Chief Taimah Memorial

This memorial near Burlington marks the grave of Taimah, the principal leader of a Meskwaki village that once stood along this stretch of the Mississippi. His name has been translated several ways, from man who makes the rocks tremble, to the sudden crash of thunder. Taimah earned a reputation among Americans for saving the life of the United States Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, in Wisconsin, by warning him of a planned assassination.

In eighteen twenty four he traveled all the way to Washington to negotiate a treaty on behalf of his people. His name endures across Iowa. The town of Tama and Tama County both carry it.

The stone here remembers him as a true friend of the early settlers.