|
-147-
R. W. SYPHER
 ONE of the very first merchants to open a store in Des Moines was R. W. Sypher, who came early in 1846. He occupied a double log cabin on the Phelps Fur Company claim, about a mile east on the plateau, near the river, as all trade and business, outside the garrison, was in that direction. A double log cabin of the settlers was different from that at The Fort. The settler's cabin was composed of two cabins of equal size, with a space between equal to the size of the cabin. The space was roofed from cabin to cabin, the space being utilized for a storage shed. At The Fort, the structures were the same, except that the space between the cabins was walled up with logs, between which ports,or loop-holes, were made through which soldiers could thrust their guns when necessary.
Sypher's store was stocked with groceries, dry goods, hardware, queensware (now called crockery), boots, shoes, glass, nails, and everything liable to be needed in the community, and was largely advertised in the Star. Immediately the soldiers leaving, he built a frame store at the northwest corner of Second and Vine streets, adjoining that of Frank Allen. He soon began to branch out by establishing branch stores at Booneville (now Boone), and other places, and became a merchant prince. HIs greatest source of trouble was the River Improvement dams, down a Bonaparte, which obstructed the passage of steamboats then, and to-day the fish. His goods required frequent replenishment. There were no railroads, the land roads were often impassable for teaming from Keokuk and Burlington, the nearest source of supply, and more than one hundred and seventy miles away.
In June, 1851, the year of the "great flood"——nothing like it before or since——the whole country bordering the water courses was under water. The pioneer settlers made their claims along rivers and creeks. The flood destroyed all hope of making a crop.
146-
At The Fort, affairs were in serious condition. Food supplies were scarce; there was no flour. Keokuk and Burlington had an abundance, but their merchants and shippers were not disposed to assume the expense and risk of sending merchandise and supplies up a wild, turbulent river, obstructed by half complete dams, and completely damned by river boatmen. It became apparent that relief could come only by home industry. Accordingly, Sypher, Colonel J. M. Griffith, W. T. Marvin, who kept the Marvin House, on Third Street near Walnut, and others planned to go to St. Louis, charter a steamboat, and get supplies. A small, flat-bottomed skiff was made, and Griffith, Marvin, Peter Myers, a politician and speculator, Hoyt Sherman, Postmaster, boarded it, the last two as supercargo, not being personally interested in family supplies, to float down to Keokuk, where they arrived on the fourth day, tying up at night wherever they could reach an accessible place to get "grub." From Keokuk, they went to St. Louis, where they chartered a stern-wheel steamboat, loaded it with a cargo of flour and general merchandise, and started for home. On arriving at Bonaparte, they met the River Improvement Company's submerged dam. Several ineffectual attempts were made to get over it, but the rushing torrent was too strong. The cargo was transferred to a warehouse, and another trip made to St. Louis to get a boat that could climb dams.
The Caleb Cope was secured and soon reached the stored freight, which was put on board and the trip completed without delay, arriving on the Fifth of July.
The Star said of the coming: "The steamboat Caleb Cope arrived Sunday with a large barge, heavily laden with flour, salt, iron, nails, groceries, and dry goods. This will relieve the wants of the community."
The whistle of the steamboat was the signal for a stampede from the churches to give it welcome, which was done with waving 'kerchiefs and cheers. It was an important event, in which the entire community was gastronomically interested.
The next day after the arrival, the Captain invited the people to take a picnic excursion on his boat up the river. With the understanding that no refreshments, liquid or otherwise, would be served
-149-
on the boat, about fifty prominent citizens, and their feminine belongs, with well-filled lunch baskets, and "something else" to add cheer to the occasion, accepted the invitation, and, as one of the party said to me last week, it was an hilarious and spirited affair.
After the boat had got under way, "Billy" More came up the hatchway in his shirtsleeves, and very distraught. He had been in the hold looking for a special brand of calico, of "fast color," wanted by one of his country customers, and had expected to get off before the boat started. He insisted on being put ashore, as he was not "dressed for company," and his store was open, but he was informed that no stops were to be made. The clerk came to the rescue, furnished him with a coat, soap and water did the rest, and, in good presentable shape, "Billy" "jined in." He got so elated that he declared he would start a bank, and began to throw gold coins to the fishes. Between Beaver Creek and Thompson's Bend lies nearly two hundred dollars he sowed as they went along.
Mercantile business in those days was done very unlike what it is now. It was largely barter and credit. Money was scarce, much of it "wild-cat." Settlers were generally poor, yet strictly honest; markets for what they produced were far away. Often family supplies were exhausted, and badly needed. To get them without money was vexatious. On one occasion, a merchant swapped two pounds of salt for a bushel of buckwheat, and the settler was glad to make the trade.
In 1849, the County Commissioners made a contract to build the first county jail. It was 24x15 feet, two stories. It was a double wall of logs, the space between the walls filled with stone. One of the contractors died during the construction, and the contract was transferred to Sypher, who finished it. It stood where the east end of the Union Depot now is, and cost seven hundred and fifty dollars.
In May, 1852, The Fort having been incorporated as a town, Sypher was elected a member of the Council, and served one term, declining reëlection for business reasons. There were no wards. The Council met in the Court House.
In 1855, when the State Commissioners came here to located the Seat of Government, Sypher took an active part in the effort to
-150-
secure the location of Grimmel's Hill. He subscribed ten thousand dollars to be paid to the state if the West Side won.
In 1856, the Lutheran Church decided to establish a denominational college here. A corporation was formed, and Sypher was elected one of the Trustees. Land was purchased, a building partially constructed, when the hard times and panic of 1857 came, the project was abandoned, and the property sold to the Baptists.
Sypher had a large number of sails spread, and found it necessary to begin furling some, to weather the gale. He had a clerk named Tyler, to whom he intrusted much of his financial affairs. Tyler robbed him of a large sum of money, ran away to Nebraska, where he joined the notorious Small gang of horse thieves, who stole Nebraska horses, ran them into Iowa, thenstole Iowa horses and ran them into other states. Tyler finally got into the penitentiary in Nebraska and died there. His stealings and the panic necessitated Sypher closing his affairs. Practically, it put the whole town out of business. As a retrospective rhymester puts it:
" We all remember how, in 'Fifty-seven,
All enterprises seemed to have a leaven
Of failure in them. Then came the panic,
That scattered banker, merchant and mechanic
Professors, Christians, sinners——people all
Participated in the general fall.
blest was he then, and free from all this shocking.
Who made a banker of his wife's long stocking."
In 1860, the firm of Newton & Keene, merchants in Exchange Block, at Third and Walnut streets, having failed, Sypher was appointed assignee, and closed up their business.
In 1860, the firm of Newton & Keene, merchants in Exchange Block, at Third and Walnut streets, having failed, Sypher was appointed assignee, and closed up their business.
In 1874, he opened a coal shaft south of 'Coon River, which he operated until his death, in 1879.
He was an enterprising, public-spirited, prominent citizen, social and genial. His home on Fourth Street, where the Brinsmaids' store is, was the headquarters for social functions. It was an open house to young people, and some gay times were had there, for Mrs. Sypher was immensely popular. Many of the participants in those frolics have ceased to be, but I think "Tom" Hatton, "Friday" Eason, Mr. and Mrs. Ed. Clapp, and "Tac" Hussey
-151-
will remember some of the gatherings there. They will never be duplicated.
The query is often made as to the origin of Eason's nickname, "Friday." When he was a youngster among the Vermont hills, he was a vigorous book reader. Robinson Crusoe was his favorite, and its leading character, "Friday," was his ideal hero, the splendors of whom he so strenuously and persistently impressed upon his playmates, they dubbed him "Friday," and it has stuck to the present day. He accepts it with genuine good humor, and some of his best friends don't know his real name.
September Eighteenth, 1904.
-153-
DOCTOR M. P. TURNER
 OF the early settlers who occupied a prominent place in the building of Des Moines, mention must be made of Doctor Mahlon P. Turner.
Though not one of the earliest, he came at a time when there was an open field for energy, foresight, perseverance and hard work——a time to lay the foundation of big enterprise.
He and his good wife came in 1858, each being in good financial circumstances. Their first objective was a living place, but dwelling places were scarce. Two——sometimes three——families in one house was not uncommon, and they were not apartment houses, either. Dwelling houses were small. The only house I could get in which to begin housekeeping when I came here was a one-story structure with two rooms about 12x14, with no cellar, on Locust Street, near the present Crocker Building.
After a few months, the Doctor found a house far out in the country, where North Des Moines now is, quite unlike the elegant home on Forest Avenue where he ended his life.
His first impression of the town and its surroundings was that it was a good place to plant himself. He at once began to invest his money in real estate, which was easily done, for there were many whole squares of vacant lots. He was also ready for whatever might "turn up," or to "turn up" something.
One of the pressing needs of the community was adequate means to get over the rivers. Ferries were cumbersome, inefficient, and too slow. The Doctor emphatically a moving spirit——he wanted to see things go.
In the Spring of 1861, he secured a thirty-year charter for a toll bridge over 'Coon River——charters were cheap then——and at once proceeded to erect it, and, of course, captured all the travel from the south. It was not long before a hue-and-cry was rife that the
-154-
Doctor was getting rich with his toll bridge. The Town Council also got uneasy. The town treasury was getting no benefit from the privileges conferred.
In 1865, the bridge was carried away by a flood. An incident of its going was that a man who had been in town on business, having completed it, took the stage to return to his home. The stage was crowded inside and on top. On reaching the bridge, one of the passengers discovered he had forgotten something of great value and earnestly requested the driver to return to the hotel, to which he acceded. On again approaching the bridge, there was a heavy grind, a crash, and the bridge tangled and torn, floated down the turbulent 'Coon.
Immediately, the "city dads" took advantage of the situation, and put in a ferry, to oust the Doctor, who was equal to the occasion. He went up the river one night, bought a small steamboat which was lying idle, and the next morning was running in opposition to the town ferry. Mayor Lamareaux was out early, and read the riot act to the Doctor, denouncing him in bitter terms, and charged him with skulduggery in getting the steamboat, to which the Doctor responded, with his usual suavity and good nature:
"It don't make a bit of difference to you how I got this boat. I am here to carry people across the river until I can build a new bridge."
He at once rebuilt the bridge and went on with his toll gathering, but the opposition to it became so extensive and strenuous he changed tactics. He was noted for expediency; he never got into a place so tight he didn't find a way out. He went quietly among the farmers and those who used the bridge, and secured subscriptions for their estimated value of the bridge to them, and thus collected the entire cost of the bridge, whereupon he tendered it to the Town Council, conditioned that it was to be free to the public from that time——1868—"forever and forever."
In 1871, when bridging the Des Moines River had become quite expensive, the City Council ordered collection of toll on all bridges, but they very soon ran up against the Doctor's perpetual free bridge. The people from south of 'Coon refused to pay toll on a bridge they had bought and paid for. There was no getting around
-155-
the valid contract made with the Doctor. To get out of the dilemma, the Council declared the bridge unsafe, condemned it, and sent men to take up the floor. While they were at work, a body of Bloomfield citizens swept down on them like a Japanese assault, routed them and relaid the floor. It looked warlike for a time. Both sides were belligerent, but wise counsel prevailed. The bridge was torn down in 1872, a new one erected, and it is there now, but in shaky condition. Thus ended the Doctor's "forever and forever free" contract.
In 1866, with U. B. White, the Doctor built the second bridge over the Des Moines, at Court Avenue, the first having been torn down. In 1869, it floated down-stream on a high wave, and was replaced by an iron bridge.
In 1866, the Doctor organized and procured a perpetual charter for a street railway on all streets, to be operated by animal power——another instance in which he outwitted the "city dads"——and became the putative father of the present magnificent street railway system, with its one hundred and seven big cars and sixty-two and one-half miles of track, unlike in uniqueness any in the United States. He secured the financial aid of J. S. Polk, Fred. M. Hubbell, and U. B. White, and built the first mile of road from the Court House, on Court Avenue, to Capitol Hill. It was a chimerical undertaking. It began nowhere and ended the same. The town was small, the population scattered, and Court Avenue was the only business east-and-west street. The track——narrow-gauge——was laid on the surface; there was no pavement. The cars were small, having a capacity of twenty persons. The motive power was a pair of mules. Their speed limit under the charter was six miles an hour, to go around street corners at a walk,a nd cars to be kept two hundred feet apart when in motion, but the Doctor was never made defendant in an action for damages for "fast running," or runaways from defective brakes, for, if the brakes failed to hold the cars on a down grade, the mules would, as John Hamilton, now a motorman on the Sevastopol line, can probably testify, for he drove them to the end of the mule-car service.
The road was a great accommodation to women and children. It was too slow for men, except in bad weather, and then it
-156-
was not uncommon that the car would slip off the rail, and the men would have to get off and lift it back in place. Sometimes the mules, in floundering through the slippery clay mud, would fall and both lay flat on their back, which gave John no uneasiness——the mules were used to it——but it made the women and children hysterical.
It was a mirth-provoking outfit, and the Doctor was often given humorous jibes thereon, but he always received them in his genial way, with the reply:
"Never mind; just wait. This is only a beginning. This town is going to grow. Just give us a chance."
With firm faith in Des Moines, patience and perseverance, the Doctor worked on, despite discouragements which would have balked many men.
After several months, the track was laid through an alley at the foot of the hill on Walnut Street, then east to Fourth Street, then to place of beginning, thus forming a loop.
In 1872, he had added two and one-half miles of track west on Walnut and High streets, and east on Grand Avenue to Tenth Street, but it did not pay one hundred per cent to his partners, and they seceded, the Doctor purchasing all their interest except that of White, which was taken by Mrs. Turner. A new company was formed, with the Doctor as President and Manager, and his wife as Secretary and Treasurer, and for fourteen years they extended and operated the "Des Moines Street Railway Company."
In the meantime, H. E. Teachout formed a company and got a charter for a broad-gauge road on Locust and other streets,the motive power being horses. The equipment was more up-to-date than that of the Doctor's and soon began to crowd him. He went into court with his perpetual charter and asked an injunction against the use of animal power by Teachout company, in violation of an exclusive prior charter. The courts sustained the Doctor's claim, whereupon Teachout changed his motive power to electricity, and competition with the Doctor became lively in the occupation of the streets, etc.
Mr. Polk was also developing a street railway system under a charter for the Rapid Transit Company, which gave the right to
-157-
use steam, cable or electricity as the motive power, and in 1895, he purchased all the rights, title and interest of the other companies, consolidated them under the name of the Des Moines City Railway Company, established an entire new system, and proceeded to gridiron the city with his tracks.
The first, and for many years the only amusement hall, was built by the Doctor. It is the building now occupied by the Purity Candy Company, on Court Avenue, at the alley corner east of Fourth Street.
After disposing of his street railway, he devoted his time to improving his holding of real estate, a notable example of which is the elegant seven-story building, corner of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue, recently occupied by the Studebaker Carriage Repository.
The ground occupied by Drake University was purchased from him.
The Doctor was not a politician, and never sought a partisan office, but, being a man of affairs, with large property interests, and being popular, he was elected Alderman for the Fourth Ward in 1854 and 1855, the ward bien strongly Democratic and Anti-Prohibition, the Doctor being a radical Republican and anti-saloon man.
He was an earnest and helpful supporter of schools and churches, a real friend of the laboring class, kind-hearted, benevolent, genial, optimistic to eccentricity, for he saw only the bright side of things; in business undertakings, whatever the discouragements, he saw only the "greater Des Moines," ultimate success. Even in the last year of his life, when disease was slowly eating away his vitality, he clung to hope. Meeting him on the streets a few days before he lay down never to rise, in reply to a query as to his health, he replied: "Oh, I am gaining a little every day. I believe I will come out all right." That was the spirit of the man in all things.
October Second, 1904.
-159-
CAPTAIN F. R. WEST
 AN early settler and prominent man in business affairs was Captain F. R. West. His title was gained from his former connection with a Packet Line on the old Pennsylvania Canal, long ago abandoned.
He came to Des Moines in 1854, with some capital, and at once made investments in real estate, a large portion of which is now in North Des Moines.
In 1856, he built what is now the Register and Leader Building. The ground floor was occupied by B. F. Allen's Bank, the rear portion by the United States Land Office, the second floor by the Congregational Church, the third floor by the Journal newspaper. The east half of the building was occupied by Keyes & Crawford for general merchandise, and for many years by Randolph and John Knight for a dry goods store, and was the center of attraction of matrons and maidens, who wanted something to wear; it was the headquarters of Fashion.
In 1857, when the whole country was staggering under one of the worst financial panics known in history, the Western states were flooded with currency turned out by "wild-cat" mills. It had little or no foundation, and included every form of "red-dog," "stump-tail, "wild cat," and other rotten bank circulation. It would be gathered up by speculators and land sharks, and used in business transactions in isolated communities. While there were circulating notes of Eastern and Western states, having some value, many were based largely on bonds of Southern states, of uncertain value, so that the financial condition of the state was deplorable. Business men made haste to get their currency into a bank at the close of each day, with no assurance it would have any value the next morning, for the banks would accept it only at what it was worth from day to day. It was not uncommon for a merchant to send a package of the stuff to Keokuk or St. Louis to pay for goods,
-160-
and be informed that most of it was worthless on arriving at it destination.
The new State Constitution of 1857 authorized the Legislature to provide a system of legitimate banking and the issue of bank-notes. In accordance therewith, an Act was passed providing for a State Bank, with branches in different localities, to meet the demands of business. In 1858, the first branch was established at Des Moines, with B. F. Allen, President, and Hoyt Sherman, Cashier. In 1861, Sherman entered the United States military service, and West was elected Cashier. The bank did an enormous business, its deposits at one time amounting to one million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In 1865, it was reorganized under the National Banking Law, as the National State Bank. In 1876, the Captain purchased most of the stock, surrendered the charter, and established an independent bank, as F. R. West & Sons. In 1877, he became heavily involved in his effort to help Allen, husband of his daughter, out of a financial struggle, and he finally went down in the whirlpool which swallowed Allen's millions and wrought financial wreck and ruin all over the state.
For eighteen years, as a banker, the Captain, by his safe, wise and conservative business methods, had the support and confidence of the entire business community, and his great personal sacrifice to aid in avoiding an inevitable fate was deemed by many as without reason or justification.
In 1861, he was selected as one of the Commissioners of Iowa War Claims, arising from the clothing and equipping of Iowa soldiers during the Civil War. So complete and just was their record the State had no difficulty in settling its war claims.
In 1855, when the college of the Lutheran Church was located here, the Captain was one of the Board of Trustees, and was elected President. The project got to the cornerstone-laying stage, and succumbed to the general adversities of 1857.
In September, 1853, the first real Fair of the Polk County Agricultural Society was held, on the old Fair Grounds, on 'Coon bottoms, at the foot of Ninth Street. A slim and primitive exhibition was held in the previous October, in the Court House yard. Captain West was one of the Society Directors, and was very active in promoting Society.
-161-
At that September meeting,there were shown several fine thoroughbred Shorthorns, several fine wooled sheep, and of corn, wheat, potatoes, and other vegetables, as fine specimens as have been seen at any Fair since. The women gave it the cold shoulder, exhibiting nothing.
In 1855, the Captain was elected a member of the City Council, when Barlow Granger was Mayor. There were no wards then, and no scrimmages over a division of funds, the Council representing the city at large. In 1857, the city having been re-incorporated, he was elected Alderman for the Second Ward.
While he was in the Council, the city was in a bad financial condition, as were all other communities. The prevalence of "wild-cat" currency had demoralized business generally. The city was badly in debt, and how to pay it with a currency having no specific value over twenty-four hours, was the problem. After much deliberation, it was decided that the city do a little banking on its own account, by issuing, "City Script." Well-executed notes, in sums for One, Two, Three, and Five Dollars, were issued, and furnished a convenient and acceptable circulating medium in the local trade and city business affairs. Having served the purpose of its creation, it was withdrawn without loss to anybody.
Occasionally, a bonfire was made of it, as witness the following, found among Sherman's papers after his decease:
"Received of L. P. Sherman, Treasurer of the City of Des Moines, One Hundred and Twenty-nine Dollars of City Script, which has been signed and in circulation.
"J. A. WILLIAMSON,
"G. W. CLEAVELAND,
"J. H. McCLELLAND,
"Committee Appointed to Burn the Same.
"FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIRST, 1859."
He was public-spirited and helpful in many ways to advance the welfare of the community. When the scrimmage came for the location of the State House, he evidenced his preference for the West Side by subscribing ten thousand dollars to have it put on Grimmel's Hill. Especially was he helpful to young men engaged
-161-
in safe, legitimate business, who sometimes got into conditions and needed extension of credit, for business was then done, perforce, largely on credit. Application to the Captain for aid would be met with the inflexible rule of the bank forbidding the indorsement of negotiable paper by any officer thereof——he was a man of few words and very quiet——but if the request was worthy, a letter of credit would be quickly given, good at the bank, for the amount and time necessary to keep the young man on his feet.
In 1876, when the Equitable Life Insurance Company, now one of the best financial institutions in the state, was incorporated, the Captain was made one of the Trustees.
His first place of residence was in a small frame house on Third Street, nearly opposite Judge Casady's first bank building, now occupied by Colonel Eiboeck's Staats Anzeiger. In that house, January Thirteenth, 1854, his daughter, Arathusa, was married to B. F. Allen by Elder J. A. Nash, who was the favorite marital splicer in those days, and probably married more people than any minister in the state during his lifetime. The occasion was a brilliant affair. The bride's schoolmates were all present and showered her with kisses, for she was beloved by all. The music was furnished with an old-fashioned square piano——not a "grand square"—which came with the family, and the first piano brought to the town.
Soon after, the Captain purchased of L. D. Winchester the first brick dwelling erected on the west side of Des Moines River. It was one-story, on the block now occupied by the Valley National Bank, and there "Billy" Moore was married by Elder Nash, in December, 1851, with all the concomitant hilarity known to the unconventional early settlers, for in those days, "Billy" was one of "the boys." When the hands of the clock had reached midnight, an incident occurred, which——well, ask "Billy" about it.
In that house, the Captain and his good wife lived until 1875, when it was torn down. Their home was the center of frequent and most enjoyable social functions. They were both of large physique——the very embodiment of genial good nature. Mrs. West was a special favorite with young people. She was a home-builder, beloved by everybody, ever ready and zealous in any movement for
-163-
the good of the community. During the Civil War, she devoted nearly all her time to the immense labor and service of the Soldier's Relief Commission.
In taking a retrospective view of the pioneer days, the wives and mothers should not be overlooked. The trials,deprivations and struggles they endured entitles them to honorable mention. While men fashioned and reared the civic structure, the mothers moulded and formed the character of those who are now among our best, most enterprising citizens. In those early days, there was no distinction nor caste, except the nobility of charity; no aristocracy but that of magnamimity. Bound together by the common tie of sympathy and a common interest, there was more real humanity among the pioneers than we have now in social life.
In 1883, the Captain and his wife celebrated their golden wedding, which was attended by a large gathering of old-timers and friends. They never overcame the shock of the financial wreck of 1877, and they passed their remaining days in the quietude of their home. She went to her rest in 1895, and he a few months later.
October Sixteenth, 1904.
|
