Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
Marshall Cohen—researcher and producer, CNN
Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
PIKE, Zebulon Montgomery
PIKE, Zebulon Montgomery. (Lamberton, NJ, Jan. 5, 1779-Toronto, Canada, 1813). Lieutenant Pike, under orders dated July 30, 1805, from James Wilkinson, commander of the western army, explored the upper reaches of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and visited Julien DUBUQUE at the MINES OF SPAIN in 1805. Pike's mission was to note the resources along the river, collect statistics about the Native Americans he met, invite some of their leaders to St. Louis for a council, and select locations to construct forts.
Dubuque's answers to a written questionnaire gave Pike only a glimpse of the amount of MINING being done in the area. Dubuque was suspicious of the expedition's intentions and gave responses that were carefully vague. Pike stopped again at Dubuque's mines on his return to St. Louis on April 30, 1806.