Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/264



Des Moines River, via Moffett’s mill, Burlington, Wapello and Dubuque, to a point opposite Prairie du Chien.

It was during this year, 1836, that Dr. Isaac Galland established the second newspaper in the limits of Iowa, at Montrose, and called it the Western Adventurer. Two years later he moved to Fort Madison, and the paper was purchased by James G. Edwards, who converted it into an organ of the Whig Party, changing the name to the Fort Madison Patriot. The first number of the Patriot published a bill which had been introduced into Congress by the territorial delegate, George W. Jones, for a division of the Territory of Wisconsin, and the creation of a new Territory west of the Mississippi River to be named Iowa. The editor of the Patriot, in an article on the subject, writes:

“If a division of the Territory is effected, we propose that Iowans take the cognomen of ‘Hawkeyes’: our etymology can thus be more definitely traced than that of the ‘Wolverines,’ ‘Suckers’ and ‘Hoosiers,’ and we can rescue from oblivion a memento at least of the old chief.”

The suggestion met with general favor and the people of Iowa from that day became known as “Hawkeyes.”

The second session of the Wisconsin Legislature assembled at Burlington (in Iowa) on the first Monday in November, 1837. Previous to its meeting, a call had been issued for a convention of delegates from the west side of the Mississippi River to assemble at Burlington on the 6th of November, for the following purposes:

First—To memorialize Congress to pass an act granting the right of preëmption to actual settlers on government lands.

Second—To memorialize Congress on the subject of an attempt by the State of Missouri to extend her northern boundary so as to embrace territory claimed as a part of Wisconsin.

Third—To memorialize Congress for the organization