Most of the early Indian settlements in Atchison County were located on creeks, the most important of these being Grasshopper Creek, now known as the Delaware River. There is some controversy as to how this stream got its name. According to one account, it was named in 1819 by the French trader Joseph Roubideaux, the founder of St. Joseph. While camped along this stream, a great swarm of grasshoppers alighted and in a few days ate all the grass from the river bottoms. From this circumstance he named the river Sautrelle, the French word for grasshopper.
Source: Atchison Globe Now
