Editors note: Much of the research for this article was through the book “Early Days in Hamilton County, Then and Now,” by Bessie L. Lyon. A beloved teacher in the 1900’s, the Lyon family was one of the earliest families to settle in the Hamilton County area. Her collection of historical accounts has been passed along since it’s printing in 1946. Bessie Lyon was born in 1873 and died in 1961 at the age of 87.

During the 1600’s the French started exploring America, starting far to the north traveling down the St. Lawrence river. They established Quebec and Montreal, sending men out to trade with the Indians for furs; along with those traders were Jesuit missionaries who tried to convert the native inhabitants to Christianity.

As they worked their way down, the Indians told them about the great inland river. At first it was believed to be the Mississippi river that flowed into the Gulf. The first two French explorers who came to this region were, Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, the fur trader, who traveled in canoes to Green Bay with Indian guides walking across to the Wisconsin river carrying their canoes.

They traveled down the Wisconsin stream until they came to its junction with the “Father of Waters” just below McGregor, Iowa.

Dressed in the black robes as a priest, Marquette and Joliet connected with tribal men of the Illinois, they were able to communicate and learned the name of the river was the Des Moines. This was the river that connected the northern lands of Canada to the midwest. They later learned that this river flowed into the Mississippi near the southeastern corner of Iowa, and so it was named the Des Moines river on their first map of exploration.

Due to the many explorations made by the French, the Mississippi valley was claimed by the French government; the English won the land east of the Mississippi in the French and Indian war, and France then gave the land west of the river to Spain, in thanks for their aid during the war against the English.

The area where Iowa is located was under the Spanish flag from 1765 until 1800, then ceded back to France. In 1803 the territory, known as the Louisiana Purchase, extending from the Mississippi river to the Rocky Mountains became a part of the United States.

As far as the eastern travelers knew, these territories were part of the wild west. As each state was identified, the lands known as Iowa were in oblivion often, and without any form of government, those lands became fairly lawless.

When Louisiana was made into a state in 1812, the area north of it became the Missouri territory. Missouri became a state in 1821, and the area which included today’s Iowa was just identified as Indian land. It wasn’t even considered a territory. It became part of a regional shuffle. Just as settlers started showing an interest in this arena it was decided to attach it to the Michigan territory, where it remained from 1834 to 1836.

The next move was to be part of the Wisconsin Territory from 1836 to 1838, and then it finally was identified as the Territory of Iowa, named for the Ioway indians. From 1838 to 1846 there were plans to have statehood for Iowa, but they did not succeed until December 1846, 180 years ago.

There were multiple area tribes who lived in Iowa during those years, including the Sioux, Sauks, Foxes and Ioways, who fought over the Iowa land. The U.S. government determined that there needed to be a neutral strip, 40 miles wide. The Sioux would stay on the north, while the Sauks, Foxes and Ioways remained south of this strip.

This neutral strip took in about one half of the north part of what is now Hamilton County, the order for neutrality was to take effect about 1830. In 1835 when the Dragoons came across the county, they found the Ioways still along the streams.

The south line of the neutral strip left the county near Homer, which was home to the Sauks and Foxes, but in 1842 these tribes gave up their land east of the Missouri river to the U.S. Government.

The earliest settlers, Mrs. Harriet Bonebright Closz, quoted in her book, “The Founding of Newcastle”, recorded that her mother, Mrs. Sarah Brewer Bonebright, was never troubled by the native indians; when they came to this region they found many freshly cut trees and fresh camp fire ashes along the river and they knew indians were in the area.

The Brewer cabins were often visited by small bands trading canoes and wooden dishes for supplies, and a freindship was forged when they were invited to join in a buffalo hunt.

So Wilson Brewer, and two sons; Major Brassfield, Isaac Lyon, and Sam Schultz joined the hunting party. A buffalo herd was located on the edge of what is now Webster county. The hunt transpired over two days with six animals killed, two for the Brewers, two for Brassfield and two for the Indians. This was reported to be the last known sighting of buffalo in this region.

The settlement chosen by the Brewer family was established at the “Horse Shoe bend” in the Boone River before the city was platted. The early settlers, like the indian tribes, preferred close access to the rivers, which also provided wood to build the cabins, a food source of fish, and deer and other wildlife who depended on the waterway to survive.

Most early settlers traveled with horses and wagons, following trails created by early scouts and explorers But from rafts, canoes and larger boats, the rivers across the country were still used by many for different legs of their journey.