History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 2

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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This arm of the Moraine is continued north of the river in Waltham, Ophir and Earl town- ships. It is locally known as "the ridge." From

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

its top one has a grand view of the finest farm land in the state.

The valley of the Vermillion River was an arm of the great Kankakee Lake. The bed of the river is now in a deep narrow valley.

THE FORMATION OF THE PRAIRIES.

By a prairie we mean a comparatively level treeless region. People wonder why trees grew only along the bluffs and banks of streams, though we know trees will grow on the prairie. The most acceptable theory is that because of the washing of the soil on the hills near streams, the soil was not so rich and was subject to drought and grass did not flourish, so the seeds of trees readily took root. Farther back from the streams the land was wet and swampy. Here grass grew luxuriantly and every year was burnt off by prairie fires. The fires were stopped by the barren land near the streams and thus the young trees were not destroyed. But out on the prairie the fierce flames of the burning grass killed every tree that started.

The grass sent numerous roots deep into the earth. These were not destroyed by the fires but lived and multiplied for ages, decaying they filled the earth with their remains thus forming the black soil. On the hills by the streams the grass roots did not form and the soil remained its original color.

DRAINAGE OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

The Illinois River runs through the middle of the county from east to west, having cut its way through the Marseilles Moraine from that city on the east to Ottawa on the west.

Its largest tributary from the north is the Fox. The Fox drains the valley between the Marseilles and the Wisconsin Moraine on the east and the Bloomington Moraine on the west. From the east it receives only small creeks. Be- cause it is so close to the Moraines there is only a small territory to drain. From the west it receives Somonauk Creek in Northville township, Indian Creek with its tributaries drains the region from the Bloomington Moraine in De Kalb County to Mendota and east of the ridge in Waltham and Ophir. The Little Vermillion and its tribu- tary, Tomahawk Creek, drain the valley between Waltham ridge and the Bloomington Moraine on the west in Bureau County.

From the south of the Illinois receives the Vermillion River. It receives very little water from the county. In geological times it drained a very narrow valley but was one of the outlets of Kankakee Lake beyond the Marseilles and

Bloomington Moraines, having cut its way through in the eastern part of Livingston County. It has cut a deep and narrow valley. If the valley were filled up its waters would create a lake that would cover most of Livingston County.

West of Ottawa the Illinois receives Covel Creek, which drains part of Fall River, Grand Rapids and part of Farm Ridge townships. Were the deep valley on the south bluff closed up it would create a lake that would cover the territory named. These facts cause us to see clearly that most of the superior farm lands in the county were once lake bottoms.

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

THE FIRST WHITE MAN IN ILLINOIS, JEAN

NICOLET.

The first white man to set foot on the soil of Illinois was Jean Nicolet. He was a French- man who came to Canada while yet almost a boy. This was in the year 1616. Champlain had arrived in Canada in 1608 and was then governor of the country which was called New France.

At the time that the English were trying to plant a colony in Virginia on the James River, the French were doing the same at Quebec and Montreal on the St. Lawrence. The people of France and England were greatly excited over the possibilities opened up in the new world across the sea. Stories of heroic adventure, strange wonders, and great riches came to the ears of the young men, and they were eager to take ship for America.

Jean Nicolet was a restless boy. the quiet life of home and the school did not satisfy him. He was eager to take part in hardships and adventure. His father wished him to become a priest and his mother carefully trained him in the practices of the Catholic faith. When he heard of the new world, of its unbroken forests, its unexplored rivers, of its inland seas whose bound- aries no man knew, of the new and strange ani- mals and savage men, his passion for adventure was kindled to a flame. He set sail for New France in the first ship going thence.

ARRIVAL IN NEW FRANCE.

When he arrived at Quebec his honest face. his good manners and his readiness to take hold of anything to be done, won the interest of Cham- plain, the governor. He needed just such a brave and quick witted young man as Nicolet. The Indians had not yet learned to trade as white men do. The men provided the meat and fought the enemies of the tribe. The women

FOX RIVER AT OTTAWA.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

built the huts, dressed the skins of animals and made them into clothing, raised the corn and cooked the food. The family was able to pro- vide everything which it needed. Few ever went farther away from home than their hunting grounds. They killed animals for meat and used' the skins only for clothing and bedding. They knew nothing of selling furs or exchanging them for what they needed. But when the white man came they soon learned that with the skins of fur bearing animals they could buy many things from the whites, and they began to kill fur bearing animals to sell pelts. The whites got these for a trifle and were able to sell them for a large sum and make a fortune in a single year.

Champlain wanted just such young men as Nicolet to go among the Indians, learn their language, make friends with them and trade for their furs. Ill-mannered, dull or bad men were not wanted; for they made enemies instead of friends of the red men. Champlain advised young Nicolet to go and live with the Indians and explore the vast unknown regions that ex- tended, no man knew how far, all about them.

GOES TO LIVE WITH THE INDIANS.

A trading vessel was about to sail up the river to the Island of Montreal, and Nicolet took passage at once. On board the ship were some Ottawa Indians who were returning to their home on the banks of the Ottawa River. Jean Nicolet soon became acquainted with them. In a short time he had learned quite a number of words and could talk with them. They took a great liking to the agreeable, shrewd young man. When he told them he was going to live in the woods as they did they were greatly pleased and asked him to go with them.

Jean Nicolet laid aside his clothing of civil- ized life and dressed in skins like the red men. He won the love and admiration of all the Indians who became acquainted with him. In this way he learned very fast. One day he joined a party of Indian hunters and disappeared in the track- less woods. This free life just suited him. Hunt- ing and trapping by day and sleeping under the forest trees and the stars at night. Dangers were his delight: for he loved to depend upon the quickness of his brain and the strength of his right arm. He loved the trees, the lakes and rivers, and the voices of the strange wild life about him was music to his ear. Sometimes with bands of Indians and sometimes solitary and alone he wandered over the territory along the Ottawa to its headwaters. He crossed the inter- vening land to Lake Nipissing. Everywhere among the different tribes of Indians, the Nipis- sings, the Hurons, and the Ottawas, he was

treated as a friend. He learned their language and all that they knew of wood craft. He be- came in all respects like an Indian, save this, that he never forgot the teaching of his mother. The religion of his childhood did not depart from him and even in his wild and solitary life this kept his soul hopeful and in peace.

HE TALKS WITH OTHER EXPLORERS.

Jean Nicolet met other fur traders and ex- plorers. One of these was Etienne Brute, who had traveled far to the west from Montreal. He had gone from Lake Nipissing down French River into Lake Huron and nine days along its north shore. Three days he had paddled up a broad river until he came to a dangerous rapids. This is now called St. Mary's River and the rapids, Sault Ste. Marie (Soo. Sent Mari). rapids of St. Mary. The Indians told him that a little way above the rapids there was a great sea, so large that no man had ever seen its end.

At this time the French, like the settlers at Jamestown, thought they could find a passage to the Pacific ocean. This story of the great sea to the west led them to believe that it must be the ocean for which they sought. The In- dians also told them of people called Winne- bagoes who had no hair and looked something like Frenchmen. Winnebago means "Men of the Salt Water." From this description the French thought these must surely be Chinamen.

Champlain was very anxious to discover this passage to the Pacific ocean and to China. In 1639 he was ready to send someone to undertake the discovery. Jean Nicolet had been in the country nineteen years. None was better fitted to undertake it than he.

HE STARTS TO FIND THE PACIFIC.

Nicolet started from Three Rivers with two priests who expected to start missions on the shores of Lake Huron and seven Indians went to paddle his canoe and act as guides. They went up the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, down French River to Lake Huron. Here the priests left him and he went westward accom- panied only by the Indian guides. They paddled up the St. Mary's River to the rapids. Here they found a large company of Chippewa In- dians fishing, for this was a wonderful fishing ground. They told Nicolet of the great sea west of the rapids. He inquired of them, did the Winnebagoes, the men of the salt water. live there? They had heard of these people but they lived on another great sea south of where they now stood. He asked for guides which were granted. Turning back he went down the St.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

Mary's along the southern shore. When he again reached the Lake of the Hurons he kept on westward and soon arrived at the Island of Mackinac. Now he could see both shores, but soon entered a large water, which you know is Lake Michigan. Thus in the year 1634 Jean Nicolet was the first white man to sail upon its waters. They kept on along the shore. The In- dians were friendly. They entered Green Bay. Paddling along its western shore they met some Indians who called themselves Menominees, eat- ers of wild rice. They lived on the river by that name. They gathered the wild rice in the marshes along the river. They told Nicolet that the Win- nebagoes lived three days' journey farther up on a river. Several of the Menominees accom- panied them as guides. At the head of the bay they came to Fox River of Wisconsin. Nico- let had traveled a long way. He believed he must be near the Pacific Ocean and not far from China.

HE FINDS THE WINNEBAGOES.

When they came near the chief village of the Winnebagoes he sent his guides to tell them that an ambassador of the French nation had come to visit them. Dressed in a beautiful red robe, he marched up to the village with a pistol in each hand which he fired into the air. Startled by the great noise and seeing the clouds of smoke above his head, the Indians were very much frightened. The women and children ran and hid themselves thinking these were spirits from the skies who carried thunder and lightning in their hands. The warriors stood their ground and when Nicolet spoke to them kindly they wel- comed him to their village. The chief led him into his own wigwam and ordered that a great feast be prepared.

In the afternoon all the warriors sat down with them to the greatest feast that the women could prepare. After dinner they sat in silence while they smoked the peace pipe. The custom of the Indians is to ask a stranger no question and wait until he himself is ready to say what he came for or what he would have.

Nicolet made them a speech in the Huron tongue, and then in the Algonquin, but they could not understand either: for the Winneba- goes were a branch of the Sioux nation whose speech was entirely different from that of the eastern Indians. One of the Indian guides, how- ever, was able to make them understand.

IIEARS OF THE "FATHER OF WATERS."

They told him of "the great water" farther west. Under the leadership of the Winnebago

guides they skirted the north shore of the Winne- bago Lake, and entered the Fox River again. On its banks they found a village of Indians called Mascoutins, who spoke the Algonquin language. From them they learned that by going up a few miles farther they would reach the portage be- tween the Fox and another river which flowed into "The Father of Waters."

So sure was Nicolet that he was near the Pa- cific Ocean that he could not think the "Father of Waters" could be a river. Yet he must have learned that it was only a river; for it is not known that he ever entered the river across the portage now called the Wisconsin.

HE ENTERS ILLINOIS.

He struck off southward on foot visiting sev- eral Indian tribes. It was then that he entered ' the territory of our own state, Illinois.

This was only fourteen years after the settle- ment at Plymouth Rock. When we think that a man traveled in a bark canoe three thousand miles accompanied only by a few savages, de- pending upon his gun for food, trusting to the kindness of savage men of whom he had not even heard, we marvel at his courage and fortitude. An Englishman in New England or Virginia at this time would hardly have ventured alone out of sight of the smoke of his own cabin. But a Frenchman seemed to have no fear. This was so because the Frenchman carried no hatred in his heart for the red man. He loved him as a brother and it did not take the red man long to find it out.

HIS LAST DAYS.

Jean Nicolet returned to Canada by the route over which he came, and reported his discoveries to Governor Champlain. He was put in charge of the trading post at Three Rivers and was per- suaded to give up his wild life. However, not without regret, for he often said he would have continued to live as an Indian and with them but for the fact that he could not give up the sacra- ments of the religion which his mother had taught him to love in his youth.

Seven years after his return from his journey to Illinois he was accidentally drowned while on his way to save an Indian prisoner who was con- demned to torture by other Indians.

A Jesuit priest said of him: "He left us ex- ample which recall apostolic times and inspire the most pious of men with a desire to imitate him." It is a pleasure to the people who now find them- selves in the country which he explored in those early times to do honor to this first of the white

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

men in Illinois. He was kind and brave and

true. His deeds were the fruits of the best thought of his brain and the gentle promptings of his manly heart.

THE FUR TRADERS.

On Champlain's first visit in 1608 he bought a few furs from the Indians. This gave him an idea. If he could make the Indians the friends of the French, the forests of Canada might bring to them as great wealth as did the mines of Mex- ico bring to the Spaniards. One of his chief purposes from that on was to build up the fur trade.

He was soon on friendly terms with the In- dians north of the river. These were called Al- gonquins. The chief nations among them were the Ottawas and the Hurons. South of the river lived the Iroquois. They were the enemies of

the Algonquins. Their home was mostly in what is now the State of New York but they claimed all the land between the Alleghany mountains and the Great Lakes west to the Mis- sissippi River. What is now Ohio, Indiana, Ken- tucky and Illinois they claimed as their hunting grounds. If anyone intruded here they met a terrible fate at the hands of the Iroquois who were the most desperate fighters among the Indians.

Champlain made a great mistake when he joined a war party of Algonquins to punish the Iroquois. They went up the Sorel River, dis- covered Lake Champlain on whose banks he de- feated the Iroquois. Several other times he did the same. This made the Iroquois deadly enemies of the French. After this no Frenchman dared to go south of the river or the lakes for the Iro- quois were watching for them. Had he made friends with them the French might have had ac- cess to all the country of the Iroquois. They would not only have had the richest fur trade but they might have gained all this country for settlement. The Iroquois became friendly with the English and the Dutch, compelling the French to stay in the cold country along the St. Law- rence and the north shore of the lakes, where their friends, the Algonquins, lived.

The route of travel was that taken by Jean Nicolet and so it happened that Lake Huron was discovered before Lake Ontario, which was al- most at the door of the French at Montreal.

Frenchmen visited all the Indian villages and even lived with the Indians. Their purpose was to hunt and trap fur bearing animals and to get the Indians to exchange their furs for the goods of the white man. Champlain appointed cer- tain days when the Indians could meet the French

at the trading posts, bring their furs and ex- change them. It was not long before the In- dians learned the value of peltries, and the fur trade became very profitable to the French.

The King of France wished to keep control of the trade so that he might get most of the wealth. He would allow no one to engage in the trade without first getting a license from him. But as might be expected many did engage in the trade without the King's license. But this made them outlaws subject to severe punishment. These were called coureurs de bois, rangers of the wood. They were a wild set of fellows, and spent all their time in the woods with the In- dians. They became more like Indians than like white men. Many of them had all the vices of both white and red men and none of the virtues of either.

THE MISSIONARIES.

Champlain was always deeply interested in converting the Indians to the Catholic faith. As early as 1615 he invited four priests to come to the new world. They were deeply in earnest. They would go at any time to any place where their superiors called. If their going meant the worst suffering and certain death they did not hesitate, but went. Many of them died from the hardships which they underwent. Many died at the hands of those whom they came to benefit, enduring the worst tortures and burning at the stake. One of the four who came on Cham- plain's invitation was

JOSEPH LE CARON.

Champlain had told him that the Indians "lived like brute beasts, without religion and without God." LeCaron was sincerely devoted to his work of trying to redeem the red men from their ignorance and vices to make their lives better and happier. As soon as he saw them in their wretched condition his heart went out to the poor people and he at once felt that he was their brother. To devote his life to them and even to lose it for their sake became the absorbing am- bition of his life.

Several hundred Indians had come to Montreal in their fur laden canoes to trade with the French. When LeCaron saw them about to land he stepped forward to greet them. Dressed in his long gray cloak, his peaked hood lying back on his shoulders, his shaven crown exposed, he ap- peared so strange and different from anyone whom the Indians had ever seen that the sight filled them with fear and awe. They thought he was a spirit from the skies.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

But when he greeted them kindly, helped them with their work, spending all his time for their benefit and pleasure, they began to trust him and to love him. He told them he was their brother and as he never asked for any reward for all he did they believed him.

One of the chiefs asked him to come to his village and live with his people. His reply was, "Gladly will I do so; for I am your brother." Champlain tried to persuade him not to go. He could not live on their poor food, and to live in their miserable huts through the long cold win- ter would surely make him sick. "Why need I fear such things? I, who have given my life to poverty and whose chief purpose is to serve God and do good to men.

When the Indians started home he went with them. He took his turn at paddling the canoe, often getting out in the water to push it up the rapids in the rivers. When the canoes were to be carried from one river to another he did as much as any one else. He consulted not his own ease but was ever ready to help an Indian who needed it.

They traveled over the route which has already been described over which Jean Nicolet after- ward traveled. It was in 1615 that LeCaron discovered Lake Huron, the first of the Great Lakes seen by white men. He worked among the Hurons trying to teach them the Christian religion and get them to practice the virtues of the Savior.

Other missionaries as sincere and devoted came but we cannot tell about them now. They had only poor success in changing the lives of the Indians. They said, "This is all very good for the white man but we are different and our ways are not the same." Generally the Indians treated them kindly, but sometimes they were very rude and insolent and even put them to death by tor- tures and burning at the stake. But the mis- sionaries accomplished this, they won the friend- ship of the Indians for the French.

They established mission stations in many places along the northern shore of the Great Lakes. The government then built forts and trading posts near the Missions. Thus the missionary and the fur trader went hand in hand exploring the unknown wilderness. Indians came from far away to trade and from these they heard many things about other tribes of Indians and about distant lakes and rivers. These stories fired the French with a desire to explore still farther and kindled their hopes of finding a way to the Pa- cific Ocean and to China.

The fur trade became so profitable that the French wanted to occupy the whole western country.

LOUIS JOLIET AND FATHER MAR- QUETTE.

JOLIET DISCOVERS LAKE ERIE.

For thirty years after Jean Nicolet entered the territory now comprising the state of Illinois, the French were engaged in the fur trade and in missionary work north of the Great Lakes. The Indians told them of the abundance of copper along the shores of Lake Superior. The fur traders and the missionaries themselves had picked up pieces of copper. The governor of Canada looked about for a man to make a voyage in search of this hidden treasure. He found the man he needed in Louis Joliet, then only twenty- four years of age.

Joliet was born in America, the son of a wag- onmaker in Quebec. He was educated for the priesthood, but decided to become a fur trader and explorer. In 1667 he started with a com- panion named Pere to find the hidden copper mines. They spent the whole summer on the shores of Lake Superior but did not find more copper than they could carry in their canoes. They had heard from the Indians that there was a large water south of Lake Huron which they determined to discover. They paddled along the west shores of Lake Superior until they came to a river now called the St. Clair. They entered Lake St. Clair, passed down the Detroit River into the great water. Thus in 1669 Joliet was the first white man to see Lake Erie.

He continued along its northern shore, but did not go on to the Niagara River for they feared the terrible Iroquois. He went up Grand River and crossed over to Lake Ontario. He reached Quebec in safety, not having found the copper mines for which he sought, but he had discovered a shorter water way to the west than the long and laborious one up the Ottawa. Now they could go by the way of the lower Great Lakes.

JOLIET MEETS MARQUETTE.

We again meet Joliet in 1672 at Quebec. A new governor, Count Frontenac, was at the head of affairs. He was much interested in the unex- plored west and asked Joliet to make another voyage of discovery and find the great river of which the Indians had so often spoken.

In the spring of 1672 he was at Mackinac. where Father Marquette was in charge of a mis- sion for the Huron and Ottawa Indians. Marquette was a young priest, the son of a wealthy family in France, educated and trained for the priesthood in the most careful manner. He was of a most gen-

BUFFALO ROCK.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

tle and lovable disposition, yet so strong- hearted and courageous that he sacrificed all that he might work for the good of his fellow men more unfortunate than himself. His only question was, Where do they need me most? And when he heard of the benighted red men in the western wilds he said, "To them will I go." He gave up home, kindred, friends and pride of family, all that young manhood looks upon as desirable, to become the brother of the savage men in the far-off wilderness. He had learned six Indian languages. In his mission work he met many Indians from far distant tribes. One day a company calling themselves Illinois came to see him. They were gentle-hearted and polite, so different from other Indians who were cruel and wicked. They invited him to come and live with them in the Mississippi country.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 2

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286