The first member of this race to discover the Mississippi River was Ferdinand De Soto, a Spaniard, who explored the region of the Lower Mississippi in 1541, but came no farther north than the 35 parallel. He founded no settlements, nor was he ever followed by others of his country to make settlements, and hence Spain lost her title to the country which she had earned by discovery through her subject, De Soto. At a subsequent period a Frenchman re-discovered the realm, took possession of it in the name of France, and his fellow countrymen soon followed and effected actual settlements. Accordingly, in 1682, France claimed the country, and, according to the usage of European nations, earned a proper title to the same. The result was a collision between those two nations, success finally crowning the efforts of France.

     In a grand council of Indians, on the shore of Lake Superior, they told the Frenchmen glowing stories of the “Father of Waters” and of the adjacent country, and in 1669 Jacques Marquette, a zealous and shrewd Jesuit missionary, became inspired with the idea of visiting this region, in the interests of civilization. After studying the language and customs of the Illinois Indians until 1673, he made preparations for the journey, in which he was to be accompanied by Louis Joliet, an agent of the French Government. The Indians, who had gathered in large numbers to witness his departure, endeavored to dissuade him from the undertaking, representing that the Indians of the Mississippi Valley were cruel and bloodthirsty. The great river itself, they said, was the abode of terrible monsters which could swallow men, canoes and all. But the shrewd missionary, already aware of Indian extravagance in description, set out upon the contemplated journey May 13. With the aid of two Miami guides he proceeded to the Wisconsin River, and down that stream to the Mississippi. Floating down the latter he discovered, on the 25th of June, traces of Indians on the west bank, and landed. This was at a point a little above the mouth of the Des Moines River, and thus a European first trod the soil of Iowa. After remaining a short time and becoming acquainted with the red man as he then and there exhibited himself, he proceeded down to the mouth of the Illinois, thence up that river and by Lake Michigan to the French settlements.

     Nine years later, in 1682, Rene Robert Cavelier La Salle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and in the name of the King of France took formal possession of all the Mississippi Valley, naming it Louisiana, in honor of his king, Louis XIV. The river itself he named Colbert, in honor of the French minister. Soon afterward the Government of France began to encourage the establishment of a line of trading posts and missionary stations throughout the West from Canada to Louisiana, and this policy was maintained with partial success for about seventy-five years. Christian zeal animated both France and England in missionary enterprise, the former in the interests of Catholicism and the latter in favor of Protestantism. Hence their haste to pre-occupy the land and proselyte the aborigines; but this ugly rivalry disgusted the Indians and they refused to be converted to either branch of Christianity. The traders also persisted in importing whisky, which canceled nearly every civilizing influence that could be brought to bear upon the savages. Another characteristic of Indian nature was to listen attentively to all that the missionary said, pretending to believe all he preached, and then offer in turn his theory of the world, of religion, etc.; and, not being listened to with the same degree of attention and pretense of belief, would depart from the white man’s presence in disgust. This was his idea of the golden rule.

     Comparatively few Indians were permanently located within the present bounds of the State of Iowa. Favorite hunting grounds were resorted to by certain bands for a time, and afterward by others, subject to the varying fortunes of their little wars. The tribes were principally the Illinois, Iowas, Dakotas, Sioux, Pottawatomies and finally the Sacs and Foxes.

     In 1765 the Miami confederacy was composed of four tribes, whose total number of warriors was estimated at only 1,050 men. Of these about 250 were Twightwees, of Miamis proper; 300 Weas, or Ouiatenons; 300 Piankeshaws and 200 Shockeys; but their headquarters were along the Maumee River, in Indiana and Ohio.

     From 1688 to 1697 the wars in which France and England were engaged retarded the growth of their American colonies. The efforts made by France to connect Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of trading posts and colonies naturally excited the jealousy of England and gradually laid the foundation for a struggle at arms. The crisis came and the contest obtained the name of the French and Indian war, the French and Indians combining against the English. The war was terminated in 1763 by a treaty at Paris, by which France ceded to Great Britain all of North America east of the Mississippi, except the island on which New Orleans is situated. The preceding autumn France ceded to Spain all the country west of that river.

     In 1765 the total number of French families within the limits of the Northwest Territory did not probably exceed 600. These were in settlements about Detroit, along the river Wabash and the neighborhood of Fort Chartres on the Mississippi. The colonial policy of the British Government opposed any measures which might strengthen settlements in the interior of this country, lest they should become self-supporting and consequently independent of the mother country. Hence the settlement of the Northwest was still further retarded. That short-sighted policy consisted mainly in hold the lands in the possession of the Government, and not allowing it to be subdivided and sold to those who would become settlers. After the establishment of American independence, and especially under the administration of Thomas Jefferson, both as Governor of Virginia and President of the United States, subdivision of land and giving it to actual settlers rapidly peopled this portion of the Union, so that the Northwest Territory was formed and even subdivided into other Territories and States before the year 1820.

     For more than 100 years after Marquette and Joliet trod the virgin soil of Iowa and admired its fertile plains, not a single settlement was made or attempted; not even a trading post was established. During this time the Illinois Indians, once a powerful tribe, gave up the entire possession of this “Beautiful Land,” as Iowa was then called, to the Sacs and Foxes. In 1803, when Louisiana was purchased by the United States, the Sacs, Foxes and Iowas possessed this entire State, and the two former tribes occupied also most of the State of Illinois. The four most important towns of the Sacs were along the Mississippi, two on the east side, one near the mouth of the Upper Iowa and one at the head of the Des Moines Rapids, near the present site of Montrose. Those of the Foxes were—one on the west side of the Mississippi just above Davenport, one about twelve miles from the river back of the Dubuque lead mines and one on Turkey River. The principal village of the Iowas was on the Des Moines River, in Van Buren County, where Iowaville now stands. Here the last great battle between the Sacs and Foxes and the Iowas was fought, in which Black Hawk, then a young man, commanded the attacking forces.

     The Sioux had the northern portion of this State and Southern Minnesota. They were a fierce and war-like nation, who often disputed possessions with their rivals in savage and bloody warfare; but finally a boundary line was established between them by the Government of the United States, in a treaty held at Prairie du Chien in 1825. This, however, became the occasion of an increased number of quarrels between the tribes, as each trespassed, or was thought to trespass, upon the other’s side of the line. In 1830, therefore, the Government created a forty-mile neutral strip of land between them, which policy proved to be more successful in the interests of peace.

     Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana by our Government, the latter adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and also the selection of proper sites for military posts and trading stations.

     The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clarke, in 1805, were detailed with a sufficient force to explore the Missouri River to it source, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the head of the Mississippi. August 20 the latter arrived within the present limits of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines Rapids, where he met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian Agent at this point, a French interpreter, four chiefs and fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose now is, Pike held a council with the Indians, merely for the purpose of stating to them that the President of the United States wished to inquire into the needs of the red man, with a view of suggesting remedies.

     On the 23d he reached what is supposed from his description to be the site of Burlington, which place he designated for a post; but the station, probably by some mistake, was afterward placed at Fort Madison. After accidentally separating from his men and losing his way, suffering at one time for six days for want of food, and after many other mishaps Lieutenant Pike overtook the remainder of the party at the point now occupied by Dubuque, who had gone on up the river hoping to overtake him. At that point Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain, but was not disposed to publish the wealth of his possessions. Having an old field-piece with him, however, he fired a salute in honor of the first visit of an agent from the United States to that part of the country and Pike pursued his way up the river.

     At what was afterward Fort Snelling, Minnesota, Lieutenant Pike held a council with the Sioux September 23, and obtained from them a grant of 100,000 acres of land. January 8 following (1806) he arrived at a trading post on Lake De Sable, belonging to the Northwestern Fur Company, whose field of operations at that time included this State. Pike returned to St. Louis the following spring, after making a successful expedition.

     Before this country could be opened for settlement by the whites, it was necessary that Indian title should be extinguished and the aboriginal owners removed. When the Government assumed control of the country by virtue of the Louisiana purchase, nearly the whole State was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, at whose head stood the rising Black Hawk. November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded with these tribes by which they ceded to the United States the Illinois side of the great river, in consideration of $2,234 worth of goods then delivered, and an annuity of $1,000 to be paid in goods at cost; but Black Hawk always maintained that the chiefs who entered into that compact acted without authority, and that therefore the treaty was not binding.

     The first fort erected on Iowa soil was at Fort Madison. A short time previously a military post was fixed at what is now Warsaw, Illinois, and named Fort Edwards. These enterprises caused mistrust among the Indians. Indeed, Fort Madison was located in violation of the treaty of 1804. The Indians sent delegations to the whites at these forts to learn what they were doing, and what they intended. On being “informed” that those structures were merely trading-posts, they were incredulous and became more and more suspicious. Black Hawk therefore led a party to the vicinity of Fort Madison and attempted its destruction, but a premature attack by him caused his failure.

     In 1812, when war was declared between this country and Great Britain, Black Hawk and his band allied themselves to the British, partly because they were dazzled by their specious promises, but mostly, perhaps, because they had been deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk said plainly that the latter fact was the cause. A portion of the Sacs and Foxes, however, headed by Keokuk “(“watchful fox”), could not be persuaded into hostilities against the United States, being disposed to abide by the treaty of 1804. The Indians were therefore divided into the “war” and the “peace” parties. Black Hawk says he was informed, after he had gone to the war, that his people, left on the west side of the river, would be defenseless against the United States forces in case they were attacked; and, having all the old men, the women and children on their hands to provide for, a council was held, and it was determined to have the latter go to St. Louis and place themselves under the “American” chief stationed there. Accordingly they went down, and were received as the “friendly band” of Sacs and Foxes, and were provided for and sent up the Missouri River.

     On Black Hawk’s return from the British army, he says that Keokuk was introduced to him as the war chief of the braves then in the village. On inquiry as to how he became chief, there were given him the particulars of his having killed a Sioux in battle, which fact placed him among the warriors, and of his having headed an expedition in defense of their village at Peoria. In person Keokuk was tall and of portly bearing, and in speech he was an orator. He did not master the English language, however, and his interpreters were never able to do him justice. He was a friend of our Government, and always endeavored to persuade the Indians that it was useless to attack a nation so powerful as that of the United States.

     The treaty of 1804 was renewed in 1816, which Black Hawk himself signed; but he afterward held that he was deceived, and that that treaty was not even yet binding. But there was no further serious trouble with the Indians until the noted “Black Hawk war” of 1832, all of which took place in Illinois and Wisconsin, with the expected result—the defeat and capture of the great chief, and the final, effectual and permanent repulsion of all hostile Indians to the west of the great Mississippi. Black Hawk died October 3, 1838, at his home in this State, and was buried there; but his remains were afterward placed in the museum of the Historical Society, where they were accidently destroyed by fire.

     More of less affecting the territory now included within the State of Iowa, fifteen treaties with the Indians have been made, an outline of which is here given. In 1804, when the whites agreed not to settle west of the Mississippi on Indian lands. In 1815, with the Sioux, ratifying peace with Great Britain and the United States; with the Sacs, a treaty of a similar nature, and also ratifying that of 1804, the Indians agreeing not to join their brethren who, under Black Hawk, had aided the British; with the Foxes, ratifying the treaty of 1804, the Indians agreeing to deliver up all their prisoners; and with the Iowas, a treaty of friendship. In 1816, with the Sacs of Rock River, ratifying the treaty of 1804. In 1824, with the Sacs and Foxes, the latter relinquishing all their lands in Missouri; and that portion of the southeast corner of Iowa known as the “half-breed tract” was set off to the half-breeds. In 1825, placing a boundary line between the Sacs and Foxes on the south and the Sioux on the north. In 1830, when that line was widened to forty miles. Also, in the same year, with several tribes, who ceded a large portion of their possessions in the western part of the State. In 1832, with the Winnebago’s, exchanging lands with them and providing a school, farm, etc., for them. Also, in the same year, the “Black Hawk purchase” was made, of about 6,000,000 acres, along the west side of the Mississippi from the southern line of the State to the mouth of the Iowa River. In 1835, with the Sacs and Foxes, ceding Keokuk’s reserve to the United States. In 1837, with the same, when another slice of territory, comprising 1,250,000 acres, joining west of the foregoing tract, was obtained. Also, in the same year, when these Indians gave up all their lands allowed them under former treaties; and finally, in 1842, when they relinquished their title to all their lands west of the Mississippi.

     Before the whole of Iowa fell into the hands of the United States Government sundry while settlers had, under the Spanish and French Governments, obtained and occupied several important claims within our boundaries, which it may be well to notice in brief. September 22, 1788, Julien Dubuque, before mentioned, obtained a lease of lands from the Fox Indians, at the point now occupied by the city named after him. This tract contained valuable lead ore, and Dubuque followed mining. His claims, however, as well as those to whom he afterward conveyed title, were litigated for many years, with the final result of disappointing the purchasers. In 1799 Louis Honori obtained a tract of land about three miles square where Montrose is now situated, and his title, standing through all the treaties and being finally confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States, is the oldest legal title held by a white man in the State of Iowa. A tract of 5,860 acres in Clayton County was granted by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1795 to Basil Girard, whose title was made valid some time after the preceding case was settled.

     Other early settlers were: Mr. Johnson, an agent of the American Fur Company, who had a trading-post below Burlington. Le Moliere, a French trader, had, in 1820, a station at what is now Sandusky, in Lee County, six miles above Keokuk. During the same year Dr. Samuel C. Muir, a surgeon of the United States army, built a cabin where the city of Keokuk now stands. His marriage and subsequent life were so romantic that we give the following brief sketch:

     While stationed at a military post on the Upper Mississippi, the post was visited by a beautiful Indian maiden — whose native name unfortunately has not been preserved — who, in her dreams, had seen a white brave unmoor his canoe, paddle it across the river and come directly to her lodge. She felt assured, according to the superstitious belief of her race, that in her dreams she had seen her future husband, and had come to the fort to find him. Meeting Dr. Muir she instantly recognized him as the hero of her dream, which, with childlike innocence and simplicity, she related to him. Her dream was, indeed, prophetic. Charmed with Sophia’s beauty, innocence and devotion, the Doctor honorably married her, but after a while the sneers and gibes of his brother officers — less honorable than he, perhaps — made him feel ashamed of his dark-skinned wife, and when his regiment was ordered down the river to Bellefontaine, it is said that he embraced the opportunity to rid himself of her, and left her, never expecting to see her again, and little dreaming that she would have the courage to follow him. But, with her infant child, this intrepid wife and mother started alone in her canoe, and after many days of weary labor and a lonely journey of 900 miles, she at last reached him. She afterward remarked, when speaking of this toilsome journey down the river in search of her husband, “When I got there I was all perished away — so thin!” The Doctor, touched by such unexampled devotion, took her to his heart, and ever after until his death treated her with marked respect. She always presided at his table with grace and dignity, but never abandoned her native style of dress. In 1819-’20 he was stationed at Fort Edward, now Warsaw, but the senseless ridicule of some of his brother officers on account of his Indian wife induced him to resign his commission. He then built a cabin as above stated, where Keokuk is now situated, and made a claim to some land. This claim he leased to Otis Reynolds and John Culver, of St. Louis, and went to La Pointe (afterward Galena), where he practiced his profession for ten years, when he returned to Keokuk. His Indian wife bore to him four children — Louise, James, Mary and Sophia. Dr. Muir died suddenly of cholera in 1832, but left his property in such a condition that it was soon wasted in vexatious litigation, and his brave and faithful wife, left friendless and penniless, became discouraged, and, with her two younger children, disappeared. It is said she returned to her people on the Upper Missouri.

     The gentleman who had leased Dr. Muir’s claim at Keokuk subsequently employed as their agent Moses Stillwell, who arrived with his family in 1828, and took possession. His brothers-in-law, Amos and Valencourt Van Ansdal, came with him and settled near. Mr. Stillwell’s daughter Margaret (afterward Mrs. Ford) was born in 1831, at the foot of the rapids, called by Indians Puckeashetuck. She was probably the first white American child born in Iowa.

     In 1829 Dr. Isaac Gallaud made a settlement on the Lower Rapids, at what is now Nashville. The same year James S. Langworthy, who had been engaged in lead-mining at Galena since 1824, commenced lead-mining in the vicinity of Dubuque. A few others afterward came to that point as miners, and they soon found it necessary to hold a council and adopt some regulations for their government and protection. They met in 1830 on the bank of the river, by the side of an old cottonwood drift log, at what is now the Jones Street Levee in Dubuque, and elected a committee, consisting of J. L. Langworthy, H. F. Lander, James McPhetres, Samuel Scales and E. M. Wren, who drafted a set of rules, which were adopted by this, the first “Legislature” of Iowa. They elected Dr. Jarote as their officer to choose arbitrators for the settlement of difficulties that might arise. These setters, however, were intruders upon Indian territory, and were driven off in 1832 by our Government, Colonel Zachary Taylor commanding the troops. The Indians returned and were encouraged to operate the rich mines opened by the late white occupants.

     But in June of the same year the troops were ordered to the east side of the Mississippi to assist in the annihilation of the very Indians whose rights they had been protecting on the west side!

     Immediately after the close of the Black Hawk war and the negotiations of the treaty in September, 1832, by which the Sacs and Foxes ceded the tract known as the “Black Hawk Purchase,” the settlers, supposing that now they had a right to re-enter the territory, returned and took possession of their claims, built cabins, erected furnaces and prepared large quantities of lead for market. But the prospects of the hardy and enterprising settlers and miners were again ruthlessly interfered with by the Government, on the ground that the treaty with the Indians would not go into force until June 1, 1833, although they had withdrawn from the vicinity of the settlement. Colonel Taylor was again ordered by the War Department to remove the miners, and in January, 1833, troops were again sent from Prairie du Chien to Dubuque for that purpose. This was a serious and perhaps unnecessary hardship imposed upon the miners. They were compelled to abandon their cabins and homes in mid-winter. This, too, was only out of respect for forms; for the purchase had been made, and the Indians had retired. After the lapse of fifty years, no very satisfactory reason for this rigorous action of the Government can be given. But the orders had been given, and there was no alternative but to obey. Many of the settlers re-crossed the river, and did not return; a few, however, removed to an island near the east bank of the river, built rude cabins of poles, in which to store their lead until spring, when they could float the fruits of their labor to St. Louis for sale, and where they could remain until the treaty went into force, when they could return. Among these were the Langworthy brothers, who had on hand about 300,000 pound of lead.

     No sooner had the miners left than Lieutenant Covington, who had been placed in command at Dubuque by Colonel Taylor, ordered some of the cabins of the settlers to be torn down, and wagons and other property to be destroyed. This wanton and inexcusable action on the part of a subordinate, clothed with a little brief authority, was sternly rebuked by Colonel Taylor, and Covington was superseded by Lieutenant George Wilson, who pursued a just and friendly course with the pioneers, that were only waiting for the time when they could repossess their claims.

     The treaty went formally into effect June, 1833, the troops were withdrawn, and the Langworthy brothers and a few others at once returned and resumed possession of their homes and claims. From this time must date the first permanent settlement of this portion of Iowa. John P. Sheldon was appointed superintendent of the mines by the Government, and a system of permits to miners and licenses to smelters was adopted, similar to that which had been in operation at Galena since 1825, under Lieutenant Martin Thomas and Captain Thomas C. Legate. Substantially the primitive law enacted by the miners assembled around that old cottonwood drift log in 1830, was adopted and enforced by the United States Government, except that miners were required to sell their mineral to licensed smelters, and the smelter was required to give bonds for the payment of 6 per cent, of all lead manufactured to the Government.

     About 500 people arrived in the mining district in 1833, after the Indian title was fully extinguished, of whom 150 were from Galena. In the same year Mr. Langworthy assisted in building the first school house in Iowa, and thus was formed the nucleus of the populous and thriving city of Dubuque. Mr. Langworthy lived to see the naked prairie on which he first settled become the site of a city of 15,000 inhabitants, the small school-house which he aided in constructing replaced by three substantial edifices, wherein 2,000 children were being trained, churches erected in every part of the city, and railroads connecting the wilderness which he first explored with all the eastern world. He died suddenly on the 13th of March, 1865, while on a trip over the Dubuque & Southern Railroad, at Monticello, and the evening train brought the news of his death and his remains.

     Lucius H. Langworthy, his brother, was one of the most worthy, gifted and influential of the old settlers of this section of Iowa. He died greatly lamented by many friends, in June, 1865.

     The name Dubuque was given to the settlement by the miners, at a meeting held in 1834.

     Soon after the close of the Black Hawk war in 1832, Zachariah Hawkins, Benjamin Jennings, Aaron White, Augustine Horton, Samuel Gooch, Daniel Thompson and Peter Williams made claims at Fort Madison. In 1833 General John H. Knapp and Colonel Nathaniel Knapp purchased these claims, and in the summer of 1835 they laid out the town of “Fort Madison.” Lots were exposed for sale early in 1836. The town was subsequently re-surveyed and platted by the United States Government. The population rapidly increased, and in less than two years the beautiful location was covered by a flourishing town, containing near 600 inhabitants, with a large proportion of enterprising merchants, mechanics and manufacturers.

     In the fall of 1832 Simpson S. White erected a cabin on the site of Burlington, seventy-nine miles below Rock Island. During the war parties had looked longingly upon the “Flint Hills” from the opposite side of the river, and White was soon followed by others. David Tothers made a claim on the prairie about three miles back from the river, at a place since known as the farm of Judge Morgan. The following winter the settlers were driven off by the military from Rock Island, and intruders upon the rights of the Indians. White’s cabin was burned by the soldiers. He returned to Illinois, where he remained during the winter, and in the following summer, as soon as the Indian title was extinguished, returned and rebuilt his cabin. White was joined by this brother-in-law, Doolittle, and they laid out the town of Burlington in 1834, on a beautiful area of sloping eminences and gentle declivities, enclosed within a natural amphitheater formed by the surrounding hills, which were crowned with luxuriant forests and presented the most picturesque scenery. The same autumn witnessed the opening of the first dry-goods stores by Dr. W. R. Ross and Major Jeremiah Smith, each well supplied with Western merchandise. Such was the beginning of Burlington, which in less than four years became the seat of government for the Territory of Wisconsin, and in three years more contained a population of 1,400 persons.

     Immediately after the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, in September, 1832, Colonel George Davenport made the first claim on the site of the present thriving city of Davenport. As early as 1827, Colonel Davenport had established a flat-boat ferry, which ran between the island and the main shore of Iowa, by which he carried on a trade with the Indians west of the Mississippi. In 1833 Captain Benjamin W. Clark moved from Illinois, and laid the foundation of the town of Buffalo, in Scott County, which was the first actual settlement within the limit of that county.

     The first settlers of Davenport were Antoine LeClaire, Colonel George Davenport, Major Thomas Smith, Major William Gordon, Philip Hambough, Alexander W. McGregor, Levi S. Colton, Captain James May and others.

     A settlement was made in Clayton County in the spring of 1832, on Turkey River, by Robert Hatfield and William W. Wayman. No further settlement was made in this part of the State until 1836.

     The first settlers of Muscatine County were Benjamin Nye, John Vanater and G. W. Kasey, all of whom came in 1834. E. E. Fay, William St. John, N. Fullington, H. Reeve, Jonas Pettibone, R. P. Lowe, Stephen Whicher, Abijah Whitney, J. E. Fletcher, W. D. Abernethy and Alexis Smith were also early settlers of Muscatine.

     As early as 1824 a French trader named Hart had established a trading-post, and built a cabin on the bluffs above the large spring now known as “Mynster Spring,” within the limits of the present city of Council Bluffs, and had probably been there some time, as the post was known to the employes of the American Fur Company as “La Cote de Hart,” or “Hart’s Bluff.” In 1827 an agent of the American Fur Company, Francis Guittar, with others, encamped in the timber at the foot of the bluffs, about on the present location of Broadway, and afterward settled there. In 1839 a block house was built on the bluff in the east part of the city. The Pottawatomie Indians occupied this part of the State until 1846-‘7, when they relinquished the territory and removed to Kansas. Billy Caldwell was then principal chief. There were no white settlers in that part of the State except Indian traders, until the arrival of the Mormons under the lead of Brigham Young. These people on their way westward halted for the winter of 1846-7, on the west bank of the Missouri River, about five miles above Omaha, at a place now called Florence. Some of them had reached the eastern bank of the river the spring before in season to plant a crop. In the spring of 1847 Brigham Young and a portion of the colony pursued their journey to Salt Lake, but a large portion of them returned to the Iowa side and settled mainly within the present limits of Pottawatomie County. The principal settlement of this strange community was at a place first called “Miller’s Hollow,” on Indian Creek, and afterward named Kanesville, in honor of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, of Pennsylvania, who visited them soon afterward. The Mormon settlement extended over the county and into neighboring counties, wherever timber and water furnished desirable locations. Orson Hyde, priest, lawyer and editor, was installed as president of the Quorum of Twelve, and all that part of the State remained under Mormon control for several years. In 1847 they raised a battalion numbering 500 men for the Mexican war. In 1848 Hyde started a paper called the Frontier Guardian, at Kanesville. In 1849, after many of the faithful had left to join Brigham Young at Salt Lake, the Mormons in this section of Iowa numbered 6,552, and in 1850, 7,828; but they were not all within the limits of Pottawatomie County. This county was organized in 1848, all the first officials being Mormons. In 1852 the order was promulgated that all the true believers should gather together at Salt Lake. Gentiles flocked in, and in a few years nearly all the first settlers were gone.

     May 9, 1843, Captain James Allen, with a small detachment of troops on board the steamer Ione, arrived at the site of the present capital of the State, Des Moines. This was the first steamer to ascend the Des Moines River to this point. The troops and stores were landed at what is now the foot of Court avenue, and the Captain returned in the steamer to Fort Sanford to arrange for bringing up more soldiers and supplies. In due time they too arrived, and a fort was built near the mouth of Raccoon Fork, at its confluence with the Des Moines, and named “Fort Des Moines.” Soon after the arrival of the troops, a trading-post was established on the east side of the river by two noted Indian traders named Ewing, from Ohio. Among the first settlers in this part of Iowa were Benjamin Bryant, J. B. Scott, James Drake (gunsmith), John Sturtevant, Robert Kinzie, Alexander Turner, Peter Newcomer and others.

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