A Lunch And Learn About Chief Mahaska

OWLS Lunch and Learn this past week focused on Chief Mahaska and the Ioway Tribe.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Conservation hosts a lunch and learn OWLS (Older, Wiser, Learning Seniors) program once a month at the new environmental learning center east of Oskaloosa.

This month, the topic was about Chief Mahaska and the Ioway Indians.

Mahaska County Conservation Naturalist Laura DeCook lead the discussion about Chief Mahaska and his family and the Ioway Indians in Iowa.

The large crowd for the OWLS talk was a bit surprising for DeCook, who said that shortly after moving to the community, she became interested in learning the county’s namesake.

As she dug into the history of Chief Mahaska, also known as White Cloud, DeCook was surprised to find some of the information that she found dealt with more of a personal nature of the Chief rather than historical information. “The information that prior people had researched gave more information into what he was like as a person.”

DeCook says that she discovered in her research that she understands that Chief Mahaska was a person of peace. “Over time he felt, let’s work together instead of fight. He believed in having peace with the white people as well as other tribes.”

Chief Mahaska was born in Burlington and died in Carroll County, having traveled across large portions of the midwest, as well as traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the President.

Chief Mahaska spent a lot of time traveling, but during DeCook’s research, she didn’t find any record of Chief Mahaska in Mahaska County itself.

The OWLS program is geared towards adults, but some homeschool children were in attendance. The new facility makes such programming easier and closer for older adults to take part in and enjoy.

Upcoming OWLS programs include “Belle Fountain History” on September 25th, the “History of Popcorn” on October 23rd, and “Pioneers of Mahaska County” on November 20th.

Find out more by visiting the Mahaska County Conservation Page – https://www.facebook.com/mahaskacountyconservation/