Des Moines County IA Archives History - Books .....Chapter VII Topography Of Des Moines County, Iowa 1915 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 August 11, 2008, 6:47 pm Book Title: History Of Des Moines County Iowa CHAPTER VII TOPOGRAPHY OF DES MOINES COUNTY, IOWA Before writing the history of Des Moines County, with its present territorial limits, as well as its people, we wish to know something of the natural features of the county, its streams, prairies, timber lands, and its altitude; where on the face of the earth it is located. The City of Burlington, its capital, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi River, in longitude 91° 7' Greenwich time, and in latitude 40° 40' north of the terrestrial equator. Near the center of the South Hill Square, the exact latitude north of the equator is 40° 48' 20". Longitude west from Washington 14° 3' 30". This makes the difference in time between Burlington and Washington fifty-six minutes and fourteen seconds sideral time. Until December 18, 1838, as we have stated, Des Moines County comprised all that territory north of Missouri to a line drawn from the lower end of Rock Island to the Missouri River. For the purpose of this history, we have called it Old Des Moines County. The territorial existence of Old Des Moines County extended from June, 1834, to December 18, 1836. On December 7, 1836, the Wisconsin Legislature passed an act which provided for the division of Old Des Moines County, and establishing the territorial limits of Lee, Des Moines and other counties. It established the territorial limits of Lee County as follows: "Beginning at the most southern outlet of Skunk River on the Mississippi; thence in a northern direction passing through the grove at the head of the northern branch of Lost Creek; and thence to a point corresponding with the range line dividing ranges 7 and 8; and thence south with said line to the Des Moines River; thence down the middle of the same to the Mississippi; and thence up to the place of beginning." It established the territorial limits of Des Moines County as follows: "Beginning on the Mississippi River at the northeast corner of Lee; thence up said river to a point fifteen miles above Burlington, on the bank of said river; thence on a westerly direction to a point on the dividing ridge between the Iowa River and Flint Creek, being twenty miles on a due west line from the Mississippi River; thence in a southerly direction so as to intersect the northern line of Lee at a point twenty miles on a straight line from the Mississippi River; thence east with the northerly line of said County of Lee, to the beginning, be and the same is hereby set apart into a separate county by the name of Des Moines." From the above description, the northeast corner of Des Moines County was at a point on the Mississippi River fifteen miles northeast of Burlington, and the northern line would be the boundary line between Huron, Yellow Springs, Washington and Pleasant Grove, Franklin, Benton and Jackson townships. The southern boundary line would be a line running due west from the -Mississippi River passing Patterson Station on the section line running east and west for twenty miles. On December 18, 1838, the Wisconsin Legislature, in session at I'.urlington, passed an act which took effect on its immediate publication, to establish the boundaries of Lee, Van Duron, Henry, Louisa, Muscatine and Slaughter (Washington) counties. It provided "The boundaries of Lee County shall be as follows: Beginning at the main channel of the Mississippi River due east from the entrance of Skunk River into the same; thence up the said river to where the township line dividing townships 68 and 69 north, leaves the said river; thence with said line between ranges 4 and 5 west." Section 3 of the act provided: "The boundaries of Des Moines County shall be as follows, to wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of Lee County; thence west with the northern line of said county to the range line between ranges 4 and 5 west; thence north with said line to the township line dividing townships 72 and 73 north; thence east with said line to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence down the same to the place of beginning; and the seat of justice of said county is hereby established at the Town of Burlington." It will be seen by this act that Skunk River was not the south boundary line of Des Moines County, except for a short distance. The eastern border of the county is washed by the Mississippi River. Here we will digress for a time to give the proper meaning of the word "Mississippi" in the Algonquin dialect. The name was spelled by Marquette in 1673 "Mississipy." Claude Dablon, 1671, "Mississippi." Francis L. Merciew, 1666, "Missipi." Hennepin, 1680, "Mschaspi." D. Cox, 1698, "Mischaspe." In Annals of Iowa, 1869, pages 200 and 201, appears the first of a series of articles by Dr. Isaac Galland, one of the first settlers in Iowa; who lived among the Indians, knew their language and customs, and was better qualified to speak on any subject concerning their language than any one of his time. He devotes a part of this article to the Mississippi River, a brief history of its discovery, and the etymology of the name. We quote what he says: "There are two sources from which we may trace generally the great confusion in all the names of rivers, lakes, nations and places, etc., to wit: 1st, the actual dialectic difference in pronunciation of the same name by the several different tribes, as for example, we give the following instances: English Sauk Chippewa River Se-pe Se-be Water Ne-pe Ne-be Fire Sku-tah Ish-ko-da Thunder Al-lem-o-kee An-nem-i-kee Death Neho Ne-bo Great Kit-che Git-che "2d. But still the most material difference in the correct enunciation of Indian words by European and other nations will be found in the varied orthography adopted by different writers to express the same sound (as in the examples given above in spelling the name of the river we call Mississippi). It should be borne in mind that the above names with the exception of D. Coxe, were Frenchmen, and they adopted a French orthography to enunciate the articulate sounds uttered by the Indians in pronouncing this name. ETYMOLOGY Indian English Mis-sisk Grass Mis-sisk-ke-on Weeds Mis-sis-que Medicinal herbs Mis-sis-ke-wau-kuk A field of exuberant herbage Mis-sku-tah (meadow) Prairie, from 'mis' The root of the term for herbage is shu-tack, i. e. fire, and literally signifies grass fire, or fire of herbage. The fitness of this name as applied to the vast native meadows of the West has been for ages past most forcibly impressed on the beholder, on witnessing the annual conflagrations of the immense masses of grass and other herbage which cover the whole face of the country, and when set on fire, and accompanied with wind, presents a scene, not easily described, and still more difficult to conceive without an actual view of the sublimity and splendor of the scene." He continues, saying: "From the annual scenes of vernal loveliness and autumnal desolation which the natives had witnessed from time immemorial, the former with pleasure, the latter with dismay, and which constituted .the prominent character of this great valley from all of the countries known to the natives. And it was from those distinctive features of the country, that their great native meadows were called 'Mis-ku-tah,' as already shown." But the native tribes who occupied the country on both sides of the river were denominated "Mis-sku-tem," which signifies "Meadow people," or "people of the meadows," while the great river which flows through these extensive meadows or fields of luxuriant herbage has, in like manner, received its name from the same source, as follows: "Mis-sis," being the two first syllables, and forming the radix of "Mis-sis-ke-wau-kuk," which signifies meadows, or more literally, "fields of exuberant herbage," or "River of Meadows." We have thus quoted largely from Doctor Galland, concerning the meaning of the word "Mississippi," for the reason that, in many of the encyclopedias, and in the public schools, it is taught that the word "Mississippi" in the Indian dialect, signifies "Father of Waters." The crest of Iowa, from which the water flows into the Mississippi, runs diagonally across the state and enters the State of Missouri at the southwest corner of Appanoose County. The highest point of this crest is near Spirit Lake, Dickinson County, being 1,250 feet above low water mark at Keokuk or 1,694 feet above sea level. At Creston in Union County, it is 1,355 feet above sea level, and about 885 feet above low water mark of the Mississippi at Burlington. The fall of the Iowa River from Iowa Falls to Iowa City is three feet and one inch per mile. From Iowa City to its mouth, two feet and four inches per mile. The fall of Skunk River from Colfax Station to Oakland, Henry County, is two feet and two inches per mile; and from Oakland to its mouth, one foot and a half per mile. Skunk River has the least fall of any river in Iowa which empties in the Mississippi. On each side of this river are the richest of bottom lands. The most important and the largest stream in Des Moines County is Flint Creek, which, with its tributaries, furnishes drainage to the western and northwestern portions of the county, and empties into the Mississippi a short distance above the City of Burlington. The greater portion of Des Moines County at the coming of the pioneer consisted of prairie land. The prairies were elevated plateaus, lying between streams, and sometimes almost surrounded by streams, on whose bottoms and adjoining lands for a distance of one, and sometimes two miles, grew an abundance of timber. On the bottom lands of those streams grew black and white walnut trees to an immense size, as well as the cotton wood, elm, maple, and some species of oak. On the adjoining high land grew the white and black oak, and hickory; while on the rough land bordering on the prairie, grew what was called scrub oak. The prairies were much higher than the adjoining timber lands, so much so, when one was out near the middle of a high prairie, he could only see the tops of the trees along the streams. Frequently the situation of the streams gave names to the prairies. Round Prairie in Yellow Springs Township was called such, because it was almost surrounded by streams, along which timber grew. The prairies themselves had certain features of their own, affording a system of drainage. There was a crest to each prairie from which the water flowed in sloughs in different directions into adjoining creeks. In these sloughs grew a species of prairie grass from two to three feet in height. Much has been written about those prairie lands, their formation, soil, and why it is that in the long past ages they had not become woodlands, but with all that has been written, no satisfactory explanation has been given. Their soil consists of a rich loam from ten to twenty inches or more in depth, and is particularly adapted to the production of maize, wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips, blue grass, timothy, and all the cereals grown in this latitude. They evidently had their beginning in the glacial period, when great ice sheets slowly through countless ages ground their way to the south, crushing and pulverizing the calcareous elements now found in the soil. In their slow, but irresistible southern journey, these ice sheets left behind them scattered in their pathway, boulders of granite of all sizes and shapes, which bear on their surface the scars of the terrific grinding process through which they passed. The soil of the prairies is such that it is not adapted to the growth of the hard woods, such as the oak and hickory; while the soft woods grow to a large size on prairie lands. The largest prairie in Des Moines County lay between Flint Creek and the Iowa River on the north, and its tributary streams. In width, it varied from eight to fifteen miles and extended in a northwesterly direction. The direction of this great plateau was northwesterly, lying between the Skunk River on the south, and the Iowa River on the north, through which ran Flint Creek. It joined the great prairie in the southeast part of the state. The prairies in this county had their termination in this great plateau. In the southern part of the county existed a prairie which lay between Skunk River on the south and Flint Creek on the north. It joined the great prairie at the head waters of Flint Creek. The state road leading from Burlington to Mount Pleasant was laid out through this prairie. No words are adequate to describe the beauty and grandeur of a great prairie. When looked upon in spring time, it presents one vast expanse of land, of gently sloping hills and level plains, clothed in a garment of green; a picture painted by the hand of the Creator, over which he has suspended a blue canopy of sky by an invisible thread. A gentle breeze caressing the tall feathery grass causes it to rise and fall in ripples, which reflect the rays of the sun as he pursues his course along the canopy of the sky. The tall rosin weed, with its yellow flowers, on which is perched the prairie lark, bows and nods, as the lark sings his song of joy; then, rising, with flapping wings, beating an ocean of air, he is borne aloft and lost in the blue ether of sky. No sound can be heard, save the song of the lark and the rustle of the blades of grass when touched by the fingers of the breeze. When night comes, the picture is changed. It is then darkness and empty space, through which blinking stars look down. Now it has no rim. There is nothing but star light above, blackness below, from which comes the cry of the wolf. When fall time comes, and the grass is turning to an ashen hue; when Indian summer has come, and a hazy mist fills the air, shutting out any distant view; when the sun, a red ball of fire up in the sky, pursues his course; then it is, the beholder feels the awful solemnity of life, and there comes into his heart the realization that he is a part of a universe subject to a universal law of death. Additional Comments: HISTORY OF DES MOINES COUNTY IOWA AND ITS PEOPLE By AUGUSTINE M. ANTROBUS ILLUSTRATED VOLUME I CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1915 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/desmoines/history/1915/historyo/chapterv54gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 15.0 Kb