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Chapter One
Early
Days at Council Bluffs
About the
beginning of the nineteenth
century the site of the present city of Council Bluffs, Iowa, —
(longitude 18° 48' west from Washington, 95° 50' west from Greenwich,
and 41° 15' north latitude) — was occupied by the village of a tribe or
band of aborigines known as the "Ayauway (Iowa) Indians" which is
mentioned in the "History of the Expedition of Captains Lewis and
Clark, 1804-5-6; reprinted from the edition of 1814; with Introduction
by J. K. Hosmer. Chicago. A. C. MeClurg & Co. 1902", and indicated
on a map
accompanying that work. It appears from the journal of the expedition
kept at the time that Captains Lewis and Clark camped July 27, 1804, on
the west (right) bank of the Missouri river, slightly to the north and
west from the point at which the original town was located some
forty-two years later.
The name is derived from "Council Bluff", a hill near the present
village of Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, at the foot of which was held a
council with some Indians by Lewis and Clark. Their journal says : —
"The incidents just related induced
us to give this place the name of the Council Bluff."
Subsequently "the Council Bluff" was used by early traders, trappers
and navigators of the Missouri river, and by government officials, to
indicate the site of that council, and later the final
word became pluralized and the term "the Council Bluffs" was applied to
the entire region of country between the (Jouncil Bluff and the mouth
of the Platte river, the designation appearing upon all, or nearly all,
early maps in connection with the range of hills on the west (right)
bank of the Missouri river between the points mentioned. The early
history of the region contains very little regarding the territory on
the east (left) bank of the river, because that history
relates, primarily, to the affairs of the several fur companies doing
business along the stream, and, with the solitary exception of the
trading establishment of Robidoux, Papin, Chouteau & Berthold, at
the mouth of the Nishnabotna, none of the trading houses were on
that side.
When an Indian agency for the Otoes, Pawnees and Omahas was established
at Bellevue, where previously a sub-agency under the Agent at Fort
Leavenworth had existed, it became known as "the agency of the Council
Bluff ' ', and subsequently as the Council Bluffs agency. By treaty of
September 26 and 27, 1833, the Pottawattamie Indians of Illinois and
Indiana, together with the Chippewas and
Ottawas, with whom they were affiliated, ceded their possessions in
those States and were assigned territory for a new home in southwestern
Iowa, but through errors of the emigrating agents those who removed in
1835, 1836 and early 1837 were carried into territory now in the
northwestern part of the State of Missouri, opposite and near to Fort
Leavenworth. They were removed to their own lands, in Iowa, in 1837,
and the Council Bluffs Sub-agency was established at a point about one
mile above the mouth of the Platte river, on the east (left) bank of
the Missouri, which was under the jurisdiction of the agency at
Bellevue. Later (about 1843) the sub-agency offices were moved up the
river to Point aux Poules (Point of the Pulls), opposite Bellevue,
afterward known as Trader's Point, and there
are indications that, before those Indians removed from the region, the
sub-agency offices were removed to or near what was afterward known as
Council Point. A trading post was established at Trader's Point about
the time that the Pottawattamies came to the country which was known as
Hamilton's, and Peter A. Sarpy, agent for the American Fur Company at
Bellevue, soon afterward opened a branch of his concern at the same
place.
There is tradition, supported by much circumstantial evidence of
convincing character, to the effect that one Hart or Heart had a
trading or trapping station at an early day (some say as early as 1824,
and the writer here believes it was established before that), at or
very near the site of the present city of Council Bluffs, and
that the adjacent hills, as well as those in and among which the
original town was built were, for that reason, known to the early
traders, trappers and navigators of the Missouri river as "Hart's
Bluffs" (Cotes
a Hart).
No record has been found to indicate in any manner that this Mr. Hart
was in any way connected with the American Fur Company or any of its
predecessors, subsidiaries or successors; nor does liis name appear in
any of the published official lists of independent traders licensed or
granted permits by the United States government. If he were a white man
trading on his own account with the Indians in
the vicinity without a license, he would have been reported to the
Indian Department by the other traders upon whose privileges he would
have been intruding, such as Roye, on the site of the original city of
Omaha; Pratt, on the site of Florence; Cabanne, a few miles above, and
Manuel Lisa, near the old Council Bluff. But there is no record of such
proceeding.
It seems to be a fact, nevertheless, that someone named Hart or Heart
did conduct a trading house or trapper's station at the indicated point
prior to 1832. As late as 1843 notes in the American Pur Company's
steamboat logs bore mention of "Hart's Cut Off" and "Hart's Bluffs".
The precise spot on which Hart's establishment stood is not positively
known, and may not at this late day be located with absolute certainty.
In Annals of Iowa (Volume 9, page 526, 1870-1871) D. C. Bloomer said
that a trading point —
"was situated as early as 1824 at
what was in
those days known as 'Hart's Bluffs', from a Frenchman who located
there, and which is found upon inquiry to have been a place in the city
of Council Bluffs known as Mynster Spring."
Hon. B. F. Gue, in his "History of Iowa", writing of Pottawattamie
Comity, said:
"The first town laid out was called
Hart's
Bluff and stood on the present site of Council Bluffs."
Unfortunately neither of these historians gave any tangible authority
or source of information upon which his statement was based, and those
of the latter were probably simply appropriated from the works of
earlier writers. Surely there is no evidence now extant to confirm the
fact that a "town was laid out" at the point and time referred to by
Gue. He probably misread the writing of some earlier historian to whom
he failed to give credit.
Mr. Bloomer's statement is founded, manifestly, upon tradition and
hearsay. He says, "which is now found upon inquiry", but does not say
of whom inquiry was made. It might be inferred from other matter in the
article quoted that he derived his information from Mr. Francois
Guittar, who had long been familiar with the locality. Even if this
inference be correct, the facts are not conclusively
established. Although Mr. Guittar may have mentioned Mynster Spring as
the site of Hart's establishment, he used that object as the place
most prominent in the vicinity of Hart's plant, without meaning that it
was the precise spot. There was then no suitable site immediately at
the spring for a trading house.
The best evidence found by the writer tending to convincingly prove
that Hart's trading house was near the site of the present city of
Council Bluffs, is contained in a letter addressed to A. D. Jones, of
Omaha, by Father De Smet, December 28, 1867. Mr. Jones submitted to the
celebrated Missionary several inquiries, of which one, with the answer,
was as follows: —
"(Question) There is an earthen
remain of
fortifications on the east bank of Omaha ; do you know who built it ?
" (Answer) The remains alluded to must be the site
of the old trading post of Mr. Heart. When it was in existence the
Missouri river ran up to the trading post. In 1832 the river left it,
and since that time it goes by the name of 'Heart's Cut-Off', leaving a
large lake above Council Bluffs City."
(See Chittenden and Richardson's De Smet, Volume 4,
Page 1353; also Volume I, Nebraska Historical Society's report.)
The writer of this work resided at Council Bluffs from June 4, 1853 to
June 4, 1874, continuously, and from about 1855 or 1856 to the date
last-before mentioned was very familiar with the lake referred to —
called Big Lake — now Iowa Lake — and with its surroundings, having
hunted game all around its shores and over the adjacent hills. Mynster
Spring, lies back in the hills a short distance from the eastern shore
of the old river bed — the original lake bed — and less than one-half
mile to the north and east, over a high and sharp ridge — "hog back" —
there was a confluence of two other live springs of lesser importance
and smaller water flow, situated in a broad valley among the bluffs,
from which flowed a brooklet of fair proportions that entered the
original lake bed, from which the water had partly receded, probably
one hundred yards north from where the Mynster Spring came out of its
little gorge, and followed along the foot of the bluff for a
considerable distance northwesterly entering the shrunken lake an
eighth of a mile or more above the mouth of the Mynster Spring branch,
th(! trend of the latter being southwesterly from the foot of the blufT
wlicre it emerged.
At the confluence of springs just mentioned — less than a half mile
from the lake shore as it was in 1855, and much nearer the original
bank — were the remains of buildings of considerable size, surrounded,
or partly so then, by what appeared to have been a sod fence within the
enclosure of which had been included the meeting of the springs.
The area of land embraced in the original enclosure had been two or
more acres, and there were indications that at a period long before the
enclosed land, together with quite a quantity outside of the enclosure,
had been cultivated. When passing through this place for the first
time, accompanied by his father, on a duck-hunting trip to the lake,
the writer was informed that the remains mentioned marked the site of
an old Indian trading post.
This site corresponds very closely with Father De Smet's all too brief
reference to "Heart's trading post", and does not seriously conflict
with the location described by Mr. Bloomer. At the time to which
reference is here had nearly twenty-five years had elapsed subsequent
to the change of river channel by which were formed the lake and
cut-off mentioned by Father De Smet in his letter to Mr. Jones.
During that period the waters of the lake had been receding and the
springs had been busy carrying down from the hills and depositing large
quantities of silt upon the delta — part of the old river-bed
lake — so that considerable land had been formed between the bluff and
the then existing lake shore.
If, as the writer verily believes. Hart's establishment was located at
the confluence of springs above mentioned, the line of the bluffs being
the shore of the river at the time the post was erected — perhaps
thirty years or more before the writer saw the place — the trapping
station was only a short distance from the river bank. The "remains"
referred to by Father De Smet are believed to be the same as mentioned
herein as a "sod fence"; and that the place was "the site of the old
trading post of Mr. Heart", is not improbable.
It must not be assumed that the term "Hart's Bluffs" of the early
traders and voyageurs was applied to any one bluff or hill in
particular, but rather to the entire range of bluffs extending from the
Indian creek delta, wherein the original town of Council Bluffs was
built, to the delta above, through which Pigeon and Honey creeks and
the Boyer river pass out from the hills and into the Missouri. The same
mentioned by Lewis and Clark as "the first highlands that approach the
river on that side since we left the Nodaway".
So, while it is not conclusively established, there is at least very
convincing evidence to indicate, that the first distinctive name given
to the site of the present city of Council Bluffs ; that by which it
was designated and differentiated by the traders, trappers and
steamboat
men from other similar situations along the Missouri river, was "Hart's
Bluffs".
Who was this "Hart" or "Heart" whose name became attached to the
locality in question ?
Messrs. Bloomer, Gue, and others whose works relating to the place have
come under the inspection of the writer, all say that he was a
"Frenchman". However, none of them give any authority for the
assertion, nor does any of them appear to have definite knowledge
respecting him. Their information about him is vague, to say the least,
and apparently based entirely upon hearsay, legend and tradition.
A most diligent and careful search of the governmental and other
records pertaining to the early traders and trappers operating in this
region, as far back as 1810, fails to disclose anything by which the
identity of "Hart" or "Heart" may be indubitably established.
Incorporated in "Thwaite's Early Western Travels" is the report of
Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, by Dr. Edwin James,
secretary. In that portion of the paper relating to the "Winter
Cantonment", near "Camp Missouri" — (otherwise known as Fort Atkinson
and Fort Calhoun) — has been found (Vol. 14, Chap. 9, page 250) a
possible identification of the mysterious person from whom the names of
"Hart's Bluff" and "Hart's Cut Off" may have been derived. It is the
following : —
"The principal Iowa chief was once
at our camp; he is a very intelligent Indian, with solemn dignity of
deportment, and would not deign to enter our houses or even to approach
them until invited. He is said to have more intimate knowledge of the
manners of the whites than any other Indian of the Missouri and to be
acquainted with many of the words of our language, but will not
willingly make use of them fearing to express himself improperly, or
not trusting his pronunciation. He remained near Council Bluffs in the
autumn, in order to be present at the councils with the different
nations, and to observe the conduct of the whites toward them
respectively, a considerable time after his nation had departed down
the river to their beaver trapping. After this he went with his family
to the headwaters of the Boyer, and during their stay there trapped 163
beaver; when with us he was about to go in search of his people. . . .
"This Indian is known by several
names, as Grand Batture, Hard Heart, Sandbar, and, in his own language,
as Wang-e-waha. During our late contest with Great Britain he turned
his back
upon his nation in consequence of their raising the tomahawk upon our
citizens, and, crossing the Missouri, united his destiny with the
Otoes. Last autumn his nation joined him and submitted to his guidance;
so that the Otoes, Missouries, and lowas were then united."
One of the parties who signed the treaty of October 15, 1836, at
Bellevue, by which the lowas, Otoes and Missourias completed the
cession of the triangle of land in northwestern Missouri known as the '
' Platte Purchase ' ', was ' ' No Heart ' ', whose aboriginal
name does not appear; and he signed as an Iowa Chief.
From ''Hard Heart" to "No Heart" is not a far change, nor would it be a
surprising one. The terms have practically the same significance and
were readily interchangeable under the circumstances of the lives of
those people.
It was of the winter of 1819-1820 that Dr. James wrote, after or during
which, the Indian mentioned "went with his family to the headwaters of
the Boyer" and engaged in trapping. In the legends and traditions
relating to "Hart's trading house at the site of Council Bluffs" the
date of its founding is said to have been "as early as 1824". Now, a
study of the topography of the country adjoining the Boyer river valley
should make it clear that, at no point other than that herein set out
as the probable site of ' ' Hart 's trading or
trapping station" would there then have been found as good
accommodations for such an establishment. There is no other place on
the east (left) side of the Missouri river within one hundred miles of
the mouth of the Boyer, where at that time existed so fine a situation
for the trading or trapping station of one operating in that region ;
well protected as
it was from weather, as well as against the encroachment of enemies or
competing operators, immediately on the bank of the Missouri and only a
few miles below the mouth of the Boyer.
No stretch of imagination is required, nor is it a violent presumption,
to assume that this "intelligent Indian chief" who expatriated himself
and became affiliated with the Otoes, in whose country the site
mentioned then was, actually established his headquarters at that
point; and the fact that he was known to be in occupancy thereof and
operating a trading or trapping station there, would have furnished
good reason for the application of the names "Hart's Bluffs" to the
adjacent hills and of "Hart's Cut-Off" to the new channel formed by the
Missouri river when it receded to the westward. There appears to
the writer good presumptive evidence to support the belief that this
Indian gave the locality its name.
In 1837 the Pottawattamie, Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, removed from
Illinois and Indiana, who had been residing upon what was known as the
"Platte Purchase", in Missouri, were brought to their new homes in
Iowa, and the Village of one of their principal chiefs, Billy Caldwell,
became located and a blockhouse was undoubtedly erected on the very
site of the present city of Council Bluffs. Billy
Caldwell died there September 27, 1841. (See Pottawattamie Indians.)
May 31, 1838, a Jesuit Mission was established at the place by the
renowned Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, in connection with which the
blockhouse was used. Father De Smet was transferred elsewhere in 1839
and in July or August, 1841 the mission was abandoned. (See Old
Blockhouse.)
Mr. J. N. Nicollet, accompanied by Lieutenant John C. Fremont, of the
Corps of Topographical Engineers, made explorations in the Missouri
river valley in 1838 and 1839, and the place now occupied by the city
of Council Bluffs was referred to in the report of the expedition
published by the War Department in 1843, as "Camp Kearney", which, it
is believed by the writer, was the name given by the explorers to their
engineer encampment in that vicinity, although no specific mention of
such encampment has been found.
In 1842 a company of dragoons, under the command of Captain John H. K.
Burgwin, was sent from Fort Leavenworth to protect the Pottawattamie
Indians against threatened attack by the Sioux. Its encampment, named '
' Camp Fenwick ' ' which was afterward changed to "Fort Croghan", was
located somewhere in the vicinity of the old steamboat landing, about
five miles south of the site of the old
blockhouse; but, on account of high water, was removed in the spring of
1843 to the highlands, and was abandoned October 6, 1843. (See Fort
Croghan.)
Upon the arrival of the Mormons, June 14, 1846, on their way to the
"New Zion", a battalion of troops was recruited from their number at
the site of the present city of Council Bluffs and sent to the Mexican
war, and a semi-permanent camp was established at the place by the
emigrating Latter Day Saints. One of their number, Henry W. Miller,
settled a short distance west from the old blockhouse, where a village
soon took form and was given the name "Miller's Hollow".
Upon petition presented by Brigham Young a postoffiee named "Kane" was
established at Miller's Hollow January 17, 1848, and at a conference
meeting of the Saints held April 8, 1848, in the "Log Tabernacle" at
Miller's Hollow, a resolution was adopted changing the name of the
village to "Kanesville". This action was taken in honor of Colonel
Thomas Leiper Kane, who had befriended the Mormons in many ways. Col.
Kane was born at Philadelphia, January 27, 1822; was son of John
Kintzing and Jane Duval (Leiper) Kane. His father was a prominent
lawyer of Philadelphia and Wash- ington and an adviser of several
Presidents of the United States, including Andrew Jackson. Another son,
Elisha Kent Kane, became quite well known on account of his
explorations in the Arctic. Colonel Kane visited the Mormon settlement
at Commerce (Nauvoo), Illinois, in
1847, and was with the Saints at Council Bluffs in 1846 when the
brigade was recruited for the Mexican war. He went to Salt Lake in
1858, with letters from President Buchanan, and assisted in settling
the "Mormon War". In April, 1861, he raised a regiment of hunters and
lumbermen which became known as the ' ' Bucktails ' ' ; was several
times wounded during the war of the rebellion, on account of which he
resigned in 1863. He founded the town of Kane, in northwestern
Pennsylvania; was author of "The Mormons" (1850); "Alaska" (1868);
Coahuila (1877). He died at Philadelphia December 26, 1883. (See The
Mormons.) The population of Kanesville was increased by more than one
hundred percent, by the influx of Saints from Winter Quarters,
abandoned in the spring of 1848, and the place gained a number of
business houses, some of which became quite prominent in after years.
The population is said
to have approximated seven thousand in 1849. In 1852 Apostle Orson
Hyde, who had been in charge of Latter Day Saint
affairs since the abandonment of Winter Quarters, departed from
Kanesville, and with him went every Mormon whom he could induce to
follow, and the population became greatly decreased. It was probably
not in excess of two thousand or twenty-five hundred in the spring of
1853.
On page 8 of Field and Reed's "History of Pottawattamie County,"
referring to the Mormon occupancy of the place, it is said : —
"At
this time everything was controlled by the church. Idleness and
dissipation were not tolerated. There was no jail nor need for one."
This accords with information given the writer by persons who were
there at the time ; but, when he went there, in 1853, a marked change
had occurred. There were numerous drinking and gambling places, running
"wide open", the most pretentious of which was called the ' ' Ocean
"Wave ' ' on the site now occupied by the Methodist Episcopal Church,
at the junction of Broadway and First street. Nor was gambling
confined to the houses devoted to the purpose, all of which were named,
"Humboldt", "Bloomer", &c. ; but, during emigration days, when
passing "pilgrims" were numerous, the professionals occupied the
sidewalks where they dealt many kinds of "sure-thing" games— "thimble
rigging", "chuck-a-luck", "monte", etc., using empty
packing boxes upturned for tables, stacked upon which might frequently
be seen hundreds of dollars in gold coin to catch the eye of passers
by.
There was little manufacturing in the very early days ; commercially
none. Of course there were artisans of various kinds: shoemakers,
blacksmiths, wagon makers, etc., but theirs was chiefly custom work and
repairing.
The first saw and grist mill was built by the Pottawattamie Indian
Chiefs in 1841 from their own funds, the government having failed for
more than three years to keep its promise to them in this respect. It
was located on Mosquito creek, about two-and-one-half miles north and
east from the site of Billy Caldwell's village and the old blockhouse,
and was known as the "Pottawattamie Mill" while operated by or for the
Indians. Afterward it was called "Wicks' Mill", and, finally, "Parks'
Mill".
In 1848 Madison Dagger built a grist mill at the foot of the bluff, in
the western part of the Mormon settlement, less than a half mile north
of the site of the present Federal Building. Its power was derived from
Indian creek, the water being led by a race from the original channel
at Benton street, along what were then known as Green and Race streets,
to the mill site. Afterward machinery for manufacturing lumber was
added.
The field notes of the government survey, made in November, 1851,
mention a saw mill on section 11, township 75, range 44. It was
probably ])uilt early in 1851 by cither Cornelius Voorhis or Stephen T.
Carey or by them jointly, being at times given the name of each —
"Voorhis Mill" or "Carey Mill"— and sometimes as " Carey-Voorhis Mill".
They made a joint purchase from the governniCMt of the land upon
which it stood. Us power came from a spring that issued from the
hills there, and near by were quarries of limestone, and several kilns
for calcining the product. How long it was in operation no discovered
record discloses. It was in ruins when first seen by the
writer, in 1855. It stood at the then extreme head of "Big Lake".
The writer has been informed that the little powder house which in
early days was perched upon the top of the higli bluff on the south
side of Pierce street, between South First street and Park Avenue, was
built of bricks made in "Duck Hollow" in 1848. His memory recalls the
fact, however, that it was commonly reported, in 1853, that the bricks
for its construction were brought by boat from St. Louis or St. Joseph.
There was no other brick building in the town in the spring of 1853.
The first brickyard of commercial importance was established early in
1853 and was located not far from Dagger's mill. From bricks made there
was constructed the first brick building (excepting the powder house)
erected within the limits of the city. It was a
one-story, two-room structure; owned by W. C. James and built with his
own hands except as to carpentery. Its first occupant was the United
States Land Office, in the late summer or fall of 1853. My father was
then Register and Dr. Enos Lowe was receiver. Each office oc- cupied a
room. Subsequently the ownership passed to Gardner ("Gid") Robinson, by
whom it was enlarged and for many years occupied as a residence. It is
said that the Federal Building now covers the site.
No steam ferry existed at Council Bluffs until 1854, when the Iowa and
Nebraska Ferry Company was organized and placed in service a small boat
named the ' ' Nebraska. ' ' The president of the company was Samuel S.
Bayliss, and when a larger boat was required a few years later, it was
named for his youngest daughter, "Lizzie Bayliss".
Prior to the establishment of this ferry line regular steamboats plying
the Missouri river, especially those built for the fur trade on the
Upper Missouri, visited the place at the season of emigration and
carried emigrants, all called "pilgrims" in those days, across the
stream. Such fact is mentioned by Captain Joseph La Barge in the work
relating to his life and adventures elsewliere quoted and cited in this
work. (See History of Early Navigation on the Missouri River, Life and
Adventures of Joseph La Barge.)
Subsequent to the abandonment of the De Smet mission (1841) and until
the arrival of the Mormons (1846), no church organization of any kind
was represented among the Pottawattamies of the region. The
Indians were without school teachers or religious instructors. In 1851
a small organization of Congregationalists and Methodists was formed
under the leadership of Revs. G. G. Rice and Wm. Simpson, which
occupied rented quarters for use as a chapel. The first church edifice
erected by "gentiles" was due to the efforts of Elder Moses F. Shinn,
who persistently solicited in the highways and by ways until sufficient
funds were raised to erect the small frame structure known as the
Methodist Church which for many years stood on Pierce street, between
Park Avenue and First street, where it was built in 1854.
Under act of Congress of August 22, 1852 (10 Stat., 26), the United
States established at Kanesville, September 2, 1852, a land office, for
which Joseph H. D. Street and Dr. Samuel M. Ballard were commissioned
Register and Receiver, respectively. Delay in preparation of necessary
books deferred the beginning of land sales, however, until March 12,
1853. The office name was changed to Council Bluffs in 1855.
The office was discontinued May 13, 1873. Subsequent Registers were
Lysander W. Babbitt, James Pollard, Lewis S. Hills (democratic) ; Frank
Street, Sylvanus Dodge, N. Baldwin (republicans) ; the Receivers were
Enos Lowe, A. H. Palmer (democrats), and Dexter C. Bloomer
(republican), the latter serving from April 2, 1861, to
discontinuance of the office — twelve years.
An act of the State legislature (approved January 19, 1853, to become
effective after publication) authorizing the change of name from
Kanesville to Council Bluffs, became operative February 9, 1853. (See
Sess. Laws, 4th Gen. Ass., Chap. 43, page 72.)
By legislative enactment of January 24, 1853 (Sess. Laws, 4th Gen.
Ass., page 108), entitled "Incorporation of Council Bluffs City",
incorporation under the name Council Bluffs was authorized. Many
letters of business men immediately following incorporation were dated
and bore the printed heading "Council Bluffs City". This act
became operative immediately upon its passage; so, the city was
incorporated before legal change of name occurred.
Although not strictly within the purpose of this work to make special
mention of individual citizens of Council Bluffs, except as merely
incidental to some other matter, it is deemed proper to state that, in
1853, Grenville M. Dodge became one of her citizens, afterward becoming
a prominent figure in the history of the United States, earning the
military title of Major General in the War of the Rebellion and serving
with great distinction as Chief Engineer in the construction of the
Central Branch of the Union Pacific Railroad.
In a biographical sketch published in connection with his obituary it
was stated that he "discovered the South Pass" through the Rocky
Mountains; but history accords that honor to Etienne Prevost, about the
year 1832. The pass was well known to and used by the fur companies
operating in that region at an early day, and it was through
information and sketch maps obtained from them that Brigham Young, with
his exploring party, was aided in finding his way by that route to
Great Salt Lake in 1847,
By act of Congress, approved April 6, 1854 (10 Stat, 273), it was
provided —
"That the judge of the county
court, as such,
for the county of Pottawattamie, in the State of Iowa, be, and he is
hereby, authorized to enter at the proper land office, by paying
therefor, at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre, the
west half of the southwest quarter of section thirty, the west half of
the northwest quarter of section thirty-one, in township number seventy
-five, north of range forty-three M^est; the southeast quarter and the
east half of the southwest quarter of section twenty-five, and the
northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section
thirty-six, in township seventy-five, north of range forty-four west,
in said State of Iowa, in trust for the several use and benefit of the
occupants thereof, according to their respective interests; . . . ,"
Under which authority Frank Street, then county judge, made what is
known as the townsite entry of "Kanesville" or "Council Bluffs", May
10, 1854.
Prior to this, however, on June 3, 1853, Cornelius Voorhis, who had
been elected Mayor of the recently incorporated city, applied to:
". . . purchase in trust for
the
benefit of
the occupants of said city, the NWi^SWi/4 of section No. 30, in
Township No. 75, north of Range No. 43 west, and the SEi^ and the SE%
SWi/4 of section No. 25, and the NEl^NWl^ and the Northwest quarter of
the Northeast quarter of section No. 36, all in Township No.
Seventy-five North of No. 44 West, in the district of lands subject to
sale at Kanesville, Iowa; . . . which lots of land above described
contain Three Hundred and Fourteen Acres and Fifty Hundredths."
This application was rejected on the ground, chiefly, that no law
existed authorizing entry in that manner; but also because protest
against allowance thereof had been made by the Bishop of the Diocese of
Dubuque, who claimed for the Catholic Church ownership to twenty
acres in the W3^SWi4 of said section 30, on which stood the old
blockhouse formerly occupied by the De Smet mission; the claim of the
church being based upon the language of Article IX, of the
Pottawattamie treaty of 1846. This building stood upon the SWI/4SW14 of
section 30, and it is presumed that said tract was omitted from the
Voorhis application for the purpose of avoiding controversy.
In connection with the church protest proceedings were had before the
General Land Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which were
pending at the time Judge Street's entry was made, serving to suspend
action thereon and preventing issue of patent for the townsite until
April 20, 1883, almost precisely twenty-nine years from date of entry.
(See Old Blockhouse.)
A survey of the townsite, as entered by Judge Street, was made by
Thomas Tostevin, in 1854, delimitating the boundaries of the holdings
of the several occupants of the land, which served as the basis for all
deeds of conveyance executed by the county judge thereafter, and upon
which now rest all land titles within that portion of the present
city.
Prior to 1857 newspapers, or publications having general subscription
circulation, were established as follows :
Frontier Guardian, by Orson
Hyde,
1849;
Weekly Western Bugle, by Almon W. Babbitt, 1850 ;
Council Bluffs Chronotype, by W. W. Maynard, 1854 ;
Democratic Clarion, by A. P. Bentley, 1855.
The Guardian was absorbed by the Bugle ; the Chronotype and Clarion
died natural deaths; the Bugle was discontinued in 1870, being
succeeded by the Council Bluffs Times, which died a lingering death a
year or so afterward.
The Weekly Nonpareil was established in 1857 by Maynard and Long;
developed a daily edition during the civil war, and is still "doing
business at the old stand".
The first dramatic performance at Council Bluffs was by amateurs, "The
Forrest Dramatic Association", in 1856. Babbitt's Hall, in the old
Phof-nix Block, was fitted with stage and George Simons painted the
scenery. The opening bill was "The Forest Rose" and "Paddy Miles' Boy".
Many of the leading citizens participated in the performances of the
association, which contiinicd for two or three years when the field was
abandoned to professionals represented by traveling combinations.
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