IV.

IV.Detroit, March 10, 1820.Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th ult., inclosing a copy of a letter from Giles Sanford & Co.Their statement with respect to the discovery of plaster of Paris upon one or more of the islands in the vicinity of Michilimackinac, to which the Indian title has not been extinguished, is correct. Specimens of this plaster have been brought here, and it is reported, by competent judges, to be of the best and purest kind. The quantity is stated to be inexhaustible, and, as vessels generally return empty, or nearly so, from the upper lakes, it could be transported to any part of Lake Erie at a trifling expense.I have great doubts, however, whether it would be proper for the Government to grant any permission to remove this plaster until the Indian title to the land is extinguished. The power ofgranting permission for that purpose is not given in the "act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers," and appears, in fact, to be inconsistent with its general spirit and objects. To authorize these gentlemen to negotiate with the Indians for such a permission, is contrary to the settled policy which has always been pursued by the United States. I know of no case in which individuals have been or should be permitted to hold any councils with the Indians, except to procure the extinction of their title to lands, claimed under grants from one of the States. The application here must be to the tribe, because in all their land there is a community of interest, which cannot be severed or conveyed by the acts of individuals.But, independent of precedent, there are strong objections to this course in principle. If private persons are authorized to open such negotiations for any object, the Government will find it very difficult to procure from the Indians any cession of land upon reasonable terms.Were these islands the property of the United States, I think it would be very proper to permit the plaster upon them to be removed by every person making application for that purpose. The supply being inexhaustible, the agricultural interest would be greatly promoted by such a measure, and the dependence upon a foreign country for this important article would be removed.I therefore take the liberty of recommending that a cession of these islands be procured by the United States from the Indians. I presume that this may be done without the payment of any annuity to them, and without any expense, except, perhaps, a few trifling presents. The plaster would then be at the disposal of Government, and its free distribution, under such regulations as might be adopted to prevent disputes between the adventurers, or a monopoly by any of them, would be equally proper and beneficial.Very respectfully, sir,I have the honor to beYour most obedient servant,LEWIS CASS.Hon.John C. Calhoun,Secretary of War.V.Extract of a letter from the Secretary of War to Governor Lewis Cass, datedApril 5, 1820.Sir: I have received your letters of the 10th, 11th, and 17th ultimo. In relation to procuring cessions of land from the Indians, the Government has decided that it would be inexpedient to obtain any farther extinguishment of Indian title, except at the Sault de St. Marie, where it is the wish of the Department, that an inconsiderable cession, not exceeding ten miles square (unless strong reasons for a greater cession should present themselves from an actual inspection of the country), should be acquired upon the most reasonable terms, so as to comprehend the proposed military position there.Herewith you will receive a plate of the country about the Sault de St. Marie, on which is indicated the military site intended to be occupied for defence. You will also procure the cession of the islands containing plaster, provided these islands are clearly within the boundary of the United States, and can be obtained without any considerable expense.A commission, authorizing you to hold these treaties, will be forwarded to you in a few days.As it is desirable to know by what title the people at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien hold their lands, and whether or not the Indian titles to those lands were extinguished by the French, at any period subsequent to their possession of the country (which is the impression of this Department), you will communicate such information as you possess, or may obtain, during your tour, on this subject.In addition to Mr. Schoolcraft, Captain Douglass, of the engineer corps, has been ordered to join you, and Mr. Whitney (in whose behalf application has been made for that purpose) may accompany you, if you can accommodate him. Should he accompany you, he will be allowed the same compensation made to Mr. Schoolcraft, who will be allowed one dollar and fifty cents a day for the time actually employed.VI.Northern Division.Adjutant-General's Office, 10th February, 1819.(DIVISION ORDER.)Major-General Macomb, commandant of the 5th military department, will, without delay, concentrate at Detroit the 5th regiment of Infantry, excepting the recruits otherwise directed by the general order herewith transmitted. As soon as the navigation of the Lakes will admit, he will cause the regiment to be transported to Fort Howard; from thence, by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and, after detaching a sufficient number of companies to garrison Forts Crawford and Armstrong, the remainder will proceed to the mouth of the River St. Peter's, where they will establish a post, at which the head-quarters of the regiment will be located. The regiment, previous to its departure, will receive the necessary supplies of clothing, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Immediate application will be made to Brigadier-General Jesup, Quartermaster-General, for funds necessary to execute the movements required by this order.By order of Major-General Brown.(Signed)JOHN E. WOOL,Inspector-General.VII.Assistant Adjutant-General's Office.Detroit, April 13, 1819.(Department Order.)The season having now arrived when the lakes may be navigated with safety, a detachment of the 5th regiment, to consist of Major Marston's and Captain Fowle's companies, under the command of Major Muhlenburg, will proceed to Green Bay. Surgeon's mate R. M. Byrne, of the 5th regiment, will accompany the detachment. The assistant deputy quartermaster-general will furnish the necessary transport, and will send by the same opportunity two hundred barrels of provisions, which he will draw from the contractor at this post. The provisions must be examined and inspected, and properly put up for transportation. Colonel Leavenworth will, without delay, prepare his regiment tomove to the posts on the Mississippi, agreeably to the Division order of the 10th of February. The assistant deputy quartermaster-general will furnish the necessary transportation, to be ready by the first of May next. The Colonel will make requisition for such stores, ammunition, tools, and implements as may be required, and he be able to take with him on the expedition. Particular instructions will be given to the Colonel, explaining the objects of his expedition.Mr. Melvin Dorr is appointed Inspector of Provisions, and he will inspect all provisions intended for the use of the army, before they are received and issued. Lieutenant Brooks, of the 3d regiment will forward, by the first detachment, such recruits as he has for the companies of the 3d regiment at Mackinac.By order of MAJOR-GENERAL MACOMB.(Signed)CHESTER ROOT,A. D. company, and Actg. Assist. Adjt.-General.NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION.[38]NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION.CHAPTER I.Departure—Considerations on visiting the northern summits early in the season—Cross the Highlands of the Hudson—Incidents of the journey from Albany to Buffalo—Visit Niagara Falls—Their grandeur the effect of magnitude—Embark on board the steamer Walk-in-the-Water—Passage up Lake Erie—Reach Detroit.The determination to penetrate to the source of the Mississippi, during the summer months, made an early departure important. I had, while at Potosi, in Missouri, during the prior month of February, written to Hon. J. B. Thomas, U. S. S., Washington, to endeavor to secure an appointment to explore the mineralogy and natural features of the upper Mississippi River; and as soon as I had published my treatise on the mines and minerals of Missouri, I proceeded to Washington, and submitted to the proper officers of the Government, my account of the mineralogical wealth of the western domains, with a plan for the management of the public mines. Mr. Calhoun decidedly favored these views; but, foreseeing the necessity of congressional action on the subject, and the necessary delays of departmental references, said to me, that he had just received a memoir from Governor Cass, of Michigan, proposing an expedition to the source of the Mississippi, to leave Detroit early in the spring, and offered me the position of mineralogist and geologist on that service. This agreeing, as it did, with my prior views of exploring the public domains, I gladly accepted, and immediately returned to the city of New York to prepare for the journey.The year 1820 had commenced with severe weather, the Hudson being frozen hard, as high as West Point, on the 1st of January;and there was a fall of snow between the 10th and 11th of February, which laid four feet deep in the streets of New York. March opened with mildness, and every appearance denoted an early spring, which led me to hasten my movement north. I left New York on the 5th of March, in the citizens' post-coach, on sleighs, for Albany, taking the route through Westchester, and over the Highlands of Putnam and Dutchess; sleeping at Fishkill and Kinderhook, the first and second nights, and reaching Albany on the morning of the 7th, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles. This distance we made in forty hours actual travelling, averaging four miles per hour, incidental stops included, which is about the rate of travelling by the trekschuits of Holland,[6]and by sledges over the frozen grounds of Russia.[7]In crossing the Highlands, some one, in the change of the stage-sleighs, pilfered a small box of choice minerals which I set store by; the thief thinking, probably, from the weight and looks of the box, which had been a banker's, that it was still filled with coin. We crossed the Hudson from Greenbush, in a boat drawn through a channel cut in the ice. Snow still laid in the streets of Albany, and a cold north wind presaged a change of temperature. Next day there was a hail-storm from the northwest, with rain and sleet, and on the morning of the 9th, the hail lay six inches deep in the streets. In the evening, proceeded by stage to the city of Schenectady, a distance of sixteen miles, across the arenaceous tract of the Pine Plains, by a turnpike, which forms the shorter line of a triangle, made by the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson River. This tract is bounded southerly by the blue summits of the Helderberg, a prominent spur of the Catskill Mountain. At Schenectady, we experienced a night of severe cold, and the next day, at an early hour, I took a seat in the stage-sleigh for Utica, which we reached at seven in the evening. The distance is ninety-six miles, which we passed in seventeen hours, going an average rate of five miles per hour. The road lies up the valley of the Mohawk, a name which recalls the history of one of the most celebrated members of the Iroquois, a confederacy of bold and indomitable tribes, who, at an early day, either pushed their conquests or carried the terror of their arms from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.The winter was still unbroken, and the weather had assumed so unpropitious an aspect, since leaving New York, that there was no probability of the navigation of the lakes being open so as to embark at Buffalo before May. I proceeded seventeen miles west to my father's residence, in the village of Vernon, to await the development of milder weather. On the 10th of April, I resumed my journey, taking the western stage, which had left Utica at two o'clock in the morning. We lodged the first night at Skeneateles, at the foot of the beautiful and sylvan lake of the same name, and reached Geneva the next day, at one o'clock in the afternoon. The roads were now dry and dusty; indeed, the last traces of snow had been seen in sheltered positions, in passing through Oneida County, and every appearance in the Ontario country indicated a season ten days more advanced than the valley of the Mohawk. The field poplar put forth leaves on the 18th, and apricots were in bloom on the 22d.At Geneva I remained until the 28th of April, when I again took my seat in the mail-stage, passing, in the course of the day, the lower margin of Canandaigua Lake, and through the attractive and tastefully laid-out village of the same name, and, after continuing the route through a most fertile country, with a constantly expanding vegetation, reached Avon, on the banks of the Genesee River. Here we slept. The next morning (the 29th), we crossed this noble stream, and, after a long and fatiguing day's staging, reached Buffalo in the evening. I was now at an estimated distance of two hundred and ten miles west of Utica, and three hundred and twenty-two from Albany. We had found the peach and apple-tree in blossom, and the vegetation generally in an advanced state, until reaching within eight or ten miles of Lake Erie, where the force of the winds, and the bodies of floating ice, evidently had the effect to retard vegetation. No vessel had yet ventured from the harbor, and although the steamer Walk-in-the-Water was advertised for the 1st of May, it was determined to delay her sailing until the 6th. This gave me time to visit Niagara[8]Falls, and some other places of historical interest in the neighborhood. This object I executed immediately, taking a horse and buggy, and keeping down the American shore. The distance is twenty-two miles, in which the Tonewanda River is crossed by a bridge. The day was clear and warm, with a light breeze blowing down the river. I stopped several times to listen for the sound of the Falls, but at the distance of fifteen, ten, eight, and even five miles, could not distinguish any; the course of the wind being, indeed, adverse to the transmission of sound, in that direction, until reaching within some two or three miles. There is nothing in the character of the country, in the approach from Buffalo, to apprise the visitor of the difference in its level and geological stratification, and thus prepare the mind to expect a cataract. It is different, I afterwards learned, in the approach from Lewiston, in which quite a mountain must first be ascended, when views are often had of the most striking parts of the gulf, which has been excavated by the passage of the Niagara River. It was not easy for me to erect standards of comparison for the eye to estimate heights. The ear is at first stunned by the incessant roar, and the eye bewildered by the general view. I spent two days at the place, and thus became familiarized with individual traits of the landscape. I found the abyss at the foot of the Falls to be the best spot for accomplishing that object. By far the greatest disproportion in the Falls exists between the height and great width of the falling sheet. The water is most thick and massy at the Horseshoe Fall, which gives one the most striking and vivid idea of creative power. In fitting positions in the gulf, with good incidences of light, the Falls look like a mighty torrent pouring down from the clouds. At the time of my visit, the wind drove immense fields of ice out of Lake Erie, with floating trees and other driftwood, but I never saw any vestiges of these below the Falls. In front of the column of water falling on the American side, there stood an enormous pyramid of snow, or congealed spray.What has been said by Goldsmith, and repeated by others, respecting the destructive influence of the Rapids above to ducks and water-fowl is imaginary—at least, as to the American sheet. So far from it, I saw the wild ducks swim down the Rapid, as if in pursuit of some article of food, and then rise and fly out at thebrink, and repeat the descent, as if delighted with the gift of wings, which enabled them to sport over such frightful precipices without danger. I found among the debris in the abyss, pieces of hornstone, and crystals of calcareous spar, radiated quartz, sulphuret of zinc, and sulphate of lime. Its geology is best explained by observing that the river, in falling over the precipice of the Niagara ridge into the basin of Lake Ontario, leaps over horizontal strata of limestone, slate, and red sandstone. In this respect, nothing can be more simple and plain. It is magnitude alone that makes the cataract sublime.On returning to Buffalo, I found the lake rapidly discharging its ice, which had been recently broken up by a storm of wind; and, while awaiting the motion of the steamer, I was joined by Captain D. B. Douglass, Professor of Engineering at West Point, who had been appointed topographer and astronomer of the expedition. We embarked on the 6th of May, at nine o'clock in the morning, in the steamer Walk-in-the-Water, an elegant and conveniently-planned vessel, with a low-pressure Fulton engine. This boat had been put upon the lake two years before, when it made a trip to Michilimackinac, and was, indeed, the initial boat in the history of steam navigation on the Lakes. We embarked at Black Rock, and it was necessary to use a tow-line, drawn by oxen on the shore, to enable the boat to ascend the Rapids. This Captain Rodgers, a gentlemanly man, facetiously termed his hornbreeze. The oxen were dismissed a short distance before reaching the mouth of Buffalo Creek, where we reached the level of Lake Erie, five hundred and sixty feet above the tide-waters of the Hudson River.[9]We were favored with clear weather, and, a part of the time, with a fair wind. The boat touched at Erie, at the mouth of Grand River, at Cleveland, and at Portland, in Sandusky Bay, on coming out of which we passed Cunningham Island, and the Put-in-Bay Islands, from a harbor in which Perry issued to achieve his memorable naval victory on the 10th of September, 1813. Passing through another group of islands, called the Three Sisters, we entered the mouth of the Detroit River late on the afternoon of the 8th, just as the light became dim and shadowy. The scale of these waters is magnificent.We had a glimpse of the town and fort of Malden, or Amherstburg, and of Boisblanc, and Gross Isle, which were the last objects distinctly seen in our ascent. The boat pushed on her way, under the guidance of good pilots, although the night was dark, and we reached our destination, and came to, at the city of Detroit, at twelve o'clock P. M., thus completing the passage in sixty-two hours.The next morning, an official from the Executive of the Michigan Territory came on board with inquiries respecting Captain Douglass and myself, and we soon found ourselves in a circle where we were received with marked respect and attention. It was pleasing to behold that this respect arose, in a great degree, from the high interest which was manifested, in all classes, for the objects of the expedition, and the influence which its exploratory labors were expected to have on the development of the resources and prosperity of the country at large.General Cass, who was to lead the expedition, received us cordially, and let us know that we were in season, as some days would still elapse before the preparations could be completed, and that the canoes in which we were to travel had not yet reached Detroit. We were also cordially welcomed by General Macomb, commanding the military district, Major John Biddle, commanding officer of the fort, and by the citizens generally. I was now, by the computations, about seven hundred and fifty miles from my starting-point at New York. We took up our lodgings at the old stone house occupied by Major Whipple, which, from its prominent position on the banks of the river, had sustained a random cannonade during the late war. We were here introduced to Dr. Alexander Wolcot, who filled the post of physician to the expedition, and to Lieutenant Eneas Mackey, United States artillery, commanding the escort, Major Robert A. Forsyth, private secretary of the Executive, and commissary of the expedition, and superintendent of embarkation; and to James D. Doty and Charles C. Trowbridge, Esqs., who occupied, respectively, the situations of official secretary and assistant topographer.Detroit, the point to which I have now been conducted, is eligibly situated on the south bank of the straits of the same name, and enjoys the advantage of a regular plan and spacious streets, which have been introduced since the burning of the oldFrench town in 1805, not a building of which, within the walls, was saved. Its main street, Jefferson Avenue, is elevated about forty feet above the river. The town consists of about two hundred and fifty houses of all descriptions, public and private, and has a population of fourteen hundred and fifty,[10]exclusive of the garrison.To the historian it is a point of great interest. It was the site of an Indian village called Teuchsagondie in 1620, the date of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Quebec was founded in 1608; Albany in 1614. But no regular settlement or occupancy took place here, till the close of the seventeenth century. In June, 1687, the French took formal possession of the straits by erecting the arms of France. On the 24th of July, 1701, M. Cadillac established the first military post. Charlevoix, who landed here in 1721, found it the site of Fort Pontchartrain.In 1763 the garrison, being then under British colors, sustained a notable siege from the confederate Indians under Pontiac. It remained under English rule till the close of the American Revolution, and was not finally surrendered to the United States until 1790, the year following Wayne's treaty at Greenville. Surrendered by Hull in 1812, it was reoccupied by General Harrison in October, 1813. It received a city charter 24th October, 1815. Indeed, the prominent civil and military events of which Detroit has been the theatre, confer on it a just celebrity, and it is gratifying to behold that to these events it adds the charm of a beautiful local site and fertile surrounding country. A cursory view of the map of the United States, will indicate its importance as a central military and commercial position. Situated on the great chain of lakes, connecting with the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Hudson, and Red River of the North, and communicating with the Atlantic at so many points, and with a harbor free of entrance at all times, its business capacities and means of expansion are very great. And when the natural channels of communication of the great lake chain shall be improved, it will afford a choice of markets between the most distant points of the Atlantic seaboard. It is thus destined to be to the regions of the northwest, what St. Louis is rapidly becoming to the southwest,the seat of its commerce, the repository of its wealth, and the grand focus of its moral, political, and physical energies.[11]CHAPTER II.Preparations for the expedition—Constitution of the party—Mode of travel in canoes—Embarkation, and incidents of the journey across the Lake, and up the River St. Clair—Head winds encountered on Lake Huron—Point aux barques—Cross Saganaw Bay—Delays in ascending the Huron coast—Its geology and natural history—Reach Michilimackinac.From the moment of our arrival at Detroit, we devoted ourselves, with intensity, to the preparation necessary for entering the wilderness. We were to travel, from this point, by a new mode of conveyance, namely, the Indian bark canoe, called a chimaun, a vehicle not less novel than curious. Constructed of large and thick sheets of the rind of the betula papyracea, or northern birch, which are cut in garment-like folds, and sewed together with the thin fibrous roots of the spruce, on a thin framework of cedar ribs, and having gunwales, with a sheathing of the same material, interposed between the bark and ribs. The seams are carefully gummed with the pitch of the pine. The largest of these canoes are thirty-six feet in length, and seven feet wide in the centre, tapering to a point each way. They carry a mast and sail, and are steered and propelled with light cedar paddles. They are at once light, so as to be readily carried over the portages, and so strong as to bear very considerable burdens. Those intended for us, were ordered from the Chippewas of Lake Huron, near Saganaw Bay. It was necessary to have mosquito-bars, portfolios, knapsacks, and various contrivances, and to make baggage of every sort assume the least possible bulk and space. The public armorer had orders to furnish me suitable hammers and other minerological apparatus for preparing and packing specimens. The expedition was quite an event in a remote town, and everybody seemed to take an interest in the preparation. A fortnight passed away in these preparations, and in awaiting thearrival of the canoes, respecting which there was some delay. It was the 24th of May before we were ready to embark. Besides the gentlemen mentioned as constituting the travelling party, ten Canadianvoyageurswere taken to manage the canoes, ten United States soldiers to serve as an escort, and ten Ottowa, Chippewa, and Shawnee Indians to act as hunters, under the directions of James Riley, an Anglo-American, and Joseph Parks, a Shawnee captive (at present, head chief of the Shawnee nation), as interpreters. This canoe contained a chief called Kewaygooshkum, a sedate and respectable man, who, a year afterwards, played an important part at the treaty of Chicago.The grand point of departure and leave-taking, was at Grose Point, at the foot of Lake St. Clair, a spot nine miles distant. For this point, horses and carriages, with the numerous friends of Gov. Cass, pushed forward at an early hour; and there was as much enthusiasm manifested, by all classes, as if a new world was about to be discovered. I had a strong wish to witness the mode of canoe travelling, and, declining an opportunity to join the cavalcade by land, took my seat beside Major Forsyth in the Governor's canoe. The Canadians immediately struck up one of their animating canoe songs, the military escort at the same moment displayed its flag and left the shore, and the auxiliary Indians, fired with the animation of the scene, handled their paddles briskly, and shot their canoe rapidly by us. A boat-race was the consequence. The Indians at first kept their advantage, but the firmer and more enduring nerves of the Canadians soon began to tell on our speed, and as we finally passed them, the Indians gracefully yielded the contest. We were two hours in going to Grose Point, with the wind slightly ahead.The banks of the River Detroit present continuous settlements, in which the appearance of large old orchards and windmills, among farm-houses and smooth cultivated fields, reminds the visitor that the country has been long settled. And he will not be long in observing, by the peculiarity of architecture, dress, manners, and language, that the basis of the population is French. We found our land party had preceded us, and as the winds were adverse, we encamped in linen tents along the open shore. The next day the wind increased, blowing quite a gale down the Lake. I busied myself by making some meteorological and geologicalobservations. The shores of Lake St. Clair are formed of a fertile alluvium, resting on drift. There are some heavy boulders of primitive rock resting on this, which denote a vast field of former drift action around the shores of these lakes.The wind abated about eleven o'clock on the morning of the 26th, when the men commenced loading the canoes. It was twelve before we embarked. The mode of their embarkation is peculiar. The canoes, when laden, are hauled out in deep water; the men then catch up the sitters on their backs, and deposit them in their respective seats; when this was done, they struck up one of their animated songs, and we glided over the smooth surface of the lake with rapidity, holding our course parallel with its shores, generally, until reaching a prominent point of land near Huron River.[12]From Point Huron we crossed the lake, to reach the central mouth of the St. Clair River, thereby saving a tedious circuit; by the time we had half accomplished the transit, we encountered a head wind, which put the strength of the men severely to the test, and retarded our reaching the mouth of the river till dark. The River St. Clair has several mouths, which branch off above through a broad delta, creating large islands. These channels discharge a vast amount of argillaceous drift and mud, which has so far filled up the lake itself, that there is anchorage, I believe, in every part of it; and the principal ship channel is scooped, by the force of the current, out of a very compact blue clay—the geological residuum of ancient formations of clay-slates in the upper country.The shores are often but a few inchesabove, and often a few inchesbelowthe surface, where they give origin to a growth of reeds, flags, and other aquatic plants, which remind the traveller of similar productions at the Balize of the Mississippi. In this nilotic region, myriads of water-fowls find a favorite resort. To us, however, these jets of alluvial formation, bearing high grass and rushes were as so many friendly arms stretched out to shelter us from the wind; but they were found to be so low and wet, that we were compelled to urge our way through them, in search of adry encampment, till within two hours of midnight. This brought us to the upper end of Lawson's Island, where we arrived, wet, weary, and cold. We had advanced about twenty-five miles, having been ten hours, in a cramped posture, in our canoes. This initial day's journey was calculated to take away the poetry of travel from the amateurs of our party, and to let us all know, that there were toils in our way that required to be conquered.We slept little this night, and waited for daylight and sunrise, as if the blessed luminary would have an animating effect upon our actual condition. We again embarked at seven o'clock in the morning. We now stowed away things with more handiness than at the first embarkation, and we began, ourselves, to feel a little more at home in this species of voyaging.We had three canoes in our little squadron provided with masts and sails, and a small United States pennant to each, so that the brigade, when in motion, and led, as it usually was, by the chanting canoemen, had a formidable and animated appearance.The River St. Clair is a broad and noble stream, and impressed us as justifying the highest encomiums bestowed on it by Charlevoix, La Hontan, and other early French travellers. We ascended it thirty miles, which brought us to Fort Gratiot, at the foot of the rapid which marks the outlet of Lake Huron. In this distance, we passed, at separate places, nine vessels at anchor, being detained by head winds, and encountered several Chippewa and Ottowa canoes, each of which were generally occupied by a single family, with their females, blankets, guns, fishing apparatus, and dogs. They evinced the most friendly disposition.In landing at Oak Point,[13]I observed a green snake (coluber æstivus) in the act of swallowing a frog, which he had succeeded in taking down, except the extremity of its hind legs. A blow was sufficient to relieve the frog, which still had sufficient animation to hop towards the river. The snake I made to pay the forfeit of his life.At Fort Gratiot, we were received by Major Cummins, U. S. A., who occupied the post with sixty men. The expedition was received with a salute, which is due to the Governor of a Territory.Two soldiers who were sickly, were here returned, and five able-bodied men received to supply their places, thus increasing the aggregate of the party to forty persons.[14]The banks of the River St. Clair are wholly alluvial or diluvial. There is not a particle of rock in place. One idea presses itself prominently to notice, in reflecting on the formation of the country. It is the vast quantum of clay, mixed drift, and boulders, which have evidently been propelled, by ancient forces, down these straits, and afterwards arranged themselves according to affinities, or gravitation. At the precipitous banks between the inlet of Black River and Fort Gratiot, this action has been so clearly within the erratic block period of De la Buck, that it has imbedded prostrate forest-trees, and even freshwater shells, beneath the heavy stratum of sand, resting immediately upon the fundamental clay beds, upon which the city of Detroit, and indeed the alluvions of the entire straits rest.[15]We again encountered at this place, blocks of the primitive or crystalline boulders, which were first seen at Grosse Point. There are some traces of iron sand along the shore of this river, the only mineral body, indeed, which has thus rewarded my examinations.We left our encampment, at Fort Gratiot, at eight o'clock next morning. A strong and deep rapid is immediately encountered, up which, however, vessels having a good wind find no difficulty in making their way. On surmounting this, we found ourselves on the level of Lake Huron. The lake here bursts upon the view in one of those magnificent landscapes which are peculiar to this region. Nature has everywhere operated on the grandest scale. Wide ocean expanses and long lines of shore spread before the eye, which gazes admiringly on the broad and often brilliant horizon, and then turns, for something to rest on, along the shore. Long ridges of gravel, sand, and boulders, meet it here. Beyond and above this storm-battered beach, are fringes of woods, or banks of clay. The monotony of travelling by unvaried scenes is relieved by an occasional song of the boatmen,or an occasional landing—by changes of forest-trees—of the wind, or flights of the gull, duck, plover, and other birds; but the traveller, is apt, before evening comes, to fancy himself very much in the position of a piece of merchandise which is transported from place to place. Glad were we when night approached, and the order to encamp was heard. It was estimated we had advanced thirty-five miles.On passing along the Huron coast about fifteen miles, a bank of dark clay is encountered, which has an elevation of thirty or forty feet, and extends six or eight miles. We soon after came to the White Rock—an enormous detached mass, or boulder of transition,[16]or semi-crystalline limestone. It is a noted landmark forvoyageursand travellers, and an equally celebrated place of offerings by the Indians. I requested to be landed on it, and detached some specimens. Geologically, it is a member of the erratic block group, and we must look for its parent bed at a more westerly point. There is no formation of limestone, in this quarter, to which it can be referred. It bears marks of attrition, which shows that it has been rubbed against other hard bodies; and if transported down the lake on ice, it is necessary to consider these marks as pre-existing at the era of its removal.On embarking in the morning, the wind was slightly ahead, which continued during the forenoon, changing in the after-part of the day, so that we were able to hoist sail. About four o'clock the weather became cloudy and hazy, the wind increasing, at the same time attended with thunder and lightning. A storm was rapidly gathering, and the lake became so much agitated that we immediately effected a landing, which was not done without some difficulty, on a shallow and dangerous shore, thickly strewn with boulders. We pitched our tents on a small peninsula, or narrow neck of land, covered with beautiful forest-trees, which was nearly separated from the main shore. Shortly after our arrival a vessel hove in sight, and anchored on the same dangerous lee shore. We were in momently expectation of her being driven from her moorings, but were happily relieved, the next morning, to observe that she had rode out the storm.The lake was still too rough on the following day, and the wind too high, to permit our embarking. We made an excursion inland. The country proved low, undulatory, and swampy. The forest consisted of hemlock, birch, ash, oak, and maple, with several species of mosses, which gave it a cold, bleak character. The margin of the forest was skirted with the bulrush, briza canadensis, and other aquatic plants. The whole day passed, a night, and another day, with nothing but the loud sounding lake roar in our ears. A heavy bed of the erratic block formation commences at this point, and continues to Point aux Barques, the eastern cape of Saganaw Bay.In one of these displaced masses—a boulder of mica slate, I discovered well-defined crystals of staurotide. This formed my second mineralogical acquisition.[17]There were, also, some striking water-worn masses of granitical and hornblende porphyry.It was the 1st of June before we could leave the spot where we had been confined. We embarked at six o'clock, the lake being sufficiently pacific, though not yet settled. But after proceeding about a league, it again became agitated, and drove us ashore, where we lay without encamping. Kewaygushkum was requested to send some of his young men in quest of game. The soldiers and engagees also formed fishing parties, at a contiguous river; but about three o'clock in the afternoon all the parties returned completely unsuccessful. There was neither fish nor game to be had. At the same time the agitation of the lake ceased, the wind springing up from an opposite quarter, which enabled us to hoist sail. This put every one in a pleasant humor, and we proceeded along the coast till evening, and encamped on a small sandy bay, which puts into the land, immediately beyond the promontory of Point aux Barques—an estimated distance of twenty-five miles from our starting-point in the morning.At the distance of a league before reaching this point, the firststratum of rock,in situ, presents itself. It is a gray friable sandstone, elevated from ten to twenty feet above the water, but attaining a greater height in the approach to this noted cape. This stratum of sandstone rock, which is of a perishable character, is exposed to receive the shock of the waves of Lake Huron for several hundred miles from the north and west. It exhibits the force and fury of the lake action by the numerous cavities which have been worn into it, at the water's edge, and by the sub-bays which have, in some localities, been formed in the line of dark opposing cliffs. It was in one of these sub-bays that we encamped, on a smooth sandy beach, which appears to have been a favorite encamping ground of the natives. But although we had met several canoes of Chippewas, on the route between Fort Gratiot and this point, none were found at the place of our encampment. Such of them as we approached, on the lake, were invariably in want of food, and received it with evident marks of gratification.On going inland, back from our encampment, we found a succession of arid ridges of sand, which had been evidently produced by the prostrated sandstone of the coast, which, after comminution by the waves, had been carried to this position by the winds. These ancient dunes and ridges were covered sparsely with pitch pines and aspen, and having their surfaces covered with the uva ursi, pyrola, and smaller shrub-growth common to arenaceous soils.On the day following, we ascended along the eastern shores of Saganaw Bay, a distance of eighteen miles, which brought us to Point aux Chenes. At this place the guides pointed to a group of islands about midway of the bay, for which we steered. The calmness of the weather favored the traverse. We reached and landed on the largest of the group, called Shawangunk, by the Indians, probably from its southernmost position. I found it to consist of a dark, compact limestone, imbedding masses of chalcedony and calcareous spar. I also picked up a detached mass of argillaceous oxide of iron, and some fragments of striped hornstone. Anxious to improve the favorable time for effecting the passage, we pushed on for the opposite western shore, which was safely reached. We then steered down the bay, skirting a low sandy shore some twenty miles or more, till entering the open lake, and reaching the River aux Sables. On entering thisriver, and after having pitched our camp, we were visited by a band of Chippewa Indians, with friendly salutations. It appeared that the arrival of the expedition had been anticipated by them, they having themselves constructed and furnished the canoes for it, and being well acquainted with the official position, at Detroit, of the leader of our party. The principal Chief, the Black Eagle, addressed a speech to Governor Cass, in which he appropriately recognized these relations, welcomed him to his village, and recommended the condition of his people to his notice. The calumet was then smoked in the usual style of Indian ceremony, the pipe-bearer beginning with persons of first rank, and handing it in the supposed order of grade, to the lowest member of the official family. The ceremony was ended by shaking of hands. All this was done with the ease and dignity of an oriental sheikh. We had anticipated savages, and savage manners, and armed ourselves to the teeth, pushing a point with an army official at Detroit, until we were each provided with a short rifle. But this first formal council with the sons of the forest, began to open our eyes to the true character of the Indian manners and diplomacy, in their intercourse with government officials.The chiefs, after their departure, sent to our encampment a present of fresh sturgeon, a species which is caught abundantly in the aux Sables at this time, for which returns were made of such articles as were most acceptable to them. Being out of the Bay, we employed the following day making advances along the Huron coast, an estimated distance of forty-eight miles. In this distance, we passed Thunder Bay. Encamped on a low, calcareous shore, bearing cedar and spruce, which the Indians call Sho-she-ko-naw-be-ko-king, or Flat Rock Point. A few miles after leaving River aux Sables, the Highlands of Sables present themselves at a short distance back from the shore. This ridge, which is a landmark for mariners, runs from southeast to northwest, and is visible as far as Thunder Bay. The limestone, which is dark and of an earthy fracture, is very much broken up on the shore, and contains various species of organic remains. On crossing the Bay, we landed on an island covered with debris, where we observed one of those imitative, water-worn, primitive boulders, resembling altars, which are frequently set up by the Indians as the places of depositing some offering, or out of mere respect for some local god.At six o'clock the next morning we were again in our canoes, assiduously moving along the Huron coast; but, after proceeding about a league, a storm of wind and rain suddenly arose, driving us from the lake. A few hours served to restore its calmness, but we had not gone over a couple of leagues when we were again compelled by the rising wind to take to the shore, where we were detained the rest of the day, listening to the capricious murmurs of the lake. This position was directly opposite Middle Island, a noted anchorage about six miles distant. All night the waves of the lake were heard. The morning broke without change. Lake Huron still evinced an angry aspect, threatening to renew the struggle of yesterday. It was concluded to send the canoes forward, relieved of our weight, and proceed ourselves on foot along the beach. Walking on this became difficult on those parts of it where the fossiliferous and shelly limestone had been broken up and heaped in small fragments. Among these, we recognized specimens of the cornu-ammonis, and the maderpore, with some other species. The cedars and brushy growth generally stood so thick, and grew so closely to this line of debris, that it was impracticable to take the woods. The toil, however, rewarded us with some specimens of the organic forms imbedded in the rock, while it enabled the topographers to secure the data for a very perfect map of the coast. At ten o'clock in the morning we reached the east cape of Presque Isle Bay, where the canoes came to take us across to the peninsula of that name. After completing this, the men landed the canoes and baggage on the peninsula side, and carried them across the narrow sandy neck of land; but, on reaching the open lake beyond it, the wind was found too strongly adverse to permit embarkation. The Canadians have the not inappropriate term ofdegradefor this species of detention; we were here foiled, indeed, in our high hopes of pushing ahead, and compelled to wait on the naked sands for many weary hours. While thus detained, the Indians brought in a brown rabbit,[18]a species of lake tortoise, and some pigeons, being their only fruits of success in hunting, except a singlegrouse, or partridge, which had crowned their efforts since leaving Detroit. It must be borne in mind, however, that there has been very little opportunity for hunting, that we have had abundant supplies, and that our mode of travelling is such as to alarm all game within sound of our track. They have, indeed, brought reports at several points of seeing the footprints of the deer and black bear, but they have not had the leisure to pursue them.At five o'clock, the wind abated so much as to permit embarkation, and our canoemen hastened forward with the intention of travelling all night, but at eleven o'clock it freshened to such a degree, and at the same time became so intensely dark, that we were compelled to land and encamp. Neither the topography, mineralogy, or any branch of the physical geography of a country can be ascertained without minute examination; and this constitutes, indeed, the object of the investigations, which have been, thus far, so toilsomely pursued against adverse winds since the commencement of the expedition; but they have disclosed facts which reveal the true structure and physical history of this bleak, ungenial coast; this hope serves, every day, to give new impetus to the voyage.Another day along the Huron coast. It was now the 6th of June. Thevoyageursbegan now to manifest great anxiety to reach Michilimackinac, and had their canoes in the water at a very early hour. We all participated in this feeling, and saw with pleasure the long lines of sandy shores, strewed with boulders and pebbles, that were swiftly passed. We had traced about forty miles of the coast when we reached the foot of Bois Blanc Island, and pushed over the intervening arm of the lake to get its south or lee shore. This was a labor of hazard, as the wind was directly ahead, and drove the waves into the canoes. When accomplished, we had the shelter of this island for twelve miles, till reaching its southwest part. We then passed, due north, between it and Isle Ronde, which brought the wind again ahead. But the men had not kept this course long, when Michilimackinac, with its picturesque and imposing features, burst upon our view.Nothing can present a more refreshing and inspiring landscape. From that moment thevoyageursappeared to disregard the wind. Striking into the water with bolder paddles, and opening one of their animating boat-songs, all thought of past toils was forgotten, and, urged forward with a new impetus, we entered the handsome little crescent-shaped harbor at four o'clock. The expedition was received with a salute from the fort, in command of Capt. B. K. Pierce, U. S. A.,[19]in compliment to the Governor of the Territory, and we landed amid the congratulations of the citizens, who pressed forward to welcome us.Thus terminated the first part of our journey, after a tedious voyage of fourteen days, in which we had encountered a series of almost continued head-winds and foul weather. The distance by ship is usually estimated at three hundred miles; by following the indentations of the coast, and entering Saganaw Bay, we found it three hundred and sixty.[20]We found the Huron coast, to the line of which our observations were limited, bearing, in its vegetation, indubitable marks of its exposure to the northern winds. As a section of the lake geology, it is simple and instructive, exhibiting strata of sandstone and non-crystalline and fossiliferous limestone in horizontal positions, without the slightest disturbance in their dip or inclinations. Its mineralogy is scanty, being nearly confined, so far as observed, to some common silicious minerals, and traces of argillaceous and magnetic oxides of iron. The erratic block-stratum or drift, is remarkable, and prepares the mind for the still heavier accumulations of this kind which are perceived to be spread over the northern latitudes.[21]CHAPTER III.Description of Michilimackinac—Prominent scenery—Geology—Arched Rock—Sugarloaf Rock—History—Statistics—Mineralogy—Skull Cave—Manners—Its fish, agriculture, moral wants—Ingenious manufactures of the Indians—Fur trade—Etymology of the word—Antique bones disclosed in the interior of the island.Nothing can exceed the beauty of this island. It is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Huron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinnacles like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places; and in these caverns, the ancient Indians, like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Vessels anchor in it, and find good holding. The little old-fashioned French town nestles around it in a very primitive style. The fort frowns above it, like another Alhambra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area of the island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and valleys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these there are circles of gathered-up stones, as if the Druids themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down limestones. The island was formerly covered with a dense growth of rock-maples, oaks, ironwood, and other hard-wood species, and there are still parts of this ancient forest left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth. There are walks and winding paths among its little hills, and precipices of the most romantic character. And whenever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he is transported withsublime views of a most illimitable and magnificent water prospect. If the poetic muses are ever to have a new Parnassus in America, they should inevitably fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her temple here, for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest, and most healthful atmospheres.We remained encamped upon this lovely island six days, while awaiting the arrival of supplies and provisions for the journey, or their being prepared for transportation by hand over the northern portages. Meats, bread, Indian corn, and flour, had to be put in kegs, or stout linen bags.The traders and old citizens said so much about the difficulties and toils of these northern portages that we did not know but what we, ourselves, were to be put in bags; but we escaped that process. This delay gave us the opportunity of more closely examining the island. It is about three and a half miles long, two in its greatest width, and nine in circumference. The site of Fort Holmes, the apex, is three hundred and twelve feet above the lake. The eastern margin consists of precipitous cliffs, which, in many places, overhang the water, and furnish a picturesque rocky-fringe, as it were, to the elevated plain. The whole rock formation is calcareous. It exhibits the effects of a powerful diluvial action at early periods, as well as the continued influence of elemental action, still at work. Large portions of the cliffs have been precipitated upon the beach, where the process of degradation has been carried on by the waves. A most striking instance of such precipitations is to be witnessed at the eastern cliff, called Robinson's Folly, which fell, by its own gravitation, within the period of tradition. The formation, at this point, formerly overhung the beach, commanding a fine view of the lake and islands in all directions, in consequence of which it was occupied with a summer-house, by the officers of the British garrison, after the abandonment of the old peninsular fort, about 1780.The mineralogical features of the island are not without interest. I examined the large fragments of debris, which are still prominent, and which exhibit comparatively fresh fractures. The rock contains a portion of sparry matter, which is arranged in reticulæ, filled with white carbonate of lime, in such a state of loose disintegration that the weather soon converts it to the condition of agaric mineral. These reticulæ are commonlyin the slate of calcspar, crystallized in minute crystals. The stratum on which this loose formation rests is compact and firm, and agrees in structure with the encrinal limestone of Drummond Island and the Manitouline chain. But the vesicular stratum, which may be one hundred and ten or twenty feet thick, has been deposited in such a condition that it has not had, in some localities, firmness enough permanently to sustain itself. The consequence is, that the table-land has caved in, and exhibits singular depressions, or grass-covered, cup-shaped cavities, which have no visible outlet for the rain-water that falls in them, unless it percolates through the shelly strata. Portions of it, subject to this structure, have been pressed off during changing seasons, by frosts, and carried away by rains, creating that castellated appearance of pinnacles, which gives so much peculiarity to the rocky outlines of the island.TheARCHED ROCKis an isolated mass of self-sustaining rock, on the eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those coincidences of geological degradation in which the firmer texture of the silicious and calcareous portions of it have, thus far, resisted decomposition. Its explanation, is, however, simple: The apex of this geological monument is on a level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While the diluvial action, of which the whole island gives striking proofs, carried away the rest of the reticulated or magnesian limestone, this singular point, having a firmer texture, resisted its power, and remains to tell the visitor who gazes at it, that waters have once held dominion over the highest part of the island.Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenomena of this island, it may be observed that it is covered with the erratic block or drift stratum. Primitive or crystalline pebbles and boulders are found, but not plentifully, on the surface. They are observed, however, on the highest summit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading north, in the approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is a remarkable accumulation of blocks of granite and hornblende drift boulders. The principal drift of the island consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone boulders are not rare. Over the plain leading from the fort north byway of the Skull Rock, are spread extensive beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel, the particles of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot, which makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadamized roads of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage wheels on it run as smoothly, but far more solid, than they could over a plank floor. This formation appears to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which arranged itself agreeably to the laws of its own gravitation, on the recession of the watery element, to which its comminution is clearly due. It would be worth transportation, in boxes, for gravelling ornamental garden-walks. The soil of the island is highly charged with the calcareous element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in pure beds of small limestone pebbles, where the seed potatoes had been merely covered in a slight way, to shield them from the sun, until they had taken root.The historical reminiscences connected with this island are of an interesting character. It appears from concurrent testimony, that the old town on the peninsula was settled about 1671,[22]which was seven years before the building of Fort Niagara. In that year, Father Marquette, a French missionary, prevailed on a party of Hurons to locate themselves at that spot, and it was therefore the first point of settlement made northwest of Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. It was probably first garrisoned by La Salle, in 1678, and continued to be the seat of the fur trade, and in many respects, the metropolis of the extreme northwest, during the whole period of French domination in the Canadas. After the fall of Quebec, in 1759, it passed by treaty to the British government, but much against the wishes of the Indian tribes, who retained a strong partiality for their early friends, the French. Pontiac arose at this time, to dispute the English authority in the northwest, and with confederates projected a series of bold attacks upon the forts extending from the Ohio to this post. Most of these were successful, but he was defeated at Detroit, where he commanded in person, after a series of extraordinarymovements. While he was pressing the siege of the garrison, he enjoined neutrality upon the French inhabitants, who were nevertheless called on to furnish cattle and corn for the subsistence of his warriors. It is remarked on good authority that, for these supplies, he issued evidences of debt. When General Bradstreet marched to the relief of the fort, with an army of three thousand men, the spirit and laconic temper of the warrior were at the same time evinced. He sent a deputation of chiefs to meet the herald of the British general, at Maumee, with the laconic and symbolic message: "I stand in the path."The execution of the plan of attack on Old Fort Mackinac appears to have been intrusted to Minnawanna, a Chippewa chief, who, in addition to his own people, was aided by the Sacs. The Ottowas afterwards expressed displeasure in not having been admitted to a participation in the attack. The plan was ingeniously laid. The king's birthday, the 4th of June (1763), having arrived, the Chippewas and Sacs turned out to play, for a high wager, at ball. Many of the garrison, and the commanding officer himself, came out to witness the sport; and there was such a feeling of security that the gates of the fort were left open. To put the troops more off their guard, the ball had been thrown over the picket, and when once there, it was natural that it should be followed by the opposite parties, heated with the contest and eager for victory. But this artifice was the accomplishment of the plan. The war-whoop was immediately sounded, and an indiscriminate slaughter commenced. A few moments of intense anxiety ensued. They were passed by the officers eagerly listening for the roll of the drum. But they were passed in disappointment. There was no call of this kind to concentrate resistance. Panic and slaughter raged in their most fearful forms. None were spared who were deemed friendly to the English interest but such as were effectually secreted. Some of the soldiers who escaped the first onset, were incarcerated in a room, where they were sacrificed to glut the vengeance of a chief, who did not arrive till the principal work of slaughter had been accomplished.This event sealed the fate of the old fort and the town on the peninsula. The British afterwards took possession of the island, which had served to give name to the peninsular fort. The town was gradually removed, by pulling down the buildings, and transporting the timber to the island, till there was not a buildingor fixture left; and the site is now as silent and deserted as if it had never been the scene of an active resident population.The Island of Michilimackinac appears to have been occupied first as a military position by the British, about 1780, say some seven years after the massacre of the garrison of the old peninsular fort of the same name.Wherever Michilimackinac is mentioned in the missionary letters or history of this period, it is the ancient fort, on the apex of the Michigan peninsula, that is alluded to.The present town is pleasantly situated around a little bay that affords good clay anchorage and a protection from west and north winds. It has a very antique and foreign look, and most of the inhabitants are, indeed, of the Canadian type of the French. The French language is chiefly spoken. It consists of about one hundred and fifty houses and some four hundred and fifty permanent inhabitants.It is the seat of justice for the most northerly county of Michigan. According to the observation of Lieut. Evelith, the island lies in north latitude 45° 54´, which is only twenty-three minutes north of Montreal, as stated by Prof. Silliman.[23]It is in west longitude 7° 10´ from Washington.Col. Croghan's attempt to take the island, during the late war, was most unfortunate. He failed from a double spirit of dissension in his own forces, being at odds with the commanding officer of the fleet, and at sword's points with his second in command, Major Holmes. After entering the St. Mary's, and taking and burning the old post of St. Joseph's, where nobody resisted, instead of sailing direct to Mackinac, a marauding expedition was sent up this river to St. Mary's, and when the fleet and troops finally reached Mackinac, instead of landing at the town, under the panic of the inhabitants, it sailed about for several days. In the mean time the island filled with Indians from the surrounding shores.Fort "Mackina" is eligibly situated on a cliff overlooking the town and harbor, and is garrisoned by a company of artillery. The ruin of Fort Holmes, formerly Fort George, occupies the apex of the island, and has been dismantled since the British evacuated it in 1815.[24]It happened that the British authorities on the island of St. Joseph, got intelligence of the declaration of war, in 1812, through Canada, before the American commander at Mackinac heard of it. Mustering their forces with such volunteers, militia, and Indians as could be hastily got together, they proceeded in boats to the back of the island, where they secretly landed at night with some artillery, and by daylight the next morning got the latter in place on the summit of Fort Holmes, which completely commanded the lower fort, when they sent a summons of surrender, which Captain Hanks, the American commanding officer, had no option but to obey.Colonel Croghan, the hero of Sandusky, attempted to regain possession of it, in 1814, with a competent force, and after several demonstrations of his fleet about the island, by which time was lost and panic in the enemy allayed, he landed on the northern part of it, which is depressed, and his army marched through thick woods, most favorable for the operations of the Indians, to the open grounds of Dousman's Farm, where the army was met by Colonel McDouall, who was eligibly posted on an eminence with but few regular troops, but a heavy force of Indian auxiliaries and the village militia. Major Holmes, who gallantly led the attack, swinging his sword, was killed at a critical moment, and the troops retreated before Colonel Croghan could reach the field with a reinforcement. Thus ended this affair.My attention was directed to the plaster stated to exist on the St. Martin Islands. These islands compose a small group lying about nine or ten miles north-northeast of Michilimackinac. Captain Knapp, of the revenue service, had been requested to take me to the spot with the revenue cutter under his command. I was accompanied by Captain Douglass, of the expedition, and by Lieutenant John Pierce, U. S. A., stationed at the fort.The gypsum exists in a moist soil, not greatly elevated, during certain winds above the lake. Pits had been dug by persons visiting the locality for commercial purposes. It occurs in granular lumps of a gray color, as also in foliated and fibrous masses, white, gray, chestnut color, or sometimes red. No difficulty was encountered in procuring as many specimens as were required. This group of islands is noticeable, also, for the large boulder masses of hornblende and granite rock, which are found imbedded in, or lyingon the surface, along with fragments of breccia, quartz, &c. This drift is more abundant, on all the islands I have seen, as we approach the north shores of Lake Huron. Having completed the examination of these islands, we returned to the harbor after an agreeable excursion.To observe the structure and character of the Island of Michilimackinac, I determined to walk entirely around it, following the beach at the foot of the cliffs. This, although a difficult task, from brush and debris, became a practicable one, except on the north and northwest borders, where there was, for limited spaces, no margin of debris, at which points it became necessary to wade in the water at the base of low precipitous rocks. In addition to the reticulated masses of limestone covered with calcspar from the fallen cliffs, the search disclosed small tabular pieces of minutely crystallized quartz and angular masses of a kind of striped hornstone, gray and lead colored, which had been liberated from similar positions in the cliffs. On passing the west margin of the island, I observed a bed of a species of light-blue clay, which is stated to part with its coloring matter in baking it, becoming white.While the British possessed the island, they attempted to procure water by digging two wells at the site of Fort George (now Holmes), but were induced to relinquish the work without success, at the depth of about one hundred feet. Among the fragments of rock thrown out, are impressions of bivalve and univalve shells, with an impression resembling the head of a trilobite. These are generally in the condition of chalcedony, covered with very minute crystals of quartz. I also discovered a drift specimen of brown oxide of iron, on the north quarter. This sketch embraces all that is important in its mineralogical character.This island appears to have been occupied by the Indians, from an early period. Human bones have been discovered at more than one point, in the cavernous structure of the island; but no place has been so much celebrated for disclosures of this kind, as theSkull Cave. This cave has a prominent entrance, shaded by a few trees, and appears to have been once devoted to the offices of a charnel-house by the Indians. It is not mentioned at all, however, by writers, till 1763, in the month of June of which year the fort of old Mackinac on the peninsula, was treacherouslytaken by the Sac and Chippewa Indians. An extensive and threatening confederation of the western Indians had then been matured, and a large body of armed warriors was then encamped around the walls of Detroit, under the leadership of Pontiac, who held the garrison in close siege day and night. The surrender of Canada to Great Britain, which had followed the victory of General Wolfe at Quebec, was distasteful to these Indians, and they attempted the mad project of driving back beyond the Alleghanies the English race; making a simultaneous assault upon all the military posts west of that great line of demarcation, and preaching and dealing out vengeance to all who had English blood in their veins. Alexander Henry, a native of Albany,[25]was one of those enterprising men who had pushed his fortunes West, with an adventure of merchandise, on the first exchange of posts, and he was singled out for destruction, as soon as the fort was taken. He had taken refuge in the house of a Frenchman named Longlade, where he was concealed in a garret by a Pawnee slave, and where he hid himself under a heap of birch-bark buckets, such as are employed in the Indian country, in the spring season, in carrying the sap of the sugar-maple. But this temporary reprieve from the Indian knife seemed only the prelude to a series of hairbreadth escapes, which impressed him as the direct interposition of Providence. At length, when the scenes of blood and intoxication began to abate a little, an old Indian friend of his, called Wawetum, who had once pledged his friendship, but who had been absent during the massacre, sought him out, and having reclaimed him by presents, in a formal council, took him into his canoe and conducted the spared witness of these atrocities three leagues across the waters of Lake Huron in safety to this island.

Detroit, March 10, 1820.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th ult., inclosing a copy of a letter from Giles Sanford & Co.

Their statement with respect to the discovery of plaster of Paris upon one or more of the islands in the vicinity of Michilimackinac, to which the Indian title has not been extinguished, is correct. Specimens of this plaster have been brought here, and it is reported, by competent judges, to be of the best and purest kind. The quantity is stated to be inexhaustible, and, as vessels generally return empty, or nearly so, from the upper lakes, it could be transported to any part of Lake Erie at a trifling expense.

I have great doubts, however, whether it would be proper for the Government to grant any permission to remove this plaster until the Indian title to the land is extinguished. The power ofgranting permission for that purpose is not given in the "act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers," and appears, in fact, to be inconsistent with its general spirit and objects. To authorize these gentlemen to negotiate with the Indians for such a permission, is contrary to the settled policy which has always been pursued by the United States. I know of no case in which individuals have been or should be permitted to hold any councils with the Indians, except to procure the extinction of their title to lands, claimed under grants from one of the States. The application here must be to the tribe, because in all their land there is a community of interest, which cannot be severed or conveyed by the acts of individuals.

But, independent of precedent, there are strong objections to this course in principle. If private persons are authorized to open such negotiations for any object, the Government will find it very difficult to procure from the Indians any cession of land upon reasonable terms.

Were these islands the property of the United States, I think it would be very proper to permit the plaster upon them to be removed by every person making application for that purpose. The supply being inexhaustible, the agricultural interest would be greatly promoted by such a measure, and the dependence upon a foreign country for this important article would be removed.

I therefore take the liberty of recommending that a cession of these islands be procured by the United States from the Indians. I presume that this may be done without the payment of any annuity to them, and without any expense, except, perhaps, a few trifling presents. The plaster would then be at the disposal of Government, and its free distribution, under such regulations as might be adopted to prevent disputes between the adventurers, or a monopoly by any of them, would be equally proper and beneficial.

Very respectfully, sir,I have the honor to beYour most obedient servant,LEWIS CASS.

Hon.John C. Calhoun,Secretary of War.

Extract of a letter from the Secretary of War to Governor Lewis Cass, dated

April 5, 1820.

Sir: I have received your letters of the 10th, 11th, and 17th ultimo. In relation to procuring cessions of land from the Indians, the Government has decided that it would be inexpedient to obtain any farther extinguishment of Indian title, except at the Sault de St. Marie, where it is the wish of the Department, that an inconsiderable cession, not exceeding ten miles square (unless strong reasons for a greater cession should present themselves from an actual inspection of the country), should be acquired upon the most reasonable terms, so as to comprehend the proposed military position there.

Herewith you will receive a plate of the country about the Sault de St. Marie, on which is indicated the military site intended to be occupied for defence. You will also procure the cession of the islands containing plaster, provided these islands are clearly within the boundary of the United States, and can be obtained without any considerable expense.

A commission, authorizing you to hold these treaties, will be forwarded to you in a few days.

As it is desirable to know by what title the people at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien hold their lands, and whether or not the Indian titles to those lands were extinguished by the French, at any period subsequent to their possession of the country (which is the impression of this Department), you will communicate such information as you possess, or may obtain, during your tour, on this subject.

In addition to Mr. Schoolcraft, Captain Douglass, of the engineer corps, has been ordered to join you, and Mr. Whitney (in whose behalf application has been made for that purpose) may accompany you, if you can accommodate him. Should he accompany you, he will be allowed the same compensation made to Mr. Schoolcraft, who will be allowed one dollar and fifty cents a day for the time actually employed.

Northern Division.Adjutant-General's Office, 10th February, 1819.

(DIVISION ORDER.)

Major-General Macomb, commandant of the 5th military department, will, without delay, concentrate at Detroit the 5th regiment of Infantry, excepting the recruits otherwise directed by the general order herewith transmitted. As soon as the navigation of the Lakes will admit, he will cause the regiment to be transported to Fort Howard; from thence, by the way of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, to Prairie du Chien, and, after detaching a sufficient number of companies to garrison Forts Crawford and Armstrong, the remainder will proceed to the mouth of the River St. Peter's, where they will establish a post, at which the head-quarters of the regiment will be located. The regiment, previous to its departure, will receive the necessary supplies of clothing, provisions, arms, and ammunition. Immediate application will be made to Brigadier-General Jesup, Quartermaster-General, for funds necessary to execute the movements required by this order.

By order of Major-General Brown.

(Signed)JOHN E. WOOL,Inspector-General.

Assistant Adjutant-General's Office.Detroit, April 13, 1819.

(Department Order.)

The season having now arrived when the lakes may be navigated with safety, a detachment of the 5th regiment, to consist of Major Marston's and Captain Fowle's companies, under the command of Major Muhlenburg, will proceed to Green Bay. Surgeon's mate R. M. Byrne, of the 5th regiment, will accompany the detachment. The assistant deputy quartermaster-general will furnish the necessary transport, and will send by the same opportunity two hundred barrels of provisions, which he will draw from the contractor at this post. The provisions must be examined and inspected, and properly put up for transportation. Colonel Leavenworth will, without delay, prepare his regiment tomove to the posts on the Mississippi, agreeably to the Division order of the 10th of February. The assistant deputy quartermaster-general will furnish the necessary transportation, to be ready by the first of May next. The Colonel will make requisition for such stores, ammunition, tools, and implements as may be required, and he be able to take with him on the expedition. Particular instructions will be given to the Colonel, explaining the objects of his expedition.

Mr. Melvin Dorr is appointed Inspector of Provisions, and he will inspect all provisions intended for the use of the army, before they are received and issued. Lieutenant Brooks, of the 3d regiment will forward, by the first detachment, such recruits as he has for the companies of the 3d regiment at Mackinac.

By order of MAJOR-GENERAL MACOMB.(Signed)CHESTER ROOT,A. D. company, and Actg. Assist. Adjt.-General.

NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION.

[38]

Departure—Considerations on visiting the northern summits early in the season—Cross the Highlands of the Hudson—Incidents of the journey from Albany to Buffalo—Visit Niagara Falls—Their grandeur the effect of magnitude—Embark on board the steamer Walk-in-the-Water—Passage up Lake Erie—Reach Detroit.

The determination to penetrate to the source of the Mississippi, during the summer months, made an early departure important. I had, while at Potosi, in Missouri, during the prior month of February, written to Hon. J. B. Thomas, U. S. S., Washington, to endeavor to secure an appointment to explore the mineralogy and natural features of the upper Mississippi River; and as soon as I had published my treatise on the mines and minerals of Missouri, I proceeded to Washington, and submitted to the proper officers of the Government, my account of the mineralogical wealth of the western domains, with a plan for the management of the public mines. Mr. Calhoun decidedly favored these views; but, foreseeing the necessity of congressional action on the subject, and the necessary delays of departmental references, said to me, that he had just received a memoir from Governor Cass, of Michigan, proposing an expedition to the source of the Mississippi, to leave Detroit early in the spring, and offered me the position of mineralogist and geologist on that service. This agreeing, as it did, with my prior views of exploring the public domains, I gladly accepted, and immediately returned to the city of New York to prepare for the journey.

The year 1820 had commenced with severe weather, the Hudson being frozen hard, as high as West Point, on the 1st of January;and there was a fall of snow between the 10th and 11th of February, which laid four feet deep in the streets of New York. March opened with mildness, and every appearance denoted an early spring, which led me to hasten my movement north. I left New York on the 5th of March, in the citizens' post-coach, on sleighs, for Albany, taking the route through Westchester, and over the Highlands of Putnam and Dutchess; sleeping at Fishkill and Kinderhook, the first and second nights, and reaching Albany on the morning of the 7th, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles. This distance we made in forty hours actual travelling, averaging four miles per hour, incidental stops included, which is about the rate of travelling by the trekschuits of Holland,[6]and by sledges over the frozen grounds of Russia.[7]In crossing the Highlands, some one, in the change of the stage-sleighs, pilfered a small box of choice minerals which I set store by; the thief thinking, probably, from the weight and looks of the box, which had been a banker's, that it was still filled with coin. We crossed the Hudson from Greenbush, in a boat drawn through a channel cut in the ice. Snow still laid in the streets of Albany, and a cold north wind presaged a change of temperature. Next day there was a hail-storm from the northwest, with rain and sleet, and on the morning of the 9th, the hail lay six inches deep in the streets. In the evening, proceeded by stage to the city of Schenectady, a distance of sixteen miles, across the arenaceous tract of the Pine Plains, by a turnpike, which forms the shorter line of a triangle, made by the junction of the Mohawk with the Hudson River. This tract is bounded southerly by the blue summits of the Helderberg, a prominent spur of the Catskill Mountain. At Schenectady, we experienced a night of severe cold, and the next day, at an early hour, I took a seat in the stage-sleigh for Utica, which we reached at seven in the evening. The distance is ninety-six miles, which we passed in seventeen hours, going an average rate of five miles per hour. The road lies up the valley of the Mohawk, a name which recalls the history of one of the most celebrated members of the Iroquois, a confederacy of bold and indomitable tribes, who, at an early day, either pushed their conquests or carried the terror of their arms from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi.

The winter was still unbroken, and the weather had assumed so unpropitious an aspect, since leaving New York, that there was no probability of the navigation of the lakes being open so as to embark at Buffalo before May. I proceeded seventeen miles west to my father's residence, in the village of Vernon, to await the development of milder weather. On the 10th of April, I resumed my journey, taking the western stage, which had left Utica at two o'clock in the morning. We lodged the first night at Skeneateles, at the foot of the beautiful and sylvan lake of the same name, and reached Geneva the next day, at one o'clock in the afternoon. The roads were now dry and dusty; indeed, the last traces of snow had been seen in sheltered positions, in passing through Oneida County, and every appearance in the Ontario country indicated a season ten days more advanced than the valley of the Mohawk. The field poplar put forth leaves on the 18th, and apricots were in bloom on the 22d.

At Geneva I remained until the 28th of April, when I again took my seat in the mail-stage, passing, in the course of the day, the lower margin of Canandaigua Lake, and through the attractive and tastefully laid-out village of the same name, and, after continuing the route through a most fertile country, with a constantly expanding vegetation, reached Avon, on the banks of the Genesee River. Here we slept. The next morning (the 29th), we crossed this noble stream, and, after a long and fatiguing day's staging, reached Buffalo in the evening. I was now at an estimated distance of two hundred and ten miles west of Utica, and three hundred and twenty-two from Albany. We had found the peach and apple-tree in blossom, and the vegetation generally in an advanced state, until reaching within eight or ten miles of Lake Erie, where the force of the winds, and the bodies of floating ice, evidently had the effect to retard vegetation. No vessel had yet ventured from the harbor, and although the steamer Walk-in-the-Water was advertised for the 1st of May, it was determined to delay her sailing until the 6th. This gave me time to visit Niagara[8]Falls, and some other places of historical interest in the neighborhood. This object I executed immediately, taking a horse and buggy, and keeping down the American shore. The distance is twenty-two miles, in which the Tonewanda River is crossed by a bridge. The day was clear and warm, with a light breeze blowing down the river. I stopped several times to listen for the sound of the Falls, but at the distance of fifteen, ten, eight, and even five miles, could not distinguish any; the course of the wind being, indeed, adverse to the transmission of sound, in that direction, until reaching within some two or three miles. There is nothing in the character of the country, in the approach from Buffalo, to apprise the visitor of the difference in its level and geological stratification, and thus prepare the mind to expect a cataract. It is different, I afterwards learned, in the approach from Lewiston, in which quite a mountain must first be ascended, when views are often had of the most striking parts of the gulf, which has been excavated by the passage of the Niagara River. It was not easy for me to erect standards of comparison for the eye to estimate heights. The ear is at first stunned by the incessant roar, and the eye bewildered by the general view. I spent two days at the place, and thus became familiarized with individual traits of the landscape. I found the abyss at the foot of the Falls to be the best spot for accomplishing that object. By far the greatest disproportion in the Falls exists between the height and great width of the falling sheet. The water is most thick and massy at the Horseshoe Fall, which gives one the most striking and vivid idea of creative power. In fitting positions in the gulf, with good incidences of light, the Falls look like a mighty torrent pouring down from the clouds. At the time of my visit, the wind drove immense fields of ice out of Lake Erie, with floating trees and other driftwood, but I never saw any vestiges of these below the Falls. In front of the column of water falling on the American side, there stood an enormous pyramid of snow, or congealed spray.

What has been said by Goldsmith, and repeated by others, respecting the destructive influence of the Rapids above to ducks and water-fowl is imaginary—at least, as to the American sheet. So far from it, I saw the wild ducks swim down the Rapid, as if in pursuit of some article of food, and then rise and fly out at thebrink, and repeat the descent, as if delighted with the gift of wings, which enabled them to sport over such frightful precipices without danger. I found among the debris in the abyss, pieces of hornstone, and crystals of calcareous spar, radiated quartz, sulphuret of zinc, and sulphate of lime. Its geology is best explained by observing that the river, in falling over the precipice of the Niagara ridge into the basin of Lake Ontario, leaps over horizontal strata of limestone, slate, and red sandstone. In this respect, nothing can be more simple and plain. It is magnitude alone that makes the cataract sublime.

On returning to Buffalo, I found the lake rapidly discharging its ice, which had been recently broken up by a storm of wind; and, while awaiting the motion of the steamer, I was joined by Captain D. B. Douglass, Professor of Engineering at West Point, who had been appointed topographer and astronomer of the expedition. We embarked on the 6th of May, at nine o'clock in the morning, in the steamer Walk-in-the-Water, an elegant and conveniently-planned vessel, with a low-pressure Fulton engine. This boat had been put upon the lake two years before, when it made a trip to Michilimackinac, and was, indeed, the initial boat in the history of steam navigation on the Lakes. We embarked at Black Rock, and it was necessary to use a tow-line, drawn by oxen on the shore, to enable the boat to ascend the Rapids. This Captain Rodgers, a gentlemanly man, facetiously termed his hornbreeze. The oxen were dismissed a short distance before reaching the mouth of Buffalo Creek, where we reached the level of Lake Erie, five hundred and sixty feet above the tide-waters of the Hudson River.[9]We were favored with clear weather, and, a part of the time, with a fair wind. The boat touched at Erie, at the mouth of Grand River, at Cleveland, and at Portland, in Sandusky Bay, on coming out of which we passed Cunningham Island, and the Put-in-Bay Islands, from a harbor in which Perry issued to achieve his memorable naval victory on the 10th of September, 1813. Passing through another group of islands, called the Three Sisters, we entered the mouth of the Detroit River late on the afternoon of the 8th, just as the light became dim and shadowy. The scale of these waters is magnificent.We had a glimpse of the town and fort of Malden, or Amherstburg, and of Boisblanc, and Gross Isle, which were the last objects distinctly seen in our ascent. The boat pushed on her way, under the guidance of good pilots, although the night was dark, and we reached our destination, and came to, at the city of Detroit, at twelve o'clock P. M., thus completing the passage in sixty-two hours.

The next morning, an official from the Executive of the Michigan Territory came on board with inquiries respecting Captain Douglass and myself, and we soon found ourselves in a circle where we were received with marked respect and attention. It was pleasing to behold that this respect arose, in a great degree, from the high interest which was manifested, in all classes, for the objects of the expedition, and the influence which its exploratory labors were expected to have on the development of the resources and prosperity of the country at large.

General Cass, who was to lead the expedition, received us cordially, and let us know that we were in season, as some days would still elapse before the preparations could be completed, and that the canoes in which we were to travel had not yet reached Detroit. We were also cordially welcomed by General Macomb, commanding the military district, Major John Biddle, commanding officer of the fort, and by the citizens generally. I was now, by the computations, about seven hundred and fifty miles from my starting-point at New York. We took up our lodgings at the old stone house occupied by Major Whipple, which, from its prominent position on the banks of the river, had sustained a random cannonade during the late war. We were here introduced to Dr. Alexander Wolcot, who filled the post of physician to the expedition, and to Lieutenant Eneas Mackey, United States artillery, commanding the escort, Major Robert A. Forsyth, private secretary of the Executive, and commissary of the expedition, and superintendent of embarkation; and to James D. Doty and Charles C. Trowbridge, Esqs., who occupied, respectively, the situations of official secretary and assistant topographer.

Detroit, the point to which I have now been conducted, is eligibly situated on the south bank of the straits of the same name, and enjoys the advantage of a regular plan and spacious streets, which have been introduced since the burning of the oldFrench town in 1805, not a building of which, within the walls, was saved. Its main street, Jefferson Avenue, is elevated about forty feet above the river. The town consists of about two hundred and fifty houses of all descriptions, public and private, and has a population of fourteen hundred and fifty,[10]exclusive of the garrison.

To the historian it is a point of great interest. It was the site of an Indian village called Teuchsagondie in 1620, the date of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Quebec was founded in 1608; Albany in 1614. But no regular settlement or occupancy took place here, till the close of the seventeenth century. In June, 1687, the French took formal possession of the straits by erecting the arms of France. On the 24th of July, 1701, M. Cadillac established the first military post. Charlevoix, who landed here in 1721, found it the site of Fort Pontchartrain.

In 1763 the garrison, being then under British colors, sustained a notable siege from the confederate Indians under Pontiac. It remained under English rule till the close of the American Revolution, and was not finally surrendered to the United States until 1790, the year following Wayne's treaty at Greenville. Surrendered by Hull in 1812, it was reoccupied by General Harrison in October, 1813. It received a city charter 24th October, 1815. Indeed, the prominent civil and military events of which Detroit has been the theatre, confer on it a just celebrity, and it is gratifying to behold that to these events it adds the charm of a beautiful local site and fertile surrounding country. A cursory view of the map of the United States, will indicate its importance as a central military and commercial position. Situated on the great chain of lakes, connecting with the waters of the Ohio, Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Hudson, and Red River of the North, and communicating with the Atlantic at so many points, and with a harbor free of entrance at all times, its business capacities and means of expansion are very great. And when the natural channels of communication of the great lake chain shall be improved, it will afford a choice of markets between the most distant points of the Atlantic seaboard. It is thus destined to be to the regions of the northwest, what St. Louis is rapidly becoming to the southwest,the seat of its commerce, the repository of its wealth, and the grand focus of its moral, political, and physical energies.[11]

Preparations for the expedition—Constitution of the party—Mode of travel in canoes—Embarkation, and incidents of the journey across the Lake, and up the River St. Clair—Head winds encountered on Lake Huron—Point aux barques—Cross Saganaw Bay—Delays in ascending the Huron coast—Its geology and natural history—Reach Michilimackinac.

From the moment of our arrival at Detroit, we devoted ourselves, with intensity, to the preparation necessary for entering the wilderness. We were to travel, from this point, by a new mode of conveyance, namely, the Indian bark canoe, called a chimaun, a vehicle not less novel than curious. Constructed of large and thick sheets of the rind of the betula papyracea, or northern birch, which are cut in garment-like folds, and sewed together with the thin fibrous roots of the spruce, on a thin framework of cedar ribs, and having gunwales, with a sheathing of the same material, interposed between the bark and ribs. The seams are carefully gummed with the pitch of the pine. The largest of these canoes are thirty-six feet in length, and seven feet wide in the centre, tapering to a point each way. They carry a mast and sail, and are steered and propelled with light cedar paddles. They are at once light, so as to be readily carried over the portages, and so strong as to bear very considerable burdens. Those intended for us, were ordered from the Chippewas of Lake Huron, near Saganaw Bay. It was necessary to have mosquito-bars, portfolios, knapsacks, and various contrivances, and to make baggage of every sort assume the least possible bulk and space. The public armorer had orders to furnish me suitable hammers and other minerological apparatus for preparing and packing specimens. The expedition was quite an event in a remote town, and everybody seemed to take an interest in the preparation. A fortnight passed away in these preparations, and in awaiting thearrival of the canoes, respecting which there was some delay. It was the 24th of May before we were ready to embark. Besides the gentlemen mentioned as constituting the travelling party, ten Canadianvoyageurswere taken to manage the canoes, ten United States soldiers to serve as an escort, and ten Ottowa, Chippewa, and Shawnee Indians to act as hunters, under the directions of James Riley, an Anglo-American, and Joseph Parks, a Shawnee captive (at present, head chief of the Shawnee nation), as interpreters. This canoe contained a chief called Kewaygooshkum, a sedate and respectable man, who, a year afterwards, played an important part at the treaty of Chicago.

The grand point of departure and leave-taking, was at Grose Point, at the foot of Lake St. Clair, a spot nine miles distant. For this point, horses and carriages, with the numerous friends of Gov. Cass, pushed forward at an early hour; and there was as much enthusiasm manifested, by all classes, as if a new world was about to be discovered. I had a strong wish to witness the mode of canoe travelling, and, declining an opportunity to join the cavalcade by land, took my seat beside Major Forsyth in the Governor's canoe. The Canadians immediately struck up one of their animating canoe songs, the military escort at the same moment displayed its flag and left the shore, and the auxiliary Indians, fired with the animation of the scene, handled their paddles briskly, and shot their canoe rapidly by us. A boat-race was the consequence. The Indians at first kept their advantage, but the firmer and more enduring nerves of the Canadians soon began to tell on our speed, and as we finally passed them, the Indians gracefully yielded the contest. We were two hours in going to Grose Point, with the wind slightly ahead.

The banks of the River Detroit present continuous settlements, in which the appearance of large old orchards and windmills, among farm-houses and smooth cultivated fields, reminds the visitor that the country has been long settled. And he will not be long in observing, by the peculiarity of architecture, dress, manners, and language, that the basis of the population is French. We found our land party had preceded us, and as the winds were adverse, we encamped in linen tents along the open shore. The next day the wind increased, blowing quite a gale down the Lake. I busied myself by making some meteorological and geologicalobservations. The shores of Lake St. Clair are formed of a fertile alluvium, resting on drift. There are some heavy boulders of primitive rock resting on this, which denote a vast field of former drift action around the shores of these lakes.

The wind abated about eleven o'clock on the morning of the 26th, when the men commenced loading the canoes. It was twelve before we embarked. The mode of their embarkation is peculiar. The canoes, when laden, are hauled out in deep water; the men then catch up the sitters on their backs, and deposit them in their respective seats; when this was done, they struck up one of their animated songs, and we glided over the smooth surface of the lake with rapidity, holding our course parallel with its shores, generally, until reaching a prominent point of land near Huron River.[12]

From Point Huron we crossed the lake, to reach the central mouth of the St. Clair River, thereby saving a tedious circuit; by the time we had half accomplished the transit, we encountered a head wind, which put the strength of the men severely to the test, and retarded our reaching the mouth of the river till dark. The River St. Clair has several mouths, which branch off above through a broad delta, creating large islands. These channels discharge a vast amount of argillaceous drift and mud, which has so far filled up the lake itself, that there is anchorage, I believe, in every part of it; and the principal ship channel is scooped, by the force of the current, out of a very compact blue clay—the geological residuum of ancient formations of clay-slates in the upper country.

The shores are often but a few inchesabove, and often a few inchesbelowthe surface, where they give origin to a growth of reeds, flags, and other aquatic plants, which remind the traveller of similar productions at the Balize of the Mississippi. In this nilotic region, myriads of water-fowls find a favorite resort. To us, however, these jets of alluvial formation, bearing high grass and rushes were as so many friendly arms stretched out to shelter us from the wind; but they were found to be so low and wet, that we were compelled to urge our way through them, in search of adry encampment, till within two hours of midnight. This brought us to the upper end of Lawson's Island, where we arrived, wet, weary, and cold. We had advanced about twenty-five miles, having been ten hours, in a cramped posture, in our canoes. This initial day's journey was calculated to take away the poetry of travel from the amateurs of our party, and to let us all know, that there were toils in our way that required to be conquered.

We slept little this night, and waited for daylight and sunrise, as if the blessed luminary would have an animating effect upon our actual condition. We again embarked at seven o'clock in the morning. We now stowed away things with more handiness than at the first embarkation, and we began, ourselves, to feel a little more at home in this species of voyaging.

We had three canoes in our little squadron provided with masts and sails, and a small United States pennant to each, so that the brigade, when in motion, and led, as it usually was, by the chanting canoemen, had a formidable and animated appearance.

The River St. Clair is a broad and noble stream, and impressed us as justifying the highest encomiums bestowed on it by Charlevoix, La Hontan, and other early French travellers. We ascended it thirty miles, which brought us to Fort Gratiot, at the foot of the rapid which marks the outlet of Lake Huron. In this distance, we passed, at separate places, nine vessels at anchor, being detained by head winds, and encountered several Chippewa and Ottowa canoes, each of which were generally occupied by a single family, with their females, blankets, guns, fishing apparatus, and dogs. They evinced the most friendly disposition.

In landing at Oak Point,[13]I observed a green snake (coluber æstivus) in the act of swallowing a frog, which he had succeeded in taking down, except the extremity of its hind legs. A blow was sufficient to relieve the frog, which still had sufficient animation to hop towards the river. The snake I made to pay the forfeit of his life.

At Fort Gratiot, we were received by Major Cummins, U. S. A., who occupied the post with sixty men. The expedition was received with a salute, which is due to the Governor of a Territory.Two soldiers who were sickly, were here returned, and five able-bodied men received to supply their places, thus increasing the aggregate of the party to forty persons.[14]

The banks of the River St. Clair are wholly alluvial or diluvial. There is not a particle of rock in place. One idea presses itself prominently to notice, in reflecting on the formation of the country. It is the vast quantum of clay, mixed drift, and boulders, which have evidently been propelled, by ancient forces, down these straits, and afterwards arranged themselves according to affinities, or gravitation. At the precipitous banks between the inlet of Black River and Fort Gratiot, this action has been so clearly within the erratic block period of De la Buck, that it has imbedded prostrate forest-trees, and even freshwater shells, beneath the heavy stratum of sand, resting immediately upon the fundamental clay beds, upon which the city of Detroit, and indeed the alluvions of the entire straits rest.[15]We again encountered at this place, blocks of the primitive or crystalline boulders, which were first seen at Grosse Point. There are some traces of iron sand along the shore of this river, the only mineral body, indeed, which has thus rewarded my examinations.

We left our encampment, at Fort Gratiot, at eight o'clock next morning. A strong and deep rapid is immediately encountered, up which, however, vessels having a good wind find no difficulty in making their way. On surmounting this, we found ourselves on the level of Lake Huron. The lake here bursts upon the view in one of those magnificent landscapes which are peculiar to this region. Nature has everywhere operated on the grandest scale. Wide ocean expanses and long lines of shore spread before the eye, which gazes admiringly on the broad and often brilliant horizon, and then turns, for something to rest on, along the shore. Long ridges of gravel, sand, and boulders, meet it here. Beyond and above this storm-battered beach, are fringes of woods, or banks of clay. The monotony of travelling by unvaried scenes is relieved by an occasional song of the boatmen,or an occasional landing—by changes of forest-trees—of the wind, or flights of the gull, duck, plover, and other birds; but the traveller, is apt, before evening comes, to fancy himself very much in the position of a piece of merchandise which is transported from place to place. Glad were we when night approached, and the order to encamp was heard. It was estimated we had advanced thirty-five miles.

On passing along the Huron coast about fifteen miles, a bank of dark clay is encountered, which has an elevation of thirty or forty feet, and extends six or eight miles. We soon after came to the White Rock—an enormous detached mass, or boulder of transition,[16]or semi-crystalline limestone. It is a noted landmark forvoyageursand travellers, and an equally celebrated place of offerings by the Indians. I requested to be landed on it, and detached some specimens. Geologically, it is a member of the erratic block group, and we must look for its parent bed at a more westerly point. There is no formation of limestone, in this quarter, to which it can be referred. It bears marks of attrition, which shows that it has been rubbed against other hard bodies; and if transported down the lake on ice, it is necessary to consider these marks as pre-existing at the era of its removal.

On embarking in the morning, the wind was slightly ahead, which continued during the forenoon, changing in the after-part of the day, so that we were able to hoist sail. About four o'clock the weather became cloudy and hazy, the wind increasing, at the same time attended with thunder and lightning. A storm was rapidly gathering, and the lake became so much agitated that we immediately effected a landing, which was not done without some difficulty, on a shallow and dangerous shore, thickly strewn with boulders. We pitched our tents on a small peninsula, or narrow neck of land, covered with beautiful forest-trees, which was nearly separated from the main shore. Shortly after our arrival a vessel hove in sight, and anchored on the same dangerous lee shore. We were in momently expectation of her being driven from her moorings, but were happily relieved, the next morning, to observe that she had rode out the storm.

The lake was still too rough on the following day, and the wind too high, to permit our embarking. We made an excursion inland. The country proved low, undulatory, and swampy. The forest consisted of hemlock, birch, ash, oak, and maple, with several species of mosses, which gave it a cold, bleak character. The margin of the forest was skirted with the bulrush, briza canadensis, and other aquatic plants. The whole day passed, a night, and another day, with nothing but the loud sounding lake roar in our ears. A heavy bed of the erratic block formation commences at this point, and continues to Point aux Barques, the eastern cape of Saganaw Bay.

In one of these displaced masses—a boulder of mica slate, I discovered well-defined crystals of staurotide. This formed my second mineralogical acquisition.[17]There were, also, some striking water-worn masses of granitical and hornblende porphyry.

It was the 1st of June before we could leave the spot where we had been confined. We embarked at six o'clock, the lake being sufficiently pacific, though not yet settled. But after proceeding about a league, it again became agitated, and drove us ashore, where we lay without encamping. Kewaygushkum was requested to send some of his young men in quest of game. The soldiers and engagees also formed fishing parties, at a contiguous river; but about three o'clock in the afternoon all the parties returned completely unsuccessful. There was neither fish nor game to be had. At the same time the agitation of the lake ceased, the wind springing up from an opposite quarter, which enabled us to hoist sail. This put every one in a pleasant humor, and we proceeded along the coast till evening, and encamped on a small sandy bay, which puts into the land, immediately beyond the promontory of Point aux Barques—an estimated distance of twenty-five miles from our starting-point in the morning.

At the distance of a league before reaching this point, the firststratum of rock,in situ, presents itself. It is a gray friable sandstone, elevated from ten to twenty feet above the water, but attaining a greater height in the approach to this noted cape. This stratum of sandstone rock, which is of a perishable character, is exposed to receive the shock of the waves of Lake Huron for several hundred miles from the north and west. It exhibits the force and fury of the lake action by the numerous cavities which have been worn into it, at the water's edge, and by the sub-bays which have, in some localities, been formed in the line of dark opposing cliffs. It was in one of these sub-bays that we encamped, on a smooth sandy beach, which appears to have been a favorite encamping ground of the natives. But although we had met several canoes of Chippewas, on the route between Fort Gratiot and this point, none were found at the place of our encampment. Such of them as we approached, on the lake, were invariably in want of food, and received it with evident marks of gratification.

On going inland, back from our encampment, we found a succession of arid ridges of sand, which had been evidently produced by the prostrated sandstone of the coast, which, after comminution by the waves, had been carried to this position by the winds. These ancient dunes and ridges were covered sparsely with pitch pines and aspen, and having their surfaces covered with the uva ursi, pyrola, and smaller shrub-growth common to arenaceous soils.

On the day following, we ascended along the eastern shores of Saganaw Bay, a distance of eighteen miles, which brought us to Point aux Chenes. At this place the guides pointed to a group of islands about midway of the bay, for which we steered. The calmness of the weather favored the traverse. We reached and landed on the largest of the group, called Shawangunk, by the Indians, probably from its southernmost position. I found it to consist of a dark, compact limestone, imbedding masses of chalcedony and calcareous spar. I also picked up a detached mass of argillaceous oxide of iron, and some fragments of striped hornstone. Anxious to improve the favorable time for effecting the passage, we pushed on for the opposite western shore, which was safely reached. We then steered down the bay, skirting a low sandy shore some twenty miles or more, till entering the open lake, and reaching the River aux Sables. On entering thisriver, and after having pitched our camp, we were visited by a band of Chippewa Indians, with friendly salutations. It appeared that the arrival of the expedition had been anticipated by them, they having themselves constructed and furnished the canoes for it, and being well acquainted with the official position, at Detroit, of the leader of our party. The principal Chief, the Black Eagle, addressed a speech to Governor Cass, in which he appropriately recognized these relations, welcomed him to his village, and recommended the condition of his people to his notice. The calumet was then smoked in the usual style of Indian ceremony, the pipe-bearer beginning with persons of first rank, and handing it in the supposed order of grade, to the lowest member of the official family. The ceremony was ended by shaking of hands. All this was done with the ease and dignity of an oriental sheikh. We had anticipated savages, and savage manners, and armed ourselves to the teeth, pushing a point with an army official at Detroit, until we were each provided with a short rifle. But this first formal council with the sons of the forest, began to open our eyes to the true character of the Indian manners and diplomacy, in their intercourse with government officials.

The chiefs, after their departure, sent to our encampment a present of fresh sturgeon, a species which is caught abundantly in the aux Sables at this time, for which returns were made of such articles as were most acceptable to them. Being out of the Bay, we employed the following day making advances along the Huron coast, an estimated distance of forty-eight miles. In this distance, we passed Thunder Bay. Encamped on a low, calcareous shore, bearing cedar and spruce, which the Indians call Sho-she-ko-naw-be-ko-king, or Flat Rock Point. A few miles after leaving River aux Sables, the Highlands of Sables present themselves at a short distance back from the shore. This ridge, which is a landmark for mariners, runs from southeast to northwest, and is visible as far as Thunder Bay. The limestone, which is dark and of an earthy fracture, is very much broken up on the shore, and contains various species of organic remains. On crossing the Bay, we landed on an island covered with debris, where we observed one of those imitative, water-worn, primitive boulders, resembling altars, which are frequently set up by the Indians as the places of depositing some offering, or out of mere respect for some local god.

At six o'clock the next morning we were again in our canoes, assiduously moving along the Huron coast; but, after proceeding about a league, a storm of wind and rain suddenly arose, driving us from the lake. A few hours served to restore its calmness, but we had not gone over a couple of leagues when we were again compelled by the rising wind to take to the shore, where we were detained the rest of the day, listening to the capricious murmurs of the lake. This position was directly opposite Middle Island, a noted anchorage about six miles distant. All night the waves of the lake were heard. The morning broke without change. Lake Huron still evinced an angry aspect, threatening to renew the struggle of yesterday. It was concluded to send the canoes forward, relieved of our weight, and proceed ourselves on foot along the beach. Walking on this became difficult on those parts of it where the fossiliferous and shelly limestone had been broken up and heaped in small fragments. Among these, we recognized specimens of the cornu-ammonis, and the maderpore, with some other species. The cedars and brushy growth generally stood so thick, and grew so closely to this line of debris, that it was impracticable to take the woods. The toil, however, rewarded us with some specimens of the organic forms imbedded in the rock, while it enabled the topographers to secure the data for a very perfect map of the coast. At ten o'clock in the morning we reached the east cape of Presque Isle Bay, where the canoes came to take us across to the peninsula of that name. After completing this, the men landed the canoes and baggage on the peninsula side, and carried them across the narrow sandy neck of land; but, on reaching the open lake beyond it, the wind was found too strongly adverse to permit embarkation. The Canadians have the not inappropriate term ofdegradefor this species of detention; we were here foiled, indeed, in our high hopes of pushing ahead, and compelled to wait on the naked sands for many weary hours. While thus detained, the Indians brought in a brown rabbit,[18]a species of lake tortoise, and some pigeons, being their only fruits of success in hunting, except a singlegrouse, or partridge, which had crowned their efforts since leaving Detroit. It must be borne in mind, however, that there has been very little opportunity for hunting, that we have had abundant supplies, and that our mode of travelling is such as to alarm all game within sound of our track. They have, indeed, brought reports at several points of seeing the footprints of the deer and black bear, but they have not had the leisure to pursue them.

At five o'clock, the wind abated so much as to permit embarkation, and our canoemen hastened forward with the intention of travelling all night, but at eleven o'clock it freshened to such a degree, and at the same time became so intensely dark, that we were compelled to land and encamp. Neither the topography, mineralogy, or any branch of the physical geography of a country can be ascertained without minute examination; and this constitutes, indeed, the object of the investigations, which have been, thus far, so toilsomely pursued against adverse winds since the commencement of the expedition; but they have disclosed facts which reveal the true structure and physical history of this bleak, ungenial coast; this hope serves, every day, to give new impetus to the voyage.

Another day along the Huron coast. It was now the 6th of June. Thevoyageursbegan now to manifest great anxiety to reach Michilimackinac, and had their canoes in the water at a very early hour. We all participated in this feeling, and saw with pleasure the long lines of sandy shores, strewed with boulders and pebbles, that were swiftly passed. We had traced about forty miles of the coast when we reached the foot of Bois Blanc Island, and pushed over the intervening arm of the lake to get its south or lee shore. This was a labor of hazard, as the wind was directly ahead, and drove the waves into the canoes. When accomplished, we had the shelter of this island for twelve miles, till reaching its southwest part. We then passed, due north, between it and Isle Ronde, which brought the wind again ahead. But the men had not kept this course long, when Michilimackinac, with its picturesque and imposing features, burst upon our view.Nothing can present a more refreshing and inspiring landscape. From that moment thevoyageursappeared to disregard the wind. Striking into the water with bolder paddles, and opening one of their animating boat-songs, all thought of past toils was forgotten, and, urged forward with a new impetus, we entered the handsome little crescent-shaped harbor at four o'clock. The expedition was received with a salute from the fort, in command of Capt. B. K. Pierce, U. S. A.,[19]in compliment to the Governor of the Territory, and we landed amid the congratulations of the citizens, who pressed forward to welcome us.

Thus terminated the first part of our journey, after a tedious voyage of fourteen days, in which we had encountered a series of almost continued head-winds and foul weather. The distance by ship is usually estimated at three hundred miles; by following the indentations of the coast, and entering Saganaw Bay, we found it three hundred and sixty.[20]We found the Huron coast, to the line of which our observations were limited, bearing, in its vegetation, indubitable marks of its exposure to the northern winds. As a section of the lake geology, it is simple and instructive, exhibiting strata of sandstone and non-crystalline and fossiliferous limestone in horizontal positions, without the slightest disturbance in their dip or inclinations. Its mineralogy is scanty, being nearly confined, so far as observed, to some common silicious minerals, and traces of argillaceous and magnetic oxides of iron. The erratic block-stratum or drift, is remarkable, and prepares the mind for the still heavier accumulations of this kind which are perceived to be spread over the northern latitudes.[21]

Description of Michilimackinac—Prominent scenery—Geology—Arched Rock—Sugarloaf Rock—History—Statistics—Mineralogy—Skull Cave—Manners—Its fish, agriculture, moral wants—Ingenious manufactures of the Indians—Fur trade—Etymology of the word—Antique bones disclosed in the interior of the island.

Nothing can exceed the beauty of this island. It is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Huron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinnacles like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places; and in these caverns, the ancient Indians, like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Vessels anchor in it, and find good holding. The little old-fashioned French town nestles around it in a very primitive style. The fort frowns above it, like another Alhambra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area of the island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and valleys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these there are circles of gathered-up stones, as if the Druids themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down limestones. The island was formerly covered with a dense growth of rock-maples, oaks, ironwood, and other hard-wood species, and there are still parts of this ancient forest left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth. There are walks and winding paths among its little hills, and precipices of the most romantic character. And whenever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he is transported withsublime views of a most illimitable and magnificent water prospect. If the poetic muses are ever to have a new Parnassus in America, they should inevitably fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her temple here, for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest, and most healthful atmospheres.

We remained encamped upon this lovely island six days, while awaiting the arrival of supplies and provisions for the journey, or their being prepared for transportation by hand over the northern portages. Meats, bread, Indian corn, and flour, had to be put in kegs, or stout linen bags.

The traders and old citizens said so much about the difficulties and toils of these northern portages that we did not know but what we, ourselves, were to be put in bags; but we escaped that process. This delay gave us the opportunity of more closely examining the island. It is about three and a half miles long, two in its greatest width, and nine in circumference. The site of Fort Holmes, the apex, is three hundred and twelve feet above the lake. The eastern margin consists of precipitous cliffs, which, in many places, overhang the water, and furnish a picturesque rocky-fringe, as it were, to the elevated plain. The whole rock formation is calcareous. It exhibits the effects of a powerful diluvial action at early periods, as well as the continued influence of elemental action, still at work. Large portions of the cliffs have been precipitated upon the beach, where the process of degradation has been carried on by the waves. A most striking instance of such precipitations is to be witnessed at the eastern cliff, called Robinson's Folly, which fell, by its own gravitation, within the period of tradition. The formation, at this point, formerly overhung the beach, commanding a fine view of the lake and islands in all directions, in consequence of which it was occupied with a summer-house, by the officers of the British garrison, after the abandonment of the old peninsular fort, about 1780.

The mineralogical features of the island are not without interest. I examined the large fragments of debris, which are still prominent, and which exhibit comparatively fresh fractures. The rock contains a portion of sparry matter, which is arranged in reticulæ, filled with white carbonate of lime, in such a state of loose disintegration that the weather soon converts it to the condition of agaric mineral. These reticulæ are commonlyin the slate of calcspar, crystallized in minute crystals. The stratum on which this loose formation rests is compact and firm, and agrees in structure with the encrinal limestone of Drummond Island and the Manitouline chain. But the vesicular stratum, which may be one hundred and ten or twenty feet thick, has been deposited in such a condition that it has not had, in some localities, firmness enough permanently to sustain itself. The consequence is, that the table-land has caved in, and exhibits singular depressions, or grass-covered, cup-shaped cavities, which have no visible outlet for the rain-water that falls in them, unless it percolates through the shelly strata. Portions of it, subject to this structure, have been pressed off during changing seasons, by frosts, and carried away by rains, creating that castellated appearance of pinnacles, which gives so much peculiarity to the rocky outlines of the island.

TheARCHED ROCKis an isolated mass of self-sustaining rock, on the eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those coincidences of geological degradation in which the firmer texture of the silicious and calcareous portions of it have, thus far, resisted decomposition. Its explanation, is, however, simple: The apex of this geological monument is on a level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While the diluvial action, of which the whole island gives striking proofs, carried away the rest of the reticulated or magnesian limestone, this singular point, having a firmer texture, resisted its power, and remains to tell the visitor who gazes at it, that waters have once held dominion over the highest part of the island.

Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenomena of this island, it may be observed that it is covered with the erratic block or drift stratum. Primitive or crystalline pebbles and boulders are found, but not plentifully, on the surface. They are observed, however, on the highest summit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading north, in the approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is a remarkable accumulation of blocks of granite and hornblende drift boulders. The principal drift of the island consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone boulders are not rare. Over the plain leading from the fort north byway of the Skull Rock, are spread extensive beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel, the particles of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot, which makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadamized roads of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage wheels on it run as smoothly, but far more solid, than they could over a plank floor. This formation appears to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which arranged itself agreeably to the laws of its own gravitation, on the recession of the watery element, to which its comminution is clearly due. It would be worth transportation, in boxes, for gravelling ornamental garden-walks. The soil of the island is highly charged with the calcareous element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in pure beds of small limestone pebbles, where the seed potatoes had been merely covered in a slight way, to shield them from the sun, until they had taken root.

The historical reminiscences connected with this island are of an interesting character. It appears from concurrent testimony, that the old town on the peninsula was settled about 1671,[22]which was seven years before the building of Fort Niagara. In that year, Father Marquette, a French missionary, prevailed on a party of Hurons to locate themselves at that spot, and it was therefore the first point of settlement made northwest of Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. It was probably first garrisoned by La Salle, in 1678, and continued to be the seat of the fur trade, and in many respects, the metropolis of the extreme northwest, during the whole period of French domination in the Canadas. After the fall of Quebec, in 1759, it passed by treaty to the British government, but much against the wishes of the Indian tribes, who retained a strong partiality for their early friends, the French. Pontiac arose at this time, to dispute the English authority in the northwest, and with confederates projected a series of bold attacks upon the forts extending from the Ohio to this post. Most of these were successful, but he was defeated at Detroit, where he commanded in person, after a series of extraordinarymovements. While he was pressing the siege of the garrison, he enjoined neutrality upon the French inhabitants, who were nevertheless called on to furnish cattle and corn for the subsistence of his warriors. It is remarked on good authority that, for these supplies, he issued evidences of debt. When General Bradstreet marched to the relief of the fort, with an army of three thousand men, the spirit and laconic temper of the warrior were at the same time evinced. He sent a deputation of chiefs to meet the herald of the British general, at Maumee, with the laconic and symbolic message: "I stand in the path."

The execution of the plan of attack on Old Fort Mackinac appears to have been intrusted to Minnawanna, a Chippewa chief, who, in addition to his own people, was aided by the Sacs. The Ottowas afterwards expressed displeasure in not having been admitted to a participation in the attack. The plan was ingeniously laid. The king's birthday, the 4th of June (1763), having arrived, the Chippewas and Sacs turned out to play, for a high wager, at ball. Many of the garrison, and the commanding officer himself, came out to witness the sport; and there was such a feeling of security that the gates of the fort were left open. To put the troops more off their guard, the ball had been thrown over the picket, and when once there, it was natural that it should be followed by the opposite parties, heated with the contest and eager for victory. But this artifice was the accomplishment of the plan. The war-whoop was immediately sounded, and an indiscriminate slaughter commenced. A few moments of intense anxiety ensued. They were passed by the officers eagerly listening for the roll of the drum. But they were passed in disappointment. There was no call of this kind to concentrate resistance. Panic and slaughter raged in their most fearful forms. None were spared who were deemed friendly to the English interest but such as were effectually secreted. Some of the soldiers who escaped the first onset, were incarcerated in a room, where they were sacrificed to glut the vengeance of a chief, who did not arrive till the principal work of slaughter had been accomplished.

This event sealed the fate of the old fort and the town on the peninsula. The British afterwards took possession of the island, which had served to give name to the peninsular fort. The town was gradually removed, by pulling down the buildings, and transporting the timber to the island, till there was not a buildingor fixture left; and the site is now as silent and deserted as if it had never been the scene of an active resident population.

The Island of Michilimackinac appears to have been occupied first as a military position by the British, about 1780, say some seven years after the massacre of the garrison of the old peninsular fort of the same name.

Wherever Michilimackinac is mentioned in the missionary letters or history of this period, it is the ancient fort, on the apex of the Michigan peninsula, that is alluded to.

The present town is pleasantly situated around a little bay that affords good clay anchorage and a protection from west and north winds. It has a very antique and foreign look, and most of the inhabitants are, indeed, of the Canadian type of the French. The French language is chiefly spoken. It consists of about one hundred and fifty houses and some four hundred and fifty permanent inhabitants.

It is the seat of justice for the most northerly county of Michigan. According to the observation of Lieut. Evelith, the island lies in north latitude 45° 54´, which is only twenty-three minutes north of Montreal, as stated by Prof. Silliman.[23]It is in west longitude 7° 10´ from Washington.

Col. Croghan's attempt to take the island, during the late war, was most unfortunate. He failed from a double spirit of dissension in his own forces, being at odds with the commanding officer of the fleet, and at sword's points with his second in command, Major Holmes. After entering the St. Mary's, and taking and burning the old post of St. Joseph's, where nobody resisted, instead of sailing direct to Mackinac, a marauding expedition was sent up this river to St. Mary's, and when the fleet and troops finally reached Mackinac, instead of landing at the town, under the panic of the inhabitants, it sailed about for several days. In the mean time the island filled with Indians from the surrounding shores.

Fort "Mackina" is eligibly situated on a cliff overlooking the town and harbor, and is garrisoned by a company of artillery. The ruin of Fort Holmes, formerly Fort George, occupies the apex of the island, and has been dismantled since the British evacuated it in 1815.[24]

It happened that the British authorities on the island of St. Joseph, got intelligence of the declaration of war, in 1812, through Canada, before the American commander at Mackinac heard of it. Mustering their forces with such volunteers, militia, and Indians as could be hastily got together, they proceeded in boats to the back of the island, where they secretly landed at night with some artillery, and by daylight the next morning got the latter in place on the summit of Fort Holmes, which completely commanded the lower fort, when they sent a summons of surrender, which Captain Hanks, the American commanding officer, had no option but to obey.

Colonel Croghan, the hero of Sandusky, attempted to regain possession of it, in 1814, with a competent force, and after several demonstrations of his fleet about the island, by which time was lost and panic in the enemy allayed, he landed on the northern part of it, which is depressed, and his army marched through thick woods, most favorable for the operations of the Indians, to the open grounds of Dousman's Farm, where the army was met by Colonel McDouall, who was eligibly posted on an eminence with but few regular troops, but a heavy force of Indian auxiliaries and the village militia. Major Holmes, who gallantly led the attack, swinging his sword, was killed at a critical moment, and the troops retreated before Colonel Croghan could reach the field with a reinforcement. Thus ended this affair.

My attention was directed to the plaster stated to exist on the St. Martin Islands. These islands compose a small group lying about nine or ten miles north-northeast of Michilimackinac. Captain Knapp, of the revenue service, had been requested to take me to the spot with the revenue cutter under his command. I was accompanied by Captain Douglass, of the expedition, and by Lieutenant John Pierce, U. S. A., stationed at the fort.

The gypsum exists in a moist soil, not greatly elevated, during certain winds above the lake. Pits had been dug by persons visiting the locality for commercial purposes. It occurs in granular lumps of a gray color, as also in foliated and fibrous masses, white, gray, chestnut color, or sometimes red. No difficulty was encountered in procuring as many specimens as were required. This group of islands is noticeable, also, for the large boulder masses of hornblende and granite rock, which are found imbedded in, or lyingon the surface, along with fragments of breccia, quartz, &c. This drift is more abundant, on all the islands I have seen, as we approach the north shores of Lake Huron. Having completed the examination of these islands, we returned to the harbor after an agreeable excursion.

To observe the structure and character of the Island of Michilimackinac, I determined to walk entirely around it, following the beach at the foot of the cliffs. This, although a difficult task, from brush and debris, became a practicable one, except on the north and northwest borders, where there was, for limited spaces, no margin of debris, at which points it became necessary to wade in the water at the base of low precipitous rocks. In addition to the reticulated masses of limestone covered with calcspar from the fallen cliffs, the search disclosed small tabular pieces of minutely crystallized quartz and angular masses of a kind of striped hornstone, gray and lead colored, which had been liberated from similar positions in the cliffs. On passing the west margin of the island, I observed a bed of a species of light-blue clay, which is stated to part with its coloring matter in baking it, becoming white.

While the British possessed the island, they attempted to procure water by digging two wells at the site of Fort George (now Holmes), but were induced to relinquish the work without success, at the depth of about one hundred feet. Among the fragments of rock thrown out, are impressions of bivalve and univalve shells, with an impression resembling the head of a trilobite. These are generally in the condition of chalcedony, covered with very minute crystals of quartz. I also discovered a drift specimen of brown oxide of iron, on the north quarter. This sketch embraces all that is important in its mineralogical character.

This island appears to have been occupied by the Indians, from an early period. Human bones have been discovered at more than one point, in the cavernous structure of the island; but no place has been so much celebrated for disclosures of this kind, as theSkull Cave. This cave has a prominent entrance, shaded by a few trees, and appears to have been once devoted to the offices of a charnel-house by the Indians. It is not mentioned at all, however, by writers, till 1763, in the month of June of which year the fort of old Mackinac on the peninsula, was treacherouslytaken by the Sac and Chippewa Indians. An extensive and threatening confederation of the western Indians had then been matured, and a large body of armed warriors was then encamped around the walls of Detroit, under the leadership of Pontiac, who held the garrison in close siege day and night. The surrender of Canada to Great Britain, which had followed the victory of General Wolfe at Quebec, was distasteful to these Indians, and they attempted the mad project of driving back beyond the Alleghanies the English race; making a simultaneous assault upon all the military posts west of that great line of demarcation, and preaching and dealing out vengeance to all who had English blood in their veins. Alexander Henry, a native of Albany,[25]was one of those enterprising men who had pushed his fortunes West, with an adventure of merchandise, on the first exchange of posts, and he was singled out for destruction, as soon as the fort was taken. He had taken refuge in the house of a Frenchman named Longlade, where he was concealed in a garret by a Pawnee slave, and where he hid himself under a heap of birch-bark buckets, such as are employed in the Indian country, in the spring season, in carrying the sap of the sugar-maple. But this temporary reprieve from the Indian knife seemed only the prelude to a series of hairbreadth escapes, which impressed him as the direct interposition of Providence. At length, when the scenes of blood and intoxication began to abate a little, an old Indian friend of his, called Wawetum, who had once pledged his friendship, but who had been absent during the massacre, sought him out, and having reclaimed him by presents, in a formal council, took him into his canoe and conducted the spared witness of these atrocities three leagues across the waters of Lake Huron in safety to this island.

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