The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-12-19
ANTHOLOGY or DIES M0uG1A.
"a. J. Booker, M. d.

railroads running into Des AsiAes, 20
that the traveller came by his own OK
cart. if he were one Of the prospective
settlers, or by stage.
Travelling by stage il ono Of the ex-
periences Of past which VIII net come
again although I have seen them
within the last eighteen years pass
through Oklahoma in the old days in
Texas we had them and il was
certainly great experience. Il was
not as uncomfortable as one wsula now
imagine. Since there was n ether
means Of transportation there Was no
unhappiness. They had good springs
and one could be quite contsatsa when
there was not too much baggage There
were regular route and stops q relays.
Horses were changed ct regular inter
walls and further along one changed We
hicles, much after the manner We now
change trains. So on Saturday nights,
the stage drivers formed the grsatr part
Of the rough element about this city.
There were about seventy five o. eighty
OF these men who waited until Monday
morning to resume thir relays.
At this period Of the city . growth
there were about five thousand people
Of whom about twenty-five were Ne
groes. With this population there were
twenty or twenty-five saloons The
licenses fee was two hundred and fifty
dollars. They are supposed to sell only
wines of the light variety, .ales and
beer, still if one knew the ropes he
could get the real straight stuff. The
saloons were not necessarily the kind
we used to know, but were rather
line. While there was not much trou-
BILE the tssoft drinks with . little of
the straight stuff made men pretty dar-
| ing, SO that one would be little care
full Of statements. OF course there
were not the bad men in Iowa that
| were to be found in the sent rest
during this period.
Mr.. F. M. Hubbell was one Of the
leading attorneys then. Hessrs. Clay
| Lewis, Dennis Burris, George Cnrtley
and Jefferson Logan were among the
! members Of the Negro colony. Alex
Wilburn was a little boy. There was
no church but they all went to the
other Sunday school, Later church
services were held in little buildings
| about town. The preachers in those
days did not get paid, but worked
along with his congregation.
There was bridge over the river at
Court avenue, it was toll bridge so
that many people forded the river, un-
til the time came when there was
ferry. Still one did not have to go
| far even if he had a job which carried
him all over town: For Hoyt Sherman
lived at Sixth and Walnut streets,
Frank Dennis, the leading banker of
the city, lived at Fifth and Locust, and
old man Kurtz where the Central Trust
now stands. Twenty eighth and Grand
avenues was the sight Of a farm house,
with two graves at Ingersoll and Twen-
| ty-eighth. What a lot Of chances
I there were for speculation for those
who were here when there were only
about five or six business blocks in the
town and Chestnut street, from Sixth
avenue to the river was the swell resi-
! dcnce district. There were no paved
streets and Doctor Hanawalt lived on
the edge of town at Fourteenth and
Grand. All the Negros who were there
l
| they had invested few hundred dol
lars in property in the right places.
On the other hand during the past ten
years the venturesome have cleared
away many wooded areas, streets have
been paved and certain properties have
more than quadrupled in value. When
! twenty more years have rolled around
the same tales of what might have
been will been will be told and there
will be a lot Of jeers by the then new
corners about what we did net do.
As matter Of fact there are great
er opportunities today on account OF
our having little bigger range in the
/ field Of occupation. This is another
story however. If man would live
as simply as those people were forced
4 to live on account Of circumstances
he has an opportunity to save more
| money and take more chances; their
hindsight is as good, or was, as many
Of ours, but hindsight is not worth the
| best tinkers dam it is foresight and
nerve and vision which count. The
old timers who were the big ones in
/ the days Of the sixties did not lhave
much faith in this section as is shown
by che narrow twisting streets which
run into practically dead walls Of lin
itations. Read the papers and see this
effect every day. II people, some Of
whom were not removed one genera
ton from England, many Of whom
came from the East, what could you
expect Of people who had just come
out Of slavery.
/ But one day there was a tremen-