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ST. LOUIS AS A TEADING-POST. 3 



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on the 15th of February, 1764, the birthday of Loiiis XV., 

 they landed and established a permanent settlement. Like 

 most French colonists on the American continent, these men 

 managed to live in peace with the Indians. Instead of trying 

 to ''improve" them off the earth, they did not scruple to 

 unite with them in social bonds, which resulted in the rising 

 generation being mostly half-breeds. The trader's hut was 

 little better than a wigwam, and he himself became after a 

 time not so far removed from a red-skin. 



The same year in which the colony was founded, all the 

 country east of the Mississippi came into the hands of the 

 English ; and several French settlers, who did not relish a 

 change of nationality, joined the little colony at St. Louis. 

 N"o sooner, however, had they arrived, than fresh tidings 

 came that all the French possessions west of the great river 

 had been ceded by Louis XV. to Spain; and thus St. Louis 

 became an outpost of Spanish Louisiana, and remained so 

 for thirty years. During this period, trade with the Indians, 

 and that alone, caused a gradual increase, more, however, of 

 the wealth than of the population in the settlement ; and in 

 1804, when Spanish Louisiana became part of the United 

 States, the colony scarcely niunbered 1,000 inhabitants. What 

 a startling event this must have been for the little community 

 of Frenchmen, squaws, and half-breeds ! Freedom of worship 

 and a post-office were at once established; in 1808 there 

 appeared a newspaper; in 1809 a fii'c company; in 1810 

 road-masters were established; in 1811 two schools — one 

 French, the other English — and a market were opened; in 

 1812 the first Mission Fur Company was formed, which 

 revolutionised the entire fur trade ; in 1813 lead mining 

 commenced; and in 1815 the first 'steamboat was seen at 

 St. Louis. T^ot content, however, with these innovations, the 



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