Part 89 (1/2)
It seems that the settlers of the territory early began to encourage steamboat traffic with the world. On the 12th of January, 1839, the legislature of Iowa Territory empowered a company to incorporate in the amount of $200,000, in order to build a slack water ca.n.a.l from the Cedar river to the Mississippi by way of Rock creek. An act was also pa.s.sed for the inspection of steamboats, boilers, etc., at this session. Congress on November 6, 1846, for the purposes of improving the river traffic, granted certain lands to the Territory of Iowa, to aid in the improving of the Des Moines river for the purpose of navigation. Even the other day a large appropriation was granted for the erection of locks and a ca.n.a.l at the Keokuk rapids on the Mississippi.
The Red Cedar river is about 248 miles long and is comparatively free from any rapids as far as this city, and hence, was early looked upon as one of the most favored rivers for steamboat navigation. The Iowa, into which the Cedar empties, is about 240 miles in length, and not so favorable for navigation.
It is well known that Linn county was created by an act of the legislature of Wisconsin territory, and approved December 21, 1837; and the spot which our city now covers, was settled the following spring, by Osgood Shepherd and William Stone, soon followed by Robert Ellis, Philip Hull, the Listebargers, Thos. Gainer and David King.
[Ill.u.s.tration: VIEWS ALONG THE CEDAR RIVER]
One cannot speak of steamboating without mentioning Robert Ellis, our respected pioneer who landed on the present confines of our city May 8, 1838, and found only one shanty inhabited, which was on the present location of the T. M. Sinclair packing house, and was owned by Philip Hull; the other hut was built near the Cooper mills and was then vacant as the owner, Osgood Shepherd, had gone east for his family. Mr. Ellis located on his present farm that summer and obtained a patent for it from President Polk, and he is no doubt one of the very few in this county who hold t.i.tle direct from the government of this date. Mr.
Ellis in the winter of 1846, had three flat boats built at Palo, each boat being sixty feet long, sixteen feet wide and drawing three feet of water when loaded. On these boats he loaded four thousand bushels of wheat which he consigned to n.o.ble and McCutchins, of Burlington, millers of that place. On each boat he had three men and these were provided with side oars to be used when they got into bends of the river. They started with their cargo the latter part of March and arrived after some trouble at Burlington; when arriving at Burlington the firm were in financial trouble and it looked as though the men could not get their pay, but it was finally arranged if Mr. Ellis could take flour to New Orleans, they could then realize some money and he would be paid. They remained here for some little time, and started out the three flat boats again, loaded down with flour. They were a long time in getting down the stream but kept on paddling when they got fast in the stumps and otherwise floated down the river. By the latter part of June they arrived at New Orleans in safety and disposed of the flour, but again were unable to realize on the flour as it had been consigned to certain brokers and the payments were tied up. They took in the slave markets and otherwise looked around the great city which was now the great emporium of the west and the southwest, and then took steamer for Burlington. Arriving at Burlington Mr. Ellis stood no show of getting his money, but trusted to luck and bought a horse, riding horseback from Burlington to Cedar Rapids. Not till that fall did he realize anything on this wheat deal, and finally was paid after much trouble by the parties, who were not dishonest, but whose property interests had been tied up so they were unable to realize on their goods sufficiently to pay creditors.
The new waterway of Robert Ellis became the subject of conversation for some time afterwards, and it inspired others to greater activity. The people realized that they must have an outlet, for their produce and cheapen transportation, if possible. It became the subject of serious consideration by the settlers. If this question could be solved, the greatness and importance of the city as a commercial center would be a.s.sured. By 1839, keel boats had reached Ivanhoe, and quite a trade was carried on at certain seasons of the year, mostly in the spring, and much grain and farm products were taken away in trade for provisions.
Thus Squire Holmes, the Higley Bros., Daniels & Co., and several others, from Marion and Cedar Rapids, in the early forties built flat boats at Westport and Ivanhoe and traded groceries and other articles the farmers needed for wheat, pork, and other produce. This stuff was s.h.i.+pped in the early spring on flat boats. Sheds were also erected so as to store the grain until such time as the boats could be loaded. Old Henry Rogers also erected a saw mill and s.h.i.+pped a little lumber down the river. It was dangerous and not practical to get the lumber down stream, and the scheme was abandoned.
The first large Mississippi steamer, which came as far as our city limits, was in the month of August, 1844, called the ”Maid of Iowa,”
when a number of settlers and also a part of Mormons came as landseekers.
”The first stream boat at Cedar Rapids was the 'Maid of Iowa' commanded by Capt. Chas. Ross. She landed and cabled to the saw-mill on the 3rd of August, 1844, just as the sun was setting.”--Extract from Account Book kept by N. B. Brown.
On this boat was Rev. Isaac Searles, born in 1812, who located in Johnson county in 1842. He gave the first sermon in true Methodist fas.h.i.+on from the deck of the steamer, and talked to a large concourse of people who had a.s.sembled from the surrounding country. Each pa.s.senger was offered a lot by the enterprising people of the city. As a result of this steamboat venture, a Methodist church was organized at the home of one of the Listebargers. During the next ten years, many large and small Mississippi steamers made the Cedar river points as far as Cedar Rapids, and quite a trade had been established between St.
Louis, Keokuk, Burlington and this part of the state.
The last of the large Mississippi steamers, which made Cedar Rapids, was the ”Uncle Tobey,” of two hundred tons burden, which made her way up here among the brush and overhanging willows in the spring of 1853, and remained at the Third avenue landing for several days, at what is now the Warfield-Pratt-Howell building. When departing, after taking on a large cargo of grain and produce, she steamed up the river and turned down the channel on the west side of May's island. A number of people are still living who remember this steamer and the shouts and waving of handkerchiefs as the steamer glided smoothly down the river and out of sight.
From the _Annals of Iowa_, Vol. 5, page 401, I quote the following showing the rainfall in this state from 1848 to 1855: ”In 1848, 26 inches; 1849, 49 inches; 1850, 49 inches; 1851, 74-1/2, inches; 1852, 49 inches; 1853, 45 inches; 1854, 23 inches and in 1855, 28 inches.” Up to 1858, the rainfall was below the average, while during the years from '58 to '59, it was above the average. From the newspapers of that time, it seems that there were a great many floods during the summer months, so that steamboating was common on all the rivers during the entire year until frost came.
The question has frequently arisen, whether or not the rain fall was greater fifty years ago than now, and on the whole, from the old settlers, and from reports, as kept, it would seem to be about the same. All agree, however, that there was more water in the rivers, and they give their reasons as follows: ”That the channel of the river was more narrow, and that the rivers were deeper, and free from the mud and the sand, which have now acc.u.mulated due to the tilling of the soil.
Then the river banks were lined with trees, which protected the water from the rays of the sun, and the sloughs were filled with water all summer on account of the high gra.s.s, and all these sloughs, creeks, bayous, supplied the river with water during all seasons of the year, which is now not the case.” All the water which fell in those days found its way into the river, which is not true after the ground became cultivated to any extent, so that it has been figured out that only about a fourth of the water finds its way into the river. This, of course, may be one of the reasons why steamboating was possible fifty years ago and is not now.
Of the many enterprising settlers, who came west to make this city their home, there were a number of enterprising, wide-awake and industrious men, who had courage and besides possessed more than ordinary ability along commercial lines. Among these settlers, George Greene, who was a prime mover in every new enterprise, succeeded in organizing a company for the building of a steamboat, to be called the ”Cedar Rapids,” and to be especially built for navigation upon the Red Cedar river. In this company were, besides Mr. Greene, W. H. Merritt, the Daniels family, Dr. J. F. Ely, Dr. S. D. Carpenter and later, W. B.
Mack. A contract was entered into with parties at Pittsburg for the building of a modern steamboat, to be of white oak 155 feet long, single deck, stern wheel, clinker built, to be arranged for freight and pa.s.senger traffic, and to draw the least possible amount of water. The contract price for this steamer was $20,000, and it was launched in June, 1858, about three months after the contract was let. It was built at Freedom, Beaver county, Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburg.
As to the subsequent history of this steamer, I shall confine myself to press notices from the _Cedar Valley Times_, which will give you an idea of the people and how much interest they took in this vessel, which was to connect them with the outside world. From the issue of July 8th, I find the following: ”News has arrived that the 'Cedar Rapids' left Pittsburg July 1st, with 100 tons of freight.” From the issue of July 22nd: ”The 'Cedar Rapids' arrived from Pittsburg in three weeks, and is around at the dock at Market St. Roman candles were sent up from her decks when she arrived, and the crowd upon the sh.o.r.es saluted her with renewed cheers and with a firing of cannons; below is her Log: 'Left Pittsburg July 1st, at dark. At Cincinnati the 5th; at Louisville the 8th; arrived at St. Louis the 12th; left the 15th; arrived at the mouth of the Iowa river at 11 o'clock, and took in tow, 60,000 feet of lumber; five feet of water in the channel up to the mouth of the Cedar river. Arrived at Moscow Friday evening. Consignees, William Greene, W. B. Mack, H. C. Camp, groceries; L. Daniels, R. C.
Rock, Greene and Hay, hardware; W. W. Smith, O. O. Stanchfield, lumber.” The article further goes on describing the steamer as follows: ”She is 155 feet long, 26 feet wide, and three feet in the hold. She is a stern wheel, 14 feet in diameter, 18 feet long, buckets being 15 inches wide. She is provided with a decker or smaller engine for supplying the boiler with water, also with a smaller engine for hoisting freight out of the hold. All four engines are separate machines. She is also supplied with appliances, such as water gauge, two Evans safety guides, one on each engine, life preservers, fire hose and force pump, in short, everything to make her a first-cla.s.s pa.s.senger boat. The captain is J. M. Andrews, a gentleman who has had much experience with river navigation; the pilot is Albert Wemper; mate, T. Risley; engineers, J. P. Fulton and W. M. Hunter; clerks, J.
C. Graves, A. W. Lamb. She had on 300 tons of freight, and drew only three feet of water, and when light, draws eleven inches. She had on board eighty-four pa.s.sengers.”
The above description will give you an idea of the first pa.s.senger boat of any note built for traffic in Iowa, and was no doubt at that time, one of the best equipped steamers for pa.s.senger and freight traffic owned exclusively by Iowa men and operated upon Iowa rivers.
On this steamer, which made its first trip in 1858, was W. B. Mack, a person well known to Cedar Rapids people, and who for half a century, up to the time of his death a few years ago, had been one of the most active business men of our city, and in an early day did much in the east in securing funds from the rich in various investments in this city. Mr. Mack had come to this city in March of this year, at the solicitation of Greene and Merritt, and he entered into a partners.h.i.+p relation with said men in the banking business. He early saw the opportunity for Cedar Rapids as a wholesale center, and purchased stock in the steam s.h.i.+p company, went east in June, purchased a stock of groceries in New York City, had them transported by rail to Pittsburg, and personally saw that they were properly stored on the ”Cedar Rapids.” On the route he made a purchase of a considerable cargo of Kenawha salt. All of which were s.h.i.+pped to Cedar Rapids, and was the first exclusive wholesale stock of groceries in this city. This had an effect of reducing the price of salt from $5 per barrel, to one-half, and it had the further effect of reducing the price of nearly every commodity, so that Cedar Rapids, on account of its transportation facilities, became known as a cheap trading center, and I believe has retained that reputation up to the present time.
On this first trip of the ”Cedar Rapids,” came as a pa.s.senger from Pittsburg, Susan H. Greene, better known to you, as Mrs. A. S. Belt. If we could only have the impression of what this seventeen-year-old young lady saw on this trip from Pittsburg to Cedar Rapids, in the '50s, along this historic waterway, we should undoubtedly have at least a chapter of the history of the country and of the life of the people as she observed it, and it would no doubt make a valuable addition to the history of this county.
The ”Cedar Rapids” made in all, twelve trips during the season, to St.
Louis, stopping at every point along the way to pick up cargo or pa.s.sengers. In this respect, the captain was much like President Stickney, of the Great Western, who replied to the manager of an electric road the other day, wanting certain traffic relations established, that he would stop for a farm wagon, providing there was anything in it. Of the Cedar Rapids business men, who, during this time received large s.h.i.+pments of goods from time to time, I note the following: A. C. Keyes, J. S. Cook, A. H. Atwell, H. C. Camp, H. G.
Angle, W. W. Smith Bros., Stanchfield, Taylor, Greene, and W. B. Mack.
From the issue of July 29th, I find the following: ”The 'Cedar Rapids'
left for St. Louis yesterday, and had in tow, a barge loaded with 1,138 sacks of oats, 736 sacks of wheat, some corn and 938 barrels of flour.
At Rochester it will take on 200 barrels of flour. It had besides twenty pa.s.sengers. It was frequently difficult to get under the bridge at Moscow, so a quant.i.ty of sand was taken on board at Cedar Rapids to weigh the steamer down sufficiently to get under the bridge, when the weight of the cargo was not sufficient.” On October 14th, the newspaper again mentioned the steamer having arrived from St. Louis with a good cargo, the bulk of which was 45,000 feet of lumber, consigned to O. O.
Stanchfield and Gordon & Enos, the captain further reports low water and numerous sand-bars.
The steamer seems to have run until about the middle of November, when she was laid up at St. Louis, and was expected to have gone into winter trade on the Red river. Dr. S. D. Carpenter and G. W. Hollet having gone to New Orleans to make the arrangements. The newspaper for December speaks of the parties having returned unable to book the steamer for the winter trade on the Red river, as she was not constructed properly for Southern trade.