A University of Northern Iowa history professor’s new book retraces how an 1835 expedition across Iowa sparked the evolution of the state. Kevin Mason’s book is titled “Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa.”
“Iowa changed more than any place on planet Earth across the 1800s,” Mason said. “Sometimes we think about the prairies changing or the loss of wildlife, like the buffalo, but when we think about Iowa we’re going to see complete human change. We’re going see that environmental change. We see a lot of loss of wetlands and woodlands…We see a change in transportation and economy.”
In 1833, Congress authorized an armed cavalry known as the Dragoons. They set out two years later to map the territory along the Des Moines River.
“Along the way, they kind of create a snapshot of Iowa at this moment before everything changes,” Mason said.
Mason walked 371 miles of the Dragoon Trail in 2021. His book was published this spring.
“One of my goals for the project was that it would help Iowans see the landscape and the communities around them in new ways,” Mason said.
Mason started his own expedition in Montrose in southeast Iowa and ended in Spirit Lake in northwest Iowa.
