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THE compiler of the following pages had intended to write a short history of Fort
Dodge. Much of the material would have been from memory—more from that promised
to
be furnished by various old settlers, and a still greater portion from conversations
had years ago with Major WILLIAM WILLIAMS, and others of the early settlers, together
with such assistance as might have been derived from a careful search of the public
records. Having been allowed to peruse certain manuscripts, of which E. G. MORGAN,
Esq., was the author, written by him to have been read at the local centennial
celebration on the Fourth of. July, 1876, but which he failed to deliver in
consequence of the rain-storm that day, I became impressed with the amount of
statistical and other information it contained, and believing it to be much superior
to anything I could have given to the public, requested the use of such manuscript
for publication. To this, Mr. MORGAN very kindly assented, and as a result, the
public
have the benefit of his labors.
The biographical sketches are written by myself, and are confined mostly to acquaintances
of olden times. Some of. them, the main incidents of whose lives are given, will
have
their first intimation of our intentions, upon seeing their names in these pages. No
man has paid, or promised a consideration of any kind on such account. We publish
these sketches simply because we deem them interesting reading matter, and believe
such interest will increase with years.
It is hoped and believed that copies of this history will be preserved in families
and elsewhere, and that it may become the basis upon which the historian of 1976
my found his record of events.
The anecdotes herein related are believed to be strictly true. Those detailed as
having
transpired where the author was present, are precisely as related. Others are from good
authority—the evidence of such as were auditors and witnesses.
The state of society twenty years ago was much more favorable to the development
of the
ludicrous than at present, and if we could collate for this work, the good jokes and trite
sayings of those days, we would be able to furnish a volume better lilted with mirth-provoking
articles than any comic publication of the day.
While we havWhile we have labored in collecting the faces, and putting them in form
for publication
Mr. CHARLES E. DENISON has busied himself upon the mechanical department. If any profits
result or losses occur, we share them alike.
GEORGE W. BRIZEE
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