Allamakee
County
page 419-432
by Jesse Clement
LANSING
April 18, 1859
We came hither from Clayton, in the Pembina, Capt. Thomas
H. Griffith, commander. She is new, having run but one
season, and is second to no boat in the Northern Line, in
beauty or speed. Everything about her is clean, wholesome
and comfortable. Her officers are more courteous than,
latterly, we find the officers of any other line. The St.
Louis boats are very popular at all the ports at which we
have halted. The directors of the Northern Line of
Steamers, running between St. Louis and St. Paul have, we
understand, given directions to their agents at Dubuque,
Guttenberg, Clayton and other points in that
neighborhood, to take passengers, on the opening of the
lake, to St. Paul for two dollars, the same as we paid on
a Dubuque Packet three days ago, to get to Clayton.
Lansing, the largest village in Allamakee couty, is
pleasantly located near the mouth of Clear Creek (aka
Coon Creek). It has a fine out-let to the country at the
west, through a ravine on either side of which tower
ambitious bluffs. Those to the northward rise, at one
point, called Mount Hosmer, to the height of 412 feet.
From the apex of that mount, which was named for the
sculpturess who climbed it at an early day -- one gets a
grand view of the country, better even than at Bellevue,
of which we recently had occasion to speak. Points to the
northward, said to be more than fifty miles distant, are
seen with the naked eye.
The original proprietors of the site of Lansing, were H.H
Houghton, Esq., and John Haney. Mr Houghton is the
present editor and proprietor of the Galena Daily
Advertiser; and the earliest settlers were Willard
Ballou, John Haney, and W.L. Garrison. They came here in
the early part of 1848, immediately after the
Winnebagoes, by treaty stipulations had vacated the
coutry -- then known as "neutral ground". The
place made but little progress for four or five years, it
having but seven or eight houses in in 1852. It began to
grow somewhat briskly in 1853, and has had a steady
growth ever since. We believe the town has never been
inflated. Property is now selling at highter figures for
cash, we are told, than ever before. The population of
the village, as we learn from Mr. Wm. H. Burford, the
Assessor, is 984. The number of voters in the township of
Lansing is 243.
The village has seven general variety stores, and most of
them are well filled. Their proprietors are George
Kemble, Geo W. Hays, J.J. & D.L. Shaw, Henry
Nielander, Herman Schierholz & Co., Gustav Kerndt
& Brothers, I.B. Place, and Wm. C. Macbay.
The forwarding and commission merchants are G.W. Gray
& Co., W.D. Morgan, Henry Nielander, Herman
Schierholz & Co., and George W. Hays; the druggists,
J.W. Merrill and Amos W. Purdy; the bookseller and
stationer, Amos W. Purdy, who is also the Postmaster; the
hardware dealer, R.P. Spencer; the hollow-ware dealers
and tin smiths, R.P Spencer, and Gustav Kerndt &
Brothers; the furniture dealers, Woodmansee & Davis,
and G..W. Hays; banker, G.W. Gray; boot and shoe dealers,
Charles E. Woodbury, and Riley & Pottitt; clothier,
G. Miles; watchmaker and jeweler, L.M. Elmendorf; plow
makers, Loh & Irle; machinist, John Reith; bedstead
and furniture makers by steam, H.M. Travers & Co.;
grain cradle manufacturers, and dealers in agricultural
tools, H.H. Hemenway & Co.; broom manufacturers,
Gustav Kerndt & Brothers. There is a good supply of
wagon makers and all the more common kinds of mechanics.
The lumber trade is quite an item in the business of this
place. The dealers in the article are Shaw, Johnson, Wood
& Co., and James I. Gilbert. S.J.W. & Co. have a
superior steam saw mill. Haney, Houghton & Co. have a
grist mill on Clear Creek a mile and a half west of the
village, where there is excellent water power. The creek
is only four miles long and is formed by eleven springs.
Other water power in the vicinity of the grist mill, is
unimproved.
Good brick is manufactured here, and stone for building
purposes towers to mountainous heights and overlooks the
village.
Lansing has four churches; Methodist, H.W. Houghton,
pastor; Congregational, G. Bent, pastor; Episcopal, James
Bentley, rector; and Catholic, who have preaching once a
month. All have houses of worship but the Episcopalians.
The physicians of the place are John J. Taylor, W.M.
Perkins and A.H. Houghton; the lawyers, George W. Camp,
Samuel H. Kinne and L.H. Howe.
The Lansing House, American, Mississippi and Farmers'
House, are the public houses; the first two being
American, and the German. Messrs. J.W. Bates &
Brother, of the excellent Lansing House, are also dealers
in stock. They own the famous trotting stallion
"Emperor," which is nearly sixteen hands high,
and weighs eleven hundred pounds. He is of a golden
chestnut color, and of good pedigree. They also own Young
Black Hawk "Vermont," a son of old Black Hawk,
and a splendid jet black animal, recently from Vermont,
whence a great deal of fine blooded stock finds its way
into the West. Bates & Brother have a full-blooded
Morgan gelding, a solid piece of horse flesh, worth at
least a thousand dollars. He has repeatedly made his mile
in the "thirties." We understand he is for
sale. These gentlemen are doing their part to improve the
breed of horses in Allamakee county. they have also some
fine specimens of Suffolk hogs and of Brahma fowls. We
are pleased to note these efforts to introduce the best
of stock of various kinds into Northern Iowa.
Messrs. Bates & Brother are anxious to sell their
tavern stand and to give their whole attention to
farming. They would sell either for cash or land and
stock -- a rare opportunity for somebody who wishes for a
good location as hotel-keeper.
Mr. John Haney has a small orchard of apple trees, which
are doing finely. They bore well last year, and bid fair
to do better this. The orchard is within ten rods of the
Mississippi.
The Mirror, the Republican organ of Allamakee
county, is published here, by H.R. Chatterton, Esq., an
enthusiastic worker for his party.
From Lansing northward, for a long distance, the channel
of the river is on the East side, affording no place for
a town on the West side of the stream for more than
thirty miles. This circumstance gives Lansing no
inconsiderable amount of trade from Southern Minnesota,
and hence the importance in part, of the place.
WAUKON
April 19, 1859
Our last evening at Lansing was spent at a Temperance
meeting, where we heard a well written lecture on the
Causes of Intemperance and its Remedies, by L.H. Howe,
Esq., a young lawyer of that place. Six or eight months
ago, a promising young member of the Lansing bar, a man
beloved by the whole community, died of delirium tremens.
His premature death from the too free use of intoxicating
liquors, produced a great sensation. A temperance society
was formed immediately. Weekly meetings were held during
the winter, and monthly are now held. At each of these
meetings some citizen of Lansing usually reads a short
lecture, which is followed by other miscellaneous
exercises. The result of this movement is that drunkards
have been reclaimed, and most of the whisky venders, for
want of patronage, have been obliged to abandon their
avocation. One of them recently broke into the Post
Office there and rifled the mail bags. He was taken to
jail at Decorah, Winneshiek county, and with four other
"birds," has since taken wing, and is still at
large. His name is William Faulkner.
Waukon is a prairie village, though in the vicinity of
timber. It is at the head of Paint Creek, thirteen miles
west and six south of Lansing. It is young, and glitters
like a gem. Almost every house and store is new, or looks
new, and is painted white. The large school house and the
only church erected, Cumberland Presbyterian, are of the
same color. A large number of the houses have picket
fences around them painted white, with gardens in front.
In short, Waukon looks like a New England village, which
the tasteful people had forgotten to build until
recently, and were just finishing off the first year's
growth. A glance at the town will convince the stranger
that he is in the midst of an enterprising and refined
people.
The first settler in Waukon was George C. Shattuck, who
came hither from Dubuque county in the summer of 1850. He
is a native of Ontario county, N.Y., and is a very worthy
man.
The county seat was located here in the fall of 1853, and
still remains here -- though two attempts have been made
to have it removed. Waukon is fifteen miles from the
Mississippi river and six and a half miles from the line
of Winneshiek county. In a north and southward direction,
it is near the geographical center of the county. there
is so much strife to get county seats removed in Northern
Iowa, that we take the liberty of suggesting that,
hereafter, all county buildings be constructed on wheels
and thus made portable.
Waukon has one banker, Walter Delafield; one grocer,
Moses Hancock; three general mercantile dealers, W.
Beale, W.R. Pottle, and W.S. Cooke; one druggist and
bookseller, R.C. Armstrong; one boot and shoe firm,
Howard & Hersey; one house dealing in stoves and
tin-ware, Low & Bean; two jewelers; two tailors; two
blacksmiths; two wagon makers, two cabinet makers, and
one harness maker.
Mr. William C. Earle has a steam saw mill, with a planing
machine attached. He does a variety of excellent work.
The hotels of Waukon are the Nicholas House, kept by
Sylvester Nichols, and the City Hotel, V. Dunlap,
proprietor.
The Allamakee Herald is published at the county
seat. It is Democratic in politics. Its editor and
proprietor is Frank Pease, Esq. who has kindly made us
acquainted with many citizens of this place.
Waukon has five churches, Baptist, L.M. Newell, pastor;
Presbyterian, J.C. Armstrong, pastor; Methodist
Episcopal, W.E. McCormick, pastor; and Wesleyan Methodist
and Universalist, the last two having no pastor.
We find here five lawyers, John T. Clark, L.O. Hatch,
Richard Wilber, M.M. Webster, and Frederick M. Clark; and
two physicians, J.W. Flint and I.H. Hedge.
The School Directors of the township are Moses Hancock,
President; C.J. White, Vice President; A.G. Howard,
Secretary, and William K. McFarland, Treasurer.
Among other improvements here, fifty rods of sidewalk are
being put down; A.J. Hersey is erecting a block of three
stores; Shattuck & Woodcock are putting up a large
store, with a stone basement and heavy columns in front,
and Mr. R.C. Armstrong, the Postmaster, is putting up a
two-story brick house. A few smaller houses are being
built. The Methodist Episcopal people have just voted to
erect a house of worship this year. In short, Waukon is
progressing faster, we believe, than any other small
village in Northern Iowa. Its population is a little less
than six hundred. Most of its growth has been during the
last two years. It bids fair to become a smart, though
never a great inland city. The country around it is very
fertile.
The people of Waukon are sanguine that the Prairie du
Chien and Mankato Railroad, which has been surveyed to
Otranto, in Mitchell county, a distance of ninety-two
miles, will be built in a short time. The right of way
has been secured most of the way, and the contracts, we
are told, are to be let next fall. This road will leave
the Mississippi at Johnson's Landing, in Allamakee
county, and run through Waukon and Decorah. At Otranto it
is to intersect the road through the Cedar Valley.
Allamakee is probably as well watered as any county in
this part of the State -- though not by so many large
streams as some counties. The Upper Iowa, the largest
river which flows through it, waters with its numerous
little tributaries, the two northern tiers of townships,
and empties into the Mississippi ten miles north of
Lansing. Coon Creek, formed by eleven springs, runs four
miles and empties into the Mississippi at Lansing.
Village Creek rises in the western part of the county,
near Waukon, and empties into the Mississippi at Capoli
(aka Colombus) one mile south of Lansing.
Wexford Creek runs through the township of Lafayette and
empties into the Mississippi a few miles south of Capoli,
in Paint Rock Slough. Paint Creek has its head waters in
Springs at Waukon, and running through Jefferson, Paint
Creek, a corner of Taylor and Fairview townships, empties
into the Mississippi at Allamakee, or Johnson's Landing.
Yellow River runs through the four southern townships,
and with its little affluents, waters them abundantly.
The Upper Iowa and most of its branches are well
timbered, largely with oak. The Yellow river is noted for
its excellent walnut, linn and elm. There is timber on
all the creeks.
Aside from Lansing and Waukon, the principal villages are
Rossville, Milton, Dorchester, New Galena, Hardin,
(partly in Clayton county), Ion, Postville, Waterville,
and Capoli. The last four or five places mentioned are
very small. Rossville has two or three hundred people, a
steam flouring mill, a steam saw mill, two stores, and
two hotels.
Milton, which place we may visit on our return, has three
water flouring mills on Village creek; several saw mills;
two stores; two hotels; a large school house, used for
church purposes on the Sabbath; and between two or three
hundred inhabitants. it is four miles from Lansing.
The loveliest site for a town in Allamakee county, is
conceded to be Winfield, (Wexford Post office) in Taylor
township, on the Mississippi, fourteen miles south of
Lansing by land, and about the same distance, we believe,
north of McGregor. The levee is natural, with a pretty
grade, and the village plat -- thirty feet, perhaps,
abouve the river -- is as level as a house floor, with a
sprinkling of threes to decorate it. The bluffs at that
point retreat a considerable distance from the river.
Half a mile from the landing is a spring stream, of
sufficient bulk for hydraulic purposes, and a fall of
twenty-two feet in a distance of forty rods. The
proprietors of the town are Daid Harper, who resides in
the place, and E.W. Pelton, of Prairie du Chien. Mr.
Harper is Postmaster and one of two merchants of the
village -- if village it can now be called. There are not
more than half a dozen dwelling houses on the site of the
town.
A plow and wagon shop is about to be erected, and other
improvements are under contemplation. On so beautiful a
site for a village, we should rejoice to see one rise.
MILTON
April 28, 1859
We are once more progressing towards home. Thus far in
our travels on the Mississippi, we have chosen boats
connected with the Northern of St. Louis line. The
officers are courteous and obliging and are doing much to
make the line popular.
In our notes on Allamakee county, last week, we hinted
that, on our return, we might visit Milton. This we have
done, and find it a quiet little village, in a lovely
little valley, reminding us of the happy spot so
charmingly described by Johnson in the story of
"Rasselas." The village contains about one
hundred and seventy inhabitants, and is located on
Village Creek, three miles from its mouth, and four miles
from Lansing. the first settler was Jesse M. Rose, who
came hither in the autumn of 1851, and built the first
grist mill -- excepting corn crackers -- in the county.
He is the father, so to speak, of the mills in Allamakee,
he having built five in the county. Among the other early
settlers were O.S. Conkey and Peter Valentine, both, like
Mr. Rose, influential men of the place.
We find here three grist mills, the proprietors being
Jesse M. Rose, Peter Valentine, and A. Deremore. These
mills are all on Village Creek, which is a remarkable
stream. It rises near Waukon; has its origin entirely in
springs, and though but fourteen miles long, has sixteen
or seventeen good water powers. We have seen but few
springs more copious and none more lovely in the State.
The water is as clear as crystal, and in several places
the sand on the bottom of the stream is almost as white
as chalk. The most inveterate toper must love water -- if
he should sojourn in this valley during the dog days.
Milton was formerly known as Village Creek, and the
latter is still the name of the Post office. James
Erickson, Esq., is the Postmaster. David Sidey and Thomas
Engleby are the merchants. Mr. Erickson has the only shoe
shop in the place. there is a harness maker, a gunsmith,
a shingle maker, two blacksmiths, a wagon maker, and a
cabinet maker -- all the mechanics we find here. A
tinsmith would probably do well. the Valley Temperance
House is the only hotel now open.
One public school is kept here eight or nine months in
the year. The church organizations are Methodist,
Episcopal, and Independent Methodist, Eldridge Howard and
S.H. Greenup supply the desk of the former society, and
Peter Valentine the latter. All three are local
preachers. One is a farmer, one a miller, and one a hotel
keeper, and all are hard workers manually. Mr. Howard was
on the circuit for several years, and left it on account
of ill health. He is a hospitable man and a highly
esteemed citizen. There is neither a lawyer nor physician
in Milton. One medical man, we should think, would do
well.
Where wigwams and Indian corn fields stood ten years ago,
Milton, hidden from the world by high bluffs on two
sides, obscure and unknown is slowly rising. It may one
day be a large village for some of its best water power
is unimproved. Other mills, a cloth factory, &c.,
will no doubt, be built here at no very remote period.
CAPOLI
Three miles below this village, at the mouth of Village
Creek, and one mile south of Lansing, is Capoli, known to
all Mississippi boatmen and tourists, as Columbus. It was
settled ten years ago, but has not progressed much,
having less than a dozen families. Mr. W.C. Thompson, the
first permanent settler, still remains. His brother, John
C. Thompson, is a cabinet maker and a daguerreotypist, a
mechanical genius, and almost alone in the manufacturing
business. Peter Valentine, of Milton, has a steam saw
mill there; Wolcott & Conkey, a storage, forwarding
and commission house, and Mr. Wolcott, a hotel.
When Allamakee county was organized, the seat of justice
was located at Columbus. It was removed to Waukon in
1853. The name of Capoli was substituted for Columbus in
1857. It has a good landing, and the citizens are
sanguine that a town will yet rise there. The people of
Waukon, have some interest there, and in connection with
the forwarding merchants of Capoli, are about to erect a
warehouse. It is thought that a ferry will soon be
established between Capoli and the mouth of Rush Creek,
on the other side of the river, and a mail route through
Capoli to Waukon.
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