USA > Iowa > Wapello County > The history of Wapello County, Iowa, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, &c., a biographical directory of citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion, general and local statistics history of the Northwest, history of Iowa > 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.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86
1800
S
S
F627
Class
Book W2H6
THE
HISTORY
OF
WAPELLO COUNTY,
IOWA,
CONTAINING
A history of the County, its Cities, Gowns,
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, His- tory of the Northwest, History of Iowa, Map of Wapello County, Constitution of the United States, Miscellaneous Matters, &c.
1
ILLUSTRATED. 1
CHICAGO : WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1
1878.
-
& 1859 '01
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by
THE WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
. W2HG
PREFACE.
T T THE history of Wapello County is one which contains many features iden-
tical with the history of Iowa. the preservation of which is essential to the truthful record of the State's life. The publishers of this volume have fully appreciated that fact, and have so arranged the order of compilation as to give each prominent characteristic due place.
There is no effort herein to reach literary excellence, but rather a decided attempt to capture vagrant items of interest, and weave them together upon the simplest thread of system. Many men will say that their own acts are not sufficiently expatiated upon, or commensurate credit given certain friends of theirs ; but the publishers have not aimed merely to please individuals. The work engaged in by them was of a higher nature. They have concentrated records for the benefit of posterity, rather than for the selfish gratification of the vanity of special patrons.
In their labors, they have been aided by Mr. SAMUEL B. EVANS, whose skill and information have given character to the paper on the Mounds of the Des Moines Valley, and whose files of the Ottumwa Democrat have been frequently referred to. They have been helped in many ways by the ready memory of Messrs. R. H. and C. C. WARDEN, and by the files of the Ottumwa Courier, the pioneer journal of the West, which made its appearance under the manage- ment of Mr. R. H. WARDEN. These valuable papers were placed at the writer's disposal through the courtesy of Mr. A. H. HAMILTON, the present pro- prietor. Mr. W. D. HORTON, of Agency City, had, fortunately, preserved those copies of the Independent containing the contributions of Major John Beach, and, by that act of forethought, future generations will be permitted to read of the Agency and the life therein. Of Judge HENDERSHOTT'S able address, nothing further need be said than that we have appropriated it bodily, without even asking the Judge if we might do so. The people will approve of the act,
PREFACE.
whether the Judge does or not. The county officers have given the publishers great aid, and done it, too, in such a cordial manner as to leave with us the most hearty feelings of friendliness. So it has been throughout the county. We can name but a moiety of those who have been kindly disposed, and so we say to one and all, We thank you.
If any one feels disposed to be hypercritical of the work, let that individual first realize that we have tried to do our work honestly and well. We leave the permanent verdict confidently to the future.
DECEMBER, 1878.
THE PUBLISHERS.
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 Indiana 259
Iowa .. .
260
Michigan
263
Wisconsin.
264
Minnesota
266
Nebraska. 267
History of Iowa :
Geographical Situation 109
Topography. 109
Drainage System.
110
History of Iowa :
Rivers 111
Lakes
118
Springs
119
Prairies.
120
Geology
120
Climatology 137
Discovery and Occupation 139
Pike's Expedition 151
Indian Wars.
152
Black Hawk War. 157
Indian Purchase, Reserves and Treaties .. 159
Spanish Grants
163
Half-Breed Tract ..
164
Early Settlements. 166
Territorial History. 173
Boundary Question
177
State Organization 181
Growth and Progress.
185
Agricultural College and Farm.186
State University. 187
State Historical Society
.193
Penitentiaries.
.194
History of Iowa:
PAGE.
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
Public Schools
218
Political Record 223
War Record
229
Infantry
233
Cavalry
244
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
HISTORY WAPELLO COUNTY.
PAGE.
Geology
323
Fruit Culture. 416
Formation of Limebeds ... 324 Eclipse, 1869 417
Great Coal-Basin 325 Educational 419
Cretaceous ..
327
Glacial Period ..
327
Drift Period 329
Bowlders
.331
Origin of the Prairies. 331
The Miller-Thompson Contested Election ... .429 Descriptive Geography .332 Resorces .334
Des Moines River Improvement
Schemes
.435
Origin of the Name Des Moines ....
445
Criminal Record.
.446
Laura Harvey Murder and Ex-
Willis Murder-Lynching of Kephart .... 452
Shooting of Albert M. Logan and Lynching of bis Mur- derer, John Smith .453
Agricultural Society
.456
Speculative and Prophetic.
456
Appanoose Rapids Company ... 462 First Mill. .465
County Seat .465 First Court House. .466
Name ...
.466
Location of Post Office .467
Original Plat .467
Indian Camp Grounds .468
Ottumwa in 1844 .. 468 Independence-Day Celebration.468
Primitive Justice.
.469
Ottumwa House
470
First Ferry 470
Official Roster of the County .403 Eldon . .529 Material Growth and Prosperity ... 407 First Jail 471 Agency City .. Samantha Shaffer 471 Chillicothe. .537 A Glance in 1845. 471 Kirkville. .538 533 Abstract Assessment, 1878 ... .409 Social Statistics .409 Population, 1875. .410 First Court House 471 Blakesburg 538
Dairy Business 410 Swine Culture . 415 First Settlers in Ottumwa. .472 Sheep Culture. 415 Land Sales. .472
Ottumwa:
Mail Contracts
473
Ottumwa in 1849. .. 473
Marine.
473
Lyceum
474
Plankroad Fever.
474
Staging in 1850 474
Ottumwa in 1853 475
Fall of a Landmark 475
Postmasters 475
Governmental Organization ... 475
Police Department ... 479 Fire Department. 480
County Buildings .482
City Hall
482
City Finances
483
Bridge Company 483
Press 483 Secret Societies. 485
Public Schools .. 487
Business College 494 Public Library .494
Churches
495
Railroads.
506
Water-Power Company. .. 507
Water Works
.511
Manufacturing. 513
Gas-Light Company 516 Post Offices in Wapello County.516 County Poor Farm .. 516 Commercial Interests. .51
Loan & Building Association .. 516 Missing Book Found. .517
Eddyville 519
District Court.
.402
First Public Buildings. .468 List of First Grand Jury. 402 Circuit Court. 403
Legislative Enactments.
398
First Probate Business .398
Marriage Record.
401
First Post Office 370
lowa as it was .370
First Settlers 373
Judge Hendershott's Address .. 377
How Pioneers Lived .391
Organization of the County
396
First Marriage .370 Ottumwa. 461
First Grist-Mill 370
Pashepaho. .350
Maj. Beach's History of the Agency .. Wapello's Death .369 351 First White Child born in County .. 369 First Death 370
Approach of Civilization. .334 Unknown Race. .336
Ilistory of the Aborigines.
342
Black Hawk
343
Wapello and other Chiefs
.345
Early Newspaper Items 421
Coal Interests
427
Dalılonega War
429
PAGE.
PAQE.
First Mill Built. 472
Dahlonega
539
Vote, 1876-78
540
War Record
.541
PAGE.
Territory
147
Indians.
147
Reform School
202
Fish Hatching Establishnient .. 203
Public Lands
204
ecution of McComb ..
.446
Large Fires.
480
CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
Mouth of the Mississippi 21
Source of the Mississippi 21 Wild Prairie. 23
La Salle Landing on the Shore of Green Bay 25
Buffalo Hunt 27
Trapping 29
Hunting 32
Iroquois Chief 34 Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain 43
Indians Attacking Frontiersmen .. 56
A Prairie Storm 59
WAPELLO COUNTY VOLUNTEERS.
Infantry:
PAGE.
Infantry : PAGE.
Cavalry : PAGE
Second
541
Thirty-sixth 547
Fourth 552
Seventh .. 542 Thirty-seventh. .550
Fifteenth
544
Forty-seventh .551
Eighth
554
Seventeenth
.545
Cavalry:
Eighteenthı
546
Twenty-second .546
Third
.552
BIOGRAPHICAL TOWNSHIP DIRECTORY.
PAGE.
.609
Competine ...
666
Ottumwa City .457
Pleasant .. 657
Cass. .643
Green.
662
Polk
647
Center.
603
Highland. 640
Richland
622
Columbia .633
Keokuk. .655
Washington.
616
LITHOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS.
Page.
Page.
Page.
Blake, Charles F .457
Fisher, John C.
.491
IIutchison, J. G ... 525
Stiles, Edward H.
.. 279
Daggett, William. 423
Hedrick, J. M
227
Wilson, Harvey.
.389
ABSTRACT OF IOWA STATE LAWS.
PAGE.
Adoption of Children .. .. 303
Forms :
Chattel Mortgage .. .314
Confession of Judgment ... .. 306
Commercial Terms 305
Lease 312 Married Women. 298
Mortgages. 310 Marks and Brands. .300
Notice to Quit. 309
Notes. 306, 313
Orders .... .306
Quit Claim Deed .315
Receipts .306
Wills and Codicils. .309 Estrays 299 Forms : Warranty Deed. .314 Articles of Agreement 307 Fences 300
Bills of Sale .308 Bond for Deed. .315
Bills of Purchase. .306
MISCELLANEOUS.
PAGE.
Map of Wapello County. .Front.
Constitution of United States ......... 269
Vote for President, Governor and
Miscellaneous Table. .289 Congressmen,. 283 Practical Rules for Every-Day Use .. 284
and their Significations. .290 United States Government Land
Measure. 287
Population of the United States ..... 291
PAGE.
Surveyor's Measure .. .288
How to Keep Accounts .288 Interest Table. .289
Names of the States of the Union
Population of the Principal Coun-
tries in the World.
292
302
Surveyors and Surveys .. 303
Suggestions to Persons Purchasing Books by Subscription .319
Support of Poor .303
Taxes.
295
Wills and Estates.
293
Weights and Measures
.305
Wolt Scalps.
300
Jurisdiction of Courts. .297
Jurors. 297
Limitation of Actions 297
Landlord and Tenant. 304
Capital Punishment. 298
Charitable, Scientific and Religious Associations .316
Mechanics' Liens.
301
Roads and Bridges
Descent 293 Damages from Trespass. 300 Exemptions from Execution 298
PAGE.
PAGE.
Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes 293
Seventh
553
Ninth 555
First .551
A Representative Pioneer.
86
Ruins of Chicago.
104
View of the City of Chicago.
106
A Pioneer School House 88
Pioneers' First Winter 94 Great Iron Bridge of C., R. I. & P. R. R., Crossing the Mississippi at
Tecnmseh, the Shawanoe Chieftain 69 Indians Attacking a Stockade ....... 72 Davenport, Iowa. 91
Black Hawk, the Sac Chieftain .....
75
Chicago in 1833 ...
95
Old Fort Dearborn, 1830
98
Big Eagle .. 80
Captain Jack, the Modoc Chieftain 83 Kinzie House
85
Present Site Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833. 98
Lincoln Monument 87
PAGE.
PAGE.
A Pioneer Dwelling .......... 61
Breaking Prairie. ... 63
PAGE.
PAGE.
r
Agency
Adams ... .. 652 Dahlonega .. 631
Burton, E. L ... .355 Hendershott, H. B. .321
Interest. 293 Intoxicating Liquors .. .317
PAGE.
Population of Fifty Principal Cities of the United States. 291 Population and Area of the United States. 292
Hunting Prairie Wolves.
268
Miscellaneous
555
.(( MAP OF
-0-
MAH A
S
K
A
C
0. "VI O
EDDYVILLE
3
5
KIRKVILLE
018
10
M
M
B
& Conly
18
15
ND
19
21
+
+
30
COMSTOCKS STA & PO
B
& M.RR
CHILLICOTHE
3
35
37
N
G
3
SHOCK STA& P.O.
7
R
16
18
Minterville P.O.
P
19
+
TWIG
5
3
2
PORT RICHMOND
36
Cooperville B.O.C
F
6
TON
BLAKESBURG
FUNGHI
18
M
2
PTISABEL 99
27
.30
Brust
.
Cr.
+
16
35
2. 34 +
.31
RXIVW S
I
T
A
D
13/0
R
22
23
21
14
13
16
15
11
10
AI
27
30
34
7
10
12
C
27
2,5150
20
28
20
--
+
G
30
RXV W
COUNTY)»:
WA))" K
EOKUK
0.
6
4
3
2
7
2
1
-
J
8
9
10
11
-
16
Highland Ceuteusb
14
13
F T13N
H 19
ND 23
24
19
20
22
Wow
26
E
32
R
6
2
1
S
DAHLONEGA
đại
7
12
7
9
D
HIFONE
BLADENSBURG
14
13
18
6-17
16
Brish
E
pir
24
19
20
22
OTTUMWA
26
C
R
U AGETYCY CITY
32
34
KEOK
R
ST
3
VAL
LLEY
7
10
12
15
GT OEN
T7IN
27
B
GELDON
C
36
36
0
RXIIIW
RXII W of 5 th.P.M.
0
-
N T12N
DES MOINES
DES MOIN
K.C & N.R.R
ALPINE
Compelines
10
12
Competine P.O
MARYSVILLE
M
PET
I
.C. R E ST L.R.R. GRADE
34
2
0
36
-0-
-0 -
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
·
.
1
SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
BRIGHAM
MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
21
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
23
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.
TIIE WILD PRAIRIE.
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
24
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.
25
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 Huron. 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,
CO
LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.
started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. He 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
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.