The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1840-03-05

ing for, and adopting an object, from
whence to abut The boundary Of a member
OF this confederacy. This argument Is
strengthened to such a degree, by the re
Election that the whole Of that conntrv Was
then Wilderness, uninhabi,e.d by the
white man, except a very few settlements
on the Mississippi river, that ,hey would
moi hesitate. if it were necessary. to con-
slider it as the paramount. and controlling
call"
: The great rapids before referred to,
as being OF eleven miles in extent, having
q TALL OF twenty-four feet and a fraction.
ana mo at low stages Of water being SO great
an obstruction to the navigation Of the
Mississippi. terminate within four miles
OF the mouth Of the river Dies Moines.
WhIle Louisiana was owned by France,
these rapids were called ..les rapides de
la riviere Des Moines." By that rame
they were generally known; and as early
as 1893, are they so designated, in a grant
OF the Governor General of the Province
to Lewis Honore, who then made an ac-
tual settlement at them, upon the land
embraced by his grant. Persons claim
ing under him, mediately or Immediately,
have continued that possession up to the
present time; and recently congress adj
united the validity Of their right to the
land, under said grant. At first there APP
pears some un6lness in rapids in the
Mississippi, bearing the name of the
rapids of the river Des Moines that
being the translation Of the French name
but names are arbitrary, and often
whimsical; and when it is recollected that
there are other rapids in the Mississippi
river, and these, approach SO near to the
mouth of the Des Mnines. ii will be con
coded that, for distinction, there was no
great absurdity in denomina,ing them les
rapides de la riviere Des Mosnes." They
could not have been called simply 's,he
rapids of the Mississippi river" without
being COMPOUNDED with other rapids in
that stream. Particular designation in
duced another appellation, which was OBJ
tanned from the nearest great natural OBJ
lect. Similar considerations attached to
another rapids, situate abou, one hundred
and fifty miles higher up in the Missis-
sippi river, the name lies rapides de la
rviere de la Roche which, being trans
lated, is 8 the rapids of the river Rock
that stream disemboguing itself into the
Mississippi a short distance below them.
"However this may be. tbs established
beyond reasonable doubt, that these rapids
were named by the French while they
owned the country and retained the same
name after the cession to the United
States, translated into our language. which,.
for convenience probably, has been alb
.hreviated into '.,he Des Moines rapids"
As there are no other rapids which bore
that name, at the time Missouri was con-
stituted a State, the individuality and
identity of ",he rapids of the river Des
.Noines," which, in the boundary Of that
State, are made so importan, call, must
be conceded TO be satisfactorily establish
ed IN them.
The next question for solution is,
what point Of these rapids Of eleven miles
in length is to be cut by This parallel of
latitude? If a parallel, passing through
the northwest corner Of the Indian boun-
dairy, would cut those rapids at any point,
such a coincidence would prevail upon
your committee IL recognise that as the
proper intersection of them. But the lati-
tude of this corner not them being known,
nor yet exactly ascertained. uhough in all
probability north of the head of the rapids)
they must be considered not only the
paramount, but the sole bearing point, in
giving locality to the northern line of the
State. Indeed, it would seem that Con-
gress having decided to place this line
upon the parallel Of latitude, passing
through an object so remarkable and so
permanent as these rapids, the total un-
certainty whether this parallel would pass
north or south of the northwest corner of
The Indian boundary, produced its exclu-
sion as bearing point in this line. The
Indian line that called TO run east from
hat corner was but obscurely marked,
and was placed rather by reputation and
conjecture, than by the usual evidences
Of demarked boundary. Its exact locali-
ty has continued to be subject Of de-
bate, perplexity. and doubt, from the peri
od it was run up to the present moment;
and rs there was no great natural object
in its course. upon which its oscillation
could be fixed, and the few mutable monu-
ments of it that were in existence might
be soon forgotten or removed, Congress
would not hazard to transmule 1t into the
boundary line of an important State. An
objection of still more weight was, it did
not reach the great object which Congress
had determined should control this line, /
the Des Moines rapids and whether its
would strike them, was, from
its shadowy character, and the then all
most total ignorance of the country and its
localities, wholly matter of doubt. The
the artificial, and the eyanes-
cent, was rejected, and the notorious. the
fixed, the natural, and the permanent, was
boundary line, as stable and
enduring as the Des Moines rapids Of the
Mississippi, and as certain as the opera
tons of science. was prescribed.
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