Arrival in Crawford County

Simeon Dow built his first house in Section Ten, Union Township, Crawford County, Iowa shortly after purchasing an 80 acre plot there on June 30, 1855. The structure was a crude, 12 foot by 14 foot log cabin similar to all the others sparsely dotting the landscape. The crude cabin paled in comparison to the modern residence they had left behind in Cass County, Michigan, and, Mrs. Dow, it is reported, was pleased with neither the property nor the location. Their original plans were to pass through Iowa on their way to California which would become their permanent home. Adding to her discomfort was the fact that she was five months pregnant when they to moved into the cabin in November, 1855.

"In the summer of '55 a number of men might have been busily employed in mowing the deep, rich, luxuriant grass where Dowville now stands. Never before had grass in this vicinity been cut by pale faces. A little above where the men were mowing was a small cabin, fourteen feet long by twelve feet wide.

We will take a look at the cabin and its occupants. As we approach we perceive that the cabin had two small holes left in the sides as a substitute for windows; these apertures filled the bill. On one end was a mud chimney, in genuine frontier style.

We enter the cabin and find that the occupants are a lady and a sweet little girl; the lady is seated on a stool and weeping. As she looks up we perceive that she is a lady of more than ordinary intelligence. She has been alone for a short time and has been taking a retrospective view of the happy past and also a prospective view into the unknown future. She tells us she has just arrived and wonders why Providence should be so cruel as to bring her from a comfortable home to such a dismal region as this.

While she is speaking, her husband enters bearing in his hand a cup of water from a spring which he had discovered and which he said was one of the strongest veins of water he had ever seen. He presents the cup to his wife to taste the clear water, but instead of drinking she gives vent to her full heart by a flood of tears." (Meyers, F.W. Iowa, a Record of Settlement, Organization Progress and Achievement, Vol I p.441)

Mr. Dow, torn between the beauty of the land and his beloved's comfort, promised his wife things would get better while at the same time continued to add to his land holdings. Neither task was easy, nor pleasant. It pulled on his heartstrings to see his wife in such a state, heavy with child, living beneath her dignity, but vowing to work beside him. It was not easy to leave her and their seven-year-old daughter behind for weeks at a time to travel to Kanesville (now Council Bluffs, Iowa) to acquire more land. Between September of 1855 and November of 1859, Simeon Dow made six trips to Kanesville to take his chances at procuring the land he desired. These early trips were necessary not only for purchasing land, but also for the supplies needed to sustain them for six months at a time.

"When the days of entries arrived there was such a rush at the land office at Council Bluffs, that all could not be accommodated the same day; hence, to meet the demands, each person on arriving at the land office registered his name, and by this rule was forced to await the serving of those who were there first...

...in order to get an opportunity to enter his claims here, he was compelled to wait in Council Bluffs three weeks before his name was called. The reader must not think that by reason of this method they who were first in time had the opportunity of making any selection they pleased, irrespective of the right of settlement or occupancy. Each community had its friends to watch what entries were being made, and one who attempted to take certificate of entry on lands occupied by a settler was immediately mobbed.

The Shylocks (money lenders) of this period were as numerous as they were covetous; for be it known that many of the early settlers were not men of great financial standing, so far as dollars were concerned, and when it came to the entering of claims, the government never accepted a written or verbal promise to pay for lands. It was the cash in hand they were selling the land for, and to procure their homes they would permit Mr. Shylock to enter the land in his own name, and this when done, the settler would repurchase it from the money lender, promising him forty percent per annum until paid...

...the money lender who had come west with a pocket full of land warrants, which had cost him ninety cents an acre, if the squatter paid at the end of two and a half years, was getting $400 for an outlay of $144." (Smith, Joe H. History of Harrison County, Iowa pp. 99-100)

Simeon Dow was numbered among the fortunate who were able to purchase land with cash as he had come to Iowa with plenty of it after selling his land and partnership interest in a general mercantile business in Michigan. In hand, he also held a Land Bounty Certificate he had purchased that was originally issued to George Snyder, a Private who had served in the War of 1812, entitling him to eighty acres of his choosing. The certificate was used to purchase land in Section Six, Union Township, the only parcel that did not adjoin his other holdings. This parcel was quickly sold and assigned to David Young, a man Mr. Dow had hired to help him clear his land in Section Ten.

Initial land purchases:

In the following years, Simeon Dow's total land acquisitions would reach over 2,500 acres and true to his word to his wife, he continued to work toward making things better for her. To the crude cabin, he attached a fine addition that was the envy of all in the area. Little did either of them know how richly Providence would reward them in years to come.