Logan, Wilford D

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Masthead Logo The Palimpsest
Volume 42 | Number 4 Article 3
4-1-1961
The Coming of the White Man
Wilford D. Logan
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Logan, Wilford D. "The Coming of the White Man." The Palimpsest 42 (1961), 159-164.
Available at: https://ir.uiowa.edu/palimpsest/vol42/iss4/3
The Coming of the White Man
Louis Joliet and Father M arquette were the 
first white men to reach the northeast Iowa region 
while exploring the W isconsin and Mississippi 
rivers in 1673. Other Frenchmen followed over 
the Joliet-M arquette route — exploring, building 
forts, and developing Indian trade. W illiam De­
lisle’s map of 1718 shows the Chem in des Voya~  
g em s  or “Road of the T raders" crossing northern 
Iowa from the mouth of the W isconsin River to 
the Big Sioux. Some of these traders and voya- 
geurs may have camped and hunted in what is 
now Effigy M ounds National Monument, but 
there were no settlements, and the area is not men­
tioned in early literature. Pierre Paul M arin may 
have built a fort at the mouth of Sny-M agill 
Creek as early as 1738 near the site of the great 
Sny-Magill M ound Group but the exact location 
is a matter of doubt.
The main events of this period went on around 
Effigy M ounds National Monument, but not 
within it. Geography decreed that the area 
around the mouth of the Yellow River should play 
a minor role in early historic times. On the Iowa 
side of the Mississippi, the terrain is slashed by a 
series of steep-sided, narrow ravines, dropping
159
160 TH E  PALIM PSEST
into the Mississippi River from the west. These 
have very small terraces at their mouths, and the 
land between them along the Mississippi River 
bank provides no better sites for settlement. On 
the other hand, the flat, open river terrace on the 
east bank of the river, extending north from the 
mouth of the W isconsin River, was the obvious 
spot for a settlement. This terrace, called Prairie 
du Chien by the French, was occupied by prehis­
toric Indians at an early date. In historic times it 
became a rendezvous point for Indians and trad­
ers, and, as the permanent location of forts and 
trading posts, it was the focal point of historic 
events pertaining to a considerable territory on 
both sides of the river.
At this time, the land now included in the State 
of Iowa was exploited economically, but not in­
habited permanently, by whites. Before extensive 
settlement, the territory changed hands many 
times, as European nations struggled to secure 
colonial advantage. N ortheast Iowa was succes­
sively part of N ew  France, New Spain, New 
France again, and finally, part of the infant Unit­
ed States of America as included in the Louisiana 
Purchase. The first permanent settler in the east­
ern part of Iowa was Julien Dubuque, a French 
Canadian who arrived in 1785 on the site of the 
city which bears his name, and who operated lead 
mines which he called “The Mines of Spain/' 
Another early northeast Iowa settlement of this
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Buildings on Site of Effigy Mounds National Monument — Spring, 1950
Same Site with Buildings Remodeled for Park Service
Overlooking the Mississippi River from Fire Point
Picturesque Path Along Trail to Fire Point
Æ
4 
.

Bird Mound in South Area Outlined After a Light Snow
Bird Mound in South Area Outlined After a Light Snow

New Visitor Center — Dedicated M ay 20, 1961

period was that of Basil Giard, who received a 
grant of land in present-day Clayton County in 
1800 from Spanish Lieutenant Governor Don 
Carlos Dehault Delassus. G iard’s grant was a 
tract located immediately south of the land which 
later became the Fort Crawford M ilitary Reser­
vation, part of which is now included in the south 
unit of Effigy M ounds National Monument. 
None of the Giard land, however, is included in 
the National Monument.
The first mention of the area now within Effigy 
Mounds National Monument appears in Jonathan 
Carver’s Travels Through the Interior P arts o f 
N orth  Am erica in the Years 1766 , 1767 , 1768, in 
which he tells of leaving his traders at the mouth 
of the Yellow River while he himself ascended the 
Mississippi. The next mention of it implies that a 
few habitation sites had appeared at the mouth of 
the Yellow River. In 1826, Francis M ethode of 
Prairie du Chien, crossed the river and went up a 
small ravine north of the Yellow River to make 
maple sugar. Sometime during the month of 
March, M ethode and his family were murdered, 
presumably by W innebago Indians who lived 
near the mouth of the ravine.
Peter L. Scanlan, in his book Prairie du C hien: 
F rench , British , Am erican  has placed the site of 
this murder at Hanging Rock within the present 
National Monument. Inspection of photostats of 
the testimony, however, indicates that it probably
TH E C O M IN G  O F TH E W H IT E  M A N  161
•  •
162 TH E  PALIM PSEST
occurred near the mouth of Paint Creek, some­
w hat north of the National Park Service bound­
aries. In the testimony before Colonel W illough­
by M organ of Fort C raw ford regarding this inci­
dent, people living on Yellow River are men­
tioned. These were one Sioux and one Menom­
inee woman, Desilie (a man in the employ of the 
Indian Agent, Nicholas Boilvin), the wife of a 
M r. Reed, and Prudent Langlois. Since the area 
at the mouth of the Yellow River is the only spot 
for a number of miles where good living quarters 
might be built, it is probable that these people 
were living within w hat is now Effigy M ounds 
National Monument.
During the construction of the new Visitor Cen­
ter at Effigy M ounds National Monument, further 
evidence of early historic habitation here came to 
light. The remains of an earthen house floor were 
discovered just to the west of the newly construct­
ed building. Apparently there was once a small 
cabin or similar type building standing here which 
had a central Indian-type fire pit. On the floor it­
self, however, were fragments of window glass 
and square nails. Such combination of culture 
traits seems to reflect appropriately the blending 
of European and Indian traditions on the frontier.
In 1829, when the United States Army began 
to build the new Fort Crawford on the upper ter­
race at Prairie du Chien, a sawmill was estab­
lished on the Yellow River. The site of this mill
TH E C O M IN G  OF TH E W H IT E  M A N  163
has been variously placed at the mouth, and at the 
end of the back water, about three miles above the 
mouth. The latter location seems most logical, and 
has the further authority of having been marked 
by a United States Geological Survey marker 
which was rediscovered, along with the remains 
of a dam, by Ellison O rr during the 1930’s. Lt. 
Jefferson Davis, who later was President of the 
Confederacy, managed this sawmill for the 
Army, and oak logs were cut on the surrounding 
hillsides and sawed into lumber, whereupon they 
were floated down the Yellow River and across 
the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien.
The Army had two other connections with the 
land now within Effigy M ounds National M onu­
ment. The south unit of the area was part of the 
Fort Crawford M ilitary Reservation, locally 
called the ' ‘Post Garden T rac t.’’ This land was 
drawn upon for timber, for firewood, and as a gar­
den plot. Through a portion of this tract, near the 
extreme south boundary of the present National 
Monument, ran the military road from the ferry 
landing at the mouth of the “M ilitary Trail Ra­
vine’’ to Fort Atkinson, which was built in pres­
ent-day W inneshiek County between the years
1840 and 1842.
These government lots, along with the other 
land now within Effigy M ounds National M onu­
ment, passed into the hands of private owners be­
tween the years 1841 and 1869. The first such
164 TH E  PALIM PSEST
transfer was one in which the United States Gov­
ernment conveyed Lot No. 4 of this tract to H er­
cules L. Dousman of Prairie du Chien. Dousman 
was the wealthiest citizen of Prairie du Chien, and 
was an agent of the American Fur Company. 
O ther lots seem to have been sold to Frederick J. 
Miller, J. C. Vanpel, and Bernard W . Brisbois, 
who in turn sold them to others. These men were 
all land speculators. Brisbois was a somewhat un­
scrupulous speculator of the period. A member of 
a well known Prairie du Chien family, he carried 
out his land schemes in partnership with Ira Brun­
son, who also acquired land within the present 
monument boundaries.
The land these men bought, or acquired by oth­
er means, gradually passed into the hands of 
farmers, and the tract was converted into pioneer 
farms, from which the timber was cut for lumber 
and firewood. Farm houses were located within 
the area at the site of the present headquarters; in 
the south unit on the west side of Rattlesnake 
Knoll, and in the so-called Sawvelle Hollow, 
which opens into the Yellow River bottoms at the 
west end of Nezeka Bluff. Nezeka Bluff, or Nez- 
eka Point, takes its name from the grist mill and 
proposed townsite at the base of the east end of 
the bluff. This mill and prospective settlement 
was called Nezeka by the men who laid out the 
town lots. A post office was established at Nez­
eka in 1858 and discontinued in 1862.


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