The Fur Trade In Michigan’s Thumb By Mark R. Putnam

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: CONCHRADUM ...... 6 Kariendiondi ...... 9 Skenchioe ...... 11 Kandequio or Kandekio ...... 12 Waters of Light ...... 13 Karontean ...... 16 Teuschegronde ...... 17 Lacus Erius ...... 18 Waters of Light II ...... 18 CHAPTER ONE: SKENCHIOETONTIUS—1535 to 1700 ...... 20 European Exploration—Jacques Cartier ...... 20 Samuel de Champlain—The Frenchman ...... 21 Arnout Vogels—The Dutchman ...... 22 Fort Nassau ...... 23 Ottawa River & Huronum ...... 25 Fort Orange ...... 30 Flight of the Fire Nation ...... 34 Iroquois & Huron War ...... 37 Novelle France—1641 ...... 38 French Fort at the Sault ...... 42 Flight of the Fire Nation II ...... 44 Iroquois & Huron War II ...... 47 Ottawa & Chippewa Land names ...... 49 Iroquois & Huron War III ...... 50 The Iroquois Sue for Peace ...... 54 Ottawa & Chippewa Land Names II ...... 56 Dutch Trading Laws ...... 57 The English Colony of New York Established ...... 59 3

From the French Brandy and from the English Rum ...... 64 Henry Nouvel and the Ottawa & Chippewa ...... 68 La Salle Stops Furs to Albany ...... 72 Canadian Governor Frontenac ...... 75 New York Governor Dongan ...... 76 Canadian Governor Denonville ...... 78 New York Parties to Lake Huron ...... 78 Frenchman Daniel Du Luth & Fort St. Joseph ...... 80 French Baron de Lahontan & Fort St. Joseph...... 83 Frontenac Returns to Canada ...... 84 Canadian Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac ...... 86 CHAPTER TWO: THE FRENCH LE PAYS PLAT—1700-1762 ..... 89 Fort Pontchartrain ...... 89 Iroquois Response ...... 90 Other Native People Responses ...... 92 Native People at Detroit ...... 95 Robert Livingston ...... 97 Frenchman Marquis de Vaudreuil ...... 98 Jacques Charles de Sabrevois ...... 100 Irondequoit & Seneca Country ...... 101 Joncaire Chabert ...... 101 Governor William Burnet ...... 103 Fort Oswego—New York ...... 106 Saguinan ...... 108 Frenchman Sieur de Vercheres of Saguinan ...... 110 Charles Andre Barthe of Detroit and Mackinaw ...... 111 CHAPTER THREE: THE ENGLISH—THE FLAT COUNTRY—1761-1796 118 The French & British War is Over ...... 118 Isaac Garret Graveradt ...... 119 Jacobus Harsen ...... 121 4

CHAPTER FOUR: THE UNITED STATES—MICHIGAN’S THUMB—1796-1819 ...... 133

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INTRODUCTION: CONCHRADUM

The early land called Conchradum was a part of what later would be called Michigan’s Thumb and was a large peninsula! Conchradum as a word likely comes from the Huron phrase as Ek- onchdera-ata . . . where “Ek” means location, “conechra” or “condechra” means country or land, and end or extremity is the suffix “ata”. Conchradum means the land end. Conchradum is the land that with the large pointed bend.

I am about to relate is a story that some may say is a tale, an account or story, about the early fur trade that impacted the Great Lakes and Michigan’s Thumb. During the winter of 1615-1616, the French explorer Champlain visited among the American Indians of the Great Lakes who the French call the Huron. At this time, land on the mid-west shore of Lake Huron was given the Indian appellation Conchradum. The Ontario Peninsula on the eastern shore of Lake Huron is formed by great lakes called Erie and Huron. At this time, the early 1600’s, the Ontario Peninsula was inhabited by Huron Indians, mostly. This was the inauguration of Great Lake’s written history.

After the Iroquois & Huron War, during the 1640’s, the Chippewa called Conchradum . . . Saguinan. The land east of the Saguinan or Saginaw was later called Michigan’s Thumb. With this tale, I will describe this ancient region. A saga of the fur trade, it is a tale of this areas early Indian kingdom. Conchradum was then the prime scene of activity in Michigan. The name Michigan describes two upper Great Lakes peninsulas and was provided by the Ottawa & Chippewa. Almost surrounded by fresh water and almost forming an island, Michigan has the shape of a glove or mitten and is fantastic area.

The name Michigan comes from the “Mitchi—gami”. 6

It means the location of the great lake or great freshwater sea.

The cutting from the Franciscus Creuxius’ 1660 map above shows Lacus Huronum, the Mare Dulce, which means the fresh or sweet water sea.

Michigan is called because it looks a great mitten. Michigan’s Thumb is the largest finger of that mitten.

Conchradum has three regions: Pagus Etioheroius, Pagus Ekandechiondius, and Pagus Skenchioetontius. Conchradum is a valued land and Kingdom. Along the east shore of Conchradum was Mare Dulce the sweet-water sea. In Latin, Mare Dulce was likewise called Lacus Huronium. In Latin, the word “pagus” means district, land, or country. In Chippewa in the late 1600 and 1700’s, Michigan’s Thumb was named “tessakamiga” that would be modernized to Tuscola that means the flat country. Tessakamiga was another appellation for Michigan’s Thumb. The is a very fertile land and is the land of the treasured pelt. This is a magical Indian Kingdom in which many Native People dwelt.

At the center of Conchradum was the land called Ekandechiondius.

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Both appellations I will deciphered without fuss. Ekandechiondius means land that is great and is projected out or a land of great protrusion. "Ek" means place or location while “ondechra" means land. “Io” means great while the suffix “ondius" means projected out. Pagus Ekandechiondius means where the land is flat and stretched out. The Huron or Wyandotte name Conchradum, or land end, is like the name Ekandechiondius that means where the land is great and is a projection. Both mean the great headland.

At the west edge of Conchradum is a great flowing river that into a large bay pours out. This west region in the 1700’s is called Sankinan. The Sankinan, now Saginaw, means where the river forms a spout. During the early 1600’s, this area was the home of the Sauk Indian clan. Conchradum is a place where hunting, fishing, and gathering food is the best. Possession of Conchradum is often sought after or hard-pressed.

The east edge of Conchradum is called Pagus Skenchioetontius also Skenchioe. Skenchioe, or Skenchioetontius, is the ancient the home of the Fox an early Algonquin Indian People. The Huron in Ontario called the Fox and their kindred the people of the other shore or the Outagamie. The Fox is westward of the Huron of Ontario in general. In Conchradum over time one hundred different Native villages have been created. Conchradum is a land that was populated.

The early 1600’s, at the dawn of the Great Lakes to European knowledge, was the beginning of its written history. Conchradum is a place of magical enchantment. It is a place of charm, mysticism, and allurement. This time was also the time to capture the verbal story. The area along the western great river would be called Sankinan. 8

Sankinan is like the Dutch word “schenken”.

“Schenken” means to decant or to pour. Sankinan is a region of which one would be proud or of which on would adore.

The Latin word “echanson” means cupbearer or one who pours out a drink. Sankinan likewise means to pour out. Sankinan and Dutch “schenken” may have a common link. An later word for this land will be “Sauk” a Chippewa word that also means where the steam of water debouches or flows out. Western Conchradum has another sub-region further west called Pagus Etioheroius, which is noteworthy. In the mid-1700s, near Detroit, in the Lower Thumb of Michigan, an Indian clan was called the Etioreendi.

Indian people at the river mouth was the meaning of Etioreendi. Sauk is an Algonquin name while the Huron equivalent is Etioreendi. Before the 1640’s, Chonchradum contained a number of Indian people. It was the home of the Sauk, Fox, Mascouten and Rock People. Sauk comes from the Chippewa word “siginan”, which means water is discharged. Chippewa w“siginigewigamig” or “ashangggewigamig” means tavern or where liquor dispensed.

Kariendiondi

The Sauk were Algonquin Indians who lived at the mouth of the what would be the Saginaw River. In the early 1600’s, the Saginaw River was named Fluvius Kariendiondi. Fluvius Kariendiondi means the river with the great embouchure. Fluvius Kariendiondi empties into Lacus Dulce or the freshwater sea. Fluvius Kariendiondi at the western end of Michigan’s Thumb’s was a great and large river. 9

“Fluvius” in Latin means to flow or a river.

Kariendiondi is a Latinized name with roots in the Huron language. In Huron or Wyandotte a the river’s mouth is “arenti-". The Fluvius Kariendiondi is a great medium for transportation in this time and age. A large bay formed at the mouth of Fluvius Kariendiondi that was named Tekariendiondi. "Tek" means where, “areenti" means river mouth, “io” means great, and “ondi" meant it projects out. Tekariendiondi was where there was a great spout.

Lacus Huronium was in the early 1700’s called Karegondi. This name has the same root as Tekariendiondi.

One of the four great Indian Tribes of Conchradum is the Mascouten. They are a part of the larger group called the Gens Feu or the Fire Nation. The Huron of the Ontario peninsula call the Fire Nation the Asistagueronon. The Sauk, Fox, and Mascouten together were the Fire Nation or Asistagueronon. This group of Indian people between 1632 to 1636 were driven out of Conchradum. A coalition of the Ottawa and the Neutral Nation drove them out or away. The Asistagueronon went for asylum to the Winnebago Indians near Lake Michigan’s Green Bay. After their removal, only their woodland spirits and place names were heard or spoken in Conchradum.

From 1643 to 1649, the Five Nations, the Eastern Iroquois, fought against the Huron. Iroquois would drive the Huron from their Ontario land. Iroquois would defeat the Huron neighbors to the south the Neural Nation. Iroquois then used Michigan’s Thumb as their trapping and hunting land.

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By 1687, however, an Ottawa and the Chippewa alliance will displace the Iroquois. Indians hunted and trapped this enchanted country to gain the benefits of Conchradum, which made their life better and created joy.

In Conchradum the exceptional fur is found. The harvests were great from the woodlands of Conchradum down to the what would late be the Belle Chasse and Lower Huron Rivers. Belle Chasse means the beautiful animal stalking, hunting, or chasing ground. It one of the most bountiful rivers. The Belle Chasse is where there is the best hunt. Trapping and hunting is done on hill, dale, and waterfront.

Belle Chasse River is known later as simply the Belle River. In lower Conchradum is found this very prolific river.

Skenchioe

The name “Skenchioe” is said to be Red Fox People. It name may not seem simple! An Onondaga, an Iroquois, word "uschentchios" means flat country. In the 1700’s, the Pagus Skenchioetontius was known in French as La Pays Plat. This French name means the country that is flat. In the late 1700’s, the English also called the land about Skenchioetontius the Flat Country.

Skenchioetontius means where the flat land goes out. This is to be a consistent meaning for the land with not doubt.

In the early 1600’s, the Gens Neutral, the Neutral Nation, lived southeast of Lacus Huronium. The Eastern Iroquois and Neutral Nation initially avoided conflict in the Iroquois and Huron War. 11

However, in the end, the Eastern Iroquois displaced the Neutral Nation from the Thumb. The Neutral Nation had lived just north of Lake Erie’s shore. They were Iroquois, too, and ancient brothers of the Five Nations or Eastern Iroquois. In the 1640’s, the Neutral Nation were driven to Skenchioetontius and then on westward by the Eastern Iroquois.

In Conchradum great expectations for the future were destined to aspire. With pelts from the forests and waterways and the trade goods they brought, came power and authority. The region’s furs brought high emotions to the campfire. Conchradum furs was the most valued and treasured of peltry.

The Huron, Wyandotte, had fantastic hair. During the 1640’s the Huron were driven by the Iroquois warfare.

The Huron are removed from Georgian Bay on the eastern shore of Lacus Huronium. The Iroquois called the Huron the Indians of the west or the Ouatogie. This was the time of the war drum. Into Huronium and Conchradum, the Iroquois push increasingly. They drive even the remnants of the Huron to the west. In Iroquois and Huron War, the Conchradum hunting ground was the ultimate conquest.

This was the land of furs that were unsurpassed. By the 1700’s, Conchradum was called Teuschegronde or where the beaver dams were many athwart. To the Eastern Iroquois, Conchradum this was the land afar that they desired to control and and were hard pressed. Conchradum furs embellished the European royal court. The rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds were spectacular in Conchradum. Prodigious was the water and land kingdom.

Kandequio or Kandekio

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The lake between Lake Erie and Lake Huron now called Lake St. Claire was originally called both Otsiketo and Kandequio. Kandequio likely derives from “Ek” meaning where, “ondechra”, and “io” likely meaning great. The meaning of Kandequio or Kandekio may have been where the [flat] land is great. The Onondaga word for flat was “gahunto”.

Waters of Light

Conchradum had sparkling water. Twinkling, shining, running, water flowed into Fluvius Kariendiondi. Into Lacus Huronium flowed this clear water of Fluvius Kariendiondi. Lake Huron at its foot supplied Otsiketo River. The Otsiketo ran south into a great, round, and shallow lake. Here at Lake St. Claire the Otsiketo River would slow and brake.

The water of Lake St. Claire and was clear and bright. The ponds, streams, and rivers of Conchradum were called the waters of light.

Above Lake St. Claire in the head of Otsiketo River flowed the Black River. Below it was the Belle Chasse River. Next into the Otsiketo River emptied Pine River. Into Lake Otsiketo or St. Claire emptied the stream called Swan. Then into Otsiketo emptied the Salt and also the large river called the Lower Huron. The Lower Huron is today called the Clinton.

There were two rivers called Huron. Through the upper Thumb flowed westward the Upper Huron.

Streams and rivers were prodigious resources in Michigan’s Thumb. Otsiketo meant salt. Lake Otsiketo was likewise called Lac Aquarum Marinarum. 13

It meant the lake that was marine, briny, or had a taste of salt.

Conchradum rivers and streams were waters of light. In bright sun and moonlight, they glittered, gleamed, and rippled. The Chippewa and Ottawa word "wasseia" meant light. These rivers and streams dazzled, sparkled, and glimmered. The water reflected the sun’s beams. The waters of light included clear and lucent ponds, lakes, and streams.

Only Black River with its dyes of hemlock was dark. Water that ran into Fluvius Kariendiondi, Lacus Huronium, and Otsiketo was radiant in quality. Two streams in the northwest Conchradum were Tittabawassee and the Shiawassee. Their water was rapid and rippled with a spark. The Chippewa and Ojibwa word “wassee” means being bright with light. Everyone want this land to have in view or to have in sight.

Tittabawassee and Shiawassee Rivers another individual structures. "Tittiba" meant it turns or rolls [around the Saginaw Bay]. Going upstream, Tittabawassee headwaters turn went west and then north back toward Tekariendiondi now Saginaw Bay. The suffix “wassee" meant it has luminous features. In Shiawassee, "shia" meant it is straight ahead. Fluvius Kariendiondi in a straight northern line with the Shiawassee River is fed.

The ending to each name is the contraction of “sebee”. In Chippewa and Ottawa, a river or great flow of water is called sebee.

The Wakishegan, now the Cass River, likewise meant it is glossy or shiny. Wakishegan meant it sparkles or glitters and is bright. The Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, and Wakeshigan River empty into Fluvius Kariendiondi. They are the luminous rivers the waters of light. Wakeshigan River called Onottoway Sebewaing, Upper Huron, and Matawan was central to Michigan’s Thumb. 14

The Wakeshigan was the central and best place to gather fur in Conchradum.

Waters of light was a major character of Michigan’s Thumb Region. Waters of light and running, rapid streams were fundamental. The traverse or journey was dangerous from Karontean now called Detroit to Saginaw or Saguinan.

Fluvius Kariendiondi emptied into Tekariendiondi or Saginaw Bay. Then the current slowly flowed to Mare Dulce or Lake Huron. Karegondi was one more name for Lake Huron. The shoreline water of Lake Karegondi was light blue then a darker navy color as it progresses into the deeper water as it flowed slowly out of Saginaw Bay.

As the water of light rounded and passed the Tip of the Thumb or Conchradum, it moved so slowly. The unhurried currents were southward bound and passed the Native Monument called White Rock. A short distance from the shore, White Rock was a site famous to Native People who at times would Pow Wow there in a group of many. “Wasse-bik” was likely the Chippewa—Ottawa word for White Rock. The water of light then went to Lake Huron’s end. At Lake Huron’s outlet into Otsiketo River, the water then would descend.

Water light at Lake Huron’s foot entered Otsiketo River. Down the upper Straits of Detroit flowed the river.

The waters of light flowed into Otsiketo Lake or Lake St. Clair. Lake St. Clair was likewise called Kettle Lake or in French Lac Chaudière.

The French word “Chaudière” means cooking caldron. The water of light of Lac Chaudière was crystalline, bright, and fair.

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The St. Clair River and the Lake St. Clair are part of a flowing corridor that began at the bottom of Lake Huron. This land of plenty, many people would come to share. Lac Chaudière was round and looked like a huge pot used for cooking. At Lac Chaudière, there was excellent hunting and fishing.

The Huron or Wyandotte word for cooking pot or kettle was “ganatchio”. They called Lake St. Claire Ganatchio. Another word for lake “Kandekio” likely meant where the country grand. “Ek” meant where; “ondech” means land. The suffix “io” often means it is boundless or wonderful. This was the lake of the country that was delightful.

Lake Otsiketo was shallow and pure. Geese, ducks, and swans often filled the Lake. Into the northwestern part of Otsiketo Lake, entered the Swan River. Here flocks of swans swam, each with its own radiant and rolling wake. On Lake St. Claire also swam many a flock of wild fowl. Here also was found the shoreline bird and the woodland owl.

Karontean

Southward, the water of light flowed. Out of Lake St. Claire, the aquatic liquid surged. South of Lake St. Clair, the French in the early 1700’s called the waterway the Detroit River. Midway down the Detroit River at a site itself called Detroit at different times of the year, was a grand Indian village. It was the site of the primordial gathering or camping that was of grand age. Teuschegronde, the land of the beaver dams, was the name of the region into Michigan’s Thumb and north of Detroit River.

Near Detroit the shoreland or coast was called Tiosharondion. The names of the Detroit Camp numbered a few. 16

To the Huron it was called Karontean. The Detroit Camp was located on a high bank along the Detroit Rriver that had a wonderful view. The old name for the Detroit Camp was “Yondotiga” that was used by the Sauk, Fox, Mascouten, and Pottawatomie. Yondotiga meant the great North American Native village or city.1

A final name Waweatunong meant where the river forms a bend that is circuitous. The French name “de’troit” meant the strait or the place in the river that is narrow, clamped, or slanderous.

The name Karontean likely came form huron “arontean” that meant tree. Their word “areendi” that meant opening. Tiosharondion the coast of Detriot or the pass that lead from Lake Huron to Lake Erie. This was the location of great passing. Tiosharondion seems to have meant between two [lakes] the lake that is big. In “Memoire de la Guerre Contre les Iroquios”, it seems to be called Toncharontio, which come from “Te” meaning two, “ontare” reduced to “och” meaning lake, and “ios” meaning big.

Teuschegronde

The name Teuschegronde again meant where there were many beaver dams athwart. Teuschegronde referred to the land much above and below Detroit, or crossway or transversely back from the river in short.

1 The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Volume 1 edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller 17

Lacus Erius

In 1701, the French located at the Grand Village at the straights of Detroit. Southward the water of light entered Lacus Erius, or Lake Erie, below Detroit.

The word “erius” meant the cat. The upper region there was also called at times Teuschegronde was a great beaver and other peltry habitat.

Eastward flowed the water of light to points that were shallow then deep. Over Niagara Falls with a great a thunder and down a great gorge, the water of light then would sweep. From the Niagara River the water in Lake George or Ontario empty. Deep, long, and wide was Lake Ontario. Lake in Huron was “ontar” while great was “io”. Lake Ontario was the lake that was great that also had great importance, position, and beauty.

In the early 1700’s, on the southeast side of Lake Ontario thrived the Iroquois, Dutch, and English trading village of Oswego. To Oswego many packs of furs, ginseng, and other Native goods were transport from the “Far West” along the southern shore of Lake Ontario. The Eastern Iroquois of today’s New York saw Conchradum as the land that was afar. Going here, they followed each season’s evening star.

Waters of Light II

Conchradum was the land of the waters of light. It was the necromancer's or magician’s land of valuable fur. In Conchradum the future was destined to be prosperous and bright. 18

Conchradum was the home of the great hunter the chasseur. It was the region of bright glistening streams. It was the region of grand hopes and dreams.

Conchradum was the famous home the magical dams made by the golden beaver. The region held optimistic hope and fervor.

Michigan’s Thumb, Conchradum, was the land afar. Its history fills many a chronical or memoire.

Conchradum was afar toward the morning’s glistening. It was the land at the earth early day’s bend. To Conchradum, people would ascend. Conchradum was the land from which came the promise the upper Great Lakes freighting. Conchradum was the home of the mystical peltry. Conchradum was "La Pays Peles", the land of the prized and valued peltry.

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CHAPTER ONE: SKENCHIOETONTIUS—1535 to 1700

European Exploration—Jacques Cartier

The European entrance to the Great Lakes of the fur trade story, its history, started at the end of the 1500’s. The foundation years stretched over many years into the 1600’s.

1535

Written history commences in the Great Lakes region that describes two groups of people called the Iroquois and Algonquin. Both at that time possessed the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. In 1535, the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi claimed what is today Southeast Michigan. They were the leading powers in the middle Great Lakes. Today’s, City of Detroit was for a long time occupied by these people as a large village. They called Detroit “Yondotiga” meaning grand village.

In 1535, Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River and found Huron Indians. On the St. Lawrence, he also discovered Iroquoian Indians.

The Huron are situated on the north and south banks of the St. Lawrence River. They were generally found in today’s Quebec and Montreal vicinity. In 1535, the Huron people are at warfare in protection of the river. Before the 1535 and the arrival of European explorers to North America, there were many Native wars in this part of the Indian country. During the late 1500’s, the French again explored the St. Lawrence water way. Algonquin Indians then lived between what is today Quebec and Ontario’s Georgian Bay. 20

Because of the cold, Algonquin Indians are mostly hunters and gatherers. In 1535, Jacques Cartier discovered the Iroquois were engaged in agriculture. They would be termed farmers and planters. On both sides of the St. Lawrence River, the Algonquin’s lived whom the French called Huron. The people with the “Fantastic Heads of Hair” was the meaning of the French word Huron.

Samuel de Champlain—The Frenchman

1603

The Huron and Northern Iroquois were in an ominous conflict with the Southern Iroquois. By the time Champlain arrived in 1603, the Huron are defeated. The Huron villages along the St. Lawrence River then became abandoned and deserted. The Huron migrated to Georgian Bay in Ontario to escape the Southern Iroquois. 2

1606

The written history of the Great Lakes had a flourish in 1606. The French and Dutch were then in search of the Northwest Passage also the valuable Northwest pelt. In defiance of the French, the Dutch sail up the St. Lawrence River with the secondary goal of finding furs and finding where the Native people dwelt. The French and Dutch are at war, so they would not mix.

2 Geological Report on Wayne County by William Hittell Sherzer 21

The Dutch soon went elsewhere to look for pelts after the discovered the French on the St. Lawrence River. The Dutch found promise after going to the North Atlantic and going southwest to what they would call the North or Hudson River.

1608

Samuel de Champlain founded New France, which was later called Canada, in 1608. His goal however was also to discover the Northwest Passage to the orient. However, establishing fur trade with Native Indians also was his intent. Champlain began a fur trading post that the site that is now known as Quebec in 1608. At this time, beaver fur was used in Europe to create hats made of felt. The demand was very high at that time for the beaver pelt.

In 1608, the Huron people lived in Western Ontario near Georgian Bay. The French made an alliance with the Huron in 1609. That year Champlain went to Huronia, which was the Huron homeland located on the eastern shore of Georgian Bay.3 Nearby, beaver pelts are plentiful and of a quality that was very fine. By 1610, the Dutch were beginning to trade on the North or Hudson River. The river was eventually only called Hudson after Henry Hudson an Englishman who was employed by the Dutch and who first discovered the river.

Arnout Vogels—The Dutchman

1610

3 The Fall of Fire Nation—the Expulsion of the Sauk from the Saginaw Valley by John A. White Jr. 22

In 1610, Dutchman Arnout Vogels traded for furs at the outlet of the Hudson River. From the deck of the ship, he purchased a number of furs from local Native People who lived near the river.

In his fur trade, Arnout Vogels engaged two Frenchmen. With the help of the Native Indians, the Dutch traded, gainfully. Not long afterward, Vogels was followed by other Dutchmen. Soon Adrian Block and Lambert Van Tweenhuysen who were both Dutch to the Hudson River had arrived. The two of them traded from their ships with European goods. Many local Native People came to the ships to trade from their local woods.

The trading for pelts took place during the warm weather. It took place late in spring and early summer. In a short time, a trading post was opened on the Island Called Manhattan in the outlet of the Hudson River.

This fur trading post was owned by the Dutch West India Company. The trade, however, proved to be unprofitable at least initially.

Fort Nassau

Iroquois people called the Mohawk lived on the upper Hudson River. They persistently objected to the Dutch on the lower Hudson wanting to abandon the fur trade. The Mohawk encourage the Dutch to relocate where there were better conditions on at the upper Hudson River. The Mohawk wanted the Dutch to build there a trading post in a stockade. Shortly after their request, a settlement was established on the upper Hudson. The post was successful and worked well in the trade with the Indians in the upper river region. 23

Shortly there afterward, Dutch colony was established that was known as New Holland. It was later titled New Netherland.

1613/14

In 1613, Samuel Champlain was still exploring [Canada or] New France. Champlain went on to explore what would be called the Ottawa River. North America was a region of opportunity, profits, along with chance. In 1614, the Dutch built Fort Nassau on Castle Island at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk River. The region to the west was called by the Mohawk Schenectady. In the Mohawk language, “over the pineland” was the meaning of Schenectady.

Large numbers of fur were brought to Fort Nassau in the Hudson River. Mohawk River was very valuable as a passageway that led inland to many points westward with great caches of peltry. Mohawk Indians ascended the Mohawk River, portage near Lake Oneida, and the descended the Oneida River. They would go onward to the camp of Oswego. The camp was a place to hunt, trap, and trade that was also located on Lake Ontario.

The area from Schenectady to Oswego was initially an excellent region for the beaver and other fur. Around Fort Nassau was a great and beautiful pine forest. The Mohawk River was then an unspoiled and untouched river. For those who lived in the country, life seemed at its best. Furs are abundant and without problems were easily obtained. In this country, the Indian fur trade for years was sustained.

Fort Nassau was the leading Indian or fur trading center of the New Colony. on the Hudson River.

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The local wealth burgeoned at Fort Nassau, and for both the Indian and the white person there was prosperity.

Ottawa River & Huronum

1615

In 1615 in New France, Champlain traveled over the Ottawa River and down the Matawan River. Champlain stayed with the Nipissing Indians at the Lake Nipissing and then went down the French River.

At the mouth of the French River was what became known as Georgian Bay. Here Bay Champlain met with 300 men from the Indian tribe the Cheveux Releves. They were harvesting blue berries near the bay. Later called the Ottawa, the raised hair people was the meaning of their name Cheveux Releves. At this time, the French made a pact to solely trade for furs with the Huron. The other tribes in the region would have to bring their furs to middlemen the Huron.

1616

Champlain followed the eastern shore of Georgian Bay south to the Bay of Nottawasaga. Huronia, the home of the Huron Indians, was on Nottawasag Bay’s eastern shore. In 1616, the area saw the beginning of the Beaver War. Conflict over control of the beaver hunting grounds took place on the Ontario Peninsula. For fifty years, the Iroquois, Huron, other tribes were involved in this war.

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In Southeastern Michigan, there were a many Sauk, Fox and Mascouten inhabitants. According to early French explorers, the area was very populated. At the end of the Beaver War in 1670, the area was for the great part was mostly unoccupied. From this area, more than 20,000 Native people were exiled to the west shores of Lake Michigan and became Green Bay residents.4

The Huron of New France and the Iroquois of New Netherland were at war. In 1616, Champlain made an agreement with the Huron to help the Huron in their conflict. Together they made plans to invade New Netherland and attach at the Mohawk’s door. They planned to strike at the very center of the Mohawk district. From New France, Champlain and his Huron guides traversed across Lake Ontario. Having crossed Lake Ontario, they went to the Iroquois at Village of Oswego.

1617

The French and Huron attacked the village; however, they were defeated and crushed. During the winter months of 1616-1617, Champlain again spent time with the Attigouantan or the Huron. It was at this time that Champlain christened the nearby great lake . . . Mere Dulce. Mere Dulce is Lake Huron, today. The Huron had built a large number of villages on the east side of Georgian Bay in which they lived. Their influence extended westward even to the Thumb region.

Huronia, the Huron district, contained eighteen villages. Six of them were enclosed and fortified.

4 Flint Journal letter to the editor for Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, by John A. White, Jr. 26

Stones and water were placed on the palisades of the villages. Huronia was an area that the Huron had burned and cleared. Stones were hurled at the enemy while the water was used to extinguish a fire. However, the most difficult defense was against the musket or gunfire.

In the eighteen Huron villages, live two thousand warriors. The villages include thirty thousand Indians in total population. Between Huronia and Tekariendiondi [or Saginaw Bay], the route by canoe was along southern Lake Huron shores. The total distance was 330 miles over the curved shoreline route to the Saginaw region. Seldom did an Indian canoe directly cross between Huronia and Tekariendiondi Bay. This was true even though that was the shortest or straightest distance or way.

The Gens de Petun, the Tionnontate, resided southwest of the Huron on the Nottawasaga River. They were called likewise the Tobacco Nation. The Gens de Petun grew large amounts of corn that they traded with other Indians in the region. The Gens de Petun and the Huron formed a partnership or coalition together. In the winter of 1616-1617, Champlain visited the local Petun village. Afterward, he visited the main Cheveux Releves, or Ottawa, village.

27

1632 Champlain Map

The Cheveux Releves were pleased to see Champlain in their region. They grew corn but typically hunted and gathered for their subsistence. In search of food, they often traveled a great distance. As hunters and gathers, they went in groups to many a different location. They were beginning to take over as fur and goods traders. The Ottawa would later be known as the major French fur trade brokers!

At times, the Cheveux Releves traveled 600 miles to the west tip of Lake Superior. They also traveled west to the tip of the Grand Lac or Lake Michigan. The journeys of the Ottawa often caused conflict between them and many a Native nation.

28

In Ekandechiondius, the Assistagueronon or Fire Nation, they also wanted to conquer. The Fire Nation was in distance a ten-day’s journey. The Fire Nation lived and possessed a splendid hunting and trapping valley.

The Ottawa requested of Champlain that he provide them with assistance in their conflict with the Fire Nation. Champlain however replied that the Ottawa must wait for another time or occasion.

South of the Huron and Ottawa Nations was an Iroquois group the Neutral Nation. They are neutral in the Huron War and not at war with the eastern Iroquois. However, the Neutrals allied themselves with the Ottawa and assist them in their war against the Fire Nation. A war against the Fire Nation, the Neutrals and Ottawa then did employ. The Neutrals were two days' journey south of the Ottawa. In the struggle, the Nation of Fire ultimately was removed from southeastern Michigan by the Neutrals and Ottawa.

The Petun or Tobacco Nation was often very cruel. They were known to plant large amounts of tobacco on their land. Their warriors numbered four thousand. On the Ontario Peninsula, they did dwell.

The distance between the Ottawa village and Neutral village was four to five day’s journey. At good walker may walk twenty miles in one a day. The two villages between them was about eighty miles away. The Neutral Nation was populous and had villages numbering about forty. Between 1616 and 1629, the beaver fur trade for the Huron was a grand success. The Algonquians and Huron of the Great Lakes accounted for two thirds of the French fur business. 29

The annual beaver output then was 12,000 to 15,000 pelts. One year it maxed at 22,000 pelts.

However, beaver along the Hudson River were starting to become decimated and depleted. In the end, the eastern pelts would be exhausted.

1629-30

In response to the east depletion of fur, in 1629, British privateers engage and capture Quebec. There was then in storage in Quebec 3,000 to 4,000 pelts. The following year, 1630, the British took in 30,000 [pounds] of pelts. However, in 1631, the British limit the trade as it was then seeming to plunge toward a wreck. The eastern Iroquois devastated sought new hunting grounds in the lands afar or westward. Their control and harvest of Pagus Ekandechiondius and Pagus Skenchioetontius was then spurred.

The Dutch also wanted the eastern Iroquois fur trade. The Iroquois besides also wanted the Dutchman’s aid.

Fort Orange

1624

In 1624, the Dutch had built a second fort on the Hudson River called Fort Orange. Fort Orange was located on the east bank of the upper Hudson River. It is built just opposite the outlet of the Mohawk River. In was pockets of the Dutch are great amounts of currency and change. The Mohawk River led to the western frontier and wealth as it was the gateway. 30

The eastern Iroquois led by the Mohawk took great advantage of the waterway.

The Mohawk River led to the far interior forests that were plentiful in fur. From the great passageway, to the Great Lakes, the Iroquois gathered woodland goods from the interior.

To Lake Ontario and the Upper Great Lakes, Mohawk River was the gateway. Control over the Mohawk river allowed one to possess great sway.

The Mohawk River would carry great amounts of woodland and merchant freight. Westward up the Mohawk River, the stream led to Lake Oneida. The lake was named for the Native Iroquois there also called the Oneida. Over the passageway, the Dutch and their European partners indirectly would participate. The Oneida Portage proved a connection to the Oswego River. The Oswego camping and hunting ground was located near Lake Ontario that early on abounded in beaver, muskrat, and other fur.

The Oswego route and the shoreline of Lake Ontario were the links to the upper Great Lakes. Native canoes would may ply the southern Lake Ontario shores in countless wakes.

At the west end of Lake Ontario was Niagara River. Passing through the Niagara isthmus, the Iroquois would encounter Lake Erie and further west and then north Lake Huron. The Iroquois had dreams of hunting and trading in Sankinan on Fluvius Kariendiondi or Saginaw River. In 1628, the Hudson River, the Iroquois defeat the Indians called the Mohican. The Iroquois then had a monopoly and became the bush runners for the Dutch on the Hudson the western waterway. Iroquois bush runners would eventually travel far away to Tekariendiondi Bay. 31

The Iroquois became dominate players in the New Netherland fur trade. They are called the bush loppers, woods runners, the middlemen of the Dutch. The Iroquois began obtaining peltry in volume that was of the highest grade. The beaver was the most spectacular fur that was used in making felt hats that were resilient and soft to the touch. Dutch Beaver hats are then much in style. Beaver fur made the best hats then over any type of cloth or textile.

Everyone wanted to increase security, commerce, and travel. To that end, the Iroquois and French of New France took on a pack of peace. However, in the end the French fund that the Iroquois only took to the Dutch furs that are the most valuable. The Dutch gave the Iroquois the highest price for their peltry or fleece. The Iroquois were set on being Dutch engages or woods runners in the western region. They would go as far as Lake Erie and Huron.

With Iroquois assistance, the Indian trade for the Dutch became very profitable. Many furs made their way to Dutch traders at Fort Orange. For a great number of years, that trading situation does not change. At this time, for the French, losing the trade of the western region seem very possible.

Dutch traders at Fort Orange at this time asked the New Netherland governor to give them a fur trading monopoly. Dutch traders ask for a license to have sole control of the Indian trade. The traders at Fort Orange are successful with their entreaty. Dutch merchants at the fort afterward became wealthy from the Indian trade. The military in New Netherlands gave those at Fort Orange backing. This allowed the Dutch the Indian trade to be extremely profitable and rewarding. 32

In the fur trade, the Dutch import very few of their trading goods. Most of the items, the Dutch themselves would sew, forge, or brew. They manufacture nearly all their trade goods. The Dutch also had the best quality and most wanted items, which everyone knew. Dutch selling prices were very low generally and of the best grade. The woodland goods from the interior many Indians by way of the Iroquois brought to Fort Orange where the Dutch give more in trade.

By making their own goods, the Dutchman’s costs were greatly reduced. The furs were brought to Fort Orange each spring from western forest. The Dutch traders found that the Iroquois middleman system worked the best. The Iroquois also with the Algonquin also have exchanges or traded. Dutch did not however initially go into the far woods. Only at Fort Orange would they trade their goods.

The Indian trade in the region was then the greatest local source of income and money. The furs were shipped to Europe, and the proceeds were the greatest part of the local economy.

The Indian Trade generated large amounts of income. Throughout the whole system furs pass between many a hand. In Europe the American peltry was in great demand. Furs and other woodland goods brought to Fort Orange by the Iroquois were more than welcome.

The furs brought in were muskrat, martin, mink, raccoon, possum, fox, lynx, and bear. The most valuable pelts were those of the beaver.

At this time, it seemed the Indian trade at Fort Orange would never come to an end. Each year, hunting and trapping further to the west did extend.

33

The Iroquois and the Dutch were allies. In this accord marriages between the two people take place. With marriage and the building of family relationships, profits would maximize. Dutch and Iroquois marriages were not an unusual case. Dutchmen and women often had Iroquois relatives or ancestors. It was the case however that only an Iroquois into the deep woods ventures.

Flight of the Fire Nation

1632

In 1632, the principal village of the Fire Nation was the Mascouten village. A few miles up from the bay on Fluvius Kariendiondi, Saginaw River, laid their village.

To the north of Ekandechiondius and Skenchioetontius lived the Sault or Chippewa. They inhabited the region of the straits and rapids that connected Northern Lake Huron and Lake Superior. The Sauk and Chippewa were always at war. The hunting grounds of Old Conchradum were coveted by the Chippewa who were known also as the Ojibwa. For many years, the Ojibway desired the Fire Nation’s prized land. In the fight, they now took a strong-minded stand.

The Chippewa planned to overpower and destroy them. The Ojibwa wanted nothing more than to decimate them.

To this end, the Ojibwa hold council with the Northern Ottawa who were their close neighbor. The objective was an outright and final war.

34

By 1632, the French explorers went as far west as La Grande Lac or Lake Michigan. In 1632, a Jesuit priest learned of the invasion into the Fire Nation by the Chippewa and Ottawa. That year, Paul Le Jeune baptized a boy taken captive from the Fire Nation. The boy, his father, and mother were taken in this war by the Ottawa. The Ottawa burn the boy’s parents. Very cruel are the Ottawa notions or torments.

The Ottawa attacked the village at the mouth of Fluvius Kariendiondi [the Sankinan later the Saginaw River]. The other villages in the interior had survived. On maps of New France until 1656, the Fire Nation or Gens de Feu would however continue to be denoted. In 1632, there yet stood Fire Nation villages on the Flint, Shiawassee, Tittabawassee and Wakeshigan [or Cass] River. The Ottawa had invaded the land of the Gens de Feu without question. The inland villages survived as there are no worn foot trails to them for the Ottawa from Lake Huron.

The Ottawa invaded by way of the bay of Tekariendiondi and Fluvius Kariendiondi. Beginning in 1632 the Fire Nation was gradually exiled. All the individual tribes of the Fire Nation within ten years were gone, unquestionably. The Fire Nation would leave or be destroyed man, woman, and child.

1633

In 1633, the Ottawa tried to establish trade at Green Bay with the Winnebago. The Winnebago in response kill and ate the envoy from the Ottawa. Ottawa then provide weapons to the Ojibwa, and in the process, the Winnebago sent a message to the French. In it, they said that they were at war with the Ojibwa.

35

Many Lower Michigan Indian tribes then began to seek asylum among the Winnebago. They also wanted asylum from the French.

In 1633, the French provide skilled artisans to the Huron. They sent bakers, farmers, and blacksmiths. Blacksmiths could also serve as gunsmiths. Goods of many types make their way into the region. To this country, French and Dutch goods were infused. Into the Indian trade, gun, ball, and powder were launched.

1634

In 1634, Jean Nicolet traveled to Green Bay from Huronia with seven Indians likely Huron. They planned to make peace between the Huron and Winnebago. Nicolet learned from the Winnebago that the Pottawatomie, Menomonee, and Mascouten were being driven from Michigan. They’re exile was in Green Bay with the Winnebago. The Potawatomi and Menomonee were originally located in Northern Michigan. They once lived near the Chippewa [now in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan].

The Fox had not yet arrived in Green Bay, certainly. Some of the Fire Nation had remained to fight in the Saginaw Valley.

1635

In 1635, the Neutrals from the Ontario Peninsula attack the Gens De Feu but were defeated and retreated.

In 1635, the French in New France, or Canada, were in an excellent trade position. They then began to trade with the Iroquois people called the Onondaga. "Standing Stone" was the meaning of their name in translation.

36

Mohawk do not want the French to trade with their Iroquois brothers the Onondaga. The Onondaga lived mid-way between Fort Orange and Niagara Falls. However, the French went to trade in opposition of the Mohawk to the Onondaga Village walls.

The Onondaga lived on the Dutch [later the New York] frontier. The Mohawk would, however, oust the French from this region. They did it with the aid of the Dutch weapons financier. This place the Mohawk and Dutch in a very good position.

In the Mohawk and French conflict, the Dutch express publicly that they were neutral. However, war between the Iroquois and French reached a situation that was pivotal. To this end, the Dutch openly without doubt took the Iroquois side. With the weapons help of the Dutch, there was a turning of the tide.

Iroquois & Huron War

1640

By the 1640, beaver in the Iroquois’ homeland were nearing extinction. To obtain furs, the Iroquois pressed and traveled further to the land afar. To acquire new trading and trapping country, the Iroquois planned to conquer the land of the Huron and indeed the Fire Nation. The began by attacking the Huron on the east shore of Lacus Huronium. Iroquois efforts promoted the displacement of the Gens de Feu [fire Nation] from ancient Sankinan or Conchradum.

In controlling the trade of the region and limiting the French, the Iroquois had to manage and control the Ottawa River. They needed to be in command of Huronia. At the same time, Old Conchradum was being invaded by the Ottawa and Chippewa 37

The whole mid-Great Lakes region was in a high fever. To this region, Iroquois are in rapid advance. The Iroquois gathered excitedly around the mid-night fire with war dance.

In defense, the French of New France [Canada] offered arms to the Huron. The Huron, [also called Wyandotte] lived on Lake Huron’s eastern shore. At stake were peltries of Michigan’s Thumb and much more. A great Native battle began over the ancient land of the Huron. On one side of the war were Iroquois and Dutchmen. On the other side of the war were Huron and Frenchmen.

Novelle France—1641

1641

The Fire Nation, the Native People of Ekandechiondius, lived on ground that was excellent for hunting, trapping, and cultivating. The Fire Nation was composed of Sauk, Fox, Mascouten, and Pottawatomie. They occupied the river valleys that the Algonquin’s called the Saginaw, Flint, Shiawassee, Tittabawassee, and Onottoway Sebewaing. In the early 1600’s, this Saginaw Valley was their region. From the Novvelle France Map, [1614], the following were other names for the tribes of the Fire Nation: From Tekariendiondi [Saginaw Bay] going southeast, the following tribes made up the Fire Nation:

38

1641 Novelle France Chart that was drawn on a beaver pelts shows the tribes of the Fire Nation.

The Fox clan the People of the Red Earth were the Oskovararonon. They inhabited what the Algonquin’s call the valley of the Onottoway Sebewaing River [today’s Cass River]. [The Onottoway Sebewaing River was later called the Upper Huron River.] The Onottoway may be another name for the Oskovararonon. The Oskovararonon lived on the Onottoway Sebewaing River east of the Sauk [or Saginaw] Indian trail. The Oskovararonon lived above the great bend in the Onottoway Sebewaing River where the land for hunting and gathering would not fail.

Onottoway means snake while Sebewaing seems to mean river of fur. 39

In Algonquin, Onottoway-Sebewaing meant the foreigner or the snake river of fur.

The Onottoway occupied the valley of the Onottoway Sebewaing River. Their principal village was a few miles up from the outlet of that river.

At the headwaters of Onottoway Sebewaing and to the shores of Lake Huron lived the Ariotoeronon. The Ariotoeronon, the rock people, were likely Pottawatomie. Their domicile was mostly along the mid-western shores of Lake Huron. The Ariotoeronon lived near White Rock in Lake Huron and inland at White Rock and Slate Stone Creek. Not far away also was Rock Falls Creek.

Between the Shiawassee and Flint River lived the Skenchioeronon. They were the main branch of the Fox people in the region.

Their home was near Flint River and the burnt-over fur country later called by the Ottawa Muscutawaing. The ground was later cleared by fire for corn planting.

East of the Skenchioeronon were the Sauk or Kovatoeronon. Southwest of the Kovatoeronon are the Mascouten or Aictaeronon.

The people of fire is the meaning of the later name. The Fire Nation were Algonquin nations that had a heritage that was the same.

In the Ontario Peninsula, resided the Neutral Nation. North of them was the Petun or Tobacco Nation.

The Fire Nation was a paradise of fish and game that includes the golden or tan-brown beaver. These tribes lived together in harmony. Between them, they had good relations and amity. From the shores of Lake Huron, the domain went from the head-waters of the Shiawassee and Tittabawassee River. 40

Strong and valiant were the Sauk and Fox and the Onottoway. Pagus Ekandechiondius was their home south of Tekariendiondi [or Saginaw] Bay.

In 1641, the Neutral Nation attacked the Fire Nation and take one hundred prisoners. The following year they took one hundred seventy-five prisoners. The captives the Neutral Nation characteristically kill.

*****************

This year the Fire Nation compose many villages. They are more numerous than the Iroquois, Neutral Nation, and Huron. The 1641 Novvelle France chart shows details of the locations of the Fire Nation or Gens de Feu villages. All the tribes of the Fire Nation have similar dialects and similar points of view. ************************

The 1641 Novelle France Chart puts forward that the Fire Nation: They are the Aictaeronon (the Mascouten), the Kovatocronon (the Sauk), the Skenchioronon and the Oskovararonon (the Fox), and the Ariotoeronon (the Pottawatomie).5

Flint may was an early place for planting corn.

Each Native household lives on what it gets by fishing and planting. They improved as much land as they needed and cleared up the ground with difficulty. They did not have the implements adapted to farming. A party stripped the trees of all the branches. They then burn the tree at its base to kill the tree. They clear carefully the land between the trees. They plant corn at distances of a pace putting in each hole some ten kernels.

5 The Early Map "Novvelle France": A Linguistic Analysis, By John Steckley 41

They plant just enough for provisions for three or four years.

Flint was known by the Chippewa as Mus-cu-ta-wa-ingh or the open Plain Burned Over. The Flint site may have been cleared by fire to plant corn.

French Fort at the Sault

1642

In 1642, the French built a fort at the north end of Lacus Huronium. It was established on the strait between Lake Superior and Lake Huron on St. Marie River. The fort and surrounding land became a refuge for the Ottawa and Chippewa hunter, trapper, and warrior. This was their home. For Native People, the blacksmith was in the end the utmost valued person or artisan. Blacksmiths made and repaired the valuable trap, axe, and gun.

In 1642, the Huron War reached a peak on Lake Huron’s southeast shore. The Dutch had supplied the Iroquois with gun, powder, and shot. The French did also for Huron or Wyandot. To this ancient region, the Iroquois came in canoes with paddle or oar. Wyandot [another name for the Huron] meant the people of the land separated or the island. In the end, in the Beaver Wars, the Huron were driven from their homeland.

The Huron fled westward to La Bay [Green Bay] in the region of Wisconsin. The Iroquois had forced the Huron toward the setting sun.

With the Fire Nation, the Neutral Nation was very cruel in the war. They were often as cruel as the Huron in war. 42

The previous year, in 1641, the Neutral Nation had taken one hundred prisoners. In 1642, they return with an army of two thousand men They bring away in 1642 more than one hundred and seventy men prisoners. They did not consider the killing of prisoners a sin.

Toward the Fire Nation, the Neutral Nation conducted many same cruelties. The Neutral Nation burned the female prisoners. They, likewise, as well burned male prisoners. They were very cruel toward their enemies. The Huron were content to knock down a woman down bear off with a part of her body. Such as the cruelty and atrocity.

The brutality was enormous and was often an attempt to obtain justice or revenge from a past quarrel or event. Such was war’s sentiment. Vengeance played a role in the laws of the Huron and Neural Nation. ……

1643

In 1643, the Neutral Nation return [to Michigan’s Thumb] heavily armed and severely attacked the Fire Nation. However, there would be yet another year, 1644, of war in the region.

The Neutrals in 1643 were in here [in the Thumb of Michigan] in the summer. They numbered of two thousand men and attacked a palisaded village that was much protected from the enemy. The village was strongly defended by nine hundred warriors who withstood the assault, initially. In the end, the Neutrals they carry it after a siege of ten days, however. They killed 14 . . . many on the spot. Being a prisoner such was the lot. 43

The took eight hundred captives—men, women, and children after burning seventy of the warriors that were the best. They put the eyes out and girdled the mouths of the old men. They abandoned them to their own guidance that they might thus drag out a miserable life and not rest. Such was the scourge that depopulated they country side. The war was a war of extermination. Only the native spirits in the woods reside.

The location of the Fire Nation village is not known. It fell in 1642, ten years after the fall of the first village fell in 1632. The first village of 1632 likely was at the mouth of the Fluvius Kariendiondi [Saginaw River]. The village of 1642 was likely much more remote in the interior Perhaps on the Flint River, the later battle was sown. Saginaw Bay and Flint River were separated by two or three day’s travel. It was the final battle.

The two locations were the north and south boundaries of the Saginaw Valley. It was the bounds of Gens De Feu or Fire Nation.

Flight of the Fire Nation II

1645

The war with the Fire Nation ended shortly after 1645. Nearly all the survivors went to Green Bay. In the mid-1600’s, there are 20,000 Indians from Michigan in Green Bay. They sought asylum there and would survive. In 1645, the French trade was big business. For the French the wars were a success.

In 1645, in New France [Canada] over 45,000 beavers are harvested. 44

They are worth 300,000 in francs in French money. For France a fleet departed in October laden with 20,000 pounds of Beaver skins, it is estimated. The skins sold for ten to eleven francs a pound, finally.

1649

Eventually, the Neutrals suffer the same fate as Fire Nation. In 1649, Huronia and the Petun are overrun by the Iroquois. Eventually in 1651 the Neutrals were also defeated by the Iroquois. They were expelled from the region. Neutral refugees fled to Ohio and Pennsylvania in the south. There they were absorbed by other Native populations in the south.

The Sauk initially lived on the contributory rivers of the Saginaw River except the river now called the Cass. The Sauk appeared on the Tittabawassee, the Flint, and the Shiawassee River. The Onottoway occupied the Cass. The Cass was then called the Onottoway-Sebewing” about twenty miles up from Saginaw Bay on Saginaw River.

The Onottoway principle village was near the mouth of the Cass River. A large earthwork much later was visible until about 1840. “Onottoways” seems to be an identification for the Fox of the early 16th century. The Fox were a tribe related to the Sauk and Mascouten. The Chippewa name for the Fox is “Outagamie” which means "people of the other shore." The Saginaw Valley was an Indian paradise of fish, deer and beaver. The front door to the Saginaw Valley is the mouth of the Saginaw River at Saginaw Bay. All river traffic to the Saginaw valley must use the Saginaw which was inhabited by the Assistaguerouon. Since the Mascouten are the Asistaguerouon the main villages of the Mascouten were located at the mouth of the Saginaw River at the present sight of Bay City Michigan. 45

The Mascouten may have been a tribe of the Sauk that occupied the Saginaw River. It is evident that the Chippewa name for Sauk includes the Fox and Mascouten as well without any distinction between them. The Saginaw Valley was also prized by the neighbors of the Asistaguerouon whom the Asistaguerouon frequently clashed with. The Ottawa and Neutrals had been at war with the Asistaguerouon for decades. The Ottawa were trading allies with the Chippewa. The Ottawa and Chippewa met at Mackinaw and agreed to attack the Mascouten.6 They came down in canoes along the shore of Lake Huron and ditched their canoes a few miles north of the mouth of the Saginaw River. The Mascouten had villages on both east and west banks of the river. The attackers divided into two columns that moved along both sides of the river. The principle village located on the west side of the river was attacked first. Most of the Mascouten were killed with some escaping to the village on the east side of the river. The second column of attackers destroyed the eastern village as well. Some Mascouten escaped to an island in the Saginaw River and they were killed as well when the island became accessible by ice. The Chippewa claim that there were only twelve female survivors. After the Mascouten were destroyed at the mouth of the Saginaw River, the attackers formed detachments that destroyed Sauk villages throughout the Saginaw Valley.

***********

6 Ellis . . .. 46

Part of 1643 Boisseau Map

Iroquois & Huron War II

1643

In 1643, the Iroquois [or Five Nations] began a Beaver War also called the War of the Iroquois & Huron. During the war, many Great Lakes Native People were diffused to the west. From Ontario and what would become Michigan, many journeyed toward the setting sun. The 1640’s were for Native People a great test. 47

On the Boisseau Map of 1643, north of Lake Erie live the Cheveux Relevez the raised hair people. They were later called the Ottawa or the trading people.

The Gens de Petun [Tobacco Nation] lived east of the Ottawa. The Gens Petun tended to avoid conflict. In 1643, in the north part Mere Dulce or Lake Huron lived the Sault or Chippewa. They were lived at the Sault Rapids. This would be a good trading district. West of the Sault [or Chippewa] dwelt the Puan or Winnebago. Their winter hunting ground was often in deep snow.

In 1643, in the center of today’s Michigan’s Thumb lived the remnants of the Asistagueronon. They were the miscellanies of the Fire Nation the Sauk, Fox, Mascouten, and Pottawatomie. Yet, on the east shore of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay lived the Huron. The lands of these Native people attained a great profit form the collection of peltry.

The Neutral Nation, Ottawa, and Sault would eventually expel the Fire Nation. The Iroquois destroyed the Neural Nation that is no more. The remnants of the tribes of the Saginaw Valley went to Lake Michigan’s western shore. After the Beaver Wars, the Iroquois were sojourners of Thumb of Michigan. The Iroquois then in Ekandechiondius were in control. At that time, here they would take on the leading role.

The Iroquois now managed the Teuschegronde region. The place where there were beaver dams many athwart. In the beaver grounds, Iroquois trapped furs that the Dutch would export. It was Thumb of Michigan.

48

Ottawa & Chippewa Land names

The French also called Teuschegronde, “Pay Peles”, meaning land of peltry. Many place names here contained the ending “waing” meaning the place of fur or peltry.

Such names as Upper and Lower Nottaway Sebewaing, Sebewaing, and Muscutawaing were located here. The endings “waing” likely mean the peltry land. The Chippewa and Ottawa word “waian” as an ending means fur. “G” at the end likely implies country or land. Nottaway Sebewaing meant the snake river in the region of the fur, Sebewaing meant the river of the fur ground. Muscutawaing likely meant the burnt over place in the fur country or ground.7

The Flint River may have first been called Biwanag-wain-aki-sebee. It was in the 1800’s spelled Pewonogowink-sebee. In Chippewa and Ottawa “biwanag” means flint, “wain” means fur, “aki” means country, and “sebee” means river. So, the Flint River was actually called in English the flint place in fur country river.

The early Chippewa and Ottawa name for the Saginaw camping ground was Pashawning or Pay-saw-wink. We see the same ending “wink”, which is likely a shortened “waian-aki”. Most Thumb of Michigan and Saginaw Valley place names used the corrupted ending “waing” or “wink”. Wink seems to mean fur country.

The Mattawan River much later called the Cass River was central in Michigan’s Thumb.

7 History of Genesee county, Michigan, her people, industries and institutions, by Edwin O. Wood 49

In the mid-1600’s, it was a part of the Iroquois and Dutch consortium. The Iroquois then began taking pelts from the region. They then had tremendous clout. From the rivers of drained into great Fluvius Kariendiondi, pelts were drawn out. The magical fur place was likely the meaning of Matawan.

Iroquois & Huron War III

The Iroquois then controlled the place of the enchanted fleece. The wealth of the Iroquois and the Dutch began to increase. The later name of the central [Cass] river of Teuschegronde the Matawan was named by the Chippewa and Ottawa likely form “Mamanda-waian”. It meant wonderful and magical fur. The best of furs certainly must have come from this rive later called the Matawan. It was the unbelievable river of fur.

The Iroquois are composed of Five Nations each known to the Huron by its own name. However, their endings “hronnon” meaning people are the same:

First the Mohawk were called the Anie. They likewise were called the Agnie. They were also called by the Huron Annniehronnon. Second were the Cayuga who the Huron called the Onneiohronnon. Third the Onondaga were called by the Huron Onnontaëronnon. Fourth were the Seneca or Sonnontouaheronnon. Finally, there were the Oneida who were likewise were Onionenhronnon.

1644

By 1644, a large-scale offensive on Fire Nation had occurred by the Ottawa and Neutrals and their allies. 50

By that winter, a party of one hundred people from the Neutral Nation lived in this land or country. The Neutral Nation was always at war with the Nation of Fire who are a farther distant from us.

51

1650

By the early 1650’s, migration was over that was caused by the Iroquois fur trading competition. Many Native People had been engaged or forced into in a grand displacement. To the west the Huron went, and to the south the Neutral Nation went. They had relinquished their old homes on the shores of Lake Erie and Lake Huron.

1652

In 1652, the advancement of the Iroquois was at a turning point. The Iroquois [the Five Nations] in pursuit of the Chippewa drove northward to Lake Superior. On Lake Superior, they were met by the heroic Sault or Chippewa at a place to be called Iroquois Point. The battle determined the future. The Sault at this site defeat the large Iroquois war party. This defeat marked the furthest extent the Iroquois engaged in the northwest territory.

Though defeated in the north, the Iroquois continued to hold onto Teuschegronde and the great beaver hunting ground of mid-eastern Michigan. Their northern limit was then the land of Ekandechiondius and Skenchioetontius. The Iroquois then trapped magical peltry of that region. Pelts were gained from both sides of Otsiketo River. Down Lake Huron and Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the pelts finally went down the Mohawk River.

At this time, the Ottawa become the middlemen for the French Indian trade. To replace the Huron, this new player took over. The Ottawa became the traders for the French on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. 52

North of Teuschegronde and Saginaw Bay the Iroquois did not again invade. In the northern part of the Grande Lac [Lake Michigan] and Lacus Huronia [Lake Huron] the Chippewa and Ottawa remained. In this period in the fur trade, Montreal heavily on the Ottawa heavily relied.

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Part of 1656 Sanson Map

The Iroquois Sue for Peace

1656

In 1656, the Iroquois went to the French and sued for peace. Trapping and trading was better when there was peace.

The Dutch continued to buy furs from the Iroquois who travel as far as west as Tekariendiondi [or Saginaw Bay]. 54

The Iroquois were still bringing pelts to Fort Orange after the thaw of spring. They, however, were spending large efforts in war and defense then winter pelt collecting. With their defeat on Lake Superior, the Five Nations eventually penned a truce. With peace the circulation of money and goods was more profuse.

To the Dutch and French, war is an unneeded expense and the taking of pelts decreased. Everyone wanted peace that aided in the gathering of furs With tranquility in the forests, trapping and trading increased. In the end, a pact of peace is signed that allowed Native People to bring in again all kinds of furs.

The Ottawa then brought large bails of furs to Montreal with the spring snowmelt. Near the Jesuit mission on the St. Mary’s River, the they and the Chippewa had a home or dwelt.

The Ottawa took on the trader’s role in the French Indian trade. To Montreal, they transported packs of furs down what we now call the Ottawa River. In Montreal, the Ottawa sold their packs of fur that were of high grade. Each year the Ottawa increased the northern buying and selling pace. They sold bails of pelts in the grand Montreal marketplace. As time went on, to Montreal, the Ottawa continued the journey in great spring fleets. They were capable of great business accomplishments and other feats.

The Ottawa became widely renown. They as fur traders in every northern Michigan Native town.

The Iroquois, however, manage the beaver ground around the Onottoway-Sebewaing River.

55

Also, by the Chippewa called the Matawan River the place of the charmed beaver fur. The finest pelts still came from Ekandechiondius and Skenchioetontius. So good is the fur, over these pelts everyone made a great deal of fuss. Teuschegronde was the land of the beautiful hunting chase. Here was seen Dutch goods. After the removal of the Fire Nation, the Iroquois hunted the beaver ponds within these pine and hemlock woods.

The Iroquois loaded their canoes in spring with peltry. They then headed to Albany.

In Albany, the magical fur from this place was a prize. Its high quality was a welcomed surprise.

Ottawa & Chippewa Land Names II

The snake river of the fur country was the meaning the Chippewa and Ottawa gave to the Thumb’s central river. They call it Onottaway—Sebewaing. Of its bounty many sang. “Onottaway” meant snake; “sebee” meant river, and “wain” meant fur. Also, at times, it was called Mattawan. This was the land of which the magicians sang.

To the French it the Pays Peles”—the land of peltry. Muskrat, martin, mink, and beaver came from the Onottoway- Sebewaing. Likewise, beautiful hunting was also found to the south on the Belle Chasse River. Celebrated also were the colossal beaver dams to the west or the Tittabawassee River. Pelts from the region were brought to Albany each the spring. It was the pleasing land of peltry.

56

On Nottaway—Sebewaing in winter, Iroquois were found. The home of the mink, martin, and beaver, its woods are also full of fish and game year around.

1653

In 1653, the Iroquois again went to Montreal for peace. The best of hunting is done when there was no war. The leading negotiator was Mohawk and Dutch and called Canaqueese. He would take the floor. In Dutch, he was called Jan Smith. Canaqueese was likely a blacksmith or gunsmith.

In making terms, Canaqueese was pushed by his brothers the Onondaga and Oneida. Canaqueese mades it clear that for the Iroquois [or Five Nations] the Mohawk are the utmost. He said the Mohawk would make terms to end the war. Canaqueese gave a boast: "Frenchmen listen to the Mohawk over the Onondaga and their close kin the Oneida" in matters of war. During the 1650's, Dutch trading by law still only allowed trading within the walls of Fort Orange on the Upper Hudson River. The Dutch could not go to trade into the frontier.

Dutch Trading Laws

Fort Orange was opposite the mouth of Mohawk River. Outside Fort Orange, trading of furs was prohibited. Dutch law proscribed trading goods for furs in the interior. Dutch forest runners or "bosch loppers" were banned. The Iroquois were the middlemen. They traded fur also ultimately only with the Fort Orange aldermen.

Many Iroquois were brother, or sister, or cousins to the Dutch trader. 57

A Dutch trader was a citizen of Fort Orange and was often a smith or brewer.

The Dutch never went into the far western countryside. Fort Orange was where they would trade and reside.

Except on the Upper Great Lakes, the Iroquois collected pelts. They traveled to west to lands such as the Thumb of Michigan. Dutchmen married Iroquois brides so that the trading families were allied, but they did not collect the pelts. The Iroquois middleman was often a brother of brother-in-law of the Dutchman. The Iroquois only went to the forest. This was a system that seemed to work best.

However, the Dutchman often acted as the negotiator in exchanging prisoners. Dutch Captain, whose Indian name was Otsi-rdiakhon, went to Three Rivers with a Mohawk peace keeping team. His goal was to buy back prisoners.

Because it allowed hunting and trapping, peace was beneficial. With peace, hunting and trapping would commence each the fall. In the spring, they would bring back pelts from the western river or stream. With peace, furs made their way to the Dutch at Fort Orange on the Hudson River. With peace, furs also were brought to the French on the Ottawa River.

Before long, there was war in Europe between the Dutch and English. In 1664 the Dutch and English were in a critical feud. An overturn in Dutch rule in New Netherlands ensued. It happened without firing a gun. New Netherlands was taken over by a large fleet of English. The colony then went into English hands. New Netherlands was then named New York.

58

On the other hand, the Dutch at Fort Orange for always in charge of the trade. They continued to conduct business successfully at the upper Hudson River fork.

Fort Orange was, however, then named Albany. Although it was English it followed the local Dutch strategy. Canada was known then as New France. Both regions were deeply steeped in Indian Trade romance. Each spring from the western woodlands, furs continued to be brought back by the Five Nations to Fort Orange now Albany.

The English Colony of New York Established

1664

Before 1664 in New York, the drinking of rum was rare. After 1664, the consumption of rum in New York under the British was everywhere. A part of the Triangular Trade, it was a British commodity. In the Indian trade, the English used rum widely. The English could make rum at half the cost the French made their brandy.

The Dutch of Albany, New York, also still made Indian trade goods at a very low cost and high quality. English rum was a by-product of West Indies sugar making. It was made very cheaply. After the English took control of New York, rum was very widely selling. Dutch goods and English Rum greatly influenced the Indian Trade on every stream and lake. Rum lifted and extended the trade to a new higher level or wake.

In New York, the trading of furs still was still only legally done at Albany. However, illegal trade was done in other towns including Schenectady. 59

Many of those in Schenectady were close in kin to the Mohawk. On occasion some Dutch went westward with their siblings who were Mohawk. It possible that nameless Dutchmen made their way to Lake Huron in the wars before 1653.

Trading furs was only officially done within the walls of Albany. Trading was forbidden to those of Schenectady. Schenectady people had an intimate understanding of the frontier woods. They too were also experts at making trade goods. Schenectady supply many interpreters. Schenectady people also became French prisoners.

As a captive of the French, a person would learn the Chippewa and Ottawa language. Because of western knowledge, past prisoners often formed a bridge that was vital. They later became negotiators, guides, and interpreters. They were at times illegal traders. The people of Schenectady were very valuable. They were often at the negotiating table.

The Dutchmen of Albany traded goods for the furs of Tiosahrondion. The Iroquois who trapped, hunted or trapped the pelts Michigan. Possibly, in the end, those that prospered the most were the Albany aldermen. A valued person was one who operated the local tavern or Inn. Western woods runners to the land afar for the Dutch were the "bosch loppers". They were the young Iroquois who made their way to south eastern Michigan's and its many rivers. New York was now under the control of Englishmen. To the western woods, now, the English would send the Dutch, Scotts and Irishmen.

In the Huron and Iroquois War, the Dutch tried to be neutral. 60

To the Iroquois, however, the Dutch were vital. The Dutch of Albany furnished the Iroquios with food, guns, and goods. These the Iroquois also used for trade in the far away woods.

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1664 Du Val Map

62

Cutting of 1664 Du Val Map

1664

As 1664 began, a new period began of competition. New Netherlands, now New York, was now owned by England. At the same time, Canada was going through a consolidation. France now was arming the Great Lakes Chippewa and Ottawa. They had ambitions to control the shiny waters the rivers in Saginaw.

The Great Lakes fur trade was a great part of the economy. Albany supplied goods and arms to the Iroquois who likely traveled to Michigan's flat lands or Skenchioe. The Indian fur trade included goods such as gee gaws, beads, and charms. The Indian trade also included weapon and hunting arms. The Iroquois desired that the land of fur Michigan's Thumb should not be lost. Here the trade was undertaken with a dear cost. 63

From the French Brandy and from the English Rum

At their Northern Michigan palisades the Ottawa, also, stored pelts, and in the spring took them Montreal. The great camping and trading site was the Island of Mackinaw. In Montreal, the Ottawa traded for blankets, beads, powder, and gun. Also, part of every request, or trade, was brandy. To the French, selling brandy made buying furs cheaper when all was said and done. Brandy would clinch many a trade quickly.

The legacies of the Indian Trade were guns, brandy, and rum Liquor or spirits made the trials of the forest numb.

Brandy or rum was requested over calicos and ornaments. The English and Frenchman nearly always supplied spirits at their eastern settlements. The message that sounded, however from many a woodland drum, That "French brandy was expensive while cheap was British rum. You often could buy more liquor from the British for the same number of peltry packs. Also cheap were the other goods such as the tomahawk of axe.

The English carried on the same policies as the Dutch who came before them, and they found supported in the Iroquois. Iroquois knew the Dutch since they were girls or boys. To the Mississippi River and to Mackinaw, English and Dutch goods found their way. While the quality was high, the cost of Dutch and English goods was low. Even the Ottawa and the renegade Frenchman found their way to Albany. A bottom line profit on the English financial statement, now also would show.

The aldermen of Albany many of them who were Dutch acquired fortunes that they invested in land. 64

The fortunes they gained came from the Michigan Trade, and trapping its rivers of gravel and sand. In 1664, the occurrence of beaver dams near Albany now was very rare. Furs from the west became a great part of the fur commodity share. A great portion of the Indian trade in pelts came then from the Lower Great Lakes. There were also occasions of waylaying that was not uncommon in the spring just after the winter season of snowflakes. Trapping and trading would wax and wane between peace and war in the Great Lake's domain. The Nottawa Rivers produced high quality harvests of pelts from its inner pine land hills and its outer, shoreline, wetland plain.

Indian Trade went on because its income was a large part of the economy. The Indian was the driving force behind domestic and foreign policy. Along the Southern Shore of Lake Huron, it would last two hundred years. It effected both political and commercial careers.

Also in 1664, King Louis XIV of France sent settlers and a military force Canada. Canada diligently fought the Iroquois. Within 3 years, they subdued the raids into Canada by the Iroquois.

1667

In 1667, the Iroquois again sued for peace. They wanted loses and the pain that war brought to them to cease.

In 1666, the French in Canada had sent a military force to New York to defeat the Iroquois. Frenchman, Chippewa, and Ottawa advanced toward Albany the homeland of Iroquois. Governor Nicols of New York, quickly, negotiated for peace. As the truce was enforced, the fur trading in Albany was good. The value of peace in Albany was widely understood. Profits from the Indian Trade for Albany began to multiply or increase. 65

The English and Dutch traders, however, still felt that the French might be grasping more of the trade. The French now were ventured into the western New York woodland glade. Now, the Iroquois no longer controlled the Ottawa River route from the Great Lakes to Montreal. To the Upper Great Lakes, French Canadians now had a clear passage. For them this would bring in a Indian Trade golden age. The Ottawa brought packs of furs that were valuable and stacked high and wide on the docks of Montreal.

1670

Before 1670, the French did not venture to the Saginaw Bay shore. France's holdings, then, were along the Upper Great Lakes. With the opening of the Ottawa River, French profits began to soar. For them, furs came from Minnesota, the land of the sky-blue streams and lakes. To oppose the French in 1670, King Charles II of England Chartered the Hudson Bay Company. It was located in Northern Ontario and competed with the French very successfully.

1673

In 1673, the Iroquois began an invasion that caused the French to move to the north and west. After the invasion, the Iroquois again controlled Teuschegronde now Upper Ohio and Lower Michigan. However, the Iroquois were now again given an Algonquin a test. Trade divided between Montreal and Albany. Many Native People again were being swayed by Albany's goods of low price and high quality. Albany seemed to have trade that was the best!

66

The Dutch and now the English had an advantage. They make excellence, cheaply priced, guns, spirits, and other goods. With these, they dominated the Southern Great Lakes woods. Dutch and English deals were the best was the woodland story and adage. Native People flocked to Albany. They wanted the goods of low price and good quality.

Outside Albany, Native People lodged during the spring and summer season to sell furs. Stories likely were told of the enchanted or magical furs.

Hunting and trapping was good in the Teuschagrande woods.

The Canadian fur trade strategy relied on Frenchmen called "coureurs de bois". These Frenchmen "coursed" the "bush" in search of furs. The Dutch and English however, officially, only used the Iroquois as "bosch loppers". The Dutch also used many renegade coureurs de bois. Canada complained about English competition in 1670. The Iroquois were then encouraging the Ottawa to travel with their furs to Albany.

As the Ottawa began arriving in Albany, an imbalance in trade was created. In 1673 in response, along western shore of Lake Ontario, the French constructed Fort Frontenac. The French then stopped the Ottawa from going to Albany with dugouts burdened with many a fur pack. With Fort Frontenac erected, the French position was strengthened. The Algonquin trade with Albany was nearly stopped.

Canada's goal then was to control all the trade of western Lake Ontario and beyond. This was done by maintaining and supporting Fort Frontenac.

67

Also, with Fort Frontenac maintained, the French stopped the Iroquois from going into Lake Erie and the Straits of Michillimackinac. Fort Frontenac greatly effect travel to the enchanted land of fur and what is now Michigan. The Chippewa and Ottawa then began to enter the region. Fort Frontenac hindered the Iroquois from going to their winter trapping ground that for many years they had been bound.

This generated a great deal of Iroquois hostility. It also created insecurity for the French and their Algonquin Allies. The beautiful trapping ground of Michigan's Thumb had been a great Iroquois enterprise. By the early 1670s, the Chippewa and Ottawa were moving into the region the prime ground of eastern Michigan. Occupation of this land went hand in hand with the work of the French Missionary.

Henry Nouvel and the Ottawa & Chippewa

1675

In 1675 a French missionary came to the shores and rivers of Eastern Michigan. The settlement of the French before that time had been in St. Ignace at the top of Lake Huron. French missionaries also worked Le Bay, Wisconsin, at the top of Lake Michigan.

Until the War or 1648, Michigan's northeast Huron shore was occupied by the Wazhashkosag, the Muskrat Clan. Here also were the Negawishininiwag or the Sand Shore Clan, the Otawag Zainagog, or Ottawa Rattle Snake Clan, the Kishkagogag or Short-tail Bear Clan, and, the Otawag or Ottawa who lived just above the Saghanon or Saginaw Bay.

68

Southeastern Michigan had anciently been the home of the Pottawatomi and Sauk. It was also the home of the Nassawakwatt or Fork Clan of the Ottawa. These tribes the Iroquois had chased away. In 1675, French Priest Father Marquette went to wakes and shores of Lake Michigan. In 1675, Father Henry Nouvel came to western Lake Huron.

1671

Sulpitian members Dollier and Galinee passed through the Le Detroit in the spring of 1671. However, they plied the eastern shore of Lake Huron. Father Henry Nouvel's journey would span three months in Saginaw. Father Nouvel had been for four years the Superior of the St. Ignace Mission to the Ottawa.

1675-76

In the winter of 1675-1676, the Amikoniniwag the Beaver People planned to hunt toward Lake Erie. They were Chippewa. The Beaver People desired to have with them a missionary. Father Henry Nouvel that winter went with them to stay in Saginaw. They began their journey in the Straits of Mackinaw.

Southward, then, two Frenchman, Father Nouvel, and the Beaver Clan headed to Saginaw. After journeying south for ten days, they lodged with the Indians called the Oupenegous, likely the Partridge Clan. The Oupenegous lived on the southern shore of Thunder Bay. From that point, they started south again the next day. Traveling along the shore, they saw large oaks, and maples. The land was well timbered. Along the shore, they also found apple trees from which apples they gathered.

69

At day twelve, their canoes rounded Point Au Sable, or Sand Point, where they entered a marsh. It was hard to find a camping place here along the northern part of Saginaw Bay. The following day, the was weather foggy as they canoed into Saginaw Bay. The weather was very cold, windy, and harsh. For six days, they were confined by ice, and there they had to stay. Breaking the ice, they eventually made progress toward a small island that was known as Little] Charity Island. The following day, December 1st, they entered Saginaw River when the ice was just breaking up. As winter was fast approaching, they hastened onward during the brief warm-up.

That night they camped on the Saginaw River. The following day, they recklessly made their way and mistakenly passed the mouth of the Tittabawassee River. At this point, called Green Point, three large rivers meet. The Rolling or Twisted Light River, the Straight Light River, and the Wakeshigan or Light River. "Wasse" means to shine, glitter or be bright. Straight ahead and up the Shiawassee River went the small fleet. Realizing their mistake, they traced their steps back to where they had camped the previous night. They had camped at Green Point or where the rivers diverged. It was here that the Tittabawasse, Shiawassee, and Nottawa or Wakeshegan Rivers join to form the Saginaw River. They turned west and paddled up the Tittabawasse River, the river that rolled westward, and onward their paddling surged. They headed northwest up the Tittabawassee River to the with the Chippewa River. Three days later, they arrived at the Chippewa Fork in the Tittabawassee River on the 4th of December. Half way up the Chippewa River where the Beaver People previously had camped, they stopped. There they would stay. 70

Here the woodland game had been allowed to increase over the years. Here there were many colossal beaver weirs.

At the camp, were many furs from hunting. They included bear, deer, and wild turkey. There were also pike and bass from fishing. To this site, the Chippewa had come about the year 1670.

The Fork was a very advantageous site to hunt elk, deer, bear, and raccoon that were prevalent. Geese, ducks, and turkeys were also abundant. Here there were also the "white man's" apple and large walnut trees.

Going up the Chippewa River, they arrive on the 7th of December at their camping place for the winter. Here everyone gathered and recovered in strength. Here, there were, Chippewa People waiting with great joy, Man, woman, girl, and boy.

The camp was on the Chippewa River within the Chippewa winter hunting ground. Father Nouvel within a short span of time constructed a chapel and cabin. Father Neuvel did not confined himself to only this Chippewa mission. He was also to other Native camps bound. To the camp of the neighboring Nipissing, he went that was one day away. On his journey to the Nipissing, Father Nouvel saw the destruction of much timber caused by beaver. In the region, which was had not long been hunted, were many great lodges that beaver had erected. He also went to the Missisaugua Camp that was several day’s journey away. On Father Nouvel's journey to the Mississagua, the weather was bitter. It was the month of January, but Father Nouvel's dedication was extraordinary. Father Nouvel stayed until March on the Chippewa River. His cabin and chapel were made of arched bowers. 71

Within its walls he taught and preached for hours. The cabin and chapel floors, walls, and vault were made of bark. The door was made of animal skin. There was even an opening for smoke in the roof in this his small ark. The opening also allowed light shine in.

La Salle Stops Furs to Albany

1679

In 1679, Frontenac produced a chill for the English. The year, New York required a pass of any Canadian trading in Albany. This increased the money that came into the till for the English. At the same time, the Dutch and English were going to Montreal and Quebec to sell their goods. Even the French wanted the valued Dutch and English goods.

Since Canada was losing trade to Albany, La Salle of Canada made plans to stop furs from going to Albany. La Salle wanted beaver hunting to be only under the control Canada. La Salle then built a shipyard above the Falls of Niagara. He was aided by Chippewa and Ottawa. La Salle's built a ship christened the "Griffin" that quickly made its way toward Saginaw and Mackinaw.

The Griffin was the first sailing yacht that plied the Upper Great Lakes. Leaving Niagara, it sailed through the Strait of Detroit, Lake Kandechioe, and then the open water of Lake Huron. Great opportunities for the French lay in the vessel's gentle wakes. The ship however was destined for disastrous weather. Up the Strait of Detroit, it passed by the ancient Grand Village of the Iroquois . . . Tiosahrondion. Up shallow Lake Kandechio it floated to Great Lake Huron. Onward it skimmed passing Saguinan Bay and then onward to Thunder Bay. 72

In Lake Huron's northwest corner above the Mackinaw Island, the Griffin docked at St. Ignace to barter with the Chippewa and Ottawa. It then went on to Le Bay, or Green Bay, were it collected many pelts during its short stay. The Griffin full with packs of fur headed back to St. Ignace and the Straits of Mackinaw. To order to build forts further west, LaSalle went by foot to the Miami orSt.Joseph River and then the Illinois River. When the Griffin went on its way eastward, violent winds filled the weather. Fear was instilled in each and every sailor. The Griffin became lost in the storm as it returned along the waterway. When La Salle hear of the event, he was in great dismay.

1680

In 1681, two years later, the Iroquois destroyed La Salle's Fort on the St. Joseph's River. Michigan’s Thumb was the most desired region. In 1680, the Iroquois had destroyed Fort Crevecoeur on the Illinois River. Despite the efforts of the French, the Iroquois still made their way to Saguinan. With the Chippewa in southeastern Michigan, the Iroquois developed an equilibrium. It was a divided kingdom.

By 1680, the Iroquois needed more hunting ground, so they made war with the Illinois. They were in the end successful and returned with their canoes packed full.

Du Chesnau and Frontenac of Canada said that in this war the English were the instigators. The English and Iroquois had a pack. It was the English goal to force the Algonquin to the open English trading doors. 73

In their raids, the Iroquois came very near to Canada. The Dutch, however, wanted peace with Canada. The war for the French was a setback.

To a grand extent, war prevented hunting and beaver trapping. The Iroquois just defeated the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania who went to the west. The Iroquois when they achieved these new conquests put the English that was a political test. The Iroquois said their enemies were hunting upon Iroquois land, which was not legal. The Iroquois said that contrary to Indian custom their enemies seized beaver that were both male and female, which was against a broad rule of long standing. This practice did not allow the beaver population to replenish. This policy was also the position in New York or by the English.

In 1681, Dutch traders asked the Albany Court to regulate the Indian Trade, the fur trade. France then was licensing traders for the interior and encouraging them to establish and man trading posts. The French also supported them with new military posts. At these locations, the Huron, Pottawatomi, Ottawa, and Chippewa could now with the French trade. To sell their peltries or furs, they did not have to go all the way to Montreal on the Ottawa Rivet. These new Canadian regulations allowed Native People only to only have to go to a place in their local to sell their bundles of fur .

1682

Canadian military posts helped to prevent the waylaying by Iroquois. In 1682, the Huron and Marquis Denonville went on a mission against the New York's Iroquois. The maneuver was planned with much skill . Their goal was to capture the Dutch and English Trading Post at New York's Irondequoit Bay., 74

More

Canadian Governor Frontenac

After Canadian Governor Frontenac, Governor La Barre came in power. In New York, Thomas Dongan, an Irishman was the governor. These two political changes would affect the Great Lakes and Michigan’s Thumb. ………………………….. William Penn was also then founding Pennsylvania, Penn requested that the Iroquois sell lands to him on the river called Susquehanna.

People of New York and Albany feared that William Penn would divert the fur trade. New York's Governor Dongan also requested that the Iroquois not go to Canada to trade. In this light, the Iroquois made peace with the far tribes and allow them to go to Albany.

Hack Chart of 1684

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New York Governor Dongan

1683-84

In 1683, New York's Governor Dongan told the French that no Englishman or New Yorker had been beyond Seneca Country. The French however were concerned about the number of furs that were going to Albany. In the fur trade, the French desired a larger share. In 1684 the Iroquois informed French Governor La Barre that they had guided Dutchmen to the Great Lakes Country. ……………………. Great Lakes Indians knew that goods traded at Albany were better. They were also cheaper.

To Albany, many furs arrived likely from Pagus Ekandechiondius and Skenchioetontius or what is today known as Michigan’s Thumb. The Far Tribes had made peace with the Iroquois. In 1684, the Dutch and English obtained a great quantity of fur in exchange likely for among other things beads, blankets, and rum. The French though then once more were devising war against the Iroquois.

76

Native People trading with the English for Fur Goods in the Woods

New York Governor Dongan wanted to expel Jesuits from the far region. New York Governor Dongan as Canadian Governor Frontenac likewise planned to establish military posts that connected the Great Lakes particularly Lake Huron but not with Montreal but with Albany. Trade was to a great degree between the west and Albany In 1684 the new Canadian Governor La Barre went on an expedition against the Iroquois Nation. However, the Canadian expedition failed, and even more fur arrived in the Colony of New York for the English. That was a short term fulfillment of Governor Dongan's thinking or wish.

In the spring of 1684, Dongan gathered the Iroquois, the Five Nations, to Albany for a meeting and conference. He wanted the Iroquois Five Nations to oppose the spread of the French and their Indian allies in Saguinan, which included such people as Father Henry Nouvel who was a member of the Jesuits. Dongan wanted to put in place in Saguinan a permanent or lasting English presence.

77

His goal was to establish in Saguinan [now Saginaw] English emissaries who would replace the Jesuits. Dongan allowed merchants to give arms and ammunition to the Five Nations. There were gifts with obligations.

Canadian Governor Denonville

At that time the French advise Father de Lambertville the priest to the Onondagas that the English desired his demise. In 1684 the Iroquois went to Saguinan on an expedition against the Chippewa, Huron, and Ottawa. Those Indian tribes trapped during the winter in Saginaw. Canada’s new Governor Denonville wrote that the English had more to do with the expedition than even the Iroquois, which was not a surprise. The Iroquois campaign to Pagus Ekandechiondius allowed the Dutch and English to venture a flotilla to the region the next year. The Dutch and English hoped that the Chippewa and Ottawa would trade their valuable fur.

1685

In 1685 the French in Canada purchased from the Ottawa and Ojibwa two-thirds of their furs. One-third of the peltries went to the English. Controlling Ekandechiondius was the ultimate desire of the English.

With the expedition New York claims its pushed further along western rivers. Governor Dongan's venture proved a respected plus. The Colony of New York gained and was much more prosperous.

New York Parties to Lake Huron

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1686

In 1685-86 the Dutchman Johannes Roseboom and his party were at Saginaw and Mackinaw. Denonville in Canada wrote that Dongan worked secretly to debauch the French and their Indian allies. "Denonville also wrote that Governor Dongan's pretensions embraced the whole area from the South Sea to Mackinaw. Denonville added that on Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, many an English canoe on their way to the Ottawa plies. However, Mackinaw belonged to the French or them. Canada then called New France had a great problem.

Johannes Rosenboom's party acquired the aid of Frenchmen who were accustomed to and knew Pagus Ekandechiondius and Skenchioetontius. These Frenchman were familiar with this hunting and trapping country. The Indians that were afar likewise understood that the English of New York had better bargains and cheaper goods, which was a great advantage or plus. Only the French military cwould stop the English from their economic advancement. Only forts and military action by the French would stop the English encroachment.

The Governor of New France Denonville wanted the French to erect a fort at Niagara Falls portage. This would keep out the English and stop them from coming to Mackinaw. The most valued furs were obtained in Ekandechiondius or Saginaw. Holding Ekandechiondius was a very great advantage. There was now a fresh New York saying. They said that the young men should be encouraged to go beaver hunting as the French going hunting.

Acting in the forests as the French did would bring large amounts of wealth. 79

In the West the English wanted to take the front stage particularly in Ekandechiondius. A new day was seeming to dawn on the English commonwealth.

In 1685 Governor Dongan issued a pass to the Rosenboom party to go trapping and trading among the Far Indians of Ekandechiondius. In the winter of 1685-1686 Johannes Rosenboom's party reached Mackinaw. They were also successful in trading with Ottawa.

1686-87

For the following winter of 1686-87, Dongan sent out two more parties. However, this time the French had been alerted. The French were ready with a band of militaries. The two English parties were captured.

Frenchman Daniel Du Luth & Fort St. Joseph

Under orders from New France Governor Denonville in June 1686, Frenchman Daniel Du Luth went to the Otsiketo or St. Clair River and built Fort St. Joseph near the foot of Lake Huron.

Du Luth had been a courser des bois or French runners of the woods. Du Luth was ordered to stop the passage of the English and their rum and Dutch goods.

The forest around the site of the Fort St. Joseph woods was full of tall white pines. The fort was made with pickets from these trees. The French at Fort St. Joseph stopped the English trade on Lake Huron with ease. Stopped were the English designs. Du Luth built Fort St. Joseph at the mouth of the Black River. It was later known as the Du Luth River. 80

Fort Joseph was just below the outlet of Lake Huron. In 1687 at the fort, two hundred Frenchmen and five hundred Native People assembled. The English trade was obstructed or blocked. Being captured near Fort St. Joseph was each expedition. Three months later, the English parties were returned to the English. However, an intense war began between the Iroquois and French and trade would languish.

New France Governor Denonville also built forts at Green Bay and on the Mississippi River. Seeing these forts, the local Indians were impressed. Denonville granted land to the Jesuits on Michigan's St. Joseph River. The property was near Old Fort Miami that the Iroquois had previously destroyed. For two years longer, Daniel Du Luth was assigned to the Fort St. Joseph post. Fort St. Joseph on the St. Clair River prevented the English from trading on the Great Lakes the most.

As War once more began, control of the Great Lakes this time the French would win. When New York Governor Thomas Dongan issued licenses for fur traders, many New Yorkers hoped to become wealthy. They wanted to gain for an extended time the Ekandechiondius woodland fen. In 1686 Major Patrick Mc Gregory the Military Muster Master led a flow- up trading party. In the spring of 1687 McGregory hoped to trade with the Chippewa and Ottawa. His destination was the Mackinaw.

Many young men from Albany and Schenectady composed the early expeditions. In the winter of 1686, the Rosenboom and McGregory Parties went to New York’s Oswego Bay. 81

They arrived in canoes, and McGregory's party camped there that winter with crepitations. The Rosenboom Party then went on toward Mackinaw. He would journey to the Ottawa and Chippewa.

McGregory had learned many an Indian language. With this journey, the young men of Schenectady and Albany were destined to be a part of history. This was the second excursion of record by New Yorker's to the Mackinaw village. Their canoes were fully loaded with trade property. With them they likely brought calicos, gee-gaws, and rum. On their venture to Mackinaw, they likely camped on the shores of Old Conchradum.

In 1686, the Charter of Albany gave the sole right to trade in the woods to the City of Albany. However, the possession of the Great Lakes would lay with the military power. In New York, nonetheless, Albany had an Indian trade monopoly. However, Albany would establish to a great deal the Indian policy. ………………………….

In 1686, the McGregory Party at Oswego Bay wintered. After the spring thaw, they paddled toward Lakes Erie and Huron. For Johannes Roseboom, this was his second journey . . . however by the French near Mackinaw he would be captured. A year later, McGregory’s party on Lake Erie was also taken.

The McGregory Party to Mackinaw was on a great journey. Its canoes were full of Dutch progeny: That progeny included Nanning Harman and Johannes Bleecker, Jr., who were sons of Albany Aldermen. And, Arnout Corneliuse Viele who was linked to Schenectady, was an interpreter, and skilled trader.

At Mackinaw, French soldiers captured Rosenboom’s men. 82

They then took them as captives to Montreal In the end, though, New York Governor Dongal eventually was able to free these exploratory men. ………………….. There were a few Frenchman who had helped the New York expedition. They were punished with execution.

The Schenectady Dutch brewing families were important in the Indian Trade. These families included the Van Slyck, Viele, Van Eps, and Bradt families. Very important also were gunsmiths such as the Fonda and Post families. Brewing, gun making, and tanning were occupations that produced great value or aid. Other important families were Scotts such as the families Riley and Glen. The most important skill for those New Yorkers who aided the Indian was the ability to make an axe, trap, or gun.

In the Indian Trade the smith was very much desired or wanted. The occupation was very dear. It was vital in the mid-western frontier. It was necessary for an axe or trap to be forged. That was how the region was won. Also, very important was the person who could repair a gun!

French Baron de Lahontan & Fort St. Joseph

1688

In 1688, the Iroquois complained to New York Governor Thomas Dongan and said that the French at Fort St. Joseph had blocked the route into best part of Michigan. Two years after the capture of the English expeditions, Du Luth was reassigned to the Northwest, Baron de Lahontan was then appointed commandant of Fort St. Joseph. The French with a new goal planned to disband Fort St. Joseph. 83

They reselected a piece of property that would serve their interests the best at was in the very southwest portion of what would become Michigan. The eyes of the French of Canada gazed toward the Grand Old Indian Village known as Karontaen and Teuschegronde on what the French called Le Detroit River. They, the French, determined to settle on the western shore of that river.

Frontenac Returns to Canada

1689

In 1689 the conflict that became worldwide intensified. The French and English commenced a series of wars. Frontenac returned to Canada He greatly favored the missionary corps. Denonville was replaced. . . and Fort St. Joseph on the Black River was abandoned. This would impact the economy of the Michigan Peninsula.

Despite the progress of French in the woods the Iroquois were yet trading with English goods. They did this with the western tribes, however, in small amounts. The French could not eliminate the English low prices and discounts. The Western tribes still envied the English or Dutch goods and their price. However, they also sought the comfort with the French military advice.

The staples of the fur trade were beads, gee gaws, traps, axes, guns, and powder, Another vital commodity also was the British rum and French brandy. Calicos and blankets were also important and always kept handy. These were the general commodities of the British and French trader. In 1689, the English paid two to four times as much for furs as did the French:

84

The French military however in the Upper Great Lakes was very much more entrench.

In Canada, La Salle and Frontenac wanted to extend Canada's influence. To a large degree, they favored the coureur de bois toward a profitable westward advance. The coueur de bois worked closely with Chippewa and Ottawa. La Salle and Frontenac opposed the Jesuits who objected to the selling of brandy, The Jesuits also scorned the life of the coureur de bois who they said was reckless and ruddy. These ideas would effect the use of Michigan’s Thumb and the region called Saginaw.

The Jesuits Missionaries wanted to confine the Indian Trade to Montreal. Since there was little trade between 1689 and 1692, the Iroquois seems to be winning after all. They defeated the French at La Chine in 1689, which lead to the abandonment of Fort Frontenac. The French however firmly held the vital post at Mackinac. . Western tribes began to seek peace with the Iroquois, but other events would shape the outcome. In 1689, the Rebellion of New York helped Montreal to gain an upper hand. In New York over the preceding years, it had not been calm. Jacob Leisler overthrew Nicholson, which came as a blessing to many of those in Schenectady, which was on the Mohawk River just west of Albany. Albany and the greater Colony of New York in general however refused to recognize Leisler’s authority. Under Leisler's government, Albany continued to be armed. Schenectady, however, was more isolated and not protected.

To a French attack, Schenectady was much more vulnerable.

85

During the winter of 1689 and1690, the Massacre of Schenectady by French and their Indian Allies occurred, which for that village was terrible.

1690

In February 1690, the French attacked and burned Schenectady. This would change New York policy!

1693

By 1693, the Iroquois were suffering losses. They were dismayed with the English and Dutch who would not help against the new Canadian bosses. Since New York would not aid them, the Iroquois, the Five Nations for peace sued. In western Michigan on the St. Joseph River, the French built a new Fort St. Joseph, which in the in the spring of 1694 the Iroquois attacked. However, in 1693 and in 1695, huge flotillas laden with furs still made their way to Montreal. For the French, these were the years of great haul.

Canadian Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac

1694

In 1694, Frontenac assigned Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac to the command of Mackinaw. The French foresaw control of the Upper Great Lakes that would produce a monopoly in the fur trade for Montreal. Cadillac made a small fortune in the fur trade. Soon plans for a fort at Le Detroit was planned and the fort was built or laid.

86

The English and Iroquois wanted peace so that trade might again go on with the Western Tribes. Once more, the Iroquois sued for peace. The French stopped it though against Iroquois complaints and diatribes. In Albany, there was not much talked about trade with the Upper Great Lakes and peace. Nevertheless, in 1692-1694, the English began trade with the Shawnee South of Lake Erie. The Nation of the South People, the Shawnee, then, lived in Ohio below Lake Erie.

In 1693, Arnout Viele's organized a trading party from Albany. The party went to the far Indians in the Ohio Country. The French were advised and alarmed. The Indian Trade there eventually was stopped.

Arnold Viele was of Iroquois and Dutch ancestry and was connected to Schenectady and Albany. He was very good in making Native conversation . . . and many a grand deal he created. His two-year expedition to the Shawnee went along the Ohio River valley. When Frontenac returned to Canada, the morale and prestige of the French was restored. Frontenac was praised by the Native People of the Rapids the Chippewa. He was praised by the Trading Indians the Ottawa.

Women in Albany for safety retired to the lower Hudson River and New York City. By 1700, the Indian trade for Albany and Colony of New York was wholly in decay. The Iroquois, English, [and Dutch] were not seen on Saghinan Bay.

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CHAPTER TWO: THE FRENCH LE PAYS PLAT—1700-1762

Fort Pontchartrain

1700

About 1700 was the beginning of the French period of total control of the hunting, trapping, and trading on the Upper Great Lakes of Michigan. At this time, they controlled the region.

1701

In 1704, Lahaton created a map showing Michigan’s Thumb and Saginaw. This region was then called the "Chasse des Castor des Amis de la Francois". The French phrase is translated as "The hunting ground for beaver for the friends of France". The year 1701 marked the beginning of a great romance.

On Lahaton’s map, the remnant of Old Fort St. Joseph is visible. It is located on the St. Claire River. It is just below the foot of the Lake Huron shore. The region with game was plentiful and to the French was very accessible. The region west and northwest of Old Fort St. Joseph was the best hunting ground for beaver. Old Fort St. Joseph was home to the fur trader story and lore.

By 1701 the Iroquois suffered many losses. They were defeated many times over the previous few years. With the French, they needed peace to cut back their losses. In 1701 to Montreal, furs were brought by both Algonquin and Iroquois warriors.

The stowage amounted to 800 and 300 packs of furs respectively. 89

That year there was a war between the French and English. In the war, the Iroquois pledge neutrality. To continue in peace and trade was their wish.

Iroquois Response

In the 1701 the Iroquois made a Treaty. Also, that year the French laid foundation for the village or fort at Detroit. That year, Cadillac established here a French colony. The animals and their fur of the woods, he wanted to exploit. Detroit means the strait. Cadillac felt he could easily fortify a spot on the western high banks of the strait.

July 24, 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac landed and built here Fort Pontchartrain. Fort Pontchartrain would be located just below the Flat Country. Cadillac at that time had all Nation People as his allies. In the Indian fur trade, Cadillac hoped to make a gain. He arrived with a large party to make a local community. From that time onward, Detroit would greatly rise.

About this situation, New York Governor Dongan could do nothing. He could not stop the French from their fort and town building. The French colony in southeast Michigan would only much more grow. Iroquois complained to the French however that they to the English with their furs could not go. All the Native People were bund to the French in trade. This was due entirely to the French military aid.

Some Iroquois near Montreal raided those settlements. They contended to the French their arrangements. The Iroquois there said that the French and their Indian allies took Teuschegronde. They said that it had been and was Iroquois hunting ground. 90

It was here that the beaver abound. They desire access to the Michigan’s Thumb that then was known as la Pays Plat or the flat country.

The Iroquois were dismayed as this was the land that they had lost. Iroquois access to the southwest shores of Lake Huron were lost. Here, they had in the winter hunted, trapped, and stayed. This beautiful hunting country for them was gone. This the beaver, elk, bear deer, and fur hunting country the Huron now live upon. This was the land south of Saguinan Bay.

The Iroquois said that for sixty years, they owned this beaver hunting ground. The Iroquois were no longer however there bound.

The Iroquois said that within a handful of years the Huron took possession. They did it because of avariciousness. They did it because of greediness. To counter the Iroquois talk, French made an assertion.

The French responded that the Iroquois could still hunt their beaver ground. The French said that they were on the Detroit River for the protection. For that, they built Fort Pontchartrain intentionally near the beaver ground.

The French also said that they would provide the Iroquois with led and powder. They would also give them all the things for hunting that they needed.

They told the Iroquois that the warring with the Ottawa would be discontinued. Tranquility was the Frenchmen’s endeavor. Peace was what Fort Pontchartrain would accomplish. The Iroquois should not go to the aid of the English. 91

The Huron likewise complained about the Mississauga the Chippewa. They also had clenched the land of the Huron. This they could not dismiss.

Cadillac responded: He said that both Frenchmen and Indian could settle near Fort Pontchartrain. Their mutual goals would be achieved. ****************

For nine years Cadillac commanded the fort. During that time the largest resettlement of Native People would come to bear. Huron, Miami, Ottawa, and Chippewa established villages near the Detroit River. They were located above and below the French fort. In 1705 Huron and Ottawa from St. Ignace Mission departed for Detroit. The Jesuit Priests also moved to Detroit.

Other Native People Responses

1702

In 1702 Huron made a request. They desire that the French removed the Chippewa from the Detroit forest.

The Wyandotte and Miami also informed the Iroquois that they were residing near Detroit. They said that they had their own devices and plans for the land around Detroit.

The strategic point was Fort Pontchartrain. Everyone seemed to want the woods about the fort as a home. 92

From the state of New York came some the woods to roam. **************** In the west woods in the late 1690s there were woods runners. They were mostly New York Dutch whom the Dutch called “bosch loppers”. In New York it was illegal for non-Native to go into the woods. Bosch loppers would ace being brought before the court in Albany. The law would be changed ultimately. Trading would be done by anyone having a license and could be done in the woods.

In 1702 Albany was then still in demand of furs. There was also in the economy a large amount of furs.

South of Tiosharondion below Sandusky was the land of the Maumee. Here there was a portage to the Ohio River. In 1701 the Iroquois gave a deed of land for the King of England. It included Ohio.

The deed was to Canagariarchio, which meant where the beaver is great or fine. “Ca” or “Ke” meant where while “nagariarch” meant beaver. “Io’ meant it is great or fine. This was the land south of Detroit where there were beaver. This land abutted the Twichtwich's or Maumee who lived southwest of Lake Erie where there was great hunting and the beaver, elk, deer, and such beast were kept. This was where many of the Iroquois during trapping slept.

The Old Iroquois city in Teuchsagronde, or Tiosahrondion,was called "Wawyachtenok". It meant The passageway above this town led to Lake Huron, And, the sacred place to Native People called White Rock. The narrow passageway, L'Detroit was a fortuitous place in which to stay. 93

From Detroit and Fort Pontchartrain, one could go southwest through the land of the Maumee. From there one would portage to the Wabash, Ohio, and Mississippi River. Ohio was a fine area for the trapper. But, the Thumb of Michigan, Sakinaw, was the where the hunting was the best. To hold that land, Indian Country or the land of the Great River, was to L'Detroit Town, Which was then held by the French Crown.

In 1686, Denonville had ordered Daniel Greysolon Du Luth To build a picket fort called St. Joseph on the Otsi Keta, or St. Clair River. Otsi Keta meant salty to the tooth. The fort as built during a stormy winter. Situated on the Black River on a hillside, The palisade only for a short time was occupied,

In 1702, peace reopened the trading of furs. Prominent men of Albany went to Montreal. There they traded as foreigners. The Christian Iroquois living at Caughnawaga near Montreal, Would go to the west without hindrance. But, near the end of 1702, war broke out in Europe between England and France.

Called Queen Anne’s war, A conflict between England and France had started, But, the Caughnawaga came and went as before. New York's Governor Hunter attempted to stop their passage--but it was not stopped. After a small Canadian skirmish, trade went on with vigor. Between Canadian and New Yorker.

Trade prospered during peace and neutrality, During Queen Ann's War, neutrality was Albany's policy. 94

To a greater degree, it was also the policy of the Iroquois. Peace with the French and western tribes was enjoyed by the Iroquois. American policy was to maintain a balance, At least on this side of the ocean with France.

There was peace as Cadillac, a Frenchman, built Fort Pontchartrain. Which the local fur trade would sustain. The palisade fort was strategically situated. On the high river bank, 40 yards from the river it was located. mmm mmm

Fort Pontchartrain was 60 yards square. Though primitive and open, it would forebear. Cadillac, then, consolidated the Chippewa, Pottawatomie, and Ottawa. Who came to the Great City of Michigan. Along with many a Frenchman.

Sending or drawing Frenchmen to Fort Ponchatrain, Canada left open the New York frontier, This was good for the people of New York and Albany. Here they would carry on trade on every river. As far as the Great City. The Dutch were trading with both the Iroquois and Canada. The bulk of Queen Anne's War fell on New England, which was desolated by Canada.

Native People at Detroit

1703

In 1703, Canada made a census of the warriors and their tribes who lived near Detroit.

95

Along Lake Erie there were no tribes . . . this land was three Hundred leagues from Montreal was Detroit.

At Detroit, the Huron were represented by 180 warriors. The Ottawa were in number 200 warriors and had as a bear and black squirrel as their coat of arms.

The Pottawatomi Village at Detroit had 180 warriors and had a golden carp and a frog used as their coat of arms. The small Mississaugua’s Village at the entrance to Lake Huron had 60 warriors. They used a crane for their coat of arms. The Ottawa at Saguinan numbered 80 warriors. They also set their fires with a bear and black squirrel as their coat of arms.

1709

During Queen Anne's War, the Colony of New York was spared the cost of a defense. By 1709, the atmosphere in North America was tense. The British government then sent an expedition against Canada. Against the expedition was the City of Albany that wanted to trade with Canada. Those in New York who were against the expedition were the or traders. Those in New York who were for the expedition were the farmers.

1711

In 1711, after a failure of the expedition to Canada, New England sent Hunter to the Iroquois to ask them to defend the frontier. This started another attack on Canada.

1712

In 1712, Secretary Clarke wrote the country was now averse to war. 96

There would be little gathering of pelts when there was war.

Robert Livingston

1713

In 1713, the Colony of New York choose would sit still. There was peace, again, which increased the influence of the English and brought cash to their till.

In Albany, Robert Livingston wanted New Yorker's to go into the frontier once more.

There he wanted them to establish many a trading post. The Livingston policy in the Colony of New York soon became the policy that was the foremost.

Robert Livingston was from Scotland. He married into the Schuyler family of Albany. He was early on the clerk of the city. With Albany aldermen, he had had worked hand in hand. Beginning in 1675, Livingston was the Secretary for Native or Indian affairs. He also knew much about Albany made goods and wares.

The Robert Livingston Plan was to preserve peace. At the same time, the plan also proposed building trading posts and forts. The plan was to operate a post at Detroit so that English influence with the Native People there would increase, Also, it was planned that the Five nations would use the post as a halfway point of sorts. His plan encouraged busch lopers or Englishman going into the woods for trade. Busch lopers went to the forest glade.

97

Robert Livingston first wanted to put a fort in the Onondaga territory, This would attract and make trading easier for western tribes. The Iroquois, however, opposed this very respectfully. A post west of the Mohawk in the Onondaga Territory would prevent the Mohawk from exploiting the far tribes. The Mohawk wanted to remain as middlemen. In the end, they gained a positive vote from the Albany aldermen.

Frenchman Marquis de Vaudreuil

The inexpensive English goods and rum to the far Indians were irresistible. However, the attitudes of the Mohawk and the placement of French Forts kept the western tribes from going directly to Albany. After Frontenac, Frenchman Vaudreuil tried to abandon the western French posts, which also were less defensible. Vaudreuil cancelled licenses for trade at posts and gave interests to Jesuit missionaries, mostly. In 1702, Lord Cornbury and Albany Indian commissioners invited the travel to Albany of those in Detroit. There were however but five Indians in 1702 who came Albany from the French post of Detroit. These Indians were urged to return again and to settle near Niagara and Albany. Hunter also urged the Five Nations to allow Far Indians to pass by their land and come to Albany.

1707

In 1707, Vaudreuil reported the English Indian trade was very significant especially from Detroit the central city the Great Lakes. By 1711, Native People of Lake Superior were also arriving in Albany each year. It seemed that the English would soon become masters of all the Great Lakes. To pursue this end, the English again planned to establish trading posts and develop the itinerant trader. 98

This was not the traditional style of the Albany alderman who were opposed. The notion was finally rejected and not adopted.

The City of Albany then was only getting a fraction of the western trade. The Iroquois Five Nations also opposed any plan that would displace them as the middlemen For the Five Nations, neutrality in trade with Montreal, Canada, and with trade with Albany, New York, was a desired result and part for their own plan. After the former war, trade both with the west and with Canada increased primarily due to the cheap English shroud, which was a rough woolen blanket that was a staple for the English in the Indian trade. The French were compelled to buy these desired shrouds from England and then England shipped them to Canada. However, the easiest way to get shrouds was to buy them directly from Albany and transport them to Canada.

No attempt was made in the Colony of New York to prohibit the trade. Canadian had a mixed or varied policy! Trade was carried on between the Colony of New York and Montreal by the Native People called the Caughnawaga who were original from New York’s Mohawk River Valley. In this way, French Canadian’s secured goods necessary for the Indian trade. Albany got a share of the western fur trade then also via Montreal. The greatest profit in the end to Albany would fall.

Hunter wrote in 1720 that the value of the trade was ten to twelve thousand pounds a year. There were two reasons for the weakness of French influence: One was their policy of restriction. During the previous war, issuing licenses for trading was stopped and the Mackinaw Post was abandoned. Second, the sale of brandy was forbidden. At the close of the war, the Mackinaw Post was re-established. Licenses also were restored, moderately. 99

This caused for Canada some prosperity.

Governor Robert Hunter

Robert Hunter was appointed Governor of New York and New Jersey and sailed to America with three-thousand Palatine refugees as settlers in 1710. The true Interests of the people and government are the same . . . a government of laws was Governor Hunter's philosophy. Hunter was succeeded as Governor by Pieter Schuyler who served from 1719 to 1720. Governor Hunter was hostile toward trade with Canada and promised to stop it in any fashion. Under Governor Hunter, William Burnet was Comptroller of Customs who supported Hunter. ……………………

Former Governor Robert Livingston was likewise an advocate for expansion. With hopes of building up the western trade, they determined to send men to Niagara and the Seneca country of New York. Livingston suggested that trade with Canada should have a three-month suspension. This was not approved by Peter Schuyler who was then governor of New York. Livingston was also then speaker of the assembly that forbade trade with Canada through an act of a law. The Albany traders mostly Dutchmen did not want the law.

Despite the act, trade between Albany and Canada continued. At the same time, trade with the western tribes increased. Prohibition of trade with Canada was half of Burnet’s plan. The other half was building a fort at Niagara as a trading center. ……………… ……………….. Jacques Charles de Sabrevois

1715

In 1714, and again in 1717, laws were enacted that encouraged the western tribes to come to Albany. In June 1717, there was talk between Canada's Marquis de Vaudeuil and the Ottawa of Saguinau. The Pottawatomi and Ottawa of Saguinau that year left Detroit to go to trade at Fort Orange or Albany. They left in seventeen boats with six of them going to Montreal and eleven returning with De Tonty to Detroit. Shamgoueschi spoke to Marquis de Vaudreuil in Montreal for the Ottawa. He said that matters had altered very much since the arrival to of Sabrevois to Detroit. 100

Jacques Charles de Sabrevois commanded the Detroit Post beginning in 1715. Sabrevois complained of Claude de Ramezay whom he accused of preventing him from enjoying his fur-trading. Vaudeuil rejected the complaint knowing that Sabrevois was a very selfish man and made big profits at Detroit not losing anything. He was in recalled from Detroit in 1717. Vaudreuil thought his hardness and avarice proved that he was not a proper person to govern Indians.8 So, in the end, an agreement was won by the Ottawa Indians.

Irondequoit & Seneca Country

1716

In 1716, six Albany traders were permitted to open a trading post in near Irondequoit in the Seneca Region. When they arrived, they found a French trading post with five men and a smith in the nearby area. In the 1710’s, both French and New York trader were in the Seneca region. This included Irondequoit and Nagara.

Joncaire Chabert

1717

In 1717, the French government of Canada permitted the sale to Native People of limited amounts of brandy. By 1720, licenses and brandy were again discontinued, This law was in 1726 restored.

8 Dictionary of Canadian Biography 101

While the English sold rum, the French when they were permitted usually sold brandy.

A second reason for the French weakness was that in the west their had a war with the Native People the Fox. This war that effected the French trade in the Far West broke out in 1712 and lasted until 1731. The French nonetheless still held Detroit on the Detroit River and Fort Frontenac at the eastern end of Lake Ontario . . . they held their shipping docks. ……………………

Through the efforts of Joncaire Chabert, an Indian agent and interpreter, the French were able to gain influence among some of the Five Nations especially the Seneca and the Onondaga. As early as 1716, Joncaire Chabert had a trading house in Seneca Country. Later, he relocated to establish about the Niagara Falls the the fort called Little Niagara. In 1726 his trading house was turned into a fort. Despite French influence in the lakes, western tribes continued to travel to Albany. There they were welcomed and given support.

1719

In 1719 the Albany Commissioners stated that goods were obtained more cheaply in Albany They also said that the French themselves had no goods but what they got in Albany.

1720

In 1720, Vaudreuil reported that the English had inhabited a post for many years in Niagara. It was reason enough for him to build a French post in Niagara. In Albany there were two sets of traders.

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One traded with Canada and the other traded with the Five nations and the western tribes. The Canadian trade gave the largest return. When Fort Oswego was established the law changed in the 1720’s when there was an influx into the Oswego region.

Because of the diminishing quantity of pelts, the fur trade near Schenectady and Albany westward moved. In the 1720's, from these two towns, voyages of many a bateau made its way. Their destination was the Fort at Oswego Bay. At Oswego, furs from Western New York, Ohio, Detroit, and the Michigan’s Thumb were obtained. Outposts were manned by the sons of wealthy Albany aldermen. This made less use of the Iroquois middlemen.

In those at hard work among the Indians were ……….. Arent Potman.

Governor William Burnet

William Burnet served as governor of New York and New Jersey from 1720 to 1728. He sought to strengthen the colony's position on the frontier of New York. He also wanted to improve relations with the Iroquois who then controlled most of what is now upstate New York. Burnet would determine for a while the direction and extent the fur trade’s future and fate. The Iroquois had achieved peace with New France in 1701, and good trade had begun between merchants in Albany and French merchants in Montreal. English goods were sold to French traders who bartered those goods for furs with Native tribes.

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British colonial administrators wanted Burnet to direct the trade through the Iroquois lands instead of through Montreal.9

Governor Burnet had the assembly pass a law banning the Albany- Montreal trade. This action earned him opposition from merchants who had interests in trade directly with New France or Canada. This included Huguenot Stephen DeLancey and other Albany merchants. Adolph Philipse and Pieter Schuyler, two vocal merchants, who sat on the governor's council, who Burnet removed in 1721. The law was circumvented. Merchants routed the trade goods through nearby Mohawks who carried goods to and from Montreal. A law stiffening enforcement of the trade ban was passed in 1722.

In 1721, Governor Burnet sent out a party of traders to Western New York. This countered the work of Frenchman Joncaire Shabert who had a post in Irondequiot, New York.

These policies caused protest in New York and London where British merchants argued that they were having a negative impact on trade. In 1723, the French began construction of Fort Niagara at the western end of Lake Ontario. It was a clear threat to British attempts to more directly access and control the fur trade. Governor Burnet then ordered the construction of Fort Oswego at the mouth of the Oswego River. This decision upset Albany traders who would lose their monopoly. It also would upset the French (because it gave the British direct access to Lake Ontario. The Iroquois wanted a fort at Lake Oneida. Burnet placate the Iroquois by stationing militia forces in the Oneida area. They saw this as an intrusion.

9 William Burnet. Wikipedia. 104

Burnet's attempts to implement the trade policy were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1725, the merchant interests with Stephen DeLancey succeeded in gaining seats in the assembly. In the following years, the assembly was more hostile to Burnet’s rule. The trade ban was repealed in 1726 and replaced by a system of taxation. The taxes prefer western trade over the Albany-Montreal trade. All laws respecting Indian trade that passed during Burnet’s administration were repealed in 1729. The only long-term effects were the establishment of Fort Oswego and the breaking of Albany's monopoly on trade.

1725

In 1725, a trading post was established at the mouth of the river called Oswego. The post was connected to Albany by an inland portage. It was here that the river entered and allowed access to Lake Ontario. …………………

1726

In 1726, Indian Commissioners of Albany spoke of the coming of the Western tribes as a thing that was usual. Western tribes in increasing numbers to Albany would travel. New York traders likewise went out after trade. For them good profits were made.

In 1725, Indian Commissioners estimated the quantity of furs that could be obtained from Canada. They also determined was the amount that could be obtained from Indians directly. That year, one-hundred and seventy-six bundles of beaver came from Canada. Fifty-two canoes paddled by nearly one-hundred people were engaged at Fort Oswego and brought in 788 bundles of furs to Albany.

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To Albany, also, forty-three canoes came from Western Native People who brought in two-hundred bundles. ……………………….

For the Colony of New York, trade with Canada through Montreal was easy, profitable, and risk free. However, fur trade policy ignored factors that were political. As the French sold goods to western tribes, they maintain influence among those Native People. When western tribes bought goods to New York in an opposite fashion the political influence of the English was increased, substantially. The Iroquois called attention to the fact that the French often got their goods at Albany. However, England’s trade with Canada diminished the New York influence. ………………………………..

In 1726, most people wanted trade. Profits from direct trade free was higher. Trade with the French was also possible at Oswego.

Canadian the trade was a wholesale business. The Indian trade was largely in the hands of the New York merchant, In 1726, so strong was the opposition that an act Prohibiting trade with Canada was repealed In its place, a double duty on goods shipped to Canada was placed. Prohibiting Canada trade had decreased the quantity of Indian goods New York exported.

Burnet’s policy had political advantages, Gained was the friendship of western tribes And, diminution of French influence.

Fort Oswego—New York

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In 1727, many tribes were making Detroit their home, Wyandotte, Miami, Fox, Ottawa, Sauk, Mississauga, and Potawatomi. Its history would be written in many a story or poem,

1729

In 1729, the New York assembly put equal duty on Indian goods that were shipped to Canada and those shipped to Oswego. With proceeds supporting the fort and garrison of Oswego. Where Albany traders played but a small part. Opponents of Burnet policy were London and New York merchants. Who wanted free trade.

The English had economic advantages in displacing the French from the fur trade. New York merchants were fond of the Canada Trade, They sold large amounts of goods without trouble, The French took the goods from their doors. Whereas the Trade with the Indians was carried on with a great toil.

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The merchants of Montreal heard of the establishment of Oswego. They afterward persuaded the Canadian governor to set an expedition to raze the fort. The governor however abandoned the idea. Oswego extended English influence into the Great lakes.

Saguinan

About Eight leagues above Lake St. Claire, was the entrance to Lake Huron. Lake Huron is the same size as Lake Erie. Thirty leagues into Lake Huron in a northwesterly direction is Saguinan. Here there are settled some Ottawa who amount in number to sixty men. They live on the island at the entrance to Saguinan Bay. Here they had villages and cultivated fields. They raised grain and for the most part would stay.

When they are not at war with the other nations, the Ottawa raised crops on the mainland. When they could they tilled the land in both locations. They feared that the supply of food might fail on the island. Their land was very fertile. Game of all sorts also were abundant. Fish filled the water.

The Saguinan nation was the most unruly and unmanageable in the whole region. They had the same customs in every respect as the Ottawa. On the other side of Lake Huron to the north was the Matchiache. It is settled by the Chippewa called the Missisaugua who had the same customs as the Ottawa.

In June 1742 the Saguinan Outaouacs or Ottawa gave a speech to the Governor of New France Marquis de Beauharnois. 108

He knew of their circumstance. The governor had sent Monsieur de Blainville to their village that spring with a message.

The dispatch was that the Ottawa of Mackinaw and Saginaw could find brandy at Montreal. They would have to bring their furs to its hall and not to the English. The Saginaw Ottawa promised not to go to the English. The Ottawa made their way to Montreal. They braved the rapids and danger. They nearly perished in the cataracts of the Ottawa River.

One of their canoes was broken before reaching Montreal. When there, they assured Governor Beauharnois that they would do his will. They would not go again to the English.

They desired, however, a new canoe for going back to their village. In the woods, they would often break a gun or ax. For this occurrence, they also wanted a blacksmith in their village. With this request, they hoped that the governor would not be lax. They had no one to mend each item. In the woods, they were often obliged to discard them.

The Governor responded, “I am delighted that those of Saguinan have listed to Monsieur de Blainville. I thank you that to the English no more have you traveled. I thank you that your young men have come to me your needs to fill. ………….. I am like a father who is always glad to see his children. My hands are open to you with present and token.”

He went on saying, “Thank you for braving danger to see me. I will replace your broken canoe. I am convinced that you speak with a sincere heart to me. …… I will give you a blacksmith that you ask who is Amoit of Missilimakinac. 109

That will be between us as a Pax.

Because of the good reports about you Achaouabeme, I give a mark of distinction. The King grants it only to those he holds in the greatest consideration. May this induce thee to continue to devote attention to affairs that are right. Smoke calmly on your mats. Drink peacefully like true brothers tonight. ………

1737

By 1737, New York's Governor said, “The Shawnee dwell at Detroit. The Seneca and Cayuga had sold their land in Susquehanna from under their feet." The they have gone to Detroit. There is there many a tribal seat. There they all come to meet. …….

1740

In 1740, the British purchased a 20 by 30-mile tract of land in Western New York along Lake Ontario's Irondequoit Bay.

Frenchman Sieur de Vercheres of Saguinan

1744

Governor Beauharnois gave orders to Sieur de Vercheres to go to Saguinan. He was the second in command and spent the each winter with the Ottawa in Saguinan Bay. Sieur de Vercheres helped to prevent the Ottawa from trading with the English in any way. ……… 110

There was a War between 1744 and 1748 that interrupted trade. After the war, there was a resumption of trade.

When after thirty years of peace, once more, war broke out between England and France. Albany commissioners however again favored neutrality. That approach during Queen Anne’s war would well serve Albany. With peace the frontier was safe and trade with Canada was in continuance. However, New York Governor Clinton wanted the Colony of New York to be at war. Indian commissioners resigned.

Governor Clinton appointed William Johnson to be over the Iroquois the commander of the Indian Department. That marked the end to the intensive Albany control over Indian affairs. Control of the fur trade and Indian relations no longer was entrusted to the small group of Albany traders. …….

1745

In 1745, some members of the Iroquois Five Nations told Conrad Weiser of Pennsylvania, “The Indians . . . will on no occasion trust Albany men. We could see Albany burned to the ground and every soul taken away by the great king and the other there planted other men.”

Charles Andre Barthe of Detroit and Mackinaw

The early traders of Saginaw and elsewhere were often silversmiths, blacksmiths, or gunsmiths. They were also armorers or fabricators of weapons or arms. The trading in Michigan's Saginaw was also wrapped around beads, geegaws, blankets, and charms. As a group those that worked in Michigan's Thumb were adventuresome.

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Before the English made their incursion into Le Pays Plat, the Flat Lands of Michigan’s Thumb and the Saginaw River, the trading groups there were the French families Campeau and Barthe. Charles Andre Barthe was an early alderman of Detroit and Mackinaw. A gifted and a fluent speaker of the local Native language was Charles Barthe. He traversed Saginaw. …..

Charles Barthe was an early Detroit maker or weapons and armor. His trade included work as a metal forger.

Barthe was a welcomed visitor among the Native People in the Saginaw and the Grand River village. Charles Andre Barthe married Theresa Campeau. …… She was a daughter of Detroit's largest land owners Marie Roberts and Louis Campeau. Charles Barthe sailed the blue waters of Lake Huron and Lake Michigan likely first using a small Mackinaw sailing bark or pirogue. The furs from le Pays Plat, Michigan’s Thumb, were very much in vogue.

Louis Campeau's son Jacques Campeau also plied and sailed this Michigan’s blue water. He made trips up the Saginaw River and past Crow Island. Jacques Campeau was a famous hunter and fur trader. His nephew Lewis Campeau later took over his trade of the Michigan inland.

1747

In 1747 Charles Barthe married Teresa Campeau the sister of Jacques Campeau. The surname Barthe or Barde many mean to fit with bard or plate armour. In Detroit Barthe made iron axes. His forge and iron shop in Detroit. 112

He was skillfully at repairing guns and made axes. He was an important person in the trading of fur. This everyone around Fort Detroit knew.

In the Indian trade the Campeau and Barthe families were mentioned with bravo. Like Charles Andre Barthe members of the Campeau family were tool and trap makers and smiths. A large factor in their ability to control the fur trade was the Campeau family’s talent to produce or access brandy. Detroit's leading family the Campeau's dealt widely in the manufacture of wine and owned a winery.

The French called the Thumb of Michigan Les Pays Plat. The English when they arrived in 1761 continued this tradition and call the Thumb the Flat County.

1749

The trade in Oswego in 1749 was £21,406 . . . .. The trade in Oswego offset the influence of Joncaire in Seneca Country. Oswego was the barrier against the French for all the Provinces between New England and Georgia. The establishment of Oswego had to a large degree lessened the importance of Albany. The major trading by the English was now in Oswego. From Albany, though single traders went Oswego.

Settlement up the Mohawk River going to Fort Oswego grew. William Johnson at Oswego carried on a good trade with the Native People. ……. ……..

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In 1749, William Johnson told Governor George Clinton in his own written hand that it was time to commence settlement in Western New York’s Irondequoit Bay. The Seneca had a large village near Genesee River just twenty miles inland from Irondequoit Bay.

In 1749 one-hundred ninty-three Indian canoes also brought to Fort Oswego 1,385 packs of fur. It generated a tremendous amount of money in the New York economy.

1755

In 1755, after the appointment of Johnson as the Indian superintendent, Albany ceased to exert any great influence.

In 1727, the New York Courts had made trade free! Palatines were settling on the upper Mohawk and along the Schoharie. Scotch and Irish settlers also were settling on the frontier. This increased the fur trade to the interior. Traders received goods in bulk at Albany Roads were made westward from Albany.

Schenectady was the best place of departure. Its inhabitants had always traded, which was against the law. They were ready for the new conditions. They extended their journeys to the western New York, to Detroit, and to Mackinaw.

Native people and the trader often met at the Great Camp. It was a place of merriment and celebration. It was the place of the Campeau trading post. Here trade was carried on. It was known as Gabeshiwin. It was the place of the winter lodge.

Here there were many Native Lodge or wigwams. The trading lodge or wigwam was the atawe-wigamig. 114

The trader was the atawe-winini. Life was good here. Wigwams were made of bark, limb, and twig. This location was part of the trading ground of Charles Andre Barthe.

Pirogues were loaded with goods for barter. Pirogues returned to Mackinaw and Detroit loaded with pelts. This was where many wore the coat of fur or pelisse.

The trader then on the Saginaw River and Bay was Charles Andre Barthe.

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1762 Chart

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In 1749, New York Indian or fur trade was five times what it had been before Governor Burnet’s Policy

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CHAPTER THREE: THE ENGLISH—THE FLAT COUNTRY—1761- 1796

With the take-over of the Canada in 1761, Le Pays Plat was transformed to its English name the Flat Country. The Algonquin like called it Tessakamiga, which likewise means the Flat Country.

The French & British War is Over

1761

The French and Indian War was over in 1761. It had been a war on North American soil between France and Great Britain. In the end, the English won. In 1761 the England became the proprietor of Detroit, Mackinaw, and in general Michigan along with Canada. They control Saginaw and Michigan’s Thumb. ……………..

After the war, traders were sent to Detroit from Albany. The Campeau and Barthe families had been linked for years with the trade in Saginaw. Now English most of Dutch descent were found hunting, trapping, and trading in the Flat Country. Dutch and English families would control much of the trade in Saginaw. ………. …………………….

The French had surrendered Detroit in 1761. Many French after the surrender moved further west. A few Frenchmen however stayed in Michigan. The English relationship with Native People had passed the test. The English traders as always had better goods, guns, and rum.

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This would continue to influence the Indian trade north of Detroit in Michigan’s Thumb.

North of Detroit was the Flat Country. Leading out from Detroit were many an Indian path or trail. Going to the Saginaw River the major Native course was the Saginaw Trail. ************** Another smaller path led to the Mattawan River. *************

The English Detroit trader often had been a member of the English Indian Department. Many worked under William Johnson in Fort Niagara. The most valued traders once more were the blacksmiths in almost every event. They would be seen along the shores and in the woods of the Saginaw and Thumb area. The influx of traders to Michigan was also matched in general by the Englishman. Also, many of those here were descendants of a Dutchman or woman.

The English trader arrived in Michigan as early as 1761. They were usually silversmiths or gunsmiths who made trade goods and renovated the frontier gun.

The British were sellers of whisky and rum. The Northwest trade gun they also distributed. …………. Often, they had previously experienced or had heard much from relative about Michigan’s Thumb.

Isaac Garret Graveradt

One of the first who arrived in Detroit was Isaac Garret Graveradt a trader and gunsmith.

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He would soon make his way to the borders of the Flat Country in Michigan’s Thumb north of Detroit forthwith.

Isaac Graveradt however first settled in Fort Detroit. Yet another Dutchman, Jan Van Eps came early on to Detroit. Jan Van Eps was born in 1713 in Schenectady. Jan married Maria du Trieux in 1743. Jan enjoyed listened to the Native drum. He likely even made his way to Michigan’s Thumb.

Jan Van Eps was a noted fur trader. On Lake Erie, in 1763 during Pontiac’s War, Jan Van Eps was taken prisoner. He nonetheless was able to escape and reached Detroit in safety. In 1748, Jan Van Eps was at Fort Oswego as a public servant. Jan Van Eps was then it seems in the business of transporting goods to Oswego and packs of fur back to Albany. In 1748, Jan Van Eps was a commissioner in the local Oswego government.

Jan Van Eps' brother James, or Jacobus, Van Eps was born in 1715 in Schenectady. In 1743, he married Catharina the daughter of Helmer Veeder. James Van Eps from 1744 to 1745 in Oswego was a licensed Indian trader. He loved the Indian country. In 1759, Jan was trading with the Seneca at Irondequoit. After 1761, the Van Eps family likely a visitor to Fort Detroit.

A number of once New York Dutch families near Detroit settled and intermarried.

They were driven by their experience in the New York fur trade. Isaac Garret Graveradt was a silversmith and blacksmith who silver and iron fashioned. At this time, Jacob Harsen, another Dutch descendant, made traps and gewgaws for the Indian trade. 120

Both Graveradt and Harsen refurbished and renovated the northwest trade gun. Through the woods on an old Indian trail they expectedly would walk and run.

Blacksmithing was the Jacob Harsen niche. He worked with a forge, flux, and pitch.

Dutch “hars” meant resin or rosin.

The Graveradt and Harsen families likely knew or hear of each local river, creek, and brook. At their homes in Detroit, they manufactured goods for the Indian trade. These goods eventually made their way into a Native nook. The Graveradt and Harsen families made the tomahawk and Native knife blade. Other goods likewise likely included bead, kettle, needle, and for some in the family the blanket. Goods In Detroit include moreover the ball, powder, and the Northwest trade musket.

These traders possessed valuable skills. Likely possessed and learned by their families, to their family these were ancient skills.

The Graveradt and Harsen families tamped the woods and river and lake shore. The experience was distinct and singular, most definitely. They came to Detroit, Michigan, to lend their skills and lore. From Fort Detroit they with Native Guides or later alone likely ventured into the Flat Country. They visited with the Chippewa and Ottawa. They were likely even found in Saginaw.

Jacobus Harsen

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Jacobus Harsen was born in 1738 in the Colony of New York and City of Albany. He was the son of Bernard and Catherine Pruyn Harsen. In 1764, Jacobus Harsen had married Alida Groesbeck in Albany. Jacobus Harsen learned the gunsmith trade as a young man. In 1766, Jacobus Harsen was in Fort Niagara as a resident. Shortly thereafter he removed to the Detroit settlement.

Jacobus and Alida Harsen were in Detroit in 1778 after the American Revolution. Their home was next to William Groesbeck who was the father-in-law of Jacobus Harsen.

The father of Jacobus Harsen, Bernard Harsen, was born in 1714. Bernard was baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church in New York City. In 1737, Bernard Harsen married Catherine Pruyn ……… In 1730, at the age of sixteen, Bernard Harsen was a blacksmith in Seneca Country. He was a client of William Johnson. As a smith, the British Army hired Bernard Harsen.

Up until 1796 Detroit’s Barthe family was very influential in Michigan’s Thumb. They managed the fur trade from Detroit to Saginaw. ************** **************

Latin “faber” means ingenious or skillful or one who worked in hard metal a forger. The French term "le febvre"means the fabricator. A fabricator was a toolmaker or blacksmith. Tools, traps, kettles, geegaws, and guns were all made from iron, copper, and silver. It was the work of the smith. 122

Following the Revolutionary War there was considerable trade with Native People.

Charles Barthe ran the woods of Huron [Clinton], Upper Huron [Cass], and Saginaw River. He also was connected with the Tittabawassee, Shiawassee River. They also ran the trade in Western Michigan on the Grand River. In 1789 Barthe, Lefevre, and Bourassa were the licensed traders for the region. They controlled the Indian Trade on Western Lake Huron and Eastern Lake Michigan.

About 1788 the Mackinaw Store was still deeply involved in the fur trade. The store stockpiled one hundred thousand pounds of flour. I also had fifty thousand pounds of pork and one thousand gallons of brandy. It was doing a brisk trade. The commodities were held by a group of about thirty traders. They included Jean-Baptiste Barthe, Lefevre, and Jean-Baptiste Bourassa. The value of the goods was five hundred thousand dollars. Jean-Baptiste Barthe would settle his accounts at Mackinaw.

The surname Lefevre meant "the fabricator” of iron, gold, silver, and copper. His name meant the craftsman or iron smith.

Just after the Revolutionary Rev. William Andrews of Schenectady, New York, made a report. The said that his church was better attended during the winters than in the summers. When the Mohawk River was open from ice, many churchmen became boatmen. They would attend to the Indian or fur trade. They would proceed to Fort Detroit and even to Mackinaw. 123

Jacobus Harsen was pivotal in the early fur trade of the Michigan’s Thumb. At what Harsen’s Island, he would establish the first distillery and trading post in the Thumb. It would be the first between Detroit and Mackinaw. The land purchase of Jacobus or James Harsen was also the first written land transfer. In 1778 James acquired the large Island that was located at the mouth of the St. Clair River. Here would established his inn to trade between Lake St. Claire and Sagianw.

At his inn many people he would house and feed. Harsen's Island he purchased from the Chippewa. They were given the small remittance of a keg of whiskey and a string of bead. Always filled with people was the Harsen Trading Post. Here he sold goods of whose quality everyone would boast.

Stories of the Michigan’s Thumb would fill the time. Jacobus Harsen was a very skilled gun and silversmith. News of his establishment widely would chime. Hi brothers William and Bernard later also come to the island. They would join the in the merry band. The Island was steeped in history and myth. To Michigan’s Thumb the Harsen’s were the American vanguard. They were the ones which whom one would need to deal. Trade goods, guns, and liquor they furnished. The jewelry and tableware were all very well burnished.

The surname Harsen may have meant the worker pitch or resin.

Harsen's Island was just located just below the Belle Chasse River. It was the river of beautiful hunting. Just to the southwest was the Huron [Clinton] River.

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Native American paths lead along each to the north and the Upper Huron River. Each path followed the rivers initially. They then led to a high crested hill. The ridge remains here still. The Indian trails are erased but from the landscape or scenery. They are however left in today’s roads and railroad tracts. Along those old tails many transpired many trading pacts.

The trails headed to the Upper Huron River. It was also known as the Mattawan River. Mattawan meant the land of the magical fleece. The trails headed to the central stopping place. Here were the Indianfields. The hills and waterways were always hunted and trapped during times of peace. The Indianfields were an ancient Native camping base. Great returns the crop here yields.

The trail forks in four ways here: To the northwest runs the path to the land where elk are found. To the north goes a path to the land of the muskrat or beaver lodge [Wiscoggin}. To the northwest runs the tail to the Bear [Quanicassee] River. To the west runs the trail to Saginaw and the great camping ground. This was the central component of the Thumb of Michigan.

On the way to Saginaw the trail passes Shop-ti-qau-no. It means the short bend in the river. The Native hunter would trap nearby during the winter’s snow. The western pathway runs on to meet the Saginaw Trial. Both meet at the place in the river called the great bend. It was once the home of the Iroquois or Nottaway. The Upper Huron River was furthermore called the Nottaway River. Fur traders often would tamp the forest and visit the river bend. Here the Native person was fully in style. The Nottaway River emptied into the Saginaw River. 125

Not farther along the Saginaw passed the Island of the Crow. The out to the Saginaw Bay the river would flow.

The Upper Huron River was also called the Washington. It was said to also be the early home of the Native People called the Wakisos. Their name may mean the people of the shining river.

Jacobus Harsen forged many types of goods for the fur trade. Even snares and traps he would have made. John Harsen the son of Jacobus Harsen married the daughter of Isaac Garret Graveradt. The riding and pack horse they would have shod. The Harsen’s y worked at the forge after the time of England’s King George.

Harsen's Log Inn was ultimately destroyed by a keg explosion of gun powder. ***** The first White settlement in the Thumb of Michigan was the Harsen Inn. It had been made with rough cut pine timber.

This Island settlement was the first permanent settlement in the flat country or Thumb. When the American’s took over the he major part of the trade included American Whiskey. Ottawa and Chippewa would come to the Inn to trade. They would stop here before going to Detroit from Saginaw Bay.

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When it was built, trading place at Fort Gratiot. Here tall dark woods were calm and quite. It was located above Harsen's Island on the St. Claire River. 126

Both were stopping places between Detroit and the Saginaw River. Another route to the Saginaw Bay was over the Saginaw Trail. From Detroit to the land of oak Lands, to Grand Treaverse, and to Saginaw Bay it would hail.

Near and outside of Fort Gratiot, The trade was still done by Frenchman, Who live the live of the Indian and their diet. Here near the confluence of the Black and St. Clair Rivers with Lake Huron, Trading, hunting, and trapping would go on.

A number of Frenchmen, to this spot were drawn. The major figure was Anselm Pettit. He was once a voyager who had worked with a French fur trade fleet. The Black River was originally called the De Luth. But, native people had always called it the Black River from its taninng color to tell the truth.

The name seems to set the mood, The river and forest were dark. Life was here somewhat primitive and crude. Here often there were many a Native hut, The woods were dark, Olive green and uncut.

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Probably, the greatest trader in these olive green. Was the Dutchman by marriage, James Van Slyck Riley. James was the son of ... Van Slyke and Philip Riley. The Van Slycke family was descended from an Iroquois "princess or queen". James Riley came soon after the Revolutionary War to Michigan. He and his father like him had repaired many a Northwest Trade gun.

Philip Riley was an agent to the Cayuga in 1750. 127

He then worked repairing the trade gun. Philip was then stationed a Fort Niagara and was a client of Sir William Johnson. Both men were from Schenectady. Sir William Johnson was the Commission of the Indian Department. Philip may have worked within many a Chippewa tent.

James Van Slycke Riley married a Chippewa lady. She perhaps was the daughter of Flint River Chief Meomi. Her name was Mokisheenoqua. She was a Chippewa from the place called Saginaw. Perhaps, her name meant Good . . . . Lady. She had three sons by James Riley.

The Riley sons or boys, Understood each and every woodland noise. The elk, beaver, bear, and moose, they would take with wise agility. Such were the son of of James Van Sycke Riley. Their names were Peter, James, and John. They would be no one's pawn.

These men, the boys of the Menacumsequa, Would in the forest trade with trinket and gun. They were the most famous of bartering people of Michigan. They left a legacy in Michigan'sThumb in the Lower Peninsula. The languages Chippewa, Dutch, Iroquois, and English were part of their vocabulary. They moved between Native People and Detroit bourgeoisie, freely.

*******************

1707-08

Etienne's Campau had two sons Michel and Jacques who went to Detroit. Each arrived with a family.

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Michel arrived in Detroit in 1707 and Jacques in 1708. Jacques was a tool smith.

1734

In 1734 he obtained a grant of land from the French government and to also become a farmer. His land was later known as Private Claim No. 18 and laterthe Meldrum farm. The property would be considered a place of charm. Jacques was born in 1677 and in 1699 had married Cecile Catin at Montreal. They had six children: Their eldest son Jean Louis, born in Montreal August 26, 1702. He married at Detroit in 1724 Mary Louise Robert the widow of Jean Francis Peltier. Jean Louis Campau obtained a grant of land at Detroit the same year as his father 1734.

1735

Of the family of Jean Louis Campeau and Mary Louise Robert, Jacques, named for his grandfather and was born March 30, 1735. Jacob Campeau was married in 1761 to Catherine Menard. She died in 1781 and in 1784 Jacques married Francoise Navarre of Detroit. All twelve children of Jacques Campeau were by his first wife, Catherine Menard. Louis Campau son of Jacques was born July 26, 1767, and married Therese Moran in 1789. He settled along the Clinton River and was buried there May 13, 1834. His son the Louis Campeau was born at Detroit August 11, 1791. His uncle Joseph Campau of Detroit took the eight-year old boy under his care. Joseph promised to bring Louis up and eventually start him in business. Louis spent only a few months in the school as it was customary. He learned the rudiments of the French language, in the meantime, was an under servant for his uncle. 129

1762

The French occupied Detroit until 1762 when the British took possession. The French residents of Detroit were violently anti-British, and just as strongly sympathetic with the young republic of the United States.

***** They were made to trade for the fur or pelt.

Michigan saw the use of the Northwest gun that was easily to repair. Other items in the Indian Trade were tomahawks, gaudy bells ribbons, butcher knives, and gewgaws.

1768

George Meldrum was born about 1737. He was a member of the fur trade in Detroit as early as 1768.

In 1772 he purchased a lot from George Knaggs.

For many years thereafter Mr. Meldrum was prominent in trade and as a citizen at Detroit.

In 1788 Lord Dorchester appointed him one of the commissioners of the then newly created District of Hesse.

In 1796 he signified his intention of remaining a British subject.

However he remained a resident of Detroit until his death, April 9, 1817.

For many years he was a member of the firm of Meldrum and Park.

He married Mary Catherine Angelique Chapoton about the year 1782.

130

She was buried in Ste. Anne's churchyard, March 4, 1815.

They had several sons and daughters.

George Meldrum was the owner of considerable real estate in Detroit. One major piece was the tract known as the Meldrum farm, or Private Claim 18.

It previously had been the estate of Louis Campeau the well- known fur trader of the Thumb.

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1778

James Abbott was one of the early English merchants of Detroit.

In 1778 Governor Hamilton confiscated his goods for a violation of orders with respect to the conduct of the Indian trade. Two years later Abbott was the recipient of extensive grants of land fronting the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair made by the Potawatomi and Chippewa tribes. He died prior to July 25, 1800, leaving to his widow and offspring much property. Abbott was the father of six children, born between the years 1770 and 1777. Three of them were sons—Robert, James, and Samuel—and all were prominent men in their generation. The marriage connections established by all six children served further to enhance the family influence. Mary Abbott married William Hands, who became sheriff and registrar of Essex, Kent, and Lambton;

131

Frances and Elizabeth married, respectively, Francois and James Baby of Detroit and (subsequently) Sandwich; Robert Abbott married Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Audrain; James married Sarah Whistler, daughter of Captain John Whistler and sister of Colonel William Whistler of the U. S. army; Samuel married a Miss St. Croix of St. Louis and spent most of his life at Mackinac.

1773

In 1773 from Schenectady several hundred boats went to Niagara. Some of the boats went to on to Detroit loaded with dry and wet goods.

132

CHAPTER FOUR: THE UNITED STATES—MICHIGAN’S THUMB—1796-1819

1796

Michigan Historical Society Records, Vol. 8 - Annual Meeting 1885 by Ephraim S. Williams, of Flint.

The Campeau family are dominant players in the Saginaw Valley.

1812

Being of French blood Louis Campeau was strongly American. At 21 years of age he became a member of a French-American military company. The company served in the War of 1812 between the United States and England. The company was attached to General William Hull's army, which rather ingloriously surrendered to the British in Detroit. At the close of the War of 1812, Louis yet in his twenties left Detroit for the Saginaw valley. He then worked as employee of his uncle and other merchants who had goods to sell to Natve People. Louis acquired the dialect and confidence of them as well. Soon he was trading on his own account. He traveled over the eastern part of Michigan between Detroit and Saginaw. Durring the next six years he sold goods to Native People and bought from them furs and other articles that sold in Detroit and elsewhere. He made a good profit. Louis saved his earnings enough to consider marriage and the establishment of a home. 133

August 11, 1818, he married Ann Knaggs in Detroit. She was born in there September 23, 1800, the daughter of George Knaggs and Elizabeth Chene. Louis kept up his trading activity in the small settlements and Indian villages north of Detroit. He did not spend much time at home. Ann die young and was buried in Detroit, April 13, 1824. They had no children. During the time he was an Indian trader Louis Campeau became well known to the prominent men of eastern Michigan.

1819

In 1819 he was directed by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass to build a council house. It was built near Campeau’s Trading Post located upon the site of what is now Saginaw. This was done as part of the arrangements for the governor and his suite to negotiate a treaty. The governor arrived September 19, 1819. He opened negotiations for the purchase of the lands of the local Native People. They were to move further west. The council lasted three days. The chiefs finally yielded to the terms offered by the governor. A portion of the purchase price, in silver, was laid upon the table. At that time some of the Native People owed Louis Campau about $1,500 for goods he had sold them. At first it was suggested that he be paid at once. However there were present three other traders who objected. They were interested in making sales to the Indians who would with the treaty would have ready cash. The principal grumbler was Jacob Smith. Physical strength counted most. Louis Campeau knew it. He jumped from the platform and struck Smith two heavy blows in the face. 134

Smith was smart as steel and Louis was not slow. However , Louis Beaufait, Connor and Barney Campau got between them and stopped the fight. So, Louis lost his money and was “cheated me out of a good fight besides." From his early youth Louis Campau had been intimately acquainted with Sophie Marsac. She was the daughter of the Captain Rene de Marsac who was commander of the military company in which the young Louis had fought during the War of 1812. Their marriage took place at Detroit August 9, 1825. Sophie was born at Detroit September 25, 1807. Her mother's maiden name was Eulalie Gouin. After his second marriage the roving Louis determined to fix upon a permanent place of abode.

1823

He had sold out his business at Saginaw in 1823 to his brother Antoine. He then went southwestward to the Shiawassee River. He located near the site of the present city of Owosso. Here he established a trading post. He eventually removed again to the populous Indian villages at the rapids of Grand River. Here he decided to settle. Some accounts say he came here as agent for Mr. Brewster of Detroit who was an extensive fur dealer. Louis Campeau labored at Grand River opposite the American Fur company. Louis secured a license as a trader from the superintendent of Indian affairs. He was obliged to give bond that he would carry out scrupulously the instructions given on his license. He could trade only at the place at which he was licensed---that is, Grand Rapids. He was to treat the Indians fairly and in a friendly manner. 135

He was not to attend any Indian council or to send them any talk or speech accompanied by wampum. He was forbidden to bring any spirituous liquor into the Indian Territory or to give, sell, or dispose of any liquor to the Indians. This provision of the license was considered so important and so necessary that any trader who violated it would have his goods seized by the Indians for their own use. The fur trader was required to tell the Indians that they had such a privilege.

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1812

Because they wanted to protect their fur trade from the English, In 1686, the French built Fort St. Joseph a the head of the St. Claire River. Here Lake Huron meets with the river. Fort St. Joseph was abandoned after 1688, without a skirmish. Its garrison to Mackinaw was transferred. It was one of the oldest settlements in Michigan, although often abandoned.

In 1790, permanent settlement was made near old Fort St. Joseph by Anselm Petit. In 1807, a Chippewa Indian Reservation was platted on the south side of Black River.

1814

In 1814 American soldiers built Fort Gratiot, here.

1819

About 1819, Petit built the first house near Fort Gratiot, now called Port Huron on Court Street. The town of Port Huron was organized in 1828.

Having in interest in the Fur trade of Le Pays Plat, Anselm married Angelique Campeau,

136

She was the daugther of Simon Campeau and granddaughter of Louis Campeau. Pettit knew well the land to the north, the timberland that was flat. The fur trading Petit family, Was related to the Saginaw trading families Campeau and Barthe.

Anselm Petit was a nephew of Andre Barthe, Who in 1789 had a license to trade on the Saginaw and Grand Rivers. They were both traders, Who knew each other well, and probably together went after furs. mmm mmm

1819

Points of trade along Southeast Michigan's shore, For the late Thumb fur trader, Were Harsen's Island, Fort Gratiot, and Detroit, which many did explore. A happy place to the trader Was also White Rock, or Rogers Point, And, above that was Traverse or Aux Barques Point.

There were major places to meet along Saginaw Bay southeast shore. One was called Shebeon meaning where is hidden the ore. The other place is called Bear River, Maquanicasse

, or Quanicassee. The French called the place in between these two Du Fill or Thread River. The Algonquin called Thread River Sebewaing Sibee. Perhaps, meaning Sugar River.

These were the place of major trade. Also, the short bend on the Ottawa Rive was a camping ground. Where many came to trade and a deal was made. Here at Shop-ti-quano the trading horn or drum would sound.

Serving as a natural lighthouse White Rock, Was a favorite spot of Native People, and a sugar house. 137

Waab-bik was the name of White Rock. Anselm's son, Edward Petit here would build a trading house. Edward started his stint in trade on the Saginaw Bay.

1828

In 1828, there he would stay.

For a few years before, He traded at the post on the creek called Shebeon, Just off the Saginaw Bay shore. The Upper Thumb trade Edward Pettit would own. mmm mmm

1813

In 1813, during the war years between Great Britain and the United States, Edward Pettit was born in his father's log-house. He was the first child born into Angelique Campeau and Anselm Petit's house. In the woods and neighborhood were the sounds of old hates. The War of 1812 was going on, And, When Edward was just months old, his family loyalty was put upon. , The Pettit family fled to Detroit where they until the war ended. After the War of 1812, they returned home, and Anselm the building Fort Gratiot helped. About 182, a missionary school at Fort Gratiot was opened. Here Native People who to attended. A Mr. Graveradt was the interpreter. Jacobus Graveradt was likely his father.

The students numbered some 50 or 60. After 3 years, the missionaries were removed to Mackinaw. 138

With the number of Native People following being about 30. At the school, Edward Petit took his first and only lessons. He had his eyes set on trading in the Saginaw. In its woods he would see many dawns.

Aa a boy, Edward amused himself with hunting and fishing. He learned from his Native friends their languages. He, also, learned the French and English languages. Along with his spirit, which was enterprising, He was well educated to do the books for a fur company. In boyhood, Edward was employed in the fur trade, quickly.

Trapping, hunting, and trading were part of his ancestry. His life experiences were of that of the forest.

The Huron, or Onottoway River after the 1819 treaty was called the Cass River. mmm It was the early home of the Wakishegan. Their main camp was at Mattawan. This was the home of the Chief Otusson.

Northwest of Otusson's Village was Sheboygan Creek whose current is slow. Cheboygan meant the rice gathering place. Cheboygan Creeks empties into the Saginaw River at the island called Crow. The Chief at the latter place, Was called Menitegow, which means island in the river. This was where

The land on the west bank of the Saginaw River, Opposite Crow Island, Was called "Mtigong", Meaning a place the the timber first come to the river. The name Zilwaukee would later be giving to the wetland. A woods is "mtig" and to be in front is "niigaan". 139

This is where the pine trees first show along the Saginaw River.

At the Short Bend in the Mattawan River, The water would bubble and squeak, And, along the south bank was Dead Creek. Northwest of the Sheboyganing Is the stream called Quanicassee. It was also called "Maqua-na-ka-see. The later seems to have been the original wording, That described the creek. It meant The Black Bear Creek. It flows into the Saginaw Bay, Running almost strait north over much of its way. From Otusson's Village one can reach the shores of the bay in one day.

Further up the coast of the Saginaw Cove, Is the stream called Wiscoggin Creek, Whose name one may seek, Means "The Beaver or Muskrat Lodge", And, creek called Sebewaing, Du Fill, or Thread River is along the bay just above, Its mouth empties straight into the Saginaw Bay with a dodge. Above, Sebewaing is Shebeon Creek, Both, may come from "zibii" meaning "river" or creek. The Native word for netting or sack cloth is "assabiiwegin", At signer of the Saginaw Treaty of 1819, the local chief seems to have been Sepewan,

This estimable person made shoes for the horse, For covering ground the equine was the ultimate resource, For overland traveling, To where the Native People were camping. The horse was the ultimate form of transportation, Although usually going from one location to another location, Was done by walking. And, the heaviest of loads was transported in by voyaging.

140

The Latin word for to catch, Is "cape". While the Latin word for a fish cage, trap, or net is "nassa". In Chippewa a reed is called "assagaanshk".

Along the Northwest Thumb of Michigan, On the Thread, Du Fil River, or Sebewaing River, Trading at an early date had begun. Another good place for trapping and trading was the river, Quanicassee.

At the mouth of the Wiscogan Creek on Saginaw Bay, was a good place for trapping. It was just below Fish Point. The Old Indian sacred ground called White Point, On Lake Huron's east shore, also, had many a small, fur trapping creek. Trade, also, took place at the mouth of the Pigeon River . . . And, Pinnebog, River.

The Wyandots later called the Huron were at Quebec in 1535. This was when Jacques Cartier arrived there. Later they formed an alliance with the Adirondacks. About 1580 the Adirondacks however joined the Southern Iroquois. The power of the Wyandots then began to fade. The dispersion of the tribe followed to Lake Huron. Inthe 16th century, the Huron with some Mississauga formed a new confederacy.

The Hurons owned Ontario from the Ottawa to Lake Huron. To this Ontario division the general title of Iroquois du Nord was given by the French.

1810-11

141

From Roxbury, Massachusets,the Williams moved to Michigan.

Major Oliver Williams was one of the pioneer settlers in Michigan, and of Oakland county. He , was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, May 6, 1774. He came to Detroit in 1808to established the mercantile business. He purchased his goods in Boston, carted them overland in covered wagons to Buffalo. He then shipped them thence by water to Detroit.

During the winter and spring of 1810-11 he built, at the River Rouge, a large sloop, which he named the "Friends' Good-Will,"

1812

in the summer of 1812, just previous to the breaking out of the war between the United States and Great Britain, made a voyage to Mackinaw, acting as super-cargo. At Mackinaw his vessel was chartered by the government to take military stores and supplies to the garrison at Chicago a small military and trading post. She was also to bring back a cargo of furs and skins for the government and himself. The commanding officer at Mackinaw, Lieut. Hanks, furnished father with a box of ammunition, twelve stand of arms, and a non-commissioned officer and six men as a guard against Indians who were then openly hostile it was known that war was imminent. Before his return from Chicago he was decoyed into the harbor of Mackinaw , which had in the meantime been captured by the British , they keeping the American flag flying over the fort , and they were made prisoners. His vessel and cargo were taken possession of for the benefit of the British government his vessel being under a government charter. 142

The name of the vessel was changed by the British to "Little Belt," it formed a part of the British squadron and was captured the next year by Commodore Perry on Lake Erie. At the time of the battle she mounted three guns. She was burned at Buffalo the following winter, having, with two others, been driven ashore by a gale.

Father was paroled, sent to Detroit under charge of British officers; was at Detroit at its surrender by Gert. Win. Hull with other citizens, was marched through the province to Kingston as prisoner of war. In time they were exchanged. He then visited his family in Concord, Massachusetts and soon after returned to Detroit to look after his business and property, which he found scattered to the winds. Detroit and the entire frontier had been laid in waste. The most that he saved from the general ruin was his residence, and twenty acres in the then called Bush, on Woodward avenue all of which he sold when he bought his farm in Oakland county.

1815

In the fall of 1815 he moved his family from Concord, Mass., to Detroit.

-- Detroit a Strange Place.

We rode and walked up past the fort, whose frowning guns, pyramids of balls and strong stockade, with its heavy gates, were all new and strange to us. The people all turned out to see the Yankees, and as we passed along by the curious, one story and a half French houses, the women greeted us little ones with a kiss, saying: "Ah, to mon petit Boslinien!" We found Detroit a very strange place, walled in with high pickets, with three large, very heavy gates, and two regiments of United States soldiers lying in tents outside the pickets, on the rise of ground 143

The old fort also was full of soldiers. At each gate of the city stood a United States soldier on guard, and no one passed in or out without a password. The city contained probably only about five or six hundred whites.

Father opened a hotel and boarding house, raised a large gold ball for a sign , and it was known as the Yankee hotel, with the sign of a pumpkin. His house was over-run with eastern people, as the troops were mostly eastern men, many of them from Massachusetts, and father and his family became great favorites.

As I have said, Detroit was a strange place. The old market stood in the centre of Woodward avenue, south of Jefferson avenue, with a whipping post at the northeast corner, where criminals were whipped for petty crimes, and sold for fines and costs to the one who would take them for the least number of days' work on the streets. I have often seen them whipped and gangs of men at work on the streets , often many with ball and chain, and made to work out their fines and costs of suits , instead of being a city or county charge. We boys had an old two-horse sleigh, with bar iron shoes (no cast-iron shoes then), and a dozen would often get on and ride down hill in the winter , going on to the river quite a distance. There was no Atwater street then; the river came up to the rear of Mr. James Abbott's storehouse deep enough for boats and canoes to unload furs, sugar, etc., which was about half the length of what was then the Abbott block, wh ere he lived and had the postoffice for many years.

The old Frenchman used to run the ferry with a large canoe until Mr. Ezra Balding [Baldwin] put on a scow and boats. There were only three brick buildings--the Governor Hull house, 144

Government store house, and the old bank on the Major [Jonathan] Kearsley corner. I clerked it awhile in this building for Mr. Melvin Dorr, a dry goods merchant , who afterwards settled on a farm near Little Springs and was superintendent of the building of the United States turnpike to Saginaw, which was built six miles north of Flint city, one hundred feet wide. Father purchased all the fruits on the orchards on either side of Detroit river and put up many winter apples and made a large quantity of cider- -one year packing two thousand barrels of apples and making seven hundred barrels of cider. Apples sold for twenty shillings and twenty-four shillings per barrel, and cider ten dollars per barrel for all he could make, I recollect I took ten barrels in a boat to Mr. Henry J. Hunt, merchant, for his use and he paid me one hundred dollars, (ten dollars per barrel) everything in proportion. Potatoes were two and two and a half dollars. Whisky sold for two dollars per gallon by the barrel. Butter, fifty and seventy-five cents per pound; roasting pigs, two and three dollars each; turkeys, from twelve to twenty shillings. All these things were brought from Ohio – l ittle vessels plying all the time in this trade, buying our apples and cider. - Families Return After War.

1816

Many families who left Detroit during the war, returned in 1816. Governor L. Cass brought his family to reside there. The currency was mostly shinplasters and what was called "cut money"-- that is, a Spanish dollar, for instance, was cut into halves, quarters and eights, which passed current for small change, and many times it was cut into nine shilling pieces, from one dollar. The troops were paid off for long back pay, and money flowed like water 145

--everybody had plenty. Many of the troops were discharged (times expiring) in Detroit and settled on farms in Oakland and other counties in the State. Being first-class eastern men, they made many of our best citizens. Lieutenant Chesney Blake resigned in Detroit, and afterwards became the noted Captain Blake, of the lakes, and finally settled on a farm in Oakland county. Colonel John Hamilton, of Flint, was discharged a sergeant in Detroit. I have seen all these men march Detroit streets, and lived by them in after years. Mr. Samuel Munson, father of Mr. Henry Munson, of Detroit, is now living at East Saginaw.

1816-17

He came to Detroit in 1816 or 1817, and tended bar for my father. Being about my age, we used to slide downhill together, on Woodward avenue.

We boys had a large skating park, of several acres, the water in the fall coming from the upper part of the city and flowing the low grounds in the rear of old Ste. Anne's Catholic church. I have lived in the State ever since those days, and am astonished when I look in vain for our old play grounds. here was in that hill a small fort open then to the river, where stood one or more guns and mortars, used for throwing shot and shell across the river during the war of 1812; On the 14th day of August, 1817, President James Monroe visited Detroit and was received with public honors. My father was then city marshal, and was conducting the procession through rite city. Passing his residence on Jefferson avenue mother beckoned him, when he dismounted, went into the house,

1818

146

The first steamboat upon Lake Erie, the "Walk-in-the-Water;" visited Detroit in the summer of 1818. She was a great wonder to the French and Indians. in fact to us all, being the first I or any of our family had seen. I recollect one circumstance which I never shall forget. The steamer landed at what was then Wing's wharf. at the foot of Bates street, originally built by Henry Hudson and called Hudson's wharf.

It was built on bents and planked over, about ten feet wide, running to the channel; at the end was a large pier, with an ice-break, laid of square timber and filled with stone, also a pier built in same way about half way. carts could drive out there, turn round, fill their barrels with pure water and water the city. I have described the wharf; now for what took place. On the deck of the old "Walk-in-the-Water" stood Lord Selkirk. with cocked hat, English coat and breeches and buckles, talking with some gentlemen. when Hon. Austin E. Wing, United States marshal, walked up and arrested the lord for crimes committed against the Hudson Bay Fur Co. in the Hudson Bay country years before, and the lord and Marshal Wing walked up town together.

-- Venture to Oakland County.

In the fall of 1818, my father, Calvin Baker, Jacob Elliott, my uncle Alpheus Williams, and others, made a journey to Oakland county, on horseback. They had a French guide. Following the Indian trail towards Saginaw, they crossed the Clinton River at Pontiac. After exploring the surrounding country, my father selected three hundred and twenty acres of land in the vicinity. , or upon a beautiful lake, which he afterwards named Silver Lake. After an absence of three or four days, the party returned. 147

Their report electrified the staid, quiet inhabitants of Detroit. , among whom the belief was general that the interior of Michigan was a vast impenetrable and uninhabitable wilderness and morass.

In the winter of 1818 and 1819 father started with his horses and wagon, provisions and tools, and three men for his new home. , to build a house for the reception of his family in the spring. This was the first team and wagon ever driven to Pontiac. taking three days, cutting his road and bridging streams and bad places.

The few families then at Pontiac had packed their supplies on ponies or on their own backs. There were Maj. Todd, Orson Allen, son-in-law of Maj. Todd, and one other man and his wife all living in one (not large) log house.

Father's house was of hewed logs laid up very nicely, fifty feet long and twenty wide, one and a half stories high, with a shake roof.

1819

In March, 1819, he moved his family into his unfinished yet comfortable house. and all commenced to make a farm among the Indians, flies, mosquitoes, snakes, wild game, and fever and ague. Father used to say, when asked if we had the ague, "Yes, we had a little about thirteen months in the year."

Our family suffered much from sickness, privations and lack of the comforts of life. Mother and sisters lived there six months without seeing the face of a white woman; then my aunt and her daughter made us a visit from Detroit, stayed with us a few days, helped us and cheered us up.

1820

148

The summer of 1820 father raised and finished a large barn, 40×40, which was the first frame raised in Oakland county and which still stands upon the old homestead in a good state of preservation. I was one who drew the pine logs from a pinery, about one and a half miles from the old home, for the finishing and enclosing the barn. The plank boards and shingles were sawed and made on the place. The Indians were kind and very friendly during our sickness , bringing us many luxuries in the shape of wild meat and berries of the choicest kind. We found them not bad neighbors. The winters of those days were not much like 1885 ; no snow of any consequence until March, and then we got barely enough to enable us to get up our year's stock of wood. I have driven team to break up our land through the months of December. January and February, as we would now in May and June. We used three and four yoke of good heavy oxen, to plow the oak openings, among what we called the the heads of the oak scrubs that had been burned off). I recollect the first field of wheat of about six acres we had; when in the milk the yellow birds commenced coming. The first we saw delighted us, but they increased and destroyed every head of grain, and we never cut a straw. This we thought rather rough, on the start. Father kept a few goods and we boys traded considerably with the Indians, collecting a good many furs and skins, sugar, wax, etc., which we sold in Detroit, procuring in exchange many comforts we could not get from the new farm. Every spring while I remained at home I would take a load of furs, sugar, etc, to Detroit. I could not go direct, the roads being impassable; 149

consequently I used to go by way of Mt. Clemens, taking two and three days, usually staying at Mt. Clemens over night with Colonel Clemens , going from there out to the lake and then down the lake and river road (this was a little like pioneer life). Often I had to stop, when night overtook me, (very few taverns, if any), with farmers who had nothing to eat but baked potatoes and milk, but who afterwards became fine farmers and leading men. The road direct from Pontiac to Detroit became, after some travel almost impassable, so wet and muddy to any depth. Father purchased a corn mill, which was put up in a tree in the yard; the hopper would hold half a bushel or more. With two cranks we boys would grind out a bushel of corn when wanted, which gave us nice corn meal. The neighbors also came and ground their corn, and this proved a very great convenience to the neighborhood. Deer and all wild game were very plenty. We boys became quite expert hunters. I hunted considerable, but for a long time could kill nothing, often having deer stand all around me, distant from three or four rods to ten, fifteen and twenty. I would take the nearest, aim and fire, but could not get one, although I was a splendid marksman— could hit the size of a quarter of a dollar twice out of three times at twenty rods. The trouble was, I was excited, and in sighting a deer I would see the deer's body , and, of course, I would fire above the deer. My younger brothers had killed many, and they laughed at me, to my great annoyance. I started out one morning early and said to myself, Now, if I get a shot, I will be calm and take time and take good aim, as if shooting at a mark, I will have no more fooling. I had not got out of sight of the house before I saw a deer about twenty or thirty rods from me. I took deliberate aim, drew a fine sight, and my deer fell. 150

Then to get him home. I thought I could carry him on my back, as I had often seen the Indians do. So I fixed him, got him on to a log, and then on to my back, and started , but did not go far before I backed up to a log and let him off. After a little I started again, but it was no go. I was in sight of the house for which I had started. Such a looking object as I was! I had daubed myself from head to foot with blood and deer hair. Oh, how I looked, but I marched bravely home, for I had killed a deer.

The family were at breakfast as I went in. As soon as my father saw me he and my brother shouted, "He's killed a deer !" Mother, good woman, smiled and said, "Why, Ephraim, how you do look! Just look at your clothes." I said, "Never mind, mother, I have killed a deer." I was then over the buck fever and could kill a deer every time I fired on one. Father took his horse and wagon and we went and brought him in. We never spent much time in hunting, for we could go out an hour or two, morning or evening, and kill a deer. Our lakes were almost black with ducks, spring and fall. We could kill a mess in five minutes near our house. I recollect father and myself crawling beside a fence leading from the barn to the lake. , and, upon his giving the word, we fired together into a flock of ducks near the shore, and we got eleven large, fine, black-neck ducks. An Indian family by the name of Wa-me-gan lived on the high bank near the house , and were a fine, friendly family. Wa-me-gan started out one morning a-hunting, went in north a few miles , when it commenced snowing. He fell upon an old bear lying under a turned-up tree. We supposed he found and wounded him, and the bear made fight. The old man defended himself, losing his knife and tomahawk in the fight. 151

The bear struck him on the head, cutting gashes With each claw like a blow from a tomahawk, the thumb claw taking out one eye. We supposed this blow knocked him down, then the bear bit him through his legs and arms terribly, and left him for dead. The old man recovered, went a few steps, set his rifle beside a tree, sat down with his head on his bands and knees, and was found frozen dead. His sons found him, after one or two days' search. It had snowed several inches: his knife and tomahawk were never found. The sons followed the bear, but never found him. My brother and myself took the horses and sleigh,\ and, with his sons, brought him in. He was buried on the farm. This grave was always protected, and I presume it is to this day.

1822

In the fall of 1822, Mr. Rufus Stevens, his brother. A. C. Stevens, and myself went from Silver Lake to Saginaw on horseback, following the Indian trail. We found the two companies of United States troops in their tents, hard at work building the stockade and their winter quarters. We remained a day and returned. There was not a house from Waterford to Saginaw.

The winter of 1822–3. Colonel John Hamilton, Harvey Williams and myself each took a team and lead of supplies and provisions for the troops, Mr. Schuyler Hedges accompanying us to see the country. The soldiers had cut a road through the woods and pine windfalls for sleigh track. Going out we put all three teams on each lead to draw it across Flint River and up its banks. We slept on the south bank of Cass River, between two large fallen pine trees. In the morning we were under about four or five inches of snow. 152

It snowed all day. We arrived at Saginaw and crossed the river not until after dark, having traveled only about twelve miles. The soldiers took charge of our teams and put them in warm stables and we were ushered into good, warm quarters and fared sumptuously. We left next afternoon and slept that night at Cass River, where we found a vacant log house.

We got our horses into it and with rails we built a big fire in the fireplace and camped for the night. It was a very cold night. Our horses and ourselves suffered severely. Of that company I am the only survivor, the Messrs. Stevens, Hamilton, Williams and Hodges all have crossed the river, where we must all follow ere long.

1823

My sister Caroline married Mr. Rufus Stevens and moved to Grand Blanc, Genesee county, in 1823, they being the first settlers in that town. In the fall of 1824, a party of eight young men and girls visited my sister, Stevens, traveling on horseback, there being no road, but only an Indian trail. Next morning we rode to Flint River, seven miles, (where the city now is) , crossed the river on the rapids where the dam and mills now are; explored the surroundings, which were beautiful, being an open oak forest like an orchard. We could see for miles around, having been burned over, and could see the wild deer feeding on the acorns in from twos to droves of often a dozen. You may think this exaggerated but it is not, for they were as plenty as sheep. It was not unusual to see in the fall of the year, droves of twenty and even more. In those days we could not ride through the oak openings without seeing deer feeding on the rolling hills, in all directions. 153

The oak openings were perfectly beautiful, being from June a perfect flower garden.

-- Militia formed in Pontiac.

In the year 1821 a militia company was formed in Pontiac, and vicinity. Calvin Hotchkiss was the captain. I hold a commission, as ensign, under Lewis Cass, Governor of the Territory, dated June 13, 1821. A regiment was afterwards formed, and I hold a commission as its adjutant, dated the 11th day of August, 1824. I think the above was the first company, and regiment formed in the Territory. We were well uniformed and equipped. Had a grand regimental parade every fall, in Pontiac. To have a parade ground, I engaged men and mowed off the brush and cleaned off the ground from Pike street to the river, on the west side of Main street, in Pontiac, where the Hodges House stands; Calvin Hotchkiss, colonel; David Steward, lieutenant colonel; Henry C. Brunson, major. We soon had three or four rifle companies, in full uniform, commanded by Captain John Hamilton, Captain Archibald Phillips, Captain John Hamlin, and so on. We used to have fine parades and any amount of fun. We also had one company of horse, about thirty strong, commanded by Captain Daniel Lyon.

-- My Parents Marriage.

Father and mother were married in 1796, in Concord, Mass. Mother's name was Mary Lee. They had a family of fourteen, ten boys and four girls. Father died in 1834. Mother died April 1, 1860, and in January, 1884, seven of those children were alive, six being of the eight that came to Detroit in 1815. 154

Two died in California during the summer of 1885.

-- My Marriage.

March 13, 1825, I married Miss Hannah Melissa Gates, on her Grandfather James Harington's farm, near the village of Auburn, Oakland county. I built a log house on part of the old homestead , and lived there until I moved to Saginaw. My daughter Mary (afterwards Mrs. Hiram Walker of Detroit) was born September 25, 1826. We had a family of seven, of whom four are still living.

1829

In 1829 I moved to Saginaw, our party going on horseback, I carrying my daughter before me on a pillow. My wife's sister and several others accompanied us. The first night we camped out at Pine Run. The next day we arrived at Saginaw, and made our home in the officers' quarters--a very comfortable place, inside the stockade, until I built on the corner of Mackinaw and Washington streets.

1828

In 1828 my brother and myself commenced the Indian trade , under the firm name of G. D. & E. S. Williams, which we continued about twelve years, under the auspices of the American Fur Company, of which James Abbott, of Detroit, was agent. There were no roads. We had, with others then at Saginaw, to go on horses (or ponies) from Saginaw to Grand Blanc, some forty odd miles, and not a house or white family the entire distance, carrying our children before us. 155

Often, from high water and bad roads to get through, we were obliged to camp out for the night , and so always went prepared for the emergency. Over bad places, swamps, etc., we crossed on fallen trees, old logs, etc., carrying our wives and children on our backs, while the men took the ponies through or around places almost impassable. We usually traveled in companies of a dozen or more, for mutual protection and assistance.

My oldest children, Mary and Olive, had only Indian children for playmates.

The chiefs gave them Indian names, in token of their friendship. The wives and daughters of the chiefs, would take them to the pay grounds , and, under the direction of the chiefs, they would draw their share of money the same as, and with, the Indian children. We bought our goods for the Indian trade, and also for what little white trade there was of the American Fur Company, and sold them our furs in the spring.

1822

Perhaps it is well to give a short sketch of the city of Saginaw at this time. The government made it a military reservation , and troops were sent there in the summer of 1822, being part of the third regiment, U.S. troops. They were ordered there from Green Bay, for the protection of the frontier. They were under the command of Major Daniel Baker, and remained at this point about fourteen months. Here they lost some valuable officers, Lieutenant Baker, the major's brother, and Lieutenant Allen, and about a dozen men. This discouraged the major, and they were ordered by the war department to Detroit. 156

The venerable' and beloved Dr. Pitcher, of Detroit, who was then assistant surgeon in the regular army, and had reported to Major Baker at this time, was in attendance upon the garrison. The event of withdrawing the troops tended to draw away attention from the Saginaw Valley, and retarded immigration. The military reserve was purchased of the government by Samuel Dexter, of Dexter, Mich., for seven or eight thousand dollars. We rented the property of Mr. Dexter, and occupied it until we built up town, on Mackinaw street. Mr. Dexter often urged my brother and myself to purchase the property, which at one time he offered to us for seven thousand dollars. He afterwards sold it to Dr. Millington, of Ypsilanti, for $dollar; 11,000, who, in turn, sold it to Mr. Norman Little, for himself, Mackie, Oakley and Jennison, of New York city, for $dollar; 55,000— a nice little speculation in a short time for the doctor. Then commenced the building of Saginaw City.

1836

In 1836 Mr. Norman Little came from Detroit, with Governor Mason, by the steamboat "Governor Marcy," the first steamboat that ever plowed the waters of the Saginaw River. The citizens all took a ride on the "Marcy" up the Tittabawassee River , above Green Point (which is the head of Saginaw River), a mile or two, got aground, and were most of the day getting off and back to the city, being a hard day's work instead of a day of pleasure.

-1837-38

The expenditures of the firm of Mackie & Co., of which Mr. Little was a member, in their efforts to build up Saginaw City, by the erection of various expensive structures, some of which still stand as monuments of their enterprise, 157

amounted to a very large sum, and, followed so soon by the financial crisis of 1837-1838, it is not to be wondered at that trouble and embarrassment ensued, causing further active efforts on their part, at that time, to build up Saginaw City almost entirely to cease. Disappointed, but not discouraged, Mr. Norman Little turned his attention to the east side of the river, and in 1850 induced Mr. James M. Hoyt, of the old firm of Eli Hoyt & Co., of New York city, and his son, Mr. Jesse Hoyt, to become interested with himself, each one-third, in the site and business of East Saginaw.

-- First Steam Mill in Saginaw.

In the year 1834-1835 my brother and I (G. D. & E. S. Williams) built the first steam mill, with one saw, ever built in the Saginaw valley; and, I think, the first in the State. Harvey Williams owning one-third, he furnishing the engine and boilers. In after years it was burned down. My brother, G. D. Williams, built a fine mill afterwards, on the point opposite the first one. That was burned down. Then his sons built a first-class modern mill on the river, and it, with salt block and fixtures, still runs.

1828

When G. D. & E. S. Williams commenced the Indian trade in 1828 we occupied the sutler's store,

outside the stockade: and, as I have said, lived inside the stockade in the officers' quarters. We built the red store and occupied it as long as we continued trade. Reaume, a Frenchman and an Indian trader, (who was at that time, 1828, and at that point the agent of the American Fur Company, and was trading under them), and the Messrs. Campau had had personal difficulties of long standing, 158

which had become an inveterate feud, creating unprofitable divisions with the Indians, amounting with them to fierce partisan hatred. The current becoming turned against Reaume, and his personal safety endangered, his store was kept closed too much of the time for him to continue a profitable agent of trade for the company at that post.

Judge Abbott, the company's superintendent at Detroit, selected the Messrs. Williams as the successors of Reaume , who became the owners of his entire interests in his Indian trade. The hatred had become so strong against Reaume by the opposition traders that they endeavored to and did set the Indians against the out-posts. Dequindre, an active young Frenchman, clerk of the store at the forks of the Tittabawassee, was driven out of his store, by a very ugly Indian, called White Devil or Wah-be-man-e-too,

White Devil taking possession with his friends, of the store, drinking and enjoying themselves until the employs came home from the woods: The clerk fled to Saginaw, got lost, and was frozen badly before he got in.

This was the state of things we found when we commenced the trade in 1828. The traders had become savage toward the Indians, and often abused them for little or no cause, which we had to put a stop to, putting in their written agreements if anything of the kind was done, without good provocation, they would be discharged.

In arranging for our winter trade, in the fall of 1828, we considered it very important to reestablish and open the trade at the Forks where the store had been broken up, that being a good business point, and it was thought best that I should go to that post. 159

I consequently prepared to do so, with a good stock of goods for the trade. I choose for my assistants, interpreter and runners, Jacob Gravenrod [Graverod], one of the best interpreters in the whole country , and the two younger Rays. Prudent friends endeavored to persuade me not to embark in an enterprise so evidently fraught with danger, but my own and the company's interest required the venture, and I, with my assistants, soon arrived at the post. The opposition store, with three men, was about sixty rods from mine.

The Indians in this section were, at this time, considered the worst and most dangerous in all the country, but about the best hunters and trappers of valuable furs, and it was a very important post to be maintained. I was successful in taking in a large lot of valuable furs, such as beaver, otter, martin, mink. , fisher, bear, coon and muskrat and doeskin. My men were absent from home most of the time gathering furs from the Indians ; therefore I was alone and experienced many unpleasant affairs , a few of which I will relate. I soon gained the friendship of the Indians and they behaved well toward me and my men, only when put up to mischief by the opposition, who were half-breeds, and, being jealous of our success, could, with a little whisky, cause the ugly ones to give us serious trouble, but always, when sober afterwards, say they were sorry and ask forgiveness. It was necessary to have an Indian guide who understood where the hunters and trappers were in the interior. The opposition house had a very good one, who had been their guide for years and not good for much else.

160

During the winter Gravenrod and myself, when about retiring one cold and snowy night, heard a "bang" on our outer door; soon again, another. We asked who was there; "bang" again, harder than before. We told him to go away or he would get hurt. "Let me in;" "bang" again. I picked up a hickory sapling about three feet long we had been using and crept carefully to the door, unfastened the inner door, unhooked the outer door (having double doors), and when the "bang" came again, threw open the door and sprang out. He ran, I after him, down toward his home, the snow being about a foot' deep. I came up to him in about twenty rods, struck him over the head with my hickory, and he fell into the snow. I gave him one or two good cuts across his thighs, and left him. The next morning I left for Saginaw, on business, on an Indian pony, and as I was about starting, the fellow came in, painted black; said he was drunk and was sorry; said he was put up to it. I told him we wanted nothing to do with him, to go home and keep away from us, or he would get worse punished.

I left for Saginaw, and when twelve or fifteen miles on my way, I heard a slight noise, and, looking around, this fellow, with a shotgun on his shoulder, was trotting along behind me, looking black and ugly as possible. It gave me a little start, yet I knew he was a coward. I asked him what he was following me for. He said the clerk had sent down for some goods. I told him to take the front and trot ahead, and I kept him in the front the rest of the way to Saginaw.

On my return he came to the store, said he was sorry and ashamed of what he had done, wished me to forgive him, and, if I wanted him for a guide, 161

he would leave the opposition and join us. Good guides were very scarce, and he being an excellent one, we took him. We found him very useful, and he remained with us ever after. Indians are peculiar. If they feel they have been abused or punished undeservedly, they never forget it, and sometime will retaliate on you or your property; but when they deserve punishment for doing wrong, if partially drunk, they know it , and will invariably, when sober, come and say you did right; that they were wrong, and ask to be forgiven and to be friends, and they wild ever after be good friends and do anything for you. This very thing is the cause of much of the trouble with the Indians in the western portion of our country. Government officers and traders misuse them, rob them of their reservations, their game, and often of their wives and daughters, at which they feel injured and abused. I often think they are not so much to blame, after all.

-- Fued Among Indians.

During this winter two parties of Indians came to the store from different sections, and of different totems, between whom a feud existed, of long standing. After trading their furs, they had a drink together, and began to talk up the old feud. Gravenrod, and myself made up our minds there would be trouble, and we must guard against it as much as possible. There were about twenty, and they were outside the store. I proposed they should not come into the store, unless they gave me their knives at the door. Only one refused. I stood on the inside of the door, which, being low, one had to stoop a little.

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This one said he would come in, and I said he should not, unless he gave up his knife. He lowered his head to rush in, and I met him between the eyes with my fist, and he went to the ground. He jumped up and handed me his knife. This man's brother was a chief, and a powerful man, called Chee-a-nin- nce (Big Man). The leading man from the other party was called As-see-nee-wee, one of the finest built men I ever saw. These two leading ones became the contestants, the rest of each party trying to prevent hostilities, and Gravenrod was doing his best to separate the two, as they had clinched each other. I stood by the door, in the rear of Big Man. Gravenrod, called to me at the top of his voice to pull Big Man back, for he had a knife and would kill As-see-nee-wee. I sprang and caught Big Man by the shoulders, and sprang back with all my strength, separating them, and we all came down upon the floor. Old Man, his brother and two or three more all had hold of the old man, his brother and myself holding him down, and it was all we could do, the old fellow roaring and frothing at the mouth with rage. He had dropped his knife. We got the advantage of him, so his brother could hold him. They told me to get a rope and we would tie him. Hearing this he begged us not to tie him, and he would give up and be quiet. Tying is something an Indian fears and looks upon as degrading. While this was going on, Gravenrod got the others out of the store and started them off to their camps. It was now getting dusk. I spread some deer skins beside the chimney, in a corner, and his brother got the old man to lie down, and he soon got to sleep, and his brother watched him all night. During the night As-see-nee-wee came to the door and asked Gravenrod to let him in, 163

which he did. He was about sober. He came to my bed and said if I would let him have a knife, he would fix the old man so he would never trouble us again; if I would do so he would give me a big beaver skin, then worth about $dollar; 15. I said, "No, ain't you ashamed of yourself, you coward, To take the life of that good old man while asleep. " He shook my hand and said. "You are right; let me out and I will go home." In the morning they all met friendly, and soon left for their several homes. I have often thought how we barely escaped being injured. It was a terrible fight, bloodless, however. The winter passed without any more excitement.

More Trouble in Spring

One pleasant day in the spring, while alone, I saw Mr. White Devil coming up from the other trading house apparently a little "set up," and I thought he would probably give me a call. I had not seen him all winter. I had kept a good hickory cane, about an inch in diameter, in the store in case of necessity, which I took in hand. White Devil came in, threw off his pack of traps and fixtures for his spring trapping, seated himself on a stool, looked ugly and about half tight. He raised his head and says, "Mis-shay-way," (my Indian name, meaning Big Elk), with an insolent and defiant hearing, which a half-drunken Indian only can assume, "give me some whisky." I refused. He placed his hand upon the handle of his tomahawk, drew his knife, and repeated the demand more fiercely than at first, 164

and was met by another refusal as defiant as his last demand. He then sprang for me (I standing beside the door) with uplifted tomahawk and knife, aiming a blow at me which, if I had not warded it off, would doubtless have proved fatal. With my hickory cane, and keen eye on his movements, I took him on the side of his head and felled him to the floor, and being about to repeat the blow, the discomfitted hero begged for mercy. Getting up, after recovering from the stunning effects of the blow, I ordered him to leave the store, which he did and sat down in front of it in apparently deep thought, his head in his hands and blood flowing from his nose and mouth. After a little he called me to come to him, and expressed great mortification at the outrage he had attempted, and, to confirm his sincerity, promised that on his return from his trappings, if he had good luck, I should have all his furs except enough to pay his debts at the other store. I told him never to attempt anything again on me, for he would not escape as easily. I had no confidence he would keep his promise, for he had always been a fast friend of the opposition. But he did, faithfully, and became my fast friend, and would stand by my side in case of any trouble with Indians as long as he lived. I got about fifty dollars' trade on his return and all future trade. He was a desperate fellow, had killed several during his time, and all the Indians stood in fear of him. He was finally killed. He and another hard case sat down opposite each other with a bottle of whisky between them, and commenced talking over their exploits, which was the best man, etc., exchanging drinks, until they drew their knives and commenced striking for each other's hearts, 165

and White Devil was killed, and the other nearly so. White Devil is the same man who I have said broke up and took possession of the store the winter before I went in charge. This winter settled the question of quietly holding the Forks trading post during remaining years of trade.

New trading posts or stores were established.

During this winter's trade of mine at this post, my wife and daughter were with my father, on the old homestead, at Silver Lake. We established stores at River Au Sable, with a clerk and two men; one on Cass river, clerk and two men; one at Sebewaing, clerk and two men. We also commissioned several Indian women with goods to trade for us. Many were very good traders and collected many furs, and were usually very trusty and would render just account for every dollar.

My brother and I owned a small sloop of about thirty tons burden, called the "Savage," which plied constantly between Saginaw and Detroit, and many a time she was looked for with much anxiety, as often not a barrel of flour could be gathered in the valley. One spring, cranberries were very high in Detroit and Buffalo, and that spring there were any quantity on the Shiawassee low lands. We told the Indians we would buy all they would bring us. They went to picking, and we took the "Savage" and filled her full in bulk, after filling all our barrels and boxes. I think we had one thousand five hundred or two thousand bushels. She left for Detroit. I went overland. Mr. Abbott told me there was a man from Buffalo buying all the cranberries he could. We sold him the entire cargo, delivering by the "Savage," at Buffalo, at two dollars and fifty cents per bushel. 166

We bought about one hundred bushels of other traders at eight shillings per bushel. We thought this a very good little operation.

There was in the Saginaw Valley a legend of Sauk spirits haunting the valley.

It has been mentioned that the ancient Chippewas imagined the country which they had wrested from the conquered Sauks, to be haunted by the spirits of those whom they had slain and that it was only after the lapse of years that their terrors were allayed sufficiently to permit them to occupy the "haunted hunting grounds.

But the superstition still remained, and in fact, it was never entirely dispelled. Long after the Saginaw Valley was studded with white settlements, the simple Indians still believed that mysterious Sauks were lingering in their forests and along the margins of their streams. for purposes of vengeance; that "Manesons,"; or bad spirits in the form of Sauk warriors, were hovering around their villages and camps and the flank of their hunting grounds, preventing them from being successful in the chase and bringing ill- fortune and discomfort in a hundred ways. So great was their dread that when (as was frequently the case) they became possessed with the idea that the "Manesous" were in their immediate vicinity, they would fly as if for their lives, abandoning everything, wigwams, fish, game and all their camp equipage , and no amount of ridicule from the whites could convince them of their folly or induce them to stay and face the imaginary danger. Some of the Indian bands whose country joined that of the Saginaws, played upon their weak superstition and derived profit from it by lurking around their villages or camps,

167

frightening them into flight and then appropriating the property which they had abandoned.

Dried Sturgeon an Indian Delicacy

There was a time every spring when the Indians from Saginaw and the interior would congregate in large parties for the purpose of putting up dried sturgeon, which made a very delicate dish when properly cooked, and was much used in those days by the first families of Detroit. We used to purchase considerable of it for our use. The Indians would select the best, flay them, hang them across poles in rows, about four feet from the ground and two feet apart, then a gentle smoke was kept under them until they were perfectly dry, then packed up in bales of perhaps fifty pounds each. Where they accomplished this was on the Point Au Gres (as it was then called). At a certain time every spring the sturgeon would come upon this point, which was very shallow a long distance out, and in the warm sun would work themselves to the shore until they would lie and roll like cord wood, perfectly helpless, and here the Indians would go among them and select the best. I have been on the point at these times and seen the performances. It was great sport. A little Indian will wade in to about a foot of water, find a big sturgeon (some are very large) , strike a small tomahawk in his nose, straddle him; the sturgeon will carry him through the water at quite a speed, the little fellow steering by the handle of his tomahawk, not letting him go to deep water, and when he feels tired of the sport he runs his fancy nag ashore. When their sturgeon was dry and often put up in bales for summer use, then poor, lazy, worthless Indians from a distance, having an eye to supplying themselves with provisions which they never labored to obtain, would commence, in different ways, to excite their fears that the "Manesous" 168

were about their camps, until at last they would take to their canoes and flee, often leaving almost everything they possessed. Then the "Manesous" (the thieving Indians from the bands who had cunningly brought about the stampede for the sake of plunder) would rob the camps of what they wanted, and escape to their homes with, perhaps their summer supplies Of fish, and often of sugar and dried venison. I have met them fleeing as above; sometimes twenty or more canoes; have stopped them and tried to induce them to return, and we would go with them, as we were going by their camps); but no, it was the "Manesous." they said, and nothing could convince them differently, and away they would go, frightened nearly to death. I have visited their camps at such times, gathered up their effects that were left, and secured them in some one camp from destruction by wild animals. After a while they would return and save what was left. During these times they were perfectly miserable, actually afraid of their own shadows. It was nor alone on their annual fishing expeditions to the lake that these things occurred; similar scenes were enacted by their hunting parties in the forests of the Shiawassee and Flint. , and at their summer camps, the beautiful inland lakes of their southern border. I have had them come from places miles distant, bringing their rifles to me, asking me to examine and re-sight them, declaring that the sights had been removed (and in most cases they had, but by themselves in their fright). I always did, when applied to, resight and try them until they would shoot correctly, and then they would go away cheerfully.

169

I would tell them that they must keep their rifles where the "Manesous" could not find them.

At other times, having a little bad luck hunting or trapping, they became excited and would say that the game had been over and in their traps, and that they could nor catch: anything. Have known them to go so far as to insist that a beaver or an otter had been in their, traps and gotten out; that their traps were bewitched or spell-bound, and their rifles charmed by the "Manesous" so that they could not catch or kill anything. Then they gave a great feast, and the medicine man or conjurer, through his wise and dark performances, removed the charm. , and all was well, and traps and rifles did their duty again. These things have been handed down for generations, and so through all the domains of the Saginaws their lives were made miserable by their superstitious fears; and they expiated the crimes committed by their ancestors against the unfortunate Sauks.

Strange Incidents Part of Indian Trade.

The Indian trade was attended with many strange incidents. Where there was opposition each party was on the lookout to get the advantage of his opponent in starting on expeditions for trade unknown to him, or, wherein it was thought they could not follow on, to get by the opposition's traveling posts so they would not know it. I started one bright, cold winter morning, about sunrise, for the bay and lake shore, with one man. We had an old style French cutter, with high back, loaded full of goods and provisions for the trade; the ice was fine, and, with skates on we shoved the sleigh before us. We were going with great speed down the river, 170

when, about in front of where East Saginaw now stands, we found ourselves on new ice formed the night before, over an air hole. We left the cutter to save ourselves, on strong ice, when our cutter dropped into the river. Our load consisted of corn, one two bushel bag of flour, a large bundle of dry goods, silver ornaments, etc., for Indian trade, a bundle of traps, hatchets, ice chisels, etc. We soon worked our load up to the strong ice and got all out, except the traps, etc., which went to the bottom. Our goods, being on top of the load with our blankets and provisions, were not wet. The corn and flour were pretty wet, and ourselves very wet. The question was should we return (being only about a mile from home) or load up and go ahead? If we returned the opposition would take our place, and laugh at us, and get the trade we expected to get. We decided to go ahead. The ice being fine for skating we were not long going to the mouth of the river, and, running along the bay a few miles beyond O-kaw-kaw-ning (now called Kawkawlin) river, we drew up under a sand bank and evergreens where the sun came down warm. We made a good fire, dried ourselves, took a lunch and started on. Reaching an Indian camp, where we had a squaw trader, we left part of our corn and flour for her trade and what goods she wanted, and left and camped at the River Au Gres, making our day's run some fifty miles or more.

Next day we arrived at the River Au Sable, where we had a trading post. We had sold our corn and flour before we reached the River Au Gres, where we camped the first night. The cotton bag with the flour had wet in, and considerable flour stuck to it. I requested the squaw to dry it and keep it until my return. 171

While at the Sable a heavy wind broke the ice up, in the bay and lake, making it difficult to get back, leaving to keep along the shore, we left our cutter, and with packs on our backs, made our way slowly homeward. When we got back to where we left our flour bag we had about used up all our provisions, always depending much upon the Indians; but, the ice being gone, we found them very destitute, in some cases almost starving, as the lake Indians depended on fish for their living, going out a great distance to fish through the ice, often getting camped down for the night by a fire. The young men came in from hunting, but had killed nothing and they had nothing to eat. I asked the squaw if she had cleaned the flour off the bag that stuck to it, being wet. I supposed she had, she said she had not, thinking we might want it on our return she brought it forward, and it being heavy I told her to scrape the flour off and cook it up for our suppers. She was more than pleased to do so. I told her to cook it the way she could make the most of it. She made a large kettle full of Per-quish-a-gan-nor-bo, flour mush made about like our paste. , only thin, so you eat it with a spoon. I asked her then to give it out to all her family. She gave us a good pan full, which made us a good supper. This night was very cold and the following morning extremely so. I supposed our paste was all gone, but no, this good woman had kept a pan full for our breakfast, which she gave us hot and good. As we were about to leave and bid them good-bye the old father of the large family who laid in one side of the wigwam almost helpless, fumbled over his bags near him; he took out a dried fish, about the size of a medium whitefish, and addressed me with. 172

"My son, this is a very cold morning, you have a very cold trip, you will find it very cold traveling on the ice on the other side of the point, you have nothing to eat and you will find the Indians on your route very poor and hungry, take this fish. It's the only thing we have left; I have kept it in case of necessity; this cold spell will make ice so my sons can go out and catch more; you will need it more than I. " I thanked him and said "no." and handed it back to him, he would not take it but insisted I should do so. I cut the fish in halves and handed him a half, and told him I could not take it all from him; he accepted the half, and we shook hands and departed.

We soon crossed the point and found it as the old man said, severely cold and the ice slippery, obliging us to keep nearer the shore on the old ice and snow. We traveled until in the afternoon, it was so cold we could not stand it, and, seeing a smoke in the woods, we concluded to make for it, And take quarters for the night-. We found the women and children all out digging in about eight or ten inches of snow for acorns, which was all they had to eat. These they boiled and made a kind of mush, which was not very bad. We took quarters for the night with them, for it was a long distance before we should find another camp.

About dusk one or two hunters came in with a large raccoon, and there was much rejoicing all around. They soon had him dressed and in the kettle, and, when cooked, the lady of the house kindly presented us with one shoulder of Mr. 'Coon, in a clean wooden dish, which was really more than our proportion, and, 173

with our half fish, we made our supper. It was awful cold; they kept fire all night, still we could sleep but very little. We started in the morning, without breakfast, traveled all day and until after dark, when I became about tired out, and told my man we must go in shore and camp, for I could not go much further. He thought the same. He said we must be near the Indian camp, where we left corn and flour on our way out, and just at that moment he said, "I smell smoke." and he gave an Indian whoop, and a dog answered. This was a cheering sound, so we rushed in toward shore, and soon arrived at the camp, where lay beside the camp a dozen or more fine, large, fresh trout the old man had just brought in from the bay. Oh, how good they did look! We never saw a more gratifying sight than when the woman and her two daughters met us at the door and welcomed us in (they were our trading women I spoke of). They had a nice, clean, warm camp. They soon laid down some mats and made a place for us. The old man said, "You must be tired and hungry." We replied, "Yes." I said, "I am almost dead." We laid down and the women took off our moccasins and leggings, which were frozen on our feet. They were cleaned off and hung in the smoke for morning use. The girls pounded some corn, and soon a kettle of hominy was cooking, with a kettle of those beautiful trout, and a cake of bread baked in the ashes. "You bet" we had a feast and plenty kept warm for breakfast. Never could any one be more kindly treated and cared for. We were now a good hard day's walk from home. I was not used to such marches and it was very hard for me. 174

My man could stand it better, being an old traveler for years and used to it. The next morning we started for home, both with pretty heavy packs on our backs. We soon entered the mouth of the Saginaw River, where we found plenty of snow. We arrived home about sundown and all were glad to see us.

-- New Year's Day Dinner and Recall Good Times.

This was New Year's day and Mrs. Williams had gotten up a New Year's dinner for all, my brother, his wife, and the men, expecting me home. After washing, changing clothes, and a general cleaning up, we sat down to a splendid table and happy home and happy New Year. We should not have had as hard a trip but for the ice breaking up. I always had pleasant trips every spring in a birch canoe, going as far as Thunder Bay (where I suppose Alpena is now situated), gathering furs along the coast and bringing home the store and men from Au Sable. They also had a large bark canoe and we usually had them both loaded, their capacity being two tons each. Often we could only make the river and run up as far as where Bay City now is, where we would make our camp on an old Indian camping ground, not being able to run the river in the night.

-- Indian Camp Stories.

The Indians are peculiar for telling stories, and delight in listening to others from the traders. They will lie, smoke and tell stories, which are very long, half the night. When we get camped down with them for the night, a chief, perhaps, or the head of a family, will say, "Well, come, tell a story," as they call it, art-soo-kay. They usually begin and make it mostly as they go on. 175

One I heard told, was as follows: He commenced to explain how the beaver came by his large, fiat tail, and the muskrat by his round one. He said: "Originally, the beaver had the round tail and the muskrat the flat one. The beaver was at work, building his dam across a small stream, for the purpose of forming a small pond to live in. After cutting his timber and brush, floating and placing it in his dam, and getting it ready for sand and gravel, he could not contrive how he should transport his sand and gravel, to make his dam water tight. While in this state of mind, a muskrat came along, with his broad, flat tail. examining the beaver's works. lie inquired how he would get his sand and gravel for his dam. Beaver said he had been thinking it over, and thought perhaps they had better exchange tails for a time, or until Mr. Beaver could finish his dam. Muskrat having no particular use for his flat tail, consented to accommodate his friend beaver, and they exchanged. Beaver went on and carted sand and gravel on his flat tail and finished his dam. Then muskrat wanted to trade back, but beaver, finding it just what he required for his work, objected to changing back, and beaver being a large, stout fellow and muskrat a small one, the latter stood no chance to contend with beaver, and so they have always remained to the present time." This story relates to many facts of the beaver's life which my friends are acquainted with. Their working in past years--remains of their dams--are to be seen at this day in very many places in our State, showing their wonderful ingenuity. When they are at work, building their dams, they keep an old, experienced beaver as sentinel on watch, and upon the appearance of anyone, or hearing any strange noise, he will strike his tail upon the water in such a manner as to give a loud sound

, upon which signal all disappear in an instant 176

and remain until the watchman, by another signal, notifies them all is right again, and they go to work.

A Native Person will discover in a pond of stream with working beavers. To take one they would have a good opportunity. Nonetheless they never fire a gun upon the beavers. They fear that the sound will break up their ventures. The Indian prefers to trap them in a quiet way. ****************

The Indian who first discovers their dams building claims the site as his own possessions. He then preserves them from year to year They only catch a few each year. He only catches as many as required to pay his obligations. No other Indian presumes to set his traps without the owner's consent. Somehow they know if an intruder has trapped their game without agreement.

They soon find out through traders or otherwise who was the thieving. The offended party will demand pay for what they stole. Or they otherwise find a satisfactorily understanding. In this way the beaver’s ground was stayed under the holder’s control.

There was another story often told. The animals called a convention to meet at a certain time and place. Their intent was to consult upon grave matters for their mutual benefit. After being called to order a chairman chosen and many big talks were made in great confusion. The turtle rose to make a few remarks in answer to what had been said by some of the members of the convention. When he was called to order by the skunk and others. The turtle became displeased and in disgusts withdrew from the convention. Upon leaving the turtle was followed by Mr. Skunk. 177

Turtle being followed closely and much annoyed by his pursuer he ran up a tree. He got out of the way of the skunk. Soon the convention broke up. The turtle came down and went home.

You already have the Ne-war-go affair.

What there is of Indian cures.

The old chief speaker O-Gee-Maw-Ke-Ke-To, was the head chief and business manager of the Saginaw Indians. He was stabbed across the body so the lower part of his liver came out about an inch. The conjurer or Indian doctor said he must die unless a piece of his liver was cut off and cooked and eaten by him. , which was done and he was cured and lived many years.

Another fine man and splendid hunter, at one of their feasts (on the ground where East Saginaw stands), became intoxicated as well as the rest. He rolled against the fire and being unconscious one side of him was literally cooked. ; the flesh came off his side, leaving his ribs bare , and his thigh and arm to the bone. No one supposed he could live but a short time but they went to work and cured him. He was able to hunt and carry a deer on his back. They caused the flesh to grow over all the bones perfectly. He lay on his back six months before he was able to get up and about.

I often visited him, and the whites rendered all the assistance and little necessities they could for his comfort. I suppose our doctors would call that patent-medicine treatment. It was done without the drugs of the present day. Their medicines were all taken from the woods and the ground. 178

It was perfectly wonderful to see the cures they would perform. Another one was the case of a young married man, whom I knew very well. , living near us, at Green Point. He was in the woods, a short distance from his camp. He cut down a tree for a coon, in falling it, somehow caught his foot as it fell, so fast that he could not extricate himself. Night coming on, he unjointed his ankle and crawled home. He was cured and lived to good old age, and was an excellent trapper,-- going in his canoe.

Spring Trip to Forks Store

I went one spring with a canoe loaded, and three Indians, with supplies for our store at the Forks. The water was very high, flooding the settlers on the river bottoms. Mr. Whitney was one flooded out. He was at Saginaw when I left, and wished me to look into his house and see how things were. Mrs. Whitney was at a neighbor's, on the opposite side on a high bank. We ran up to the door, opened it, and found the floor afloat, about three feet of water in the house; their dog and cat on the floating floor. We took them in the canoe across the river, to Mrs. Whitney, and went on our journey. At another time a sudden freshet raised the ice, which was a foot thick, from the shores. It being necessary to get supplies to the store at the Forks before the ice broke up, we laid timbers from the shore, on to the ice at Saginaw, got a loaded pony and sleigh on to it, and I went to the Forks, stayed over night, covered up the pony, and fed him in the sleigh. He stood on the ice all night. We took the load off on poles, laid from ice to shore. 179

Next day we loaded with furs and returned to Saginaw, not getting off the ice the entire distance, some thirty miles or more.

-- Small-pox Deadly to Indians.

Small-pox broke out among the Indians and the poor creatures were frightened and fled in all directions; a great many died. Although some of their villages were only a few miles from Saginaw, there never was known one of them to expose a settler on the river and come into town. We had several men who had had the smallpox; they ventured to take supplies to them and the citizens joined and would send a canoe load every day to the nearest families. I went to the Forks in the summer after, in a canoe (this was the only way we traveled). I found two Indian persons partly buried in the sand at the water's edge , where they had crawled down to drink and died there. The settlers turned out, upon being notified, and buried them. Some were found dead in their camps, when their friends had fled and left the sick to die.

-- Appointed Saginaw Postmaster by President Jackson.

I was appointed postmaster at Saginaw by President Jackson and held the office several years, until the spring of 1840. I built the first postoffice with boxes. I was also elected register of deeds and county clerk. I procured the first record books for deeds and also record of mortgages and had them approved by the judges.

-- Fishing for Wall-eye.

In the spring of the year, in high water, the ice being gone, the wall-eyed pike would run up the Saginaw in great numbers.

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, running on to the Shiawassee meadows which were over-flowed for miles, from three to six feet deep. One beautiful warm spring morning, Major William Moseley and myself proposed to go up the Shiawassee River about four miles and have a little sport, spearing in the evening by torch-light. I took a large canoe, one man, our lunch basket, blankets, etc., expecting to stay overnight. Arriving at the Indian camps the water for miles was like a mirror in the hot sun. We went out a short time and found the water alive with fish. We speared a good many with much sport. The Indians proposed if I would buy the fish they would all go out and spear enough to fill our canoes. I agreed to do so, and in an hour or two they came in alongside my canoe. I would count the fish, taking each Indian's name and number of his fish on a pass book. We loaded our canoe, and I engaged two others, loaded all, and got home before dark, when we set men to work cleaning and packing for market. Next morning, the result of our day's sport was thirty barrels, then worth and sold for five dollars per barrel. These fish were in schools and the water black with them. An Indian stood in the bow with a spear , while one in the stern would hold the canoe still on one of these schools and the spearsman would fill his canoe , often bringing up three and four fish at a time , averaging from three to six and eight pounds each. We used to take a good many with seines in the Saginaw, opposite the city, but it was not a success, there being so much sunken floodwood.

-- First Griss Mill at Owasso.

Daniel S. Ball and Hon. Sanford M. Green built the first grist mill at 0wosso, Shiawassee county. I think they purchased the mill site from my 181

brothers, A. L. and B. O. Williams, of that place. Our sloop "Savage" brought the mill-stones and all the machinery from Detroit to Saginaw, Judge Green and a gang of men, with much hard labor and vexation of spirit, boated it up the Shiawassee, to Owosso. The judge is still well, residing at Bay City, and is judge of that district. These were pioneer days in earnest.

-- Trip to Silver Lake and Pontiac.

In the winter of 1830 I left Saginaw, in a cutter, for my father's at Silver Lake and Pontiac , with Mrs. Williams and daughter, whom I left on a visit until the summer of 1830. Mr. Louis Moran, who carried the Mackinaw and Sault Ste. Marie U. S. Mail from Saginaw to Detroit once a month during the winter months, accompanied us. He had Mrs. Antoine Campau, who was going to Detroit for a visit with her friends until spring.

We took the ice up the Cass River, and on one of the rapids my sleigh broke through, letting the water into cutter enough to wet our clothing, lunch basket, my wife's and daughter's feet and lower part of their dresses, and our robes some. We got out into strong ice, got the water off as well as we could, and I wrapped their feet and clothes up in the dry part of the robes and blankets, and, finding the ice unsafe, we made our way through the woods for the road, and got as far as Pine Run, within about twelve miles of Flint, where we camped for the night on an Indian camping ground. We found part of an Indian camp of barks, which we placed so as to break off the wind, and, with a good fire, we passed the night, Mr. Moran and myself keeping a good fire all night. I dried all I could of our wet effects and had them dry for wife and daughter in the morning, 182

for the rest of our journey, arriving at father's that day. Several times on leaving Saginaw in the spring for Silver Lake, I went with the family up the Flint River, in a canoe, rather than by the road through the woods. At that time of the year, on account of high water, the road was almost impassable. It took two hard days' work to make the journey to Flint, the river being high and very rapid. I had the assistance of two or three Indians to work us up.

-- Viscous Swarms of Mosquitoes.

In closing up Our business every spring, before leaving for Detroit to sell our furs and prepare for the next winter's trade, I had a good deal of writing to do. The mosquitoes were so annoying, I would set a table in the middle Of the store floor , with a kettle of smoke under it, and write until almost blinded. My eyes would get so sore I could scarcely see for some time after , but this was the only way we could write. They were so bad, tire only way in the morning, going to the river for water, when twenty or thirty feet from the river, to shut eyes and mouth, run, dash the pail into the river, fill it, and run almost for life. By eight or nine o'clock P. M., the cattle and horses would come rushing from the woods for the clearing , where we kept large smokes for them— they would be covered black with mosquitoes and blood. We had to enclose our beds, windows, doors, and even the fire-place with millenett, if not they would come down the chimney and fill the room full. I never saw anything like it. As we cleared and made improvements, they fell back, and in a few years they became less troublesome.

Trade Bounty. 183

The first winter after commencing trade, in 1828, we put up five packs of muskrat skins, 500 in a pack, making 2,500, and this was more than the traders had been in the habit of putting up.

The last year of our trade, at the end of twelve years, we put up fifty-six packs of 500 each , making an annual increase up to 28,000 muskrat skins, in those days worth from twenty-five to fifty cents each. All other furs increased in proportion. Martin skins--we only took in the first year about 400 or 500. They increased annually, until we took in from 1,500 to 2,000. They were worth from one to two dollars each. I left Saginaw in the spring of 1840 for Pontiac, where I went into business. Times changed and I did not make it a success.

MOVE TO FLINT.

******************************************** -- Recalling Years as Postmaster at Saginaw.

When I was postmaster at Saginaw the mail was first carried by Joshua Terry in a valise, most of the time on his back; it used to come to Flint in mud wagons, and often through the Grand Blanc woods the passengers would get out and with rails pry the stage wagon out of the mud, rarely arriving at Flint before l0 or 12 P. M., and often we had to sit up all night for it, to distribute and make up the mails for Saginaw to leave early in the morning. It is very different now. The mails from Saginaw to Mackinaw and the Sault Ste. Marie were carried on the backs of half breeds, or on dog sleighs. I have put up ninety pounds of mail matter, leaving out all books and heavy newspapers. A man would carry that weight on his back, besides his snow shoes, blanket, provisions, hatchet and tin cup. Several times I took my man and goods and went with him as far as Thunder Bay collecting furs. I was astonished to see how easily he carried his lead. All his provisions were parched corn pounded fine and 184

Indian sugar, mixed with cold water and drank. He said he could travel farther on that than any other, even pork and bread.

1828

In 1828 at 15 years of age, Edward Pettit is engaging business in the fur trade. In his work he may be called the best. ****

Pettit was employed by the American Fur Company. Into the woods, Pettit takes with him supplies of shot and powder and the blue broadcloth. He takes with him calicos and a customary cup of broth.

He is a dealer with the Indians for maple sugar and pelts of beaver, mink, bear, martin, and otter. Pettit is the clerk of the Gordon and Ephraim Williams of the American Fur Company on the Nottaway[-Sebewaing] River.

At the Short Bend or the place called Skop-ti-qua-nou, the post meets with great deal of activity. The Indians of the Nottaway-Sebewaing or Cass River are very numerous and intelligent. Much time trading is spent on the that Saginaw tributary. Traders who come there have plenteous to eat is often the regular comment. The Traders have ample to do in looking up the Native People. On the Onottoway candied maple sugar is a staple.

On this occasion, the traders have a problem, thought, looking up a local band.

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Furs from the encampments are all bought, so everyone was looking for the O’tawas band. After this group, Pettit also seeks. He follows the ancient streams and creeks. The O’tawas band consists of five to six families. They are gone all winter long and likely have furs in great quantities.

Trader after trader goes out and returns without finding the clan. The head of the camp, Chief O’tawas is an old fellow. One of the chief’s sons has blue eyes indicating an ancestor was Canadian or American. Pettit resolves to obtain Chieff O’twas’ winter haul of furs so his earning may grow. Pettit starts out with provisions for a week on his back and looks for O’tawas. Into the woods he goes looking for the Indian clan and their boss.

With this goods for barter, Pettit heads north of the Cass River for Shebeon Creek. Pettit’s guide is a Native Indian who has but one arm. But, left with his life so to speak. He was left with no more harm. The Native man's people shot him because he killed his wife at Delude River. In gratitude and servitude, he remained a trapper and hunter.

The two of them went off and hiking to Sebewaing. They, then, followed around the bay and then the Tip of the Thumb, They came down to the White Rock clearing. Here they made a bark shanty and camped worrisome.

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In the morning in a drenching rain, with nothing to cheer, and one a loaf of bread remaining, They continued in their searching.

After a tramp of five miles, they were rewarded. They found Otawas and his families preparing to make maple sugar. They had many brass kettles of all sizes that the British gave to make sugar. The site was not only a good site for sugar: it was a good site for fishing. Edward and his friend were almost starving. mmm

Otawas had only moose fat scraps. Edward, however, added his only loaf. For several days, they had bread and tallow scarps. The maple sugar, they also boiled off. Edward purchased from Chief Otawas 500 martin skins at $1 each. When back to the post, he sold them for $2 each.

Only the finest of the furs did Pettit take away. The others were in Detroit on another day. The coarse ones Pettit left for the other traders, Who would journey to Saginaw Bay. Returning to camp, Edwards wages were quadrupled by his employers. They were the Williams brothers.

1845

In 1845, a few German people built an Indian Mission, Near the mouth of the Shebeon Creek. Here the Native People a good like would seek. The Native chief here went by the appellation of Brilliant Rising Sun, Or, Soe-ache-wah-o-sah, Which is to say Wasseias mokaan gisiss.

The Chief had brilliant red hair. His tribe of 300 people saw the coming of the White settlement, 187

Which put many in despair. After acquiring land in 1847, many of the Native People sold their entitlement. In 1856, for a small amount of money their land they sold. Thought a few remained it told.

These did not sell their land until much later, "Green Parrot" and "Middle Lake" were, then, each a grantor, Small pox and took a heavy toll within the tribe. No remedy could be prescribed.

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