CHAPTER III

Mattawa-Ottawa Route the First Approach to Upper Great LakesCartier Discovers the St. Lawrence and Hears of Lake Superior Region-The Iroquois, Algonquins and Hurons-Champlain's Early Discoveries.

It appears from the preceding chapter that the immediate predecessors of the present Upper Great Lakes had in their successive stages various outlets. Thus the early outlet of Great Lake Algonquin was at Port Huron, Michigan; later this, for a time, was discontinued and the outlet transferred to Kirkfield, Ontario, or the Trent River Valley outlet, which carried the waters from the eastern extremity of Georgian Bay, across the Ontario peninsula directly into Lake Ontario, thereby cutting off the present long detour by way of Detroit River and Lake Erie. Later, the upheaval of the Kirkfield district cut off this outlet, and sent the waters again to Port Huron and Chicago. After this came the transition from Great Lake Algonquin to Great Lake Nipissing with its outlet at North Bay, Ontario, or it may be called the Mattawa-Ottawa Outlet, thence into the St. Lawrence River. When this last outlet was closed, the recent or present geologic age came into existence.

Let us keep these various outlets in mind as we trace the settlement of the Great Lakes region, discovering as we will, that mankind, not in existence during the early stages of the lakes, has already used, or promises soon to

utilize, each of these outlets as a highway of commerce and travel.

In adapting these waterways to his use man has, in the first instance at least, taken them in the inverse order of creation. Thus the Mattawa-Ottawa Outlet was the last to be created prior to the Recent or Present age; yet it was the first to be adopted by Europeans as the most convenient highway to the Great Lakes region, almost exclusively so used during several decades of discovery and settlement.

To this natural waterway, so well adapted to the primitive vessels used by the Indians and the early explorers, and leading, as it did, westwardly in an almost direct line to the Upper Great Lakes, can be attributed the principal reason for the early discovery and partial settlement of the Great Lakes region. The English and Dutch settlements on the Atlantic coast and the precarious colonies of the French on the lower reaches of the St. Lawrence were begun practically at the same period; still it was not until many years had elapsed, and the settlements on the Atlantic seaboard had grown to considerable strength and importance, that they ventured to pass the mountains to discover and possess the rich valleys of the Ohio and the Tennessee. Meanwhile, the more adventurous French, by following the waterway of the St. Lawrence, Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers, had, years before, established missions and trading posts fifteen hundred miles to the west.

To Jacques Cartier belongs the honor of being the first European to view the mighty St. Lawrence, and to spread a sail on its broad waters. Less than half a century after Columbus' first voyage to the New World, Cartier, a native of St. Malo in Brittany, was commissioned by Francis I. to command two ships to explore the region west of Newfoundland, with the ever consuming fond

hope entertained by monarchs of those days of discovering a northwest passage to China The expedition sailed from St. Malo, April 20th, 1534. After touching land at Cape Buena Vista on the east coast of Newfoundland, Cartier passed northward along the coast, and, sailing southwest through the Straits of Belle Isle, discovered the mainland of Canada, which he promptly claimed for France by erecting a wooden cross bearing the inscription, "Vive Le Roi DE FRANCE." He continued up the estuary of the St. Lawrence until land was visible on either shore, when, for lack of provisions to carry them through the winter, he returned to France after an absence of five months. The next year he returned and penetrated as far as Hochelaga, a large fortified Indian town at the foot of a hill to which he gave the name of Mount Royal, which is perpetuated in the important modern city, Montreal.

On the second voyage Cartier kept a journal from which the following translations are taken. "The Savages that we have had with us told us that here was the beginning of the Saguenay, and that the country was inhabitable, and that from thence came the red copper which they called Caignetdage." While there is a large river flowing from the north and emptying into the lower St. Lawrence called by that name, the term Saguenay, as used by the Indians, referred to a great country stretching indefinitely to the north and west, whence came, they claimed, this Caignetdage. Cartier passed the winter near Quebec, and on the 6th of May, 1536, set sail for home, having captured the chief of a tribe living in the vicinity of his wintering place, by the name of Donnacona, whom, with nine others, he took to France.'

159.

When they were at Isle aux Coudres, about fifty miles Translation from Wisconsin State Historical Publications, vol. viii, p.

below Quebec, a party of savages from the same tribe as the captives came on board to bid their chief adieu and to present him with valuable parting presents. Cartier writes: "They gave to the above mentioned Donnacona three packages of beaver and seal skins, together with a large knife of red copper which came from the Saguenay, and other things.

With this brief message from the Lake Superior country we must remain satisfied, for nothing further is brought to us for seventy-four years. During this interval the Basques and Normans visited the shores of the lower St. Lawrence. They were, however, only private adventurers, fur traders or fishermen, and although they may have heard of the Great Lakes, they kept no records of any kind; whatever knowledge they may have gained was lost.

The explorer or voyageur pursuing his perilous and laborious way about the Great Lakes in the early part of the Seventeenth Century, found those countries inhabited by three groups or nations of savages: the Iroquois, the Algonquins and the Hurons. South of the St. Lawrence River and east of Lakes Huron and Erie, inhabiting a broad country running nearly to New England, dwelt the powerful confederacy of the Iroquois, the celebrated "Five Nations," consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas. From 1712, by adopting the Tuscaroras into the confederacy it was known as the "Six Nations." "The People of the Long House" they were wont to style themselves, taking that name in allusion to the resemblance in shape of one of their oblong dwellings to the long tract of country in which they lived.

"With Two Kidnapped Indians," Champlain, the Founder of New France, p. 38.

In many respects the Iroquois were superior to any other nation of aborigines.

The warriors of these tribes were of large size and muscular form. Military skill, courage, shrewdness, forecast, energy, ambition and eloquence were their prominent traits. Affiliated by immemorial connection, and having exercised the policy of conquest over the other tribes, they held an extensive tract of country in their hands.'

In their policy the Iroquois appear to have had not only more vigor, but more system than the other Indian tribes. Their general interests were managed by a grand council of chiefs who annually assembled at their central canton, Onondaga, in the State of New York. The beautiful region of the lakes, which bear their names in that state, was their favorite council ground. Each nation was divided into three tribes, whose totems were the tortoise, the wolf and the bear. All their councils were conducted with the utmost decorum, solemnity and deliberation. "In the characteristics of profound policy," says Governor Clinton, of New York, "they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were, perhaps, not far inferior to the great Amphictyonic Council of Greece.""

The Algonquins occupied the greater part of the country from the St. Lawrence to Lake Superior and the Mississippi,3 extending also north to Lake Winnipeg and Hudson's Bay, and south to the mouth of the Ohio River. 4

The Algonquins included the Chippewas, Ottawas, Menominees, Nipissings, Illinois, Wisconsins, Pottawattomies and the Crees. These in turn were after divided into sub-tribes; the Chippewas, for example, having several subdivisions.

'Lanman's History of Michigan, 1839.

2 Ibid.

3 The Story of the Great Lakes, by Channing and Lansing. The Macmillan Co., 1909.

4 Lanman's History of Michigan.