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PLUMBE, John Jr.: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:plumbead.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Iowa News May 5, 1838-An advertisement placed by Plumbe for the sale of property. Photo courtesy: Diane Harris]]PLUMBE, John, Jr. (Wales, 1809-Dubuque, IA, May 29, 1857). Plumbe emigrated to the United States in 1821 and settled in Dubuque in 1836 as a land speculator. (1) He purchased and sold several downtown lots by November of that year and the following year advertised property along the [[MISSISSIPPI RIVER]]. He later established the Wisconsin General Land Office in Dubuque. (2)  
[[Image:plumbead.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Iowa News May 5, 1838-An advertisement placed by Plumbe for the sale of property. Photo courtesy: Diane Harris]]PLUMBE, John, Jr. (Wales, 1809-Dubuque, IA, May 29, 1857). Plumbe emigrated to the United States in 1821 and settled in Dubuque in 1836 as a land speculator. (1) He purchased and sold several downtown lots by November of that year and the following year advertised property along the [[MISSISSIPPI RIVER]]. He later established the Wisconsin General Land Office in Dubuque. (2)  


Using his pen name "Iowaian," Plumbe soon began promoting a railroad link to the Pacific coast.  (3) It was in 1836 that the territorial legislature of Wisconsin incorporated the [[BELMONT AND DUBUQUE RAILROAD COMPANY]]. In 1837, with their attention drawn by the proposed railroad, a group of investors including Plumbe formed the "Louisiana Company" and for $15,000 purchased eighty acres of land along the Mississippi in Wisconsin from Payton Vaughn. Town lots were surveyed. The place was called Sinipee, the name of the hollow in which it was located. The investors expected that Sinipee would be chosen as the point at which the railroad would eventually cross the river. (4) It was Plumbe's plan to connect a rail line from Milwaukee to Sinipee, cross the river to Dubuque, and continue westward to the Oregon Territory. (5) In February, 1837, books for subscriptions to the stock of this road were opened in Dubuque.  
Using his pen name "Iowaian," Plumbe soon began promoting a railroad link to the Pacific coast.  (3) It was in 1836 that the territorial legislature of Wisconsin incorporated the [[BELMONT AND DUBUQUE RAILROAD COMPANY]]. In 1837, with their attention drawn by the proposed railroad, a group of investors including Plumbe formed the "Louisiana Company" and for $15,000 purchased eighty acres of land along the Mississippi in Wisconsin from Payton Vaughn. Town lots were surveyed. The place was called Sinipee, the name of the hollow in which it was located. The investors expected that Sinipee would be chosen as the point at which the railroad would eventually cross the river. (4) It was Plumbe's plan to connect a rail line from Milwaukee to Sinipee, cross the river to Dubuque, and continue westward to the Oregon Territory. In February, 1837, books for subscriptions to the stock of this road were opened in Dubuque.  


A bill for a survey of this road in Iowa was defeated in the Iowa Territorial Legislature, however, on the grounds that it was outside of the territory. It was further stated that such a road should not be designed for Dubuque County alone, but for the whole territory; and as Dubuque county and town were the only parts to be benefited, the bill should not pass. (6) In 1838, however, $2,000 was appropriated by Congress for the survey of the route to Sinipee.
In 1838, $2,000 was appropriated by Congress for the survey of the route to Sinipee. (5)
 
In August 1838 the [[IOWA NEWS]] carried the following advertisement:  
Until that time, Sinipee, Wisconsin Territory, was a town along the Mississippi River that existed only on paper. (7) In August 1838 the [[IOWA NEWS]] carried the following advertisement: (8)


           The Sinipee Company is now prepared to furnish town
           The Sinipee Company is now prepared to furnish town
Line 17: Line 16:
           to avail themselves thereof.
           to avail themselves thereof.


The November 10, 1838 ''Iowa News'' announced that a post office in Sinipee had been established with Plumbe as the postmaster. In rapid order a brick yard, tin smith, shoe and cabinet shop, blacksmith, and dozens of houses were constructed. In the first year, Plumbe and several others sold $30,000 in supplies. Lots remote from the river were priced between $500 and $1,000. As many as five steamers docked at one time. (9)  
The November 10, 1838 ''Iowa News'' announced that a post office in Sinipee had been established with Plumbe as the postmaster. In rapid order a brick yard, tin smith, shoe and cabinet shop, blacksmith, and dozens of houses were constructed. In the first year, Plumbe and several others sold $30,000 in supplies. Lots remote from the river were priced between $500 and $1,000. As many as five steamers docked at one time. (6)  


In Dubuque on March 26, 1838, a committee of five, including Plumbe, wrote a petition to Congress describing their plan for a transcontinental railroad and giving reasons for its construction. Plumbe's booklet entitled ''Sketches of Iowa and Wisconsin'' described the potential of western lands. Today only twenty-one copies of this one hundred-three book exist. (10) It began as follows:  
In Dubuque on March 26, 1838, a committee of five, including Plumbe, wrote a petition to Congress describing their plan for a transcontinental railroad and giving reasons for its construction. Plumbe's booklet entitled ''Sketches of Iowa and Wisconsin'' described the potential of western lands. Today only twenty-one copies of this one hundred-three book exist. (10) It began as follows:  
Line 62: Line 61:
1.  Palmquist, Peter E. and Kailbourn, Thomas R. '''Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865''', p. 444
1.  Palmquist, Peter E. and Kailbourn, Thomas R. '''Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865''', p. 444


2. Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren. '''The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa'''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008, p. 411
2. Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren. '''The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa'''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008, p. 411


3. Tigges, John. '''They Came From Dubuque''', Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1983, p. 23
3. Miller, Jim. "Dubuque Settler Plumbe 'Screams to be Recognized,' " ''Telegraph Herald'', September 29, 1974, p. 48


4. "Two Old Rivals of City of Dubuque," ''Telegraph Herald'', August 8, 1915, p. 18
4. "Two Old Rivals of City of Dubuque," ''Telegraph Herald'', August 8, 1915, p. 18


5. Oldt, Franklin T. '''History of Dubuque County, Iowa''', Chicago: Goodspeed Historical Association, 1891, p. 240
5. Ibid.


6. Ibid.
6. Ibid.


7.  Krainik, Clifford, "Sinipee, Atlantis on the Mississippi," http://www.geocities.com/old_lead/sinipee.htm


8. Tigges, John, p. 27
 
 


9.  Jerde, Lyn. "Snapshot of History," ''Telegraph Herald'', February 16, 1998, p. 1. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19980216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
9.  Jerde, Lyn. "Snapshot of History," ''Telegraph Herald'', February 16, 1998, p. 1. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19980216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Revision as of 19:59, 10 May 2017

This entry is being edited.

John Plumbe championed the idea of a transcontinental railroad.
Iowa News May 5, 1838-An advertisement placed by Plumbe for the sale of property. Photo courtesy: Diane Harris

PLUMBE, John, Jr. (Wales, 1809-Dubuque, IA, May 29, 1857). Plumbe emigrated to the United States in 1821 and settled in Dubuque in 1836 as a land speculator. (1) He purchased and sold several downtown lots by November of that year and the following year advertised property along the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. He later established the Wisconsin General Land Office in Dubuque. (2)

Using his pen name "Iowaian," Plumbe soon began promoting a railroad link to the Pacific coast. (3) It was in 1836 that the territorial legislature of Wisconsin incorporated the BELMONT AND DUBUQUE RAILROAD COMPANY. In 1837, with their attention drawn by the proposed railroad, a group of investors including Plumbe formed the "Louisiana Company" and for $15,000 purchased eighty acres of land along the Mississippi in Wisconsin from Payton Vaughn. Town lots were surveyed. The place was called Sinipee, the name of the hollow in which it was located. The investors expected that Sinipee would be chosen as the point at which the railroad would eventually cross the river. (4) It was Plumbe's plan to connect a rail line from Milwaukee to Sinipee, cross the river to Dubuque, and continue westward to the Oregon Territory. In February, 1837, books for subscriptions to the stock of this road were opened in Dubuque.

In 1838, $2,000 was appropriated by Congress for the survey of the route to Sinipee. (5) In August 1838 the IOWA NEWS carried the following advertisement:

          The Sinipee Company is now prepared to furnish town
          lots to purchasers on the most liberal terms. The very
          favorable conditions upon which the company has resolved
          to dispose of a limited portion of the lots, render it
          important that early application be made by those wishing
          to avail themselves thereof.

The November 10, 1838 Iowa News announced that a post office in Sinipee had been established with Plumbe as the postmaster. In rapid order a brick yard, tin smith, shoe and cabinet shop, blacksmith, and dozens of houses were constructed. In the first year, Plumbe and several others sold $30,000 in supplies. Lots remote from the river were priced between $500 and $1,000. As many as five steamers docked at one time. (6)

In Dubuque on March 26, 1838, a committee of five, including Plumbe, wrote a petition to Congress describing their plan for a transcontinental railroad and giving reasons for its construction. Plumbe's booklet entitled Sketches of Iowa and Wisconsin described the potential of western lands. Today only twenty-one copies of this one hundred-three book exist. (10) It began as follows:

      "The connection of Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River,
       at or near the Borough of Dubuque, by means of a railroad 
       to be located upon the most eligible ground within the 
       territory is a subject of such importance, etc. The entire 
       length of the Lake Michigan and Dubuque railroad would be 
       only about one hundred and fifty miles * * * Within little 
       more than eight months of last year (1837) the total number 
       of steamboat arrivals and departures at the port of Dubuque 
       amounted to no less than 717." (11)

Using his skills as a surveyor, cartographer, writer and speaker, Plumbe convinced audiences throughout the Midwest of the potential of RAILROADS in the West, while his brother ran their photography business. Plumbe also served as president of the Board of Trustees for the Village of Dubuque in 1837 and secretary of the Dubuque Literacy Association and the Temperance Society. In 1838 he drafted a resolution to Congress for improved postal routes.

George Wallace JONES, the delegate from Wisconsin Territory, presented Plumbe's idea for a transcontinental railroad to Congress where it was considered a joke. It is said that another lawmaker suggested to Jones that one of Jones' constituents would suggest the construction of a railroad to the moon. (12)

The financial boom that occurred in Sinipee ended in disaster. An epidemic of "fever" struck the community. Many of the houses were transported across the ice to Dubuque. By 1840 the city that had once been destined as a railroad and shipping center was a ghost town. (13)

Plumbe returned to photography to pay his bills. One of the first practitioners of daguerreotype photography, he established a national reputation by entering photographic competitions and opening a chain of over twenty-five galleries called the Plumbe National Daguerrean Gallery. (14) His Dubuque gallery, operated by his brother Richard, was the first photographic establishment west of the Mississippi. Plumbe manufactured and imported photographic materials, lectured to groups of new photographers at his United States Photographic Institute, and published dozens of lithographic prints of well-known Americans based on his daguerreotypes. (15) These prints were developed by a mechanical hand-engraving process Plumbe invented but unfortunately never patented. He called these PLUMBEOTYPE pictures.

Plumbe briefly lived in Washington, D.C., and became the capital's first professional photographer. He took the earliest surviving photograph of the U. S. Capitol and the earliest picture of a president in office (James K. Polk). (16) He pioneered brand name recognition by publishing a magazine, "Plumbe's Popular Magazine," filled with illustrations based on his photographs. (17) Plumbe has been credited with being the first photographer to attempt a "famous portraits collection" and for franchising photo galleries. (18)

To aid in financing the project, Plumbe not only projected the line, prepared the petition and secured the Congressional appropriation, but in person and at his own cost began the inspection, if not the survey, of the line from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. In 1847 he proposed a grant of land from the government to aid the project; the proposal contained the following points: 1) The grant was to consist of alternate sections of land; (2) the stock to be $10 a share; (3) at the time of subscription 50 cents was to be paid on each share; (4) the railroad was to be managed by a board of directors; (5) the government would enjoy forever the free use of the road; and (6) editors, ministers, and missionaries would ride free. (19)

By 1848 Plumbe had suffered financial losses due to competition and mismanagement of his studios. (20) He sold his business and equipment to his employees and returned to Dubuque.

It was reported in 1849 that Plumbe, at his own expense, inspected a practical route for the railroad through South Pass. While in California, he served as a surveyor and register of the Settlers Association in Sacramento. He worked as a customs inspector for the port of San Francisco in 1852, entered California state politics, and continued to lobby Congress for a Pacific railroad. (21)

Plumbe returned to Dubuque in 1856 and with his brother Richard established a steam-powered mill near Cottage Hill, Iowa. They also opened a patent agency in Dubuque. (22) Besides writing five articles for the San Francisco Placer Times about transcontinental railroads, Plumbe lived quietly with his brother on the corner of Iowa and 14th STREETS. He was financially ruined by the PANIC OF 1857.

The 1855 publication of the Pacific Railroad Surveys by the Secretary of War, reporting the same route Plumbe had originally described may have led Plumbe into depression and later suicide. (23)

The May 30, 1857 edition of the Dubuque Daily Express and Herald contained a story entitled, "Melancholy Suicide." The story told of how Plumbe had slashed his throat from ear to ear at the home of his younger brother, Richard, at 14th and Iowa. The story related that Richard felt his brother had been "despondent" but did not suggest a cause. While it is true that Plumbe had lost money in the Panic of 1857 and when competitor photographers drove the price of pictures down, the lost dream of being recognized "the" proponent of a transcontinental railroad may have been the final blow. Railroads had been the center of his life. He even referred to his once far-flung string of photographic studios as "photographic depots." (24)

Plumbe2.jpg

The location of Plumbe's grave was not known until 1975 because of the loss of burial records from 1857, the year of Plumbe's death. A distant relative produced documents showing that he had been buried in an unmarked grave in the Plumbe family plot at LINWOOD CEMETERY. Through efforts of Cliff Krainik of Arlington Heights, Illinois, the founder of the John Plumbe, Jr. Memorial Association and the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY a five hundred dollar gravestone was dedicated at Plumbe's grave on Memorial Day in 1977. (25)

---

Source:

1. Palmquist, Peter E. and Kailbourn, Thomas R. Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865, p. 444

2. Hudson, David; Bergman, Marvin; Horton, Loren. The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2008, p. 411

3. Miller, Jim. "Dubuque Settler Plumbe 'Screams to be Recognized,' " Telegraph Herald, September 29, 1974, p. 48

4. "Two Old Rivals of City of Dubuque," Telegraph Herald, August 8, 1915, p. 18

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.



9. Jerde, Lyn. "Snapshot of History," Telegraph Herald, February 16, 1998, p. 1. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19980216&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

10. The J. Paul Getty Museum, "John Plumb, Jr." http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1979

11. Palmquist, p. 444

12.

13. "Two Rivals..." X

14. Alphonse Gallery, http://alphonsegallery.zenfolio.com/plumbe X

15. Ibid. X

16. Ibid. X

16. Tigges, John and Jacobson, Jon. Milwaukee Road Narrow Gauge: The Chicago, Bellevue, Cascade and Western. Pruett Publishing Company, 1985, p. 3

17. Alphonse Gallery, "Daguerreotypes: John Plumbe, Jr." http://alphonsegallery.zenfolio.com/plumbe

18. Hudson, P. 412

19. Oldt. p. 240

20. Longden, Tom, "John Plumbe, Jr.," Des Moines Register, http://data.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/famous-iowans/john-plumbe-jr

21. Alphonse Gallery, http://alphonsegallery.zenfolio.com/plumbe

22. Hudson, p. 412

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid.

25. Tigges, John., p. 28

24. Jerde, p. 2

25. Hudson, p. 41