170 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITIOX. 



It was seven o'clock P. M. when I landed here, and having 

 some hours of daylight, I walked back from the river to look at 

 the village, and its fields, and to examine the geological struc- 

 ture of the adjacent cliffs. In their gardens I observed squashes, 

 beans, and pumpkins, but the fields of corn, the principal article 

 of cultivation, had been nearly all destroyed, probably by wild 

 animals. I found an extensive field of water and musk melons, 

 situated in an opening in a grove, detached from the other fields 

 and gardens. None of the fruit was perfectly ripe, although it 

 had been found so at Prairie du Chien; some of it had been bitten 

 by wild animals.* The cliffs consisted of the same horizontal 

 strata of sandstones and neutral colored limestone, prevailing at 

 higher positions in this valley. Returning to the river beach, I 

 ])erceived the same pebble drift which characterizes higher lati- 

 tudes. This seems the only difference in its structure or form, 

 namely, that the pieces of quartz pebble, limestone, and other 

 fragments brought down, become smaller and smaller, as they are 

 carried down. 



There were frequent thunders, and a rain-storm, during the 

 night, which, with a slight intermission, characterized the morn- 

 ing until noon. I embarked at half-past three A. M. (7th), and 

 landed at the Fox village of the Kettle chief, at the site of 

 Dubuque's house, f at ten o'clock ; a moderate rain having con- 

 tinued all the way. It ceased an hour after my arrival. 



* Fondness for melons, and annual vine fruits of tlie garden, is a striking trait 

 of the Indians. Some curious facts on this head are published in the statistics. — 

 Indian Information, vol. iii. p. 624, 1853, Philadelphia, Lippincott & Co. 



f This is now (1854) the site of the city of Dubuque, State of Iowa, which is 

 reputed to be the oldest settlement in that State. This city is eligibly situated on 

 a broad plateau, between limestone cliifs. The soil rests on a rock foundation, 

 which renders it incapable of being undermined by the Mississippi. Its streets 

 are broad and laid out at right angles. It has several Protestant churches, a 

 Catholic cathedral, a public land oiBce, two banks, four printing offices, and by the 

 last census contains a population of 7,500, the county of which it is the seat of jus- 

 tice, has 10,840. Two railroads have their terminal points at this place. At the 

 time of my visit, in 1820, the house which had been built by Mr. Dubuque, had 

 been burnt down ; and there was not a dwelling superior to the Indian wigwam 

 within the present limits of Iowa. The State of Iowa was admitted into the Union 

 in 1837. By the 7th U. S. census, the population of this State, in 1850, is shown 

 to be 192,214. The number of square miles is 50,914. No Western State is be- 

 .lieved to contain a less proportionate quantity of land unsuited to the plough, and 

 its population and resources must have a rapid development. 



