Muscatine, Iowa

“ Dyer Usher and Joel Howard ferried people across the Mississippi near Muscatine in the summer of 1839. These men died near Covington a few years ago. Usher always claimed that he was on the site of Cedar Rapids as early as 1836 and located west of the river two years later. The young men could make no money in a new country, and while they took claims they frequently left for civilization to earn a little money. So it might have been that Usher was a bona fide resident of Linn county, while he could get no employment nearer than Muscatine. ”

“ In 1840 he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he engaged in the lumber business. In 1849 he went to California with the great emigration of gold seekers. Failing to find profitable business, he came the following year to Iowa, locating at Muscatine. ”

“ Both towns contributed their quota of students, Dubuque sending no less than twelve, although the entire population of Dubuque county was then, less than 16,000. Considering the difficulty of communications, the poverty of the pioneers, the wide extent of the sphere of influence of the school is remarkable. Students were drawn this first year from as far to the northeast as Elkader and Garnavillo. They came from Dyersville and Independence, from Quasqueton and Vinton, from Marengo, Columbus City, West Liberty, and Burlington. Muscatine alone sent seven students. ”

“ In 1803 a few Iowas were found who were friendly with the Sacs and Foxes, with whom they made an alliance which lasted about twenty years.
THE MASCOUTINES
A tribe called Mascoutines, first mentioned by Father Allouez in 1670, then found in the valley of the Wisconsin River, had moved into Iowa. These Indians were on friendly terms with the Illinois and occupied a portion of Iowa west of Muscatine Island, where they located, having been driven out of their former lands by hostile tribes. The Algonquin word "Mascoutenck" means a place having no woods or prairie. ”

“ It was not an easy matter to have to go to Muscatine or Dubuque to mill and market; to travel by night on horseback some fifty miles for a doctor, and equally far to find a drug store. There were no roads passable for a greater part of the year; the rivers were not bridged, and the streams oftentimes were swollen so that the only means of crossing was by swimming or by making some temporary raft. The pioneer settler who wandered out over the prairie in a winter blizzard no doubt many times looked for the "smoke that so gracefully curls above the green elms" to indicate that a cabin was near. ”

“ JOHN A. PARVIN was born at Fairfleld, New Jersey, November 10, 1807. He was reared on a farm and after acquiring an education taught for several years. In April, 1839, he removed to Iowa, locating at Bloomington. He served four years as clerk of the District Court and in 1850 was elected to the House of the Third General Assembly. Mr. Parvin secured the passage of a bill changing the name of Bloomington to Muscatine. He was an active supporter of the act passed to prohibit the sale of intoxicating liquors to be drunk on the premises. In 1854 Mr. Parvin was elected mayor of Muscatine. ”

“ Consequently the settlers experienced many hardships, and much of the stock died from sheer starvation. As early as possible in the spring the settlers would unite and start off for Muscatine, Dubuque, or Rockingham for provisions, and on their return would help the needy settlers who had no opportunity to get away. ”

“ After completing his education he started west, stopping in Michigan. In 1850 he came to Iowa and settled in Louisa County, but later removed to Muscatine, where he engaged in farming, banking and real estate business. ”

“ The settlers who came late during the summer of 1838-39 were unfortunate in case they were unable to get enough hay for their stock, for the winters were very cold and there were no provisions or food to be purchased, and many a family along the Cedar river in Linn and Cedar counties during these years endured some severe trials. Money was scarce, provisions of all kinds high, and no trading posts nearer than those at Davenport, Muscatine, and Rockingham. It is said that Robert Ellis and Philip Hull came to William Abbe's on their way to Muscatine to get provisions in the fall of 1838. ”

“ Farnam down the river to where Muscatine stands to establish a trading post. Farnam built a log cabin in which he placed a stock of goods and opened trade with the Indians. After two years the store was sold to John Vanata. ”

“ He was the eldest son and for many years after the death of his father devoted himself to supporting and educating the younger children. In 1849 he came to Iowa, stopping at Muscatine. In 1850 he joined the expedition sent to establish Fort Dodge on the upper Des Moines River. He was sutler of the post until it was abandoned by the troops when he purchased the ground for a company of which he with Bernhart Henn and others were members. They laid out the town of Fort Dodge and secured the establishment of a United States Land Office there. ”

“ In those days Father Emmons also came from Iowa City and contributed to keep the lamp of faith burning. Father Laurent, of Muscatine, also came to Marion occasionally and did missionary work among the pioneers.
As a rule the faithful journeyed to Iowa City whenever the weather permitted. In these days there were no automobiles nor telephone service, and it was not at [Pg 410] all uncommon for the travelers to be weather bound on their way to or from the scene of their religious observance. ”

“ Several places that were started seem to have died young, if they were not stillborn; we find on older maps such as Geneva, somewhere between Muscatine and Fairport on the Iowa side, and Wyoming, apparently in the same position as Fairport now is. Between Muscatine and Fairport the river is or was recently divided into Drury slough, Wyoming slough, and Hersey chute betwixt these. Pine cr. falls in on the Iowan side, 21⁄2 m. above Fairport. Opposite Fairport the long Andalusia slough opens, running down on the Illinois side all the way from Andalusia, a distance of 9 m. ”

“ It is 75 miles southwest from Dubuque, 80 miles nearly west from Clinton, about the same distance from Davenport, 55 miles from Muscatine, and about 110 from Des Moines—the capital of Iowa.
NATURAL ADVANTAGES
"Few interior cities are blessed with more natural advantages than Cedar Rapids. ”

“ Marion, Polk, Dallas, Jasper, Marshall, Story, Boone, Warren and Madison Phineas M. Casady. Des Moines George Hepner, Enos Lowe. Henry John T. Morton. Jefferson John Howell. Louisa and Washington Norman Everson. Mahaska, Keokuk and Poweshiek Joseph Lowe. Muscatine, Johnson and Iowa Freeman Alger. Scott and Clinton William E. Leffingwell. Cedar, Linn, Benton and Tama John P. Cook. Jackson and Jones Nathan G. Sales. Dubuque, Clayton, Delaware, Buchanan, Black Hawk, Winneshiek and Allamakee John G. Shields, Warner Lewis. ”

“ The snows of twenty winters have fallen in the forest since Bige and I put Muskrat City on the map, and since we built the camp on the hillside above it. Other trappers have followed Bige's trail through the woods and have taken their toll of the inhabitants. But I am confident that if a census were taken today, it would be found that in population Muskrat City is holding its own quite equal to some of the cities in Iowa.
Doubtless it is a wise provision of Nature that those animals, birds and fishes which are most killed and eaten by others are made most prolific. ”

“ Floating down the Wisconsin, they finally saw before them the broad waters of the Mississippi. It was on the 17th day of June, 1673, that Marquette and Joliet looked out on the bold bluffs of the western shore a few miles below where McGregor now stands. They were the first white men who ever saw Iowa. Pushing out into the current they beheld a wild, beautiful landscape. On the Wisconsin side was a level prairie shore stretching northward for many miles, covered with tall grass waving in the June breeze. ”

“ Agriculture was almost the only occupation, where every man had his herd of cattle, ponies, sheep and swine; and each was his own mechanic.
Thus lived the first settlers in the Mississippi Valley for more than a hundred years. But when their country was surrendered to English rule, many left their peaceful homes along the Illinois, the Mississippi and Wisconsin, so strong was their affection for France and its government. During the time that Iowa had been under the dominion of France, no towns had been laid out or permanent colonies established. ”

“ Some few men were beginning to realize that the rapid settlement of the Iowa country was not an isolated provincial episode but the surface manifestation of a current that was of National depth. Far-sighted statesmen whose eyes were neither blinded by the lights of the moment nor yet always riveted upon that which for the time was most brilliant, saw that a plain, common-looking pioneer farmer from across the Mississippi had come upon the stage of National Politics and had already begun to play a role in the great drama of American Democracy. ”

“ Wayland, the Missouri commissioners, went to Burlington and conferred with the Governor and Legislature then in session, and it was agreed that hostilities should be postponed and the matter in dispute be referred to Congress for settlement.
On the 18th of June, 1838, Congress passed an act authorizing the President to cause the southern boundary of Iowa to be ascertained and marked. Lieutenant Albert M. Lea was appointed commissioner for the United States and Dr. James Davis was appointed by Governor Lucas for Iowa. No appointment was made by the Governor of Missouri. ”

“ The best talent of the South, for a generation, went into politics, in the passionately loyal endeavor to prop up a doomed economic and social system; and the loss to the intellectual life of the country cannot be reckoned. Over vast sections of our prosperous and intelligent people of the Mississippi Basin to-day the very genius of commonplaceness seems to hover. Take the great State of Iowa, with its well-to-do and homogeneous population, its fortunate absence of perplexing city-problems, its general air of prosperity and content. ”

“ SMITH McPHERSON was born in Morgan County, Indiana, February 14, 1848. He was reared on a farm, received a liberal education and removing to Iowa entered the State University, graduating in the Law Department in 1870. ”

“ When Le Sueur first supplied these Indians with firearms in 1700 they were situated at the extreme headquarters of the Des Moines river, though from the translation of this explorer’s narrative, as contained in Wis. Hist. Coll., Vol. XVI, it would seem that this band and the Oto removed and “established themselves toward the Missouri river, near the Maha.” In Jefferys’ French Dominions in North and South America, 1760, the Iowa are located on the Mississippi in latitude 43° 30’. ”

“ They were probably the first white men who ever traversed the beautiful rolling prairies of that region.
It had now been sixteen years since the western borders of Iowa had been partially explored by Lewis and Clark, and through their reports made known to the country; but so far as is known no permanent settlers had erected cabins in that region, or broken the prairie sod for farms. French and half-breed traders made their trips up and down the Missouri and its tributaries in pursuit of their vocation for many years after this before we find any attempts to open farms or lay out towns. ”

“ Lieutenant Lea was employed as a civil engineer to assist in establishing the disputed boundary between Iowa and Missouri. In 1841 he was chief clerk in the War Department and in 1843 was Professor of Mechanics in the University of Tennessee. ”

“ Indeed, he was at the head of the society in Johnson county, if not in the entire state of Iowa. He was the financial agent and manager of his society, attending to all the business of his people with the outside world for the entire community. The society in Iowa was prosperous, because industrious and frugal, [Pg 170] and Schuttler, as their agent, had almost unlimited credit. He was trusted everywhere as a man of extreme probity and honor ”

“ McGregor, the largest town in the county, was laid out in 1847 by Alexander McGregor. In 1836 he established a ferry across the Mississippi River at this place opposite the old French town of Prairie du Chien. Soon after he made a claim where the town of McGregor stands and built a log cabin at the foot of Main street. In 1847 he moved his family into it and a store and public house were soon opened. For many years the village which grew up was called McGregor’s Landing. The ravine where the town was located was named by the early French traders “Coolie de Sioux.” ”

“ The Mississippi River is, and must continue to be, the main avenue of trade for this country; but there is a reasonable prospect of having a more direct and speedy communication with the markets of the East. New York is now pushing her railroad from the Hudson to Lake Erie; it will then connect with one that is projected around the southern shore of that lake to cross Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, touching the foot of Lake Michigan in its route to the Mississippi River. This will place the center of the Iowa District within sixty hours of the city of New York. ”

“ Cutts met the ablest attorneys in the country, who had been employed by the combined railroad interests, and won a victory of great magnitude in its far reaching effects. It was regarded as one of the most important decisions ever rendered by a court in which the interests of the people came in conflict with those of corporations. It was hailed by the people of Iowa and the country in general with great satisfaction. The issues involved reached deeply the material prosperity of every farmer in the State for all time to come. ”

“ To the seekers after new homes, from the old world, or from the Eastern and Middle States of the Union--be they mechanics, agriculturists, or professional men--Iowa offers many advantages. On her soil, with prudence, economy and sobriety, added to good health, no one can fail to acquire a competency, if not to amass a fortune.
We have said thus much of Iowa, because we believe it to be due to her; due to her enterprise, and due to the worthy people who have made her soil their home;--and because, although no longer one of her citizens, we love her still! ”