USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties, Iowa > Part 4
USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard Counties, Iowa > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
1. Treaty with the Sioux .- Made July 19, 1815: ratified De- cember 16, 1815. This treaty was made at Portage des Sioux, be- tween the Sioux of Minnesota and Upper Iowa and the Uniied States, by William Clark and Ninian Edwards, Commissioners, and was merely a treaty of peace and friendship on the part of those Indians toward the United States at the close of the war of 1812.
2. Treaty with the Sacs .- A similar treaty of peace was made at Portage des Sioux, between the United States and the Sacs, by William Clark, Ninian Edwards and Auguste Choteau, on the 13th of September, 1815, and ratified at the same date as the above. In this, the treaty of 1804 was re-affirmed, and the Sacs here repre- sented promised for themselves and their bands to keep entirely seporate from the Sacs of Rock River, who, under Black Hawk, had joined the British in the war just then closed.
3. Treaty with the Foxes .- A separate treaty of peace was made with Foxes at Portage des Sioux by the same Commissioners on the 14th of Septembr, 1815, and ratified the same as the above, wherein the Foxes re-affirmed the treaty at St. Louis, of Novem- ber 3, 1804, and agreed to deliver up all their prisoners to the officer in command at Fort Clark now Peoria, Illinois.
4. Treaty with the Iowas .- A treaty of peace and mutual good will was made between the United States and the Iowa tribe of Indians, at Portage des Sioux, by the same Commissioners as above, on the 16th of September 1815, at the close of the war with Great Britain, and ratified at the same date as the others.
5. Treaty with the Sacs at Rock River .- Made at St. Louis on the 13th of May, 1816, between the United States and the Sacs of Rock River, by the Commissioners, William Clark, Ninian Ed- wards and Auguste Choteau, and ratified December 30, 1816. In this treaty, that of 1804 was re-established and confirmed by twenty-two chiefs and head men of the Sacs of Rock River, and
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
Black Hawk himself attached to it his signature, or, "as he said, "touched the goose quill.".
6. Treaty of 1824 .- On the 4th of August, 1824, a treaty was made between the United States and the Sacs and Foxes, in the city of Washington, by William Clark, Commissioner, wherein the Sac and Fox nation relinquished their title to all lands in Missouri, and that portion of the southeast corner of Iowa know as the "Hal-Breed Tract" was set off and reserved for the use of the half-breeds of the Sacs and Foxes, they holding title in the same manner as Indians. Ratified January 18, 1825.
7. Treaty of August 19, 1825 .- At this date a treaty was made by William Clark and Lewis Cass, at Prairie du Chien, betwen the United States and the Chippewas, Sacs and Foxes, Menom- onees, Winnebagoes and a portion of the Ottawas and Pottawatom- ies. In this treaty, in order to make peace between the contend- ing tribes as to the limits of their respective hunting grounds in Iowa, it was agreed that the United States Government should run a boundary line between the Sioux, on the north, and the Sacs and Foxes, on south, as follows:
Commencing at the mouth of the Upper Iowa River, on, the west bank of the Mississippi, and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork; thence up to the fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of Red Cedar River in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calumet River, and down that river to its junction with the Missouri River.
8. Treaty of 1830 .- On the 15th of July, 1830, the confederate tribes of the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of country lying south of the above line, twenty miles in width and extending along the line a forosaid from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. The Sioux also, whose possessions were north of the line, ceded to the Government, in the same treaty, a like strip on the north side of the boundary. Thus the United States, at the ratification of this treaty, February 24, 1831, came into pos- session of a portion of Iowa forty miles wide, extending along the Clark and Cass line of 1825, from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. This territory was known as the "Neutral Ground" and the tribes on either side of the line were allowed to fish and hunt on it unmolested till it was made a Winnebago reservation, and the Winnebagoes were removed to it in 1841.
9. Treaty with the Sacs and Foxes and other Tribes .- At the same time of the above treaty respecting the "Neutral Ground" (July 15, 1880), the Sacs and Foxes, Western Sioux, Omahas, Iowas and Missouris ceded to the United States a portion of the western slope of Iowa, the boundaries of which were defined as follows:
Beginning at the upper fork of the Des Moines River, and passing the sources of the Little Sioux and Floyd Rivers, to the
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
fork of the first creek that falls into the Big Sioux, or Calument, on the east side; thence down said creek and the Calumet River to the Missouri River; thence down said Missouri River to the Missouri State line above the Kansas; thence along said line to the northwest corner of said State; thence to the high lands be- tween the waters falling into the Missouri and Des Moines, pass- ing to said high lands along the dividing ridge between the forks of the Grand River; thence along said high lands or ridge separat- ing the waters of the Missouri from those of the Des Moines, to a point opposite the source of the Boyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Des Moines, the place of begin- ning.
It was understood that the lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty were to be assigned and allotted, under the direction of the President of the United States, to the . tribes then living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President might locate thereon, for hunting and other purposes. In consideration of three tracts of land ceded in this treaty, the United States agreed to pay to the Sacs three thousand dollars; to the Foxes, three thousand dol- lars; to the Sioux two thousand dollars; to the Yankton and San- tee bands of Sioux, three thousands dollars; to the Omahas, two thousand five hundred dollars; and to the Otoes and Missouris, two thousand five hundred dollars-to be paid annually for ten
successive years. In addition to these annuities, the Government agreed to furnish some of the tribes with blacksmiths and agricul- tural implements to the amount of two hundred dollars, at the ex- pense of the United States, and to set apart three thousand dollars annually for the education of the children of these tribes. It does not appear that any fort was erected in this territory prior to the erection of Fort Atkinson on the Neutral Ground, in 1840-1.
This treaty was made by William Clark, Superintendent of In- dian affairs, and Col. Willoughby Mor an, of the United States First Infantry, and came into effect by proclamation, February 24, 1831.
SPANISH GRANTS.
While the territory now embraced in the State of Iowa was un- der Spanish rule as a part of its province of Louisiana, certain claims to and grants of land were made by the Spanish authori- ties, with which, in addition to the extinguishment of Indian titles, the United States, had to deal. It is proper that these should be briefly reviewed:
Dubuque .- On the 22d day of September, 1788, Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman, from Prairie du Chien, obtained from the Foxes a cession or lease of lands on the Mississippi River for mining pur- poses, on the site of the present city of Dubuque. Lead had been discovered here eight years before, in 1780, by the wife of Peosta
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
Fox, a warrior, and Dubuque's claim embraced nearly all the lead bearing lands in that vicinity. He immediately took possession of his claim and commenced mining, at the same time making a settlement. The place became known as the "Spanish Miners," or, more commonly, "Dubuque's Lead Mines.".
In 1796, Dubuque filed a petition with Baron de Carondelet, the Spanish Goveruor of Louisiana, asking that the tract ceded to him by the Indians might be granted to him by patent from the Spanish Government. In this petition Dubuque rather indefin- itely set forth the boundaries of his claim as "about seven leagues along the Mississippi River, and three leagues in width from the river," intending to include, as is supposed, the river front between the Little Maquoketa and the Tete des Mertz Rivers, embracing more than twenty thousand acres. Caron- delet granted the prayer of the petition, and the grant was subse- quently confirmed by the Board of Land Commissioners of Louis- iana.
In October, 1804, Dubuque transfered the larger part of his claim to Auguste Choteau, of St. Louis, and on the 17th of May, 1805, he and Choteau jointly filed their claims with the Board of Commissioners. On the 20th of September, 1806, the Board de- cided in their favor, pronouncing the claim to be a regular Span- ish grant, made and compeleted prior to the 1st day of October, 1800, only one member, J. B. C. Lucas, dissenting.
Dubuque died March 24, 1810. The Indians, understanding that the claim of Dubuque under their former act of cession was only a permit to occupy the tract and work the mines during his life, and that at his death they reverted to them took possession and continued mining operations, and were sustained by the military authority of the United States, notwithstanding the decision of the Commissioners. When the Black Hawk purcdase was con- summated, the Dubuque claim thus held by the Indians was ab- sorbed by the United States, as the Sacs and Foxes made no reser- vation of it in the treaty of 1832.
The heirs of Choteau, however, were not disposed to relinquish their claim without a struggle, Late in 1832, they employed an agent to look ofter their interests, and authorized him to lease the right to dig lead on the lands. The miners who commenced work under this agent were compelled by the military to abandon their operations, and one of the claimants, went to Galena to institute legal proceedings, but found no court of competent jurisdiction, although he did bring an action for the recovery of a quantity of lead dug at Dupuque, for the purpose of testing the title. Being unable to identify the lead, however, he was non-suited.
By act of Congress, approved July 2, 1836, the town of Dubuque was surveyed and platted. After lots had been sold and occupied by the purohasers, Henry Choteau brought an action of ejectment
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
against Patrick Malony, who held land in Dubuque under a patent from the United States, for the recovery of seven undivided eighth parts of the Dubuque claim, as purchased by Auguste Choteau in 1804. The case was tried in the District Court of the United States for the District of Iowa, and was decided adversely to the plaintiff. The case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States on a writ of error, when it was heard at the December term, 1853, and the decision of the lower court was affirmed, the court holding that the permit from Carondelet was merely a lease, or permit to work the mines; that Dubuque asked, and the Gover- nor of Louisiana granted, nothing more than the "peaceable pos- session of certain lands obtained from the Indians; that Caron- dolet had no legal authority to make such a grant as claimed, and that, even if he had, this was but an "in choate and imperfected title."
Girard .- In 1795, the Lietenant Governor of Upper Louisiana granted to Basil Giard five thousand eight hundred and sixty acres of land, in what is now Clayton County, known as the "Girard Tract." He occupiad the land during the time that Iowa passed from Spain to France, and from France to the United States, in consideration of which the Federal Government granted a patent of the same to Girrad in his own right. His heirs sold the whole tract to James H. Lockwood and Thomas P. Burnett, of Prairie du Chien, for three hundred dollars.
Honori .- March 30, 1799, Zenon Trudeau, acting Lieutenant Governor of Upper Liousiana, granted to Louis Honori a tract of land on the site of the present town of Montrose, as follows: "It is permitted to Mr. Louis (Fesson) Honori, or Louis Honore Fes- son, to establish himself at the head of the rapids 'of the River Des Moines, and his establishment once formed, notice of it shall be given to the Governor General, in order to obtain for him a commission of a space sufficient to give value to such establishment, and at the same time to render it useful to the commerce of the peltries of this country, to watch the Indians and keep them in the fidelity which they owe to His Majesty."
Honori took immediate possession of his claim, which he re- tained until 1805. While trading with the natives he became in- debted to Joseph Robedoux, who obtained an execution on which the property was sold May 13, 1803, and was purchased by the cred- itor. In these proceedings the property was described as being "about six leaugues above the River Des Moines." Robedoux died soon after he purchased the property. Auguste Choteau, his ex- ecutor, disposed of the Honori Tract to Thomas F. Reddeck, in April, 1805, up to which time Honori contiued to occupy it. The grant, as made by the Spanish Government, was a league square, but only one mile square was confirmed by the United States. After the half-breeds sold their lands in which the Honori grant
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was included, various claimants resorted to litigation in attempts to invalidate the title of the Reddeck heirs, but it was finally con- firmed by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1839, and is the oldest legal title to any land in the State of Iowa.
THALF-RREED TRACR.
Before any permanent settlement had been made in the Terri- tory of Iowa, white adventurers, trappers and traders, many of whom were scattered along the Mississippi and its tributaries, as agents and employes of the American Fur Company, intermarried with the females of Sac and Fox Indians, producing a race of half-breeds, whose number was never definitely ascertained. There were some respectable and excellent people among them, children of men of some refinement and education. For instance: Dr. Muir, a gentleman educated at Edinburg, Scotland, a surgeon in the United States Army, stationed at a military post located on the present site of Warsaw, married an Indian woman and reared his family of three daughters in the city of Keokuk. Other ex- amples might be cited, but they are probably exceptions to the general rule, and the race is now nearly or quite extinct in Iowa.
A treaty was made at Washington, August 4, 1824, between the Sacs and Foxes and the United State. by which that portion of Lee County was reserved to the half-breeds of those trihes, and which was afterwards known as "The Half-Breed Tract." This reservation is the triangular piece of land, containing about 119,- 000 acres, lying between the Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. It is bounded on the north by the prolonggtion of the northern line Missouri. This line was intended to be a straight one, running due east, which would have caused it to strike the Miss- ssippi River at or below Montrose; but the surveyor who ran it took no notice of the change of the variation of the needle as he proceeded eastward, and, in consequence, the linc he run was bent; deviating more and more to the northward of a direct line as he approached the Mississippi, soit struck that river at the lower edge of the town of Fort Madison. "This erroneous line," says Judge Mason, "has been acquiesced in as well in fixing the northern limit of the Half-Breed Tract as in determining the northern boundary line of the State of Missouri." The line thus run in eluded in the reservation a portion of the lower part of the city of Fort Madison, and all of the present townships of Van Buren, Charleston, Jefferson, Des Moines, Montrose and Jackson.
Under the treaty of 1824, the half-breeds had the right to oc- cupy the soil, but could not convey it, the reversion being reserved
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
to the United States. But on the 30th day of January, 1834, by act of Congress, this reversionary right was relinquished, and the half-breeds acquired the lands in fee simple. This was no sooner done than a horde of speculators rushed in to buy land of the half-breed owners, and in many instances, a gun, a blanket, a pony or a few quarts of whisky was sufficient for the purchase of large estates. There was a deal of sharp practice on both sides; Indians would often claim ownship of land by virtue of being half-breeds, and had no difficulty in proving their mixed blood by the Indians, and they would then cheat the speculators by selling land to which they had no rightful title. On the other hand, speculators often claimed land in which they had no ownership. It was diamond cut diamond, until at last things became badly mixed. There was no authorized surveys and no boundary lines to claims, and, as a natural result, numerous conflicts and quarrels ensued.
To settle these difficulties, to decide the validity of claims or sell them for the benefit of the real owners, by act of the Legisla- ture of Wisconsin Territory, approved January 16, 1838, Edward Johnstone, Thomas S. Wilson and David Brigham were appointed Commissioners, and clothed with power to effect these objects. The act provided that these Commissioners should be paid six dol- lars a day each. The commission entered upon its duties and con- tinued until the next session of the Legislature, when the act cre- ating it was repealed, invalidating all that had been done and de- priving the Commissioners of their pay. The repailing act, how- ever, authorized the Commissioners to commence action against the owners of the Half-Breed Tract, to receive pay for their ser- vices in the District Court of Lee County. Two judgments were obtained, and on executian the whole of the tract was sold to Hugh T. Reid, the Sheriff executing the deed. Mr. Reid sold portions of it to various parties, but his own title was questioned, and he became involved in litigation. Decisions in favor of Reid and those holding under him were made by both District and Supreme Court; but in Dember, 1850, these decisions were finally reversed by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Joseph Webster, plaintiff in error, vs. Hugh T. Reid and the judgment titles failed. About nine years before the "judgement titles" were. finally abrogated as above, another class of titles were brought into competition with them, and in the conflict between the two, the final decision was obtained. These were the titles based on the "decree of partion" issued by the United States District
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
Court for the Territory of Iowa, on the 8th of May, 1841, and certified to by the Clerk on the 2d day of June of that year. Ed- ward Johnstone and Hugh T. Reid, then law partners at Fort Madison, filed the petition for the decree in behalf of the St. Louis claimants of half-breed lands. Francis S. Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, who was then attorney for the New York Land Company, which held heavy interest in these lands, took a leading part in the measure, and drew up the document in which it was presented to the court. Judge Charles Mason, of Burlington, pre- sided. The plan of partition divided the tract into one hundred and one shares, and arranged that each claimant should draw his proportion by lot, and should abide the result, whatever it might be. The arrangement was entered into, the lots drawn, and the plat of the same filed in the Recorder's office, October 6, 1841. Upon this basis the titles to land in the Half-Breed Tract are now held.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
The first permament settlement by the whites within the limits of Iowa was made by Julien Dubuque, in 1788, when, with a small party of miners, he settled on the site of the city that now bears his name, where he lived until his death, in 1810. Louis Honori settled on the site of the present town of Montrose, probably in 1799, and resided there until 1805, when his property passed into other hands. Of the Girard settlement, opposite Prairie du Chien, little is known, except that it was occupied by some parties prior to the commencement of the present century, and contained three cabins in 1805. Indian traders, although not strictly to be con- sidered settlers, had established themselves at various points at an an early date. A Mr. Johnson, Agent of the American Fur Com- pany, had a trading post below Burlington, where he carried on traffic with the Indians some time before the United States pos- sessed the country. In 1820, Le Moliese, a French trader, had a station at what is now Sandusky six miles above Keokuk, in Lee County. In 1829. Dr. Isaac Gallaud made a settlement on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville.
The first settlement in Lee county was made in 1820, by Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon in the United States army, who had been stationed at Fort Edwards, now Warsaw, Ill., and who built a cabin where the city of Keokuk now stands.
Messrs. Reynolds & Culver, who had leased Dr. Muir's claim at Keokuk, subsequently employed as their agent Mr. Moses Still- well, who arrived with his family in 1828, and took possession of Muir's cabin. His brothers-in-law, Amos and Valencourt Van Ansdal came with him and settled near.
His daughter, Margaret Stillwell (afterward Mrs. Ford), was born in 1831, at the foot of the rapids, called by the Indians Puch- a-she-tuck, where Keokuk now stands. She was probably the first white American child born in Iowa.
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
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In 1831, Mr. Johnson, agent of the American Fur Company, who had a station at the foot of the rapids, removed to another lo- cation, and Dr. Muir having returned from Galena, he and Isaac R. Campbell took the place and buildings vacated by the Company, and carried on trade with the Indians and half-breeds. Campbell, who had first visited and traveled through the southern part of Iowa, in 1821, was an enterprising settler, and besides trading with the natives, carried on a farm and kept a tavern.
Dr. Muir died of cholera in 1832.
In 1830, James L. and Lucius H. Langworthy, brothers and na- tives of Vermont, visited the Territory for the purpose of working the lead mines at Dubuque. They had been engaged in lead min- ing at Galena, Illinois, the former as early as 1824. The lead mines in the Dubuque region were an object of great interest to the miners about Galena, for they were known to be rich in lead ore. To explore these mines and to obtain permission to work them was therefore eminently desirable.
In 1829, James L. Langworthy resolved to visit the Dubuque mines. Crossing the Mississippi at a point now known as Dun- leith in a canoe, and swimming his horse by his side, he landed on the spot now known as Jones Street Levee. Before him spread out a beautiful prairie, on which the city of Dubuque now stands. Two miles south, at the mouth of Catfish Creek, was a village of Sacs and Foxes. Thither Mr. Langworthy proceeded, and was well received by the natives. He endeavored to obtain permission from them to mine in their hills, but this they refused. He, how- ever, succeeded in gaining the confidence of the chief to such an extent as to be allowed to travel in the interior for three weeks and explore the country. He employed two young Indians as guides, and traversed in different directions the whole region lying between the Maquoketa and Turkey Rivers. He returned to the village, secured the good will of the Indians, and returning to Galena, formed plans for future operations, to be executed as soon as cir- cumstances would permit.
In 1830, with his brother, Lucius H., and others, having ob- tained the consent of the Indians, Mr. Langworthy crossed the Mississippi and commenced mining in the vicinity around Du- buque.
At this time, the lands were not in the actual possession of the United States. Although they had been purchased from France, the Indian title had not been extinguished, and these adventurous persons were beyond the limits of any State or Territorial govern- ment. The first settlers were therefore obliged to be their own law-makers, and to agree to such regulations as the exigencies of the case demanded. The first act resembling civil legislation within the limits of the present State of Iowa was done by the miners at this point, in June, 1830. They met on the bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at what is now
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HISTORY OF IOWA.
the Jones Street Levee, Dubuque, and elected a committee, con- sisting of J. L. Langworthy, H. F. Lander, James McPhetres, Samuel Scales, and E. M. Wren. This may be called the first Legislature in Iowa, the members of which gathered around that old cottonwood log, and agreed to and reported the following, written by Mr. Langworthy, on a half-sheet of coarse, unruled paper, the old log being the writing desk:
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