THE DREAM OF A TOWN

It is difficult to contemplate that from creation to just under 150 years ago the prairie lay unchanged by man ormachine. It is especially overwhelming when we realize that the red man had been here for an equal period of time before us, and evidence of their being here was hardly detectable. Even more overwhelming are the tremendous changes that have come in the white man’s 150 years of occupancy.

There isn’t anyone left who can recall what our forefathers went through in settling Hardin County, but some took the time to write down what they they saw. In doing so they have handed down a picture of a wonderful rich heritage of hard work and perseverance.

We only have details from a few of the many pioneers who came to settle the land and make it their home. These few however are remarkably representative of the many. Their struggles and hardship make them stand out as leaders. But, the multitude, the one’s we know nothing about deserve no less credit for this rich legacy that we now share.

It is commonly thought that this country was wrestled from the Indians by pioneers of great bravery and fortitude at great risk to life and limb. The truth is that at no time was any white person molested by an Indian in all of central Iowa! As to the bravery of the pioneers, the various Indian “Scares” at LeGrand, Cory Grove, and Webster City indicate that the “brave” pioneers were in absolute terror of Indian uprisings.

The pioneers in our area were not frontiersmen, and had little experience with the zest for frontier life. This in no way takes anything away from the difficult life they found here. It simply means that they were settlers and no more.

These early settlers, who arrived on foot or on horseback or in a wagon orbuggy, horse or ox drawn, were farmers seeking cheap land and a new start. They set out to supply their needs in a rational order of preference.

When Isaac Lesh left Indiana, in search of a new home and came to Iowa and found and claimed part of the land on which a small town now stands. Did he dream of a town then? Did he see the rock formation that the town was later named for and think of the name then? Probably not. But something about the area must have appealed to him. It may have been the river, the woodlands, the tranquility of the valley in which it all lay or the nearby rolling prairie? We will never know, but there must have been something about “that” place that satisfied him enough to stake his claim there. And others thought so too because it wasn’t long before he had neighbors just across the river. Neighbors Charles Boyle and John Royle.

Unfortunately we know very little about Steamboat Rock’s other two founders the latter Charles Boyle, and John Royle, other than that they owned the land on the east side of the river where the most developed portion of the town of Steamboat Rock now lays.

We know most about Isaac Lesh who was evidently the most enterprising of the three, being involved in several businesses, and seemed to be one of the stronger promoters of the town. Ironically his portion of the town west of the river never quite got off the ground like that of Boyle and Royle on the east side. The railroad, grain elevator were the only enterprises that thrived there, and few built homes there. Even though the site of the first general store was on that side of the river.

Charles Boyle did engage in business with Isaac Lesh, and Samuel G. Higginbotham, in building the sawmill on the river, but very little else is known about his ventures.

John Royle was evidently a gold prospector, and had prior to coming to Steamboat Rock been in California during the gold rush there. He may have come to Iowa looking for gold as well.

Lesh, Boyle and Royle together were prompted to have the county surveyor lay out the town in the spring of 1855.

It would be nice to know what prompted their decision to plan and build a town. Perhaps they talked about it by the fire during a long winter evening. Was there a plan to promote the town site and sell lots? No doubt there was a need for a town. At this point there was no other town in the county other than Eldora, which had been platted two years earlier. Settlers soon began arriving in large numbers and they were dependent on what tools, equipment and supplies that they had brought with them to meet their needs. There was a small general store that Isaac Lesh operated out of his cabin on the river. Where he acquired the supplies he sold is not known. Perhaps he bartered with new arrivals for goods to sell.

Surely the founders of the town were driven in their effort knowing that if they started a town merchants and tradesmen would come to fill their needs. In doing so the town would see natural growth. In the end all would benefit and prosper.