Award-winning Iowa historian and University of Northern Iowa assistant professor Kevin Mason invites Iowans to rediscover their state’s environmental past with the release of his new book, Retracing the Dragoon Trail in Iowa (Michigan State University Press). Join Mason at the Buena Vista County Historical Museum in Storm Lake for an immersive journey along the 1835 First U.S. Dragoon Expedition on Thursday, July 16, at 6:30 PM. Drawing from his new book, Mason will uncover how the state’s prairies and wetlands evolved into the farms, towns, and highways we know today. Blending environmental history, Indigenous perspectives, and the spirit of firsthand travel, this engaging presentation will reveal how Iowa’s landscape still echoes with the stories of its past. Drawing inspiration from his 2021 walk across Iowa (featured on Iowa Public Radio and the Iowa PBS series “Iowa Life”), Mason examines how the 1835 U.S. Dragoons expedition charted not just a physical route across the territory, but also the early stages of Iowa’s environmental transformation. In addition to his research, Mason is the founder of Notes on Iowa, a digital public history platform that reaches more than 3 million users each week across social media and the web. Through Notes on Iowa, Mason engages diverse audiences with the state’s overlooked and underappreciated stories, bringing local history to a broad public.
