Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-03-01
WHY IOWA CAME TO BE CALLED
IOWA.
(By l.. F. Andrews.


in the union-a state of certainties,
it is proper that her own people
should know more about her, who
named her, and what the name sig
nifies.
Much has been written, most of it
speculative, respecting the origin OF
the name, and who gave it to her
to become a commonwealth.
In 1929 petition was sent to DR..
William Brown, member of the
Michigan Territorial council from
Wayne county, praying for the es-
Enlistment of new county in the
territory south of the Wisconsin riv-
er and west of the Mississippi river,
which had been by congress attach
ed to Michigan for civil and judicial
purposes. A bill was prepared by
Henry r.. Schoolcraft, in which was
described the boundaries of the ter
ritory, to be designated as county
which he named "Kiowa." The bill
was passed, to take effect Jan. l.,
1880, but during the discussion of
it, the letter tx" was dropped, eu-
phony being weightier than senti-
ment, or Indian with the venerable
councilmen. That was the first time
the name was officially applied to
the territory. The bill also provid-
ed for appointment of commission
to fix the seat of justice of the coun-
ty, but nothing came of it, and for
two years it was without civil gov
eminent or courts of justice. In
1882, the council bisected the coun-
ty with 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 OF
Des Moines, in which were to be
located seats of justice and courts
established.
MIR. 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 affairs 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 a treaty be-
tween the Menominees, Winneba-
goes and the United States commits
sioners, Lewis, Cass and Mckinney
at which he was witness for the
government. He lived among the
various tribes for thirty-one years,
and spoke their different dialects
fluently. He wrote a History OF
the Aborigines of North America
comprising seven thick volumes,
one Of which was an exhaustive an
alysis and lexicon of the Algonkin
language, one of the original
tongues of our continent, spoken by
every tribe from the Chesapeake to
the Gulf of st. Lawrence, and west
ward to Lake Superior and the Miss
issippi, dialects of which were spok-
en- by the Indians under his charge.
He says the word, "Kiowa," is of
Algonkin origin, and Is the equival-
ent OF "the place." that the Ian
guage is composed largely of gut
teral sounds, and the letter tx" oc-
ours frequently in it. Referring to
Indian names found in official docu-
ments, / find it occurs five times in
Black Hawks name, Muk-ka-ta-
mish-a-ka-kaik, seven times in the
names of the nine Sank chiefs, TWEEN
ty-four Fox Chiefs signed to the
Black Hawk purchase treaty Of
1880.
The Sank and Fox tribes, as near
as can be learned from their tradi-
tions, originally came from Canada I:
that they descended from the great
Chippewa nation, which was of AL
gonkin origin. In their migration
westward around the lakes, fighting
the French, the Sioux, and other In
dams to Fox river, in 1880, the
Sauks had become so decimated and
weakened. that for mutual protec-
ton, union with the Foxes was
formed, which existed for nearly a
century. Under the compact there
was to be two chiefs, one of war,
or fighting, the other of civil affairs
but in all matters respecting the
sale of land, the two divisions must
act together.
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 Mississippi, about four miles be-
low Rock Island. They at once be-
San subjugating other tribes on the
south, to add to their grounds for
winter hunting. They not only
drove away their implacable enemy,
the Sioux, but strong federation OF
other tribes, and became immensely
prosperous. In that village Black
Hawk was born, in 1867, at what is
now Rock Island. His father, Paw
he-se, son of Na-mah-kee, or Thun-
der, was the war chief under the
union compact. Black Hawk was
not born chief, but at the age of 15
having shown great bravery in kill
ing and scalping several Osages, he
was made a brave" but could not
paint, nor wear feather. 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, OF
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
side 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 did not agree with the treaty OF
1904. He became angry and went
away for two years then returned
a peace was arranged, he agreed to