| a city in SW Iowa, across the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb. 56,449. |
Council Bluffs
city, seat (1851) of Pottawattamie county, southwestern Iowa, U.S., on the Missouri River across from Omaha, Nebraska. The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed there in 1804 and held consultations with the Oto and Missouri Indians at a place called Council Hill or Council Bluff; a monument commemorates this meeting. Several trading posts were established at the original site against the bluffs along the riverbank, which was settled by Mormons in 1846 and was variously called Miller's Hollow and Council Point. In 1848 it was renamed Kanesville to honour Colonel Thomas Kane, who had aided the Mormons in their migrations
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