OF WESTERN IOWA ITS SETTLEMENT AND GROWTH. A COMPREHENSIVE COMPILATION OF PROGRESSIVE EVENTS CONCERNING THE COUNTIES, CITIES, TOWNS AND VILLAGES - BIOGRAPH- ICAL SKETCHES OF THE PIONEERS AND BUSI- NESS MEN, WITH AN AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA. SIOUX CITY: 1882. PREFACE. FE Ew enterprises are more liable to misunderstanding than a work of this char acter. The main trouble arises from confounding it with books in general. A large, elegantly-bound volume-maybe a History of the World, or of some particular Nation, or embracing a scope of interest to a very considerable portion of mankind, in the gathering of material for which the continuous time and labor of but one person have been employed, and the sales of which ar equally extensive and continuous with the very general and comprehensive nature of the whole-such a volume, we say, finds purchasers at so low a price as to make that asked for a work of the kind herewith presented seem disproportionately large. Perhaps it is a work of fiction that is offered the purchasing public. Very well; the "Novel" is sumptuously bound, artistically illustrated, and contains a great number of closely printed pages; yet its price per copy is even less than that for which the Publishers offer their HISTORY OF WESTERN IOWA. Hence, not infrequently individuals leap unthinkingly to inadequate and necessarily hasty conclusions, such as, that the price asked is exorbitant, and so on, for quantity. Such a mode of overleaping reasonableness naturally leads to depreciation of the enterprise, and per consequence, many highly creditable works, having begun their career with a “damning by faint praise," have ended it in unthinking condemnation. Now, it is not the intention to argue or philosophize. We herewith present the results of half a year's diligent labor, which has occupied the entire time and attention of a number of competent men-labor not of the most inviting kind, but of a sort akin to drudgery. And not only time and work, but money also to a not inconsiderable amount, has been expended. The Publishers ask you to remember that the HISTORY OF WESTERN IOWA has been compiled for you; that its sales are limited almost wholly to that portion of country the facts concerning which it recounts; that, were it possible to send the books broadcast over the country, and sell them in every city, village and hamlet, the selling price could, and would, be proportionately reduced. The work is intended mainly for home consumption; the expense is large, the sales disproportionately small. In presenting this work to the citizens of Western Iowa, we do so at the very lowest possible margin of profit, and that, even, problematic. With these remarks, we trust we have established relations of friendly understanding with every candid patron. The nature and plan of the work were fully ex lained in the PROSPECTUS, to the promises of which we have endeavored strictly to adhere. There are errors, of course; no book was ever published |