Chief Taimah (Tama) Memorial Along Iowa's Mississippi River

Living at one time in central Iowa I am very familiar with the town of Tama, the county of Tama and of course the Tama Indians. Today the natives are known as Meskwakis, having lived on a settlement near Tama for roughly 150 years following their purchase of the land. I had no idea that there was a Chief by the Tama name until last weekend! I previously thought Tama was a native name for the area like the word Iowa.

While in Burlington, Iowa near extreme southeast Iowa along the Mississippi River, I came for a Sunday outing to check out a rail road depot restaurant, the Old Man river, historic homes, rail roads and Snake Alley. Taking a different way out of town that afternoon brought us along the Great River Road on X99 headed north. Just a few miles out of town (maybe seven miles) is this Chief Taimah memorial on the west side of the road. A light colored granite marker has been in place for 58 years and acknowledges the Chief's work. 

The marker indicates that Chief Taimah is buried 20 rods east of the marker. I found where a rod length is 16-1/2 feet. So that makes his grave some 330 feet east of the roadside marker. That places it somewhere in this cornfield. I was standing in the middle of the road which was about 30 feet from the marker looking east. That means the Chief may be buried in the darker brown region of the cornfield near mid-photo. A passerby told me when he was a kid the cornfield never came this close to the road. I suppose the high price of corn and perhaps the loss of knowledge of where the Chief is buried somehow lead to the an obliterated site. This part of the state is rich in history. Take time to read the historical markers when you find them .

Iowa, the Land of Lincoln - Say What?

Illinois claims to be the "Land of Lincoln." His birth state Kentucky also celebrates its famous son. But 42N's Iowa can also claim a piece of Abraham Lincoln pie.

The future 16th President of the United States was awarded two land warrants in Iowa for his service in the Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Black Hawk War in 1832. These warrants were exercised for land in Crawford and Tama countries.

So what does this tract of land in Tama county look like? First of all there are signs posted on Iowa Highway 63 north of Toledo, Iowa to help get you about four miles north and two miles west of the highway. That puts you smack dab in Iowa's corn and soybean fields.

Lincoln's particular 40-acre tract is located atop a rolling hill and meadow. This season the land is in hay production, as is evidence by the round bales seen in these photos. In 1977 the Iowa State Historical Society and the Alpha PSI chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International created and paced an aluminum plaque on the property.

By several accounts Lincoln was reportedly proud of this track of land, even paid 75 cents tax on it, but never saw the property. Following his death, Mary Lincoln quick claimed the land to their son Robert. He later sold the property. 

Being present on this historic land for a short time, smelling the freshly baled hay, and watching waves of wind push over soybean fields adjacent to the field, its possible to imagine this tract then and now. Somehow if Abraham himself had worked the land before his presidency, it would look like this now. He would be pleased. Know that.