The Meskwaki tribe was the last Native American tribe to live in Iowa and hunt on Owl Acres. Before they came to Iowa, though, they had a long history of conflict and migration. Their name, which translates People of the Red Earth, speaks to their origins in the St. Lawrence River Valley in northeastern Canada. Their legend places them on Lake St. John north of modern-day Quebec. Throughout their history, they have been closely allied with the Sauk, which means People of the Yellow Earth, or the People of the Outlet. The Sauk lived near what is modern-day Montreal.
Both tribes lived in the woodlands of their origin story until sometime before 1600 when the Iroquois invaded the St. Lawrence River Valley and pushed them out of their ancestral territory. The Meskwaki and the Sauk fled south and settled along the Connecticut River. In time, the majority of both tribes moved west to the Great Lakes, where they hunted and lived on land from the Niagara River to the Genesee River. Another war with the Iroquois sent them fleeing down the Ohio River where they settled for a time before migrating into Michigan. The Meskwaki settled in what is now Detroit, and the Sauk chose Saginaw Bay for their home. This is where the French found them in 1634. In 1650, they were driven out of Michigan by the Chippewas, Ottawas and neutrals who had allied with the French. Over the next ten or fifteen years, the Meskwaki traveled to Wisconsin Territory where they eventually settled on the Fox River. They gained control of the Fox River where it connects with Lake Winnebago, and in this position were able to control fur trade and charge tolls along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. By 1680, the Meskwaki had built a large, fortified summer village along the banks of the Fox. The village was surrounded by a palisade of stakes. Outside the palisade they dug a deep ditch.
By this time the French had a strong presence in the area, and they were not pleased to have to pay tolls to the Meskwaki. They started a war of annihilation with the Meskwaki which would last from 1701 to 1735. The French dubbed the Meskwaki the “Renards,” or Foxes, because of their control of the Fox River. The name stuck, and followed the Meskwaki through the next two centuries. Meanwhile, although the French were unable to completely eliminate the Meskwaki people, by the end of the war many women and children remained in Canada as slaves of the French. The rest of the members of the tribe were forced to move south into Illinois, Iowa and Missouri along with their allies the Sauk.
Between 1736 and 1780, the Meskwaki and their allies the Sauk, occupied the territory of Iowa, Illinois west of the Illinois River, and Missouri north of the Missouri River. This gave them control of both sides of the Mississippi River from Prairie Du Chen to St. Louis. The Sauk settled at Rock Island, and the Meskwaki had settlements at Davenport and Dubuque, including the Galena lead mines. At this time, the two tribes became known as the Sac and Fox of the Mississippi River. Over the next sixty years, the two tribes would be treated as a single entity by the United States Government, and treaties were variously signed by the Sac and Fox or the Sauk and Fox.
The first of these treaties occurred in 1804, just after the Louisiana Purchase. As the Meskwaki tell the story, a Meskwaki killed an Anglo who was trying to rape his wife. The Meskwaki was arrested for murder. Negotiations to free the native included ceding 17 million acres of land in Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. The natives were allowed to live on this land until the U.S. government sold it to European settlers. Land-hungry Europeans however, did not honor this agreement, and squatters moved in wherever they could. By 1828 the Sauk left their villages and crossed the Mississippi into Iowa where they established villages on the Des Moines River. The Meskwaki also moved, abandoning the lead mines and settling on the Iowa River. As soon as the natives left, Europeans rushed into the area, taking over the villages and lead mines.
In 1832 a warrior named Blackhawk and a small band of Sauk tried to retake their village east of the Mississippi. They were defeated, and the tribes were forced to cede another 11.2 million acres, this time west of the Mississippi.
The final blow was dealt in 1842 when, under pressure from the U.S., the final treaty was signed between the Sac and Fox tribes and the U.S. Government. Signing for the Sauk was Chief Keokuk, and Chief Poweshiek signed for the Meskwaki. The terms included ceding the remainder of Iowa to the U.S. Government. In exchange, the chiefs would each receive $500 per year and the tribes would receive interest on $800,000 at the rate of five percent per year in perpetuity. This amounted to $40,000 per year, $30,000 of which was to be kept and doled out by the Indian agent in the area. The natives were also allowed to remain in Iowa for the next three years, with their removal date to be October 11, 1845. However, during the three years, they were required to remain west of a line that runs north and south of a spot on the Des Moines River called the Painted Rocks. This line runs about a quarter of a mile west of Owl Acres.
Photo by Library of Congress