USA > Iowa > Warren County > The history of Warren County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics &c > Part 19
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In the prairies, and other places where bearing trees could not be noted, quadrangular mounds of earth are raised around the posts, the angles of the mounds corresponding with the cardinal points of the compass. The mounds are required to be two and a-half feet high and four feet square at the base. The earth to form the mound at the section corner is taken from one place to form the pit directly south of the mound; and at the quarter section corner it is taken directly east of the mound. The posts arc squared and notched as heretofore described. More recent regulations require stones or charcoal to be buried in the mound.
In the timber the lines are marked in the following manner: All those trees which the line cuts have two notches on each side of the tree where the line cuts it. These are called "station trees," and sometimes "line trees," or "sight trees." All trees within ten or fifteen links on each side of the line are marked with two spots or "blazes," diagonally or quartering toward the line. The names and estimated diameters of all the "station trees," with their distances on the lines, are noted.
In the northwest part of Iowa, where the prairie so largely predominates, the landmarks, of course, are chiefly mounds and pits. The original stakes set by the surveyors have mostly been destroyed by the fires, but occasion- ally one may be found. Many of the mounds and pits have also been par- tially obliterated, but the experienced surveyor will generally identify them with very little trouble. A person in search of the landmarks on the prai-
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rie should provide himself with a compass with which to trace the lines. A small one will answer the purpose of ascertaining lines approximately, but for finding the sub-divisions accurately, a good compass or transit and chain are required.
The field notes of the original surveys furnish primarily the material from which the plats and calculations of the public lands are made, and the source from whence the description and evidence of the location and boun- daries of those surveys are drawn and perpetuated. The surveyors of the public lands were, therefore, required to keep an accurate record of the topography of the country, with a description of everything which might afford useful information. The crossings of streams, lakes, ponds, sloughs, etc., with their location on the lines, were all required to be carefully noted.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS, AND TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION.
Julien Dubuque-Spanish Lead Mines-Early Settlement at Dubuque-Settlement at Mont- rose-Old Apple Trees-Fort Madison-Keokuk-First Settlement at Burlington-First Settlement in Scott County-Organization of Scott County-Murder of Col. Davenport- Band of Outlaws broken up-Some First Things-Territorial Convention-Subject of Pre-emptions-Missouri Boundary-Question of Separate Territorial Organization-Me- morials to Congress.
THE first white men who are known to have set their feet upon the soil of Iowa, were James Marquette and Louis Joliet, in 1673, as we have seen in a former part of this work. It was 115 years after the visit of these cele- brated French voyageurs before any white man established a settlement, during which time several generations of the Indian tribes occupied the val- leys of the beautiful rivers of Iowa, or roamed over her broad prairies. Dur- ing all this time they doubtless kept alive among them the tradition of the strange Black-Robe Chief and his pale-faced companions who came in their canoes to see their fathers so many years before. It was likewise a French- man, Julien Dubuque, who had the honor of making the first permanent white settlement. In 1788, having obtained permission from the Indians, he crossed the Mississippi with a small party of miners for the purpose of working lead mines at the place where the city is now located which bears his name, the lead having been discovered a short time before by the wife Peosta, a Fox warrior. Dubuque was a native of France, but had emigrated to Canada and become an Indian trader. While engaged in that business he reached Prairie du Chien abont the year 1785, and with two other French- men, laid out a village which now constitutes the northern part of that city. As a trader he acquired great influence with the Sac and Fox Chiefs. Six years after he engaged in mining (1796), he wrote a very diplomatic peti- tion to the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Baron de Carondelet, to con- firm the Indian grant. The governor referred the petition to a merchant and trader named Andrew Todd, who recommended that the grant be con- firmed, with a restriction prohibiting Dubuque from trading with the Indians, without first obtaining Todd's consent in writing. With this re- striction the petition was granted. Dubuque, as was a common custom among the French traders, had married an Indian woman. He gave to the district embraced in his grant the name of the Mines of Spain, in 1796, in compliment to the Spanish governor. He remained engaged in mining, until his death, which occurred March 24, 1810. He was buried on a bluff near the present city, and at his grave was placed a cedar cross, hewn square,
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and about twelve feet high. On the arms of the cross there was, in French, an inscription, of which the following is a translation:
JULIEN DUBUQUE, MINER OF THE MINES OF SPAIN, DIED MARCH 24TH, 1810, AGED FORTY-FIVE AND A-HALF YEARS.
A number of Indians were afterward buried at the same place, and among them the chief Kettle and his wife, who both died some eighteen years after Dubuque. Kettle had requested his tribe to bury him and his wife in the vault with Dubuque. In 1828 their bodies were on the surface of the ground, wrapped in buffalo robes, protected from animals by closed walls and a roof. The cross and vault of Dubuque, it is said, were torn down about the year 1854, by some thoughtless boys, or perhaps men. The vault was built of roughly dressed limestone taken from the edge of the bluff only a few feet distant. But little more than is here stated is known of the first white man who settled on Iowa soil.
At the death of Dubuque the Indians claimed that the right, or lease of the whites to work the mines had expired, and but little more inining seems to have been done there until after the Black Hawk War. When attempts were made to engage in mining the military authority interfered to prevent intrusion upon the rights of the Indians. In 1829, James L. Langworthy, a native of Vermont, who had been engaged in lead mining at Galena, Illi- nois, crossed over the river for the purpose of working the mines known then as the "Spanish Lead Mines." The Indians refused to give him per- mission, but allowed him to explore the country. With two young Indians as guides, he traversed the region between Maquoketa and Turkey rivers. When he returned to the Sac and Fox village, he secured the good will of the Indians, and formed his plans for operating the mines. The next year, with his brother, Lucius H. Langworthy, and some other miners, he crossed over the river and engaged in mining. In June, 1830, the miners adopted a code of laws or rules, reported by a committee consisting of James L. Lang- worthy, H. F. Lander, James MePhetres, Samuel Scales and E. M. Wren. They erected an independent civil government of their own, the first gov- ernment established by white men in Iowa. Some time after this the War Department issued an order to Col. Zachary Taylor, then in command of the military post at Prairie du Chien, to cause the miners to leave the west side of the river. Notice was accordingly given them and the order was reluc- tantly obeyed, but not until a detachment of troops was sent to enforce it. After the close of the Black Hawk War, and the treaty went into effect which allowed settlement, on and after June 1, 1833, the Langworthy brothers and some others returned and resumed their claims, and soon there was a con- siderable settlement at Dubuque. The first school house in Iowa was erected there the same year, and before the close of the year there were five hundred white people in the mining district. At a meeting of the settlers, in 1834, the place was named Dubuque.
Except the mining settlement at Dubuque, the first traces of the white man in Iowa, are to be found in Lee county. On the 30th of March, 1799, Louis Honori Fesson obtained permission of the Span- ish government to establish himself at the head of the rapids of the river Des Moines for the purpose of trading with the Indians. The place was at this time occupied by a half-breed Indian named Red Bird,
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but known among the whites as Thomas Abbott. Subsequently the town of Montrose was located on the ground where Fesson had his trading post and Red Bird his wick-e-up. Settlers of a later day have felt much interest in the existence here of some full grown apple trees which must have been planted by some hand long before the Black Hawk War. It has been claimed by some that they were planted by Fesson as early as the beginning of the present century. Hon. D. W. Kilbourne, one of the early settlers of Lee county, claimed that they were planted by Red Bird some time between the years 1795 and 1798. Mr. Kilbourne was personally acquainted with Red Bird as well as with Black Hawk and other noted Indians of the Sac and Fox tribes, and from them he received what he believed to be an anthen- tic account of the origin of the "ancient apple orchard " at Montrose. It was the custom of the Indians once a year to visit St. Louis for the purpose of obtaining supplies of blankets and other articles. The half-breed, Red Bird, then a young man, made his customary pilgrimage in the early spring, and on his return stopped a few days at St. Charles on the Missouri river. There a white man made him a present of about twenty small apple trees and gave him instructions how to plant them. Red Bird carried the trees home with him and planted them near his wick-e-up, placing stakes around them. Nearly all of them grew and remained to excite the wonder and curiosity of succeeding generations of white men.
In 1809 a military post was established where Ft. Madison is now located, but of course the country was not open to white settlers until after the " Black Hawk Purchase." In 1834 troops were stationed at the point where Montrose is now located, but at that time the place was called "Fort Des Moines." They remained until 1837, when they were removed to Fort Leavenworth. At first they were under the command of Lieut. Col. S. W. Kearney, who was afterward relieved by Col. R. B. Mason. The command consisted of three companies of the 1st United States Dragoons, Co. C, Capt. E. V. Sumner, Co. H, Capt. Nathan Boone, and Co. I, Capt. J. B. Browne. Capt. Browne resigned his position in the regular army in 1837, and remained a citizen of Lee county. In 1838 he was appointed by Gov. Lucas as Maj. Gen. of Militia. He was also elected as a member of the first Territorial Legislature which convened at Burlington, and had the honor of being the first President of the Council and afterward Speaker of the House of Representatives. At the "Foot of The Lower Rapids " there was a place which, prior to 1834, was known as " Farmers' Trading Post." In Septem- ber of that year a meeting of half-breed Indians and their assigns was held in the old trading house then owned by Isaac C. Campbell. The object of the meeting was to petition Congress for the passage of a law granting them the privilege to sell and convey their respective titles to what was then known as the " Half-breed Reservation," according to the laws of Missouri. In attendance at this meeting were representatives from Prairie du Chein and St. Louis. At this time there were about nine families residing in the vicinity, and after the adjournment of the meeting the resident citizens re- paired to the saloon of John Gaines to talk over their prospects when the half-breed title should become extinct. They looked forward to the time when a city should grow up at that point. John Gaines called the meeting to order and made a speech in which he said the time had now come to agree upon a name for the town. He spoke of the chief Keokuk as the friend of the white man, and proposed his name for the future town. The proposition met with favor and the name was adopted. In the spring of
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1837 the town was laid out and a public sale of lots took place in June. Only two or three lots were sold, although many attended from St. Louis and other points. In 1840 the greater portion of Keokuk was a dense for- est, the improvements being only a few cabins. In 1847 a census of the place gave a population of 620. During the year 1832 Capt. James White made a claim on the present site of Montrose, and in the same year, soon after the close of the Black Hawk war, Zachariah Hawkins, Benjamin Jen- nings, Aaron White, Augustine Horton, Samuel Gooch, Daniel Thompson and Peter Williams made claims at Ft. Madison. In 1833 these claims were purchased by John and Nathaniel Knapp, upon which, in 1835, they laid out the town. The next summer lots were sold. The lots were subse- quently re-surveyed and platted by the United States Government.
The first settlement made at Burlington and in the vicinity, was in the fall of 1832. Daniel Tothero came with his family and settled on the prairie about three miles from the Mississippi river. About the same time Samuel White, with his family, erected his cabin near the river at what is known as the upper bluff, within the limits of the present city of Burlington. This was before the extinction of the Indian title, for that did not take place before June 1st, 1833, when the government acquired the territory under what was known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." There was then a government military post at Rock Island, and some dragoons came down from that place during the next winter and drove Tothero and and White over the river, burning their cabins. White remained in Illinois until the first of the following June, when the Indians surrendered posses- sion of the "Black Hawk Purchase," and on that very day was on the ground and built his second cabin. His cabin stood on what is now Front street, between Court and High streets, in the city of Burlington. Soon after Mr. White's return his brother-in-law, Doolittle, joined him, and in 1834 they laid out the original town, naming it Burlington, for the town of that name in Vermont. The name was given at the request of John Gray, a Ver- monter and a friend of the proprietors. Thus White and Doolittle became the Romulus and Remus of one of the leading cities of Iowa. During the year 1833 there was considerable settlement made in the vicinity, and soon a mill was erected by Mr. Donnell, on Flint creek, three miles from Burling- ton. In 1837 Major McKell erected a saw-mill in the town. In June, 1834, Congress passed an act attaching the " Black Hawk Purchase " to the Territory of Michigan for temporary government. In September of the same year the Legislature of Michigan divided this purchase into two coun- ties, Des Moines and Dubuque. The boundary between them was a line running due west from the lower end of Rock Island. They also organized a county court in each county, and for Des Moines county made the seat of justice at Burlington. The first court was held in April, 1835, in a log house. In 1838 Iowa was made a separate Territory and Burlington was made the capital and so remained until after the admission into the Union as a State. The Territorial Legislature met for several years in the first church crected in Burlington, known as " Old Zion." In this same building the supreme judicial tribunal of the Territory also held its sessions, as well as the district court.
The first white man to settle permanently within the limits of Scott county, was Capt. B. W. Clark, a native of Virginia. He had settled and made some improvement on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, but in 1833 he moved across the river and made a "claim and commenced an improvement
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BREAKING PRAIRIE.
10
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where the town of Buffalo was laid out. His nearest white neighbors on the west side of the Mississippi, were at Burlington and Dubuque. David H. Clark, a son of Capt. Clark, born April 21, 1834, was the first white child born within the limits of what is now Scott county.
Before the time, June 1, 1833, that the Indians were to give possession to the whites, Geo. L. Davenport had been permitted to make a claim. He had been a favorite with the Indians from boyhood, and for this reason he was permitted to go upon the lands while others were kept off. The land upon which a part of the city of Davenport is located, and adjoining or near Le Claire's reserve, was claimed by R. H. Spencer, and a man named Mc- Cloud. Mr. Le Claire afterward purchased their claim interest for $150.
The project of laying out a town upon Mr. Le Claire's claim was first dis- cussed in the autumn of 1835, at the residence of Col. Davenport, on Rock Island. The persons interested in the movement were Antoine Le Claire, Maj. Thos. Smith, Maj. Wm. Gordon, Phillip Hambaugh, Alexander W. McGregor, Levi S. Colton, Capt. James May and Col. Geo. Davenport. In the spring of 1836, the enterprise was carried into effect by the purchase of the land from Mr. Le Claire, and the laying out of a town to which the name of Davenport was given, in honor of Col. Davenport. The survey was made by Maj. Gordon. Some improvement had been made upon the ground by Mr. Le Claire, as early as 1833, but none of a substantial character until 1836.
During this year Messrs. Le Claire and Davenport erected a building which was opened as a public house or tavern, by Edward Powers. During the same year John Litch from Newburyport, N. H., opened the pioneer whisky shop in a log shanty. on Front street. A ferry across the Mississippi was established by Mr. Le Claire, who was also the same year appointed the first postmaster. and carried the mails in his pocket while ferrying. The first white male child born in Davenport was a son of Levi S. Colton, in the autumnn of 1836. The child died in August, 1840, at the Indian village on Iowa river. The first female child was a daughter of D. C. Eldridge. Alex. W. McGregor, opened the first law office in 1836. Rev A. M. Gavit, a Methodist minister, preached the first sermon in the house of D. C. Eld- ridge. At the close of the year 1836 there were some six or seven houses in the town. The Indians still lingered about the place. Col. Davenport still kept a trading house open on Rock Island, and furnished supplies.
When the Sacs and Foxes removed from the lands embraced in the first purchase they settled for a short time on Iowa river, and after the second purchase removed to the Des Moines river, where they remained until the Îast sale of their lands in Iowa when they were removed by the government to Kansas.
Scott county was organized and named in honor of Gen. Winfield Scott at the session of the Legislature of Wisconsin in December, 1837. Major Frayer Wilson was appointed sheriff. The election for county commission- ers was held on the third Monday in February, 1838, when the following were elected: Benj. F. Pike, Andrew W. Campbell, and Alfred Carter. On the 4th of July, 1838, by an act of Congress, Iowa became a separate Terri- tory, and Robert Lucas, of Ohio, was appointed the first Territorial Governor. He made the following appointments for Scott county: Williard Barrows, notary public; Ebenezer Cook, judge of probate; Adrian H. Davenport, sheriff; Isaac A. Hedges and John Porter, justices of the peace. D. C. Eldridge received the appointment of postmaster at Davenport. The first
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District Court met in Davenport in October, 1838, Hon. Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, presiding.
For two years a contest had been going on between Davenport and a place called Rockingham as to which should have the honor of the county seat. The fourth Monday of August, 1840, was fixed for holding an election to decide the vexed question. It resulted favorably to Davenport, the citizens of the successful town building a court house and jail free of expense to the county.
On the 7th of July, 1838, Andrew Logan, from Pennsylvania, arrived with a printing press, and on the 17th of September following issued the first number of a paper called Iowa Sun and Davenport and Rock Island News, the first newspaper published in the county. On the 26th day of August, 1841, the first number of the Davenport Weekly Gazette was issued by Alfred Sanders.
One of the most exciting incidents connected with the early history of Davenport and Scott county was the murder of Col. George Davenport on Rock Island, July 4, 1845. The country on both sides of the river had been infested by a lawless band of freebooters, with their supposed headquarters at Nauvoo. They had organized themselves into bands and engaged in horse stealing, counterfeiting, burglary, robbery, and murder. In some places men in official positions and of good standing in community were associated with them. On the fatal 4th of July, Col. Davenport's family was away at Stephenson attending a celebration when three men attacked him in his house, one of whom shot him with a pistol through the thigh. They then bound him with strips of bark and blindfolded him. They then made a search for the key of his safe but were unable to find it. Returning to the wounded man, they carried him up-stairs where the safe was and compelled him to unlock it The booty obtained was about $600 in money, a gold watch-chain and seals, a double-barrelled gun, and a few articles of minor value. Col. Davenport lived long enough to relate the incidents of the rob- bery. For several weeks no trace could be found of the murderers. Edward Bonney, of Lee county, Iowa, undertook to ferret out their place of conceal- ment. About the middle of August he went to Nauvoo where he obtained trace of them by representing himself as one of the gang. On the 8th of September he arrested a man named Fox at Centerville, Indiana, and com- mitted him to jail there. On the 19th he arrested two others, Birch and John Long, at Sandusky, Ohio, and brought them to Rock Island by way of the lakes and Chicago. These three men were known at the west as leaders of gangs of desperadoes, but operated under different names. Three others were also arrested as accessories, Richard Baxter and Aaron Long, near Galena, Illinois, and Granville Young, at Nauvoo. Aaron was a brother of John Long. On the 6th of October all of them were indicted by the grand jury of Rock Island county, except Fox, who had escaped from jail in Indi- ana on the 17th of September. On the 14th of October the two Longs were pnt upon trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be hung on the 27th of the same month. Birch, the greatest villain, turned State's evidence. Baxter was tried separately, convicted and sentenced to be hung on the 18th of No- vember. In his case a writ of error was obtained and a new trial granted, when he was again found guilty and sentenced to the penitentiary for life, where he died two years after. Birch took a change of venue to Knox county, and while awaiting trial escaped from jail. Upon the gallows John Long confessed all, but died a hardened wretch without sign of repentance or fear of death.
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During the year 1834 settlements were made at various points besides those mentioned, in what are now the counties bordering on the Mississippi river, and soon other settlements began to extend to the western limit of the Black Hawk Purchase.
The first post-office in Iowa was established in Dubuque in 1833. Milo H. Prentice was appointed postmaster.
The first justice of the peace was Antoine Le Claire, appointed in 1833, as "a very suitable person to adjust the difficulties between the white settlers and the Indians still remaining there."
The first Methodist Society in the Territory was formed at Dubuque on the 18th of May, 1834, and the first class meeting was held June 1st of that year.
The first church bell brought into Iowa was in March, 1834.
The first mass of the Roman Catholic Church in the Territory was cele- brated at Dubuque, in the house of Patrick Quigley, in the fall of 1833.
The first school house in the Territory was erected by the Dubuque miners in 1833.
The first Sabbath school was organized at Dubuque early in the summer of 1834.
The first woman who came to this part of the Territory with a view to permanent residence was Mrs. Noble F. Dean, in the fall of 1832.
The first family that lived in this part of Iowa was that of Hosea T. Camp, in 1832.
The first meeting-house was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Dubuque, in 1834.
The first newspaper in Iowa was the Dubuque Visitor, issued May 11th, 1836. John King, afterward Judge King, was editor, and William C. Jones, printer.
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