Iowa Old Press
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa
April 14, 1859
GLEANINGS
FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF THE ITINERATING EDITOR.
MAQUOKETA, April 5th, 1859.
Probably no place in the interior of Iowa
has suffered more than the financial pressure, than the city of
Maquoketa. Two years ago, in expectation of the speedy
communication with the Mississippi by railroad - the Iowa Central
Air line - the town improved much faster than the country around
it. The pressure of the times and the dubious prospects of the
Railroad, have wrought a sad change here. Huge buildings
commenced a year ago, remain unfinished, several stores and shops
have been vacated, and more than one house pleads in vain for a
tenant.
But a brighter day is evidently about to dawn
upon Maquoketa. Despairing of securing a railroad at present, the
principal citizens of the place have recently formed the
Maquoketa Navigation Company, which was incorporated on the 2d of
this month. The design of the Company is to raise funds to put
the Maquoketa river in a navigable condition; to purchase or
construct a boat and some barges; and to do a general freight and
passenger business between the city of Maquoketa and some point
on the east side of the Mississippi. It is thought by the oldest
citizens of this place and vicinity, that the Maquoketa - the two
forks of which here unite - is navigable for flat boats from this
point to the mouth of the river - a distance of about
thirty-five miles. Should this be found to be the case, Maquoketa
with or without a railroad, will rise and become a first-class
inland city. Aside from grain, a flat boat would take to market
on the Mississippi, the hard and most excellent timber of the
country, and bring back pine timber, together with coal, needed
for manufacturing purposes. Merchandise, now costing fifty cents
for transportation from the river to this city, could then be
brought up for ten or twelve cents. But the advantages of such a
communication with the Mississippi, are too obvious to need
designating.
The Directors of the Company have just
been chosen. They are Ezra Baldwin, R. Perham, Jos. Willey, Jas.
Decker, O.D. Cowles, Henry Reigart, D.A. Fletcher, A. Fellows,
Thos. Wright.
Ezra Baldwin is President; D.A .Fletcher,
Vice President; A.M. Van Slyck, Secretary, R. Perham, Treasurer.
The capital stock of this Company is
fixed, by the articles of incorporation, at $25,000, with a
provision for its expansion whenever occasion requires. The
shares are $25 each, and are being taken rapidly, as we
understand. Energetic men are at the head of this corporation and
they are confident the enterprise will succeed.
The village of Maquoketa was laid out in 1850
and it received its city charter three years ago. Its population
is estimated at fifteen hundred. J.E. Goodenow built the first
house on the site of the town. The mam???? hotel owned by him and
Mr. Decker is now closed, and he is keeping the Decker House - of
which he is part proprietor- hi8s partner being Nelson Lane. It
is the ???? first-class hotel in the city. Mr. Goodenow is
popular both as a landlord and citizen, and has the name of being
one of the best men in Jackson county. Mr. Lane is very attentive
and obliging.
Maquoketa has one banking house, four general
variety stores, four groceries, two drug stores, two hollow ware
and tin shops, and one of the largest hardware stores (Baldwin
& Co.'s) in the interior of Iowa. We also notice two jewelry
stores, three shoe stores and shoe shops, one bakery, a woolen
factory, a sash and door factory, and three water flouring mills
and the same number of saw mills near by.
Maquoketa has one dentist, seven physicians,
and seven lawyers.
The Congregationalists, Presbyterians,
Methodists, and Baptists have large church edifices and those of
the first two denominations are neat and stable brick
structures.- The Baptists and Presbyterians have no pastor.
We find an Academy here, Professor Mead,
Principal. He is a classical scholar, thorough and energetic with
good executive qualifications. If Massachusetts can spare any
more teachers as good, let Iowa have them.
Maquoketa has two newspapers, the Excelsior,
Republican, and Sentinel, Democratic. We have made the
acquaintance of Mr. Drips of the former paper, and Mr. Swigert of
the latter. Mr. S. is Postmaster.
ANDREW, April 6th, 1859.
In our notes on Maquoketa, no mention was
made of the famous "Maquoketa Timber," one of the
largest belts in the northern part of the State. It stretches
from the confluence of the two forks of the Maquoketa, near the
city of Maquoketa, almost to the northwestern boundary of Jackson
county, at a distance of about twenty-two miles, and its average
width is from eight to ten miles. It produces an excellent
quality of lumber for which a good market will be found should
the new enterprise of navigating the Maquoketa succeed- which is
not unlikely.
The village of Andrew figures somewhat
conspicuously in the history of Jackson county. The county
seat was located here in 1841 - the year before the place began
to be settled - and the first term of the Court was held here in
the spring of 1842- or just seventeen years ago. The county seat
remained here until 1849 when it was removed to Bellevue, which
place it still claims it. - The County Jail is still here, and at
"this present," contains but five "birds" -
the moral plumage of which is more or less soiled.
A Normal School building was commenced here
ten or eleven years ago, but being daubed with untempered morter,
it never went fairly up - as a school house. It is now used for a
blacksmith shop. The school was started about the year 1849, and
was kept for three or four years in the Methodist Church, and
then abandoned. We now find here, in the educational line, a very
large brick school house, in which something like one hundred
children were taught last winter. At present it is occupied by a
select school of thirty-five members.
The Presbyterians, Mr. Wallace pastor, have a
brick edifice, and the Methodists, Mr. Boatler, pastor, have a
wooden house. Mr. Stewart is pastor of the "Union"
church.
The physicians of Andrew are Joseph Cowden,
A.S. Carnahan and C.I. Dawson; the lawyers, P.B. Bradley and J.Y.
Blackwell.
Andrew has three general variety stores, kept
by L.H. Warriner, J. & J.H. McMurray and Johnson & Keek;
one hotel, R.Cobb proprietor; eight or ten mechanic shops and one
brickyard. There are two saw mills and a grist mill within a mile
or two of the village. Brush Creek, the nearest stream, is one
mile off. The village is surrounded by timber.
Andrew was selected originally for the county
seat, because of its geographical position, it being within a
hundred rods of the center of the county. Some of the citizens
are sanguine that the county seat will ere long return to its
first home. Andrew has about three hundred inhabitants, and at
present is not growing.
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BELLEVUE, April 8th?, 1859
With the exception of Cedar Rapids and
McGregor, we have found on place in twelve hundred miles travel
in Northern Iowa, that made more improvement in 1858 than
Bellevue, the seat of Justice of Jackson county. During that
year, among the more substantial additions to the town were a
Presbyterian church, a lime-stone structure of liberal
proportions, and an ornament to the place; a block of three story
stores, by Messrs. Reiling & Nieman; a three story warehouse,
by J.A. Westen; and an elegant brick dwelling by Charles Barrall,
A. Woods, Samuel G. Smith, Thomas H. Davis, Sylvester Farrall and
G.W. Lewis. In addition to these improvements a large number of
wooden buildings were erected. Several other buildings are now
going up - mostly in the western part of the village.
Bellevue is delightfully located on the right
bank of the Mississippi, upon a plateau about thirty feet above
the level of the water, and is surrounded by an ampitheater of
hills or bluffs, which rise at some points to the height of of
nearly three hundred feet. Seen from their top on the north side,
the village has an exceedingly beautiful appearance. Let no
stranger, visiting the town, fail to see it from that point,
which also presents a commanding view of the Mississippi Valley.
Settlement was commenced here in 1836 at which
time the site of the village was selected for the Capital of
Wisconsin Territory, of which Iowa was then a part; but a
difficulty between the commissioners and the proprietors of the
land, prevented Bellevue from being thus highly honored.
Nineteen years ago the first day of this
month, the great battle between a gang of horse thieves and
murderers, and the citizens of Bellevue, was fought near the
center of the town, the villains being attacked in a house where
they had collected and bidden defiance to law and order. The
ringleader of the band, Brown, and three or four other
desperados, were killed; others were wounded, the rest were
captured, publicly whipped, and sent down the river; and since
that time Bellevue, we are told, has been a peaceful village. It
now has more than a hundred thousand inhabitants, and is growing
rapidly. It has eight general variety stores, kept by B.W.
Seaward, Lange & Claussen, J.A. Weston, Kilborn & Woods,
Hyler & Co, E. Cole & Co., Wm. Anderson and A. Ramharter;
one grocery kept by J. Steiniger; three meat dealers; one bakery;
two drug and book stores, W.C. Pace and J.S. Graham proprietors;
one hardware, hollow ware and tin shop, by Hughey & Brother;
three ware houses owned by E.G. Potter, J.A. Weston and J.C.
Fory; one banking house, Hall & Stiles proprietors; three
cabinet shops, two wagon shops and four blacksmith shops.-
Bellevue presents a good opening for a foundry.
We find here one of the best flouring mills in
this part of the State, the property of E. G. Potter. It stands
near the mouth of Mill Creek, in the southern part of the
village. The water falls twenty-two feet. John Foley, father of
the Postmaster, took up the mill site in 1882 while he was a
resident of Dubuque. The mill was completed by Potter in 1843,
and since that date has been one of the celebrities of Jackson
county.
Messrs. Hays & Potter have a steam saw
mill house and Mr. John Gammel is building a flouring mill on
Mill Creek, one mile above its mouth.
The principal hotels in Bellevue are the
Jasper House, A.H. Goodrich proprietor, and the Sublett House,
G.W. McNulty, proprietor. We are stopping at the latter, and find
Mr. McNulty has a large, a Hibernian heart. His house is full, an
indication alike of his popularity and of the life of the town.
When the bell rings there is a rush for the table, as there was
two years ago, at every village in Prairie Land.
The church organizations of the place are
Episcopal, George C. Street, rector; Catholic, J.F. Brazille,
pastor; Congregational, T.H. Canfield, pastor; Presbyterian, J.P.
Conkey, pastor and Baptist. Most of them have good houses of
worship. Bellevue has one large public school.
The medical men of Bellevue are L. Miller,
J.W. Cowden, P.L. Lake, and J.S. Graham; the legal fraternity,
Joseph Kelso, Spurr & Darling, Booth & Graham, Frederick
Bangs, Maginnis & Cowles, and F.A. Bettis; the Justices of
the Peace, W.A. Warren and W.P. Johnson. Mr. Warren came here in
1836 and was the first Sheriff of Jackson county, when it
embraced Jones and Linn counties. He has held office many years
in the county, and never came before the people without coming
off victorious.
The town Board of School Directors are Dr.
J.W. Cowden, President; John Munsey, Vice-President; Chas.
Barroll, Treasurer; and N.T. Wyncoop, Secretary.
The Jackson County Journal is published at
Bellevue, Charles M. Beecher, editor and proprietor. It is a well
printed sheet, and is popular in the county. In politics it
is Republican. Mr. Beecher is an old acquaintance from Western
New York. He has taken much pains to show us the
"lions" of Bellevue.
Several of the county officers reside at this
place. The full list is as follows: Joseph Kelso, Judge; R.B.
Wykoff, Treasurer and Recorder; John McGregor, Clerk; James
Watkins, Sheriff; J.P. Edie, Superintendent of Public
Instruction; Thomas C. Darling, Surveyor; J.W. Eckles, Coroner;
N.T. Wyncoop, Drainage Commissioner.
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INSURANCE AGENCY- In another column will be found the statement of the Goodhue Fire Insurance, of which Mr. E.C. DAVID is agent for this city and vicinity. Mr. D. has also the agency for several other responsible Companies and will hereafter devote his time and attention to the Insurance business. He will faithfully discharge any trust in this line that may be constituted to him.
IOWA MATTERS
The Waterloo Courier of the 5th chronicles the
arrival at that port of the steamer Blackhawk. She was received
by a crowd of citizens who gave her three cheers.
The citizens of Mahaska county, at an election
held on Saturday last, voted against rescinding the loans
heretofore voted in aid of the M. & M. Railroad Co., by a
majority of eight hundred.
A lad named FRANCIS GAY, living with his
grandmother in South Burlington, while flying a kite on Friday
last, walked backwards and fell off a plank into a ravine. He
died of his injuries on Sunday morning.
According to a recent census, the Township of
Fairfield, Jefferson county, contains a population of 2891. The
population of Fairfield. The population of Fairfield village is
2800 (or 2600). The number of acres of improved land in the Town
is 10,547; unimproved, 19,163.
The Davenport Democrat says three former
residents of Iowa, named BUTCHER, DALEY and DOWN, were recently
hung in Texas by the "Regulators," for complicity in
horse stealing. They had employed half-breeds to do the thieving
and they would pretend to purchase the horses and run them off
into other States. They were betrayed by a disaffected
half-breed, with whom they had quarreled.
A Convention of the Mill Sawyers of the Upper
Mississippi assembled at Davenport, on the 5th inst. The Gazette
says: "Mr. JAMES PATTERSON of St. Louis was elected
President, and Mr. Renwick of this city, Secretary. There is a
large number of delegates present, and a large majority of the
Mills between St. Louis and Stillwater are represented either by
letter or by delegates. In the morning a committee on resolutions
were appointed, who reported in the afternoon. A scale of prices
was adopted, which will not be ready for publication for several
days, as the signatures of parties represented by letter are
required. The Convention was entirely harmonious, and the
intercourse between the delegates very pleasant.
DELAWARE COUNTY. - Mr. F. Bates, merchant of
Nottingham, passed through our city this morning on his way home
from the East. In about a week the citizens of Nottingham will
have an opportunity of seeing one of the largest assortments of
merchandise ever displayed in that young and lively village. Mr.
B. has been spending some time in his old home, Springfield,
Mass.
CLAYTON COUNTY.- By a vote of the people just
taken, the county seat is to be removed from Guttenberg to
Garnavillo. It was removed from the latter place to the former a
year or two ago. Garnavillo is the more central place of the two
towns.
FAYETTE COUNTY - Mr. Clement in his article on
this county, gave the probable number of mills at twelve. It will
be seen in another column that we have placed the number at
forty. We do not mention this by way of blaming Mr. Clement. He
did not profess to be exact in the matter and could not be
expected to know exactly, with the information then at his
command. -- [West Union Review.
Our statement was that there are more than a
dozen saw mills in Fayette county. We were not speaking of mills
of all kinds. We are surprised to learn that there are forty. It
is a higher figure than any citizen of the county, with whom we
conversed, dared to claim. Fayette county is great on water power
and mills of all kinds.
Dubuque Weekly Times
Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa
April 28, 1859
GLEANINGS.
FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF THE ITINERATING EDITOR.
Waukon, April 19, 1859.
Our last evening at Lansing was spent at a
Temperance meeting, where we heard a well written lecture on the
Causes of Intemperance and its Remedies, by L.H. Howe, Esq., a
young lawyer of that place. Six or eight months ago, a promising
young member of the Lansing bar, a man beloved by the whole
community, died of delirium tremens. His premature death from the
too free use of intoxicating liquors, produced a great sensation.
A temperance society was formed immediately. Weekly meetings were
held during the winter, and monthly are now held. At each of
these meetings some citizens of Lansing usually reads a short
lecture, which is followed by other miscellaneous exercises. The
result of this movement is that drunkards have been reclaimed,
and most of the whisky venders, for want of patronage, have been
obliged to abandon their avocation. One of them recently broke
into the Post Office there and rifled the mail bags. He was taken
to jail at Decorah, Winneshiek county, and with four other
"birds" has since taken wing, and is still at large.
His name is William Faulkner.
Waukon is a prairie village, though in the
vicinity of timber. It is at the head of Paint Creek, thirteen
miles west and six miles south of Lansing. It is young, and
glitters like a gem. Almost every house and store is new, or
looks new, and is painted white. The large school house and the
only church erected, (Cumberland Presbyterian) are of the same
color. A large number of houses have picket fences around them
painted white, with gardens in front. In short, Waukon looks like
a New England village, which the tasteful people had forgotten to
build until recently, and were just finishing off the first
year's growth. A glance at the town will convince the stranger
that he is in the midst of enterprising and refined people.
The first settler in Waukon was George C.
Shattuck, who came hither from Dubuque county in the summer of
1830. He is a native of Ontario county, N.Y., and is a very
worthy man.
The county seat was located here in the fall
of 1853 and still remains here - though two attempts have been
made to have it removed. Waukon is fifteen miles from the
Mississippi river and six and a half miles from the line of
Winneshiek county. It is a north and southward direction, it is
near the geographical center of the county. There is so much
strife to get county seats removed in Northern Iowa that we take
the liberty of suggesting that, hereafter, all county buildings
be constructed on wheels and thus made portable.
Waukon has one banker, Walter Delafield; one
grocer, Moses Hancock; three general mercantile dealers, W.Beale,
W.R. Pottle, and W.S. Cooke; one druggist and bookseller, R.C.
Armstrong; one boot and shoe firm, Howard & Hersey; one house
dealing in stoves and tin-ware, Low & Bean; two jewelers; two
tailors; two blacksmiths; two wagon makers, two cabinet makers,
and one harness maker.
Mr. W.C. Earl has a steam saw mill, with a
planing machine attached. He does a variety of excellent work.
The hotels of Waukon are the Nicholas House,
kept by Sylvester Nichols, and the City Hotel, V. Dunlap,
proprietor.
The Allamakee Herald is published at the
county seat. It is Democratic in politics. Its editor and
proprietor is Frank Pease, Esq. who has kindly made me acquainted
with many citizens of this place.
Waukon has five churches, Baptist, L.M.
Newell, pastor; Presbyterian, J.C. Armstrong, pastor; Methodist
Episcopal, W.K. McCormick, pastor; and Wesleyan Methodist and
Universalist, the last two having no pastor.
We find here five lawyers, John T. Clark, L.O.
Hatch, Richard Wilber, M.M. Webster, and F.M. Clark; and two
physicians, J.W. Flint and I.H. Hedge.
The School Directors of the township are Moses
Hancock, President; C.J. White, Vice President; A.G. Howard,
Secretary, and William K. McFarland, Treasurer.
Among the improvements here, fifty rods of
sidewalk are being put down; A.J. Hersey is erecting a block of
three stores; Shattuck & Woodcock are putting up a large
store, with a stone basement and heavy columns in front, and Mr.
R.C. Armstrong, the Postmaster, is putting up a two-story brick
house. A few smaller houses are being built. The Methodist
Episcopal people have just voted to erect a house of worship this
year - In short, Waukon is progressing faster, we believe, than
any other small village in Northern Iowa. Its population is a
little less than six hundred. Most of its growth has been during
the last two years. It bids fair to become a smart, though never
a great inland city. The country around it is very fertile.
The people of Waukon are sanguine that the
Prairie du Chien and Mankato Railroad which has been surveyed to
Otranto, in Mitchell county, a distance of ninety-two miles, will
be built in a short time. The right of way has been secured most
of the way, and the contracts, we are told, are to be let next
fall. This road will leave the Mississippi at Johnson's Landing,
in Allamakee county, and run through Waukon and Decorah. At
Otranto it is to intersect the road through the Cedar Valley.
April 29th, 1859.
ALLAMAKEE is probably as well watered as any
county in this part of the State - though not by so many large
streams as some other counties. The Upper Iowa, the largest river
which flows through it, waters with its numerous little
tributaries, the two northern tiers of townships, and empties
into the Mississippi ten miles north of Lansing. Coon Creek,
formed by eleven springs, runs four miles, and empties into the
Mississippi at Lansing. Village Creek rises in western part of
the county, near Waukon, and empties into the Mississippi at
Capoli (formerly Columbus), one mile south of Lansing.
Wexford Creek runs through the township of
Lafayette and empties into the Mississippi a few miles south of
Capoli, in Paint Rock Slough. Paint Creek has its head waters in
Springs at Waukon, and running through Jefferson, Paint Creek, a
corner of Taylor and Fairview townships, empties into the
Mississippi at Allamakee, or Johnson's Landing. Yellow River runs
through the four southern townships, and with its little
affluents, waters them abundantly.
The Upper Iowa and most of its branches are
well timbered, largely with oak. The Yellow river is noted for
its excellent walnut, linn and elm. There is timber on all
creeks.
Aside from Lansing and Waukon, the principal
villages are Bossville, Milton, Dorchester, New Galena, Hardin,
(partly in Clayton county,) Ion, Postville, Waterville, and
Capoli. The last four or five places mentioned are very small.
Rossville has two or three hundred people, a steam flouring mill,
a steam saw mill, two stores, and two hotels.
Milton, which place we may visit on our
return, has three water flouring mills on Village creek; several
saw mills; two stores; two hotels; a large school house, used for
church purposes on the Sabbath; and between two and three hundred
inhabitants. - It is four miles from Lansing.
The lovliest site for a town in Allamakee
county is conceded to be Winfield, (Wexford Post office), in
Taylor township, on the Mississippi, fourteen miles south of
Lansing by land, and about the same distance, we believe, north
of McGregor. The levee is natural, with a pretty grade, and the
village plat - thirty feet, perhaps, above the river- is as level
as a house floor, with a sprinkling of trees to decorate it. The
bluffs at that point retreat a considerable distance from the
river. Half a mile from the landing is a spring stream, of
sufficient bulk for hydraulic purposes, and a fall of twenty-two
feet in a distance of forty rods. The proprietors of the town are
David Harper, who resides in that place, and E.W. Pelton, of
Prairie du Chien. Mr. Harper is Postmaster and one of the two
merchants of the village - if village it can now be called. There
are not more than half a dozen dwelling houses on the site of the
town. Some difficulty in landing there, heretofore, in low water,
has delayed its starting. The water has deepened there, we
believe, and a large village will be very likely to spring up.
A plow and wagon shop is about to be erected
and other improvements are under contemplation. On so beautiful a
site for a village, we should rejoice to see one rise.
The officers of Allamakee county are Geo. M.
Dean, Judge; John A. Townsend, Sheriff; Elise Topliff, Treasurer
and Recorder; C.J. White, Clerk of the District Court; W.W.
Hungerford, Surveyor; J.W. Flint, Superintendent of Public
Instruction, and J.W. Merrill, Drainage Commissioner.