Page 5 - RAGBRAI2011

Nathan Boone Dragoons DAY 3 - CARROLL TO BOONE

DRAGOON TRAIL
After the Black Hawk Purchase of 1832, the U.S. Regiment of Dragoons was
organized. Dragoons were lightly armed, cavalry soldiers who scouted, patrolled and
mapped this newly acquired land that would become Iowa. In 1835, Nathan Boone,
youngest son of Daniel Boone, led a company of Dragoons up the Des Moines River
valley to find the junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, and possible location
for a military post. The junction was missed, and further along they came to an un-
named river, which became the Boone River. The town of Boone, Boone County and
Boone River are all namesakes of Nathan Boone. Iowa’s Dragoon trail is 200 miles
long and follows the path of the country’s first mounted infantry unit on their historic
march up the Des Moines River.

LINCOLN HIGHWAY

HERITAGE BYWAY
The Lincoln Highway, America’s first
transcontinental highway, spanned 472 miles
through Iowa, from Council Bluffs on the
west side, to Clinton on the east. Constructed
between 1913 and 1915, as much as 85% of
the roadway is still drivable in Iowa. Cyclists
will twice come into contact with the historic
roadway; first, as we overnight in Carroll on
Day 2 of the ride, and then again in Boone on
Day 3, and remnants of that era of travel are
still visible in both towns. Thanks to the
Lincoln Highway Association, it be-
came Iowa’s only Heritage Byway
in 2006.