bigpigeon.us webpage PottCo > Early History, updated by RAC 17 Jul 2023.  
Since 2020, I have done little with this submodule, instead working on the World War II portions of my website.
This incomplete submodule will focus on the late prehistory and early history of the  Pottawattamie County, Iowa area, sometimes touching on nearby states.
In the 1700s, the  stone age culture in the Missouri River valley was transformed by two major events.  
The introduction of European trade goods.
French America in 1763
French America in 1763
The introduction of horses.
Horse Dispersal
Horse Dispersal from Spanish Mexico
By 1820, most Plains Indians had been using European trade goods for a century, tribes to the east from the French via the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, and western tribes from the Spanish from settlements such as Santa Fe.

For the following sixty years, white settlement surged west through the Plains Indians lands. Both the Plains Indians, and Indians from east of the Mississippi were confined to reservations.

Subsequently much land originally allocated for reservations was aquired by white settlers.
Native American Land Cession in Iowa

By 1832, the allied Sauk and Meskwaki tribes occupied much of eastern Iowa. Their resistance to American settlement led to the 1832 Black Hawk War, and the resulting Black Hawk Purchases.

Additional land cessions followed, and by 1851 the United States government had acquired title to all Iowa land.
Indian Land Cessions in Iowa
Indian Land Cessions in Iowa
Part 3 - Early Europeans in the Pottawattamie County Area
Thomas Jefferson's 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France included the Missouri River basin, shown on the accompanying map.

At the time, the Missouri River offered a promising avenue into the riches of the northern Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains. It also potentially offered a feasible route to the Pacific Ocean.
The Missouri River Basin
The Missouri River Basin
the Corps of Discovery - 1804 - 1806
Part 5
From the 1820s to 1846, Bellevue was 
The Bellevue Agency - 1833
The Bellevue Agency - 1833
Pre-1837 Area History Outline (with an 1860s map)
Don't confuse the city of Council Bluffs with the historic Council Bluffs area, which I view as starting at the mouth of the Platte River and extending north to Ft. Calhoun.
​This is my draft list of pre-1837 historical sites along the Missouri River in the Council Bluffs area from south to north:
Bellevue - trading post, Indian agency & mission.
Traders Point - satellite of Bellevue trading post on east side of river run for many years by Francis Guittar.
Hart's Bluff - east side of river in today's NW Council Bluffs Big Lake.
Cabanne's Post - trading post near today's Florence.
Ft. Lisa - trading post run by Manuel Lisa.
Engineer Cantonment - occupied 1819-20 by the Stephen H. Long party.
Ft. Atkinson - SE of today's Ft. Calhoun, one of the largest US military posts from 1819-1826; today a living history museum.
Council Bluffs site: site of 1804 council between the Lewis and Clark party and Indians; exact location unknown but near Ft. Atkinson.

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Council Bluffs Area - 1860s
Council Bluffs Area - 1860s
Pottawattamie County Area Timeline - 1803 - 1853: 
  • 1803 - The United States acquires the Missouri River basin from France through the Louisiana Purchase.
  • 1804 - Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery hold their first council with Native Americans near today's Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, north of today's Omaha. The surrounding area on both sides of the Missouri River becomes known as Council Bluffs.
  • 1837 - The Illinois Potawatomi bands of Native Americans  vacate the Platte Purchase in northwestern Missouri and move north into a temporary reservation in today's southwestern Iowa.
  • 1838 (4 Jul) - Iowa Territory established from the western portion of Wisconsin Territory.
  • 1846 - Illinois Potawatomi agree to move to a new reservation in northeastern Kansas west of the Missouri River.
  • 1846 - Mormons expelled from the Nauvoo, Illinois area; most move west and settle temporarily in the Council Bluffs area, both on former Potawatomi lands and, with permission of the Omaha tribe, in today's North Omaha at a site known as Winter Quarters.
  • 1846 - In December, the State of Iowa is established from a portion of Iowa Territory.
  • 1847 - Mormons begin to leave the Council Bluffs area for Utah.
  • 1847 (24 Feb) - Pottawattamie County established (boundaries encompass most of the former Illinois Potawatomie reserve).
  • 1847 - Most Illinois Potawatomi leave for Kansas.
  • 1848 - Remaining Mormons in Winter Quarters move east across the river into former Potawatomi lands.
  • 1848 (21 Sep) - Pottawattamie County organized.
  • 1851 (15 Jan) - Pottawattamie County reduced to current size by establishment of other counties, including neighboring counties of Harrison, Shelby, Cass., Montgomery and Mills.
  • 1851 - Survey of Pottawattamie County land began. Survey extended into 1852.
  • 1853 (12 Mar) - Council Bluffs Land Office opened. Howver, for the first few months only preemption law purchases, by individuals who had already settled and made improvements to a parcel of land, were processed. 
  • 1853 (7 Jun) - Council Bluffs Land Office opened to the general public. In the next several years much of the land was acquired by speculators using land warrants issued to veterans of previous conflicts; those using cash typically paid $1.25 per acre. A purchaser received a land patent, a title document showing that he or she was the owner, free and clear, of the specified tract of land.
  • 1853 (8 Jun) - Formal Mormon evacuation of the Pottawattamie area ended with the departure of the Miller-Cooley Company of 282 individuals from Six-Mile Grove west of Winter Quarters. (However, until made obsolete by the Union Pacific Railroad, Winter Quarters vicinity will sometimes be used to stage Mormon companies crossing the Plains to Utah.
  • 1856 (31 May) Council Bluffs Land Office temporarily closed (except for preemption law purchases) while land grants to railroads were prepared.
  • 1858 (23 Feb) Council Bluffs Land Office reopened to the general public.
  • 1863 (1 Jan) First Council Bluffs Land Office entry under the 1862 Homestead Law.
  • 1873 (May) Council Bluffs Land Office permanently closed. Remaining business was handled by the Des Moines Land Office.


​Sources for Big Pigeon's Early Area History webpage:​
Some items to include in this webarea:
1804-06 - Corps of Discovery
1807-12 Manuel Lisa in the upper Missouri
1810-12 - The Astorians change the course of Western history.
1812-20 - Manuel Lisa in the Council Bluffs area.
1819-27 - Fort Atkinson.
1819-20 -  Engineer Cantonment and the Long Expedition.
1822-40 - Cabanne's Trading Post.
1822 - ? - Bellevue and Traders Point
1830-38 - George Catlin on the Missouri.
1833 - Prince Max and Karl Bodmer on the Missouri.
Also:
Hart's Bluff 
Bring in Peter Sarpy, Fontennelle family, & other local figures..


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