Chelcy (Chelsea), a part of Section 33, Township 87 north, Range 4, was laid out April 25, 1855, by J. A. Marvin, Surveyor; Robert Hogg, Lyman D. Cross and John A. Squires, proprietors. It never throve, and the site of the town now yields excellent crops of corn.

In July, 1855, Dr. Albert Boomer, of Delhi, was appointed county agent for the sale of spirituous liquors. He entered upon and discharged his duties, as appears of record. August 29th, William Cattron was appointed liquor agent and $300 placed in his hands for the purchase of stock. After about three months' experience, he resigned in disgust, as sickness among men and horses increased to an alarming extent.

The brick building known as the Harding Hotel was erected by Charles Harding in 1855-6.

A RAILROAD STRANGLED.

July 10, 1855, the articles of incorporation of the Delaware County & Pacific Railroad Company were filed for record. The corporators were Charles Harding, Frederick B. Doolittle, Arial K. Eaton, John W. Clark, Charles W. Hobbs, Zina A. Wellman, James Wright, John H. Peters and John H. Porter, and the company was organized for the purpose of "constructing a railroad, commencing at the east line of Delaware County, thence westerly on the best route through the town of Delhi to the Pacific Ocean."

In September, Judge Doolittle ordered an election to be held on the 22d day of October, to see if the people of the county would vote to subscribe for $200,000 of the stock of the company, and issue a like amount of county bonds, bearing interest, not to exceed eight per cent. per annum, to be met by a six mill tax annually. This tax at the end of fifteen years to be increased to one per cent., to provide for the payment of the principal. At the election, October 22, the people emphatically rejected the proposition by a vote of 708 to 260. The vote of Delhi was 190 in favor to 20 against. Delaware, Coffin's Grove, Richland and Colony voted unanimously against the proposition.

September 29th, the County Court ordered and decreed that Township 87 N., Range 6 W., be set off into a separate township for political purposes, to be called "Adams," to take effect on the first Monday of April, 1856. On the same day, Townships 89 north, Range 3, and 89 north, Range 4, were erected into a new township to be called "Oneida," the organization to take effect on the 1st day of April, 1856.

THE RAILROAD QUESTION.

The railroad question had now become one of absorbing interest to the people of the county, and during this and the next year, created much excitement and not a little ill feeling. Delhi was a lively, thrifty town, one of the important points and stopping places on the great stage road from Dubuque westward. Business was lively, money was plenty and everybody was prosperous. Of course, the enterprising citizens of the county seat understood that if the projected railroad should not pass through Delhi, it would be necessarily fatal to their continued prosperity and they would have nothing left save their Court House and jail, but, singularly enough, for a time they did not seem to comprehend the possibility of such an event. They appeared to think that a railroad through Delaware without Delhi, was like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out, and they did not awake from their delusion until it was too late. It is said that a committee of citizens of Delhi, of which Charles Harding was one, went

to Dyersville to confer with the railroad officials in relation to the matter. The location of the road had then been definitely determined from Dubuque to Dyersville, but beyond that it was said that the question was still an open one, and it is also said that Delhi might still have secured the road by a liberal donaJudge Doolittle states that they offered $50,000, but that this was not considered sufficient and they could do no more. It is said, however, that, at the conference above mentioned, when they found that the road was permanently located to Dyersville, Mr. Harding and his associates coolly informed the officers of the road that "if Delhi couldn't have a railroad without having it from Dyersville, Delhi didn't want it at all." It does not seem possible that business men could take such a view of the matter, and yet it is gravely asserted that such was the position of the Delhi committee. Whether true or not, the people of Delhi soon discovered that their town was not to be on the line of the road, and during the Winter of 1855-56, a delegation of its citizens were in attendance upon the Legislature endeavoring to prevent the Federal grant of lands to the State to aid in the construction of the road from being turned over to the company by the State, unless the contemplated act should provide that Delhi and some other important towns should be stations on the road. lobby agent of the road, however, defeated their efforts and Delhi and its prospects received a blow from which it has never recovered, although the completion of the Davenport & St. Paul Railroad to this point in 1872 has aided it somewhat and is an important element in retaining the county seat at that point.

The

The Delaware Agricultural Society was incorporated at Delhi in 1855, and held annual fairs for several years, until the war, commencing in 1861, interrupted its operations.

BROOM CORN.

In 1855, James H. Bowen, then of Albany, New York, marked out Iowa as a locality for raising broom corn equal to the Mohawk flats, and in that belief, secured the services of Samuel Dickerson, of Schoharie County, New York, to inaugurate the business on his tract of land near Hopkinton. He procured the best machinery that could be found, including the "Emery Horse Power," for scraping, and sent the requisite seed at once. The first crop was raised in 1856, and worked up the Fall and Winter following. Mr. Crosby began about the same time, in the northern part of the county, in the same business. Mr. Bowen continued cultivating brush and manufacturing until 1859, when Thomas Cearnes embarked in it. In the meantime, Mr. John Tower, an experienced manufacturer, had been employed by Mr. Bowen, and from him Messrs. McLeod, Phillips, Willard, Fields and some others learned the art of making brooms.

In March, 1856, S. P. Mosher and others petitioned the County Court for the erection of a new township, to be composed of Congressional Townships 88, Range 5, and 88, Range 6, and to be called Pleasant Valley. The Judge granted the request, but thought the name "Milo" would suit the people better than the name they asked for, and so ordered.

MURDER IN DELHI.

On the 10th of March, 1856, murder flashed its red hand in Delhi. It was the result of professional jealousy between physicians and the ungovernable passions growing out of it. Drs. C. C. Sharp and Joshua F. Stout were practicing physicians of Delhi. A condition of acrimonious bitterness existed

between them, especially on the part of Sharp, who apparently cherished a vindictive animosity against his professional rival, which culminated in a fatal assault on the 10th. Dr. Sharp entered the store of Edmund Davis, where Dr. Stout was sitting quietly, and, after some very abusive language addressed to his rival, stabbed him twice in the chest with a dirk knife. Stout died on the 16th from the effects of his wounds. Sharp was arrested on the 19th, by Deputy Sheriff S. F. Parker, on complaint of Dr. Acers, Stout's brother-in-law. The murderer was tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary, from which he afterward escaped and fled to Tennessee. Sheriff Parker followed and discovered him, obtained a requisition upon Gov. Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, who granted the necessary papers, arrested the fugitive and returned him to his quarters. Subsequently, Sharp was pardoned by Gov. Grimes.

A post office was established at Burrington, April 8, 1856, but the Postmaster General refused to call it Burrington, because that would be so nearly like Burlington, and at the instance of Judge Dyer it was called Manchester. O. P. Reeves was appointed Postmaster.

May 7, 1856, J. A. Marvin, a school teacher, at Rockville, had some trouble with one of his pupils, a stout, muscular young lady, who imagined she could manage the school for him better than he could do it himself. She thought she could manage him, also, and undertook to "thrash" him or turn him out, but was worsted and was whipped herself. She entered complaint against him for assault and battery and he was arrested, tried, convicted and fined, but was committed, as he preferred the jail rather than to pay his fine. He made application for a writ of habeas corpus, but was denied by the County Court and finally concluded to pay his fine.

In the Spring of 1856, several Congregational families, among whom were Rev. J. H. Kasson, Rev. H. N. Gates, Daniel B. Noble, L. O. Stevens and F. W. Dunham, located a settlement, called the Stafford Colony, on and near Section 11, Township 89, Range 4, and called it Almoral (see Almoral).

The Dubuque & Pacific Railroad was completed to the east line of the county, at Dyersville, in 1856, by Magill & Co., contractors, and was of great advantage to the people, whose market for grain and stock was brought thirty miles nearer than Dubuque. This was a year of great prosperity, not only in Delaware, but everywhere throughout the Great West. The heavy immigration of 1854 and '55, which still continued, created an excellent home market for all kinds of produce, and the hardy pioneers, who had paved the way for all this prosperity, were beginning to receive some reward for their years of toil and privation. Money was plenty, labor was in active demand at good prices, towns were growing, farms improving and even beggars were getting rich. During these years of flush times and business activity, three-fourths of the land in Delaware was entered.

At the August election, 891 votes were polled and in November, John H. Peters was elected a Delegate to the Third Constitutional Convention from the counties of Delaware and Dubuque.

When the railroad was completed to Dyersville in the Winter of 1856–7, M O. Walker, the proprietor of the Northwestern Stage Line from Dubuque to St Paul, commenced running from Dyersville, via Burrington and Forestville, to Strawberry Point, West Union, etc. The Western Mail Stage Company running a line of mail and passenger coaches from Dubuque via Rockville Delhi, Bailey's Ford, Coffin's Grove to Quasqueton and Independence, also changed the eastern terminus of its line from Dubuque to Dyersville. This company had previously promised the people at Burrington, that it would put a

stage line from Dyersville via Burrington direct to Independence, over a more direct route than the mail stages were compelled to travel, but the promise was not fulfilled. During the Winter, through the influence of Judge Dyer and others, and the active efforts of the leading men at Burrington, parties at Dyersville and Independence were induced to organize a new stage company, and in the Spring of 1857, the "People's Line of stages commenced running from Dyersville to Independence by way of Burrington; the people along the line volunteered to make the way passable, by filling up or bridging the sloughs,

etc.

The new line at once drew the travel from the old mail route through Delhi, and very soon the Western Stage Company withdrew its coaches from that route and placed them on the Burrington road to run in opposition to the People's Line," and transported the mail over the mail route by single wagons. The "People's Line" run about a year and suspended, and soon afterward, the completion of the railroad sent stage coaches into permanent retirement, although the Northwestern Stage Line made Manchester its southeastern terminus for some time after.

March 2, 1857, Congressional Township 87 north, Range 5, was set apart as a township for political purposes and called Hazel Green.

At the April election, the question of licensing the sale of spirituous or intoxicating liquors was submitted to the people. The majority against the measure was 443.

The town of York, located on northwest quarter of northeast quarter, and northeast quarter of northwest quarter of Section 9, Township 90 north, Range 5 W., was laid out by Geo. W. Stewart and Clarissa M. Stewart, proprietors; W. R. Stewart, surveyor, May, 1857.

Nottingham (Earlville), on Sections 35 and 36, Township 89 north, Range 4 W., was laid out October, 1857, by the Iowa Land Company-R. B. Mason, President. Plat filed October 22, and approved for record in December. The post office at Nottingham is called Earlville, and there appears to have been an effort to change the name of the town to correspond, although no record appears, but in 1861, by order of Judge Bailey, the name was changed again to Nottingham.

Almoral, on Section 11, Township 89 north, Range 4 W., was laid out November 23, 1857; James H. Kasson and Mary S. Kasson, proprietors; F. W. Dunham, surveyor.

The Delhi Seminary filed articles of incorporation for record June 8, 1857. The corporators were James Wright, Z. A. Wellman, F. B. Doolittle, Albert Boomer, John Porter, Andrew Stone, B. Thorpe, W. R. Cox, E. A. Gilmore, Lewis Beal, J. H. Spellman, E. C. Taylor, Elisha Brady and James M. Noble.

The Almoral Institute, corporators, J. H. Kasson, L. O. Stevens, Joseph Dunham, W. G. Strickland, H. N. Gates, Elijah Gates, John A. G. Cattron and David Roland; articles of incorporation filed for record December 1, 1857. Limited to twenty years.

June 30, 1857, the Great Northwest Railway Company filed a petition in the County Court, asking that an election be ordered to see if the county would vote to aid in the construction of that road across the county. This was a company originating at Delhi, growing out of the Delaware & Pacific scheme, it is said, for the purpose of throttling the Dubuque & Pacific Road, which had left Delhi out in the cold. The idea of the bold projectors of the scheme appears to have been to make Galena, Ill., the eastern terminus, thence by way of Tete de Morts and crossing Delaware from near its southeast corner to the northwest, passing within three-fourths of a mile of Delhi. Mr. Ayers, in his "Early

Times," remarks: "It would have saved Galena the pre-eminence it then enjoyed, if its people had taken hold of the project." This company asked that the county loan its credit for $250,000 to aid in constructing the line across its territory. The County Judge, Doolittle, ordered an election to be held on the first Monday in August at the general election, upon the following issue:

Will the county of Delaware loan the credit of said county to the Great Northwestern Railroad Company to the amount of $250,000, by issuing and delivering county bonds of said county to this amount to said railroad company, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of that portion of said road which shall be located through the county aforesaid?

At the election, the township of Delhi voted in favor of the proposition 244 to 1, and Delaware went the other way 118 to 13. The measure was defeated in the county, however, the total vote being 791 against to 657 for.

New County Building.-The county was now sadly in need of more room for its officers. The Court House, while it had served and still served all the purposes of court room and jail as well, perhaps, as a more expensive structure, was entirely too small to afford proper accommodations for its officials, and it was found absolutely necessary to make provision for them. Judge Doolittle therefore provided for the erection of a substantial two-story brick building on the northeast corner of the Court House Square, at a contract price of $5,000. The building was erected, but the roof was not put on when Judge Doolittle went out of office, and it was finished by his successor, who paid but little attention to the work, and the roof was such a "botched" job that the next year it became necessary to remove it and construct a new one. The building contains four large rooms. The Clerk of the Court and the Treasurer occupy the lower floor, and the Auditor and Recorder the second story. Its style of architecture is unique and antiquated, bearing some faint resemblance to the castellated battlements of feudal ages, without, however, possessing any of their beauty or grandeur. It, however, serves the purpose for which it was designed, and with its floor covered with sheet iron, is just as good, practically, as a more imposing structure with marble floors.

July 6, 1857, Congressional Township 89 north, Range 3 W., was established as a political township and called Bremen, and George W. Harper, Constable, posted and served the notices of the court.

At the general election in August, 1874, votes were polled, showing a rapid increase of population.

If Delhi had passed the zenith of its prosperity and commenced its decline, Burrington, now Manchester, began to manifest symptoms of the growth since realized. Projected originally on "fog," as one of the early settlers of the town expressively terms it, as many of the western towns were projected about that time, the certainty that the Dubuque & Pacific Railroad would pass near or through it gave the town a substantial basis, and at the close of the year 1857 there were fifteen or twenty buildings in the little village.

The gigantic bubble of speculation, which, as has been seen, inflated so rapidly in 1855-56, suddenly burst and collapsed in 1857. The failure of the Ohio Life and Trust Company in August of that year was the first crash that heralded the coming financial panic, and in three weeks from that time the most of the banks had closed and everybody became as timid and frightened as they had been bold and confident before. All financial confidence was gone. Specie disappeared and bank notes depreciated and were driven home. The life blood of the nation, its circulating medium of exchange, had ceased to circulate, and universal disaster and ruin followed. Numerous merchants and dealers in Delaware were forced to yield to the storm and were closed out by their creditors.