Chapter I: Part 1

THE IOWA

A reprint from _The Indian Record_, as originally published and edited
by Thomas Foster, with introduction, and elucidations
through the text

By WILLIAM HARVEY MINER

_With Illustrations and a Map_

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA
THE TORCH PRESS, 1911

COPYRIGHT
1911
BY THE TORCH PRESS
_August_

DEDICATED TO

A BIBLIOPHILE IN THE BEST SENSE; TO A LOVER OF BOOKS AND MEN; TO A STUDENT OF ABORIGINAL HISTORY; TO A HIGHMINDED AMERICAN GENTLEMAN

JOSEPH PARKER CAMP

CONTENTS

PAGE
INTRODUCTION xv

THE IOWAY MONOGRAPH 1

THE IOWA CAMPING CIRCLE 45

TREATIES 49

SYNONYMY 77

LIST OF IOWA INDIANS 83

INDEX 91

ILLUSTRATIONS

A GROUP OF IOWA _Frontispiece_

(From the scarce original engraving made
in London, when these Indians were under
the supervision of George Catlin)

FACING PAGE

AN IOWAY GRAMMAR 7

(Reproduced in facsimile from a copy of
the rare original)

WAW--NON--QUE--SKOON--A'S MAP 24

(From the original, slightly reduced, in
Schoolcraft's INDIAN TRIBES)

MA--HAS--KAH, THE YOUNGER 42

(After the colored portrait in Vail's
NOTICE SUR LES INDIENS, etc.)

PREFACE

_The material forming the greater part of the present monograph is reprinted verbatim et literatim from certain portions of volume 1, Numbers 1, 2, and 3, Washington, November 30, 1876, of Foster's_ INDIAN RECORD AND HISTORICAL DATA. _The complete work so far as carried out consists only of the three parts here mentioned, printed in folio and comprising four numbered pages each. The editor, Dr. Thomas Foster, who termed himself "Indian historiographer" hoped to be able to publish the sheet weekly "should funds permit." Evidently lack of finances or the small amount of interest shown in the venture determined against its continuance as it ceased with the third issue._

_During Foster's connection with the Indian Bureau at Washington, John Q. Smith held the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs and it is not improbable looked with little favor on the scheme. In any event the_ RECORD _is a desideratum in most collections and as such, even a portion of it may not be amiss in this reprint. Unfortunately its short existence did not permit of finishing the sketches of the Iowa or Winnebago, though it would appear that in the instance of the former but little more would have been added. It is hoped however, that in the foreword the more necessary data are given and that it is appropriately terminated._

_The actual worth of the_ INDIAN RECORD _is slight. Foster's idea with reference to several monographs relating wholly or in part to certain tribes was a worthy one and could be executed to advantage even at this date. The two treatises attempted in his short--lived publication were on the Iowa and their parent stock, the Winnebago, although several shorter tribal sketches, as for example those on the Attacapa,[1] Oroyelles,[2] Arapahoes,[3] and Eries[4] are included among other features, these being as scattered notes through the forty--eight columns and of more or less value, particularly as concerns the linguistics.[5] It is evident from his Introduction that Foster must have had many difficulties to contend with, especially in the matter of procuring suitable faces of type for his Indian vocabularies as well as in the matter of actual printing. At the best the work is poorly done. The proof--reading is wretched and the statements of fact often in grave error. Abject carelessness in the matter of transcription appears without excuse, hence quoted portions through the present text have invariably been read and compared with the originals, obviously enhancing the value of such a reissue. Although a praiseworthy effort for the period and due every consideration at this time, a project of the kind attempted today would fail ingloriously unless handled with requisite care._

_In the absence of any cognate facts referring in detail to the Iowa tribe it has been deemed best to reprint Foster's sketch in its entirety from the_ Record _and to add to it, as appendices, some features which will be of special interest and value to the student of American aboriginal history and ethnology. In this textual portion will be found much from Schoolcraft's_ INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UNITED STATES, _also extracts, some of considerable length, from the first volume of the Minnesota Historical Society's_ COLLECTIONS, 1850--56, _and Neill's_ HISTORY OF MINNESOTA. _Nevertheless such facts as are garnered from sources of this character although purloined, are to be welcomed, and in a certain sense it may be considered fortunate that all of the material is not wholly original._

_In the introductory sketch following this, an attempt has been made to gather all material readily available on the Iowa tribe. The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to the Bureau of American Ethnology, without assistance from which no authentic or in any way exhaustive sketch on any subject connected with the Indian question could be accomplished. The many references in the form of foot--notes have been verified with the greatest care. In many instances the meanings in the original are ambiguous. In the present form this fault is rectified and it is hoped that the concise yet lucid account of this important branch of the great Siouan family may assist in giving it some of that prominence to which it should rightfully aspire. A list of some of the more famous warriors is included as an appendix, and though incomplete and taken in part from printed records it will show that the tribe numbered among its members men who were famous outside of their own precincts, and these names may inspire some future historian to delve even more deeply into those archives that are known to be only memoirs of a past existence._

_Students of Iowa history or of the Indians of the central west can ill afford to overlook a work on the Indian tribes by A. R. Fulton entitled_ THE RED MEN OF IOWA. _The volume is now scarce but fortunately the writer has been able to use it and is glad to acknowledge its excellence. To Worthington C. Ford, of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and to W. H. Holmes, of the Smithsonian Institution, James Mooney and F. W. Hodge of the Bureau of American Ethnology, he is also indebted and wishes publicly to express his thanks for their kindly interest._

INTRODUCTION

THE IOWA INDIANS--AN HISTORICAL--SKETCH

SYNONYMS[6]

PAH8TET. _Marquette, (1673) in Shea, Discovery, etc., p. 268, map, 1852. Variants: Nadoessi Mascouteins, Aiounouea, Avoys, Paote, Ayoes, Aiowais, Ayouez, Ainoves, Iawas._

HO--WAH. _Name given by the Mdewakanton (Sioux). Ioewaig, name given by the Santee Dakota. Iyakhwa, name given by the Teton. Maqude, name given by the Omaha Ponca. Pa'--qo--tce, name given by the Kansa. Pa'qu--te, name given by the Quapaw. Paqutse, name given by the Osage. Pashohan, name given by the Pawnee. Paxodshe, name given by the Kansa. Wa--qotc, name given by the Winnebago._

IYUHBA. _Riggs, Dak. Gram. & Dict. p. 278, 1852, trans. "Sleepy Ones." Nadouessioux Maskoutens: Minn. Hist. Coll., 1864,_

_(Part 2, p. 30, note), trans. "Sioux of the Prairies;" Algonkin name. Pa--ho--cha: Neb. Hist. Soc., 1885, (p. 47), trans. "Dusty Men." Pa--ho--dje: Maximilian, (p. 507, 1843) trans. "Dust Noses."_

IOWA. _Pike's Travels; Ed. of 1811 (p. 134). Variants: Iowai, Iaways, Ihoway, Ioway, Jowoi, Jowas, Joways, Ohoa, and Pahoja, names by which they are known among themselves. May be translated as "Gray Snow."_

SIGN. _Draw the extended right hand across the throat from left to right as if severing the head from the body. Possibly derived from an old Siouan custom of decapitating their prisoners._[7]

_Mallery refers to this branch of the Siouan tribe as "Cut Throats,"[8] or a "Cut Throat" from a curious practice adopted by the Iowa after battle. Mooney also advocates this theory though he suggests it applied only to the Sioux and not to the whole Siouan stock and is doubtful as to the common interpretation of the sign--a sweeping motion of the hand in front of the neck--as the Kiowa and certain other tribes called the Iowa the "Necklace People." He also says that this tribe was a little too far from the plains to have a special sign and were probably merged with the Oto, Missouri, Sauk and others in the general region of the "shaved heads."_

The Iowa tribe of Indians forms one of the Southwestern branches of the great Dakota or Siouan stock and has been included both linguistically and ethnographically by careful students, with the Oto and the Missouri tribes, forming the so--called Chiwere group.[9] The real difference existing between the tribes here noted is one of dialect only. Traditional evidence proves conclusively that they sprung originally from that stem which appears to have been the parent stock of certain other southwestern Siouan tribes, notably, the Winnebago, and from direct information obtained from their people as late as 1883, investigators have been told that not only the Iowa, Missouri, and Oto tribes were from the same source but that the Ponca and Omaha could without question be included, having "once formed part of the Winnebago Nation."[10]

From their primal home, to the north of the Great Lakes, as tradition has it, came the forebears of these tribes. Attracted by the abundance of fish, the Winnebago halted on the shores of Lake Michigan, while the other bands continued southwestward, eventually coming to the Mississippi. At this point another division took place and it was here that the Iowa separated from the larger group, and it is also at this period that they received the name of Pahoja or Gray Snow.[11] Without stopping for any length of time after separating from their comrades, the Iowa continued down the general course of the Mississippi until Rock River (in Illinois) was reached. At this point as in most of the early history of the tribe we must depend largely on hearsay. Certain traditions however, place them farther north. Waw--non--que--skoona--a's map, drawn in 1848, shows their movements quite clearly until that date. It is hardly necessary to reiterate statements here that appear textually in connection with the cartographical features, especially as these successive movements are of comparatively recent date and considered to be substantially correct. There is a tradition still popular among the Sioux that when their ancestors first came to the Falls of St. Anthony the Iowa tribe occupied the country adjacent to the Minnesota river and that the Cheyenne[12] occupied territory farther up the same stream.[13]

On the arrival of Le Sueur in 1701 for the purpose of erecting his fort near the mouth of the Blue Earth river, many of the tribe were found and messengers were sent to invite them to settle in the vicinity of the stockade, because of their excellence in farming and general husbandry. Those despatched for this purpose found however, that the Indians had recently moved westward toward the Missouri river and wished to be closer to the Omaha who then dwelt in that region. The tribes with whom Le Sueur came in contact informed him that the river upon which he was about to settle belonged to the Sioux of the West (Dakota), the Ayavois (Iowa), and the Otoctatas (Oto), who lived nearby. Probably the first among the whites to come in actual contact with the Iowa, was Pere Andre[14] who referred to them in 1676, at which time they were situated about 200 miles west of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The next reference made by a European seems to be that of Father Zenobius Membre[15] in 1680, who mentions the Authontontas (Oto), Nadouessious Maskoutens (Iowa)[16] "about 130 leagues from the Illinois river in three great villages built near a river which empties into the Colbert (Mississippi) on the west side above the Illinois, almost opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin." He also seems to locate a portion of the Aiuoves (probably Aioues) to the west of the Milwaukee river. On Marquette's manuscript map which accompanied his Journal, 1673,[17] the Pahoutet (Iowa) are placed on or near the Missouri river, in close company with the Maha, (Omaha) and Ontontana (Oto). This is no doubt conjecture on the part of the cartographer. The Sieuer de la Salle knew of both Oto and Iowa, and in his Hennepin letter of August 22, 1682, he refers to them as Otoutanta and Atounauea respectively. He further states that one of his company[18] was familiar with the languages of both these tribes, which, however, is doubtful.

When Le Sueur first supplied these Indians with firearms in 1700 they were situated at the extreme headquarters of the Des Moines river, though from the translation of this explorer's narrative, as contained in WIS. HIST. COLL., Vol. XVI, it would seem that this band and the Oto removed and "established themselves toward the Missouri river, near the Maha." In Jefferys' FRENCH DOMINIONS IN NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, 1760, the Iowa are located on the Mississippi in latitude 43 deg. 30'. His map however places them on the east side of the Missouri, west of the sources of the Des Moines river and above the Oto, who were on the west side of the Missouri and below the Omaha.[19] According to Lewis & Clark's TRAVELS, ETC., (Coues' edition, 1893), their villages consisted "of 300 men ... on the river De Moines."[20] The map by Waw--non--que--skoona--a as included in Schoolcraft and reproduced herewith, gives the final stopping place of the Iowa at a point near the junction of the Wolf and Missouri rivers, within the limits of the present State of Nebraska. Some authorities give their final location as being in two villages, one on the Platte[21] and another on the Great Nemaha river, from which places they conducted traffic with the traders from St. Louis, dealing principally in beaver, otter, racoon, deer, and bear skins. They also appear to have been cultivators of the soil to some extent, even at this early date, and it is recorded that Le Sueur made efforts to have them locate near his Fort l'Huillier[22] as they were "industrious and accustomed to cultivate the earth." In addition to corn they grew beans[23] and Pike says "they cultivated corn but not proportionately as much as did the Sauks and Foxes." This traveler also states that they were less civilized than the latter.[24] At a much earlier date Father Andre[25] writes that, while their village was a large one they were poor as a tribe, their greatest wealth being in "ox--hides[26] and red calumets,"[27] indicating thereby that the Iowa early traded in and manufactured catlinite pipes. In many customs prevailing among the Iowa it has been found that they differed but little from cognate tribes. In their visiting, marriage relations, and management of children they were not unlike the Omaha and others closely allied among the Dakota. In the matter of fraternity they were distinct. The camp circle[28] was divided into half circles and occupied by two phratries of four gentes each.[29]

The first regulated the hunt and other affairs pertaining to the tribe during the autumn and winter. Throughout the other parts of the year the lead was taken by the other phratry.[30] In a general way however, the Iowa social institution differs but slightly from others of the Siouan stock, nor do their visiting or marriage customs vary greatly from those of kindred tribes. Children are managed similarly to those of the Dakota or Omaha. Formerly murder was punished with death by the nearest of kin or by some friend of the murdered person.[31] Occasionally however, presents were made to the avengers by the murderer, in consequence of which the crime was palliated.

Like many other Mississippi Valley tribes the Iowa are not to any great extent associated with the tumuli of America. With the exception of some few mounds in Wapello County, Iowa, at a point near Iowaville, the site of an early trading post, there is little evidence that the Iowa were in any way connected with the mounds in that State. Along the valley located in this section, were many spots frequented by both the Sauk and Fox as well as Iowa and here also were situated the famous race tracks of nearly a mile in length, belonging to the latter tribe.[32] The various games indulged in by the Iowa differed but slightly from those in vogue among kindred or allied tribes.[33] As is almost universal, dice games, or games of chance are more generally to be desired, while games of dexterity take second place. Catlin[34] describes under the former class, one called Kon--tho--gra, or the game of platter which is played almost exclusively by women.[35] It is said to have been exceedingly fascinating and consists of little blocks of wood marked with certain points for counting, to be decided by throws, the lot being shaken in a bowl and thrown out on a sort of a pillow. Bets were made after the bowl was turned and decided by the number of points and colors. Another game described by Catlin[36] is called Ing--Kee--Ko--Kee, or, The Game of the Moccasin. It was played to a song accompaniment[37] among the Iowa by two, four or six people seated on the ground in a circle. In the center are three or four moccasins, under one of which the players in turn try to conceal some small article, as a stone or a nut. The opponents choose what appears to be the lucky covering and if successful, win the stakes. The game, according to this writer, appeared simple and almost foolish, yet he professes to have seen it played for hours without intermission in perfect musical rhythm, and states that it "forms one of the principle gambling games of these gambling people." Among the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, and Iowa the game of Arrow (Ma^{n}muqpe), was most common. This however was more of a religious game and now practically obsolete since the introduction of fire arms. Arrows were shot up into trees until they lodged in the branches. The players then tried to dislodge them and whoever brought down the first, won. There were no sides or opposing parties. Probably the most exciting and to many the most important game among many of the tribes, aside from those of the Mountain Indians, is that of Ball--playing or Racket. This is distinctly a man's game as opposed to double--ball and some other forms commonly played by women. There are instances however of this having been played by women, and among the Santee Sioux it is at times played by both sexes together. This game has been divided into two principal classes, those of the single and those of the double racket or bat; the latter is more especially peculiar to the southern tribes.[38] The racket may be likewise termed a throwing stick as it is used to pick up and throw the ball rather than for the purpose of hitting. The ball is either of wood or of buckskin stuffed with hair,[39] and the usual size is about two and one--half inches in diameter. Various kinds of rackets are used by the players, some preferring long and some short handles. Among the Oto of Oklahoma, one measured was forty inches in length.[40] Catlin[41] gives an excellent description of this game among the Iowa Indians. His details concerning the goals and byes and various points connected with the different features, make this sketch one of the most complete we have.[42]

As among all tribes east and west, north and south, the Iowa were given to their numerous dances, many of which were of the highest importance. Mention is made here, only of several of the more common or necessary dances, inasmuch as the subject is one if it were treated fully would occupy a volume in itself.

This is a peculiar dance given in honor of one or more strangers whom [Sidenote: +The Welcome Dance+] the tribe may decide to welcome to their village. The musicians as well as spectators, out of respect, all rise to their feet while it is being performed. The song which accompanies it is at first one of lament, but ends in a gay and lively manner.

The most exciting as well as the longest and most tiresome of all [Sidenote: +The War Dance+] dances. It is usually divided into three parts, _i. e._, Eh--Ros--Ka--The Warriors Dance--usually given after a party had returned from war as a boast and was ofttimes given as an amusement. The song used at this time entitled Wa--Sissica--The War Song--appeared to be addressed to the body of an enemy, from the name Eh--Ros--Ka, meaning tribe, war party or body.[43]

The most spirited part of this greatest of all dances was called the [Sidenote: +Approaching Dance+] in which the dancers by their gestures exhibited the methods of advancing on an enemy. The song in this portion is also similar to that above mentioned.[44]

Ha Kon--E--Crase, or as more familiarly known "the soaring eagle," forms [Sidenote: +The Eagle Dance+] the third and most pleasing part of the War Dance and is in every respect a most interesting spectacle. Each dancer imagines himself a bird on the wing, and as they dance forward from behind the musicians, they take the position of an eagle headed against the wind and about to swoop down upon some unsuspecting prey. They have a peculiar method of singing and whistling at the same time.[45]

The Calumet Dance, the Ball--Play Dance, the Scalp Dance, the Buffalo Dance, and the Bear Dance, are all important but vary very slightly from those of similar import among other tribes of the same family. What we have said about the dances applies with equal force to the songs and music. The War Song, Death Song, Wolf Song, Medicine Song, Bread Song, and Farewell Song are all of much significance, indeed so much so that a large amount of space could well be devoted to this subject as well as to the dances.

In 1836 the Iowa were assigned a reservation in northeastern Kansas, having two years previous, ceded all their lands in Missouri. A portion of the tribe later moved to another tract in Oklahoma allotted to them in 1890 in severalty, the surplus acreage being opened to settlement by the whites.

It is difficult to compile a bibliography that will treat exhaustively of this tribe. Catlin's Works, Lewis and Clark's TRAVELS, Long's EXPEDITION, Pike's EXPLORATIONS, Maximilian's TRAVELS, and in fact nearly all of the prominent trans--continental explorers knew the tribe under one or another name. In the absence of any well defined plan it is best to refer to the various titles as shown in the index to the present volume. Such titles are printed in small capitals throughout. Special stress must be laid on the value of Dr. Hayden's important work, CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE MISSOURI VALLEY. Phila., 1862. The map is particularly useful. The Burrows Brothers monumental reprint of the JESUIT RELATIONS (73 vols. octavo) is of course invaluable.

WILLIAM HARVEY MINER

March 5, 1911

THE IOWAY MONOGRAPH

"IOWAY" TRIBE: (Aiyuwae, or Paehu'tchae)

This is the cognomen of a small tribe of Indians, never very numerous,[46] known to the whites for the last one hundred and eighty years,[47] during which period they have been wanderers from the Mississippi to the Missouri, and from the Missouri to the Mississippi: their migrations being confined mainly to the limits of the present State of Iowa, which was therefore very properly named after them.[48] They are now located within a Reservation of land on the west bank of the Missouri, between the Great Nemahaw and Wolf Creeks, in the State of Nebraska, on the borders of Kansas and Iowa.[49]

NOMENCLATURE

The name by which we know them--that of IOWAY--(or IOWA, which is the form the word takes when applied to the State)--is not that for themselves, nor is it a name which belongs to the language of any _one_ Indian tribe; but seems to have been made up, or compounded, by the early French, from the Dakota--Sioux designation for them of Aeyu'h'aepae, by taking the first two syllables, Ayu', and adding to it one of the common Algonquin--French terminations to tribal names in _ois_, _vois_, or _vais_ or _ouez_: all of which terminations appear on the early records compounded with Ayu, or a modification of it, to indicate the Ioway Tribe. In La Harpe's[50] narrative of Le Sueur's[51] mining expedition, in 1700, to the Blue Earth region, in now Minnesota, where the Ioways are first of record referred to, they are written of as "AYA--VOIS"; in Pennecaud's[52] relation of the same expedition they are the Aiaos or Aiavos, (his MSS[53] in the Congressional Library is obscure); in Charlevoix's[54] history, 1722, he gives the name with a characteristic effort at precision, as "AIOUEZ"; and in Lewis and Clark's TRAVELS, 1812,[55] they appear as "AYAUWAYS." The French first knew of the Ajowae through the Dakota--Sioux: (as we will observe hereafter in the gleanings of their early history,) and it is not surprising to me that they should (or that other Indian tribes should) seek to find some easier way of distinguishing the Tribe than to attempt to pronounce the extremely difficult _guttural_ ending of their Sioux designation. THE DAKOTA--LEXICON[56] thus gives its meaning:

"Ayu'hpae, _n. p._ (_sleepy ones_:) the _Ioway Indians_."

The proper name which the Ioway give themselves, acknowledging no other, is Paehutch'ae, _Dusty--Heads_: sometimes translated, but I think erroneously, _Dusty--Noses_.[57] The prefix _pae_ anciently signified _head_; and it does yet in some cognate dialects and in combinations, especially in old hereditary proper names; though in modern parlance it is generally confined to _nose_, but not invariably.

AN

IOWAY GRAMMAR,

ILLUSTRATING

THE PRINCIPLES

OF THE

LANGUAGE

USED BY THE

IOWAY, OTOE AND MISSOURI

INDIANS.

PREPARED AND PRINTED

BY

REV. WM. HAMILTON

AND

REV. S. M. IRVIN.

_Under the direction of the Presbyterian B. F. M._

IOWAY AND SAC MISSION PRESS.

1848.

EXACT SIZE OF THE ORIGINAL
]

Inquiring into the origin of this name Paehutch'ae, which, whether meaning _Dusty--Heads_ or _Dusty--Noses_, is quite a singular one for a people to confer upon themselves, I find recorded a _theory_ to fit each translation. In Schoolcraft's official COLLECTIONS, in a paper prepared February 1, 1848, by the Ioway missionaries,[58] page 262, volume III, I read of the fanciful and somewhat strained solution, as follows:

When they [the Ioway] separated from the first Indian tribe,
or family, to hunt game, their first location was near the
mouth of a river, where there were large sand--bars, from which
the wind blew quantities of sand or dust upon their faces,
from which they were called Pa--hu--chas or Dusty--noses.

_Per contra_: During November, 1873, when I was at the former Winnebago Agency, Blue Earth County, Minnesota, I mentioned the above theory of the Ioway name to the intelligent Winnebago ex--Chief "Baptiste," the Half--Breed, who in his youthful wanderings had lived a considerable time on the Missouri amongst the Ioway. He smiled at it, and, in his broken English at first and then through ex--Interpreter Menaige, who was present, said, that the Ioway name meant _Dusty_, or Dusty Gray, _Heads_, and that it occurred in this way: Living on the Missouri as they had done in the earliest time: wandering away from it and then wandering back again; they were accustomed to bathe a great deal in its yellow--muddy waters; and that when they dried off after coming out of the water, the sediment of the water remained on their _heads_ making them look _dusty_ and _gray_; and this was the true reason they became the Paehutch'ae, or _Dusty--Head_ Tribe. Baptiste said this was the accepted theory amongst the old people of the Ioway as to the way Paehutch'ae came to be their name. The Winnebago cognomen for them, which is Waehotch'aerae, the _Gray--Ones_, is evidently but a modification of the same _Dusty--Head_ idea: (in the Hotchank'aerae language hotch is _gray_ and raehaetch, _ashes_). And such modification is, also, I think the Dakota--Sioux name for them of Aeyu'h'aepae, notwithstanding the Dakota--Sioux Lexicon gives it as meaning the _Drowsy--Ones_, and to doubt such authority may seem presumptuous. But, in these investigations I have noticed, that aboriginal nations, unless there is some special reason to the contrary--for instance a special enmity--(as the Chippeway name for the Sioux of Opwan'aek, "those whom we roast,") all endeavor to _translate_ into their own vernacular the names of neighboring tribes, rather than adopt them bodily: a notable instance of which is, that the name _Saulteurs_, people of the _Sault_ or _Leap_ or _Rapids_, is repeated in idea but in different forms by both the Winnebago and the Sioux, the latter terming them Haehae'towa and the former Raeh'aetche'rae, both meaning, alike, "_The Falls Dwellers_." Sometimes, in these dialectical translations, the original meaning of the tribal name was correctly rendered, and sometimes not: the early French in fact, made frequent failures. Now, the Sioux were well acquainted with the Ioway. They were, at the advent of the whites, their allies and neighbors, living as the Ioway did in 1700, on the borders of Iowa and Minnesota, about the headwaters of the Blue Earth and Des Moines rivers:[59] though they soon wandered from there to the Missouri again. The Dakota must have known the name they called themselves, and the reason for it: and what more likely than that they should endeavor to render the idea it conveyed _literally_ into their own language? May not the Sioux name for them, therefore, have been originally Aeyu'h'aepae, deduced thus: Ae is the preposition _on_ or _upon_; yu "as a prefix to _adjectives_ and sometimes to nouns, it sometimes forms verbs, and means to _make_ or _cause to be_" (Dakota--Lexicon); h'ae, is an _adjective_, meaning, (says the Lexicon) "_gray_ or _mixed_, as black and white, the black appearing under the white, as in the badger;" and pae, signifying _head_. This combination would be literally, "upon--to cause--graymixed--the head:" which is exactly the idea that the Ioway themselves and the Winnebago also seek to convey by their respective names Paehutch'ae, the _Dusty--Heads_, and Waehotch'aerae, the _Gray_, (through dust?) People.

EARLY HISTORY OF THE IOWAY

The earliest mention[60] of the Tribe is in Le Sueur's narrative of his expedition in 1700 to the fancied copper mines[61] of _Riviere de Vert_, (the Blue Earth tributary of the Minnesota river), embodied in La Harpe's mss.[62] HISTORY OF LOUISIANA, parts of which including Le Sueur's NARRATIVE, have been recently published.[63] As to this mine, we are told in the mss. copy[64] in the Congressional Library of the RELATION OF PENICAUD, the shipwright who accompanied Le Sueur--"a man, (says Neill,[65] the erudite historian of Minnesota) of discernment but little scholarship"--that:

M. Le Sueur had heard of the mine some years before while
travelling in the country of the Aiaos--(or Aivoe: the name has
been written twice: and the orthography is obscure,)--where he
traded.

This acquaintance with the Ioway must have been achieved when, as chief trader,[66] he occupied the "factory" of "Fort Perrot" on the "left" or east bank of the Mississippi,[67] just below Point Le Sable, near the foot of Lake Pepin: which first trading post of the upper Mississippi was erected in 1683, by Nicholas Perrot[68] and M. le Sueur by order of Governor De la Barre,[69] of Canada, "to establish (says the historian Neill) friendly alliances with the Ioway and Dakota"; and this post was for years the only one in all that region, until Le Sueur himself, in 1695, built the "French factory" of "Isle Pelee," at the "right" bank, on Prairie or "Bald" Island, about ten miles below the St. Croix. The Ioway, (as will hereafter appear), occupied at that time a not very remote nor inaccessible location from Fort Perrot, in the region around and amidst the head waters of the Des Moines and Blue Earth rivers, and being allies of the Sioux, they doubtless brought their furs and obtained their trading supplies of Le Sueur at this "Fort": and it is not improbable that Le Sueur (and his engages) also travelled in their country on hunting or trading expeditions.

In La Harpe's account of Le Sueur's long "voyage" up the Mississippi from its mouth to the "mine" with his "felucca,[70] two canoes and twenty men,"[71] the Ioway are frequently mentioned. The first instance is when about the 14th[72] of July, 1700, as he passed the mouth of the Illinois, he "met three Canadian voyageurs, who came to join his band, and received by them a letter from Father Marest,[73] Jesuit, dated July 10, 1700, at the Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin in Illinois:" of which the following is a copy:

I have the honor to write in order to inform you, that the
Saugiestas have been defeated by the Scioux and the
Ayavois.[74] The people have formed an alliance with the
Quincapous, and some of the Mecoutins, Renards, and
Metesigamias, and gone to revenge themselves, not on the
Scioux, for they are too much afraid of them, but perhaps on
the Ayavois, or very likely upon the Paoutees, or more
probably upon the Osages, for these suspect nothing, and the
others are on their guard. As you will probably meet these
allied nations, you ought to take precaution against their
plans, and not allow them to board your vessel, since they are
traitors, and utterly faithless. I pray God to accompany you
in all your designs.

This letter of Father Marest shows, that the Ioway were then in alliance with the Sioux, and establishes, that their Indo--_French_ name of "_Ayavois_" was already pretty well understood: and that even their own name for themselves was not unknown, PAOUTEES, or--(to transliterate the French orthography into our Indian alphabet),--Paeut'aes, was not far off from their true designation of Paehutchaes: though, curiously enough, they are held to be another tribe! The warning of this war-party given Le Sueur by the "Father" proved no false alarm; for just below the Wisconsin, "five Canadians" were met with, "descending from the Scioux to go to Tamarois," who, above the Wisconsin, had been fallen in with by a war--party of "ninety savages in nine canoes," being of "four different nations, the _Outagamis_ [Foxes], _Saquis_ [Saukes], _Poutouwatamis_ and _Puans_ [Winnebago]", who had "robbed and cruelly beat them." Taking these five men with him as volunteers, Le Sueur proceeded up the river until he met this war--party near Black River, returning from an unsuccessful encounter with the "_Scioux_," and brought them to terms, and, being evidently too strong for them to maltreat or meddle with in any way, extorted a kind of apology from them for what they had done.

On the first of October Le Sueur finally reached his destination near his "_mine_." We extract from the narrative of his proceeding while here so much of it as refers to the Ioway:

After he [Le Sueur] entered into BLUE river, thus named on
account of the MINES of blue earth found at its mouth, he
founded his post, situated in 44 degrees 13 minutes north
latitude. He met at this place nine Scioux, who told him the
river belonged to the Scioux of the WEST, the AYAVOIS
[Ioways], and Otoctatas [Otoes], who lived a little farther
off: that it was not their [the "Scioux"] custom to hunt on
ground belonging to others, unless invited to do so by the
owners, and that when they would come to the fort to obtain
provisions they would be in danger of being killed in
ascending or descending the rivers, which were narrow, and
that if he would show them pity, he must establish himself on
the Mississippi, near the mouth of the St. Pierre, where the
AYAVOIS, the OTOCTATAS, and the other SCIOUX, could go as well
as them.... Le Sueur had forseen that the establishment of
BLUE river would not please the SCIOUX, ... because they were
the first with whom trade was commenced, and in consequence of
which they had already quite a number of guns.... On the 3d of
October, they received at the fort several SCIOUX, among whom
was WAHKANTAPE, chief of the village. Soon two Canadians
arrived who had been hunting, and had been robbed by the
SCIOUX of the east, who had raised their guns against the
establishment which M. LE SUEUR had made on Blue river. On the
14th the fort was finished and named "Fort L'Huillier," and on
the 22d two Canadians were sent out to invite the Ayavois and
Otoctatas to come and establish a village near the fort,
because these Indians are industrious [?] and accustomed to
cultivate the earth, [?] and they hoped to get provisions from
them and to make them work [!] in the mines.

An assertion, a hope and an expectation which rather proves, that Le Sueur knew nothing of these Indians from actual observation in their country, but only knew of them from report and by a few individuals whom he probably met for trade at the posts at Forts _Perrot_ or _Isle Pele_; for there is no evidence that they ever were "industrious," or given to "cultivating the earth" any more than other Indians: nor are they at this day. But, to continue our extracts:

The same day [the 24th] the Canadians, who had been sent off
on the 22d arrived without having found the road which led to
the Ayavois and Otoctates.

... On the 16th [of Nov.] the Scioux returned to their
village, and it was reported that the Ayavois and Otoctatas
were going to establish themselves towards the Missouri river,
near the Maha [Omahaw], who dwell in that region.

In May, 1701, Le Sueur left Fort d'Huillier in charge of M. d'Evaque, a Canadian gentleman, with a force of twelve Frenchmen, while he himself in his felucca with the rest of his men returned to Mobile, carrying with him "three canoe loads," or "four thousand pounds," of the "green earth," supposed to be oxide of copper, but which was really from a kind of shelly marly strata, interposed between the fossiliferous limestone and the sandstone of that region, that was colored bluish--green by silicate of iron. We next find Le Sueur--(who it has been stated was the father of the three distinguished brothers D'Iberville, DeBienville, and Sauvolle)[75]--in the summer of 1701 accompanying D'Iberville, the Governor of Louisiana, on his return to France, and assisting him while on shipboard in concocting a Memorial on the Mississippi Valley, addressed to the French government: in which D'Iberville says:

He [M. LE SUEUR] has spoken to me of another, [nation] which
he calls the Mahas, [Omahaw], composed of more than twelve
hundred families [!], the Ayooues and the Octootatas, their
neighbors, are about three hundred families. They occupy the
lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri, about one
hundred leagues from the Illinois. These savages do not know
the use of (fire?) arms....

The memorial, (a manuscript copy of which, quoted by Professor Neill in his Minnesota history, is in possession of the Historical Society of that State), contains the first _attempt_ we have upon the record at a _Census_ of the Tribes of the Mississippi, and partially of the Missouri Valleys: made thirty--four years before the French Census of the Cass manuscript[76]--a census formerly claimed as being the very first extant--so claimed by Schoolcraft, in the third volume of his COLLECTIONS.

Penicaud, the carpenter, states, that D'Evaque and the men Le Sueur left in charge of the Blue Earth post, abandoned it, and returned to Mobile [arriving there on the 3d of March], 1703, having left, as they alleged, on account of being warred upon "by the nations of Maskoutens and Foxes," and "seeing that he was out of powder and lead." Le Sueur for several years after his operations on the Blue--Earth was kept busy leading expeditions against the Natchez and other Indians of the southwest; and is said to have died[77] on the road during one of them.

Some further information in regard to the Ioway is gathered from a chart of the northwestern part of Louisiana, by "WILLIAM DE L'ISLE, _de l'Academy Royale des Sciences, et Premier Geographe du Roy: a Paris_: 1703" in the preparation of which Le Sueur probably assisted by his notes and observations.[78] A section of this map, (lithographed for Neill's History of Minnesota), shows a traders trail marked "_Chemin des Voyageurs_," across the State of Iowa, commencing at the Mississippi, a few miles below the mouth of the Wisconsin, and following west by a little north until in the vicinity of Spirit Lake, it struck just below the lowest of the lakes which are at the head of the Little Sioux river, upon which lower lake is marked "Village des Aiaoues _ou_ Paoutez" (Paehutch'ae); then continuing due westward towards the Big Sioux this _Chemin du Voyageurs_ bends a little southward towards the mouth of that river; on which river, near the Missouri, three or four villages of "_Maha_" (Omahaw), are marked. Besides these a couple of minor "_Aianouez_" villages are likewise set down at the west end of the _Chemin des Voyageurs_ where it strikes the Big Sioux, which is apparently about the junction of "Fish Creek" with it: [See Waw--non--que--skoon--a's map of Ioway migrations in Vol. III, Schoolcraft, page 256],[79] and again further westward, considerably beyond the western termination of the "_Chemin_" on the James River, four minor villages of "_Aiaouez_" are also noted: while far south by a little east of the first mentioned main "Village des Aiaoues _ou Paoutez_," upon the north or "left" bank of the Missouri river at a point nearly due west from the mouth of the "_Des Moines ou le Moingona_," we find located the "Yoways," and a few miles above them on the same side, the "Les Octotata": which locations were not a great distance from the spot where the Ioway and Otoe now live upon one common "Reservation," on the opposite side of the Missouri just within Nebraska.

ANTE--WHITE HISTORY OF THE IOWAY

Drawn by Capt. S. Eastman. U.S. Army Engraved by W. Williams.]

For the history of the Ioway before the whites knew them, there is no data, beyond language and ancestral beliefs and customs, except their own vague traditions or those equally vague and uncertain of other tribes. The Reverends William Hamilton, and S. M. Irvin, their missionaries, communicated to Schoolcraft[80] in 1848, this statement of "an old Ioway Indian [aged] about sixty years or more."

About sixty--six years ago, we lived on a river, which runs
from a lake to the Mississippi, from the east, and on the east
side of that river. Our fathers and great fathers lived there
for a long time, as long as they could recollect. At that time
we had about four hundred men fit to go to war, but we were
then small to what we had been. Our fathers say, as long as
they can recollect, we have been diminishing. (This is a usual
Indian complaint: in most instances an unfounded one). We
owned all the land east of the Mississippi. (This usual Indian
claim of very extended possessions has generally very little
foundation in fact). Whatever ground we made tracks through,
it was ours. Our fathers saw white men on the [great?] lakes
about 120 years ago; [Nearer 200 probably]; do not know where
they came from. About the same time we first got guns. We were
afraid of them at first, they seemed like the "Great Spirit."
Our fathers also, at the same time, for the first received
iron, axes, hoes, kettles and woollen blankets. We, the
[present] old men of our nation, first saw white men between
forty and fifty years ago, near the mouth of the Missouri.

The same missionary gentlemen, in the same paper, make these observations, which every one who has ever engaged in Indian researches, or in inquiries of the Indians themselves, will endorse as entirely correct:

In tracing their history, religion, &c., it will be
exceedingly difficult to proceed with certainty and
satisfaction, from the differences we find in the notions of
different individuals: _e. g._ today we will sit down with an
old Indian, who will enter into a plausible detail of their
history, or religious belief, or some traditions of their
fathers. Another of the same age and patriarchal rights will
give quite a different statement about the same things; or
perhaps the same individual would tomorrow give his own story
quite a different shade. This is the reason why the reports of
the transient observers vary so much. It requires long
acquaintance, and close observation, to arrive at anything
like just conclusions on these points; and it is only by
collecting different and conflicting notions, and balancing
them, that we can find which prevails.

Now, in regard to the story of the "old Ioway Indian" above quoted, it may be remarked that it is quite certain the Ioway Tribe did not "about sixty years" previous to 1848, that is, in 1788, live anywhere on the east side of the Mississippi, nor had they for more than a hundred years before 1848, and it is doubtful if they had ever done so since the advent of the whites upon the great lakes. But though documents extant negative this story of the "old Ioway Indian" as to _time_, may there not be in this statement the shadowy tribal recollection of the period when they were a Band of the Hotchankaerae or Winnebago, and lived near them? This lake and river "east of the Mississippi," their former residence, may have been _Mille Lacs_ and its outlet in Minnesota, subsequently the home of the Sioux when first visited by De Groseilliers and Raddison,[81] and then by DuLuth[82] and Hennepin? or the Chippeway River? or the Wisconsin? or _Rock River_? Traditions of the Santee [Esanyaete] Sioux who up to 1852 occupied the upper Mississippi in Minnesota allege that when they emigrated from the North the Ioway were in possession of the region around the mouth of the Minnesota river, and that they drove them away. On this head, two of their reliable missionaries, Reverends Dr. Williamson and G. H. Pond, have communicated articles to the Minnesota Historical Collections.

Mr. Pond writes, in the number for 1852, pages 23 and 24, as follows:

Takoha, the old war prophet, says that the Iowa Indian never
occupied the country around the mouth of the Minnesota river.
He affirms that it once belonged to the Winnebagoes who were
long ago driven from it by the Dakotas--a few others of the
Dakotas agree with Takoha. But Black Tomahawk, who is by some
of the most intelligent half--breeds considered the best
Mdewakantonwan traditionist, says that in the earliest years
of the existence of the Dakotas they became acquainted with
the Iowa Indians, and that they lived in a village at the
place which is now called Oak Grove, seven or eight miles from
Fort Snelling, on the north side of the Minnesota river. The
numerous little mounds which are to be seen about Oak Grove,
he says, are the works of the Iowa Indians.

The old man says that in ancient times, when the Dakotas had
no arms but the bow and stone or horn headed arrows, and used
knives and axes manufactured from the same materials, these
little mounds which we now see at the place above named were
the dwellings of the Iowas. They were the enemies of the
Dakotas, who used occasionally to make a warpath from Mille
Lac, where they then resided, down to the Iowa village, and
carry off with them scalps, which made glad the hearts of
their wives and daughters. The strife between the two nations
eventually became desperate, and the gods, who are always
deeply interested in Indian wars, espoused the cause of the
Dakotas.

The thunder, which the Dakotas believe to be a winged monster,
and which in character seems to answer very well to the Mars
of the ancient heathen, bore down upon the Iowa village in a
most terrible and god--like manner. Tempests howled, the forked
lightnings flashed, and the thunders uttered their voices; the
earth trembled; a thunderbolt was hurled at the devoted
village, which ploughed the earth, and formed that deep ravine
near the present dwelling of Peter Quinn. This occurrence
unnerved the Iowas, and the Dakotas, taking advantage of it,
fell upon their enemies and drove them across the Minnesota
river and burned up their village.

The Iowas then built another village on the south side of the
river near the present planting grounds of Grey Iron, where
they remained till the Dakotas obtained firearms, when they
fought their last battle with them in Minnesota, on Pilot
Knob, back of Mendota. The Iowas who escaped on this occasion
fled and erected their next village at the mouth of the Iowa
river, from which they were again eventually driven by the
Dakotas towards the Missouri. The old man from whom we gather
the substance of what has gone before says that these mounds
are the remains of the dwelling houses of the ancient Iowas.
Some say that they are not the remains of the dwellings of the
Iowas, but those of some other people with whom tradition does
not acquaint them; and others still say that they are ancient
burial places.

The following two or three facts may not be without interest
to the reader. Some six years since, Mr. Quinn of Oak Grove
removed the earth of one of these mounds at the same place
where Black Tomahawk says the ancient Iowa village stood. As
the earth was removed on a level with the natural surrounding
surface, charred poles and human bones were found.

It was easy and natural for the imagination to supply the
rest, and make the fact corroborate the tradition of the old
man, when he says that the Iowas constructed their houses by
leaning poles together at the top and spreading them at the
foot, forming a circular frame, which they covered with earth.
In one of these houses a man or woman had been killed, and the
timbers of the house fired, which, of course, would let the
earth fall in upon the dead body and burning poles.

Dr. Williamson, on page 10 to 12, of the Minnesota Historical Collections of 1856, says:

We think it is sufficiently manifest that the Sioux occupied
the better part of Minnesota when Europeans entered it, a
little after the middle of the seventeenth century. It does
not, however, appear that they were the first, much less the
only inhabitants of the country. Their common and most
reliable traditions inform us, that when their ancestors first
came to the Falls of St. Anthony, the Iowas--whom they call
AYUHBA [Drowsy]--occupied the country about the mouth of the
Minnesota river, and the Shiens, called by the Dakotas
SHA--I--ENA, sometimes written by the French Chaienne, and by
others Shiene, dwelt higher up on the same river. We cannot
pretend to determine with certainty at what time the Sioux
first came to the Falls of St. Anthony; but may say, with
confidence, it was a long time ago, probably before the
discovery of America by Columbus. One of the best informed men
concerning their traditions that I have met with among the
Dakotas, who has been dead more than ten years, when
questioned on this point, told me, that they supposed it to
be at least equal to the lifetime of four old men, who should
live one after the other; and as an example of an old man,
named his father, who, I suppose, was at the time at least
eighty years old, [which would make the time three hundred
years.]

The Winnebagoes, Otoes, and Omahas, have been named among the
nations driven by the ancestors of the Dakotas from the
Minnesota valley. I have not found any evidence, satisfactory
to my mind, that the Winnebagoes ever had a home in this
Territory prior to their late removal into it by the United
States government. As respects the Otoes and Omahas it seems
not improbable that they were reckoned as a part of the Dakota
nation, when the Sioux first hunted on the banks of the
Mississippi, and for some time after. The Anthontantas,
mentioned as a part of the Nadouesiouz, by Hennepin, were
probably the same people as the Otoctatas, mentioned in
connection with the Ayavois, as owners of the country about
Blue Earth river, in the fragment of Le Sueur, preserved by La
Harpe, and again some further on, as having recently left
their village in that neighborhood, and settled near the Mahas
on the Missouri river, and it is highly probable that the
Otoctatas of Le Sueur are the same people now called Ottoes or
Otoes. The Mawhaws, Shiens and Schiannesse, are mentioned by
Carver, as bands of the Naudowessiex of the plains. Thus it
appears that the Shiens, the Iowas, the Omahas and the Ottoes,
were the earliest inhabitants of Minnesota of whom we have any
written or certain traditional account. I have neither seen
nor heard of any artificial mounds, ancient fortifications, or
monuments of any kind in or near the Minnesota valley, which
might not have been constructed by these Indians. Such mounds
are probably as numerous in the lower part of the valley of
the Minnesota, and the contiguous part of the Mississippi, as
anywhere else between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains; but
they are very small, compared with those near the Ohio, not to
speak of those farther south. Some of them are still used by
the Dakotas, as burying places for their dead, and in this way
are receiving a small increase almost every year. The
situation of many others indicates that they had a similar
origin.