USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 4
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 4
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RAILROADS.
Since 1852, when railroad building began in Missouri, be- tween 4,000 and 5,000 miles of track have been laid. Addi- tional roads are now in process of construction, and many others in contemplation. The State is well supplied with railroads which tread her surface in all directions, bringing her remotest districts into close connection with St. Louis, that great center of western commerce. These roads have a capital stock aggre- gating more than $100,000,000, and a funded debt of about the same amount.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
The lines of roads which are in operation in the State are as follows:
The Missouri Pacific, chartered May 10, 1850; the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, which is a consolidation of the Arkansas branch; the Cairo, Arkansas & Texas Railroad; the Cairo & Fulton Railroad; the Wabash Western Railway; the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway; the Chicago, Alton & St. Louis Railroad; the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad; the Mis- souri, Kansas & Texas Railroad; the Kansas City, St. Joseph & Council Bluffs Railroad; the Keokuk & Kansas City Railway Company; the St. Louis, Salem & Little Rock Railroad Company ; the Missouri & Western; the St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwest- ern Railroad; the St. Louis, Hannibal & Keokuk Railroad; the Missouri, Iowa & Nebraska Railway; the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific Railroad; the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway; the Burlington & Southwestern Railroad.
STEAM CRAFT.
In 1880 there were 167 steam crafts owned in Missouri, in- cluding sixty passenger steamers, thirty-seven ferry-boats, thir- teen freight steamers, forty-six tow boats and eleven yachts. Their combined tonnage was 60,873.50; their total value, $2,098,800; their crews numbered 2,733 persons, whose wages amounted to $1,423,375, or an average of $281.13 to each per- son during the season; the number of passengers carried was 642,303; the freight in tons 2,556,815; coal used for fuel, 399,659 tons ; wood used for fuel, 25,085 cords; gross earnings of all the steam crafts, $5,560,949.
WEALTH.
The total valuation of Missouri real estate and personal property, according to the census of 1880, was $532,795,801; of which her real estate was valued at $381,985,112, and her personal property at $150,810,689. At that time the bonded debt of the State was $55,446,001; the floating debt, $2,722,941; the gross debt, $58,168,942; the sinking fund, $681,558, and the net debt, $57,487,384.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
THE INDIANS.
When Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos, it was with no expectation of finding a new continent, but with the hope of discovering a direct western route to those far-famed Indies whose fabulous riches were the unfailing theme of travel- ers and geographers. Even to the day of his death the illus- trious explorer had no suspicion of having discovered other than the remote islands and shores of the old world, and, accordingly, he called all the inhabitants of the mysterious country "Indians " - a name which has not only outlasted the error of early navi- gators, but is destined to cling to this unhappy race as long as a vestige of it remains. Whence they came, and to what other family of the earth they are allied, or whether they were origi- nally created a distinct people in the forest wilds of America, have been questions much mooted among the learned and unlearned of modern times, but thus far have elicted only hypotheses in reply. The most common supposition is, however, that the Indians are a derivative race, sprung from one of the more ancient people of Asia, and that they came to this continent by way of Behring's Strait, and this, doubtless, is the true theory.
The tribes with whom the first settlers of Missouri came principally in contact were the Pottawattomies, the Iowas, the Kickapoos, the Sacs and the Foxes.
OTHER RACES.
The ancient cities of Central America, judging from their magnificent ruins, consisting of broken columns, fallen arches and the crumbling walls of temples, palaces and pyramids, which, in some places, bestrew the ground for miles, must have been of great extent, magnificent and very populous. When the vast period of time necessary to erect such colossal structures, and the time required to reduce them to their present ruined state are considered, something can be conceived of their antiq- uity. These edifices must have been old before many of the ancient cities of the Orient were built, and they point, without doubt, to a civilization at once considerably advanced and very far removed from the present.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
Of a much less degree of culture, but reaching back into an antiquity so remote as to have left behind no vestige of tradi- tion, the Mound-Builders present themselves to the archæologist as a half-civilized people who once occupied Missouri and vari- ous other parts of the country now included in the United States. This pre-historic race has acquired its name from the numerous large mounds of earth left by them. Remains of what were ap- parently villages, altars, temples, idols, burial places, monuments, camps, fortifications and pleasure grounds have been found, but nothing showing that any material save earth was used in the construction of their habitations. At first these works were sup- posed to be of Indian origin, but careful examination has re- vealed the fact that-despite several adverse theories-they must have been reared by a people as distinct from the North Ameri- can Indian as were those later people of Central America. Up- on making excavations in these mounds, human skeletons were found with skulls differing from those of the Indians, together with pottery and various ornaments and utensils, showing con- siderable mechanical skill. From the comparatively nude state of the arts among them, however, it has been inferred that the time of their migration to this country, if indeed they did mi- grate, was very remote. Their axes were of stone, their raiment, judging from fragments which have been discovered, consisted of the bark of trees interwoven with feathers, and their military works were such as a people would erect who had just passed to the pastoral state of society from that dependent alone upon hunt- ing and fishing. They were, no doubt, idolaters, and it has been conjectured that the sun was the object of their adoration. The mounds were generally built in a situation affording a view of the rising sun; when enclosed in walls their gateways were toward the east; the caves in which their dead were occasionally buried always opened in the same direction; when bodies were buried in graves, as was frequently the case, they were laid in a direction east and west, and, finally, medals have been found representing the sun and his rays of light.
The mounds and other ancient earth-works constructed by this people are far more abundant than is generally supposed,
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
from the fact that while some are quite large, the greater part of them are small and inconspicuous. Along nearly all the water courses, that are large enough to be navigated by a canoe, the mounds are almost invariably found, so that when one places himself in such positions as to command the grandest river scenery he is almost sure to discover that he is standing upon one of these ancient tumuli, or in close proximity thereto.
St. Louis was originally known as the " Mound City," from the extent and variety of the curious monuments found there, and although these, as well as numbers of others scattered over vari- ous parts of the State, have been defaced or entirely obliterated, Missouri still presents an unusually fruitful field of investigation to the archæologist. This is particularly true of the southeastern counties, especially in the region of New Madrid.
Mr. Breckenridge, who examined the antiquities of the West in 1817, speaking of the mounds in the Mississippi Valley, says: "I have sometimes been induced to think, that, at the period when they were constructed, there was a population here as nu- merous as that which once animated the borders of the Nile or Euphrates, or of Mexico. I am perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this country."
EARLY DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORERS.
Ferdinand De Soto, a Spanish cavalier, who had been associ- ated with Pizarro in the conquet of Peru, but whose ambition and cupidity were only increased by his success in that country, determined to possess himself also of the boundless wealth re- puted to lie hidden in the mines of Florida. Undismayed by the fate of other adventurers, he equipped at his own expense a band of 700 men, or more, and landed in Tampa Bay, in the spring of 1539. Thence, in spite of hostile Indians, he forced his way to the northwest, and, although not finding gold or precious stones, he made himself immortal as the discoverer, in 1541, of the Mississippi River. The point at which De Soto first saw the Mississippi was at the lower Chickasaw Bluffs, a few miles below Memphis. There he constructed boats, and, after crossing the stream, proceeded up its west bank, and made his way into the re-
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
gion now known as New Madrid, in Missouri. At this point therefore, and at this time, the first European set foot on the soil of Missouri. In 1542, overcome by disease, privation and dis- couragement, De Soto died, and those of his followers who re- mained, having secretly sunk his body in the Mississippi, lest the Indians should discover his death, floated down the river to the Gulf of Mexico, and returned to their homes. The design of the expedition had been conquest as a means of acquiring gold, and it left behind no traces of civilization.
MARQUETTE.
While Spain had turned her attention to the conquest of Mexico, South America, the West Indies and Florida, and En- glish colonists had made feeble beginnings in Virginia and New England, the French, advancing still farther north, had possessed themselves of the St. Lawrence River, and were fast pushing their way into the interior by way of the great lakes. Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, belonging to an ancient family of France, arrived in Canada at a time when the public mind was much exercised upon the subject of exploring the Mississippi River. A plan of operations was accordingly arranged, and Louis Joliet, a native of Canada, joined Father Marquette at the Jesuit mission on the Straits of Mackinaw, and with five other Frenchmen and a simple outfit, the daring explorers, on the 17th of May, 1673, set out on their perilous voyage to re-discover the great river. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Mich- igan they entered Green Bay, and passed thence up Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Muscatines ("Mascou- tens") and Miamis, where great interest was taken in the expe- dition by the natives. Procuring guides they proceeded up the river. Arriving at a portage between the Fox and Wisconsin, they soon carried their light canoes and scanty baggage to the latter stream, about three miles distant. Their guides now refused to accompany them further, and endeavored, by reciting the dangers incident to the voyage, to induce them to return. They stated that huge demons dwelt in the great river, whose voices could be heard a long distance, and who engulfed in the raging waters all who came within their reach. They also rep-
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
resented that if any of them should escape the dangers of the river, fierce tribes of Indians dwelt upon its banks ready to com- plete the work of destruction. The explorers proceeded on their journey, however, and on the 17th of June, with joy inexpressi- ble, pushed their frail barks out on the bosom of the stately Mis- sissippi, 132 years after its first discovery by De Soto. Journey- ing down the mysterious stream, which Marquette named the "Conception," they passed the mouth of the Illinois, Missouri and Ohio, landing at various places, and, after proceeding up the Arkansas a short distance, at the advice of the natives, they turned their faces northward. After several weeks of hard toil they reached the Illinois, up which stream they proceeded to Lake Michigan, and entered Green Bay in September of the same year, having traveled a distance of 2,500 miles in a little more than four months.
LA SALLE.
About the time of Marquette's return, Robert de La Salle, a native of Normandy, set about discovering a northwest passage to China and Japan, the scientific men of that time generally coinciding in the belief that such a passage existed in the direc- tion of the Great Lakes. He was accompanied from France by an Italian named Tonti, and was joined in his enterprise by Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan friar of a bold and ambitious disposi- tion. After various hindrances and perils, they arrived at the present site of Peoria on the Illinois River, where they built a fort, which, on account of their many vicissitudes, they named Creve Coeur, or Broken Heart. There they separated, Hennepin turning northward to discover, if possible, the source of the Mis- sissippi; La Salle, after visiting Canada, to perfect his arrange- ments, descending that river in search of its mouth, and Tonti remaining at Creve Coeur in command of men and supplies left at that point. La Salle reached the junction of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, in February, 1682, and, on the 5th of April fol- lowing, passed safely through one of the three channels by which the latter stream discharges its waters into the Gulf of Mexico. Three days afterward, with the most imposing ceremonies, La Salle took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV, the reigning king of France, in whose honor he named it
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Louisiana. The region thus acquired by the French embraced territory on both sides of the Mississippi, and, comprising rather indefinite limits, included the present States of Louisiana, Mis- sissippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.
La Salle subsequently returned to Canada, thence to France, and led an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico for the purpose of entering the Mississippi at its mouth, and establishing settle- ments in Louisiana. Being unable to find the mouth of the river, he landed upon the coast of Texas, and, after some fruitless wan- derings, was shot by one of his own disaffected followers. How- ever, he had effectually opened the way for the French occupancy of the Mississippi Valley.
EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
Within a few years after the death of La Salle forts and colo- nies were located at Biloxi Bay, Mobile, Natchez, New Orleans and other points farther north. It is a fact worthy of notice that the first French settlements, all of which were projected in the in- terest of gold and silver mining, were confined entirely to the eastern bank of the river. It was not until 1705 that the Mis- souri River was explored as far as the mouth of the Kansas.
In 1720 Renault, the son of a French iron founder, came to Louisiana for the purpose of engaging in gold and silver mining. He brought with him from France 200 miners and artificers, and purchased 500 slaves at the island of St. Domingo. Pro- ceeding up the Mississippi River, he established himself at Fort Chartres, about ten or fifteen miles above the present site of Ste. Genevieve, on the opposite bank of the stream. From this point he dispatched miners to "prospect" for the precious metals, and they crossed the river to the west bank, and explored what is now Ste. Genevieve County. Although Renault failed to discover either gold or silver, he found lead ore in great abundance, and having built rude furnaces for smelting it, conveyed it on pack- horses to Fort Chartres, and thence by boat to New Orleans and France.
The date of the actual settlement of Ste. Genevieve is dis- puted by historians, though all agree that it was the first in the State of Missouri. There is some evidence to support the theory
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HISTORY ( OF MISSOURI.
that there might have been inhabitants at this place as early as 1735. The cultivation of tobacco, indigo, rice and silk had al- ready been introduced into the southern part of the province of Louisiana, the lead mines of Missouri 'were opened, and the cul- ture of wheat was commenced in Illinois. In the meantime the French were firmly establishing their power in the Northwest. By the middle of the eighteenth century (1750) they had control of all the water routes leading from the great lakes to the valley of the Mississippi. They had more than sixty military stations from Lake Ontario by way of Green Bay and the Illinois River, the Wabash and Maumee Rivers, down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
The French had formed the grand design of establishing a magnificent empire in the interior of the continent, which should have abundant and uninterrupted intercourse with the outside world by means of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence and Mississippi Rivers. The English, whose colonies were scattered up and down on the Atlantic coast, claimed the right to extend their possessions as far westward as they chose. As long as the latter nation confined itself to the eastern part of the country there was little reason for controversy. As soon, however, as the English became acquainted with the beautiful and fertile Mis- sissippi Valley, they not only learned the value of the vast terri- tory, but also resolved to set up a counter-claim to the soil. The French, besides establishing numerous military and trading posts from the frontiers of Canada to New Orleans, in order to confirm their claims to jurisdiction over the country, had carved the lilies of France on the forest trees, or sunk plates of metal in the ground. These measures did not, however, deter the English from going on with their explorations; and though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict was gathering, and it was only a question of time when the storm should burst upon the frontier settlement. The French based their claims upon discoveries, the English on grants of territory extending from ocean to ocean, but neither party paid the least attention to the prior claims of the Indians. From this position of affairs, it was evident that actual collision between the contending parties would not much
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
longer be deferred. The English Government, in anticipation of a war, urged the governor of Virginia to lose no time in building two forts, which were equipped with arms from England. The French anticipated the English, and gathered a considerable force to defend their possessions. The governor determined to send a messenger to the nearest French post, to demand an explanation. This resolution brought into the history of our country, for the first time, the man of all others whom America most loves to honor, namely, George Washington. He was chosen, although not yet twenty-one years of age, as the one to perform this deli- cate and difficult mission. With five companions he set out on November 10, 1753, and after a perilous journey returned Janu- ary 6, 1754. The struggle could not, however, be averted by diplo- macy. It commenced, continued long, and was bloody and fierce; but on October 10, 1765, the ensign of France was displaced on the ramparts of Fort Chartres, by the flag of Great Britain. This fort was the depot of supplies, and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of the French, and was then the best built and most convenient fort in North America. In subsequent years the Mississippi reached and undermined its west wall; the inhabit- ants of Kaskaskia carried away much of the remaining portions for building material, and at the present day nothing remains of it but a ruin in the midst of a dense forest.
Although, as has been already seen, Fort Chartres was not occupied by the English until 1765, the treaty which terminated what is known as the French and Indian War had been arranged late in 1762. According to its stipulations France ceded to Eng- land all of her possessions in Canada and east of the Mississippi, and to Spain all that part of the province of Louisiana lying west of the same, which, although really belonging to Spain, remained under French laws and jurisdiction until 1768.
THE FOUNDING OF ST. LOUIS.
In the year 1762 M. D'Abadie, who was at that time director general and civil and military commandant of Louisiana, granted to a certain company the exclusive right to trade with the Indians of Missouri, and indeed of the whole northwest, for a term of eight years. At the head of this company was M.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
Pierre Laclede Liguest, Laclede as he is generally known, a man of ability, foresight and experience. He left New Orleans in August, 1763, and arrived in Missouri the following November. It will be remembered that all the French settlements except that at Ste. Genevieve were on the east side of the river, and consequently included in the territory ceded to England. At the one small village west of the Mississippi there was no build- ing large enough to contain one quarter of M. Laclede's mer- chandise. . M. De Neyon, the commandant at Fort Chartres, hear- ing of Laclede's dilemma, offered him room for his goods until the occupation of the fort by the English. Laclede readily availed himself of this generous offer and repaired to Fort Chartres, where he deposited his effects, and then turned his attention to finding a site, near the Missouri River, suitable for his enterprise. Ste. Genevieve he rejected both on account of its distance from that stream and its unhealtful situation. Accom- panied by his stepson, a lad of fourteen named August Chouteau, he explored the region thoroughly and fixed upon the place of his settlement. Upon returning to the fort, he assured De Neyon and his officers that he had found a situation where he would form a settlement, which might become, hereafter, "one of the finest cities of America." Thus readily did his sagacious mind appre- ciate the advantages of this location. Navigation being open, early in the February of 1764 Laclede sent thirty men in charge of Chouteau to the place designated, with orders to clear the land, build a large shed to shelter the tools and provisions, and also erect some small cabins for the men. On the 14th of February the work was commenced. Early in April, Laclede himself arrived, chose the place for his own house, laid out a plan for his village and named it Saint Louis, in honor of Louis XV, not knowing that the territory had already been transferred to Spain, and then hastened back to Fort Chartres to remove his goods, as the En- glish garrison was daily expected.
When, in 1765, Capt. Sterling in command of the English troops, a company of highlanders, actually took possession of the fort, St. Ange, French commandant at the time, removed with his officers and men to St. Louis, which was recognized as the capital of Upper Louisiana. M. D'Abadie had died, and
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI.
M. Aubry was acting governor at New Orleans. Receiving, probably, the sanction of this latter gentleman, St. Ange at once assumed the reins of government at St. Louis, and so liberal was the spirit in which he conducted affairs that a stream of immigra- tion soon set in from Canada and Lower Louisiana.
DEATH OF PONTIAC.
At the time of the founding of St. Louis, the Ottawa chieftain, Pontiac, was in the enjoyment of his greatest fame. At the breaking out of the war between France and England, he had allied himself with the former country, which had at all times followed a conciliatory policy with the Indians, and he had achieved some brilliant exploits at the ambuscade near Pittsburgh (1755) which resulted in Braddock's defeat, and on other occa- sions. He had subsequently formed a confederacy of all the western tribes, and had endeavored, by one general and combined movement to sweep the English settlers from the country west of the Alleghanies. In this effort he was so far successful that, at one time, every English fort in the west, except Niagara, Fort Pitt and Detroit had fallen into the hands of the savages. St. Ange, hating the English and dreading their encroachments, was proportionately friendly to Pontiac, whom he invited to St. Louis in 1769. Here the chief was received in the most flatter- ing manner, and was warmly welcomed by the principal citi- zens. Soon, however, it became apparent that Pontiac's plans were doomed to failure.
Tribe after tribe had forsaken him; his powerful allies, the French, were conquered, and his most trusted friends among the latter counseled him to give up the unequal contest. He en- deavored to drown his disappointment in drink, and in spite of the remonstrances of St. Ange, sank lower and lower in debauch- ery. Finally, while in a state of intoxication, he was assassinated at Cahokia by a Kaskaskia Indian. His body was interred with great pomp near the tower at the intersection of Walnut and Fourth Streets. St. Ange, himself, lies buried near, but nothing is left to mark either grave. Houses have been built above them, and but few persons even know that these remains repose in the midst of the great city.
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