26 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY: 
narrative, may therefore claim the credit of being the first 
settlers on Iowa soil. 
On the 27th of August the mouth of Rock river is 
reached, and a camp made about four miles above on the 
west bank, which must have brought them in the vicinity 
of Davenport, probably on the land at present owned by 
Mr. Hall, or Judge Cook. In the account of this day’s 
journey there is a note made of passing a pole on a prairie 
on which five dogs were suspended in preparation for an 
Indian dog feast. Such feasts, on a still more extensive 
scale, might at this day be enjoyed not far from the site of 
Davenport, without much cause for regret to the maj ority of 
its civilized inhabitants. 
Early on the morning of August 28th Lieut. Pike reaches 
the foot of the rapids, where he encountered a Mr. Aird, a 
Mississippi fur trader, and accepts an invitation to a late 
breakfast. Mr. Aird is here delayed, waiting for his loaded 
boats to be piloted over the rapids, and thus ( fortunately for 
Pike) the brief interval of the morning meal is improved to 
obtain all the information possible from this enterprising 
trader. Under these circumstances, it is to be feared that 
this first recorded Davenport breakfast was not up to the 
times of the Grand Central Hotel, being more of an intel- 
lectual than a substantial repast. But the wind is now fair 
for an ascent of the rapids, and Pike, after a cordial parting, 
spreads his blanket to the breeze, and sails up the rapids 
without delay or hindrance. At the head of the rapids is 
located a village of the Reynard Fox Indians. From this 
on, over the beautiful stretches of river scenery so familiar 
to all of us, including the rocky bluffs below Dubuque, and 
the ever-varied scenery above, Prairie du Chien is reached, 
on September 4th, this being the first permanent settle- 
ment on the entire route above St. Louis —and this less 
than seventy years ago! On the high rocky bluff on the 
Iowa shore, not far from the present site of the town of Mc- 
