(Radio Iowa) – A University of Northern Iowa history professor’s new book retraces how an 1835 expedition across Iowa sparked the evolution of the state. Kevin Mason’s book is titled “Retracing the Dragoon (drah-GOON) Trail in Iowa.”
In 1833, Congress authorized an armed cavalry known as the Dragoons. They set out two years later to map the territory along the Des Moines River.
Mason walked 371 miles of the Dragoon Trail in 2021. His book was published this spring.
Mason started his own expedition in Montrose in southeast Iowa and ended in Spirit Lake in northwest Iowa.
