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History of Cedar
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History of Cedar County"Westward the Star of Empire takes its way." General Summary.The first white occupant of any part of the territory included in the great State of Iowa, of which history gives any account, was Julien Dubuque, an adventurous Frenchman, who commenced working the lead mines in the vicinity of the site of the city that now bears his name and perpetuates his memory, in 1788. Dubuque is said to have been a Canadian Frenchman, and probably obtained his first knowledge of the Upper Mississippi country from the reports left by James Marquette and Louis Joliette, who were authorized by the French government of Canada, in 1673, to "start from the Straits of Mackinaw and find out and explore the great river lying west of them," of which they had heard marvelous accounts from the Indians about Lake Michigan. Marquette and Joliette, accompanied by five boatmen, left the southern extremity of Green Bay and ascended Fox River in small canoes to the headwaters of that stream, and thence carried their canoes and provisions across to Wisconsin River. Again launching their canoes, they floated down that stream and entered the Mississippi on the 17th day of June, 1673. "When we entered the majestic stream," wrote Marquette, " we realized a joy we could not express." Quietly and easily they were swept down to the solitudes below, filled, no doubt, with wonder and admiration as they beheld the bold bluffs and beautiful meadows along the western bank of the Father of Waters, then revealed for the first time to the eyes of white men. This was the discovery of Iowa -- the "Beautiful Land." At this time, and until 1788, this newly discovered territory was inhabited only by tribes of Indians, of whom we have but a vague and unsatisfactory history. Marquette and Joliette left but a very brief statement concerning them, and that statement is summed up in a very brief paragraph On the 21st day of June, 1673, the fourth day of their journey down the Mississippi, they landed on the west bank and "discovered footprints of some fellow mortals and a little path leading into a pleasant meadow." They followed that trail a short distance, when they heard the Indians talking, and making their presence known by a loud cry, they were conducted to an Indian village, the location of which, by some has been conjectured was near the Des Moines River. Other authorities, with a reasonable degree of plausibility, have claimed that it was not far from the present site of the city of Davenport. The inhabitants of this Indian village are said to have been of the Illini, (note: Tribe of men.) who are supposed to have occupied a large portion of the country bordering on the Mississippi. The Illini were succeeded by the Winnebagoes, who in turn gave place to the Iowas. The Iowas, after having been defeated in a sanguinary conflict by the Sacs and Foxes, (Note: The Sauks or Saukies (white clay), and the Foxes or Outagamies (so called by the Europeans), and Algonquins, respectively, but whose true name is Mus-quak-ki-uk (red clay), are in fact but one nation. When the French Missionaries first came in contact with them in 1665, they found that they spoke the same language, and that it differed from the Algonquins, though belonging to the same stock. -- Albert Gallatin.) yielded up their prairie homes to the victorious foe, and sullenly retired to more peaceful hunting grounds farther west, leaving the name as an unfading remembrance to the flourishing State that now occupies their aboriginal possessions. For a period of one hundred years following this discovery, or until 1763, France claimed jurisdiction over the country thus discovered by Marquette and Joliette, when that government ceded it to Spain, but in 1801 the Spanish Government ceded back to France all interest in the Mississippi Valley, and, under treaty dated April 30, 1803, the First Consul of the French Republic ceded these possessions to the United States. It was while under the dominion of the Spanish Government in 1788, that Dubuque found his way to the Galena section of Iowa and obtained from Blondeau and two other chiefs of the Fox tribe of Indians, what he claimed was a grant of lands. His claim was described as "seven leagues (21 miles) on the west bank of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Little Maquoketa River to the Tete Des Moines, and three leagues (9 miles) in depth. This grant from the Indian chief Blondeau was subsequently qualifiedly confirmed by Carondelet, the Spanish Governor at New Orleans. Dubuque intermarried with the Indians among whom he had cast his fortunes, and continued to operated his mines (employing about ten white men), until the time of his death in 1810. In 1854, a case having been made, the United States Supreme Court decided that his grant from the Indian chief Blondeau, qualifiedly confirmed by the Spanish Governor, Carondelet, was nothing more than a "temporary license to dig ore, and constituted no valid claim to the soil." -- [16 Howard Rep., 224.] March 16, 1804, the boundary line between Upper and Lower Louisiana was established. The lower country was called the Territory of New Orleans, and the upper country the District of Louisiana. The District of Louisiana embraced the present States of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota, and was attached to the Territory of Indiana for political and judicial purposes. In 1807, Iowa was organized with the Territory of Illinois, and in 1812, it was included in the Territory of Missouri. In 1821, when Missouri was admitted into the Union as a sovereign and independent State, Iowa was left, for a time, as a "political orphan," in which condition she remained until attached to Michigan Territory, in June, 1834. Under an act of Congress, approved April 20, 1836, which went into effect July 3, of the same year, the territory now comprising the States of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota was organized as Wisconsin Territory, and Henry Dodge appointed Governor. "At the close of the Black Hawk war," says Hon. C. C. Nourse, in his State Address, delivered at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, Thursday, September 7, 1876, "and on the 15th of September, 1832, General Winfield Scott concluded a treaty at the present site of the City of Davenport (on the grounds now occupied by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Depot. -- Ed.) with the confederate tribes of Sac and Fox Indians, by which the Indian title was extinguished to that portion of Iowa known as the "Black Hawk Purchase." This was a strip of land on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the western boundary of which commenced at the southeast corner of the present county of Davis; thence to a point on Cedar River, near the northeast corner of Johnson County; thence northwest to the neutral grounds of the Winnebagoes; thence to the Mississippi to a point above Prairie du Chien, and contained about six million acres of land. By the terms of this treaty, the Indians were to occupy this land until June 1, 1833." Under the jurisdiction of Michigan Territory this strip was divided into tow counties -- Dubuque and Des Moines -- being divided by a line commencing at the flag-staff at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island), and thence running due west forty miles. In 1836, when the first census of this district of country was taken, the population of the counties of Dubuque and Des Moines aggregated 10,531. At the first session of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature, held in 1836, the counties of Des Moines, Lee, Van Buren, Henry, Muscatine and Cook, now called Scott, and Slaughter (now Washington) were organized out of the original Des Moines County. At the second session, which convened at Burlington, Des Moines County, in November, 1837, Dubuque County was sub-divided, and the following counties erected therefrom: Dubuque, Clayton, Fayette, Delaware, Buchanan, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Benton, Clinton and Cedar. Descriptive Geography -- Indian Names --
Timber. Cedar County is twenty-four miles square, composed of Congressional Townships 79, 80, 81 and 82 north of Ranges 1, 2, 3 and 4, west of the Fifth Principal Meridian, and is bounded north by Jones County, east by Clinton and Scott, south by Muscatine, and west by Johnson and Linn. Cedar River enters the county on its west side, some nine miles south of the northwest corner, and running in a southwesterly direction, passes out of the county at or near the center of the southern boundary. The Wapsipinicon River flows through the northeast corner, and both are skirted by large belts of timber. There are also numerous small groves upon their tributaries through the central portion of the county. These rivers, together with the streams, creeks and spring runs, which meander through the prairies, have peculiarly adapted the county to stock raising, and those who have engaged in the business have found it largely remunerative. Cedar River, from which the county derives its name, was so called from the fact that prior to the settlement of the country by the whites, large quantities of red cedar were found on its banks, principally in what are now Benton and Black Hawk Counties, much of which was cut and rafted down the river by outlaws from the Mississippi before the Government survey of the Territory. The Indian name of the river is Mosk-wah-wak-wah, meaning Red Cedar, the literal translation being Moskwah, red; wakwah, cedar or cedar tree. (Note: This information respecting the Indian name of Cedar River was given to the writer in 1859 by Antoine LeClaire, of Davenport, who was considered the highest authority upon all subjects relating to the Indians, and was, undoubtedly, the most accomplished Indian linguist of his day.) The Wau-bis-e-pin-e-ka, orthographically modified to Wapsipinicon, has retained its aboriginal name, and translated, would by waubis, white; pinekas, potato; so that, if rendered into English, it would be the White Potato River. Wau-bis-e-no-noc, the Indian name of both branches of the small stream in Iowa Township, in English would by White Paps or White Breasts. Anamosa is a Chippewa word for dog or dog pup. Maquoketa is a Chippewa word for high bank. Wakoah is a Saukie word for fox. For agricultural purposes, Cedar is considered one of the best counties in the State. The soil is a deep, black loam, underlaid with clay, and is unsurpassed for richness and fertility. The prairies are high and rolling, supplied with a fair proportion of timber and an abundance of good water. It presents all the natural advantages to secure to its industrious citizens a bountiful harvest and comfortable and happy homes. Its physical and agricultural character is well described by Prof. David Dale Owen, in his geological survey. He says:
Timber, etc. The same authority says:
The timber consists of White Oak, Quercus Alba; Black Oak, Quercus Tinctoria; Red Oak, Quercus Rubra; Burr Oak, Quercus Macrocarpa; Hickory, Carya Alba; Elm, Ulmus Americana; White Maple, Acer Dasycarpum; Sugar Maple, Acer Saccharinum; Linden, or Basswood, Tilia Americana; Cottonwood, Monilifera; Oak predominating. The natural fruits are crab apple, wild cherry, plum and grape. Geology. No thorough geological survey of the county has ever been made, continues Judge Tuthill. In the Spring of 1849, David Dale Owen and his party made a somewhat hasty examination of several localities. In his report, he says:
Doctors, we know, will disagree, but in this case the difference of our learned Professors is really unimportant, the Devonian being the geological formation that immediately overlies the Upper Silurian, and, as both are below the carboniferous coal measures, we must in either case give up the idea of finding coal in Cedar County in paying quantities; and it will perhaps be good policy to give up also the dream of native silver, which some of our enthusiastic Rochester (Note: See chapter devoted to Rochester for a full history of the Rochester silver mining excitement.) friends have indulged in, for Dr. White says:
This rock is of the Devonian age, and consists of more or less irregular layers and concretions of carbonate of lime, occasionally having fine crystalline specs of iron pyrites disseminated through it. A number of specimens of this rock have been obtained both by personal selection and from persons interested in knowing the facts in the case. These have been carefully analyzed by Prof. Emory, and the result is that no trace of silver has been detected in any instance.
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