|
-
| Volume II |
August 1921 |
No. 6 |
| |
|
|
Copyright 1921 by the State Historical Society of Iowa
(Transcribed by Debbie Clough Gerischer)
The Coming of the Railroad
I can well remember Iowa City as it was in the days long before
the Civil War, when Gower and Holt and the Powell Brothers were among the
principal business men and when Crummy's Tavern set out good cheer for the
stranger. Those were the days when the only public conveyance between towns was
the slow stage coach that also carried the mail. The drivers during the bitter
cold weather were often so numbed when they reached their stopping place that
they had to be lifted from their seats and carried into the station where a
large fireplace was always heaped with glowing logs to welcome all who chose to
enter.
The meeting of legislature was the main event of importance
until the excitement caused by the prospect of a railroad coming into the city.
This brought a great boom to Iowa City and sent the price of property soaring.
In those days everything the railroads asked for was willingly given to induce
them to come into the State. Grants and privileges of all kinds were freely
offered.
In the last days of December, 1855, I came up from Louisa County
to Iowa City, a distance of fifty miles, with C. H. Berryhill, one of the most
influential citizens of the town. We came by horse and buggy through deep snow
and it took us two days. As we neared the city, we saw off to our right huge
bonfires burning to afford light for the men on the railroad construction to
continue their work. The business men and others were out there helping to
complete the road according to contract, and by twelve o'clock New Year's
morning, 1856, the last rail was laid and the last spike driven. On the 3rd of
January followed the great event of celebrating the completion of the railroad
to Iowa City. It was a bitterly cold afternoon when the whistle blew announcing
the entry of the first passenger train bringing the invited guests from Chicago,
Rock Island, Davenport, and Muscatine. The cannon roared out their welcome, and
the rattle of omnibuses was heard over the hard frozen street, as they bore the
invited guests to the homes the committee had arranged for them.
The committee on arrangements consisted of thirty-five ladies
and as many gentlemen. Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Berryhill were of this number and I,
a schoolgirl, being one of the family at that time, had the opportunity in a
small way of seeing and helping spread the four tables set the length of the
Representatives' Hall. For instance, I had th privilege and pleasure of helping
frost with real loaf sugar (a thing of luxury in those days) the
thirty-two pounds of pound cake which Mrs. Berryhill had ordered from her baker
for the occasion. We were told that only the white meat of the turkeys she had
ordered would be used and must be sliced very thin. But the supreme time to me
was when on the last day of preparation, I went with Mrs. Berryhill to the
Capitol and saw the tables and hall in all their glory. Over the speaker's
stand was an arch that the ladies of the committee had covered with branches of
evergreen in the midst of which were balls of cotton to imitate snow balls. In
one corner of the hall was an old fashioned cook stove where the committee
prepared and served hot coffee and hot fresh oysters, as the coming of the
railroad made fresh oysters for the first time possible in Iowa. As the tables
were bountifully spread with cold food, the committee served hot coffee and
oysters all night "till broad day light in the morning."
As this was before the age of the European way of serving,
everything was on the tables in abundance and every one helped himself. Besides
the loaves of cake supplied, each table had three pyramids of cake from three to
four feet in height and at the head of one table was one of popcorn four feet in
height. I remember two of the pyramids of cake in particular from the way they
were decorated. In the center of one was a peach tree, of wax of course,
bearing perfect fruit with a blackberry vine with green leaves and black fruit
starting from the base and winding round and round over the white surface to the
top. The other one bore a tree of leaves and red apples with a vie of red
raspberries. One of the trees was presented to the president of the road and
the other, I believe, to the Governor.
Almost everything connected with this event was very primitive
compared with to-day. The lighting for the halls was accomplished by means of
two rows of chandeliers hung from the ceiling. They were made of rows of common
laths, the first row of four laths full length, then the next row of shorter
length succeeded by row after row until the apex was reached near the ceiling.
Each row of laths had nails driven in about three inches apart on which were
placed common lighted candles.
For outside illumination, there was a candle at each pane of
glass from the basement of the Capitol building to the cupola, and all the
business houses near the Capitol grounds were illuminated in some way; but not
an alarm of fie was heard all night. Well, there were not so many insurance
companies in those days.
LeGrand Byington, that silver tongued orator, was President of
the Day and introduced the speakers. In complimenting the ladies of the
committee on the dinner or supper as I guess it was called at that time, he
said, "it was too good for kings, princes and potentates, but just good enough
for the contractors and builders of our western railroads."
SARAH ELLEN GRAVES
|
