USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 40
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* To verify this, the reader is referred to any detailed history of New France.
468
The Hudson Bay Co.
furs, and the latter crops of souls. These were the incentives which pushed French discovery into the upper lakes, and over the prairies and into the forests, where now crops of corn, instead of furs, are harvested.
The next drawback that affected the Canadian fur trade was the rivalship of the Dutch at Albany. They could buy in the cheapest market and sell in the dearest, unshackled by royal tributes. This competition aug- mented the animosity which nationality and religion had already enkindled between the Canadian and Eng- lish settlements, and it was fanned to a flame in 1754, when the French and Indian war commenced, as told in previous pages.
This war having resulted triumphantly to the British, in 1759 the whole fur trade fell into their hands as soon as they could take possession of the immense country then embraced within the limits of New France, and thus remained till the American revolution had shorn from them the fairest portions of their late conquest. Notwithstanding this, however, the immensity of the British possession in those far northern regions that grow the best furs still insured to them this trade, with no diminution in its volume. The British company en- gaged in it was chartered in 1670, under the name of the Hudson Bay Co. It had no rival till one sprang into existence in 1805, called the Northwest Co. The latter pushed their trade into forest recluses never before entered by white men, carrying the Indian trade to remote Indian lodges with a success that astonished the old company, and in a few years forced them to take in the new company as partners. Thus the two rival interests were merged into one stupendous body, under direction of the most wealthy and influential lords of the British realm.
Thus matters stood till 1809, when John Jacob Astor, of New York, formed the bold design of bearding the British lion in his den, by establishing the American Fur Co., under a charter from the state of New York. The first step to be taken in the grand designs of this company, was to establish a permanent station on the Pacific coast, at a locality which could command the
469
The American Fur Co.
Russian trade as well as that of the Indians along the coast. The first ship destined for this enterprise sailed from New York in September, 1810, doubled Cape Horn, and arrived at the mouth of the Columbia river the next year. A fort was built and named Astoria, in honor of the illustrious man who conceived the enter- prise. As might be supposed, the Hudson Bay Co. looked upon this venture as a piece of unparalleled audacity, especially inasmuch as the British at that time claimed Oregon as their own territory; and they set themselves about the accomplishment of the ruin of their fearless rival. The next year, 1812, a pretext was offered them to fulfill this design, by the American declaration of war against England.
When the Hudson Bay Co. learned this they attacked Astoria, took the Americans prisoners, took possession of the station, and changed its name to Fort George. This was a severe blow to Mr. Astor, but he was by no means disheartened; no further steps could be taken to repair the damages while the war lasted, especially as the British fleet swept the lakes, and their emissaries were almost omnipresent among the northern tribes of Indians along these waters. But as soon as the war had closed, Mr. Astor, with characteristic energy, deter- mined to begin anew, and establish his headquarters at Mackinaw, as a base of operations. This was an under- taking not less bold than arduous. A small army of men must be employed to carry on the operations of the company, from every one of whom were expected services which would be looked upon as too hard for the effeminate men of our day. Even the confidential clerks who took charge of the goods enjoyed no im- munity from the hardships of camp life in the wilder- ness, where the wolves prowled around their camp, and the owls talked and laughed with them at midnight. * Happily for Mr. Astor, there was already an efficient force in the field, who had hitherto acted, each one for himself, without the advantages which come from large
* These birds will answer a human voice in the stillness of the night, and give hoots in such quick succession as to resemble laughing, which fact is ascertained from personal experience of the writer.
.
470
The Engagees.
and concerted movements, and were ready to co-operate with him, inasmuch as he could make it for their interest to do so.
Ramsey Crooks and Robert Stuart were selected from these, to whom was given the control of the whole north- west. From Michilimackinac, their base of operations, they sent men into every nook and corner of their terri- tory, where the Indian and the beaver lived and grew.
At Montreal they established a house under charge of Mr. Mathews, to enlist the men for service, both as clerks and voyageurs. The latter manned the boats called bateaux, into which the goods were packed and rowed to the various stations throughout the wilderness, at which places they were unloaded, and the bateaux filled with furs to be sent on their return trip to Macki- naw. Their record forms a page in our history never to be reproduced. Their daily routine was hard labor in rowing the heavily laden bateaux or carrying them and their freights across portages. At night the roof that covered them was the sky, their bed the earth, and they were happy. They were all Canadian French, trained to servility, and toughened into almost incredi- ble endurance by hard usage. The Hon. James H. Lockwood, * of Prairie du Chien, in a paper read before the State Wisconsin Historical Society, says of them:
The traders and their clerks were then the aristocracy of the country; and to a Yankee at first sight, presented a singular state of society. To see gentlemen selecting wives of the nut-brown natives, and raising children of mixed blood, the traders and clerks living in as much luxury as the resources of the country would admit, and the engagees or boat- men living upon soup made of hulled corn with barely tallow enough to season it, devoid of salt, unless they purchased it themselves at a high price-all this to an American was a novel mode of living, and appeared to be hard fare; but to a person acquainted with the habits of life of the Canadian peasantry, it would not look so much out of the way, as they live mostly on pea soup, seasoned with a piece of pork boiled down to grease, seldom eating pork except in the form of grease that seasons their soup. With this soup, and a piece of coarse bread, their meals were made; hence the change from pea soup to corn is not so great, or the fare much worse than that which they had been accustomed to, as the corn is more substantial than peas, not being so flatulent. These men engaged in Canada generally for five years for Mackinaw and its dependencies, transferable like cattle to any one who wanted them, at generally about 500 livres a year, or, in our currency, about $83.83; fur-
* Mr. Lockwood was born in Clinton, N. Y ., in 1793. He emigrated to Green Bay in 1815, and has ever since, while he lived, been a resident of Wisconsin or Illinois, always living a temperate life, and always a steadfast champion of justice.
471
Chicago Branch of the American Fur Co.
nished with a yearly equipment or outfit of two cotton shirts, one three- point or triangular blanket, a portage collar, and one pair of beef shoes; being obliged, in the Indian country to purchase their moccasins, to- bacco, pipes and other necessaries, at the price the trader saw fit to charge for them. Generally at the end of five years, these poor voya- geurs were in debt from $50 to $150, and could not leave the country until they had paid their indebtedness; and the policy of the traders was to keep as many of them in the country as they could; and to this end they allowed and encouraged their engagees to get in debt during the five years, which of necessity required them to remain.
These new hands were by the old voyageurs called in derision, man- geurs de lard-pork eaters-as on leaving Montreal, and on the route to Mackinaw, they were fed on pork, hard bread and pea soup, while the old voyageurs in the Indian country ate corn soup, and such other food as could conveniently be procured .* These mangeurs de lard were brought at considerable expense and trouble from Montreal and other parts of Canada, frequently deserting after they had received some advance in money and their equipment. Hence it was the object of the traders to keep as many of the old voyageurs in the country as they could, and they generally permitted the mangeurs de lard to get largely in debt, as they could not leave the country and get back into Canada, except by the return boats or canoes which brought the goods, and they would not take them back if they were in debt anywhere in the coun- try, which could be easily ascertained from the traders at Mackinaw.
The whole country at that time was divided into dis- tricts by the American Fur Co., each having a principal director who superintended the clerks and voyageurs detailed to his station from the parent office at Macki- naw, allotting to each his especial territory.
In the year 1817 the enterprising house of Conant & Mack, whose headquarters were at Detroit, had estab- lished a branch fur trading station at Lee's place, on the south branch of the Chicago river, under the super- intendence of Mr. John Crafts. When the American Fur Co. came to establish a branch at Chicago soon afterward, a rivalry of interests would have followed immediately if both establishments had kept on; but rather than attempt this, the Detroit house sold out to the American company, who in turn employed their men at once, inasmuch as they were on the ground, and familiar with the required duties. To Mr. Crafts was given the superintendence of the post at Chicago, as a part of the bargain, and the former agent of the com- pany, Mr. John Baptiste Beaubien was displaced. Mr. Craft's territory included the Rock river and Fox river countries, besides the immediate neighborhood of Chicago.
* The experienced voyageurs are called hivornans or winterers, according to Snelling's work on the northwest. L. C. D.
472
Early Days of a Chicago Pioneer.
Among the most efficient agents of the company was Antoine DeChamps. This gentleman had the agency of the whole state of Illinois, except the portion taken out for the Chicago agency. He was a man of educa- tion and talents, both versatile and effective. If any imposing ceremonies among the Catholics were to take place, the priests always invited him to take a part, and his counsels were equally sought after by the Indians, who could readily discriminate between minds of high and low degree. He was one of the first founders of Opa (Peoria), at which place he had been a law-giver and kind of deputy priest among his people, the French, previous to its relentless destruction under Capt. Craig, as spoken of in a previous chapter. As agent of the American Fur Co., Mr. DeChamps' headquarters were located at various convenient places in southern Illinois.
Such was the situation of Chicago and the contiguous country in 1818, as reported by Gurdon S. Hubbard, who is at this time (1880) a well known citizen and liv- ing witness among us. At that time he was a lad in his sixteenth year, residing at Montreal with his parents. Anxious to get into the fur trade, he offered his services as clerk to Mr. Mathews, its agent there. His youth was an objection, and no encouragement was given him. But by dint of perseverance, during the winter of 1817-18, Mr. Mathews finally agreed to take him pro- viding his father would sign the indenture papers bind- ing him to serve the company five years, at $120 per year. He did not believe the father would sign an in- denture by which his son was to be taken into the wilds, out of the reach of his protecting care. Nor did the father believe that Mr. Mathews would take so young a stripling into a rough service which required a more tenacious pith than sixteen years would be able to furnish. But between the mutual doubt of both the contracting parties, by making the bond contingent from one to the other, young Gurdon managed to lobby his bill through both houses, and became duly engaged for a five years' term.
On the 13th of May, 1818, everything was ready, and the clerks and voyagers, 130 in all, started in thir-
473
Young Hubbard Arrives at Chicago.
teen bateaux, bound for Mackinaw. Their way lay up the St. Lawrence river, and along the shore of Lake Erie, to Toronto, thence by a portage to Lake Simcoe, crossing which, another portage was made to Nota- wasauga river, down which they rowed to Lake Huron, thence along its northern shore to Mackinaw. Here they arrived on the 4th of July, and young Hubbard was immediately set at work in the warehouse till the middle of September, He was then detailed into the Illinois brigade, under Mr. DeChamps, and started for his destination along the eastern shore of Lake Michi- gan. Doubling its southern extremity, his party, con- sisting of about 100 men and twelve bateaux, contain- ing the goods, arrived at Chicago about the first of November, 1818.
Here Mr. John Kinzie lived in the house he first occupied before the massacre, following his occupation of silversmith, relying chiefly on the Indians for patron- age. No wonder these simple children of nature looked upon him who could make and repair fire locks for their guns as a marvelous prodigy as well as an indispensable man among them. These mechanical accomplishments, associated, as they were, with ability to give wise coun- sel tempered with the spirit of justice, placed Mr. Kin- zie so high in the estimation of his swarthy friends, that his social position had transcended the angry passions of war, as already shown in preceding pages. His family consisted of John H., who has ever since lived at Chicago till his death in 1865, * and was highly esteemed as one of her able business men; Eleanor, who after- ward married Alexander Wolcott, Indian agent; and Maria, who married Gen. Hunter, and is now (1880) living with her husband at Washington; Robert A., late . United States paymaster at Chicago, who died Decem- ber 13, 1873, and was buried in Graceland cemetery, and Mrs. Helm, daughter of Mrs. Kinzie, by her first husband, Her father, Capt. McKillip, was an officer in the British service at the time of Wayne's campaign.
* He died June 21st, on board the cars, near Pittsburgh. He had con- versed in his usual vein of agreeableness to the last moment; and was in the act of giving alms to a poor woman, when he expired without warning.
474
The Portage through Mud Lake.
Besides the Kinzie family was the family of Antoine Ouilmette, a Frenchman, with a Pottawattamie wife and four children. J. B. Beaubien was then away on some tour through the country, and these two families, besides the garrison, composed the entire population of Chicago, except the Indians, who at that time were far more numerous than the whites, throughout the entire country. And had they been told that the new comers would eventually crowd them out and occupy the coun- try themselves, such a prediction would have been re- ceived with no small measure of astonishment and indignation.
After resting at Chicago three days, during which time young Hubbard was the guest of Mr. Kinzie, he started with his party for their destination, which was the territory under the superintendence of Mr. De- Champs. The bateaux were again loaded, and they paddled up the tranquil waters of the south branch of the Chicago river, sending tiny ripples among the tall grasses on each bank of the stream, which were then but a monotonous alluvial of mud, in no respect different from what they were when Marquette first passed them, one hundred and fifty-six years and two months before. After rowing about to the present site of Bridgeport, a portage had to be made to the Desplaines. This was a laborious task. The water was unusually low, and Mud lake, the natural estuary between the two streams, was an uninviting succession of mud bars and stagnant pools, where sun fish, frogs and tadpoles were huddled to- gether in close quarters. Seeing the work before them, it was deemed advisable to encamp till the portage could be made without damage to the store of goods of which their freight consisted. This done, package after package was carried on the shoulders of the men nine. miles to the banks of the Desplaines. The empty ba- teaux were polled or dragged through Mud lake and transported to the Desplaines with the goods, but not without many a heavy strain. After the portage was made and the party were gliding down the Desplaines, congratulating themselves that they should meet no more obstructions on their way, they suddenly came
475
Indian Architecture.
upon sand bars in the river, that in its low stage of water extended from shore to shore, and the goods had to be again taken out of the bateaux and carried over them, as well as the bateaux themselves. By these tardy advances the Illinois river was finally reached, down which they paddled their way, to finally disband into small parties, each of which had some particular station allotted to them respectively, as a trading post under the general direction of Mr. DeChamps, the agent.
The Pottawattamies were then the all-prevailing Indian power of central and northern Illinois. Their principal village was near the present site of Utica, on the Illinois river, and numbered about 2,000 inhabi- tants. At the mouth of the Mazon river they had a village of 700 inhabitants, of which Wabansie was chief. They also had villages at Cashe island, on the Desplaines, at Mount Joliet, Kankakee and various other places besides Chicago, all of which Mr. Hubbard reports with accurate details of their social conditions and the style of their architecture-if an Indian camp deserves that name. They were made of flags, woven and lapped ingeniously together, like a web of cloth. This was wound around a framework of poles set up in a tripod, or rounded at the top and bent over so as to form a cone-shaped roof. Through this an aperture was made at the top for the smoke to escape. The floor consisted of mats spread around the outermost circumference, while the center was the bare ground, on which the fire was made. Around this all could sit in a circle facing each other. Their beds were skins thrown over the mats. The door was an opening in the wall of drapery inclosing the lodge, over which a blanket or skin was suspended. All slept soundly in this simple shelter without fear of burglars, and many a night has my informant, Mr. Hubbard, reposed after the toils of camp life in these lodges with his Indian friends, Almost all of Mr. Hubbard's experience was of a friendly character, but on his way toward St. Louis he made a short stop at Peoria, in company with Mr. DeChamps, and at this place encountered a belligerent Indian, which adventure he has told in Ballance's History of Peoria, as follows:
476
Traffic with the Indians.
CHICAGO, December 30, 1867.
C. BALLANCE, Esq. :
Dear Sir .- In reply to yours of the 26th, I have to say that I was in Peoria the last days of 1818, for the first time, on my way to St. Louis passing there, returning about the 20th November, and wintering about one mile above Hennepin. It was my first year as an Indian trader.
As we rounded the point of the lake, above Peoria, on our down trip, noticed that old Fort Clark was on fire, just blazing up. Reaching it, we found about 200 Indians congregated, enjoying a war dance, painted hideously, with scalps on their spears and in their sashes, which they had taken from the heads of Americans in the war with Great Britain, from 1812 to 1815. They were dancing, rehearsing their deeds of bravery, etc. These were the only people then there or in that vicinity. I never knew of a place called Creve-Cœur.
I have a vivid recollection of my first arrival there. A warrior, notic- ing me (then a boy of sixteen), asked Mr. DeChamps, the chief of our expedition, who I was. He replied that I was his adopted son, just from Montreal; but this was not credited. The Indian said I was a young American, and seemed disposed to quarrel with me. DeChamps, wishing to mix with the Indians, left a man on the boat with me, telling him not to leave, but take care of me, not to go out. Through this man, I learned what the purport of the conversation was. The Indian remained at the bow of the boat, talking to me through this man, who interpreted, saying, among other things, that I was a young American, and taking from his sash scalp after scalp, saying they were my nation's; he saw I was frightened. I was never more so in my life, fairly trembling with fear. His last effort to insult me was taking a long-haired scalp. [Here the colonel describes the particular way in which the Indian made it very wet, and then proceeds] and then shaking it so that it sprinkled me in the face. In a moment all fear left me, and I seized Mr. DeChamps' double-barreled gun, took good aim, and fired. The man guarding me was standing about half way between us, and, just as I pulled the trigger, he struck up the gun, and thereby saved the life of the Indian, and perhaps mine also. It produced great confusion, DeChamps and all our men running to their boats. After a short consultation among the old traders, DeChamps ordered the boats to push out, and we descended the stream and went down three or four miles, and camped on the opposite side of the river. That was the first experience of hostile array with my red brethren. Yours etc., G. S. HUBBARD.
After each party of Mr. DeChamps' men had distrib- uted themselves at various stations, which were gener- ally on the bank of some stream, the first business was to secure their goods in a kind of store built of logs, in the rear of the building in which they lived. This done, all but two or three sallied forth into the back country, in squads of two or more, to seek the locality where the Indians were transiently encamped for a hunt. Having found them, the bartering began. Blan- kets, knives, vermilion and trinkets were spread in tempting display, as a shopman would exhibit his goods in show windows. The furs obtained for these were carried back to the stations, and a new recruit of goods brought out for exchange. In this way the winter was
477
The Factory System.
spent, and when spring opened, the whole corps of traders returned to Mackinaw, with their bateaux loaded with the results of their winter's trade.
The Indians gave up the fur hunting, and betook themselves to their lodges in time to dig up the ground with sharp sticks and plant a crop of the ever essential corn for subsistence. This routine was repeated an- nually by the traders and Indians, till the beaver and other fur bearing animals vanished before the plow and spade of civilization.
Besides the garrison and the American Fur Co. at Chicago was the Indian agency, an indispensable insti- tution wherewith to settle disputes which might arise between them and the whites, and to keep them in good humor by the judicious distribution of occasional presents. This was established in 1817, shortly after the completion of the fort, and Charles Jowett,* of Kentucky, appointed to its charge with a salary of
$1,000 per year. The factory system established at various places on the frontier had for its principal object the fulfillment of such clauses in Indian treaties as bound the United States to supply them with goods for sale, but the energy and thrift of private enterprise always outrivals any project undertaken by the un- wieldy machinery of government. Hence the estab- lishment of the American Fur Co. soon made the United States factory at Chicago a useless institution ; for although the factor, Jacob Varnum, was instructed to sell goods to the Indians for 10 per cent less than the price of the same to white men, yet the fur com- pany, by their superior facilities for sending goods into the depths of the forest, were able to monopolize the trade by underselling the factor, and as a consequence, his duties as agent for the government were assigned to the authorized Indian agent, and the factors' offices were always discontinued soon atter private enterprise had fulfilled the necessary conditions of supplying the Indians with goods.
* His name is spelled Jowett in the state papers, but in the histories of the day incorrectly spelled Jewett.
478
First Wedding in Chicago.
The following letter from Mr. Varnum to the superintendent of Indian affairs at Washington was evidently written with a commendable desire to enlarge the sphere of his usefulness to the government at a time when the American Fur Co. were monopolizing the trade with the Indians:
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