Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MILITARY ROAD
MILITARY ROAD. The idea for the road was delivered to Congress by W. W. Chapman, a delegate from Iowa Territory in 1826. Presented as a resolution, Chapman's proposal called for a road from Dubuque to Missouri by way of as many county seats as possible. (1) The path of the road was planned to pass through Dubuque, Jones, Linn, Johnson, Washington, Henry, and Van Buren counties in Iowa before reaching the Missouri border.
Congress approved the concept. President Van Buren signed the bill in March 1839, authorizing Iowa's first military road and twenty thousand dollars for surveying the location. (2) R. C. Tilghman, a Baltimore, Maryland, surveyor and engineer, was given the job of surveying the route, but a question remains how the road was completed. (3)
One account states that Tilghman employed Lyman DILLON of Cascade to plow a furrow from Dubuque to Iowa City as a guide for the road builders. This has given the road the nickname "Dillon's Furrow." (4) Dillion was paid three dollars for each of the 86 miles. (5) The bronze plaque erected southwest of Key West along the Military Road states: "This Highway is The Old Military Road constructed originally in 1839 by James L. and Lucius Hart LANGWORTHY as a portion of the Government Road extending from Dubuque to the Northern Boundary of Missouri."
Controversy also exists as to what extent the route was plowed. The official map on record in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. indicates the route stretched from Dubuque to Cascade, then northwest of Anamosa and Monticello, southeast of Martelle, and east of Solon. Whether Dillon followed this path may be questioned when driving through the area and viewing the rugged terrain.
The erection of the monument marking the path of the Military Road near Dubuque was attended in 1927 by an estimated two hundred Dubuque residents. The tablet was a gift of James Currie COLLIER, a Langworthy relative. The committee responsible for placing the plaque and the dedication program consisted of Mrs. Mary Langworthy Bunting, Mrs. J. J. Roshek, and Mrs. G. D. Rose. Miss Susan Valeria Altman, a great-great granddaughter of the late Lucius Langworthy, and Massey Harris, another Langworthy relative unveiled the marker.
The exact path of the route is less important than what it accomplished. While seldom used by federal troops, the pathway was used by caravans of pioneers headed for California. The payment of twenty thousand dollars by Congress also marked an important first-time commitment to the Iowa Territory and encouragement for settlers to stay in this new land. Today Highways 151 and 1 mark the approximate location of the road.
In 1850 the idea of a second military road was advanced.
The undersigned citizens of Dubuque and the adjoining
counties most respectfully solicit and earnestly
request our honorable members of Congress to obtain
of the War Department the establishment of a military
road, commencing at Dubuque and terminating at Fort
Clark (Fort Dodge) on the Des Moines river:
M. M. Hayden, J. H. Emerson, J. M. Marsh, George M. Henry,
Henry S. Hetherington, William Donnellan, Peter Waples,
Charles Bogy, L. D. Randall, J. Sprague, Charles Corkey,
Timothy Fanning, E. D. Turner, S. R. West, C. H. Booth,
F. V. Goodrich, E. Langworthy, Owen Smith, I. E. Wootton,
B. J. O'Halloran, Michael Nolan, Patrick Byrne,
J. J. E. Norman, W. J. Sullivan, William Roche,
Francis Mangold, J. L. Langworthy, A. H. Miller,
Michael O'Brien, John Palmer, J. P. Farley,
Jacob Christman, A. Linn and Dennis A. Mahony. (6)
The object of this petition was, by opening such a road, to secure to Dubuque the trade at Fort Clark and other points on the upper Des Moines river ; that Fort previously had obtained all its supplies from Keokuk, which was distant 280 miles ; Dubuque was distant only 180 miles.
J. J. Abert of the topographical engineers, said:
By the Nicollet map the distance from Dubuque to Fort Clark is about 180 miles,
and the distance from Fort Clark to the mouth of the Des Moines about 300 miles.
This last distance is represented as the usual traveled distance with supplies,
making the difference between the routes — both are land routes — of about 120
miles, the route from Dubuque being that much shorter. This fact gives to the
Dubuque route great advantages. The only difference deserving of notice is that
to arrive at Dubuque, the Mississippi has to be ascended about 200 miles; but
as this distance during the season when supplies are forwarded can be passed
by steamboats, it reduces a comparison of the difference on this account between
the routes to 200 miles of steamboat navigation and 120 miles of land carriage.
This fact also gives to the Dubuque route great advantages. Under all circumstances,
therefore, the Dubuque route is much to be preferred and the making of a road on
this route would cost but little more than half for a road on the other route. (7)
A military road was established by 1856 to Fort Dodge, but it ran from Benton County. (8)
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Source:
1. "Lyman Dillon and the Military Road," Tri-County Historical Society. Online: http://www.tricountyhistoricalsociety.com/lyman-dillon-military-road.php
2. Briggs, John E. "The Old Military Road," The Palimpsest, Vol. 2 February 21 Np. 1. Online: http://iagenweb.org/history/palimpsest/1921-Feb.htm
3. Ibid.
4. "Discovering Historic Iowa Transportation Milestones," Iowa Department of Transportation, p. 7. Online: http://www.iowadot.gov/histbook.pdf
5. Tri-County Historical Society.
6. Oldt, Franklin T., History of Dubuque County, Iowa. Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1880. Online: http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/franklin-t-oldt/history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl/page-10-history-of-dubuque-county-iowa-being-a-general-survey-of-dubuque-county-histor-tdl.shtml
7. Ibid.
8. "The American Occupation of Iowa," Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. 17 (No.1), January 1919, p. 100. Online: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Iowa/_Texts/journals/IaJHP/17/1/American_Occupation_of_Iowa*.html
