Polk County IA Archives History - Books .....Town And County From 1850 To 1855 1898
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Book Title: Annals Of Polk County, Iowa And City Of Des Moines

CHAPTER IX.
TOWN AND COUNTY FROM 1850 TO 1855.

DURING the five years to which this chapter will be devoted—1850-5—the growth of
the county and town was continuous and rapid, especially in the latter portion
of this period. At a local election in 1850 for justice of the peace there were
185 votes polled in the township of Des Moines, of which L. D. Winchester
received 99, and Samuel Gray 86. The vote of the entire county for that year is
not given, though the entire population of the county, as given in the federal
census of that year was 4,513. It will be seen the population of the county was
then many times larger than that of the town, and it was a number of years later
when the city surpassed in population that of the county outside thereof. In
1852 there were 1,232 votes polled in the county, of which only 244 were cast in
the town. The population of the town was then placed at 502, but this may have
been a mistake. The general rule is to multiply the number of votes by five to
estimate population, and this would give the town a population of more than
1,000 in 1852. Yet it is the entire vote of Des Moines township which is thus
counted, and it covered then a large amount of territory outside the limits of
the town, and hence 502 may be the correct figures for the actual population of
the town at that time.

   The town of Fort Des Moines came into existence in 1851. September 6, of that
year "William Kraus and fifty-two other citizens of Fort Des Moines," so runs
the record, petitioned Hon. F. B. Burbridge, then county judge, praying that the
inhabitants of said town may become incorporated according to the provisions of
the Code of 1850. This was granted and an order made for a special election to
be held at the court house on Monday, September 22, 1851, for the purpose of
voting for or against incorporation. Charles C. Van, Thomas McMullin and J. E.
Jewett were appointed judges, and William T. Marvin and Lamp P. Sherman clerks.
The election resulted:

For incorporation                 42
Against incorporation              1

   Then an election was ordered to be held on Saturday, September 27, for the
choice of three persons to prepare a charter for the town, and the following
persons were voted for:

P. M. Casady                    16
L. P. Sherman                    9
Thompson Bird                    6
Byron Rice                       5
R. W. Sypher                     4
Curtis Bates                     4
C. C. Van                        2
J. E. Jewett.                    2

   Messrs. Casady, Sherman and Bird were declared to be the committee, and on
October 11, 1851, they reported to the county judge that they had prepared
articles of incorporation, and had named three different boundaries. The county
judge then ordered an election on October 18, to decide upon the boundaries. At
this election the charter was adopted and the boundaries of the new town fixed
as surveyed by A. D. Jones, in June, 1846. C. C. Van, W. T. Marvin and J. M.
Griffiths were the judges, and Byron Rice and L. P. Sherman the clerks of this
election. In 1853 the General Assembly, by special act, gave the town a new
charter, which continued in force until 1857.

   At the session of the General Assembly, January, 1855, an act was passed
making Des Moines the future capital of the state. For several years the friends
of Des Moines had been working to this end, and for years they had faith in the
ultimate realization of their hopes. The final passage of the act was a great
triumph, and great was the rejoicing over the victory. It at once gave what is
now termed a "boom" to the town, and its future greatness as a city was then
assured. It being made the future capital of the state immediately attracted to
it the attention of enterprising people all over the country, and this drew to
it citizens and capital. While Des Moines, because of its advantageous and
central location, in a rich and fertile country, would have in time grown into a
great and populous city without the capital can be written as a fact, yet it is
also a fact that it being named in 1855 as the state capital, made permanent in
the constitution of 1857, gave no inconsiderable impetus to the growth and
prosperity of the leading city of Iowa. More concerning the capital will be
found in another chapter.

   For a few years of the early '50s the attraction of the gold fields of
California carried many of the early settlers away from the county, but in a
year or two most of these returned, content to settle down permanently in this,
the best country they had found. The large emigration during the raging of the
gold fever also made a home demand for the flour, grain, meat, etc., produced in
the county, and thus brought considerable financial help to the early farmers
and business men. So, upon the whole, that California emigration, while doing
some harm, at the same time was productive of much good, and the balance was
probably upon the whole favorable to Iowa. For it is a fact that not a few of
the subsequent citizens of Des Moines and Polk county were attracted here
afterward by what they saw of the town and county while passing through on their
way to California.

   The noted floods of 1851, the greatest known in the history of the county,
also temporarily retarded the growth of the town and county. This flood is
famous in the early annals. The rain commenced about the middle of May, 1851,
and continued for weeks—some of the early settlers claiming the Biblical forty
days were more than equalled. The Star of that date said:

   "Neither the memory of the oldest inhabitants, nor the natives, nor any
traditionary accounts from the Indians, furnish any evidence of such a flood.
The 'Coon and Des Moines are higher by several feet than in the spring of 1849,
which was the greatest rise in known history. The Des Moines is now twenty-two
and a half feet above low water mark."

   The water in the river was said to have been as much as three miles wide in
places; hundreds of acres of tilled lands were overflowed; cattle, sheep and
swine were swept away and drowned, fences and even dwelling houses were swept
away, and a large portion of the town was under water, and it is said the
current from the Raccoon River swept across the lower portion of Court avenue,
Walnut and other streets, and emptied into the Des Moines River near the mouth
of Bird's Run.

   East Des Moines was overflowed entirely up to the second bank, and the
swollen waters covered all the bottoms and swept around the hill upon which the
capitol now stands.

   In the county most of the few bridges then built were swept away and the
roads rendered almost impassable; nearly all the mills were forced into
idleness, with the result that flour and meal became very difficult to obtain
for weeks, and many of the settlers were forced to go back to pounded corn,
hominy and "samp," in lieu of other bread-stuffs. Jerry Church's town of Dudley,
some miles below the Fort, was entirely covered by water, and it is reliably
stated that Jerry himself mounted upon the roof of his own house and played the
fiddle in philosophical content while he looked out upon the raging waters
surrounding him. Lafayette, Dr. A. Y. Hull's new town, a few miles below, was
also overflowed and the inhabitants forced to flee for safety to higher ground.
Ottumwa, Eddyville and the other towns along the river were in the same
overflowed and injured condition. Oskaloosa being away from the river and upon
the "divide," was in a better condition, and the newspaper published there
boasted: "Oskaloosa is the only dry town in central Iowa."

   Fortunately, while the loss and damage to public and private property was
heavy, the loss of life was small. The only death by drowning was that of a
young blacksmith, by the name of Youngerman. While in a skiff endeavoring to
save some logs, with some companions, the boat was overturned and Youngerman was
swept away and drowned. He was an excellent young man and his untimely death was
much lamented by many friends. The high water in time passed away and the damage
was soon mostly repaired, but the injury and loss were much felt during the year
by the citizens of the town and the scattered settlers of the county.

   Another help came to the new town in 1853. This was the establishment of a
United States District land office here. This was opened for business in June,
1853. The great rush for government lands in Iowa was then commencing, and the
location of the land office here naturally brought to the town thousands of
strangers and new settlers. The latter wanted lands upon which to settle and
make farms and homes for themselves, while speculators, land agents, and men
with and without money, came here intent upon gaining wealth from the expected
rapid rise in value of these lands, which could then be acquired at the low
price of $ 1.25 per acre in cash, or located with bounty land warrants at a less
price. The lands embraced in this United States land district were the best in
the state, and after the opening of the government office here they were eagerly
sought after and thousands of entries were made. The great rush was over here by
1856, when the extensive grants made of lands in the state for the construction
of railroads suspended to a great extent the further entry of these government
lands. But for a time it made Des Moines the trading center for the purchase and
disposal of lands in central, northern and western Iowa. Then could he found
land agents and dealers in land warrants thickly scattered along the principal
business streets and office room was in demand in every newly erected building.
True, at that time, most of these buildings were one and two-story frames, often
roughly and hastily constructed, but in these much business was transacted.   
At that time the Government received nothing but gold and silver in payment for
all cash entries of land, and consequently in the rude offices of those days
there were frequently many thousands of dollars, in gold and silver, together
with considerable currency. There were few safes and none of the vaults of the
present day. And yet, notwithstanding this large amount of money, kept,
apparently, in such an unsafe manner, with the town constantly filled with
travelers and strangers, the robberies and stealings were very few and small in
amount. This fact has been often noted and commented upon, and it speaks well
for the character of the men here at that early day. At this time were large
amounts of money kept and handled in the same manner as then robberies would be
frequent and large. Crime advances with as rapid strides as does material growth
and prosperity. In another chapter a more full account of the operations of the
United States land office are given from the government records at Washington.

   Prior to 1855 the only brick house in the town, except the court house, was a
one-story brick dwelling erected by L. D. Winchester, on the corner of Court
avenue and Fourth streets, where the Valley bank is now located. About 1854 this
was purchased by Captain F. R. West, and there he made his hospitable and
pleasant home for a number of years. A year or two later Benjamin F. Allen, who
had recently married Arethusa, the oldest daughter of Captain West, built a
two-story dwelling on Court avenue, on the lots now occupied by the Aborn House.
This, when first erected, was considered the finest dwelling in the town, and
Mr. and Mrs. Allen made it famous in those early days for good cheer and a
hospitable welcome to the best society of the time.

   During these years the main business houses continued on Second street, and
"The Point" was not forsaken. The postoffice was on Second street, across the
alley south of where the Shamrock House now stands, and nearly all the stores,
groceries, law offices, etc., were on Second street, south of Court avenue.
There were then no brick blocks, but on this part of Second were several
two-story frames, among them one on the corner of Market, with a double front;
one-half block above this was the one occupied near the close of this period by
B. F. Allen's bank; another north of Vine street, occupied below by Sheets &
Lovejoy's general store, and above by the Masons, Good Templars, etc., as a
lodge room. There was also a two-story frame on Elm street, fronting the public
grounds at the Point, first occupied as a general store by Wise & Co., and
afterwards as the home of the Star and Statesman. In the upper room of this
building the Know Nothing Lodge for a time held its meetings. Charles Good owned
the lots at the south end of Second street and had his drug store on the corner
one and lived with his family in the other frame building. The old Tucker,
Harter or Astor House, on Market square, was a two-story building, as was the
Marvin or Everett House, near the corner of Third and Walnut streets. There was
also a two-story log and frame building on the north side of Court avenue
between Second and Third, occupied by Dr. Wm. Baker; and Conrad Stutsman had
partly completed a large two or three-story frame on the corner of Walnut and
Front streets, afterwards so well known as the Des Moines House. These were
about all the two-story buildings, and all frame, then in the town.

   And in the latter part of this period the east side of the river began to
have aspirations for town or city life. As far back as 1849 Scott and Dean had
laid off lots along the bottom on the east side of the river, and this was
followed by an additon, [sic] which is now in the very heart of the business
portion of the East Side, by Joseph M. and Harry H. Griffiths. And these were
rapidly followed by W. A. Scott, Lyons and others making further additions
thereto. And as soon as the bill was passed re-locating the state capital here
those interested made a strong push to secure the location of the capitol
building upon that side of the river. They were pushing and energetic men, had a
large number of lots at their disposal, and they shrewdly sought to and were
successful in making many of the influential politicians and business men of the
state personally and pecuniarily interested in East Side property. Among the
early proprietors and rustlers for the East Side were: W. Alex Scott, John S.
Dean, Dr. T. K. Brooks, Joseph M. Griffiths, Harry H. Griffiths, James A.
Williamson, Harrison Lyon, Alfred M. Lyon, Dr. Alexander Shaw, Col. T. A.
Walker, R. W. Clarke, Isaac Brandt, Will Tomlinson, and a number of others.

   They had this advantage: Theirs was virtually a new enterprise and they had
everything to gain. They were, therefore, more united than were the residents of
the original town, worked better together and were more liberal in the offer of
inducement. And, as before stated, they had associated or interested with them
many influential men throughout the state. This interest or influence proved a
great help to them when it came to a definite location of the capitol grounds.
They were finally successful in 1856, and the present grounds were then
definitely located. This was a great victory for the East Side, which had been
rapidly built up during 1855-6, but did not become a part of the city of Des
Moines until 1857. This matter of the capitol location is written of in another
chapter.

   J. M. Dixon, for years one of the editors of the State Register, and known
later as the "blind editor," in his "Centennial History," thus writes of his
first impressions of Des Moines, he coming here in 1855:

   "There is no grander site in the country on which to build up a magnificent
city than the one which was chosen for the capital of Iowa. Shrewd and sagacious
men who had the ability to comprehend the great natural advantages of this site
and who had the ability likewise, to penetrate the future, anticipating the
prospective greatness of our city, made early investments here, knowing that the
time would surely come in which they would reap a rich harvest of prosperity.
Well do we remember the impression made upon our mind when for the first time we
stood on Capitol Hill and looked westward over the luxuriant landscape in the
midst of which the embryo city reposed in all its positive as well as its
prophetic beauty.

   "From the eminence whereon we stood our eyes were cast downward along the
slope of the hill, the surface of which was dotted by forest trees and
occasional residences. Further on we saw the plain, or beautiful valley,
stretching away from the base of the hill to the river, covered here and there
with unpretentious buildings, erected by the pioneers of the capital city. In
the center of the valley, penetrating it from north to south, we saw the River
Des Moines, whose limpid and placid current flashed back a myriad rays of light
from the sun which was smiling in the noonday sky as though conferring its
benediction on the infant city.

   "Following the course of the river southward we saw its fine tributary the
Raccoon, moving in its quiet and rippling flow from the west, and bringing its
mass of sparkling water as a tribute of respect and reverence to the beautiful
stream with which it became blended.

   "Looking beyond the Des Moines River our eyes fell upon the old town of Fort
Des Moines, nestling in the valley, and impressing us with the beauty and
picturesqueness of the prospect. Here, near the river, the dwellings and
business houses became more numerous and more ambitious; and beyond these the
plain which extended to the bluffs was not only magnificent in itself, but was
large enough to form the site of a vast metropolis.

   "In the splendid panorama spread out before our delighted vision, we could
not fail to survey with pleasure the bold and romantic heights, which on both
sides of the two rivers encompassed the valley, seeming to come down from their
tree-crowned eminences to do honor to the young city which was destined in time
to become the metropolis of Iowa. Now, then, if the reader has followed us in
our description so as to comprehend the beautiful scenery of this locality, with
its spacious valley, separated by the rivers, and its cordon of wooded heights
standing around it like invincible sentinels, watching* through the years its
progress and security, lie will agree with us in the declaration that there is
no city amid the landscapes of earth on which nature in her benevolence has
lavished more kindness than our beloved Des Moines."

GOLD EXCITEMENT.

   The discovery of gold in California was not without its effect on Polk county
and Iowa. One of the main trails or roads of the thousands of gold-seekers was
across the new state of Iowa, and this town and county was on the most traveled
of these routes. This gold fever had its beginning in 1840, but it was not until
1850 and later that it raged with such extreme violence. The discoveries first
made and the exaggerated stories concerning the same were talked over not only
in the east but also in the cabins dotting the prairies and nesting in the
timbers of Iowa. Here at that time, as often to many since, money was scarce and
difficult to obtain. Naturally under these circumstances the tales of gold
gathered in bountiful profusion from along the streams and gulches of California
caused much excitement among the hardy pioneers of Polk county. They were the
very men to be attracted by these golden visions, and they were better adapted
than most others for this search for wealth under the then great and almost
insurmountable difficulties surrounding a journey of thousands of miles through
a barren and almost unexplored country to reach the far distant Pacific coast.
They had experiences in roughing it—knew what it was to strike out into and make
new roads—had experienced the dangers and hardships pertaining to the settlement
of a new country. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that many of
the early settlers of Polk county joined in the rush for the gold fields of
California.

   The great rush toward California was commenced in 1850, and early in that
year the emigrants, or rather gold seekers, commenced pouring across the state,
one of the main lines passing directly through Polk county and Des Moines. They
came in wagons, drawn by horses, mules and oxen, even hand carts were used, and
not a few started on their long journey on horseback and also on foot. For a
time it was a craze, leading too often to disaster and death. Polk county
furnished its quota to this rush of reckless seekers after gold, and many
families in this county were bereft by it of its head for a year or two or too
frequently forever. The scenes at the time along the line in this vicinity is
thus described by a keen observer:

   "It seemed that Bedlam itself had been let loose. A continuous line of wagons
stretched away to the west as far as the eye could reach. If a wagon was
detained by being broken down or by reason of a sick horse or ox, it was dropped
out of line and the gap closed up immediately. If a poor mortal should sicken
and die the corpse was buried hurriedly by the wayside, without coffin or burial
service. When night came on the line of wagons was turned aside and their
proprietors would go into camp. Very often the sound of revelry would then begin
around the camp-fires thickly set on every hand, and whisky, cards and curses
would follow in their course. These poor, deluded votaries of mammon scattered
the dreadful scourge of smallpox everywhere they came in contact with the
settlers. Game cards and broken and empty bottles were strewn all along their
line of travel."

   The Des Moines newspapers of those days from time to time gave accounts of
the gold hunters as they passed through the county. For the week ending
Wednesday, April 17, 1850, the Gazette notes the passage of 252 wagons and 675
persons. Of the teams about 50 were oxen, averaging three yoke to a wagon, and
205 horse teams, averaging 3£ to a wagon, making 717 horses. For the week
end-in0, April 24 there were 199 teams and 540 men, making a total of 690 teams
and 1,797 persons. The next three weeks in May there were 359 teams and 1,00G
persons, making a total before the end of May of 1,049 teams, 2,813 persons, and
over 3,000 horses and oxen. And many hundreds more followed after them. A Des
Moines poet of that early day writes in the Journal:

   "Oh, California gold mines, what a fearful curse they've brought,
   With what heartrending sorrows has that search for dross been fraught,
   How many tearful partings and how many lives untold
   Have been laid upon the altar of this raging thirst for gold."

   Again, some ten years later, in 1858-60, there was the excitement over the
discovery of gold in Colorado, when "Pike's Peak or Bust" became a familiar
motto to the people of Polk county, a large proportion of the emigration of
those years passing through Des Moines. Hundreds of the citizens of the county
caught the fever and joined in this second march of civilization across the
western plains. Made up of such material as the early settlers the nomadic
instinct was strong in them, and it is not surprising that many joined in the
first great rush to California and later were prominent among the gold seekers
and early pioneers of Colorado and the Black Hills. Hundreds also in early days
were attracted to Kansas and later on to the Dakotas and to Oregon and
Washington on the Pacific coast. Many of them returned, for it is a noticeable
fact that no man or woman ever lived for a year or two in this city or county
without forming a strong attachment to the same, as is proven by the fact that
hundreds and thousands in the past fifty years have left with the firm intention
of never returning here to live, but sooner or later returned to the loved home
of their adoption and here made their permanent life settlement. No better
compliment than this could he paid to Des Moines and Polk county.

   Former citizens of Polk county can be found scattered all over the country,
from Boston to San Francisco, from New Hampshire to Florida. They are leading
men in New York, Brooklyn, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, and the large and
small cities of the south and west. Go into what town or city you may in this
broad country and there you will almost surely find, one or more men and women
who formerly resided near the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines River, and all will
speak affectionately of their former home. They may have left the city and
county but their warm affection remains. This universal and strong attachment
for the place has been so often remarked and commented upon that it is but right
it should be noted down and duly recorded in this History of Polk County and Des
Moines. It was the loved country of the red men of the past, and is to-day the
loved home of their white and black successors.

STAGES, ETC.

   The first need of every newly settled country is lines of communication with
the older sections, from which must be brought not only their supplies, but also
many of their future fellow citizens. There are always to be found enterprising
citizens ready to carry United States mails and passengers in all the new
settlements of the west. Fort Des Moines had scarcely secured a place upon the
map before lines of hacks and stages were projected in that direction. The order
of evolution on all mail routes is well understood by those who have had any
experience in the west. First, it is the mail carrier on horseback through the
country. Then comes the two-horse hack, with limited accommodations for
passengers. Then follows the more elegant and roomy four-horse coach. Then comes
the railroad, with its mail cars and passenger coaches, to soon evolute into
distributing postoffices on wheels, line passenger coaches and Pullman or Wagner
sleeping and dining cars, adapted for the most luxurious traveling, free to all
who have the price—or a free pass. The change in the modes of traveling have
been as rapid as has been the growth and population and wealth of Iowa, and
especially of Polk county. Men now living in Des Moines, and men, too, who do
not consider themselves to be fairly counted in the ranks of the aged, have in
their journeys to and from their homes in this city, used all these various
modes of conveyance. They have tried them all. They have jolted for miles in
hacks and stages, and perhaps had their share of carrying a rail with which to
pry a stalled hack or stage coach out of the mud, and have traveled in all the
coaches of various kinds provided by railroad companies. These are all within
their own personal knowledge and experience, and tells the story of the rapid
progress made in means and methods of travel in Iowa.

   The humble wagon or hack, as before stated, made an early appearance in Des
Moines. One of the first mail contractors to run a hack between Des Moines and
Iowa City was a gentleman named Monihan. Others soon followed, and other lines
were put in operation. One of the early carriers was a gentleman by the name of
Meachum. He was subsequently an agent of the United States Indian department,
and was with General Canby and others at that fatal interview with the Modoc
Indians, when the General, a Methodist preacher, and several others were so
ruthlessly slaughtered. Meachum was shot, hacked with knives and left for dead,
but finally recovered. About 1850 the then noted firm of Frink & Walker had
control of the principal passsenger lines in Iowa, and pushed their hacks and
teams from the Mississippi to the Missouri. In 1854 they sold out most of their
lines to the Western Stage Company, which company held the field until finally
driven out by the railroads.

   The Western Stage company was practically the old and noted Ohio Stage
company under a new name. They had operated extensive lines of coaches in Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois, and being pressed west by the advancing railroad lines,
took possession of most of Iowa, and held it firmly in their grasp for twenty
years or more. The men at the head of it and most of their employes had years of
experience, and when they moved into Iowa they brought with them their old
agents, drivers and mechanics, as well as their coaches and stock. Among the
prominent partners of the company were W. H. Sullivan, of Columbus, O.,
president; E. S. Alvord, of Indianapolis, Ind.; Kimball Porter, of Iowa City;
Messrs. Shoemaker, Talmadge and Campbell, of Ohio, and Col. E. F. Hooker, of Des
Moines.

   The first headquarters of the company in Des Moines was at the Everett House,
which then stood on the east side of Third street, near Walnut, the office being
located there July 1, 1854. Not long after the office was moved to a building on
the let immediately south of the Everett House, where Harbach's furniture
building was subsequently erected. Here the office remained for many years. The
extensive barns and shops of the company were located near the corner of Eighth
and Vine streets, on or near where Getchell's lumber yards have been for many
years. Col. E. F. Hooker, so well known to so many of our early and later
citizens, was the general superintendent, and for several years resided in a
frame building near the stage office. He afterwards purchased and removed his
family to a, for that day, fine brick residence which stood on the present site
of the Savery House. The first agent in Des Moines was a clever gentleman by the
name of Smith. He was succeeded in a year or two by W. H. McChesney, who died in
1858. Mr. Cooper was also agent for a time. A. T. Johnson, so long a most
popular resident of the city, then became the agent of the company, and remained
as such until the company withdrew its lines from this place. Mr. Johnson then
established the first omnibus line in the city, and conducted it successfully
until his death some twelve or fifteen years ago. He was a good man, highly
respected by all.

   Col. E. F. Hooker retired from the superintendency of the company in 1866,
and was succeeded by Richard Lounsbery, who held the place to the end. He was a
popular and much esteemed citizen, who had been with the stage company for many
years, and afterwards engaged in business for himself in this city. He died in
1878. His brother, George Lounsbery, who was associated with Richard in
business, is yet a well known and prosperous citizen. E. B. Alvord, T. R.
Fletcher, E. W. Sparhawk and E. G. Sears were secretaries of the Western Stage
company at various times, and resided in Des Moines. Colonel Hooker, the first
general superintendent, soon after leaving the company became connected with the
Rock Island and the Union Pacific railroad companies, and continues their
trusted agent. While his railroad duties are mostly between here and the
Pacific, Colonel Hooker yet considers Des Moines his home, being much attached
to the city he so much aided in its earlier days, and here he has hosts of warm
and devoted friends.

   When the company was in its full tide of business its shops and stables here
were the largest in the state*. The shops were in live departments—wood-work,
iron-work, painting, horse-shoeing and harness-making and repairing. These were
all under the control of A. B. Woodbury, lie remained in Des Moines as one of
its best citizens for a number of years and now resides in New York. Connected
with the company were other well known citizens, among thm [sic] Charles
Rommell, George Weaver and others.

   The company did an immense business from l854 until a few years after the
close of the war, and a number of its leading owners and officers became wealthy
men. During the war the company transported many thousands of soldiers to and
fro in the state. Two regiments of infantry, the Twenty-third and Thirty-ninth,
were organized in this city, and the officers and men were transported to the
Mississippi River by the stage company. This company was a great factor in the
settlement and building up of Iowa, especially of the central portion of the
state. It ran two main lines across the state, and had many connecting lines. It
met with many difficulties, had not a few reverses, but its number of accidents
were very small, and upon the whole it was ably and skilfully [sic] managed.
Naturally, there were often complaints, and in this connection the writer is
tempted to reprint a newspaper article, written and published by himself in 1858:

   "We notice a number of our exchanges are raking down the Western Stage
company for the manner in which they convey passengers over their lines. A
little reflection will doubtless show to those who are censuring the stage
company that they are wrong in their censure. The company, we think, deserves
the praise of the people of Iowa for its indomitable perseverance in plowing
through snow, rain, sleet and mud for the past eight months, imperiling the
lives of their drivers and teams in crossing swollen streams to accommodate the
traveling public and deliver the mails at the postoffices. But few persons would
endure the privations and hardships which the company has passed through in Iowa
for the past eight months for double the amount they receive. We believe the
company has done more to forward the mails and passengers than the public could
reasonably expect at their hands, taking into consideration the awful condition
of the roads. A little more work on the highways and a little more patience on
the part of passengers would be a good thing just at this time."

   The last coach belonging to the company in Des Moines was sold to James
Stevenson, of Omaha, in 1874. A. T. Johnson rode on the driver's seat from the
old stage barn to the railroad depot, and as he left the old coach to proceed on
its journey to the west, he bid it an affectionate farewell. With it disappeared
almost the last relic of the once flourishing and powerful Western Stage
company. It had had its day of glory and usefulness, and must disappear forever.
In its place was the steam and iron and power and comfort of the railroad train.
Good-bye to the old coaches and coaching days.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ANNALS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA,
AND
CITY OF DES MOINES
BY WILL PORTER.

"And this volume, dedicated to its people, sets forth in attractive style all
the facts and incidents that go to make up the history of which all citizens are
justly proud."
—Major Hoyt Sherman.

GEO. A. MILLLER PRINTING COMPANY,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,
DES MOINES, IOWA,
1898.


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