officially. Let any man of common sense and honesty look at the treaty, and then place the half-breeds in classes, if they can; and that, too, has no relation to half or quarter-blood, but they are classed by favor. A quarter-blood is the first class and a half in the third class. If the case was represented by Mr. Broadhead, or Mr. Dousman, or Lockwood, strongly, it was in the first or second class; if not advocated by either of these potent characters, the case went in the third class. On expressing my surprise at any classification under the language of the treaty, Mr. Dousman replied that special instructions were given to the commissioners to make the classification.

You will no doubt hear from other sources of the conduct of the commissioners, as represented to me. Not one cent ought to be paid upon such decisions. Had the commissioner under the Sac and Fox treaty been guilty of such conduct, I am confident he would not have been permitted to proceed. I had some idea of their conduct from claims sent against the Sacs and Foxes, and promptly rejected. A month later he writes:

In the case of the half and quarter-breeds, much more depended on the employment of Mr. B.; yet a man of plain common sense and common honesty would declare that there was no need of a lawyer, for it must alone depend, under the treaty, upon one simple factwhether they were related to the Winnebagoes as near as half or quarter blood. If they were, they were entitled to a share; if not, they ought to be wholly excluded. The only question that would arise under the treaty was between the amounts to be granted half and quarter-breeds; whether half-breeds should draw the same as quarter-breeds, or if half-breeds would not be entitled to full shares, and quarter-breeds to half shares. But no one, from reading the treaty, will say that the commissioners, or the Indians who made the treaty, intended anything but the equal division amongst all their relations not further off than quarter-blood, of $100,000, share and share alike. The idea of any classification of the relations was never thought of by the Indians; and a classification which has grown out of this measure, giving to a quarter-blood a full share, and to a half-blood less than half the amount given to the quarter, is monstrous, and to the Indians, and especially those who made the treaty, unsatisfactory. True, in some cases, the influence operating upon the Indians, and the constant stream of intoxicating drinks, freely given, to keep up that influence, prevent anything from being said; still the language of the treaty remains, and gives color to the charges from every quarter, of partiality in the classification of the relations of the Indians; and if inquired into, it is found to rest, as I have said, upon the fact of the employment of Mr. Broadhead. If Mr. B. was well feed to his satisfaction, the relation was placed in the first class, and entitled to the largest share; if not so well feed,

in the second class, with a proportionate deduction of dividend; and if not feed at all, in the third class with the smallest dividend. This classification, too, had no relation to blood, whether of half or quarter, but was graduated by the fee paid to Mr. Broadhead.

Long before any claimant could understand the fate of his claim, Mr. Broadhead could tell all about it; and in some cases, the claimants, by employing him when their claims were reported to them to be rejected for want of proof, got them allowed by employing Mr. B. Some, too, who were informed by the commissioners that most of their claims were rejected, and but a small part granted, gave Mr. B. his full fee and found their claims confirmed at the largest amount they claimed, ultimately. In most cases Mr. B.'s fee was such a per cent upon the amount allowed, and secured to him out of the claim.

The impression has obtained currency here, that the commissioners brought Mr. Broadhead with them, upon a bargain, to share profits obtained through him of the claimants and half-breeds; and that they have made at least $20,000 apiece; that is, Mr. B. declared his fees amounted to upward of $60,000. Persons have calculated differently, and think his fees near $80,000. These fees, too, were as good as cash in hand, being a per centum upon claims and shares. . .

In the case of the claims, to have the advocacy of Mr. Broadhead, Mr. Dousman, and Mr. Lockwood, was sufficient to ensure the passage of the claim. And Mr. Boilvin was a most potent advocate, and doorkeeper for the commissioners frequently; indeed, most frequently they acted with closed doors; and Mr. Boilvin in most cases acted as doorkeeper and turned gentlemen back who were coming into the commissioners' office on business with them. Was it not strange, passing strange, to have a board decide on the claims and report to the commissioners (who in all cases confirmed their decision) composed of two traders, themselves having large claims, and one of them the largest trader with those very Indians? To me it was astonishing. As I said in my former letter, if the commissioner at Rock Island had appointed Davenport or any of the traders to examine claims, there would have been such discontent that I should have expected that the proceedings would have been forcibly stopped.

Concluded in next number.

With the blessing of God, I will war and war continually against the abandonment to slavery of a single foot of soil now consecrated to Freedom.-James W. Grimes.

STEAMBOATING ON THE DES MOINES.

DES MOINES, Iowa, March 18, 1904.

EDITOR OF THE ANNALS:-My father, the late C. F. Davis, of Keokuk, had among his papers a card of invitation to a dance given at Fort Dodge May 23rd, 1859, in honor of the landing of the first steamboat from Keokuk to Fort Dodge. As I am informed, this was practically the only boat which ever made that trip. The boat was loaded with groceries belonging to the firm of Chittenden, McGavic & Co., of Keokuk, of which firm my father was a member. The card [a facsimile] is in the following language, and bears the endorsement herein set forth:

SOGIABLE SOIREE.

We Dance at Masonic Hall,

THURSDAY EVENING NEXT.

FLOOR MANGERSJAS B. WILLIAMS, A..F WATKINS, H. D. MEKKITY.

Fort Dodge, May 23d, 1859.

The following endorsement is on the back of the card:

Arrived at Fort Dodge on S. B., "Charles Rodgers", Monday, May 23d, 1859, and the dance was given in honor of the arrival of the 1st S. Boat from Keokuk to Fort Dodge.

C. F. DAVIS,
Super-Cargo.

During the latter years of my father's life he gave some attention to collecting the history of early settlers of Iowa, and left an autobiography in which there is an account of the trip made by this steamboat. Believing that this may be of some interest in a historical way in Iowa, I am attaching hereto the original card, and the history of the trip as described in the autobiography left by my father.

Trusting that you will consider this of enough importance to give it a place in your collection, I am,

Yours sincerely,

JAMES C. DAVIS.

THE VOYAGE OF THE FIRST STEAMBOAT FROM KEOKUK TO FORT DODGE, BY C. F. DAVIS, DECEASED.

Occasionally during the summer months small steamboats navigated the Des Moines river (it having been improved to lock and dam as far up as Bentonsport) going as far as Des Moines, or "Raccoon Fork", as it was then called, charging for freight to that point from fifty to seventy-five cents per hundred pounds. At such times merchants in the interior took advantage of low freight and bought largely. In this connection I relate the following account of the first boat passing above Des Moines:

In May, 1859, our firm (McGavic, Chittenden & Co.) chartered the steamboat "Charles Rodgers", a small craft of about fifty tons, we agreeing to load her to her full capacity, destination Fort Dodge, on the Des Moines river, rate of freight through fifty cents per hundred pounds.

We loaded the boat with sugar, coffee, molasses, tobacco, salt, flour, etc., and I went on board as Super-Cargo. We left the landing at Keokuk, Wednesday, May 18th, 1859, at six o'clock in the evening, and entered the mouth of the Des Moines river before dark. The boat had no cabin, only the pilot house on the hurricane deck. We ate and slept on the lower deck, just back of the engine and boiler. The boat was laid up at the bank whenever night overtook us, only running in daylight, warping through the locks at Bonaparte and Bentonsport. One of the pilots was a violinist, and at several places where we tied up to shore for the night, with the assistance of the neighboring belles and beaux, we had old fashioned dances.

Our cargo being billed through to Fort Dodge we made no stops for way business, and arrived at Des Moines Friday evening, where we remained all night. Saturday morning we left Des Moines, and our boat being light draught and the river a good stage of water, we passed over the dam at Des Moines, and arrived that evening at the Boonsboro land

ing, several miles from the town of that name. Here we remained for the night. Some parties coming over from the town, we had a dance in a building on shore. Between this point and Fort Dodge we ran out of fuel, and had to land several times, all hands went into the woods, and gathered dead timber to keep our fire going. The shrill whistle of the boat every now and then brought people to the river bank from miles back to see a boat.

That evening (Sunday) we made a landing at a farm owned by a man named L. Mericle, a short distance below Fort Dodge. The farmer being very anxious for supplies, I made my first sale of groceries to him, the bill amounting to $10.00, which he paid in gold. The next morning (Monday) about noon, we steamed up to the landing at Fort Dodge. The town was up on high ground, some distance from the river, but all the population was at the landing to greet us. I went on shore with my invoice, and by noon of the next day the cargo was all sold and paid for in gold, that being the currency of the country at that time. The merchants of Fort Dodge whom I remember as purchasers were M. M. Havie, S. C. Hinton, Gregory & Messmore, J. J. Howe, Chas. Ranke, and F. A. Blackshire, one of the pilots of the boat, who lived at or near the town.

On the evening of the day our boat arrived, the citizens of Fort Dodge gave a dance at Masonic Hall in honor of the arrival of the first steamboat loaded with freight for that port.

The idea of "coming west" is a good one. We have every advantage to offer to the over-crowded and over-worked inhabitants of the older states. We have boundless and fertile prairies, skirted by groves of timber, sufficient for the wants of all, awaiting the hands of farmers. We have every

natural advantage to build up an Empire of wealth and usefulness. Then come out and see us with you own eyes, and see how lavish nature has been with her best gifts.—TriWeekly Journal (Des Moines) Jan. 20, 1858.