166 | HISTORY |
is found in any public records was in 1829. At a session of the Legislature of the Territory of Michigan held in Detroit that year an act was passed and approved on the 9th of October by which all of the territory lying south of the Wisconsin River, west of Lake Michigan, east of the Mississippi River and north of Illinois, was formed into a new county, called Iowa, and the county-seat was located at Mineral Point.
A petition was sent in by the citizens of Mineral Point to Dr. William Brown, a member of the Council from Wayne County, praying for the establishment of a new county. He presented it on the 14th of September and it was referred to the Committee on Territorial Affairs. Henry K. Schoolcraft, the distinguished author of Indian books, who was a member of the Council, reported a bill to organize the county of Iowa, which became a law. It cannot now be ascertained who drafted this bill, but it lies between Dr. Brown and Mr. Schoolcraft. One of them undoubtedly suggested the name Iowa; but what the name signified, or from whence it was derived, will probably always remain an unsettled problem.
George Catlin, who became a famous Indian painter and historian, spent several months in Iowa during his tours among the Indians. He made a trip up the Des Moines Valley about this time and thus describes it: