USA > Iowa > Van Buren County > The history of Van Buren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c, a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Iowa &c > Part 50
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
" The Commissioner and his associates, after assuming the duties of their trust, entered into correspondence with such persons and companies as they thought likely to embark in such an enterprise. And by this means they suc- ceeded in eliciting the attention of capitalists to such an extent that a number of persons came to the State for the purpose of investigation. These persons, by an examination of the valley of the Des Moines personally, and making themselves acquainted with the resources of the country, on their return East, imparted to others the undeveloped wealth and advantages of the valley, which was the means of bringing many good and enterprising citizens to the State. Among others who visited Iowa for the purpose of investigation was Henry O'Rielly, a man who had acquired some considerable notoriety as a contractor in putting up telegraph wires, and he proposed to undertake the work. Such was the known reputation of O'Rielly as a contractor that the Commissioner and his associates commenced the negotiating of a contract. And on the 17th of December, 1853, Henry O'Rielly, Esq., of New York, entered into a con- tract with the Commissioners, in which, for the consideration of the unsold lands belonging to the Improvement, and tolls and water rents and other profits aris- ing from the work, for the term of forty years, agreed to complete the entire work within a period of four years from the 1st day of July, 1854, according to the original surveys and specifications made by the engineers.'
" Immediately upon entering upon this contract, O'Rielly returned East and organized a company, under the laws of Iowa, called the ' Des Moines Navi- gation & Railroad Company,' to which O'Rielly assigned his contract, himself being one of the officers of the Company. On the 9th of June, 1854, by the consent and request of O'Rielly, and with the approbation of the officers of the River Improvement, the contract with O'Rielly was canceled, and another con- tract was made with the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company. In this contract, the Company agreed to pay all outstanding debts against the Improve- ment within ninety days from the date of said contract, to settle and pay all damages against the State of Iowa, on account of the prosecution of said work, to mill-owners, or others who have, or might thereafter, sustain damages on account of the same; to pay the salaries and expenses of the officers and engineers in charge of the work; to complete the Improvement from the mouth of the Des Moines River to Fort Des Moines, in accordance with the original plans and specifications of the State Engineer, by the 1st day of July, 1858; and to construct the whole work in such a manner as to assure the navigation of the same for the longest period each year practicable, and to complete at least one-fourth of the work each and every year, commencing on the 1st day of July, 1854.
" In consideration of this understanding, the Commissioner agreed to con- vey to the Company all the unsold lands belonging to the Improvement, the use of the work, the tolls and water rents for the term of forty-one years. And after- ward, in consideration of the Company enlarging the works and making some other improvements in the navigation of the river, and also on account of there not being as large a quantity of land undisposed of below Fort Dodge as was understood to be by the Commissioners and the Company at the time of making the contract, a majority of the Commissioners, Bonney and Biggs, entered into an article of agreement with the Company, in which they promised to ex- tend the time of the Company's use and control of the work to seventy-five years.
" Under this contract, the public expected that the work would be immedi- ately commenced by the new contractors and speedily completed. The great
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
expectations which at first had been raised by the contractors, under the name of the 'Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company,' soon after they under- took the work began to diminish ; for there soon arose disagreements and mis- understandings among themselves. The Company had been organized under the general incorporation laws of Iowa, and, consequently, was subject to the laws of the State. At the called se-sion of the Legislature, in 1856, Donald Mann, a stockholder of the Company, memorialized the Legislature to correct the ' manifold abuses' of which he charged the Directors of the Company to have been guilty. In this memorial, he charged that the managers of the Com- pany had, in various ways, ' corruptly, and for corrupt purposes,' violated the laws of the State, 'greatly to the injury of the people thereof, and to the great loss and damage of the stockholders,' and showed in detail wherein they had acted corruptly and violated the laws under which the Company was incorporated. Among other things, he stated that, 'for the purpose of deceiving the people and individuals in relation to their means,' they had represented to the public and to individuals that there had been paid into the treasury 'enormous sums of money, on account of stock sold, for much larger amounts than had been received. And, the better to accomplish and maintain such deceptions, the Managers (or a majority of them) caused to be issued certificates of stock to the amount of, nominally, $630,000, or six thousand three hundred shares of $100, for cash, of which shares they had represented to the public and individ- uals that the holder had paid the sum of $100. amounting to $630,000, when, as a matter of fact, there was only 5 per cent paid on each share, by which means the public and many individuals were deceived.'
" Henry O'Rielly, the individual with whom the contract had first been made, a stockholder and one of the Directors, also memorialized the Legislature for an investigation of the affairs of the Company, in which he re-asserted the charges made by Mann, and stated that he held himself ready, if the Legisla- ture would order an investigation of the doings of the Company, to prove, from the records of the Company and from other evidence, . that there was scarcely an important provision in the code of Iowa (applicable to corporations), scarcely an important point in the Des Moines Improvement laws, scarcely an important pro- vision in the contract which the Company agreed to fulfill, scarcely an essential provision in its by-laws, or even in the charter which gave it legal existence, which had not been violated. and violated with a recklessness that will form a memorable feature in the history of Iowa.'
" A joint committee was appointed from both branches of the Legislature, at the called session. to investigate the alleged abuses ; but, owing to the short time in which they had to act, it was impossible for them to make the necessary investigation. An attempt was made to create a committee for this purpose to act after the Legislature adjourned ; but this failed, so that the alleged abuses passed by without examination at that time. These memorials to the Legisla- ture and the discussion of these matters by the newspapers greatly prejudiced the public mind against the Company ; and while these discussions were going on, W. C. Johnson, the President of the Company, requested the Governor to examine into its affairs, in person or by committee, and proposed to pay the expenses of such an examination. The Governor did not feel disposed to com- ply with the request, but referred the matter to the Legislature, which convened the following December, and recommended that a committee should be appointed with power to administer oaths, and to send for persons and papers, with instruc- tions to inquire into all the transactions of the former Commissioners and Reg- isters of the Improvement.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
" This part of the Governor's message was referred to a committee of twelve, consisting of members of both branches of the Legislature, who immediately proceeded to the discharge of their duties. After a careful and thorough exam- ination, this committee reported that they did not consider the contract made by the Commissioners with the Company a valid contract on behalf of the State, for the law which authorized the Commissioner and Register to make contracts required that any contract made by them, to be valid, must be approved by the Governor, and that the subsequent law, which created two Assistant Com- missioners, did not do away with the provision requiring the Governor to approve of such contracts. And, as the contract made with the Company had never been approved by the Governor, they did not regard it as binding on the State. The Committee also reported that the Company had acted in bad faith, and violated their charter in many ways; and, among other things, they found that over $1,000,000 of full-paid stock had been issued by the Company, upon which had been received but $167,000, leaving a deficit of $833,000, for which certificates of full-paid stock had been issued, for which not a farthing had been received by the Company, which had been sold to innocent purchasers for a valuable consideration, who had purchased, believing its full value had been paid into the treasury of the Company. The Company had come far short of completing the amount of work which they were required to do under their contract, and their acts gave strong indications that their object was to expend money enough to get possession of all the available lands, and then abandon the work ; for more than one-half of the time which was given for completing the entire contract had expired, and on a work which was estimated to cost about $2,000,000 they had expended about $185,957.44 for an actual construction of the work, while the Company claimed that they had expended $104,180.74 for incidental expenses, the most part of which did not, in any manner, benefit the Improvement. Yet the Company claimed that they were entitled to land at $1.25 per acre in payment for the whole amount.
" On the 2d of April, 1855, William McKay, of Polk County, was elected Commissioner, and John C. Lockwood, of Louisa County, Register; but in November, 1856, Mckay resigned, and Edwin Manning, of Van Buren County, was appointed by the Governor to fill his place. Manning bore the name of a good business man and a close financier, and he was not willing to audit the claims for incidental expenses, as one for which the Company were entitled to receive land : and this became a matter of dispute between the Com- pany and Commissioner, and, in order to have the matter adjusted, the Presi- dent proposed to make an abatement of $72,000 ; but Manning did not feel disposed to settle the matter himself, and referred the whole claim to the Legis- lature.
" Manning, in his report to the Legislature, showed that there had been sold by the State, through the Board of Public Works, during the six years that the State prosecuted the work, about $75,000 worth of land ; and for this sum only ' three stone-masonry locks' and two dams had been completed ; and there had been certified to the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company, by Bon- ney and Gillaspy, 88,853 19-100 acres of land, and by Mckay and Lockwood, 116,636 4-100 acres, at $1.25 per acre, making $256,861.53 worth of land, which had been disposed of to the present Company, a part of which amount was for old debts which they had paid.
" The report of the Committee and Commissioner having been made to the Legislature, that body, acting upon the premises that the contract which had been made by the Commissioners with the Company was not binding upon the
427
HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
State, on the 29th of January, 1857, passed an act by which there was to be a Commissioner appointed by the Governor, who, with the regular Commissioner, was authorized to contract for the speedy prosecution of the work, and it was made their duty to ascertain and pay off all just claims against the Improve- ment ; and they were authorized to contract with any company for the sale of all lands, tolls and water rents who would give satisfactory evidence and security for the completion of the Improvement. But they were not to bind the State by any contract further than the appropriation of the land and the income of the Improvement ; and no contract made by the Commissioners was to be valid until approved by the Governor. And by this act, the offices of Register and Assistant Commissioner were abolished, and the Register was required to deliver over to the State Land Office all books and papers in his office; and the Reg- ister of the State Land Office was required to perform all the duties which the Register of the Improvement had done. And by thus doing, the Legislature gave the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company to understand that they did not regard the contract made by them with the Commissioners as binding upon the State, though by this act they made arrangements for auditing their claims and paying them their just dues.
About this time, the question was brought up in the Land Department at Washington, as to the extent of this grant of land, and the opinion was made public that the original intention of Congress was to only give to the State the lands below the Raccoon Fork; but a disposition was manifested to compromise by the department recognizing as being in the grant all lands adjacent to the river within the State. But assumptions had heretofore met with success, and now those interested in the land-grant claimed and contended that this grant embraced all the lands to the source of the river. This difficulty about the extent of the land-grant, together with the action of the Legislature, nearly suspended all operations on the river, and much was said by the Company about enforcing their claims by law.
"The Commissioners appointed to audit and pay the claims against the Improvement did not succeed in adjusting the claims of the Company, and the matter was again referred to the Legislature; and, on the 22d of March, 1858, there was a joint resolution passed by the Legislature, defining the basis upon which the State would settle, and the Des Moines Navigation & Railroad Company was given sixty days to consider whether they would accept of and ratify this proposition ; and if they did not, within that time, then it was made the duty of the Governor to enjoin them from further proceeding with the work of the Improvement. Also, on the same day of adopting this resolution, there was an act passed giving all the lands which remained after settling with this Company, 'and also all the stone, timber and other materials turned over to the State by the Company,' to the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Rail- road Company, for the purpose of constructing a railroad from Keokuk up the Des Moines Valley, to the northern line of the State, except the material which it might be necessary to use for the completion of the locks and dams at Cro- ton, Plymouth, Bentonsport and Keosauqua, which the Railroad Company were to complete ; and also, all debts which grew out of the Improvement, which at that time remained unsatisfied, or were, in some manner, provided for. But in this grant there was a provision made that it should not, in any manner, con- flict with the lands which had, previous to that time, been given to the State by Congress for railroad purposes, which, on the 15th of July, 1856, had been given by the Legislature to the companies formed to build the four roads desig- nated by the grant. But it was understood that these lands, having been
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
donated by Congress for the improvement of the navigation of the river Des Moines, could not be diverted to the building of a railroad without the consent of Congress, and measures were immediately taken to get Congress to sanction the diversion ; but this attempt failed, so that the action of the Iowa Legisla- ture did not avail the Railroad Company anything that session. The Railroad Company determined to make another effort at the next session of Congress ; but before the time for this effort, another difficulty arose in the way of obtain- ing the lands for the Keokuk, Fort Des Moines & Minnesota Railroad Com- pany.
". In setting up the claims that the grants for improving the river Des Moines extended above the Raccoon Fork, the citizens of Iowa were united until after the grant of lands by Congress for railroad purposes was made. After this, the railroad companies became interested in the lands claimed for the River Improvement, and claimed that the grant did not embrace any lands above the Raccoon Fork, on which the citizens of Iowa were now divided, and both sides of the question were represented. Upon this phase of the case, the officer of the Land Department at Washington had but very little hesita- tion in deciding against the claims of the River Improvement. After this decision was made, the legal tribunals were resorted to, and a case was taken to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the same decision was given as in the Land Office.
" On the 3d of March, 1860, there was an act passed abolishing the office of Commissioner of the Des Moines River Improvement, and George G. Wright, Edward Johnson and Christian W. Slagle were appointed a Board of Commis- sioners for the purpose of ascertaining all the liabilities against the Des Moines River Improvement, and against the State of Iowa, growing out of the Im- provement. They were required to meet at Keosauqua, and were clothed with power similar to the District Court, to hear and determine all claims growing out of the Improvement, and were authorized to sell all the interests of the State, and all dams and improvements, and the lands appertaining thereto. These Commissioners proceeded with their duties, and with their labors closed all official acts, as far as the State was concerned, in applying the proceeds of this land grant toward the improvement of the navigation of the river Des Moines.
" This was a most magnificent grant, embracing some of the best lands in the State ; and if the proceeds had been judiciously and properly expended, would have made a great thoroughfare for steamboats, besides affording an immense water-power for driving machinery. But, through the incompetency of managing the means, and the intrigues of designing men, the whole of the lands below the Raccoon Fork, and a large quantity above, were disposed of, and very little practical good accomplished toward the navigation of the river."
ORIGIN OF THE NAME DES MOINES.
In Nicollet's " Report of the Upper Mississippi River," made to Congress, February 16, 1841, and published in 1843, he gives the following account of the origin of the name of the Des Moines River :
" The Des Moines is one of the most beautiful and important tributaries of the Mississippi, north of the Missouri; and the metamorphosis which its name has undergone from its original appellation is curious enough to be recorded.
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
" We are informed that Father Marquette and M. Joliet, during their voy- age in search of the Mississippi, having reached the distance of sixty leagues below the mouth of the Wisconsin, observed the footprints of men on the right side of the great river, which served as a guide to those two celebrated explorers to the discovery of an Indian trail, or path, leading to an extensive prairie, and which they determined to follow. Having proceeded about two leagues, they first saw one village on the bank of the river, and then two others upon the slope, half a league from the first. The travelers, having halted within hailing distance, were met by the Indians, who offered them their hospitalities, and represented themselves as belonging to the Illinois nation.
" The name which they gave their settlement was Moningouinas (or Moin- yona, as laid down in the ancient maps of the country), and is a corruption of the Algonquin word, Mikouany, signifying at the road, by their customary elliptical manner of designating localities, allnding, in this instance, to the well-known road in this section of the country which they used to follow as a communication between the head of the lower rapids and their settlement on the river which empties itself into the Misssisippi, to avoid the rapids ; and this is still the practice of the present inhabitants of the country.
"Now, after the French had established themselves on the Mississippi, they adopted this name; but with their custom (to this day also that of the Creoles) of only pronouncing the first syllable, and applying it to the river as well as to the Indians who dwelt upon it-so they would say, 'la riviere des Moines ' (the river of the Moines) : 'allez chez les Moines' (to go to the Moines people). But in latter times the inhabitants associated this name with that of the Trap - pist Monks ( Moines de la Trappe), who resided with the Indians of the Amer- ican Bottom.
" It was then concluded that the true reading of the riviere des Moines was the ' riviere des Moines,' or river of Monks, by which name it is designated on all the modern maps. The Sioux, or Ndlakotah Indians, call the Des Moines Inyan-sha-sha-watpa, or Redstone River, from inyan, stone; sha-sha, redupli- cation of sha, red; and watpa, river. They call the upper east fork Inyan- sha sha-watpa-sunkaku, the Brother of the Redstone River."
WAR RECORD.
If there is any one thing more than another of which the people of the Northern States have reason to be proud, it is of the record they made during the dark and bloody days when red-handed rebellion raised its hideous head and threatened the life of the nation. When the war was forced upon the country, the people were quietly pursuing the even tenor of their ways, doing whatever their hands found to do-working the mines, making farms or culti- vating those already made, erecting houses, founding cities and towns, building shops and manufactories-in short, the country was alive with industry and hopes for the future. The people were just recovering from the depression and losses incident to the financial panic of 1857. The future looked bright and promising, and the industrious and patriotic sons and daughters of the Free States were buoyant with hope, looking forward to the perfecting of new plans for the insurement of comfort and competence in their declining years; they little heeded the mutterings and threatenings of treason's children in the Slave States of the South. True sons and descendants of the heroes of the "times that tried men's souls"-the struggle for American Independence-they never
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HISTORY OF VAN BUREN COUNTY.
dreamed that there was even one so base as to dare attempt the destruction of the Union of their fathers-a government baptized with the best blood the world ever knew. While immediately surrounded with peace and tranquillity, they paid but little attention to the rumored plots and plans of those who lived and grew rich from the sweat and toil, blood and flesh, of others-aye, even trafficking in the offspring of their own loins. Nevertheless, the war came, with all its attendant horrors.
April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter, at Charleston, South Carolina, Maj. Ander- son, U. S. A., Commandant, was fired on by rebels in arms. Although basest treason, this first act in the bloody reality that followed was looked upon as the mere bravado of a few hot-heads-the act of a few fire-eaters whose sectional bias and hatred was crazed by the excessive indulgence in intoxicating pota- tions. When, a day later, the news was borne along the telegraph wires that Maj. Anderson had been forced to surrender to what had first been regarded as a drunken mob, the patriotic people of the North were startled from their dreams of the future, from undertakings half completed, and made to realize that behind that mob there was a dark, deep and well-organized purpose to destroy the Government, rend the Union in twain, and out of its ruins erect a slave oligarchy, wherein no one should dare to question their right to hold in bondage the sons and daughters of men whose skins were black, or who, perchance, through practices of lustful natures, were half or quarter removed from the color that God, for His own purposes, had given them. But they "reckoned without their host." Their dreams of the future, their plans for the establish- ment of an independent confederacy, were doomed from their inception to sad and bitter disappointment.
When the Southern rebels fired upon Fort Sumter, it found this vast North unarmed, untrained in the art of war, and in a state of such profound peace as to warrant the belief that hostilities could not be tegun by those who had, since the foundation of this Union, boasted loudly of their loyalty to the Con- stitution of the United States. The rumors of disaffection that had alarmed the more watchful had aroused but trifling fears in the breasts of the great mass of Northern citizens. War between the States had, prior to that time, been deemed an impossibility. The sentiments of fraternal unity were so deep- abiding in the hearts of the North, that treason was regarded as an improbable crime, and overt acts of antagonism to the Government too base in their intent to be worthy of serious consideration.
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