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INDIAN AFFAIRS.

     THE tract of land now known as Da11as county was included in the territory which the Sac and Fox Indians ceded to the United States Government in the treaty of October 11th, 1842. This treaty was negotiated at the Sac and Fox Agency, now Agency City, and was ratified by the Senate, without an erasure, on March 23d, 1843.

     The council at which this treaty was made lasted about one week. Governor John Chambers, of Iowa Territory, was the commissioner on behalf of the United States Government, and a number of Indian chiefs were present, the principal ones of whom were Keokuk, Appanoose, Poweshiek and Panassa.

     It was an important treaty for our government, and especia11y so for the organization and prosperity of our State and county; and yet it was a difficult one to make, and at one time during the council-meeting it seriously threatened to prove a failure.

     The Indians demanded the reservation of a certain tract of land, and positively refused to treat peaceably without this stipulation. While on the other hand, the instructions of the government were positively opposed to any reservation.
The principal cause of this difficulty on the part of the Indians, doubtless, was their profound regard for a white man who had been to them a true friend in need; their determination to fulfill their promise to his family after his death, and their sacred regard for his last resting place, made it hard for them to yield. But in order to properly understand the points of difference between these two parties, and be able to give an intelligent history of this important negotiation, it is necessary to go back several years.

     In 1835 Gen. J. M. Street, who had been Indian agent among the Winnebagos since 1827, was removed to the Sac and Fox Agency, first at Rock Island, and, in 1838, at Agency City. Gen. Street was a great favorite among the Indians, and they were accustomed to call him their father. This gentleman died in May, 1840. His family procured an air-tight coffin, and announced their intention of burying his remains at Prairie du Chien, where some of his relatives were interred. The chiefs held a council and remonstrated, offering any part of their country which might be chosen as Gen. Street's burying-ground, and adding that if their wishes were complied with, they would give to Gen. Street's widow a section of land, and a half section to each of his children. Accordingly Gen. Street's remains were interred near the .Agency, and no reference was ever made to the land promised until the time of this treaty.

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     About the evening of the second day of the treaty-council, one of the government officers came to Gen. Street's son, Wm. B. Street, now of Oskaloosa, then employed at the Agency, and said, "I do not think we will succeed in making a treaty." "Why?" "Because," said the officer, "the chiefs demand a reservation of one section for Gen. Street's widow, and a half-section each for her ten children, and also a half-section each for Smart's two children, who are half-breeds. The instructions of the government are opposed to any reservation, and positive against reservation for half-breeds."

     Mr. Street not wishing a treaty to fail for any such reason, held a consultation with some of the principal chiefs, telling them he did not care for any reservation, and his brothers and sisters were all in another territory, that he thought they would willingly relinquish the offer of the chiefs, and as for any obligation they were under to the Smart children, they could pay that in money.

     Keokuk and some of the others assented reluctantly, but old Poweshiek insisted that all the reservation they desired should be demanded. Mr. Street remonstrated with him as to the result in failure of the treaty, and again told him he did not care for the reservation. "What, do you decline the gift?" said the indignant old chief—for this was considered an insult among Indians to refuse a present. Mr. Street informs us that Poweshiek refused to speak to him for six months afterward, when one day, while Poweshiek was a little merry under the influence of whiskey, Mr. Street presented the old chief with a pony, and again they were good friends.

     Finally the Indians demanded the reservation of a single section, to be given Mrs. Street. Gov. Chambers would not consent. Then old Keokuk, rising, addressed the council thus: "There lies," said he, pointing to the grave of Gen. Street, "there lies the grave of our father, the best white friend we have ever had, and without the reservation, this land shall never, never be sold while a single one of our tribe remains." On the next day Gov. Chambers agreed to the reservation of one section, and directed the Indians to make choice. They selected that on which the Agency building was situated, and including Gen. Street's grave.

     Again the commissioner halted. He claimed the government had spent some $3,000 or $4,000 in improving that section, and he could not allow that to be reserved. The Indians then proposed to pay for the improvements, which they afterward did, paying $2,500, which was considered a fair valuation at that time. The treaty being thus concluded, Keokuk remarked to the commissioner that if the Senate changed it by a single scratch of the pen, it would not be agreed to by the Indians. It came before the Senate. A motion was made to strike out the reservation. Keokuk's remark was repeated in the Senate. And on March 23d, 1843, was ratified an Indian treaty for the first time in the history of the Senate without an erasure. By this treaty a tract of land comprising probably more than two-thirds the present State of Iowa was transferred. to the United States, for which the Sac and Fox Indians were to receive $800,000 in good State stocks, on which the government should guarantee five per cent interest per annum. In the words of the treaty, they "ceded to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi to which they had any claim or title." It was stipulated that they were to be removed from the country at the expiration of three years, and all who remained after that were to remove at their own expense. Part of them were removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the remainder in the spring of 1846.

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     In consequence of this peaceable arrangement, the early settlers of Dallas county encountered no difficulty with the red man, and the historian has to record no price of blood paid for the possessionof their primitive homes.

     Few Indians ever put in their appearance after the work of settlement had once thoroughly begun.

     Mr. William B. Street, of Oskaloosa, spent the years from 1828, to 1843 among the Indians of the Northwest. From 1839 to 1843 he resided at Old Agency, near Agency City, and to him we are indebted for a number of interesting facts in regard to Indian names and history.

     By the various treaties made with the Sac and Fox Indians, the government paid these $80,000 per year, by families. Mr. Street was disbursing clerk for John Beach, Indian Agent, during the year 1841, and still retains in his possession the receipts for the part payment of the annuity, in his own handwriting, and the marks of those Indians who at that time were living at Kish-ke-kosh's village, in what is now Mahaska county.

     "We, the chiefs, warriors, heads of families, and individuals without families, of the Sac and Fox tribe of Indians, within the same agency, acknowledge the receipt of forty thousand dollars of John Beach, United States Indian Agent, in the sums appended to our names, being our proportion of the annuity due said tribes, for the year 1841:

     "We certify that we were present at the payment of the above mentioned amounts, and saw the amounts paid to the several Indians, in specie, and that their marks were affixed in our presence, this 19th of October, 1841.
(Signed)

JNO. BEACH,
U. S. Indian Agent.
THOMAS McCRATE,
Lieut. 1st. Dragoons.
JOSIAH SMART,
Interpreter.

     "We, the undersigned, Chiefs of the Sac and Fox tribe of Indians, acknowledge the corrections of the foregoing receipts.

KEOKUK, his X mark.
POWESHIEK, his X mark.

_____________
Kish-ke-kosh means "The man with one leg off."
Much-i-min-ne means "Big man."                Mus-qua-ke means "The fox."
Wa-pes-e-qua means "White eyes."            Keokuk means "The watchful fox."
Wa-pe-ka-kah means "White crow."           Poweshiek means "The roused bear."

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     According to the stipulations of this treaty, the government secured the right to extend the limits of emigration westward from the old boundary line, passing north and south through Locust Grove, Jefferson county, to a new line established farther west, extending north and south through the meridian of Red Rock, Marion county, and the Sacs and Foxes were entitled to occupy a territory west of this temporary line until October 11th, 1845, when they must again move westward to their reservation in Kansas.

     During the month of May, 1843, nearly all of the Indians were removed up the Des Moines river, and took possession of their new home, in the place which soon became known as Keokuk's village, situated about three miles southeast of the present capital of the State, and in that vicinity they remained until the three years had expired, and the time for their final removal had come.

     But even before they left their old camping grounds, the tide of emigration was rapidly pressing in upon them. The day was also fixed upon by the treaty, for the Indians to give up the right of occupancy of all the territory east of the Red Rock line, and for emigrants to move westward and occupy the newly vacated lands.

     Those expecting to make settlements on the" New Purchase," were forbidden to come on the reserve until the time of its delivery into the hands of the government by the Indians, May 1st, 1843. Dragoons were stationed all along the border, whose duty it was to keep the whites out of the country until the appointed time. For some weeks previous to the date assigned, settlers came up into the new country, prospecting for homes, and were quietly permitted to cross the border and look around, so long as they were unaccompanied by wagon and carried no ax. This latter weapon was sometimes placed without a handle in the knapsack of the traveler and an impromptu handle fitted in by a penknife when necessity called for its use. During the last few days of April the dragoons relaxed their strict discipline and an occasional wagon slipped in through the brush. The night of April 30th found some scores of newcomers on the ground, who had been prospecting the country, who had decided mentally what claims they would make, and had various agreements among themselves. These settlers were mostly along or near the Des Moines river, it then being thought that prairie land was not half so desirable as the river and timber country.

     As it neared midnight on the morning of May 1st, settler after settler took his place upon the border of his claim with his bunch of sharpened stakes and lantern, or his blazing torch, and when it was thought twelve o'clock had arrived, there was some lively surveying by amateur engineers in the dark. The claims were paced off, and strange to say there were few cases of dispute, the matter having been pretty generally understood on the preceding day. Some of the claims were pretty large, more, in fact than the law suffered the claimants to hold, some of whom were not unmindful of the wholesome advice of a mother in Hoosierdom, who possibly lived in a later day, but who counseled "Git a plenty while your gittin," to which the settler added, "and git the best."

     The memorable midnight of that "last day" of April, 1843, dark as it may have been, opened to the welcome dawning of a glorious "May day" in the prosperity of this heaven-favored land as the crowds of anxious emigrants, so long held in check by the old boundaries, began to cross the line in multitudes and press forward to "possess the land" and secure their

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claims of 320 acres each in this goodly heritage. It was a rapid successful movement in the advancement of emigration and civilization, which gave evident and assuring proof of the wisdom of the government in promptly securing the title to this valuable territory. It is estimated that before the nightfall of May 1st, 1843, there were nearly one thousand of such claims occupied by pioneers, and including in the count the families and attendants of these, in so short a time an aggregate population of about four thousand souls had crossed the old limits to find homes in the new possessions, and convert the Indian's hunting ground into the white man's earthly Eden.

     Thus by this memorable treaty of 1842, was thrown open for occupation and cultivation all the rich territory of western Iowa, with great tracts more to the westward.

     It is to this treaty that the present citizens and property owners of Dallas county, and of all these productive counties round about, are indebted, in a great measure, for their comfortable homes, their fertile fields, and their valuable estates in this "beautiful land".

     From the spring of 1843 until the fall of 1845 the Indians remained quietly and peacefully enjoying their newly defined camps and hunting grounds, neither disturbing nor being disturbed by their white neighbors; and true to the instincts of their nature, while living at peace with their neighbors, they inclined to revel in a fruitless life of indolence and debauch. They were restrained from trespass on their eastern border only by the imaginary Red Rock line of reservation, which effectually and distinctly separated between civilization and barbarism. On the other hand, for a short time longer, they were permitted to rove at will westward and northward over these yet uncultivated and seemingly boundless prairies, and seek to gratify the desires of their wild, rude nature in hunt, and chase, and war-dance, while taking their last farewell of this beautiful, broad domain, which for years had been their dwelling-place, and so lately they had called their own.
During this same period, in all the territory east of that temporary line of reservation, the work of civilization was steadily and rapidly progressing. Active, daring, energetic people from nearly every quarter were crowding to the front, occupying and cultivating the fertile land and settling the "New Purchase" with representatives from almost every State and nation on the globe. The farming lands were being taken up rapidly by the constantly increasing number of pioneers. Important improvements of the essential kind were being made in every part.
Cabins and mills were being built and roads laid out; schools and places of public worship were being talked of and provided for by the enlightened and devout citizens; and the general cultivation and improvement of the country continued progressing at a rapid rate.

     In order to the improvement of a pioneer home in the West, in those days, timber for fuel and fencing and shelter was considered the material thing in importance, second only to the "staff of life", and therefore the timber lands and tracts of prairie adjoining were almost invariably taken first, since these were considered by the early settlers to be the cream of the country.

     But in this regard, experience, the effectual teacher, soon worked a radical change in the minds of men. When they began to test the fertility and richness of the prairie soil, they soon found that it was much easier

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and cheaper to haul timber and prepare shelter and dwell in the fresh, pure air on the bleak, yet fertile, prairie, feeling sure of an abundant crop with less labor from a large acreage, than it was to have the best advantages of a timber location, and spend time, labor and money in clearing and grubbing and fertilizing, and then. fall short in the yield per acre, and be confined to a limited area of farming land.
The timber settlers slowly but surely became convinced of the fact, and began to reach out and secure, in some cases, large tracts of the prairie land adjoining them, thus combining these two important elements in one large estate, and securing some of the very finest farms in the country. While on the other hand, very many of the first settlers on timber claims, from want of means, or fear of failure in speculation, did not become awake to the real importance of this until the best sections adjoining them were an taken, and they were compelled either to go out, perhaps miles from their homes, to secure more farming land for their increasing families, or to remain shut in upon their original claims.

     In different localities throughout our State, many of the first settlers, and best of men, have thus been compelled either to sell their comfortable, hard earned homes when the "boys grew up ", and "move out west for more land ", or they have found out at last, perhaps, that they are "timber poor ", with limited income and meager support in return for their faithful, arduous labors, while many of their wealthy prairie neighbors, who only a few years before were their hired hands working by the month or the day for small wages, are now prosperous and independent on their large prairie farms, which yield them bountiful incomes.

     Others, again, soon discovering their mistake in choosing river or timber locations for agricultural pursuits, disposed of their claims as soon as possible at reasonable profits, to their adjoining neighbors, or later arrivals, and moved on toward the front better .prepared by experience to make new and more judicious selections.

     Thus the work of settlement and improvement in the new country steadily progressed, and as the close of the three years drew near, crowds of emigrants were again beginning to linger near the western limits longing for the appointed day to come when the last barrier of restraint would be taken away, and the boundaries of emigration would be extended almost indefinitely westward.

     October 11th, 1845, the much desired day came at last, bringing to the yet unsettled pioneer the welcome privilege to choose from all the goodly land before him, his future home. But to the poor Indian it brought the solemn warning that his lease of home was gone, and in keeping with his record of the past, he must again move on into western wilds, and seek there a new home congenial to his wild, untutored nature, leaving his cherished hunting grounds, so long possessed and enjoyed by him, to pass into the hands and under the full control of his pale-faced neighbor, soon to be stripped of all that was attractive and dear to the red man's heart.

     In accordance with the stipulations of the treaty, the greater part of the Indians were removed, at the expense of the government, in the fall of 1845, and those who remained until the spring of 1846 were conveyed in United States government wagons to a point on the reservation about seventy-five miles southwest of Kansas City, to join their comrades who had gone before. Some of their bark-covered huts still remained after the white settlers came, and the graves covered by a roof of rude slabs were

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yet to be seen; but all these soon disappeared to be remembered only as things of the past, and now almost every Indian relic is gone, save as the plowman turns from under the soil an occasional arrow head or hatchet of stone and lays it aside on his curiosity shelf as a memento of barbarism.

     Thus the Red Rock line of reservation had served its time and purpose in marking the western limits of the white man's domain, and in protecting the red man in his rights of home against the advancing strides of emigration until his allotted time had come to move westward again on his roving mission, and add one more proof that his race is fast passing away and must eventually disappear before the restless march of the Anglo-Saxon race, as did the traditionary mound builders give place to the predatory red man of later times.

"And did the dust
Of these fair solitudes once stir with life
And burn with passion?
Let the mighty mounds
That overlook the rivers, or that rise
In the dim forests crowded with old oaks,
Answer: A race that long has passed away
Built them. The red man came--
The roaming hunter tribes, warlike and fierce--
And the mound builders vanished from the earth.
The solitude of centuries untold
Has settled where they dwelt. The prairie wolf
Howls in their meadows, and his fresh dug den
Yawns by my path. The gopher mines the ground
Where stood their swarming cities. All is gone--
All; save the piles of earth that hold their bones,
The platforms where they worshiped unknown gods. "

     Thus as those traditionary mound builder; were forced to give way to the plundering red man of later times, so must he give place to his pale-faced successor, and his night of ignorance and superstition in which he so delights to revel, must give place to the approaching light of intelligence and civilization as truly as the darkest shades of midnight are dispelled by the approaching light of day.

     When the last barrier of restraint was thus removed, the tide of emigration so long held in check, began to come in at a rapid rate over these prairies, and thus it has continued to roll wave after wave in rapid succession until it has reached the western shore, carrying with it the energy and talents and enterprise of nations, and washing to the surface "the gold from the mountains and valleys on the Pacific slope, it has enveloped our land in the mighty main of enterprise and civilization.

     While the hapless Indian, driven by the advancing tide from shore to shore over this mighty continent, is caught at last in the billows and drifts with the tide, clinging only to the floating driftwood of his own shattered bark of barbarism and superstition as his last faint hope before being lost in the surges and sunk in oblivion.

     And thus he soon will perish to be remembered only as a historic name, unless rescued from his uncivilized, savage condition by omnipotent power, through the humble instrumentality of human sympathy and christian love.

     After the way had thus been opened by that ever-memorable Indian treaty, emigration began at once to spread rapidly toward the northwest along the borders of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, and claim after claim was taken, cabin after cabin was erected, settlement after settlement

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was made by pioneer emigrants, who quickly occupied the highlands west of the Fort, and continued gradually venturing out stil1 further into the newly vacated wilds, settling here and there in the edges of the woodlands which skirted the Raccoon river, until in the early spring of 1846 its forks were reached and passed, and the enterprising sound of the white man's ax was heard echoing from every side, as with busy stroke he felled the trees and prepared the logs for his humble cabin home.
Before many days had past the curling smoke was seen rising through the tree tops from many such hopeful, happy pioneer homes in this western wild; and within those rustic walls were found thankful hearts, cheerful faces, welcome voices and liberal hospitality, which displayed on every side an air of contentment and prosperity, and made "assurance doubly sure" that the great work of the settlement and cultivation of this fertile land was actually begun by the white pioneer, even within the present territory of Dallas county, and that it would be thoroughly carried on to the western border.

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