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         When the first settlers came to Cedar County in May, June and July of 1836, there were no roads of any kind to guide them to the site of their new homes. A pocket compass, the North Star, the wind or the course of the streams . . .

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. . . were their only guides. Before Walton came first in 1835, to select his claim and build a cabin, the prairie grasses and prairie flowers had scarcely, if ever, been disturbed by the feet of invading white men. In those days there were but few railroads in any part of the United States. The immigrants and land hunters came by wagon, on foot or on horseback; the ferries across the streams were rude and of the most primitive order. Sometimes, wagons were transported across the rivers in small Indian canoes, that were lashed together at a width to accommodate the width of the wagons; the wheels of one side of the wagon were placed in one of the canoes, and the wheels of the other side in the other canoe, and then “paddled” across. The horses or oxen were swam by the side of a third canoe, while a second or third trip would be made in “setting over” the family of immigrants. This was true as to the smaller streams, as of Rock River, Illinois, but the width and force of the current of the Mississippi rendered the crossing of that river by such means too hazardous and dangerous to be undertaken. As the country settled, the needs of the pioneers to increase, stores and trading places to grow up, goods and merchandise were hauled by wagons from the nearest landing places on the Mississippi River to whatever point they were consigned in the interior. Goods purchased in New York, were shipped around via New Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi to Keokuk, Fort Madison, Muscatine, Burlington, Davenport or Dubuque. And there are instances on record, where goods destined for Galena and other points in that part of Illinois, and in the vicinity of Dubuque, were shipped via the Lakes, and then by Mackinaw boats, Green Bay and the Wisconsin (originally the Ou-is-cons-sin) River to the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien, and so on to the nearest point of destination or consignment.

         In those days, and until railroads crossed the Mississippi River and followed the settlements into the interior, freighting and staging was a prosperous business, and many foundations for large fortunes were commenced by men and companies who engaged in that line of business. Frink and Walker’s Stage Lines—their old four-horse Concord coaches—are still remembered by many of the early settlers, by whom their advent was hailed with as much joy and pleasure as was the coming of the first train of steam-drawn cars in later years. The arrival of the first four-horse stage coach at Tipton in 1843, set the entire town agog with excitement. What a hero—a man to be envied—was the driver. Many were the young men who sought no higher fame than to be a four-horse stage driver! And in fact, it made many of the fathers and men in middle-life feel wonderfully proud when, for the first time, they took a seat in one of those old coaches to be whirled away toward the East! Whew! What a long breath they drew. How they looked around them with a self-satisfied air as they took a seat and waited for the stage to start. How they nodded their heads and waved their hands at envious friends as the driver gathered up the reins, cracked his whip and dashed away! But may be they don’t go far till the horses almost mired and the stage completely “stuck” in a slough or mud-hole. Then the passengers had to light out and help “pry” the wheels out of the mud. Perchance, they came to a “bad place” in the roads, where the empty stage was a load for four good horses, then again the passengers had to get out and foot it. That was traveling with a stage, and sometimes with a fence rail or pole on one’s shoulder to be ready for a “sticking” emergency. But such days of travel are passed.

         Among the men who engaged in the freighting business was D. P. Clapp, who is still a resident of Tipton. Some pains has been taken to gather from Mr. Clapp a few figures in regard to his freighting transportations from 1843 to . . .

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. . . the completion of the Tipton and Stanwood Railroad, in 1872, which will enable the reader to form some idea of the amount of freight handled, the number of miles traveled, etc.

         Mr. Clapp engaged in the hauling of freight from Muscatine and Davenport to Tipton until the railroad was completed and a receiving depot established at Wilton, and then from Wilton to Tipton, very often carrying goods, wares, merchandise, etc., both ways. It is estimated that Mr. Clapp made two hundred trips each year, from 1853 to 1873 (nineteen years), aggregating 3,800 trips, and that at each trip he carried 2,000 pounds of freight, which would make a grand aggregate of 7,600,000 pounds of freight delivered in Tipton by this one freighter. Averaging again each trip at 25 miles of travel per day, in one year he traveled 5,000 miles, and in nineteen years, the enormous distance of 95,000 miles, or over three and a half times the distance around the globe! Mr. Clapp was always reliable and faithful, rain or shine, and always came and went on time.

         After the first settlements were made, in 1836, and glowing reports of the great natural richness and beauty of the country began to go back to the neighborhoods of the old homes, immigration began to increase, and grew in volume from year to year, until the land was all occupied. In 1854, the heavy rush of immigration came to Iowa. As an instance of the magnitude of the immigration during that year, it was stated on unquestioned and undoubted authority that in one single month 1,743 wagons passed a given point near Peoria, Illinois, all of which were en route for Iowa. Estimating five persons to a wagon, which is a fair average, the grand aggregate was 8,715 persons. That was by one single road. Taking the numerous other roads, and making a reasonable estimate, there is but little reason to doubt that during the Spring, Summer and Fall months of 1854, at least 50,000 men, women and children found their way to Iowa.

         With such immigration, backed up by a soil of unsurpassed wealth and fertility, railroads became a necessity. In the face of such facts, and a disposition to speculate—to make the most out of nothing—so prevalent among men, it is no wonder that some of the railroad schemes were the basest kind of swindles, conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity. Nor is it any wonder that, with the wealth and growth of Cedar County, speculation should single out this county as a desirable field for “pluckings,” or that it should become a kind of head center for speculative operations.

         About 1852, the people here began to agitate the necessity of building a railroad. As time increased, the agitation increased. Wild-cat operators were alert listeners, and quick to take advantage of the eager and honest desire of the people to secure railroad connection with the outside world.