[ 237 ] 86 



were totally submerged : and the inhabitants, who had fled to the hills that 

 overlook the rich bottom, interchanged visits by water from the rocky bluffs 

 of the right side of the river to the hills that border the Kaskaskia. The 

 Tillage of St. Genevieve was then situated on a low prairie, that has since 

 been entirely washed away ; and tradition has it, that Mr. Augnste Chou- 

 teau, on his way back from New Orleans, moored his boat, and breakfiisted 

 with his men, on the roof of the most elevated house. 



]n 17c-8, the traders between St. Louis and New Orleans having been 

 frequently attacked and plundered of their merchandise, on their return, by 

 the band of Mississippi pirate:^ headed by Culbert and Magilbray. who 

 used to lay in wait for them at the month of the riviere aiix Liards, {Cot- 

 tonwood creek.) the governor of Ps'ew Orleans took measures against them, 

 and ordered the equipment of an armed convoy of ten boats, which suc- 

 ceeded in breaking up the haunt of the pirates, and returned in triumph to 

 St. Lotus. This year is called VAeime des Dix Bateaux — the year of the 

 ten boats. 



In 1797, several Spanish galleys, of 40 oars, ascended the river to St. 

 Louis, vvitli troops imder the command of Colonel Don Carlos Howard. 



17U9 to ISrO. — Winter of very intense cold, but no actual observations 

 of temperature recorded.* 



In 1801 the small-pox (called by the Creoles j»ico/e) made its appearance, 

 for the first lime, in the country of Illinois and Missouri. The disease was 

 unknown in the country on the 15th of April of this year. 



By referring to the dates above, it will be seen that Upper Louisiana was 

 for nearly thirty two years under the dominion of Spain, and that France 

 had scarcely the time to be aware of the foundation of St. Louis. The 

 colony was ruled by a military government ; that is to say, by the arbitrary 

 will of commanders, uniting all authority in themselves, without any guar- 

 antee of personal rights — scarcely ihat of petitioning. 



Spain never seems to have sought to take advantage of tlie resources 

 of Upper Louisiana. It would appear that she looked upon this vast 

 region simply as a barrier against the encroachment of neighbors upon 

 her supposed more valuable Mexican possession — a policy which alone 

 explains the indifference which she manifested in the government of the 

 country for so many years. Yet a nation becomes great by its genius ; 

 and the part which Spain has played in the history of nations does not 

 allow the suspicion that she was ignorant of these resources. When 

 she took possession of the entire country west of the Mississippi, she 

 found a French population already acclimated, civilized, and brought up 

 in hardships endured during its prolonged wars with llie British and 

 Indians, and accustomed to snfft^rings and to privations. The prospects 

 of a more tranquil and easy existence had assembled these people on the 

 Arkansas, the Mississippi, and the Missouri rivers, where they awaited 

 only a protecting government that would permit them in security to de- 

 velop their industry, and to take advantage of the peace then enjoyed 

 by the whole western region. All that Spain had to do was to open 

 markets for their produce, and they would have supplied her with those 

 provisions which she was obliged to ask of strangers for the nourishment 



^ This was the second winter of ihe sort experienced at St. Louis. During the former one, 

 in n6H, ihecold had been so intense as to destroy the orange trees in Lower Louisiana, and 

 the banks of the Mississippi were covered with ice. 



