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THE RED MEN OF IOWA.
Indians, they formed a trading-post there, but they very soon laid out a rival village, the site of which is now embraced in the northern part of that city. Dubuque also established a trading-post on the west side of the Mississippi above the place where McGregor is now situated. Six years after obtaining the grant of land from the Indians, he applied to Baron de Corondelet, the Spanish governor, to confirm his Indian grant, Spain then claiming sovereignty over the region west of the Mississippi. The governor referred Dubuque's petition to one Don Andrew Todd, a merchant, or trader, who recommended that the grant be confirmed with a restriction which prohibited Dubuque from trading with the Indians without the written consent of Don Andrew Todd himself, and the grant was so confirmed. Such, however, was the great favor with which Dubuque was regarded by theSacs and Foxes, that this restriction was practically void.
Dubuque died at the lead mines, March 24, 1810, and was buried on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi at the mouth of a small stream known as Catfish Creek. His grave was originally enclosed by a wall of roughly dressed limestone. This tomb, or vault, was surmounted by a cedar cross, with an inscription in French, which, as translated, read as follows: "Julien Dubuque, miner of the mines of Spain, died March 24, 1810, aged forty-five and a half years." This vault, with its leaden door, and the cross, were all to be seen for many years after the city of Dubuque had become a place of considerable importance. About the year 1853, some thoughtless persons tore down the cross and the vault, but an enterprising and expanding city stands as a perpetual monument to the
