of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 284-287
A DESCRIPTION OF CHARMING SCENERY. In 1829 the Hon. Caleb Atwater, of Columbus, Ohio, was appointed one of three commissioners to confer with the Sac and Fox Indians at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, and in 1833, a work appeared, entitled, "The Writings of Caleb Atwater," in which the commissioner gives an account of his trip, and in whose pages we find the following description of the site of Muscatine, as it presented itself to the traveler, in all its savage and picturesque beauty: "About thirty-five miles below Rock Island, the beautiful country on the west side of the river opened to view, and from the first moment we saw it, all eyes were turned toward it. At every turn of the river as we moved along, new bursts of wonder and admiration were poured out from all the passengers. The ladies were enraptured at the numerous and beautiful situations for dwelling houses where they wished one day to live in rural bliss. Nature has done all--man nothing--and not a human being was seen on either shore, not a human habitation. That such a beautiful country was intended by its author to be forever in the possession and occupancy of serpents, wild beasts and savages, who derive little benefit from it, no reasonable man can for a moment believe it who sees it. The river here may be compared with the Connecticut at Northampton, Massachusetts, and take away the buildings and fences from the lovely eastern country and the country below and above Rock Island, with this exception--the bottom lands of the Mississippi are wider, they rise more regularly from the river, and the hills are not so high nor irregular as those at Northampton. They are fertile as the bottoms and as well covered with grasses as those on the Connecticut, without one weed intermixed, until you reach the very summit, where the woods, thick, lofty, green and delightful, begin and extend back, west of the hills, to a considerable distance from the river. Adjoining the river is grass. On the western slope of the river are thick woods.
"The bottom, covered with tall grass, begin on the very brink of the river, above high water mark, and they gradually ascend from one to three miles back, intersected every mile or two by never failing rivulets, originating in the hills; and the ground between the springs is rounded, as if by art, and fitted for a massive house with all its attendant buildings. Princes might dwell here within a mile or two of each other, fronting the Mississippi and along it, and possess handsomer seats than any one of them can boast of in the old world. We could hardly persuade ourselves, many times, when we first saw one of these beautiful spots, that all the art that man possesses and wealth could employ had not been used to fit the place for some gentleman's country seat; and every moment as we passed along, we expected to see some princely mansion erected on this rising ground. Vain illusion! nature had done all to adorn and beautify the scenery before our eyes. Setting down a pair of compasses large enough to extend thirty-five miles around the lower end of Rock Island and taking a sweep around it, you would have within the circle the handsomest and most delightful spot on the whole globe, so far as nature can produce anything beautiful."
At the time of the Black Hawk purchase, Major George Davenport was stationed at Fort Armstrong, on the island of Rock Island, and had established a large traffic with the Indians. To accommodate his red skin patrons, he sent a man by the name of Farnham to this point, in 1833, with a stock of goods. Farnham built a cabin on the river front, now marked by a stone, at the crossing of Iowa avenue, and traded with the Indians about two years, when he sickened and died at his home in Stevenson, now Rock Island.
In 1835, after the death of Farnham, who had never been considered a settler in the county, Colonel John Vanatta bought the Davenport claim and in 1836 moved his family here. He kept a small stock of goods in the Farnham cabin awhile, and on the 4th of July, 1837, formed the principal material for a bonfire and was destroyed.
In the fall of 1835, James W. Casey made his appearance here and built a cabin west of the trading house and at that point made plans to build a town, which he named Newburg. The Casey claim, which was near the foot of Broadway, was known and designated as "Casey's Landing" and was also called "Casey's Woodyard." Casey was the first permanent settler in Muscatine but did not live long after his arrival. He died in the fall of 1836 and was buried on the high bluff, where schoolhouse No. 1 was later erected. Casey had extended his claim, however, the spring after his arrival, one mile down the slough and a mile north, this action having been made possible by taking into partnership several others who had come to the settlement.
The original proprietors of the Newburg platted by James W. Casey, and which is now a prominent part of Muscatine, were J. W. Casey, Edward E. Fay, William St. John, Norman Fullington, H. Reece, Jonathan Pettibone, Breese and Higginbotham, Abijah Whiting, W. D. Abernathy, A. J. Smith and others. This claim was a mile square. In 1837 the second frame building was erected by William Gordon for John Vanatta. This also became a hotel and is described elsewhere in this work.
The next claim was made by Charles H. Fish and others in the "upper town," which was a half-mile square from the center of the court house square east. Joe White took up a claim a half-mile square in the vicinity of the old fair grounds. The Barkalow claim was on Mad creek, lapping into the "upper town" claim at the northeast corner, where Mr. Barkalow had an enclosure and corn field. Charles A., A. O. and D. R. Warfield bought the Barkalow claim and extended it, in 1837, to a mile square and with "Black Ben" Matthews took possession in December of that year.
The first public land sales took place at Burlington in November, 1838, and the county reserved the quarter section on which the court house stands and paid the government $1.25 per acre for it. When this occurred there were probably about fifty buildings and two hundred people upon that part of the town plat included in the county's quarter section. Finally, the county commissioners decided to raise the sum of $18,000 for the building of a court house, and placed a certain valuation on each lot in the quarter section, which was paid by those living thereon. Other parts of the town were purchased for groups of individuals at the land sales in Burlington, by the following: The east part, by Charles A. Warfield; the fractional quarter south of the county quarter, by Suel Foster; eighty acres west of the fraction, by Breese and Higginbotham, and by William St. John, a balance west and north of Breese and Higginbotham's purchase. In adjusting claims to lots after apportionment by the agents to their principals, but little difficulty occurred, according to Suel Foster. Deeds for lots on the county's quarter were executed by Adam Ogilvie, business agent of the county, who had been given a power of attorney for that purpose.
Charles Fish and wife arrived in Muscatine in 1837, and with them were his son, William, and daughters, Emeline and Caroline. Moses Couch came in 1836 and was followed by his wife the next spring. Many other additions were made to the population of the village this year and are mentioned on another page.
In May, 1836, the proprietors of the claims and tracts of land engaged Major William Gordon, then a resident of Stevenson (Rock Island), to survey a town thereon and when the first plat was made the name of Newburg was given to the town, which was soon discarded and changed to Bloomington, which designation was retained about twelve years.
In the same year of the first platting, 1836, the original proprietors, John Vanatta and Captain William Clark, began disposing of portions of their interests in the town. In August, Dr. John H. Foster and Suel Foster bought a one-sixth interest, for which they paid $500. This they obtained of Captain Clark, who was a resident of Buffalo, Scott county, near the Muscatine county line. Other purchasers at this time were Colonel T. M. Isett, Adam Funck, Henry Funck, Robert C. Kinney, William St. John, G. H. Hight, B. White, William Devon and J. W. Neally.
In September, 1836, William Gordon, no relation to the Major, arrived in Bloomington and erected the first frame building in the place, which became a hotel and had for its landlord Robert C. Kinney. At the time of Gordon's arrival there were living in Bloomington William St. John, Giles and Jonathan Pettibone, J. Craig, John Champ, Norman Fullington, Moses Couch, Lyman C. Hine, John Vanatta, Suel Foster, James W. Casey, Adam Ogilvie, T. M. Isett, a Mr. Norton and wife and Robert C. Kinney and wife.
In 1837 the second frame building was erected in the town, by William Gordon for John Vanatta. This structure also became a hotel and is described in another part of this work.
The town of Bloomington was again surveyed in 1840. It was originally incorporated in 1839.
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