By M. Louise Gately and Jan Davison

 

When James Cunningham Jordan arrived in central Iowa in the mid 1840s, he was captivated by the beauty of the land — its pristine rivers and streams, quiet woods and endless, sun-drenched prairie-land. Inhabitants of the area included members of the Sac and Fox Indian tribes (now known as the Meskwaki), a few soldiers and civilians engaged in activities at Fort Des Moines, one or two U.S. government officials assigned to the nearby Indian Agency office and John Parmalee, as well as his wife, who ran a mill southeast of the fort. Besides Indian huts, the only structures were at Fort Des Moines, located at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, the Indian Agency House a couple of miles to the east and Parmalee’s mill.

 

Indian trails criss-crossed the land, but much of the travel took place on the rivers. Indian canoes were used by the natives and new arrivals entered and exited the area on flatboats or steamboats. Wild animals — buffalo, deer, wild turkeys, bears and raccoons — roamed the woods or wandered on the prairies, though their numbers had dwindled in recent years. The Indians had acquired guns and now hunted game for compensation through trade with the white man, rather than using bows and arrows to kill game for survival as they had in the past. Life in this bucolic, untamed territory was starting to change and this was just the beginning.

 

By 1842, the Indians had reached an agreement to sell their Iowa land. The sale would be finalized in October 1845 and the Indians had agreed to temporarily convene their tribes near Fort Des Moines until then. From there they would be relocated by the U.S. government outside of the U.S. Dragoons — the soldiers from the fort — would lead them to the northeastern area of the Kansas Territory, west of the Missouri River near Fort Leavenworth. As the Indians were preparing to leave Iowa, pioneers were getting ready to move in and fill the void. Soon, settlers like Jordan and his brother, John, would stake their claims, build their homes, grow their families and forever change the Iowa landscape.

 

Jordan’s journey begins

Jordan’s journey to Iowa began in the mountains of western Virginia, where he was born in 1813 and raised. Jordan was a descendant of Scots-Irish immigrants who were early settlers in an area of Virginia still inhabited by Native Americans. His ancestors would eventually help drive out the Indians and his cousins would create plantations and own slaves. Jordan’s branch of the family, influenced by a religious movement called “The Great Awakening” that was sweeping the country, disagreed with that lifestyle. Following the death of his father, Jordan’s widowed mother and many of her children, including Jordan and his brother, John, left Virginia and headed west, caravanning in a wagon train across the country. The family stopped first to homestead in the southwest corner of Michigan, near the community of Buchanan, where they lived for several years. Making a tidy profit on the sale of their farms there, they left Michigan and continued west over the Mississippi River and through the state of Missouri. They settled temporarily in an area between Independence and St. Joseph. Their plan was to ultimately travel even further  west, to the “land of milk and honey” in Willamette Valley, Ore.

 

To financially and logistically prepare for their westward journey, Jordan started a business with his brother-in-law, Calvin Smith, selling large livestock to folks departing on the wagon trains going west. The business not only provided the Jordan family with the financial resources to purchase supplies for their own forthcoming journey, but also gave them the pick of the best oxen for their wagons when the time came for them to go.

 

Discovering Iowa

Not long after the Jordan clan arrived in Missouri, they began to hear about another area described as a “land of milk and honey.” Located just north of Missouri, the Iowa Territory was about to be opened up for pioneer settlement. Intrigued by the descriptions of rich prairie land and bottomland, Jordan and his brother, John, decided they should take a look at this soon-to-be available paradise. Riding their horses north from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, they followed an old Indian trail, referred to at that time as the Dragoon Trace. They eventually arrived at Fort Des Moines No. 2, at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, in the Iowa Territory that was soon to be vacated by the Indians.

 

U.S. military forts in the area were built to protect the Indian-owned lands from pioneer settlement and Fort Des Moines was no exception. The folks downriver at Agency City, near the Red Rock wall, had experienced challenges with the arriving pioneers, but Fort Des Moines was further west and more difficult to access. Captain James Allen, stationed at Fort Des Moines, led two companies of dragoons — soldiers on horses — and had done a decent job of keeping the encroaching settlers at bay. However, friendly Jordan and his affable younger brother — who should not have been trespassing on Indian land — approached the fort and immediately made friends with the soldiers and civilians there.

 

The hospitable folks at the fort showed the Jordan brothers potential plats for settlement near the fort. One such site was in an area to the west, up the Raccoon River about four or five miles away. It didn’t take long for the brothers to decide that they did not need to travel to Oregon to have the good life they had always dreamed of. They had found their “land of milk and honey” in Iowa.

 

Putting down roots

When the time came, in 1845, for the U.S. government to allow settlement on Iowa lands, the Jordan brothers were ready to build rustic shelters on the property each had marked and surveyed during their first visit to Fort Des Moines. With many other pioneer families doing the same thing, the population grew so rapidly that Iowa had enough settlers to become a state the very next year, in 1846.

 

Achieving statehood would start the discussion in Iowa about where to position a state capital. Would it remain in the eastern part of the state, in Iowa City, where the territorial capital had been located? Or would it be better to bring it west, to a more central location? Jordan played a central role in not only the relocation of Iowa’s capital to his  town — Fort Des Moines — but in so many other ways as well.

 

Telling Jordan’s story

The inspiring story of Jordan, his ancestors and his family, unfolds in the recently published book, “Pursuit of a Dream: James Jordan, His Life and His Legacy.” The book brings to light Jordan’s fascinating life and his historical contributions supported by years of research, family stories, anecdotes and comments from Jordan’s contemporaries. It also describes the development of the Des Moines area and includes several photographs that support and enhance the text.

 

In the foreword of the book, Michael Swanger, owner, publisher and editor of Iowa History Journal, said, “Jordan could be called the first citizen of what is now known as the Greater Des Moines Area. Although he established his farm in western Polk County, Fort Des Moines was the nearest town, and he embraced it as his own. His election to Fort Des Moines’ first Town Council catapulted him into politics,” where he served (sequentially) as a member of the Iowa Senate, a member of the Iowa House of Representatives and a Polk County Supervisor.

 

Compassion for others

Though Jordan’s dream was to develop and manage a financially successful livestock business, he was deeply committed to helping others achieve their dreams as well. A devout Methodist, Jordan followed his conscience and the teachings of his faith, which empowered him to advocate for a variety of social causes. His service as an elected official in various government bodies placed him in positions of authority where his voice was heard and he was able to make a difference.

 

Sensitive to the plight of slaves, Jordan and his abolitionist comrades were committed to ending slavery in the U.S. Jordan was actively engaged in the abolitionist movement locally, as a leader in the Underground Railroad in Polk County; statewide as a member of the “new” anti-slavery Republican Party; and nationally as a friend of abolitionist John Brown and a supporter of Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy for President of the United States.

 

Sen. Jordan and his colleagues in the Iowa State Legislature helped the Meskwaki Indians achieve their dream of regaining the land they had lost in Iowa. This was no easy task, as Native Americans at that time were not considered humans and had no rights in the U.S. Jordan, his friend, Gov. James Grimes, and others in the state legislature did their best to help the Meskwaki accomplish that goal. The inspiring story of the Meskwaki Indians in Iowa — a subject often overlooked in mainstream historical publications — is told in detail in the book “Pursuit of a Dream.”

 

As a member of the Polk County Board of Supervisors, Jordan helped facilitate the establishment of the much-needed Polk County Poor Farm. He also financially assisted his son-in-law, Dr. George Hanawalt, to build the first hospitals in central Iowa. Another gripping story in the book is the tragic tale of the Barnum and Bailey Circus train wreck and how a grateful P.T. Barnum contributed to Hanawalt’s hospital projects.

 

‘Mover and shaker’

Jordan collaborated with his many prominent friends to launch the Republican Party, establish the State Bank of Iowa, create Iowa’s insurance industry and bring the first railroad into Des Moines. One entertaining chapter in “Pursuit of a Dream” tells the exciting story of the “railroad race” and how Des Moines, with Jordan’s help, won the race by securing tracks into the city.

 

Years after the railroad was established in Des Moines, Jordan personally negotiated with one of the railroads to build tracks west from Des Moines to a location near his farm, for convenient transport of his livestock. The railroad agreed to lay the track if Jordan would construct a few buildings nearby for railroad workers. Those buildings were the origin of a railroad village which would later become the town of Valley Junction. From this tiny town, the community of West Des Moines emerged and like Jordan’s “first Iowa home town” of Fort Des Moines it eventually became one of Iowa’s premier cities. Historic Valley Junction, West Des Moines and aspects of Des Moines and Iowa might not exist as we know them today were it not for Jordan’s visionary leadership and his guiding principles of faith, hard work, capitalism, abolitionism and rugged individualism.

 

The past becomes the future

In the context of the 21st century, Jordan’s contributions to central Iowa more than 150 years ago are a reflection of what is happening in Greater Des Moines today. What takes place in the suburban communities surrounding the city of Des Moines cannot be accomplished without the groundwork and accoutrements that have been established in Des Moines. Each compliments the other. We have come full circle and the past has indeed become the future. Though he is no longer with us, Jordan’s enduring legacy remains omnipresent.

 

In recognition of Jordan’s accomplishments we need only to look at his most important: the golden dome of the Iowa State Capitol building. It might not be located in Des Moines if it weren’t for Jordan. That symbol of accomplishment, however, is one of a multitude. In western Polk County, Jordan is commemorated by Jordan Creek, Jordan Cemetery, Jordan Creek Elementary School, Jordan Creek Park, Jordan Creek Town Center, Jordan Creek Parkway and the iconic Jordan House — the former Jordan family home, now a museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.

 

A cause for celebration

The publication of “Pursuit of a Dream: James Jordan, His Life and his Legacy” in 2018 coincides with the celebration of West Des Moines’ 125th anniversary of incorporation. It also marks the 80th anniversary of its moniker, which was changed from “Valley Junction” to “West Des Moines” in 1938.

 

The publishing rights and proceeds from the sale of the book have been donated to the nonprofit Historic Valley Junction Foundation — an organization which bolsters the city’s profile and economy through award-winning historic preservation and embraces the spirit in which Jordan founded the town, with hope for a better life for himself and others to follow.

 

(Mary Louise Gately, earned a B.A. in History and Social Science and an M.S.E. in Higher Ed. Administration/Development from  Drake University. She served on the board of West Des Moines Historical Society for 25 years and is the Jordan Historian in West Des Moines. Her home overlooks Jordan Creek where she resides with her husband, Gary Gately. Jan Davison earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design/journalism from Drake University. A former freelance graphic artist and director of communications, she now spends her time drawing, painting, writing, volunteering and enjoying her family — husband Polk Davison, daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren.)

 

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