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 37
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The men who first came to the Dubuque region were not long in discover- ing the exceeding beauty and fertility of the lands embraced in the Black Hawk Purchase, and their fame soon spread far and wide. Indiana was pretty well occupied ; Illinois, admitted into the Union in 1818, had received a large rush of immigration ; and, pushing on through these States, adventurous men and women soon began to cross the Mississippi River and to settle in various parts of the famous Black Hawk lands of Iowa. West of the Father of Rivers,
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
there were no roads. When once a pioneer crossed the great river, he left behind, if we may except the few miners' cabins that sprang up at Dubuque, all evidences of the civilizing influences and surroundings of white people. A pocket compass or the North Star were the only guides. Hundreds of the first pioneers to the "Forty Mile Strip " of Iowa had no definite point of settle- ment in view when they left their old homes to create new ones in the far West beyond the Mississippi ; but, bold, fearless, determined and resolute, they pushed on and on until they found a locality to suit their fancy, and then pitched their tents or lived in their wagons-those great, schooner-like concerns, of the Conestoga (Pennsylvania) kind, that would hold about as much as an ordinary canal boat-until cabins could be reared.
Previous to 1829, there were no regularly established ferries at any point on the Upper Mississippi, and but little, if any, use for ferries. Dubuque and his men, when they had occasion to cross the river to the Illinois side, used Indian canoes. Dubois, who is said to have come to the Dubuque region about the same time with Dubuque, but who settled on the Illinois side in what is now Dunleith Township, Jo Daviess County, as a trader among the Menominee Indians, used the same means of crossing when he had occasion to visit his cotemporary. December 8, 1829, the County Commissioners of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, granted a license to John Barrel to establish and maintain a ferry at Rock Island. At that time, Jo Daviess County, Illinois, extended from the northwest corner of the State to the south line of the north tier of townships in Mercer County, and not far from the present site of Keithsburg, and thence east along the north line of the military tract to the Illinois River. Until about 1835, when new counties began to be formed out of Jo Daviess, all that region of country, now including nine full counties, and several parts of counties, was subjected to the jurisdiction of Jo Daviess County, so that when the first immigrants to the Cedar River country crossed the Mississippi River they were subject to ferry charges established by the Commissioners of Jo Daviess. Barrel's Rock Island ferry was established December 8, 1829. License had been granted to Col. Davenport for a similar purpose, at the same place, a few months previous. When the ferry license was granted to Barrel, the Commissioners ordered that he be permitted to charge the same rates as those established by Col. Davenport, which were as follows :
Man and horse $ 25
Horses or cattle, per head, other than cattle yoke .. 371
Road wagon 1 00
For each horse hitched to said wagon 25
Each two-horse wagon. 75
Each two-wheeled carriage or cart ... 1 00
One-horse wagon.
Each hundred weight of merchandise, etc 6
75
"As far back as 1831," says Judge Tuthill, of Tipton, Cedar County, " Col. George Davenport established a trading post with the Sauks and Foxes, on the west side of Cedar River, just above the mouth of Rock Creek, which was kept up by him for a period of four years, until his abandonment in 1835. Poweshiek, a noted Fox chief, with a considerable number of his tribe, made his headquarters near this trading post in 1834, and while there encamped was threatened with an attack from the fierce and warlike Sioux, between whom and the Sauks and Foxes there existed a chronic feud. Upon receipt of the start- ling intelligence, Poweshiek immediately commenced throwing up sod embank- ments and earthworks to protect his people from the ferocious enemy, who were supposed to largely outnumber the threatened party. A sanguinary combat seemed inevitable; the Sioux steadily approached, and had reached Mason's
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
Grove, their savage paraphernalia and war paint betokening unappeasable ven- geance, when lo! the angel of peace appeared in the shape of the United States Indian Agent, whose power and authority being duly and successfully exerted, the untoward affair was speedily brought to a peaceful conclusion.
" The debris and somewhat obscure remains of that primitive fortification, and of the neighboring trading house and surroundings, may be seen to this day in the shape of miniature mounds, fragmentary embankments and superficial excavations, and their origin not being within the memory of the oldest inhab- itant of the vicinity, they have excited the curiosity of the speculative, and given rise to various fanciful theories of some ancient and long forgotten settle- ment by inhabitants of an unknown period, attracted perhaps by the rich min- eral wealth of 'Old Cedar.'
" Another irruption of Indians occurred in the Winter of 1836-7, when a band of some five or six hundred in number, said to be Poweshiek's tribe, giv- ing out that they were pursued by their ancient enemy, the ferocious Sioux, again encamped and fortified themselves against their dreaded opponents, but this time, however, on the east side of Cedar River, just above Rochester, and near the mouth of Rock Creek, and between the junction of Rock Creek and Cedar River. Their defenses were not earthworks, as in 1834, but a picketed stockade, formed by splitting logs some ten feet in length, and setting them closely together endwise in the ground.
" Whether the location of this block-house had some peculiar advantage, or that its occupants had become intimidated without sufficient cause, has not been fully determined, but the fact gradually manifested itself that no fight occurred ; and after a short sojourn the copper-colored warriors abandoned their protecting walls, and went on their way rejoicing.
" In June, 1835, a party consisting of Antoine Le Claire, Col. George Davenport, George L. Davenport, Maj. Wm. Gordon, Alexander McGregor, Louis Hebert, with some others whose names are now forgotten, started from Rock Island for the purpose of making claims, under what has been called squatters' rights, in the groves north and northwest of the Island.
" They first located claims in Hickory and Allen's Groves in Scott County, and entering Cedar County at Posten's Grove, blazed and staked out their claims so as to include all the timber in that grove. From thence they went and took possession of what is now called Onion Grove.
" It is supposed that this was the first party of white men that attempted to secure a right to the occupancy of any part of the county, but the intention so manifested, not being followed by actual residence, the presumptive right so acquired was, by the squatter law of that day, considered as abandoned.
" There are a number of competitors for the honor of being the first white inhabitant of the county, the most prominent claimants being Robert G. Roberts, Enos Nyce and David W. Walton.
" As the question can only be settled by satisfactory evidence, all the obtain- able facts relating to the several claimants are now presented, and justify the conclusion that Col. David W. Walton was that ubiquitous personage --- ' the oldest inhabitant.
"Robert G. Roberts, a Pennsylvanian by birth, but who had long resided in Indiana, arrived in July, 1836, and made a claim on what was afterward known as the Dillon farm. He only remained there a week or two, when he abandoned his claim, and, crossing the river to what was afterward a part of Muscatine County, jumped the claim of some person in that locality. This being an infraction of the 'claim law,' he was speedily notified by the self-con-
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
stituted authorities to quit the premises ; and, neglecting to obey the mandate, was summarily ejected by a party of ' claim regulators' from the Muscatine slough. Disgusted with this arbitrary proceeding, he left Muscatine and returned to Cedar, where he settled in what is now Iowa Township, in August, 1836, and was, unquestionably, the first settler on the west side of the river. The Indians said that his daughter Eliza was the first white woman who crossed the Cedar.
" Roberts was considered a good citizen, honest and upright in his dealings, and, possessing the rudiments of a common school education, was elected as the first member of the House of Representatives of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa, from Cedar, Linn, Jones and Johnson Counties. His principal fault was his natural sluggishness of disposition-a sort of torpidity, which, by many, was called laziness. This was so fully developed in his system that he could readily fall asleep at the slightest opportunity, and enjoy the sweet pleasure of a sound repose.
" While in the Legislature, a memorial to Congress had been introduced, asking for an appropriation to improve the navigation of the Iowa River, and Roberts was greatly interested in having Cedar in the bill. One day, while indulging in his favorite recreation of a good, sound nap, the yeas and nays were called on a bill subjecting real and personal estate to execution. One of the wags of the House hastily aroused Roberts from his somniferous repose, and informed him that they were now voting on the 'river bill.' This thoroughly awakened our sleeping hero, who, rising at once to his feet and gesticulating wildly, called out in sonorous tones, 'Mr. Speaker ! Mr. Speaker ! is Cedar in that ere bill ? because if Cedar is in that ere bill, I goes for it.'
" This ludicrous mal entendre occasioned a hearty laugh all over the House, and our friend Roberts was afterward known as ' Old Cedar.
" This cognomen, together with the fact that he was the first person who settled on the west side of the river, in all probability gave rise to the wide- spread belief that he was the first settler in the county. That this conclusion was erroneous, is fully shown by the date of his arrival, which, being in July, 1836, after some fifteen or twenty persons had already made a settlement, effect- ually disposes of his claim to the coveted honor.
" Enos Nyce, a native of Ross County, Ohio, with his wife and two children, came to this county about the 20th of May, 1836. He built and occupied a cabin on the northwest quarter of Section 32, Township 79, Range 2, known for years as the Billopp place, afterward as the Ira Bond farm, and now owned by the Widow Drake. Mr. Nyce sold his claim to Luke Billopp, in the Fall of 1836, and removed to the west side of Cedar River, near the west branch of the Wapsipinicon, where he died in the Fall of 1840. His widow and family are still residents of the place.
" David W. Walton, familiarly known as Col. Walton, from his having been appointed to the command of a regiment in the Territorial militia, by Gov. Dodge, of Wisconsin Territory, was a native of New Jersey, and, possessing great mechanical ingenuity, superadded to his practical skill as a blacksmith, he gradually accumulated a small capital of several thousand dollars, and removed to Pike County, Ohio, where he embarked in milling operations, and after remaining there several years, and not meeting with the success he had anticipated, he again removed with his family to Tippecanoe County, Ind. He lived there several years, until, having heard of the richness and fertility of the 'Black Hawk Purchase,' he determined to ascertain the truth or falsity of the statement by personal examination. Accordingly, in the Summer of
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
1835,* he, with his son George, made an exploring trip to Iowa, crossing the Mississippi River at Clark's Ferry, and, after having traveled over and examined a considerable portion of what afterward became Cedar County, made choice of a location near the small stream to which he gave the name of Sugar Creek, from the orchard of sugar maples he had discovered on its banks, some two or three miles south of the place he had concluded to make his home.
" Here he staked out two claims, on what is now the south half of Section 15, Township 79, Range 2, erected a log cabin and commenced making improvements, perfectly satisfied with this new region, where an abundant sup- ply of game was so readily procured by his unerring rifle, until the approach of cold weather warned him that it would be rather lonesome to remain there during the long, dreary Winter months, and he concluded to go back to Indiana and remain until Spring.
"As soon as the roads were practicable for travel, the Colonel, with his family, consisting of his wife, five sons and two daughters, returned to Cedar County, amply provided with all the necessaries and essentials requisite for frontier life, including, among other things, an excellent 'breaking team,' con- sisting of four yoke of fine-looking, strong and heavy cattle. They crossed the Mississippi River at Rockingham, on the 1st day of May, 1836, and arrived safely at the well-known place he had selected the previous year, and com- menced his actual and permanent settlement on the 10th of May, 1836, thus entitling him to the honor of being the first settler in Cedar County.
" Col. Walton was a good specimen of the hardy Western pioneer ; rough and outspoken in his language, but honest and straightforward in all his deal- ings, he won the esteem and confidence of all who knew him; and being an ardent Whig, as well as a strong Tipton man, was elected by that party, at the exciting contest of 1841, to the somewhat important office of Judge of Pro- bate.
" As characteristic of his intense hatred of fraud or injustice, the following anecdote is told: It is said that in the settlement of the estate of a person named Shepherd, the son of the deceased-an idle, profligate fellow, who was never known to have done a day's work in his life-filed in a bill for work and labor, amounting to some $150. When this claim was presented to our worthy Judge to be probated, he sent for the prodigal son, and having had him placed conspicuously before him, in open court, addressed him as follows: 'Adam, I have carefully examined your claims. I want you to understand that I am placed here, as it were, a judge between the living and the dead. I have made up my mind that your bill is a devilish outrage, and I'll be d-d if I'll allow it.' " The justice of this somewhat unique decision was never questioned ; but it is said that Dr. Bissell, who was then Acting Clerk of the Court, did not record it in the same emphatic language in which it was given.
"A number of persons followed Col. Walton from Indiana, influenced, per- haps, by his glowing description of this new region, several of whom reached Cedar County in June."
* A son of Col. Walton, who still lives in the old neighborhood, says that, in the Summer of 1835, his father had removed a son-in-law from Tippecanoe County, Ind., to Muscatine County, not far from the Cedar County line. Col. Walton was accompanied on that trip by one of his older sons. The country presented such a grand appearance that the Colonel determined to make it his future home, and, with this resolution, he selected a claim, built a cabin, broke some of the prairie sod, and then returned to Indiana to winter. The following May, he returned with the family, coming by ox wagons, and bringing cows, hogs, etc., sufficient to stock his claim and provide milk, butter, meat, etc., for the family. To Mrs. Walton, therefore, belongs the credit of cooking the first meal ever cooked by a white woman in Cedar County, then a part of Dubuque. During that season (1836), the Waltons broke and put under culti- vation one hundred acres of land. The ground broken in the Fall of 1835 was planted to corn, as was also some of the ground plowed immediately after their arrival. They also sowed some Spring wheat, which was harvested and threshed. The Waltons, therefore, are entitled to the honor of preparing the ground, planting, sowing, harvesting and garnering the first crops grown in the county.
330
HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
In the Spring of 1836, Benjamin Nye, who afterward was appointed one of the Commissioners to locate the county seat of Linn, built a small mill at the junction of Pine Creek and the Mississippi River, about twelve miles above Muscatine. He also opened a store, started a blacksmith shop and made some other improvements, and having city aspirations, named the place Montpelier. By common usage. however, the site came to be called Mouth of Pine. Rocking- ham was a trading place on the Mississippi River, four miles below the site now occupied by the city of Davenport and immediately opposite the mouth of Rock River (Illinois). Rockingham was " laid out " as early as 1835, and forty years ago was quite a village, and boasted the best hotel on the west bank of the Mis- sissippi River.
Those pioneers of Cedar in 1836, who were so unfortunate as to come too late in the season to provide comfortable cabins for homes or hay for their stock. encountered severe trials in meeting and buffeting the emergencies of Winter. Money was scarce, provisions of all kinds were dear, and not to be had nearer than the mouth of Pine or Rockingham, then small trading posts, Davenport being unknown, as has been shown. To make the situation and surroundings still more difficult, every little slough and creek between the settlements on Sugar Creek and the Mississippi was a treacherous quagmire, in which wagons going for or returning with provisions were sure to settle with almost inextri- cable tenacity ; and when once in the mud, there was no alternative but to leave the wagon where it " stuck " and go to the nearest settler for help, which, it is needless to say, was always readily tendered. Sometimes the assistance of two or three additional teams of oxen was unequal to the task of removing a loaded wagon. In such cases the goods were taken from the wagon and carried by hand to the nearest elevation ; then the wagon would be "hauled out," the. goods reloaded and the journey resumed. These were the ruling circumstances of Spring and Fall travel, not only during 1836-7, but for some years thereafter.
The Winter of 1836-7 commenced early ; the last of November, snow fell to the depth of eighteen inches, and its depth increased as the Winter advanced. It did not melt away, as the people have seen it melt almost every Winter since, but shut in the settlers and almost completely interrupted neighborly intercourse until the middle of April. The snow melted away before the last- named date, and the streams were swollen to impassable torrents, their banks were overflowed, and the land adjoining became quagmires. Provisions became exhausted, sickness came upon many families, and the general condition of affairs was deplorable to contemplate. Stock died from sheer starvation, and the people themselves began to think that they would be forced to share the same fate.
Before the Spring sun began to melt away the snowy barrier, some of the more intrepid and self-sacrificing pioneers made journeys through two feet of crusted snow to Mouth of Pine and Rockingham, a distance of thirty to forty miles, for provisions. These journeys were oftener undertaken on foot than with teams. They were attended with exposure, danger and peril that but few people would be willing to encounter now. On the prairies, in many places, the snow was piled up in great billowy drifts of five to seven feet in depth. To pass them with ox teams was out of the question. Provisions must be had. The only way to obtain them was for the pioneers to go on foot to the nearest trading place and carry them home on their backs. Who of the people of Linn County, in 1878, would think of going on foot, even in the Spring, Sum- mer or Fall season, over good roads, a distance of thirty, aye, even ten miles, for a supply of family necessaries ? The stoutest hearts will almost quail at the thought.
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
The first difficulty encountered by these hardy pioneers was to get food, and the second was to convert the grains raised on their slightly-tilled farms into meal for bread. A reminiscence, suggestive of the fact that the "mother of invention is necessity," is apropos here : The first mill built in Cedar County was a curiosity. Its plan originated in the mechanical brain of Aaron Porter, and his hands fashioned and set it in motion. The pioneers of 1836, after erect- ing their cabins, made preparations for sowing and planting in the Spring of 1837, and during that season many of them raised corn and buckwheat sufficient to supply their families ; but, without a mill, the grain was comparatively useless, and, knowing and appreciating the mechanical ingenuity of Mr. Porter, the pioneers prevailed upon him to construct a mill, of some description, to supply their needs. After pondering over the situation and necessities for a time, Mr. Porter went to work. The prairies and forests furnished the material. Going to the prairies, he selected two boulders for the "upper and nether mill stones." These stones were about ten inches in diameter, the surfaces of which were dressed down to suit the purposes for which they were to be applied. One of these stones was fastened to the floor of his cabin. A hole or eye was drilled through the center of the other one, which was so adjusted as to revolve upon the other from a pivotal center. An upright shaft completed the machinery. One end of this shaft was fixed in the upper side of the upper mill stone, and the other end was fitted, gudgeon fashion, in the ceiling or joist above. The power was derived from this shaft, which was operated by two men, one using his right hand and the other his left one. With their other hands they fed the mill. It was a rude, primitive concern, but it served its purpose, and its con- struction was looked upon by the people whom it was intended to benefit and accommodate as a great and convenient accomplishment, and was called the " Little Savior." It did not grind very fine, but was a little ahead of a coffee mill in speed. The meal or flour it turned out was not bolted, for Mr. Porter did not attach a bolting apparatus. The only refining process to which the productions of Porter's mill were subjected was a wire seive, and then it was ready for bread; and many choice buckwheat cakes and many a relishable "johnnycake" were baked from flour and meal ground at Porter's "Little Savior" Mills. They were always busy, till the time came when other and better mills were erected in accessible localities. Many and many a bushel of grain was carried to them on the backs of the settlers. They generally went to mill in couples, and helped each other to grind their respective " grists." No " toll " was exacted-no charge made for the use of the mill. It was built for the accommodation of the settlers, and was an accommodation that was highly appreciated. Before it was ready for operation, common tin graters were fre- quently used to reduce corn to coarse meal. Sometimes a coffee mill was brought into requisition, and sometimes corn was pounded into meal. Men used to spend the evenings, from the time suppers were over till bed-time, in grinding (in a coffee mill), grating or pounding corn into meal for the next morning's breakfast. It made coarse but wholesome food, and the fathers, mothers and children of 1837-8 were much stronger, far more active and athletic, and capable of greater physical endurance than are the people of 1878. Pioneer days in Cedar County were days of hardship, often of exposure, but their trials served to develop the true manhood and womanhood of the settlers.
GENESIS.
" Had we realized, in those early days," remarked one of the pioneers to the writer, "that we were making history, a detailed record of events would
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HISTORY OF LINN COUNTY.
have been transcribed from week to week. But what incentive had we for such a task ? There were no startling incidents in our daily lives. Many of us came here supposing this would prove to be but a temporary abiding place. It was a struggle for existence. For one of us to have predicted the development of Linn County to its present condition within the life time of our little com- pany would have been ample grounds for writing him down either a silly dreamer or a positive lunatic. We began on so small a scale, that the idea of preserving our movements in the form of records never entered our minds. Had we the same experience to go through with again, we would profit by our mis- takes of the past and be able to produce reliable data for the historians who shall come after us."
Fortunately for the purpose of reliable history, there still live within the borders of this county many of those who came here in the first years of the existence of Linn. Vague rumor has it that white men tramped over the lovely valley of the Cedar prior to 1837 ; but if such transitory efforts were made, surely no trace of them can now be found, and injustice would be done the true pioneers to couple their names with traditionary and supposititious characters, who were at least mere prospecters after adventure.
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