of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 41-43
LIEUTENANT ALBERT M. LEA'S DESCRIPTION OF "IOWA DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY". Excerpts are given here from a very lucid and graphic description of the Wisconsin Territory, written by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, of the United States Dragoons, in 1836. His reference to the Iowa district is particularly interesting and valuable, if for no other reason than that he is the first person to describe the country mentioned as "Iowa," and he is therefore given credit for having assigned the state of Iowa the name it always has borne. Lieutenant Lea's description of a very interesting portion of the western country, especially of that part of it known as the "Iowa District," is very comprehensive, and nothing of importance pertinent to his subject is overlooked. He had an eye that was keen to recognize the beautiful in nature and his appreciation of the Creator's lavishness when fashioning and completing this garden spot of the universe is given full rein in this narrative. He said truly "some of the most beautiful country in the world is lying immediately along this district on the west side" of the Mississippi river; and his prophetic vision of the future capabilities and greatness of the country of his theme is simply marvelous.
From an article on Colonel Albert M. Lea, in the Muscatine Journal of June 4, 1879, the following is abstracted:
"We learn by a letter from I. Botsford, of Albert Lea, Minnesota, that the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn County, Minnesota, which meets on Tuesday, June 10, have invited Colonel Albert M. Lea, now a resident of Texas, to visit them, and he will be there. He has not visited the north since 1841, and is now eighty years of age. This will probably be his last visit. Mr. Botsford, who is secretary of the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn county, informs us that Colonel Lea, for whom the town of Albert Lea was named, as well as Lee county in this state, although the spelling of the latter has been changed, 'was the first white man who traversed this region. In 1835 he was an army officer, and, in command of three companies of dragoons, left St. Louis, passing up through Iowa to the foot of Lake Pepin, in Wisconsin, then through southern Minnesota, to the Des Moines river. He passed down this river in a canoe under orders, to see whether supplies for a fort could be brought up. The river was meandered and mapped and a memoir written out, which became the basis of the appropriation by congress for the great work done on that river. The next year Colonel Lea published a map of the country traversed, including a description of the same. In this work the name Iowa was first given to the populous region now bearing that name. But five hundred copies of this work were ever put upon the market. In 1836 he went to Rock Island, and through his influence the arsenal was established there. During that year he landed at the point now known as Muscatine, then only occupied by a squatter with a log cabin and a stack of hay, the whole of which was offered to Colonel Lea for $50. In 1837, at the request of General George W. Jones, then delegate in congress from the territory of Iowa, he accepted from President Van Buren the appointment of commissioner and astronomer to determine the southern boundary of the territory. In 1840-1 he again visited Iowa, and was present in the third house of the first legislature assembled in Burlington.'"
The title of Lieutenant Lea's monograph reads as follows: "Notes on the Wisconsin Territory, particularly with reference to the Iowa District, or Black Hawk's Purchase by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, United States Dragoons, with an act for establishing the Territorial Government of Wisconsin and an accurate map of the District. H. S. Tanner, Shakespeare Building, Philadelphia, 1836."
The original pamphlet is about four by six inches, in green pasteboard covers, and is owned and in possession of the Wisconsin Historical Library, and is marked "very rare." In the preface given below he gives his reasons for writing on the subject and in the text the reader will find matter relating to this immediate locality of intense interest and never before appearing in a history of Muscatine county.
Upon reaching the paragraph on "Kasey's" the reader will bear in mind that the place referred to by the author must be no other than the then future town of Bloomington, later to become Muscatine, for assuredly Kasey was living on the site of Muscatine, as shown by the present plat of the city, in 1836, the year the explorer touched at Muscatine and learned from Kasey his intention of starting a town. This would serve to put at rest the question as to who was the first man to have a habitation in Muscatine.
In the following Notes the author designs to place within the reach of the public correct information in regard to a very interesting portion of the western country, especially of that part of it known as the "Iowa District," one of the divisions of the new territory of Wisconsin. That the reader may know what degree of confidence he may place in these Notes, he ought first to be made acquainted with the means of information possessed by the author. He has been employed in his professional duties for more than a year, within the limits of the country represented in the accompanying map. During that time he has traveled extensively, and has been sedulous in collecting information from surveyors, traders, explorers and residents. The whole route of the dragoons during the summer of 1835, as designated on the map, was meandered with a compass and the distance estimated by the time and rate of traveling then; and in like manner, the Des Moines river was reconnoitered from Raccoon river to the mouth, and the route thence to Rock Island by the west side of the Mississippi. In addition to these sources of information he has procured from the proper bureaus at Washington, the maps sent by the surveyors of the several Indian boundaries laid down, and of the far famed half breed tract of the Sauk and Fox Indians. The author is under obligation to several gentlemen for valuable information. Among the number are Captain Boone, of the Dragoons; Major William Gordon of Iowa District; and Hon. George W. Jones, of Wisconsin. They will please accept thanks for their kindness.
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