The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-03-21
Old st. LOUIS.

ills curious to remember that although
the early constitution of st. Louis, so
long as it was foreign settlement, was
essentially French, 1t was but for an ex-
tremely slight space of time under any
legal French Government. 1t made q
part of the French province of Louis
lana, and was established in 1853 by
fur-trader, Pierre Laclede Ligueste, un-
der authority of the Governor-G General
ut New Orleans, and was named aftes
that gracious rocco sovereign, Louir
XIV. But it was precisely in 1868 that
Louis XIV, terminating by the Treaty
OF Paris his disastrous conflict known in
Europe as the Seven Years War, and
here as the Old French War, was obliged
to yield to Spain all of the French pos
sessions on the west hank of the Missis-
sippi. together with New Orleans, and
to Great Britain those on the east bank.
The new domination, however, by no
means began at once. not by reason of
resistance to it, but for reasons connect
ed with the sparsity of population, the
vast distances to be traversed, and lack
of physical ability in the new ownership
to manifest its power. -Four years after
ward, or in 1868, some Spanish soldiers
under Rios arrived at St. Louis and
completed the transfer, and it was not
till 1850 that the first Spanish Governor,
Pedro Piernas, was installed.
Meanwhile, many French settlers who
had established themselves in a line of
posts on the other side of the river,
along trail kept open from Canada,
preferring, after the Treaty of Paris,
Latin domination at least to that of
Great Britain, had crossed over and
Joined their compatriots. Principal
among these was Captain Strange de
Bellerive, who had commanded at Fort
Charities, near where Kaskaskia now
stands. He brought with him forty sol
diers of his garrison. He was invested
at st. Louis with the chief command,
both military and civil, and continued
to retain it, or something like it, by his
personal influence, long after he was
nominally superseded. He had great
power, among other ways, over the In
dian tribes, and made the famous Pom
tiac his intimate personal friend.
The Spanish regime continued peace
fully under some five or six Governors
down to 1904, when the whole territory,
having first been re-transferred to
France after the victories of Napoleon.
was sold by Napoleon to the United
States, in Jefferson's Presidency, for
Sl5, 100000.
The Indian tribes in those days were
an important auxiliary even in the wars
of the Europeans. just as French and
Indians organized for the massacre of
Braddoek near Fort Du Quesne, or
Pittsburgh, the British brought down
Indians upon the French settlements of
the West In 1889, /, 400 savages from
the vicinity of Mackinaw, said to have
been led by 140 British regulars. sud-
denly appeared before St. Louis. and
made fierce onslaught upon it. They
were fortunately beaten of, and the ap-
proach of body of Americans-for we
aided our French allies where we could,
as they aided us at Yorktown-com-
pleted their discontinue. This was
known as the year of the Grand Coup,
Just as the arrival of ten boats together
at another time for protection against
robbers, an extraordinary prevalence
of honey-bees, and the like, in the an
nails of the small settlement, caused
distinctive appellations to be conferred
on the years in which they took place.
When the American flag was first
hoisted, in 1904, it floated over little
village of $50 houses and three streets,
in one of which was log church, I'M
der the jurisdiction, like all other eccle-
siastical matters in the province, of the
Bishopric of Cuba. Around the village
was line of stockade and stone fort
resses, erected by the Spanish Governor
Cruzat after the Indian invasion before
mentioned. Up to a few years ago
there was still standing on the river
bank an old round tower, somewhat
like the disputed mill at Newport, which
had once made part Of these primitive
Notifications.
The pretty village of Cahokia. on the
other side of the river, strange to state,
was then the only post-office for st.
Louis. A mail, carried on horseback,
arrived there once a month. Now Ca
hokia has not even a post-office of its
own. but has to 90 i've miles, up to
East st. Louis, for its letters. William
Henry Bishop. in Harper's Magazine.
.,
Ene liip1s