Doing a Few Caches in Spite of the Heat 8/12/2010

In spite of the hot humid temperatures, which were 95 and 115 heat index, we decided to go out and do a few caches rather than hang around all day. Our first 3 caches were in Chief War Eagle Park on the outskirts of Sioux City, IA. Wambdi Okicize is commonly known as War Eagle. He was born in either Wisconsin or Minnesota around 1785. His Indian name means "Little Eagle" but whites always referred to him as War Eagle. This is odd because all through his life War Eagle sought to keep peace. He even left his home tribe the Isanti (sometimes referred to as Santee) to avoid a battle as to who was to become chief.
War Eagle served as a riverboat guide or pilot on the upper Mississippi, he worked for the American Fur Company delivering messages, and during the War of 1812 he carried messages for the government. Having spent all this time with the whites greatly affected his view toward these people. He saw them as friends rather than enemies.
After marrying Mazakirawin in Minnesota, he was adopted into the Ihanktonwan or Yankton Sioux around 1830. War Eagle and his wife had seven children, four girls and three boys.
One of the things War Eagle was most proud of was a silver medal he received from the President of the United States, Martin Van Buren in 1837. His family still proudly displays this medal. By this time he had been elected chief of the tribe and been invited to travel to Washington, D.C. with other tribal leaders from around the nation to negotiate peace treaties.
War Eagle was related to the commander of the Vermillion trading fort, William Dickson. Mr. Dickson had married a cousin of War Eagle. War Eagle also had two of his daughters, Dawn and Blazing Cloud marry Theopile Bruguier. Bruguier had been accepted into the Yankton tribe and traveled with War Eagle's band for several years. He told War Eagle of a dream he had of a beautiful place where two rivers joined together. War Eagle told Bruguier he had been to that place and would show it to him.
Bruguier claimed the land at the confluence of the Sioux and the Missouri river. Here in 1849, he built a cabin and with his two wives began to homestead the land and trade with the Indians. War Eagle and his band visited the area often and stayed in teepees and log cabins located on the property.
In the fall of 1851 War Eagle died. He was buried on top of a bluff overlooking the Missouri River Valley. Along with War Eagle his two daughters Dawn and Blazing Cloud, and several others including grandchildren were buried on this bluff. Today the bluff is part of War Eagle Park and the monument pictured honors the great chief.
War Eagle is best remembered as a person who believed in peace and worked his whole life toward that goal. Because of his leadership among the tribes, the Indians and the whites learned to work together without having to resort to violence.
War Eagle was born in Minnesota or Wisconsin in around 1785. His Dakota name was (Dakota: Waŋbdí Okíčhize). He had left his own tribe, the Santee, to avoid bloodshed in a fight as to who would be chief. As a young man, War Eagle spent considerable time working among the white Americans. During the War of 1812 he carried messages for the United States government, and worked among the native peoples to promote the cause of the United States against the British. He worked as a river guide on the upper Mississippi and also served as a messenger for the American Fur Company on the Missouri. After marrying in Minnesota around 1830, he was adopted into the Yankton Sioux tribe. He and his wife had four girls and three boys. By the mid-1830s, he had been elected as a chief of the tribe, and traveled to Washington, D.C. with other tribal leaders to negotiate peace treaties. War Eagle was especially proud of a silver Peace Medal given to him by President Martin Van Buren in 1837. Two of his daughters, Dawn and Blazing Cloud, married Theophile Bruguier, a trader with the American Fur Company who had also been accepted into the Yankton tribe and had traveled with them for several years. According to one tradition, Bruguier told War Eagle about a dream he had of a place where two mighty rivers joined near a high bluff. War Eagle told Bruguier he had been to that place and would show it to him. In fact, both men had likely passed by this place many times in their fur trading voyages between St. Louis, Missouri and Fort Pierre. Bruguier claimed the land near the confluence of the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers. In 1849, he built a log cabin, and with his two wives homesteaded the land and traded with the Indians. This homestead is considered the first white settlement in what would shortly become Sioux City, Iowa. In the fall of 1851 War Eagle died and was buried on top of the high bluff overlooking the confluence of the Big Sioux and Missouri. Other members of his family are also buried there, including Dawn and Blazing Cloud. Today the bluff is part of War Eagle Park in Sioux City. An impressive monument honors the great chief, and depicts him with the eagle feather bonnet and calumet/peace pipe, symbolizing his brave leadership and his love of peace. Housing projects on the east base of the bluff also bear his name.

The first 2 caches were off the road into the park in the woods and the third was a virtual cache at the top of the hill at the monument to War Eagle and Theophile Bruguier.

The next cache was in a small park on the park sign. Our last cache was an Earthcache at The Sioux City Public Museum and Library which was located in the John Pierce Mansion which was a very lovely old house.
The John Pierce Mansion

1891 Real estate developer, Northside promoter, and city booster John Peirce began construction of this home. The architect was Charles P. Brown, who also designed the 1890 Corn Palace, Augustana Lutheran Church and several other prominent Sioux City buildings. The exterior walls of the twenty-one room house are South Dakota quartzite.

1900 Peirce staged a national raffle of his home, selling approximately 40,000 tickets at one dollar per chance. The confusing (and, as discovered later, fraudulent) lottery ended with millionaire New York thread maker William Barbour securing title to the residence.

1902 Barbour sold the home to Stella and William Gordon in exchange for bonds issued by the company which was operating the Combination Bridge. The Gordons, in turn, sold the mansion to Dr. J. N. Warren.

1908 Prominent businessman Thomas S. Martin purchased the mansion. He had founded the Martin Department Store in Sioux City in 1889, which had grown to become one of the largest and best-known in the region. The Martins lived here until 1920. (T .S. Martin died on August 9, 1915).

1921-22 The house was occupied by C. A. Escher, a stock dealer.

1922 Vacant.

1924 The residence was occupied by C. E. Hutton, who was sales manager for the Thompson and DeJarnette Dodge dealership.

1925-28 Vacant.

1928 J. Earle Martin, the son of T. S. Martin and the president of the T. S. Martin Department Store, moved into the house after a major renovation project. The family lived there until 1946.

1946-50 The home was owned and occupied by Martha Zanfes. The house was then known as “the house of lights,” for Mrs. Zanfes, an antique collector, placed lamps in all windows and around the street edge of the porch.

1951-57 The building served as a residence for Lutheran Hospital student nurses.

1958 The Junior League of Sioux City purchased the house for $10,000. It was donated in 1959 to the City of Sioux City for use as a cultural building.

1961 The Sioux City Public Museum, formerly located in the library building, opened to the public in its new quarters.

1978 The John Pierce House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Sioux Quartzite was the subject of the cache which owes its feature color to iron oxide. Quartzite is a metamorphic rock deriving from sand that was deposited during the Precambrian approximately 1.6 billion years ago. The sands were changed to quartzite near the end of Wisconsin Ice Age roughly 12-14,000 years ago.
Quartzites are highly resistant rock materials, thus providing excellent building materials as well as railroad bed ballast. Quartzite can be distinguished from its parent sandstone by noting if the fracture is across or through rather than around the grains. A hardness test could also be performed.

We did look for several other caches but it was just to damn hot to spend much time outside in the heat and sun. One cache we looked for was in Sunken Garden Park where there were huge deposits of rock that resembled lava rock but wasn't. The story behind it follows.

The first street railway company to operate in Sioux City was the The Sioux City Street Railway Company. The company was started by a group headed by Fred Evans, but it was bought out by James and Frank Peavey in 1888.
By April of 1890, the street car system was electrified and the first electric trolleys were running in Sioux City. By 1891, the line had sixteen miles of electric road and sixty-six "splendid cars", including open or summer cars.
Meanwhile, John Peirce, D.T, Hedges and other local promoters organized the Sioux City Cable Railway Company to bring a cable car line to the hilly suburbs of northern Jackson Street. They hoped that by bringing convenient transportation to the area, they could develop it into a prime residential area. Construction of the line began in 1888 and the first cars ran on May 30, 1889. The cable car line ran from Third and Jackson to the Peirce home at 29th and Jackson. It was later extended to 41st and Jackson. It also extended from Third and Jackson west to Water Street.
Midway along the line . . . . . . . . . a two-story brick building served as car barn, powerhouse and shop. Generators in the building propelled the endless cable than ran in a slot between the rails. The cable car conductor operated a clutch that extended into the slot to grab the moving cable. The cable car was then pulled along until the conductor disengaged the clutch and braked the car to a stop. Sometimes naughty boys would inflate a paper bag, tie it to a string, and let the string be caught up in the moving cable. The bag would move up the street, frightening horses and pedestrians.
The cable line was electrified in 1894 and eventually became part of Sioux City's streetcar system.
The only trace left of the old cable car line are formations that resemble volcanic rocks in what is now Sioux City's Sunken Gardens Park.

Then it was off back to the A/C at the coach for the rest of the day as it was very very oppressive and Mom really felt it today. So until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick