Below is only part of the chapter. The whole chapter is on the Iowa History site. STORIES OF IOWA FOR BOYS AND GIRLS CHAPTER XIV FIGHTING INDIANS AT OLD FORT MADISON Two years after Lieutenant Pike returned to St. Louis the government erected a trading post, or factory, as it was called, for the Sauk and Fox Indians. To protect this post a small fort with three blockhouses was built near-by. You remember that the British fur traders had gained great influence over the Indians of the Upper Mississippi Valley. President Jefferson thought that a fort in this region would help the Americans gain control of the fur trade. Instead of building the fort at one of the places recommended by Lieutenant Pike, it was placed at the present site of Fort Madison, Iowa. Perhaps you have seen the stone chimney, which marks the site of this old fort. The well which the soldiers dug and used may still be seen, but nothing else remains to remind us of the time that Indians and soldiers fought in this part of Iowa. Early in the autumn of 1808, Lieutenant Alpha Kingsley came up the Mississippi with a company of soldiers to erect the fort and trading house. He had been told before he left Fort Belle Fontaine, above St. Louis, to select the best place he could find near the mouth of the Des Moines River for the post. The location he picked was really not very good, for high bluffs at the rear made it possible for the Indians to look down into the fort. Wooded ravines near-by also made good hiding places for the red men. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/