Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 4, 1881

Chapter 4

Early Settlements in Various Counties - Land-Grants - Study of Surroundings - Character of the People - Wonderful Progress - A Glimpse at Destiny.

Water-courses are the primitive highways of all peoples. Lake and river and gulf bear the pioneers of every coming civilization; and on the sweeping current of the restless river, humanity has sought new homes and wider domains.

So in the settlement of Missouri, or Upper Louisiana, we find the French following the highroads of nature. The birch-bark canoe of the hunter, sharp-pointed, speeding swiftly underneath the silent shade of grim and gnarled tree, had given place to the cumbrous boat that moved sullenly under the load of the settler. But in the measured dip of the oar may be heard the potent sound of enterprise.

The varying beauties of nature were felt by the hearts rather than the minds of all the early colonists of the northern continent. The feeling of serenity and peace induced by the broad-flowing rivers and deep forests dwelt in the soul as the highest beauty of the scene, and in the unweary¬ ing sweep of the prairies and valleys they saw only the grandeur of lib¬ erty.

So that in the colonization and settlement between 1762 and 1800, mea¬ gre as it was, of that portion of the Mississippi valley now known as the state of Missouri, we find two causes at work. Many of the French who settled in St. Louis prior to 1800 were the oppressed of the land across the waters. They then were seeking new homes, and all they desired was freedom and a peaceful occupation. Many again came from Canada in search of better trading-posts and mayhap better fields for mining. Either of the two was an incentive to permanence.

The first settlement north of the Missouri river was made in St. Charles county in the year 1762. Blanchette, styled Le Chasseur, the hunter, built a hut on the site now occupied by the city of St. Charles. This point was imminent to St. Louis, the chief commercial center, and was established only as an outpost of trade, but soon formed a village and later a city. Stone county was first settled in 1790. St. Francois county in 1798 or 1800.

Southeast Missouri was no doubt first explored by Cruzat, because of its rich mineral deposits, when he was pursuing the ignis fatuus of his age. But the earth, bounteous in almost all else, yielded no silver and gold. But the age of which Cruzat was perhaps the last remnant, an age of mystery and phantasy, had died out. The earnest, active colonist saw no longer a

Historical Sketch Of Missouri

Utopia stretching beside his feet. He felt that enterprise and labor might insure wealth. Circumstantial evidences of labor, such as iron implements for mining, found sticking in the rocks and caves, show that the mines of Potosi and Old Mine were worked at a very early date. It is known that Renault shipped from this region large quantities of lead ore, and it is believed that the above mines were opened under his supervision. In 1760, Breton, a hunter, while pursuing a bear, discovered a mine near the present site of the town of Potosi. A little later he opened it and a min¬ ing camp was established near it, and in 1765 families crossing the river to escape English rule settled at this and other points, founding what are now the principal cities of Washington county. In all parts of this region lead was found in great abundance, and very near the surface. One of the prominent pioneers of this county was Moses Austin, of Virginia. In 1783 he obtained from the Spanish government a grant of a league of land containing "fertile lands, valuable mineral deposits, and water privileges," upon the condition that he should establish and operate lead mines. This he did, much to his own profit. He soon laid off about forty acres of this tract in lots. The forty acres embraced the rude settlement of Potosi, converting it into an organized town. In 1795 Austin erected upon a hill in the center of the town a " large and expensive mansion, long known as Durham Hall." In 1799, after having in his mining operations sunk a shaft to the depth of 160 feet, he built a shot tower. At the same time, in this vicinity, sheet lead was manufactured.

New Madrid county was settled about 1781. In 1780, a fur trader named M. Cerre, sent out from St. Louis a party to find and locate a new post. A large Delaware town was chosen, and this to-day is the city of New Madrid. In 1788, a colony from New Jersey, under Gen. Morgan, emigrated to this point, but owing to difficulties with Spanish authority this scheme failed, though the town was regularly laid off. Later, fami¬ lies of French from Canada came, and soon the town grew into a thriving settlement. It maintained its hold as a leading point in Louisiana, until the memorable earthquake of 1811 and 1812.

Marion county was also settled previous to 1800. Manturi Bouvet, having been granted a tract of land, set up a trading post about three miles above the present site of Hannibal. He was a veteran trapper, and was early joined by some Canadian French, and soon a thriving traffic with the Indians sprang up. It is stated by good authority, that near the little post, " on a fall or spring day, a hundred bark canoes, loaded with furs and skins, might have been seen moored in the bay. " The rumor spread that Bouvet had grown immensely rich, and had a barrel of gold concealed upon his premises. Fear of treachery made him fire his cabin, and under stealth proceed to New Orleans. The grant was then sold and

The mines of Madison county were worked by French explorers, as early as 1723. In 1765 they were worked by the Spaniards and Indians. And in 1800 record still exists of a grant by the Spanish government of " 5000 arpents of land to fifteen French families, " (an arpent being about thirty-five acres), in consideration of " settlement and cultivation. "

The city of Cape Girardeau was founded by Louis Lorimer, in 1794, and gradually settlement was extended in the vicinity now comprising the county.

Time has submerged the dates of the settling of Callaway county. But it is known to have been at a period long preceding 1800. The alert Frenchmen pushed rapidly out from St. Louis. Though the records have perished, circumstances point to an early habitation of this district.

Jackson county, the region surrounding the bend in the muddy Mis¬ souri, was always the starting point for all extended explorations of the west. Here trading posts were built as soon as in any section of the state.

The geographical position of all the counties above named, will estab¬ lish, if examined, the original proposition that all settlements in Missouri in early times followed the water courses. The necessities that surround . the fact, however, are apparent to everyone.

It will be interesting and instructive in connection with this epoch of our history, to study the manner in which these " land-grants " were made by the powers in Europe.

It will be readily seen that the vast and absorbing interest which France and Spain had in their possession of the Mississippi valley made them earnestly desire its colonization. And had not these kingdoms become so immersed in wars with surrounding empires, and civil strifes, they would have eventually reaped rich rewards, from this territory, acquired by the brave hardihood of the most intrepid discovery. But the changes by which their territories were lost were infinitely rapid in the march of time, and hence do not alter the feeling existent toward the colonies. Wide spread settlement would give perpetuity to the provinces, and this the crowned heads desired. Hence, we find that grants were often made upon the most trivial reasons. Campbell, in his excellent Gazetteer , has the following in regard to this: "A party wishing a grant addressed a petition to the governor, or the man occupying that position, stating that he had 'the honor' to ask for a certain quantity of land at a certain place, assigning almost any reason, good, bad, or indifferent, which fact or fancy might suggest, why such grant should be made. A very estimable gen¬ tleman now occupies a tract of land in this county (St. Charles), which was granted to a man who stated in his petition that he had become impressed with the fact that the people were suffering for the want of peach brandy, and that he was desirous of supplying their lack by plant¬ ing an orchard and making brandy, and wanted some land at a place designated, for that purpose. x\nd the same man afterwards obtained an additional grant, for the reason that the former grant was all prairie land, and now he wanted some timbered land, so that he could get wood to run his distillery." This, of course, belongs to a somewhat later period than we have been describing, but serves to illustrate the idea ; while it is true that at no time was there more than a slight pecuniary consideration required. A settlement usually consisted of a village and outlying fields or farms. The village lots as well as the fields were laid off in long, nar¬ row strips. The main reason assigned for this, being mutual protection from the Indians. The fields were forty times as long as wide, irregular in size, containing from thirty-four to eighty-five acres, as the case might be, in different settlements. One fence sometimes surrounded six or eight of these farms. This was supported at the common expense of all. Extra¬ ordinary to the lands thus embraced, commons were provided, from which wood and lumber were supplied simply for the hewing. Upon the fields wheat was raised, a little cotton, garden vegetables, and a few fruit trees* The principal attention was given to raising horses and cattle. Cultiva¬ tion was the main object to be expressed necessary to a grant. The vil¬ lages were always laid out along water courses, and no attention was paid to regularity.

Thus grew the first communities in Missouri. Each settlement was sufficient unto itself, and in simplicity and strength, blossomed like an Acadia.

A distinguished statesman recently said : " The early history of my own state of Illinois, as well as that of Missouri, and of all that vast empire, first discovered, explored and settled by the French, has to me all the interests of a romance. In the wild and rapid whirl of events in our coun¬ try, we are too apt to neglect or forget histories. Humanity sweeps onward, but the recollections of men, and the history of nations and peo¬ ples are too often buried in forgetfulness and oblivion." This is eminently true.. It is the fault of most historians that they pay too much attention to dates of discovery, of settlement, of internal change, completing, by their labors, histories, not of the 'peofle, but of the events of centuries. A study of race, epoch and surroundings is necessary to a history of any given civilization, and the " romance " of the period which we are now describing lies in the people, in their varying wants and desires, in their characters, in the mysterious people about them, in the broad, beautiful and bounteous lands around them; all these foreshadow the events that history records, and in their study we are soon brought to a realization of

A new continent, and in it a valley broader than Europe itself, and in that valley a mighty, mysterious river, flowing for thousands of miles to a southern sea, deep, and swift, and strange, gathering the waters of great tributaries, whose sources yet lie in the unknown, skirted by vast forests from which the prairies stretch away unbroken, the lands on either side prodigal in fruit and flower, the climate invigorating, the sky serene, the air, the land, and the water free. Looking down upon the varied and infinite landscape, the marvelous Mississippi concentrates the attention, and all else in the scene becomes tributary. A simple stream glides slowly from a silent lake in the far and barren north, and as it flows, it gathers to its bosom the waters rushing from the mountains east and west. Deeper and deeper grows the channel, swifter and swifter speeds the current, as " onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilderness sombre with forests," sweeps the " turbulent river." " Dreaiplike, and indistinct, and strange are all things around." The stream bends to the eastward, as the cypress and myrtle hover about its banks, and the silvery sand-bars gleam white in the sun of the tropic, then divides, and with sluggish movements sinks into the gulf. In the extreme south, bayou and swamp steam under the sultry sun, and from the rank vegetation, and dank moist earth leaps the fiery breath of the saffron-colored steed called Death, ruler of the realm.

Farther up, the clime grows more temperate, and where the Missouri and Mississippi unite, cereals grow in abundance, the seasons are mild, the earth rich, the landscape beautiful. In this region the simple French peasant built his home " Light-hearted, sturdy and enduring," his desires were easily satisfied, and here he hunted and trapped and traded at will, while the rude plowshare of the village.blacksmith turned the soil, fallow and full of life, and the sturdy arm with sounding flail beat out the golden grain. Here too was the " home of the Acadian farmer," and in the hearts of these people lived also " the affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient." The freedom which many of them had sought settled down upon their quiet labors in benisons of peace and their gentle lives were breathed out like a psalm. Still, while the birds sang in the thickets and the air was full of melody, in the unbroken stillness of the magical valley the heart yearned for home. Speaking of St. Louis which was the cen¬ ter of this infant civilization, a brilliant writer says: " At this time, in the fall of 1804, the town could not have contained a population of more than one thousand souls, and there were but very few English speaking families. There was not a brick house, or even a brick chimney in the place. The town was then almost as thoroughly French as any provincial town in France to-day, with French language, French usages, habits and manners.

which the French residents of St. Louis at that time had for the mother country. Though many of them had been driven out of their country by the storms of the revolution, yet the love of La Belle France was with them a supreme and ruling passion. They bore with them through all their relations, and all the vicissitudes of their frontier life, all the habits, the customs and usages of their own beloved France." The ambition of empire social nor political entered not into their souls, and they dwelt a happy family in a happy valley.

Such are the people and such the civilization that first grew to life in Missouri. But three-quarters of a century have passed and among the millions who now inhabit the State, the traces of these ancient families have almost vanished. The rapid revolution of a few decades has made infinite changes, and it is true of them now that,

Scarce three quarters of a century has flown since this devotionate and pure people began to live and thrive in the heart of the then unbroken wilderness. To-day, Missouri ranks high in the sisterhood of states and the Mississippi laves the great city of St. Louis. Now, the vast valley teems with life, and in its borders lives a Republic that can withstand the greatest power of the globe. A grand civilization here exists, and resting in the heart of the valley, the soil productive and the earth yielding untold minerals, wealthy, enterprising, proud, Missouri will yet form " the key¬ stone of the arch of union," and bear upon her bosom the capital of the young Apollo of the nations.

Like a pebble dropped in the center of a placid lake was this life that fluttered down by the confluence of the great rivers. The influence has now widened to the borders of the continent.