Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/197



all the traders convey their good to the Mississippi River and the regions tributary to it as far down as St. Louis.”

He describes the settlements and villages along the valley of the Mississippi at this time, September, 1805, as follows:

“The village of Prairie des Chiens was laid out in 1783 by M. Giard, Mr. Antoya and Mr. Dubuque. It consists of eighteen dwelling houses, on two streets. Sixteen were on Front Street, and two on First Street. There is a marsh or pond in the rear of the village, and behind the marsh are eight more houses. Some of the houses are framed, but most of them are built of small logs let in mortices, made in uprights joined close, daubed with mud on the outside and white-washed within. There are eight houses scattered in the country within a distance of five miles. On the west side of the Mississippi there are three houses on a small stream called Giard River, *  making in all thirty-seven houses which contain on an average ten persons each, making a population of three hundred and seventy. During the fall and spring, when the traders gather in, there are at least six hundred people here. Most of the men have Indian wives, and more than half of the young people under twenty years of age are half-breeds.”

On the 9th of September the explorers reached the mouth of the Upper Iowa or Oneota River, which is near the northern limits of the present State of Iowa. Lieutenant Pike extended his journey up the Mississippi, stopping wherever Indian camps or villages were found, to confer with the inhabitants and assure them of the friendship of his government. On the 22d of September, he reached the mouth of St. Peter Rover, near which he found a large Sioux village. Here he met Le Petit Corbeau, head chief of the Sioux nation and several other chiefs with whom he negotiated an important treaty by which the United States secured a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land in that vicinity. Proceeding up the river two hundred and thirty-three miles farther, he landed at the mouth of Pipe Creek and erected a fort in which to leave a part of his men and stores, while with a smaller party he extended his journey farther north. The

* These houses were where North McGregor has since been built. [Vol. 1]