CHAPTER II.

A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.

LIEUTENANT ALBERT M. LEA'S DESCRIPTION OF "IOWA DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY”—GIVES TO THE STATE ITS NAME OF IOWA-HIS EXPLORATIONS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1835 BRING HIM TO "CASEY'S LANDING," NOW

MUSCATINE-PROPHETIC FORECASTS FOR THIS REGION MORE THAN REALIZED.

Excerpts are given here from a very lucid and graphic description of the Wisconsin Territory, written by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, of the United States Dragoons, in 1836. His reference to the Iowa district is particularly interesting and valuable, if for no other reason than that he is the first person to describe the country mentioned as "Iowa," and he is therefore given credit for having assigned the state of Iowa the name it always has borne. Lieutenant Lea's description of a very interesting portion of the western country, especially of that part of it known as the "Iowa District," is very comprehensive, and nothing of importance pertinent to his subject is overlooked. He had an eye that was keen to recognize the beautiful in nature and his appreciation of the Creator's lavishness when fashioning and completing this garden spot of the universe is given full rein in this narrative. He said truly "some of the most beautiful country in the world is lying immediately along this district on the west side" of the Mississippi river; and his prophetic vision of the future capabilities and greatness of the country of his theme is simply marvelous.

From an article on Colonel Albert M. Lea, in the Muscatine Journal of June 4, 1879, the following is abstracted:

"We learn by a letter from I. Botsford, of Albert Lea, Minnesota, that the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn County, Minnesota, which meets on Tuesday, June 10, have invited Colonel Albert M. Lea, now a resident of Texas, to visit them, and he will be there. He has not visited the north since 1841, and he is now eighty years of age. This will probably be his last visit. Mr. Botsford, who is secretary of the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn county, informs us that Colonel Lea, for whom the town of Albert Lea was named, as well as Lee county in this state, although the spelling of the latter has been changed, 'was the first white man who traversed this region. In 1835 he was an army officer, and, in command of three companies of dragoons, left St. Louis, passing up through Iowa to the foot of Lake Pepin, in Wisconsin, then through southern Minnesota, to the Des Moines river. He passed down this river in a canoe under orders, to see whether supplies for a fort could be brought up. The river was meandered and mapped and a memoir written out, which became the basis of the appropriation by congress for the great work

CHAPTER II.

A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.

LIEUTENANT ALBERT M. LEA'S DESCRIPTION OF "IOWA DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN TERRITORY"-GIVES TO THE STATE ITS NAME OF IOWA-HIS EXPLORATIONS ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1835 BRING HIM TO "CASEY'S LANDING," NOW

MUSCATINE-PROPHETIC FORECASTS FOR THIS REGION MORE THAN REALIZED.

Excerpts are given here from a very lucid and graphic description of the Wisconsin Territory, written by Lieutenant Albert M. Lea, of the United States Dragoons, in 1836. His reference to the Iowa district is particularly interesting and valuable, if for no other reason than that he is the first person to describe the country mentioned as "Iowa," and he is therefore given credit for having assigned the state of Iowa the name it always has borne. Lieutenant Lea's description of a very interesting portion of the western country, especially of that part of it known as the "Iowa District," is very comprehensive, and nothing of importance pertinent to his subject is overlooked. He had an eye that was keen to recognize the beautiful in nature and his appreciation of the Creator's lavishness when fashioning and completing this garden spot of the universe is given full rein in this narrative. He said truly "some of the most beautiful country in the world is lying immediately along this district on the west side" of the Mississippi river; and his prophetic vision of the future capabilities and greatness of the country of his theme is simply marvelous.

From an article on Colonel Albert M. Lea, in the Muscatine Journal of June 4, 1879, the following is abstracted:

"We learn by a letter from I. Botsford, of Albert Lea, Minnesota, that the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn County, Minnesota, which meets on Tuesday, June 10, have invited Colonel Albert M. Lea, now a resident of Texas, to visit them, and he will be there. He has not visited the north since 1841, and he is now eighty years of age. This will probably be his last visit. Mr. Botsford, who is secretary of the Old Settlers' Association of Freeborn county, informs us that Colonel Lea, for whom the town of Albert Lea was named, as well as Lee county in this state, although the spelling of the latter has been changed, 'was the first white man who traversed this region. In 1835 he was an army officer, and, in command of three companies of dragoons, left St. Louis, passing up through Iowa to the foot of Lake Pepin, in Wisconsin, then through southern Minnesota, to the Des Moines river. He passed down this river in a canoe under orders, to see whether supplies for a fort could be brought up. The river was meandered and mapped and a memoir written out, which became the basis of the appropriation by congress for the great work