Established by treaty in 1832, the Keokuk Reserve was a specific 400-square-mile tract in southeastern Iowa retained by the Sauk (or Sac) and Meskwaki (or Fox) tribes after the Blackhawk War. The land was largely devoid of game and poor in resources, so by 1836, the residents ceded the reservation to the U.S. and moved to a new reservation along the Des Moines River. This fascinating map block was used in a 20th-century reproduction of the first survey of the Keokuk Reserve. The image records the borders of the tract amid a sketchy outline of geographic features, Native American villages (including Keokuk’s), and survey lines. The block was used to print the map in the May 1965 issue of the Palimpsest, a monthly publication of the State Historical Society of Iowa. The original caption read, lower corner, “reads Photostatic copy of original survey of Keokuk Reserve along the lower Iowa River.” Source.
