Excerpt from Dubuque County Early Settler's Association
The year 1803 is memorable in the history of the West for the purchase of Louisiana from France for $15,000,000. This land was known as the New Northwest, and was peopled by aboriginal tribes. As its Eastern sections were settled by the whites, its political status underwent sundry changes. In 1834 the territory west of the Mississippi River and north of Missouri was a part of the Territory of Michigan.
On the 4th of July, 1836, Wisconsin Territory was erected, embracing within its limits the present states of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In 1838 the Territory of Iowa was created, comprising the present state, the larger part of Minnesota, and extending north to the boundary lines of the British possessions.
In 1836 the town of Dubuque was surveyed and platted by the Government.
December 28, 1846, Iowa was admitted as a sovereign state into the American Union. Ansel Briggs was its first, and Stephen Hempstead its second governor, the latter a resident of Dubuque.
General Geo. W. Jones, who also resided in Dubuque County, and Augustus C. Dodge, were its first United States Senators.
Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman in the employ of the American Fur Co at Prairie du Chien, where it had a trading post, learning from the Indians of the rich lead region in this locality, came with a number of half-breeds and friendly Indians down the river in canoes in 1788, and made the first settlement in the county, calling it the "Mines of Spain." He identified himself with them by marrying Potosa, the daughter of the Indian Peosta, who was chief of the Fox village located at the mouth of what is now Catfish Creek, and acquired great influence over the Indians, obtaining from them extensive mining rights, extending seven leagues along the Mississippi River and three leagues in width from the river, presumably intending to include the river front between the Little Maquoketa and the Tete des Mort rivers, embracing more than 70,000 acres.
In 1804 Dubuque transferred the larger part of his claim to Auguste Choteau a French merchant of St. Louis, and in 1805, he and Choteau jointly filed their claims with the Board of Commissioners. The Indians at Dubuque's death claiming that the privilege accorded him was only a permit to work the mines during his life, took possession and continued mining operations and were sustained by the military authority of the United States.
The heirs of Choteau however, were not disposed to relinquish their claim without a struggle. The case was finally carried to the Supreme Court, where in 1851, it was decided adverse to them, the court holding that the concession was only a lease or permit to work the mines.
Dubuque was called by the Indians Le Petite Nuit, the little night, presumably on account of his short stature, dark eyes and slightly dark complexion.
He died in 1810, and his remains lie where they were buried, marked by the monument erected a few miles below the city through the instrumentality of the Early Settlers and the Julien Dubuque Monument Association.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.