Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River
In Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa, historian Kevin T. Mason presents a vivid and deeply researched account of Iowa’s evolving landscape, beginning with the 1835 expedition of the First U.S. Dragoons. Drawing from archival records, maps, government surveys, Indigenous histories, and ecological data, Mason explores how Iowa’s prairies and wetlands gave way to farms, towns, and transportation networks. He situates these environmental shifts within the broader forces of Manifest Destiny, military expansion, and settler colonialism, while amplifying the voices of the Sauk, Meskwaki, Dakota, and other Indigenous nations whose histories are often marginalized.

But Mason doesn’t just write about history—he walks it. His 371-mile journey retracing the original dragoon route across Iowa blends scholarship with storytelling, captured through video essays, photography, and writing. This modern-day trek, featured on Iowa PBS’s Iowa Life and Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa, brings the past into the present, offering a compelling look at how landscapes remember. The result is a powerful contribution to environmental history, regional studies, and Indigenous scholarship—one that reveals the layered interactions between land use, policy, and historical change.
 

1148345400
Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River
In Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa, historian Kevin T. Mason presents a vivid and deeply researched account of Iowa’s evolving landscape, beginning with the 1835 expedition of the First U.S. Dragoons. Drawing from archival records, maps, government surveys, Indigenous histories, and ecological data, Mason explores how Iowa’s prairies and wetlands gave way to farms, towns, and transportation networks. He situates these environmental shifts within the broader forces of Manifest Destiny, military expansion, and settler colonialism, while amplifying the voices of the Sauk, Meskwaki, Dakota, and other Indigenous nations whose histories are often marginalized.

But Mason doesn’t just write about history—he walks it. His 371-mile journey retracing the original dragoon route across Iowa blends scholarship with storytelling, captured through video essays, photography, and writing. This modern-day trek, featured on Iowa PBS’s Iowa Life and Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa, brings the past into the present, offering a compelling look at how landscapes remember. The result is a powerful contribution to environmental history, regional studies, and Indigenous scholarship—one that reveals the layered interactions between land use, policy, and historical change.
 

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Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River

Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River

by Kevin T. Mason
Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River

Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa: Environmental Transformation along the Des Moines River

by Kevin T. Mason

Overview

In Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa, historian Kevin T. Mason presents a vivid and deeply researched account of Iowa’s evolving landscape, beginning with the 1835 expedition of the First U.S. Dragoons. Drawing from archival records, maps, government surveys, Indigenous histories, and ecological data, Mason explores how Iowa’s prairies and wetlands gave way to farms, towns, and transportation networks. He situates these environmental shifts within the broader forces of Manifest Destiny, military expansion, and settler colonialism, while amplifying the voices of the Sauk, Meskwaki, Dakota, and other Indigenous nations whose histories are often marginalized.

But Mason doesn’t just write about history—he walks it. His 371-mile journey retracing the original dragoon route across Iowa blends scholarship with storytelling, captured through video essays, photography, and writing. This modern-day trek, featured on Iowa PBS’s Iowa Life and Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa, brings the past into the present, offering a compelling look at how landscapes remember. The result is a powerful contribution to environmental history, regional studies, and Indigenous scholarship—one that reveals the layered interactions between land use, policy, and historical change.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781611865691
Publisher: Michigan State University Press
Publication date: 04/01/2026
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kevin T. Mason is an assistant professor of history at the University of Northern Iowa. Mason formerly served as an associate professor of history at Waldorf University, where he chaired the Department of History, Geography, and Political Science. He is the author of “Inkpaduta in Iowa: Dakota Decline, Dispossession, and Erasure” in The Annals of Iowa, a Mildred Throne & Charles Aldrich Iowa History Award winning article. He has also published in Little Village, the Middle West Review, and the Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: First Fort Des Moines Montrose
Chapter 2: Farmington to Bentonsport
Chapter 3: Bentonsport to Leando
Chapter 4: Leando to Eldon
Chapter 5: Eldon to Ottumwa
Chapter 6: Ottumwa to Eddyville
Chapter 7: Eddyville to Eveland Access
Chapter 8: Eveland Access to Cordova Tower
Chapter 9: Cordova Tower to Yellow Banks
Chapter 10: Yellow Banks to Second Fort Des Moines
Chapter 11: Second Fort Des Moines to Big Creek State Park
Chapter 12: Big Creek State Park to Ledges State Park
Chapter 13: Ledges State Park to Don Williams Recreation Area
Chapter 14: Don Williams Recreation Area to Dolliver State Park
Chapter 15: Dolliver State Park to Kennedy Park Campground
Chapter 16: Kennedy Park Campground to Rose Mill
Chapter 17: Rose Mill to McKnight’s Point
Chapter 18: McKnight’s Point to Robert Mulroney Recreation Area
Chapter 19: Robert Mulroney Recreation Area to Osgood
Chapter 20: Osgood to Fort Defiance State Park
Chapter 21: Fort Defiance State Park to Mini-Wakan State Park
 
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