Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-01
IOWA AND ITS RULERS
Three Foreign States Have Claimed Juris
diction.
Spain, France and England I'm Sue
ccssiGn Have Ruled It-Its Admis-
sion Into the Union.
From the Des Moines Gowa) Leader.

From the Des Moines Gowa) Leader.
At various times this state has been ruled
by the monarchs of Spain, France and Eng
land; that is, they have ruled it to the ex-
tent of giving 1t away to various people
whom they didn't dislike enough to behead.
The state of Iowa has been passed around
like a municipal franchise among people who
didn't appreciate 1t, and at last had to de-
velop itself without any foreign aid.
Capt. Frank Z. Landers, secretary of the
state executive council, is the author of
little work that has much merit as graphic
exposition of some of the most interesting
figures in connection with the history of the
st; tie 1t consists of book of MAPS show
ing the development of the territory that Is
now the state of Iowa, from the dawn of the
history of the western world. There are, in
all, about 100 maps, carefully drawn with
the pen, showing the state at each period
when some legislative or other change was
made to mark period or a development in
its history. They show, first. the develop
mentS or the territory and state, and, after
ward. the changes from time to time in the
congressional. legislative and judicial dis
trfcts; also the organization of the counties
and their changes in name On the margin
of each map are notes indicating the changes
and explaining the legislative CIR other en-
actments by which they were brought about.
The first alleged owner of the state OF
Iowa was Spain, which claimed everything
In the world for while, by virtue of the ac-
cidental discoveries of Columbus, who never
knew he had found new continent Then
John Cabot came along and discovered Lab
rador, and England claimed everything In
sight or out of sight on this account.
Capt. Landers presumably being of En-
glish extraction, doesn't pay any attention
to the other claims. and begins with that Of
England His first map is a simple outline
OF the state, marked plymouth territory"
The marginal notes explain that 1t was part
OF the territory granted to the Plymouth
grant comprised the territory between the
10th and 4sth degrees Of north latitude, from
the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Little Early for Railroads.
The Plymouth Company concluded not
to build any railroads west that year, and
the next map shows the state divided into
three zones. by east and west lines The
south and north zones still belong to the
Plymouth Company; the middle one to the
Massachusetts, Bay Company.
The next map shows the south zone own
ed by Lords Say. Seal and Brooke, by vir-
tue of another grant from the King of
England, who. whatever faults he may
have had. was good fellow about his land,
and gave 1t away freely.
After this there is map which shows
that the south part of the state belonged
10 Ine province OF virginia. Inc next
change is shown by the map for 1852,
which gives the whole north half of the
state to Massachusetts,. This grant in
cluded the site Of what has since become
famous as Sioux City. On the whole, it
would have been cheaper If Massachusetts
had held on while she had it. instead of
waiting go years and then lending all its
money on Sioux City town lots, and taking
the place under foreclosure.
The same map. which gave Massachu-
sets the north half of the state names
Connecticut as the owner of the next strip
south. The Connecticut people had at that
and for some time they held on to the
strip, for even at that time it was known
that Iowa had the most fertile soil on
earth.
1t was about this time that the French
began to claim rights in this territory.
They doubted the right of King James
and his successors to give away lot of
ground that they had never seen, and that
may be was not there at ALL So they sent
over a man named La Sale I'LL to find out
If there was such a country. He found it,
and advised his king, Louis XIV, TO go to
giving 1t away, too, just by way of mani
Testing an interest in it and establishing a
claim. For in the peculiar system Of gen.
erosity which kings and Dotentates affect.
the giving away Of thing gives them
q peculiar and inalienable right to it, So
Louis gave the entire Mississippi Valley to
Anthony Cruzart. Mr.. Cruzart, however,
was infatuated with the effete and Iaxu-
coded the country back to the king. who
gave it away again. this time to the west
ern company
This company was as unappreciatve as
its predecessor and after raising corn and
potatoes in it's minds eye for three years,
got discouraged, and coded the whole back
to the king.
Part of Louisiana.
After awhile. along in the latter part Of
the eighteenth century. France coded
large part of the western hemisphere to
England, including all that section west of
the Mississippi river. But the next time the
thing appears the entire state of Iowa is
named Province of louisiana" having been
receded to Frarce. Finally in 1908, the
United States bought from France the Prov
ince Of Louisiana. and Iowa for the first
time became part of the United States.
The next map shows the state labeled
District of Louisiana" A district was a
sort of overgrown county in those days, and
the district Of louisiana was under the con-
troll of the governor and the judges of In
diana territory. After this the territory of
Louisiana was established. 1t was ruled by
. governor and three judges, appointed by
the President-that Is, 1t was nominally rul-
ed in this way. AS matter of fact, the three
Judges. the governor and the President at
that time supposed there was nothing here
except a section of the Great American Des-
ert They regarded it probably as somewhat
less valuable than the territory of Alaska is
now esteemed.
The next map, dated 1912, shows the state
marked Territory of Missouri" 1t was
part of one of the territories carved out of
the Louisiana purchase. After awhile, when
Missouri was made state, the name, which
was about the only thing to Indicate that it
had any connection with civilization, was
changed to Territory of Michigan" and
Iowa was for awhile a dependency of Michi-
gan. which was then about one-thrd rs
large as the whole of Europe. At this time
appears the first subdivision of the state.
The Blackhawk Indian boundary. about
forty miles west of the Mississippi, and
practically parallel to it, marked the terri
tory, which was then open to white settle
ment. The county of Dubuque included most
of the eastern end of the state. The other
county included the southeast corner of the
state, and was named Domino. The import
ed style of spelling had not at that time been
adopted: the people of the section were poor,
and they managed, by hook or crook, to
struggle along with the domestic article of
spelling of a French name There is no
more pleasing evidence of the early devel-
opment of culture in the great west than the
fact that at an early date the people of
Iowa discovered that their homespun sys-
tenn of spelling was too old fashioned, and
adopted the Partisan article. But for their
forethought the capital of Iowa might be
an ordinary place instead of a French city.
Joined to WISCONSIN,.