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THE FIRST
POST-OFFICE.
Penoach was then quite a pioneer
village, consisting of several log cabins, each one
of which was thoroughly inhabited. Something of an
assortment was now being kept in the line of a stock
of groceries, dry-goods, notions, and other essential
family supplies, so that the settlers could there
be accommodated with many necessary articles for home
use. But during this hard winter it was very difficult
getting to the village to obtain these. A post-office
had also been established there, as before stated,
during the previous fall (1847), when the postmaster,
J. C. Corbell, had built a log house which he used
both for a dwelling-house and post-office, being the
first house built in the town.
About the only way the settlers
could reach this post-office during the winter of
heavy snow was on foot, by following the river on
the ice where the snow had not drifted so deeply.
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Even then they were compelled
to be very vigilant, lest, in their journey for the
mail matter, they might run into an air-hole, or break
through the thin ice, as the heavy coat of snow had
prevented the ice from freezing very thickly, and
the settlers did not dare to venture upon it with
teams or on horseback.
The building in which the mail
matter was kept must have been a shackly old structure,
poorly finished and furnished, and not well adapted
either for convenience or comfort, from the description
given in the following incident related by Judge Burns:
"S. K. Scovell was deputy
postmaster in 1843, under Squire Corbell, chief: In
June of that year we called at the post-office at
Penoach for a magazine we were taking at the time.
We found the deputy postmaster sprawling on the dirt
floor of the office, with his leonine head pillowed
on a rick of 'Session Laws,' fast asleep.
"Intone, the deputy, got
up, yawning and scratching his head, and began to
look through his pillow, in which the uncalled for
mail matter was interlaid, for the magazine asked
for. It could not be found, and the deputy remarked
that 'it must be here somewhere, for I have certainly
read it. May be possible it has blown out through
these tarnal cracks, for it's powerful windy here
sometimes. I'll look and see.'
"The deputy went out doors,
and, on looking around in the tall grass, found it
some thirty feet away, where, sure enough, it had
been blown."
Of course the amount of mail
matter at that time passing through this post-office
was very limited in comparison with that of the present
day; but the scarcity, the great length of time elapsing
between the dates of arrival of the different mails,
and the difficulties and trials encountered in securing
and bringing it home made it all the more precious
to those receiving the long-looked-for messages and
periodicals. A week then, perhaps, seemed shorter
than a day does now to one looking for a delayed letter.
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A WELCOME SPRING.
The fearful winter referred to
gradually began to loosen its hold in the following
February, and before the month of March was gone the
snow had all disappeared, except occasional remnants
of massive drifts that had existed on the north side
of high banks and hills, where the sun had not been
permitted to shine so powerfully, and the spring of
1849 was ushered in quite early, with a kindly welcome,
bringing encouragement and hope to many anxious hearts,
as well as comfort and warmth to many needy, suffering
homes.
The heavy snow lying so constantly
on the ground during the previous winter had not allowed
the ground to become frozen very solid or deep, so
that the stock could take care of themselves quite
comfortably during the latter part of March, and until
the grass began to start in the sloughs and bottom-lands
in sufficient quantities to furnish feed in abundance.
Every thing seemed most favorable also for producing
an early growth of vegetation as if to recompense
for the want and suffering of the past winter.
By the time the snow was melted
the frost was nearly all out of the ground, so that
the constant rays of the sun soon produced warmth
enough
350
in the earth to start the growth of grass and hurry
the much-wished-for pasture along, and furnished food
for the famishing herds. This was, indeed, an inestimable
blessing to all those who had settled here late in
the previous fall, and had not been enabled to procure
either feed for their stock, 0 or sufficient food
and comforts for themselves and families.
The felling of trees for the
browsing and shelter of stock had proven a good thing
in time of need, but an were heartily glad that the
time had at last come when this custom need not longer
be pursued, and when stock could take care of themselves,
leaving the owners to go about their spring work and
improvements.
Great preparation was made on
all hands during the spring for securing as good and
large a crop during the coming harvest as possible.
Every available acre and square foot of ground that
was at all arable and fitted for receiving the seed
with any chance of producing a reasonable growth of
grain or garden stuffs, was seeded or planted with
the utmost care and diligence. During that spring
quite a large crop was planted, considering the age
of the settlements and the great disadvantages under
which the citizens labored for making improvements,
and again their faithful labors were rewarded with
a fruitful harvest.
Quite a large increase of emigration
also came into the county during that spring and summer,
almost doubling the population of the county before
the end of that year.
As one who was present and witnessed
the scene of progress says of it:
"The year of grace, 1849,
was crowned with an abundant harvest, and witnessed
the incoming of many immigrants within our borders,
who were greeted with a hearty welcome by all."
No doubt those coming in during
that year did receive a hearty welcome from all those
who had preceded them, and found the way opened with
far more encouraging prospects than those did who
first made permanent settlements in Dallas county.
It was, in general, a summer of peaceful prosperity.
Many of the new-comers bringing in more or less money,
to be distributed, to some extent, among those already
living here, who had been fortunate enough to have
something left from last year's crop to sell for the
supply of others.
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FLOOD OF 1849.
When the immense coat of snow
that covered the ground during the previous winter,
began to melt in the spring, it caused a terrible
flood, which swept down the ravines and bottoms into
the rivers, carrying every thing before it. The melting
of the snow began about the first of March, and continued,
under the increasing power of the sun's rays, to swell
the rivers until far beyond their banks and well up
on the bluffs on either side, thus rendering it impossible
to cross them, and shutting the settlers in from communication
with those living on the other side, for weeks and
months.
A great many heavy rains also
came during that spring, and kept the flood raging
from March until July of that year. There was very
little getting to mill, or any place else, while that
continued, if the desired trip was to be made across
a stream or two of any considerable size, and under
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such circumstances the settlers must still remain
contented with their allotted apportionment of "hog
and hominy" until the "floods of water"
subsided so that crossing could again be accomplished.
Sometimes very risky, and generally
fruitless, attempts were made at crossing during the
high waters, by the more adventurous and daring ones.
A temporary raft was made of
logs or home-made canoes and dug-outs fastened together,
on which the grist and wagons were taken across, piece
by piece, and then the oxen caused to swim to the
other shore, when all things were again put in running
order, and the mill-goers moved onward on their journey.
But not very many of the settlers
chose to risk such an hazardous undertaking, and sometimes
those who did undertake it found more on their hands
than they were able to manage, and were glad to get
back safely to shore with all their effects and wait
until a more convenient season, as was the case with
the Ellis boys, before related.
As a general thing the citizens
were content to remain near their homes attending
to the work to be done there during the high waters,
and make the best of the circumstances living on just
such as they had and could get near home.
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FLOOD OF 1851.
Two years later, also,
during the spring of 1851 there was another great
flood, as great, if not greater in extent and amount
of damages than the previous one. The rainfall throughout
Iowa in that spring was unprecedented, and the smaller
rivers in the State attained a high water mark which
has not since been reached, and for some time the
earth's surface was like an immense sea of mud and
water, rather than terra firma.
It is said that at times the
rain fell literally in torrents for the space of an
hour, giving the face of the whole country the appearance
of a vast lake or sheet of rushing water.
The Des Moines river reached
an immense size, tearing down and carrying off everything
that came within reach of its current, and reaching
out in many places to a width of two to four miles,
as the high water marks plainly showed by measurement
after the waters had subsided.
The Raccoon river, in all its
branches and tributaries, was swollen in equal proportions,
bearing along with its current everything that could
not withstand the power of its sweeping, rushing waters,
and thus causing much damage by floating away fencing
and other improvements along its banks and bottom
lauds that had been made since the previous flood
of 1849, and flooding many of the farms on the low
lands along it so that the owners were unable to go
forward with their work for many weeks. This overflow
finally reached its culmination about the last of
May.
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SECOND DISTRICT COURT.
On June 4, 1849, after a lapse
of nearly two years from the date of the first court
session in the county, the second district court convened
in Penoach.
Hon. William McKay who had been
appointed prosecuting attorney at
352
the first court, had been promoted to the position
of judge of the fifth judicial district, in the meantime,
and presided over this second session.
This was really the first one
at which any cases appeared upon the docket, and there
seems to have been but one case at this session, which
was of minor importance and was dismissed from the
docket, as the following record shows:
WILLIAM D. BOONE
} vs.
JOHN WRIGHT.
The parties now
come, and thereupon the said defendant files his motion
for a continuance, and also a motion to dismiss the
case from the docket; and thereupon, by agreement
of said parties, a change of venue is granted to the
court of Polk, in this Judicial District.
S. K. Scovell was clerk, Eli
Smithson, sheriff, and Henry Stump, prosecuting attorney.
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ELECTIONS OF 1849.
The April election of this year
created no unusual interest, as there were only few
offices to be filled, and not very important ones.
At their January meeting the
board of county commissioners had again provided for
three places of voting, one at Penoach, one in Boone,
and one in Des Moines township.
The whole number of votes cast
at this election was sixty-seven.
There were only four officers
elected at this time: a probate judge, Samuel Miller,
to succeed Uriah Stotts; a school-fund commissioner,
Ira Sherman, to succeed S. K. Scovell; and two justices
of the peace, F. C. Case and Judah Leaming, Sr.
The temperance issue at this
election is noted further on under the head of temperance.
The August election of 1849
elicited a greater interest on the part of the voters
generally throughout the county.
The principal offices of importance
now to be filled were that of district clerk and sheriff,
and over the filling of these two offices there was
quite an enthusiastic fight, causing rather a lively
campaign, and some earnest work was carried forward
on both sides with considerable earnestness of feeling.
But it is said that, "notwithstanding the activity
of the chief contestants for the succession in this
election, there were no thorns left in the flesh to
irritate and inflame in after days. On the contrary,
the kindest feelings seemed to prevail among all."
The voting precincts, at this
time, stood as at the previous April election, three
in number, and the highest number of votes cast for
anyone office was ninety-five (95), which was, perhaps,
about all the available votes in the county at that
time.
There were numerous candidates
for the various offices, several having four different
contestants and one reaching as high as five, but
these were principally for offices of minor note.
The more important offices only had the two opposing
candidates, and the largest number of votes possible
on either side was cast for them.
The following table shows the
various candidates for the respective offices, and
the number of votes each received; also, the successful
ones, as shown by the majority column:
Click on images for full size
353
While there was a great increase
of emigration to the county during the entire year
of 1849 there was also in that fall quite a perceptible
decrease in the population on account of the great
excitement in these parts caused by the opening of
the rich gold mines of California, taking many away
from their settlements here, and vacating a number
of the important offices so recently fined at the
late August election. This movement necessitated the
appointment, October 9, 1849, of Aaron L. Johns as
sheriff, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the, resignation
of John S. Sammis; and also the calling of a new election,
by the board of county commissioners, to fill this
and other offices vacated for the same reason, which
election should be held early the following year,
on February 23, 1850, the results of which are given
further on, under the proper date.
The gold excitement of California
was the means of drawing away about thirty persons
from this county during that fall, many of whom were
numbered among the first citizens of the county.
The winter which followed was
also quite severe, but not so much so as the preceding
one, and the citizens were much better prepared for
enduring
354
it than they were a year before. The crop had been
abundant, so that all who had spent the summer here
were well supplied with food and shelter and other
necessaries for making them and their stock comfortable
through the winter; besides, they had learned a most
important lesson from their past experience, that
was not likely soon to be forgotten.
There was enough raised in the
county to furnish a reasonable supply for all the
new-comers, as well as for the former settlers, and
this winter was passed with comparative convenience
and comfort, with no unusual stir except that caused
by the gold excitement of California.
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GOLD-HUNTERS OF 1850.
The California gold excitement,
which was first manifested here in the fan of 1849,
taking away from this county many good citizens that
could illy be spared, and unsettling the minds of
many more, did not die out in the least during the
siege of winter, but rather increased in its intensity,
spreading to a wonderful extent throughout the country,
and enlisting the sympathies of multitudes, who became
only too anxious to dispose of the little property
or comfortable homes they might be possessing or enjoying
in peace and contentment, and pushing on to the strange
new land in pursuit of more gold.
The winter season in very many
localities, as well as in several settlements of this
county, was spent principally in making the necessary
preparation for joining the throng and starting westward
as soon as the weather and grass would permit. And
in the spring of 1850 the rush of emigration along
the overland route to California passing through here
presented a scene never to be forgotten by those who
beheld it, and especially by those whose friends,
the nearest and dearest of earth, had parted from
them and joined the throng, perhaps never to return
again. It was one continuous line of wagons, extending
east and west as far as the eye could see, moving
westward, and drawing in from the country on either
side as it passed along very many from their quiet
homes and peaceful pursuits, until about the first
of June of that year, when the great rush had passed
by here, and left the remaining citizens to pursue
the even tenor of their ways.
The scene along this line, through
this vicinity, is thus described by one who was an
eye-witness:
"It seemed that Bedlam
itself had been let loose.
"A continuous line of wagons,
stretching away to the west as far as the eye could
see. * * * * *
* * * * * *
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 way-side, without coffin
or burial service. When night came on, the line of
wagons was turned aside and their proprietors would
go into camp.
"Very soon the sound of
revelry would begin around the camp-fires thickly
set on every hand, first to bottle and then to cards,
to the echo of the most horrid oaths and imprecations
that were ever conceived or uttered since the fall
of man.
"These poor deluded votaries of Mammon scattered
that dreadful scourge,
355
small-pox, everywhere that they came in contact with
the settlers on the way. Game cards were strewn all
along the line of travel. Glass bottles, after being
emptied of their nefarious contents down the throats
of the men, were dashed against wagon wheels, pieces
of which were thickly strewn all along the road, as
if to mock the madness of the advancing column of
these fervent janizaries of the golden calf.
"At the time of the treaty
of Gaudalupe Hidalgo, the population of California
did not exceed thirty thousand, while at the time
of which we are writing (1850), there were more than
one hundred and fifty thousand people that had found
their way thither.
"Of which number at least
one hundred thousand were 'gold-hunters' from the
States.
"There had been taken from
the auriferous beds of California, up to January,
1850, over $40,000,000 in gold.
"Out of a population of
a little less than three hundred, our county lost
one-tenth of that population in the tide to California.
"The evil effects of this
gold mania upon the moral status of the people of
the United States is still seen and felt everywhere,
and among all classes of society, and no man can see
the end. It has popularized the worship of Mammon
to an alarming extent throughout the country, and
to this worship may be imputed, to a great extent,
the moral declension of to-day."
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GENERAL PROSPERITY IN 1850.
The draft from the citizenship
of this county, which the passing rush of emigration
carried away to the gold-fields, was very sensibly
felt in this young settlement for awhile during this
spring, and it was feared that it might prove even
much more disastrous while the high excitement was
raging. But as a general thing, the people here soon
concluded they had been having, during the past few
years, experience enough, in frontier life and new
settlements, to do them for a while, and became contented
to cling to the more certain pessession [possession?]
for which they had already toiled so hard and endured
so much, though they might not hasten along quite
so rapidly on the road to riches and lavish pleasures,
rather than dispose of their humble estates and rush
off wildly after the uncertain possessions and happiness
offered by the placer mines of California.
Many of the marvelous stories
regarding that great Eldorado of the West, began to
appear incredible and lost the power of exciting the
more stable minded ones, so as to lure them from their
quiet homes and peaceful possessions.
When the flush of excitement
was once over, and the more exciteable, restless ones
had been sifted out and carried away, the remainder
settled down again to active, steady work, on their
homesteads, carrying the work of general improvement
steadily forward, and multiplying inducements for
bringing in other settlers to increase their number
and further their home interests.
The embarrassment experienced
for a few months in the spring was soon afterward
more than doubly counteracted by the' increase of
immigration within the county bounds during the following
summer and fall. And before the year 1850 had closed,
the population of Dallas county numbered about 850
persons, all told.
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Cultivation and general improvement
also had become greatly advanced, so that evident
signs of enterprise and civilization on a more than
ever extensive scale became apparent, giving encouraging
promise for the future.
People from other States and
other parts of this State now began to discover indeed
that Dallas county, with her fertile prairies, excellent
timber and water privileges, and numerous other natural
advantages, afforded some of the finest opportunities
of any locality in the State or western country for
the investment of money in real estate or the procuring
of desirable, comfortable homes which would soon become
greatly increased in value, and salable in market
at the highest figures. Besides, being located so
near the center of the State it was becoming apparent
to many of the more sagacious ones that at no distant
day this locality would not be far from the capital
city, at least near enough to secure the increased
value and ready sale of land after the lapse of a
few years, though it was not until five years afterward
that the seat of government was finally located at
Des; Moines (January 15, 1855).
This brought into the county a
rapid increase of land owners within the few following
years, many of whom became permanent settlers and:
estimable citizens, and many others who only entered
or purchased the best lands there to be found, and
held these for speculation, which proved in some respects
a benefit, and in others a great injury to the county's
progress.
The crop was again good this
year, and everything went on prosperously in view
of the coming bountiful harvest. Mills went up rapidly
in various localities, rendering milling privileges
comparatively convenient to all settlements in the
county. Roads were being laid out and worked, and
temporary bridges constructed in different localities
for the convenience of travel. Schools and school-houses
were rapidly increasing, and conveniences for public
worship multiplied. Manufactories of various kinds
began to be talked of by the more enterprising men
of some capital, and the general work of improvement
and civilization progressed most encouragingly.
The summer season was oppressively
hot, and the great increase of immigration into the
county and country round about, together with the
demands of the immense rush of California emigrants
passing through here for grain and breadstuffs during
the spring and preceding fall, the surplus crop of
the previous year was quite exhausted, before the
new crop came into market, and as a consequence prices
ruled very high here for an such products during the
summers of 1850 and the following year. Corn sold
at times as high as $1.50 per bushel, and flour was
ready sale at $7.00 per cwt.
Mills and markets had now come
almost to the doors of the settlers, and the thing
of chief importance was to raise products to supply
these markets.
Top
THE FIRST DEED.
Early in the year of 1850, also,
the first conveyance of real estate in the county,
of which any record is found, was made, the deed of
which bears date of February 13, 1850. The grantors
were Judah Learning, Jr., and wife, and the grantee
was Martin Tucker, of Polk county.
The property thus conveyed was
the southwest quarter of section twenty
357
three (23), township eighty-one (81), range twenty-six
(26), containing one hundred and sixty (160) acres,
for the consideration of one hundred dollars ($100).
The deed was acknowledged before Judah Learning, Sr.,
an acting justice of the peace, living in Des Moines
township of this county.
Soon after this, and during the
same spring, another transfer of real estate was made
in the county, in what is now Washington township,
by one Samuel Marrs, to David M. Starbuck, 160 acres,
for the sum of $150, and other minor considerations
as specified in the following agreement between the
parties. It appears that this was only a claim disposed
of, and no deed was given at the time; but a written
statement of the agreement between the two parties
was given by the one selling to the one purchasing,
to bind the bargain and make sure the transfer for
all time.
Of said paper the following is
an exact transcript from the original:
Adel, Dallas County
Iowa.
nown by all men of theas prents I
Samuel Marrs have Sold my Came ling in Section thirteen
two David M Starbuck witch Marrs Agreas two furnish
one thousand rails on said Came this being All the
Came that the said Marrs oans in the County of Dallas
this Apel the 24. 1850 Samuel Marrs
April the 24, 1850
Received of D M Starbuck one hundred and fifty dollars
being the ful amount that he was two give for said
Came. Samuel Marrs
The original paper, from which
the above was copied, is still in the possession of
Mrs. W. H. Murphy, of Washington township (formerly
Mrs. D. M. Starbuck), which she holds as a choice
memento of earlier days, when her former husband secured
the possession of the land which has produced the
comfortable home where she now lives as Mrs. Murphy.
The original paper is now well
worn and rusty in appearance, but tells, as plainly
and unmistakably as it did the day it was written,
the intent for which it was given to the purchasing
party.
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