sand eight hundred and fifty-six, shall continue in office until the second Tuesday of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, at which time their successors shall be elected as may be prescribed by law.

SEC. 11. Every person elected by popular vote, by a vote of the General Assembly, or who may hold office by Executive appointment, which office is continued by this constitution, and every person who shall be so elected or appointed, to any such office, before the taking effect of this constitution, (except as in this constitution otherwise provided) shall continue in office until the term for which such person has been or may be elected or appointed shall expire; but no such person shall continue in office after the taking effect of this constitution, for a longer period than the term of such office, in this constitution prescribed.

SEC. 12. The General Assembly, at the first session under this constitution, shall district the State into eleven judicial districts, for District Court purposes; and shall also provide for the apportionment of the General Assembly, in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.

SEC. 13. The foregoing constitution shall be submitted to the electors of the State at the August election, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the several election districts in this State. The ballots at such election shall be written or printed as follows: Those in favor of the constitution-"New Constitution-Yes." Those against the constitution, "New Constitution-No." The election shall be conducted in the same manner as the general elections of the State, and the poll-books shall be returned and canvassed as provided in the twenty-fifth chapter of the Code; and abstracts shall be forwarded to the Secretary of State, which abstracts shall be canvassed in the manner provided for the canvass of State officers. And if it shall appear that a majority of all the votes cast at such election for and against this constitution are in favor of the same, the Governor shall im nediately issue his proclamation stating that fact, and such constitution shall be the constitution of the State of Iowa, and shall take effect from and after the publication of said proclamation.

SEO. 14. At the same election that this constitution is submitted to the people for its adoption or rejection, a proposition to amend the same by striking out the word "white," from the article on the "Right of Suffrage, shall be separately submitted to the electors of this State for adoption or rejection, in manner following, viz:

·

A separate ballot may be given by every person having a right to vote at said election, to be deposited in a separate box; and those given for the adoption of such proposition shall have the words, "Shall the word 'white' be stricken out of the article on the Right of Suffrage?'-Yes." And those given against the proposition shall have the words, "Shall the word 'white' be stricken out of the article on the Right of Suffrage?-No." And if at said election the number of ballots cast in favor of said proposition, shall be equal to a majority of those cast for and against this constitution, then said word "white" shall be stricken from said article and be no part thereof.

SEC. 15. Until otherwise directed by law, the county of Mills shall be in and a part of the Sixth Judicial District of this State.

Done in convention at Iowa City, this fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, and of the independence of the United States of America, the eighty-first.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names:

THE PIONEER

In the heart of the grand old forest,
A thousand miles to the West,
Where a stream gushed out from the hill side,
They halted at last for rest.
And the silence of ages listened

To the axe-stroke loud and clear,
Divining a kingly presence

In the tread of the pioneer.

IIe formed of the prostrate beeches
A home that was strong and good;
The roof was of reeds from the streamlet,
The chimney he built of wood.
And there by the winter fireside,

While the flame up the chimney roared,

He spoke of the good time coming,

When plenty should crown their board

When the forest should fade like a vision,
And over the hill-side and plain
The orchard would spring in its beauty,
And the fields of golden grain.
And to-night he sits by the fireside
In a mansion quaint and old,

With his children's children around him,
Having reaped a thousand-fold.

HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

PREFATORY.

The County; its Location and Name-Plan and Scope of this Work.

OVER a score and a half of years have passed away since the first white settlement was made within the bounds of that territory now known as Marion county, Iowa. It is less than a half century since the uncivilized aborigines roamed the prairies wild and free, unfettered by the restraint of common or statutory law and uncircumscribed by township boundaries and county lines. The transformation which has taken place in the physiognomy of the county alone is beyond the comprehension of the finite mind; luxuriant groves where there was the wide-stretching prairie; cultivated fields where was the primeval forest; orchards, vineyards and gardens where waved the tall prairie grass. So marked has been the change in the physiognomy of the country that there has been a decided change in the climatology. The elements themselves seem to have taken notice of the great change and have governed themselves accordingly. While the annual rain-fall and the mean annual temperature remain the same in quantity they are now entirely different in quality; and although imperceptible and independent of man's will, they have nevertheless come under the same civilizing power which has changed the wilderness into a fruitful land. The great change which has taken place in the development of the `material resources of the country is more noticeable, as man can more readily discern the changes which take place by detail in his own circumscribed field of activity than he can those grand revolutions in the uncircumscribed domain of nature. The changes which have occurred in social, intellectual and moral conditions are still more marked, mind being more swift to act on mind than matter. These changes can best be established by the institution of a brief contrast:

Then the material resources of the country consisted simply in the streams of water which quenched the thirst of the aborigine, wherein was found the fish which he ate and upon which floated his frail canoe; the forest where he procured his fuel, material for the construction of his rude weapons and which sheltered the game that afforded him a meager and uncertain sustenance. Such were the material resources made available to the owner of the soil. The social condition of the people was scarcely more advanced than is that of certain orders of the lower animals, whose

social attainments are comprehended in the ability to unite for mutual offense and defense. In intellect and morals there was a people somewhat above the brute, but on the lowest round of the ladder.

Now the material resources of the country include in their number the soil with every useful and ornamental product known to the temperate zone; the forest, with every specie of manufacture, useful and ornamental, known to the civilized world. The water in the streams and the currents of air above us are alike trained to do man's bidding, while from the depths of the earth beneath our feet is brought forth the hidden wealth which was hoarded by the turmoil of the ages. Cities, with their thousands of people, a country with its thousands of inhabitants, while in city and country the lofty spires of churches and school-houses are evidences of the social, moral and intellectual conditions.

All this change in material things has been brought about by the incoming of new people from the far off East, and that, too, within the space of a score and a half of years. History furnishes no parallel to the rapid development of this Western country; it has been a chain whose links were ever recurring surprises and among the surprised there are none more so than those whose throbbing brains have planned and whose busy hands have executed the work.

Almost a century ago a friend of America, although an Englishman, in language almost prophetic, wrote:

Westward the course of empire takes its way;

The four first acts already past,

A fifth shall close the drama with the day;
Time's noblest offspring is the last.

The settlement of the new world alluded to by the writer has, as a whole, fully met the conditions of that prophecy, but not till the past quarter of a century did the onward march of empire culminate in the settlement of central Iowa. With the exception of a few mining towns in the gold regions of California and the silver districts of Colorado, nothing has been like it before and it will not be exceeded in time to come.

This has not been an accident. All kinds of material development follow recognized and well established law, and in nothing does this fact more reveal itself than in the settlement of a country.

Whoever has made it his business to study the "Great Northwest " as it has unfolded itself in history during the last quarter of a century has doubtless met with ever recurring surprises. The story of its unparalleled growth and almost phenomenal development has so often been repeated that it has become a commonplace platitude; but a careful study of the country will suggest questions which have thus far not been answered, and cannot be. Why, for instance, have some sections filled up so rapidly, and certain cities sprung up as if by magic, while others, seemingly no less favored by nature, are still in the first stages of development? These questions cannot, in all cases, be answered; but whoever has studied the matter carefully cannot fail to have discovered a law of growth which is as unvarying as any law of nature. The two leading factors in the problem of municipal growth are location and character of first settlers. The location of Marion county was most favorable; and what is true of Marion county is true of the whole State. Almost surrounded, as it is, by two of the most renowed water-courses of the world, one will readily see that it possesses advantages