CHAPTER XIII
AFTER the death of Dubuque, the first white man known to have made a home in the limits of Iowa was Chevalier Marais, a scion of the French nobility and an adherent of Louis XVI. When the French Revolution swept over his country and the lives of the nobility were in danger, Marais fled to America and for twenty-two years was a wanderer of the west. In 1812 he married the daughter of the head chief of the Ioway Indians, established a trading post at the mouth of Buck Creek in the present limits of Clayton County, and lived there several years carrying on trade with the Indians and fur dealers.
An agent of the American Fur Company, Colonel J. W. Johnson,had in 1808 established a trading post at the Flint Hills, near where Burlington stands. His first shipment of merchandise was received on the 23d of August of the same year, from Bellefountain factory and was valued at $14,715.99. These goods were exchanged with the Indians for furs and skins. On the 28th of March, 1809, Colonel Johnson reports having procured he following:
| 710 lbs. of beaver skins valued | $1,420.00 |
| 1,353 muskrat skins at 25 cts | 338.25 |
| 3,585 racoon skins at 25 cts | 896.25 |
| 28,021 lbs. of deer skins | 7,256.45 |
| Bear and otter skins | 426.00 |
| Beeswax and tallow | 141.00 |
| $10,477.95 |
In 1812 the trading house was destroyed by fire and Colonel Johnson reports the loss of building and furs at $5,500. In 1820 Le Moliere, another French trader, had
