Chapter 34 cont. HIRAM PRICE Early in that year (1853) there was a general awakening as to the importance of and necessity of some means of communication with the balance of mankind. A railroad was then in course of construction from Chicago westward, and we hoped to induce the eastern capitalists who were building that road to have it strike the Mississippi river in Illinois opposite the town of Davenport and then, if possible, have it continued west from there to Council Bluffs on the Missouri river. In furtherance of this plan a conference was held at Davenport, between the eastern railroad men and some of the citizens of Iowa, the first week in August, 1853, and I was persuaded to undertake the task of canvassing the state on the line of the proposed road across Iowa, on a line as nearly direct as possible from Davenport to Council Bluffs. My special business was to see the people at their homes or their place of business, and where practicable call public meetings at different points along the contemplated line of the road and to so present the advantages to result from the construction of a railroad as to interest them in the enterprise. By agreement I was to continue in this work along the line of the proposed road for sixty days. My experience during those sixty days between the 12th of August and the 12th of October, was not such as to make me anxious to renew it. One of the surprises with which I met was the large number of people on that proposed line of road who had never seen a railroad and many of whom did not seem to have any wish to see one. This was to me a strange idea, and one that rendered my task more difficult because when men are satisfied with their condition and surroundings it is very difficult to induce them to change them. I could only account for these strange notions on the supposition that this class of persons had read and were in sympathy with the man described by Pollok in his "Course of Time," "Who thought the moon that nightly o'er him rolled No larger than his father's shield; Lived where his father lived, died where he died; Lived happy, died happy, and was saved." And inasmuch as this had been the result in his case, they were willing to take their chances with him in this world and in the next. When I told them that with a railroad the product of their farms would worth from fifty to 100 per cent more than without one, they simply disposed of the case in a summary manner by informing me in a manner more energetic than polite, that I was not telling the truth. One case of this kind which occurred in Des Moines is a fair sample of several others. I had called a meeting at the courthouse one night to present the enterprise to the citizens. The courthouse at that time was not palatial structure. The meeting was held on the ground floor, which I believe was the courtroom. The weather was warm, the windows were all raised, and those who could not find room on the inside crowded the windows of the outside and were attentive listeners. While I was making the best presentation of my case that I could truthfully do, and trying to persuade the people that a railroad to Des Moines would be a great benefit to all concerned, some man on the outside who must have been a near relative of Ananias, crowded his way to the window, listened for a few moments and then turning away said to those on the outside, "Oh, that is Judge Rice who is speaking, and he is the greatest liar in the state of Iowa." My name is not Rice, and the title of judge did not belong to me, but it answered the purpose of the anti-railroad men, and was a "good enough Morgan" for the time. This is a sample of the manner in which my mission was received in what is now the city of Des Moines, and a great railroad center for the state of Iowa and of the northwest. The crucial test of time and trial has relegated the obstructionists and dwellers in "Sleepy Hollow" to the rear of the army of progress. Only in a very few instances did a little sunshine of encouragement fleck my pathway while on this railroad mission, but even a very little was gratefully received. I give one such case: I reached Council Bluffs on Saturday, which I think was the 20th of August, and at a meeting that night after I had made the best presentation of my case of which I was capable, without the slightest token of appreciation or approval, I sat down, feeling that (in the language of the colored brother in reference to his prayer) I had "my labor for my reward," and that the people of Council Bluffs did not think a railroad of much consequence, but rather an unjustifiable interference with the Divine plan, and therefore not to be encouraged, because when the Supreme Architect finished the work He pronounced it good without a railroad. However, while such thoughts as these were passing rapidly through my mind a gentleman in one of the back seats arose and broke the (to me) awful silence, in a speech not longer than a Lacedemonian letter, which gave me some hope that possibly all was not lost. His speech was not long, learned nor classic, but it seemed to inspire in me a hope that possibly my mission might not result in a total failure. Many things in my past life that I ought to remember have been forgotten. But that speech I never will forget, and I here now place it on record as some encouragement for those who may be called upon in the future to lead forlorn hopes. It was as follows: "My friends, I have listened to this man's railroad speech, and while I am free to confess that I have great doubts as to the practicability of the project, yet it may be wiser to give it a trial and possibly some day we may see the locomotive coming across these prairies head and tail up like a bedbug." That was his speech, and it is very safe to say that it was original. I am glad to say that I afterward met this man at Council Bluffs, when the road was finished to that place, and the iron horse was there to speak for himself. Men of intelligence on other subjects ridiculed the idea because, as one prominent lawyer in Muscatine said at one of our meetings: "Iowa is an agricultural state. Her principal productions are wheat and corn, cattle and hogs, and livestock cannot be taken to an eastern market, because the distance is too great to carry them on cars. And flour cannot be carried to such a distance on the railroad without shaking the barrel to pieces unless the barrels are strong and heavy as pork barrels, and that would be so expensive as to make it unprofitable." Allow me to digress a moment from the thread of my statement to say (as Paul said of Alexander the coppersmith) these lawyers did me and my cause "much evil" because some people think that because a man is learned in the law he necessarily knows everything else. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/