 |
1917 History
|
 |
Go to History and Biography Index
|
1917 History
|
|
In the study of
history, dates play an important part. One event follows another in the
process of development, and each event wields more or leas influence
upon those that follow. In the foregoing chapters a conscientious
effort has been made to show the progress of Emmet
county along industrial, educational, religious and professional
lines, as well as their part in the political and military affairs of
the state and nation. As a fitting conclusion to this work, the
following summary of eventa leading up to the settlement of the
counties, their organization, and occurrences having some bearing upon
their more recent history has been compiled for the ready reference of
the reader.
At firet glance, many of these evento
may aeem to have no connection - or at least a very remote one with
local history, but this in another case of the “Seen and the Uneeen”
mentioned in a former chapter. Each event, great or small, played its
allotted part in shaping the destiny of the great State of Iowa and of
Emmet and Dickinson counties. For example: The discovery of the
Mississippi River by De Soto in 1641; the English grant of land to the
Plymouth Company in 1620; the organization of the Hudson’ Bay
Company in 1670; or the claiming of the Mississippi Valley by La Salle
in 1682, may appear to the casual reader as having no place in the
history of Emmet county. Yet these events were the
forerunners of the conflict of Spanish, English and French interests
in America - a conflict which finally ended by the purchase of
Louisiana
by the United States, whereby the territory now comprising the State of
Iowa became a part of the Federal Union. Without the happening of any
one of these events, the history of this country might be differently
written.
1641. Hernando de Soto discovered
the Mississippi River near the site of the present City of Memphis,
Tennessee. This discovery formed the basis of the Spanish claim to the
interior of North America.
1620. The Plymouth Company received
a charter from the English Government to a large tract of land
includihg the present State of Iowa.
May 2, 1670. The Hudson's Bay Company
chartered by the English Government. This was the first of the great
companies formed for the purpose of trading with the North American
Indians.
June 17, 1673. Marquette and Joliet,
the French explorers, discovered the Mississippi River at the mouth of
the Wisconsin and saw the bluffs near the present City of McGregor,
Iowa.
April 9, 1682. Robert Cavelier, Sieur
de La Salle, claimed all the territory drained
by the Mississippi and ite tributaries for France and gave the region
the nanie of Louisiana. Iowa was included in this
claim.
November 3, 1762. The Treaty of Fontainebleau,
by which France ceded all that part of Louisiana west of the
Mississippi to Spain. Iowa thus became a Spanish possession.
February 10, 1763. The Treaty of
Fontainebleau ratified and confirmed by the Treaty of Paris.
September 3, 1783. Conclusion of the
treaty that ende‹i the Revolutionary war and fixed the western
boundary of the United States at the Mississippi River.
_____, 1788. The first
white settlement in the present State of Iowa made by Julien Dubuque on
the site of the city that bears his name.
October 1,
1800. Treaty of San Ildefonso concluded, by which
Spain ceded back to France that portion of Louisiana west of the
Mississippi River.
April 30, 1803. Conclusion of the
Treaty of Paris, by which the United States purchased Louisiana. Iowa
by this treaty became the property of the United States Government.
October 31, 1803. Gongreas passed an
act authorizing the President to take possession of Louisiana and
establish a temporary government therein.
December 20, 1803. The United States
commissioners take formal possession of Louisiana at New Orleans.
October 1, 1804. Louisiana divided into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana. Iowa was included in the latter, which was placed under the jurisdiction of the Indiana Territory.
November 4, 1804. First treaty with the Sae and Fox Indians negotiated at St. Louis by Gen. William H. Harrison.
January 11, 1806. The Territory of
Michigan established by act of
Congress.
August 9, 1806. Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike
left St. Louis to explore the upper Mississippi River. On the 21st of
the same month he held a council with some Iowa Indiana at the head
of the rapids of the Mississippi, in what is now Lee County.
_____, 1807. Iowa
attached to the Territory of Illinois by act of
Gongreaa.
June 4, 1812. The
Territory of Missouri was created and Iowa attached to the new
territory.
September 13, 1816. Treaty of peace with the Sac and Fox Indians of Iowa concluded at
Portage des Sioux.
March, 1821. Missouri admitted into the Union as a state and Iowa left without any
form of civil government.
_____, 1824. A trader
named Harte established a post where the City of Council Bluffs now
stands.
July 16, 1830. Treaty of Prairie du
Chien establishing the “Neutral Ground” between the Sioux on the north
and the Sac and Fox tribes on the south. At the same time the territory
now comprising Emmet county was ceded to the United
Statea.
February 24, 1831. The above treaty
declared in effect by proclamation of President Jackson.
August 2, 1832. Laat battle of the
Black Hawk war, in which the Indians were defeated.
September 21, 1832. A treaty concluded
at Davenport, Iowa, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United
States the strip of land forty miles wide across the eastern part of
the state. This strip, known as the “Black Hawk Purchase,” was the
first land in Iowa
acquired by the Government for white occupation.
June, 1833. The first postoffice in
Iowa was established at Dubuque.
June 28, 1834. President Jackson
approved the act attaching Iowa to the Territory of Michigan.
September, 1834. The Michigan
Legislature divided the present State of Iowa into two counties - Dubuque
and Dee Moines. Emmet County was included in the County of
Dubuque.
April 20, 1836. President Jackson approved the bill creating the Territory of
Wisconsin, which included all the present State of Iowa, the act to
take effect July 4, 1836.
May 11, 1836. The
Dubuque Visitor, the first newspaper in Iowa, established by John King.
May, 1836. First census in Iowa taken
by order of Governor Dodge of Wisconsin. Population,
10,361.
October 3, 1836. First election ever held in Iowa, for members of the Wisconsin
Territorial Legislature.
November 6, 1837. A
convention at Burlington adopted a memorial to Congress asking for the
establishment of a new territory west of the Mississippi.
April 7, 1838. J. N. Nicollet
appointed by President Van Buren to make a hydrographic survey of the
upper Mississippi baain. Nicollet visited the region about Spirit and
Okamanpadu lakes.
June 12, 1838. President Van Buren
approved the act of Congress creating the Territory of Iowa.
October 3, 1838. Death of Black Hawk,
the great chief of the Sacs and Foxes.
May 9, 1843. Capt. James Allen came up
the Des Moines River on the Steamer lone with a detachment of troops
and established Fort Des Moines, where the capital of the state now
atands.
October 7, 1844. Iowa's first
constitutional convention met at Iowa City. That constitution was
rejected by the people.
May 4, 1846. Second constitutional
convention assembled at Iowa City. The second constitution ratified by
the voters on August 3, 1846.
December 28, 1846. President Polk
approved the act of Congreae admitting Iowa into the Union aa a atate.
September 28, 1860. Congress passed
the act giving to the several states certain swamp lands within their
borders.
January 15, 1861. Gov. Stephen
Hempstead approved an act of the Iowa Legislature creating fifty new
counties, among which were Emmet and Dickinaon.
August 5, 1851. Treaty of Mendota, by
which the Mdewakanton Sioux relinquished their claims to lands in Iowa.
April, 1862. Last battle between the
Sioux and Sac and Fox Indians on Iowa soil took place in Kossuth County.
June, 1866. Jesse Coverdale and George
C. manger, the firat white settlera in Emmet Gounty, located claims in
what is now Emmet Township.
January 4, 1857. Birth of Peter
Rourke, the first white child born in Emmet County.
January 19, 1857. Third constitutional
convention assembled at Iowa City. Emmet and twenty-two
other northwestern counties represented by Daniel W. Price.
_____, 1857. First postoffice established
in Emmet County with George C. Granger aa postmaster.
February 7, 1859. First election for county
officers in Emmet County.
April 29, 1859. Marriage of
George Jenkins and Miss Sophronia
A. Ridley - the firet marriage in Emmet
County.
_____, 1859. First school
in Emmet County was taught in this
year by Miss Mary Howe.
_____, 1860. A postoffice
was established at Estherville with Adolphua Jenkins aa postmaster.
December 24, 1860. First schoolhouse at Estherville dedicated with a supper and dance.
April 17, 1861. Gov.
Samuel J. Kirkwood issued his proclamation calling for one regiment of
volunteers for service in the Civil war.
May 1, 1861. The
plat of Estherville was filed with the recorder of Emmet County.
_____, 1862. In the fall
of this year Fort Defiance waa built at Estherville by Company A,
Northern Border Brigade.
December 14, 1868. Bates &
Northrop issued the first number of the Northern Vindicator at
Estherville, the first newspaper in Northwestern Iowa.
January 18, 1870. Ole Knudtson, a
fourteen-year-old boy, lost in a blizzard and frozen to death in Emmet
County.
October 3, 1871. A
disastrous prairie fire in the southern part of Emmet County.
February 16, 1872. Two saloons in Estherville wrecked by women crusaders and the liquor
emptied into the streets.
June 4, 1873. Grasshoppers made their first appearance in Emmet
County.
_____, 1876. The first
bank in Emmet County established at Estherville by Howard Graves.
October, 1876. The Emmet County
courthouse burned.
May 10, 1879. An aerolite weighing
several hundred pounds landed in Emmet Township, Emmet County, about
two miles north of Estherville.
October 14, 1879. At the general
election in Emmet County a majority of the voters expressed
themselves in favor of the removal of the county seat to Swan Lake.
December 2, 1881. The first
officere of the incorporated Town of
Estherville were inaugurated.
June 8, 1882. The first train on the
Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern (now the Rock Island) Railroad
arrived at Estherville.
June 27, 1882. Special election on the
constitutional amendment to prohibit the manufacture and sale of
intoxicating liquors in Iowa. In Emmet County the vote was in favor of
the amendment.
November 7, 1882. The voters of Emmet
County decided in favor of removing the county seat back to Estherville.
November 22, 1884. The present
courthouse in Emmet County was accepted by the board of supervisors.
June, 1887. The board of supervisors
of Emmet County appropriated $400 for an artesian well at Estherville.
December 22, 1892. Estherville was
made a city of the aecond class by the'state authorities.
March 6, 1893. First election of city
officers in Estherville.
march 22, 1896. Office and plant of the Estherville Democrat destroyed by fire.
August 3, 1897. Upper Des Moines
Valley Medical Association organized at Spirit Lake.
May 25, 1898. Fifty-second Iowa
Infantry mustered into the United
States service for the
Spanish-American war. Eight Emmet County men were enrolled in Company K.
_____, 1899. The Minneapolis & St.
Louis Railroad was built through Emmet county.
_____, 1903, A geological survey of Emmetn County waa made by Thomas H. MacBride.
December 26, 1904. The Coon Block at
Estherville, and several adjacent buildings were destroyed by fire.
May 13, 1909. The Chicago, Rock Island
& Pacific Railroad depot at Estherville burned.
September 21, 1909. The Northwestern
Iowa Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church began its
session in Estherville.
November 8, 1910. At the general
election on this date the voters of Emmett County endorsed the
proposition to buy a poor farm by a vote of 1,357 to 504.
March 26, 1914. The publication office
of the Estherville Enterprise
was destroyed by fire.
January 8, 1917. Fire destroyed the
Grand Theater at Estherville causing a loss of nearly two hundred
thousand dollars.
To write of the deeds and achievements
of those who have gone before us; to profit by their mistakes as well
as to emulate their examples; to keep green the memories of by-gone
days; to preserve a record of past events, is but a duty that every
individual owes to a common humanity. It was with thoughts such as
these in mind that this History of Emmet County was
undertaken.
Less than a century ago the region now
comprising the State of Iowa was part of the great “unexplored” domain
of the United States. The Indian and the wild beast were the only
occupants. The hills and dales of Emmet county were
covered with the primeval forests or the tall grass of the prairie. The
muskrat and the beaver inhabited the swamps unmolested. Then came the
white man with plow and ax and all was changed. The Indian and the wolf
have departed. The swamps have been drained and brought under
cultivation. To tell the atory of the hardships of the pioneers, as
well as the accomplishments of those who followed them, has been the
object in view in the writing of this history. How well that object has
been attained is for the reader to determine.
In presenting thia work to the people
of Emmet county, the publishers desire to state that
no effort has been spared to make the history both authentic and
comprehensive. Authentic, because, as far as possible, the official
records have been consulted as sources of information; and
comprehensive, because, it is believed, no important event has been
overlooked or neglected.
The work haa been one involving great
care and labor and at times no little difficulty has been encountered.
Much credit is due to old residents and others for their ready and
willing cooperation in the collection of data regarding events in
the years gone by, their scrap-books, etc., having played no
inconsiderable part in the compilation of the history.
In bidding the reader good-bye, the
publishers take this opportunity to express their obligations to the
county officials and their deputies; the editors of the various
newspapers, who generously permitted the use of their files; and the
librarians of the public library at Estherville for
their uniform courtesies while the work was in course of preparation.
