HISTORY OF THE STATE OF IOWA.

DISCOVERY AND OCCUPATION.

Iowa, in the symbolical and expressive language of the aboriginal inhabitants, is said to signify "The Beautiful Land," and was applied to this magnificent and fruitful region by its ancient owners, to express their appreciation of its superiority of climate, soil and location. Prior to 1803, the Mississippi River was the extreme western boundary of the United States. All the great empire lying west of the "Father of Waters," from the Gulf of Mexico on the south to British America on the north, and westward to the Pacific Ocean, was a Spanish province. A brief historical sketch of the discovery and occupation. of this grand empire by the Spanish and French governments will be a fitting introduction to the history of the young and thriving State of Iowa, which, until the commencement of the present century, was a part of the Spanish possessions in America.

Early in the Spring of 1542, fifty years after Columbus discovered the New World, and one hundred and thirty years before the French missionaries discovered its upper waters, Ferdinand De Soto discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Washita. After the sudden death of De Soto, in May of the same year, his followers built a small vessel, and in July, 1543, descended the great river to the Gulf of Mexico.

In accordance with the usage of nations, under which title to the soil was claimed by right of discovery, Spain, having conquered Florida and discovered the Mississippi, claimed all the territory bordering on that river and the Gulf of Mexico. But it was also held by the European nations that, while discovery gave title, that title must be perfected by actual possession and occupation. Although Spain claimed the territory by right of first discovery, she made no effort to occupy it; by no permanent settlement had she perfected and held her title, and therefore had forfeited it when, at a later period, the Lower Mississippi Valley was re-discovered and occupied by France.

The unparalleled labors of the zealous French Jesuits of Canada in penetrating the unknown region of the West, commencing in 1611, form a history of no ordinary interest, but have no particular connection with the scope of the present work, until in the Fall of 1665. Pierre Claude Allouez, who had entered Lake Superior in September, and sailed along the southern coast in search of copper, had arrived at the great village of the Chippewas at Chegoincegon. Here a grand council of some ten or twelve of the principal Indian nations was held. The Pottawatomies of Lake Michigan, the Sacs and Foxes of the West, the Hurons from the North, the Illinois from the South, and the Sioux from the land of the prairie and wild rice, were all assembled there. The Illinois told

the story of their ancient glory and about the noble river on the banks of which they dwelt. The Sioux also told their white brother of the same great river, and Allouez promised to the assembled tribes the protection of the French nation against all their enemies, native or foreign.

The purpose of discovering the great river about which the Indian nations had given such glowing accounts appears to have originated with Marquette, in 1669. In the year previous, he and Claude Dablon had established the Mission of St. Mary's, the oldest white settlement within the present limits of the State of Michigan. Marquette was delayed in the execution of his great undertaking, and spent the interval in studying the language and habits of the Illinois Indians, among whom he expected to travel.

About this time, the French Governinent had determined to extend the dominion of France to the extreme western borders of Canada. Nicholas Perrot was sent as the agent of the government, to propose a grand council of the Indian nations, at St. Mary's.

When Perrot reached Green Bay, he extended the invitation far and near; and, escorted by Pottawatomies, repaired on a mission of peace and friendship to the Miamis, who occupied the region about the present location of Chicago.

In May, 1671, a great council of Indians gathered at the Falls of St. Mary, from all parts of the Northwest, from the head waters of the St. Lawrence, from the valley of the Mississippi and from the Red River of the North. Perrot met with them, and after grave consultation, formally announced to the assembled nations that their good French Father felt an abiding interest in their welfare, and had placed them all under the powerful protection of the French Government.

Marquette, during that same year, had gathered at Point St. Ignace the remn ants of one branch of the Hurons. This station, for a long series of

years, was considered the key to the unknown West.

The time was now auspicious for the consummation of Marquette's grand project. The successful termination of Perrot's mission, and the general friendliness of the native tribes, rendered the contemplated expedition much less perilous. But it was not until 1673 that the intrepid and enthusiastic priest was finally ready to depart on his daring and perilous journey to lands never trod by white men.

The Indians, who had gathered in large numbers to witness his departure, were astounded at the boldness of the proposed undertaking, and tried to discourage him, representing that the Indians of the Mississippi Valley were cruel and bloodthirsty, and would resent the intrusion of strangers upon their domain. The great river itself, they said, was the abode of terrible monsters, who could swallow both canoes and men.

He

But Marquette was not to be diverted from his purpose by these fearful reports. He assured his dusky friends that he was ready to make any sacrifice, even to lay down his life for the sacred cause in which he was engaged. prayed with them; and having implored the blessing of God upon his undertaking, on the 13th day of May, 1673, with Joliet and five Canadian-French voyageurs, or boatmen, he left the mission on his daring journey. Ascending Green Bay and Fox River, these bold and enthusiastic pioneers of religion and discovery proceeded until they reached a Miami and Kickapoo village, where Marquette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town, ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank Him for

the pity He had bestowed on them during the Winter, in having given them abundant chase."

This was the extreme point beyond which the explorations of the French missionaries had not then extended. Here Marquette was instructed by his Indian hosts in the secret of a root that cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake, drank mineral water with them and was entertained with generous hospitality. He called together the principal men of the village, and informed them that his companion, Joliet, had been sent by the French Governor of Canada to discover new countries, to be added to the dominion of France; but that he, himself, had been sent by the Most High God, to carry the glorious religion of the Cross; and assured his wondering hearers that on this mission he had no fear of death, to which he knew he would be exposed on his perilous journeys.

Obtaining the services of two Miami guides, to conduct his little band to the Wisconsin River, he left the hospitable Indians on the 10th of June. Conducting them across the portage, their Indian guides returned to their village, and the little party descended the Wisconsin, to the great river which had so long been so anxiously looked for, and boldly floated down its unknown waters.

On the 25th of June, the explorers discovered indications of Indians on the west bank of the river and land d a little above the mouth of the river now known as Des Moines, and for the first time Europeans trod the soil of Iowa. Leaving the Canadians to guard the canoes, Marquette and Joliet boldly followed the trail into the interior for fourteen miles (some authorities say six), to an Indian village situate on the banks of a river, and discovered two other villages, on the rising ground about half a league distant. Their visit, while it created much astonishment, did not seem to be entirely unexpected, for there was a tradition or prophecy among the Indians that white visitors were to come to them. They were, therefore, received with great respect and hospitality, and were cordially tendered the calumet or pipe of peace. They were informed that this band was a part of the Illini nation and that their village was called Monin-gou-ma or Moingona, which was the name of the river on which it stood. This, from its similarity of sound, Marquette corrupted into Des Moines (Monk's River), its present name.

Here the voyagers remained six days, learning much of the manners and customs of their new friends. The new religion they boldly preached and the authority of the King of France they proclaimed were received without hostility or remonstrance by their savage entertainers. On their departure, they were accompanied to their canoes by the chiefs and hundreds of warriors. Marquette received from them the sacred calumet, the emblem of peace and safeguard among the nations, and re-embarked for the rest of his journey.

It is needless to follow him further, as his explorations beyond his discovery of Iowa more properly belong to the history of another State.

In 1682, La Salle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and in the name of the King of France, took formal possession of all the immense region watered by the great river and its tributaries from its source to its mouth, and named it Louisiana, in honor of his master, Louis XIV. The river he called "Colbert," after the French Minister, and at its mouth erected a column. and a cross bearing the inscription, in the French language,

"LOUIS THE GREAT, KING OF FRANCE AND NAVARRE,

REIGNING APRIL 9TH, 1682."

At the close of the seventeenth century, France claimed, by right of discovery and occupancy, the whole valley of the Mississippi and its tributaries, including Texas, as far as the Rio del Norte.

The province of Louisiana stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the sources of the Tennessee, the Kanawha, the Allegheny and the Monongahela on the east, and the Missouri and the other great tributaries of the Father of Waters on the west. Says Bancroft, "France had obtained, under Providence, the guardianship of this immense district of country, not, as it proved, for her own benefit, but rather as a trustee for the infant nation by which it was one day to be inherited."

By the treaty of Utrecht, France ceded to England her possessions in Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. France still retained Louisiana; but the province had so far failed to meet the expectations of the crown and the people that a change in the government and policy of the country was deemed indispensable. Accordingly, in 1711, the province was placed in the hands of a Governor General, with headquarters at Mobile. This government was of brief duration, and in 1712 a charter was granted to Anthony Crozat, a wealthy merchant of Paris, giving him the entire control and monopoly of all the trade and resources of Louisiana. But this scheme also failed. Crozat met with no success in his commercial operations; every Spanish harbor on the Gulf was closed against his vessels; the occupation of Louisiana was deemed an encroachment on Spanish territory; Spain was jealous of the ambition of France.

Failing in his efforts to open the ports of the district, Crozat "sought to develop the internal resources of Louisiana, by causing trading posts to be opened, and explorations to be made to its remotest borders. But he actually accomplished nothing for the advancement of the colony. The only prosperity which it ever possessed grew out of the enterprise of humble individuals, who had succeeded in instituting a little barter between themselves and the natives, and a petty trade with neighboring European settlements. After a persevering effort of nearly five years, he surrendered his charter in August, 1717."

Immediately following the surrender of his charter by Crozat, another and more magnificent scheme was inaugurated. The national government of France was deeply involved in debt; the colonies were nearly bankrupt, and John Law appeared on the scene with his famous Mississippi Company, as the Louisiana branch of the Bank of France. The charter granted to this company gave it a legal existence of twenty-five years, and conferred upon it more extensive powers and privileges than had been granted to Crozat. It invested the new company with the exclusive privilege of the entire commerce of Louisiana, and of New France, and with authority to enforce their rights. The Company was authorized to monopolize all the trade in the country; to make treaties with the Indians; to declare and prosecute war; to grant lands, erect forts, open mines of precious metals, levy taxes, nominate civil officers, commission those of the army, and to appoint and remove judges, to cast cannon, and build and equip ships of war. All this was to be done with the paper currency of John Law's Bank of France. He had succeeded in getting His Majesty the French King to adopt and sanction his scheme of financial operations both in France and in the colonies, and probably there never was such a huge financial bubble ever blown by a visionary theorist. Still, such was the condition of France that it was accepted as a national deliverance, and Law became the most powerful man in France. He became a Catholic, and was appointed Comptroller General of Finance.

Among the first operations of the Company was to send eight hundred emigrants to Louisiana, who arrived at Dauphine Island in 1718.

In 1719, Philipe Francis Renault arrived in Illinois with two hundred miners and artisans. The war between France and Spain at this time rendered it extremely probable that the Mississippi Valley might become the theater of Spanish hostilities against the French settlements; to prevent this, as well as to extend French claims, a chain of forts was begun, to keep open the connection between the mouth and the sources of the Mississippi. Fort Orleans, high up the Mississippi River, was erected as an outpost in 1720.

The Mississippi scheme was at the zenith of its power and glory in January, 1720, but the gigantic bubble collapsed more suddenly than it had been inflated, and the Company was declared hopelessly bankrupt in May following. France was impoverished by it, both private and public credit were overthrown, capitalists suddenly found themselves paupers, and labor was left without employment. The effect on the colony of Louisiana was disastrous.

While this was going on in Lower Louisiana, the region about the lakes was the theater of Indian hostilities, rendering the passage from Canada to Louisiana extremely dangerous for many years. The English had not only extended their Indian trade into the vicinity of the French settlements, but through their friends, the Iroquois, had gained a marked ascendancy over the Foxes, a fierce and powerful tribe, of Iroquois descent, whom they incited to hostilities against the French. The Foxes began their hostilities with the siege of Detroit in 1712, a siege which they continued for nineteen consecutive days, and although the expedition resulted in diminishing their numbers and humbling their pride, yet it was not until after several successive campaigns, embodying the best military resources of New France, had been directed against them, that were finally defeated at the great battles of Butte des Morts, and on the Wisconsin River, and driven west in 1746.

The Company, having found that the cost of defending Louisiana exceeded the returns from its commerce, solicited leave to surrender the Mississippi wilderness to the home government. Accordingly, on the 10th of April, 1732, the jurisdiction and control over the commerce reverted to the crown of France. The Company had held possession of Louisiana fourteen years. In 1735, Bienville returned to assume command for the King.

A glance at a few of the old French settlements will show the progress made in portions of Louisiana during the early part of the eighteenth century. As early as 1705, traders and hunters had penetrated the fertile regions of the Wabash, and from this region, at that early date, fifteen thousand hides and skins had been collected and sent to Mobile for the European market.

In the year 1716, the French population on the Wabash kept up a lucrative commerce with Mobile by means of traders and voyageurs. The Ohio River was comparatively unknown.

In 1746, agriculture on the Wabash had attained to greater prosperity than in any of the French settlements besides, and in that year six hundred barrels. of flour were manufactured and shipped to New Orleans, together with considerable quantities of hides, peltry, tallow and beeswax.

In the Illinois, country, also, considerable settlements had been made, so that, in 1730, they embraced one hundred and forty French families, about six hundred "converted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs.

In 1753, the first actual conflict arose between Louisiana and the Atlantic colonies. From the earliest advent of the Jesuit fathers, up to the period of which we speak, the great ambition of the French had been, not alone to preserve their possessions in the West, but by every possible means to prevent the slightest attempt of the English, east of the mountains, to extend their settle