Stockyards book

illuminates Corps of Discovery connection

  A Way of Life: A Story of the Sioux City Stockyards was published by the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center Association. The 240-page book, written by Marcia Poole, covers more than 140 years of local history.

  Richly illustrated, the book was designed by Lou Ann Lindblade of G.R. Lindblade, Sioux City. George Lindblade and Christine McAvoy were photo editors.

Thousands of memories were made at the Sioux City Stockyards. Read why in the new book “A Way of Life,” written by Marcia Poole and published by the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center Association. (George Lindblade photo)

     Why did the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center Association publish a book about the Sioux City Stock Yards? What possible link could the “Corps of Discovery” have to the industry that shaped Sioux City’s identity as one of the most powerful central public markets in the nation? The answer is tucked in the minutes of the Floyd Memorial Association, the enterprising local group that led the push to build a monument in Sergeant Charles Floyd’s memory.

  The Corps of Discovery buried Floyd on a bluff over the Missouri River on Aug. 20, 1804. When the explorers stopped at Floyd’s grave on their return to St. Louis in September 1806, they found it partially uncovered. They restored it, but the shifting Missouri River continued to displace it. Flooding in March 1857 took a chunk of the bluff and part of the grave. Two months later, Floyd’s remains were reburied about 200 yards east of the original gravesite.

  Floyd’s journal was published in 1894, stirring renewed interest in his legacy. The Floyd Memorial Association organized and incorporated in 1895. Eventually, it cleared the way for construction of a monument. The Association reported that the Sioux City Stock Yards Company would sell 22.5 acres surrounding Floyd’s grave to the Association for $1,000. Further, the Stock Yards Company would give the Association $100 for every $10,000 spent by the Association within 10 years.

  The Sioux City Stock Yards Company furnished the deed to land known as “Floyd Park” to the Floyd Memorial Association on May 15, 1899. The Association sold Floyd Park to the City of Sioux City for $500 on Sept. 30, 1899. On Aug. 20, 1900, the cornerstone for the 100-foot-tall Floyd Monument was laid. The monument was dedicated on May 30, 1901. In 1960, it became the first National Historic Landmark designated by the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

  The link between Sioux City’s great livestock marketing industry and Corps of Discovery history speaks to the essence of the Sioux City Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center’s mission of “Commemorating a history of encounters.”

  Historian David McCullough says, “Our sense of who we are comes from our story. It is no different for a nation or a town than for an individual.” Separately, the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the Sioux City Stock Yards give us two essential parts of our story. Together, they help us understand who we are as a community and why plans for our future always should include respect for our past.