truth possible, that the wood proper for enclosures and building, especially the cypress, has become so scarce in this post. that much difficulty is experienced in keeping up and repairing the estates, and for want of it, that many are in ruins and abandoned. In consideration of this, we beseech you sir, earnestly, to favor this post which is in danger of ruin, by granting it the common use of all the cypress and cypress swamps not already conceded, in whatever part they may be found; on all the bayoux or elsewhere. in the whole extent of its jurisdiction in every sense. exclusively of the land, to which we make no pretensions: in such sort that the concession if you shall deign to make it, may be a privilege common to every one of the inhabitants who'shall desire to make use of it, and to which no individual can derogate by subsequent demands: A favour which we confidently solicit from your beneficence. Opelousas, 20th August, 1796. Signed, &c. The demand which the subscribers make, is in the name of the public, and is so far calculated for the general good, that for want of the assistance demanded, many estates are in ruins. Opelou sas, 20th August, 1796. MN. DURALD, New Orleans, 12th April, 1797. Seeing the solid and just reasons stated, by all the Syndics and inhabitants of the post of Opelousas, which are supported by the commandant Don Martin Durald, not only by his information of the 20th of August, of the year last past, but also in his official letter No. 95 of the 14th of February, of the current year, with which my inclinations concur; I do grant in the terms requested, the common use of all the cypresses and cypress-swamps not heretofore granted in whatever place they exist, as well in the marshes as elsewhere through the whole extent of that jurisdiction, and in whatever direction they may be met with; under the express condition that although by this decree, the cypress swamps and cypresses are granted for the use of the inhabitants, the lands whereon they stand are not comprehended therein, they being excluded from the common use, which is confined expressly to the trees; it becoming the particular duty of the commandant and Syndics of the post, to take care that the inhabitants make the prudent use of this licence, which the wants of a well established society may require, and that they restrain the rapacious, who without regard to those wants, may waste and cut more cypresses than the repairs of their fences and the necessary buildings on their farms may demand. (Thus Signed) The BARON DE CARONDELET. No. 20. Renaut's Claim to Lead Mines in Upper Louisiana. To Frederick Bates, Esq. recorder of land titles for the territory of SIR, Louisiana. PLEASE to take notice, that I claim as a complete title for Jean Baptiste Francois Meynaud and Amelia Joseph Renaut his wife, of the empire of France, the lineal heir and legal representative of Mons. Renaut, "ancien directeur aux Illinois," the two following tracts of land, situate and lying within the district of St. Genevieve, in the territory aforesaid, specially, located and described in the words following, viz: (Here follows the description.) Which several tracts of land are of right, by legal inheritance, the property of the said Jean Baptiste Francois Meynaud and Amelia Joseph Renaut, by virtue of the original grant made "en franc alieu” (in liberum allodium) unto the said Mons. Renaut, the grandfather of the said Amelia Joseph Renaut, bearing date at Fort Chartres, the 14th day of June, 1723; a certified copy of which is hereunto annexed, and which I request you to record. St. Louis, 10th Feb. 1808. (Signed) SETH HUNT, Attorney to J. B. F. Meynaud and Amelia TRANSLATION. Year one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three, June fourteenth, granted to M. Renaut, in freehold, (en franc alleu) in order to make his establishments upon the mines: A league and a half of ground in front upon the Little Marameig and in the river Marameig, at the place of the first fork which leads to the Cabins called the Cabanage de Renaudiere, with a depth of six leagues, the river making the middle of the point of compass, and the small stream being perpendicular, as far as the place where the Sieur Renaut has his furnaces, and thence straight to the place called the Great Mine. One league in front, at Pimiteau, on the river of the Illinois facing the east, and adjoining to the lake, bearing the name of the Village, and on the other side to the banks opposite the Village, half a league above it, with a depth of five leagues, the point of compass following the Illinois river down the same upon one side, and ascending by the river of Arcouy, which forms the middle through the rest of the depth. Two leagues of ground on the mine called the mine of M. La Mothe, the front looking towards the north east, the prairie of the said mine, making the middle point of the two leagues. One league fronting on the Mississippi, at the place called the Great Marsh, adjoining on one side to the Illinois Indians, settled near Fort de Chartres, with a depth of two leagues; this place being the situation which has been granted to him for the raising of provisions, and to enable him to furnish them to all the settlements he shall make upon the mines. The day and year above written. At Fort de Chartres. (Signed) BOIS BRIANT, DES URSINS. [Renaut had left Louisiana in 1744, from which time till Mr. Hunt's application, no claim had been laid in his behalf to the two lead mines here described. By the 3d article of Crozat's patent, mines abandoned during three years, reverted to the crown. The subsequent document No. 22, shows, that Bois Briant and Des Ursins, were not authorised to make a complete title, a power reserved by the directors of the royal India (or Western) Company. No. 21. St. Vrain's (now John Smith's of T.) Claim to Lead Mines in Upper Louisiana. To the Baron de Carondelet, Knight of Malta, Brigadier of the Armics of the King, Governor General, Vice Patron of Louisiana and West Florida and Inspector of the Troops of the same. SIR, James Ceran Delassus de St. Vrain, formerly an officer of the royal French marine, with all due respect, has the honor to make known to you, that being obliged to emigrate to the United States, by circumstances unhappily too well known, having lost his fortune and his situation, he has followed his family to St. Genevieve and has associated himself to their lot, which your generous bounty and protection has been careful to ameliorate. The petitioner, during this interval, has had the good fortune to render himself useful to the government that has received him, by using all his efforts to shew his zeal, his activity and his devotedness against a party of French, who dared to menace the Spanish possessions. The knowledge of mineralogy, possessed by the petitioner, has induced his father to make over to him, the contract which he had formed with the government for the supply of a certain quantity of lead. With a view the more easily to fulfil the conditions entered into by his father with the intendant, to satisfy the government, and to place himself in circumstances which shall ensure to him at a future day, an honorable existence, the petitioner asks you to grant in full property, to him and to his heirs, ten thousand superficial arpens of land, with the special permission to locate it in separate pieces upon different mines, of whatever nature they may be, salines, mill seats and any other place that shall appear suitable to his interest; without, however, obliging him to make a settlement, which at the present moment he could not do with success, seeing that the execu tion of his different works requires great expense, and that the objects cannot be effected, except in places remote from population and exposed to the insults of the Indians. These are favors which the petitioner ventures to hope from your generous bounty and from your justice. St. Genevieve, 16th Nov. 1795. JACQUES DE ST. VRAIN. New Orleans, 10th Feb. 1796. Granted. THE BARON DE CARONDELET. Recorded in book No. 3, pages 28 and 29, of Feb. 28, 1806. Surveyor General of Louisiana. [Under this claim, John Smith of Tennessee, claims and occupies a number of lead mines, which he pretends a right to locate, from time to time, as new disco veries are made.] No. 22. Papers respecting Dubuque's and Chouteau's Claim to certain Lands and Lead Mines on the Mississippi, 500 miles above the Missouri. COPY of the council held by the Renards, (Foxes) that is to say, of the branch of five villages, with the approbation of the rest of their people, explained by Mr. Quinantotaye, deputed by them, in their presence and in ours: We the undersigned make known, that the Renards permit Mr. Julien Dubuque, called by them the Little Night, (la petite nuit) to work at the mine as long as he shall please and to withdraw from it, without specifying any term to him; moreover, that they sell and abandon to him all the coast and the contents of the mine discovered by the wife of Peosta, so that no white man or Indian shall make any pretensions to it without the consent of the Sieur Julien Dubuque; and in case he shaft find nothing within, he shall be free to search wherever it shall seem good to him, and to work peaceably without any one hurting him or doing him any prejudice in his labors. Thus we, chief and by the voice of all our villages, have agreed with Julien Dubuque, selling and delivering to him this day, as above mentioned. In presence of the Frenchmen who attend us who are witnesses to this writing. At the Prairie du Chien in full council, the 22d September, 1788. BLONDEAU. BASIL PIAR, his mark. BLONDEAU. QUIRNEAU TOBAGUE, his mark. JOSEPH SONTIGNY, witness. To his Excellency the Baron de Carondelet. The most humble petitioner, to your excellency, named Julien Dubuque having made a settlement upon the frontiers of your government, in the midst of the Indian nations who are the inhabitants of the country, has bought a tract of land from these Indians and the mines it contains, and by his perseverance has surmounted all obstacles as expensive as they were dangerous, and after many voy. ages, has come to be the peaceable possessor of a tract of land on the western bank, to which he has given the name of "Mines of Spain," in commemoration of the government to which he belongs. As the place of the settlement is but a point, and the different mines which he works, are scattered at a distance of more than three leagues from each other; your most humble petitioner prays your excellency to be pleased to grant him the peaceable possession of the mines and lands, that is to say from the coasts, above the little river Maquauquetois to the coasts of the Mesquabemanque, which forms about six leagues on the west bank of the Mississippi, by a depth of three leagues; which demand your most humble petitioner ventures to hope your goodness will be pleased to grant him. I beseech this same goodness, which forms the happiness of so many, to endeavor to pardon my style and to be pleased to accept the pure simplicity of my heart, in default of my eloquence. I pray heaven, with the whole of my power, that it may preserve you, and may load you with its benefits; and I am and shall be all my life your excellency's most humble, most obedient and most submissive servant. (Signed) New Orleans, 22d October, 1796. J. DUBUQUE. Let information be given by the merchant, Don Andrew Todd, on the nature of this demand. (Signed) THE BARON DE CARONDELET. |