Page:Early History St Louis and Missouri.djvu/17

Rh the Mississippi to the Gulf, until in 1755, when Ste. Genevieve was founded by the French, attracted there by the lead mines in its vicinity, which was the first settlement made by Europeans in the State. There does not appear to have been any purchase made by the original inhabitants at the time, nor does any objection appear to have been made by them to their settlement there or to any of the French settlements made in Missouri, although the Illinois Indians were the acknowledged owners among red men. But in those days the Indian title was not noticed or recognized, as no law had been made to protect them, and they were invaded and their lands appropriated with impunity by those who coveted them.

The peace of Paris, in 1763, made the Mississippi the line between the possessions of France and England. This, however, did not change the Indian title to the country or their intercourse with the French, for the Indians of Missouri continued to trade at the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, until Pierre Laclede Liguest removed his goods from Fort de Chartres, where he had wintered, to the present site of St. Louis. On the 15th day of February, 1764, his Lieutenant, Auguste Chouteau, the long well-known and much respected Col. Auguste Chouteau, commenced operations on the block next the river, on the south side of Market street, where the Merchants' Exchange now stands, and which had been the site of the only market house which the city contained for about sixty years from its foundation, and gave name to the street on which it was located. Temporary buildings, for the shelter of his workmen and tools, were soon constructed from the timber on the ground, for that part of the city was covered with a growth of the most suitable timbers for that purpose and for the camp fires of the new settlers, so necessary at that inclement season of the year. Early in March Pierre Laclede Liguest arrived, laid out the plan of the future town, and named it St. Louis, in honor of Louis XV, king of France. In this plan of his city, although he predicted its future greatness, he seems to have overlooked the advantages of broad streets and large blocks, and thereby betrayed his want of knowledge of the liberal scale which has been adopted by all the great builders of beautiful cities in laying out their streets and public grounds.