USA > Michigan > History of Michigan, civil and topographical, in a compendious form; with a view of the surrounding lakes > Part 24
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* Sce the first chapter of this work, where it is described.
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ABORIGINAL MONUMENTS, &c.
ed town on Paint Creek in the state of Ohio, the potter's ware which has been found in the same State and along the northern waters of the Scioto, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, the idols which have been dug up near Nashville and Nat- chez, the carved owl which was found near Columbus, and the triune vessel made of clay, and consisting of three heads of Chinese form, which has been discovered on the Tany fork of the Cumberland ; also the ancient ruin of Aztalan, do not seem to belong to that people. The Mammoth, whose bones are found so far below the surface, might have been wrecked in the deluge ; and the soil, by vegetable deposite, heaped over its remains ; but the ancient works seem to refer to a later age. The race to which these reliques belong, probably had no great degree of refinement. We find among the ruins of their ancient cities no subterranean aqueducts or written scrolls. We dig up from the soil no marble foundations, no enamelled vases, no works of sculpture and painting, which mark the country of Phidias and Apelles as the land of luxury and the arts. Monuments, other than those which might be conceived to belong to a remote people, demi-civiliz- ed, and yet versed somewhat in science, have not, as yet, on this region seen the day. Extraordinary exertions have been recently made in Mexico to decypher the origin of the works in that quarter, with which it is thought that these may be somewhat connected. But although the concentrated blaze of knowledge has been poured upon the exhumated reliques and sunken ruins of this unknown race, it has only made the darkness visible. No record, or column, has recorded their history. The Mammoth and the urn, the city, the vase, and the skeleton, lie in their sunless chambers like the spirits of the past, as if in mockery of an age which arrogates to it- self the term of an age of light. They will probably remain for ever a signal rebuke upon the learning of modern times, assuming the pride of universal knowledge .*
* For a collection of zoological, botanical, and geological specimens of Michigan production, see the valuable cabinet of Dr. Douglas Houghton, the enterprising geologist of the State.
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HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
The Indian names which marked the prominent points of Michigan, as well as other parts of the north-west, exhibit the mode in which the savages defined the topography of the country. From the extent of the region through which they roamed, these names are rather general than particular, and were used as land-marks to guide them in their migrations. A general term, founded on a certain feature of natural scenery, the depth and current of a stream, the size of a rock or the form of a lake, was often used to designate a wide tract of ter- ritory. The following are subjoined :-
ENGLISH.
INDIAN.
DEFINITION.
Kalamazoo
Kik-alamazoo
Looming or mirage
river, causing the stones to appear liko otters. Singeing skin river.
River Rouge
Minosa-goink
Milwaukee
Minwarikee
Rich land.
River Raisin
Numma sepee
River of Sturgeons.
Detroit
Waweawtonong
Place you go round the sun in approaching. Sea water. Great stone.
Lake Superior
Gitchigommee
Gibralter
Kechiessining
Niagara Falls
O, ni, รกรก-garah (Iroquois)
The thunder of waters. End of deep water.
Equabaw
Equabaw
Wassawassebee
Wassawassepee
The River where the fish is hunted with lights. Marshy river. The rib.
Moskegon
Moskego-sepee
Pocagonk
Pocagonk
Chicago
Sheckawgo
The place of wild on- ions, or leeks.
Titabawassee
Titebawassee
A River that runs along- side. Hunting River.
Ontonagon
Nundee Norgon
Huron River
Wrockumiteogoc
Clear River.
Owosso
Owosso
Person warming him- self. Bark River.
River Ecorce
Nagaikur sebec
Sac-e-nong
Sac Town.
Saginaw Lake Michigan Mississippi
Michisawgyegan
Great Lake.
Michi sepee
Great River.
Michilimackinac
Michenemackinong, or Mi- Place of Giant Fairies, chimackinac Great Turtle.
INDIAN TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS.
261
Shiawassee Onisconsin
Scia-wassee
Oniscons-sebee
Strait running. River where the wood is scorched by fire.
Grand River
Wash-bee-yon, also Wash- A body of water run-
tenong
ning over shining ca- nals. The noise of falling wa- ters.
Sault St. Marie
Powating (Chippewa)
Water shallow on the rocks. Great town.
Detroit Au Glaize River Miami of the Lake
Yondotia (Wyandott)
Cowthenake sepee
Falling timber river.
Ottawas sepee
Ottawas River.
Sandusky River
Potake sepee
Rapid River.
Cincinnati
Tu ent a hah e waghta
The place where the road leav 3 the river. Leaning bank.
Chillicothe
Tat a ra ra
Muskinghum
Wakelamo sepee
Town on the river side.
Kentucky River
Kentuckee
At the head of a river.
Mad River
Athenee sepee
Smooth stone river .
Licking River
Nepepeniine sepee
Salt river.
Cumberland River
Magnehoque sepee
Blanchard's fork of the Au Quegh tu wa
Glaize
Free with a large knot. Claws in the water.
Grand Rapids
Powetink (Ottawa)
Gibraltar, the new village at the mouth of the Detroit Ri- ver, was known by the Indian term which signifies a great stone, from the rock at that point. Lake St. Clair, the Round Lake, from its form. River Rouge, the Singeing River, from the fact that the Indians were accustomed to dress their game on its shores. Milwaukee, the Rich Land, from the quality of the soil. The Huron, the Clear River, from its comparative transparency. The River Raisin, the Sturgeon River, from the number of that fish within its waters during certain seasons of the year. Kalamazoo, the Mirage River, from its reflective power. The Moskegon, the Marshy River, from its wet prairies. River Ecorce, the Bark. River, as the Indians were accus- tomed to procure their bark at this place for their canoes and mococks, and wigwams. Michilimackinac was also called the Land of Great Fairies, from the mythological superstition which peopled this singular island ; and Chicago was named from the vast quantity of leeks which abound in that region."
* It is not claimed that these Indian topographical terms are given with per-
262
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
The system of Internal Improvement, which has been pro- jected to unite the eastern portion of the peninsula with Lake Michigan, sheds honor upon the State, and demonstrates the vigor and enterprize of the people of Michigan. These pub- lic works are the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, commencing at Mt. Clemens, passing through the counties of Macomb, Oak- land, Livingston, Ingham, Eaton, Barry, and Allegan, and ter- minating at Naples, on the Kalamazoo River, about a mile from the lake. The Northern rail-road commences at Palmer on the St. Clair, and running through the counties of St. Clair, La Peer, Genessee, Shiawasse, Clinton, Ionia, and down the valley of the Grand River, terminates at the Grand Rapids in Kent county. The Middle rail-road commences at Detroit, and running through the counties of Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Berrien, it terminates at the mouth of the St. Jo- seph on Lake Michigan. The track of the Southern rail-road commences at Monroe ; and running through the counties of Monroe, Lenawee, Hillsdale, Branch St. Joseph, Cass, and Berrien, is designed to terminate at New Buffalo on Lake Mi- chigan.
fect philological precision, as they are inserted according to their sound. They are however, I believe, generally accurate, so far as they show points of demark- ation. I am indebted for these names to Mr. Henry Connor, an intelligent Indian trader, who has spent the greater part of a long life in the Indian terri- tory, and to Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq. for their supervision.
CHAPTER XIV.
General view of the Lake-Coast of Michigan-Size of the Lakes-Fish- Shore of Lake Erie and the Detroit River-Detroit-Lake St. Clair-River St. Clair-Fort Gratiot-Lake Huron-Saginaw Bay -- Mackinaw-Falls of St. Marie-Lake Superior-Green Bay-Lake Michigan-Length of the Coast.
THE State of Michigan comprises an area of more than fifty thousand square miles, and its shores are washed by Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron, Superior, and Michigan.
These lakes constitute much the largest continuous body of fresh water on the globe, affording, with the exception of the obstruction which is caused by the Falls of St. Marie, around which is projected a ship canal, a connected chain of navigation. They open to Michigan a coast on three sides. This expanse of lake commerce extends from the remotest shores of Lake Superior to the State of New-York. The subjoined table exhibits the elevation and magnitude of these lakes.
Lake Erie is two hundred and seventy miles long, sixty miles wide, one hundred and twenty feet deep ; and its surface is estimated at about five hundred and sixty-five feet above tide water at Albany. Lake Huron is two hundred and fifty miles long, and its average breadth is one hundred miles. It is nine hundred feet deep, and its surface about five hun- dred and ninety-five feet above tide water. Lake Michigan is four hundred miles long, sixty miles broad, nine hundred feet deep, and its surface near five hundred and ninety-five feet above tide water.
Green Bay, which expands from Lake Michigan, is about one hundred miles long and twenty miles wide. Lake St.
264
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
Clair is estimated at thirty miles in length and twenty-five miles wide.
Lake Superior is four hundred and eighty miles long, one hundred miles broad, nine hundred feet deep, and its surface six hundred and forty feet above tide water. This extent of lakes constitutes more than one half of the fresh water upon the face of the earth.
The magnitude and depth of these lakes, the resources and vast extent of territory which they wash, extending from the remotest Canadian shores of the North-west to the State of New-York ; the advantages which they afford for the con- struction of safe harbors, and the probable denseness of population along their banks ; will doubtless cause this section of country to be of vast importance in the future commerce of the country.
These lakes abound also with fish ; some of the most de- licious kinds. Among these are the Sturgeon, the Macki- naw Trout, the Mosquenonge, the white fish, and others of smaller size peculiar to fresh water. The Sturgeon ad- vances up the stream from the lakes during the early part of spring to spawn, and are caught there in large quantities by the Indians. The Mackinaw Trout is a delicious fish, somewhat resembling, in taste and appearance, the Salmon ; and are frequently caught, weighing fifty pounds. These form a principal article of luxury in the markets. The Mosquenonge is also a fish of fine flavor, somewhat similar to the Pike, and are found weighing sometimes fifty pounds.
The White Fish is abundant, and constitutes a valuable ar- ticle of commerce along the lakes; somewhat smaller than the Shad, and of a form more symmetrical. When first caught, they glitter in the sun like burnished silver. They swiin in immense shoals, and are taken in large quantities around Mackinaw, at the falls of St. Marie, and in most of the connecting waters of these lakes.
Herring, Pike, and Pickerel abound also in these waters. Some fish of the larger size are caught in winter by the In- dians through the ice, although the greatest part is taken in the summer and autumn, by individual enterprise as well as
265
LAKE COAST OF MICHIGAN.
by the Hudson's Bay and American Fur Companies on the lakes, particularly on Lake Superior. These are packed in barrels and transported to New-York and Ohio, where they command a good price. The fish of the lakes have been celebrated by the Jesuits and travellers to this region from the earliest periods.
The scenery presented in passing along the western shore of Lake Erie up the Detroit River, is entirely distinct from that which is exhibited on the Atlantic frontier. The eastern shore of Michigan presents a level surface, covered with a dense forest, at points meeting the edge of the bank, and occasionally studded with a village just founded. Among those which have been recently commenced directly on the shore, are Havre, Brest, Gibraltar, and Truago. A group of beautiful islands are set in the mouth of the Detroit River, which, in connection with the distant view of the lake, gives a picturesque character to the scenery. The natural charms of this country, clothed in full verdure, did not fail to call forth from the early French explorers glowing eulogies.
About twenty miles from the mouth of the Detroit River is the city of Detroit, standing on a level a few feet above the immediate bank of the river. It now contains more than ten thousand inhabitants. This place has at the present time a somewhat foreign aspect, as it is a general depot for the emigrants to the north-west on their way to the upper lakes. A great proportion of this population are from the New England States and the State of New-York, commingled with English, Dutch, Irish, Swiss, and numerous Frenchmen, the remnants of the early Canadian founders of the country. Here also, at stated times, may be seen the savages of the remote north-west, the half-breed Indian, with deer skin legg- ings and moccasins enamelled with beads, quills of the por- cupine, red bands and feathers on their hats, blue frock and red girdle. Along the banks of the Detroit River the houses of the old French peasantry strike the traveller's eye, stand- ing in a continuous line below the city. The descendants of the ancient habitans adhere alike to the dress and man- ners of their fathers, and to the Catholic faith which they
34
266
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
professed. Some may be seen with a long blue gown, red cap and sash, with colored leggins, by which they are dis- tinguished.
The same character marks the scenery as you advance up the river. The American shore is adorned with French farms, enclosed in pickets, comprising on the river a width of about four acres, and extending back until they meet the for- est. The cottages have a neat appearance, are constructed in the French style, of small size, and surrounded with flourish- ing orchards. The horses and cattle, grazing by the river side, cast over the prospect an air of great pastoral comfort and tranquil repose. The country along the river has an ancient aspect. The soil is a deep black loam, adapted to all the products of agriculture common to these regions, but somewhat worn by imprudent tillage. About six miles from Detroit, advancing upward, Lake St. Clair, the smallest of the chain, expands itself towards the horizon. On the Ameri- can side the banks of this lake are undulating, and elevated about twenty feet from its surface. The soil is alluvial, and of a rich quality.
The principal streams which flow into Lake St. Clair, is the Clinton river from the west or American side, and the rivers Chenala Ecarte, and Thames, on the side of Canada. The latter is made remarkable as the scene of Harrison's victory. The river St. Clair connects Lake Huron with Lake St. Clair. It is a clear and picturesque stream, maintaining an average breadth of about three quarters of a mile. The American shore is settled mainly by French farmers, and consists of elevated land, well covered with oak, elm, maple, and beach woods. An Indian canoe occasionally darts out, like a silver arrow, from the shore, and then disappears behind the woodlands. The same wooded islands, the same clear waters, massy and verdant foliage, the same steam-boats, ploughing the field of glass, and the same vessels with their snow-white canvassfloating along the unruffled surface, give the landscape the same mild character as that around Detroit. Belle and Black river, both pour their waters into the river St. Clair on the American side. Along a great part of this
267
LAKE COAST OF MICHIGAN.
shore the French settlements are extensive. At the foot of Lake Huron stands Fort Gratiot. This battery commands the entrance into the upper lakes, and would be of great mi- litary importance in case of war, in furnishing a bulwark against the encroachments of the Savages, and controlling the commerce of these waters. The advantages of this po- sition, as a trading and military establishment, were fully ap- preciated from a remote period ; and here the early French traders had erected a fort, which was subsequently occupied by the French government, by the name of St. Joseph. That fort was abandoned and burned by the commandant Baron La Hontan as early as 168S, in consequence of a peace which was effected between the Governor of Canada, Mar- quis de Denonville, by which the Iroquois obtained posses- sion of Niagara.
The present fort, consisting of a stockade, magazine, and barracks, was erected about the year 1814. Lake Huron soon spreads out its wide surface to the traveller's eye. The sky and the waters seem to meet each other along the horizon, while on the left appears a long alluvial shore, covered with a growth of pine, poplar, birch, and hemlock ; and a wide beach of sand, skirting the margin of the lake, occasionally diversified by masses of limestone and granite. The native trees growing on the shore indicate the quality of its soil, which grows more barren and desolate as you advance from the head of the river St. Clair. Proceeding further upon the shore of Lake Huron, the banks are found more elevated, ris- ing to forty feet in height, and so continue for about six miles. These are composed of blue clay, and constitute a firm abut- ment against the billows of the lake. The features of the coast are not marked with much that is interesting. No his- torical facts of much importance are connected with it. The perils and privations of the Canadian voyageurs, in by-gone days, have left no trace to mark the sterile shore. The uni- formity and dead level of the lake shore is maintained until within about fifty-three miles of Fort Gratiot. Here there is seen an enormous rock, lifting its summit from the deep, about a mile distant from the shore, and is called the White
268
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
Rock. From time immemorial this rock has been an altar or a landmark. As the latter, by the voyageurs ; but by the savages as a place of oblation, where sacrifices were offered to the Great Spirit,- an appropriate altar for such a sacrifice. At the Point aux Barques, opposite the widest part of the lake, the waves have beaten against the banks, and the storms driven the crumbled stones into a vast sand heap, now cover- ed with trees of pine. Islands of rocks, clothed with forest trees, are formed on this part of the shore.
Saginaw Bay is a large indentation of the shore line, and is estimated to be sixty miles deep and thirty miles broad. Near the centre it is studded with islets. Twenty miles from the mouth of the bay stands the thriving city of Sagi- naw.
Saginaw river waters in its course one of the most beau- tiful and eligible portions of the State. From the north- westerly Cape of Saginaw Bay to Flat Rock Point, the shore of Lake Huron exhibits a bank of alluvial soil, with a mar- gin of sand along its border, intersected with frequent mass- es of limestone rock, in some places ground to fragments by the surging waves ; at others lifting its backs above them. Many interesting specimens of organic remains are to be found along this shore. The absence of any work of art or historic associations, occasions a destitution of lively interest in the scenery on the Michigan side of Lake Huron. The wide expanse of water on the north, which exhibits no change but that of the elements, when its forehead scowls with tempests, or the peaceful calm spreads out its crystal mirror to the skies, presents little that is worthy of record. The steamers from Detroit ply along its shores, burdened with freight for the north-western ports, and the canvass of numerous vessels of all sizes may be seen on the same errand.
To the political economist, the practical farmer, and the pa. triot, this lovely and comparatively now lonely scene presents a different aspect. To these it seems a great highway of com- merce, which will at some future day, and that not distant, connect the treasures of its coast with the markets of the east ; and whose surface will bear upon its bosom the wealth of
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LAKE COAST OF MICHIGAN.
empires. This channel of emigration will unlock the fertile gardens of the north-west to eastern capital and its well- known enterprise. The immense line of forest bordering the lake, bearing a growth of the pine, the hemlock, and the birch, indicates a sterile soil ; while ranges of horneblend, limestone and granite, do not present encouragement to the agriculturist, along its banks ; although the prominent points and inden- tations will invite the establishment of large sea-ports for active business, as the interior shall expand its settlements. About three hundred miles from Detroit, upon the straits of Macki- naw, which connect the Lakes Huron and Michigan, lies the Island of Michilimackinac, a brilliant diadem on the brow of the north-western lakes.
On the shore of Lake Huron, about half-way to this island, is Thunder Bay. It is so denominated from the impression that the air is more than ordinarily charged with lightning. This, doubtless, is without foundation. During the rage which has not long since prevailed for speculation, it was proposed to lay out a city for eastern capitalists on its shores, with the striking name and fame of Thundersburgh.
The middle island on Lake Huron is celebrated as a place of shelter for the vessels and canoes of the numerous voya- geurs and others engaged in the lake trade.
Michilimackinac is about nine miles in circumference. Its highest elevation is about three hundred feet above the level of the lake, and it stands connected with some of the most interesting historical associations, as well as natural monuments, which this region supplies. Among the latter, are the Skull Rock ; the Natural Pyramid ; and the Giant's Arch. This last name is given to an immense curve, formed and thrown out from the precipice on the north-eastern side of the island. It is one hundred and forty feet high above the lake, and stands supported by abutments of calcareous rock. The Natural Pyramid is a huge and rugged column, about thirty feet broad at the base and about ninety feet in height.
The Skull Rock is distinguished mainly as an ancient tomb, where the bones of the dead, probably sacrificed at
270
HISTORY OF MICHIGAN.
at feasts, were not long since abundantly to be found. Above the town, at some distance, stands Fort Michilimackinac, upon a rocky hill. Here a garrison has generally been main- tained. During the late war the British took possession of the island, and erected a battery called Fort St. George. Sub- sequently, and after the unsuccessful attack upon it by Major Croghan and the fall of the gallant Holmes, it received the name of Fort Holmes. It is now evacuated, and in ruins. From the position of this island, almost in the centre of the lake navigation, it has long been an important rendezvous for the Indian tribes, and those connected with the fur trade ; and also the theatre of some of the most important military events connected with the colonization of the north-western territory.
Mackinaw proper, as the term is used in modern times, is confined to the island ; whereas the ancient town of Michili- mackinac was three leagues distant on the peninsular coast of Michigan. The foundations of the old town were laid by the French, as has been noticed ; and the settlement made by them soon became a nucleus for an extensive and valuable fur trade. After the surrender of Quebec in 1759, it fell into the hands of the British, against the will of the Indians. So keen was their prejudice, that Alexander Henry, an English trader, found it necessary to assume the dress of a Canadian in his intercourse with them, in order to avoid the consequences of the animosity which they entertained toward his countrymen.
The demolition of this fort, in the year 1763, furnished them with a prominent occasion for the exercise of their native cunning and cruelty. The town, too, which had been for ninety-two years a seat of the trade in furs, was razed from its foundations by their fury. After the destruction of the ancient village and fort, the English proceeded to take pos- session of the island of Mackinaw, which they fortified ; and for a course of years it advanced with a gradual and solid growth.
During the war of the American Revolution, this place was a rallying-point of the Indians hostile to the United States ; and in the year 1796 it came under the jurisdiction
271
LAKE COAST OF MICHIGAN.
of the American Government. The fort, during the late war, was occupied and maintained by British troops until the treaty of Ghent, when it was finally surrendered, and now constitutes a part of the State of Michigan. Around a small bay, and stretching along the southern side of the island, in a compact form, stands the village. In the year 1819 it consisted of one hundred and fifty houses, containing about four hundred and fifty inhabitants ; although the number was at that time somewhat swelled by the accession of In- dians and American traders. The position and scenery, on and about this island, distinguish it as the most romantic point in the State of Michigan. Rising with peculiar boldness out of the watery realm, it strikes the eye like a gigantic throne, where the native sons of the wilderness might well come to pay their homage to Him who held sway over their boundless range of inland seas. Its waters are supplied with excellent fish in the greatest abundance, while the game of the adjoin- ing forest seldom disappoints the hunter. The canoe of the Indian, buoyant and fleet, darting through the clear wa- ters ; the clean-painted houses of the village, on grounds gen- tly ascending ; the mansion of the Indian agency, marked by the American banner, sporting like the spirit of freedom, in all the wildness of this lovely scene from the walls of the fort ; im- press on the mind a sentiment of admiration which might well awaken the fictions of poetry and the glories of the canvass.
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