History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 10

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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Leaving the " Village of the Falls," Nicolet returned down the strait of St. Mary, turned to the west, passed Mackinac, and his little canoe floated upon the clear waters of the "second great fresh water sea." The pioneer white man had found his way to the great Northwest. With that little boat came the beginning of the end which is not yet,-the dawning of the wonder- ful to-day of the West. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, he stopped occasionally upon the shore of what is now the Upper Peninsula of Whichi- gan, reached Green Bay and the mouth of the Menom- onee River, which he entered, and visited the Incians living in its valley .. At the head of Green Bay. near the point where it receives the waters of Fox River. lived the Winnebagoes* to whom he had come with nis message of peace. The narrativet continues thus:

" When he was two days distant (from the Winnebagoes), he sent forward one of his own company to make known to the nation to which they were going that a European ambassador was ap- proaching with gifts, who, in behalf of the Hurons, desired to se- cure their friendship The embassy was received with applause. and young men were immediately sent in meet him, who were 1) carry the baggage and the equipment of the Manitourinion (won- derful man), and escort him with honor. Nicolet was clad in a Chinese robe of silk, skillfully ornamented with birds and flowers of many colors; he carried in each hand a small pistol. When he had discharged these, the more timid persons, boys and women. betook themselves to flight. to escape as quickly as possible from a man who, they said, carried the thunder in both his hands. But the rumor of his coming having spread far and wide, the chiefs. with their followers, assembled directly, to the number of four or five thousand persons; and the matter having been discussed and considered in a general council, a treaty was made in due form. Afterward each of the chiefs gave a banquet after their fa-hion: : and at one of these, strange to say, a hundred and twenty beavers were eaten."

After negotiating a treaty with the Winnebagoes, Nicolet sailed up the Fox River, of Green Bay, a six days' journey, as the first step toward the discovery of the " great water " he desired to reach. Near the " port- age " between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, he found a village of the Mascoutins.

Allouez found the Mascoutin village, which he visited in 1670, at the western extremity of the portage on the Wisconsin, and says it was six days' sail down the Wis- consin to the " Messi-ipi," from the village. Heal speaks of the lake or marsh near the portage as being the source of the Wisconsin River.t

Nicolet evidently thought the same. The narrative reads:

"The Sieur Nicolet, who had penetrated farthest int . those listant weintries, avers that had he sailed three davy more te. great river which treffen the like he would have found ". ...

After sailing down the Wisconsin.s and when with- in three days journey of this "we." Nicht Het is to

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

have found that it was still a long journey to the sea which washed the shores of Asia, and turned his course toward the south. He then visited the Illinois, whom he called Erinionay. Vimont, from information derived from Nicolet. describes them as living south of the Winnebagoes, and as numbering about sixty villages. He also speaks of them as the Liniquek. After his visit to the Illinois villages, Nicolet returned to the region now Green Bay, visited the Pottawatomies, who lived on the islands at the mouth of the bay, and on the penin- sula forming its western shore. His mission ended, he returned to the Huron village and thence to Three Riv- ers, where he is mentioned, in the parish records, as standing godfather to Marie, little daughter of Capitanel, chief of the Montaegnais Indians , on the 27th of De- cember, 1635. On his return to Canada, he was as- signed to the post at Three Rivers, by Champlain, as commissary and interpreter. On the 7th of October, 1637, he was married at Quebec to Marguerite Couillard, a godchild of Champlain. Their only child was a daugh- ter. His history, from the time of his return until his death, is thus simply told by DuCreux:

* Nicolet returned to the Hurons, and presently, to Three Rivers, and resumed both of his former functions, yiz .. as com- missary and interpreter; being singularly beloved by both the French and the natives; specially intent upon this, that uniting his industry and the very great influence which he possessed over the savages, with the efforts of the fathers of the society ( Jesuits), he might bring as many as he could to the Church; until, upon the recall to France of Oliver,* who was the chief commissary of Que- bec. Nicolet, on account of his merits, was appointed in his place. But he was not long allowed to enjoy the Christian comfort he had so greatly desired, viz., that at Quebec he might frequently attend upon the sacraments, as his pinus soul desired, and that he might enjoy the society of those with whom he could converse upon di- vine things. On the last day of October (1642), having embarked upon a pinnace at the seventh hour of the afternoon (as we French reckon the hours), i. e., just as the shades of eveniog were falliog, hastening, as I have said, to Three Rivers, upon so pious an errand, t scarcely had he arrived in sight of Sillery,; when, the .. north wind blowing more fiercely, and increasing the violence of the storm which had commenced before Nicolet started, the pin- nace was whirled around two or three times, filled with water from all directions, and finally was swallowed up by the waves. Some of those on board escaped, among them Savigny, the owner of the pinnace: and Nicolet, in that hour of peril, addressing him calmly. said: 'Savigny, since you know how to swim, by all means consult your own safety; I, who have no such skill, am going to God: I recommend my wife and daughter to your kindness.' In the midst of this conversation, a wave separated them; Nicolet was drowned: Savigny, who from horror and the darkness of the night, did not know where he was, was torn by the violence of the waves from the boat, to which he had clung for some time; then he struggled for awhile in swimming, with the bostile force of the changing waves, until at last, his strength failing, and his courage almost forsaking him, he made a vow to God (but what, is not related). Then strik- ing the bottom of the stream with his foot, he reached the sloping land under the water, and foreing his way with difficulty through the edge of the stream, already frozen, he crep :. half dead, to the humble abode of the father -. The prisoner, for whose ake Nico- let had exposed himself to this deadly peril, twelve days afterwardi reached sillery, and soon after Quebec-having been re-ened from the cruelty of the Vigonquins by Rupneus, wr .. was in command al Three Rivers, in pursuance of letters from M atmagay. on pay- ment, no doubt, of a ran-un. This. moreover, was no : the first occasion on which Nicolet had encountered per?' of his Sie for the safety of savages. He had frequently done the very same thing Le- fare ways the Frencha writer; and to there with when he - Fitted he left proof- of his virtues by such des ase ed hardy be exported of a man entangled in the boom !- . i mar age; they were, indeed, eminent, and more to the height of apost . : perte- tion; and, therefore, was the loss of a get a man the more griewatts, Certain it is that the shares, themeches. .. woon a

* humplain died und .. .

A: this : - - hr 4 .. ....

they heard what had befallen him, surrounded the bank of the great river in crowds, to see whether they could render any aid. When all hope of that was gone. they did what alone remained in their power, by incredible manifestations of grief and limentation at the sad fate of the man who had deserved so well of them."

Thus perished John Nicolet, the brave yet gentle young pioneer who first found the path to the Northwest, and the first white man who saw its magnificent lakes, forests and prairies, Along his path followed, after many years. a long procession of devoted priests, brave explorers and hardy voyageurs ; but among them all. not one whose record is more noble than that of this unpretending " layman," who carried peace to the nations which he visited, and lived and died in unselfish devotion to the call of the suffering and oppressed.

THE JESUITS AND THEIR EXPLORATIONS .- In the sketch of John Nicolet, it was mentioned that he started on his long western journey at the same time that Fathers Brebeuf. Daniel and Davost set out to found the Huron mission, accompanying them a part of the way. After leaving Nicolet at the Isles des Allumette, the fathers pursued their journey to the southern extremity of the Georgian Bay, and on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, at Ihonatiria, the principal Indian village,' established the mission of St. Joseph. The country of the Hurons, although small in area, was rich and populous, and the inhabitants were more gentle and ready to listen to the missionaries than the other tribes they had visited. By 1636 three more fathers had been sent among them, and their work was wonderfully pros- perous. In the autumn of 1641. the mission of St. Joseph was visited by a deputation of Indians occupy- ing " the country around a rapid in the midst of the channel by which Lake Superior empties into Lake Huron,"* inviting them to visit their tribe. The fathers "were not displeased with the opportunity thus pre- sented of knowing the countries lying beyond Lake Huron, which no one of them had yet traversed ; " so Isaac Jogues and Charles Raymbault,t two of the later comers, were detached to accompany the Chippewas to their home. After seventeen days from their departure they reached the village at the "Santt," which Nicolet had visited in 1634, where the savages had assembled " in. great numbers to hear their words. They did not found a mission ; their visit being merely a prelim- inary one, to view the field. The following year the Iroquois war broke out afresh, and missions and Huron villages alike disappeared. Fathers Jogues and Raym- bault attempted to return to the St. Lawrence. The former was taken prisoner by the Iroquois and cruelly scourged and mutilated : the latter died soon after his return. It was not until 1636 that the Jesuits dared again attempt the extension of their missions. In that year Father Garreau was ordered to Lake Superior. which now seemed a more promising field, but he was killed before leaving the St. Lawrence. DeGroselles and another Frenchma: wintered on the shore of Lake. Superior in 16:3. They visited the Sioux. and from the fugitive Herons who had sought refuge among them, heard of the Mesissippi and the Tilinois Indian -. whom they had found on it- banks, In 1660, Rene Menard. formes'y a missionary among the Hurons. branded an Ottawa passion on the southern shore of . live Superior, at Koweenaw Bay, but after a brief stay among the Indian ded in the woods, of famine, or through vinden e. Five years later. Father Chaude Mi mez was sent to I ise superior to take up the work of Menard. He arrived October 1. 1665, at " thesol-

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

consin, " at the bottom of which," wrote the missionary, "are situated the great villages of the savages, who there plant their fields of Indian corn, and lead a station- ary life." Near by he erected a small chapel of bark -the first structure erected by civilized man in Wiscon- sin, and at LaPointe, a little north of the Indian vil- lages, he established the mission of the " Holy Ghost," which in 1669, fell to the charge of Father Jacques Marquette.

JACQUES MARQUETTE, whose name is now identified with the early history of Chicago, was a native of Laon, in Picardy-a devoted priest, and a learned and talented man. He had been employed on the St. Lawrence, and was preparing for a projected mission to the Montaeg- nais Indians, at the mouth of the Saguenay, in Canada, when he received orders to prepare for the Ottawa mis- sion on Lake Superior, then in charge of Father Allouez. He left Quebec on the 21st of April, 1668, and jour- neyed with the Ottawa flotilla of that year, to Sault Ste. Marie. When he reached Lake Superior, he found that new missions were required on the lakes, as the Hurons and other tribes driven west by the Iroquois were now returning toward their old homes. Two places were se- lected by the Jesuit superior, wherein to found these missions-the Chippewa village at the "Sault," and Green Bay. The former station was assigned to Mar- quette, A year later Allouez left the Ottawa mission at La Pointe, to found the mission at St. Francis Xavier, at Green Bay, and Marquette was transferred from the "Sault " where, with the help of Father Dablon, his superior, he had built a church and established the mis- sion of St. Mary), to the western shore of Lake Superi- . or, the former station of Father Allouez. Marquette arrived at La Pointe in the autumn of 1669, then the extreme point to which the French had penetrated, and lived a year and a half among the savage tribes who had congregated there (the Hurons, and Ottawas driven from the east, the Christian Kiskadons, and the scoffing Ontaonks), " busily employed from morning till night ' in instructing and admonishing them, both in chapel. and cabin. In the spring of 1670, he was appointed to the Illinois mission, and earnestly hopes that it will "please God to send some father to take his place," that he may set out in the fall to commence the work among the Illinois. Several of this nationhad, been at La Pointe during the winter, and these "lost sheep " had called upon him " so piteously," that he could not resist their entreaties to visit them. The young Illinois hunt- "ers accordingly left La Pointe in the spring, with a promise to send some of their " old men " to guide Mar- quette to their prairies in the coming fall. Marquette had learned much of these "hunters" during the win- ter. They told him of the great river, "almost a league wide,"-which they passed in coming to La Pointe, which he says he desired to visit, to teach the natives along its banks, and " in order to open the way to so many of the fathers who have long awaited this happiness." a minor consideration, he desired " to gain a knowledge of the southern or western sea." Of the Hhnois he says:

" The Illinois are thirty days' journey by land from La Pointe, by a difficult road; they lie southwest" from it. On the way you pass the nation of the Reteingaminst who lived in more than twenty large cabins. They are infand and seek tohave intercourse with the French, from whom they hope in get axes, knives and ironware. * * * Von pass then to the Miamiwek,+ and by great desert- reach the Hinois, who are assemiged chiefly in two town-, comany more than eight or nine thousand sunis. When the flinois come to la lante they pass a large river almost

Evidently allading to that portioned the Unis west of the Mississippi. the Woman Kur, tuche mil ker the the sun wing, war The

league wide. It runs north and south, and so far that the Illinois, who do not know what canoes are, have never yet heard of its month. The Illinois are warriors, they make many slaves, whom they sell to the Ottawas for guns, powder, kettles, axes anu knives. They were formerly at war with the Nadouessi, but having made peace some years since, I confirmed it, to facilitate their coming to La l'ointe, where I am going to await them in order to accompany them to their country.'

Marquette did not found a mission among the Illi- nois, as he desired, in the fall of 1670. The Sioux-the Nadonessi, whose treaty with the Illinois he had con- firmed, and whose country he believed he could safely pass-declared war on the Ottawas and Hurons, and, with what remained of his terrified flock, he passed an- other winter at the mission of the Holy Ghost. In the spring he left the dangerous neighborhood of the Sioux, with the Hurons, his last remaining Indians; the Otta- was, for whom the mission was established, having pre- viously fled toward the east. .

Marquette embarked with his Hurons on Lake Supe- rior, and crossing to its eastern extremity in frail canoes, passed down the strait of St. Mary, and thence to Michilimackinac. Entering the latter strait, they re- solved to land and make a home there, and on the north- ern side of the trait now Point St. Ignace, of the Michi- gan Peninsula , Marquette erected a rude chapel, and founded among the Hurons the mission of St. Ignatius. The Indians soon built near the chapel a palisade fort, enclosing their cabins, and Marquette remained among them, until the spring of 1673.

In 1671 France took formal possession of the whole country of the upper lakes, determined to extend her power to the extreme limit, vague as it was, of Canada. The Mississippi and some of its principal tributaries were well known to exist, and the importance of its exploration-it could hardly be termed discovery-was well understood. The rulers of New France, however, did not regard this great river merely as another avenue to be opened .whereby the cross might be carried to unknown tribes; and the ambitious Frontenac and sagacious Talon, well knew that Marquette was not the man to be entrusted with the purely secular interests of the expedition which they had determined upon. There- fore Louis Joliet, whom they rightly " deemed compe- tent for so great a design," was selected as the leader, and Marquette was " chosen to accompany him;". the .former to seek by the Mississippi the mythical kingdom of Quivira, which with its gold and precious stones was believed to lie in the path to- the California sea; and the latter " to seek new nations toward the South Sea, to teach them of the great God whom they have hitherto unknown."

LOUIS JOLIET was born in Quebec, in 1645, and was the son of a wheelwright in the employ of the Com- pany of the One Hundred Associates. He was educated at the college of Quebec, and, evincing a desire to enter the priesthood, took the preliminary steps and entered the theoberical seminary in the same city. As he grew older, mathematical and geographical studies seemed to have a greater charm for him than theological, and he finally decided to embark in business life. He first came to the West as a fur-trader, and was afterward-about 1667-sent by Talon to explore the copper mines of Lake Superior. On his return from this expedition, in 1669, he met Lasalle near the head of Lake Ontario, and in 16; 1. he is mentioned as being present at St. 1.us- som's grand convention of Indian tribes at Sault Ste. Marie. Having received the necessary instructions. Joliet left acher on the 8th of December, 1672: arrived at Michifimackinac, and on the igth of May. 16;3. the two explorer, with one other Frenchman, and four In-

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

dians, started from the mission of St. Ignatius on their memorable expedition. Before leaving, they made a map of the new country they hoped to explore, from information gained from the Indians, " marking down the rivers," says Marquette, " on which we were to sail, the names of the nations and places through which we were to pass, the course of the great river, and what direction we should take when we got to it." The history of their expedition is well known. Entering Green Bay they

FAC SIMILE S IM Astegraph_ Kap afina

# MISSISSIPPI

Conception River.

FATHER MARQUETTE

LAC DES

KOMJ

ILINOIS

UOus

ORJ

MALAR

NATIONA Etalagees

DANS IT

MAZEL

BASSIN DE LA FLORIDE

FLORIDE

MARQUETTE'S MAP.

passed to its head, and entered Fox River. This they ascended, obtaining guides to lead them through the maze of marshes and little lakes between it and the Wis- consin, as they approached the portage between the two - rivers. Sailing down the Wisconsin, they entered the Mississippi on the i7th of June, 10;3. After a vovage of more than a week, they for the first time beheld :m Indian trail, leading from the west bank of the river back to a beautiful prairie. Leaving their men with the canoes, Joliet and Marquette, with many misgivings as to what would be their fate, silently followed the little path until they came in sight of three Iban villages.

LAC JUPERTEVR DE TRACT

One was on the bank of a river, and the others on a hill, a short distance beyond. With a prayer for protection, they halted and gave a cry to announce their presence. The astonished Indians poured from their cabins, to halt in turn and gaze upon the strangers. At last four old men came slow'y and gravely toward them, with calu- mets of peace. Silently they advanced. and having reached them, paused to look upon them more closely. Marquette, judging now that their intentions were friend. ly, addressed them in Algon- quin, asking who they were. They replied, " We are Illi- nois,"* and extended the pipe of peace. These were the Peorias and Moingwenas, whose villages were west of the Mississippi, and, as laid down on Marquette's map, were on EVRON the south bank of a river sup- posed to be the Des Moines, the upper part of that river still bearing the name of Mo- 43 ingonan the Monk), These Illinois Indians treated their visitors with great kindness, and the next day a crowd of six hundred natives escorted them to their canoes, to see them embark. The explorers promised to pass back through + this town in four moons, but were not enabled to keep their promise. They sailed down · the clear current of the Missis- sippi, passed the " Ruined Castles," passed the monstrous painting on the rock, passed the Missouri and Ohio and reached the Arkansas, when they decided that they " had gained all the information that . could be desired from the ex- NATIONE DANS LES TERRES 35 pedition," "that the Missis- sippi had its mouth in Florida or the Gulf of Mexico," and, on the 17th of July, just one month from the time they left" the Wisconsin. they turned R . their canoes up the river. Find- ing the ascent difficult, they entered the Illinois River, which Marquette says, " great- ly shortened their path." and which he describes as broad. deep and gentle for sixty-five leagues, with many little lakes and rivers, while meadows and prairies, teeming with game. bordered it on either side. Sailing up the river to within a few miles of the present site of Utica, they arrived at an Illinois village, called Kaska kia, where the travelers were well rece ved, and to which Marquette promised to return at some future time to instruct the tribe. A chief. with a band of young Kaskaskians, accompanied them thence to Lake Michigan, which they rea Bed with ittie trouble. and ; alling up its western shore. arrived at the mission of St. Francis Xavier, at Green Bay, during the

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

latter part of September. Here the two companions remained together through the winter As early as possi- ble in the summer of 1674. Joliet hastened to Quebec to report to the authorities, visiting LaSalle at Fort Front- enac, on his journey. In a letter to Frontenac, written October 10, 1674, he says:

" It is not long since I returned from my South Sea voyage, 1 was fortunate during all that time, but on my way back, just as I was about to land at Montreal, my canve capsized and I lost two men, with my chest, containing all my papers and my journal. with some curiosities from those remote countries. I greatly re- gret a little slave ten years old who had been presented to me. Ile was endowed with a good disposition, full of talent, diligent and obedient ; he made himself understood in French, and began to read and write. I was saved after being four hours in the water, having lost sight and consciousness, by some fishermen, who never went in that place, and would not have been there, had not the Blessed Virgin obtained this grace for me from God, who arrested the course of nature to rescue me from death. But for this acci- dent, your lordship would have received quite a curious relation ; but nothing is left me except my life."

He then briefly describes the result of his voyage. On the 14th of the following month Count DeFrontenac announced to Colbert the successful issue of the expe- dition.

Marquette was detained at Green Bay through the whole summer of 1674 by sickness. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he drew up and sent to his superior (Father Dablon; copies of his journal of the voyage down the Mississippi, and doubtless also the map known as " Marquette's map," a copy of which is here given *

With the return of the flotilla from Quebec, he re- ceived orders to set out. for his Illinois mission. He started from the mission at Green Bay on the 25th of October, 1674, and with two Frenchman, Jacques and Pierre, went north as far as Sturgeon Bay, where now a canal connects its waters with Lake Michigan, At the portage he joined a party of Pottawatomies and Illinois, who also had started for the Kaskaskia village. With them he crossed the difficult portage from the head of Sturgeon Bay to Lake Michigan, on which they embarked on the 31st of October. The little fleet pro- ceeded up the western shore of the lake, and after many detentions arrived at Portage Rivert early in December. Marquette mentions the fact of passing "eight or ten pretty fine rivers " on his journey up the lake_from one portage to the other. On the 19th of November he ar- rived at " the bluffs," where he was detained two days and a half. While thus detained. Pierre left him, and passed through' the woods to a prairie twenty leagues from the portage. Starting from "the bluffs " about noon on the 21st, Marquette says: "We had hard enough work to reach a river." He entered the river. however, and found there Mascoutins, "to the number of eight or nine cabins." The Illinois Indians left him here and "passed on the prairies."

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 10

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340