USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 13
USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume I > Part 13
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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
TREATY OF 1830
At the Council of July 15. 1830, which established the Neutral Ground, the chiefs and head men of the Sac and Fox Confederacy entered into a treaty with the representatives of the United States, in which the allied tribes ceded to the United States a tract of land described as follows :
"Beginning at the upper fork of the Demoine River and passing the sources
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of the Little Sioux and Floyd rivers to the fork of the first creek which falls into the Big Sioux or Calumet River 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 River ; thence along said line from the north- west corner of the state to the highlands between the waters falling into the Missouri and Demoine rivers, passing to said highlands along the dividing ridge between the forks of the Grand River ; thence along said highlands or ridge divid- ing the waters of the Missouri from those of the Demoine to a point opposite the source of the Boyer River, and thence in a direct line to the upper fork of the Demoine, the place of beginning."
Part of the land thus ceded is in Minnesota. That portion in Iowa is bounded on the west by the Missouri River ; on the south by the line separating Iowa and Missouri ; on the east by the line passing through or near the towns of Estherville and Emmetsburg until it struck the west fork of the Des Moines River about ten miles above Fort Dodge. The line along the highlands or watershed between the Des Moines and the Missouri passed about ten miles west of Carroll, about half- way between Audubon and Guthrie Center, just east of Greenfield, west of Afton and through the Town of Mount Ayr.
The lands so ceded were not opened to white settlement, the treaty expressly stipulating that "The lands ceded and relinquished by this treaty are to be assigned and allotted under the direction of the President of the United States to the tribes now living thereon, or to such other tribes as the President may locate thereon for hunting and other purposes."
TREATY OF 1832
While Black Hawk and his two sons were held as prisoners of war, the United States negotiated the Treaty of September 21, 1832, with the Sac and Fox chiefs under the leadership of Keokuk, in which these tribes ceded to the United States "all lands to which said tribes have any title or claim included within the following boundaries, to wit :
"Beginning on the Mississippi River at the point where the Sac and Fox north- ern boundary line, as established by Article 2 of the Treaty of July 15, 1830, strikes said river ; thence up said boundary line to a point fifty miles from the Mississippi, measured on said line ; thence in a right line to the nearest point on the Red Cedar of Ioway, forty miles from the Mississippi ; thence in a right line to a point in the northern boundary of the State of Missouri, fifty miles, measured on said line, from the Mississippi River ; thence by the last mentioned boundary to the Mississippi River, and by the western shore of said river to the place of begin- ning."
The ceded territory obtained by this treaty embraces about six million acres. It was taken by the United States as an indemnity for the expenses of the Black Hawk war, and for that reason it has been called the "Black Hawk Purchase." It included the present counties of Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry, Jackson, Jones, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott, and portions of Buchan- an, Clayton, Fayette, Jefferson, Johnson, Linn, Van Buren and Washington. The Black Hawk Purchase was the first Iowa land obtained from the Indians for white settlement.
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TREATY OF 1842
The irregular western boundary of the Black Hawk Purchase soon led to dis- putes between the Indians and the settlers. To adjust these differences of opinion some of the Sac and Fox chiefs were persuaded to visit Washington, where on October 21, 1837, they ceded to the United States an additional tract of 1,250,000 acres for the purpose of straightening the western boundary. Upon making the survey it was discovered that the ceded territory was not enough to make a straight line, and again the Indians accused the white settlers of encroaching upon their lines. Negotiations were therefore commenced for additional land to straighten the boundary, and some of the wiser chiefs saw that it was only a matter of time until the Indians would have to relinquish all their Iowa lands to the white men. Keokuk, Wapello and Poweshiek especially advised a treaty peaceably ceding their lands to the United States, rather than to wait until they should be taken by force. Through their influence a council was called to meet at the Sac and Fox agency (now Agency City) in what is now Wapello County. John Chambers, then governor of Iowa Territory, was appointed commissioner on behalf of the United States to negotiate the treaty.
The council was held in a large tent set up for the purpose near the agency. Governor Chambers, dressed in the uniform of an army officer, made a short speech stating the object for which the council had been called. Keokuk, clad in all his native finery and bedecked with ornaments, responded. After that there was "much talk," as almost every chief present had something to say. On October II, 1842. a treaty was concluded by which the allied tribes agreed to cede all their remaining lands in Iowa, but reserved right to occupy for three years from the date of signing the treaty "all that part of the land above ceded which lies west of a line running due north and south from the Painted or Red Rocks on the White Breast fork of the Des Moines River, which rocks will be found about eight miles in a straight line from the junction of the White Breast and Des Moines."
The red sandstone cliffs, called by the Indians the Painted Rocks, are situated on the Des Moines River in the northwestern part of Marion County, near the town called Red Rock. The line described in the treaty forms the boundary between Appanoose and Wayne counties, on the southern border of the state, and passes thence northward between Lucas and Monroe, through Marion, Jasper, Marshall and Hardin counties to the northern limit of the cession. East of this line the land was opened to settlement on May 1, 1843, and west of it on October II, 1845.
TREATY OF TRAVERSE DES SIOUX
By the treaties concluded at the Indian agency on the Missouri River on June 5 and 17, 1846, the Potawatomi, Ottawa and Chippewa tribes relinquished their claims to "all lands to which they have claim of any kind whatsoever, and especially the tracts or parcels of land ceded to them by the Treaty of Chicago, and subse- quent thereto, and now in whole or in part possessed by their people. lying and being north and east of. the Missouri River and embraced in the limits of the Territory of Iowa."
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With the conclusion of those two treaties all that portion of the State of Iowa south of the country claimed by the Sioux became the property of the white men. It remained, however, for the Government to extinguish the Sioux title to North- western Iowa before taking full possession. This was done by the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux on July 23, 1851, when the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands ceded to the United States "All their lands in the State of Iowa, and also all their lands in the Territory of Minnesota lying east of the following line, to wit: Beginning at the junction of the Buffalo River with the Red River of the North; thence along the western bank of the said Red River of the North to the mouth of the Sioux Wood River ; thence along the western bank of the said Sioux Wood River to Lake Traverse ; thence along the western shore of said lake to the south- ern extremity thereof ; thence in a direct line to the junction of Kampesa Lake with the Tchan-kas-ka-da-ta or Sioux River; thence along the western bank of said river to its point of intersection with the northern line of the State of Iowa, including all the islands and said rivers and lake."
The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was agreed to by the Mdewakanton band in a treaty concluded at Mendota, Minn., on August 5, 1851, and by the Wahpe- kute band a little later. Thus the great State of Iowa became the complete and undisputed domain of the white man.
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CHAPTER V
PROGRESSIVE STEPS IN ORGANIZATION OF IOWA AS A STATE
FIRST UNDER JURISDICTION OF UNITED STATES IN 1804-INCLUDED IN TERRITORY OF ILLINOIS IN 1807-IN TERRITORY OF MISSOURI, IN 1812-LEFT A "POLITICAL ORPHAN," IN 1821-IN THE TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN, IN 1834-IN THE TERRI- TORY OF WISCONSIN, IN 1836-ORGANIZED AS IOWA TERRITORY, IN 1838-FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE-FIRST SEAT OF GOVERNMENT-BOUNDARY TROUBLES- ORGANIZED AS A STATE IN 1846.
On March 1, 1804, President Jefferson approved an act of Congress providing for the exercise of sovereignty over Louisiana, comprising the extensive Northwest Territory that had come into the possession of the United States by virtue of the treaty made with France, as described in detail in another chapter of this work. By this act of Congress, and formal declaration of the President, the territory now comprising Chickasaw and Howard counties, in the present state of Iowa, came for the first time under the control and jurisdiction of the United States.
That act provided that from and after October 1, 1804, all that part of the province lying south of the thirty-third parallel of north latitude should be known as the Territory of Orleans, and the country north of that parallel as the District of Louisiana. In the latter was included the present State of Iowa. The Louisiana District was placed under the jurisdiction of General William H. Harrison, who was then governor of Indiana, which was also a territory at that time.
OTIIER CHANGES AFFECTING IOWA
The District of Louisiana was, on July 4, 1805, organized as a separate terri- tory with a government of its own, and, in 1807, Iowa was included in the Territory of Illinois. In 1812 the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as the State of Louisiana, and the name of the upper district, in which Iowa was included, was changed to the Territory of Missouri. When Missouri was admitted into the Union as a state, March 2, 1821, with its present boundaries, the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase was left without any form of government whatever.
Thus, at this time and by this act, the Territory of Iowa was left a "political orphan," as Hon. C. C. Nourse expressed it. No one seems to have given the matter any serious thought at the time, as the only white people in the territory
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were a few wandering hunters, trappers and the agents of the different fur companies, all of whom were more interested in the profits of their occupations than they were in establishing permanent settlements and assuming any obliga- tions as citizens of the newly acquired territory. The first white settlement within the border of the present State of Iowa was founded in 1788, by Julien Dubuque. where the city bearing his name now stands. Eight years later Louis Honore Tesson received from the Spanish governor of Louisiana a grant of land "at the head of the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi," in what is now Lee County. About the close of the eighteenth century French traders established posts along the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers. In the fall of 1808 Fort Madison was built by order of the war department. where the city of that name is now located ; and in the early twenties a trading house and small settlement was established upon the site of the present City of Keokuk.
The titles of Dubuque and Tesson were afterwards confirmed by the United States Government, but with these exceptions no settlement was legally made in the present State of Iowa prior to June 1. 1833. when the title to the Black Hawk Purchase became fully vested in the United States. A few settlers had ventured into the new purchase before that date, and Burlington was founded in the fall of 1832. soon after the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, by which the Black Hawk Purchase was ceded to the United States. On June 1. 1833. a large number of immigrants crossed the Mississippi to establish claims. It therefore became neces- sary for the administration to establish some form of government over a region that had lain beyond the pale of civil authority for about twelve years.
On June 28. 1834. President Jackson approved an act of Congress attaching the present State of Iowa to the Territory of Michigan, which then included all the country from Lake Huron westward to the Missouri River. By this act Iowa came under the jurisdiction of Michigan. Up to this time there had been no county or other organizations within the borders of the present state. although one or two justices of the peace had been appointed : and a postoffice had been established in Dubuque, in 1833. By an act of the Michigan Legislature. Septem- ber. 1834. the first two counties-Dubuque and Des Moines-were created. The former included all that portion of the state lying north of a line drawn due west from the foot of Rock Island, and the latter embraced all south of that line. Chickasaw and Howard counties. therefore, were once a part of the territory included in Dubuque County.
Dubuque and Des Moines counties were partially organized and given some form of government in 1834. John King was appointed chief justice of Dubuque County, and Isaac Leffler, of Burlington, was appointed to a like position for Des Moines County. Two associate justices in each county were appointed by the governor of Michigan Territory.
On the first Monday in October, 1835. the first election for a representative in Congress, from this part of Michigan Territory, was held, and General George W. Jones. a citizen of Dubuque was elected as delegate. Through the efforts of General Jones, Congress enacted a bill. April 20. 1836, creating the Territory of Wisconsin. which was to include all the country west of the Mississippi River. formerly included in Michigan. By the approval of President Jackson, this bill went into effect July 4. 1836, and Iowa passed from the jurisdiction of Michigan to that of Wisconsin. Gen. Henry Dodge was appointed governor of the new terri-
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tory. Pursuant to the proclamation of Governor Dodge. the first election ever held within the borders of the present State of Iowa was held on October 3. 1836. for members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature. Prior to this election. Governor Dodge ordered a census of the new territory to be taken. 'This census showed a population of 10.531 in the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines, and under the apportionment provided. these two counties were entitled to six meni- bers of the Council and thirteen of the House of Representatives. At the election the following were chosen :
Dubuque County-Council: John Fally, Thomas McKnight. Thomas Mc- Carney. House of Representatives: Loring Wheeler, Hardin Nowlan. Peter Hill Engle, Patrick Quigley and Hosea T. Camp.
Des Moines County-Council : Jeremiah Smith, Jr .. Joseph R. Teas and Arthur B. Ingram. House of Representatives: Isaac Leffler, Thomas Blair. Warren L. Jenkins. John Box. George W. Teas, Eli Reynolds and David R. Chance.
ORGANIZATION OF IOWA TERRITORY
The first Legislature in which Iowa had a representation assembled at Bel- mont. in the present State of Wisconsin. October 25, 1836. and continued in session until December 9. 1836. The second Legislature assembled in Burlington. November 10, 1837, and adjourned January 20, 1838. The third session. and the last in which Iowa participated as a part of the Territory of Wisconsin, was held at Burlington, June 1 to 12, 1838.
The question of separate territorial organization for Iowa began to be agitated early in the autumn of 1837. The sentiment of the people living west of the Mississippi found expression in a convention held at Burlington, in November, of that year, when a memorial to Congress was adopted, petitioning that body to organize a territory west of the Mississippi, and to settle the boundary line between Wisconsin Territory and Missouri. The Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, then in session at Burlington, joined in this petition. General George W. Jones, then a delegate representing the Wisconsin Territory in Congress, presented this petition to Congress and successfully advocated its approval. "An act to divide the Terri- tory of Wisconsin, and to establish the territorial government of Iowa." was ap- proved June 12. 1838, to take effect and be in force on and after July 3. 1838. The new territory embraced "all that part of the present Territory of Wisconsin which lies west of the Mississippi River. and west of a line drawn due north from the headwaters or sources of the Mississippi to the territorial line." The organic act provided for a governor whose term of office should be three years: and for a secretary, chief justice, two associate justices, an attorney and marshal. who should serve for four years. to be appointed by the president. by and with the consent of the Senate. The act also provided for the election, by the white male inhabitants, citizens of the United States over twenty-one years of age. of a House of Representatives, consisting of twenty-six members, and Council to consist of thirteen members. The act also appropriated $5.000 for a public library. and $20.000 for the erection of public buildings.
President Van Buren appointed Robert Lucas, former governor of Ohio, as the first territorial governor of Iowa. William B. Conway. of Pennsylvania, was
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appointed secretary; Charles Mason, of Burlington, chief justice; Thomas S. Wilson, of Dubuque, and Joseph Williams, of Pennsylvania, associate justices ; Isaac Van Allen, district attorney. Thus, the Territory of Iowa was officially established, and officially equipped, and the white people living west of the Missis- sippi River now had a government of their own, though by far the greater part of the new territory was still in the hands of the Indians.
FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE
Immediately after his arrival Governor Lucas issued a proclamation for the election of members of the first Territorial Legislature, to be held on the 10th of September, dividing the territory into election districts for that purpose, and appointing the 12th day of November for the meeting of the Legislature to be elected, the Legislature to hold its session at Burlington.
The first Territorial Legislature met at Burlington, November 12, 1838, and consisted of the following members :
Council-Jesse B. Brown, J. Keith, E. A. M. Swazy, Arthur Ingram, Robert Ralston, George Hepner, Jesse J. Payne, D. B. Hughes, James M. Clark, Charles Whittelsey. Jonathan W. Parker, Warner Lewis and Stephen Hempstead.
House-William Patterson, Hawkins Taylor, Calvin J. Price, James Brierly, James Hall, Gideon S. Bailey, Samuel Parker, James W. Grimes, George Temple, Van B. Delahmutt, Thomas Blair, George H. Beeler,1 William G. Coop. William H. Wallace, Ashbury H. Porter, John Frierson, William L. Toole, Levi Thornton, S. C. Hastings, Robert G. Roberts, Lemuel Summers, Jabez A. Burchard, Jr., Chauncey Swan, Andrew Bankson, Thomas Cox and Hardin Nowlan.
Notwithstanding a large majority of the members of both branches of the Legislature were democrats, yet Gen. Jesse B. Brown (whig), of Lee County, was elected president of the Council, by unanimous vote ; and William H. Wallace (whig), of Henry County, speaker of the House of Representatives, with little opposition. National politics were little heeded by the people of the new territory at that time. In the presidential campaign of 1840 the party lines were strongly drawn between the whigs and democrats, though Iowa as a territory did not contribute anything one way or the other to the result of that election. Iowa's first electoral vote was in the presidential election of 1848.
The first session of the Iowa Territorial Legislature was a stormy and exciting one. By the organic law the governor was clothed with almost unlimited veto power, and Governor Lucas showed a disposition to make free use of it. The independent Hawkeyes were not disposed to quietly submit to arbitrary and absolute rule, and the result was an unpleasant controversy between the executive and legislative departments. This condition was remedied by Congress, however, by an act approved March 3. 1839, which amended the organic law, restricting the veto power of the governor to the two-thirds rule, and took from him the power to appoint sheriffs and magistrates.
Among the first important matters demanding attention was the location of the seat of government, and provision for the erection of public buildings, for which
1 Cyrus S. Jacobs, who was elected for Des Moines County was killed in an unfortunate encounter at Burlington before the meeting of the Legislature, and Mr. Beeler was elected to fill the vacancy.
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Congress had made an appropriation of $20,000. Governor Lucas, in his message, had recommended the appointment of a commission, with a view to making a central location. At that time the extent of the future State of Iowa was not known, or thought of. Only on a strip of land fifty miles wide, bordering on the Mississippi River, was the Indian title extinguished, and a central location meant some central point within the Black Hawk Purchase. The friends of the central location supported the governor's suggestion ; the southern members were divided between Burlington and Mount Pleasant, but finally united on the latter for the seat of government. The central and southern parties were very nearly equal. and, in consequence, much excitement prevailed. The central party at last triumphed, and on the 21st day of January, 1839, an act was passed appointing Chauncey Swan, of Dubuque County ; John Ronalds, of Louisa County, and Robert Ralston, of Des Moines County, as commissioners to select a site for a permanent seat of government within the limits of Johnson County.
IOWA'S FIRST SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
Johnson County had been created by act of the Territorial Legislature of Wisconsin, approved December 21, 1837, and the county was organized by an act passed at the special session at Burlington, in June, 1838, the organization to date from July 4th, following. Napoleon, on the Iowa River, a few miles below the future Iowa City, was designated as the temporary county seat. Then there existed good reason for locating the Iowa capital in this county. The Territory of Iowa was bounded on the north by the British possessions ; east by the Missis- sippi River to its source ; thence by a line drawn due north to the northern boundary of the United States ; south by the State of Missouri, and west by the Missouri and White rivers. But this immense territory was in undisputed possession of the Indians, except a strip on the Mississippi known as the Black Hawk Purchase. Johnson County was, from north to south, in the geographical center of this pur- chase, and as near the east and west geographical center of the future State of Iowa as could then be made, as the boundary line between the United States and the Indians, established by the Treaty of October 21, 1837, was immediately west of the county limits.
The commissioners, after selecting the site, were directed to lay out 640 acres in town lots, to be called Iowa City, and to proceed to sell lots and erect public buildings on a section of the land selected for that purpose. The first sale of lots took place August 16, 1839. The site selected for public buildings was a little west of the geographical center of the section, on a square of ten acres, on elevated grounds overlooking the river. The capitol building was located in the center of this square.
Plans for the capitol building were drawn by John F. Rague, of Springfield, Ill., and, on the 4th day of July, 1840, the corner stone of the edifice was laid with appropriate ceremonies, Governor Lucas delivering the address on that occasion.
THE BOUNDARY TROUBLES
The boundary line between the Territory of Iowa and the State of Missouri was a difficult question to settle in 1838, in consequence of claims arising from
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taxes and titles, and at one time civil war was imminent between the two govern- ments. In defining the boundaries of the counties bordering on Missouri, the Iowa authorities had fixed a line that has since been established as the boundary between Iowa and Missouri. The constitution of Missouri defines her northern boundary to be the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of Des Moines River. The lower rapids of the Mississippi, immediately above the mouth of Des Moines River, had always been known as the Des Moines Rapids, or "the rapids of the Des Moines River." A writer says: "The Missourians, evidently not well versed in history or geography, insisted on running the northern boundary line from the rapids to the Des Moines River, just below Keosaqua, thus taking from Iowa a strip of territory eight or ten miles wide."
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