Allamakee County was established in
1847 by act of the First General Assembly. The name
is of Indian origin says Fulton in his "Red Men
of Iowa"; while other authorities claim that it
took its name from "Allen Makee" a famous
Indian trader and trapper who established a trading
post within its limits at an early day. The county
was formerly a part of Fayette and occupies the
extreme northeastern portion of the State and,
geologically considered, is the oldest formation. The
eastern boundary consists of the Mississippi River
and the northern is the Minnesota line. It embraces
five townships north and south and from three to four
east and west, containing six hundred fifty-eight
square miles. Much of the county has a rough surface
of hills, ravines and narrow valleys. The bluffs
along the Mississippi River are abrupt and in many
places have an altitude of four hundred feet above
the water, thence having a gradual ascent westward
reaching a height of six hundred feet. A large
portion of the county was originally covered with a
growth of hazel brush and trees of many varieties. It
is well watered by the Upper Iowa and Yellow rivers
and numerous rapidly flowing creeks of pure water. A
series of large sloughs extend along the Mississippi
River in width of from one to three miles. The
"Iowa Slough" extends from the northern
line of the county to near Lansing.
Allamakee was in the limits of the "Neutral
Ground" and was long held as a peaceful hunting
land over which hostile Indians pursued the chase
without collisions. It was given to the Winnebago
Indians in 1833, when they were forced to surrender
their Wisconsin homes. In 1846 they exchanged the
"Neutral Ground" for land in Minnesota and
two years later removed to their new homes. There is
a tradition that as early as 1818 some white trappers
and Indian traders made a settlement on the west bank
of the Mississippi within the limits of Allamakee
County, remaining there many years. But all traces of
their cabins had disappeared before the Indian title
was extinguished; but no record of their names has
been preserved. As early as 1828 Colonel Zachary
Taylor, who was in command at Fort Crawford (Prairie
du Chien), sent a detail of soldiers across the
Mississippi River to erect a saw mill near the mouth
of Yellow River where a large amount of lumber was
made for buildings at the fort. Lieutenant Jefferson
Davis was among the officers at Fort Crawford and the
future President of the Southern Confederacy was a
frequent visitor to the Iowa shore. In 1835 Colonel
Taylor established an Indian Mission not far from the
old saw mill. This Mission was in charge of the farm,
gave them instruction in growing crops and raising
stock. But little success attended these efforts. The
warriors considered labor degrading and after a few
years the Mission was abandoned.
In 1838 Patrick Keenan and Richard Cassidy settled in
Makee township and William Gamsin and John Haney at
Lansing. In 1839 Henry Johnson, a discharged soldier,
built a cabin near the mouth of Paint Creek where he
lived several years with Indian wives. Johnsonport
was named for him. A military road was opened by the
Government about this time, on the west side of the
Mississippi between Fort Crawford and Fort Atkinson
and, in 1841, Joel Post obtained permission to keep a
public house in the Government building. Here at the
"Half Way House" he and his wife often
entertained Captains E. V. Sumner, Nathaniel Lyon,
Lieutenants Alfred Pleasanton and Jefferson Davis at
that time young officers in the regular army but
afterwards famous leaders in the War of the
Rebellion. The village of Postville now occupies the
ground where the old public house stood and takes its
name from the landlord of pioneer times. In 1840
Jesse Danley built a dam across the Yellow River and
erected a saw mill. In 1841 Jacob Rynerson settled in
the Old Mission and, after the removal of the
Winnebago Indians, the property was purchased by
Thomas C. Linton who was selected sheriff in 1848 to
organize the county.
The first county-seat was located a mile and a half
northwest of Rossville and was named Columbus. In
1848 Archy Whaley settled east of Waukon and William
C. Thompson and Professor Whaley came in 1849. The
first county officers were chosen the same year:
Elias Topliff, county judge; John B. Twiford, clerk;
James M. Sumner, recorder and treasurer. In 1851
Father Thomas Hore, a Catholic missionary, settled at
Wexford where he founded a colony of his countrymen
from Ireland. He there built the first church in the
county. In 1848 H. H. Houghton made a claim where
Lansing stands and in 1851 he and John Hainey laid
out the town of Lansing. The first houses were rude
log cabins. The first court was held in Columbus in
July, 1852, by Judge Thomas S. Wilson. In 1851 the
first newspaper was established by W. H. Sumner at
Lansing and was named the Intelligencer and later
becoming the Lansing Mirror. In the fall of 1849 G.
C. Shattuck made a claim where Waukon stands. The
town was laid out by Mr. Shattuck in December, 1853,
and forty acres deeded to the county upon condition
that it be made the county-seat. The proposition was
accepted and Waukon remained the county-seat until
1861 when it was removed to Lansing be a vote of the
people, but in 1867, Waukon again became the
county-seat and has so remained. It was not until
1872 that a railroad was built into the county,
running along the Mississippi River from Dubuque to
Lansing.
