Note I-25 — Chapter I · ITINERARY: ST. LOUIS TO ST. PAUL, AUGUST 9TH-SEPTEMBER 21ST, 1805.

Pike delineates "Sand Bank" on his map directly opposite the mouth of Iowa r. This is the site of New Boston, Mercer Co., Ill. The bank comes immediately upon the river with a frontage of 2 m., and Edwards r. falls in at the foot of the bank, 3½ m. above Pope's r. At New Boston the Mississippi turns sharply, so that the mouth of Iowa r. is rather on the S. than W.; and the bank on which is the town recedes northward, leaving low ground between itself and the Mississippi, watered by the ramifications of Sturgeon bay, Illinois slough, Swan lake, etc. This is what Pike means by his "Sand-bank prairie on the E. side." As to that "marked Grant's prairie," I should observe that no such name appears on the map as published; Pike referred to his immense original draft in water-colors, now preserved in the War Department, and from which the small printed map was reduced with the omission of too many details. What he means by Grant's prairie is the lowlands on the Iowa side before you come to Muscatine, which is the point where the hills first reach the river-side. Compare Apr. 26th, 1806. Grant's prairie is now known as Muscatine isl., being virtually cut off by Muscatine slough, whose lower mouth is hardly 2 m. above the Iowa r., though the upper entrance is at Muscatine—a distance of some 18-20 m. At one point this slough dilates into a body of water which is now called Keokuk lake, but which was charted by Nicollet as "L. Maskuding or in the Prairie." Here are obviously the origin and meaning of the name "Muscatine." The town now so called was once known as Bloomington. I suspect that "Grant's" prairie in Pike may be intended for Grande prairie; thus Beltrami calls it Grande Prairie Mascotin, II. p. 196, and Forsyth has Grand Mascoutin. There was a place started by the name of Port Louisa on the Iowan side of the river, near one of the openings of Muscatine slough; but it seems to have disappeared after bequeathing the name to the county, whose seat is now Wapello. As to Pike's "28" miles to-day, that is best disposed of by observing that to-morrow he drags his boat "nine miles, to where the river Hills join the Mississippi," i. e., to Muscatine. So he camps on the Iowan side, a certain distance below Muscatine. We shall not be far out if we set him exactly on the boundary between Louisa and Muscatine cos., opp. the lower end of Blanchard's isl., behind the middle of which Copperas or Copper cr. falls in on the Illinois side.

The great Iowa r. should not be passed without remark. For the name in its extreme fluidity, see Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, p. 20. Some still more singular forms of the word than those there noted reach us from the time when the French writers and cartographers used the figure 8 for the letters ou; so that "Iowa" was liable to appear as Ay8ay (Ayouay), or in some such form: Neill cites forms sing. and pl. as Aye8ias, Ayo8ois, Ayooues, Ayavois, Ayoois, Ayouez, Ayoes, Aaiaoua, to which I can add Aiavvi; another series of words flows from the introduction of J or j: thus Pike, early text, 1807, p. 5, has Jowa, and I have noticed also Ajoe, Jaway, Joway, Jowah, etc. Beltrami, 1828, has Yawoha, Yahowa, and Yawowa. This river-system waters a great portion of the State, on courses S., S. E., and E. Pike says elsewhere that in ascending it 36 m. you come to a fork, the right-hand branch of which is called Red Cedar r. Waiving any question of distance, this is correct; and moreover, Red Cedar is the larger of the two forks, though by a very unusual freak of nomenclature the united stream Iowa takes the name of the lesser fork. He further says that Red Cedar r. branches out 300 m. from its mouth; which triple forking is "called the Turkey's foot." This term seems to have lapsed; the situation is in Black Hawk Co., above Cedar Falls, and one of the turkey's toes is called Shell Rock r. The notable town of Cedar Rapids is lower down, in Linn Co. The confluence of Iowa r. proper with Red Cedar is at Fredonia, Louisa Co.; Pike's map represents this by the pitchfork-shaped object, though it is not lettered with any name. He marks a village of Iowas "about 10 miles up," on the "right" bank, i. e., on the right-hand side going up, left bank. Iowa r. presents the anomaly of a great river with nothing to speak of at its mouth (New Boston is across the Mississippi). "Iowa City" seems never to have got much beyond its original wood-pile, and a similar "city" which Nicollet charts by the name of Black Hawk would be hard to find now. There is, however, a little place called Toolsboro, under the hill on the left bank, 2 m. above the mouth of the Iowa.