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The other regions of country thiat I might allude to in this place having 

 been aenerally well described in the reports of geological surveys made by 

 D D^Owen, M. D., and Dr. John Locke, and m other publications con- 

 cernino- the settled portions of the Iowa Territory, and of the northern dis- 

 tricts oi: the State of Missouri, 1 shall confine myself to an account of some 

 of the most important rivers that merit a conspicuous place in the geography 



of the United States. . . . , , • i 



Iowa river, several miles before it enters the Mississippi, has been mainly 

 . supplied by two branches of unequal length and importance. 

 Re7Jedar The eastern branch (which is the longer of the two) is called 

 rivers. Red Cedar river; and its headwaters are not far trom those ot 

 the La Hontan. It so happens, contrary to the received principles of de- 

 scriptive ^eocrraphy, that Red Cedar river loses its name after emptying into 

 the shorter b'rauch'. which maintains that of the Iowa. It is true, that these 

 names were established before it was known which of the two was the more 

 important. To Albert C. Lea, esq., must be assigned the credit of having 

 first laid down the course of Red Cedar river, the whole length of which is 

 not less than 350 miles, and wliich is probably navigable for IbU miles out 

 of these. After quitting the sandy plains mentioned above, it pours rapidly 

 over a series of ledges of the carboniferous limestone, until it reaches a mucli 

 lower level, where it deposites many sand bars, the soil of which is congenial 

 to a viaorous growth of the red cedar ; whence the river derives its name. 



The^Des Moines is one of the most beautiful and important tributaries 

 D.- Moines of the Mississippi north of the Missouri ; and the metamorphosis 

 river. which its name has undergone from its original appellation, is 

 curious enough to be recorded. 



We are informed that Father Marquette and Mr. Joliet, during their voy- 

 age in search of the Mississippi, having reached the distance of sixty leagues 

 below the mouth of the Wisconsin, observed the footsteps of men on the 

 riffht side of the great river, which served as a guide for these two celebrated 

 explorers to the discovery of an Indian trail, or path, leading to an extensive 

 prairie, and which they determined to follow. Having proceeded about two 

 leatTues, they saw first one village on the bank of a river, and then two others 

 upon a slope, half a league off from the first. The travellers, having halted 

 within hailing distance, were met by the Indians, who offered them their 

 hospitalities, and represented themselves as belonging to the Illinois nation. 

 The name which they ffave to their settlement was Moinngoinnas, (or 

 Moino-ofia, as laid down m the ancient maps of the country,) and is a cor- 

 Tuptio°n of the Algonkin word Mi/v0.va»^, signifying af Me roarf; the. In- 

 dians by their customary elliptical manner of designating localities, alluding, 

 in this instance, to the well known road in this section of country, which 

 they used to follow as a communication between the head of the lower 

 rapids and their settlement on the river that empties itself into the Missis- 

 sippi, so as to avoid the rapids ; and this is still the practice of the present 

 inhabitants of the country. , ^f • ; 



Now, ofier the French had established themselves on the Mississippi, 

 they adopted this name ; but with their custom (to this day, that ot the 

 Creoles) of only pronouncing the first syllable, and applying it to tne 

 river, as well as to the Indian's who dwelt upon it ; so that they would say 

 " la riviere des Moins'^-^^ the river of the Moins ;" ^^aller chez les Moms 

 —to cro to the Moins (people.^ But, in later times, the inhabitants as- 



