USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume II > Part 15
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Morgan was also assured that the Governor would aid him to carry out his plan, and advised him "in his progress through the west on his way to the capital of Louisiana to assure the inhabitants of His Majesty's desire to grant them all the favors and privileges which might secure their prosperity." The concession granted by Don Diego bordered about three hundred miles on the Mississippi from the mouth of the St. Francois, near Helena, Arkansas, north to Cape St. Cosme, within the limits of what is now Perry county, and extending westward embraced from twelve to fifteen million acres of land. Full of hope Morgan started west to take possession of his principality. Influenced by the advice of his friends,
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AT MOUTH OF OHIO
he associated with himself a number of leading men of western . Pennsylvania, and induced them to accompany him to visit and ex- plore the country which he supposed had been granted him to colonize, expecting that upon their return they would report as to the situation, soil, climate, natural productions of the territory explored, and thus confirm his own statements. To this force he added a number of paid workmen. This whole body of explorers was well armed, under military discipline, and under his command for security against the savages. On his way down the Ohio, he sent word to the north- western Indian nations to meet him in united council at Muskingum, and at this meeting informed the Indians of his purpose, and asked them to appoint two of their " wise men" to accompany him to bear witness of his conduct and proceedings, knowing that if he established his colony without the consent and approbation of the Indians, that this would arouse their jealousy and, may be, active hostility. The Indians instead of two, sent with him ten of their leading men, two delegates from each of the principal tribes north of the Ohio, with strings and belts of wampum, for such Indian nations as they might probably meet. Although this added much to the security of the party, it also greatly increased the expense. In order to bring to the knowledge of the Germans of Pennsylvania his scheme to establish a colony west of the Mississippi, he made a circuitous route through the German settlements of that state. For "these people," he afterwards said in his letter to Don Gardoqui, "have been a valuable acquisition to America, and I find great numbers who pay high rents for land, extremely desirous to embark with me; and numbers who have small farms of their own wish in the same way to provide for their children. A greater number of these than I expected to meet with are Catholics," and of these Germans ten accompanied Morgan on his trip. On his way down the Ohio with his party, he gave notice of his grant and plans. At Louisville he was detained for some time by the severity of the season, and while there did not fail to impress upon the people the great importance of his enterprise, and that in his new colony they would enjoy "perfect freedom in religious matters," and great advantages of trade, and he thought this "would make converts of the whole country."
On the 14th of February, 1789, Morgan reached the Mississippi with his party, and landed opposite the mouth of the Ohio, where he found encamped a band of twenty Delaware Indians, and with these Indians he removed a few miles into the interior, in
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
what is now Mississippi county, to good hunting grounds. Morgan arranged that forty of his men should remain there, while he and the others went to the post of St. Louis, to deliver the letter of Don Gardoqui to Don Manuel Perez, then commandant of the Illi- nois country. He thought this trip would only occupy about twenty days, but found this journey to St. Louis one of great hardship. Snow storms, severe cold weather, rivers filled with ice, and high water, impeded his progress. Some leagues above his camp he found the river frozen over and great gangs of buffalo crossing on the ice. Finding that his tour would occupy a longer time than he anticipated he sent two messengers back, advising the remainder of the party of the circumstances, and requesting the Indian chiefs to conduct his party to their town on what was called the Chepoosa river (now St. John's bayou), and to remain there until his return. Owing to the continuance of the snow storms and cold weather, Morgan and his party journeyed through the woods as far as Kaskaskia, and from there in carriages and on horses went to St. Louis, where he was received by Don Manuel Perez with great politeness. Perez furnished Morgan and his party with horses, guides, and provisions to visit the interior of the country, and Morgan said that he found it to be "superior to any part of North America" they had seen, possessing many advantages "which even the fine lands in Kentucky are deprived of,"' but, owing to the fact that the lands near the rivers, are subject to inundations the "beauties and advantages of the higher grounds which are more or less distant from the bed or current of the river, according to its sinuosities" are not known to the people. After his return from St. Louis to his camp on the Chepoosa, he resolved to lay out a city near the present site of New Madrid, and make a survey of some of the land. Among the persons who accompanied Colonel Morgan were, Major McCully, Colonel Shreve, Colonel Christopher Hays, Captain Light, Captain Taylor, John Dodge, David Rankin, John Ward, John Stewart, James Rhea, Captain Hewling, and others. In a joint letter, addressed by these gentlemen to Dr. John Morgan, of Phila- delphia, dated New Madrid, April 14, 1789, they give an interesting account of their discoveries west of the Mississippi, and thus we catch a glimpse of the virgin land in which these early American adventurers rode around. In this letter they say :
"The inclemency of the season and the precaution necessary for the advantage and security of our party and enterprise, rendered our
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REPORT
voyage down the Ohio a long, though not a disagreeable one. We have now been in the Mississippi two months, most of which time has been taken up in visiting the lands from St. Cosme on the north to this place on the south; and westward to the St. Francis river, the general course of which is parallel with the Mississippi, and from twenty to thirty miles distant. Colonel Morgan with nineteen men undertook to reconnoitre the lands above or north of the Ohio. This gave him the earliest opportunity of presenting his credentials to Don Manuel Perez, Governor of the Illinois country, who treated him and the others with the greatest politeness. Their arrival after their business was known created a general joy throughout the country among all ranks of its inhabitants,-even the neighboring Indians have expressed the greatest pleasure at our arrival and the intention of settlement. There is not a single nation or tribe of Indians who claim or pretend to claim a foot of the land granted to Colonel Morgan. This is a grand matter in favor of our settlement. The governor very cheerfully supplied our party with everything necessary demanded by Colonel Morgan, and particularly with horses and guides to reconnoitre all the lands to the western limits and from north to south in the interior country. In an undertaking of this nature it is not to be doubted but different notions prevailed amongst us as to the most advantageous situation to establish the first settle- ment of farmers and planters. A considerable number of reputable French families on the American side of the Illinois who propose to join us, wished to influence our judgment in favor of a very beautiful situation and country about twelve leagues above the Ohio. A number of American farmers, deputed from Post Vincent (Vincennes) and some others of our party, were delighted with the territory opposite the Ohio, one league back from the river, to which there is access by a rivulet that empties into the Mississippi about three miles above the Ohio.
We have united in the resolution to establish our new city, whence this letter is dated, about twelve leagues below the Ohio at a place formerly called L'Anse à la Graise, or the greasy bend, below the mouth of a river marked in Capt. Hutchins' map (Sound River). Here the banks of the Mississippi for a considerable length are high, dry, and pleasant, and the soil westward to the St. Francis is of the best for corn, tobacco and indigo, and we verily believe that there is not an acre of poor land in a thousand square miles. The country rises gradually from the river into fine, dry, pleasant, and healthful grounds,
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
superior to any place in America. The limits of our city of New Madrid are to extend four miles south and two miles west, so as to cross a beautiful living deep lake of purest spring water, one hundred yards wide and several leagues in length, emptying itself by a constant and rapid stream through the center of the city. The banks of this lake, which is called St. Ann, are high, beautiful and pleasant, the water deep, clear and sweet; the bottom a clean sand, well stored with fish. On each side of this beautiful lake streets are to be laid out one hundred feet wide and a road to be continued round it of the
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MAP OF NEW MADRID FOUND IN VOLUME ONE OF THE ARCHIVES
same breadth, and the trees are directed to be preserved forever for the health and pleasure of the citizens. A street 120 feet wide on the banks of the Mississippi is laid out and the trees are to be preserved. Twelve acres in the central part of the city are to be reserved, orna- mented, etc., for public walks, and forty lots of an half acre each are to be appropriated to such public uses as the citizens wish to recommend, and one lot of twelve acres is to be reserved for the King's use. One city lot of a half an acre and one lot of five acres to be a free gift to each of the six hundred first settlers. Our surveyors are now engaged in laying out the city lots and the country into farm tracts of three hun- dred and twenty acres. We have built cabins and a magazine for provisions. Are making gardens, and we shall plow and plant one
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APPREHENSIONS
hundred acres of the best prairie land in the world with Indian corn, hemp, flax, cotton, tobacco, and potatoes. Several French gentlemen of Ste. Genevieve offered to conduct Colonel Morgan to as fine iron and lead mines as any in America in a small day's journey from the river. One thousand acres are being surveyed for the choice and settlement of families who will come here next fall. After the surveys are completed Colonel Morgan and Major McCully will proceed to New York via New Orleans and Cuba, and Colonel Shreve, Captain Light, and Captain Taylor with all others who con- clude to return immediately for their families, will ascend the Ohio in time to leave Fort Pitt again for this place in October. Captain Hewling and a number of single men will plant one hundred acres of corn, and other crops, and will build a mill. Not a single person of our party, consisting of seventy men has been sick, but all are in good health and spirits on the discovery of this pleasant clime."
A copy of this letter, which was published in Philadelphia, coming into the hands of Madison, he wrote Washington that it "contained the most authentic and precise evidence of the Spanish project that has come to my knowledge,'' and also wrote Jefferson that " no doubt the project had the sanction of Gardoqui," and that the Mississippi was "the bait for the defection of the western people.''12 Dawson, in a letter from New York to Governor Beverly Randolph, in 1789, gives additional information as to the origin of Morgan's enterprise, and the ultimate consequences of which he views with undisguised apprehension. He says that Colonel Morgan was in treaty with Congress for a large tract of land on the Mississippi, but being dis- gusted at some conditions annexed to the ordinance, which he thought illegal, entered into a plan with Gardoqui, the Spanish minister there, for settling a large tract of land, to be bound by the parallel of Cape Cinque Homme (St. Cosme) on the north, the parallel of the mouth of the St. Francois on the south, the Mississippi river on the east, and extending west two degrees of latitude, "a country as fine in soil and superior in trade to any in America." This transaction, Dawson said, he considered of the most interesting nature, and would probably produce a remarkable era in American history, as a door would be opened through which the United States would lose many thousand of her best citizens, and he adds, that he has certain infor- mation that Morgan has already entered into engagements with the most reputable characters, and most useful farmers and tradesmen, to
12 Windsor's Westward Movement, p. 366.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
go to New Madrid with him next year, that a number of judicious people have gone with him to enter and survey the land on a plan far superior to that of Congress, and to lay out ground for a large city as near opposite the mouth of the Ohio as they should judge expedient. Dawson thinks that added "to these circumstances the most sacred assurances in religious matters, and free navigation of the Mississippi to New Orleans, clear of all duties and taxes, besides being entitled to all the commercial privileges which the citizens of New Orleans enjoy in any of the King of Spain's rich dominions, are inducements suffi- cient to draw the attention of the industrious and enterprising," and that although the lands on the Ohio and its branches are very fine and productive, that nothing can be drawn from them more than a bare subsistence without a market for the producers, and consequently without commerce, and that the best inhabitants on these waters will emigrate to the equally good lands on the west side of the Mississippi, where particular privileges will induce them to oppose nations having the same advantages, and he thinks that this will cause discontent in Kentucky against the government of the United States, and that eventually separation will ensue, and commercial and other treaties will be formed between Spain and the western Anglo-Americans for their mutual advantage and security.13
Morgan made extensive and elaborate preparation for the settle- ment of large numbers of people in his new province. Sufficient land for three hundred and fifty families was ordered surveyed at once into farms of three hundred and twenty acres each, and to be divided among the persons who accompanied him, for themselves and their friends, on condition, however, that the land so divided among them should be settled on or before May 1, 1790, the settlers taking the oath of allegiance to His Most Catholic Majesty, and his successors, and paying the sum of forty-eight Mexican dollars for each three hundred and twenty acres. Under this plan Morgan thought that annually one thousand families would settle in the new colony. So well pleased was the party who accompanied Morgan, as well as the various persons employed by him for wages, that they all agreed to take land in payment of what was due them, and even the surveyors who came with Morgan agreed to take in payment of the principal part of their fees land for themselves and their friends. These survey- ors were Colonel Israel Shreve, Peter Light, and Colonel Christopher
13 Virginia Calendar, vol. 4, pp. 554-5. 33 Draper's Collection, Clark MSS., PP. 112-13.
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SURVEY
Hays. It is interesting now to note with what great particularity Morgan provided the manner in which the surveys should be made "on a plan far superior to Congress" says Dawson. The system of rectangular surveys applied to public lands adopted in the following year by the government of the United States in surveying the territory northwest of the Ohio, it would seem was really first devised by him, for in ordering the survey of the lands of his new colony, he directed that after the first meridional line was fixed, the east and west lines only should be run, except where a new meridional line should be necessary, and that then this new line should be run exactly five miles distant from the last line, and from which new set-offs were to be made, to run the east and west ranges, and all of which should first be extended to the river, and then west to the main branch of the river St. Francois. The first meridional line he ordered should be run at a certain distance from the bank of the Mississippi, and the second meridional line five miles west of it, and so on. All east and west ranges were to be run exactly two miles apart. In running the east and west lines, or ranges, his regulations provided that a post should be erected at the place of departure on the meridional line, and the bear- ings of some remarkable trees taken, measuring the distance from these trees to the post, blazing the trees opposite the post and marking same under the blaze one notch. All lines or ranges were to be strongly marked by blazes on three sides, i. e., on the east and west ranges, the east and west sides of the tree were to be blazed strongly and smoothly so as not to injure the trees, but the tree was to be only slightly blazed on the side next to the line. All trees found to be directly on the lines were to be notched five feet from the ground. The surveyors' instruments he ordered should all be compared with and rectified to a standard, and in like manner the chains were to be regulated and no allowance was to be made in measure. He particularly provided that all the surveyors should in their field books, carefully note the distances run, all mountains, hills, valleys, bottom lands, timber trees, quality of soil, fresh, mineral or salt licks, minerals of iron, copper, lead or coal, and all appearances of rock or stone, and the quality thereof; all mill-seats that should come to their knowledge, also noting all other remarkable and permanent things over which the lines or ranges should pass; and he also further required that the surveyors should make a drawing of every kind of beast, bird, fish or insect, they might kill or see in the country, and note the kind of trees, shrubs, vines, and plants, which might come under their view; and
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
make a drawing of all such not common in Pennsylvania. Any sur- veyor neglecting to perform his duty with proper exactitude, as thus defined, he ordered should instantly be dismissed from the service. The three principal surveyors, already named, were to have a choice each of a tract not exceeding forty square miles in the colony, to be settled by them and their friends. Colonel Israel Shreve was to have first choice of forty square miles for himself and associates, and the sole distribution of these forty square miles was intrusted to him; then Peter Light was authorized to make a choice of forty square miles for himself, and next Colonel Christopher Hays of a like quantity for himself and associates. These surveyors, it was pro- vided by Morgan, should make their selection in writing, and the land so selected the surveyors were authorized to sell at such prices as they thought proper. Moreover each of the surveyors was entitled to one city lot and outlot in New Madrid for each farm they so sold, paying only one dollar for the patent. The hunters, chain-carriers, markers, horse-masters, and other attendants "on the gentlemen surveyors," were also entitled to a single tract of land in any district or range where they assisted in the work. Next, all persons "going down in my employment, either as artificers or laborers, " he ordered should have one farm each on due application.
The lots and outlots of New Madrid, Morgan provided should be distributed free, to the first six hundred persons who should build on the lots and reside one year in the new city. The lots were all to be one half acre in extent, and the outlots five acres, but after the distribu- tion of the first six hundred lots, the remainder were to be sold to future settlers, according to their value. In addition to this, forty lots of the town, of one half acre each, were reserved for such public uses as might from time to time be recommended by the citizens or chief magistrate, these lots to be distributed in different parts of the city as equally as possible, and a lot of twelve acres was ordered reserved for the King, an additional lot for public walks, to be improved by the magistrate of the city for the time being, "for the use and amusement of the citizens and strangers." With a forethought for the future seldom manifested, Morgan expressly ordered that "the timber, trees, and shrubs now growing thereon shall be religiously preserved as sacred, and no part thereof shall be violated or cut down, but by the personal direction and inspection of the chief magistrate for the time being, whose reputation must be answerable for an honorable and generous discharge of this trust, meant to promote the health and
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NO WHITE HUNTERS
pleasure of the citizens." How much more beautiful and attractive would be the towns and cities of this country if the same generous provision for adornment had been made and wise forethought had been exercised, where new towns have been laid out. But not only for New Madrid, but throughout the country in this new colony, did Morgan make similar provisions for the preservation of forest trees. He expressly ordered there should be a reserve of one acre at each angle of every intersection of public roads or highways, according to the plan of settlement of the country laid down by him, and by which means he thought no farm house could be farther than two and one half miles from this reserve, and which he provided should be forever dedicated to the following several uses, that is to say, one acre on the northeast angle for the use of a school; one acre on the northwest angle for a church; one acre on the southwest angle for the use of the poor of the district, and the remaining southeast angle for the use of the King. No trees in any street of the city, nor in any road throughout the country, he expressly ordered, should be injured or cut down, except under the direction of the magistrate of the police or an officer thereof, and who was to be accountable in the premises, and no timber injured or cut down in any street or road, as regularly provided, was to be ap- plied to private use under any plea whatsoever, because no doubt he had well observed that the anxiety to secure for private use the lumber in trees standing on public roads, too often led to the wanton destruc- tion of the same. The landing at New Madrid, he also provided, should be free to all persons; the space between the river and the lots was not to be less than one hundred feet, and here, too, he ordered that relig- ious care should be taken to preserve all timber growing thereon. In New Madrid lots were dedicated to the use of the Roman Catholic church and school, Episcopal church and school, Presbyterian church and school, German Lutheran church and school and German Cal- vinistic church and school.
Morgan, in order to secure farmers and tillers of the soil for his new colony, in his regulations provided that "no white person shall be admitted to reside in this territory who shall declare himself to be a hunter by profession, or who shall make a practice of killing buffalo or deer, without bringing all the flesh of their carcases to his own family, or to New Madrid, or carrying it to some other market," and this regulation, he said, was intended for the preservation of those animals, and for the benefit of the neighborhood Indians, whose dependence was hunting principally, and that his settlement being intended to be
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
wholly agricultural and commercial, no encouragement should be given to white hunters. Of course contraband trade on any ac- count was strictly prohibited, but care was to be taken to instruct the settlers what was contraband of trade, so that they might not offend innocently. Persons who received permission to settle in the territory were allowed to bring their respective families, slaves and servants, and effects of every kind, but to export no part thereof to any other part "of his Majesty's Dominions," because being contraband. Navi- gable rivers in the colony were declared to be highways. No obstruc- tion to navigation was permitted for the emolument of any person whatever. Recorders' offices were also provided to be erected in the district, mortgages were to be recorded, and an alphabetical index to be kept open for examination, and all these regulations and directions, Morgan says, "are meant as fundamental stipulations for the govern- ment, and happiness of all who shall become subjects of Spain and reside in this territory,"' and were dated April 6, 1789.
In his advertisement Morgan states that those who settle at New Madrid in the ensuing year shall have plough irons or other iron works and farming utensils transported from the Ohio gratis, also their clothing, bedding, kitchen furniture and certain other articles which may not be too bulky. Schoolmasters he promised should be engaged immediately for the instruction of the youth. Ministers of the gospel, he said, would meet with every encouragement and grants of land were to be made to each and every denomination immigrating with a congregation before the year 1790, besides particular grants of land to each society. And then adds, " This new city is proposed to be built on a high bank of the Mississippi river, near the mouth of the Ohio, in the richest and most healthful part of the western country, about latitude 37 degrees. Those who wish for further information will apply to me in person as aforementioned, or at the new city of New Madrid, after the first day of next December, where surveyors will attend to lay out the lands.''14
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