|
Transcribed by V. L. Quick
In the early years of the eighteenth century, Le Sault de Sainte Marie fell upon
evil days. This was
due to several factors, the chief of which was the native fear of the Iroquois
and the English.
The Crees and the other tribes in the rich fur country north of Lake Superior
came in diminishing numbers to the Sault and to Montreal with their peltries.
Further west the tribes still delivered to the French their vernal crops of
furs, the harvest from which new France drew its sustenance, but the shining
bales went to Michilimackinac and Green Bay rather than down to or past the
Sault. The northern Indians found a more convenient and a higher market
at Hudson's Bay, and the
English--or to be more precise, the Scotch, for the Hudson's Bay Company in
the field has been pre-eminently Scotch--soon were extending their outposts
southward toward Lake Superior. Wandering Crees at the Sault told the
inhabitants there of British forts at the Bay, with cannon on the ramparts,
and long racks gleaming with muskets. The defenseless Saulteurs
fell to wondering whether the French King was as omnipotent as he was pictured
in the allegory of Allouez, and to sighing for the comparative safety of the
forts at Michilimackinac and De Troit.
Likewise the overwhelming sweep of the Iroquois down the St. Lawrence sent
an apprehensive
thrill to the farthest boundaries of New France. Their past incursions
into the North were recalled, and even those Indians most loyal to France felt
their confidence shaken. The missionaries came no more to the Sault, and
Cadillac at Michilimackinac was preparing to abandon the post and establish
himself at De Troit. Thus a triple combination of circumstances operated
to reduce the community at the rapids, so that from a village it became a hamlet,
and when Cadillac went down Lake Huron, many Saulteurs followed him.
The Liquor Question
Cadillac had come to Michilimackinac in 1694 with high hopes for the advance
of the French dominion in the Northwest. He found himself in authority
over one of the largest villages in Canada, a community of two hundred soldiers,
six or seven thousand Indians, a Jesuit mission, and a flourishing colony of
traders. Soon he had a serious falling out with the Jesuit Father Carheil
over the liquor question. The later complained to Governor Frontenac of
the condition at Michilimackinac. and what he said might have applied to the
Sault as well:
"Our missions are reduced to such extremity that we can no longer maintain
them against the infinity of disorder, brutality, violence, injustice, impiety,
impurity, insolence, scorn and insult which the deplorable and infamous trade
in brandy has spread universally among the Indians. What hope can we have
of bringing the Indians to Christ, when all the sinners of the colony are permitted
to come here and give Christianity the lie by an open exhibition of bad morals?"
He described at length in his
letters to Frontenac the scandalous conduct of the officers and the drunkenness
and gambling of the soldiers and traders, and said the fort had become a place
he was ashamed to call by its right name, with swarms of Indian girls resorting
to it daily and nightly. He told Frontenac that the mission should not
be abandoned, but suggested that the officers and soldiers be withdrawn.
Cadillac Defends Drinking
Cadillac's reply was more forceful than polite:
"This place is exposed to all sorts of fatigue, the air is penetrating, fish
and smoked meats are the principal food of the inhabitants, and a drink of brandy
is necessary after eating, to cook the bilious meats and the crudities which
they leave in the stomach; without it, sickness will be much more frequent.
.. .. .. .. He (Carheil) told me that I gave myself airs that did not belong
to me, holding his fist under my nose at the same time. I came very near
knocking his jaw out of joint."
The traders of the time were strong for brandy:
"If you prevent us from taking good brandy to Michilimackinac and the Sault,
is it that you want the Indians to buy bad rum from the English and the Dutch?
If you make the savages go south for rum by cutting off their supply of brandy,
you will throw them into the arms of the Calvinists, and it will be your fault
if they become heretics."
About this time Louis XIV, issued an edict prohibiting liquor in all Canada,
which of course included the Sault. Thus our dry laws were antedated by
those of the French upwards of two hundred years. But the law fell short
of enforcement, and contraband liquor circulated freely. An attempt was
made to avert the scandal by the erection of breweries in Eastern Canada, and
the argument was
advanced that "we may expect the vice of drunkenness will cause us no more reproach,
by reason of the cold nature of beer, the vapours whereof rarely deprive men
of the use of judgment.
Blasphemy to be Punished
The King also drew the line at blaspheming by his Canadian subjects. Here
is the law:
[Between pages 80 and 81 there is a picture of a man and a boy. They
caption says, “ William Hafaday and Son Garit.”]
"It is our will and pleasure that all persons convicted of profane swearing
and blaspheming the
name of God, the Most Holy Being, of the Saints, be condemned to the payment
of a fine,
according to their possessions and the enormity of the oath. If the offense
is repeated, a double, triple or quadruple fine shall be imposed for the second,
third and fourth offence; for the fifth time they shall be set in the pillory
and exposed to public abuse; for the sixth time the upper lip shall be seared
with a hot iron; for the seventh the lower lip shall be cut; and if they still
continue to utter oaths and blasphemies it is our will and command that they
have the tongue completely cut out, so that they cannot utter them again."
Not all the northern Indians succumbed to the vices of the whites or were passive
to the reactions of the times. Here and there one lifted his voice in
protest or in doubt as to the blessing of white civilization. We have
record of a conversation of La Hontan with the northern Chief Adario, The Rat,
so praised by Charlevoix, whose obscure stratagems probably influenced the destinies
of the North more than most of us realize. Says the Rat, in commenting
upon his eighteenth white brothers, when La Hontan had reproached him with lack
of knowledge of the true God:
Religion of the Indians
Dost thou believe we are void of Religion, after thou has dwelt so long amongst
us? Dost thou not
know that we acknowledge a Creator of the Universe, under the title of the Great
Spirit or Master of Life, whom we believe to be in every Thing, and to be unconfined
to Limits? That the Great Spirit has made us capable of distinguishing Good
from Evil, to the end that we might observe the true Measures of Justice and
Wisdom? The Tranquility and Serenity of the Soul pleases the Great Master
of life, and on the other hand he abhors Trouble and Anxiety of Mind because
it renders Men Wicked.
"For my Part, the only Thing in the World that vexes and disturbs my Mind,
is the seeing Men wage War with Men. Prithee, my Brother, do but look;
our Dogs agree perfectly with the Iroquois Dogs,
and those of the Iroquois bear no enmity to Dogs that come from France.
I do not know any animal that wages war with its own Species, excepting Man,
who upon this Score is more unnatural than the Beasts. .. .. .. ..
"We believe that we shall go to the Country of Souls after Death; but we have
no such Apprehension as you have of a good and bad mansion after this Life,
provided for the good and bad Souls; for we cannot tell whether every Thing
that appears Faulty to Men, is so in the Eyes of God. If your Religion
differs from ours it does not follow that we have none at all. Thou knowest
that I have been in France, New York and Quebec, where I studied the customs
and Doctrines of the English and French. The Jesuits allege, That out
of five or six hundred Sorts of Religions, there is only one that is the good
and the true Religion, and that is their own; out of which no Man shall escape
the Flames of a Fire that will burn his Soul to all Eternity. This is
their Allegation: But when they have said all, they cannot offer any proof
for it.
Do Not Obey the Commandments
"And why do you not Obey the Commandments of this your so true Religion?
Do you not see every Day that your Merchants, when they bargain with us for
Beaver-skins, do commonly say, my Goods cost me so much, 'tis true as I adore
the Almighty; I lose so much by you, 'tis as true as that God is in Heaven.
But I do not find that they offer Him the Sacrifice of their most valuable Goods,
as we do after we have bought them from them, when we burn them before their
Faces. "
And as for working on Holy-days, I do not find that you make any difference
between Holy-days and Work-days; for I have frequently seen the French bargain
for Skins on your Holy-days, as well as make Nets, game, quarrel, beat one another,
get drunk, and commit a hundred extravagant Actions. As for Continence
with respect to the tender Sex, who is it among you (abating the Jesuits) that
has ever acted up to it? Do you not see every day that your Youths pursue
our Daughters and our Wives, even to the very Fields, with a design to inveigle
them to Presents? And dost thee not
know how many such Adventures there are among they own Soldiers?
"To touch upon the Head of Murder, 'tis such a common Thing among you, that
upon the least
Accident, you clap your Hands to your Swords, and butcher one another.
As for your
Fasts, I must say they are very Comical: You eat of all sorts of Fish
till you burst again;
you cram down Eggs, and a Thousand other Things, and yet you call this Fasting.
In fine,
my Brother, you do all of you make large Pretensions to Faith, and yet you are
downright
Infidels; you would fain pass for wise People, and at the same time you are
Fools.
A Missionary for the Hurons
"Since the Great Spirit is so Just and so Good, I am persuaded 'tis impossible
that his Justice should render the Salvation of Mankind so difficult, as that
All of them should be damn'd that are not Retainers to your Religion. The Great
Spirit requires of us all Uprightness of Life, love to our Brethren, and tranquility
of Mind; these Duties we practice in our Villages while the Europeans
defame, kill, rob, and pull one another to Pieces in their Towns. My Friend,
thou shalt never see the good Country of Souls, unless thou turnest Huron.
Believe me, my dear Brother, 'tis thy interest to turn Huron, in order to prolong
thy Life. Thou shalt eat, drink, sleep and hunt, with all the Ease that
Can be; thou shall be free from the Passions that tyrannize over the French;
thou shalt have no Occasion for Gold or Silver to make thee happy; thou shalt
not fear Robbers, Assassins, or False Witnesses; and if thou hast a Mind to
be King of all the World, why, thou shalt have nothing to do but think that
thou are so."
Nor could all the arguments of La Hontan budge the poor benighted old sinner
an inch.
There has been considerable difference of opinion as to the wisdom of Cadillac
in abandoning the Mackinac post. No doubt the importance of the position was
well understood by the French, but the soldiers were not available to man it.
Cadillac's fort was not on Mackinac Island, but on the St. Ignace shore, and
the partially obliterated outlines of the old earthworks may be seen there on
the hill back of Marquette Park. Both shores of the Straits and the Fairy Island
itself took indiscriminately the name of Michilimackinac, or Great Turtle.
In one of his letters Cadillac testifies to his success in depopulating the
Sault:
Two Nations United
"The Saulteurs and Missisagues have come here (to De Troit) again this year
to build a village on this river. By my advice the two nations have united
into one."
The Missisagues were natives of the territory adjacent to the present town
of Thessalon, Ontario, on the north shore of Georgian Bay. Calling a few dozen
or a few hundred Indians a "nation" sounds rather queer to us, but such was
the custom of the time.
The fur traffic on St. Mary's River, then, suffered heavily in the first decades
of the century, falling to proportions greatly exceeded afterward and
probably before that time. Still, numbers of Frenchmen must have come
to the Sault de Sainte Marie, some to sojourn a brief period, and others to
stay.
No other Europeans ever pleased the natives so well as the French, for the
latter fell in with
Indian customs to a degree never manifested by any other foreigners. While
many of the
voyageurs and couriers de bois could boast of no morals, perhaps, and were superstitious
and illiterate as the Indians themselves, --- even inferior in mentality to
the bold and
eloquent Northern Chiefs, --- still they respected the customs of the Indians,
married their
daughters and reared large families; and adapted themselves to Indian ways of
thought in
a manner inconceivable to the rigid-minded English and Dutch.
Capture British Cannon
The Frenchmen of the region, though fewer in number, were as plucky and dashing
as ever. Although apparantly abandoned by Cadillac, they resolved to strike
a blow for France. A band of voyageurs from Michilimackinac and the Sault
made a sudden and unlooked-for descent on the British Hudson's Bay posts in
the far north. They burned and destroyed at will, and brought home in
triumph a number of small brass cannon, which they portaged around the falls
here and mounted in a new fort on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac.
In time these cannon came again into possession of the English.
The noted Father Charlevoix visited this region in 1721, and the account of
his voyage was published in Dublin in 1766. While we cannot find that
he stopped over at Sault de Sainte Marie, still he has this to say of us:
"Between Lake Huron and the upper Lake is the Streight itself, by which the
second flows into the first, is a Torrent, or Fall, which is called Saulte Sainte
Marie, (the Fall of St. Mary). Its Environs were formery inhabited by
Savages who came from the South Side of the upper Lake, whom
they called Saulteurs; that is to say, the Inhabitants of the Fall. They
have probably given
them this name, to save the trouble of pronouncing their true name; which it
is not possible to do without taking breath to or three times. Many write
and pronounce it Outaouaks, and some Pauoirigouefouhak."
Only Few Chippewas Here
When the La Verendryes, father and sons, came up St. Mary's River in 1731, bound
for the west on a voyage of exploration, they found but a few straggling Chippewas
at the rapids. They made no mention of any Frenchmen living there, but
Williams' "Life of the Honorable Peter White," tells of a Frenchman named La
Londe, who built a schooner of forty tons above the rapids about that time.
The territory surrounding Hudson's Bay was ceded to the British by France in
1713. The northern Indians, feeling themselves neglected by the French,
and observing the growing might of England, were gravitating to the latter power.
However, so advantageous a location as Le Saute de Sainte Marie could not be
given up without a struggle.
The following instrument, signed in 1750 by Jonquiere, Governor of Canada,
and ratified the year following by King Louis XV, of France, is self-explanatory:
"The Chevalier de Repentigny and Captain de Bonne, officers of the French army,
desiring to establish a seignory at Sault Sainte Marie, where travellers from
neighboring ports may find safe retreat, and where by care and precaution, they
may destroy in those parts the trade of the Indians with the English, we make
to the said Captain de Bonne and the said Chevalier de Repentigny a concession
at the Sault of a tract of land at this portage, six leagues bordering upon
the river, by six leagues in depth; to be enjoyed by them, their heirs and assigns,
forever, by title of fief and seignory, with the right of fishing and hunting
within the whole of said concession, upon condition of
doing homage at the Castle of St. Louis in Quebec; and that they may hold said
lands by themselves of their tenants, and cause all others to give them up.
In default, whereof, the same shall be reunited to His Majesty's domain."
Largest Estate in Michigan
This concession created the largest private estate ever held with the present
limits of
Michigan. It comprised an area of about 335 square miles or 214,000 acres
of land.
The domain was administered by de Repentigny, while de Bonne, as silent partner
and relative of the Governor, remained at Quebec. In addition to the political
phase involved, there was an evident intention to embark in agriculture and
stock raising. De Repentigny arrived at his little kingdom here late in
1751. The following winter he busied himself in cutting pickets and other
timber for a fort, which with three buildings was erected in 1752. A palisade
one hundred and ten feet square enclosed these buildings. The north face
of this palisade, which was probably twelve feet high all
around, was co-incident practically with the north line of Water street.
The west wall was about fifty feet east of Brady street.
The Chevalier brought over some live stock from Mackinac, a bull and three
cows, a yoke of oxen, some heifers, a horse and a mare, probably the first horses
and cattle in what is now Chippewa County. He cut down all trees within
gun-fire range of the fort, and installed Jean Baptiste Cadotte as the pioneer
farmer in this region on the clearing just outside the palisade. De Repentigny
remained here most of the time until 1755, perfecting his fortifications, superintending
the farming operations, and trading with the Indians.
English Came in 1762
The English having attacked Quebec in that year, de Repentigny flew to the aid
of his countrymen, taking with him every man that could be spared from the seignory
at Sault de Sainte Marie,
white or Indian. The property was left in charge of Cadotte, who ruled
in the name of de
Repentigny and de Bonne until the coming of the English victors in 1762.
Then the ensign of France descended from the flag-staff, never to float again
over Sault Sainte Marie.
We find de Repentigny at Montreal in 1759, giving his wife power of attorney
over his Sault demesne and the furs to be gotten therefrom. Canada was
lost to the French, and de Repentigny was under the necessity of abandoning
his fief, of selling it if possible to a British subject, or as a final alternative,
of becoming a British subject himself. It is evidence of de Repentigny's
high qualities that the British Governor Murray wrote him in 1764 with assurance
of his esteem, and requesting his attachment to the British cause. But
the gallant Frenchman returned to Paris, where he is seen in 1773 asking advancement
in French military service, and stating as grounds for such desired
preferment that "the cession of Canada has overturned my fortune, which I could
only preserve by an oath of fidelity to the new master, that was too hard for
my heart." In proof of his family's loyalty to France, he mentions in
the same letter that his grandfather was the eldest of twenty-three brothers,
all of whom had been in the French military service.
So de Repentigny never returned to Sault de Sainte Marie, and Jean Baptiste
Cadotte and his heirs, remaining in possession of the clearing at the Rapids,
came in time to consider it as theirs. The situation led to a disputed
title and a great amount of litigation extending over a long period of years,
the case being famous in Michigan's legal history. A long tenure by the
Cadottes confirmed them in the idea of ownership. De Repentigny's great-grandchildren
felt that their title, together with that of
de Bonne's assigns, should hold. With the expenditure of much time and
money the two latter interests procured in 1860 an Act of Congress, authorizing
the District Court in Michigan to pass upon the validity of their title as against
that of the United States. The District Court decided in 1861 that the
heirs and assigns of de Repentigny and de Bonne were entitled to and were the
lawful owners of the 214,000 acres of land comprising the original seignory.
In the meantime a large part of this acreage had come to be very valuable.
Appeal to Supreme Court
But the government appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, and
the highest tribunal decided in 1866 that the claims of these heirs were not
valid, and the bill was dismissed. The decision rested on the non-fulfillment
of the original terms of the grant by the French Government, the lapse of time,
the abandonment of the lands by the grantees, the reunion of the same to the
French crown, and the want of certainty in description. Thus the last
claim to Michigan lands under French occupation was not settled until the close
of the civil war.
When Alexander Henry, fur-trader, adventurer, and writer, came to Sault de Sainte
Marie in May, 1762, he took up his residence with the faithful Cadotte and his
wife in the de Repentigny establishment, or "the old French fort," as it came
to be spoken of in after days. Says Henry:
"The fort is situated on a beautiful plain about two miles in circumference,
which is covered with luxuriant grass. Within sight are the rapids, distant
half a mile. The width of the strait, or river, is about half a mile.
The portage, or carry-place, commences at the fort. The banks are rocky
and allow only a narrow footpath over them. Canoes, half loaded, ascend
on the south side, and the other half is carried on men's shoulders.
Henry Describes Sault Fishing
"These rapids are beset with rocks of the most dangerous description; yet they
are the scene of a fishery in which all dangers are braved and mastered with
singular expertness. They are full of
whitefish, much larger and more excellent than those of Michilimackinac, and
which are
found here during the greater part of the season, weighing in general from six
pounds to fifteen. This fishery is of great moment to the surrounding
Indians, whom it supplies with a large proportion of their winter's provision;
for, having taken the fish they cure them by drying in the smoke, and lay them
up in large quantities.
"The fish are often crowded together in the water, in great numbers, and a
skilful fisherman, in autumn, will take five hundred in two hours.
"There is at present a village of Chippewas, of fifty warriors, seated at this
place; but the inhabitants reside here during the summer only, going westward
in the winter to hunt. The village was anciently more populous."
So plentiful were the whitefish that a number of canoe cargoes of them were
taken to Mackinac. The latter had a reputation as a fine fishing-ground,
but the Sault rapids in the old days afforded the best fishing in the
world for whitefish, as they do today for rainbow trout. What civilization
has done to the once swarming whitefish here constitutes a pitiful story.
The records of this fishery in former times would be almost incredible to us
were they not so numerous and so well authenticated.
Lived on Hominy
Henry was a practical and an acute observer of everything around him, and his
remarks on the victualling of the French voyageurs are interesting:
"The maise or Indian corn with which the canoe-men are supplied is prepared
for use by boiling it in a strong lye, after which the husk is removed, and
the corn is mashed and dried. The allowance of
each man on a voyage is a quart a day, and a bushel, with two pounds of prepared
fat, is
reckoned to be a month's subsistence. No other allowance is made, not
even salt, and bread is never thought of. The men nevertheless are healthy
and capable of performing their heavy labour. The difficulty which would
belong to an attempt to reconcile any other men than Canadians to this fare,
seem to secure for them and their employers the monopoly of the fur-trade."
Corn $10 a Bushel
The price of this Indian corn was forty livres per bushel, or approximately
ten dollars. Money was rarely received or paid for commodities, furs and
peltries being the medium of exchange. Beaver-skins were worth a dollar
apiece, otters three dollars, martins about a dollar and a half. When
Henry bought corn, he paid a dollar a pound for the tallow he mixed with it.
A quarter of beef cost its weight in beaver-skins. "These high prices
of grain and beef," says Henry, "led me to be very industrious in fishing."
Henry arranged to spend the winter at the Sault and to study the Chippewa language
with the Cadottes, but a serious misfortune changed his plans. Shortly
before Christmas a fire at night destroyed the houses of the little village
excepting that of Cadotte. A portion of the fort stockade was also burned,
with all the winter provisions of the troops. Lieutenant Jemette, first English
Commandant at the post, barely escaped with his life.
The river was still open, and the troops embarked for Mackinac, for to stay
in numbers meant starvation for all. Henry and Jemdette snow-shoed down
to Mackinac in February, but Henry soon returned, and in the spring he engaged
in maple-sugar making with the Cadottes. This sugar was the principal
food of their party of eight for one month, and during that time they ate three
hundred pounds of it. Henry tells us he had known Indians to live wholly
and to become fat upon exclusive
rations of maple sugar and syrup over long periods.
70 Soldiers Massacred
Henry had business interests at Mackinac, and he found it necessary to go there
in the spring of
1763. He passed unscathed through the massacre there in June of the English
by the Indians. This was in the mainland fort on the south shore of the
straits, on the site of which a Michigan State Park is now located. Under
the leadership of the Saulteur Chief Minavavana, who acted in concert with Pontiac
to wipe out if possible the English in New France, the Chippewas surprised and
killed seventy soldiers, among them Lieutenant Jemette, and took the rest prisoners.
The casual dream of another Chippewa Chief, by name of Wawatam, was the means
of saving Henry's life on this occasion. Wawatam had dreamed long before
of adopting an Englishman as his
brother. When he first beheld Henry, he knew the latter for the person
whom the Great Spirit had been pleased to point out to him as his white kinsman.
They had exchanged presents, and Henry had expressed pleasure and declared his
willingness to have so good a man as Wawatam for his brother. It was a
lucky dream for Henry. An Indian slave-woman secreted him in a garret
on that terrible day, and his brother Wawatam spirited him away from the vicinity
as soon as possible. When Henry fell into the hands of the vengeful Minevavana,
Wawatam delivered him by an impassioned and eloquent speech in council.
Read his peroration:
The Power of a Dream
"Friends and brothers, what shall I say? You know how I feel. What
would you experience if you beheld your dearest friend, your brother, in the
condition of a slave, exposed to insult and the menace of death? Is he
not my brother, and as I am your relative, is he not your relative also?
Did not you, Minavavana, promise that you would protect him, although you sent
me away, fearing I would reveal your secret? Here am I, Great Chief, to
claim at your hands; coming not with empty hands myself, but with gifts to annul
any possible claim you may have on my brother as your prisoner. I await
your answer."
This speech appears the more remarkable when we consider the circumstances
under which it was delivered. It was stated and believed in this council
that all the Indians, the Ottawas alone excepted, were at war with the English.
It was affirmed and accepted that Pontiac had taken Detroit, that
the King of France had awakened, and that the English were meeting destruction,
not only at Mackinac but in every other parts of the world. Wawatam proved
what a realistic thing a dream may be to an Indian, when he stood up for his
English brother on this occasion.
The unerring pipes were smoked, and Henry was delivered unharmed to Wawatam
by the council. The latter took Henry to Mackinac Island and hid him in
Skull cave, and later they spent the winter in hunting on the shore of Lake
Michigan. In the spring they returned to the Straits and the last object
to greet the Englishman's eye as he sailed away for the Sault was the Indian
Wawatam, standing on the beach with his arms uplifted to the sky, praying Gitchi
Manito to spare and bless his friend and to bring them again to a happy meeting.
Wawatam a Cannibal
The day after Wawatam rescued Henry from his enemies by this effective speech,
he ate the hand and a large piece of flesh of a white man. "He did not
appear to relish the repast." says Henry, "but told me that it was then and
always had been the custom among all the Indian nations, when
returning from war or on overcoming their enemies, to make a war-feast from
among the slain. This, he said, inspired the warriors with courage in
attack and bred him to meet death with fearlessness."
The memory of this remarkable, generous, savage, paradoxical and enigmatic
Chippewa Indian has been kept green by the christening for him of the giant
car-ferry Chief Wawatam, which plies the waters of the Straits of Mackinac so
often traversed by his canoe.
Henry returned to the Sault and planned to settle down with the Cadottes.
Hostilities were still lively, however, and a band of Indians from Mackinac,
thirsting for his life, pursued him up the river. Again it was necessary
for him to seek the seclusion of a garret, while Jean Cadotte enlisted the assurance
of the Saulteurs that they would not permit Henry to be harmed. The incoming
Indians agreed to let him alone, but insisted upon taking the warriors of the
village with them to join the forces of Pontiac.
This called for a council, and while it was deliberating, an Indian embassy
from Sir William Johnson arrived at the village, summoning the tribes to meet
him at Niagara. The strangers seated themselves in the assembly and a
long silence ensued. Then one of them, taking up a belt of wampun,
addressed the council as follows:
An Invitation
"My friends and brothers, I am come with this belt from our great father, Sir
William Johnson. He desired me to come to you as his ambassador, and to
tell you that he is making a great feast at Fort Niagara; that his kettles are
all ready and his fires lit. He invites you to partake of the feast in
common with your friends the Six Nations, which have all made peace with the
English. He
advises you to seize this opportunity of doing the same, as otherwise you cannot
fail of being destroyed. For the English are on the march with a great
army, which will be joined by different nations of Indians. In a word,
before the fall of the leaf, they will be at Michilimackinac and the Six Nations
with them."
This invitation seemed to call for more than human decision. The Great
Turtle of the Chippewas must be invoked. For the purpose a large birch-bark
wigwam was constructed on the shore of the river, and in the center a tent was
raised, its poles being strong timber eight inches in diameter which
were closely covered with moose-hides. The wigwam was big enough to accommodate
the population of the village, and nearly everybody in the Sault was there.
When night came the whites and Indians crowded in, and fires were built around
the tent within the wigwam. Presently the jossakeed or midi, the Indian
medicine-man, came and crawled into the tent. His head was scarcely inside
when the tent, heavy and solid as it was with its timbers deeply grounded, began
to shake violently. The sounds of many voices were heard beneath the skins;
some yelling, some barking like dogs and howling like wolves, and in this horrible
concert were mingled screams and sobs, as of despair and anguish and the sharpest
pain.
The Great Turtle Is Heard
These confused and frightful noises gave way to silence. Then a low and
feeble voice was
heard, and the Indians recognized with joy the tones of the Great Turtle.
A succession of
chants followed, in a diversity of voices, after which the midi announced that
the Great Turtle was present and was ready to answer any questions.
The village Chief, placing some kinnikinnick within the tent, inquired whether
the English were making war upon the Indians, and whether there were many English
troops at Niagara. The midi put these questions to the Great Turtle, whereupon
the tent heaved convulsively and a terrific cry
announced the departure of the spirit. Across Lake Huron he flew to Fort
Niagara at the
Head of Lake Ontario. Here, he told the assemblage on his return, he saw
no great numbers of soldiers, but on continuing down the waterway to Montreal,
he found the river covered with boats, and the boats filled with soldiers in
numbers like the leaves of the trees. They were coming, said the supernatural
voice, to make war upon the Saulteur Indians. There was a great sensation,
and the wigwam thrilled at this.
The Chief then asked if the Saulteur Indians would be received as friends if
they visited Sir
William.
"Yes," said the spirit, "he will fill your canoes with presents, with blankets,
kettles, guns, gun-powder and shot and large barrels of rum, such as the stoutest
of the Indians will not be able to lift. And every man will return safely
to his family."
The feeling of apprehension in the crowd gave way to transports of joy at this.
Amid the clapping of hands a hundred Indians shouted, "I will go, too!
I will go, too!"
At this exciting moment, the usually level-headed Henry lost his judgment: Says
he:
"These questions of public interest being satisfactorily answered, individuals
were now permitted to seize the opportunity of inquiring into the condition
of their absent friends, and the fate of such as were sick. I observed
that the answers given to the questions allowed of much latitude of interpretation.
More Tobacco Is Given
"Amid the general inquisitiveness. I yielded to the solicitations of my
own anxiety for the future; and having first, like the rest, made my offering
of tobacco I inquired whether or not I should ever revisit my native country?
The question being put by the priest, the tent shook as usual; after which I
received this answer: That I should take courage and fear no danger, for
nothing would happen to hurt me; and that I should in the end reach my friends
and country in safety. These assurances wrought so strongly on my gratitude
that I presented an additional offering of tobacco.
"The Great Turtle continued to be consulted till near midnight, when all the
crowd dispersed to their lodges. Through the scene I have described, I was on
the watch to detect the particular contrivances by which the fraud was carried
on. But such was the skill displayed in the performance, or such my deficiency
of penetration, that I made no discoveries, but came away as I went, with no
more than those general surmises which will naturally be entertained by every
reader."
Thus closes Henry's capital account of the Chippewa Indian magic practiced
by their midis, jossakeeds and wabenos in the Sault of old. If the midi
should come back and set his tent up again on its Water Street site, he would
play of course to an empty house. No one in the Sault ever thinks of getting
his or her fortune told now. For we are civilized. Yes, indeed.
The Saulteur Chippewas sent a delegation to Niagara and Henry went with them.
They canoed across Georgian Bay and portaged to Lakes Simcoe and Ontario, this
avoiding the enemy country down Lake Huron. One day when landing for dinner
on an island in the North Channel of Georgian Bay, Henry was about to kill a
rattlesnake he found there, but the Indians, horrified, prevented him.
Surrounding it, they addressed it with great respect. They filled their pipes
and gently blew smoke upon the creature, which received it with evident pleasure.
After enjoying the incense for half an hour, it crawled away in safety, while
the Indians besought their "grandfather," as they called it to take care of
their families during their absence, and to open the heart of Sir William Johnson
so that he might be good to them and fill their canoes with rum.
Henry Nearly Sacrificed
Next day a storm arose as they were crossing the Bay. The Indians, convinced
that Henry had angered their Ginebig Manito, or Snake Spirit, proposed that
he be thrown overboard to appease the wrath of the diety. However, by
dint of the sacrifice of two dogs and a quantity of kinnikinnick
tossed into the lake, and through fervent prayers to the snake, the storm abated.
The Indians were cordially received at Fort Niagara by Johnson, as the Great
Turtle had
foretold, but we have no record of his filling their canoes with rum.
Henry returned to Mackinac and found that his clerks and his goods had disappeared.
Jean Baptiste Cadotte, however, at the Sault, was friendly, and the two became
partners in the fur trade.
Explored Michipicoten Region
Henry secured exclusive trading rights in the Lake Superior territory and wintered
at the Sault for several years. He explored the Michipicoten region, prospected
for copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula, and penetrated into the heart of Assiniboia.
He described that enormous nugget of pure copper which lay from prehistoric
times on the bank of the Ontonagon River, and which you may see now in the Smithsonian
Institution at Washington. He secured a mining charter from England and
built an ore furnace above the Sault at Point aux Pins. He visited the
grave of Manibosho at Thunder Bay Point. He built a barge a Point aux
Pins large enough to navigate Lake Superior in safety, and thus was the owner
of the first shipyard above the rapids.
Henry's account of his travels, now unfortunately all too rare, is written
in a straightforward and lucid style that smacks of truthfulness. Parkman
did not hesitate to draw freely on Henry for sections of his "Conspiracy of
Pontiac." Years after his adventures in the North Country, Henry became
a wealthy merchant in Montreal, and he died there at a ripe old age.
Jean Baptiste Cadotte was the son of that Cadieux who came with St. Lusson
to the Sault in 1671. He was a merchant voyageur, and at the time of his
appointment by de Repentigny at the old French Fort he held almost a monopoly
of the fur trade in the Chippewa villages of Lake Superior. He took to
wife the daughter of a Saulteur Chief, being married first with the native ceremonies
and afterward in the missionary chapel at the Sault. He died at the Sault
in 1803 and was buried there. His
two sons, Jean and Michel were notable characters in the fur trade in the days
of the North West Company. Both married Indian wives and left many descendants
who are scattered over the western states and Canada.
Fort Is Found Here
The stockade or fort on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac, the site
of which is marked by a handsome monument, was held and used by French traders
for about a year after the massacre. Then it was taken over by the British
troops. Captain Jonathan Carver of the British Army came up St. Mary's
River in 1766 and found de Repentigny's fort, presumably repaired from the ravages
of fire, at the foot of the rapids, with Jean Cadotte in charge. Cadotte
had shown his friendliness to the English, and the latter evidently did not
mean to disturb him. And besides, he was Henry's partner.
Carver's book is remembered for its famous Indian snake-story among other things,
and this story may bear repeating here.
A northern Indian having captured a rattlesnake, found means to tame it.
Thereafter he treated it as a Manito, calling it his Great Father and taking
it with him in a box wherever he went. Once he was met by a Frenchman
as he was setting off for his winter's hunt. The Frenchman was surprised
to see the Indian place on the ground the box which contained his god, open
the little door and give the snake its freedom; adminishing it to be sure and
return the following May, as he would be there to welcome it.
The Snake Returns
This happened in October, and the Frenchman opined that the Indian would have
to wait a long, long time for the arrival of his Great Father. However,
the Indian was so confident of the creature's return that he offered to wager
Monsieur two gallons of rum that the snake would come at the time appointed
and crawl into the box. The Frenchman agreed to this, and in the second week
in May both were there to see the outcome, or rather the income. The Indian
placed the box on the ground and called loudly for his father, but the snake
heard him not. He had lost the bet, and he
acknowledged it.
But he was not discouraged, and he offered to double the forfeit if the missing
god did not come within two days from that time. The offer was promptly
taken up; but sacre bleu! at one o'clock on the second day the snake arrived
and crawled into the box, cheerily wagging its tail in its joy at getting home
again. And the Frenchman had to pay the poor, guileless Indian four gallons
of rum.
Jonathan Carver was seeking the passage to China when he came to this region,
that passage the
discovery of which had eluded Champlain, Nicolet, and so many other Frenchmen.
"Those who are so fortunate as to succeed in finding this passage," says Carver,
"will reap emoluments beyond their most sanguine expectations. Perhaps
they may bestow some commendations and blessings on the person who first pointed
out the way. These, though but a shadowy recompense for all my toil, I
shall receive with pleasure."
Standing here by the rapids and wondering what became of all the mighty waters
of Lake Superior, Carver made the following entry in his journal:
"Though Lake Superior is supplied by nearly three hundred rivers, many of which
are considerable ones, yet it does not appear that one-tenth part of the waters
which are conveyed into it by
these rivers are carried off at its evacuations. How such a superabundance
can be disposed of, as it must be by some means or other, without which the
circumference of the lake would be constantly enlarging, I know not."
He concluded, as more than one geologist has since, that much of the water
in Superior seeps away through subterranean caverns.
A Curious Deed
Sixty-seven years after it was given, the heirs of Carver filed in the Court
House on Mackinac Island the following curious deed, which is evidence of the
progress the British were making with the Northern Indians.
Naudowessie Chiefs to Record B, Folio 96
Jonathan Carver et al. Received for record July 16, 1833.
To
Jonathan Carver, a Chief under the most mighty and potent George the Third,
King of the
English and other Nations, the fame of whose courageous warriors has reached
our ears
and has been more fully told us by our good brother Jonathan aforesaid, whom
we rejoice
to see come among us and bring us good news from his country.
We, Chiefs of the Naudowessies (Sioux), who have hereto set our seals, do by
these presents, for ourselves and our heirs forever, in return for the many
presents and other good services done by the
said Jonathan to ourselves and our allies, give, grant and convey to him, the
said
Jonathan, and to his heirs and assigns forever, the whole of a certain tract
or territory of
land, bounded as follows, viz.:
From the Falls of St. Anthony, running on the east bank of the Mississippi
River nearly southward as far as the southeast of Lake Pepin, where the Chippewa
River joins the Mississippi; and from thence eastward five days travel, accounting
twenty English miles per day; and from thence north six days travel at twenty
English miles per day; and from thence again to the Falls of St. Anthony in
a
direct straight line.
We do for ourselves, heirs and assigns forever, give unto the said Jonathan,
his heirs and assigns, all the said land, with all the trees, rocks and rivers
therein, reserving for ourselves and heirs the sole liberty of hunting and fishing
on lands not planted and improved by the said Jonathan Carver, his heirs and
assigns. To which, we have affixed our respective seals at the Great Cave, May
the First, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-Seven. (signed)
HAWNOPAWJATIN
his X mark
Chief, Of the Turtle Totem
OTCHTONGOOMLISHCAW
his X mark
Chief, of the Rattlesnake Totem
Part of the land conveyed in this deed is occupied now by the city of St. Paul.
Jonathan was the first great English-American explorer. He is forgotten
now, but he was a great traveler in his day. He tramped and canoed over
seven thousand miles in the Northwest in his longing to reach the Pacific, a
distance scarcely exceeded by Stanley and Livingston in their African explorations.
He returned to New York with invaluable charts and papers. He went to
London, where he was refused permission to publish the book of his travels,
and he died there, starved and heart-broken.
Less than ten years after the Mississippi River Sioux Chiefs had signed over
to Carver a part of their domain,--a gift of no use to him, it appears,--the
Sioux, Menominees, Ottawas, Chippewas and other northern tribes were fighting
on the side of the British in the Revolutionary War. The conflict caused
scarcely a ripple in far away Le Sault de Sainte Marie, but probably some of
the Saulteur Chippewas joined the fray. For fighting was the natural way of
life to the old Saulteurs; the war-path a familiar and a shining avenue to them.
But British Held on in U. P.
The war being over, the Treaty of Paris in 1783 ceded all the lands in this
vicinity south of the Great Lakes, to the United States. But the British
did not immediately surrender possession of that part of the Upper Peninsula
which they held, and their ascendancy continued for several years. They
made
annual presents to the Indians in this locality, and nursed and profited by
the fur trade which was coming into its own again.
The British at Hudson's Bay and at New York, and the Americans after them at
the latter place, probably always were hampered to some extent by the lack of
skilled voyageurs. Not so with the Canadians trading out of Montreal and
Quebec through Le Sault de Sainte Marie. At their call were the French-Canadians,
thoroughly Indian-wise, and the best canoe and woods-men in the world.
Thomas Curry was the first Canadian trader to penetrate through this region
to the Saskatchewan River and its furry paradise. James Finlay followed,
and so did the Frobisher brothers and Alexander Henry. Henry had a specific
license to traffic in these territories, the others were free-traders under
the rapidly changing conditions of the times.
Established Regular Routes
These men established regular routes of travel converging on Le Sault de Sainte
Maire, and thence via the Ottawa River to Montreal. Thousands of the peltries
came from territory hitherto occupied solely by the Hudson's Bay Company.
They found mutual advantage through informal co-operation for a time, and eventually
with others they formed the famous North West Company, which became
a formidable rival of the giant concern to the northward. Henry disposed
of his trading privileges to this Company, but continued to be a member of the
firm until nearly the close of the century. In his time as a fur-trader
he had engaged dozens of young men as clerks and had advised and assisted dozens
more. Among these was John Jacob Astor of New York..
The Hudson's Bay Company had prospered in the northern wilds. It never
was the policy of the Company to write history, or to publish its transactions
to the world. The yearly supply-ships slipped quietly into the Straits, and
as quietly departed for the London market with fur cargoes of fabulous values.
Dividends of twenty-five and fifty per cent were common, and stock dividends
of three-hundred per cent were not unknown. The Company had things all its own
way until the organization of the North West Company, and the great success
of the latter was largely due to its French-Canadian field personnel.
With the advent of the Northwest Company things began to hum along St. Mary's
River. The main office of the Company was in Montreal, its assembling
point in the north was at Grand Portage, near the present site of Fort William,
and all its up-bound field supplies and down-bound peltries were portaged around
the rapids here. The warehouses and offices of the Company were located
on the south side of the river, and the portage as well was on the south bank
of the rapids.
Lock Constructed in 1797
Afterward, when occupation by American troops seemed imminent, the Company moved
over to the north side, British territory, and constructed a canal and lock,
and a sawmill. This was 1797.
So there were a canal and a lock and a water-power mill at the Falls of Sainte
Marie in the times of George Washington. This is rather a surprising statement
to those of us who casually picture white men's commercial activities as having
been confined to the Atlantic seaboard in the lifetime of our first President.
Its correctness, however, is beyond all dispute.
The canal was about half a mile in length, the lock thirty-eight feet long
and eight feet nine inches wide. Canoes and batteaux were raised or lowered
nine feet in this lock, the south gate of which was single and windlass-operated,
the north gates folding double. A storehouse sixty by sixty feet in size was
erected at the head of the canal, another storehouse about forty feet in length
was built below it, and a water-power saw-mill with two saws was built alongside
the lock and parallel with it.
This canal, of course, enabled laden canoes and other small craft to ascend
to or descend from Lake Superior without unloading or portaging. It is true
the lift was only nine feet, but the difference between that and the twenty
feet or more fall of the rapids was overcome by the ox-haul of the vessels from
the lock to the head of the canal. There is little evidence that the canal was
extensively used, and hardly any mention is made of it in the Canadian records
after the end of the century.
John Johnston Gains Success
Deserted by the North West Company, the village of Le Sault Ste. Marie made
rather slow headway. De Repentigny's fort had disappeared, and while the Indian
village was fairly populous in the summer whitefishing season, the winters found
the red inhabitants scattered in the yearly hunt for furs and food. Of the few
white traders residing there who did not affiliate with the North West Company
or its offshoot, the X Y Company, one gained conspicuous success and the control
of the fur trade along the southern shore of Lake Superior and vicinity. This
was the celebrated John Johnston, commemorated by his son-in-law Schoolcraft
in various works, and by Judge Charles H. Chapman in his monograph, "The Historic
Johnston Family."
|