Julien Dubuque Monument

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The Julien Dubuque Monument was built in 1897 and stands on the edge of the bluff above Catfish Creek in the Mines of Spain Recreation Area. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1988.

This area is important historically in the Indian-French fur trading culture and the first record of lead mining by a French trader, Nicholas Perrot, in 1690. In 1788 Julien Dubuque was granted rights by the Mesquakie Indians to mine their land for lead. Dubuque settled close to the village of Kettle Chief just south of where the Julien Dubuque Monument now stands. It was here that Dubuque founded the first Euro-American settlement in what is now Iowa. Julien Dubuque eventually married Potosa, daughter of Peosta, the chief of the Mesquakie Indians. Dubuque died in March of 1810 and when he died the Mesquakie buried him with tribal honors beneath a log mausoleum at the site of the current monument.

Dubuque
updated 01/2011 by srshellb