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  • in downtown Council Bluffs The city was named for the 1804 meeting of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with the Otoe tribe that took place near present-day Ft. Calhoun, Nebraska. The area east of Bellevue, Nebraska was later known as Council Bluffs. The present city of Council Bluffs was first settled by Billy Caldwell's Pottawatomi during the 1830s after they were removed from what became Chicago. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet operated a mission among the Potawatomi for a time and Fort Croghan was built to control liquor traffic on the Missouri. During the late-1840s the town became 'Kanesville' (named for Thomas L. Kane), the main outfitting point for the Mormon emigration to Utah. The Mormon Battalion began their march to Utah from here, plural marriage was first openly practiced, and Brigham Young was introduced as the second leader of the Mormon Church. The community was transformed by the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the majority of Mormons left for Utah by 1852. The town was renamed Council Bluffs and remained a major outfitting point on the Missouri for the Emigrant Trail with a lively steamboat trade. The completion of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad into Council Bluffs in 1867, the transcontinental railroad in 1869, and the opening of the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge in 1872 made Council Bluffs a major railroad center. Other railroads operating in the city included the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific, the Chicago and Great Western, the Wabash RailroadWabash, the Illinois Central, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific and made Council Bluffs the fifth largest rail center in the country by the 1930's. Other industries in the city included Giant Manufacturing, Monarch, Mona Motor Oil, Woodward's Candy, Kimball Elevators, World Radio LaboratoriesWorld Radio, Dwarfies Cereal, Reliance Battery, Georgie Porgie Cereal, and Blue Star Foods. In 1926 the portion of Council Bluffs west of the Missouri River seceded to form Carter Lake, Iowa. During the 1940s, Meyer Lansky operated a greyhound racing track in Council Bluffs. The late 20th century brought economic stagnation, urban renewal downtown, and a declining population. The liberalization of Iowa gambling laws was followed by the opening of The Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in 1986. As of 2006, Council Bluffs was home to three casinos: Ameristar, Harrah's, and Harrah's Horseshoe and has become Iowa's most profitable gambling center. Tyson Foods, Con-Agra, American Games, Omaha Standard, Barton Solvents, Red Giant Oil, and Griffin Pipe all have manufacturing plants in the city. Interstate 80, Interstate 29, U.S. Route 6, the Union Pacific, BNSF, Iowa Interstate, and the Canadian National Railroads all pass through Council Bluffs and MidAmerican Energy has a large coal-burning power plant near the southern city limits. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_Bluffs%2C_Iowa

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