Reminiscences of John H. Charles. 61 



was assistant postmaster, and whenever the mail came 

 in he blew a horn and we all went at once to the post- 

 office, on Second Street, between Pearl and Water, and 

 the mail was distributed. 



At this time Cook was about fifty years old and a 

 married man. He was easy-going in his habits and very 

 popular. For a number of years he was the only practic- 

 ing physician here, and was very successful. I doubt if 

 he ever made out a bill in his life. He was not much 

 of a surveyor, though he did plat the first edition of 

 Sioux City. He was a member of the first company which 

 owned the town. His share was one-eighth. He dis- 

 posed of his interest too soon, and hence did not make 

 much out of it. 



Probably the oldest settler within the present limits 

 of Sioux City was Theophile Bruguier, a French Cana- 

 dian, who lived on the river here for several years prior 

 to the founding of Sioux City. From Canada he went 

 to St. Louis, where he entered into the service of Pierre 

 Chouteau [Sr.] and became a fur trader, his field of 

 operations being the Upper Missouri. He became very 

 intimate with the Indians, in fact he practically lived 

 as an Indian until the whites came to this locality in 

 large enough numbers to plant a colony. 



Long before the Indians left this vicinity Bruguier 

 settled at the mouth of the Big Sioux. This was about 

 1849. He had married a daughter of War Eagle, chief 

 of the Yankton Sioux, and when she died he married 

 a second daughter. War Eagle lived with him till he 

 (War Eagle) died, whereupon he was buried upon the 

 bluff along the Big Sioux, this side of Bruguier's place. 

 Bruguier had lots of children, half-breeds of course, but 

 they turned out to be the worst kind of Indians. Some- 

 time after the whites came Bruguier went to St. Louis 

 and married a French woman. He brought her up here 

 and lived with her till he died. She made him a good 

 wife. 



Bruguier was a large man, with black hair and 

 beard. He was careless in his dress. His education had 

 been neglected. He was a good-hearted man, but his 

 ideas of right and wrong were peculiar. They were not 

 as well defined as they should have been, but it cannot 



