Hancock County IL Archives News.....A Journey To Icaria November 19, 1934
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Ken Wright kenneth565@aol.com April 18, 2009, 2:58 am

Mason City Globe-Gazette November 19, 1934
Mason City Globe-Gazette, November 19, 1934 
In 1840 a Frenchman named Etienne Cabet wrote a book with the title "A Journey
to Icaria." He told of the strange adventures of a friend in the wonderful
country of Icaria. The people lived together in friendship and enjoyed many
comforts. But no one had more than another, and each worked for the good of all.
Everybody was educated, polite, and contented. The book was very popular.
Thousands of French people read it and wished they could live in such a perfect
country. Times were especially bad just then. The poor could live like Utopians.
Many went to Cabet and asked him to lead them to a place where they could live
like Utopians. They were eager to try real equality. 
In 1847, Cabet bought a piece of land in Texas to be used for his ideal
community. A contract was signed by 69 men who agreed to start the colony. By
the time they reached the place, however, they were nearly worn out by the trip
across the dry, hot plains. Breaking the sod and building houses in the July sun
were enough to discourage the strongest men. Sick with chills and fever, they
finally gave up and returned to New Orleans. There Cabet found them when he came
over with the main body of his followers. He was convinced that Texas was not a
good location for his dream city of happiness. Some members of the party were so
dismayed by the hardships of American pioneering that they went back to France.
The others, 280 in all, decided to go up the Mississippi in search of a better
place. On the way, 20 of the number died of cholera. Finally, sad but hopeful,
they reached Nauvoo in Illinois opposite Montrose. There the weary immigrants
found houses ready built, for the Mormons who used to live there had been driven
out of the state. For several years these Frenchmen, who called themselves
Icarians, seem to have prospered. The community grew until it was double the
number of original settlers. Near the ruins of the old Mormon temple, the
Icarians built a community house, with a great dining room and assembly ball.
They also had a schoolhouse, two hospitals, a drug store, a big kitchen where
all the meals were cooked, a bakery a laundry, a sawmill, a flour mill and a
library. Everything was owned in common and used for the benefit of all. After a
while some of the members 
began to find fault. They complained that all were not treated alike. The ideas
of Cabet were no longer respected. Everybody took sides in the dispute; those
against Cabet were the "reds." those for him the "whites." One day the "whites"
refused to work and so the "reds" would not let them eat. At last the "whites"
had to leave the community. Nearly 200 went to St. Louis, and there on November
8, 1856, Etienne Cabet died. 
The 300 or more who remained at Nauvoo soon discovered that their problems were
not all solved. They suffered from the hard times of 1857. Then their crops
failed. In 1860 they determined to move to Iowa and start building the permanent
Icaria on about 3,000 acres of land they owned in Adams county. It was a long
trip by wagon across the unbroken prairies to their new home. There was not a
settler along the trail for the last 40 miles. Cheered by the opportunity to
build their own ideal community, however, they selected a hill overlooking the
east fork of the Nodaway River, about two miles east of the present town of
Corning; and there they established Icaria. About the central. community
building they erected the shops, mills, and houses. Beyond the village were the
farm lands. But no church spire pointed toward Heaven. The Icarians did not
believe in religion. 
From the beginning, this little French settlement had to struggle against
frontier hardships and debt. So many became discouraged and left that at one
time only 35 persons remained in the community During the war all the men who
were able joined the Union army. All but about 1,100 acres of land had to be
sold. Distress and failure prevailed in this Utopia which was created to promote
happiness. Nevertheless, the Icarians clung to their ideals. Though each family
lived in a separate house, the food was prepared in a big kitchen and served in
one large dining room. Every meal in Icaria was like a picnic. For breakfast
they had porridge,bread and butter and coffee. The menu for dinner and supper
included meat, vegetables, marmalade, cheese and fruit. The men worked in the
fields, mills or shops; the women in the kitchen, dining room or laundry. The
children went to school where they were taught the ideas of their society as
well as the usual subjects. Everyone spoke French, though almost all became
American citizens. One of the Icarians, A. Piquenard, made the plans for the
Iowa and Illinois state capitals. Again, however, the Icarians quarreled among
themselves. Some, 
who had planted fruit trees and vines around their houses, claimed that the
apples and grapes were theirs. Others said it was not fair for a few to have
plenty and they none. The younger members wanted to build more factories and get
other people to join them, but the older pioneers looked at their calloused
hands and shook their heads. And so the debate continued. The old folks had most
of the votes in the meeting, but not enough to put the young ones out. They had
no church to unite them. At last, in 
1878, a court ordered the community dissolved. The young group stayed a while at
Icaria and then moved to California. Meanwhile, the old Icarians had organized a
new community about a mile away. It was a small group, continually worried by
debt but still true to the old ideals of equality and common property. As the
years passed these French immigrants found it harder to live as a unit. With sad
hearts they finally decided to give up the struggle. Their common possessions
were divided among the members according to the number of years each had worked
in the community. On Oct. 22, 1898, the business was finished and the last
branch of Etienne Cabet's Utopian Icaria, where people were, to be free, equal
and happy, was no more. 

 


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