At the conclusion of the Black Hawk War, the Sac and Fox Indians were given 6 million acres on the west side of the Mississippi River, known as the Black Hawk Purchase. The date was September 21, 1832. At that time there were only about 50 white people living within the area which would become the state of Iowa.

To protect the frontier, the War Department in early 1833 created a military organization known as the First Dragoons. This group of lightly-armed, cavalry soldiers were commanded by Colonel Henry Dodge. They drilled and trained in Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis until they received orders from Lt. Col. Stephen Kearney to proceed with three companies to a point near the mouth of the Des Moines River. Here they named their encampment Fort Des Moines, near the present town of Montrose in Lee County.

In the spring of 1835 they were ordered to proceed on a long expedition through Indian country to map and explore the area between the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers. In June, 1835, Companies B, I, and H left old Fort Des Moines following a northwestern course. Captain Nathan Boone, Lieutenants Albert M. Lea and H. S. Tanner commanded the three companies of approximately 170 men. Provisions were carried in five commissary wagons, each drawn by two span of mules. They also drove cattle to provide meat for their long journey. Wild game was abundant to supplement their provisions. Lt. Lea was the cartographer for the party. He drew maps and kept a journal which later provided historians with their approximate route.

They were instructed to find and map the junction of the Des Moines River with the Raccoon River, but their Indian guide missed that on the way northwest. When they came to the unnamed river branching off to the east, Lea named it the Boone River. They followed the Boone River fork crossing at Millard's Ford, which is the location of the canoe access in Briggs Woods. The Dragoons continued into the present location of Webster City, crossing what we now call Brewer Creek. They traveled up the hill to what an early hand drawn map called Underdown's hog lot. It was on this site that Kendall Young later built his home and where the Kendall Young Library stands today. The Dragoons set up camp in the area. From there they continued on a northeast track to meet up with the Sioux Indian Chief, Wabasha. Fresh provisions had been sent up the Mississippi River by boat. After meeting with Chief Wabasha, they turned westward searching for a possible site for a fort. Along the way, Lieut. Lea mapped a lake he called Chapeau Lake since it was shaped like a hat. A later day explorer, Nicholette, renamed it Lake Albert Lea. Much later, the city was named for the lake.

The party turned south near the present Blue Earth, Minnesota, entering the Iowa Territory in present day Kossuth County. The First Dragoons traveled south generally on the west side of the Des Moines River, but they crossed back and forth many times. They finally reached the mouth of the Raccoon River on August 8, 1835. A suitable site for another fort was investigated. Lieut. Albert Lea and an Indian guide traveled down the Des Moines River in a cottonwood canoe to study the practicality of navigation. The rest of the party passed through Warren and Marion Counties, crossing the Des Moines River just south of present day Ottumwa. Here they picked up their outward trail and followed it to their starting point at Old Fort Des Moines on August 19, 1835.

The entire trip took them nearly three months and they traveled about 1,100 miles. No men were lost or injured. In 1835 Iowa was not a state, and there were no white settlers living in the area they had traversed.

Lieut. Albert Lea's descriptions and maps were published under the title "Iowa District," which most believe is the first time the word "Iowa" appeared in print. Lieut. H. S. Tanner printed this volume in Philadelphia in 1836. In 1936, the State Historical Society reprinted the book to commemorate the 100th anniversary of travels and explorations of the First U. S. Dragoons. The title of this reprint was "The Book that Gave Iowa its Name."

Nathan Boone, the tenth child of Daniel Boone, was born on March 2, 1781, at Boone's Station in Kentucky. He married Olive Van Bibber in 1799 and they left Kentucky in October of that year. He built his cabin near his parents' and brothers' homes in Missouri. He later sold out and moved to the Femme Osage Valley in Missouri. Here he built a large stone house that took seven years to complete. The walls were 2 and 1/2 feet thick and had gun ports for defense. He and Olive raised their 14 children here.

Nathan Boone surveyed the Boone's Lick Road in Missouri, was commissioned a Captain when he fought in the War of 1812, and became a Major of the Missouri Mounted Rangers. He fought in the Mexican War in 1832 before joining the First Dragoons in 1834 as a Captain. In 1847 he was promoted to the rank of Major of the 1st Regiment of the Dragoons and in 1850 was promoted again to the rank of Lieut. Colonel. He retired from military service on July 15, 1853.

Nathan then sold the Femme Osage property and moved to Greene County, Missouri. Here he built a double log cabin, which he had named Ash Grove, near what is now Springfield, Missouri. Nathan died on October 16, 1856, and was buried on his Ash Grove farm. His wife, Olive, died in 1858 at the age of 75 and is buried beside him, along with two grandsons, Walter and Henry, who drowned while trying to save each other.

On June 5, 1938, a bronze tablet commemorating the journey of the First U. S. Dragoons into Webster City in 1835 was mounted on a marble base donated by Mrs. Alexander Groves and given to the Newcastle Chapter of the D. A. R. A concrete base was poured at the northeast corner of the Kendall Young Library property on which the marble base was placed. Charlotte Crosley, librarian, spoke about the trail as related to her by Ed Burgess, our first librarian, who used Lieut. Albert Lea's notes and maps. Mrs. Ray Baird, regent of the Newcastle Chapter, was in charge of the program. Two young boys, Bill Groves and Alfred Baird, did the unveiling of the marker.