CHAPTER III
It is no doubt interesting to know, although the fact has no particular historical significance, that at the time Upper Louisiana was attached to the territory of Indiana, the Governor of Indiana Territory was William Henry Harrison, afterwards President of the United States. When the separate territorial organization was granted to the territory of Louisiana, the first governor appointed was General James Wilkinson. As secretary. Dr. Joseph Browne, a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr, was appointed at the request of the latter. Wilkinson was succeeded by Captain Merriwether Lewis of the celebrated Lewis and Clark Expedition.
There are several picturesque characters appearing in Missouri history prior to its admission to the Union. In every way, the most notable and most picturesque, was Daniel Boone, whose family had come from England to Pennsylvania, where Daniel was born the same year (1732) that marked the birth of George Washington.
From Pennsylvania, the Boones went to western North Carolina and from thence to Kentucky, where he established Boonesborough, in 1775. Without going into details of the explorations and adventures of Boone, it may be noted that he came from Kentucky to Missouri and explored and hunted over the central part of the State.
Soon after the purchase of Louisiana, President Jefferson sent out a party of exploration under the leadership of Capt. Merriwether Lewis, who was private secretary to President Jefferson, and Capt. William Clark of the United States Army, the latter a brother of George Adams Clark of Revolutionary fame. This company, composed of nine Revolutionary soldiers, some boatmen and interpreters, began the ascent of the Missouri River in 1804. They proceeded on up the river to its head waters, exploring the surrounding country and collecting such facts as they could about the Indian tribes, the fertility of the soil and the tributaries of the Missouri River. They spent the winter of 1804 and 1805 east of the Rocky Mountains. They then crossed the Rocky Mountains and proceeded to the Pacific Ocean. Both Captain Lewis and Captain Clark afterwards became territorial governors of Missouri, the former succeeding Governor Wilkinson as stated above. Two Missouri counties were named for these two explorers, and their wonderful journey will ever be recounted as a part of the history of the State.
Another explorer, no less noted, and whose services to the State of Missouri were almost as distinguished as those of Lewis and Clark, was Capt. Zebulin Montgomery Pike, in 1810. The account of these journeys in which the head waters of the Arkansas, the Platte and the Kansas Rivers were visited, was published together with the maps and atlases of the country. These journeys of Captain Pike served to quiet any lingering disturbance over the cost of the Louisiana Purchase. Pike County, Missouri, is named for the famous explorer, as is the famous Peak of the Rockies.
Governor Merriwether Lewis is said to have committed suicide in 1809, while on his way to Congress, although it has been doubted as to whether or not he did so. President Jefferson, in his biographical sketch, credits the rumor. As his successor, President Madison appointed Governor Benjamin Howard, whose last official act was to issue a proclamation calling an election in November for a delegate to Congress. The "Mother of Counties" was settled during his term of office and was named for him.
Governor Howard was succeeded by Captain William Clark, the other leader of the exploring party named above. Governor Clark remained as territorial governor until the admission of Missouri into the Union. He was a candidate for first governor of the new State, but was defeated by Alexander McNair by a vote of 6,576 for McNair to 2,556 for Clark.
After 1815, there was a greater immigration to Missouri than ever before. From Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina, came numbers of pioneers who pushed their way out through St. Charles up the Missouri River. They brought with them stock of all kinds and numbers of slaves; there were, of course, no railroads nor were there any steamboats. The wagons filled with the household goods and followed by herds of cattle and sheep, wended their way over scarce broken trails to the place where their owners would make their future homes. When they reached the spot where the pioneer decided to locate, a log cabin would be erected surrounded by a rail fence, and the settler would hunt and trap until he could raise his first crop. He found food and clothing in the forests around him. The Indians whom he met were not ail friendly. He had few books and papers and little money. He raised his own food and exchanged the things which he made for other products which he wanted. The only money which he had was the Spanish dollar, which he proceeded to divide into halves, quarters and lesser amounts. One of these, the eighth part of the dollar, came to be known as a "bit" and the common expression of today designates twelve and a half cents as a "bit," or a quarter as "two bits."
The house of the early pioneer was made of large logs hewn into proper shape and fitted into each other by notches in the ends. They hung the doors on wooden hinges and fastened them with a latch on the inside from which a latch-string ran through the door to the outside. Greased paper served in place of glass to admit light into the room through the window.
The first division of Missouri was into five districts named in a preceding chapter. In 1812, these five districts were reorganized into five counties, the State of Arkansas being nominally a part of what was New Madrid County. In 1815, Lawrence County was created out of New Madrid County and in 1816, all the territory north and west of the Osage River and was made a new county and called Howard County, in honor of the Governor. This County of Howard has since been known as "the Mother of Counties," because out of her boundaries have later been made thirty-one Missouri counties and part of ten or twelve counties of Iowa. As constituted, this county was larger than Vermont, Massachusetts, Delaware and Rhode Island. From 1818 on, many more counties were formed, as the population increased and the means of communication grew better. When the State was admitted into the Union in 1821, there were twenty-five counties in the State. The population, however, was confined to the territory along the Mississippi River and up the Missouri.
