The result was a heavy influx of
settlers, many of them coming all the way from New England and
New York, others from Pennsylvania and Ohio. Lands were rapidly
surveyed and placed on sale, and surviving Indian hunting-grounds
were purchased. Northern Illinois filled rapidly with a thrifty
farming population, and the town of Chicago became an entrepot.
Further north, Wisconsin had been organized, in 1836, as a
Territory, including not only the present State of that name but
Iowa, Minnesota, and most of North and South Dakota. As yet the
Iowa country, however, had been visited by few white people; and
such as came were only hunters and trappers, agents of the
American Fur and other trading companies, or independent traders.
Two of the most active of these free-lances of early days--the
French Canadian Dubuque and the Englishman Davenport--have left
their names to flourishing cities.
To recount the successive purchases by which the Government freed
Iowa soil from Indian domination would be wearisome. The Treaty
of 1842 with the Sauks and Foxes is typical.
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