[I-27] The distance between Muscatine and Rock Island is 28 or 29 m. by the channel. As Pike has 6 or 8 m. to go before reaching Muscatine, makes "28½" to-day, and "22" to-morrow, we can confidently set him down to-night halfway between these two places—say vicinity of Montpelier, Muscatine Co., Ia., 4 or 5 m. below Buffalo, Ia., and Andalusia, Ill. There is no specially notable point in this whole stretch, after Muscatine is passed; the most of a place is Fairport, Ia., 3 m. above Tahma or Sweetland cr. Several places that were started seem to have died young, if they were not stillborn; we find on older maps such as Geneva, somewhere between Muscatine and Fairport on the Iowa side, and Wyoming, apparently in the same position as Fairport now is. Between Muscatine and Fairport the river is or was recently divided into Drury slough, Wyoming slough, and Hersey chute betwixt these. Pine cr. falls in on the Iowan side, 2½ m. above Fairport. Opposite Fairport the long Andalusia slough opens, running down on the Illinois side all the way from Andalusia, a distance of 9 m. Pike's camp was probably on the Iowan side (still in Muscatine Co.); across the river he has Rock Island Co., Ill.
[I-28] Actually about 16 m., to one of the most definite locations of the voyage thus far, in the heart of the present city of Davenport, seat of Scott Co., Ia., and directly opposite Rock Island, seat of Rock Island Co., Ill. Soon after passing present site of Montpelier, Pike went from Muscatine into Scott Co., Ia. Next are the two towns directly opposite each other, of Buffalo, Ia., and Andalusia, Ill.; the former is marked N. Buffalo on Nicollet's map; the other is called Rockport on Owen's map, or Rockport was then where Andalusia is now. Linwood, Ia., is a small place 2 m. above Buffalo; and 3 m. above this was the site of Rockingham, Ia. This last was started directly opposite the mouth of Rock r., but never flourished. In fact there is probably no place on the Mississippi where more mushroom towns have been projected on paper by unscrupulous speculators than about the mouth of Rock r.; and we observe that they mostly had resounding names, well known in other parts of the world. A certain Stephensonville is marked on Nicollet's map, apparently in the present position of the city of Rock Island. In the mouth of Rock r. is a triangular island, dividing the two outlets, and opposite this is Credit isl. (No. 312), 1½ m. long. Pike's camp in Davenport was probably about opposite the lower point of Rock isl., 2½ m. long; this is No. 307 of the Engineers' chart, and its lower end was utilized for the bridge built in 1869-72 by the C., R. I. and P. R. R. (Act of Congr., July 26th, 1868).
La Rivière de Roche, or à la Roche, of the French, which Pike and others call Stoney or Stony and Rocky or Rock r., and which is now known by the latter name, is the second largest in Illinois. It arises in Wisconsin, in the region S. of Lake Winnebago, leaves that State at Beloit, and holds a general S. W. course through Illinois to the Mississippi. It used to be called Kickapoo r.—a name traceable to R. des Kicapous of Franquelin's map, 1688. Pike gives its source as near Green bay of L. Michigan, and ascribes a length of 450 m., 300 of them navigable. His map letters "The largest Sac Vill." on its S. side near the mouth, about the present position of Milan, and delineates the extensive rapids of the Miss. r., above its mouth, which the text of the 28th describes. Rock r. afforded one of the five or six principal waterways between the Great Lakes and the Miss. r., the connection being made above the Horicon marshes by portage from the small stream which falls into L. Winnebago at Fond du Lac. But this way was less eligible than the Fox-Wisconsin route.
[I-29] See Lewis and Clark, ed. 1893, pp. 1202, 1203, 1211. James Aird and his brother George were among the Sioux traders at the mouth of the Minnesota or St. Pierre r. in 1803 and thereafter; others similarly engaged then and there were Archibald Campbell, Duncan Graham, and Francis M. Dease.
[I-30] Davenport, Ia., to Le Claire, Ia., 16 m. by water; Rock Island, Ill., to Port Byron, Ill., 17 m.; actual extent of the rapids somewhat less than either of these distances. The chains, in ascending series, are called Lower, Moline, Duck Creek, Winnebago, Campbell's, St. Louis, Crab Island, Sycamore, Smith's, Upper. The principal islands are: Rock, No. 307, 2½ m. long, with the little ones called Papoose (No. 308), Benham's, and Sylvan, alongside; Campbell's, opp. Watertown, Ill.; Spencer's, opp. Hampton, Ill., on the Iowan side; and Fulton's. A number of creeks make in on both sides; among them are Duck, Crow, and Spencer's, on the Iowan side, and the one on the Illinois side which falls in by Watertown, name unknown to me. The rapids were formerly guarded by Fort Armstrong, occupying an eligible site on the extreme lower end of Rock isl. A good account of this post, as it was in 1817, is found in Long's Expedition of that year, printed in 1860 and reprinted in 1890, in Part I of II. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., pp. 67-73. The places on the Illinois side are: Moline, 3½ m. above Rock Island; Watertown, 5 m. above Moline; Hampton, 1 m. above Moline; Rapids City, 4½ m. above Hampton; Port Byron, 1 m. further; land distances less than by river-channel. On the Iowan side, between Davenport and Le Claire, are places called Gilberttown or Gilbert, opp. Moline, and Valley City or Pleasant Valley, opp. Hampton. Pike does not say where he camped at the head of the rapids; but it was no doubt at Le Claire, as the channel ran on the Iowan side.
[I-31] This Fox Indian village is located on Pike's map, but without name. It was on the Iowan side, above the rapids—not at Le Claire, but somewhat further up, at or near present town of Princeton, Scott Co., Ia. Forsyth in 1819 speaks of "the Little Fox village, 9 miles above the rapids." A mile above Princeton, on the Illinois side, is Cordova, marked Cordawa on Owen's map, and Berlin on Nicollet's.
[I-32] At 4 m. above Cordova, Pike passed on the left or Iowan side a river whose name is perhaps the most remarkable thing about it: Wabisapencun, Pike's map; Wabisipinekan, Pike's text, further on; Wabisapincun, Lewis and Clark's map of 1814; Wapisipinacon, Long's; Wabezipinikan, Nicollet's; Wabesapinica, Featherstonhaugh's; Wapsipinicon, Owen's and U. S. Eng'rs'; Wapsipinecon, G. L. O. No two original authors agree, and when one tries to copy another he is liable to be foiled by his printer. But the river runs on just the same, through several Iowan counties, on a general S. E. course, approximately parallel in most of its extent with Red Cedar r. It also does duty as the boundary between Scott and Clinton cos., Ia., along most of their apposed extent. There are several islands about its mouth; one of them is called Adams. Opposite the mouth of the W——n r., for a space of about 8 m. along the Illinois side of the Mississippi, the hills recede, leaving a low place in which the body of water known as Marais d'Osier, or Lake Willowmarsh, is situated: see Pike's map, in the interval between his "High Prairie" (ending at Cordova) and his "Rocky Hills" (beginning about Albany). Beltrami, II. 196, calls this Marais d'Ogé, and says it was "inhabited by a savage of the same name"! Beltrami's bosom friend, Major Long, has a still more startling rendition of the phrase, as Mer a Doge, in Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 1, 1860, 2d ed. 1890, p. 67. It appears as Mare de Oge on an Illinois atlas before me. From Le Claire to Albany is 18 m.; Pike probably did not get quite so far as this, but for convenience of keeping tally we will assume that he did, and set him on the lower point of the great Beaver isl. (No. 291), at the mouth of Comanche slough, directly opposite Albany, Whiteside Co., Ill.; nearest place on the other side is Comanche or Camanche, Clinton Co., Ia. Beaver isl. is 3 m. long, and extends up to Clinton, the county seat.
[I-33] The distance by river-channel from Albany to Dubuque is reckoned 72 m. Pike's figures are 43 + 31½ + 25 = 99½ m. The required reduction of mileage is about one-fourth off; applying which to the "43" m. of the 30th, we find Pike somewhere in the vicinity of Apple r., and may most conveniently set him at its mouth. Decamping on the 30th, he first made the stretch of Beaver isl., past Cedar and Cat-tail crs., right, and came to Clinton. The original name of this city, or of its site, was New York; both these terms seem to point back to the time when Governor Dewitt C. Clinton was popular. The river was spanned here by the bridge built by the C. and N. W. R. R. in 1864-65, utilizing island No. 290. Two or three miles above stand, facing each other, Lyons, Clinton Co., Ia., and Fulton, Whiteside Co., Ill.; around the other side of the hill N. of Fulton, Otter cr. falls in. The line of hills on the Iowan side comes to the river a mile above Lyons, but at once recedes again, leaving along the river-side what is called the Pomme de Terre, Potato, or Ground Apple prairie, at the head of which Elk r. or cr. falls in, 8 m. above Lyons. The recession of the hills on the Illinois side from Fulton is much greater for a space of 16 m., where there is low ground for some miles back from the river, sloughy the whole way near the river, and thus making various islands, the largest of which are called Fulton and Savanna. Near the head of Fulton isl. is a little place named Thompson, in Carroll Co., Ill. The line of Whiteside and Carroll cos. strikes the river about halfway between Fulton (town) and Thompson. On the Iowan side, the line of Clinton and Jackson cos. is between Elk r. and Sabula. The latter town, or its site, used to be called Charleston. It naturally grew after 1881, when the C., M. and St. P. R. R. built the bridge here, under Act of Congr., Apr. 1st, 1872. The site of Sabula is called Prairie du Frappeur, Beltrami, II. p. 196, where it is said to have been "inhabited by a savage of that name." Before crossing the river, the track ran for a couple of miles on Savanna isl., at the head of which Plum r. falls in; and immediately above this point is Savanna, Carroll Co., Ill., 2½ m. from Sabula. The high ground comes close to the river at Savanna, but on the Iowan side there is sloughy bottom for 4 m. above Sabula, all this lowland being known as Keller's isl.; above this, higher ground comes to the river-side at Keller's bar. Rush or Big Rush cr. falls in on the Illinois side 5 m. above Savanna, and 2 m. further is the mouth of La Pomme or Apple r., nearly up to the boundary between Carroll and Jo Daviess cos., Ill. One Arnold used to have his landing a mile below Apple r., about where we suppose Pike to have camped.
[I-34] Whatever the exact distance represented by this mileage, we have to set the Expedition down in a very unhealthy place to-night, as will presently appear. Soon after decamping from Apple r.,—that is, in 5 miles' distance by the channel, Pike passes on his left a notable stream, which he elsewhere calls the Great Macoketh. This is Makokety r. of Nicollet, Maquoketa r. of others, whose name is now usually spelled Makoqueta. This is also the designation of the county seat of Jackson, situated upon the river. It falls in opposite Sand prairie, about where the line between Carroll and Jo Daviess cos. strikes the river. The "beautiful eminence on the W." which Pike observed is Leopold hill, near Bellevue, Jackson Co., Ia. This town existed before Nicollet's map was made, as he marks it by name. The locality called Chéniere by Beltrami II. 196, was hereabouts. He gives it on the W., 10 m. above his R. la Pomme. The hills begin to approach the river four or five miles below Bellevue, and so continue with little interruption to Dubuque. The trough of the river is similar on the Illinois side, but the hills do not hug the river so closely, leaving a stretch of sloughy bottom, especially at the delta of the Galena r. This is the insalubrious place of encampment. The Galena was long named, and is still sometimes called, Fever r. The same slough by which it discharges receives Smallpox cr.; and on the Iowan side, opposite Harris slough, which is the upper end of the Fever delta, a creek falls in known as Tête du Mort, or Tête des Morts. It must have been a choice region of saturnine and miasmatic poisons, as the victims of lead-palsy and ague-cake who lived on Fever r. had the option of moving down on Smallpox cr. or over to Death's-head cr. The place to avoid is pointed out to Mississippian tourists by Pilot Knob, an isolated eminence on the prairie near the variolous creek, 3 m. S. of the city of Galena, which is about the same distance up the febrile stream. The cranial creek is said to have been so named on account of the number of skulls which resulted from an Indian fight there. On this point Beltrami, 1828, II. p. 160, has "a place called the Death's-heads; a field of battle where the Foxes defeated the Kikassias [Kaskaskias?], whose heads they fixed upon poles as trophies of their victory. We stopped at the entrance of the river la Fièvre, a name in perfect conformity with the effect of the bad air which prevails there." Nor do I know what terrors may be hidden under the name of Sinsinawa cr., which makes in a mile or two higher up, on the Illinois side. Two of the sloughs at the delta are called respectively Harris' and Spratt's; a third is Stone slough. One Gordon established a ferry here, many years ago, and a place on the Iowan side, close to the boundary between Jackson and Dubuque cos., is still known as Gordon's ferry. Regarding the nomenclature of Galena r., we should not omit to cite here Keating's Long's Exp. of 1823, published 1824, I. p. 212, where it is stated that Smallpox cr. and Fever r. are the same: "a small stream, called by the Indians Mekabea Sepe, or Small-pox river; it is the Riviere de la Fievre, which is said to enter the Mississippi opposite to Dubuque's mines." Probably not much weight attaches to this observation, which Major Long only made parenthetically, and evidently at second-hand information, in speaking of a badger which his party had killed and cooked; though it is also quite possible that Galena r. once rejoiced in both names, one of which was later conferred upon the small creek which enters its delta. That Long knew the Galena as La Fièvre r. is certain, for he uses the latter name, though without any accent, in the narrative of his voyage of 1817, in speaking of reaching it on Monday, July 28th, of that year. See Minn. Hist. Coll., II. Part 1, 1860; 2d ed. 1890, p. 66. It appears that Long's MS. of his voyage of 1817 was placed in Prof. Keating's hands when the latter was preparing for publication the history of Long's Expedition of 1823. This source of information was freely drawn upon; in fact, I do not see that Prof. Keating did not fully avail himself of this opportunity to editorially embody in the narrative of 1823 the whole substance of the 1817 materials, in so far as Major Long went over the same ground in the two expeditions. But the earlier narrative contains considerable matter not pertinent to the later one, inasmuch as Major Long in 1817 traversed a long section of the Mississippi that he did not retrace in 1823. On this particular account, as well as for more general reasons, it was desirable and eminently fitting that Long's Expedition of 1817 should be published; and that was first done in long after-years by my friend, the late Rev. Edw. D. Neill, the veteran Minnesota historian, who received the MS. for this purpose from Dr. Edwin James, then of Burlington, Ia. (who d. Oct. 28th, 1861). As originally published under Dr. Neill's careful editorship, the article was entitled: "Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony in 1817. By Major Stephen H. Long, Topographical Engineer United States Army," and formed Part 1 of Vol. II. of the Minn. Hist. Coll., 1860 (about 80 pages); 2d ed. 1890, half-title and introductory note by E. D. N., one leaf; journal, pp. 9-83; map and appendix, prepared by A. J. Hill, pp. 84-88. Major Long's movements of 1817 occupied 76 days, of which the journal here printed covers the period from July 9th to Aug. 15th, both inclusive, or 38 days; as it picks up Major Long after his return to Prairie du Chien from a tour of the Fox-Wisconsin portage, takes him from that Prairie to the falls, and returns him to Bellefontaine, near the mouth of the Missouri. The objects of this voyage were to meander the upper Mississippi and take its topography, with special reference to the selection of military sites. It was performed in a boat furnished by Governor William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis. Its most important single result was the speedy occupation of the mouth of St. Peter's r. for a military post, at first called Fort St. Anthony, and in 1824 named Fort Snelling; but the narrative is replete with matter of permanent historical and scientific interest. Major Long was a conscientious, competent, and well-equipped explorer, as all three of his important and memorable expeditions attest. The present expedition is the only one of which we have the account from his own pen, as Dr. James and Prof. Keating, respectively, were the authors of the other two. Stephen Harriman Long, of New Hampshire, was appointed from that State a second lieutenant of Engineers Dec. 12th, 1814, and brevetted major of Topographical Engineers Apr. 29th, 1816, though his actual majority in that corps was not reached till July 7th, 1838. He became colonel Sept. 9th, 1861, was retired June 1st, 1863, and died at Alton, Ill., Sept. 4th, 1864.
[I-35] This Dubuque matter formed a part of Doc. No. 2 of App. to Part 1 of the orig. ed., p. 5, and will be found beyond: see [Chap. v. Art. 3]. The document was transmitted to General Wilkinson by Pike from Prairie du Chien.