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 44
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The old court-house still stands in Indianola, and scarcely that change which would be expected with the lapse of twenty-eight years of time. It was well built and strong and has stood two removals. The first was in the spring of 1867 when it was first bought by Mr. Knox as a home for the Visitor. He removed it but a little way north of the present Central House, where it stood some years, when it was finally taken to its present location on the corner of Main and Steam streets, and still continued in use as a. printing office until 1874, when it was sold to William Richardson, who now occupies it as a residence. So that the old court-house has had many experiences, and if its old walls could speak might tell many a story of legal eloquence, of the cries of a flogged urchin, the rest of a weary trav- eler, the proceedings of many a pioneer town meeting, and later the triumph
349
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
of some boy in learning the printer's trade, or the fierce onslaught of the aroused journalist as he went forth for his prey.
It had long ceased to answer the purpose of its construction, and the county officers had been compelled to distribute themselves about over the town wherever they could find accommodation.
THE JAIL.
There has never been but one jail in Warren county, and it has never been celebrated for safety. In the early days there was little call for such a building, but as the county has grown crime has increased, and of late years in a very alarming ratio, until the old jail long since ceased to serve the purpose for which it was built. It has been condemned as a nuis- ance by one grand jury after another, but neither this nor any other kind of appeals have moved the people of the county to vote ten thousand dol- lars for building a new one. The question has been submitted many times always to receive a very decided negative at the polls.
The erection of the jail was authorized by the commissioners at their meeting in January, 1851, on the following plan, which has not been en- larged or even changed, except to make the necessary repairs:
"And the board have agreed to let out the building of a jail in the town of Indianola, of the following dimensions: Eighteen feet square, two story high, seven foot stories, to be built of hewn timber. The lower story to be built with two walls of eight inches thick, the building to be lined with two-inch plank, well spiked with double ten nails, all the floors to be laid with hewn timber ten inches thick. And the rest of the work to cor- respond with rest of the building. And will have the same sold to the lowest bidder on the second Monday in March next."
At the March meeting in the same year the board let the contract for building the jail to William J. Moorman for the sum of $707.56, to be completed in one year from that date.
FIRST FERRY LICENSES.
In May, 1853, the first ferry licenses were granted, one to John Cook & Co. to keep a ferry npon South river at "Hartman & Ackley's mill." Silas Gillaspy was also granted a license to keep a ferry on South river, where the Albia & Fort Des Moines road crosses South river.
The fees are fixed in both cases as follows: Two horse team, 25 cents; four horse teams, 35 cents (ox teams at tlie same rate); one horse and buggy, 20 cents; man and horse 10 cents; footman, 5 cents; cattle, 3 cents per head.
EARLY RECORDS.
The early official records of Warren county, while they are meager, yet show much care in keeping, while in some cases thie spelling and punctua- tion and penmanship are curiosities to behold, yet it must be borne in mind that they probably only inaugurated the " spelling reform " which is now becoming something of a mania. Some years ago the old records were carefully copied so that the commissioners' proceedings even from the earliest days appear therein. So it is with the court record. Old District
350
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
Court record " A," the first part of which is a copy from still earlier times; gives a complete record of the conrt. In the careful examination of the records of the varions offices which we have had occasion to make we find but one or two gaps and these of an insignificant character. Col. P. P. Henderson had innch to do with the records from the earliest day, and in all his work we find the same plain penmanship, and the same care which has always characterized his records.
The original of the proceedings of the board of commissioners are per- haps the most faulty, as often the clerk of the board would be absent and somne bystanders would be pressed into service. So that the record is as varied as Jacob's coat, and it is hard to tell in some cases just whose work it is. But however disappointing to the historian the old record has its vir- tues and has many strange and often amusing features. Those who wrote it did not think, perhaps, that they were making history, but the smallest incidents of that early day have now become of interest.
They were kept on foolscap paper, sowed together in the form of a book and covered with the coarsest kind of brown wrapping paper. They are ancient and faded little volumes and afford a remarkable contrast to the elaborate and carefully kept records of the present day. They exist now only as curiosities, their usefulness having long since departed.
GOLD EXCITEMENT.
No doubt the desire for "gold " has been a mainspring of all progress and exertion in Warren county, from the beginning until the present time, and will so continue unto ages remote. But usually this desire has been made manifest only in the usual avenues of thrift, industry and enterprise.
On two occasions, however, it has passed the bounds of reason, and as- sumed the character of a mania or delusion, which produced nothing but evil effects. The desire for riches is a benefit only when it comes like a gentle and steady rain, sinking into the ground and refreshing the earth; not when like a wild storm, it leaves only wreck and disaster in its path. Such is the moral easily drawn from the experience of Warren county.
The first gold mania here dates back to the fall of 1849, when stories first began to spread of the wondrous richness of the placer mines of Cali- fornia. The excitement grew daily, feeding on the marvelous reports that came from the Eldorado of the West, until at last nothing was talked of but the adventures and achievements of the Argonants of '49.
Instead of dying out, the fever mounted higher and higher. It was too late that season to attempt to cross the plains, but many of the Warren county people began their preparations for starting early in the coming spring. The one great subject of discussion about the firesides of the log cabins of Warren county that winter was the gold of California. At one time nearly every man in the county was unsettled in mind, and seriously considering the project of starting for California. The more hardy and adventurous impatiently awaited the time when they should abandon the little property and comfortable homes already gained by honest thrift, and join the wild rush for California as soon as the weather and grass would permit. Even the most thoughtful and sober-minded men found it difficult. to resist the infection.
Wonderful sights were seen when this great emigration passed through- sights that may never be again seen in the county, perhaps. Some of the
351
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
wagons were drawn by cows; other gold-hunters went on foot, and hauled their worldly goods in hand-carts. The gold-hunters generally had left the moralities of life behind them, and were infested with a spirit of dis- order and demoralization. The settlers breathed easier when they had passed.
Early in the spring of 1850 the rush began, one line of the California trail passing directly through this county. It must have been a scene to beggar all description. There was one continuous line of wagons frou east to west as far as the eye could reach, moving steadily westward, and, like a cyclone, drawing into its conrse on the right and left many of those along its pathway. The gold hunters from Warren county crowded eagerly into the gaps in the wagon-trains, bidding farewell to their nearest and dearest friends, and many of them never to be seen again on earth. Sadder farewells were never spoken. Many of the gold-hunters left their quiet, peaceful homes only to find in the Far West utter disappointment and death. Very, very few of them ever gained anything, and the great majority lost everything, including even "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor." The persons who really gained by the gold excite- ment were those who remained on their farms and sold their produce to the gold-crazy emigrants. The rush continued until about the first of June, 1850, when the great tide began to abate, although belated gold- hunters kept passing through for some time. But the excitement began to die away, and those citizens who had judgment enough to resist the conta- gion now settled down in quiet to pursue the even tenor of their way.
The scene along this line, through this vicinity, is thus described by one who was an eye-witness:
" It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. A continuous line of wagons, stretching away to the west as far as the eye could see. If a wagon was detained by being broken down, or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken and die, the corpse was buried hurriedly by the way- side, without coffin or burial service. When night came on, the line of wagons was turned aside, and their proprietors would go into camp. Very soon the sound of revelry would begin around the camp-fires thickly set on every land, first to bottle and then to cards, to the echo of the most horrid oaths and imprecations that were ever conceived or nttered since the fall of man. These poor deluded votaries of Mammon scattered that dreadful scourge, small-pox, everywhere that they came in contact with the settlers on the way. Game cards were strewn all along the line of travel. Glass bottles, after being emptied of their nefarious contents down the throats of the men, were dashed against wagon wheels, pieces of which were thickly strewn all along the road, as if to mnock the madness of the advancing column of these fervent janizaries of the golden calf.
"At the time of the treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, the population of California did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time of which we are writing (1850) there were more than one hundred and fifty thousand people that had found their way thither, of which number at least one hun- dred thousand were . gold-hunters' from the States. There had been taken from the auriferous beds of California, up to January, 1850, over $40,000,- 000 in gold.
"Out of a population of a little less than seven hundred, our county lost one-tenth of that population in the tide to California.
-
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
"The evil effects of this gold mania upon the moral status of the people of the United States is still seen and felt everywhere, and among all classes of society, and no man can see the end. It has popularized the worship of Mammon to an alarming extent throughout the country, and to this worship may be imputed, to a great extent, the moral declension of to-day."
Years after this Warren county had another gold excitement, which, happily, was not so serious as the first, and did not produce the same evil effects. But it is an equally good illustration to show how quickly inen will lose their senses when they hope to gain wealth more rapidly than by honest work and thrift.
In the spring of 1857 small particles of impure gold were found on the farms of John Conner and the Keller boys, in Virginia township, and immediately the excitement became intense. Wild and extravagant stories spread abroad about the rich beds and mines in this county. It is even said that some gold was " planted," along with other metals which resemble it, in yet greater quantities, and that this contributed to keep up the gold fever. This excitement continued for something like a year, after which it came to an end, and no one was left the richer for it.
The excitement of the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, in 1859, drew off a large number of the citizens of the county, many of whom returned poorer than they went, and glad and anxious to get home again from that land of high prices and small profits from mining. We have not been able' to discover that any of the gold-seekers from the county ever became " bonanza kings."
THE "STRIP."
In the original organization of the county, as we have already seen, it was twenty-four miles square-a little more than it contains at present. However, only four days later the legislature passed a supplementary act, detaching the north tier of townships, those now known as Richland, Allen, Greenfield and Linn, entire, with a portion of Washington, and a large share of Palmyra from this county and attaching them to Polk.
In the early days there was a contest in Polk county for the location of the county seat between what is now Polk City and Fort Des Moines. The great objection to the Fort lay in the fact that it was only four miles from the south line of the county. In order, therefore, to obviate this diffi- culty, this act of the legislature was passed attaching the "Strip " to Polk county, and the Fort secured the county seat. Polk county was organized before Warren, and it was some years after the division of the "Strip" before an effort was made to wrest the wrongfully taken territory from Polk county. An attempt was made in the legislature of 1850, and had failed. In the Fourth General Assembly, whichi met in Iowa City in De- cember, 1852, P. Gad Bryan was the representative of this county. The. agitation of the question was begun in the connty and on the "Strip." It had not entered into the election of Representative, but no better man could have been chosen for the work than the then Dr. P. Gad Bryan. Petitions were circulated on the "Strip," Col. Henderson, Z. H. Hockett, John S. McKimmy, James E. Williamson and others, interesting them- selves particularly in the work. They finally secured a majority of the votes residing upon the disputed territory, and sent them forward to the legislature then in session. The contest had been a warm one in the
353
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
county-or rather in both counties, because Polk was as much interested in retaining as Warren was in regaining this hundred and forty-four square miles of land, constituting as it did by far the finest section of either county.
The bill was in charge of Mr. Bryan in the house, and passed that body, restoring the entire "Strip," and the opposition was led by Dr. A. Y. Hull, Senator fromn Polk, and father of Mr. J. A. T. Hull, present Secretary of State, who lived on the " Strip " on the north side of the Des Moines river. He was, therefore, more immediately interested in not being legislated out of his office than his constituents were in retaining the territory. Mr. Bryan, therefore, consented to an amendment to the bill in its passage through the senate by which that portion of territory north of the Des Moines river should remain a part of Polk county. The bill passed, and was Chapter 18, of the Laws of the Fourth General Assembly, and was entitled:
AN ACT TO CHANGE THE BOUNDARIES OF WARREN COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa, That the fol- lowing shall be the boundaries of Warren county, to-wit: Beginning at the northwest cor- ner of Marion county; thence west along the line dividing townships 77 and 78, to the north- west corner of township 77 north, of range 25 west; thence south to the southwest corner of township 74 north, of range 25 west; thence east to the southwest corner of Marion county; thence north to the place of beginning. Provided, That all that part of township 77 north, of range 22 west, which lies north of the Des Moines river, shall remain as a part of Polk county.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of March, 1853.
Approved Jan'y 14th, 1853.
Stephen Hempstead was Governor; Geo. W. McCleary, Secretary of State; William Pattee, Auditor; and M. L. Morris, Treasurer.
Wm. E. Leffingwell, now of Chicago, was President of the Senate, and Judge James Grant, then, as now, of Davenport was speaker of the lower honse.
Since that time there has been nothing but the best of feeling between the two counties, but it was a long time before many of the citizens on the territory in dispute were reconciled to connection with Warren county. They thought their interests attached them to Des Moines and Polk county, and they hoped for a long time that they might be set off again. But since the completion of railroads in Warren county it has no citizens who are better satisfied with their political connection than those on the "Strip."
Col. Bryan was returned to the Legislature after making this contest, and is the only man in the history of the connty who has been elected two consecutive terms to the General Assembly.
In our history of the early settlement of this territory we have included the same as if it had always been a portion of it, because the settlement with which we have to do was all made before either county was organized, and because it continned out of the county only three years after its organ- ization. The history of early neighborhoods are at best so closely blended that it is often difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.
354
HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
WESTERN STAGE COMPANY.
A history of the county would hardly be complete withont mention of this transportation company which preceded the days of railroads. Among the prominent partners in this company were E. S. Alvord, of Indianapo- lis, president; Kimball Porter, of Iowa City; Messrs. Shoemaker, W. H. Sullivan, D. Tallmadge and Campbell, of Ohio, and Col. E. F. Hooker, of Des Moines. The latter of whom was the manager of the company, and inaugurated it in its new quarters in Des Moines, and, therefore, in Central Iowa, in 1854.
Col. Hooker retired from the superintendency in 1866, and was succeeded by R. Lounsberry, who was the last one filling this office. H. B. Alvord settled up the affairs of the corporation at its close, with great profit to the Company. To give some idea of the business accomplished, it is proper to state in this connection, that the receipts for one year alone, on the line between Des Moines and Boone, reached the large sum of $100,000. But after the Rock Island Railroad was completed to Council Bluffs, the Boone line fell into insignificance, and the days of the Western Stage Company, so far as Iowa was concerned, were numbered.
The stages of this corporation transported to Davenport, with all their personal equipments, the members of the 23d and 39th Iowa Infantry, re- quiring just two days to take an entire regiment. In this way, parts of the 2d, 4th, 10th and 15th regiments were taken to their rendezvous. On the day after the adjournment, in old times, the members of the legisla- ture, living abroad, were either at their homes, or were far on their way to their destination.
The last coach belonging to the Company in Des Moines, was sold for $30 to James Stephenson, of Omaha, in 1874. Mr. Johnson rode on the driver's seat from the stage barn to the freight depot of the R. I. R. R., and as he left the old vehicle to take its journey westward on the cars, he bade it an affectionate farewell.
This Company was an important factor in all Central Iowa. It had two lines through Warren county. One on the main road from Knoxville to Council Bluffs, and the other from Des Moines. They changed from semi- weekly to tri-weekly and daily trips as the country grew and business came to justify it. It was the only public conveyance for passengers and mails, and many are the anxions ones who have waited for news or friends by the old Stage Company. It was like all other human agencies in that it was fallible, and complaints were made about it. It was some of these complaints which provoked the following article in the Indianola Visitor, of June 17, 1858:
"We notice a number of our exchanges are raking down the Western Stage Company for the manner in which they convey passengers over their lines. A little reflection will, doubtless, show to those who are censuring the Stage Company that they are wrong in their censures. The Company, we think, deserves the praise of the people of Iowa for their indomitable perseverance in ploughing through snow, rain, sleet and mud for the last eight months; periling the lives of their drivers and horses in crossing swollen streams, to accomodate the traveling public and deliver the mails at the post-offices. But few persons would endure the privations and hard- ships which this Company have passed through in Iowa during the last
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
eight months for double the amount they receive. We believe the Company have done more to forward the mails and passengers than the public conld expect at their hands, taking into consideration the awful condition of the roads. A little more work on the public highways, and a little patience on the part of passengers, would be a good thing just at this time."
POLITICAL.
There is not, perhaps, another county in Iowa whose political experiences have been less varied than those of Warren county. When the county was. first organized the great impending question of American politics was that growing ont of slavery, and from whatever State in the Union the early settlers had come they were, as a rule, opposed to the extension of the "peculiar institution " of the South to territory yet unpolluted by it. The first election held in the county was the presidential contest of 1848, when it was merely a precinct of Marion county. There were twenty-six votes. cast, thirteen of which were cast for General Cass and thirteen for General Taylor, so that the county began its history as absolutely non-committal between the great political parties, Whig and Democratic, which then occu- pied the country.
In the early organization there was, of course, no political excitement on the choice of local officers, as fitness for the position was the question oftener asked than, " What are his politics?"
The following table of the votes of the county at all presidential elec- tions since 1848 will show the reader that it has continued on the even tenor of its way withont change:
1848. Taylor electors 13
1864. Lincoln electors 1170
Cass
13
McClellan 621
1852." Scott electors
95
1868.
Grant electors 1946
Pierce 82
Hale 13
1872.
Grant electors 2128
1856. Fremont electors 856
Buchanan 519
Fillmore 112
1876.
Hayes electors
2439
Lincoln electors
1152
Tilden
1415
Douglas
795
Bell-Everett "
40
Cooper
146
Breckenridge-Lane .. 2
It will be seen that the Republican electors have been chosen at every election since 1852-that year being the last contest carried on in the name of the old Whig party-by majorities ranging from 337 for Fremont, in 1856, to 1,337 for Grant in 1872, and 1,024 for Hayes, in 1876. The Republican party has grown up as a distinctive party since the organiza- tion of the county, the Democracy being already in existence, and still con- tinuing as one of the two great political parties of the county. The first call which was issued for a Republican county convention was contained in the Republican, and was as follows:
Seymour " 933
Greeley 791 O'Connor " 13
1860.
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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.
The Republican voters of Warren county, and all who are opposed to the administration of Franklin Pierce, are invited to meet in county convention at Indianola, on Saturday, Feb- ruary 9th, 1856, at 10 o'clock A. M., to appoint delegates to the Republican State Conven-, tion, which meets February 22d.
W. M. Marshman, Dr. Steele and Wm. M. Stone, Esq., editor of the Knoxville Journal, have been invited to address the convention.
By Order of the Republican Committee of Warren County.
Edd. R. McKee, then a mere boy of fourteen, raised the first Republican flag on the northeast corner of the lot upon which he now lives, bearing the names of Fremont and Dayton. Mrs. Wm. Wells, Mrs. Lacy, Mrs. McKee and others made the flag.
The first convention of the Republican party was held at Indianola on the 9th of February, 1856. Judge J. Green was elected chairman, and H. W. Maxwell was chosen secretary. A committee on resolutions, consisting of J. T. Lacy, E. B. Boydston, Dr. Beck, Isaac Posegate and H. W. Max- well, was appointed, and reported a long platform, demanding, among other things, the establishment of a system of State banks, and protesting against being compelled to receive the money of foreign banks.
J. T. Lacy, Dr. Beck, E. B. Boydston, H. W. Maxwell, W. M. Marshman, J. B. Jones and W. N. Mosher were chosen delegates to the State conven- tion.
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