The Colonial Era - Welcome to New France

Valles Mines 1749

TIME CAPSULE: Going Back in Time

1749...1754-1763...1776...1789...1799...1803...1804-1806...1812...1820-1850...1860...1877...1895...1900...1904...1914-1918...1924...1939-1945...1950...1960...

1337: The Hundred Years' War begins.

1347: The Black Death kills a lot of Europe.

1439: Gutenberg invents the printing press.

1492: Columbus sails to the New World.

1749: Francois Valle floats down from Quebec and arrives in Valles Mines.

1755-1763 French and Indian War. "... military defeat [they lost] and the financial burden of the war weakened the French monarchy and contributed to the advent of the French Revolution in 1789.."

1775-1783 The American Revolution begins. French involvement in the American Revolutionary War began in 1776 when the Kingdom of France secretly shipped supplies to Gen. George Washington and the Continental Army. "...Secretly approached by Louis XVI and France's foreign minister, the comte de Vergennes, Pierre Beaumarchais was authorized to sell gunpowder and ammunition to the Americans for close to a million pounds under the veil of the French company Rodrigue Hortalez et Compagnie. The aid given by France, much of which passed through the neutral Dutch West Indies port of Sint Eustatius, contributed to George Washington's survival against the British onslaught in 1776 and 1777."

1789: The French Revolution begins.

1749 Valles Mines and the French territories (see map below, in blue) were considered Ancien Régime.

The Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of New France

Under this system, all men were subjects of the King of France. National citizenship did not exist in France, or New France [or Valles Mines] at that time. The Ancien Régime or “old order” refers to the social and political order that existed in France from the late Middle Ages until the French Revolution in 1789.

"Noblesse Oblige" was supposed to be the code of the well-to-do French Catholics ("nobles") to reach salvation by helping those less fortunate. Losing that moral compass turned out to be costly when, during The Estates-General of 1789 and the Reign Of Terror, Madame Guillotine came down on a lot of people who had lost their way.

"What was wrong with the estate system in France? Although the 1st and the 2nd Estate members did not pay taxes, they nevertheless reaped all of the benefits of a tax-paying country. This tax exemption became a major cause of the extreme inequality between these estates and the 3rd Estate. The 3rd Estate comprised the rest of France's population."

"Why did the guillotine appeal to revolutionaries? Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, an anatomy professor from a Paris medical school, first advocated the device as a more humane means of execution that would cause little to no pain. Whereas previously executions varied based on the individual, the guillotine reflected the new French ideals of equality for all persons."

New France and its Forts in 1750

References:

See Defender of St. Louis and
See The Centre for French Colonial Life, "...the little known story of how in 1780 during the American Revolution, the British and their Native American allies attempted to take over Spanish-controlled St. Louis... They were stopped by American and Spanish-led forces [and a lot of lead from Valles Mines, courtesy of Francois Valle, Commandant of the Fort at Ste. Genevieve] , including 60 French Creole militiamen from Ste. Genevieve, who made up a significant part of the small force defending St. Louis..."
See Carl J. Ekberg's book, "Colonial Ste. Genevieve: An Adventure on the Mississippi Frontier".
See Carl J. Ekberg's book, "Francois Valle and His World"
Francois Valle's ancestors

Lost History Museum Exhibit:

Recent construction (1954) of Missouri Highway 67 through the Valle Mining Company property destroyed many original hand dug mines. One museum grade hand dug mine survived from that era, called 'The Rocky Digs'. Somehow it remains intact and open for spelunkers (guides available). It lies on the hillside across the creek from Valle's original front door, a 10 minute walk from the Lost History Museum.

Map of The Rocky Digs