88 NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST. 



Mr. D. Iberville, who had the commission of the French 

 king for that purpose, found the mouth of the Missisippi in 

 March, 1700, and ascended the stream some distance. He 

 deputed his father, Mr. Le Sueur, with twenty men, to make 

 an establishment in the country of the Sioux, and to take 

 possession of a mine of copper on the Green River (now 

 called Blue Earth), which puts into St. Peter's on the left, 

 at 40 leagues above the mouth. Le Sueur could not ascend 

 the Green River on account of the ice, though it was in 

 September, and was obliged to build a fort, and w^inter there. 

 As soon as the season would permit, in April, he visited the 

 mine, and in twenty-two days drew from it more than thirty 

 thousand pounds weight of the mineral. He selected four 

 thousand of that which appeared best, and carried it with 

 him to France. — {Chad., v. 4, p. 165, et seq.) 



Mr. Nicollet, who explored that countiy in 1 838, could not 

 find the place referred to, though its situation is very exactly 

 pointed out hy Charlevoix. 



In 1710, the king granted to Mr. Crozat the exclusive 

 privilege of trading in Louisiana for sixteen years, and the 

 property in himself and his heirs for ever, of the mines, ores 

 and minerals, that might be discovered and worked. In 

 1717, Crozat surrendered the grant to the king, and he trans- 

 ferred it to the western company, w^hich at this time was 

 formed by Mr. Law. Under the auspices of this company, 

 a German colony w^as settled a few miles above New Or- 

 leans. The company held it until 1731, when it was retro- 

 ceded to the king. The grant included the country of the 

 Illinois, which was rather indefinite, but probably was intend- 

 ed to include all the country in the Missisippi Valley that 

 had been visited by the French, which would extend north 

 to the territory of the English settlements in Hudson's Bay, 

 and west as far as the country was then known. 



