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OTHER EARLY EXPLORERS AND
SETTLERS
EARLY FRENCHMEN
It is thought that unknown French trappers reached the
Mississippi River before Marquette and Joliet. Other Frenchmen said
they had reached the head of the Mississippi before Pike did. We
know about the trip of Marquette and Joliet, and of Pike, because
they left us a record of what they saw.
Nicolas Perrot, another Frenchman, as early as 1685, built
training posts on the east side of the Mississippi. He built one
post at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, across the river from the
present site of Mc Gregor, Iowa, and another across the river from
where Dubuque is now located. Perrot never lived on Iowa land but
made many trips into it and traded with the Indians who lived there.
In 1735, a Frenchman, Capt. Nicholas Joseph des Noyelles, marched
into Iowa at the head of a small army. A Sac warrior had killed a
French official in the East. The Indians then became frightened and
fled westward into Iowa. The French sent Capt. de Noyelles with 80
French soldiers and about 200 Indian warrior to punish the Sacs but
most of the red men left the French. The sacs and foxes fled to Des
Moines River. De Noyelles tried to get the Fox Indians to leave the
sac tribe, after which he intended to punish the sacs. He failed to
do either.
A SPANIARD
When Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis from their trip to the
Pacific Ocean, they told many interesting things about what they had
seen. A young Spaniard by the name of Manual Lisa heard some of the
stories and decided that he would go up the Mississippi River to
trade with the Indians. He made his first trip in 1807. It was so
successful that he made twelve or thirteen more. On one of his
trips he had three hundred and fifty men and thirteen boats.
LATER FRENCHMEN
Soon after Dubuque built his settlement, other Frenchmen also
came and started small settlements. One of these, Basil Giard,
moved in 1795 to a farm in what is now Clayton County. He farmed
and traded with the Indians. His name is also spelled Gaillard and
Gayard. He received a grant for more than 5,800 acres of land from
the Spanish Governor. Giard made several trips to St. Louis as a
trader.
One Frenchman received from the Spanish governor, in 1799, a
grant for more than 6,000 acres of land. This land was located in
what is now Lee County and the town of Montrose is located in part
of it. The Frenchman is known by several names. They are Louis
Honori, Louis Honori Fresson, and Louis Honore Tresson. He started
an orchard on his land and brought the trees on pack mules from
Missouri. The land where the trees were planted for this first Iowa
orchard is now, because of Keokuk Dam, under water.
Tesson was living on his farm when Pike came up the Mississippi.
He offered to go with Pike as an interpreter to the Indians. Since
Pike said he had no money to pay him Tesson did not go.
Another Frenchman , Maurice Blondeau, lived farther up the river
from Tesson. He is the man who later became an interpreter for
lieut. Pike. His chief business was to trade with the Indians.
LE CLAIRE AND
DAVENPORT
Two of the most interesting men in early Iowa history are Antoine
Le Claire and Colonel George Davenport. A town and a city, both
located in Scott County, are named in honor of these men. Le
Claire, who was part Indian, was one of the most important men on
the upper Mississippi. He was born in Michigan in 1797 and went to
school in St. Louis. In 1818 he became an interpreter at Fort
Armstrong on Rock Island. He could speak fourteen Indian languages
besides French and English. He acted as interpreter at nearly all
the treaty making councils with the Indians after 1818.
A house that Le Claire built for himself in Davenport became
Iowa's first railroad depot in 1854. He had built the home in 1813.
When the work of grading for the first railroad in Iowa began at
Davenport in 1853, Mr. Le Claire was given the honor of "removing
the first ground."
KEARNY AND LEA
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen W. Kearny made two important trips
across Iowa land. In the summer of 1820 he started from near the
present site of Omaha, Nebraska, for Fort Snelling, which is near
St. Paul, Minnesota. This trip took him across the prairies of
western Iowa. Kearny was not very well impressed with that part of
our state. He thought it was too hilly and too dry for farming.
Besides, there were no trees for fuel or for building. Kearny and
his men saw a herd of about 4,000 buffaloes.
Kearny's second trip was made in 1835. This time he started at
the mouth of the Des Moines River and went up to near where the city
of Des Moines is now located. From there he went northeast until he
reached a Sioux Indian village which was located near the present
site of Winona, Minnesota. After a rest of about two weeks, he and
his party returned to the Racoon Forks, from which place they
continued their trip back down the Des Moines River to its mouth.
One of the men with Kearny was Lieutenant Albert M. Lea. He kept
a journal of the trip. After their return, Kearny sent Lea on
another trip to study the Des Moines River. He had one soldier and
an Indian for companions. Soon after Lea returned from this trip,
he resigned from the army and wrote a small book about what he had
seen. In this book the name "Iowa" was used for this country for
the first time.
A FAMOUS PAINTER
George Catlin, a painter and student of Indians, visited Iowa in
its early days. He painted pictures of Black Hawk, Keokuk, and
other important Indians. His paintings of Dubuque's settlement, of
Floyd's grave, and of other important early scenes, are the only
pictures that we now have of those places as they were in those
days. |