Squatters

     Before June 1833, there were only a few white people in Iowa. These were traders, soldiers, and miners. After 1830 the mines of Dubuque were worked by white men. Some of the traders had built cabins and claimed the right to possess the ground upon which....

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....they had built them. But before the United State bought the land of the Indians, such traders could not legally own their lots or farms, since the Indians were not allowed to sell land directly to the settlers. Only the United States could legally buy of the Indians and sell to the settlers.

    But because land in Iowa was so productive, a few settlers ventured across the Mississippi already in 1832 and staked off farms. Those who did so were driven out and their cabins in some instances destroyed. Before the wild land could be sold, it had to be surveyed. Since this would take several years, the Government permitted the settlers to go on the unsurveyed land and open farms, which were called "claims," because the land could only be claimed - not owned - until it was surveyed and purchased. The settlers who held claims were called "squatters." A number of the squatters were from the New England and the Southern states; but by far the largest number came from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Only a few of the early settlers were recent immigrants from Europe.

Rolling into Iowa

     There we no railroads at the time in the West, but steamboats had already begun to ply the rivers and the Great Lakes. The fare, however, was high and many of the settlers were poor. Therefore, a large number of them made the trip to Iowa overland in covered wagons, containing provisions for the journey, household goods, and the family cash, safely hidden away in clothes or blankets. The cattle were driven before the wagons. Some drove oxen, other traveled faster with horses. Women and small children rode in the covered wagons. Older boys sometimes rode horses, not used to draw the wagons. It was great sport for many of these youngsters to travel day after day in this way. The farmers and mothers may not have enjoyed it so much for the future was uncertain, but all tried to be hopeful. When they reached the Mississippi, wagons, cattle and horses were loaded on ferries and taken across. Ferrying was a profitable business for some people in the towns along the Mississippi before the river was spanned by bridges.

Claim clubs hard on "claim jumpers"

     When a suitable tract of land had been found, the boundaries were marked by blazing trees, driving stakes or placing rocks to show that the tract had been claimed. Rude buildings were con-....

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....structed and a patch of ground cultivated and perhaps fenced. Thus the squatter established his right to the claim until it could be purchased. It might consist of 80, 100, but not more than 320 acres. The squatters protected themselves against greedy settlers who might try to "jump" their claims by forming land clubs and claims associations. If a man tried to "jump" a claim held by a squatter according to the rules of the land club, the members of the club would drive the "claim jumper" off; and, if he had built a cabin, they might burn it.

Land sales

     The first and the second Black Hawk Purchase soon filled up with squatters, but not a single one could own his farm before 1838. By that time the land had been surveyed and the first land sale was held in Burlington the same year. To prevent speculators from buying the claims made more valuable by the squatters' improvements, the land clubs sent representatives to see that all claims were sold to the squatters who already had made their homes upon them. The price per acre was $1.25, payable in hard cash- paper currency was not always accepted. But land warrants, which were given as bonuses to men who had served in the wars of the United State, would be accepted.

    The land sale at Burlington in the fall of 1838 lasted two weeks. About 2,000 men camped in and around the town during the sale. In 1839 there was another land sale in Dubuque. Later there were land sales in Fairfield, Iowa City, Chariton and Council Bluffs.

Land "storms"

     To keep the squatters from entering the eastern part of the Sac and Fox purchase in 1842, soldiers were stationed on the borders of this tract. It was thrown open for settlement at midnight April 30, 1843, by the discharge of firearms. People, waiting along the border lighted bonfires, which would show the way, and then rushed ahead on foot or on horseback eager to be the first to get a good farm staked off. Before sundown the next day, at least one thousand settlers had marked off claims in what is now Wapello County, and several new towns had been laid out. A similar scene occurred when the western half of the purchase was opened to settlers in 1845.

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Pre-emption Law and Homestead act

     To give the settler more time to pay for his claim, and also to protect himself against claim jumpers, Congress passed a pre-emption law in 1841. This gave the settler the right to enter a piece of land of not more than 320 acres by registering the claim at the land office and by making a small down payment. He was then given a period of years to pay the rest. A still better law was passed in 1862, the Homestead Act, which gave away farms to settlers on the conditions that they lived on them five years, improved them, and paid a small fee. So, even under the Homestead act, you didn't get something for nothing. But a wag wrote a song beginning with the line: :Uncle Sam is rich enough to give us all a farm."

    By 1850, settlements had been strung out over the eastern and southern parts of Iowa, and some were found along the eastern banks of the Missouri. Large sections of the northwestern part of the state were not settled until after the Civil War.

Questions and Exercises: Why was it necessary to survey the land before it was sold? What is a squatter? From what states did most of the early Iowa settlers come? How did claim clubs help the squatter? What is a land warrant? What is pre-emption?