The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-08-13

Ac., &c.
DIES MONIES, Iowa,
July 3lst, 1874.
Dear advertiser In mid winter,
on the day that the last General
Assembly of Iowa met, as the flag
on Capitol Hill was for the first time
flung to the wintry breeze there
might have been seen at the junction
of Fourth street with the Chicago &
Rock Island r. r. in east Des Moines,
. large concourse of Des Moines'-
indeed of Iowa's, best citizens, be-
cause many of the members of the
Legislature we're there. Among
them l recollect to have seen the
venerable, patriarchal member from
Cedar, Hon. Henry Wharton and G.
P. Furst.
Then and there was inaugurated
an enterprise whose successful COM
pletion I had the pleasure of helping
to celebrate on Wednesday, July 20,
1874. / mean the Des Moines &
Minnesota r. r., better known as
the Narrow Gauge, extending from
Des Moines to Ames, in Story Co.,
on the N. w. r. r. From that time
till its completion the road has been
pushed along with an energy almost
unknown in Iowa railroad building.
just at q time when the severe
financial crisis came and many were
withdrawing their means from the
banks, the officers of the company,
with an abiding faith in the success
of the enterprise, reached their hands
into their pockets and invested in the
road by the many thousands of dol
lars. The result is we have q road
of SO miles and already almost as
smooth as many of the older roads Of
the State.
On Wednesday morning last there
assembled at the depot near the
Jones House, four or FIVE hundred of
our citizens and between three and
four hundred took passage on the
trains, two trains with eight cars, to
become, for the day the guests, by
invitation, Of Ames-now bound to
us by "bands Of iron and bars Of
steel" Among them were the most
noted of our citizens, Senator Wright
and wife, Congressman Jno. A.
Kasson, Judge G. G. Cole and daugh-
ter, Ex-Gov. Merrill and wife, exit
Gov. Cue and wife, J. 7. Young,
Sec. of State, and wife, John Rus
sell, Auditor of State. and wife.
Alonzo Abernethy, Supt. of Pub.
Inst. and wife, the Des Moines
Mayor and city "dads," the cores
pondents of the Chicago Inter Ocean,
State Register, State Leader and
Upton ADVERTISER, besides a lot of
the smaller fry.
The day was long and happier
lot of people were not in the city, or
State, unless it was at Ames. l was
on fiat car and either by design or
accident, in front Of me and on either
side were most Of the dignitaries re-
ferred to. Parasols and umbrellas
were up and at s A. M. the train
moved off, demolishing, before it had
fully crossed the first street, one um-
brella.
The road passes north along the
Des Moines river for about a mile
and then leaving the river our eyes
were greeted with all the beauty Of
Iowa's prairie scenery. 1t was
glorious ride and all were enchanted.
The first stop was made at "Ankery,"
where the company has purchased
40 acres of land to serve as the nu-
cleus Of a new town. There is
public road, the broad acres, and the
beautiful sky above, but the houses
haven't been built yet, and that
ubiquitous individual, the "oldest
inhabitant," hasn't yet made his ap-
pearance. The katy did, cricket and
the croaking frog Of the sloughs,
with the browsing cattle, are the
only and as yet undisputed inhab-
itants of the place. And yet it is
predicted that here in a few years
will be a little city and as there are
well improved farms all about it the
prediction may prove true. We
passed along the Polk county Poor
Farm and at 1910 we reached Polk
city, thriving little town. Here
the company have nearly completed
a depot and being just midway be-
tween Des NJ. and Ames it is the
most important point on the road.
Quite a number were here added to
our company. Among them was
one woman who attracted considera-
BILE attention and was the occasion Of
considerable good feeling. She was
tall, angular, had keen black eye
and was well dressed. She heard
some one address Gov. Merrill by
name and title and as he was stand
ing close beside her, she levelled her
black eyes on him, and as she sur
veyed him in his length and breadth,
in his height and depth, in his con-
vexity (which is considerably and
his concavity she exclaimed in tones
clearly heard by us all, "Well now,
is that a real live Guv'ner? I'm glad
Pm here. I've lived in Iowa 39
years and l never saw Guv'ner be-
fore. Well Guv'ner, I'm glad to see
you." Of course she was introduced
to the Ex-G Gov. and his wife, to the
U. S. Senator and the Judges, and
was astonished to find hersef sur.
rounded by SO many great men. He1
face was aglow with enthusiasm and
she reminded me little Of Elizabeth
of old who was ready to "depart.'
Her remarks were the occasion TO
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