Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York, Part 3

Author: Curtis, Gates
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 3
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > Our county and its people: a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York > Part 3

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).

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

In the year 1549 Lord Roberval, with a large company of emigrants, sailed on a second voyage to the New World, but the fleet was never heard from afterwards. This catastrophe checked the desire for emigra tion for nearly fifty years. In 1598 the Marquis of La Roque obtained a commission, and again the prison doors of France were opened to furnish emigrants for the colony. They crossed the Atlantic by the usual route, reached the coast of Nova Scotia, and anchored at Sable Island, where a settlement of forty men was begun. The colony lin- gered for a few years only, when the survivors were mercifully picked up by a passing ship and carried back to their native land.

In the spring of 1603, Aylmar de Chastes, governor of Dieppe, ob- tained a patent from the king, giving him the exclusive right to the fur trade in New France. He formed a company with Pont-Greve as man- ager. Samuel Champlain, fresh from the West Indies, young, ardent, yet ripe in experience, a skillful seaman, and a practiced soldier, ac- cepted a post in the new company and commanded one of the two small vessels fitted out for the expedition. Like specks on the broad bosom of the waters the two pigmy vessels held their course up the St. Lawrence, passing the tenantless places that had been occupied by De la Roque in 1541, and arrived at Hochelaga. Here they found only a few wandering Algonquins, of a new tongue and lineage, in place of the savage population that Cartier had met there sixty-three years be- fore. In a skiff with a few Indians, Champlain endeavored to pass the rapids of Lachine, but failed. On the deck of his vessel the Indians made rude plans of the shores of the river above, with its chain of rapids, its lakes and its cataracts, and the baffled explorer turned his prow homeward, where he learned that De Chastes was dead, thus end- ing his charter.

Sieur de Monts next obtained leave to colonize Acadia, a region ex- tending from the fortieth to the forty sixth degree of north latitude, or from the site of Philadelphia to beyond Montreal. This gave him the monopoly of the fur trade, and a clause in his commission empowered him to impress idlers and vagabonds as material for his colony. Among the thieves and ruffians who were dragged on board were many volunteers of respectable character, such as the Baron de Poutrincourt and the indefatigable Champlain, with some Catholic priests, Huguenot

FRENCH DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER. 1239385

ministers and Franciscan friars. De Monts sailed from Havre de Grace, April 7, 1604, and Pont-Grevé followed with stores a few days later. On De Monts's arrival he explored several places along the coast of Nova Scotia and captured some fur trading barks. They landed at a place which they called St. Croix, where they began a colony and built a fort. Meanwhile Champlain continued explorations, surveying, sounding and making charts of all the principal roads and harbors along the coast. Their labors over, Poutrincourt sailed for France, leaving seventy-nine men to the terrors of an arctic winter. Scurvy broke out among them and thirty-five died, while many others narrowly survived. Pont-Greve reached his colony in the spring with forty men, with stores, which greatly cheered the remnant of the colony. On the 18th of June a party set out on a voyage along the coast of Maine, landing daily, holding conferences with the numerous Indians whom they met, and exchanging gifts. Indian lodges were thickly scattered along the shores, and around them patches of corn, beans, tobacco, squashes and esculent roots. Passing Cape Cod they reached an inlet called Nausett Harbor. Here an Indian snatched a kettle from some of the sailors who were in search of fresh water, and one of the latter while in pursuit of the thief, was killed by arrows from the Indian's comrades. The French on the vessel opened fire on the natives, during which Champlain's arquebus exploded and nearly killed him. Provisions failing they sailed for St. Croix, where they arrived on the 3d of August. The colony then removed from St. Croix to the north side of the River Annapolis, to a place called Dauphin. De Monts returned to France, leaving Pont- Greve in command, while Champlain and others, undaunted by the past, volunteered to pass a second winter in the wilderness. But boun- tiful provision had been made for them and the winter passed in com- parative comfort. In the spring news came from France that De Monts's monopoly had been rescinded, and therefore Champlain and his party sailed for home, arriving at St. Malo in October, 1607. De Monts secured a fresh monopoly for one year, after the revocation of the first. Champlain had become imbued with the theory that by tracing the in- land waters back to their sources, a western route might be discovered to China and the east. De Monts fell in with this theory and fitted out two ships, gave command of one, laden with goods for the fur trade, to

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

the elder Pont-Greve, and the other for settlement and exploration to Champlain. The latter sailed from Honfleur, April 13, 1608, and in due time reached the point on the St. Lawrence where Cartier had win- tered seventy-three years before. Here he began the erection of a strong wooden building, which stood at or near the site of the present market place of the lower town of Quebec, and hedged it about with timbers, forming a court yard. Two or three small cannon were planted on salient platforms towards the river. In September Pont- Greve sailed for France, leaving Champlain with twenty-eight men to hold Quebec through the winter. When Pont-Greve returned in the spring twenty of the men had died and others were suffering from disease.

Late in the fall a young chief from Ottawa came to Quebec and begged Champlain to join him in the spring against his enemies, the Iroquois, and the petition was accepted. It was Champlain's plan to hold the balance of power between the adverse tribes, a policy which continued in force with the French in America thereafter. About the middle of May, 1609, the expected warriors from the upper country, Hurons and Algonquins, arrived at Quebec, and with eleven white men Champlain started on the war path in a shallop, armed with the arque- bus, a short fire-lock similar to the modern carbine. Arriving at the mouth of a river now called Sorel, they encamped two days to hunt and fish. The party now had a quarrel and three-fourths of them seceded, the remainder continuing with Champlain up the Chambly River. Four of the white men were now dismissed and returned with the shallop to Quebec. On the second day the warriors reached the lake which bears the name of Champlain, passed along its shore to another lake which Champlain named St. Sacrament (now Lake George). Proceeding up the outlet to this lake about ten o'clock in the evening, they discovered the flotilla of the Iroquois, and the mingled war cries pealed over the water. It was agreed on both sides that the coming fight should be deferred until morning. The Iroquois on shore made breastworks of boughs, while the Hurons remained in their canoes. At day break the Hurons landed a safe distance from the enemy, when the brave Iroquois, in number two hundred, tall athletes, and the fiercest warriors of North America, came forth. Their steady advance excited the admiration of of Champlain. Soon the anxious Hurons called for their own champion

FRENCH DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

and opened their ranks that he might pass to the front. Champlain in his coat of mail advanced before his red companions and stood revealed to the astonished gaze of the Iroquois, who, beholding the warlike ap- parition in their path, stared in mute amazement. Champlain leveled his arquebus; the report rang through the woods ; a chief fell dead and another by his side rolled in the bushes. Then there arose from the allies a yell which would have drowned a thunder clap, and the air was filled with whizzing arrows. For a moment the Iroquois stood firm ; but when another and another gun shot came from the thickets on their flank with telling effect, they fled in uncontrollable terror, followed by the allies in hot pursuit. Many of the Iroquois were killed and more were taken prisoners. The fire- arms had done their work, the victory was complete. The victors kindled a great fire at night, bound a cap- tive to a tree, and began to torture him, but Champlain put an end to his misery by shooting him. Retracing their steps, the victors parted at the Sorel, the Hurons and Algonquins making for the Ottawa, each with a share of the prisoners for future torture. At parting they invited Champlain to visit their villages and again aid them in their wars, which he promised to do.

Champlain had rushed into a conflict with the warriors of the Iro- quois. Here was the beginning of the murderous warfare which carried havoc and flame to generations then unborn. After visiting France, Champlain returned and assisted the allies in capturing a band of Iro- quois who had secretly barricaded themselves on the island in front of Sorel. During the fight Champlain was wounded in the neck by a stone arrow head. He again returned to France to assist De Monts in securing the trade with the great Indian tribes in the Northwest. Re- turning to Montreal he arrived on the 13th of May, 1611, when the for- est and the mountains far and near were covered with snow. Here he built a fort and established a trading post, above a small stream at Point Calliere (now Montreal), and called it Place Royal. Here the Hurons soon congregated to market their beaver skins, afterwards returning to the borders of Lake St. Louis. Champlain visited them and was sent back in a birch bark canoe down the surging waters, he being the third white man to descend the Lachine Rapids. He was now empowered to govern the colony as he might judge expedient ; but his paramount de-

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

sire was still to find a route to the Indies, and to bring the heathen tribes into the embrace of the church.

For the accomplishment of these purposes, and relying upon reports of parties that he had sent into the far Northwest, he made a trip in the latter part of May, 1613, accompanied by four Frenchmen and one Indian. The details of this journey need not be followed, but the party reached the head of Lake Coulange, whence they returned without ac- complishing anything worthy of note, and on their arrival at Montreal, Champlain embarked for France, with the promise to return in the fol- lowing year.

Through his description of the condition of the Indians and his in- fluence, the Recollect friars, a branch of the great Franciscan order, were induced to undertake the founding of a mission in New France. The Friars, Denis Jamet, Jean Dolbeau, Joseph le Caron, and Pacifique du Plessis made their preparations and embarked with Champlain at Honfleur, reaching Quebec about the end of May, 1615. ' Champlain also called on the Jesuits for aid in his explorations. They had first landed at Port Royal in May, 1611, and established their order in Acadia, by the assistance of Fathers Baird and Masse. The Recollects built a convent at Quebec near the fortified dwellings of Champlain, erected an altar and celebrated the first mass said in Canada. Dolbeau was the priest officiating.

Champlain met the allies in council at Montreal early in summer and promised to join them against the Iroquois. While he was absent in Quebec to make necessary arrangements, the Indians became impatient and left for their homes, taking Father Joseph le Caron with them. Champlain with ten Indians and two Frenchmen followed and in due time reached Lake Huron, the first white man excepting the humble friar, to behold that great inland ocean. He found Father le Caron at Carhagouha, and there on the IIth of August, 1615, in presence of Champlain and a host of natives he celebrated the first mass in the country of the Hurons. About the first of September the warriors as- sembled for a grand attack upon the Iroquois, passed over Lake Simcoe, up the River Talbot, across the portage to Balsam Lake and down a chain of lakes to the River Trent. Thence they continued down the river to Lake Ontario and crossed to the south shore at Hungry Bay,

FRENCH DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

secreted their canoes, and after four days' march came near the hostile town of the Senecas, the most populous of the five Iroquois nations. Champlain found their defensive works much stronger than those of the Hurons. An attack was made by the Hurons which lasted three hours, when the assailants fell back, with many wounded, among whom was Champlain, who had received an arrow in his knee and another in his leg, which for a time disabled him. Though himself urgent for another attack, he was compelled to see his force begin a retreat, and after finally reaching their canoes they recrossed the lake. There the great war party broke up and each band returned to its hunting ground. Champlain was compelled by his wounds to pass the winter with an Indian chief and did not reach Quebec until the IIth of July following.

And now a change began in the life of Champlain. His forest roving was over. He returned every year to France, laboring for the welfare of the colony and the church. The Recollects had established five distinct missions, reaching from Acadia to the bor- ders of Lake Huron ; but the field was too vast for their numbers and they applied to the Jesuits for assistance. Three of these, Charles Lallemant, Enemond Masse, and Jean de Brebeuf, entered into their service and did excellent work as pioneers.

In 1627 a grant was given to a hundred associates, including Champlain, called the Company of New France, securing to them a monopoly of the fur trade and all other commerce for fifteen years. The company was to convey to New France, within the fifteen years, two or three hundred men of all trades, in order to increase their numbers to four thousand. Every settler must be a Frenchman and a Catholic, and they must provide for their ecclesias- tics. Thus, as they termed it, was New France to be forever free from the taint of heresy.

Quebec having reached a condition approaching starvation, the new company sent them supplies in April, 1628, but before the ship arrived a war had broken out. An English .ship of war arrived in port and

CHAMPLAIN.

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

took possession of Quebec, planted the Cross of St. George on its ram- parts, and sent the people to their own country; but Champlain was taken to London, where he had an interview with the French ambassa- dor, and learned that by the terms of a treaty New France should be restored to the French crown. Champlain then returned and resumed his position at Quebec. In his younger days he was found on the more liberal side of Romanism and encouraged the Recollects; but now, . through some influence, he chose the Jesuit, Le Jeune, as his confessor. The more crafty Jesuits soon became the leaders of the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of the country.

Champlain had sacrificed fortune, repose, domestic peace (his wife having entered a convent), in his twenty-seven years of severe labor for the welfare of New France. He passed away at the age of sixty eight, on the 25th of December, 1635. He was born in Brouage in 1567.1

For a number of years previous to 1615, Champlain and his asso- ciates had made explorations and carried missionary work among the friendly Indians on the north side of the lakes. They first reached the Huron country by way of the Ottawa River. The tribes on the south side of the river and lakes were hostile and their villages were often situated a long distance from the shores; yet a clan often spent the summer and fall in hunting along the banks of the St. Lawrence and Oswegatchie Rivers. From circumstances that took place later on we may say that the southern shore of the upper St. Lawrence was not visited by the French previous to 1626. The Recollects had just secured the services of several Jesuits to assist in their mission work. Father Brebeuf was sent to Lake Huron and Father Lallemant to the missions along the St. Lawrence, both starting from Quebec. The records of this mission, which undoubtedly contain information of great importance to us in relation to the first exploration in the immediate vicinity of the site of Ogdensburg, were not preserved, but it ended with the English occupation of Quebec in 1628. In the absence of such records the fol- lowing is offered in its place-its statements warranted by the detailed circumstances :

1 The name of Champlain stands foremost among the pioneers of the North American forests. He struck deepest into the pristine barbarism, planting on the shores and islands, to mark his course, large wooden crosses, made of cedar, the emblem of his faith.

Gates Curtis

FRENCH DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

LA GALETTE .- The first party of white or Christian men to land at this port (Ogdensburg), is supposed to have been that of Father Lalle- mant and his associates in the spring of 1626. They were also the first to break the silence of the primeval forest with prayer and praise to almighty God for their safe deliverance from the perils of the rapids over which they had just passed, and for the beautiful harbor to which they had been guided for repose. To this party also belongs the honor of naming the place " La Galette," and the river (now Oswegatchie), "La Presentation." The Indian name of the river was " Swe-kat-si," mean- ing " Black Water." Many of our people of to-day believe that Father Piquet was the first white man who came to the site of Ogdensburg, and that he was the author of the French name given to the place and the river. The following tradition, together with the historical facts concerning the several expeditions passing up the river in the mean time, will be sufficient to correct this impression as to the date of dis- covery and origin of the name :

In those days exploring parties and adventurers were termed by the French, " voyageurs," and their principal business at that early day was to explore and map the country, to name and to describe the most important places for the benefit of those who were to follow them, and to establish missionary stations and military or trading posts. There are several versions of the origin of the French name of the place and the river. The one that seems to be the most plausible is that which the writer obtained when in Lower Canada in 1846, from an aged " habitant," who claimed to be a descendant of those early voyageurs. The tradition is in substance this : A company of explorers or voyageurs was fitted out in Quebec under the sanction of Champlain, for the pur- pose of exploring the great lake region or the headwaters of the St. Lawrence, as described by the Indians. After ascending the greater part of the rapids above Montreal, the crew were much fatigued and their boats damaged by the rocks among which they had passed, they accordingly prepared to land for rest and repairs. Their leader or priest1 desired to continue on the journey, as their Indian guides had informed them that they were not far below the still water, and he agreed that if they would proceed on the way, they might stop at the first presentable

1 All exploring parties of that early day had one or more priests with them.

: 42

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

place after passing the head of the rapids. On gaining the still water and when near later called Indian Point, they discovered traces of black water, which indicated the proximity of a tributary, and they soon entered a river and found a good harbor closely guarded by an island in the mouth of the stream, which afforded them ample protection from wind storms. Here they rested a few days and made the needed repairs to the boats. From the circumstances following so soon upon the agreement of the leader with the crew, the river was named " La Pre- sentation," this being the first suitable landing place found after reach- ing the still water ; and hence the name was given to the river. The name of the place was made " La Galette," meaning a cake. This name was suggested to the party by the fact that on either shore of the river above the rapids, and especially at this point (as it appeared to them when coming into the harbor), was the most beautiful place they had found on the St. Lawrence since they left Quebec, the shores being so clean and attractive, studded with lofty maples and majestic oaks, lead- ing them to exclaim in their enthusiasm, "This takes the cake;" and hence the name, " La Galette."

The mouth of the river was for a number of years after its discovery known as Blind Harbor, as the rush bed or bar was at that time an island, being marked as such in the French maps, covered with a thick growth of bushes, hiding the river from the view of those passing along the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence. Lighthouse Point was also covered with earth and a larger growth of trees. The channel of the Oswegatchie River, which passed between this point and the island, was quite narrow, as was also the channel that passed on the opposite side along the main shore. The weary boatmen, no doubt, appreciated such a harbor, where they could repose a few days in safety, before proceed- ing on their long journey.

People who now enjoy all the modern luxuries of travel by both land and water, shooting the rapids of the St. Lawrence so gracefully, can scarcely realize the difficulty and danger encountered by those early voyageurs, when passing in small boats up or down those long rapids. In ascending they were compelled to carry their boats and baggage around the falls, or jump into the foaming and surging waters at the risk of their lives (which were often lost), to haul them up the rapids,

FRENCH DISCOVERY OF THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

often being drawn under the swift waters and their bodies lacerated on the sharp rocks.

From 1626 forward, missionaries, adventurers, and military detach- ments occasionally passed up from Quebec (then the principal port for exports) to the far west ; and as the St. Lawrence River was the great highway for the French to travel to their stations in the west, they must necessarily have passed La Galette, and doubtless many of them stopped a few days for rest and repairs.

One of these noteworthy expeditions was that of Father Raymbault, who left Quebec in the spring of 1641, and, after stopping at La Galette, continued on westward and established missions north of the lakes in what is now Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. Another was that of Father Le Moyne, who started in July, 1654, with another Frenchman and three converted Indians, and made his way to the country of the Onondaga Indians, where the salt springs were then discovered to him. This party also stopped at La Galette. Records of these expeditions and others are matters of published history.

Evidences that prospecting parties also visited the point at La Galette at an early date are unmistakable. The Oswegatchie River was the highway by which the natives of this section reached their hunting grounds and the Mohawk River. The Oswegatchie, turning to the left a short distance above its mouth, was termed the East Branch, and turning to the right, including Black Lake and Indian River, was called the West Branch. The two branches near by the Ox Bow run close to each other, and the Indians had there a carrying place from one to the other. On the West Branch, above Black Lake, are found lead, iron, and pyrites. In some of the ravines little water courses issue from the iron ore hills, carrying off oxide of iron or red ochre, which has been gathered for ages by the Indians and used for war paint. In this lo- cality the early settlers found holes dug or blasted in the hills, which had the appearance of age and the workmanship of intelligent people. On a farm now owned by Lyman Merriman, in the southerly part of Gouverneur, near the Indian portage, is a high rocky bluff. On its westerly slope there crops out a large smooth surface of the limestone rock, on which is cut the date-1671. The figures are well formed, about five inches long, properly spread, and the grooves are sunk about

HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY.

an inch in depth. The bottom and sides of the grooves were as weather . beaten as any part of the rock surface around them, when first discov- ered by the pioneers seventy-five or eighty years ago. This landmark, having endured the storms and frosts without any apparent change for upwards of two hundred years, will stand for centuries to come if no violence is used to deface it. In the woodland which has never been cleared, about a quarter of a mile north of this historic rock, is a large hole excavated some twelve feet deep and a ditch leading from it, which partially drains off the water coming into it. The mound, which was formed by the earth thrown out of the pit, has large trees growing on its surface. It is said that the pioneers, shortly after the discovery of the hole, pumped out the water, expecting to find treasure, but found only fresh cut blocks of wood at the bottom, beneath stone and debris that had accumulated above them. The supposition is that the same party who engraved the date on the rock was prospecting for gold or silver, but found only pyrites, which crops out at that point. This date engraved on the rock corresponds with the date when the fort at Fron- tenac (now Kingston) was commenced, and the engineers who built the fort may have been connected with this exploring party.

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Our county and its people : a memorial record of St. Lawrence County, New York, Part 3

Author: Curtis, Gates Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Curtis, Gates
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1328