Ringgold County, in the western half of the extreme southern row of Iowa counties, was out of the pathway of pioneer cross-state travel, and grew slowly. But the county built its foundation on homemakers who wanted fertile acres, large barns, grazing cattle, and comfortable houses rather than on the promoters who sought land chiefly to resell it at a good profit. The homeseekers came from Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, the New England states, and the already well-settled areas of eastern Iowa. A few came in from the west, from the gold fields of California and Colorado.

Ringgold County was opened to settlement in May 1843, but no settlers rushed in to stake claims as they had in other parts of Iowa. The only trail which crossed even a portion of the county was the Dragoon Trace, an old Indian and buffalo trail which the soldiers used during the few years that the second Ford Des Moines at the forks of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers was in existence. Few except the Pottawattamie Indians were familiar with the groves and prairie that later were included in the county.

Ringgold County was Sac and Fox land until 1830 when, On July 15, these tribes ceded their land in this region to the United States. The western part of the county was included within the limits of the reservation set aside for the Pottawattamie on September 26, 1833. The eastern portion was a part of the Sac and Fox land until their cession to the United States, October 11, 1842. About four years later the Pottawattamie Nation ceded their Iowa reservation to the United States in a treaty dated June 5 and 17, 1846.

Back to Ringgold County History, 1942

Ringgold County Iowa History The Iowa Writers' Program Of the Work Projects Administration. p. 1. 1942.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2011