History of Iowa that Isn’t Boring

I can still remember what I would call an idyllic upbringing as a young boy in this most beautiful state buried in the depths of the Midwest. To this day, I have never understood those lines in the movies where someone says, with much emphasis, that so-and-so Neanderthal person lives in Des Moines. I always take offense.

Or when some distant highfaluting coworker says they’ve been through Iowa on 80 and, of course, sighs when they say it. I hope they pop a tire.

It’s probably a good thing in the long run, I suppose. If it were any other way, I wouldn’t be able to wander the deep, rolling hills of southern Iowa empty of another soul for miles or stand on Pikes Peak after a day of trout fishing with nary a soul around, looking on that most mighty of all rivers.

The history of Iowa is no less intriguing if you know where and how to look. It has its share of murder, adventure, and wild exploration just as much as any other state, perhaps more.

I still remember this lesson being impressed upon me as a young boy standing in Black Hawk county high above the banks of the Cedar River and picking up that perfectly shaped Native American arrowhead in all it’s perfect glory. I imagined what it was used for and what it did over it’s long life before I picked it from the dirt.

Iowa was never the same after that for me, the woods and rivers never looked the same again, what secrets have they been hiding for a few thousand years?

Not Boring Guide to Iowa’s History

Now I will prove it. You might be surprised to know there is volumes and volumes written on the history of Iowa, not so much recently, but in the past, you would do well to go find some. I’m probably going to skip a lot of things, but time is short, I will do my best.

How long have been people been roaming Iowa? A long time, and it’s somewhat complicated. The written record of what we now call Iowa started around 1673 or there abouts. But dont let that fool you, simply head over to Effigy Mounds National Monument if you have some doubt about folk walking these prairies and woods for long before Europeans showed up.

“… after preceding 40 leagues on this same route, we arrived at the mouth of our river, and, at 42 degrees latitude, we safely entered the Mississippi on the 17th of June, with a joy I cannot express.”
– Marquette Journal

It’s one thing to read those words, it’s a whole different experience to stand on top of those high Mississippi hills in Iowa and look down into that spot where those old birch bark canoes pushed out from the Fox River from Wisconsin into the Iowa territory.

Makes you wonder what they would have found if paddling across that river they would have walked up those wooded hills straight (literally) to those Indian Mounds we find today. Apparently nothing. As they traveled south for days they could find no “trace of man.”

But then it happened, and the rest is history.

“Finally on the 25th of June, we perceived on the waters edge some tracks of men, and a narrow somewhat beaten path leading to fine prairie.”
– Marquette Journal

This is generally agreed upon as the confluence of the Iowa River and the Mississippi.

Who was already here?

This is a complicated question with various answers. Specifically at this time these French explorers ran across what we call Illinois natives. Who else called Iowa home? Home is a funny word as the Native American’s at this time traveled far and wide over vast territories following wildlife and weather. It’s generally agreed that the Sioux roamed much of Northern Iowa as part of their travels (this can be confirmed by what the French Explorers as far as the Great Lakes were told from Native Americans who had traded and were familiar with the Mississippi and it’s surrounding inhabitants).

Of course the most famous and name-sake of us all is the Ioway-Oto tribes.

Some astute history buffs might also know the Fox and the Sauk Native Americans as other major tribes associated with Iowa, so much so, many of our counties are named after famous chiefs like Wapello,  Black Hawk, and Keokuk. But, these were more “recent” additions to the Iowa territory, driven across the Mississippi from their original home in Wisconsin by the French and French Indian ally pressures.

It’s clear, like much of the Midwest and Great Lakes Area, that Iowa was home to the Woodland people, although it’s hard to trace the transition to what we would know as the Ioway tribe. By the time the French were poking around on the Mississippi you would probably find a mix of Oneota descendent tribes and Algonquian languages.

Think of pre-European Iowa as mix and clash of what we would call Plains Indians of Dakota decent like the Sioux, and “Upper Mississippi” Algonquian based Woodland cultures that originated around the Great Lakes.

Before that? Hard to say. The truth is all we can go off is prior to this time is the the kind of artifacts that are unearthed, arrowhead, points, pottery, etc. These can give clues into the at least influences into the cultures, like Hopewell points.

We could sum this all up by saying that pre-European Iowa territory had a myriad of people groups travel through it over long periods of time following general migration patterns due to a variety of circumstances.

Proof of this can even be found with the French Jesuit explorers on the Great Lakes recording such things as …

… Allouez succeeded him, explored a part of Lake Superior, and heard, in his turn, of the Sioux and their great river the “Messipi.”

– La Salle and the discovery of the Great West

Anyway, I digress, you can waste your own hours, days, and weeks reading about pre-historic Iowa in all it’s glory. Good luck.

European expansion in the Iowa territory.

Before we write a complete book on the subject I think maybe it would be best for me to just list a few of what we can consider major, or interesting, milestones through the history of Iowa. What i find particularly interesting to track is the dates of these occurrences.

In the grand scheme of things, including the timeline of the United States, Iowa is quite young as a state and in it’s general history.

• June 17, 1673 – Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet first saw the land that would become Iowa.
• 1685 –  Nicolas Perrot erected two or three forts or trading houses in the vicinity, as well as lead mine near modern day Dubuque.
• 1788 – Julien Dubuque settled in Iowa.

Note the large time gap between 1673-85 when French first came upon the Iowa area, fur trading etc, and 1788 when you could consider the first European serious settlement.

• 1804 –  the Lewis and Clark expedition camped at White Catfish Camp, now known as Long’s Landing Iowa.
• 1805 – Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike makes significant inland journey into Iowa and records it. (yes Zebulon and Julien Dubuque crossed paths during this time!)
  •  Pike called him “the evasive Mr. Dubuque“

Shortly after this time because of Lewis and Clark + Zebulon and Dubuques growing foothold,  many people from the south and eastern states become aware of this region.

• 1808 – First permanent US Military output/fort built. Fort Madison in Iowa. Because of the Louisiana purchase.
• September 1812 – Chief Black Hawk attacks Fort Madison Iowa to help the British.
  • Sax and Fox Indians become a major presence before this time in Iowa, pushed here from homes in Wisconsin etc. 
• 1817 – Officer Stephen Harriman Long travels along Iowa via the Mississippi

  • “Passed Little Ioway River coming in from the west. There is a small village of Foxes about three miles up this river, consisting of five or six wigwams.” – Stephen Long

• 1824 – First on many Indian Treaties that over time, end up with the cession of the Iowa Territory in totality to the US Government.

– A History of Iowa by Leland L. Sage

During this time white settlers started to encroach into Iowa, which at this time was Indian Territory, land where they were no legally allowed to settle as the US Government was giving the Native Americans like Sioux, Fox, Sax, and Ioway these areas.

• 1825 – Sioux are granted Northern Iowa, the Fox, Sax, and Ioway get Southern Iowa.
• 1830 – “The Miners Compact” – miners and frontiersmen around the Dubuque Iowa lead mines.
• 1832 – September 21st concludes the Black Hawk War.

Up until this time Iowa would have been considered Indian Territory, this can be seen in documented instances in which Federal Troops under Major Stephen W. Kearny forcibly removed white settlers from the Iowa side back into Illinois. This didn’t really stop persistent settlers and frontiersmen who wanted their slice of land.

• 1833 – The first official white settlement in Iowa began in June 1833, in the Black Hawk Purchase.

This is when the flood gates to inner parts of Iowa as a whole opened. With the end of at least obvious hostilities in the Black Hawk War. What you see in yellow below is known as “Scott’s Purchase.”

According to sources at the time there were “thousands” of settlers waiting to “dash into” former Indian lands to get the most choice pieces. One could say that 1833 was when Iowa really became Iowa, unofficially that is.

• 1834 – Frontier towns along the Mississippi take root, like Davenport, Bellevue, Muscatine, Burlington, Keokuk become well known.
• 1834 – June 20th. The one-legged Patrick O’Connor—the first man to be legally executed in what would become the state of Iowa.

  • “On May 19, 1834, O’Keaf hiked two miles into Dubuque for provisions. At 2 p.m., accompanied by a friend, he returned to the cabin he shared with O’Connor and found the door locked from the inside. O’Keaf called to O’Connor to open the door. The eyewitness reported that O’Connor replied: “Don’t be in a hurry. I’ll open it when I get ready.

  • O’Keaf, burdened by a bundle in one hand and a ham in the other, became persistent, saying: “It is beginning to rain. Open the door quick.” O’Connor didn’t reply, so O’Keaf forced the door open with his shoulder. When O’Keaf stepped into the cabin, O’Connor leveled his musket and fired at his partner. Five of the slugs entered O’Keaf’s chest, and he dropped dead.”

• 1835 – Massey – Smith Family Feud.

  • “Woodbury MASSEY, a resident of Dubuque, purchased a MINING claim known as the “Irish Lot.” He later learned that it was also claimed by a Mr. Smith and his son, William. On Monday, September 7, 1835 Massey and the sheriff arrived at the claim to evict the Smiths. Massey was shot and killed. The sheriff who accompanied him to the claim arrested Smith and his son and took them to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, for trial. The judge dismissed the charges claiming no jurisdiction west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
    In anger, the Henry, the brother of Woodbury Massey, shot and killed the elder Smith in Galena, Illinois. Everyone, except the younger Smith, believed the matter was settled. Vowing revenge, William Smith rode to Dubuque and announced he would kill the first Massey he met. This turned out to be Louisa who had heard of his arrival and found Smith in Guerin’s store where the MERCHANTS HOTEL was later constructed.

    Ordering Smith to turn and defend himself, Louisa fired a pistol and hit Smith in the chest. Fleeing the scene, she was helped to escape to Illinois by the Langworthy family which were relatives. The people of Iowa later immortalized Louisa by naming a county (Louisa) in her honor.”

• 1836 – Sheriff’s census showed 10,531 residents, which is probably low!
• 1838 – February 6, bill to establish the Iowa Territory legally.  Government land offices put in place and Burlington and Dubuque.

At this point is pretty much the “Wild West,” the new frontier is in Iowa with Indians being moved out many settlers are moving in. The braver they are, the “deeper” into Iowa they move.

• 1838 – With influx of pioneers, law needed to established. Many judges were put in place.

  • “I received my commission as judge of the Territory of Iowa while in Pennsylvania. The first court I held was in Cedar County. Some one placed a large split-bottom chair under a spreading burr oak and I sat down to settle the county seat. I picked out the longest, leanest, lankiest, ugliest looking man in the crowd for sheriff. ” – Judge Joseph Williams

• 1838 – Census shows 22,859 residents. (notice the growth in short amount of time).
• 1840 –  Fort Atkinson Military Post in Winneshiek County is built.
• 1840 – Iowa truly is the frontier, lot’s of people with minimal law.

  • … court proceeding held at Maquoketa, the seat of government of Jackson County, Iowa. This community, like many frontier settlements, was afflicted with gang of rustlers, counterfeiters, and horse thieves which the newly-organized courts found to be difficult to deal with effectually. The townspeople of Maquoketa had just arisen en mass and driven out a gang of counterfeiters in a fierce fight in which seven men were killed.” – Elihu B. Washburn

• 1846 – Iowa is admitted to the Union.
  • Census showed 96,088 thousand residents.
• 1846 – Influx of Mormons through southern Iowa traveling to the west. Some families settled in Iowa.
• 1847 – Many counties start to get their very first settlers.

  • “These first settlers included Gottlieb (Gotleib) Krumm, Gottlob Krumm, Charles Kregg (Kreggand), and Francis Rogers. Gottlob Krumm, his wife, and two little children, came directly from South Germany. For a few weeks they lived in a deserted Indian wigwam that stood next to a spring while Mr. Krumm, with the assistance of Charles Kregg, built a log house nearby. ” – Fort Atkinson, Iowa.

• 1850 – Capt. Samuel Woods, with his E Company found Fort Dodge.
• 1850 – Settlers are reaching the “middle of Iowa,” counties are started to be formed.

  • “The state legislature in 1850 created two new counties north of Boone County.  There were fewer than 12 families in both counties at the time.” – Hamilton County History

• 1851 – Hunting (for fur and food) was main employment of many settlers.

  • “Goheen brothers, E.R. and James, held a record of shooting 12 deer and 1 buffalo in a single day. Buffalo, deer, and elk were plentiful, with bear, lynx, foxes …” – History of Butler County

• 1852 – 73 residents in Butler County, Iowa. This gives an indication how fast and quickly the Iowa Territory filled up with settlers.
• 1854 -Henry Lott and his grandson killed a Sioux Indian chief, Sidominadotah, and his family.
  • This lead to the Spirit Lake Massacre
• 1857 -March 8–12 – Spirit Lake Massacre in which the Sioux killed 35-40 settlers.
• 1857 -Large-scale vigilante movement swept across the late Midwest frontier of eastern Iowa. Eventually encompassing five counties, the movement collectively killed 16 white men who were accused
  of murder, horse theft, and counterfeiting.

It’s hard to know where to stop, what to include, what not to include. But what we read above gives us a mostly ignored look into pre-Iowa’s past. Surprisingly, there is a plethora of information available starting in the mid-1800’s about early general life in Iowa.

It’s easy to see how the settlement of Iowa by started and was dependent on the Mississippi and expanded west slowly. Many of the Native American tribes that we ascribe to Iowa like the Fox and Sax were here only because they were forced from their original homes in the east.

Hopefully, in a future article, we can dive more into some of the first hand accounts from various US Army personal who traveled in and through Iowa, as well as some of the French early settlers. Of course, no less interesting, are the varied and myriad tales and first hand accounts from thousands of settlers through the mid to late 1800’s who wrote letters and journaled about their experiences.

When you think of it, Iowa as a whole, is quite young when it comes to White European settlement, as of the mid 1850’s the middle counties of Iowa were were still very sparsely populated with a few hardy souls scattered here and there.

In the future hopefully we can dig into some of these first hand accounts of settlers eking out a living on the rolling plains, and track the progress of Iowa from a simple frontier territory to an agriculture powerhouse.