USA > Michigan > A history of the northern peninsula of Michigan and its people, its mining, lumber and agricultural industries, Volume I > Part 4
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our present torrid zone. At one time, in that formative period of the earth, and prior to the formation of the present Great Lake system, which now has a water surface of about ninety-five thousand square miles, some of the territory was dry land. The great Laurentian river and its tributaries formed a system vastly different from the present system of waterways. The Laurentian had its source where Lake Mich- igan is now located, and flowed castward through the straits of Maeki- naw and along the south shores of Georgian bay, and then through the present site of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence river. The Huron river was one of its main tributaries and had its source probably in the interior of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, flowing northward through Saginaw bay and Lake Huron to its junction with the Laurentian.
The existence of a tropical climate in those periods is established by the preservation, in the earth deposits, of many species of tropical plants, and the skeletons of animals common to the tropics. We can therefore conclude that, in those mystifying periods, our now rugged Upper Peninsula was covered with a tropical growth, such as palms and other kindred trees and plants; and there then existed here no such thing as our winter climate. The mastodon, elephant and other animals and reptiles of monstrous size and hideous forms peopled the tropical forests; but where is there any evidence of the existence of man ? When did mankind first appear on the scene? These are questions yet un- answered, but as the archaeological studies of America are yet in their infancy, we may yet expect developments that will prove the existence of man in this locality at a very early age. There is much reason for such a hope because of the satisfying results of researches thus far made.
It is no longer justifiable to deny the existence of man in a some- what progressive stage during those periods, and that man existed within and in many widely separated parts of the United States during at least a portion of the time of the mastodon, the first quartenary period, is established by proofs that seem incontrovertible. In looking for evidence of such remote conditions we cannot be confined to our pres- ent boundaries, but may consider the evidence existing in the whole country as probably indicating the conditions here. In the western in- terior, imbedded in the same stratifications of the earth's formation are found the skeletons of the mastodon, and not only the bones but the tools of the human, and the presence of tools alone in connection with the undisputed formation of a period is most convincing evidence of the existence of man, for man is the only tool-making and tool-using being known to all history. The "Calavarus skull" to which the most scrutinizing criticism has been directed by the foremost of our scien- tists, has convinced the world of the existence of its living origin at a time many thousands of years ago; for it was found by a miner, buried in the auriferous gravel deposits of an earlier age, since which there has been great changes in the surface formation of that Californian section of the country, and this skull was found one hundred and thirty feet below the present surface and underneath a heavy lava bed. These
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auriferous gravels of the western mountain regions are the deposits of ancient rivers with courses vastly different from those of the present day, and in many instances buried hundreds of feet by the deposits of subsequent ages. They are much sought and explored because of their richness in gold, and in these workings, in other parts of California, flint implements have been discovered so imbedded as to leave no ques- tion of their existence and the existence of their makers at the time those ancient rivers were depositing those gravels in their channels. Great numbers of skeletons of the mastodon and other prehistoric animals. have been found further north in the mountain sections of Washington and Oregon embodied in the gravel deposits of the same geological period as that in which the Calavarus skull, and the flint implements referred to were deposited, thus proving the practically concurrent ex- istence of man and mastodon in the western part of the United States. In 1902 the Lassing skeleton was found in Kansas in undisturbed strata of the Missouri, and is pronounced by eminent archaeologists, such as Dr. Winchell, to be of an age ante-dating ten thousand years ago.
The discovery of tools, or implements, in the pre-glacial deposits at Trenton, New Jersey, and at other places east and sonth, is taken by conservative scientists as authentic proof of the existence of man at least during if not before the era of the glaciers. while, to these proofs are added the distinct evidences of camp-fires that had burned near what are now the banks of Niagara river, and then were the shores of Lake Iroquois, before the formation of the lakes in their present geo- graphical positions. With what may thus be considered as authentic proof of the existence of man in the extreme east and west, and thus his probable existence throughout this entire country during if not before the glacial period, it becomes of interest to inquire as to that period and as to its effect upon pre-existing man and animals.
THE LONG GLACIAL PERIOD
The former tropical conditions were overcome by an upraising of the earth's surface at the north, and the ice period appeared; and the existence of a long continued glacial period over a large portion of the country, including the whole of the Upper Peninsula, is thoroughly established ; but the length of that period is entirely a matter of con- jecture, and as to whether there was one or more than one such period is a matter of dispute. There is no dispute but that the entire Upper Peninsula was buried beneath a massive sheet of ice, and it is probable it so continned for centuries, and with ice from three thousand to five thousand feet in thickness. A generally accepted theory of the cause of the glacial period is that the surface of the earth in this region and to the far north, following the tropical period spoken of, was gradually raised to an altitude far above that of the present, so that with the per- petual cold climate caused by the extreme altitude the continuously falling snows formed into a cake of ice, that, with successive melting and freezing of its surface, crept southward until it enveloped practi-
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cally the whole country north of the present location of the Ohio and Missouri rivers and from the Atlantic ocean to the Rocky mountains.
Many evidences have been produced in the southerly portion of the ice-covered territory to prove that there were two such glacial periods separated from each other by sufficient space of time to effect geological distinction in the record of their deposit; though there seems a strong tendency to believe that the one glacial period may have been so af- fected by formative or astronomical conditions that the southern boun- dary of the ice field receded to the north and again advanced to the south, thus leaving indications of two glacial periods in the southernmost part of the glacial territory when it was one continuous period in the more northern portions; indeed, there are many who believe, and with apparent sound reasoning, that the recession of the ice age is still in progress, and that the fields of ice at present in the vicinity of Mount St. Elias, and in Greenland, are a remainder of the same continuous sheets of ice that enveloped this country something like ten thousand years ago.
There is no question but that the departure of the ice, and its ac- companying conditions, worked great changes in the surface of the earth in this vicinity. When the ice had so far departed as to have its south- ern boundary about midway of the state of Michigan, the lakes of this region were formed materially different from what they are at present. Their present outlet through the St. Lawrence river then continued to be a solid mass of ice, affording no outlet whatever. The lower portion of the present Lake Michigan had its outlet through the state of Illinois, along about the course of the present drainage channel into the Missis- sippi river. Lake Iroquois existed as an immense lake, covering the territory now covered by both Lakes Erie and Ontario, and much other surrounding territory, and that, too, found its outlet to the south, and its waters found their way with the then natural drainage of the coun- try to the southward into the Gulf of Mexico. With the passing of time, the surface of the northern country gradually lowered and the ice field continued to revede until the natural drainage of this lake region changed its course, and the waters of our lakes found their way out through the St. Lawrence. Lake Iroquois was drained off until her surface had fallen many hundred feet from its highest altitude, and the waters were divided into the two present lakes. Erie and Ontario. It was at this period that the waters of the Niagara river flowing from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario began to ent the famous gorge which now furnishes such a Meeca for tourists, and at the same time is the most authentic evidence of the period of time that has existed since the de- parture of the glacial era. It is generally conceded, from computations as to the amount of eutting accomplished, that this has taken ten thou. sand years; and corroborative evidence as to the extent of this period since the ice age is found in the wearing of some of the rocks along the shores of Lake Michigan. We may therefore safely conclude that man existed in these parts more than ten thousand years ago.
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What man's condition and habits of life were then, and what they have been for a great portion of the time since, remains a mystery. One thing it is reasonable to suppose, and that is, that if the Eskimos and the red men are from the same original source, the ice age formed the barrier which so completely divided them that their appearance, habits and methods of life are now quite distinct. The Eskimos may likely have adapted themselves to the glacial conditions, and lived as they now live on such means of subsistence as the ice regions afford, while the ancestors of the red men may have pushed to the south in advance of the advancing ice, and continued their existence, and probably a slow development, under the light of a sun that perpetuated their copper colored complexions.
The departure of the glacial period, which had found the country supplied with mammoth forests, left it denuded of all forms of vegeta- tion, and, in many places, of the soil on which to raise any kind of vegetation ; the action of the ice, and of the succeeding floods having served to leave great areas where the bare rocks, polished and figured as they were, constituted the remaining surface. We may therefore con- clude that after the departure of the ice fields it was many centuries even before there were any great inducements to man to inhabit this part of the country. The elements, by their processes of decomposition and erosion, had vast amounts of work to perform before there existed the soil sufficient to nourish, support and develop the forest life that has succeeded in many sections, while in other parts of the territory, if there was left a semblance of soil, it is questionable as to the time re- quired to give it fertility, and as to the time when the elimate became sufficiently modified to encourage vegetable growth.
FORESTS SUCCEEDING FORESTS
But the time came when the desolation wrought by the ice age was supplanted by the growth of beautiful forests which have in turn gone to decay and been replaced by succeeding forests. How many forest epochs there may have been we know not, but that forests of one kind have given way to those of different growths is established beyond ques- tion of doubt. The writer has seen the removal of a pine stump of a tree about four feet in diameter, and underneath and at the point of the division of that stump into its massive roots was an old and fairly well preserved stump of a preceding generation, and apparently of hardwood.
What part was played by man while these formative changes were taking place in our country throughout this period of approximately ten thousand years we shall probably never know, but that he existed in or about this country, and continued in or long ago returned to this section is established to a reasonable certainty.
That the men of the period antedating the advent of the white men attained a considerable degree of intelligence and ingenuity is strongly evidenced by the remains of habitations in the forms of cities that ex-
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isted, we know not how long ago. Whether those more advanced races became extinct and were succeeded by races of entirely different origin, or whether they degenerated, and successive generations lost the arts of their forefathers, furnishes a wide field for speculation. Whatever may have been the vicissitudes in the life of man, and much as we might like to know thereof, antecedent to the coming of Europeans to this country, there is comparatively little evidence thereof to be found, except in the life as it was lived by the people found here on the advent of the white men, their existing traditions and such ruins as remained.
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CHAPTER II AS FIRST SEEN BY MAN
TRADERS FIRST IN NORTHERN COUNTRY-IDEAL HUNTING GROUND THE PIONEER MISSIONARIES-PICTURED ROCKS DESCRIBED IN 1834-ST. MARY'S RIVER AND ISLAND OF MACKINAC-THE RESTFUL GREEN BAY REGION
To one familiar with the interesting topographical features of the section of the country under consideration there is no occasion to won- der at the large amount of attention it commanded from the earliest pioneers, the missionaries and traders; and later from those attracted hither for permanent settlement. The wonder, if any there be, is, as to why permanent settlement and the development of our natural re- sources followed so tardily the footsteps of discovery. Such a query, however, finds satisfaction, and the delay is in part explained by the history that was then making in the old world, monopolizing there the attentions of the government and the people of France which might otherwise have been showered upon, and have assisted in the earlier de- velopment of the French possessions hereabout ; and later by the con- troversies existing here that made early settlement too hazardous to be inviting. But there were attractions here that the lapse of centuries did not efface. The glittering promises of great wealth which the coun- try afforded, and which promises were communicated to the people of the mother country through the missionaries and traders, have made good in the varied avenues of exploitation, trade and development. Pel- tries, lumber, mining (both copper and iron) have yielded their fortunes to many and have distributed their products to the farthermost points of the wide world. Many lesser industries have influenced in a large measure the attractiveness of the country, but those named are the major industries to date, and undoubtedly furnished the main attrac- tions to the first permanent settlers.
TRADERS FIRST IN THE NORTHERN COUNTRY
Before the permanent settlers, however, came the traders, facing grave dangers and great hardships, attracted by the most readily de-
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veloped of those resources, the trade in furs, wherein was large profit on small investments. The topographical features of the country were such as to make it of the best in that direction. Glancing at the map, and remembering that in those days the only avennes of travel and transportation that would accommodate traffic to any extent were the waterways,-the rivers and lakes of the country,-the long shore boun- daries of the Peninsula, on the north by Lake Superior and on the east and south by Lakes Huron and Michigan, become attractively apparent. We observe further that this long, narrow stretch of territory between these two great avenues of commerce has numerous rivers that pierce the interior from either direction so that almost the entire country could be traversed by small boats. The country was then only a part of the great new world and knew no territorial boundaries; but natural boundaries and advantages seem to have signalized this as the favorite abode of large numbers of wild animals and birds and many varieties of the best of fish, from the lithe and gamely trout of the sparkling brook, and the sporting bass of the interior lakes, to the ponderous stur- geon, the mammoth trout and the palatable white fish of the lakes and bays. The lake boundaries afforded by Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan, as above mentioned, were matched by boundaries of almost equal attractiveness on the west and southwest, where the beautiful Menominee river carries its immense volume of water in continuous flow over a series of falls and rapids a distance of about three hundred miles from the northern source of her tributaries to their outlet into Green Bay at the southern extremity of the peninsula; while almost within a stone's throw of the starting point of these waters to the south- ward other streams formed and carried their waters to the north and into Lake Superior. The River St. Louis, which now forms the most northwesterly natural boundary of the peninsula, has its source much farther from that of the Menominee than do some of the other streams that flow to the north.
The topography of the country is such that the bench, or divide be- tween the northerly and the southerly slopes, is within a few miles of the northern boundary of the peninsula, and this divide is so pro- nounced as to in places assume the proportion of a mountain range, as illustrated in the Porcupine and Huron mountains; while for the en- tire course from the easterly to the westerly boundary the altitude of the divide is such as to make almost precipitous the descent to the boundary line of Lake Superior. The summit of the mountains north of Lake Michigamme is twelve hundred and fifty feet above Lake Mich- igan, and the waters of Lake Michigamme are nine hundred and sixty- six feet above the waters of Lake Michigan. The southern watershed, therefore, includes a very large portion of the Peninsula. It is traversed by numerous large rivers, the Menominee, Escanaba and Manistique, with their tributaries, and numerous other rivers of lesser proportion, which serve to furnish extensive and convenient highways for travel and traffic, all with their trend to the southward and their outlets into Green bay.
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Practically all this country was heavily timbered with a mixture of evergreen and hardwoods that at once were most beautiful to behold, changing with the changing seasons from the varied hues of green and grey that characterize the freshness of spring, through the heavier shades of massive green that sheltered the ground from the summer's heat, to the varied and most beautiful of autumn foliage that the hand of nature has ever set as an example to the lovers of art, and to the snow-bedecked evergreens that lend their picturesqueness and a charin to our northern winters.
IDEAL HUNTING GROUND
Penetrated as the forests were by the numerous and beautiful streams, they furnished, also, appropriate settings for many crystalline lakes, set like jewels to further adorn the already attractive landscape. The combination of forest, lake and stream this country afforded when the pioneer first set foot upon the soil seems to have been the culmina- tion of nature's ideal of a hunting ground.
As a fitting complement to the situation many of the lakes and streams had shallow parts where an abundance of wild rice grew, fur- nishing an attraction to many varieties of water fowls and fur bearing animals; and there were openings upon high lands that supplied an abundance of natural grasses, and an opportunity to the red men to cultivate Indian corn.
Naturally such a country was peopled with an abundance of game, including animals, birds and fish, and thus, naturally also, it was the home of many Indians and the visiting and hunting place of many more that roamed about the country, or came periodically from their homes in other parts of the interior.
Thus, with the means of access from the seaboards and the settle- ments of the east, afforded by the Great Lakes, to the extensive lake boundaries and the river highways of this Peninsula, and with the great abundance of game and the presence of the Indians it is not strange that their first appreciation of the country was in the advantages offered by way of trade in peltries that could be had in abundance almost without price, and that could be readily sold at handsome profits sometimes amounting to hundreds of per cent. So, from a commercial standpoint the richness of the country was first seen through the eyes of the traders and their couriers du bois, and they were so intent on commercialism, on the dollar that seems to have been worshipped then almost as much as now, that they thought not of history or of posterity, and as a conse- quence made few records. Their presence here in those remote times would probably have hardly been recorded were it not for the fact that the missionaries came about the same time, or followed early in their footsteps. There are numerous things in history that lead one to be- lieve that these early traders preceded the missionaries, and that the reports carried by them as to the natives that were here, and as to their savagery and barbarous conditions of life, were the inducements that
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brought the missionaries who came with the bible and the cross to Chris- tianize the people that were native, rather than to exploit the country for the purposes of settlement.
THE PIONEER MISSIONARIES
These missionaries were intelligent, educated men, and while intent upon their religious missions and perhaps thereby held more closely within the channels thereof, they were nevertheless observing. and some of them were enterprising. They heard from the Indians of the de- posits of copper and were supplied by them with specimens of this min- eral which they sent east with their reports. thus arousing there the commercial interest which more recently has developed our mineral re- sources to such an extent as to already put into deep shade the early reports that, though glittering, were received with but seant credulity.
The missionaries also observed and reported upon the picturesque- ness of the country, and although these features were mentioned with appreciation, it is for prophesy rather than history to treat of them from a commercial standpoint, and I mention them now as a practically undeveloped asset, among the abundance and varied assets with which nature endowed this favored peninsula.
Some of the most beautiful scenes, and we may mention the Quinnesec Falls of the Menominee River, that were first appreciated only as an object of picturesque grandeur, rivaling in beanty the Falls of Niagara, have sacrificed something of their primitive attractiveness at the hands of man in order that the immense power capable of being generated might be utilized to run the massive machinery in and lift the burden- some tons of ore from the near-by Iron Mountain mines. Little did the first white man to set eyes upon that cataract dream of the changes that would be wrought from that scene of beauty to one of extensive utility in a time so soon to come.
If we may be pardoned a moment for dropping into the perspective, we may say, little do we of the present dream of the commercial utility to which some of our natural resources,-our picturesque scenery, brac- ing atmosphere and convenient outing places .- will be put a few years hence. The money-earning capacity thereof will be realized when these advantages shall be properly equipped to accommodate, and shall be truthfully and attractively portrayed to the great masses of people in our inland cities who annually go far and spend much upon less at- tractive, less comfortable, but more widely advertised summer resorts ; and faintly can we comprehend the extent of the manufacturing indus- tries to be developed here because of the cheap power to be furnished by our rivers, and the competition in transportation afforded by our waterways.
Returning to our subject, we can not presume to describe all the ob- jects that have been attractive and have yielded up an abundance, or are offering a promise of abundance in the lines of both beauty and utility, for our command of language cannot fittingly perform such a
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