The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 11

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058

USA > Iowa > Pocahontas County > The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 11

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The Iowa corn crop alone brings an- million head more than any other nually more gold and silver than the state and more than one-eighth of the products of all the mines in all of the whole number throughout the coun- states of the Union, combined.

try. Iowa can beat the world in rais-

In the great staples, that together ing cheap pork, because there are make up the food of the country, here the finest clover pastures and as Iowa ranks out of all proportion to cheap corn as can be produced any- her population. In the year 1879, the where. The Iowa farmer, by judi-

proportion to population, is without a parallel anywhere or at any time. The live stock interests of the state have also grown to immense propor- tions. In 1870, Iowa ranked seventh in the number of horses, but ten years later only Illinois and Texas had more.

In 1870, there were seven states that had more milch cows, but ten years later Iowa ranked next to New York and Illinois.

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

cions management and careful hand- want to stay right here in Iowa." ling, can double his capital invested It is quite probable that he was in hogs every few years, if not in a the only one in the house who told single year, raising his own grain and the whole truth. milk for the pigs, and fattening them COMMERCIAL FACILITIES-RAILROADS. for the fall or early winter market.

During all the years of the general financial depression-from 1892 to 1896 -when the price of nearly every com- modity went constantly downward, the value of Iowa farms steadily mounted higher. Her people rank among the most intelligent, thrifty and public-spirited of any state. They do not live in Iowa as they do in some places, "merely because they have to do so." Here they build fine houses and live to enjoy life.

The late Stephen A. Douglass, who, as a member of the Committee on Territories, in 1846, presented to con- utilized and will be indispensable to gress the bill for the admission of Iowa into the Union, said: "Vermont is a good place to be born in, if one should emigrate quite young, but Iowa is a good place to be born in and a good place to stay in."

This observation reminds one of an interesting incident that occurred at a certain revival meeting held in the early days:

"All persons in the congregation,"

The position of Iowa enables her to command the advantages of 20,000 miles of inland water navigation, the cheapest of all forms of transporta- tion. Her great rivers are perma- nent fixtures, and as the years roll on and population and wealth increase, public interest will demand that these great channels of interior communi- cation and transportation be main- tained in the most perfect condition, and their benefit will increase with each succeeding generation. These divinely formed channels of trade and transportation were the first to be

Iowa. They will yet bear a large pro- portion of the products of her farms, orchards, dairies, mines and manu- factories to distant markets and bring in return immense supplies of com- modities and material that her indus- tries and people will demand.

The first settlers of Iowa came from the east by teams. When they crossed the Mississippi the only means of interior transportation in the aid

said the evangelist, "who want to go of trade were the shoulders of the to Heaven will please rise to their dusky squaw, the Indian pony, canoe feet." Every person in the house or an occasional pack-horse of a vent- rose, but one godless granger sitting uresome hunter. These were supple- on the back seat.

mented by the ox teams and horses

"Now," continued the evangelist, brought by the settlers, which con- "if there is any person in the congre- stituted the only means of interior gation who desires to go to the 'bad transportation, until the closing years place' let him stand up," looking of the sixties. There were then no hard at the granger, who still kept wagon roads or bridges, and the his seat. The evangelist descended sloughs and streams had to be wal- from the pulpit and, approaching the lowed through or forded. How case-hardened sinner who refused to changed the scene today! Now there testify in the way proposed, said, are in this state 110,000 miles of well "My perishing friend, you seem to constructed highways provided with have no desire to reach Heaven, nor innumerable culverts and thousands to plunge into perdition; where do of well constructed bridges. you want to go?" "I don't want to In 1847 a meeting was held at Du- go any where," replied the man, "I buque for the purpose of securing a

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

railroad connection with Chicago. strip five miles in width, on each side In the winter of 1848, just fifty years of that river. This grant proved a ago, a convention was held at Iowa fruitful source of legislation and cor- City that projected two railroads, one ruption, the river, unsatisfactory for to extend from Dubuque to Keokuk navigation, and the grant was finally and the other to span the state from utilized for the construction of a rail- Davenport, via Iowa City, to some road up the valley of the river to point on the Missouri, at or near Des Moines.

Council Bluffs. The first of these roads was never built. The first rail- road company organized within the in Iowa received land as follows:

state was the one formed at this time to build the latter road from Daven- port to Council Bluffs. The congress of the United States was asked to aid in its construction, and in 1850 that body adopted the policy of making land grants to encourage the build- ing of western railroads.

The year 1856 marked a new era in the history of Iowa. In 1854, the Chicago and Rock Island had been completed to the east bank of the Mississippi, opposite Davenport, and in the same year the corner-stone of the railroad bridge that was to be the first that spanned the "Father of Waters," was laid with appropriate ceremonies at this point. January 1, 1856, this railroad, the first in Iowa, was completed to Iowa City. In the meantime, two other railroads had reached the east bank of the Missis- sippi-the Burlington and Quincy op- posite Burlington, and the Illinois Central opposite Dubuque.

On May 15th, that year, (1856) con- gress passed an act, approved by Pres- ident Pierce, that made the first grant of land in aid of railroad building in the state of Iowa. This act provided for the grant of the alternate, or odd numbered sections, for a distance of six miles on each side of four main lines of railway across the state.

Under these two grants, and others that followed soon after, the railroads

Acres

Burlington & Missouri river (C. B. & Q.) 287,095 Miss. & Missouri river (C. R. I. & P.) ...... 550,194 Ia. Cent. Air Line (Chicago & NW.) ..... 775,454 Dubuque & Pacific( Ill. Cent.) 1,226,558 McGregor & Missouri (C. M. & St. Paul) 372 293 Sioux City & St. Paul. 407,879 Des Moines River Improvement Co. 1,105,968

Total 1.67.1,745

This was a princely donation, but the settlers asked for it and expected the benefits derived therefrom would be commensurate. The few settlers in the interior counties were la- boring in privation, difficulty and poverty, and were unable to convey their surplus to market. Lands were then taken slowly at $1.25 per acre and there was not sufficient wealth in the state to provide the transporta- tion facilities that were needed.

Although this land was granted and the surveys made, the railroads were not immediately constructed. The financial crisis of 1857 stopped all railroad enterprise, and before the country had sufficiently recovered to justify new and great undertakings, the civil war began, and railroad con- struction was suspended until after the collapse of the rebellion.

At the close of the war, there fol- lowed a period of great activity in railroad building in Iowa. The Chi- cago and Northwestern, first to cross

On August 8, 1846, congress had the state, reached Council Bluffs in granted to the Territory of Iowa, for 1867. The Chicago, Rock Island and the purpose of improving the naviga- Pacific, and the Chicago, Burlington tion of the Des Moines river from its and Quincy reached that city early in mouth to the Raccoon fork, the alter- 1869; and during the following sum- nate sections, remaining unsold, in a mer the Illinois Central reached

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

Sioux City. Other roads soon fol- 8,600 miles of railway within the lowed, and today the state is crossed boundaries of the state that, together by five great railways and covered with the rolling stock, depots and with a network of steel tracks, that terminals, represent a cost of $25,000 extend into all the 99 counties and per mile and a total cost of $212,500,- bring to her people commercial ad- 000. They give employment to 30,192 vantages unsurpassed by those men, whose annual salaries amount to of any other state. There are now $17,807,915.89.

THE STATE INSTITUTIONS AND BUILDINGS OF IOWA.

IX. -

THE STATE INSTITUTIONS AND BUILDINGS OF IOWA. "Education is the cheap defense of nations."-GARFIELD.

IOWA'S CAPITOL, DES MOINES.

"Peerless Iowa, 'tis of thee, Fair state of industry, Of thee I sing."-H. P. BRANCH.

HE present capitol county; M. L. Fisher, of Clayton; R. building, of which a S. Finkbine and Peter A. Dey, of cut appears on page Johnson county.

14, is a fine speci- Its construction was begun in June, men of modern ar- 1871, the first stone being laid August chitecture. It is an 1st and the corner-stone, November object of beauty and a source of pride 23d following. On this last occasion to every citizen of the state. the following distinguished citizens

The first act for the erection of this delivered addresses: Hon. James F. building wa passed by the 12th Gen- Wilson, Hon. Samuel Merrill and eral Assembly and approved April 6, Hon. John A. Kasson; and a poem 1868. The first Board of Commission- was read by Hon. John B. Grinnell. ers, appointed in 1870, to determine The corner-stone, 7x3x3 feet, was its plan and superintend its construc- cut from granite obtained in Buchan- tion, consisted of Governor Samuel an county, and presented for that Merrill, chairman ex-officio; Gen. G. purpose by David Armstrong, of that M. Dodge, Hon. James F. Wilson, of county. The stone for the founda- Fairfield, and six other members tion was obtained from the Madison chosen by the senate and house of county quarries near Winterset, and representatives in joint convention, for the basement from the old Capitol viz: James Dawson, of Washington quarry in Johnson county, near Iowa county; Simon G. Stein, of Muscatine; City. The outside steps and platform James O. Crosby, of Clayton; Charles are of the "Forest City" stone, from Dudley, of Wapello; Col. J. N. Dewey, near Cleveland, Ohio, and the of Des Moines, and William L. Joy, of rails of granite from Sauk Rapids, Woodbury county. A. R. Fulton was Minnesota. All the columns, piers chosen secretary of this Board. The and pilasters in the corriders of the plans approved were prepared by first story, are from Lemont, Illinois; Messrs. Cochrane and Piquenard, of most of those in the basement, from Chicago, Ill. In 1872, when this Anamosa, and the red granite col- Board was reorganized, the following umns of the second story, from Iron persons became members of it, name- Mountain, Missouri. ly: John G. Foote, of Des Moines The statuary, beginning north of

THE NATURAL SCIENCE BUILDING OF THE STATE UNIVERSITY

It is constructed of brick, 114 by 74 feet, and contains four large lecture rooms, four laboratories, a large museum and professors' rooms.

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

THE STATE INSTITUTIONS AND BUILDINGS OF IOWA.

the library door, represent History, tion of the state, and in 1847, the Science, Law, Fame, Literature, In- University of Iowa was organized by dustry, Peace, Commerce, Agriculture, an act of the legislature of Iowa, ap- Victory, Truth and Progress. proved February 25, 1847. The Gen-

The four pictures on the ceiling of eral Assembly at this session granted the supreme court room, are of the the capitol building at Iowa City, to- type of Greek mythology, and repre- gether with the ten acres of land on sent Justice, Columbia, Justice and Peace ruling over the land and bring- ing prosperity, culture and happiness, and Ceres, the goddess of agriculture.

Its general dimensions are: length north and south, 363 feet; breadth, 246 feet, and height to top of finial, 275 feet. The height of the first story is 23 feet; of the second, 22 feet, and of the third, 20 feet. The diam- eter of the rotunda is 66 feet and of the dome, 80 feet. The senate cham- ber is 58x91 feet, the house of repre- sentatives 74x91 feet and the library 52x108 feet. It is lighted by an electric light that requires an engine of eighty-horse power.

The last stone was laid June 18, 1881, and the interior was completed two years later. The work was all done by the day, the structure was paid for as completed and the cost was nearly $3,000,000.

"From spire and from dome,

From shop, school house and home, Ring a glad chime;

Sing of her constant gain, Her wealth of brawn and brain, Noble, sublime. "

Very little, however, was accom- STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, IOWA CITY. plished until 1855, when the institu- (See group of buildings, p. 60.) tion at Iowa City was first opened for the reception of students.

"Blessings on Science and her hand- maid Steam!

They make Utopia only half a dream; And show the fervent of capacious souls,

Who watch the ball of Progress as it rolls."-MACKAY.

In the year 1840, the congress of the United States passed an act setting apart two townships for the use and support of a University within the September 19, 1860, and this may fair- Territory of Iowa, whenever it should ly be regarded as the date of the be- become a state. This gift was ac- ginning of the existing institution. cepted, as set forth in the constitu-

which it was situated, for the Uni- versity. It also donated at the same time, two townships or seventy-two sections of land, to constitute a permanent fund for the endow- ment of the institution and such branches as might be later estab- lished.

The organization was completed by the appointment of a Board of fifteen trustees, who held their first session July 15, 1847. In January, 1849, two branches of the University were es- tablished-one at Fairfield and the other at Dubuque. The latter gained only a nominal existence. At Fair- field, the board of directors organized and erected a building at a cost of $2,500. This was nearly destroyed by a hurricane the following year, but was rebuilt by the citizens of Fair- field. This branch never received any aid from the state, and January 24, 1853, its relation to the state was terminated. In February, 1854, the Medical College located at Keokuk, was recognized and established as the medical department of the University.

In April, 1858, the University was suspended in all its departments, in order that the productive fund might accumulate so as to enable the insti- tution to be established upon a more liberal basis. The University was subsequently reorganized, and under the new organization reopened on

The control of the University is in-

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

trusted to a Board of Regents, con- And men may rise, and men may fall; sisting of the Governor of the state The farmer he must feed them all." and the Superintendent of Public In-

The Iowa Agricultural College, struction, ex-officio, and one member erected in 1868, occupies a delightful from each congressional district, who and healthful location upon high, roll- are elected by the General Assembly ing land just west of Ames, Story to serve six years.

county, thirty-seven miles north of

The University comprises the fol- Des Moines. The college domain in- lowing six departments: Collegiate, cludes 860 acres, of which about 120 Law, Medical, Homeopathic Medical, acres in the southwest part, have been Dental and Pharmacy.

set apart for the college buildings and

The Collegiate Department em- grounds. Fifteen commodious build- braces four general courses of study- ings, heated mainly by steam and one classical, two philosophical and lighted by electricity, have been erect- one general scientific; and two tech- ed by the state at a cost of $500,000, for nical courses-civil engineering and the exclusive use of the various de- electrical engineering. partments of the college. These

The growth of the University has buildings are clustered around an at- been very encouraging. The last cat- tractive and beautiful campus, that alogue issued (1898) shows an enroll- affords delightful scenery and a most

ment of 1313 students in the various departments. With the progress of

The entire equipment of this insti- years, new buildings have been erected tution, in buildings, lands and endow- until there are now twelve fine, large ment provided by the state and na- buildings, costing $424,000, supplied tion, represent an investment of $1,- with apparatus costing $150,000, all 250,000. It is the pride of those in available for the various uses of the authority, to equip each department University.

The central building in the group that appears on page 60, is the former state capitol. It is built of stone, 120x60 feet, and is two stories in faculty. Tuition is free to students height. At the right of it are the of Iowa; those outside the state are Medical and West buildings, and on charged $30 a year, though this is usu- the left the Dental building. Cuts of ally remitted to worthy students by the faculty or trustees. The college library contains 11,500 volumes, cata- logued by the Dewey system. The Museum of Natural History is com- Close Hall, the Natural Science building, the Chemical Laboratory and the Medical Hospital may also be seen in this volume.

Prof. A. N. Currier is acting-presi- prehensive, and the cabinet of Miner- dent of this institution; President al Specimens furnishes material from Charles A. Schaeffer having died Sep- many parts of the globe, for the study tember 23, 1898. of geology.

THE IOWA STATE COLLEGE OF AGRI- CULTURE AND MECHANIC ARTS, AMES, IOWA.

WM. BEARDSHEAR, LL. D., PRESIDENT. "The farmer's trade is one of worth; He's partner with the sky and earth; He's partner with the sun and rain; And no man loses for his gain;

healthful environment.

with the tools, apparatus and facili- ties that will most wisely and thor- oughly furnish a suitable outfit for the efficient work of the students and

The curriculum provides for a short course in Agriculture and Dairying; a three years' course in Veterinary Sci- ence, and four-year courses in Agri- culture, Science, Mechanical, Civil, Electrical and Mining Engineering; and a Special course for ladies. For the study of Horticulture the fields,

THE STATE INSTITUTIONS AND BUILDINGS OF IOWA.

gardens, green-house and grounds af- In 1890, a bill for the more com- ford exceptional advantages. The plete endowment and support of national government gives the college these colleges, was approved by Presi- annually about $35,000, for original dent Harrison. It appropriated $15,- investigation and experimentation in 000 for the year ending June 30th, that year, and provided for an annual increase of the amount of each appro- priation thereafter for ten years, by an additional sum of $1,000 over the preceding year. agriculture and the sciences related to the industries. This enables those in authority to make the fields and the barns veritable laboratories of ex- tensive and most practical investiga- tion and observation. After this year (1898) the college commencement will be held in June instead of November, and the college year will open the last of July instead of February.

The history of this institution be- gins with the year 1858, when the leg- islature passed an act appropriating $10,000 for the purchase of a farm on which to locate an Agricultural Col- lege. In 1859, a tract of 648 acres in Story county was purchased, and that county made a donation of $10,000 to- wards it, that was supplemented by $7,000 contributed by citizens of Story and Boone counties.

The object of this institution is "to advance and conserve the interests of agriculture and the mechanic arts," with the practice of agriculture, and to seek to make use of this intelli- gence in developing the agricultural and industrial resources of the state. Its aim is to make the student famil- iar with the things immediately around him, the powers of nature he employs and the material, through which under the blessings of Provi- dence, he lives and moves and has his being; and since Agriculture, "the great mother science and industry of the ages," more than any other of the

In July, 1862, congress appropriated industrial arts is important to man, it to the several states in the Union, for follows that this should receive the agricultural colleges, 30,000 acres of highest degree of attention. What- land, for each senator and representa- ever is necessary for man to have done tive in congress. Every state accept- is honorable for man to do, and the grade of honor ensuing is dependent ing this grant was required to erect the necessary college buildings with- upon the talent and fidelity exhibited in five years from the acceptance of in performing it. All students, with- the grant, and without using any of out regard to pecuniary circumstances, the proceeds of the lands for that pur- are therefore required, at this insti- pose. The state of Iowa, at the spe- tution, to perform manual labor as an essential part of the college education, discipline and training.

cial session held in September, 1862, accepted this grant and received 240,- 000 acres. These lands were selected,

"He that by the plough would thrive from those that had not been previ- Himself must either hold or drive."

The Iowa Experiment Station, in

ously homesteaded or sold in the vari- ous counties of the state, and they connection with this institution, were designated "Agricultural Col- was established in accordance with an lege" land. The income from these act of congress, approved March 2, lands is intended to meet the annual 1887, for the purpose of aiding "in ac- expenditures of this institution, al- quiring and diffusing among the peo- though a part was used for the pur- ple of the United States useful and chase of additional land as a suitable practical information on subjects con- site for the college buildings and nected with agriculture, and to pro- grounds. mote scientific investigation and ex-

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

periments respecting the principles in 1855, ceasing to make the annual and applications of agricultural sci- appropriation towards itssupport. In ence." It is subject to the regula- the same year a Normal department tions of the United States department was added to the State University, of agriculture. The results of all ag- that was maintained for seventeen ricultural investigations and experi- years. Prof. D. F. Wells became ments, including those relating to principal of this Normal Department live stock, are published in bulletins of the State University and by his in- that are issued quarterly, and sent struction to the advanced students free to all farmers of the state apply- in the "science and art of teaching," ing for them. made it the most prominent depart-

Views of the Main building, Morrill ment of that institution. In 1873 Hall and the Farm Barns may be seen this Normal Department of the Uni- on pages 64, 68 and 72.

THE IOWA STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, CEDAR FALLS,

HOMER H. SEERLEY, A. M., PRESIDENT.

"Study to show thyself approved; ed States. * * * apt to teach."-PAUL.

versity was abolished and in its place there was established a chair of Di- dactics-the first professorship of teaching, established, it is said, in any college or university in the Unit-

The founding of a Normal school The public belief in the special edu- was now advocated by state superin- cation of teachers as a necessity, ex- tendents, by the state teachers' associ- isted before the year 1876, when the ation and by leading teachers and legislature of Iowa decided to found a citizens, so that the demand was prom- Normal school and maintain it there- inent in public opinion. In the year after as one of the necessary state in- 1876, Hon. H. C. Hemenway, the rep- stitutions. The Normal school grad- resentative in the General Assembly, uate from New York, Pennsylvania from Black Hawk county, supported and other states, had already 'proved energetically the measure and secured the practical advantage of such edu- the passage of a bill, with a majority cation and had created a public de- of one vote, that gave to the present mand for professional teachers, before institution at Cedar Falls, a legal ex- there was any local supply.

istence.

Hon. T. S. Parvin, of Cedar Rap- The Board of Regents, appointed ids, at the very beginning of the by Governor Kirkwood, did a wise act school system in Muscatine, had sent in the selection of Prof. J. C. Gil- to New York to obtain a trained christ as the first president of the fac- teacher, in the person of D. Franklin ulty, as he was the best informed man Wells, and had introduced the spirit in Iowa at that time, to undertake and methods of Normal work among the great task, and he probably accom- the teachers." In the year 1849, by an plished a work, during his ten years of public service, at this institution that is rarely equaled for permanency and efficiency. The other members of the act of the legislature, the state was di- vided into three Normal districts, and a Normal school located in each as follows: One at Andrew in Jack- first faculty, M. W. Bartlett, D. S. son county, one at Mt. Pleasant in Wright and Miss Frances L. Webster, Henry county and one at Oskaloosa in were also wisely chosen.

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 11

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846 Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn Number of Pages: 1058

Author: Flickinger, Robert Elliott, b. 1846
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: Fonda, Iowa, G. Sanborn
Number of Pages: 1058