Show historical localities A visit to points of interest in the states of illinois and iowa NAUVOO hancock county III october 6 1 news while the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is ia holding its semiannual conference at home we ar are e holding our little litile conference in ia the acif city of joseph the once beautiful nauvoo the city that the saints loved so well viell in years gone by and which they expect to possess again after afier the lord has redeemed deemed le zion yes ill fated nauvoo we love thee even now khoii though if I 1 thy glory has bas departed tem in thee 11 for 0 ra a season but the river I 1 he islands the blands ul ands the flats flata the timber berand and the ucb le are still there and everything to build even a 8 much larger cit city than the one which once was wa and of which the present town is but a sad relic before leav leaving ing kirtland ohio on the ad instant we were shown where a thief soine years ago had broken in by lifting digging his way under the northeast cornerstone corner stone of the temple with the expectation of being rewarded tor for his trouble by finding costly treasures which he be imagined had been stored away by be the saints it is needless to say that he be was disappointed in his search but he was very successful in the building quite considerably for in undermining the cornerstone that particular part of the temple sank causing th the ewall wall to crack in several places and the plastering asterine pl to peel off As soon as the josephites Joeeph ites came camb in possession of the building they repaired the damage as far as possible by bracing up the floor and filling ailing up the cracks in the wall put but the t races of the injury dons done the building will always remain our oar journey from willoughby willoughb y to chicago was uneventful we passed some fine country both woodland and prairies and saw several pretty sites where we thought stakes of might be organized and temples built some time in the future chicago bt cago is a great rest city ot 01 all the lare towns in the e united states none aone hask has grown rawn so rapidly as has 9 this the grand metropolis of the west she now claims i ip habitants IQ in it was a mere village In 14 perusing the documents of the historical society library at dear bom avenue we saw the first number I 1 of the first newspaper published in chicago it was called the chicago democrat was dated nov 2 ab 1833 and publisher published by J calhoun it was a twenty four column paper printed on 04 what was then cal ed a voy royal sheet and quite ably edited there were 21 columns of reading matter and three columns of advertisements no 2 COrAd contained ned the following at the head bead of its reading matter the democrat socrat is published every tuesday ill the village of chicago cago illinois in the budding on the corner of south water and dark streets bt 11 the terms were 2 ot per annum in dance advance c e we will sav in connection herewith that at the historical society library lip att found some very interesting and Mil knable vable works and docu document menth ali chouan the institution lost all its old collections in ia the great fire in 1871 among other things that interested us was M a large history of el hancock co county an published by chapman brothers chicago and an illustrated hist hiatt cal ill i ll atlas of hancock county b bi T andreas now a prominent i thor or this atlis atlas which is fland BOmely gotten up contains awell well drawn map of the city of nau too including commerce and all a sub ubi including udini add additions bons T the e history of county devotes considerable pace to the lai history story of the mor mons and we took the liberty to call OR attie the principal an author thor and publisher castles ales chapman esq at his bis office I 1 S van buren street he appeared to be a gentle man of high culture and abon we alluded to the history of the normans mormons Mor Nor mons in hancock county as beat beki ki exclusively an anti momon production and tuat that justice had not 1044 ten done to outside our side of the question I 1 kaald that he had not written it nimi himi belf ui but that it was the product of a who had been all through the brou trou bubles bles and considered himself well posted a no doubt who took I 1 to ac active tive part in sli shedding edding the I 1 docent ent people mr chapman was ink enough to acknowledge that te w author had written it from i 1 standpoint altogether unfavorable to t e cormons Mormon Mor mons sand I 1 and that no attempt fa far as he be mr chapman knew had VU en made to set get any information from aside this is enough to give the were of the NEWS an idea of what ahat part of the history of hancock tanty treating on the mormons cormons Mor mons is air john moses tot custodian of historical society library is at lent ut busily engaged in writing a aa of illinois and vaa ovas very aw to learn a number of facts ing which he had bad never beard heard of feiore re while elder jenson busted busied aalf it with the old eld records elder bider dugon was very diligent in posting gentleman ent lemau who had promised he justice to the mor imor in his history we suggested would treat our people fairly should give him the credit alt being an exception to the N rule as nearly every uon noa kormon onon wrier writer so far bad attl us he expressed his total te spaulding story anda and a WM many other silly talca buiu circulation about joseph smith and his people and was particularly interested in the me elder bider steve son from his bis own experience and personal knowle knowledge dige gave of the prophet and his bis characteristics hut none that equaled marshall field oo co s dry aputis house bouse situated ov on adam quince and aad franklin s t s and fifty avenue a solid block k a building in winch which business is 1 a acted to the amount of 40 0 a year vear i Is s an immense rock structure tre feeland feet fee tand and eight stories high hig rite ahe employed emp loyes number 1350 1850 in connection with the wholesale house there is a retail business in another part of the city where 1500 clerks are emp employed loyel adding to this about men employed by the firm in its factories and warehouses we have a total of persons engaged by marshall field anaf company enough to make a municipality of their own the figures given are correct as we received them from mr L M williams assistant superintendent and arthue arthur H becker a young gentlemanly sales man who took great pains to silo show W us no around and give us correct lion this is ia supposed to be the largest dry goods in the world a distinction previously given to a new york firm b baal ot late years vears mar shall field co luve been ahead of all new york houses bonded in line of trade bidding chicago goodbye good goed bye at a late hour last night we resumed our journey westward in an elegant cuser car of the chias chicago 0 rock island pacific railway grossed spout oat daylight tits this morning we crossed the mississippi river from rock bock island illinois to davenporte iowa and at 11 lock a in ar arrived ived at belaen elden ow on the pes des moines river in the southeast earner corner of wapello capello county jere here we changed cars taking a branch roadoff road of the ahe C R I 1 P railway to keokuk 68 miles from elden eiden at a point whets where the des moines river makes maires a sharp bend southward we passed a little town called mount zion but could not learn whether the name was suggested through any historical connection our people m might dt lit have had with the place in early d days ys but the towns of bonaparte arte and farmington Farmin in van buren bounty county through which we also passed will be remembered remember td by the exiles 0 of 1846 it was tie the people of farmington w who ho prevailed upon the musicians of the camps of 1 israel irael to come and play for them and it was also near farmington fuere filere wm win H folsom and rodney swazey were taken by the mob and hung up ty by their heels until they were nearly dead because they would not deny their religion A few miles before reaching keokuk we crossed sugar creek the memorable stream which can never be for forgotten otten by those who pitched their ten tents on its frosty banks and drank of I 1 its ley icy waters in the bleak mouth month of feb eb 1846 the railway crosses the stream near the point where it empties into the des moines river but that part of it chichis made sacred in church history through the exiled saints being camps camped on its banks is a few miles above to the northwest we arrived at keokuk about 2 this was du an outfitting outwitting out fitting place for the emigrating emie rating who crossed the plains in 1853 66 55 and many of the readers of the maws will remember the heights of keokuk with mixed feelings of sadness and joy for here a weary pilgrims from northern europe whose friends and relatives yet reside in the valleys of the mountains closed their eyes to in death worn out by the long voyage across the atlantic and up the mississippi and before they got ready to undertake the tae tong tiresome journey of 1300 1800 miles to the far west when we think of all the sacrifices iffat at have been made I 1 in d past years year a for the cause ol of zion when we think of the many who fell as martyrs tor for the truth in missouri and illinois and the hundreds who died through fatigue and hardship while exhausting their last mortal strength try trying finx to cross the dreary plains and climb the lofty mountains to reach the land of the Saint sto say nothing of the many who found a watery grave before reaching the promised land ot joseph then indeed do de we realize that the life of a saint to is a life of trials and cm chions and that cepe it not for our hope in reg arclo the fu future and our implicit faith in the final reward of those who have sacrificed all for christs sake asks we ove would ol of all men be the most mis erable but god to is just aud and he haa all a p power ower 1 in n heaven and earth he has BBS tale therefore f ore A also 1 30 power to raise the dead and w when ben th abe e trump announcing the mornine of the resurrection shall sound then shall those who fell by the wayside whose bodies were lowered into the mighty deep or who slee sleep in I 1 unknown graves on fue broad prarie pra fries s of the west come forth with renewed and immortal bodies and rejoice forever that twy they kept the faith for it is far better to die in ia the discharge disc narge ot of our duties than to live and deny the truth how much better 0 off ff are those faithful ones wh whose ie mortal remains sleep in t the hills bills of keokuk andi and who wao never faa saw the mountain howe hoine of the saints w which h 1 in n connection with their love fa tor r the goepel cepel caused thorn them to leave their native ho homes ues aes i thousands hou sands of miles away th than ansome some of their friends and relatives whose lives were spared but who since have become engulfed in daran darkness dar knees red and hive have denied ake esith keokuk Is ia now it a city of about inhabitants having A bad ad rival bors it nas has not grow olto fast as some of tier her sister cities on vie toe banks of the mississippi river but lf Is rik less quite blovely place to live in its location on the slope of the the hill is quite romantic having rambled about keokuk for an hourne hour we walked up to the lower end of the sew rew government canal and two of our party had for the it arat st time in their liv esthe opportunity of seeing how a vessel is lifted aud and lowered by means of a lock this canal wh en eh is ii about seven miles long ion was built by the united states government in the years 1867 77 and cost about tour four million dollars there are three locks one at keokuk another at prices creek two and a halt bait miles above and a laird one at nashville at the end of the canal each lock Is 80 teet leet wide and teet leet long and by means of the three locks vessels are lifted 19 feet the capal winch which was built for lor the purpose of avoiding 1 the dangers of passing the des moines rapid Is about feet wide and add has an aa average depth of seven feet it Is ia made of a part of tiia the river bed by bv building a wall or dam lengthwise in the river this wall is 45 wide in m the bottom and 10 feet wide at the top the sloping walls are built of square rocks while the inside is tilled up with earth the obliging dobli aug captain of the government steamy steamboat oat video mr ff B Wait faey gave ave QS as most bof of this information by his bis permission we sailed saied on hn boat from keokuk to the secord lock at prices creek from where a good natured farmer fanner took us in ia his licht li wagon two and a halt half miles further to sandusky from there we went by rail 0 B tary Q by 7 miles to monroe thelle e with tue terry boat across the mississippi eriverto river to nauvoo where we arrived about 7 this ev evening erting W wy at once proceeded to major L 0 J bida mola mobs I 1 8 residence where we have put pat up comfortably for the night ANDREW JENSON EDWARD STEVENSON 1 JOSEPH S BLACK |