USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 31
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55 So spelled in 6 Margry, p. 449. The Otoes or Othos, known as the Octo- tatas.
56 6 Margry, p. 409.
57 6 Margry, p. 452. Réduire on Abandonner l'Establisement sur le Missouri.
CHAPTER IX
Louisiana Under Crozat's Charter, 1712-Provisions of the Charter-Officials of New Government-Scheme of Government-Crozat's Plans Thwarted by the Spaniards-Spanish Settlements Advanced Eastward-The Com- pany of the West, 1717-Powers Conferred on the Company-The Royal Company of the Indies-First French Settlements Made in Southeastern Missouri-French Exploration of Mineral Districts of Southeastern Mis- souri-Petition for Mining Privilege, 1702-Early Accounts of Mineral Districts of Missouri-Early Maps-Futile Search of Governor Cadillac for Rich Mines-Ill Success of Efforts to Work Mines-A Historical Impos- tor-Mining Grants Made to Renault-Renault's Extensive Mining Operations-The Renault Claims-Other Mines in This District- Primitive Methods of Transporting Lead Products from Mines-Francois Azor, Discoverer of Mine à Breton-A Trade Monopoly Granted in 1745 on the Missouri-Scattered French on the Missouri-Few Settlers in the Western Illinois Country Prior to the Treaty of Paris.
The territory within Missouri was embraced in Crozat's charter.1 This charter granted to him the province known as Louisiana, includ- ing all the settlements, posts, roads, and rivers therein, and par- ticularly the post and road of Dauphine Island, formerly called " Massacre Island;" the river St. Louis, "previously called the Mis- sissippi," from the sea to the Illinois; the river St. Philip, formerly called "Missouri;" the river St. Jerome, called the "Wabash," with all the lands, lakes, and rivers immediately flowing into any part of the river of St. Louis or Mississippi, as well as the exclusive commerce thereof. Louisiana was made dependent on the govern- ment of "New France" or Canada, to which it was to be subordi- nate. The king, however, reserved to himself the right to enlarge the province. Crozat was granted the right to export from France into Louisiana all kinds of goods, wares, and merchandise, during fifteen years, and to carry on such commerce as he might think fit, but other persons, natural or corporate, were prohibited from trading in this vast territory on pain of confiscation of their goods and ves-
1 Antoine Crozat was born a peasant's son on the estates of one of the "great patricians of France." At 15 he was placed as clerk in a commercial house, and in the course of twenty years became a partner of his employer, whose daughter he married, and at the death of his father-in-law was one of the richest merchants in Europe. He advanced large sums of money to the govern- ment in an emergency, and for this service was ennobled and created Marquis du Chatel. He died in 1738, at the age of 83. He had several sons and one daughter, Marie Ann Crozat, who married le Compte D'Evreux.
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270
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
sels, and the officers of the king were instructed to assist Crozat and his agents and factors in enforcing the exclusive rights thus given. Authority was granted by this charter to open and work mines, and all mines thus discovered and opened were granted to Crozat on condition of yielding to the king one-fourth of the gold and silver mined, to be delivered in France at the cost of the grantee, but at the risk of the king, and also the tenth part of all other metals. Crozat was authorized to search for precious stones and pearls, yielding one-fifth of them to the king in the same manner as gold and silver. Mines not worked were to be reunited to the royal domain in three years thereafter. Crozat was granted the privilege to sell goods to the French and Indians of Louisiana, to the exclu- sion of all others trading without his express and written order or license, and was allowed to purchase and export to France hides, skins, and peltries, except beaver skins, this exception being to favor and protect the Canadian trade. There was vested in him the absolute property, in fee simple, of all establishments and manu- factories he might erect, in silk, indigo, wool and leather, as well as all land he might cultivate, with the buildings thereon, the Inten- dant to make grants in that behalf, but the grants were to become void if the land ceased to be improved. The laws and edicts of the realm and the customs of Paris were extended to those in the prov- ince of Louisiana. Crozat was also required, annually, to send two vessels from France, in which the king was allowed to ship, free of charge, twenty-five tons of provisions, ammunition, etc., for the use of the colony, and more on paying freight, and the king's officers to be carried at a fixed charge. Crozat was to receive one hundred quintals of powder out of the king's stores annually, and the goods imported into France from Louisiana were allowed to enter free of duty, as well as goods exported from France to Louisiana. On application, also, Crozat, by permission of the king, was allowed to import foreign goods free of duty into Louisiana, and he was given the use of the king's boats, pirogues, and canoes for loading and unloading the same, to be returned in good order on expiration of the grant. Annually Crozat was authorized to send vessels to the coast of Guinea for Negroes, and these he was given the exclusive right to sell in Louisiana. After the expiration of nine years he was required to pay the wages of the field officers and the garrisons kept in Louisiana, and all vacancies were to be filled by him, but his
27I
CROZAT'S CHARTER
appointments were to be approved by the king. All that vast region, stretching from the Gulf indefinitely north and from the confines of Canada to the Pacific, was thus made over to Crozat as his exclusive trading domain.
On the 7th day of May, 1713, a fifty-gun ship, commanded by the Marquis de la Jonquere, arrived at Dauphine Island with the officers who were to administer the new government created by the concession to Crozat. La Motte Cadillac, who had served with dis- tinction in Canada, was the new governor; Duclos, commissary ordonnateur; Lebas, comptroller; Durignon, principal director of Crozat's stores in Louisiana, and Le Loire des Ursins, in charge of affairs on the Mississippi. Under the scheme of government, the governor and commissary ordonnateur, by edict of December 18th of the preceding year, were constituted a Superior Council, vested with the same authority as those possessed in San Domingo and Martinique. The expense for salaries for the king's officers was fixed at $10,000, to be paid annually, in France, by Crozat, and the drafts of the commissary ordonnateur were to be paid at Crozat's stores in cash, or goods with an advance of fifty per cent; while in other cases sales of goods in those stores were allowed to be made at an advance of one hundred per cent.
Crozat's purpose was to carry on commerce principally with the Spaniards, by means of small vessels, but this plan was frustrated by their refusal to admit them into the ports of Tampico, Pensacola, Campeche, and Vera Cruz. An attempt to find an interior route into Mexico was also checkmated by the Spaniards, who advanced their settlements into the province of Texas as far east as Natchi- toches, in order to create a barrier against this form of French inva- sion. Thus, commercially, the enterprise proved a disappointment from the very beginning.
In 1717 Crozat, unsuccessful, discouraged, and disappointed in his enterprise, surrendered his grant to the king. The charter was then transferred to a new body, the "Company of the West," and all the king's subjects, as well as corporate bodies and aliens, were allowed to take shares in it. The exclusive commerce of Louisiana was granted to this company for twenty-five years, and also the exclu- sive right to purchase beaver skins from the inhabitants until 1724; all other subjects of the king were prohibited from trading in Louis- iana under penalty of confiscation of their merchandise and vessels.
272
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
This was not intended to prevent the inhabitants from trading among themselves or with the Indians. The lands, coasts, harbors and islands in Louisiana were granted to the Company as they were granted to Crozat; and it was authorized to make treaties with the Indians and declare and prosecute war against them. The property of all mines opened and worked was granted it without the payment of any duty whatever. The Company was given the power to grant land allodially, erect forts and to levy troops and enlist recruits even in France, first procuring the king's permission for this purpose. It was authorized to nominate governors and to appoint officers com- manding the troops, the names to be presented by the directors and commissioned by the king, while the commissions were revocable by the Company. Military officers were permitted to enter the service of the Company, and authorized to go to Louisiana with the king's license to serve, and while in such service their respective ranks and grades in the land and naval forces were to be preserved, the king promising to acknowledge as rendered to himself all services rendered to the Company. The Company was given the power to fit out ships of war and to cast cannon, to appoint and remove judges and officers of justice, except judges of the Superior Council, who were to be nominated and commissioned by the king alone. Civil suits to which the Company was a party were to be determined by the Council, or jurisdiction of the City of Paris, the decree of which in matters under a fixed sum, was final. Any decree above such fixed sum was to be provisionally executed notwithstanding, but without prejudice of appeal, which could be brought before the Par- liament of Paris. Criminal jurisdiction was not to carry with it jurisdiction in civil matters. The king assured the Company of the protection of his name against any foreign nation attempting to injure the Company. The Company was to employ only French vessels and crews in bringing the produce of Louisiana to the ports of France. All goods in its vessels were presumed to be its property, unless it was shown they were shipped without its license. Subjects of the king, and their children who might remove to Louisiana were to preserve their national character, and those born there of Euro- pean parents, professing the Roman Catholic religion, were to be considered as natural-born subjects. During the continuance of the charter the inhabitants of Louisiana were exempt from any tax or imposition, and the Company's goods were also exempt from
273
COMPANY OF THE INDIES
duty. A gratification was to be paid on every vessel built in Louis- iana on its arrival in France. Four hundred quintals of powder were to be annually delivered to the Company, at cost, out of the royal magazines. The stock of the Company was divided into shares of 400 livres each (about one hundred dollars), the number being limited; the Company was authorized to close its subscrip- tion list at discretion; the shares of aliens were exempt from confis- cation in case of war. Each holder of fifty shares was entitled to a vote. The affairs of the Company for the first two years were man- aged by directors appointed by the king, and afterward by others appointed triennially by the stockholders. The king gave the Com- pany all the forts, magazines, and guns, ammunition, vessels, boats, provisions, and similar supplies in Louisiana, as well as all the merchandise surrendered by Crozat. The Company was required to build churches and provide clergymen, but Louisiana was to remain a part of the diocese of Quebec. The Company further agreed that during the continuance of its charter it would bring six thousand white persons and three thousand Negroes into the prov- ince, but such persons were not allowed to be brought from another colony without the license of the governor.
Such were the salient provisions contained in the charter of this company, which afterward was united to the Company of the Indies, under the name of the "Royal Company of the Indies," and cul- minated in the celebrated Mississippi scheme of John Law. John Law, the director-general of the Royal Bank of France, was direc- tor-general of this new consolidated company. The other directors were: D'Artaguette, receiver-general of the finances of Auch; Duché, receiver-general of the finances of Rochelle; Moreau, deputy representative of the merchants of St. Malo; Piou, also the commercial representative of the deputy of Nantes; Castaignes and Mouchard, merchants of La Rochelle. Bienville was appointed governor of Louisiana. During his administration he laid out New Orleans; appointed his nephew, Boisbriant, commandant at Fort de Chartres, and De Bourgmont was sent to establish a fort on the Missouri river.
At this period the first settlements were made in what is now the southeastern part of Missouri. The first settlers were engaged in making salt, in mining, and in exploring for mines; incidentally they cultivated a little land, and also engaged in hunting, for subsistence.
274
HISTORY OF MISSOURI
The country at the headwaters of the St. Francois river to the Maramec, about seventy miles in length, and extending west from the Mississippi, between the Maramec and Apple creek, a distance of about forty-five or fifty miles, was known in the beginning of the 18th century as the mineral district of Louisiana. In superficial area it embraces about three thousand square miles. Lead, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, antimony, cobalt, arsenic, saltpeter, salt, nitre, steatite or soapstone, plumbago, and small quantities of silver are found within the limits of the territory described. Prior to the cession of Louisiana lead especially was found in great abundance, and many lead mines were worked within the present limits of Jeffer- son, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Madison, and Washington coun- ties. These lead mines were known before the grant was made to Crozat in 1712 by Louis XIV. Father Gravier says in his journal of a voyage from the country of the Illinois to the mouth of the Mis- sissippi: "On the Ioth day (of October, 1700), after proceeding a league, we discovered the river Miaramigoua (Maramec), where the very rich lead mine is situated, twelve or thirteen leagues from its mouth. The ore from this mine yields three-fourths metal." 2
D'Iberville himself must have been advised of the mineral wealth of this district, for in 1702 he asked for the exclusive privilege to work the mines on the "Rivière Maramequisipi" for a period of twenty years. His intention apparently was to have the concession cover the entire district, because in his petition he fixed the limits as beginning on the Saline, thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missouri and thence up the Missouri to the Osage. In order successfully to work the mines of this district, he solicited authority to go to the coast of Guinea to trade for negroes, and also asked for the exclusive right to trade for beaver skins. In order that he might control the coureurs des bois, and enforce order and peace in the country, he asked for a detachment of twenty-five soldiers, and finally for a place at the mouth of the Mississippi on the sea coast to establish an " entrepôt." 3 This petition is the first request we have for a grant of land with trade and mining privileges within the limits of Missouri. It seems, however, that the petition was not acted upon.
Father Vivier, writing "from among the Illinois" in 1750, says: "There are mines without number, but as no one is in position to
2 65 Jesuit Relations, p. 105.
$ 4 Margry, Establissements des Francais, p. 617.
275
MINERAL WEALTH
incur the expense necessary for opening and working them, they remain in their original condition. Certain individuals content them- selves with obtaining lead from some of these, because it almost lies at the surface of the ground. They supply this country, all the savage nations of the Missouri and Mississippi and several parts of Canada. Two men who are here, a Spaniard and a Portuguese, who claim to know something about mines and minerals, assert that this mine is in nowise different from those of Mexico and Peru, and that if slightly deeper excavations were made, silver ore would be found under the lead ore. This much is certain : that the lead is very fine and that a little silver is obtained from it. Borax has been found in these mines, and in some places gold, but in very small quantities. Beyond a doubt there are copper mines, because from time to time large pieces are found in the streams." 4
Du Pratz tells us that "the land which lies between the Missis- sippi and the river St. Francois is full of rising grounds and mountains of middling height, which, according to ordinary indications, con- tain several mines ; some of them have been assayed, among the rest the mine of 'Meramieg,' which has silver, is pretty near the con- fluence of the river which gives its name; which is a great advantage to those who would work it, because they might easily by that means have their goods from Europe. It is situated about five hundred leagues from the sea." 5 Again: "In this country there are mines, and one in particular called De La Mothe's mine, which has silver, the assay of which has been made, as also of two lead mines so rich as to vegetate or shoot a foot and a half at least out of the earth." 6 Evi- dently referring to the lead district on the upper St. Francois, and narrating the incidents of his journey into that then remote district, he says: "Next day, after a ramble of about two leagues and a half, I had the signal-call to my right. I instantly flew thither, and when I came the scout showed me a stump sticking out of the earth knee high, and nine inches in diameter. The Indian took it at a distance for a stump of a tree, and was surprised to find wood cut in a country which appeared never to have been frequented; but when he came near enough to form a judgment about it, he saw from the figure that it was a very different thing; and this was the reason he made the
4 69 Jesuit Relations, pp. 222-223.
5 Du Pratz, History of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 294. (London Ed., 1763.) 6 Ibid., p. 302.
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MAPS
signal of call. I was highly pleased at this discovery, which was that of lead ore. I had also the satisfaction to find my perseverance recom- pensed; but in particular, I was ravished with admiration on seeing this wonderful production and the power of the soil of this province, constraining, as it were, the minerals to disclose themselves. I con- tinued to search all around, and I discovered ore in several places. We returned to the lodge at our last hunt on account of the convenience of water, which is too scarce on this high ground." 7
Homan's Map of Louisiana, published in 1720, shows that at that time the region south of the mouth of the Missouri was supposed to be metalliferous, as the district is designated "Regio Metal- lorum." And on a map published in the Gentleman's Magazine, June, 1763, a silver mine is still noted to exist at the mouth of the Maramec, this map presumably following the map accompanying " Du Pratz's History of Louisiana," published in 1753. On this map the Saline, or what is now known as the Saline creek, in Ste. Gene- vieve county, is located a short distance from Kaskaskia, on the west side of the river. Penicaut, in 1700, says that a French settlement existed there then-" il y présentment en cet endroit un etablissement de François." The business of these settlers, no doubt, was to make salt, and, of course, to engage in hunting, because this region was a favorite resort for game.8 The Saline is laid down correctly on Lieutenant Ross' map, "Course of the Mississippi River," published in 1775. The settlement is designated on that map as "Salt Pan's" and the river or creek named "Salt Pan's river." Also on Du- mont's map of Louisiana, the country at the head of the St. Francois is designated as " Endroit rempli de Mines ;" but the head of the river and the hills skirting these headwaters are put down as being south of the mouth of the Ohio. On Lieutenant Ross' map the LaMotte mines are also noted, and the country south of Salt Pan's river is marked as "a country abounding in mines." Kitchen, an English cartographer, in 1765, on his map, says, of the region west of the Mississippi river, "this country is full of mines."
In France great hopes were entertained that rich mines of precious metals would be discovered within the limits of the vast province. In 1714 Du Tisne brought to Mobile from the Illinois
7 Du Pratz, History of Louisiana, vol. i., p. 244. (London Ed., 1763.)
8 5 Margry, p. 407, Relation de Penicaut. But see as to probable settle- ment at the mouth of the Des Peres, noted elsewhere in this work.
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278
279
CADILLAC
country-that is to say, the country above the mouth of the Ohio on both sides of the Mississippi-two pieces of ore which he asserted had been dug in the neighborhood of the Kaskaskias. Governor Cadillac had them assayed and they were found to contain a great proportion of silver. Cadillac, elated at this discovery, and eager to find so rich a mine, started from his residence on Dauphine Island for the far distant Illinois country without disclosing the cause of his sudden departure to his associates. After a long and laborious journey he learned that the pieces of ore brought to Dauphine Island
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by Du Tisne had come from Mexico, having been left in the Illinois country, as a curiosity, by a gentleman from whom Du Tisne had received them. Disappointed, Cadillac then visited the lead mines on the west side of the river, in Southeastern Missouri, which even then were being worked, no doubt in the hope of finding silver mines. He probably then visited the celebrated "Mine La Motte," within the present limits of Madison county, and it is possible that this mine on account of this visit received its name from him.º Gayarre
9 Schoolcraft, however, says that the mine was discovered by a M. La Motte, who came to upper Louisiana with Renault, and in one of his earliest excursions discovered this mine. But Schoolcraft cites no authority that any person named La Motte accompanied Renault, and also overlooks what Du Pratz says. See Schoolcraft's Mines, p. 154 (New York, 1819).
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
seems to think that Du Tisne, who, as he says, "loved a joke," inten- tionally deceived Cadillac and persuaded him that the sample of ore which he gave him had been found near Kaskaskia.10
The mines of precious ore supposed to exist in the province still being considered of first importance by the directors, Sieur de Lochon, a gentleman who had been recommended to the directorate for his skill in mineralogy, was sent to the Maramec to explore the mineral resources of that district. At a place pointed out by the Indians he obtained some ore, a pound of which, he asserted, produced two pennyweights of silver, but when he was sent back to the mines with a number of workmen, and the smelting process was repeated on a large scale, only a few thousand pounds of very inferior lead were obtained. Thus it came to be believed that he had been guilty of.a gross imposition.11 The ill success attending every effort to work the mines which had been discovered in Louisiana was attributed to the want of skill in those who had been employed, rather than to the poverty of the ore, and the colonial government finally received orders to engage one Don Antonio, a Spaniard, who had been cap- tured at Pensacola, and said to have worked in the mines of Mexico. He was sent up to the mines in Missouri, but his success was no greater than that of Sieur de Lochon.12
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