Comment by Ed. James dates the start too early, for by Marquette's account, it was near the end of June ("sur la fin de Juin"); nor is James's version quite accurate. Compare the French of Marquette's account in Jesuit Relations, lix, p. 138.
[064] Spelled also Brazos and Brazeau—a Perry County (Missouri) tributary of the Mississippi.—Ed.
[065] The Bois Broulé (Burnt Wood) Bottoms lie chiefly in Perry County, Missouri. The tract is about eighteen miles long and from four to six wide.
For Kaskaskia River and settlement, see André Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, note 132.
For Ste. Geneviève, see Cuming's Tour, in our volume iv, note 174.—Ed.
[066] Among the nobles who fled from France during the Revolution was the father of Charles Dehault Delassus, last governor of Upper Louisiana under Spanish domination. The elder Delassus came to Ste. Geneviève, and was placed in command of a post established for him on a bluff overlooking the river, two or three miles below the town; this post was named New Bourbon (La Nouvelle Bourbon), in honor of the fallen French dynasty. The town which grew up around it was still in existence in 1812.—Ed.
[067] Portland was one of many towns laid out along the Mississippi by speculators who hoped that important cities would arise on the sites chosen. This particular venture was undertaken by a company organized in Cincinnati in 1819; but inhabitants failed to come, and the buildings erected by the promoters fell into ruins. The site was near the present town of Chester; an Illinois state penitentiary now stands on the spot.—Ed.
[068] It is stated by Mr. Schultz that Fort Chartres, which was originally built one-fourth of a mile from the river, was undermined in 1808. Vol. 2, p. 37.—James.
Comment by Ed. For Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, and Fort Chartres, see André Michaux's Travels, in our volume iii, notes 132, 133, 135, 136.
Prairie du Pont, one mile south of Cahokia, grew up about a water-mill built in 1754 on a creek of that name, by missionaries of St. Sulpice.