economic value that the lower coal-measures do, nor is there one which will have so great an influence upon its future prosperity. These remarks, of course, refer to the coal which the formation contains; for although the middle coal-measures will furnish no inconsiderable quantities of coal, and the upper coal-measures also small quantities, far the greater part of that indispensable element of material prosperity is contained in the strata of the lower coal-measures."

A careful examination of the strata was made at two points along the Des Moines river. One of these examinations was made near the north part of the county, with the following result:

Gray Shale and Shaly Sandstone .

Ash-colored Marl, containing Orthis Productus, Chonetes, Terebratulæ, and joints of Crinoids..

Gray Shale....

Dark Blue Shale

Marly Limestone, with Productus, Chonetes, etc.

Buff-colored, Arenaceous Limestone..

20 feet.

6 feet.

15 feet.

8 inches. .10 inches.

4 feet.

Ash-colored Shaly Clay..

Unexposed

The uppermost bed in this section was found to contain marine shells in great profusion and in a most perfect state of preservation.

The following is the account of the other observation:

Finding it impracticable to get along the river, I took the bluff road for Fort Des Moines. At Dr. Brooks' quarry, one mile east of the city, a bed of sandstone is exposed, about twenty feet in thickness, and of a somewhat soft texture. A portion of the bed, however, is concretionary; the concretions exceedingly hard and compact, and some of them from ten to fifteen feet in diameter. Nearly all the building rock used at Fort Des Moines is obtained from this bed of limestone, which has been opened at various places in the neighborhood.

Section at J. M. Todd & Co.'s mill, at the upper end of Des Moines city:

The coal in the above section is rather slaty and poor, though it serves for steam and ordinary purposes tolerably well. A good supply of a much better quality may undoubtedly be obtained by sinking a shaft to the lower seams, which are probably not more than two hundred feet below those in the above section. This coal is in a series of four seams, which crop out on the east side of the river, a half mile above the city. They are also seen in the bluff on the south side of the river, two miles below.

Two miles above the city on the east side of the river a bed of fire-clay crops out at the water level, overlaid by a thin band of sandstone containing roots of Stigmaria. At the base of the drift deposit here is seen a bed of ferruginous conglomerate about three feet in thickness.

With regard to the coal formation of Polk county, Prof. White makes the following observation:

"Polk county is nearly centrally located among the coal counties of Iowa, and although large quantities of coal may reasonably be assumed to exist beneath its surface at no great depth, it has not yet been exclusively mined, except at and in the immediate vicinity of Des Moines.

"The mines of Messrs. Redhead & Co. are opened in the valley side of the Des Moines river, just north of and adjoining the city, and those of C. C. Van & Co. just south of the city in the valley side of the Raccoon. Other mines are also worked in East Des Moines, just south of the capitol; and still others may be opened at numerous points around the city, for the same bed of coal has about the same general level throughout the vicinity, having been originally continuous, and afterward cut through by the carving out of the valleys of the Des Moines and the Raccoon. No data have been obtained showing the amount of coal annually taken from these mines; but in general terms it may be said that they supply the whole city and vicinity; the railroad companies for their own use and also a considerable quantity for shipment.

"As before mentioned these mines are all on a continuous bed, or more properly speaking, in three separate beds, which have here come so closely together that they are readily mined as, and appear as one bed, either one of which would be too thin for profitable working it alone. This compound bed has been recognized as far west as Redfield, in Dallas county, and as far southward as Indianola, in Warren county, as has been more fully shown by Prof. St. John.

"There is a fourth thin bed of coal a few feet beneath the others, as seen at Des Moines, which, at Newcomer's Point, five or six miles below the city, is some twelve feet beneath the representatives of those worked at the city. At Rattlesnake Bend, some eight miles below the city, a three foot bed of coal is exposed in the channel of the river, where at low water it is sometimes quarried for local use.

"The sub-carboniferous limestone does not appear in Polk county, even in the bed or banks of the Des Moines river, and it is evidently at some depth beneath that level throughout the county. It seems then not improbable that other beds of coal, besides those referred to, may yet be found beneath them at Des Moines, as well as elsewhere in the county. Some borings have already been made at Des Moines, but efforts to obtain any satisfactory account of the strata passed through have failed.

"Besides the coal contained within the county it is also quite well supplied with fuel from the woodlands, which occupy the valleys of the two rivers.

"The clay associated with the coal beds of Des Moines furnishes excellent material for common pottery, and two establishments are in successful operation in the city for its manufacture."

The book containing the foregoing observations upon Polk county mining operations and the development of the coal interest, was published in 1870, and while the prophecies therein made have mostly been fulfilled, its statements of historical fact need much to be amended.

Prior to the time that Prof. White's book was published the coal interest of Polk county was in its infancy, and scarcely enough coal was mined for home consumption. The coal which was obtained at that time was found at a short distance beneath the surface of the ground, and as in most cases, it visibly cropped out of the ground along the streams, was of easy access, and procured in very limited quantities.

It is said that the presence of coal in and around the present site of Des Moines was first noticed by the soldiers who built and occupied the fort; it is also said that the blacksmith shops in connection with the garrison were supplied with coal from certain coal banks adjacent, and it is stated as a matter of history that A. N. Hays and Capt. Allen opened a coal shaft and stone quarry on the banks of the Des Moines as early as 1843.

Notwithstanding the fact that coal was known to exist in large quantities, and that it had been mined in small quantities as early as 1843, at the time Prof. White's book on the geology of lowa was published in 1870, nothing but a superficial and miscellaneous system of mining had been adopted, and the amount mined scarcely equalled the limited demand of the home market. About this time Wesley Redhead, a gentleman who has been identified with the interests of Des Moines and Polk county from the very first, commenced prospecting for coal in a systematic manner, with a view of engaging in the mining business on a grand scale. He made persistent efforts to achieve success, and called to his aid all the resources at his command. In addition to his time and labor, he expended over eight thousand dollars of his own private funds, and still his investigations had not been crowned with success. Mr. Redhead finally secured the services of John Gibson, of Derbyshire, England, whose extended experience in the coal mines of the old world had eminently fitted him for the prosecution to a successful issue of the investigation which his employer had so long conducted in vain.

The circumstances attending the final effort, and its triumphant conclusion, are related by Mr. Dixon in his centennial history of Polk county, and also in an editorial published in the Des Moines Leader, of June 4, 1873. A synopsis of both accounts is herein reproduced. Mr. Dixon

says:

"A few rods south of 'Coon railroad bridge, on land belonging to Mr. R., west of south park, a drill was introduced in 1873, under the direction of Mr. Gibson, foreman. In the descent seventy feet were attained, the drill passing through three inferior veins of coal, and reaching at the depth indicated a flint rock, so stubborn and invincible as to bring discouragement even to the old Derbyshire miner, who advised Mr. R. at this point to abandon the work. Even the Geologist had stated that if success were not realized within that distance of the surface, it would be useless to proceed further.

"Mr. Redhead did not participate in this gloomy view of the subject. He quiety inquired of the foreman how many feet of rod were left, and being answered that there were twenty, he urged the employment of every inch, declaring that if this did not bring the anticipated triumph of human enterprise over stubborn nature, he would furnish a hundred feet more and work these up before he would abandon his long-cherished plans. They went to work again, consuming all of four weeks, at the slow rate of three inches per day, in perforating this massive rock, three feet in thickness. When the drill finally passed through the resisting mass, it quickly de

scended through a vein five feet thick of black diamond coal, signalizing in its passage, the superiority of genius over inaminate matter.

"It was late in the evening when this great triumph was achieved; but, late as it was, James Clark, an employe of Mr. Redhead, who had been a witness of the thrilling scene just enacted, hurried away to report to that gentleman the auspicious result. To Mr. Redhead this report must have been intensely gratifying. He immediately went to B. F. Allen, and, on communicating his grand discovery, secured from the banker an investment of thirty-five thousand dollars. A shaft was sunk to the required depth, and in a short time all the appliances belonging to a first-class mine were visible to the spectator, and scores of operatives down deep in the earth were busily engaged in bringing out from this vast store-house of nature its exhaustless treasures."

The following is from the Leader of June 4, 1873:

"WESLEY REDHEAD'S CAT OUT OF THE BAG.

"The Leader of the 3d stated that Wesley Redhead had at last been successful in his prospecting for coal, but owing to a pressure of other matter a detailed account of his work and discovery did not appear in that day's issue.

"It has always beeu a cherished theory of Mr. Redhead's that the supply of coal about Des Moines was inexhaustible, and that a better quality than any now in the market would yet be found. In pursuance of this object he has worked early and late, incurring an expense of about six thousand dollars, until at last his labor has been crowned with glorious success. Last January he commenced sinking a shaft in South Park, near Seventh street bridge. Two gangs, each consisting of eight men, were employed alternately night and day. A thin vein of coal was found near the surface -and further down two larger veins were passed through. When the shaft, which is 14x6 feet, had reached a depth of one hundred and eleven feet below the surface, Mr. R.'s foreman and other experienced miners were of the opinion that further search would be fruitless; but Mr. Redhead was confident, and, to use his own expression, was bound to dig to China, or find coal.' The work was continued, and fourteen feet further downone hundred and twenty-five feet below the surface, and ninety feet below the bed of 'Coon river-the shaft struck a vein of coal four and one-half feet in thickness. This discovery was made on the 2d, and on the 3d a load of the coal was mined and conveyed to Mr. Redhead's office in this city, where it can now be seen. The best judges pronounced it of a superior quality and equal to any mined in Iowa. Directly above the coal vein the drills passed through twelve feet of slate, which was strongly impregnated with sulphur. The coal is hard and glossy, but presents no appearance of sulphur. It will be known as the Black Diamond Coal, and will be mined by the Des Moines Coal Company, of which Mr. Redhead is President. Work will be pressed forward as rapidly as possible, and the practical benefits arising from the discovery be demonstrated. to the shaft from the Indianola branch of the C., R. 1. & P. Railroad, and the necessary machinery for hoisting put in by the company.

A track will be laid

"Mr. Redhead is deserving of the thanks of Des Moines and vicinity for the perseverance he has shown and the discovery he has made. He was the first man to introduce anything like system in the business of coal min

ing in Des Moines, and now his last great achievement places him in the rank of a benefactor, and he will undoubtedly receive the just encomiums of the people which he has so richly deserved."

We have thought it proper to introduce the foregoing in connection with the geology of the county. The mining interests will be treated more fully at the proper place.

CHAPTER III.

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

Policy of the government-Treaties Annuities-The Sac and Fox Indians-KeokukWapello-Poweshiek-Indian incidents and reminiscences-The neutral strip-The Pottawattamies-Johnny Greene and his band-The Sioux--The Lott Atrocity-The revenge and the retaliation.

WHEN the European first landed on the eastern shores of this continent, intent on its conquest in the interests of civilization, the first question which came up for solution was the Indian question. This question individuals grappled with on their own individual responsibility until the mother country on behalf of the colonies assumed the management of Indian affairs, and since the establishment of the Republic the United States in its sovereign capacity has assumed control, but at no time from the very first to the present time, has the question been disposed of satisfactorily to any one; nor yet in the near future does there appear to be any satisfactory disposition of the Indian except to kill him.

In the management of Indian affairs in Iowa the government seems to have been peculiarly fortunate. This was partly due to the policy pursued by the government and partly due to the fact that the Sac and Fox Indians, who controlled the larger part of the territory, were a more tractable tribe of Indians, and their chiefs had a higher sense of veracity, integrity and honor than any other representatives of the race with which the white man came into contact. The Pottawattamies were few in number and had little influence; what influence they had was in the interests of peace and order. The Sioux are and always have been treacherous and bloodthirsty, but the supremacy of the Sacs and Foxes kept them somewhat in abeyance.

It has been the custom of the general government in dealing with the Indians west of the Mississippi river to treat them as independent nations. In these negotiations with the aborgines of Iowa the authorities, at various times, entered into treaties with the Sioux, in the north, and with the Sacs and Foxes, in the south, the government purchasing the land from the Indians just as Louisiana was purchased from France. The Black Hawk purchase was acquired by means of the first treaty made with the Sac and Fox Indians in reference to Iowa land. This treaty was made September 1, 1832, and included a portion of country bounded as follows: Beginning on the Mississippi river, where the northern boundary line of the lands owned by said Indians strikes said river; thence up or westward on said line fifty miles; thence in a right line to the Red Cedar river, forty miles from the Mississippi river; thence in a right line to the northern part of the State of Missouri, at a point fifty miles from the Mississippi river; thence by the said boundary line to the Mississippi river, and thence up the Mis