"The lawmakers were not in a hurry, but towards the last of the session they passed our bill, and you may be sure there was great rejoicing in Cedar Rapids. On our return the citizens gave us a grand banquet in Greene's Hotel, and we felt that we had at last secured a substantial victory for our city, as in fact it was, for thenceforth Marion could no longer be our rival. The cars came to Cedar Rapids in the summer of 1859, just ten years after we had our first railroad meeting, and we felt at last that hope had ended in fruition. An immense concourse greeted their arrival from all parts of the surrounding country. General D. N. Sprague, then mayor, welcomed the guests, and the citizens threw open hospitable doors to all comers. From that time forward Cedar Rapids assumed metropolitan airs as the leading town of the Cedar valley." On politics Dr. Carpenter speaks as follows: "From the first, on my arrival at Cedar Rapids, I became an active partisan. General A. J. McKean of Marion was the acknowledged leader, but the following was small. At the state convention in 1851, held in Iowa City, I was the sole representative from Linn county, and there were not more than fifty delegates from the whole state. State officers were nominated and also a candidate for congress. Colonel Henderson, the father of J. W. Henderson of Cedar Rapids, was named for congress, and without much opposition I secured the nomination for secretary of state for my friend, Isaac Cook, who up to that time was entirely unknown. I well remember with what surprise he received the news. Although there was no chance for his election it was the beginning with him of a long and useful career in many offices of trust, alike honorable to him and his constituents. As time rolled on and our population of immigrants from the north and especially from the New England states, and with the bearing of the whig party towards slavery, they became more hopeful, and by the year 1853 or 1854, the whigs carried the county, electing both members of the legislature and the county officers. John P. Conkey was the first member of the legislature living in Cedar Rapids, and at the same election Isaac Cook was chosen for a county office. "About this time Charles Weare, Isaac Cook and many others cut loose from their old convictions and became ardent free soilers."