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Copyright 1921 by the State Historical Society of Iowa
(Transcribed by Debbie Clough Gerischer)
The
Beginnings of Burlington
When the Black Hawk Purchase
was opened to settlers in 1833, there grew up at Flint Hills a settlement which
took the name Burlington and became a thriving village and an important ferry
crossing. In 1837 the legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin met there and a
year later the town became the seat of government for the newly created
Territory of Iowa. In 1839 a site was chosen for a new capital to be known as
Iowa City, but the legislature continued to meet at Burlington until 1841. The
story of the first decade, told at the time by the participants in the events,
is available to us because there were newspapers in the early days, and a few
men farsighted enough to preserve the yellowing files.
THE EARLY THIRTIES
In the issues of The Iowa
Patriot for June 6 and June 13, 1839, "A Citizen of Burlington" undoubtedly
William R. Ross—wrote the two following historical sketches:
l James G. Edwards
commenced the publication of the Burlington Patriot in the year 1838. In 1839 he
took the name The Iowa Patriot, which title was later changed to the Hawk-Eye
and Iowa Patriot, then to the Hawk-Eye. The newspaper is at present issued under
the title The Burlington Hawk-Eye.
"MR. EDWARDS 1—At your request and believing that a brief sketch
of the first settlement of our country would be interesting to the readers of
your paper, I communicate the following:—I arrived at what was formerly called
the upper end of Flint Hills, now the City of Burlington, in August, A. D. 1833,
at which time every thing was in a rude state of nature; the Indian title of
these lands being only extinguished the first of June previous. The only white
persons that I found residing on or near the place on which Burlington has since
been laid out, were Messrs. M. M. McCarver and S. S. White, who had ventured
here, previous to the extinguishment of the Indian title, with their families,
suffering all the privations and difficulties attending the settlement of a
wilderness country, which were very great and not a few of them. Frequently
without bread or meat, only such as the God of Nature supplied the country
bountifully with, wild honey, venison, fish and vegetables, in addition to which
they were driven from their newly finished cabin, which was fired and burnt down
by the soldiers from Rock Island, as ordered by the Government to remove the
settlers from lands yet owned by the Indians. Much credit is due these citizens
for their enterprise, having made the first claim, and established the first
ferry that enabled emigrants to cross the great Mississippi to this newly
favored land, and in endeavoring to make them as comfortable as circumstances
would admit. :A short period after they had made their claim they sold one third
of their interest to Mr. A. Doolittle, who went on to improve, but did not
become a citizen until the early part of the year 1834. In the fall of A. D.
1833, Wm. R. Ross brought a valuable stock of goods here, with his household
furniture at great hazard and much expense, accompanied by his aged Father, who
had fought throughout the Revolutionary war, and who was one of the first
settlers of Lexington, Ky. Worn down with toil and age, and being exposed to the
inclemencies of a new home, the old gentleman was carried off the same fall with
chills and fever, and now lies beneath the clod on the topmost pinnacle of our
City; the first white person buried in this section of the 'New Purchase.'
"Late in the same fall Major Jeremiah Smith landed with a fine stock of
Goods, having sometime previously settled and improved the farm on which he at
present resides, about one and a half miles from Burlington. Having given a
history of all the permanent settlers of-what is now called Burlington, in 1833,
I will now relate a few circumstances concerning the natives. Burlington had
long been a great point of trade for the Indians, as would appear from the
numerous old trading houses, root house, and number of graves that were all
along the bank of the river, together with several that were deposited in canoes
with their trinkets, and suspended in the trees; the canoes being made fast to
the limbs by strips of bark. Among the rest was the noted French or half breed,
M. Blondeau, who was interred immediately in front of the old store house of S.
S. Ross, with paling around his grave, and the cross with his name cut thereon,
he being a Roman Catholic. We had his remains removed and re-interred in the
present burying ground for Burlington. Their trade was somewhat valuable to the
merchants in 1833, but Government having purchased all their lands within our
present surveyed boundary, and their natures and habits of life being so
different from that of a civilized community they have entirely removed beyond
our western boundary, still pursuing the wild game for a livelihood. "The
original town of Burlington (which should have been called Shok-ko-kon, the
English of the Indian title Flint Hill) was drafted and surveyed by Benjamin
Tucker and Wm. R. Ross in the months of November and December, 1833. As I have
been more lengthy than I expected in the outset, I will endeavor, in as concise
a manner as the nature of the case will admit, to detail a few particulars in
regard to the settlement of the country by that worthy class of our
community—the Farmers, who deserve the greatest applause for their unexampled
industry and perseverance.
"In October, A. D. 1832, there were some twelve or fifteen individuals who
crossed the river in canoes, at the head of the Big Island, and landed at the
claim of the Messrs. Smith, two miles below Burlington, and made an excursion a
few miles around the edge of the timber in the town prairie; laying claims for
future settlement. But little was done by them until February, 1833; when they
brought over their stock, and commenced building and cultivating the soil; but
to their great detriment and suffering, they were driven by the Government
Soldiers from Rock Island, across the river to the Big Island, taking with them
their implements of husbandry and their stock. Their cabins and fencing were set
on fire and entirely consumed. Notwithstanding all this and still resolved to
hold on to their new homes, they held a council and it was pretty unanimously
agreed by vote, to strike their tents and build a flat boat to enable them to
cross over the river as opportunity served, to pursue the culture and
improvement of their claims. Many of these worthy individuals, after making a
small improvement, have sold out at a trifling advance, to such as were more
able and preferred buying, to going back and taking up wild lands and improving
them. There yet remain a few families of those that first settled here, who have
deeds for their lands from Government; their farms being now under a high state
of cultivation. "Being already too lengthy I defer giving you the extent of
improvement made by some of the settlers in 1833, but will say it was from ten
to fifty acres in corn, and as the by-laws were enacted in the fall of 1833, for
regulating the manner of improving and holding claims, I will refer you to them
for names and particulars."
"MB. EDITOR,—I am in hopes, Sir, that number two will be somewhat more
interesting to your readers than the former number, as attention to the
Black-Hawk country became more generally excited in 1834. After a close, hard
winter the river remaining blocked over until late in the spring, when Steam
Boats began to ascend, prospects began to brighten. We however enjoyed ourselves
through the winter very comfortably with our native friends in smoking the pipe,
and talking over old war skirmishes, and having a chase almost every day with
our dogs after the wolves that would appear opposite our village on the river. I
recollect well on one morning there appeared five or six wolves on the river; we
gave chase, and with fair running one of our dogs overhauled and killed three
wolves before we reached him, and then put in pursuit of a fourth, but was so
exhausted when we overtook him, about two miles above here among the Islands,
that he could not keep his hold, and the wolf disappeared after the loss of much
blood; the dog belonged to Mr. Isaac Crenshaw, our worthy friend, who had
previously settled the Barrett farm, and was one of those sufferers by the
soldiers from Rock Island. Notwithstanding we were, as supposed and expressed by
some individuals, beyond the Government of the United States, without Law or
Gospel, we were governed by that principle which reigns in the breast of every
American Citizen, to do unto others as we would wish they should do unto us; and
among other particulars I would notice in passing, that there were a few of the
fair sex who attracted the notice of the boys, but the query was, how could the
nuptials be performed? As for my own part, I was willing to be governed by the
custom that prevailed, but not being satisfactory to all parties, we crowded the
flat boat and paddled over the river to the opposite shore, and there saw the
ceremony performed by Judge of Monmouth, Ill., which was on the third December,
A. D. 1833. The parties were Wm. R. Ross and Matilda Morgan, I presume the first
couple that were united in wedlock in the Black Hawk Purchase. In the Spring of
1834, we petitioned the Post Master General for a special office to be
established at Burlington, recommending Wm. R. Ross for P. M.; our wishes were
gratified, but the P. M. at Shok-ko-kon P. O. refused giving up the law, books,
lock, key, &c.; his excuse was that he had no right to send the mail out of the
United States; it would be malfeasance in office; but by hard persuasion he
established a branch of his office at Burlington, receiving the profits of the
same, and appointing Wm. R. Ross, Deputy, at whose expense the mail was carried
once a week for six months; until he was ordered by the proper department to
give up the packages or he would be removed from office.
"In the spring of 1834, the Black Hawk Purchase was attached to the
Territory of Michigan for Judicial purposes, and divided into two Counties,
Dubuque and Des Moines; Dubuque included all the country north of a line due
west from the lower end of Rock Island; Des Moines, the remainder of the country
south of said line, to the Missouri line. The same Spring public documents were
sent Wm. R. Ross from the Legislature of Michigan at Detroit, containing
instructions to notify the citizens throughout the county to hold elections for
their officers; elections took place accordingly in the fall, but it was
sometime in the winter before we could have a return of our commissioners, at
which time there being no sworn officer in the Government, Wm. R. Ross being
instructed as Clerk, swore the Supreme Judge into office; and he in turn swore
him and the other officers to faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of
their offices. In this way the wheels of Government were put in motion in Black
Hawk purchase; however, there was no court held or any business done of
consequence until the Spring of 1835. "In the fall of 1833 there was a school
house built by Wm. R. Ross, on his claim immediately back and adjoining the town
claim, as originally laid out; and a school went into operation in the Spring of
1834, of about sixteen or eighteen scholars, taught by Zadok C. Inghram....We
were likewise supplied in 1834 with a minister from Illinois; specially licensed
by Elder Peter Cartright; his name was Barton Cartright, a young man of promise;
we were also visited in the summer by Elder P. Cartright, W. D. R. Trotter, and
Asa McMurtry, who held a two days meeting and preached under a shady Grove,
where there was a stand erected and seats prepared by the friends; all classes
uniting in the worship of Almighty God.
"In regard to improvements in 1834, we had some accessions to our village
of very good citizens, and several frame and log buildings were erected, but our
farmers went far ahead in improvement of any people I ever saw who were laboring
under the same disadvantages; every one was trying to excel, who should make the
largest improvement and plant the most grain. I scarcely know of one but what
broke thirty acres of Prairie, many of them fifty or sixty, and Wm. R. Ross
broke eighty acres and planted the whole of it in Corn and Pumpkins, he
commenced in April, and finished planting the twentieth of June; the last
planting made the best corn. Those who had the largest improvements and who had
to stand the brunt of hardships in the first settlement were Stewart, Richard
Land, Wm. Morgan, Lewis Walters, Isaac Canterberry, E. Smith, Paris Smith, P. D.
Smith, Isaac Crenshaw, B. B. Tucker, E. Wade and Father, and some few others,
who have sold out and gone farther west, or left the country; and a few that
have died; these were John Harris and William Wright, and no doubt some few that
have slipped my memory."
During the night of December 12, 1837, fire broke out in the building which
Jeremiah Smith had for the accommodation of the legislature of the Territory of
Wisconsin. It spread to other buildings and proved disastrous, as the account
given by the Wisconsin Territorial Gazette and Burlington Advertiser for
December 16, 1837, clearly shows:
"Wednesday last was a sad day for Burlington, and long will it be
remembered in sorrow. Its matin light opened upon the ruins of the fairest
portion of our village; and now the Capitol, and five of our best store houses,
and two groceries, are piles of smoldering ruins. The whole of the block of
buildings on Front street, from the corner of Lamson & Girvan up to the Post
Office, is totally destroyed, embracing the store houses of Lamson & Girvan,
Chase & Kimball, J. Newhall & Co., George W. Kelley, Jeremiah Smith, and the
State House. Little merchandise, comparatively speaking, was destroyed by the
fire, owing to the active exertions of our citizens? members of the Legislature
and strangers; but, nevertheless, much of it was greatly injured by the hasty
removal. The immediate loss of property is estimated at $20,000, but it must,
eventually prove to be far beyond that sum. The store houses destroyed were
among the best buildings in the town; and the Capitol, recently finished, cost
Major Smith $7,000. It was a spacious building, and very well adapted to its
uses. Thus, in a few short hours, has our thriving town met with a disaster
which months and months cannot repair, and which, for the present and time to
come, will press heavily upon some of our enterprising and worthy citizens.
There is, however, a buoyancy and elastic spirit, and an active enterprise among
our people, which will, we feel confident, sustain them in this emergency, and
which in the end will bring them triumphantly out of all difficulties. The fire
originated in the second story of the Capitol; from, it is believed, a
defectiveness in the hearth, by means of which it was communicated to the beams
and timber. It was first discovered about 2 o'clock in the morning by the
engineer of the steamboat Smelter, which was then lying at the wharf nearly
opposite the scene of devastation. The progress the fire had made before our
citizens got the alarm, the difficulty of getting at the fire, and our total
destitution of engines or fire apparatus, gave the flames an easy triumph over
every exertion that was made to arrest their progress; and it was, therefore,
soon found to be idle to attempt it. Every exertion was then made to save the
furniture of the capitol, and the goods and merchandise of those stores which
were in danger, and which were finally destroyed. These efforts, as we have
said, were very successful, but still many articles were destroyed, which, from
their weight and situation, could not well be removed at the time. Some of the
merchants who suffered by this fire have already made arrangements to pursue
their business in other houses; others, we fear, will not be able to do so, and
will have to store away their goods as well as they can, till they get proper
rooms, or till they shall be enabled to rebuild next spring. At this season of
the year, nothing in that way can be done; and from the fact that every house is
bespoken almost as soon as it is begun, and filled before it is finished, it is
greatly to be apprehended that suitable rooms cannot now possibly be obtained.
" The Council, for want of a better place, now holds its sessions in the
west room of the upper story of the house occupied by the editors of this paper;
and the House of Representatives is comfortably quartered in the upper story of
Webber & Remey's new building. "
IN THE EARLY FORTIES
An unknown writer, who signed
his name "Veritas ", contributed to the Hawk-Eye for September 7, 1843, an
interesting account of conditions in Burlington at the close of its first
decade:
"In No. 7, I promised to give the statistics of Burlington in the present
number. A stranger would not fail to be much surprised at the appearance of this
place, when he would reflect that only a few years ago the Iowa country was
owned and possessed by savage tribes of Indians, with the great Black Hawk as
their head chief. The Territory was only organized under a territorial form of
government by congress in the year 1838. The temporary seat of Government for
the Territory was placed at Burlington, but has since been removed to Iowa
City.— Burlington is the largest town in the Territory, and is situated upon the
west bank of the Mississippi River, in Fractional Townships 69 and 70 N. R. 2
West, and extends one mile along the River and one half mile back. The town—now
city— was laid off in 1834. The first sale of lots was in 1841. The present
population is about 2000. The city is incorporated, and is under good regulation
of city police. One Mayor and eight Aldermen compose the city council. The city
is also the county seat of Des Moines county, which contains a population of
8,500. The buildings are generally good. Good building rock of a superior
quality is very abundant here, some of the houses are built of rock. The city
contains thirty dry goods stores, twelve groceries, twenty ware houses, three
iron stores, one iron foundry, four drug stores, nine doctors, twenty-eight
lawyers, four black smith shops, two saddleries, three bake shops; three brick
yards, which give employment to forty hands, twenty bricklayers, twelve stone
cutters, tailors, carpenters and house Joiners, ad infinitum, two printing
offices, three livery stables, one post office, six stage routes coming into the
city. Times are said to be hard here, and money scarce. The currency is made up
of Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio bank notes, and a very fair
proportion of specie, and some times the yellow Benton boys, alias mint drops,
are seen flowing up the river, and shining through the interstices of the silken
purses; but these sights are somewhat rare, and like Angel's visits, few and far
between. In fact there is not one half of the money in circulation here, that
ought to be, for this city is the great point of attraction, for the whole
western world, and will shortly be the younger sister of St. Louis, and, if
Congress would grant an appropriation to clear out the rapids below this place,
which is hoped will be done, she will one day be the rival' of the Missouri
Mistress. There is one of the best landings for Steam Boats here of any place on
the Upper Mississippi. Notwithstanding the hardness of the times, the city is
improving rapidly and presents a fine, thriving appearance. Last season about
eighty buildings were erected within her corporation, and about as many more
have been erected this season. The bluffs here are very high, and the city is in
no danger of ever being overflowed by the river.—The conveniences and facilities
for slaughtering and packing pork; are as great here as any other place in the
west. The Steam Ferry Boat at this place, called the Shockoquon, owned by
Thurston and Webb, is safe and good for movers and others going to Iowa to cross
upon. Her age is about four years. Her keel is one hundred feet, her beam
twenty- five feet, her guards ten feet. She has two engines of thirty horse
power each, she is wellmanned, and is safe and speedy in crossing. The rates of
Ferriage are fixed by law and never exceeded in any case. In fact, though the
rates of ferriage are raised by law, when the river is out of its bank, and the
ferrying is then - - about five miles down to a little village on the east bank
of the river, yet such is the generosity of the owners of this boat, that they
do not charge any higher rates at one time than another. The rates are as
follows:
For two horses and a wagon, and their load, $1.00
For each additional pair of horses or oxen, 25
For a carriage and one horse, 75
" man and horse, 25
" foot passenger, 13
" each head of loose cattle 13
" " head of sheep and hogs, (sucklings excepted,) 6
"Where there is a large lot of stock, wagons, &c. ferried over at one time,
a liberal deduction is made from those rates. " The route from the central
parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, to the Des Moines, Skunk and Big Cedar
settlements in Iowa, is direct by the way of Burlington. The country east and
west of this place is well settled; and accommodations for travelers are good
for western fare. The crossing at the Prophet's town is too low down the river,
and throws the travel to Iowa too far south, and in the half breed tract of
country, where the roads are broken and rough. Those going to the north part of
Missouri, would have a tolerably direct route by crossing at Nauvoo. I will give
the routes and distances from the principal starting points to Iowa via
Burlington in my next number as my sheet is filled. " |
