BIOGRAPHY: Bass, George L.
From the A.T. Andreas Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa, 1875

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    Honorable GEORGE L. BASS -- Few men among the early settlers of the 
West have been more noted for their versatility than Honorable George L. 
Bass of McGregor.  The few facts which we have been able to gather of his 
life fail to present an adequate idea of the changes he has passed through, 
and the number of different things he has done.  Born in Brooklyn, New 
York, on the 23rd of June, 1824, he commenced learning the painter's trade 
at the age of ten years.  After working two years at that, he went to Wayne 
County, New York, and there devoted his time alternately to working on a 
farm, tending saw mill, carding machine and cloth factory, till eighteen 
years of age. 
    He then started for the West, arriving in Chicago in June, 1842.  After 
paying his stage fare for Galena ($3.50) to the agent of the famous Frink & 
Walker's line of stages, he had but "five shillings" left, and with that in 
his pocket he started for the lead mines.  He well remembers how he felt 
like one "out at sea" on rocking over the prairiesfor the first time in a 
stagecoach.  From Galena to Plattsville, where he had some relations, he 
went on foot, a distance of twenty-five miles.  Arriving there, he went to 
work"as well as a homesick boy could."  He made rails, built fence, carried 
on mercantile business, mined, bought and carted lead ore, ran a furnace, 
and got married, June the 13th, 1848, to Miss Ann Moore.  On the way home 
from the wedding, with his wife, one of the irons connecting the thills 
with the axletree of his buggy broke and he stopped at a blacksmith shop by 
the side of the road and welded it himself.  He left the mines at Benton, 
Wisconsin with his wife, his oldest child being then a babe in its mother's 
arms, in the Spring of 1850, and arriving at the Mississippi River, crossed 
in a skiff to McGregor, among the first settlers. 
    Here he began life as a merchant, in partnership with Andrew T. Jones a 
former acquaintance at the mines, the firm being Jones & Bass, the first 
firm in the Town of McGregor, though Mr. Evans had opened a store before 
them the same year.  On the 3rd of August, 1851, their entire stock of 
goods and store were burned.  Their business, however, suffered but a few 
weeks' suspension: a new store was erected, and their friends furnishing 
them with all the goods they needed, they went on more prosperously than 
before. 
    April 15th, 1852, with the first boat from McGregor, Mr Bass left for 
California.  He returned in July, 1854.  During the time he was absent he 
was water agent in the mines, ran drifts, managed a trading post, bought 
gold dust, ran water wheels and handled a pickaxe, which was all lost time 
to him so far as making money was concerned. 
    In August, after his return from California, he went to New York and 
purchased a stock of goods, and started in business again at McGregor, 
continuing till the Fall of 1856, when he sold out to Merrill & Barron, and 
busied himself with other pursuits till 1859, in which year he formed a 
partnership with Robert Grant, under the firm name of Bass & Grant, in the 
produce and commission business, which continued till 1861.  The firm was 
then dissolved, and Mr. Bass formed a partnership with Mr. F>F. Elmendorf, 
the firm being Bass & Elmendorf, in the produce, forwarding and commission 
business. 
    In the Fall of 1861, Mr. Bass was unanimously elected to represent his 
county in the State Legislature, as a Union man, and served during the 
regular and special terms.  He was one of the second Board of Trustees of 
McGregor, and was elected mayor of the city in 1859 and 1860, but resigned 
before the expiration of the latter term.  He was interested in the first 
brick yard, the first saw mill, the first school house, the first church, 
and indeed the first of almost every thing, in getting started in this new 
country.  If the streets wanted grading, he could hold a plow to do it as 
well as any man on the corporation.  He made himself generally useful, and 
was full of public spirit.   He was an ardent advocate of the Mississippi 
River improvement, and attended the convention in that interest at St Louis 
in 1868. 
    Without the advantages of an education, and thrown early in life upon 
his own resources, Mr. Bass has been a man who by his own energy, natural 
abilities and force of character, has made his way successfully in the 
world.  By his integrity and genial disposition he has been able to attach 
men to him, and consequently has never been in want of friends.  By his 
versatility he has adapted himself to every thing which the exigencies of 
self support in a new country demanded, and upon the whole has achieved a 
creditable degree of success.