Life and writings of Amelia Bloomer

by D. C. Bloomer

DESCRIBES COUNCIL BLUFFS.

Writing in 1855, soon after her arrival in her new home, Mrs. Bloomer describes it as follows:

“Council Bluffs is located on the east side of the Missouri River, in Iowa, instead of on the west or Nebraska side, where it is placed on most of the maps. It lies about three miles from the river, the level lands or bottoms being about that distance in width; and then commences a chain of high hills, or bluffs, which line the Missouri for thousands of miles and which, at this point, extend eastward in the state some five or six miles. These bluffs are composed of immense piles of yellow marl varying in height from fifty to two hundred and fifty feet and thrown into every conceivable shape and form—rounded, oblong, conical, and peaked. Sometimes we see them covered with trees and bushes, but most commonly with only grass and flowers. They present at this season of the year, robed in their rich carpet of green, a delightful appearance. Among these bluffs are numerous beautiful valleys, some of them sufficiently extensive for large farms, and through which clear and pellucid streams of water flow gurgling down to join the mighty Missouri, forming as they find their way across the bottoms streams which glisten as pure as silver in the sun. It was along one of these valleys, a fourth of a mile in width and extending for upwards of half-a-mile into the bluffs, that the old town of Kanesville was built. Here a log city was constructed, and here for several years dwelt from two to eight thousand of those singular people who have now found a home in the vicinity of Great Salt Lake. These people, or most of them, remained here until 1852 when they took their departure, selling out or surrendering up their claims to the gentiles. Hundreds of the log cabins in which they lived have disappeared, but many are still standing. The gentiles who succeeded the Mormons soon began to build better houses. Several good frame and brick buildings have already been constructed, including a three-story brick hotel and the land office, besides a number of stores and private residences.

“Others are in process of creation and will be carried forward as fast as materials and labor can be obtained. On all sides we see the work of beautifying the town going forward. Gardens are being fenced, trees planted, streets opened and graded, and every preparation made for accommodating the population. The city is extending out on the bottoms towards the river, the bottom lands being here high and dry and in no danger of being overflowed, and the probability is that at no distant day they will be covered with dwellings. These lands are considered very valuable and are held at high prices by their owners. The soil is extremely rich and productive and finely adapted to either farming or gardening.

“Situated as we are three hundred miles west of the railroads connecting the Mississippi with the cities of the East, we of course neither hear the shrill whistle of the locomotive nor see the trains of cars dashing through our streets with a velocity that outstrips the speed of the light-footed deer; but we are living in full expectation of the day when these things will be as familiar to us as they now are to my eastern readers. This city will be the western terminus of the first railroad built across the state, and it is fondly hoped and expected that three years hence we shall be startled by the shrill whistle of the iron horse as he comes to bathe his head in the waters of the Missouri, and from here, or from Omaha, directly opposite, will he set out on his long journey to the most western limit of the continent. Then Council Bluffs will no longer be ‘out of the world,’ but directly in the centre of it, and many who now hesitate about making their home here will regret that their doubts and fears debarred them from uniting their labors with their more enterprising countrymen in building up a great and prosperous community in the very centre of the Union.”

It will be noted that the above was written in 1855; and with what remarkable correctness Mrs. Bloomer prophesied as to the future of the country in which she had just taken up her residence must strike every one, except that it was nearly ten years instead of three before the railroad reached Council Bluffs.

She then goes on to advise people to come West and acquire land (then to be had at government price) and thus secure homes for themselves, and then continues:

“My residence is on a gentle elevation at the foot of one of the highest bluffs in the city, with a western front commanding a fine view of the grass-carpeted bottoms upon which hundreds of cattle are grazing, of Omaha across the river, and of the plains of Nebraska beyond which stretch away in the distance as far as the eye can reach. I love to ascend the bluffs in the rear of our house, and watch the setting sun as it descends below the horizon far off towards the blue and peaceful waters of the Pacific; and as I do so, I contemplate the day when the wild valley before me will be filled with the hum and stir and thronging multitude of a great city, and these bluffs covered with elegant residences and tasteful retreats from the turmoil and activity that will reign below,—for no one here doubts that such is to be the future of Council Bluffs.”