History of Lake, Porter, and LaPorte, 1927County history published by the Historians' Association . . . .
Source Citation:
Cannon, Thomas H., H. H. Loring, and Charles J. Robb. 1927.
History of
the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana, Embracing the Counties of Lake,
Porter and LaPorte: An Historical Account of Its People and Its Progress
from the Earliest Times to the Present.
Volume I. Indianapolis, Indiana: Historians' Association. 840 p.
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
FRENCH MISSIONARIES -- FATHER MARQUETTE -- FATHER D'ABLON -- LOUIS JOLIET --
DISCOVERY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI -- DEATH OF FATHER MARQUETTE -- ROBERT
CAVELIER, SIEUR DE LA SALLE -- FATHER GABRIEL DE LA RIBOURDE -- FATHER
HENNEPIN -- COUREURS DE BOIS -- DISCOVERY OF LAKE MICHIGAN -- G. NICOLET --
FATHER ALLOUEZ -- EARLY RELICS -- NICHOLAS PERROT.
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It was fifty years after the French made their first settlements in Canada before missionaries, explorers or adventurers when westward toward region beyond the Great Lakes. The missionaries at a very early date had journeyed as far west as Lake Huron and planted the Cross along its eastern and southern shores. The French on their explorations and trading expeditions westward from Montreal, stayed on the north side of the Lakes as from the very beginning they had unceasing warfare with the Iroquois tribes who occupied Central New York State. The Iroquois were extremely hostile to the white explorers and even more so to the Indian tribes on the south shore of the Lakes and whose territory they had gradually encroached upon and brought under their control.
The Jesuit missionaries and the Christian religion did not appeal to them and as a result of this situation, the Lake Superior region and the upper peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin were familiar territories to the French many years before they had done any exploration work in Ohio or in Indiana. A few adventurers, however, and traders had crossed the Lakes and brought back to Montreal stories of the many Indian tribes who wandered over the boundless regions west of the Lakes. In 1665, Father Allouez, a Jesuit missionary, determined to journey to this new territory. His power of persuasion and his purity of motives won the confidence of the Indians and he was everywhere received with kindness.
Three years later Father Marquette and Father D’Ablon joined him and for five succeeding years these three courageous missionaries fulfilled their vocation as messengers of Christianity, preaching to many native tribes, subduing their wild hearts by gentleness of manners and by instilling the virtues and precepts of their faith. In these five years they became well acquainted with the territory between Lake Superior and the southern shores of Lake Michigan and established posts at Mackinac,
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Sault Ste. Marie and Green Bay which were the foundation of civilization on the upper Lakes. They learned from these tribes of a large river farther west, the Mississippi, meaning Great River or Father of Waters, and their curiosity was excited at the reports received concerning the known width and length of the stream and the volume of water it was reported to carry.
Where it emptied was unknown to the Indians but the learned missionaries rightly conjectured that such a stream must lead to the ocean. As no knowledge existed of the great territory in the western part of our country, it was believed by the missionaries that such a wonderful stream as described may enter the Pacific Ocean by way of the Gulf of California, or as it was then called “The Vermillion Sea,” about which some knowledge existed through Spanish explorations and where it was known a great river emptied. Another possibility for the outlet of the stream was the Gulf of Mexico.
Everything available in the way of information was sent to the Government officials at Montreal, and M. Talon, intendant-general of Canada, a man of great intelligence, who was desirous of extending the power of France wherever possible, interested Frontenac who determined to send an exploration party to the Mississippi and Father Marquette and M. Joliet, a leading citizen of Quebec, were selected to lead the expedition. Louis Joliet was born in Quebec, Canada, September 21, 1645. Though educated for the priesthood he became a merchant and fur trader and in 1672 he was commissioned by Frontenac to make explorations in the Western territory of New France for which service Frontenac believed he was especially adapted, and that Frontenac’s judgment was not misplaced was fully demonstrated in Joliet’s association with Father Marquette in one of the most eventful of voyages.
Joliet was present at Sault Ste. Marie when St. Lusson made the treaty with the Indians in 1671 and was recognized on the frontier as having excellent qualities for leadership. Attended by only seven other Frenchmen, Father Marquette and Joliet left the Island of Mackinac in May, 1673, ascended the Fox River from Green Bay, thence across the portage to the Wisconsin River, and in a few days their canoes were floating on the waters of the Mississippi. They continued their journey as far as the Arkansas River more than 1,000 miles from the mouth of the Wisconsin River, and convinced by the general course of the Mississippi and from other information which they obtained that its outlet was the Gulf of Mexico, the principal object of their journey was accomplished.
On their way down the river near the mouth of the Ohio the explorers came in contact with Indians who had guns, hatchets, knives, hoes and glass bottles for their gun-powder, which they claimed was purchased from white men who came from the East, evidently Spanish traders from
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Florida or other European traders from Carolina and Virginia. From the Indians near the mouth of the Arkansas they learned that the lands bordering on the river between the Arkansas and the sea, were peopled by armed savages and this with the further possibility of their falling into the hands of the Spaniards and the fruits of their voyage and discoveries be lost, determined them to retrace their journey. On reaching the Illinois River they decided to follow its course and arrived at Lake Michigan by way of the Chicagou River.
In Father Marquette’s narrative he said the Illinois was broad and deep and navigable for sixty-five leagues and that in the spring and early summer there was only half a league portage between the waters of the Illinois and the Chicagou River flowing into Lake Illinois, now Lake Michigan. Some historians have maintained that Father Marquette returned by way of the Kankakee and St. Joseph rivers and thence to Green Bay and claim that at this time the streams on the southern and western shores of Lake Michigan were indefinitely located and that the word Chicagou had many variations and was of general significance and did not specifically refer to what is now known as the Chicago River. On the other hand Father Marquette’s diary clearly shows that the present Chicago River is the one referred to as Chicagou in his narrative as in an entry in his diary on his last journey southward where he camped on the Grand Calumet, he mentions passing the mouth of the Chicagou River which is the only stream of significance a short distance north of the Grand Calumet and this entry in his diary should remove the last element of doubt as to the Chicago River being the one used by him on his return journey from the Mississippi.
Whatever uncertainty may exist as to who was the first white explorer who discovered the lower Mississippi there can be no question whatever as to Father Marquette’s discovery of the upper part of the main stream and his wonderful voyage will always remain as one of the most remarkable among the early explorations. After his return Father Marquette continued his vocation as a missionary, his activities being confined to the territory in the vicinity of Green Bay, Chicago, and the nearby western shores of Lake Michigan. The hardships and trials of his life began to affect him physically and his strength commenced to fail him and late in the year 1673 his sickness assumed a dangerous character but in the spring he recovered sufficiently to continue traveling from village to village and preaching the gospel to the Indians.
On October 25, 1674, he started on a journey to visit the Illini Indians on the Illinois River but was overtaken by illness when he reached the Calumet River near Blue Island, Illinois, where camp was prepared for the winter as the physical condition of the good priest made such action advisable. His condition did not improve and he decided in March to
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make an attempt to reach the French settlements in Michigan. At that time the Grand Calumet flowed eastward and emptied into the lake where Gary Beach is now located and, according to his diary, Father Marquette came down the stream to its mouth where he arrived on March 31, 1675. In an entry in his diary dated April 1st, 1675, he mentions being detained by a strong south wind but expressed the hope to proceed the next day and reach the French settlement about 15 leagues distant, meaning the French mission on the St. Joseph River near Niles, Michigan, which is 45 miles from the old mouth of the Calumet.
How long he remained in his camp at the mouth of the stream is uncertain but he was still there on April 6th which date was the last entry which appears in his diary. In this entry on April 6th he mentions about the inability of himself and his companions from proceeding on account of winds and extreme cold. Inasmuch as there were no further entries in his diary it is assumed he must have left this camp within a few days after April 6th. From the reports of those associated with him on his journey it was slow and painful after leaving the Calumet and frequently stops were made as the end was near. He was tenderly cared for by his two canoemen and some faithful converts who were in his party, and when they reached the stream which has since borne his name the good Father had the canoes turned to its shores. He constructed an altar, read Mass and then retired a short distance into the woods where he lay down and died. He was buried on the banks of the stream, but a year later his remains were removed to Michillimackinac.
Luckily Father Marquette’s manuscript covering the discovery of the Mississippi which had been sent to France, fell into the hands of a French publisher named Thevenot who issued it under the title of “Narrative of Marquette,” accompanied by a map of the Mississippi River remarkable in its execution and correctness. The principal tributary streams, the Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas are shown in approximately their proper location and the map is a wonderful tribute to Father Marquette as an observer and the care and attention given to the distance traveled which made possible the approximate correctness of the location of the main tributary streams.
It was the first map published of the Mississippi River and the main tributaries are shown with their Indian names. In Spark’s history of Father Marquette which contains a copy of the map, the River Wisconsin is shown and in the narrative is described Mescousin, evidently meant for Mesconsin. The Missouri is called in the narrative, Pekitanoni, but on the map a village is placed on the bank of that river called Oumissouri. The Ohio River is named Ouabouquigon. Later it was called by the French Ouabache (Wabash) which term was afterward applied to one of its principal tributaries. The Arkansas River is plainly shown but not named
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on the map and in his narrative Father Marquette speaks of the Indian village Akamsca at the mouth of the present day Arkansas.
The diary of the great missionary explorer which was discovered at the Hospital Dieu at Quebec about 1830, definitely established the truthfulness of the “Narrative of Marquette,” published by Thevenot, only slight and immaterial variations being shown in the Narrative from the entries in the diary. The two journeys of Father Marquette, the first down the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Arkansas and the second in which he proceeded no farther than the Calumet River, and then turned his footsteps eastward along the southern end of Lake Michigan in order to reach the French settlements before he died, are set forth in detail in a chapter prepared and read by Albert D. Hager before the Chicago Historical Society in June, 1880.
The Hager historical paper, together with authenticated copies of Father Marquette’s diary are preserved in the archives of the Chicago Historical Society and definitely support the claim that Father Marquette spent the last winter of his journey not on the Chicago River as so many historians have maintained, but on the Calumet River near Blue Island, Illinois. Unfortunately Joliet on his return journey to Montreal through the overturning of his canoe in the St. Lawrence, lost his personal notes of the expedition but later from memory wrote a narrative which agrees as far as it extends, with that of Father Marquette’s. He was for some time after his return from the Mississippi engaged in minor explorations and trading in furs. He died in May 1700. Thanks to Charlevoix in his great work on New France, Marquette and his narrative were given their proper place in history and it is due to Charlevoix that a truthful account of the early explorations in French territory can be read by the student of history.
Father Marquette was born in Picardy and Charlevoix calls him “one of the most illustrious missionaries of New France.” He states in his history that Marquette “had traveled widely and made a great many discoveries besides that of the Mississippi.” He was of exalted character and scientific attainments and in his vocation as a missionary he obtained a remarkable knowledge of the language of the tribes with whom he came in contact and it is claimed he was responsible for the first settlement of the old town of Michillimackinac in 1671 where his remains were brought for final interment.
That he was selected with Joliet to lead the Mississippi exploration party shows the confidence in which he was held in Montreal where his reports for years on the new country in which he was a missionary and of its inhabitants, demonstrated his powers of observation were unusually keen and his judgment and conclusions exceptionally sound. It was essential if the expedition was successful, that the report on it should be of
24
such a character as to throw light on the advisability of later expeditions and his previous reports and the great knowledge he had of the Indian language and his success in being received in friendship by the most hostile of tribes, added to his scholarly attainments, had unquestionably much to do with his selection to lead the party of exploration.
In many ways his narrative is a testimonial to his greatness and notwithstanding the possibilities which existed for France through these discoveries he did not magnify their importance nor the difficulties which he encountered on his voyage, in striking contrast to the narratives of other early explorers. His generous acknowledgment of the value of Joliet’s advice and counsel and his submission at times to Joliet’s complete leadership shows becoming modesty, nobility of character and power of co-operation, only found in the ranks of the great. No immediate effort was made by the government at Montreal to develop the new territory which through Father Marquette’s discoveries had come under its control, but a few years later there appeared on the scene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, educated, of great executive ability, a daring and intrepid leader, to complete the unfinished work of Father Marquette.
La Salle was born at Rouen, France, and spent ten years in a Jesuit seminary where he acquired an accomplished education. He left the seminary with testimonials of unblemished character and like so many other Frenchmen of good families and without means he went to Canada in the hope of accumulating a fortune. He engaged in the fur trade, conducting operations on a large scale, making his headquarters at the fron¬tiers where he erected many trading posts. He soon became well acquainted with the Indian tribes on the north shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and with the Hurons and other tribes on the eastern and southern shores of Lake Huron. Like many other explorers of that period he had visions of finding a western river outlet to the China Seas and to his first trading establishment in Canada he had given the name of La Chine, showing that his dreams in this connection were early associated with his arrival in Canada.
At this period he was unable to obtain government aid for plans he had formed to continue the exploration work of Father Marquette as the government was expending large sums in resisting the Iroquois who were constantly encroaching on recognized French territory and attacking French posts and settlements. Count de Frontenac, representing the Montreal Government, finally made a treaty with the Iroquois whereby a trading post which was in reality to be a Fort and called Fort Frontenac, could be established at the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario without interference from the Iroquois and general peaceful relations were established. La Salle had won the favor of Frontenac who saw in La Salle a
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great character and with letters from Frontenac, La Salle proceeded to France where Colbert, who was minister of marine, gave him his confidence and sympathized fully with the plans which La Salle laid before him.
Louis XIV, to whom Colbert presented La Salle’s plans, promptly issued letters patent giving La Salle title to the property of Fort Frontenac to be maintained by La Salle at his own expense. Other important privileges were granted to La Salle and on his return to Canada, he promptly proceeded to carry out the conditions necessary to complete title to Fort Frontenac, and also carried out other conditions and agreements made with the King. He then decided to again visit France for aid to carry out his larger plans for exploration of the Mississippi. He was given a great reception by Colbert and the manner in which he carried out his previous arrangements strengthened Colbert’s admiration for him and convinced Colbert that La Salle was fitted in every way to carry out the larger plans of exploration which had been presented by La Salle for Colbert’s consideration.
New letters patent were granted and signed by the King on May 12, 1678, confirming his previous rights and privileges and giving him broader and additional powers. He was practically authorized to make explorations wherever desired in the then unknown West and to erect forts and maintain them and the exclusive rights to trade in buffalo skins in the new country were to be his. In fact the powers and privileges granted him were so great as to excite the animosity of traders and government officials throughout Canada as soon as La Salle’s powers became known. On his return journey he brought with him Chevalier de Tonti, a soldier of the French army but of Italian birth, who lost his hand at the battle of Libisso. Tonti was the son of an Italian financier who invented the Tontine Plan of Life Insurance which still bears his name. Tonti was a man of ability, courage and firmness of character and was a true and devoted friend and associate of La Salle until the latter’s death. Through this association with La Salle, Tonti’s name will always remain permanently identified with the history of the Lake Region and the early explorations of the Mississippi.
On his arrival in Canada, La Salle immediately made preparations to carry out the larger plans of exploration and among the first things he accomplished was the building of the Griffin, a vessel of sixty ton burden, for service on the Great Lakes. The ship was completely finished, rigged and equipped within six months from the day the keel was laid. She carried five small guns, two of brass and three arquebuses. On the 7th of August, 1679, the Griffin spread its sails on Lake Erie for its voyage to Mackinac. On their journey north they gave the name Lake St. Claire to the small lake near the present City of Detroit which name it still bears.
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The vessel created a sensation among the Indians who called it the “great wooden canoe” and they had unbounded respect for it when the roar of the cannon was heard.
La Salle had always endeavored to maintain peaceful relations with the Indians and his influence over them and their confidence and respect for him had steadily increased and the Griffin represented to their simple minds, La Salle’s power and greatness. In every direction, however, his jealous enemies had attempted to plant the seeds of distrust among the savages and only a man like La Salle could have succeeded against their machinations but signs of disaffection were constantly appearing due to the lies and misrepresentations of his enemies. The Indians were told it was La Salle’s intention to take their lands from them and that he was in league with their dreaded enemies, the Iroquois. Some of the men in his company were seduced from their allegiance by the stories told them of the terrible dangers associated with the Mississippi where they were shortly going with La Salle and every effort was made by his enemies to establish a lack of confidence in the success of the expedition.
From Mackinaw their journey was continued to Green Bay and here La Salle parted from the Griffin which was sent on its return journey while his party proceeded in their canoes to the mouth of Miamis River, since called the St. Joseph. On the 3rd of December his entire party consisting of thirty-three persons entered the St. Joseph River on which they journeyed for seventy miles. It was known that at the head waters of the St. Joseph River, a portage existed to the Kankakee. It was found, their canoes were carried overland five miles, and the party began their journey down the Kankakee. In La Salle’s company were Father Gabriel, Father Louis Hennepin and Father Zenobe; also Chevalier de Tonti. Missionaries to plant the cross invariably accompanied exploration parties. Father Hennepin reports that they finally reached the Illinois River after a voyage of three hundred miles from the St. Joseph portage through the windings of the Kankakee, one hundred miles of which was through marshes which began at its source.
Conditions arose which prevented La Salle from continuing his explorations beyond the Illinois River and he sent Father Hennepin with a small force to explore the upper Mississippi while La Salle returned to Canada. On La Salle’s return journey the party stopped on the banks of the Illinois River to repair a canoe and Father Gabriel ventured to walk on the banks of the river to enjoy the pleasant scenery. He did not return and later it was found that he had been cruelly murdered by some wandering Kickapoo Indians. It was a wanton and brutal act by barbarous savages. They took his scalp and carried it away as a trophy. Also took his breviary and prayer-book which were afterwards recovered by a Jesuit missionary. Father Gabriel de la Ribourde was of irreproachable char-
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acter and distinguished for his learning. He had held responsible offices in the church and was for some time at the head of the Recollect Missions in Canada.
Sparks’ History of La Salle says of Father Gabriel: “He was eminent for his virtues, piety and those rare qualities which bear up the spirit with equanimity and cheerfulness under the heaviest trials. He had been ten years in America ardently devoted to the cause to which he had consecrated his life, spending his days and nights with the savages, submitting without a murmur to the hardships which he endured and waiting patiently for the blessing of Heaven to convert the fruit of his toils to .the spiritual well-being of these benighted children of nature.” He had given up positions of responsibility and a life of comparative ease for the dangers and hardships of a pioneer field missionary, and died a martyr to his faith.
Speaking of the French missionaries generally, Sparks further says: “There are few examples in the history of mankind more worthy of admiration and profound respect than those of the Catholic missionaries in Canada. With a singleness of heart, a self-sacrifice and constancy of purpose to which a parallel can scarcely be found, casting behind them the comforts of civilized life, deprived of the solaces of society and the sympathy of friends, surrounded by dangers and discouragement on every side, they exhausted their energies in work for which they could not hope for any other reward then the consciousness of having lightened the moral and mental darkness of a degraded race of human beings. Some of them were murdered, some were cruelly tortured, but these appalling barbarities did not shake the constancy of others nor deter them from closing up the ranks thus fearfully broken. We need not look to the end nor inquire for the results; motives are the test of merit; and humanity can claim no higher honor than such examples have existed.”
La Salle always kept in mind the future colonization of the Western territory of New France and his plans for colonization and future discoveries would be seriously interfered with unless the chain of trading posts and forts he was establishing were permitted to flourish and become safe and secure outfitting sources of supply. With the French, the Western Indians were on friendly terms and the missionaries were a great aid in maintaining peaceful relations but the savage Iroquois had constantly encroached on the territory of the Western tribes upon whom they made sudden descents, inflicting depredations accompanied many times with wholesale slaughter of the village inhabitants. The more peaceable West¬ern tribes held the Iroquois in great dread and La Salle on his first trip to the Illinois River and after meeting with the Illinois tribes, conceived the plan of uniting the Western tribes against the Iroquois and driving the latter back to New York State, removing them permanently as a fur-
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ther menace to the Western Indians and, by so doing, earn the undying gratitude of the Western tribes and secure the safety of his chain of forts and trading posts.
It was a masterly plan and eventually was successful to a great degree. The Indiana Pottawattomies joined the alliance and it has been said that for a short time Indiana was almost depopulated of Indians who had gone to the meeting place of La Salle's Indian Confederacy on the Illinois River. On January 4, 1682, La Salle made a new attempt to carry out his plans and this time with success. He divided his forces which consisted of thirty French and one hundred Indians in two sections, one party going by way of the St. Joseph and Kankakee and the other by the Chicago River, meeting at Lake Peoria on the Illinois, and the united parties then continued their travels on the Illinois River to the Mississippi on which they journeyed to its mouth and there La Salle laid claim to all the country drained by its waters for France. The Lake Region of Indiana thus became a part of Louisiana by the recognized rights of discovery, it being included in the area drained by the waters of the Mississippi.
Returning to Canada from his conquest of the Mississippi and with his mind filled with large colonization projects, La Salle went to France and this time he received the financial support of the King. He sailed for America at the head of a squadron of four vessels with material and supplies to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi. The treachery of his associates resulted in one of the vessels being captured by the Spaniards and two others being wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico. Failing to find the mouth of the river La Salle landed in Texas, where in an overland journey to reach the Mississippi he was murdered by some of his associates. To any one who has followed his career it is manifest that he possessed wonderful qualities of leadership, was capable of planning great undertakings and the further ability to carry them to successful conclusions.
As an aid to his future projects for colonization, his plan to organize the Western Indians, many of whom were unfriendly with each other, into an alliance against the Iroquois of whom they were in deadly fear and, which attainment La Salle in a large measure achieved, was a conception worthy of a Hannibal, a striking example of La Salle’s wonderful per¬suasive powers and ability to inspire confidence, and almost unbelievable of accomplishment on the part of a white man. His undaunted courage, his sound judgment, his penetrating sagacity, his constancy of purpose and patience under adversity, his perseverance in contending with and overcoming what seemed to be unsurmountable obstacles, stamp him as one of the greatest of the earlier explorers.
He was handicapped by a nature stern and austere and a cold reserve which did not invite intimacy, but his outstanding weakness was his com-
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plete reliance and dependence on his own judgment and his unwillingness to work in a cooperative way with any of his associates whose good will he never sought or made effort to maintain. When betrayed by them, he bore the calamities resulting therefrom with great fortitude and his spirit never failed him. He died one of the greatest of Frenchmen.
Father Hennepin whom La Salle sent North to explore the upper Mississippi was accompanied by Michael Accau, and Antonine Augel who was known as “le Picard!” They discovered St. Anthony’s Falls and some new and smaller tributaries of the upper Mississippi. Father Hennepin had courage, was a great scholar, impressed the Indians favorably, and had some good qualities for leadership. His actual discoveries were of value but his manuscript published in France contained many extravagant claims, some of which were afterwards found to be near fiction, so that his entire narrative became discredited. When his manuscript was first published nothing was said about descending the Mississippi to the Gulf. It was only after the death of La Salle that Father Hennepin tried to rob him of his laurels by claiming he descended to the mouth of the Mississippi before La Salle made the journey, but Father Hennepin’s claim has been proven to be a pure invention as it was impossible of performance in canoes in the time said to have been taken for the journey.
COUREURS DE BOIS.
In addition to the licensed government traders who were contemporary with the early missionaries or immediately preceded them, were the outlaw traders (Coureurs de Bois) who were conducting operations in violation of the King’s laws. They were numerous at this time and made long journeys into new territory, but as their operations were irregular they left no record of their adventures which undoubtedly included important discoveries.
DISCOVERY OF LAKE MICHIGAN.
In the Summer of 1634 G. Nicolet who was an explorer in the service of the Champlain Fur Company discovered Lake Michigan and it is known that at this time he explored as far South as Green Bay and later to Chicagou. It is easy to believe that he came in contact with many of the Pottawattomies in that region, but until thirty-five years later in 1669 when they were visited by Fr. Claude Allouez, Jesuit Missionary, there is no official record of missionary labors among them. On June 14, 1671, the leading chiefs of the Pottawattomies with representatives of thirteen other tribes met St. Lusson at Sault Ste. Marie and in the presence of Louis Joliet, Nicholas Perrot the Interpreter, Fr. Allouez, Fr. Andre, Fr. Dreulletes, Fr. D’Ablon and a group of traders, made a treaty of friend-
30
ship and amity with the French and it was agreed that Louis XIV would hold sovereignty in the regions about Lake Huron and Lake Superior.
EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA.
It is a moot question who among the early explorers, trappers and missionaries was the first white man to ride his canoe on the waters of Trail Creek, the St. Joseph, the A-Ki-Ki and Calumet rivers or trod the Southern shores of Lake Michigan. It is known that in 1672 Father Allouez and Father D’Ablon, Catholic missionaries, visited the Indian villages in the Lake and Calumet region of Indiana and while there is no record of their having established missions in the territory, there is not much doubt but what they used the rivers in their wanderings through this region. After the death of Father Marquette in 1675 his missionary labors were assumed by Father Allouez who soon become known to every Indian tribe in the territory bordering on the southern and eastern shores of Lake Michigan.
He early obtained their confidence and respect and made many converts among them. For ten years he traveled from village to village and then retired to the Mission near Niles, Michigan, where he died in 1690. His long and successful career as a missionary in the Lake and Calumet region of Indiana gives him a position of prominence in its history and it is to be regretted that more of his letters and manuscripts have not come to light. Other priests succeeded Father Allouez. One died, another came. He in turn had his successors and the light of Christianity was not permitted to dwindle among the Indians.
Another figure in the history of the Lake Region at this period and who unfortunately has left but little behind him in the way of records was Nicholas Perrot who became a representative of the Montreal government after La Salle’s last visit to France and continued in this capacity until 1694. Perrot was the interpreter at Sault Ste. Marie between St. Lusson and the Indians when the Treaty was made between them in 1671. He had the confidence of the Indians and during the period when he was acting as representative of his government he was active in thwarting the designs of English emissaries who were seeking to break up the friendship and good will which existed between the French and the Indians. It is known that he made many trips to Fort St. Joseph in this period and used it as a headquarters and was responsible in a large measure for the maintenance of unity between the tribes in that region against the Iroquois. The few known records he left behind show that he was acquainted with the Southern shore of Lake Michigan and there is little doubt but on some occasions he must have traveled through the territory where the thriving Northern Indiana cities now stand.
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In November, 1679, La Salle and his companions paddled their canoes from the west coast of Lake Michigan along the south shore to the mouth of the St. Joseph River where he had arranged with Tonti to erect a fort and which together they built and called Fort St. Joseph. It was one of a string of forts which La Salle was erecting at what he considered important points for trading centers and protection. La Salle's trading interests were very extensive and in caring for them he traveled over a wide area of territory but it is known that for at least four years he was often in the Lake Region of Indiana and unquestionably traveled along the south shore in the winter of 1681 and 1682 from Fort St. Joseph to Chicago, and he was certainly one of the first white men who trod the soil of the present industrial cities of the Lake and Calumet Region.
On other occasions it is known that he made trips between Chicago and Fort St. Joseph, but whether on foot or by canoe on the lake it is not definitely known. That La Salle became familiar with the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana seems certain. It was a great center of fur production and trading in furs was La Salle's business and from which he must obtain the wealth to build forts, maintain them and carry out other agreements with his king and which were a constant drain on his resources, great as his fur trading profits must have been. Visiting this region and becoming acquainted with its richness in furs it would be astonishing if a man of La Salle’s keen perceptions and business instincts would not give the territory much of his attention.
It is presumptive that he thoroughly investigated the Calumet and Kankakee fur bearing regions and the possibility of enhancing the fur production as was his custom before building permanent trading posts. It is logical to assume that its accessibility to the Calumet and Kankakee Regions was an important factor in determining La Salle to build a permanent post and fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph River in addition to its being a natural center for outfitting, and a desirable resting place on journeys east and west. While it is regretted that it may never be definitely determined who was the first of the great Frenchmen to visit the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana it will always be associated with the most important of their earlier explorations and a center of some of their most important activities.
After La Salle’s voyage on the Mississippi became known, it became a fixed desire on the part of the English government to obtain control of New France and join it to the colonies but more than half a century elapsed before her object was obtained. During this period the French had strengthened their posts in the west, had built many forts and established new trading posts and settlements. New routes were opened to the Mississippi, an important one being the Maumee from Lake Erie by way of Fort Wayne thence by portage to the Wabash and Ohio. Posts in
32
Indiana were established at Fort Wayne, Lafayette and Vincennes — the latter becoming a great center of French influence.
EARLY RELICS.
Frederick Carr, on May 19, 1912, found in the old bed of the Grand Calumet River where it empties into Lake Michigan near Granger Springs, Lake County, the lid of a lavorium or holy water fount, semicircular in form, the straight side or diameter being about two inches in length, with traces of the hinged joint plainly visible. On the top is engraved a lamb lying down and above the lamb is a cross surrounded by a halo, and around the design is a sawed tooth border which points toward the center, the teeth of irregular size. The lid is of silver and is completely oxidized from long exposure.
Daniel E. Kelly, of Valparaiso, one of the leading lawyers in Northern Indiana, secured the relic and after a thorough investigation as to its origin it was learned that it was undoubtedly manufactured during the early French Missionary period. It also became known through the investigation that the other part of the lavorium was found on the Lake Michigan beach a short distance from Granger Springs about sixty years ago. Inasmuch as it appears to have been manufactured during the Father Allouez period or immediately preceding, it was probably lost by one of the early French missionaries. In the hope of determining the origin of this interesting religious relic, Mr. Kelly is now making investigations at the home of Father Allouez at St. Dijon, France, and it is possible through this investigation and those being conducted by Mr. Kelly in the Jesuit Artisian Parish that the location of the mould in which the lavorium lid was made may be discovered or definite and reliable information obtained as to about the year of its manufacture.
While St. Pierre with his Spanish expedition was for a short time in Northern Indiana it is hardly probable that the relic was lost by any of the Spanish Missionaries with the expedition and the relic was very likely lost by some of the missionaries of the Father Allouez period or perhaps by the great priest himself. It is historically correct that Father Allouez camped for a day or more with his Indian guides and helpers, built his camp fires, and made a frugal repast of pemmican and corn within a few miles of the city of Gary and only a short distance of where the relic was found. Father Allouez was the first Vicar General of Indiana having for his diocese all of the territory now divided into the states of Indiana. Michigan and Illinois and his early ministries not only from the standpoint of the church but from the early occupancy of Northern Indiana makes him a distinctive figure in the history of the Lake Region.
NAVIGATION OF
HISTORY OF THE LAKE AND CALUMET REGION OF INDIANA
FOREWARD
AN APPRECIATION
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I - Geology and Topography
CHAPTER II - The Mound Builders
CHAPTER III - Days of Indian Occupancy
CHAPTER IV - Early Explorations
CHAPTER V - Border Warfare
CHAPTER VI - Lake and Calumet Region Becomes Part of United States
CHAPTER VII - After Wayne and Greenville - Tecumseh and the Prophet
CHAPTER VIII - Indian Peace
CHAPTER IX - Early Settlements and Pioneers - County Organization
CHAPTER X - Townships - Towns - Villages
CHAPTER XI - Pioneer Life
CHAPTER XII - The Lake Michigan Marshes
CHAPTER XIII - Agriculture and Livestock
CHAPTER XIV - Military Annals
CHAPTER XV - The Lake and Calumet Region in the World War
CHAPTER XVI - The Newspapers
CHAPTER XVII - The Medical Profession
CHAPTER XVIII - The Bench and Bar in the Lake and Calumet Region
CHAPTER XIX - Churches
CHAPTER XX - Schools
CHAPTER XXI - Libraries
CHAPTER XXII - Social Life
CHAPTER XXIII - The Dunes of Northwestern Indiana
CHAPTER XXIV - Banks and Banking
CHAPTER XXV - Transportation and Waterways
CHAPTER XXVI - Cities
CHAPTER XXVII - Industrial Development
CHAPTER XXVIII - Chambers of Commerce
Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, December 2022