First Iowans
The Ioway Indians and Paleo Indians were the first known inhabitants of Iowa.
For prehistoric Iowa, the four periods of human activity from earliest to most recent are the Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland and the Late Prehistoric period, during which the Great Oasis, Nebraska (the Glenwood), Mill Creek and Oneota cultures thrived. The Paleoindian period was about 12,000 years ago. The Archaic period in Iowa was between 10,000 and 3,000 years ago. The Woodland period began about 300 B.C.E. in Iowa and lasted about 1,000 years. The late prehistoric period began about 900 C.E.
Paleo-Indians living between 9500 and 7500 BC probably traveled through Iowa hunting various animals including some - like the mammoth, mastodon and giant bison that are now extinct. However, there is no documented site of a permanent settlement of these people in the area we now call Iowa. By the early Archaic Period (7500 - 5500 BC), however, there is evidence that small numbers of people lived in Iowa, at least on a seasonal basis. There is evidence of artifacts like spear points and serrated and beveled blade edges. Populations increased through the late Archaic Period (2500 - 500 BC) and there is evidence of burial sites and more permanent settlements.
In the Woodland period (through 1000 AD), and the Late Prehistoric time (1000 - 1650) we can see that native people were adjusting to the prairies. There were planting corn, building earth-lodge houses and hunting bison for meat and hides. Historians believe that native people belonging to the Oneota culture were the primary inhabitants of Iowa. These people had large villages with both single dwellings for one family and longhouses for many families. They lived by fishing, hunting, collecting plants, and cultivating other crops.
When early European explorers first saw the land of Iowa in the late 1600s, many Indian groups lived or hunted there. The Iowa, Miami, Ottawa, and Sioux tribes lived along the Mississippi River. The Omaha, Oto, and Missouri tribes lived in the western part of the state.
After 1650, these native people began to have contact with European explorers and traders, and this relationship drastically changed the nature of native society. Whites competed with native people for land and for the use of other natural resources, and native people began to depend upon trading with whites for their livelihood. One of the most important tribal groups in Iowa was the Mesquakie. The Mesquakie had once lived in Michigan and Wisconsin, but had been pushed westward by white settlement, first into Illinois, and by 1750, into Iowa. However, further white pressure led to Mesquakie lands being given to new settlers throughout the early 1800s. By the 1850s, almost all of the original inhabitants of Iowa had been moved off their homelands to settlements further west.Although the Iowa Indians were not the most numerous or the greatest importance historically, they are first mentioned because it was this tribe that gave the Hawkeye State its name, and they were probably the first Indians to establish themselves in the Iowa counties of Chickasaw and Howard, included in this history.
Native American Indians in Iowa were; the Iowa, Sac, Fox, Sioux, Winnebago and Potawatomi.
IOWA 1690 First mentioned in history as living on the shores of Lake Michigan, under a chief called Man-han-gaw.
This tribe migrated no less than fifteen times. Over a period of years they lived on the Rock River in Illinois, the valley of the Iowa River in Iowa, Des Moines River valley, on to the Missouri River, then to the area of South Dakota, and back to northwestern Iowa, about Spirit Lake and headwaters of the Des Moines and Big Sioux rivers.
1700 After living on the Rock River in Illinois for several years the tribe left the Sacs and Foxes and wandered off westward in search of a new home. Crossing the Mississippi River, they turned southward and reached a high bluff near the mouth of the Iowa River. Looking off over the beautiful valley spread out before them, they halted, exclaiming "Ioway! Ioway! which in their language means "This is the Place".
1700 As the Indians had no way of keeping time an accurate record of time, the dates when the various places were occupied are somewhat problematical. In 1700 the Iowa Indians were living at the extreme head waters of the Des Moines River according to Le Sueur on his expedition up the Mississippi river. He supplied them with firearms.
1800 White Cloud, one of the most noted chiefs of the Iowa Tribe, claimed to be direct descendant of the great chief Man-han-gaw.
The Iowa tribe worshiped a Great Spirit and had a tradition of a great flood which destroyed all the animals and people except those who escaped in a great canoe. The Great Spirit then made a new man and a new woman from red clay, and from this couple were descended all the Indian tribes. Hawks and rattlesnakes were objects of veneration and were never killed by these Indians.
1824 Chief White Cloud and wife Rant-che-wai-me, was one of a party of chiefs that visited the Great White Father in Washington D.C. Upon their return Rant-che-wai-me cautioned the women of her tribe against the vices and follies of their white sisters as she saw them in the national capital.
1825 The Iowa Indians ceded their interest in Iowa lands to the United States.
THE SAC AND FOX
These two tribes, which at one time inhabited practically the entire State of Iowa, are generally spoken of as one people, having formed an alliance for their mutual protection against their common enemies. According to their traditions they lived at a early date on the Atlantic coast, in the vicinity of the present State of Rhode Island.
1640 Their earliest know habitat was in the lower peninsula of Michigan, where they lived with the Potawatomi tribes.
1667 Father Allouez, one of the early Jesuit missionaries, writing of these Indians say: "They are more savage than all the other peoples I have met; they are a populous tribe, although they have no fixed dwelling place, being wanderers and vagabonds in the forest."
1676 A village of 5,000 lived on the Fox River near Green Bay, Wisconsin.
1712 With an intense hatred for the French, the Fox Indians planned the attack of the French post at Detroit. The timely arrival of reinforcements saved the post and the Indians suffered an overwhelming defeat.
1730 The English and Dutch traders operating around the Great Lakes used the Fox Indians to make war on the French, but after several defeats, the Fox found shelter with the Sac Indians near Green Bay
About 1780 or a few years before, some of the Indians crossed the Mississippi River near the present City of Prairie du Chien and located near the present City of Dubuque , Iowa.
1788 The Indians granted Julien Dubuque a concession to work the lead mines and sold him part of the lands claimed by them. Before the close of the year Dubuque established the first white settlement in what now is the State of Iowa.
BLACK HAWK
The Black Hawk Indians were probably never in that portion of Iowa that comprised Chickasaw and Howard counties, but the tribe claimed the land in this section of the state.
THE WINNEBAGO
The northern tiers of counties including Chickasaw and Howard, were frequently visited by roving bands of the Winnebago, generally in groups of 50 to 100. They were not unfriendly to the whites, but their petty thievery caused the early settlers a great deal of annoyance. It was not a difficult matter, however, to recover stolen articles, as two or three cool-headed, determined men who could go into an encampment of 50 Winnebagoes and recover their property without serious opposition.
1846 The tribe was given a reservation near Mankato, Minn. where they lived until 1862 when they were removed to South Dakota.
THE SIOUX
Last but by no means the least in importance in the history of Northern Iowa, were the Sioux Indians .
1640 Their original habitat was along the shores of the Lake of the Woods and the country north of the Great lakes.
1662 They had moved south to Mille Lacs in the area now part of the State of Minnesota.
1680 When Father Hennepin ascended the Mississippi River he found the country now comprising Minnesota and northern Iowa inhabited by Sioux Indians whose numerical strength he estimated at about 40,000.
The MEDWAKANTON, THE SISSETON, THE WAHPEKUTE, THE WAHPETON
The Indian tribes in their hunting expeditions came into Northern Iowa, but there is no evidence that they ever claimed a permanent residence in Chickasaw and Howard Counties. The tribes resided in southern Minnesota and western parts of Iowa.
The Great Oasis people made hoes from the shoulder blades of large mammal bones. The Glenwood people developed tools including bone hoes fastened to wooden handles and sickles made from the jawbones of deer. They used manos, or the upper millstone used to grind grain by hand, to grind corn and other seeds. Artifacts show the Mill Creek people possessed a wide variety of tools including bone fishhooks, awls, scraping tools, needles, mano, metate and elk horn dribbles. They made large hoes from the scapula (shoulder) of bison and used these to till the ground.