History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 8

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"I have many times visited, when on hunting excursions, the · remains of an old fort, located in the town of Palus, Cook County, 111., at The crossing of the old sag trail, which crossed the Ausa- gaunashkee swamp, and was the only crossing east of the Des- plaines River, prior to the building of the Archer bridge" in 1836. The remains of the fort, situated north of the sag and near the cross- ing, were on the elevated timber land, commanding a view of the sur- rounding country, and as a military post would well command and guard The crossing. * * * I have never been able to find any ac- count of the building of this fort in any historical works. I first saw it in 1833, and since then have visited it often in company with other persons, some of whom are still living. I feel sure that it was not buih during the Sac War, from its appearance. * * * it seems probable that it was the work of French fur-traders or explorers, as there were trees a century old growing in its environs. It was evi- denly the work of an enlightened people, skilled in The science of warfare. * * * As a strategetic point it must completely com- manded the surrounding country and the crossing of the swamp or sag."

The manuscript from which the above is taken, is in the library of the Chicago Historical Society, and with it is a map showing the location of the " fort " in the western part of Section 15 of the town of Palos, It is reported that near that place, and near the point where the sag enters the Desplaines, many relics of

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Indians and those evidently made by a more civilized people have been found. If the sag was the thorough- fare of the early French explorers and traders, it is reasonable to suppose that many relics of theirs will be found when that part of the county is settled and the land plowed .* It was a habit of the traders to cache their furs and other articles which they wished to hide * from the view of strangers who might pass that way.

One other point and this paper will be brought to a close. It is frequently asserted that Marquette was the discoverer of the Mississippi River. Joliet's name in connection with the discovery is often ignored. By referring to the report of Count Frontenac to M. Col- bert, Minister at Paris, under date of November 2, 1672, it will be seen that Louis Joliet was commissioned to go "to the country of the Mascoutins to discover the South Sea and the great river they call the Mississippi, which is supposed to discharge itself into the sea of California. He is a man of great experience in these sorts of discoveries; and has already been almost at that Great River, the mouth of which he promises to see."

In another communication, dated November 14. 1674, the Count writes to Minister Colbert, as follows :

"Sieur Joliet . " " has returned three months ago, and dis- covered some very fine countries, and a navigation so easy through the beatiful rivers he has found, that a person can go from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac in a bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being only one carrying-place, half a league In length, where Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. " " " fle has been within ten days' journey of the Gulf of Mexico. * * * 1 send you by my secretary the map he has made of itt and the observa- tions he has been able to recollect, as he has lost all his minutes and journals in the shipwreck suffered within sight of Montreal, where after having completed a voyage of twelve hundred leagues, he was near being drowned, and lost all his papers and a little Indian whom he brought from those countries. These accidents have caused me great regret. lle left with the Fathers of Sault Ste. Marie in Lake Superior, copies of his journals ; these we can nul get before next year. You will glean from them additional particulars of this discovery, in which he has very well acquitted himself."+

In consideration of the great services Joliet had ren- dered the French Government he obtained a grant of

. Since the foregoing was written the writer has received a letter from Alexander Reid, of Sag Bridge P. O., whu ways that, about thirty-seven years ago when plowing a piece of land on the south side of the sag, at the depth of ten or twelve inches, he found, as he expresses is, " about a bushel-basket full of arrow flints, and I think about sixty or seventy-five stone axes, of all sizes . . . about three or four ruds from the margin of the say."

+ See fac-simile of Joliet's map in this work.

# Paris Docs., N. V. Cul., vol. 9, p. 333 ; also p. 793.

the island Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, " as a reward for having discovered the country of the Illinois, whereof he has transmitted a map to my Lord Colbert, and for a voyage he made to Hudson's Bay in the public interests."* Thus it appears that Joliet was the person employed and the one paid for having made the discov- ery so often ascrihed to Marquette. That the latter ac- companied Joliet and saw what he saw, and that he re- mained in the country and took a second trip to the Illinois, is true. He evidently bore the same relation to Joliet that the army chaplain does to his superior officers. Many a chaplain, upon his return from the war, has written an account of the campaign better than the colonel, under whom he served, could have done. It may have been that Marquette was a closer observer and better writer than Joliet, But this has not been proved. The original journals of Joliet were lost. The copies which he left with the Fathers at Sault Ste. Marie, as reported by Count Frontenac, have not been made pub- lic. No data are at hand to enable one to deterinine the character and merits of Joliet's journals. If they still exist, it is to be hoped that some person, with the. enthusiasm and industry of a Margry, will search the French archives and the depositories of the Jesuits and other missionaries, and do for the memory of Joliet what has been so well done for LaSalle.

That Joliet was the head of the expedition is clearly proven. Soon after his return to his native city, Quebec, he married Miss Claire F. Bissot, of that city, October 7, 1675. He led a very active life in attending to his own private business, .in addition to faithfully and effi. ciently discharging governmental duties that were en. trusted to him. He died at about fifty-six years of age, leaving a wife and seven children, viz .: Louis, Marie Charlotte, François, Jean Baptiste, Claire, Anne, and Marie Geneveive.

In closing, it may be said that the expedition ot Joliet and Marquette was particularly disastrous. Joliet lost his records and maps, and Marquette lost his life. It was just two years and one day after Marquette started from Mackinac that he died. He was sick at the Mission of St. Francis, and in his cabin, " near the port- age," nearly seventeen months-leaving him less than eight months in which to do all his work of discover, and missionary labors in the Mississippi Valley.

· N. Y. Col., vol. 9, p. 668.

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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

EARLY EXPLORATIONS (CONTINUED).

LA SALLE. - It is believed by many students of northwestern history, that before Joliet and Marquette had visited this region, another great explorer had passed up the Chicago River to the Illinois, if not even to the Mississippi. This was the famous Robert Cavelier. Sieur de la Salle. LaSalle was the son of a wealthy and aristocratic merchant of Rouen. He was born in -1643. and received a thorough education in his native country. Born a Catholic, he became early connected with the Jesuits. This connection, although severed in his early manhood, debarred him from any portion of the inherit- ance of his father, and at the age of twenty-three he sailed for Canada to seek his fortune. The little settle- ment of Montreal, which he had selected as his desti- nation, was then governed by the Seminary of St. Sul- pice, a corporation of priests, who held it and the sur- rounding country by seignorial rights. This post, being the most advanced settlement on the St. Lawrence, was in constant danger from the attacks of the neighboring Iroquois, and its proprietors were willing and glad to grant their lands, on easy terms, to any person brave enough to venture still farther up the St. Lawrence, and advance the line of settlement toward the enemy. La- Salle was both fearless and ambitious, and accepted a grant of land at the La Chine Rapids, equally danger- ous as a place of residence, and convenient as a place of trade. The divided waters of the St. Lawrence unite be- low the island on which Montreal is built, and form the Bay of St. Louis. On the southern shore of the bay was the seigniory of LaSalle. He at once commenced the improvement of his domain, which gave him an op- portunity of frequent intercourse with the Seneca Iro- quois. From them he heard of the Ohio, and also of another great river in the west, which he conceived must flow into the California Sea. After a residence of seven or eight years in Canada he had become thoroughly fa- miliar with several Indian dialects, and with the man- ners and characteristics of the surrounding tribes. He was restless and adventurous, and desired to penetrate farther into the magnificent country he had adopted as his home, and conceived the design of himself exploring the Ohio, and perhaps the " sea " into which the Indians said it flowed. Proceeding to Quebec, he gained the consent of Conrcilles and Talon to his proposed plan, but no aid toward carrying it out. He accordingly sold his grant to raise the necessary sum, and the proprietors of Montreal desiring also to explore these regions, the two contemplated expeditions were merged in one. The combined party consisted of twenty-four men and seven canoes, with two priests of St. Sulpice as the leaders of the Montreal party. There were two additional canoes for the Senecas, who acted as guides as far as their vil- lage on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. These Seneca guides here left the party, and with one Indian whom they found at the head of the lake and induced to act in that capacity,"they proceeded on their journey. On reaching the Indian village at Niagara they found Joliet, who had reached that point on his return from the copper mines of Lake Superior. He had made a map of the region he had traversed ; and his description of the country, of the spiritual needs of the Indians, and. possibly, of the influence the Jesuits were gaining over them, induced the two priests of St. Sulpice to change the direction of their voyage to the north. The party separated at Niagara, the priests to go to Lake Superior, and LaSalle to continue his journey toward the south. This was in the last of September, 1669. His move- ments during the following year are not clearly traced.

From an unpublished memoir entitled " Histoire de Monsieur de la Salle," which is said to be a narrative of his explorations, as related by himself to the Abbe Ren- audot, at the time of his visit to Paris in 1678 to lay his plans for proposed discovery before King Louis XIV., and Colbert, Prime Minister, it is inferred that he reached the Ohio, and descended it to the falls below Louisville, when his voyageurs deserted him, and he was compelled to retrace his route alone, returning dur- ing 1669. The narrative continnes :

"Some time thereafter he made a second expedition to the same river, which he quitted below Lake Erie-made a portage of six or seven leagues to embark on that lake, traversed it toward the north, ascended the river oul of which il flaws, passed the Lake of Dirty Water, entered the fresh water sea, doubled the point of land thai cuts this sea in two (Lakes Iluron and Michigan), and de- scended from north to south, leaving on the west the Bay of the Puans (Green Bay), discovered a bay infinitely larger. at the bot- tom of which, toward the west, he found a very beautiful harbor. amd at the bottom of this he found a river, which runs from the east to the west, which he followed ; and having arrived at about the 280°# of longitude, and The 3yth of latitude, he came to another river which uniting with the first, flowed from the northwest to the southeast. This he followed as far as the 36th" of latitude, where he found it advisable to stop, contenting himself with the almost certain hope of some day passing by way of This river even to the Gulf of Mexico. Having but a handful of followers, he dared not risk a further expedition in the course of which he was likely to meet with obstacles too greal for his strength."

From the passage quoted above, Pierre Margry, a noted French savant, has formed the opinion that La- Salle, in 1670, before the voyage of Joliet, entered the Chicago, and passed thence to the Illinois and Missis. sippi rivers, and that he therefore must be regarded as the first white man who saw the prairie and stream forming the site of the wonderful city of 1883. Whether LaSalle passed what he calls " the division line called Checagou," as early as 1670, is problematical, but his later visits to the locality, during the years of his weary journeys between the St. Joseph and the Illinois rivers, and his detailed and accurate description of the old "portage " as it was in 1682, have almost as thoroughly identified his name with the history of "Checagou " as with the " Rock of St. Louis " or "Crevecoeur.

In 1673, Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, re- solved to establish a frontier post at Quinte Bay, on Lake Ontario, which should not only hold in check the Iroquois, but also secure to its holders a monopoly of the fur trade of the upper lakes, which the English and Dutch of New York were making strong efforts to secure. The career of LaSalle is clearly traced from this period. Frontenac recognized in him the qualities he desired in his agents-deterinination, unresting energy and persistency. LaSalle found in Frontenac a man who was equally ambitious with himself, and equally daring in the accomplishment of his designs. The fort on Lake Ontario would be not only a source of imme- diate profit, but a step toward the Mississippi, the wealth of Quivira and the lands of the Cibola of the Span- iards. LaSalle was deputed by Frontenac to visit Onondaga, the principal town of the Iroquois, and invite the chiefs to meet the Governor at the Bay of Quinte, where a council should be held in regard to the pro- posed fort. LaSalle, believing the mouth of the Cat- aragua (the present Kingston ) the better site, Fron- tenac changed the place of the council to that locality. Frontenac, escorted by one hundred and twenty canoes and four hundred men, proceeded from Quebec to the appointed place, arriving July 12, 1673. The council was held, and resulted according to the desires and plans of the Governor. A palisaded fort was con- structed by his men, which was called Fort Cataragua ;

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

and Frontenac, leaving there a sufficient garrison, re- turned to Quebec.

In the autumn of 1674, laSalle went to France with letters of recommendation from Frontenac, both to the King and his powerful minister, Colbert. La- Salle petitioned the court of France for a patent of nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer, and also for a grant of seigniory, of the fort on lake Ontario, which was now called Fort Frontenac. Both his petitions were granted, and he returned to Canada a noble, and proprietor of one of the most valuable grants in the colony. He took immediate possession of his domain, replaced the hastily constructed fort of pali- sades by a substantial stone bnikling, well fortified and garrisoned. Around this grew up quite a village, com- posed of the cabins of the French laborers and Indian employés of the proprietor, who was only strengthening and fortifying this post as a base for further operations, the exploration of the Mississippi and the countries to the west of it, being now the object of his desire. Again he sailed to France for aid, and again returned successful, reaching Canada early in the fall of 1678, with permission from the Government to pursue his proposed discoveries in new countries, to build forts and take possession of such countries in the name of France ; and he was also granted, for his private benefit, a monopoly of the trade in buffalo skins. He brought with him, from France, supplies, laborers and personal followers ; chief among whom was Henri de Tonty, his ever-after faithful friend and supporter. A fort at the mouth of the Niagara River which would command the upper lakes, and a vessel with which to navigate their waters, were the next steps to he accomplished. After many vexatious delays, and much and serious loss, the fort, or a depot of supplies, was completed. The equipment and stores for the vessel were carried from the foot of the rapids in the Niagara River, around the falls to the quiet water alove-a portage of ahout twelve miles. This work was accomplished by the 22nd of January, and the carpenters set to work to build the first vessel that entered the great lakes of the Northwest. It is believed that the " Griffin " was built at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, and for the immediate design of carry- ing materials to the Illinois River, wherewith to con- struct another vessel for the navigation of the Missis- sippi to its mouth. The vessel was launched in the spring of 1679. Tonty having the superintendence of the work during the absence of LaSalle, who had been obliged to return to Fort Frontenac for fresh supplies, and who returned in August, bringing with him three Flemish friars; two of whom-Fathers Membre and Ribourde-were, after Marquette and Allouez, the carii- est missionaries in Illinois. By the 7th of August the " Griffin " had been towed up the Niagara River to the shore of Lake Eric, and on that day the voyage was fairly commenced which brought LaSalle and Tonty to Crevecoeur and the Rock of St. Louis. The entire party on board the vessel consisted of thirty-four, including the sailors and laborers. The capacity of the " Griffin " was forty-five tons. Early in September they arrived at one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay, where LaSalle disembarked his cargo, con- sisting principally of materials wherewith to build an- other vessel on the Illinois River ; and, reloading the "Griffin " with furs, wherewith to pay his creditors in Canada, sent her back to the Niagara in charge of the pilot, with orders to bring her to the head of Lake Michigan, as soon as her cargo was discharged. La- Salle, with fourteen men, among whom were the Fathers Membre, Ribourde and Hennepin, embarked in four

heavily laden canoes, and proceeded south along the Wisconsin shore of Lake Michigan. They passed the mouth of the Chicago River, and, coasting the south- ern shore of the lake, reached the mouth of the St. Joseph, which LaSalle calls " the river of the Miamis," on the ist day of November, 1679. Here they expected to meet Tonty, whom they had left at Michilimack- imac to arrange some affairs of LaSalle's, and who was to make his way to St. Joseph by the eastern shore of the lake. LaSalle remained at the mouth of the river twenty days before Tonty arrived, and during that time his men nearly completed a fort, which was called the "Fort of Miamis." After the arrival of Tonty, La- Salle still lingered at the St. Joseph, hoping and wait- ing for the appearance of the " Griffin." Finally, yield- ing to the importunities of his men, he started for the Illinois River, sending two of his followers back to Michilimackinac to gain tidings of the vessel, and leas- ing four in charge of the fort. On the 3d of Decem- ber, 1679, the party thirty-three in all embarked on the St. Joseph in eight canoes,and ascended the river to where now is the village of South Bend, Indiana. After a long search for the portage leading to the Kankakee, then called Theakiki, and which was about four miles in length, they finally reached the place. Shouldering their canoes and luggage, they traversed this frozen plain and embarked on the southern branch of the Illi- nois. Descending the gradually widening river, they passed the Indian village where Marquette and Allouez had already preached to the inhabitants, but which was now deserted, the savages having departed to their hunting-grounds. On the 4th of January, 1680, they reached the Indian camp, a short distance below l'eoria Lake, then called Pimitouai. This encampment of Illi- nais consisted of about eighty wigwams. LaSalle first terrified the Indians, and then succeeded in establish- ing the most friendly relations with them. The French- men were invited to partake of the usual feasts and festivities. On explaining to them his purpose to build a boat to descend the Mississippi to the sea their jealousy awoke, and was fanned by the repre- sentations of a Mascoutin chief who visited the camp. The tales told by the Indians of the horrors and perils to be encountered on the Mississippi, finally so wrought on the fears of LaSalle's followers that six de- serted him utterly, and dissatisfaction and even mutiny were rife among those who remained. Tonty and a few others continued faithful, but it was dangerous to remain at the Indian camp, and LaSalle resolved to fortify him- self in a position where he could resist successfully an attack of hostile Indians, if such should be made. About the middle of January he selected a spot for a fort on the southern bank of the Illinois River, about a mile and a half below the Indian encampment, The fort was completed and christened Crevecœur .* It was enclosed by a palisade twenty-five feet high, within which were the huts of the men, and the cabins of LaSalle, Tonty and the friars LaSalle had ere this almost given up hope of the return of the "Griffin," which was to bring to him, at the head of Lake Michigan, many articles needed for the construction of another vessel on the Illi- nois River. Determined not to fail in his design, La- Salle concluded to return on foot to Fort Frontenac for the needed supplies. The vessel was commenced at Fort Crevecoeur, and the work so hurried on by LaSalle and Tonty that in the course of six weeks the hull was nearly finished, and LaSalle started, on the zd of March, 1680, with five attendants, for Fort Frontenac, leaving Tonty in command of the fort, with a garrison of four-

·Broken Heart.

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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

teen or fifteen men. LaSalle and his men embarked in two canoes, but made slow progress. They were obliged to drag the canoes over the half-frozen ice and snow through the woods and marshes-the river being frozen sufficiently to stop their progress, but not strong enough to bear their weight. They passed the deserted village of Kaskaskia, now the site of Utica, and abont a mile and a half above the village LaSalle's attention was ar- rested by the high cliff of yellow sandstone on the south bank of the river, now called Starved Rock. Knowing by this time the precarious tenure of his footing in the country, and the remarkable advantages of the cliff as a fortress, he sent word to Tonty to retreat to it if neces- sary and there fortify himself. On the 18th of March the party reached a point some miles below the site of Joliet, and there secreting their canoes, struck across the country for the fort at St. Joseph. Wading through marshes, and staggering over the half-frozen, half-thawed ground of the prairie, fording streams when they could, and constructing rafts when they were forced to do so, they at last reached Lake Michigan, and follow- ing its shores arrived, on the night of the 24th, at the fort, which had been built the autumn before at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Here LaSalle found two of his men whom he had sent to Michilimackinac to learn tidings of the " Griffin," and who had returned without gaining the slightest clue to her fate. Sending these two men to re- enforce Tonty, he pushed on through the wilderness and reached Fort Frontenac on the 6th of May, 1680; en- during the hardships and exposure of this journey of sixty-five days, through an utterly wild and savage country, with undaunted courage and resolution. He wasted no time at Fort Frontenac, but hastened on to Montreal to procure the needed supplies for his post on the Illinois River. While LaSalle was thus braving and daring every danger for the accomplishment of his pur- pose, and looking to his return to the Illinois as the final step to be taken before he should be fairly em- barked on his long delayed voyage, the hardest blow he had yet received fell upon him. Fort Crevecoeur was destroyed. During a brief absence of Tonty, its faith- ful commander, nearly all the garrison deserted ; having first plundered and then destroyed the fort. The faith- less men, not satisfied with their work of evil at Creve- cœur, returned to Canada by way of the St. Joseph River, and also destroyed Fort Miamis, whence they pro- ceeded toward Fort Frontenac with the intention of murdering LaSalle, but were captured by the latter be- fore they reached their destination, and carried prisoners to the fort. Anxious for the fate of Tonty and his few remaining men, LaSalle hastened his preparations, and on the roth of August embarked at Fort Frontenac, with a new command of twenty- five men, for the Illinois. He reached Michilimackinac by way of Lake Simcoe and the Georgian Bay, and leaving there La Forest, his lieutenant, with a small command and instructions to follow him speedily, hastened forward with twelve men to the St. Joseph River, where he found, as he anticipated, only the ruins of his fort. At St. Joseph he again divided his force. Leaving five men to rebuild Fort Miamis, and await the arrival of La Forest and the remainder of his party, he set out with seven followers for the Illinois, ar- riving at his destination by the same route he had trav- ersed on his first visit to the river. As he approached the site of the old Kaskaskia village, he looked with hope to the high cliff on the south bank of the river, which he had named the " Rock of St. Louis,"* half cx- pecting that Tonty had taken refuge there, according to the instructions he had sent him. No sign of fortifica-

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 8

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875