Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/260



feet high, around which a race track one mile in length had been constructed, the exact circumference of the base of the mound. The beauty of the view from the summit of either of these mounds can never be forgotten.”

Belmont contained but a few houses and was poorly prepared for the accommodation of the members of the Legislature. The sessions were held in a story-and-a-half frame building, designed for a store. Major J. Smith, who was a member from Des Moines County, proposed to erect a suitable building to accommodate the Legislature, if it would remove the capital to Burlington. His offer was accepted and on the 3d of December, 1836, an act was passed locating the seat of government at Burlington until March 4, 1839, unless public buildings were sooner completed at Madison. Belmont with its beautiful location was distanced in the rivalry of new towns and, failing to secure a railroad, gradually disappeared; a fine farm only marks the site of the first Capital.

John King, of Dubuque, published the first Iowa newspaper. He came from Ohio to the “Dubuque Lead Mines” in 1834. He was satisfied that the little village was destined to become an important city. In 1836 he determined to establish a newspaper, and returning to Ohio, purchased at Cincinnati a Smith hand-press with type and material sufficient to issue a small weekly paper. He also brought from Chillicothe a young man by the name of William Gary Jones, to take charge of the mechanical department of the office. The foreman and chief typesetter was Andrew Keesecker, who came from Galena. He set the type for the first number of the Du Buque Visitor, which was issued on May 11, 1836, and dated “Du Buque Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory.” As a matter of fact, Dubuque was then in Michigan Territory, which at that time comprised Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

An act had been passed by Congress for the creation of the Territory of Wisconsin, which would take effect on the 4th of July. Judge King thought it allowable