USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 > Part 4
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The whites of the east and of the south had their longing eyes fastened on the prospective prairie states. In 1820 there were 55,000 of them in Illinois, ten years later 157,000, and in 1840, 476,000. We have seen them giving oc- casion for the Black Hawk war by crowding upon Indian lands in 1830, and in 1833 they poured over the Mississippi into Iowa (the reader will remember that we use geographical names prematurely often) before the law allowed it.
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They came in such numbers that they obtained a grant of Keokuk's reservation in 1836 of 400 square miles, and another concession in 1837 of a double tri- angle containing 1,250,000 acres west of the Black Hawk Purchase which per- mitted the whites to occupy eastern Iowa to about the longitude of Homestead on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroad.
The tide of immigration rose still more rapidly from 1840 to 1850, when Illinois received an increase of nearly 400,000, and Iowa's gain was from about 43,000 to nearly 192,000.
Many of those who came to Iowa had borne the blood of frontiersmen of several generations in their veins, and when neighbors began to crowd in within three miles they seemed uncomfortably near. In 1840 they called for more land, "more land from the Sacs and Foxes!" They had already given up 6,000,000 acres in the Black Hawk Purchase in 1832, 400 square miles in Keokuk's Re- serve in 1836, and 1,250,000 acres in 1837. This latter included Iowa City of today and land about as far west as Homestead in Iowa county. (See chart of Accession of Territory from the Indians.)
And still the swarms of the landless men east of the Mississippi were ciam- orous for the lands of Iowa. Central Iowa looked good to them. The Sacs and Foxes had 11,000,000 acres there lying all around our Poweshiek county of to- day. (See chart of Accession, etc.) They wanted homesteads there.
THE SACS AND FOXES SURRENDER ALL THEIR IOWA LAND, OCTOBER II, 1842.
The Indians were running heavily in debt to the traders; their creditors wanted their money. The government was willing to accommodate those fron- tiersmen who were calling for Iowa land. The Sacs and Foxes were invited to meet Governor John Chambers at Agency City to enter into negotiations for the sale. They were not eager but willing to accept the invitation.
The hour for the meeting arrived. Their place of meeting was ready. The whites were waiting. The Indians were approaching. Keokuk and Poweshiek were leading twenty-one each of their chief men. But, hark! "Ting a ling, ting a ling," is heard. They pause. They engage in a mystic service for the dead. They have just heard that President Harrison is dead. They must perform their religious ceremonies for the Great Father before they proceed.
Governor Chambers in the brilliant uniform of a brigadier general, receives them, clad in their brightest blankets and with spangles in their ears. They take their places opposite with all the gravity of Roman senators. The Gov- ernor breaks the silence. In brief, the conversation is as follows:
Governor: "We want to buy your lands."
Keokuk: "We will sell all except a mile square which we have promised Mrs. Street, and half as much to each of her children."
Governor: "No, we must have all."
The children of Street withdrew their claim. Keokuk is said to have been in- clined to yield, but then insisted through the influence of Poweshiek. Keokuk, pointing to the grave (the Indian's noble agent from Kentucky was buried at Agency City, at his death in 1840, on the Indian promise to give to Mrs. Street and her children the amount of land named if she would permit the burial to be
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
made at that place) of Street, then said: "No, there lies the best friend the Indian ever had, and while one of us lives we will keep our promise to Mrs. Street."
Governor: "But where do you want the mile square?"
Keokuk: "Right here, around this grave."
Governor: "But we have spent $1,000 on this square mile on buildings."
Keokuk: "Take $1,000 out of our first payment."
Governor: "All right."
Thus were they ready to sign the treaty which opened central Iowa to the whites and gave us our Poweshiek county, and especially attested the profound gratitude which they cherished for the Indian agent who had so nobly given them the best years of his life in securing their highest good. This treaty made at Agency City deserves a place of honor for the Indians, as the treaty at Shac- kamaxon has won an honored immortality for William Penn and the Pennsyl- vania Indians.
THE WARRANTY DEED TO OUR LAND.
The warranty deed to our farms was given by the Indians when that treaty at Agency City, from which the following extracts are made, was signed :
"Whereas, a treaty was made and concluded at the Agency of the Sac and Fox Indians, in the Territory of Iowa, between the United States of America, by John Chambers, their commissioner thereto specially authorized by the presi- dent and the confederated tribes of Sac and Fox Indians, represented by their chiefs, head men and braves, on the eleventh day of October, Anno Domini, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two; which treaty is word for word, as fol- lows, to wit:
"'Articles of a treaty, made and concluded at the Agency of the Sac and Fox Indians in the Territory of Iowa, between the United States of America, by John Chambers, then commissioner, thereto specially authorized by the President and the confederated tribes of Sac and Fox Indians, represented by their chiefs, headmen and braves.
"'Article I. The confederated tribes of Sacs and Foxes cede to the United States forever, all the lands west of the Mississippi River, to which they have any claim or title, or in which they have any interest whatever; reserving a right to occupy for the term of three years from the time of signing this treaty, all that part of the land hereby ceded, which lies west of a line running due north and south from the pointed or red rocks on the White Breast Fork of the Des Moines River, which rocks will be found about eight miles, when re- duced to a straight line, from the junction of the White Breast with the Des Moines.
"'Article II. In consideration of the cession contained in the preceding article, the United States agree to pay annually to the Sacs and Foxes, an in- terest of five per centum, upon the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars, and to pay their debts mentioned in the schedule annexed to and made part of this treaty, amounting to the sum of two hundred and fifty-eight thousand, five hundred and sixty-six dollars and thirty-four cents, and the United States also agrees : First, That the President as soon after this treaty is ratified on their part as
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
may be convenient, assign a tract of land suitable and convenient for Indian purposes, to the Sacs and Foxes for a permanent and perpetual residence for them and their descendants, which tract of land shall be upon the Missouri River, or some of its waters. Third. That the President of the United States will as soon as convenient after the ratification of this treaty, appoint a com- missioner for the purpose, and cause a line to be run north from the pointed or red rocks on the White Breast, to the southern boundary of the Neutral Ground, and south from the said rocks to the northern boundary of Missouri; and will have the said lines so marked and designated, that the Indians and white people may know the boundary which is to separate their possessions.
"'Article III. The Sacs and Foxes agree that they will remove to the west side of the line running north and south from the pointed or red rocks on the White Breast, on or before the first of May next, and that so soon as the Presi- dent shall have assigned them a residence upon the waters of the Missouri, as their chiefs shall consent to do so, the tribe will remove to the land so assigned them ; and that if they do not remove before the expiration of the term of three years, they will then remove them at their own expense; and the United States agree, that whenever the chiefs shall give notice to the commissioner of Indian affairs of the time at which they will commence their removal to the land to be assigned them by the President, a quantity of provisions sufficient for their sub- sistence while removing, shall be furnished them at their Agency, and an addi- tional quantity not exceeding one year's supply shall be delivered to them upon their arrival upon the lands assigned them; the cost and expense of which sup- plies shall be retained out of any money payable to them by the United States.
"'Article IV. It is agreed that each of the. principal chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, shall hereafter receive the sum of five hundred dollars annually, out of the annuities payable to the tribe, to be used and expended by them for such purposes as they may think proper, with no approbation of their Agent.
"'Article V. It is further agreed that there shall be a fund amounting to thirty thousand dollars retained at each annual payment to the Sacs and Foxes, in the hands of the Agent appointed by the President for their tribe, to be ex- pended by the chiefs, with the approbation of the Agents, for national and char- itable purposes among their people; such as the support of their poor, burying their dead, employing physicians for the sick, procuring provisions for their people in cases of necessity, and such other purposes of general utility as the chiefs may think proper, and the Agent approve. And, if at any payment of the annuities of the tribe, a balance of the fund so retained from the preceding year shall remain unexpended only so much shall be retained in addition as will make up the sum of thirty thousand dollars.
" 'Article VIII. The Sacs and Foxes have caused the remains of their late distinguished chief Wa-pel-lo, to be buried at their Agency, near the grave of their late friend and agent, General Joseph M. Street, and have put into the hands of their Agent, the sum of one hundred dollars to procure a tombstone to be erected over the grave of General Street; and because they wish the graves of their friend and their chief to remain in the possession of the family of General Street, to whom they were indebted in his life time for many acts of kindness, they wish to give to his widow, Mrs. Eliza M. Street one section Vol. 1-3
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
of land to include the said graves, and the agency house and enclosures around and near it; and as the Agency house was built at the expense of the United States, the Sacs and Foxes agree to pay them the sum of one thousand dollars, the value of said building, assessed by gentlemen appointed by them, and Gov- ernor Chambers' commissioner on the part of the United States, to be deducted from the first annuity payable to them under the provisions of this treaty. And the United States agree to grant to the said Eliza M. Street by one or more pat- ents, six hundred and forty acres of land in such legal subdivisions, as will in- clude the said burial grounds, the Agency house and improvements around and near it, in good and convenient form, to be selected by the said E. M. Street, or her duly authorized agent.'"
Signed by Governor John Chambers, by Ke-o-kuk and twenty-one Sac lead- ers, and by Pow-a-shiek and twenty-one headmen of the Foxes.
The debts paid for the Indians amounted to over $258,000, although some claims were scaled down one-third. On some of the goods the traders had charged a profit of nine hundred per cent! The sum of $112,109.47 was allowed Pierre Choteau, Jr., & Company, of St. Louis, $66,371.83 to G. W. and W. G. Ewing, of Indiana, $52.332.78 to J. P. Eddy of Iowa, and $10,411.80 to Edward Kilbourne of Lee county, Iowa.
THE SACS AND FOXES LEAVE IOWA.
The treaty at Agency City contained the promise of the Indians to vacate the eastern portion of their Iowa lands as early as May 1, 1843. They loved their homes, their rivers and their groves. They gave the promise reluctantly. They came near not giving it at all. They would have refused to do so if the United States had insisted permanently on their violating their agreement with Mrs. Street.
But the time from October 11th, 1842, to winter was short. The winter following was unusually severe, and they suffered greatly. Surely the Great Spirit must be offended or he would not destroy their food in air and in the groves, and leave them to perish with hunger. But why was he angry ?
It must be because they had promised to leave the homes he had given them and were accounting his best gifts of little value. They repented and lamented. They offered sacrifices and sought the return of his favor. The "medicine man" instructed them that the most acceptable offering would be the sacrifice of a living dog. He was lashed with his back to a tree. A thong was passed about his neck and other parts of his body, leaving his legs free, and from each toe a medicine bag was hung, and thus he died, and his body wasted away. The greater the suffering, the more efficacious the sacrifice.
When spring came they withdrew from the land we occupy. Poweshiek lingered in Jasper county as near his old home as possible. The township in that county where he remained longest bears his name. There is an apparent myth from Jasper county that, on one occasion he was asked if he was dis- posed to be peaceable. He replied: "Heap braves can whip Captain Allen. (Captain Allen in command of fort at Des Moines.) Can drive away all set- tlers. But Great Father at Washington come and drive Poweshiek away." He
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
tarried also along the banks of the Des Moines and of Grand river in southern Iowa. He was slow to say farewell to Iowa. His band were preparing for war to resist compulsion to go, when his friends from the north called his at- tention to the utter impossibility of accomplishing anything by refusal to leave. He concluded that the "Great Father" at Washington would have the last word in such a contest, and the victorious one.
Keokuk and his band withdrew quietly to the land assigned them in north- eastern Kansas before October II, 1845. Little of his old spirit was manifest. after the surrender of his Iowa lands. It is said that he became a confirmed inebriate and died of delirium tremens.
MUSQUAKIES ( FOXES ) RETURN TO 10WA.
Poweshiek left lowa in 1847 and was said to have been conducted to Kan- sas by United States troops, and to have been burried there in an unknown grave. Poweshiek's band were discontented in Kansas, sick, and many died. They longed for Jowa and began to return two or three at a time, or more, as early as 1850. There was a general exodus of them in 1853.
So many were returning, seeking a new location here, that the whites ad- vised them to go back. Their reply was: "Heap sick in Kansas; Indian no live there; Indian all die; Indian live long time on Iowa river; Indian live heap good in Iowa."
The early settlers in this county often speak of the Indians, some of the women were terrified by a single glimpse of them. They could imagine that they could feel their deadly hands feeling for their scalp locks, and their scalp- ing knives quickly running around a circle on their heads, and their scalps quickly dripping from the Indian's bloody belt.
But the scalping never got beyond the imagination of the timid, unless the white man was the aggressor, and there was no case of that sort in this county. True, the Sioux came down from the north about this time looking for Mus- quakies to kill, and early settlers thought they were after white scalps and took refuge in the strongest house in the settlement until the invaders gave up the hunt for Musquakies and were quietly moving north of the Iowa river.
Nevertheless, there was a real ground for a scare, for one Sam Davidson in Marshall county, then a graceless scamp, (whatever he might have been where no Indian was concerned), visited a camp of Musquakies when they were absent and destroyed corn and camp belongings. When the Indians returned the whites were held responsible for the outrage and innocent parties suffered for the crime. There was real danger there and in adjoining counties although the trouble was adjusted before much loss was suffered by the whites.
And that Indian rule of holding every white man responsible for a crime committed by a white man against an Indian is not very different from the law among white men when England held a locality responsible for a crime by one of their citizens, or when the United States held all Spain responsible for blow- ing up the Maine, when possibly one Spaniard was guilty, or possibly no Span- iard to all.
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The first who crossed the Missouri into Iowa were possibly sent back, but, in 1853, a general movement was resolved upon. Their diplomacy was artful. They visited the Iowa river, lingered near it, made friends of the leading men near there, and subjected their tribesmen to rigid discipline to prevent pilfering and every annoyance. In 1856 the Iowa legislature made their residence here legal, and requested the general government to pay them their annuities in Iowa. In 1857 they sent out a committee of five of their best men to choose a spot for their permanent home. That committee selected their present loca- tion just above Tama, on the Iowa river, one eminently satisfactory to the In- dians. They purchased eighty acres and paid $1,000 for it. Since then they have made purchase after purchase until the Musquakies now, own over 3,000 acres and are planning to buy more. They have no reservation. They own their land by deeds as the whites about them hold theirs, except that their deeds are given to all the Musquakies in common and not held individually.
The government sought to induce or compel them to go back by refusing to pay them their annuities in Iowa. In 1867, however, the United States rec- ognized their residence in Iowa and began to pay them their annuities here, and have continued to do so.
THE SACS AND FOXES IN 19II.
The Sacs and Foxes are now living in three groups substantially, but there is no group of pure bloods. Other tribes are mingled with them by those who chose to join them, or by mixed bloods among them.
I. THE SAC AND FOX INDIANS OF THE MISSISSIPPI IN OKLAHOMA.
This branch of the Sacs and Foxes consists very largely of those Sacs who accepted Keokuk as their leader during the Black Hawk war and while remov- ing from central Iowa. They now occupy central Oklahoma, six miles from St. Louis & San Francisco railroad and nine miles from the Santa Fe railroad. "A Sac and Fox man does not take life seriously until he is about twenty-five years of age," says their superintendent. "He theorizes well concerning life but fails to perform. They have few cattle or hogs, cannot take care of them, and maintain their dances and some forms of their worship. They do some- thing at farming, especially those who have houses, and work a part of their allotments."
II. THE MUSQUAKIES IN 19II.
The Musquakies now (1911) number 356 in Tama county, Iowa. When the writer visited them in the spring (1911) several teams were engaged in plowing and some were hauling lumber. Most men and boys were "resting." Poweshiek, who claimed to be the grandson of the famous Poweshiek, was driv- ing a fair sized span of horses, and lived in a small wooden house, kept ap- parently in fair condition by his buxom wife, of somewhat civilized taste. Their son is a house painter and has worked at that business for the whites around
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
them. The father spoke fair English on everyday topics, and he was plump enough and strong enough for a chief, although not so heavy as his grandfather was said to be. The few moments' conversation gave me a better impression than I had expected.
They have several cheap wooden-perhaps we may say frame-houses and more wickiups. Some of them apparently would keep one warm in winter.
Their desire to "kill Sioux" seems less than Chief Poweshiek cherished, but their disregard for learning is about equal to his.
The Presbyterians support a woman among them who goes from wickiup to wickiup to teach the women domestic arts and the Bible. She is said to be useful. Her method is certainly very excellent. It seems reasonable to attribute much of their improvement in housekeeping to her instruction and her methods.
The government supports a school on the Indian lands and some pupils make fair progress. Their greatest barrier to success is their irregularity and their ' general indifference to learning even when in school.
C. A. Dean and wife began their school on the Indian land (it is not a reser- vation), about three years ago. His first pupils were brought into his school- room by force and won over to choose (or to be willing) to come by such arts as attract an Indian child. Fifteen were enrolled in May and ten were in at- tendance when we were there. While all are so indifferent, only some half dozen families oppose the instruction openly, although none, possibly, would at- tend if they were sure of receiving their annuities if they did not go.
The Indian school at Toledo has a better building, better appliances and has a good number from other tribes, even Sioux children, and neither seems thirsty for the other's blood. The Musquakies return to their homes on Friday night and back again on Monday morning. A lady with us gave some of the children there a little candy. One of the kidlets ran away, quickly returning with a bouquet for her. We wondered how many white children would think of such an act of politeness! Their teachers deserve honor.
But as we write the word comes that the Toledo school property is aban- boned because so few Musquakies can be induced to go so far from home to school. It is said that a new school building will be erected on or near their lands.
The men have adopted the dress of the whites more nearly than the women. They are imitating the whites more or less in personal habits. They use plows, drags, wagons, and one has just given "a bunch of horses for an automobile." He is Joseph Tesson, the interpreter for the Musquakies.
III. THE SACS AND FOXES OF THE MISSOURI.
This band had been in the habit of wintering in or near St. Louis in the early part of the nineteenth century. There were only about one hundred of them who offended their tribesmen by unauthorized negotiations with the whites, and to have withdrawn from them and received a reservation in Kansas on the Missouri in 1837. Since then they have borne the name of "Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri," and have rarely had any noticeable intercourse with those of the
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HISTORY OF POWESHIEK COUNTY
Mississippi. They have also maintained a nearer approach to civilization than the other Sacs and Foxes. The Indian Bureau reports them as well advanced.
Their reservation is now broken up by allotment to individuals, who usually represent families. They now number about eighty-six mingled with the citizens of their locality in northeastern Kansas.
POWESHIEK COUNTY FOR THE WHITES, 1843-
White men began to be at home in Poweshiek county in 1843. They began at once picking up the best claims after the Indians began to withdraw from the eastern side of their reservation according to the treaty of 1842. No permanent settler reached this county until 1843 and then some came here through Johnson county, or up the Mississippi and the Des Moines through Mahaska county, and settled in the groves along the Skunk river and its tributaries. Several came early in the year, located in union township, on some of its most delightful spots and soon withdrew.
Ogden and wife were the only whites in the county in the winter of 1843-4. and four more families the next winter. There were still more here in 1845-6, and materially more the next year when the state was organized, and the num- ber arose to about 400 in 1848, when the county was organized.
POW KANLEX. An lows (Foz) Indian Chief from whom que of our communties was named.
POWESHIEK
CHAPTER II. IOWA.
ORIGIN OF THE NAME "IOWA"-LIEUTENANT ALBERT M. LEA-EARLY LEGISLATION -THE DRED SCOTT DECISION-THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE SMILES-STATE IS ADMITTED INTO THE UNION-SETTLERS ENTER POWESHIEK-THE FIRST TO COME-INDIAN TRADERS AND AGENTS.
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