Iowa
Old Press
Mason City Globe-Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo, Iowa
November 19, 1934
In 1840 a Frenchman named Etienne Cabet wrote a book with the
title "A Journey to Icaria." He told of the strange
adventures of a friend in the wonderful country of Icaria. The
people lived together in friendship and enjoyed many comforts.
But no one had more than another, and each worked for the good of
all. Everybody was educated, polite, and contented. The book was
very popular. Thousands of French people read it and wished they
could live in such a perfect country. Times were especially bad
just then. The poor could live like Utopians. Many went to Cabet
and asked him to lead them to a place where they could live like
Utopians. They were eager to try real equality.
In 1847, Cabet bought a piece of land in Texas to be used for his
ideal community. A contract was signed by 69 men who agreed to
start the colony. By the time they reached the place, however,
they were nearly worn out by the trip across the dry, hot plains.
Breaking the sod and building houses in the July sun were enough
to discourage the strongest men. Sick with chills and fever, they
finally gave up and returned to New Orleans. There Cabet found
them when he came over with the main body of his followers. He
was convinced that Texas was not a good location for his dream
city of happiness. Some members of the party were so dismayed by
the hardships of American pioneering that they went back to
France. The others, 280 in all, decided to go up the Mississippi
in search of a better place. On the way, 20 of the number died of
cholera. Finally, sad but hopeful, they reached Nauvoo in
Illinois opposite Montrose. There the weary immigrants found
houses ready built, for the Mormons who used to live there had
been driven out of the state. For several years these Frenchmen,
who called themselves Icarians, seem to have prospered. The
community grew until it was double the number of original
settlers. Near the ruins of the old Mormon temple, the Icarians
built a community house, with a great dining room and assembly
ball. They also had a schoolhouse, two hospitals, a drug store, a
big kitchen where all the meals were cooked, a bakery a laundry,
a sawmill, a flour mill and a library. Everything was owned in
common and used for the benefit of all. After a while some of the
members began to find fault. They complained that all were not
treated alike. The ideas of Cabet were no longer respected.
Everybody took sides in the dispute; those against Cabet were the
"reds." those for him the "whites." One day
the "whites" refused to work and so the
"reds" would not let them eat. At last the
"whites" had to leave the community. Nearly 200 went to
St. Louis, and there on November 8, 1856, Etienne Cabet died.
The 300 or more who remained at Nauvoo soon discovered that their
problems were not all solved. They suffered from the hard times
of 1857. Then their crops failed. In 1860 they determined to move
to Iowa and start building the permanent Icaria on about 3,000
acres of land they owned in Adams county. It was a long trip by
wagon across the unbroken prairies to their new home. There was
not a settler along the trail for the last 40 miles. Cheered by
the opportunity to build their own ideal community, however, they
selected a hill overlooking the east fork of the Nodaway River,
about two miles east of the present town of Corning; and there
they established Icaria. About the central. community building
they erected the shops, mills, and houses. Beyond the village
were the farm lands. But no church spire pointed toward Heaven.
The Icarians did not believe in religion.
From the beginning, this little French settlement had to struggle
against frontier hardships and debt. So many became discouraged
and left that at one time only 35 persons remained in the
community During the war all the men who were able joined the
Union army. All but about 1,100 acres of land had to be sold.
Distress and failure prevailed in this Utopia which was created
to promote happiness. Nevertheless, the Icarians clung to their
ideals. Though each family lived in a separate house, the food
was prepared in a big kitchen and served in one large dining
room. Every meal in Icaria was like a picnic. For breakfast they
had porridge,bread and butter and coffee. The menu for dinner and
supper included meat, vegetables, marmalade, cheese and fruit.
The men worked in the fields, mills or shops; the women in the
kitchen, dining room or laundry. The children went to school
where they were taught the ideas of their society as well as the
usual subjects. Everyone spoke French, though almost all became
American citizens. One of the Icarians, A. Piquenard, made the
plans for the Iowa and Illinois state capitals. Again, however,
the Icarians quarreled among themselves. Some, who had planted
fruit trees and vines around their houses, claimed that the
apples and grapes were theirs. Others said it was not fair for a
few to have plenty and they none. The younger members wanted to
build more factories and get other people to join them, but the
older pioneers looked at their calloused hands and shook their
heads. And so the debate continued. The old folks had most of the
votes in the meeting, but not enough to put the young ones out.
They had no church to unite them.
At last, in 1878, a court ordered the community dissolved. The
young group stayed a while at Icaria and then moved to
California. Meanwhile, the old Icarians had organized a new
community about a mile away. It was a small group, continually
worried by debt but still true to the old ideals of equality and
common property. As the years passed these French immigrants
found it harder to live as a unit. With sad hearts they finally
decided to give up the struggle. Their common possessions were
divided among the members according to the number of years each
had worked in the community. On Oct. 22, 1898, the business was
finished and the last branch of Etienne Cabet's Utopian Icaria,
where people were, to be free, equal and happy, was no more.
[transcribed by K.W., April 2009]