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THE RED MEN OF IOWA.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE MASSACRE OF THE LAKES.

NOTWITHSTANDING the hostile attitude of the Indians, and their apparent determination to maintain a foothold in the northwestern portion of Iowa, especially west of the Des Moines River, during the year 1856 a number of white settlements were formed at isolated points in that region. A few families during that year settled on the west branch of the Des Moines, in Palo Alto and Emmet counties. On the Little Sioux River in Woodbury county was the settlement at Smithland, and about twenty miles further up that stream, at Correctionville, a few families had located. There were three other settlements in the same valley in Cherokee county. One of these had been formed by a colony from Milford, Massachusetts, with its nucleus near where the present town of Cherokee is located. About

During the spring and summer of 1856, a number of families, embracing about sixty persons, had located at different points around Spirit and Okoboji lakes in Dickinson county. Over on the Des Moines River, about eight miles from the State line, there was another small settlement at Springfield (now Jackson), in Minnesota.

The fact that in the spring of 1856 the Indians had generally withdrawn from the upper Des Moines and the lakes in Dickinson county, had doubtlese inspired a belief among the white settlers that all danger of molestation from them had passed. The next year, however, straggling bands began to make their appearance, and even ventured as far as the vicinity of Fort Dodge. They feigned the appearance of friendship for the whites, and parties of them during the year 1856 frequently visited the homes of settlers, thus deceiving them into the belief that no danger need be apprehended. During the winter of 1856-7, they hunted about the lakes and along the streams in this portion of the State, encamping at the lakes in Dickinson county, at Big Grove in Emmet county, and at other places where there were groves of timber. Ink-pa-du-tah, who appears to have been recognized as principal chief after the murder of his relative, Si-dom-i-na-do-tah, with the main body of the Indians, spent the winter about the lakes, and