USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 4
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Spring Rock .- A porous and dolomitic gray or yellow limestone under- lies most of the township and comes into view in several places over the uplands.
Spring Valley .- The Niagara limestone is exposed almost everywhere in the bluffs of the Mississippi river throughout the entire length of the township from north to south.
Washington .- The bedrock is mostly concealed in this region, and there are no extensive outcrops. At only two points the usual kind of limestone is noted.
Waterford .- In the north part of this township, along Sugar creek and its tributaries, are several exposures of dolomitic limestone and some outcrops along minor streams on uplands. The rock is free from chert.
Il'elton .- The exposures are to be seen along Silver creek. In the southeast one-fourth of section 26 drift is very thin and bedrock crops out at the surface of lowlands. Porous limestone ten feet high is exposed in the base of the bluffs of Silver creek.
THE PLEISTOCENE SYSTEM.
The long period of erosion during which the coal measure sediments were removed, was brought to an end by the approach of extensive ice fields from the north in the quaternary age. During this age continental glaciers covered this entire region, probably more than once, and once or twice during that time they overran a part of the area of Clinton county. Each of these incursions deposited a sheet drift, with the lowest order of animal life-pre- historic, with only the outline of its former self.
METEOROLOGY.
The railroad surveys show that low water mark in the Mississippi at Clinton is five hundred and eighty-seven feet above sea level. It is fifty-nine feet higher than Davenport, forty miles below. Clinton and Lyons are from fifteen to twenty-two feet above low water mark and from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet lower than the prairie to the west, making a greater portion of the county from six to seven hundred feet above sea level.
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Prior to 1879 the government did not establish any regular weather ob- serving station at Clinton, but since then the details of the weather-the tem- perature and precipitation at various times each day-have been faithfully and scientifically recorded by the now venerable old gentleman,-now almost ninety years of age,-Luke Roberts. While the remuneration received for such services has been but a few cheap government reports, etc., he has never neglected to make his daily observations and made a record second to none in Iowa. It is to be hoped that some means may be provided, when he shall have ended his work, that another may take it up and perpetuate a record equal to his. It is to be deeply regretted that the state or the general government does not make ample provision for sustaining such local stations and allow a man capable to do this particular expert work suitable pay. The expense, if paid by the county, state and United States combined, would not burden any one of these departments and be of much benefit to the people.
There was, however, a record kept at Lyons and Clinton from 1857 to the date of the establishment of this government station. It shows that the mean temperature was a little over forty-five and five-tenths degrees Fah., varying from forty-five and five-tenths degrees to forty-five and seventy-five- hundredths degrees. The lowest temperature for those years-1857 to 1878- was during the last days of December and the first week in January, when for three of these years the mercury fell from twenty-four to thirty-five degrees below zero. July was the warmest month, and reached ninety-six degrees, or even a little higher.
The rainfall and melted snows ranged from twenty-eight to forty-eight inches. The heaviest rainfall for those years were in August, 1866, and July, 1879, when three inches fell in as many hours.
AN INTERESTING TABLE.
From the record made by "Old Faithful" (Luke Roberts of Clinton), under government instructions and instruments to guide him, the following statistics have been extracted. Fractions of inches are not given.
Average
Rain and Snow Fall. Yearly Temperature. Extreme Heat. 1879-34 inches 45 Deg. Fah.
1880-37 inches 47 Deg. Fah.
1881-41 inches 47 Deg. Fah. IOI Deg. Fah.
1882-41 inches 47 Deg. Fah. 95 Deg. Fah.
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
Average
Rain and Snow Fall. Yearly Temperature. Extreme Heat.
1883-38 inches
44 Deg. Fah.
97 Deg. Fah.
1884-93 inches
45 Deg. Fah. 93 Deg. Fah.
1885-38 inches
43 Deg. Fah. 96 Deg. Fah.
1886-28 inches 46 Deg. Fah.
100 Deg. Fah.
1887-34 inches 47 Deg. Fah. 104 Deg. Fah.
1888-35 inches
45 Deg. Fah.
IOI Deg. Fah.
1889-32 inches
48 Deg. Fah. 96 Deg. Fah.
1890-32 inches 48 Deg. Fah. IOI Deg. Fah.
1891-33 inches
48 Deg. Fah. 96 Deg. Fah.
1892-41 inches
46 Deg. Fah. 95 Deg. Fah.
1893-30 inches
49 Deg. Fah. 96 Deg. Fah.
1894-27 inches 49 Deg. Fah. 100 Deg. Fah.
1895-30 inches
42 Deg. Fah. 99 Deg. Fah.
1896-34 inches
49 Deg. Fah 97 Deg. Fah.
1897-24 inches
48 Deg. Fah. 100 Deg. Fah.
1898-47 inches 48 Deg. Fah.
99 Deg. Fah.
1899-29 inches
47 Deg. Fah.
95 Deg. Fah.
1900-37 inches
49 Deg. Fah. 98 Deg. Fah.
1901-22 inches
48 Deg. Fah.
106 Deg. Fah.
1902-49 inches
43 Deg. Fah.
95 Deg. Fah.
1903-36 inches
47 Deg. Fah.
96 Deg. Fah.
1904-31 inches
44 Deg. Fah.
1905-38 inches
47 Deg. Fah.
1906-38 inches
49 Deg. Fah.
1907-41 inches
47 Deg. Fah.
1908-34 inches
48 Deg. Fah.
1909-49 inches
48 Deg. Fah.
The mean temperature for the past thirty-one years has been 47.3 degrees. The average temperature for the crop growing seasons-April to October -for thirty years has been 64.2 degrees.
The season with the highest mean temperature was 66.4 degrees in 1894, and again in 1900 about the same.
The lowest crop season temperature was in 1883, when the mean was 61.4 degrees, a range of only five degrees.
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
GREATEST SNOW AND RAIN YEARS.
The average yearly snow fall for thirty-one years was 34.74 inches. The greatest snow fall was 77.5 inches in 1881. The least snow was in 1880, when only 13 inches fell. The greatest fall in any one month during the last thirty years was in March, 1881, when 30 inches came. In January and February just preceding that month in 1881, 31 inches of snow fell, and this with the other blocked the entire train service on the Northwestern railway between Chicago and Clinton, so that mail trains were suspended for five days.
The great rain years since the observation has been taken at Clinton, in 1879, are as follows. 1879, three inches, in July in seven hours; 1884, 2.27, in August in five hours; 1885, 5.27, in August in fourteen hours; 1886, 3.56 inches, in October in five hours; 1895, three inches, in June in one hour ; 1898, five inches, in June in four hours; this was a,"cloud burst." The same month three inches fell in as many hours accompanied by an electric storm lasting ten hours. 1899, 3.83 inches fell in May in twenty-four hours; 1904, 2.75 inches fell in three hours in August; 1906, 2.50 inches fell in one and a half hours July 22. On the night of September 4th and 5th, 1910, 3.25 inches of rain fell at Clinton-no wind with it.
The greatest monthly percipitation in thirty years was 10.02 inches, in August, 1885; the next highest was in June, 1902, when 9.90 inches fell.
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CHAPTER III.
ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.
Clinton county was organized by territorial enactment, January 1I, 1840, the law to be effective from and after March Ist of that year. Camanche had been also named as the seat of justice, it being in a community that had more votes than any other portion of the county. The act making this a county declared that three commissioners and other officers should be elected on the first Monday in April, 1840, but there seems to be no record of a meeting of the county commissioners until in January, 1841 ; yet old settlers are sanguine that meetings were held and the first foundation stones of a county organiza- tion well laid. It was known that Elijah Buell, George Griswold and Robert C. Bourne were the first commissioners, and that the next election was held in August, 1840. The act organizing this county provided that the county com- missioners of Scott county should select the names of persons residing in Clinton county to serve as grand jurors. The following were chosen for such position : Peter H. Groat, James Claborne, Richard Crawshaw, Robert Thomas, Samuel Doolittle, John C. Holbrook, Frederick Hess, John Emory, Samuel Coy, Benjamin Baker, Oliver A. Crary, Alfred Brown, Otis Bennett, Daniel Smith, Richard H. Dawson, Eldad Beard, David H. Brown, Henry Strickler, Robert C. Bourne, Philip D. Bradley, Eli Goddard, Alanson Dicker- man and Arthur Smith. From this number were chosen the requisite num- ber to serve on the grand jury, and Richard H. Dawson was made its fore- man, and thus the wheels of judicial matters and the bringing to trial of any law violators within the newly made county were set in motion.
Governor Dodge had appointed James D. Bourne as sheriff to execute the laws, and Martin Dunning was appointed clerk of the court, while Thomas S. Wilson was judge and William J. A. Bradford, district prosecuting at- torney.
At the first election for county officers the following were declared duly elected : Robert C. Bourne, Eli Goddard and Elijah Buell, county commission- ers ; James D. Bourne, sheriff; Richard H. Dawson, county assessor; Shubel Coy, treasurer, and Mr. Gardner, recorder.
The first meeting of the board of commissioners was held at the house of Samuel Doolittle, who kept a pioneer inn, in the village of Camanche, on Tues- day, January 5, 1841, when Martin Dunning was appointed clerk of the board
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
(about the same as the present county auditor). Richard H. Dawson having failed to qualify, George W. Harlan was appointed county assessor.
The newly elected and first county recorder was furnished with an outfit of books necessary for his office, and the bills show that the supplies and books cost the county the sum of seven dollars and thirty-five cents, which was paid to Reuben Root.
The first judges of election received one dollar for their services. The most important business before the April, 1841, board of commissioners was the defining and fixing the boundaries of six original precincts or civil town- ships of the county. These townships were named Camanche, Lyons, Elk River, Deep Creek, Clear Creek and Liberty. These boundaries will be given in detail in the township history of each in its proper position in this volume.
The next task before the county board was the laying out of highways, making road districts and appointing of supervisors for the same, for roads and the crossing of the smaller streams was of the utmost importance to the citizens and the new comers.
The records reveal the fact that the only roads within the county were the territorial roads that had been surveyed out as follows: By act of the territorial Legislature, James Ross, A. C. Sutleff and Stephen Tripp were appointed in July, 1840, as commissioners to locate a territorial road from Lyons to Iowa City, which was duly established in January, 1841. This high- way commenced in the center of Sixth street (then Main) in Lyons, then ran in a southeasterly course for thirty-eight miles, in Clinton county, and eighty miles to Iowa City. This was No. I. Road No. 2 was from Davenport to Bellevue. No. 3 was from Lyons to Tipton and was established in 1842. No. 4 was from Denson's Ferry to Dubuque and was established in 1842. No. 5 was a county road, the petitioners asking for a highway from the Wapsipini- con, in range 4, through De Witt township, thence north, to intersect the ter- ritorial road from Davenport to Dubuque, at or near Negro Grove. It is not clear from present plats just where this road did run. No. 6 was also a county road, asked for by Jonas M. Oakes and others, from De Witt, via Wright's Grove to the north line of Clinton county, near Levi Decker's house. No. 7 was a territorial road from Camanche to Iowa City.
It will be readily observed that with so few roads in so large a territory as Clinton county, and so small a revenue, the highways most traveled were the prairie trails that wended their graceful ways through the sea of grass and wild flowers, without regard to the owner of lands or the points of the compass.
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
CHANGE OF TOWNSHIP LINES.
By April, 1852, the number of civil townships had increased from the original six to twelve. The following resolution was passed by the county board at that date: "Whereas, the boundaries of the political townships in this county, by changes and alterations at different times heretofore made, have become uncertain and confused; and whereas some portions of the county have never been legally attached to any township of which there can now be found any record, it is therefore ordered by the court that the boundaries of the sev- eral political townships in the county be established as follows :"
Then followed a minute description of the twelve existing townships, which were as follows by name: Camanche, Lyons, Elk River, Deep Creek, Bloomfield, Sharon, Liberty, Spring Rock, Olive, Union, De Witt and Center townships.
Year after year, and decade after decade, found the supervisors of this county busy in making needed changes in the territory of the townships, and in adding here and subtracting there, in order that the best interests of the people might be subserved. By the date of the first meeting of the newly created board of county supervisors, January 7, 1861, the county had been divided and sub-divided until it was made up of the twenty townships it now possesses, with slight changes here and there since then.
The successive stages of county governing power in Clinton county are as follows : First the county commissioner system, from 1840 to 1861 ; second, the township supervisor system (where each township was represented on the board of county supervisors), which lasted until January 1, 1871, when the county was divided into three supervisor districts and the three men since then have represented the entire county. It is generally believed, that where this system has been tested, it is superior to the large board of supervisors that for- merly congregated at the county seat to administer the needs of the people, where, as a matter of fact, much strife and local feeling was manifest; but when one man is representing a third of a great county, in a local sense, and the whole county in a broader sense, he is usually free from the difficulties that stared the township supervisor in the face while seeking to faithfully carry out his duties as a county official.
LOCATING AND RE-LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT.
Clinton county, in common with a majority of the ninety-nine counties of Iowa, had her troubles over the final location of her seat of justice, her
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
court houses, etc. As already stated, Camanche was first selected for the county seat, by act of the Legislature of the territory. It remained at Camanche but about a year, when a petition was circulated for its re-location and presented to the territorial Legislature. This petition was circulated by George Griswold. In response to this petition, the Legislature passed an act January 14, 1841, a portion of which read as follows :
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the council of the House of Representa- tives of the Territory of Iowa, that William Miller, of Cedar county, Andrew Russell, of Scott county, William A. Warren, of Jackson county, be and here- by are appointed commissioners to re-locate the seat of justice of Clinton county.
"Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of said commissioners to meet at the house of Abram Folcks, in Clear Creek precinct, in said county, on some day within six months from the date of this act, and proceed to locate said seat of justice as near the geographical center of said county as a good and suitable situation, convenient to wood and water, can be found, having reference to the present and future population of the county.
"Sec. 3. The commissioners aforesaid shall, before entering upon their duties as commissioners, take and subscribe, before some justice of the peace, the following oath or affirmation: (Here followed the form of the formal oath.)
"Sec. 4. That as soon as said commissioners shall have determined upon the place where said seat of justice shall be located, it shall be the duty of the commissioners to name it by some name, as they may think proper and agree- able to the people of said county; and they shall forthwith commit their pro- ceedings to writing, and sign the same, and file them in the office of the clerk of the district court of said county, whose duty it shall be to record the same in the record book."
The report of the commissioners was made to the court, in vacation, April 16, 1841, and reads as follows :
"Territory of Iowa, Clinton County, ss :
"We, the commissioners to locate the seat of justice of Clinton county, do solemnly swear that we will perform the duties imposed on us by our ap- pointment, honestly and faithfully and according to our ability and according to the law relative to locating said seat of justice, and we do further swear that we are not directly or indirectly interested in said location, and that, in locating said seat of justice, we will act without the slightest partiality toward
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
any person or persons, without bias from fear, favor or recompense, or the hope of any gain or advantage to ourselves in any respect whatever.
(Signed) "WILLIAM MILLER, "ANDREW RUSSELL, "WILLIAM A. WARREN.
"Sworn to and subscribed this 18th day of March, 1841, before me, "ROBERT SMITH, Justice of the Peace."
"We, the commissioners appointed by an act of the Legislative Assembly of the territory of Iowa, having met at the house of Abraham Folk, in Clear Creek precinct, in Clinton county, and having taken and subscribed the oath prescribed by said act (as before), proceeded to the performance of our duties, and located the seat of justice of said county by setting the stake in or near the center of the north half of section 18, township 81 north, range 4 east, of the fifth principal meridian; and by naming the said seat of justice Vander- burg.
"Witness our hands and seals this 18th day of March, A. D. 1841.
"WILLIAM MILLER, (Seal)
"ANDREW F. RUSSELL, (Seal)
"WILLIAM A. WARREN." (Seal)
It was subsequently learned that the town was named after an old "sweet- heart" of Commissioner Warren, and later was changed to De Witt.
Soon after the report of the locating commissioners had been made, the county commissioners (supervisors) found that the land on which the seat of justice had been located at De Witt (Vanderburg) was still government land, and they at once borrowed two hundred dollars, and sent the sheriff to Dubuque, where he, at the land office, purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land including the site named by the locating commissioners. This was surveyed and platted into lots, reserving one block for a public park and the two northwest lots of the block next east for county buildings. These lots were advertised for sale, the auction to take place July 2 and 3, 1841. The sale notice was to be published in the Standard at Bloomington-now Musca- tine-and in the Iowa Sun at Davenport. The clerk of this county not yet being familiar with the name of the new county seat, spelled it two ways on the first page of his record, "Vanderburg" and "Brandenburg," thinking, possibly, to make good in one case or the other !
Having given the organization and location of a county seat of the county, the reader is referred to the chapter on "County Government" for the building of the first and all succeeding county buildings.
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CHAPTER IV.
EARLY . SETTLEMENT OF CLINTON COUNTY.
The first settlement in the state of Iowa was made by Julian Dubuque at Dubuque in 1788, when this territory was yet under the control of Spain. But really the pioneer band commenced to settle eastern Iowa in about 1833, and this was in the counties situated along the Mississippi river.
Clinton county was first settled in 1835, and there is now but little doubt that the once vexed question of who had the honor of first settling in so goodly a county as this has finally been sifted out and set right in public print. So let it be forever considered true that on the 25th day of July, 1835, Elijah Buell stepped from a boat at a point where now stands the city of Lyons (North Clinton). He was drawn hither by the natural surroundings and a favorable point at which to locate a ferry over the waters of the Mississippi between Illinois and Iowa, this place being the "Narrows." The early settlers never once disputed Mr. Buell's right to priority, neither did James D. Bourne, who, however, did locate in Iowa in 1833, but not in Clinton county until in September, 1836, according to his own signature to a statement at the old settlers' meeting held in September, 1878, when both he and pioneer Elijah Buell made addresses, and there was then nothing said to lead anyone to even infer that Mr. Buell was not the original settler in this county. The notion has come to obtain in the minds of some who came in, or grew to manhood at a much later date, that Bourne was ahead of Buell. It is true that he was a resident of the domain now known as the state of Iowa, as early as 1833, for he so registered his name at the old settlers' meeting just referred to. Having, we trust, settled the question of who was the first white man to permanently locate in the county, it may be of some interest to know something of the man's history and what, in fact, caused him to select so fine a location in which to claim the honors of the first pioneer.
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THE FIRST SETTLER.
Elijah Buell was a native of New York state, born in the city of Utica in 1801. From his earliest years he had been a seafaring man upon the lakes and served as a trusty pilot on the Ohio and lower Mississippi rivers. But
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THE OLD STONE HOUSE, CLINTON
Erected about 1845. Located on Bluff Boulevard, although crude in architecture, is pointed out as a landmark of special interest in the ante-bellum days, when black refugees were given shelter and protection in the North, the house being used as an "Underground Railroad" station in abolition days.
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA.
with the passing of the years, he tired of this life and longed for a peaceful home where he and his family might possess some land and spend the re- mainder of their days in quietude.
His mind was directed toward the land office in Illinois where he be- lieved there was a piece of fertile prairie land, possibly, in waiting for his entry fee. So, leaving his wife and child in St. Louis, he boarded the steamer "Dubuque," commanded by his old-time friend, Captain Cole. On his arrival at Cordova, he called at the cabin of a settler and, with this as his base of operations, commenced to explore the region round about. He still hankered after the fresh water, the navigable streams where he had spent so much of his life. Upon reaching the Meredosia in the month of May, 1835, he found only a solitary settler,-a genuine "squatter," who was monarch of all he sur- veyed,-this person being John Baker. They decided to prospect in company, and in traveling up the river reached the "narrows" in the Mississippi river, where Fulton, Illinois, and Lyons, Iowa, are now situated. They thought it a very favorable place at which to establish a ferry, Mr. Baker deciding to take the Illinois side and Mr. Buell the Iowa (then Wisconsin territory) side of the Mississippi. Mr. Baker first stopped at Albany site, on the Illinois side, in 1833 and then went to where he became Fulton's first settler.
Pioneer Buell, whose.son is now a well known business man of Lyons, having decided on his location and the building of a home for his little family, went down the river for supplies, and in due season returned in a pirogue, loaded with his purchases, and accompanied by Henry Carson, whom he had engaged to work for him. This landing was made at the "Narrows" July 25, 1835. He at once set about during the hot months of August and September and he and Mr. Carson built him a log house-at least it was a comfortable habitation, though far from friends and civilization. The logs were cut above the spot where used, on the bluff which had hitherto never heard the sound of the woodman's ax. The logs were rafted down stream and taken up the bank where the cabin home was soon erected. He was assisted somewhat in this labor by the friendly Indian bands still lingering in these green glad solitudes. The building was sixteen feet square, had the typical puncheon floor and "shake" roofing, the builder little dreaming that this was to become one of the most extensive lumber cutting cities in all America before a third of a century rolled away. After completing his cabin, Mr. Buell went down the Mississippi for his family and for some additional supplies. On his return trip, he left his wife and child at Cordova, they having been attacked by the fever and chills, but after they had sufficiently recovered to travel he brought them on up the river to their new home in a land their eyes had never beheld. When
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