Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/229



Point on the east shore of the Missouri, near the south line of Pottawattamie County. In the same year Mr. Hart, a French trader, explored the western rives and valleys of Iowa along the Missouri and built a trading post within the present limits of the city of Council Bluffs. Quite a settlement of traders, hunters, and trappers gathered in the vicinity. Francis Guittar, a French trader, built a cabin there in 1827, and carried on trade with Indians and white hunters and trappers.

In 1828 Moses Stillwell with his family came to Puch-echu-tuck (a name given by the Indians to the point at the mouth of the Des Moines, where Dr. Muir had his home). In the spring of 1829 Dr. Isaac Galland with his family settled on the west shore of the Mississippi opposite the upper chain of rocks in the lower rapids, where Nashville now is. It was called by the Indians Ah-wip-e-tuck. Dr. Galland labored long and hard to build a city here, but he was unsuccessful; the city went to Puch-e-chu-tuck and became Keokuk. However, the establishment of the first school, *  and the birth of the first white child †   within the limits of the State made this place notable.

In his book descriptive of early Iowa, Dr. Galland says:

“As we passed up the river we saw th ruins of old Fort Madison about ten miles above the rapids, near a sand bluff rising perpendicular from the water's edge. On the second day after our keel boat reached Shoe-o-con or Flint Hills. an Indian village of the Foxes stood at the mouth of the Flint Creek; its chief was Ti-me-a. In 1825 I took a trip with an ox team and an Indian guide up the river. We passed Wapello's village and crossed the Des Moines River on a raft. We ascended the high lands above Grave Yard Bluff (now Buena Vista). We followed the divide, passing a lone tree standing on the bluff, which was a landmark for the Indians. In the fall of 1825 I settled at Quash-qua-me village, where my father-in-law, Captain James White, had purchased the old trading house and a tract of land adjacent, which was an old Spanish grant made to Monsieur Julian, on which he lived in 1805. Captain White made his first trip to this point on the steamer Mandan, which was the first that came to the foot of the Rapids.”

* Established in 1830. Taught by Berryman Jennings. † Eleanor Galland, a daughter of Dr. Galland, born 1830.