History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 5

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408

USA > Ohio > Lucas County > Toledo > History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio > Part 5

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The country of the Maumee differs widely from the Moraine in its manner of deposit, and may well have been the bottoms of a Lake, higher than the present, cansing a level deposi- tion of matter not so deposited where the ice alone had covered the land. Possibly, in the earlier days of the Mound Builder, it may have been covered with water, Niagara River having a higher bed than now. Sonie Mounds are found not far from Toledo, and on land no higher. But the days of the Mound Builder in Ohio were ended, and they had disappeared from the State. Peace gave way to war, and agriculture to a more savage life. There is no reason to sup- pose that the people who drove away the Mound Builders were any other than those found suc- ceeding them and in a desultory way dwelling on their lands.

CHAPTER III.

THE ABORIGINES OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY.

W HEN the French made their first ap- proach up the St. Lawrence, the In- dians in or bordering on Ohio might have been divided into two great lingual divisions- those speaking the Algonkin language and those of Huron-Iroquois tongues. The Iroquois proper were South of the St. Lawrence and in Central New York. The Hurons, to whom they were allied, were to the Northwest of them ; the Neu- tral Nation to the West and around the East end of Lake Erie ; and the Eries or " Cats " (80-

Nations (often thereafter called the Six Nations). The Cherokees were also, it is said, of original Iroquois stock. They lived South of the Ohio River. It is likely the Huron-Iroquois stock and the Algonkin, or both, met and drove off the Mound Builders.

The most Southern of the Tribes of these stocks West of the Alleghanies were the Chero- kees, of the Iroquois; and the Shawnees, of the Algonkin stock. Both languages had become much corrupted, and they may well have rep-

Lake Michigan

Ottawas.

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called) were South of the Lake and upon the upper Ohio .* These tribes lay in a compact body, surrounded on every side by Algonkins. In some collision or catastrophe the Tuscacoras (also of Iroquois tongue) had become separated and were far to the South, to return long after they were first known to unite with the Five

resented the advance-guard of these great mi- grations. The languages of the Delawares and Miamis-the one East of the Shawnees, and the other West-were more alike than either like the Shawnee.

The positions of the Indian Tribes in and about Ohio shortly after the year 1600, is proba- bly not very inaccurately represented by the above map.

In this map the Ottawas, Miamis, Ilinois and Shawnees were Algonkin.

# The Eries are here spoken of as allied by lan- guage to the Iroquois, as would appear from the carly French Relation, although it is not forgotten, that lately it has been claimed that they were Algonkin.

[25]

about 1600 --

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

The earliest map which undertook to repre- sent the positions and names of the Tribes at the West end of Lake Erie, was that of Nicholas Sanson. the Royal French Geographer, in his little quarto atlas of America. The map is it- self without date, but is supposed to have been made about 1657. A fac simile of that part of it which covers and surrounds the lower Mau- mee Valley, may be of interest. It is as follows :

which only appears flowing from Chautauqua Lake. Southeast of that branch of the Ohio, are the Attionandarons (a Nation speaking a little different language), which may mean either the Neuters or the Andastes (probably the latter). South of the West end of Lake Erie are the Ontarraronons (meaning " Lake People," as Ontario means " beautiful Lake"). The names on this map are in the main Huron, and the

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The positions of the Tribes and the similarity of names with those of the earliest Jesuit Rela- tions, show that the geographical date of much of the map is 1640, about 30 years before the Ohio or Mississippi was discovered. The Western Tribe of the Iroquois are the Sonontonaus (Senecas), and East of the Genesce. The Hurons and Petuns occupy the Northern part of the Peninsula North of Lake Erie. The Ericchro- nons, or du Chat, are between the Eastern half of Lake Erie and the Ohio, the upper part of

termination, "ronon," means " Nation," as the terminations " nek " and " gonk " are Algonkin for the same.

The Jesuit Relation of 1648. written among the Hurons, says Lake Erie was formerly in- babited along its South coast by the Cat Nation. who had been obliged to draw well inland to avoid their enemies from the West. The On- tarraronons were likely the Algonkins, who had pushed back the Eries (Cat Nation), and very likely the " Miami due Lac," who gave name to

HouseRis

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Ysouatas.

France

Ouhouarazarono

Strances

THE ABORIGINES OF THE MAUMEE VALLEY.

the Maumee River, at first and long called upon the maps the " Miami due Lac." The Lake re- ferred to may have been Sandusky Bay, at- tempted to be represented on the map, but very much out of position.

On this map there appears to be a slight at- tempt to represent the Maumee. The Squen- muioronons, at the extreme West end of Lake Erie, may have been the Nepissing branch of the Ottawas, called Squekaneronons .* The first supposition is most probably correct. but the Indians were so apt to make a descriptive name, to sound to the whites like a tribal name, as to add greatly to the labor of study. In the very map before us, the Skraeronons, living East of Sault St. Marie, are simply people of the Skiac or Sault. The Assistaeronons, or Nation du Ferr, represented as in Western Mich- igan, or South of Lake Michigan, were the well- known Mascontins.

The Jesuit Relation of 1662 has an cunmera- tion of the bands of Indians in the Michigan Peninsula, all Algonkins, all friends of the Hu- rons, and all trading with the French, save some of the Five Nations and some Puants far- thest to the West. The Outaanek are no doubt our old friends in Northwest Ohio, the Ontar- raronons. The Ontaonsinagouk are substan- tially identical in name with the Squenqueronon. The others are Kichkagoneiak, Nigouaouich- irinik and Onachaskesouek. The first were probably the Nepissings; the next to the last were no doubt the Nick Konek of the Relation of 1648. likely the Couacronons of the map and no doubt Ottawas.t The geography of this map was not to be long unchanged. In 1655, before it was published in Paris, the Eries had received their final overthrow at the hands of the Iroquois-so complete, indeed, that what became of the survivors is not known. The Iroquois had before this (in 1649), overcome and driven away from their homes, North of Lake Erie, the Hurons and the Ottawas, their allies. The Ancient Nation de Petun (Owen- dat), kinsmen of the Hurons, were involved in the common ruin, and the Hurons and Pet- uns were afterwards known as Wyandots, and lived in Northwestern Ohio until 1832. Al- though their stock and language were the Hu- ron, the Iroquois and the Ottawas were Algon- kin; the common alliances, defeats and ruin

made them close companions, and the intimacy continued to the last.

But this migration was not direct. The Petuns, with some Hurons, removed to Wis- consin. They were driven back to Lake Supe- rior by the Dacotahs, and about 1680 removed to the neighborhood of Detroit. In 1706 their war parties reached the Cherokees, Choctaws and Shawnees by way of Sandusky, the Scioto and the Ohio. In 1732 they claimed all Ohio as their hunting-ground, and warned the Shaw- nees to plant their Villages South of the Ohio. They gradually centered at Sandusky and the West end of Lake Erie, before the Revolution. The Ottawas, after the overthrow, fled to the mouth of Green Bay and beyond the Missis- sippi. . Driven back, as were the Wyandots, they were, after 1672, their inseparable com- panions. In 1709 they were at war with the Miamis, In 1747 the Wyandots, already estab- lished at Sandusky, persuaded a portion of them to settle on Lake Erie, on the lower Man- mee, promising trade with the English .*

The Indians of the neighborhood of the Mau- mee were not alone in claiming dominion in Ohio. The same Iroquois who had driven them from the North of Lake Erie, and who had destroyed the Eries. claimed its territory as their best hunting-ground. They occupied a considerable part of Ohio at will, and the por- tion of Northern Ohio East of Sandusky, seems to have continued, even after the Revolution, a partly nentral ground, permanently occupied by no tribe, and no doubt the seat of many small contests. In 1685 they warred with the Illinois and Miamis, and the war was partly carried on across Ohio. The English persuaded the Iroquois to peace with the Western tribes, wishing under the friendship of that Nation to advance their own trade. The English claimed the country of the Ohio as against the French, under a deed gotten from the Iroquois in 1684, which, however, conveyed the land to be de- fended by the English to and for the use of the Indians. To use legal language, the Indians were " certui qui trusts," and were to have the subsequent use of the lands.t After 1696, from time to time, Iroquois, chiefly Senecas, settled in Northeastern Ohio. In 1817 and 1818 the United States granted the Seneca Reservation, (now in Seneca County), on which these Indians lived until 1831.

* Said by Sagard, in 1624, to be their proper name ; or the name may refer to the Lake " Skekonan."

t Early Indian Migration in Ohio. Page 90.

* 10 New England Colonial Documents, p. 162. t Wars of Iroquois, p. 27.

CHAPTER IV.

GAME. - THE AGUE IN POETRY AND ELSEWHERE .- PUT-IN-BAY ISLANDS. - THE WORD "MAUMEE."

M ARCHI 15, 1869, Judge E. D. Potter de- livered an address before the Maumee Valley Shooting Association, Toledo, which was devoted mainly to the subject of " Game in the Maumee Valley." It was a very inter- esting and valuable paper.

By way of introduction, Judge Potter said, that when he came here, in 1835, the entire region, North of a line drawn from the head of Lake Erie to the Pacific Ocean, was one unbroken hunting ground, the settlements in the intervening States interfering very slightly with the game. This region then con- tained a greater variety and greater abundance of valuable game than ever did any other section of the globe in the same latitude, foremost of which were the Buffalo, the Grizzly Bear, the Caribou, the Elk and the Stag. In this Valley were the Red Deer, Bears, Wolves, Panthers, Lynx, Wild Cats, Foxes and Turkeys, with an almost infinite variety of small game. In 1835 Deer were probably more plentiful here than elsewhere on the continent, and engaged almost exclusively the attention of the sportsman. The Red Deer (the only kind here) gets its growth at five years-the Stag and the Hind, popularly known as Buck and Doe. The terms Buck and Doe are ap- plied to the Fallow Deer, a different kind, with large flattened horns like a hand, and are smaller than ours. The Doe, at one year old, brings forth in May or June one Fawn ; at two years and after, two Fawns, going seven months with young. The Deerrelies for safety upon his sense of smell, and no gunner must expect to get within gunshot of him, except from the leeward. Thus loeated, the hunter will soon, though in open sight, find him coming within a few yards of him, utterly unconseious of dan- ger. Judge Potter stated that he had killed Deer in every Ward of the present City of Toledo. An Oak ridge near the High School building was a favorite resort for them; there were many in Stickney's Woods, in the First Ward ; also on the " Nose," where the Oliver Ilouse now stands, in the Fifth Ward. Where the residence of V. 11. Ketcham stands, in the Seventh Ward, was a runway for them. He never heard that there were Elk in this Valley ; but in the region of Cleveland. at an early day, they were un- merous.

Next to the Deer, the Turkey was important as game. They grew to be very large, often weighing when drawn, 30 pounds. In habit they much resen- bled the domestic bird, laying from 13 to 15 eggs, and generally hatching a full brood. To get within range of the Turkey, the sportsman must keep out of its sight. An expert hunter, by shooting into the flock

or sending in his dog to scatter them, may, with his "call," get them within range and shoot the flock. This " call" consists of a quill or a wing-bone of the Turkey, and the expert may so imitate the bird's voice as to entice them to his very presenee, if he be perfectly hidden from sight. They were often caught in great numbers by building a tight-covered pen of rails or poles ; digging a trench leading under one side of it, and then seattering corn in the trench, which they pick up, and following the bait thus placed soon find themselves imprisoned, and not having sense enough to look down, but only up, are made seeure.

The Wolf is a cowardly rascal. Like some men, he wants to know who his backers are, before he goes into a fight. At an early day, a bounty was paid for Wolf scalps, ranging from $8.00 to $25.00. He knew two trappers, one of whom was then living, who would get from 10 to 15 scalps apiece during the sea- son, all being males, for they never killed females, for that would injure their next year's harvest of sealps. They were sometimes caught in steel-traps, and sometimes in dead-falls; and in the former case, when secured, are meek as Lambs, and handled with impunity. The trapper is thus enabled to re- lease the female and kill the male. The Judge onee sought information as to the mode of catching the Wolf, from an old experienced trapper, a Pennsyl- vania Dutehman, who said to him: " Well, Chutch, I vas dinking dis ting all ofer, und ich kon only dell you dat der Volfs are keteh, brincipally, py main art." Seeing his lesson thus suddenly at an end, the Judge said, " Mr. K., I thank you a thousand times ;" when the old trapper replied, " Never minte, Chutch, one dime is a blenty."

The Bears were very numerous, particularly in Wood, Henry, Defiance, Williams, Paulding and Van Wert Counties. Their practice of hibernating in hollow trees throughout the winter, made them little more than skin and bones when they came forth in the Spring.

The Red, Black, Silver Grey and Cross Fox, were found in this region. They all were of one family, and intermix with each other-the last named by a "cross" between the Red and the Black. The furs of the Silver Grey and the Black were most highly valued, a single skin having been sold as high as $75.00. The Woods (frey, a very common species, was readily caught by treeing, but his fur was comparatively coarse and brittle. A Black Fox was often scented in this neighborhood, where he was readily found for a number of years, and led the hounds in a straight line for the Cottonwood Swamp, some 15 miles dis- tant ; but in a couple of days would be sure to return.

[28]

GAME.

ffe lost his life by crossing a road near to where John Kaufman, then and yet of Toledo, was watching a Deer runway, on the Manhattan Road below Tre- mainsville, when Kaufman wounded him with a charge of buek-shot, and he never again appeared. ffis remains were soon afterwards found near the place where he was shot. Since then very few Cross Foxes have been seen in this region, though previously much the larger proportion were of that description.

Badgers never were numerous in this section, though Judge Potter had occasionally seen them on the sand ridges in Washington Township, near the Haughton settlement. Being gregarious, they bur- rowed in sand-knolls and dry places. They were a flirty gray on the back and black on the belly. Badger hunting was characterized as "more a bar- barous than a civilized recreation." The hunter creeps stealthily to the burrow at night, and inserts a bag in the hole, with a puekering string at the open end made fast to a stake in the ground. The dogs are then turned loose, the fieldl scoured, and the Badgers fly to their home only to be bagged. They are taken one at a time and removed from the bag and despatched by dogs trained for such conflicts, the Badger often making a heroic fight, terribly wound- ing the dogs.

Panthers were frequently killed on the East side of the River, but were not numerous. Once or twice Lynx were found, and Wild Cat in great abundance. The latter offered good sport for the hunter. The Judge had killed as many as three in a day in the swale near East Toledo (the Sixth Ward).

Small game was abundant-Prairie Chicken, Par- tridge, Quail, Woodcock and Snipe. He had seen on Summit street near Oak, over 500 Prairie Chickens at one time; and thousands together on the open lands within six miles of Toledo. Hundreds of dozens of Quail had been soll in the streets of Toledo for a shilling (12)2 cents) per dozen alive, and at 1834 cents a dozen when dressed, having been caught with traps in the neighborhood. Dueks and Geese were plenty in the River above the Town, though very few persons hunted them or any of the smaller birds. Frenehmen from the Bay brought in Ducks and Geese and sold them for 30 eents per dozen.

The first shot-gun Judge Potter ever saw here be- longed to Naaman Goodsell; the next brought here were by Dr. H. A. Aekley and Charles M. Dorr. For a long time he that used a shot-gun was not regarded as much of a hunter. The rifle was the popular weapon. But as the Deer and the Turkey became scarce, attention was called to the smaller game, for which the shot-gun was better adapted, until the rifle has pretty much disappeared from among sports- men.

Of the Hunter of pioneer times, Judge Pot- ter said :

Ile is a pretty jolly, independent sort of an in- dividual. Ilis appetite never fails him ; his digestion is always good. He sleeps well, whether under the

open sky or in a wigwam. He has his laws-unwrit- ten, but well understood-and more strictly observed than your City ordinances, with a Police Chief and his posse to enforce them. The Hunter could hang up his game in the woods, and it would hang until it rotted down ; and nobody -- not even a hungry Ottawa Indian-woukd touch it. Attracted to the forest by a love for the chase and a passion for adventure, the Hunter becomes the pioneer of civilization. The forests disappear before him. Sunlight is let into the dark corners; the Savage and the wild beast rerede before him. The waving Corn, the School-House, the Seminary and the Church spire, that rise up in his path, are the monuments of his conrage, his per- severance and his sacrifices. It is no wonder that the Indian Ileaven is "the happy hunting-ground," for I look back upon my hunting days in the Mau- mee Valley as I may probably be allowed to do in the time to come.

Throughout the earlier years of Western settlement, the forests and waters were so abundantly supplied with game that the thought of its protection from undue destruc- tion was not entertained. Hunters roamed and killed, as their need or their pleasure might suggest. The result was, that the more valua- ble species of wild game were gradually re- duced in quantity, and so rapidly that ere long the matter of their preservation from early extinction commanded attention both from citizens and from the State Legislature. In due time laws were passed for the protection of game and fish, which, duly enforced, gave promise of valuable results. But these were so largely at variance with all previous usage, that no little repugnance, and even defiance, were shown by those who looked upon game as upon the air they breathed, as the natural right of all who might seek it. This was specially true in the cases of the owners of the lands and waters where game and fish were found. To say that an owner should not, at his will, trap or shoot the animals or birds grown upon his lands, was an innovation quite revolting to his views of right. Hence, the policy of legal protection to game and fish, was strongly opposed in nearly all localities where it was applicable, and it was found necessary in that, as in many other cases of popular dis- favor to law, to give the enactment the or- ganized support of its friends. And here, again, was met a source of weakness, in the fact that such support came largely from non- residents, and, worse still, from residents of Cities and Towns, to whom, with more effect than justice, could be attributed the motive of

HISTORY OF TOLEDO AND LUCAS COUNTY.

the English land-owners, in denying to the common people their natural right to game, in order that others might monopolize it. But the laws referred to, while not meeting wholly the end sought, were valuable in materially check- ing the rapid destruction of game.

The most prominent organization in this region, if not in the State, for the support of the game laws, was the Manmee Valley Shoot- ing Association. It was organized October 28, 1867. Its avowed principal objects were to secure the enactment and enforcement of proper laws for the protection and preserva- tion of fish and game in this section, and to promote acquaintance and social intercourse among resident sportsmen. From December, 1867, until July, 1869, the Association occupied rooms in the Chamber of Commerce (corner of Madison and Summit streets). Thence it went to more commodious quarters in the Drum- mond Block (corner of Madison and St. Clair streets). For nine years the organization maintained a vigorous activity and accom- plished much in inspiring respect for the game laws of the State; enforcing their general ob- servance, and creating a public sentiment in favor of the objects which led to its organiza- tion. It also made an extensive and valuable ornithological collection, embracing specimens of nearly or quite all the upland game-birds and water-fowls known to this locality. That collection was destroyed by fire at the burning of the Hall Block, in December, 1880, incurring a loss not only great, but from the nature of the case, irreparable.

The principal officers of the Maumee Valley Shooting Association from October, 1867, to 1876, were as follows: To January, 1868- President, Robert Cummings; Secretary, Zeb- ulon C. Pheatt ; Treasurer, Dr. C. H. Harroun. For 1868-D. C. Baldwin, President; Z. C. Pheatt, Secretary ; C. H. Harroun, Treasurer. 1869-70-Chas. O. Brigham, President ; Z. C. Pheatt, Secretary ; E. R. Skinner, Treasurer. 1871-W. B. Wiltbank, President; Theo. Klemm, Secretary; William Schansenbach, Treasurer. 1872-76-7. C. Pheatt, President ; Theo. Klemm, Secretary; William Schansen- bach, Treasurer.

Under date of July 17, 1815, Alex. C. Lanier, who had been a soldier in General Harrison's army at Fort Meigs, furnished the Ohio Republican (Cincinnati), a letter in

regard to the fish supply in the Maumee River, and suggested " a plan for supplying the State of Ohio with salted fish." His plan was sub- stantially this: To establish a company at Cleveland, with a capital of $40,000; build vessels suitable for Lake service of 70 tons, which should be employed in transporting salt from the port nearest to Onondaga, N. Y., to the different fisheries on the Maumee, as far up as the Rapids of the St. Mary's. He would have four seines of 100 fathoms each in length, to be employed from the breaking up of the ice to close of the season. The fish, when cured, to be taken by the vessels to the different Lake ports, and thence distributed. The fish season over, he would employ the fishermen in building traps up the Manmec, Anglaize, St. Mary's and St. Joseph Rivers, whence the fish thus canght would be taken in keels and pirogues up the St. Mary's and Auglaize, wagoned across to Loramie's, and conveyed down the Miami River to supply the Western portion of the State.

Mr. Lanier stated that he had known of 27 barrels of fish being taken by one trap in a single night above Fort Winchester, on the Anglaize. He said : " Nature has destined the waters of this Lake to supply this country with fish," and asked: "Will the people of Ohio be so neglectful of their own interests, as to let this valuable branch of business be neglected (or fall into the hands of the British). and still continue to import the few fish we now use from the Eastern States?" A writer, under date of Chillicothe, Ohio, June 9, 1813, says, " the quantity of fish taken at Fort Meigs was most surprising. Some days there were not less than 1,000 to 1,500 of an excellent kind taken with the book, within 300 yards of the Fort." The writer said : " No one can visit this spot and not be charmed by its appearance and the advantages of its situation."

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History of the city of Toledo and Lucas County, Ohio, Part 5

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company Number of Pages: 1408

Author: Waggoner, Clark, 1820-1903
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: New York and Toledo : Munsell & Company
Number of Pages: 1408