CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

THE CHANGE-INDIAN OCCUPANCY-THE WHITE MAN'S FIRST SETTLEMENT
THEN AND NOW-THE CONTRAST.

IN introducing the reader to the chapters comprising this volume, it only needs to be said that herein will be found an historic account of the great transformation which the last forty years have wrought out in this portion of the "Middle Kingdom" of America-the State of Iowa.

Prior to April 20, 1836, the domain of all Iowa was included in territory subject to the jurisdiction of Michigan territory. At the above date, through Gen. George Jones, of Dubuque, then in congress, the territory of Wisconsin was created and organized in due form. It embraced all that portion of the great west included in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa."

In 1838 the question of organizing the territory of Iowa began to be agitated. In November of that year congress was memorialized to do this and to define the line between Wisconsin and Missouri territories. The act of congress which admitted Iowa also gave her the sixteenth section of every township of land in the state (or its equivalent) for the support of schools; also seventy-two sections of land for


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HISTORY OF WOODBURY AND PLYMOUTH COUNTIES.

the purpose of a university; also provided that her public lands should be exempt from any general taxation. Thus provided for as a bride with her marriage portion, Iowa commenced housekeeping on her own account.

At first but a few counties were organized in the extreme eastern portion of the state-along the Mississippi, the remainder being still possessed by Indians, including the Sacs and Foxes. The last treaty with the Indians was made in 1842 and ratified March, 1843. In this treaty, which John Chambers, United States commissioner, made with the Sac and Fox Indians at Agency City, all the lands west of the Mississippi river to which they had any claim, were ceded to the Government. By that treaty the Indians were to be removed from the territory named, at the expiration of three years. A part of them was removed to Kansas in the fall of 1845, and the remainder in the spring following.

On July 15, 1830, the Sac, Fox, Western Sioux, Omaha, Iowa and Missouri Indians ceded to the United States a portion of the western Iowa slope, including what is now "Woodbury and Plymouth counties. In consideration of three tracts of land the Government agreed to pay the Sacs $3,000; the Foxes $3,000; the Sioux $2,00.0; the Yankton and Santee bands of the Sioux $3,000; the Omahas $1,500; the Ottoes and Missouris $2,500, to be paid annually for ten years. Provision was also made for farm implements and schools of training for these tribes. Thus it will be observed the Indians were not ruthlessly driven from the hunting grounds of Iowa, but given a cash consideration to go in peace.

Prior to the coming of William Thompson, no white man had looked upon the fair domain now known as Woodbury county with the view of becoming a permanent settler. That brings us down to 1848. Behold the wondrous transformation—the almost incredible change! Then this section was all as a wise Creator had fashioned it. The beautiful prairie lands had never felt the plowshare; the waters of the Big Sioux, the Floyd and the lesser streams which here flow into the Missouri had never been spanned by a wagon or foot bridge. The Indians alone had hunted and fished along their meanderings and bathed their dusky forms in their clear and cooling waters.

It is safe to assert that no portion of the civilized globe ever made more rapid and substantial growth than the Missouri valley slope has

WOODBURY COUNTY

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made, in the same length of time. History proves that in the Old World it has taken hundreds of years to bring about even slight changes in a given locality. But since William Thompson built his little log cabin on the Iowa side of the "Big Muddy," a few miles below where Sioux City stands to-day, the advancement has been like magic.

Its enterprising pioneers, its geographical location on the longest river in the world, backed by an expanse of fertile land, the richness or which is not excelled, if equaled anywhere-have caused Sioux City to be one of the leading and rapidly increasing railroad centers of the west. Its railroad lines extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. The east sends her manufactured treasures to this point and exchanges them for the vegetable and mineral wealth of this "garden spot of the world."

It matters not on what line one allows his mind to center, or upon which hand one looks, the same stir and bustle and genuine progress may be seen.

The Indian teepe, which fifty—remaining pioneers here well remember, as the only adorning object this spot had, aside that given by nature, has gone to decay—the broken Indian tribes are scattered like chaff before a whirlwind, and are soon to become extinct. In the place of these emblems of savage life, the true types of modern Christian civilization have come to grace this goodly portion of the Hawkeye State. Nearly two hundred school-houses and half as many church edifices within this county are good indexes, pointing to the work strong-minded and stout-hearted men have here been able to perform in the short period of one generation.

"Thirty years ago, my county,
You were fair-yes very fair;
There were no furrows on your brow,
No silver in your hair.
The blush of early womanhood
Was on your rounded cheek;
The wild flowers on your bosom
Exhaled their fragrance sweet."