Kansas Tribes . . . Past & Present  

Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska

Iowa, or Ayuwha, apparently a term borrowed by the French from the Dakotas signifies "Sleepy-ones." The Iowa people are of Sioux stock and closely related to the Otoe and Missouri. They moved about a great deal, mostly in the states of Iowa and Minnesota.

By treaties signed in 1824, 1830 and 1837, they ceded claims to their lands in Missouri and Iowa. By the Prairie du Chien Treaty signed in 1825, they surrendered land claims in Minnesota. A treaty signed 1836 assigned part of them a reservation along the Great Nemaha River in present Brown County, Kansas and Richardson County, Nebraska. A part of the tribe moved later to another tract in central Oklahoma, which by agreement in 1890 was allotted to them in severalty, the surplus acreage being opened to settlement by whites. The original reservation was reduced by the Treaty of May 17, 1854 and the Treaty of March 6, 1861. The latter treaty provided for the cession of certain land in Kansas to the United States for the Sac and Fox.

According to a Sioux tradition, the Iowa originally lived in the country about the mouth of the Minnesota River, just south of the Cheyenne. In 1701 Le Suer found them near the mouth of the Blue Earth River in Minnesota, although in 1685 they were located near the Pawnee on the plains. In 1761 they were on the east side of the single village 18 leagues up the Platte River on the southeast side. In this area they traded with whites from St. Louis, their chief articles being skins of beavers, otters, deer, raccoon and bear. In 1829 they were on the Platte River, in Iowa, 15 miles from the Missouri State line. By 1880, they were brought under jurisdiction of the Indian agencies.

The Iowa ceded all their lands in Missouri to the U.S. government in 1824 and in 1836 were assigned a reservation in Kansas. A part of the tribe later left and moved to another tract in central Oklahoma, just north of that of the Kickapoo and west of the Sac and Fox. In 1890 this land was allotted to the group in severalty.

In 1760 the population of the Iowa was reported as 1,000. In 1804 it was reported by Lewis and Clark as 800, smallpox having killed a considerable number in 1803. The 1884 report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shows 143 at the Potawatomi and Great Nemaha Agency in Kansas. Today, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska has 2,580 members of whom 450 live in the area.

The present reservation is in Brown County, Kansas and Richardson County, Nebraska, northeast of Hiwawatha, Kansas, and south of Rulo, Nebraska. The reservation is irregular in shape, bordered on the north by the Nemaha River, and partially on the east of the Missouri River. There are 416 acres allotted land and 1,272 acres of tribal land.

Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska

The Sac and Fox people have long been known for their cultural independence. Despite the many hardships that they have faced over the years, which included losing the majority of their land and people, they have remained a viable group who are proud of their ancestors and heritage.

The Sauk/Sac were called the "People of the Yellow Earth” which distinguishes them from the Foxes who were called the "Red Earth People.” The Sac and Fox Nation are Algonquian speaking people and are of the Woodland culture. The Sac and Fox people lived in bark houses in small villages. The Sac social organization consisted of clans – Bear, Sturgeon, Thunder and Wolf.

The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri people and their ancestors have been historically located in Canada, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The Sac and Fox of the Missouri band were finally settled to the northeast corner of Kansas.

One of the largest Indian villages in North America was Saukenuk located between the Rock and Mississippi rivers in Illinois. At this time it included approximately 4,000 Sac and Fox people. The Treaty of 1804 ceded all this land to the government and ultimately started the Black Hawk War in 1832. Black Hawk did not believe this treaty was valid and vowed not to give in to the government. His autobiography was published in 1872. Black Hawk said, "How smooth must be the languages of the whites. When they can make right look like wrong and wrong like right.”

Keokuk was a famous Sauk chief who was in favor of peaceful relations with the EuroAmericans. Keokuk was buried in Kansas, but his body was later take back to Keokuk, Iowa, where the city still honors his name.

Mokohoko was a leader when the removal of the Sac and Foxes from Kansas took place in 1869. Mokohoko and some 200 followers refused to go to Oklahoma.

There are three bands of Sac and Fox, and they all have their own distinct government and enrollment processes. They are federally recognized:

• Meskwaki - Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa
• Sa ki wa ki - Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma
• Ne ma ha ha ki - The Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska.

The Sauk and Fox were originally two distinct groups. During the 1700s, a French attack on the Foxes caused the two tribes to join forces and form a close alliance which helped to affect unification. The Treaty of 1815 officially named the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri as a distinct tribe, and they were removed to northeast Missouri from Iowa and Illinois.

The Treaty of 1837 removed the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri into Kansas across the Missouri river to the Great Nemaha reservation in Doniphan and Brown counties. The Missouri band became officially know as the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska.

The Nation has a Museum located in Reserve, Kansas which has displays of artifacts, pictures and more history.

Photos courtesy of the Kansas State Historical Society. Information for these articles comes from the Native American Cultures Resource Handbook of the Kansas Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission.