USA > Michigan > Wayne County > Detroit > The city of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. I > Part 8
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"However well chosen was the position of Dn L'hut's trading fort at St. Joseph, I have in mind a better site. Dollier and Galinee, and later La Salle, followed up this eonmeeting chain of waters from Fort Frontenae. They found it as riehly set with islands as is a queen's necklace with jewels and the beautifully verdant shores of the mainland served to complete the picture of a veritable paradise. Especially attractive was the region that lies south of the pearl-like lake to which they gave the name of Ste. Clair, and the country bordering upon that deep, clear river, a quarter of a league broad, known as Le Detroit. I have had from the Indians and the coureurs de bois glowing de- seriptions of this fair locality, and, while affecting to treat their aeeounts with indifference, I made a note of it in my mind.
"On both sides of this strait lie fine, open plains where the deer roam in graceful herds, where bears, by no means fierce and exceedingly good to eat, are to be found, as are also the savoury poules d'Indies (wild duck) and other varieties of game. The islands are covered with trees; chestnuts, walnuts, ap- ples and plums abound; and, in season, the wild vines are heavy with grapes, of which the forest rangers say they have made a wine that, considering its newness, was not at all bad. The Hurons have a village on Le Detroit; they see, according to their needs, its advantages. Miehilimaekinac is an important post, but the climate will ever be against it; the plaee will never become a great settlement. Le Detroit is the real eenter of the lake country-the gateway to the West. It is from there that we ean best hold the English in check. I would make it a permanent post, not subject to ehanges as are so many of the others. To do this it is but necessary to have a good number of French soldiers
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and traders, and to draw around it the tribes of friendly Indians, in order to conquer the Iroquois, who, from the beginning, have harassed us and pre- vented the advance of civilization. The French live too far apart. We must bring them closer together, that, when necessary, they may be able to oppose a large force of savages and thus defeat them. Moreover, the waters of the Great Lakes pass through this strait, and it is the only path whereby the English can carry on their trade with the savage nations who have to do with the French. If we establish ourselves at Le Detroit, they can no longer hope to deprive us of the benefits of the fur trade."
CADILLAC GOES TO FRANCE
Governor Frontenac was inelined to favor Cadillac's plans, but he died in 1698, before definite arrangements for the establishment of the post had been completed. IIe was succeeded by Chevalier de Callieres, who apparently had little faith in Cadillae's suggestions and refused to aid his project. Failing to interest the new governor in his cherished ambition, Cadillac resolved to go to France and lay the whole matter before the king. IIe was cordially wel- comed by Louis XIV, then the occupant of the French throne, and returned to America armed with anthority to establish a post at such point as he might select. His commission was signed by Count Pontchartrain, the minister of marine, and was approved by the king. Ile was allowed the sum of 1,500 livres (a livre was about twenty cents) for the purpose of building a fort, and was granted subsistence for himself, wife and two children, and two servants. He was likewise granted a tract of land "fifteen arpents square."
Having accomplished the object of his mission, Cadillac returned to Amer- ica, arriving at Quebec on March 8, 1701. After a brief stay there, he went on to Montreal to make arrangements for the establishment of his post. Under the authority given him by Count Pontchartrain, he enrolled 100 Frenchmen and a similar number of friendly Indians. Cadillac's officers were: Capt. Alphonse de Tonty ; Lieutenants Chacornaele and Dugue; Sergeant Jacob de Marac, Sieur de L'Ommesprou ; Chaplains Father Constantine de L'Halle, a Recollet, and Father Francois Valliant, a Jesuit. Francois and Jean Fafard also accompanied the expedition as Indian interpreters.
TIIE VOYAGE TO DETROIT
With this outfit, Cadillac left Montreal on June 2, 1701, for the Detroit River. The seene of the embarkation is thus described by Mary Catherine Crowley in her "Daughter of New France," as she obtained it from old doeu- ments in the archives at Quebec: "There in the sunshine were the soldiers in their blue coats with white facing; the artisans in their blouses; the coureurs de bois, with leathern jerkins brightly embroidered with porcupine quills, red caps set jauntily on their dark heads, and upon their swift feet gaudy Indian moccasins; the black robed Jesuit and the gray frocked Recollet missionaries, holding aloft the cross beside the banner of St. Louis; the officers resplendent in their gorgeous uniforms and white plumed cavalier hats. Cadillac was the last one to embark. Stepping into his canoe he stood ereet-an imposing figure in his azure habit with its crimson sash, a scarlet mantle thrown back from his broad shoulders, his sword by his side, and the breeze stirring the long, thick locks of his black hair, as he waved a last adieu to his friends upon the shore."
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In writing her story, Miss Crowley doubtless exercised the privilege of the novelist and drew largely upon her imagination. The "gorgeous uniforms" and "white plumed cavalier hats" of the officers, Cadillac's "azure habit with its crimson sash" aud his "scarlet mantle" would all have been appropriate were they going to visit the court of some foreign monarch. But they were going into a wilderness where they would meet none except savage Indians, and it is far more likely that Cadillac and his men all wore the rough costume of the voyageur-a costume that would stand hard kuoeks.
Among the soldiers was one Robert Chevalier, called De Beauchene, whose adventures were written by Le Sage, author of Gil Blas, and published in 1745. This is said to be the first printed book to mention Cadillac. From the copy in the Burton Collection De Beauchene's story, as told by himself, is taken. Says he :
" An affair that I had in that City (Montreal), in the middle of the year 1701, attached me wholly to my Algonquins. The Fact was this: We, that is, myself and about a hundred Canadians, undertook to escort Monsieur de la Mothe de Cadillac, who was sent with two Subaltern Officers, near two hundred Leagues from Montreal, to command at the Streight. When we were at the Place, which is named the Fall of China, because there is a Water-fall there, upon the River of St. Lawrence, where they are obliged to unload their Goods, Monsieur de Cadillac undertook to search the canoes, to see if we had not brought more Brandy than was allowed. He discover'd more than was licenc'd in several of the Canoes, and immediately raising his voice, demand'd with a magisterial Air, whose it was; one of my Brothers was near him, who answered him in the same Tone, that it belonged to us and that he had no Authority to find Fault with it.
"Cadillac was a Gascon, and consequently hot; he affronted my Brother, who drew upon him immediately; Cadillac received him like a Man of Courage and making him retreat, he was going to disarm him, when throwing myself between them, I push'd aside my Brother and took his Place, and repuls'd my Enemy so briskly that he had no Occasion to be sorry that we were parted. He is, I believe, still alive-if he dares, let him contradict me."
He then goes on to tell how Cadillac returned to Montreal to make his com- plaints. De Beauchene followed him and the intendant, Champigny, gave him a short term in prison (three days), and his brother, ashamed of having been defeated by Cadillac, spent the rest of his life among the Indians.
To avoid giving offense to the tribes of the Five Nations, who were inclined to resent any exploration or occupation of the Indian country, the route se- lected was up the Ottawa River, thence by way of Lake Nipissing and the French and Pickerel rivers to the Georgian Bay. Regarding the route fol- lowed by Cadillac, C. M. Burton says in his "Early Detroit": "In the sum- mer of 1904, I went to the eastern end of Lake Nipissing and spent several weeks in going over the pathway of Cadillac in this, his first trip to Detroit. Passing through the eastern end of this lake, we reached the outlet known as French River. With an Indian guide and birch bark canoes, we paddled the entire length of French and Pickerel rivers to French River village, the head of navigation. The country today is as wild and barren as it was in Cadillac's time, and if he could again visit this scene, there is no doubt that the old land- marks that guided him then would again serve to show him his way through this vast wilderness of water and of rocks. The country is a great desert of
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rocks-rocks for miles and miles-no trees of any size, and underbrush only in the crevices of the rocks, where the accumulation of the dust of ages has been sufficient to sustain a little vegetable life. The river is not a river, but a continuation of the lake. It has very little current, though it occasionally contracts into a narrower channel with a waterfall, around which our boats had to be carried. The scenery is perfectly wild and the route we took is doubt- less the one used by all travelers for the past two hundred and fifty years."
Upon reaching the Georgian Bay, Cadillae's twenty-five canoes crossed that body of water to the strait connecting it with Lake IInron, then followed the easterly coast of that lake to the St. Clair River, down which they passed, through Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River to the site of Detroit. Late on the afternoon of July 23, 1701, the canoes passed the place where the eity now stands and that night Cadillac encamped on Grosse Ile, sixteen miles down the river. Early the next morning he slowly ascended the stream, carefully noting the character of the shores, until he reached a point now about the foot of Shelby Street, where the high bank seemed to offer strategie advantages for a post. There he landed and planted the French standard at the top of the bluff, taking possession of the country in the name of Louis XIV.
BUILDING TIIE POST
Almost immediately after the ceremony of taking possession of the terri- tory, the work of building a storehouse and stoekade was commeneed. A piece of ground one arpent square (the Canadian arpent of that day was 192.75 feet) was laid off for the fort. While some cleared the ground others cut trees from six to eight inches in diameter for the pickets to form the stockade. These piekets were about fifteen feet long and were sunk in the ground to a depth of three feet. They stood close together, thus forming a palisade twelve feet high. Still others, under the direction of Father de L'Halle, began the building of a church, which was named Ste. Anne, because it was commenced on July 26th -Ste. Anne's day. It was 241/2 by 35 feet, ten feet high to the eaves, and was · provided with a door and windows, though the windows were without glass. The door had a loek and the windows were provided with shutters. This church was the first building in Detroit to be completed.
Other buildings (belonging to Cadillae) inside the stoekade were seven in number, to wit : 1. A warehouse 22 by 3716 feet, 8 feet high, constructed of thick oak planks split from trees and smoothed with an adz. Inside this ware- house were a counter and a press for baling skins, and the door was fitted with a lock and key. 2. A building 19 by 331/ feet, built, like all the others, by plaeing posts in the ground. This building was also provided with a lock. 3. A smaller building 121% by 18 feet, 61% feet high. 4. A barn 27 by 50 feet, 11 feet high. This was evidently for storing erops, though Cadillae later brought three horses, only one of which (Colon) lived. 5. A building 21 by 33 feet. formed of split stakes and without a door. 6. An ice house 15 feet square. 6 feet high above ground and extending 15 feet below the surface. 7. An in- ferior building 12 by 16 feet and only 5 feet high. Other buildings were owned by members of the colony, all built of logs set on end. Several years elapsed before cabins were built with the logs laid horizontally. Concerning this work Cadillac wrote: "All this is no easy task, as everything has to be carried on the shoulders, for we have no oxen or horses yet to draw loads, nor to plough, and to accomplish it, it is necessary to be very active."
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COMPANY OF THE COLONY
Scarcely had Cadillac laid the foundations of Michigan's future metropolis, -- and while he was encouraged and bnoyed up by the bright prospects for the future,-when a cloud appeared above the horizon. For some years the mer- chants of Quebec and Montreal had been engaged in the fur trade in a limited way. Their method was to employ voyageurs to fit out expeditions and trans- port in canoes, to the Indian country about the upper lakes, goods to exchange for peltries. About the close of the Seventeenth Century a company was formed to conduct this trade on a larger scale. Authentic information relative to this company is so scarce that it is difficult to ascertain just what rights it was granted, or who composed it. Enough has been learned, however, to state with certainty that on October 3, 1699, some of the leading citizens of Quebec (among whom was Cadillac) sent a deputation composed of Anteuil, Jnchereau and Pacaud to Versailles to solicit from the king the privilege of organizing a company to have general charge of the beaver trade of Canada. (The beaver trade included all furs.)
That some effort to organize a company at that time was made is borne out by a letter written some years later (October 21, 1726), by Clande Thomas Dupuy, then intendant of Canada, in which he says: "M. de la Mothe was placed at Detroit as commandant in the year 1700, when this post was estab- lished. The old Beaver Company, which had established the post, gave it up to the new company, which was unable to keep it up, and Sieur de la Mothe asked for it with the monopoly of the trade and the other conditions the com- pany had."
Not long after Cadillac left Quebec on June 2, 1701, for the Detroit River, a treaty of peace was made with the Iroquois, which opened a more direct route between Fort Frontenac and Detroit by way of Lake Erie. It is quite probable that this treaty revived the idea of organizing a company, as goods could now be transported without encountering the troublesome portages of the Ottawa River route. But Cadillac had been granted the exclusive right to trade with the Indians at Detroit and was taking steps to settle them near the post, where they would be under his domination. To break his power, a company called the "Company of the Colony of Canada" was formed and influences set to work to undermine his standing with King Louis XIV. If this hypothesis as to the formation of the new company is correct, it follows that at the time Cadillac founded the post there was no company in charge of the new colony, and he was justified in considering himself the exclusive owner of the post and of its trade.
It seems that Governor-General Callieres had conceived a personal dislike for Cadillac and, as the representative of the French Government in Canada, encourage the formation of the company, with the exclusive right to trade at Fort Frontenac and Detroit, taking from Cadillac the powers given him by the king's commission. By intrigne the consent of Louis XIV was gained and the contract with the company was concluded at Quebec on October 31, 1701. On the same day the intendant wrote to Count Pontchartrain :
"You will see from the agreement I have made with the Company of the Colony, on putting it in possession of the forts of Frontenac and Detroit, that I have been obliged to advance large sums without being able to obtain pay- ment until next year, in letters of exchange and furs, which will have to be sent to France to be sold, and this will delay the repayment for two years.
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Therefore I most humbly beg yon, My Lord, to take this into account to some extent, by granting ns such increase in funds as you may think fit, having regard to the extraordinary disbursements we have been obliged to make both for the ratification of peace with the Iroquois and for the enterprise at Detroit, and for the fortification at Quebee, as you know from the statements which 1 have sent to you.
"CHAMPIGNY, Intendant."
As the Company of the Colony was destined to play a conspicuous part in the discomfiture of Cadillac, the principal features of the contract entered into by its directors and the Canadian officials are here given, taken from Leake's IIistory of Detroit (p. 13) :
"The following articles of agreement have been made between the governor- general and intendant on the one part, and Messrs. d'Auteuil, procureur-general of the King in the sovereign council of this country, Lotbiniere, lieutenant- general of this City of Quebec, Irazenr. Gobin, Macart and Pierese, gentlemen, merchants of this City of Quebec, all directors-general of the said company, on the other part.
"1. Be it known, that the governor-general and intendant, in consequence of the express orders which they have this year received from the King, do, by these presents and acceptances, in the name of His Majesty, cede and convey to the directors of said Company of the Colony the posts of Detroit and Fort Frontenac, giving into the possession of said Company of the Colony, from this day forth, the said posts in the state in which they now are for their use, to traffie in furs, to the exclusion of all other inhabitants of said country, so long as it shall please His Majesty.
"2. It shall be the duty of said Company to complete the construction of said fort at Detroit, and the buildings properly belonging thereto; and the Company shall in future keep said buildings and fort in good repair, that they may be rendered in the same state they are now, and better, if possible, when- · ever His Majesty shall judge proper to receive them, if in the course of time he so order.
"3. The Company of the Colony is also to take charge of the goods which have been sent to said place, obeying the conditions that have been agreed upon-Messrs. Radisson and Arnault to be overseers of the storehouse of said goods which the intendant has placed in the hands of the directors of the Com- pany. They are also to have charge of the other advances made by the King for this establishment, and to make payment for said goods and advances to the intendant from the first bills which shall be returned from Detroit, and in ease said bills should not be sufficient, on the first of October, 1702, the said overseers shall give bills of exchange for the remainder, which shall be drawn upon the directors and commissioners of said Company in Paris, payable to the sureties and overseers of the storehouse, for the purpose of liquidating the claims against said Company, conformably to the agreement made with the said Lord-Lieutenant.
"4. It is also agreed that the King shall support. at his expense, the gar- rison which the governor shall order for the protection of said fort of Detroit, and that the commandant and one other officer only, shall be maintained by the Company.
"5. The said commandant and soldiers shall not make any trade for furs
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with the savages nor French, directly nor indirectly, on any pretext whatever, under pain of confiscation of the said furs, and other punishment prescribed by the King."
Cadillac knew nothing of all this until July 18. 1702, when Arnault and Radisson arrived at Detroit to take charge of affairs. They presented him with a copy of the contract and showed their credentials as overseers. The informa- tion came like the proverbial clap of thunder from a clear sky. On July 21, 1702, Cadillac left Detroit for Quebec, hoping to secure some modification of the contract with the company, or, failing in that, to make terms with the directors that would give him partial control of the post, at least. Under date of September 25, 1702, he wrote from Quebec to Count Pontchartrain, giving the following account of what had been accomplished at Detroit :
"After the fort was built, and the dwellings, I had the land cleared there and some French wheat sown on the 7th of October, not having had time to prepare it well. This wheat, although sown hastily, came up very fine and was ent on the 21st of July. I also had some sown in the spring, as is done in Canada; it came up well enough, but not like that of the autumn. The land having thus shown its quality, and taught me that the French tillage must be followed, I left orders with M. de Tonty to take care to begin the sowing about the 20th of September and I left him twenty arpents of land prepared. I have no doubt he has increased it somewhat since my departure. I also had twelve arpents or more sown this spring, in the month of May, with Indian corn which came up eight feet high ; it will have been harvested about the 20th of August and I hope there will be a good deal of it. All the soldiers have their own dwellings."
Then, after giving a detailed account of his building a boat, establishing a vineyard for the cultivation of wild grape vines, and some other matters, he continues : "All that. I have had the honor to state to you has been done in one year, without it having cost the King a sou, and without costing the com- pany a double; and in twelve months we have put ourselves in a position to do without provisions from Canada forever ; and all this undertaking was carried out with three months' provisions, which I took when I set out from Montreal, and which were consumed in the course of the journey. This proves whether Detroit is a desirable or an undesirable country. Besides this, nearly six thou- sands mouths of different tribes wintered there, as every one knows. All these proofs, convincing as they are, cannot silence the enemies of my seheme; but they do begin to grow feeble and to diminish in violence. It may be said that nothing more remains to them, good or bad, but their tongues.
"There are at Detroit a good fort, good dwellings and the means of living and subsisting. There are three villages of the savages; the rest will very soon come there. They are waiting to see whether what was promised them is being carried out. It is for you to push this matter about the inhabitants (that de- serves our attention on account of the war) and to consider whether you will allow the inhabitants of Canada to settle there; to form a seminary to begin to instruct the savage children in piety and in the French language; to allow the Recollets to settle there in order to discharge their functions."
Unable to have the agreement with the company altered to any appreciable extent, Cadillac returned to Detroit. Upon his arrival there on November 6, 1702, he found that the overseers had conducted matters in such a manner as to incur the displeasure of the Indians. It had been Cadillac's custom to treat
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his red brethren as though he had implicit confidence in their honesty, allowing them the freedom of the fort during the day. As soon as he left for Quebec in July, Radisson and Arnault ordered the warehouse, in which the goods were stored, to be kept locked, and in other ways (particularly in the distribution of brandy) treated the Indians with so much insolence that many of them were about ready to desert the post. Cadillae did all he could to pacify his Indian friends, who liked him personally, but his influence among them was weakened when they saw he was subordinate to the despised overseers.
CADILLAC REGAINS POSSESSION
While the company was in charge of the post, Cadillac remained as com- mandant on a salary of 2,000 livres per year, and was not required to bear any part of the expense of maintaining the garrison. Under this arrangement he was not shorn of his powers, always went about in military costume, with his sword by his side, soldiers saluting him and civilians removing their hats as he passed. But he was almost constantly involved in quarrels with the representa- tives and employees of the company. On one occasion a clerk named Desnoyers became rather saucy and Cadillac ordered him to be imprisoned for two hours. Upon being released, he immediately began making preparations to desert his post and return to Montreal, when he was again thrown into prison by the commandant's orders. In his defense before Count Pontchartrain, when asked why Desnoyers had been so treated, Cadillac said :
"I did so because it is laid down in my orders that nobody, officer or otherwise, is to set out from Detroit without my permission; yet the clerk, Desnoyers, to continue his disobedience, had his boat put in the water and loaded for Montreal (as he says) without speaking of it to me or saying anything to me about it, claiming always that he was not subordinate to me.
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