Who inhabited Greene County before us?

This column was going to be about mental health services that are needed, and services that are available in Greene County, but the person I wished to interview had unforeseen circumstances occur that derailed the plan. A future column will focus on mental health.

Rather in a switch of topics, I will be sharing some of the information I learned about Greene County and those who originally inhabited the area many years ago. I was researching as I prepared a presentation for the Greene County Historical Society.

14,000 years ago, as the ice was melting from the glaciers, Greene County had woolly mammoths and mastodons roaming this area. Mammoths were the larger of the two, with curved tusks, while mastodons resembled a very large elephant. The museum houses a large fossilized mammoth tusk about two feet long and two mastodon teeth. I requested permission to remove them and take them to the educational meeting, but they may be the most pricey item in the museum - at least 5 figures. If it were to be auctioned it would most likely be handled by a high-end company like Sotheby’s. The artifacts were found by Vern and Mary Wright when “New” Highway 30 was being built west of Scranton in the late 1950’s. It seemed rather reckless to remove such priceless items from the museum, but you may see them on Wednesday afternoons or Saturday mornings. Go touch something 14,000 years old.

The Native Americans were forced from their land as the European settlers moved into Iowa. Forts were built to protect them. I was surprised to learn there were two forts named Des Moines. The first was built in 1834 in Keokuk County to control the Sauk. It was located near the current town of Montrose across the Mississippi river from Nauvoo, Illinois. The second was at the mouth of the Raccoon and Des Moines River built in 1841, originally called Fort Raccoon, but the name was changed in 1842. It was built to aid the pioneers, after the Ioway (Meskwaki) sold their land to the U.S. Government and were forced to move to Kansas. Fort Dodge was built in 1850 to protect the settlers from the Dakota people.

In a wonderful bit of irony, the Meskwaki quickly returned and bought some of their land back from the U.S. Government. Originally about 200 acres, they now own 7000 in and around the Iowa Valley, thanks to the White man gambling at their casino.

Chief Johnny Green, the leader of the [Muskwakies] Meskwaki, a part of the Pottawattamie tribe was a frequent visitor in and through what is now Greene County. He would lead his people north for hunting in the late summer and fall. Here excerpt from a letter sent by our second Greene County settler Enos Buttrick to his Father in 1854:

“The Indian folk are curious about us, some of them are eager to help us and willing to instruct me in their ways. The Muskwakies camp nearby so as to observe us in our strangeness as it must seem to them. One of these, Johnny Green is his white name, has taken us under his wing and we feel we need fear no harm from his warriors. The Sioux, however, also hold regions near here as their own and there is great animosity between those tribes. Johnny says he and his warriors do not fear the Sioux and have done battle against them many times.

He says his only hope is the white government will deal with his people more fair[ly] than it has with tribes to the east. I have assured him it will as I cannot imagine our government being anything but forthright with such decent folk.”

An example of the interaction of the Greene County pioneers with the Native Americans may be read at the museum in a diary of Teena Tolliver’s Great Great Grand father-in-law. The following is an excerpt from the diary:

“The Indians that were here mostly just came to hunt in the fall months. The Sioux did not usually come down as far as we lived on the Coon. One of my neighbors though had her husband leave in the Spring to take down pelts [to Fort Des Moines]and to get supplies. He had [ to float the pelts] to go all the way down the Raccoon River. While he was gone the spring rains set in and melted the snow[s], and the streams all rose so much it was impossible for him to return home for several days.

An Indian came to the house one day begging for something to eat. The lady of the house showed him they were without a morsel of food. The Indian asked for a gun. She gave him one. He left with it and in a few hours returned with a couple of deer which he gave to the starving family.

A few days later he returned again and found to the joy of the family the settler had returned with a bountiful supply of provisions over which the Indian seemed to rejoice greatly.”

I will be walking and searching the Raccoon River and smaller tributary creeks this summer as it is my goal to find a Native American artifact.