HERITAGE VIGNETTES by Marilyn A. Bekker

EARLY SETTLEMENT

Indians roamed freely in Muscatine County up to 1833. The area was virtually free of any white settlers. Two Indian villages were located near the county boundaries. The Sac Chief, Keokuk, had a village located in Seventy-Six Township, south of the city, near the foot of old Keokuk Lake. It was probably vacated in 1836, a few years after the Black Hawk Treaty went into effect. The other village, home of the Fox tribe led by Poweshiek, was located on the west bank of the Cedar River near the site of the old Salisbury bridge. In the 1837 government survey, 5,000 Indians were shown encamped there.

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Indians trails crossed the county in many places, one passing through the city. It entered on the west near the County Farm going east through Butlerville or along the ridge near the main street. It crossed Pappose Creek north of 8th Street, went around the food of the hill at Third Ward School House to Mad Creek crossing near Tenth Street, then over the hill south of Dr. Weed’s home. Another trail led from the Cedar River directly to the trading post. Indian trails were about 12 inches wide and worn about one inch below the surrounding surface. They were thickly matted with a short, fine, wiry grass not more than three or four inches high. This grass was seldom seen except in Indian trails. The paths were often used and remained plainly visible for many years after the Indians ceased traveling on them.

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Two tales claim credit as the origin of the name given Pappose Creek. S.C. Hastings, an early Muscatine lawyer, recounted stories of the Indian camps along the banks of the stream where the children played along the water…hence the name, Pappose Creek. Laura Nye Patterson disagreed and told of how the Indians taught their children to swim almost as soon as they could walk. During the course of instruction, an Indian child, a pappose, was drowned; therefore, the name was given Pappose Creek. The stream, often nearly dry in the summer, could become a rampaging torrent during heavy rain.

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Mad Creek is a long time trouble maker in the City of Muscatine. Many creeks of the area received names of Indian origin, but Mad Creek earned its title. It is said to have been named by Col. George Davenport. A flooding of the stream occurred one night while his keel boat, used to convey merchandise from St. Louis to Rock Island, was moored in its mouth. It resulted in the vessel being carried out to the stream and some distance down the Mississippi before sleeping boatmen were aware of what happened. This is one of the first tales of trouble caused by Mad Creek whose history of destruction and death has continued until recent times.

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Local names of some of our island are very old. The main island has always been known as Towhead. J.P. Walton once suggested that it could have been named Moving Island, since it moved from Illinois to Iowa. In 1838, when Iowa was organized as a territory, it belonged to Illinois, although that state never exercised any jurisdiction over it. Iowa laid claim to it. “Moving Island” might also apply since as the channel commenced to change in 1840 the river washed off earth from the east side while depositing it on the west. Towhead is said to have moved half its width in this manner. It is a privately owned island and city taxes are levied on it.

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The pioneer settlers had many difficulties about their claims. The government survey made in the summer of 1838 made lines that came through claims, houses, fields and farms in awkward forms. A claim was considered to be a right to purchase of the Government to the land embraced within a claim. Many parties had to agree to deed to their neighbors whatever rightfully belonged to them after purchase was made. In November, 1838, about half of the townships of the city were brought into market by public sale at Burlington. A third sale was held that fall at Dubuque, consisting of the northern one-third of the county. This land was sold by the government for $1.25 per acre and the first tax assessment was made in 1840.

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Flour for bread baking was not easy to obtain by the early settlers. In 1839 or 1840, Judge Williams erected a horse mill four or five miles west of the city. After taking a bushel of corn to the mill, a farmer paid 12-1/2 cents for the privilege of grinding it and furnished the horsepower and labor for the grinding. The mill ran hard. If the pony was small it ground slowly. The trip to the mill could take all day. At Nye’s Mill on Pine Creek, one often had to wait in line for his turn, sometimes for days. Many went prepared to feed their horses and themselves and to bed down under the wagon at night. Nevertheless it was the best way to get flour for their daily bread.

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Money was scarce article in the newly settled Bloomington, later to become Muscatine. In the 1840’s and 1850’s, hunters used skins of various animals for cash. Often when an early settler paid a merchant for a small purchase with a coon skin, it was common for him to receive a rabbit or a muskrat in change. In October, 1840, John Ziegler advertised his large stock of general merchandise. He advised that all would be sold “for cash, etc.” Hunters also took wild geese, turkeys, ducks, grouse, quail and prairie fowl which provided an important part of their food supply.

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Stage coach travel was not the most comfortable! On July 25, 1850, The Enquirer claimed that on the last trip of Frink and Company’s mud wagons, a passenger had a fine pair of new $6 boots destroyed. The pegs and tacks were shaken out of the soles, not to mention his beaver which was knocked in a “cocked hat!” Another passenger declared that he could not ride on horseback for a month. [CHECK WORDING] The most amusing disaster on what was called this “rattle and bang line” occurred the day before when a good hair trunk was reduced to nothing but a box covered in rawhide, all the hair was shaken off. The owner was reported to have raised a “thundering fuss.” However, Frink and Company and other stage coach lies remained a necessary form of transportation until the railroads came to Iowa.

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Ferry boats carried early settlers, teams of oxen, horse-drawn wagons and travelers on foot at many spots along the Cedar River. A well known ferry in Muscatine County was Overman’s. It was a large flatboat which plied across the river just southeast of Atalissa for more than a quarter of a century. Later it was known as Tice’s Ferry, when Benjamin Tice and his daughter, Martha, arrived from Boston in 1866. A windlass, turned by hand, provided the power to pull the ferry boat across the stream. It ran on pulleys along a cable stretched between large oak trees on opposite sides of the river. During the winter months, axes were used to break the ice and keep the ferry in operation. The ferry service continued until 1897, when a steel truss bridge was erected.

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The first post office in Muscatine County was established at the mouth of Pine Creek in Montpelier Township in 1837. The second was at Geneva, three and one-half miles north of the city. It was then called Vanderpool and the postmaster appointed was S.C. Comstock, the father of Mrs. W.A. Drury. Amos Walton, the father of J.P. Walton, succeeded him in 1838 when the name was changed to Geneva. Until 1839 there was no post office in Bloomington. At that time a Mr. Stowell was named postmaster. For some unexplained reason he ran off before his commission reached him and Edward E. Fay was appointed in his stead. It was said he carried the mail “in his hat”, thus General Delivery was available wherever he was.

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The Enquirer of August 1, 1850, reported the end of an epidemic of cholera in Muscatine. No cases had been reported for a week. The epidemic had struck throughout the State of Iowa and the Midwest. The number of deaths was not recorded. Victims were young and old, rich and poor. The disease respected no boundaries. Residents were advised that some symptoms would probably remain for a short time and should be promptly checked. Everyone was warned to be careful of diet, cleanliness and exposure. If this were done, they believed the territory could expect to be permanently free of the dread disease.

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