Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-10-12
As IT WAS 81 YEARS AGO

40 u Vas 5u FEARS A6O
Just 81 years ago, Sunday last,
Octobe 9Th, d. NJ, and family
left Tennessee to try his luck in
western Iowa. Fifty-one years
ago on the 9Th of next month, /
Nov. 8th) they landed at Ham
Inns Grove, Audubon Co. Iowa,
being 80 days on the road, that
can now be eisily made in thirty
hours.
At that time "Rob" Harris,
the editor of The Missouri Vail
ey Times was only 6 mt Mt rs old.
| Not a foot of railroad in the
State, -now every county in thu
State, SO in number. has one
,or more railroads. Not a tee
graph or telephone line in the
State, nor a legally established
highway from Des ,Ioins to
the Missouri river, nor a bridge
on any of the numerous streams
on the way. Council Bluffs was
then known on the map as
Kanesvil]e, and was a mere en-
campment station Of the n or
man emigration on tfeir vest
ern march. The Missouri River
at this point was crt ssed ly a
ferry boat propelled by hand;
Omaha was a mere speck on the
map as a town on the outskirts
| of civilization, witha few small
"shacks" to indicate the loca-
ton of a mighty city in pros
pect. Sioux City was but a
name to indicate an Indian ira
ding station.
The emigration to California
was by team, genearly cattle.
and generally consumed from a
to 5 months, now made in four
days.
The State was then spoken of
as Black Hawks purchase, and
the land west of Des Moines
had just come into market at
S1.25 per acre, now worth from
$500 to $4,000 per acre.
The beautiful City of Des
Moines was then known as Fort
Des Moines, taking its name, no
loubt, from a few old log cab
bins on the bank of the Des
Moines river called forts. At
that time the city contained but
one brick house, a one story
building, known as DR.. Grim
mells Office, the balance CT the
buildings were wood.
Jas. w. Grimes had just de-
featedE rastus Bates for govern
Or, being the first Republican
Govrnor of Iowa. The State
only had two members of the
lower house of Congress, and 2
U. S. Senators, being Hon. A. C.
Dodge, of Burlington, and Hon/
Geo. w. Jones, of Dubuque.
WHAT A CHANGE!
Since then the OK team has
given way to the magnificent
palace car, and instead of trav-
ling three or four miles per
hour, we now go at the rate of
so miles, and if in a hurry, we
increase the speed to 80 or 80
niles per hour; our journey
from the east to the west now
not consuming more hours than
it did days 81 years ago.
Sioux City has grown to be a
large city, full of energy and
push and is distinguished for
its "Sioux City way" of doing
things; Omaha has long ago
.hrown off her swadling clothes
and taken her position with the
important cities of the land, and
the Kanesville of 1854 has be-
come the Council Bluffs of 1905
! city of beautiful homes, fine
churches and schools, and man.
1facturers, and an important
railroad center, while Des Moins
has dropped the "Fort" and adj
ded the Capitol of State and is,
without doubt, the city of Iowa,
the old hand ferry has given
way to the substantial steel
bridge, and the old stage coach
is a thing of the past.
Since then, the nation has
been engaged in one of the most
stupendous conflicts between
the North and South, known to
ancient or modern history, in
a civil war, in which the North
was victorious, and American
slavery was abolished and four
million slaves set free.
The East and West and the
North and South have been uni
ted together with ribs of steel,
the people talk by lightning,
travel by steam in magnificent
D., 11,.eo,. ..J