Lansing, Iowa - A Romantic River Town
From our Regular correspondent.
Lansing, Iowa, Dec. 11, 1871 - In my letter from Waukon I said
that Allamakee county has been called the New England
of Iowa. Since then I have ridden by stage across the
country, eighteen miles, to Lansing on the
Mississippi River, and I now say Allamakee is
the New England of Iowa, and Lansing stands amid the
finest and grandest of it. The scenery here is rugged
and grand to the fullest extent. The bluffs shoot up,
steep and tall, till you almost wonder whether back
and beyond the hills can possibly give way to a
plain, open country. Everywhere something meets the
eye to interest.
Immediately over the town, Mount Hosmer (I haven't
time to tell the story) holds its head above the
highest point between this and St. Louis. Just below
the town is the famous Lover's Leap, worthy to run
along the curious string of Indian legends down a
whole phalanx of generations, telling how
Waw-kaw-chaw-kee-kaw and Rob-kaw sprang over the
steep at once into the pale moonlight and the sleep
of death, because it was not possible that each could
take the lovely E-now-kaw-kaw to himself in lawful
wedlock.
Still farther down, is the massive stone god of the
Indians - alas! rudely thrown from his seat to make
way for the rushing iron horse - worn smooth by
simple Indian skill and black with the poor sacrifice
and worship of burning coffee and tobacco.
The islands in the river still hold the lodges of the
Indians, the county records in its very name, the
guttural clumsiness of their speech and their awkward
attempt to speak the name of their old friend, Allen
Magee, and parents point their children to this or
that, and whisper in their ears bewitching little
tales of Indian times till the young enthusiasts
fairly wish themselves back thirty or forty years in
history, or that they had been born actual savages
themselves.
I have acknowledged, one or more, to Boston-loving
dunces that there is no grand scenery in this region
of the West; but if I can be pardoned for that, I
shall do the thing no more. Lansing scenery is tame
in no possible sense. On the contrary, it is good
enough to point out this place as one of the coming
favorite resorts for comfort and pleasure.
But I almost regret that I began to speak of it under
circumstances that compel me to do it so slight
justice. I am rather compelled to deal with Lansing
as a business town. It is comforting, however, in
turning from these pretty hills, to meet a subject so
worthy as the commercial standing of this town. I am
willing to believe there is not another town of 2,500
inhabitants on the river that does more, or even so
much business, and handles more money.
Its lumber trade amounts to 5,000,000 feet annually;
its shipments of wheat to 1,275,000 bushels; its
actual exchange to $1,500,000; its shipments of flour
to over 12,000 bbls.; of pork, to 1,400,000 pounds;
of butter, 50,000; of hides, to 50,000; its freights
received, to over 4,000,000 pounds annually.
From the warehouse of C.W. Hufschmidt there have been
shipped to Milwaukee alone, since the second day of
last September, 69,102 bushels of wheat, while two
other warehouses have shipped almost as heavily.
These items, selected with no small degee of care,
indicate a wealthy, active people.
Manufacturing is gaining fast and doing well. Messrs.
Bockfinger and Boeckemire own an establishment 72 by
78 feet, two stories high, have about twenty hands
employed in the manufacture of wagons, plows,
sleighs, etc., and turn out $35,000 worth of
excellent products annually. The Lansing Iron Works
of Messrs. Reith, Seiger & Boeckh, manufacturing
portable and stationary engines, is among the most
important establishments of the place. They have
capacity for all kinds and sizes of work in their
line, employ thirty hands, and, in the first dull
[sic] year of beginning, did a business of more than
$20,000. They make, also, Mullikin's Eureka Turbine
water-wheel, which has been in use here for more than
a year with satisfactory results, both as to economy
in the volume of water required and the force
attained.
Additional to these, there is the manufacture of
sash, doors and blinds, and the more general work of
the lumber mills. I have already shown by figures
somewhat of the extent of the lumber business here.
The principal dealers in this important branch of
trade are Hemenway & Wood, S.O. Smith & Co.,
S.B. Johnston, E.T. Albert & Son, and H.M.
Traverse.
The manufacturers in tobacco and cigars are M. Simon
and M. Englehorn. Besides these there are the smaller
workers, and the usual brass fitting and stove and
tinware manufacturers, to all of which might be added
an extensive brewery.
Four miles below town stands the Village Creek Woolen
Mills, of Dayton & Co., doing a business to the
amount of $50,000 annually, and turning out cloths
that are known not only here, but in the adjoining
states, for their excellence and finish. This company
has carried off prizes upon its work in several cases
of close test, as, for example at the Exposition of
Western Woolen Mills, at Chicago, in 1867; and, by
the unvarying character of their work, have become of
a great value, indeed a necessity, to this region.
There is one bank in the place, the First National,
with a paid up capital of $50,000; also a savings
bank, incorporated in June of the present year, with
an authorized capital of $100,000. The principal
officers of these institutions are G. Kerndt, J.W.
Thomas and H. Neilander.
Business lots in convenient localities can be had at
prices running from $3000 to $1,000, and lots
suitable for dwellings, from $150 to $300. The best
of water may be had from 8 feet to 25 feet below the
surface, when it is not supplied by springs. Good
fuel costs from $1.50 to $3.50 per cord, and building
material can be had in great abundance, wood, stone
or brick, at as low prices as at any point in Iowa.
No other can furnish stone in greater quantity,
better quality, and lumber so cheaply.
The Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
Methodists, Roman Catholics and German Methodists all
have comfortable places of worship, while the
Lutherans are just building.
The school-going population is about six hundred. The
schools are graded under nine teachers, and furnish
excellent instruction both in English and German.
I think I can sum up the business firms almost
exactly, as follows:
-Agricultural implements: C.W
Hufschmidt and Healy & Lyon. A prosperous
trade.
-Dry goods: G. Kerndt & Bros., Geo. Purdy
& Co., C.H. Whitney, Geo. Kemble, Shaw &
Daniels, Neilander & Brockhausen, and J.H.
Pope.
-Clothiers: Geo. Miles, S. Fuiks, J. Dorman and
J. Tourthe.
-Grochers and provision dealers: Martin &
Blune, Henderson & Bushnell, Rockwell &
Schierholz, Q. Trayer and Israel Bequette.
-Boots and shoes: Bryant and Thorp, John Strauss,
Charles Bergeler, E. Burgess, and S. Simonson.
-Harness and saddlery: J.C. Harvey, a fine stock;
Wenigort & Brother, and F. Schiller.
-Hardware: R.B. Spencer, T.P. Grant, J. Reith and
dealers in other lines also operate in this.
-Liquor dealers, mainly by wholesale: John Tully,
Weist & Umersbach, Martin & Blum,
Neilander & Brockhausen, G. Kerndt &
Bros., and J.H. Pope.
I am surprised when I come to make
the statement that, larger and smaller, there are a
dozen or more hotels, all doing a fair business in
their way, which will indicate more of the amount of
business here than I could express briefly in any
other way. The best of these are the Lansing House,
near the river; and the St. Nicholas, by John
Schingel, in the busy part of the town.
The newspapers are the Mirror, published by
the Metcalf Brothers, Republican in politics; and the
Patriot, by Sherburne & Son, of opposite
political faith.
From the above, an idea can be obtained of what is,
and can be, done in this one of the weathy towns of
Iowa. And whoever wants a romantic, healthy home with
abundance about him and admirable opportunities to
accumulate wealth, could hardly fail to find all
these at Lansing.
~The Milwakee Sentinel,
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday, December 18, 1871
~transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall for Allamakee co.
IAGenWeb
~See also Postville in
1871 and Waukon in 1871
