Apple Creek (Mississippi River)

Apple Creek
Stream
Apple Creek (stream) sign from Highway 61
Name origin: French: Rivière à la Pomme meaning "Apple River"
Country	United States
State	Missouri
Source
- elevation	820 ft (250 m)
- coordinates	37°38′13″N 89°58′33″W / 37.63694°N 89.97583°W / 37.63694; -89.97583
Mouth	Mississippi River
- elevation	322 ft (98 m)
- coordinates	37°33′56″N 89°31′37″W / 37.56556°N 89.52694°W / 37.56556; -89.52694Coordinates: 37°33′56″N 89°31′37″W / 37.56556°N 89.52694°W / 37.56556; -89.52694

Apple Creek is a stream that rises in western Perry County, Missouri and empties into the Mississippi River, forming the boundary between Perry and Cape Girardeau counties.

The name of Apple Creek derives from the French name Rivière à la Pomme. Since the Shawnee Indians cultivated farms and had a number of villages along this creek, it is probable that the early French travelers and hunters gave the name "Rivière à la Pomme" (later Americanized to Apple River or Apple Creek), from the apple trees which grew there.

Although it is not known who the original native inhabitants were of the Apple Creek area, the area eventually become home to the Shawnee and Delaware Indians. Having originated in present-day Delaware and Pennsylvania, the Shawnee and Delaware Indians had been pushed off their lands by white settlement. The Spanish encouraged Shawnee and Delaware immigration, and granted them two large tracts of land in the Apple creek watershed, with the intention of the Shawnee and Delaware acting as a buffer against the Osage Indians, who were not on friendly terms with the Spanish authorities. Some 1,200 Shawnee and 600 Delaware were convinced to relocate to the Apple Creek watershed, and in 1784 the group of Shawnee and Delaware migrated and settled down in the area of Old Appleton. The "Grand Village Sauvage" was to the west of present-day Old Appleton and the "Petit Village Sauvage" was to the east of Old Appleton. In the early 1800s, American settlers began encroaching on the Shawnee and Delaware lands around Apple Creek. The Shawnee also requested the Spanish authorities to grant them protection from the Osage in 1807.

By 1815 the situation with white settlers had worsened so much that territorial governor William Clark and United States President James Madison ordered all white intruders removed from Shawnee and Delaware lands. However, this order was largely ignored by the authorities. By 1816, the encroachment by white settlers left the US Federal Government no choice but to relocate the Shawnee and Delaware to lands further west.