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23-580: In 1843, Fort Des Moines, the second post by that name, was built at the confluence of the Raccoon and Des Moines River for the protection of the Sauk and Meskwaki peoples from the enemy Sioux and white encroachment until cession of the Three-Year Tract. For the next two years, the natives lived harmoniously in three separate groups not far from the fort. After receiving their annuity payment in

46-671: A record that holds to this day. The worst flooding occurred May to June in the Des Moines River Basin. Major flooding in 1851 occurred in Bentonsport , Croton , Bonaparte , Des Moines , Eddyville , Farmington , Iowaville , Keosauqua , Muscatine , Oskaloosa , Ottumwa , Red Rock , and Rochester . The river has a history of seasonal flooding. For example, in May 1944 the Riverview Park had just opened for

69-564: A small band of Sauk that kept to themselves because they were the remnants of Black Hawk 's tribe and bitter from having lost so many loved ones during the Black Hawk War . Eventually, they too followed Keokuk's footsteps down the Trace a few days later. In one last effort to delay the move, Poweshiek asked that his Meskwakis too weak and poor to travel be allowed to remain in Iowa from

92-702: A small ridge of resistant Cretaceous shale . During the last ( Pleistocene ) Ice Age, two lobes of the Laurentide glacier, the James lobe on the west and the Des Moines lobe on the east, appear to have parted around the pre-existing plateau and further deepened the lowlands flanking the plateau. The plateau has numerous small glacial lakes and is drained by the Big Sioux River in South Dakota and

115-490: A state on December 28, 1846, it was another ten years before settlers of any great number came to Ringgold County . The trail has been marked with Native picture writing so that the removal of these tribes out of Iowa is not forgotten. Des Moines River The Des Moines River ( / d ə ˈ m ɔɪ n / ) is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that

138-457: Is approximately 525 miles (845 km) long from its farther headwaters. The largest river flowing across the state of Iowa , it rises in southern Minnesota and flows across Iowa from northwest to southeast, passing from the glaciated plains into the unglaciated hills, transitioning near the capital city of Des Moines in the center of the state. The river continues to flow in a southeastern direction away from Des Moines, flowing directly into

161-529: The Cottonwood River in Minnesota. Pipestone deposits on the plateau have been quarried for hundreds of years by Native Americans , who use the prized, brownish-red mineral to make their sacred ceremonial pipes . The quarries are located at Pipestone National Monument in the southwest corner of Minnesota and in adjacent Minnehaha County, South Dakota . Numerous wind farms have been built on

184-646: The Des Moines River has also been known as: Coteau des Prairies The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota , southwestern Minnesota , and northwestern Iowa in the United States . The southeast portion of the Coteau comprises one of the distinct regions of Minnesota , known as Buffalo Ridge . The tip of

207-600: The Iowa-Minnesota border, then south, through Algona . The two forks join in southern Humboldt County , approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Humboldt at Frank Gotch State Park . The combined stream flows roughly southward through Fort Dodge . South of Boone it passes through the Ledges State Park . It flows through downtown Des Moines, then turns generally southeastward, flowing through Ottumwa . It forms approximately 20 miles (32 km) of

230-533: The Mississippi River. The Des Moines River forms a short portion of Iowa's border with Missouri between Lee County, Iowa and Clark County, Missouri . The city of Des Moines, Iowa, was named for the river. In Minnesota, the upper forks of the Des Moines River drain the plateau and moraines between the Coteau des Prairies to the west, which is drained by the Big Sioux River , and the lower lands to

253-953: The Mississippi. William Bright writes that Moines was an abbreviation used by the French for Moingouena or Moingona , an Algonquian subgroup of the Illinois people . The Native American term was /mooyiinkweena/ , a derogatory name applied to the Moingouena by the Peoria people , a closely related subgroup. The meaning of the native word, according to an early French writer, is visage plein d'ordure , or in plain English, "shit-face", from mooy- , "shit", -iinkwee , "face", and -na , "indefinite actor". The 1718 Guillaume Delisle map (pictured) labels it as "le Moingona R." During

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276-625: The border between Iowa and Missouri before joining the Mississippi from the northwest at Keokuk . It receives the Boone River from the northeast approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Fort Dodge. It receives the Raccoon River from the west in the city of Des Moines. Above the city of Des Moines, it is impounded to create the Saylorville Lake reservoir. About midway below Saylorville and above Ottumwa, near Pella ,

299-520: The city of Des Moines and nearby communities. In another period of flooding, on June 13, 2008, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown and other areas bordering the Des Moines River. The river had reached flood stage in many locations, and Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations were an attempt "to err on the side of citizens and residents." According to the Geographic Names Information System ,

322-707: The east which drain northward into the Blue Earth and Minnesota Rivers . The Des Moines River rises in two forks. The West Fork (the main branch) rises out of the wetlands surrounding Lake Yankton and Long Lake in Lyon County in southwestern Minnesota. The small stream flows southwest into Lake Shetek , then through Windom and Jackson, Minnesota , and near Estherville , Iowa. The East Fork rises out in rural Martin County, Minnesota, just north of Interstate 90 . It then flows through Okamanpeedan Lake on

345-638: The fall of 1845, the Native Americans mournfully made ready to vacate their beloved Iowa. Keokuk led the Sauk people single file out of Iowa on September 10, 1845, down the Dragoon Trace to Fort Leavenworth . The braves, women, and children were reported to be half wrapped in blankets, some riding ponies, some ponies only carrying bundles of belongings, others walking silently, single file with sadly bowed heads. Wishecomaque ( Hardfish ) led

368-521: The feature starts in extreme south North Dakota . The flatiron -shaped plateau was named by early French explorers from New France ( Quebec ), coteau meaning "hill" in French ; the general term coteau has since been used in English to describe any upland dividing ridge. The plateau is composed of thick glacial deposits, the remnants of many repeated glaciations, reaching a composite thickness of approximately 900 feet (275 m). They are underlain by

391-632: The mid-19th century, the river supported the main commercial transportation by water across Iowa. River traffic began to be superseded by the railroads constructed from the 1860s. Catastrophic flooding occurred along the Des Moines River during the Great Flood of 1851 , nearly destroying the new town of Des Moines . Residents had never previously experienced a major flood, and river towns lacked levees and substantial bridges that could withstand flooding. In 1851, 74.5 in (191.5 cm) of rain fell in Iowa,

414-564: The old chief: Dr Campbell, J.B. Scott (hauler of supplies), and Hamilton Thrift (a tailor). Within the year, the Meskwaki were removed to the reservation in Kansas. On March 10, 1846, Lieutenant Grier, with the balance of Company I and about 300 Native American stragglers , marched over Van's Hill below 'Coon River and down the Dragoon Trace, ending Fort Des Moines' use as a military post and ownership of these native tribes. Although Iowa became

437-757: The river is impounded to create the Lake Red Rock reservoir. One of the earliest French maps that depicts the Des Moines (1703) refers to it as "R. des Otentas," which translates to "River of the Otoe"; the Otoe Tribe lived in the interior of Iowa in the 18th century. The Meskwaki and Sauk people referred to the river as " Ke-o-shaw-qua " (Hermit's River), from which Keosauqua, Iowa , derives its name. The Dakota Indians , who lived near its headwaters in present-day Minnesota, referred to it as " Inyan Shasha " in their Siouan language . Another Siouan name

460-404: The season on May 19, 1944. At around dawn on May 23, the levee began to collapse. The river was too much to hold back. Quickly the breach in the levee grew to nearly 100 feet (30 m) wide, and the river water quickly enveloped all of the park and the surrounding area. The Great Flood of 1993 on the river and its tributary the Raccoon, in the summer of 1993, forced the evacuation of much of

483-741: The state of Missouri and had gone far enough, Poweshiek turned west to camp where the Grand River met the Missouri border. This was the territory of the Pottawattomies, friends of the Meskwaki, and they invited them to stay. Poweshiek established his village of about forty lodges on the Grand River, not far from the white settlement. Culturally different and fearful, the settlers reported the Native Americans to Fort Des Moines. Rather than sending soldiers which could have inflamed bloodshed, three civilians acquainted with Poweshiek went to talk to

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506-577: The winter, but only about 100 of the sick were granted this request. Then Poweshiek, likewise, on October 8, 1845, reluctantly led the Meskwaki down the Dragoon Trace. When he reached the Missouri border around October 11, he met a white settler, perhaps Charles Schooler, whom he knew would not have been allowed to inhabit the Iowa Territory under the treaty agreement. Thinking he had reached

529-454: Was " Eah-sha-wa-pa-ta, " or "Red Stone" river, possibly referring the bluffs at Red Rock or the reddish Sioux Quartzite bedrock near its headwaters. The origin of the name Des Moines is obscure. Early French explorers named it La Rivière des Moines , literally meaning "River of the Monks." The name may have referred to early Trappist monks who built huts near the mouth of the river at

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