History
Lumbering and woodworking have long been one of the principal industries in Iowa’s history.
Iowa is the 29th state of the United States, having joined the Union on December 28, 1846. The Midwest state of Iowa celebrated 15o years of statehood in 1996; that means the state has some glorious and modern history of the state for over 170 years.
The history of Iowa began with its Native American tribes. The Effigy Mound Builders were the first major group of pre-Columbian peoples who left traces. This culture (approximately 1,400 to 750 B.C.) existed in the Mississippi River Valley, and extended as far north as Lake Michigan and south through Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. But the modern historic period began with the arrival of the European explorers. The presence of western Siouan and Algonquian Indians and fur-bearing animals, lead, and other natural resources was reported for the Upper Mississippi Valley as early as 1634. The first Europeans to arrive Iowa were Louis Joliet and Father Jacques Marquette in June of 1673. Journals related to Jolliet-Marquette indicated that the summer village had nearly 300 lodges, laid out with streets. Prior to 1700 the Ioway and Oto, occupied a large village at Blood Run National Historic Landmark in northwest Iowa along the Big Sioux River. Blue glass beads, iron knives, and brass kettles have been found in excavations there. Mining of minerals like utilitarian and ornamental objects was a constant process for several centuries till 19th Century. In the early 1690s, Pierre Le Sueur reported lead mining in the Dubuque area, and Nicholas Perrot excavated in mines south of the Wisconsin River. The lead mining and smelting was integrated into the fur trade economy throughout 18th centuries. Julien Dubuque, a French-Canadian entrepreneur from Fort Michilimackinac (Michigan), received the gift of the use of a profitable lead mine from the Meskwakis in 1788. Eight years later, he applied for a 9 by 21 mile Spanish land grant, which was awarded by the Spanish Governor of Louisiana in New Orleans in 1796. The period from the 1760s through 1830s was a turbulent time when British and American challenged the French and Indian alliances. Regional conflicts stemming out of the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812 led to the breakdown of the French fur trade and barter economy and increased pressure from American encroachment. The Fort Madison was constructed in 1809, was the first U.S. Army outpost in the area with about 50-60 troops. A succession of British-allied Sauk and Winnebago Indian attacks during the War of 1812 forced its abandonment in 1813.
The Black Hawk Purchase treaty of June 1, 1833 allowed the legal settlement of non-Indian settlement in Iowa. An American land rush soon began following a series of treaties pushing Indians westward beyond the Missouri River. By 1851 all Indian lands in Iowa had been ceded to the U.S. government. General Land Office surveys quickly divided up public lands for sale, and the eastern cities of Burlington, Davenport, Dubuque, and others rapidly grew. According to the first census of Iowa Territory in 1836, population grew to 23,000. A new territorial capitol was established in Iowa City in 1839, and when statehood was announced in 1846 it became the first state capitol. Archaeological excavations at Plum Grove in Iowa City, the 1844 home of the first Governor of the Territory of Iowa, Robert Lucas, have aided the restoration of that Greek Revival building. The capitol was moved to the city of Des Moines in 1857. Des Moines quickly became a center for the insurance industry. With the completion of the railroads after the Civil War, western Iowa cities such as Council Bluffs, Fort Dodge, and Sioux City began to prosper. The mid-19th century saw the expansion of natural resource industries such as lumbering, milling, coal mining, and stone quarrying. The would be president Herbert Hoover was born in West Branch in 1874.On April 1, 1865, the steamboat Bertrand navigating up the Missouri River struck a snag and sunk at De Soto Bend. It was loaded with supplies headed for the gold fields of Montana Territory when it went down with its cargo. Following a rapid pioneer phase, a pattern of Midwest agriculture became established after the Civil War that remains essentially in place today. Iowa farms initially produced wheat, corn, soybeans, cattle, and hogs. Urban centers became increasingly interconnected with the national and international political economy via developing road, steamboat, rail, and air transportation networks, social and business ties, and involvement with the arts, religion, communications, education, and government.
The artifacts from the Iowa sites reveals glass beads and gunflints on 1600s-era Indian archaeological sites; 1700s-era beaver tokens melted down from French or Spanish coin silver; smelting furnace remains of the 1800s Welsh and Cornish miners who brought advanced mining techniques to the lead region; and remains of farmsteads, townsites, and mills abandoned over the 19th and 20th centuries.