Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/180



The titles to hundreds of farms and thousands of city lots and homes, and all of the lead mines in Dubuque County and vicinity, were involved. The decision turned largely upon the legal construction given to the original grant made by the Indian council in Dubuque, in 1788, and also upon the nature of the Spanish grant made by Governor Carondelet to Dubuque in 1796. The courts held that both grants were in the nature of permits or leases to mine lead on the lands described and were not intended to convey actual title to the land. From a statement made by Dubuque to Lieutenant Pike, in September, 1805, it is learned that at that time the Dubuque mines yielded but from twenty to forty thousand pounds of lead and that traces of copper were also found.

During the twenty-two years that Dubuque and his Canadian assistants lived in Iowa, from 1788 to 1810, the territory was owned by three different nations, viz.: Spain, France and the United States. The mines and the village which were first named by Dubuque the “Mines of Spain” were, after his death, called “Dubuque Lead Mines.” The burial place of the pioneer was on a high bluff two hundred feet above the river and close to it, near the site of the old Indian village of Kettle Chief. Inscribed on a cedar cross in large letters was, “JULIEN DUBUQUE, Miner of the MINES OF SPAIN, died March 24th, 1810, aged 45 years and 6 months.” His friend, the Fox chief, was buried near his grave. For ten years after the death of Dubuque little was known of the lead mines, as the Indians had undisputed possession.

In 1820 Henry R. Schoolcraft, in company with Hon. Lewis Cass, who was then Governor of Michigan Territory, went on a journey to the sources of the Mississippi River. Schoolcraft was a distinguished scientist and had spent many years studying the habits, customs and history of the North American Indians. It was on this voyage that Mr. Schoolcraft visited the Dubuque Lead Mines. He writes as follows of that locality: