Page:The Government of Iowa 1911.djvu/31

Rh The most important of these Indian land cessions were: the Black Hawk Purchase of 1832; the Keokuk Reserve of 1836; the Cession of 1837; and the Cession of 1842. (See Map I of Indian Cessions.) In all of these transactions the Indian was not always fairly dealt with. Here in Iowa history has again been repeated. An inferior race had to give way to the more energetic and enterprising Caucasian. The Indian is gone forever; but the names of our rivers, creeks, lakes, cities, counties, townships, and even the State itself perpetuate his memory.

The Earliest White Settlers. — Probably the first white settler within the present limits of the State of Iowa was Julien Dubuque, who crossed the Mississippi in 1788, made friends with the Indians, married a squaw, and obtained from the Indians a lease of the lead mines in the vicinity of the present city of Dubuque. A few other settlements were made during the last quarter of the eighteenth century under Spanish grants, some of which were afterwards confirmed by the United States government as valid claims.

The Permanent Settlement of Iowa. — After the Indian title had been extinguished by the Black Hawk Purchase, settlers began literally to pour into the Iowa country even before they were legally entitled to do so. From 1830 it became apparent that Iowa was destined to be a land of homes and permanent settlements. Towns sprang up with mushroom rapidity, some of which (such as Dubuque, Burlington, Davenport, and Keokuk) have continued to flourish and prosper. Others, like Napoleon, Buffalo, and