A "fence" to keep Indians out of mischief

    Dishonest traders, and even agents of the United States, often cheated the Indians. But the red men were also benefited by their relations with the white men. One of these benefits was the effort of the whites to prevent wars between the different tribes. This was done by treaties, by founding agencies where men resided to supervise Indian affairs, and by fixing lines to keep hostile Indians apart. Such a line was fixed in 1825 between the Sioux on the....

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....north and the Sacs and Foxes on the south. To make it a more effective barrier, the Neutral Tract, a tract of land 40 miles wide along the eastern half of the line extending from the Mississippi to the Des Moines River, was set apart where no warfare was permitted.

    It was a mere gesture. Nothing the white man could do would keep hostile Indians from fighting. Numerous battles between the Sioux and the Sac and Foxes occurred along the headwaters of the Des Moines, the Iowa, the Skunk, and the Cedar rivers, and along the Upper Iowa River. Once the sacs and Foxes claimed that they killed 300 Sioux. Some of the conflicts occurred after Iowa became a state, the last one in 1852.

The School on the Yellow River

    The Winnebagoes, earlier a Wisconsin Indian tribe, were moved into Iowa after the Black Hawk War and given lands in the Neutral Tract. before this, these Indians in accordance with a treaty made with the United States had the benefit for several years of a school for their children. The school was opened in 1835 on the banks of the Yellow River in Allamakee County, Iowa, in newly constructed log buildings. A Presbyterian minister and his wife had charge of the school. Later, as the enrollment grew, there were assistants.

    Most of the children were fed and clothed as well as taught at the school. Six pupils enrolled in April, 1835. During the two years following, the enrollment grew steadily; and in December, 1837, 15 boys and 26 girls attended. Besides reading, spelling, writing and arithmetic, the boys were taught gardening and the girls sewing. The girls liked their sewing so well that they considered it punishment to have needle and thread taken away from them; and the boys felt more like studying when they had been working a while in their gardens. In 1839 there were 70 children enrolled- 43 boys and 36 girls. All but 15 lived at the school. In 1840 the school was closed, though there were still 58 children attending.

    Two prominent Prairie du Chien citizens who visited the school said that they never seen a more orderly and ambitious school even of white children. They were astonished at the progress made by the pupils during the three year interval since their previous visit.

    The chief reason for discontinuing the school was probably the unwillingness of the Unites States government to pay the cost of maintaining it. Another reason was the lack of interest on the part of the parents of the children.

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Joseph M. Street, a friend and teacher of the red men.

    One of the best friends of the red men in Iowa was General Joseph M. Street. In 1827 he was appointed Indian agent and was stationed at Fort Armstrong and later at Prairie du Chien. In 1838 he was given charge of the new Indian agency for the Sacs and Foxes, located near the present city of Ottumwa. Street took a deep interest in the welfare of the Indian. Seeing that, as the game animals became scarcer, it would be harder for them to make a living, even a primitive living, by hunting, he advised the United States government to begin teaching them farming and home economy. It was through Street's encouragement that the school on the Yellow River was opened.

General Joseph M. Street

    Street selected the site for the new agency and had the necessary buildings erected- a dwelling for himself, and his family, a business office, a blacksmith shop, and stables for the stock. In the summer if 1839 he had 160 acres of land broken, fenced in, and planted with oats, peas, corn and potatoes. Unfortunately for the good work thus begun, Street soon fell sick and died, May 5, 1840. The Indians proved their affection for him by giving his widow one section (640 acres) of land and each of his children half a section. Chief Wapello asked to be buried by the side of Street. The graves of Mr. and Mrs. Street and of Wapello may still be seen near Agency City, Iowa.

    The idea of teaching the Indians to help themselves, as Street believed, has been shared by others interested in the true welfare and progress of the Indians. And since the time of Street, education, both literary and practical, has become the chief means of making civilized people out of the originally wild and uncivilized Indians.

Father DeSmet

     Long before the United States government began to maintain Indian schools, devoted Catholic and Protestant missionaries labored....

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....to convert and otherwise teach the red men. In Iowa the Catholic missionary Father DeSmet began mission work among the Potawatomis on the site of Council Bluffs. But since the Indians soon moved away, the work could not be continued long. Father DeSmet was then sent West, where he blazed a trail for missions clear out to the Pacific.

Questions and Exercises: How did the white men benefit the Indians? What was the Neutral Tract? How long did the Sioux and Sacs and Foxes continue to fight battles against each other? Locate the Yellow River. Who paid the cost of building and maintaining the school on the Yellow river? What did General Street propose should be done for the Indians? Find out more about Father DeSmet.