The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., Part 1

Author: Western historical co., Chicago. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 898


USA > Iowa > Lee County > The history of Lee county, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c. > Part 1


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.


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1800


Glass F627


Book


IL4H6


1


241 3086


.


KEOKUK


THE


HISTORY 1 1


OF


LEE COUNTY,


'IOWA,


CONTAINING


A Bistory of the County, its Cities, Butuns, &t.,


1 A Biographical Directory of Citizens, War Record of its Vol - unteers in the late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics, Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, History of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Lee County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.


A


)


ILLUSTRATED.


CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1879.


Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by


THE WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.


1


PREFACE.


N EARLY sixty years have come and gone since Dr. SAMUEL C. MUIR built a house at Puck-e-she-tuck as a permanent home for his Indian wife and children, and almost half a century has been added to the pages of time since white men began to exercise dominion in the land of the Sacs and Foxes. These years were full of change and of history, and, had some of the vigorous minds and ready pens of the early set- tlers been directed to the keeping of a chronological journal of events, the record would be invaluable to the local historian of the present. With such help, it would be a comparatively easy task to write a reliable and correct history. Without such aid, the undertaking is a difficult one, and the difficulty is materially increased by reason of the absence of nearly all the pioneer fathers and mothers.


Of those who came here in pursuit of homes and fortunes between 1833 and 1840, but few are left to greet those who now come to write the local history of their county- a county second to none in the great State of Iowa in point of historic interest. The struggles, changes and vicissitudes that fifty years evoke are as trying to the minds as to the bodies of men. Physical and mental strength waste away together beneath accu- mulating years, and the memory of names, dates and important events becomes buried in the confusion brought by time and its restless, unceasing mutations. Circumstances that were fresh in memory ten and twenty years after their occurrence are almost, if not entirely, forgotten when fifty years have gone; or, if not entirely lost from the mind, are so nearly so that, when recalled by one seeking to preserve them in printed pages, their memory comes slowly back, more like the recollections of a midnight dream than an actual occurrence in which they were partial, if not active, participants and prominent actors. The footprint of time leaves its impressions and destroying agencies upon everything, and hence it would be unreasonable to suppose that the annals, incidents and happenings of almost half a century in a community like that whose history we have attempted to write, could be preserved intact and unbroken in memory alone.


In the absence of written records, recourse was had to the minds of such of the Pioneers and Old Settlers as have been spared to see the wilds of 1820 and 1833 eman- cipated from Indian hunting-grounds and camping-places and made the abode of thrift, wealth, intelligence, refinement, of schools, colleges, churches and cities, of the highest order. In seeking to supply missing links in the county's history by personal inter- views, different individuals rendered different and conflicting, although honest and sincere, accounts of the same events and circumstances. To sift these statements and arrive at the most reasonable and tangible conclusions was a delicate task, but a task we sought to discharge with the single purpose of writing of incidents as they actually transpired. If, in such a multiplicity of names, dates, etc., some errors are not detected, it will be strange indeed. But, such as it is, our offering is completed, and it only


PREFACE.


remains for us to acknowledge our obligations to the gentlemen named below for the valuable information furnished by them, without which this history of Lee County would not be so nearly perfect as it is :


To ISAAC R. CAMPBELL and NATHAN SMITH, Esqs., of St. Francisville, Mo .; Capt. JAMES W. CAMPBELL, Hon. PHILIP VIELE, Judge JOHN WHITAKER, JONAS S. KNAPP, JOHN G. KENNEDY, OTWAY CUTLER, R. MCFARLAND, CHARLES J. HYDE. A. L. RICE, AARON JOHNSON, PETER MILLER, Sr., and others, of Fort Madison, and vicinity ; VALENCOURT VANAUSDOL, HENRY D. BARTLETT, Col. JAMES C. PARROTT, ISRAEL ANDERSON, Judge EDWARD JOHNSTONE. Hon. DANIEL F. MILLER, Sr., Col. WILLIAM PATTERSON, Col. JAMES MONROE REID and others. of Keokuk ; ALEXANDER CRUICKSHANK, Esq., of Franklin Township; JOHN O. SMITH. Esq., of Denmark; WILLIAM SKINNER, Esq., of Jefferson Township; A. W. HARLAN, Esq., of Van Buren Township ; R. W. PITMAN, of West Point, and D. C. RIDDICK, Esq .. of Montrose; L. B. FLEAK, Esq., editor of the Brighton (Iowa) Sun, and Col. J. B. PATTERSON, editor of the Oquawka (Ill.) Spectator, this paragraph of acknowledgment is, therefore, respectfully inscribed.


To the press of Fort Madison and Keokuk-Dr. A. C. ROBERTS, of the Democrat, and Messrs. TREMAINE & DAWLEY, of the Plaindealer, and R. V. ALBRIGHT, Esq., the founder of the Courier, and to Messrs. HOWELL & CLARK, of Gate City, and Messsrs. SMITH, CLENDENIN & REES, of the Constitution, we are under obligations for the use of the well-preserved files of their respective papers, and other journalistic courtesies. Our thanks are also due to the county officers for free access to the books and records of their several offices; and to the city and various township authorities, as well as to the ministers and official representatives of the various churches, and the Principals and teachers of the schools of the county, for statistical and historical infor- mation, without which this volume would be incomplete. To the parties named above is due, in a great measure, whatever of merit may be ascribed to this undertaking.


To the people of the county in general, and the citizens of Fort Madison and Keo- kuk in particular, our most grateful considerations are due for their universal kindness and courtesy to our representatives and agents to whom was intrusted the labor of col- lecting and arranging the information herein preserved to that posterity that will come in the not far distant by-and-by to fill the places of the fathers and mothers, so many of whose names and honorable biographies are to be found in the pages of this book.


In conclusion, the publishers and writers can but express the hope that, before another fifty years will have passed, other and abler minds will have taken up and recorded the historical events that will follow after the close of this offering to the people of Lee County, that the annalistic literature of county may be fully preserved and maintained intact and unbroken from county to nation.


APRIL. 1879.


WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY.


-


CONTENTS.


HISTORY NORTHWEST AND STATE OF IOWA.


PAGE.


History Northwest Territory


19


Geographical Position. 19


Early Explorations. 20


Discovery of the Ohio. 33


English Explorations and Set- tlements 35


American Settlements. 60


Division of the Northwest Ter- ritory 66


Tecumseh and the War of 1812 70


Black Hawk and the Black


Hawk War.


74


Other Indian Troubles


79


Present Condition of the North- west 86


Chicago ... 95


Illinois


257


Half-Breed Tract ..


164


Indiana


259


Early Settlements.


166-


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


120


Climatology 137


Discovery and Occupation .139


Territory 147


Indians ..


147


Pike's Expedition 151


Indian Wars.


152


Public Schools


218


Political Record 223


War Record


229


Infantry. 233


Cavalry.


2.14


Artillery.


247


Miscellaneous.


248


Promotions from Iowa Reg-


iments.


249


Number Casualties-Officers.250 Number Casualties-Enlist- ed Men 252


Number Volunteers .....


254


Population ..


255


Agricultural Statistics


320


ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Formis :


Chattel Mortgage


,314


Confession of Judgment ..


.. 306


Landlord and Tenant.


304


Lease


312


Married Women.


298


Mortgages


310


Notice to Quit ...... .309


Notes. .306, 313


Orders ... 306 Descent 293 Damages from Trespass .. .300 Quit Claim Deed


Exemptions from Execution


298


Receipts


306


Estrays


.299 |


Wills and Codicils.


309


Warranty Deed.


314


Fences 300


Interest.


293


Intoxicating Liquors. 317


Wolf Scalps.


300


ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE.


A Pioneer Dwelling ... 61


Breaking Prairie ... 63


Tecumsehi, the Shawanoe Chieftain 69 Wild Prairie ... 23 Indians Attacking a Stockade. ...


La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay 25


Big Eagle. 80 Buffalo Hunt 27 Trapping 29


Captain Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83 Kinzie House 85 Hunting 32


Iroquois Chief 34


Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain 43


Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 56


A Pioneer School House ..


88


A Prairie Storm.


59


MISCELLANEOUS.


PAGE.


Map of Lee County Front.


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


Vote for President, Governor and Congressmen. 283


Miscellaneous Table


289


Names of the States of the Union


and their Significations .. .. 290 United States Government Land


Measure


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


PAGE


Pioneers' First Winter


94


Great Iron Bridge of C., R. I. & P.


R. R., Crossing the Mississippi at


72 . Davenport, lowa


Chicago in 1833.


95


Old Fort Dearborn, 1830 ..


98


Present Site Lake Street Bridge,


Chicago, 1833.


98


A Representative Pioneer.


8G


Ruins of Chicago.


104


View of the City of Chicago ..


106


Hunting Prairie Wolves.


268


PAGE


Population of Fifty Principal Cities


of the United States


291


Population aud Area of the United


States.


.. 292


Population of the Principal Coun-


tries in the World.


292


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


Black Hawk War .157


Indian Purchase, Reserves and


Treaties


159


Spanish Grants 163


State Organization. [8]


Growth and Progress


185


Agricultural College and Farm.186


State University


187


State Historical Society.


193


Penitentiaries.


.194


History of Iowa :


Insane Hospitals. 195


College for the Blind. 197


Limitation of Actions.


.297


Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes .. 293


Commercial Terms. .. 305 Capital Punishment 298


Charitable, Scientific and Religious


Associations 316


Roads and Bridges


302


Surveyors and Surveys .. .303


315 Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books by Subscription


319


Support of Poor


303


Taxes.


295


Wills and Estates.


293


Weights and Measures


305


Forms : Articles of Agreement .. 307 Bills of Sale .. 308 Bond for Deed .. .. 315


Bills of Purchase


306 |Jurisdiction of Courts


297


PAGE.


Mouth of the Mississippi 21 Source of the Mississippi 2I


Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain ..... 75


Lincoln Monument 87


PAGE.


Surveyor's Measure 288 How to Keep Accounts 288 Interest Table. 289


Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284


Territorial History 173


Boundary Question


177


Adoption of Children .. 303


Jurors 297


Marks and Brands .. 300


Mechanics' Liens. 301


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY.


PAGE.


Footprints on the Sands of Time ... 325


The Aboriginal Occupants .. 326


Condition of the Country 60 Years Ago. 328


Recollections of Valencourt Van- nusdol .333 Black Hawk War. .336 Black Ilawk Purchase ... .347 Other Purchases. ... 347


Last Days of the Indians. ₩.348 Personal Sketches, Character- istics, etc. .348


Black Hawk and his Wife ...... 348 Wapello and other Chiefs ...... 350


Anecdote of Pashapaho .. .358 Miscellaneous Pleasantries, etc.359 Wapello's Death. 375 Ka-la-Wa-Quois. .. 375


Possessing the Land 377 The Pioneer Era .. .377 Fort Des Moines .381


Relics 382 Personal Sketches and Anec- dotes .. 382 First lowa Counties. .384 First Election 384 First Court. .38.1


Settlers of 1835 and 1836.


385


German Pioneer Settlers ... .. 392 Fragments .. .. 398


Indian Gluttony - Hominy-


Block, and Log Cabins-


Wild Game-First Crops- Amusements of the Pio- neers, etc. 39S


Pioneer Times in Skinner's Neighborhood .. 402 Going to Mill under Difficulties405 A Pioneer Dog 405 Denmark Settlement ... 406


Rail-Pen Ilabitations, etc ........ 406


Frontier Generosity .407 A Preacher in the Wilderness.408 (fleanings from the Memory of A. W. Harlan 410


Wisconsin Territory .413 Physical Geography 115 Geology. 418 Coal-Measures 420


Entomology .429 Political Economy .430 Starting the County Machinery430 First Election 431 First Meeting of Board of Su-


Muscatine Railroad .. .510 pervisors 431


PAGE.


Discovery of Iowa. .324 | Political Economy-


Roads and Highways.


432


Last Orders ...


.434


County Commissioners


434


Second Election


.435


Violations of the License


Law


.436


County Jail


437


Iowa Territory


.437


Government Lands


.439


Making and Protecting Claims.439


Land Sales - Squatters and


Speculators


440


County Seat on Wheels.


443 |


Franklin


443


Fort Madison.


445


First Election.


4-15


Second Election.


4.15


Erection of the Court House ... 446


West Point


446


A Scheme to Divide the County .... 418 Another County Seat Contest-Fort Madison Victorious .. .. 449 A Dying Kick-Keokuk Placated -Notes 450


Financial Exhibit,


450


Organization of Townships .451 Exit Territorial Dependency .. .. 453


State of lowa


.154


From one Extreme to Another. .. 155


Mormouism and Mormon Ontrages.465 Jo Smith 465


Danite Band 468


Murder of Miller and Leiza ... 470


The Hodges. .473 Expulsion of the Mornions ..... 477


Old Settlers' Association.


.483


First Annual Re-union ........ ... 486


At Sargent's Grove .... .488 At Keokuk Fair-Grounds .. .. 490


At Warren Station


.. 490


Recorders


Capt. Campbell's Address .... .. 493 County Superintendents of


Old Times Come Again.


.......


.500


Present Officers


Agricultural .. .505


Races and Stock-Show .. .. 506


Lee County Agricultural So- ciety.


506


Isaac Galland


.. 548


Old Spurlock, the Counter-


feiter.


.. 549


Anti-Horse-Thief Association ........ 551


War History.


.. 552


The First Offering.


.556


At Keokuk


.. 558


Bounty to the Gray-Beards .... .. 564


Volunteer Soldiery ...


.. 564


Roster


.505


HISTORY OF KEOKUK.


PAGE.


Early History ... .615


Origin of Name .. 615


Public Enterprises .. 626.


Railroad and Wagon Bridge .... 626 Water Works ... 627


Fire Department. .. 633 Gas-Light and Cokr Company .631 Banking Interests. 634 State National Bank ... 635 Keokuk National Bank .635 Keokuk Savings Bank .. 635 Commercial Bank. .636


Insurance Companies.


636


Iowa State Insurance Co. .636 Iowa Life Insurance Co .636 Religions Interests. 636 Catholic Church ... .. 636 First M. E. Church. 637 Chatham Square M. E.Church.639


Free-for-All Church .649 German M. E. Church ... ..... .639


PAGE.


Religious Interests-


Swedish M. E. Church .......... .. 640 First African M. E. Church ..... 640 First Presbyterian Church ...... 641 First Westminster Presbyte- rian Church 641


Baptist Church.


644


Colored Baptist Churches. 645 Episcopal Church 6.15


linitarian Church 645


St. Paul's Evangelical Church (German ). .. 647 Congregation of B'nai Israel ... 647 Re-organized Church of Jesus


Christ of Latter-Day Saints .. 647


Temperance Work


.650


Railroads-


PAGE


Logansport, Peoria & Warsaw


Railroad


511


Burlington


& Southwestern


Railroad


511


Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska


Railroad


511


Fort Madison & Northwestern


Narrow-Gauge.


.. 512


St Louis, Keokuk & Northern


Railroad.


512


Disposition of the Railroad


Aid 512


First Railroad Ticket-Office .... 512


Plankroad .


512


Des Moines Rapids.


513


The Canal


513


Old-time River Craft.


515


The Lightering Period


515


Keelboats


516


Flatboats


516


Steamboats


516


The Railroad


517


Des Moines River Improvement .. 517


Half-Breed Tract .. 529


Press


.531


First lowa Newspapers ..


.531


Fort Madison Papers


.532


Keokuk Papers


534


West Point Paper 539


District Court. .459 .461 | Pioncer Lawyers. Criminal Mention .542 Educational Interests. .539 Political Parties 544


Official Roster


.. 545


Representatives and Senators .. 545 County Commissioners ......... .. 546


County Judges


.. 5.17


Board of Supervisors .....


......


.. 547


County Auditors.


.. 647


County Attorneys. .547


At Pitman Grove ...


.. 487


Sheriffs


.. 547


Clerks of the District Court ..... 547


County Treasurers.


547


Public Instruction ...


.548


505 ' Miscellaneous 548


Commercial College.


655


College of Physicians and Sur-


geons ..


.655


United Presbyterian Church ... 642 Congregational Church 643 Secret Societies. .656


Masonic


I. O. O. F ..


658


.656


Kookuk Veteran Guards.


660


Miscellaneous


661


Gambrinus 661


Mills 662


Iron-Works. 662


Mechanical Enterprise 663 Ice-Gorge of 1832. 663


Reminder of Old Times 664


Mayors


664


PAGE


Educational Interests


652


City Schools .652 Natural llistory. .653 Library Association 654


Economical Geology


426


Ancient Mounds


.427


Railroads ..


.507


Aid to Railroads.


.. 508


Keokuk, Des Moines & Minne-


sota Railroad.


.510


Keokuk, Mount Pleasant &


CONTENTS.


HISTORY OF FORT MADISON.


PAGE.


Early History .. 589


The First Settler. 592


Incidents and Personal Sketches ... 598


Religious Interests. .. 603


Presbyterian Church .. 603


Methodist Church. .. 604


Christian Church .. 604


Episcopal Church .. 605


Catholic Churches


605


Catholic Schools.


606


Baptist Church


606


Colored Baptist Church


606


Weston Mills


.610


TOWN HISTORIES.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE.


West Point 664


Nashville.


679


Primrose.


.... 679


Denmark. .670


Croton .679


South Franklin .679


Montrose . 6,75.


Pilot Grove .679


Vincennes


679


Franklin Centre 677


Charleston. 678


BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE ..


Cedar


823


Harrison


766


Montrose


757


Charleston .818 Jefferson


788


Pleasant Ridge ..


.805


Denmark 867


Jackson 719


Van Buren .. 884


Des Moines 784 Keokuk City 681


Franklin


774


Madison


722


West Point .853


Green Bay 877


Marion 794


LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.


PAGE.


PAGE.


PAGE.


Atlee. John C., Fort Madison .. .355


Davis, C. F., Keokuk.


.627 Keokuk .Frontispiece Atlee, S., .. 593 Hughes, J. C. ... .. 321


Angear, J.J. M. .423


Henkle, Amos, Van Buren Tp ....... 457


Pittman, Wm. G., West Point ........ 389 Rogers, Millard H., Green Bay Tp .. 525


Bacon, J. H. Jr.


.. .. 611


Hunt, J. F., Charleston Tp ..........


.. 491 | South, John, Charleston Tp .......... 559


Beck, J. M.


.279


Johnstone, Edward, Keokuk. .. 227


Skinner, Wm., Jefferson Tp ........ .. 441


Bower, R. F., Keokuk


261


PAGE.


PAGE.


Religious Interests-


German Lutheran and Re-


formed Church .. .. 607


Secret Societies.


611


Evangelical


Lutheran,


St.


Masonic ... 611 Paul's Church .607


Odd Fellows. 611


Educational Interests.


607


Knights of Pythias. 612


A. O. U. W.


612


Red Ribbon Movement.


.613


Potowonok Mills 608 Plow Works. 614


Old Settlers' Mills. 608 Atlee's Lumber Mills. .609


Breweries.


614


Fire Department. 608


Mills 608


Banking ..... 610


Concordia Hall 610


1:11


IN'


BANKR CO


St. Paul


679


Wever


679


Washington .829


-


MAP OF


LEE


R. 4W


COUNTY


AAUGUSTACOUNTY


RIVER


R3 W.


6


R2Wy


14 40


17


GIONGREE


20


0



genel


ADDISON FORT MADISON


RIVER


DALLAS


MAPPANOOGE


NIOTA


SIONITTI


OF


STATE


HAMILTON


I AIDSE


DES MOINES


SKUN


ENMARK


١


«٢ ٢٧/٢٠٢ :٧ ٢٧/٢/١٤١ جمراج: بيم


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, including 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


SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.


BRIGHAM


MOUTHI OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


21


r


22


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




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