owners of these lands were nothing but Indians, anyhow; and therefore had no rights which a white man was bound to respect." The claim of the whites to these lands, it should be said in justice to the State of Georgia, had been anticipated as early as 1802; for in that year the United States government entered into a compact with that State, covenanting for certain considerations, that as soon as it could be done peaceably and on reasonable terms, the title of the Cherokee Indians to land within the limits of Georgia should be extinguished. It was not until the administration of President Monroe (1817-1825), that the State of Georgia became clamorous for the fulfilment of this covenant, and very soon thereafter the other States, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee, though they had no such compact with the United States, added their clamor to hers, demanding, under threats of forcible ouster, the prompt removal of these tribes from their limits. In consequence of their persistence President Monroe sent a message to Congress, we think in 1824, in which he submitted a proposition for the removal of all the Indian tribes from the lands then occupied by them within the several States, and organized Territories east of the Mississippi, to the country west of that river, i. e., to Louisiana Territory. At that time neither Texas nor any part of the region west of the summits of the Rocky Mountain range, below latitude 42° north belonged to us. In that message President Monroe said, that "experience had demonstrated that in the present state of these Indian tribes it is impossible to incorporate them, in such masses, in any form whatever, into our system. It has been demonstrated with equal certainty, that without a timely anticipation of, and provision against the dangers to which they are exposed, under causes which it will be difficult if not impossible to control, their degradation and extermination will be inevitable. The great object to be accomplished is the removal of these tribes to the country designated, on conditions which shall be satisfactory to themselves and honorable to the United States. This can be done by conveying to each tribe a good title to an adequate portion of land to which it may consent to remove, and providing for it there a system of internal government which shall protect

DELAY IN transferring thHE INDIANS.

811

its property from invasion, and by regular progress of improvement and civilization prevent that degeneracy, which has generally marked the transition from one to the other state." President Monroe in this message overlooked two things, viz., that the lands to which he proposed to move these tribes were already held by other tribes whose title to them was better than ours; and that in our onward progress as a nation the time might come, as it has within little more than half a century, when the new lands to which he proposed to remove them would be demanded by the whites, and efforts made to drive them to some other region. Congress was not ready to act, and the matter went over to the administration of President John Quincy Adams. In 1826 the Secretary of War made a full and exhaustive report, in which he suggested many difficulties in carrying out such a project as President Monroe had advocated, and expressed his fears, "that should the removal be made, it would not be effective, since it was probable the same propensity which had conducted the white population to the remote regions which the Indians now occupy, will continue to propel the tide of immigration, till it is arrested only by the distant shores of the Pacific."

Notwithstanding these apprehensions, the Secretary of War felt it necessary to submit a plan and prepare a bill for the consideration of Congress, providing for this removal. Among the provisions of this bill were: that the country to the west of the Mississippi, to which the tribes should be removed, should be set apart for the exclusive abode of the Indians; that they should be removed as individuals or families, and not as tribes; and if circumstances should justify it, the tribal relation should eventually be dissolved, and the Indians amalgamated in one common nation, with a distribution, of the property among the individuals.

The great difficulty, that the Indian from past experience could not be induced to trust our promises, must in some way be obviated. Notwithstanding the urgency of the Southern people and the excited and anxious condition of the Indian tribes, no action was taken until 1830, the second year of General Jackson's administration, when Congress passed a law authorizing the President to cause the territory west of the Mississippi, to which

the original title had been extinguished, and which was not included within the limits of any State or organized Territory, to be divided into a suitable number of districts for the reception of such tribes or nations of Indians as might choose to exchange the lands on which they then resided, and to remove West. The law authorized the President to solemnly assure the Indian tribes with whom the exchange was made, that the United States would forever secure and guarantee to them and their heirs or successors, the country so exchanged with them.

The President, in pursuance of this law, offered the most solemn guaranties, on the faith of the nation, to the tribes that might be willing to make the exchange, and offered them transportation and certain annuities as a further inducement. Under this offer the larger part of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and subsequently the Seminoles, Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, Kickapoos, Pottawatomies, Chippewas of Roche de Bœuf, Sacs and Foxes, Wees, Piankashaws, Kaskaskias, Peorias, and other tribes, made the exchange, and were told that these lands should be their permanent homes forever. Except the tracts which were granted to the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, the remainder of the transplanted tribes were allotted lands within the boundaries of the present State of Kansas. Since the organization of that State, all these emigrant tribes have, notwithstanding these solemn guaranties and pledges, been removed to the Indian Territory, and their permanent homes taken from them.

The government purchased from the Creeks in 1867 a portion of their lands, which it still holds, as well as some other lands in the Territory, with the intention of placing other small bands of Indians there, when it has extinguished the titles to their lands elsewhere.

Efforts to Drive the Indians from their Territory.-Meanwhile, there has been a very strong pressure on the part of western adventurers, to enter upon these lands solemnly pledged to the Indians, with the ultimate purpose of crowding them out. During the last session of Congress, in May, 1880, a bill was introduced and strongly urged, for the organization of the Indian Ter

EFFORTS TO DRIVE the indIANS FROM TERRITORY.

813

ritory as a regular Territory under government control, by the name of Oklahoma. Thus far, the government has successfully resisted the encroachments of white settlers and adventurers upon this Territory, except the passage of one or two railways, and these, it is said, were asked for by the Indians; but the pressure is growing stronger every day, and unless the Indians agree to hold their lands in severalty or individually (under certain restrictions in regard to alienating them), it may require the whole military power of the nation to restrain these lawless adventurers from taking it by force. If the lands are allotted to the Indians in severalty, and they, as fast as they become civilized, become citizens, the surplus of their lands may be sold by the government as their guardian for their account and the amount received funded, furnishing a further annuity to each member of the tribes. There are now held by the United States Government funds invested for the Indian tribes to the amount of $5,180,066.84, besides $84,000 abstracted by officials at the beginning of the late civil war and not yet replaced. Of this amount $1,768,175.30 is held for the Cherokees; $1,308,664.82 for the Chickasaws; $513,161.70 for the Choctaws; $467,501.62 for the Delawares; $76,993.66 for the Creek orphans, and the remainder for other tribes, some of them those removed from Kansas in 1867.

If these measures can be effected without injustice and wrong, the time may come when a part of this great Territory may be legitimately opened to white settlement, and the Indian farmers be led, by the sharp competition which will follow, to become better agriculturists and better citizens than they would under any other circumstances. But until that time shall come, and it must, in any event, be several years hence, we cannot consider the Indian Territory as either a legitimate or desirable field for immigration.

CHAPTER VIII.

IOWA.

THE SITUATION OF IOWA-MEANING OF THE NAME-MIGRATION OF THE PAUHOO-CHEES THITHER IN 1690-ContemporanEOUSLY CLAIMED BY THE FRENCH ON ACCOUNT OF FATHER HENNEPIN'S DISCOVERY-WARS OF THE PAU-HOOCHEES, OR IOWAS, WITH THE SIOUX-FRENCH TRADING-POSTS ON THE RIVERSale of the PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA TO THE SPANISH IN 1763-RETROCESSION TO FRANCE IN 1800-SALE TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1803-SETTLEMENT OF JULIAN DUBUQUE THE WARS OF THE IOWAS AND SIOUX-A NEW ENEMY THE SACS AND FOXES ATTACK THEM, AND DRIVE THEM ACROSS THE MISSOURI, ABOUT 1828-GREAT REDUCTION IN NUMBERS OF THE IOWAS— WHITE SETTLEment CommenCED IN 1832-Death of BlacK HAWK-THE EVENTS IN CIVIL HISTORY OF IOWA TO ITS ORGANIZATION AS A STATE IN 1846-TOPOGRAPHY AND EXTENT OF IOWA-ITS SURFACE-RIVERS-LAKES— PRAIRIE AND TIMBER LANDS-BLACK WALNUT SHIPPED TO ENGLAND-GEOL OGY AND MINERALOGY-THE DRIFT, LOESS AND ALLUVIUM—CretaceoUS ROCKS-COAL MEASURES THE CHARACTER OF IOWA COAL-COMPARISON WITH EUROPEAN AND OTHER COALS-NO GOLD OR SILVER IN THE StateLEAD, IRON, Copper and Zinc-Lime-Building Stone-Gypsum CLAYSSOIL-MINERAL Paint-Spring and Well-water-NATURAL CURIOSITIES— CLIMATE, GENERAL REMARKS-PROFESSOR PARVIN'S TABLES-THE SIGNAL SERVICE STATISTICS OF THE RIVER CITIES-ZOOLOGY-SOIL AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS-IOWA AN Agricultural STATE-STATISTICS OF ITS CROPS -SPRING AND Winter Wheat-Stock-RAISING-DAIRY FARMING-POPULATION OF IOWA AT DIFFERENT PERIODS-RAILROADS AND STEAMBOAT LINESTHE STATE EASY OF ACCESS-PUBLIC LANDS-RAILROAD LANDS-STATE LANDS-PARTIALLY IMPROVED FARMS-MANUFACTURES IOWA AS A HOME IMMIGRANTS-EDUCATION-CHURCHES-FUTURE PROSPECTS OF THE

FOR

STATE.

Iowa, the name of one of the easternmost of the central belt of States and Territories composing "Our Western Empire," lying between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The name, which was that of a river within its bounds, and also of the Indian tribe which dwelt on the banks of that river, is said to mean, in the Indian tongue, "The Beautiful Land." The Indians who gave it and themselves this name were not the original inhabitants of this region, but migrated hither from the country of