Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/179



chiefs. His death brought a great change to the village, the mines and the white colony.

John T. Smith, a famous Indian fighter and western pioneer, bought an interest in Dubuque's grant, after his death, and took possession of some of the lead works. He attempted to carry on mining and smelting but the Indians refused to recognize his title. They claimed that the grant to Dubuque was a permit or lease to him personally and conveyed no ablsoute title to the lands and could not be used by other parties. The Fox chief, Pia-no-sky, gathered his warriors and destroyed the buildings, driving all of the whites out of the village and across to the east side of the river.

In 1805 Dubuque and Chouteau had filed a claim with the United states for title to all of the land which Dubuque had originally leased of the Indians, embracing a tract nine miles wide west from the Mississippi and extending twenty-one miles up and down the river. It included all of the then known lead mines and all of the present city of Dubuque. For nearly half a century this claim was pending before various tribunals. Finally, by agreement, in order to settle the titles to a vast amount of valuable property, a suit of ejectment was instituted by the heirs of the claimants of the grant, against a farmer in Dubuque County, Patrick Molony, who held a United States patent for his farm. The suit was tried in the United States District Court, John J. Dyer, judge, and judgment was rendered in favor of Molony. An appeal was taken to the United States Supreme Court and in March, 1853, the judgment of the lower court was confirmed.

The Chouteau heirs employed several able St. Louis attorneys, assisted by Reverdy Johnson, the great Maryland lawyer, while the Dubuque settlers were represented by Caleb Cushing, of Massachusetts, Judge T. S. Wilson and Platt Smith of Dubuque. It was one of the most important and closely contested law cases in Iowa litigation. [Vol 1.]