Des Moines, Iowa

“ It was an important way station on one of the main stage routes to the West. In 1852, the establishment of a Government land office brought to the town for the entry of lands the multitudes of speculators and settlers then rushing into Western Iowa. In the days of the gold fever and during the border wars in Kansas and Nebraska her ferries and hostelries did a bustling trade.
In those early days life was free, easy, simple, and buoyant. The population of Fort Des Moines was made up of people [314] from both Southern and Northern States. They lived in log huts or simple frame buildings. ”

“ Des Moines appeared to Bradley to be very great and very noisy. It was the largest city he had ever seen. He was born in Eastern Wisconsin on a farm, and his early life had been spent far from any populous centre; very largely, indeed, in the timber-lands. He had been in Lacrosse, that is to say, he changed cars there, and Rock River and Iowa City were the only towns he had ever lived in.
He had the preconception that Des Moines was a fine city, but its streets seemed endless to him that cold, clear night that he got off the train and walked up the sidewalk. ”

“ DES MOINES RIVER. The most important river of Iowa. It is formed by the meeting of the east and west forks of the Des Moines in Humboldt County, Iowa. The east fork is the outlet of Okamanpadu Lake, in Emmet County, Iowa; the west fork flows from a chain of lakes among which is Lake Heron, in Jackson County, Minn. (Map: Iowa, D 3) . The Des Moines flows southeasterly across Iowa, and empties into the Mississippi River (q.v.) three miles below Keokuk. It is 550 miles long, drains an area of 14,500 square miles, and is navigable for nearly 100 miles. ”

“ Des Moines is the seat of Des Moines College (Baptist) , established in 1865; Drake University (Christian) , founded in 1881; and three other colleges, including two medical schools. It has public parks, and several bridges across the two rivers. The Iowa State Fair is held here. An army post for a regiment of cavalry has recently been established at the city. Des Moines and the surrounding region are underlaid with vast deposits of bituminous coal, a material advantage which has contributed to the rapid growth of the manufacturing industries. ”

“ Among its chief buildings are the new State house, the State arsenal, university, and opera-houses. There are coal-mines in the vicinity, and the manufactures and other industries are varied and rapidly increasing. Pop. 104,052 (1917) .
Des Moines, the largest river in the state of Iowa, rises in the S.W. of Minnesota, and flows in a south-easterly direction till it falls into the Mississippi about 4 miles below Keokuk, after a course of 300 miles.
Desmoncus, a genus of tropical American climbing palms, scrambling by means of stout hooks which are modified leaflets. ”

“ In 1848 he came to Iowa and, having studied law in New York, he began to practice in Des Moines, also carrying on real estate business. Finding no newspaper in the place he, at the urgent request of Judge Bates, purchased a printing outfit at Iowa City and transporting it by wagon to Des Moines issued the first number of the Iowa Star in July, 1849, using for a printing office a double log cabin on the banks of the Raccoon River, formerly one of the fort buildings. ”

“ The Des Moines River flows through it in a southeasterly direction for a distance of forty-five miles, having numerous tributaries and borders of excellent timber, dividing the county about equally between woodland and prairie. Coal and building stone are abundant as well as water power. The first settler in the county was Abel Galland who took a claim near where Farmington stands, in 1832.
The first white man who built a cabin where Keosauqua now stands was John Silvers who took a claim in 1835. ”

“ Ft. Des Moines, Iowa. NEACHAM, MURRAY, Pvt. 1st class, 555 23rd St., Des Moines, Iowa. OGLE, WALLACE J., Corp., O’Fallon, Illinois. ORR, FRANK W., Corp., 601 Park Ave., Des Moines, Iowa. OSBORNE, RUSSELL S., Pvt., Battlecreek, Iowa. PARRISH, FRANK, Pvt. 1st class, Waterloo, Iowa. PARTCHOFIS, JIM, Pvt., 408 W. 9th St., Waterloo, Iowa. PATTERSON, DONALD, Pvt. 1st class, 1211 22nd St., Des Moines, Iowa. PAYNE, EARNEST E., Pvt., 1408 W. Grand Ave., Des Moines, Iowa. PEPPER, JAMES F., Pvt. 1st class, Poltney, New York. PERRY, CHARLES H., Pvt., Wauconza Park, Des Moines, Iowa. ”

“ Lysander W. Babbitt, a young man with the expedition, was so fascinated with the beauty of this region, that in the spring so 1842 he, with two companions, went into the Boone valley where they spent several months hunting and exploring. They traveled nearly to the headwaters of the Boone, then crossed to the Des Moines and camped where Moingona stands. There they found the ruins of an Indian village, near which they made claims. ”

“ The Des Moines Valley Railroad was completed from Keokuk to Des Moines, a distance of one hundred and sixty-two miles. Its gross earnings for the year were $710,240. Its entire land grant was estimated at 464,023 acres, of which 100,000 acres were reserved to secure it’s building into Fort Dodge. ”

“ When I first saw the country west of the Missouri River it was without civil government, inhabited almost exclusively by Indians. The few white men in it were voyageurs, or connected in some way with the United States army. It was supposed to be uninhabitable, without any natural resources or productiveness, a vast expanse of arid plains, broken here and there with barren, snow-capped mountains. Even Iowa was unsettled west of the Des Moines River. ”

“ Honey Creek, ordinarily a small stream coming from the prairie south and west of the town of Boone, winds its way through the forest in a westerly direction emptying into the Des Moines not far from the railroad bridge which was first built across the river near the coal town of Moingona. The banks of the river here rise to a great height. The grade of the railroad, down the valley of Honey Creek, descends rapidly and not far from the Shelly cabin the track crosses the creek on a bridge of considerable elevation. ”

“ He was made to say—“support common schools and none above common schools.” The journals of the country and college presidents took up the subject, believing in the truth of the report sent out by the press and a long and bitter controversy arose. Professor Leonard F. Parker of Iowa College did not believe that the President’s Des Moines speech had been correctly reported and in order to settle the matter he prepared a letter of inquiry to General Grant and procured the signature of Governor Kirkwood to the inquiry in order to make sure of a reply. ”

“ The voyageurs reached the Mississippi only to suffer ignominious discomfiture.
In ante-bellum days the subject of slavery made life and politics keenly interesting in Des Moines. Many stanch Southerners and not a few abolitionists generated an electrical atmosphere. The first resident Governor, James W. Grimes, who later brought Iowa fame in the United States Senate, spoke out strongly against the arrogance of the slaveholders and the border outrages. The city was on John Brown's "underground railway," and the spiriting of slaves through the town gave zest to public discussion. ”

“ DES MOINES COUNTY as first established in 1834 embraced nearly one-half of the territory of the future State of Iowa. But in December, 1836, the counties of Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine and Cook were created from territory within its limits. ”

“ George Catlin, who became a famous Indian painter and historian, spent several months in Iowa during his tours among the Indians. He made a trip up the Des Moines Valley about this time and thus describes it:
“The whole country that we passed over was like a garden, wanting only cultivation, being mostly prairie. Keokuk's village is beautifully situated on a large prairie on the bank of the Des Moines River. Dubuque is a small town of about two hundred inhabitants, all built within two years. It is located in the midst of the richest country on the continent. ”

“ Iowans pay the total self-governing cost of their Commonwealth by handing over the price of the summer’s hay. Instead of being the prey of money-lenders, they have made Des Moines the Hartford of the West, in which forty-two insurance companies carry a risk of half a billion. And so, in each one of its details, the story of these Corn Kings is staggering to a mere city-dweller, especially to anyone who has cold storage ideas about farmers.
Big Men, too, as well as big corn, are grown in Iowa. ”

“ She also initiated the first church literary clubs of Sioux City, which were afterwards taken up by other churches until from the nucleus in Unity Church there extended throughout Sioux City an ever broadening circle of literary life. Miss Safford resigned her Sioux City pastorate in June, 1899, to accept a call to Des Moines. In addition to her work at Des Moines, Miss Safford is secretary of the Iowa Unitarian Association, traveling from place to place, organizing, advising and stimulating the churches. Her work has always been largely missionary. ”

“ Settlers now began to come in under the protection of the soldiers and open farms in the Rock River Valley and vicinity. But the old war chief, Black Hawk, with about 500 followers, held his village and lands on Rock River.
In 1824 the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States all lands lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers south of the north line of Missouri, excepting a small portion lying at the junction of these rivers afterward known as the “half-breed tract,” which they reserved for the families of the whites who had married Indian wives. ”

“ The Miners’ Bank of Dubuque was the only one in Iowa. It had been badly managed and was soon compelled to suspend. Money was scarce throughout the Territory, and exchange of products was the only method of carrying on business.
The Legislature assembled at Iowa City on the 5th of December, 1842, and organized by the election of John D. Elbert, of Van Buren County, President of the Council; and James M. Morgan, of Des Moines County, Speaker of the House. John M. Coleman, Territorial Agent, reported sales of lots at Iowa City, amounting to $22,871 since he had come into office. ”

“ The Indians are now moving over to the Des Moines, finding the country along the Waubisipinicon, Chicaqua (the Skunk) and the Iowa no longer stocked with game, they are ready to sell. The pressure of settlers along the border has already created a demand for its purchase. The western boundary will soon be extended, and it is hazarding little to say that this district will have a population that will entitle it to admission among the States of the Union by the time the census of 1840 shall have been completed. ”

“ The army entered the State and the people showed their sympathy along the line of march by contributing food for its subsistence. A stop was made at Des Moines where the people furnished supplies generously and thousands visited the camp and conversed with the men. The ranks were found to contain men of almost every trade and of many of the professions, who had been unable to find employment, most of them had families and were seeking work. ”

“ WILLIAM E. MASON, lawyer and lawmaker, lived in Iowa from the age of eight years until 1873. He was born in Cattaraugus County, New York, July 7, 1850. His parents removed to Iowa in 1858, settling at Bentonsport in Van Buren County where his father died in 1865. William was thus at the age of fifteen left to make his own way in the world. He received sufficient education to enable him to teach school and, coming to Des Moines in 1868, he followed teaching for two years. ”

“ After coming to Iowa he engaged in stock farming near Des Moines and became a leader in the Greenback party and in 1878 was nominated for Representative in Congress by that party in the Seventh District. He was elected, serving one term. For several years he was associated with General James B. Weaver in the publication of the Farmers' Tribune at Des Moines, the central organ of the Populist party of Iowa. ”

“ In 1839 Iowa City was selected as the site for the seat of government of the newly created Territory of Iowa. The legislature met for the first time in 1841 and continued to hold its sessions here until 1857, when Des Moines, on account of its more central position, was made the capital. ”

“ Ottum'wa, la., county-seat of Wapello County, is on Des Moines River, 85 miles southeast of Des Moines. Surrounded by a fertile country, it has a large trade and manufactures agricultural implements, mining tools, iron and steel specialties. The city boasts of 40 churches, 14 schools, 10 banks and 60 factories. It is served by four railroads, and is in the heart of Iowa's coal-fields. Population 22,012. ”