The history of Jackson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Iowa miscellaneous matters, &c, Part 1

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western Historical
Number of Pages: 788


USA > Iowa > Jackson County > The history of Jackson County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., biographical sketches of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Iowa miscellaneous matters, &c > Part 1


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Gc 977.701 J13h 1148925


M. L


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01081 2714


THE


HISTORY


OF


JACKSON COUNTY,


I.O WA,


CONTAINING


A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns, +


Biographical Sketches of Citizens, War Record of its Volunteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Jackson County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c., &c.


B. Mcnally


ILLUSTRATED.


Sabulala


CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1879.


ulver Hage Hoynel2 PRINTERS 118 &120 MONROE SI (


CHICAGO


PREFACE. 1148925


ORTY-FIVE years ago, Jackson County was a wilderness untrodden by the white settler. To-day, it abounds in cultivated fields, growing hamlets and prosperous cities. A generation back, it was an unorganized Territory. To-day it is a mature and well-governed commonwealth. Then it was poor and naked. To-day finds it rich in money, comfort and future prospects-clothed in all the graces of a new world's civilization.


The purpose of this volume is to trace the story of this change. A thou- sand years will probably not work so marked a difference in the appearance and history of this district as has the past half-century. If this work has done nothing more, it has at least saved from oblivion the most important events and circumstances connected with the great transformation which rescued Jackson County from Nature's wildness to fit it for the home of comfort and culture.


We have endeavored to introduce the reader to the crudities of backwoods government, to show him society as it existed in a new and almost lawless region, to seat him by the hearthstone of pioneers, to trace the growth of the community through succeeding decades and to present a faithful picture of the county and its institutions as it has entered upon the last quarter of this event- ful century. The book is not so much our own work as it is that of Jackson citizens. The latter produced the facts it has been our pleasure to record. We have endeavored to represent events as they have occurred. We have halted, perplexed, before conflicting, though honest, statements, and have sometimes been able but partly to repair existing breaches in our path. Memory is falli- ble. Dates are fickle. Names are obstinate. Recollection sometimes refuses from sheer weariness to go backward over the years of a generation. Under such circumstances, we cannot expect to have made no mistakes. Some errors will be due to our informants; some, to ourselves. A charitable public will


H 0


iv


PREFACE.


acknowledge the difficulty and credit us with doing the work faithfully at least. The reception extended in the county gives us reason to believe we place the work in the hands of its friends.


It remains for us publicly to express our appreciation of the kindness with which the pioneers and citizens of Jackson County have co-operated with our representatives in securing the information which makes this work a possibility. Our thanks are especially due to COL. WILLIAM A. WARREN, of Bellevue, for the privilege of making use of published articles ; to the editors of the Sentinel and Excelsior, as well as other members of the county press, for their courtesy in affording us access to their files ; to the various county and city officials for uniform kindness, and for opportunities to consult the records; to JOHN E. GOODENOW, EsQ., for much of the early history of Maquoketa.


To mention the names of gentlemen to whom we are indebted for courtesy and assistance though a labor of love, would be superfluous ; we thank all, but desire particularly to make our acknowledgements to S. BURLESON, CAPT. W. S. BELDEN, GEORGE F. GREEN, WILLIAM Y. EARLE, DR. J. F. SUGG, DR. E. A. WOOD, N. BUTTERWORTH, JR., DR. L. MILLAR, Z. DE GROAT, A. G. HENDERSON and J. M. KIRKPATRICK.


Whatever of satisfaction, instruction or enjoyment these pages may bring to their readers will be a gratification to


November, 1879.


THE PUBLISHERS.


CONTENTS.


HISTORY NORTHWEST AND STATE OF IOWA.


PAGE.


19


Geographical Position .. 19 Early Explorations .. 20 Discovery of the Ohio .. 32


English Explorations and Set- tlementa. 34


American Settlements. 59 Division of the Northwest Ter- ritory 65 Tecumseh and the War of 1812 69


Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War. 73


Other Indian Troubles .. 79


Present Condition of the North- weat 79


Illinois ... 88 Illinois 257


Indiane 259


Iowa .. .


260


Michigan


263


Wisconsin. 264 Minnesota 266 Nebraska. 267 History of Iowa:


Geographical Situation 109 Topography .. 109


Drainage System.


110


PAGE.


PAGE.


History of Iowa:


Rivers. 111


Lakes


118


Springs


119


Prairies


120


Geology


140


Climatology 137


Discovery and Occupation .. .139


Territory


.147


Indians ..


147


Pike's Expedition


151


Indian Wars.


152


Public Schoola.


218


Black Hawk War .. .157


Indian Purchase, Reserves and


Treaties ...


.159


Infantry


.233


Cavalry.


244


Artillery


247


Miscellaneous


.248


Promotions from Iowa Reg-


iments ..


249


Roundary Question.


177


State Organization.


181


Number Casualties-Officers.250


Number Casualtios-Eolist-


Growth and Progress.


185


Agricultural College and Farm.186


ed Men.


252


Number Volunteers .......


.254


State University.


.187


State Historical Society


.193


Population ...


.255


Agricultural Statistics 320


ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Adoption of Children. 303 Forms :


Bille of Exchange and Promissory Notes 293


Confession of Judgment ...


..... 306


Lease.


.. 312


Married Women ...


298


Mortgages ..


.. 310


Marks and Brands.


.300


Notice to Quit


.. 309


Mechanics' Liens.


.301


NotPa ...


Ordera ...


Quit Claim Deed


Receipts ....


306


Wills and Codicils .. .309 Support of Poor 303


Warranty Deed.


314


Taxes ...


295


300


Willa and Estates.


293


Weights and Measures


305


317 | Wolf Scalps .. 300


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE.


Indiane Attacking Frontiersmen .. 55


Present Site Lake Street Bridge,


Chicago, 1833 ... 58


A Pioneer Dwelling. 60


Trapping 29 Lake Bluff. 62 Hunting Prairie Wolves .. 85


Month of the Mississippi .. 31


High Bridge


33


Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain


42


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


Surveyor'a Measure. .. 288


How to Keep Accounts. .. 288 Interest Table .... .289


Vote for President, Governor and Congressmen .. .283 Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284


Names of the States of the Union and their Significations. 290 United States Government Land


Moasure.


.287 | Population of the United States ..... 291 |


PAGE.


Population of Fifty Principal Cities


of the United States .. .. 291 Population and Area of the United


Miscellaneous Table


.289


States ..


.. 292


Population of the Principal Coun-


tries lo the World.


.292


Kiozie House


87


Starved Rock


89


74 | An Early Settlement 108


PAGE.


Map of Jackson County .. Front.


Constitution of United States ......... 269


PAGE.


Source of the Mississippi 22


.


La Salle Landing on the Shore of


Green Bay 24 Buffalo Hunt 26


Old Fort Dearborn, 1830


79


Lincoln Monument.


80


A Pioneer School House.


81


Chicago in 1833.


82


Tecumseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 68 Indiana Attacking a Stockade ..... 71


Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain ....


Jurors


.. 297


Limitation of Actions ...


297


Landlord and Tenant.


.304


Commercial Terms. 305 Capital Punishment .. 298 Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations. .. 316 Descent .293 Damages from Trespass ... .. 300 Exemptiona from Execution .. 298


Estrays. 299 Forms : Articles of Agreement ... 307 Fences Bills of Sale 308 Interest .. 293


Bond for Deed. .315


Intoxicating Liquors ..


Bills of Purchase. .306 Jurisdiction of Courts. 297


History of lowa:


Insane Hospitals .. .195


College for the Blind. 197 Deaf and Dumb Institution ..... 199 Soldiers' Orphans' Homes ....... 199 State Normal School. .. 201


Asylum for Feeble Minded Children .. 201


Reform School


.202


Fish Hatching Establishment .. 203


Public Lands


204


Political Record. .223


War Record.


.229


Spanish Grants


163


Half-Breed Tract ..


164


Early Settlements.


166


Territorial History ...


173


Penitentiaries


.194


Chattel Mortgage


.314


.306,313 Roads and Bridges 302 .. 306 Surveyors and Surveys .. ... 303 Suggestions to Persone Purchasing .. 315 Books by Subscription. 319


PAGE.


History Northwest Territory


.....


vi


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF JACKSON COUNTY.


PAGE.


Anti-Pioneer Times. .323


County Organization .. ... 327 Smuggled Spoils. .381


Township Organization. .. 329


County Commissioners' Business ... 330


Probate Court .. ,331


Firat Settler. .. 332


Firet Sermon 332


Firat Deed .. 333


Club Law and Claims .333 The County Seat. .335


County Supervisors 338


Embezzlements .341


Bridges. 342


County Poor Farm 343


County Jail. 344


County Finances. 345


Statistics .. 347


Geological . .. 349


A Bridegroom's Disappointment ... 418


Van Buren .. 607


.607


A Defeated Congressman .420 St. Donatus


607


Pioneer Honor. .421 Mill Rock .608


A Diegusted Barber .. .422 Cantou .608


The First Woman's Crusade. .. 423 Ozark 608


Surface. .356 Incidente. .423 Nashville .. 608


Arrival of Outlaws in Bellevue ...... 356


A Real-Estate Transaction .. 362


The Groff-Davis Tragedy .. 363


A Checkered Life .. 366


A Romance. .. 368


Citizens' Association ... .371


The Bandits' Den .. .372


A Deputy's Bravery and What Came of It. .374


Agricultural Society. 440


Wsr. 612


Horticultural 442 Vote 1879 620


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Bellevue ..


.657


Jackson ..


.. 765


Richland. .688


Brandon 757 Maquoketa. 621


South Fork. ... 641


Butler .. .. 764


Monmouth 651


Tete dee Morts .. .678


Union. 693 Fairfield .. .773 Otter Creek 750


Farmer's Creek 743


Perry .... 724


Van Burten.


716


Iowa


.702 | Prairie Springs. 685


Washington 709


Too"Late for Insertion


.782, 783


LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Mrs. N. R. Allen. .. 627


N. Butterworth. .411 A. L. Bartholomew. .717 M. G. Hyler. .537


Mrs. Juliett CarmRO. .. 447


Thomas W. Cassin. 663 J. Hilsinger. .. 429


J. G. Sugg .. .587


James Dunne. .753 N. Kilboru 393 Henry Specht 605


Z. De Groat 339 Charles M. Duobar. 645 J. M. Fitzgerald. .. 519


James D. Gage .. .483


Mrs. J. E. Goodenow .501 J. W. Miles. .. 591


J. E. Goodenow. .321


Theo. Niemand 681


E. G. Potter. .375


J. J. Hofstetter. .. 699 Asher Riley. .465


George W. Keleall .609 B. F. Thomas .735


George W. Keister 771


E. A. Wood 573


W. A. Warren 357


PAGE.


A Temporary Reform. .380


Political. .. 443


Vote 1876-1878. .444


Educational. .444


The Gunpowder Plot. 387 County Officers 449


Township Officers 1879 ... .. 451


Legislative Representation ... 452


War History. 453


Roster Volunteers. ... 463 487 Andrew


Maquoketa.


521 Sabule .. Bellevue. 531 562


.. 587


Lead Exploration in 1834. .413 Mon mouth.


604


The Winter of 1842-43-Incidents .. 417


Burt's Cave 350 The Iowa Band .419 Fulton. .607


Hunter's Caves.


352


Descriptive Geography .. 354


.. 353


Streams


Natural Products. .355


Timber. 355


Court Incidents 426 La Motte .. 611


Court Resolutions 428 Zwingle. 611


Truth Stronger than Fiction. .428 Cottonville 611


A Distressing Accident. 431 Sterling. 611


Monmouth'e Centennial .. .431 Iron Hill.


Fairfield'e Centennial .434 Otter Creek. .611


Railroads. 434


Correspondence on the Bellevue


James Thompson .. 377


The Thieves' Last Haul .... .390


A General Arrest Proposed. .. 392


The Bellevue War.


.396


The Assault on Brown's Hotel ..... .398 The Thieves Tried and Sentenced .. 398


Jackson-Perkins Murder and Exe- cution. 403


Fate of Alexander Grifford ... .405 Vigilance Committee. Preston Miles. 595 .405 Barger Murder and Lynching .... .406 The Cronk Murder Trial. 407 Baldwin ... .. 601


.606 Spragueville


Vosburg'e Huntiog Yarn. .. 419 Spring Brook


PAGE.


Killing of James Thompson. 382


L. Millar. .555


PAGE.


COU


MAP OF


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COUNTY , IOWA.


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$25


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BELLEVUE


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MISSISSIPPI.


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SPRING BROOKLIN


P. O


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CLARKSTOWN


GREEN ISLAND


31


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9


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SPRACHEVILDER


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SUMMER HILL


126


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37


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34.


36


31


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185KG


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27


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CIVAN BUREN


6


3


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CON


NTON X


28


36


7


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.


When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."


In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, ineluding Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000.000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.


Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.


For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.


(19)


20


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


EARLY EXPLORATIONS.


In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.


In 1616, four years before the pilgrims "moored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result ; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.


During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a


21


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.


On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant " chase." - This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of


:


22


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.


SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course


23


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. "Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, "did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.


While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.


After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.


LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev .-


24


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and into Hurou. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed on to Green Bay, the " Baie des Puans " of the French, where he found a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors,


LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.


started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. IIe remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear- ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all the men-thirty working men and three monks-and started again upon his great undertaking.


By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theakeke," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians called by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee. "Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi- nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment




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