Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/246



is found in any public records was in 1829. At a session of the Legislature of the Territory of Michigan held in Detroit that year an act was passed and approved on the 9th of October by which all of the territory lying south of the Wisconsin River, west of Lake Michigan, east of the Mississippi River and north of Illinois, was formed into a new county, called Iowa, and the county-seat was located at Mineral Point.

A petition was sent in by the citizens of Mineral Point to Dr. William Brown, a member of the Council from Wayne County, praying for the establishment of a new county. He presented it on the 14th of September and it was referred to the Committee on Territorial Affairs. Henry K. Schoolcraft, the distinguished author of Indian books, who was a member of the Council, reported a bill to organize the county of Iowa, which became a law. It cannot now be ascertained who drafted this bill, but it lies between Dr. Brown and Mr. Schoolcraft. One of them undoubtedly suggested the name Iowa; but what the name signified, or from whence it was derived, will probably always remain an unsettled problem.

George Catlin, who became a famous Indian painter and historian, spent several months in Iowa during his tours among the Indians. He made a trip up the Des Moines Valley about this time and thus describes it:

“The whole country that we passed over was like a garden, wanting only cultivation, being mostly prairie. Keokuk's village is beautifully situated on a large prairie on the bank of the Des Moines River. Dubuque is a small town of about two hundred inhabitants, all built within two years. It is located in the midst of the richest country on the continent. The soil is very productive, and beneath the surface are the great lead mines, the most valuable in the country. I left Rock Island about eleven o'clock, and at half-past three I ran my canoe on the pebbly beach of Mas-co-tine Island. This beautiful island is so called from a band of Indians of that name, who once dwelt upon it, is twenty-five or thirty miles in length, without a habitation on it, or in sight, and throughout its whole extent is one great lonely prairie. It has high banks fronting on the river, and extending back as far as I could see, covered with a high and luxuriant growth of grass. The river at this place is nearly a mile wide. I spent two days strolling