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STORM LAKE FORT DODGE
to

Fort Dodge Military Post—Not a Trace

View of the Fort Dodge parade grounds, probably
from an original 1852 William Williams sketch.

In 2009, archaeologists from the University of
Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) in
cooperation with local historians began a serious
effort to find remains of the fort with ground-
penetrating radar, auger testing, and test unit
Fort Dodge location, Webster County excavation. Disappointingly, none of these efforts
revealed any evidence of the fort; the landscape
All Indians were supposed to be gone from appeared to have been too greatly modified in
Iowa by 1848, but to the dismay of many Ameri- the past 150 years.
can settlers, the Meskwaki, Dakota, Sauk, and The Fort Museum in Fort Dodge is one of the
Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) continued to live in and most interesting destinations in Iowa. It contains
visit Iowa. After Fort Des Moines was abandoned an original cabin moved there from the fort, as
in 1846 and Fort Atkinson in 1849, there was well as an amazing array of artifacts from prehis-
no military presence in Iowa. To better control toric and historic periods. The museum is located
northern Iowa during settlement, the U.S. Army on Museum Road, just off Kenyon Road (a.k.a.
established a small outpost along the Business U.S. 169 and
Des Moines River named Fort Dodge in Business U.S. 20).
1850. Never stockaded, the fort consist-
ed of a row of buildings along the bluff
overlooking Soldier Creek. From here
soldiers would launch mounted patrols of The information presented
the interior, and the Dakota would visit on Fort Dodge archaeology
for trade, even after they ceded all lands is excerpted from The
in Iowa in an 1851 treaty. After abandon- Archaeological Guide
to Iowa (2015) available
ment in 1853, William Williams purchased from The University of
the fort and made it the core of a newly Iowa Press.
planned community. uiowapress.org