<P> This is one of the strangest looking "cities" I ever saw...This town is at the juncture of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers . It is mostly a level prairie with a few swells or hills around it . We have a court house of "brick" and one church, a plain, framed building belonging to the Methodists . There are two taverns here, one of which has a most important little bell that rings together some fifty boarders . I cannot tell you how many dwellings there are, for I have not counted them; some are of logs, some of brick, some framed, and some are the remains of the old dragoon houses...The people support two papers and there are several dry goods shops . I have been into but four of them...Society is as varied as the buildings are . There are people from nearly every state, and Dutch, Swedes, etc . </P> <P> In May 1851, much of the town was destroyed during the Flood of 1851 . "The Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers rose to an unprecedented height, inundating the entire country east of the Des Moines River . Crops were utterly destroyed, houses and fences swept away ." The city started to rebuild from scratch . </P> <P> On September 22, 1851, Des Moines was incorporated as a city; the charter was approved by voters on October 18 . In 1857, the name "Fort Des Moines" was shortened to "Des Moines", and it was designated as the second state capital, previously at Iowa City . Growth was slow during the Civil War period, but the city exploded in size and importance after a railroad link was completed in 1866 . </P> <P> In 1864, the Des Moines Coal Company was organized to begin the first systematic mining in the region . Its first mine, north of town on the river's west side, was exhausted by 1873 . The Black Diamond mine, near the south end of the West Seventh Street Bridge, sank a 150 - foot (46 m) mine shaft to reach a 5 - foot - thick (1.5 m) coal bed . By 1876, this mine employed 150 men and shipped 20 carloads of coal per day . By 1885, numerous mine shafts were within the city limits, and mining began to spread into the surrounding countryside . By 1893, 23 mines were in the region . By 1908, Des Moines' coal resources were largely exhausted . In 1912, Des Moines still had eight locals of the United Mine Workers union, representing 1,410 miners . This was about 1.7% of the city's population in 1910 . </P>

What was the capital of iowa before des moines