THREE QUARTERS of a CENTURY of PROGRESS
1848-1923
A Brief Pictorial and Commercial History
of Sioux City, Iowa
published 1923
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to Sergeant Floyd making the first appearance of white man, while on the opposite edge is that of War Eagle, marking the departure of the Indians as citizens of the valley. Civilization swept over the city, leaving a white man to denote the beginning and leaving a red man to mark the completion of settlement.
There was little further development and little notice to the outside world until 1854, when Dr. John K. Cook, who had a contract under the government to survey a part of Northwestern Iowa, landed here, "impressed with the commercial importance of the site and the beauty of the surroundings," says an old history. He located a claim and set about laying out Sioux City in December of 1854. The next few years were critical ones in the building of the city. In the spring of 1855 there were two log cabins on the present site of the city proper. In July the first mail arrived. The city was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1875—thus started Sioux City.
The first steamboat arrived from St. Louis in June of 1856 loaded with ready-framed houses and provisions. These were gratefully received by the settlers, who then were living in tents and log cabins. Houses to them were luxuries. The provisions were used to stock the stores already established. Even at that early date the commanding position of Sioux City in regard to the great west that was to be developed was clearly perceived. The valleys of the Missouri, the Sioux, the Floyd and other smaller streams merged at this point, making it a natural center of commerce. From the very beginning Sioux City began to serve the country that was later to make it a great industrial center.
By this time, 1857, the population had increased from a few over 400. It must be remembered that all the country to the north and west was uninhabited by white
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men. Now and then a party would set out from Sioux City and end up by establishing a new village farther up the river. Little by little the territory became spotted with trading posts, villages and farms. All the while Sioux City was the center of the activities. There were no railroads west of the Mississippi; there were no public highways, all distance travel and transportation was by water. A city that was not on a river in those days was almost unheard of. Sioux City was on two important rivers and offered the greatest starting point for future expansion of the West.
Sioux City grew steadily with the extension of this western settlement. Settlers soon found that corn grew abundantly in the immediate territory around the city. The soil was excellent, and—as later proved—bore the best corn raised in the United States. Beyond the corn belt to the west there were vast stretches of prairie across western Nebraska and Dakota, through the Black Hills into the mountain country itself and into the broken surfaces of Wyoming and Montana. These prairies offered opportunity for grazing of stock and the settlers soon had great herds of cattle, hogs and sheep. Sioux City was the closest river point and the oldest city, hence it gradually became the live stock trading center for a greater territory than the early merchants had ever expected to control.
This is merely to show that from the start there was nothing one-sided about Sioux City. It was not dependent upon any one industry or one crop. It is dependent upon a vast trading territory that is unsurpassed for the raising of wheat, corn, oats, hay, cattle, hogs, sheep, horses and dairy products. Is it at all strange that a city with a location in so marvelous a territory should continue to grow? It seemed that God with all His power carved out a valley and said: "This shall be a city that will belong not to one county or state, but to the greatest agricultural territory that I ever created."
About this time a few small factories appeared on the scene. A few years later the first packing plant opened its doors and created the demand which meant the opening of the stock yards some 20 years later. This period, from about 1880 to 1890, marks the most rapid and important progress made in the city's development. It was this period that decided whether Sioux City was to become a city or remain a river village. The progressive element won. Street cars, water works, electric lights and
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other improvements appeared. Factories, jobbing houses, packing plants, retail stores and railroads began to appear more rapidly. The detailed story of that ten years reads almost like a fairy story and even those who went through the period cannot realize what it meant not only to the city but to the entire country.
The following years up to the beginning of the present century were the trying ones. The panic of the early nineties threatened disaster to the industries only so recently launched. The improvements built with anticipation of still better business became hard to carry on. Only the will of the progressive business men of that day, who denied lodgement to the thought of failure could have passed through that period brushing aside the obstacles that they met and continuing on the course of success with an assurance that appeared as positive as the successes of the past. Only the vision of a hardy people who had builded the city from the ground up and who had faith in its future, faith in themselves, and faith in the people could have carried out the plans which brought Sioux City through those trying days with flying colors and made her a city whose name and whose products are known where-ever civilization is known.
The beginning of the twentieth century saw a bigger, better and more powerful Sioux City. The population had grown to 33,000. Hundreds of new industries had come into the city to help put it through the following years of expansion and progress. The population grew to 47,000 in 1910 and to 71,000 in 1920. It is now conservatively estimated at over 85,000. At the present rate of growth it will be well over 100,000 by the time of the next census. It has been the years since 1900 that have counted in the life of the nation from a business standpoint. Sioux City fell in line and did her share in the advancement.
This chapter has only covered the general growth of the city. The chapters following are attempts to give, in so far as possible, the outstanding lines of business and their part in "Three-quarters of a Century of Progress" in Sioux City.
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