MAMMOTH BOOi 
 
 KEEN & LEE, 
 
 i-as 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. 
 
 Strangers visiting Chicago arc invited to call and examine the immense 
 
 StOOli. Of IO0015.S, 
 
 of all descriptions, kept at KEEN & LEE'S STORE, occupying 
 
 a building 150 feet deep, and four stores high. Their Stock, 
 
 in quantity and variety, is unrivaled. 
 
 School Books, Sunday School Books, 
 
 medical Books, Blank Books, Law Books, 
 
 Fine English Stationery, Congress Papers, 
 Record Books, Stationery for County Officers, 
 
 Miscellaneous Books for Libraries. 
 
 DISTRICT SCHOOLS 
 
 Will do well to send their orders to us and have them filled at 
 the WHOLESALE PRICES. 
 
 TOWN AND COUNTY LIBRARIES 
 
 Supplied at a liberal discount from the Retail Prices. 
 All the Books recommended by our 
 
 STATE SUPERINTENDENT, 
 
 kept constantly on hand. 
 
 O TJ *J T H. IT 3VL IE 3R. C H .A. !*" T J9 
 
 Supplied on liberal terms. 
 
 KEEN & LEE, 
 
 Wholesale Booksellers & Publishers, 
 
 No. 148 Lab?. Street, Chicago, Illinois.
 
 PURPLES' EDITION 
 
 OF THE REVISED 
 
 STATUTES OF ILLINOIS. 
 
 1856, 
 
 This REVISED EDITION OP THE STATUTES OF ILLINOIS 
 includes all the Laws complete to 1856 all those prior to 
 and since the revision of 1845. At the end of each Law 
 the decisions of the Supreme Court are given, making it an 
 indispensable book to the Lawyer and Student saving 
 them time and expense. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 KEEN & LEE 
 
 AT THE 
 
 NO. 148 LAKE STREET, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,
 
 TO BOOK-BUYERS EVERYWHERE. 
 
 KEEN & LEE, 
 
 PUBLISHERS, IMPORTERS, AND 
 
 f rrufe-f 
 
 A. 
 
 "w* 
 
 No. 148 LAKE STREET, 
 
 CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, 
 
 Call the attention of all Book-buyers to their most extensive and 
 unrivalled Assortment of 
 
 LAW, MEDICAL, THEOLOGICAL, MISCELLANEOUS, 
 AND SCHOOL BOOKS, 
 
 Which they offer at the lowest prices, and on the best terms. 
 Their facilities enable them to furnish all kinds of Stock in their 
 line at publishers' lowest prices. 
 
 Particular attention is given to the Department of 
 
 SCHOOL-BOOKS, 
 
 And orders are filled promptly. In addition to their stock of Books, 
 a Complete Stock of 
 
 FANCY AND STAPLE STATIONERY 
 
 Will always be kept on hand. 
 
 Special attention is paid to orders, and Booksellers may rely on ^ 
 the same attention in this respect as though they were present to > 
 make their purchases themselves. 
 .- |V>VL . IVU . > 
 
 *%*Wm W , , . , ^^^r.
 
 TO 
 
 THE YOUNG MEN OF IOWA, 
 
 INTO WHOSE HANDS WILL, ERE LONG, BE ENTRUSTED THE DESTINT 
 
 OF OUR YOUNG STATE, AND BY WHOM HER FREE SOIL, HER 
 
 BOUNDLESS RESOURCES, AND HER REPUBLICAN 
 
 INSTITUTIONS, ARE SOON TO BE DEVE- 
 
 LOPED, CONTROLLED, IMPROVED, 
 
 AND PERPETUATED, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY 
 
 THAT THEY PROVE WORTHY OF THE SACRED TRUST, NEVBE 
 
 SWERVING FROM THE PATH OF DUTY, AND THAT THEY 
 
 EXERT THEIR PREROGATIVES AS FREEMEN, TO AD- 
 
 VANCE INTO AN EVER-EXPANDING PROSPE- 
 
 RITY THE NOBLE STATE WHOSE HELM 
 
 THEY HOLD, IS THE DESIRE 
 
 AND HOPE OF 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 83G69O
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Early history and accession of territory organization 
 
 boundaries, area, etc 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The climate 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The soil 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 General appearance of the prairies 25 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Iowa scenery the bluffs, etc 28 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Rivers and their tributaries 32 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Timber-lands 33 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Geology of Iowa 37 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Population immense immigration of 1854 54 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 General remarks 66 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Instructions to the new-comer respecting the selection, entry, 
 
 or purchase and cultivation of prairie lands 75 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Sketches by travelling contributors a stranger's impres- 
 sions, etc 78 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Railroads 89 
 
 1* (v)
 
 v j CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Railroad distances on the various lines, connecting Chicago 
 
 with the State of Iowa 97 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Statistics J 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Description of Counties 107 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Description of Counties continued 138 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Description of Counties continued 151 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Description of Counties continued 166 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Description of Counties concluded 177 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 Western Iowa and Nebraska 194 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Public Lands System of Surveys 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXIH. 
 Constitution of the State of Iowa 207 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 State Officers and Congressmen, from the admission into the 
 Union to the present time 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Judicial Districts. Times of Holding Courts 239 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 Education 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Religious Worship 258 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Benevolent Societies 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 Public Improvements 270 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 List of Post Offices in Iowa, arranged alphabetically in 
 Counties t ' 275
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 AFTER a careful arrangement of information compiled by 
 piecemeal, during a twelvemonth passed in the editorial chair, 
 and during that period subjected to constant revision and 
 pruning after the receipt from the several counties in our 
 State, of the latest statistical intelligence relating to each 
 and as the general result of two year's attentive study it 
 is that the Author has been enabled to prepare his work for 
 the public eye. He is aware that an occasional error may 
 have crept into it, or that here and there a piece of informa- 
 tion may have been omitted, but he trusts and believes that 
 the pains he has taken to avoid these have not been in vain, 
 and that if any are found, they will be as few as possible, 
 and in no case, of great importance. 
 
 It is the design and aim of the Author in presenting his 
 book to the public, to supply a want that has long been felt, 
 and which is being daily expressed, as well by the present 
 resident in Iowa, as by the countless throng still pouring 
 westward, and the thousands in the crowded East, whose 
 thoughts and aspirations turn towards us. 
 
 Iowa holds out to the emigrant inducements such as no 
 other State in our Union can boast, nor is any other at this 
 day being so largely flooded by the onward tide of immigra- 
 tion. Her resources are inexhaustible, her advantages are 
 beyond the scope of calculation, and her claims upon the 
 attention of every class and sex of the energetic, the in- 
 dustrious and the ambitious, are as peremptory as they are 
 vast. Yet is there a deplorable scarcity of such published 
 information as shall set forth these latent sources of wealth. 
 
 fvii)
 
 via p E E F A o E . 
 
 The eastern traveller and emigrant ; the western resident 
 whether he be but a new-comer, or whether he has risen to 
 fortune in our midst and the State itself, require such an 
 exposition as the Author has attempted in the following 
 pages. If he has succeeded in representing, according to its 
 deserts, " Iowa, as it is in 1856" if his task shall tend to 
 throw a light over the immigrant's path, or to erect a guide- 
 board upon his way if his work will serve to eradicate or 
 lessen whatever of misconception or of prejudice may have 
 existed in the minds of strangers if, as the fruit of his labors, 
 he shall be able to induce others to join the mighty host that 
 even now is swarming to Iowa's fertile fields if, in fine, he 
 has been able to place Iowa before the world, in its true light, 
 and to assign to it that lofty rank among the States which 
 it must attain and forever hold he will feel that he has not 
 fallen short of the elevated goal of his ambition, and, in the 
 consciousness of a duty fulfilled will reap a golden reward. 
 
 And here the Author feels called upon to express the 
 gratitude he feels towards those to whom he has applied for 
 information. With scarcely an exception, he has met with 
 prompt and kindly answers, and an earnest co-operation. 
 And while thus returning his thanks, he would ask of those 
 who have aided him heretofore, as well as of any who may 
 bestow their attention upon his book, to further assist him, 
 and whenever they may detect aught that is erratic, or 
 discover any omission, to inform him in the matter, that 
 he may be able, in future editions to rectify the one and fill 
 up the other. 
 
 IOWA, May, 1865.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 STILL fresh in the memories of a few of her citizens, is the 
 time when Iowa was one vast wilderness. Her land untilled, 
 her groves unpeopled, and her mighty rivers flowing unim- 
 peded unadmired, by art or eye of man, she donned her 
 verdant robes, and decked her fields with flowers on each re- 
 turning spring, as if to woo the distant husbandman, and 
 when chill autumn came, she shrank again into the sere and 
 withered, waiting, patient still, and still with hope. She 
 heard the Indian hunter's shot resound amid her solitude ; 
 she held the imprint of his step upon the yielding surface 
 of her soil ; she watched him crawl to his wigwam home, and 
 lay him down to slothful rest, to dream of the ravage or the 
 hunt. She saw him wake from sleep, and gird about his 
 loins the savage tomahawk and scalping knife, while piercing 
 war-whoops rang from dell to dell, and whistling balls and 
 rolling thunders shook the air above, and bathed the blazing 
 fields in gore. She heard the red man's cry of death the 
 white man's shout of victory. And then her streams and 
 fields her hills and waving woodlands joined in one vast 
 choral hymn, when banners were furled, and arms were lain 
 to rest, and Peace snatched the sceptre from the wearied God 
 of War. 
 
 (ix)
 
 X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Then, soon, throughout the land, a lamentation rose. The 
 red man stretched his form upon the earth, and bathed the 
 sod with tears. He bade a long farewell to hunting-ground 
 and river-bank to bluff and valley, where transcendent 
 beauty held her court, or uttered a parting wail beside the 
 graves of his fathers the mounds of his nation's slumbering 
 chiefs. Here, from year to year, had successive generations 
 learned to kneel here had their voices risen annually, in 
 strains of mourning and of homage, for the loved or the il- 
 lustrious dead here had been their refuge in times of sorrow 
 or of trouble and here had they found a retreat, sequestered 
 from the world, and hedged round with a sacred an unpro- 
 faned reverence. But although he lingered still although 
 to leave these solemn scenes occasioned him most poignant 
 grief called forth the wildest throes of anguish yet, inexor- 
 able fate impelled the red man onward. Civilization required 
 his departure ; the destiny of his outcast race bade him fly 
 from before the coming white man's face, and take another 
 step towards that extinction which yawns before the savage 
 tribe. He raised his voice, once more, in cries of anguish, 
 then joined the mighty Ishmaelitish host, and, taking up the 
 line of march, he pressed his farewell foot-print on his native 
 soil, and left behind him on the spreading plains, the last 
 Indian trail of Iowa. 
 
 E'en yet the heavy tramp of the banished nation sounds 
 along the western horizon e'en yet that horizon is blackened 
 by the forms of the retreating multitude when lo ! upon the east 
 ft long white line comes gleaming up, seemingly rising out 
 of the distant ground. One by one, like sails at sea, the 
 white-tented wagons of the immigrant well up into sight, 
 and soon we shall see their occupants encamped near yonder 
 grove, their tents gleaming in the moonlight, and the smoke 
 of their camp-fires spreading like a protecting shelter, above 
 their deep, untroubled slumbers. These hardy men, with
 
 INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 their aged parents and adolescent families, moving onward in 
 the wake of the expatriated Indian, are the pioneers of lowan 
 civilization the vanguard of the mighty phalanx that is 
 yet to come. 
 
 The immigration to Iowa reminds one of the legendary 
 days of the Crusaders. As did the venturous knights of old, 
 the emigrants resign the endearments and luxuries of home, 
 to build up for themselves a glorious destiny, amid the wilds 
 of a strange land. They go to rescue from the desolation 
 entailed upon it by savage hordes, a region stored with 
 Nature's lavish gifts ; and, as those misled champions of the 
 cross, they sally forth in banded numbers, from every point 
 of a civilized world, to meet in the brotherhood of a great 
 cause, on the fertile plains where tower their mutual hopes. 
 But here the resemblance ends. The valiant knight of old 
 went forth arrayed in all the paraphernalia of war, to 
 conquer to subdue to win, by fire and sword, a land rich 
 in historic lore a land whose interest mainly lay in the 
 hereditary annals of the past. But the modern emigrant 
 wends his way to territories, whose history is yet unknown, 
 whose annals are yet unwritten, whose value and grandeur lie 
 in the promises of the future. The plough-share and the pru- 
 ning-hook are his weapons, his companions are the loved ones 
 of either sex. The Crusader went to tear down to demolish 
 a dynasty ; the emigrant, to build up a State. The former 
 had history for his guide the latter had a history to frame 
 and write. 
 
 And nobly has he written it. In the unexcelled prosperity 
 of the land of his adoption in the magic growth of her 
 cities upon her boundless prairies, as on a vast sheet has 
 he traced the records of Iowa's liberation from the darkness 
 of the Indian ages. And these are records that posterity will 
 read with pride, when the crumbling monument and
 
 Xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 mouldering legend of battle and of victory will be as " a tale 
 of days forgotten." 
 
 , IOWA once the freehold of the tawny savage is now a 
 ivilized and settled State. Where once the wolf went 
 bounding, now waves the yellow corn ; and where the owlet 
 ooted to the solitude, the cabin-smoke is floating on the air. 
 Wherever the highway winds, the ever-recurring marks of 
 cheerful industry of progress of prosperity greet the 
 traveller's eye, till one is disposed to rank this State as 
 cotemporary with many of her elder sisters. The immigrant 
 is no longer called on to endure the vicissitudes, the hard- 
 ships, and the dangers of a frontier life. At every step ho 
 meets civilization in many places, finds improvements 
 in the art of farming, such as he dreamed not of in his 
 Eastern home ; and often an old familiar face a friend who 
 had been a neigbor in years gone by greets his arrival. 
 Yet, be it not supposed that Iowa is full. Far from it ; still 
 within her vast domain lie millions of untilled acres un- 
 entered untouched unreclaimed from primeval wildness. 
 They await the immigrant they call to him and bid him 
 come. Shall it be asked what inducements they hold forth 
 to tempt him, or what resources they possess to repay his 
 labor? We ask, on the other hand, what do they not hold 
 forth? The fertility of the soil in Iowa is unsurpassed not 
 merely by that of her kindred States not merely in our 
 Union but throughout the world ! The black loam that over- 
 lies her prairies, and which varies in depth from eighteen to j-' 
 forty-eight inches, forms an inexhaustible storehouse of 
 fecundity and agricultural wealth. It rests upon a deep 
 subsoil of clay, well fitted to retain moisture ; and, during the 
 driest portions of the year, this moisture reascends through 
 the surface-muck thus, by a constant reaction, weakening, if 
 not annulling the efiects of the severest drought. This was 
 fully proved during the excessive aridity of 1854, Iowa having
 
 INTRODUCTION. Xlil 
 
 Buffered less from its effects than any other State in the 
 Union, and having, since then, been the granary of that 
 Union, and supplied from her own stores the exhausted 
 markets of the East and South. This may sound in- 
 credible fabulous; and yet, Iowa, the youngest of the 
 States, has actually accomplished it 1 I 
 
 Such are the inducements Iowa holds out to the farmer, 
 coupled with a promise to return him, for immeasurably less 
 labor than would be required in the East, an unsurpassable 
 abundance of any and every article which the zone we live 
 in is capable of producing. 
 
 But again : to the manufacturer she also cries come I She 
 invites him to behold for himself her immense coal regions, 
 and examine the qualities of the coal; to roam, hand in 
 hand with the farmer, over the vast mineral tracts ; and while 
 he admires the richness of the mines, to let the farmer wonder 
 at the phenomenon of an exceedingly fertile soil, spread out 
 upon the immense beds of lead. Nor is this all. The 
 abundance of first-rate water-power, and the amount of 
 building-stone everywhere to be found, offer such advantages 
 to the energetic manufacturer as he may elsewhere seek in 
 vain. 
 
 These facts have but recently reached the East and see 
 with what avidity men of capital are hastening to test these 
 boasted resources. And still the field is open still the coffera 
 of the earth are full, and he may help himself who will. 
 
 The poor and the lowly came a few years since, but now 
 the rich and the lofty flock to Iowa, as well as they. 
 And, thanks to the enterprise of these, the colossal wheel of 
 manufacture has already been set in motion in Iowa. It re- 
 volves as yet but slowly, and its reverberating strokes do but 
 send forth, as yet, prophetic echoes throughout the State, that 
 tell what may what can and will be done. When the Giant 
 Spirit of Human Art shall have chained the flow of Iowa's 
 2
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 great central artery, and assumed the directing of its course 
 when the Mississippi's waves shall foam and lash in their 
 impeded progress when the Missouri's waters shall be 
 darkened by the shadows and the smoke of mammoth factories 
 and when the tributary streams of this great trio shall be 
 made to join in this work of grandeur and of usefulness 
 then will that Giant Spirit, as he listens to the ponderous 
 humming of that colossal wheel, whose accelerated revolu- 
 tions will then keep time with the pulsations of Iowa's ambi- 
 tious heart, find a genial home in the young, and promising^ 
 and vigorous State. There is in this picture no fiction no 
 visionary anticipation : all that we have hinted at, and more, 
 will be realized. It requires no gift of prophecy to trace out 
 the future path of Iowa. An observing eye aided by a 
 spirit of discrimination need but take the past for a prece- 
 dent the present for an earnest to draw a vast panorama 
 of prosperity, such as our Union has perhaps never witnessed, 
 heretofore, and yet, which Iowa will not fail to excel. 
 
 To the law-loving and the temperate to the enterprising, 
 the vigorous, the ambitious she offers a home and a field 
 worthy of their noblest efforts. Already has she placed the 
 early adventurer on a throne of fortune, thus amply rewarding 
 his courage. At this day she points to still loftier thrones 
 and richer diadems, held in reserve as the prizes of fearless 
 energy or better still, throws open to the world her ex- 
 haustless stores of wealth, and seems to say, " Behold your 
 reward 1" And as the multitudinous throngs hasten toward 
 these goals of promise as they crowd with eager steps, and 
 work with untiring hands they find that far from becoming 
 drained, her resources deepen and increase in proportion as 
 they take from them not merely keeping pace with their 
 accumulating wants, but ever exceeding them ; it is even as 
 the province of mind the realms of intellect whose
 
 INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 boundaries still widen, and whose sphere continues to expand, 
 the further they are explored. 
 
 There is an emigration that thins the old and crowded 
 States on the Atlantic seaboard ; there is an immigration that 
 peoples a new world, and darkens the mountain-slope of 
 fortune; there is a journeying from the old into the new, of 
 the Pilgrims of Industry and of Hope. But there is a 
 mightier emigration a vaster pilgrimage than these. It is 
 the march, onward and upward into the Future, of Iowa her- 
 self. As the immigrant mother leads her sons and daughters 
 into the undeveloped paths of wealth as civilization elevates 
 a race out of the sloughs of semi-barbarism as national pros- 
 perity exalts a land or as science raises the human intellect 
 from darkness into dazzling light thus Iowa, with rapid 
 strides, ascends the precipitous sides of prosperity's mountain- 
 range, bearing her sons and daughters to loftier, and still 
 loftier peaks, and revealing to their gaze still wider and richer 
 vistas. And the summit of this range she will never reach ; 
 for her onward progress cannot be stayed, until her arterial 
 streams are dry until the agricultural life-blood in her veins 
 has ceased to flow, until her great metallic heart has been 
 emptied. Upon the topmost summit, then, Iowa will never 
 stand, for through countless ages yet to come, her progress 
 that must be forever onward must be upward also.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 THE rapid growth of the State of Iowa, in population and 
 importance, the increasing interest in her agricultural, min- 
 eralbgical, and geological resources, manifested by the eager- 
 ness with which thousands daily hasten thitherward, as well 
 as by the unprecedented sale of the first edition of this work, 
 seems to demand, that if the author would correctly portray 
 to the world "Iowa as it is," he must revise, correct, and 
 enlarge, or issue an entire new volume, at least once a year ; 
 hence the present edition appears before you. 
 
 This edition has undergone a thorough revision and cor- 
 rection. The subject-matter and statistics relative to every 
 particular county in the State, are correct, up to the 1st of 
 February, 1856. By reference to the Table of Contents, it 
 will be seen we have added chapters on Agriculture, times of 
 holding Courts, a complete list of Post Offices in the State, 
 and much other valuable information not in print elsewhere. 
 
 In the beginning, we felt that such a work was needed, and 
 the avidity with which it has been sought by the westward- 
 moving masses, and by all classes of every State, has corro- 
 borated that belief. We have devoted much of the past year 
 in procuring facts and statistics, which we herein publish. 
 
 Confident in the correctness of its statements, and antici- 
 pating a like result from its issue, we ask for this the very 
 liberal patronage extended to our first edition. 
 
 N. H. P. 
 
 CLINTON, IOWA, March 1, 1856. 
 
 (xvi)
 
 IOWA AS IT IS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY HISTORY AND ACCESSION OP TERRITORY ORGAN- 
 IZATION BOUNDARIES, AREA, ETC. 
 
 FOR centuries past, until the year 1830, the North- 
 western Territory, embracing all lands west of the Missis- 
 sippi, of which Iowa is now a part, was in the undisputed 
 possession of various tribes of Indians; and the cultivated 
 fields of the open prairie, the bluff-site of the magnificent 
 residence, the ground upon which are now erected our halls 
 of justice and houses of worship, was, but a few short years 
 since, the battle-fields of numerous Indian tribes, contend- 
 ing for the possession of this beautiful and fertile soil, upon 
 which each so freely shed the blood of their contending 
 foes. The hills, valleys, rivers, and prairies of Iowa, have 
 witnessed the most bloody conflicts ever fought by the 
 savages of this continent, as the numerous bone-strewn 
 battle-fields well testify.* 
 
 * The fertile plains of our present Iowa were first discovered 
 in 1673, by a French exploring expedition from Canada, and were 
 
 2* (17)
 
 18 ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The territory embraced within the bounds of Iowa has 
 been purchased by four different treaties. The first was 
 made in 1832 commonly called " the Black-Hawk Pur- 
 chase ;" the second in 1836, the third in 1837, and the 
 fourth and last in 1842. 
 
 The oldest settlement in the State is Dubuque ; which, 
 as a trading-post, is identified with the Frenchman whose 
 name it perpetuates. At about the same period, in 1832, 
 Galena was a village, and Fort Madison and Bellevue 
 military posts. Early in the spring of 1833, several com- 
 panies of whites crossed from Illinois into Iowa in tho 
 vicinity of Burlington. From this period the progress and 
 extension of settlements have been rapid, and the popu- 
 lation has increased with greater rapidity than in the history 
 of previous territories. 
 
 In 1834, Congress attached this Territory to that of 
 Michigan for temporary jurisdiction, and two large counties 
 Dubuque and Des Moines were organized. Their 
 aggregate population in 1836 was 1053 ; and during the 
 same year Wisconsin was organized as a separate Territory, 
 and exercised jurisdiction over " the District of Iowa." 
 
 The " Territory of Iowa" was organized on the 4th of 
 July, 1838. Robert Lucas, a former Governor of Ohio, 
 was Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the 
 new Territory. During that year, the State was subdivided 
 into sixteen counties, and contained a population of 22,860. 
 
 The first Legistature held in Iowa met at Burlington, in 
 
 then the home of the Dacotahs, who were the terror of their 
 savage neighbors.
 
 BOUNDARIES, AREA, ETC. 19 
 
 the fall of 1837, while our State was attached to Wiscon- 
 sin, yet subject to Michigan in judicial matters. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1838, Iowa was separated from 
 Wisconsin by Act of Congress, passed June 12th, 1838. 
 
 In 1839, the General Assembly located the Seat of 
 Government on the Iowa Biver, and called the place the 
 " City of Iowa." 
 
 In 1843, the Territorial Legislature petitioned Congress 
 for authority to adopt a State Constitution; which was 
 granted at the next session ; and on the 7th of October, 
 1844, the Convention assembled and adopted a Constitution, 
 which was not approved by Congress. A second Conven- 
 tion was held in 1846, the limits restricted, an amended 
 Constitution adopted ; this was submitted to Congress and 
 approved; and in December, 1846, the "State of Iowa" 
 was admitted and christened as one of the glorious Con- 
 federacy. 
 
 The State of Iowa is situated between 40 30' and 43 30' 
 north latitude, and between 90 20' and 97 40' west lon- 
 gitude ; is bounded on the north by Minnesota Territory, 
 east by the Mississippi Eiver (which separates it from Wis- 
 consin and Illinois), south by Missouri, and west by the 
 Missouri River (which separates it from Nebraska Terri- 
 tory). The State contains an area of 56,000 square miles ; 
 being upwards of 200 miles wide from north to south, and 
 upwards of 300 long from east to west. The State is 
 divided into one hundred counties; eighty-five of which 
 have been surveyed, and seventy regularly organized.
 
 20 THE CLIMATE. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE CLIMATE. 
 
 WE have, generally, an unbroken winter from the middle 
 of November till January, when we are almost invariably 
 visited with a "January thaw;" after which the weather 
 is generally mild, and gradually merges into spring. We 
 are free from the sudden changes of New-England, and 
 from the long drizzling rains and foggy weather of portions 
 of the Middle States. But Iowa, in common with other 
 States, must except the prolonged intense cold weather of 
 last winter. 
 
 This State is located in the healthiest latitude of our 
 continent; reaching only to latitude 43 30' on its northern 
 boundary. Its winters are comparatively mild and plea- 
 sant, and its summers free from the long scorching rays of 
 a southern sun and the epidemics so common in such cli- 
 mates.* By the medical journals, Iowa is ranked as 
 
 * Dr. TTpdegraff, a correspondent of the Ohio Farmer, thus 
 alludes to our climate, &c. : 
 
 " Of all other considerations respecting a new country, the 
 most important is as to its healthiness. 
 
 " In this respect, Iowa has the advantage of most new coun- 
 tries. An open prairie country, almost universally rolling, or 
 even hilly, it is more favorable to health than flat prairie or level 
 woodland. The streams are mostly fresh running water, with 
 sandy or gravel beds. The scarcity of timber-land, and the 
 annual fires that pass over the prairies, prevent, to a great degree,
 
 THE CLIMATE. 21 
 
 second only in point of health ; and no doubt it will be 
 first, when she has a settled and acclimated population, as 
 free from toil, privations, and exposure as other states. 
 
 One of the peculiarities of this climate is the dryness 
 of its summers and autumns. A drought often commences 
 in August, which, with the exception of a few showers 
 towards the close of that month, continues, with little inter- 
 ruption, throughout the fall season. The autumnal months 
 are almost invariably clear, warm, and dry. The immense 
 mass of vegetation with which this fertile soil loads itself 
 during the summer is suddenly withered, and the whole 
 earth is covered with combustible materials. This is espe- 
 cially true of those portions where grass grows from two 
 to ten feet high, and is exposed to sun and wind, becoming 
 thoroughly dried. A single spark of fire, falling upon the 
 prairie at such a time, instantly kindles a blaze that spreads 
 on every side, and continues its destructive course as long 
 as it finds fuel. These fires sweep along with great power 
 and rapidity, and frequently extend across a wide prairie 
 and advance in a long line. No sight can be more sublime 
 than a stream of fire, beheld at night, several miles in 
 
 the decomposition of vegetable matter; which is, in most new 
 countries, the great source of disease. With some local excep- 
 tions, there does not seem to be any natural reason why this State, 
 even in its early settlement, should not enjoy as high an average 
 of healthiness as Ohio now does. Such I believe to be the fact, 
 after making proper deductions for change of climate, mode of 
 life, exposure, and unusual exertion. To observe the exertion 
 and exposure, often reckless and unnecessary, to which most new 
 settlers subject themselves, it becomes a matter of surprise that 
 disease and mortality are not much more usual than they are."
 
 22 THESOIL. 
 
 breadth, advancing across the plains, leaving behind it a 
 background of dense black smoke, throwing before it a 
 vivid glare, which lights up the whole landscape for miles 
 with the brilliancy of noonday. These fires are so thorough 
 in their progress, that they destroy every combustible 
 before them. The roots of the prairie-grass, and several 
 species of flowers, however, by some peculiar adaptation 
 of nature, are spared. 
 
 A narrow strip of bare ground, or a beaten road, the 
 width of a common wagon-track, will prevent the fire from 
 extending beyond it; yet careless, thoughtless farmers, 
 sometimes suffer tall grass to connect their fields of corn 
 and fences with the wild prairie, and forfeit their year's 
 toil as a penalty for their slothfulness ! 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SOIL. 
 
 IT is well known to the scientific farmer, that the land 
 best suited to wheat and most small grains, and in which 
 the earthy, saline, and organic matters are distributed in the 
 proportion best adapted to impart fertility and durability, is 
 generally a soil based on the calcareous and magnesio-calca- 
 reous rocks. This condition particularly characterizes the 
 country bordering on the Mississippi and its tributaries, 
 between the 41st and 45th degrees of latitude, which has an
 
 THESOIL. 23 
 
 average width of 20 to 30 miles west of the line of that 
 river. In this State, it includes the Dubuque District, the 
 country watered by the Des Moines, and the two lowas. In 
 Owen's Geological Report, we find the following : 
 
 " The prairie country, based on rocks belonging to the 
 Devonian and carboniferous systems, extending up the val- 
 ley of the Ked Cedar, Iowa, and Des Moines, as high as lati- 
 tude 42 31', presents a body of arable land which, taken 
 as a whole, for richness and organic elements, for amount 
 of saline matter, and due admixture of earthy silicates, 
 affords a combination that belongs only to the most fertile 
 upland plains. Throughout this district the general level- 
 ness of the surface, interrupted only by gentle swells and 
 moderate undulations, offers facilities for the introduction 
 of all those aids which machinery is daily adding to dimi- 
 nish the labor of cultivation, and render easy and expedi- 
 tious the collection of an abundant harvest." 
 
 Again, in speaking of the physical and agricultural 
 character of the State, bordering on the Mississippi, Owen 
 says: 
 
 " The carboniferous rocks of Iowa occupy a region of 
 country which, taken as a whole, is one of the most fertile 
 in the United States. No country can present to the farmer 
 greater facilities for subduing, in a short time, wild land. 
 Its native prairies are fields, almost ready made to his 
 hands. Its rich, black- soil, scarcely less productive than 
 that of the Cedar Valley, returns him reward for his labor 
 a hundredfold. The only drawback to its productiveness 
 is that, on some of the higher grounds, the soil, partaking
 
 24 THESOIL. 
 
 of the mixed character common to drift-soils, is occasionally 
 gravelly, and that, here and there, when the upper mem- 
 bers of the coal-measures prevail, it becomes somewhat too 
 siliceous. 
 
 " The future farms of Iowa, large, level, and unbroken 
 by stump or other obstruction, will afford an excellent field 
 for the introduction of mowing-machines, and other im- 
 proved implements calculated to save the labor of the hus- 
 bandman, and which, in new countries, reclaimed from the 
 forest, can scarcely be employed until the first generation 
 shall have passed away. 
 
 Since " a tree is known by its fruits," and the soil by 
 its yield, we mention a few items, showing the results of 
 the tiller's toil, in some parts of Iowa, in 1855, which will 
 give some idea of the fertility of our soil. 
 
 Eobert Rawlins, of Washington county, exhibited 8 
 stalks of corn, 11 feet high, bearing 11 ears, 10 rows on 
 each ear, and 47 grains to a row, making 88 feet of stalk, 
 and 5170 grains of plump white corn, the produce of a 
 single grain ! Messrs. Harrow, of Wapello county, exhi- 
 bited specimens from a field which produced the extraor- 
 dinary yield of one hundred and sixty-eight bushels of corn 
 per acre ! Jerome Parsons, of Jefferson county, exhibited 
 specimens of red-chaff bearded wheat, from the almost un- 
 precedented yield of forty-seven bushels to the acre ! 
 
 Of potatoes, raised in Jefferson county, 105 bushels to 
 the acre : some specimens 9 by 16 inches in circumfer- 
 ence. Of beets, 27 inches in length ; and others 31 in 
 circumference, weighing 17 Ibs. Squashes in Western 
 Iowa, weighing 100 Ibs. ; also, in Northern Iowa, a squash
 
 APPEARANCE OF THE PRAIRIES. 25 
 
 vine 275 feet long, bearing, among ' others, 5 squashes 
 which, average 80 Ibs. each, all from one seed ! Mr. Elisha 
 Pierson, near Iowa City, raised over half a ton of squashes 
 from two seeds ! One of his yield weighed 189 Ibs., 
 and measured 7 feet 2 inches in circumference, and tho 
 smallest weighed 100 Ibs. We have seen apples weighing 
 24 ounces each, and pears of 28 ounces weight each. 
 
 More full and minute descriptions of the soil in various 
 localities in the State may be found in the series of articles 
 upon "the Counties and Towns of Iowa," and in the 
 Agricultural chapter. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE PRAIRIES. 
 
 THE novelty of the prairie country is striking, and never 
 falls to cause an exclamation of surprise from those who 
 have lived amid the forests of Ohio and Kentucky, or along 
 the wooded shores of the Atlantic, or in sight of the rocky 
 barriers of the Allegheny ridge. The extent of the pros- 
 pect is exhilarating. The outline of the landscape is un- 
 dulating and graceful. The verdure and the flowers are 
 beautiful; and the absence of shade, and consequent 
 appearance of a profusion of light, produces a gaiety which 
 animates every beholder. 
 
 These plains, although preserving a general level in 
 
 respect to the whole country, are yet, in themselves, not 
 
 Jlat, but exhibit a gracefully waving surface, swelling and 
 
 sinking with easy, graceful slopes, and full, rounded outlines, 
 
 3
 
 26 APPEARANCE OP THE PRAIRIES. 
 
 eqnaHy avoiding the unmeaning horizontal surface, and tue 
 interruption of abrupt or angular elevations. 
 
 The attraction of the prairie consists in its extent, its 
 carpet of verdure and flowers, its undulating surface, its 
 groves, and the fringe of timber by which it is surrouuded. 
 Of all of these, the latter is the most expressive feature. 
 It is that which gives character to the landscape, which 
 imparts the shape, and marks the boundary of the plain. 
 If the prairie be small, its greatest beauty consists in the 
 vicinity of the surrounding margin of woodland, which 
 resembles the shore of a lake indented with deep vistas, 
 like bays and inlets, and throwing out long points, like 
 capes and headlands. 
 
 In the spring of the year, when the young grass has 
 just covered the ground with a carpet of delicate green, 
 and especially if the sun is rising from behind a distant 
 swell of the plain and glittering upon the dewdrops, no 
 scrao can be more lovely to the eye. The groves, or clus- 
 ters, of timber, are particularly attractive at this season of 
 the year. The rich undergrowth is in full bloom. The 
 rosewood, dogwood, crab-apple, wild plum, the cherry, and 
 the wild rose are all abundant, and in many portions of the 
 .State the grape-vine abounds. The variety of wild fruit 
 and flowering shrubs is so great, and such the profusion 
 of the blossoms with which they are bowed down, that the 
 eye is regaled almost to satiety. 
 
 The gaiety of the prairie, its embellishments, and the 
 absence of the gloom and savage wildness of the forest, 
 all contribute to dispel the feeling of loneliness which usu-
 
 APPEARANCE OP THE PRAIRIES. 27 
 
 ally creeps over the mind of the solitary traveller in the 
 wilderness. Though he may not see a house or a human 
 being, and is conscious that he is far from the habitations 
 of men, the traveller upon the prairie can scarcely -divest 
 himself of the idea that he is travelling through scenes em- 
 bellished by the hand of art. The flowers, so fragile, so 
 delicate, and so ornamental, seem to have been tastefully 
 disposed to adorn the scene. 
 
 In the summer, the prairie is covered with long, coarse 
 grass, which soon assumes a golden hue, and waves in the 
 wind like a fully ripe harvest. The prairie-grass never 
 attains its highest growth in the richest soil ; but in low, 
 wet, or marshy land, where the substratum of clay lies 
 near the surface, the centre or main stem of the grass 
 that which bears the seed shoots up to the height of eight 
 and ten feet, throwing out long, coarse leaves or blades. 
 But on the rich, undulating prairies, the grass is finer, with 
 less of stalk and a greater profusion of leaves. The roots 
 spread and interweave, forming a compact, even sod, and 
 the blades expand into a close, thick grass, which is seldom 
 more than eighteen inches high, until late in the season, 
 when the seed-bearing stem shoots up. The first coat is 
 mingled with small flowers the violet, the bloom of the 
 wild strawberry, and various others, of the most minute 
 and delicate texture. As the grass increases in height, 
 these smaller flowers disappear, and others, taller and more 
 gaudy, display their brilliant colors upon the green surface ; 
 and still later, a larger and coarser succession arises with 
 the rising tide of verdure. It is impossible to conceive a
 
 28 10 \V A SCENERY. 
 
 more infinite diversity, or a richer profusion of hues, " from 
 grave to gay," than graces the beautiful carpet of green 
 throughout the entire season of summer. 
 
 When the prairie is bare, it is easy to distinguish the 
 ich from the poorer lands, by the small hillocks which are 
 cattered over them, and which are most abundant where 
 the soil is least productive. They are from a few inches to 
 two or three feet in height, and only exist where the clay 
 lies near the surface; as such mounds composed of rich 
 mould would soon crumble and become level. These, by 
 some, are said to be the work of the gophor a small 
 quadruped; by others, are thought to be thrown up by 
 craw-fisli ; which is doubtless true of wet situations; while 
 those in drier portions are attributed to colonies of ants : 
 each class belonging, however, to the clay party, and working 
 enly in poor soil. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 IOWA SCENERY THE BLUFFS, ETC. 
 
 RESPECTING the scenery of Iowa, Owen, in his Geolo- 
 gical Report to Congress, pp. 64, 65, and 66, says : 
 
 " The scenery on the Rhine, with its castellated heights, 
 has furnished many of the most favorite subjects for the 
 artist's pencil, and been the admiration of European travel- 
 lers for centuries. Yet it is doubtful whether, in actual 
 beauty of landscape, it is not equalled by that of some of
 
 IOWA SCENERY. 29 
 
 the streams that water this region of the Far "West. It is 
 certain that, though the rock formations essentially differ, 
 Nature has here fashioned, on an extensive scale, and in 
 advance of all civilization, remarkable and curious counter- 
 parts to the artificial landscape which has given celebrity 
 to that part of the European Continent. 
 
 "The features of the scenery are not, indeed, of the 
 loftiest and most impressive character such as one mi^ht 
 expect to witness on approaching the source of one of the 
 two largest rivers on the globe. There are no elevated 
 peaks, rising in majestic grandeur; no mountain torrents, 
 shrouded in foam, and chafing in their rocky channels; no 
 deep and narrow valleys, hemmed in on every side, and 
 forming, as it were, a little world of their own ; no narrow 
 and precipitous passes, winding through circuitous defiles; 
 no cavernous gorges, giving exit to pent-up waters ; no con- 
 torted and twisted strata, affording evidence of gigantic 
 and violent throes. But the features of the scene, though 
 less grave' and bold than those of mountainous regions, are 
 yet impressive and strongly marked. We find the luxuriant 
 sward, clothing the hill-slope even down to the water's edge. 
 We have the steep cliff, shooting up through its mural es- 
 carpments. We have the stream, clear as crystal, now 
 quiet, and smooth, and glassy, then ruffled by a temporary 
 rapid ; or, when a terrace of rock abruptly crosses it, broken 
 up into a small, romantic cascade. We have clumps of 
 trees, disposed with an effect that might baffle the landscape 
 gardener; now crowning the grassy height, now dotting 
 the green slope with partial and isolated shade. From the 
 3*
 
 30 IOWA SCENEXY. 
 
 hill-tops, the intervening valleys wear the aspect of culti- 
 vated meadows and rich pasture-grounds, irrigated by fre- 
 quent rivulets, that wend their way through fields of wild 
 hay fringed with flourishing willows. Here and there, 
 occupying its nook on the bank of the stream, at some 
 favorable spot, occurs the solitary wigwam, with its scanty 
 appurtenances. On the summit-level spreads the wide 
 prairie, decked with flowers of the gayest hue; its long, 
 undulating waves, stretching away till sky and meadow 
 mingle in the distant horizon. The whole combination 
 suggests the idea, not of an aboriginal wilderness (so re- 
 cently), inhabited by savage tribes, but of a country lately 
 under a high state of cultivation, and suddenly deserted by 
 its inhabitants their dwellings, indeed, gone, but the 
 castle-homes of their chieftains only partially destroyed, 
 and showing, in ruins, on the rocky summits around. This 
 latter feature, especially, aids the delusion ; for the peculiar 
 aspect of the exposed limestone, and its manner of wea- 
 thering, cause it to assume a semblance somewhat fantastic, 
 indeed, but yet wonderfully close and faithful to the dila- 
 pidated wall, with its crowning parapet, and its projecting 
 buttresses, and its flanking towers, and even the lesser 
 details that mark the fortress of the olden time." 
 
 " The rural beauty of this portion of Iowa can hardly 
 be surpassed. Undulating prairies, interspersed with open 
 groves of timber, and watered with pebbly or rocky-bedded 
 streams, pure and transparent; hills of moderate height 
 and gentle slope ; here and there, especially towards the 
 heads of streams, small lakes, as clear as the rivers, some
 
 THE BLUFFS. 31 
 
 skirted with timber, some with banks formed by the green- 
 sward of the open prairie. These are the ordinary features 
 of the pastoral landscape." 
 
 In a few instances, the hills or bluffs along the Missis- 
 Mppi rise boldly from the water's edge, or push out their 
 steep promontories, so as to change the direction of the 
 river ; but more generally, on either bank of the river, we 
 see a series of graceful slopes, swelling and sinking as far 
 as the eye can reach. The prairie, for the most part ex- 
 tending to the water's edge, renders the scenery truly beau- 
 tiful. Imagine a stream a mile in width, whose waters are 
 as transparent as those of the mountain spring, flowing 
 over beds of rock and gravel; fancy the prairie commencing 
 at the water's edge a natural meadow of deep-green grass 
 and beautiful and fragrant flowers, rising with a gentle 
 slope for miles, so that, in the vast panorama, thousands 
 of acres are exposed to the eye. The prospect is bounded 
 by a range of low hills, which sometimes approach the 
 river, and again recede, and whose summits, which are 
 seen gently waving along the horizon, form the level of the 
 adjacent country. Sometimes the woodland extends along 
 this river for miles continuously; again, it stretches in a 
 wide belt far off into the country, marking the course of 
 some tributary streams; and sometimes, in vast groves, 
 several miles in extent, standing alone, like islands in this 
 wilderness of grass and flowers.
 
 32 RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. 
 
 No State in the Union is more bountifully supplied with 
 water than Iowa ; being bounded on the east by one of the 
 finest rivers in the world the Mississippi, and on the 
 west by the Missouri ; the interior of the State being tra- 
 versed in every direction by noble, and in many cases navi- 
 gable, streams; many of them running parallel to each 
 other, from twelve to twenty miles apart, skirted with 
 timber of from one to five miles in width. Our rivers have 
 not the rapidity of the New-England streams, nor the depth 
 and sluggishness of those of the South ; but are clear, fresh, 
 and healthy, of gentle current, and capable of furnishing 
 water-power for all purposes. 
 
 The rivers that are directly tributary to the Mississippi 
 are the Upper Iowa, Turkey, Maquoketa, Wapsipinnicon, 
 Cedar, Iowa, Fox, Checaque (commonly called Skunk), 
 and the Des Moines. Those running into the Missouri are 
 Floyd's, Little Sioux, Inyan Yankee, Soldier, Boyer, Nish- 
 nabotna, Big Tarkeo, and Nodaway. 
 
 Some of these streams are navigalle for a great distance, 
 and the day is drawing nigh when the quiet of their banks 
 shall be broken, and the shrill whistle of the heavily-laden 
 steamer reverberate from shore to shore when many of 
 these streams shall have become thoroughfares for the
 
 TIMBER-LANDS. 83 
 
 transportation of the rich productions of this most fertile 
 and most prosperous State. " The untold powers of some 
 of these waters will soon be utilized for mechanical pur- 
 poses; and but a short time will elapse ere the thunder and 
 clatter of the ten thousand wheels of machinery will break 
 upon that solitude which now echoes only to the harvest- 
 song or the notes of the sweet warblers of the forest. Ex- 
 tensive works are already commenced upon more than 
 one of these rivers which will stamp our greatness and con- 
 vince the world that ( progress ' is our watchword." 
 
 Besides those mentioned, are their tributaries the 
 creeks, branches, or rivulets, penetrating every portion of 
 the interior of the State ; springs of clear, cold water, also 
 abound in all parts of the State. [Particular reference is 
 made to the sites for water-power in different locations, 
 in the letters from county-seats, in another portion of this 
 work.] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TIMBER-LANDS. 
 
 To the farmer from the forests of any of the Middle or 
 Eastern States, who has spent years of most laborious and 
 painful drudgery in " clearing up " his land, and with whom 
 the most desirable object has been the destruction of timber, 
 the scarcity of it here seems an evil without a remedy. 
 But we contend that that which appears to the superficial
 
 34 TIMBER-LANDS. 
 
 observer as a defect, is, in truth, one of the greatest sources 
 of prosperity in our country. 
 
 Let us contrast life in "the wooden country" with 
 a life here upon the wide prairie. The labor of clearing 
 woodland is the most arduous task to which the farmer is 
 subjected ; and frequently the new-comer from the East, 
 who settles in the forests of Ohio and Kentucky, consumes 
 years of painful toil, and wastes the prime of life, before 
 he sees the fruits of his labor. Besides, the industry and 
 trade of the country are not enhanced, because those who 
 are clearing new land cannot for years produce anything 
 for market. Again, the clearing of new lands suddenly 
 exposes the vegetable deposits of ages to the glaring beams 
 of the sun j which, with the thousands of fallen and rotting 
 trees, fill the air with noxious exhalations, producing dis- 
 . eases of the most malignant character. 
 
 Quite different is the case in our open prairie country. 
 The settler may always select upon the prairie, land as fer- 
 .ile as the richest river-bottoms ; and, by settling on the 
 edge of the timber, combine every advantage afforded by 
 the latter. The land being already cleared, he has only to 
 enclose and break it. The sod (described in another sec- 
 tion) is turned over with a heavy plow and strong team. 
 The corn is dropped in the furrows, covered with a hoe, 
 and thus left to be gathered. Several other modes of corn- 
 planting may be worthy of mention ; one of which is per- 
 formed by striking an axe into the sod and dropping the 
 corn into the crevice ; another, by dropping the corn in 
 every fourth row in plowing, which is covered by the
 
 TIMBER-LANDS. 85 
 
 plowing of tUe fifth. Thus, while the overturned sod ia 
 undergoing decomposition, and becoming mellow by expos- 
 ing the fibrous roots to the sun, it is also affording nourish- 
 ment to the growing corn. Neither the yield nor the grain 
 is very good the first season ; but sufficient to reward amply 
 the labor of planting and gathering. By the ensuing 
 spring, the roots of the wild grass are completely rotted, 
 and the rich, light mould, unencumbered with rocks and 
 stumps, is fit for all the purposes of husbandry. The plow, 
 running easily through the rich, loamy soil, can be as well 
 managed by a half-grown boy as the strongest plowman. 
 
 Thus, it is seen, the difference in the greater facility of 
 working prairie-lands, the saving in the wear of farming 
 utensils, the economy of time, and greater degree of cer- 
 tainty in the farmer's calculations, and the enjoyment of 
 health, more than outweigh any inconvenience which can 
 possibly be experienced in this country from the want of 
 timber, even under the most unfavorable circumstances. 
 
 " According to the most reliable estimates, about one- 
 tenth of Iowa is timber-land. Of this a considerable por- 
 tion is of inferior quality; and the supply of the finest 
 growth of timber, such as we find in Ohio, is comparatively 
 small. Yet along the streams there are thousands of acres 
 covered with an excellent growth of oak, walnut, ash, linn 
 maple, hickory, elm, and cotton-wood. These varieties 
 differ in different localities. Along the Iowa and Cedar 
 Rivers, there is a large amount of oak of all varieties ; and 
 the valleys of the Des Moines are abundantly supplied with 
 walnut. Hickory and walnut are abundant on the Iowa,
 
 36 TIMBER-LANDS. 
 
 Skunk, Cedar, and other rivers. Besides the full-grown 
 timber, there are thousands of acres of a vigorous young 
 growth, that has at last conquered the prairie fires, and is 
 now rapidly coming to maturity. In addition to these, 
 there is a vast amount of locust being cultivated. This 
 grows here with a rapidity that is seldom equalled else- 
 jwhere. I have seen trees at the age of ten years that 
 would make eight posts of sufficient size for fencing. Thus 
 there is an abundance of timber for present purposes, and 
 it is believed by those best informed, that, notwithstanding 
 the constant demand, the supply is every day increasing, 
 both from natural and cultivated sources. 
 
 "The unequal distribution of the wooded land is a 
 greater objection than its actual quantity. Sometimes the 
 prairies are from twenty to forty miles in width, thus 
 making timber inconvenient. These, however, are rare 
 cases, and, at the worst, are bearable, compared to the life- 
 long drudgery of woodland pioneering. 
 
 " The large amount of coal that is now discovered in the 
 various sections of the State obviate, to a great extent, the 
 limited supply of timber-land. The rapidly-increasing fa- 
 cilities for inter-communication are also fast equalizing the 
 advantages of different localities. It is not the economy 
 of nature that any one spot should monopolize all natural 
 advantages; but some portions of this appear to combine 
 as many as are often found harmonizing." 
 
 The portion of Iowa most deficient in timber is north of 
 latitude 42 especially on dividing ridges. North of this 
 latitude, between the head-waters of Three and Grand
 
 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 37 
 
 Rivers, there are distances of ten and fifteen miles without 
 any timber ; while between the waters of Grand River, the 
 Nodaway, and the Nishnabotna, the open prairie is often 
 twenty miles wide, without a bush to be seen higher than 
 the wild indigo and the compass plant. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 
 
 IN preparing the following, we depend 'in part upon 
 "Owen's Geological Report" of a survey made under his 
 direction, of the Northwest Territory, by authority of 
 Congress. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 The principal minerals of Iowa are lead, iron, and cop- 
 per. The shipment of lead from Dubuque, from the 21st 
 of March to the 1st of December, 1854, inclusive, amounted 
 to 43,543 pigs, weighing 3,069,640 Ibs. ; valued, at the 
 mines, $178,830,20. Lead has been found at various 
 other places near the base of a bluff on the west side of 
 the Mississippi, some ten or fifteen miles above Turkey 
 River, near the French village. From seven to ten thou- 
 sand pounds of lead ore were taken from openings in the 
 rocks by Dr. Andrus. More or less " Galena " is found 
 here in all the principal openings for the distance of a mile. 
 Between the Yellow and Upper Iowa Rivers, excavations 
 4
 
 38 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 are visible where the Indians have dug for lead ore. On 
 the Upper Iowa, also, ore has been discovered in several 
 places in considerable quantities. In the Winnebago Re- 
 serve, not far from the Iowa River, and a few miles north- 
 west of the town of Lansing, lead ore has been found in 
 Email quantities, chiefly in pockets and cavities. 
 
 Copper ore has been discovered within the boundaries 
 of the State, but not sufficiently productive to justify the 
 sinking of shafts. Iron ore is found in various places in 
 the Des Moines Valley; Owen thought, in some locations, 
 of sufficient productiveness to justify smelting. There are, 
 as yet, no works for working raw iron ore in the State. 
 
 Coal-fields of Iowa. 
 
 Last summer, the following article appeared in the Des 
 Moines Valley Whig. Having compared it with other 
 authority, we find it quite correct, and insert it entire, with 
 additional data, gathered elsewhere, as a condensed view 
 of Iowa coal measures, &c. : 
 
 " The Des Moines River runs centrally and diagonally 
 through what is geologically called the Carboniferous Sys- 
 tem of Iowa. This system is called carboniferous, because 
 it is that particular division of rocks in which the ( coal 
 measures ' are found, and because it contains that series of 
 rocks, of a comparatively modern date, which, in their 
 composition, are so largely carbon. 
 
 " The physical and pastoral features of the Des Moines 
 Valley are thus given in Owen's Geological Survey : 
 
 " ' The carboniferous rocks of Iowa occupy a region of
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 39 
 
 country which, taken as a whole, is one of the most fer- 
 tile in the United States. No country can present to the 
 farmer greater facilities for subduing, in a short time, wild 
 land. 
 
 " ' For centuries the succession of natural crops of grass, 
 untouched by the scythe, and but very partially kept down 
 by the pasturage of buffalo and other herbivorous animals, 
 have accumulated organic matter on the surface-soil to such 
 an extent that a large succession, even of exhausting crops, 
 will not materially impoverish the land. 
 
 " ' The rural beauty of this portion of Iowa can hardly 
 be surpassed. Undulating prairies, interspersed with open 
 groves of timber, and watered by pebbly or rocky-bedded 
 streams, pure and transparent; hills of moderate height 
 and gentle slope ; here and there, especially towards the 
 heads of the streams, small lakes, as clear as the rivers, 
 some skirted with timber, some with banks formed by the 
 greensward of the open prairie; these are the ordinary 
 features of the pastoral landscape.' (Report, p. 100.) 
 
 " The principal minerals to be noticed in this paper are 
 coal, hydraulic limestone, quartzite, clays, common or 
 mountain limestone, marble, iron ore, and gypsum. 
 
 Coal 
 
 The Iowa Coal-field embraces an area of about 25,000 
 square miles. A very good idea of its locality may be 
 obtained by taking a map and drawing a line, commencing 
 near the southwest corner of the State, proceeding up the 
 Nishnabotna ; thence to Lake Boyer ; thence, by the heads
 
 40 
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 of the Three Rivers, northeast, to the Des Moines, cross- 
 ing it six miles above Fort Dodge; thence southeast, 
 through Tama and Iowa Counties, to the east part of 
 Washington County; thence nearly south, through the 
 west part of Henry and Lee Counties, to the Des Moines 
 River, near St. Francisville. It is nearly in the shape of 
 a half ellipse, cut by the shortest diameter. The width of 
 it east and west is nearly 200 miles ; while in a north and 
 south direction, the distance is 140 miles. The Des 
 Moines River traverses, in a southeast direction, about 250 
 miles. 
 
 The accompanying table has, with much care and some 
 labor, been compiled from Owen's Report, for the purpose 
 of giving a view of the thickness of the coal veins as they 
 show themselves in the Valley proper, and in the banks of 
 creeks near by : 
 
 ' Tabular View of the Coal Beds in the Des Moines Valley. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Range. 
 
 Section. 
 
 General RemarKs. 
 
 Lee 
 
 Clark, Mo.. 
 Van Bur en. 
 
 N. W. 
 
 66 
 
 07 
 
 Davis...., 
 Wapello 
 
 8&9 
 9 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 
 23 
 36 
 24 
 34 
 
 25-26 
 
 32 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 22 
 
 20 
 
 19-30 
 
 6 
 
 32 
 
 Quality poor. 
 Quality good. 
 Night's Bank, good. 
 Regular 4 to 5 feet. 
 Slaughter's Bank. 
 On Bear Creek. 
 Gillis's Bank. 
 Near Portland. 
 2 seams, 2 feet each. 
 5 feet higher, 18 in. 
 Not given. 
 Quality tolerable.
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 41 
 
 Counties. 
 
 RANGE. 
 
 Section 
 
 Veins. 
 
 General Remaiks. 
 
 Marion 
 
 N. 
 
 ^74~ 
 74 
 74 
 
 74 
 74 
 
 75 
 76 
 76 
 78 
 78 
 81 
 83 
 
 w. 
 
 2 
 12 
 16 
 30 
 14 
 3 
 14-23 
 11 
 23 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 Ft. 
 
 In. 
 
 Right bank Cedar. 
 
 Regular 4 to 6 feet. 
 2 feet poor. 
 White br'st ex. 
 
 
 Not given. 
 
 
 Regular 2 to 3 feet. 
 2 to 3 feet inferior. 
 Not given. 
 
 18 
 18 
 18 
 18 
 18 
 20 
 19 
 19 
 23 
 24 
 25 
 26 
 
 '2 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 2 
 8 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 Polk 
 
 
 Boons 
 
 
 NOTE. Last bed mentioned in latitude 42 30' north.' 
 The foregoing table does not include the thinnest veins, 
 nor half the localities where the thick ones crop out ; but 
 one can get a very correct view of the thickness of the 
 best seams up along the Valley. There are undoubtedly 
 outcrops where the thickness is much greater than in any 
 of the places mentioned. But these will be found to be 
 the centre or side of a basin which, on being worked, will 
 not extend far. A basin of 15 feet of thickness has been 
 found in a bank opposite Farmington. Where the outcrops 
 are more than four or five feet, they must be suspected as 
 being basins, unless in the cut of a stream at some distance 
 the vein is ascertained to have the same thickness. Owen 
 says there is no vein of more than from four to five feet 
 in Iowa. (Report, p. 20.) 
 
 The table shows outcrops are far more numerous in 
 some localities than in others. In the immediate vicinity 
 of the river, where the limestones, which lie below the 
 
 eoal, make their appearance, the coal strata are usually 
 4*
 
 42 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 wanting. This is the case at Bonaparte, Bentonsport, Ko-> 
 osauqua and Ottumwa. But in these the coal strata may 
 be, and actually are, found in creeks at no great distance 
 from the river; sometimes, even upon the bluffs. 
 
 The southeast and northwest parts of Van Buren County, 
 the northeast part of Davis, the central part of Wapello, 
 the southern part of Mahaska, and the southeastern and 
 central parts of Marion, are rich in coal. But other por- 
 tions of the same counties are not wanting. So far as can 
 be learned from the table, and so far as the observation and 
 knowledge of the writer extends, the heaviest beds are usu- 
 ally on the west side of the river. The best beds are also 
 there. Some of these are also on the White Breast, 
 Cedar, and Soap Creeks. The principal exception to this 
 rule is in the southeast part of Van Buren County. Here 
 it exists in great abundance on both sides of the river. It 
 is equal in quality to any found below Marion County. 
 Two veins are worked to considerable extent in connection ; 
 the two afford from 4 to 5 feet. On the west side of the 
 river, it is said the two are separated by a vein of fire-clay, 
 which thins out, and the coal veins converge as they recede 
 from the river. These veins are shown in the cuts made 
 by the creeks for miles in distance to the west. During 
 the year ending with the current June, more than 100,000 
 bushels have been taken from three banks near Farming- 
 ton, two of which are east of the river. Some of this has 
 been conveyed by blacksmiths the distance of 75 miles into 
 the State of Missouri. The greater part of it has been 
 transported to different places by wagons.
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 43 
 
 The average value of it at the bank is 6J cents per 
 bushel. The value at the Mississippi, a distance of 3d 
 miles, is 18 to 20 cents per bushel. Whenever the banks 
 shall be well opened, and there are ready and convenient 
 means of carriage, so that colliers can find regular employment, 
 coal can be delivered on the banks of the Mississippi at a 
 cost of 6 or 7 cents per bushel, and afford a better profit than 
 at present. This is upon the supposition that it can be con- 
 veyed upon a railroad car here as cheap as in Kentucky, where 
 the cost of transportation is one cent per bushel per 100 miles. 
 And as to the amount of coal the Valley can supply, it is easy 
 to ascertain it. Allowing a bushel to the cubic foot, one 
 acre, with a two-feet vein, will give 87,120 bushels. With 
 a four-feet vein, one acre will give 174,240 bushels. One 
 hundred acres, with a four-feet vein, will yield 17,424,000 
 bushels. One square mile, with a four-feet vein, will yield 
 111,513,600 bushels. The transportation of this 100 
 miles, at one cent per bushel, would yield the snug purse 
 of 1,115,136. And as the demand for coal would at 
 once be increased to millions of bushels a year, if a rail- 
 road was constructed in the Valley, this mineral alone 
 would afford quite an item of business and profit. 
 
 Hydraulic Limestone. 
 
 Of this kind of stone is formed a mortar which will set 
 under water. It is essential for all masonry exposed to 
 the water and to dampness. There are several varieties of 
 it : one is called Septaria. This is found in the form of 
 round or flattened balls, of various sizes. This is the kind
 
 44 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 from which the English prepare the celebrated Roman Ce- 
 ment. (Hitchcock's Geology, p. 20.) Comstock speaks 
 of it also as 'Argillo-Ferruginous Limestone.' This, how- 
 ever, is another variety of cement-rock, and is, perhaps, the 
 most common. It is called black calcareous rock, cement 
 rock, and hydraulic limestone. In reference to the geolo- 
 gical formations in the Valley, Owen says, ' The middle 
 division of the Iowa Coal-field affords, at many localities, 
 iron-stones of various qualities, associated frequently with 
 hydraulic calcareous cement, which occurs either in the 
 form of disconnected septaria, or regular beds.' (Report, 
 p. 21.) 
 
 Cement rock is found both above and below the coal, but 
 in the largest quantities above. The reader will find mention 
 of it by consulting Owen's Report, pp. 112, 127; and 
 more frequently still in that part of it which gives the 
 geological structure between Fort Des Moines and Fort 
 Dodge. It is a very common rock in the Valley j probably 
 in every county on the River below Fort Dodge. In many 
 places contiguous to the river in Davis County, there are 
 strata of it several feet in thickness. The geological struc- 
 ture of the southeast and central parts of Marion County 
 are just the same as in Davis. But as the series of rocks 
 above the coal show, themselves more extensively above 
 Racoon Fork, we accordingly find more frequent mention 
 of it in that region. In some places large quantities of it 
 are wrought into cement, which is quite extensively used 
 in the river improvement. The initials of it by analysis 
 are :
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 45 
 
 " Carbonate of lime 63-6 
 
 Silica 15-5 
 
 Alumina 8-3 
 
 Protoxide of iron 7-4 
 
 Magnesia 1-2 
 
 With a small portion of manganese, soda, and potash. 
 
 It will readily be seen that the demand for this is 
 great, when it is said that $6000 worth, at the ordinary 
 prices, will be wanted for every lock on the river, and when 
 it is also said that in nearly every dwelling in the western 
 country, cistern coated with this .cement will be indis- 
 pensable as the means of obtaining a supply of pure, soft 
 water. The walls and floors of damp cellars must also be laid 
 in cement. And the cement of this Valley will be wanted 
 because it is more accessible; the present demand being sup- 
 plied, in a great measure, from La Salle, Illinois, and from 
 Louisville, Kentucky; and also because the Valley cement is 
 probably fully equal to that from other places. That the 
 reader may see how its constituents compare with other 
 cement, we will give the analysis of that which is exten- 
 sively used in the State of New York. Its composition, 
 according to Professor Beck, ia : 
 
 Carbonate of lime 60-70 
 
 Silica 15-37 
 
 Alumina 9-13 
 
 Peroxide of iron 2-25 
 
 Magnesia t 12-35 
 
 Comparing this analysis with that of the Valley cement, 
 it will be seen that they are substantially the same. We
 
 46 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 
 
 will here add a practical remark, which may be of much 
 value to those who undertake to manufacture this cement, 
 and to those who undertake to test specimens. Very much 
 depends upon burning it. If care be not taken, the best 
 cement may be easily spoiled. In St. John's Geology, p. 
 274, will be found the following : 
 
 ' Greater caution is requisite in burning hydraulic lime, 
 since it is fusible, and the heat applied to the common lime 
 will vitrify this substance and render the process quite im- 
 perfect. Common lime will bear a white heat; but the 
 calcination of hydraulic lime is not well effected above a 
 red heat.' 
 
 When proper arrangements shall be made for working 
 this limestone, it is said the cement can be afforded at the 
 kiln for $1-25 per barrel. The carriage of it to the Mis- 
 sissippi by land is at most $1-00 per barrel per 100 miles; 
 while cement from other places costs from $3-00 to $3-50 
 per barrel. 
 
 Common Limestone. 
 
 Though this is regarded as prevailing rock in the West, 
 there are large sections in Iowa where the limestone is so 
 largely magnesian as to be unfit for quick-lime and mortar 
 The proper position of the common or mountain limestone 
 in the carboniferous system is below the coal. Accordingly, 
 it is found all along the Valley in the greatest abundance 
 and of the best quality. Much of it contains 90 per cent, 
 of carbonate of lime. This is among the most valuable of 
 3tones for quick-lime. 
 
 Closely allied to this stone, and still lower in the sys-
 
 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 47 
 
 tern, is the blue lime-stone. Some of this is deep blue, 
 and some, of a bluish gray. It is harder than common 
 limestone, often highly crystalline, and fossiliferoug. It 
 usually lies in strata in the Valley, varying from a few 
 inches to some feet in thickness. The stone is good for 
 quick-lime, but is of superior quality for building material. 
 It is as beautiful and durable as Quincy granite, while the 
 cost of putting it into the wall is comparatively trifling. 
 The principal places where it is accessible are Keokuk, iu 
 the bed of the river below Farmington, Keosauqua, and 
 Outumwa. It will undoubtedly become an article of export 
 as soon as it shall become known, when a demand for the 
 best building material arises, and the proper means of 
 transportation are provided. 
 
 Marble. 
 
 The writer claims that there is marble in the Des 
 Moines Valley, of a good quality and in great quantity. 
 'Any limestone which is sufficiently hard to take a fine 
 polish is called marble. Many of these are fossiliferous/ 
 (Lyell's Elements of Geology, p. 12.) In the limestones 
 beneath the coal there are several varieties which come 
 under this definition. Among them may be classed some 
 of those named under the previous head. The best quarry 
 now known in the Valley is at Keokuk. Some of the 
 strata there are highly crystalline almost saccharine and 
 take a fine polish. St. Louis has already resorted to this 
 place for building material ; a fact which shows that this 
 '.narble is superior to any other equally accessible to that
 
 48 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 
 
 city. At the same locality are other varieties which polish 
 well. They are crystalline, solid, but full of fossils, and 
 either blue, or of a bluish-gray color. Of the latter varie- 
 ties, enough can be had at Bonaparte, Bentonsport, and 
 Keosauqua. And very probably, when these quarries shall 
 be extensively worked, the white marble will be found. 
 
 Not far from Keosauqua there is a good variety of light- 
 gray, compact, granular marble, of which tomb-stones are 
 wrought by Deacon M. B. Root. It effervesces slightly 
 with acids, and takes a polish. Iowa sent a block from this 
 quarry to the Washington Monument. Ottumwa may 
 expect to find as good varieties of marble as any place, 
 because the lower limestones have the greatest uplift there 
 
 Quartzite. 
 
 On Reed's Creek, some distance from its mouth, not far 
 from the line between the counties of Lee and Van Buren, 
 are heavy beds of quartzite. The color of it is nearly 
 white sometimes, a light blue ; and it is so slightly adhe- 
 sive that it can easily be shaved off with a spade. Plas- 
 terers, when working in the neighborhood, are accustomed 
 to obtain it for their l finishing-coat.' Those of them who 
 have used this, and also that obtained at the Falls of St. 
 Anthony, say that the two kinds are just alike. Examined 
 with a magnifier, the sandstone on Reed's Creek is sharply 
 angular, and appears to be very pure quartz. The slight 
 coloring it has received has probably been obtained from 
 the superincumbent earth. For plastering purposes, it 
 uements as well with lime as that of the Falls; and if it
 
 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 49 
 
 really be like it, these beds are a source whence can bo 
 obtained the best materials for the manufacture of crystal 
 glass. 
 
 Clays. 
 
 Passing by the kinds from which common brick arc 
 made, and those used for earthen and stone-ware, the coal- 
 measures abound in ( fire-clay.' Fire-proof bricks are wrought 
 of this for the use of foundries, furnaces, and in all cases 
 and places where there is an exposure to intense heat. In 
 the Eastern States, it has sometimes been necessary to 
 import these bricks from England. The cost of them has 
 been as high as $50 per thousand. It is desirable that fire- 
 places and ovens should be constructed of them ; and where 
 fire-clay is plenty, as in the Valley, there is no reason why 
 they should not be. But bricks are heavy articles of trans- 
 port ; and until there are railroad facilities of carriage, that 
 one item of cost will prevent extensive business in this 
 kind of manufacture. With such facilities, there appears 
 no good reason why this clay should not be worked. And 
 as to quantity, the Valley can supply the United States, 
 with Cuba and Mexico annexed ! 
 
 Iron Ore. 
 
 Iron has been found in several places, though no beds 
 are known in the Valley of so rich a character as those of 
 the 'Iron Mountain/ in Missouri. Owen found this ore 
 in Marion County, in beds which he considered would here- 
 after be worked. Specimens taken from them and exam- 
 ined had a specific gravity of 345; that of pure iron being 
 5
 
 50 GEOLOGY OF IOWA. 
 
 7-7. By analysis, they contained 35 per cent, of iron. This 
 iron, as to richness and quality, is almost exactly like the 
 ' Cairnbill Black Band/ of Scotland, which is extensively 
 worked. Other and heavier beds have been discovered 
 since Owen's Survey ; but whether rich or not, is not cer- 
 tainly known ; the ore not having been tested by compe- 
 tent men. In such circumstances, it is not possible to 
 speak of this ore with great definiteness. 
 
 Gypsum, or Plaster of Paris. 
 
 This is chemically known as the sulphate of lime. The 
 heaviest beds of it in the United States are to be found in 
 the vicinity of Fort Dodge, Webster county. They are 
 from 20 to 30 feet thick, and show themselves on both 
 sides of the river for miles ; and they extend back each way 
 an unknown distance. By analysis, this gypsum contains 
 70-8 per cent, of sulphate of lime* 
 
 On one acre, with an average thickness of 20 feet, 
 there will be 871-200 cubic feet; on one square mile, 
 557,568,000 cubic feetj and on three miles square, 
 5,018,112,000 cubic feet and 308,031,428 tons. 
 
 Before closing this paper on the minerals of the Valley, 
 it is proper to say that the survey of Dr. Owen was made 
 by order of the United States, and had for its more special 
 object the discovery of mineral lands, such as the Govern- 
 ment might wish to reserve. The principal minerals sought 
 were lead and copper. The coal-field was surveyed and 
 mapped down, while the other minerals noticed in this 
 paper received only incidental attention and secondary con 
 sideration some of them, no mention at all.
 
 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 51 
 
 Collectively, the minerals of this Valley, as now known, 
 are extensive and valuable. They constitute one of the 
 many items which render their locality so attractive. It is 
 traversed by one of the most beautiful rivers on earth ; 400 
 miles in length, a large portion of it 250 yards in breadth : 
 capable of floating steamers a part of the year, and afford- 
 ing water-power to any desirable extent : with a landscape 
 of great and charming variety, groves, and forests, and 
 prairies, in constant alternation, and possessing a soil 
 " scarcely excelled for fertility, perhaps, in the world," 
 why should it not be thronged with inhabitants ? It is the 
 centre of the " Mesopotamia of the West," in a more im- 
 portant sense than that of its position. Let but the iron, 
 horse traverse the whole length of the Valley, and its silver 
 stream will be skirted with cities and villages in as great 
 continuity as is the Bosphorus; meanwhile, its agricultural, 
 and mineral, and manufactured exports, will amount to 
 many millions of dollars annually. 
 
 Col. Mix, of Dubuque, in the summer and fall of 1855, 
 made a thorough exploration of that portion of the route 
 of the Dubuque and Pacific Railroad, extending from the 
 Mississippi to the Missouri River. From his report we 
 extract the following : 
 
 NOTE. The author spent a portion of the past year in making 
 investigations of the location and extent of the beds of coal, lead, 
 gypsum, &c., in Iowa, and has set forth the result of his re- 
 searches in a work entitled " Parker's Sectional and Geological 
 Map of Iowa." By reference to this map, and to the chapters on 
 particular counties, in this work, it will be seen that discoveries 
 of iron, copper, lead, and coal, have been made in localities not 
 specified in the foregoing paper.
 
 52 GEOLOGY OP IOWA. 
 
 "Attention has been directed to the coal field. Its 
 eastern measure, from geological signs, is first indicated 
 near the corners of Grundy, Hardin, Butler and Franklin 
 Counties, in range 18, and probably extends a few miles 
 beyond the Boyer, in range 39. Croppings-out on the 
 Iowa, Boone and Des Moines Rivers; and the veins are 
 only thus far worked from necessitous demand. They are 
 reported to be from 1 to 8 feet thick ; but those that fell 
 tinder our observation are from 3 to 7 feet. It is believed 
 there are three strata, and the middle the thickest. Its 
 measure in this latitude is broad beyond question, and it 
 may be uncovered on Coon and Cedar Rivers. It is ima- 
 gined its basin on this line lies below the head waters of 
 Skunk River and the south fork of the Iowa. Small for- 
 mations are apparent in the Little Sioux and Missouri 
 bluifs, but doubtful if in veins of sufficient thickness for 
 working. In passing through the centre of the State, its 
 discovery was asserted in very many places, but it remains, 
 however, for scientific and practical mining to discover and 
 bring forth for comfort and riches, Nature's too often well 
 concealed and hidden mineral treasures. 
 
 " Gypsum, in inexhaustible quantity, abounds at Fort 
 Dodge, on both sides of the Des Moines River, and is un- 
 surpassed in quality between the oceans. It is, from per- 
 sonal examination, of greater extent than Professor Owen's 
 report represents. The idea that constant culture will not 
 impoverish the richest soil is not to be entertained ; and the 
 value of this article in agriculture, and for other purposes, 
 is almost incalculable. Coal, iron ore, and building rock, 
 which in fineness and durability the Quiucy granite does
 
 OEOLOGT OP IOWA. 53 
 
 not excel, are found in this vicinity. Rock of most excel- 
 lent quality is also seen on the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, 
 particularly at Cedar Falls. 
 
 " The specimen of iron ore handed you, is found on Des 
 Moines River, some 12 miles above Fort Dodge. Of its 
 existence on Iowa River, in the immediate vicinity of the 
 best part of the coal formation, there is very little doubt. 
 Whether of compensating per centage for manufacture we 
 could not determine, as the specimens shown were cor- 
 roded by time. 
 
 " At Iowa Falls, on Iowa River, there exists in quan- 
 tity, a limestone or marble of cream color, and admitting 
 the finest polish. If it has not the beauty of Eastern 
 white or variegated, it surely possesses equal durability and 
 fineness of texture. Other marble is also found on the 
 same river, having an intermixture of a brownish color. 
 This item, too, which is a novelty in the West, will also 
 yield its revenue. 
 
 " Coal, providentially so abundant in the heart of the 
 State, will be in almost unlimited demand in Northwestern 
 Illinois, Western Wisconsin, Minnesota, a large portion of 
 our own State, and for the steamboats on both rivers. 
 
 "A striking characteristic of this route, and worthy of 
 marked observation, is that every river, with the exception 
 of those two branches heretofore mentioned, flows over 
 either a pebbled, gravelly, or rocky bottom. Their banks, 
 with the exception of Des Moines at Fort Dodge, also 
 stated, are very easy of access and departure, and mate- 
 rials are at hand for cheap bridging.' ' 
 5*
 
 54 POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 POPULATION IMMENSE IMMIGRATION OP 1855. 
 
 THE population of the Territory in 1836, was 10,531; 
 in 1840, it was 43,017; in 1850, 192,214. The census, 
 as returned by the Secretary of State, taken in the spring 
 of 1854, is as follows : Males, 170,302; females, 154,900; 
 total population, 325,202. Voters, 59,984 ; militia, 50,284 ; 
 aliens, 10,373; colored males, 258; colored females, 222; 
 blind, 27; deaf and dumb, 28; insane, 47; idiots, 7. 
 There is one vote to every five and a half and a fraction of 
 the population. 
 
 According to this last census, the number of males ex- 
 ceeds that of the females some 16,000. Let the Yankee 
 girls take the hint when they see these figures. 
 
 The number of inhabitants in the State in January, 
 1855, has been estimated at upwards of 500,000. Those 
 who have seen and can realize that Iowa is the mouth of 
 the great Stream of Humanity, whose tributaries extend 
 far and wide, into every State and many nations that 
 stream which is daily and hourly pouring into this great, 
 and fertile, and beautiful State, its hundreds and thousands, 
 cannot but predict that in 1860 Iowa will' be peopled by 
 more than a million of hardy, energetic, and intelligent 
 inhabitants.
 
 IMMIGRATION OP 1854. 55 
 
 By some, this may be deemed a wild speculation ; but 
 we think we have good and sufficient reasons for placing 
 our estimate thus. That the reader may have some idea 
 of the immense influx into Iowa, we will annex a few 
 extracts which appeared in the newspapers at different 
 points in the State last summer and fall. 
 
 OP THE IMMENSE IMMIGRATION OF 1854-5. 
 
 The Iowa City Reporter says : 
 
 " Mr. Watts, of this city, has recently returned from a 
 trip East. On his way home, he represents the immigra- 
 tion bound for Iowa as astonishing and unprecedented. For 
 miles and miles, day after day, the prairies of Illinois are 
 lined with cattle and wagon^, pushing on towards our pros- 
 perous State. 
 
 "A point beyond Peoria, Mr. Watts remained over 
 night ; where he was informed that, during a single month, 
 seventeen hundred and forty-three wagons had passed, and 
 all for Iowa. Allowing five persons to a wagon, which is 
 a fair average, we have 8715 souls to add to our population. 
 This being but the immigration of the month, and upon 
 one route only out of many, it would not be an unreasonable 
 assertion to say that 50,000 men, women, and children will 
 have come intD this State by the first of December, reckon- 
 ing from the first of September." 
 
 Remembering that those spoken of by Mr. Watts all 
 came by wagons, please add this item, from the Chicago 
 Press : 
 
 tl Most of the passenger trains came in last week with
 
 56 IMMIGRATION OF 1854. 
 
 two locomotives ; and the reason of this great increase of 
 power will be understood when it is known that twelve thou- 
 sand passengers arrived from the East, by the Michigan 
 Southern road, during the last week a city in the short 
 space of six days I" 
 
 To the above, add the crowds who ascend the Mississippi 
 and Missouri upon every boat, of whom as many as 600 
 have passed St. Louis in one day ! 
 The Oskaloosa Times says : 
 
 " From early morning till night-fall, the covered wagons 
 are passing through the place." 
 
 " We learn from old citizens that the tide of immigra- 
 tion is this year greater than they have ever known before." 
 "We should think at least a thousand persons pass 
 through Oskaloosa every week, about these times, on their 
 way westward." 
 
 " Not an hour in the day but we see teams ' hauling up ' 
 on the Square." 
 
 The Davenport Commercial adds : 
 " That's our case, precisely. Our ferry is busy all hours 
 in passing over the large canvas-backed wagons, densely 
 populated with becoming lowaiang. An army of mechan- 
 ics have added 300 buildings to this city during the past 
 season, yet every nook and corner of them are engaged 
 before they are finished; but our hospitable citizens will 
 not allow any to suffer for want of a shelter. In several 
 instances the citizens have, like true aborigines, withdrawn 
 to close quarters, and given their parlors to those who have 
 come to make their homes among us and were unable to
 
 IMMIGRATION OP 1854. 57 
 
 find dwellings. There is not a vacant dwelling or business 
 room in the city." 
 
 The Burlington Telegraph says : 
 
 " 20,000 immigrants have passed through the city within 
 the last thirty days, and they are still crossing at the rate 
 of 600 and 700 a day. We have these facts from the ferry 
 folks, who keep a sort of running register. About one 
 team in a hundred is labelled 'Nebraska;' all the rest aro 
 marked ' Iowa.' ' ; 
 
 The Dubuque Tribune says : 
 
 "Daily yes, hourly immigrants are arriving in this 
 and neighboring counties from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, 
 and Illinois. All are in raptures at the lovely sights 
 which here greet their gaze ; and they with one accord 
 yield the palm to Western Iowa for lovely prairies, beauti- 
 ful groves of timber, and meandering streams of water." 
 
 The editor of the Dubuque Reporter thus speaks of the 
 "Prospects of Iowa" : 
 
 11 Never before, in the history of this northwestern region 
 of the United States, has there been a more gratifying 
 spectacle than that now presented to those who take an 
 interest in its progress and welfare. Viewing the almost 
 countless throng of immigrants that crowd our streets, and 
 learning that a similar scene is. visible at every other point 
 along the Mississippi border of Iowa, the spectator is 
 naturally led to infer that a general exodus is taking place 
 in the Eastern States of the Union, as well as in those 
 that, but a few years ago, were denominated the West. 
 
 " Day by day the endless procession moves on a mighty
 
 58 IMMIGRATION OP 1854. 
 
 army of invasion, which, were its objects other than 
 and a holy, fraternal, cordial league with its predecessors, 
 their joint aim to conquer this fair and alluring domain from 
 the wild dominion of nature would strike terror into the 
 boldest hearts. They come by hundreds and thousands 
 from the hills and valleys of New England, bringing with 
 them that same untiring, indomitable energy and perse- 
 verance, that have made their native States the admiration 
 of the world, and whose influence is felt wherever enter- 
 prise has a votary or commerce spreads a sail ; with intel- 
 lects sharpened to the keenest edge, and brawny arms to 
 execute the firm resolves of their iron will, and gathering 
 fresh accessions, as they sweep across the intermediate 
 country, from the no less thrifty and hardy population of 
 New York, Ohio, and Indiana. Tarrying no longer 
 amongst us than is necessary for them to select their future 
 home, away they hie to the capacious and inviting plains, 
 that spread themselves interminably, ready to yield, almost 
 without preparation, their rich latent treasures. 
 
 " Soon will be seen innumerable the farmer's comfort- 
 able abode, and the frequent thriving village, with its ' peo- 
 ple's college/ as its highest worldly pride, and close at 
 hand the house of God, with spire pointing to heaven, as 
 if to remind the worshippers of the source to which they 
 are indebted for all the store of blessings they enjoy. And 
 soon, too, in the wake of such a mighty rush and all its 
 soul-swelling consequences, will follow the laying out and 
 construction of those great works that will link us to the 
 wide-spread members of our confederacy, over which the
 
 IMMIGRATION OF 1854. 59 
 
 iron horse, more terrible in the fierceness of his strength 
 than the war-steed of Job, will snort his triumphant ha, 
 ha ! as he bounds along in his tireless race. Science, in 
 turn, will rear her loftiest fanes, and plant deep in tho 
 hearts of her disciples the seeds of a deathless devotion to 
 the institutions of our common country. * 
 
 " And to what, let us ask, is the high tide setting into 
 Iowa fairly to be ascribed ? 
 
 " We take it on ourselves to answer that the unanimous 
 consent of those who have investigated her claims accords 
 her a climate of unequalled salubrity, a soil of the most 
 generous fertility, and a geographical position unsurpassed 
 by that of any other Western State ; in a word, that natu- 
 rally she contains within her limits all the elements which, 
 properly availed of by man, will secure his highest tem- 
 poral prosperity and happiness. During the past year, she 
 has been peculiarly favored. Whilst the contiguous States, 
 and many of those more remote, have yielded harvests 
 diminished by drought in the ratio of from a fourth to a 
 half, hers has been at least equal to an average one. She 
 is thus able to supply not only her producers, but likewise 
 all who have since come, and are yet to arrive this year. 
 This has been of incalculable advantage to her. Inasmuch 
 as every immigrant comes provided with the means for 
 entering land and defraying expenses till he can make a 
 crop, money has been in freer circulation here than in any 
 other part of the country. A fact equally gratifying is, 
 that the immigration hither numbers in its ranks many 
 men of wealth, who consequently bring to us an accession
 
 60 IMMIGRATION OP 1854. 
 
 of capital that must of course produce results which are 
 usually unseen in new states for years after their settle- 
 ment. 
 
 " We conclude our remarks on the prospects of Iowa by 
 tendering our congratulations to her citizens on the proud 
 and enviable position she occupies a position obtained 
 without effort, and which is but a foretaste of that she will 
 1 attain as her strength is increased and her concentrated 
 energies directed to the securing of a yet loftier elevation." 
 
 The editor of the KeokuJc Whig thus speaks, under the 
 announcement of 
 
 " ' STILL THEY COME P By railways and steamers, the 
 flood of immigration continues pouring into the great West. 
 The lake-shore roads are crowded to their utmost capacity; 
 single trains of fourteen or fifteen cars, all full of men, 
 women, and a large sprinkling of children, are almost 
 daily arriving at Chicago. The Ohio River steamers are 
 crowded in the same way. On Friday last, two steamers 
 brought into St. Louis some 600 passengers; most of whom, 
 being destined for the northwest, have already passed 
 through this place. And ' still they come,' from Pennsyl- 
 vania, from Ohio, Indiana, and other States, until, by the 
 side of this exodus, that of the Israelites becomes an insig- 
 nificant item, and the greater migrations of later times are 
 scarcely to be mentioned. Whether the older States are 
 suffering by this rapid depletion, or how long they can en- 
 dure it, is their own look-out. Certain it is that Iowa in 
 particular, and the other Western and Northwestern States 
 generally are rapidly filling up with a hardy, industrious
 
 IMMIGRATION OF 1854. 61 
 
 and wealth-producing population. Let them corae ! Here 
 is room, and to spare ! Here is a theatre for human ope- 
 rations on the grandest scale ! Here is the place for the 
 young man, just starting out in life, for the old man, seek- 
 ing to provide for his children, for ' all sorts of men/ in 
 search of fortune, fame, or wealth ; for any one, also, who 
 has an eye and a soul for Nature in her grandest forms of 
 lavish profusion and splendid magnificence. 
 
 "There is something in the ' growing, glowing "West/ 
 with her limitless prairies, her mighty rivers, her moun- 
 tains of iron, the lavish richness of her all-bountiful soil, 
 that expands the soul of man, and elevates him above the 
 narrow, cramped, and confined ideas of those who are ac- 
 customed only to the well-worn channels and small conven- 
 tionalities of older hum-drum communities. There the 
 ' new man ' is apt to find himself an unwelcome jostler, 
 his intrusion viewed askance, his elbow-room begrudged 
 him, and his presence tolerated only upon condition of his 
 accepting the procrustean standard of hoary and respectable 
 'use and wont/ unless, indeed, a position can be asserted 
 and maintained by force of very superior talent, or unusual 
 accidental advantages. But here all is new, and plastic, 
 and vigorous. Mei* are wanted here, and are welcomed. 
 And here at once is found a boundless and untrammelled 
 field of enterprise, adequate to the elastic energies of in- 
 genious youth or mature manhood. It is curious to watch 
 the development of a comer from the old-fogy settlements : 
 
 to see his mind expand, his eye light up with the fire of a 
 6
 
 62 IMMIGRATION OF 1854. 
 
 renewed energy, and his whole nature grow to the liberal 
 standard of Nature's doings in the West. 
 
 " Therefore, we repeat again, let them come old and 
 young, men and women, boys and girls, with or without 
 1 plunder.' Let them flee from their tax-ridden and mise- 
 rably governed Egypts in Ohio and Pennsylvania, to the 
 Land of Promise, flowing with something better than milk 
 and honey, and possessing capabilities such as they have 
 hardly dreamed of. Here they shall find welcome homes ; 
 and, while they speedily help themselves to attain better 
 fortunes, they shall also have a hand in the proud labor of 
 building up the mighty Empire of the Mississippi Valley." 
 
 The editor of the KeokuJe Dispatch, after returning from 
 a two-weeks' furlough, says : 
 
 " No one can travel up and down the Mississippi without 
 being astonished at the immigration constantly pouring in to 
 Iowa from all parts of the country; but especially from 
 Indiana and Ohio. 
 
 " Two gentlemen from Richmond County, Ohio, told us 
 that from that County alone 1000 persons were coming to 
 Iowa this fall ; at every ferry on the river crowds are wait- 
 ing to cross; and the land-offices all over the State are 
 unable to meet the demands upon them by those who are 
 eager to enter lands. * 
 
 "Our journey led us into Jackson and Jones Counties, 
 where we met,in all directions, indications of rapid settle- 
 ment, thrift, and energy. We spent some days in Jones 
 County^on the prairie watered by Mineral Creek, and learned 
 that but a year ago there were forty thousand acres of un-
 
 IMMIGRATION OP 1855. 63 
 
 entered land, while there is not now as much as amounts 
 to a section to be had. Although the prairie is but a few 
 miles in extent, there are already forty habitations upon it. 
 "When we take into account the central position of 
 Iowa in our confederacy, and the fact of the rapid develop- 
 ment of her resources, we can easily believe that she is 
 destined to become, at no distant day, all that the most 
 sanguine hope for. Her salubrious climate, the abundance 
 of water, and the favorable distribution of timber, all con- 
 tribute to give Iowa pre-eminence among the Western 
 States in the minds of those who are exchanging a resi- 
 dence in the East for one in the West." 
 
 OP THE IMMIGRATION IN 1855. 
 
 The Rock Islander thus speaks of the tide of immigra- 
 tion flowing into Iowa, at Davenport : 
 
 " ' Westward the star of Empire takes its way/ sang 
 good old Bishop Berkeley, a hundred years ago. Whoever 
 wants a practical illustration of what is now a fact, but was 
 then a prophesy, need only watch our ferry a single hour. 
 Hundreds of muslin-covered wagons, bearing wives and 
 children, and household goods, and driven by stalwart men. 
 seeking a new hom^in the mighty West, cross the Missis- 
 sippi at this point weekly. It is a tide which knows no 
 ebb, but still keeps flowing, ever flowing, onward toward 
 the rich prairies of Nebraska and the setting sun." 
 "An Ohio paper thus speaks : 
 
 " The last wonder at the eastward is the immense immi- 
 gration westward. Nothing like it here or there was ever
 
 64 IMMIGRATION OP 1855. 
 
 before known. It is estimated, from the way it has com- 
 menced, that it will exceed that of any previous year full 
 fifty per cent. Many circumstances have conspired to pro- 
 duce this movement, but the hard times for the past yoar 
 eastward, and the abundance of good and cheap land west- 
 ward, with the ambition of the masses to better their 
 condition in life, are the stimulating causes." 
 
 The Washington County, Iowa, paper says : 
 
 " Our town is daily full of strangers from the Eastern 
 States; seeking homes amongst us, and purchasing pro- 
 perty both in town and country. Every house and every 
 room in the town is filled to its utmost capacity, and yet 
 the demand is not supplied. The mail coaches from every 
 direction are crowded with passengers, piled in, shaken 
 down, and running over; and besides this kind of convey- 
 ance, private passenger hacks ' loaded down to the guards/ 
 are seen on the streets and at the hotels almost hourly. 
 
 " With the present rate of emigration, Iowa must ere 
 long become one of the most populous States in the north- 
 western portion of the Union." 
 
 The Chicago Press thus speaks of the Western move- 
 ment : 
 
 "We have heretofore referred (9 the fact, that the 
 amount of travel West was much larger than the Eastern 
 movement. This is true now, and will be till the vast fer- 
 tile country West and North-west of us becomes generally 
 settled, and its resources fully developed. In the older 
 States the young and enterprising are seeking a home in 
 the great central valley of the continent, and for many
 
 IMMIGRATION OP 1855. 65 
 
 years to come the population of the New England and 
 Middle States must increase very slowly, and in some of 
 them, perhaps, not at all; while that in most of the 
 central States will be told in millions. 
 
 " We learn from William M. Larabee, Esq., secretary 
 of the Galena and Chicago Union Kailroad, that during 
 the past year, the passengers on that road going West 
 have numbered about forty thousand more than those 
 coming East. This fact is very significant, and indicates 
 that over this thoroughfare alone more than three thou- 
 sand passengers per month have gone West, and made 
 their homes in the rich lands lying towards the setting sun." 
 
 The Chicago Journal of May 3, says : 
 
 " WESTWARD. Last night the city was invaded, and 
 hundreds had not where to lay their heads. The hotels 
 were compelled to turn all who came in the evening trains 
 away, being unable to accommodate them." 
 
 The Burlington Pantograph of a recent date, says : 
 
 " The van of the great emigrant army has been passing 
 through our town for the last two or three weeks. The 
 average through this place for some time past has been 
 about fifty wagons daily, generally followed by droves of 
 fine looking cattle^ and attended by all the other indica- 
 tions of thrift and enterprise; and wherever they may 
 choose to pitch their tent there will be planted the elements 
 of an intelligent and prosperous community. 
 
 We could occupy pages more in giving like extracts from 
 the press in various parts of the State ; but the foregoing 
 will suffice. 
 6*
 
 66 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 CHAPTEK X. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 Immigration Rivers and Lakes Mineral Resources- 
 Onward March of Civilization. 
 
 IT is truly gratifying to witness the rapidity with which 
 our noble State is increasing in population. Tens of thou- 
 sands of hardy, industrious "sons of the soil," with their 
 families and herds, are lining every thoroughfare into the 
 State, attracted by our beautiful scenery, rich soil, salu- 
 brious climate, and superior natural advantages. To this 
 class we extend a hand of welcome for them we have "a 
 home for all." To non-resident speculators in lands, who 
 enter them to hold, unimproved, for high prices, we extend 
 no invitation ; believing them a disadvantage to the State, 
 and an interposing obstacle between us and prosperity. 
 
 Aware of the difficulty the immigrant from the Eastern 
 States labors under in obtaining a correct knowledge of the 
 West of its vast resources, its immenre fields for cultiva- 
 tion, spread out in untold beauty, inviting the husbandman 
 to partake of the bounty which a beneficent Being has 
 spread out before him, I hope to furnish my readers with 
 some facts that will prove interesting and profitable to those 
 intending to make their homes in Iowa. I would speak of 
 our beautiful rivers, productive soil, and healthful climate ;
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 67 
 
 of the glassy lakes, whose pebbled shores have for ages 
 been the haunts of the elk, the buffalo, and the deer, and 
 whose waters abound in the finest specimens of the finny 
 tribe. These solitary places, that have slept in beauty so 
 long, have been awakened into life. The woodman's axe 
 now begins to echo on the banks of our streams, and the 
 hum of voices resounds upon our lakes. Civilization, in 
 her westward march, has aroused the deer from his lair ; and 
 where, but yesterday, the wolf held undisputed sway, the 
 familiar bark of the farmer's faithful dog is heard. 
 
 Probably no State in the Union has ever been settled 
 with greater rapidity, or in so short a period of time 
 gained greater renown, than Iowa. , 
 
 Bounded on the east by that noblest of rivers, the 
 Mississippi, and on the west by the Missouri, cut up and 
 intersected at the most important points by railroads, pro- 
 jected and under contract, possessing almost inexhaustible 
 supplies of lead in the north, and of coal in the south, of 
 lime, sand, and other building-stone in almost every portion 
 of the State, she combines within her borders, resources that 
 must render her, in point of position and wealth, one of 
 the most important States in the Republic. 
 
 The Climate of Iowa may be compared with that of 
 New Jersey and the vicinity of New York City ; except 
 that we have not here as much rain and foggy weather as they 
 have. Here it is, in general, an unbroken winter from the 
 middle of November till January; when we are invariably 
 visited with the January thaw ; after which, the weather 
 is generally mild, and gradually merges into spring. We
 
 68 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 have but little snow seldom sufficient for sleighing, 
 and but few sleds or sleighs are manufactured. We are 
 free from the sudden changes so common to New England j 
 the weather is less variable. Our storms are from the east, 
 our showers from the west. 
 
 Cultivation and yield of Wheat, Corn, Oats, Potatoes and 
 
 Onions. 
 
 Our wheat is sown in March, and our corn planted the 
 last of April and first of May. But little winter wheat is 
 grown here ; the light snows are insufficient to protect it 
 from winter-killing. Spring wheat is raised in great abund- 
 ance, and of a good quality. Corn is raised in large quan- 
 tities ; and all the products of the earth, congenial to this 
 climate grow, with but little labor. Seldom is the hoe used 
 in the corn or potatoe-field the horse and plough do the 
 work in general. Of the wheat crop, 40 bushels to the 
 acre is considered a good crop ; and of corn, 50, 60, and 
 75 bushels are raised to the acre ; 400 and 500 bushels of 
 potatoes and onions are common to the acre. I know of 
 large crops being taken from the ground such as 100 
 bushels of oats to the acre, and the same of corn ; but they 
 are not common, and such tales only serve to heighten the 
 fancy of those who intend immigrating, and mislead them. 
 
 The Soil and Prospects of the Farmer East and West 
 
 compared. 
 
 A man cannot come here and grow rich in idleness : he 
 must work. Our soil is prolific, but must have care and
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 69 
 
 culture. It is true that man can live with less labor than 
 in the older States ; the soil is easier tilled. He can make 
 himself a home much sooner, and far more easily, than 
 those who purchase land in northern New York, Ohio, and 
 Indiana. How many are there in those States who have 
 toiled for years to cut away the timber and burn it; ex- 
 pending, on an average, $10 or $12 an acre before the plow 
 can enter the land, and then be used with great difficulty 
 among the stumps, roots, and rocks ; and how many farm- 
 ers are there now, in those States, going down to the grave 
 in the meridian of life with a worn-out and broken consti- 
 tution ! Compare the new settlement of those States with 
 a settlement in Iowa. Here, the immigrant enters upon 
 his land, perhaps, at government price $1:25 per acre ; 
 or, if he pays $5, or even $10, per acre, he finds it free 
 from all obstacles in making a farm. For the sum of $2-50, 
 the prairie is broken up, and often corn is planted the first 
 year, by striking the axe into the turf and dropping the 
 corn, which yields 15 to 25 bushels per acre. This is 
 called sod-corn. The second year, the turf is rotten, the 
 ground easily tilled, and the husbandman's labors are 
 crowned with success. 
 
 Enclosing Farms Osage Orange as a Substitute for 
 
 Board, Wire, or Sod Fences. 
 
 To enclose the land, various kinds of fencing have been 
 tried. Among the early settlers, the sod fence was made 
 by those who had a scarcity of timber, but proved a per- 
 fect failure. The soil being too alluvial and loamy to sus-
 
 70 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 tain itself, the common board fence was resorted to, till, 
 more recently, the wire fence has been introduced, and suc- 
 ceeds well where it is properly made. In most parts of the 
 State, hogs are not allowed to run at large, and of course 
 less fencing is required. It is now sufficiently demonstrated, 
 by trial of a few, that the Osage-orange hedge is to be the 
 great remedy for lack of timber upon our prairies : it has 
 been tested, and found that a hedge of this shrub will turn 
 any kind of animal, from a horse to a sucking pig, in three or 
 four years. This fence can be made for forty cents per rod, 
 and warranted, or no pay. Upon the prairie, where there is 
 not much range of cattle, the hedge can be planted and grown 
 without fence to protect it ; nothing will eat the plant, and 
 the few that might be destroyed by being trod upon, can 
 easily be replaced. In fencing, then, 100 acres square, the 
 expense would be 8250, for a fence that would last for ever. 
 It will need training only, as it does not sprout from the 
 roots. But, half of this fence will be for the accommoda- 
 tion of your neighbor ; consequently, your cost will be but 
 half this sum. In order to make this fence, the ground 
 must be broken some eight or ten feet wide, upon the line 
 of fence, one year before the planting of the hedge. I 
 understand that a contract has been made recently, by the 
 Illinois Central Railroad, to fence the entire road, some 
 300 miles, with the Osage orange. 
 
 For immediate use, those who have no timber must 
 fence with lumber; which is $15 per thousand feet; and 
 the white-cedar post can be had for 810 per hundred. It 
 will take 1280 posts, eight feet apart, to fence 100 acres
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 71 
 
 with wire or boards; the amount of either of the latter 
 will be regulated according to the number of strands ; which 
 may be three or five. There is but one great deficiency in our 
 State the scarcity of timber. But we hope for a substi- 
 tute in the Osage orange, as far as fencing is concerned. 
 
 Renting, building, Brick-malting No Vacant Lands 
 near the Mississippi River. 
 
 Tillable land is now rented at $1-75 to $2-00 per acre. 
 The first tenement of the settler is generally of small di- 
 mensions; reared in haste, and ultimately to form the 
 kitchen part of his future dwelling. Brick is made in all 
 parts of the State ; and in most parts, the limestone rock 
 is abundant, and often used for entire dwellings for man 
 and beast. The vacant land or lands, still owned by the 
 Government, have now become very scarce in the settled 
 portions of the State. No selections of good land can now 
 be made within fifty or seventy-five miles of the Mississippi 
 River. The immense immigration of the last two years 
 has secured all choice lands in the vicinity of settlements 
 and railroads ; and the only chance of the immigrant for 
 land at $1-25 per acre, is to go back into the interior of 
 the State. Many prefer purchasing nearer market nearer 
 the Mississippi River ; where unimproved land can be had 
 at from $9 to $20 per acre, and improved farms at from 
 820 to |40, and even $50 per acre according to the value 
 of improvements.
 
 72 GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 Iowa as it is, and as the Immigrant may expect to find ft. 
 
 Earnest Labor the Price of Success. 
 The immigrant must not come here as many do ex- 
 pecting to find first rate land, with timber and water, all 
 spread out before him, very near some city or town, for 1-25 
 per acre ; it is not to be had. Nor must he come expect- 
 ing to find Iowa a desolate, dreary, uncultivated waste, with 
 here and there a green spot, inhabited by pioneers living 
 in log cabins and just merging into civilization; neither 
 must he come expecting to live at ease, enjoying the luxu- 
 ries of life and health, rolling in upon him without any 
 exertion. A home can be had by the poorest, with prudence 
 and economy. No place in the wide world can offer greater 
 inducements to the immigrant than Iowa ; lut he must look 
 at it as it is. No fancied sketch must weave around his 
 imagination sudden wealth or unreal beauties, seen only in 
 the dreary picture before him. He may fancy Iowa a garden, 
 and, roaming over its prairies, gather flowers from its rich 
 soil, and exclaim with the Indian, in ecstasies of delight, 
 ' I-o-wah !' ( I have found the beautiful land P but it will 
 never make him rich, nor create for him a happy home, 
 without toil and labor. 
 
 Unentered Lands Immense Immigration of 1855 Cen- 
 tral Iowa Best Portions of the State yet Unsettled 
 The Destiny of Iowa. 
 
 There are yet large bodies of land subject to entry at 
 the government price $1-25 per acre. Early last sea-
 
 GENERAL REMARKS. 73 
 
 BOD, there was much upon the line of the various projected 
 railroads subject to sale; there are none at this time within 
 less than ten miles of the railroad. The timber-lands of 
 this section of country are all secured ; nothing remains 
 but prairie. The woodlands must be purchased at second 
 rates, from $8 to $15 per acre. These back counties, even 1 
 to Council Bluffs, are better timbered than those within 
 fifty miles of the Mississippi River, except in the northern 
 part of Iowa. Along the upper Des Moines and Boon 
 rivers are heavily timbered lands at reasonable prices. 
 The vacant lands of Iowa are being entered rapidly, and 
 those who would get good locations at government price 
 must attend to the matter without delay. The immense 
 immigration to the interior of Iowa this season exceeds, by 
 far, all former years. The roads are full of immigrant 
 teams ; the groves, creeks, and woodlands seem alive with 
 men, women, and children encamped in wagons, tents, and 
 cabins, until houses can be erected. 
 
 There are nearly one hundred counties of land in this 
 State surveyed and in market ; two-thirds of that number 
 are organized, and contain a population of from 500 to 
 25,000 each : the river tier of counties being the first 
 settled and most densely populated. Central Iowa is the 
 best body of land in the State; and, in all probability, 
 the State of Iowa is the best in the United States. The 
 better portions of Iowa are not settled yet. The immigrant 
 must not think that Iowa is all sold, or in the hands of 
 speculators. Go where you may, westward or northward, and 
 the boundless prairie is spread out before you, dotted here and 
 7
 
 74 GENERAL BE MARKS. 
 
 there with its groves and its gentle rivers, skirted with timber j 
 and you find no diminution in beauty or richness of soil . 
 the same deep, black loam is found northward to the St. 
 Peter's Kiver, and westward to the Missouri. The immi- 
 grant who is willing to penetrate unsettled portions, and 
 endure the privations incident to a frontier life, can lay, 
 for himself and his children, the foundations of a fortune 
 and a home that will make glad the hearts of his chil- 
 dren's children ; for Iowa is destined to be the most densely 
 populated State in the Union. 
 
 How often has the thought passed through my mind, 
 while rambling over these fertile plains, of the thousands 
 of human beings whose lot has been cast in more sterile 
 lands, bound down by oppression and servitude ! What 
 happiness could be offered to the starving millions of the 
 Old World, could the ill-gotten treasures of tyrants be con- 
 verted to their use, and the uncultivated wastes, that now 
 are only kept for the use of a few wandering tribes of 
 Indians, were made the abodes of civilized men ! The 
 onward progress of the Anglo-Saxon race will soon open 
 these vast resources for the benefit of man ; and I be- 
 lieve that many of us now upon the stage of action, will 
 see these fertile vales teeming with their ten thousand flocks, 
 and hear from the happy cottages the general anthem of 
 thanksgiving and praise, amid these beautiful glens ana 
 dales, until the prolonged note shall sigh upon the Rocky 
 Mountain's top, and the echo be heard along the Shores of 
 the Pacific Ocean.
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO NEW-COMERS. 75 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO THE NEW-COMER RESPECTING THE SE- 
 LECTION, ENTRY, OR PURCHASE AND CULTIVATION OP 
 PRAIRIE LANDS. 
 
 THE purchaser from Government, if he be a stranger in 
 the country, must first go to the Land-office of the District 
 in which lie the lands that he intends to enter. There are 
 in Iowa nine Land-offices, each of which represents several 
 counties. At either of these the immigrant will be fur- 
 nished with small township maps, showing all the vacant 
 or unentered lands, up to the date of application. With 
 these he repairs to the spot ; but, without the aid of a sur- 
 veyor, or some person who understands the mode of govern- 
 ment surveys, he will be totally unprepared to make selections, 
 as the " metes and bounds" upon the prairie, or marked trees 
 of the forest, will be all Greek to him. He may gaze upon 
 the goodly land, but for him to know what township, range, or 
 section, or any parts thereof, he is on, will be found impos- 
 sible. He cannot transcribe the hieroglyphics before him. 
 The numbers must be carefully noted by one who Jcnoics, 
 and who will accompany the immigrant to the Land-office ; 
 there he makes his application to the Register, receives a 
 certificate of application, and then presents the same to 
 the Receiver ; pays in specie, or with his warrant, or Vir-
 
 76 INSTRUCTIONS TO NEW-COMERS. 
 
 ginia land-script, and receives a duplicate receipt as having 
 paid for such a tract of land, and, in the course of one or 
 two years, he presents his receipt to the same office, and 
 receives a patent from government ; his duplicate receipt, 
 however, is a sufficient warrantee for him to sell and convey 
 the land, and is valid in law. 
 
 To enter upon and settle these lands, is the next thing 
 for the immigrant. He first erects a small cabin of boards, 
 or perhaps of logs, sufficient to shield himself and family 
 from "the pitiless peltings of the storm," and, with eyes 
 often beaming with gladness, enters with great alacrity 
 upon the thousand and one little works of necessity and 
 mercy for the comfort and security of man and beast; 
 while the enormous prairie plow is set in motion by one 
 whose business it is to " break prairie" at $2-25 per acre. 
 This large machine is, to the new-comer, a curiosity : it is, 
 in all respects, like other plows, but much larger in size ; 
 being 10 feet long, and cutting a furrow of some 22 to 24 
 inches in width. The fore-end of the beam rests upon an 
 axle, with wheels, one of which runs in the furrow and 
 guages the width, acting like the wheel of the locomotive 
 upon the rail. A lever is attached to the fore-end of the 
 beam, running back to the handles, which regulates the 
 depth of furrow, and throws the plow out when desired. 
 When the plow is once set in, it needs no further attention 
 in good prairie, as it runs alone, and the driver has only to 
 attend to his team, which consists of some five yoke of 
 oxen. The roots of the wild grass are much longer and 
 harder to break than the tame. It is considered best to
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO NEW-COMERS. 77 
 
 break the ground as shallow as possible, or only to cut a 
 sufficient depth to turn over the roots of grass; the soil 
 under it being very loose, and the thinner the sod, the 
 sooner it will rot. Often the farmer sends his boys to drop 
 corn along every third or fourth furrow ; and corn is thus 
 produced, with no further care, yielding 30 bushels to the 
 acre. The next season the sod is well rotted, and the ground 
 in prime order for wheat. In the meantime, the immigrant 
 encloses his fields, either with sawed lumber or rails, as cir- 
 cumstances will permit, erects his dwelling, and begins his 
 
 " Life on the prairie green, 
 A home on the boundless waste I" 
 
 The soil is ready to till, and but few weeds grow for the 
 first two or three years. As I have before said, corn is 
 planted and grown without using the hoe : the horse and 
 plow do the cultivating. 
 
 The Realities of a Pioneer Life Obstacles to be Sur- 
 mounted The Reward in Store. 
 
 These are but faint outlines of opening a farm in the 
 West. The immigrant will find trials and hardships 
 spring up around, unlocked for in the old settlement. He 
 will find that his ability to labor is not as great in his new, 
 unacclimated home, as where he came from : the scarcity 
 of labor, the distance from towns, villages, and market, will 
 throw obstacles in the way of his progress, and he may 
 very naturally expect, in a change of climate, sickness in 
 his family; and " the ills that life is heir to," will, perhaps, 
 7*
 
 78 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 tread closely upon his heels, and often make him sigh for 
 "the leeks and the garlics" he left behind hhn. There 
 is no fancy work in a frontier life, except to him who is 
 weaned from the world at an early age, and assumes the 
 life of a savage. It may do for the intelligent and enter- 
 prising of our eastern cities to build for themselves fancied 
 cottages upon our western lands while they are gorged with 
 the pleasures of a city life ; but the stern reality of a fron- 
 tier life will not be all sunshine and happiness ; there is 
 labor to be done to enjoy it; there is care and toil, priva- 
 tions and sufferings, universally attendant upon any one's 
 settlement in the new portions of the West; and he who 
 leaves the luxuries of the East and moves to the West, 
 expecting to realize the fancied sketches of rural felicity, 
 will be most sadly disappointed. But let him surmount 
 these obstacles, and he can make himself a home that will 
 yield him a rich and lasting harvest. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SKETCHES BY TRAVELLING CONTRIBUTORS TO THE 
 PRESS, DESCRIPTIVE OP IOWA. 
 
 THE following interesting and truthful statistical article 
 from the Franklin Democrat, published at Brookville, Ind., 
 was written in reply to a paragraph that appeared in the 
 American, a newspaper published in the same town, which
 
 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 79 
 
 spoke disparagingly of Iowa. Mr. Clarkson, the writer, 
 has for twenty years been conductor of a newspaper, and 
 quite recently made a tour through our State, examining 
 its resources and its adaptation to a farming community. 
 He therefore speaks from personal knowledge. 
 
 " Will the Iowa fever abate f There is such a rush for 
 Iowa lands, and such a tide of emigration in that direc- 
 tion, that croakers begin to proclaim that ' the Iowa fever 
 is about over/ As sensible men, we ought to look at this 
 subject, if there is to be a revulsion in matters in that 
 region, it is cruel for wise heads to permit the simple 
 minded populace to rush into danger unwarned. It will 
 not do for prophets to sneeringly say, < Am I my brother's 
 keeper ?' 
 
 " But what is taking the people to Iowa ? This is a 
 serious question, and should be looked full in the face by 
 every man before he sells his farm and drags his family to 
 a new and unknown country. It is not a sufficient ex- 
 cuse that you were carried away by the popular furor. 
 But the matter is of sufficient importance to demand the 
 closest scrutiny. Will you do so, or will you risk the con- 
 sequences, and then when you have squandered your means, 
 and beggared your family, regret your rash step. 
 
 " We therefore propose to look to this question, and if 
 we err in any matter, for the sake of the interests of crowd- 
 ing thousands, we ask to be corrected. 
 
 "Iowa is larger than any other State of the Union, 
 being about 14,000 square miles larger than New York. 
 It has more rich agricultural lands than any other State in
 
 80 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 the Union. In this matter we speak not at random. 
 There is in Iowa 40,000,000 of acres two-thirds of which 
 at least is equal to any other lands, in any State, already 
 cleared, and ready for cultivation. Or in other words there 
 are in Iowa about 28,000,000 of acres of rich prairie, re- 
 quiring no tedious labor to convert it into productive farms. 
 This is more land for real cultivation than there is, or ever 
 will, or can be cultivated in New York and the six New 
 England States. And when cultivated it will produce double 
 the amount to the acre on an average of the products of 
 Northern farms, and with half the labor per acre. And 
 although there is a large portion of Illinois equal in fer- 
 tility and productiveness to Iowa, yet the south half of 
 Illinois will not compare with it in fact a large portion is 
 useless. So we can safely say that Iowa in a few years 
 will have more good improved farm lands than the three 
 States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. We dare any one 
 that doubts this, to test it by the figures. By the census 
 of 1850, we learn that Ohio had 9,851,493 acres of im- 
 proved land, Indiana 5,046,543, and Illinois 5,039,545, 
 in all 19,937,581 acres. When Ohio, Indiana, and Illi- 
 nois shall add 50 per cent to their farms, they will fall 
 short of the amount which will, without the least contin- 
 gency or doubt, be cultivated in Iowa in a few years. This 
 is allowing for 12,000,000 of acres in that State for waste 
 and timber, and for wasting with towns and cities. This 
 then is the extent of the field for agricultural operations. 
 Is it not large enough to command our respect? 
 
 " It is healthy. This we have spoken of in a previous
 
 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 81 
 
 article. But it is useless to dwell on this subject. All tho 
 land on the face of the earth north of 41 degrees is 
 healthy, unless there be some immediate local cause for 
 disease. 
 
 " Its natural commercial advantages are not inferior to 
 any inland State. Its eastern and western borders are 
 swept for the whole extent by the mightiest rivers in the 
 world, the Mississippi and Missouri. It has also the Des 
 Moines, the Iowa, and the Cedar rivers, all navigable for 
 some distance in wet seasons. 
 
 And in the construction of its artificial channels of trade 
 there is likely to be more sense manifested than in most 
 States. The railroads projected, and now being vigorously 
 prosecuted, are all running parallel with each other, and far 
 enough apart not to conflict with each other's interests, but 
 so as to accommodate all the citizens of the State. They 
 all run from east to west from the Mississippi to the 
 Missouri. In no other State has nature so positively 
 directed where the great thoroughfares should be made 
 and nowhere has man been evidently so willing to listen 
 to the teachings of Providence. The roads all run in 
 about equidistant parallel lines through the State. There 
 are four of them now so far advanced, that no one asks 
 Will they ever be built ?' 
 
 " Iowa is finely watered. The water from springs and 
 wells is fine, cool, and healthy. No difficulty in this respect 
 in any part of the State. 
 
 " Stone coal is abundant. This in a prairie country is 
 almost indispensable. With it no one is in doubt about
 
 82 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 what will be done for wood. In fact, without it the coun- 
 try would not be very densely populated, as all its timber 
 is needed for fences and buildings. 
 
 "In most parts of the State, building-stone is plenty, 
 and in some places of a superior quality both limestone 
 and sandstone. This is an item that cannot be overlooked. 
 Portions of Indiana and Illinois are so destitute of build- 
 ing material, as to depreciate the value of their rich lands. 
 
 " Then it has the soil water coal stone rivers, and 
 railroads, to make it a great agricultural State. 
 
 C. F. CLARKSON." 
 
 A writer in the Express and Herald, Dubuque, makes 
 the following remarks : 
 
 "We have traversed the State of Iowa from east to 
 west, from north to south. We have gazed in admira- 
 tion on her wide and lovely prairies, stretching away on 
 every side as far as the eye could reach, and presenting the 
 appearance of a boundless ocean covered with luxuriant 
 grass. In other sections of the State, we have lingered by 
 her purling streams, as they meandered through her 
 primeval forests. We have stood by the cascades and rapids 
 of her rivers, and know that she possesses water-power 
 sufficient to turn machinery that could supply manufactures 
 for the whole North American Continent. We have also 
 inspected her rich, loamy soil, of almost inexhaustible fer- 
 tility, and wandered among her thousand rolling lawns and 
 romantic dells, that abound with minerals more valuable 
 than gold.
 
 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 83 
 
 " The climate is salubrious ; the soil exceedingly rich, 
 producing in abundance all the necessaries of life; the 
 water is of unsurpassed quality, and no other known region 
 excels her in virgin springs and bubbling fountains of the 
 most delicious coolness and purity. 
 
 " With regard to an advantageous geographical position, 
 Iowa could hardly be rivalled. Her territory lies between 
 two of the largest rivers on the globe, both navigable for 
 many hundreds of miles above her, and making, on the 
 other hand, an open highway of commerce to the ocean 
 within the tropics. Situated as she is, away in the heart 
 of the continent, far from the national frontier, she will 
 never be subject to the inroads of a foreign enemy's troops, 
 in case of war. Such a foe can never penetrate the coun- 
 try so far as to reach her territory. 
 
 " To those who never travelled through the "West, much 
 that is reported of it is utterly incredible ; although west- 
 ern resources, and western capabilities have never been fully 
 described. The State of Iowa alone is capable of sustaining 
 twenty millions of inhabitants, and then will not be so thickly 
 peopled as some European countries. Her whole area is 
 susceptible of cultivation, and were its powers fully devel- 
 oped, we have no hesitancy in saying that it would produce 
 sufficient food to sustain fifty millions of people. 
 
 " In relation to the climate, the soil, the water-power, 
 and the capabilities of Iowa, there is one thing we would 
 say, namely, if any one has doubts about them let him 
 come and see. Travelling facilities are good, and if you do 
 not like our beautiful State, it is easy to get away."
 
 84 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 The following true and eloquent remarks are from a letter 
 to the New York Tribune, descriptive of the Upper Mis- 
 sissippi; written by Charles A. Dana, Esq., one of its 
 editors : 
 
 " Certainly, of all our rivers, the Mississippi is the most 
 picturesque, and most beautiful. I speak now of that 
 portion of it above the mouth of the Missouri ; for the rest 
 'I have not seen. Magnitude with the most delicate finish, 
 grandeur of outline with exquisite beauty of detail, are 
 the characteristics of its scenery. The broad and powerful 
 stream is broken by frequent islands covered with dense 
 foliage, which, at this season at least, is deliciously fresh 
 and green, and bordered by lofty bluffs, far more beautiful 
 than the Palisades of the Hudson, rising in every fantastic 
 variety of form, with abrupt and craggy rocks in front, but 
 with the most perfect green sward stretching back to the 
 prairie in the rear, or sloping down in lonely hollows and 
 charming nooks that break the continuity of this river 
 wall, and give constant change and delight to the bachelor. 
 These hills all wear the aspect of old cultivation ; and the 
 groves of oak that dot their smooth surface, scattered along 
 their sides, or perched like orchards on their summits, have 
 nothing wild, and favor the illusion. The rocks that form 
 the foundation of the bluffs, and chiefly face the river, da 
 not rise abruptly from the water's edge, but break out 
 about half way up the height, to tower perpendicularly and 
 broken, in the form of ancient walls, or castle battlements ; 
 so that the very Rhine does not seem more historic in its 
 appearance. At a little distance, so regular are these walls,
 
 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 85 
 
 so true often the culminating point, so regular the abrasuros 
 of time and weather, that it is difficult not to believe that 
 some race of barbarians built these fastnesses, and long ago 
 left them to fall to ruin. As I said, no river is so rich in 
 all the elements of beauty and there are Indian legends 
 enough for romantic association but, above all, no river 
 is so rich in all the elements of power. We gaze with 
 wonder at these astonishing fields, prepared by nature her- 
 self, where the first tool of the pioneer is the plow and at 
 this soil, whose teeming richness and facility of culture 
 announces the future home of millions. There's no region 
 on earth, I think, which can sustain a larger population 
 than that on both sides of the Northern Mississippi. A 
 rich soil, suited to every product of the temperate zone, and 
 absolutely inviting the hand of the farmer; a climate 
 genial but not enervating ; frequent streams to afford water- 
 power, and fuel abundant on the earth ; the great river for 
 a highway, and railroads, which in forty-eight hours land 
 the traveller on the Atlantic with all these advantages 
 the entire country must become the home of one of the 
 freest, most intelligent, most powerful, and most inde- 
 pendent communities of the world. Nowhere else has the 
 hand of Providence so marked out the foundations of an 
 empire ; nowhere else is there such an influx of immigra- 
 tion from all directions." 
 
 The following is extracted from the contributions to the 
 Lutheran Observer, by a clergyman, travelling in Iowa : 
 "We now come to Iowa, which is like the valley of 
 8
 
 86 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 Eshcol, or the land of G-oshen. The first impression has 
 a powerful effect for good or evil. A man entering into 
 Iowa at this point, is very favorably impressed you have 
 now passed over the railroad for more than 1000 miles, and 
 you have passed through forests and prairies in Ohio, Indi- 
 ana, Michigan and Illinois, and you are almost ready to 
 imagine that you have passed beyond the boundaries of 
 civilization ; or at most you look for nothing more than the 
 effects produced by the spray of the waves of civilization 
 as they roll into the west. But you are mistaken ; you 
 land at Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, Keokuk, or Mus- 
 catine, and find yourself in the very heart of civilization 
 and refinement. You see magnificent churches, and 
 gorgeous dwellings, and large, wide streets. Everything 
 has an air of neatness and purity. And then too you see 
 indications of life and animation you see the large stores 
 and warehouses groaning under the weight of their valua- 
 ble commodities you hear the puffing of the steam- 
 engine, and hear the cheerful ringing of the anvil. You 
 can hardly think it possible that you are more than 1000 
 miles west of Philadelphia, and in a land where the 
 savage, but a few years since, was sole occupant. But so 
 it is. You look round awhile in the city, and then you 
 ascend the rising ground back of the city to take your first 
 view of Iowa, for up to this time you have seen nothing 
 of this beautiful State, but a little slip of land between 
 the river and the bluff. The bluff is covered with forest 
 trees, and you have to pass on nearly a mile before you 
 have a fair view of Iowa, but when you get out of the
 
 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 87 
 
 forest, a view bursts in upon your vision, such as you have 
 never seen before, unless you saw it in some other part of 
 Iowa. Language utterly fails to describe such a panoramic 
 view. Oh, it is a glorious sight ! It would be worth a 
 journey from the Atlantic, just to gaze upon it for one 
 half hour, and then return and see it no more. The view 
 that bursts in upon you is not an Alpine one, to strike you 
 dumb with amazement and terror, nor is it the long- 
 stretching, low, flat, and uninteresting view of a Texan or 
 Illinois prairie, that reminds you of the smooth and un- 
 ruffled lake. But you have a panorama of a soft, green, 
 and gently undulating world of beauty and loveliness, 
 stretching out into the blue distance, bounded by the 
 gently curving heavens, and dotted all over with the habi- 
 tations of man, and beautifully variegated with flowers and 
 trees. Many have crossed wide oceans to see sights and 
 wonders, and never saw one like this. You have before 
 you a panoramic view of from eight to twelve hundred 
 square miles of as fine and undulating, and fertile prairie 
 as is to be found in the world. It looks like a land of en- 
 chantment where the fairies might reside. It is the vale 
 of Tempe, on a huge and colossal scale. The far distant 
 horizon seems fringed with trees, whose green foliage looks 
 like festoons. This beautiful country is dotted all over 
 with neat farm-houses, and variegated with orchards and 
 groves planted by the hands of man. There are no stones, 
 and although much undulating, or rather rolling, yet it is 
 nowhere so abrupt as to be even inconvenient for the 
 plow. The fertility of the soil is very great, so much so, 
 that if you but tickle the earth, even with a wooden im-
 
 88 SKETCHES ON IOWA. 
 
 plement, an abundant crop will smile forth. No country 
 in the world will reward the husbandman more abundantly, 
 The farmer has but little to do. When he has his house 
 and stabling built, and his land fenced and broken up, he 
 has but little else to do but gather in his produce, and 
 spend the balance of his life in comfort and ease. Here 
 the man with a little means can enjoy Virgil's "Otium cum 
 dignitate," to his heart's content. Timber is scarce, but 
 as coal is abundant, and lumber for building and fencing 
 can always be had at the river, the want of timber is no 
 great loss. Indeed I do not know that it is any great ad- 
 vantage to the farmer to own timber land. In an econom- 
 ical point of view, the farmer can make more by cultivating 
 his prairie land, than he could from his timber. All kinds 
 of fruit trees and grain are easily raised. The water is 
 good. The air is pure and salubrious. The winds are 
 pretty strong the winters, it is said, are severe, but gene- 
 rally dry, and bracing to the system. Autumnal fevers in 
 some parts of Iowa are common, and will be until the 
 country is more improved, when the malaria which now 
 rises out of the virgin soil will no longer exist. This is 
 the country for our industrious Pennsylvania farmer. Here 
 he can farm without much labor, and by economy add farm 
 to farm. The poor man too can find a home here, and 
 plenty to do and plenty to eat. This is a land like Canaan 
 described in Deuteronomy, viii : 89. ' A land of wheat, 
 and barley, and vines a land wherein thou shalt eat bread 
 without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it. 
 When tbou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the 
 Lord thy God, for the good land he hath given unto tbee.' "
 
 RAILROADS. 89 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RAILROADS. 
 
 THERE are several very important railroad lines projected, 
 Borne of which are partly under contract, and others of 
 which may not be built for years. Three different lines 
 have been explored and surveyed, commencing at Davenport, 
 as follows : 
 
 One from Davenport, through Muscatine, thence through 
 the northern part of Louisa County, and through Wash- 
 ington, Keokuk, Mahaska, Marion, Warren, Madison, 
 Adair, Adams, and Montgomery Counties, to the Missouri 
 River, near the mouth of the Platte. 
 
 Another from Davenport, through Scott, Johnson, Iowa, 
 Powesheik, Jasper, Polk, Dallas, Guthrie, Audubon, and 
 Shelby Counties, to the Missouri River, in Pottawattamie 
 County. This was completed to Iowa City, Jan. 1, 1856. 
 
 A third line, from Muscatine, through Cedar and Linn 
 Counties, to Cedar Rapids, with a view to the further con- 
 tinuation of the line northwestwardly, into the Territory 
 of Minnesota. 
 
 These explorations were made under the direction of 
 Henry Farnam, Chief Engineer ; and in December, 1852, 
 an association was formed, under the general laws of Iowa. 
 8*
 
 90 RAILROADS. 
 
 The routes embraced in the Articles of Association are, 
 a line from Davenport, by way of Muscatine, to the south- 
 ern or western boundary of Iowa; and northwardly, by 
 way of Cedar Rapids, up the Cedar Valley to the north 
 line of the State of Iowa; thus combining, in one organ- 
 ization, a system of railroads for central Iowa, whose eastern 
 terminus shall be the bridge over the Mississippi River at 
 Davenport. Those portions of these roads between Daven- 
 port and Iowa City, between Muscatine and the Junc- 
 tion with the M. and M. road, were completed about the 
 first of January, and have been doing a good business. 
 
 Nothing has been done towards the Muscatine, Cedar 
 Rapids, and Minnesota Division of the M. and M. R. R., 
 except the pledge of stock by some of the counties along 
 the line ; but if a practicable route, and the company put 
 their hands to the Work, the road will be speedily built. 
 
 The Chief Engineer says of the country, " In November, 
 1854, in company with John B. Jervis, Esq., Consulting 
 Engineer, James Archibald, Esq., a distinguished engineer, 
 General George B. Sargeant, of Davenport, and the Hon. 
 N. B. Judd, of Chicago, I passed over the line from Iowa 
 City to Fort Des Moines, and thence down the ' divide ' 
 between the Des Moines and Skunk, to Oskaloosa, and from 
 Oskaloosa, through Keokuk, Washington, and Louisa 
 Counties, to Muscatine. The whole country on both routes 
 is one of unsurpassed beauty and fertility. Since then, I 
 have passed over the line from Muscatine to Cedar Rapids. 
 No more beautiful or productive region of country can ba
 
 EAILEOADS. 91 
 
 found in the Union. There is literally no waste land to be 
 found, and the settlements are such that a railroad would 
 be immediately productive. The entire land on each of 
 the routes from Davenport to Fort Des Moines, from Mus- 
 catine to Oskaloosa, and from Muscatine to Cedar Kapids, 
 has been all purchased of the Government, and the State 
 of Iowa is settling with a rapidity unparalleled in the history 
 of any State." 
 
 The Mississippi Bridge, at Davenport, connects the 
 Chicago and Rock Island, and the Mississippi and Missouri 
 railroads; making one continuous line, without interrup- 
 tion or break of guage, from Chicago to the Missouri River. 
 The people of Iowa, Western Minnesota, and those who 
 are to cultivate the fertile soil of Nebraska, will never con- 
 sent to be shut out from the Atlantic and the great West- 
 ern lakes by any pretended obstruction which a bridge built 
 on the plan proposed may offer. The bridge spans the 
 Mississippi on the Rapids, where the current is compressed 
 to a narrow space, so that boats, to strike the piers on 
 either side, will first have to surmount rocks which Na- 
 ture has had fixed as impediments to navigation for centu- 
 ries, and of which the proposed improvement of the Rapids 
 does not contemplate the removal. Simply a skeleton 
 railroad bridge, the draw will always be up, save when the 
 cars are actually crossing ; which never can occur when a 
 steamboat is passing, except by the grossest negligence. 
 For the reasons thus concisely given, we argue that this 
 bridge will prove no obstruction to the navigation of the 
 river.
 
 92 BAILROADS. 
 
 The estimated cost of the before-mentioned lines, for 
 grading and bridging, track superstructure, equipments, 
 station buildings, engineering and contingencies, are as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Average 
 Division. Dist. Miles. Cost. per Mile. 
 
 Davenport to Iowa City 64-92 $1,516,790-00 $27,618-00 
 
 Iowa City to Fort Des Moines 119-00 3,554,870-00 29,873.00 
 
 Muscatine to Oskaloosa 95-27 2,557,500-00 26,845.00 
 
 Muscatine to Cedar Rapids.. 62-64 1,493,250-00 23,839.00 
 
 Making, in the aggregate, $9,122,410-00 
 
 Several other railroad lines are proposed, and in part 
 under contract, which we will mention : 
 
 The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, being a 
 continuation of the Chicago and Burlington Railroad, 
 passes west, through the centres of Henry, Jefferson, Wa- 
 pello, Monroe, Lucas, Clarke, Union, Adams, Montgomery, 
 and Mills Counties, striking the Missouri opposite the 
 mouth of the Big Platte, or Nebraska River, some twenty- 
 five miles below Council Bluffs. This road is under con- 
 tract to Wapello County, and the prospects of an early 
 completion are good. Burlington has recently had railroad 
 connection with Chicago, " through by daylight." 
 
 The Northern Iowa Railroad, a continuation of the Il- 
 linois Central, is projected from Dubuque west, through 
 the Counties of Dubuque, Delaware, Buchanan, Blackhawk, 
 Grundy, Hardin, Webster, Calhoun, Sac, Ida, and Wood- 
 bury, striking the Missouri at Sergeant's Bluffs, at the 
 mouth of the Big Sioux River. A branch of this road is 
 also projected to run from Delhi, in Delaware County,
 
 RAILROADS. 93 
 
 north, through Clayton, Fayette, and "Winnesheik, to St. 
 Paul, Minnesota. The Trunk road is called "Dubuque 
 and Pacific." 
 
 The Des Moines Valley Railroad is to leave the Missis- 
 sippi at Keokuk, passing through Lee, Van Buren, Jeffer- 
 son, Wapello, Mahaska, Marion, and Jasper, to Fort Dea 
 Moines, there connecting with two east and west lines. 
 This is considered by many as being one of the most im- 
 portant routes, as the Des Moines Valley, in mineral and 
 agricultural productions, is the richest valley in the State. 
 This road is under contract to Ottumwa. 
 
 Two lines of railroad are being built, to connect with 
 the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, which terminates 
 at Fulton, 111., on the Mississippi River. One of these, 
 the Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska Railroad is to run west 
 from the new town of Clinton (2| miles below Lyons), 
 through Clinton, Cedar, and Linn Counties, to Cedar 
 Rapids. This, their first Division, is to be completed and 
 running to the west bank of the Wapsis' River, 40 miles, 
 by the 1st of November, 1856, and to Cedar Rapids within 
 two years. Thence this road is to continue through Ben- 
 ton, Tama, Grundy, Hardin, and Webster, to Fort Dodge, 
 thence te the Missouri River. Besides this, the Iowa 
 Central Air Line Company have their road contracted to 
 be built from Lyons City on the Mississippi, through Ma- 
 quoketa, Wyoming, Anamosa and Marion to Cedar Rapids. 
 This is the first division of their road, and they expect to 
 have it graded to Cedar Rapids during the present year. 
 Thence, this road is projected to run through the middle 
 tier of counties, to the Missouri in Monona County.
 
 94 RAILROADS. 
 
 The following Table of distances exhibits the advantages 
 possessed by these roads : 
 
 Miles. 
 From Iowa City, via Junction and Davenport, to Chicago 242 
 
 " Clinton 
 
 Cedar Rapids, " Iowa City and Davenport, 
 
 " " Tipton, Junction, " 
 
 " Marion, Anamosa, and 
 
 Maquoketa 
 
 " " Detroit and Clinton 
 
 Muscatine, " Junction and Davenport, 
 
 " " " " Wapsipinnicon, 
 
 " " " Detroit and Clinton, 
 
 202 
 267 
 254 
 
 223 
 209 
 224 
 200 
 190 
 
 A preliminary survey has been made of a railroad from 
 Keokuk to Davenport, via Montrose, West Point, Mount 
 Pleasant, Columbus City, and Muscatine ; the entire dis- 
 tance being 70| miles. The estimated cost of this road, 
 including furniture, depots, fencing, &c., is $1,911,934. 
 This is one of the many roads which will seek the bridge 
 at Davenport as the Mississippi crossing. 
 
 We doubt not that those railroad lines penetrating into 
 the State, which are continuations of roads from the East 
 and South, will be pushed forward to an early completion. 
 
 The construction of the several roads reaching from Chi- 
 cago towards the Mississippi River demonstrates that rail- 
 roads may be constructed through a country of prairie on 
 the line of emigration, and yield a profit as soon and as far 
 as opened. The receipts of the Chicago and Rock Island 
 Road from the 10th of July to the 10th of January 
 were $710,688-86. Running expenses for the same time,
 
 BAILROAD8. 95 
 
 $440,764-86; leaving a balance of $270,894. The whole 
 number of passengers passing over the road for the five 
 months ending December 1st, amounted to 168,824 ; total 
 amount of freight transported during the same time, 49,734 
 tons. 
 
 We give the statistics of this road, because it was the 
 first which reached the Mississippi, and reliable facts could 
 be more easily obtained. Nor is this railroad an exception 
 every road to the Mississippi has paid well, as far and 
 as fast as completed. 
 
 The Mississippi Railroad Bridge. 
 
 The great Railroad Bridge crossing the Mississippi at 
 Davenport is steadily progressing, and will be completed and 
 in use early this spring. Its entire length will be 5832 
 feet, consisting of spans of 250 feet each, exclusive of 
 bearings. The river is divided into two channels at this 
 point by the beautiful isle, Rock Island. The main channel 
 is on the Iowa side, the second channel upon the Illinois 
 side of the river. That portion of the bridge over the 
 main channel is 1583 feet in length. The circular-shaped 
 draw-pier, which stands near the centre of this channel, is 
 40 feet in height, 46 feet in diameter at the foundation, 
 and 37 at the top. 
 
 On each side of the draw-pier is a draw of 120 feet, 
 working on the rotary principle; making, in all, a clear 
 space of 240 feet for the passage of river craft. These 
 draws are open at all times, save when a train is due ; and
 
 96 RAILROADS. 
 
 even in that case, if a boat is in sight, it will have the 
 preference. 
 
 The average height of the bridge is 30 feet above low 
 water. 
 
 Besides the draw-pier, there are five others. These are 
 oblong in shape, and measure, at their base, 57 feet by 16 
 to 18 ; at their top, 24 feet by 7 to 10. 
 
 There are two abutments, one on the island and one on 
 the Iowa shore, containing together about six thousand 
 yards of masonry. 
 
 This bridge connects with a huge embankment, built 
 over the lower point of the island, which lies very low, 
 containing 125,000 cubic yards of earth, and costing forty 
 thousand dollars. At the west end, this embankment con- 
 nects with another bridge, of less dimensions, over the Il- 
 linois channel of the Mississippi. This lesser bridge has 
 two piers, and three spans, of 150 feet each, all constructed 
 in the same style, and upon the same principle, as those 
 of the bridge over the main channel. 
 
 The entire length of the two bridges and the intervening 
 embankment is 5,832 feet. The cost of the entire work 
 will be 260,000. The bridges are being built for a single 
 track. Their wooden work will be of pine and oak. Mr. 
 John Warner has the contract for the masonry and grading, 
 and Messrs. Stone and Boomer for the superstructure. The 
 contractors are all energetic men, and are doing the work 
 with the utmost fidelity. The bridges are built according 
 to Howe's improved patent, and when completed will be 
 models of strength and beauty.
 
 DISTANCES BY BAIL ROAD. 
 
 97 
 
 This Great Bridge has naturally attracted attention from 
 every part of the Union. The design is indeed a colossal 
 one, and one which can only be accomplished by men of 
 stout hearts and of iron nerve. For many long years the 
 Mississippi has been considered an insuperable obstacle to 
 the continuity of all great thoroughfares, from the Atlantic' 
 to the Pacific. Happily for the best interests of the West, 
 and indeed, the whole world of commerce, a rare combina- 
 tion of natural facilities at this point, of the resources of 
 modern science, of eastern capital, and of western enter- 
 prise, has made the project practicable, and insured its com- 
 pletion within the present year. Its opening will mark a 
 new era in the history of Commerce, and in the annals of 
 the Great West. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 RAILROAD DISTANCES ON THE VARIOUS LINES, CONNECT- 
 ING CHICAGO WITH THE STATE OP IOWA. 
 
 CHICAGO AND ROCK ISLAND 
 
 RAIL ROAD. 
 From Chicago to Miles. 
 
 Junction 6 
 
 Blue Island 9 
 
 Bremen 8 
 
 Mokena 6 
 
 Joliet 11 
 
 Minooka 10 
 
 Morris 11 
 
 9 
 
 Seneca 10 
 
 Marseilles 5 
 
 Ottawa 8 
 
 Utica 9 
 
 LaSalle 5 
 
 (111. Central RR. crosses). 
 
 Peru 1 
 
 Trenton 10 
 
 Bureau Junction 4 
 
 Tiskihva... 9
 
 98 
 
 DISTANCES BY RAIL ROAD. 
 
 Pond Creek 6 
 
 Sheffield 10 
 
 Anawan 7 
 
 Geneseo 13 
 
 Colona 10 
 
 Moline 10 
 
 Rock Island 3 
 
 Total 181 
 
 Davenport opposite side 
 of River. 
 
 CHICAGO, BURLINGTON AND 
 
 QCINCY RAIL ROAD. 
 From Chicago to Miles. 
 
 OakRidge 8 
 
 Cottage Hill 8 
 
 Babcock's Grove 4 
 
 Danby 2 
 
 Wheaton 3 
 
 Winfield 2 
 
 Junction ; 3 
 
 Batavia 6 
 
 Aurora 7 
 
 Montgomery 3 
 
 Oswego , 2 
 
 Bristol 3 
 
 Piano 6 
 
 Newark 5 
 
 Somonauk 3 
 
 Waverly 6 
 
 Earl 7 
 
 Mendota 11 
 
 (Crosses Illinois Central). 
 
 Arlington 9 
 
 Dover 7 
 
 Princeton 6 
 
 Wyanet 6 
 
 French Grove 6 
 
 Neplionset 7 
 
 Kewanee 7 
 
 Galoy 8 
 
 Walnut 8 
 
 Wataga 8 
 
 Galesburg. 8 
 
 Monmouth , 8 
 
 Young America 8 
 
 Miss. River, opposite Bur- 
 lington 18 
 
 Total 203 
 
 DISTANCES ON THE CHICAGO 
 
 AND DIXON RAIL ROAD. 
 From Chicago to Miles. 
 
 OakRidge 8 
 
 Cottage Hill 8 16 
 
 Babcock's Grove 4 20 
 
 Danby 2 22 
 
 Wheaton 3 25 
 
 Winfield 2 27 
 
 Junction 3 30 
 
 Geneva 6 35 
 
 Blackberry 9 44 
 
 Lodi 6 50 
 
 Courtland 5 55 
 
 DeKalb 3 58 
 
 Dement 8 C6 
 
 Lane 6 72 
 
 Ogle 8 80 
 
 Franklin 7 87 
 
 Taylor 4 91 
 
 Dixon 4 96 
 
 Sterling 13 109 
 
 Union Grove 15 124 
 
 Fulton 10 134 
 
 A road is projected 
 fro^n Racine, Wiscon-
 
 DISTANCES BY RAIL ROAD. 
 
 99 
 
 sin, through Beloit, 
 Freeport, etc., to Ful- 
 ton. 
 
 As a continuation 
 westward, two roads 
 are being built, the 
 "Chicago, Iowa, and 
 Nebraska," from Clin- 
 ton, and the " Iowa 
 Central Air Line from 
 Lyons." 
 
 DISTANCE ON THE GALENA AND 
 
 CHICAGO RAIL ROAD. 
 From Chicago to Miles. 
 
 Junction (See foregoing 
 
 table) 30 
 
 "Wayne 5 35 
 
 Clinton , 4 39 
 
 Elgin 3 42 
 
 Gilbert's 8 50 
 
 Huntley's 6 55 
 
 Union 7 62 
 
 Marengo 4 66 
 
 Garden Prairie 6 72 
 
 Belvidere : 6 78 
 
 Cherry Valley......... 6 84 
 
 Rockford 8 92 
 
 Winnebago 7 99 
 
 Pecatonica 7 106 
 
 Nevada... , 8 114 
 
 Freeport. 
 
 7 121 
 
 Eleroy 8 129 
 
 Lena 5 134 
 
 Nora 7 141 
 
 Warren 4 145 
 
 Apple River 6 151 
 
 Scales Mound 8 159 
 
 Council Hill 5 164 
 
 Galena 7 171 
 
 Dunleith 10 181 
 
 This road is intended to 
 connect with the Northern 
 Iowa RR, projected from Du- 
 buque west towards the Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 DISTANCES ON THE MISSISSIPPI AND MISSOURI RAIL ROAD. 
 
 First General Division, from Davenport to Council Bluffs. 
 From Davenport to Miles. 
 
 Wolcott 12 
 
 Farnam 17 
 
 Durant 20 
 
 Junction of Muscatine and Cedar Rapids' 27 
 
 Moscow, on Cedar River 30 
 
 West Liberty 39 
 
 Iowa City 55 
 
 (-Centre of Iowa County 85 
 
 " Powesheik County Ill 
 
 Newton, Jasper County 141 
 
 .Fort Des Moines 174 
 
 Council Bluffs , 310 
 
 Completed. 
 
 Located. 
 
 Proposed.
 
 100 DISTANCES BY STAGE ROUTES. 
 
 Second General Division, from Muscatine to Mouth of Platle. 
 
 From Muscatine to 
 
 Under Contract 
 
 to Oskaloosa. 
 
 Surveyed. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Fredonia, or Iowa River 20 
 
 Columbus City 22 
 
 Washington 39 
 
 Oskaloosa 95 
 
 Mouth of Platte (21 miles below Council 
 
 Bluffs) , 280 
 
 Third General Division, from Muscatine to Cedar Rapids. 
 
 From Museatine to 
 
 Graded. Junction with 1st General Division 12 
 
 5 Tipton '. 27 
 
 Located. } Cedar Rapids 63 
 
 DAVENPORT TO COUNCIL 
 
 BLUFFS. 
 
 From Davenport to Miles. 
 
 MUSCATINE 30 
 
 IOWA CITY 33 63 
 
 Marengo 26 89 
 
 Sugar Grove 46 135 
 
 NEWTON 20 155 
 
 Keith's 19 174 
 
 FT. DEsMoiNES 14 188 
 
 Adel 24 212 
 
 Panther Creek 5 217 
 
 BearGrove 22 239 
 
 Indian Grove 11 250 
 
 Nishnabottanny 15 265 
 
 Pleasant Spring 9 274 
 
 Indiantown 4 278 
 
 Walnut Creek 5 283 
 
 WestNishnabottany 15 298 
 
 Silver Creek 13 811 
 
 STAGE ROUTES TIIROUGII- 
 STATE. 
 
 Keg Creek 6 317 
 
 COUNCIL BLUFFS..,. 10 327 
 
 BURLINGTON TO COUNCIL 
 
 BLUFFS. 
 
 From Burlington to Miles. 
 
 London 20 
 
 MT. PLEASANT....... 10 30 
 
 Rome 8 38 
 
 FAIRFIELD 15 53 
 
 Libertyville 7 60 
 
 Agency City 15 75 
 
 OTTUMWA 4 79 
 
 EDDTVILLE 15 94 
 
 OSKALOOSA 10 104 
 
 PELLA 18 122 
 
 FT. DES MOINES 46 168 
 
 See preceding ta- 
 ble for intermediate 
 distance. 
 
 Council Bluffs 139 307
 
 DISTANCES BY 8TAQE ROUTES. 
 
 101 
 
 FROM LYONS AND CLINTON 
 
 Miles. 
 
 To Detroit 20 
 
 Maquoketa 20 40 
 
 To Maquoketa direct. 35 
 
 Wyoming 18 63 
 
 Anamosa 18 71 
 
 Marion 17 88 
 
 Cedar Rapids 6 94 
 
 To Detroit 20 
 
 Tipton 36 65 
 
 Iowa City 25 80 
 
 To Camanche 6 
 
 Princeton 11 17 
 
 Le Claire 6 23 
 
 Davenport 15 38 
 
 To Sabula 17 
 
 Belleyue 20 37 
 
 Dubuque 25 62 
 
 DAVENPORT TO DUBUQUH. 
 
 From Davenport to Miles. 
 
 Dewitt 21 
 
 Maquoketa '..... 19 40 
 
 Andrew 8 48 
 
 LaMotte 10 58 
 
 Dubuque 16 74 
 
 DUBUQUE TO CEDAR FALLS. 
 
 From Dubuque to Miles. 
 
 Delhi 86 
 
 Independence. .36 72 
 
 Cedar Falls. 25 97 
 
 9* 
 
 DUBUQUE TO IOWA CITY. 
 
 From Dubuque to Milea. 
 
 Cascade 26 
 
 Monticello 12 38 
 
 Anamosa 13 51 
 
 Fairview 4 55 
 
 Marion 15 70 
 
 Cedar Rapids 5 75 
 
 Iowa City 25 100 
 
 CEDAR RAPIDS TO CEDAR 
 
 FALLS. 
 
 From Cedar Bapids to Miles. 
 
 Vinton 25 
 
 Waterloo 30 65 
 
 Cedar Falls 7 72 
 
 KEOKUK TO IOWA CITY. 
 
 From Keokuk to Miles. 
 
 Charleston 18 
 
 Primrose 12 30 
 
 Birmingham 24 54 
 
 Fairfield 9 63 
 
 Brighton 12 75 
 
 Washington 15 90 
 
 Iowa City 35 125 
 
 KEOKUK TO KEOSAUQUA. 
 
 From Keokuk to Miles. 
 
 Charleston 18 
 
 Warren 6 24 
 
 Bonaparte 12 36 
 
 Keosauqua 12 48 
 
 BONAPARTE TO BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 From Bonaparte to Miles. 
 
 Winchester 12 
 
 Birmingham. < 8 15
 
 102 
 
 DISTANCES BY RIVER. 
 
 OTTUMWA TO CHARITON. 
 From Ottumwa to Miles. 
 
 Albin 25 
 
 Chariton 25 60 
 
 OSKALOOSA TO COUNCIL 
 
 BLUFFS. 
 From Oskaloosa to Miles. 
 
 Knoxville 25 
 
 Indianola 25 50 
 
 Wintersett... , 25 75 
 
 Lewis 70 145 
 
 Council Bluffs 60 205 
 
 FAIRFIELD TO KEOSAQUA,- 20 
 
 MUSCATINE TO BuELINGTON. 
 From Muscatine to Miles. 
 
 Grandview 14 
 
 Wapello 10 24 
 
 Linton 9 33 
 
 Burlington 19 52 
 
 RIVER DISTANCES. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 
 From St. Louis to 
 
 Alton 
 
 Grafton 
 
 Milan 
 
 Wiota... 
 
 Miles. 
 
 22 
 
 18 
 
 24 
 
 42 
 
 Worthington 52 
 
 Westport 57 
 
 Hamburg 62 
 
 Clarksville 80 
 
 Louisiana 82 
 
 Scott's Landing 97 
 
 Cincinnati 105 
 
 Saverton 115 
 
 Hannibal 123 
 
 Marion City 133 
 
 Quincy 143 
 
 La Grange 155 
 
 Smoot's Landing 159 
 
 Canton 161 
 
 Tally 163 
 
 Gregory's Landing 175 
 
 Alexandria 185 
 
 Keokuk 190 
 
 Nashville 198 
 
 Montrose 202 
 
 Nauvoo 204 
 
 Fort Madison 214 
 
 Pontoosuc 220 
 
 Burlington 235 
 
 Oquawka 250 
 
 Keithsburg 262 
 
 New Boston 269 
 
 Muscatine 299 Drury... 304 
 
 Salem 309 
 
 Buffalo and Andalusia... 821 
 
 Rockingham 329 
 
 R. Island and Davenport 334 
 
 Hampton 346 
 
 Port Byron 353 Cordova 358 
 
 Camanche 364 N.Albany 367 
 Clinton, Terminus C. I. 
 
 &N. R. R 375 
 
 Fulton, Terminus G. & 
 
 C. U. R. R 376 
 
 Lyons, Terminus I. C. A. 
 
 R. R 377 
 
 Sabula 395 Savannah.. 397 
 
 Bellevue 412 Galena... 428 
 
 Dubuque and Dunleith.. 453
 
 DISTANCES BY RIVER. 
 
 103 
 
 Peru (Iowa) 461 
 
 Cassville 484 
 
 Guttenburg 498 
 
 Clayton City 508 
 
 Wyoming 613 
 
 , Wisconsin river 517 
 
 McGregor's Landing 521 
 
 Fort Crawford 523 
 
 Prairie du Chien 524 
 
 Lansing 559 
 
 Winnesheik 579 
 
 Warner's Landing 589 
 
 Prairie La Cross 617 
 
 Mouth of Black river. ... 629 
 
 Reed's Landing 637 
 
 Wabashaw 705 
 
 Lake Pepin 708 
 
 RedWing 736 
 
 Mouth of Lake St. Croix 786 
 
 Red Rock 803 
 
 Little Crow Village 805 
 
 St. Paul 809 
 
 Mendotah 819 
 
 St. Peter 823 
 
 MISSOURI RIVER. 
 
 From Alton to Miles. 
 
 Mouth of Missouri 7 
 
 St. Charles 34 
 
 Mt. Auburn 64 
 
 Augusta 69 
 
 South Point 76 
 
 Washington 85 
 
 Pinckney 94 
 
 Hermann 109 
 
 Portland 119 
 
 St. Aubert 139 
 
 Bennett's Landing 149 
 
 Mouth of Osage 152 
 
 Jefferson City 162 
 
 Claysville 169 
 
 Marion 174 
 
 Nashville 187 
 
 Providence 189 
 
 Rocheport 201 
 
 Boonville 211 
 
 Arrow Rock 226 
 
 Glasgow 241 
 
 Cambridge 249 
 
 Keytesville Landing 256 
 
 Brunswick 275 
 
 Dewitt 287 
 
 Miami 293 
 
 Hill's Landing 313 
 
 Waverly 319 
 
 Dover Landing 331 
 
 Lexington 343 
 
 Wellington 354 
 
 Camden 364 
 
 Napoleon 372 
 
 Sibley 379 
 
 Richfield 394 
 
 Blue Mills Landing 404 
 
 Liberty 414 
 
 Wayne City 420 
 
 Randolph 428 
 
 Kansas 433 
 
 Parkville 448 
 
 Narrows Landing 459 
 
 Fort Leavenworth 468 
 
 Weston 475 
 
 Columbus Landing 504 
 
 St. Joseph 537 
 
 Savannah 559 
 
 Iowa Point 585 
 
 Council Bluffs ... , 789
 
 104 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Lot*, Value of Capital employed 
 and of all other properly (exeept 
 
 of To 
 , Cat 
 
 f Ho 
 4. 
 
 M |2 
 
 H 
 <! 
 
 H 
 
 - ^ 
 ^ 
 
 ss 
 
 er and Val 
 s in the year 
 
 b 
 
 turing. N 
 n the Count 
 
 also in M 
 Hogs, ass 
 
 Merchandi 
 les, Sheep, 
 
 ; ' ~ - co O 5 co s O(N -r I- 
 
 M C: O _' -1; j" J 
 
 i^t-ws-icrji^CN 5 
 
 t^ K* 
 
 64 
 
 ?3 
 !if 
 
 to ^-""c^i-'o 
 
 C4 COCO 
 
 tt\ 
 
 -s 
 
 2 a ST t 
 
 ~ ^."^.W r- 
 
 - noino
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 105 
 
 "" ~" 35S*8S3'< xc*o ^ ' ^ 
 
 . .. ,,.,. 
 
 "~; D ^ot-'r2;^i-T-p-i i '^ i c3^;b r^-r.^'M ^ 
 ' :NO * ^ 
 
 g v) ci -j r ^ 
 " " " - 
 
 @ 
 
 oi'O T ^' 01' ' -' -r i- 
 olflS 2 04^ 
 
 of'co'o 'fi o'rf os" of ~' cc" ef i-T "" ^o" cf to" orT of 
 
 ^^ " ~ - c* -^ ci * c4 eo " 
 
 
 
 "V^'l^vJ 
 
 
 S 
 
 i" 
 Is 
 
 ^ ^ SKStoS 60 5r? S*Ort R W ?^,2 SS
 
 t 
 
 106 FINANCES OF IOWA. 
 
 The following items are omitted in the preceding Table, 
 but included in the " Total Value" column : 
 
 No. of Mules in the State ....................................... 2,232 
 
 Value " " " ....................................... 116,955 
 
 No. of Sheep " " ....................................... 169,542 
 
 Value " " " ....................................... 204,061 
 
 No. of Hogs " " ....................................... 611,923 
 
 Vafce " " " ....................................... 873,103 
 
 increase in value of property in any county for the 
 past year, can be ascertained by comparing the items of the 
 eouHties, in the two total columns, for 1853 and 1854. 
 
 Financial. 
 State Revenue on hand, Nov. 1, 1852 ................. $8 X 602 88 
 
 Receipt* from above date up to Oct. 31, 1854 ...... 114,946 87 
 
 Proceeds from Sale of Saline Lands up to Oct. 31, 
 
 1854 ........................................................ 10,515 70 
 
 Total amount of Receipts $134,065 45 
 
 During the same period there has been paid out on 
 Auditor's Warrants 118,542 90 
 
 Leaving a balance in Treasury of ...................... $15,522 55 
 
 An estimate of tlie necessary expenditures for the two years, 
 
 commencing Nov. 1st, 1854, and ending October 31, 
 1856: 
 
 Agricultural Societies .................................... $5,000,00 
 
 Governor, Superintendent, Secretary, Auditor, 
 Attorney-General, Treasurer, and Librarian's 
 
 salaries ..................................................... 9^00 00 
 
 Blind Asylum ................................................ 6,000 00 
 
 Deaf and Dumb ................................ 4000 00 
 
 Carried over. .......................................... $24,300 00
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 107 
 
 Brought over . 
 
 Funded debt bonds now due 
 
 General contingent fund 
 
 Interest account 
 
 Judges' salary 
 
 Miscellaneous disbursements 
 
 Penitentiary 
 
 Supreme Court expenses 
 
 State printing ,. 
 
 State officers' contingent fund 
 
 State House 
 
 Stationery 
 
 Legislative expenses and other special appropria- 
 tions 
 
 $24,300 00 
 
 16,442 00 
 
 2,000 00 
 
 13,000 00 
 
 24,000 00 
 
 6,000 00 
 
 6,000 00 
 
 2,000 00 
 
 7,000 00 
 
 3,000 00 
 
 6,000 00 
 
 5,000 00 
 
 25,000 00 
 $139,742 00 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 To describe minutely and separately counties that pos- 
 sess so nearly the same qualities as do those situated adja- 
 cent to each other, in any portion of this State, would be a 
 useless task ; hence, where a full description is given of the 
 soil, productions, climate, &c., of one county, and those ad- 
 joining are very similar, the description is not repeated. 
 For instance, the general description of Winneshiek 
 County, answers for every adjoining county in the north- 
 east, Henry or Jefferson for the south-east, Pottawattamie 
 for the west, Scott and Jackson for the east, and so on.
 
 108 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 ADAMS COUNTY 
 
 At the present time has a population of 1100. Last 
 census, 342. Quincy, the county-seat, contains 150 in- 
 habitants, and one district school under common school law. 
 An Academy, or College, under the patronage of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, is in progress of construction : 
 they have as yet but one teacher in the primary depart- 
 'ment. There are no manufactories in operation. A steam 
 saw and grist-mill, and carding and fulling-mills are very 
 much needed. Tailors, blacksmiths, saddlers, coopers, 
 wagon makers, etc., are much wanted. 
 
 The price of land adjoining the town is from $8 to $20 
 per acre. There is no other town in the .county. 
 
 The IcarJan Society (a branch of the Nauvoo Society, 
 Illinois,) is located 6 miles south-east of Quincy; they 
 number some 60 inhabitants, live on the community plan 
 all eating at one table the different families having 
 separate houses to live in. Their village is situated on the 
 east side of the East Nodaway, occupying a beautiful 
 timbered knoll, as the State road from Chariton to Glen- 
 wood leaves the bottom for the high prairie. Their houses 
 are built very compact, on two principal streets. 
 
 Nineteen hundred acres of heavily-timbered school land, 
 in the northern part of the county, will be in market during 
 1856. Good prairie land can be had in this county, at $1.25 
 per acre, and timber land can be bought at from $5 to $15 
 per acre, as to quality and location. This county is out of 
 debt, and it has a neat new court-house. Total levy of 
 taxes for 1855, including State, County, School, Road, and
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 109 
 
 a special Bridge Tax, amounted to only 8J mills on the 
 dollar. This year they will be much less. Veins of stona 
 coal, 2J to 3 feet thick, have been found along the Middle 
 Nodaway. 
 
 No soil in the world will stand as much dry weather afs 
 this, and there is none that is less injured by continued 
 wet weather. Owing to these peculiarities of the climate, 
 no section of country can compare with this for stock 
 raising. On the north is 
 
 ADAIR COUNTY, 
 
 Of which Somerset is the county-seat, and Adair, Al- 
 cora's, Holaday's, Marvin's, and Wahtahwah post-offices. 
 Directly northwest lies 
 
 AUDUBON COUNTY, 
 
 Organized in April, 1855, Dayton being located as the 
 seat of justice. There are post-offices and settlements 
 known as Ballard's, Bear Grove, Hamlin Grove, and Big 
 Grove. 
 
 These counties are well watered and have a goed pro- 
 portion of prairie and timber. Audubon, though com- 
 prising only 12 township?, has upwards of 7000 acres of 
 timber land. 
 
 APPANOOSE COUNTY 
 
 Is well watered by the Chariton and its tributaries, fur- 
 nishing power for numerous mill sites. Timber, about an 
 average; soil, excellent; climate, mild and pleasant. 
 Centreville is the county-seat. 
 10
 
 110 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 ALAMAKEE COUNTY 
 
 Is bounded on the east by the Mississippi Biver. It is 
 the extreme N. E. county of the State. The first settle- 
 ments made by whites were in 1850. The present popu- 
 lation of the county numbers some 8000. 
 
 The principal towns are Lansing, 1000 ; "Wawkon, 350 ; 
 and Paint Rock, 100 inhabitants. Church edifices and 
 school-houses are being erected throughout the county with 
 great liberality. 
 
 Alamakee may well pride herself on the increase in popu- 
 lation and importance she made last year. 
 
 In March, 1855, there were but six saw-mills and two 
 grist-mills in the county. Now (Jan., 1856), there are 
 15 water, and 3 steam saw-mills, and 11 grist-mills, all 
 successfully and profitably operating. Manufactories of 
 farming utensils, cooperage, &c., are much needed. The 
 facilities for getting pine lumber are good, and oak, lynn, 
 and black walnut are plenty. 
 
 BENTON COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled by S. M. Lockhart, in the spring of 
 1841 ; soon after, other families followed. In August, 
 1851, C. C. Charles's was the only family that resided in 
 what is now Vinton. The reports of the assessors in regard 
 to this, as well as many other sections, are very incorrect. 
 In 1855 they gave Vinton 307 now there are 600. The 
 county was censused at 2623, but at that time there were
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. Ill 
 
 r* 
 
 at least 3000, and the population of Benton is now fully 
 4000. 
 
 The 0. S. and N. S. Presbyterians have established 
 societies, and are preparing to erect churches. 
 
 One sch<i>l, well conducted, with 90 scholars. 
 
 One steam saw-mill, cutting 4000 feet of lumber every 
 24 hours. A flouring-mill is very much needed. 
 
 This county is well watered, with a due proportion of 
 prairie and timber. 
 
 The settlements of the county are at Burk's P. 0., Ma- 
 rysville, Beulah P. 0., Taylor's Creek P. 0., and Prairie 
 Creek P. 0~ Benton City, 300 inhabitants. 
 
 BLACK HAWK COUNTY. 
 
 This county, bearing the name of the illustrious chief, 
 possesses some of the finest soil and timber land in 
 Northern Iowa. It is in the same range with, and the 
 third county from, Dubuque. The Cedar fork of the Iowa 
 river passes diagonally in a south-easterly direction across 
 the county. Cedar Falls is a town of considerable import- 
 ance, and will become a large manufacturing place. At 
 this, as well as several other points in the county, the best 
 of water-power and eligible sites for mills and manufac- 
 turing establishments hold out inducements to capitalists. 
 In August, 1855, the county-seat was removed to Waterloo, 
 which is improving rapidly, and is permanently and advan- 
 tageously located.
 
 112 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 BOONE COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled at Pea's Point, (now called Flat-rock,) 
 in May, 1846, by John Pea, a pioneer of the old stock, a 
 Pennsylvanian by birth, who has lived in every State that 
 intervenes between his native State and Iowa, when they 
 were wild and primitive forests. He was also an early 
 settler in Missouri. This old man still resides in Boone 
 County, and with the gray hairs of some seventy years 
 upon his head, such are his erect form and comparatively 
 robust constitution, that Time seems to have broken its 
 billows over his manly form, only as the ocean reads its 
 fury over the immovable rock of its shores. The old gen- 
 tleman is still full of adventure and enterprise, and may 
 ere long be one of the freemen of Nebraska. 
 
 " Montgomery McCall settled near where Boonsboro now 
 stands, in the month of February, 1847, and for about a 
 year his family lived nearer the source of the Des Moines 
 river than any other white family. During the winter of 
 1846 and 1847, seven hundred Pottawattamie Indians were 
 encamped in the vicinity of these families. 
 
 The town of Boonsboro was located on the 7th day of 
 July, 1851, as the county-seat, by commissioners appointed 
 for that purpose by the State Legislature, and is likely evei 
 to remain the seat of justice for the county. 
 
 The present population of Boonsboro is about 450. The 
 population of the county over 2000. Immigration is rapidly 
 pouring in. 
 
 The following named towns, recently laid out, have the
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 113 
 
 population annexed. Sweet Point, 250; Rapids, 100 j 
 Ridgeport, 75 ; Milford, 75 ; Carsonsport, 50 ; Quincy, 25. 
 
 Since July, 1855, steam saw-mills have been erected at 
 Boonsboro, Milford, and Sweet Point all doing well, and 
 still there is room. 
 
 In Boone, as in every other county in the State, me- 
 chanics of every kind are in demand, wages high and em- 
 ployment constant. 
 
 BREMER COUNTY 
 
 Was settled first in 1848-9. In the spring of 1853, the 
 town of Janesville, six miles below Waverly, was laid out 
 by John T. Barrie. This town is situated on the east bank 
 of the Cedar River, some three miles above the junction of 
 the Cedar and the Shellrock. The place contains some 150 
 inhabitants, with two stores, saw-mill, &c. A flouring-mill 
 is much needed, and the water-power along these streams 
 is sufficient to furnish sites for all the machinery needed. 
 A great abundance of building-stone and the best of timber 
 admirably fit this for a manufacturing place. 
 
 But one school in Janesville a fine stone school-house 
 is now being erected, 24 by 36 feet. 
 
 The M. E. Church are making arrangements to build a 
 house of worship this season. There are one stationary 
 and two local itinerant ministers; the churches are well 
 attended and prosperous. 
 
 In June, 1853, the county-seat was located six miles 
 above Janesville, on the east bank of the Cedar River, and 
 
 the town of Waverly established, which has now a popula- 
 10*
 
 114 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 tion of some 450. Population increased 350 in eighteen 
 months. The population of Bremer County is about 
 3000. Public schools in every settlement through the 
 county. A body of timber, known as " the lower big 
 woods/' embracing some 40 sections, lies in the vicinity of 
 these towns, which, in a prairie country, is a consideration 
 of no minor importance. This is a healthy and productive 
 region of country, possessing beautiful scenery, and excel- 
 lent agricultural and manufacturing advantages. 
 
 BUCHANAN COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled by Ezra Gr. Allen and "Wm. Bennett, 
 in 1842. 
 
 Independence, the county-seat, was located and settled 
 in the winter of 1846, by Rufus Blelark. 
 
 Present population of the town, 700 of the county, 
 3500. 
 
 No church buildings erected. One is being erected at 
 Independence, and one at Quasqueton. 
 
 No newspaper in the county. Two flouring-mills (two 
 burrs each), and two saw-mills, are in operation in the 
 county. 
 
 Woollen manufactories most needed, there being none 
 within 40 miles. 
 
 Oak timber plenty along the streams, and deep-soiled 
 rolling prairies between the water-courses. The streams 
 are rather rapid, with gravelly or rocky beds. Limestone 
 abundant. Soil generally rich sandy loam.
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 115 
 
 CARROLL COUNTY 
 
 Was to have been organized in March of the present 
 year. The present population of the county is but about 
 250. Water-power, timber lands, and the best of prairie 
 soil, with inexhaustible beds of building-stone, coal, and 
 iron, are some of the inducements Carroll County holds out 
 to new-comers. As yet no towns are laid out, not even the 
 county-seat, and the active, intelligent, and ambitious im- 
 migrant will find inducements for settling in recently- 
 organized counties which do not exist in older ones. 
 Though water-power is afforded by several streams in 
 various parts of the county, there is not a mill or manu- 
 factory yet erected, and the nearest mill is at Panora, 
 Guthrie County, 27 miles distant. What an opening for 
 a saw and grist-mill ! Wheat, corn, and rye in abundance. 
 Of churches and schools in Carroll we could obtain no in- 
 formation, and presume that they, like the county, are 
 unorganized. 
 
 CASS COUNTY 
 
 Joins Pottawattamie on the east, and, like those adjoin- 
 ing on the west and south, was settled by Mormons in 
 1846-7, who, however, left in the spring of 1852, when 
 W. L. Townsend, P. Hedges, J. Bradshaw, C. E. Wood- 
 ward, George Keeves, and J. W. Benedict took their piaces, 
 and became permanent settlers. 
 
 Lewis, the county-seat, was first settled by R. C. Lam- 
 bert. The population of the county is now a little rising
 
 116 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 of 700. A fine court-house is to be built in Lewis this 
 season. 
 
 There is but one church in Lewis occupied by the 
 Congregationalists and Methodists. 
 
 No newspaper, but one needed. 
 
 Two good common schools in Lewis, in very good con- 
 dition. 
 
 Two saw-mills and one grist-mill. A woollen factory 
 would do well, also mechanics of every kind blacksmiths, 
 plough and wagon makers, cabinet-makers, and day la- 
 borers. 
 
 Cass County is unsurpassed, in point of fertility and 
 water, in the State, is well supplied with timber and 
 stone. The soil gently undulating and dry. There is now 
 but little unentered land in this county. 
 
 CEDAR COUNTY 
 
 "Was organized and settled in 1836. The county-seat, 
 Tipton, was laid out in 1839. Present population of the 
 town 800, and of the county about 8700. 
 
 The towns and settlements in the county are Tipton, 
 Woodridge, Cedar Bluffs, Pioneer P. 0., Cedar P. 0., 
 Massillon P. 0., Yankee Grove P. 0., Red Oak P. 0., 
 Gower's P. 0., Inland P. 0., Springdale P. 0., Padee P. 
 0., Lacton P. 0., and Rochester. 
 
 Three churches in Tipton Presbyterian, Congregational, 
 and Methodist, society very good. Churches of different 
 denominations throughout the county, but the precise num- 
 ber of church edifices or members not ascertained. 

 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 117 
 
 A railroad line from the Muscatine junction of the Mis- 
 sissippi and Missouri Railroad to Tipton, is projected; and 
 it is probable that the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Rail- 
 road, (passing west from Clinton on the Mississippi,) will 
 be completed as far as Tipton, during the present year. 
 One of these roads will be built, and probably both, which 
 will give Tipton an impetus in importance and wealth, 
 known only to similarly favoured cities in the West. 
 
 The county is made up of very excellent soil, adapted to 
 all kinds of farming purposes, and well watered generally. 
 Timber is less abundant in Cedar than in many other coun- 
 ties. Yet taken as a whole, Cedar holds out strong induce- 
 ments to the farmer and mechanic, to locate within her 
 borders. 
 
 CHICKASAW COUNTY. 
 
 Four years ago Chickasaw County had not a single 
 white resident now the population of the county exceeds 
 1500. In 1853, Rufus Clark, a famous trapper and 
 hunter, a native of Ohio, settled in the vicinity of the pre- 
 sent Bradford P. 0., which is in the neighbourhood of the 
 junction of the Little and the Big Cedar Rivers. The 
 population of Bradford now is 300. One district school 
 with an average attendance of 70 scholars. Preaching 
 every Sabbath principally Methodist. No churches orga- 
 nized yet. 
 
 Two saw-mills in full operation, and a steam saw-mill 
 being erected. 
 
 Capitalists and traders would find this a wide and inviting 
 field for their operations.
 
 118 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 Flouring-mill much needed. Flour is now brought 45 
 miles, and grain taken the same distance to mill. "With 
 any amount of water-power all over the county, and the 
 best of grain soil, we hope some capitalist will consult his 
 interest by contributing to the wants of the people of 
 Chickasaw. 
 
 CLARKE COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled in 1849. In 1850, according to the 
 census, it contained 79 inhabitants. The population of the 
 county now, (February, 1856), numbers upwards of 3000. 
 The county-seat, Osceola, was settled in 1852 present po- 
 pulation, 200. 
 
 There are no church buildings erected in the county as 
 yet ; but the Methodists, Campbellites, and United Breth- 
 ren have each an organization. 
 
 CLAYTON COUNTY 
 
 Is the most northern river county in the State, except 
 Alamakee. It is bounded on the east by the Mississippi, 
 on the west by Fayette, on the south by Delaware and Du- 
 buque. The principal water-courses in the county are Yel- 
 low and Turkey Rivers, Volga and Buck Creeks, and Bloody 
 Run. Turkey River is among the most beautiful and pla- 
 cid streams in the State, and is celebrated for its numerous 
 geological specimens, and the picturesque scenery of its 
 banks and dells. Turkey River affords most excellent water- 
 power for mills and machinery, and is navigable the greater 
 part of the year, as far up as the forks. The soil is about 
 the same as in those counties adjoining, already described.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 119 
 
 CLINTON, COUNTY. 
 
 WAS first settled in 1836, by Mr. Bourne, who located 
 upon Sec. 1, T. 80, K. 4, East. The county was surveyed 
 in 1837, by the Messrs. Burtz. The Surveyor General's 
 office was then at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1840, the county 
 was organized by Sheriff 1 Bourne. In 1841, R. R. Bed- 
 ford and others formed a little settlement at De Witt, and 
 during the same year Messrs. Wheeler and Evans erected 
 a log court-house. In stepping from the past to the pre- 
 sent, we quote the language of one of the " oldest inhabi- 
 tants." He says : "Clinton County was originally settled 
 by the poorest class of people on God's earth ; and it is 
 with great pleasure that I have witnessed their progress, 
 slow but sure, and now find the most of them very com- 
 fortably situated." 
 
 Although this county is, in many respects, more favour- 
 ably situated than any other in the State, but little has 
 been known of it at home or abroad, until quite recently, 
 owing to the fact that, the great tide of travel passed over 
 the railroads to the Mississippi, entering the State at Du- 
 buque, Davenport, or Burlington, and striking thence di- 
 rectly to Iowa City, or Ft. Des Moines, virtually running 
 around Clinton and Jackson counties. Since the comple- 
 tion of the railroad to Fulton, a good proportion of the east- 
 ern travel has passed over this road, entering the State at 
 Clinton or Lyons thus reaching the Mississippi with fifty 
 miles less travel than by any other railroad route. Con- 
 vinced of the rapid advance and increase in population and 
 property that awaits this point, capitalists, mechanics, and
 
 120 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 business men, are daily investing in lands and town lots, 
 and entering into business, which will largely contribute 
 to the credit of the County and the State. As will be seen 
 by reference to the map, or to the list of post-offices, there 
 are comparatively few towns in Clinton County, and al- 
 though rapidly advancing, property of all kinds is much 
 cheaper than at any other railroad terminus on the River. 
 The " Lyons Iowa Central Railroad Company," which 
 some years since projected a road west from Lyons, through 
 Tipton and Iowa City, after making a fair beginning upon 
 the work, in consequence of the financial crisis, failed. 
 Their stock, bonds, &c., were purchased at sheriff's sale, 
 by a number of gentlemen of reliability and reputation, 
 who have organized a new company under the name of the 
 " Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad Company." For 
 numerous and satisfactory reasons, they fixed upon a point 
 two miles below Lyons, as the eastern terminus of their road. 
 The " Iowa Laud Company," owning the lands there, and 
 being also interested in the new organization, laid out a 
 town, calling it CLINTON. Their town plot, embracing 1000 
 lots, is laid out upon the most liberal scale. Whole blocks 
 have been left for parks ; four lots given to each of the seve- 
 ral churches ; also liberal provision for seminaries, libraries, 
 and public schools. The original proprietors of the town 
 grade the streets, and plant shade trees along the side-walks, 
 at their own expense. The wide streets and avenues, the 
 liberal policy of the proprietors, the prospect of the railroad, 
 must, together with the unsurpassed beauty and admirable 
 adaptation of the location for a large town ; gave it a popu-
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 121 
 
 larity which few towns of its age enjoy. In seven months 
 from the first sale, nearly all the lots in the plot were sold 
 to individuals who must improve them ; such being the con- 
 ditions of sale. 
 
 To the stranger abroad, the proximity of two growing 
 towns, situated as Lyons and Clinton, within two miles of 
 each other, on the banks of the Mississippi the one oppo- 
 site, the other nearly opposite to the terminus of a railroad 
 running out of Chicago, the question would arise "which 
 will be the city ?" In the present embryotic state of the 
 two places, it is natural that much petty jealousy and some 
 rivalry must exist between the inhabitants and those parti- 
 cularly interested in the places; but we believe that the 
 sentiment contained in the following toast, read at the cele- 
 bration of the founding of the town of Clinton, (Aug. 1, 
 1855), and the commencement of the new railroad, exists 
 among the earnest workers for the prosperity of this im- 
 portant point, on the Upper Mississippi : 
 
 "Our sister city, Lyons. Her interests and ours are the 
 same. In building up the waste places between us, we 
 propose to meet her half way." 
 
 The population of this County in 1840, was 821 ; in 1850, 
 2822; in 1854, 7000; and in 1856, 11,000. The popu- 
 lation of Lyons in 1850, was 453. Now, the population 
 of this point, (Lyons and Clinton), is 2700 ! 
 
 Since the completion of the Railroad from Chicago, the 
 produce from a large section of country finds here a ready 
 market, which adds much to the business of the city. Se- 
 veral heavy produce houses will be opened in each of these 
 11
 
 122 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 places, and mills are being erected in each. In Lyons, 
 there are already in operation, 3 steam mills, and 1 foun- 
 dery, and another nearly completed. A new hotel is to be 
 built at Lyons, this season, and another at Clinton, in ad- 
 dition to the one just completed. This house is three sto- 
 ries high, large and commodious, capable of accommodating 
 500 persons. Several three, four, and five story brick and 
 stone blocks are under contract in Clinton, and as many 
 more projected in Lyons. It is thought the increase in 
 buildings and inhabitants, at this point, in 1856, will ex- 
 ceed that of any other in the State. 
 
 At both Lyons and Clinton, recently, the Episcopalian 
 and Presbyterian denominations have each organized a 
 church, and in Lyons settled pastors. The Congregational 
 and Methodist organizations at the former place, have been 
 some years in existence. A fine edifice is being erected by 
 the Episcopalian Society, at Clinton, and another for a Free 
 Church and school building. Ex-Governor Baker, of New 
 Hampshire, has identified himself with the place, and, with 
 others, is making arrangements for founding (and building) 
 a university, public library, &c. The Congregational 
 Church, at Lyons, is just being completed, and occupies one 
 of the most commanding and beautiful sites in this section. 
 Other church buildings are needed, and will probably be 
 erected this year. 
 
 This point, which has so recently been brought into no- 
 tice by the completion of the Chicago and Fulton Railroad, 
 has been richly endowed by nature with some of the most
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 123 
 
 commanding views found on the Upper Mississippi. With 
 the splendid bluff scenery, and gently sloping plains that 
 descend to the river's brink, thickly wooded with a fine 
 growth of scrub oak, affording beautiful and refreshing 
 shade, may be found one of the finest locations in the 
 world for a large city ; and we predict that 1860 will find 
 a rapidly growing city of 20,000 inhabitants a city stretch- 
 ing along the Father of Waters for three miles, whose mas- 
 sive warehouses gather the wealth of a rich inland tract, 
 while her magnificent bluffs are crowned by the tasteful 
 cottage and the splendid mansion. 
 
 Camanche, eight miles below Lyons, is improving ra- 
 pidly, also, and bids fair to become a town of importance. 
 During the past year, several new and substantial brick 
 buildings have been erected, and extensive preparations are 
 making for building this season. Population of Camanche, 
 1000. 
 
 De Witt is the county-seat, and the largest interior town 
 in the County. Being near the centre of a rapidly im- 
 proving, a fast populating, a most fertile and prosperous 
 country, De Witt holds out great inducements to those who 
 want town property, or farms, near the first depot west of 
 the Mississippi, on the Iowa City Railroad. 
 
 Of newspapers, there are a Democratic and an Indepen- 
 dent paper at Lyons, an Independent one at De Witt, and 
 one about being established at Clinton making 4 in the 
 county. 
 
 Clinton consists of beautiful, rich, rolling prairie, inter-
 
 124 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 spersed with groves of timber. " Second-hand lands can 
 be bought on better terms in Clinton than any county in 
 the State, according to their true value." 
 
 Clinton contains five churches Episcopal, Methodist, 
 Congregational, Roman Catholic, and one union of the 
 Baptists and Disciples. 
 
 Good public and select schools in every town of the 
 county, and in good condition. 
 
 [NOTE. In preparing our edition for 1855, sickness 
 prevented us visiting, and correctly representing this 
 county hence we devote to it more space than we should 
 have done, but not more than it deserves. Those wanting 
 information not contained in this volume, either of this or 
 any other portion of the State, will apply in person, or by 
 letter addressed to the author, care of Parker, Dole & Co., 
 Bankers and Land Agents, Clinton, Iowa. See card at the 
 close of this volume.] 
 
 CALHOUN COUNTY. 
 
 This County has about six excellent townships of land, 
 most of it in the south-west corner ; about eight middling, 
 and the balance quite swampy, particularly around the 
 Twin Lakes. The Coon River passes through the south- 
 west corner. Some fine groves of timber on its borders, 
 one grove of about sixty acres near Twin Lakes, contains 
 all the timber in the county. The county was organized 
 at the August election. The county-seat, just located, is 
 called Brooklin.
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 125 
 
 DALLAS COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled by Samuel Miller and family, in 1846. 
 The population of the county, according to the last census, 
 was 2565; its present population is 3100. Adel, the 
 county-seat, is beautifully located on the west side of North 
 Raccoon River. 
 
 Wiscotta is beautifully situated at the junction of South 
 and Middle Coon Rivers, 35 miles due west from Fort Des 
 Moines. 
 
 Five public schools in the county, all in a prosperous 
 condition. No private schools. 
 
 Dallas has five water, and one steam, saw-mills. Grist- 
 mills and manufactories greatly needed. The many fine 
 streams that afford water-power in this county, and the fer- 
 tile soil, producing abundant crops, call loudly to the capi- 
 talists and farmers, mechanics, and business men of every 
 class, to examine her claims and advantages. The Rail- 
 road west from Fort Des Moines is projected to run through 
 this county. 
 
 The country lies high, rolling, and healthy, but is com- 
 paratively sparsely settled, as the number of inhabitants in- 
 dicates. 
 
 DAVIS COUNTY 
 
 Is the second county from the Mississippi, on the Mis- 
 souri State line, and is settled to a great extent by immi- 
 grants from Missouri and Illinois. The principal streams 
 11*
 
 126 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 watering the county are the north and south branches of 
 the Waukindau, and the Fox River, which, with several 
 smaller streams, have their rise in the county, passing 
 through Missouri to the Mississippi. The Des Moines 
 River runs diagonally across the north-east corner of the 
 county, several of whose tributaries traverse the county. 
 The principal towns in Davis County are Bloomfield.(the 
 county-seat,) Troy, Drakesville, Nottingham, and Mount 
 Calvary, and small settlements, the post-offices of which are 
 named Oak Spring, Soap Creek, Salt Creek, Pleasant View, 
 Taylor, Troy, Dover, Pulaski, Stringtown, Monterey, Sa- 
 vannah, Roscoe, and Del Norte. 
 
 For a full description of the soil see Monroe the soil 
 in the two counties being similar. 
 
 DES MOINES COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled in 1832, by David Tothers, who set- 
 tled three miles south-west of what is now Burlington. 
 The next settlement was made by S. S. White and Amzi 
 Doolittle, who were the proprietors of the original town. 
 Additions were laid out in the order in which they are 
 named : in 1836, by David Rorer, Amos Ladd, Enoch 
 Wade, Isaac Leffler, G. W. Kelley, and others since. 
 Population 10,500. 
 
 There are eleven houses of worship, viz. : two Roman 
 Catholic, one Episcopal, two Methodist Episcopal, one 
 German Methodist, one German Lutheran, one Congrega-
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 127 
 
 tional, one Baptist, and one Presbyterian. There are also 
 three congregations who intend erecting houses of worship 
 soon, viz. : Second Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, 
 and Christian. 
 
 " Iowa State Gazette," weekly and tri-weekly ; " Hawk- 
 eye," same ; and the " Telegraph," daily and weekly, are 
 published in this county. 
 
 Two large public school-houses, costing over $4000 each, 
 in which eight schools are taught. There are also quite a 
 number of private schools, all in a flourishing condition ; 
 and the Baptist University, of which an account is published 
 on another page. (See Chapter on Education.') 
 
 They have two machine and engine manufactories, two 
 foundries, one planing mill, two steam flouring-mills, four 
 sash, door and blind factories, three steam saw-mills, one 
 shingle factory, one steam match factory, two furniture ma- 
 nufactories; two coach, five wagon, two plough, one brush, 
 one candle, and one starch factory; two large pork packing 
 establishments, three banking houses, six hotels, three 
 plank roads. Railroad connection with Chicago. Burling- 
 ton and Missouri River railroad will be finished to Mt. 
 Pleasant this summer almost entirely graded to Ottumwa 
 now. They have several large bakeries. An oil and 
 paper mill no doubt would do well there. 
 
 The opening of the railroad between Chicago and Bur- 
 lington has given a new impetus to the latter city, and the 
 population and business of the place increased more 
 during the past year than it has in any three years 
 previous.
 
 128 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 The people of Burlington are industrious and energetic, 
 and their intelligence and literary taste may be judged of 
 from the fact that the most extensive, if not the only His- 
 torical and Geological Society of the State, is located at 
 this place. We are indebted to one of its gentlemanly 
 members for a brief history of this institution, which fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " The Iowa Historical and Geological Institute was or- 
 ganized December 18th, 1843, and incorporated December 
 31st, 1850. Its effects were destroyed by fire, January 
 16th, 1853. Its object is to collect and preserve, and to 
 open to the public, historical matter of all kinds, more 
 especially that relating to Iowa, a general library, maps, 
 charts, drawings, pictures, statuary, and a cabinet of natural 
 history, also to sustain public lectures. When the ca- 
 binet and library were destroyed by fire, the Institute was 
 in a flourishing condition, having about 800 volumes in 
 the library, 2000 pamphlets, files of newspapers since the 
 organization of the Territory and State, and a great many 
 papers pertaining to the early history and settlement of 
 the State, about 4000 specimens illustrative of the geology 
 of this State, an herbarium containing the greater portion 
 of the plants found in the State, also a number of speci- 
 mens illustrative of the zoology of the State ; and a large 
 collection of Indian relics, numbering about 400, among ! 
 which were included nearly all the paraphernalia of Black 
 Hawk. The loss sustained was irreparable, and for some 
 time it was difficult to keep the Institute alive. For the last 
 year, the Institute has been in a very flourishing condition ;
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 129 
 
 in fact, so much so that a thorough re-organization was 
 necessary. The present officers are 
 
 "President, DAVID KOREB. 
 
 Vice-President, WILLIAM THOMPSON. 
 
 Corresponding Secretary, JOHN H. K.AUCH 
 
 Recording Secretary, A. D. GREEN. 
 
 Treasurer, LUKE PALMER. 
 
 Librarian, C. C. CLOUTMAN." 
 
 DUBUQUE COUNTY. 
 
 Dubuque is one of the oldest counties in the State, being 
 one of the two original Districts, from which the principal 
 eastern counties of the State were formed. It embraces 
 the most noted portions of the mineral region, and, singular 
 as it may appear, though in the very heart of the mineral 
 region, the soil is generally of the most productive charac- 
 ter, yielding large crops of grain. Few countries in the 
 world possess the combined advantages of a soil rich in fer- 
 tility, and at the same time underlaid with inexhaustible 
 veins of lead ore. Lead is the great staple of export, as 
 will be seen by the annexed statistics. Copper and zinc 
 have also been discovered, but not in sufficient quantities 
 to induce capitalists to enlist in the work of developing 
 them. Several valuable lodes or veins of lead were disco- 
 vered during the past winter. 
 
 The country west of Dubuque City is strikingly beauti- 
 ful, and well watered. It is a rolling prairie, interspersed 
 with groves of timber, while along the small streams run
 
 130 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 ning from north to south there are large bodies of good 
 timber, and extensive water-power. Several adjoining 
 counties, as well as Dubuque, are well settled the land all 
 entered by actual settlers. Mineral lots are laid off in almost 
 tsvery conceivable shape, and contain about ten acres each. 
 
 The city of Dubuque, one of the largest and most densely 
 populated in the State, is handsomely situated upon a na- 
 tural terrace. The streets run parallel to each other, and 
 owing to the peculiar soil at this location, are never muddy. 
 This city is more compactly built, and contains a greater 
 proportion of fine buildings than any other place in the 
 State. Among these the Catholic Cathedral, court-house, 
 and hotels stand prominent. The city is bounded on the 
 west by a range of high cliffs, from which the prospect of 
 the city and county is entrancingly beautiful. 
 
 Three daily newspapers are published in Dubuque : the 
 "Express and Herald," the "Tribune," and the "Ob- 
 server," each issuing, beside, a weekly edition. The 
 "Northwestern Farmer" (monthly) was commenced Jan- 
 uary 1, 1856$! a year. 
 
 The population of Dubuque County, according to the 
 census of 1854, was 16,513 ; and of the city, 10,000 ; in 
 April, 1856, 14,000. The number of buildings erected 
 in the city during 1855 was 471. 
 
 Of the society in Dubuque we need not remark farther than 
 to state, that this population of 14,000 ably supports twelve 
 churches, one female seminary, one college, seven select and 
 common schools, twenty-four lawyers, and fourteen doctors. 
 
 This city being the present terminus of two important
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 131 
 
 railroads, has recently become a place of great commercial 
 importance. 
 
 Good investments can be made by the establishment, at 
 Dubuque, of manufactories of Red and White Lead, Lead 
 Pipe, Shot, and Sheet Lead. Capitalists should investigate 
 this matter. 
 
 From the following statistics, the reader may judge of 
 the commercial importance of the City of Dubuque : 
 
 Total Tonnage. Value. 
 
 Imports to Dubuque in 1855 276,69905 $11,266,84518 
 
 " 1854 97,633 4,933,208 65 
 
 Increase 179,05705 $6,333,63653 
 
 Exports from Dubuque in 1855... 24,23715 $3,689,26668 
 " " 1854... 11,736 1,573,408 30 
 
 Increase 12,50113 $2,115,85828 
 
 Lead exported in 1855 5,262 $631,440 
 
 Iron, Steel, and Nailsexp.ini 855 2,400 384,000 
 
 Flour exported in 1855 2,640 216,000 
 
 Wheat exported in 1855 1,620 81,000 
 
 Corn exported in 1855 150 1,500 . 
 
 We invite the reader's particular attention to the follow- 
 ing comparative table of immigration, for the past two 
 years : 
 
 Crossed the Dubuque Ferry in 1854. in 1855. 
 
 Men, women, and children 38,400 38,400 
 
 Wagons 4,300 10,700 
 
 Carriages 2,100 4,200 
 
 Cattle 9,518 14,210 
 
 Sheep 2,708 4,680 
 
 Hogs 6,630 16,124
 
 132 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 The number of arrivals at the Hotels at this point, in 
 1855, were 85,045. The amount of the public domain 
 sold at the Dubuque Land Office during the year, was : cash 
 sales, 808,923 acres; located with Military Warrants, 
 801,440. Received at the United States Depository, Du- 
 buque, during the year, $4,146,550. Total amount of 
 Eastern exchange sold by banking houses, $9,212,000. 
 
 DELAWARE COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled in 1843. Present population of the 
 county, 8000 that of Delhi, the county-seat, 600. 
 
 There is one newspaper just started in the county under 
 the title of " Delhi Republican," with very fair prospects 
 of success. 
 
 The number and condition of public and private schools 
 compare favorably with those of other counties in the state, 
 of the same population/ 
 
 No manufactories, yet some in contemplation. The 
 county and its towns are filling up rapidly with an indus- 
 trious, enterprising, and wealthy population. Great in- 
 ducements are held out to capitalists to erect manufactories 
 of different kinds. There is an abundance of water-power 
 1 miles from Delhi, and a large body of timber on the 
 Maquoketa, thus affording ample opportunity for the erec- 
 tion of machinery, whether propelled by steam or water- 
 power. This county is peculiarly adapted to wool-growing ; 
 and all that is wanted to make the citizens of Delaware a 
 great manufacturing people, is to make their advantages 
 known to Eastern capitalists.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 133 
 
 Chair-making, cabinet-making, wagon, carriage and 
 buggy making, woollen factories, in short, everything, ex- 
 cept distilling alcoholic liquors, is needed in this vicinity. 
 i This county is conveniently interspersed with groves of 
 timber, and drained by the Maquoketa, Plumb, Elk, Bear, 
 Buffalo, Buck, Little Turkey, and Honey Creeks, all of 
 which afford some fine mill-sites. 
 
 The prairie is gently undulating, soil good, composed of 
 a happy admixture of vegetable mould and sand, based 
 upon a porous clay subsoil. We have an abundance of 
 fine lime-stone, for building and fencing purposes. 
 
 Near Delhi we have excellent clay for the manufacturing 
 of brick, of the best quality. 
 
 Within a few rods of this village plat, we have a fine 
 sheet of pure " soft water" covering about 160 acres of 
 land, containing small fish in abundance, and affording a 
 fine opportunity for bathing during the hot months. 
 
 Taking Delaware County as a whole, it affords as fine a 
 chance for the wealthy, enterprising immigrant, as any 
 county in Northern" Iowa. 
 
 DECATUR COUNTY. 
 
 The population of Decatur County is 6000. The seve- 
 ral denominations, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and 
 Christians, have each organizations, and have meetings in 
 turn in the Court House in Leon, which is a respectable- 
 sized two-story brick building. No buildings for public 
 worship yet erected. No newspaper in Decatur or any 
 adjoining county. In the county are some twenty-five 
 12
 
 134 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 public schools, well conducted, supported principally by 
 the school fund. In the county are three steam, saw, and 
 grist mills, and two others in process of erection. Those 
 who may wish to locate, will find in Decatur good openings 
 for saw and grist mills, brick-makers, wheelwrights, cabi- 
 net-makers, wagon-makers, house-builders, blacksmiths, 
 tinners, and shoemakers. 
 
 The northern part of the county is principally prairies, 
 while the southern is supplied with a large and beautiful 
 growth of timber. Though the county is more broken than 
 many north and east of it, the soil is, all susceptible of cul- 
 tivation, and more than half the county heavily timbered. 
 
 Thompson's Fork of Grand River and tributaries spreads 
 over the western part of the county, affording an abun- 
 dance of clear, soft water, and plenty of timber, for all pur- 
 poses. These streams are backed by extensive beds of 
 lime and sand-stone, suitable for building purposes, and 
 supply water sufficient to run flouring or saw-mills, the 
 year through. 
 
 Along the banks of several of these 1 streams thin veins 
 of coal have been discovered, and it is thought that exten- 
 sive beds would be found by proper search, but no labor 
 has yet been expended upon them. 
 
 Leon, the county-seat, is situated two miles due east of 
 the centre of the county, within half a mile of an extensive 
 body of excellent timber. The town was located in 1853, 
 present population 400. The last session of the Legisla- 
 ture changed the name of this town to " Leon ;" the Post 
 Office yet bears the original name, " South Independence."
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 135 
 
 Decatur is pleasantly situated on a high, rolling prairie, 
 2| miles west of the centre of the county, and 3 miles 
 from Thompson's Fork of Grand River. Population be- 
 tween 200 and 300. 
 
 FAYETTE COUNTY 
 
 Is abundantly watered by the Turkey River, its north 
 and south forks, tributaries, and numerous springs. The 
 soil is admirably adapted for all agricultural purposes. The 
 scenery along Turkey River and its north and south forks 
 is beautiful, and timber abundant. The principal towns in 
 the county are West Union, the county-seat, Gamble 
 Grove, Illyria, Fayetteville, Auburn, Elgin, Leo, Lima, 
 and Taylorsville, besides post-offices named Eldorado, Eden, 
 Clermont, Douglas, Windsor, and Louisville. 
 
 The population of Fayette County, in the spring of 
 1854, was 5042. Present population about 8000. West 
 Union, the principal town and county-seat, numbers 800. 
 
 This county is very rich in minerals. Stone coal is said 
 to be very abundant. Lead has also been found in small 
 parcels in various parts of the county. A species of red 
 ochre is abundant here, from which paint is made with but 
 little trouble. It has been used upon buildings, looks well 
 and is durable. 
 
 In Fayette County there are several very large caves 
 that have never been explored, and numerous curiosities 
 that would well repay the Naturalist or Geologist to visit 
 and examine them. Some of the heaviest timber in the
 
 
 136 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 State is in this county. Its growth and prosperity may be 
 judged from the fact that a county Agricultural Society 
 has been organised, and is well sustained. 
 
 FRANKLIN COUNTY. 
 
 A most excellent county of land surface gently undu- 
 lating. A few gravelly knolls are found in this county. 
 Timber is rather scarce, but scattered through the county 
 in the best manner to make it available. The county-seat 
 is not yet located, but commissioners have been appointed 
 for this purpose, and it soon will be. The county was 
 organized at the election in August, 1855. It is well 
 watered by the Iowa and Cedar rivers and by the tributa- 
 ries of the latter. Fine specimens of marble have been 
 found ; to what extent it exists is not known. Population 
 about 300. 
 
 FREMONT COUNTY 
 
 Is the extreme south-western county of the State. The 
 first settlement was at Sidney, the county-seat, where the 
 first sale of lots was made June 30th, 1851. James H. 
 Cowles was the first resident. The present population of 
 the county-seat is 400 that of the county 4200. 
 
 Of public schools there are in the county some twenty, 
 with ample room for improvement in a majority of them. 
 
 The Congregational, Methodist, Baptist, Christians, and 
 Presbyterians, have each societies here. 
 
 Here are a carding-machine, and two grist-mills, one
 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 137 
 
 steam saw-mill, and four water-power saw-mills, all doing 
 an excellent business. More manufactories and mechanics 
 are needed. A steam flouring-mill would do a first-rate 
 business. 
 
 The surrounding country is well adapted to all kinds of 
 agricultural pursuits, possessing a rich and productive soil, 
 well supplied with water and timber, and rapidly settling 
 up with worthy, industrious and intelligent people. 
 
 GUTHRIE COUNTY 
 
 Is not as large nor as old as many other counties of the 
 State, but possesses advantages which, when developed, will 
 place her in the advance. The soil of Guthrie is second to 
 none in the State, for the farmer, grazier, and fruit-grower. 
 The numerous streams of running water afford eligible and 
 profitable sites for the erection of the much-needed manu- 
 factories, while the banks are big with inexhaustible quar- 
 ries of lime, free-stone, and stone-coal, and in the north- 
 west corner large quantities of iron ore have been discovered. 
 The first settlements in the county were made in 1850, and 
 the present population is 3000. The principal church de- 
 nominations are Methodists, United Brethren, 0. S. Bap- 
 tists, and Friends, each of whom are making arrangements 
 for the erection of church buildings for their respective 
 denominations. 
 
 Two newspapers have been recently established in this 
 county the Guthrie County Sentinel, at Panora, the 
 12*
 
 138 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 county-seat, and the Western Pioneer, at Guthrie Centre, 
 eight miles from Panora. These two, we believe, are the 
 only papers west of Fort Des Moines, except the Bugle 
 and Chronotype at Council Bluffs. 
 
 Panora was settled in 1853 ; it now contains a popula- 
 tion of 200. More saw-mills, a planing-mill, lath-machine, 
 carding and fulling-mill, brick-makers, carpenters, masons, 
 and plasterers, are all much needed in Guthrie. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES CONTINUED. 
 HARDIN COUNTY 
 
 WAS first settled in 1851 present population, 2000. 
 There is an abundance of timber, coal, red and white sand- 
 stone, fine white limestone : lead and iron ore have also 
 been found along Jena river, but no investigations have 
 been made, as yet, of the quality or extent. The towns 
 are all new ; and in each, the capitalist, mechanic or trades- 
 'man, will find a brisk business at paying rates. The soil 
 is excellent, climate pure and healthy, and the inhabitants 
 enterprising and intelligent. Population of Hardin City, 
 350 ; of Eldora, the county-seat, 200 ; of Kocksylvania, 
 150 ; of Pokeepsie, 100. The tide of immigration will
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 139 
 
 tend strongly into Hardin, and great improvements be 
 made, in 1856- 
 
 HARBISON COUNTY, 
 
 Situated on the Missouri Kiver, is but sparsely settled, 
 yet a good proportion of the land in the county being 
 entered. This county is well watered by the Boyer River, 
 the Little Sioux, and various smaller streams, tributary to 
 these and the Missouri. Magnolia is the county-seat, be- 
 side which there is no other settlement of importance. 
 For a description of the soil see the chapter on Western 
 Iowa, or Pottawattamie County. 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Mount Pleasant, the county-seat, was laid out in the 
 year 1836, by Presley Saunders ; at that time the lands on 
 which it was located were not in market, nor had it ever 
 been surveyed, but the beauty of the location, taken in con- 
 nection with the great abundance of superior building-stone, 
 and the large body of timber that lay contiguous to the 
 site, to say nothing of the never-failing springs of water 
 that gush from the shores of the branch that runs through 
 the suburbs of the town, induced the. proprietor to believe 
 that a town might be built up that would be a credit to the 
 State. Nor in this has he been disappointed. This town 
 now contains a population of about 1500 inhabitants, and 
 is at present in a more prosperous condition, and is improv- 
 ing faster than at any former period. 
 
 The population of the county in February last, was 
 11,180. Beside the county-seat, there are other towns in
 
 140 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 the county of considerable size and importance. Salem, in 
 the south-west part of the county, is a thriving young place, 
 containing 875 souls. New London, on the eastern edge 
 of the county has some 650 inhabitants. Trenton, in the 
 northern portion, some 500; beside these are Winfield, 
 Lowell, Hillsborough, Rome, East Grove P. 0., Marshall 
 P. 0., Wayne P. 0., &c., all in a thriving condition. 
 
 There are six church edifices in Mount Pleasant ; Con- 
 gregational, Presbyterian, Methodist, Christian, 0. S. Bap- 
 tist, and Missionary Baptist. Other towns and villages are 
 proportionally well supplied with churches, all of which 
 are well attended, and in a healthy condition. In point of 
 morality and sobriety, the community of Mount Pleasant 
 is unsurpassed in the State. 
 
 One newspaper, " The Iowa Observer," is well-conducted 
 and well-sustained. The number of magazines and news- 
 papers taken at that P. 0. indicate the intelligence and 
 refinement of the people. 
 
 Mount Pleasant has been named and known heretofore, 
 as the point possessing and offering greater educational 
 advantages than any other place in the State, and she has yet 
 no rival in this respect except Davenport. The "Iowa Wes- 
 leyan University," under the control of the M. E. Church, 
 is a Collegiate Institute of the first grade, has 150 students, 
 and is in full and successful operation under the man- 
 agement of Prof. James Harlan, with competant assistants. 
 The " Mt. Pleasant High School and Female Academy," 
 under the management of Prof. S. L. Howe, a teacher of 
 acknowledged ability and experience has an average attend- 
 ance of 100 pupils. The well-merited reputation of this
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 141 
 
 school at home and abroad is attested by the patronage it 
 receives. A Select School for Young Ladies, under the 
 superintendance of Rev. B. Wall, and taught by Mrs. 
 Wall and Miss McHarg, has recently been opened, which 
 bids fair to become a Female Seminary of usefulness and 
 extensive patronage. The town and county is well supplied 
 with well-attended and ably-conducted common schools. 
 
 There are at present no manufactories of importance in 
 Henry County. Steam flouring and saw-mills, a foundry, 
 and a carding and fulling-mill are much needed, and would 
 prove good investments. Coal, in considerable quantities, 
 has been found on both sides of the Skunk river, also in- 
 exhaustible quarries of the very best building stone near 
 Alt. Pleasant. The Burlington and Missouri railroad will 
 be finished to Mt. Pleasant during the present year. The 
 Muscatine and Keokuk railroad also passes through Mt. 
 Pleasant. 
 
 At the late session of the Legislature, the Iowa Insane 
 Asylum was located at Mt. Pleasant, and fifty thousand 
 dollars appropriated for the erection of the building. 
 
 The soil of Henry is second in quality to that of no 
 other county in the State. The land is well watered, all 
 entered, and rapidly filling up with a highly intellectual 
 and industrious class of citizens. 
 
 IOWA COUNTY, 
 
 North of Keokuk, and west of Johnson, is well sup- 
 plied with timber along the Iowa River, which stream, with 
 the north fork of English River, Old Man's Creek, Beavei
 
 142 DESCETPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 and Richmond Creeks, affords an abundance of water for all 
 purposes. The soil is admirably adapted for farming and 
 grazing. The county seat, Marengo, is situated upon the 
 Iowa River, in the northern part of the county. There are 
 settlements at Kozta, Homestead, Downard, Millersburg 
 and North English Post Offices. The Mississippi and Mis- 
 souri railroad passes through almost the centre of the 
 county. 
 
 JACKSON COUNTY 
 
 Comprises in, area fourteen full and six fractional town- 
 ships of land. The principal towns in the county are 
 Andrew, Bellevue, Wickliffe, Fulton, Maquoketa, Bridge- 
 port, and some seventeen P. 0. settlements beside. 
 
 During the past year great improvements have been made 
 in Maquoketa and Bellevue, and mechanics and business 
 men of all classes will here find good openings. The pros- 
 pect of a Railroad connection with the East, at Lyons, has 
 given Maquoketa a new impetus, and it is rapidly assuming 
 the appearance of a city. At Bellevue, numerous mills, 
 stores, warehouses, and dwellings are under contract to be 
 erected this year also the grading and paving of their levee. 
 
 Flouring and saw-mills are in active and profitable ope- 
 ration in different parts of the county, but it is impossible 
 to obtain from their proprietors even an approximate esti 
 mate of their profits. 
 
 At Bellevue, are excellent openings and good sites for 
 two more steam saw-mills and a planing-mill. Lumber 
 for building finds very ready sale as fast as manufactured, 
 and lumber for sawing is easily obtained. A small iron
 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 143 
 
 foundry, an extensive wagon-making establishment, and a 
 cooper's establishment, would all do well in Jackson. 
 
 Jackson is one of the best watered counties in the State, 
 and is well supplied with timber, principally white oak, black 
 walnut, ash, hickory, elm, maple, white walnut, and bass- 
 wood. Water-power, unsurpassed for manufacturing pur- 
 poses : upon several of the streams are already erected 
 flouring and saw-mills, and others are in progress of erec- 
 tion. The county is also one of the best for agricultural 
 purposes,in the State, and second to none for stock raising. 
 
 The soil in the valleys is a first rate black sandy 
 loam (several feet in depth), and yields heavy crops of 
 corn ; the ridges are generally second and third rate soil, 
 with a subsoil of clay, or in some instances ferruginous 
 sand, and produce fine crops of wheat. Potatoes and 
 other root crops, as well as vegetables and vines, all flourish 
 luxuriantly. The rocks of the county are what belong to 
 the " Upper Magnesian Limestone" formation ; are well 
 adapted for building purposes, and make a superior quality 
 of lime. 
 
 Iron ore is found in various parts of the county, lying 
 loosely on the surface, and no doubt, from present indica- 
 tions, it exists in large masses. " Galena" (lead ore) is 
 also frequently picked up in different parts of the county, 
 and some mines have been successfully worked in the 
 northwest part of the county there is. a rich "lode" of 
 " Galena" only three miles above Bellevue, dipping into the 
 river, which can be seen at any time at a low stage of 
 water in the Mississippi. It is the opinion of old miners,
 
 144 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 that when the mineral resources of this county are properly 
 developed, it will prove rich in both lead and iron ores, as 
 indications of its existence manifest themselves in almost 
 every hill and ravine. 
 
 Bellevue, the seat of justice of Jackson county, is 
 situated on the Mississippi river, twelve miles due south 
 of the city of Galena; the town site is upon an elevated 
 plateau of land about fifteen feet above high water mark; 
 it is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, mostly covered 
 with timber, which break off the severe cold winds of 
 winter, and prevent the temperature from falling as low 
 by several degrees, as a few miles distant upon the ridges. 
 
 The population of Bellevue is about 1200. The popu- 
 lation of the county is fully 15,000 ; of Maquoketa, 1000, 
 and emigrants daily arriving in every part of the county. 
 
 There are five organized churches in the town, viz., 
 Congregationalist, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, and 
 Catholic one of each. 
 
 JEFFERSON COUNTY. 
 
 The first sale of town lots took place in 1839. 
 
 The present population of Jefferson County is about 
 16,000. Population of Fairfield, the county-seat, 1600. 
 
 A large proportion of the population is from Ohio and 
 Pennsylvania. In the eastern portion of the county is a 
 settlement of Swedes, consisting at present of about 100 
 families. Their first settlement in that part of the county 
 was made in 1847. 
 
 There is also in the north-east a settlement of Germans.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 145 
 
 In Fairfield there are three churches : Presbyterian, 
 Congregational, and Methodist. 
 
 Two newspapers in Fairfield ; the " Fairfield Ledger," 
 (Whig), and the " Iowa Sentinel," (Democrat). 
 
 Jefferson County contains 88 schools, and 65 school- 
 houses, 59 of which are frame, the remaining 6 brick. 
 Total amount paid teachers during the year, ending Oct. 
 31, 1854, $5,538 12. The average compensation of male 
 teachers for the same time, was $20 35 that of females, 
 $9 97 ! Number of pupils in schools, 3622. 
 
 A branch of the State University is located at Fairfield. 
 A commodious building has been erected for the accommo- 
 dation of pupils ; and purchased by an association of citi- 
 zens, who have established a flourishing school for young 
 men and boys, under the charge of Mr. Anderson, a 
 teacher of experience and ability. 
 
 There is also a Female Seminary in this place, which is 
 in a prosperous condition, conducted by Rev. L. B. Crit- 
 tenden. 
 
 Of manufactories the principal are a steam saw-mill, an 
 iron foundery, a sash and door factory, and numerous minor 
 establishments. We need a steam flouring-mill. 
 
 A United States Land Office, located in this place, has 
 been closed, and business transferred to Chariton. 
 
 There are several thriving villages located in the differ- 
 ent sections of the county, among which are Libertyville, 
 seven miles south-west from Fairfield; Brookville and 
 Abingdon, the former six, and the latter twelve miles west ; 
 13
 
 146 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Pleasant Plain, twelve miles north ; and Glasgow in the 
 southern part of the county. 
 
 There are three extensive nurseries in the county. A 
 county agricultural society was organized three years ago. 
 
 The " Iowa Farmer," an ably-conducted, well-supported, 
 dollar, monthly agricultural paper, has been removed and 
 permanently established at Fairfield. 
 
 The eastern part is well timbered. On the borders 
 of Skunk River and its tributaries, are fine groves of 
 various kinds of timber, suitable for building and fencing 
 purposes. The most common are the white and burr 
 oak, walnut, elm, cottonwood, and linn ; sugar maple 
 is found in some places on Skunk River. The western 
 portion of the county is principally prairie, interspersed 
 with some groves of timber, and is well adapted to cultiva- 
 tion, as no portion of that land is too broken, and none too 
 flat, for cultivation. 
 
 Farms in the hands of residents are beginning to assume 
 all the appearances of extensive and tasteful cultivation. 
 
 There are extensive beds of coal in different sections of 
 the county. Also lime-stone is found along the borders 
 of some creeks. 
 
 JOHNSON COUNTY. 
 
 Iowa City is the county-seat of Johnson County, and 
 until the last session of the legislature, was the capital of 
 the State. At that session a bill was passed, removing the 
 seat of government to Fort Des Moines, in Polk County, 
 some hundred and twenty miles further west; and pro-
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 147 
 
 viding for^the erection of temporary public buildings, to be 
 approved by the governor, before a session of the General 
 Assembly will be holden there. 
 
 The present State House is not entirely finished, but is 
 an elegant edifice of stone; capacious, well adapted to 
 legislative and other public purposes, and an ornament to 
 the city. This building, with its extensive grounds, is a 
 grant to the State University, and will be appropriated to 
 its use immediately upon the removal of the State offices 
 and legislative sessions. 
 
 The University has an ample fund, and is now in opera- 
 tion in this city ; well provided with competent professors, 
 and temporarily occupying what is known as the Mechanics' 
 Academy. The number of students is at present but about 
 forty, as the first session was opened only on the first Mon- 
 day of March, 1855. 
 
 Besides this infant institution, strong in resources and 
 promises, there is the Female Collegiate Institute, in suc- 
 cessful operation. This institution has been reared to its 
 present prosperity, principally under the auspices of the 
 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in this city, and other 
 portions of the State. The building designed for this semi- 
 nary, will be completed, probably, during the present year, 
 and no expense will be spared to render it equal in archi- 
 tectural beauty and finish to any in Iowa. 
 
 There is, also, the City Union School, with a principal 
 and three assistants, besides numerous private schools, all 
 thriving finely. There is no town in the State better sup-
 
 148 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 plied with educational advantages, considering its popu- 
 lation. 
 
 A steam grist-mill is now operating successfully in this 
 city; amount of business not known, as it has just com- 
 menced operations. Another is to be erected on the west 
 side of the Iowa River the present season. About three 
 miles west of town, or north-west, are Clarke's flouring- 
 mills, clearing their owners at least $10,000 per annum. 
 
 The city is well stocked with churches, there being 
 no less than seven church edifices, and eight religious 
 societies. Of these, there are one Baptist, built of brick in 
 superior style ; an Old School Presbyterian, Methodist, 
 Protestant Methodist, Catholic, and TJniversalist, also of 
 brick, and very creditable structures; and the New School 
 Presbyterian, a neat stone edifice. The Episcopal Society 
 worships in the basement of the Methodist Church. 
 
 According to the census of 1854, the population of the 
 city was 3083 ; which is probably nearer six, than three 
 thousand at the present time. It is situated at the junc- 
 tion of two great railroad routes the one from Daven- 
 port, which has been running into the city since January 
 1, 1856, and the one from Clinton, which is being pushed 
 forward with all possible dispatch. In no other place in 
 the State will the change be greater or more favorable than 
 in Iowa City, during the present year. Already have her 
 weekly papers changed to tri-weekly ; immense manufac- 
 tories, mills, machine-shops, hotels, and large brick blocks 
 of private and public buildings, are springing up as if by 
 magic. Who can predict the future of this great railroad-
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 149 
 
 centre, of the most fertile and most prosperous State in the 
 Union ? 
 
 (See Chapter on Railroads, and Table of Post Offices, 
 for particulars on these subjects.) 
 
 The county is one of the finest agricultural counties in 
 the State well adapted for stock raising ; also wheat, corn, 
 and potatoes. A flourishing Agricultural Society of two 
 years' standing is organized, and an immense interest is 
 awakened in its behalf. The population at the last census 
 was 8446, which is increasing at an astonishing rate. 
 
 JASPER COUNTY 
 
 Is bounded on the east by Poweshiek, west by Polk, 
 north by Marshall, and south by Marion and a portion of 
 Mahaska Counties. In no county in the State, perhaps, is 
 there better soil for all purposes than in Jasper. 
 
 Probably no portion of our State surpasses Central Iowa 
 in point of beauty, fertility, healthfulness of climate, and 
 the thriftiness of its inhabitants. 
 
 In 1846, the Senatorial Legislature formed it out. of a 
 portion of Mahaska County; and, in 1847, Newton, the 
 county-seat of Jasper, was laid out by Thomas Henderson 
 and Jacob Fisher. 
 
 Large quantities of fine stone-coal are found in the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the place, and the traveller often finds 
 it upon the surface of the ground. When we consider that 
 this article seems almost inexhaustible, there can scarcely 
 be a question as to the profitableness of almost any branch 
 of mechanical and manufacturing industry which may be 
 13*
 
 150 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 established in this portion of our State. Lime-stone, suit- 
 able for building purposes, is found on the banks of Elk 
 Creek and Skunk River ; this one article greatly facilitates 
 the operations of our citizens in erecting buildings, and in 
 many other ways. One grist-mill and two saw-mills are 
 now in successful operation ; but the demand for mills is 
 constantly increasing. Men of capital, and true Western 
 spirit, are making arrangements to erect forges and work- 
 shops, which, when completed, will render Newton quite a 
 point for manufacturing. Mr. William P. Cole is working 
 a coal bank, which has a strata of good coal 5 feet thick, 
 and of an extent unknown situated on South Skunk, 
 Sec. 32, T. 80, R. 21. 
 
 The M. and M. R. R., already built to Iowa City, is 
 rapidly extending her iron arms westward, and will soon place 
 Newton upon the great Iron Highway to the Atlantic. 
 
 The present population of Jasper County is about 8000 j 
 of Newton, 750 j of Monroe, 200 ; of Quincy, 200. 
 
 JONES COUNTY 
 
 Was first settled in 1836, organized in 1839, and the 
 county-seat located at Anamosa in May, 1847. The popu- 
 lation of the county in October, 1854, was 6300 being 
 about eleven to the square mile. In this county will be 
 found a due proportion of timber land and prairie land ; 
 while the mill-sites upon the Wabsipinnicon are numerous, 
 and building-stone abundant. Beside the Wapsie', are the 
 North and South Forks of the Maquoketa, Bear, and 
 Mineral Creeks, and numerous first-rate springs of good
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 151 
 
 water. The towns in the county are Anamosa, Eome, 
 Bowen's Prairie, Fairview, and Monticello. In Anamosa 
 is published one newspaper, " The News." There are also 
 one Congregational and one United Brethren church edi- 
 fices, and organizations each, of Methodists, Christians^ and 
 Universalists. The Masons and Odd Fellows each have 
 Lodges there. The Iowa Central Air-Line Railroad passes 
 through the county, touching at Anamosa. This line is 
 located and under contract as far as Marion, Linn County. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES CONTINUED. 
 
 KEOKUK COUNTY 
 
 Is the third county from the Mississippi River and the 
 Missouri State-line; situated west of Washington, and 
 north-west of Jefferson Counties. The land is of an ex- 
 cellent quality, well watered by the Checauque and its 
 tributaries, which are skirted with a good supply of timber. 
 Lancaster, the county-seat, has increased very rapidly during 
 the past two years, as has the entire county. 
 
 The Muscatine and Oskaloosa Railroad, which is under 
 contract, passes through-the county, touching the county- 
 seat. Sigourney, Waugh's Point, and Richland are each
 
 152 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES.' 
 
 centres of large settlements of intelligent and industrious 
 people ; the latter place is settled principally by Friends, 
 or Quakers. 
 
 KOSSUTH COUNTY. 
 
 This is the second county in extent in the State, com- 
 prising what was formerly Bancroft, Kossuth, and the 
 north part of Humboldt. It contains eight hundred and 
 twenty-nine thousand four hundred and forty acres. Its 
 population is about 300. Some of the northern townships 
 are rather sloughy ; but the county generally has as fine 
 lands as are found in the State. The East Branch of the 
 Des Moines River passes through this county near its 
 centre, east and west, for a distance of fifty miles. There 
 are fine groves of timber nearly the whole extent. The 
 county was organized in August, 1855, although the lands 
 are not in market, and Asa C. Call, the first settler, elected 
 County Judge. One saw-mill is already erected. This 
 county affords some of the best chances of any in the State. 
 Its settlers are of the most enterprising class. Alquona is 
 the county-seat, and is situated on the east bank of the east 
 fork of the Des Moines River. Three or four towns have 
 been laid out in this county, but we cannot give the loca- 
 tion of them, nor the name of but one, Cresco ; the place 
 to be built up by the Western Home Association, of which ; 
 H. Kellogg, of Cleveland, Ohio, is President. 
 
 LEE COUNTY 
 
 Is situated at the junction of the Mississippi and the 
 Des Moines Rivers, and is the most southern county in the
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 153 
 
 state ; it is bounded on the south-east by the Mississippi, 
 which separates it from Illinois ; on. the south-west by the 
 Des Moines, separating it from Missouri j on the west by 
 Van Buren ; and on the north by Henry and Des Moines 
 Counties. The county is well watered by the Des Moines 
 and Mississippi and their tributaries. The principal towns 
 are Keokuk, Montrose, Fort Madison, West Point, Frank- 
 lin, Nashville, &c. 
 
 The bottom-lands of Lee are well adapted to the wants of 
 the agriculturist, and its prairies are elevated, dry and roll- 
 ing. The business of stock-raising has been entered into 
 in Lee more extensively perhaps than in any other county. 
 
 The city of Keokuk, the largest place in the county, is 
 situated at the foot of the Des Moines or Lower Rapids, at 
 the extreme south-east corner of the state. By the usual 
 routes of travel it is 230 miles from Chicago ; 210 from 
 St. Louis ; 400 from the junction of the Ohio and Missis- 
 sippi ; 1000 from New York ; and 1400 from New Orleans. 
 Its position as a central commercial point is scarcely 
 equalled by that of any other city west of Chicago, and 
 endows it with business advantages and facilities of the 
 highest importance. These advantages are three-fold, and 
 may be treated of under the three following heads, viz : 
 
 First, those derived from the navigation of the Missis- 
 sippi. The Lower Rapids, formed by a rocky stratum in 
 the river, commencing about 200 yards above the city, and 
 running northward a distance of 12 miles, with a fall of 24 
 feet, render Keokuk the head of navigation during a great 
 portion of the year, until the work of improving the Rapids
 
 154 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 is completed. At present, in time of low water, steamers 
 are obliged to unload their cargoes into "lighters," which 
 are towed up the Rapids, above which the freight is again 
 loaded into the boats ; and thus this city is rendered a 
 wholesale depot, and place of transhipment. 
 
 The second point lies in the trade of the Des Moines 
 Valley which Keokuk must inevitably command, situated 
 but 2 miles above the confluence of the Des Moines and 
 Mississippi Kivers. This valley, for a width of sixty miles 
 on either side of the Des Moines River, is unsurpassed 
 probably in the world for agricultural wealth. It also 
 abounds in timber, coal, gypsum, and many other articles 
 of trade, and these will be transmitted down the Des 
 Moines to its mouth at Keokuk, thence re-shipped to other 
 markets. Of the improvement of the Des Moines we 
 speak at length in another Chapter. 
 
 The third source of business advantages which Keokuk 
 can claim, lies in its railroads. The Keokuk and Fort Des 
 Moines, the Keokuk, Mt. Pleasant and Muscatine, and the 
 Eastern railroads will soon be built, and will afford this 
 city numerous connections of the highest importance. 
 
 Keokuk is situated upon a bluff 150 feet above high- 
 water mark in the Mississippi, is laid out one mile square, 
 and contains a population of about 10,000. Its streets are 
 wide and regular, and are being graded and McAdamized 
 with rapidity. Main Street, 100 feet in width, is McAdam- 
 ized through the city for a distance of one mile. The city 
 contains six brick-yards, two lumber-yards, one flouring and 
 grist-mill, two foundries, one machine shop, five hotels, &c.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 155 
 
 Its public school is held in the largest and handsomest 
 building, which, throughout the State, is devoted to the 
 cause of education. The edifice, when fully completed, 
 will have cost $13,500. This city also contains the Iowa 
 Medical College, a State institution, and a Female Semi- 
 nary, besides two other female institutes, and a number of 
 private schools. Six church edifices, 0. and N. S. Presby- 
 terian, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian and Catholic. See 
 chapters on " Railroads," and " Public Improvements." 
 
 The bluff on which the city stands contains the finest of 
 lime-stone, for building and other purposes, and commands 
 a landscape view of wild and picturesque beauty. 
 
 LINN COUNTY 
 
 Is the third from the Mississippi River, and in the very 
 heart of a rich agricultural region. The county is well sup- 
 plied with water, and extensive water-power, by the Red 
 Cedar and Waubsepinnicon Rivers, and Buffalo Creek, each 
 of which pass through it, and the banks of which are hea- 
 vily timbered. Present population, 13,000. 
 
 Cedar Rapids, the largest town in the county, is built 
 upon both sides of the Cedar River has an immense water- 
 power, (as its name indicates), and is the agricultural, com- 
 mercial, and manufacturing centre and mart, of not only 
 Linn, but several surrounding counties. The Chicago, Iowa 
 and Nebraska Railroad is under contract, being rapidly 
 pushed forward, and it is believed will be completed from 
 Clinton to Cedar Rapids early next year, thus connecting
 
 156 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Cedar Rapids and Linn County with the East. Present 
 population of Cedar Rapids, 2300. 
 
 Marion, the county-seat, is situated five miles north-east 
 from the Rapids, surrounded on the east, west, and south 
 by fine groves of timber, adjoining which are farms under 
 the highest state of cultivation. This town is beautifully 
 located, and its citizens exhibit much good judgment as well 
 as good taste, in the erection of substantial and beautiful 
 buildings, for business and for residences. Attention is 
 also paid to adorning and cultivating their grounds and 
 parks which would be creditable to larger towns. Some 
 idea may be formed of the business of Marion, from the 
 fact that eleven extensive dry-goods stores are each doing 
 a lucrative business. 
 
 Of educational edifices and institutions, there are at Ce- 
 dar Rapids, two female seminaries, one high school, and 
 several schools for less advanced pupils. Efforts are being 
 made for the establishment of a college, also. .. Marion sup- 
 ports several ably-conducted schools, and has one of the best 
 buildings for common-school purposes, in the State. These, 
 with her court-house, five churches, and the large, tasteful 
 blocks of buildings, give Marion a prepossessing appear- 
 ance. 
 
 The " Iowa Conference Seminary," is located at Mount 
 Vernon has a brick edifice 40 by 72 feet, 3 stories high. 
 It is in a very prosperous condition, under the superintend- 
 ence of Rev. S. M. Fellows, A. M., assisted by three regu- 
 lar teachers, besides music teacher, and teacher of painting 
 and embroidery. Number of students now in attendance
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 157 
 
 about 150; most of them- young ladies and gentlemen from 
 abroad. The situation is unsurpassed for beauty. 
 
 The Iowa Central Air-Line Railroad is under contract to 
 Marion, to which point the company expect to have the 
 road graded this season. 
 
 Present population of Marion, 1800. 
 
 Those wishing particular information of, or having busi- 
 ness to transact in Linn, will be well served by Messrs. 
 Dodge & Wood, bankers, collectors, and general land agents, 
 Cedar Rapids. 
 
 The Cedar Valley Times, Cedar Valley Farmer, and the 
 Linn County Register, (the latter at Marion), are well pa- 
 tronized and worthy papers. 
 
 LOUISA COUNTY 
 
 Is bounded by the Mississippi on the east, which, with 
 the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, traversing it diagonally through 
 the centre, present an abundance of water and timber. 
 
 The present population of the county is 8700, and of 
 Wapello, the county-seat, 1200. 
 
 The railroad from Muscatine to Oskaloosa, is in a fair 
 way to be completed early this year, and, passing through 
 this county, will do much to make known the undeveloped 
 resources and "hidden treasures" of this region. 
 
 This county embraces a principal portion of the Keokuk 
 Reserve, purchased by the Government in 1836. It is a 
 remarkable fact, that almost the whole tribe of Sacs and 
 Foxes were congregated here until after the first or Black 
 Hawk purchase of 1832 ; notwithstanding they had almost 
 14
 
 158 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 a boundless region from which to select their villages and 
 huntin g-groun ds. 
 
 Wapello, the seat of justice, is handsomely located on 
 the old site of " Wapello's Village." Wapello was a Fox 
 chief, who resided there until the summer of 1836, as chief 
 of his band. There are several small villages in Louisa, 
 among which are Toolsboro', Columbus City, Harrison, 
 Florence, Fredonia, &c. Toolsboro' formerly Black Hawk 
 is situated upon the north side of the Iowa, about three 
 miles from the Mississippi, has an extensive country trade, 
 and is somewhat celebrated for its ancient mounds and for- 
 tifications. 
 
 Florence derives its principal notoriety from its having 
 been the residence of Black Hawk until the Indian hos- 
 tilities in 1832. Here repose the bones of his ancestors, 
 where they have rested for centuries. It was here that he 
 sounded the war-whoop, and rallied his countrymen to the 
 last deadly conflict, in defence of the homes and the graves 
 
 " Where sleep their warriors ; where rival chieftains lay, 
 And mighty tribes, swept from the face of day." 
 
 But they were conquered, and this illustrious warrior 
 was doomed to wander, a stranger in the land of his fore- 
 fathers. His lodge was still standing at the time the 
 country was surveyed. 
 
 MADISON COUNTY, 
 
 Recently organized, is but sparsely settled. The soil is 
 good, climate healthy, and land very cheap. Population 
 of county, 4500 of Wintusett, county-seat, 700.
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 159 
 
 MAHASKA COUNTY, 
 
 Of which Oskaloosa is the county-seat, is a thriving and 
 populous county for its age. The first settlements in the 
 county were made in 1842, on the public land, and in June, 
 1843, the county-seat was organized by commissioners ap- 
 pointed by the Legislature. The present population of Os- 
 kaloosa is nearly 8500. 
 
 The advantages this county boasts, are her central posi- 
 tion in the State ; her universally fertile soil, (producing an 
 average of 80 bushels of corn to the acre) ; the abundance 
 of water, and extensive water-power furnished by the 
 Des Moines, North and South Skunk, and their tributa- 
 ries; her inexhaustible quarries of free, lime, and sand 
 stone ; her extensive and variously distributed beds of stone 
 coal ; her bounteous supply of timber along each water- 
 course that traverses the county; and the industry, intelli- 
 gence, and high moral tone and character of her inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 Oskaloosa, being the county-seat and commercial centre 
 of this rich agricultural district, is an important town. It 
 is well supplied with grist and saw-mills, machine-shops, 
 and manufactories of different kinds. Four hotels are doing 
 a good business, and another, 120 feet front on two streets, 
 is about to be built. Two ably -conducted and well- sustained 
 newspapers, (the Times, democratic, and the Herald, re- 
 publican), are published in Oskaloosa, and a third is about 
 to be established.
 
 160 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 MARION COUNTY 
 
 Was settled in October, 1845, by Wilson Stanley, L. G. 
 Terry, L. W. Babbitt, Dr. R. Mathews, E. & T. Jenkins, 
 J. D. Bedell, and E. G-. Stanfield. The present popula- 
 tion of the county is 14,000 of Knoxville, the county- 
 seat, 1100. 
 
 In the county-seat are one Methodist, and one Congre- 
 gational, edifices. The different denominations are Metho- 
 dist, Lutheran, Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist, Mis- 
 sionary Baptist, Associate Reformed, and United Brethren. 
 
 The number of public schools is stated to be sixty-six. 
 Two high schools one in Knoxville, another in Pella all 
 in a prosperous condition. A college is being erected in 
 Pella by the Missionary Baptists. 
 
 Several steam saw and flouring-mills in operation, but 
 threefold more needed. Also manufactories of all kinds 
 wanted. 
 
 Soil good for farming purposes, timber plenty, water 
 abundant and excellent. Prairie unsurpassed by any in 
 the Union. Climate good. Winters admirably adapted for 
 stock, owing to their dryness and evenness. Stone-coal, 
 of excellent quality, abounds in veins eight feet thick. 
 Splendid lime and sandstone, for building purposes, abun- 
 dant. 
 
 Knoxville, and Pella, are each thrifty, active, business 
 places. Pella was laid out in 1848, by Henry P. Schotte, 
 of Holland. It contains now about 1500 inhabitants, prin- 
 cipally Hollanders. They are a steady, industrious, honest 
 class of people, and brought considerable wealth with them.
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 161 
 
 Two steam saw-mills, sash and door factory, plow factory, 
 a patent brick, and a carding machine, also an oil-mill, are all 
 in course of construction, at Pella. Mechanics and build- 
 ers, manufacturers and capitalists, are needed at both Pella 
 and Knoxville. One German, and two American schools, 
 in successful operation at Pella. 
 
 Persons wanting information of this county, can refer to 
 Schotte & Grant, bankers and land agents, also publishers 
 of the " PelJa Gazette," and of the " Bankers' and Land 
 Agents' Monthly Bulletin ;" or to Brobst & Miller, sur- 
 veyors and land agents, Knoxville. (See list of Post Of- 
 fices, another chapter.) 
 
 MAESHALL COUNTY 
 
 Though new, is improving rapidly. Population in 1854, 
 1703 in 1855, 2500 in February, 1856, 3600 of Ma- 
 rietta, county-seat, 200. The Iowa River and tributaries, 
 traversing the county, are well-timbered. Lead, iron, lime- 
 stone, and free-stone, in considerable quantities, exist in 
 this county. 
 
 MILLS COUNTY. 
 
 Glenwood, the county-seat, was first settled by the Mor- 
 mons, in 1847, and this was about the first settlement in 
 the county ; but that population has long since been almost 
 entirely supplanted by people from Michigan, New York, 
 Ohio, and Missouri. 
 
 The present population of the town is about eight hun- 
 dred that of the county about six thousand. 
 14*
 
 162 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 For description of soil and climate, see chapter on West- 
 ern Iowa and Nebraska. 
 
 There are three churches in the place, viz. : Methodist, 
 Congregationalist, and Presbyterian (Old School'); in the 
 county, ten churches, belonging to the same denominations. 
 
 Two newspapers are published in the county : the " Glen- 
 wood Times," and the " St. Mary's Gazette." 
 
 There are a large Union School and two District Schools 
 in the town, and about twenty common schools in the 
 county, all in a flourishing condition, and supplied with 
 good teachers. There, is still a great demand for teachers. 
 
 They have one flouring and two saw-mills the two 
 latter driven by steam. There are fifteen mills in the 
 county, one carding-machine, and a shingle-mill. All of 
 the above named are overstocked with business, and there 
 is abundance of room for others. Cabinet-makers, weavers, 
 cloth-fullers, tanners, house-builders, and every class of 
 mechanics, are much needed. 
 
 MITCHELL COUNTY 
 
 Is in the northern tier of counties, and although new, is 
 fast filling up with actual settlers. The town of Osage is 
 the principal settlement now in the county, and has a po- 
 pulation of 800. One of the proprietors authorizes us to 
 say, that they will give a lot to every mechanic who will 
 permanently locate there until the town has 2000 inhabi- 
 tants. [Most of the smaller interior towns throughout the 
 State will do the same.] A steam-mill, and a portable 
 grist-mill, are among the improvements. There is a report
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 163 
 
 in circulation at the present writing, (March 1, 1856), that 
 the Land Office for the Turkey River District, will be re- 
 moved to Osage, this Spring. 
 
 Is the central one, of those bordering upon the Missouri 
 River j it is well watered by the Little Sioux and Soldier 
 Rivers, and numerous lakes, and is well-timbered. This 
 and the adjoining counties have considerable unentered 
 land, which actual settlers would do well to locate upon. 
 Ashton is the county-seat. The Iowa Central Air-Line 
 Railroad is projected to reach the Missouri, in this county. 
 
 MONROE COUNTY 
 
 Was organized in 1843, and the county-seat " laid off" 
 in 1844. Present population of the county, 4200 of Al- 
 bia, the county-seat, 400. 
 
 Steam flouring-mills, saw-mills, coopering establishments, 
 cabinet-ware manufactories, and any number of industrious 
 mechanics are greatly needed here. At present the cooper- 
 age for pork, lard and flour, is obtained from a great dis- 
 tance, at decided disadvantage. 
 
 This county is as well watered as any portion of the 
 State. The principal streams which have their rise in, or 
 pass through the county, are Cedar Creek, Whippoorwill 
 Creek, White's Creek, and Coal Creek; the three latter, 
 with numerous smaller streams, emptying into Cedar Creek, 
 render it of proper size and power for mill-sites, and there 
 are now five mills erected on this stream, doing business 
 more than half the year. Bluff's, Gray's, Miller's, Aver/s,
 
 164 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 and Soap Creeks, are each streams of some size, and skirted 
 with timber averaging nearly a mile in width. 
 
 Throughout the county the soil is very good ; the prairies 
 are small, high, and fertile. An abundance of timber, coal, 
 and limestone may be found in most parts of the county. 
 The best land is entered, but claims to some of the very 
 best can be bought at from five to ten dollars per acre. 
 The county is increasing in numbers very rapidly, and 
 offers great inducements to manufacturers, mechanics, farm- 
 ers, and citizens of all classes. 
 
 MUSCATINE COUNTY. 
 
 [NOTE. Inasmuch as the greatest (and so far as we 
 can learn, only) opposition urged against the circulation of 
 the first edition of this work, was from the press of Mus- 
 catine, who claim that the population and importance of 
 their city was underrated, the author prefers, in the pre- 
 sent volume, to give the exact statements furnished by two 
 of the most intelligent, deeply interested, and wealthy men 
 of the city : ; 
 
 Population of Muscatine, 7,568. 
 
 Schools two public, and two select. 
 
 Manufactories in operation. Carriage and wagon, 7; 
 boot and shoe, 12 ; cooperage, 7 ; cabinet-ware, 10 ; bed- 
 stead, 1 j chair, 1 ; sash and blind, 3 ; foundery and machine, 
 (small) 1 ; flour-mills, 3 ; saw-mills, 2 ; stave and shingle, 
 2 each. 
 
 Manufactories needed. A large foundery and machine 
 shop, for boilers, engines, &c. j a manufactory for reapers,

 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 165 
 
 and farming implements generally; for wagons, carriages, 
 and furniture. 
 
 Proof. During the past year four of the forwarding 
 houses have received from the East 
 
 Engines 24 
 
 " portable 6 
 
 Boilers, large 27 
 
 Reapers and Thrashers... 206 
 
 Separators - 18 
 
 Corn and Cob Mills 24 
 
 Wagons, large 391 
 
 Carriages and Buggies.... 65 
 
 Also needed. 1st. One or more good, efficient news- 
 papers, with material for good job-work; good printers, 
 with capital to establish themselves in business; 2d, a 
 good academy, or high school, for both sexes in this we 
 are wofully deficient, and a better opening is not to be 
 found in the State ; 3d, a good bookbinder one can do 
 well, and have a clear field. 
 
 Mechanics and business men needed. School-teachers 
 of a superior character; foundrymen, machinists, chair- 
 makers, (an immense number of chairs are landed here for 
 the interior.)] 
 
 This county is situated next below Scott County, on the 
 Mississippi River, and contains an area of 432 square miles. 
 The name of this county was derived from a tribe of In- 
 dians known as the Muscoutins. 
 
 The city of Muscatine is located upon uncommonly 
 broken ground, and a majority of the lots, either for busi- 
 ness or residence?, require grading; the citizens, however, 
 are of that class, who, appreciating the superiority of their 
 location in other respects, have by art made smooth Nature's 
 rough places, and tasteful and stately residences now grace
 
 166 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 bluffs, which, but a few months ago, were almost inacces- 
 sible. 
 
 Two newspapers are published in Muscatine : a Whig, 
 weekly and tri-weekly; and a Democratic, weekly. 
 
 The inhabitants have the character of being second to 
 none in the State in point of intelligence and industry. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES CONTINUED. 
 
 PAGE COUNTY, 
 
 Situated on the Missouri line, and within one county of 
 the Missouri River, is of good arable land, well watered, 
 well timbered, and but sparsely settled, the largest town 
 in the county is the county-seat. Actual settlers will 
 here find locations to suit them, at their own prices. 
 There is yet some vacant land in this, and the adjoining 
 county. 
 
 PALO ALTO COUNTY 
 
 Contains much very excellent land, mainly Prairie. 
 Along the Des Moines River, which passes diagonally 
 through it, scattering bodies of timber are found. Near 
 the centre is Medium Lake, which is about seven miles in 
 length and one in width. A few pioneers are settled in 
 this county.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 167 
 
 POCHAHONTAS COUNTY 
 
 Is composed of prairie almost entirely. The West Fork of 
 the Des Moines River passes through its easterly boundary, 
 and it is pretty well watered by its tributaries. There are 
 yet no settlers in this county. 
 
 POLK COUNTY 
 
 Was opened for settlement in May, 1846. The garrison 
 was removed in July of that year, and in the same month 
 and year, the town of Fort Des Moines was laid out. 
 
 The population of Polk County is upwards of 8000 j 
 that of Fort Des Moines, 1900. 
 
 In the county are Episcopal, Presbyterian (Old and New 
 School), Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic churches the 
 latter but recently established. 
 
 Business of all kinds has increased more rapidly during 
 the past year than ever before. 
 
 Two private schools and one public school in Fort Des 
 Moines ; the former in good condition, affording a respect- 
 able academic course for young ladies and gentlemen. A 
 large District school-house, on the " Union" plan, is in 
 course of erection, to be completed this fall, costing some 
 $6000. 
 
 The Des Moines River passes diagonally through Polk 
 County, entering at the north-west and passing out at the 
 south-east corner. Raccoon River empties into this river 
 at Fort Des Moines. Both of these streams afford nume- 
 rous sites for manufactories and mills. There are several 
 grist and saw-mills in the county, but not a tithe of the
 
 168 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 number that are needed. Our correspondent writes : " We 
 need more shops of all descriptions, and, above all, manu- 
 factories. We want flouring-mills and saw-mills more of 
 them, and on a larger scale. We want brick-makers, car- 
 penters, cabinet-makers, brick and stone masons, plasterers, 
 and, in short, mechanics of all kinds. We want water- 
 wheels and steam-engines, farmers, machinists, and day- 
 laborers." 
 
 Polk County, as well as those adjoining, and those far- 
 ther north and west, is high, rolling prairie, with a due 
 proportion of timber, and is well watered with rivers and 
 creeks, the banks of which abound in coal, lime, sand- 
 stone, and gypsum in great quantities. 
 
 The last session of the Legislature located the Capital 
 of the State at Fort Des Moines, since which time that 
 place has been almost besieged by lawyers, doctors, agents, 
 and land speculators. 
 
 Fort Des Moines is destined to be one of, if not the, 
 largest interior city in the State. The Public Buildings 
 of the State will probably soon be under contract, and the 
 Railroad west from Iowa City is daily nearing this new 
 capital. We anticipate an almost unprecedented advance 
 in the wealth and population of Fort Des Moines during 
 the present year. 
 
 POTTAWATAMIE COUNTY. 
 (See Chapter on Western Iowa and Nebraska.')
 
 DESCRIPTION Or COUNTIES. 169 
 
 POWESHEIK COUNTY 
 
 Is composed principally of prairie soil, with but little 
 timber except on its eastern, western, and northern borders. 
 The county now contains a population of 3200. The Mis- 
 sissippi and Missouri Railroad passes through the centre 
 of the county, and its completion will add much to the 
 wealth, size, and importance of every town on the line, and 
 to the county at large. Grinnell is on this railroad, and 
 though but 18 months old, contains steam-mills and manu- 
 factories, and 300 inhabitants. The " People's College" 
 of Iowa is located here, and funds are in the hands of the 
 Trustees for the erection of the first building this year. 
 The District school-house under contract here, will cost, 
 completed, $5000. 
 
 RINGGOLD COUNTY 
 
 Is situated on the Missouri State line, has been recently 
 organized and contains but about 800 inhabitants. The 
 only organized town in the county is Mount Air, the 
 county-seat, with a population of about 100 inhabitants. 
 This county is densely timbered in some portions, and well 
 watered. There is vacant land in this and the adjoining 
 counties, to enter. 
 
 SAC COUNTY 
 
 Is an excellent county of land, well watered by the Coon 
 and Boyer Rivers, and their tributaries. New Munich is 
 a town recently laid out by Thomas Cavanaugh, Esq., 40 
 miles west of Fort Dodge, on the State road. This is a 
 delightful prairie location, adjoining large bodies of timber. 
 15
 
 I 
 
 170 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 A steam saw-mill and other machinery is being erected. 
 This will be the county-seat. Mechanics and farmers, here 
 is an open field for you. 
 
 SCOTT COUNTY 
 
 Is situated on the Mississippi (which bounds it on the 
 east and south), and is the lower one of the trio which 
 occupy a front and central rank among the counties bor- 
 dering on the river. The first permanent settlement in 
 the county was made by Antoine Le Claire, in the spring 
 of 1833. During the next year several families and com- 
 panies of whites crossed over as " squatters," settling upon 
 such "claims" as might suit their fancy. Mr. Le Claire 
 was for many years intimately and responsibly identified 
 with our government in its intercourse with the Indians 
 of the north-west, being in government service, as inter- 
 preter and Indian agent, from 1813 to 1843 30 years; 
 and in some ten or twelve important treaties, he was the 
 principal or only interpreter, and as such attended the 
 government officers on the occasion. His familiarity with 
 some fourteen Indian dialects, as well as with the English 
 and French languages, and his being the great-grand-son 
 of a chief, and his wife the descendant of another, gave 
 him an influence with, and a knowledge of the Indian 
 tribes, such as no other individual of his day possessed. 
 
 The marquee of Gen. Scott, in which was held the 
 treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians, was erected upon the 
 identical spot, which has, since 1833, been occupied by 
 Mr. Le Claire as a residence. On the preceding page is

 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 presented a view of the Le Claire Homestead, which was 
 occupied as a residence by Mr. Le Claire from 1833 to 
 1854. In the spring of 1854 it was given up to the Mis- 
 sissippi and Missouri Railroad Company, as a location for 
 their passenger depot. 
 
 At the period of the treaty made by Gen. Scott, the 
 cholera was prevailing among the soldiers in the Fort, and 
 the meeting, instead of being held on the Island, was, from 
 prudential considerations, transferred to the main shore, 
 though not outside of the range of the guns of the Fort. 
 It was in this marquee that the chief of the Sacs made a 
 present of a mile square of land to Mrs. Le Claire, and, 
 striking his foot upon the turf, told Mr. Le Claire that the 
 only condition he asked was that he should build his house 
 upon that spot a condition that was speedily complied with. 
 
 The treaty was held in the fall of 1832, and ratified by 
 Congress the following winter. In the spring of 1833, Mr. 
 Le Claire erected a small building, or " shanty," in the 
 then Fox village, " Morgan," which had occupied this 
 ground for years previous. Of the tribe having this as 
 their head-quarters, Maquopom was the head warrior, and 
 Powesheik head chief. In the fall of 1834, the Sac and 
 Fox Indians left here for the Cedar River. In the spring 
 of 1836 the town of Davenport was laid out under the 
 supervision of Alexander W. McGregor, Esq., one of the 
 first who camped and cabined here ; and whose son, now 
 18 years of age, is the oldest native of Scott County. 
 Additions have recently been made to the original plat, 
 until the present city limits extend 3 miles along the river, 
 and probably two in width.
 
 
 172 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 Rock Island is about three miles in length, with an aver- 
 age width of half a mile, and contains therefore nearly one 
 thousand acres. The rapids commence some twelve miles 
 above it and terminate at its foot. Moline and the city of 
 Rock Island, on the Illinois shore, are opposite its extreme 
 endings, and the city of Davenport and East Davenport 
 occupy nearly the same relation to it on the Iowa side. At 
 the foot of the Island stands old Fort Armstrong, built in 
 1816, by Col. Mason, U. S. A. Half a mile distant, on 
 the north side of the Island, is the residence of the late 
 Col. Davenport, who was for more than 30 years a partner in 
 the American Fur Company, and an Indian trader. On the 
 4th of July, 1845, a band of robbers entered his beautiful 
 residence in the middle of the day, in the absence of his 
 family, and in robbing him accidentally shot him ; he died 
 the same night. After having lived a frontier life for so many 
 years, and having passed through a long and bloody Indian 
 war, he was doomed to die by the hands of desperadoes. 
 All the murderers were taken ; three were hung at Rock 
 Island, the same year but two escaped, and are yet at 
 large. From 1837 to '40, and up to '45, Iowa and north- 
 ern Illinois were infested by the most daring set of outlaws 
 that have ever visited the western world. But the supre- 
 macy of the laws has banished them from our midst, and 
 Iowa is again comparatively free from crime. 
 
 The Island is now covered with a dense growth of young 
 timber, of every variety, that flourishes in this climate. Forty 
 years ago, Mr. Le Claire states, this ground was covered 
 by a very dense forest, but the soldiers stationed in the Fort
 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 173 
 
 and the early settlers of the country, destroyed much of it 
 for fuel and other purposes, and finally fire was communi- 
 cated to the bed of leaves which had accumulated there for 
 ages, and swept the Island of its crowning glory. The pre- 
 sent growth of timber dates its origin subsequent to this fire. 
 " The Island, with the exception of a fractional quarter 
 section of about one hundred and fifty-five acres, which was 
 given to Col. Davenport, belongs to the government. The 
 motives which led to withholding it from sale, so long as 
 Fort Armstrong was occupied, and there remained a neces- 
 sity of keeping an armed force in this vicinity, are evident 
 enough. But the Fort was really abandoned in 1835, and 
 the policy which has induced the government to retain its 
 hold upon the Island since that period, is not so apparent. 
 Numerous efibrts have been made to obtain an order for its 
 sale, and it is to be feared, in too many instances, with the 
 view of securing the possession of it to a few favored indi- 
 viduals. Twice have such orders been issued by the proper 
 departments, but on both occasions the sale was not per- 
 mitted to proceed. Under the circumstances it was well 
 that it did not. This magnificent body of land, lying here 
 in the midst of so much beauty, and surrounded by towns 
 which bid fair to become the seat of an immense com- 
 merce, should not be permitted to fall into the hands of 
 mere speculators. But the Island should unquestionably 
 pass from public to private ownership. As it is, it answers 
 no useful end to the government or to individuals, and its 
 being retained by the former retards in many ways the 
 prosperity of the neighboring towns and country." 
 15*
 
 174 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Since the completion of the Chicago and Rock Island 
 Railroad, Davenport has moved forward with rapid strides ; 
 and the extension of the M. & M. R. R. to Iowa City, has 
 made this place an important commercial point. Along 
 the line of this pioneer Iowa railroad, villages and towns 
 have sprung up at the several depot stations, each forming 
 a nucleus for larger towns, and an outlet for the products 
 of au extensive agricultural district. Of these we can give 
 the names of Wolcott, Fulton, Duvant, Junction, and Mos- 
 cow, on the Cedar River. 
 
 Le Claire, 13 miles above Davenport, is a thrifty town 
 of 1600 inhabitants. Being at the head of the Upper Ra- 
 pids, this place possesses an advantage over points below, 
 as a lumber mart, and renders it, during the season of low 
 water, a re-shipping point ; goods being transported by wa- 
 gons between Davenport and Le Claire, around the Rapids. 
 
 In Davenport, in 1854, there were 400 buildings erected ; 
 in 1855, 600, of a better class larger and more substan- 
 tial; and in 1860, the prospect is that at least 1000 more 
 will be added to the present " Bridge City." During the 
 past two years, six large and commodious church edifices 
 have been erected and dedicated ; mills, manufactories, and 
 business blocks have been built which would be an honor 
 to the largest commercial cities. 
 
 The following statistics will give some idea of the busi- 
 ness transacted : exported in 1855, barley, 60,000 bus. ; 
 wheat, 364,000; corn, 150,000; oats, 12,000; rye, 5,000; 
 potatoes, 52,700 ; onions, 16,500. Hogs, 20,000. This 
 account does not include the numerous droves of hogs and
 
 DESCRIPTION Or COUNTIES. 175 
 
 cattle, and the loads of grain and produce that daily cross 
 the river, and are sent east by the Rock Island Railroad. 
 Beside the lumber bought from rafts, and that brought 
 from Chicago, there were 10,475,000 feet sawed and sold 
 from the mills of this city. Capital invested in manufac- 
 turing, $700,000 ; in trade and merchandise, $1,000,000 j 
 in banking, $397,000. The four banking houses, beside 
 their land business, have sold of exchange, $2,650,000 ; 
 discounted and loaned, $1,240,000. The above figures ap- 
 ply to last year, 1855. 
 
 Of churches there are 1 Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, (0. 
 S.), 1 Congregational, 2 Baptist, 1 each, Methodist, Luthe- 
 ran, and Disciples, and 2 Catholic Churches, and 16 cler- 
 gymen. 
 
 Of educational institutions, the Iowa College, (Congre- 
 gational), the Ladies' College, and the Public School edi- 
 fices, are each (just being finished), large and commodious 
 buildings, possessing all the modern improvements, and lo- 
 cated upon sites commanding most extensive and pictu- 
 resque landscape views. 
 
 We have devoted more space to the description of Scott 
 County, the Island, &c., than to any other county in the 
 State, but probably no more than they deserve. At no 
 point in the whole Mississippi Valley is presented a more 
 beautiful location for a city than here, and nowhere else in 
 the West can be found two cities of the size of Rock Island 
 and Davenport, opposite each other, together concentrating 
 a population of nearly 25,000 inhabitants; individually
 
 176 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 cities of great importance to the West together forming 
 one of the most attractive points on the Upper Mississippi. 
 
 The purlieus of these two cities have also been the 
 scenes of a number of incidents, which tend to imbue with 
 a deep and thrilling interest, the early history of Iowa. 
 A relation of these would occupy a greater space than it is 
 in our power at present to devote to them ; but we are pre- 
 paring to compile them, together with an accurate and com- 
 pendious history of the primitive days of the entire State, 
 for publication at an early period. 
 
 Since our chapter on Geology was completed, and in 
 print, an extensive bed of Cannelcoal has been penetrated, 
 in Scott County, which promises to be of great value to its 
 possessors. The area underlaid by this bank embraces 
 several acres. Specimens of this coal which have been 
 furnished us, burn well, are very light and brittle, and sus- 
 ceptible of a polish, though inferior to the Cannel coal of 
 Pennsylvania. It is thought by colliers that the better 
 qualities are farther in the banks. In our next edition we 
 shall be able to give a chemical analysis of the properties 
 of this coal. 
 
 SHELBY COUNTY, 
 
 Lying north of Pottawattamie, is well supplied with 
 water, timber, and building materials. Most of the land 
 in this county, and in those adjoining on the north and 
 east, is to be entered at $1.25 per acre. For description 
 of soil and climate see chapter on " Western Iowa."
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 177 
 
 STORY COUNTY 
 
 Is a good body of prairie land, lying north of Polk, and 
 between Boone and Marshall. Recently organized and 
 sparsely settled. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES CONCLUDED. 
 TAMA COUNTY. 
 
 THE county-seat of Tama was but two years old last No- 
 vember. In February, 1856, it contained 200 inhabitants 
 the county upwards of 500. In 1850, the county con- 
 tained but 8 inhabitants 5 males and 3 females some- 
 thing of an increase ! 
 
 Hydraulic privileges excellent in the county, on the 
 Iowa River also, an abundance of water-power on Deer, 
 Wolfe, Honey, and Otter Creeks. We have 4 saw-mills 
 2 water, 2 steam. One flouring-mill, with two runs of 
 stones. 
 
 Excellent opening for lumber, flour, or woollen manu- 
 factories, at Toledo and Indiantown. 
 
 Tama County is of rich, alluvial soil. The prairie and 
 timber lands are exceedingly well proportioned to each 
 other. Both upland and river-bottom timber in abundance 
 for all the wants of the county, for fencing, building, and
 
 178 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 purposes of fuel. It is confidently asserted that there is an 
 abundance of coal in the county, but no banks have as yet 
 been opened. 
 
 The face of the county is greatly undulating, with a 
 good proportion of river bottom, two to four miles in width 
 well watered. The soil yields wheat, hemp, oats, corn, 
 rye, barley, beans, peas, potatoes, and tobacco, each in 
 great abundance; and with but little care as to culture. 
 Native fruits grow in great variety, such as the grape, crab- 
 apple, plum, gooseberry, strawberry, and raspberry, each 
 growing in abundance.* 
 
 Indiantown contains a population of 200 inhabitants, 
 and is rapidly increasing. The growth and prosperity of 
 the place has been much retarded by the scarcity of lum- 
 ber, although one of the most extensive bodies of timber 
 in the State adjoins the town on the north, and the water- 
 power afforded by the Iowa, at this point, is unsurpassed 
 in this section. Those who contemplate establishing grist 
 or saw-mills, will do well to investigate the claims and 
 wants of this point. The land is principally owned by ac- 
 tual settlers, who support churches and schools, build 
 bridges and make good roads. 
 
 VAN BUREN COUNTY. 
 
 The earliest settlements in this county were begun in 
 1834-5. Keosauqua, the county-seat, was laid out and 
 settled in 1837. The proprietors were Messrs. James 
 
 * All that is said of the productions of the soil of Tama, will ap- 
 ply to most counties of the State. ED.
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 1- 9 
 
 Hall, John Fairman, John Cams, M. Sigler, and E. Man- 
 ning. 
 
 The population of Keosauqua is about 1500; of the 
 county, by last census, 13,843. 
 
 There are two thriving churches, Congregationalist and 
 Methodist, and several other religious societies. 
 
 There is one newspaper, the " Democratic Union," pub- 
 lished in Keosauqua. No other in the county. 
 
 One public school, having from 100 to 120 scholars 
 in attendance. There are also one private school for 
 young ladies, and two high schools, all well patronized and 
 supported ; in addition to which, the citizens of Keosauqua 
 contemplate the building of a seminary during the present 
 year. 
 
 There are three grist-mills in the town and vicinity, (one 
 water-power and two steam,) and also two saw-mills. The 
 water-power that is now about to be furnished, by the com- 
 pletion of the lock and dam at this place, will not be sur- 
 passed in the State. 
 
 A woollen manufactory, paper mill, and manufactories 
 of shingles, plows, wagons, and agricultural implements, 
 and also a good merchant flouring-mill, are very much 
 needed. The inducements are readily seen and understood 
 by practical men. 
 
 The character of the country may be described as being 
 well divided between prairie and timber. There is a large 
 supply of good timber along the Des Moines River, on both 
 sides. The soil is rich, and produces all the crops con- 
 genial to the climate, in the greatest abundance.
 
 180 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 The Des Moines improvement, when finished, will afford 
 an uninterrupted navigation to St. Louis and New Orleans] 
 and at present, even without the improvement, we have 
 steamboat navigation from two to four months, during the 
 spring and summer. 
 
 Bentonsport contains about 600 inhabitants, supports 2 
 schools and 2 churches ; and has in operation 2 saw-mills, 
 .2 lath mills, 1 flouring mill, 1 paper mill, 1 linseed oil 
 mill, and 1 establishment for manufacturing all kinds of 
 farming implements. Mechanics of all kinds are needed. 
 Farmington, Bonaparte, Vernon, Pleasant Hill, Philadel- 
 phia, Portland, New Market and lowaville, are each pros- 
 perous towns, and are becoming points of importance. 
 
 Bonaparte also contains a good flouring-mill, two saw- 
 mills, and an extensive brick woollen -factory. 
 
 Farmington, below Bonaparte, is also a consfderable 
 town, and contains nearly 1000 inhabitants, two or three 
 grist and saw-mills, one foundry, and one engine establish- 
 ment. There are also several smaller towns in the county, 
 off from the river, some of which are prominent, and 
 rapidly improving. 
 
 *'+ 
 WAPELLO COUNTY 
 
 Was opened to settlement on the 1st of May, 1843, and 
 organized in April, 1844. It is claimed by residents to bo 
 one of the best tracts of land in the State. The Dea 
 Moines River passes diagonally through the county. The 
 water-power, as furnished by that river and Cedar Creek, 
 is abundant, the banks of the streams also being rich in 
 limestone of the best quality, and excellent sand, which,
 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 181 
 
 together with the extensive tracts of timber, render it one 
 of the most desirable counties in the interior of the State. 
 The population of Wapello was 8,466, since which time the 
 county has settled more rapidly than at any previous period. 
 The number of votes polled at the general election in 1854 
 was 1502. 
 
 Ottumwa, the county-seat, is situated at what are called 
 the Appanoose Rapids, on the Des Moines River, distant 
 twenty-five miles from Fairfield, and seven from Agency 
 City, (the old Sac and Fox Agency). 
 
 Respecting the Rapids at this place, Mr. Newhall writes : 
 "In August, 1845, a survey of the Appanoose Rapids at 
 this place was made by David Armstrong, Esq., when it 
 was ascertained that there passed at the Rapids, every 
 minute, 42,000 cubic feet of water ; a sufficient quantity to 
 fill a lock 42 feet wide, and 150 feet long; being enough to 
 run 28 pair of burrs, 4 feet in diameter, under a head of 6 
 feet water. There is a fall of 4 feet at these Rapids, in one 
 mile; and a dam, 5 feet high, would give 6 feet 10 inches 
 rise and fall." 
 
 Several mills and other manufactories have already been 
 erected at Ottumwa, which place will become one of the 
 most flourishing cities in the interior of the State, when 
 her water-power and other capabilities are fairly deve- 
 loped. 
 
 Agency City is situated some seven miles from the centre 
 
 of the county, and in beauty of locality, and natural 
 
 scenery, will compare favorably with any point in the 
 
 interior. The late Indian Agencj was here located by 
 
 16
 
 182 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Gen. Street, who considered it a favorable situation in all 
 respects. 
 
 Eddyville is situated on the Des Moines River, in the 
 extreme north-west corner of the county, upon the site of 
 an old Indian trading-post. The society in Eddysville is 
 as good as in any place of its size in the State. Churches 
 and schools are well supported, and the edifices and build- 
 ings are of a size and character that would do honor to places 
 of greater pretensions. 
 
 WAYNE COUNTY 
 
 Was organized in 1851, the first settlements were 
 made in 1848. Corydon, the county-seat, was located in 
 1852. This section is very sparsely settled, there being 
 but about 500 voters in the county, and less than 100 citi- 
 zens in Corydon. 
 
 Several churches are scattered over the county : Presby- 
 terian, Methodist, Baptist, and Campbellite denominations 
 two of them Methodist making a total of five. 
 
 The county is well supplied with schools. No news- 
 papers. 
 
 With an abundance of excellent water-power, Wayne 
 County invites machinists, capitalists, and manufacturers. 
 No machinery in the county. Timber is not so plenty as 
 in some other counties, but the quality of the land is second 
 to none. Considerable land unentered. 
 
 WEBSTER COUNTY. 
 
 This is the largest county in the State, containing 
 921,600 acres of land, comprising what was formely known
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 183 
 
 as Yell, Risley, and the south half of Humboldt. The 
 present population of the county is between three and four 
 thousand. The soil is equal in richness to that of any 
 county in the State deep and easily worked : in the latter 
 respect, superior to the soil of the southern and middle 
 counties. The surface is gently undulating and in no part 
 broken. The Des Moines River, with its branches, the 
 Boone, Lizara, East and West Forks of the Des Moines, 
 White Fox, and Eagle, with their tributaries, pass through 
 the county in every direction, affording an abundant supply 
 of water for farm use, and water-power unsurpassed in the 
 State. There is a sufficiency of timber on all these streams. 
 Coal is abundant on the Des Moines and Boone rivers, and 
 in the vicinity of Fort Dodge some of the finest beds in 
 the State are found. Also gypsum beds (covering a space 
 of about sixteen square miles), commencing about one mile 
 north of Fort Dodge, and extending about seven miles 
 south on the river) are found. These beds are inexhausti- 
 ble and of the finest quality. Iron ore, lime-stone of the 
 best quality for lime, and building sandstone, hydraulic 
 limestone, clays, from the coarse material for brick to the 
 fine potter's clay (said by competent judges to be of the 
 best variety), abound. Also varieties of ochre, both yel- 
 low and red ; springs of as clear, pure water as flow from 
 the rocky beds of Maine are abundant. Improvements are 
 going on rapidly. There are already six water saw-mills, 
 three steam saw-mills, and one grist-mill in the county, and 
 three grist-mills and two saw-mills contracted to be built 
 the coming season. Fort Dodge, Webster City, and Hcmer, 
 are the principal towns in the county. At Fort Dodge the
 
 184 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Land office is located. There are no church buildings 
 yet erected. In Fort Dodge a literary association is incor- 
 porated, with a small library, and a fund of about $300. 
 A lot has been donated by the proprietors of the town, 
 upon which it is the intention of the association to build in 
 a short time. 
 
 Webster City (originally called New Castle), is situated 
 22 miles east of Fort Dodge, on the Dubuque road, has a 
 saw-mill, lath-machine, and other machinery in operation. 
 This being one of the most fertile regions in the State, 
 with an abundance of water-power, and well-timbered, an 
 extensive manufactory of agricultural implements would do 
 well here. The present population of the town is 200. 
 
 Homer, the county seat, is situated 19 miles south-east 
 of Ft. Dodge, on the Ft. Des Moines road. Population 300. 
 
 Border Plains, 10 miles south of Fort Dodge. Hurn- 
 boldt, 13 miles north of Fort Dodge, in the forks of tho 
 East and West branches of the Des Moines River. 
 
 Dahkotah is situated 16 miles north of Fort Dodge, and 
 3 miles north of Huiqfroldt. 
 
 WINNEBAGO AND WORTH COUNTIES 
 
 Are situated west of Mitchell and east of Kossuth, in 
 the northern tier of counties. Most of the land in these 
 counties is unentered ; and no towns have yet been located 
 in either of them. 
 
 WINNESHEIK COUNTY 
 
 Is bounded on the north by Minnesota, on the east by 
 Alamakee County, on the south by Fayette, and on the
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 185 
 
 west by Chickasaw and Howard Counties. It was occu- 
 pied by Winnebago Indians until the year 1848, when they 
 were removed by Government. Previous to that time 
 there were no settlers in the county. Fort Atkinson was 
 built about the year 1843, for the protection of the settle- 
 ments against the incursions of the Indians. 
 
 The Old Mission, as it is familiarly called, was formerly 
 a missionary-station, under the patronage of Government. 
 Both the Fort and Mission have been abandoned, and, 
 although in the charge of keepers, are rapidly going to 
 decay. The land about both, comprising 5 square miles, 
 is still reserved from sale, and is exceedingly fertile. 
 
 Among the first settlers may be mentioned Francis 
 Rogers, David Reed, George Ream, William Day, and "Wm. 
 Painter. The first settlement was made soon after the 
 removal of the Indians in 1848. The population of the 
 county is estimated at about 5000. 
 
 The climate of Winnesheik County resembles that of New 
 York City, although the winters are much shorter, and the 
 autumns very long, mild, and beautiful. The spring gene- 
 rally opens about the 15th of March. The summer is never 
 excessively warm, except where the wind is shut out by the 
 bluffs or timber. 
 
 In soil, this county is not excelled. It is a rich black 
 loam, and has a depth of from one to six feet. It has a 
 very slight mixture of sand. Of course, the deepest soil is 
 to be found upon the bottoms. The county is well tim- 
 bered ; about one-fourth of it is heavily timbered, one-third 
 16*
 
 186 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 is prairie, and the balance is burr-oak openings, affording 
 plenty of firewood and rails. 
 
 The county is well watered by the Upper Iowa, Turkey, 
 and Canoe Rivers, and numerous smaller streams. The 
 Upper Iowa is a beautiful stream, with rock and gravel 
 bed, good banks, swift current, and pure water. The 
 Turkey River, which runs through the south-west part of 
 the county, is also a beautiful stream. The Canoe, which 
 is a branch of the Iowa River, is a fine stream, somewhat 
 smaller than the other two, but all of them afford abundance 
 of mill-power. 
 
 Trout Creek is worthy of note. This stream, which is in 
 size about one-third as large as the Upper Iowa, breaks 
 forth in one large spring from the foot of a perpendicular 
 bluff, about two and a half miles from its mouth. It 
 abounds in speckled trout, and is a favorite resort for 
 sportsmen. It rises about two and a half miles south from 
 Decorah, and empties into the Upper Iowa River two miles 
 south-east from that town, at the southernmost bend of the 
 river. 
 
 In general, the surface of the country is gently rolling ; 
 near the large streams it is bluffy, but the high lands are 
 easily accessible by means of the many ravines running in 
 all directions. The prairies are small, well watered, and 
 agreeably diversified with groves and thickets. Washing- 
 ton, Franklin, and Looking-Glass Prairies are noted for 
 their excellent adaptation to farming purposes. 
 
 This county cannot be excelled for stock raising. Sheep
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 187 
 
 do remarkably well ; already there are many flocks of fine 
 blooded ones in the county. 
 
 The prevailing rock is lime-stone, which, near the sur- 
 face, is soft and shelly, but below it is hard and solid. It 
 is always found in layers of a good thickness for building 
 purposes. 
 
 Coal is said to have been found in the western part of the 
 county. 
 
 There are a number of religious societies formed in the 
 county, among which are Congregationalists, Presbyterians, 
 Methodists, Quakers, and Lutherans. 
 
 There are a number of saw-mills, and, although on a 
 small scale, they do a good business. The Decorah saw- 
 mill has one saw which cuts 3000 feet of lumber in twenty- 
 four hours. 
 
 There are also a number of grist-mills in the county, 
 doing a thriving business. Decorah grist-mill has two run 
 of stones, which grind 680 bushels of wheat in twenty-four 
 hours. 
 
 Dunning's grist-mill, near Decorah, is situated under a 
 large spring, with fifty feet fall of water. 
 
 An extensive plow factory has recently been erected in 
 Decorah. 
 
 The manufactories most needed at present are : woollen 
 factories, chair factories, sash and door factories, grist-mills, 
 lath-mills, iron foundries, and factories for the manufacture 
 of agricultural implements. The inducements for their 
 erection are the abundance of water-power and materials, 
 and the great demand for their products.
 
 188 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Farmers are much needed the inducements for them 
 being plenty of vacant land and excellent markets. 
 
 Mechanics are very much needed, especially carpenters, 
 masons, millwrights, coopers, saddlers, watchmakers, tinners, 
 cabinet-makers, and painters. The inducements for them 
 are plenty of work and good pay. 
 
 Decorah was first settled in the spring of 1849, by Win. 
 Day, who was followed in June by Wm. Painter. These 
 men for some time were obliged to grind their own flour in a 
 coffee-mill, and bolt it through a sieve. They lived compa- 
 paratively alone until the year 1851, when the first saw-mill 
 and store were commenced. The same year a survey was 
 made of a few lots, and the place was called Decorah, after 
 a celebrated Winnebago chief, whose grave is still to be 
 seen at the foot of the beautiful eminence upon which the 
 public buildings of the county are about to be erected. The 
 town was re-surveyed, enlarged, and recorded in 1853, 
 since which it has rapidly improved, and now contains about 
 800 inhabitants. It commands an extensive trade with 
 Winnesheik, Howard, and Mitchell Counties, and also with 
 a large portion of Minnesota. The business of the place 
 for the past year is estimated at $80,000. 
 
 During the last year Decorah has amazingly increased in 
 size, population, and enterprise. The location of the United 
 States Land Office at this place, during the past season, 
 has brought in many energetic business, and wealthy men, 
 and has given the place a start which places it in the fore- 
 most rank among the towns of Iowa. The society for the 
 most part is made up of Eastern people ; and strangers in
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 189 
 
 search of elevated, polite, and refined society, can find it 
 here. The Decorah common school, numbering 175 scholars, 
 and the Decorah High School, are in a flourishing condition. 
 
 Steps are being taken for the immediate erection of the 
 county buildings, and two churches (Methodist and Con- 
 gregational). Building is constantly going on ; midwinter 
 does not stop it, and workmen can hardly spare time to eat 
 their meals or take their nightly rest. 
 
 The "Decorah Weekly Chronicle" commenced opera- 
 tions last fall, and is very well sustained. 
 
 Daily four-horse coaches connect Decorah with Du- 
 buque, St. Paul, Brownsville, Lansing, McGregor, Clay- 
 ton, Garnavillo, Guttenburg, Elkader, and West Union, 
 giving the place daily mails in every direction. The 
 Prairie Du Chien and Maukato Air Line Railroad will pass 
 through Decorah, and no doubt is entertained that it will 
 be built at an early day. Decorah has 14 or 15 stores, 
 dealing in the usual variety of merchandise, and yet there 
 is plenty of room for more. Two first class Lawyers are 
 wanted, and none need apply but those who can repeat 40 
 pages of Kent, one volume of Blackstone, and every word 
 of the " American Lawyer and Form Book." Decorah is 
 supplied with Brokers and Land Agents too numerous to 
 mention. 
 
 Of manufactories, Decorah has in operation a steam saw- 
 mill, plow factory, fanning-mill, and machine shop; one 
 saw and two grist mills running by water; one wagon- 
 shop, cabinet-shops, tin-shop also blacksmiths, shoe- 
 makers, saddlers, tailors, milliners, &c.
 
 190 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 
 
 Freeport, 200 inhabitants, 1 school, saw and grist mill, &c. 
 
 Frankville, 150 
 
 1 
 
 steam saw mill. 
 
 Bluffton, 75 
 
 1 
 
 saw and grist mill. 
 
 Cliffton, 50 
 
 1 
 
 saw mill. 
 
 Burr Oak, 75 
 
 1 
 
 
 Moneek, 100 
 
 1 
 
 saw mill. 
 
 Calmar, 50 
 
 
 Hooper, 50 
 
 steam saw mill. 
 
 Enterprise, 30 
 
 saw mill. 
 
 Ossian, 30 
 
 
 (For particulars respecting railroads projected through 
 this country, and the most feasible routes, as well as the 
 locations of streams and minerals, reference is made to 
 " Parker's Sectional and Geological Map of Iowa.") 
 
 WOODBURY COUNTY 
 
 Is situated on the Missouri River, due west from Du- 
 buque County. The first settlement was made in the 
 county in 1853. This county embraces twenty-four whole 
 townships and three fractional townships. 
 
 Sergeant's Bluff City is the largest in the county, and 
 the most pleasantly situated town on the Upper Missouri, 
 located on Sec. 25, T. 88, N. Range 48, West. The Bluff 
 from which this town derives its name, is 3 miles above, 
 on the river, where Sergeant Floyd was interred, August 
 20, 1804, by his companions Lewis and Clarke, while on 
 their expedition to Oregon. Some of the advantages 
 claimed for this point, over others in this section of country, 
 are these : 
 
 1. The beauty and healthfulness of the location, and the
 
 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 191 
 
 good taste and liberality exhibited in the plan of the 
 town. It is divided into wards 1300 feet square, by streets 
 100 feet wide, crossing each other at right-angles; these 
 wards are divided into blocks by streets 80 feet wide, run- 
 ning parallel with the 100 feet streets. At the crossing 
 of the 100 feet streets there are 4 lots thrown off, forming 
 market squares. In the centre of each ward is a park 280 
 feet wide by 400 feet long making, in the area of 600 
 acres, 8 of those parks, and 15 market squares, besides a 
 suitable levee. The blocks are usually divided into 12 lots, 
 66 by 132 feet each. 
 
 2. It is the natural outlet of the finest portion of the 
 Missouri valley, and the only crossing for the railroads 
 projected west from Dubuque and Clinton, via Fort Dodge. 
 Dahkotah, a pleasantly situated town, lies just opposite in 
 Nebraska, and is the "northern gate" of the Territory. 
 This is also the most feasible point for the St. Paul rail- 
 road to strike the Missouri, and follow down this valley to 
 St. Joseph's, Mo., and to these considerations, add the fact 
 that this town holds the only Ferry Charter to cross the Mis- 
 souri River, for five miles south, and twenty miles north, 
 and you will anticipate its future. 
 
 3. There is in the vicinity of this town an abundance 
 of building stone, and clay and sand for making brick; 
 large tracts of timber land, and a steam saw-mill and 
 shingle machine, are also in and adjoining the town ; which 
 are advantages of importance to those wishing to locate 
 and build.
 
 192 DESCRIPTION OP COUNTIES. 
 
 4. The proprietors propose to donate building lots and 
 furnish a portion of the building materials to actual settlers 
 who will locate and build the present spring. They have 
 also made liberal donations of grounds for the erection of 
 buildings for the North-Western College of Iowa, for the 
 erection of a Congregational and a Methodist church, and 
 for a Female Academy ; and one large park, each, to the 
 Odd Fellows, and Masonic Orders both of these parks to 
 be built upon and ornamented with trees and shrubbery. 
 
 Sioux City, is situated 7 miles north of Sergeant's Bluff 
 City, and is the present location of the United States Land 
 Office of the Sioux River District. The greater portion of 
 the land in this district is not yet in market. 
 
 Improved lands can be had in Woodbury County at fair 
 prices, and unbroken prairie at government price. The pro- 
 prietors of these rival towns offer great inducements to me- 
 chanics, farmers and capitalists to locate with them. " Profes- 
 sional gentlemen need no invitation, they come West without 
 inducement," says a correspondent in a thrifty western inland 
 town. Mechanics' wages are high and work plenty. (Par- 
 ticulars may be learned of this section of the State, and 
 vacant lands located, by addressing N. H. Parker, at Clin- 
 ton, Iowa, or Parker and Crocknell, Sergeant's Bluff City, 
 or Parker and Davis, Sioux City.) 
 
 WRIGHT COUNTY. 
 
 Excellent soil, same character as Webster County. Con- 
 tains about three or four hundred inhabitants was organ-
 
 DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 193 
 
 ized at the last August election. Otsego is the county-seat. 
 The timber is of good quality, and well distributed along 
 the Boone and Iowa rivers. These two rivers, with their 
 tributaries, afford an abundance of water and water-powers. 
 There are two saw-mills in the county, and improvements 
 are going on rapidly. Stone coal has been found on the 
 Boone Kiver, but to what extent cannot yet be determined. 
 The surface of the county is gently undulating. 
 
 17
 
 194 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 [WE are indebted to the editor of the " Council Bluffs 
 Eagle" for most of the matter under this head. The read- 
 er will therefore understand which portions of the articles 
 refer to Pottawattamie County, in particular.] 
 
 Geography. That portion of Western Iowa lying west 
 of the Des Moines River, is the most rolling, uneven and 
 picturesque, of the choice lands, in the United States. Al- 
 though this region is almost entirely composed of hills, 
 swells, ridges, valleys, and bottom lands, thrown together 
 in the most grand and poetic manner, there is scarcely an 
 acre of waste land in the whole region; even the highest 
 points and peaks abound with luxurious grass and vegeta- 
 tion, or timber and copsewood, whilst the slopes, valleys, 
 and bottom lands, together with the upland prairies, are 
 the most rich and fertile ever inhabited. 
 
 The soil is a rich, black, light, sandy loam, extremely 
 easy of cultivation, and of a depth of from one to ten feet. 
 Although the soil is naturally extremely light and loose, it 
 resists to a wonderful degree the evil effects of drought 
 upon vegetation. In 1854, when the countries east and 
 south were parched, and crops destroyed for want of rain,
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 195 
 
 ours were remarkably heavy, and seemed uninjured, al- 
 though we had little or no more rain than our neighbours. 
 
 Timber. There are heavy bodies of hard wood timber 
 on the margin of, and adjacent to, the Des Moines River, 
 and a reasonable quantity interspersed through the counties 
 northwest ; yet upon the route directly west to this place, 
 timber is extremely scarce for an hundred miles, being 
 found only in detached groves upon streams : but as one ap- 
 proaches the elope of the Missouri River, the groves and 
 clusters of timber become more frequent, and in this imme- 
 diate vicinity there is sufficient for all reasonable demands. 
 In several of the counties north, timber is still more abun- 
 dant, and in Shelby County there is one grove alone that 
 contains nearly thirty square miles of good timber. Through 
 this region generally, there are an abundance of young 
 groves of timber, which, if the fires do not destroy it, will 
 increase quite as fast as the older and more mature portions 
 are used up. The most valuable varieties are oak, (three 
 or four varieties), black walnut, hickory, linn, elm, cotton- 
 wood, hackberry, black locust, and coffee bean. 
 
 Upon the bottom lands, the cottonwood, black walnut, 
 and elm are found, and in the higher lands, the other 
 varieties. 
 
 Minerals. There is no doubt but that an abundance of 
 coal exists in this region ; few beds have, however, yet 
 been opened, but those prove to be of an excellent quality. 
 There are fine quarries of lime-rock, sand and slate-stone. 
 
 Climate. Our climate is similar to that of Northern 
 Ohio, but we have less snow and probably a little more
 
 196 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 wind. It produces about the same varieties of crops, fruits, 
 and vegetables. The roads are extremely hard and smooth 
 during all the year, except the season of Spring. The 
 evening twilights are long, soft and pleasant, in the Sum- 
 mer season, usually continuing for nearly two hours after 
 sunset. The evenings, even after the hottest days, are 
 usually cool and pleasant. A refreshing breeze is almost 
 constantly blowing from off the prairies. 
 
 Wild Fruits and Vegetation. The wild prairies are co- 
 vered with a rich, luxurious growth of grass, varying in 
 height from twenty inches to five feet, which makes the 
 finest of grazing, or hay, and which only requires cutting and 
 stacking, not being as liable to injury as the tame grasses. 
 For late feed, the pea-vines and rushes in the low lands, 
 make feed that frequently will keep stock in good order all 
 winter. There are various bulbous roots that grow wild, 
 such as in years past the Indians have gathered for food. 
 Among the best is the wild potatoe, the bean, and. arti- 
 choke. Hogs eat these voraciously. Among the best of our 
 wild fruits may be reckoned plums, gooseberries, straw- 
 berries, raspberries. There are crab apples, and haws, 
 which grow in abundance, and the finest we ever saw. 
 Grapes are of spontaneous growth, and are also fine. The 
 plums are almost as fine as the cultivated varieties large, 
 delicious and abundant. Strawberries grow around the 
 edges of timber and brushwood, and in the bottoms, along 
 the streams. 
 
 Productions. Corn produces heavily and naturally, 
 yielding from fifty to one hundred bushels to the acre, with
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 197 
 
 little trouble. Winter wheat is not a certain crop, on ac- 
 count of there being so little snow throughout the winter. 
 Spring wheat produces heavily, and of an excellent quality. 
 Oats yield from fifty to seventy-five bushels per acre. Rye, 
 barley, buckwheat, potatoes, turnips, melons, and other 
 vegetables and grains do well. There are few or no or- 
 chards in this region, but there is no doubt that most of the 
 cultivated varieties of fruit will succeed and do well here. 
 
 Game, &c. Elk and deer are abundant in the counties 
 north, and even near here they may be seen every day ; there 
 are also abundance of fowls; swan, geese, pelicans, tur- 
 keys, ducks, prairie chickens, and quails, abound in their 
 peculiar localities, and fish, of the choicest kinds, fill our 
 lakes and streams. Wild bees are common. 
 
 Congress, or Unentered Land. The most choice lands 
 in this region are entered, but there are within a few miles 
 of the city considerable un-entered lands, which, though 
 without timber, have a good, rich soil. In the country east 
 and north, there remains much to be entered at govern- 
 ment price. 
 
 Timber lands may also be purchased to suit those who 
 enter prairie lands. 
 
 Mills. We have within this county about twelve saw 
 and grist-mills, but not half enough to supply the demand 
 for lumber and flour. The county above has some four 
 in operation, and the next below, six, and Cass County, one. 
 
 In Pottawattamie County we are in extreme need of a 
 good flouring-mill such as we have in the country will 
 nly make from twenty to thirty pounds of flour to the 
 17*
 
 198 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 bushel. How strange ! wheat $1 25 per bushel, and flour 
 $5 50 to $6 00 per hundred pounds. Who couldn't make 
 money out of a good mill ? 
 
 - Mechanics. We are in great want of many and various 
 mechanics, but more especially at this time we have no 
 wagon-makers in Council Blufls, and it is impossible 
 to get a wagon or carriage mended. If, however, one is 
 so unlucky as to succeed, he will be charged an enormous 
 price, and that by bungling pretenders. Let the me- 
 chanics of the east, who are out of employment, (and will 
 soon be out of funds), come here, where they may be ser- 
 viceable to the community, and get rich. Carpenters, 
 millwrights, brickmakers, masons, engineers, architects, and 
 day labourers, are in special demand. - 
 
 There are large and small streams at intervals all over 
 the county, the principal of which are the Nishnabotna, 
 Keg Creek, Boyer Kiver, and Musquito and Gopher 
 Creeks. There are a number of lakes in the bottoms, in 
 which, as well as the streams, are stores of excellent fish. 
 Upon these streams are numerous mill sites, only a small 
 proportion of which are occupied. Although there are 
 about one dozen mills already in operation, there is yet a 
 great demand for more, and fortunes might be made by in- 
 vesting money in their erection. 
 
 For grazing, stock-growing, or dairy business, there is no 
 region of country better adapted. Stock requires little or 
 sometimes no feed, and upon the prairie grass will fatten in 
 an incredibly short space of time. The poor mechanic and 
 labourer soon become landholders, and the capitalist is not
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 199 
 
 satisfied with less than forty per cent, well secured, which 
 he readily obtains. 
 
 How to get here. Boats run regularly from St. Louis to 
 this place, all through the season of navigation. Freight 
 up usually averages about seventy-five cents per hundred, 
 and passengers (cabin) $15, deck, $5. The railroad from 
 the east is completed to 250 miles from this place. Teams 
 can be purchased in and about Iowa City at fair prices. 
 
 Towns. The largest and most important town west of 
 the Des Moines Valley, is Council Bluffs City, which is 
 located some 3 miles from the Missouri, (directly opposite 
 Omaha City, in Nebraska"), is the county-seat of Pottawat- 
 tamie County, and now contains about 2500 inhabitants. It 
 is a sparsely built incorporated city, contains 2 churches, 
 Methodist and Congregational ; 3 schools, 10 stores, 6 doc- 
 tors, 12 lawyers and mechanics, and artists to match. Lots 
 in the city rate from $100 to $1000, each, and improved 
 farms in the neighborhood from $5 to $10 per acre, in- 
 cluding timber. An ever flowing stream, called Indian 
 Creek, runs through the town, and upon the high points 
 of the adjacent bluffs the country for miles around may 
 be seen, including a broad scope of the beautiful and varied 
 lands of Nebraska. A part of the city is laid out with 
 little regularity, it having been settled before the survey of 
 the country ; consequently, the lots are of various shapes, 
 and the streets of such angles as will, suit the position of the 
 ground. Many excellent buildings already have been, and 
 are now being reared, and good improvements are rapidly 
 progressing. The Land Office for the "Missouri River
 
 200 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 restrict/' embracing thirteen counties, is located here. 
 Four distinct railroads have been surveyed to this place 
 from the Mississippi River, from different points, some of 
 which are now actually under course of construction : and 
 it is thought that here will be the great Missouri crossing 
 for the Pacific Railroad. 
 
 Improvements, &c. There are now numerous mills scat- 
 tered over the whole Missouri slope. In our own county 
 there are some eight or ten saw and grist-mills, but not half 
 enough to supply the wants of the community. Lumber 
 is worth from $25 to $40 per thousand. Many fine farms 
 are opened and cultivated, and the farmers are commencing 
 to improve their farms with a good class of buildings. 
 Farms may be opened at a small expense a good single 
 ditch can be made for 40 cents per rod, and the prairie 
 broke for about $3 per acre. 
 
 A number of towns and cities have sprung up, whose 
 size and population are rapidly increasing j among which, 
 in Fremont County, the county-seat, Sidney, is a handsome 
 and thriving town of 1,000 or 1,200 inhabitants. Coming 
 northward, the next, Tabor, the commencement of a neat 
 county town, is a most thriving and beautiful place, con- 
 taining a thousand or more inhabitants, with 4 or 5 stores, 
 2 or 3 public houses, 2 mills, with other necessary business 
 houses and mechanics, is twenty miles south of this city 
 on Keg Creek, and is destined to become an important 
 business town. St. Mary, on the Missouri, and in the 
 same county, a small place, but very prettily situated, has 
 much improved during the past season. This place is 
 opposite Bellevue in Nebraska. Iranistan, in Cass County,
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 201 
 
 forty miles east of this city, on the main stage and railroad 
 route from the east, is a very beautifully located place, on 
 the Nitchnabotna river, has good mills and fine public 
 houses, and must become a nice inland town. Most excel- 
 lent farms are opened around, and a great spirit of improve- 
 ment prevails there. As we go north from this city twelve 
 miles, we first come to Americus, a town recently surveyed 
 at Reel's Mills. The proprietor has erected a large and 
 splendid house, which is nearly completed. An excellent 
 and fertile farming country surrounds this place. About 
 twenty-five miles north of this city, on the road to Ser- 
 geant's Bluff, in Harrison county, a well-timbered and 
 bountifully watered region, Calhoun, a thriving and fast 
 growing town, is being built, having already some twenty 
 or more houses, most of which have been built this season 
 two stores are doing a good business there good farms 
 in the region, and much stock is raised in the vicinity. 
 Magnolia, the county-seat, is also quite a smart place, and 
 promises to become a town of considerable note. Ashton, 
 twenty-five miles above, is a site just surveyed on a beautiful 
 eminence, and surrounded by an excellent agricultural 
 region. Sergeant's Bluff City, still north, and an hun- 
 dred miles above Council Bluffs, is a young place, situated 
 on the Missouri River. Men of capital and enterprise 
 have gone there to settle, who will make a place out of it, 
 if a good location and energy will do any thing. Sioux 
 City, seven miles further north, on the Missouri River, 
 contains the Land Office for the Sioux River District, is 9 
 newly located place and one that bids fair to become a city 
 of great importance. It is on a line directly west of Du-
 
 202 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA.' 
 
 buque, from which place a road is now opened via Fort 
 Dodge. Woodbury County is an excellent agricultural 
 and grazing district, well timbered and abundantly watered, 
 and containing good rock and stone coal, tip the Little 
 Sioux, in the same county, (Woodbury) some seventy-five 
 miles, a flourishing and well located town, called Smith- 
 land, is laid out and finely progressing with improvements. 
 A number of towns of less magnitude are laid out and 
 advancing in various parts of Western Iowa, but our 
 limits forbid more special notices at present. This whole 
 region is rapidly becoming populated by the thousands that 
 are coming every month to seize upon the rich and valuable 
 lands, that are waiting to make happy homes for the poor 
 and homeless. 
 
 Pottawattomie County is situated on the Missouri River, 
 and is about 42 miles in length on its north line, 36 on its 
 south, and 24 miles wide north and south. It is bounded 
 by Harrison and Shelby Counties on the north, Cass on 
 the east, Mills and a portion of Montgomery on the south, 
 and the Missouri on the west. It contains about 936 
 square miles, has a population of about 5000, being a trifle 
 less than five and a half to the square mile. 
 
 NEBRASKA. 
 
 What is said in the foregoing pages of Western Iowa is 
 true, in a great measure, respecting Eastern Nebraska, par- 
 ticularly as to the soil, climate, fruit and vegetation. The 
 western portion of Iowa, and the eastern and southern por- 
 tions of Nebraska, are not very unlike in these particulars. 
 The interior or western parts are more mountainous and
 
 WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 203 
 
 barren, almost entirely destitute of timber, and really of 
 little or no value except for grazing. A number of im- 
 portant towns are springing up on the Missouri River, the 
 most noted, Dahkotah, Omaha City (the capital), Bellevue, 
 Plattsmouth, Mount Vernon, Nebraska City, Florence,' 
 Fort Calhoun, De Soto, Tekama, and Fontanelle, occupying 
 a country on the river, north and south, near a hundred 
 miles in extent, and are surrounded with good, fertile, and 
 choice lands. Lime, stone-coal, and other minerals have 
 been found in many places, and this country, though now 
 but little known, offers great inducements to settlers. The 
 capitol being permanently located at Omaha City (oppo- 
 site Council Bluffs), will make it, eventually, the most 
 important city in the Territory or State. The*place is 
 beautifully situated on a high bluff, but the strip of low 
 land intervening between the city and river is almost 
 impassable at times, during high water. Bellevue, nine 
 miles below, is the point at which the Indian Agency for 
 the several tribes in Nebraska Territory is located. The 
 Presbyterian Mission for the Omaha Indians is also located 
 here. Farther than this, the place is at present of not much 
 importance, and not improving as rapidly as some others. 
 The first newspaper ever printed in the Territory, was the 
 " Nebraska Palladium," at Bellevue, in the fall of 1854. 
 Mt. Vernon, at the mouth of the Weeping "Water, is one 
 of the most beautiful sites for a town, in the Territory. 
 With an abundance of good building-stone, timber, and 
 stone-coal, surrounded by an excellent farming country, it 
 must eventually become one of the most important towns.
 
 204: WESTERN IOWA AND NEBRASKA. 
 
 It is the nearest point on the Missouri to the great 
 Salt Springs, in the interior of Nebraska. Nebraska 
 City, eight miles below Mt. Vernon, is a place of some 
 importance, affords a fine view from the river, is sur- 
 rounded by a fine agricultural country, and from the 
 character of its newspapers, we infer is a place of thrift, 
 energy, and intelligence. This was the site of Old Fort 
 Kearney. 
 
 The following is the conclusion of a good-natured letter 
 from one of a company who immigrated to Nebraska, and, 
 finding it wanting, returned to Iowa. Of Nebraska, he 
 
 " Most of this territory has a very fine soil, and water 
 suificient in places to make it equal to Iowa, but the 
 almost total absence of timber may keep it back for a 
 great while. On the whole, we are all perfectly convinced 
 that Iowa is the place for us, and hence return well satis- 
 fied to stay here. We think that the whole territory put 
 together cannot have one-half the timber that Iowa has. 
 We also think that there are thousands of acres of unoccu- 
 pied lands in Iowa, better situated and worth double what 
 many persons are claiming and asking. Nebraska is 
 much better suited for the elk and buffalo, than either 
 for Indian or white man. But the Indians have driven 
 all the former away, and wisely sold it to Uncle Sam, 
 being of no further use to them. We have our fears lest 
 Uncle Sam is bit; but if you believe all the newspaper 
 stories of that region it is certainly a paradise ; but Iowa 
 for me forever."
 
 NEW COUNTIES. 205 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PUBLIC LANDS, SYSTEM OF SURVEYS, 40. 
 
 The tide of immigration into Iowa last year, and the 
 demand for vacant lands, was unprecedented. We estimate 
 the amount sold at the several Land Offices in 1855, at, 
 say, 10,000,000 acres. Some of this land, when first 
 offered at the newly opened offices, sold as high as $25 per 
 acre. Good land at government price, is comparatively 
 scarce, but there are still large bodies of vacant land in 
 the western and northern portions of the State; and some 
 even within the Coal District of Iowa. This coal field is 
 plainly shown on " Parker's Sectional and Geological Map 
 of Iowa, for 185G." 
 
 In all the new States and Territories, the lands which 
 are owned by the General Government are surveyed and 
 sold under one general system. The government price of land 
 is $1 25 per acre. The system of surveys is one of great 
 accuracy and beauty. Meridian lines are established and 
 surveyed in a line due north from some given point gene- 
 rally from some important water-course. These are inter- 
 sected at right angles with a base line. On the meridians, 
 the " townships" are numbered north and south from the 
 base lines; and, on the base lines, "ranges" east or west 
 of the meridian. Township lines are then run at a distance 
 18
 
 206 
 
 NEW COUNTIES. 
 
 of six miles, parallel to the meridian and base lines. Each 
 township contains an area of 36 square miles; each square 
 mile is termed a section, and contains 640 acres. The 
 sections are numbered from 1 to 36, beginning at the 
 north-east corner of the township, as the following diagram 
 will illustrate : 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 17 
 
 16* 
 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 29 
 
 28 
 
 27 
 
 26 
 
 25 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 
 33 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 36 
 
 When surveyed, the lands are ofiered for sale at public 
 auction, but cannot be disposed of at a less price than one 
 dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. That portion not 
 sold at public auction is subject to private entry at any 
 time, for the above price, payable in cash at the time of 
 entry. 
 
 Pre-emption rights give the improver or possessor the 
 privilege of purchasing at the minimum price. 
 
 I have thus endeavored briefly to elucidate, in the pre- 
 ceding diagram, the system of the surveys of public lands ; 
 which, to strangers unacquainted with the sections and sub- 
 divisions, appears perplexing and intricate. 
 
 * The 16th section in each township is appropriated for schools.
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 207 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 
 (Adopted in Convention, May 18, 1846.) 
 
 Preamble and Boundaries. WE, the People of the Terri- 
 tory of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the bless- 
 ings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him 
 for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and esta- 
 blish a free and independent government, by the name 
 of the State of Iowa, the boundaries -whereof shall be as 
 follows : 
 
 Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mis- 
 sissippi River, at a point due east of the middle of the 
 mouth of the main channel of the Des Moines River, thence 
 up the middle of the main channel of the said Des Moines 
 River, to a point on said river where the northern bound- 
 ary line of the State of Missouri, as established by the Con- 
 stitution of that State, adopted June 12th, 1820, crosses 
 the said middle of the main channel of the said Des Moines 
 River; thence westwardly, along the said northern bound- 
 ary line of the State of Missouri, as established at the time 
 aforesaid, until an extension of said line intersect the mid- 
 dle of the main channel of the Missouri River ; thence up
 
 208 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 the middle of the main channel of the said Missouri River, 
 to a point opposite the middle of the main channel of the 
 Big Sioux River, according to Nicollett's map; thence up 
 the main channel of the said Big Sioux River, according to 
 ""said map, until it is intersected by the parallel of forty-three 
 degrees and thirty minutes north latitude ; thence east, along 
 said parallel of forty-three degrees and thirty minutes, until 
 said parallel intersect the middle of the main channel of 
 the Mississippi River; thence down the middle of the main 
 channel of said Mississippi River, to the place of beginning. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 Bill of Rights. ]. All men are, by nature, free and in- 
 dependent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which 
 are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquir- 
 ing, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and 
 obtaining safety and happiness. 
 
 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Go- 
 vernment is instituted for the protection, security, and be- 
 nefit of the people ; and they have the right at all times to 
 alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may 
 require it. 
 
 3. The General Assembly shall make no law respecting 
 an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise 
 thereof, nor shall any person be compelled to attend any 
 place of worship, pay tithes, taxes, or other rates, for build- 
 ing or repairing places of worship, or for the maintenance 
 of any minister or ministry. 
 
 4. No religious test shall be required as a qualification 
 for any office or public trust, and no person shall be de-
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 209 
 
 prived of any of his rights, privileges or capacities, or dis- 
 qualified from the performance of any of his public or pri- 
 vate duties, or rendered incompetent to give evidence in 
 any court of law or equity, in consequence of his opinions 
 on the subject of religion. 
 
 5. Any citizen of this State, who may hereafter be en- 
 gaged, either directly or indirectly, in a duel, either as prin- 
 cipal or accessory before the fact, shall forever be disquali- 
 fied from holding any office under the Constitution and laws 
 of this State. 
 
 6. All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform 
 operation. 
 
 7. Every person may speak, write, and publish, his sen- 
 timents on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of 
 that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge 
 the liberty of speech or of the press. In all prosecutions 
 or indictments for libel, the truth may b given in evidence 
 to the jury, and if it appear to the jury that the matter 
 charged as libellous was true, and was published with good 
 motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted. 
 
 8. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
 houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable seizures 
 and searches, shall not be violated ; and no warrant shall 
 issue, but on probable cause, supported by oath or affirma- 
 tion, particularly describing the place to be searched, and 
 the papers and things to be seized. 
 
 9. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate ; but 
 the General Assembly may authorize trial by a jury of a 
 
 less number than twelve men in inferior courts. 
 18*
 
 210 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 10. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have a 
 right to a speedy trial, by an impartial jury; to be informed 
 of the accusation against him j to be confronted with the 
 witnesses against him j to have compulsory process for his 
 own witnesses, and to have the assistance of counsel. 
 
 11. No person shall be held to answer for a criminal of- 
 fence, unless on presentment or indictment by a grand jury, 
 except ill cases cognizable by justices of the peace, or arising 
 in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual ser- 
 vice, in time of war, or public danger. 
 
 12. No person shall, after acquittal, be tried for the samo 
 offence. All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable, 
 by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences, where the 
 proof is evident, or the presumption great. 
 
 13. The writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, 
 unless, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety re- 
 quires it. 
 
 14. The military shall be subordinate to the civil power. 
 No standing army shall be kept up by the State in time of 
 peace, and in time of war no appropriation for a standing 
 army shall be for a longer time than two years. 
 
 15. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in 
 any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time 
 of war, except in the manner prescribed by law. 
 
 16. Treason against the State shall consist only in levy- 
 ing war against it, adhering to its enemies, or giving them 
 aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason 
 unless on evidence of two witnesses to the same overt act, 
 or confession in open court.
 
 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 211 
 
 17. Excessive bail shall not be required. Excessive 
 fines shall not be imposed ; and cruel and unusual punish- 
 ments shall not be inflicted. 
 
 18. Private property shall not be taken for public use 
 "without just compensation. 
 
 19. No person shall be imprisoned for debt in any civil 
 action on mesne, or final process, unless in cases of fraud j 
 and no person shall be imprisoned for a militia fine in time 
 of peace. 
 
 20. The people have the right freely to assemble together 
 to consult for the common good, to make known their opi- 
 nions to their representatives, and to petition for redress of 
 grievances. 
 
 21. No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law im- 
 pairing the obligation of contracts, shall ever be passed. 
 
 22. Foreigners who are, or who may hereafter become 
 residents of this State, shall enjoy the same rights, in res- 
 pect to the possession, enjoyment, and descent of property, 
 as native born citizens. 
 
 23. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, unless for 
 the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this 
 State. 
 
 24. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to 
 impair or deny others, retained by the people. 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 Right of Suffrage. 1. Every white male citizen of the 
 United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall 
 have been a resident of the State six months next preceding
 
 212 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 the election, and the county in which he claims his vote 
 twenty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which 
 are now, or hereafter may be authorized by law. 
 
 2. Electors shall, in all cases, except treason, felony, or 
 breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days 
 of election, during their attendance at such election, going 
 to, and returning therefrom. 
 
 3. No elector shall be obliged to perform militia duty on 
 the day of election, except in time of war, or public danger. 
 
 4. No person in the military, naval, or marine service of 
 the United States, shall be considered a resident of this 
 State by being stationed in any garrison, barrack, or mili- 
 tary or naval place or station within this State. 
 
 5. No idiot or insane person, or persons convicted of any 
 infamous crime, shall be entitled to the privileges of an 
 elector. 
 
 6. All elections by the people, shall be by ballot. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 Of the Distribution of Power. 1. The powers of the 
 government of Iowa shall be divided into three separate de- 
 partments ; the legislative, the executive, and judicial ; and 
 no person charged with the exercise of powers properly be- 
 longing to one of these departments, shall exercise any func- 
 tion appertaining to either of the others, except in cases 
 hereinafter expressly directed or permitted. 
 
 Legislative Department. 1. The Legislative authority 
 of this State shall be vested in a Senate and House of Re- 
 presentatives, which shall be designated the General Assem*
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 213 
 
 bly of the State of Iowa, and the style of their laws shall 
 commence in the following manner: "Be it enacted by 
 the General Assembly of the State of Iowa." 
 
 2. The sessions of the General Assembly shall be bien- 
 nial, and shall commence on the first Monday of December 
 next ensuing the election of its members; unless the Go- 
 vernor of the State shall, in the interim, convene the Ge- 
 neral Assembly by proclamation. 
 
 3. The members of the House of Representatives shall 
 be chosen every second year, by the qualified electors of 
 their respective districts, on the first Monday in August, 
 whose term of office shall continue two years from the day 
 of the general election. 
 
 4. No person shall be a member of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one 
 years ; be a free white male citizen of the United States, 
 and have been an inhabitant of this State or Territory one 
 year next preceding his election ; and at the time of his 
 election, have an actual residence of thirty days in the 
 county or district he may be chosen to represent. 
 
 5. Senators shall be chosen for the term of four years, 
 at the same time and place as Representatives ; they shall 
 be twenty-five years of age, and possess the qualifications of 
 Representatives as to residence and citizenship. 
 
 6. The number of Senators shall not be less than one- 
 third, nor more than one-half of the Representative body; 
 and at the first session of the General Assembly after this 
 Constitution takes effect, the Senators shall be divided by 
 lot, as equally as may be, into two classes ; the seats of the
 
 214 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration 
 of the second year, so that one half shall be chosen every 
 two years. 
 
 7. When the number of Senators is increased, they shall 
 be annexed by lot to one of the two classes, so as to keep 
 them as nearly equal in number as practicable. 
 
 8. Each House shall choose its own officers, and judge of 
 the qualification, election, and return of its own members. 
 A contested election shall be determined in such manner as 
 shall be directed by law. 
 
 9. A majority of each House shall constitute a quorum 
 to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from 
 day to day, and may compel the attendance of absent mem- 
 bers, in such manner and under such penalties as each House 
 may provide. 
 
 10. Each House shall sit upon its own adjournments, keep 
 a journal of its proceedings, and publish the same; deter- 
 mine its rules of proceedings, punish members for disorderly 
 behaviour, and, with the consent of two-thirds, expel a mem- 
 ber, but not a second time for the same offence ; and shall 
 have all other powers necessary for a branch of the General 
 Assembly of a free and independent State. 
 
 11. Every member of the General Assembly shall have 
 the liberty to dissent from, or protest against, any act or 
 resolution which he may think injurious to the public, or 
 an individual, and have the reasons for his dissent entered 
 on the journals; and the yeas and nays of the members of 
 either House, on any question, shall, at the desire of any two 
 members present, be entered on the journals.
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 215 
 
 12. Senators and Representatives, in all cases except 
 treason, felony, or breach of the peace, shall be privileged 
 from arrest during the session of the General Assembly, 
 and in going to, and returning from the same. 
 
 13. When vacancies occur in either House, the Governor, 
 )r the person exercising the functions of Governor, shall 
 issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. 
 
 14. The doors of each House shall be open, except on 
 such occasion as, in the opinion of the House, may require 
 secrecy. 
 
 15. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, 
 adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other place 
 than that in which they may be sitting. 
 
 16. Bills may originate in either House, except bills for 
 revenue, which shall always originate in the House of 
 Representatives, and may be amended, altered, or rejected 
 by the other; and every bill, having passed both Houses, 
 shall be signed by the Speaker and President of their 
 respective Houses. 
 
 17. Every bill which shall have passed the General 
 Assembly shall, before it becomes a law, be presented to the 
 Governor. If he approve, he shall sign it ; but if not, he 
 shall return it, with his objections, to the House in which it 
 originated, which shall enter the same upon the journal, and 
 proceed to reconsider it : if, after such reconsideration, it 
 again pass both Houses, by yeas and nays, by a majority of 
 two-thirds of the members of each House present, it shall 
 become a law, notwithstanding the Governor's objections. 
 If any bill shall not be returned within three days after it
 
 216 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 shall have been presented to him, Sundays excepted, the 
 same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it j 
 unless the General Assembly, by adjournment, prevent 
 such return. 
 
 18. An accurate statement of the receipts and expendi- 
 tures of the public money shall be attached to, and pub- 
 lished with the laws, at every regular session of the General 
 
 1 Assembly. 
 
 19. The House of Representatives shall have the sole 
 power of impeachment, and all impeachments shall be tried 
 by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose, the Senators 
 shall be upon oath or affirmation, and no person shall be 
 convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the 
 members present. 
 
 20. The Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Trea- 
 surer, and Judges of the Supreme and District Courts shall 
 be liable to impeachment for any misdemeanor in office ; but 
 judgment in such cases shall extend only to removal from 
 office, and disqualification to hold any office of honor, trust, 
 or profit under this State j but the party convicted or acquit- 
 ted, shall, nevertheless, be liable to indictment, trial, and 
 punishment, according to law. All other civil officers shali 
 be tried for misdemeanors in office in such manner as th^ 
 General Assembly may provide. 
 
 21. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time 
 for which he shall have been elected, be appointed to any 
 civil office of profit under this State, which shall have been 
 created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased,
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 217 
 
 during such term, except such offices as may be filled bj 
 elections by the people. 
 
 22. No person holding any lucrative office under th 
 United States, or this State, or any other power, shall be 
 eligible to the General Assembly : Provided, That offices in 
 the militia, to which there is attached no annual salary, or 
 the office of justice of the peace, or postmasters whose com- 
 pensation does not exceed one hundred dollars per annum, 
 shall not be deemed lucrative. 
 
 23. No person who may hereafter be a collector or holder 
 of public monies, shall have a seat in either house of the 
 General Assembly, or be eligible to any office of trust or 
 profit under this State, until he shall have accounted for, 
 and paid into the treasury, all sums for which he may be 
 liable. 
 
 24. No money shall be drawn from the treasury but in 
 consequence of appropriations made by law. 
 
 25. Each member of the General Assembly shall receive 
 a compensation, to be fixed by law, for his services, to be 
 paid out of the treasury of the State. Such compensation 
 shall not exceed two dollars per day, for the period of fifty 
 days from the commencement of the session, and shall not 
 exceed the sum of one dollar per day for the remainder of 
 the session. When convened in extra session by the 
 Governor, they shall receive such sum as shall be fixed for 
 the first fifty days of the ordinary session. They shall also 
 receive two dollars for every twenty miles they travel, in 
 going to, and returning from their place of meeting, on the 
 most usual route : Provided, however, That the members 
 
 19
 
 218 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 of the first General Assembly under this Constitution shall 
 receive two dollars per day for their services during the 
 entire session. 
 
 26. Every law shall embrace but one object, which shall 
 be expressed in the title. 
 
 27. No law of the General Assembly, of a public nature, 
 shall take effect until the same shall be published and cir- 
 culated in the several counties of this State, by authority. 
 If the General Assembly shall deem any law of immediate 
 importance, they may provide that the same shall take effect 
 by publication in newspapers in the State. 
 
 28. No divorce shall be granted by the General Assem- 
 bly. 
 
 29. No lottery shall be authorized by this State, nor 
 shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed. 
 
 30. Members of the General Assembly shall, before they 
 enter upon the duties of their respective offices, take and 
 subscribe the following oath or affirmation : "I do solemnly 
 swear, or affirm, (as the case may be,) that I will support 
 the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution 
 of the State of Iowa, and that I will faithfully discharge 
 the duties of Senator, (or Representative, as the case may 
 be,) according to the best of my ability.'' And members of 
 the General Assembly are hereby empowered to administer 
 to each other the said oath or affirmation. 
 
 31. Within one year after the ratification of this Consti- 
 tution, and within every subsequent term of two years, for 
 the term of eight years, an enumeration of all the white 
 inhabitants of this State shall be made in such manner as
 
 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 219 
 
 shall be directed by law. The number of Senators and 
 Representatives shall, at the first regular session of the 
 General Assembly, after such enumeration, be fixed by law, 
 and apportioned among the several counties, according to 
 the number of white inhabitants in each, and shall also, at 
 every subsequent regular session, apportion the House of 
 Eepresentatives, and every other regular session the Senate, 
 for eight years; and the House of Representatives shall 
 never be less than twenty-six, nor greater than thirty-nine, 
 until the number of white inhabitants shall be one hundred 
 and seventy-five thousand ; and after that event, at such 
 ratio that the whole number of Representatives shall never 
 be less than thirty-nine, nor exceeding seventy-two. 
 
 32. When a Congressional, Senatorial, or Representative 
 district shall be composed of two or more counties, it shall 
 not be entirely separated by any county belonging to 
 another district ; and no county shall be divided in forming 
 a Congressional, Senatorial, or Representative district. 
 
 33. In all elections by the General Assembly, the mem- 
 bers thereof shall vote viva voce, and the votes shall be en- 
 tered on the journal. 
 
 34. For the first ten years after the organization of the 
 government, the annual salary of the Governor shall not 
 exceed one thousand dollars ; Secretary of State, five hun- 
 dred dollars; Treasurer, four hundred dollars; Auditor, 
 six hundred dollars ; Judges of the Supreme and District 
 Courts, each one thousand dollars.
 
 220 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 ARTICLE. IV. 
 
 Executive Department. 1. The Supreme Executive 
 power of this State shall be vested in a Chief Magistrate, 
 who shall be styled the Governor of the State of Iowa. 
 
 2. The Governor shall be elected by the qualified elec- 
 ^ors, at the time and place of voting for members of the 
 General Assembly, and shall hold his office four years from 
 the time of his installation, and until his successor shall be 
 qualified. 
 
 3. No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor, 
 who has not been a citizen of the United States, and a resi- 
 dent of the State next preceding the election, and attained 
 the age of thirty years at the time of said election. 
 
 4. The returns of every election for Governor shall be 
 sealed up and transmitted to the seat of Government, 
 directed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
 who shall, during the first week of the session, open and 
 publish them in presence of both Houses of the General 
 Assembly. The person having the highest number of 
 votes, shall be Governor; but in case any two or more have 
 an equal and the highest number of votes, the General 
 Assembly shall, by joint ballot, choose one of said per- 
 sons so having an equal and highest number of votes, for 
 Governor. 
 
 5. The Governor shall be Commander-in-Chief of the 
 militia, the army and navy of this State. 
 
 6. He shall transact all executive business, with the 
 officers of Government, civil and military, and may require 
 information in writing from the officers of the executive
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 221 
 
 department upon any subject relating to the duties of their 
 respective offices. 
 
 7. He shall see that the laws are faithfully executed. 
 
 8. When any office shall from any cause become vacant, 
 and no mode is provided by the Constitution and laws for 
 filling such vacancy, the Governor shall have power to fill 
 such vacancy, by granting a commission, which shall expire 
 at the end of the next session of the General Assembly, or 
 at the next election by the people. 
 
 9. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the 
 General Assembly by proclamation, and shall state to both 
 Houses, when assembled, the purposes for which they shall 
 have been convened. 
 
 10. He shall communicate by message to the General 
 Assembly, at every session, the condition of the State, and 
 recommend such matters as he shall deem expedient. 
 
 11. In case of disagreement between the two Houses, 
 with respect to the time of adjournment, the Governor shall 
 have power to adjourn the General Assembly to such time 
 as he may think proper, provided it be not beyond the 
 time fixed for the meeting of the next General Assembly. 
 
 12. No person shall, while holding any other office 
 under the United States, or this State, execute the office of 
 Governor, except as hereinafter expressly provided. 
 
 13. The Governor shall have power to grant reprieves 
 and pardons, and commute punishments after conviction, 
 except in case of impeachment. 
 
 14. The Governor shall, at stated times, receive for his 
 
 services a compensation which shall neither be increased 
 19*
 
 222 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 nor diminished during the time for which, he shall have been 
 elected. 
 
 15. There shall be a seal of this State, which shall be 
 kept by the Governor, and used by him officially, and shall 
 be called the Great Seal of the State of Iowa. 
 
 16. All grants and commissions shall be in the name 
 and by the authority of the people of the State of Iowa, 
 sealed with the great seal of this State, signed by the Gover- 
 nor, and countersigned by the Secretary of State. 
 
 17. A Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts, 
 and Treasurer, shall be elected by the qualified electors, 
 who shall continue in office two years. The Secretary of 
 State shall keep a fair register of all the official acts of the 
 Governor, and shall, when required, lay the same, together 
 with all papers, minutes, and vouchers, relative thereto, 
 before either branch of the General Assembly, and shall 
 perform such other duties as shall be assigned him by law. 
 
 18. In case of impeachment of the Governor, his removal 
 from office, death, resignation, or absence from the State, 
 the powers and duties of the office shall devolve upon the 
 Secretary of State, until such disability shall cease, or the 
 vacancy be filled. 
 
 19. If, during the vacancy of the office of Governor, the 
 Secretary of State shall be impeached, displaced, resign, die, 
 or be absent from the State, the powers and duties of the office 
 of Governor shall devolve upon the President of the Senate j 
 and should a vacancy occur by impeachment, death, resig- 
 nation, or absence from the State, of the President of the
 
 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 223 
 
 Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall 
 act as Governor till the vacancy be filled. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 Judicial Department. 1. The Judicial power shall be 
 vested in the Supreme Court, District Courts, and such in- 
 ferior Courts, as the General Assembly may from time to 
 time establish. 
 
 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a Chief Justice, 
 and two Associates, two of whom shall be a quorum to hold 
 a Court. 
 
 3. The Judges of the Supreme Court shall be elected by 
 joint vote of both branches of the General Assembly, and 
 shall hold their Courts at such time and place as the Gene- 
 ral Assembly may direct, and hold their offices for six 
 years, and until their successors are elected and qualified, 
 and shall be ineligible to any other office during the term 
 for which they may be elected. The Supreme Court shall 
 have appellate jurisdiction only in all cases in chancery, and 
 shall constitute a Court for the correction of errors at law, 
 under such restrictions as the General Assembly may by 
 law prescribe. The Supreme Court shall have power to 
 issue all writs and process necessary to do justice to partieSj 
 and exercise a supervisory control over all inferior judicial 
 tribunals, and the Judges of the Supreme Court shall be 
 conservators of the peace throughout the State. 
 
 4. The District Court shall consist of a Judge, who shall 
 be elected by the qualified voters of the district in which he 
 resides, at the township election, and hold his office for the
 
 224 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 term of five years, and until his successor is duly elected 
 and qualified, and shall be ineligible to any other office 
 during the term for which he may be elected. The Dis- 
 trict Court shall be a court of law and equity, and have 
 jurisdiction in all civil and criminal matters arising in their 
 respective districts, in such manner as shall be prescribed 
 by law. The Judges of the District Court shall be conser- 
 vators of the peace in their respective districts. The first 
 Bession of the General Assembly shall divide the State into 
 four districts, which may be increased as the exigencies 
 require. 
 
 5. The qualified voters of each county shall, at the gene- 
 ral election, elect one Prosecuting Attorney, and one Clerk 
 of the District Court, who shall be residents therein, and 
 who shall hold their several offices for the term of two 
 years, and until their successors are elected and qualified. 
 
 6. The style of all process shall be "The State of 
 Iowa," and all prosecutions shall be conducted in the name, 
 and by authority of the same. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 Militia. 1. The militia of this State shall be composed 
 of all able-bodied white male citizens, between the ages of 
 eighteen and forty-five years, except such as are, or may 
 hereafter be exempt by the laws of the United States, or 
 of this State, and shall be armed, equipped, and trained as 
 the General Assembly may provide by law. 
 
 2. No person or persons, conscientiously scrupulous of 
 bearing arms, shall be compelled to do militia duty, in time
 
 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 225 
 
 of peace, provided, that such person or persons shall pay 
 an equivalent for such exemption in the same manner as 
 other citizens. 
 
 3. All commissioned officers of the militia, (staff officers 
 excepted,) shall be elected by the persons liable to perform 
 military duty, and shall be commissioned by the Governor. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 State Debts. 1. The General Assembly shall not, in any 
 manner create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities, 
 which shall, singly, or in the aggregate, with any previous 
 debts or liabilities, exceed the sum of one hundred thousand 
 dollars, except in case of war, to repel invasion, or suppress 
 insurrection, unless the same shall be authorized by some 
 law for some single object, or work, to be distinctly speci- 
 fied therein, which law shall provide ways and means, ex- 
 clusive of loans, for the payment of the interest of such 
 debt or liability, as it falls due, and also to pay and dis- 
 charge the principal of such debt or liability within twenty 
 years from the time of contracting thereof, and shall be 
 irrepealable until the principal and the interest thereon 
 shall be paid and discharged; but no such law shall take 
 effect, until, at a general election, it shall have been sub- 
 mitted to the people, and have received a majority of all the 
 votes cast for and against it, at such election, and all money 
 raised by authority of such law, shall be applied only to 
 the specific object therein stated, or to the payment of the 
 debt thereby created, and such law shall be published in at 
 least one newspaper in each judicial district, if one is pub-
 
 226 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 lished therein, throughout the State, for three months 
 preceding the election, at which it is submitted to the 
 people. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 Incorporations. 1. No corporate body shall hereafter 
 be created, renewed, or extended, with the privilege of 
 making, issuing, or putting into circulation, any bill, check, 
 ticket, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the 
 paper of any bank, to circulate as money. The General 
 Assembly of this State shall prohibit, by law, any person 
 or persons, association, company, or corporation, from exer- 
 cising the privileges of banking, or creating paper to circu- 
 late as money. 
 
 2. Corporations shall not be created in this State by 
 special laws, except for political or municipal purposes ; but 
 the General Assembly shall provide, by general laws, for 
 the organization of all other corporations, except corpora- 
 tions with banking privileges, the creation of which is pro- 
 hibited. The stockholders shall be subject to such liabili- 
 ties and restrictions as shall be provided by law. The 
 State shall not, directly or indirectly, become a stockholder 
 in any corporation. 
 
 ARTICLE IX. 
 
 Education and School Land. 1. The General As- 
 sembly shall provide for the election, by the people, of a 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction, who shall hold his 
 office for three years, and whose duties shall be prescribed
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 227 
 
 by law, and who shall receive such compensation as the 
 General Assembly may direct. 
 
 2. The General Assembly shall encourage, by all suit- 
 able means, the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, 
 and agricultural improvement. The proceeds of all lands 
 that have been, or hereafter may be granted by the United 
 States to this State, for the support of schools, which shall 
 hereafter be sold or disposed of, and the five hundred 
 thousand acres of land granted to the new States, under 
 an act of Congress, distributing the proceeds of the public 
 lands among the several States of the Union, approved 
 A. D. 1841, and all estates of deceased persons, who may 
 have died without leaving a will or heir; and also such 
 per cent, as may be granted by Congress on the sale of 
 lands in this State, shall be, and remain a perpetual fund, 
 the interest of which, together with all the rents of the 
 unsold lands, and such other means as the General As- 
 sembly may provide, shall be inviolably appropriated to 
 the support of common schools throughout the State. 
 
 3. The General Assembly shall provide for a system of 
 common schools, by which a school shall be kept up, and 
 supported, in each school district, at least three months in 
 every year ; and any school district neglecting to keep up, 
 and support such a school, may be deprived of its propor- 
 tion of the interest of the public fund during such neglect. 
 
 4. The money which shall be paid by persons as an 
 equivalent for exemption from military duty, and the clear 
 proceeds of all fines collected in the several counties for 
 any breach of the penal laws, shall be exclusively applied,
 
 2L8 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 in the several counties in which such money is paid, or 
 fine collected, among the several school districts of said 
 counties, in proportion to the number of inhabitants ia 
 such districts, to the support of common schools, or the 
 establishment of libraries, as the General Assembly shall, 
 from time to time, provide by law. 
 
 5. The General Assembly shall take measures for the 
 ' protection, improvement, or other disposition of such lands 
 as have been, or may hereafter be reserved or granted by 
 the United States, or any person or persons, to the State 
 for the use of a University; and the funds accruing from 
 the rents or sale of such lands, or from any other source, 
 for the purpose aforesaid, shall be, and remain a perma- 
 nent fund, the interest of which shall be applied to the 
 support of said University, with such branches as the pub- 
 lic convenience may hereafter demand for the promotion of 
 literature, the arts and sciences, as may be authorized by 
 the terms of such grant. And it shall be the duty of the 
 General Assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual 
 means for the improvement and permanent security of tho 
 funds of said University. 
 
 ARTICLE X. 
 
 Amendments of the Constitution. 1. If at any tim 
 the General Assembly shall think it necessary to revise o 
 amend this Constitution, they shall provide by law for - 
 vote of the people for or against a Convention, at the next 
 ensuing election for members of the General Assembly : in 
 case a majority of the people vote in favor of a Convention,
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 229 
 
 
 
 said General Assembly shall provide for an election of 
 Delegates to a Convention, to be held within six months 
 after the vote of the people in favor thereof. 
 
 ARTICLE 'XL 
 
 ; Miscellaneous. 1. The jurisdiction of Justices of the 
 Peace shall extend to all civil cases, (except cases in Chan- 
 cery, and cases where the question of title to any real 
 estate may arise,) where the amount in controversy does 
 not exceed one hundred dollars, and by the consent of 
 parties may be extended to any amount not exceeding five 
 hundred dollars. 
 
 2. No new county shall be laid off hereafter, nor old 
 county reduced, to less contents than four hundred and 
 thirty-two square miles. 
 
 3. The General Assembly shall not locate any of the 
 public lands, which have been, or may be granted by Con- 
 gress to this State ; and the location of which may be given 
 to the General Assembly, upon lands actually settled, 
 without the consent of the occupant. The extent of the 
 claim of such occupant, so exempted, shall not exceed 
 three hundred and twenty acres. 
 
 ARTICLE XII. 
 
 Schedule. 1. That no inconvenience may arise from 
 the change of a Territorial government to a permanent 
 State Government, it is declared that all writs, actions, 
 prosecutions, contracts, claims and rights, shall continue as 
 if no change had taken place in this government; and all 
 process which may, before the organization of the judicial 
 20
 
 230 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 
 
 department under this Constitution, be issued under the 
 authority of the Territory of Iowa, shall be as valid as if 
 issued in the name of the State. 
 
 2. All the laws now in force in this Territory, which are 
 not repugnant to this Constitution, shall remain in force 
 until they expire by their own limitations, or be altered or 
 repealed by the General Assembly of this State. 
 
 3. All fines, penalties, and forfeitures, accruing to the 
 Territory of Iowa, shall accrue to the use of the State. 
 
 4. All recognizances heretofore taken, or which may 
 hereafter be taken, before the organization of the judicial 
 department under this Constitution, shall remain valid, 
 and shall pass to, and may be prosecuted in the name of 
 the State. And all bonds executed to the Governor of 
 this Territory, or to any other officer in his official capacity, 
 shall pass over to the Governor of this State, or other pro- 
 per State authority, and to their successors in office, for 
 the uses therein respectively expressed, and may be sued 
 for, and recovered accordingly. All criminal prosecutions 
 and penal actions, which have arisen, or may arise, before 
 ihe organization of the judicial department, under this Con- 
 stitution, and which shall then be pending, may be prose- 
 cuted to judgment and execution in the name of the State. 
 
 5. All officers, civil and military, now holding their offices 
 and appointments in this Territory, under the authority of 
 the United States, or under the authority of this Territory, 
 shall continue to hold and execute their respective offices 
 and appointments until superseded under this Constitution. 
 
 6. The first general election under this Constitution,
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 231 
 
 shall be held at such time as the Governor of the Terri- 
 tory, by proclamation, may appoint, within three months 
 after its adoption, for the election of a Governor, two 
 Representatives in the Congress of the United States, 
 (unless Congress shall provide for the election of one 
 Representative), members of the General Assembly, and 
 one Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. Said 
 election shall be conducted in accordance with the existing 
 election laws of this Territory, and said Governor, Repre- 
 sentatives in the Congress of the United States, Auditor, 
 Treasurer, and Secretary of State, duly elected at said 
 election, shall continue to discharge the duties of their 
 respective offices for the time prescribed by this Constitu- 
 tion, and until their successors are elected and qualified. 
 The returns of said election shall be made in conformity to 
 the existing laws of this Territory. 
 
 7. Until the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this 
 State, as directed by this Constitution, the following shall 
 be the appointment of the General Assembly: 
 
 The County of Lee shall be entitled to two Senators, 
 and five Representatives; the County of Van Buren, two 
 Senators, and four Representatives ; the Counties of Davis 
 and Appanoose, one Senator, and one Representative, 
 jointly; the Counties of Wapello and Monroe, one Sena- 
 tor, jointly, and one Representative, each ; the Counties of 
 Marion, Polk, Dallas, and Jasper, one Senator, and two Re- 
 presentatives, jointly; the County of Des Moines, two Sena- 
 tors, and four Representatives; the County of Jefferson, one 
 Senator, and three Representatives ; the County of Henry, 
 one Senator, and three Representatives; the Counties of
 
 232 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 Louisa and Washington, one Senator, jointly, and one 
 Representive, each ; the Counties of Keokuk and Mahaska, 
 one Senator, jointly, and one Representative, each ; the 
 Counties of Muscatine, Johnson, and Iowa, one Senator, 
 and one Representative, jointly; Muscatine, one Represen- 
 tative, and Johnson and Iowa, one Representative, jointly; 
 the Counties of Scott and Clinton, one Senator, jointly, 
 and one Representative, each ; the Counties of Cedar, 
 Linn, and Benton, one Senator, jointly; the County of 
 Cedar, one Representative, and the Counties of Linn and 
 Benton, one Representative, jointly; the Counties of Jack- 
 son, and Jones, one Senator, and two Representatives ; the 
 Counties of Dubuque, Delaware, Clayton, Fayette, Bu- 
 chanan, and Black Hawk, two Senators, and two Repre- 
 sentatives, jointly; and any county attached to any county 
 for judicial purposes, shall, unless otherwise provided for, 
 be considered as forming part of such county for election 
 purposes. 
 
 8. The first meeting of the General Assembly, under 
 this Constitution, shall be at such time as the Governor of 
 the Territory may, by proclamation, appoint, within four 
 months after its ratification by the people, at Iowa City, in 
 Johnson County, which place shall be the seat of Govern- 
 ment of the State of Iowa, until removed by law. 
 
 Done in Convention, at Iowa City, this 18th day of 
 May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and forty-six, and of the Independence of 
 the United States the seventieth.
 
 CONSTITUTION OF IOWA. 233 
 
 In Testimony Whereof, We have hereunto subscribed 
 our names : ENOS LOWE, President. 
 
 Attest, WM. THOMPSON, Sec. 
 
 Thomas Dibble, Erastus Hoskin, David Galland, Suli- 
 fand S. Ross, Shepherd Leffler, Curtis Bates, Wm. G. 
 Coop, John Ronalds, Samuel A. Bissell, Socrates H. 
 Tryon, Wareham G. Clark, William Hubbel, John J. 
 Selman, George Berry, John Conrey, Josiah Kent, Joseph 
 H. Hedrick, Sylvester G. Matson, S. B. Shelledy, James 
 Grant, George Hobson, H. P. Haun, Stewart Goodrell, 
 Sanford Harned, David Olmstead, G. W. Bowie, Alvin 
 Saunders, William Steele, T. McCraney, F. K. O'Ferrall, 
 J. Scott Richman. 
 
 ORDINANCE. 
 
 Be it ordained by the Convention assembled to form a 
 Constitution for the State of Iowa, in behalf of the people 
 of said State, that the following propositions shall be made 
 to the Congress of the United States, which, if assented 
 to by that body, shall .be obligatory on this State. 
 
 1. Section number sixteen in every surveyed township 
 of public lands, and where such section has been disposed 
 of, other lands, equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as 
 may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of Com- 
 mon Schools. 
 
 2. Seventy-two sections of land set apart and reserved 
 for the use and support of a University, by an act of Con- 
 gress approved on the twentieth of July, one thousand 
 eight hundred and forty, entitled " An act granting two 
 
 20*
 
 234 CONSTITUTION OP IOWA. 
 
 townships of land for the use of a University in the Ter- 
 ritory of Iowa," shall be applied solely for the use and 
 support of such University, in such manner as the General 
 Assembly may direct. 
 
 3. That one quarter section of land in each township 
 be granted to the State for the purpose of purchasing a 
 Common School library for the use of such township. 
 
 4. That five per cent, of the nett proceeds of the sales 
 of all public lands lying within this State, which shall be 
 Bold by Congress after the admission of the State into the 
 Union, shall be granted to the State, for the use of Com- 
 mon Schools. 
 
 That, in consideration of the grants specified in the four 
 foregoing propositions, it is declared, that this State will 
 never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within 
 the same, by the United States, nor with any regulations 
 Congress may find necessary, for securing the title in such 
 soil to the bona fide purchaser thereof; and that no tax 
 shall be imposed on lands, the property of the United 
 States, and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors 
 be taxed higher than resident.
 
 STATE OFFICERS, ETC. 235 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 STATE OFFICERS AND CONGRESSMEN, FROM THE ADMIS- 
 SION INTO THE UNION TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 QOVEENOE. Term, 4 Years. 
 
 Beginning of Term. 
 
 1. Ansel Briggs November 30, 1846. 
 
 2. Stephen Hempstead December 2,1850. 
 
 3. James W. Grimes " 3,1854. 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE. Term, 2 Years. 
 
 1. Elisha Cutler, Jr November 30, 1846. 
 
 2. Josiah H. Bonney December 2, 1848. 
 
 8. George W. McCleary (3 terms,) " 2, 1850. 
 
 AUDITOR OF STATE. Term, 2 Yearji. 
 
 1. Joseph T. Fales (2 terms,) November 30, 1840. 
 
 2. William Pattee (2 terms,) December 2, 1850. 
 
 8. A. J. Stevens " 8,1854, 
 
 TREASURER OF STATE. Term, 2 Years. 
 
 1. Morgan Reno (2 terms,) November 80, 1846. 
 
 2. Israel Kister December 2, 1850. 
 
 8. M. L. Morris (2 terms,) " 2, 1852. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Term, 3 Years. 
 
 Elected. 
 
 1. James Harlan, (election declared illegal,) April, 1847. 
 
 2. Thomas H. Benton, Jr., (2 terms,) " 1848. 
 
 8. James D. Eads " 1854.
 
 236 STATE OFFICERS, ETC. 
 
 BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS. Term, 2 Tears. 
 
 Elected. 
 
 1. HughW. Sample, President, August 2, 1847. 
 
 1. Charles Corkery, Secretary, " " 
 
 1. Paul Bratton, Treasurer, " " 
 
 2. William Patterson, President " 6, 1849. 
 
 2. Jesse Williams, feretory, " " 
 
 3. George Gillaspy, Treasurer, " " 
 
 The second Board was legislated out of office on the 1st of 
 
 February, 1851. 
 
 COMMISSIONER AND REGISTER OF THE DES MOINES RIVER 
 IMPROVEMENT. Term, 2 Years. 
 
 1. V. P. Antwerp, Commissioner, ... appointed from Feb. 1, 1853. 
 
 2. Josiah H. Bonney, " elected, April 4, 1853. 
 
 1. George Gillaspy, Register, appointed, February 1, 1851. 
 
 2. Paul Jeffers, " " " 1852. 
 
 3. George Gillaspy, " elected, April 4, 1853. 
 
 ATTORNEY-GENERAL. Term, 2 Tears. 
 
 1. D. C. Cloud August 1, 1853. 
 
 2. " August 7, 1854. 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE, IN 1855. 
 JAMES W. GRIMES, of Burlington, Governor. 
 George W. McCleary, Iowa City, Secretary of State. 
 John Pattee, Fort DCS Moines, Auditor. 
 M. L. Morris, Iowa City, Treasurer. 
 
 James D. Eads, Iowa City, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
 D. C. Cloud, Muscatine, A ttorney- General. 
 Wm. McKay, Commissioner of the Des Moines River Improvement. 
 John C. Lockwood, Register of the Des Moines River Improvement. 
 Anson Hart, Register of the Land Office. 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE. 
 
 Maturin L. Fisher, President of the Senate. 
 Reuben Noble, Speaker of the House of Representatives.
 
 STATE OFFICERS, ETC. 237 
 
 CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION. 
 
 George W. Jones, of Dubuque, Senator, Term expires, 1859. 
 
 James Harlan, of Mt. Pleasant, " " " 1861. 
 
 Augustus Hall, of Keosauqua, Representative. 
 James Thorington, of Davenport, " 
 
 THE JUDICIARY. 
 Supreme Court. 
 
 George G. Wright, Keosauqua, Chief Justice. 
 W. G. Woodward, Muscatine, Associate Justice. 
 N. W. Isbell, Marion, " 
 
 William Vandever, Iowa City, Clerk. 
 
 District Court for Iowa. 
 J. M. Love, of Dubuque, Judge. 
 J. C. Knapp, of Keosnuqua, District Attorney. 
 Laurel Summers, of Le Claire, Marshal. 
 Warner Lewis, of Dubuque, Surveyor-General. 
 
 Note. The election for Governor, State Officers, and Board of 
 Public Works is held on the first Monday in August. The term 
 of service of the Governor and State Officers commences on the 
 first Monday in December following the election. 
 
 Times of Holding Elections. 
 
 1. General Election Is held 1st Monday in August, 
 every two years. Time of holding next General Election 
 will be August, 1856. Officers elected : A Governor, once 
 in four years ; a State Senator, once in four years ; a Secre- 
 tary, Treasurer, and Auditor of State, Prosecuting Attorney, 
 Clerk of the District Court, Representatives to the General 
 Assembly, and Representatives to Congress, every two 
 years.
 
 238 STATE OFFICERS, ETC. 
 
 2. August Election Is held 1st Monday in August, 
 every two years, alternate with the years of the General 
 Election. Officers elected : County Judge, once in two 
 years ; Sheriff, Coroner, Recorder, and Surveyor, every two 
 years. 
 
 3. April Election Is held annually, 1st Monday in 
 April. Officers elected : Judge of District Court, once in 
 five years ; Superintendent of Public Instruction, once in 
 three years; School Fund Commissioner, once in two years; 
 three Township Trustees, a Clerk, two Constables, and an 
 Assessor, every year ; two Justices of the Peace (or as many 
 as the Trustees of each township may direct,) every two 
 years (one being elected each year). 
 
 4. Presidential Election Is holden 1st Tuesday after 
 the 1st Monday in November, 1856, and every four years 
 thereafter, for the election of Electors of President and Vice- 
 President of the United States, the number of whom is equal 
 to the number of Senators and Representatives in Congress 
 to which this State may be entitled. 
 
 5. City Elections Held at such times as fixed by the 
 charter, or as regulated by ordinance ; electing Mayor, Mar- 
 shal, Clerk, Treasurer, and Aldermen.
 
 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 239 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. TIMES OP HOLDING COURTS. 
 
 First District. Composed of the counties of Lee, Des 
 Moines, Louisa, and Henry. Term of court held : 
 
 In Lee County, at Keokuk, on the second Monday of 
 February, and the first Monday of September. 
 
 At Fort Madison, on the first Tuesday after the first 
 Monday in April, and the fourth Monday in October. 
 
 In Des Moines, on the fourth Monday in April, and the 
 second Monday in November. 
 
 In Louisa, on the second Monday in March, and the first 
 Monday in October. 
 
 In Henry, on the third Monday in March, and the se- 
 cond Monday in October. 
 
 Second District. Consisting of the counties of Dubuque, 
 Delaware, Clayton, Alamakee, Winneshiek, Fayette, Bu- 
 chanan, Black Hawk, Bremer, Chickasaw, and Howard. 
 Terms of Court are held : 
 
 In the County of Dubuque, on the first Monday in Oc- 
 tober, and the fourth Monday in March. 
 
 In the County of Clayton, on the fourth Mondays in 
 May and October. 
 
 In the County of Alamakee, on the first Mondays in 
 June and November.
 
 240 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 In the County of Fayette, on the second Mondays in 
 June and November. 
 
 In the County of Delaware, on the third Mondays in 
 June and November, and in all other counties at such times 
 and places as the judge may direct. 
 
 Third District. Terms of Court, as follows, in the 
 Third District : 
 
 In the County of Mahaska, on the first Monday in Feb- 
 ruary, and first Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Wapello, on the fourth Monday in 
 February, and fourth Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Davis, on the second Monday after the 
 fourth Monday in February, and on the second Monday in 
 October. 
 
 In the County of Van Buren, on the fourth Monday 
 after the fourth Monday of February, and on the fourth 
 Monday of October. 
 
 In the County of Jefferson, on the second Monday in 
 April and November. 
 
 In the County of Keokuk, on the fourth Monday in 
 April, and on the third Monday in September. 
 
 Fourth District. Times of holding Court as follows : 
 
 In the County of Johnson, on the first Monday of Feb- 
 ruary and June, and second Monday in October. 
 
 In the County of Linn, on the first Monday in April and 
 September. 
 
 In the County of Benton, on the third Monday in April 
 and September.
 
 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 241 
 
 In thd County of Washington, on the fourth Mondays 
 in April and September. 
 
 In the County of Iowa, on the first Monday in May, and 
 the fourth Monday in October. 
 
 In the County of Powesheik, on the third Monday in 
 May. 
 
 In the County of Tama, on the first Tuesday after the 
 third Monday in May. 
 
 Fifth District. In the County of Marion, on the second 
 Monday in February, and fourth Monday in August. 
 
 In the County of Polk, on the third Monday in March, 
 and the second Monday in August. 
 
 In the County of Jasper, on the second Monday in April 
 and September. 
 
 In the County of Marshall, on the third Monday in 
 April and September. 
 
 In the County of Hardin, on the fourth Monday in 
 April. 
 
 In the County of Story, on the first Monday in May. 
 
 In the County of Boone, on the second Monday in May 
 and the fourth Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Webster, on the first Monday in Oc- 
 tober. ' 
 
 In the County of Greene, on the third Monday in May. 
 
 In the County of Dallas, on the fourth Monday in May, 
 and the second Monday in October. 
 
 Sixth and Seventh Districts. In the County of Fre- 
 mont, on the first Monday in March and September. 
 21
 
 242 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 In the County of Page, on the fourth Monday in March 
 and September. 
 
 In the County of Taylor, on the Thursday after the 
 fourth Monday of March and September. 
 
 In the County of Adams, on the first Monday in April 
 and October. 
 
 In the County of Guthrie, on the second Monday in 
 April and October. 
 
 In the County of Cass, on the Thursday after the second 
 Monday in April and October. 
 
 In the County of Mills, on the second Monday in March 
 and September. 
 
 In the County of Pottawattamie, on the first Monday in 
 April and October. 
 
 In the County of Harrison, on the first Monday in May 
 and November. 
 
 In the County of Shelby, on the Thursday after the first 
 Monday in May and November. 
 
 In the County of Woodbury, oil the first Monday in 
 September. 
 
 In all other counties at such time and place as the Judge 
 may appoint. 
 
 Eighth District. Composed of the counties of Musca- 
 tine, Scott, Cedar, Jones, Clinton, and Jackson. 
 
 In the County of Jackson, on the fourth Monday in 
 April, and second Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Clinton, on the first Monday after the 
 fourth Monday in April, and third Monday in September.
 
 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 243 
 
 In the County of Cedar, on the second Monday after the 
 fourth Monday in April, and fourth Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Scott, on the third Monday after the 
 fourth Monday in April, and first Monday after the fourth 
 Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Muscatine, on the fourth Monday after 
 the first Monday in April, and second Monday after the 
 fourth Monday in September. 
 
 Ninth District. Composed of the counties of Monroe, 
 Appanoose, Wayne, Decatur, Lucas, Clarke, Warren, and 
 Madison. 
 
 In the County of Monroe, on the third Monday in April, 
 and first Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Appanoose, on the second Monday after 
 the third Monday in April, and third Monday in Septem- 
 ber. 
 
 In the County of Wayne, on the fourth Monday after 
 the third Monday in April, and the second Monday after 
 the third Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Decatur, on the fifth Monday after the 
 third Monday in April, and third Monday after the third 
 Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Clark, on the sixth Monday after the 
 third Monday in April, and fourth Monday after the third 
 Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Madison, on the seventh Monday after 
 the third Monday in April, and fifth Monday after the third 
 Monday in September.
 
 244 JUDICIAL DISTRICTS. 
 
 In the County of Warren, on the eighth Monday after 
 the third Monday in April, and the sixth Monday after the 
 third Monday in September. 
 
 In the County of Lucas, on the ninth Monday after the 
 third Monday in April, and the seventh Monday after the 
 third Monday in September. 
 
 Tenth District. Composed of the counties of Clayton, 
 Alamakee, Winnesheik, Fayette, Chickasaw, Floyd, Mit- 
 chell, Howard, Worth, and Cerro Gordo. 
 
 In the County of Clayton, on the third Monday in May 
 and October. 
 
 In the County of Fayette, on the first Monday after the 
 third Monday in May and October. 
 
 In the County of Chickasaw, on the second Monday after 
 the third Monday in May and October. 
 
 In the County of Floyd, on the third Monday after the 
 third Monday in May and October. 
 
 In the County of Winnesheik, on the fourth Monday 
 after the third Monday in May and October. 
 
 In the County of Alamakee, on the fifth Monday after 
 the third Monday in May and October.
 
 EDUCATION. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 School System. A very liberal provision is made for 
 the permanent support of common and academic institu- 
 tions in this State. By an act of Congress, 500,000 acres 
 of land have been set apart for the promotion of the cause 
 of education. Some of these lands have been sold, and the 
 proceeds safely invested for the use of schools. Much, how- 
 ever, remains in the market, and will be disposed of as the 
 wants and interests of these nurseries of knowledge demand. 
 
 There is about $1,000,000 in the hands of the School 
 Fund Commissioners, within the State, which is loaned at 
 ten per cent., yielding an income of nearly $100,000. This 
 amount, distributed among the schools, places them upon 
 a footing not surpassed by any new State in the north-west. 
 State University of Iowa. 
 
 This institution opened on the third Wednesday of Sep- 
 tember. It has been permanently located at Iowa City, 
 the site of the Capitol, and is to have the use of the public 
 buildings, together with ten acres of land, on which they 
 are situated. Two townships of land, granted by act of 
 Congress, July 20th, 1840, for the support of a uni- 
 versity, have been donated by the State to this institution, 
 and constitute a permanent fund, for its support. 
 
 The following advantages are possessed by this institution : 
 
 1st. It is the People's Institution, and every citizen of 
 the State is interested in it. 
 21*
 
 246 EDUCATION. 
 
 2d. It is entirely free from sectarian influence and bias. 
 
 3d. It has an endowment of between 8175,000 and 
 $200,000, which places it upon a basis second to none in the 
 Union, and enables the trustees to sustain a competent 
 number of efficient and educated men in the faculty. 
 
 4th. Its library and apparatus, when complete, (probably 
 during this year), will be superior to any in the Wet. 
 
 5th. It is favourably located, in respect to health, good 
 society, and beautiful and romantic scenery. 
 Faculty. 
 
 AMOS DEAN, LL. D., President, and Professor of His- 
 tory. ALEX. JOHNSTON, A. M., Professor of Mathematics. 
 HENRY S. WELTON, A. M., Professor of Ancient Lan- 
 guages. JAMES HALL, Professor of Natural History. 
 JOSIAH D. WHITNEY, Professor of Chemistry. E. M. 
 GUFFIN, A. M., Preparatory Department. JOHN VANVAL- 
 KENBERG, Normal School. 
 
 There is a Normal School connected with the University, 
 to which fifty students are entitled to go free of charge, by 
 receiving an appointment from the Governor, Superintend- 
 ent of Public Instruction, or from either of the District 
 Judges. The State University is amply endowed, so that 
 all may be admitted free, but probably not the first year. 
 
 Branch at Fairfield. One branch of the State Univer- 
 sity is established at Fairfield, Jefferson County, and is put 
 upon the same footing with respect to funds and other de- 
 tails, as the present Seminary. 
 
 Branch at Dubuque. Another branch of the State Uni- 
 versity is to be established at Dubuque. The trustees have
 
 EDUCATION. 247 
 
 been appointed, the site selected, and most of the measures 
 necessary to the enterprise taken. 
 
 Normal Schools. The State is divided into three dis- 
 tricts, in each of which there was to be established a Nor- 
 mal School, for the education of teachers for our common 
 schools. The law establishing these schools, located them 
 at Oskaloosa, Mount Pleasant, and Andrew. 
 
 District Schools. Of these, Jas. D. Eads, Esq., late 
 State Superintendent, says : " In many of the older coun- 
 ties that I have travelled through, the citizens have gone to 
 work with a liberal and praiseworthy spirit, in erecting large 
 and commodious buildings for educational purposes. The 
 city of Keokuk takes the lead in having the finest building 
 in the State, in the erection of which the citizens have ex- 
 pended nearly ten thousand dollars ; and with a liberal spi- 
 rit, they pay the Superintendent of the school eight hun- 
 dred dollars per annum. 
 
 " Fort Madison, Burlington, Muscatine, Davenport, Ly- 
 ons, Anamosa, Colesburgh, Marion, Rochester, Tipton, 
 Denmark, Primrose, West Point, Centreville, Oskaloosa, 
 Cedar Falls, and many other towns, have erected buildings 
 which will stand as lasting monuments of the liberality of 
 those engaged in so glorious an enterprise, and an honour to 
 our young State. 
 
 " Iowa, young as she is, already commands a prominent 
 position, not only in reference to the magnitude of her 
 School Fund, but in the progress she has made in the orga- 
 nization of her districts, and the general establishment of 
 free schools.
 
 248 EDUCATION. 
 
 "According to the returns of the County Commissioners, 
 there are twenty-three hundred and fifty-five organized 
 school districts in Iowa, and over one hundred and eleven 
 thousand children between the ages of five and twenty-one 
 years. When we consider, in connection with these facts, 
 that our population is increasing with a rapidity almost un- 
 paralleled in the history of any country, and that in a very 
 few years we shall equal in numbers the most populous of 
 the Eastern States, it becomes apparent that we cannot be 
 too active and vigilant in all that pertains to the education 
 of the youth of our State, who are so soon to control the 
 destiny of a great Commonwealth. 
 
 "While we congratulate ourselves upon the possession 
 of so magnificent a school fund, as has been secured to us 
 by the action of the General Government, and our State 
 Legislature, we must not forget that much remains to be 
 done on the part of the people themselves, before we shall 
 fully enjoy the advantages of a universal system of free 
 schools, of a character commensurate with the object of their 
 organization, viz. : to give to every son and daughter of 
 Iowa a thorough knowledge of all the essential elements of 
 a good practical education. 
 
 "I have had the pleasure, during the past season, of 
 visiting a large number of union or graded schools, in the 
 larger towns of the State, and have been very highly grati- 
 fied in witnessing the many advantages they possess, when 
 properly conducted, over those schools which maintain 
 separate organizations. 
 
 "As appears from the returns of the County Commis-
 
 EDUCATION. 249 
 
 sioners, the average dum paid to the district school teacher 
 is less than twenty dollars to the male, and less than ten 
 dollars per month to female teachers." 
 
 In all the thickly settled counties, common schools are 
 convenient, and should the tide of immigration continue to 
 flow as it has done, in five years not one county in ten will 
 be destitute of the facilities for a sound education. The 
 number and condition of public schools are given more par- 
 ticularly in the sketches of the counties, in another portion 
 of this work. 
 
 Deaf and Dumb, and Blind Asylums. Institutions for 
 the instruction of these unfortunate citizens, were organized 
 in 1853, and have since been in successful operation in 
 Iowa City. Appropriations of $5000 for the support of the 
 Deaf and Dumb, and of $0000 for the support of the Blind 
 Institutions, bave been made, and the trustees have rented 
 suitable buildings. 
 
 The number of deaf and dumb pupils admitted is 32 
 of blind, 23. 
 
 These institutions bid fair to do great service, even the 
 present year, in extending to this unfortunate class, the 
 light and knowledge which, but for education, they must be 
 deprived of. 
 
 Academies and Colleges. This State is well supplied 
 with acadamies and colleges, some of which will compare 
 favorably with those in the Atlantic States, while all reflect 
 credit upon the patriotism and enterprise of the Hawkeye 
 State. We give herein a sketch of the condition of those 
 21*
 
 50 EDUCATION. 
 
 of the principal schools of this class, concerning which we 
 have been able to gain satisfactory data : 
 
 The Burlington University. This is a literary institu- 
 tion of the Baptist denomination, located at Burlington, in 
 April, 1852. The college edifice was erected in 1853-4, 
 and dedicated on the 4th of July, 1854. This building is 41 
 by 65 feet, three stories high, and its style of architecture 
 and economic arrangement reflect great credit upon its found- 
 ers and architects. The first annual catalogue of the in- 
 stitution was issued on the first of January, 1855, which 
 reports 167 pupils, and a faculty of eight different teachers, 
 with Geo. W. Gunnison, A. M., as principal. The school 
 is now in a flourishing condition. The institution possesses 
 available property to the amount of 20,000, and is nearly 
 free from debt, besides $5000 secured and drawing interest, 
 as the commencement towards a fund for enlarging their 
 buildings. The plan of the institution provides for prepa- 
 ratory and collegiate departments, with courses of study for 
 gentlemen and ladies. The gentlemen's course embraces 7 
 years 3 preparatory, and 4 collegiate; the ladies' 5 years 
 1 primary, and 4 advanced. Those desiring further in- 
 formation of the institution, may address the Principal, at 
 Burlington, or Rev. Jas. A. Nash, President of the Board 
 of Trustees, at Ft. Des Moines. 
 
 Alexander College 
 
 Has been recently established, at Dubuque, under the 
 patronage of the Synod of Iowa, but is not intended to be 
 sectarian in its influence. A new college building was
 
 EDUCATION. 251 
 
 erected last year, 60 feet wide by 100 feet long, and four 
 stories high, including basement ; computed cost, upwards 
 of $15,000. The ground occupied by this College embraces 
 three acres, on the bluff one mile west from Main Street 
 a high, healthy, and in every respect desirable location. 
 Situated in the midst of a vast region of country teeming 
 with the elements of material wealth, and rapidly filling up 
 with an intelligent and enterprising people, this College 
 cannot but succeed. 
 
 The Central College of Iowa 
 
 Is pleasantly situated in a healthy location, at Fort Des 
 Moines, and bids fair to become an institution of the high- 
 est order. It is under the fostering care of the Lutheran 
 Church, but is not sectarian in its character. The aim of 
 the faculty will be to exert a healthy moral influence upon 
 the student, and to secure to him a complete and finished 
 education. The main college building will be erected this 
 season, at a cost of $20,000. For further particulars, ad- 
 dress R. Weiser, President, Fort Des Moines. 
 
 TJie Central University of Iowa. 
 
 An institution under the direction and patronage of the 
 Baptist Church of Iowa, is located at Pella, Marion County. 
 A large and substantial brick edifice is in course of erection, 
 and will be completed in June, we understand. The num- 
 ber of students in attendance in 1855, was 122. H. P. 
 Scholte, President; M. A. Clark, Secretary; E. H. Scarff, 
 Principal.
 
 252 EDUCATION. 
 
 The Dubuque Female Institute 
 
 Is delightfully situated upon a natural terrace a high 
 bluff rising in the background in the foreground lies the 
 beautiful and rapidly growing city of Dubuque, whose 
 wharves and levee are washed by the noble Mississippi, 
 bearing on its bosom the rich products of this fruitful land. 
 ,The large and substantial brick edifice of this Institute, 
 cost $16,000. The Institution was established three years 
 since, under the patronage of Miss Catharine Beecher, and 
 offers every advantage to pupils which can be enjoyed in 
 any similar one in the West. 
 
 Iowa College. 
 
 This College, founded in 1848, under the auspices of 
 the New School Presbyterians and Congregationalists, is 
 located in the north part of the City of Davenport. 
 
 The grounds upon which it is built consist of ten acres 
 of land, lying upon the bluff, beautifully adorned with a 
 young and thriving grove, and commanding a most de- 
 lightful prospect of the prairies on the north, and of the 
 Mississippi Kiver, with the adjacent cities on the south. 
 
 The new building is now occupied for college purposes. 
 It is constructed of limestone of the most durable quality. 
 It has three stories, containing a large assembly-room, a 
 laboratory, rooms for library, cabinet, apparatus, literary' 
 societies, and recitation rooms. The third story is divided 
 into rooms for students. There is also a spacious basement 
 for fuel and furnaces. The expense of this substantial, yet 
 elegant, structure is about $20,000.
 
 EDUCATION. 253 
 
 The College boarding-house stands upon the premises, 
 at which board is furnished to students at $1.50 per week, 
 and room rent at $2.00 per term. 
 
 The Institution, as now arranged, has three departments, 
 English, preparatory, and collegiate, in each of which the 
 course of instruction is ample and thorough. The Faculty 
 consists of 
 
 Rev. E. Ripley, Professor of Ancient Languages. 
 
 Rev. H. L. Bullen, Professor of Mathematics and Natu- 
 ral Philosophy. 
 
 D. S. Sheldon, Professor of Chemistry and Natural 
 Science. 
 
 Rev. D. Lane, Professor of Mental and Moral Philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 The number of students last year was one hundred. 
 
 The library of the college is open to all departments. 
 
 Apparatus is provided for the illustration of Natural Phi- 
 losophy, Physiology, Chemistry, Surveying, and Astronomy. 
 Collections in Botany, Zoology, and Mineralogy have been 
 commenced. 
 
 The Iowa Conference Seminary, 
 
 Located at Mount Vernon, Linn County, has a brick 
 edifice 40 by 72 feet, 3 stories high. This Institution is in 
 a very prosperous condition, under the superintendence of 
 Rev. S. M. Fellows, A. M., assisted by three regular teach- 
 ers, besides a female teacher of music, painting and em- 
 broidery. This seminary is well sustained, and the trus- 
 22
 
 254 EDUCATION. 
 
 tees contemplate erecting a new college edifice, 50 by 120 
 feet, four stories high. Mount Vernon is very pleasantly 
 located, in a rich agricultural district, well settled, by in- 
 telligent and industrious people. 
 
 The Iowa Wesleyan University, 
 
 Under the control of the M. E. Church, is located at 
 Mount Pleasant, Henry County, one of the most pleasant 
 and healthy locations in the State, and in the midst of an 
 intelligent and refined community. This is a first-class col- 
 legiate institute, with an able faculty, and had an attendance 
 last year of 254. The University building is large and 
 commodious, 3 stories high, situated upon grounds laid out 
 in a very handsome style, and ornamented with beautiful 
 trees and fine shrubbery. (See Iowa Medical Col- 
 lege.) 
 
 The Mount Pleasant High School and Female Academy, 
 with an average attendance of 100 pupils, is also in a pros- 
 perous condition, and worthy the liberal patronage it re- 
 ceives. 
 
 Iowa Medical College, Keokuk. 
 
 This institution has been adopted as the Medical De- 
 partment of the Iowa Wesleyau University. The first term 
 under the new arrangement, opened on the first Monday 
 of November last, with flattering prospects. Particulars 
 of terms, &c., together with all desired information, 
 may be obtained by addressing Hon. Thos. W. Claggett, 
 President.
 
 EDUCATION. 255 
 
 The State Lunatic Asylum has been located at Mount 
 Pleasant, and the requisite buildings will soon be erected 
 there. 
 
 The Christian Church of Iowa, have also decided upon 
 Mount Pleasant, as the most eligible location for their 
 College, and we presume the buildings will be erected 
 this year. 
 
 Iowa Female Collegiate Institute, at Iowa City, under the 
 auspices of the L 0. of 0. F. 
 
 "Articles of incorporation were adopted and recorded on 
 the 29th of July, 1853, which place the institution under 
 the particular auspices of the Independent Order of Odd 
 Fellows of Iowa, and secures in the instruction and govern- 
 ment of the school the same broad and liberal basis, and the 
 same freedom from every species of sectarianism, which dis- 
 tinguishes that Order. 
 
 " It also offers to all Lodges and Encampments, contri- 
 buting one hundred dollars to the funds of the institution, 
 a perpetual scholarship ; and to each individual contributor 
 of the same amount, a scholarship for twenty years, or 
 during his natural life. By this arrangement we hope to 
 be able, at some future day, to offer free instruction to all 
 poor orphan daughters of the Order in the State. This, 
 indeed, is a primary object had in view by the Board in the 
 establishment of their institution, and will not be lost sight 
 of in their future plans and labor for the permanent organi- 
 zation of their school.
 
 256 EDUCATION. 
 
 " During the past year the attention of the Board has 
 been directed chiefly towards the collection of funds, and to 
 the preparations for the erection of a suitable College edi- 
 fice for the use of the institution. 
 
 " In this effort, very gratifying success has rewarded their 
 labor. Notwithstanding the protracted illness of their agent 
 has deprived the Board of his services for nearly one-half 
 of the past year, yet they are happy to report the collection 
 of about 68000 in cash, notes, valid subscriptions, and other 
 property, as the result of their efforts. 
 
 " The City Council at Iowa City, at their regular meeting 
 in September, 1853, donated to the Board an eligible site 
 for their College edifice; and the Grand Lodge of the 
 I. 0. of 0. F. of the State of Iowa laid the corner-stone of the 
 College, October 27th, 1853, with the usual ceremonies of 
 the Order." 
 
 The edifice will be completed and ready for occupation 
 at an early day. 
 
 For further particulars address F. H. Lee, Secretary, 
 Iowa City. 
 
 See particulars of " Iowa Conference Seminary," of Mt. 
 Vernon, and of the " Iowa Wesleyan University," " Mt. 
 Pleasant High School and Female Academy," in the 
 sketches of Linn and Henry counties. 
 
 " Ladies, College" 
 
 The above is the name of an educational institution, 
 which was established in 1855, in the city of Davenport, 
 under the direction of T. H. Codding, Esq., who is also
 
 EDUCATION. 257 
 
 its proprietor. The building, when completed, at a cost 
 of $20,000, will present a front of 120 feet, and four stories 
 in height, with a depth of 80 feet. The main building 
 was opened for the reception of scholars on the first of May. 
 Upon the selection of the site for the " Ladies' College," 
 too much praise can scarcely be bestowed. Standing upon 
 a lofty bluff, it commands a sweep of landscape scarce ex- 
 celled throughout the region of the Upper Mississippi, 
 while the broad summit of the hill, whose centre it decks, 
 affords ample room for extensive promenades, and the gentle 
 slopes which decline towards the lowlands, render it easy 
 of access to pedestrians and carriages. 
 
 The "Ladies' College" aims to prepare young ladies for the 
 active practical duties of life, by a judicious combination of 
 mental, moral, and physical training. Its proprietor says : 
 
 "The course of instruction will be thorough, complete, 
 discriminating and select, avoiding everything of a useless 
 character, and substituting those branches whose tendency 
 is to give vigor and elasticity to the youthful mind. 
 
 "The manner of teaching will be the most approved 
 and improved known in our country or in Europe, giving 
 the pupil the full understanding of her subject, while it is 
 presented by the teacher in a new and fascinating style." 
 
 To insure to pupils a thorough English and classical edu- 
 cation, and familiarity with the languages, a large corps of 
 experienced and accomplished teachers have been engaged 
 as assistants to Mr. T. H. Codding and Mrs. 0. Codding, 
 the Principals and Superintendents of the Institute. The 
 fourth quarter commenced Feb. 20th, 1856. 
 22*
 
 258 
 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 Congregational Churches. The State of Iowa is divided 
 into five associations. The latest reports are from the pro- 
 ceedings of the annual Association, in June, 1854, as 
 follows : 
 
 No. of Members. 
 
 Council Bluffs Association, 94 No. of Ministers in the State, 73 
 
 Davenport " 615 Churches " " 89 
 
 Denmark " 759 Meeting Houses " " 44 
 
 Des Moines River " 364 " building " " 5 
 Dubuque " 657 
 
 2489 
 
 Members new churches > 
 not included i 
 
 2677 
 
 Congregational churches are thus located : Council Bluffs 
 Association. Civil Bend, Council Bluffs, Tabor, (Florence, 
 N. T.). Davenport Association. Anamosa, Copper Creek, 
 .Davenport, Deep Creek, De Witt, Le Claire, Lyons, Ma- 
 rion, Muscatine, Sabula, Sterling, Sugar Creek, Summit, 
 Tipton, Toledo. Denmark Association. Brighton, Bur- 
 lington, Clay, Columbus, Crawfordsville, Danville, Den- 
 mark, Flint, Hillsboro', Long Creek, Mount Pleasant 
 North Marion, Old Man's Creek, Salem, Trenton, Wapello, 
 Warren, Wayne. Des Moines River Association. Ben-
 
 BELIQIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 259 
 
 tonsport, Chariton, Eddyville, Elk Creek, Fairfield, Farm- 
 in gton, Keosauqua, Knoxsville, Marysville, Oskaloosa, Ot- 
 tumwa, Pleasant ville, Red Rock. Dubugue Association. 
 Bellevue, Bowen's Prairie, Cascade, Centre, Colesburg, 
 Cottonville, Decorah, Dubuque, Durango, Farmersburgh, 
 French Settlement, Garnaville, Lansing, Manona, Maquo- 
 keta, Quasqueton, Sherold's Mound, Teroli, West Union, 
 Yankee Settlement. 
 
 Statistical Table of Baptists in Iowa. 
 
 Associations. 
 
 Churches. 
 
 Pastors. 
 
 9 M . 
 
 if s 
 
 p. 3 t> 
 
 A* 
 
 No. of 
 Members. 
 
 Date of Report. 
 
 Des Moines 
 
 fll 
 
 11 
 
 247 
 
 1159 
 
 Aug. 25, 1854. 
 
 
 24 
 
 17 
 
 73 
 
 1078 
 
 Sept 15 1854. 
 
 Oskaloosa 
 
 16 
 
 fi 
 
 32 
 
 502 
 
 Aug. 30, 1854. 
 
 Central Iowa 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 98 
 
 384 
 
 Sept 29 1854 
 
 Fox River 
 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 69 
 
 628 
 
 Sept. 8, 1854. 
 
 Eden 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 
 300 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 102 
 
 49 
 
 519 
 
 4051 
 
 
 Not included in above 
 
 3 
 
 11 
 
 
 49 
 
 A low estimate. 
 
 
 105 
 
 60 
 
 519 
 
 4100 
 
 
 Statistical History of the Iowa Baptist Convention. 
 
 
 
 
 Clerk. 
 
 In. Preacher. 
 
 1st 1842. 
 
 Iowa City, 
 
 Rev B. Carpenter, 
 
 Rev. W. B. Morey, 
 
 Rev. H. Johnson. 
 
 2d 1843. 
 
 Davenport, 
 
 Rev H. Johnson, 
 
 J. T. Falei, 
 
 " A. Sherwood. 
 
 3d 1844. 
 
 Mt. Pleasant, 
 
 Rev E. Fisher, 
 
 C. G. Blood, 
 
 ' C. E Brown. 
 
 4th 1845. 
 
 Bloomington 
 
 Rev H. Burnett, 
 
 Rev. C. E. Brown, 
 
 W. B. Morey. 
 
 6th 1846. 
 
 Iowa City. ' 
 
 Rev B. F. Brabrook, 
 
 J. T Fales, 
 
 J. N. Seely. 
 
 6th 1847. 
 
 Farmington, 
 
 J. T Fales, Esq., 
 
 Rev W. B. Morey, 
 
 H. Burnett. 
 
 7th 1848. 
 8th 1849. 
 
 Davenport, 
 Iowa City, 
 
 Rev D. P. Smith, 
 Rev B. F. Brabrook, 
 
 Rev T. H. Arch,bld, 
 Rev T H. Archibald, 
 
 D. P. Smith. 
 
 9th 1850. 
 
 Mt. Pleasant, 
 
 Rev D. P. Smith, 
 
 Rev S. B. Johnson, 
 
 T. H. Archibald. 
 
 10th ) ; set 
 
 Muscatine, 
 
 J. T Fales, Esq., 
 
 Rev S. B. Johnson, 
 
 G. J. Johnson. 
 
 1861 J2es 
 
 
 J. T. Fales, Esq., 
 
 Rev S. B. Johnson, 
 
 W. A. Welli. 
 
 llth 1852. 
 
 Mar* n ' 
 
 Rev E. Gunn, 
 
 Rev I. C. Curtis, 
 
 J. A. Nash. 
 
 12th 1853. 
 
 Keokuk, 
 
 Rev E. M. Miles, 
 
 Rev Wm. Turton, 
 
 G. J. J.,hnson. 
 
 13th 1854. 
 
 Davenport, 
 
 Rev H. Burnett, 
 
 Rev H. B. Wilbur, 
 
 " W. Elliott.
 
 260 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 SYNOD OF IOWA. (N. S.) 
 
 The Synod of Iowa consists of four Presbyteries, as 
 follows : 
 
 1. The Presbytery of Des Moines, with the churches of 
 Fort Des Moines, Winterset, Mount Gideon, Bloomfield, 
 Centreville, Union, Troy, Shunem, and Three Rivers. 
 
 2. The Presbytery of Keokuk, with the churches of 
 Keokuk, Oskaloosa, Croton, Pleasant Grove, Montrose, 
 Pisgah, Fort Madison, Yellow Spring and Toolesborough. 
 
 3. The Presbytery of Iowa City, with the churches of 
 Iowa City, Providence, Solon, Cedar Rapids, Mount Vernon, 
 Pleasant Prairie, Brush Run, Marengo, Benton, Vinton, 
 Centre Point, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Janesville, Clarks 
 ville, La Fayette, Indian Creek, Newton, and Lyons. 
 
 4. The Presbytery of Dubuque, recently formed, with 
 the church of Dubuque and other congregations in that 
 part of the State. 
 
 This Synod has a Church Erection Fund of about two 
 thousand dollars, independent of the Assembly's fundj 
 also a college at Yellow Spring, in Des Moines County, 
 together with a female seminary at Keokuk, and other 
 Academic institutions for both sexes, at Cedar Rapids, 
 Vinton and Troy. 
 
 Mr. L. B. Parsons, late of Wyoming, N. Y., deceased, 
 has, it is reported, bequeathed property, valued at forty or 
 fifty thousand dollars, for a college connected with this 
 branch of the church.
 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 261 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. (0. S.) 
 
 The Synod of Iowa is divided into three Presbyteries. 
 Having received no statement for 1855, we insert those 
 of 1854 : 
 
 No. Members. No. Churches. 
 
 1. Presbytery of Iowa 247 24 
 
 2. Presbytery of Cedar 799 47 
 
 3. Presbytery of Des Moines 787 100 
 
 In Synod of Iowa 1833 171 
 
 Location of Presbyterian Churches. 
 First Presbytery. Keokuk, West Point, Middletown, 
 Morning Sun, Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Burlington, 
 Lowell, Spring Creek, Fort Madison,and Kossuth. Second 
 Presbytery. Muscatine, West Liberty, Farmer's Creek, 
 Tipton, Scotch Grove, Cascade, Grandview, Marion, Lime 
 Grove, Dubuque, Davenport, Iowa City, Le Claire, Solon, 
 Blue Grass, Maquoketa, Postville, Franckville, Colesburg, 
 Lybrand, Pleasant Grove, Vinton, Independence, Hopkin- 
 ton, Lisbon, Princeton. Third Presbytery. Fairfield, 
 Libertyville, Sigourney, Birmingham, Winchester, Oska- 
 loosa, Washington, Brighton, Albia, Crawfordsville, Troy, 
 Keosauqua, Bentonsport, Kirkville, Indianolo, Ottumwa, 
 Knoxville, and Fort Des Moines. 
 
 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE 
 OF IOWA. 
 
 Organized Parishes. 
 
 Church of the Advent Danville. 
 
 Christ Church Burlington.
 
 262 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 Grace Church Cedar Rapids. 
 
 Hope Church , Fort William. 
 
 St. James' Church Oskaloosa. 
 
 St. John's Church Keokuk. 
 
 St. John's Church Dubuque. 
 
 St. Paul's Church Bellevue. 
 
 St. Paul's Church Ft. Des Moines. 
 
 Trinity Church Muscatine. 
 
 Trinity Church Davenport. 
 
 Trinity Church Washington. 
 
 Trinity Church Iowa City. 
 
 Trinity Church Fairfield. 
 
 Grace Church Lyons. 
 
 St. John's Church Clinton. 
 
 St. Luke's Church Lansing. 
 
 St. Mark's Church Fort Dodge. 
 
 List of the Clergy. 
 
 The Rt. Kev. HENRY W. LEE, D. D., Bishop of the 
 Diocese. 
 
 The Rev. WILLIAM ADDERLY, Missionary at Fort Madi- 
 son, Washington, and Fairfield. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN BATCHELDER, Rector of the Church of 
 the Advent, Danville, and Missionary for Des Moines 
 County. 
 
 The Rev. R. D. BROOKE, Rector of St. John's Church, 
 Dubuque. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE DENNISON, Rector of St. John's 
 Church, Keokuk. 
 
 The Rev. FRANKLIN R. HAFF, Rector of Christ Church, 
 Burlington.
 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 263 
 
 The Rev. JAMES KEELER, residing near Cedar 
 Falls. 
 
 The Rev. A. LOUDERBACK, Rector of Trinity Church, 
 Davenport. 
 
 The Rev. EDWARD W. PEET, Rector of St. Paul's 
 Church, Fort Des Moines. 
 
 The Rev. SAMUEL STARR, Rector of Grace Church, 
 Cedar Rapids. 
 
 The Rev. C. C. TOWNSEND, Rector of Trinity Church, 
 Iowa City. 
 
 The Rev. JOHN UFFORD, Rector of Trinity Church, 
 Muscatine. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE W. WATSON, Rector of St. Paul's 
 Church, Bellevue. 
 
 The Rev. H. W. BEERS, Rector of Grace Church, 
 Lyons. 
 
 The Rev. W. H. BARRIS, Rector of Trinity Church, 
 Iowa City. 
 
 The Rev. P. A. JOHNSON, Rector of St. James' Church, 
 Oskaloosa. 
 
 The Rev. GEORGE C. STREET, Davenport. 
 
 The territorial limits of the diocese embrace the entire 
 State. It was organized into a diocese, August 18th, 
 1853, under the provisionary charge of the Rt. Rev. J. 
 Kemper, D. D. The present bishop was elected June 1st, 
 1854. 
 
 -.*-
 
 2G4 
 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 There are organized parishes in the following places : 
 Dubuque, Bellevue, Davenport, Muscatine, Burlington, Ft. 
 Madison, Keokuk, Ft. Des Moines, Washington, Iowa City, 
 and Cedar Rapids. Churches are built in the following 
 places : Dubuque, Davenport, Muscatine, Burlington, and 
 Keokuk, and one is in progress at Cedar Rapids. 
 
 The number of clergy in the diocese is 11; number of 
 communicants, about 300. Immigration is adding to fami- 
 lies and communicants every month. Number of Sunday 
 Schools not ascertained as yet. The second annual conven- 
 tion meets at Burlington, on the 29th of May next. 
 
 Methodist Churches. 
 
 In the following table we give a full history of the con- 
 dition of the Methodist Churches in Iowa, as rendered at 
 the Eleventh Annual Conference, held September 27th, 
 1854: 
 
 M. E. CHURCHES. 
 
 
 dj 
 
 X 
 
 "to 
 
 S 
 
 . 
 
 
 a 
 
 S 
 
 i 
 
 E 
 
 DISTRICTS. 
 
 1 
 
 a 
 
 -p 
 
 a 
 
 DISTRICTS 
 
 1 
 
 OS 
 
 a 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 S 
 
 
 g 
 
 (2 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 
 g 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 Keokuk 
 
 22 
 
 7 
 
 49 
 
 4171 
 
 Iowa City 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 33 
 
 1948 
 
 Burlington.... 
 
 23 
 
 10 
 
 35 
 
 2830 
 
 Ft. Des Moines 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 41 
 
 2882 
 
 Dubuque 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 21 
 21 
 
 1518 
 1332 
 
 Council Bluffs 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 408 
 
 Mt. Vernon.... 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 1374 
 
 Total 
 
 80 
 
 41 
 
 222 
 
 15131 
 
 M. E. SABBATH SCHOOLS. 
 
 
 
 
 2 S 
 
 "M 
 
 
 
 
 g 
 
 "SSJ 
 
 DISTRICTS. 
 
 J. 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 "o 
 
 y & 
 
 3.0 
 
 5"S 
 
 DISTRICTS. 
 
 f 
 
 45 
 "3 
 
 || 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i2 a 
 
 
 
 do 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 on 
 
 CQ 
 
 . 
 
 o o< 
 
 Keokuk 
 
 69 
 
 2650 
 
 6263 
 
 112 
 
 Ft. Des Moines 
 
 41 
 
 1656 
 
 4151 
 
 34 
 
 Burlington.... 
 
 80 
 
 2496 
 
 5615 
 
 94 
 
 Council Bluffs 
 
 11 
 
 417 
 
 850 
 
 8 
 
 Dubuque 
 
 28 
 
 1363 
 
 4657 
 
 9 
 38 
 
 Scattering 
 
 4 
 
 430 
 
 100 
 
 6 
 
 Mt. Vernon,... 
 
 86 
 
 1146 
 
 4229 
 
 48 
 
 Total 
 
 271 
 
 13,254 
 
 36,173 
 
 398 
 
 Iowa City 
 
 89 
 
 1215 
 
 3715 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 

 
 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 265 
 
 Catholic Churches and Clergy. 
 
 The diocess of Dubuque, comprises the State of Iowa, and 
 is administered by the Rt. Rev. Mathias Loras, D. D. The 
 principal buildings at Dubuque embrace the " Cathedral of 
 St. Raphael," now nearly completed, the " Holy Trinity," 
 (German), and a new and spacious church in the upper part 
 of the city, " under the patronage of St. Patrick." Also 
 the "Mount St. Bernard Theological Seminary," situated 
 four miles from Dubuque, with ten seminaries and three 
 professors ; the " Cistercian Monastery of Our Blessed Lady 
 of La Trappe," New Melleray, near Dubuque ; " Brothers 
 of Christian Instruction," at New Paradise Grove, four 
 miles from Dubuque, and " St. Joseph's Female Academy," 
 situated eight miles from Dubuque. Beside the above, the 
 Catholics have the " Convent and Academy of the Visita- 
 tion," at Keokuk, and churches and stations at the follow 
 ing named places : 
 
 Dubuque County, at Dubuque, Cascade, Green Oak, New 
 Vienna, St. Joseph's, Shellsmound, St. Nicholas, and Te"te- 
 de-Mort ; 
 
 Jackson County, at Garry Owen, St. Lawrence, Cascade 
 Belleview, and Sabula; 
 
 Jones County, at Castle Grove, and St. Thomas; 
 
 Delaware County, at Buffalo Grove ; 
 
 Clayton County, at Carnovillo, and Guttenberg; 
 
 Clinton County, at Lyons, and Camanche; 
 23
 
 266 RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. 
 
 Scott County, at Davenport, and Le Claire; 
 
 Muscatine County, at Muscatine; 
 
 Johnson County, at Iowa City, English River, and Old 
 Man's Creek; 
 
 Des Moines County, at Burlington, Dodgeville, and 
 Augusta ; 
 
 Lee County, at West Point, Fort Madison, Keokuk, and 
 Farmington ; 
 
 Winnesheik County, at Big Springs, and Old Mission ; at 
 Ottumwa, Wapello County; Ft. Des Moines, Polk County; 
 Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, and New Paradise 
 Grove, near Mount St. Bernard. 
 
 Recapitulation. Churches, 35 ; stations, 17 ; clergymen, 
 29 ; religious communities, 5 ; Catholic academies, 4 ; Ca- 
 tholic population, 20,000. 
 
 [We have not been able to procure statistics of the 
 Christian, the Lutheran, and other denominations. If 
 those interested will forward printed or written statements 
 of their condition, &c., we will take pleasure in inserting 
 them in future editions.]
 
 BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 
 
 267 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 
 
 Free and Accepted Masons. 
 
 location. No. of Members. 
 
 Burlington 60 
 
 Muscatine 63 
 
 Dubuque 44 
 
 Iowa City 28 
 
 Wapello 23 
 
 Marion 49 
 
 Augusta 18 
 
 Mount Pleasant 35 
 
 Keosauqua. 46 
 
 Tipton 26 
 
 Keokuk 29 
 
 Fort Madison 18 
 
 Bloomfield 33 
 
 Fairfield 35 
 
 Ottumwa. 25 
 
 Salem 49 
 
 Oskaloosa 47 
 
 Lyons 
 
 Burlington 23 
 
 Agency City 34 
 
 Ft. Des Moines 18 
 
 Grandview 17 
 
 Rochester 17 
 
 Cedar Rapids 28 
 
 Location. No. of Members. 
 
 Washington 30 
 
 Farmington 16 
 
 New London 32 
 
 Keokuk 23 
 
 Muscatine 37 
 
 Iowa City 20 
 
 Sigourney 30 
 
 Winchester 21 
 
 De Witt 23 
 
 Kirkville 24 
 
 Maquoketa 16 
 
 Davenport 28 
 
 Richland 11 
 
 Sabula 20 
 
 Troy 16 
 
 Libertyville 23 
 
 Centreville 14 
 
 Wintersett 15 
 
 Le Claire 13 
 
 Crawfordville 13 
 
 Anamosa 11 
 
 Bentonsport 7 
 
 Cedar Falls 
 
 NOTE. This table is taken from the Report made to the Grand 
 Annual Communication, June 6th, 1854. Other lodges have been
 
 268 
 
 BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 
 
 organized since, and numerous members added to the Order, but 
 this is the latest reliable data accessible. In this list the lodges 
 are arranged according to their age and No., except that one (No. 
 9), "revoked," is omitted; so that Mount Pleasant is No. 8, Keo- 
 eauqua, 10, Tipton, 11, &c. The next session of the Grand Lodge 
 of Iowa, will be held in Keosauqua, Van Buren County, the first 
 Tuesday in June, 1856. 
 
 Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
 
 There are of the I. 0. of 0. F. in this State, sixty-one 
 lodges, which are located in the following counties : 
 
 Appanoose, 
 
 Fayette, 
 
 Mahaska, 
 
 Buchanan, 
 
 Henry, 
 
 Madison, 
 
 Black Hawk, 
 
 Jackson, 
 
 Muscatine, 
 
 Bremer, 
 
 Jefferson, 
 
 Pottawattamie, 
 
 Clayton, 
 
 Johnson, 
 
 Polk, 
 
 Cedar, 
 
 Jones, 
 
 Scott, 
 
 Clinton, 
 
 Keokuk, 
 
 Van Buren, 
 
 Delaware, 
 
 Lee, 
 
 Wappello, 
 
 Dubuque, 
 
 Louisa, 
 
 Washington, 
 
 Des Moines, 
 
 Lima, 
 
 Winnesheik, 
 
 Davis, 
 
 Marion, 
 
 Warren. 
 
 Sons of Temperance. 
 
 The number of divisions of Sons of Temperance in the 
 State, as near as we can ascertain, is not far from one hun- 
 dred and fifty, most of which are located as follows : 
 
 Counties. Towns. 
 
 Appanoose, Centreville. 
 
 Black Hawk, Waterloo. 
 
 Cedar, Rochester, Springdale. 
 
 Clinton, De Witt, Camanche. 
 
 Davis, Bloomfield. 
 
 Delaware, Delhi, Hopkinton, Uniontown.
 
 BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. 269 
 
 Counties. Towns. 
 
 Des Moines, Burlington. 
 
 Dubuque, Dubuque, Hogansville. 
 
 Henry, Mount Pleasant, Salem. 
 
 Jackson,... ...} Andrew, Bellevue, S. Fork, Sa- 
 
 I bula, Lamotte. 
 
 Jas P er Newton. 
 
 Jefferson, Fairfield, Glasgow. 
 
 Johnson, I owa City> 
 
 Keokuk, Sigourney. 
 
 Lee, Keokuk. 
 
 Louisa, Toolsboro'. 
 
 Lucas, Chariton. 
 
 Mahaska, Hopewell, Oskaloosa. 
 
 Marion, Knoxville. 
 
 Monroe, Albia. 
 
 Mills, Silver Creek, Glenwood. 
 
 Polk Ft. Des Moines. 
 
 Q , I Davenport, Le Claire, Blue 
 
 ) Grass. 
 
 Van Buren ... ... \ Keosauqua, Farmington, Pitts- 
 
 '" / burg. 
 
 (Ottumwa, Dahlonega, Agency 
 City, Eddyville, Bentonsport, 
 Bonaparte, Birmingham. 
 
 Washington, Washington, Richmond. 
 
 Warren, Indianola. 
 
 23*
 
 270 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 Or Public improvements in Iowa, probably the more im- 
 portant and extensive are those now in progress by the Des 
 Moines Navigation and Railroad Company. This company 
 was organized in May, 1854, with a capital of $3,000,000. 
 They hold a grant from Congress, embracing all the alter- 
 nate sections of public lands, for the distance of five miles 
 on each side of the Des Moines River, consisting of about 
 1,000,000 acres of the best land in the State; also the 
 right to collect such toll and water-rents as they may deem 
 proper for the term of 75 years. The improvement of the 
 Des Moines River is to be made by the construction of a 
 slack water navigation, from the Mississippi to Fort Des 
 Moines, by means of dams and locks, and occasionally by 
 short canals, parallel with, but independent of the river. 
 The average distance between the dams is about seven 
 miles, and the average lift of the locks is ten feet. Thia 
 company have entered into bonds with the State that the 
 locks and dams shall be completed so as to ensure the 
 navigation of the Des Moines River from the Mississippi 
 to Fort Des Moines, a distance of about two hundred 
 miles, by the 1st of July 1858. The total expenses 
 already incurred on account of the work is $562,457 21. 
 It is probable that 600,000 acres of the choice lands of
 
 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 271 
 
 this company will be sold during the next four years, at 
 about eight dollars per acre, one-fourth down, balance in 
 ten equal annual payments. This company have also a 
 Railroad line along the Des Moines Valley, which will 
 eventually extend into Minnesota. This road is contracted 
 to be open from Keokuk to Bentonsport early in 1857. 
 Particulars of either branch of this great work may be 
 had by addressing Henry O'Reilly, Esq., Secretary, at 
 Ottumwa, Iowa. 
 
 The Mississippi Rapids Improvement, is also an im- 
 portant Public Work. The Rapids occur in the river, and 
 are 12 miles in length, terminating at Keokuk, and 13 
 miles in length, terminating at Davenport. The fall on 
 the Lower Rapids is 24 feet, on the Upper Rapids about 16 
 feet ; and on either sufficient to check, and at times prevent, 
 navigation during a season of low water. Some six years 
 ago, a company was formed to construct a canal on the 
 Iowa side of the Lower Rapids, 250 feet wide, which would 
 give four feet of water at the lowest stage, and with a fall 
 of 24 feet in 12 miles, would afford an extensive site for 
 mills and manufactories. Colonel Curtis, of Keokuk, an 
 experienced engineer, states that this canal plan is the 
 safest, cheapest, most expeditious, and most practicable 
 plan that can be adopted. He says a substantial embank- 
 ment, well protected by stone, and all other necessary im- 
 provements can be constructed in the Lower Rapids for 
 $1,000,000. Lieutenant Warren estimates the cost of the 
 same improvements at $4,000,000. We predict that the 
 immense water-power at this great commercial city will
 
 272 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 not always pass idly by and if practicable, either of the 
 above estimates would prove a judicious expenditure, be it 
 a public or private enterprise. An appropriation of 
 $1,000,000 has been made by Congress for excavating the 
 Channel in these Rapids, and some progress made during 
 the past two years. Major John G. Floyd, Civil Engi- 
 neer of the Rapids Improvement, states that by an annual 
 appropriation of $200,000, a well defined, safe, and conve- 
 nient channel, 200 feet wide and 4 feet deep can be 
 secured. It is probable a thorough trial will be made by 
 Major Floyd to remove these obstructions by excavation. 
 
 Or RAILROADS. As the observer will readily decide, 
 upon reading the following list of Railroads, which are 
 actually being built, there is probably no other State in 
 the Union that will put into operation more miles of Rail- 
 road during any one or all of the ten years to come, than 
 Iowa. The routes of each of these Railroads, and also of 
 those projected in the State, will be found correctly drawn 
 upon " Parker's Sectional and Geological Map of Iowa." 
 
 Burlington and Missouri to be completed to Ottumwa 
 on the Des Moines River, in November, 1856. 
 
 Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska from Clinton via Cedar 
 Rapids and Fort Dodge, to Sergeant's Bluff contracted 
 to be completed, 40 miles, in 1856. 
 
 Dubuque and Pacific projected to Sergeant's Bluff to 
 be completed to Delhi, 30 miles, 15th November, 1856. 
 
 Fort Madison and Bloomfield to be completed in thirty 
 months. 
 
 Iowa Central Air Line from Lyons, via Maquoketa,
 
 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 273 
 
 through central tier of counties, west under contract to 
 Maquoketa. 
 
 Keokuk, Fort Des Moines, and Minnesota contracted 
 to be completed to Bentonsport in 1856. 
 
 Keokuk, Mount Pleasant, and Muscatine Railroad the 
 first Division from Keokuk to Montrose to be completed 
 by July, 1856. 
 
 Mississippi and Missouri the Pioneer Road already 
 completed to Iowa City under contract to Fort Des 
 Moines. 
 
 These Railroads are all needed, and each bid fair to be 
 completed at an early day. 
 
 Among the most important Public Works projected in 
 the West, is " The People's Highway," between the At- 
 lantic and Pacific States, with postal and telegraphic 
 facilities, incidental to the protection of settlers and im- 
 migrants between the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific 
 Ocean. This important enterprise was first projected and 
 will be perfected by General Henry O'Reilly, who has had 
 great experience in the establishment of Telegraph lines 
 throughout the United States. His memorial to Congress 
 was presented and favorably considered at its last session, 
 and will probably be complied with, the present session. 
 His system of intercommunication has met with the ap- 
 proval and recommendation of the Governors of Missouri, 
 Iowa, and Nebraska ; and also of the National Telegraph 
 and Railroad Convention, in which the States of Missouri, 
 Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, 
 Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia, Tennesse, New
 
 274 PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 Jersey and Louisiana, were represented. The present laws 
 provide for a line of military posts from the Mississippi 
 Valley to the Pacific. Mr. O'Reilly asks neither money 
 nor especial favor from the Federal Government, but that 
 instead of establishing a large number of men at each 
 post, the number of stations be increased, so that they may 
 be twenty miles apart and only twenty men at each post ; 
 and that two or three soldiers shall ride daily, each way, 
 from each stockade, furnishing the three-fold purpose of 
 transmitting a daily letter mail from station to station, pro- 
 tecting a Telegraph Line from molestation, and affording 
 escort and assistance to immigrants and settlers. 
 
 This enterprise is to a great portion of the West, espe- 
 cially the "Far West," second in importance to none 
 other, and having been pronounced by the best of judges 
 as perfectly practicable, we earnestly hope the project may 
 be carried out. General O'Reilly is now a resident of 
 Iowa, and the completion of his great work would give 
 Iowa a through line of Telegraph, east and west, and place 
 her upon the great Atlantic and Pacific Line.
 
 LIST OF POST-OFFICES. 
 
 275 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 LIST OF POST OFFICES IN IOWA, ARRANGED ALPHA- 
 BETICALLY IN COUNTIES. 
 
 [NOTE. The names of all the counties in the State are 
 here given those that have no Post-Offices named therein, 
 are not yet organized.] 
 
 ADAIR COUNTY. 
 
 APPANOOSE COUNTY. 
 
 Adair. Marvin's. 
 
 Centreville. Mt. Gilead. 
 
 Alconus. Wahtahwah. 
 
 Cincinnati. Pleasant View. 
 Hibbsville. Sharon. 
 
 Holaday's. 
 
 Iconium. Unionville. 
 
 ADAMS COUNTY. 
 
 Moravia. Wells' Mills. 
 
 
 Milliard. 
 
 Icaria. Quincy. 
 
 
 
 AUDUBON COUNTY. 
 
 ALAMAKEE COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 Ballard. Hamlin Grove. 
 
 Bellows. Lycurgus. 
 
 Bear Grove. 
 
 Bryson. Markee. 
 
 
 Bunker Hill. Ossian. 
 
 BENTON COUNTY. 
 
 Capoli. Painted Rock. 
 
 
 Columbus. Postville. 
 
 Benton City. Marysville. 
 
 French Creek. Rossville. 
 
 Beulah. Taylor's Grove. 
 
 Grantville. Union Prairie. 
 
 Burke. Vinton. 
 
 Hardin. Volney. 
 Ion. Waterville. 
 
 BLACKHAWK COUNTY. 
 
 Lansing. Wawkon. 
 
 Barclay. Eliza. 
 
 Lybrand. Wexford. 
 
 Cedar Falls. Elk River.
 
 276 
 
 LIST OF POST-OFFICES. 
 
 Enterprise. Sturgess Ra- 
 
 Honey Grove. Red Oak. 
 
 Knox. pids. 
 
 Inland. Rochester. 
 
 Laporte C;ty. Waterloo. 
 
 Lacton. Rosette. 
 
 
 Massillon. Springdale. 
 
 BOONE COUNTY. 
 
 Onion Grove. Tipton. 
 
 Bellepointe. Rapida. 
 
 Pedee. West Branch. 
 
 Boonsboro. Ridge. 
 
 Pioneer Grove. Woodbridge. 
 
 Mineral Ridge. Sweed Point. 
 
 
 Parkersburg. 
 
 CERRO GORDO COUNTY. 
 
 BREMER COUNTY 
 
 Clear Lake. 
 
 Jackson Point. Neutral. 
 
 
 Janesville. Waverly. 
 
 CHEROKEE COUNTY. 
 
 BUCHANAN COUNTY. 
 
 CLAY COUNTY. 
 
 Brandon. Greely's Grove. 
 
 
 Buffalo Grove. Independence. 
 
 CLARKE COUNTY. 
 
 Chatham. Pine. 
 
 
 Erin. Quasqueton. 
 
 Bartletteville. Milford. 
 
 Frink'a Grove. 
 
 Glenns. Norris. 
 
 
 Hopeville. Osceola. 
 
 BUTLER COUNTY. 
 
 Hickory Grove. Ottawa. 
 
 Beaver Grove. Leoni. 
 
 Laporte. White Breast. 
 
 Clarksville. 
 
 
 
 CLAYTON COUNTY. 
 
 BUENA VISTA COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 Brookville. Littleporte. 
 
 BUNCOME COUNTY. 
 
 Buena Vista. Lodomills. 
 
 
 Clayton. McGregor's 
 
 CALHOUN COUNTY. 
 
 Communia. Landing. 
 
 CARROLL COUNTY. 
 
 Council Hill. Millville. 
 
 
 Elkader. Monona. 
 
 CASS COUNTY. 
 
 Elkport. National. 
 
 Edna. Lura. 
 
 Farmersburg. Newstand. 
 
 Iranistan. Pymosa. 
 
 Garnavillo. Panther Creek. 
 
 Lewis. 
 
 Girard. Sylvan. 
 
 
 Grand Meadow. Strawberry 
 
 CEDAR COUNTY. 
 
 Guttenburg. Point. 
 
 Cedar. Gower's Ferry. 
 
 High Grove. Sodomville. 
 
 Cambridge. Harwell. 
 
 Highland. Volga City.
 
 LIST OF POST-OFFICES. 
 
 277 
 
 CLINTON COUNTY. 
 
 DES MOINES COUNTY. 
 
 Boone Spring. Elk River. 
 
 Albright's. Kossuth. 
 
 Brookfield. Elvira. 
 
 Augusta. Limestone. 
 
 Buena Vista. Grand Mound. 
 
 Burlington. Linton. 
 
 Burgess. Lyons. 
 
 Danville. Middletown. 
 
 Camanche. Orange. 
 
 Dale. Northfield. 
 
 Charlotte. Spring Rock. 
 
 Dodgeville. Oakland. 
 
 Cherry Wood. Toronto. 
 
 Hawk Eye. Parish. 
 
 Clinton. Welton. 
 
 Huron. Pleasant Grove. 
 
 De Witt. 
 
 Hartford. South Flint. 
 
 CHICKASAW COUNTY. 
 
 Kingston. Yellow Springs. 
 
 Bradford. New Hampton. 
 
 DELAWARE COUNTY. 
 
 Chickasaw. 
 
 Bailey's Ford. Grove Creek. 
 
 CRAWFORD COUNTY. 
 
 Burrington. Hopkinton. 
 Coffin's Grove. Hartwick. 
 
 DALLAS COUNTY. 
 
 Cold Water. Mount Hope. 
 
 Adell. Uncle Sam. 
 
 Colesburg. Oakland. 
 
 Boone. Wiscotta. 
 
 Coluny. Orrinden. 
 
 McKay. 
 
 Delhi. Plum Spring. 
 
 
 Delaware Cen- Poultney. 
 
 DAVIS COUNTY. 
 
 tre. Rockville. 
 
 Bloomfield. Roscoe. 
 
 Dyesville. Springbranch. 
 
 Chequist. Salt Creek. 
 
 Forrestville. Uniontown. 
 
 Del Norte. Savannah. 
 
 Green Hill. Viola. 
 
 Drakesville. Soap Creek. 
 
 DICKINSON COUNTY. 
 
 Floris. Stiles. 
 
 
 Monterey. Stringtown. 
 
 DUBUQUE COUNTY. 
 
 Mt. Calvary. Taylor. 
 
 Alma. Fillmore. 
 
 Nottingham. Troy. 
 
 Aspinwall. Glassnevin. 
 
 Oak Spring. Weep'g Willow 
 
 Buncome. Hogansville. 
 
 Pulaski. West Grove. 
 
 Cascade. Mileray. 
 
 
 Centralia. New Vienna. 
 
 DECATUR COUNTY. 
 
 Charmingville. Pin Oak. 
 
 Decatur. Leon. 
 
 Cottage Hill. Peru. 
 
 Franklin. New Buda. 
 
 Dubuque. Tivoli. 
 
 Garden Grove. Nine Eagles. 
 
 Durango. Viola. 
 
 Hungarian Turkey Run. 
 
 Epworth. Welds' Land- 
 
 Settlement. 
 
 Evergreen, ing. 
 
 24
 
 278 
 
 LIST OP POST-OFFICES. 
 
 EMMETT COUNTY. 
 
 HARDIN COUNTY. 
 
 FAYETTE COUNTY. 
 
 Alden. Poughkeepsie. 
 
 
 Eldora. Rockwood. * 
 
 Clermont. Linn. 
 
 Hardin. 
 
 Douglass. Louisville. 
 
 
 Eden. Mill Grove. 
 
 HENRY COUNTY. 
 
 Eldorado. Taylorsville. 
 
 East Grove. Rome. 
 
 Fayetteville. Waucoma. 
 Gamble Grove. Westfield. 
 
 Hillsborough. Salem. 
 Lowell. Trenton. 
 
 Illyria. Windsor. 
 
 Marshall. Vega. 
 
 Leo. West Union. 
 
 Mt. Pleasant. Wayne. 
 
 FLOYD COUNTY. 
 
 New London. Winfield. 
 
 Freeman. Gilmantown. 
 
 
 Floyd Centre. 
 
 HOWARD COUNTY. 
 
 
 New Oregon. 
 
 FRANKLIN COUNTY. 
 
 
 
 IDA COUNTY. 
 
 FREMONT COUNTY. 
 
 
 Austin. McKissack's 
 
 IOWA COUNTY. 
 
 Cory. Grove. 
 
 Cono. Marengo. 
 
 Dawsonburgh. Osage. 
 
 Dayton. Millersburg. 
 
 Gaston. Sidney. 
 
 Downard. North English. 
 
 Manti. Tabor. 
 
 Homestead. Prairie Creek. 
 
 
 Jones. Williamsburg. 
 
 GREENE COUNTY. 
 
 Kozta. 
 
 GRUNDY COUNTY. 
 
 JACKSON COUNTY. 
 
 GUTHRIE COUNTY. 
 
 Andrew. Garry Owen. 
 Bellevue. Hickory Grove. 
 
 Allen Panora. 
 
 Bridgeport. Higgensport. 
 
 Bear Grove. Pennsbury. 
 
 Canton. Iron Hills. 
 
 
 Cobb. Lamonte. 
 
 HANCOCK COUNTY. 
 
 Cottonville. Maquoketa. 
 
 HARRISON COUNTY. 
 
 Copper Creek. Monmouth. 
 Emeline. Newton. 
 
 Calhoun. Magnolia. 
 
 Farmer's Creek Ozark. 
 
 Fontainblcau. 
 
 Fulton. Rolley.
 
 LIST OP POST OFFICES. 
 
 279 
 
 Sabula. Sullivan. 
 
 Madison. Rome. 
 
 Solon. Summer Hill. 
 
 Monticello. Scotch Grove. 
 
 Spring Brook. Van Buren. 
 
 Pierce. Walnut Fork. 
 
 Spruce Mills. Waterford. 
 
 
 Sterling. Wickliffe. 
 
 KEOKUK COUNTY. 
 
 JASPER COUNTY. 
 
 Butler. Springfield. 
 Olean. Steady Run. 
 
 Con. Morristown. 
 
 Richland. Warner's Mill. 
 
 Elliott. North Skunk 
 
 Sigourney. Webster. 
 
 Elk Creek. River. 
 
 South English. Wimer's Mills. 
 
 Lynville. Parkersburg. 
 
 
 Monroe. 
 
 KOSSUTH COUNTY. 
 
 JEFFERSON COUNTY. 
 
 Algona. Johnson's Set- 
 
 Abingdon. Harmony. 
 
 Cresco. tlement. 
 
 Absecom. Libertyville. 
 
 LEE COUNTY. 
 
 Batavia. Lockridge. 
 Brookville. Pleasant Plain. 
 Blue Point. Salina. 
 Deedsville. Webster. 
 Fairfield. Walnut Creek. 
 Germanville. Wooster. 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Ambrosia. Keokuk. 
 Big Mound. Montrose. 
 Camargo. New Boston. 
 Charleston. Pilot Grove. 
 Denmark. Primrose. 
 Dover. String Prairie. 
 Fort Madison. Summittville. 
 
 JOHNSON COUNTY. 
 
 Fr'nklinC'ntre. West Point. 
 
 Carthage. Newport. 
 
 Green Bay. 
 
 Copi. Newp't Centre. 
 
 LINN COUNTY. 
 
 Frank Pierce. Solon. 
 
 
 Hueston. Seventy-Eight. 
 
 Boulder. Mount Vernon. 
 
 Iowa City. Seventy-Seven. 
 
 Cedar Rapida. Necot. 
 
 Morfordsville. Windham. 
 
 Central Point. Oak Grove. 
 
 
 Forfax. Palo. 
 
 JONES COUNTY. 
 
 Hoosier Grove. Prospect Hill. 
 
 Anamosa. Grove Creek. 
 
 Ivanhoe. St. Julien. 
 
 Bowen's Pr'rie. Highl'nd Gr've. 
 
 Lafayette. St. Mary's. 
 
 Castle Grove. Johnson. 
 
 Lisbon. Spring Grove. 
 
 Duane. Marshfield. 
 
 Marion. Springville. 
 
 Fairview. Massilon. 
 
 Mon Dieu. Valley Farm.
 
 280 
 
 LIST OF POST OFFICES. 
 
 LOUISA COUNTY. 
 
 MILLS COUNTY. 
 
 Concord. Port Allen. 
 
 Cerro Gordo. Indian Creek. 
 
 Columbus City. Port Louisa. 
 
 Florence. Ingraham. 
 
 Grand View. Spring Glenn. 
 
 Glenwood, Wahoghbonsy. 
 
 Harrison. Toolsborough. 
 
 
 Hope Farm. Virginia Grove. 
 
 MAHASKA COUNTY. 
 
 Morning Sun. Wapello. 
 
 Agricola. Indianapolis. 
 
 Palo Alto. 
 
 Auburn. Nine Mile. 
 
 LUCAS COUNTY. 
 
 Bellefontaine. Oskaloosa. 
 Blue Creek. - Peoria. 
 
 Argo. Greenville. 
 
 Fremont. Rose HilL 
 
 Cedar Grove. La Grange. 
 
 Granville. Scott. 
 
 Chariton. Tallahoma. 
 
 Hopewell. 
 
 Freeland. 
 
 
 
 MONROE COUNTY. 
 
 MADISON COUNTY. 
 
 Avery. H'fway Prairie. 
 
 Bibb's Ridge. St. Charles. 
 
 Albia. Sovilia. 
 
 North Branch. Winterset. 
 
 Cuba. Lucas. 
 
 Peru. 
 
 Gray's Creek. Mantua. 
 
 MARSHALL COUNTY. 
 
 MITCHELL COUNTY. 
 
 Albion. Marshaltown. 
 
 Cora. Osage. 
 
 Le Grand. Mormon Hill. 
 
 Mitchell 
 
 Lafayette. Timber Creek. 
 
 
 Marietta. 
 
 MONONA COUNTY. 
 
 MARION COUNTY. 
 
 Ashton. Preparation. 
 
 Attica. Knoxville. 
 
 MONTGOMERY COUNTY. 
 
 Bennington. Marysville. 
 
 Frankford. Sciola. 
 
 Columbia. Newbern. 
 
 
 Ely. Pella. 
 
 MUSCATINE COUNTY. 
 
 English Settle- Pleasantville. 
 
 Centre Grove. Pike. 
 
 ment. R. Cedar Mills. 
 
 Fairport. Strawb'ry Hill. 
 
 Gosport. Red Rock. 
 
 Melpine. Sweetland Cen- 
 
 Hamilton. Wheeling. 
 
 Moscow. tre. 
 
 lola. 
 
 Muscatine. West Liberty.
 
 LIST OF POST-OFFICES. 
 
 281 
 
 O'BKIEN COUNTY. 
 OSCEOLA COUNTY. 
 
 PAGE COUNTY. 
 Centre. Nodaway. 
 
 Clariuda. Tarkio. 
 
 Hawleyville. 
 
 PALO ALTO COUNTY. 
 
 PLYMOUTH COUNTY. 
 
 POCAHONTAS COUNTY. 
 
 POLK COUNTY. 
 Apple Grove. Hopkins Grove- 
 Circleville. Midway. 
 Eckhart. Polk City. 
 
 Ft. Des Moines. Rising Sun. 
 Freel. Saylorville. 
 
 Hartman. Summerset. 
 
 POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY. 
 Americus. Macedonia. 
 
 Big Grove. Prairie Flower. 
 Council Bluffs. Silver Creek. 
 
 POWESHEIK COUNTY. 
 Bear Creek. Montezuma. 
 Deep River. Sugar Grove. 
 Grinnell. Victor. 
 
 RINGGOLD COUNTY. 
 Mount Air. 
 
 SAC COUNTY. 
 New Munich. 
 
 SCOTT COUNTY. 
 Allen's Grove. Big Rock. 
 Amity. Blue Grass. 
 
 24* 
 
 Davenport. Pleasant Valley 
 Fulton. Princeton. 
 
 Le Claire. Walnut Grove. 
 
 LeClaire Centre West Buffalo. 
 Linn Grove. Wolcott. 
 
 SHELBY COUNTY. 
 Shelbyville. 
 
 SIOUX COUNTY. 
 
 STORY COUNTY. 
 Goshen. Nevada. 
 
 TAMA COUNTY. 
 
 Indiantown. Red Man. 
 Kinisaw. Tamaville. 
 
 Ola. Toledo. 
 
 TAYLOR COUNTY. 
 
 Grove. 
 
 Gravity. 
 
 UNION COUNTY. 
 Afton. Kings. 
 
 VAN BUREN COUNTY. 
 
 Bentonsport. 
 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 Business C'rn'r 
 
 Farmington. 
 
 Gainesborough. 
 
 Home. 
 
 lowaville. 
 
 Keosauque. 
 
 Lebanon. 
 
 Lick Creek. 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Mt. Sterling. 
 
 New Market. 
 
 Oak Point. 
 
 Pameka. 
 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 Pittsburgh. 
 
 Portland. 
 
 Union. 
 
 Upton. 
 
 Utica. 
 
 Vernon. 
 
 Winchester.
 
 282 
 
 LIST OP POST-OFFICES. 
 
 WARREN COUNTY. 
 
 Carlisle. 
 Dorriville. 
 Fort Plain. 
 Greenhurst. 
 
 Lynn. 
 
 Montpelier. 
 Palmyra. 
 Plain ville. 
 
 Hammondsb'g. Sandyville. 
 H'ndsome View Wilmington. 
 Hartford. White Oak. 
 
 Indianola. 
 
 WASHINGTON COUNTY. 
 
 Amboy. Pottsville. 
 
 Brighton. Richmond. 
 
 Clay. Valley. 
 
 Crawfordsville. Washington. 
 
 Davis Creek. Wassonville. 
 
 Dutch Creek. Yatton. 
 Marcellus. 
 
 WAYNE COUNTY. 
 Bethlehem. Grand River. 
 Cambria. South Fork. 
 
 Corydon. Warsaw. 
 
 Freedom. 
 
 WAPELLO COUNTY. 
 
 Agency City. Chillicothe. 
 Ashland. Compettne. 
 
 Blakesburg. Cotton Grove. 
 
 Dahlonega. Kirkville. 
 
 Dorrville. Ottumwa. 
 
 Eddyville. Pleasant Lake. 
 
 Fountain Sp'g. Point Isabelle. 
 Greene. 
 
 WEBSTER COUNTY. 
 
 Border Plains. Dakotah. 
 Cresco,(no P.O. Homer. 
 
 yet.) 
 Fort Dodge. 
 
 Webster City. 
 
 WINNESHEIK COUNTY. 
 
 Burr Oak. 
 
 Calmar. 
 
 Castalia. 
 
 Decorah. 
 
 Ft. Atkinson. 
 
 Frankville. 
 
 Freeport 
 Moneek. 
 Old Mission. 
 Ossian. 
 Trout River. 
 Winnesheik. 
 
 WINNEBAGO COUNTY. 
 
 WOODBURY COUNTY. 
 Floyd's Bluff. Serg'nt's Bluff 
 Sioux City. City. 
 
 WORTH COUNTY. 
 WRIGHT COUNTY. 
 
 THE END.
 
 IOWA STATE LAND AGENCY. 
 
 PARKER, DOLE & CO., CLINTON, Clinton Co., Iowa; 
 PARKER, DOLE & DAVIS, Sioux CITY, Iowa; 
 PARKER, DAVIS &. JOHNSON, COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa; 
 PARKER, ALLISON & COOK, LYONS, Iowa; 
 PARKER, COOK & ALLISON, FULTON CITY, Illinois, 
 
 Stenfr gpnfs anir $*sl Estate into, 
 
 FOR THE PURCHASE AND SALE OF CITY PROPERTY, 
 Farms, Improved and Unimproved Lands, 
 
 THE ENTRY OF VACANT LANDS, 
 AND THE PURCHASE, SALE AND LOCATION OF LAND WARRANTS, 
 
 IN ANY PART OF THE STATE OF IOWA. 
 Money Invested in real Estate Securities at Western Rales of Interest. 
 
 Taxes paid, Claims secured, Collections made and promptly re- 
 mitted, and a General Agency Business transacted. 
 
 One of the members of our firm having been engaged the past two years in 
 travelling through the State, and corresponding with nearly every settled town- 
 ship, in collecting material for his work, " IOWA AS IT Is," and for his ' SECTIONAL 
 AND GEOLOGICAL MAP OF IOWA," recently issued, we think we are able to give 
 better general and particular information of Iowa, its mineral and timber 
 resources, choice farming lands, mill privileges, present condition and future 
 prospects of railroads, and of desirable locations either in country or town, 
 than can be obtained at any other office in the State. Those coming to Iowa to 
 engage in farming, milling, merchandizing, or any mechanical business, can 
 obtain important information by addressing us. 
 
 The cost of selecting lands, purchasing the same, or locating Land Warrants, 
 will be 
 
 For each 40 acres separate, our fee, $8.00 Land-Office, $1.00. 
 80 " " " $12.00 " 00. 
 
 160 " 18.00 " 4.00. 
 
 320 ' " 25.00 " 8.00. 
 
 640 " " " 80.00 " 16.00. 
 
 For the above prices, we make a personal examination of the land, and gua- 
 rantee a good location. 
 We have Lands, Farms, and Town Lots for sale in almost every county in 
 
 the State. 
 
 NATHAN H. PARKER, Clinton, Iowa. 
 
 EDWARD P. DOLE, " " 
 
 SAMUEL T. DAVIS, Attorney at Law, Sioux City. 
 
 J. E. JOHNSON, Editor of the " Bugle," Council Bluffs, j 
 
 JAMES ALLISON, Attorney at Law, Lyons, Iowa. 
 
 JOSEPH S. COOK, Fulton City, Illinois.
 
 
 
 A
 
 
 ,.
 
 \
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 'D LD-URL 
 JAN25 ' 
 
 JUN 1 5 1990 
 
 Form L9-50m-7,'54(5990)444 
 
 '
 
 3 1158 00139 7313 
 
 in S iWK R . E . G . N . AL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000525068 3