West Liberty History 1838-1938

Source: One Hundred Years of History
* Commemorating a Century of Progress in the West Liberty Community * WEST LIBERTY, IOWA
LOG CABIN HISTORY

Chapter I

The Passing of the Log Cabin

One day in my rambles I came upon the site of a cabin in the woods. There is nothing now to mark the place but a slight depression in the soil, but I remember when there were other evidences of it once having been the site of a dwelling.

When but a boy, nearly half a century ago, in one of my many excursions through the woods---then all strange to me---in search of ripe fruits and rare flowers, I came upon the spot. It was in a small clearing in the thick woods, where a road, then a mere path through the forest, branched, one branch passing on to the west and the other bearing abruptly to the north, and both passing closely to the place on either side. There was a little stream a few rods to the west, where, evidently, the occupants of the cabin had obtained water, as there was no spring near and no evidence that a well had ever been sunk there. There were then none of the walls standing, and apparently the material of which it had been constructed had been hauled away. But the place where stood the chimney and marks of a fireplace were still to be seen.

I did not learn for many years who had occupied that cabin in that isolated spot, and often had wondered concerning its occupants, what had been their lot, and why they had chosen that spot for a home, as the cabin stood on the land of one of the first settlers in that region, and I knew it had never been occupied by that family. As I stood on that site of incipient civilization I realized that an interesting epoch in our local history was being lost with the passing away of the log cabin and our pioneers, for lack of a scribe to record the story of those trying days.

The last of the log cabins of the pioneers is now in ruins and the exact site of many of them is lost and it can be but an imperfect account of their time, filled with inaccuracies that can now be written. Much of this history is gathered from the memories of the men and women of those days; some of it is tradition, and all this is of a period now more than sixty years ago. I am indebted to Asa Gregg's History of the settlement of Wapsinonoc Township for some of the dates from which to collect information.

Iowa at the time of the first settlement here was a part of the Territory of Wisconsin, with its Capital in Burlington, and it was not yet legally open to settlement. The evolution in the formation of every settlement in the wilderness was much the same in each instance. The country was claimed by the Indians, and their claims were recognized by the government. The white population was increasing in an undue ratio to the land they controlled. The whites were a pushing, aggressive race, and looked with envious eyes on the vast domain roamed over by the Indians, and gradually encroached on their hunting grounds. First, intrepid trappers and traders traversed the unknown regions of the settlements. These were followed by missionaries and adventurers, not always of unimpeachable character, who mingled with the Indians with their social life and often planted there seeds of unrest and discord. Adventurous settlers began to encroach on the lands of the Indians, and sooner or later differences arose between these various classes of whites and the Indians, and outbreaks of more or less serious nature occurred.

At length, by some overt act by one side or the other, war was precipitated, and almost invariably the Indians were worsted, and, in the final adjustment of their differences, certain of the Indian lands were ceded to the Government, and they, that much restricted in their range, or driven farther into the wilderness. Or, the Government purchased great tracts of land of the Indians with indefinite boundaries and afterward sold it to its people. One party to these treaties and purchases was a agent or agents of the Government and the other a purported chief or chiefs of tribes. The first, keen and well posted on all business forms; the other, in entire ignorance of the laws and usages of transfer; and, frequently, as was charged in the Treaty of 1804 at St. Louis, were plied with liquor till they were in no condition to understand the import of the business they were transacting. In many instances there was abundant evidence of underhanded dealing and often open fraud in these transactions, and most often in favor of the government. It is a soiled page in the history of America that treats of its acquirement of Indian territory and the treatment the Indians have received at the hands of the government and its people. These things being facts, there could be no other result than a feeling of antagonism between the races. The whites were arrogant and overbearing, because the Indians did not tamely submit to the requirements of treaties which they knew had been obtained by fraud or sharp practice. On the part of the Indians there was engendered a feeling of resentment and revenge at the injustice done them, which they were not careful to conceal. In some instances the two races lived side by side in amity, and life friendships were formed, but for all that, there ever remained a feeling of resentment on the part of the Indians, and uncertainty and dread on the part of the whites. Many apparently unprovoked outbreaks by the Indians occurred, when they practiced their savage cruelty on innocent and guilty alike, sparing neither age nor sex in their diabolical frenzy. So the settlers of the frontier were ever kept in a state of fear, and a feverish watchfulness became a condition with them.

---