Iowa History
Project
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OUR IOWA
IT'S BEGINNINGS AND GROWTH
PART 3
INDIAN AGENTS AND AGENCIES
OUR
FIRST AGENTS
The earliest Indian agents that looked after
tribes living on Iowa soil did not live here themselves. The first
one to live on Iowa soil was a French Canadian named Nicholas Boilvin. He
had been an interpreter to the Osages in the south. In 1806, Secretary of
War Dearbon appointed him as an assistant agent for tribes along the Mississippi
above the mouth of the Missouri River. He was to live in an Indian
village above the mouth of the River Demoine (Des Moines). It is thought
that he lived at the present site of Montrose. He could not speak or
write much English and made only a few reports. We do not know much about
his work.
JOSEPH
M. STREET
Joseph M. Street was the best known of the Indian
agents who lived in Iowa. He was sent to Prairie du Chien in 1827.
While there he started a school on the Yellow River in northeast Iowa.
A minister, named David Lowry, was in charge of the school. His
wife was one of the teachers. They tried to teach the Indian children to
live like the Whites but they were not very successful in this. The
Indians took all the food and clothes they could get for nothing and then went
back to live as they always had lived. Mr. Lowry later became a sub-agent
with an agency near Fort Atkinson in northeast Iowa.
Agent Street was moved from Prairie du Chien to
Rock Island. Since he was to look after the Sac and Fox tribes who
lived along the Des Moines River, Mr. Street was told to select a site near
those tribes for a new agency. In 1838, with Poweshiek and some other
Indians, he selected a site near those tribes for a new agency. In 1838,
with Poweshiek and some other Indians, he selected a site near the present town
of Agency. He built a large council house and a two story frame
home for his family. He also built some shops, some houses for people who
were working in the agency, and a few other small buildings. Later, he
built two mills to be used by the Indians. He wanted to have the Indians
learn how to help themselves. They did not, however, use the mills.
WHISKEY
SOLD TO INDIANS
It was against the law to sell whisky to the
Indians. Agents street's greatest trouble was with dishonest fur traders
who cheated the Indians and sold whiskey to them. Street chased them
away, but they came back. The traders wanted to get rid of Street; so
they wrote letters to the Government at Washington and said that he stole money
from the Indians. The Government officials did not believe these letters
but continued to believe that Street was honest.
STREET'S
DEATH
General Street died May 5, 1840. The Indians
loved and respected him because he had been honest and fair. It was to
him that Black Hawk surrendered. Chief Wapello's dying wish was that he
might be buried beside him. The chief said Street had been a father and
friend to all his tribe.
Lieutenant John Beach, a son-in-law of Street and
a graduate of West Point, became the next agent to the Sacs and the Foxes.
When the tribes later were moved from Iowa, Agent Beach went with them.
FARMS
FOR INDIANS WERE FAILURES
The farms started for the Indians by the agents
were failures. The village of Chief Appanoose was the only one that took
care of its farm. It had 177 acres, two of which were planted with
watermelons were the only thing that the Indians liked better than whiskey.
Other Agencies
When Iowa was a territory it was much larger than
it is now as a state. For a few years it included large parts of
Minnesota and the Dakotas. There was a Sioux agency in Iowa Territory
near fort Snelling in what in now Minnesota. Lawrence Taliaferro was
agent. For a few years there was also a sub-agency at Council Bluffs.
Leander Clark, in July, 1866, was the first agent at Tama. An
Indian agent and an agency farmer are still at Tama.
The Indian agents led interesting and dangerous
lives. In acting for the Government as a friend to the Indians they did
more than anyone else to keep down trouble with the Red Men.