A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I, Part 7

Author: Perry F. Powers
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 597


USA > Michigan > A History of Northern Michigan and Its People, Volume I > Part 7


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).


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Alfalfa is also receiving considerable attention at the hands of in- dividual farmers and also from the state experiment station, and thou- sands of acres are now being successfully grown throughout the district. This will materially increase the prosperity of the district and attract many new settlers, for when farmers learn that clover seed is so suc- cessfully grown and that alfalfa promises to become one of the great forage crops they will buy land and locate in the district.


The lower peninsula of Michigan, on account of the water protec- tion surrounding it on the north, east and west, is pronounced by ex- perts to be the most favored location for fruit growing in the United States. This is especially true when the high flavor of the fruit and its keeping qualities, together with its nearness to the fruit markets, is taken into consideration. Numerous apple orchards are in the district and during the past few years the attention of horticulturists has been attracted to this apple belt, with the result that large tracts of land have been purchased to be planted to orchard. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, currants, grapes and all small fruit grow to perfection. On the uncleared land there grow wild hundreds of bushels of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, which require only picking and bring good prices.


Northeastern Michigan, with its wonderful natural growth of grass, pure water and even climate, is essentially a stock raising country. Cattle, sheep and hogs do splendidly on the natural pastures which this land affords. For dairy farming the conditions are unsurpassed anywhere. Sheep breeders all over the country are fast recognizing the great advantages offered in northern Michigan for the production of the high-grade wool and mutton. Many of the foremost sheep breed- ers have recently purchased lands and more are giving the subject serious attention. The abundance of browse, clover and grasses makes these lands, even in their wild state, immediately available for pastur- ing sheep, while the pure water and the healthy, bracing climate keep all live stock in splendid condition.


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NORTHERN MICHIGAN HOLSTEINS AND ALFALFA CROP


[ Courtesy Western Michigan Development Bureau]


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The above statements as to the products of northeastern Michigan apply with particular force to the counties with which this history is concerned-Cheyboygan, Alpena, Gladwin, Arenac, Ogemaw, Roscom- mon, Crawford, Otsego, Presque Isle, Iosco, Alcona, Montmorency, Os- coda and Clare. Much of the information given has also been collated from the literature issued by the Northeastern Michigan Development Bureau.


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CHAPTER II


FIRST LORDS OF THE SOIL


ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN-ORIGIN OF THE RED MAN-WHEN FIRST FOUND BY THE WHITES-THE HURONS-OTTA- WAS AND CHIPPEWAS-AT THE TIME OF PONTIAC'S CONSPIRACY- OTTAWAS OF L'ARBRE CROCHE-OTTAWAS OF GRAND TRAVERSE-EX- TINGUISHMENT OF THE INDIAN.


The evidence is strong in all the country northwest of the Ohio river, that a race of men once inhabited the land who were powerful, warlike and semi-civilized. The Indians found there by the first white incursionists had traditions of a "race of giants, swift of foot and powerful enough to kill buffalo with their hands. They were so large and strong," continues one of their traditions, "that they defied their Maker and derided him. The Ruler tried to kill them by shooting the arrows of lightning at them, but these glanced off without harm; so He sent a great rain, and the ground became so full of water and so soft, that these heavy people sunk in it and were drowned."


It was the belief of some Indians that the fossil remains of elephants, mastodons and other huge animals were the bones of these people. Others held that the fantastic rock pinnacles, such as exist in the Pic- tured Rocks of the Lake Superior region, were the ruins of gigantic temples.


ABORIGINAL REMAINS IN NORTHERN MICHIGAN


Whatever the fate of the Red Man's forefathers or predecessors- whether they perished in some cataclasm of nature, were driven away through the fortunes of war or migrated to a milder southern land, the most marked evidences of their existence are found in the mounds in which are embedded gigantic trees, with their record of annual rings marking these works as of hoary antiquity. As to the Mound Builders of Michigan. the following account is reproduced from the "History of the Grand Traverse Region by Dr. M. L. Leach :


"There is indubitable evidence that the Mound-Builders wrought the copper mines of Lake Superior-that the work was carried on by large bodies of men through a period of hundreds of years-but the evidence that they established permanent settlements there is wanting. The most reasonable theory is that the laborers spent the summer in the mines, but retired for the winter to a more genial clime. Hence,


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it becomes an interesting problem to determine the northern limit of their permanent abode.


"It is evident that they had populous settlements in some of the more fertile districts of the southern part of the state. Farther north their remains are found less frequently, and are of a less imposing character. Characteristic earth works (whether built for defense or for civil or religious purposes is uncertain), are found in Ogemaw county. Mounds are known to exist in Manistee county. That outlying colonies extended north to the Grand Traverse country, scarcely admits of a doubt. Around Boardman Lake, near Traverse City, several small mounds formerly existed, some of which have been destroyed in the search for relics. One small burial mound has been opened within the village limits.


"The sites of several ancient manufactories of stone arrow-heads have been found. In excavating for a street, on the bank of Boardman river, in Traverse City, such a location was discovered, marked by the presence of great numbers of chips of flint, or hornstone, the refuse of the material used for making the arrow-heads. At Charlevoix, the soil for a foot or more in depth, on the top of the bluff, north of the mouth of the river, contains great numbers of these flint chips, together with some unfinished arrow-heads that were spoiled in making and thrown away. Another well marked site of an arrow-head manufactory, is on the farm of John Miller, on the north shore of Pine Lake, about a mile from the village of Boyne City.


"Fragments of ancient pottery, having the markings common to the pottery attributed to the Mound-Builders, is found at the locality last mentioned, and also within the village limits of Boyne City, as well as sparingly in other places.


"At Charlevoix, in excavating a cellar, an ancient grave was opened, in which was found a great number of beautifully finished flint arrow-heads, and a quantity of copper beads. In the same locality, some boys amusing themselves by running up and down the steep bank of the "Old River," discovered a piece of copper protruding from the gravelly bank. An examination resulted in the finding of two knives and two bodkins, or piercing instruments, all of copper.


"The evidence seems conclusive that the Mound-Builders, the most ancient inhabitants of the territory of the United States of whom we have any knowledge, had extended their scattered frontier settlements into the Grand Traverse country. Here, perhaps, mining expeditions from the more populous south called to make their final preparations for the northern summer trip, and here some of the returning miners were accustomed to spend the winter.


"That ancient people have long since disappeared. Of the reason . and manner of their disappearance no record remains, except, per- haps, a vague and shadowy tradition, which seems to imply that they retired towards the south, before the fierce and savage race that suc- ceeded them in the occupancy of the country.


"It may be objected," concludes Dr. Leach, "that the Indians made and used flint arrow-heads and stone axes, and that therefore the find- ing of these relics is no evidence of the former presence of the Mound- Vol. 1-3


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Builders. I freely admit the possibility that in the cases mentioned the arrow-heads were made by the Indians, but I am fully convinced that at least three-fourths of all the stone implements and ornaments found in the United States are the work of the Mound-Builders. In regard to the pottery of the Grand Traverse country, its marking and general appearance place it with the pottery of the Mound-Builders. As to the copper ornaments and implements, the fact is well established that the Indians knew nothing of the copper mines, and did not put copper to any practical use till the white men taught them how."


From the last compiled list of the sites of aboriginal remains in Michigan, prepared by Prof. Harlan I. Smith and published as a part of the 1909 Geological and Biological Survey of the state, are selected the following which are embraced in the counties covered by this his- tory :


Alcona county : East Hubbard lake mounds; Henry mounds; North Hubbard lake mounds; Section 11 Greenbush mounds; South Hubbard lake mounds; Sturgeon Point mounds; West Harrisville mounds; Roe lake mounds.


Alpena county : Thunder Bay river mounds; Devil lake mounds; Devil river mounds.


Antrim county : Elk Rapids earthwork; Custer mound; Round lake mounds; Torch lake earthworks; Wequagamaw mounds; Grass lake mound and earthworks.


Charlevoix county : Charlevoix Parmelee graves; Clarion mounds and graves.


Cheboygan county : Indian river camp site; Columbus camp site; Pigeon Cheyboygan mounds.


Emmet county : L'Arbre Croche village site; Mackinac mounds.


Iosco county : Tawas Iosco mounds; Tawas Point mounds; Alabas- ter mounds.


Kalkaska county: Rapid river earthworks; Torch river mounds; Clear Water mounds.


Manistee county : Sauble lake mound; Manistee mounds and shell heaps; Bear lake mounds.


Mason county : Sauble river mound.


Ogemaw county : Rifle river earthworks, Nos. 1 and 2; Rifle river mounds; Hauptman earthwork; Churchill enclosures, Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Presque Isle county : Oqueoc mound.


Wexford county: Boone earthworks; Cadillac earthworks; Wex- ford shell heaps.


ORIGIN OF THE RED MAN


The Red Men found in possession of the country by the white race felt that they must account for the presence of these mounds and the fantastic shapes fashioned by nature, which so mystified and awed them. Therefore their traditions pictured their gigantic ancestors as wiped out by a deluge, which left behind only such faint evidences of their former power as these mounds and strangely fashioned ruins in the sandstone of the northern regions.


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Following the destruction of this race of giants "the Great Ruler made another race which he again destroyed because it was too pow- erful; then he made a man and woman and placed them on earth; other people and animals he made in the sky, and sent the lightning his mes- senger to place them on earth, and having enclosed them in a cloud of lightning sent them down with a crash that sunk them all in the ground which was still wet and soft. The lightning felt so grieved at the result that he cried. Now, whenever he strikes the earth he is reminded of that mishap and cries; hence the rain and thunder. All these men and animals being thus struck underground were in confusion, until one day the mole burrowed to the top and the sudden rush of light put his eyes out. So he decided to remain beneath the surface, which he has constantly done ever since; but the rest crawled up through the hole made by the mole, and their distribution over the face of the globe be- gan." In the perplexities they encountered during their first days they were, according to tradition, constantly assisted by the magic ar- ticles contained in a medicine bag given by the Great Spirit to a young boy ; so it is youth, personified, that conquers the world, and this was merely a race, in its youth, working out its destiny.


It was the young spirit which made way through the pathless for- est and over foaming rivers and deep ravines, but the ignorance and superstitution of the race demanded some visible object as a proof of supernatural help when any difficult thing had been accomplished, and the medicine bag furnished this object. To it they attributed the pro- duction of animals, fish and snakes unknown to them before. They were not many degrees removed from the cave man who seldom ven- tured far from his lair, and the things of the forest and field were all new to them, so they were glad to believe the magic bag contained the first arrow point as a model for future weapons, and the seed of corn and tobacco for food and comfort. The primitive Indian gave his imagination full play in finding reasons for the existence of things, and their condition; thus the first cedar was bent because it had supported the weight of the Indian race and saved them from destruction and the crooked tendency of these trees was thereby established for all time. The crow was turned black in a futile effort to bring fire from the sun, and the swallow received his black feathers in a like vain attempt. Al- most every natural object had some such notion connected with it, and volumes might be filled without exhausting the material in this line.


The Indian legends in regard to their origin are almost endless. They declare themselves to be aborigines, a declaration only supported by fable or allegory. One authority will declare they climbed up the roots of a tree to the surface of the earth, while another that they cas- ually saw daylight through the top of a great cavern, and climbed to find it. They claimed mysterious kinship with animals that burrowed; always the tradition, or memory, of cave or underground life, clung to them, which at least suggests that they were descendants of the primi- tive cave men, and that their line goes back unbroken to the beginning of life on this continent. In their traditions they skip thousands of years from the flood to the present time, and fill the interval with the wildest mythology, or demonology. Each leading family has some great


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hero or Manito who overcame these demons and delivered the Indians from their spells; whether you call this hero Manabozho, Neo, Gloos- kap, Hiawatha, Tirawa or Hinun, depends merely on the locality ; the office is the same-to benefit mankind-just as it was the office of the evil qualities, personified as Artotarho, Malsum, Enigon-ha-het-gea, and others, to destroy them.


WHEN FIRST FOUND BY THE WHITES


When Nicolet and his white successors, French and English, first visited what is now Northern Michigan in 1634, they found the soil, the lakes, and rivers, in possession of various tribes of the great Algonquin nation whose dominion stretched also far to the east. The Hurons and Chippewas, with their allies the Ottawas, were most closely connected with the history recorded in this work.


THE HURONS


The pioneer French priests, traders and explorers soon discovered that Hurons were more tractable and dependable than either the Chip- pewas or Ottawas. They were evidently not warriors from choice and were prone to found villages and semi-civilized communities. When the fierce Iroquois drove them from their hunting grounds many of them had fled to the Chippewa country. The Iroquois followed and carried their work of destruction into the northern country. Iroquois Point, on Lake Superior, commemorates a battle where the Iroquois were so thoroughly defeated by the Chippewas and Foxes, who were allied at that time, that they never attempted further encroachment on Chippewa territory. The struggling bands of Hurons who thus became identical with the Chippewas and Ottawas, were the first to welcome Nicolet and Marquette to the country of the Great Lakes and were their faithful companions on their toilsome and dangerous voyages through the vast regions then unexplored by the whites. It was among them that the French priests founded their largest and most stable missions, and probably no stronger band of affection ever existed between the white and red man than that which bound together the French and the Hurons.


The letter written by Father Marquette to Father Dablon, in 1672, regarding the Huron mission at St. Ignace, is characteristic of this sentiment :


"My Reverend Father: The Hurons, called Tionnontateronnous, or the tobacco nation, who composed the mission of St. Ignace at Mich- ilimakinang, began last summer a fort near the chapel, in which all their cabins were inclosed. They have been more assiduous at prayer, have listened more willingly to the instructions that I gave them, and have acceded to my requests for preventing grave misconduct and their abominable customs. One must have patience with savage minds who have no other knowledge than the devil, whose slaves they are, and their forefathers have been; and frequently relapse into those sins in which they have been reared. God alone can give firmness to their


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fickle minds, and place and maintain them in grace, and touch their hearts while we stammer into their ears. This year the Tionnontater. onnous were here to the number of three hundred and eighty souls, and they were joined by over sixty souls of the Outaouasinagaux. Some of the latter came from the mission of Saint Francois Xavier (Green Bay), where Reverend Father Andre spent last winter with them; and they appeared to me to be very different from what they were when I saw them at the point of St. Esprit. The zeal and patience of the father have won over to the faith hearts which seemed to us to be very adverse to it. They desire to be Christians, they bring their children to the chapel to be baptized, and they are very assiduous in attending prayers.


"Last summer, when I was obliged to go to the Sault with Rev. Father Allouez, the Hurons came to the chapel during my absence, as assiduously as if I had been there, and the girls sang the hymns that they knew. They counted the days that passed after my departure, and continuously asked when I was to return. I was absent only fourteen days, and, on arrival, all proceeded to the chapel, to which many came expressly from the fields, although these were very far away. I cheer- fully attended their feasts of squashes, at which I instructed them and called upon them to thank God, who gave them food in abundance while other tribes, who had not yet embraced Christianity, had great difficulty in preserving themselves from hunger. I cast ridicule on their dreams and encouraged those who had been baptized to acknowledge Him whose children they were. Those who gave feasts, although still idolators, spoke most honorably of Christianity; and they were not ashamed. to make the sign of the cross before everyone. * *


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"A savage of note among the Hurons invited me to his feast, at which the chiefs were present. After calling each of them by name, he told them that he wished to state his intentions to them, so that all might know it ;- namely, that he was a Christian; that he renounced the God of Dreams and all their dances replete with lasciviousness; that the black gown was the master of the cabin and that he would not aban- don that resolution, whatever might happen. I felt pleasure in hearing him, and at the same time I spoke more strongly than I had hitherto done, telling them that I had no other design than to place them on the road to Paradise; that that was the sole object that detained me with them and compelled me to assist them, at the risk of my life. As soon as anything has been said at a meeting, it is at once spread among all the cabins. This I soon recognized, through the assiduity of some at prayers and through the malice of others who endeavor to render our instructions useless. * * *


"Over two hundred souls left last fall for the chase. Those who remained here asked me what dances I prohibited. I replied in the first place that I would not permit those which God forbids. such as indecent ones; that, as regards the others, I would decide about them when I had seen them. Every dance has its own name; but I did not find any harm in any of them, except that called 'the bear dance.' A woman, who became impatient in her illness, in order to satisfy both her God and her imagination, caused twenty women to be invited. They were covered with bear skins and wore fine porcelain collars;


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growled like bears. Meanwhile the sick woman danced and from time to time told them to throw oil on the fire, with certain superstitious observances. The men who acted as singers had great difficulty in carrying out the sick woman's design, not having as yet heard similar airs, for that dance was not in vogue among the Tionnontateronnous. I availed myself of this fact to dissuade them from the dance. I did not forbid others that are of no importance for I considered that my winter's sojourn among them had been profitable, inasmuch as, with God's grace, I had put a stop to the usual indecencies. * *


* Al- though the winter was severe, it did not prevent the savages from com- ing to the chapel. Many came thither twice a day however windy and cold it might be. In the autumn I began to give instructions for gen- eral confession of their whole lives, and to prepare others who had not confessed since their baptism, to do the same. I would not have be- lieved that savages could render so exact an account of all their lives. *


* * As the savages have vivid imaginations, they are often cured of their sickness when they are granted what they desire. Their medi- cine men, who know nothing about their diseases, propose a number of things to them for which they might have a desire. Sometimes the sick person mentions it, and they fail not to give it to him. But many, during the winter, fearing that it might be a sin, always replied with constancy that they desired nothing, and that they would do whatever the black gown told them.


"I did not fail, during the autumn, to go and visit them in their fields, where I instructed them and made them pray to God, and told them what they had to do. *


* * A blind woman who had formerly been instructed by Rev. Father Brebeauf, had not during all these years forgotten her prayers; she daily prayed to God that she might not die without grace, and I admired her sentiments. Other aged women, to whom I spoke of hell, shuddered at it, and told me they had no sense in their former country, but that they had not committed so many sins since they had been instructed. * * *


"God had aided, in a special manner, the Hurons who went to hunt; for he led them to places where they killed a great number of bears, stags, beavers and wild-cats. Several bands failed not to observe the directions I had given them respecting prayers. Dreams, to which they formerly had recourse, were looked upon as illusions; and, if they happened to dream of bears, they did not kill any on account of that; on the contrary, after they had recourse to prayer, God gave them what they desired.


"This, my Reverend Father, is all that I can write to your Reverence respecting this mission, where men's minds are more gentle, tractable and better disposed to receive the instructions that are given them than in any other place. Meanwhile I am preparing to leave it in the hands of another missionary, to go by your Reverence's Order and seek to- ward the South Sea new nations that are unknown to us, to teach them to know our great God, of whom they have hitherto been ignorant."


What has long been known to Michigan writers and pioneers as the Grand Traverse Region was properly within the sphere of Father Mar- quette's mission, whose headquarters were at St. Ignace, but it is not


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N Ic-nae no-shion na-dy mush-in-na-qua , mush-in-na-qua , o-iction, aleTion !


Die-nae no shion


Da -dy


[Comtesy Detroit & Mackinac Railway Company ]


WHEN NORTHERN MICHIGAN WAS YOUNG: A CHIPPEWA MOTHER


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known that he ever visited the beautiful wilderness bordering on Grand Traverse or Little Traverse bays, or that he even coasted along the shore. Popular belief credits him, however, with having visited some of the Ottawas who, after the terrible devastation of their coutnry by the Sioux about 1671 had fled westward with the Hurons. The Hurons had stopped at St. Ignace; the Ottawas continued on to the Manitoulin islands.


OTTAWAS AND CHIPPEWAS


The Ottawas were neighbors and allies of the Chippewas and were bound by ties of kinship also, as intermarriage between the tribes was common. They were so like the Chippewas in most ways that they need no especial description. Of the same Algonquin stock, they have the same language, nearly, the same dress, religion, myths and general cus- toms. The Ottawas were less savage and fickle, however, than the Chip- pewas. They were somewhat in advance of their neighbors in agricul- ture, partly because they lived, most of them, on the southern mainland, and partly because they were naturally more peaceful and possessed greater intelligence. From the first they were more kindly disposed toward the whites, and often saved them from the attacks of the more savage Chippewas. The one great Indian of this tribe, who helped to make Michigan history, was Pontiac. As he was half Chippewa, his mother having belonged to that tribe, and of the otter totem, which gave him high rank among them, the Chippewas were especially drawn to his side.




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