The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 85

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 85

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three miles up the river to Fort Dodge.

Towards evening on that same day Here their boat, the first one that the three teams from Boone arrived had been built on the river north of Des Moines, was an object of curiosity to the entire population and awaken- ed interest in river navigation.

with their 40 sacks of flour for Howe. They were sixteen days in making the trip, and, according to their own ex- planation, over a good part of the dis-

It was called the Rolling Wave, and tance they had to hitch the three Howe, a merchant in Fort Dodge, be- teams to one wagon and, drawing it a ing out of flour and having no pros- short distance, had to return and pect of getting any soon by convey- bring the other two wagons one by ance, proposed to F. E. Beers, captain one in the same way.

A few days later he returned to the

of the boat, to bring him a cargo of flour from Boone. He finally gave mill at Swede's Point and brought 60 him an order on the miller there for sacks of flour, making the round trip forty sacks or 4,000 pounds of flour. in ten days. He then went to Des The trip to Boone was made in two Moines and brought five tons of days, but when the miller learned freight, making the round trip in six- there was no flour at Fort Dodge, its teen days.

high price and the tonnage offered the THE STEAMBOAT-CHARLES ROGERS. captain, he accepted the order but During his absence on this last trip the citizens of Fort Dodge, under the loaded the flour on three wagons in- stead of the boat. Not daunted by leadership of A. F. Blackshire and this disappointment, Capt. Beers went Henry Carse, became so much inter- ested in the boat enterprise that they further down the river to Elk Rapids

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LAKE TOWNSHIP.

began to subscribe stock at $25 a share, and set low in the water so as to pass and after his arrival organized a com- under bridges. pany for the purchase of a steamboat

Henry Carse, who arrived just be- to ply on the Des Moines riyer be- fore its completion with more money, tween Fort Dodge and Des Moines. A. was appointed clerk and he held that F. Blackshire, who was elected presi- position as long as F. E. Beers con- dent of the company, subscribed $250; tinued as captain. Ed. Entwistle, Henry Carse, who was elected secre- of Des Moines, was appointed fireman. tary and treasurer, subscribed $500 at They employed pilots on the Ohio but first and later paid $500 more; F. E. Beers subscribed $200 and later paid a good deal more; S. C. Hinton sub-

when they arrived at St. Louis Capt. F. E. Beers took the wheel and be- came steersman. When they arrived scribed $100; John F. Duncombe, Chas. at Keokuk, two days later, or about . Rand and others subscribed $25 each. Nov. 1, 1858, Lord & King, general It was estimated that $1700 would be merchants, gave them a cargo of meat required to purchase such a vessel as and groceries for Des Moines, the was needed, and when a little more freight bill of which was $500, and than $400 of the stock was paid, it King arranged to go with them to pay

was placed in the hands of F. E. Beers and he was commissioned to go to

The trip down the Ohio river had Pittsburgh to secure the steamboat, of been attended with no small amount which he was to be the captain.

the bills along the route.

of troublesome anxiety, thrilling in-

Once more F. E. Beers started down cidents and practical experience. the Des Moines river on the Rolling Having nearly exhausted their cash Wave, its last trip, taking with him in paying for the boat, they had to four passengers to Des Moines. At trust to a favoring providence to re- this place he encountered a bridge so plenish their treasury along the route. low that he had to remove the upper Beers and Carse were wholly inexper- half of the side wheels in order to ienced as boatmen, and having to em- pass under it. Here he also received ploy pilots with whom they were un- acquainted, this was done with a vary- ing success. The first one soon ran the boat aground. Soon afterward the fireman reported that one of the a number of passengerssome of whom went with him as far as Bentonsport, the terminus of the railroad from Keokuk, where he left the boat forty miles above the latter place. Passing grate-bars in the fire box of the en- to St. Louis by rail and packet he se- gine was burned out, and the only cured a passage to Pitsburgh where he available substitute was a stick of arrived Aug. 6, 1858. hickory wood, which had to be fre-

Three days after his arrival he con- quently replaced, until they came to cluded a contract with a ship builder a sunken vessel from which they ob- at Manchester, a suburb of Allegheny tained a half dozen grate-bars of a City, for the construction of a rear- size that happened to suit them ex- wheel steamboat 90 feet long, 19 feet actly. At length their supply of coal wide and ô feet deep at the bow. It became exhausted and they had to was completed Oct. 14, 1858, at a cost stop and gather driftwood for fuel. of $2,250 and was called "Charles Rog- After a few stops for this purpose ers" in honor of its builder. It was a they were so fortunate as to find and powerful boat for its size, being equip- secure about fifteen cords of good ped with steam and engine power hickory cordwood that had lodged on sufficient to send it wherever it was an island in the river. They had no wanted. It was built for river work passengers at first, and the fares re-

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PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

ceived from those that were carried mained to complete his term of school further down the river scarcely paid and then joined him. James Drake the wages of the pilots. When, there- was employed as engineer, and, at fore, they had secured a valuable car- Keosauqua, Mr. Foote as pilot. go, and Mr. King was on board to pay

A few miles above Keosauqua the their bills, they indulged in a sigh of ice had formed a great gorge and as it relief, fancied their troubles were passed further down the river it over and believed they were now on the high road to success.

left on each side of the channel a wall of broken ice that ranged from ten to twenty feet in height. They had to

The first trip from Keokuk to Des Moines was successfully made in five cut a channel through this barrier of days, and greatly relieved the finan- ice before they could get to the shore cial embarrassment of the proprietors of the boat. They passed through three locks, namely, at Croton, Bona- parte and Bentonsport, where dams had been built across the river, all

at that place. Inasmuch as the locks below were reported in bad condition he did not go further down the river than Bentonsport, and after making two trips between that place and Ot- within forty miles of Keokuk. The tumwa, went to Keokuk and returned locks had been constructed by the to Des Moines with 50 tons of freight, Des Moines River Navigation & Im- arriving there March 9th, a short time provement Co., about the year 1854. before the Clara Hine, they being the About forty miles below Des Moines first arrivals at that place in 1859.

A. F. Blackshire joined the boat to act as a huckster on it, having come down the river from Fort Dodge in a little skiff, which he then turned adrift.

Returning to Keokuk they received and delivered another cargo of goods for Lord & King at Des Moines ..

This was the "boss year" for steam . boats on the Des Moinesriver. There were many heavy rains and they oc- curred at the right intervals to keep the river in good condition for boat- ing. The season opening early did not close until the first of September, and two of the steam boats, the Charles Rogers and De Moine Belle made trips from Keokuk to Fort Dodge. *

They immediately returned to Keo- kuk and received a third cargo, but this trip was not so successful. When they arrived at Bentonsport the cold RACE WITH CLARA HINE. weather set in and they became ice- For some reason unknown to Capt. Beers, about a dozen passengers that had engaged passage on the Charles Rogers from Des Moines to Keokuk disappointed him by getting aboard the Clara Hine at the time of depart- bound opposite the home of Thomas Cooper, near Ottumwa. The cargo, first transferred to Cooper's barn, was later delivered by means of teams sent from Des Moines. David Nash, the engineer, and James Jolley, the mate, ure. This was exasperating and led then returned to their homes. Henry to a test of the speed of the two ves- Carse, the clerk, engaged a school in sels. Leaving Des Moines about the that vicinity and began teaching, and same time the Charles Rogers soon Capt. Beers remained with the boat out-distanced the Clara Hine and ar- to guard it from the ice and look after rived at Keokuk five hours before it. the cargo.

Both vessels were unloaded and re-

On Feb. 23, 1859, the ice on the pre- loaded as speedily as possible, and ceding day having left the river at starting about the same time, the Ottumwa, Capt. Beers secured some Clara Hine managed to get first into new employees and resumed opera- the lock at Keosauqua. Considerable tions with the boat. Henry Carse re- * Tacitus Hussey.

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LAKE TOWNSHIP.

difficulty was experienced in passing and exasperated at the sudden fall of through the lock, and Capt. Beers, be- rope as he was astonished at the, un- coming impatient at the delay, decid- expected and wonderful feat of the ed to try the experiment of running boat. his boat up over the breast of the dam

The Charles Rogers, on this trip, in the middle of the river, and, per- arrived at Des Moines March 27th and forming this feat successfully, passed at Fort Dodge April 6th, 1859. As it the Clara Hine while it was still in came steaming up the river near the lock. The latter, however, overtook latter place the whistle was blown so the Charles Rogers about fifty miles long and loud that the citizens imag- above the lock and arrived first at Des ined a Mississippi river fleet had ar- Moines. This race served to show rived. Before the bowline had been that a steamboat that could easily fastened to the levee, the bank of the outrun another one going down might river was lined with a mixed multi- not be able to keep pace with it when tude, consisting of men, women and

going up the stream.

children, every one of whom was anx- f ious to get a sight of this plucky,

TRIP TO FORT DODGE.

As the "Charles Rogers" was a Fort noisy new-comer.

The arrival of this first steamboat, with 40 tons of freight for the mer- perience in its management, it was chants of Fort Dodge, was regarded as a very auspicious event by the am- bitious citizens of that lonely village on the frontier. It was graphically described by John F. Duncombe, ed- itor of the Fort Dodge Sentinel, in the issue of April 7, 1859, as follows:

serious barrier at this place was the E. Beers of the Charles Rogers, in

Dodge enterprise and those in charge of the boat had now gained some ex- decided to make a trip to Fort Dodge. For this trip it was loaded with a car- go by Chittenden & McGavie, whole- salers at Keokuk, who sent Mr. Davis with it. In order to pass under the bridge at Des Moines the upper half of the wheel and the top of the pilot house had to be removed to the shore and afterward be replaced. Another

mill dam, the danger from which was increased by a ferry rope that was stretched across the river only a few rods above the breast of it. Capt. Beers requested Hall, the ferryman, to lower this rope so the boat might pass over it; but as he could not be persuaded that it was possible for a boat to surmount the dam, he made no promise, save to await the out- come of affairs. To avoid the danger incident to being checkmated by the rope, a man with a hatchet was sent from the boat to the place where the rope was fastened on the bank, oppo- site the ferryman, with instruction to sever the rope when the signal should be given. As the boat crested the dam the signal was given and the ferryman was about as much surprised

"Yesterday will be remembered by many of our citizens with feelings of extreme delight for many years to come. By the politeness of Capt. F. company with about one hundred and twenty ladies and gentlemen of the town, we enjoyed the first steamboat pleasure excursion on the Upper Des Moines river. The steamboat left the landing at Colburn's ferry about two o'clock and, after crossing the river and loading with coal from the mines, started for the upper ferry. All our citizens are well aware of the shallow ford on the river at the rapids at this place, which is at the head of the is- land at the mouth of Soldier creek, where the river divides into two equal channels. The steamer passed up over the rapids in the west channel, with perfect ease. At the mouth of Lizard creek the boat "rounded to" and passed down the eastern channel of the river at race horse speed. The scene was one of intense interest. The beautiful plateau, on which our town is built, was covered with men, women and children. The river bank was lined with joyful spectators. Repeat,

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PIONEER HISTORY OF, POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

ed hurrahs from those on the boat in June, continued boating on the and on the shore filled the air. The river, and during that season made altogether thirteen round trips from Des Moines to Keokuk. The boat traveled about fifteen miles an hour and a trip was usually made in three days. The winter of 1859 overtook him at Keokuk, and in March 1860 the Charles Rogers was sold to Capt. felt like a boy with a rattlebox, "only 'Thomas Davis, of Bellevue, Jackson county, Iowa. steamer passed down the river about six miles and then returned. Old grudges were settled, downcast looks brightened, hard times were forgot- ten. Everybody seemed perfectly hap- py. We had always believed that the navigation of our river was practical, but to know it, filled our citizens with more pleasure than a fortune. We more so." The Fort Dodge steam- boat enterprise has succeeded, in spite of sneers and jeers. Long may the friends of the enterprise live to re- member the first pleasure excursion at Fort Dodge."

The persons associated with Capt. Beers in its management during the year 1859 were Henry Carse, clerk; David Smith, assistant clerk; Frank Davidson, pilot; James Cleve, mate, and Mahlon Davidson, engineer. Aaron F. Blackshire most of the time, both in 1858 and 1859, traveled with the boat, carrying a stock of groceries

At a public meeting of the citizens held at the school house that evening, Major Williams presiding, a vote of thanks was tendered Capt. F. E. Beers, Henry Carse, T. A. Blackshire and others associated with them in for sale and buying hides and other articles of country produce. He sold

this steamboat project, and the mer- chants were urged to patronize the his interest in the boat to Capt. Beers Charles Rogers in preference to any about Dec. 1, 1858, when they had other boat. their first experience with ice at Ben - tonsport, when about forty passengers had to be removed from it to the shore, 200 feet distant, over thin ice by means of planks and two tightly drawn ropes.

There was then nearly twice as much water in the Des Moines river than there is now, and while the water continued at high tide two loads of long joists and other timber for the Fort Dodge court house were hauled from the mouth of the Boone river. Four other trips were also made from Fort Dodge to Des Moines for salt and other commodities.

On June 12, 1859, another steam- boat, the Des Moines Belle, 100 feet in length, arrived at Fort Dodge, while Capt. Beers was unloading his boat, and the sight of these. two steamers lying at the wharf at the same time caused the hearts of the citizens to beat high with hope a sec- ond time, but with the departure of these two steamboats on this occasion the running of steamboats on the Up- per Des Moines river forever ceased. The next season was a dry one and no boatman thought of undertaking a task so hazardous.

Capt. Beers, passing to Des Moines

Tacitus Hussey, in the annals of Iowa, April 1900, states that steam- boating on the Des Moines river be- gan in 1837, when Capt. A. W. Harlan ran a steamboat up the river to Keo- sauqua, and Capt. S. B. Clark another one, the S. B. Science, to Iowaville, a few miles above Keosauqua. The lat- ter is the first one mentioned in his- tory and it went as far as the white man had at that date ventured in the wild west. The first steamboat to ar- rive at Des Moines was the Agatha, under Capt. J. M. Lafferty, in May 1843. It was accompanied by two keel-boats and brought a cargo of gov- ernment supplies from St. Louis, Mo , and soldiers from Fort Sanford, near Ottumwa, to Fort Des Moines. Dur- ing the early 50's about a dozen steam- boats made occasional trips on the river from Keokuk to Des Moines in the spring of the year, and in 1854 and 1858 respectively, the Colonel Morgan and the Des Moines Belle were built at Des Moines,

637

LAKE TOWNSHIP.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.

the same work for Humboldt and Webster counties. In 1890 he was the

Capt. Beers spent the winter of 1859- 60 a't Keokuk, and the next two years democratic nominee for clerk of the at Pella and Eddyville, where he se- district court in this county, and in cured and delivered 750 cords of wood 1893 for representative in the legisla- for the Des Moines Valley R. R. Co. ture. He then returned to his home in Con- His family consisted of seven chil. necticut, passing through the oil re- dren. gion in Pennsylvania. Soon afterward

Lyman (b. Iowa 1872), cashier of the he returned to the oil region, built Security bank, Gilmore City, in 1896 another steamboat and ran it on the married Kittie A. Blain of Fort Dodge Allegheny during the next six years. and has two children, Glenn and Dor-

In 1871 he married Emma I. Trask, othy. a graduate of the State Normal school at Edinboro, Pa., and soon afterward VanAlstine (see Van Alstine).

Bertha M. in 1896 married Howard

located on a farm in Grundy county, Iowa. In the fall of 1881 he moved to

Percy (b. 1875), a graduate of the Iowa College of Law in 1899, in 1901 Des Moines, and the next spring to began the practice of Law in Gilmore City.

his present farm, adjoining Gilmore City on Sec. 1, Lake township. His Ralph W. (b. 1878), a farmer, in 1900 married Fannie, daughter of Wilder Small, and lives near Pocahontas. fine dwelling house was built in 1895. He taught the first school in Gilmore City during the winter of 1882-83 in a Bessie died in 1901 in her 20th year, while attending the West high school at Des Moines. room over Conn's store. He was post- master at Gilmore City from June 1, 1886 to Aug. 18, 1889. In 1892 and for Fern and Helen are at home. Ber- several years afterwards he built the tha, Percy, Bessie and Fern graduated bridges in this county and has done from the Gilmore City high school.

XXI.

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.

"Happy the man whose wish and care, A few paternal acres bound; Content to breathe his native air, And improve his own ground."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nations wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the bat- tle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations .- Lincoln at Gettysburg.

INCOLN Township owner, expressed a desire that the (91-32), was assigned township be called "Carter," "Grace" to Lizard in March or "Henrietta," in honor of himself 1859 and to Clinton June 4, 1861. On Dec. 1, 1862, the south row of sections and, before June 6, 1870, the remainder of the township was again assigned to Lizard. June 4, 1872, it was established under the name of "Carter" township, and on July 8, 1873, the name was changed to "Lin- coln." or one of his two daughters, who owned parts of 12, 18 and 20. The use of this name did not meet the approv- al of the early settlers of the town- ship, and they sent a protest to the board of supervisors. He then pro- posed to donate $100 toward the pur- chase of libraries for their public schools, if they would be content to let the name remain. The patriotic Henry C. Carter, after whom it was first named by the board of county supervisors in session at old Rolfe, was a wealthy sugar refiner of New York City. In 1858 he bought over 4,000 acres of land in the township, in- sentiment, however, that Abraham Lincoln, as well as Grant and Colfax, should be remembered in this county, found its expression and the matter being submitted to a vote of the citi- zens at the school election in the cluding all of sections 5, 7, 9, 21, 27 spring of 1873, every man voted to and 31, and being the largest land change the name to "Lincoln." That

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839

LINCOLN TOWNSHIP.

settled it and the board at their next a story and a half house, 16x24 feet, meeting changed the name. that formed a part of his home until

The surface of this township is a 1898. His wife and two sons, Calvin level or undulating prairie, and the B. and Sanford, arrived that month. soil is a rich black loam, slightly mixed Other families that arrived that year with sand. It is crossed by the west were those of John Dooley on Sec. 30, branch of the Lizard, and since 1900, Thomas Harrold and his brother John, by the Gowrie & Northwestern branch a young man, both on Sec. 34, and of the C. R. I. & P. Ry. Thomas L. Dean.

All the odd numbered sections were included in the grant to the Dubuque & Pacific R. R. Co., and all the even numbered ones, with the exception of section 32 and some small portions of the other sections in the south row. were sold in August 1858. Those that secured homesteads in it were C. M. Saylor, Abram Hoover, John Dooley, P. H. Niemand, Bernard Stegge, John Kreul, William Boog, Thomas and John Harrold, T. L. Dean, Gust Olson and William Springstube.

FIRST SETTLERS.

In May, 1869, C. M. Saylor, accom- panied by Abram Hoover and his brother, both of the latter being young men, came to Lincoln, then a part of Lizard township, and secured home- steads of 80 acres each on sections 32 and 30, respectively. Abram Hoover

The first election was held Nov. 5, made his home with Saylor during the 1872, when John Dooley, John Kreul next five years, and the latter built and John Harrold were elected as the on his homestead in 1869, for their first trustees; C. M. Saylor, clerk; T. mutual protection, a hut 8x12 feet, L. Dean and C. M. Saylor, justices, that had a door but no window. They and Abram Hoover, assessor. slept in the wagon at night and their The succession of officers has been discomfort was unnecessarily increas- as follows:

ed by the fact that none of them had

TRUSTEES-John Dooley, 1873-75; yet learned that a little smoke would Bernard Stegge, '73, '76-80; Wm. Boog, keep off the mosquitoes.

On June 12, 1869, John Kreul, Bern- 77; John Bartok, '76-77; Peter H. Nie- ard Stegge and Peter H. Niemand, all mand, '79 84; Diederic Beneke, '81-82;

natives of Germany, coming together in wagons with their families from and began to occupy homesteads on Frank Hronek, '83; W. D. Paddock, '84; John Stegge, '85-86; F. F. Fitzger- Highland, Iowa county, Wis., entered ald, '85-1900; Wm. H. Kreul, '87-89; F. Wm. Boog, '90-95; J. S. Pulley, '95- Sec. 32. These men erected the first 1902; Henry Stegge, '96 98; John H. shanties in the township and were the Niemand, '98-1902; John L. Pascal.

only residents in it during the winter of 1869-70.

1870. In April, 1870, Saylor built

1871. In 1871 there arrived the families of Wm. Springstube, Wm. Boog and his two sons, Frank W. and Charles G., and A. A. Loats.

1872. In 1872 the new arrivals were E. K. Cain and Gust F. Olson.

1873=80. During the next few years there arrived the families of John Olson, Wm. Tobin, Diederic Beneke, Martin Eral, John Bartok, Frank Hronek, Bernard Schmaing, Wm. Barger and Mr. Enfield.

The next arrivals in the early 80's were Asa F. Embree, S. E. Reinholtz, John F. Pattee, F. F. Fitzgerald, Joseph S. Pulley, John W. Reimer, Patrick Russell, W. D. Paddock and Theo. Miller.

SUCCESSION OF OFFICERS.

John Kreul, '74-94; John Harrold, 74-

CLERKS-C. M. Saylor, '73, '75-77, '79-80, '83-84; T. L. Dean, '74, '77-78. '86; Henry Stegge, '81-82; W. D. Pat-

640

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

tee, '85; J. E. Pattee, '87-91; Theodore powers conferred by law on the dis- Miller, '92-1900; Henry Stegge. trict meeting were delegated to the

JUSTICES-Thomas L. Dean, '73-1900; board of directors, and arrangements C. M. Saylor, '73, '80-83; E. K. Cain, were made for three schools. In 1876 '74-77; J. F. Pattee, '80-83; W. D. Pad- 1} mills were levied for library pur- dock, '84; (Elected but not serving: J. poses. Feb. 8, 1893, the township was H. Niemand, Edward Forey, Terrence divided into nine equal districts, the membership of the board was increas- Doyle, John Stegge, Charles Kezer); Frank Reyburn, '93-94; Lee C. Trenary, ed from three to nine and the persons '95-96; John O'Malley, '97-1902; John elected that year were Maurice Wolfe, W. Reimer, J. J. Harrold.

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 85

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