| East Dubuque Local Area History Project | |
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Pierre Le Seuer was a Frenchman born in 1657 and died in 1704. He explored the Mississippi River, all the way to the mouth. |
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| He wanted to be an agent for the French government, so they would pay his expenses to go exploring. The government was interested in discovering a water route to the Pacific Ocean, but he got no cooperation from the Canadian government in Quebec. He was really good friends with the Chippewa and Sioux Indians. He had been a fur trader. | |
| When he could not get the commission from Canada, he went to France. They gave him the commission and expenses for a trip. When he was going back to Canada, he was caught in the French and Indian war, and captured by the English. They took him back to England. He had to throw away his commission so the English would not get it. After he got out of England, he had to sail back to France to get a new commission. After he got it , he finally headed back to Canada. | |
| Back in Canada, he met up with his old friend Pierre LeMoyne d’ Iberville. Iberville’s cousin was Le Seuer’s wife. Iberville was taking a group down the Mississippi to find the mouth of the river, and Le Seuer took twenty men and headed back north. They traveled in a felucca, which was a long narrow boat with oars and a sail. | |
| As he was traveling up, the river, he made some stops to make maps and explore. He did it all in record time, 219 days. Along the way, he found Nicholas Perrot’s lead mines in Dubuque, and discovered some lead of his own near Galena in 1700. He mined some of this lead and took with him. He traveled north on the river to the Minnesota area. They built a fort on the Blue Earth River and called it Fort L’Huillier. | |
| In the spring he and some men took furs and minerals back downstream to the mouth. The next year, he returned to France with Iberville. | |
| The man that seemed lucky had an unlucky end. When he sailed from France in 1704, he caught yellow fever and died at sea at the age of 47. | |
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Bibliography Wilke, William E. Dubuque on the Mississippi 1788 - 1988. Dubuque, Iowa: Union-Hoerrmann Press, 1987 |
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