September 2, 2025 • 26 mins
What is the REAL story of Iowa?
Nestled among the limestone bluffs along the Mississippi River, we unearth the curious origin of Iowa as told through the story of its first permanent European settler, Julien Dubuque.
…
What was Iowa like before statehood? How, when, and why did it become a state?
Finally, WHY should you care?
Noodles and I explore these questions (and much more!) as we delve into the surprising history of our home state.
Safe travels!
Works Cited:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3740672?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
https://www.telegraphherald.com/news/features/article_1f520a43-4d6a-5677-b7f8-f9e490a79c91.html
https://ouriowaheritage.com/honoring-the-ioway-tribe-of-johnson-county/
https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/artifact/1442/julien-dubuque-lead-mining-and-mines-spain
https://www.britannica.com/place/Dubuque
https://papersofabrahamlincoln.org/events/E4015689
https://ouriowaheritage.com/2024/09/21/september-21-1832/
https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2668/path-statehood
https://www.britannica.com/event/Black-Hawk-War
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/french-exploratoin-mississippi-valley
https://www.minesofspain.org/history/
https://ouriowaheritage.com/our-iowa-heritage-true-native-iowans/
https://ouriowaheritage.com/our-iowa-heritage-the-discovery/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9TLFqW0nCo
https://uipress.lib.uiowa.edu/bdi/DetailsPage.aspx?id=102
https://www.minnesotatrap.com/history-in-the-making/shot
Noah and Noodles here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the van Iowa, the Hawkeye State, a land
known for its hard-workingpeople, rich soil and, of course
, the famous annualhusband-calling competition.
But where did it all begin?
Today, my dog Noodles and Idive deep into the history of
(00:26):
our home state.
In the corn, sweat, humidity,we use the story of Iowa's first
permanent European settler,julian Dubuque, to answer the
following questions what did thedays before Iowa look like?
How and why did it become astate?
And finally, why does the townhe inspired Dubuque, iowa, prove
(00:49):
that Iowa is anything but aflyover state.
Sound good, all right.
Safe travels Cruising down thestreet, I wonder where this road
would lead.
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
(01:10):
Oh Noodle, what do you see BackRoad Odyssey.
His dark hair, night sky eyesand declared profession defy the
zealous character at the centerof the party.
(01:31):
Large crowds surround theimpromptu performance.
Why would they not?
He had, in a trance, abruptlytaken the fiddle from a
performing musician and playedit masterfully.
If, unexpectedly, even theowner of the borrowed fiddle
cracks a smile as the man danceswhile he plays his melodic tune
(01:54):
.
This curious fiddler, they say,is a tradesman, a miner from up
north, an explorer.
For tonight at least, heperforms.
Julian Dubuque plays on.
(02:18):
Here we are back in our homestate, our hometown Dubuque,
iowa.
We're hiking around the minesof Spain.
If you don't know Dubuque well,picture a cluster of sculpted
limestone bluffs right along thecurvature of the Mississippi
River.
(02:38):
The best place to experiencethis landscape, in my opinion,
is the Mines of Spain where weare hiking.
It's also a location that'sintimately tied to our story
today, the story of Dubuque, thestory of Iowa.
We started today with anaccount of Julian Dubuque taking
(02:59):
a fiddle from a performer andperforming while dancing at a
party in St Louis.
This for a reason.
First of all, it actuallyhappened Historically.
It happened.
Secondly, just like Iowa,particularly in the beginning,
was a landscape of ambiguity andcontradictions.
(03:21):
The founder of its firstpermanent European settlement
complicates our perception ofthe creation of states within
the US.
But before we get into the lifeof Julian Dubuque and how his
story ties into the creation ofIowa as America's 29th state, we
(03:46):
need to ask ourselves thefollowing questions what was
Iowa before statehood?
What was Iowa before JulianDubuque?
Before lines are drawn on mapsand farms spring up like weeds.
The land that becomes Iowa isan inhabited, lush prairie west
(04:09):
of the Mississippi, the highwaywhere the modern state gets its
name.
The Sioux, sauk, meskwaki orFox and many others for
generations live and trade hereundisturbed.
Europeans enter the scene whentwo French missionaries and
explorers, marquet and Juliet,traversed sections of the
(04:30):
Mississippi in 1673.
This exploration opens thefloodgates of European contact
with tribes along theMississippi River, as well as
the trade, interaction andconflict that coincides.
Sixteen years later we see thestart of a curious trend that
(04:52):
continues until the founding ofIowa the European claiming of
land.
On May 8th 1689, frenchexplorer Nicolas Perrin claims
possession of the MississippiRiver Valley for the French
crown, calling it La Louisianaor Louis' Land in honor of King
(05:12):
Louis XIV of France.
The generational tribes allacross the quote claimed land
might have disagreed with thisassertion.
Land might have disagreed withthis assertion.
Regardless.
Any claim or declaration ofownership in early America is
guesswork at the very best.
(05:33):
How could Nikola the French oranyone know what lies in the
millions of acres of unexploredland?
You're claiming millions ofacres of unexplored land.
You're claiming I'm sittingalong the mouth of Catfish Creek
, around where the Meskwakivillage was.
(05:54):
We think here they would havetraded goods, fur and lead ores
with French explorers traversingthe Mississippi River, and all
of this was happening wellbefore the American Revolution
and eventual American expansionwest.
That's why towns all along theupper Midwest Prédechine,
(06:15):
marquette, des Moines, julietteand, of course, dubuque have
French names.
The French were here haveFrench names, the French were
here.
And one of these Frenchmen isthe aforementioned illustrious
minor and fiddle player, julienDubuc, the youngest of possibly
(06:40):
10 children, julien Dubuc isborn in Quebec in 1762.
As a child, the French-Canadianwould have observed trappers
disappearing for months at atime, only then to return with
treasures, with stories, all ofwhich must have stirred the
young Julien's imagination.
(07:01):
So with this seed ofexploration planted, dubuque, at
20 years old, joins his brotherAugustine at Prairie du Chien,
a trading hub along theMississippi in modern Wisconsin.
There he interacts with tribes,learns the craft of trading and
generally thrives, untilsuddenly, his brother Augustine
(07:28):
dies in a powder keg explosion.
This tragedy must havereignited the restlessness, the
desire to explore inside ofJulian, because he won't stay in
prayer to sheep for long.
(07:49):
I'm at the Julian DubuqueMonument now, which is a small
limestone castle memorial alongthe bluffs near the town that he
later would go on to inspire.
So whenever somebody says thatexplorers or frontiersmen did
one of three things I have toraise my eyebrows a little bit.
One treated the natives theyencountered well, two considered
(08:11):
them friends and threerespected them as neighbors.
American history is filled,filled with examples that would
contradict any one of theseclaims.
And to later lionize someonewho did take advantage of tribes
that they encountered, or tomisrepresent how they actually
treated the tribes theyencountered, is wrong.
(08:33):
It just is.
But at the same time, when anexplorer, when a trader, when a
frontiersman actually does treattribes with respect, it should
be acknowledged.
When it comes to Julian Dubuque, whose remains are buried
underneath the monument right infront of me now, every single
(08:56):
thing I found through all theresearch, primary sources, books
, articles, journals everythingpoints towards his particularly
tolerant and amiable naturetowards tribes he encountered,
particularly with the Meskwaki,a tribe he would later live
alongside, marry into and beburied by with tribal honors.
(09:21):
This, particularly given thecontext of the time the many
atrocities against tribes issomething to point out.
As a general rule in the 18thcentury, the French tend to have
(09:42):
better relationships withsurrounding tribes than did
their British or later Americancounterparts.
Julian de Buque, as aFrench-Canadian trader,
reinforces this rule.
After five years of interactingwith tribes around Proto-Chine
and beyond, he gains thetentative at first trust of the
Meskwaki who for generationsprotected the location of secret
(10:04):
reserves of lead ore along thebluffs of the Mississippi.
Lead, it's important to note,at the time was invaluable to
the Europeans and every tribeknew this.
And so to give the location ofthese deposits, like the
Meskwaki end up doing, to Julian, is no small showing of trust.
(10:27):
Well, in Pradeshene, dubuqueand the Meskwaki sign an
agreement that grants Dubuquethe right to mine, manage and
trade the cluster of leaddeposits downriver.
In exchange for the location ofthe mines and the rights to
mine them, Dubuque provides guns, knives and other trade goods.
(10:48):
On September 22nd 1788, dubuquecan now officially mine the
then-valuable lead depositsalong the Mississippi River
south of where he had been forfive years, near modern Dubuque,
iowa.
(11:12):
We're here in Dubuque's eastside along the river, at one of
the last remaining shot towersin the world.
This narrow, tall stone towerwas once widely used in the
making of lead shots forammunition, and basically
(11:33):
someone would go to the top,pour molten lead down a grate.
It would then solidify and coolinto a perfect ball for a shot
before falling into a vat ofwater at the very bottom.
And voila, lead bullets,perfect lead bullets.
(11:55):
So this particular tower rightin front of me wasn't built
until 1856 or so.
I wanted to bring us herebecause it does show the
importance of lead, both after,during and before Julian
Dubuque's time.
Today we know it's wildly,wildly toxic, but back then it
(12:15):
was gold.
It was used in plumbing, paint,cosmetics, soldering,
ammunition, printing, almosteverything.
Because unlike other metals itwas malleable.
You could melt it over an openflame.
Again, don't do it Super toxic,but back then it was great.
(12:36):
You could make durable, qualitythings.
So around here, for JulianDubuque at the turn of the 18th
century, lead might as well havebeen gold.
Dubuque heads south fromPrère-de-Chine to the
now-revealed lead depositsdownriver field lead deposits
(12:56):
downriver.
Here he establishes a tradingpost, sets up lead mines and
smelters, builds a house andbecomes the first permanent
European settler in the region.
Things move quickly and themines eventually produce 10 to
20 tons of lead per yearMaterial he then packages and
(13:18):
takes south to St Louis to sell.
While in St Louis, when he'snot displacing fiddles during
parties or socializing, he actsas a link between himself, the
Meskwaki and officials in thecity.
It's perhaps these interactionsthat planted an idea in the
(13:38):
mind of Julian, because it'saround this time he begins to
worry about shoring up hismining rights, not just with the
Meskwaki he had already donethat but with the new claimant
of the vast Louisiana territory,spain, who the land was ceded
(13:59):
to by France in 1762.
To ensure the rights, then,Dubuque travels yet further down
south, to New Orleans, where hesecures mining rights, yet
again, not from the Meskwaki,but from the new Spanish
governor of the territory.
The secured mines would fromhere on out be referred to as
(14:22):
the mines of Spain.
You, like Julian Dubuque, mightbe starting to identify a
pattern in early American landpolitics Ownership is as flimsy
as the paper the deal is made on.
We just scaled Horseshoe Bluffin the mines of Spain and are
(14:51):
now overlooking the Mississippi.
I've been coming up here sinceI was 13.
Anyway, if you're confusedabout who owns what, when and
where out here in theMississippi Valley and beyond in
the 18th and the 19th centuries, that makes two of us.
It's wild.
France claims millions of acres, gives it to Spain, who then
(15:14):
reseeds it back to France,reseeds it back to France, who?
Napoleon?
Then sells it to the US underJefferson.
And all of these events happenwhile people are actively living
on the land and have been forgenerations.
Have you ever played shotgun?
Basically, you're walking up toa car and whoever yells shotgun
(15:37):
gets the passenger seat in thefront.
So picture that.
But picture it with threepeople all alternatively yelling
shotgun before they get to thecar.
Well, somebody is activelysitting there.
That's what's going on.
That's the best way I can putit into words.
Wild, but that's what happened.
(16:00):
As the years pass, julianDubuque, whose short, dark
complexion prompts his mesquakineighbors to call him La Petite
Nuit or Little Knight, builds alife in the bluffs along the
river, in a premonition ofwhat's to come for the later
state of Iowa.
He farms the rich soil, 1,600acres of it.
(16:24):
His house features wallpaintings, more than 50 books, a
cast iron stove and, of course,his fiddle.
The cause of his death, at theage of 48, is relatively unclear
.
Some say pneumonia, otherstuberculosis.
Most suspect lead poisoningFair suspicion, I reckon, for a
(16:47):
lead miner.
But regardless.
Dubuque, 22 years afterestablishing the first European
settlement in what will becomethe state of Iowa, is buried
atop a bluff beneath a logmausoleum built by his Meskwaki
neighbors.
From here on out, the dam isbroken.
Dubuque's death and the lead heuncovered leads to questions
(17:11):
about the ownership of the landand signals the coming decline
of the Meskwaki and surroundingtribes.
We're back in the van after ourhike and are heading to downtown
Dubuque.
Okay, so there's this bigquestion when Julian dies, and
(17:33):
it's tied to the birth of Iowaas a state, who owns the land?
The Meskwaki rightfully saythat they sold the mining rights
, not the actual land, to Julian.
Debut, in a rare win for Nativetribes, the Supreme Court signs
with them.
They force the removal of eagerminers encroaching on their
lead-rich land.
(17:55):
But this success is wildlyshort-lived because, in a bid to
reclaim ancestral lands inIllinois after being forced west
, black Hawk of the Sauk tribe,facing starvation, crosses back
into Illinois where they areconfronted by the Illinois
militia, and this altercationinitiates the extremely
(18:18):
consequential Black Hawk War.
Brief but bloody, the BlackHawk War lasts only the summer
of 1832.
Its conclusion ushers in an eraof further American expansion
west of the Upper Mississippi.
(18:38):
In a bid to spare his peopleafter losing the war, black Hawk
signs a treaty that essentiallyremoves the remaining tribes
around the Upper Mississippi.
Yet further west, six millionacres of land west of the river
are ceded then over to theUnited States.
The acquired land become areasfor settlement and development.
(19:04):
Rapid growth ensues along theriver, mines are established,
settlers settle In 1837, dubuqueis officially chartered as a
city within the Iowa Territory.
(19:24):
Noodles and I are walking indowntown Dubuque.
Landmarks bindingly tied to mychildhood are all around me the
town clock, 4th Street elevator,the Riverwalk, paul's Burgers.
It's hard to comprehend thatall of this, everything I
remember, everything I'mcurrently seeing, can all be
traced back to a series ofpersonalities and key choices.
(19:47):
If Julian stayed in Quebec, theBlack Hawk War didn't happen.
Treaties were respected.
It would be different.
But we have one importantquestion left to answer as I
walk here in the heart of thebirthplace of Iowa how does Iowa
go on to become a state?
(20:11):
Much like the vast land claimsof the 18th century, 19th
century US territories areambiguous, confusing and subject
to change.
Here's the essence of whathappens on Iowa's road to
statehood.
The land that becomes Iowa isfirst attached to the Michigan
(20:36):
Territory.
When Michigan reaches thepopulation required to apply for
statehood 60,000 or so theregion that becomes Iowa is then
transferred to the WisconsinTerritory.
Four years later, the IowaTerritory is formed, reaching
from the Mississippi River tomodern-day St Paul, minneapolis
and eventually the Dakotas.
(20:56):
Settlers at this point begin toflock into the newly
established Iowa territory forits mines, rich farmland and
expansive space.
But while the territory grows,a national debate rages on.
Slavery is intimately tied withthe creation of new states
(21:19):
joining the Union.
If a state is created anddeclared free, it gets two
senators, which increaseanti-slavery representation in
the Senate.
Conversely, if a slave state isadmitted, pro-slavery
representation in the Senateincreases by two.
So to neutralize this balance,this fighting of power, the
practice of admitting two statesat once ensues One slave state,
(21:44):
one free state.
This until the breakout of theCivil War, tapes together the
delicate senatorial balancewithin Washington.
So when Florida enters theUnion as a slave state in 1845,
iowa, who was then a freeterritory which outlawed slavery
(22:06):
, pushes for statehood.
And on December 28th 1846,president Polk admits Iowa into
the Union as a free state,balancing Florida's entry into
the Union.
From this point on, iowa sitsits borders solidly sculpted by
(22:30):
the Mississippi River to theeast and the Missouri River to
the west.
I'm with Noodles going up what'sbeen called the shortest and
steepest scenic railway in theworld, the 4th Street Elevator,
dubuque Staple.
And thank God there's no oneelse in our cart so I can talk.
But I think it's a fitting endto our travels today Because
(22:54):
once at the top, we get apanoramic view of downtown, the
river, the bluffs.
Ultimately we see thebirthplace of Iowa in its
entirety.
And with that said, I thinkwe'll go and enjoy.
And with that said, I thinkwe'll go and enjoy that view.
I hope you enjoyed our littlehistorical tour of my home state
(23:24):
, my hometown, nestled herealong the coast of the
Mississippi.
History is littered withunpleasant events and facts, but
to look at these eventsdirectly, unflinchingly, is
essential in establishingcontext for the present.
To look at Julian Dubuque's,I've found good, respectful
(23:47):
treatment of tribes shouldn't bementioned without acknowledging
the later forced removal ofthese same tribes.
That's history.
That's what happened, the good,the bad, the ugly.
And the story of Iowa is nodifferent.
It's everything that happened,From the simple seed of its
first mingled settlement to theremoval of the Meskwaki, to the
(24:09):
sprawling farms, casey's GeneralStores and husband-calling
competitions that litter itscurrent landscape.
The past always lives with thepresent, and so if you find
yourself in Dubuque and you makeyour way down to the banks of
the Mississippi River, considerstopping, after a burger at
(24:30):
Paul's, a pint at Jubek Brewingand closing your eyes to listen,
you might just hear the faintecho of a miner's fiddle upon
the bluffs.
It's Nella here.
(25:08):
Thank you for traveling with usto my hometown and state, nella
here, thank you for travelingwith us to my hometown and state
, no less.
I could fill the remaining timewith recommendations and facts
about Iowa, but I'll insteadleave you with a piece of Iowan
knowledge, of Dubuque wisdomthat, if you forget everything
else I've said today, I promiseyou'll never forget.
(25:30):
We have a saying around here soeveryone will know how tall corn
should be during growing season.
The saying is this knee high by4th of July.
There it is.
By July 4th, your corn, ifyou're growing, it should be at
your knees.
If not, you're probably notgood at growing corn.
(25:51):
Or from Nebraska.
With that said, if you findvalue in the show and the
research and work that we putinto every single episode,
taking a minute to rate andreview tangibly helps us
continue to put the work we liketo into each and every episode.
Thanks again.
Be good to each other.
We're two next Backroad Odyssey.
(26:15):
I don't want to be late.
Welcome to the van Iowa, the Hawkeye State, a land
known for its hard-workingpeople, rich soil and, of course
, the famous annualhusband-calling competition.
But where did it all begin?
Today, my dog Noodles and Idive deep into the history of
(00:26):
our home state.
In the corn, sweat, humidity,we use the story of Iowa's first
permanent European settler,julian Dubuque, to answer the
following questions what did thedays before Iowa look like?
How and why did it become astate?
And finally, why does the townhe inspired Dubuque, iowa, prove
(00:49):
that Iowa is anything but aflyover state.
Sound good, all right.
Safe travels Cruising down thestreet, I wonder where this road
would lead.
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
(01:10):
Oh Noodle, what do you see BackRoad Odyssey.
His dark hair, night sky eyesand declared profession defy the
zealous character at the centerof the party.
(01:31):
Large crowds surround theimpromptu performance.
Why would they not?
He had, in a trance, abruptlytaken the fiddle from a
performing musician and playedit masterfully.
If, unexpectedly, even theowner of the borrowed fiddle
cracks a smile as the man danceswhile he plays his melodic tune
(01:54):
.
This curious fiddler, they say,is a tradesman, a miner from up
north, an explorer.
For tonight at least, heperforms.
Julian Dubuque plays on.
(02:18):
Here we are back in our homestate, our hometown Dubuque,
iowa.
We're hiking around the minesof Spain.
If you don't know Dubuque well,picture a cluster of sculpted
limestone bluffs right along thecurvature of the Mississippi
River.
(02:38):
The best place to experiencethis landscape, in my opinion,
is the Mines of Spain where weare hiking.
It's also a location that'sintimately tied to our story
today, the story of Dubuque, thestory of Iowa.
We started today with anaccount of Julian Dubuque taking
(02:59):
a fiddle from a performer andperforming while dancing at a
party in St Louis.
This for a reason.
First of all, it actuallyhappened Historically.
It happened.
Secondly, just like Iowa,particularly in the beginning,
was a landscape of ambiguity andcontradictions.
(03:21):
The founder of its firstpermanent European settlement
complicates our perception ofthe creation of states within
the US.
But before we get into the lifeof Julian Dubuque and how his
story ties into the creation ofIowa as America's 29th state, we
(03:46):
need to ask ourselves thefollowing questions what was
Iowa before statehood?
What was Iowa before JulianDubuque?
Before lines are drawn on mapsand farms spring up like weeds.
The land that becomes Iowa isan inhabited, lush prairie west
(04:09):
of the Mississippi, the highwaywhere the modern state gets its
name.
The Sioux, sauk, meskwaki orFox and many others for
generations live and trade hereundisturbed.
Europeans enter the scene whentwo French missionaries and
explorers, marquet and Juliet,traversed sections of the
(04:30):
Mississippi in 1673.
This exploration opens thefloodgates of European contact
with tribes along theMississippi River, as well as
the trade, interaction andconflict that coincides.
Sixteen years later we see thestart of a curious trend that
(04:52):
continues until the founding ofIowa the European claiming of
land.
On May 8th 1689, frenchexplorer Nicolas Perrin claims
possession of the MississippiRiver Valley for the French
crown, calling it La Louisianaor Louis' Land in honor of King
(05:12):
Louis XIV of France.
The generational tribes allacross the quote claimed land
might have disagreed with thisassertion.
Land might have disagreed withthis assertion.
Regardless.
Any claim or declaration ofownership in early America is
guesswork at the very best.
(05:33):
How could Nikola the French oranyone know what lies in the
millions of acres of unexploredland?
You're claiming millions ofacres of unexplored land.
You're claiming I'm sittingalong the mouth of Catfish Creek
, around where the Meskwakivillage was.
(05:54):
We think here they would havetraded goods, fur and lead ores
with French explorers traversingthe Mississippi River, and all
of this was happening wellbefore the American Revolution
and eventual American expansionwest.
That's why towns all along theupper Midwest Prédechine,
(06:15):
marquette, des Moines, julietteand, of course, dubuque have
French names.
The French were here haveFrench names, the French were
here.
And one of these Frenchmen isthe aforementioned illustrious
minor and fiddle player, julienDubuc, the youngest of possibly
(06:40):
10 children, julien Dubuc isborn in Quebec in 1762.
As a child, the French-Canadianwould have observed trappers
disappearing for months at atime, only then to return with
treasures, with stories, all ofwhich must have stirred the
young Julien's imagination.
(07:01):
So with this seed ofexploration planted, dubuque, at
20 years old, joins his brotherAugustine at Prairie du Chien,
a trading hub along theMississippi in modern Wisconsin.
There he interacts with tribes,learns the craft of trading and
generally thrives, untilsuddenly, his brother Augustine
(07:28):
dies in a powder keg explosion.
This tragedy must havereignited the restlessness, the
desire to explore inside ofJulian, because he won't stay in
prayer to sheep for long.
(07:49):
I'm at the Julian DubuqueMonument now, which is a small
limestone castle memorial alongthe bluffs near the town that he
later would go on to inspire.
So whenever somebody says thatexplorers or frontiersmen did
one of three things I have toraise my eyebrows a little bit.
One treated the natives theyencountered well, two considered
(08:11):
them friends and threerespected them as neighbors.
American history is filled,filled with examples that would
contradict any one of theseclaims.
And to later lionize someonewho did take advantage of tribes
that they encountered, or tomisrepresent how they actually
treated the tribes theyencountered, is wrong.
(08:33):
It just is.
But at the same time, when anexplorer, when a trader, when a
frontiersman actually does treattribes with respect, it should
be acknowledged.
When it comes to Julian Dubuque, whose remains are buried
underneath the monument right infront of me now, every single
(08:56):
thing I found through all theresearch, primary sources, books
, articles, journals everythingpoints towards his particularly
tolerant and amiable naturetowards tribes he encountered,
particularly with the Meskwaki,a tribe he would later live
alongside, marry into and beburied by with tribal honors.
(09:21):
This, particularly given thecontext of the time the many
atrocities against tribes issomething to point out.
As a general rule in the 18thcentury, the French tend to have
(09:42):
better relationships withsurrounding tribes than did
their British or later Americancounterparts.
Julian de Buque, as aFrench-Canadian trader,
reinforces this rule.
After five years of interactingwith tribes around Proto-Chine
and beyond, he gains thetentative at first trust of the
Meskwaki who for generationsprotected the location of secret
(10:04):
reserves of lead ore along thebluffs of the Mississippi.
Lead, it's important to note,at the time was invaluable to
the Europeans and every tribeknew this.
And so to give the location ofthese deposits, like the
Meskwaki end up doing, to Julian, is no small showing of trust.
(10:27):
Well, in Pradeshene, dubuqueand the Meskwaki sign an
agreement that grants Dubuquethe right to mine, manage and
trade the cluster of leaddeposits downriver.
In exchange for the location ofthe mines and the rights to
mine them, Dubuque provides guns, knives and other trade goods.
(10:48):
On September 22nd 1788, dubuquecan now officially mine the
then-valuable lead depositsalong the Mississippi River
south of where he had been forfive years, near modern Dubuque,
iowa.
(11:12):
We're here in Dubuque's eastside along the river, at one of
the last remaining shot towersin the world.
This narrow, tall stone towerwas once widely used in the
making of lead shots forammunition, and basically
(11:33):
someone would go to the top,pour molten lead down a grate.
It would then solidify and coolinto a perfect ball for a shot
before falling into a vat ofwater at the very bottom.
And voila, lead bullets,perfect lead bullets.
(11:55):
So this particular tower rightin front of me wasn't built
until 1856 or so.
I wanted to bring us herebecause it does show the
importance of lead, both after,during and before Julian
Dubuque's time.
Today we know it's wildly,wildly toxic, but back then it
(12:15):
was gold.
It was used in plumbing, paint,cosmetics, soldering,
ammunition, printing, almosteverything.
Because unlike other metals itwas malleable.
You could melt it over an openflame.
Again, don't do it Super toxic,but back then it was great.
(12:36):
You could make durable, qualitythings.
So around here, for JulianDubuque at the turn of the 18th
century, lead might as well havebeen gold.
Dubuque heads south fromPrère-de-Chine to the
now-revealed lead depositsdownriver field lead deposits
(12:56):
downriver.
Here he establishes a tradingpost, sets up lead mines and
smelters, builds a house andbecomes the first permanent
European settler in the region.
Things move quickly and themines eventually produce 10 to
20 tons of lead per yearMaterial he then packages and
(13:18):
takes south to St Louis to sell.
While in St Louis, when he'snot displacing fiddles during
parties or socializing, he actsas a link between himself, the
Meskwaki and officials in thecity.
It's perhaps these interactionsthat planted an idea in the
(13:38):
mind of Julian, because it'saround this time he begins to
worry about shoring up hismining rights, not just with the
Meskwaki he had already donethat but with the new claimant
of the vast Louisiana territory,spain, who the land was ceded
(13:59):
to by France in 1762.
To ensure the rights, then,Dubuque travels yet further down
south, to New Orleans, where hesecures mining rights, yet
again, not from the Meskwaki,but from the new Spanish
governor of the territory.
The secured mines would fromhere on out be referred to as
(14:22):
the mines of Spain.
You, like Julian Dubuque, mightbe starting to identify a
pattern in early American landpolitics Ownership is as flimsy
as the paper the deal is made on.
We just scaled Horseshoe Bluffin the mines of Spain and are
(14:51):
now overlooking the Mississippi.
I've been coming up here sinceI was 13.
Anyway, if you're confusedabout who owns what, when and
where out here in theMississippi Valley and beyond in
the 18th and the 19th centuries, that makes two of us.
It's wild.
France claims millions of acres, gives it to Spain, who then
(15:14):
reseeds it back to France,reseeds it back to France, who?
Napoleon?
Then sells it to the US underJefferson.
And all of these events happenwhile people are actively living
on the land and have been forgenerations.
Have you ever played shotgun?
Basically, you're walking up toa car and whoever yells shotgun
(15:37):
gets the passenger seat in thefront.
So picture that.
But picture it with threepeople all alternatively yelling
shotgun before they get to thecar.
Well, somebody is activelysitting there.
That's what's going on.
That's the best way I can putit into words.
Wild, but that's what happened.
(16:00):
As the years pass, julianDubuque, whose short, dark
complexion prompts his mesquakineighbors to call him La Petite
Nuit or Little Knight, builds alife in the bluffs along the
river, in a premonition ofwhat's to come for the later
state of Iowa.
He farms the rich soil, 1,600acres of it.
(16:24):
His house features wallpaintings, more than 50 books, a
cast iron stove and, of course,his fiddle.
The cause of his death, at theage of 48, is relatively unclear
.
Some say pneumonia, otherstuberculosis.
Most suspect lead poisoningFair suspicion, I reckon, for a
(16:47):
lead miner.
But regardless.
Dubuque, 22 years afterestablishing the first European
settlement in what will becomethe state of Iowa, is buried
atop a bluff beneath a logmausoleum built by his Meskwaki
neighbors.
From here on out, the dam isbroken.
Dubuque's death and the lead heuncovered leads to questions
(17:11):
about the ownership of the landand signals the coming decline
of the Meskwaki and surroundingtribes.
We're back in the van after ourhike and are heading to downtown
Dubuque.
Okay, so there's this bigquestion when Julian dies, and
(17:33):
it's tied to the birth of Iowaas a state, who owns the land?
The Meskwaki rightfully saythat they sold the mining rights
, not the actual land, to Julian.
Debut, in a rare win for Nativetribes, the Supreme Court signs
with them.
They force the removal of eagerminers encroaching on their
lead-rich land.
(17:55):
But this success is wildlyshort-lived because, in a bid to
reclaim ancestral lands inIllinois after being forced west
, black Hawk of the Sauk tribe,facing starvation, crosses back
into Illinois where they areconfronted by the Illinois
militia, and this altercationinitiates the extremely
(18:18):
consequential Black Hawk War.
Brief but bloody, the BlackHawk War lasts only the summer
of 1832.
Its conclusion ushers in an eraof further American expansion
west of the Upper Mississippi.
(18:38):
In a bid to spare his peopleafter losing the war, black Hawk
signs a treaty that essentiallyremoves the remaining tribes
around the Upper Mississippi.
Yet further west, six millionacres of land west of the river
are ceded then over to theUnited States.
The acquired land become areasfor settlement and development.
(19:04):
Rapid growth ensues along theriver, mines are established,
settlers settle In 1837, dubuqueis officially chartered as a
city within the Iowa Territory.
(19:24):
Noodles and I are walking indowntown Dubuque.
Landmarks bindingly tied to mychildhood are all around me the
town clock, 4th Street elevator,the Riverwalk, paul's Burgers.
It's hard to comprehend thatall of this, everything I
remember, everything I'mcurrently seeing, can all be
traced back to a series ofpersonalities and key choices.
(19:47):
If Julian stayed in Quebec, theBlack Hawk War didn't happen.
Treaties were respected.
It would be different.
But we have one importantquestion left to answer as I
walk here in the heart of thebirthplace of Iowa how does Iowa
go on to become a state?
(20:11):
Much like the vast land claimsof the 18th century, 19th
century US territories areambiguous, confusing and subject
to change.
Here's the essence of whathappens on Iowa's road to
statehood.
The land that becomes Iowa isfirst attached to the Michigan
(20:36):
Territory.
When Michigan reaches thepopulation required to apply for
statehood 60,000 or so theregion that becomes Iowa is then
transferred to the WisconsinTerritory.
Four years later, the IowaTerritory is formed, reaching
from the Mississippi River tomodern-day St Paul, minneapolis
and eventually the Dakotas.
(20:56):
Settlers at this point begin toflock into the newly
established Iowa territory forits mines, rich farmland and
expansive space.
But while the territory grows,a national debate rages on.
Slavery is intimately tied withthe creation of new states
(21:19):
joining the Union.
If a state is created anddeclared free, it gets two
senators, which increaseanti-slavery representation in
the Senate.
Conversely, if a slave state isadmitted, pro-slavery
representation in the Senateincreases by two.
So to neutralize this balance,this fighting of power, the
practice of admitting two statesat once ensues One slave state,
(21:44):
one free state.
This until the breakout of theCivil War, tapes together the
delicate senatorial balancewithin Washington.
So when Florida enters theUnion as a slave state in 1845,
iowa, who was then a freeterritory which outlawed slavery
(22:06):
, pushes for statehood.
And on December 28th 1846,president Polk admits Iowa into
the Union as a free state,balancing Florida's entry into
the Union.
From this point on, iowa sitsits borders solidly sculpted by
(22:30):
the Mississippi River to theeast and the Missouri River to
the west.
I'm with Noodles going up what'sbeen called the shortest and
steepest scenic railway in theworld, the 4th Street Elevator,
dubuque Staple.
And thank God there's no oneelse in our cart so I can talk.
But I think it's a fitting endto our travels today Because
(22:54):
once at the top, we get apanoramic view of downtown, the
river, the bluffs.
Ultimately we see thebirthplace of Iowa in its
entirety.
And with that said, I thinkwe'll go and enjoy.
And with that said, I thinkwe'll go and enjoy that view.
I hope you enjoyed our littlehistorical tour of my home state
(23:24):
, my hometown, nestled herealong the coast of the
Mississippi.
History is littered withunpleasant events and facts, but
to look at these eventsdirectly, unflinchingly, is
essential in establishingcontext for the present.
To look at Julian Dubuque's,I've found good, respectful
(23:47):
treatment of tribes shouldn't bementioned without acknowledging
the later forced removal ofthese same tribes.
That's history.
That's what happened, the good,the bad, the ugly.
And the story of Iowa is nodifferent.
It's everything that happened,From the simple seed of its
first mingled settlement to theremoval of the Meskwaki, to the
(24:09):
sprawling farms, casey's GeneralStores and husband-calling
competitions that litter itscurrent landscape.
The past always lives with thepresent, and so if you find
yourself in Dubuque and you makeyour way down to the banks of
the Mississippi River, considerstopping, after a burger at
(24:30):
Paul's, a pint at Jubek Brewingand closing your eyes to listen,
you might just hear the faintecho of a miner's fiddle upon
the bluffs.
It's Nella here.
(25:08):
Thank you for traveling with usto my hometown and state, nella
here, thank you for travelingwith us to my hometown and state
, no less.
I could fill the remaining timewith recommendations and facts
about Iowa, but I'll insteadleave you with a piece of Iowan
knowledge, of Dubuque wisdomthat, if you forget everything
else I've said today, I promiseyou'll never forget.
(25:30):
We have a saying around here soeveryone will know how tall corn
should be during growing season.
The saying is this knee high by4th of July.
There it is.
By July 4th, your corn, ifyou're growing, it should be at
your knees.
If not, you're probably notgood at growing corn.
(25:51):
Or from Nebraska.
With that said, if you findvalue in the show and the
research and work that we putinto every single episode,
taking a minute to rate andreview tangibly helps us
continue to put the work we liketo into each and every episode.
Thanks again.
Be good to each other.
We're two next Backroad Odyssey.
(26:15):
I don't want to be late.
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