CASCASQUIAS
The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias
[Kaskaskia] is by far the most
considerable settlement in the country of the Illinois, as well from its number
of inhabitants, as from its advantageous situation; it stands on the side of a small river, which
is about eighty yards across; its source
lies north-east, about sixty leagues from the village, and fifteen leagues east
of the remarkable rock of Peorya, and it empties itself with a gentle current
into the Missisippi [sic], near two
leagues below the village. This river is
a secure port for large batteaux, which can lie so close to its bank as to load
and unload without the least trouble; and at all seasons of the year there is
water enough for them to come up. It
must be observed here, that it is extremely dangerous for batteaux or boats to
remain in the Missisippi [sic], on
account of the bank falling in, and the vast number of logs and trees which are
sent down, with a violent force, by the rapidity of the current, as also on
account of the heavy gales of wind to which this climate is subject. Another great advantage that Cascasquias
receives from its river is the facility with which mills for corn and planks
may be erected on it: Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water-mills in this
country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascasquias, which was
both for grinding corn and sawing boards;
it lies about one mile from the village.
The mill proved fatal to him, being killed as he was working in it, with
two negroes, by a party of the Cherokees, in the year 1764. The principal buildings are, the church and
jesuits house, which has a small chapel adjoining to it; these, as well as some
other houses in the village, are built of stone, and, considering this part of
the world, make a very good appearance. The jesuits plantation consisted of two
hundred and forty arpens of cultivated
land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery; which was sold by the French
commandant after the country was ceded to the English, for the crown, in
consequence of the suppression of the order. Mons. Beauvais was the purchaser, who is the
richest of the English subjects in this country; he keeps eighty slaves; he
furnished eighty-six thousand weight of flour to the king's magazine, which was
only a part of the harvest he reaped in one year. Sixty-five families reside in this village,
besides merchants, other casual people, and slaves. The fort, which was burnt down in October
1766, stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village, and on the other
side of the river; it was an oblongular [sic] quadrangle, of which the exterior polygon measured two hundred and
ninety by two hundred and fifty-one feet; it was built of very thick squared
timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty soldiers are
quartered in the village. The officer
governs the inhabitants, under the direction of the commandant at fort Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia.
LA PRAIRE DE ROCHES
La Prairie De Roches [Prairie du
Rocher] is about seventeen miles from
Cascasquias; it is a small village, consisting of twelve dwelling-houses, all
which are inhabited by as many families; here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel
of ease to the church at Fort de Chartres. The inhabitants here are very industrious, and
raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. This village is two miles from Fort Chartres; it
takes its name from its situation, being built under a rock that runs parallel
with the river Missisippi at a league distance, for forty leagues up. Here is a company of militia, the captain of
which regulates the police of the village.
FORT CHARTRES
Fort Chartres when it belonged to France
was the seat of government of the Illinois; the head quarters of the English
commanding officer is now here, who is, in fact, the arbitrary governor of this
country. The fort is an irregular
quadrangle, the sides of the exterior polygon are four hundred and ninety feet;
it is built of stone and plaistered [sic] over, and is only designed as a defence against the Indians, the walls
being two feet two inches thick, and pierced with loop-holes at regular distances, and with two port-holes for cannon
in the faces, and two in the flanks of each bastion; the ditch has never been
finished; the entrance to the fort is through a very handsome rustic gate:
within the wall is a small banquette, raised three feet, for the men to stand
on when they fire through the loop-holes. The buildings within the fort are, the
commandant's and commissary's houses, the magazine of stores, corps de garde,
and two barracks; these occupy the square. Within the gorges of the bastions are, a
powder magazine, a bakehouse, a prison, in the lower floor of which are four
dungeons, and in the upper two rooms, and an out-house belonging to the
commandant. The commandant's house is
thirty-two yards long, and ten broad; it contains a kitchen, a dining-room, a
bed-chamber, one small room, five closets for servants, and a cellar. The commissary's house (now occupied by officers)
is built in the same line as this, its proportions and distribution of
apartments are the same. Opposite these
are the store-house and guard-house, they are each thirty yards long and eight
broad; the former consists of two large store-rooms (under which is a large vaulted
cellar) and a large room, a bed-chamber, and a closet for the store-keeper; the
latter, of a soldier's and officer's guard-rooms, a chapel, a bed-chamber and
closet for the chaplain, and an artillery store-room. The lines of barracks have never been
finished; they at present consist of two rooms each, for officers, and three
rooms for soldiers; they are good spacious rooms of twenty-two feet square, and
have betwixt them a small passage. There
are fine spacious lofts over each building which reach from end to end; these
are made use of to lodge regimental stores, working and intrenching [sic] tools, &c. It is generally allowed that this is the mod
commodious and best built fort in North America. The bank of the Missisippi, next the fort, is
continually falling in, being worn away by the current, which has been turned
from its course by a sand-bank, now
encreased [sic] to a considerable island
covered with willows: many experiments have been tried to stop this growing
evil, but to no purpose. When the fort
was began in the, year 1756, it was a good half mile from the water-side; in
the year 1766 it was but eighty paces; eight years ago the river was fordable
to the island, the channel is now forty feet deep. In the year 1764 there were about forty
families in the village near the fort, and a parish church, served by a Franciscan
friar, dedicated to St. Anne. In the following
year, when the English took possession of the country, they abandoned their houses,
except three or four poor families, and settled at the villages on the west
side of the Missisippi, chusing [sic] to continue under the French government.
SAINT PHILIPPE
Saint Philippe is a small village about
five miles from Fort Chartres, in the road to Kaoquias [Cahokia]; there are about sixteen houses and a small
church standing; all the inhabitants, except the captain of militia, deserted
it in 1765, and went to the French side: the captain of militia has about
twenty slaves, a good stock of cattle, and a water-mill for corn and planks.
This village stands in a very fine meadow, about one mile from the Missisippi.
KAOQIAS
The village of Sainte Famille de Kaoquias
[Cahokia] is generally reckoned
fifteen leagues from Fort Chartres, and six leagues below the mouth of the
river Missoury [Missouri]; it stands
near the side of the Missisippi, and is masked from the river by an island of
two leagues long; the village is opposite the center of this island; it is long
and straggling, being three quarters of a mile from one end to the other; it contains
forty-five dwelling-houses, and a church near its center. The situation is not well chosen, as in the
floods it is generally overflowed two or three feet. This was the first settlement on the river
Missisippi. The land was purchased of
the savages by a few Canadians, some of whom married women of the Kaoquias
nation, and others brought wives from Canada, and then resided there, leaving
their children to succeed them. The inhabitants
of this place depend more on hunting, and their Indian trade, than on
agriculture, as they scarcely raise corn enough for their own consumption: they
have a great deal of poultry and good stocks of horned cattle. The mission of St. Sulpice had a very fine
plantation here, and an excellent house built on it; they sold this estate, and
a very good mill for corn and planks, to a Frenchman who chose to remain under
the English government. They also disposed
of thirty negroes and a good stock of cattle to different people in the
country, and returned to France in the year 1764. What is called the fort is a
small house standing in the center of the village; it differs in nothing from
the other houses except in being one of the poorest; it was formerly enclosed
with high pallisades, but these were torn down and burnt. Indeed a fort at this place could be of but
little use. 1
Lord willing we
will take a look at more of the things of yore in my next post.
Christ, not man, is King!
Dale
