1. Findings; purposes (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Prairie du Rocher and the French Colonial Historic District are the finest historical and architectural examples of French Colonial Heritage in the United States. (2) Kaskaskia, Fort de Chartres, and Prairie du Rocher once served as the western boundary of the United States. (3) The 1752 French census documents that Kaskaskia had a population of 275 White people, 246 Blacks, 75 Indians, and 77 mixed blood (Indian and white ancestry) making it a multi-ethnic community. Enslaved people from Africa began arriving in Kaskaskia by 1720 with skills as blacksmiths, joiners, masons, etc., precisely the skills needed to build the 1759 Fort of Kaskaskia. (4) Fort de Chartres was erected in 1720 by France and is one of France’s most imposing fortifications in North America. It was the administrative center in the era of French Colonial control over Louisiana and the Illinois Country. On October 9, 1960, the Fort was declared a National Historic Landmark. (5) The Powder Magazine at Fort de Chartres is the oldest stone building in the State of Illinois. (6) The Guard House at Fort de Chartres contains a Catholic chapel furnished in the style of the 1750s, along with a priest’s room, a gunner’s room, an officer-of-the-day room, and a guard’s room. Missionary Father Pierre Gibault taught and ministered to the settlers and Native Americans. (7) The King of France made land concessions to certain entrepreneurs that evolved into villages. The Village of Chartres was proximate to Fort de Chartres. (8) The Mitchigamea or Michigamea were a tribe in the Illinois Confederation who established a village north of Fort de Chartres. One of their villages in the American Bottom, inhabited from 1730 until 1752, is one of the region’s premier archaeological sites