ONAA,~a~, G iges, MAcirll 5w 201. gi -'77 7 Am 4 4 1, -4, Q 7 Al Brazil PUBLIC PARK, K(ALAMAZOO, MWIC14. vi, i-~t S?`oi~ -OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. ifth |(llnstratiols anld tioag i raal htlh1 Vjo,^y A --- OF ~- ' ITS 0PlOlMINNElTT 31IEN3 AIND lPIONXE:Et S. PHILADELPHIA: EVERTS & ABBOTT. 1880. INTRODUCTORY, THE county of Kalamazoo, of which we have attempted to furnish a reliable history, notwithstanding its comparatively recent settlement by the white race, is rich in historic material. The fragmentary evidences of occupation by a prehistoric people, scattered here and there among its beautiful oakopenings, furnish materials from which volumes might be written; and the more recent occupation of the red hunter race is prolific of traditionary and written lore. The local writers who have from time to time placed upon record the varied incidents of pioneer life transpiring in the early days; the prominent representatives of the professions, teachers, clergymen, attorneys, and literary men, who have contributed of their knowledge to the general fund, are, each and all, entitled to credit for rescuing from oblivion what, in the coming years, will be invaluable. It matters not that portions of it may be crude and hastily written; it is far better, even in an imperfect state, than no record, and coming generations will appreciate and preserve every item as an heir-loom to be handed down to posterity. It has been our task to collect, to collate, to arrange, correct, and supplement this valuable material, of which Kalamazoo County possesses an unusual share, and present it, systematized in the best possible manner, for preservation and reference, and we have given our best endeavors to the work. We have searched to the bottom records, both public and private, and determined many matters about which the best citizens differed materially. The titles to lands, early mills, village plats; the earliest births, deaths, and marriages, and a thousand and one matters about which there has been much disagreement, we have carefully examined and put into permanent shape for preservation. Byron says, ' Critics all are ready made," and we expect a generous share of their feathered weapons, from quivers always full, but we hope those whose opinions are valuable, will at least read and carefully verify, and not be hasty to condemn. We have trodden lightly, though eagerly, above the ruins of an unknown race, and given such descriptions of them as seemed necessary. We have endeavored to furnish a readable chapter upon the physical features of the State and County, including a carefully prepared geological article; we have given a synopsis of early discoveries by the French in the opening years of the seventeenth century, and outlined their adventures in and around the peninsulas of Michigan, as discoverers, missionaries, traders, and coureurs des bois. We have gathered up what traces have been preserved of the early trading-posts and missions in this immediate vicinity, and woven into the web of our history the traditions and fragmentary accounts of the various Indian nations which from time to time inhabited this portion of the lower peninsula. We have looked in upon the pioneer settlers who first adventured into the Western wilderness to make permanent homes for their wives and little ones, and have traveled with them along the road of progress and improvement. We have endeavored to trace the planting of early schools and churches, 3 4 4INTRODUCTORY. and the various institutions and callings which are accompaniments of an advancing civilization, and have tried to chronicle all important facts concerning those who have from time to time " Gone at their country's call," to do valiant battle when the nation was in peril, whether upon the war-trail of the savage, the battle-line of the descendants of the Montezumas, or the smoke-wreathed and blood-stained fields of the great Rebellion. Our constant aim has been to collect and utilize everything of importance connected with the history of the region comprising the rich county of Kalamazoo, and our endeavors have everywhere been met with that spirit of intelligence and courtesy which is characteristic of a cultivated people. Excellent chapters have been contributed by local writers,-citizens of the county: An able article upon the early bar and the jurisprudence of the county, by Hon. Hezekiah G. Wells; a valuable paper upon the medical profession, by Foster Pratt, M.D., and an additional article upon the Masonic fraternity from the same pen; a characteristic and well-written history of Comstock township, from the fertile brain of A. D. P. Van Buren, Esq.; a carefully prepared history of Climax township, by Francis Hodgman, Esq.; and a full and reliable history of the Old Literary Institute, the old Branch of the State University, and the Baptist College, prepared by Rev. Drs. Stone and Brooks. We have also drawn largely from the writings of Henry Little, Hon. E. Lakin Brown, Volney Hascall, Dr. Foster Pratt, Henry Bishop, T. S. At Lee, Cyrus Lovell, George Torrey, and many others, well known for their contributions to the current history of the county and region. The early files of the Michigan Statesman and of the Kalamazoo Gazette, kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. Henry Gilbert and Mrs. Volney Hascall, have been a source of much, and very reliable, information, and we have been freely accommodated at the public-school library, and by numerous individuals throughout the county. It is our firm conviction that, while we would not claim any remarkable scholarship for our work, we have, with the help of the best citizens, compiled an exhaustive and valuable history of the county, and we believe that time will do us ample justice. We ask a careful perusal, and comparison with records, by those competent to judge of its merits, and expect such a verdict as the just discrimination of a cultivated community may be pleased to give. In collecting and compiling this volume we have been placed under many obligations to scores of individuals in all parts of the county, many of whose names will be found with acknowledgments at the close of the history of townships. In gathering and preparing materials for the general chapters, we would gratefully acknowledge favors from Hon. H. G. Wells, Col. F. W. Curtenius, Mr. A. D. P. Van Buren (to whom we are particularly indebted), the editors of the Telegraph and Gazette, of Kalamazoo; the Grange Visitor and the Dispatch and News, of Schoolcraft; Gen. Dwight May, Hon. Charles S. May, Hon. N. A. Balch, Judge George M. Buck, Lucius B. Kendall, Esq., Hon. John W. Breese, James M. Davis, Esq., William W. Peck, Esq., William Shakespeare, Esq., Amos D. Allen, Esq., Francis Little, Esq., the township and village officers, Enos T. Lovell, Esq., Capt. Henry T. Smith, Theron F. Giddings, Esq., Gen. Charles E. Smith, Jonathan Parsons, Esq., William G. Pattison, Esq., M. B. Miller, D. 0. Roberts, Luther H. Trask, Esq., T. S. Cobb, Esq., Israel Kellogg, Esq., Rodney Seymour, Moses Kingsley, Dr. E. M. Van Deusen, Dr. George C. Palmer, of the Insane Asylum, Caleb Sweetland, Esq., clergymen and church officers of all denominations, the village school board, Francis Dennison, Esq., Hon. E. 0. Humphreys, Mrs. Volney Hascall, Mrs. St. John, officers of the Ladies' Library Association, bankers, merchants, and manufacturers generally, and all and each whose names we may have omitted. SAMUEL W. DURANT. KALAMAZOO, January, 1880. CON1*TT ENl~T S. HISTOE?4IOA HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. The Colony under French Rule. CHAPTER PAGE I.-Early Discoveries...9 II.-The Franciscans and the Jesuits 12 III.-Indian Nations... 15 IV.-La Salle...17 V.-La Salle-(Continued)... 24 VI.-La Salle-(Continued)... 28 VII.-Michilimnackinac... 32 The Colony under English Rule. VIJII-Surrender of Detroit to Capt. Rogers. 35 The Colony under the Republic. IX.-Territorial...44 X.-State Organization...52 XI.-Physical Features...56 XII.-Prehistoric...65 XIII.-The Pottawattomie Indians... 70 XIV.-Occupation by the Whites... 81 XV.-Civil Organization of the County 99 XVI.-The Courts...101 XVII.-The County Legislature... 108 XVIII.-County Civil List...113 XIX.-The Professions...114 XX.-County Societies...129 XXI. —Educational...139 CHAPTER PA&GE XXII.-Literary.151 XXIII.-Michigan Asylum for the Insane 16 XXIV.-Internal Improvements...163 XXV.-Statistical...172 XXVI.-Military...174 HISTORY OF VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS. Village of Kalamazoo.. 208 Township of Kalamazoo.. 287 CC Alamo.292 cc Brady.302 cc Charleston.313 " Climax.324 " Comstock.351 Cooper.395 Oshtemo.407 " Pavilion.417 Portage.427 " Prairie Ronde.435 " Richland.457 " Ross.486 Schoolcraft.502 " Texas.536 " Wakeshma.544 APPENDIX AND ~ERRATA.552 I:B I 0 a I:Rj -&:P T-1 I C.A- T-j I PAGE Nathan M. Thomas, M.D... 121 H-on. H1. G. Wells between 216, 217 Col. Delos Phillips.. facing 262 Hlon. Nathaniel A. Balch..275 Hon. Frederick W. Curtenius..278 Gen. Dwight May..278 Col. Benjamin F. Orcutt..280 Volney Hascall..282 Gen. Isaac Moff~att..283 Hiram Arnold..283 George Torrey..284 Orrin N. Giddings..284 Alexander J. Sheldon... 285 Israel Kellogg..285 Maj. Abraham Edwards..285 Rev. Leonard Slater..286 Thomas W. Barnard.. facing 287 S. M. Nichols between 290, 291 John Gibbs." 290, 291 Thomas G. Carpenter... 301 Hugh McCall..301 William B. Clement between 304, 305 John W. Darling..309 Jacob Kimble..310 Charles Kimble..310 H. T. Clement. Lewis C. Kimble. Samuel Shearer. Jacob Lemon William Harrison William G. Kirby John W. Kirby. J. N. Le Fevre. Daniel Lawrence Isaac Pierce Judge Caleb Eldred Thomas Eldred. Isaac Davis Parvis C. Pearce Nehemiah Elwell Holland Gilson. Judge John Sleeper. E. M. Clapp Jesse Earl. Anson D. P. Van But-en. Col. William R. Shafter. Frank P. Muhlenberg. Jesse R. Havens. Herman Blanchard Hon. John Walker. PAGE.~310 311.~311 312 facing 314 " 323.~323 facing 333 "9 336 " 344.~345.~347.~348.~349.~349.~350 facing 351 it 389 376.~391.~393 395.~395 facing 402 403 I 6 CONTENTS. - --- BI 0 C3- IR OG.? P I 0CAL. j PAGE Luther Chamberlain. 403 Alfred Nevins A. H. Stoddard........ 404 Dr. Uriah Upjohn William S. Delano..405 Horace M. Peck. James McNab..406 Deacon Samuel Brown William Skinner....... 406 C. P. Hale. Henry Mosher........ 407 John F. Gilkey. Neil Hindes.facing 412 Deacon Simeon Mills. Benjamin Drake..414 Rev. Mason Knappen Ansel and Orrin Snow..415 Edwin Mason Isaac Gibbs........ 415 Amasa S. Parker John J. Lusk........ 416 Rev. William Daubney Isaac L. Root........ 416 Benjamin F. Doolittle Edward Denniston.between 422, 423 William J. Humphrey Edward Chase. 422, 423 Pliny Hale Elijah L. Smith....... 423 Hon. Simpson Howland David L. Hamilton..425 William Baker. Chauncey A. Beckwith..... 425 Anson Wooding. Martin McKain...425 Stephen Vickery Henry Barnum....... 426 John Fraser Ferdinand V. Collins... 426 Peter Kniss John Batey.facing 426 Godfrey Knight...... John F. Oliver..433 Joseph Frakes James N. Cooley......433 S. F. Brown William Milham.....433 Thaddeus Smith. Harvey S. Booth..433 Evert B. Dyckman Judge Bazel Harrison. 436 William Bair Abram I. Shaver.... facing 442 William H. Fox. Preston J. McCreary...." 444 James Smith, Jr. Abner Mack." 446 Jerome T. Cobb. P. F. Alexander..... 450 Albert B. Judson William Duncan....... 452 Jacob McLin Delamore Duncan..453 Owen P. Morton Col. Abiel Fellows..454 Lewis Johnson. George Fletcher...455 William Haynes. Jesse M. Crose.......456 Dr. David Haines Barna L. Brigham.facing 461 Sylvester Fredenburg Hon. Eli R. Miller...." 466 Capt. Albert A. Holcomb. Morgan Curtis...... 476 Lieut. Stephen P. Marsh. Hon. Gilbert E. Read..... 477 Valentine Cornwall. Rev. Milton Bradley.. 478 PAGE. 478. 479 481 482 482 facing 482 483 483 483 484 484 485 485 facing 488 " 492 " 496 " 498 " 504 " 506 " 508 " 510 " 512 " 514 " 516 " 518 " 524 " 526 532 534 536 facing 536 543 543 544 550 551 551 552 552 ILI T T, -A- TI2IT S. I PAGE Views in the Public Park, Kalamazoo (frontispiece) facing title. Map of Kalamazoo County.facing 56 Geological Map of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan " 59 Geological Diagram.......60 Ancient Garden-Beds in Kalamazoo County. facing 69 Rix Robinson's Trading-House at Kalamazoo, 1824. 81 Map showing First Subdivision of the County in 1830.. 100 Portrait of Nathan M. Thomas, M.D. 121 Fac-Simile of First Engine and Coach used in Michigan.. 170 KALAMAZOO. Views of Kalamazoo College, Michigan Female Seminary, and Woodward Avenue School Building. facing 208 Portrait of Hon. H. G. Wells.... between 216, 217 Residence of Hon. H. G. Wells.... " 216, 217 " Col. F. W. Curtenius... facing 224 " Frederick Bush... " 232 Mary A. Trowbridge.... " 238 Ladies' Library Building...... 243 Portrait of Col. Delos Phillips.. " 262 " Hon. Nathaniel A. Balch... " 275 " Gen. Dwight May... 279 "f Col. Benjamin F. Orcutt... 281 " Volney Haseall (steel).... facing 282 PAGE Portrait of Gen. Isaac Moffatt..283 Residence of Hiram Arnold (with portraits).. facing 284 Portraits of Thos. W. Barnard and Wife... " 287 Residence of John Milham (double page).. between 288, 289 Portraits of S. M. Nichols and Wife.. " 290, 291 "t John Gibbs and Wife... " 290, 291 ALAMO. Residence of Hugh McCall..facing 292 " John W. James... " 296 Portraits of Thomas G. Carpenter and Wife.. 301 BRADY. Residence of Jacob Lemon (with portraits). facing 302 "t H. T. Clement (with portraits) between 304, 305 Portraits of W. B. Clement and Wife " 304, 305 " John W. Darling and Wife facing 309 Portrait of Lewis C. Kimble..... " 309 " Samuel Shearer..... 309 CHARLESTON. Residence of John W. Kirby.facing 313 Portrait of William Harrison..... " 314 " William G. Kirby..... " 323 I CONTENTS. 7 IL T T F?7AT T T ir IA, &7 I O3 ~W — S. CLIMAX. PAGE Residence of P. C. Pearce (with portraits).. facing 324 " T. B. Eldred (with portraits) double page bet. 326, 327 Portraits of J. N. Le Fevre and Wife... facing 333 " Daniel Lawrence and Wife.. " 336 Portrait of Isaac Pierce...... 344 " Holland Gilson.. " 349 Portraits of N. Elwell and Wife.... " 349 COMSTOCK. Portrait of George Fletcher " Jesse M. Crose. PAGE. 455. 456 Portrait of Judge John Sleeper. Portraits of E. M. Clapp and Wife " Jesse Earl and Wife Portrait of A. D. P. Van Buren " Col. William R. Shafter. " Jesse R. Havens COOPER. facing 351 " 369 " 376.392.394..395 RICHLAND. Views in Richland Centre. Portrait of Carlos Barnes. " Barna L. Brigha. Residence of William J. Humphrey Portrait of Joseph Miller. Residence of S. T. Brown (with portraits) " C. P. Hale Portrait of Morgan Curtis. " Rev. M. Bradley " Leonard Slater " Gilbert E. Read " Alfred Nevins " Dr. Uriah Upjohn Residence of H. M. Peck (with portraits). Portrait of John F. Gilkey " Rev. M. Knappen " A. S. Parker " Edwin Mason. " Deacon Simeon Mills " Rev. William Daubney Portraits of Benj. F. Doolittle and Wife ROSS. Residence of Anson Wooding Portraits of Pliny Hale and Wife " Hon. S. Howland and Wife " William Baker and Wife " Anson Wooding and Wife Residence of A. H. Stoddard.. facing 395 " the late Hon. John Walker (with portraits) " 396 " William Skinner (with portraits). between 398, 399 " Mrs. William Skinner (with portrait) " 398, 399 facing 457. 458 facing 461 " 464 " 466 " 469 " 472 " 476 " 477 " 477 " 477 " 477.479 facing 481 " 482 " 483 " 483 " 483 " 483 484. 485 facing 486 " 488 " 492 " 496 " 498 Portraits of Herman Blanchard and Wife. " Luther Chamberlain and Wife Residence of William S. Delano (with portraits) '" James McNab t" Benjamin Drake (with portraits) OSHTEMO. Residence of Orrin Snow " J.J. Lusk Portraits of Neil Hindes and Wife Residence of Mrs. Phebe Gibbs (with portraits) " Isaac L. Root PAVILION. Residence of E. L. Smith (with portraits). (" David L. Hamilton (with portraits) " F. V. Collins (with portraits) Portraits of Edward Denniston and Wife " Edward Chase and Wife. Portrait of Chauncey A. Beckwith Portraits of Henry Barnum and Wife " John Batey and Wife PORTAGE. Residence of James N. Cooley. " John F. Oliver (with portraits) " William Milham (double page) " H. S. Booth. Portraits of H. S. Booth and Wife PRAIRIE RONDE. facing 402. 404 facing 405 i" 4)6 "407 facing 408 " 410 c" 412 " 415 " 416 facing 417 " 418 " 420 between 422, 423 " 422, 423. 425. 426 facing 426 SCHOOLCRAFT. Residence of A. B. Judson (with portraits) Portrait of Stephen Vickery " John Fraser. " Peter Kniss. " Godfrey Knight Portraits of Joseph Frakes and Wife Portrait of S. F. Brown. ". Thaddeus Smith " Evert B. Dyckman. View of the Troxel House (with portraits) Portraits of William Bair and Wife " William H. Fox and Wife Portrait of J. T. Cobb. TEXAS. Portraits of Jacob McLin and Wife Residence of 0. P. Morton (with portraits) Portraits of William Haynes and Wife " Lewis Johnson and Wife facing 502 " 504 " 506 " 508 " 510 " 12 " 514 " 516 " 518 520 i" 524 " 526 535 facing 536 " 540 " 543 " 543 facing 427 " 430 between 432, 433 facing 434. 434 Portrait of Judge Bazel Harrison. facing 436 Portraits of Abram I. Shaver and Wife.. " 442 Portrait of Preston J. McCreary.... " 444 Portraits of Abner Mack and Wife.. " 446 " P. F. Alexander and Wife.. " 450 " William, Delamore, and Mrs. P. Duncan " 452 Portrait of Col. Abiel Fellows..... 454 WAKESHMA. Portrait of Dr. David Haines. " Capt. Albert A. Holcomb. " Sylvester Fredenburg " Valentine Cornwall..550. 551. 551. 552 I At v HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. BY SAMUEL W. DURANT. THE COLONY UNDER FRENCH RULE. CHAPTER I. EARLY DISCOVERIES. Cartier —Roberval-Champlain. THE history of no county in the State of Michigan would be complete without some allusion to the early discoveries and settlements of the French in the opening years of the seventeenth century, together with brief notices of the earlier voyages; The earliest knowledge of the St. Lawrence valley and the basin of the great lakes was derived from the explorations of that enterprising people, who also first explored and made permanent settlements in the two peninsulas of Michigan. It seems eminently proper, therefore, that we should give a brief outline of these preliminary operations before considering the later history of the State, and of Kalamazoo County proper. That portion of the continent of Northern America lying in the valley of the St. Lawrence River, and including the entire water-shed of the great lakes, was first visited by French explorers in the years 1534-35.* The wonderful discoveries of Columbus, Vespucius, Cabot and others, in the latter part of the fifteenth century had concentrated the attention of the maritime and commercial nations of Europe upon the " New World" lying in the great western sea. Expeditions were fitted out in the ports of Spain, Portugal, England, France, and Holland, and the borders of the new continent were explored, and colonies planted from Nova Scotia to the mouth of the La Plata, in Southern America. In this race for supremacy the Spanish people monopolized the greater portion, extending from the thirty-second parallel of north latitude to the equator, and including the majority of the West Indian Archipelago. Their occupancy of the peninsula of Florida, however, was fiercely disputed by the French in 1565-68. The Portuguese in some measure divided the southern continent with their ' We do not take into account the somewhat mythical voyages of the Northinen in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The statements concerning them, and the amount of information given, are too meagre for the purposes of this work. 2 Spanish congeners, eventually becoming sole masters of what is now the immense empire of Brazil, whose present able and liberal sovereign boasts the high blood of the ancient house of Braganza. 'he English, at a later date, occupied the country lying north of the Spanish possessions, and extending as far as the peninsula of Nova Scotia,t though the Dutch, Swedes, and Danes occupied for a time the country extending from the Hudson to the Delaware. The French navigators seem to have confined themselves principally to the regions lying around the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and thence naturally extended their discoveries inland along the great river valley. The daring fishermen of Brittany, Normandy, and the Basque provinces of France and Spain had been familiar with the cod-fishing grounds of Newfoundland and the adjacent region from a date certainly as early as 1504, and certain French writers claim that one Cousin, of Dieppe, had explored the American coast in 1488; but the first authenticated voyage of exploration was made by John Verrazzano, a Florentine adventurer and navigator, under the patronage of Francis I. of France, in 1524. Verrazzano first saw land on the coast of North Carolina, in March of that year, which he reported as " a newe land, never before seen of any man, either ancient or moderne," notwithstanding the fact that fires were blazing along the strand, and a great number of the natives crowded to the water's edge to greet the adventurers. From thence he sailed along the coast, visiting the bay of New York, and examining the country now known as New England, and as far as the great island of Newfoundland, leaving the continent in latitude fifty north. His discoveries created great interest in Europe, and the various courts vied with each other in fitting out expeditions for exploration. According to some writers Verrazzano entered the service of Henry VIII. of England, and was killed by savages during a subsequent voyage. Succeeding Verrazzano's voyage, the French king, in consequence of wars and captivity, no doubt, seems to have lost his enthusiasm for discovery; but among his favorites was one Philippe de Brison-Chabot, who sought out the t This peninsula was at first occupied by the French, under the name of Acadia. They were dispossessed by the English, and the inhabitants of the colony transported. 9 10 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. famous Breton navigator, Jacques Cartier, a native of the seaport of St. Malo, born in 1494, whom he fitted out and sent on a voyage of discovery.. Cartier sailed from his native town on the 20th of April, 1534, and, steering across the tossing billows of the Atlantic, entered the straits of Belle Isle, examined the Bay des Chaleurs, and sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as the island of Anticosti. This great estuary he supposed to be the opening to a passage leading to the shores of Cathay. But the storms of autumn compelled him to return to France, after a brief reconnoissance of the coasts and islands of the north. In the spring of 1535 a new expedition was prepared, consisting of three small vessels, the largest of one hundred and twenty tons, and placed under the command of Cartier. Accompanied by several gentlemen of noble birth, he sailed from St. Malo on the 19th of May, and after a tempestuous voyage, in which his ships were separated, reached the straits of Belle Isle, where they were once more united. Sailing up the estuary of the noble river, he named it the Bay of St. Lawrence, in honor of his patron saint,-a name which subsequently attached to both the gulf and the river. Entering the river proper, he found its Indian name to be Hochelaga, or the " Great River of Canada." The country lying below Quebec the natives called Saguenay, and that above, Hochelaga. Cartier explored the river as far as the site of Montreal, which derives its modern name from the designation he bestowed upon the mountain in its rear. from whose summit he obtained a most " royal" view of the great valley. He called it " Mont Royal." The promontory now occupied by the city of Quebec and its vast system of fortifications was then the site of an Indian village called Stadacone, where dwelt the king or principal chief of the country, whose name was Donnacona. The great Indian capital of the valley, however, was located on the island of Montreal, and, like the river and country, bore the name of Hochelaga. The country around this point was at that date occupied by the Hluron-Iroquois, a subdivision of the great Algonquin race, who afterwards removed westward to the valley of the Ottawa River and the eastern margin of Lake Huron, whence they were driven by their conquerors, the terrible Iroqugois confederacy of Central New York, about 1649-50. The progenitors of the Five Nations had formerly resided in the vicinity of Montreal, but had emigrated thence to the south of Lake Ontario, probably about the commencement of the sixteenth century. Cartier wintered in the river St. Charles (called also by some writers St. Croix), and in the spring or summer of 1536 returned to France, taking with him the chief Donnacona and a half-score of his companions, whom he had enticed on board his ship. Most of the Indians, including Donnacona, soon after died. No permanent settlement was attempted by this expedition. In 1541 a squadron of five ships was fitted out, and a third time placed under command of Cartier. The prime mover and patron of this enterprise was Jean Frangois la Roque, Sieur de Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, upon whom the king conferred the high-sounding but empty titles of "Lord of Norembega, Viceroy and LieutenantGeneral in Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, New Foundland, Belle Isle, Carpunt, Labrador, the Great Bay, and Baccalaos."* Cartier sailed on the 23d of May in the year last named, leaving Roberval to follow with additional ships, emigrants, and supplies. He reached the St. Lawrence in safety, and began a settlement at a point which he named Cap Rouge, about three French leagues above Quebec, on the northern bank of the river. Two stockade forts were erected, and Cartier named the place " Charlesbourg Royal." Here the colony passed a long and dreary winter, and in the spring, becoming disgusted with their hard fortune, they went on board their ships and sailed for Europe. Cartier encountered Roberval in the harbor of St. John, but neither threats nor persuasions could induce him to return, and he bore away for France. Roberval, who had sailed on the 16th of April, 1542, with three ships and two hundred colonists, from Rochelle, made his way to the abandoned Charlesbourg, where he erected barracks, mills, and store-houses for a permanent settlement; but the project was unsuccessful and the enterprise was soon after abandoned, and from that time to the year 1608 no further attempt was made to found a settlement on the St. Lawrence, except that possibly fur-trading posts were kept up at Tadouissact and a few other points along the lower portion of the river. CHAMPLAIN. Samuel de Champlain was born at the small seaport of Brouage, on the Bay of Biscay, in 1567. He held the rank of captain in the royal navy, and had seen service with the army under St. Luc and Brissac in Brittany, for which he had been pensioned by Henry IV. Subsequently he commanded an exploring ship of the Spanish marine during more than two years in the West Indies, where he acquired a great amount of geographical knowledge, and brought back a curiously illustrated journal of his travels. Returning to the French court, he met Aymor de Chastes, commander of the order of St. John, and Governor of Dieppe, who was organizing a company for the purpose of establishing settlements and missions in America. The gray-haired veteran easily persuaded Champlain to accept a position in the new company, which, by the consent of the king, he agreed to, and in 1603, in company with one Pontgrave, he set sail from Honfleur for the mouth of the St. Lawrence, which river he ascended as far as Montreal. The busy Huron town of Hochelaga had vanished, and in its place were found a few scattering Algonquin families. Champlain returned to France to find his patron, De Chastes, dead, and the Sieur de Monts at the head of the company. From this time to the year 1608 he was engaged along with De Monts, Pontgrave, D'Orville, Beaumont, La Motte, and others, in founding missions and trading-posts * Norembega was an early name for Nova Scotia, Southern New Brunswick, and a portion of the present State of Maine, called also "Arambec." Baccalaos was the Basque name for codfish or the fishing region. t This place was at the mouth of the Saguenay River. EARLY DISCOVERIES. 1i in Acadia, and in exploring the coasts and islands of the Atlantic as far south as Cape Cod, in Massachusetts Bay. In July, 1608, Champlain began the permanent settlement of Quebec, which has since grown into an important seaport and become the capital of a flourishing province.* In 1609 he, with two or three French soldiers and a band of sixty Algonqnli Indians, discovered the lake which bears his name, and explored it as far south as the outlet of Lake George, near which, on the 30th of July, in that year, he fought a battle with the Mohawks, and thereby laid the foundation for that unrelenting enmity which continued for a period of one hundred and fifty years, and was one of the principal causes of the loss of the French possessions in America. In 1611, Champlain founded Montreal by establishing a trading-post on its site, though it was not until 1642 that a permanent settlement was made. Thus he became the founder of two of the principal cities of Canada of the present day. Near the site of Montreal he fought a second fierce battle with the Iroquois in the spring of 1610. In 1613, accompanied by four Frenchmen, he made a journey with canoes up the Ottawa River as far as the great island of Allumette, in the vain effort to find a water route to Hudson's Bay. Forty canoes, loaded with Indians, followed him on his return. In 1615 occurred Champlain's great expedition to the Huron region of Lake Manatouline, or the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, and his arrival at the head of a vast swarm of natives in the country of the Iroquois. An immense concourse of the Western Indians —Hurons, Ojibways, Ottawas, Nipissings, and others-assembled at Montreal in the spring of that year for the purposes of trade. Here Champlain met them, and entered into a treaty offensive and defensive against the Iroquois. At the breaking up of the assembly Champlain returned to Quebec to make preparations for his journey to the Huron country, while the Franciscan friar, Joseph le Caron, and twelve French soldiers accompanied the Indians in their long journey to the western wilderness. Champlain followed shortly after in two canoes, accompanied by Etienne Brule, an interpreter, one other Frenchman, and ten Indians. His route was the same which he had pursued two years before,-up the rapid Ottawa, across the portage to Lake Nipissing, and thence down the French River (the outlet of the lake) to Lake Huron, which he named " Mer Douce," the fresh-water sea of the Iliurons. Coasting for a hundred miles along the eastern shore of the Georgian Bay, he finally landed at the inlet known as Thunder Bay, a little west of the present port of Penetanguishine. Pushing inland in a southeasterly direction, he reached the village of Carhagouha, where he found Le Caron and his companions. Here the friar built a forest altar, and on the 12th of August, 1615, in the presence of Champlain and less than a score of Frenchmen, surrounded by a wondering horde of savages, he celebrated the first mass in the Huron country. * This was the third permanent settlement on the Atlantic coast of North America; St. Augustine, in Florida, settled by the Spaniards, in 1565, and Jamestown, by the English, in Virginia, in 1607, being earlier. On the 17th of August they reached the Huron metropolis, which the savages called Cahaigue, situated in what is the present township of Orilla, about ten miles west of the River Severn, the outlet of Lake Simcoe. It was a palisaded town of about two hundred lodges, and here in the course of a few days assembled the two thousand five hundred warriors who had promised tq co-operate with Champlain against the far-off Iroquois. On the 8th of September the curious army was in motion. Brule, the interpreter, at his own request, was sent with twelve Indians to hasten the co-operation of the five hundred promised Eries, or Carantouans, as Brul6 called. them. The intrepid interpreter was gone three years before he succeeded in escaping from the wilderness and rejoining his countrymen. He had a most remarkable experience among the Eries, and as a prisoner with the Senecas, more marvelous than the wildest imaginings of fiction. He was treacherously murdered by the Hurons, near Penetanguishine, in 1632.t The grand army, if we may so designate a naked crowd of savages, crossed Lake Simcoe, passed the portage to Balsam Lake, and thence followed the zigzag course of the River Trent to its entrance into the Bay of Quinte, and out upon the broad, spreading waters of Lake Ontario, the Outonoronons of the Hurons, and landed, probably, in one of the arms of Black River Bay, the Niaourha of the Iroquois. Secreting their canoes, they took up their march by land, along the sand beach of the lake, across Sandy Creek, Salmon River, and the outlet of the central lakes of New York, and on into the country of the Senecas. The scene of the great fight between this host and the Iroquois is located by Dr. O'Callaghan, of New York, at the outlet of Canandaigua Lake, though several writers disagree with him, some locating the Indian town on Onondaga Lake, near the present city of Syracuse. The Iroquois town was strongly fortified by a quadruple row of lofty palisades, strongly bound together, and surmounted by a gallery from which the garrison could annoy the besiegers with arrows, spears, and stones. There was one peculiarity attending this " siege" which has not been seen on any other occasion in the history of the continent. To enable his followers to attack the enemy upon an equal footing, and to counteract the superior advantages of his lofty platforms, Champlain constructed one or more movable towers, high enough to overlook the palisade, and upon which he placed his French arquebusiers to shoot down the enemy upon his ramparts. Great wooden shields were also constructed to screen his Indian allies from the fire of the besieged. The towers were drawn forward by the united strength of two hundred warriors, and the attack began in earnest. But the Ilurons were entirely unmanageable, so that Champlain could do nothing with them, and after a furious contest of three hours' duration, the whole army fell back to their fortified camp, with the loss of seventeen warriors wounded. The French commander was also wounded by an arrow in the knee. He tried every means to persuade his followers to a renewal of the attack, but they persistt Parkman. 12 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. ently refused, unless joined by the expected reinforcement from the Eries. Waiting five days in their camp and hearing nothing from their allies, they made a rapid retreat to their canoes, carrying their wounded in large baskets, Champlain among the rest. Crossing Lake Ontario, the great war-party divided into small hunting-bands and scattered through the forests. Champlain had been promised an escort to Quebec, but after regaining their own side of the lake the Indians refused to furnish it, and he was compelled to remain and pass the winter with them. Once during the winter hunt he was lost in the wilderness and well-nigh perished, but at length found his way back to his band. In the course of the winter, in company with Le Caron, he visited all the villages of the Huron-Iroquois people, and may, very probably, have penetrated near to the borders of Michigan. In the spring, Champlain returned via his old route down the Ottawa, and reached Quebec on the 11th of July, after a year's absence, and was received as one from the dead, with great rejoicing. Le Caron had preceded him, and also arrived in safety. No further attempts were made by the Franciscans to establish missions among the Lake Huron Indians; and it was not until 1628 that the Jesuits first settled among them. Thus ended Champlain's second expedition into the country of the Iroquois. He had attacked the Mohawks on the eastern flank of the confederacy in 1609 and gained a temporary success; the attack upon the Senecas on the western flank in 1615 ended in failure. A century and a half of almost incessant warfare repaid upon the inhabitants of Canada the short-sightedness of the great explorer. Champlain continued as Governor of New France until his death at Quebec, on the 25th of December, 1635, with the exception of a period of four years, from 1629 to 1633, during which the English held the country for three years, and Emery de Caen was Governor one year,-1632-33. His administration had extended over a period of twentyseven years. CHAPTER II. THE FRANCISCANS AND THE JESUITS. The Hundred Associates-Capture of Quebec by the English-Early Explorations and Missions in the Lake Region - Destruction of the Hurons. THE FRANCISCANS. THE year 1615 witnessed the inauguration of that remarkable system of missionary work which the Catholic Church labored so persistently to build up among the savage nations of Canada. The Franciscans, an order founded in the thirteenth century by St. Francis of Assisi, led the advance and furnished the pioneers in this great undertaking. The R6collets, a reformed branch of the order, with the help of a generous subscription taken up among the cardinals, bishops, and nobles of the Church, assembled for 4 the States-General, fitted out four friars at the earnest request of Champlain, himself a zealous Catholic, to begin the great work of Christianizing the American Indians. The four named were Denis Jamet, Jean Dolbeau, Joseph le Caron, and Pacifique du Plessis, who embarked at Honfleur in the spring of 1615, and arrived at Quebec in the end of May. At Quebec their first business was to construct a convent and adopt a system of operations. The vast field was divided among them, Le Caron being assigned to the Huron nations and Dolbeau to the Montagnais of the lower St. Lawrence, whom a French writer aptly designated as ' the paupers of the wilderness." Jamet and Du Plessis were for the present to remain at Quebec. As we have seen, Le Caron repaired at once to Montreal, where he studied the Indian languages, and when Champlain's expedition was preparing for the country of the Hurons, he accompanied it and remained a year among the savages, returning, in 1616, to Quebec. Like the Pilgrim and Puritan Fathers of New England, the French leaders in America designed to establish a religious as well as commercial dominion, and while pushing their explorations far into the wilderness for purposes of conquest and of gain, the zealous representatives of the mother-church everywhere accompanied the mailed warriors of the king. The cross was planted wherever the golden lilies waved, and the rude chapel arose within or beside the strong stockade and the primitive trading-house. Indeed, the daring son of the church, girded with the vestments of his order, and bearing the cross and rosary, not unfrequently preceded the mousquetaire, and his awe-inspiring ceremonies were the avant couriers of that interminable pageantry which everywhere and at all times characterized the French occupation of Canada. The military leaders dreamed of an interior water-passage to the " Great South Sea," and, in imagination, beheld the dominion of the " great king" extending over the yet unknown regions of the " forest continent;" while the followers of Loyola enthusiastically looked forward to a grand gathering of all the Indian nations within the pale of the Christian Church, or, in the event of a disastrous failure, to a glorious crown of martyrdom bravely won in the service of their Master. The Recollets, with their scanty means (for they were vowed to perpetual beggary), continued their self-appointed work among the Indians of the lower St. Lawrence until about 1625, when, feeling their utter incapacity to cope with so vast a field, they reluctantly called in the assistance of the Jesuits. THE JESUITS. This powerful and aggressive order was founded by Ignatius Loyola, formerly a soldier, who had been severely wounded at the siege of Pampeluna, in Spain, and who had subsequently dedicated himself wholly to the service of the Church. The order took the name "Society of Jesus," and was approved by the Pope in 1540. Its pioneers in America were Fathers Charles Lalemant, Enemond Masse, and Jean de Brebeuf. In 1628, Brebeuf proceeded to the field of his future THE FRANCISCANS AND THE JESUITS. 13 labors and tragical death, among the Hurons living around the southeastern borders of the Georgian Bay. He was accompanied by Father de la Noue and one of the friars. THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES. It is necessary at this point to consider, for a few paragraphs, the organization and purposes of an institution which controlled the destinies of New France for many years.* In 1627, Cardinal Richelieu was the great champion of absolutism, which had become supreme in France. About this date he turned his attention to the affairs of New France. Under his patronage a powerful company was formed, consisting of a hundred members, with the cardinal at its head. It was called the " Company of the Hundred Associates," or " Company of New France." The sovereignty of the whole of the French possessions in North America was conferred upon it, and it was granted a perpetual monopoly of the fur-trade, together with a monopoly of all other commerce, for the period of fifteen years, and its entire trade was declared free from all duties for the same period. The company obligated itself to settle in the colony, before the year 1643, four thousand persons, including men of all trades, and persons of both sexes; to support them for three years, and to furnish them cleared lands for maintenance. This colony was to be exclusively French, and every settler must be a Catholic. The Huguenots, the most enterprising class, and almost the only one inclined to emigration, were strictly forbidden to touch the shores of New France. The bigoted king gave his royal sanction to these measures, and, as an earnest of his good-will, furnished two ships-of-war completely armed and equipped. The establishment of the company was fully consummated in the beginning of 1628. The Jesuits were chosen as the spiritual managers of the colony; the Franciscans were virtually driven from the country, and the company commenced operations with a paid-up capital of three hundred thousand livres, or about sixty thousand dollars. Champlain was made governor of the colony, with civil and military jurisdiction. This bigoted arrangement carried within itself the seeds of destruction. The historian, Francis Parkman, in speaking upon this subject, justly remarks: " There is nothing improbable in the supposition that, had New France been thrown open to Huguenot emigration, Canada would never have been a British province; that the field of AngloAmerican settlement would have been greatly narrowed, and that large portions of the United States would at this day have been occupied by a vigorous and expansive French population."Had the Huguenots been given an even chance with the Catholics it is more than probable that they would, at an early day, have penetrated to the lower peninsula of Michigan, * This company was disbanded in 1645, and its franchises and property transferred to the inhabitants of Canada. t It is even yet possible that the descendants of the French in Canada may eventually succeed the English-speaking people among the hills of New England. The latest census returns show a steady current of migration setting in that direction. and possibly carried their settlements out upon the fertile prairies beyond the lakes. They would, at least, have been likely to live at peace with their Protestant brethren of the English colonies, and thus the devastating wars of the early part of the eighteenth century in America would have been avoided. Upon the caprice of a single individual how often hang the destinies of nations! CAPTURE OF QUEBEC BY TIE ENGLISH. In 1628-29 the bigoted treatment extended to the Huguenots by the French government returned to plague its abettors. That oppressed people rose in arns against the king, and Charles the First, of England, espoused their cause, not from any love of the principles for which they contended, but through jealousy of the power of France. As a nlitural consequence of war with England, many Huguenots took service under her banner. Among these were the three brothers, David, Louis, and Thomas Kirk, Calvinists, of Dieppe. Following the advice of the refugees, the government of England resolved to attack the French settlements in Canada, and in July, 1628, Admiral Sir David Kirk entered the St. Lawrence, captured several transports laden with supplies for the half-famished inhabitants of Quebec, and sent a polite summons to Champlain to surrender that important post. The veteran governor was not frightened at his words, and as politely declined. But the loss of the needed supplies reduced the garrison and inhabitants to great straits,1 and when, on the 19th of July, 1629, Louis Kirk, brother of the admiral, appeared before Quebec and demanded its surrender, Champlain had no alternative, and on the 20th gave up the post, and with it the control of all the French possessions on the St. Lawrence. This transfer of sovereignty interrupted all the plans of the Jesuits, and they beheld the despised Huguenots taking possession of the very regions from which they had been haughtily excluded. Their work had come to naught, aid gathering up their scanty effects, they embarked with Chau - plain and eventually reached France. From this time o 1632, when the country was restored to the French by te treaty of Suza, in April, 1629, which had been actuall concluded three months previous to Champlain's surrende, it remained in possession of the English. In July, 1632, Emery de Caen appeared before Quebec in a French ship and received its keys from the English commander. Caen was to hold the post for a twelvemonth, to indemnify him for losses in the war, and then turn it over to the Hundred Associates. With him came back two of the Jesuits, and these were soon followed by others. On the 23d of May, 1633, Champlain arrived and resumed his duties as governor on behalf of the company, which he continued until his death. Champlain was one of the most remarkable men of an age memorable for its bigotry and persecutions. He was, in fact, a century in advance of his time, and while not wholly cosmopolitan in his religious belief, he yet possessed that broad humanity which, even under the iron restraints of superstition, will manifest itself in behalf of the rights of others, regardless of creeds and sectaries. To Champlain, t The inhabitants, by Champlain's account, were reduced to the necessity of subsisting upon aeornq and even roots. 14 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. more than to any other leader, New France owed whatever of prosperity she enjoyed down to the time of his death, though the task he essayed was herculean and the obstacles in his pathway well-nigh insurmountable. The name of Champlain will always occupy a prominent place among the rulers, statesmen, and explorers of the French nation. The three prominent commanders under French rule in America were Champlain, Frontenac, and Montcalm, and the founder of the province loses nothing by comparison with the others. EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND MISSIONS. The earliest recorded visit by Europeans to the territory of Michigan was made in September and October, 1641, by Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues, two Jesuits, who made the journey in a birch canoe, by way of the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and Lake Huron to the Sault St. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior.* From them the place received its name. The Jesuit missions in the country of the Hurons were re-established in 1634 by Brebeuf and Daniel, who were joined in 1635 by Pijart and La Mercier. In 1636 came Jogues, Chatelain, and Garnier; in 1643, Cabanel, and subsequently others. In 1642 the site of Montreal was permanently settled by a colony under Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maissonneuve, who had been appointed governor of the place in 1640. The company was somewhat similar to the Hundred Associates of fourteen years before, and was designated "The Forty-five Associates of Montreal." The place had been a trading-post since 1611. Under the new regime it was re-christened " Ville Marie de Montreal," in honor of the Holy Family. Between 1634 and 1639, Jesuit missions had been established at seven different points within a radius of twenty miles around the Matchedash Bay of Lake Huron. These were by name St. Marie, St. Louis, St. Ignace,- St. Michel, St. Jean Baptiste, St. Joseph, and La Conception.t In 1639, St. Marie, which was situated on the little river Wye (flowing from the south into Matchedash Bay), near its mouth, was strongly palisaded and made the central and chief mission for the HtNron country. Here the Jesuit fathers labored with a zeal probably never before displayed in the history of the church militant for the regeneration of a race of savages, who but illy reciprocated their good intentions, and upon whom their labors might be almost said to have been expended in vain. Whatever may be thought of their doctrines and modes of propagation, their endless ceremonies, and the paraphernalia of their order, one thing we must admit: they were sincere in their profession to the verge of fanaticism, and * It is related that one Jean Nicollet, a Frenchman, who had dwelt among the Indians of Lake Nipissing and Allumette Island and had thoroughly mastered their language, was sent on a mission to the Wimnebagoes in 1639, during which journey he crossed over to the Fox River, and thence to the Wisconsin, which he descended nearly or quite to the Mississippi. This journey would have taken him through the territory of Michigan. The story is not authentic. t Not to be confounded with St. Ignace of the Straits of Mackinac.: The Huron nation included, according to a Jesuit enumeration by Brebeuf in 1635, a population of thirty thousand souls. most faithfully labored, at the cost of every comfort and even life, in the thankless attempt to bring the wild children of the forest into what they steadfastly believed to be the true and only church. DESTRUCTION OF THE HURONS. But a terrible doom awaited them. The fierce, unconquerable warriors of the Iodenosaunee penetrated the wilderness and overwhelmed alike the THuron and the Jesuit, the bark lodge of the savage and the sacred chapel of the self-denying missionary, in one common ruin. From 1638 to 1649-50 a series of bloody encounters, burnings, massacres, and occasional attempts at negotiation ensued between the Hurons and the Iroquois. The Eries and Andastes were at times persuaded into a league with the tHurons, and at one period the Mohawks were in great danger of extermination by the Andastes; but the superior discipline of the Iroquois at length triumphed over superior numbers, and the Huron country was completely overrun, and its people destroyed or driven into distant lands. The missions shared the common fate, and most of the Jesuit fathers fell martyrs to the cause of their religion. A part of the Huron nation fled to the Isle St. Joseph, in the Georgian Bay, some fled to the French settlements on the lower St. Lawrence, some to the Eries and Andastes, to perish with those doomed nations, and quite a number of families sought a home among the Senecas, their bitterest enemies, but who readily received them and incorporated them as a part of the nation. The division of the Huron people known as the Tobacco Nation~ maintained their ground longer than the rest, but they, too, were at length compelled to fly their country and seek a new home on the island of Mackinac, where they were joined by the Ottawas and other Algonquins who had been driven from the valley of the Ottawa River. But even here, surrounded by the almost boundless waters of the great northern lakes, they were not safe. The Iroquois penetrated to their new abode, and again they retreated before their implacable enemies, and took up their residence among the islands at the entrance of Green Bay, of Lake Michigan. Once more the enemy sought them out, and compelled them to fall back upon the mainland, where they fortified themselves, and at length the tide of Iroquois invasion was stayed. From thence they migrated south and west until they came in contact with the Illinois (themselves subsequently destroyed), and the Sioux branch of the great Dacotah race of the Western plains. This powerful people drove them back towards the east and north, and they once more made a stand around the southwestern extremity of Lake Superior, settling mostly at Chegoimegon Point, and among the Apostle Islands in the lake. Finding themserves still harassed by the Sioux, they returned about the year 1671 to the neighborhood of Mackinac, where they settled. Subsequently the greater part of them removed to the neighborhood of Detroit and Sandusky, where they were known as Wyandots. Eventually the United States government removed them to a western reservation beyond the Mississippi, where a remnant of the once-powerful Huron# Called also by the French _Dionouldadies. -4 INDIAN NATIONS. 15 Ottawa nation still survives,-a fragment of that wonderful people who so long battled the Iroquois, and who followed the fortunes of the mighty Pontiac in his war against the English. CHAPTER III. INDIAN NATIONS. Renewal of the Jesuit Missions on the Great Lakes-ExplorationsMarquette and Joliet. WHEN Champlain visited the region lying between Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, he found it occupied by different branches of the great Huron-Ottawa nation, and, for an Indian country, quite densely populated, their numbers being variously estimated at from ten thousand to thirtyfive thousand. This entire family of tribes having been broken up by the Iroquois about 1645-50, many of its scattered remnants were found twenty years later inhabiting portions of Michigan. A part of this once-powerful nation, as we have seen, subsequently took the name Wyandots. The great nation of the Ojibwas, or, as they were more commonly called, Chippewas, occupied all that portion of the present State of Michigan known as the Upper Peninsula. The Pottawattomies, who were an important branch of the Ojibwas, we find mentioned as being present at the great council held by the French at the Sault St. Marie in 1671. This nation or tribe would appear to have gradually moved to Green Bay, and thence, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, to the vicinity of Chicago; and we find them soon after occupying the country in the valleys of the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo Rivers. As late as 1679, however, unless La Salle was mistaken, the nation known as the Miamis was occupying the region about the mouth of the St. Joseph.* The Ottawas were mingled more or less with the Ojibwa nation, and in fact no one tribe or nation seemed to have any special abiding-place, but changed their residence as war, famine, or other compelling cause obliged them to.t The Ojibwas also occupied the region from Mackinac along the western coast of Lake Huron towards Saginaw Bay. Along the southern border were the Wyandots, intermingled with scattered bands of the Shawanese, those Bedouins of the Western Continent, and the Miamis, who were allied to the Illinois, lying farther west. The Menomi' This nearly corresponds with the declaration of the celebrated Miami chief Little Turtle or Meshecunnaqua, at Greenville, in 1795: " My forefathers kindled the first fire at Detroit; from thence they extended their lines to the head-waters of the Scioto; from thence to its mouth; from thence down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; and from thence to Chicago, on Lake Michigan. These are the boundaries within which the prints of my ancestors' houses are everywhere to be seen." t Traditions among the Ojibwas and Ottawas in the valleys of the streams which flow into Saginaw Bay seem to sustain the theory that "man mmoons"ago a nation called the Sauks, or Oseakies (whether identical with the modern Sauks, or Sacs, we do not know), once occupied all the Saginaw region, but were expelled by the Ojibwas and Ottawas before the advent of the French. nees, in 1671-73, inhabited the region of Green Bay, and dwelling near, and perhaps mingling with them, were the fiery Sacs and Foxes, who nominally occupied the country lying southwest of Green Bay and between it and the Mississippi River. The Winnebagoes, dwelling around the lake which still bears their name, were a branch of the Dahcotah family, who chose rather to be environed by the Algonquin nations than remain among their own people. The Kickapoos, or, as they were sometimes called by the French, Mascoutins (dwellers on the prairie), occupied the northern part of Illinois. The Kaskaskia, Peoria, Cahokia, Oniatanons, Piankashaws, Eel River Indians, and others, were probably branches of the Miami and Illinois nations. All these nations, with the possible exception of the Winnebagoes, spoke dialects of the language of the Algonquin family. Among the famous chiefs and orators of these nations were Pontiac, of the Ottawas; Buck-ong-a-he-las, of the Delawares; and Meshecunnaqua (Little Turtle), of the Miamis; Tecumseh, Elskwatawa his brother, the prophet, and Blue Jacket, of the Shawanese; Winnemeg and Black Partridge, of the Pottawattomies; and Black Hawk and Keokuk, of the Sac nation. RENEWAL OF THE JESUIT MISSIONS. The first visit made by the Jesuits to the territory of Michigan, succeeding the Huron-lroquois war, was probably by Father Rene M6nard (or Mesnard), in the autumn of 1660, who coasted the southern shore of Lake Superiorz and attempted to plant a mission at the head of Keweenaw Bay, to which he gave the name of St. Theresa. Here he remained during the following winter, and perished in the summer of 1661, while on a journey across the point. It has been supposed by some writers that he was captured by a roving band of Sioux, as his cassock and breviary were said to have been found many years subsequently among that people. On the 8th of August, 1666, Father Claude Allouez left Three Rivers with a band of several hundred Indians, and reached the Sault St. Marie in September following. He visited Lake Superior, which he named Lac Tracy au Superieur, in honor of the viceroy of Canada. The earliest map of this region, drawn in 1668 and published in 1672, is supposed to have been the work of Fathers Allouez and Marquette. It was a remarkably accurate one considering the means at their command. Allouez, in an account of his visit, speaks of copper as being a plentiful commodity among the Indians. The mines do not appear to have been in any manner worked by them, but they possessed numerous pieces weighing from a few ounces to twenty pounds, which they had picked up, evidently among the drift. This missionary coasted along the southern shore of the great lake, and on the 1st of October landed at Chaquamegon Bay, which the early voyageurs named La Pointe Bay. Here he lived for a period of two years, and proba-.- The great fresh-water sea was called by the Indians Gitchi Gomiee, which Longfellow translates to mean in English "Big Sea Water," or "Shining Big Sea Water." 16 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. bly visited the bay where Duluth* now stands, as he speaks of visiting Fond du Lac and meeting there the Sioux, from whom he learned of the great prairies of the West, where roamed immense herds of buffalo, and of the great river flowing through the country, which the Indians called Messepi or Namasepee. Allouez also visited and labored among the Nipissings, to the northward of Lake Huron. - He returned to Quebec in the autumn of 1667, and after procuring the necessary aid returned again to the scene of his labors. In 1668, Claude Dablon and Jacques (or James) Marquette established a permanent settlement and mission at the Sault St. Marie, which was, according to the historian Bancroft, the first permanent settlement within the boundaries of what constitutes the present State of Michigan.t In 1669, Father Marquette succeeded Allouez at Chaquamegon, and the latter, in company with Dablon, founded a mission on Green Bay, of Lake Michigan, in 1670.+ The first recorded visit of white men to the site of Detroit~ was made in the spring of 1670 by two Sulpitian priests, Dollier de Casson and Galinee, who had joined an expedition fitted out by La Salle in the summer of 1669, for the purpose of exploring the upper lakes and, if possible, the Mississippi River. The expedition had been turned back at the head of Lake Ontario by the illness of La Salle, but the two priests, who had been sent out by the Sulpitian brotherhood, located on the bay of Quinte, resolved to continue their journey alone. The winter overtook them on Lake Erie, and they were forced to remain at Long Point, on its northern shore, until the following spring, when they resumed their voyage, passing through the straits and on over Lake Huron to the Sault St. Marie, where they arrived on the 25th of May, 1670. This is the first recorded visit of the French to Detroit, though Louis Joliet, who had been on an exploring expedition the previous year, no doubt passed the point on his return. In May, 1671, a grand council was held by the French at the Sault St. Marie with the Indians of the Northwest, at which an immense concourse of the natives was present. M. de Lusson, who had been sent out by the intendant, Talon, took possession of the country in the name of the king of France, and extended his sovereign's protection over all the Indian nations of the Northwest who chose to be friendly to the French. Father Allouez was present and pronounced a panegyric upon the king, and amid great pomp and much ceremony a grand treaty was concluded,.and presents were liberally distributed among the assembled natives. In the same year Marquette founded the mission of St. * This place takes its name from Daniel Greysolon du Lhut, a famous leader of the couriers de bois, a cousin of Tonti, born at Lyons. He visited the head of Lake Superior in the autumn of 1679. t A fort was first erected at the Sault by the Chevalier de Repentigny, in 1750. t The mission at La Pointe, called St. Esprit, was broken up by the Siotx in 1671, and the Hurons, who composed its inhabitants, fled to the islands in Lake Huron. The mission of Green Bay was named St. FranQois Xavier. A mission was also founded among the Otta was, on the Grand Manitoulin Island, in Lake Huron, in 1671, by Father Louis Andre. It was named the mission of St. Simon. g D'etroit is French for strait. Ignace,ll on the north shore of the strait, opposite the island of Mackinac,[ and, together with Allouez and Dablon, explored the country lying south of Lake Superior and west of Lake Michigan, and penetrated, according to some writers, as far as the present site of the city of Chicago. But the rulers of Canada, and especially Talon, the intendant, were not satisfied with pomp and show and the mere ceremony of taking formal possession of the great West. It was resolved to explore the entire region, and above all the Mississippi River, about which there were numerous speculations and conjectures. According to various writers it discharged its multitudinous waters into the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California, and the Great South Sea. Louis Joliet had been sent out in 1669, as we have already seen, but returned in the autumn of the same year without accomplishing the object of his commission. In 1673, Joliet and Marquette were selected and fitted out for a more thorough research. JOLIET AND MARQUETTE. Louis Joliet was the son of a wagon-maker in the employ of the Hundred Associates of Canada, and was born at Quebec in 1645. He was educated by the Jesuits, and studied for the priesthood, but when about twenty-two years of age he renounced his clerical vocation, and embarked in the business of fur-trading. In 1669, as before stated, he was sent by Talon to explore the copper mines of Lake Superior, but returned without being able to reach his destination.** MARQUETTE. Father Jacques Marquette was born in 1637, at Laon, in the north of France, and was also educated by the Jesuits, and subsequently joined the order. In 1666 he was sent to the Canadian missions, where he studied the language of the Montagnais, and prepared himself for teaching among that people at Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay River; but in 1668 he was sent to the upper lakes, where he remained until called by Talon to accompany Joliet in exploring the Mississippi, being last stationed at St. Ignace. Under the patronage of Count Frontenac, who had been II Judge Campbell, in his excellent " Outlines of the Political History of Michigan," states that a mission was founded on the island of Michilimackinac in 1668, but removed very soon. We do not find satisfactory evidence of this, but it is probable. ~ The word Michilimackinac is said to be derived from an Indian word, Mich-i-mack-i-nac, signifying a great turtle; or the Ojibwa word Mich-ine-mauk-i-nonk, meaning the place of giant fairies. ** In 1675, Joliet married the daughter of a Canadian merchant who was engaged in trade with the northern Indians. In 1679, Joliet's attention was drawn towards Hudson's Bay, and in that year he made a journey thither via the Saguenay River. In the same year he was granted the Mignon Islands, and in 1680 he received a grant of the great island of Anticosti, in the lower St. Lawrence, where, in 1681, he established his residence. He engaged in the fisheries and made a chart of the river. In 1690 his property was destroyed by the English, under Sir Wm. Phips, and his family captured. In 1694 he explored the coast of Labrador. He was made royal pilot of the St. Lawrence by Count Frontenac, and royal hydrographer by the French government. He died about 1700, and was buried on one of the Mignon Islands.-Parkman. LA SALLE. 17 appointed Governor-General of New France in 1672, these two remarkable men left Mackinac in two birch canoes on the 13th of May, 1673, and made their way over the heaving waters of Lake Michigan,* and up the broad estuary of Green Bay to its extreme southern terminus. From thence the adventurers, against the earnest protest of the Indians, ascended the Fox River of Wisconsin, and crossing the portage descended the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi, which they entered on the 17th of June. Around the head of Green Bay they found the nation now known as Menominees, which they named the " Folles Aviones," or nation of Wild Oats. Along the Fox River was a medley of nations,-Miamis, Mascoutins, and Kickapoos, which latter two may have been identical. The scattering Miamis found here, soon after migrated, or returned, to the valley of the St. Joseph River, in Michigan. Descending the Mississippi, they discovered the Des Moines, Illinois, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers, and went south as far as the mouth of the Arkansas.t The explorers returned by way of the Illinois River, Chicago, and Lake Michigan, and this is perhaps the first well-authenticated visit to the site of the Northwestern metropolis.4 Marquette, who was greatly exhausted by his voyage and the premonitory attacks of what proved a fatal malady~ two years later, remained at Green Bay, while Joliet, with the journals and documents of the expedition, descended to Quebec to acquaint Frontenac with their discoveries. At the La Chine Rapids, above Montreal, his canoe was upset, two men and an Indian boy drowned, and all his papers lost in the raging waters. Joliet himself narrowly escaped. Marquette spent the winter of 1673-74 and the following summer at Green Bay. In the autumn of 1674, his malady having somewhat abated, he resolved to found a mission on the Mississippi River, to be called the Mission of the Immaculate Conception, a name which he had already given to the river. He accordingly left Green Bay on the 25th of October, 1674, accompanied by two Frenchmen, whom he called Pierre and Jacques, and a band of Pottawattomie Indians, in ten canoes, and crossing by an obscure portage to the main lake, coasted thence southward to the mouth of the Chicago River, which stream he ascended about two French leagues. Here, apparently, he encamped temporarily, and here his malady returned fiercer than ever, and he told his companions it would be his last journey. The party was compelled to go into camp, and in the end were obliged to remain through the winter, during which they subsisted largely upon the game which was abundant in the neighborhood. They built a log cabin, * This lake was called by the French Lao des Illinois, and by the Indians, Mitchiganon, or Machihiganing. Green Bay was named Le Baye des Eaux Puantes. It was said to have an odor like the sea. t The Missouri Marquette called Pekitanoui. It is also called on French maps Rividre des Osages and Riviere des Emissourites. The Ohio is called by Marquette Ouabouskiaou. The name Ohio, or Oheio, is said to be from the Iroquois, and to signify "Beautiful." The Arkansas they called Akamsca.: The name Chicago is written on Frauquelin's map of La Salle's explorations in.684, Chekagou. { The disease which caused Marquette's death was hemorrhage of the lungs. 3 LA SALLE. 17 and made themselves as comfortable as possible. The location was within the present limits of the built-up suburbs of the city of Chicago, near what was formerly known as Bridgeport, upon the south branch. In the latter part of March, 1675, feeling somewhat better, Marquette crossed the portage to the Des Plaines River, and descended to its junction with the Kankakee, and thence down the Illinois to the Indian town called by him Kaskaskia, situated about seven miles below the site of the present city of Ottawa. Here he held a great council, at which were assembled more than two thousand warriors. The chiefs were anxious that the missionary should remain among them, but he felt that his days were numbered, and that if he would die among his countrymen he must hasten his departure. Towards the end of April the little party started on the return voyage down Lake Michigan, their course being around the southern margin and along the eastern shore. On the 19th of May, as they neared the entrance to a small river,I1 Marquette, feeling his end approaching, requested his companions to land, which they did and carried him ashore, where he died during the following night. They buried him in the sand, and returned to Mackinac, bearing the tidings of his death. " In the winter of 1676, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas were hunting on Lake Michigan; and when, in the following spring, they prepared to return home, they bethought them, in accordance with an Indian custom, of taking with them the bones of Marquette, who had been their instructor at the mission of St. Esprit (La Pointe). They repaired to the spot, found the grave, opened it, washed and dried the bones, and placed them carefully in a box of birch-bark. Then, in a procession of thirty canoes, they bore it, singing their funeral songs, to St. Ignace of Michilimackinac. As they approached, priests, Indians, and traders all thronged the shore. The relics of Marquette were received with solemn ceremony, and buried beneath the floor of the little chapel of the mission."l CHAPTER IV. LA SALLE. Early History-Arrival in Canada-La Chine-Fort CataraquiExploring Expeditions, 1669-1673-First Vessel on Lake Ontario -Fort Conti, at Niagara-The "Griffin" and her Voyage-Fort Miamis-On the Illinois-Fort Crevecoeur-Journey to CanadaIn Kalamazoo County, TIE next, and by far the most prominent explorer of the valley of the Mississippi, was Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la [j "The river where he died is a small stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory called the 'Sleeping Bear.' It long bore his name, which is now borne by a neighboring stream." (Parkman.) This stream was probably either what is now called the Platte, or the Bees Scies. What is now called the Marquette River discharges at Ludington. (Ed.) ~ Parkman, Discovery of the Great West, p. 71. 18 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. Salle,* who was born at Rouen, in Normandy, in 1643. His father, Jean Cavalier, and his uncle, Henri, were wealthy merchants, living much after the manner of the noblemen of the period, though they could not boast of noble blood. EARLY HISTORY. La Salle was educated by the Jesuits, and was probably a member of the order, though, like Louis Joliet, he subsequently threw aside his vestments to become one of the most famous explorers of his time. His elder brother, the Abbe Jean Cavelier, was a priest in the Sulpitian order, and had preceded him to Canada. The accounts of the discoveries of Joliet, Marquette, and others had filled the mind of La Salle with an intense desire to visit the newly discovered regions, where he hoped at least to accumulate a competency, as his connection with the Jesuits had, under the law of France, cut him off from any share in his father's estate, excepting an annuity of four hundred livres which his father had settled upon him at his death, a short time before his departure for Canada. ARRIVAL IN CANADA-LA CHINE. He sailed for Quebec in the spring of 1666. He first appears at Montreal, where the superior of the seminary of St. Sulpice granted him a large tract of land on the island, at a point named by him La Chine, in commemoration of his idea of discovering a water passage via the lakes to the great South Sea, and thence to China. He immediately laid out his lands into lots, commenced the erection of buildings, and encouraged settlers to join him. He determined to make La Chine a grand trading-point and base of operations. It is evident that La Salle's first intentions were to engage in the fur-trade as a means of livelihood and gain, and in the mean time to study the Indian languages, and prepare himself gradually for grand exploring enterprises, which he no doubt had outlined in his mind from the first.' He applied himself so diligently to learning the native tongue that it is said he mastered within two or three years the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages and dialects. In addition to all his other duties he is said to have made several journeys, in the years 1667 and 1668, into the northern wilderness. At length the desire for exploring the unknown West took such firm hold of him that he resolved to lay his designs before the Governor-General, Courcelles, with the intention of procuring letters patent authorizing the enterprise. He accordingly proceeded to Quebec, where he laid his plans before the Governor and Jean Talon, the intendant, with such success that they entered heartily into the work of assisting him. With his credentials he hastened back to Montreal, where he sold back his seigniory to the principal of the Sulpitian seminary and one Jean Milot, an iron-monger, and with the proceeds purchased four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. At the same time the seminary was preparing an enter * Cavelier was the family name, and La Salle the title of its estate or seigniory. His full name and title, according to the parish record, was R6n-&Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. i? prise for the purpose of establishing missions among the Western nations, in rivalry of the powerful order of the Jesuits, who aspired to monopolize the entire mission work of New France. At the head of this latter enterprise was placed Dollier de Casson, a Sulpitian priest, who had been a soldier in his younger days, and had served with distinction under Governor Courcelles against the Mohawks, in 1666. He had also spent a winter among the Nipissings. This was intended for an independent expedition, but Casson was persuaded by the Governor to unite with La Salle, and preparations were made for the two to proceed together. Three canoes, with supplies, were procured, and seven men hired as assistants. Galinee, another priest, was joined with Casson, and on the 6th of July, 1669, the joint expedition left La Chine. La Salle's original idea was to pass from Lake Ontario or Lake Erie to the head of the Ohio, and follow that stream to its confluence with the Mississippi. The expedition accordingly followed the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, and, coasting the eastern and southern border of the same, entered the mouth of the Genesee and proceeded to the principal village of the Senecas. More than a month was consumed in getting to this point, and nearly every one of the voyageurs was prostrated by sickness. At the Seneca town was stationed the Jesuit Fremin, and between his antipathy to? the Sulpitians and the suspicions of the Indians, the negotiations for a guide to pilot the party to the Ohio came to naught. They remained for a month with the Senecas, when an Indian from the village of Ganastogue, an Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, offered to conduct.them thither, assuring them they would find there what they sought. Leaving the Genesee, they coasted along the southern shore of the lake, passing within hearing of the great cataract of Niagara, and reached Ganastogue in five days. They were received in a friendly manner, and La Salle was presented with a Shawanese prisoner, who informed him that the Ohio could be reached in six weeks, and offered to guide them thither.t When on the point of starting with the new guide, they heard of the arrival of two Frenchmen at a neighboring village. One of these was Joliet, who was on his return from a fruitless expedition to the copper region of Lake Superior, whither he had been sent by Talon, as mentioned on a preceding page. He had returned via the Detroit River and Lake Erie, and had been led by an Indian guide across the country from the mouth of Grand River to the head of Lake Ontario, through fear of the Iroquois around the portage of Niagara Falls. Joliet showed the priests a map of such portions of the upper lakes as he had visited, telling them at the same time of the Pottawattomies, and other Indian nations of that region, who were in great need of spiritual instruction. This information determined the priests to abandon the Mississippi scheme and turn their attention to the Indians. The remonstrances of La Salle, who urged that the Jesuits had already occupied the field, availed nothing. The In t From the length of time mentioned as necessary to reach the river, it is evident the savages meant the Mississippi River. LA SALLE. 19 dians were in need of spiritual succor, and nothing could persuade them from their purpose. La Salle was attacked by a violent fever after reaching the head of Lake Ontario, and he told his colleagues he was in no condition to proceed with them, and would be obliged to leave them. Inwardly, he was so disgusted with them that he was glad of any excuse for parting company with them. On the last day of September they parted, the Sulpitians and their party descending the Grand River towards Lake Erie, and La Salle and his companions, including Joliet, as they supposed, taking their way back to Montreal. The priests, as before seen, were compelled to winter on Lake Erie, from whence, in the spring of 1670, they proceeded through the Straits and Lake Huron to the Sault St. Marie. From thence they soon after returned to Montreal, without accomplishing the design of their voyage. This, as before written, was the first recorded passage of white men through the strait where now stands the city of Detroit,-the undoubted passage of Joliet in the previous autumn never having been recorded. The first three visits to the territory of Michigan by white men would be Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues, in September, 1641, through the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to the Sault St. Marie; that of Louis Joliet, in 1669; and the passage of Casson and Galinee, in the spring of 1670. EXPLORATIONS, 1669-73. The whereabouts of La Salle during the next three years has never been satisfactorily explained. A somewhat obscure record, never published, entitled " Histoire de Monsieur de la Salle," said to have been taken down from La Salle's lips, has been extensively drawn upon, and the attempt made by sundry writers to prove therefrom that during the winter and spring of 1669-70 La Salle made a journey of exploration down the Ohio as far as the falls at Louisville. As an offset to this statement may be quoted the story of Nicholas Perrot, that in the summer of 1670 he met La Salle hunting on the Ottawa River with a party of Iroquois. The manuscript in question goes on to relate that the great explorer in the year 1671 embarked on Lake Erie, explored that lake, and passed on north and west, and sailed over Lakes Huron and Michigan, and from the latter passed to a river flowing westward and followed it to another flowing to the southeast,-meaning possibly the Illinois, or Wisconsin, and Mississippi,-descending the last-mentioned stream to the 36th parallel of north latitude. The story of the exploration of the Ohio bears some marks of authenticity, since it is sustained by a memorial of La Salle addressed to Frontenac in 1677, in which he affirms that he discovered that river, and by the testimony of Joliet, who made two maps of the region of the Mississippi and the great lakes. The Ohio is laid down on both, and there is an inscription or statement to the effect that La Salle had explored it. This part of the account is possibly correct, but the por tion relating to the discovery of the Mississippi is a fiction, since neither La Salle nor his friends ever made such claim. In 1672, Count Frontenac had succeeded Courcelles as Governor-General of Canada, and we find that La Salle had won the confidence of the new Governor, who was greatly interested in all his plans of discovery. About this time Perrot, the Governor of Montreal, had become extensively engaged in the fur-trade, and had even sent men into the wilderness to anticipate the Indian trade, and thus divert it to Montreal. Frontenac was himself interested in the fur-trade, and this movement of Perrot seriously interfered with his business at Quebec. FORT CATARAQUI (FRONTENAC). In this dilemma La Salle broached a plan, which had also been recommended by Courcelles, and which immediately interested the count. He suggested the advisability of establishing a fortified post at the outlet of Lake Ontario, which would not only be of great value from a military point of view, but would enable the party who controlled it to command the entire trade of the upper country, and Frontenac was not slow to take advantage of it. He did not dare petition for the sanction of the king, lest the Governor and merchants of Montreal should remonstrate and defeat the object, but proceeded at once to put the design in execution. Summoning the militia of the province and collecting a large number of Indians, he set out on his journey from Quebec and leisurely proceeded to Montreal. He had given out that he was on a tour of inspection of the province, and had invited the officers and prominent citizens to accompany him. He had a train of about four hundred men, with one hundred and twenty canoes, and these, with the baggage, he sent from Montreal to La Chine by land, to which place he followed on the 28th of June, 1673. From thence the passage was made mostly by water. In the mean time La Salle had visited Onondaga and invited the Iroquois to meet the Governor in a grand council. He also sent Frontenac a map of the region around Lake Ontario, and recommended the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands, as the most eligible site for the new post. The expedition reached the rendezvous on the 12th of July, and the Governor found a respectable number of Iroquois assembled to meet him. Here, with all the pomp and ceremony he could employ, Count Frontenac held a council with the delegates from the Five Nations, making them costly presents, fondling the Indian children, and using every means to make a favorable impression upon the haughty conquerors of the wilderness. The council ceremonies were protracted through several days, and in the mean time Frontenac's engineer, Raudin, was busily engaged in tracing the lines and constructing Fort Cataraqui. It was a large and strongly-palisaded earthwork, with ditch and bastions, and designed to mount a few light guns. The Iroquois departed, apparently pleased with Onontio,* * A name the Indians bestowed on the French Governors. The English Governors and principal men they called Corlear, a name at first applied to the Dutch. According to Parkman it signifies, in the Iroquois tongue, " Great Mountain,":~ * 20 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. -- though the experience of later years proved that all his efforts had neither charmed nor frightened the descendants of At-o-tar-ho. Frontenac placed a garrison in his new fort, with provisions for one year, and left on his return to Quebec, highly pleased with the success of his expedition. Thus was the strong point d'appui to the vast lake region of the West established,-a position which the French held with great tenacity until 1758, when, in an unguarded moment, while Montcalm was confronting the decimated army of Abercrombie on Lake George, Gen. John Bradstreet descended upon it with a Provincial army, and almost obliterated what had then become a regular fortress. La Salle was deeply interested in this arrangement, and Frontenac, who feared the king might not sanction his bold move, was willing to advance any scheme which La Salle might adopt that would insure the permanency of Cataraqui as a military post. It was finally arranged between them that La Salle should present two petitions to the king,-one for a patent of nobility for his services as an explorer, the other for a grant in seigniory of Fort Frontenac, which name he was to give the new post, in honor of his patron. Armed with letters of strong recommendation from the count, he proceeded, in the autumn of 1674, to France and presented his petitions at court. He was well received, and his petitions were granted, upon condition that he should repay the king the ten thousand francs which the fort had cost him; maintain it at his own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, with the necessary laborers; gather a French colony around it; build a church when the inhabitants should reach one hundred; support one or more Recollet friars; and form a settlement of domesticated Indians in the neighborhood. " He was raised to the rank of the untitled nobles, received a grant of the fort and lands adjacent, to the extent of four leagues in front and half a league in depth, together with the neighboring islands, and was invested with the government of the fort and settlement, subject to the orders of the Governor-General."* This good fortune so pleased his family that they made him large advances in money to enable him to pay the king, and also to rebuild the fort substantially with stone. It was a matter of record that La Salle was to share with Frontenac and other parties the great profits which would accrue from the immense trade that must centre and be controlled at this point. Though La Salle had a firm friend in Count Frontenac, who assisted him in every possible manner, and though the Sulpitian priests at Montreal and on the Bay of Quinte were well disposed towards him, yet he had in some way incurred the enmity of the Jesuits, who put forth every effort to oppose his plans and destroy his growing trade. From 1674 to the day of his death there was a continual quarrel between him and them, and no doubt this was the principal cause of his misfortunes. He was too independent in spirit to be controlled by the haughty priesthood, who with a strong hand undertook to sway the destinies of Canada. Everything was thrown in his way that could impede his plans of discovery, and even his brother, the Abbe Cavelier, in a * Parkman, small way interfered with him to his great annoyance. Attempts were even made to poison him. FIRST VESSEL ON LAKE ONTARIO. But notwithstanding all the difficulties which surrounded him La Salle kept steadily at work, with the one grand aim always in view of conducting a great exploring expedition through the Mississippi Valley, and thereby adding vast regions to the power of France. He built four small decked vessels on Lake Ontario for purposes of trade and exploration, and within two years-1677-78-had rebuilt Fort Frontenac with hewn stone, with the exception of the water-side, which was constructed of strong stockades. The regular garrison consisted of two officers, a surgeon, and ten or twelve soldiers; and forty or fifty mechanics, laborers, and canoe-men were also maintained. There were in addition two R6collet friars, Luc Buisset and the noted Louis Hennepin. Barracks, a mill, a bakery, a well, and clusters of houses were constructed, and the Recollets had a house and chapel. REVISITS FRANCE. In 1678, La Salle again visited France for the furtherance of his scheme of exploration. As on a former occasion, he bore strong commendatory letters from Frontenac, and though denounced in advance as a madman by his enemies, he won the confidence and support of the king and his prime minister, the famous Colbert, and was authorized to go on with his discoveries, plant settlements, build forts, and carry on trade with the natives. In July, 1678, La Salle returned to Canada, bringing an addition of thirty men,-sailors, carpenters, and laborers,with abundant stores, tools, and merchandise; in short, everything necessary for his enterprise. With him came Henri de Tonti (or Tonty, as Parkman writes it), an Italian officer, one of whose hands had been blown off by a grenade. His father, who had been Governor of Gaeta, but who had subsequently settled in France on account of political troubles, was the originator of the plan of life insurance known as the Tontine. The Prince de Conti, whose protdgg Henri de Tonti was, had recommended him to La Salle, and the latter made him his lieutenant. De Tonti afterwards became almost as noted for his voyages and explorations as La Salle himself. He was undoubtedly a most remarkable man, a brave soldier, a most skillful leader, true as the needle to the magnet, and indefatigable in the discharge of his duties, whether as commander of the fortified post, the wilderness stockade on the Rock of the Illinois, or as leader of an exploring band in the forests of the Mississippi. Late in the season of 1678, De Tonti was sent forward by La Salle to build a fort near the cataract of Niagara, which La Salle, in honor of the prince, named Fort Conti.t Two other prominent friends of La Salle were the Sieur t La Salle, in a letter to the Prince de Conti, under date of Oct. 31, 1678, in speaking of Tonti and the new fortification, uses the following language: " Nevertheless, his energy and address make him equal to anything; and now, at a season of the year when everybody is in fear of the ice, he is setting out to begin a new fort two hundred leagues from this place. It is situated near that great cataract, more than a hundred and twenty toises in height, by which the lakes of higher elevation precipitate themselves into Lake Frontenac." LA SALLE. 21 L A. de la Motte and Father Louis Hennepin,* a member of the Recollet order of the Franciscans, who met him at Quebec. Early in November, La Salle and his party arrived at Fort Frontenac, from whence he immediately sent fifteen men in canoes to the region of Lake Michigan, to open trade with the Indians and collect provisions for future use. This party probably went via Lake Erie, the straits of Detroit, and Lakes Huron and Michigan to Green Bay, where La Salle met a portion of them in the following year. FORT AT NIAGARA. Soon after his arrival at the fort, La Salle, Hennepin, and La Motte, with sixteen men, set sail on Lake Ontario (which La Salle called Lac Frontenac) in a small brigantine, or sloop, of ten tons burden, for the post of Niagara, or Fort Conti. It was past the middle of November, and they were eight days working up the tempest-tossed lake to the Indian village of Tai-ai-a-gon, near the site of the modern city of Toronto, where they ran into harbor and were frozen in. Cutting their way out with axes, on the 5th of December they crossed the head of the lake to the mouth of the Niagara River, which they reached on the 6th after a tempestuous night, and landed at the spot since made historic by Fort Niagara.t From this place Hennepin and several others ascended the river in a canoe as far as the foot of the ridge at Lewiston, from whence they were compelled to go on foot the remainder of the distance (about seven miles) to the great fall, which they probably beheld about the 7th of December, 1678, and were perhaps the first white men who gazed upon its wonders. Hennepin's account was certainly the first in writing given by one who had actually beheld the greatest curiosity of the kind on the face of the globe.1 The Senecas were opposed to the building of a regular fort at Niagara, and to conciliate them La Motte and Hennepin made a journey to one of their villages beyond the Genesee River, near the modern town of Victor; They reached the place on the last day of December, 1678, and held a council with forty-two chiefs, to whom they made many presents, and tried to persuade them that the building of a fort at Niagara would not be an injury, but a positive benefit to them. The Indians took the presents, but failed to see - Hennepin had come to Canada in 1675, in the same ship with La Salle. He had been a teacher, and on his arrival was sent to Fort Frontenac, where he set up a huge cross, erected a chapel, and instructed the Iroquois colonized there. In the winter of 1677-78, in company with a single soldier of the fort, he made a journey on snowshoes to Onondaga, and thence down the Mohawk River to the Mohawk castles, where he found two Jesuit missionaries. He was a noted adventurer, but a bombastic and unreliable writer. t This name was written by Lalemant, in 1641, Onguiaahra, and by Sanson, on his map of 1657, Ongiara. Hennepin wrote it as now used. I The first mention of the fall was made by Ragueneau, in 1648, as follows: " Nearly south of this same Neutral Nation there is a great lake, about two hundred leagues in circuit, named Erie, which is formed by the discharge of the Fresh Sea, and which precipitates itself by a cataract of frightful height into a third lake, named Ontario, which we call Lac St. Louis."-Parkman's Jessuits, p. 143. Hennepin vastly overrated the height of the fall, which he at first estimated at five hundred feet, and in his second account, in 1697, at six hundred. Dr. O'Callaghan states that he has seen thirty-nine different ways of spelling Niagara. the project in the same light as their visitors, and the latter returned to their camp with very little satisfaction. In the mean time, La Salle had met with both good and evil fortune. On a second voyage, with supplies for the camp at Niagara, the little brigantine had been wrecked, and most of the supplies lost, by the disobedience of the pilot. This was the first of a series of misfortunes which seemed to persistently follow the great explorer. In another direction he had been more successful. He had met the Senecas, and obtained from them the privilege of constructing a stockaded warehouse at the mouth of the Niagara. The loss of the vessel was a terrible misfortune, but as the anchors and cables, destined for a larger vessel to be constructed on Lake Erie, had been saved from the wreck, La Salle did not lose heart, though La Motte had returned discouraged and worn out with his winter journeyings, to Canada. Tonti and Hennepin remained, but the motley retainers were almost in a state of mutiny. La Salle, instead of giving up to misfortune, valiantly determined to proceed with his enterprise. Accordingly all his supplies and materials were transported over the portage, and on the 22d of January, 1679, were deposited two leagues above the cataract, at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, on the American side of the river. THE "GRIFFIN." Here a camp was established, a chapel erected for Hennepin (who had borne a portable altar on his shoulders around the falls), and the keel of a vessel of about fortyfive tons was laid, and her construction proceeded with as rapidly as circumstances would permit. After getting everything in working order, La Salle, leaving the command with Tonti, made a journey on foot back to Frontenac, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, through the forests and over the ice of Lake Ontario, for the purpose of procuring fresh supplies, of which his command stood in great need. Two men accompanied him, and a dog drew his personal baggage on a sled. Their food consisted of a bag of parched corn, which was entirely devoured two days before they reached their destination. Two Mohegan Indians, who had accompanied La Salle from Frontenac, supplied Tonti and his party with nearly all their provisions in the absence of La Salle. By the opening of spring, Tonti had nearly completed the vessel, which was named the " Griffin," in honor of the armorial bearings on the arms of Frontenac. She was towed up to Black Rock and made fast, and her equipment completed. Her armament consisted of five small guns placed in as many ports along her deck, and on her prow was carved in wood a figure of the allegorical animal after which she was named. THE VOYAGE. Long and anxiously Tonti and his companions awaited the return of La Salle. The winter was succeeded by spring, and this by the fiery months of summer, before he made his appearance. At length, in the beginning of August, he arrived, accompanied by three more friars. He brought unwelcome news: his creditors had seized his property and tried in every way to break up his expedi 22 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. tion; but he was undaunted, and, as if hurried on by a mysterious fate, boldly determined to advance into the western waters, and on the 7th of August, 1679, set sail upon the bosom of Lake Erie. The " Griffin" was the first vessel built by Europeans and navigated upon the ninety thousand square miles of fresh water spreading, like the ocean, westward and northward from the fall of Niagara. There were in all thirty-four souls on board the little craft, and for three days they bore southwestward on the waters of Lake Erie; turning north, and probably coming in sight of the low-lying shores of Michigan about the tenth of the month, in the vicinity of where now stands the town of Monroe. Passing through the strait and across the expanse of waters which they called Lake Sainte Claire,* they still bore north through the strait beyond, and soon beheld opening before them-a vast ocean of waves-the broad waters of the " Mer Douce," the " Fresh-Water Sea of the Hutrons." On the tumbling billows of Saginaw Bay a furious tempest tossed them like a cork, and the frightened adventurers believed themselves surely lost, for they had seen nothing like it since they braved the dangers of the Atlantic; but the winds abated, the billows gradually subsided, and the little craft gallantly bore on her way, the pioneer of unnumbered thousands that, ere two centuries should roll away, were to whiten with the sails of a peaceful commerce all these mighty inland seas. AT MICHILIMACKINAC. Passing the clustering islands of Thunder Bay, they sailed along the far-extending waters, and soon came in sight of the wooded shores of Bois Blanc and Mackinac and the dense forests sweeping down on either side of the narrow strait which unites Lakes Huron and Michigan, and divides the shores of the upper and lower peninsulas. We quote a few interesting sentences from the historian Parkman: "And now her port was won, and she found her rest behind the point of St. Ignace of Michiliniackinac, floating in that tranquil cove where crystal waters cover but cannot hide the pebbly depths beneath. Before her rose the house and chapel of the Jesuits, inclosed with palisades; on the right the tHuron village, with its bark cabins and its fence of tall pickets; on the left the square, compact houses of the French traders; and, not far off, the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa village. Here was a centre of the Jesuit missions and a centre of the Indian trade, and here, under the shadow of the Cross, was much sharp practice in the service of Mammon." The guns of the " Griffin" thundered a salute, to the wonder and astonishment of the Indians, and her crew landed and marched, under arms, to the chapel in the Ottawa village, where they heard mass. On their return the Hurons gave them a salute of musketry, and the Indian canoes clustered by the hundred around the " Griffin," which the savages called the "floating fort." At Michilimackinac La Salle learned of more trouble awaiting him. Tonti had been sent forward with canoes from Niagara, in advance of the " Griffin," to look after the fifteen men dispatched by La Salle the autumn before to purchase furs and prepare for his coming. Tonti found that they had squandered the goods or used them in trad * Named " St. Claire" from the fact that it was first seen on the 12th of August, which is known in the Catholic calendar as St. Claire's day. Its Huron or Wyandot name was Otsiketa, ing on their own account, and had scattered in various directions. La Salle found four of them at Mackinac,t whom he arrested, and sent Tonti to the Sault St. Marie to look after others. Before Tonti had returned from his last-named expedition, early in September, La Salle set sail from Mackinac, and proceeded to the islands at the entrance to Green Bay. Here he found a party of his advance men who had remained faithful, and collected a large store of furs. A prominent Pottawattomie chief was also very friendly. La Salle now resolved to load his vessel with furs, and send her back with something tangible to satisfy his creditors. Accordingly, on the 18th of September she departed in charge of the pilot, who had orders to unload her at Niagara, and immediately return with her to the Illinois country. EXPLORING LAKE MICHIGAN. La Salle remained behind, and with fourteen men and four canoes, heavily loaded with a blacksmith's forge, tools, merchandise, and arms, embarked on a voyage of exploration to the southward. They met a constant succession of storms, and would have perished of famine had not the natives generously supplied them with venison and corn. They had nearly come to blows with a band of Outaganies, but finally pacified them and exchanged presents. About the first of November the party reached the mouth of the St. Joseph River, in Michigan, where Tonti was to have joined them, but he had not arrived. La Salle's men grumbled and clamored to be led on to the Illinois country; but La Salle determined to wait for Tonti, who was to come up the eastern shore with twenty men. FORT MIAMIS. To divert the thoughts of his followers from gloomy forebodings, he set them at work erecting a fort of logs near the mouth of the river. This work he named Fort Miamis, probably from the fact that the /liami nation were found occupying the country. This was the first post established within the limits of the lower peninsula.4 Singular as it may seem, since 1615, when Champlain had approached very near the boundaries of Michigan, the posts and missions had been established, as it were, in a semicircle around the lower peninsula, with not a single one inside its limits. The mission of St. Ignace was on the northern side of the Strait of Mackinac; St. Francois Xavier was at Green Bay; St. Simon was on the Grand Manitoulin Island of Lake Huron, and St. Marie at the foot of Lake Superior. Posts were subsequently established on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac, at the foot of Lake Huron, and in various other places within the peninsula. At the end of twenty days, when the fort was well advanced, Tonti arrived, but brought with him only ten men; the remainder had been left, for want of provisions, thirty leagues behind, to sustain themselves by hunting. t This name will generally be written Mackinac instead of Michilimackinac, according to the early style. I Previous to 1721, when Charlevoix visited this post, it had been removed to the site of South Bend, in Indiana.-Judge Campbell's Outlines of History. LA SALLE. 23 La Salle directed Tonti to return and hurry them on, but a violent storm wrecked his canoe, and with the loss of arms and provisions he rejoined La Salle. A few days later the remaining men joined the party. But there were no tidings of the " Griffin." Extremely anxious about her, La Salle sent two men to Mackinac to meet her if she returned, and pilot her to his fort on the Miamis. ON TIlE ILLINOIS. On the 3d of December the entire party, consisting of thirty-three persons, embarked in eight canoes, and, ascending the St. Joseph to the present site of the city of South Bend, Ind., crossed over to the head-waters of the Kan-kakee,* and descended that stream to its junction with the Illinois, near the present little village of Channahon, in Will Co., Ill. Here they began to encounter the buffalo, though not in great plenty. On and around the site of the present village of Utica, in La Salle County, they found a great town, occupied by the Illinois Indians, containing about five hundred lodges and a population of several thousands. Here was the principal centre of all the Indian nations living within the bounds of the State of Illinois. At times there were as many as ten or twelve populous villages, and Franquelin's map of 1684 shows seven villages, containing in the aggregate about four thousand warriors. They included tribes or families of the Illinois, Miamis, Chouanons (Shlawanese), Kickapoos, etc.t When La Salle and his companions reached these clustering villages they found them untenanted. The entire population was absent on its annual hunt. They found plenty of corn stowed away in caches, and helped themselves. On New Year's day, 1680, they landed and heard mass. Continuing down the river, they reached a town of the Illinois, on the site of the present city of Peoria, about the 2d of January. The Indians, to the number of eighty families, were at home and received their visitors with great hospitality at first, but an emissary, said to have been sent to them by Father Allouez, the Jesuit, then in the Miatmi country, and who bore no good-will towards La Salle, came secretly with presents and a cunning speech, and prejudiced them against La Salle. He, however, with his usual success among the savages, discovered and exposed the cheat, and regained their confidence. But his men became uneasy and at length began to desert him, six of them stealing away in the night. Attempts were also made, as in Canada, to poison him. FORT CREVEC(EUR. In the midst of many difficulties, La Salle resolved to erect a strong fortification for the protection of his party from apprehended treachery among the Indians, and the security of his property. Accordingly, about the middle of January, 1680, he began the erection of a stockade work on a gentle knoll upon the east side of the river, at the narrows, where the stream leaves Peoria Lake, and a little below the present city. * This name is written by various writers Theukiki, Hactkek, Kiakiki. It was also called by the French the Riviere Seignelay, Riviere des Macoupins, and Riviere de la Divine. t The names Shawanese and Chouanlons probably refer to the same nations. The fort was defended by palisades twenty-five feet in height, by a wide ditch, and cheveaux-de-frise on the glacis. This was the first civilized occupation of the State of Illinois, or at least the first attempt to plant a colony within the region now containing more than three million people and seven thousand miles of railway. January, 1880, has seen two hundred years pass away since the brave explorer built his primitive work, which he named Fort Crevecoeur (Broken Heart), as expressive of the state of his mind, surrounded as he was by innumerable difficulties, and greatly troubled about his vessel, which had no doubt gone down amid the boisterous surges of Lake Huron. Not a vestige of the fort now remains, and its actual site is probably unknown. La Salle, notwithstanding all his misfortunes, was not discouraged. He resolved to continue his discoveries. In order to do so it was necessary to build a vessel with which to navigate the Mississippi. Accordingly her keel was laid, and the work was prosecuted with such assiduity that in six weeks the hull was nearly completed. She was of about forty tons burden, and had high bulwarks to protect her people from the arrows of the Indians. Sails, rigging, and anchors were lacking, and to provide these La Salle proposed to return to Canada on foot and procure them, together with supplies for future use. In the mean time he bethought him that Hennepin might be employing his time to advantage, and instructed himi to explore the Illinois River during his absence. Hennepin, with two companions and a canoe well laden with supplies and trinkets for Indian trade, left the fort on the last of February. JOURNEY TO CANADA. On the 2d of March, La Salle, with four Frenchmen and the Jlohegan hunter, started on his return to Canada, leaving Tonti, with about fifteen men, most of them mutinous and altogether unreliable, to hold the place during his absence. La Salle and his party toiled up the river, sometimes in open water, but oftener on the shore, dragging their canoes through the timber and over the frozen marsh until the third day, when they met Chassagoac, the principal chief of the Illinois, with whom La Salle entered into an arrangement to supply Fort Crevecoeur with provisions. They killed a buffalo and dried the meat by a fire for future use, and continuing on their dreary journey, soon after passed the remarkable sandstone bluff since known as Starved Rock, which La Salle sent word to Tonti to examine and fortify in case of necessity. At a point several miles below the present city of Joliet they found the river completely closed with ice, and were compelled to leave their canoes and continue their journey on foot. They hid their canoes on an island, and, taking what each man could carry on his back, struck out in a direct line for Lake Michigan. IN KALAMAZOO COUNTY. They reached the lake on the 23d of the month, after crossing several swollen streams (probably branches of the Calumet), and traveling along the hard, sandy beach arrived at Fort Miamis on the 24th. Here he found the two men whom he had sent to Mackinac to look for the "Griffin," 24 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. who reported no tidings of her. These he ordered to proceed overland and join Tonti, while he continued his course across Southern Michigan towards Canada. As near as can be ascertained, the party followed the dividing ridge between the St. Joseph and Kalamazoo Rivers, which course would have taken them through the southern parts of Kalamazoo and Calhoun Counties, across Prairie Ronde and Climax Prairies, and thence through Jackson and Washtenaw Counties to the Huron River, in the vicinity of the present town of Dexter, where they constructed a canoe of elm-bark and floated down the stream to the border of Wayne County, when, finding their way barred by fallen trees, they abandoned their canoe and struck across the country directly to the Detroit River.* On the evening of the 28th of March they encamped on the border of a prairie in the edge of a forest. In the night the guard sounded an alarm, and every man sprang to his gun, while the forest resounded with savage yells. But the Indians, seeing them prepared, retired without molesting them. Leaving St. Joseph as they did at noon, on the 25th, they must have been on the borders of Prairie Ronde when this rencontre took place. The enemy were brought upon them by the reports of their guns in shooting the plentiful game which would no doubt be found on the prairie, or near it, at that season of the year. Several days later they were beset by a large war-party of Mascoutins or Kickapoos, but when they found they were Frenchmen they declared themselves friendly, and left them undisturbed. At the Detroit River La Salle detached two of his men and sent them to Mackinac, as being the nearest place at which they could procure the necessaries of life, and with the remaining two he crossed the river on a raft and struck southeast for the nearest point on Lake Erie, and after marching about thirty miles reached it at Point Pelee. Here he constructed another canoe with the aid of the only man remaining in health, and from thence pursued his journey along the northern shore of the lake, and landed at the spot where the "Griffin" was built on Easter Monday. At this place he found several of his men who had been left in the previous year, who gave him most discouraging tidings. The " Griffin," with her cargo of furs, valued at ten thousand crowns, was lost, and still worse, a ship from France freighted with his merchandise to the value of twenty-two thousand livres had been wrecked in the St. Lawrence, and was a total loss. His followers were completely broken down, and could go no farther, but La Salle, taking three fresh men at Niagara, continued his journey and reached Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May. During sixty-five days he had been traveling through a wilderness more than a thousand miles in extent, where to-day the journey can be made in forty-eight hours. It was at the time the most remarkable experience perhaps in the history of the continent. * There can be very little doubt that La Salle passed through Kala mazoo County in the last of March and beginning of April, 1680, for his journal speaks of passing through great meadows covered with rank grass, which they burned to throw the savages, who were following them, off their track. These meadows were no doubt the beauti CHAPTER V. LA SALLE-(Continued). La Salle searching for Tonti-Tonti Among the Illinois-Hennepin on the Mississippi-Greysolon du Lhut. INDOMITABLE under all his reverses, where man and nature seemed leagued against him, La Salle hastened to Montreal, where, despite his injured credit, he soon procured everything which he required, and then hastened back to Frontenac to prepare for his return to the Illinois. Here he received a letter from Tonti stating that nearly all the men left with him had deserted, after destroying Fort Cr6vecoeur. They had also destroyed Fort Miamis, on the St. Joseph, seized La Salle's property at Mackinac, and after being joined by others, had separated into two parties, one, of eight men, departing for Albany, and the other going down the lakes, with the avowed purpose of taking the life of La Salle. Losing no time in vain lamentations, La Salle selected nine of his most trusty followers, and embarking in canoes on Lake Ontario, went forward to meet the villains, and managed so adroitly that he captured or killed nearly all of the last-named party and brought the prisoners to Frontenac to await the Governor's arrival. Making hasty preparation, he departed from Frontenac on the 10th of August, accompanied by one La Forest and twenty-three men, for the Illinois River. His route was up the Humber River, down the Severn to Lake Huron, and thence to Mackinac, where he found everything hostile to him. Here he left La Forest to bring on the convoy, while, with twelve men, he continued rapidly on his journey, and reached his ruined fort on the St. Joseph November 4th. At this place he left five men with his heavy stores, and with six Frenchmen and an Indian hurried forward up the St. Joseph and down the Kankakee to the Illinois River. The prairies were alive with buffalo, and the party landed and hunted for three days, during which they killed twelve of the animals, besides numbers of deer, geese, and swans. The meat was cut into thin strips and dried, and with an abundant supply they again embarked and proceeded down the river. They found no signs of a fortification on the Rock of St. Louis, where La Salle had instructed Tonti to build, and pushing down the valley they reached the site of the Indian town only to find it a blackened ruin, with the bones of its inhabitants scattered over the plain and hundreds of human skulls fixed upon poles, while the wolves and buzzards were disputing over their foul repast. It was the work of the terrible Iroquois. DISCOVERS THE MISSISSIPPI. Determined to ascertain the fate of Tonti, he left three men hidden on an island in the river, and taking the other ful prairies in the southern part of the county. A direct line from St. Joseph to Detroit would cross them. They also found plenty of game after two or three days' travel from the mouth of the St. Joseph, which would bring them just about to Prairie Ronde, at the rate which they must have traveled at that season of the year in snow and slush. The spring was a very late one, and the night of the 2d of April is mentioned as being so cold that their wet clothes were frozen. LA SALLE. 25 four men in a canoe, started down the river. They found everywhere terrible destruction. Village after village destroyed and everything in ruins. Fort Crevecoeur was found, as he had expected, destroyed, but the vessel remained entire, except that the Iroquois had found means to extract most of the nails and spikes. La Salle continued on to the mouth of the river, passing almost continually blackened camps and signs of flight and pursuit, and in one locality finding the remains of women and children who had been tortured by the savages, but no signs of Tonti and his men. The journey was continued to the mouth of the river, where La Salle first saw the Mississippi, but finding nothing, he drew a sketch of himself and party on a tree, and tying a letter to the same directed to Tonti, he began his return, and reached the rendezvous of his men after a run of four days. Collecting a store of corn from the ruins of the Indian caches, the whole party began the ascent of the river, which they followed to its junction with the Kankakee, where they left their canoes and traveled overland to Fort Miamis, which they reached about the middle of January, 1681, after an exhaustive tramp through the deep snow,,which in places reached to the waist. At the fort on the St. Joseph they found La Forest and his party, who had rebuilt the work, cleared ground for planting, and prepared quite a quantity of timber and planks for a new vessel. Leaving La Salle and his men to rest themselves, we will for a brief period look after the fortunes of Tonti and his command. TONTI. The two men whom La Salle had met at Fort Miamis, on his return to Canada, had rejoined Tonti and brought him and his men tidings of the disasters which had overtaken their commander. The news disheartened them, and they became uneasy and mutinous. Following out La Salle's suggestion to examine and fortify the great cliff on the upper Illinois, Tonti set out with a part of the men on that duty. In his absence, the remainder of his party destroyed Fort Crevecoeur, and fled from the spot. Two of them, however, remaining true to their commander, hastened to carry the news to Tonti, who immediately dispatched four of his men by two different routes to inform La Salle. Tonti's party was now reduced to five men besides himself and the R6collet friars, and to lull the suspicions of the savages, and in some measure secure their friendship, they took up their residence in the Indian town, taking along the forge and tools, and hoping to maintain themselves until the return of La Salle. Suddenly, in the midst of their security, a thunder-bolt fell upon the Illinois. A Shawanese warrior, who had been on a visit among them, and recently departed for his own nation, reappeared, and hastily crossing the river, announced that he had met a great army of Iroquois on their way to attack the Illinois. In a moment all was confusion: warriors whooped and yelled while swathing their arms for battle; women and children screamed; and a crowd of frenzied savages thronged around Tonti and his companions, charging them with treachery, and threatening to take their lives. Tonti explained matters as well as he was able 4 to in broken Indian, but they were so exasperated that they seized his forge and tools and threw them into the river. The gallant Italian finally so far convinced them of his innocence that they left him, and gathering their women, children, and effects together, hurried into their canoes and paddled down the stream to a large, marshy island, where they placed them for protection. Leaving sixty warriors to guard them, the remainder returned to the village, where the excited warriors busied themselves in putting on their grease and war-paint and making ready for a valiant defense, dancing the war-dance, and yelling around their fires through the entire night. The young warriors had been scouting, and now they returned and reported that they had seen the enemy in great numbers along the forest bordering the river Aramoni (the modern Vermilion). They were armed mostly with European weapons,-guns, pistols, and swords, and protected their bodies with corselets or mats made of pliant twigs interwoven with cordage. The scouts also reported that there was a Jesuit among them, and that La Salle himself was with the on-coming enemy. At these latter tidings the Illinois were terribly incensed, and it seemed as if nothing could save the lives of Tonti and his men. He tried every means to pacify them, and, as a last resort, while they danced frantically around him, brandishing their knives and hatchets, he offered to go with them and fight the Iroquois. This allayed their clamor, and forming their battle-line, they crossed the river, and, with the Frenchmen conspicuous among them, swarmed over the precipitous bluff to the south, and out upon the prairie beyond, where they soon met the Iroquois advancing to the encounter. In an instant the air was alive with missiles, and the prairie resounded far and near with the screeches and yells of the combatants. The Illinois, whose reputation for bravery was not of a superior order, for once boldly faced their foes, and the battle waxed hot on all sides. But against the superior discipline and arms of the Iroquois, Tonti saw that the desperate valor of his allies would in the end avail but little, and he resolved to go forward and try the effect of negotiation. The Iroquois professed to be at peace with the French, more through respect for the prowess of Count Frontenac than from love to his principles or followers, and Tonti reasoned that, under this quasi condition of peace, he might possibly prevail upon them to forego their scheme of blood and plunder and leave the Illinois undisturbed. Accordingly he pressed boldly forward towards the dark line of savages, though the air hissed with bullets and arrow-heads, holding out a wampum peace-belt. A few moments and he was among the enemy, who howled and danced around him, brandishing their weapons and glaring upon him with frightful visages and eyes as of demons. A young savage stabbed at his heart with his keen knife, but, fortunately, missed his aim, though the weapon inflicted a severe wound across his breast. In his half-savage dress and swarthy complexion they took him for an Illinois, until a prominent chief, noticing that his ears were not ornamented, called out that he must be a Frenchman. At once he was treated with respect. They led him to the rear and tried to staunch 26 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. his bleeding, while the firing grew more furious in the front. The chiefs held an angry parley, during which Tonti, breathless and bleeding from the blow he had received, managed to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the King of P'rance, and demanded that they be let alone. This bold demand somewhat staggered them, but a reckless young Iroquois snatched Tonti's hat, and, holding it aloft on the point of his gun, made the Illinois believe he was slain, and thereupon they renewed the battle fiercer than before. Another warrior seized him by the hair as if to scalp him. A Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned, and an Onondaga chief, who was friendly to La Salle, was in favor of setting him at liberty. The dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonti told them that the Illinois were twelve hundred strong, and that there were sixty Frenchmen in the village, well armed, who would help them fight the Iroquois unless they desisted from the attack. This statement produced a favorable effect, and the friendly Onondaga carried his point. Diplomacy now took the place of trial by battle, and Tonti was sent back to the llinois ranks with a belt of peace. The firing and whooping ceased, and as Tonti, faint from loss of blood, staggered towards his friends, chiefs and warriors gathered around him with congratulations, and his own men greeted him as one from the dead. The Illinois warriors now withdrew to their village, but the enemy followed them closely, and quite a number crossed the river and appeared among the lodges. Deeming discretion to be the better part of valor, the Illinois set fire to their lodges and proceeded down the river to where their women and children were encamped. The Iroquois took possession of their abandoned town, built themselves a redoubt, and finished the work of destruction, wreaking their vengeance on even the burial-places of their enemies. Tonti and his companions were removed to the Iroquois fort. and on the second day, when the Illinois appeared in great numbers among the hills, the Iroquois evinced much uneasiness, for they had tested the powers of the prairie warriors, and bearing Tonti's account of their numbers in their minds, they were more anxious to negotiate than to fight. It was now their turn to try the virtue of diplomacy, and they accordingly sent forward the leader of the French with proposals to the Illinois. The plan might have worked to the great advantage of the latter had not a young warrior, whom they sent back with Tonti, forgotten the ordinary discretion of the savage. He made haste to show the great joy of his people at the prospect of peace, exposed their situation and stated their true numbers, and also the number of Frenchmen with them. The Iroquois now vented their wrath upon Tonti, and it required his utmost efforts to extricate himself from the awkward dilemma. A treaty was finally concluded, but it proved to be only a cunning device of the Iroquois to lull their enemies into fancied security so that they might the more easily destroy them. Tonti warned the Illinois of their danger, while the Iro quoti grew more jealous of him, and would have sacrificed his party had it not been deemed good policy to keep the peace with Frontenac. They came to him with presents of beaver-skins, and flattering words, while at the same time they were constructing canoes with which to attack the Illinois stronghold. Tonti demanded when they were going to depart and leave the Illinois in peace. They prevaricated and made evasive answers, until one more bold or more heedless than the rest openly declared that before they departed they would eat llinois flesh. At this avowal Tonti indignantly kicked their presents from him, and told them he would have none of them; whereupon the Iroquois drove him from their presence in a rage. Through the following night the French stood guard, expecting every moment an attack. Finding all his efforts for the protection of the Illinois unavailing, Tonti concluded to leave them and the Iroquois to settle their own affairs, and, embarking in a leaky canoe, took his way up the river. Stopping, after paddling for about five leagues, to rest and repair their canoe, one of the friars, Father Ribourde, strolled away from the party for meditation, and was captured and murdered by a strolling band of Kickapoos, who were reconnoitering the Iroquois. Tonti and his party took their way along the western shore of Lake Michigan towards Green Bay, where, among the friendly Pottawattomies, they would be sure of a welcome. They were wholly destitute of provisions, and subsisted partly on the scanty game which they were able to kill, and partly on nuts and roots. Towards the end of November they reached Green Bay, and met a hearty welcome from the Pottawattomie chief, who was a great admirer of La Salle, and who declared " that he knew but three great captains in the world: Frontenac, La Salle, and himself:" * After the departure of Tonti from the illinois country, the hostile intentions of the Iroquois were at once apparent, and the Illinois retreated in a compact body along the western bank of the river, while the Iroquois, who still had a wholesome respect for them, kept abreast of them on the opposite bank. When near the mouth of the river, the Illinois, who had been lulled into a fatal security by the professions of the Iroquois, divided into tribal bands, and most of them scattered in various directions, some crossing to the opposite side of the Mississippi River. The Tamaroa tribe had the hardihood to encamp and remain after the others had departed. They were at once attacked by the Iroquois, and the warriors fleeing for their lives, the women and children fell victims, to the number of seven hundred, according to one writer, to their hellish vengeance, and it was their mangled remains which met the sight of La Salle and his companions a few weeks later. FATHER HENNEPIN. In giving an account of Hennepin's voyage of discovery down the Illinois and up the Mississippi, Mr. Parkman prefaces his chapter with the following: "It was on the last day of the winter that preceded the invasion of the Iroquois that Father Hennepin, with his two companions, Accau and Du Gay, had set out from Fort Craveceur to explore the Illinois to its mouth. It appears from his own later statements, as well as from those of * Discovery of the Great West, p. 219. LA SALLE. 27 - Tonti, that more than this was expected of him, and that La Salle had instructed him to explore not alone the Illinois, but also the upper Mississippi. " That he actually did so, there is no reasonable doubt; and, could he have contented himself with telling the truth, his name would have stood high as a bold and vigorous discoverer. But his vicious attempts to malign his commander, and plunder him of his laurels, have wrapped his genuine merit in a cloud." * Hennepin was evidently egotistical and vainglorious regarding his own merits, and greatly given to the foolish and unprofitable practice of building up himself and his exploits by pulling others' down. His nature partook largely of the marvelous, and he was exceedingly prone to exaggeration; but notwithstanding his strained account of them, his discoveries and adventures are possessed of much real value. Stripped of prejudice and verbiage, the facts of his experience on the great river of the West during several months of 1680 would seem to be briefly as follows: From the best information obtainable it would appear that his companion, Accau,t was virtually the leader of the expedition, though the redoubtable friar appropriated the honor himself. The party passed quietly down the Illinois, and thence began the toilsome ascent against the strong current of the Mississippi. They killed deer, beaver, buffalo, wild turkeys, and occasionally a black bear, which now and then they caught swimming the river. Nothing of special note occurred to disturb their journey until the 11th of April, when, probably in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Wisconsin River, they suddenly beheld a fleet of canoes bearing a war-party of an hundred and twenty naked Sioux, who rushed upon them with hideous yells and captured them before they could make a move either of defense or with a view to escape. They were taken across the river, and went into camp with their captors, who by signs made them understand that they were upon the war-path of the Miamis, or, as Hennepin translated it, Miamiha. When Hennepin told them the Miamis had left the country they uttered dismal howlings, and seemed greatly disappointed. Hennepin made them presents, and their hostility, which at first seemed about to culminate in the immolation of their prisoners, gradually gave way, and they finally concluded to take them and their goods into their own country, far to the northwest. The party wended their way up the river, occasionally stopping to hunt the game, which was abundant, past Lake Pepin, which Hennepin named the "Lake of Tears," by reason of the Indian howlings and lamentations over the Frenchmen; and at the end of nineteen days from the date of their capture, or on the 30th of April, landed near the site of the present flourishing city of St. Paul, the capital of a State containing a half-million inhabitants. Here Hennepin's troubles really began. First, the Indians broke his canoe in pieces, and proceeded to divide the prisoners and spoils among the different bands which com posed the expedition. I I I From thence they proceeded on foot toward their villages in the north, traveling with such mighty strides that, Hennepin says, " no European could keep up with them." Though it was the beginning of May, yet in that northern latitude the nights were cold, and ice frequently formed over the marshes and streams which the Frenchmen were compelled to wade to their no small discomfort. At last, on the fifth day after leaving the Mississippi, they arrived at their villages, situated around what are now called the Mille Lacs, a hundred miles nearly north from St. Paul, and about thirty miles east by south from the present town of Brainerd, at the crossing of the Northern Pacific Railway on the Mississippi. As they entered one of the villages, Hennepin was nearly frightened out of his senses by the appearance of a number of stakes with bundles of grass attached, which his vivid imagination construed into an evidence of forthcoming martyrdom for himself and companions. Instead of a horrible death they were regaled upon wild rice and dried whortleberries, which Hennepin declared was the best meal he had eaten since his capture. And now for two months the three voyagers were separated in different villages, and Hennepin busied himself in trying to make converts to his religion, but with so little success that he became tired and gave over the attempt. At length the time for the annual buffalo hunt arrived, and the three captives were assigned each to a particular band. To this arrangement Hennepin demurred, and stated that he expected a party of his own people to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin River, who would come to trade with the Indians. This story the Indians readily accepted as true; and accordingly the entire hunting-party of two hundred and fifty braves, with their women and children, accompanied by the three Frenchmen,. set out for the rendezvous, taking their way in canoes down Rum River, the outlet of the Mille Lacs, and thence down the Mississippi. A canoe was furnished for Hennepin and his two companions, who do not seem to have been very friendly towards him, and only after considerable persuasion consented to allow him to occupy the canoe with them. At the mouth of Rum River, which Hennepin named the St. Francis, the party encamped in bark huts and tepees made of skins. Here they were on the verge of starvation, and Hennepin, becoming tired of Indian life, was anxious to start down the river for his expected (or pretended) meeting. Through the friendship of a prominent chief, whom Hennepin calls Ou-as-i-cou-d6, he and Du Gay, one of his companions, were furnished with a birch canoe, an earthen or stone pot, a gun, a knife, and a beaver robe, and thus equipped they began their voyage. Accau, choosing the wild life of the Indians, remained behind. Hennepin and Du Gay soon reached the great falls of the Mississippi, which he named in honor of St. Anthony, and which appellation still clings to them after the lapse of two hundred years. In his passage up the river he had stopped nine miles below the falls, and, taking to the land, had missed them. This, then, was the first view, so far as known, which any white man ever had of them. * Discovery of the Great West, p. 223. t Hennepin calls him Ako. 28 Rio HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.. His description is fairly accurate, though, as in the case of the falls of Niagara, he overestimates their height, and not content with his first estimate, increases it in the second edition of his narrative, in 1697. Here they found a half-dozen Indians making sacrifices and offerings to the " Spirit of the Waters,"* which consisted of beaver-skins, and sometimes, when the case was well-nigh desperate, of everything the savages possessed. Leaving this wonderful locality, now occupied by a flourishing manufacturing city of more than thirty thousand inhabitants, they floated sixty leagues down the river, living mostly upon turtles. Once a great herd of buffalo crossed the river in front of them, and they contrived to kill a single animal. In their half-famished condition they built a fire, and cooking a generous supply, ate to repletion, and suffered severely for their heedlessness. Passing slowly down the river under a burning sun, they passed Lake Pepin, and a few days after were surprised at the appearance of the chief with whom Hennepin had lived during his captivity, who, with ten warriors in canoes, was descending the river to meet the promised traders. They passed the Frenchmen, and in three days returned, having met nobody. The chief gave the friar a good scolding, and then resumed his course up the river. 'Hennepin and Du Gay, despairing of finding the friends, as they had promised the Sioux, now resolved to join a party of Sioux who were hunting on the Chippewa River, where they could obtain much-needed provisions, and then return to Canada via the Wisconsin River and Green Bay, as Hennepin seems to have had no desire to rejoin Tonti on the Illinois. Returning up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Chippewa, they found this band, with whom also was Accau, and joined them in a hunt along the Mississippi. While engaged in this pastime they one day heard strange news. A war-party of their nation had met towards Lake Superior five "spirits," meaning Europeans. When the hunt was concluded, Hennepin, being anxious to see the " spirits," turned up'the river with the hunters, and a short distance below St. Anthony's Falls met Greysolon Du Lhut and four well-armed Frenchmen. This man, who was a consin of Tonti, and born at Lyons, was a famous leader of the coureurs des bois, and had been as great an explorer as La Salle. He was closely connected with Count Frontenac through several prominent officers of the colonial government, and was also carrying on the fur-trade in a somewhat clandestine manner, though in perfect understanding with Frontenac. He had left Quebec in September, 1678, and had, consequently, been about two years in the wilderness when he found Hennepin. In 1679 he had visited the Sioux, and planted the arms of France. In the fall of the same year he held a council at the west end of Lake Superior with the Assiniboins and other tribes, under the authority of the Governor-General. In the month of June, 1680, he left the head of Lake Superior with the four Frenchmen, ascended a river, and probably reached the Mississippi via the St. Croix, where * This was the principal deity of the Sioux, and bore the highsounding name of " O-ank-tay-hee." The savages said he bore the form of a buffalo, and lived under the waters. he heard of Hennepin and his party. In company with him the French all returned to the Sioux villages at the Mille Lacs, where they were feasted by the Indians abundantly. In the beginning of autumn the French, under the lead of Du Lhut, descended the Mississippi to the Wisconsin, and following that stream returned to Green Bay, and shortly thereafter to Mackinac, where they passed the winter. Hennepin returned to Canada in the spring of 1681, where he was warmly received by Frontenac, who kept him in his house for twelve days. He soon after returned to France, where many editions of his marvelous stories were published.t CHAPTER VI. LA SALLE-(Continued). He discovers the Mouth of the Mississippi-His Subsequent Explorations and Death in Texas, 1687. LA SALLE and his companions, whom we left at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, in the autumn of 1680, remained there through the winter. Living in the neighborhood of the fort, La Salle found a band of twenty-five or thirty Eastern Indians, Mohegans and Abenakis, who, in consequence of the wars in New England, had fled westward and settled near the borders of Lake Michigan. With these La Salle was soon on good terms. One of this band, a Mohegan, had been with him for two years, and was exceedingly useful, not only for his success in hunting but for his knowledge of various Indian dialects, which served him as an interpreter. As the winter advanced a Shawanese chief, at the head of one hundred and fifty warriors, sought out the French commander to ask his protection against the Iroquois. La Salle took advantage of the fear of the Iroquois which pervaded all the Western tribes to consolidate them under his protection, visiting the Miamis, the Outagamies, and the Illinois for the purpose. The latter he met at the head of a small party of his men on the great prairies in Central Illinois. His plan was to concentrate all the tribes of Illinois, Indiana, Southern Michigan, and Wisconsin at one point where they could cultivate the soil, find abundant game, and be under the protection and instruction of the French. His first object was to explore the Mississippi to its mouth, open the river to trade and commerce, and found trading-posts and settlements in the valley. From his t A brief additional account of Du Lhut may not be out of place in this connection. He built' a trading-post on the north side of Lake Superior, on Thunder Bay, which he called Can-is-tig-oy-an. Commanded at Mackinac 1680-86. In 1686 he was ordered by Denonville to fortify the Detroit. He built a stockade fort at the outlet of Lake Huron, which he occupied for some time. In 1687 he served at the head of a body of Indians under Denonville against the Senecas. In 1689, at the time of the Iroquois invasion of Canada, he, with twentyeight Canadians, attacked and killed or captured a party of twenty two Senecas. In 1697 he commanded a company of infantry at Fort Frontenac. He died about 1710. Charlevoix calls him "one of the bravest officers the King ever had in the colony." LA SALLE. 29 LA SALLE. 29 - encampment on the prairie he sent La Forest, who had accompanied him, to Mackinac to instruct Tonti to await his arrival,* and returned himself to Fort Miami. From Fort Miami he ascended the St. Joseph with ten men well armed, and crossing to the upper waters of the Kankakee held a council with the Miamis. Here he found a band of Iroquois warriors, who had been for some time in the place, demeaning themselves with haughty insolence, and speaking of the French with the utmost contempt. La Salle confronted and rebuked them boldly, and in the following night they stole away and left the vicinity. In the Miami villages he found also numbers of the warriors of the redoubtable King Philip of Mount Hope, Wampanoags, Nipmucks, and others, who had fled to the West on the death of their chief. The conference with the Miamis was successful, and La Salle returned to Fort Miami satisfied that the groundwork of his great plans was well laid out. In the latter part of May he left Fort Miami, in canoes, and returned to Mackinac, where, to his great satisfaction, he found Tonti and Father Membre, who had lately arrived there from Green Bay. A few days later they embarked for Fort Frontenac, which they reached in. safety, after paddling a thousand miles. He was a third time successful in procuring men and supplies, and in the autumn again returned to Fort Miami, via Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, and Michigan. This was in the fall of 1681. Losing no time, La Salle selected eighteen Abenakis and Mohegan Indians to accompany him on his voyage down the Mississippi. To these were joined their women and children, twelve in. number. On the 21st of December the party, consisting of twentyfour Frenchmen and thirty Indians, making fifty-four in all, set out from Fort Miami, Tonti in charge of the advance party in six canoes, and La Salle, with the remainder, following. It was midwinter, and they transported their luggage and canoes on sledges around the south end of the lake to the mouth of the Chicago River, and thence up that stream and down the Illinois, until they reached open water below the site of Peoria, when they took to their canoes. La Salle had given up the project of trying to navigate the great river in a large vessel, and so they did not attempt to complete the one on the stocks at Fort Crevecoeur, but kept on in their canoes, and reached the mouth of the Illinois on the 6th of February. Entering the majestic Mississippi, they glided rapidly down the stream, and towards evening passed the mouth of the muddy Missouri. Three days later they saw the mouth of the Ohio, which Membre called the Ouabache. On the 24th of February they landed near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs, where they encamped and sent out a hunting-party. Here also La Salle constructed a stockade fort, and named it Fort Proudhomme, in honor of one of his followers by that name who had been lost for a number of days in the forest. From this point, also, La Salle sent presents to the Chickasaws, living to the eastward. _ _ — * A band of Outagamies had told him of the safe arrival of Tonti among the Pottawattomies, and also of the safe arrival of Hennepin and his party. Leaving Proudhomme with a few companions in charge of the fort, they again embarked, and proceeded on their way until the 11th of March, when, in the midst of a dense fog, they heard the booming of an Indian drum and the shouts of the war-dance. Pulling for the opposite shore, they encamped and threw up hasty breastworks, and when the fog cleared away found themselves near the mouth of the Arkansas. The Indians were the Kappa band, of the Arkansas nation, who received them with the greatest cordiality, and supplied them with fruits and vegetables.t Here they had a grand reception, and La Salle erected a cross, and fixing thereon the arms of France, took possession of the country, in the name of his sovereign. Resuming their journey, guided by two Arkansas Indians, they next landed about three hundred miles lower down, in the vicinity of the Tensas Rivert or bayou. Two hours' distance from here was the capital of the Tensas nation. Tonti and Membr6 visited it and came back astonished at what they had seen. The town was well built of sunbaked brick or adobes, and there was a temple built of the same material, where the people worshiped the sun. The chief made a ceremonious visit to La Salle in his camp, and presents were exchanged by the two leaders. On the following day they reached the country of the Natchez Indians, whom they also visited in their villages, where they found much the same appearance as in the Tensas town. Below the Natchez they visited the Coroas, the Oumas, and passed villages of the Quinipissas, by whom they were greeted with a shower of arrows. Farther down they found a deserted village of the Tangibao, in which were many decaying corpses left during an inroad of their enemies a few days before. On the 6th of April they reached the head of the passes, and here, dividing their force, La Salle followed the west, D'Autray the east, and Tonti the middle passage. As the canoe drifted downward, La Salle caught the salt breeze from the sea, and soon the broad bosom of the gulf appeared on the horizon, and the object of all his toils and privations was found at last,-The Molnth of the Mississippi. On the 9th day of April, 1682, with great pomp and ceremony, a cross was planted, and La Salle, in the name of Louis the Fourteenth, took possession of all the lands watered by the great river, which vast region he named, in honor of his sovereign, LOUISIANA. Returning up the river, La Salle was prostrated by sickness at Fort Proudhomme, and forced to remain until his fever abated. He sent Tonti forward to Mackinac with dispatches announcing his discovery, and with directions when his errand was accomplished to return to the Illinois. By the latter part of July, La Salle had recovered sufficiently to resume his journey, and about the 1st of August reached Fort Miami. In September he returned to Mackinac. His intention was to return to France, lay his discoveries before the court, and procure men and'means for the estab t This tribe, a remnant of which still remains, have generally been known by the name of Quapaws. t This name La Salle wrote Taensas. 30, HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. lishment of a post near the mouth of the Mississippi. In the meanwhile he directed Tonti to build a strong fort on the Long Rocher of the Illinois, and make ready for a colony. On the eve of La Salle's departure for Quebec, on his way to Europe, he heard that the Iroquois were again about to attack the Western tribes. His colony was in danger, and all his plans were likely to come to naught. In this dilemma he hastened to the Illinois, and rejoined Tonti near the Indian town. FORT ST. LOUIS. La Salle constructed his fort on what is now called "Starved Rock,"* situated on the south side of the Illinois, which here runs nearly west, and about opposite the village of Utica, in La Salle County. The rock rises perpendicularly from the water to the height of more than a hundred feet, and is separated from the sandstone bluff which forms the bold escarpment that, in bygone ages, was the shore of the great river through which Lake Michigan discharged its waters into the Mississippi River by a deep ravine. It is accessible from the rear only by a narrow passage, and its area, which is nearly level on-the top, is about an acre. In December, 1682, La Salle and Tonti began the work of building a fort on this impregnable rock. It was encircled around the margin by a strong palisade, and inside were erected dwellings, barracks, and storehouses. On the broad river-bottom opposite, and among the hills and rugged bluffs on either side the river, in the course of a few months congregated a great number of Indians of various nationalities, —lllnois, Miamis, Shawanese, and even Abenakis from beyond the Green Mountains of New England. Franquelin's map of 1684, already quoted, shows an aggregate of about four thousand warriors, besides women and children, so that, at a low estimate, the total population must have been ten or twelve thousand; perhaps the most dense of any Indian population within a similar area in the history of the continent.t In the mean time, Frontenac had been recalled from his position as Governor-General of Canada, in February, 1682, and Le Febvre de la Barre appointed in his stead. This was a serious blow to La Salle and his plans, for Count Frontenac had, from the first, been his fast friend, while the new Governor unfortunately became his bitter enemy. La Salle in his safe retreat at Fort St. Louis enjoyed an immense trade with the Western Indians, and, no doubt, cut off quite a proportion of what would naturally have gone to Frontenac and Montreal, were it not for his post and the great Indian colony gathered around it. In the beginning of 1683 the Iroquois were again threatening war, not only against the Illinois and Miamis of the West, but against all the nations of the upper lakes and the French in Canada. The new Governor-General strove by every means in his power to avert such a calamity, but while striving to prevent them from attacking the * This name is said to be derived from the fact that a party of Illinois Indians, after the assassination of Pontiac, were pursued to this point by the Pottawattomies, who besieged them until they all starved to death. This is a current tradition in the region. t La Salle, in a memoir addressed to the minister of marine, estimates the total number at twenty thousand. Northwestern Indians, he (it is said) connived at their determination to make war upon La Salle and the Illinois. He also seized upon Fort Frontenac, the property of La Salle, under the flimsy pretext that the latter had not lived up to the conditions of his grant. Soon after he sent the Chevalier de Baugis with an armed party to take possession of La Salle's fort on the Illinois. In the mean time La Salle had left his fort, in the early autumn of 1683, in command of Tonti, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France. On his way he met the Chevalier de Baugis, on his way to take possession of Fort St. Louis. La Salle made no objections, and even wrote to Tonti to receive De Baugis well: and the two commanders divided the command between them, Tonti representing La Salle and De Baugis the Governor. In the latter part of March the Iroquois attacked the place, but were easily beaten off. La Salle sailed for France, where he completely won over the king and court to his interests, and was granted much more than he asked. His lieutenant, La Forest, who had been ejected from Fort Frontenac, was then in Paris; and he was at once commissioned to return to Canada, and re-occupy, in La Salle's name, both Forts Frontenac and St. Louis. In the place of two ships, which La Salle had asked for, he was supplied with four. A hundred soldiers were furnished, and a great number of workmen and mechanics, and even women joined the expedition. There were also several priests of various orders, including La Salle's brother, and altogether a company of two hundred and eighty persons. The principal vessel, the "Joly," of the royal navy, carried thirty-six guns. The naval command was given to one Captain Beaujeu, of the royal navy, while La Salle controlled all, except the management of the vessels at sea. La Salle's grand scheme was to take possession of the whole vast valleys of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi establish a chain of trading-posts from Quebec to the mouth of the great river; plant permanent settlements all along the route; and eventually, drive the Spaniards from the Gulf of Mexico, thus giving the king of the French control of the largest and fairest portions of the North American continent, and confining the English settlements to a narrow strip along the Atlantic coast. He would have united all the Indian tribes of the interior, excepting only the Iroquois confederacy, to the arms of France, and by an immense display of force have kept possession of the country. It was a magnificent plan, but destined never to be consummated. The expedition sailed from Rochelle on the 24th of July, 1684. La Salle and Beaujeauwere at cross-purposes; everything went wrong; and when the vessels reached the West Indies, La Salle and fifty of the people on board the " Joly" were sick. But the worst trouble of all was the loss of the " St. Frangois," transport, laden with supplies, which was captured by the Spaniards. Towards the end of November La Salle was sufficiently recovered to resume the voyage, which he did, accompanied by his brother Joutel, the historian of the expedition, and others of his followers, on board the store-ship " Amiable," LA SALLE. a1 which Beaujeu declared he would leave, to follow as best she could. Crossing the Mexican Gulf, they made land far to the westward of the Mississippi, at Matagorda Bay. The "Joly" soon after arrived, when her commander accused La Salle of deserting him, and they fell into a dispute as to the location of the mouth of the Mississippi; La Salle contending that they had passed it, and Beaujeu threatening to return to France. La Salle landed a party to explore the adjacent shores, who reported a great river lying to the east of them, which he believed was the western mouth of the Mississippi, but which was in reality the Colorado River, of Texas, and the bay into which it discharged, the present Matagorda Bay, the entrance to which is four hundred and fifty miles in a straight line west by south from the mouth of the Mississippi. At this point La Salle determined to land the people and stores, and send the " Joly" back to France. On attempting to make the entrance to the bay, the " Amiable," storeship, ran on a reef or bar and stuck fast. Attempts were made to unload her cargo, which included all the supplies for the colony; but a storm arose, and the vessel going to pieces, most of her cargo was lost. It is affirmed by some writers that she was willfully wrecked. In the midst of these difficulties the Indians proved troublesome, and even hostile, stealing everything they could lay hold off, and at length attacking a small party and killing two men. Finally, taking on board a portion of the colonists, who had become anxious to leave the country, Beaujeu made sail and disappeared. It is said, upon good authority, that Beaujeu knew he had passed the mouth of the river, and that before he returned to France he visited it, and caused a map to be made of the region. There is little doubt that he was treacherous to La Salle from the beginning. These occurrences took place in February, 1685. La Salle constructed a temporary fort, and covered it with sails, and here was gathered the heterogeneous colony and what stores they had been able to save from the wreck. The common followers of La Salle were made up of the very scum of Rochelle and Rochefort, and a spirit of insubordination, and even treachery, speedily began to develop itself. Several men deserted; one was caught and hung, and a lot of desperadoes conspired to kill Joutel. La Salle undertook to explore the country, with the view of finding the Mississippi. In his preliminary explorations he found a better place for the erection of a fort, near the head of Matagorda Bay, on the little river which he named the La Vache, now known as the Lavaca. Removing everything from the first fortification to the new position they laboriously constructed a more elaborate work, inclosed with strong pickets, and in which the colonists lived in tents and hovels. The fort was named St. Louis. In his extremity the indomitable leader found how wofully he was deceived in regard to his location, and it became apparent that he was many hundred miles from where he in tended to found his settlement, in the midst of a wild and inhospitable region, beyond the probable reach of succor. In this dilemma it became apparent that relief must be obtained in some manner, for the miserable colonists were dying daily, and provisions would soon be needed. La Salle could see but one way out of the difficulty, and that was for him or some other person to make his way across the continent to Canada, and procure the means of removing the colony to a more favorable region or back to France. The whole season of 1686 had been spent in a fruitless endeavor to find the " fatal river," as Joutel calls it. Up to the last moment La Salle had relied upon a small vessel, called the " Belle," to transport his followers to the Mississippi as soon as its position was determined, but this vessel was unfortunately lost, and nothing remained but the journey to Canada. It was about the 7th of January, 1687, when La Salle and his little party left Fort St. Louis upon that journey from which he was never to return. He was assassinated by some of his followers on one of the head branches of the Trinity River, on the 19th day of March, 1687, at the age of forty-four years. It was a most brutal murder, and a most unjust requital for all his bitter experiences in the interests of human knowledge. La Salle was one of the greatest men of his day, and had he lived to the ordinary age of man the value of his early discoveries would no doubt have been greatly enhanced by the labors and explorations of his later years. It was a sad day for the followers of La Salle when the bullet of the assassin closed his earthly career. His brother, the Abbe Cavelier, Joutel, and a few others made their way over the country to the Arkansas River, where they met with two Frenchmen, who had followed Tonti in a brave endeavor to rescue his old commander when he heard of his misfortunes in Texas. Tonti had penetrated, at the head of a small party, from the Fort St. Louis of Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi, where he searched for many miles on either hand, but finding nothing had reluctantly returned, leaving a part of his men (on his way up the river) near the Arkansas. Of these were the two who had met Joutel and La Salle's brother. The party arrived safely in Canada, and from thence returned to France. The remainder of the Texas colony were mostly destroyed in one way or another. The assassins quarreled, and shot each other; the Indians massacred some; a remnant were found and rescued from death by the Spaniards; and a few spent their lives among the savages. When Tonti heard of the death of La Salle, which had been studiously kept from him by Joutel and the abb6, he immediately resolved to rescue those who were left behind in Texas; and in December, 1688, he left Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, with a party of five Frenchmen, a Shawanese warrior, and two Indian servants, paddled down the Illinois and Mississippi, and thence up the Red River to a village of the Caddoes, which he reached at the end of March, 1689. Here he was informed that a portion of those he sought were eighty leagues distant, and he resolved to push on and rescue them; but his companions refused, with two exceptions, to follow him farther. Nothing daunted, he continued his search with the two men who remained faithful until he was satisfied he could do nothing further, when he reluctantly retraced his steps, and after 32 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. = _ -~I innumerable hardships reached Fort St. Louis in September.* We have been somewhat particular in tracing the journeys, voyages, and explorations of the great discoverer, partly because of the intense interest still centered in them, but chiefly because of La Salle's connection directly and indirectly with the discovery and early settlement of Michigan. It is apparent to any one who takes the trouble to investigate closely the movements of the French in the region of the lakes, that the first post established within the borders of the lower peninsula was the one at the mouth of the St. Joseph River by La Salle, in November, 1679.t According to the best authority there can be no doubt but La Salle was also the first white man (or one of a party of three) who ever visited the county of Kalamazoo, which took place in the latter place of March or forepart of April, 1680, when he was on his way to Canada from Fort Crevecoeur, on the Illinois; and the conclusion is irresistible that he and his companions encamped for the night on Prairie Ronde. The careful researches of the historian Francis Parkman among the Jesuit and colonial records of France and Canada put these matters beyond a doubt. (See his volume, " Discovery of the Great West." Boston: Brown & Little, publishers.) CHAPTER VI I. MICHILIMACKINAC. Du Lhut-M. Perot-M. de la Porte Louvigny-M. de la Motte Cadillac-Tjugh-sagh-ron-die-Founding of Detroit-" Company of the Colony"-Trouble with Indians, 1703, 1712. As we have seen, the mission of St. Ignace, of the Straits of Michilimackinac, was founded in 1671. The French gave this name to the adjacent region, and after the establishment of a military post there, which must have been about 1680, it became one of the most important points in the French possessions of North America. Daniel Greysolon Du Lhut seems to have been the first, or at least * In addition to the services which we have seen Henri De Tonti performed, he led a strong band of French and Indians in Denonville's expedition against the Iroquois in 1687. This band was from the Illinois, and Tonti crossed from Fort Miami to Detroit, and probably passed through Kalamazoo County. He was proprietor of Fort St. Louis for several years after La-Salle's death, and carried on the fur-trade extensively until about 1702, when he was transferred to Louisiana. He was sent to Mobile Bay by D'Iberville, Governor of Louisiana, where he made a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians. The date of his death is not known. His brother, Alphonse De Tonti, was for many years commandant at Detroit. Fort St. Louis, on the Illinois, was occupied by the French until about 1720. t The writer who contributed the history of Berrien County to the Pioneer Collections of Michigan undertakes to show that Fathers Allouez, Dablon, and Marquette visited this point between the years 1666 and 1670. Dablon and Allouez visited the Fox and Mascoutti Indians on the west side of the lake, but there is not a particle of evidence to show that they visited the east side of the lake. Father Marquette passed down near the east shore on his way to Mackinaw in May, 1675, but did not land at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Marquette died on the eastern shore on the 19th of May, 1675, as spoken of elsewhere. It is probable that a Jesuit mission was established here about the year 1700, when probably Allouez visited the place. (See Parkman's works.) one of the first military commandants of this important post. At any rate he was there in 1683, and continued until 1686, when he was ordered by M. Denonville, Governor-General of New France, to establish a fortified post on the "d'etroit," near Lake Erie, which order he proceeded to put in execution; but he did not build the work on the Detroit River. It was situated on the site of Fort Gratiot,t at the foot of Lake Huron, and was only kept up until 1688, when it was abandoned. It was named Fort St. Joseph,~ after the patron saint of New France. In 1686, M. Perot succeeded Du Lhut in command of Fort Baude, at Mackinac. M. Perot appears to have remained in command until 1691, when he was succeeded by M. de la Porte Louvigny, who was succeeded by M. de la Motte Cadillac, in 1694. At times this place was almost completely cut off from communication with Montreal and Quebec, but the hold of the French upon it was never relaxed. In 1695 the place, according to a letter from Cadillac to a friend in Quebec, contained sixty houses,-as he says, "one of the largest villages in all Canada;" the fort was a strong one, and had a fine garrison of two hundred soldiers; and there were, besides the regular residents, a great many persons who resided there a part of the year. Cadillac commanded the place from 1694 to 1699. DETROIT. Some time in the year 1700, Cadillac, who had become convinced of the necessity of a strong fort on the Detroit, proceeded to France, and in a personal interview with the Count Ponchartrain,|l minister for the colonies, readily enlisted him in behalf of the project. Under the commission of the king, Cadillac returned to Canada, arriving at Quebec on the 8th of March, 1701. On the 5th of June he left La Chine with fifty soldiers, and about the same number of Canadian merchants and mechanics. Under him, with the rank of captain, went M. Alphonse de Tonti, a brother of Henri de Tonti, and two lieutenants. A Jesuit accompanied the expedition as missionary to the Indians, and a Recollet priest as chaplain. The command safely arrived at Detroit on the 24th of July, 1701. Here he constructed a small stockaded work with two bastions at the angles, and inclosing sufficient space to contain a few log buildings for barracks. The roofs were thatched with grass. This work Cadillac named "Fort Ponchartrain," in honor of the French minister.~ t Fort Gratiot was built by an American officer of that name, in 1814. i In the next year (1687) Baron La Hontan succeeded Du Lhut in command of Fort St. Joseph. He burned and evacuated the fort in 1688. There is considerable uncertainty about the name Du Lhut. Some writers speak of two brothers. The family name seems to have been Greysolon, or Grisolon, and Du Lhut the name of the estate, near Lyons. 11 This name is written Pontchartrain in Sheldon's History of Michigan. ~ There is at least the probability that there was a French fort at Detroit many years previous to 1701, though it may have been a post of the coureurs des bois, and not recognized by the government. From statements in the New York colonial documents it would appear that it was in existence as early as 1679. It is referred to in 1689 and 1691. Judge Campbell says it may not have been continuously occupied, and was probably never garrisoned by a regular military force until Cadillac's time, 1701. MICHILIMACKINAC. M.3 In the autumn of this year a company was formed, called the "' Company of the Colony of Canada," composed of merchants and traders interested in the fur trade of the country. A contract was drawn up and signed, of which the following is a true copy, from " Shieldon's History of Michigan": COMPANY OF TIE COLONY OF CANADA. " Contract made with the Company of the Colony of Canada concerningy Fort Fronltenac and Detroit, to enable said Company to trafeic for beaver and other peltries, in conformity to the agreement made in a convention held at Quebec, Oct. 31, 1701 " Before the royal notaries at Quebec, in New France, appeared M. le Chevalier Callieres, lieutenant-governor for the king in this country of New France, and Monsieur Champigny, administrator of justice, police, and revenue of the said country, who testify that, in consequence of orders which they have this year received from his majesty, to entrust to the Company of the Colony of this said country the posts of Detroit and Fort Frontenac, there was held at the Chateau St. Louis, in this city, on the eighth of the present month, a general assembly of all the inhabitants of this country who have a deliberative voice in the said company, that all the arrangements might be made in their presence, if the company should decide to accept the said posts of Detroit and Fort Frontenac. "There were present at this assembly the seven directors-general of the said company, the governors of Montreal and Three Rivers, many civil and military officers, and the merchants and other inhabitants interested in the company. " After mature deliberation, the result was declared to be the acceptance of these posts by the company, for the purposes of trade in beaver and other peltries, to the entire exclusion of all private individuals who are now, or may hereafter become, residents of that country; and that the act of said acceptance shall be passed between the governor-general and intendant and the directors-general of the said company. "In consequence of said decision, the following articles of agreement have been made between the governor-general and intendant on the one part, and Messrs. d'Auteuil, procureur-general of the king in the sovereign council of this country, Lotbinieres, licutenant-general of this city of Quebec, Irazeur, Gobin, Macart, and Pierre, gentlemen, merchants of this city of Quebec, all directors-general of the said company, on the other part. "Be it known, that the governor-general and intendant, in consequence of the express orders which they have this year received from the king, do, by these presents and acceptances, in the name of His Majesty, cede and convey to the directors of the said Company of the Colony of the said posts of Detroit and Fort Frontenac, giving into the possession of the said Company of the Colony, from this day forth, the said posts in the State in which they now are, for their use to traffic in furs, to the exclusion of all other inhabitants of said country, so long as it shall please His Majesty. " It shall be the duty of the said company to complete the construction of the fort at Detroit, and the buildings properly belonging thereto; and the company shall in future keep said fort and buildings in good repair, that they may be maintained and rendered in the same state in which they are now, and better, if possible, whenever Ilis Majesty shall judge proper to receive them, if in the course of time he so order. " The Company of the Colony is also to take charge of the goods which have been sent to the said places, obeying the conditions that have been agreed upon,-Messrs. Radisson and Arnault to be overseers of the storehouse of the said goods which the intendant has placed in the hands of the directors of the company. They are also to have charge of the advances made by the king for this establishment, and to make payment for the said goods, and advances to the intendant, from the first bills which shall be returned from Detroit; and in case said bills shall not be sufficient, on the 1st of October, 1702, the said overseers shall give bills of exchange far the remainder, which shall be drawn upon the directors and commissioners of said company in Paris, payable to the securities and overseers of the storehouses, for the purpose of liquidating the claims against the said company, conformably with the agreement made with the said lord-lieutenant. "The intendant shall deduct from the amount due six thousand 5 livres, French money, being the gift ordered by His Majesty for the support of the honest families in this country who may need assistance. " The payment of the said sum of six thousand livres shall be made by the company every year, on the said first of October, so long as it shall enjoy the commerce of the said post of Detroit. "It is also agreed that the king shall support, at his expense, the garrison which the Governor shall order for the protection of the said fort of Detroit, and that the commandant and one other officer only shall be maintained by the company. "The said commandant and soldiers shall not make any trade for furs with the savages nor French, directly nor indirectly, under any pretext whatever, under pain of confiscation of the said furs, and other punishment prescribed by the king. " Moreover, the said company binds itself to cause to be conveyed from Montreal to Detroit, at its own expense, the provisions and other articles which His Majesty shall furnish to the said garrison, with the help of fifteen livres per hundred-weight, which the intendant shall cause to be paid from the treasury of His Majesty to the company. " In regard to Fort Frontenac, it will remain as it now is, fully and entirely at the disposal of His Majesty, unless the company can advance some better claim than that of placing deputies there to make commerce in furs for their profit, to the exclusion of all others. "Until His Majesty's orders shall be received, the deputies shall be lodged and their goods stored in the store-houses of the fort, as the magazine guard and the goods of the king have been heretofore. " There shall be made an inventory of all the effects which shall be found at the said fort, for the commerce of the said place, after the return of the last convoy for this year, which effects shall remain for the company, who shall be bound to pay for them at the price expressed in the invoice and statement which is in the hands of the intendant. The said amount to be paid during the year 1702, from the returns of the commerce; and in case that the said returns shall not be sufficient, the balance shall be paid in bills of exchange, which shall be drawn upon the said commissioners of the said company, and its director in Paris. "The said company shall be required to pay the sum of seven livres and ten sous, French money, per hundred-weight, for the transportation of effects from Montreal to the said fort; and the said company enjoying, as hereinbefore stated, the privilege of trading for furs at the said place of Fort Frontenac, exclusive of all others, will be required to transport to the said Fort Frontenac the articles necessary for the subsistence of the garrison of the said place, conformably to the orders of the king, contained in his dispatches of the present year. The commandant, officers, and soldiers which the governorgeneral shall hold there in garrison shall make no trade, directly or indirectly, on pain of confiscation of their furs and other punishments prescribed by the laws of the king, until the government be revoked. " Executed and conveyed at Quebec, Chateau St. Louis, in the forenoon of the thirty-first day of October, 1701, the said gentlemen interested and the notaries having signed at the time, the agreements remaining in the office of M. de Chamblon, one of the notaries." Thus it appears that the original and principal cause of the establishment of a French post at Detroit was the desire to control the fur trade of the Upper Lake region,-a trade which, in the outset of the settlement, was placed under the control of a company of merchants, who were guaranteed a monopoly by both the colonial and home governments. The importance of the post from a military point of view, while of considerable moment, was subordinate to its commercial consequence, and, lastly, the establishment of missions in its vicinity was also a factor in the general plan. TJ UGH-SAGH-RON-DIE. This was the Indian name of a Huron village which formerly stood on the site of Detroit, probably as early as 1650-55,* and quite likely planted there upon the disper' Some writers claim that there was an Indian village here in 1620. It is also stated that a colony of Hurons settled on the site of Detroit in 1680. There were probably Indian settlements there at various periods. 34 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. sion of the Iurons by the Iroquois; though when the two Sulpitian priests-Dollier and Galinee-passed through the strait in the spring of 1670 they made no mention of any village, only recording the fact that they found on the site of the future city what they supposed was an Indian god, roughly carved in stone, and which they piously broke in pieces with their axes and sunk in the river. It is quite probable that the village was not a permanent one, but only located there during the fishing season, or possibly for a few years at a time. The name is curiously interwoven in an interesting poem by Levi Bishop, of Detroit.* It seems to have been a grand plan of M. de Cadillac to gather all the Indians of the West-at least those in the vicinity of the lakes-around the new post at Detroit. He cordially hated the Jesuits, and they, in turn, bore him no good-will. The Jesuit father Marest clung tenaciously to the mission at Mackinac, and determined that there should be no great gathering of the savages at Detroit, certainly not to the detriment of his mission. But, notwithstanding the obstinacy of the priests, Cadillac succeeded in persuading a great number of the Western Indians to come to Detroit, and the fur trade largely centered there for many years. Among the nations who were represented at Detroit in 1703, Cadillac enumerates the Sauteurs,t Mississagues, Hurons from Mackinac, several bands of the Miamis, Ottawas, and others. The colony seems to have been similar to the one gathered by La Salle and Tonti at the great Illinois town twenty years before. In the year 1702 the "Company of the Colony" becoming dissatisfied with the first contract made at Quebec, entered into a new one with M. de Cadillac, with the consent of the Governor-General and intendant. By this new arrangement Cadillac was to have one-third of the commerce of the post, and the company were to be relieved from all responsibility to other officers. This not proving satisfactory, another contract was entered into, by which Cadillac was to be paid two thousand francs a year, and his subordinate, M. de Tonti, thirteen hundred and thirtythree francs per year, in consideration of which sums Cadillac agreed not to traffic with the savages. This agreement continued in force for about one year, when the Governor detected M. Tonti and the commissioners carrying on a contraband trade. He reported them, and thereby got himself into trouble, for they were highly connected, and in 1704, when Cadillac was in Montreal, he was arrested and a suit commenced against him, which was not decided until 1705. In the mean time M. de Tonti was in command at Detroit until, at the request of Cadillac, M. Bourmont superseded him. The establishment of the post at Detroit was strongly objected to by the Iroquois, and the Jesuits were also opposed to it. In 1702 war broke out between England, France, and Holland, and its consequences were felt to a greater or less degree in America. In the summer of 1703 * Mr. Bishop writes it Teulchsa Grondie. In the Ojibwa language this place was called Wa-we-at-a-nong. t Probably Ojibwas.. the English invited the Indian nations living in the vicinity of Detroit to a grand council at Albany. It does not appear that any except the Ottawas accepted the invitation. But these returned with a bitter prejudice against the French, who, the English informed them, had established a fort at Detroit with the ulterior purpose of exterminating them. The attempt to destroy the fort soon after the return of their chiefs from Albany was probably traceable to the hostility of the English. M. de Cadillac was cleared from all the charges against him, and in August, 1706, returned to the command of the post. Difficulties increased, and the savages, in 1707, murdered three Frenchmen near the fort. It would appear that the principal people of Canada were greatly opposed to the establishment of the post at Detroit and to the " Company of the Colony," because of their monopoly of the fur trade. In the same year, 1707, Cadillac led a party of four hundred French and Indians into the country of the Mfiamis, and compelled them to come to terms and furnish hostages for their good behavior, besides paying dearly for their depredations. In the summer of 1711, M. du Buisson succeeded M. de Cadillac in command at Detroit. The war between the French and English involved the Five Nations (made six in 1712 by the admission of the Tuscaroras from North Carolina), and they had stirred up some of the Western nations against the French,-among others the Outagamies, or Foxes, and the Mascoutins, who dwelt west of Lake Michigan. In May, 1712, a large number of these nations appeared before Detroit, and throwing up intrenchments, it is said within fifty yards of the fort, sat down to a regular siege of the place. The French garrison consisted of only thirty men, and their allies, the Ottawas, Hurons, and others, were absent hunting. The enemy made a fierce onslaught, but were bravely met by the garrison under M. du Buisson, and held in check until their Indian allies returned..The church and several buildings outside the pickets were pulled down by order of the commandant, lest they should be set on fire by the savages, and thus endanger the fort. On the arrival of the friendly Indians the contest grew more and more furious, until at length, outnumbered and beaten, the enemy were forced to retreat from the vicinity to a fortification which they had previously thrown up. Here they were besieged for a period of nineteen days, when they asked for terms. A parley ensued, but ended without definite results, and the fight was renewed. At length the Foxes and Mascoutins took advantage of a rainy night to steal away from their works, and retreated to an island in the river above Detroit, whither they were pursued, and after a siege of several days their stronghold was taken, all the warriors slain, and the women and children (if there were any present) taken prisoners. M. du Buisson estimated their total loss at over one thousand. From a letter written by Father Joseph Marest, from Mackinac, in June, 1712, it would appear that as a military post it had been abandoned since the establishment of De THE COLONY UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 35 troit; but the mission had been kept up, and constant endeavors made by the father to have the post restored. The letter in question contains a renewed request for the re-establishment of the post, because of the danger of attack from the Sacs, Foxes, and Mascoutins, who would fall upon Mackinac to revenge themselves for their defeat at Detroit. Deserters and coireeurs des bois were then in control of that post, and the missionaries prayed for a military commandant and garrison. The complete defeat of the Foxes pnd Mascoutins before Detroit did not destroy these warlike people, and their depredations continued until the French Governor-General, M. Vaudreuil, determined to humble them. To this end a strong force of eight hundred men was fitted out and placed under command of M. Louvigny, the lieutenant of Quebec. In the spring of 1716 this force proceeded to the country of the Outaganmies, whom they found intrenched and ready for battle in the vicinity of Green Bay. This expedition was successful, and the Outtgaamies were compelled to sue for peace, which was granted upon terms greatly to the advantage of the French, and henceforth they were troubled no more by the warriors who had been such formidable enemies. It would appear from certain correspondence that the post of Mackinac was re-established about 1713.* M. de Tonti was again in command of Detroit in the fall of 1717. Under his administration the fort was rebuilt in a more substantial manner, the lands adjacent were sold to actual settlers, the colony increased, and prosperity generally smiled upon the country. In June, 1721, M. de Tonti held a council with the chiefs of the Ilurons, Ottawas, and Pottawa(ttonvies, and united them in a league against the warlike Indians living beyond Lake Michigan. M. Vaudreuil, the Governor-General, died on the 10th of October, 1725. He had been Governor for a period of twenty-one years. His successor was M. Beauharnais. Nothing of great importance concerning the territory of Michigan occurred while it remained under French rule, from this period to 1760, when the whole country held by the French in what is now British America fell under the dominion of the English. The forts and missions in the neighborhood of the lakes were kept up, and occasionally a new one was added. Detroit and Mackinac continued to be the principal centres of the fur trade, and the former grew slowly in population and commercial importance. It is stated, on good authority, that in 1749, under the rule of Count de Gallissioniere, the French cut a military road from Detroit to the Ohio River. This road crossed the Maumee River at the " rapids," above Toledo. The first settlements at Vincennes and other points on the Wabash, in the present State of Indiana, were made from Detroit as a base of operations, and it was the centre of the fur trade for the larger portion of the lower peninsula and all the country now occupied by the States of Indiana and Illinois, and portions of Ohio and Wisconsin. * The new post of Michilimackinac was built on the south side of the strait, and thither also the mission and chapel of St. Ignace followed. The fort on the island of Mackinac was built and garrisoned by the British in the summer of 1780. CHAPTER VIII. THE COLONY UNDER ENGLISH RULE. Surrender of Detroit to Captain Rogers-Pontiac's War-Siege of Detroit-Bloody Bridge-The " Quebec Act"-Detroit during the Revolution-Expeditions. THE French war of 1754-60, which resulted in the surrender of Canada to the British, did not seriously disturb the French posts in the West. It is probable that small bands of savages may have joined the French from this region in their war against the English; and it is claimed by some writers that the celebrated Ottawa chieftain, Pontiac, with a band of trusty followers, took part in the bloody defeat of Braddock on the Monongahela, in July, 1755, but the evidence is not satisfactory on this point. In 1759, when the gallant Capt. Pouchot was struggling against the army under Sir Willian Johnson, at Niagara, M. de Aubrey collected a force of seventeen hundred French troops, cotreurs des bois, and Indians, from the posts of Detroit, Mackinac, and the Wabash, and attempted to raise the siege, but the English force was too strong for his motley army; he was defeated with loss, and the post surrendered. With the surrender of Montreal, on the 8th of September, 1760, to Gen. Amherst, virtually fell all the French possessions in America; though some of their settlements and posts were not occupied by English troops for a considerable period thereafter. On the 12th of the same month, Maj. Robert Rogers, a provincial officer, born in New Hampshire, and a comrade of Stark and Putnam, was ordered by Gen. Amherst to proceed with a detachment of rangers to the Western lakes, and take military possession of the French posts. The major left Montreal on the 13th, with a command of two hundred rangers, in fifteen bateaux. Slowly toiling over the rapids of La Chine and the Cedars, they entered Lake Ontario, and skirting its northern shore in rough and boisterous weather, reached Fort Niagara on the 1st of October. Carrying their boats and supplies over the portage, they launched them again above the falls, and leisurely pursued their voyage, while Rogers, with a few men, made a journey to Fort Pitt (Pittsburgh), overland, to deliver dispatches to Gen. Monckton, then in command of that post. This accomplished, the major rejoined his command at Presque Isle about the last of the month, when the detachment proceeded more rapidly on its voyage along the southern shore of Lake Erie. " The season was far advanced. The wind was chill, the lake was stormy, and the forests along the shore were tinged with the fading hues of autumn." On the 10th of November they reached the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and encamped for the night on the site of the present city of Cleveland. It was the first time a body of English troops had penetrated so far to the West. Rain set in, and Rogers determined to rest his troops until the weather became more favorable. They pitched their tents in the neighboring woods, on the spot where now are found the busy streets and buildings of a city of one hundred and fifty thousand people. 36 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. THE OTTAWA CHIEFTAIN. The command had not been long in their temporary camp when a party of Indian chiefs and warriors entered it from the west.and announced themselves as an embassy from Pontiac, who claimed to be ruler of all the adjacent country, sent forward by the chief to forbid their farther advance until he should hold a conference with them. Before the close of the day Pontiac himself appeared at the head of a strong war-party, and haughtily demanded of Rogers, "What is your business in this country, and how dare you enter it without my permission?" Rogers explained that the French had surrendered all their possessions to the English, and he was on his way, under orders from the British commander-in-chief, to take possession of Detroit. Pontiac listened attentively, but made no reply except "I shall stand in the path until morning," and withdrew. This was the first time an English officer or body of troops had met the famous Ottawa warrior. He was then about fifty years of age, and occupied the position of head chief of the Ottawas, and controlled also the Ojibwas and Pottawattomies-these three tribes being somewhat loosely united in a kind of confederacy. His influence extended over all the northwestern nations from the head-waters of the Ohio to those of the Mississippi. He was the model of the great Tecumseh in later years. From his earliest manhood to this time he had been the fast friend of the French, who had studiously treated the Indians, and especially their principal chiefs, with the greatest deference. But he was shrewd and politic, a man of great natural abilities, while at the same endowed with all the cunning and treachery characteristic of the Indian race. The news of the overthrow of the French fell like a thunder-clap upon him; but he was sagacious enough to see that he might enter into an alliance with these new sovereigns of Canada which would be as advantageous to him and his people as had been his former connection with the French. The detachment of Rogers stood well on their guard during the following night, fearful of treachery on the part of the Indians, but the hours passed quietly, and in the morning Pontiac returned to the camp and replied to Rogers that he was willing to let the English remain in the country and to treat them as he had the French, provided they showed him proper respect as became his position. The peace-pipe was now passed around and smoked by Pontiac and his chiefs and by Rogers and his officers, and harmony reigned among them. The expedition was detained by stormy weather until the 12th, when it was again in motion, and in a few days arrived at the head of the lake, where Rogers learned that a force of four hundred savages were in ambush at the mouth of the Detroit River to cut him off. But this threatened danger was swept aside by the powerful wand of Pontiac, who ordered the path cleared for the English, and the command continued on unmolested up the river. In the mean time Lieutenant Brehm had been sent forward with a letter to Captain Beletre, the French officer in command at Detroit, informing him of the conquest of Canada, and that he was deputed to receive the surrender of the post. But that officer totally disregarded the report, and resolved to hold the place. Failing in his first attempt, Rogers now sent forward Captain Campbell with a copy of the capitulation of Montreal, and a letter from M. Vaudreuil (late Governor-General), directing that the place should be given up in accordance with the terms between himself and the English commander. This brought Beletre to terms, and he reluctantly yielded the place and pulled down the flag of France, which had waved in triumph over the walls of the border fortress for a period of fifty-nine years. This surrender occurred on the 29th of November, 1760, in the presence of a great assemblage of Indians, who could not conceal their astonishment at the forbearance of the conquerors in not destroying their enemies at once. The French garrison was sent down the lake, and the Canadians were allowed to remain on condition of swearing allegiance to Great Britain, which, "making a virtue of necessity," they at once proceeded to do. An officer was sent down the Wabash to take possession of the posts at Vincennes and Ouatenon, and Fort Miami on the Maumee was also occupied by the English. Rogers took upon himself the task of proceeding up Lake Huron and taking possession of Mackinac, the second most important post held by the French in these waters, but the lateness of the season compelled his return after reaching the outlet of the lake, and Mackinac, Green Bay, St. Marie, and St. Joseph remained in the hands of the French until the following season, when a detachment of the 60th Royal Americans took possession of them, and nothing remained in the power of France except the posts on the Mississippi.* PONTIAC'S WAR. It was fondly believed by the English government and by the American colonists that the transfer of the French possessions to the British government would be the beginning of an era of peace and prosperity, and under this belief the settlements increased and spread wonderfully throughout all the frontiers. But the calm which followed the war was of short duration. The English government treated the Indians very differently from that of the French. While the latter had always paid them proper respect and deference, the former, on the contrary, almost immediately began to thrust them aside and treat them as vagabonds and dependents upon public charity. They also kept continually encroaching upon their domain, through unauthorized treaties with petty chiefs, or by the strong hand of might. Even the Iroquois, who had been the allies of the English since the days of Champlain, began to murmur, and had refused to come to the aid of Braddock in the disastrous campaign in which he lost his army, his reputation, and his life. It is even possible that outlying bands of the Seneca nation, under Guyasutha, took part in the bloody encounter on the Monongahela. Scarcely had the English garrisons taken possession of the various posts vacated by the French, when complaints *From 1-760 until 1775, Detroit and the surrounding settlements were under military rule. SURRENDER OF DETROIT TO CAPTAIN ROGERS. 37 I began to be heard among the Indians, and the French inhabitants of Canada and the borders of Michigan naturally sympathized with them in their grievances. As early as 1761-62, plots were secretly laid for the capture of the English posts, but they were for the time being frustrated by the vigilance of Capt. Campbell, in command at Detroit. TREATY OF PEACE, 1763. By the " Treaty of Paris," in February, 1763, France ceded all her Canadian possessions to Great Britain, and, as before stated, the people of America fondly hoped their Indian troubles were at an end. But the short-sightedness of the English and their contemptuous treatment of such chiefs as Pontiac and Guyasutha, at length bore its legitimate fruit. Scarcely had the treaty been promulgated in Europe ere the horrors of a savage war were precipitated upon the English frontiers from Lake Superior to Pennsylvania. The leading spirits in this unequaled outbreak were Pontiac, the Ottawa, and Guyasutha, the Seneca; the former commanding in the West, the latter in the East. As on other occasions, both among the Indians and the Europeans, a " Prophet" arose among the Delaware nation, who, like " Peter the Hermit," preached a crusade against the enemies of his people. He claimed to be inspired directly from the " Great Spirit," and wrought up the savages to the highest pitch of excitement and enthusiasm. Pontiac likewise found it convenient to make extravagant claims upon the credulity of his followers. The French inhabitants also circulated the report that the King of France had been sleeping, but was now awake, and that his white-coated legions and armed ships were advancing up the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi to drive out the English and recover possession of the country. In the latter part of 1762, Pontiac had matured his plans for a general rising of all the Indians east of the Mississippi against the English forts and settlements. It was the most stupendous scheme of warfare ever planned, up to that time, by any Indian warrior on the continent The great chieftain determined to strike at the same moment every English post from Niagara to the Sault St. Marie. He sent his embassies throughout the length and breadth of the land. They penetrated to the head of the Ohio, to the far northern wilds of the Ottawa, and descended the Mississippi nearly to its mouth, bearing speeches from their leader, and carrying the great war-belt of wampum manufactured by the cunning fingers of the Ottawa maidens expressly for the emergency. The result of these proceedings was the banding together, for a war of extermination, of nearly the entire Algonquin race, including the Senecas of the Six Nations, the Wyandots, the Shawanese, the Loups or Delawares, and many of the tribes on the lower Mississippi. All the nations inhabiting the lake region were in arms, and the sagacious Pontiac found himself virtually at the head of the Indian nations of the East and West. The command was divided between him and Guyasutha, and the premeditated blow fell like a bolt of thunder from a clear sky. Rumors, it is true, had reached Maj. Gladwyn, in command of Detroit, through Ensign Holmes, who was stationed at Fort Miami, of danger approaching; but the Indians kept the matter so profoundly secret and lounged about the various posts with such an air of peaceful nonchalance that nothing was suspected, and business went on as usual. At the outbreak of the great " conspiracy" the post of Detroit was garrisoned with about one hundred and twenty soldiers, to whom might be added about forty fur-traders and engageds; but little dependence, however, could be placed upon any except the regular soldiers. Two small armed schooners-the" Beaver" and the " Gladwyn"-were anchored in the river, and a few light guns were mounted on the bastions of the fort. The inclosing pickets were about twenty-five feet high, and there were within the work about one hundred straw- and bark-roof houses besides the barracks of the garrison. A wide passage-way or road encircled the place next the pickets, which was known as the chemin du ronle. The attack upon the English posts was nearly simultaneous. Michilimackinac, Miami, St. Joseph, Ouatenon, Sandusky, and Presq'isle were taken and destroyed, and their garrisons either massacred or held as prisoners. Michilimackinac was allotted to the Ojibwas, whose principal chief, Minavavana, captured it by the use of a stratagem almost equal to the wooden horse of the Greeks. On the 4th of June, 1763, the birthday of the English king, a grand Indian game of ball, called by them Bagattiway, was arranged to come off in front of the garrison. During the game the savages managed to send the ball over the stockade and into the fort. The soldiers were mostly off duty, it being a holiday, and were watching the game, when suddenly the fort was filled with savages, under pretense of finding the ball; the war-whoop echoed, and in an incredibly short time the garrison were nearly all massacred and the post in possession of the Indians. Fort St. Joseph, as it was then called, on the St. Joseph River, was taken on the 25th of May; Fort Miami, on the Maumee, where Maumee City, Ohio, now stands, on the 27th; Ouatenon, on the Wabash, a short distance below Lafayette, on the 1st of June; and Presq'isle, on the 16th of June. Green Bay was evacuated on the 21st of June. Thus at almost one fell swoop disappeared in blood and ashes all the English posts in the West except Detroit, Niagara, and Fort Pitt. Niagara was deemed by the Indians impregnable, and was not attacked. Fort Pitt was besieged by a swarm of Shawanese, Delawares, and Senecas, under the celebrated Guyasutha, while Detroit was environed by the Western Indians, under the immediate command of Pontiac. His force was estimated by the Canadians at about eight hundred and twenty warriors, divided among the various tribes as follows: two hundred and fifty Ottawas; one hundred and fifty Pottawattomies, under their chief Ninivay; fifty Wyandots, under Takee; two hundred Ojibwas, under Wasson; with one hundred and seventy of the same tribe, under Sekahos. THE SIEGE. Pontiac was accustomed to spend a considerable portion of his time in summer upon a small island just below Lake St. Clair, and here he fixed his headquarters during the siege of Detroit. He intended to capture the place by stratagem or 38 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. a sudden surprise, and endeavored to keep his plans a profound secret, but, according to Parkman, an Ojibwa maiden who had become a favorite of Maj. Gladwyn, revealed the plan to him, and he was thus placed upon his guard. Had it not been for this there is every probability that the place would have suffered the fate of the other English posts. The plan of Pontiac was to get all his warriors in readiness and have them distributed around the fort, while he, with sixty of his chiefs, should enter the fort all armed with short rifles, which had been cut off so they could be concealed under their blankets. They were to come upon pretense of holding a council with Maj. Gladwyn and to smoke the pipe of peace with the English. The previous night had been spent by the assembled warriors in their camp in a grand war-dance, and in making preparations for the intended massacre of the morrow. Gladwyn and his officers had kept a vigilant watch through the night in momentary expectation of an attack, for the sounds of the Indian orgies came fitfully on the breeze, and the monotonous war-drum was heard at intervals. But no disturbance occurred, and the following morning dawned clear and beautiful. At an early hour the open ground around the fort was thronged with warriors, squaws, and children, and apparent preparations were making for a ball-play. Quite a large number of warriors, wrapped in their blankets, were admitted to the fort, for Gladwyn was a close reader of Indian character, and he wanted to show the savages that while he understood their treachery he did not fear their strength. At length Pontiac appeared at the head of about sixty warriors, all wrapped in blankets, and marching in the customary Indian file. The line reached the gate at ten o'clock. They were all bedecked in war-paint and feathers, and were a stately and fierce-looking band. At their head strode the great chief, his face as calm and imperturbable as a summer morning, and his bearing that of a king. The chief and his party were promptly admitted, but as Pontiac stepped through the gateway and beheld the elaborate preparations made in anticipation of an emergency, his countenance for a moment changed, and he betrayed a look of surprise. A sudden ejaculation escaped his lips, but instantly recovering himself he passed on. He had, indeed, reason to be surprised, for the troops were drawn up on the parade, with muskets and bayonets glistening in the sun, and the fur-traders and engages were mustered in groups, and "all armed to the teeth," ready for instant service; and a bloody service it would have been had the great chief dared to give the preconcerted signal. Pontiac felt instinctively that if his plans were not betrayed, at least Maj. Gladwyn was suspicious of treachery, and prepared for the worst. The chief and his followers marched across the town and entered the council-room, where they found Gladwyn and his officers all seated ready to receive them, and the chief noticed that every man wore his side-arms. Saluting the commander of the fort, Pontiac inquired, in a half indifferent way, " Why do I see so many of my father's young men standing in the street with their guns?" The major carelessly replied that they were out for their regular daily exercise. It was not without considerable delay and many signs of distrust that the chiefs at length seated themselves on the mats prepared for them. In a few moments Pontiac rose, and holding in his hand the belt of wampum with which he was to have given the signal of massacre, commenced a speech cunningly devised and full of flattery. He professed the most profound friendship for the English, and declared he had come for the express purpose of smoking the pipe of peace and for renewing the chain of friendship. Once he seemed about to give the signal, when Gladwyn made a sign with his hand and instantly there was the clash of arms without, the drums rolled a charge, and every man's hand was on his weapons. The chief was astounded, and seeing the stern, unflinching look on Gladwyn's face, at length sat down in great perplexity. Maj. Gladwyn made a brief and pointed reply, assuring the chief that he should be treated as a friend so long as he deserved it, but the first attempt at treachery would be met with a bloody retribution. The council broke up, but before leaving the room Pontiac, still true to his instinctive treachery, told the officers that he should return in a few days with his squaws and children, as he wanted them all to shake hands with the English. With this the gates were opened, and the baffled and disconcerted savage and his followers were suffered to depart. It was certainly a bold and dangerous experiment of the chief to place himself within the power of his enemy; but he no doubt had full faith in the secrecy of his scheme, and the movement was eminently characteristic of him. When he plainly saw that his treachery was anticipated, if not altogether betrayed, he bore himself with most consummate tact, and carried himself through the trying ordeal which he must have been aware, before its close, was liable to end in the destruction of himself and his party. A finer specimen of savage craft and hauteur has never been witnessed in America. Pontiac withdrew to his village, where he took counsel with his chiefs how best to circumvent the English, since his deep-laid and cherished scheme had failed. What were the conclusions arrived at we can best conjecture by the course subsequently pursued by the savages. On the morning of the 9th of May the common was again thronged with Indians of all the four tribes then present,-Ojibwas, Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Wyandots. Soon the stately form of the chief was seen approaching the gate, where he demanded entrance. The gate was closed, and Gladwyn replied that he could enter, but his followers must remain without. This brief interview ended the chapter of Indian diplomacy, and Pontiac withdrew in a rage to where his swarming followers were lying flat on the ground just beyond gunshot range. The whole plain in an instant became dark with the miscreants, who arose and ran, whooping and screeching like wild devils, to the house of an English woman, where they instantly beat down the door, and in a moment more the scalp-halloo told the bloody fate of its inmates. Another party ran yelling to the river, jumped into their canoes, and pushing from shore paddled rapidly for the Isle au Cochon, where they killed and scalped an old English sergeant, formerly of the regular army. THE COLONY UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 39 The chief took no part in these outrages, but walking fiercely towards the shore, stepped into his canoe, and, pushing across the river, ordered the Ottawa village to move at once to the other side of the stream, that all his people might be on the same side with the enemy, and nothing between them. He was at once obeyed. And now the business of the siege began in earnest; and it is a curious and interesting fact that never, before or since, in the history of the American Indians has such a protracted investment been kept up by them or carried on with so much system and military knowledge. On the 10th, at daybreak, Pontiac began the attack by a rapid musketryfire, accompanied with most infernal yells. This was kept up for six hours, when the baffled savages fell back beyond range, and quiet covered the scene. And now Gladwyn, who still thought the whole affair was but a sudden ebullition of Indian bloodthirstiness, believed he might open negotiations with Pontiac, and at least, while they were pending, be able to obtain a supply of provisions, of which the garrison stood in great need. With this in view he dispatched the interpreter La Butte with a message to the Indian camp, asking Pontiac what his grievances were, and stating his willingness to redress them if his demands were reasonable. Accompanying La Butte were two Canadians of Detroit,-Chapeton and Godefroy. The embassy was received very politely by the chief, who treated its members with studied kindness, and seemed to assent to Gladwyn's propositions. But the savage chieftain instantly saw his opportunity, and played his game with such consummate tact, and assumed such an honest countenance, that while planning the deepest treachery he completely won over the interpreter and his companions to the belief that amicable and satisfactory arrangements could readily be made. With this belief La Butte returned alone to the fort and reported favorably, and suggested that a few presents distributed among the Indians would produce good results and eventuate in peace. But when he returned to the Indian camp he found that Pontiac would not come to any definite agreement. Finally all the chiefs withdrew and held a council, after which they returned, and Pontiac declared they had a desire to be at peace with their English fathers; but they desired to hold a council with them in person, and expressed an earnest wish to treat with Maj. Campbell in their camp, at the same time promising faithfully that his person should be sacred, and no impediment be placed in the way of his safe return to the fort, whatever might be the result of the conference. To this arrangement Gladwyn demurred, suspecting treachery; but Campbell earnestly begged him to let him depart, as he had no fear of the Indians, with whom he had always been on friendly terms. The sequel is well known. Maj. Campbell went into the lions' den, from which he never returned, having been treacherously murdered in the camp a few days later in spite of Pontiac's efforts to protect him, after basely detaining him and his companion, Lieut. McDougal, the latter of whom fortunately escaped. This episode over, the siege was resumed on the 12th of May with greater fury than before. The fort was completely surrounded except on the river side, and no one could expose a head above the pickets without the speedy whistle of a musket- or rifle-ball admonishing him to seek cover. This continued for weeks, until the garrison were worn with constant watching and provisions began to be scarce. In pressing need of supplies, Gladwyn was fortunate enough to obtain them through the friendliness of M. Baby, who lived on the Canadian side of the river. This real philanthropist, under cover of neutrality, succeeded in getting over in the night sufficient cattle, hogs, and other supplies to relieve their immediate wants, and provide tolerably for the future. Pontiac was likewise in great straits for provisions, but his wonderful sagacity came to his assistance, and he managed with all the tact and acumen which are supposed to belong to the white man alone. He canvassed the Canadian farms, and assigned the exact amount which each was to furnish to his army, and in the absence of the necessary means with which to defray his expenses issued his certificates of indebtedness upon slips of birch-bark, sealed with the figure of an otter, the totem of his nation, and subsequently redeemed them all. In this way lie kept a respectable force together for a period most remarkable in Indian history. Both sides were looking for reinforcements. Pontiac, on his part, sent an express to the French commandant on the Illinois asking for a reinforcement of regular troops; while Gladwyn, on the part of the English, sent one of his vessels to Niagara to hasten forward men and supplies. The savages undertook to capture her as she lay becalmed at the entrance to the lake, but were not successful. Lieut. Cuyler left Niagara on the 13th of May, and embarked above the falls with ninety-six men and a large amount of supplies. On the 28th he reached Point Pelee, where he landed and prepared to encamp. Here he was set upon by a strong force of Indians, who had lain in ambush, and his party cut to pieces and everything captured excepting Cuyler and two'boats, who pulled away and returned to Niagara. The loss was about sixty men and nearly all the supplies. The boats captured by the savages were rowed up the Detroit River, appearing in sight of the fort on the 28th of May. They were mistaken at first for the convoy, but the naked forms of the Indians were soon made out in them, and gloom and disappointment settled down upon the garrison. The savages who so successfully accomplished this bold stroke were 1Wyandots. The prisoners taken were brought to the camps around Detroit, and there put to death with the most inhuman tortures. On the heels of this terrible disaster came the news of the loss of Sandusky and the massacre of its garrison. At length the vessel which Gladwyn had sent to Niagara reached the west end of Lake Erie on its return, with a small reinforcement and supplies. On the 23d of June there was a great commotion among the Indians around the fort, and they were noticed in hundreds passing towards the south. Nearly the whole force was on its way to intercept the schooner now attempting to pass up the river. Maj. Gladwyn heard of her arrival through a Canadian, and fired two signal-guns, to let her people know that the fort still held out. 40 HISTORY OP KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. The schooner had about sixty men on board, mostly concealed below. Her commander, knowing of the fate which had befallen Cuyler's party, was on the alert, and ready for the enemy. When in the narrowest part of the channel, near Fighting Island, the wind died away, and she came to anchor. A strict watch was set, and in the middle of the night, when everything was still save the gentle plashing of the water against her bows, the sentinel discovered a swarm of canoes gathering around the vessel. Instantly the men were called to their places, and lying quietly along the deck on either side awaited the attack. When the Indians were close upon her the blow of a hammer on the mast gave the signal, and, like a flash of lightning, the vessel burst into flame from stem to stern. Her heavy guns, charged with grape, and a deadly fire of musketry poured death and destruction among the horde of naked savages, who set up a terrible howl and paddled away with the greatest haste. Several of the canoes were cut to pieces, and fourteen Indians were killed and many wounded. The Indians had constructed a breastwork on Turkey Island, from which they opened fire as soon as they could recover from the consternation produced by the fire from the vessel; but their shots did little harm, though the English commander deemed it prudent to weigh anchor and drop down to where the stream was broader until the wind should be favorable. A few days later she took advantage. of a favorable breeze and sailed up to the fort, though the enemy pelted her with musketry as she passed their breastwork. As she swung around broadside on to the Wyandot village she opened all her guns upon it, and sent a storm of grape and canister among its whooping inhabitants, killing several, and stirring them up beautifully. The vessel brought a most welcome supply of men, arms, and munitions, and, in addition, tidings of the conclusion of a treaty of peace between England and France, by which the latter ceded her Canadian possessions, including Detroit, to the former. This news was of course promulgated at once among the Canadians and the army of Pontiac; but many of the former detested the English, and persuaded the Indians that the report was an invention of Maj. Gladwyn's. Pontiac himself was loth to believe it, and his hatred of the English impelled him to continue the war on his own account, even though Gladwyn spoke the truth. He renewed the siege with great vigor, and at the same time attempted to frighten Gladwyn into a surrender by sending him information that eight hundred Ojibwas would join him in a few days, when the whole English garrison would be massacred. To this message Gladwyn returned a very brief and haughty answer, that he cared nothing for him or his Ojibwas. Pontiac next tried to persuade the Canadians to take up arms with him, and threatened war upon them unless they complied; but they pleaded the convention of Montreal, and claimed that they dare not violate its conditions lest the king of France should be angry with them. A band of the rougher class, voyageurs and coureurs des bois, struck hands with the Indians, but their aid amounted to very little, and most of them fled before the siege ended to the Illinois country. The next grand attempt against the English was directed towards the two armed vessels lying at the wharf, of which the Indians stood in much dread, for they had on several occasions, when the wind was fair, sailed up abreast of the Indian camps and given them a taste of their metal, creating great consternation, which had on more than one occasion ended in a stampede of warriors, squaws, and children to the woods. Resolved to destroy this source of their troubles, the Indians, on the 10th of July, sent down a blazing raft, which fortunately missed the vessels. On the 12th they made a second attempt, which also proved a failure. Other similar attempts followed, but all failed of accomplishing their object, and the Indians finally desisted. The siege had now continued for several months, and a portion of the Indian forces began to grow weary of the war. The Wyaadots and Pottawattomies sent deputations to the fort to ask for peace. Arrangements were easily made with the former, but there was considerable difficulty encountered with the Pottawattomies in effecting an exchange of prisoners, and on one occasion a deputation of their chiefs had adopted the desperate resolution of assassinating Gladwyn in his quarters, but by a sudden change in the situation were compelled to abandon the design. Peace was finally made with them and prisoners were exchanged. BLOODY BRIDGE. From this time until near the beginning of August nothing of importance transpired, though the Ojibwas and Ottawas kept a close surveillance around the fort. In the mean time a strong reinforcement, though without the knowledge of the garrison, was coming to their aid. Capt. Dalzell,* aid-de-camp on the staff of Sir Jeffrey Amherst, was preparing an expedition for the relief of Detroit. The gallant captain left Niagara with twenty-two barges or bateaux, carrying two hundred and eighty men, several small pieces of artillery, and a good supply of provisions and munitions. On the 26th of July the expedition landed at Sandusky, and from thence marched inland and destroyed the Wyandot village and all its growing corn. Ascending the liver, the convoy, on the morning of the 29th, came in sight of the beleaguered garrison and signal-guns were fired. It will be recollected that the Wyandots and Pottawattonties had made a treaty of peace a few days previously, but they still remained in their camps. As Dalzell's little fleet came abreast of their villages the perfidious miscreants opened a hot fire upon it, by which fifteen of the troops were killed or wounded. The savages were, however, driven back and the boats reached the wharf, where they were received with every demonstration of joy. The reinforcement consisted of detachments from the 55th and 80th Regiments and twenty independent rangers, the latter commanded by Maj. Rogers, the same officer who, three years previously, had received the surrender of Detroit from the French. On the day of his arrival Capt. Dalzell had a conference with Maj. Gladwyn, and urged him to send out a strong party and attack the savages in their camp, believing that it would finish the war at a single blow. Gladwyn, become cautious fiom long experience, was not in favor of the plan, ' Gen. Amherst writes this name Dalyell. THE COLONY UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 41 but at length yielded a reluctant consent to the persistency of the impetuous officer, who, had he known his adversary as well as Gladwyn did, would have been perhaps equally wary of risking anything in open battle. At two o'clock on the morning of the 31st of July the gates were thrown open, and the detachment, consisting of about two hundred and fifty men, marched quietly out and took up its line of march towards the camp of the enemy. Two large bateaux, carrying each a small swivel-gun in the bow, were rowed up the river abreast of the column. Capt. Dalzell hoped to surprise the Indians, and the command moved with the utmost celerity and in close column by the flank, every man as silent as death. But he little knew the wary enemy with whom he had to deal. Pontiac had learned something of the intentions of the English, and, in anticipation, had broken up his camp, sending his women and children out of harm's way, and was, at the same moment when the detachment filed through the gate of the fort, marching at the head of five hundred chosen warriors to intercept it. A small stream, called then Parent's Creek, but since that fatal night named '; Bloody Run," entered the river about a mile and a half above the fort. A few rods above its mouth a wooden bridge crossed the stream, and beyond the ground rose in terraces on both side of the creek. On their summits were rude intrenchments, thrown up by order of Pontiac to cover the approach to his camps. Here were the orchards, gardens, and dwellings of the Canadians, with out-buildings, piles of firewood, and picket-fences around them; and here the great Indian leader placed his men under cover, and awaited the approach of the English, while nothing disturbed the stillness of the night except the occasional barking of a dog, whose howl rose ominously as the column of determined men pushed on in the darkness. Lieut. Brown led the forlorn hope, Capt. Gray commanded the centre, and Capt. Grant* brought up the rear. Maj. Rogers also led a party of the provincial rangers on this memorable occasion. The night was exceedingly dark, and the Canadian dwellings were only dimly discerned on either hand as the troops passed along. The column entered upon the bridge; the advance-guard had passed it, and the centre was rapidly following, when"At once there rose so wild a yell Within that dark and narrow dell, As all the fiends from heaven that fell Had pealed the banner-cry of hell!" A deafening crash of musketry burst upon the startled column, and pandemonium seemed breaking loose. Half of the advance fell under this withering fire, and for a moment the destruction of the whole detachment seemed inevitable. The men staggered under the dreadful carnage, and but for the heroic exertions of Dalzell and his brother * This may have been the same officer who suffered such a severe defeat at Pittsburgh, Pa., in advance of Gen. Forbes' army in Septem ber, 1758, though he is then spoken of as major. If he was the same, he afterwards held the rank of major-general in the British army, and commanded a division at the battle on Long Island, in August, 1776. officers the rout would have been complete. The horrible yells of the savages, continuous as the roar of a conflagration, drowned the voice of command, but Dalzell placed himself at the head of the column and dashed on over the bridge and up the slope beyond, determined to come to close quarters with the enemy and give them the " British bayonet." But they fought an invisible foe, and when they deployed upon the height not an Indian was to be seen. They had scattered in all directions, and the fire now assailed the troops in front and on both flanks. They were in a deadly cul-de-sac, and the enemy, keeping out of reach, still poured in a murderous fire and continued their infernal yells. The flashes of their guns were incessant, and the air was full of the whizzing messengers of death. In this emergency the commander determined to fall back a short distance and await the approach of day, now near at hand. The bateaux, which had been rowed up the little stream to the bridge, were loaded with the dead and wounded, preparatory to taking them to the fort. At this moment a heavy fire assailed them from the rear. The Indians were between them and the fort. In a moment Grant formed his command, and attacking the enemy on the hill to the south of the bridge, routed them with the bayonet; but they only fell back a few rods, and continued the work of death. A retreat was now ordered, and the column moved in reverse order, Grant leading the advance and Dalzell covering the rear. Fighting all the way, they fell back a halfmile, when they encountered a murderous fire from a cluster of farm-buildings, which again threw them into momentary confusion. But the gallant commander, though severely wounded, restored order, and the fire was returned with good effect. Maj. Rogers with his rangers burst open the doors of a house in which a large party of Indians were concealed, and drove them out; while Capt. Gray charged with great impetuosity upon another body lying behind the fences, and routed them, though he fell mortally wounded in the encounter. It was now daylight, but a thick fog obscured everything, and the retreat was again resumed, while the savages poured an incessant fire from every available spot where they could hide themselves, and followed rapidly upon the rear, cutting down stragglers and scalping the dead and wounded, while the morning air resounded with their continuous yells. A sergeant of the 55th, mortally hurt, raised himself where he lay beside the road and looked after his retreating comrades. The brave Dalzell caught the poor fellow's expression, and instantly ran to him, determined to save him. In the very act of stooping to lift him up a rifle-ball struck the gallant officer, and he fell dead beside the soldier. The retreat continued as rapidly as possible, for there was no safety now except in flight. At the house of the trader, "Old Campau," the soldiers crowded in, barricaded the doors and windows, and made a desperate fight. Rogers was inside with a portion of his rangers, and the cellar was filled with frightened women and children huddled together for shelter. The fire from this building, under the cool direction of Maj. Rogers, checked the enemy somewhat; and in the mean time the bateaux had returned from the fort, and now came up and opened a severe fire from their 6 42 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. swivels, which forced the Indians to fall back. Rogers left the house and followed Capt. Grant, who halted at every house and fought until the command was well advanced, when he again pushed on, and after a dreadful conflict of six hours' duration the column reached the fort, with a loss, as stated by Parkman, of fifty-nine men killed and wounded, including among the former Capts. Dalzell and Gray. The loss of the Indians was never known to the whites, but it was considerable. The battle was opened by the Ojibwas and Ottawas, but later in the night the Wyandots and Pottawattomies came up in their canoes and joined in the fray. Their success highly elated the Indians, and reinforcements joined them in considerable numbers. " Fresh warriors," wrote Gladwyn, " arrive almost every day, and I believe that I shall soon be besieged by upwards of a thousand." Following the terrible fight of " Bloody Bridge" nothing of importance occurred until the night of the 4th of September, when the most remarkable encounter of the whole war occurred. The schooner " Gladwyn" had been sent to Niagara with letters and dispatches, and was now on her return loaded with provisions and having a crew of twelve provincials, including one Horst, her master, and Jacobs, her mate. In addition there were six Iroquois Indians, probably Mohawks, who were supposed to be friendly to the English. On the morning of September 4th, when in the mouth of the Detroit River, these Indians asked to be put on shore, which curious request was very foolishly granted, for it is altogether probable that they immediately went to the hostile camps and reported her arrival and condition. Certain it is that three hundred and fifty Indians passed down the river in their canoes and attacked the schooner, with terrific yells, so suddenly as to have almost captured her before the crew were aware of their presence. But they had a moment to spare, and made the best disposition in their power to meet the enemy. There was just time to discharge a single heavy gun among them when they came swarming over her sides, tomahawk and knife in hand. The crew made a desperate defense, for they well knew the result if they were captured, and gave the Indians so heavy a fire that twenty or more of them were killed or disabled in a few minutes. But they were more than thirty to one, and in spite of a most gallant defense they at length gained the deck. Horst was killed, and in a few minutes every man would have met a like fate, when Jacobs, with great presence of mind, called out in a loud tone, " Fire the magazine and blow the red devils all up together I" Among the Indians were some Wyandots who understood English, and they instantly gave the alarm to their comrades, and every Indian went overboard instanter and swam for the shore. The vessel was saved, and on the following morning sailed up to the fort. Thdy had two men killed and four wounded,-just half the force,-while the loss of the Indians was eight killed and twenty wounded. It was a gallant affair on the part of the crew. When Gen. Amherst heard of the action he ordered a medal to be struck and presented to each of the men. Jacobs was afterwards lost in a storm on Lake Erie. In the mean time the war was raging along the whole line of the frontiers of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Forts Niagara and Pitt were attacked, and twenty thousand settlers were said to have been driven from their homes west of the Alleghanies. The Delawares and Shawanese were out in full force, under such chiefs as Teedyuskung, Shingas, and Turtle Heart; and a portion of the Senecas and Cayugas, under Guyasutha and other chiefs, had joined in the well-nigh universal crusade against the English. At length a gleam of hope shot through the darkness and somewhat assured the frontiers. The gallant Col. Henry Bouquet, a Swiss by birth, penetrated the wilderness of Pennsylvania with two skeleton regiments, mostly made up of Highlanders, and amounting to about five hundred men, fought a most desperate and bloody battle at Brush Run, in Westmoreland County, about thirty miles from Pittsburgh, and relieved the beleaguered garrison of Fort Pitt, though with very heavy loss. The Indians were checked and staggered by this blow, and the war, though not by any means abandoned, was somewhat diminished in its fury. In the mean time Maj. Wilkins, in command at Niagara, collected a force of six hundred regulars and was proceeding in boats to the relief of Detroit. Once he was driven back by the Indians before he had reached the foot of Lake Erie, but starting again he entered the lake, and was rapidly working his way westward when a violent storm overtook him, and after great loss he was again compelled to return to Niagara. At Detroit the savages had kept up the investment of the fort from May until October, but now they began to waver. They heard of great preparations to send a strong force against them, and they began to despair of capturing the place, notwithstanding their successes. Finally, on the 12th of October, a deputation fiom the Ojibwas came to the fort with a pipe of peace. Their principal chiefs said that they represented the Ojibwas, Wyandots, and Pottawattomies, which tribes were all anxious for peace. G!adwyn replied that he had no authority to make peace, but would consent to a truce. To this the Indians agreed, and departed. The truce was a godsend to the garrison, for, in spite of all the supplies received from below, they were now nearly in a destitute condition. Under cover of the armistice Gladwyn made haste to purchase provisions among the Canadians, and succeeded in laying in a reasonable supply for the winter. The Ottawas, Pontiac's own nation, were now alone in the prosecution of the siege, but they continued to annoy the garrison by petty skirmishing until the 30th of October, when a message from M. Neyon, the French commander at Fort Chartres, in the llinois country, was received at Detroit, advising the Indians to abandon the war and go home. This was a discouraging blow to Pontiac, for he had cherished the forlorn hope that the French would yet recover the country from the detested English. In great rage he now withdrew from the vicinity to the country on the Maumee, where he hoped to stir up all the Indians in that quarter and recommence operations in the spring. THE COLONY UNDER ENGLISH RULE. 43 In the spring a great council was held by Sir William Johnson at Niagara with an immense number of Indian warriors, including Iroquois, Caughnawagas, Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas, lfenominees, and Miss;ssaguas. A treaty was concluded, and thus the war virtually ended, though the Shawanese and Delawares refused to attend the council and still kept up a species of warfare on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The movements of Col. Bouquet, however, finally reduced them to submission. Two great expeditions were also fitted out to force a peace or carry on a war of extermination against the common enemy. One of these was under command of Col. John Bradstreet, and was to proceed by way of Niagara, and thence against the Western tribes; while the other, under Col. Bouquet, should operate from Pittsburgh against the Shawanese and Delawares. Both were successful in a great measure, and the terrible frontier war at length closed. From Niagara Bradstreet proceeded westward via Sandusky, and on the 28th of August came in sight of Detroit. There was great rejoicing in the place, and well there might be, since it had been practically besieged for fifteen months by a horde of savages, commanded by the ablest and most sagacious leader that had yet appeared among the American Indians. Bradstreet now summoned all the savages to meet him in council, and they very readily obeyed. The council was held in the open air on the 7th of September, in the midst of the greatest military display that had ever been seen in the West. The nations and tribes represented included Ottawas, Ojibwas, Pottawattomies, Miamis, Wyandots, and Sacs; the council concluded by the entire assembly transferring their allegiance (if such it could be called) from the crown of France to that of Great Britain. Soon after this occurrence Capt. Howard was sent with a strong detachment to take possession of Michilimackinac, which he accomplished without resistance, and immediately sent forward parties to occupy the posts at Green Bay and Sauit St. Marie. And thus, after an interval of upwards of twelve months, the English colors again floated over the entire Northwest. Capt. Morris, who had been sent by Bradstreet from Sandusky to make peace with the Miamis and Illinois, found Pontiac with a large following on the Maumee. The chief received him very roughly, and told him the English were liars, at the same time showing him a letter purporting to have been written by a French officer, saying that a French fleet of sixty sail and an immense army were on their way up the St. Lawrence to chastise the English and recover the whole country. Unable to accomplish anything with the Ottawa chieftain, Morris and his four companions (Canadians and friendly Indians) pushed on to Fort Miami, on the site of the present Maumee City, nine miles above Toledo, and still well preserved. Here Morris fared worse than before, the Indians, who were a motley crowd of Miamis, Kickapoos, Shawanese, and others, seizing and stripping him and threatening his life, which was finally saved by an Ottawa Indian, a young chief and nephew of Pontiac. The brave fellow was determined to press forward and meet the Illinois, but those of the chiefs who were friendly to him finally persuaded him that it would be madness, and he reluctantly returned to Detroit, to find that Bradstreet had departed for Sandusky. From thence the doughty colonel soon after returned to the east, leaving the Shawanese and Delawares still on the war-path, and many other tribes either lukewarm friends or open enemies. With these last-named tribes the energetic Bouquet, by his rapid and vigorous movements, soon forced a treaty of peace in the very heart of their country. Thus ended the terrible " conspiracy of Pontiac," which had drenched the land in blood from the Sault St. Marie to the head-waters of the Monongahela and Kanawha, and nearty obliterated the forts and trading-posts of the West. The great chief Pontiac soon after left the banks of the Maumee and removed to the vicinity of St. Louis, where he tried to persuade not only all the Indian nations from the lakes to the gulf, but also the French commander of Fort Chartres to join him in a powerful crusade against the English. But all his plans proved abortive, and the disappointed savage sullenly resolved to accept the inevitable and make peace with the English. In August, 1765, a preliminary council was held in the council-house, at Detroit, between George Croghan, an agent sent out by Sir William Johnson, and a large number of the Western Indians, including Pontiac and many prominent chiefs. Here Pontiac agreed to meet Sir William Johnson in the following spring at Oswego and conclude a permanent treaty. On the 23d of July, 1766, true to his promise, the great Ottawa met Sir William at Oswego, and signed a definitive treaty of peace, along with deputies from most of the western nations then living east of the Mississippi. He returned with his people to the Maumee, where he spent the following winter. In April, 1769, he again appeared upon the scene, when he came among the Illinois, and soon after visited St. Louis. A few days later he crossed the river and visited the Indian camps at Cahokia. He was dressed in the full uniform of a French general officer, which had been presented him by the Marquis Montcalm. While here, and probably somewhat under the influence of liquor, he was treacherously assassinated by a Kaskaskia Indian, hired by an Englishman named Wilkinson, for a barrel of liquor, to do the dastardly deed. It was a woful day for the Illinois Indians when a member of one of their tribes* committed the terrible act. The dreadful and united vengeance of many tribes fell upon them, and they were nearly annihilated,-the last band perishing miserably, according to tradition, on the " Starved Rock" of the Illinois River, the spot where eighty years before stood the Fort Saint Louis of La Salle. THE QUEBEC ACT. This act, which was passed by the British Parliament in 1774, during the administration of Sir Guy Carleton, Governor-General of Canada, among other provisions, defined the boundaries of the Canadian Provinces, which were made to include the peninsula of Michigan, and comprised * Kaskaskias, Peoria8, Cahokias, Tamaroas, eto. 44 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. -. I j also all the country lying north of the Ohio and west to the Mississippi River. "The act granted to the Catholic inhabitants the free exercise of their religion, the undisturbed possession of their church property, and the right, in all matters of litigation, to demand a trial according to the former laws of the province. But the right was not extended to settlers on land granted by the English Crown.-: "The enterprise of the people was not wholly confined to the fur trade. As early as 1773 the mineral regions of Lake Superior were visited, and a project was formed for working the copper ore discovered there, and a company in England had obtained a charter for that purpose. A sloop was purchased and the miners commenced operations, but soon found, however, that the expense of blasting and transportation were too great to warrant the prosecution of the enterprise, and it was abandoned. The fur trade was successfully prosecuted. In 1783 a company called the Northwest Fur Company was organized, and store- and trading-houses were erected at many places on the lakes, and agents were located at Detroit, Mackinac, the Sault St. Marie, and the Grand Portage, near Lake Superior, who packed the furs and sent them to Montreal for shipment to England."t DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. From 1774 to 1779, when he was captured by Col. George Rogers Clark at Vincennes, on the Wabash, Lieutenant-Governor Sir Henry Hamilton was in command at Detroit, which was the British headquarters for the Northwest during the whole period of the Revolution; and the cruel forays upon the border settlements of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia were mostly fitted out and directed from this point. It is claimed that the British colonial government of Canada actually paid the Indians a stipulated sum for every American scalp which they brought in, though, for the honor of a common humanity, we may hope that the claim is unsupported by facts. Mackinac was also an important point during the war, and, as we have already seen, the island of Mackinac was occupied and strongly garrisoned by the British in 1780. There were two important expeditions fitted out at Detroit against the American border settlements during the Revolution. These were: one under command of Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton, in 1778, against the post at Vincennes on the Wabash; and the other, under Col. Byrd, against Louisvillel and the Kentucky settlements, in 1780. Vincennes was taken possession of by Hamilton, but he was in turn besieged and captured by the indomitable Col. George Rogers Clark, on the 24th of February, 1779. Hamilton was sent a prisoner to Richmond, Va., and his troops, seventy-nine in number, were paroled and allowed to return to Detroit. Col. Byrd's expedition consisted of a force of six hundred Canadians and Indians and six field-guns. It left Detroit in the summer of 1780, and made an inroad into Kentucky by way of the Big Miami and Licking Rivers, and quite a number of small posts and stockades and many prisoners were taken. Byrd appears to have been a humane officer, * Judge Campbell says of this act: "It was delusive everywhere, and the historian Garneau finds a lack of words to express his indignation at the course pursued under it. By our Declaration of Independence it was denounced as unfavorable to liberty. If the Detroit colonists heard of it, it was but as a distant rumor of something which did not affect them."-Outlines of Political History, p. 152. t Tuttle's History of Michigan. $ Then called the " Beargrass Settlement," from the creek of that name which falls into the Ohio at this place. and prevented the Indians from abusing the prisoners so far as laid in his power. When Lieut.-Gov. Hamilton left Detroit for Vincennes, he placed Maj. Lernoult~ in command at the former post. Lernoult was succeeded in 1779 by Maj. De Peyster. From 1780 until the surrender of the country, in 1796, nothing of special importance transpired at Detroit, or within the territory now constituting the State of Michigan. The expedition of Maj. Caldwell against the Kentucky settlements in the summer of 1782, which terminated in the bloody battle of "Blue Licks," was mostly fitted out at Detroit. With this party went "Simon Girty, the Renegade." The Indians who joined the expedition were mostly Miamis and Wyandots. The settlements around the various military and trading posts increased very slowly, if at all, and when the peninsula fell into the hands of the United States, it is probable that the number of inhabitants did not greatly exceed those transferred from the dominion of France in 1763. Under the apprehension of an attack by the American troops under Clark, Maj. Lernoult constructed a new fort at Detroit about 1779. It was a much larger and stronger work than the old French stockade, and stood on the second terrace. It was named Fort Lernoult, or Le Noult,II which name it retained until after the war of 1812-15, when it took the name of Fort Shelby, in honor of Hon. Isaac Shelby, formerly Governor of Kentucky. THE COLONY UNDER THE REPUBLIO. CHAPTER IX. TERRITORIAL Treaty of 1783, between the United States and Great Britain-Ordinance of 1787, Establishing thp Northwest Territory —Gen. Arthur St. Clair appointed Governor - Territorial Subdivisions -Wayne County-Surrender of Detroit-Indiana TerritoryMichigan Territory-War of 1812-Early Counties-SurveysLand-Sales-Indian Treaties-Miscellaneous. UNDER the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, signed at Paris, Sept. 3, 1783, and ratified by the American Congress on the 14th of January, 1784, Michigan became a part of the United States; but from various causes the British held possession of Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburg), Oswego, Niagara, Presque Isle (now Erie), Sandusky, Detroit, and Mackinac, for longer or shorter periods. In the spring of 1794 they rebuilt and strengthened the old Fort Miami, at the rapids on the Maumee River, which came very near producing a collision between Gen. Wayne and the British authorities in August of that year. The American Congress acted upon the basis that the boundary as laid down in the treaty would be made the permanent one, and on the 13th of July, 1787, passed the act known as the j This name is written by some authors Le Noult. 11 This name is written in Albach's "Annals of the West" Lenault. TERRITORIAL. 45 ~ --- ----- ~ — ~I ORDINANCE OF 1787. Under this act all the territory lying west and north of the Ohio River to the line of the Mississippi was organized into what was called the Northwest Territory, including what now constitutes the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. In October of the same year, Gen. Arthur St. Clair, a veteran officer of the Revolution, and a native of Scotland, who had come to America with Gen. Abercrombie in 1758, was appointed the first Governor.* This extensive territory had been ceded by Virginia to the United States in 1784. Several of the remaining States also claimed proprietary rights in the lands lying to the west of Pennsylvania and New York. Of these New York had ceded her claims in 1781, Massachusetts in 1785, and Connecticut in 1786. In 1790 occurred the defeat of Gen. Harmar, around the site now occupied by the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., and in November, 1791, the still more disastrous defeat of Gen. St. Clair, in what is now Mercer County, Ohio, on the head streams of the Wabash. These defeats were mostly brought about by the MIiami and Wycanot tribes, under the command of Buck-ong-a-he-las and the celebrated Little Turtle, though the Delawares, Shawanese, and Pottawattomies had warriors present; and it is said, on the authority of William L. Stone, that Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chief, was on the ground, and aided, with one hundred and fifty warriors, in the defeat of St. Clair. Many attempts were made between the latter date (1791) and the advance of Gen. Anthony Wayne against the confederated tribes, in 1794, to negotiate treaties with the savages, and there is little doubt but for the machinations of McKee, Elliott, Simon Girty, and others, and, very possibly, higher British officials, they would have been successful. But every attempt failed, and on the 20th of August, 1794, at the " Fallen Timbers," or Maumee Rapids, Wayne gave the combined Indian tribes of the Northwest a sanguinary defeat. This brought the savages to terms, and in December following several of the nations sent deputies to Col. Hamtramck, at Fort Wayne, asking for peace. The British agents used every means to prevent them from treating with the United States, but without avail, and in June, 1795, the chiefs of the various nations began to assemble at Greenville, Ohio, where, on the 3d of August, following, Gen. Waynet executed a treaty with the following nations: Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawattomies, MIiamis, Wyandots, Shawanese, and Ojibwas (or Chippewas); and with the following tribes or fractions of other nations: Kickapoos, Weas, Eel River Indians, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias. By this treaty the dividing line between the United States and the Indian Territory was established as follows: ' Gen. St. Clair was one of the leading spirits of the company which settled at Marietta, Ohio, in 1788. This colony was mostly composed of New England people, under the lead of Gen. Rufus Putnam, Return J. Meigs, and others. This was the first permanent settlement by white men in Ohio. t Gen. Wayne died quite suddenly, at or near Presque Isle, now Erie, Pa., in December, 1796, at the age of fifty-one years, lacking a few days. " The general boundary lines between the lands of the United States and the lands of the said Indian tribes shall begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, and run thence up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the crossing-place, above Fort Laurens; thence westwardly to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami River running into the Ohio, at or near which fork stood Loramie's store, and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio and St. Mary's River, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into Lake Erie; thence a westerly course to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of the Wabash; thence southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio, so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of Kentucky or Cuttawa River." Within the Indian territory certain reservations were made by the United States, and among them the following within the limits of Michigan: "The post of Detroit, and all the lands to the north, the west, and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments; and so much more land, to be annexed to the district of Detroit, as shall be comprehended between the river Raisin, on the south, and Lake St. Clair, on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit River. "The post of Michilimackinac, and all the land on the island on which that post stands, and the main land adjacent, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English Governments; and a piece of land on the main, to the north of the island, to measure six miles on Lake Huron, or the strait between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and to extend three miles back from the water on the lake or strait; and also the island De Bois Blanc, being an extra and voluntary gift of the Chippeway (Ojibwa) nation." This treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on the 22d of December, 1795. SURRENDER OF DETROIT. On the 12th of July, 1796, Capt. Moses Porter, at the head of a company of sixty-five American troops, took possession of Detroit, and hoisted for the first time upon its battlements the starry banner of the republic. In Sep. tember of that year, Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the Northwestern Territory, proceeded to Detroit and organized the county of Wayne, named in honor of the general, which included within its limits all of the lower peninsula, with portions of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin.1 Of this immense county Detroit was the capital. It contained, according to Weld, in 1797, about three hundred houses. Sargent was succeeded in the office, in 1798, by William Henry Harrison, who had been aid to Gen. Wayne at the Maumee Rapids, and stood very high with the Western people. This position he held until Oct. 3, 1799, when he was elected by the Territorial Legislature as a delegate in Congress. INDIANA TERRITORY. On the 7th day of May, 1800, Congress passed an act dividing the Northwest Territory on a line, a part of which now constitutes the line between Ohio and Indiana, and extending thence north until it intersected the line between the United States and Canada. This line, as will readily be seen by reference to a map of the State, divided the lower peninsula almost exactly in the centre, crossing the strait of Mackinac and intersecting the national boundary in Whitefish Bay, of Lake Superior, near Isle Parisienne. + Wayne County was entitled to three memnbers in the Territorial Legislature. 46 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. The new Territory lying west of this line was called Indiana Territory, and William Henry Harrison was appointed its first Governor in the following year. Its seat of government was fixed at Vincennes. Under this legislation the region now constituting Kalamazoo County became a part of Indiana Territory. The seat of government for the old Northwest Territory, including Ohio and the eastern half of Michigan, was fixed at Chillicothe. Ohio was erected into a State on the 29th of November, 1802, and from that date the whole of the lower peninsula of Michigan became a part of Indiana Territory. TERRITORY OF MICHIGAN. The act of Congress erecting the Territory of Michigan was passed on the 11th of January, 1805, and took effect from and after June 30th of the same year. The Governor and judges were appointed by the President of the United States, and endowed with legislative power. The Territorial officers were nominated by the President on the 26th of February, 1805. Gen William Hull, a veteran officer of the Revolution, was nominated for Governor, and Hon. A. B. Woodward presiding judge. The nominations were confirmed, and Judge Woodward arrived at Detroit on the 29th of June, and Governor Hull on the 1st of July. On the 11th of June, preceding their arrival, a fire broke out in the town, and in the course of a few hours every building in the place, save two, was destroyed. The new functionaries, in their report to Congress in October following, in speaking of Detroit, use the following language: "The place which bore the appellation of the town of Detroit was a spot of about two acres of ground, completely covered with buildings and combustible materials, the narrow intervals of fourteen or fifteen feet, used as streets or lanes, excepted; and the whole was environed with a very strong and secure defense of tall and solid pickets."* Upon petition of the distressed inhabitants for relief, Congress passed an act granting them the old site and ten thousand additional acres lying immediately around it, and including the old French "Commons." The town was subsequently laid out upon a greatly-enlarged and improved plan. The Territorial government of Michigan went into active operation on the 2d of July, 1805. It included within its jurisdiction the lower peninsula. When Illinois was admitted as a State, in 1818, the region now constituting Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan was added to Michigan Territory, and in 1834 the territory now constituting the States of Iowa and Minnesota was annexed for temporary purposes. Various treaties were made with the Indians from 1807 to the breaking out of the war of 1812. On the 17th of November, 1807, Governor Hull made a treaty with the Ottawas, Chippewas, Wyandots, and Pottawattomies, by which they ceded a large tract of country between the Maumee River and Saginaw Bay to the United States. On the 25th of November, 1808, another treaty was made with the same tribes, and also including the Shawanese, by which a strip of country lying between the Maumee and the Western Reserve was ceded. In 1809, Governor Harrison, of Indiana Territory, made treaties at Fort Wayne with the Delawares, Pottawattomies, Miamis, Eel River Indians, Weas, and Kickapoos, for certain lands upon the Wabash; but these were protested against by Tecumseh, the Shawanese chief, in the following year. In the mean time, Tecumseh (or Tecumthe, as it is also written) and his brother, Elk-swat-a-wa, the prophet, had begun laying their plans for a grand union of all the Indian tribes against the whites as early as 1803. It was substantially the same as Pontiac's confederation of 1763, and was to embrace all the western and southern nations and tribes. The prophet visited many nations under a pretended inspiration of the "Great Spirit;" and Tecumseh himself traversed the country from the head-waters of the Mississippi to the gulf, carrying the great war belt and making speeches among all the nations. In August, 1810, the " Successor of Pontiac," as Tecumseh was sometimes called, met Governor Harrison at Vincennes, in a council called to consider the grievances of the Indians who were not willing to abide by the treaties at Fort Wayne. The council was abruptly broken up by the insolence of Tecumseh, who, instead of bringing no more than forty warriors, came with upwards of three hundred. This council accomplished nothing, and in the following year, while Tecumseh was absent on a war mission to the south, a crisis was precipitated by the prophet, who, contrary to his brother's instructions, attacked Governor Harrison at the famous Tippecanoe battle-ground, on the morning of Nov. 7, 1811, and after a two hours' night conflict, in which the savages fought desperately, was completely defeated. The mask was now entirely thrown off, and Tecumseh made open war. WAR OF 1812. The causes which led to the last war with Great Britain dated back to the years immediately succeeding the Revolution. The affair between the British frigate " Leopard" and the American fiigate " Chesapeake," in 1807, had greatly intensified the bitterness of feeling between the two countries; and the continual outrages committed by British armed vessels upon the American merchant marine, under the " right of search," together with a constant stirring up of the Western Indians by pretended agents, fur-traders, and others, at length produced their legitimate results, and on the 19th of June, 1812, war was formally declared by the United States. At this date the Northwest was in an almost defenseless condition, while the British already had or were constructing a formidable fleet on Lake Erie, and possessed a respectable force of regular and volunteer troops and militia in Canada. Governor Hull was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces destined to operate on the Western frontier, which were fixed by Gen. Armstrong, Secretary of War, at two thousand, this number being deemed sufficient for the conquest of Upper Canada. On the 1st of June, preceding the declaration of war, Gen. Hull had taken command in person at Dayton, Ohio, from which place he commenced his march towards the * Annals of the West. TERRITORIAL. 47 TR I 4 Maumee, constructing roads, bridges, and block-houses by the way. The general was not apprised of the declaration until the 2d of July. From the Maumee rapids he sent forward towards Detroit his own and most of the baggage of the officers, in a small sloop, under command of Lieut. Goodwin, who had on board also about thirty men and several ladies. The vessel and contents was captured as she attempted to pass Malden. The force under Gen. Hull consisted of four regiments, commanded by Cols. McArthur, Findlay, Cass, and Miller. The army arrived at Detroit about the 7th of July, and on the 12th crossed over and occupied Sandwich, opposite. The general issued a proclamation to the Canadians, but no important movement was made, though his subordinate officers repeatedly urged him to assume the bold offensive, and capture Malden. After nearly a month had been frittered away, and when the British were gathering a strong force to dispute with him the occupation of Canada, Gen. Hull, on the 7th of August, returned with his army to Detroit. Gen. Proctor, commander of the advance of the British, reached Maiden on the 29th of July, and immediately began operations for the purpose of cutting off Hull's communications with Ohio, and thus isolating his army. The British commander-in-chief, Gen. Brock, a most efficient and daring officer, arrived on the 13th of August, and began preparations not only for the effectual defense of Canada, but for the conquest of Detroit and all the posts on the American side of the straits.* Gen. Henry Dearborn, in command of the American forces at Niagara, had foolishly concluded an armistice with the enemy, which enabled them to at once concentrate a strong force against Gen. Hull. Brock pushed his advantages to the utmost. He sent parties to cut off Hull's communications towards the south, erected strong batteries opposite Detroit, and on the 16th of August compelled the pusillanimous Hull to surrender the place, the whole territory of Michigan, and fourteen hundred good troops to a motley collection of three hundred English regulars, four hundred Canadian militia, and a band of Indians. For this unexampled conduct Gen. Hull was tried by court-martial, found guilty of cowardice and neglect of duty, and sentenced to be shot; in consequence, however, of his advanced age and his distinguished services during the Revolution he was pardoned by the President, but his name was stricken from the rolls of the army. On the 17th of July the garrison at Mackinac, consisting of fifty-seven effective men, under Lieut. Hanks, who knew nothing of the declaration of war, was surprised and captured by a mixed force of British, Canadians, and Indians, amounting to upwards of one thousand men. A fort had been erected at the mouth of the Chicago River in 1804. It was garrisoned at the outbreak pf the war by a force of about eighty men, under command of Capt. Heald. It was known as " Fort Dearborn." The commander had been apprised of the declaration of war by dispatches received through the hands of Winnemeg, a friendly Pottawattomie chief. The dispatches included * Brock was killed at Queenstown, near Niagara, in the following year. orders from Gen. Hull to evacuate the past, if practicable, after distributing the property among the Indians. The chief who brought the message strongly urged the rashness of any attempt to march through the wilderness to Fort Wayne, the nearest United States post, and the subordinate officers were unanimous against it. The fort was provisioned for six months, and could easily have been held against the whole force of the savages. But the commander foolishly construed his orders into an imperative command to evacuate the post, and made arrangements accordingly. Capt. Heald was deaf to all advice, and with an infatuation little short of insanity destroyed all his surplus ammunition, and began his fatal march on the morning of the 15th of August, 1812. The sequel is well known; they were attacked within a mile or two of the fort, and after a most gallant defense were all killed or taken prisoners. The killed, among whom were Captain Wells, the famous Miami chief, Ens. Ronan, and Dr. Van Vorhees, amounted to about fifty-five, including two women and twelve children. The Indians engaged in this massacre were Pottawattomies, though some of their chiefs, notably Winnemeg and Black Partridge, were friendly to the whites. The prisoners were mostly distributed among the Indians, and subsequently brought to Detroit and redeemed. Capt. Heald and lady, both badly wounded, were taken to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, from whence they went to Mackinac in a canoe, where they were paroled by the British commander.t On the 17th of September, 1812, Gen. Harrison was appointed commander-in-chief of the Northwestern army. His first step was to relieve Fort Wayne, hotly besieged by the confederated Indians, which he successfully accomplished. He then with a force of two thousand men reconnoitered the Maumee Valley, and returned to Fort Wayne on the 20th of September. Gen. Winchester, a Kentucky officer, little known, advanced late in the autumn with a force of about two thousand men to Fort Defiance, at the mouth of the Auglaize, where he intended to winter. In November and December of this year occurred the expedition of Col. Campbell against the Mississinnewa towns on the Wabash, which was entirely successful, though the troops suffered severely from the inclemency of the weather. All the towns were destroyed, and a large number of Indians killed and taken prisoners. The campaign of 1812 closed without any special advantages on the whole to the American cause, though the expeditions against the Indians had been fairly successful. The American forces in the beginning of 1813 were facing north in three grand divisions. Tile right under Harrison lay at Upper Sandusky, the left under Winchester had advanced to the Maumee Rapids, and the centre under Gen. Tupper was at Fort McArthur. On the 17th of January a portion of Gen. Winchester's command, amounting to five hundred and fifty men, under Col. Lewis, was pushed forward to the river Raisin, and Col. Allen soon after followed with another detachment of one hundred, and ten men. t See Chapter XIII. 48 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. On the 18th the enemy were driven out of the little village of Frenchtown (now Monroe, Mich.), and the Americans took possession. Winchester arrived on the 19th with two hundred and fifty additional troops. The consolidated force was attacked on the 22d by a strong British force from Maiden under Gen. Proctor, and, after a most obstinate battle, was induced to surrender by promises of good treatment. But, notwithstanding his promises, Proctor allowed the Indians to commit a most inhuman massacre of prisoners on the following day. Out of about eight hundred men under Winchester at the beginning of the battle, only about forty men remained after the massacre of the 23d. On the 1st of February, Harrison advanced to the Rapids, and commenced the construction of a strong fort, or rather an intrenched camp, on the south side of the river, which he named Fort Meigs, in honor of the Governor of Ohio.* Here, on the 28th of April, Harrison was besieged by a strong British force under Proctor, who had come by water up the Maumee. The whole force amounted to about two thousand two hundred men, including nearly one thousand Indians under Tecumseh, who had joined the British at the opening of the war. The siege was remarkable for disasters and successes on both sides. Col. Dudley, at the head of eight hundred Kentuckians, captured the British batteries on the north side of the Maumee, but, lured too far in his pursuit of the enemy, fell into an ambuscade devised by Tecumseh, and lost his life and nearly his.entire command. Col. Miller made a successful sortie against the British position on the south side of the river, capturing the guns and dispersing the detachment with severe loss. Finding his guns made no impression on the American works, Proctor withdrew on the 9th of May and returned to Maiden. In July a second British and Indian force attacked Fort Meigs, but accomplished nothing, and again fell back down the river. On the 31st of July, Proctor appeared with a fleet and a powerful force at Lower Sandusky, where Fort Stephenson was held by Col. George Croghan, with a garrison of about two hundred men and one six-pounder fieldpiece. Proctor's force amounted to about three thousand men and a battery of six pieces of artillery. The battery was planted and the work bombarded until the 3d of August, when an attempt was made to carry it by assault. The column, under Col. Short, was repulsed with great loss, when Proctor hastily embarked his force and withdrew. The British account of this affair states that the force only amounted to about seven hundred men with two six-pounder guns. Their loss is stated at about one hundred men. In the mean time a strong fleet was being constructed and equipped at Erie, under the supervision of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. The fleet left the harbor on the 4th of August, and on the 10th of September, 1813, gained a complete victory over the British fleet under Commodore Barclay, near the Bass Islands, to the northward of Sandusky, capturing the entire British squadron. This naval engagement, one of the most memorable in the history of the country, was probably fought within the limits of the State of Michigan. Upon learning the result of the naval engagement, Proctor abandoned Malden, and fell back to Sandwich, intending to retreat towards the northeast via the valley of the river Thames. On the 27th of September the army of Gen. Harrison, having been reinforced, crossed the river and found Malden in ashes. The American commander immediately pushed on in pursuit of Proctor, whom he overtook on the 5th of October, well posted and prepared for battle, which Harrison at once delivered, completely destroying or capturing the British army, and putting the Indian contingent under Tecumseh to a disastrous rout, with severe loss, including their great chieftain, who was killed in the action. This ended the war so far as Michigan was concerned, and since that time there has been no danger from foreign foes. AFTER THE WAR. On the 13th of October, 1813, only eight days after the defeat of Proctor, Col. Lewis Cass was appointed the second Territorial Governor of Michigan, which office he held until he was called to a seat in the cabinet of President Andrew Jackson, in 1831.t Under his able administration Michigan may be said to have commenced her career of prosperity. SLAVERY. The ordinance of 1787, by its ninth article, expressly prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude (except for crimes committed) in the Northwest Territory; yet, singular as it may seem, an attempt was made as early as 1796 to introduce it into what was then Indiana Territory by four men at Kaskaskia, Ill., who petitioned Congress to that effect. In 1803 the subject was again brought forward, when it was strongly opposed by John Randolph, of Virginia. In 1804 it was a third time introduced, and a resolution was drawn up suspending the ninth article of the ordinance of 1787, thereby permitting and, in fact, establishing slavery in the Territory under certain regulations; but it was laid over or postponed for future consideration until 1807, when it was finally disposed of by the Senate, which declared it inexpedient. Thus by a hair's breadth did Michigan escape the perils of a system which has cost the nation untold treasure in life and property, and brought a condition upon a large moiety of the republic which many generations may not see obliterated. EARLIEST COUNTIES ORGANIZED. The first county organized, as we have seen, was Wayne, in 1796. It was re-established and organized by proclamation of Governor Cass, Nov. 21, 1815. Monroe followed in 1817, Macomb and Mackinac in 1818, Oakland in 1820, St. Clair in 1821, Chippewa, Washtenaw, and Lenawee in 1826, and Cass and St. Joseph in 1829. These were all that preceded Kalamazoo, which was organized in 1830. LAND-SURVEYS. The origin of the system of subdividing the unsold lands of the United States into townships and sections dates t His original appointment as Governor was made by Gen. Harrison, and it was subsequently confirmed by the general government. * Return Jonathan Meigs. TERRITORIAL.:49: --- from an act passed by Congress on the 20th of May, 1785. 'The particular sections or clauses bearing upon this subject are as follows: " The surveyors, as they are respectively qualified, shall proceed to divide the said territory into townships of six miles square, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles as near as may be.... " The geographer shall designate the townships, or fractional parts of townships, by numbers, progressively, from south to north,* always beginning each range with No. 1; and the ranges shall be distinguished by their progressive numbers to the westward, the first range, extending from the Ohio to Lake Erie, being marked No. 1. " The plats of the townships, respectively, shall be marked by subdivisions into lots of one mile square, or six hundred and forty acres, in the same direction as the external lines, and numbered from one to thirty-six, always beginning the succeeding range of the lots with the number next to that with which the preceding one concluded."t By this act also lot No. 16 of every township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools. This system was first introduced on the east line of Ohio, and has since been continued throughout all the Territories of the Union. Surveys under this act probably began in 1786 or 1787.t All good maps of Michigan show a base line and a principal meridian, from which the townships and ranges are numbered. These lines were established, as necessary preliminaries to the survey, in 1815. The base line starts from a point on Lake Michigan, near South Haven, and runs thence due east to Lake St. Clair, forming the dividing line between the counties of Allegan, Van Buren, Barry, Kalamazoo, Eaton, Calhoun, Ingham, Jackson, Livingston, Washtenaw, Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb. This line is in about 42~ 28' north latitude, and the distance from one lake to the other along it is about one hundred and seventy-three miles. From this line the townships are numbered both north and south; on the north reaching No. 47,~ and on the south No. 8. The principal meridian is exactly on the meridian of the Sault St. Marie, and divides the lower peninsula a little east of the centre, terminating on the Ohio line, between the counties of Lenawee and Hillsdale. The length of this line approximates three hundred and thirty miles. In crossing the Strait of Mackinac it touches the eastern extremity of Bois Blanc Island. The distance across the strait on this line is about twenty miles. The extreme northernmost town on Keweenaw Point, in Lake Superior, is numbered fifty-nine, making the length of the State, in a direct line north and south, not including Isle Royale, in Lake Superior, four hundred and two miles, provided the Congressional townships are each exactly six miles square. The ranges reach No. 17 east on the St. Clair River, at * This arrangement was subsequently modified in the West, and the ranges are numbered east and west from the meridian, and sometimes the townships are numbered both north and south from the base line, as is the case in Michigan. t Annals of the West. 4 Gen. W. H. Harrison has been credited with the origin of this system while a delegate in Congress from the Northwest Territory, but the ordinance was passed fifteen years previously. 0 47 is the northernmost number at the Sault St. Marie, but on Reweenaw Point the numbers run to 59. 7 Fort Gratiot, and No. 21 west at New Buffalo, on Lake Michigan. About three-fifths of the lower peninsula lie on the west side of the meridian. Between townships 20 and 21 north is a correction line. Kalamazoo County comprises ranges 9, 10, 11, and 12 west of the meridian, and townships 1, 2, 3, and 4 south of the base line. The first surveys of public lands in the State were made in the vicinity of the Detroit River, in 1816, and lands were first offered for sale in 1818, at the Detroit land-office.ll In 1822 the Detroit land district was divided, and a second office established at Monroe, at which latter office all lands lying west of the principal meridian were entered previous to 1831. The lands were first offered at public sale, and when competition seemed to be exhausted, applications and bids were opened and examined, and pending action thereupon, the office was closed, which proceeding caused much delay and expense to bona fide settlers. It was also charged that speculators, or " land-sharks," as they were appropriately named, took advantage of the arrangement to reap a rich harvest from those who came to purchase homesteads.~ For some years after the lands were open to entry the price per acre was fixed at two dollars, one-fourth of which was required to be paid down, and the remainder in three annual installments. The land was subject to forfeiture if the payments proved delinquent. A discount of eight per cent. was allowed if the whole payment was made in advance. About 1832 a change was made, fixing the price per acre at one dollar and a quarter, and requiring the whole amount to be paid in advance. Under this arrangement everything worked satisfactorily. In 1831 a land-office was established at White Pigeon, in St. Joseph County, for the sale of lands lying west of the meridian. In 1834 this office was removed to Kalamazoo, and in 1838 an office was opened in Ionia. LAND-SALES. The following table shows the amount of lands disposed of in the Kalamazoo land district from 1831 to Jan. 1, 1838, inclusive, and including sales at White Pigeon and Kalamazoo: Years. Acres. Amount Received. 1831................. 93,179.36 $117,128.26 1832.......................... 74,696.17 98,060.23 1833.......................... 95,980.25 123,465.25 1834......................... 128,244.47 160,321.85 1835......................... 745,661.34 932,076.64 1836.......................... 1,634,511.82 2,043,866.87 1837.......................... 313,855.15 394,316.77 Totals............... 3,086,128.56 $3,869,235.87 It will be seen that by far the greater transactions were at the Kalamazoo office, in the years 1835 and 1836. The office at Kalamazoo was continued until about 1858, when its affairs were closed, the lands in the district having been disposed of. The sales for the last fifteen or twenty years were comparatively small. (See history of Kalamazoo village.) 1] The Detroit land district, according to A. D. P. Van Buren, was established in 1804. ~ The first legal conveyance of land within the limits of the lower peninsula of Michigan was made in 1707, by Antoine de la Motte Cadillac to "Francois Fafard Delorme." HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I SOLDIERS' BOUNTY-LANDS. Congress, on the 6th of May, 1812, passed an act requiring that two million acres of government lands should be surveyed in the then Territory of Louisiana,* a like quantity in the Territory of Illinois north and west of the Illinois River, and the same amount in the Territory of Michigan,-in all, six million acres,-to be set apart for the soldiers of the war with Great Britain. The lands were surveyed and set apart, under the act, in Louisiana and Illinois, but the early surveyors reported that there were no lands in Michigan fit for cultivation.t The following are extracts from the surveyor-general's report: " The country on the Indiana boundary line, from the mouth of the Great Auglaize River, and running thence north for about fifty miles, is (with some few exceptions) low, wet land, with a very thick growth of underbrush, intermixed with very bad marshes, but generally very heavily timbered with beech, cottonwood, oak, etc.; thence continuing north, and extending from the Indian boundary eastward, the number and extent of the swamps increases, with the addition of numbers of lakes, from twenty chains to two and three miles across. "Many of the lakes have extensive margins, sometimes thickly covered with a species of pine called 'tamarack,' and in other places covered with a coarse, high grass, and uniformly covered from six inches to three feet (and more at times) with water. The margins of these lakes are not the only places where swamps are found, for they are interspersed throughout the whole country, and filled with water, as above stated, and varying in extent. " The intermediate space between these swamps and lakes-which is probably near one-half of the country-is, with very few exceptions, a poor, barren, sandy land, on which scarcely any vegetation grows, except very small, scrubby oaks. " In many places that part which may be called dry land is composed of little, short sand-hills, forming a kind of deep basins, the bottoms of many of which are composed of marsh similar to the above described. The streams are generally narrow, and very deep compared with their width, the shores and bottoms of which are (with very few exceptions) swampy beyond description; and it is with the utmost difficulty that a place can be found over which horses can be conveyed in safety. " A circumstance peculiar to that country is exhibited in many of the marshes, by their being thinly covered with a sward of grass, by walking on which evinces the existence of water, or a very thin mud, immediately under their covering, which sinks from six to eighteen inches under the pressure of the foot at every step, and at the same time rises before and behind the person passing over it. The margins of many of the lakes and streams are in a similar condition, and in many places are literally afloat. On approaching the eastern part of the military lands, towards the private claims on the straits and lake, the country does not contain so many swamps and lakes, but the extreme sterility and barrenness of the soil continue the same. "Taking the country altogether, so far as has been explored, and to all appearances, together with information received concerning the balance, it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation."T This report, as can be seen, applied to the eastern part of the State, but at the same time the character of the country appeared to grow worse towards the interior, and Congress, taking the report to be substantially correct, on the 29th of April, 1816, passed an act repealing so much of the law of 1812 as related to Michigan, and providing for locating an additional one million five hundred thousand acres in Illinois, and five hundred thousand in the Territory of Missouri, in place of the two million acres located in Michigan. --. _ — * Purchased of the first Napoleon in 1803, by Mr. Jefferson. t Tuttle's History of Michigan. t Ibid. The report operated both in an injurious and a beneficial way, strange as the statement may seem. At first it deterred many from seeking homes in the State, who, under a more favorable report, would have filled up the country rapidly, but as an offset to this it might be said to operate beneficially in keeping out the horde of speculators who would be sure to monopolize many of the soldiers' warrants, and thus throw the country, at least for a time, into nonresident hands. But notwithstanding this unfavorable report, a few adventurers, who desired to see for themselves what the face of the country might be, penetrated the borders of Oakland County in 1818, and the discoveries which they made soon brought immigration to the eastern portion of the State, though it was not until several years subsequently that a true knowledge of the country began to people the interior with busy pioneers. A Territorial road was surveyed from Detroit to Chicago about 1823. At Ypsilanti it divided, one line being run southwestward, through Lenawee, Hillsdale, Branch, and other counties, the other nearly west through Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo. The opening of these roads, giving increased facilities, soon brought plenty of settlers, and from this time forward the population increased rapidly. INDIAN TREATIES. Among the Western Indians who joined the English in the war of 1812-15 were the three powerful nations, Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Pottawattomies, and these, by all ordinary rules of warfare, were entitled to very little lenity when the struggle closed. But the American government generously buried the past and entered into amicable relations with them. Before the close of the war, in July, 1814, a treaty was entered into at Greenville, Ohio, between Gen. Harrison and Governor Cass, on the part of the government, and those bands of the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanese, and Senecas who had remained faithful to the Americans, by which peace was also made with the Miamis, Weas, and Eel River Indians, and the terms were extended to portions of the Pottawattomies, Ottawas, and Kickapoos. About the middle of July, 1815, after the war had closed, a treaty was made with various tribes at Portage des Sioux, on the Mississippi River, a few miles above the mouth of the Missouri. The first mentioned are the Pottawattomies. All injuries or acts of hostility on the part of either party were to be forgiven, all prisoners given up, and all former treaties and contracts recognized and confirmed. Similar treaties were made with all the Indians west of the lakes, excepting Black Hawk's band of the Sac nation, who proclaimed themselves British subjects, and went to Canada to receive presents. In September, 1815, Gen. William Henry Harrison, Gen. Duncan McArthur, and John Graham, Esq., on behalf of the United States, held a council at Spring Wells, near Detroit, with the Ottawas, Pottawattomies, and Chippewas (or Ojibwas), and on the 8th of the month a treaty was concluded by which peace was granted to them, and the government agreed to restore to them all the possessions, rights, and privileges which were theirs previous to the year TERRITORIAL. 51 1812. The former treaties at Greenville and other places were also confirmed. In October, 1818, Gen. Cass held a council with the Pottawattomies, at which they ceded lands on the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers, lying mostly within the bounds of the present State of Indiana. TREATY OF SAGINAW, 1819. Soon after the close of the war of 1812 it became apparent that the region of the lower peninsula of Michigan was destined to fill up speedily with settlers, provided the Indian titles could be extinguished, and the far-seeing mind of Governor Cass was quick to comprehend the necessary legislation. He at once set himself to the work of securing an additional cession from the Indians, as he foresaw that the tract of country ceded in 1807 would soon be too circumscribed for the immigration which was sure to follow. Being ex-officio Indian Commissioner for the Territory of Michigan, he laid the matter before the President, and received authority and instructions under which he could proceed to the extinguishment of Indian titles to the desired tract of country. A grand council with the Chippewa and Ottawa nations was called to be held at Saginaw, where they assembled in September, 1819; and where, on the 24th of the same month, a treaty was signed by which one hundred and fourteen chiefs and principal sachems (mostly Chippewas) ceded to the United States a tract of country estimated to include about six million acres, and bounded as follows, in the words of the treaty: " Beginning at a point in the present Indian boundary line (identical with the principal meridian of Michigan), which runs due north from the mouth of the Great Auglaize River, six miles south of the place where the base line, so called, intersects the same; thence west sixty miles; thence in a direct line to the head of Thunder Bay River; thence down the same, following the courses thereof, to the mouth; thence northeast to the boundary line between the United States and the British province of Upper Canada; thence with the same to the line established by the treaty of Detroit, in the year 1807; and thence with the said line to the place of beginning." This boundary, as will be seen, included two towns of Kalamazoo County within the cession, Ross and Richland. Whether the Chippewas and Ottawas had any just claim upon the territory lying south of Grand River is problematical; at all events, the Pottawattomies did not recognize it in the treaty of Chicago, in 1821. TREATY OF CHICAGO, 1821. This treaty was concluded by Governor Cass, of Michigan, and Hon. Solomon Sibley, associated with him as United States Indian Commissioner, at Fort Dearborn (now Chicago), on the 29th of August, 1821, with the Chippewas, Ottawas, and Pottawattomies. The latter were the principal nation interested, the others signing as auxiliaries and friends. The three nations were represented by their chiefs and principal men as follows: Pottawattomies, by fifty-five; Ottawas, by eight; and Chippewas, by two. The boundaries of the tract ceded at this treaty, which included between seven and eight thousand square miles in the southwestern portion of Michigan, were described as follows: "Beginning on the south bank of the St. Joseph River of Michigan, near 'Pare aux Vaches;'t thence south to a line running due east from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan; thence along that line to the tract ceded by the treaty of Fort Meigs, in 1817, or, if that tract should be found to lie entirely south of the line, then to the tract ceded by the treaty of Detroit, in 1807;: thence northward along that tract to a point due east of the source of Grand River; thence west to the source of that river; thence down the river on the north bank to its junction with Lake Michigan; thence southward along the east bank of the lake to the mouth of the St. Joseph River; and thence up that river to the place of beginning."' This large tract included the counties of Cass, St. Joseph, Branch, Hillsdale, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Allegan, Barry, Eaton, most of Ottawa and Berrien, and parts of Kent, Ionia, Ingham, and Jackson, and comprised nearly eight thousand square miles, or five million one hundred and twenty thousand acres. Its geographical centre was not very far from the site of Kalamazoo village. From these lands five tracts were reserved, among which was the one known as the Match-e-be-nash-e-wishll reservation, which included nine square miles, or five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, where Kalamazoo village now stands. It was described as the village of " Mlatchebenashewish, at the head of the Kekelamazoo River," meaning at the head of navigation. DELEGATE IN CONGRESS. In 1819, Michigan was granted a delegate in Congress. In the previous year steam navigation had been introduced upon Lake Erie. The first steamer was named " Walk-inthe-Water," but whether as a compliment to the Wyandot (or HEuron) chief of that name, or as indicative of her own powers, is not quite clear. With the bringing of lands into market, and the opening of steam navigation, came a rapid influx of immigration to the new lands of the West. EXPLORING EXPEDITION. In the spring of 1820 an expedition was fitted out for the exploration of the northern and western portions of the Territory, which were then comparatively little known. It was under the control of Governor Cass, and accompanying it were Alexander Woolcott, physician; Capt. D. B. Douglas, engineer; Lieut. A. Mackay, commander of escort; James Duane Doty, secretary; Maj. Robert A. Forsyth, Governor's secretary; and Henry R. Schoolcraft, geologist and topographer. A detachment of thirty regular soldiers formed the escort, and the entire party numbered sixty-six persons. Under instructions from the War Department at Washington, the commanders of military posts were required to extend every facility to the expedition. The expedition left Detroit on the 24th of May, 1820, in bark canoes manned by voyageurs and Indians. They kept along the western shore of Lake Huron, visiting the prominent points, and halting for a considerable time at Mackinac. At the Sault St. Marie, at the foot of Lake Superior, Governor Cass held a council with the Indians. This point was chosen for the location of a military post. The Indians objected to its establishment, and were insolent t The cow pasture. $ The principal meridian. T This boundary includes nearly two thousand square miles ceded at the treaty of Saginaw, in 1819. X 1| Judge Wells states that the common name of this reservation in the early days was "Mick-a-sau-ba," or "Mich-a-saw-bah." * This point is the northeast corner of Kalamazoo township. ii2 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. and hostile; but the bold course pursued by the Governor overawed them, and a treaty was signed by which they ceded a tract of country four miles square around the Sault. The expedition visited the shores of Lake Superior, the upper Mississippi River, and Lake Michigan, making valuable discoveries and taking notes of the country and its wonderfully varied resources. Mr. Schoolcraft subsequently published an account of the voyage.* BANKS. The first bank in the Territory was chartered in 1817, as the Bank of Michigan.t The second was the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of Michigan, chartered in 1828, with a branch at St. Joseph. In 1823 a Legislative Council for the Territory was authorized, to consist of nine members, to be appointed by the President of the United States. In'1825 the number of the Council was increased to thirteen, and made elective by the people. In the same year, also, all county officers, excepting those belonging to the judiciary, were made elective by the people, and the appointments remaining in the hands of the Executive were made subject to the approval of the council. The Governor and Council were also authorized to divide the Territory into townships and incorporate them, and provide for the election of officers. The right of appeal was also granted in the same year from the Territorial to the United States Supreme Court. In 1825 the great Erie Canal between the Hudson River and Lake Erie was opened, giving continuous water navigation from the Atlantic seaboard to the Western lakes. This gave a fresh impetus to immigration. In 1827 the electors of the Territory were authorized to choose a number of persons corresponding with the council, and these, together with the original council, constituted a Territorial Legislature, which was empowered to enact any necessary laws, provided they did not conflict with the ordinance of 1787. They were to be subject to revision by Congress, and to the absolute veto of the Territorial Governor. A judiciary system was also established, and the militia were organized. Gen. George B. Porter, of Pennsylvania, succeeded Governor Cass in July, 1831, and entered upon the duties of his office in September following. It was during the administration of Governor Porter that the Black Hawk war occurred. It was confined wholly to the region west of Lake Michigan, and only indirectly disturbed the people of Michigan. Some account of the part taken by local companies will be found in another chapter. Governor Porter died of cholera on the 5th of July, 1834, and the Secretary of the Territory, Stevens T. Mason, by the provisions of the organic act, became Governor in his stead. Mr. Mason was succeeded, in 1835, by John S. Horner, who was the last Territorial Governor. CHAPTER X. STATE ORGANIZATION. Constitutional Conventions-The "Toledo War"-Mexican WarWar of the Rebellion-Population-Governors under Three Nationalities-Other State Officers. THE ordinance of 1787 provided that the Northwest Territory might be divided into not less than three nor more than five States. Down to 1818 three States had already been formed, viz., Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. By that ordinance, and subsequent acts of Congress conferring upon the Territory the benefits of its provisions, Michigan was entitled to apply for admission into the Union whenever.her free white population should number sixty thousand (60,000). In 1834, Michigan took the preliminary steps to secure for herself the rights to which she claimed to be entitled. On the 6th of September, in that year, the Legislative Council passed an act directing a census to be taken.t The returns showed a free white population of eighty-seven thousand two hundred and seventy-three inhabitants. At the session of the Council in January, 1835, an act was passed authorizing a convention to be held at Detroit on the second Monday of May following, for the purpose of framing a State constitution. This convention was composed of eighty-nine delegates, who met upon the day specified, and continued in session until the 24th day of June. A constitution was formed and submitted to the people in October following, and adopted. At the same election State officers and a Legislature were also elected to act under the new constitution. This Legislature met in November following, and the State government went into operation. Hon. Stevens T. Mason, former secretary of the Territorial government and acting Governor, was elected Governor of the new State.~ The constitution adopted in 1835 remained the fundamental law of the State until the adoption of the revised constitution, in 1850. THE TOLEDO WAR. The following synopsis of the history of the famous "Toledo War" is condensed from a pamphlet history of the same by Hon. W. V. Way, of Perrysburg, Ohio. We find it in the columns of the Detroit Advertiser: "The famous ordinance of 1787 authorized the formation by Congress of one or more States out of that portion of the Northwestern $ On the 29th of June, 1832, a statute was passed to call an election on the first Tuesday of October, to determine " whether it be expedient for the people of this Territory to form a State government." The result was in the affirmative by a large majority. [Campbell.] There seems to have been no further action taken at this time. # The area of the State, in square miles and acres, as given in 1838, is as follows: * In 1826, Governor Cass made a voyage to the head of Lake Superior, in canoes, to make treaties with the northern Indians. t A branch of this bank was established at Bronson by act of the Legislative Council, passed in March, 1834. Sq. Miles. Lower Peninsula............................. 39,856 Upper Peninsula............................. 20,664 Totals............................. 60,520 Water surface-Lake Michigan......... 11,592 Lake Superior.......... 15,660 Huron, St. Clair, and Erie.................... 9,072 Aggregate.............................. 96,844 Sq. Acres. 25,507,840 13,224,960 38,732,800 STATE ORGANIZATION. 53 Territory lying north of a line drawn east and west through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan.* When, in 1802, Ohio applied for admission to the Union, the convention which formed her constitution, not knowing but that this line would come so far south as to cut them off from Lake Erie, placed in the instrument the proviso that, Congress consenting, if the line through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan should be found not to strike Lake Erie, or to strike it east of the mouth of the Maumee River, that then the northern boundary line of the proposed State should be altered so as to intersect the most northerly cape of Maumee Bay. Congress admitted Ohio Feb. 19, 1803, without any allusion to the boundary. On Jan. 11, 1805, the bill was passed organizing the Territory of Michigan, and establishing as the southern boundary the old line running east and west through the head of Lake Michigan. The Territorial government at once exercised jurisdiction as far south as this line. Ohio appealed to Congress, and in 1812 a resolution was passed ordering a survey of the line indicated in the Ohio constitution. The war of 1812 breaking out at this juncture, the line was not surveyed, and it was not until 1817 that the requirements of the resolution were finally complied with. On Jan. 29, 1818, the Ohio Legislature adopted the line so run as the northern boundary of their State, but Congress took no action in the matter until after the conflict of 1835. The disputed territory extended the whole length of the north line of Ohio, and was about five miles wide at its west end, and eight at its east. It was chiefly valuable as embracing the harbor at the mouth of the Maumee River, and the site of the present city of Toledo. At first the residents of this tract preferred the dominion of Michigan to that of Ohio, but with the prospect of Toledo being made the terminus of the canal connecting the Maumee with the Ohio, they suddenly changed their views and petitioned Governor Lucas to extend the laws of Ohio over them. This was in 1835. Governor Lucas presented the matter to the Legislature, and on February 23d a law was again passed declaring the disputed strip to belong to Ohio. For thil ty years Michigan had held possession, and attempts to collect taxes under Ohio laws had been successfully opposed. The Ohio act of 1835 provided for the re-survey and re-marking ol the line claimed by that State, and also for the subdivision of the disputed territory into townships and their immediate organization. Meanwhile the Legislative Council of Michigan, upon learning what the Ohio Legislature was intending, anticipated their action by a law passed February 12th, prohibiting any one from exercising any official functions within the Territory of Michigan by virtue of any commission or authority not derived from the Territorial Government or from the United States, under penalty of fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both, at the discretion of the court. The people of the disputed tract were now divided between the two allegiances, some taking sides with Michigan, others with Ohio. Determined to maintain the peace and dignity of the Territory of Michigan, Acting Governor Stevens T. Mason, on the 9th of March, ordered Gen. Joseph W. Brown, in command of the 3d division of Michigan militia, to be on the alert to meet any invasion of the Territory. On the 31st, Governor Lucas, of Ohio, with his surveyors and about six hundred militia, fully armed and equipped, reached Perrysburg, on their way to re-mark the boundary line, as ordered by the Legislature. "About the same time Governor Mason marched into Toledo, with a force of from eight hundred to twelve hundred men. Governor Lucas was contemplating an attack on him there, when fortunately there arrived on the ground two commissioners, sent from Washington to settle the dispute. These were Hon. Richard Rush, of Philadelphia, and Col. Howard, of Baltimore. After several conferences, it was proposed by the commissioners that the Governor of Ohio should be permitted to re-mark the line, and that the people should be left to obey whichever government they preferred until the close of the next session of Congress, before which time it was hoped that some permanent arrangement would be concluded. Governor Mason promptly declined the proposal. Governor Lucas accepted, and claimed that the agreement was now complete, Governor Mason's assent not being necessary, as he, being only Governor of a Territory, was only subordinate to the President of the United States, whom Governor Lucas assumed was represented in the negotiation by Commissioners Rush and Howard. Governor Lucas accordingly proceeded to disband his forces, and Governor Mason partially followed his example. President Jackson now referred the matter to Attorney-General Butler, who reported that the President had no grounds for interference; that the Michigan laws were in accordance with the United States Constitution and acts of Congress, and that it was proper for the officers of the Territory to enforce them. Governor Lucas, however, relying on the assumed agreement or truce, in the latter part of April attempted to carry out the order of the Legislature by running the boundary line. The surveyors started from the northwestern corner of the State, closely watched by Gen. Brown's scouts. No sooner had they entered Lenawee County, than William MeNair, under-sheriff of the same, with a posse of thirty men, armed with muskets, attempted the arrest of the party. The Ohioans were armed with rifles and horse-pistols, and, on the appearance of the Michiganders, took up a position in a log house, where they securely barricaded themselves. The sheriff's party advancing upon them, they speedily abandoned their defenses and fled to the woods, without, as it seems, firing a shot. They were hotly pursued by the Michigan men, who discharged their muskets over their heads, to the great increase of their panic. Nine persons were captured, the rest escaping and reaching Perrysburg next morning, in a woful plight, and with the most fearful tale of a ferocious attack, all of which Governor Lucas promptly reported to Washington. The prisoners were taken to Tecumseh, where two were dismissed for want of evidence, six admitted to bail for trial at the next Circuit Court, and one, refusing to give bail, was permitted to go at large on parole of honor. Matters were now becoming serious. An extra session of the Ohio Legislature was called, and most of its action pertained to the dispute with Michigan. It met on the 8th of June, and its first act was one to prevent the forcible abduction of citizens of Ohio, and its next to establish the county of Lucas in the disputed territory, with Toledo as its county-seat. It also provided that a session of the Circuit Court should be held there on the 7th of September ensuing. Another act was one in which Michigan was ignored altogether as a party to the dispute, and the United States made the responsible party. An appropriation of three hundred thousand dollars was made for the carrying on of the war, and the Governor was authorized to borrow three hundred thousand dollars more. Above ten thousand volunteers were at once enrolled. The people of Michigan now became furious with indignation, and the partisans of Ohio were harassed without mercy. Arrests and imprisonments were made daily, but only one case of bloodshed occurred, and that of no serious character. Governor Lucas now sent three commissioners to Washington, to confer with the President upon the boundary difficulties. Gen. Jackson, on July 3d, promised to advise the Michigan authorities to observe the Rush and Howard treaty until Congress should convene; but if this promise was fulfilled it accomplished but little good, for the persecution of Ohio sympathizers continued unabated. August 29th, Governor Mason was notified of his removal, and of the appointment of Mr. Schaler, of Pennsylvania, as his successor; but Mr. Schaler declined the appointment, and Mason continued in office. * The following are the clauses of the ordinance referring to the number of States and their boundaries: " There shall be formed in the said Territory not less than three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash Rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Post St. Vincent's*- due north to the Territorial line between the United States and Canada; and by the said Territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. "The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Post St. Vincent's to the Ohio; by the Ohio, and by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said Territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the lastmentioned direct line,-the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said Territoxial line; Provided, however, and it is further understood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered, that if Congress shall bereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said Territory which lies north of an east-and-west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan."t [Annals of the West.] * Vincennes, Indiana. t The States of Michigan and Wisconsin, with certain modifications, have been formed from this portion of the Territory. The latitude of the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan is about 41~ 42t north. 54 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I The reason given for the removal was undue zeal, and want of moderation and forbearance necessary to the public peace. Governor Lucas was at the same time urged by Secretary of State John Forsyth to abstain from pressing the claims of Ohio until Congress could meet, being assured that his case should not be jeopardized thereby. The 7th of September now approached, the time fixed by the Ohio Legislature for holding court in the new county of Lucas. Gen. Brown, with a large force of men,-it was reported twelve hundred,-encamped at Mulhollan's, near Toledo, to watch and frustrate any effort thus to confirm Ohio jurisdiction. The Ohioans resorted to a shrewd expedient for carrying out the law, and, at the same time, avoiding a conflict. Assembling the officers of the court at Perrysburg, with an escort of twenty men, they rode in the dead of night to Toledo, and at one o'clock on the morning of the 7th, in a school-house in the suburbs of the village, went through the form of opening and adjourning court. The clerk placed the records in his hat, and the party hastened back to Perrysburg to breakfast. Gen. Brown being thus outwitted, disbanded his army. Shortly thereafter Governor Mason was superseded by John S. Horner, a compromise was effected between him and Governor Lucas, the line was run in November without molestation, and on June 15th following (1836) the question of boundary was forever settled by the admission of Michigan into the Union, with the boundary line as claimed by Ohio, but with a very large addition of territory in the Upper Peninsula, which it has always been claimed was granted by Congress as an offset for the strip given up to Ohio." After the adoption of the constitution, Michigan presented the anomaly of a region of country having both a State and a Territorial form of government at the same time; for while Governor Mason was exercising the functions of chief executive of a State, John S. Horner was acting as Territorial Governor.* The act of Congress of July 1, 1836, admitting Arkansas and Michigan as States of the Union, was passed with the proviso, that it should "not take effect until the State of Michigan shall be admitted into the Union according to the provisions of the act entitled ' An Act to establish the northern boundary of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union on certain conditions.'" The Legislature of Michigan directed an election for a convention to be held at Ann Arbor, on the fourth Monday of September, to consider the terms. This convention met and rejected them. In this condition of affairs a people's convention was called at Ann Arbor, on the 14th of December. This was popularly known as the " Frost-bitten Convention," from its illegality, and the fact that it met in cold weather; but it nevertheless proceeded at once to formally comply with the conditions of Congress, and forwarded a record of its proceedings to Washington. There was much debate in Congress over the question, but a bill of admission was finally passed, and Michigan became a State on the 26th of January, 1837. The State was recognized as having existed since November, 1835, when the State officers and representatives in Congress had come into office. THE PATRIOT WAR of 1837-38 did not seriously disturb the people of Michigan, though there was considerable sympathy shown the malcontents, and secret lodges, known as "Hunter Lodges," were organized by the sympathizers. The military of the State were called out to protect the arsenal at Dearborn, below Detroit, and a few companies and bands crossed the border to aid the " Patriots," though they were mostly driven back or captured, and some of their leaders were * Mr. Horner soon afterwards removed to Wisconsin. banished. The need of a regular garrison at Detroit, which had been discontinued since 1827, was seen in this emergency, and the place has not been left without military occupation since. THE MEXICAN WAR. During the war with Mexico, in 1846-47, Michigan furnished one volunteer regiment of infantry, commanded by Col. Thomas B. W. Stockton, and one independent company of cavalry, recruited at Detroit by Capt. A. T. McReynolds. There were also three companies recruited in the State for the Fifteenth Regular Infantry, U. S. A., to wit: Company A, Capt. Samuel E. Beach, recruited at Pontiac; Company C, Capt. Isaac D. Toll, a prominent citizen of St. Joseph County; and Company G, Capt. Winans, raised in Monroe County. WAR OF THE REBELLION. Upon the breaking out of the great Rebellion, in April, 1861, Michigan responded enthusiastically to the calls of the government, and during the continuance of the contest furnished an aggregate of ninety thousand seven hundred and forty-seven men to the Union armies. These served in every arm of the military and naval forces, and forty-six commissioned officers and thirteen thousand and fifty-nine men laid down their lives in defense of a common country, on the battle-field or in the hospitals, and in the prison-pens of the Confederacy. " On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And Glory guards with solemn round The bivouac of the dead." A history of the company from Kalamazoo which served during the Mexican war, and of the various organizations from the county serving in the war of the Rebellion, will be found in another portion of this work. POPULATION. The population of Michigan, not including Indians, at various periods has been about as follows: In 1760 (estimated).................................. 2,500 In 1796 (estimated).................................. 3,000 In 1800............................3............. 3,200 In 1810............................................. 4,762 In 1820.................................................. 8,896 In 1830.......................................... 31,639 In 1834................................................... 87,273 In 1840................................................. 212,267 In 1850................................... 397,654 In 1854 (State census).............................. 507,521 In 1860 (United States census)................... 749,113 In 1864 (State census).............................. 803,661 In 1870 (United States census)................. 1,184,282 In 1874 (State census)............................... 1,334,031 The rate of increase within recent years would indicate a population in 1880 of about 1,750,000. GOVERNORS OF CANADA (INCLUDING MICHIGAN) UNDER FRENCH RULE. 1612-35.t-Samuel de Champlain. 1635.-Marc Antoine de Chasteaufort. 1636.-Charles Huault de Montmagny. 1648.-Louis D'Aillebout de Coulonges. 1651.-Jean de Lauson. 1656.-Charles de Lauson-Charney. 1657.-Chevalier Louis D'Aillebout de Coulonges. 1658.-Pierre de Voyer, Viscount D'Argenson. 1661.-Pierre du Bois, Baron D'Avangour. f From 1629 to 1632 the country was in the possession of the English, and in 1632-33, Emery de Caen was Governor. STATE ORGANIZATION. 55 I. 1663.-Chevalier Augustin de Saffrey-Mesey. 1663.-Alexandre de Prouville, Marquis de Tracey. 1665.-Chevalier Daniel de Remy de Courcelles. 1672.-Louis de Buade, Count of Paluan and Frontenac. 1682.-Antoine Joseph Le Febvre de la Barre. 1685.-Jacques Rene de Brisay, Marquis de Denonville. 1689.-Louis de Buade, Count of Paluan and Frontenac. 1699.-Chevalier Louis Hector de Callieres. 1703.-Phillippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil. 1725.-Charles Le Moyne, Baron de Longueuil. 1726.-Charles, Marquis de Beauharnois. 1747.-Rolland Michel Barrin, Count de la Gallissonniere. 1749.-Jacques Pierre de Taffanel, Marquis de la Jonquiere. 1752.-Charles Le Moyne, Baron de Longueuil. 1752.-The Marquis Duquesne de Menneville. 1755.-Pierre Franqois, Marquis de Vaudreuil Cavagnal. BRITISH GOVERNORS. 1760.-Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Commander-in-chief. 1765.-Sir James Murray, Governor of Quebec. 1766.-Paulus Emilius Irving, President. 1766.-Sir Guy Carleton, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-inchief. 1770.-Hector Theophilus Cramahe, Commander-in-chief. 1774.-Sir Guy Carleton, Governor-General. 1778.-Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor-General. 1784.-Henry Hamilton, Lieutenant-Governor. 1785.-Henry Hope, Lieutenant-Governor. 1786.-Lord Dorchester, Governor-General. 1792.-Col. John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. TERRITORIAL GOVERNORS NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 1787.-Gen. Arthur St. Clair, Governor. 1796.-Winthrop Sargent, Secretary and acting Governor. INDIANA TERRITORY.* 1800-5.-Gen. William Henry Harrison. MICHIGAN TERRITORY. Gen. William Hull, from March 1, 1805, to August 16, 1812. Gen. Lewis Cass, from Oct. 13, 1813, to Aug. 1, 1831. During Gen. Cass' administration the Secretary, William Woodbridge, was acting Governor at various periods. James Witherell, Secretary and acting Governor, from Jan. 1, 1830, to April 2, 1830. Gen. John T. Mason, Secretary and acting Governor, from Sept. 24, 1830, to Oct. 4, 1830; and from April 4 to May 27, 1831. Stevens Thomson Mason, Secretary and acting Governor, from Aug. 1, 1831, to Sept. 17, 1831. Gen. George B. Porter, Governor, Aug. 6, 1831. Stevens Thomson Mason, Secretary and acting Governor at various periods from Oct. 30, 1831, to Feb. 7, 1834. Stevens Thomson Mason, ex-offcio Governor as Secretary of the Territory, July 6, 1834, to Aug. 29, 1835. Charles Shaler, appointed Secretary but declined, Aug. 29, 1835. John S. Horner, Secretary and acting Governor, Sept. 8, 1835. STATE GOVERNORS. UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1835. Stevens T. Mason, Nov. 3, 1835, to April 13, 1838. Edward Mundy (Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor), April 13 to June 12, 1838; Sept. 19 to Dec. 9, 1838. William Woodbridge, Jan. 7, 1840, to Feb. 23, 1841. James Wright Gordon (Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor), Feb. 24, 1841, to Jan. 3, 1842. John S. Barry, Governor, Jan. 3, 1842, to Jan. 5, 1846. Alpheus Felch, Jan. 5, 1846, to March 3, 1847. William L. Greenly (Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor), March 4, 1847, to Jan. 3, 1848. Epaphroditus Ransom, Governor, Jan. 3, 1848, to Jan. 7, 1850.t John S. Barry, Governor, Jan. 7, 1850, to Jan. 1, 1852. * Which included Michigan. t Governor Ransom was first president of the State Agricultural Society, in 1849. UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1850. Robert McClelland, Governor, Jan. 1, 1852. Andrew Parsons (Lieutenant-Governor and acting Governor), March 8, 1853, to Jan. 3, 1855. Kinsley S. Bingham, Governor, Jan. 3, 1855. Moses Wisner, Governor, Jan. 5, 1859. Austin Blair, Governor, Jan. 2, 1861. Henry H. Crapo, Governor, Jan. 4, 1865. Henry P. Baldwin, Governor, Jan. 6, 1869. John J. Bagley, Governor, Jan. 1, 1873. Charles M. Croswell, Governor, Jan. 3,1877, and present Governor, 1880. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS. Edward Mundy, Washtenaw County, 1835-39. James Wright Gordon, Calhoun, 1840-41. Thomas J. Drake, Oakland, acting, 1841. Origen D. Richardson, Oakland, 1842-45. William L. Greenly, Lenawee, 1846-47. Charles P. Bush, acting, Livingston, 1847. William M. Fenton, Genesee, 1848-51. Calvin Britain, Berrien, 1852. Andrew Parsons, Shiawassee, 1853. George R. Griswold, acting, Wayne, 1853. George A. Coe, Branch, 1855-58. Edmund B. Fairfield, Hillsdale, 1859-61. James Birney, Bay, 1861. Joseph R. Williams, acting, St. Joseph, 1861. Henry T. Backus, acting, Wayne, 1862. Charles S. May, Kalamazoo, 1863-64. Ebenezer O. Grosvenor, Hillsdale, 1865-66. Dwight May,+ Kalamazoo, 1867-68. Morgan Bates, Grand Traverse, 1869-72. Henry H. Holt, Muskegon, 1873-76. Alonzo Sessions, Ionia, 1877-80. Of the Speakers of the House of Representatives since the admission into the Union two have been citizens of Kalamazoo County, viz.: Edwin H. Lothrop,~ 1842-44, and Gilbert E. Read, 1865. Kalamazoo County was not represented by any of her own citizens in either of the six Councils of the Territory which formed the legislative branch of the Territorial government from 1824 to 1835. In the Constitutional Convention of 1835, Kalamazoo, which then formed the eleventh district, was represented by Lucius Lyon, William H. Welch, and Hezekiah G. Wells. In the first Convention of Assent to the proposition of Congress for the admission of Michigan into the Union, held at Ann Arbor in September, 1836, this County was represented by Joseph A. Smith and William H. Welch. In the second Convention of Assent, nicknamed the "Frost-bitten Convention," the county was represented by Samuel Percival, Ira Lyon, Isaac W. Willard, and Ambrose Searle. This convention was also held at Ann Arbor, on the 14th of December, 1836. In the Constitutional Convention convened at Lansing June 3, 1850, the delegates from Kalamazoo County were Hezekiah G. Wells, Samuel Clark, and Volney Hascall. The Constitutional Convention which met at Lansing for the purpose of framing a new constitution, in May, 1867, included as delegates from the county of Kalamazoo Marsh Giddings, Delamore Duncan, and Milton Bradley. The constitution was rejected by a vote of one hundred andten thousand five hundred and eighty-two against seventy-one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three. I: t Died Jan. 28, 1880. j Speaker pro tern. in 1842-43. 56 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. Another convention for amending the constitution met at Lansing on the 27th of August, 1873, and continued in session until October 16th following. The proposed constitution was rejected by a vote of one hundred and twentyfour thousand and thirty-four to thirty-nine thousand two hundred and eighty-five, notwithstanding that in most of its provisions it was an improvement upon the present constitution. The convention consisted of two commissioners from each Congressional district, appointed by the Governor, under an act of the Legislature of April 24, 1873. The member from Kalamazoo County was Hon. H. G. Wells. MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM KALAMAZOO COUNTY. SENATE. Horace H. Comstock, 1835-38; David E. Deming, 1841-42; Lewis F. Starkey, 1843-44; Nathaniel A. Balch, 1847-48; David S. Walbridge, 1849-50; Frederick W. Curtenius, 1853-54; E. Lakin Brown, 1855-56; Lafayette W. Lovell, 1857-58; Stephen P. Brown, 1861-62; Elijah O. Humphrey, 1863-64; Stephen F. Brown, 1865-66; Frederick W. Curtenius, 1867-68; Delos Phillips, 1869-70; James M. Neasmith, 1871-74; Thomas S. Cobb, 1875-76; Gilbert E. Read, 1877-78; E. Lakin Brown, 1879-80. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Cyren Burdick, Edwin H. Lothrop, 1835-36; Caleb Eldred, Edwin H. Lothrop, 1837; Anthony Cooley, Stephen Vickery, 1838; David E. Brown, Andrew G. Hammond, 1839; David E. Brown, Joseph Miller, 1840; E. Lakin Brown, Joseph Miller, 1841; Edwin H. Lothrop,? Charles E. Stuart, 1842; Edwin H. Lothrop, Stephen Vickery, 1843-44; Fletcher Ransom, Stephen Vickery, 1845-46; Evert B. Dyckman, Horace Mower, 1847; Edwin H. Lothrop, Stephen Vickery, 1848; Barney Earl, Marsh Giddings, 1849; Delamore Duncan, Hiram Moore, 1850; Barney Earl, Salmon C. Hall, 1851-52; George W. Lovell, Epaphroditus Ransom, 1853 -54; George W. Lovell, Henry Montague, 1855-56; Stephen F. Brown, Allen Potter, 1857-58; Foster Pratt, Stephen F. Brown, 1859-60; Ezra C. Adams, Gilbert E. Read, 1861-62; James B. Cobb, Orville H. Fellows, Gilbert E. Read, 1863-64; James B. Cobb, Orville H. Fellows, Gilbert E. Read,t 1865-66; Orville H. Fellows, Enos T. Lovell, Anthony L. Mason, 1867-68; Alexander Cameron, Enos T. Lovell, John Walker, 1869-70; Alexander Cameron, Eli R. Miller, John Walker, 1871-72; Thomas S. Cobb, Eli R. Miller, John Walker, 1873-74; Simpson Howland, Godfrey E. Knight, Abraham T. Metcalf, 1875-76; Simpson Howland, Jonathan Parsons, 1877-78; John F. Oliver, Jonathan Parsons, 1879-80. MEMBERS OF CONGRESS. TERRITORIAL DELEGATE. Lucius Lyon, 1833-35. SENATORS. Lucius Lyon, 1836-40; Charles E. Stuart, 1853-59. REPRESENTATIVES. Lucius Lyon, 1843-45; Charles E. Stuart, 1847-49; William Sprague, 1849-50; Charles E. Stuart, 1851-53; Samuel Clark, 1853-55; David S. Walbridge, 1855-59; Julius C. Burrows, 1873-75; Julius C. Burrows, 1879. COMMISSIONER STATE LAND-OFFICE. James M. Neasmith, 1879; Henry S. Sleeper, deputy, 1879. QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL. Orrin N. Giddings, 1865-67. RAILROAD COMMISSIONER. Stephen S. Cobb, 1873-77. STATE JUDICIARY. JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT. Epaphroditus Ransom, 1843-48. CHIEF JUSTICE SUPREME COURT. Epaphroditus Ransom, 1848. NEW JUDICIAL CIRCUITS. Ninth District-John L. Hawes, Judge. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS. Hezekiah G. Wells, 1840; Hezekiah G. Wells, 1860; Marsh Giddings, 1864; Delos Phillips, 1876. STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. President of the Board of Agriculture, Hon. Hezekiah G. Wells, 1879; Gen. E. 0. Humphrey, Andrew Y. Moore, 1879. DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND ASYLUM. Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Hon. James M. Neasmith, 1879. STATE BOARD OF HEALTH. Homer 0. Hitchcock, M.D., 1879. STATE PIONEER SOCIETY. Committee of Historians, Hon. Hezekiah G. Wells, 1879. The civil list, and all matters pertaining to the history of the county proper, will be found in the succeeding chapters. The military chapters contain histories of the various organizations which have gone out in any of the wars of the past, together with complete rosters of soldiers of the war of the Rebellion, and as full and accurate ones of other organizations as could be procured. CHAPTER XI. PHYSICAL FEATURES. GEOGRAPHY. THE county of Kalamazoo~ lies in the southwestern part of the Lower Peninsula. It is centrally distant from Lansing, southwest by west, sixty miles; from Detroit, nearly due west, one hundred and thirty miles; from the south line of the State, thirty-three miles; and from Lake Michigan, due east, forty-four miles.ll The county lies approximately between 42~ 7' and 42~ 27' north latitude, and 8~ 20' and 8~ 48' longitude west from Washington. The court-house in Kalamazoo is in north latitude 42~ 17' 25", and west longitude 85~ 35' 5" from Greenwich.Tf It is bounded on the north by the counties of Allegan and Barry, which are separated from it by the base line of the State surveys; on the south by St. Joseph County; on the east by Calhoun County; and on the west by Van Buren County. The county is composed of the Congres Dwight May, 1869-7 ATTORNEY-GENERAL. ADJUTANT-GENERAL. Frederick W. Curtenius, 1855-61. * Speaker pro tern. Speaker in 1844. t Died Jan. 28, 1880. t Speaker. # From the Pottawattomie word Ke-Kenamazoo, signifying the boiling-pot, or where the water boils like a pot. a] Air-line measurements on a sectional map of the State. ~ United States Lake Survey. T — I I i II I i i I MAPIOF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICH I GAN RANGE Xy WEST, RAN6E V/ WYST tAIGQE X WEST r. RANGE IX WEST j6 -1 -; 6 6` 2, 1. / 7 7 ja 0 /2Li 1! II LT if T a x n 3 333 32 33 4. 73 \7 1 4 1H9 ^/ }e TIj | /I I,.9:. 8 1 37 9f } 3t- 3t S tS /99/ _ t 191 / 2 o91 229 2] 263 7.. 3 1 33 0337 32 36 [ 2 3 -1 *6i 5 1 2 ~/ -12!0: y 3:~ 9 /0 (9 I0 y i h38 ' 1' 0r60 r x 2lc I 2 0122 k I f 1~: 30, 2 B t r 1 233 g 26 31 wtd 1 h5,<1 '1E I3t1.1' 4 1j6 z J I I ot 8 -4 7 5?^ 8 I Ip =116 r — Ii F ) ] -1 I r I I I.;.I I. 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Nm- -I-.-wmwo -~ —;-;- ~1 O~; ----P O-p-~-"~ 4 PHYSICAPL FEA~TUREES. 57 P F 57 sional townships Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 south of the base line, and of ranges Nos. 9, 10, 11, and 12 west from the principal meridian, making it four townships square, or twentyfour miles on each side of the quadrangle. Theoretically, it contains five hundred and seventy-six square miles, or three hundred and sixty-eight thousand six hundred and forty square acres; but the convergence of range lines and imperfect surveying make the actual area somewhat different from these amounts, —a few hundred acres less. HYDROGRAPHY. Five-eighths of the county are drained by the Kalamazoo River, and about three-eighths by the St. Joseph River. The townships of Ross, Richland, Cooper, Alamo, Kalamazoo, Comstock, most of Charleston and Portage, and portions of Oshtemo, Texas, and Pavilion are within the water-shed of the Kalamazoo; while Climax, Wakeshma, Brady, Schoolcraft, and Prairie Ronde, small portions of Charleston, Portage, and Texas, and most of Pavilion are drained by branches of the St. Joseph River. The water surface of the lakes and ponds of the county is about 10,000 acres, divided among the several towns, approximately, as follows: Ross, 1600 acres; Richland, 850; Cooper, 40; Alamo, 350; Oshtemo, 160; Kalamazoo, 200; Comstock, 200; Charleston, 550; Climax, 50; Pavilion, 1000; Portage, 1800; Texas, 1200; Prairie Ronde, 400; Schoolcraft, 1100; Brady, 800; Wakeshma has no lakes, at least they are not shown on the maps. The larger of these lakes shdw about the following areas: Gull, 2000 acres; Austin, 1300; Indian, 700; Long, 610; Rawson, 400; Gourd-Neck, 370; Eagle, 350; West, 300; Paw Paw, 170; Crooked, 150; and Howard, 150.* The Kalamazoo Rivert rises in Hillsdale and Jackson * These estimates are made from careful computations, based upon the original and latest surveys, and the county maps. Bodies of water are invariably overestimated, unless measurements are from reliable surveys. Gull Lake is about four and a half miles in extreme length. t Mr. George Torrey, in his history of Kalamazoo, published in the directory of the village for 1867, gives the following regarding the origin of the name Kalamazoo: "On Toland's Prairie there had once been a village, and it was here that the name of the river ' KALAMAZOO,' originated. A friend, Mr. A. J. Sheldo, to whom the writer is indebted for many incidents and historical notes regarding the Indians, writes me: 'There is no reason to doubt the truth of this story, as I took great pains among the Indians to ascertain the true meaning of the word. Schoolcraft and other authorities say its etymology is KIH-KALAeiAzoo,-'It boils like a pot,' or the' boiling-pot,' from the numerous small eddies on its surface. This is the true Indian tradition: ' Many moons ago, Toland Prairie was the site of a small Indian village. One pleasant day a wager was made that an Indian could not run to a certain point on the river and return ere the water, then boiling in a little pot on the fire, should have boiled out. The race was made, and thus the beautiful river received its name of Kalamazoo, or 'where the water boils in the pot,' and which name has been applied to the whole stream, though originally designating only a small portion of its banks. The sweet sylvan tide of the Kalamazoo has oft reflected upon its fair bosom the 'cone-like cabins' of the original possessors of the soil, and its murmurs made music for their sports upon the green sward. Their 'light canoes' have skimmed its glassy surface, and re-echoed back the sound of mortal combat; yet, though the one who named it Kalamazoo is forgotten, the stream will ever bear its title, " 'It matters not his rank or name, or whence his baptism came, While thy swift waters lave their banks, shall live thy Indian name.'" 8 Counties, and flows in a general direction, northwest by west, to its embouchure into Lake Michigan. It drains about two thousand two hundred square miles, and flows with a gentle current, except in a few places where there are " rifts" or slight rapids. Its whole course is through the alluvium, which is characteristic of many of the Michigan streams. Its total fall is probably in the vicinity of three hundred feet, which, estimating its winding course at one hundred and fifty miles, would give an average fall of two feet per mile. Its volume is exceedingly uniform, and it neither gets very low in times of drouth, nor devastates its banks in times of flood. Its rise and fall at Kalamazoo may be measured within the compass of six feet. This uniformity is produced by the many perennial springs which feed its flow; by its passage among numerous lakes and marshes, which serve as equalizing reservoirs; and by the comparatively level country through which it passes. The lower fifty miles of its channel, from Lake Michiga' to Kalamazoo, were in the early days, and down to the advent of railways, considerably used for purposes of navigation; the water craft employed for merchandise and passengers being mostly flat-boats, barges, and canoes.4 This stream in its passage through the county intersects the towns of Ross, Charleston, Comstock, Kalamazoo, and Cooper. From Ross to Kalamazoo its course is west southwest, and from thence nearly north. The principal affluents of the Kalamazoo within the county are Augusta Creek, in Ross township; the outlet of Gull Lake, in Ross and Charleston; Portage Creek, in Portage and Kalamazoo; and Spring Brook, in Richland and Cooper. Several of these furnish considerable waterpower, notably at Augusta, Galesburg, and Kalamazoo. A considerable stream rises in the southeastern part of Alamo, and flows into the Paw Paw River in Van Buren County. The Big and Little Portage and Bear Creeks drain the southeast portions of the county, and two considerable streams flow south from Schooleraft and Prairie Ronde. These streams furnish more or less motive-power at Vicksburg and other points. Springs are very numerous, and some of them of a mineral character; one on section 27, in the town of Cooper, has made an immense deposit of calcareous tufa. TOPOGRAPHY. The surface of the county, while exhibiting the general characteristics of a level region, at the same time shows considerable variety, the leading features of which may be classed under the headings of timbered lands, oak-openings, prairies, river bluffs, and marshes. The timbered lands originally covered the greater portion of the county, probably three-fourths. The timber consisted of a great variety of deciduous trees: oak, several varieties; hickory, two varieties; elm, several varieties; beech, maple, varieties of each; basswood, black-walnut, butternut, or white-walnut, black-cherry, ash, tulip, sycamore, sour gum,~ birch, larch, etc., with some cedar and very little pine. t Stem navgatin hasbeenexpermentd upo at imsbuno I Steam navigation has been experimented upon at times, but not with satisfactory results. # This tree is commonly known under the name " pepperidge." 68 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. The lands known as "oak-openings" were principally level tracts sparsely timbered with burr-oak, though, in some eases, lands covered with a scattering growth of other varieties may have been so designated. The site of the village plat of Kalamazoo was originally a fine example of the Michigan openings, and the people have exhibited more than ordinary taste and judgment in preserving the primitive growth in streets and inclosures. The burr-oak always grows in a rich soil, generally a sandy loam. PRAIRIES. The prairies of Michigan are generally small, as compared with those of Illinois and the country west of the Mississippi, and comparatively few in number. Those found within the limits of Kalamazoo County are Prairie Ronde, Gourd-Neck, Gull, Climax, Grand, Toland's, Genesee, and Dry. Of these Prairie Ronde is the most considerable, and claimed to be the most extensive in the State. Its area has been vastly overestimated, however, by almost every writer, from James Fenimore Cooper, in the " Oak-Openings," to the present time. The highest estimates have been from twenty-five thousand to thirty thousand acres. A careful computation upon a sectional map, giving nearly its exact outlines, shows an approximate to thirteen thousand acres. This estimate is confirmed by Mr. Hodgman, county surveyor, who is familiar with the county. Gull Prairie comes next with about two thousand eight hundred acres; Gourd-Neck, with two thousand five hundred; Climax, with eight hundred; Grand, with eight hundred; Galesburg, or Toland's, with five hundred; Genesee, with four hundred; and Dry Prairie, with three hundred, making an aggregate of twenty-one thousand one hundred acres, or something less than the area of a Congressional township. In tabular form, vegetable remains and ashes are the probable sources from whence the rich black surface mould is derived. Some writers believe that the prairies of Michigan have been produced by the combined action of whirlwinds and fire. The study of these phenomena of nature is an exceedingly interesting one, and worthy the deepest research. RIVER BLUFFS. These form the more or less precipitous escarpments of the margins of the river valleys, and vary in height only in a slight degree in Kalamazoo County, increasing somewhat as they trend towards the lake. The highest elevation in the county is said to be in the township of Oshtemo, which is stated at over two hundred feet above the river, and about three hundred and fifty feet above Lake Michigan. The highest elevation of Prairie Ronde is given at two hundred and seventy-eight feet above the lake, and eight hundred and fifty-six feet above the sea. The village of Kalamazoo is stated at one hundred and fifty-four feet above Lake Michigan, and seven hundred and thirty feet above the sea.t The general level of the country is from eighty to one hundred and fifty feet above the bed of the Kalamazoo River. The valleys of the streams, eroded from a former general level of the peninsula, date from the Champlain era, which followed the subsidence of the vast continental glacier, whose irresistible onward movement towards the south and southwest strewed the whole region between Lakes Michigan and Huron with the shattered and worn debris of the crystalline and sedimentary rocks of the upper peninsula and Canada. With the melting of the glacial masses qame powerful currents of fresh water, which, in their rapid movement towards the level of the lakes, excavated and gave character to the various river-beds of the peninsula. As the frozen accumulations slowly disappeared under the rising temperature the streams diminished, and at different stages and levels new beds were formed, and from each in turn was excavated the.new and regularly-narrowing channel, leaving the curious terraces which invariably mark the changes in the volume and level of the streams. The flowing water of the post-glacial days was enormous in quantity, as compared with that of the present day, and the Kalamazoo undoubtedly at one period filled the valley indicated by the upper terrace from bluff to bluff in a broad, shallow stream. MARSHES. These cover quite an extensive area, and include large tracts around the margins of the lakes, and others which are no doubt the beds of former lakes, drained by the cuttings of the water-courses within a comparatively recent geological period. The area of the marsh-land in the county is difficult of determination, and is constantly being reduced by the clearing away of timber, and by drainage and cultivation. The soil is exceedingly rich, being composed of black muck, in places approaching the consistency t The railroad survey of the Michigan Southern road makes Kala mazoo two hundred and ten feet above the lake, and seven hundred and seventy-five feet above the sea. If this statement is true, it materially changes all the elevations given by some other authorities. Prairie Ronde............................................ Gull Prairie........................................ Gourd-Neck Prairie.................................... Climax Prairie...................................... Grand Prairie............................................. Galesburg, or Toland's Prairie.................... Genesee Prairie.......................................... Dry Prairie.......................................... Total................................................ Acres. 13,000 2,800 2,500 800 800 500 400 300 21,100* These figures will no doubt surprise many citizens of the county, but they have been made after careful study, and largely upon information obtained from Mr. Hodgman; and we have little doubt that an accurate survey would show them approximately correct. Prairie Ronde extends a short distance into St. Joseph County, but we have estimated only the portion lying in Kalamazoo County. The origin of these " natural meadows" has been attributed to many causes. The immense prairies farther west have been considered as the beds of ancient seas or freshwater lakes, long since (probably in the carboniferous period) permanently elevated above the receding waters. Periodical burnings are supposed to have prevented the growth of forest-trees, and the constant accumulations of * The " Indian Fields," a tract of land of about one hundred acres, cultivated by the Indians, located in Portage township, will be found described in the history of that town. It is not strictly prairie. I:b IGEOLOGICAL MAAP -I — OFTHELOWER PENINSULA — > a or /0t. Alfutcd~,/L of Colort ffeklderbcr9y rovup rf-Blaek, S~hale =Mt1Vver4' aro/q f-\ Coat )eaxareC$ / (I ~/ c. I I ~/) I 0 I$00c I I - -,, 7 " 1;-,I z ~rd u waey - TTA X 71 Nt ibL CALM k'e.- 1. I- t I I N + K ~ PHYSICAL FEATURES. 59 of peat, and generally underlaid with a heavy, compact marl. The marsh-lands lying south of Kalamazoo village, under the hand of intelligent industry, are fast becoming prolific gardens, and a few acres, well cultivated, return an astonishing profit on the cost of the land and the labor of reclaiming it. Immense crops of celery are grown on these lands. An approximate estimate of the present area of marshlands within the county may be placed at fifteen thousand acres; but a half-century hence will see them nearly all under cultivation and the most valuable of any. SOILS. These may be generally classified as sandy and gravelly loam, clayey uplands, and alluvial bottom-lands. Small areas are found too sandy or gravelly for farming purposes, but by far the greater portion of the county is susceptible of profitable cultivation, and the cultivatable portion is increasing each year in economic value and area. Clays suitable for the manufacture of brick are abundant, and potter's clay is also found in certain localities. Nearly every variety of grain and grass found in the northern temperate zone is grown in great profusion, and no State in the Union produces the great staple, wheat, in greater perfection than Michigan. Indian corn and other grains also do well. The soil is finely adapted to the growth of fruit and vegetables, -every kind of garden product yielding abundantly,-and apples, pears, peaches, grapes, and smaller fruits rivaling both in quantity and quality the finest productions of New Jersey and Delaware. Under a general system of drainage and a scientific cultivation of her soils, Michigan must, in the near future, become a beautiful and a highly-prosperous agricultural region. GEOLOGY. The lapse of time since the earth's crust first began to cool and harden, and the subsequent time required for the formation of the crystalline and sedimentary rocks of the globe, cannot be estimated, but science has divided it into ages, periods, and epochs, for the sake of simplifying and systematizing the study of geology.* The various subdivisions, as arranged and classified by Dana, are as follows: I.-ARCHAAN TIME, including two subdivisions, the dividing line (not well established) being the dawn of life. 1. Azoic Age (without life). 2. Eozoic Age (earliest life). II.-PALEOZOIC TIME (old life), divided into three periods. 1. The Age of Invertebrates, or Silurian. 2. The Age of Fishes, or Devonian. 3. The Age of Coal-Plants, or Carboniferous. III.-MESOZOIc TIME (middle life), including only one period. 1. The Age of Reptiles. * This word signifies a discourse upon the structure and mineral constitution of the earth. Most of the statements and deductions found in the following paragraphs have been drawn from information obtained in the report of Professor C. Rominger, in charge of the State Geological Survey. IV.-CENOZOIC TIME (later or recent life), divided into two periods. 1. The Tertiary, or Age of Mammals. 2. The Quaternary, or Age of Man. As shown on the diagram (page 60), Mesozoic time, or the age of reptiles, and the Tertiary, or age of mammals, are not represented by rock formations in Michigan. This last epoch includes the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic periods of Europe, which are not conspicuously represented on the American continent. It is almost certain that the earliest vegetable and animal forms of life existed in the rock structure of Michigan, as they are found in the Archaean of Canada and Massachusetts, and in Bavaria and Norway in Europe. Sea-weeds and lichens probably existed in the Laurentian age, and a supposed Rhizopod-a kind of coral-making species-has been found in Canada. It is named in the books Eozoon Canadense. The forms of life belonging to Paleozoic and Cenozoic time are abundant, more especially in the rocks and drift of the lower peninsula. In Silurian days the lower peninsula, and a considerable portion of the upper, constituted an immense ocean bay, bounded on the north, east, and west by the Archean formations of Canada and Wisconsin; and during the deposition of the Devonian strata it was still an ocean bay, almost land-locked by the Silurian formations, which had become dry land in Canada, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In the Carboniferous age, and perhaps later, it seems to have been an oscillating basin, possibly covered by a great inland salt-water sea or lake. During the deposition of the salt formation, it was probably still a great bay of the main ocean, but so nearly surrounded by land that its waters were not affected to any great extent by ocean currents. According to the State geologist, the sedimentary rocks underlying Michigan are mostly in nearly horizontal positions, with probably a slight dip towards the centres of the lower peninsula and Lake Superior. Proceeding from the lowest or primitive formation towards the surface, the entire series are named as follows: Laurentian, Huronian, Acadian, Potsdam Sandstone, Calciferous Sand-rock, Trenton Limestone, Hudson River Shales, Niagara Limestone, Onondaga Salt Group, Helderberg Limestone, Hamilton Shales, Black Shales, Waverly Group (sandstone and shales), Carboniferous, divided into upper and lower measures, and, above all, the Quaternary, composed of bowlders, coarse sand, clays, etc. This last includes the Glacial, Champlain, and Terrace periods. A brief enumeration of the formations of the upper peninsula is all we can give in this connection. The Laurentiant out-crops in Baraga, Marquette, and Ontonagon Counties, in which it covers an aggregate area of two thousand square miles. No minerals other than the ordinary constituents of the earlier crystalline rocks are found in this formation. Its constituent elements are quartz, mica, feldspar, hornblende, pyroxene, etc. The varieties of rock, according as these ingredients are com bined, are granite, syenite, gneiss, hypersthene, schists, etc. t So named from its fine development near the St. Lawrence River. 60, HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. GEOLOGICAL DIAGRAM. Th olwin digram, constructed especially for this work, shows all h motn omtoso h State, according to the most recent report of Professor C. Rominger, state geologist. The Triassic, Jurassic, and Tertiary formations do not exist in Michicgan. CENOZOIC TIME. QUATERNARY. AGE OF MAN. 04 A4 a pi Z w N PA I I I i G6 1 i A 1i:4 I w 1 P4 1 1 N i 0 A. I O i I -.4 Carboniferous. a 0 Sub-carboniferous. Waverly Group..5 Traverse Bay. Petosky Group. Mackinac and Bois Blanc. Straits of Mackinac. St. Ignace. Ca ~ENorth shores of Lakes Huron aand Michigan. P4 W 0 N0 N &i;A 5' aq;A ta45 PN I' aQ 5' St. Joseph Island, Green Bay. Green Bay and 0 GO V frV5'V1," 4' I I AII VL kVAV.'-." 51 Terrace. Champlain and Glacial Periods. Fine Sands and Clays. Conglomerate, Coarse Gravel. Upper Coal-Measures. Lower Coal-Measures. Millstone Grit. Carboniferous Limestone. Conglomerate. Thick-bedded Sandstones. Sandstones and Shales. Black Shale. Hamilton. Upper Helderberg.* Lower Helderberg.* Onondaga Salt Group. Niagara. Clinton. jNiagara Lime stone. Hudson River Shales. Trenton Limestone. Calciferous Sand-Rock. I Potsdam Sandstone. Acadian. Copper-hearing. (Trap.) V Huronian. 2. Laurentian. -I St. Joseph Island. South shore Lake Superior. S% Ontonagon. rim I Keweenaw and Isle Royale. Marquette County. Marquette and Ontonagon Counties. * There may be a layer of the Oriskany saud-rock intercalated between these formations, as in New York, and both ths sandstons and lower beds of the Relderberg may be wanting. PHYSICAL FEATURES. The Huronian, classified by the State geologist as next in order, is by some scientists classed as Upper Laurentian. It also belongs to the crystalline formations, but of a supposed later date than the Laurentian, or Old Laurentian, first named. It is the surface rock over a large area in the counties of Marquette, Baraga, Houghton, and Menominee, equivalent to about two thousand square miles. It is composed of nearly the same materials as the lower formation, and the two often blend insensibly into each other. In addition to the constituents found in the earlier rocks, this formation abounds in iron ore, jasper, chlorite, clay, slate, mica, and hornblende schists, several varieties of limestone, including magnesian limestone and marble, quartzite, conglomerate, etc. Probably the richest iron region in the world is found in this formation about Marquette and Lake Michigamme. On the Michigamme River, a few miles south of the little lake of the same name, is a wonderfully rich bed of ore, in a belt of the Huronian formation about two miles in width. It is bounded closely on both sides by the primitive granite. Following this, under the same classification, comes the "copper-bearing" series, known as "greenstone," "trap," diorite, etc. It is of volcanic origin, and its constituent elements are hornblende, feldspar, etc. It is a very finegrained, granular, or crypto-crystalline rock, and exceedingly hard and tough. It sometimes assumes the forms of basaltic columns, at other times it is arranged in steps, and hence the word " trap," from the Swedish word " trappa," a step. It also assumes the form of porphyry. The copper deposits are closely affiliated with this formation. In the Lake Superior region, and in the Connecticut Valley, it has been poured out in the form of molten rock through immense fissures in the underlying strata and the red sand-rock. It always cools in a position perpendicular to the cooling surface. Bordering Lake Superior are the richest copper deposits in the world.* This formation out-crops throughout the whole extent of Keweenaw Point or peninsula, and extends west into Wisconsin. It also appears in Isle Royale, Michipicoten Island, in the eastern part of the lake, and on the north shore. The proximate area occupied in Michigan is thirteen hundred square miles. The next formation in the series proper is the Potsdam sandstone, which in the State survey is divided into two subdivisions, St. Mary's and Pre-Silurian. It received its name from its fine development about the town of Potsdam, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. Of this formation are the celebrated " Pictured Rocks" of the southeastern coast of Lake Superior. Its out-crop follows nearly the entire coast from the Sault St. Marie to within less than twenty miles of Keweenaw Point. The exceptions are a few miles about Marquette, and near Hu~ This formation, placed between the Laurentian and the sandstone by Professor Rominger, is referred to a more recent period by some. Professor Pumpelly, in charge of the survey of the copper region, considers it as having been thrown up through the crystalline rocks before the deposition of the lowest of the Silurian formations. The dip towards the northwest is fifty degrees or more. Silver is also found in connection with the trappean rooks. ron Bay. A lateral branch trends to the south from the neighborhood of Marquette to the Menominee River, on the Wisconsin line. Everywhere its margin, overlapping the Laurentian, follows the shore of the ancient Silurian sea, in whose waters its beds were slowly deposited from erosions of the earlier rocks. Its maximum thickness is supposed to be several thousand feet. The beds consist of conglomerates, thick layers of fine-grained stone, and mixed varieties, showing different textures and colors. Their area in Michigan is probably about three thousand five hundred square miles. The formation affords fossils sparingly. The dip of this rock is slightly towards the centre of Lake Superior. It affords excellent building stone, and is quarried and shipped in large quantities to the Western cities.t Lying conformably upon the last named is the calciferous sand-rock, or siliceous limestone, which covers an extensive region in Northern New York. In the upper peninsula of Michigan it out-crops in a long, narrow belt, parallel with the Potsdam, and extending from the river St. Mary's, in an elliptical curve, around to the Menominee River, on the Wisconsin line. Its average width is not more than five miles, and the surface area occupied is equivalent to about one thousand square miles. The thickness of this formation is something less than one hundred feet. It is generally a coarse-grained sandstone, alternated with calcareous cement, and dolomitic and oolitic limestone beds. Its fossils are characteristic but not numerous. Succeeding this, and overlapping it upon the south, is the Trenton limestone, so extensively distributed in the lime-impregnated seas of the Silurian age. Its thickness is much less than in Canada and the St. Lawrence Valley, but is still considerable, reaching probably about one hundred feet.t This formation stretches in a broad belt, parallel with the other Silurian rocks, from St. Mary's River to the Menominee, in its widest part, about seventy-five miles across, and covers probably an area of three thousand square miles, though the demarkation line between it and the Hudson River shales is not well defined, being mostly buried under drift. It occurs in isolated patches in a few localities outside these limits. In the State survey, the following comprehensive general description is given of this formation: "The lowest beds of this limestone formation are prevalently arenaceo-calcareous shales, of a dusky-green or bluish color, and containing numerous fossils. "The middle strata are thin-bedded, nodular limestones, with shaly intercalations, also of darkish color, like the strata below, and equally abounding in fossils. "The upper strata are light-colored, brittle limestones, splitting in uneven, wedge-shaped slabs by exposure or under the stroke of the hammer. They are likewise well stocked with fossils." It is not sufficiently compact for fine building material, but answers well for rough, uncut work. t Professor Rominger divides it into two formations, the upper of which consists of light-colored, almost white, friable sandstone; while the lower section-is composed of very red-colored, thick-bedded, and compact strata, from which is quarried an excellent building material.: The Trenton series are one thousand feet thick in New York, eight hundred feet in Canada, and are estimated by Lesley in Pennsylvania at two thousand feet. I 62 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 1 I - I. I I I I "II I - I-.1 r HUDSON RIVER SHALES. This formation, which is the same as the Cincinnati group of Ohio, out-crops in a narrow band, next to and overlying the Trenton limestone, and extending from St. Mary's River to the point of the peninsula between Great and Little Bay de Noquette. It covers perhaps seven or eight hundred square miles of surface, though the line between it and the Trenton series is somewhat obscure. The formation in Michigan is made up of thin limestone beds, interstratified with arenaceous shales, and abounds in fossils. Its thickness is sixty feet or more, and it has a slight declination towards the southeast. NIAGARA LIMESTONE. This group of rocks covers an extensive area lying along the northern coasts of Lakes Huron and Michigan. The rocks extend from the point of the peninsula between Big Bay de Noquette and Lake Michigan to Drummond's Island, in Lake Huron, and the belt has an average width of about twenty miles. The area occupied by the formation is something more than two thousand square miles. This formation is divided by the New York geologists into three parts: first, at the bottom, shales, sandstones, and conglomerates of the Medina group; second, next above, limestones and shales of the Clinton group; and above these, the solid dolomitic limestones of the Niagara group. These subdivisions are not well represented in the Michigan formations, and the State geologist hardly deems it necessary to undertake to subdivide them. The thickness in Michigan is stated by Dana at about one hundred feet. It abounds in fossils. Portions of the rock are used for flux i n iron furnaces, and for building stone. This rock, in the neighborhood of Chicago, is heavily charged with bitumen. ONONDAGA SALT GROUP. The rocks of this period crop out over a small area in the little peninsula around St. Ignace, covering an area of forty or fifty square miles. They also appear on Mackinac Island, underlying the Helderberg limestone, and on the islands in St. Martin's Bay. This formation abounds in gypsum and variegated marls. It must not be confounded with the rocks of the Michigan salt formation, for it lies (geologically) several hundred feet below the horizon of the latter. HELDERBERG LIMESTONES. Next in order above the Onondaga comes this formation, which, in New York, is divided into upper and lower beds, between which are found the Oriskany sandstone and the Schoharie and Shawangunk grit. It is not certainly ascertained that the lower beds, or the intervening sandstone and conglomerates, are present in Michigan. This rock occurs both in the upper and lower peninsulas, and appears to be the first of the concentric geological formations which so curiously surround and underlie the lower peninsula, and which have been likened by Prof. Winchell to a nest of wooden dishes, one within another. The area covered by the Helderberg about the Straits of Mackinac, including Bois Blanc Island, is altogether about three hundred square miles; and the total in the State, including the last named, and the area in Wayne and Monroe I Counties, is about fifteen hundred square miles. Its total thickness is about two hundred and fifty feet. The beautiful and picturesque scenery of Mackinac Island is owing to the eroded, brecciated rocks of this period. From this formation have been derived the beautiful bowlder specimens of brecciated rock so common in the drift of Kalamazoo County, and frequently seen on the lawns and in the ornamental grounds of the Kalamazoo people. This rock abounds in chert and hornstone nodules, and is not very valuable for quick-lime; but some of its thicker beds are utilized for caps, sills, and door-steps. It produces water-lime to a considerable extent. This rock is remarkable for the great number of troughs and " sink-holes" which abound in its surface in the southeastern part of the State, and in Lucas Co., Ohio. It is fossiliferous to a considerable extent, abounding especially in corals. In a deep boring at the State-prison, in Michigan City, Ind., the drift was found to be one hundred and seventy feet deep (exclusive of the sand-hills). Below this was seventy-six feet of black shale, and next below was the Helderberg limestone. Prof. Winchell represents this as the surface-rock over quite a large area in the southwestern part of the State, but borings do not confirm the statement. HAMILTON GROUP. This group extends in a broad band across the northern part of the lower peninsula, curving elliptically from Thunder Bay, of Lake Huron, to Sleeping Bear Point, on Lake Michigan. It varies in width from one to thirty miles, and covers an area of about two thousand square miles. It also forms the surface-rock of the Manitou Islands, in Lake Michigan, and the smaller islands about Thunder Bay. Its total thickness is stated in the survey at five hundred feet.* It is composed, in Michigan, largely of limestone, with a subordinate development of shale. Borings in this rock at Alpena and Thunder Bay strike salt brine, and at the latter point a bed of rock salt was encountered at a depth of ten hundred and twenty-five feet. It is probable that this is in the Onondaga group, and that the drill penetrated both the Hamilton and Helderberg formations. In places there are eighty feet of black shales developed. Fossils are abundant. BLACK SHALE. Overlapping the Hamilton, in a wide, parallel belt, next comes the black shale, which also extends across the peninsula, in an elliptical, curving direction, from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, with an average width of twenty-five miles. The same formation is also concentric, and a long, narrow belt out-crops in the southeastern part of the State from Port Huron to the southwest corner of Hillsdale County.t The width of this latter belt varies from five to twenty miles, and the total area occupied by the formation in the State approximates four thousand square miles. These shales are generally considered the equivalent of the Genesee shales of New York, and, like them, rest on the Hamilton beds, at least in the northern portion of the - Borings at Thunder Bay indicate a thickness for the Hamilton series of six hundred and fifty feet, and for the Helderberg of five hundred feet. t A very narrow band also extends across the southern margin of Berrien County. PHYSICAL FEATURES. 63 peninsula. In the south they would seem to lie directly upon the Helderberg group. Prof. Winchell gives this formation the name of Huron shales. They are exposed in the northern section at Pine Lake and south of Petosky, on the head-streams which fall into Black and Mullett Lakes; and on the south branches of Thunder Bay River. In the southeastern part of the State they are mostly buried under drift. WAVERLY GROUP.-a This formation is altogether the most important in the lower peninsula, not only because of its greater development, but on account of its economic value, for it is the reservoir of the vast accumulation of salt brine, and furnishes almost the only good building stone in the peninsula. It is also the quarry rock from which comes the excellent "Huron grindstones," known throughout the country. It extends in a circular belt around the centre of the lower peninsula, with a varying width of from twenty to eighty miles, and covers fully one-half the peninsula, or an equivalent of twenty thousand square miles. The out-crop of this formation, like the others, is mostly hidden by drift. The best places to study its surface structure are along the beach of Lake Huron, in Huron County. About Port Austin are extensive grindstone-quarries. Its maximum thickness in Michigan is not far from twelve hundred feet. Many salt wells are located in the eastern part of the State, and in their deep borings are afforded the best means of studying its component parts. Borings at Port Hope, Huron County, show the following: Feet. Drift............................................................. 16 Greenish micaceous sandstone............................. 6 Blue arenaceous shale, with sand-rock seams......... 510 Stratum of gray hard rock................................. 1 Dark blue shales............................................. 154 Arenaceous shales.......................................... 29 Coarse, whitish sandstone.................................. 71 Total....................................................... 787 Artesian wells at White Rock, five hundred and fifty-five, and seven hundred feet in depth, show similar results. The following table exhibits the formations penetrated at Tawas, in Iosco County: Feet. Drift Sand.......................................... 30 Yellow clay......................................... 20 W hitish sandstone............................................. 60 Red sandstone.............................................. 15 Gray sandstone................................................ 5 Red sandstone................................................. 40 Light-colored shale........................................... 10 Red arenaceous shale........................................ 30 Light-colored shale.......................................... 5 Red arenaceous shale........................................ 88 Blue shale............................................... 35 Red sandstone................................................. 40 Light-coloredhard shale.................................. 60 Red sandstone........................................... 5 W hite shale..................................................... 15 Red sandstone................................................. 5 Light-colored hard shale............................... 40 Red sandstone........................................... 5 White shale................................................ 3 Light-colored shale.......................................... 3 White hard shale, with brine.............................. 164 Gray sandstone................................................ 195 Blue shale...................................................... 10 Total....................................................... 883 X Named from a locality on the Ohio River where the formation is finely exposed. It is assigned by Dana and Winchell to the carboniferous period, but the State geologist locates it in the upper part of the Devonian. Wells in the same county, from one thousand to twelve hundred and twenty-five feet in depth, give results substantially the same. At Hillsdale two artesian wells of thirteen hundred and fifty and fifteen hundred and fifty feet, respectively, corroborate the results in Huron County. At the depth of about twelve hundred feet a white limestone, fifty feet in thickness, was found, and below this a soft calcareous rock. At this point it would seem as if the black shales were almost entirely wanting, and that the Waverly rocks were bedded immediately upon the Helderberg limestone. The Waverly out-crops in the counties of Jackson, Hillsdale, Branch, Calhoun, Berrien, and Ottawa, in the south part of the State, and in Antrim County, in the north. Between this line of out-crops in the south and the Traverse Bay region, so far as known, the rock does not appear upon the surface, though the whole western border of the peninsula is supposed to be underlaid with it beneath the drift. The western part of the city of Battle Creek stands upon this rock, though in the eastern part seventy feet of drift overlies it. Borings at this point passed through forty-three feet of sand-rock and three hundred and twenty-six feet of blue shale. At Muskegon borings have penetrated to a greater depth than at any other point in the State, the deepest reaching two thousand six hundred and twenty-seven feet below the surface. The rock character in this deep well is partly exhibited by the following table: Feet. Drift............................................................ 235 Light and dark shales....................................... 450 Blue shales with hard seams..............................75 Soft blue shale.............................................. 150 R ed shale...................................................... 150 Lime-rock with shaly seams............................... 300 Salt-bearing sand-rock............................... 50 Gypsum beds and limestone............................... 195 This formation is supposed to be thickest in the northern and central portions. The upper division is mostly a sandrock, with inferior beds of shale, to the depth of three hundred or three hundred and fifty feet. The lower strata are mostly composed of shales, and are more abundant in fossils than the upper measures. The formation is permeated throughout with salt brine; but it is generally stronger in the lower beds, though sometimes this order is reversed, as at Saginaw, where the upper portions afford the strongest article. The Waverly rocks would be the first encountered in borings beneath the surface in Kalamazoo County. The depth of the superincumbent drift can only be determined by borings or cuttings. The bed of the Kalamazoo has nowhere been cut down to rock in situ,t and it is probably at least two hundred feet beneath the highest elevations, and possibly much more.4 The thickness of the Silurian and Devonian formations, which lie between the surface and the Laurentian or granitic formations, under Kalamazoo t We have seen statements to the effect that the river has cut down to the underlying rock in Cooper township, but we do not find them confirmed. I There is no coal beneath Kalamazoo County, but salt brine would probably be found at a depth of from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred feet. HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. I - - - -- -- ' - County, is probably from four thousand to five thousand feet; though the same in the Appalachian region reach the enormous (maximum) thickness of forty-two thousand feet. CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE. This series of rocks out-crops in a narrow, but not continuous, belt around the margin of the coal formation. It lies immediately upon the Waverly sandstones. It is developed about Jackson and in the northeast part of Calhoun County, and is finely exposed in Kent County, in the neighborhood of Grand Rapids, where it contains immense beds of gypsum, more commonly known as " plaster." * At Alabaster City, on Lower Saginaw Bay, there are extensive deposits of gypsum, which lie under a shallow covering of drift, and have been much eroded by glacial action. About Bay City and Kawkawlin gypsum is found at depths varying from four hundred to seven hundred feet below the surface. The Grand River beds cover an area in Kent County of some seven or eight square miles, and are extensively worked. The analysis of the non-fossiliferous rock in this locality gives the following result: Carbonate of lime....................... 48 Carbonate of magnesia.............................. 27 Hydrate of iron, oxide, and alumina.................. 4 Argillaceous residue.................................. 18 97 Analyses in other localities give: Carbonate of lime................................. 96. Carbonate of magnesia.................................... 1.0 Hydrate of iron oxide.....................,.... 0.5 Insoluble residue....................................... 1.5 99. Carbonate of lime.................................... 56. Carbonate of magnesia................................... 23. Irt oxide hydrate and alumina........................ 5.5 Siliceous residue.......................... 9. 93.5 Gypsum consists of sulphuric acid, lime, and water, in the proportions respectively of 46.51, 32.56, and 20.93. The limestone of this formation is used extensively at Grand Rapids for manufacturing quick-lime. The total thickness of the carboniferous rocks is found by borings to be one hundred and sixty feet. COAL-MEASURES. This formation, overlying the carboniferous lime-rock, consists of a complex formation of sandstones and shales, with intermediate seams of coal, all comprehending a thickness of something more than three hundred feet. It is the latest in the series of rock formations which underlie the lower peninsula. The workable coal is mostly confined to one seam of about four feet in thickness. The supposed area, for it is not well determined on the north, is about eight thousand square miles, occupying a circular district in the central portions of the peninsula, and partly underlying Saginaw Bay. The nearest approach of this formation to Kalamazoo * A mass of carboniferous limestone is located in the western part of the township of Alamo, according to good authority, but whether it is rook in situ or a fragment of drift has not been satisfactorily determined. If of the latter character it is of large dimensions; if fixed rock, it probably belongs to the carboniferous formation underlying the coal measures. The same rock exists in Cass County, probably in situ. County is about ten miles from the northeast corner of the county. The records of borings show a general approximate to the following measurements: Feet. Sandstone...................................................... 30 Fire-clay..................................................... 5 Black shales...................................................... 20 Coal............................................................... 4 And below, hard white sandstone. The amount of workable coal is small in comparison with the numerous beds of Illinois and Ohio, and still less as compared with the coals of Pennsylvania. The principal mines are in the vicinity of Jackson. This and the carboniferous limestone lying below, with an aggregate thickness of four hundred and fifty to five hundred feet, constitutes the carboniferous formation of Michigan.t Between the coal-measures and the Quaternary age the formations are all lacking, including the Reptilian and Mammalian ages. THE GLACIAL, CHAMPLAIN, AND TERRACE PERIODS. These are the subdivisions of the Quaternary age, at some period of which man is supposed to have made his appearance on the earth, though there are doubtful evidences of his existence in the preceding age, the Tertiary; but if this is proven it will not make him an inhabitant of the State of Michigan, for the formations of this and the Reptilian age are wholly wanting. It may be claimed that the deposits of these epochs have been swept away by glacial action, but this is hardly probable, though not impossible. The drift deposits covering the lower peninsula vary in thickness from a few inches to many hundred feet. In a few places the rocks in situ are uncovered, but nearly the whole area is buried under the accumulated sands, clays, gravels, and bowlders of the ice period.t The surface rocks of Michigan, in common with those of all portions of the North American continent lying east of the hundredth meridian and north of the fortieth parallel of latitude, wherever uncovered, show deep groovings and scratchings, the effects of some heavy pressure long continued, and moving in a southerly direction. These peculiar phenomena can best be explained by the generally adopted theory of a vast continental glacier, covering the northern portions of the continent east of the Rocky Mountains, and gradually spreading southward from its central portions; supposed to have been the water-shed dividing the valley of the St. Lawrence from the northern seas. Professor Gunning, in a lecture at Kalamazoo, furnished a theory, based upon astronomical knowledge, as explaining the causes of this glaciated condition of the Northern hemisphere. He said, " The orbit of the earth has been calculated through a period of 4,000,000 years,-3,000,000 years past and 1,000,000 to come. These calculations show that 250,000 years ago the winters of our hemisphere were thirty days longer than at the present time, and occurred when the earth was 14,000,000 miles firther from the sun than it is now. Other things being equal, this t The fine-grained red sandstone of Ionia, extensively used for building purposes, occurs in the upper measures of this formation. t Deposits of bog-iron ore occur in some localities in the drift for mation, as is the case within the limits of Kalamazoo village. PREHISTORIC. would have made our winters 28~ colder than now, which is the temperature of the glacial-bound Greenland. If we can trust these astronomical methods, the last ice-period was nearly 50,000 years in coming on; it endured for 50,000 years, and was about 50,000 years in passing off. In about 950,000 years the orbit will be greatly elongated again, and either the Northern or Southern hemisphere will be glaciated."* These are long periods of time, but they teach us that, as compared with the life of man upon the globe, the processes of nature are exceeding slow in their operation, and that the time required for the cooling of the earlier rocks, the deposition of the sedimentary strata, and for the changes which have taken place, even in the surface materials, has been immense, almost incalculable. A hundred thousand years of constant grinding and plowing by a tremendous mass of snow, ice, gravel, and bowlders, would produce astonishing changes upon the earth's surface. While upon this subject we may be permitted to quote a few paragraphs from Prof. J. S. Newberry, in explanation of the origin of the great Western lakes: "Lake Superior lies in a synclinal trough,t and its mode of formation, therefore, hardly admits of question, though its sides are deeply scored with ice-marks, and its former area may have been somewhat modified by this agent. " Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario are excavated basins, wrought out of once continuous sheets of sedimentary strata by a mechanical agent, and that ice or water, or both. That they have been filled with ice, and that this ice formed great moving glaciers, we may consider proved. The west end of Lake Erie may be said to be carved out of the corniferous limestone by ice-action, as its bottom and sides and islands-horizontal, vertical, and even overhanging surfaces-are all furrowed by the glacial grooves, which are parallel with the major axis of the lake. "All the great lakes are probably very ancient, as, since the close of the Devonian period, the area they occupy has never been submerged beneath the ocean, and their formation may have been begun during the coal epoch." There have been variations of level in the lake-region, as is proven by the fact that the four upper lakes once drained through the Wabash and Illinois Rivers into the channel of the Mississippi. THE CHAMPLAIN PERIOD. It is probable that the Champlain period was the grand distributing epoch of the Quaternary age. The melting of: Another theory, and one quite generally adopted by scientists, is that during the ice period (or the latest one) the northern portions of the continent were sufficiently elevated to carry them into the region of perpetual snow, which would produce corresponding phenomena. A general subsidence subsequently brought the elevated portions below the frigid line, and the glacier, as a natural consequence, disappeared; precisely as the approach of warm weather in the spring dissolves and carries away the moisture held in a frozen condition through the winter months. This theory is substantiated by strong evidence, and none more so perhaps than that furnished by the wonderful channel of the Saguenay River, which forms the outlet of Lake St. John, in the province of Quebec. This channel, it is said, shows an excavation in the Laurentian rocks reaching, at the present time, from two thousand to five thousand feet below the level of the sea, which fact would indicate a very great subsidence. t A deep valley, produced by upheavals upon either hand, leaving the depression between. The upheavals being mostly produced by volcanic agency, we may fairly assume them as the originating cause of this lake, covering a territory larger than the ancient kingdom of Scotland. the great glacier must have left an immense deposit of bowlders, coarse gravel, sand, and clay, unevenly scattered in vast heaps and moraines over the surface of the peninsula. The melting of such enormous ice masses set free powerful streams, which swept in all directions towards the surrounding lake-levels, andSmade a more equal distribution of the debris. In this period the channels of all the principal streams were begun, and their steadily-diminishing waters have been cutting them deeper and deeper from that day to this. The Champlain period may be properly divided into two subdivisions,-the I)ltuvial epoch, or one of depositions from the melting glacier, and the Alluvial epoch,-during which the rushing waters subsided, and the finer and later depositions of sand and clay were made. These later deposits are more or less plainly stratified. TERRACES. These have been gradually forming since the subsidence of the glacier, and mark the stages of the continually-diminishing waters; each new formation being narrower and on a smaller scale than the preceding. In the valleys of the Connecticut and other large streams of the older regions of the continent, the terrace formation is more prominent and oftener repeated than in the newer (geological) regions of the more level West. The Kalamazoo, no doubt, once had for its bed the level of the highest terrace, and the narrower and more recent ones plainly indicate its steady diminution. Its present volume is but a tithe of that which, in the diluvial days succeeding the disappearance of the glacier, swept with great force along its wide-spreading bed. Most of the valleys have been slowly formed in this manner, and the process still continues on a diminutive scale, or about in the proportion which the local glaciers of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains bear to the vast continental glaciers of the early Quaternary period.1 CHAPTER XII. PREHISTORIC. The Stone Age-Mounds-Garden-Beds-Relics. THERE is abundant evidence of the long-continued occupation of the North American continent by a semi-civilized people, who preceded the red Indian race found occupying the country in the beginning of the seventeenth century. By some writers it is supposed that the country was occupied by at least three distinct races, and these may have been contemporary or successors of each other during many hundreds and, possibly, thousands of years. They have been subdivided into, first, a race who are supposed to have been the progenitors of the Eskimo~ (or Esquimeaux) and + There are a number of very good private collections of fossils in the county, among which that of Mr. Tyler, in Cooper township, deserves notice for its beauty and variety. Mr. A. H. Stoddard also has a fine collection, and there are several in Kalamazoo village. Q The theory is advanced by some that the progenitors of the Eskimo occupied the continent as far south as latitude 35~; that they 9 66 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. kindred people, the Mound-Builders, and the earliest Indians, or Hunter Race. It is also claimed that there is evidence of the existence of the human race in America prior to the last glacial epoch. Remains of ancient implements, of stone or metal, and stumps of trees, evidently cut down with a sharp instrument, together with charcoal and other evidences of human life, have been found nearly a hundred feet below the surface, in the drift deposits of the Champlain period. Within a few years (about 1857) human skulls have been found in California, buried, along with the bones of the mastodon and elephant, beneath one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty feet of lava, volcanic tufa, and auriferous gravel. They are assigned by Professor Whitney and Dr. Winslow to the Pliocene period, and antedate any similar relics found in any other quarter of the globe. If the existence of man previous to the last glacial epoch be established, the lapse of time since his earliest appearance has been very great. The gorge of the Niagara River from Lewiston to the falls, about seven miles in extent, is generally admitted to have been excavated since that epoch, and the time required to cut this deeply-grooved passage through the limestone and shale of the Silurian formations has been variously estimated at from thirty-one thousand to three hundred and eighty thousand years. The conclusions differ enormously, but the shortest period greatly exceeds the generally accepted estimate of man's existence on the earth. Evidences of the occupation of the lower peninsula of Michigan by a race preceding the Indians are quite abundant, principally in the form of mounds, "garden-beds," as they have been well named, stone and copper implements, pottery, etc. THE STONE AGE. The human race (or races, if you please) has its periods of childhood, manhood, and old age, the same as its individual members; and the Stone Age may with great propriety be called the child-age of mankind. It would, of course, be useless to undertake the task of giving a description of either the physical or mental condition of the earliest human beings. It has often been done. Every nation of antiquity-and we may also include the modern American savages-has had its ethnographical chapter, wherein has been minutely given the history of its origin (always ascribed to supernatural agency). But the critical investigations of modern science have shown the majority of these statements to be almost wholly fabulous. Sufficient has been determined to establish the fact that the human race has come up from inferior conditions, and gradually (with many retrogressions) arrived at its present physical and intellectual development. The. birthplace and early habitat of the race has been located in many different regions of the earth. The Bible cosmogony fixes it somewhere in Western Asia; the Hindoo or East Indian mythology ascribes it to some were driven southward by the glacial accumulations, and in turn, upon the retreat of the glacier towards the north, followed it to their present abode. They may originally have lived in a warm or temperate climate, but thousands of years of frigid temperature have completely changed their physical conditions. I I - -~I I ---~~ ---- I-_ ~ _ __l _ _ - - -_L~_l other region: The traditions of the nations of Southern America place it in Bolivia, about Lake Titicaca, and in Brazil. The Central American peoples tell of a vast continent called " Atlantis," submerged thousands of years ago beneath the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, where the earliest human beings appeared, and which became the cradle of the arts and sciences; and the early traditions of the Greeks and Romans in a great measure confirm these mysterious legends of the vanished continent. Many in late years accept the theory of a diversity of original nationalities, and believe that human beings came into existence in various portions of the earth, wherever and whenever the conditions were favorable, in the same way that plants and the lower animals made their appearance, though all the processes and gradations of. human life can only be conjectured, as the earlier ages of its existence are shrouded by the impenetrable veil of ignorance and superstition. Abundant evidence exists upon all the continents and islands of the sea that every portion of the earth has had its Stone Age, some nations even now being no farther advanced in intelligence than the skin-clad savages of the prehistoric period. The history of this universal age of stone cannot be found in written records; it is buried in the surface-formations of the earth, and its curious relics are turned up to the sunlight by the farmer's plow, and thence gathered as curiosities into the private collections and the great museums of the country. These relics, including spear- and arrow-heads of stone and copper, axes, hatchets, chisels, gouges, ornamental trinkets, household utensils, fragmentary pottery, beads, mica ornaments, etc., are found in all parts of the continent. These implements and utensils were manufactured from several substances. The spear- and arrow-heads are mostly of flint or chert, sometimes of quartz, and we have seen arrow-heads made from the shaly portions of the Connecticut sandstone formation. The axes, hammers, gouges, and plumb-bobs are generally of greenstone, or syenite, though sometimes of other materials. Some articles are wrought from obsidian, others from porphyry and red pipe-stone, and in some instances common granite and gneiss have been utilized. The peculiar forms which greenstone, or traprock, assumed in cooling rendered it well fitted for the manufacture of axes, and its compact and solid structure made it exceeding durable. Evidently the ancient people were connoisseurs in the line of selecting material, equal perhaps, in their day, with our present workers in iron when examining the various grades of ore, with a view to the best combinations for the production of marketable goods. From the common pebble the primeval man gradually changed to the use of something which his own hands had partially shaped, and so on, step by step, through all the gradations to the most perfect form of implement which the material employed was capable of producing. The display of stone implements and relics of the early ages of the human race upon the American continent at the Centennial Exposition, in Philadelphia, showed at a glance the workmanship, no doubt, of many generations; and the ponderous axe of syenite, weighing twenty pounds, was proof positive that " there were giants in those days." PREHISTORIC. 67 I It was no doubt as true an aphorism in the early ages as now that '" necessity is the mother of invention," and the dark-minded and almost brutal Autochthon was perhaps driven by hunger or the presence of some implacable human enemy to work out the spear and bend the bow. At length-it may have been after the lapse of thousands of years-man had progressed in intelligence to that condition where he stood upon a higher plane of knowledge and mechanical skill, and we find him employing the metallic minerals. Remains of gigantic labors are found among the copper regions of Lake Superior, and the unknown race which worked the mines must have had a knowledge of naval architecture and navigation beyond anything which the subsequent Indian possessed, for we find that the copper deposits of Isle Royale were visited, and this compelled a sea voyage of from fifteen to forty-five miles, according as it was made fiom the northern or southern shore, the nearest part of Keweenaw Point being nearly fifty miles away. The passage of either channel was one of peril at any season of the year, and it is hardly probable that it was attempted in light canoes. except possibly from the Canadian shore. The native copper was no doubt transported to a more southern region, to be transformed into the various implements which are found in surface deposits and entombed with human remains in the mounds of the vanished race. There are evidences that in the neighborhood of the present cities of Rock Island and Moline, Ill., there once existed a great prehistoric manufacturing centre. Remains of extensive canals, connecting the Mississippi with Rock and Green Rivers, can be traced, though long since buried beneath the debris and sediment of the great river. Immense deposits of flint-chips and broken arrow-heads are found beneath the sand and mould of the river-bottoms; and there, evidently, once stood a great manufacturing city where the flint and pipe-stone and copper were brought from far-off regions to be fashioned into the various implements of war, of the chase, and of household economy. The canals would indicate that there was an extensive system of navigation employed, or they may be evidence of the use of hydraulic power. A BRONZE AGE. Whether a Bronze Age, separate and distinct from the Stone Age, or as its successor, existed in America we have no positive means of knowing. Copper implements are frequently found, and in widely separated localities, but they are everywhere accompanied by stone implements. It is probable that the two classes of implements were in use at the same periods, or, at least, that the stone implements continued to be used after the others had been introduced. In the opinions of some writers the great valley of the Mississippi was occupied by different races or nations, contemporaneously, and in this way they account for the variety of utensils, and the various degrees of intelligence which are supposed to have existed during the same periods. This theory may be correct, but from the standpoint of to day we cannot determine whether different degrees of civilization existed together, or whether a higher succeeded a lower in regular gradation. It is probable that like changes in races and in degrees of intelligence have occurred on the American as on the antipodal continent. Geologically, the American is probably the elder of the continents, and the earliest forms of life probably appeared here; and we know of no good reason why it may not have been first peopled with human beings, as well as with plants and lower animals. The problem is perhaps unsolvable.* MOUNDS AND EARTHWORKS IN KALAMAZOO COUNTY. There are said to be sixty thousand mounds of the prehistoric ages in the United States. The largest of these was the great mound of Cahokia, in Illinois, nearly opposite St. Louis, Mo. This was an immense parallelogram, seven hundred by five hundred feet in dimensions at the base, and ninety feet in perpendicular height. It covered a trifle over eight acres of ground. Other extensive ones are in Ohio, West Virginia, and Arkansas. The greatest display of combined mounds and earthworks was at Newark and Marietta, Ohio, where the ruins in each instance covered an area equal to several square miles. One of the best specimens of conical mounds in the country is the one at Grave Creek, near Wheeling, W. Va., which is seventy feet in height and three hundred and fifty feet in diameter at its base. The lower peninsula of Michigan was undoubtedly occupied by the '" mound-builders," and remains and relics of the race are quite abundant in Kalamazoo County. There are no remains which indicate the presence of any kind of dwellings, but this is easily accounted for from the fact that they were probably constructed of wood or other perishable materials. KALAMAZOO MOUND. The mounds of the early people are not found in abundance, but still there are enough to prove the occupation of the country and to serve as samples of the work of the strange people. The best-known mound in the county is probably the one in Bronson Park, in Kalamazoo village. It stood, when the country was first settled, in the midst of a plain, which was covered with a scattering growth of burr-oak, known in the parlance of the Northwest as " oakopenings." According to Mr. Henry Little, its dimensions are as follows: diameter at base, fifty-eight feet; height, four feet nine inches.t It is a perfect circle. Its solid contents Mr. Little ascertained to be equal to three thousand nine hundred and ninety-four cubic feet, or one hundred and forty-seven and twenty-five-twenty-sevenths cubic yards. There have been many reports in circulation concerning relics found in this mound, but we cannot find much corroborative testimony on the point. The following letter from Hon. E. Lakin BroWn is certainly reliable evidence: " SCHOOLCRAFT, Nov. 23, 1873. "HENRY LITTLE, ESQ. " DEAR SIR,-In reply to your note of the 21st, I have to say that, in the summer of 1832, Cyrus Lovell and I made some examination of the mound at Kalamazoo,-that is, we began an excavation near the top of the mound and sunk it to near, or quite, the level of the surFor most valuable information upon the ancient people we would refer the reader to Prof. Foster's Prehistoric Races of the United States. t Its original height was somewhat greater. 68 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. rounding plain,-perhaps not quite. We discovered nothing whatever,-no bones, no pottery, no implements or relics of any kind. A little charcoal was all. The earth removed was a dark soil, apparently the surface soil of the adjacent plain. I don't think we derived any impressions or formed any conclusions on the subject, except that, possibly, had we dug deeper we might have found some relics; but we were tired of the work and quit it." Various examinations have been made, and statements have gone abroad that human bones, arrow-heads, and beads have been found in the mound; but the statements cannot be satisfactorily verified. It was opened on the 4th of July, 1850, by Mr. A. J. Sheldon, with no other result than as stated by Mr. Brown; and it remains an open question to-day, What does the mound contain? The Pottawattomies, who had a principal village on the site of Kalamazoo, could give no information concerning it; but there is no doubt of its being the work of a vanished race. The material would appear to have been taken from the vegetable mould of the surrounding plain, and so evenly from a large area as to leave no depressions or other evidences of having been taken from any particular locality.* WORKS ON CLIMAX PRAIRIE. Mr. Little states that when the country was settled there was a mound situated on Climax Prairie, less than a mile east of the Corners, of about two-thirds the dimensions of the Kalamazoo mound. A dwelling was subsequently erected on its site, and it was largely cut away, but no relics were found. Situated to the south of this mound, in the edge of the timber, and on the top of an eminence, there was a circular work inclosing about one and a half acres of land. The circle included a parapet and ditch, the latter being about sixteen to twenty feet in width at the bottom, and some two or three feet deep. It has been conjectured that this work was a military fortification. When discovered by white men it was overgrown by large forest-trees.t MOUNDS ON GULL PRAIRIE. A number of small mounds formerly existed on Gull Prairie, but the cultivation of the soil has nearly obliterated them. Thre ere two situated near the northeast corner of section 15. They were about twenty feet in diameter at the base, and apparently perfect counterparts of each other. When first seen by the whites they were surrounded by the forest. No relics were at any time found in them. On the northwest corner of section 14, and near those last described, were four mounds, three of which were about forty feet in diameter, and the fourth less than twenty feet. A part of these were overgrown and surrounded with scattering timber; the others were on the edge of the prairie. "In 1837, Col. Isaac Barnes, then the owner of the land, caused one of these mounds to be entirely removed, to give place to the erection of a dwelling. While the man was engaged with his spade and wheelbarrow in its removal, I, with intense interest, carefully watched the operations from day to day. No relics were found, nor discoveries made, beyond the fact that the component parts of the superstrue ture were all of the surface soil,-neither sand, gravel, nor stones. The ground it rested upon was precisely like that which surrounded it."I There were one or two other small mounds near the southern limit of the prairie. MOUND IN COOPER. There is a small mound on section 30, in this township. It is about twenty feet in diameter, and situated on timbered land upon the farm of Mr. A. R. Allen. A few years since this mound was opened, with quite remarkable results. Human bones (or at least supposed to be such), apparently thrown promiscuously together, were found, and it is claimed they were of more than ordinary size. On section 16, according to Mr. Stoddard, the remains of three earthworks or fortifications were found, from which large quantities of human bones were taken by the early settlers. The residence of A. D. Chappel occupies one of these works. Another mound was on the "Governor Throop farm," east of the river. Flint spear- and arrowheads were found in the vicinity of these works. MOUNDS IN COMSTOCK. Mr. A. D. P. Van Buren describes a large mound situated on the island in the Kalamazoo River, principally on section 22, in Comstock township. It was diamond shaped and twenty feet high, and covered, by computation, an acre or more. A maple-tree, thirty inches in diameter, stood upon it in 1831. Another which he mentions was on section 13, and was first seen by Mr. Ralph Tuttle, upon whose land it stood, in 1830. It was circular in form, and had an altitude of two and a half feet above the general surface. It formed the frustrum of a cone, and was about twenty-five feet in diameter at the apex. MOUNDS IN PAVILION. Mr. Henry T. Smith, present county register, informs us that there was formerly a small mound on the east half of the northwest quarter of section 30, in the town of Pavilion, and on the southeastern margin of Long Lake. It was about four feet in height and from twelve to twenty feet in diameter. Mr. Smith opened this mound in 1876, and found two human skeletons lying crosswise of each other and about eighteen inches apart, the lower one being a little below the original surface. Their heads were to the north and northeast. Beneath the lower one was found charcoal and ashes, upon a bed of coarse gravel, the latter apparently taken from the lake margin. The mound appeared to have been built over and around the bodies, and bore evidence of having once had a ditch surrounding it. An oak-tree, eighteen inches in diameter, and a smaller hickory-tree were growing upon it when first known to the settlers. The skeletons were much decayed, and mostly crumbled upon exposure. The skulls were very thick. No other relics were discovered. GARDEN-BEDS. These curious evidences of prehistoric occupation do not appear to have been plentifully found outside of Michigan. They are mentioned in notices of antiquities of Wisconsin, JHenry Little. * It appears that for some time previous to 1841 an excavation in this mound was used as a cellar or root-house. About 1850 the mound was repaired and put in its original shape as nearly as possible. t See history of Climax. I C.) N 0 0 N U -.5 (I) 0 L.I 0 z LgJ 0 0 0 L.j 2 LJ Q z EIIIIIII zzzzzzzz CS cc to co UA -4 "C. CS kIK La 7.. IN IIIINE co Q UA co i (a 2t or La 15 k a N W W 'K L- z C),W. C,) -j IK W c -i 'K ci 'K ffi 0 I" co PREHISTORIC. 69 I --- r and, we believe, have been found sparingly in Indiana. They abounded in the valleys of the Grand, St. Joseph, and Kalamazoo Rivers, and covered sometimes hundreds of acres. They have been quite appropriately named " gardenbeds." from a real or fancied resemblance to the garden-beds of the present day. They are of various forms,-rectangular, triangular, circular, elliptical, and complex,-and evince, in many instances, a remarkable degree of mechanical skill, as well as cultivated taste. A large number of those observed in Kalamazoo County are laid out in regular parallelograms, precisely as a gardener of modern days arranges his beds for onions and beets. The questions naturally arise, Were they actually garden-beds for the cultivation of vegetables? Could they have been extensive plats where flowers were raised for the supply of some great city on Lake Michigan or in the Ohio Valley? Were they botanical gardens? The accompanying diagrams illustrate some of the varieties which were found in various parts of Kalamazoo County. They have all, or nearly all, disappeared under the white man's cultivation. Henry R. Schoolcraft was probably the first writer to give accounts and descriptions of these peculiar relics of an earlier race in Michigan. They were mentioned in a French work as early as 1748. Schoolcraft gave drawings and careful descriptions of them in 1827, and speaks of them as " forming by far the most striking characteristic antiquarian monuments of this district of country." Tn 1839, John T. Blois, a citizen of this State, published in the " Gazetteer of Michigan" detailed descriptions, with diagrams, of one variety of the beds. Bela Hubbard, Esq., of Detroit, divides the beds into eight classes, which he describes as follows: "1. Wide convex beds, in parallel rows, without paths, composing independent plats. Width of beds, twelve feet; paths, none; length, seventy-four to one hundred and fifteen feet. " 2. Wide convex beds, in parallel rows, separated by paths of same width, in independent plats. Width of bed, twelve to sixteen feet; paths, the same; length seventy-four to one hundred and thirty-two feet. "3. Wide parallel beds, separated by narrow paths, arranged in a series of plats longitudinal to each other. Width of beds, fourteen feet; paths, two feet; length, one hundred feet. " 4. Long, narrow beds, separated by narrower paths, and arranged in a series of longitudinal plats, each plat divided from the next by semicircular heads. Width of beds, five feet; paths, one foot and a half; length, one hundred feet; height, eighteen inches. "5. Parallel beds, arranged in plats similar to Class 4, but divided by circular heads. Width of beds, six feet; paths, four feet; length, twelve to forty feet; height, eighteen inches. "6. Parallel beds, of varying widths and lengths, separated by narrow paths, and arranged in plats of two or more, at right angles (north, south, east, and west), to the plats adjacent. Width of beds, five to fourteen feet; paths, one to two feet; length, twelve to thirty feet; height, eight inches. " 7. Parallel beds, of uniform width and length, with narrow paths, arranged in plats or blocks, and single beds, at varying angles. Width of beds, six feet; paths, two feet; length, about thirty feet; height, ten to twelve inches. "8, Wheel-shaped plats, consisting of a circular bed, with beds of uniform shape and size, radiating therefrom, all separated by narrow paths. Width of beds, six to twenty feet; paths, one foot; length, fourteen to twenty feet." The area covered by these cultivated plats varied, in different localities, from five to as many as three hundred PREHISTRIC. 6 acres.* These remarkable " gardens" were found by the first settlers about Schoolcraft, on Prairie Ronde, on Toland's Prairie, near Galesburg; on the burr-oak plains of Kalamazoo village, and elsewhere. Henry Little, Esq., states that they covered as many as ten acres lying to the south of the Kalamazoo mound. Among these last were specimens of the wheel form. They were overgrown with burr-oak trees, of the same size as those scattered over the surrounding plain. " On the farm of J. T. Cobb, section 7, town of Schoolcraft, the beds were quite numerous as late as 1860. There must have been fifteen acres of them on his land. The 'sets' would average five or six beds each. Neighbors put the number of acres covered with them in 1830, within the space of a mile, at one hundred."t Hon. E. Lakin Brown corroborates these statements. The circular one in the diagram is from information furnished by Henry Little and A. T. Prouty, of Kalama. zoo. The triangular pointed one is from a drawing by H. M. Shafter, of Galesburg. Roswell Ransom, James R. Cumings, and A. D. P. Van Buren have also contributed interesting information upon this subject. The diagrams are copied from the American Antiqularian for April, 1878, in an article contributed by Bela Hubbard, Esq. Mr. Van Buren furnishes some account of the "beds" first found on section 13, Comstock township, on lands purchased by C. C. White for William Toland, the first settler in the township. The beds in this locality covered some five acres, and were of the same general description as those before spoken of, and included parallelograms, circles, and triangles. Mr. Van Buren says J. R. Cumings remembers plowing some of these gardens, and says that the beds were so high above the intervening paths that the plow in crossing the latter ran out of the ground. He estimates the height from bottom of paths to top of bed, or ridge, at eighteen inches. The antiquity of these " garden-beds" is a question about which there are different opinions. They were found in several instances covering the ancient mounds, and from this circumstance some writers have arrived at the conclusion that they were the work of a people who occupied the country long after the " Mound-Builders" had disappeared. This hypothesis may be the correct one, but is not necessarily so. There are people living to-day who have seen the burial-places of white men, if not cultivated, at least abandoned and turned into pasture lands for sheep and cattle. The burial-ground of the Strang Mormons at Voree,: Walworth Co., Wis., was occupied, in 1873, as a barn-yard. Even if the mounds were the sacred burialplaces of those who erected them, it is quite possible that within a few generations they may have been occupied for purposes of agriculture, in common with the surrounding fields. But it is quite within the bounds of probability that the people who cultivated the " garden-beds" may have known as little of the builders of the mounds as the red Indians who succeeded them. SaeetoSco a Bs. X Statements of Schooloraft and Blois. t Hubbard. The first diagram represents this class. It was furnished by Messrs. Prouty and Cobb. t A Mormon colony planted by James J. Strang after the death of Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, Ill., about 1845. 70 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. - -I Both classes of antiquities date far beyond the knowledge of the savages, and were evidently the works of a more civilized race. In examining human skulls taken from mounds near Spring Lake, Ottawa Co., Mich., Professor W. D. Gunning advanced the opinion, from the forms of the skulls, the accompanying relics (copper hatchets, needles, broken pottery, etc.), and from other evidence, that these remains date back two thousand years or more. Mr. Bela Hubbard advances the opinion, in reference to the " garden-beds," that they may have been cultivated until within three or four centuries of the present time,-as that period would have sufficed for the growth of the largest forest-trees found upon them. It is altogether probable that the mounds were first constructed, and that their age is not overestimated by Professor Gunning. Nothing resembling the garden-beds has ever been found, or certainly ever described, in the region where the mound-building architecture reached its culmination,-though the same system may have been in vogue at a much earlier day. The Michigan people may have belonged to a later period, or they may have been a colony from the central regions of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. RELICS. These consist of hatchets and spear-heads of stone and copper, heavy stone axes, flint spear- and arrow-heads, chips of flint and chert, chisels, gouges, plumb-bobs, pottery, pipes, and many other things which are picked up in all parts of the country. In addition to these are the bones of human beings, mingled with fragments of charcoal, burnt animal bones, etc., all pointing to a race, or a succession of races, which has passed away. CHAPTER XIII. THE POTTAWATTOMEIE INDIANS.* Nationality and Original Habitat-Removals-Wars-Treaties-Massacre at Chicago-The Match-e-be-nash-e-wish Reservation-Villages and System of Cultivation-Removal in 1840-Missions. ACCORDING to the historian George Bancroft, and other prominent writers, Francis Parkman among the number, the Pottawattomie tribe or nation belonged to the great * Of the origin of the Indian races of America no certain account can be given. Different nations gave each a different account, and each generally claimed to be the most important race of men in the world. When asked who they were, the Iroquois were wont to reply, "the Ongwe-Honwe," or men superior to all others. The Delaware Indians called themselves the Lenni Lenape, or original men. The savages of the vast plains of Illinois when interrogated as to their origin answered, "We are Illeni," or men; as much as to say we are the only men; and a distinguished chieftain of a Wisconsin tribe, when the importance of his people was called in question, haughtily answered, striking his breast, " I am a Menominee!" The Algolnquins called themselves Nethowack; the Athabascane, Tinne; the Esquimeaux, Innuit; and the ancient peoples of Central amd Southern America called themselves "the children of the sun." The Zulus of South Africa say that their national name signifies heaven, and they call themselves "the Celestials." The Pottawattonmie called themselves " Niteh-e-nobbies," and the name, no doubt, Algonquin subdivision of the American copper-colored race. They were cousins-german to the Ojibwa nation (now commonly written Chippewa), who occupied the greater part of the upper peninsula of the present State of Michigan at the date of the earliest French discoveries. Both the Ojibwas and Pottawattomies were met by Charles Raymbault and Isaac Jogues in the fall of 1641, at which time they visited the northern shores of Lake Huron and the country around the Sault St. Marie. In 1660 they were again probably encountered by Father Rene Mesnard, in his journeyings along the southern coast of Lake Superior; and Father Claude Allouez passed through the same region in 1666. In 1668 the first permanent mission in the State was founded at the Sault, and in May, 1671, was held the great council at this point, at which all the Western Indians were ostentatiously taken under the protection of France. The Pottawattomies were present in force at this council, and occupy a prominent position in the records of the event. In those early days they are believed to have been located in the neighborhood of Green Bay and on the islands at its opening into Lake Michigan. They were familiar to Marquette, Dablon, and Allouez, who visited them in 1668-71, and the two last named of whom founded a mission among them on Green Bay in 1669-70, called St. Frangois Xavier. They were prominent among all the nations who came to trade with the French at the Sault St. Marie, at Mackinac, at Green Bay, and at Detroit. At the great council held at the Sault, in 1671, they represented, besides their own nation, the powerful nation of the Miamis, who dwelt south of Lake Michigan. They befriended Marquette and Joliet on their way to the Mississippi in the spring of 1673, and in the next year a band of them accompanied Marquette on a visit from Green Bay to the country of the Illinois, and remained with him in his encampment near Chicago for several months during the following winter, 1674-75. They welcomed La Salle when, in September, 1679, his vessel-the " Griffin"-cast anchor near one of their islands in Green Bay, and one of their most famous chiefs became the fast friend of the great explorer. The furs with which his vessel was loaded for her return trip were no doubt largely purchased from them; and when La Salle and Hennepin continued their voyage in canoes towards the southern portion of the great lakes, they found friends among the Pottawattomies, from whom they purchased corn and other supplies when nearly wrecked and in a starving condition. This treatment was the more wonderful when we consider that the Outagamies,t whom they found in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, were treacherous and hostile. When the gallant Tonti retreated from the little fortCravecoeur-at the foot of Peoria Lake in the spring of signified among them what Illeni and Ongwe-Honwe did among the savages of Illinois and New York. The principal copper-colored races found in North America were the Esquimeaux, in the Arctic regions, the Algonquiss, in the region of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence River, the Dacotalhs, in the West, and the Mobilian nations, in the South. The belief is gaining ground that the American races were indigenous to the soil, but their beginnings we can only conjecture. t The modern Foxes. THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 71 1680, and after passing a terrible experience among the Illinois and Iroquois Indians, in the region of Ottawa, Ill., at length, late in the autumn, reached the Pottawattomie villages, sick and nearly starved, he was received in the most friendly manner by the chief who had welcomed La Salle. The same chief welcomed Hennepin on his return from his explorations and captivity among the Sioux of the upper Mississippi in the same year. They probably began their migration from Green Bay about the beginning of the eighteenth century, and gradually moved southward to the vicinity of Chicago, and thence around the head of Lake Michigan to the region subsequently occupied by them in southwestern Michigan, which included at least all the country stretching from the head-waters of the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rivers to the lake on the west. When La Salle first visited the mouth of the St. Joseph River, late in the fall of 1679, he found the Miami nation in possession of the region, and named the river the " Miamis" on this account. In 1721, when Charlevoix visited the mission of the St. Joseph, he found the Pottawattomies occupying the country, from which they were removed by the United States authorities in 1840, after an occupation of nearly a century and a half. At some period, probably succeeding their arrival in Michigan, the Pottawattomies formed a sort of quasi confederation with their kindred, the Ojibwas and the Ottawas, the latter of whom had been driven fifty years earlier from their ancient home on the Ottawa River of Canada. This league, while resembling somewhat that established among the nations of New York, was of a looser order, and the tribes or nations composing it dwelt at long distances from each other,-the Ottawas mostly near the Detroit River and among the lakes of Oakland County, the Ojibwas in the vicinity of Mackinac and the outlet of Lake Superior, and the Pottawattomies along Lake Michigan, from Chicago to the mouth of Grand River. At times the latter nation had several villages in the neighborhood of Detroit, and it would seem that when the Mascoutins, Outagamies, and others attacked that post in 1712, one or more of these nations were occupying villages in the vicinity, for the beleaguered garrison was saved by them from probable destruction. In 1721 we find M. de Tonti, then in command at Detroit, instrumental in uniting the Pottawattomnies, Ottawas, Chippewas, and Hurons in a league against the savages dwelling to the westward of Lake Michigan. The four nations mentioned were the fast friends and allies of the French down to 1760, when all the French possessions in Canada passed into the hands of the English. The mission of St. Joseph, at the mouth of the river of that name, was probably established by the Jesuits in the beginning of the eighteenth century.* When first established it is probable that the Pottawattomies had not yet occupied the surrounding region. When the Ottawa chieftain Pontiac organized his grand confederation of Indian nations, the Pottawattomies took up the hatchet against the English, and figured conspicuously during the siege of Detroit. It was probably a band of their warriors who captured the post of Ouatenon, on the Wabash, in May, 1763, and they may have assisted at the capture of Fort Miami about the same time. At the opening of the siege of Detroit they were present under their war-chief, Nin-i-vay, to the number of one hundred and fifty. Their chiefs accompanied Pontiac to the famous council in the fort at Detroit, and their warriors took part in the terrible fight at " Bloody Run," and were the first to call a parley to agree upon terms, though they treacherously broke their promises and engagements afterwards. They were present by their chiefs at the great council held by Col. Bradstreet, at Detroit, in September, 1764, and were among those who transferred their allegiance from the French to the English on that occasion. They also sent deputies to meet Sir William Johnson at Oswego, in July, 1766. During the Revolution they adhered to the British interests, and joined in most of the war-parties and forays against the border settlements of the Americans from 1778 to the signal defeat of the confederated Indian tribes. at the Maumee Rapids by Gen. Wayne, in August, 1794. In 1789 they attended and signed the treaty of Fort Harmar. They formed a part of the force which defeated Harmar in 1790, and were probably present in force at the disastrous defeat of St. Clair, in November, 1791. In September, 1792, they made a treaty at Vincennes with Commissioner Putnam, on behalf of the United States; but this treaty was soon broken, and we find them figuring extensively at a council held at the Maumee Rapids in 1793, during the advance of Gen. Wayne from Cincinnati. This council accomplished nothing; and We next find the Pottawattomies gathered, with the other Northwestern nations, about the British post on the Maumee, and ready to oppose Wayne's advance. On the 5th of June, 1794, the general's scouts, under Capt. Gibson, captured two Pottawattomie warriors, between whom and Gen. Wayne the following colloquy ensued: WAYNE.-" When did your nation receive the invitation from the British to join them and go to war with the Americans?" POTTAWATTOMIES.-" On the first of the last moon; the message was sent by three chiefs,-a Delaware, a Shaiowanee, and a Miami." WAYNE.-" What was the message brought by those Indian chiefs, and what number of British troops were at Roche de Bout (fort of the Rapids) on the first of May?" POTTAWATTOMIES.-" That the British sent them to invite the Pottavwattomies to go to war against the United States; that they, the British, were then at Roche de Bout, on their way to war against the Americans; that the number of British troops then there was about four hundred, with two pieces of artillery, exclusive of the Detroit militia, and had made a fortification around Col. McKee's house and stores at that place, in which they had deposited all their stores of ammunition, arms, clothing, and provisions, with which they promised to supply all the hostile Indians in abundance, provided they would join and go with them to war." WAYNE.-" What tribes of Indians, and what were their numbers at Roche de Bout on the 1st of May?" POTTAWATTOMIES.-" The Chippeivas, Wyandots, Shawanese, Tawas,t Delawares, and Miamis. There were then collected about one thou sand warriors, and were daily coming in and collecting from all these nations." * In the Michigan Pioneer Selections it is stated that the Jesuits founded, about the year 1700, a mission at the mouth of the river and another a mile south of the present city of Niles; and that at each place a small fort was erected. t Meaning probably the Ottawas. W;~ 72 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. WAYNE.-" What number of warriors do you suppose were actually collected at that place at this time, and what number of British troops and militia have promised to join the Indians to fight this army?" POTTAWATTOMIES.-" By latest and best information, and from our own knowledge of the number of warriors belonging to those nations, there cannot be less than two thousand warriors now assembled; and were the Pottawattomies to join, agreeably to invitation, the whole would amount to upward of three thousand hostile Indians.* But we do not think that more than fifty of the I'otttwattonlies will go to war. The British troops and militia that will join the Indians to go to war against the Americans will amount to fifteen hundred, agreeably to the promise of Governor Simcoe." WAYNE.-" At what time and at what place do the British and Indians mean to advance against this army?" INDIANS.-" About the last of this moon or the beginning of the next they intend to attack the legion at this place. Governor Simcoe, the great man who lives at or near Niagara, sent for the Pottauwattomies and promised them arms, ammunition, provisions, and clothing, and everything that they wanted, on condition that they would join him and go to war against the Americans; and that he would command the whole. " He sent us the same message last winter, and again on the first of the last moon, from Roche de Bout; he also said he was obliged to us for our past services, and that he would now help us to fight, and render us all the services in his power, against the Americans. "All the speeches which we have received from him were as red as blood, all the wampum and feathers were painted red, the war-pipes and hatchets were red, and even the tobacco was painted red. "We received four different invitations from Governor Simcoe, inviting the Pottawattomies to join in the war; the last was on the first of the last moon, when he promised to join us with fifteen hundred of his warriors, as before mentioned. But we wished for peace, except a few of our foolish young men." "Examined and carefully reduced to writing at Greenville, this 7th of June, 1794."t It is not certain that any of the Pottawattomies were engaged in the battle against Wayne, but it is at least quite probable that a small band of their " foolish young men" participated. According to the statement of a Canadian who visited Wayne's camp at Fort Wayne, Governor Simcoe, Col. McKee, and Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chief, arrived at Fort Miami on the 30th of September, and the Governor invited the chiefs of all the nations to meet him at the mouth of the Detroit River and hold a treaty. According to the statement of Blue Jacket, the Shawanese chief, the Indians were inclined for peace after the defeat on the Maumee, but upon this invitation of the Governor they concluded to meet him. At the council the Governor told them not to listen to the Americans, but to keep a good heart and propose a truce until the spring, when a general gathering would make them strong enough to renew the war. Brant also gave them the same advice. But the utmost efforts of the British officials could not bring the Indians to the agreement. Some were for war, some were divided, and "the Chippewas and Pottawattomies went home, sore from the late action." Wayne's rapid movements and skillful fighting were too much for them, and they no doubt made up their minds during the following winter that they had best agree upon terms of peace with the Americans, and trust to the pleasant words of the British no longer. Indeed, on the 28th and 29th of De cember the chiefs of the Pottawattomies, Chippewas, Otta* This statement would give the Pottawattomies over one thousand warriors. t From American State Papers, quoted in Albach's Annals of the West, pp. 640-41. was, and Miamlis came to Fort Wayne with peace messages for Col. Hamtramck, the commander of that post. At Greenville, Ohio, on the 30th of July, 1795, was finally signed a treaty of peace between the United States, represented by Gen. Wayne, and the hostile Indians, by which the latter ceded nearly two-thirds of the State of Ohio, a considerable portion of Indiana, and a large number of small reservations within their remaining territory, among which latter were a strip six miles wide along Lake Erie and the Detroit River; the post of Mackinac; the island on which it stood; the island of Bois Blanc, and a piece of land to the north of the straits, six by three miles in extent; a piece six miles square at Chicago; another of the same extent at Fort Wayne; one of twelve miles square at the Maumee Rapids, and various others. The Indians were to be allowed the privilege of hunting upon the ceded lands, and the government and people of the United States were to freely navigate the lakes and streams within the Indian territory. The consideration which the tribes received from the United States was twenty thousand dollars in goods, distributed at the treaty equitably among them, and an annuity of nine thousand five hundred dollars in goods thereafter forever. The annual payments were to be divided among the contracting nations as follows: to the Wyandots, the value of $1000; to the Delawares, $1000; to the Shawanese, $1000; to the Miamis, $1000; to the Ottawas, $1000; to the Chippewas, $1000; to the Pottawattomies, $1000; and to the Kickapoos, Weas, Eel Rivers, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias, the sum of $500 each. This treaty did not materially lessen the territory of the Pottawattomies; their largest cession was probably the sixmile tract at Chicago. The Shawanese, Wyandots, and Delawares were heavily mulcted in Ohio, and this, of course, compelled them to crowd westward among the-other nations. From the date of the treaty of Greenville until the year 1807 we hear very little of the Pottawattomies. The Indian nations of the Northwest were generally peaceable, until the advent of Tecumseh, the great Shawanese chief, who began his preparation for a confederation of all the Indians as early as 1803, but did not actually come into collision with the whites until the fall of 1811. In November, 1807, Governor Hull, of Michigan Territory, made a treaty with the Pottawattomies, Ottawas, Wyandots, and Chippewas, at Detroit, by which the country lying in the southeastern part of the Territory, bounded on the west by the principal meridian and lying south of Saginaw Bay, was ceded to the United States. In 1808 the Shawanese, under Tecumseh and his brother, the prophet, removed from Ohio to a tract of land granted them on the Tippecanoe River by the Pottawattomies and Kickapoos; and fiom this point Tecumseh went forth to the various nations of the North and South in the interests of his great project. It would appear, from a treaty made in November, 1808, by Governor Hull, at Brownstown, that the Pottawattomnies were interested in lands lying along the Maumee and the southern coast of Lake Erie, for we find them at that date uniting with the Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandots, and Sha THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 73 wanese in the cession of a strip of territory connecting the Maumee Valley with the Western Reserve in Northeastern Ohio. With regard to the machinations of Tecumseh and the prophet, Gen. William H. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, on the 5th of July, 1809, in a letter to the Secretary of War, says,"The warlike and well-armed tribes of the Pottawattonzies, Ottawas, Chippewas, Delaioares, and Miamris, I believe, neither had, nor would have joined in the combination; and although the Kickapoos, whose warriors are better than those of any other tribe,-the remnant of the Wyandots excepted,-are much under the influence of the prophet, I am persuaded that they were never made acquainted with their intentions, if these were really hostile to the United States." In the latter part of 1809, Harrison made additional purchases of lands along the Wabash River from the various nations interested, including the Pottawattomies. These treaties and purchases were made with the Indians at Fort Wayne and Vincennes. They were protested against by Tecumseh in the following year. At a council between Gen. Harrison and Tecumseh, held at Vincennes in 1810, a Pottawattomie chief made a speech, declaring that his nation had joined the Shawanese confederacy and would stand by the principles enunciated by Tecumseh. From this circumstance it would appear that the Pottawattomies had finally been won over by Tecumseh and the prophet. In 1811, Harrison was frequently in communication with the Pottawattozmies, a portion of whom were inclined to be friendly. In the fall of 1811, Harrison, finding the savages bent upon war, put his small army of about nine hundred men in motion from Vincennes, and on the morning of November 7th, in that year, fought a desperate night-battle with the confederated Indians, under the prophet, in which the savages were defeated with severe loss, and their towns were destroyed the day following. In this battle a band of Pottawattonmies were engaged, and lost several warriors and one of their principal chiefs. This chief was left on the field mortally wounded, but before his death he sent his advice to the different tribes, urging them to abandon the prophet and make peace.* MASSACRE AT CHICAGO. The declaration of war against Great Britain by the United States, in June, 1812, at once changed the whole aspect of affairs in the West; and the Indians, instead of making peace with the Americans, beholding, as they thought, their opportunity for driving the whites beyond the Ohio, at once attached themselves to the British cause. With the rest went the Pottawattomies, and the next account of their movements succeeding the battle of Tippecanoe is their capture and partial massacre of the garrison at Chicago, which, as we have seen, was situated on a tract * During the war of 1812-15, or at least a portion of the time, the British authorities in Canada supported a blacksmithing establishment near Kalamazoo, for the benefit of the Pottawattomnies and other Indians. At this shop, according to Indian accounts, two men, an Eng lishman and a Frenchman, worked at repairing for the Indians, and were paid by the British government. To the Indians the work was probably gratuitous. 10 ceded to the United States at the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. A fort had been erected there by the government in 1804, and named Fort Dearborn, in honor of Gen. Henry Dearborn, at one time commander-in-chief of the American army, and also Secretary of War. The fort, at the breaking out of the war, was garrisoned by a force of seventy-five indifferent troops, under Capt. Heald, whose subordinates were Lieut. Helm, Ensign Ronan, and Dr. Voorhies, surgeon of the post. Winnemac, or W[inaeneg,~ a friendly Pottawattomie chief, had brought dispatches from Gen. Hull, at Detroit, announcing the declaration of war, and instructing Capt. Heald, if practicable, to evacuate the fort and proceed to Fort Wayne or Detroit, as circumstances might determine. The general also ordered the distribution of the government and agency property among the Indians. Winnemac advised Capt. Heald to hold the post, and not attempt a retreat through the hostile country, now swarming with Pottawattomies, Winnebagoes, and others; or, if he must make the attempt, he urged that it be done at once, and that everything be left undisturbed in the fort, and possibly, while the Indians were busy plundering the stores, the garrison might make a safe retreat. But Capt. Heald would hear to the advice of neither Winnemac, his officers, nor Mr. Kinzie, the trader at the post. During the days which elapsed between the arrival of Wfinnemac and the evacuation, an Indian runner arrived firom Tecumseh, announcing the commencement of hostilities, the defeat of Van Horn, below Detroit, and urging the Western Indians to arm immediately, giving at the same time his opinion that Gen. Hull would soon be compelled to surrender. This warlike message stirred the Indians to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, and from that moment, if not before, it was madness to attempt a retreat. A number of the Pottawattomie chiefs were inclined to be friendly with the Americans, and especially with Mr. Kinzie's family; but the great majority were for war, and could not be controlled. Winnemac was aware of all this, and hence his strenuous advice against evacuation. On the 14th of August, Capt. Wells arrived from Fort Wayne, at the head of fifteen friendly Miamis. Mrs. Heald was his sister, and he had made a forced march through the wilderness to prevent, if possible, the exposure of the garrison and the women and children to certain destruction. But he arrived too late. The ammunition had been destroyed and the liquor poured out on the day preceding, by Capt. Heald's orders, and nothing remained but to attempt the march. The goods and blankets had been distributed among the Indians, but they were savagely angry when they found the liquor was destroyed, and could scarcely be restrained from a general massacre. Among the chiefs were several who, though they partook of the general feeling of hostility towards the Americans, yet had many friends among the soldiers and families at the post, and they exerted their utmost endeavors to allay the bloodthirsty feelings of their followers, but in vain. Among these was Black Partridge, a distinguished chief, who came to the commander, after a second council t Called by the whites " Catfish." 74 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. of the Indians had decided upon the massacre, and said, " Father, I come to deliver up to you the medal I wear. It was given me by the Americans, and I have long worn it in token of our mutual friendship. But our young men are resolved to imbrue their hands in the blood of the whites. I cannot restrain them, and I will not wear a token of peace while I am compelled to act as an enemy." The following paragraphs relating to the Chicago massacre are from Albach's " Annals of the West": "The fatal morning of the 15th of August arrived. The sun shone out in brightness as it rose from the glassy surface of the lake. The atmosphere was balmy, and could the minds of the party have been relieved from the most distressing apprehensions, they could have departed with exhilarating feelings. " Early in the morning a message was received by Mr. Kinzie, from To-pe-nee-be, a friendly chief of the St. Joseph band (Pottawattomies), informing him that the Pottawattomies who had promised to be an escort to the detachment designed mischief. Mr. Kinzie had placed his family under the protection of some friendly Indians. This party, in a boat, consisted of Mrs. Kinzie, four young children, a clerk of Mr. Kinzie's, two servants, and the boatmen, or voyageurs, with two Indians as protectors. The boat was intended to pass along the southern end of Lake Michigan to St. Joseph. Mr. Kinzie and his eldest son, a youth, had agreed to accompany Capt. Heald and the troops, as he thought his influence over the Indians would enable him to restrain the fury of the savages, as they were much attached to him and his family. " To-pe-nee-be urged him and his son to accompany his family in the boat, assuring him the hostile Indians would allow his boat to pass in safety to St. Joseph. " The boat had scarcely reached the lake when another messenger from this friendly chief arrived to detain them where they were. The reader is left to imagine the feelings of the mother. She was a woman of uncommon energy and strength of character, yet her heart died within her as she folded her arms around her helpless infants. And when she heard the discharge of the guns, and the shrill, terrific warwhoop of the infuriated savages, and knew the party, and most probably her beloved husband and first-born son, were doomed to destruction, language has not the power to describe her agony. "At nine o'clock the troops, with the baggage-wagons, left the fort with martial music, and in military array. Capt. Wells, at the head of his band of Miamis, led the advance, with his face blackened after the manner of the Indians. The troops, with the wagons containing the women and children, the sick and lame, followed, while at a little distance behind were the Pottawattomies, about five hundred in number, who had pledged their honor to escort them in safety to Fort Wayne. The party took the road along the lake-shore. "On reaching the point where a range of sand-hills commenced (within the present limits of Chicago city), the Pottawattomies defiled to the right into the prairie, to bring the sand-hills between them and the Americans.* They had marched about a mile and a half from the fort, when Capt. Wells, who, with his Miamis, was in advance, rode furiously back, and exclaimed, 'They are about to attack us; form instantly and charge upon them!' " The words were scarcely uttered when a volley of balls, from Indian muskets behind the sand-hills, poured upon them. The troops were hastily formed in line of battle and charged up the bank. One man, a veteran soldier of seventy, fell as they mounted the bank. The battle became general. The Miamis fled at the outset, though Capt. Wells did his utmost to induce them to stand their ground. Their chief rode up to the Pottawattomies, charged them with treachery, and, brandishing his tomahawk, declared 'he would be the first to head a party of Americans and punish them.' He then turned his horse and galloped after his companions over the prairie. "The American troops behaved most gallantly, and sold their lives dearly. Mrs. Helm, the wife of Lieut. Helm, who was in the action, behaved with astonishing presence of mind (as did all the other fe* 7 7 i. * These sand-hills were scarcely worthy of the name; they probably never exceeded the height of twenty feet. The high bank of the lake is generally meant in this account. The sand was drifted upon the top of the bank to a depth of several feet. males), and furnished Mr. Kinzie with many thrilling facts, from which are made the following extracts: "' Our horses pranced and bounded, and could hardly be restrained, as the balls whistled around them. I drew off a little and gazed upon my husband and father, who were yet unharmed. I felt that my hour was come, and endeavored to forget those I loved, and prepare myself for my approaching fate. "' While I was thus engaged, the surgeon, Dr. V., came up; he was badly wounded. His horse had been shot under him, and he had received a ball in his leg. Every muscle of his countenance was quivering with the agony of terror. He said to me, "Do you think they will take our lives? I am badly wounded, but I think not mortally. Perhaps we might purchase our lives by promising them a large reward. Do you think there is any chance?" "( ' Dr. V.," said I, " do not let us waste the few moments that yet remain to us in such vain hopes. Our fate is inevitable. In a few moments we must appear before the bar of God. Let us endeavor to make what preparation is in our power." "Oh, I cannot die!" exclaimed he. "I am not fit to die,-if I had but a Iort time to prepare,-death is awful!" I pointed to Ensign Ronan, who, though mortally wounded, and nearly down, was still fighting with desperation upon one knee. "'" Look at that man," said I, "at least he dies like a soldier!" "'"Yes," replied the unfortunate man, with a convulsive gasp, " but he has no terrors of the future,-he is an unbeliever." "'At this moment a young Indian raised his tomahawk at me. By springing aside I avoided the blow, which was aimed at my skull, but which alighted on my shoulder. I seized him around the neck, and while exerting my utmost efforts to get possession of his scalpingknife, which hung in a scabbard over his breast, I was dragged from his grasp by another and an older Indian. "' This latter bore me, struggling and resisting, towards the lake. Notwithstanding the rapidity with which I was hurried along, I recognized, as I passed them, the lifeless remains of the unfortunate surgeon. Some murderous tomahawk had stretched him upon the very spot where I had last seen him. "'I was immediately plunged into the water, and held there with a forcible hand, notwithstanding my resistance. I soon perceived, however, that the object of my captor was not to drown me, as he held me firmly in such a position as to place my head above the water. This reassured me, and regarding him attentively, I soon recognized, in spite of the paint with which he was disguised, the Black Partridge. "' When the firing had somewhat subsided, my preserver bore me from the water and conducted me up the sand-banks. It was a burning August morning, and walking through the sand, in my drenched condition, was inexpressibly painful and fatiguing. I stopped and took off my shoes, to free them from the sand, with which they were nearly filled, when a squaw seized and carried them off, and I was obliged to proceed without them. When we had gained the prairie I was met by my father, who told me that my husband was safe and but slightly wounded. They led me gently back towards the Chicago River, along the southern bank of which was the Pottawattomie encampment. At one time I was placed upon a horse without a saddle, but soon finding the motion insupportable, I sprang off. Supported partly by my kind conductor and partly by another Indian, Pee-sotum, who held dangling in his hand the scalp of Capt. Wells, I dragged my fainting steps to one of the wigwams. "' The wife of Wau-bee-nee-mah, a chief from the Illinois River, was standing near, and seeing my exhausted condition, she seized a kettle, dipped up some water from a little stream that flowed near, threw into it some maple-sugar, and gave it to me to drink. This act of kindness, in the midst of so many atrocities, touched me most sensibly, but my attention was soon diverted to other objects. The fort had become a scene of plunder, to such as remained after the troops had marched out. The cattle had been shot down as they ran at large, and lay dead or dying around. "'As the noise of the firing grew gradually less, and the stragglers from the victorious party dropped in, I received confirmation of what my father had hurriedly communicated in our rencontre on the lakeshore: namely, that the whites had surrendered, after the loss of about two-thirds of their number. They had stipulated for the pres ervation of their lives and those of the remaining women and children, and for their delivery at some of the British posts, unless ransomed by traders in the Indian country. It appeared that the wounded THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 75 prisoners were not considered as included in the stipulation, and a horrible scene occurred upon their being brought into camp. "' An old squaw, infuriated by the loss of friends or excited by the sanguinary scenes around her, seemed possessed by a demoniac ferocity. She seized a stable-fork, and assaulted one miserable victim, who lay groaning and writhing in the agony of his wounds, aggravated by the scorching beams of the sun. With a delicacy of feeling scarcely to have been expected under such circumstances, Wau-bee-nee-mah stretched a mat, across two poles, between me and this dreadful scene. I was thus spared, in some degree, a view of its horrors, although I could not entirely close my ears to the cries of the sufferer. The following night five more of the wounded prisoners were tomahawked.' "But why dwell upon this painful subject? Why describe the butchery of the children, twelve of whom, placed together in one baggage-wagon, fell beneath the merciless tomahawk of one young savage? This atrocious act was committed after the whites, twenty-seven in number, had surrendered. When Capt. Wells beheld it, he exclaimed, 'Is that their game? Then I will kill, too!' So saying, he turned his horse's head and started for the Indian camp near the fort, where had been left their squaws and children. "Several Indians pursued him, firing at him as he galloped along. IHe laid himself flat on the neck of his horse, loading and firing in that position. At length the balls of his pursuers took effect, killing his horse and severely wounding himself. At this moment he was met by Winneneg and Waubansee, who endeavored to save him from the savages who had now overtaken him; but as they supported him along, after having disengaged him from his horse, he received his death-blow from one of the party (Pee-so-tumn), who stabbed him in the back. "The heart of Capt. Wells was taken out and cut into pieces, and distributed among the tribes. His mutilated remains remained unburied until next day, when Billy Caldwell gathered up his head in one place and mangled body in another, and buried them in the sand.? "The family of Mr. Kinzie had been taken from the boat to their home by friendly Indians, and there strictly guarded. Soon after a very hostile party of the Pottawattotmies arrived from the Wabash, and it required all the skill and bravery of Black Partridge, Waubansee, and Billy Caldwell, who arrived at a critical moment, and other friendly Indians, to protect them. Runners had been sent by the hostile chiefs to all the Indian villages to apprise them of the intended ev.cuatioja of the fort, and of their plan of attacking the troops. In eager thirst to participate in such a scene of blood, but arrived too late to participate in the massacre, they were infuriated at their disappointment, and sought to glut their vengeance on the wounded and prisoners. " On the third day after the massacre, the family of Mr. Kinzie, with the attachees of the establishment, under the care of Francois, a half-breed interpreter, were taken to St. Joseph in a boat, where they remained until the following November, under the protection of Tope-ne-be and his band. They were then carried to Detroit, under the escort of Chandonnai and a friendly chief by the name of Keepo-tah, and, with their servants, delivered up, as prisoners of war, to the British commanding officer. "Of the other prisoners, Capt. Heald and Mrs. Heald were sent across the lake to St. Joseph the day after the battle. Capt. Heald had received two wounds and Mrs. Heald seven, the ball of one being cut from her arm by Mr. Kinzie, with a penknife, after the engagement. " Mrs. Heald was ransomed on the battle-field by Chandonnai, a half-breed from St. Joseph, for a mule he had just taken and the promise of ten bottles of whisky. " Capt. Heald was taken prisoner by an Indian from the Kankakee, who, seeing the wounded and enfeebled condition of Mrs. Heald, generously released his prisoner that he might accompany his wife. But when this Indian returned to his village on the Kankakee, he found that his generosity had excited so much dissatisfaction in his band that he resolved to visit St. Joseph and reclaim his prisoner. News of his intention having reached To-pe-ne-bee, Kee-po-tah, Chandonnai, and other friendly braves, they sent them in a bark canoe under * Capt. David Wells had been taken prisoner in his childhood and had lived among the Miamis, where he married a daughter of Little Turtle, the great chief. He left the Indians and joined Gen. Wayne in 1794. His descendants still live in Maumee City. the charge of Robinson, a half-breed, along the eastern side of Lake Michigan, three hundred miles, to Mackinac, where they were delivered over to the commanding officer. "Lieut. Helm was wounded in the action and taken prisoner, and afterwards taken by some friendly Indians to the Ausable, and from thence to St. Louis, and liberated from captivity through the agency of the late Thomas Forsyth, Esq. Mrs. Helm received a slight wound in the ankle; had her horse shot from under her; and, after passing through the agonizing scenes described, went with the family of Mr. Kinzie to Detroit. "The soldiers, with their wives and children, were dispersed among the different villages of the Pottawattomies upon the Illinois, Wabash, and Rock Rivers, and at Milwaukie. The larger portion were taken to Detroit and ransomed the following spring." Thus ended this memorable episode, the most noted, perhaps, in the history of the Pottawattomies, at least so far as the whites were concerned. The whole affair thoroughly illustrated the prominent, and, in some respects, contradictory, characteristics of the Indian race. The same deceitful, wary, bloodthirsty elements; the profuse promises of friendship and protection, while the runners were even then on their way to summon the different bands and tribes to the bloody banquet; the same unrelenting and unquenchable thirst for slaughter, and the same inhuman disposition manifested towards the helpless wounded, and the innocent women and children. And in this instance they had no immediate reason for this bloody treatment of those whom chance and the unpardonable foolishness of the commanding officer had placed in their power. The Indians had been well treated by every one at the post, and there was no reason for the outrage except the inherent bloodthirstiness of the race. There were a few individuals, principally chiefs, whose better natures revolted from the work; but they were in a contemptible minority, and could do nothing. In respect to cultivation and humanity, the Pottawattomies were no better and no worse than their congeners of other tribes and nations. They knew they were able to overpower the insignificant band which constituted the garrison, provided they could prevail upon them to evacuate the fort and expose themselves in open ground; and to this end they pursued the same line of policy adopted by Pontiac, forty-nine years before, at Detroit,-that dictated by subterfuge and treachery. To-day, a half-dozen families, descendants of the fierce braves who so wantonly imbrued their hands in the blood of innocent women and children, dwell on the borders of the metropolis (whose half-million people outnumber all the Indians of North America combined), and in dumb helplessness eke out a scanty livelihood by peddling willow-baskets and the bead-work of the dusky squaws. Of Capt. Heald there cab be nothing said in extenuation of his foolish temerity, which cost the lives of three-score people, except that a blind subserviency to what he deemed a military duty seemed to overturn every reasoning faculty, and hurry him on to the inevitable consequences; and the glaring fact will ever stand against him that he refused to listen to sound advice, and in a most criminal manner obstinately led his command to certain death or captivity. In the attack upon Forts Wayne and Harrison, both within the limits of Indiana, in the same month, there is no doubt that the Pottawattomies acted a conspicuous part. 76 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. - -— --- Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, was desperately and successfully defended against the combined savages-Shawanese, Pottawattomies, Kickapoos, and others-by Capt. Zachary Taylor, with eighteen men; and here a future President of the United States battled bravely with the fiery devils fresh from the massacre of Fort Dearborn. In September following, a village of the Pottawattomies, on the bluff near the head of Peoria Lake, was destroyed, together with a number of its warriors, by a force of three hundred and fifty men, partly United States rangers and partly Illinois volunteers. The Pottawattomies were present in strong force around Detroit at the commencement of hostilities with Great Britain, or very soon thereafter, though there does not appear to be any positive evidence that they were present at Hull's surrender. The message received at Fort Dearborn from Tecumseh, urging them to come east and join his forces, would indicate that they had not yet heard of the declaration of war, but were anticipating it. Capt. Heald estimates their numbers (warriors) at Chicago, at the date of the massacre, at five hundred. Their next appearance in force was most probably in January, 1813, at the fight of Frenchtown, on the river Raisin, where the city of Monroe now stands. A Canadian writer states that at the battle of January 22d, against Winchester, there were two hundred Pottawattomies present; and in the disgraceful massacre permitted, if not authorized, by the infamous Col. Proctor, of the British army, they probably took a full share. To the honor of Tecumseh, the Shawanese chief, who was not present at this affair, it is said that he upbraided Proctor in most bitter terms for his inhumanity. His presence alone stayed the hands of the savages from further deeds of blood. In the course of Proctor's operations around Fort Meigs and Sandusky Bay, the Pottawattomies, no doubt, were following the lead of Tecumseh, and in the desperate fight with Dudley's Kentuckians, opposite Fort Meigs, when Harrison was besieged by Proctor, in May, 1813, they did their share of the bloody work. They were also in front of Fort Meigs again in July following, and at Fort Stephenson in August of the same year, when Proctor's assaulting column received such a disastrous repulse at the hands of the youthful Major Croghan. A respectable portion of the Pottawattomies participated in the battle of the Thames, at the Moravian towns in Upper Canada, on the 5th of October, 1813, where the British and Indian power in the Northwest was completely broken. The fall of Tecumseh disheartened the confederated Indians, and the Pottawattonmies, in July, 1815, made a treaty of peace with the United States. This treaty was made at the Portage des Sioux, a few miles above the mouth of the Missouri River, and the commissioners on the part of the United States were the Governor of Missouri, the Governor of Illinois, the superintendents of Indian affairs of Missouri and Illinois, and Auguste Choteau, of St. Louis. By the treaty of Chicago, elsewhere noted, the Pottawattomies ceded to the government all their lands lying south of Grand River, with the exception of five small reservations, one of which was in Kalamazoo County, and covered the ground now occupied by Kalamazoo village. This was designated in the treaty as the " Match-e-be-nash-e-wish Reserve." What this Indian title signified, whether it was the name of a tribe of the Pottawattomies, of a chief, or of a village which stood within the limits of the reservation, we have not been able to determine; neither have we been successful in finding out how long the reservation was occupied by the Indians, nor to whoml and for what consideration it was disposed of. It must have been in the hands of the government when the first entries of land were made in Kalamazoo, which were in November, 1830, by Stephen H. Richardson and Titus Bronson, who purchased the southwest quarter of section 15, which is now in the heart of Kalamazoo village. The township (2 south 11 west) was surveyed in 1827 by John Mullett, and the reservation, in June, 1829, by Orange Risdon. The fact of its being surveyed would indicate that it had recently come into possession of the government.* Another, known as the Nottawa-Sepee Reservation, included one hundred and fifteen sections, lying partly in Kalamazoo and partly in St. Joseph County. The portion included in Kalamazoo County covered sixty sections, including the entire township of Brady, a strip two miles wide on the west side of Wakeshma, and a like strip on the east side of Schoolcraft township. In the month of September, 1833, a treaty was held by Governor Porter at the Pottawattomie village which stood on the Nottawa-Sepee reservation, within the limits of St. Joseph County, at which the chiefs, by the influence of trinkets, military trappings, and other articles to the amount of about ten thousand dollars in value, were induced to cede all their remaining lands, which were included in that reservation, to the United States. The Indians were to retain peaceable possession of the reservation for two years, at the end of which time they were to remove to a new reservation west of the Mississippi. When the time came (in 1835), they manifested so much reluctance and opposition that it was not until five years later that they were finally removed. The Indians had villages on Gull Prairie, and on Toland's Prairie, where Galesburg now stands, and also at Kalamazoo, on Prairie Ronde, in the present town of Portage, and in other parts of the county. Some of these were, probably, tolerably permanent, while others were of a more transient character. The village (or villages, for there may have been several) located on the site of Kalamazoo was a prominent one, for here was perhaps the best fishing-ground within the limits of the county. The largest fish of Lake Michigan could ascend the river to this point, and in the spring and early summer the pastime of taking a supply for future use was indulged in by the Indians, with every demonstration of rejoicing. Evidence of a large native population at this point is in the fact that three considerable burial-grounds From a chapter in the history of Hillsdale County it appears that the Indians exchanged, in September, 1827, all their reservations made at the Chicago treaty of 1821, for a consolidated reservation, called Nottawa-Sepee, in St. Joseph and Kalamazoo Counties, and the Matchebenashelwish tract was probably given up at that time. A portion of the Nottawa-Sepee reservation was in Kalamazoo County. THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 77 were found within what are now the limits of the village of Kalamazoo. There were traditions among the Indians of terrible wars and exterminating conflicts between the Ottawas and the Sioux or Saukies, on the banks of the beautiful KekalamazQo, one of which is perpetuated in a poem by V. Hascall, a former resident of Kalamazoo, which will be found in another chapter of this work. Here, also, the Pottawattomies and Ottawas-for they seem to have been mingled more or less in all this region-held their solemn councils, their war-dances, and their annual feasts. The Pottawattomies are described as having been more domestic than warlike in their habits. They delighted in bedecking themselves in finery and gew-gaws, and had a great love for ponies, which they caparisoned with all the pride of a Bedouin when preparing his Arab barb for the field. They were good hunters, and when once fairly enlisted in war exhibited the same bravery which rendered the Iroquois so renowned. The Ottawas, frequently called the T'awas, came originally from the great river of Canada which still bears their name, from whose rugged and picturesque region they were expelled by the terrible Iroquois, about the middle of the seventeenth century. They occupied the country, more properly speaking, lying in the Grand River Valley of Michigan, but the lines between the Indian nations and tribes who were friendly to each other were not very clearly defined; and they occupied the country frequently in conmmon, hunting and fishing together. This was particularly the case with the Ottawas and Pottawattomies, who dwelt amicably together. The former, to whom the great warchief Pontiac belonged, were perhaps the most warlike and the finest in physique of all the Indians of Michigan. Among the prominent chiefs of the Pottawattomies in later days were Bawbeese and Noonday; the former having his principal village within the present limits of Hillsdale County, and the last named making his headquarters at or near Kalamazoo. It is said that when the county was first visited there were no less than sixteen distinct trails converging at Kalamazoo. This fact alone would be ample evidence that here was an important Indian centre. Mr. Volney Hascall in a letter to the Ladies' Library Association, written some years since, speaks of a curious circle in a grove of trees on Genesee Prairie, where the Indians performed their dances and celebrated their harvest festivities. They cultivated quite extensive areas of land in various parts of the county, notably around Kalamazoo and in the adjoining town of Portage. The fields in the last-named locality, which are still known as the " Indian fields," covered probably a hundred acres? They had been long occupied by the Pottawattomies for a village and planting-grounds, and were cultivated for several years after the arrival of the first white settlers. This village is said to have been the largest in this region, and the Indians claimed that it was selected as a place of secure retreat for their women and children during the last war with Great Britain-1812-15. The field labor was all performed by the squaws, as was customary with nearly all the tribes on the continent, the bucks, or warriors, confining their physical labors to war like pursuits and hunting and fishing. A good story is told by one of the early settlers of Northern Illinois, who encountered on Fox River the same nation of Indians whom the early settlers found occupying the valley of the Kalamazoo. He was preparing his ground and planting his first crop of corn. A young but ambitious chief, who watched his operations closely, seemed much interested. The settler, thinking to do him a kindness, offered to prepare for planting and give him all the ground he would personally take care of. The chief accepted the generous offer, and appeared promptly on the ground the following morning with a half-dozen squaws armed with the necessary implements for planting the corn. The white man saw at a glance that the chief had misunderstood his meaning, and proceeded to explain to him that he must do the work himself; whereupon the noble son of the forest, drawing himself up proudly, answered the nonplussed settler, "Ugh! Indian hunt game; squaw hunt corn!" Raising grain and vegetables, taking care of the household, or working at any ordinary employment was considered, under Indian customs, menial employment, altogether beneath the dignity of a warrior, and, in fact, utterly degrading; and any one among the male members of a tribe who gave himself to such pursuits was considered inferior, and contemptuously called a " squaw" by the plumed and painted warriors, who looked upon the bloody business in which they delighted as the most respectable and honorable known to the Indian, and one which all should aspire to. Cooper, in his " Oak Openings," the scene of which is laid in the Kalamazoo Valley, illustrates this feeling finely in his character of Onoah, or " Scalping Peter." The Indians remained in this part of Michigan until 1840, when they were removed beyond the Mississippi River by the United States government. Hon. H. M. Rice, since prominent in Minnesota politics, had charge of the removal, and performed his duties with fidelity and the utmost kindness to the emigrants, who very reluctantly left their homes among the lakes and oak-openings and silver streams of Michigan. Col. Thomas A. H. Edwards was actively engaged in gathering the scattered bands together at Kalamazoo preparatory to departure. On their way westward they encamped for several days on the grounds north of the Central Railroad Depot in Kalamazoo, where they were visited by many of the inhabitants, who went to have a last look at the former owners of the soil, destined never again to be occupied by the " Hunter Race." At Kalamazoo they were joined by other parties of Indians from the north and west, and when all had assembled, chiefly Pottawattomies and Ottawas, they took up their line of march for the then far West beyond the " Father of Waters." Their tents and household goods were loaded on the backs of their ponies, of which they had in later years become possessed of a considerable number, while the ablebodied men, women, and children, accompanied by their dogs, followed on foot. The sick and aged were carried on the ponies, and the " pappooses" on the backs of the squaws. There was great reluctance among them to leaving the homes of their ancestors, and even their chiefs and warriors 78 4 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. were greatly apprehensive of danger from the Sioux in the country to which they were going. They were guided and guarded by a detachment of United States regulars. Upon their departure from Kalamazoo, as they passed the dwelling of Judge Ransom, for whom they entertained great respect, they all doffed their ornamental head-gear, and elevated their right hands in token of a last good-bye. A few scattering individuals only remained, and from henceforth the country which once knew them was to know them no more forever. Notwithstanding the long and bloody history of these wild children of the forest, it is with a tinge of sadness that we, even at this day, contemplate their sorrowful departure, for they possessed human feelings, and the ties which bound them to this beautiful region were deeply rooted. " Ye say they all have passed away, That noble race and brave; That their light canoes have vanished F rom off the crested wave; That in your grand old forests There rings no hunter's shout,But their name is on your waters, Ye may not wash it out." In 1874, according to the State census, there were ten thousand two hundred and fifty Indians living within the State of Michigan, consisting of the following nations: Ottawas and Chippewas living together............ 5,500 Chippewas of Lake Superior........................... 2,000 Chippewas of Saginaw, etc............................. 2,000 Chippewas of Grand River............................. 500 Pottawattomies............................................. 250 Total............................................... 10,250 The few remaining Pottawattomies are located in Calhoun, St. Joseph, Berrien, and Van Buren Counties. All the tribes have adopted the dress and customs, more or less, of the whites, and to a great extent given up the chase. A few receive annuities from the government, but by far the larger number depend wholly on their own exertions for a livelihood. Portions of them are settling down to agricultural pursuits, and five or six hundred of their children attend the public schools. There is a small reservation, containing about one hundred and sixty acres of land, still occupied by the Pottawattomies, in the southern part of Calhoun County. They number now about fifty souls. A mission, called the is Nottaway Mission," was established at this place in 1840. Rev. Mr. M. Hickey was in charge of the mission and school attached, assisted by Mr. Crane and Miss Hickey as teachers. Old John Ma-gwa-go was chief of this band, and a white man named Holcomb, who had married Murchee, a sister of the chief, lived with them. An intelligent squaw, named Mary, who had been educated at Albion, acted as interpreter for the tribe. Her husband's name was Men-nedo-ka. The belle of the tribe was Pont-sig-na, a daughter of the wife of Holcomb by a former husband; she also had been educated at Albion. The following notice is from the Detroit Post: "The Rev. Henry Jackson, the Indian who died at Holland, was the government interpreter and business agent of the Pottawattomies, who have a reservation about twenty miles south of Battle Creek, on the Nottawa Creek, in Athens township, and was well known to many of our citizens. This band of Indians on the Nottawa-Sepe are the last of the Pottawattomies of Michigan, and now number about fifty men, women, and children. Phineas Bamp-ta-nay-by is the present chief. Jackson was much thought of by the Pottawattomies, and his death is greatly mourned by them. Jackson did not live with the Pottawattomies; only came here when business required. He made his home with the Ottawas, at Wayland, Allegan Co. Jackson, whose Indian name was Bam-me-no-de-no-kaid, signifying 'Storm Cloud,' was a Chippewa, instead of a Pottawattomie, and came here from Canada, where he was born, brought-up, and educated as a Wesleyan Methodist. He was well educated, and a very intelligent man. He once delivered a lecture in the Seventh-Day Adventists' church, in this city, upon 'The Manners and Customs of the Chippewas,' which drew a large audience, and which proved a highly entertaining and instructive lecture. IIe was probably better acquainted with the history and traditions of the Indians of Michigan than any other person in the State, and it is to be regretted that some of our State historians, or the secretary of the State Pioneer Society, did not secure these traditions and histories in writing before his death." The following paragraphs are furnished by Mr. Van Buren: " I well remember Jackson, or 'Storm Cloud.' He was a forcible speaker, earnest and pathetic in his appeals to his red brethren. His English education, and the knowledge which he had gained in his intercourse with the whites, had aided him much in his labors. One Sabbath morning I had gone with a party of young ladies and gentlemen from the school district north of the Mission, where I was then teaching. We arrived at an early hour, and, entering the log chapel, seated ourselves and awaited the gathering of the dusky conglegation. Soon a young Indian came in, and, taking down a long tin. horn, which hung behind the door, he stepped out in front of the chapel and wound it so loudly and musically that we could hear the twanging notes reverberating through the dim arcades of the surrounding forest and dying away in the distance. Repeating the echoing calls a number of times, hWe stepped back into the chapel and hung up the horn in its place. "The children of the forest now began to assemble in their rude place of worship. Quietly, with the stealthy Indian tread, old and young came in and took their seats. No noise-not even a whisper. Nothing but the silence characteristic of their natures. The whole gathering was the very impersonation of a hushed and solemn religious assembly." The following letter* from A. H. Scott, dated St. Joseph, Mich., Jan. 9, 1880, is to Mr. Henry Bishop, and is in answer to questions touching the Indians in this county at an early day. It will be found of great interest to many of our readers to whom the aborigines of this section were unknown: "Your letter, dated December 25th, came to hand, and I have felt it a duty to give the information desired in regard to the Indians of Kalamazoo County during the years of its first settlement by the whites, as far as my memory will serve me. I came to Kalamazoo County early in June, 1833, as a member of the family of James Smith, in company with his brother, Addison. Hosea B. Huston and E. Lakin Brown carried on the merchandising business under the name of Smith, Huston & Co., and had two stores, one at Schoolcraft and the other at Kalamazoo (or rather at Bronson, as it was then called). I soon picked up enough of the Indian language to enable me to trade with them. They then owned a reservation of land ten miles square, which took in the eastern part of Gourd-Neck Prairie, and had a small village or collection of wigwams in the grove just east of the prairie, on the farm now jwned by James N. Neasmith, Esq. The wigwams were all built with a frame of poles, covered with elmbark, with the exception of the wigwam of the chief (Sagamaw), which was built for him by his friends, the early white settlers, of logs and covered with oak shakes. You wish me to inform you ' how they received the first settlers, how they lived, and how much they mingled with and how they traded with the white man.' " 1st. I think as a class they received the early settlers very kindly, and were inclined to live peaceably with them. "2d question. How they lived. Deer were plenty in those early days, and, as they were good hunters, they had no difficulty the * From the Telegraph of Jan. 14, 1880. THE POTTAWATTOMIE INDIANS. 79 greater part of the year in supplying themselves with meat. They also used the flesh of raccoon, muskrats, etc., for food. Fish were plenty in the rivers and lakes. They understood how to catch them both with spear and hook. They raised some corn on land that some of the early settlers plowed and fenced for them. In their season wild fruits, such as blueberries, blackberries, etc., were obtained by them for food, and also to 'swap' with the white man for flour, salt, sugar, etc. 3d question. ' How much they mingled with the white man?' In our stores and the dwellings and cabins of their acquaintances they made themselves very much at home. The squaws and pappooses would come in in crowds and sit down on the floor (never taking a chair) till they were so thick that you could hardly find a place to put your foot. They turned out en masse on all public days, and at horseraces and shows. They were greatly delighted with circuses. Shooting-matches and foot-races they took a great interest in. 4th question. How they traded with the white man? The trade with the Indian at that early day was mainly an exchange (or, as they called it, swap) of their furs, venison, dressed deer-skins, moccasins, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, etc., for flour, salt, tobacco, powder, lead, sugar, and all the articles that the Indians used to clothe themselves I never knew an Indian offer to sell to white people any part of the carcass of a deer except the ham. The price for a ham of venison was always two shillings, no more, no less, no matter how small or large it was. Whenever we sold a squaw any goods that had to be made up into any of their garments a needle and thread for each garment must be given; only the goods for one garment would be bought or swapped for at a time. It required a good knowledge of their ways and much patience to be a successful dealer with the Indians. We frequently sold them goods on credit, and found them about the same kind of paymasters as the ordinary white man; some paid promptly, some after a long time, and some never paid. They would have been splendid customers if they had been blessed with plenty of money; but they were poor and thriftless, and I may with truth say a ' vagabond race,' and, consequently, their trade was of no great value. They received an annual payment from government, which was mainly in necessary goods for their use and comfort, and a small amount of silver money. The money was very soon gone, and in most cases did them no good, but the goods furnished them by government was just what they needed, and added greatly to their comfort. "In regard to personal characteristics of any noted Indian, etc., I would say that the best specimen of an Indian that I ever saw in those early days was Sag-a-maw, the chief of all the Pottawattomies in and about Kalamazoo County. He was a man of great good sense, of noble bearing, of great integrity, and in every way a dignified gentleman. He was called a great orator among his people. He was a true friend to the whites. I have heard him make speeches to his people, and, although I could not understand him, his manner and voice were very interesting, and the effect of his speech on his people was very great. He was the only Indian that I ever saw who was polite and attentive to his squaw. When they came to the store at Schoolcraft to do their trading, he would help her off of her pony, and when they were ready to return he would place his hand on the ground by the side of her pony, and she would place one foot in it, and he would lift her with apparently great ease into her saddle, and no white man could have shown more respect and politeness. If he wished for any credit at the store, he had it and paid promptly. Any Indian that he told us it was safe to trust was sure to pay us. He always told us never to trust his son, Cha-na-ba, who was a very worthless fellow.... In regard to the number of the Indians that lived in Kalamazoo County and vicinity at that early day, I can make no estimate that would be of any value. They were continually coming and going and scattered about in little squads. In regard to the effect it had on the character of the Indian in his contact with the white race, I have no doubt but it was bad. "He seems (as many writers have said) to take in all the vices of the white man and reject all his virtues. Whisky (the great demoralizer of the white man) was and is the principal factor in the destruction of all that is good in the Indian character, when he comes in contact with the white race. The longer the Indians remained here among the whites the more worthless tley became. Game became scarce, they were too indolent to work, and they became drunkards and beggars. The great end and aim of most of them was to get whisky to get drunk with, and, as its cost was only about twenty-five cents per gallon, they generally got all that they wanted. When they purchased whisky they openly announced that they were going to get 'squibby' (drunk). The quality of the whisky sold to Indians was very bad, having been first watered and drugged for their especial use. I recollect, in 1833, that some Indians came to Schoolcraft from Kalamazoo and made bitter complaint to Addison Smith about H. B. Huston. They said that he put so much ' bish' (water) in his whisky that it made them sick before they could get ' squibby' (drunk). As to myself, I sold no whisky to Indians, except during the first two or three years after my arrival in Schoolcraft. What I have said about the Indians has been mainly about those whose headquarters were near Schoolcraft. "A. II. SCOTT." MISSIONS. There were no actual mission stations located within the boundaries of Kalamazoo County previous to its settlement by the whites; but there were several in its vicinity, among which were the Carey mission at Niles, in Berrien County, and the Thomas mission at Grand Rapids, in Kent County. There was a mission school established at the Nottawa-Sepee Reservation, in St. Joseph County. In 1817, Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist minister, began his labors as a missionary among the Indians in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. He was stationed in various places, -at Fort Harrison, on the Wabash, at Fort Wayne, and subsequently at Niles, on the St. Joseph. His labors were at first among the Miamis, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshwas, and Pottawattomies, at large, and his travels extended over most of the States of Indiana, Illinois, and portions of Wisconsin and Michigan. He opened a permanent school at Fort Wayne, on the Maumee River, on the 29th of May, 1820, and continued in charge of it until December, 1822, when, with his family, he removed to a new mission on the St. Joseph River, on the site of the present city of Niles. His family was with him most of the time during his sojourn at these two stations, and he buried one of his children at Fort Wayne. In November, 1826, Mr. McCoy established a mission at the point now occupied by Grand Rapids, in Kent County. The mission at Niles was named Carey, and the one on Grand River, Thomas, both from Baptist missionaries who first penetrated Hindoostan. The mission at Niles was for the benefit of the Pottawattonmies, and the one at Grand Rapids for the benefit of the Ottawas. By the treaty of Chicago, in 1821, the government had agreed to appropriate a certain sum in aid of the schools, and furnish the necessary machinery for blacksmithing and mill purposes. The Rev. Leonard Slater, who had arrived at Carey in the fall of 1826, was settled at Thomas mission, on Grand River, on the 5th of May, 1827.* Mr. McCoy made his headquarters at Carey, but often visited Thomas station, and traveled quite extensively among the savages. These two missions were kept up until after the settlement of the country by the whites. The missionaries had every possible opportunity for studying Indian character and habits, and Mr. McCoy seems to have been a very careful and interested observer. We make some extracts from a work, entitled "History of Baptist Indian Missions," published in 1840: "We have always found it difficult to persuade our correspondents *At a subsequent period Mr. Slater resided and labored with a colony of the Ottawas, who had located in the southern part of Barry County. [See biography.] 80 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. among the white people that the Indians were naturally like all other human beings, and that the same means which were necessary to improve society among the whites were necessary among the Indians. "INDIAN FESTIVAL.* "If we would form a correct opinion of a people, we must notice small matters as well as great. We must contemplate them as they are at home. In the summer of 1825, I attended an Indian festival, which, according to custom, they accompanied with dancing. These festivals professedly partake of a religious character, but in reality it seems otherwise. Different festivals have appropriate names. The seasons for some occur regularly, but most of them are occasional, as circumstances are supposed to suggest or require them. That which occurred at this time was one at which singular feats of legerdemain, such as taking meat out of a boiling pot with their naked hand, drinking boiling-hot broth, eating fire, etc., are attempted. Some ignorant whites, who have mingled with the Indians, have reported that the latter were very dexterous in these feats, but we have never seen anything of the kind attempted among them that was not very clumsily performed. " On the present occasion, a little tobacco was placed in the centre of the hall, on the bottom of a new moccasin, with a small bundle of cedar sticks, resembling candle matches.t Three large kettles of meat, previously boiled, were hanging over a small fire near the centre of the house. " The aged chief, To-pe-ne-be, led in the ceremonies. He delivered a speech of considerable length, without rising from his seat, with a grave countenance, and his eyes almost closed. He then sat and drummed with one stick, and sang at the same time, while his aid at his side rattled the gourd. At length four women appeared before him and danced. A while after this he arose, delivered another speech, then, drumming and dancing, turned round, and moving slowly around the dancing-hall was followed by all the dancing-party. When he had performed his part in leading others went through the same ceremonies, and these were repeated until every pair had twice led in the dance. " These exercises were accompanied with many uncouth gestures and strange noises. Occasionally a man would stoop to the kettle and drink a little soup. One fellow, assuming a frantic air, attended with whooping, lifted out of a kettle a deer's head, and holding it by the two horns, with the nose from him, presented it first upwards and afterwards towards many of the by-standers, as he danced around, hallooing. The droppings of the broth was rather an improvement to the floor than an injury, it being the earth, and now becoming pretty dusty. At length he tore asunder the deer's head and distributed it to others, and what was eatable was devoured with affected avidity. "At the conclusion, which was after sun-setting, each brought his or her vessel and received a portion of the food. Chebass, a chief, sent to me and invited me to eat with him, and I having consented, he placed his bowl on the earth beside me and said, ' Come, let us eat in friendship!' The same dish contained both meat and soup. The chief took hold of the meat with one hand, and with a knife in the other severed his piece, and I followed his example. After eating, another speech was delivered, the music followed, all joined in a dance with increased hilarity, and most of them with their kettles of meat and broth in their hands, and at length breaking off, each went to his home." The Carey mission was in quite a flourishing condition, as the following extract from the semi-annual report made on the 1st of October, 1825, will show: "Seventy scholars belong to our school, viz., fifty males and twenty females; fourteen of whom have advanced to the study of arithmetic, twenty-two others to reading and writing. During the last year four have completed their courses, and have left the institution; two are apprentices to the blacksmith's business, and one to the shoemaker's. The residue of the males who are old enough labor a portion of the time on the farm, and the females spend part of their time at the wheel, loom, needle, etc. Two hundred and eight yards of cloth have been manufactured the past year." In August, 1826, John L. Leib, Esq., government agent, visited Carey mission, and among others, in his report to the Department of Indian Affairs at Washington, mentions the following facts: "Two hundred and three acres are now inclosed, of which fifteen were in wheat, fifty in Indian corn, eight in potatoes, pumpkins, and other vegetable products. The residue is appropriated for pasture. There have been added to the buildings, since my last visit, a house and a most excellent grist-mill worked by horses. The usefulness of this mill can scarcely be appreciated, as there is no other of any kind within one hundred miles, at least, of the establishment; and here, as benevolence is the predominating principle, all the surrounding population is benefited. "Numerous Indian families have, since my last visit, settled themselves around, and have, from the encouragement, countenance, and assistance of the missionary family, made considerable progress in agriculture. Indeed, a whole village has been formed, within six miles of it, under its benevolent auspices and fostering care. I visited them, to witness myself the change in their condition. To good fences, with which many of their grounds are inclosed, succeed domestic animals. You now see oxen, cows, and swine grazing around their dwellings, without the danger of destroying their crops." The following paragraphs concerning a prominent and well-known Indian, probably of the Pottawattomie nation, were furnished by Mr. Van Buren: " SHAVEHEAD. We give here some recollections of a somewhat noted Indian chief, called Shavehead, that we gathered from those who were acquainted with him on Shavehead Prairie, in Cass County. The prairie was named after him; it was his favorite home, and here he spent the latter part of his life. He had in his more communicative hours, 'tis said, boasted of the white men's scalps he had taken in the battle at Frenchtown, on the river Raisin. He wore them as trophies about his person. " The old Chicago road, where it crossed the St. Joseph River at Mottville, was called, as we have said, Grand Traverse, or Portage. This road was the great traveled route through the southern part of the Territory to Chicago. Here, at Mottville, the old chief Shavehead had stationed himself as the Charon to ferry travelers across the stream. There being no grist-mills nearer than Pokagon, the settlers in this part of the country went by this route to get their grinding done. Standing with gun in hand at this portage, Shavehead was accustomed to demand toll of every one who wished to cross the stream. One day M. O. Savan, of Centreville, finding the old chief off his guard, crossed over the St. Joseph free. But on his return, there the old Charon stood, gun in hand, to demand his moiety. Savan stopped his team. Shavehead came up and looked into his wagon, when the former, seizing him by the scalp-lock, drew him close to the wagon, and with his ox-whip gave him a sound flogging. Then seizing the old chief's gun, he fired it off and drove on. Old Shavehead never took any more toll from a settler crossing the St. Joseph River at Mottville. "An old frontiersman, who lived not far from Shavehead Prairie, was very fond of the woods, of hunting and trapping. He and Shavehead were great friends, and often spent days together on the hunt. Their friendship had continued so long that the settler had begun to be considered a sort of Leather Stocking companion to the old Indian. One day a report reached his ears that Shavehead had said,' Deer getting scarce; white man (pointing towards the settler's home) kill too many; Injun no get his part. Me stop white man shoot deer.' His old friend interpreted this; he knew its meaning but said nothing. He and the old chief had another hunt together after this. Time passed on, and one pleasant day in autumn the two old friends went out on a hunt together, and at night the settler returned alone. The old Indian chief was never seen in that region afterwards. 'Twas generally believed that the reason Shavehead did not return was because he had crossed the river to happy hunting-grounds on the other side. And it was general4 conceded that the settler thought he or Shavehead would have to cross the river that day, and that he, the settler, concluded not to go." * Pottawattonmies t Pine splinters. OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 81 I --- CHAPTER XIV. OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. Causes and Centres of Settlement-Trading-Posts and Traders-Campau, Robinson, Hubbard-Early Settlements-ReminiscencesNuts, Fruits, and Flowers-Pioneer Money-Wild-Cat Banks. THE earliest occupation of the interior of the lower peninsula of Michigan by the white people was in connection with the fur trade and Christian missions, in a manner similar to that pursued by the French explorers of the seventeenth century along the outskirts of the territory now constituting the State.* As a rule, wherever a trading-post was located, a mission, either Catholic or Protestant, was established beside it. These were in some instances located at the villages of the Indians, which were generally on sites well chosen for communication by both land and water. The Indian trails by land and the numerous large streams which cut the peninsula in all directions, were the earliest means of transit, and along these came the first scattering immigrants to the rich lands of the interior. At Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, St. Joseph, and many other points were located important centres of Indian population, and here converged the great trails which traversed the country. The first interior county settled was Oakland, in 1817. This was on the great Indian trail connecting Detroit with the Saginaw Valley. The settlement of the counties lying west of the principal meridian began about ten years later, and the tide of immigration, which gradually grew in volume until about 1837, mostly passed over the Washtenaw trail, which followed closely the line now occupied by the Michigan Central Railroad. Along this trail were Indian villages at points now occupied by the cities and villages of Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo, Schoolcraft, South Haven, and St. Joseph. These points were nearly all important centres of savage population, and exceedingly convenient of access by land and water. According to Mr. Campau they were mostly occupied by the Pottawattomies. The journey into the interior from Detroit, where most of the immigrants landed, was long and toilsome, and soon after a line of stages had been put in operation it was a current joke that the male passengers followed the coach on foot, carrying each a rail on his back, wherewith to work his passage when the vehicle became fast in the mire. TRADING-POSTS. Among the prominent trading-posts of the interior was the one located near the great bend of the Kalamazoo. The pioneer trader at this place is not certainly known, but, in this connection, the following letter, written about 1869, from Louis Campau, an early trader at Grand Rapids, is interesting: " Before and a short time after the war of 1812 there was a line of Indian villages from Ypsilanti to the mouth of the St. Joseph River, located as follows: At places where are now Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo, Prairie Ronde, South Bend, and St. Joseph,-all of the Pottawiattomie tribe. There were * It has been aptly said by a prominent citizen of Kalamazoo County that " Michigan owes her settlement to the traffic in beaverskins." 11 trading-posts at some of these places. At Ypsilanti Mr. Schamber had a post; at Jackson, Mr. Baerotiea; at Kalamazoo, Mr. Lumaiville;t at Elkhart, Mr. Mordaunt; at South Bend, Mr. Bertrand. Messrs. Bennett & Brother were traders at Michigan City. When I passed through Kalamazoo, in 1827, there were but two log houses there.J "LOUIS CAMPAU." The written statements of the traders who occupied the post at Kalamazoo, or were familiar with its history, show material discrepancies. Mr. Campau's letter would indicate that Lumaiville or Numaiville was the first trader here, but the date is not stated. Mr. Robinson agrees with him as to the name of the trader, but fixes the date of the erec RIX ROBINSON'S TRADING-HOUSE AT KALAMAZOO, 1824. tion of the first trading-hut in the fall of 1823. Mr. Gurdon S. Hubbard thinks a Frenchman by the name of Laframboin built the first trading-house, but gives no date. We append interesting letters from Messrs. Robinson and Hubbard. "ADA,-Dec. 12, 1866. " DIAR SII,-In answer to yours of the 7th instant I will say the first little trading-hut erected at Kalamazoo was on the north side of the river, and was erected by an old Frenchman by the name of Nunmaiville, in the fall of 1823, who traded there that fall and the winter of 1824, and in the spring returned to Mackinac. In the fall of 1824 I caused more substantial buildings to be erected, and employed the same old man as clerk to trade for me a number of years, my own trading-post being on Grand River. This old Frenchman could not read or write a single word, but would keep his accounts by hieroglyphics or imitation-pictures, and rehearse it to me in the spring with almost exact accuracy in the name of the article or the price. Thus, for a Mackinac blanket, [ _]; for a cloth blanket, []; for a calico shirt, T; for powder,:.; for balls, (coarser dots); and so on. I continued to occupy the place by different clerks until 1837, when I closed up my Indian trade. I generally visited the post once, and sometimes twice, during the winter, but never remained there more than a day or two at a time. I sometimes kept men there to trade the whole year round, but generally only the fall, winter, and early part of spring. In the month of May we generally left in our Montreal barges for Mackinac, and returned again in October. These Montreal barges, in which my goods were brought into the country, and furs and pelts taken out, were capable of carrying about eight tons in smooth water. They were propelled by oars, sometimes by a towline, and sometimes by sails, always keeping near shore, camping in the mouth of some river nights, and laying still in rough weather. In these barges my goods and peltries were transported to and from Mackinac for a number of years, until vessels began to run on Lake Michigan, and my freight so bulky I availed myself of larger craft. My goods and articles for trade were furnished me at Mackinac, at - ----- ---- t This name is written by Mr. Robinson Nuntiville. Alluding to the cabins of the traders. 82 HISTORY OF KALA AZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. T1 cost and charges, by the late American Fur Company, they receiving my furs in return, under an arrangement between the company and me. "The Montreal barges were open boats, and to protect our goods and furs from storms we used large oil-cloths. " Hoping the above may be of some use to you, I am, very respectfully, "Your Obdt. Servt., " RI ROBINSON." The following letter from Gurdon S. Hubbard, Esq., of Chicago, was in reply to a series of questions addressed him by Hon. H. G. Wells, and was read by the latter at a meeting of the " State Pioneer Society," held at Marshall, Mich., in August, 1875: " 1st. You ask 'as to your coming here (Kalamazoo), and life during the winter of 1820 and 1821.' "I answer as follows: I was then eighteen years old; my second charge of a post; vacated by Rix Robinson, who was transferred to Grand River. I had five good men; one ' Cosa,' a pure Indian; he was full of scars; a desperate fellow when angry; had a desperate fight with him about midwinter; gave him the worst whipping he said he ever got, after which had no trouble with him; he was greatly improved by it. We had a strong opposition from traders at Bertrand and Coldwater. My trade was with the Pottawattomies and Ottawas, and we were kept on the go all winter carrying our goods on our backs to the Indians' hunting-camps, returning laden with furs and peltries. The season was a success; sold all my goods, and got pay for say nineteen-twentieths; left there early in April, my boat heavily loaded, entering Lake Michigan, and reaching Mackinac early in May. I had some trouble with a few of the Indians; all was peace after I subdued ' Cosa.' In the fall I had left buried in the sand, at the mouth of Kalamazoo River, some heavy articles, because of the rapids, my boat being heavily loaded. In March I took a perogue (a large wood canoe), and with one of my men went for them. We camped at the foot of the rapids in a snow-storm. In the morning, still snowing, we with great effort poled up the rapids; had reached the upper end, I in the bow, poling, my man seated, with paddle; a tree had fallen into the river; pushing out to round it, current still strong, the bow striking the current, my man careless, the canoe would have upset, had I not jumped into the river. Telling my man to follow me down the rapids, I swam, and reached our camping-spot safely, though much exhausted; got dried, and started up again, reaching home next day. "2d. ' Where was your residence before coming here?' "I was a rover; no particular place; after leaving Montreal, April, 1818, claiming the house of John Kinzie, Esq., Chicago, as my home. My journey there was by Mackinac trading-boat, propelled by oars; when wind was fair, a small sail. "3d. ' How came you to come, and under what auspices?' "In 1815 my father removed from Windsor, Vt., to Montreal. In 1817 I was placed in Mr. John Frothingham's hardware-store. Mr. William Matthews came there as the agent of the American Fur Company to purchase goods, and hire clerks and men for that company. I had a friend, John Dryde, at whose father's house Mr. Matthews stayed. John engaged as one of the clerks. I became infatuated with the idea of going. My parents would not listen to it, but, persevering all winter, at the last moment they consented. Mr. Matthews had engaged all the clerks his order called for, and declined on that account and my age (sixteen); but through the intercession of my friends, John, his father, and Mr. Gates, he consented. I engaged for five years, at a salary of one hundred and twenty dollars per annum, my father signing the indentures with me. We left the 13th of April in Canadian bateaux, thirteen in number, and about one hundred and twenty souls, ascended the St. Lawrence to Toronto; we passed our boats overland with oxen eighteen miles to Lake Simcoe; thence another portage to Nottawasaga River, and down it to Lake Huron, which we coasted, reaching Mackinac on the 4th of July. I was detailed to Antoine Dechamp's brigade of thirteen boats for the Illinois River, where I wintered the first year. The second year I wintered at the mouth of Muskegon, Lake Michi gan, and in Kalamazoo the third winter. This answers your third and fourth questions. " 5th. 'With what tribes of Indians was your trade? What the habits of the Indians when you first knew them compared with that of a later date?' T " I was a trader with the Indians for twelve years, embracing the Pottawattomies, Ottawas, Kickapoos, Winnebagoes, and Sacks. After the expiration of my five years I continued on a salary; then half interest in profit or loss. The last three years I bought out the American Fur Company between the Illinois and Wabash Rivers, south of the Kankakee. The Indians the first two years were not fully reconciled to the Americans. Their habits were, wild rovers over the huntinggrounds in the winter, and in the summer at their villages, the men amusing themselves at games and visiting from village to village till the squaws had planted corn and beans. After the first or second hoeing, all but a few old men and women would leave, concentrating with other villages at a given point for fun and frolic. If they could get whisky they had a gay time, as well as fighting and killing each other. Their wants were few; they wore hardly any clothing besides blankets, painted hideously; had their war- and medicine-dances, exhibiting scalps, recounting their war experiences, making feasts and offerings to the good and bad spirits to appease the anger of both. These exhibitions gradually lessening, and at the last only occasionally indulged in, except when a warrior died; then a grand pow-pow at burial, recounting the deeds of the deceased. They became more dressy; all, with few exceptions, dressed in shirts, and wore expensive clothes and silver ornaments, with more ambition for the riches of this world, consisting in horses, rifles, and clothing. "6th. ' Did the missionaries (Catholic or Protestant), either, benefit the Indians in your estimation? Who built the trading-house at Kalamazoo? When? Did you surrender your agency to Rix Robinson?' "I think both Catholic and Protestant missions resulted, in the end, in good, but the evidence did not show itself for eight or ten years. The Protestant missionaries educating the girls and boys, and sending them East for college instruction in higher branches, was a sad mistake; they were flattered there by attentions, more out of curiosity, I suppose, than any real interest in them. Returning to their tribes after a lapse of three or four years,,they were unfitted for Indian life, and not cared for by. the few whites they met, ninetenths of them became miserable drunken fellows, a pest both to Indians and whites; and not until they were taught cultivation, and schools organized in their own villages, did education do them any good, but harm. I do not recollect who built the trading-house at Kalamazoo. Think it was Mr. Lafromboin. " I may have written you that Rix Robinson succeeded me; if so, it was a mistake. I succeeded him; who succeeded me, if any one, I cannot say. "7. 'How many persons (whites) were at Chicago when you first visited it?' "Outside of Fort Dearborn there was Mr. John Kinzie and his family, wife, a daughter of Mrs. K. by her first husband, Mrs. Helm, two sons, and two daughters, of whom there is now living but one,Mrs. Gen. David Hunter, of Washington City. He occupied a long log cabin, a cultivated family, generous and hospitable. There was another log cabin occupied by Antoine Autmett, who had an Indian wife. A trading-house near Bridgeport, on South Branch, occupied by Pierre Crofts, an opposition trade for Conant, of Detroit, with four or five Canadian men. These composed the white citizens. Fort Dearborn was occupied by one company. The names of the officers at that time I cannot give you, but which you can get from the War Department. None of them had wives. They were a contented, jolly set. They sent two soldiers to Fort Wayne (nearest post-office) once a month, carrying mail on their backs. " 8. ' How many Indians have you seen assembled at one time?' "On several occasions I have seen from five thousand to six thousand assembled. At Kalamazoo, while a trader there, I have entertained twenty to forty. " 9. ' Were you present at the treaty held at Chicago by Gen. Cass when lands were ceded?' " I was present here in 1828 and 1830 at the treaties held by Governor Cass, and at Tippecanoe in 1832, held by Jenkins and others. At all these treaties from five thousand to six thousand Indians were assembled. "10. 'What was Detroit when you first visited it, and whose acquaintance did you form?' "My first visit to Detroit was in the fall of 1828. I went alone on horseback from Chicago, following the Sack trail; I passed one house (Bailey's) near Michigan City, one at White Pigeon, a trader's house at Coldwater, and the next one at Ypsilanti. I should say Detroit had a population of about one thousand. I made the acquaintance of OCOUPATION BY THE WHITES. A 83 I I most of the principal men,-Gen. Cass and family, De Garmo Jones, Oliver Newberry, Maj. Robert Forsyth, Abbott, Brewster, C. C. Trowbridge, Judge Sibley, and quite a number of others. I returned in the schooner 'Napoleon' on her first trip. She was commanded by Blake, being then the largest vessel that had navigated Lake Michigan. "G. S. HUBBARD."* From this letter it would seem that Mr. Robinson must have been a trader at Kalamazoo previous to 1820, and he was there again in 1824 by his own showing. The Mr. Laframboin, mentioned by Mr. Hubbard as being the first trader at Kalamazoo, must have preceded Robinson; and the Numaiville, or Lumaiville, mentioned by Campau and Robinson, was probably earlier still. Mr. Campau's statement would convey the understanding that a post was established here soon after the war of 1812-15. It is likely that all the posts were at the same locality, and it may be that there were seasons during which no white man visited the place. The earliest traders may have made use of tents, and the first " little trading-hut," as stated by Mr. Robinson, may have been the one erected by Numaiville in the fall of 1823. Mr. Hubbard gives no intimation of the character of the building occupied either by Robinson or himself in 1820, and we are forced to the conjecture that previous to that date they either made use of tents, Indian wigwams, or bark huts. The following additional information concerning Hon. Rix Robinson is mainly contributed by Mr. A. D. P. Van Buren, of Galesburg: Rix Robinson left his home at Auburn, N. Y., for the frontier, in 1814. He had recently finished an academic course, and was then near the close of a course of law studies which would have admitted him to the bar as a practicing attorney. An incident of a personal character determined him to abandon the profession for the rough life of the frontiersman. He accordingly made his way to Buffalo, then recently destroyed by the British, and from thence, after a passage of twenty-six days, to Detroit, where he became a partner with a Mr. Phelps, sutler to the United States garrison at that post. His father had paid him one thousand dollars in specie upon his leaving home, and this sum he invested in the business, in which he continued for a period of two years, sometimes at Detroit, at other times among the frontier posts and Indians. At the end of the two years he withdrew, receiving, as his share of profit and loss, one hundred dollars in money, and two thousand five hundred dollars in notes, only one of which, given by Michael Dousman, of Mackinac, proved of value. With his available funds he purchased a small stock of tobacco in St. Louis, and sold it to advantage to the Indians, among whom he now resolved to set up business on his own account. He accordingly established trading-stations, first at Calumet, in Northeastern Illinois, in 1817, among the Pottawattomies and Kickapoos; then in succession at a point on the Illinois River, twenty-five miles above its mouth, in 1819; at Milwaukee, Wis., in 1820; at the mouth of Grand River, Mich., in 1821; and, according to Mr. Hubbard, at Kalamazoo at a still earlier date. He also had trading-posts * Mr. Hubbard is at this date, November, 1879, still living in Chicago at an advanced age. at Ada, twenty or thirty miles above Grand Rapids, and at other places. His post at Ada was his principal one.t His earlier purchases of goods and sales of furs were made in St. Louis. His goods were transported by canoes and barges via the lake and the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, making the portage from the waters of the Illinois River to Lake Michigan with great labor and delay. When Mackinac became the principal depot of the American Fur Company for the Northwestern lakes, he transferred his patronage thither on account of greater convenience and smaller expense. The business with Mackinac was carried on by means of bateaux, until the use of large sail craft superseded them. In the long course of his dealings with the Indians, Mr. Robinson learned their language so thoroughly that he might with truth have appropriated the statement made by Charlevoix, when speaking of Capt. Le Jonquiere, a noted interpreter of the days of the old French war of 1755-60: He spoke the Indian language " avec la plus sublime eloquence l'Iroquoise." This perfect command of the native tongue made him immensely popular with his copper-colored friends, and was of great advantage to him in his business relations with them. They looked upon him, as of old the Six Nations looked upon Sir William Johnson, as one superior to the common grade of white men. It is said the Indians had three varieties of language,one for chiefs or rulers, one for warriors and hunters, and one used exclusively by the women.t Another peculiarity of their language was its lack of vulgar expletives; it had\no equivalent for profanity in English. This may account for the fact that an Indian will learn the profane portion of the common vernacular before any other, partly, no doubt, because of its novelty, and partly on account of its greater vigor of expression, and its adaptability to the guttural manner of expression so common among the savages. Mr. Robinson, in addition to his remarkable knowledge of the Indian language, possessed a dignified and commanding presence, an even temper, and cultivated a just and equitable discrimination in all his dealings. These virtues added to his renown among the tribes, and gave him an influence for good to which may primarily be ascribed the ready welcome and kind treatment with which they received the first white people who settled in their vicinity. This noted trader, after the abandonment of his original occupation in Michigan, about 1837, settled permanently at t He had posts at Manistee, Pere Marquette, Muskegon, Clay Bank, one up the Muskegon River, one at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River;-on North and South Black River, at St. Joseph, and one up the St. Joseph River. I In 1822, Rev. Isaac McCoy established a mission for the benefit of the Pottlwattomies, at the place now occupied by the city of Niles; and soon after, by the aid of Governor Cass, he opened a second school at Grand Rapids. In 1826 the Rev. Leonard Slater joined Mr. McCoy, and was placed in charge of the mission at Grand Rapids, where he also frequently acted as interpreter. It chanced that his first knowledge of the Indian tongue was learned among the squaws. Upon his first attempt to translate English into Indian he used the language of the women. The Indians listened patiently until he had concluded, when, after a proper time, one arose and said, "If you came here to talk with men, why don't you use the tongue of a man, and not speak to us the words of a woman?" Mr. Slater died in Kalamazoo in 1866. 84 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. _ ______I Ada, in Kent County, where he became a prominent and influential citizen, filling various offices of trust and responsibility, among others that of member of the Legislature, serving in the State Senate in the years 1846, 1847, 1848, and 1849. He died at Ada, Kent Co., in 1875, at about the age of eighty-two years. His intelligence, and the purity of private life which distinguished him above the ordinary class of "traders," gave him prominence when civilization became dominant in the West, and his name stands well among those who have occupied important and honorable positions in the civil government of the State. With inflexible integrity and untiring assiduity he nobly fulfilled every trust reposed in him, and died, as he had lived, "without fear and without reproach." Besides Robinson and Hubbard there were several other traders stationed at Kalamazoo, either as employees of these, or traders on their own account. Among them were Recollet, Peter Coteau, and one Leiphart. A melancholy incident in connection with this post is given in the history of Kalamazoo, published in the county directory in 1870, which we transcribe: "Recollet, one of the oldest of the traders at this point, had two daughters, who, as they grew up, became more the pride and idols of his heart. Year after year they unfolded new graces and new beauties, and made the wilderness a merry place with their ringing voices and inextinguishable happiness. Like the waters of the Ke-Kenamazoo they loved so much, the current of their lives flowed sweetly, smoothly on. Fearless as Indian braves, lithe and sinewy as the wild deer, tireless as eagles, and sure-footed as the scout, there was not a nook, hillside, or streamlet for miles around which they did not explore; not a spring, lake, or meadow brook but returned their mocking glances, laved their Camillian feet, or bubbled up fresh breakers to kiss their thirsty lips. But at last the time came when the father, who had long wrestled with the thought of separation, yielded to what he believed to be his duty, and determined that they should be educated, and fitted for a better life,-for he held 'the gray barbarian lower than the Christian child.' He went with them to Montreal and placed them in a convent. They were permitted twice to revisit their old home, and finally, their education completed, they started once more homeward. But they were destined never to tread the old familiar hills. While on a brief visit to Mackinac, they were both drowned, the boat in which they were enjoying an excursion, being overturned by a sudden storm. When the sad tidings at length reached the aged father, he became like one who, by a sudden stroke, is deprived of all hope or comfort. He remained here but a little time afterwards, and disappeared, none knew whither." The stock in trade of these frontier posts, brought from Detroit on pack-horses through the wilderness which then covered the lower peninsula, or in bateaux from Detroit and Mackinac, consisted of ammunition, tobacco, blankets, clothing, beads, hats and caps, steel traps, spears, hooks, a small assortment of boots and shoes, and a generous supply of the white man's "fire-water," which latter article was deemed by the Indians, next to ammunition, the most essential of all, though it proved the greatest curse that ever spread its baneful influence over a savage people. The traders also ventured to dispose of a few rifles and shot-guns occasionally, and this traffic became so considerable, even before the war of 1812, that at the breaking out of hostilities many of the Indian tribes were principally armed with the deadly weapons of the white man. Sometimes extensive traders, such as Louis Campau, sold ponies to the Indians. The principal articles of exchange possessed by them were furs and skins. Many of the traders amassed fortunes, and nearly all wielded a wonderful influence over the savages. Occasionally they married Indian women, and adopted, more or less, the habits and customs of the children of the forest. Many of the traders, like Robinson and Campau, continued their business for several years after the white settlers began to come in, and enlarged their trade to accommodate the increased demand. In speaking of the trading-post at Kalamazoo, the writer before quoted discourses as follows: " There is much interest attached to the old trading-post on the Kalamazoo River at this place, though now (1869) there are only a few logs to mark its old foundations and associations with primitive days in the memories of the earliest settlers. " The grounds upon which it stood, and from whence a most beautiful view of the river and valley is obtained, are now within the inclosure of the RIVERSIDE CEMETERY. From the hills above it the first glimpses of this lovely valley and its fair surroundings met the eyes of the earliest pioneers. In May, 1826, a young missionary, on his way to the Carey mission, on the St. Joseph River, there to begin a life-work of teaching the gospel to the Indians, arrived at the summit of the hill which rose before the entrance of the old post. It was near nightfall, and, tired with his long tramp upon the trail, he stopped, laid down his knapsack and staff, prepared for rest, and was not long in finding 'tired nature's sweet restorer-balmy sleep.' In the morning he arose and pursued his journey, but the glorious scene which met his gaze as he turned it westward was never effaced from his mind, and years after, when he knew he must soon rest from life's pilgrimage, he desired that the spot where he halted on that May evening should be his resting-place. And there Leonard Slater sleeps, after forty years' devotion to his Master's cause. "The surroundings of the place are, both by nature and association, in a high degree romantic. It is the ground upon which many a scene of love, prowess, council, and battle was enacted. It was the home and the burial-place of the most famous of the Indian chiefs. It was here the trails all met for the river crossing, and for some time it was the fording-place of the pioneers, until Nate Harrison's ferry was started, in 1832, which enjoyed a busy and eventful career until 1835. "The boys used to have a good deal of fun at the post, when this colony was small, and there was no public opinion to regulate its morals. There are still living here (1869) some of that merry crew who delighted to go down to the post, worry 'old Reckly,'* drink his whisky, hold 'buayaws,' and have a good time generally. On one occasion, after being repeatedly tormented, the old Frenchman, seeing his friends approaching, barred his doors and refused them access. The boys made a vigorous attack, but vain were all their efforts to effect an entrance. Finally, they accomplished by strategy what they could not compass by force. One of them mounted the roof, crept to the chimney, and, by the aid of his companions, closed the aperture completely. Then they patiently waited the result. The Frenchman held out as long as possible, but finally succumbed, opening his door, rubbing his tearful eyes, and cursing with many sacr-r-es and like expletives, having been literally smoked out."t * Recollet. t In addition to what has already been said of the early tradingposts, we append the following, compiled from information furnished by Dr. Foster Pratt: Rix Robinson was an agent of the American Fur Company, at the head of which was John Jacob Astor, of New York. In 1823 or 1824, Mr. Robinson bought out the Frenchman, Numaiville, as is shown by the books of the American Fur Company, at Mackinac, which Dr. Pratt examined, and from which it would appear that Numaiville was either doing business on his own capital, or as an agent of the British Hudson's Bay Company, most probably the latter. The invoice of the Frenchman's goods was charged on the company's books to Robinson, and the furs brought in by him were credited to him. He afterwards, probably, engaged in the business on his own account. About the 1st of December, 1879, an aged gentleman named Meaoham, from Cass Co., Mich., was interviewed at the Burdick House, in Kalamazoo, by Dr. Pratt. The old man, who was remarkably pre OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 85 I__ i;_ SETTLEMENTS. The earliest settlements of the county of Kalamazoo were made on Prairie Ronde, within the present limits of the town of Prairie Ronde, in November, 1828, by Bazel Harrison; in Kalamazoo, in June, 1829, by Titus Bronson; in Comstock, by William Toland, in the fall of 1829; in Oshtemo and Texas, in the same year; in Portage, in 1830; in Richland, on Gull Prairie, by Col. Isaac Barnes, in May, 1830; and in Ross and Charleston, in 1831. In this connection we insert some admirable sketches of the "pioneer" days by A. D. P. Van Buren, Esq., a prolific and interesting writer, and one " who knows whereof he affirms." They have mostly been published in the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo papers, and are well worthy of preservation in the history of the county: "GOING WEST. "Nowadays the old, slow-moving, unobtrusive canal-boat, gliding along its narrow, watery way, attracts no attention. But behold what a sensation that railway train creates, as it flies with the speed of the wind, from city to city, through hamlet and over farm-land! The one is an emblem that represents the good old times past. The other is an emblem that represents this fast, stirring, noisy age of ours. There was a charm about that old canal-boat,-that migratory home, that took you, your family, and your household goods, boarded and lodged you, and carried you safely and at a very reasonable charge from Albany to Buffalo. That unpretending 'old liner,' into which, like muskrats, you must dive for ingress, was yet found pleasant and homelike within. -The captain was your landlord, and a most companionable gentleman. His wife, or a matron in charge, was your landlady, who understood the rare art of entertaining her guests, and making you feel at ease and at home. There you were domiciled, and felt as secure and happy as at a way-side inn; only you were going abroad in it, and secured the delights of travel, not to be enjoyed afoot or on wheels. And you had this with none of the dangers that often haunt you in modern railway travel. You had only to take care of yourself, and enjoy the society of your fellowpassengers and the panoramic views of the country that were in all their varied beauty, long drawn out. This was the mode of travel that gave you the most of the country, the most safety, and the cheapest fare. It was full as safe and as cheap as to stay at home. If tired of riding, you could spring from the boat to the tow-path, where you could hunt, ramble, or ransack in the woods to your heart's content. Although De Witt Clinton was at first ridiculed for his efforts in carrying out the Dutch idea of travel in this country, yet who shall say how much 'his ditch' contributed towards settling the great unknown West? " It was the only available mode of travel for the emigrant to the West at that time. A strong man could walk, but his family and his household goods, how was he to transport them to this far country? To fit out an emigrant wagon was too expensive, and the way was too untried and too long. At this time traveling on the Erie canal-boat was found commodious and cheap, and the emigrants could take all they wanted to start new homes with in the wild regions they were going to. Hence, really, on ' Clinton's ditch'' Westward the course of empire took its way,' and soon the log house, then the thriving settlement, the busy village, the crowded city, and the great State arose where late there was but an unbroken wilderness. How much Michigan is indebted to the magic potency that laid concealed in those four words, 'The old Erie Canal,' who can tell? Could those 'old liners' speak, what histories served, stated that he crossed the ford on the Kalamazoo River in January, 1827, and there was then a single white man's building in the valley, and that was the little trading-house (built partly of logs and partly of bark) in which he found the Frenchman, Numaiville, engaged in the fur trade. He located the cabin near the ferry, and on ground now included in the southwest corner of the Riverside Cemetery. Numaiville was undoubtedly at that date in the employ of Robinson. they could relate! Like the 'boat of AEneas,' the ' May Flower' of the Pilgrims, the 'Half Moon' of Hendrick Hudson, their mission was to carry adventurers forth to plant colonies in a new land. " My parents, a sister and myself, with the household effects that were deemed essential for our future purposes, on the 1st of October, 1836, left our home at New York Mills, Oneida Co., N. Y., and took passage at Yorkville, one-half mile distant, in the line boat ' Magnet,' on the Erie Canal, for Buffalo. As we left, we heard the whistle of the locomotive, at Utica, two miles east. Railway travel in New York was completed to that city at that time; the next time we heard that ' whistle' it was in 1845, in the young and picturesque village of Kalamazoo, Mich. One week's travel on the Erie Canal brought us to Buffalo. Here, taking a new and staunch steamer, ' United States,' we made a speedy trip up the lake to Detroit. The boat was crowded with people, mostly emigrants, from various parts of the East, bound to various points in the West. Each emigrant family had with them all the essential paraphernalia for starting new homes in a new land. "My father and his son-in-law, Edwin Dickinson, had the year previous visited Michigan, and after making a purchase of lands, returned. Two of my brothers, Martin and Ephraim, had preceded us, going in the spring of 1836 to erect a log house on the new land for the family, who were to come in the fall. That time had now arrived, and as we stepped off the steamer at Detroit, we found Ephraim, who had come in from Milton, Calhoun Co., one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, with two yoke of oxen before a lumber-wagon, to take the family and their goods to the new home. "In August, 1679, De La Salle and Louis Hennepin, French explorers, discovered a large village of the Hurons, called Teuchsagronde, covering part of the ground where Detroit now stands.'* M. de La Motte Cadillac built a fort, a stockade of wooden pickets, in July, 1701, on the same spot. But this was not discovering Michigan. The French Jesuits touched at Detroit and Mackinac a, century or more ago, with one eye on the red man, as a means of establishing their religion in the remote West, and the other on his furs, or any other commodity the Indian had to offer. Yet it was not till 1824 or 1828 that Michigan was really discovered. Previous to that time, says Judge Holmes, of Newark, Ohio, ' All back of Detroit was considered a swamp. I know, for I was one of the government surveyors, and could not survey it except in the winter on the ice.' "These reports, started by the old surveyors, were caught up and circulated by designing speculators, through their agents, stationed at Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, and other points on the lakes where they could reach emigrants going west, their object being to divert the tide of emigration from Michigan and turn it to Northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, or to any point where they had lands, and hence an interest in having a settlement made. " Many of the emigrants, as they arrived at any of the above places, were waylaid by these 'tutored barbarians,' and being influenced by their wheedling stories, took some other route westward and never came to Michigan. Detroit at that time was the rendezvous for all emigrants who came west by the lake. Here they stopped to get their outfit, if they had come without it; here they made preparations, got needed supplies, and started out to begin anew in the woods. There were some half-dozen not very imposing brick blocks, and no very grand buildings of any kind in Detroit at that time. There was not much that was very prepossessing about the place, perhaps more so because the muddy condition of the streets discounted largely on the whole town. The streets, although apparently impassable from this mud, were yet full of the stir and turmoil of business, mostly of teams passing and repassing. Conspicuous among these were the emigrant wagons, of various and nondescript kinds, sizes, and construction,-some with the rude canvas covering and some were open, some drawn by one yoke of oxen, some by two, and some by three. Occasionally horses were used. These wagons were loaded with boxes filled with household goods, the largest ones being placed at the bottom, *the next smaller on these, and so on to the smallest at the top. Then the various loose articles of the household paraphernalia were stuck or fastened here and there upon or between the boxes, looking as if they had budded, blossomed, and branched out from the load. The sturdy emigrant and his resolute wife were seated in front on the load, and cropping out here and there on the boxes behind there were bonnets and little hoods, caps and curly heads, and occasionally following -This statement is not well authenticated. Parkman says nothing of it. 86 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN..... -- I ~ ~I behind, hitched with a rope to the wagon, was 'old crumple-horn,' while various other cattle, of diverse and sundry ages and sizes, were driven by some of the older boys, who were attended by 'old Bose.' Any number of these wagons, thus loaded, with or without their retinue, as described above, could be seen dragging their slow lengths along the streets of Detroit at almost any time of the day, leaving the city on the various roads that diverged into the country. They soon got into the woods, and the road grew less and less a traveled road till, in many cases, the emigrants were even left in the trackless forest to make their own road over hill and down dale, by marsh and around swamps, fording streams and struggling over impassable places, thus threading their way onward to the point of their destination in the interior or western part of the State. These were emigrant-trains with outfits to establish homes in Michigan. " The red men were the original surveyors of the route between Detroit and Chicago. They did not cut down trees, grade it, build culverts, or 'cattle-guards,' or bridges, but following nature's grading, they meandered out their trail, put on their 'rolling-stock,' and shouting ' mar-chee!' started westward for Chicago. Mr. 'Lo, the poor Indian,' had 'the right of eminent domain,' and understood the lay of the land and the flow of the water across the lower peninsula. Often in Detroit his 'pony express,' with passenger and freight accommodation attached, could be seen starting out on the accustomed trail, whistling 'down breaks,' and 'switching off' at whatever station or locality they chose, and they halted or bivouacked wherever they wished or could find a leafy covert, near some lake or stream. Gen. Lewis Cass-probably the first white man-went by 'pony express' from Detroit to Chicago on this trail, through the unbroken wilderness, ere a settler's cabin was reared in the lower peninsula. Then followed the pioneer, who pushed out with his fortunes on this trail, until he got to the diverging point, and then struck out north or south, as the case might be, following the blazed trees to his lands. And there he pitched his tent and went to work alone in the wilderness to erect a home. He had his rifle, axe, and plow, energy and courage, and a plucky wife to aid him. He had brought with him a meagre outfit of household goods, perhaps, but his money was all gone. With these small means the work began. This was an embryo settlement, and meant not only a log house in the woods, but a clearing,it meant school-houses and churches, machine-shops and stores, township and county organizations, villages and cities; it meant to reproduce Eastern life in this wooded territory, it meant what Michigan is to-day, a great and glorious State. "We found on leaving Detroit, in 1836, a wagon-track, which for the first thirty-six miles wound through the heavy timbered lands of Wayne County. It seemed to us the worst road that mortal ever traveled over. Some idea may be had of its condition from the phrases and stories then in vogue about it. It was called 'a hard road to travel,' 'one continuous mud-hole,' a road without any bottom.' Thus the very hyperbole of extravagance was used in talking about it. The emigrant was supposed to stop two nights at a tavern, the night he reached it, and the first night after he left it, as he could not get far enough away from it. And the same wonderful stories were told about the taverns being so crowded that the landlord would stow away at night all the beds would hold, and then wait till they were asleep, when he would take them from the bed and stand them up in the corners, and so on until all were put to sleep. The great trouble with this method was, personal identity in the morning. People generally expect to find themselves, when they awake from sleep, very near where the drowsy god shed his poppies over them. But that was their matter, not ours." "STARTING LIFE ANEW IN THE WOODS. "The new home was so entirely secluded in the woods, that we felt, on entering it, like going into hermitage. We had lost a home,-the old one in New York,-and here we realized its full value; for we felt homeless as we went into this rude cabin. Nothing but ourselves and the little household furniture we had brought to remind us of the old home. If, as before stated, we missed some of our favorite birds in the woods about us, we, on the other hand within-doors, were not troubled with the house-fly, the mischievous mouse, or the gnawing rat. It was a long time before either of them made their appearance among us. After we had been here a year without having seen a person or living thing that we had once known in New York, my mother, one day, on opening a book, found a house-fly, which had been caught and preserved between the leaves. She exclaimed, 'Here is a fly from York State! Now, children, don't touch it; let it remain here in this book just as it is, for it is a fly that once lived in our old home.' We had been here five years before we saw a person whom we had ever known before. Mr. Wood, then living at Battle Creek, came to see us. He had only known of our family in New York, but here he seemed an old-time friend. "Out-of-doors was beautiful, wild Michigan. Our cattle had a boundless range to feed and roam over in the oak-openings, which were not like the woods of New York, ' all a tangle with cut briers and underbrush,' but clean and trim, no fences, roads, or even a track, save the deer-paths and Indian trails that meandered through them. From the door of our log house we could often see long files of Indians, afoot and on ponies, wending their way along on these trails that were in places worn down to the depth of two feet. There always appeared to us to be some strange, romantic history connected with the lives of these wandering children of the forest. The deer also could be seen feeding at leisure, or trooping by the door in droves. And occasionally, in the stilly night, from some leafy covert, we would hear the lone howl of the wolf. The bear went foraging through the corn-fields, or snuffing round the betterments for a pig, while the fox paid his nightly devoirs to our hen-roost. The weather remained remarkably fine during the fall. Such Indian summer days used once in a while to visit us in New York, but here they seemed to be' to the manor born,' and we had them by the week-full. " Being established in the new home, we began to cast about us for means of subsistence. As was most usual, when the pioneer reached his lands here and erected his cabin, his money was all gone. We were left to our own resource,-labor. This was all the capital we had. My brothers had cut hay for the cattle from the marsh near by. But we must have winter stores for the family and corn for the cattle, the pigs, and hens. The two latter yet to be procured and paid for somehow or other. The settlement on Goguac was about five years old. This was our Egypt for wheat, corn, potatoes, and other necessary supplies. There we found a chance to husk corn and dig potatoes on shares, and by dint of various kinds of labor we secured some wheat and pork. Many things were not to be had for money or labor. Here the rich and poor were on a level. " Wheat and corn suggested a grist-mill. The nearest one was at Comstock, on the west, or Marshall, on the east. Some seventeen miles to either of them. "There was a primitive grist-mill one-quarter of a mile from our home, in a small Indian hamlet on the banks of a rush-bordered lake. On several occasions we had noticed the squaws grinding corn at this mill. It was constructed in this manner: a long pole or sapling was pinned to a tree like a well-sweep, the lower part of which was pestleshaped; the top of the stump was hollowed out to hold the corn. The sweep was then worked up and down by one of the squaws, while another steadied and directed the pestle, which, as it came down, mashed the corn in this crude mortar. We concluded not to take our grist to this mill, and as the Battle Creek mill was not running, we went to the one at Marshall. This, with an ox-team, was a two- or three-days' trip. As wheat was scarce and corn more plenty, many settlers were compelled to live on 'Johnny-cake.' " ' How are you getting along, Mr. Olds?' said my mother to our neighbor, as he called at our house. ' Oh, we ain't getting along, we are only staying: it's mighty hard living on Johnny-cake. I shall thank God if we ever live to see the day when we can have wheatbread in our family the year round. I don't know as we ever shall; it will be a sort of millennium with us when wheat-bread takes its place on our table once more.' Neighbor Olds has lived to see that day, and Michigan to be one of the greatest wheat-growing States in the Union. "As there was no wheat raised the first year, this was the discouraging time with the settler. Corn was sooner raised, and hence Johnny-cake for awhile was the staff of life. Pork was scarce, from the fact that hogs were scarce. The breeds then in vogue were the 'wind-splitters,' the 'blue-racers,' and the third or fourth 'rawrooters.' Everything of the cattle kind was used,-the cow for milk and butter, and the ox for labor. A cow or stout heifer was sometimes worked by the side of an ox. " In the spring of 1837 provision of every kind was very scarce and dear. Wheat was over two dollars per bushel, corn and oats very high where they could be bought at all, potatoes were ten shillings per bushel, and it was necessary to go to Prairie Ronde, a round trip of some sixty miles, to get them at that price. We gave thirteen OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 87 dollars to Frank Thomas, of Goguac, for a shoat of the wind-splitter breed, weighing probably sixty pounds, dressed. It was so lean it would not fry itself. We had to boil it in half a dozen waters, and then it would not pass as 'legal tender' with any one who knew what pork was. We would occasionally kill a deer, and then venison would supply our tables with meat. " My father had brought five hundred pounds of codfish from New York. This was exchanged for pork with our neighbors. This exchanging of one thing for another was called paying in 'dicker.' This' dicker' was all the money we had in circulation, and was of denominations so various that we cannot name them here. Each settler was a banker, and all his movable property-large and small -was his bank stock. He paid for an ox-yoke by giving for it its equivalent in so many pounds of pork. This was the first original start or trade, giving the products of one kind of labor for those of another. ' Dicker' was all the money the settlers had until paper money or specie found its way into the settlement. " The pioneer did not take the poet's advice, ' neither a borrower nor a lender be.' During the first decade of his life here he 'spelled his way along' with the axe and the plow. Borrowing sometimes was the very means to help him out of difficulty and set his enterprise agoing again. Everybody borrowed and everybody lent, and by it business was kept prosperous and suffering often avoided. If the thing needed could not be borrowed or paid for in ' dicker,' necessity then took the settler into pupilage and taught him how to make what he wanted, from an axe-helve or plow to a house and barn. All undergoing common hardships made equals and friends of all. "For developing neighborly traits, for leveling distinctions, and for carrying out the letter and spirit of the Scriptural rule, 'do as you would wish to be done by,' the settling of a new country is unsurpassed. It was here that a man went for what he was worth, not for his station or his wealth; whether American, Scotch, Irish, or what not, the man was taken into account, not the mantle. "If a settler went to mill he lent of his grist to every one who wished to borrow at the log cabins he passed on his way home. Sometimes, on reaching his house, of a large grist he would have but little left. "A shed, constructed of logs, covered with marsh hay, answered for shed and barn. The first crop of wheat, cut with the old hand-cradle, was bound, drawn, and stacked near the shed. Near the stack a spot of earth was cleared and made smooth and hard for a thrashing-floor. On this floor the wheat was thrashed, and with the old flail. It was then cleaned of chaff by the old hand-fan. In process of time, Dickey, of Marshall, made fanning-mills, and the thrashing-machine made its appearance. Then much labor was saved by its use. During the winter and spring, when fodder became scarce, trees were cut down and cattle were driven to the tree-tops to browse on the buds and tender part of the limbs. By this means, and sometimes only by this, the cattle were carried through the winter and early spring. " In a little sunny glade, hard by a stream that ran through the farm, was an Indian corn-field. The corn-hills, with the stubble yet standing in them, marked the spot where the previous year Mr. ' Lo' had been engaged in corn-planting. The little mounds of earth showed where they had buried their corn. Their favorite camping-ground was on the banks of the little lake above mentioned. This lake was made by the beavers. The dam, of their construction, was at its foot. But the Indians, years gone by, had captured all the beavers and sold their skins to the French fur-traders. The beavers had been succeeded by those other builders, the musk-rats, who in turn took possession of this lake, and, erecting their houses, increased in' numbers and flourished for many years. " The Indians, getting their whisky at Angell's distilleries, would come to their wigwams, here by the lake, and have their pow-wows. We could hear them yell and whoop and see them dance and go through with their wild and grotesque antics. They would also engage in sports of the turf. Mounting their ponies, they would ride with whip and yell and wild halloo, and exult in genuine Indian style over the pony that came out ahead. We remember no depredations they committed. A cold morning in winter one came to our house. He was tall and savage-looking, with painted face, tomahawk and scalping-knife in his belt, and gun in his hand. He 'booshooed' himself into the house, and began, in deep, guttural utter anoes and fierce gesticulating, to yell about 'Cho-mo-ko-man's'pointing to the northwest-getting the deer he had shot. The Indian had shot a deer, and a settler finding it ere the Indian came up, took it home. The red man tracked the settler to his cabin, where, in the loft overhead, he found his deer secreted and claimed it. The settler, unheeding his claim, turned him out of doors. This act, and the injustice of taking his deer, made the Indian mad. For a time we all feared there would be a tragical end to this affair. But nothing more was heard of it. " At another time a squaw came to the house, and seeing a small jug in the corner, eagerly took it up, and cried out, 'Whiskee!' My mother told her it was vinegar; she, shaking the jug, retorted: ' You lie,-whis-kee!' The broomstick would have hit the squaw's head if she had not dodged and ran out of doors. "'My brother was splitting rails alone in the woods, one day, when an Indian, coming up behind him, saluted him with a boo-shoo so unexpectedly that he turned around to strike with his beetle some animal, he supposed, when he was confronted by a tall Pottawattomic; and the next thing he said was ' Som-mock-me —sam-mock!' meaning tobacco. Giving him the only plug of tobacco he had, the Indian took it, bit off a piece, and putting the rest in his pocket, walked away. 'That was cool,' thought my brother, ' and I five miles from another plug of tobacco.' "'Tis said one of the old fur traders was accustomed to weigh the furs he bought of his Indian customers in the following manner. Putting the furs on one side of the scales he would say, little finger weigh so much; two fingers, so much; one hand, so much; two hands so much, and so on, bearing down on the scale with one finger or two or with the hand, as the case might be. " During the winter of 1836 my brothers went to an evening party on Goguac Prairie. About midway through the woods they met a large bear directly in their path. Seeing that he was not disposed to get out of their way, they advanced towards him swinging their hats and yelling at the top of their voices. He grumblingly moved aside, and they passed on, well satisfied to get on so easily." "SOME OF THE SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS AMONG THE EARLY SETTLERS. "There were no members of our settlement-we mean the one on Goguac Prairie and the surrounding region-who felt too indifferent or too dignified to attend the social parties that were held in the settlers' log cabins. But what were these parties, you ask? I will tell you. In the first place, there was the quilting frolic, the girls attending in the afternoon, the boys coming in the evening. Then there was the frolic without the quilting, which girls and boys attended in the evening. Both of these parties usually commenced by playing ' snap and catch 'em,' or, " 'Come Philander, let's be marching, Every one his true love searching,' with other plays following, the programme being varied to suit the company. They were often called 'bussing bees,' because the kiss was sure to steal in during the various acts of the play, and each play was certain to end with a kiss. The music in these parties was all vocal, consisting of marches, songs, and catches,-sometimes improvised for the occasion. Then there was the frolic that began with the play and ended with the fiddle's Putting life and mettle in their heels. All in the house were usually participants in these amusements. Sometimes the old folks, or perhaps the antiquated maiden aunt, would be ' snapped up,' or judged to kiss or be kissed by some young man or lady, as the case might be. 'Snap them up,' meant the snapping of the fingers, by a frolicker, at some one of the company, and was a challenge for the person to chase and catch them. This brought out the swift-footed Mercuries and Atalantas to the arena, one of whom chased the other around a group standing in the centre of the room. This often resulted in a well-contested race, which was varied by all manner of subterfuge and art, in dodging and eluding the pursuer. The young lady, whether the capturer or captured, was always kissed. Sometimes an old settler 'snapped up' his wife, and then we would have a race of an amusing character. "We said that all participated in these recreations. Those who lived in the village of Battle Creek knew but little of these frolics, unless they chanced to be at a settler's house on one of these occasions. There were also families who had no children, or none old enough to go in young company, and there were some who did not object to the plays, but did not like the dancing. They liked Paganini, but not with his fiddle. We remember instances where the company I, 88 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. have waited until the parents had retired for the night, and then the fiddler, who had been 'smuggled in' with his 'Cremona,' opened his little box and took out his instrument. A few passes of the bow across the strings called out couple after couple of the party to the floor, each one bowing gracefully to the other, as they took their positions in two opposite lines across the room. The man with the bow in the meanwhile"Feels his fiddle's slender neck, Picks out the notes with thumb and check, And times the tune with nod and beck, And thinks it a weary while. 'All ready 1' How he gives the call; Cries, ' Honor to the ladies all I' The jolly tides of laughter fall And ebb in happy smile. "'Begin.' Down goes the bow on every string: 'First couple join right hands and swing!' As light as any blue-bird's wing, ' Swing once and a half times round.' Whirls Mary Martin all in blueCalico gown and stockings new, And tinted eyes that tell you true, Dance all to the dancing sound. " She flits about big Moses Brown, Who holds her hands to keep her down, And thinks her hair a golden crown, And his heart turns over once! His cheek with Mary's breath is wet, It gives a second somerset, He means to win the maiden yet; Alas I for the awkward dunce. "Now the first pair dance apart; Then ' Forward, six!' advance, retreat. Like midges gay in sunbeam street, 'Tis Monnie Musk in busy feet, And the Monnie Musk by heart. " 'Three-quarters round your partners swing.' 'Across the set.' The rafters ring, And boys and girls have taken wing, And have brought their roses out! 'Tis ' Forward, six!' with rustic grace, Ah, rarer far than ' Swing to place!' Than golden clouds of old point-lace, They bring the dance about. "Then clasping hands all-' Right and left!' All swiftly weave the measure deft Across the woof in loving weft, And the Monnie Musk is done! Oh, dancers of the rustling busk, Good-night, sweethearts, it is growing dusk; Good-night for aye to Monnie Musk, For the heavy march begun! "The ox-team, which was dignified with the rame of 'horned horses,' carried the merry loads through the woods to the home of the settler who gave the party. "We can recollect instances where a prayer-meeting was held in a settler's log house one evening, and the next evening a party. The same ones who composed the choir and sang ' Old- Hundred,' ' Mear,' T The wars are o'er, and we'll turn back To the place from whence we started; So open the ring and choose a couple in To relieve the broken-hearted.' "Round and round the floor they went, until they came to " I Open the ring and choose a couple in;' they then took hold of each others' hands, fell back and formed a circle around the room, when some one was deputed to go into the ring and choose a partner from among those in the circle, at which all chimed in," ' Green grow the rushes, 0, Kiss her quick and let her go; But don't you muss her ruffle, 0!' "When the marching was over, and the company felt inclined to change the play, they would take hold of hands and form a circle about the room. Some young lady would then be requested to step into the middle of the ring, when the company would sing," There's a rose in the garden For you, young man (repeat) Now pluck up courage and Pick it if you can.' Sheselects a partnerTwho walks int!, the ring with her, and all sing,"' Green grow the rushes, 0. Kiss her quick and let her go,' etc. He obeys, and she goes out of the ring, leaving him in alone. Then, perhaps, they would sing,"' There he stands, that great big booby, Who he is I do not know; Who will take him for his beauty? Let her answer, yes or no.' Ile then selects a young lady from the circle; they chant " 'Green grow the rushes, 0;' he kisses her and goes out. Thus the play goes on until all the girls are kissed out of the ring. "At another time they would march two by two around the room, forming a double circle, some young man standing in the centre of the floor while they promenaded about him and sang,"' The miller he lived close by the mill, And his wheel went round without his will; With one hand on the hopper and the other in the bag, As the wheel goes round he cries out, grab.' At the word 'grab' the young man inside the ring seized hold of a young lady's arm, while her partner caught the arm of the young lady ahead of him, and her partner caught hold of the one still ahead of him, and thus they changed or stole each others' girls while hurriedly marching about the room, making a very lively and amusing confusion. When the change was made all round, perhaps two or three times over, there was still one odd one left, who went into the ring, and the play began again, and was repeated as often as they desired. When the company wished something still livelier, 'hurlyburly' never failed to awaken and amuse the dullest. This was a play in which two went around and gave each one, secretly, something to do. For instance, this girl was to pull some young man's hair, another was to pull his nose or tweak his ear, another one to kiss some one; and such a young man was to measure off so many yards of tape, or to make a ' double-and-twisted lordy-massy' with some young latly, and so on to the end of the chapter. When all had been told what to do, the master of ceremonies cried out, ' Hurlyburly!' Each one then sprang to their feet and hastened to do as they had been instructed. This created a scene of mixed, contradictory, and amusing character, and was most properly named hurly-burly. " It would seem rather odd to see such recreations among the young people in the country about Battle Creek now, because they have so many other sources of amusement which the young folks of that day did not have, and for the lack of something better, enjoyed the best they had. Many of those young people are old gray-headed men and women now, and probably look back upon their recreations with a sigh for those they loved in the days when they went pioneering forty years ago. 'f As we have said, the drones stayed East; none but the working bees came to this new country. Hence the class of young men and ladies were first in point of worth and industry. Among them now or, " ' Awake, my soul, to joyful lays,' at the p rayer-meeting, led the next night at the party in "' Come, Philander, let's be marching.' "Looking back upon these scenes from to-day's stand-point, we might feel inclined to be censorious, and call them frivolous, silly recreations, if not morally wrong. Well, it does look like nonsense now. Distance don't lend any enchantment to them. But we can look back upon the past and find a good many things done forty years ago that appear like nonsense to us now, which were not so to the people of that day. These were harmless recreations. After the customary conversation and chit-chat were over, the programme for an evening party sometimes began in this way: a young man would arise and ask a young lady to take his arm, when they commenced marching about the room; another couple and another followed, till all were promenading twor and two about the floor, singing,"' We're all a-marching to Quebec, The drums are loudly beating; The Americans have gained the day And the British are retreating. OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. B9 we have some of the best citizens in this part of the State. Some have died, some have removed to other parts of the country, and some, having married the girls with whom they 'played the beau' or made 'double-and-twisted lordy-massies,' in these frolics of the olden time, and are now living on the old farm where they first started life in Michigan. " The following adventure in a party at my father's one evening will be remembered by many. A company of young folks from Goguac Prairie, with others in the neighborhood, were present at this time. While they were promenading two by two around the room, singing a lively march, and just as they said, "'Love fare you well, darling fare you well,' a young couple, who had at that moment stepped on the trap-door before the fireplace, sank down into the cellar, to the astonishment of the whole party. All immediately gathered about the hole and called out to those below, 'Are you hurt?' The response came back, 'No.' The trap-door had worked loose by the repeated tramping of feet over it, and had finally given way with a couple on it. They came up out of the cellar unharmed, and were the hero and heroine of the party the rest of the evening. "William Michael was the song-singer and delineator of character on these occasions. His bon-mots and witty sayings were always sure to enliven the company. IIe went to Illinois some years later with the Thomases. " Old gran'ther Morehouse, father to Aaron and Bradley Morehouse, was sometimes the musician at these parties when the violin was called into requisition. He was a very fine old gentleman of the school of the first half of this century. Tall and dignified in person, yet so affable and genial in manner that all liked him and felt at home in his presence. He was an old man then, his gray locks and wrinkled face indicated the grandfather; yet when he took the violin there was all the graceful ease and skill in handling the bow for which he was celebrated in his younger days. He could yet evoke the richest music from his favorite instrument. 'Tis said he purchased his violin at Montreal, in 1800, that its trade-mark was 1600, and that it was made at Innspruck, in the Tyrol, by Jacob Steiner, who learned his trade at Cremona, in Italy. This instrument, I understand, Mr. Neale, of Battle Creek, now owns. We knew nothing of the history of his violin then, but we knew that he could give Zip Coon, Monnie Musk, and the favorite tunes of the day, to the perfect delight of the entire company, on the instrument that he handled. He always admired the dancing of Miss Nancy Orser, one of the young ladies from Goguac, and would occasionally play some tune for her to dance alone. He had played, he said, for many fine dancers, but she could beat them all. She was afterwards Mrs. Enoch Stewart,-since dead. " Daniel Angell also 'handled the fiddle and bow' at these frolics. The Halladay boys, both 'Mat and Cal,' were also in vogue; these were their palmy days with the fiddle. " These parties were not only a source of amusement, but offered a good chance for the young people to get acquainted with each other. They were really a kind of social school to the young people in the settlement, as we had no churches, and no preaching, save an occasional sermon in a settler's house by some wandering preacher; no newspapers, few books, no public lectures or any public entertainment; there was a dearth of social culture and improvement. These parties were the first phase of social recreation. They were for that pioneer period highly enjoyable. All were neighbors and attached friends,-a community of first brotherhood or genuine Adelphians. "There were no purse-proud families. They all alike lived in log houses, and were bound to each other by many acts of neighborly kindness. Pride of dress was in its healthy, normal state. The 'tendollar boots' and the 'hundred-dollar bonnets' had not got into the new settlement; neither had 'Mrs. Lofty and her carriage, and dapple grays to draw it.' Neither had Mrs. Grundy pulled the latch-string at the door of a single log cabin in the settlement. She and all her kith and kin were East. Neither had the 'fashions' got in among us. It was fashionable then to live within your means, and the best suit of clothes you could afford to wear was the fashionable one. All classes worked for a living, and thrived. Wealth and leisure were not here to create distinctions. Aristocracy, which is said to be the offspring of ancient wealth, was not in these regions. Yet every settler was an aristocrat,-one of the true nobility, who had earned his title by useful toil in the high school of labor. " Raisings, logging-bees, husking-bees, quilting-bees, and the many 12 other occasions in which the word bee was used to indicate the gathering of the settlers to render gratuitous aid to some neighbor in need, originated in and were confined to new settlements. It was merely the voluntary union of the individual aid and strength of an entire community to assist a settler in doing what he was unable to accomplish alone. "IIence by bees the pioneers raised their houses and barns, did their logging, husked their corn, quilted their bed-coverings, and enjoyed themselves in frolic and song with the girls in the evening. "It was no slight task in those days when log cabins were few and far between, especially when they were from three to twenty miles apart, to go the rounds through the woods to invite the neighbors to your raising or bee. It was a weary, foot-sore tramp, and often at the lone hour of midnight the latch-string would be pulled and the occupant informed that his aid would be needed the next day at a raising. But the cheering response you got at every cabin, 'I'll be there to help you,' sent you on your way rejoicing. Each settler was a minuteman, and was ready at a moment's warning to yoke up his oxen, shoulder his axe, and start to assist his brother-neighbor in need. "In that early period people who lived twenty miles apart lived nearer together than many people do now who live in sight of each other. There are no distances like the unsocial and unneighborly distances. I think the people of that time carried out the true Scriptural idea of 'loving your neighbor as yourself.' A man might have gone from 'Jerusalem to Jericho' in our settlements and not have fallen among thieves; but if he had met with an accident and needed help, no one would have 'passed by on the other side,' but every settler would have acted the 'good Samaritan.' Twenty miles to a neighbor? Yes, any one of the human race, any one that needed our help, or to whom we had an opportunity of doing good, teas our neighbor. That is the neighbor spoken of in the tenth chapter of Luke. There was much more importance attached to the Bible living forty years ago, and less noise made about Bible believing than now.; Many of the first log houses were roofed with hay or grass. Then came the period of oak shakes for roofs, then of oak shingles, and, finally, the present whitewood and pine shingle roofs. The logs were first laid up by notching in, leaving the rough ends sticking out at the corners, and when raised to the required height they were laid in by degrees until they came to a peak at the top; this was called 'cobbing up,' because it was of the style of a child's cob-house. Shakes were put down in layers over these logs for a roof, and were held in their places by long poles laid across each layer and fastened by a peg or a withe at each end. " This was the primitive style of log-house architecture. Then followed the log with square corners and rafters for laying down the roof. The floors were at first small-sized oak logs split in two, the fiat side being hewed smooth; the pieces were laid round side down, and, if necessary, pinned at each end with oak pins. These floors were used until saw-mills were erected and lumber could be procured. A stick chimney was laid up, with a mixture of clay and sand for mortar, at one end of the house. This answered until brick could be obtained. The old brick fireplace was in use until the stove superseded it. "The log house stood with the side to the road; a door on wooden hinges, and with a wooden latch, was in the centre, with a window of two six-lighted, seven-by-nine sashes close by it, and a window of the same size in the opposite side of the house. Not a nail or particle of iron was in use in any part of the building, nor any sawed lumber. The glass was held in the sash by small wooden pegs. "' The logs had been cut eighteen by twenty-two feet for a commonsized house, and hauled to the spot; a neighbor, too, may have assisted in the hauling. Pottawattoneies, the settler's country cousins, may be said to have been the main help in raising the first log houses in this part of the State. I know of an instance where but two white men were present at the raising, the rest being Indians. They lifted cheerfully and lustily in rolling up the logs. They also assisted much at raising in after-years. Only let them know that 'Che-mo-ko-man raise wigwam, like Indian come help him,' and you could count on their aid. In our settlement we depended on Goguac and Climax Prairies and the intermediate region for aid at raisings. " The hands being all on the ground and everything ready, the settler superintending his own raising or requesting some one else to do it, in either case the man who commanded the men was called the 'boss.' He was implicitly obeyed. He gave the word and the work began. The two side logs were laid securely in their places, and the two end 90 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. logs were fitted to theirs. Four good axe-men-men who knew how 'to carry up the corners'-were then selected, and one placed at each of the four corners of the building to be erected. Their duty was to block off the tenons and fit the end of the log for its place. The logs were rolled up on two long skids by the united strength of the party, who pushed with hands and shoulders as long as they could; and when the log got too high for them to reach, they took stout poles with a crotch in one end, that were called 'mooleys,' and putting the crotches against the log they pushed it with many a ' heave-oheave' to its place on the building. Thus log after log was rolled up, and all the corners carried up true and secure, until the top log was in place, the plates put on, the rafters erected, and the house was raised. Then an adventurous settler climbed to the top of the building, taking a whisky-bottle from his pocket, took a good 'swig,' swung the bottle three times around his head, threw it to the ground, and named the building. Three cheers were given by the party, and the raising was over. The old brown jug of whisky was passed about freely at the raisings and the bees to all who wished to drink. Much care was necessary in regard to offering whisky to the Indians; they were inclined to drink too much. I saw old ' Sam-o-kay' at a loggingbee drink until he became dead drunk before he stopped. " Sidney Sweet was the first man in our settlement who attempted to raise a building without the aid of whisky; he had two trials and failed. Some of the jolly settlers had declared he should not raise his barn without whisky. But he gave an extended invitation the third time, and appealed to the lovers of temperance throughout the entire region, including all Climax. It was the largest gathering I ever attended of the kind; the best men of Climax and the district east of it were there. " The building went up with a will. Mr. Sweet treated his help each time with hot coffee, biscuit, and doughnuts. This was a victory over the bad habit of having whisky at raisings, and Sidney Sweet deserves praise for this first move in the cause of temperance among the early settlers. It gave encouragement to others, and soon it was as easy to raise a building without whisky as it had been with it. " What an incalculable amount of valuable timber in this country has been cut down, logged up, and burned to ashes! There appeared to be no help for it. It must be cleared off and room made for the plow. They could only save for their immediate use what saw-logs, rail-cuts, and fire-wood they wanted; they 'logged up' and burnt the rest. A settler would now and then remark: "Tis a pity to burn up such valuable lumber.' And perhaps he would hear in reply, 'Oh, pshaw! there is timber enough in Calhoun County to last two hundred years. Let the people after that look out for themselves.' Many began to do this long ago. Such views were expressed by men who thought there were no other clearings, no other logging-bees, but that one in the country. They did not think they were scattered all over the country then, and the work of burning up the timber was going on in all of them. In the timbered lands were found the largest trees and most of them, and there the hardest blows were given in making a clearing. "A logging-bee was a good place to study the difference there is in men's knowing how to do work and to drive oxen. There was your man who never hitched to a log that his cattle could not draw, and he hitched to it in such a way that they could draw it to the best advantage; while another was continually hitching to the wrong log or the wrong end of the log. Then there was the man who, whether he drove an old or a young yoke of cattle, always drove a steer team. I saw such an one fail repeatedly to make his cattle start a log, when upon Jonathan Austin's taking the whip in his hand, the cattle sprang at the word 'go,' and fairly ran with the log to the heap. That was a little victory, and Austin got the cheers for it. There were good ox-drivers in those days, and there were those who never could learn to drive them well. "Rail-splitting was connected with clearing up land, and came in for its share of hand labor. A beetle, iron wedges, gluts, and an axe were the implements used in this work. Rail-splitting was a regular employment for a certain class of men in our early settlements. Pioneers and Presidents have split rails. The business has no more honor for that. There used to be some merit, though, in the number of rails one could split in a day. To cut and split one hundred rails in a day was a day's work for a common hand; and two hundred for a good hand. The wages were one dollar a hundred and board yourself; one-half dollar and be boarded. The rail was mostly made from oak timber, and was eleven feet long. Conrad Eberstein was accustomed to say that he and Martin and Ephraim Van Buren had cut and split rails enough in Battle Creek township to fence off Calhoun County. They split, in the winter of 1837, fifteen thousand rails for Noah Crittenden, and eight thousand for Edward Smith, who then lived where Henry D. Courts now does. Remnants of some of the old rail fences of that day can yet be seen in some parts of the county, though dilapidated and fast going to decay. "'BREAKING UP.' "Many settlers followed breaking up as a regular vocation, during the season, as thrashers follow theirs now. The turf on the prairies and plains was the toughest, and hence there was the hardest breaking. That on the oak-openings yielded much more easily to the plow. The thicker the timber the softer the soil. Three yoke of cattle for the openings, and four for the prairies and plains, was the team required in breaking up. Many of the first settlers broke up their lands with two yoke of oxen, because they could get no more. After the underwood grew up in the openings, on account of the annual fires not burning it down, the ' breaking-up' team consisted of six or seven yoke of oxen, according to the size and thickness of the ' grubs' in the land to be plowed. The first plow used by some was the old 'bull plow.' This was all wood, save the shire and coulter. Then came the large 'Livingston County plow,' imported from the East. Five dollars an acre was the old price for breaking up. Long distances were traveled over after the day's work was done to carry the share and coulter to the blacksmith's shop and get them sharpened. Many went six, seven, and sometimes ten miles to a blacksmith-shop. The old breaking-up plow was an institution in its day, and required a strong arm 'to hold it.' A man might be able to "' Govern men and guide the State,' who would make a 'poor fist of it' in holding a breaking-up plow behind seven or eight yoke of oxen, moving on in all their united strength among grubs and stones, and around stumps and trees. The driver had a task to do in managing his team and keeping the leaves, grass, and debris from clogging up before the coulter. He moves backwards and forwards along the whole line of his team, keeping each ox in its place, while with his long beech-whip he touches up the laggard ox, or tips the haunches of the off-wheel ox and the head of the nigh one to 'haw them in' while passing by a stump or tree. Then he cracks his whip over their heads, and the long team straightens out and bend down to their work, while the bows creak in the yokes, the connecting chains tighten with a metallic ring, the gauged wheel rumbles and groans at the end of the plow-beam, the sharp, projecting coulter cuts open the turf the proper depth, the broad share cleaves the bottom, and the furrow thus loosened rises against the smooth, flaring mould-board that turns it over with a whirling, ripping sound. Thus the work goes on. "'The glittering plowshare cleaves the ground With many a slow decreasing round; With lifted whip and gee-whoa haw, He guides his oxen as they draw.' "Husking-bees with the pioneers were not of the old 'down-east' kind, where the boys and girls both attended them. The settlers and their sons only attended these. They were occasions of rare enjoyment, besides being of value to the parties giving them. Sometimes the heap of corn would be divided into two parts, and parties chosen to husk against each other. This gave occasion to much strife and many a well-contested race. Then again the time would be enlivened by some one singing a song. Those were the days of song-singing and of glorious songs. I am sorry that some of those songs have gone out of vogue. Another source of enjoyment at husking-bees was story-telling; this was a good occasion for cultivating the faculty of narration, and of imparting pleasure and information to others. As we had few books to read, we related over what we had read, and thus became books to each other.' "TERRITORIAL BEGINNINGS. "In 1824 there were but six organized counties in the Territory of Michigan. They were Wayne, Monroe, Macomb, Oakland, Mackinac, and St. Clair. The old land districts, with their 'land offices,' were as follows: the Detroit district, organized in 1804; the Monroe district, in 1823; the Kalamazoo district, in 1831; and that of Grand Rapids, in 1836. Up to 1824 but sixty-one thousand nine hundred and nineteen acres of land were sold, and this was in the Detroit dis OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 91 triet; while in the single year of 1836 one million four hundred and seventy-five thousand seven hundred and twenty-five acres were sold, and in the whole Territory at that date four million acres of land were sold. "The recognized villages or hamlets in 1825 were Port Lawrence,* on the Maumee, Monroe, Frenchtown, Brownstown, Truax's, near Detroit, Mt. Clemens, Palmer, on the St. Clair, Tecumseh, Pontiac, and Saginac. Orange Risdon, of Ypsilanti, made the first map of the surveyed part of Michigan, in 1825. In addition to the old, six new counties were added on this map. These were Washtenaw and Lenawee, both organized in 1825; Saginaw and Lapeer, in 1835; Shiawassee, in 1837; and Sanilac, in 1838. On this map the average village is indicated by four black dots. Detroit had twenty dots; Ann Arbor ten; Woodruff's Grove eight: Ypsilanti three; Dexter two; while Dixborough, with a name as black and much larger than any of them, had not even a speck. At the same time the possessions of Benjamin Sutton, the pioneer of 1825, covered two sections of land in Washtenaw County. " The roads at this time, 1824, were the Chicago road, starting from Detroit, with a fork at Ypsilanti to Tecumseh, and one to Ann Arbor; and a road from Detroit to Pontiac and Saginaw. The most noted of these was the old Chicago road, which was cut through from Detroit to Ypsilanti in 1823. That old pioneer, John Bryan, was the first white emigrant that passed over this road. Soon after it was cut through, he drove an ox-team before a wagon carrying family and household effects from Detroit to Woodruff's Grove, which place he reached on the night of Oct. 23, 1823. "In 1835, John Farmer mapped out Michigan with its improvements at that date. I find an old map the most valuable and interesting of histories. Just one decade had elapsed in the new pilgrim's progress, between Orange Risdon's map of 1825 and John Farmer's of 1835. During this time civilization had taken up its line of march with its emigrant wagons, or with knapsacks or staff, on the old Chicago road westward from Ypsilanti, and all along its route the sound of the axe was heard breaking 'the sleep of the wilderness;' while clearings were made, and hamlets sprung up at Saline, Clinton, Jonesville, Coldwater, Sturgis, Mottville, and at other places on towards Chicago. The same busy work of progress was going on from Ann Arbor westward, along the old Territorial road, where log cabins arose and villages appeared as if evoked by magic. For on the map of 1835 we find on this new map, west of Ann Arbor, the names of Lima, Grass Lake, Jacksonburgh,t Sandstone, Marshall, Battle Creek, Comstock, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph, on the lake. "Emigration had also pushed out from Detroit, on the Grand River road to Saranac, and on to Grandville. At the same time there were other roads branching out north and south from these main routes, leading to the various improvements in the lower part of the peninsula, and dotting the map here and there were those heralds of progress,-post-offices, saw-mills, and grist-mills. "The love of one's native country is strong, and when we leave it we carry its love and its memories with us, as we do those of a dear friend, wherever we go. They go not only with us, but they influence us by suggesting their like when we are selecting new homes in another country. There is a theory like this: 'Tis said the emigrant from New England was sure to get something of his native hills in his Western home; that if he came from the banks of a river, or from the banks of a lake, the water-view would not be forgotten when he sought a home in another place; and that if he was born on a sixtynine-mile level, he would be delighted with our burr-oak plains or matchless prairies. "Michigan had a variety of surface and soil, and hence pleased almost all. True, she didn't have the 'hanging rock and airy mountain,' yet, from the rugged hills to the level prairies, she had every variety of surface, and, from the dark, rich prairie mould to sandy earth, she had every variety of soil. And the same is true of her woods. From her magnificent forests of heavy timber to her sparsely wooded openings, she had every variety of timber. She had something to suit every one. Her climate was mild, her lakes and streams of pure water, and although she had the watery marsh, the occasional swamp, the slough or swale, yet, where they were useless, they did not seem to discount very much on the country. Taking the State as it was, it went at a premium to the emigrant. " We hear much about the language of flowers. When this TerriNow oleo, Oio.f NwJacson tory was in its full bloom, in all its natural wealth Qf tree and flower, ere the white man's axe had resounded in its forest or a plo* turned a furrow, I think that Ponce de Leon would have interpreted the language spoken here, as he did farther south, in Florida, ' the land of flowers.' But there was a language of more utility spoken in her immense forests. Here she told of vast fortunes to be made in the lumber trade; but heavy blows and hard labor to be given ere the emigrant could get to farming. In her oak openings she said: ' Here are lands almost fitted for the plow; build a house of the wood here, fence into fields, thin out the timber, and, if not in the way, keep the heaviest for woodland, and go to farming.' In her prairies she said: 'Here are your farm-lands; build your house, fence off into lots, and drive your team a-field.' In her marshes she said: 'Here is your meadow all ready for the scythe; fence it off to keep the cattle from spoiling it, and mow in the proper season.' In her streams she babbled of mill-privileges, of grinding wheat and corn, of turning machinery for shops, and of the manufacturing power to build up villages and cities. In her lakes she said: ' Here you have the useful and the beautiful; find me out.' And she said in more general terms, ' I have vast stores of wealth concealed in the earth; find them and they are yours.' " In the forest we found the whole family of oaks, or the Michigan family, some ten or twelve different kinds, and among them the burroak, bearing an acorn good to eat, and on which hogs would fatten. In the timbered lands were the new trees called the whitewood, of which the best of lumber for building was made, and the black walnut, more valuable than cherry for cabinet-work. It also bore a large and very rich nut, and with it the whole family of the hickories, all bearing nuts. Besides these were the butternut, the beechnut, and the hazelnut, all bearing an abundance of their fruit. Throughout the woods we saw the grape-vine hanging from the trees laden with its fruit. We saw vast thickets and long rifts of blackberry bushes, lately burdened with their tempting berries. "And we were told that the woods and hillsides and openings, in their season, were fairly red with the largest and most delicious of strawberries, while the wild plum grew along the small streams, the huckleberry and the cranberry on the marshes, and the aromatic sassafras was found throughout the woods. The annual fires burnt up the underwood, decayed trees, vegetation, and debris in the oak openings, leaving them clear of obstructions. You could see through the trees in any direction, save where the irregularity of the surface intervened, for miles around you; and you could walk, ride on horseback, or drive in a wagon wherever you pleased in these woods, as freely as you could in a neat and beautiful park. "But since the white man's axe first resounded in these wild regions the work of demolishing the noble forest-trees has been going on in this State. What large amount of cherry and black walnut has been burned up or made into rails! In how many instances has a sense of the use and beauty of our forests been unheeded. Michael Angelo was once commissioned to destroy the beautiful villas about Florence. He, an artist, do such work! He tried to save all, but could not,-the edict of war must be obeyed. The work of destruction went on. He came to a mansion with beautiful frescoed walls; the soul of the artist stayed the hand of the patriot, and in that field of desolation one mansion was left standing alone. In how many instances have we found the settler not commissioned, like Michael Angelo, to destroy the beautiful, but, Vandal-like, how often has he done it! Yet we have many instances where a sense of use and beauty has said to the soul of the settler, 'Spare the forest!' and, like the artist, he has done it, leaving beautiful woodlands standing alone amid cultivated fields. We can now say, Would that such instances had been multiplied! The wild denizens of the primeval forests in Michigan had beautiful homes. "Among the feathered tribe, the early settler did not find many of his old favorites. The robin, the wren, the swallow, and some other birds were not here. But there were a great variety of birds, and some of most gay and beautiful plumage. Among the singers were the Western mocking-bird and the whip-poor-will. We found here an old favorite, or enemy, in that mad-cap and freebooter, the blue jay. He was still the same restless being, tipping, darting, bobmajoring and hazing about from tree to tree. "' The jauntiest robber that ranges the wood, Nothing will name him but blue Robin Hood.' " There were no crows here to pluck the pioneers' corn, nor to caw from the tree-top through all the livelong day. * Now To-ledo, Ohio. t Now Jackson. HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 1 " Among the four-footeddenizens of the forests were the whole family of squirrels. Ilere was their smaller brother, the chipmunk, who never goes up a tree, because they have disinherited and driven him from that region, making him a serf to burrow in the ground. And here was his spotted-sided petite wolverine cousin, the gopher, which the settler found at corn-planting to be appropriately named. For, did he not go for their corn? It was generally acknowledged that one gopher would steal more corn than half a dozen crows. Beginning at the outside of the field, along the fence, they would rob hill after hill and row after row, digging up every kernel as they went. And here also was that chief among them all, the prince imperial of his tribe,-the fox squirrel. He was a magnificent fellow, some four times larger than the red squirrel; of a lithe and graceful form, with a long dashing tail, that he carried superbly as he scampered off. Here were also those other natives of the woods,-the woodchuck, coon, opossum, badger, hedgehog, fox, lynx, wolf, old Bruin, and the 'antlered monarch of the waste,' the deer. "And lastly, lording it over all the other inhabitants of the forest, were the Indians. They lived here, simple children of Nature, in no permanent abodes, but in bark lodges or wigwams, which they left when they pleased and roamed to another part of the country, where they in turn tarried as long as they desired. The forest was untouched by them, save to build their wigwams, canoes, or fires. The soil was undisturbed by them, save to plant their patches of corn for food. They killed nothing in the woods save what game they needed for sustenance. They brought baskets, maple-sugar, huckleberries, and cranberries to the che-mo-ke-man's cabin to 'swap.' They were always friendly, and saluted their pale-faced neighbors with their accustomed boo-shoo! a word showing their association with the French, as it is a corruption of bon-jour, the French 'good-morning,' or 'good-day.' We also find that their marchee is from the French marche, to march. Many other Indian words could be traced to a French origin. "THE FEVER AND AGUE. " 'And very hard it is to tell Which of the three is worse, But either one is bad enough To make a body curse.' HOLMES. "We could always tell when the ague was coming on by the premonitory symptoms,-the yawnings and stretchings; and if the person understood the disease he would look at his finger-nails to see if they were turning blue. No disease evinced its coming so plainly by signs as the 'fever'n ager.' The adept could tell its approach before it got within a rod of him. At first the yawns and the stretchings stole upon you so naturally that, for a time, you felt good in giving way to them; these were soon followed by cold sensations, that crept over your system in streaks, and grew colder and colder as they, in successive undulations, coursed down your back, while you felt like a 'harp of a thousand strings,' played upon by the icy fingers of old Boreas, who increased the cold chills until his victim shook like an aspen and his teeth chattered in his jaws. There you laid shaking in the frigid ague region for an hour or so, until you gradually stole back to a temperate zone. Then commenced the warm flashes over your system, which increased with heat as the former did with cold, until you reached the torrid region, where you lay in burning heat, racked with pain in your head and along your back for an hour or so, when you began by degrees to feel less heat and pain, until your hands grew moist and you were relieved by a copious perspiration all over your body, and you got to your natural feeling again. You felt relieved and happy, and as you went outdoors everything about you was pleasant and smiling, and you seemed to be walking in a brighter and happier world. "This disease delighted in extremes; it reveled in antithesis,-in being first in severe cold, then in burning heat. Among the various reasons adduced as the cause of this complaint was this: we got it in a passing through the miasmatic period that began with our first attempts to subdue this wild region, and lasted until cultivation did away with the miasma. "The ague is supposed to be the first disease to attack man in a new country. The settler found it lying about idle, like the Indians. I knewitf Ouel, but I have often thought I would like to see an Inda i lre a genuine old settler's shake of the ague. If anything would tame hi it would be that. It would shake all the whoop, if not all the Indian, out of him. I "The first question asked a settler after he had been here a short time was, 'Have you had the ague yet?' If answered in the negative, the reply would be, 'Well, you will have it; everybody has it before they've been here long.' As if the 'fever'n ager' initiated them to citizenship in this State. " Anson Mapes and my brother Martin were the last ones in our settlement who had the fever and ague. They had escaped it so long that they began to boast about their not having it; but they had it at last, and with increased severity, for it almost shook them to death. When Martin 'had thle shakes,' the dishes rattled on the shelves against the log wall. No one was ever supposed to die with the ague. It was not considered a sickness, but a sort of preface or prelude to it. 'He ain't sick, he's only got the ager,' was a common expression among the settlers. The doctors had no quinine then; in fact there was no remedy known, for it was "' A disease no hellebore could cure.' "The prevailing opinion was that we must have it until we wore it out; and most of us did. There were various remedies tried, but none cured you. Some were simple, some whimsical and funny. Some would say, when you feel a shake coming on start and thus run away from it. This remedy was tried; the ague always beat in such a race. Others would work right through the shake, fever and all; but the next day' the shoe was on the other foot,' they had all the work they wanted in attending to an extra shake and fever. "I remember that I once tried the following remedy, which was said to be a sure cure: I was to 'pare my finger- and toe-nails, wrap the parings in a piece of tissue-paper, then bore a hole in a mapletree, put the nails in and plug up the hole. I did this, and the result was I was put through the entire gamut of this disease"' From Greenland's icy mountains To India's coral strand'for four or five successive seasons after that. A decoction of ' Culverroot' was used as a kind of cholagogue by many, but it did not cure the disease. "There were several phases to this complaint. Some had it every day, some every other day. As it began with you so it continued. It opened the account with you at such an hour on such a day, and then put in its appearance a little later every day or every other day, until your morning shake was changed to one at sunset or midnight. The cold sensation increased in severity until it culminated in shaking the life nearly out of you; then by degrees it waxed and waned perceptibly less, till it left you. The ' fits' came so regularly that the settler made his calculations by it. His calendar was divided into well-days and ague-days. The minister made his appointments to preach so as to accommodate his' shakes.' The justice entered the suit on his docket to avoid the sick-day of the party or his own. The constable watched the well-day of the witness to get him into court; and the lawyer adjourned his case on account of his ague-day. The housewife regulated her affairs by it,-she would do up her work, and sit and wait for the ague, as for a visitor to come. And the pioneer gallant went sparking on his well-night, and then he sometimes found his Dulcinea ' sitting up' with the ' fever'n ague.' "It would seem that the old settlers wore out and broke up the disease, for the ague of to-day is no more like that of the olden time than the old broken-down man is like the one in robust manhood. " THE ' MICHIGAN RASH.' "Among the troublesome enemies to our happiness was what, in the parlance of the day, was called ' Michigan rash.' It was called Michigan rash because it was supposed to be indigenous to this part of the country. "Some observing philanthropist has said, ' All the comfort a poor man took in this life was to scratch himself when, he itched.' Then there was a happy period in the early settlement of this State, for the pioneers did a great deal of scratching. "Perhaps I ought to put on the 'silken gloves of sentiment,' by way of caution, in treating this subject. The settlers used much modesty in referring to this cutaneous disease, calling it a 'breaking out,' an 'impurity of the blood,'' rash,' while perhaps the person giving it these mild names was really putting into practice the gen uine old method of scratch that used to belong to something much worse than a ' breaking out,' or a ' rash.' An amusing incident once came under the writer's observation during this unpleasantness in our pioneer life. A gentleman from New York was visiting some friends OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 93 in our neighborhood, and, noticing the children scratching a good deal, asked the lady of the house the cause of it. She replied, 'They have a breaking out that is called the Michigan rash.' To which he answered, ' Oh, the Michigan rash! I presume it is; but I see the children go through with the old motions as natural as life. Don't you think, madame, brimstone and lard will cure it?' This fair bit amused the settler's wife, and also awoke her to the real gist of the matter,-that they were really enjoying the full benefit of the ' sevenyear itch,' under the mild title of Michigan rash. " Whole families, yes, whole neighborhoods, would have it at the same time. It was no respecter of persons, knew no party, sex, or creed,-everybody had it. It would break out in a school, and go from pupil to pupil, and from pupil to teacher. The smaller pupils would dig it out on the spot, while the larger ones would grin and bear it till some convenient opportunity occurred. Young men and young ladies, when in company, avoided showing their hands. Most people had this disease as they did the ague, until they wore it out. "A lack of fruit and vegetables in our diet was supposed to have something to do with the cause of the Michigan rash. " MOSQUITOES. "' Now, by two-headed Janus, Nature Hath found strange fellows in her time.' "Mosquitoes, like the subject we have just treated, are a cutaneous disease. They, with the ague, the Michigan rash, and the Nitchenobbies, were found here indigenous to this territory. It is maintained by some that the mosquitoes were created as pests, and sent here for the purpose of compelling us to drain and improve our swamps, marshes, and lowlands. As nothing has been formed in vain, and as we know of no other use for mosquitoes, this seems to be their mission here among us. It is an undisputed fact that they were the most numerous and pestilent in the heavy timbered lands, dense swamps, lowlands, and thickets, where they remained in their leafy coverts during the day. But when twilight let her curtain down, these little recluse imps would sally out from their fastnesses, and, with flourish of trumpets, call their vast hordes together; when, like the Huns and Goths, 'they would bear down in a furious attack upon the nearest log fortress.' "About this time, too, after having learned their mode of warfare, and the nature and time of their attacks, we were accustomed to fill tin pans with chips or some light materials, and kindle a fire in them, both in the front and rear of the house, or wherever there was a door or opening. This fire was kept smothered into a smoke. This was our only defense. Mosquito-bars were not invented then. Still our enemies would frequently break through this wall of smoke, in some bold onset, and attack us in our cabin. The smudge was then removed into the house, and we sat enveloped in its dense clouds, with eyes suffused with tears, suffering patiently anything that would rid us of these pests. I have seen the log house all quiet at the close of day, not a mosquito about, but as soon as you started your smudge, that was the signal for their attacks,-they 'smelt the battle afar off, and shouted among their trumpeters, ha, ha!' Some of the settlers would not use the smudge on that account, alleging that you discovered yourself to them, and hence invited their attacks. " I have often gone into reflection on the subject (in their absence) of this annoyance. What discontent and unhappiness such little imps could create! Coleridge has said," Beneath the rose lurks many a thorn, That breeds disastrous woe; And so doth thou, remorseless corn, On Angelina's toe.' Now there was a 'thorn' or a nettle that not only lurked beneath the rose, but beneath every tree, bush, and covert about us, and it was a nettle that felt like business, and went about 'breeding disastrous woe.' 'Don't mind them,' says some novice, who had not made their acquaintance; ' go to sleep, and let them sing!' Don't mind them? Try it. They like that. Try to sleep? What odds to them? Couldn't they murder sleep? Did they mind your slaps? Feel them light on your nose, ears, or neck, tame as a spot of mud. Suppose you slapped and killed one. Fifty or a hundred rushed on over his dead body to avenge his death. So small a thing to create so much trouble and misery! How often in the evening, after the smudge had been made, would we sit and fight these ittle tormentors, till tired, victimized, and "'Weary of life, we would fly to our couch, And fling it away in battle with these Turks.' We found no rats, mice, or house-flies; they came years later with an advanced civilization. "THE 'MICHIGAN APPETITE.' "The log house of the pioneer, with its plain furnishings and its old-fashioned fireplace, was a comfortable and cheerful abode. I am sorry that the old fireplace has gone out of use; it contributed much to the health and happiness of the old settler's home. The settler, after a hard day's work, seated with his family around his glowing ingle, with an abundance of wood in the corner, enjoyed the luxury of his magnificent fires. There is an art in building a good fire; it was cultivated to a great degree of perfection in the olden time. It appears to be one of the lost arts now, as the dull and cheerless stove has banished it from the household. It belonged to the old fireside, where it was kept in constant practice in laying down aright the back-log and fore-stick, and building thereon, with small wood, in so secure and artful a manner, that with a little kindling the fire could be started and give out the most heat and light to the household. As we are writing, distance lends enchantment to the memory of those by-gone scenes around the old pioneer's fireside. "For lights in the evenings, if the fire was too dull, some fat was put in a saucer,-a piece of pork sometimes was fried for that purpose,a rag was twisted for a wick, and then coiled about in the grease, one end being left out on the edge of the saucer. This was lighted. This was our evening taper. " But pork was often scarce, and tallow or grease of any kind could not be had. There were no pine-trees in this region, hence pine-knots could not be found. But in their stead we gathered the bark from the hickory-tree, and when we needed light, pieces of this bark were thrown on the fire. This created a bright blaze that was nearly equal, and full as lasting, as that from the pine-knots. "The old iron crane, tricked off with its various sized pot-hooks and links of chain, swung from the jambs at the will of the housewife, who hung on it the kettles containing the meal to be cooked for the family, and pushed it back over the fire, where the kettles hung till the meal was prepared for the table. Pigs, chickens, and spare-ribs were roasted splendidly by suspending them by a wire before the fire. The baking was mostly done in the old brick oven that was built in one side of the chimney, with a door opening into the room. The old iron-covered bake-kettle sat in the corner under the cupboard, and was used for the various baking purposes. Many will remember the much-used 'tin reflector' that was placed before the fire to bake bread and cakes, and how finely it baked the Pink-eye and Neshannock* potatoes. " The settler's daily fare, from a lack of abundance and variety in his larder, was necessarily frugal. The provision in store was wheat, corn, pork, and potatoes. There was no fruit, save the wild plums and the various berries that grew in the woods and lowlands. The bill of fare for the table was bread, pork, and potatoes. Pork, as we have said, was often very scarce, families often going without food, save the wild game they killed, for a whole season at a time. Salt was also often very scarce; at one time it was twenty-one dollars per barrel. Thomas Kewney's family went without a particle in the house for six months. We were told when we first came to this State that we would get the 'Michigan appetite' after we had lived here a short time. We found this to be true. And when it did come, which was the first year, it was ravenous. With this appetite, pork and potatoes were dainties. We relished them as such for a good square meal; and when we got through with that, we had only to reverse the order, and eat potatoes and pork, for the richest dessert,-such was the keenness and relishing power of our appetites. It seemed that all we labored for was to get enough to eat. Fruitless toil, for we were hungry all the time. "Mrs. Thomas Kewney and her daughter Ann, afterwards Mrs. Stevenson, came to visit us one afternoon. My mother was really puzzled to know what to get for supper, for we had no bread in the house, nor anything of which to make it; but, like a good housewife, she was fruitful in expedients. Looking over her stores, she found about two quarts of wheat, which she requested me to grind in the pepper-mill. This I did. She then took the unbolted flour, and of * From the Neshannock Creek, in Mercer Co., Pa., where they originated. 94 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. _ I it made a short-cake for her company. We had an amusing time at table over our frugal repast, which consisted principally of this Grahamitish cake. "Tea, coffee, sugar, and butter were rarely seen on the settler's table. An herb called tea-weed, a kind of wild Bohea, that grew in the woods, was used by some of the settlers. The leaves were steeped, like our imported teas, and the decoction was drunk. But it was soon abandoned when the green or black teas could be had again. Crust coffee, or a coffee made from wheat or other grains browned, was in common use for drink at table. Our pioneer mothers and their daughters found many occasions when they could not enjoy the accustomed tete-d-tfte with their lady visitors, over cups of fragrant Young Hyson or Bohea; but their tea-table chats were had over their flowing cups of crust coffee, and there was many a wish from the young ladies for the good time coming, when they could once more 'turn up their tea-cups' and have their 'fortunes told.' Tea-pots were ransacked and old tea-grounds were saved by the girls, for the purpose of having their fortunes told by some of the older matrons, who knew something of the gypsy art of divination. The usual meal consisted of a platter of boiled potatoes, piled up steaming-hot, and placed on the centre of the table, bread or Johnny-cake, perhaps some meat boiled or fried, and an article largely partaken of was a bowl of flour-gravy, looking like starch, and made, something like it, of flour and water, with a little salt, and sometimes it was enriched by a little gravy from a piece of fried meat. This was the meal, and it was eaten and relished more than the sumptuous meals on many of our tables nowadays. The table was, at any rate, swept of all the edibles on it. Nothing but the dishes was left after a meal. The dog, the pigs, and the chickens fared slim. 'Tell me what a people eat and I will tell you their morals.' The old pioneer bill of fare was simple and wholesome. Its morals can easily be deduced. What shall we say of the modern bill of fare? "There have been many reasons adduced as to the cause of this appetite. To me there has ever been but one good cause,-that is, hunger. We seldom got enough to eat, and hence were always hungry and ready to eat. ' Quit eating while you are hungry,' the health reformers say. We carried out the letter and spirit of this rule, and will vouch for its producing a splendid appetite. It was called the Michigan appetite, as though it was aboriginal and belonged to this State. Perhaps it did, and originated with the Indians. The first settlers may be said to have fared like the Indians for the first year or two after they pitched their tents here, and hence got their appetites and a little more; for, as the rude phrase had it, the pioneers were usually hungry enough to eat 'biled Indian.' We had no cases of dyspepsia,-our digestion was as sound as our sleep. The dyspepsia was with the rich and dainty dishes East. " One Sabbath morning I was at home alone. The rest of the family had gone to hear Rev. Levi Vedder preach in the log school-house by Deacon Case's. Always hungry, as soon as I found myself alone I bethought me of getting something to eat. Luckily, I found some flour, lard, and salt. I was delighted, and went to work to make a shortcake. I had seen my mother and sister make this cake often enough to have.learned, as I thought, to make one myself. So, rolling up my sleeves, I went to work. I mixed up the flour and water awhile, then put in the 'shortning' and added a little salt, and then kneaded and kneaded it with my fists till I considered it ready for the spider. But had you seen my hands! Didn't the dough 'stick, stick, stick to fingers and knuckles and palms!' It hung in strings from my hands, and just as I rolled out my cake and put it in the spider and placed that over some live coals to have the bottom bake, I heard a rap at the door. Frightened, and with the dough stringing from my hands, I opened the door, when Uriah Herson, a settler's son, presented himself with the accustomed 'good-morning,' and offered me his gloved hand. I did not accept it, but rather confusedly excused myself by saying my hands were too doughy, as I had been mixing up feed for the chickens. He smiled, and said he had come to see the young folks. I informed him that they had all gone to attend meeting in the Deacon Case school-house. I, during this time, tried to fill up the gap in the door, that he might not see within. But just then I heard the yelp, yelp, yelp of a chicken. -Looking around, I saw a two-thirds grown rooster with both feet stuck fast in the middle of my short-cake and in the spider,-the dough had softened by the heat and let his feet down to the bottom of the spider, and there he stood with extended wings, bil full of sticky dough, yelping away like murder. Uriah glanced in at the fireplace and took in the whole situation. As I heard the first yelp I told him the folks had just gone, and he could soon overtake them. He said he guessed he would go to meeting also, and went off laughing at my chicken-pie. He gone, I hastily turned to the spider, seized that chicken by the neck and jerked him out of my short-cake, the middle part of it coming up with his feet. I pushed this down with one hand, and pulling him out, ran to the door, wringing him by the neck by way of revenge, threw him to the ground, and went back to my poor short-cake. I took at case-knife and cut out the middle part, smoothed the rest into shape, and put it to baking again. As I went to the door to throw out the rejected dough, there was another act in this drama going on. The entire brood of hens and chickens were crowding around and over that rooster, picking the dough off his feet and legs. They had nearly gobbled him up. I drove them away in sheer pity for the poor thing. His feet and legs were bleeding, and as he got up to walk he hobbled awfully on his clumsy, half-baked feet. As I returned to the house the greedy, hungry brood immediately ran to him again, and chased him about the door-yard, picking at his legs and feet. " Once more by the fireside, I watched the baking of the cake. The bottom done, I set up the spider for the top to bake. This done I made a square meal on that short-cake. Appetite always keen, but now heightened, as stolen apples are sweetest, I relished the cake exceedingly. There was none of it left to turn evidence against me. This adventure remained a secret for a long time. It finally got out. Uriah, no doubt, found it too good to keep, and related it to some friend. I then gave to our family my entire transactions that Sunday morning,-mixing ip feed for the chickens. "FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND NUTS IN AND ABOUT KALAMAZOO AND ELSEWHERE IN THE OLDEN TIMES.* "It is not my purpose in any way to encroach upon the ground that was recently so well and satisfactorily occupied by the members of the Pomological Society at this place. It will be enough for me to have occupied a more obscure field, at a remote period in our history. Nor will I attempt to reach or imitate that high order of intelligence, skill, and fitness, which was so conspicuously manifest in the production of those very interesting and instructive essays and lectures which were read by those gentlemen. "There are very many persons who never saw a prairie before it had been invaded by the ruthless plowshare, when it was arrayed in all its primeval beauty and splendor. For novelty and variety in landscape scenery, it is hard to conceive of anything so enchanting as a prairie when bedecked with every conceivable size, form, and color of flowers, from the modest little blushing violet of early spring through all the rapid successive changing gradations until the frosts of autumn. As the traveler passed on, mile after mile, his delighted vision would be greeted by endless kaleidoscopic alternations of sparkling gems, in colors of white, yellow, pink, orange, blue, violet, mottled, etc. There was loveliness and magnificence and fragrance in nature's teeming, quiet laboratory. This imperfectly represents the state of all our prairies, when the early pioneers arrived here. "A few years after the first settlement of the country, when there were more inhabitants and enough cultivated land to prevent the devastation by the annual fires, two varieties of roses spontaneously appeared,-one, a small single rose, growing on a small delicate shrub about two and one-half feet high, and not very fragrant; the other, sometimes called the Michigan rose, was a climbing vine, and could be so trained as to perform astonishing feats of elimbing to great heights. It is a single rose, and is almost entirely destitute of fragrance, even when in full bloom, but if tastefully arranged is a splendid sight. The Michigan rose has obtained an extensive notoriety, and gained many admirers. When I was in New England, twenty years ago, a gentleman there, who had previously heard of it, expressed strong desires to obtain it. "When the pioneers arrived here, more than forty years ago, they found growing here the black walnut, butternut, hickory-nut, and beech-nut. There were, in some localities, great numbers of small, young hazel-bushes, which, having perennial roots, had maintined a show of life; but there were but few, if any of them, that had been allowed sufficient time between the fires to grow to a bearing sie and age, which they did as soon as the fires were prevented from rning. "In and about Kalamazoo County, nature wa very liberal in the bestowment and diffusion of many rich fruits and delicious berries. By Henry.Little. OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 95 In some localities the pioneers found a few wild plum-trees in a bearing condition. When the fires were stopped, the plum-trees sprang up in great numbers, and in a few years came into bearing, when a great variety of plums were produced. Among the many kinds of whortleberry, there was found growing in the lagoons a medium-sized kind. This blueberry, as it is sometimes called, is about half as large as a whortleberry of the same color that grew in New England, while it is twice as large as another whortleberry of that country, which is as black as jet and of delicious flavor. In later years they also found a blueberry which was about half as large as the first one named, which grew on dry, sandy land, and upon a small, slender, low bush, but they were very seldom met with, except in the Yankee Springs region. " The pioneers found growing in the lagoons a cranberry which was peculiar to this country. It is a very good fruit, but the pulp is so soft and juicy it is difficult to keep it until the next spring. " The Eastern cranberry, of a similar variety, is smaller in diameter, and more conical in form, and the pulp being more firm, it may easily be kept nine or ten months after picking. There was another kind of cranberry here that was found on dry land, growing upon shrubs or small trees about eight feet high, the berry being of the size of a large pea, of a bright red color when ripe, having one seed or stone as large in diameter as the berry could contain, but quite thin, with sides somewhat convex, and the pulp soft and extremely acid. I have met with but two or three of these trees in this county, although they are somewhat plenty in New England. At that period in our fruit history several varieties of strawberries abounded in great profusion. They were confined mostly to the oak openings, more particularly to the burr-oak openings, near the borders of the prairies, where they were larger and more plenty than in other openings. The strawberry being an annual, could grow and mature its fruit at that early period, between the time of the annual fires, without the help of man. The checkerberry,* although being the most lowly and humble member of the berry family, yet it being an annual, it could maintain its ground and mature its berries, which remained through the winter on the vines, and came out the next spring in a bright red color. The chief value of the checkerberry is found in the well-known flavoring extract from the leaves. At that time we also found the small wild black cherry and the choke cherry, but the latter not in plenty. All the above-described fruits grew to perfection here in and during a few of the first years after the settlement of the country, which may be called the first fruit period. " The dawning of the second fruit period brought large additions to our former liberal supplies of indigenous edible fruits. That great change is due entirely to the greater number of the inhabitants and the increased quantity of cultivated land, which prevented the ravages of the annual fires of the Indians. The frequent recurrence of the fires and the firm, compact, unyielding nature of the prairie sward was so unfavorable to the growth of fruit that none were found there except a few plums, and in after-years a very few strawberries in half-cultivated fields, so that all the fruit that I am to write about was found on opening lands. I first noticed great numbers of young crab-apple trees, from one to three feet high, which came on rapidly, and in a few years were bearing. " The next in order are the plum-trees, noticed above. The grapevines had been cut down by the fires every year, except in a very few favored localities. I saw two or three vines at that early day, which vines were several inches in diameter, and reached to the top of the tallest forest-trees. As the grape-roots were perennial, as soon as the vines had sufficient time they shot forth with great rapidity, and soon came into bearing. As there were none but wild grapes in the country, some of them which were cultivated were considered very good. The honeysuckle-vines were there, but I have looked in vain for their delicious fruit. There was also the mandrake (mandragora), sometimes called May.apple, the fruit of which some people are extravagantly fond. In size and appearance it resembles the small kind of tomato. The ground-eherry (Physealis viscosa) was there,-an excellent fruit, about the size of a large cherry, and grows in a calyx. In fallow fields and in fence corners, and nearly everywhere they were allowed, the strawberries appeared with renewed vigor and increased size. There were two kinds of gooseberries,-the prickly and the smooth; the latter were not plenty. "There were three varieties of raspberries,-the black, yellow, and * Wintergreen. i red; very few of the latter, but the first quite plenty. There were three varieties of blackberries, one the small, well-known, common kind. In favorable places they are very prolific, the bushes sometimes growing six or seven feet high. In early times wild fruit was free plunder, and one year there were carried away from my place, by men, women, and children, many bushels of blackberries; the people went there from Kalamazoo and Cooper and the region round about those attractive acres. There was also the low-bush blackberry, supposed to be the Rubus trivialis, the bush being two or three feet high; the berries were larger and more globular in form than the first described. As both these blackberries were biennials, of course they could produce no fruit unless there were two consecutive years without the fires. There was also the ground or running blackberry, supposed to be the Rubus villosus, the vines running on the ground like the strawberry; the berries were globular in form, having but a few seeds; the vines were annuals, but the roots were perennial, and as difficult to exterminate as the Canada thistle; they were found mostly in cultivated lands. "In the winter of 1831 I planted one pint of apple-seed in a box of dirt, which was kept out of doors until the next spring, when I carefully planted them on my land on Gull Prairie. I very much regret to be compelled to say that not one of those seeds ever germinated, for the supposed reason that they were two or three years old when planted. At the same time, likewise, I planted about the same quantity of dried currants, with the same results. I knew before, and since I planted the currants, that it was the popular belief that currants could be propagated in no way but by the roots or the cuttings. I was not a farmer nor a botanist at that time, but I had learned that some kinds of seeds had germinated, and why should not currantseed? I therefore did not know any better than to hope for success. I do not suppose that it was public belief nor any natural law that prevented these seeds sprouting, but simply because they were two or three years old. I have since learned that currant-seeds, and strawberry-seeds, and blackberry-seeds iwill germinate very readily. I do not know but there are inherent in all seeds, that are properly developed and fully matured, the principles of vitality, which, through and by their organic germinal functions, will fulfill the great laws of reproduction, if we knew how to treat them. The bulbous and tuberous plants are a law unto themselves, their bulbs and tubers being their seeds. I know of no better way, with certain kinds of fruit, than to plant the seeds direct from or soon after they are removed from the ripe fruit, before they lose their vitality by age and drying up. " In the spring of 1833 I planted some love-apple seeds, which were obtained at the Carey missionary establishment, on the St. Joseph River. The seeds germinated and grew finely, and in due time the fruit was fully developed, but as yet no one was found who knew anything about the strange, curious fruit, or supposed it to be of any value beyond being an ornamental curiosity. At length a gentleman from Savannah, Ga., was at my place, who, seeing my mysterious fruit, with great delight exclaimed, ' Why, you have the tomatoes here, and they are excellent for eating, and held in high estimation by the people of Savannah.' He did not inform us how they were to be used, but we looked forward with the most flattering anticipations to the time of enjoying a rare feast. When the fruit was fully ripe we proceeded to make a trial of its virtues, in the same way that we would with a ripe peach or plum, but one or two nips were enough to prove that it was an extremely disgusting, repugnant, abhorrent, detestable thing,-and I might go on multiplying revolting terms, and then utterly fail of conveying any adequate conception of its hatefulness. We thought there was some mistake about that thing. When I found the botanical name (hycopersicum), that offered no explanation. Before long, however, we became better informed. We learned that it should be used while in its green state, when, if sliced thin and fried after pork, or baked in a pie, that it was a good substitute for green apples. " As there were no apples in the county at that time, the tomato soon became very popular. One man on the prairie, who had great quantities of tomatoes, and there being no market for them, and being unable to use the whole of them in his own family before they became ripe and consequently worthless, gave them away by the bushel to his neighbors. In these modern times I have learned with profound as tonishment that there are a few people with such perverted tastes that they even eat ripe tomatoes. "In 1834, Elihu Mills, of Ann Arbor, brought to Gull Prairie a quantity of apple-trees for sale, of which he sold more or less to dif - HISTORY OF? KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. ferent parties on the prairie. Among the pioneers of Gull Prairie there were several from New England, where it was supposed by many that stony or rocky land was as good as, if not preferable to, any other for apple-trees; even the steep side-hills and their summits were graced by the apple-trees, provided they had the everlasting rocks. About the beginning of the present century, one of my neighbors being about to set out an apple-orchard, and having none but sandy land- to put it on, in his great wisdom conceived of the brilliant idea of carting from abroad large flat stones, and placing one at the bottom of each hole for the roots of the tree to rest on. It so happened that there were not stones enough, and the last tree was set without any. The fate of that tree was commented upon and watched by all the neighbors with profound interest. Notwithstanding all the adverse predictions put forth, that tree flourished as well as the others.* " Now when those men came here and had turned their wistful eyes abroad over the land and could discover no suitable land for appletrees, we need not wonder that their sensibilities were stirred to their inmost depths. When Elihu Mills was selling his trees on the prairie (as referred to above), he went to the house of Mr. -, but he was away from home; when, therefore, Mr. - returned home and found that his son had bought some of Mills' trees, and set them out, he expressed great sorrow. "In the autumn of the same year (1835), Mr. J. F. Gilkey brought from Indiana or Ohio about one hundred apple-trees, one-half of which he set out south of his house; but, inasmuch as the cattle had access to them, a few years thereafter not a vestige of the trees remained. The other half of the aforesaid trees Judge Hinsdell set out west of his barn, among the standing girdled forest-trees. These girdled trees were afterwards felled and burned up without injury to the apple-trees. Those good old trees have faithfully served their day and generation, and now, after a lapse of thirty-eight years, still remain as enduring monuments of the genius, thrift, and remarkable enterprise of that wonderful, active, and successful man. "In 1835, John Barnes and Loyal Jones each set out eight or ten peach-trees, which were two years old at the time of setting, and were, I believe, the first peach-trees that were set out upon Gull Prairie. "At an early period of the settlement of the prairie, Augustus Mills set out a goodly number of the common red, sour cherry-trees. In the year 1844 they were nice great trees, and had borne fruit several years. At that time there were many young sprouts or offshoots, which were one or two feet high, that had sprung from the roots of the large trees, a few feet from the trunks. I obtained a quantity of these offshoots, and planted them out for myself. At the time of planting my cherry-trees, and after, I was told by the wise ones that my trees would never bear, because they were sprouts or offshoots. I was so green at that time that I did not know any better than to suppose that such sprouts would bear. True, I had previously had a similar experience, but that was more than twenty years before, and had passed from my recollection, and so could not benefit me in that time of need, and, being ignorant, I was all the while liable to make grave mistakes in something. "That little experience, or episode, in my experiments with fruittrees (already alluded to) occurred while I was residing in New England. There I had a neighbor who had a goodly number of large, bearing apple-trees; from the roots of those trees, a few feet from their trunks, there had sprung many sprouts or offshoots, which were four or five feet high, and very straight and thrifty. The owner of the trees was truly a very learned and intelligent man. He told me that I might have in welcome as many of his sprouts as I desired, but at the same time advised me not to take them on any account, 'for sprouts,' said he,' will either never bear, or bear fruit that will be unlike the original, and be absolutely worthless.' Those few words embraced valuable information and friendly advice, which, emanating from so high a source, should (as many people would say) deter me from the commission of such a rash and foolish act as the one I was about to perpetrate. But I was so green and unlearned in those days that I knew but little about philosophy or the laws which govern the vegetable kingdom; consequently, I did not know why a sprout taken from the roots of an apple-tree, or a scion from its branches, and the one planted in the ground elsewhere, and the other ingrafted into an * This fully equals the pioneer in Illinois who cleared a few acres in a grove upon which to plant corn, thinking it would pot grow on prairie land. other tree, should at once degenerate and lose all respect for their noble parentage,'and either not bear at all, or bear that which would be a shame and disgrace to their family. "But that mysterious theory did not originate with my much-esteemed friend. It was a relic of past ages, which had been carefully preserved and as carefully handed down through succeeding generations for the protection of their children's children. Notwithstanding all that, and the increased light of the nineteenth century, I carried the sprouts home and set them out, and as they were from large, mature trees, they came forward with astonishing rapidity, and made beautiful trees, began to bear very early, and continued to bear excellent apples. The reader, long before this, will have anticipated the results of my experiments with my cherry-trees. I suppose it is unnecessary for me to say that I met with perfect success in every particular. The trees have not only borne great quantities of good cherries year after year, but still continue to do so. "KALAMAZOO, July 18, 1873." PIONEER MONEY-"DICKER." In the early years of Michigan the people, as in all new countries and frontier settlements, were compelled to resort to primitive means for the exchange of products. Legalized money, or currency, was scarce, and what little was in circulation was looked upon with suspicion to a greater or less extent; and partly from this, and partly from other causes, the settlers adopted, and continued for several years, a system of exchange called by the American people, at least by those inhabiting the Northern States, "dicker." This convenient word is defined in "Webster" as meaning to negotiate, to trade, to swap. In Latin it is written dacra, dacrum, decora, dicora, decara, from the word decuria, meaning a division of ten; hence a dakir of skins, a dicker of furs, a dicker of gloves or moccasins, etc. Any exchange of products or goods was called "a dicker." It was a provincialism transplanted from England and the continent of Europe to the shores of America, and made a part of the common idiom of the times; generally in use on the borders and among the newer settlements. It is probable that there was no one article of trade or exchange which was made the standard of values, as has been the case in some parts of the Union,-as, for instance, in Oregon, where wheat was for a time the recognized standard by State or Territorial authority, we believe, at a fixed value per bushel, and a legal tender, as good as Mr. Chase's celebrated "greenbacks." Among the savages of the continent, wampum, manufactured mostly from shells, was the standard of exchange, as well as the foundation or medium of all national and tribal records. "' Dicker,' when properly defined, was money in a sense liberal and broad enough to have suited Sam. Carey or Ben. Butler in their most ultra greenback humor. Butler says, 'A piece of leather is good enough for money.' So thought the pioneer. He took leather of the shoemaker in exchange for potatoes; he paid the merchant in wheat, the blacksmith in marsh hay, the carpenter in beef, the tailor in wood, the parson with a pig, and split rails for the postmaster to pay the twenty-five cents for his letter. "It was a much less expensive currency than anything yet invented by the inflationist. It dispensed with even the necessity of coin or paper. Each pioneer possessed the power of the general government; he had only to say 'fiat moneta,' and presto! everything at his dictum became current money. His ipse-dixit made it legal tender for all debts and dues, both (in a local sense) public and private. "It is often said nowadays that ' the people are the government;' then each man was the government, and, by his flat, he made all the money necessary for his use during the first decade of the pioneer period. Labor was the 'gold basis' of this bank. It measured the value of everything which man produced by toil. It was really the OCCUPATION BY THE WHITES. 97 ---- -- I primeval capital of the human race, and it must continue to give actual value to every commodity. "A settler needed an ox-yoke, and he gave its value,-a day's work, or he gave its equivalent in a bushel of wheat, which usually had a recognized value of one dollar in currency. In the prosperous days of the Venetian Republic, among whose financiers the modern system of banking is said to have originated, labor was the basis not only of all exchangeable values, but also of citizenship. No idler could be a citizen in Venice; he must show his title to the nobility of labor or leave the commonwealth. Based upon this capital, the banking system of the famous Italian Republic grew to wonderful dimensions, and flourished during a period of four centuries."-:' The " dicker" period of Michigan continued until a new order of things was established by the invention and introduction of the famous " wild-cat" banks, which sprouted and flourished during the feverish days of land speculation, when every section had its city with " corner lots" held at fabulous prices by the crazy speculator. Hundreds of cities, on paper, were laid out and lots sold " by sample," as the traveling men say,-that is, a magnificent cut plat or map was made, showing a mile square beautifully laid out, with churches, colleges, opera-houses, parks, etc., together with coal-mines, water-power, stone-quarries and every conceivable adjunct and accompaniment of a flourishing commercial point. Armed with these wonderful evidences of the vast advantages of the new country, agents repaired to the East, and sometimes opened real-estate offices and did a flourishing business in the sale of lands and lots. Then the " wildcat" and " red dog" banks made their appearance. All that was necessary to commence banking operations with was a charter and a good supply of paper, and forthwith the wonderful currency came floating on the breeze " like leaves in Vallombrosa," and "everybody and his wife" had pockets full of money. "If the bank printed its notes and the location in the same ink, it was denominated a 'wild-cat;' if the notes were left blank for the place of business to be stamped upon them in red ink, it was called a ' red dog;' if the blank was stamped in blue ink, it was called a ' blue pup.' But all were of dangerous genus, and bit and scratched the dear people who ventured to handle them with equal delight."t The experience of the Western States with various kinds of currency has been a very dear one, and every State lost millions of dollars in the break-ups and failures and swindling operations of the years of experimental banking. Even if a certain issue was sound of itself the counterfeits upon it were equal to the genuine in appearance and execution, and would deceive an expert. No man dared to keep a bill or note overnight for fear the bank would " burst" before morning. Every merchant and business man kept a " counterfeit detector" in his money-drawer for both coin and paper, and even then he was a most remarkbly lucky individual who did not get a fair percentage of counterfeit or broken bank-notes. The great civil war accomplished two things for which the American people should forever be thankful,-it made the United States a nation, and gave them a sound currency. The " greenback" and national bank-note are good in every corner of the land, because a nation's wealth is pledged to make them equivalent to metal currency. State and corporate banks are passed away forever, and the canine and feline species are extinct in the land of their origin. * From notes by Mr. Van Buren. t Van Buren. 13 THE WILD-CAT DAYS. The following account of the " wild-cat" experiences of this State is from a letter written to the Chicago Tribune, by Z. Eastman, of Elgin, Ill. "Michigan was lying snugly in the bosom of Uncle Sam, where it was warmly nursed as a Territory, with a boy, Stevens T. Mason, less than one and twenty years of age, recognized by Gen. Jackson as Territorial Governor. Michigan was then the favorite place to which New England boys came to buy land. Paper money was freely taken by Uncle Sam, and his acres went off at a rapid pace, as the paper promises of the banks to pay came in. Money was as plenty as chips in the forests of that most progressive State of swamps and oak openings, and it did not much matter on what bank, strong or broken, safety-fund or shin-plaster, if it were only a printed bank-bill of any denomination,-the larger the better. "Of the few old banks of Massachusetts which ever failed before these days was the Belchertown Bank,-a rural town of substantial farmers, with no commercial business. Here they had got up a bank to issue money, which they did all according to the charter; but, having no business, the bank of course failed. Their bills were printed upon an unusually transparent paper, tinted red, so that this money might well have taken a significant name that came after,-' red dog.' "This Belchertown joins Amherst, Mass., that seat of learning and morality. One of the exemplary youths of that town came out to Michigan to spy the land and make an investment. lHe saw what a wonderful State Michigan was; what vast resources for Yankee genius; what a remarkably singular way they had of doing business there; also the great abundance of money and the freedom with which it was used and, especially, paid out. He came back as a spy with a goodly report; and he brought word that so free was the use of money in Michigan, and so great was the demand there, these people were not at all particular about the kind they received. Specie would not be refused, but bank-bills were preferred, and it did not much matter where the banks were located, East or West, or whether alive or broken, or the bills counterfeit even,-it was all the same to the good people in this eminently Democratic Territory, governed by a boygovernor, and not giving due heed to the sound doctrine of ' exclusive specie currency.' And the sober people of Amherst listened to the report of this young man, and thought favorably of the new Territory as a place for an investment; and so they gathered up their spare funds and searched everywhere, and in their old laid-away leather pocket-books, for the red bills of the defunct bank of Belchertown, which had at last found its place of redemption in the backwoods of Michigan; and they sent back a young man well stocked with Belchertown and other New England currency to make for them large entries of government lands. About the same time-that is to say, in 1834 or 1835-came also the president of the Bank of Amherst, an institution that stood well, that redeemed all its issues in specie when called upon (which never happened); and he came for the purpose of entering wild and timbered lands in the State of Michigan, and to pay therefor the paper currency of his own bank. And he found such as suited him well, and the lands on which the pine logs are cut that furnished millions of feet of lumber which came into the Chicago market every year from Muskegon. These he bought of occupants as well as at the land-office, and finding the section that suited him, and the payment being agreed upon, he would sit down upon a stump, take out a roll of the printed sheets of his bank, sign off the requisite amount of bills to pay the price, and receive a title to his land. Or the same formality in the land-office of the district resulted in the transfer of title from the government to the bank president,-his signature to the bills being the pivot on which the transfer turned. Those were the days just prior to the coming of wild-cats into Michigan, and just preceded also a very ferocious 'varmint' of precisely the opposite genus, which was Jackson's specie circular. It is very possible that this stern old man with the hickory face, sitting in his Presidential chair at Washington, had heard how they were buying up his broad acres in the Territory of Michigan and paying for them in those narrow slips of blue and red paper. This much he knew certainly, that the lands were going fast; that the grasp of the speculator was lapping upon township on township, far outstripping the march of even the squatter or the hunter after the deer; and in place of them, the receivers' offices were being surfeited with the money called 'paper promises to pay.' If the process went on, the public 98 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 1 lands would soon be all transformed into paper, and the ultimate prospect of redemption hopeless. At the same time he knew that work was getting sadly out of fashion; that few were producing any. thing, not even as much as the consumption of food, the majority living by their wits or sleight-of-hand in trade; and, according to the philosophy of this rigid old homespun, if this process continued, not only would the banks fail with their paper on his hands, but starvation must be the fate of a portion of the people. He rose up and swore with his favorite oath that he would mend matters or make them worse; and he commanded the Secretary of the Treasury and his under-servants of the land-office to receive no more of the frail stuff as money, called rags; but to take only such as Senator Benton had full faith in, viz., gold and silver, in payment for the public lands; and this was the specie circular. The United States Bank had already had the hickory cudgel over its proboscis, and it was spouting blood. This other was a blow at the land speculators, and an admonition to the State banks that the same doughty President had determined that it was time they should set their back counting-rooms in order. The nation staggered under this blow from Washington; it was felt in all parts of the land and by all classes. But Michigan had had a fair start under the speculative regime, and they were building fair and substantial towns in their woods, such as Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Marshall, Kalamazoo, etc., and before the stumps were out of their prominent streets they had substantial, large, brick structures up for hotels, stores, and dwellings, which stand to-day as proud monuments of the energy of the times when Jackson smote them. " The Territory of Michigan was admitted as a State in 1837. It was an exemplary Democratic State, and its people meant to reflect in the very strongest light the sound doctrines of the Democratic party. They were opposed to monopolies and to a National bank, and were quite willing to swear by Benton's addendum-specie currency -and also the down-East commercial interpretation of the doctrine, free banking with real estate security. The Michiganders had plenty of land, which they had bought when paper was plenty, but were very poor in matters of dollars, and halves, and quarters; and since bank-bills would no longer buy lands of government, they had gone suddenly back whence they had come, and paper became as scarce as silver. There was not currency enough in the State to move the swamp lands. Under the license of party fidelity they proceeded at once to legislate for the emergency. How prone the people are to fly to the relief of the Legislature when they get hard up! They, therefore, at Detroit, through their representatives, proceeded to legislate into full vitality the essential doctrine of the Democratic party,-that banking should not become a monopoly; that all people had inalienable rights to run a bank, provided they put up the security; and, that land, being the surest of all property, was the best security that a person proposing to do banking could put up as a guarantee to all who might hold the bills of the bank that they could be redeemed or paid when call for payment should be made. Who could state a principle more logically than this? And they passed a law that any number of persons combining together so and so, and pledging to the State a certain amount of real estate, unincumbered, and at certain presumed-to-be fair prices in valuation, should enjoy the privilege of issuing bills which should be deemed and taken as money, and which bills should entitle the holder to draw specie from the bank in redemption for the same,-should he be so foolish as to call for it. Now all that was weak in this system was the possibility that the people would be foolish and call for specie when they did not want it, and when it could do them no good. Like Gunther's candy, then unknown, there was a fear that children might even cry for it. And, besides, there was that other equally Democratic doctrine, 'specie currency;' and that possibly might come in and clash with the also Democratic doctrine, 'free banking.' And through this gate, which the legislators at Detroit set open, and propped with a good hickory stick, that looked some like Jackson's cudgel, the wild-cats came into Michigan. And these were the names of a part of scores or many scores of them: The ' Bank of Lapeer,' 'Oakland County,' 'Macomb,' ' Ypsilanti,' 'Bank of Washtenaw,' 'Calhoun,/ ' County Bank,' 'Bank of Marshall,' 'Jackson,' ' Allegan,' 'Sandstone,' 'Huron,' etc. They issued their bills all according to law, all secured; the wealth of the lands, whic, could not depart, was represented in a currency which they called money, and to be used as the medium of trade, to raise crops and move crops; to buy and sell merchandise with, etc. They were good-looking bills, and seemed as much like money as a greenback of 1874. How very nice was all this! The country was happy, I for they had money in great abundance. The merchants bought large stocks of goods; the stores were well filled. The people borrowed money of the banks freely; everybody that could paid out. And money was again as plenty as when the worthy young man of Amherst disbursed Belchertown, or the venerable president made money from the stump of a tree with a stroke of his pen. But time hurries up events most marvelously. The financial convulsion, which Jackson either mended or made worse, came on unappeased, till at last his successor, Van Buren, when he took the Presidency, found all the banks of the country under a suspension; there were neither Nick Biddle's bills nor Benton's click of the dollar nor the shine of the eagles through the net-work of silk purses. The sound Commonwealth Bank of Boston, which secured itself by loaning to its customers on bonds and mortgages, and thus honored Democratic notions of banking in Boston, failed at the first dash, being sadly surprised to learn the flaw in the theory that good notes of hand, well secured, would not redeem bank-bills; that money, after all, was the only commodity that would redeem promises to pay. "The banks of Michigan being so far out of the range of the financial tornados that raged where money was, it was reasonable to think they might escape. It does not appear that any sudden squall keeled them over. Trade went on, the merchants sold goods rapidly, and bought what little produce the tillers of the soil had in those days to sell; goods grew gradually higher in the stores; money grew gradually less in price. One bank far away would be worth ninety cents, another eighty, and so, graduated by no known rule, they stood, the representatives of values from twenty-five cents to par. Those at par were received for goods at twenty per cent. above cost in certain places (perhaps near home, if the unfortunate bantlings had any home), while they would be at twenty-five cents in another section of the State. The currency became a wonderment to all the Wolverines. It was laughed at, sneered at, or jeered at, as fancy might dictate, and thus became the prolific source of many grim jokes. The 'Sandstone' bank became the main butt. ' Lapeer' was another synonym of unfathomable banking mysteries. ' Wild-Cat' was the general term by which the whole breed was known. ' Red Dog,' 'Blue Pup," Grindstone,' ' Sandy Bay,' ' Sink-a-pore,' and other queer terms designated certain classes of this queer currency. And yet it may seem strange why it should be so very different from any other currency. It was authorized by law; it was the first complete trial of organizing a system by which the bill-holders should be secured by a pledge of real estate. The absurdity of the arrangement was, that it could have been supposed that the wild lands of Michigan could be converted at any reasonable period into anything with which bank-bills could be redeemed. The winding up, or rather closing up, of the experiment was as singular as its origin. They had but a year or so, and perhaps but a few months' trial of confidence before the public. We have no knowledge of any process of winding up, or foreclosing to save bill-holders; or that the lands put up were ever appropriated to redeem the currency. It rather 'petered' out. The public had their time for ridiculing that style of banking, and then very generously abandoned the whole thing, leaving the expressive title as an inheritance to future generations." When the bank commissioners came around to look into the financial condition of the various institutions, the officers had a very ingenious way of meeting the emergency. They found some bank or individual that had a few thousand dollars in specie. This they borrowed, and when their bank had passed examination and been pronounced sound, the money was loaned to the next in order, and so on in rotation until the commissioners had finished their work and departed. In this way a thousand dollars might serve as a specie basis for all the banks in the Territory or State; all that was necessary was to know the line of movement of the commissioners, and an approximate to the date of their appearance. An incident of the "wild-cat" days is related in connec tion with the Battle Creek bank by Mr. Van Buren: A gentleman connected with the " wild-cat" bank at that place, in the fall of 1837, borrowed one thousand dollars in five CIVIL ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. 99. 1I 7- --- --- -- -- i - ------ franc pieces of a citizen of Le Boy, Calhoun Co. This he used at the inspection of the Battle Creek bank; then taking it to the next in rotation, and so on, going the rounds of all the banks in the neighborhood, including" Sinkapore," at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River, keeping far enough ahead of the slow-going commissioners to make the deposit in time to meet them. He kept the money about a month or six weeks, and paid its owner forty bushels of wheat for its use when he returned it. In the same way a citizen of Three Rivers borrowed the "specie basis" of Kalamazoo, to serve the bank in his place. On his way home, in a one-horse wagon, he lost his way, and was compelled to camp in the woods overnight. He slept with the " sub-treasury" under his head, and in the morning made his way joyfully to Three Rivers without meeting a Dick Turpin on the road. The commissioners found the bank all right, and certified accordingly, while the specie was quietly returned to its owner. CHAPTER XV. CIVIL ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY. First Counties organized in the Territory-Organization of Kalamazoo County-First Townships-County-Seat-Subdivisions. THE earliest counties organized within the Territory of Michigan, from 1796 to 1830, were as follows: Wayne, which included the lower peninsula, by Gen. Anthony Wayne, after whom it was named,* in 1796; re-established by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, July 15th of the same year, and organized by proclamation of Governor Cass, Nov. 21, 1815; Monroe, taken from Wayne, organized July 14, 1817; Mackinac, organized Oct. 26, 1818; Oakland, March 28, 1820; Washtenaw, 1826; Chippewa, from Mackinac, 1826; Lenawee, from Monroe, 1826; St. Joseph, from Lenawee, 1829; and Kalamazoo, from St. Joseph, July 30, 1830. Under the act of October 29, 1829, providing for the laying out of certain counties, Kalamazoo County is described in the seventh section as follows: "That so much of the county as lies south of the base line, and north of the line between townships four and five south of the base line, and west of the line between ranges eight and nine west of the meridian, and east of the line between ranges twelve and'thirteen west of the meridian, be, and the same is hereby set off into a separate county, and the name thereof shall be Kalamazoo."t The act erecting the counties of Cass and St. Joseph, approved Nov. 4, 1829, contained the following section: "That the counties of Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Branch, Barry, and Eaton, and all the country lying north of township four north of the base line, west of the principal meridian, south of the county of Maohilimackinac, and east of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen, and of Lake Michigan, where said range line intersects the lake, shall be attached to and compose a part of the county of St. Joseph.": * Albach's Annals of the West states that the county was organized and the civil law established by Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the Northwest Territory, in September, 1796. The statement copied is from the State Census Report for 1874. Judge Campbell says Sargent set off the county on the 18th of August, 1796. t Territorial Laws, vol. ii. page 736. New edition. t Ibid., page 745. On the 5th of November, 1829, an act was passed for the subdivision of certain counties, section 4 of which reads as follows "That the counties of Kalamazoo and Barry, and all the country lying north of the same, which are attached to and compose a part of the county of St. Joseph, shall form a township of the name of Brady, and the first township-meeting be held at the house of Abram I. Shaver, in said township."' ACT OF ORGANIZATION.1I "Be it enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, That the county of Kalamazoo shall be organized from and after the taking effect of this act, and the inhabitants thereof entitled to all the rights and privileges to which by law the inhabitants of the other organized counties of this Territory are entitled. "SEC. 2. That there shall be a county court established in the said county, which court shall be held on the third Tuesday of October in each year. "SEC. 3. That a circuit court shall also be held in the said county, and that the several acts concerning the Supreme, circuit, and county courts of the Territory of Michigan, defining their jurisdiction and powers, and directing the pleadings and practice therein in certain cases, be, and the same are hereby made applicable to the circuit court in the aforesaid county of Kalamazoo. "SEc. 4. That the said county of Kalamazoo shall be one circuit, and the court for the same shall be held hereafter on the first Tuesday of September in each year. " SEC. 5. That all suits, prosecutions, and other matters now pending before the circuit or county courts of the county of St. Joseph, or before any justice of the peace of said county, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execution; and all taxes heretofore levied, or which may be hereafter levied for the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty, shall be collected in the same manner as though the said county of Kalamazoo had not been organized. "'SEc. 6. That the circuit and county courts shall be held at the county-seat, at the court-house or other usual place of holding courts therein, provided that the first term of said courts shall be holden at the house of Abraham I. Shaver,~ in said county: Provided, That it shall be lawful for the said circuit and county courts to adjourn the first term of said courts from the house of said Shaver to such other place in said county as to said courts may appear expedient. " SEC. 7. That the counties of Calhoun, Barry, and Eaton, and all the country lying north of township four, north of the base line, west of the principal meridian, south of the county of Michilimackinac, and east of the line between ranges twelve and thirteen and of Lake Michigan, where said range line intersects the lake, shall be attached to and compose a part of the county of Kalamazoo for judicial purposes. " SEC. 8. That all acts and parts of acts now in force contravening the provisions of this act be, and the same are hereby repealed. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and thirty. "Approved July 30, 1830." From the above extracts it appears that Kalamazoo County formed a part of the county of St. Joseph from Nov. 4, 1829, to Oct. 1, 1830, and during nearly the same period constituted also a part of the township of Brady, which included about one-fifth of the area of the lower peninsula. It does not appear by any written or printed record that this great township performed during this period any legal or corporate act. If its citizens ever assembled to transact township business the records are in St. Joseph County. "AN ACT to organize the townships of Arcadia and Brady, in the county of Kalamazoo. "Be it elacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, That all that part of the county of Kalamazoo comprised in: Ibid., page 787. 11 Ibid., page 836. ~ This name is printed in the Territorial Laws both Abram and Abraham. 100 HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN. _ L_ _ townships one and two south of the base line, and in ranges nine, ten, eleven, and twelve west of the principal meridian, shall be a township by the name of Arcadia, and that the first township-meeting shall be holden at the house of Titus Brownson,* in said township. " SEC. 2. That all that district of country known and distinguished as townships three and four south, and ranges nine, ten, eleven, and twelve west, in said county of Kalamazoo, shall be a township by the name of Brady; and that the first township-meeting shall be holden at the house of Abram I. Shaver, in said township.t "Approved July 30, 1830." This original subdivision of the county divided it into two equal parts, as will be seen by reference to the following outline map. Range 12. Range 11. Range 10. Range 9. < %ULL jL LAKE^. -J AUGUSTA. C KALL AZO