Location of Fort Crevecoeur

LOCATION OF

FORT CREVECOEUR

KT

DAN R. SHEEN

FKORIA, ILL.

Copyright 1919

by
I>HH H. Sheen, Peoria, 111.

Location of Fort Crevecoeur

by

DAN E. SHEEN
Peoria, 111.

FORT CREVECOEUE (pronounced Cravekur) was the first struc-
ture erected by white men in what is now known as the State of Illinois.
It was built in the year 1680, by Rene Robert Cavalier, who was en-
nobled by King Louis the Fourteenth of France as Sieur de LaSalle,
aided by thirty-one other Frenchmen who came with him from Fort
Frontenac, now at Kingston, in Canada; and, also, by some of that part
of the tribe of Illinois Indians that occupied the two villages, on each
side of the Illinois River, near a place then called "Peoria", where he
landed and built the Fort. He began the work on the fifteenth day of
January, 1680, and the fort was practically completed on the twenty-
second day of March of the same year, when he left his Lieutenant,
Henry de Tonty, in charge of it and, taking with him two canoes and
six men, went back to Fort Frontenac (Illinois Historical Collections,
Vol. 1, pages 87 and 131). A few days after his departure he sent
word back to Tonty to build a fort at Starved Rock, near Ottawa, and
Tonty went up there for that purpose with some of his men. Those
who remained at the fort, stripped the place of everything valuable,
and threw what they could not carry into the river. It is generally
believed that they burned the fort; but, the Iroquois Indians on the
tenth of September of that year waged war against the Illinois Indians,
for whose protection in part LaSalle said, in getting their permission
to build the fort, it was to be built ; and, it is probable that in the battle
between those tribes, at that time, the fort was burned. Tonty tells of
the desertion of his men, and says that they left him stripped of every-
thing, but he does not say they burned the fort, something he would
have been apt to mention if it had occurred (Vol. 1, Illinois Historical
Collections, Pages 80, 81 and 132). During the two hundred and thir-
ty-nine years that have since elapsed, history, conjecture, and tradi-
tion, have been so confused that the site of the fort has become lost.

FIVE ALLEGED SITES EXIST

That the fort was built on the east side of the River at Peoria is
no longer questioned. The writings of those who saw Fort Crevecoeur
show the following facts.

First : It was a league from Pimiteoui.

Second: It was half a league from Omaha's camp.

Third: It was an hour's ride in a canoe below ice on the
river in March, 1680.

Fourth : It was defended on one side by the river.

Fifth : It had a marsh in front of it.

Sixth: The main bank of the river was 200 paces from it.

Seventh: The river in the rainy season spread to it.

Eighth: It was near the Indian villages were LaSalle
landed.

Ninth: It was on a " Little Mound" or "Knoll" or "Hil-
lock" or "Eminence."

Tenth : It was adjoining woods.

Eleventh: It had wide deep ravines, made by rains, on two
sides of it and on part of another side.

Twelfth: It was near water that did not freeze much in
winter.

These facts must all concur to establish the location of the site. All
five of the alleged sites are on the east side of the river opposite the
City of Peoria. Two of them are on the top of the bluffs about five
miles apart. The lower hill site is opposite the lower end of the City
of Peoria, and the upper hill site about opposite the dividing line be-
tween the City of Peoria and the Village of Averyville. There are
three alleged sites in the Valley, all at a lower altitude of at least one
hundred and fifty feet, and all close to the river. The first site selected
in the Valley was where Wesley City stands. Mr. Charles Ballance, a
resident of Peoria from 1831 to his death in 1873, published a history
of Peoria County shortly before his death fixing Wesley City as the
real site. About the year 1902 the Peoria Chapter of the D. A. R.
located the lower hill site at a point a little below Wesley City, and
a quarter of a mile or more back from the river. They placed a stone
monument, suitably inscribed, upon it . About the same time the Peoria
Historical Association established the upper hill site, about half a mile
back from the river or lake, and also marked the place with a stone
monument suitably inscribed. About the year 1910 in the Village of
East Peoria, about equi-distant from the hill sites, the writer selected
one of the valley sites. The other valley site was located by Arthur
Lagron, a French engineer and surveyor of Peoria, about the year
1913, in a Railroad yard a little above Wesley City. These five sites

a

we will call respectively, the WESLEY CITY SITE, the LOWER
HILL SITE, the UPPER HILL SITE, the EAST PEORIA SITE, and
Hie RAILROAD YARD SITE.

RELIABLE DATA CONCERNING THE SITE

Father Louis Hennepin was the historian of the LaSalle enterprize.
He -published two accounts of it; the first at Paris in 1683, entitled
"Description de La Louisane"; and, the other in two volumes pub-
lished in Utrecht in 1697 and 1698 entitled "A NEW DISCOVERY."
The first publication was not translated into English until the year
1880. It is found in Volume 1, Illinois Historical Collection, pages
46 to 95 inclusive. The second account is published by Reuben Gold
Thwait. Both are in the Peoria Public Library. La&alle did not pub-
lish a connected account of his discoveries. His writings are frag-
mentary, but are complete for the purpose of locating the site of the
fort. Henry de Tonty was LaSalle 's lieutenant, and his writings are
meagre. They are principally a short memoir, found in said Volume 1,
pages 128 to 164 inclusive, covering a period from 1678 to 1693, and
inclade the murder of LaSalle in what is now the State of Texas, in
March, 1687, by three of his voyageurs, Duhault (or Duhaut), Lanctot
(or Liotot) and Heinz. Father Zenobius Membre was one of the three
Catholic Friars who accompanied LaSalle. He was a guest of Chief
Omaha, whose camp was half a league from Fort Crevecoeur, while
the fort was being 'built, and made frequent visits to the fort. He
wrote somewhat about the fort. Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin was
appointed by the French court to be hydrographer, to furnish a map
of LaSalle 's discoveries along the Illinois and Mississippi valleys. He
made a map in 1684, under the auspices of LaSalle, having commenced
it in 1679. It was six feet long and four and one-half feet wide and
showed among other things the valley and the river at Peoria, and the
hills adjoining, and pictured Fort Crevecoeur as located in the valley
upon the river. The original of the map became lost, but a copy of it
is to be found in Parkman's "LaSalle and the Great Northwest";
and, also in "Jesuit Relations", Vol. 63; and, also, in Vol. 1 "Chicago
and its Builders." These copies are all alike, and we furnish a copy
of one of them. Those five persons LaSalle, Hennepin, Tonty, Membre,
and Franquelin, are the only ones known to have seen the fort or its
ruins who tell us where it was located. They do not contradict each
other about it, and need no corroboration. Hearsay, and conjecture,
cannot be used to contradict them. A great many writers, most of them
born more than a hundred years after the fort was destroyed, have
expressed opinions about its location, among whom are Aubry, Bal-

3

lance, Bancroft, Beckwith, Breese, Brown, Coxe, Charlevoix, Craig,
Drown, Davidson and Stuve, Edwards, Falconer, Ferris, Flint, Ford,'
French, Gayerre, Gale, Gravier, Hosmer, Leclercq, Marest, Mason[
Matson, McLaughlin, McCulloch, Margry, Moses, John Moses, Park-
man, Peck, Perkins, Reynolds, Rice, Shea, Sparks, Thevenot, Winsor,
Zotz, Chicago Tribune, November 15th, 1889, and Chicago Tribune,
February 24th, 1895.

FIRST, THE FORT A LEAGUE FROM PIMITEOUI
LaSalle, as found in Margry, Vol. 2, page 247, speaking of the
width of the Illinois River said, "But at different places as at Pimiteoui,
A Jeague east of Crevecoeur, and two or three other places," etc. This
gives the distance that the fort was from Pimiteoui, and indicates that
the word "Pimiteoui" as here used means a Village. That Pimiteoui
was not only a lake which extended from the Narrows above Peoria
to near Lacon, in Marshall County, but was also a Village probably
located on ten mile creek which empties about mid-way The Narrows,
appears by a photo of a map possessed by the writer obtained from
the Public Archives of Canada, at Ottawa. The Narrows is a strait
connecting the Lake opposite Peoria with the one above it, and is about
a mile and a half long. At that point, in early days of modern settle-
ment, there was a place called "Little Detroit," beautifully situated for
an Indian village, which we think was formerly the village of Pimiteoui.
Sometimes the Village was mentioned by the early writers, and some-
times the Lake. As for instance, LaSalle speaking of his second trip
down the River, as stated in Margry, Vol. 2, page 133, says, "On ar-
riving at Pimiteoui or Crevecoeur were found the remains of the de-
•Struction of the deserters." Here the fort seems connected with the
'village, and the Village must be referred to because in the Lake there
could be no remains of the destruction of the deserters. Phillip Francis
Rehault, director general of the mines of the company of the Indies,
jand formerly a banker in Paris, obtained several concessions or tracts
of land in 1723, one of which was described as: "One league at front
at Pimiteau, on the Illinois River facing the east and adjoining the
lake bearing the name of the Village, and on the other side of the banks
of the village for half a league above it, with a depth of five leagues,
the point of the compass following the Illinois River down the same
upon one side, and ascending by the river Arcary which forms the
middle through the rest of the depth." (History of Peoria City and
County (Rice's Vol. 1, page 34). We quote from the same history
as follows: "Here we have the fact well authenticated by a grant of
land based thereon that in 1723 there existed at Pimiteoui a village

hearing the same name as the lake upon which it was situated. Whether
or not this is the same village mentioned l>y Marquette, St. Cosme, and
Greviere, does not appear. But that it was a French village can
scarcely be doubted. This grant of land made June 14th, 1723, was
considered in Congress, and is a matter of record there, and is part
of the registry of lands entered in Kdwardsville, in 1820, by Edward
Coles, register. He made report to congress that year stating among
other things that Charlotte Troge, nee St. Francois, laid claim to a
lot containing two argents situated two miles above Fort Clark, near
"OLD FORT PKORIA." This claim was under what was known as
''Ancient Grants," which preceded all recorded title and was also recog-
nized by Congress."

LaSalle wrote to one of his friends, as found in -Margry, 2nd Vol.
of date September 29, 1(>80, as follows: "We went four days towards
the quarter south of the southwest of the river and arrived the fifth
day of January at a place called by the natives "Pimiteoui." They
wanted us to settle among them but we answered we could not on
account of the Iroquois who were subjects of the King, but asked for
permission to build a fort to help them to defend their rights in case
the Iroquois would attack them. To this they agreed, and after some
discussion we decided to build the fort. ' ' The word ' ' Pimiteoui ' ' means
a place of "fat beasts," and would not apply to a body of water, with-
out the word lake attached. When therefore, LaSalle says, "As at
Pimiteoui a league east of Crevecoeur, he evidently referred to the
village of Pimiteoui and not to the lake of that name. The river Arcary
above mentioned, was the Kickapoo Creek, and as the distance from
the land claimed by Charlotte Troge was situated two miles above Fort
(Mark, and as the River Arcary was the "middle through the rest of
the depth" and the depth was five leagues, extending one league above
Pimiteoui on one side and half a league on the other side of the river,
it would follow that there would l>e about two leagues between
Pimiteoui and the Kickapoo Creek. Two leagues would be six miles,
and that is the distance from the lower en-.l of the lake above Peoria
to the Kickapoo Creek; and from the supposed Village on Ten Mile
Creek, to the Kickapoo Creek. This would place the lower end of Lake
Pimiteoui, and the Village of Pimiteoui, at the upper end of the Nar-
rows; and, a league west of that point would be where the Kast Peoria
site of the Fort is located. But, assuming, as has hem m-nerally done,
that Lake Pimiteoui, and not the Village Pimiteoui, was meant, the
result will IK? the same; for, Lake Pimiteoui as described by LaSalle.
in Margry. Second Volume, is as follows:

"After pas>ing the Chassanaonh River, which is ten leagues or

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twenty-four and four-fifths miles from Fort St. Louis, at the right side
of the river going down about seventeen miles below, is Lake Pimiteoui,
which is eighteen to nineteen miles Jong and about three miles wide
at the widest point. Lake Pimiteoui is formed by three Lakes which
have communication with each other by as many straits. The first lake
is bordered at the west by nice fields, and at the east by timber the
base of which is in water. These timbers extend to the bottom of the
hills. All along the three lakes, the river is bordered with real heavy
timbers, on the east and southeast. The smallest lake, or center lake,
extends more to the west side shore which shore is formed by pretty
tall hills also covered with timber. From the third lake some fields
can be seen. From there the river gets smaller and narrower until it
reaches another small lake between two chains of hills. These hills are
sometimes further away from, and at other times nearer to the river
bank, leaving between them and the river, a long space covered with
timbers intersected by swamps. These swamps are flooded over when-
ever the water gets higher on account of heavy rain. At about two
miles and a half below the Lake Pimiteoui on the left side going down,
the bank of the river is all covered by timber, and the shore is gradually
sloping down towards the bank of the river, until it reaches the foot
of the hill."

LaSalle has here described the three lakes so accurately that there
can be no mistake in saying that the island at Chillicothe, which is
a mile and a half long, creates two of the straits that connect the upper
two lakes. To leave out that island there could be only two straits
between the three connected lakes. From the island upwards the state-
ment describes the first or northerly lake as now found, allowing for
the fill of two hundred and thirty-nine years. From the island down
the description of the middle lake is accurate. Then from a point near
Rome down to the Narrows is a good description of the fine fields that
border the third lake or the one just above the Narrows north of Peoria.
This arrangement puts a small lake in the center. Having said that from
Fort St. Louis to Lake Pimiteoui is twenty-four and four-fifths miles
plus seventeen miles, or practically forty-two miles, we must commence
at the latter point for the head of the lake. The Federal Government
in 1902 made measurements of, and borings in the Illinois River which
show that Fort St. Louis, which was at Starved Rock is two hundred and
thirty-one miles above the mouth of the Illinois River. Deducting the
forty-two miles mentioned, would bring us to a point one hundred and
eighty-nine miles above the mouth of the river. Lacon and Sparlattd
are opposite each other on different sides of the river, and the last
mentioned point would be between them. Lake Pimiteoui being

6

eighteen or nineteen miles long, its lower end, measured as nineteen
miles, would be at a point one hundred and seventy miles above the
mouth of the river or about two miles above the lower end of the lake
above the Narrows. This difference of two miles can be accounted for
in whole or in part by the fact that the government measurements fol-
low the thread of the river which is somewhat tortuous, and the dis-
tance measured would be, in that way, longer than measured in a
straight line or even as run according to canoe travel, two hundred and
thirty-nine years ago. Lake Pimiteoui can not be stretched so as to
reach the lower lake opposite Peoria, nor so as to make of it four lakes
instead of three. The Narrows being one mile and one-half long, and
the lake opposite Peoria two and one-half miles long, the inclusion of
these four miles would make Lake Pimiteoui that distance too long,
and preclude the finding of a bank of the river two and one-half miles
below it on the left hand side going down, covered by timber, and the
shore gradually sloping toward the bank of the river from the foot of
the hills. Two and one-half miles below the lake opposite Peoria on
the left hand side going down are found steep hills adjoining the river
while the gradual slope mentioned is two and a half miles below the lake
above Peoria. The borings by the government, as shown by the sheets
of survey in the offices at the county seat along the river prove that at
Lacon the fill in the river is four feet of mud, twelve feet of sand and
two feet of gravel. From the island at Chillicothe up the river, for the
tight or ten miles to Lacon, natural streams of water flow into the river
such as Senatchwine, McLaughlin and Gimlet creeks from the west and
Crow creek and Strawn creek from the east which for the past two hun-
dred and thirty-nine years have been carrying detritrus into the river.
Along that line are ponds and byous not yet filled, in the valley called
"Swan Lake," Big Meadow Lake, Mud Lake, Gar Lake, Goose Pond,
Whitmans Lake, Bab's Slough, Sawyer's Slough, Horshon Slough,
Douglas Slough, McQueen Pond, Rice Pond, Round Pond, etc.,
which are evidently the remains of a lake that extended from I^acon
to Chillicothe in lf>80, and from Lacon upward prior to that time.
Treating Like Pimiteoui as ending above the Narrows at Peoria, niea-
iir'mg one league l>elow, will nearly reach the East Peoria site of
Crevecoeur. But, we would have to go about a league further down the
river to reach any of the three sites at and near Wesley City. We
therefore contend that whether we measure a league from the Village of
Pimiteoui, or from the Lake Pimiteoui, the Kast Peoria site will fit the
record, and that this is not true, of any of the other sites. The upper
hill site would not be half a league from the probable location of the
Village of Pimiteoui nor from the Lake of that name.

SECOND, THE FORT HALF A LEAGUE FROM OMAHA'S CAMP

Hennepin, in his first publication, as found in Volume 1, Illinois
Historical Collections, pages 77 to 91, after describing the fort, says:
"Father Zenobel (M ombre), who had desired to have the great mis-
sion of the Illinois, composed of about seven or eight thousand souls,
began to weary of it. We spoke about it to Sieur de LaSalle who made
a present of three axes to the Father's Host by name "Omaha", that
is to say the wolf, who was Chief of a family or tribe in order that he
might take care to maintain the father whom this father called his son,
and who lodged him and considered him as one of his children. This
father, who was only half a league from the fort, came to explain to
us" the subject of his troubles.."

THIRD, AN HOUR'S RIDE IN A CANOE TO ICE IN MARCH, 1680

LaSalle in Margry, Vol. 2, page 55, says: "I embarked with six
Frenchmen in two canoes, the river being open in front of the fort.
But we had not gone an hour until we had found ice. I believe the lack
of the current and the place was the cause of the ice remaining so long,
and did not want to quit my canoes. We made two sleds and dragged
our equipment and canoes upon them and drew them to the, end of the
lake which is seven or eight leagues long." The distance from the
Wesley City sites to the lower end of the lake opposite Peoria by way
of the river, is about three miles, and it has been assumed by the advo-
cates of those sites that it was in the lake opposite Peoria where
LaSalle found the ice. This cannot be true because he could not draw
his canoes from the lower end of the lake opposite Peoria to the upper
lake above the Narrows as the Narrows has never been known to
freeze over, and, the current there was certainly swifter at that time
than it is now. The east shore of the lake opposite Peoria, on account
of Spring Water that flows there, would certainly be free from ice at
that time, and hence there would be no need to drag the sleds there.
Colonel James M. Rice, author of the first ten chapters of a late publi-
cation, known as "Peoria County and City" in Chapter 5 on page 28,
speaking of this fact, says, "The numerous springs coming into the
river would keep it (the river) open and free from ice a much greater
part of the year, than it would be a little further up." Treating the
current at the Narrows as being swift enough to carry the eight canoes
of LaSalle and his company to the shore, as stated by LaSalle and
Ilennepin, and considering the fact that the spring water along the
east shore has been carried in artificial channels, toward the lake, in-
stead of being allowed to follow the natural course that it would take
before the two hundred and thirty-nine years of fill have deflected it,

8

and it is reasonably certain that the swift current of the Narrows met
the spring water along the east side of the lake opposite Peoria, and
thus, the lake opposite Peoria, or the point from Pimiteoui whether
Jake or village, downward, was open for canoe travel. Canoes paddled
up stream would make only about three miles an hour, and from the
East Peoria site to the upper end of the Narrows would be about that
distance; while, from Wesley City the distance would be about six
miles. The Indians were traveling in their canoes up that side of the
lake to their camp that winter which is conceded to have been just be-
low the Narrows, as Hennepiu says (Illinois Historical Collection, Vol.
1, pages 91 and 95). LaSalle's statement, that, "We had not gone an
hour until we had found ice," makes the time less than an hour, and
from Wesley City would require the canoe speed through a strong cur-
rent at the mouth of the lake opposite Peoria, and also at the Narrows
to be at the rate of about six miles an hour. There is no reason for the
assumption that the east side of the lake was impassable for canoe
travel on March 22nd opposite the present City of Peoria where it was
free for the young warrior that Hennepin says paddled past the fort
that winter, and for the hunting party that Henuepin tells about meet-
ing on the last day of February on his way down to the Mississippi.

FOURTH, IT WAS DEFENDED ON ONE SIDE BY THE RIVER

Hennepin in his second account of Fort Crevecoeur, as found in
"A New Discovery" by Ruben Gold Thwait, page 170, says, "LaSalle
desired me to go down the river with him to choose a place to build
a fort. We pitched upon an eminence on the bank of the river defended
on one side by the river." This defense by the river on one side, is not
contradicted by any person, or any fact, so far as we know. LaSalle
and Hennepin both speak of the fortification on three sides of the foil,
but never mention the fortification on the river side.

FIFTH, IT HAD A MARSH IX FRONT OF IT

Francis Park man, author of "LaSalle and the Discovery of the
fJreat West" took several trips to Paris and saw document- there
about LaSalle. and the fort that are not yet translated into English. On
page 159 he says: "In the middle of .January a thaw broke up the ice
which had closed the river, and he (LaSalle) set out in a canoe with
Hennepin to visit the site he had chosen for his projected fort. It was
half a league below the camp on a low hill or knoll, two hundred yards
from the southern bank. On either side was a deep ravine and in fnnil
a HHirshi/ tract overflowed at high water. This marshy tract will be
found at the East Peoria site, where it still overflows in high water on
the river side of the site.

SIXTH, THE MAIN IIAXK OF THE RIVER WAS JOG PACES

FROM IT

I irimepin, iii both of his accounts of the fort, gives us this distance.
We quote from his first account Illinois Historical Collection, Vol 1,
page 87, "It was a little mound about two hundred paces distant from
the river." This is an apparent contradiction of the statement made
in his second account where he says, "The fort was built on the bank
of the river, and was defended on that side by the river," but along
this part of the river are many arms extending upward which are part
of it; and, between which and the river proper are ridges. The fort
being on a marsh, it was evidently built on one of these arms, and the
statement that the river, "In the season of the rains extends to the
foot of it" explains what is meant by the river spreading to the foot
of the fort in high water by overflowing the ridge.

SEVENTH, THE RIVER IN THE RAINY SEASON SPREAD

TO IT

Hennepin, in his first account said it did so. Illinois Historical
Collection, Vol. 1, page 87. Other proof can be quoted but there is no
contradiction of the above. The river covered the ridge and the swamp
as it is doing at this writing, March 23, at the East Peoria site.

EIGHTH, THE FORT WAS NEAR THE INDIAN VILLAGE
WHERE LA SALLE LANDED

' Hennepin says in his first publication that La Salle said that he
had found a "post easy of defense * * Near the Village" (Ibid
page 87). Its alleged purpose was to "defend them (the Indians)
provided they permitted us to build a fort" (Ibid page 81). The
Indians "accepted all our proposals and said they "would assist us
all they could" (Ibid page 81). To say that any one of the three
Wesley City sites is near the Village where La Salle landed, or near
the village on the opposite side of the river, is unreasonable. The
distance would not only be four miles, but between the village and
those sites is Farm Creek, which is often a raging river. The creek
is twelve miles long, skirted most of the way by. steep hills, and would
l>e impassable for fugitive Indians old and young after a heavy rain.

NINTH, THE FORT WAS BUILT ON A LITTLE MOUND

The fort was not only built on a mound, but the mound was a
"little" one, so Hennepin says in his first account. Illinois Historical
Collection, Vol. 1, page 87. LaSalle said it was on "a little elevation"
or "knoll" (see letter quoted), Hennepin also uses the word "em-

10

inence" in speaking of it (Ibid 87). He uses the word "hills" re-
peatedly (Ibid, pages 59, 02, G3). If the fort was built on the hill why
did he not use that word instead of saying it was built on a "little
mound", an eminence or on what La Salle calls a knoll? The answer
is he did not for the same reason that Franquelin pictured the hills,
and the valley, and did not place the fort on a hill. We present
Franquelin's map showing the hills, the valley, the lake and the fort.

11

TENTH, IT WAS BUILT ADJOINING WOODS

Ilennepiu speaking of the fort in his first account says: "The
forge 'was set up along the curtain which faced the wood" (Ibid, page
SS). There are fine woods on one side of the East Peoria site.

ELEVENTH, IT ADJOINED WIDE DEEP RAVINES, MADE BY

RAINS

Hennepin says in his first report tjiat "two broad deep ravines
protected two other sides and part of the fourth" (Ibid, page 87). And
in his second account says: The fort was "defended on one side by
the river and on two others by two ditches the rains had made very
deep by succession of time." These ravines or ditches were made by
rains and preclude the idea of being wide deep hollows such as adjoin
the two hill sites. To have been made by rains the ravines must be
upon a lower level so as to be subject to a current of water coming
down into them and this would imply a side hill site, or a valley site,
and not a site surrounded by natural hollows on a high plateau
where no current of rain water could accumulate to make wide and
deep ravines.

TWELFTH, THE FORT WAS ON WATER THAT IN WINTER
DID NOT FREEZE MUCH

This is proved by two facts narrated by Hennepin. First, he tells
of a young warrior who carne to the fort in his canoe and "passed
to our ship-yard." "He was returning from the lower part of the
river Colbert (Mississippi) in his periagua" (canoe). This must have
been in the winter because Hennepin left on February 29th and the
building of the fort and boat began the middle of January, Illinois
Historical Collection, Vol 1, pages 87, 91 and 95. Second, When Hen-
nepin and his two companions were on their way down the Illinois
they met "several parties of the Islinois returning to their village
in their periaguas loaded with meat." These Indians tried to per-
suade them to return and the boatmen with him were disposed to do
so but "they would have had to pass by Fort Crevecoeur where our
Frenchmen would have stopped them" (Ibid, page 95) and so they
pursued their way. Having met these Indian who were going to their
village in canoes loaded with meat so close past Fort Crevecoeur that
they could be stopped by the men at the Fort, where was the channel
that they would traverse in so doing? and where was "their Village!"
Is it not plain that the "young warrior" and these parties of Indians
were going up in a channel of spring water that flowed close to the
Fortf And that the channel was free from ice in the winter!

12

DESCRIPTION OF THE FORT

The fort has I .ecu so accurately described that if the site on which
it was built can be produced its reconstruction would be easy. The
channel of spring water that passed by it in the marsh, and the exten-
sion of .that channel down to the foot of the lake opposite Peoria where
it met the strong current of the river at that place, and the extension
of that channel up to Omaha's camp, and the connection of it with
the strong current of the water from the Narrows that then as now
flowed directly toward the camp cannot be reproduced; but all this
can be shown by borings that will show the fill of these channels made
by 239 years wash from the higher levels. The two ravines can be
opened up and the decayed timbers that extended along their inner
sides, to hold the madrier in place at the bottom, and the decayed
madrier as well as cross pieces extending to the stockade on the outer
side of the ravines, with the evidence of the logs between which the
bottoms of the stockades were placed, the channel in the fort for the
ingress and egress of the eight canoes, and the basin where they were
kept, the boat yard where the boat 42 feet keel and twelve broad was
built, the locations at the angles of the fort where the barracks were,
and where were placed the chapel and blacksmith shop, and LaSalle
and Tonty's hut, with the willow drains (not mentioned) to carry off
the surface water, can be reproduced, just as described by LaSalle
and Hennepin. Their descriptions are alike, except in a few minor
details which are not in both. We need only give LaSalle 's description
to get a complete idea of it. LaSalle in the letter dated September 29th
above referred to in Margry, second volume, says :

"On the fifteenth of January a great thaw set in which rendered
the river navigable from Pimiteoui to the spot selected to build the
fort. It was a little elevation or knoll about six hundred and sixty feet
(3 arpents) from the bank, at the foot of which the river extended in
the time of heavy rain$. Two ravines, deep and large, protected the
two sides of the fort and the fourth to about one-half, which we finished
as a protection by a ditch that 'met the two ravines. We fortified the
other sides of the ravines with heavy chevaux defrise and made tin-
sides slope down very steeply. With the dirt that we were getting
therefrom we built a breastwork on the high place, high enough to cov-
er our men. The whole we covered from the base of the knoll to the top
of the breastwork, the base of which was supported by long pieces of
wood all around the elevation. The top of the madrier were held l'a-t
by other pieces of wood that extended from the thickness at the breast-
work. In front of these works we planted all over long, pointed piles
twenty-five feet high and one foot in diameter, and three feet deep in

13

tin* ground, bolted to the cross pieces of wood that were holding fast
the top of the heavy pieces of timber, with a counter-sink of two feet
and one-half in length to prevent any surprize from the enemy. We
left the summit of the knoll as it was, the form of which was an irregu-
lar square. We placed barracks in two of the angles for our men so
that they would always be ready in case of an attack. In a third angle
facing the woods, we placed the forge. The chapel for the recollects
or missionaries on the fourth angle and the hut for Sieur, Tonty and
myself in the center of the place."

Upon none of the sites except the East Peoria site can the fort
be reconstructed. If we treat the hollows at the sides of the sites as
ravines made by rains, the outer slopes of the hollows must be fortified
with cheveaux de frise and the inner sides of them cut down steeply
and the earth thus obtained thrown up for breastworks and supported
by madrier (heavy sawed timbers) held in place at their base by long
pieces of wood, and at the top by horizontal pieces of timber bolted
(pegged) to the palisade or stockade twenty-five feet high that was
planted "in front." These hollows cannot be thus used. The bar-
racks would be useless (at diagonal angles of course) because the hill
would shut out from them the view of a great part of the stockade.
The blacksmith shop would be in one hollow and the chapel in the
other with no place for the ship yard and the hut for La Salle and
Tonty would be in the "center of the place," that is on top of a steep
hill. The river would be a quarter of a mile away from the lower hill
site and half a mile from the upper hill site. We venture to say that
if a contract were made with a competent person to reconstruct Fort
Oreveceour on either hill site according to the original plan he would
throw up both hands and the job, and say that it is impossible and
impracticable. This power to reconstruct is we think the acid test of
the site for if the fort will not fit the place: and if the place is more
or less than a. leaarue from Pimiteau: and more or less than half a
league from Omaha's camp; and more than an hours ride in a canoe
from obstructing ice in March: and is not defended in any way on one
side bv the river; and has no marsh in front of it; and the main bank of
the river is more or less than 200 paces away, and the river never
spreads over to it; and it is not near the Indian villages where LaSalle
landed; and it is not a mound (French name tetre) but a high hill ; and
had no ravines on the sides made by rains, these missing essentials
should cause one to suspect that probably the fort was built some other
place. If the fort could be reconstructed it would be the only French
and Indian fort in Illinois, and would be educational as well as an in-
teresting memento. A very full description of such forts is found in
Illinois Historical Collection, Vol. 1, page 182.

14

UPPER HILL SITE

If La8alle and his flotilla were carried by the force of the current
to the shore, at the middle of the village, the upper hill site would be
directly above that point on top of the hill and would be only half a
mile instead of half a league away. This being so if Ilennepin instead
of saying as he did that "La Salle desired me to go down the rircr
with him to choose a place to build a fort" and "jve proceeded with
one of our canoes to the place" he had said they proceeded in one of
their canoes up to the top of the hill, there would be that much to
support the claim of the Upper Hill site.

The reasons why neither location on the hill can be accepted as
true, are:

First: No one who saw the Fort says it was built on a hill.

Second: The sites on the hill have on each side hollows that are
about one hundred fifty feet deep, and about three hundred feet across
at the top, and the exterior slopes of these hollows, if they are to be
treated as "wide deep ravines" were not formed by rains, and could
not have been fortified on their "exterior slopes with cheveaux de
friese," or have planks doweled from the Madrier to the stockade, or
have the stockade so placed as to make the construction of the fort a
practicable defense.

Third: There is no place on the hill for a boat yard in which to
keep the eight canoes, or to build the ship "42 ft. keel and 12 ft."
broad, which was being built while they were building the fort, nor
could they be left at a boat yard at the river a quarter of a mile or
half a mile from the fort.

Fourth: If the exterior of the slopes of the ravines or hollows,
are to be treated as the boundary of the Fort, the barracks could not
ho placed in two angles thereof, a chapel in the third, and blacksmith
shop in the fourth as is shown was done, and be practical.

Fifth: Water for drinking, cooking, washing, etc., could not be
carried up for the white men, to say nothing of the Indians who were
evidently working at the fort, and be kept from freezing from January
15th, when they commenced building the Fort, until the following
Spring. For these and other reasons the sites on the hill must he
treated as the sites of fortifications of the Mound Builders, many of
which may be found elsewhere also on the tops of the hills in Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and other places as shown by
the second chapter of "Scribner's History" of the United States, and
by various works devoted to Mound Builders.

15

THE EAST PEOBTA SIT I!

At tlu» end of the lake, exactly at the place where Franquelin
marks the location of Fort Crevecoeur, at a point about five hundred
feet from the main bank of the river at its high water stage, which was
probably the only stage known to Hennepin, and adjoining heavy woods
on the hill side, with a deep ravine on one side, and another ravine
on part of two side^, in the Village of East Peoria about on a line with
Fayette Street in Peoria if extended, is the East Peoria valley site, of
Fort Crevecoeur. Within its limits are two springs of clear cold water
issuing from a bank of gravel, the perpetual flow of each of which
will more than fill a six inch pipe. One spring is surrounded by high
banks in the shape of a heart. A large log about two feet wide, hewed
on the top, is laid practically on a level, in this spring from one side
toward the other, reaching to the center of the depression, the bank of
which at its upper end is about ten feet high. The end of this log at the
center of the spring is under a willow stump. The upper surface of the
log had five notches cut across it, as if used for the water to pour over
from a dam, which it made. From the bank of the spring at the end
of the log, is a sort, of "Dug Way" from the upper level to the log,
as if made for persons to come down upon the log, to catch the water
in vessels as it flowed through the notches. That this heart shape to
the Spring was artificially made is shown by the fact that on the side
opposite the log, in cleaning out the Spring, a curved log was found
fitted in tinder the embankment, and back of the log oak boards with
saw marks straight across them. The side of the spring where the log
extends from the willow stump to the bank, has not been dug out, but
the log has been uncovered and is falling into decay very rapidly.
Adjoining this curved log under the water, was found a large quantity
of what seemed to be saw dust, extending from the curved log to the
ends of posts standing upright in the spring water, rotted off to the
surface of the water. LaSalle may have tried to give the name to his
location, and preserve it, by the shape of the construction of this Spriim.
The name of the man who uncovered the notched log, and took out tin1
curved log and the supposed saw dust, is Joseph Wade. He lives and
has lived in Peoria for over forty years.

At the north-east angle, covered by spring water, lias been found,
and is now to be seen, the sills of a structure, the exact size of some
of which has not yet been determined, because large willow trees are
growing over or close to them. The middle sill is about fourteen feet
from the outer one, and has planks against its outer side below water
line. The outer one of the sills is hewed, and is aibout'thirty feet long,
and about twelve inches by eighteen square, and on its side toward the

16

river has a shoulder cut into the side horizontally, about four inches
and perpendicularly about six inches extending its full length. On the
line about 100 feet west of this sill, at a depth of about eight feet under
the surface of the ground, Mr. J. P. Gumming, a well borer, of East
(Peoria recently found two feet of timber along what was evidently
the canoe channel that passed the fort. At the westerly line, between
what is supposed to be the site of the chapel and the barracks, are to
be found decayed wood the fibre of which shows it to have been laid
parallel along the outside of the fort. There is a ridge above this
decayed wood upon which good sized trees are growing. The counter-
scarp along one of the ravines is well defined, and parts of burned
stockades have been taken from the swamp made by the springs. In
the diagonal corner from the sills mentioned no decayed wood is found
under the surface indicating that barracks had been placed there and
that the same served the place of the stockades. One of the timbers
supposed to be a stockade was excavated from the swamp by Professors
WyckofT, Comstock, and Evans, of the Bradley Polytechnic School in
Peoria, that measured a trifle over twenty-five feet in length and was
about a foot in diameter, at the butt end. From it Professor Brewer
of Peoria extracted with his pen knife, from what appeared to be a
dent made in it by an arrow, a piece of flint that appeared to be part
of an arrow. Part of another supposed stockade of red cedar timber,
1 tartly burned, was excavated at another place and through one side
of it there was what seemed to be a bullet hole. Another of the sup-
posed stockades, was excavated from the channel on the westerly side.
It was about twenty feet long, the smaller end having rotted away.
Professor Comstock of the Bradley Polytechnic Institute of Peoria
made a survey and sketch of the site giving its elevations above high
water of the river, and its dimensions, which he kindly furnished us
and is here presented on page 18. Upon the Sketch Professor Comstock
noted what he had found. The writer has found wood at a depth of 8
feet below the surface at the inner side of the channel on the westerly
side, with the fibre running parallel to the channel, and decayed wood
at the bottom, as if the madrier holding up the embankment on the
inner side of that channel had fallen into the channel. Decayed
wood can also be found along the river side of the site at alxmt ;i
depth of three feet which the writer has good reason to believe is
decomposed logs laid on cadi side of the base of the stockades, be-
tween the buildings in the angles. What is said in reply to these facts
by those who claim this is not where the fort was built? Nothing but
that a distillery was built there. It is true that a distillery was built
across the westerly ravine and channel of water in early days, but

17

COMSTOCK SKETCH

18

Henry T. Baldwin, who recently died in Rockford, 111., and who was
Mayor of Peoria in 1867 wrote the writer a letter a few years ago,
which is in existence, saying he saw the distillery about the year 1849
when he was about 13 years old and described it as about 16 feet wide
and about 24 feet long. He located it exactly where part of a founda-
tion of a building of about that size is to be found now. It is more than
likely that the burned barracks also were utilized in very early days,
and that the spring water in the site was used for dairy purposes at the
house near the southeast corner and that many charred timbers to be
found are modern; but these facts do not tend to explain the timbers
under the surface laid in and around an area of more than an acre
constituting the site of the fort.

We have photographed a miniature model of Fort Crevecoeur,
viewed from the north side as described by Hennepin and LaSalle
based upon conditions now to be found at the East Peoria site and
present a copy of the same.

The photograph has numbers which are explained as follows:

The two numbers One represent the barracks. Numl>er 2 repiv
sents a supposed provision house. Numl>er 3 the blacksmith shop.
Number 4 LaSalle and Tonti's tent; Number f> the eight canoes in a
pool that is still perpetually supplied with spring water; Number 6

19

the Chapel. To the right is a channel, now filled up, extending over
cultivated land, where the water from the westerly channel, that came
from the Bluff above it that flowed originally along the inside of the
westerly line was diverted from its original channel to this artificial
< liaunol, so as to keep the floods caused by rains from entering the
Foil. This channel so. filled is easy to trace.

To the east side of the Fort is the curved channel that comes from
the hill. Towards the center of the south side ot the site that coursed
its way from about the center of that side to the easterly (left) side
,of the site, and thence along that side to the swamp, or what was then
undoubtedly a stream along the river side of the fort. The hill back
of the Fort is covered with timber that is now being cut down, but the
model shows this poorly. On the northerly or river side of the Fort,
and close to it, is illustrated the channel of spring water, that can
yet be traced toward the lower end of the lake opposite Peoria. There
a strong current of the river keeps the river from freezing in the win-
ter. It is supposed that up and down this channel the Indians on
both sides of the upper end of the lake opposite Peoria traversed,
with their canoes. Also that above their village the strong current of
the river at the Narrows coursed its way to their village thus giving
on the east side of the Lake opposite Peoria canoe travel in the winter
time close to the fort. In the model, between the channel on the river
side of the fort and the river proper, is shown a ridge.

WHERE DID LA SALLE LAND

La Salle and Hennepin agree in saying that the eight canoes of
the flotilla came through the Narrows side by side, carried by a swift
current, and that they were thus carried to the shore. The Narrows
has two points, either one of which could <be "doubled" as Hennepin
expresses it, and behind which the eighty cabins full of Indians could
be concealed. The one on the East side is where Ten Mile Creek
empties into the Narrows, about three quarters of a mile below the
upper lake, and about the same distance above the lake opposite Peoria.
The point on the West side is a little lower down where a small stream
that courses its way down from Springdale Cemetery empties at The
Water Works Park into the Narrows. Each point has a hill close by
that would serve for the presentation of the calument mention by Ilen-
nepin. The channel of the Narrows is straight and its water runs south
and the lake into which its water empties extends southwest and north-
east. Water unobstructed will flow in a straight line, and given the
strong current mentioned, and the eight canoes side by side carried by
the current, and the landing would be on the East side of the river. It

20

would contradict a natural law to say that the canoes would be carried
to the West shore.

THE RAILROAD SITE

This discovery was made by one who was employed to find tho
site of the fort near where a sword, supposed to be of French origin,
but subsequently discovered to be British, was found, and he selected
a site that he says is of pure sand where no timber would grow.
But trees of large size, willows in particular, will grow on sand if close
to water. The pure sand theory is pure imagination, as no one who
saw the fort intimated that it was built on pure sand. Nor do they
say there was no timber on the site. The fact is the site selected in a
railroad yard was overflow land up to about the year 1870 and Mr.
Ballance in his history virtually says so. It would overflow now if it
were not for the railroad embankments, and was likely in 1680 swept by
Farm Creek. The sketch of it made by its discoverer will fit the East
Peoria site by turning it upside down but will not fit the site described
for it. Journal of Illinois Historical Society, Vol. 5, No. 3, January,
1913. Its discoverer after examining the East Peoria site was asked
what he thought of it and replied that there was too much work dono
there to have been accomplished by LaSalle and his men in the nine
weeks between its commencement and LaSalle 's departure, on March
22nd (Illinois Historical Collection, Vol. 1, page 131). This ignores tho
promised aid of the Indians (Ibid, page 81). There was much of the
work the Indians could do, and likely would do, as the fort was bein.u
built for their benefit so they were told (Ibid, page 81) and they would
want to get knives, awls, tobacco, beads, needles, axes, etc. (Ibid, p;,
95 and 80) which LaSalle had, in exchange for work. The Indians had
built many similar forts before LaSalle 's arrival. As the opponents
of the East Peoria site seem to never tire of mentioning the distillery
they may think the work done was about the right amount for a dis-
tillery built at such a place in the forties.

THE WESLEY CITY SITE

This site is on the river hank, but lias no marsh in front of it,
has no ravines as described by La Salle and Hennepin, is not near tho
Indian villages, is not within half a league of Omaha's camp, nor within
a league of Pimiteoui, and has no spring water or place to keep the
boats.

CONCLUSION

The lost site has not been found because the words "ravines'* and
"ditches" made by rains have been considered hollows made by the

21

flood that formed all the hills and hollows; and, by adopting the lake
opposite Peoria as one of the three lakes composing Lake Pimiteoui
instead of treating it as the fourth lake mentioned by LaSalle. There
must have been a lake above the island at Chillicothe to create the
three straits that La Salle says connected the three lakes and to make
the fourth lake that La Salle describes. It will not do to call the lake
just above the Narrows the "middle or small lake" because it is larger
than both the lake just below Chillicothe and the lake opposite Peoria
if the two were combined. It is only by abandoning what is said by
those who know, and adopting the fancies of those who do not know,
that the site of the fort has been located at four of the sites.

There was introduced by the Hon. Ben L. Smith, of Pekin, 111., on
March 19th, 1919, House Bill No. 381, to our Legislature to "Establish
and maintain The Fort Crevecoeur Park in Tazewell County, Illinois."
It provides for the procurement by "donation, purchase or otherwise,"
of "a tract of land in Tazewell County containing not fewer than forty
acres in Section one (Township not given), to "be set apart for a State
Park and shall be known as ''Fort Crevecoeur State Park." The Bill
has been printed and referred to the Committee on Appropriations. The
only Section One within miles of any of the five sites is Section One in
Pekin Township. Wesley City is partly in Groveland township and partly
in Pekin Township, the part where the Wesley City site is located being
in Pekin township. This being so, the Bill contemplates establishing the
site of Fort Crevecoeur at the Lower Hill site. A public road at State
and County expense is projected across said Section One, extending from
Pekin to East Peoria; and, if a Park bought, improved and maintained
at State expense can be established on that road the sponsors of the Bill
need not worry as to whether the Fort was built one place or another,
or whether it ever existed.