Iowa – A Great State for DAC

The word "Iowa" comes from the American Indian tribe of the same name. Iowa was part of the Louisiana Purchase, a deal arranged between President Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte of France that brought a vast tract of the continent under the control of the United States.

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Early explorers included the famed Lewis and Clark. Sergeant Charles Floyd's was the only death during that historic journey. A monument stands in Sioux City near the spot where Floyd was buried.

Steamboat paddle wheelers reigned supreme on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers in the 19th century. The steamboat Bertrand sank in the Missouri near what is today the town of Missouri Valley. Excavated in 1969, the cargo is now on display in a fascinating exhibit at the De Soto National Wildlife Preserve Visitors Center.

After white settlement began with the Black Hawk Purchase, Iowa became part of Michigan Territory.

When Michigan achieved statehood in 1837, Iowa then became a part of Wisconsin Territory.

Finally, two years later, Iowa Territory was carved out of the area of Wisconsin Territory west of the

Mississippi River. The first Iowa Territory legislature met in Burlington before a territorial capital city was finally selected in Johnson County. In Iowa City, the government seat was established in a grand structure known today as Old Capitol. Built in the early 1840s, Old Capitol served as the last capitol of Iowa Territory and the first capitol of the state. Under the 1857 Iowa constitution, the seat of state government was moved to Des Moines, a more central location.