
When one becomes familiar with figures, six thousand years of historic time beside the unnumbered ages as read in the earth's rock-record look very small. We can readily imagine the learned and poetic Psalmist of Israel in contem- plating these works of God's hand, exclaiming :
" A thousand years are but as yesterday in Thy sight."
How long is a thousand years ? Compare the life of the empires of the earth with it, and how short their lives appear. Babylon, 1,500 years ; Egypt, 2,200 ; Assyria, 1,500; Phœnicia, 1,500; Jewish, 2,100; Troy, 1,000; Athens, 1,400; Rome, 1,300 ; Medo-Persian, 500; Macedonian, 600; Par- thian, 900; Carthage, 1,300; the average of these-we might say the life of these people, their length of endurance-is less than fourteen hundred years. Taking this as a test, we may assume that a distinct people would not exist
320
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
more than fourteen hundred years. This will give us an idea to judge by. Com- pare the average life of these nations with the age of the Cedar Valley ; com- pare historic age with Cedar Valley, whose channel has been cut down through the rocks between one and two hundred feet. Look at these old Devonian rocks, with their fossils as fresh as of yesterday. Look at the clay soil that overlies the rocks. Has it been changed in fourteen hundred or in six thousand years ? Now look at those mounds that are on the crests of so many ridges, and say how old they are ! Forests of giant trees have come and gone over them, how many times ? Those mounds were built by the people known as the "Mound Builders." What of their life ? What of their age ? What of their history ? We have the mounds, and substantially the mounds only. But these mounds are an interesting study of themselves. We have not observed these mounds only in the vicinity of the Cedar River, above and below Cedar Rapids ; our observations find them in positions as follows :
LOCATION OF MOUNDS NEAR CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.
LOCATION.
No.
Section.
Township.
Range.
Number of Mounds.
1
N. W. ¿ S. W. 4
35
83
7
11
2
S. } S. E. 1
16
83
7
14
3
S. J N. W. A.
16
83
7
11
4
N. W. & N. E. 4
17
83
7
3
5
N. & N. W. 4.
20
83
7
11
6
E. 1
18
83
7
11
7
W. 3.
18
83
7
11
8
N. W. & N. W. 4
24
83
7
12
Total.
84
No. 1 has eleven mounds, situated on the crest of a divide. The general direction of location is from north to south, or south to north. The correct location, I believe, is from south to north; that is, they point to the north. These mounds are now raised about three feet above the level, and are uni- formly thirty feet in diameter. Counting from the south, the sixth and seventh are generally within a few feet-come very near touching each other; the others are as near as, may be, two diameters apart. These remarks will apply to No. 2, No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6. No. 2 has eleven in a line (as No. 1), and then three mounds to the east appear to be parallel, and may have had the remaining eight removed by cultivation. No. 4 is on the bottom-second bench land ; are a little larger in size; the others, to make out the eleven, may have been destroyed by cultivation. No. 7 has eight in position, and then a valley intervenes, and the three additional, making the eleven, are on the ridge next to the north. No. 8 has twelve. They are on the crest of a divide which passes around the head of a deep ravine, and follow the divide at the angle. One mound is set inside of the angle. Most of these mounds (No. 8) have been lately opened, but we think no relics were found. We have been careful to find the place that the earth composing the mounds was taken from. Generally, the banks of a near ravine indicate, by their shape, the place. Under the strongest sunlight, in a mound cut through the center, we could detect no indi- cation or difference in the clay to show that it had been removed or disturbed, or that there had been any remains in it to discolor the clay in their decom- position.
.
321
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
Let it be observed that the mounds are substantially north and south in line of location. They are eleven in number, uniform in size, and, I believe, cover every ridge in the vicinity of the rapids of the Cedar having the direction suffi- cient in length on which the mounds could be placed. They are built in the locality the least likely to be disturbed, and in the shape and of the material the most enduring. There certainly was intelligence displayed in their loca- tion and in the selection of the material of which they are constructed, as well as in the design of their form and positions. There may have been more mounds than these, but these are all that are left-all there are left of that race which might have sent from their number emigrants to people the new land, to the far West, the last continent, fresh and vigorous from the ocean, the newest born, the best then adapted for man's material and mental development.
J. S. Newberry, in Johnson's Cyclopedia, says :
From all the facts before us, we can at present say little more than this, that the Valley of the Mississippi and the Atlantic coast were once densely populated by a sedentary, agricultural and partially civilized race, quite different from the modern nomadic Indians, though, possibly, the progenitors of some of the Indian tribes ; and that, after many centuries of occupation, they disappeared from our country at least one thousand, perhaps many thousands of years, before the advent of the Europeans. The pre-historic remains found so abundantly in Arizona appear to be related to the civilization of Mexico; and the remains of semi-civilized Indian tribes now found there are, perhaps, descendants of the ancient builders of the great houses and cities whose ruins are found there.
GENERAL SUMMARY.
The first white occupant of any part of the territory included in the great State of Iowa, of which history gives any account, was Julien Dubuque, an adventurous Frenchman, who commenced working the lead mines in the vicinity of the site of the city that now bears his name and perpetuates his memory, in 1788. Dubuque is said to have been a Canadian Frenchman, and probably obtained his first knowledge of the Upper Mississippi country from the reports left by James Marquette and Louis Joliet, who were authorized by the French Government of Canada, in 1673, to "start from the Straits of Mackinaw and find out and explore the great river lying west of them," of which they had heard marvelous accounts from the Indians about Lake Michigan.
Marquette and Joliet, accompanied by five boatmen, left the southern extremity of Green Bay and ascended Fox River in small canoes to the head- waters of that stream, and thence carried their canoes and provisions across to Wisconsin River. Again launching their canoes, they floated down that stream and entered the Mississippi on the 17th day of June, 1673. "When we entered the majestic stream," wrote Marquette, "we realized a joy we could not express." Quietly and easily they were swept down to the solitude below, filled, no doubt, with wonder and admiration as they beheld the bold bluffs and beautiful meadows along the western bank of the Father of Waters, then revealed for the first time to the eyes of white men. This was the discovery of Iowa-the "Beautiful Land."
At this time, and until 1788, this newly discovered territory was inhabited only by tribes of Indians, of whom we have but a vague and unsatisfactory his- tory. Marquette and Joliet left but a very brief statement concerning them, and that statement is summed up in a very brief paragraph. On the 21st day of June, 1673, the fourth day of their journey down the Mississippi, they landed on the west bank and "discovered footprints of some fellow mortals and a little path leading into a pleasant meadow." They followed that trail a short distance, when they heard the Indians talking, and, making their presence
322
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
known by a loud cry, they were conducted to an Indian village, the location of which, by some, has been conjectured was near the Des Moines River. Other authorities, with a reasonable degree of plausibility, have claimed that it was not far from the present site of the city of Davenport. The inhabitants of this Indian village are said to have been of the Ililin,* who are supposed to have occupied a large portion of the country bordering on the Mississippi. The I llini were succeeded by the Winnebagoes, who in turn gave place to the Iowas. The Iowas, after having been defeated in a sanguinary conflict by the Sacs and Foxes, t yielded up their prairie homes to the victorious foe, and sullenly retired to more peaceful hunting grounds farther west, leaving the name as an unfad- ing remembrance to the flourishing State that now occupies their aboriginal possessions.
For a period of one hundred years following this discovery, or until 1763, France claimed jurisdiction over the country thus discovered by Marquette and Joliet, when that government ceded it to Spain, but in 1801 the Spanish Gov- ernment ceded back to France all interest in the Mississippi Valley, and, under treaty dated April 30, 1803, the First Consul of the French Republic ceded these possessions to the United States.
It was while under the dominion of the Spanish Government in 1788, that Dubuque found his way to the Galena section of Iowa and obtained from Blon- deau and two other chiefs of the Fox tribe of Indians what he claimed was a grant of lands. His claim was described as "seven leagues (twenty-one miles) on the west bank of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Little Maquoketa River to the Tete Des Mortes, and three leagues (nine miles) in depth. This grant from the Indian chief Blondeau was subsequently qualifiedly confirmed by Carondelet, the Spanish Governor at New Orleans. Dubuque intermarried with the Indians among whom he had cast his fortunes, and continued to ope- rate his mines (employing about ten white men), until the time of his death in 1810. In 1854, a case having been made, the United States Supreme Court decided that his grant from the Indian chief Blondeau, qualifiedly confirmed by the Spanish Governor, Carondelet, was nothing more than a "temporary license to dig ore, and constituted no valid claim to the soil."-[16 Howard Rep., 224.]
March 16, 1804, the boundary line between Upper and Lower Louisiana was established. The lower country was called the Territory of New Orleans, and the upper country the District of Louisiana. The District of Louisiana embraced the present States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, and was attached to the Territory of Indiana for political and judicial purposes. In 1807, Iowa was organized with the Territory of Illinois, and in 1812, it was included in the Territory of Missouri. In 1821, when Missouri was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State, Iowa was left, for a time, as a "political orphan," in which condition she remained until attached to Michigan Territory, in June, 1834. Under an act of Congress, approved April 20, 1836, which went into effect July 3, of the same year, the territory now comprising the States of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota was organized as Wisconsin Territory, and Henry Dodge appointed Governor.
"At the close of the Black Hawk war," says Hon. C. C. Nourse, in his State Address, delivered at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, Thursday,
*Tribe of Men.
+The Sauks or Saukies (white clay), and the Foxes or Outagamies (so called by the Europeans), and Algonquins, respectively, but whose true name is Mus-quak-ki-uk (red clay), are in fact but one nation. When the French Missionaries first came in contact with them in 1665, they found that they spoke the same language, and that it differed from the Algonquins, though belonging to the same stock .- Albert Gallatin.
323
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
September 7, 1876, "and on the 15th of September, 1832, Gen. Winfield Scott concluded a treaty at the present site of the City of Davenport [on the grounds now occupied by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Depot -ED. ] with the confederate tribes of Sac and Fox Indians, by which the Indian title was extinguished to that portion of Iowa known as the Black Hawk Pur- chase." This was a strip of land on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the western boundary of which commenced at the southeast corner of the pres- ent county of Davis; thence to a point on Cedar River, near the northeast corner of Johnson County; thence nothwest to the neutral grounds of the Win- nebagoes ; thence to the Mississippi to a point above Prairie du Chien, and con- tained about six million acres of land. By the terms of this treaty, the Indians were to occupy this land until June 1, 1833." Under the jurisdiction of Mich- igan Territory this strip was divided into two counties-Dubuque and Des Moines-being divided by a line commencing at the flag-staff at Fort Arm- strong (Rock Island), and thence running due west forty miles.
In 1836, when the first census of this district of country was taken, the population of the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines aggregated 10,531.
At the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, held in 1836, the counties of Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine and Cook, now called Scott, and Slaughter (now Washington), were organized out of the original Des Moines County. At the second session, which convened at Bur- lington, Des Moines County, in November, 1837, Dubuque County was sub- divided, and the following counties erected therefrom: Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, Delaware, Buchanan, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Benton, Clinton and Cedar.
DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY-INDIAN NAMES-TIMBER-SOIL.
Linn County is composed of twenty congressional townships, being Town- ships 82, 83, 84, 85 and 86 north, Ranges 5, 6, 7 and 8 west of the Fifth Principal Meridian, and is bounded by Buchanan and Delaware Counties on the north, Jones and Cedar Counties on the east, Johnson County on the south and Benton County on the west.
Cedar River enters Linn County at the northwest quarter of Section 18, between Fayette and Washington civil Townships, Township 85 north, Range 8 west, and flows in an irregular course southeasterly through the county, finally crossing the county line on Section 34, of Franklin civil Township, Township 82 north, Range 5 west.
The Wapsipinicon River enters the county on Section 6 of Spring Grove civil Township, Township 86 north, Range 7 west, and flows irregularly in a southeasterly direction, leaving the county on Section 1 of Brown civil Town- ship, Township 84 north, Range 5 west.
Buffalo Creek enters the county on Section 4 of Jackson civil Township, Township 86 north, Range 6 west, and runs almost parallel with the Wapsipin- icon, leaving the county on Section 24 of Buffalo civil Township, Township 85 north, Range 5 west.
The entire county is amply drained by numerous creeks and small streams, which preserve the region from malarial exhalations, and supply abundant facil- ities for the raising of farm products and live stock. Thus, in the economy of nature, have been wisely provided means for the development and maintenance of a large and healthy community, as well as for the profitable management of such industries as are demanded by the settlers in the various sections.
B
324
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The Cedar River is so called because of the large quantities of red cedar which were at one time growing on its banks. The Indians named the stream, according to the authority of Mr. Antoine Le Claire, late of Davenport, who was probably one of the most accomplished Indian linguists of his day, the Mosk- wah-wak-wah, meaning the Red Cedar.
The so called Wapsipinicon is, properly, the Wau-bis-e-pin-e-ka, meaning the White Potato ; but the white man has robbed the name of its euphony, and attached to the fine stream the less musical title by which it is now designated.
The small creeks bear the names of those settlers who were, perhaps. first to own the lands through which they flow, as in the case of Abbe's Creek, or else have no further specific names than the practical pioneers saw fit to call them by.
Mr. David Dale Owen, in the Spring of 1849, made a partial survey of the adjoining county of Cedar, and what he said later of the valley of which Linn County forms a part, is interesting.
" Though the valley of Cedar River cannot boast the dense forests of Indi- ana or Ohio, yet, for a provident people, it contains timber sufficient for fuel, fencing and building purposes ; and the absence of continuous forests is well repaid by the facility with which the settlers in the prairie can, in a few years, reduce an extensive farm to excellent order, aided, as in these level meadow lands he has an opportunity to be, in his sowing and harvesting operations, by labor-saving machinery."
The beautiful valley of the Cedar and the adjacent territory unrolls before the eye of the traveler in a succession of charming landscapes. As one gazes upon them at the present day, and beholds the wonders that nature has created and man has transformed into fruitful farms, with the aid of the mechanical devices which have so enlarged the capabilities of the farmer. the eye is delighted at the scene and one is forced to exclaim, "This, indeed, is a beauti- ful land, an Iowa."
Linn County is not only a section most pleasing to the eye, it is also one of the most healthful regions-free from miasmatic poisons-to be found in the State. The general character of the landscape is undulating prairie, with pro- fuse groves of thrifty hard wood trees.
The timber consists of White Oak, Quercus Alba ; Black Oak, Quercus Tinctoria ; Red Oak, Quercus Rubra ; Burr Oak, Quercus Macrocarpa ; Hickory, Carya Alba; Elm, Ulmus Americana ; White Maple, Acer Dasycar- pum ; Sugar Maple, Acer Saccharinum ; Linden or Basswood, Tilia Ameri- cana ; Cottonwood, Populus Monilifera ; Oak predominating.
The natural fruits are crab apple, wild cherry, plum and grape. There are many black walnut and butternut trees.
As is indicated by the manner in which the flowing streams pass through the county, the character of the soil is unusually uniform. It is evident that nature designed the gentle mounds and rich valley lands for grazing purposes, while at the same time the region was supplied most bountifully with those qualities which go to make up a profitable grain growing country.
At the present time it may be observed that farmers are turning their atten- tion more particularly to stock-raising, wisely concluding that the rich harvests of grain can be more economically transported " on the hoof " than in the kernel. Neat cattle, horses and hogs are grown and shipped in large numbers. No difficulty is experienced in securing abundant feed of all descriptions for the animals thus brought out to supply the Eastern markets.
The county is well adapted to dairy purposes. Innumerable streams flow through meadow lands, that are almost inexhaustible in their fertility. Springs
325
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
of pure cold water leap forth in almost every part of the county, contributing material aid to the thrifty housewife and dairymaid.
Above all else that may be spoken in just praise of this county, the distin- guishing feature is its marked healthfulness. The miasmatic poisons incidental to the first breaking up of new lands have long since been blown away. The prairie which once was unstable, and trembled beneath the tread of the pioneer, is now firm as solid earth can be, and the highly cultivated farms proclaim the death of the old and the birth of the new era.
The streams are pure and rapid, hurrying over their beaten beds, cool and limpid, as though impressed with a sense of the blessings they are constantly dispensing on all around. The noble Cedar exercises a paternal watchfulness over the lesser water courses, and bends with graceful sweep, far from its own direct path, to take up and urge forward a modest creek. The many tribu- taries of the Cedar encroach on what would naturally be called the drainage territory of the Wapsipinicon, and carry the spring waters southward, until they are finally merged into the great Mississippi.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The tide of civilization gradually flowed westward from the Mississippi River. The regular chain of progress is clearly shown, and forms a portion of the history of Linn County. Venturesome spirits pushed bravely ahead of the advance posts, claiming rights to unsurveyed territory, in anticipation of inde- pendence and fortune. The story of these pioneers' lives is one of absorbing interest to those who now are reaping the reward of their courage and persever- ance, and as the years roll by, carrying the original settlers, one by one, to the great hereafter, the pages which record the incidents of primitive life in the then Far West will continue to increase in value. While it is true that those who located in this county in the years 1837 and '38 came from the East, it is also certain that this section would not have been reached so early in this cen- tury had the lands immediately west of the Mississippi been unselected. It was, and still is, the desire of genuine pioneers to find a spot beyond the con- fines of civilization, no matter how crude the out-lying stations may be.
Turning, therefore, to the first records for the causes which led to the loca- tion of Linn County by white men, it is found that the earliest settlements made in Iowa were along the Mississippi River. In 1833, the miners from the east side of the Mississippi, at Galena and the adjacent district in Wisconsin, were permitted to cross the river and settle upon the land included in the Black Hawk Purchase. The galena district around Dubuque was the first great center of attraction, but as soon as the settlers commenced raising mineral the United States appeared, by an agent, and assumed direct control of all the min- eral-bearing lands, requiring the miners to take out permits for limited privi- leges, and to deliver the ore to a licensed smelter, who paid the Government a royalty on the lead manufactured. These restrictions became so exacting and so hard to enforce that the Government abandoned them, in 1846, and put the land into market.
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