USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of Dubuque County, Iowa; being a general survey of Dubuque County history, including a history of the city of Dubuque and special account of districts throughout the county, from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
It is related on unknown authority that some time after Du- buque's death, an Indian fighter and pioneer, John T. Smith, took possession of the works and attempted to carry on mining and smelting, but received no encouragement, and soon encountered open opposition from the chief Pi-a-nos-ky, who, with a band of warriors, tore down his buildings and drove him and his com- panions across the river.
The Avenue Top Company in recent years; their mine in Du- buque township yielded about $150,000 in lead ore, then $25 in dry bone, and later over $100,000 in blackjack. The old Rarrick mine yielded over $500,000 worth of lead ore; Bartlett & Stewart raised about $150,000 worth; Levins, about $250,000; Burton, Jarrett & Glab. $200,000, and others. Many "bunches" were formed worth $10,000 to $20,000. The Stewart cave is about 900 feet long and in one place it is 100 feet wide. Sunflower cave at Kauffman ave- nue is forty feet wide, 800 feet long and sixty feet high in places. West Dubuque has numerous other caves.
In August, 1894, Kimball Goldthorpe discovered a rich lead of ore in West Dubuque. At the depth of 190 feet he found two solid sheets. In 1895, Meehan, at the depth of 130 feet, struck a valu- able lead on Southern avenue. The Shearn mine was one of the richest ever struck here; during the summer of 1895 about 400,000 pounds of ore were raised. The Goldthorpe, Jones & Kimball mine, near the old Karrick diggings, was very valuable ; at one time 10,000 pounds were taken out daily. Three mines-Karrick's, Shearn's and Sloan's-have yielded a total of approximately 15,000,000 pounds. Cheney's, Levins', Horton's, Emery's and Bartlett's mines have been successful. In 1896 large quantities of "ore dust" were shipped from Durango; it was used for smelting purposes. J. W. Halpin & Company made a valuable strike in 1898; they took out 20,000 pounds of ore in a week in West Dubuque. The Pike's Peak and Alpine street mines were valuable.
The Dubuque Ore Development Company was incorporated in 1905. Large beds of blackjack were found in 1906 at Pike's Peak. The Key West Mining Company had valuable mines in 1906; this year rich discoveries of ore were made on Southern avenue and on Cascade road. This year, also, the Avenue Top Mining Company found large quantities of pure resin jack. This company sold five carloads of zinc ore in January, 1908. In July the richest strike of blackjack yet made here was unearthed on the Miller farm, West Dubuque. The Harriman Company was organized in 1906. The Tri-State Mining Company is a recent organization. The Goose- born Mining made important discoveries on Grand View avenue.
Other valuable discoveries are in progress, and the end of ore wealth is not in sight.
DUBUQUE AND THE INDIANS.
T HE conveyance of the Fox Indians to Julien Dubuque in 1788 was as follows : "Copy of the council held by the Foxes, that is to say, of the branch of five villages, with the approbation of the rest of their people, explained to Mr. Quinantotaye, deputied by them, in their presence, and in the presence of us, the undersigned: that is to say, the Foxes permit Mr. Julien Dubuque, called by them the Little Cloud, to work at the mines as long as he shall please and to withdraw from it without specifying any term to him; moreover, that they sell and abandon to him all the coast and the contents of the mine discovered by the wife of Peosta, so that no white man or Indian shall make any pretension to it, without the consent of Mr. Julien Dubuque ; and in case he shall find nothing within, he shall be free to search wherever he may think proper to do so, and to work peaceably without anyone hurting him or doing him any prejudice in his labors. Thus we chief and braves, by the voice of our villages, have agreed with Julien Dubuque, selling and delivering to him this day as above mentioned, in presence of the Frenchmen who attend us, who are witnesses to this writing.
"At the Prairie du Chien, in full council, the 22d September, 1788."
"BLONDEAU, ALA AUSTIN (his X mark ). AUTAQUE.
"Basil Teren (his X mark ), Blondeau D'Quirneat, Joseph Fontigny."
Witnesses."
On the day this document was executed Dubuque is said to have delivered goods to the Indians in payment for the tract of land, which this writing purported to lease or convey; and a few days afterward, it was also said, the Indian chiefs, in the presence of Dubuque, allowed monuments to be erected at the mouths of Little Maquoketa and Tete des Morts rivers as boundaries of the tract along the river.
The petition of Julien Dubuque to Governor Carondelet was as follows: "The most humble petitioner to your excellency, who is called Julien Dubuque, having formed a habitation upon the fron- tiers of your government, in the midst of the savage tribes that
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
are the inhabitants of the country, has purchased a tract of land from these Indians, and the mines which it contains; and through his perseverance in surmounting all the obstacles arising as well from dangers as heavy expenses, has at length succeeded, after many troubles, in being the peaceful owner of a tract of land situated on the western bank of the Mississippi river, to which he has given the name of the 'Mines d'Espagne' (Mines of Spain or Spanish Mines), in honor of the government to which they belong. As the locality of the habitation is but a point and the different mines he works are sparsely spread, and at a distance of three leagues from each other, the most humble petitioner prays your excellency to be pleased to grant him the peaceful possession of the said land and mines ; that is from the upper hills of the small river Maquanquitois to the Mesquabynonques hills, which is about seven leagues upon the western bank of the Mississippi, by three leagues in depth; which demand the petitioner hopes to obtain from your goodness. I pray the same goodness, which makes the happiness of so many subjects, to excuse my style and to be willing to accept of the pure simplicity of my heart for want of my eloquence. With all my power I beseech heaven to preserve you, and to pour all favors upon you, and I am and shall be all the days of my life, of your excellency the most humble, obedient and submissive subject."
"J. DUBUQUE."
"NEW ORLEANS, October 22, 1796.
"Let information be given by the merchant Don Andrew Todd on the nature of this demand."
"THE BARON DE CARONDELET."
The exact language of Andrew Todd was in part as follows : "I have to say that, as to the land for which he asks, nothing occurs to me why it should not be granted if you find it convenient ; with the condition, nevertheless, that the grantee shall observe the pro- visions of his majesty relating to the trade with the Indians; and that this be absolutely prohibited to him, unless he shall have consent in writing."
The board of commissioners for ascertaining and adjusting land claims in the Territory of Louisiana sat at St. Louis, September 20, 1806; it was shown, and reported as follows :
"Julien Dubuque and Auguste Chouteau claim a tract of one hundred and forty-eight thousand one hundred and seventy-six arpents of land situated on the river Mississippi at a place called the Spanish Mines, about four hundred and forty iniles from St. Louis, forming in superficies an extent of about twenty-one leagues. They produce, first, a petition by the said Julien Dubuque to the Baron de Carondelet, praying for the peaceable possession of an extent of land of about seven leagues on the west side of the Missis-
IM PE
DUBUQUE IN EARLY DAYS.
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
sippi, beginning at the heights of Mesquabynonques, being in front on said river about seven leagues by a depth of three leagues-the whole forming the said tract called the Spanish Mines; together with a reference by the Baron de Carondelet to one Andrew Todd, an Indian trader, of the above demand, under the date of the 22d of October, 1796, with the assent of said Andrew Todd to the granting of the same provided the said petitioner should not inter- fere with his trade, the same dated 29th October, same year."
The prayer of the petitioner was granted by Carondelet in the following language: "Concedido como se solicita baxo las restric- ciones que el comerciante Don Anstrés Todd expresa en so informe, IO Noviembre, 1796" (Granted as it is demanded, under the restric- tions mentioned by the merchant Don Andrew Todd in his infor- mation ).
"I, the undersigned, William Henry Harrison, governor of the Territory of Indiana, and commissioner plenipotentiary of the United States for treating with the Indian tribes northwest of the Ohio, do hereby certify and declare that after the treaty which was made with the Sacs and Foxes at St. Louis on the 3d day of November, 1804, was drawn up and prepared for signing, I was shown a grant from the governor general of Louisiana to a certain Dubuque for a considerable quantity of land at some distance up the Mississippi and where the said Dubuque has for many years resided. Finding that this tract could be considered receded by the treaty as it then stood, the additional article was written and submitted to the Indians. They readily consented to it; and the undersigned informed them that the intention of it was to embrace particularly the claim of Dubuque, the validity of which they acknowledged. Given under my hand and seal at Vincennes, the Ist day of January, 1806."
"WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON."
The principal objection to the claim was as follows, in the lan- guage of Mr. Gallatin, then secretary of the treasury: "The prin- cipal question made on this claim is one which, perhaps, in the whole history of Louisiana titles, is peculiar to itself. There is no fraud imputed; no want of authority to make the supposed grant ; no uncertainty of its location. It is not challenged for want of being possessed in good faith; and no exception is taken to the capacity of the grantee. But conceding all these facts it is objected, that, on the face of the papers, in their purpose and meaning, no title of any sort in the land was intended or has been created; that the whole transaction was but to obtain a personal privilege, or usufruct, at will; and whatever of concession or stipulation there is, was but for a temporary personal protection and which has not been other- wise validated as a title" (See Vol. I, Laws United States, p. 562). An adverse report of the Senate committee in 1841-2 (Senate Docs.,
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
Vol. V, No. 341) "assumes essentially the same ground as Mr. Gallatin and regards the Indian contract as a personal privilege to Dubuque to work the mines; the governor's concession but an affirmance of this power; that the right was acquired without con- sideration, and died with the person; that the Indians had no right to sell the lands, and that it was the policy of the Spanish govern- ment not to sell its mines, etc."
But the Senate committee found otherwise as follows: "That no precedent or example can be found of such grant of personal privilege in the use of lands being made up between the Indians and the Spanish government in the whole history of the provincial administration in Florida and Louisiana ; that the Spanish authori- ties indulged the Indians with a power of sale to individual white men, subject to a ratification of title by the government authorities of the province ; that such sales had already been confirmed by the boards of land commissioners, by Congress, and by the courts of the United States ; that the article of sale to Dubuque by the Indians contained the following language: 'That they sell and abandon to him all the coast and the contents of the mine discovered by the wife of Peosta, so that no white man or Indian shall make any pretension to it, without the consent of the Sieur Julien Dubuque.' And the article further said that 'In case he shall find nothing within (the mine sold to him) he shall be free to search wherever it shall seem good to him, and to work peaceably without any hurting him, or doing him any prejudice in his labors.'
"The committee readily acknowledge this part is but a personal permission. But it is a permit beyond the sale and conveyance, not purporting, as in the preceding, a sale and surrender of possession with a covenant of warranty against all pretensions of the white man or Indian; that this was intended to be a sale in fee so far as the Indians could make it; that Dubuque's application to Carondelet must have been in order to secure a confirmation of his title, because he already had held possession for over eight years.'
"What Todd understood to be the object of Dubuque's requête is too manifest to be disputed by any. Apprehending the motives of the petitioner to be apparent and palpable he in plain and simple brevity replied to the governor that 'As to the land for which he (Dubuque) asks nothing occurs to me why it should not be granted.' This information seems to have satisfied the governor ; and hence the conclusion is irresistible-the governor understood Dubuque's requête as Todd did, viz. : a simple petition for a grant of the lands specified and which had been purchased of the Indians. The lead mines were an incident of the lands of so little importance at that time, that Todd never alludes to them."
It was shown that on November 3, 1804, in a treaty made in St. Louis between the government and the Sac and Fox nations of Indians, "the general boundary line between the lands of the United
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
States and of the said Indian tribes shall be as follows, to-wit: Beginning at a point on the Missouri river opposite to the mouth of the Gasconade river; thence in a direct course so as to strike the river Jeffrion at the distance of thirty miles from its mouth, and down the said Jeffrion to the Mississippi; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wisconsin, and up the same to a point which shall be thirty-six miles in a direct line from the mouth of said river ; thence by a direct line to the point where the Fox river (a branch of the Illinois) leaves the small lake called Sakeagan; thence down the Fox river to the Illinois river and down the same to the Mississippi." The Indians ceded to the United States all the lands included within the above described boundary. In this treaty the following language was used: "It is agreed that nothing in this treaty shall affect the claim of any individual or individuals who may have obtained grants of land from the Spanish government, and which are not included within the general boundary line laid down in this treaty, provided that such grants have at any time been made known to the said tribes and recognized by them." In a letter dated Vincennes, January 4, 1816, and addressed to Auguste Chouteau at St. Louis, William Henry Harrison used the following language: "Enclosed you have the certificate on the subject of Dubuque's claim. I hope it will be sufficient for your purpose. I have no doubt of the validity of your claim and never had any."
On October 20, 1804, Dubuque sold to August Chouteau, 72,324 arpents of said land for $10,848.60, the undivided half or moiety of which was afterward sold by the said Chouteau to John Mullanphy, and on September 20, 1806, they presented their title papers to the board of commissioners-Lucas, Penrose and Donaldson. Mr. Lucas dissented from the opinion of a majority of the board "upon the ground that it was not a perfect, but merely an inchoate and incomplete title." The Senate committee said: "In reviewing the decision of the board of 1806 in favor of the claim, the committee are satisfied their decision was right and just in its general result, but that the board erred in pronouncing it 'a complete Spanish title.' It is obviously but a concession of land without a natural or ascertained boundary. And for this reason a survey, the customary prerequisite, was wanting, preparatory to executing the grant in complete form. But the dissenting opinion of Mr. Lucas, for this reason, is manifestly against all legal and equitable principle applica- ble to the case. And regarding the claim as reported by him to be 'an incipient or imperfect title,' it is, as such, equally with perfect titles, protected by the treaty ceding Louisiana, and therefore was entitled to his decision in its favor (Am. St. Papers, Public Lands, Vol. III, pp. 586-587).
The memorial or petition of Pierre Cliouteau, J. Ferdinand Ken- nett and others stated "That some time in the year 1774 Julien Dubuque, a mineralogist, emigrated to the Province of Louisiana
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
and settled among the Sac and Fox nation of Indians, on the Missis- sippi, near the site of the present town of Dubuque."
In the journal of his "voyage" to the sources of the Mississippi in the years 1805 and 1806, Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike speaks of Julien Dubuque. He commences by saying: "Sailed from my encamp- ment near St. Louis, at 4 o'clock P. M., on Friday, the 9th of August, 1805, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen pri- vates, in a keel boat, 70 feet long, provisioned for four months ; water very rapid. * * * First September, Sunday-Embarked * early ; wind fair ; arrived at the lead mines at 12 o'clock. We were saluted with a field piece and received with every mark of attention by Monsieur Dubuque, the proprietor. There were no horses at the house and it was six miles to where the mines were worked; it was therefore impossible to make a report by actual inspection. I therefore proposed ten queries, on the answers to which my report was founded (see below). Dined with Mr. D., who informed me that the Sioux and Sauteurs (Chippewas ) were as warmly engaged in opposition as ever; that not long since the former killed fifteen Sauteurs, also on the Ioth of August Sauteurs killed ten Sioux at the entrance of the St. Peter's; and that a war party composed of the Sacs, Reynards and Puants (Winnebagoes ) of two hundred warriors, had embarked on an expedition against the Sauteurs, but that they had heard that the chief having had an unfavorable dream, persuaded the party to return, and that I would meet them on my voyage. At this place I was introduced to a chief called the 'Raven of the Reynards.' He made a very flowery speech on the occasion, which I answered in a few words, accompanied by a small present. I had now given up all hopes of my two men (who had strayed away and become lost ), and was about to embark, when a perogue arrived, in which they were, with a Mr. Blondeau and two Indians whom that gentleman had engaged above the rapids of Stony (Rock) river. The two soldiers had been six days without anything to eat except muscles (clams), when they met Mr. James Aird, by whose humanity and attention their strength and spirits were in a measure restored, and they were enabled to reach the Reynard village, where they met with Mr. B. The Indian chief furnished them with corn and shoes and showed his friendship by every possible attention. I immediately discharged the hire of the Indians and gave Mr. Blondeau a passage to the Prairie Des Chiens. Left the lead mines at 4 o'clock."
Having concluded their trip to the headwaters of the Mississippi and been gone all winter, they returned down the river in the spring of 1906. On the 15th they passed through Lake Pepin. They arrived at Prairie Des Chiens on the 18th. Here Pike dined with Mr. Campbell in company with Messrs. Wilmot, Blakely, Wood, Rollet, Fisher, Frazer and Jearreau.
"April 23, Wednesday-After closing my accounts, etc., at half
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
past 12 o'clock left the prairie ; at the lower end of it was saluted by seventeen lodges of the Puants. Met a barge, by which I received a letter from my lady. Further on met one batteaux and one canoe of traders. Passed one trader's camp. Arrived at Mr. Dubuque's at IO o'clock at night, found some traders encamped at the entrance with forty or fifty Indians ; obtained some information from Mr. D. and requested him to write me on certain points. After we had boiled our victuals, I divided my men into four watches and put off -wind ahead.
QUERIES PROPOSED TO MR. DUBUQUE-WITH HIS ANSWERS.
I. What is the date of your grant of the mines from the sav- ages? Answer : The copy of the grant is in Mr. Soulard's office at St. Louis.
2. What is the date of the confirmation by the Spaniards? Answer: The same as to query first.
3. What is the extent of your grant? Answer: The same as above.
4. What is the extent of the mines? Answer: Twenty-eight or twenty-seven leagues long and from one to three broad.
5. Lead made per annum? Answer: From 20,000 to 40,000 pounds.
6. Quantity of lead per cent of mineral? Answer: Seventy-five per cent.
7. Quantity of lead in pigs? Answer: All he makes, as he neither manufactures bar, sheet-lead, nor shot.
"Dubuque remained in the uninterrupted possession of the said land from the time of its purchase from the Indians in 1788 until his death, which occurred in the month of March, 1810, during the whole of which time he worked the mines and cultivated a portion of the land. He died in possession and was buried upon the land on a high bluff near the present town of Dubuque ; and so great was the veneration entertained for him by the Indians, that for many years after his death they kept a fire burning upon his grave and watched it by day and night. Pierre Chouteau, Jr., one of your petitioners, having been repeatedly urged by Dubuque to join him in business on the land aforesaid, left St. Louis in the spring of the year 1810 for the residence of Dubuque, where he intended to remain for some years at least. Upon his arrival he found that Dubuque had departed this life some few weeks before. Dubuque often spoke to the Indians of the expected arrival of his friend, the said Chouteau, and a short time before his death enjoined it upon them, as your peti- tioners are informed and believe, to receive and treat him as a friend. The chief of the said nation received the said Chouteau with every demonstration of respect and kindness, and informed him that it
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HISTORY OF DUBUQUE COUNTY
was the request of Dubuque that he should take possession of his property and occupy his house. In compliance with that request the said chief gave to the said Chouteau the immediate possession of the home formerly occupied by Dubuque. He had frequent conversations with the chiefs of the said nation relative to the claim of Dubuque to the said tract of land and was informed by them that he (Dubuque) was entitled to the same. The said Chouteau did not remain all the time upon the said land after his arrival in 1810, but continued to do business there until the com- mencement of the war of 1812, when he returned to St. Louis. After the death of Dubuque, August Chouteau qualified as his administrator and as such obtained an order from the probate court of St. Charles county, in the Territory of Missouri, to sell the interest of Dubuque in said lands for the payment of debts. The land was divided by the administrator into lots or parcels and sold under the order aforesaid, when Jolin P. Cobanné, Pierre Chou- teau, Jr., William Russell and others became the purchasers.
"Shortly after the treaty between the Sacs and Foxes and the United States, concluded on the 21st of September, 1832 (by which the former ceded to the United States a large tract of country, within the limits of which the Dubuque tract of land now claimed is situated), your petitioners took possession of such land and pro- ceeded to erect houses upon and occupy the same in like manner as lands claimed under similar titles have always been occupied and held in the country ceded by France to the United States and believed that they were under the protection of the law in so doing, and that the government of the United States would not disturb them until it was ascertained that their title was invalid, or at any rate, until some provision should be made for testing its validity. But so far from doing this the extraordinary spectacle was exhibited of an ejectment by military force under an order of the secretary of war."
William Wirt, attorney general of the United States, expressed the opinion, February 14, 1825, concerning the removal by force of Mr. Henderson, one of the claimants under the Spanish title, "that it is not competent to the executive to remove him ( Hender- son ) by force under the Act of March 3, 1807, 'to prevent settle- ments being made on lands ceded to the United States until author- ized by law.'"
"By the treaty of September 21, 1832, the Indians sold to the United States only such land as was 'rightfully claimed by them,' for as they, at the treaty of November 3, 1804, did not only disclaim the ownership, but expressly recognize the Dubuque claim as a valid Spanish grant (the possession of which was then in Dubuque ), the United States acquired no title to that tract of land by the treaty aforesaid. Your petitioners having taken possession of said land under and by virtue of a grant from the Spanish government,
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