Des Moines County IA Archives History - Books .....Chapter I Introduction 1915
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Book Title: History Of Des Moines County Iowa

History of Des Moines County
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

   A county is an integral part of a state, and a state, of a nation composed of
states. In writing a history of a county, one of necessity must write concerning
the activities taken by its people in the affairs of the state or nation, as
well as those of its own domestic concerns. The people of a county are not only
citizens of the state to which the county belongs, but of the nation of which
the state is a part. The people comprising the states at the formation of the
Federal Constitution were the fathers of the republic. In the preamble of that
Constitution they caused to be written, "We, the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, etc., do ordain and
establish this Constitution for the United States of America," thereby declaring
they were citizens of the republic as contradistinguished from their citizenship
to state or any other municipal body. They recognized as binding upon them as
individuals the Federal Constitution which they had created. From the premises
thus laid down it will be seen that in writing a history of a county one must
take into consideration all those things with which it is directly connected in
so far as its material welfare is concerned, as well as the mental and moral
development of its people. To write a complete history of a county one must go
back of its organization as a municipal body and discover the condition of
things before it came into existence. We want to know who discovered the country
of which it is a part; when discovered, and trace in a chronological order, the
successive events which have taken place in past times. In 1492 Columbus gave to
Castile and Arragon a new world. From this event we now have a white race of
people inhabiting the country in which we live. Before this discovery, west of
that narrow strait which separates Europe from Africa, was an Ultima Thule, an
unknown region, a boundless ocean, in whose fathomless depths lay slumbering the
fabulous but lost Atlantas. For one hundred years and more after the discovery
of the new world, bold navigators of Spain, Portugal, France and England skirted
along the coast of the two Americas, going into bays and up great rivers,
seeking to find an opening whereby they could reach Cathay, which Marco Polo had
in the latter part of the thirteenth century made known to the world. A century
and more had passed before any attempts had been made towards a permanent
settlement in this country. The discovery of rich mines of gold and silver in
South America and Mexico had fitted the imagination of men to such an extent
that expeditions had been fitted out to explore the vast territories lying
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. While on one of these expeditions,
Fernando De Soto found his grave in the waters of the great river which washes
the shores of Des Moines County. In 1640 Coronado and companions, lured by the
call of the wild and the seven fabled cities of Civola amidst the mountains, in
which they were told were rich mines of gold and silver, started from the
Spanish settlement on the shores of the Pacific, fought their way over
mountains, passed by the cliff dwellers of Arizona, thence proceeded east over
deserts of sand on which grew the thorny cactus, then over the great plains on
which roamed unmolested the bison, and came to the Missouri River. Where, worn
and weary, there they halted; then retraced their steps to the place from which
they had departed. During, and after these times of adventures on land, pirates
and buccaneers infested the seas, preying on ships laden with the products of
the mines of Peru and Mexico and rich cargoes of spices and fruits. In 1607, 115
years after the discovery of Columbus, the first permanent settlement was made
at Jamestown, Va. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers made a settlement in what was
subsequently called New England. In 1626 Peter Minuit bought from the Indians
Manhattan Island for the equivalent of $24. Between 1607 and 16S0 permanent
settlements had been made along the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Georgia. This
is the time during wliich is called the "Swarming of the English." Canada was
discovered by Henry Cabot in 1497. The first settlement, made in 1544 by the
French, was at St. Croix Harbor, and the country discovered became known as New
France. In the near future the French founded Quebec and Montreal. Through the
St. Lawrence, the then New France, they had communication with the great lakes,
and to all that uninhabited part of the country west of Pennsylvania, and lying
south of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, and by portage from the Fox
River to the Wisconsin, thence to the Mississippi River, and thence to the Gulf
of Mexico. What was to be the destiny of this country, lay between two peoples;
one the Anglo-Saxon, the other Celtic. Neither had a primary right to the soil,
it belonged to the Indians, the first discoverers and settlers. Why the people
of Des Moines County are not French instead of English in nationality, has been
determined by what was done in succeeding times. The French held the vantage
points of this vast territory. The English colonists had a long line of
settlements along the coast of the Atlantic, a feathery edge of battle line,
without the means of entering into this land except over mountains and through
dense forests. The struggle was to be for a land more beautiful and fruitful
than the one which the eyes of Moses, when dimmed with age, saw from the top of
Nebo. France laid claim to this land by right of discovery. The English claimed
it, because of the discovery of the coast line. The French voyagers and
missionaries went together; one to discover and claim for his King the land
discovered, the other, to claim what was discovered for Christ, and where one
set up the standard of his King, the other, near by, erected the Cross of
Calvary; established a mission, and made known to the wild savage there
dwelling, the name of the Redeemer of Mankind. There were no obstacles, which
were permitted to retard their progress, no dangers they would not face.
Silently and alone, they paddled their frail barks along the margins of the
great lakes, and at vantage points erected their several standards; there to
mark the place for the erection of a fort, there also to be built a church of
logs, on which was to be placed a bell, whose solemn sound penetrating the dense
forests would call their wild dwellers to prayer. Where the discoverer
designated, the military power of France came, built a fort which was mounted
with a few pieces of rusty cannon. There it erected log houses for soldiers'
quarters surrounded by stakes driven in the ground and pointed at their tups. To
guard this vast extent of territory a line of such forts had been established at
vantage points, commencing at Fort Du Quesne at the confluence of the
Monongahela and Ohio rivers. Due north from this fort, another was erected on
the shore of Lake Erie. These were the strategic points to bar the invasions of
the English; especially Fort Du Quesue. Another had been erected at what is now
called Detroit, to guard there, that narrow neck of water, to prevent entrance
from Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and Michigan.
Another was erected at St. Ignace at the Straits of Mackinac, to guard the
entrance to Lake Michigan. The occupation of the French was a military
occupation, with little, if any, effort, to make homes for a people, who had
come to till the soil, to conquer a wilderness and make it administer to their
outward wants. The missionary came with the discoverer to convert the
inhabitants, not to conquer the red skinned Canaanites who dwelt in this land,
lie came to point them the way to Heaven and God, instead of digging in the
ground, "to dress the earth and keep it." Contemporary with the French
discoverer and missionary, came the "Couer Des Boies," the trapper and hunter.
He was the pioneer of trade; was the familiar of the Indian; lived in his
wigwam, dipped his dirty wooden spoon into the same bowl of succotash with the
Indian; squatted around his camp fire, learned his speech, engaged in his chats;
wooed and won the dark skinned maiden of the forest, who gave birth to his
child; but always faithful to the one to whom he had plighted his love. During
the long cold winters, he set his traps amidst the woods and along the margins
of rivers and lakes, and daily plodded from one to the other, and when night
came, skinned the animals caught, preserved their pelts to await the coming of
spring time; then, loading them in canoes, commenced his long journey along the
edges of the lakes, then through the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec, which
were his only markets. When there in glowing tones described the country from
which he came, arousing others to follow his course. Such was the character of
the men and the conditions which existed at those times, and continued to exist
for more than a century, in the territory out of which has been carved the
states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee,
Mississippi, Alabama, and the states west of the Mississippi River. A young lad
of twenty-one years of age, named George Washington, with a small band, was
directed by the governor of Virginia, in the winter of 1754, to proceed and warn
the French to leave what was called the Ohio Country. In midwinter, through
dense forests and over frozen rivers Washington carried out his commission.
Having arrived at Fort Du Quesne he was hospitably entertained, but given to
understand his majesty the King of France was ruler of all the territory lying
to the west, and they were there to guard it. On May 28, 1854, on his homeward
journey, George Washington had the temerity to attack a French scouting party,
whose commander was killed. On the 3d of July of the same year, he fought with
the French what is called the battle of the "Great Meadows." The action taken by
George Washington in these attacks, precipitated what is known in history in
this country as the "French and Indian War," and in Europe, as the "Seven Years'
War." When Gen. James Wolfe lay dying on the Plains of Abraham, and British red
coats and American militia were thundering at the gates of Quebec, all the claim
of right of the French to what is called Canada, and that portion to which it
laid claim east of the Mississippi, passed away, and England became the owner
and master of the land extending from the long line of Atlantic coast to the
Mississippi. In 1763 peace was declared by which England acquired this
territory. But such was the decree of fate, to hold it only for a short period,
for in 1775 England engaged in war with its North American colonies and lost
them at the termination of the Revolutionary war.

   The treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain was concluded
at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782. This treaty fixed the boundaries of the
United States. That portion pertaining to its western boundary set out in
substance, "The line on the north was to pass through the middle of Lake
Ontario, to the Niagara River; thence along the middle of said communication
into Lake Erie; thence through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the
water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake
Superior north and to the Isles Royal and Philipeaux, to the Long Lake; thence
through the middle of said Long Lake and the water of communication between it
and the Lake of the Woods; thence through said lake to the northwestern point
thereof; and, from thence on a due west course to the Mississippi River; thence
by a line to be drawn along the middle of said Mississippi until it intersects
the northern-most of the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, by a line
to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned, in the
latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the equator to the middle of the River
Apachicola or Chatahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with
the Flint River, thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; thence down
the middle of the St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean." It will be seen from
the above described boundaries what is now called Lake Huron was called Lake
Superior; and what is now known as Lake Superior was called Long Lake in the
Treaty of Paris. By the treaty the southern boundary line was sixty miles and
more north of the City of New Orleans, thus preventing the United States from
having the free navigation of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, which
subsequently caused so much "inquietude" to the people of the United States as
expressed by President Jefferson, and which led to the acquisition of the
territory known as the District of Louisiana.

   In 1762 France ceded to Spain all her possessions west of the Mississippi
which extended to the Rocky Mountains. This territory was subsequently
transferred by Spain to France, and acquired by the United States in 1803, and
is known in history as the Louisiana Purchase. So it is, the source of title
which the inhabitants of this county hold to their lands comes from France. In
1668, Marquette, a Jesuit priest, founded a mission at St. Mary's Falls, and two
years later established one at Point St. Ignace. While at St. Ignace, Marquette
learned from the Indians the existence of a great river far away to the west. It
was pictured to him in glowing terms, its waters deep and wide, and smooth, and
as flowing through the most beautiful of lands. That upon its shores dwelt
tribes of red men who fished in its waters, hunted the deer in the woods
bordering its banks, and the big bison that roamed the prairies beyond the
woods. These stories excited his imagination and inflamed the zeal of this
disciple of Loyola to make known to the natives of this land the name of the
Redeemer, and to strengthen and extend the name and fame of the Holy Catholic
Church. On the other hand, M. Tolon, the governor-general of Canada, was just as
anxious to extend the dominions of his king, as Marquette was to extend the
knowledge of the Gospel to the benighted heathen inhabiting this far away land,
and to find out whether that great river flowed into the Pacific Ocean, or the
Gulf of Mexico. One Joliet, under the direction of the governor-general, was to
be the commander of the expedition which consisted of himself, Marquette and
five French-Canadians. On the 18th of May, 1673, they started from Mackinac on
their perilous journey of discovery and of converting the heathen whom they
might find. The bell of the church at St. Ignace called to prayers the denizens
of the forests, after which they were to witness the departure of these bold
adventurers. No attempts of persuasion could induce them to forego their
perilous journey. Marquette said to them "he was willing to encounter all
dangers of the unknown regions, even to lay down his life, for the salvation of
the souls of these children in the far away unknown regions who dwelt along the
great river." The paddles of the canoes all day long kept striking the water, as
silently they coasted along the north side of Lake Michigan until they came to
the smooth waters of Green Bay; then they passed up into the Fox River and Lake
Winnebago, and came to a village of Miamis and Kickapoos. A mission had been
established at this place the previous year. Marquette caused to he assembled
the chiefs of those tribes, and addressed them. Among the things he said to them
was, "My friend here with me (pointing to Joliet) has been sent forth by his
king, to discover new countries, and I am an ambassador of God going with him,
to make known to the people the truths of the Gospel." At this place two Miami
guides were furnished to pilot them to the Wisconsin River. On the 10th of June,
with all the inhabitants of the village present, they took their departure into
a region where the foot of white men had never trod. Under the direction of
their guides they made the portage from the Fox to the Wisconsin River; their
guides returning, they proceeded down the Wisconsin with its gloomy forests on
both sides, when on the 17th day of June their canoes shot out on the broad
white waters of the Great Mississippi at a point more than eleven hundred miles
north of where one hundred and thirty-two years before Ferdinando De Soto had
discovered the lower Mississippi. It was then, the veil of mystery which had hid
from the view of while men this unknown land was lifted. Rapidly drifting with
the current of the great river, they pursued their course, not knowing whether
they would enter the Gulf of Mexico, or their barks glide out on the smooth
waters of the Pacific. They saw great herds of Buffalo standing on the banks of
the river, and many deer which came to its margins, there to slake their thirst.
On the 24th of June they passed the high bluff which is the eastern border of
Crapo Park in Burlington, where on the 23d of August, 1S05, Lieut. Zehulon M.
Pike, a son of a hero of the Revolutionary war, unfurled the stars and stripes
132 years afterwards. From the time they departed from the village of the Miamis
and Kickapoos on the Fox River, they had been unable to detect the trace of a
human foot, until on the 25th of June they stopped at a place where they found
some traces of human beings, and a path which led out to a prairie to the west.
Following the path for several miles, they saw in the distance, a strip of
woodland extending in a southwest direction and smoke coming from amidst the
woods. Eagerly they sought this a human habitation, and arriving there, found a
village of wigwams. On the banks of another river which flowed in an easterly
direction, they found also two other villages a few miles away from the one
first discovered. Here our voyagers stayed for several days, Marquette preaching
to them, while Joliet made known to them the Great Father, the King of France. A
dispute exists as to the place where they landed and saw the foot prints. We
will not take sides in this controversy. We quote from the history of Iowa by
Gue: "The exact location of the point on the Mississippi where Marquette and his
party landed is not known; but from the meager description that was given,
nearly all investigators agree, that it must have been near where the Town of
Montrose stands, in Lee County, at the head of the lower rapids. The village at
which the explorers were entertained was called by the Indians Mon-in-go-na.
Whether the same name was given to the river along which their villages were
built is not certain." Nicolet gives the following version of the matter and of
the origin and meaning of the name "Des Moines" which was given to the river by
the earliest white settlers in its valley. He writes: "The name which they gave
to their settlement was Moningonas or Moningona (as laid down in the ancient
maps of the country) and is a corruption of the Algonquin word Mikonang,
signifying at the road. The Indians by their customary elliptical manner of
designating localities, alluding in this instance to the well known road in this
section of the country, which they used to follow as a communication between the
head of the lower rapids and their settlement on the river that empties itself
into the Mississippi; to avoid the rapids. This is still the practice of the
present inhabitants of the country." Prof. Laneas Gifford Weld in a well
considered article published in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics in
January, 1905, contends with force and reason, that the place where these
voyagers landed and discovered the human foot prints and the villages of Indians
was on the Mississippi near Port Louisa in Louisa County, Iowa, sixty miles or
more north of the site of Montrose. Professor Weld's contention, as we
understand it, is based on an error of Marquette as to the latitude of the place
where they landed. That if the correct latitude be taken, it places their
stoppage near Port Louisa. Marquette says, after they had reached the mouth of
the Wisconsin, "Proceeding south and southwest we find ourselves at 400 north;
then at 400 and some minutes, partly southwest after having advanced more than
sixty leagues since entering the river, without discovering anything. At last,
on the 25th of June, 1673, we saw foot prints of men by the water's edge and a
beaten path leading to several Indian villages, and we resolved to reconnoiter;
we accordingly left our two canoes in charge of our people, cautioning them
strictly to beware of surprises." Mr. Weld contends that the latitudes given on
Marquette's map are about one degree too far south. We will not go farther into
this contention but will leave the subject for those who desire a fuller
understanding to investigate for themselves. The natives found were a part of
the Indian tribe which belonged to the Algonquin family with whose dialect
Marquette was familiar. When the parting time came, more than six hundred
accompanied them to the Mississippi, whom with the best of wishes our voyagers
bade adieu. They proceeded on their course of exploration without seeing any
more traces of human habitations until they came near the mouth of the Arkansas
River, where they found a part of a tribe and a village which they called
Ak-an-sea. From those dwellers they learned that the Mississippi flowed into the
Gulf of Mexico. One of the purposes for which the expedition had been undertaken
had been accomplished, when they retraced their journey until they came to the
mouth of the Illinois River. Thence proceeded up that river to near its source;
then made a portage over the prairies lo the Chicago River which they followed
till they came to Lake Michigan. Here they parted, Joliet going to Quebec to
report the discoveries he had made and Marquette to his missions among the
Hurons. Thus ended one of the greatest discoveries on this continent, a
discovery by which France laid claim to all the territory west of the
Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. The claim of France to the land existed for
a short period of time when it was ceded to Spain, then, by the famous treaty of
San Ildifonso, it became once more a French colony.

DEATH OF MARQUETTE

   "On the 8th day of May, 1675, while with some of his boatmen, he was passing
up Lake Michigan, he asked them to land at the mouth of a stream near by.
Leaving them in the canoe, he went away a short distance to pray. The boatmen
waited some time for his return, then they recollected he had said something of
the time of his death being near at hand, and sought him. They found him dead
where he had been praying. His companions dug a grave near the mouth of the
stream on whose banks he had offered his last earthly prayer, and there buried
him in the sand."

    "His solitary grave was made
     Beside thy waters, Michigan;
     In the forest shade,
     The bones were laid.

     Of a world-wide wondering man
     By all the world unknown;
     No mausoleum marks the spot,
     Nor monumental stone.

     He died alone—no pious hand
     Smoothed the pillow for his head:
     No watching followers reared the tent.
     Or strewed the green leaves for his bed.

     His followers left the holy man
     Beside a rustic altar kneeling—
     The slanting sunbeams' setting rays
     Through the thick forest branches stealing.

     An hour has passed, and they returned;
     They found him laying where he knelt,
     But lo! how changed: the calm of death
     Upon his marble features dwelt.

     Even while he prayed his living soul
     Had to its native heaven fled,
     While the last twilight's holiest beams Fell,
     like a glory, on his head."
                            —Western Messenger


Additional Comments:
HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY IOWA AND ITS PEOPLE

By AUGUSTINE M. ANTROBUS

ILLUSTRATED
 VOLUME I
CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1915 

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