Part 17 (1/2)
”The company, persuaded of the truth of the indications which had been given them, and that the incapacity of the founder had been the sole cause of their bad success, sent, in his rooe of Pensacola; had afterward been a galley-slave, and boasted ave him very considerable appointments, but he succeeded no better than had done the Sieur de Lochon He was not discouraged himself, and others inclined to believe that he had failed froave over the search after lead, and undertook todown to the rock, which was found to be eight or ten feet in thickness; several pieces of it were blown up and put into a crucible, froiven out that he extracted three or four drachms of silver; but many are still doubtful of the truth of this fact
”About this ti's miners, under the direction of one _La Renaudiere_, who, resolving to begin with the lead ; because neither he himself nor any of his company were in the least acquainted with the construction of furnaces Nothing can bethan the facility hich the coreat expenses, and the little precaution they took to be satisfied of the capacity of those they e able to procure any lead, a private co, and Sieur Renault, one of the directors, superintended them with care In the month of June last he found a bed of lead ore two feet in thickness, running to a great length over a chain of mountains, where he has now set his people to work He flatters himself that there is silver below the lead Everybody is not of his opinion, but will discover the truth”--FLAGG
[70] Flagg's account agrees with a er treatment by Lewis C
Beck, in his _Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Missouri_ (Albany, 1823), with the exception that the latter says there were no inscriptions to be found on the gravestones Beck himself makes extended quotations from the _Missouri Gazette_, Noveerated, these accounts were probably based on facts, for a large number of prehistoric remains have been found in St Louis County and preserved in the Peabody Museum at New Haven, Connecticut, and elsewhere--ED
[71] For an account of Jefferson Barracks, see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, p 122, note 2--ED
[72] For the history of Carondelet, see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our volume xxii, p 215, note 124
For reference to Cahokia, see A Michaux's _Travels_, in our voluress made an appropriation of fifteen thousand dollars to the secretary of war, for the purpose of purchasing the site for the erection of an arsenal in the vicinity of St Louis
Lands now far within the southeastern lis erected which were used for arsenals until January 16, 1871, when they were occupied as a depot for the general onquin origin--_Missi_ signifying great, and _sepe_ a river--FLAGG
[74] Indian name for the ”Falls of St Anthony”--FLAGG
[75] That the Mississippi, the Missouri, and, indeed, , as progress is ions drained by them, scarcely admits a doubt Within the past thirty years, the width of the Mississippi has sensibly increased; its overflows are more frequent, while, by the diminution of obstructions, it would seem not to have becoan upon the river above New-Orleans, and for twenty years the banks were cultivated without a _levee_ Inundation was then a rare occurrence: ever since, from year to year, the river has continued to rise, and require higher and stronger embankments A century hence, if this phenonificent spectacle will not this river present! How terrific its freshets! The immense forest of timber which lies concealed beneath its depths, as evinced by the great earthquakes of 1811, demonstrates that, for centuries, the Mississippi has occupied its present bed--FLAGG
[76] In 1764 Auguste Chouteau made tentative plans for the fortification of St Louis In obedience to an order by Don Francisco Cruzat, the lieutenant-governor, hethese earlier plans In the saun immediately south of the present site of the courthouse In 1797 the round stone tohich Flaggfour additional towers; the latter were never completed From 1804 to 1806 these fortifications were used by the United States troops, and then abandoned for military purposes The commandant's house served as a courthouse from 1806 to 1816; and the tower as a jail until 1819 For a detailed description of the plans, see J F Scharf, _St Louis City and County_ (Philadelphia, 1883), p 136 ff--ED
[77] For a brief sketch of William H Ashley see Maximilian's _Travels_, in our voluht acres on the present site of Broadway, between Biddle and Bates streets, St Louis, where he built a handsome residence
bloody Island, now the Third Ward of East St Louis, was forh the neck in a bend of the river For a long ti considered neutral ground ht there, notably those between Thomas H Benton and Charles Lucas (1817), United States District Attorney Thomas Rector and Joshua Barton (1823), and Thomas Biddle and Spencer Pettis (1830) The name was derived from these bloody associations--ED
[78] For a sketch of Charlevoix, see Nuttall's _Journal_, in our volume xiii, p 116, note 81--ED
[79] D'Ulloa, the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, sent a detachment of soldiers to St Louis in 1767 Later, these troops were transferred to the south bank of the Missouri, a few miles above its mouth, where ”Old Fort St Charles the Prince” was erected General Wilkinson built Fort Bellefontaine on this site in 1805 From 1809 to 1815 this was the headquarters of theForts Madison, Massac, Osage, and Vincennes) It was the starting point of the Pike, Long, and Atkinson expeditions On July 10, 1826, it was abandoned for Jefferson Barracks, but a small arsenal of deposits was maintained here until 1834 The land was eventually sold by the governinal Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition_ (New York, 1905), v, pp 392, 393--ED
[80] North of Missouri River, twenty miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, where the bluffs of the two strearass-covered mounds stand out from the main bluffs
These ht, were called by the early French ”mamelles” from their fancied resemblance to the human breast--ED
[81] Alton, twenty-five miles above St Louis, is the principal city of Madison County, Illinois In 1807 the French erected here a s post Rufus Easton laid out the town (1818), and named it for his son The state penitentiary was first built at Alton (1827), but the last prisoner was transferred (1860) to the new penitentiary at Joliet, begun in 1857 Alton was the scene of the famous anti-Abolitionist riot of November 7, 1837, when Elijah P Lovejoy was killed--ED
[82] Captain Benjamin Godfrey donated fifteen acres of land and thirty-five thousand dollars for the erection of a female seminary at Godfrey, Madison County, Illinois The school was opened April 11, 1838, under the title of the Monticello Female Seminary, with Rev
Theron Baldwin for its first principal--ED
[83] The plansvisited Alton in 1836 The act incorporating the first railroad in Illinois was approved January 17, 1835; it provided for the construction of a road froo to a point opposite Vincennes By the internal improvement act of February 27, 1837, a road was authorized to be constructed from Alton to Terre Haute, by way of Shelbyville, and another from Alton to Mount Carmel, by way of Salem, Marion County; but the act was repealed before the roads were completed The cumberland road was constructed only to Vandalia, Fayette County, though the internal improvement act contemplated its extension to St Louis--ED
[84] The French village is no doubt Portage des Sioux In 1799 Francis Leseuer, a resident of St Charles, visited the place, which was then an Indian settlement Pleased with the location he returned to St
Charles, and secured a grant of the land froovernor of Upper Louisiana, organized a colony fro the French inhabitants of St Charles and St Louis, and occupied the place the same autumn--ED
[85] Grafton, Jersey County, Illinois, was settled in 1832 by James Mason, and named by him in honor of his native place It was laid out (1836) by Paris and Sarah Mason--ED
[86] The Illinois Indians (froonquian stock, and forave the na their early wars, later aided the English, and ith great difficulty subdued by the United States government Separate tribes of the Illinois Indians were the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigah bluff just above Alton there was for the Indians as the Piasa Bird To the natives it was an object of much veneration, and in time many superstitions became connected therewith First described in the _Journal_ of Father Jacques Marquette (1673) its origin was long a subject of speculation a could be seen until 1840 or 1845, when they were entirely obliterated through quarrying See P A Ar the Indians_ (Morris, Illinois, 1887)