HISTORY OF
VOLUME III
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Republican Convention of 1865 - Declares for Negro Suffrage - The Union Anti-Negro Suffrage Party - The Democratic State Convention - A Warm Canvass - Republican Ticket Elected - The State Bank and Branches Retire from Business - The Eleventh General Assembly - The Swamp Land Indemnity Funds Embezzled - Legislative Investigation.......
Amendments Proposed to the Constitution -
Financial Situation in 1867 - Republican and Democratic Conventions of the Same Year - Result of the Elections - The Grasshopper Scourge - The Twelfth General Assembly - Ratification of Amendments to the Constitution - The Impeachment of President Johnson - Senator James W. Grimes on Impeachment........
Political Conventions of 1868 - Result of the Elections - Legislative Control of Railroad Charges - Opening of the State Agricultural College - Railroad Building in Iowa and the Land Grants - Convention to Promote a Water Route from the Lakes to the Mississippi - Political Conventions of 1869 - Republican Ticket Elected - The Thirteenth General Assembly - Wright and Howell Chosen United States Senators - Important Acts of Legislation - Crocker County Created and the Act Declared Void by the Supreme Court.................................................................... 17 - 32
Political Conventions of 1870 - Result of the Elections - Great Reunion of Iowa Soldiers - 20,000 Veterans Assembled at Des Moines - The "Cardiff Giant" Deception - Opinions of Eminent Scientists - A Financial Bonanza - The Authors of the Fraud - The Great Block of Fort Dodge Gypsum - How the Deception was Discovered and Exposed - Final Confession of Hull, the Inventor of the Scheme - The Great Gypsum Quarries of Fort Dodge - Facts from the Census of 1870................................................................................................................................. 33 - 44
Political Conventions of 1871 - The Republicans Successful - The Fourteenth General Assembly - The Senatorial Contest - William B. Allison Nominated Over Senator Harlan - Cyrus C. Carpenter Inaugurated Governor - Revision of the Laws - Political Conventions of 1872 - Republican Candidates Elected - The Second Grasshopper Scourge - Liberal aid to the Sufferers - The Presidential Campaign of 1872 - Reelection of General Grant - Defalcation of the State Treasurer - A Legislative Investigation - The Patrons of Husbandry - Their Influence in Legislation - Political Conventions of 1873 - An Anti-Monopoly Party Organized - The Republicans Successful in the Election - Material Progress........ 45 - 62
The Fifteenth General Assembly - Contest Over Election of Speaker - Investigation of the Agricultural College - Its Management Vindicated - A Bill Passed Regulating Railroad Charges - The Burlington Railway Resists the Enforcement of the Law - Judge Dillon of the U. S. Circuit Court Sustains the Law - A Decision of Vast Importance - Political Conventions of 1875 - Kirkwood Again Nominated for Governor - The Republican Candidates Elected - Governor Kirkwood Chosen United States Senator - Temperance State Convention - Reunion of the Army of the Tennessee at Des Moines - Distinguished Generals in Attendance - General Grant's Famous Speech - Misrepresentation and Controversy Finally Settled - Political Conventions of 1876 - Result of the Presidential Election in Doubt - George W. McCrary of Iowa Frames a Bill which Settles the Controversy................................................... 63 - 84
George W. McCrary in the Cabinet - Financial Condition of Iowa - An Important Decision of the Supreme Court - The Political Conventions of 1877 - The Southern Policy of President Hayes - John H. Gear Elected Governor - A Terrible Railroad Disaster - The Seventeenth General Assembly - Repeal of the "Granger Railroad Law" - Interesting Statistics - Political Conventions of 1878 - Election of the Republican Candidates - Conventions and Platforms of 1879 - Governor Gear Re-elected - The Eighteenth General Assembly - National Conventions of 1880............... 85 - 100
Fencing Prairie Farms - The Invention of Barbed Wire - Formation of the First "Trust" - A Monopoly to Control the Manufacture and Sale of Wire Fencing - Farmers of Iowa Organize to Resist the Monopoly - A Free Factory Established - A Legal and Commercial Conflict - The State Aids the Farmers - Their Final Victory - The Farmers' Alliance - Kirkwood in the Cabinet - Assassination of President Garfield - Political Conventions of 1881 - The First Woman Nominated for a State Office - Buren R. Sherman Elected Governor - An Important Decision - Heroic Deed of Kate Shelly - The Nineteenth General Assembly - Election of United States Senators - Free Passes for Public Officials - Prohibition Amendment to the Constitution Adopted - Declared Void by the Supreme Court........... 101 - 117
The Great Tornado of 1882 - Destruction of Life and Property in its Track - Scenes in the City of Grinnell - Iowa College in Ruins - Seventy Persons Killed and Hundreds Wounded - Political Conventions of 1882 - A Rehearing of the Validity of the Constitutional Amendment - Former Decision Affirmed - Conventions and Elections of 1883 - Serious Damage to Orchards - The Twentieth General Assembly Meets in the New State House - The Dedication - Amendments to the Prohibitory Liquor Laws - Elections of 1884 - Removal of the Auditor of State.................. 119 - 133
CHAPTER IX
Political Conventions of 1885 - The Twenty-first General Assembly - Attempts to Impeach Auditor Brown - He is Found Not Guilty - Reinstated in Office - Conventions and Elections of 1886 - Assassination of Reverend George C. Haddock - Interesting Statistics - The Drive Well Conflict - Important Decisions - The Twenty-second General Assembly - Governor Larrabee's Powerful Argument for Legislative Control of Railroads - The Legislature Responds with a Comprehensive Law - Political Conventions and Elections of 1888 - The Campaign of 1889 - Horace Boies, Democrat, Elected Governor......................................................................................................................... 135 - 156
CHAPTER X
The Twenty-third General Assembly - Contest for Speaker - The Last Message of Governor Larrabee - The Political Conventions of 1890 - The Republicans Elect State Officers - The Democrats Elect a Majority of Representatives in Congress - Convention and Election of 1891 - The Democrats Secure all of the State Officers and Half of the Senators - The Twenty-fourth General Assembly - The Campaign of 1892 - The Democrats Elect the President - The Republicans Carry Iowa for President and State Officers - The Columbian Exposition of 1893 - The Tornado of 1893 - The Town of Pomeroy Destroyed - Incidents of the Calamity - Generous Aid for the Sufferers............................... 157 - 170
CHAPTER XI
Political Conventions of 1893 - Frank D. Jackson Elected Governor - Expenditures for State Institutions - The Drought of 1894 - Financial Distress - The "Commonweal Armies" - Political Conventions and Elections of 1894 - The Twenty-fifth General Assembly - Saloons Legalized - Dedication of the Spirit Lake Monument - Political Conventions and Election of 1895 - General F. M. Drake Elected Governor - The Twenty-sixth General Assembly - Trans-Mississippi Exposition at Omaha - The Semi-Centennial of Iowa Statehood - Terrible Railroad Collision at Logan..... 171 - 186
CHAPTER XII
Two Iowa Candidates for President - The political Conventions for 1896 - Results of the Elections - Extra Session of the Legislature - The Code - James Wilson in the Cabinet - Conventions and Elections of 1897 - Leslie M. Shaw chosen Governor - The Twenty-seventh General Assembly - A State Board of Control - War with Spain - Legislature Appropriates $500,000 for War purposes - Three Iowa Regiments Called For - One Regiment Sent to the Philippine Islands - Progress of the War - Conventions and Elections of 1898 - Cold Winter of 1898-99 - Great Destruction of Fruit Trees, Vines and Forests - Conventions and Elections of 1899 - Twenty-eight General Assembly - Political Conventions and Election of 1900 - Dedication of the Floyd Monument - Political Conventions and Election of 1901 - Albert B. Cummins Chosen Governor - Twenty-ninth General Assembly - Jonathan P. Dolliver United States Senator ............................................................................................. 187 - 213
CHAPTER XIII
Des Moines River Land Grant of 1846 - Decisions as to its Extent - Opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury in 1849 - Opinion of Secretary Ewing in 1850 - Opinion of the Attorney-General in 1851 - Lands Conveyed to the Des Moines Navigation and Railroad Company - Opinion of the Attorney-General in 1856 - Failure of the Navigation Company to Prosecute the Work - Unearned Land Granted to the Keokuk, Des Moines and Minnesota Railroad Company - Another Opinion from an Attorney-General in 1859 - First Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1859 - Settlement on the River Lands - Valid Titles Promised to Settlers - Act of Congress of 1861 - Decision of the Secretary of the Interior in 1862 - Another Decision of the Supreme Court Reversing its Former Opinion.................. 215 - 227
CHAPTER XIV
The Walcott Decision as Understood by the Secretary of the Interior - The Herbert Battin Case - Settlers Authorized to Take Pre-emptions and Homesteads on River Lands - The Welles-Riley Case Before the Courts - United States Patent Set Aside - Settlers Driven from Their Homes by United States Marshals - The "Settlers Union" Organized - Action of Congress in the Premises - A State Commission Appointed - Action of the National Commission - The Orr Indemnity Bill Passes the House - Defeated in the Senate - The Crilly Patent Ignored - Further Action by Congress and the President - Another Supreme Court Decision Against the Settlers - Indemnity Finally Granted by Congress................ 229 - 247
CHAPTER XV
Progress of Women in the Nineteenth Century - Early Work and Workers - Equal Rights Convention - Women in the Anti-Slavery Times - Legislation Relating to Suffrage - First Women Office Holders - Laws Relating to Property Rights of Women - Recent Workers in the Suffrage Cause - Women's Clubs - Their Influence - State Federation of Women's Clubs..................................................................................................................... 249 - 262
CHAPTER XVI
Brief Sketch of Early Education in Iowa - Statistics Showing the Development of the Public School System - Free Text Books and Compulsory Education - Denominational Colleges - The State University - State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts - Experimental Station - State Normal School - The Penitentiaries - Four Hospitals for Insane - School for the Deaf - Institution for Feeble-Minded Children - Industrial Schools for Boys and Girls - Soldiers' Orphans' Home - State Board of Control - State Historical Society - Historical Department - Grand Army of the Republic - State Agricultural Society - State Horticultural Society - Pioneer Lawmakers Association - Statistics from the Census.263 – 290.
EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTIES............................................................................... 291 - 438
Part I—Adair --
Part II—Emmett—Humboldt
Part III—Ida –
Part IV—
Part V—Page—Story
Part VI--Ringgold—Yell
DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS................................................................................... 439 - 531
Part II—State Officers 1846-1878
Part V – State Officials (Appointed)