Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/309



the Missouri River and agreed to remove to their Kansas reservation at the expiration of three years. Long before this treaty was ratified by Congress adventurous settlers crowded into the newly purchased Territory to secure the choice claims.

Governor Chambers called upon the War Department for troops to expel these intruders. Captain John Beach was sent with a detachment of the First Dragoons to perform that duty. He removed the squatters to the south side of the Des Moines River. In September, 1842, Captain James Allen, with Company K, was sent by way of Iowa City to establish a post on the Des Moines River to guard the Indian reservation from intruders. He marched his command to the Sac and Fox Agency, occupied a building belonging to the American Fur Company and named the post Fort Sanford, in recognition of the courtesy of Mr. J. Sanford, the agent of that company. The post was located on the left bank of the Des Moines River about sixty-five miles west of Fort Madison, four miles west of the Sac and Fox Agency and twenty-five miles north of the Missouri line. The nearest post-office was Fairfield, twenty-one miles distant. Fort Sanford was abandoned on the 17th of May, 1843 and Captain Allen proceeded with his command to the mouth of the Raccoon River. The settlers, in spite of the military guard, rushed in along the entire line by hundreds, to secure town sites, water powers and timber claims. The treaty was ratified by Congress and the title thus acquired to a vast tract of fertile land, estimated at 10,000,000 of acres.

The year 1842 brought to the people of Iowa severe financial depression, which had begun in the east two or three years earlier. The banks of the country had generally suspended specie payment and many had failed. The Miners’ Bank of Dubuque was the only one in Iowa. It had been badly managed and was soon compelled to suspend. Money was scarce throughout the Territory, [Vol. 1]