"In the olden times there were dances at the neighbors or other old gatherings. All were common. No dress suits were seen and there was no delay on account of lack of any introduction.
"Doctors would get together and tell stories, lawyers would joke over their trials in court and in every way people were on an equality and truly happy.
"Then people did not devote all their time to making money. They did not spend all the time in business. Young and old had a better time of it, for they worked and played as well. They were really content with the surroundings and with their condition in life.
"In winter time people got together and had a good time, going skating or sleighing—on Christmas there were not so many gifts as now, but what was given was with the best of feeling. Another thing we have lost, and that is, the New Year's day calls. Old and young, married and single, made calls on this day every year.
"It was a fine custom and it ought not to have been dropped. Now people are too busy to call on their neighbors and they seem to fear that society would not approve of it. In the olden days no questions were asked about one's grandfather."
The old founders of Cedar Rapids were strong men in many ways. They were real live wires, and frequently spent money and devoted much of their time to exploit new industries. Such men as Geo. Greene, N. B. Brown, David King, S. D. Carpenter, W. B. Mack, R. C. Rock, P. W. Earle, H. G. Angle, J. E. Sanford, the Daniels family, the Ely family, the Weare family, the Bever family, and many others were men of rare intelligence, aggressive, enterprising, and wide awake, who came here to make a city at all hazards. They were true as steel to their convictions, enthusiastic in booming their town, and the "balance wheels" in time of need which kept things going. Even when some of these men lost heavily in the unfortunate steamboat ventures, in railroad exploitations, in bridges, dams, factory properties, and in other ways, they never complained, although at times it made them "men of sorrow and acquainted with grief." They never lost courage, and expected things to turn, even when they looked the darkest, and won in the end. The early pioneers were men keen to see an opportunity. They were able to look ahead, and for this reason they perhaps hung on when times were hard and when enterprises failed to materialize. It was due to the enthusiastic spirit of those leading citizens that caused the Legare and Bryan families to invest $80,000 in gold in Linn county property. It was no doubt due to the up-to-date, progressive spirit of those citizens that led S. C. Bever to bring $30,000 in gold, which was invested mostly in city property in Cedar Rapids in the early '50s. It was no doubt due to the keenness of mind of the late Judge Greene, that John T. Waterhouse in an early day came to Cedar Rapids and invested much money in choice corner lots on which he erected, for that time, modern business blocks. But outside of a few men, most of the early pioneers came to the county without any means. These acquired in the course of a few years, large holdings which have since doubled in value several times. Few, if any, who invested in real estate in Cedar Rapids and Linn county in an early day and who had foresight enough to hold on to it, ever lost anything on such investments. Values have gradually increased until corner lots which sold for $10 in the early '40s in Cedar Rapids, have now a value of from $2,000 to $10,000, and lands in and around the city which were disposed of at $5 to $10 an acre, have sold at from $250 to $500 an acre, and even higher.
The settlement in Linn county was an event of more or less importance, for it was the last stand of the "free booters," and the last rush for cheap land in the Mississippi valley. The citizens came at an opportune time and took up the cheap lands, which soon rose in value. While during the panic of 1857, many of the farmers were unable to pay taxes on their farms and the value of farm produce was very low, yet they managed to get through. The panic of 1873 was not so disastrous on the farmers of Iowa, because by that time they had acquired more property and could afford to hold their stuff longer than in the panic of 1857. The land values stood still for awhile, but soon they began to move again and the farmer who had paid for an eighty-acre strip of land generally purchased another eighty or two, as he had plenty of help and the banks were willing to loan him the money. This land has more than doubled in the past twenty years, but the value of a season's crop now, as compared to forty years ago, has also more than doubled.
Elias Doty, the son of an old pioneer, contributes the following items regarding Westport:
"The first squatter town in Linn county was Westport, situated on the east bank of the Cedar river, near a spring three-fourths of a mile below the mouth of Indian creek. In 1845 its buildings consisted of one double log cabin, one frame dwelling, one frame storehouse, and one frame grain elevator. My father occupied the storehouse as a pottery, where he made earthenware. The elevator was owned by Robert Holmes and occupied by H. G. Higley and Lawson Daniels, who bought wheat and built flatboats to float it to the St. Louis market. Our family were the only dwellers at the town at that time. Higley and Daniels boarded with us. They built their boats bottom up and when completed turned them over.
"Jacob Leabo lived a half mile below us, and Hiram Deem a half mile above us. I. W. Carroll and C. C. Cook lived at Dairy Dale, where they had started a brick kiln, which was the first in the county so far as I know. The first lime kiln was at Westport, where John Henry burned lime to plaster the houses of the town. The saw mill of the county at that time was near Bertram. It was started by my uncle, Elias Doty, who was killed at its raising in 1841. It was finished by James Briney."