USA > Iowa > Polk County > Des Moines > Des Moines, the pioneer of municipal progress and reform of the middle West, together with the history of Polk County, Iowa, the largest, most populous and most prosperous county in the state of Iowa; Volume I > Part 2
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BOOK I. THE DES MOINES RIVER.
PART I. FROM MARQUETTE AND JOLIET TO CAPTAIN ALLEN.
- 1673-1843.
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THE MOINGONSA OR DES MOINES IN 1763 From "The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina : containing a description of the countries that lye on both sides of the River Mississippi : London, 1763."
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CHAPTER I.
THE DISCOVERERS OF THE DES MOINES RIVER AND THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME DES MOINES.
The first white men to set foot upon the soil watered by the Des Moines river were Father Marquette, missionary, and Louis Joliet, explorer and trader. On the 17th day of May, 1673, the two, accompanied by five voyageurs, started in two birch canoes on one of the most notable voyages of discovery in the history of the New World. Starting from St. Ignace, on the west shore of Lake Michigan, they coasted the northern shore of the lake, thence up the Menomonee, thence to the Fox river ; thence by portage to the Wisconsin ; and, on the 17th day of June, they entered the great river known to the Indians as the Father of Waters. Thence, pursuing their journey southward, on the 25th day of June, 1673, they landed on Iowa soil, on the west shore of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the swift-flow- ing river now known as the Des Moines. Journeying westward about six miles, they came upon two Indian villages, from one of which, Moinguena, the name Des Moines was in all probability derived.1 It is, therefore, a matter of history, fairly well authenticated by Father Marquette's journal and the accompanying outline map, that the discoverers of the Des Moines river were no less personages than the Marquette and Joliet of history, and a matter of history beyond question that "the first recorded interview between the white man and the Indian, within the limits of the present State of Iowa," occurred on the banks of the Des Moines near its confluence with the Mississippi.2
That the region now known as Polk county, Iowa, including the site of the Capital city and metropolis of the State of Iowa, was the center of human activi- ties centuries before the westward retreating Sac and Fox Indians found a halting place in the Des Moines River valley, is a fact well attested by numerous and various relics of prehistoric occupation unearthed at points along the river, both above and below the junction of the Raccoon with the Des Moines. Aside from evidences of their meager constructive ability and of their pious care for the re- mains of their dead, the so-called Mound Builders left few traces of the life they led
The name "Des Moines," early attached to the river and later formally given the Capital city. is the one remaining monument of the event-and that, of doubtful derivation.3
Some writers state, but without convincing authority, that the name "Des Moines" signifies "The Mounds," referring to the many mounds to be seen near the mouth of the river and near Raccoon Forks. Others are of opinion that it applies to "the Monks"+ who are said to have lived in huts on the bank of the river near its mouth. The consensus of opinion appears to be that it is simply an abbreviation of the name "Moingona," or "Moingonan," or "Moningouinas," as found in some form in very old maps. The French who followed Marquette and Joliet, as was their wont, clipped the long name and "by spurious etymology"
1 Parkman-La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, p. 56.
2 Weld-Joliet and Marquette in Iowa. Iowa Journal of History and Politics, v. I, pp. 3-16. 3 Gue-History of Iowa, v. I, p. 33.
4 Keyes,-Annals of Iowa, v. 3, p. 554.
3
4
CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
termed the river "la riviere des Moines." Dr. Keyes gives the following as among the many different spellings of the name: De Moin, Des Moins, Demoin, Demoir, Demon and De Moyen. These variations doubtless had their origin in the tendency of people on the border to spell words phonetically.
One of these spellings, however, invites a reference to an interesting fact in this connection. "De Moyen," a popular form of abbreviation, is interpreted as "middle," and was so understood as applied to the principal river between the Mississippi and the Missouri. This middle river is represented on the old maps5 as of even greater length and importance than the Mississippi or the Missouri. In a part of the Carte du Canada par de Lusle, printed in Paris in 1703, "R des Moingona" is pictured as wider and longer than neighboring rivers. In a part of the "Sinex Map of North America," printed in London in 1710, "Moingona R" is pictured as extending far to the northwest, having its rise in a great lake in the Saskatchewan region of Canada. The "fac simile of the Autograph Map of the Mississippi or Conception River drawn by Father Marquette at the time of his voyage-from the Original preserved at St. Mary's College, Montreal," gives no such importance to the "Moingouena," but places it midway between the Mississippi and the Pekittanoui, or Missouri. It is natural that, whatever may have been the etymological origin, the coincidence of the term "de moyen" (the middle) and "Des Moines," the abbreviated form of "des Moingona," is at least a good foun- dation for the popular use of the term as a designation for the middle river be- tween the two great rivers of the West.
Bancroft, speaking of the visit of Marquette and Joliet, says: "The river was the Mon-in-gon-e-no, or Moingoun, of which we have corrupted the name into Des Moines." Mr. L. F. Andrews, a local historian,6 has an opinion which runs counter to all the authorities above referred to. He says the term "De Moins" signifies "the less" or "the smaller," and was applied by the early explorers to a small band of Indians who were on one side of a river, while those on the other side were called the greater. The early settlers applied the name to the river itself.
From a careful study of the authorities and their critics, it may with safety be concluded that the name "Des Moines" is an abbreviated form of des Moin- gona, equally applicable to any one of the several theories as to the significance of the word as used by the pioneers.
5 Keyes,-Annals of Iowa, v. 3, p. 557.
6 Annals of Iowa, v. 2, p. 468.
LOUIS JOLIET
MARQUETTE From a painting at St. Mary's College, Montreal
CHAPTER II.
THE DES MOINES TRAVERSED BY FARIBAULT -- 1800-1803.
Until the present time the historians of Iowa have passed in silence the inter- val of centuries between the landing of Joliet and Marquette near the mouth of the Des Moines in 1673 and the journey of John Dougherty up the Des Moines to Raccoon Forks in 1834. But an all too brief contribution of Gen. H. H. Sib- ley to the Minnesota Historical Collections,1 a "Memoir of Jean Baptiste Fari- bault,"-breaks the silence of centuries by the important announcement that sev- eral decades before Dougherty, Albert Lea, Kearny, Fremont, Boone, and Allen, the adventurous fur-trader Faribault canoed down the Des Moines river with sup- plies of furs for the St. Louis market.
General Sibley relates that in May, 1798, young Faribault with three other young men was sent by the Northwest Fur Company to the then far Northwest. Faribault displayed so much tact during his first winter at Kankakee, that he was assigned to the charge of "the more important post on the Des Moines river about 200 miles above its mouth. The post was named Redwood." His dealings were with the Sioux. With the aid of an interpreter "a successful trade was carried on with the savages, and Mr. Faribault, the following spring,2 ac- cording to the instructions he had received, wended his way with the furs he had collected to the mouth of the Des Moines river, and delivered them to Mr. Craw- ford, one of the accredited agents of the company: Mr. Faribault was continued four years in charge of the same trading post. During this long period he saw no white man but his own assistants, except on his annual tour to the mouth of the river."
The treasures of the Minnesota Historical Society yield nothing further rela- tive to this interesting and all-too-brief chapter in the history of the Des Moines river. Secretary Upham of that society finds only one other reference to Fari- bault's descent of the Des Moines, and that in a memoir of Jean Baptiste Fari- bault, in Volume I of Joseph Tassé's Les Canadiens de l'Owest, (1878), pp. 309- 31, which, says Mr. Upham, closely follows General Sibley's narration.
1 Minnesota Hist. Coll., v. 3, 1870-80, pp. 168-79.
2 Probably the spring of 1800.
5
CHAPTER III.
THE FIRST WHITE MAN SINCE 1803 TO PENETRATE THE DES MOINES VALLEY TO: RACCOON FORKS.
Maj. Thomas F. Hunt, acting Quartermaster General of the army, in a report to the Hon. Lewis Cass, Secretary of War, dated Washington, January 8, 1836, relating to the proposed opening of "a military road from Fort Leavenworth to the right bank of the Mississippi, above the State of Missouri," informs his chief that "the distance from Fort Des Moines [No. I] to the mouth of the Raccoon is about 150 miles, by land, and by water about 260, at which place or some other point in that neighborhood on the Des Moines, it is understood a military post will probably be established, and from such point to Fort Leavenworth the distance is probably between 200 and 230 miles."1
Accompanying this report are extracts from a communication from one John Dougherty to Major J. B. Brant, Quartermaster U. S. Army, dated St. Louis, Missouri, December 16, 1834. This is the first official reference to the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines, the present site of the Capital city of Iowa. Quarter- master General Hunt, in his report enclosing the communication of Dougherty, says : "The views and opinions of the writer of that communication are no doubt worthy of much consideration from the fact of his long and familiar acquaintance with the regions of the west, manifesting, as they seem to me to do, much knowl- edge of the Indians and their habits, connected with which and their future wel- fare, as well as the mode and manner of defense against their inroads upon our white settlements, is the road contemplated by the resolution."
In the Dougherty report occurs a reference to the changed conditions in the Indian country within a few years,-"the game nearly exhausted, the Indians hungry and naked, already beginning to feel very sensibly the effects of their. intercourse with our hunters and whiskey dealers."
This writer urged a protective policy, which should treat the Indian "as un- tutored children, 'and not as wise, learned and independent men. Encourage them," he says, "to raise corn, beef, pork, and horses, for the supply of the fron- tier posts; furnish them with goods at cost; restrain their warring and hunting, and prevent all intercourse with military posts, except by their chiefs," and dis- courage the demoralizing mingling of Indians and soldiers. He proposed the es- tablishment of "a line of military. posts along or near the boundary between the settlements and the Indians, and the building of "a compact and well-constructed fort, sufficiently large to garrison about two companies of infantry and one of dragoons, at or near the following named places : At Des Moines rapids, on the Mississippi ; at Raccoon fork of the Des Moines; at the intersection of the west line of the State of Missouri and the Missouri river ; at Ft. Leavenworth ; at Har- mony mission on the Ne-o-sho; at Fort Gibson ; at a point between the Arkansas and Red rivers; and on the Red river."
He would establish a citizen farmer at each post ; open a road from post to post, bridge the small creeks, establish a ferry at each river crossing ; build stables at each post for a company and a half of dragoon horses; "keep the dragoons constantly on the trot patrolling along the road," their principal business being
1 Senate Document 77, 24th Congress, Ist session, accompanying Senate Bill No. 90 ; also American State Papers, Military Affairs, v. 6, p. 13.
6
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THE MOINGONA OR DES MOINES IN 1763
From "The History of Louisiana, or of the Western Parts of Virginia and Carolina: containing a description of the countries that lye on both sides of the River Missisipi: London, 1763."
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Enlarged section of the United States including Louisiana by William Darby (engraved by James D. Stout) inserted opposite title page of William Darby's "Emigrant's Guide to the Western and Southwestern States and Territories, 1818,"
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7
. CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
"to take up every strolling white man or Indian, and convey him to the nearest guard-house for punishment; establish a weekly mail between posts and headquarters ; appoint four Indian agents-no more."
Lest Major Brant should conclude that his fears in regard to the danger on the frontier had gotten the better of his judgment, he recurred to "the consterna- tion which Black Hawk, with a few followers spread over the States of Illinois and Missouri, and the Territory of Michigan."
The sound judgment of this man unknown to fame is attested by the subse- quent history of the region covered by his report.
That nothing obtainable relative to the author of this first published report descriptive of the region centering at the Raccoon fork of the Des Moines might be omitted from this history, the author in October, 1910, wrote Secretary Dick- inson, of the War Department at Washington, asking for information relative to John Dougherty-his standing in the Department in 1834, and, if procurable, a copy of the Dougherty report in full. In due time came a reply from the Hon. Robert Shaw Oliver, Assistant Secretary of War, stating that the original report referred to could not be found, and that the document containing extracts from the said report, to which reference had been made in the author's letter to the Secretary of War, was the only document to be found referring to or quoting from the said Dougherty.
The reply includes a report from Adjutant General Ainsworth who finds "that John Dougherty was Indian Agent at Fort Leavenworth in 1834, 1835 and 1836" -- thus settling the question of fact and, at the same time, enabling the reader to get the view-point from which this first official explorer. of the Upper Des Moines reached his conclusions relative to the relations of the Department with the Indians.
CHAPTER IV.
LIEUT. ALBERT LEA'S EXPLORATIONS IN THE UPPER DES MOINES REGION.
The earliest published record of exploration along the upper Des Moines is printed in a little book entitled "Notes on Wisconsin Territory." It was written by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, United States Dragoons, and is in substance the author's report to his chief, Colonel Kearny in 1835.1 In this book of only 53 pages the author designed, as he says in his preface, "to place within easy reach of the public, correct information in regard to a very interesting portion of the Western country, especially of that part of it known as the 'Iowa District,' one of the divisions of the new Territory of Wisconsin."
Lieutenant Lea adds that "he has been employed in his professional duties for more than a year, within the limits of the country represented by the accom- panying map. During this time, he has traveled extensively, and has been sedu- lous in collecting information from surveyors, traders, explorers, and residents. The whole route of the dragoons during the summer of 1835, as designated on the map, was meandered with a compass, and the distances estimated by the time and rate of travelling them; and in like manner, the Des Moines river was re- connoitered from Racoon river to the mouth. His "designation of the Indian boundaries were," as he says, "procured from the proper bureaus at Wash- ington," and are copied from "the maps sent in by the surveyors of the several Indian boundaries laid down, and of the far-famed Half-Breed Tract of the Sauk and Fox Indians."
The one portion of this pioneer publication which has a direct bearing upon the subject of this work is the following, from Chapter II, entitled "Water Courses and Local Divisions :"
"The Des Moines River and its Tributaries afford fine lands, well diversified with wood and prairie, as far up as I am acquainted with them, some fifty miles above the Upper Forks. There is much that is inviting in the general character of the country bordering on the Des Moines ; level meadows, rolling woodlands, and deep forests, present themselves by turns. The soil is usually rich and pro- ductive ; and when there are no natural springs, there is no difficulty in obtaining water, by digging, at almost any point in the highland-prairies.
"Having specially reconnoitered the Des Moines river during the summer of 1835, I can speak of it more confidently than of any of the other smaller rivers watering the District.
"From Racoon river to the Cedar, the Des Moines is from 80 to 100 yards in width, shallow, crooked, and filled with rocks, sand-bars, and snags, and is impetuous in current at high water ; yet it is certain that keel-boats may navigate this portion of the river, being 96 miles, during a great part of the spring and fall; and it is not impossible that even steam-boats may run there.
"But from the Cedar river to the Mississippi, except a few miles near the mouth, there is no obstruction to the navigation of the Des Moines in a tolerable stage of water. For four months of the year, boats of two and a half feet draught, will perform this distance of 170 miles without difficulty. The width is from 150 to 250 yards except a few miles above the mouth, where it is only from 80 to 100 yards wide; its bed is perfectly smooth and flat; and the bottom
1 Printed in Philadelphia, in 1836.
8
PART DA
.
CHIPPET
WISCONSIN TERRITORY
-
POR INDLAS FIKPHAY*
POTTAWATTAMIKA
TTAWAS AND CHIPPEN
4,000,000 ATKKA
TENEN ty
UTED STATR .
LIEUTENANT ALBERT LEA'S MAP
Showing the Prominence Given the Des Moines River by the Early Geographers
ALBERT LEA Pioneer Explorer of the Des Moines
9
CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY
is generally a thin coating of sand and gravel over a blue limestone rock, until you descend within the influence of the back water from the Mississippi, where there is much alluvial deposit with many snags. By the removal of a part of these snags and a few loose rocks above, every thing will be done for the navi- gation that can be done without augmenting the supply of water. The first rapids that occur in the river, above the mouth, are those near the lower end of the Great Bend. There is a ledge of limestone rock running across the river here; but the chief obstruction is caused by loose rocks lodged upon this ledge. The chief rapids between the Racoon and the mouth, are some 40 miles above Cedar river. Here is considerable fall for several miles, a sudden pitch of sev- eral inches, many large loose rocks, and a very sudden bend, altogether making a difficult pass in the river.
"The mineral productions of this river are interesting. Sandstone, suitable for building, occurs frequently, as far down as Tollman's, 14 miles from the mouth. Limestone is found along the whole distance, from a point 15 miles above Cedar river, to the Mississippi bottom. Bituminous coal of excellent quality oc- curs abundantly at many points between Racoon and Cedar rivers, and also near the Missouri line. I also found large masses of the oxide, sulphuret and native sulphate of iron, lignite, and the earths usually found in coal formations.
"It is about seventy-five miles from the mouth, by water, to the Indian boun- dary. The lands, on both sides of the river, throughout the greater part of this distance, are exceedingly fertile, and many of them are covered with forests of the finest' walnut, oak, ash, elm, and cherry; and back of these wooded bottoms are extensive prairies, both flat and rolling. The settlements have long since, that is in the fall of 1835, extended along the river entirely up to the line, and are beginning to spread out on either side, especially towards the head waters of Sugar creek. There are already some extensive farms along this river, and others are in rapid progress."
In reminiscences published many years afterwards, Lieut. Albert Lea gave an intimate personal touch to his description found lacking in his book. Of the re- gion covered by this work he said :2
"Thence our march was still through rich prairies, interspersed with lakes and groves ; across the Des Moines River, which we descended to the mouth of the Raccoon Fork, a grassy and spongy meadow with a bubbling spring in the midst, near which my tent was pitched; and the side of a fat young deer was spitted before the fire, and despatched with great gusto by the aid of two brother officers, and a bottle of fine old French brandy, obtained from Chouteau's stock, and car- ried the whole campaign in my wallet, untasted. The capital of Iowa now covers that site.
"The next morning, a bright Sunday, I got orders to reconnoitre the Des. Moines River by descending it in a canoe, to ascertain the practicability of navi- gation with keel boats, with a view to the establishment of a military post. A goodly cottonwood was selected; my men set to work with a will, and at sun- rise Tuesday I bade adieu to the camp and, aided by a soldier and an Indian, started on my toilsome task, sounding all shoals, taking courses with a pocket compass, estimating distances from bend to bend by the time and rate of motion, sketching every notable thing, occasionally landing to examine the geology of the rocks, and sleeping in the sand despite the gnats and mosquitoes. We made the trip without accident, and leaving our canoe at the trading-house (Keokuk), we footed it to the fort, where we arrived many days before the main body, who re- turned leisurely by land, and arrived in fine order, without the loss of a man, a horse, a tool, or a beef, which were fatter than at the starting, after a march of eleven hundred miles."
2 From Salter-Iowa the First Free State in the Louisiana Purchase, pp. 184-6.
CHAPTER V.
COLONEL KEARNY REPORTS ADVERSELY ON "THE FORKS" AS A SITE FOR A FORT.
The first detailed official description of the site of the present city of Des Moines is well worth reading. Colonel Kearny reports that on the 8th of August, 1835, he reached the mouth of the Raccoon river where he "halted to reconnoitre the country with a view to the selection of a site for a military post in that vicinity as directed."
"After riding over a considerable portion of the country myself," he con- tinues, "and sending off officers in different directions with a view to the same object, I could neither see, nor hear of any place, that possessed the necessary advantages, or in my opinion was suitable for the establishment of a Military Post. The point of land, in the fork, at the junction of the Raccoon with the Des Moines, would probably answer as well as any other place in that vicinity. It is about eight feet above high water mark-a narrow strip of prairie com- mences here, but widens out as the two rivers recede. On the opposite side of the Des Moines, which is there about 360 feet wide and 312 deep, being a good ford, is a great abundance of timber, Oak, Walnut, Elm, Ash, Linn and Cotton- wood, which would answer for building and firewood. We saw no springs near the place; wells however could be dug. About a mile up the Des Moines is a bluff containing stone coal, and a small quantity of silicious limestone, but ap- parently not enough for the necessary chimnies of a small post, nor do I believe it can be burned in lime. If a Post should be established there, I think stone and lime must be brought to it from near the mouth of the North Fork, a distance by land of about 45 miles, and 60 by water. It is by land 150 miles from Fort Des Moines,1 and 266 by water to the mouth of the Des Moines River."
The following, from Colonel Kearny's report, is interesting, as the first offi- cial opinion given as to the navigability of the Des Moines :
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