History of the Ojibway Nation/Chapter 9
CHAPTER IX.
ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST FRENCH TRADING POSTS BUILT ON LAKE SUPERIOR.
A few years after the great convocation of northwestern tribes, and treaty with the French nation at Sault Ste. Marie, a company of French traders proceeded up the west coast of Lake Superior, and built a trading post or "fort" (as these establishments were termed in those days), on a beautiful bay situated on the lake shore a few miles above Kah-man-a-tig-wa-yah (or Pigeon River), and known as the "Grand Portage" or Ke-che-o-ne-gum-eng, from the fact that a portage of ten miles is here made to Pigeon River, to avoid the rapids which preclude navigation even for canoes, for many miles above the entry of this "bad winding stream."
This is probably the first permanent post erected by the white man in the region of country comprised within the present limits of Minnesota Territory. It was built, as near as I can judge from the information of the Indians and old traders, upwards of one hundred and fifty years ago.
The great quantity of beaver, existing at this period on all the streams emptying into Lake Superior, and especially throughout the country watered by Kah-man-a-tig-wa-yah and its tributaries, together with the great docility, harmless character and friendly disposition of the section of the Ojibways occupying this district, who comprise the northern division of the tribe, were without doubt, the leading causes which induced the French here to build their first "fort" in preference to any other spot on Lake Superior.
From this point, also, a vast region of unexplored country became open to their indefatigable enterprise, in a northern direction. It is by this route that they first became acquainted with the remote northern tribes, of the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins, with whom they soon opened a communication.
Long before this, the Ojibways of the northern division had already reached in their northward progress, the country of the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins, the former of whom belonged to the same stock as themselves, and though the latter were of Dakota extraction, yet finding the two tribes in close alliance and carrying on a war against the Dakotas, they entered their wigwams in peace, and joined in alliance with them.
I recollect of having read in some book that the Assineboins had been forced into an alliance by the Ke-nis-te-no who first received fire-arms from the British by the route of Hudson's Bay. This led me to make close inquiries on this subject, and I find that Indian tradition says differently. Esh-ke-bug-e-coshe, the present aged and respected chief of the Pillager Ojibways, lived many years in his youth among these tribes; and he gives the following account of the manner in whicih this singular alliance between an Algic with a Dakota tribe, first happened.
"Many winters before they became aware of the presence of the white man on this great island, the Yankton division of the great Dakota tribe, resided on the borders of the great western prairies near the Red River of the North. They numbered many hundred lodges, and their warriors prevailed against the Ke-nis-te-no toward the north and west, and caused them to keep under the shade of the forests and swamps which covered their hunting grounds. At one time it happened, as it often does, that two young men quarrelled about a woman, and one in the heat of passion and jealousy, took the life of the other. Both belonged to numerous and important families, and in accordance with the law of 'blood for blood,' notwithstanding his relatives wished to buy him off, the murderer was killed.
"Generally a case of this kind ends after the death of the first murderer, but in this instance, the drawer of his fellow's blood was a great warrior, and his loss being severely felt by his relatives, the person who had taken his life was in turn murdered. The matter had gone beyond the usual length, and notwithstanding the interference of the old men and chiefs, the person who drew the last blood suffered death for his act, at the hands of a relative to the person whom he had killed. The great Yankton camp became a scene of excitement, and murders occurred daily, till the weaker party consisting of a thousand lodges, left the main camp and retired by themselves, to pursue their hunt for meat to feed their women and children.
"The feud did not end here, but continued with greater fury; the larger camp even sending war parties to attack the straggling hunters of their former brethren. Scalps were also taken, and this is equal in Indian custom to a declaration of open and exterminating war. The smaller camp, therefore, to prevent their total eventual destruction at the hands of the more numerous Yanktons, moved towards the country of Ke-nis-te-no, with whom they had always waged a never-ending warfare; and preferring to trust themselves to their generosity rather than to the vindictive hatred of their own kindred, they collected the women and children whom in former years they had captured from them, and adopted in their families. These they placed on horses, and loaded with presents, they were sent to the great Ke-nis-te-no town on Dead River (Ne-bo-se-be), with the peace pipe of the seceding Dakotas, requesting to be received 'in their lodges' and protected from the 'fire that raged in their rear, on the western prairies.'
"The manly and compassionate Ke-nis-te-no sent forty of their warriors to receive them into their country, and escort them into their village. A grand council was held, where the Assineboins told their grievances, asked for protection, and promised to fight by the side of the Ke-nis-te-no against the Yanktons forever.
"Their words were listened to with deep attention and pity, and they were accepted as allies and brothers. The peace pipe was smoked, 'their council fire was made one,' and they 'ate out of the same dish' and reposed thereafter under the 'shade of the same forests and swamps' till their united prowess eventually drove the Dakotas from the northern plains, and the Ke-nis-te-no and Assineboins could then go out occasionally to 'bask in the sun on the prairies, and taste the meat of the buffalo.' Shortly after this first alliance, the Ojibway made his appearance among them, and he too became a party to the mutual compact which has been kept unbroken to this day."
We will now return to the regular course of our narrative, from which we have digressed in relating the above tradition.
Soon after the location of the trading post at Grand Portage, the same company of traders built a "fort" on the island of La Pointe, at the mouth of a small creek or pond midway between the present location of the "American Fur Company's" establishment, and the mission house of the "American Board of Foreign Missions." Strong palisades of cedar are said to have been planted around this post, and a cannon mounted for its defence. The Ojibways who had resided on this island, and who occupied the surrounding shores of the lake, now traded at this establishment, and they learned to pitch their lodges once more on the spot which they had on a previous occasion so suddenly evacuated.
Many, it is true, had been drawn back to Sault Ste. Marie, Mackinaw, and even further east, to visit the spots which the feet of their ancestors had once trodden, and on which they had left their bones to moulder and decay. Yet those that remained still formed a formidable body numbering many hundreds of warriors and hunters, and their trade for many years made the post located on the island of their ancient town, a most important and lucrative one.
At this time it is said that the French worked the copper mines on Lake Superior extensively, and doubtless many, if not all of the signs which are at the present day being discovered by the American miners, are the remains of the former works of these old French pioneers. When the British subsequently conquered this section of country in 1763, the Indians state that the French miners carefully covered the mines which they had been working, so that their conquerors might not have the advantage of their discoveries.
The first old French "Fort" at La Pointe was not maintained many years before a bloody murder was enacted within its walls, which resulted in its final dismantling and evacuation. The clerk or trader in charge was named Joseph. He passed his last winter there with his wife, two children, and with but one Canadian "Coureur du Bois." This man, it appears from his after confession, had conceived an unlawful passion for his master's wife, and he took occasion one morning when the unsuspecting Joseph had gone to shoot ducks in an adjacent pond, to press his suit to the wife, who, however, threatened to inform her husband of his treachery. On this the wretch attempted to force her to his wishes, but she, seizing an Indian spear which happened to stand in a corner of the room where this scene was being enacted, defended herself in such a manner and jeoparded his life to such a degree, that he was forced in self-defence to take her life.
Having performed this bloody deed, he loaded a gun, and placing himself behind the gate of the "Fort," he awaited anxiously the return of his unsuspecting master, whom, as he entered the gateway, he shot in the back, causing his immediate death. He next murdered the eldest child, a girl about six years of age, and was proceeding to finish his bloody work by taking the life of the youngest, when his black heart misgave him. The child had been his pet, and was just beginning to run about and lisp its childish prattle, and at first he could not find it within him to take its innocent life. His qualms of conscience, however, did not last long, for becoming tired of its ceaseless cries for its parents, after he had preserved its life three days, he murdered the little one in cold blood, and made its grave with his other victims in a heap of shavings and other rubbish, which had accumulated in a corner of the Fort.
This bloody tragedy was perpetrated in the spring of the year, when the Indians were all away at their sugar camps on the main shore, and at a time when the ice on the lake had become so weak and rotten as to make it unsafe to cross or travel on it. Notwithstanding the state of the ice, the guilty man, who could not bear to remain in solitude surrounded with the evidences of his bloody deed, attempted to make his escape, but having twice broken through the ice, and with difficulty saved his life, and (as he confessed) being drawn back by an invisible power, he returned to the scene of his crime, to patiently await its consequence.
When the ice had disappeared and melted away under the rays of the spring sun, the Indians once more frequented the Fort, and on their inquiring for the trader, the murderer told them the plausible story, that his master had started with his family on a dog train, while the ice was still on the lake, to pay them a visit at their sugar camps. And as he had never arrived amongst them, all naturally supposed that he had broken through the bad ice, and drowned with his family. The Ojibways faithfully hunted the shores of the island and adjacent main land, for the remains of their lost trader, but as may be supposed, they searched in vain.
In the course of the spring a light canoe arrived from Montreal by way of Grand Portage, containing one of the factors of the fur company, to whom belonged the post.
At first the plausible tale of the murderer was credited, but marks of blood having been discovered on the walls of the room where the trader's wife had been murdered, and his evident confusion on being asked the cause of them, led immediately to suspicion, and he was from that time arrested and confined.
Shortly after this, the factor, while walking around the precincts of the fort, endeavoring to discover further traces of the murder, happened to push his sword cane into the pile of rubbish where the murderer had buried the bodies of his unfortunate victims, and the stench on the end of his cane led to a complete discovery. The bodies were immediately disinterred in presence of the guilty wretch, who now confessed his crime.
The fort was evacuated, and the cannon and iron works were thrown into the adjacent pond, which having a deep and miry bottom, they have never been discovered by the Indians, who often afterwards searched for them. The site of this old post is still plainly discernible from small mounds of stone and rubbish which once formed the chimneys of the dwellings, which are still to be found on the spot where it once stood. The murderer was taken to Montreal, and the Indians at this day say that he was torn to pieces by horses being attached to each of his arms and legs, and caused to pull in different directions.
Another account has it, and coming from the lips of old traders and half-breeds, I am disposed to believe it as the truth, that the guilty wretch managed to escape from his keepers on the route to Montreal, and seeking refuge among the Hurons, he adopted their dress and customs, and learned to speak their language. On one occasion being present at a war-dance, when the Indian warriors were striking the "red stake" and telling their different exploits performed in war against their enemies, the murderer stepped into their midst, and likewise striking the stake, he related his deed of treachery and blood, expecting to be honored by the red men as a brave man, for the exploit. He was however mistaken, for before he had finished his tale of the bloody deed, an Indian warrior arose, and stepping up to him with the single exclamation of "Dog," he buried a tomahawk deep into his brain. The narrative of this event has been carefully preserved and handed down by the old traders, and it is presented here as I have learned it from them.
The tale as the Indians tell it, is somewhat mixed with the superstitious and unnatural, though in the main incidents they fully agree with the trader's account. They give as a cause for the murder, that the "Coureur du Bois" had pilfered goods during the winter to such an amount that his master threatened to report his conduct to the Factors on their first visit, and have him taken to Quebec as a culprit. To prevent this disgrace and punishment, the man first killed his master, as has been related, and then attempted rape on his wife, who forced him to kill her by her active self-defence with the Indian spear. Only in this respect do the Indians differ in the account from that which I have given, and which is said to have been the confession of the murderer himself.[1]
I learn from Michel Cadotte, and the venerable John Baptist Corbin, who came into the Ojibway country when he was twenty years of age and has remained fifty-six years, that this event occurred just one hundred and thirty years ago, in the year 1722.
- ↑ This story as told by the trader, William Morrison, in August, 1822, appeared in the Detroit Gazette, and is reprinted in Vol. VIII. of Wisconsin Historical Collections. The published account says the tragedy of killing the trader, his wife and child, occurred during the winter of 1760–61, and that on his way to Montreal for trial he was released on the St. Lawrence River, and fought with the Indians against the British. His boasting of his murders took place at a dance near Sault Ste. Marie. The Indians, disgusted with his tale of cruelty, invited him to a feast, and as soon as he commenced to eat, he was informed by the chief that as soon as he stopped, he would be killed. He ate for a long time, but at last had to stop, when he was soon lifeless. His body was boiled, but the young men would not eat, for they said "he was worse than a bad dog."—E.D.N.