Council Bluffs, Iowa--a city at the crossroads

 While researching my latest wagon train story, Jana, part of the 2024 Prairie Roses Collection, I wanted to use a different starting point for the westward journey. Several towns served the purpose of being the gathering spot for lots of pioneers who wanted to head for California, New Mexico, or Oregon. Those families or individuals arrived at these known locations and bought their final supplies while waiting for leaders to step forward and announce the formation of a company.

The history of this city is rich. Lewis and Clark met with the Otoe tribe near a riverside bluff in August 1804. The explorers named it Council Bluff because the location was where they held a council. In the 1830s, the location became a reservation for Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potawatomi Indians who were displaced from the Chicago area. The Potawatomi leader, Sauganash meaning “one who speaks English”, was also known by his English name, Billy Caldwell, and the Indian village was called Caldwell’s Camp.

Missionary Pierre-Jean DeSmet founded St. Joseph’s Mission in 1838-39 to minister to the tribes. He did what he could to protect the tribes from the illegal liquor trade while also helping surveyor Joseph Nicollet to create a map of the upper Midwest.

The first emigrant wagon train west departed in 1841 with a Great Migration of 1843 involving between 700 and 1,000 people. Every spring, wagons gathered in varying numbers to travel west through the late 1860s. The town grew because business owners saw the opportunity of steady customers needing items to make the journey across the country for the California and Pikes Peak gold rushes. Across the Missouri River lay the mostly uninhabited wilderness of the Missouri Territory. By 1853, a steam-powered ship ferried people, animals, and wagons of the pioneers across the river to Omaha in what would become Nebraska Territory in 1854.

Mormons, seeking land where they could practice their religion, arrived in the region in 1846, with permission from Washington DC arranged by Thomas Kane to occupy a portion of the Indian land. They named their settlement Kanesville and used it to supply travelers headed west to Utah. This town became the official start of the Mormon Trail. Most of the Mormons had headed west by 1852. The town’s name changed officially to Council Bluffs in the same year.

Not only did Council Bluffs enjoy a robust steamboat trade, the city was directly opposite the starting point for the Transcontinental Railroad with construction starting in 1868. The town, its population expanded from 2,011 in 1860 to 10,220 a decade later, served an important purpose in the development of America, as well as benefited from being at the edge of the frontier.

Rail lines ending in Council Bluffs

My novella, Jana, will soon be up on preorder.

Other wagon train stories in my backlist:

Prairie Rose Collection multi-author series

Cadi, book 11

Amity, book 21

Tilda, book 31

Reluctant Wagon Train Bride multi-author series

Lona

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