CHAP. II.1

EARLY MISSIONS.'

11

Whether any of the missionaries visited this immediate neighborhood during their residence among the Hurons at Georgian Bay is not known. But there is every reason to believe they had a mission of some consequence on the eastern side of Lake Huron, near its outlet and not far north from Port Sarnia.

When the Iroquois overran the Huron country all vestiges of the European settlements disappeared. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan having been mostly unoccupied by tribal settlements, there was very little to invite invasion. In their western excursions the Iroquois appear on some occasions to have reached the southern borders of Lake Michigan. But there is no evidence that they ever dwelt in the lake region of Michigan; and if they ever traversed it, they retained no hold on it. It was never actually possessed by any but the northern and western tribes, who were independent nations, and owed no fealty, and acknowledged none, to the Iroquois or their allies.

Missions were founded by the Jesuits on the northern and southern borders of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Raymbault and Jogues visited the Sault de Ste. Marie in 1641, but do not seem to have made any establishment, having returned to their mission at Penetanguishine the same year. In 1660 Mesnard coasted along the south shore of Lake Superior as far as the head of Keweenaw Bay, known as L'Anse. Having

12

MESNARD.

[CHAP. II.

wintered there alone among the Indians, he went westward in the spring, passing through Portage Lake, and intending, after crossing the narrow strip of land known as the Portage, (which has been recently opened to navigation by a ship canal,) to continue his journey to Chegoimegon Bay. This is the bay lying south of the Apostle Islands, on one of which, at La Pointe, is a very old settlement and mission. Mesnard had but a single Indian with him, and while this companion was removing the canoe and its contents across the Portage, the missionary, who was an elderly man and quite feeble,. strayed into the woods, and disappeared. How he could have been lost beyond the power of an Indian to discover his trail, we are not informed.

It is very likely he

was deserted, or worse, by a treacherous guide. There is, however, a tradition that he was killed by the Sioux. In October, 1665, Father Allouez established the Mission of Chegoimegon, or La Pointe, which had been the destination of Mesnard. The mission at the Sault de Ste. Marie was

founded by Marquette in 1668. The same year

or the next a mission was founded on the Island of Michilimackinac, but removed very soon, and as early as 1669 or 1670, to Pointe St. Ignace on the main land north of the Straits of Mackinaw and west of the Island. This place was occupied for many years. The establishment was afterwards, (but when is not precisely known from published authorities,) transferred to the northern

CHAP. II.]

MACKINAW MISSION.

13

point of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, not far from Cheboygan. In Charlevoix's time (1721) the transfer had been made several years, and the old mission was abandoned and had fallen into decay. In Bellin's map of 1744 it is marked as destroyed. The determination of its precise location has been attended with some difficulty. It derives interest from the fact that the remains of Père Marquette, some years after his death, were removed by the Indians from the place of his first burial, and interred at the church on Pointe St. Ignace.'

The missions at the Sault de Ste. Marie and Michilimackinac are regarded as the first completely ascertained settlements within the present State of Michigan. There is, at least, undeniable evidence when these missions. were founded. Both places were important centres of influence. But while they may be assumed as the pioneer settlements, until further facts are established, there are some things which deserve reference as indicating a possibility to the contrary.

In 1687, upon a controversy between the Governor General of Canada (Denonville) and Gov. Dongan of New York, the former and his agents asserted a French occupancy at Mackinaw for more than sixty years, and French occupation on the lower waters of Michigan from twenty-five

1 Marquette died on his way to Mackinaw, at the Père Marquette River, where the town of Ludington is now situated, and was buried there, until disinterred as above mentioned.

14

COUREURS DE BOIS.

[CHAP. IT.

to forty years. Gov. Dongan would not admit this, but was not disposed to admit of any previous actual possession at all. Without some definite evidence, such statements can only be regarded as having more or less probability. At the same time it is to be considered that except from missions and military posts no official reports were likely to be received; and that the missionary Relations, except where there was some controversy or difficulty, were not required to refer to the settlements for other purposes, and often ignored them entirely. The existence of defensive posts appears very frequently, in such casual references in public documents and letters as are conclusive, when the same places are not mentioned by historians nor always by travellers.

The monopoly of the fur trade, and the severe provisions against irregular trading had given occasion for a great amount of contraband enterprise. The men who engaged in this were an adventurous class of active and bold rovers called by the French coureurs de bois, translated by the English in official papers into "bushlopers," "bushrangers" and "wood runners." Many of these were of the lower classes and dropped readily into the ways of the Indians, adopting their habits. and becoming adherents to the tribes. But there were many also, of respectable connections, who betook themselves to a wandering life of hunting and trading, partly from love of adventure, and

CHAP. II.]

COUREURS DE BOIS.

15

partly because they could find no other means of livelihood. There is no reason to regard them as a despicable or essentially vicious race. The men who have been driven to the forest by feudal oppressions and monopolies have usually been possessed of many useful qualities, which a better government could have turned to great advantage. The outlaws of English and Scottish traditions have generally been popular for good fellowship and sympathy with the poor. They are seldom marked by cruelty or treachery. The adventurers from the English colonies and American States, who have sought refuge in the woods and have been the pioneers of discovery in the remote regions, were not compelled to go except by their own tastes, and have generally been quite as honest in their dealings as any of their more favored brethren, and have, as they deserve, a very good reputation for many manly virtues. The coureurs de bois were seldom, if ever, found guilty of any treachery to the government, which had no claim upon their respect beyond the fact that they were of French blood; and this claim they recognized with pride. The atrocious monopolies and exactions which were ultimately chief incentives to the first French Revolution, led to a recognition by respectable men of the fact that the offenders against such tyrannical regulations were not necessarily malefactors. Accordingly no lines were drawn between those who sought the woods from love of adventure, and those who