Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-09-23

moves the strongest human link that
had united this community with its
earliest days of settlement by the
white man.
The Clarks came here before the
Black Hawk war. Sept. Is, 1892, the
treaty had been signed on the site of
the city of Davenport, by General
Winfield Scott on the one side and
Chief Keokuk and other Indian chiefs
on the other, by which the Sacs and
Foxes ceded to the United States
about 100000 acres. This was the
famous Black Hawk purchase. and in
the following spring, about the time
the treaty was ratified by congress.
Captain Clark, then a I1-year-old boy,
went across to Buffalo with his par
ents. and helped his father build the
cabin and plant the first crop of corn
that a white man had ever grown in
Scott county.
The father, Captain Benjamin W.
Clark, came from Virginia. He had
been captain of a company of mounted
rangers, under General Dodge, in the
Black Hawk war. When he settled at
Buffalo. their nearest neighbors on the
Iowa side OF the river were at Burling-
ton and Dubuque. Antoine LeClaire's
reserve" dated from the treaty. but
he did not settle upon it until 1884.
Captain Clark's father established a
ferry across the Mississippi while he
lived at Andalusia- This for many
years was the most noted ferry be-
tween Burlington and Dubuque.
Captain Warner Lewis Clark was
born on the Wabash river, near Mt.
Carmel, Wabash county, Illinois, Nov.
IA, 1922. His father was Ben jamin
Warren Clark, and his mother Mary
Beard Clark. At his birth, his mother
died, and her mother cared for the
babe until after 1924, when the father
married Miss Celia Gabbert of Ken
lucky. They soon afterward removed
TO Fort Edwards, Hancock county, Hi
nois, and in 1927 they came to Rock
Island, and settled on the banks of
the slough, near where the new bridge
strikes the Rock Island shore They
later moved to Andalusia. and then, in
1893, TO Buffalo, to start the first per
manent settlement in Scott county.
BOTHOOD ON THE FRONTIER
Life on the frontier filled the time
of an 11-year-Old boy very differently
a hired man haul the logs for their
cabin. He had had nine months of
schooling-six at White Oak Springs,
Wis, and three at Oquawka. Ill In
1886 after the town of Buffalo was
laid out, Warner L.. then a boy of 16.
took the contract for putting up the
first storehouse. AS a partner in this
work Captain Clark had S c. Hast .
ings, who afterward was a Judge of
the supreme court of Iowa, a member
of congress. and later chief justice of
California. W. l.. also had the man
asement OF the famous CIark's ferry
at this time. and attended the first
school in Buffalo township. taught by
Erastus Basset, when he got a chance. [
In 1888 he had his last schooling
In that year his father sent him back .
10 his birthplace, in Wabash county, /
Illinois, to sell two farms that he had .
there. and to return through the state
and purchase and drive home 80 cows
". l.. hired Daniel Stennate TO accom- /
pany him and help in driving He af-
terward recalled as characteristic OF .
the times that he returned through the .
entire state of Illinois. going from
place TO place and announcing his err
rand. with $4,000 in cash on his per .
son most of the time, and with entire !
safety, and, in fact. little thou ut Of .
the danger of robbery.
HELPED REAR LARGE FAMILY.
The year 1899 brought great change /
in the life of Captain Clark. for on
Oct % his father died. and a month .
later followed the death of his mother. /
s..L.
was the Oldest While they were alb /
sent at the funeral Of their mother. /.
their home was ransacked. leaving the .
children with scarcely a change Of /
clothing. II was a dark and gloomy
prospect that faced the little family. /
but II developed the character that .
". L. Clark showed in all his later /
life. Cutting wood. breaking prairie. |
raising wheat. he kept the wolf from .
the door. and later. after his marriage .
10 Harriet Baker. in 1871, he at 10
and she al IS years OF age. they
brought up six of his brothers and /
sisters until they were able to start
in life for themselves
In the autumn Of 1876 Captain
Clark took several men and an outfit .
and went 10 the pineries on Black .
river, Wisconsin. where sufficient logs
we're cut TO make several respectable
RATS In lS47 he removed TO Daven-
port. where he entered into a partner
ship with a Mr. Hamilton. under the
firm name Of Clark & Hamilton. deal
ers in timber. In the year following.
ISIS he. together with W H Baker.
erected 4 saw mill on the Black river.
In Wisconsin. just above the falls
The plant was double saw mill. and
gave employment 10 about a dozen
men The output of this primitive
mill stocked the lumber yards at Dav-
export, the product being fioated down
the Mississippi in RATS
SUCCESSFUL RIVER CAREER.
In 1850 Captain Clark sold out the