But on the first of June, 1833, about fifty miles in width, west of the Mississippi was thrown open for settlement, being then known as the Black Hawk purchase, and was soon largely occupied. A further cession was made in September, 1836, which extinguished the Indian title as far as the western end of Johnson, Washington and Jefferson counties, and an agency was established near where Agency City now stands. At this time the Indian chiefs Keokuk, Wapello and Appanoose had their villages near the site of Ottumwa. In 1837 and 1842 other cessions were made, and on May 1, 1843, the west line of settlement was established near Red Rock, and a Fort was built at the mouth of the Raccoon Fork of the Des Moines. In the autumn of 1845 and the spring of 1846, the Indians removed to their reservation in Kansas, and the land we now hold was open to occupancy.
It appears that the Starry Banner was just raised over the territory of which this was a part on the twentieth day of December, 1803, at the city of New Orleans. October 1,1804, a division was made by which all of Louisiana north of the thirty-third parallel was placed under the authority of the officers of the Indiana Territory, but bearing the name of the District of Louisiana. On the fourth of July, 1805, seventy-one years ago this day, it was organized into a territory, under the same name, with a territorial government, which it retained till 1812. June 4, 1812, it was reorganized and this portion was called the territory of Missouri. From June, 1834, to July 4, 1836, it was a part of the territory of Michigan, and at the latter date it became a part of the territory of Wisconsin, which continued two years; and on the fourth day of July, 1838, it was constituted the TERRITORY of IOWA—only thirty-eight years ago today. As a State, Iowa was formerly recognized, under her present boundaries, on the twenty-eighth day of December, 1846, as the twenty-ninth in National Union.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
The County of Story was probably described by name and boundary in an act of the Second General Assembly, which met at Iowa City in 1848-9, and we find it assigned to various Districts from and after that time. Among the items of interest in her political history it may be stated that with scarcely a settler within her borders in 1850, associated with eight other counties, she was represented in the Senate by P. M. Cassady, of Polk county, and in the House by L. W. Babbitt, of Marion, and E. R. Guiberson, of Madison.
Her representatives in the succeeding General Assemblies were as follows:
In the 4th, A. Y . Hull of Polk, in the Senate; and by Dr. Rice of Boone, and J. C. Goodson of Guthrie, in the House.
In the 5th, by J. C. Gordan of Polk, in the Senate; by S. B. McCall of Boone, in the House.
In the 6th, by Aaron Brown of Fayette, in the Senate; by W. C. Wilson of Hamilton, in the House.