Evening journal., 1912-01-18
new NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Story Of the Opening Up
Of a State
By Holland

The late Judge Learned Hibbard of
Lebanon, Conn, was the administra-
tor of the estate of the last surviv-
ing member Of the family of Jonathan
Trumbull, Governor Of the Connecti-
cut colony and intimate friend Of
Washington, whom Washington, in ex-
pressing his friendly intimacy, called
Brother Jonathan, term which has
passed into the vernacular
In the spring Of 1873 / met Judge
Hibbord, in order to talk with him
about the final disposition of various
papers and furniture Of which the
Trumbull estate consisted in part.
discovered, however, that the judge
was full OF news that he had just re-
ceived from a near relative, Alfred
Hibbard, of Red Oak, Iowa.
81 suppose" said he, that Iowa
was settled by a larger. number Of
people from Massachusetts, and Con-
necticut than any other state or ter
ritory west of the Mississippi. The
part that John M. Forbes of Boston
had in opening up Iowa to the pion-
GERS is very well known. You may
recall that he built the Burlington
Railroad through that State in the
late forties, and it was largely through
his personal influence that so many
Massachusetts families migrated from
the Old Bay State to the new land
after the railroad had gone through it.
/ am certain, however. that very few
persons realize how great a part AL
fred Hibbard played in inducing some
of the best people of Connecticut, es-
/ pecially farmers, to settle in Iowa. He
should have as much credit for the
initial upbuilding of Iowa as John Nj.
Forbes, for the two men worked al
most side by side, and each was al
most fanatica in his enthusiasm over
the future of Iowa
Shortly after he was graduated
from Yale in the early thirties AL
fred Hibbard said to me that some
day the greater part of the United
Statos, so far as industry and develop
ment were concerned, would be west
OF the Mississippi river. Missouri, he
stated, would be settled largely by
people from the South and would be-
come very great State. For this rea'
son, he believed. 1t was necessary fol
the welfare of the whole country thai
another element should settle in the
great territories north of the Mis-
souri,, and to my astonishment he tolG
me that he was going there himsel
in the course of a few months.
"'What' exclaimed. You who car
make a good living as a surveyor here
in Connecticut going to that territor.
where nobody lives?'
eli
there and / predict to you now tina
where / find one man when l get GU
there / will find a thousand 10 years
later
True to his word. Alfred went on
there, and few years later, som
time in the early forties, | heard fron
him to this effect: Il know almos
every inch of the southern part OF thi
territory. / know that It has as goo
land as God has bestowed on any par
of the earth for mans use. ! hav
been from one end of the State to tn
other on foot; L have been surveyin
a railroad When it is built II wi
stretch along the southern part of tn
territory from the Mississippi TO tn
Missouri. Then you will see wonder
full things happen out here A littl
later he wrote me again, saying ths
when surveying the railroad, he camI
ed one night at a certain point an
said to his assistants: Here viii Z
a city I shall live here
We'll the road for which Alfre
made the survey was built as the Blu
lington and Missouri. No sooner Wa
it opened than the emigrants bega
docking in along its line, many
them coming from Connecticut. A
fred having written glowing lettei
about the new land to his old friend
and after one visit back home takir
with him to Iowa 10 families from OF
town. Five years after the road hi
been built there we're a thousand mt
in the territory where a few years b
fore Alfred himself had been the on
man. Thus, one of his prediction
came true.
2 And here / hold.in my hand co
tinued Judge Hibbard, "a letter fro
? Alfred In which he asks me if T
: member a prediction he made that
a place where he camped one mig
while he was surveying for the Blu
lington and Missouri a city would
built He tells me that the town
' that spot is now the most hourishii
community in southwestern Iowa.
is the bustling little City of Red o.
and it is Alfred's home"
Copyright. 1912, by +. j. Edwar,
4 All rights reserved)
. Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell
"A Presidents Remarkable Litera
, Feat"