The Meskwaki and Sauk people were driven from their ancestral home in northeastern Canada, through Massachusetts, to the Great Lakes, and eventually into Iowa by 1735. Until 1803, Iowa remained part of the territory claimed first by the French (1699-1762), then the Spanish (1762-1800), and then again, the French (1800-1803). In spite of what the European kings said, the land remained Indian territory and was theoretically closed to American settlers.
The Louisiana Purchase changed all that. It comprised everything from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Rio Grande to the Canadian border including the cities of St. Louis and New Orleans. And now it belonged to the Americans.
In 1804, just one year after the purchase was complete, the U.S. Government forced the Sauk and Fox Confederacy, as the U.S. dubbed them, to sign the first of the series of treaties that would dispossess them of all lands in Iowa and force their removal to Kansas.
The last of the series of treaties was signed in 1842. It allowed the tribes to stay in Iowa for three years as long as they stayed west of the line that ran north and south of the Painted rocks on the Des Moines River. This line runs about a quarter mile west of Owl Acres.
The Sauk and Meskwaki were required to leave by October 11, 1845, cross Iowa and the Missouri River and settle on land in east central Kansas.
The way the Meskwaki tell the next part of the story is that the Sauk left in an orderly and peaceful manner by the first of October under the leadership of Chief Keokuk. Meanwhile, The Meskwaki left in small groups at different times, making it very difficult for the Indian agent to keep track of them. Once they arrived in Kansas, if they did arrive there at all, they began sneaking back into Iowa. Over the next several years, the Meskwaki returned to Iowa and congregated on land on the Iowa River near present-day Tama. In time, they reestablished themselves in Iowa, and by 1856 under the name of the Sac and Fox of Iowa, they obtained permission from the Iowa legislature to live in Iowa and to purchase land on the Iowa River where they had previously lived. In 1857 the Meskwaki tribe purchased 80 acres of land along the Iowa River. This gave them a unique status as landowners rather than reservation-dwellers. In 1857, as a result of their continuous advocacy and support from some recent immigrants, the Iowa Legislature passed a law allowing the 200 or so who were present in Iowa to remain. Petitions for their removal continued to be filed with the Bureau of Indian Affairs for another 30 years, but their legal land ownership and unique status protected them.
Today they own some 7,778 acres. They continued their traditional lifestyle for many years, setting up winter camps like the one alluded to on the river near Owl Acres.
Because of the changes in the land from prairie to farmland, and the loss of game due to overhunting and ecosystem changes, they eventually were forced to give up many of the old ways and find new ways to survive. Today that includes modern houses (some with wickiups in the back yard) modern schools, employment in modern industry, and a thriving casino.
And the Sauk? That permanent home in east central Kansas became as temporary as the rest. In 1869, they were removed once again, this time to Oklahoma.
My dad had a collection of arrowheads he found on the Iowa farm where I grew up. Those arrowheads are testimony to the lives of the people who crossed that place over thousands of years. We haven’t found any arrowheads on Owl Acres, but it’s easy to believe that there are, somewhere on this land, traces of the people who once lived and hunted here.
On a quiet evening, the echoes of life lived in harmony with the wind and the sun tickle the senses. The ghosts of men and women who lived and died, worked and played, mourned and rejoiced, whisper in the silence.
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1 comment
Beautifully written Karen, thank you!