The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 9

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

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This first Constitutional convention January 25, 1836, Jesse M. Harrison, met at Iowa City, Oct. 7, 1844, and John S. David and John Claypole were continued in session until November chosen commissioners by the Legisla- 1st, following. It consisted of seven- tive Assembly to superintend the erec- ty-two members, representing twenty- tion of the penitentiary at Fort Madi- three counties. The boundaries of son.

the State, as proposed in this Consti- January 18, 1839, Chauncey Swan, John Rolands and Robert Ralston tution, included a large part of the present state of Minnesota and ex- were appointed commissioners to lo- cluded a large triangular piece, em- cate the seat of government at Iowa bracing more than the present coun- City. ties of Lyon, O'Brien and Plymouth,

Feb. 12, 1841, the office of Superin- in the northwest part of the state.

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

The boundary proposed by Congress the territorial legislature of Wiscon- was quite different, both on the north sin, and at Iowa City from December 6, and west; and at an election held in 1841, was by this constitution changed April, 1845, the people, on this ac- to Des Moines, Polk county, and the count, rejected the proposed Constitu- State University was permanently lo- tion. The Legislative Assembly soon cated at Iowa City. afterward passed an act, over Gover- nor Chambers' veto, to resubmit the TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS. proposed constitution at an election

During the eight years of Territori- held August, 1845, and it was again al government, 1838-1846, three men defeated.

served as governors of the Territory, by the appointment of the President of the United States.

January 17, 1846, the legislative as- sembly passed an act providing for an election, in April following, of dele-

Robert Lucas, (1838-1841) of Ohio,

gates to another constitutional con- who had twice filled the gubernatorial vention. This second convention met chair of that state, was the first gov- at Iowa City, May 4th to 19th, 1846, ernor. He proved to be a wise selec- and consisted of 32 delegates, repre- tion, and exercised the authority senting 32 counties. The constitution vested in him with good judgment approved by this convention was rati- and benefit to the future common- fied by the people at an election held wealth. He established the tempo- August 3, 1846, when 9,492 votes were rary seat of Territorial government, cast for it, and 9,036 against it. The at Burlington and convened in the first election of state officers was held Zion church there, the first legislature October 26, following, pursuant to of Iowa, November 12, 1838. April 30, 1841, he issued a proclamation changing

proclamation of Gov. James Clarke, when Ansel Briggs, of Jackson county, the capital from Burlington to Iowa was elected Governor, (the first of the state); Elisha Cutler, Jr., Secretary of State; Joseph F. Farles, Auditor of Public Accounts and Morgan Reno, Treasurer.

These officers entered upon their respective duties in December follow- ing. This constitution was approved by congress, December 28, 1846, and aid-de-camp to General (President) the statehood of Iowa was recognized. Harrison, by whom he was appointed.

This first constitution continued in He was succeeded by James Clarke, force until the year 1857, when a third (1845-1846) of Pennsylvania, but at constitutional convention was held at the time of his appointment, editor of Iowa City, January 19th to March 5th. the Territorial Gazette at Burlington. The constitution adopted by this con- vention was sanctioned by the peo- ple at an election held August 3d, fol- lowing, when there were cast ."for the constitution" 40,311 votes and "against it" 38,681. It went into effect Sep- tember 3, 1857.

No Territory ever boasted of a more worthy trio of Governors. "Simple and unostentatious in private life, as they were honest and patriotic in the discharge of their public duties, they gave Iowa the stamp of a pure char- acter, and reared for themselves a

The seat of government, which had monument of fame worthy of the been at Burlington from November 6, highest and most lasting honor of our 1837, the date of the second session of whole people."

City, and convening the legislature at that place, December 1, 1841. Iowa City thus became the permanent capi- tal of the Territory and the tempo- rary capital of the State.

After three years, Governor Lucas was succeeded by John Chambers, (1841-1845) of Kentucky, who had been

THE TRANSITIONS FROM DISCOVERY TO STATEHOOD.

Under their wise rule the Territory this goodly land of Iowa. Here, the rapidly filled with a population of supreme judicial tribunal of the Ter- hardy, enterprising pioneers who, act- ritory sometimes held its sessions; ing upon their recommendations, as and here the regular terms of the dis- contained in their annual messages, trict court were held for many suc- laid broad and deep the foundations cessive years. of a free government, of wholesome Within these walls the Governor of legislation and the institutions of en- the Territory met in friendly confer- lightenment for which her sons have ence the representatives of some of ever shown their warmest regard.

OLD ZION CHURCH. *

The first church built in Burlington was that known as "Old Zion, " on the west side of Third, between Wash- ington and Columbia streets. Other halls have witnessed more important and more tragic scenes, but we may look in vain for those which could they speak, would give a more varied his- tory of what had transpired within them. Here was embodied, for sev- eral years, the legislative wisdom of the Territory of Iowa; the lower House paradoxically occupying the upper auditorium, and the upper House the lower one. From these halls in the "Old Zion" church of Burlington went forth those legisla- tive edicts that for many a year ruled

* Iowa State Gazetteer, 171.

his dissatisfied red children, to hear their complaints and at least to prom- ise them redress-an easy and oft re- peated remedy. Here the citizens listened to the eloquence of the un- tutored red man and were treated to the exhibition of the song and the war- dance. The wild whoop of the sav- age, which had so often carried dismay and horror to many a stout heart, failed to make any impression upon the walls of "Old Zion," that looked upon these varied scenes with staid gravity, and seemed to be fully de- termined not to be surprised at any strange events that might transpire within them.

"Now rose thy walls, "Old Zion," that have stood,

The dread assault of wasting time and flood. Thou wast our Forum, scene of many a sport, In Pleasure's drama and Ambition's court. Here, too, our village beauty rushed to see The motley Indian dance with savage glee."

64 PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

4 The Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, Ames, Iowa. MOTTO-Science With Practice.

Woman's Battalion in Front.

Farm 648 Acres. Established 1849.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

VIII.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

"Iowa, the affections of her people, like the rivers within her borders, flow to an inseparable union."-LIEUT. GOV. EASTMAN.

"Midland where mighty torrents run With placid brow and modest mien, With bosom glowing to the sun, Sits the majestic prairie Queen. Imperial rivers kiss her feet, The free winds through her tresses blow,

Her breath with unsown flowers is sweet, Her cheeks are flushed with morning's glow.

Grand in her beauty, what cares she For jeweled cliffs or rills of gold? For seats along the sounding sea, . Or starried monuments of old? Her bands are strong, her fame secure, Her praise on lips whose praise is dear; Her heart, her hope and purpose pure, And God in all her landscapes near."

IOWA'S GROWTH. -BYERS.

OWA became a sep- tion have been wrought within the arate Territory with period of our state history. Time the capital at Bur- and space do not permit us to recount lington, in 1838, and the achievements in the political, in- was admitted into dustrial, financial, agricultural, me- chanical, scientific, educational, relig-

the Union in 1846, with a population of 97,000. At the ious or moral world, save to note that close of the civil war this number had in all these Iowa has rendered her full measure of blessing; a fact due to the natural resources of the state and the excellent character of her people. increased to 754,699, and of these about 70,000 were soldiers-a number nearly equal to one-tenth of the popu- lation, or one-half the voters of the NATURAL RESOURCES. state. In 1860, the population had in- creased to 1,194,020; in 1880 to 1,624,615; in 1890 to 1,911,896 and in 1895 to 2,058,- 069.

The State of Iowa is centrally lo- cated in relation to the territory of our nation; the eastern boundary is nearly 1,000 miles from the Atlantic

The half century and two years that tide at Plymouth Rock, and the west- have passed since Iowa became a state, ern border about 1,500 miles from the have wrought great changes. Most of surf-beaten shores of the Pacific; from the improvements of earth, most of the northern line of the state to the the progress in the arts and sciences British possessions 400 miles inter- and most of the advance in civiliza- vene, and from our southern border to

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

the Gulf 760. It is located in fruitful usually steals upon the mind of the embrace of two of the mightiest rivers solitary wanderer in the wilderness; of the earth-the Mississippi and the for though he espies no habitation, Missouri-and is bounded on the north sees no human being and knows that and south by the two powerful and he is far away from every settlement growing states of Minnesota and Mis- of man, he can scarcely defend him- souri, respectively. The area of the self from believing that he is travel- state embraces 55,000 square miles of ing through a landscape embellished the most productive, well-watered, by human art. The flowers, so deli- undulating and beautiful land that cate and elegant, that appear to be the sun enriches with its wealth of distributed over the prairie for mere heat and light in all its yearly journey. ornament, and the groves There is less waste and a larger pro- and groups of trees that seem to be portion of arable land in Iowa than arranged to enliven the landscape, probably in any equal area upon the render it so expressive that one can face of the earth.

"A position so central in the rich- vading the imagination, that the

est, freest and most powerful nation of modern times, central also in the vast system of river navigation con- timent of beauty." *

nected with the great rivers that form its eastern and western boundaries, and so central that the principal lines of railway, binding ocean to ocean, cross its territory, must ever possess incalculable advantages in the security its location affords, the mar- kets it assures, and the commercial advantages that must ever accrue to its citizens."

THE PRAIRIES.

Iowa has been known as the "Prai- rie State," because seven-eights of its surface was originally prairie or grass land. The charm of a prairie consists in its extension, its green, flowery car- pet, its undulating surface and the skirt of forests whereby it is surround- ed. A more pleasing view cannot be imagined than that presented in the spring of the year when the young grass has clothed the soil with a car- pet of most delicate green and the rays of the sun, rising behind a dis- tant elevation, are reflected by myr- iads of dew-drops. "The delightful aspect of the virgin prairie and the absence of that sombre awe inspired by forests, contribute to force away that sentiment of loneliness, that

scarcely prevent the impression in- whole scene has been flung out and created for the satisfaction of the sen-

The origin of the prairies has been the subject of considerable speculation and the question is probably not yet satisfactorily settled. The soil of the low prairies, in the bottoms along the courses of the larger rivers, is almost a pure silicious sand, different from that of the high prairies which con- sists of a sub-soil of argillaceous loam covered with rich, black vegetable mould, usually from one to two or more feet thick. This soil is very fer- tile, producing the greatest yield of the various crops cultivated in this latitude.

"Whatever the origin of the prairies may have been, we have the positive assurance that their present existence in Iowa and its immediate vicinity is not due to the influence of climate, the character or composition of the soil, nor to the character of any of the underlying formations. It now r mains to say, without hesitation, that the real cause of the present existence of the prairies in Iowa is the prevalence of the annual fires. If these had been prevented fifty years ago Iowa would now be a timbered instead of a prairie

*Captain Basil Hall, an English traveler.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

state. " *

Iowa farmer had use for a carriage

Her broad, treeless prairies have from his first settlement on the been the glory of Iowa. In their nat- prairie. ural condition they were not vast It has been said that there are ter- rible blizzards and awful cyclones on these Iowa prairies. It is admitted that there are storms in Iowa, just as there are terrible storms and blizzards in timber covered countries. There are tumults in Nature's domain in all regions, and men are helpless before Nature's forces in all places. De- structive tornadoes in Iowa, like de- structive earthquakes in California are of but rare occurrence. marshes, or great breadths of barren clay, or sterile, unproductive sand, but as they have proved to be, the finest lands that ever awaited the plow to convert them into cultivated and productive farms. Iowa now ranks among the first of the states of the Union in the wonderful aggregate amount of food produced each year. This is not due to the extent of her area, for in this respect, she is twen- tieth in the list, but to the wonderful and uniform productiveness of her soil.

There have been severe winters in Iowa, but they have been few in its history. There may have been danger for pioneer settlers in journeying across Iowa prairies, from winter blizzards, in the past, but those dan- winters on Iowa prairies are desirable heavily wooded sections. Going to now for the benefits and pleasures they afford.

The fact that the prairies consti- tuted so large a part of her area favor- ed the rapid settlement of Iowa. The first settlers had known something of the slow, toilsome process of making gers are now matters of history. Iowa farms with a mattock and axe, in the "raw prairie" with a breaking plow and team, and turning the first furrow, probably one mile in length, without a rock, grub, tree or stump to hinder the plow, they very soon saw the great difference between making a farm on eastern wooded lands and the fertile prairies of Iowa. Infinite wisdom caused seven-eights of her surface to be prairie, that Iowa might the more easily and speedily be turned into a paradise.

The prairies, yet beautiful, are not now as they were when the pioneer chased over them the agile deer and the fleeing elk. Their great breadths were then open commons with sloughs and streams unbridged. Fire in the fall swept off their summer vegeta- tion and left naught to hold in place the falling snow. The settlers' cab- ins, built in grove or sheltered nook, were far apart. The great breadths

"The prairies of Iowa did not invite of open prairie were houseless and settlers merely by the ease by which many of the pioneer settlers were poor they were turned into fine farm and thinly clad. Then there was homes, but the beauty of the. views nothing to mark the traveled road in they afforded, the breadth and grand- the winters' snow storm, and the eur of the great natural meadows and traveler seeking to cross the broad pastures they offered and the ease of prairie, may have been in danger communication they provided between when such a storm overtook him, dis- neighbors and neighborhoods were al- tant from his home or a shelter. But

so potent influences in inducing set- terrible, life destroying blizzards have tlers from the heavily wooded east. been of rare occurrence in the history In driving across them there was no of the state, while mild, beautiful, climbing over stumps and logs. The healthful winters, giving months of *Charles A. White, State Geologist in 1868, Geology of Iowa, Vol. 1, 133. delightful sunshine and smoothest possible roads for winter travel, have

Morrill Hall, one of the Buildings of the Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa,

It was named after Senator Morrill, who, on July 2, 1862, secured the passage of an act by the Congress of the United States, donating public lands to the several States and Territories for the establishment and support of State Agricultural Col- leges and Experiment Stations.

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

been common. Terrible prairie fires on the market and her manufactured may be read about in our history, but goods are steadily seeking customers. they will probably never more be seen. Her cornucopia is always full and

Our broad prairies, originally beau- there is no reason why her yeomanry tiful, have been made more grandly should not be the happiest people on

so by human handiwork, directed by cultured mind. They are now broad realms of finely improved, ductive and enclosed farms. Good roads are common, and the streams and sloughs are bridged. Thrifty vil- lages, thriving towns and cities have multiplied and the whole breadth of the country has been dotted with beautiful artificial groves and orchards.

But with all this improvement and change made by human intelligence and industry, there are some things pertaining to the prairies of Iowa that are unchanged. The depth, richness flow in the same channels cut deep in- to the earth, with the same, ever con- tinuing, rapid current yielding untold

advantages. The prairies of Iowa, no longer grand in their wild luxuriance, have been made more truly beautiful by the art and industry inspired by our christian civilization and will ever be renowned for their agricultural su- periority. Beautiful, fertile and ex- uberantly productive, their possessors are truly a fortunate people." *

Iowa is coming to be more generally recognized as the Garden of Eden of all the world. She always has plenty and to spare. Her granaries are nev- er empty, her stock-yards are con- stantly filled, her meats, fruits, vege- tables and dairy products are always

flowa at the Columbian Exposition, 242,

this sublunary sphere.

"Ah! grandly in her ample lap,

pro- Are annual harvests heaped sublime, Earth bears not on her proudest map A fatter soil, a fairer clime.

How sing her billowy seas of grain, How laugh her fruit on vine and tree, How glad her home in plenty's reign Where love is lord and worship, free."

No country now affords more grace- ful landscapes, when clothed in sum- Now, everywhere over Iowa prairies mer's green, or when its groves are there are human habitations, and the dyed in their autumn robes of silver danger to a traveler in a winter bliz- and scarlet, gold and purple. Iowa zard has passed forever.

landscapes are grandly beautiful, and the traveler sees a breadth of farm- houses beautiful in situation and sur- roundings. The great fields of grow- ing grain, in their season, add beauty to the delighting panoramas, by every and porousness of the soil, qualities shade of green, covering the broad and that give it superior excellence for ag- billowy areas over which the eye ex- ricultural productiveness, are yet un- tends. In the summer season great changed. Proper culture never di- herds and flocks feed amid. blooming minishes but increases its productive flowers and rich herbage, and add en- power. The perennial streams cours- chanting variety to the inviting ing through these broad prairies, yet picture.

RIVERS AND LAKES.

Iowa is a realm of beautiful rivers and smaller streams that for the most part flow in deep channels and with a swift current. The crest or summit forming the watershed between the waters of the Mississippi and the Mis- souri, extending from Dickinson south to Audubon, and thence southeast to Appanoose county, divides the rivers of the state into two systems. In the eastern system are the Upper Iowa, Turkey, Maquoketa, Wapsipinicon, Cedar, Iowa, Skunk and the Des Moines with its branches, the principal of which are South, Middle and North, the Raccoon with its branches, and the Boone. In the western system are found the Floyd, Rock, Lit- tle Sioux, Maple, Boyer, Nishnabotna,

PIONEER HISTORY OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY, IOWA.

Nodaway, Platte, Grand and Chariton. strange people built these walls in the

These are mostly perennial, and prehistoric period; but the scientist many of them furnish power for man- assures us "that when the vast ice- ufacturing purposes. Along their bergs or ponderous glaciers were ex- courses were many fine, natural groves erting their mighty forces in forming of timber that attracted the early set- the wonderful drift coverings of this tlers. All flow in fertile valleys bor- region, great numbers of boulders dered by. sloping uplands, and are were borne by these forces from the sources of pleasure as well as utility north country, and being deposited and add beauty by giving variety to about these bodies of fresh water, the the luxuriant landscapes through forces of winter frosts and ice have their course. lifted them, in the shallow portions of

The lakes of Iowa all lie in the cen- these lakes, and piled them in courses tral third of the northern half of the upon their shores."

state upon its most elevated portion,

Spirit Lake and Lake Okoboji, in where the watersheds are developed Dickinson county, are the two largest into broad tablelands, and are princi- lakes in the state. They are located upon the summit of the great water- shed of the state near the Minnesota

value for commercial purposes, but in line, and have become very popular

pally bodies of clear, pure water. None of them are large enough to be of the hunting season they have been very inviting to the sportsman, since immense numbers of migrating water- fowls, consisting of geese, ducks, brants, swans, cranes, etc., have been accustomed to visit them annually; they have also furnished large quanti- ties of fine fish. On the shores of many of them are beautiful groves of native timber, located in breadths that give a charm to the scenery and make them specially inviting to those seeking rest or health giving recrea- tion.

Clear Lake, in Cerro Gordo county, and Storm Lake, in Buena Vista, are each about five miles in length and two in breadth. Large gather- ings of people annually assemble in the capacious auditoriums, erected upon the banks of these charming and beautiful lakes, for Chautauquas, camp meetings, courses of lectures, musical conventions and other pur- poses.

summer resorts.

Serene and sweet and smiling as a bride, Nestles Okoboji on the green divide; The groves around it, the blue sky above, The summer sunshine bathing it in love; Fair as the lochs that lie in Scotia's glens, Worthy the praise that comes from poet's pen Its sparkling waters in the sunshine g'eam Full of the glamour of the sweetest dream.

MINERAL WEALTH, BUILDING ROCK.

Chas. R. Keyes, Assistant State Ge- ologist, has very truly observed that "Iowa is so pre-eminently an agricult- ural state that usually her mineral re- sources are almost entirely overlooked. Yet, her geological features are none the less interesting scientifically and none the less important from an eco- nomic standpoint."

There is spread everywhere over the state a mantle of drift, the debris left by the retreat of the great ice sheets or glaciers, and this surface deposit is so deep that the older rocks are hid- den from view throughout large areas except where the streams, cutting

There are three lakes in the state their channels through the drift, have that are called Wall Lake, from the exposed sections of the rocks or har- stone walls that girt a portion of their dened clays. shores. They are located in Sac, The Sioux quartzite or red granite, Wright and Hamilton counties. Some a massive crystalline rock that is found have entertained the idea that a upon the surface in the northwest

STATEHOOD, A HALF CENTURY'S GROWTH.

part of the state, is one of the most state is the north part of the great in- compact and durable building rocks of terior coal field of the American the northwest, and some of the lead- continent, and it includesabout 20,000 ing churches and office buildings in square miles, located principally in the Sioux City, Omaha, Council Bluffs, south half of the state. The most Des Moines and other places have productive portion of this area is a been erected from this rock with very broad belt extending in a southeaster- pleasing effect.

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The pioneer history of Pocahontas County, Iowa, from the time of its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 9

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