74 i 32 Ys 
HISTORY. 
By N. H. PARKER, 
Author of “‘ Missouri as It Is in 1867.’’ 
It is now about two centuries since a small band of Europeans 
and Canadians, from Quebec, led by Fathers Marquetre and 
JoLieT, reached the Mississippi River, at the mouth of the Wis- 
consin in 1673, and descended it to the mouth of the Arkansas. 
In 1668, La SALLE navigated the Mississippi to the mouth, and in 
1680 he sent HENNEPIN and Ducay to explore the Upper Missis- 
sippi, and in 1682 the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers were origi- 
nally named. 
On the 6th of March, 1683, La SALLE took formal possession of 
the country he had partially explored, and named it ‘‘ Louisiana.’’ 
In 1705 the Missouri River was explored to the mouth of the Kan- 
sas River by the French, and the discoveries reported to their gov- 
ernment. On the 14th of September, 1712, Louisiana was granted 
by Louis XIV. to Crozart, who resigned the country to the 
Crown, August 22d, 1717, when it was transferred to ‘‘The Com- 
pany of the West.’’ In 1719, RENAULT arrived from France with 
200 skilled assayers, miners and artisans,in search of precious 
metals in Missouri and Illinois. On the 24th of January, 1731, 
‘The Company of the West’’ surrendered their charter to the 
King of France. At the conclusion of the Paris Treaty, Novem- 
ber 3d, 1762, Louisiana was ceded to Spain by France, and the 
Mississippi was made the line between the possessions of France 
and England. Onthe 15th of February, 1764, PrerrE LACLEDE 
LicuEst founded St. Louis, and his Lieutenant, Colonel Aucust 
CHOUTEAU, commenced the erection of buildings for the shelter of 
his workmen, using timber cut on the present site of the Mer- 
chant’s Exchange. Early in March, 1764, PIERRE LACLEDE 
Licurest having received a grant of land therefor, laid out the 
plan of the future town, and named it St. Louis, in honor of 
Louis XV., King of France. In April, 1764, M. D’Apsapikr, the 
Commandant General of Louisiana, received orders from his sov- 
ereign to prociaim to the people the surrender of all the French 
possessions west of the Mississippi to Spain. The people of St. 
Louis, when they received the news of the transfer (some months 
after it had been made) were highly exasperated, and declared they 
would not be separated from their mother country. M. p’ABBa- 
DIE, overwhelmed by the orders he had received, and aware of his 
inability to satisfy his people, died of grief. The state of the 
public feeling was so hostile to Spanish authority, that the transfer 
was not carried fully into execution until August irth, 1768. 
About seven years after the transfer, Don ALEXANDER O’ REILLY, 
who had been appointed Commandant General of Louisiana, 
arrived at New Orleans with about three thousand men to enforce 
his authority. Early in 1770, Lieutenant Governor PIeRNas, acting 
under O’ REILLY, arrived in St. Louis, and received possession of 
the country from M. Str. ANGE DE BELLERIVE, who had resigned 
Fort Chartres to Capt. STERLING, an English officer, and removed 
the garrison of forty soldiers to the new St. Louis Colony in 1765. 
The United States authority in Missouri dates, nominally, from 
the treaty of 1803, actually from the roth day of March, 1804, 
when Major AMos StopDarpD, assumed the duties of Governor of 
Upper Louisiana, with all the authority of a Spanish commandant. 
On the 26th of March, 1804, Congress divided the province of 
Louisiana into two parts, by the thirty-third parallel of latitude, 
and placed the northern district under the domination of Indi- 
ana, then including Illinois. On the 3d of March, 1805, Congress 
changed the name of the District of Louisiana to the ‘‘ Territory 
of Louisiana,” appointing General James WILKINSON Governor of 
the Territory, whose administration commenced May 6, 1806. He 
had associated with him, in the performance of his legislative 
duties, Hon. Joun B. C. Lucas’and Return J. MErcs, jr., 
Judge JosePpH Browne, Secretary. The seven acts passed by them 
each bore the individual signatures of the parties named—the last 
act dated July 9th, 1806. 
The purchase of Louisiana from France by the United States for 
fifteen millions of dollars had now become known through Europe 
and America, and was received as an important movement, and 
naturally attracted the eyes of the enterprising to the wide field 
spread before them. The fame of ‘‘ Upper Louisiana,’’ its pro- 
ductions and attractions and temperate climate, soon brought to 
St. Louis, as the most accessible point from which to explore its 
vast regions, great numbers of travelers, traders and adventurers, 
and among the latter class the celebrated AARON Burr, who ten- 
dered his services to Governor WILKINSON, to whom he very indis- 
creetely unmasked his designs. Governor WILKINSON was ordered 
by President JEFFERSON to leave the Territory and keep strict 
watch over the movements of the ex-Vice President, AARON Burr. 
The duties of the Governor then devolved on the Secretary, Hon. 
JosEPH BRowNE. 
On the 7th of May, 1807, Hon. FREDERICK BATES was 
appointed Secretary, and acting with him was Hon. OrHo 
ScHRADER, who had taken the place of Judge R. J. MEiGs, Jr., 
resigned. Captain MERRIWEATHER Lewis and Lieutenant WILLIAM 
CuiarkE, had started on the 14th of May, 1804, on an exploring 
expedition by the Missouri and Columbia Rivers to the Pacific 
Ocean. Messrs. Lewis and CLARKE had returned from their 
exploring expedition, and taken up their residence in St. Louis, 
before the result of Governor WILKINSON investigations fully 
developed the designs of AARON Burr. The country was filled 
with the fame of the explorers, and the appointment of Captain 
MERRIWEATHER Lewis as Governor, by the President early in 1807, 
was hailed with universal approbation. 
Governor Lewis died in the autumn of 1809, and President 
MapIson appointed BrEnjamMIN Howarp Governor, to fill the 
vacancy. Captain WILLIAM CLARKE, (of the exploring expedition) 
succeeded Benjamin Howarp as Governor of the Territory. 
The name of Louisiana Territory was changed to that of ‘‘ Mis- 
souri,’’ which was then advanced to the second grade of govern- 
ment by an Act of Congress, approved June 4, 1812. The first 
Council consisted of nine members, and the House of thirteen. 
THE EARTHQUAKE OF I8II. 
This remarkable convulsion of nature, that seemed to shake the 
whole Mississippi Valley, occurred on the night of the 11th of 
December, 1811, the central point, where it was most severe, being 
near the site of New Madrid. The citizens of the town were 
