Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/299



Legislature having created the offices of Auditor and Treasurer, on the 14th of January, 1840, Morgan Keno was appointed Treasurer, and Jesse Williams, Auditor.

By the Federal Census of 1840 it was shown that Iowa had produced 1,406,241 bushels of corn, 154,693, bushels of wheat, 216,385 bushels of oats, 6,212 bushels of buckwheat, 3,792 bushels of rye, 728 bushels of barley, and 234,063 bushels of potatoes. Corn was the principal grain crop for many years and was largely used for bread by the pioneers. Prairie grass furnished pasture for stock and all of the hay required for more than twenty years.

During these pioneer days most of the houses were built of logs and covered with staves held in place by other logs, the floor being made of puncheon or hewn logs, and all done without the aid of a carpenter. Grain was stored in rail pens covered with straw, and stables were built of logs or slabs, with roofs of prairie hay or straw held in place by poles.

Where settlers ventured out on the prairies remote from timber, sod took the place of logs in the construction of cabins and stables. Barns for the shelter of hay, grain, live-stock or farm implements were very few in number for twenty years after the first settlements began in Iowa. Springs and creeks furnished water for house use and stock for many years before wells were dug. Fuel and rails for fencing were procured in the numerous groves and belts of timber which bordered many of the larger streams. Game and fish were plenty and took the place of beef and mutton; and clothing for the family was for the most part home-made linsey-woolsey, colored with dye made from butternut and hickory bark. Skins of animals tanned at home furnished the materials for moccasins, boots, shoes and rude harness.

The Third Territorial Legislature assembled at Burlington on the 2d of November, 1840. Mr. Bainbridge was chosen President of the Council: Thomas Cox was elected Speaker of the House. In his message,