Davenport Democrat Davenport, Scott, Iowa July 20, 1924 HOW IOWA CAME INTO EXISTENCE AND STATEHOOD Territory's Settled Portion for Long Only a Narrow Strip on River. In 1833 settlers began to stake out claims in Iowa. The principal crossings of the Mississippi were at Davenport, Burlington, and Dubuque, where ferries were located. In June, 1824, the whole region lying between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers and extending from the state of Missouri to the British possessions on the north was annexed to Michigan territory. When the council met in September the Black Hawk purchase was divided into two counties, the division line running due west from the lower end of Rock Island. The northern county was called Dubuque and the southern Demoine. For judicial purposes the two counties were attached to what was Iowa county, Michigan territory. In court parlance the three counties thus united were called the Iowa district, of which David Irving was made a judge. As an assurance of peace on the frontier, the war department stationed three companies of the First United States Dragoons on the Iowa bank of the Mississippi river a short distance above the mouth of the Des Moines, called Camp De Moines. Take Census. In 1836 a census was taken of the territory, when the four counties east of the Mississippi returned a population of 11,687 and the two counties west, 10,531, of which 6,257 were in the county of Demoine and 4,274 in Dubuque. The apportionment for the election to be held in September of that year was based on the population for Demoine county ten members in the two houses of the territorial legislature and for Dubuque county eight, making eighteen members in all against nineteen elected from the east side of the river. In the election, George W. Jones was returned to congress. The council elected met at Belmont in what is now Wisconsin, Oct. 5, 1836, when Peter Engle of Dubuque county was elected president of the lower house. At this session Demoine county was subdivided into counties as they now exist, except that the southern part of what is Scott county was then called Cook. On Nov. 6, 1837, the first legislative body met in what is now Iowa, being the second session of the first territorial council of Wisconsin. A temporary building erected for the meeting was destroyed by fire so the council met in a Methodist church to which the name Old Zion was given. At this session Dubuque county was subdivided into the smaller counties as they now exist. On June 12, 1838, President Martin Van Buren signed the bill by which Iowa territory came into existence on the fourth of July of that year. First Territorial Government. Despite its immense size, Iowa territory's settled portion was confined to a narrow strip along the Mississippi. Of this vast domain President Van Buren made Robert Lucas of Ohio governor and Wm. B. Conway of Pennsylvania secretary. As justices of the supreme court the president appointed Charles Mason chief justice and Joseph Williams and Thomas S. Wilson associate justice. Governor Lucas was a Methodist, a strict moralist, who abhorred drinking and gambling and announced he would appoint to office no man addicted to these habits. Secretary Conway, who is described as not always scrupulous, arrived on the scene before the governor and virtually assumed the office of governor. As governor pro tempore he divided the territory into judicial districts and assigned the judges to their places. He went to Davenport and entered into negotiations to make it the capital, and was on the point of issuing a proclamation for legislative districts, when the governor himself arrived. The governor proceeded to inspect his domain and desired to locate the temporary capital. Dubuque was the largest city. Here he met a young man named John Plumbe, jr., whose townsmen said he was crazy on the subject of a transcontinental railroad. Bellevue in Jackson county was well established; there was a settlement at Lyons, but Clinton was still unknown. Davenport was a new town, the creation of Antoine LeClaire and the trader after whom it was named. Rockingham opposite the mouth of the Rock River and Buffalo a few miles lower still regarded themselves as rivals of Davenport. Muscatine was then called Bloomington. The governor finally made Burlington the temporary capital of the territory. Cathy Joynt Labath Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/index.htm Iowa Old Press http://www.IowaOldPress.com/