Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/237

 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 177 Cape Girardeau, New Madrid, and Madison. The territory now in the limits of the other counties in the southeast, at that time, formed a part of one or the other of these counties. When the counties were created, during the organization of the government of the terri- tory of Louisiana, they extended an unlmown distance to the west. The western boimdary was not determined and so the counties that bordered on the river — Ste. Genevieve, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid — included vast stretches of territory to the west. It was out of this western territory that most of the new counties were created. After the treaty with the Osage Indians, however, which established them at first in western ilissouri, counties ex- tended to the western boundary of the Osage purchase. The principal settlements at this time in the various counties were these : In Ste. Genevieve county there were settle- ments at Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon, and there was also a settlement on the Saline creek, which was called for a long time New Tennessee. In St. Francois county the principal settle- ments were Alleys Mines, the Murphy settle- ment, and the Cook settlement. In Jefferson county there were a number of settlements. Among these were settlements on the Joachim, on Big river, and Hercula- neum on the ^Missississippi river. This settle- ment at liereulaneum was noted on account of its manufacture of shot. Very early in the period of Missouri's territorial history the manufacture of shot was begim at this place. The high bluffs just north of the town were used for this purpose. The melted lead was dropped from the tops of the bluffs thus doing away with the necessity of a shot tower. The manufacture was so profitable that there were three different establishments for making shot. In 1818 Peek visited Herculaneum, which he described as "a river town, a landing and a place of some importance." It was situated on the alluvial flat of the Joachim. This flat was very narrow, and was bounded on each end by perpendicular cliff's, rising two him- dred feet high. It was these cliffs which were used in the manufacture of shot, in place of a shot tower. At that date there were four stores and about thirty dwelling houses in the town. On the Plattin, a short distance below the Joachim, there were water mills and dis- tilleries. Herculaneum was, even then, the depot for the lead trade of the interior. In Perry county there were a number of settlements, the chief of these were in the Bois Brule bottom, on the Barrens near Perryville, and on Apple creek near the line between Cape Girardeau and Perry comities. The most flourishing of these settlements were those found in the bottoms. The soil was very rich there and attracted many settlers. The Barrens, as the laud about the present site of Perryville was then called, was the place where Bishop DuBourg had founded the first Catholic seminary in Louisiana. This semi- naty began its operations just before the close of this territorial period. The settlements in Madison county were those on Saline creek, and in the south part of the county ; the first being St. Michaels. Owing to great damage caused by flood the settlers on the original site of St. Michaels re- moved the town about one and a half miles west and re-established it there. After the removal the town was renamed Frederick- town, being so called in honor of Colonel George Frederick Bollinger, one of the pio- neers in Bollinger county. This town of Fredericlvtown grew very rapidly during this period, owing to activity in the operations of