Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/152



of the Upper Iowa River on the west bank of the Mississippi, and ascending said Iowa River to its west fork; thence up the fork to its source; thence crossing the fork of the Red Cedar in a direct line to the second or upper fork of the Des Moines River; thence in a direct line to the lower fork of the Calument (Big Sioux) River, and down that to its junction with the Missouri River.

On the 15th of July, 1830, at a council held at Prairie du Chien, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of land twenty miles in width lying immediately south of the above named line and extending from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River.

At the same time the Sioux ceded to the United States a strip of the same width lying immediately north of the line. Thus the United States came into possession of a belt of land forty miles wide, extending from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River. This tract was known as the “Neutral Ground,” and the tribes on either side were allowed to hunt and fish on it unmolested until it was ceded to the Winnebagoes in exchange for their lands on the east side of the Mississippi River.

While occupying the “Neutral Ground” of Iowa, the Winnebagoes found themselves between the hostile Sioux on the north and the friendly Sacs and Foxes on the south. Their hunting grounds were along the Upper Iowa, Turkey, Wapsipinicon and Cedar rivers. On the 16th day of October, 1846, they were induced to cede their Iowa lands for a tract in Minnesota, north of St. Peter River, to which they soon after removed. For many years parties of them returned to hunt and trap along their favorite Iowa rivers until most of the game had disappeared.

One of their most noted chiefs was Wee-no-shiek, or Winneshiek, as now written, in whose memory an Iowa county is named. In the Winnebago war of 1827 young Winneshiek, who was but fifteen years of age, took an active part. He was captured by Colonel Dodge, but refused