(Radio Iowa) – What was Iowa like when the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago? John Pearson, an ecologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says 28 million acres of Iowa was covered in tall grass prairie.
“Lots of forest and savanna, adding up to about 7 million acres,” he said. “Lots of different kinds of wetlands along the rivers and particularly in the center of the state (were) prairie potholes — all these supporting abundant wildlife populations.” Bison, elk, black bears, grey wolves and many different kinds of waterfowl were plentiful. Pearson says the tall grass prairie and native flowers that formed most of Iowa’s landscape in 1776 had roots that typically reached two to four feet into the soil.
“In some cases we have records of roots going down to 15 or 20 feet,” Pearson said. “That’s not uncommon to encounter those kind of root depths throughout an intact tall grass prairie.” Less that a tenth of a percent (0.1%) of Iowa’s original prairie remains. University of Northern Iowa history professor Kevin Mason says the Ioway, the Dakota, and the Sauk and Meskwaki were living in Iowa in 1776.
“These folks had built lifeways that allowed them to not just survive, but to thrive and build really intricate cultures here over a really long term that far predates any 250th anniversary were might be talking about here as celebrate American independence,” Mason says. Five decades before the Revolutionary War, the Fox Wars started between the Meskwaki and the French in what’s now Wisconsin.
Tieranny Keahna — the tribal historic preservation officer for the Meskwaki Nation — says by 1733 only 200 Meskwaki were left and by 1776, the Meskwaki were living along the western side of the Mississippi River. “This period allowed Meskwaki to enjoy relative social and political safety,” Keahna says. “What it would look like for a traditional family (is) they would live off the seasonal round of hunting and agriculture, enriched by participation in the fur and mineral trades.”
Keahna, Mason and Pearson made their comments during a recent appearance on Iowa Public Radio. The Iowa Territory was incorporated on July 3rd, 1838. Iowa became a state on December 28th, 1846 — just over 70 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
