Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-03-28
Old St. LOMis.

Old st. LoMis.
tits curious toremembcr that although
the early constitution of st. Louis, so
long as it was Il foreign settlement. was
essentially French, 1t was but for an ex-
tremely slight space of time under any
legal French Government. 1t made a
part of the French province Of Louis
lana, and was established in 1863 by q
fur-trader, Pierre Laclcde Ligueste, I'M
der authority of the Governor-General
at 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 asthe Old French War, was obliged
to yield to Spain all of the French pos
sessions on the west lank of the MISS
sippi, together with New Orleans, and
to Great Britain those on the east bank.
The new domination, however, by no
mean began at one. 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 Il line Of
,,0ctc ON fhn ofho, ciIa &c 4Lo ~,o.
along q trail kept open from Canada,
preferring, after the Treaty of Paris, o
Latin domination at least to that OF
Great Britain, had crossed over and
joined their c~ompatriots. Principal
among these was Captain Strange de
Bellerive, who had commanded at Fort
Charities, near where Kaskaskia now
stands. lie 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nominally superseded.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 int mate 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 Jet1erson's Presidency, for
SIS, ,O00.
The Indian tribes in those days wero
an important auxiliary even in the wars
| of the Europeans. just as French and
Indians organized for the massacre of
Braddock near Fort Du Quesne. or
Pittsburgh, the British brou ght down
Indians upon the French settlements of
the West. In 1889, 1,4OO savages from
the vicinity of Mackinaw, said to have
been led by 40 British regulars. sud-
denly appeared before st. Louis. and
made a fierce onslaught upon it. They
We're fortunately beaten off, and the APP
proach OF a body of Americans for we
aided our French allies where we could,
as they AIDED us at Iorktown-com-
pleted their discontinue. This was
known as the year If the Grand Ccup,
just as the arrival CT 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 t o be conferred
on the years in which they took place.
When the American flag was first
hoisted, in 1904, it tloated over q little
village of $50 houses and three streets,
in one Of which was a 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 a line Of stockade and stone tort
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, whick
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 p%ost-of1ice for st.
Louis. A mail, carried on horseback,
arrived there once a month. s. Now Ca
hokia has not even a post-oflice of its
own, but has to go five miles, up to
East st. Louis, for its letters.-UiH:un,
Henry Bishop, IN Hurpcr's Magazine.
Thirty years ago a peddler made
his appearance in Pittsburgh under the
name OF John Foley. He was indus
trious, but seemingly poor. He died
about a year ago at the ace Of eighty.
| His estate WAS found to be worth about
$4,000, and his will developed the TACT
that his right name was John Johnston.
He left his property to four children,
wherever they could be found. The
search for the heirs was for a long time
u~navailing, but it has at length resulted
in the discovery of some of them. Why
Johnston left ireland and how he rot
his wealth remains a mystery.--:ItIs-
durgA Post.