USA > Iowa > An illustrated history of the state of Iowa, being a complete civil, political, and military history of the state, from its first exploration down to 1875; > Part 3
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DES MOINES VALLEY.
e-na, or Moingona. From whence came the change of name, and what the words Des and Moines mean, have been matters of some speculation. It has been stated by a learned historian (Bancroft, vol. III, p. 158) that Des Moines is a corruption of the Indian : word Moingona. It has also been claimed that the meaning of the latter word is at the road. (Iowa Gazetteer, p. 18; Nicollett's Report to Congress, Feb. 16, 1841, published in 1849, pp. 22 and 23.) It is claimed by others that the name Des Moines is of French derivation; that the word de, or des in English means of | the, and the word moine means monk, and is here used in the plu- ral, and that the name as applied to this river means, the river of the monks. A monk is "a man who retires from the ordinary temporal concerns of this world, and devotes himself to religion ; monks usually live in monasteries, on entering which they take an oath to observe certain rules." It is claimed that there was once a monastery established on the banks of this beautiful stream, and from this circumstance it was called the river Des Moines, or the river of the monks. But it is believed that it will be hard to find any well authenticated history establishing the fact that a mon - astery was established in this region of country previous to this river bearing this name, or that any monks ever took up their abode in this locality.
The voyage in which this river was discovered was prosecuted by two individuals of different callings, and for different purposes. It was patronized by the French government and the Catholic church ; the former, stimulated by a desire of making discov- eries and enlarging their possessions ; the latter by a zeal to spread its religion, and convert the Indians.
It is difficult to conceive any object the church would have to establish a monastery here, or that this class of individuals of the Catholic church would have, that would cause them to desire to locate themselves in this far off, lonely wilderness. From these circumstances, to satisfactorily account why this name was given to this river, will require further investigation. In the valley, of this river, and on the banks of the Mississippi, especially about Montrose, they found, when these localities were first ex- plored, many mounds. A mound is " an artificial elevation of earth, terms used technically in the United States as synonymous
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with barrow, or tumuli, designating a large class of aboriginal an- tiquities or earth-works scattered through the valley of the Miss- issippi river and its tributaries." There are to be found in the valley "a succession of earth-works extending from the lakes southward to the gulf." Some of these works appear to have been erected for military purposes, and others in connection with religious ideas and the burial of the dead. Most of these mounds are constructed of earth, but some with earth and stone. These works are of various shapes ; "some square, terraced and ascended by graded ways ; some hexagonal, octagonal, or trun- cated, and ascended by spiral paths ;" and some are of enormous size. There is a mound "on the plain of Cahokia, in Illinois, op- posite the city of St. Louis, which is 700 feet long, by 500 feet broad at the base, and is 90 feet high, covering eight acres of ground, and estimated to have 20,000,000 cubic feet of con- tents. In some of these works are found many relics of art, " dis- playing greater skill and advancement in the arts than was known to exist among the tribes found in occupation of this country, at the time of the discovery by the Europeans ; such as " elaborate carvings in stone pottery, often of elegant design ; articles of use and ornament in metal, silver and copper. Things which must have come from distant localities are often found side by side in the same mound. These monuments indicate that the ancient population were numerous and wide spread ; " that their customs, habits, religion and government were similar; and that they pursued an agricultural calling ; and were possessed, to a great extent of the arts of civilized life, and a state of society essentially different from the modern race of North American Indians." These works bear the marks of great age. From facts gathered concerning them " we may deduce an age for most of the monuments of the Mississippi valley, of not less than two thousand years. But by whom built, and whether their authors migrated to remote lands under the combined attraction of a more fertile soil, and a more genial climate, or whether they disappeared beneath the vic- torious arms of an alien race, or were swept out of existence by some direful epidemic or universal famine, are questions probably beyond the power of human invention to answer." These mounds are numerous in Iowa, and especially in the re- -
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DES MOINES VALLEY.
gion of the river Des Moines and the lower rapids of the Missis- sippi.
About six miles north of Fort Madison, on the road to Burling- ton near the brow of the bluff, is a mound about thirty feet long, and fifteen feet wide, making it elliptical in form. In the spring of 1874, a party made an examination of the interior of the mound, and there was found " a large number of separate compartments, which were each occupied by a skeleton, and articles of flint stone and ornamental bones." "The compartments were constructed as follows : There was a floor made of limestone, which was evi- dently brought from a quarry some miles distant, this being the nearest point at which limestone could be obtained. The floor was regular and smooth, the best rock only being used." The sides of these graves seemed to have had stone walls, but when examined had caved in. "The roofs were made of limestone and closely built. The contents of these compartments were a queer assortment of flint and curiously shaped stones. All the skeletons of human origin were placed in a sitting position, the knees drawn up, and the head leaned over between them." The arms were placed by the side, and sometimes dropped over the knees. " Besides human bones, there were bones belonging to large birds, also the bones of some animals, and quantities of charcoal."
About half a mile above Montrose, and about five hundred' yards from the river bank, on the prairie, there are five mounds, situated in a straight line, and evidently not the work of nature, but of some anterior race. Their height is about eight feet, and their circumference about one hundred, all nearly of a uni- form size. At Kilbourne, in Van Buren county, there are three mounds, on an elevated piece of ground in the back part of the town, in close proximity to each other, which, when built, must have been of a large size. On the middle one, since the country has been settled by the whites, there has been a cabin built and a . large excavation made for a cellar, which has much changed its · natural appearance, and the other two have been plowed over till they are much flattened down from what they were originally. A little east of the town, on the brow of a high bluff, there are eight mounds in close proximity to each other. These mounds are lo- cated in a straight row, measure from thirty to forty feet across 3
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their bases, and are from three to four feet high. About a quarter of a mile northeast from them there is another mound, about one hundred and fifty feet in circumference, and about five feet high. This mound has been dug into in the center to the depth of eight feet, but nothing discovered except that the earth showed that it is artificial work ; for, after digging to a level with the surround- ing country, the earth was found to be of a dark color, like prai- rie soil. About two miles southeast of Kilbourne, on the south side of the river, there are two mounds, about fifty yards from each other. These mounds are about one hundred and thirty feet in circumference, and about six feet high, both of which have been dug into and human bones discovered. About a mile from Iowaville, on a high bluff on the northeast quarter of section five, township seventy, range eleven, there are six mounds of nearly uniform size, each about ninety feet in circumference and about four feet in height, so close together that their bases touch. About a third of a mile, across a deep ravine, on a high hill east of these, there is another mound, which is fifty feet across its base and about five feet high. On the prairie, within the bounds of the laid out town of Iowaville, and on the prairie back of it, there are a large number of tumuli, but none of them exceed two feet in height, are not symmetrical in form or placed in rele- vant position to each other like the work of the mound-builders, and it is not likely they were built by them. Here was once the noted village of the Iowa Indians. The prairie is level, and, in wet seasons, the water does not readily run from it. These eleva- tions of the earth were probably made by the Indians on which to build their wigwams, so that they might not be exposed to dampness.
In Wapello county, there is a chain of mounds, "commencing near the mouth of Sugar creek, and extending twelve miles to the northwest, at a distance between them reaching as far as two miles. The one nearest the Des Moines is one hundred and forty feet in circumference, and is situated on an eminence - the high- est point in the vicinity. The second mound lies directly north of the first, at a distance of about one-fourth of a mile. This mound is two hundred and twenty-six feet in circumference. In May, 1874, a party made an examination of the larger mound,
1722006
CROSSCUP & WEST-SO.PHILA.
aw yours truly Grondones
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TUTTLE'S HISTORY OF IOWA.
and, upon digging into the center, they found 'a ledge of stones at the depth of four feet, which bore all the marks of having passed through a fire.' They also found 'a mass of charcoal, a bed of ashes and calcined human bones.'"
In sections 30 and 31, in township 72 north, of range 10 west, Jefferson county, there is some romantic and picturesque scenery. Here may be seen the waters of the Cedar meandering their course along its zigzag channel ; sometimes swift and turbid, over- flowing its banks, and attaining the size of a large river, but most of the time quietly and gently moving along as clear as a moun- tain spring. On the south side of this stream the ground is low and level, interspersed with small prairies and groves of timber, with here and there a little pond. On the north side, the country is elevated and very broken, being interspersed with high hills and deep ravines ; and, at the first settlement of the country, for a long distance, it was mostly a forest of woodland. At one point, for a number of rods, a high bluff comes up to the stream on one side, and a beautiful low prairie of several acres stretches out from the bank of the creek on the other.
At the first settlement of this country, the bluff on the north side, from the bank of the creek for some thirty feet or more high, was nearly perpendicular, and mostly composed of a solid sand- I stone, and then, for several feet more, gently sloping back, were earth and rock. This location must have been a place of attrac- tion and visited by those who had some knowledge of the arts of civilization, long before Iowa was permitted to be settled by the whites ; for when this place was first seen by the early settlers of the country, at a point on this bluff most difficult of access, near the top, there was discovered bedded in and firmly bolted on to the solid sand rock an iron cross, the shaft of which was about three feet, and the crossbar eighteen inches long. A short dis- tance from this place, a little northeast, on the summit of a high ridge, there is a series of mounds which give evidence of hav- ing been built by human hands many years in the past. These mounds are from twenty to fifty feet across from their bases, and , from three to five feet high.
Since the settlement of this country, this sand stone bluff has very much changed its appearance, and no longer presents the
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DES MOINES VALLEY.
lofty form of earlier days. Large quantities of rock have been quarried out and taken away for building purposes ; so much so that instead of being almost perpendicular, it now presents a gradual slope, and the rock on which was fastened the iron cross has been undermined and tumbled down from its elevated position, and the cross has been pried off and carried away by the seekers of curiosities. *
Sac City, the county seat of Sac county, is situated on a beauti- ful site in the bend of the Raccoon river, within the limits of this town " arranged on a general direction from northeast to southwest, but without regular order, the distance between the ex- tremities in that direction being a little less than six hundred feet, and in the transverse direction, less than one hundred feet." Two of these mounds are elliptical in form and the others are circular. The two elliptical ones are located farthest to the northeast. One of the elliptical mounds is ninety feet in diameter east and west, and thirty feet north and south, and two feet high ; the other, sixty by thirty feet and two feet high. The circular mounds range from sixty to eighty feet in diameter, and from two and one-half to six feet high. These have been dug into, but no hu- man bones or works of art have been discovered.
These works are peculiar to the valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and are not found in European countries, and when the French took possession of this country, they had to designate them by some name, and called them Moines; and from the fact that there were a great many mounds in the valley of the river Des Moines, and about the lower rapids of the Mississippi, es- pecially, at and near Montrose, it was reasonable to suppose that the Indian name of Moingona was abandoned, and that this river and these rapids were designated by the French as the river Des Moines, and the rapids Des Moines, which mean the river of the Mounds, and the rapids of the Mounds. Gen. Pike and other early writers in speaking of this river, and these rapids, call them the river Des Moines and the rapids Des Moines. But in the act of congress, defining the boundaries of the State of Missouri, it
* A portion of this cross is now in possession of the family of Hon. Chas. Negus, the author of this sketch. It has the appearance of having been long exposed to the weather.
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describes the line of the northern boundary as being on the " parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines." From these words, after the settlement of Iowa, the Missourians claimed the rapids referred to were in the great bend of the river near the town of Keosanqua, and set up title and claimed jurisdiction over the territory in Iowa to a line due west through that point, which was the cause of much ill feeling between the authorities and citizens of the two governments, and the means of calling into requisition the civil and military author- ities of both parties interested, and of a lengthy litigation in the United States supreme court. All of which would probably have been avoided, had the true meaning of the words been understood, or the rapids described as the rapids of the Mounds.
The river Des Moines was embraced in the " Louisiana pur- chase " and came in the possession of the United States, April 30, 1803. The contracting parties at that time knew but lit- tle of the beautiful scenery and rich soil skirting the banks of this river, and little did they calculate the vast population that was to reside, and the wealth that would be accumulated, here in this great valley. This locality must have especially attracted the at- tention of the French and Spanish Indian traders before the United States became possessed of it, for Gen. Pike in his report of the exploration of the Mississppi in 1805, gives the names of five forts and two places on his map, located on this river. but he did not tell when they were made, or by whom occupied. Not only did this locality attract the attention of the French and Span- ish traders, but as soon as the whites were permitted to take pos- session of Iowa soil as their own, the valley Des Moines, especially, attracted the attention of the emigrant, and of the first purchases from the Indians, this part of Iowa, for many years, had a more dense population than any other part of the territory, and Farm- ington and Keasauqua, for a long time, were the most noted towns on the Mississippi river.
Within the limits of Iowa, is in part located the? most import- ant lead region in the country, excepting the Missouri lead mines. This region embraces a district of country about sixty miles in diameter, of which about one-half is in Wisconsin, and the re- mainder is equally distributed in Iowa and Illinois. The Missis-
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DES MOINES VALLEY.
sippi river cuts through the southwestern portion of the region. The Dubuque district is about sixty miles in length by seven to ten miles in width. The richest deposits are within the corporate limits of Dubuque, and they decrease in value toward the borders . of the district. The Dubuque mines were purchased of the Indi- ans in 1788, at Prairie du Chien, Wis., by Julian Dubuque, who · worked them successfully. An account of this individual will be found in an early part of this volume. In 1833, the Indian title was extinguished, and mining subsequently began. From the surface of the river to the top of the bluffs there are four distinct strata. On the surface, a clay soil, varying in depth from eight to twenty feet ; below the clay, shale, of which the thickness is five to twenty feet; next, Galena limestone, the lead bearing rock and the blue or Trenton limestone. An obstacle to success has been the water, which appears to be equally diffused over the mining regions. The pumps, driven by machinery, have produced only a temporary effect on its diminution. Beyond this, they have been found to be not only costly, but useless. In a large number of instances, some of the heaviest lodes have been worked into the water at the very point where the yield has been of the most lu- crative kind. A plan of drainage has now been commenced by means of an adit, which has been run about twelve hundred feet, and is to be extended about one mile. It is to be made in solid rock, with an average height of ten feet and a width of about four feet. It is expected to drain off the water of a section of country, of an average of between one and two miles. More than sixty mil- lions of pounds have been taken from the clay diggings by some of the parties at work in the region expected to be thus drained. The amount of lead produced from the entire region in. the three states, in 1860, was in value as follows: Illinois, $72,953 ; Iowa, $160,500 ; Wisconsin, $325,368. The annual yield of these mines, of the Dubuque region, ranges from five to ten millions of pounds.
To show the productiveness of the lead region country in early times, the following extract is taken from a memorial of inhabit- ants residing in the mining country of the territory of Michigan, made to congress in the year 1829 : " Your memoralists ask the attention of your honorable body to the following statement, show- ing the quantity of lead manufactured at the upper Mississippi
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lead mines from 1821 to September 30, 1828. The whole quan- tity of lead made, during that period, was 18,421,772 pounds ; from the 30th of September, 1827, to September 30, 1828, of that quantity, 11,805,810, was manufactured at the mines, and the probable quantity made from September 30, 1828 to 1829, will be equal to about ten millions ; making the quantity manu- factured, the two last years, equal to 21,105,810 pounds." The memorialists prayed for the passage of an act of congress defining the powers and duties of the officers, employed by the general government, for the government of the mines, and the passage of such laws as may be necessary, and will comport with the interest of the government and the rights of the people of the min- ing country.
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CROSSCUP & WEST-SC.PHIL A.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY HISTORY.
Chronology of Political Jurisdiction from 1763 to 1845 - Visit of Joliet and Marquette- Their Early Experiences among the Indians in Iowa - Lou- isiana - French Possession.
THE EARLY history of what is now known as the state of Iowa, is very much the same as that of other states and territories lying in that portion of the United States northwest of the Ohio river. The territory has experienced various changes of ownership and jurisdiction, as also all the present possessions of the government west of the river Mississippi (except the territory since obtained from Mexico and Russia). It was claimed by France, by right of discovery and occupation, until 1763, at the close of what is known in our history as the "Old French War," and in Europe as the "Seventeen Years War," when it was ceded to Spain ; and on October 1, 1800, by the treaty at St. Idlefonzo, Spain retro- ceded it to France.
By a treaty made April 30, 1803, and commonly known as the "Louisiana Purchase," all the above named territory was ceded to the United States, in consideration of the sum of $11,250,000, and the liquidation of certain claims held by citizens of the United States against France. On the 1st of October, 1804, by act of congress, what is now the state of Iowa, with other western terri- tory, was organized and placed under the jurisdiction of the terri- torial government of Indiana, under the name of the "District of Louisiana." On the 4th of July, 1805, under an act of congress, approved March 5th, 1805, the "District of Louisiana," was re- organized under the name of the " Territory of Louisiana." In December, 1812, through an act of congress, it was again reorgan- ized under the name of the " Territory of Missouri." Through an act of congress, of June 28, 1834, it underwent another trans
(42)
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EARLY HISTORY.
formation, and what is now Iowa was made a part of the " Terri- tory of Michigan," and on July 3, 1836, with the addition of the present states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, was again given a new name and government by being organized into the "Territory of Wisconsin." On July 3, 1838, another change took place ; all of Iowa, and most of what is now Minnesota, being erected into the " Territory of Iowa." In March, 1845, provision was made by congress for the admission of Iowa as a state ; the boundaries prescribed by the act not meeting the approval of the people of Iowa, the act was rejected ; various boundaries were proposed by congress and the people, and finally, the present bounds of the state were agreed upon, and on December 28, 1846, Iowa was admitted as the twenty-ninth of the United States, being the six- teenth admitted under the federal constitution.
The first Europeans that visited the present state, as far as we have knowledge, were M. Joliet, and Father Marquette, who were sent by the French government "to discover a passage to the South Sea." The former was appointed to this work, and Mar- quette missionary. These two celebrated explorers arrived at Green Bay, June 7. 1673, and with a party of seven Frenchmen and two Miami guides, passed up the Fox river to the Portage, crossed over to the Wisconsin, and slowly sailed down its current, amid its vine clad isles and countless sandbars, and after sailing seven days without seeing a human form, on the 17th of June, glided into the great river. Passing down the Mississippi, the first landing made by them was on the 21st of June, four days after they entered the river. They landed on the western bank where, says Marquette, " We discovered footprints of some fellow mortals, and a little path or trail, leading into a pleasant meadow. Following the trail a short distance, we heard the savages talking, and making our presence known by a loud cry, we were received by the Indians, and were led to the village of the Illinois, where we were treated with much kindness." Marquette farther states that as the party reached the village, an old man arose, perfectly nude, with his hands stretched out and raised toward the sun, as if he wished to screen himself from its rays, which nevertheless passed through his fingers to his face. When he came near them, he said : " How beautiful is the sun, O Frenchmen, when thou
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TUTTLE'S HISTORY OF IOWA.
comest to visit us ! All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace." A great feast was subsequently pre- pared for the guests, consisting of sagamity and fish, and for a third dish they produced a large dog, which was regarded as a choice dish, and prepared only for distinguished guests ; and a fourth dish consisted of a piece of wild ox, which concluded the entertainment.
The spot where the travelers landed, from the description given by them, was at the site of the present city of Davenport, and from the fact that an Indian village had been located there from time immemorial, it would seem that there the soil of Iowa was first pressed by the foot of the white man. These French explor- ers were the first to pass through the present state of Wisconsin, and to discover an upper Mississippi, and also to land on the ter- ritory of Iowa.
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