Since the days of Marquette (1673) the Iowa have ranged over the country
between the Mississippi and Missouri, up to the latitude of Oneota
(formerly upper Iowa) river,- and even across the Missouri about the mouth
of the Platte. Chauvignerie located them, in 1736 west of the Mississippi
and (probably through error in identification of the waterway) south of
the Missouri; and in 1761 Jefferys placed them between Missouri river and
the headwaters of Des Moines river, above the Oto and below the Maha
(Omaha). In 1805, according to Drake, they dwelt on Des Moines river,
forty leagues above its mouth, and numbered 800. In 1811 Pike found them
in two villages on Des Moines and Iowa rivers. In 1815 they were decimated
by smallpox, and also lost heavily through war against the tribes of the
Dakota confederacy. In 1829 Porter placed them on the Little Platte, some
15 miles from the Missouri line, and about 1853 Schoolcraft located them
on Nemaha river, their principal village being near the mouth of the Great
Nemaha. In 1848 they suffered another epidemic of smallpox, by which 100
warriors, besides women and children, were carried off. As the country
settled, the Iowa, like the other Indians of the stock, were collected on
reservations which they still occupy in Kansas and Oklahoma. According to
the last census their population was 273.
The Missouri were first seen by Tonty about 1670; they were located near
the Mississippi on Marquette’s map (1673) under the name of Ouemessourit,
probably a corruption of their name by the Illinois tribe, with the
characteristic Algonquian prefix. The name Missouri was first used by
Joutel in 1687. In 1723 Bourgmont located their principal village 30
leagues below Kaw river and 60 leagues below the chief settlement of the
Kansa; according to Groghan, they were located on Mississippi river
opposite the Illinois country in 1759. Although the early locations are
somewhat indefinite, it seems certain that the tribe formerly dwelt on the
Mississippi about the mouth of the Missouri, and that they gradually
ascended the latter stream, remaining for a time between Grand and
Chariton rivers and establishing a town on the left bank of the Missouri
near the mouth of the Grand. There they were found by French traders, who
built a fort on an island quite near their village about the beginning of
the eighteenth century. Soon afterward they were conquered and dispersed
by a combination of Sac, Fox, and other Indians; they also suffered from
smallpox. On the division, five or six lodges joined the Osage, two or
three took refuge with the Kansa, and most of the remainder amalgamated
with the Oto. In 1805 Lewis and Clark found a part of the tribe, numbering
about 300, south of Platte river. The only known survivors in 1829 were
with the Oto, when they numbered no more than 80. In 1842 their village
stood on the southern bank of Platte river near the Oto settlement, and
they followed the latter tribe to Indian Territory in 1882.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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