Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-10-25
HOW IOWA WAS
GIVEN her NAME
SIGNIFICANCE OF TITLE GIVEN
THE BEST STATE IN THE
UNION is SHOWN.
or INDIAN ORIGIN
4 Authorities Differ as to Source, Some
Holding That Name Came From
River and Others That TX"
Was Dropped From kioWa.

Holding nat name NaHo FTo"
River and Others That tx"
Was Dropped From kiowa.
How Iowa came to be called Iowa ]:
the subject Of a lengthy story OF IN
dian history that goes beyond the az.
mission to statehood OF number o.
the middle western states. What the
name sisnifaes is also made an inter
esting part Of the tale which teens
with interest to the lover Of history OF
his or her own state.
Much has been written, most OF j.
speculative. respecting the origin o.
{ The name, and. who gave 1t to her &C
become g commonwealth.
Dropped Letter tx"
In 1929 a petition was sent to Dr.
William Brown, a member Of the
Michigan Territorial council from
Wayne county, praying for the estab-
Iishmcnt OF new county IN the ter
ritory south OF the Wisconsin river ana
west Of the Mississippi river, which
had been by congress attached 70
Michigan for, civil and judicial pur-
poses. A bill was prepared by Henry
r. Schoolcraft, In which was describ-
ed the boundaries Of the territory, to
be designated as county which ne
named "Kiowa." The bill was passed,
10 take effect Jan. I, 1880, but during
the discussion Of 1t, the letter X
was dropped, euphony being weightier
than sentiment, or Indian with the
venerable councilmen. That was the
first time the name was officially ap-
Piled to the territory. The bill also
provided for appointment of com
mission TO Ak the seat of Justice of the
county, but. nothing came OF 1t, and for
two years IT was without civil govern
ment or courts Of Justice. In 1882, the
council hisected the county with a
line running due west from the lower
end OF Rock Island to the Mississippi
river, the upper half to be the county
Of Dubuque, the lower half to be the
county 81 Des Moines, In which were
to. be located seats of justice and
courts established.
Mr.. .schoolcraft was the agent OF the
United States for the Chippewa, Sank
and Fox Indians, who occupied nearly
all the territory around the northern
lakes and had charge, Of all Indian at
fairs In the northwest. He made
treaties with them for the government
His headquarters were In Detroit. In
August, 1927. he came to Rock River,
in Illinois, to attend the making Of
treaty between the Menominees, Win
nebagoes and the United States com :
missioners, Lewis, Cass and McKem-
ney, at which he was witness for the
He lived amono the var
ious tribes for thirty-one years, ana
spoke their different dialects ,huently.
Al9onkin Origin.
He wrote History Of the Abort
gines OF North America" comprising
seven thick volumes, one Of which was
an exhaustive analysis and lexicon OF
the Algonkin language, one of the or
iginal tongues Of our continent. spok
en- by every tribe from the Chesapeake
to the Gulf OF st. Lawrence, and west
ward to Lake Superior and the Misels-
sippi dialects Of which were spoken
by the Indians under his charge. He
says the word, "Kiowa," Is Of Algonki1l
origin, and Is the equivalent OF the
place." that the language Is composed
largely Of gutteral sounds, and the let
ter az" occurs Frequently In 1t. Re-
ferring to Indian names found in Of
fetal documents. l find 1t occurs four
times In Black Hawks name. Muk-ka-
to -mish a ka-kaik seven times In the
names Of the nine Sank chiefs, twenty
one times in the twenty-four Fox
chiefs signed to the Black Hawk pur-
chase treaty Of 1890.
The Sank and Fox tribes, as near as
can be learned from their traditions,
originally came from Canada; that
they descened from the great Chippe-
va nation, which was Of Algonkin or.
u L
around the lakes, fighting the French
the Sioux, and others Indians to Fox
river. in 1880, the Sauks had become
20 decimated and weakened, that tor
mutual protection, union with the
'y-cwca was formed, which existed for
';ly a century. UnCer the compact
!. 4 was to be two chefs one OF war,
but in all matters respecting the sale OF
land, the two divisions must act to-
gether.
when they finally settled in the
Rock river section, the principal Sank
village was on the point Of land at the
forks OF Rock river with the Mississip-
pi, about four miles below Rock Is
other tribes on the south, to add to
their grounds for winter hunting. They
not onl.- drove away their inplacable
enemy, the Sioux, but a strong feder-
alton of other tribes, and became i'm
mensely prosperous. In that village
Black Hawk was born, in 1857, at what
Is now Rock Island. His father, Paw
was the war chief under the union
compact Black Hawk was not a born
chief, but at the age of 10. having
shown great bravery In killing and
scalping several Osages, he wac made
''brave" but could not paint. nor
wear feathers. When 10 years old, his
father was killed when fighting the
Cherokees, and Black Hawk became
his successor. Contemporaneous with
him was Keokuk, a chief Of the civil,
or peace division.
In 1880 treaty was made by the
United States and the confederation
under which the Indians sold their
land and agreed to move to the west
eide OF the, Mississippi river. Black
Hawk refused to sign the treaty,
claiming that his people did not get
what their land was worth: that It
aid not agree with the treaty Of 1904.
He became angry and went away for
two years then returned, peace was
arranged, he agreed. to the treaty and
crossed the Mississippi at the point
where Davenport now is, which he
safd was 'fKiowa.' He very soon went
on the warpath westward. broke UP
band of Sioux and drove them across
CsKiowa') river.
kiowa the Place.
AT Fort Armstrong was Antoine LIE
Claire. the official interpreter of the
a. tyih