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THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION
(19)
When the Northwestern Territory
was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced
only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi
Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States.
It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of
Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion
of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River.The
United States itself at that period extended no farther
west than the Mississippi River; but by the purchase of
Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States
was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific
Ocean.The new terri troy thus added to the National domain,
and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the
"New Northwest," in contradistinction from the
old "Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest
this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes and area
of 1,877,850 square miles; being greater in extent than
the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States,
including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have
been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories,
with an aggregate population, at the present time, of 13,000,000
inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population
of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas,
and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand
miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far-stretching
prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive
of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other
area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the
increase of population in the Northwest has been about as
three to one in any other portion of the United States.
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EARLY EXPLORATIONS
In the year 1541, DeSoto first
saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated
no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The
expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half
his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba,
thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition.
DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and
left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility
of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such
as might desire to follow u the career of discovery for
better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready
to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were
the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more
than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these
discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the
pilgrims"moored their bark on the wild New England
shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had penetrated
through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams
which run into Lake Huron; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries
founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was
just one hundred years form the discovery of the Mississippi
by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage
nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below
the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent
result; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous
fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds
about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station
was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished
in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez
built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among
the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and
James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie
at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas
Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor General of Canada,
explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present
city of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet
him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following
Spring, where the were taken under the protection of the
king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest.
This same year Marquette established a mission at Point
St. Ignatious, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations
and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned
of a great river away to the west, and fancied—as
all others did then—that upon its fertile banks whole
tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the
Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach
to them, and in compliance with a
Source of the Mississippi
(click on images for larger size) |
Mouth of the Mississippi |
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request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired
to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether
the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific
Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expedition,
prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the
explorers, accompanied by five assistant French Canadians,
set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery.
The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were
astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored
to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the
tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel,
and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters
ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing
daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them
he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the
unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down
his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was
involved; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting
along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers
entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox river and
Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos.
Here Marquette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted
in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red
girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had
offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the
pit he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving
them an abundant "chase." This was the farthest
outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary
labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters
and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the
bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs
and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said:
"My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new countries,
and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the
truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished
to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out
from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great
crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure
into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured.
The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned.
The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin,
which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down
its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their
breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and
became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the
Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from
the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful,
and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been
clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned
by the hand of
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Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that
the bold bluffs on either hand "reminded them of the
castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France."
By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo
appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley
they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility,
apparently destitute of inhabitants yet presenting the appearance
of extensive manors, under the fastidious cultivation of
lordly proprietors.
The Wild Prairie
(click on image for larger size)
On June 25, they went ashore
and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a
path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat,
and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered
a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages
on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited
by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these
natives, who had never before seen a white person. After
remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the
river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village
of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed
into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
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up the river, and ascending the stream to
the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source,
and procured guides from that point to the lakes. "Nowhere
on this journey," says Marquette, "did we see
such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats,
bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as
on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or
injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their
discovery—one of the most important of the age, but
of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet
losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec.
Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by
their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the
18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of
the stream—going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan—he
asked to land at its mouth to celebrate Mass. Leaving his
men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began
his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return,
his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees,
dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He
was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place
fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the
grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace.
The river has since been called Marquette.
While Marquette and his companions
were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing
widely from him and each other, were preparing to follow
in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun
by him. These were Robert de LaSalle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return form
the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere),
he established himself again among the French trading posts
in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those
ages—a short way to China and the East, and was busily
planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across
the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from
the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received
from his companions; stories the idea that by following
the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the
numerous western tributaries, the object could be gained.
He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and
laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered
warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect
the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico
would bind the country so wonderfully together, give unmeasured
power to France, and glory to himself, under whose administration
he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle now repaired to France,
laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them,
and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the
noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Chev-
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alier returned to Canada, and busily entered
upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed
the first ship to sail on these fresh-water seas. On the
7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he
began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed
over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St.
Clair and into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy
storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle
founded a fort, and passed on to Green Bay, the "Baie
des Puans" of the French, where he found a large quantity
of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these,
and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors,
La Salle landing on the shore of Green Bay.
(click on image for larger size)
started her on her return voyage. The vessel
was never afterward heard of. He remained about these party
until early in the Winter, when, hearing nothing from the
Griffin, he collected all the men—thirty working men
and three monks—and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed
to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theakeke,"
wolf, because of the tribes of
Indians called by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans,
dwelling there. The French pronounced it Kiakiki,
which became corrupted to Kankakee. "Falling down the
said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the country,"
about the last of December they reached a village of the
Illinois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but
at that moment
26
no inhabitants. The Seur de LaSalle being
want of some breadstuffs, took advantage of the absence
of the Indians to help himself to a sufficiency of maize,
large quantities of which he found concealed in holes under
the wigwams. This village was situated near the present
village of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being
securely stored, the voyagers again betook themselves to
the stream, and toward evening, on the 4th day of January,
1680, they came into a lake which must have been the lake
of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-wi,
that is, a place where there are many fat beasts.
Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they
were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them,
LaSalle determined to erect another fort in that place,
for he had heard rumors that some of the adjoining tribes
were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed, and
some of his men were disposed to complain, owing to the
hardships and perils of the travel. He called this fort
"Crevecœur" (broken-heart),
a name expressive of the very natural sorrow and anxiety
which the pretty certain loss of his ship, Griffin, and
his consequent impoverishment, the danger of hostility on
the part of the Indians, and of mutiny among his own men,
might well cause him. His fears were not entirely groundless.
At one time poison was placed in his food, but fortunately
was discovered.
While building this fort, the
Winter wore away, the prairies began to look green, and
LaSalle, despairing of any reinforcements, concluded to
return to Canada, raise new means and new men, and embark
anew in the enterprise. For this purpose he made Hennepin
the leader of a party to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi,
and he set out on his journey. This journey was accomplished
with the aid of a few persons, and was successfully made,
though over an almost unknown route, and in a bad season
of the year. He safely reached Canada, and set out again
for the object of his search.
Hennepin and his party left
Fort Crevecœur on the last of February, 1680. When
LaSalle reached this place on his return expedition, he
found the fort entirely deserted, and he was obliged to
return again to Canada. He embarked the third time, and
succeeded. Seven days after leaving the fort, Hennepin reached
the Mississippi, and paddling up the icy stream as best
he could, reached no higher than the Wisconsin River by
the 11th of April. Here he and his followers were taken
prisoner by a band of Northern Indians, who treated them
with great kindness. Hennepin's comrades were Anthony Auguel
and Michael Ako. On this voyage they found several beautiful
lakes, and "saw some charming prairies." Their
captors were the Isaute or Sauteurs, Chippewas, a tribe
of the Sioux nation, who took them up the river until about
the first of May, when they reached some falls, which Hennepin
christened Falls of St. Anthony
27
in honor of his patron saint. Here they took
the land, and traveling nearly two hundred miles to the
northwest, brought them to their villages. Here they were
kept about three months, were treated kindly by their captors,
and at the end of that time, were met by a band of Frenchmen,
Buffalo Hunt
(click on image for larger size)
headed by one Seur de Luth, who, in pursuit
of trade and game, had penetrated thus far by the route
of Lake Superior; and with these fellow-countrymen Hennepin
and his companions were allowed to return to the borders
of civilized life in November, 1680, just after LaSalle
had returned to the wilderness on his second trip. Hennepin
soon after went to France, where he published an account
of his adventures.
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The Mississippi was first discovered
by De Soto in April, 1541, in his vain endeavor to find
god and precious gems. In the following Spring, De Soto,
weary with hope long deferred, and worn out with his wanderings,
he fell a victim to disease, and on the 21st of May died.
His followers, reduced by fatigue and disease to less than
three hundred men, wandered about the country nearly a year,
in the vain endeavor to rescue themselves by land, and finally
constructed seven small vessels, called brigantines, in
which they embarked, and descending the river, supposing
it would lead them to the sea, in July they came to the
sea (Gulf of Mexico), and by September reached the Island
of Cuba.
They were the first to see the
great outlet of the Mississippi; but, being so weary and
discouraged, made no attempt to claim the country, and hardly
had an intelligent idea of what they had passed through.
To LaSalle, the intrepid explorer,
belongs the honor of giving the first account of the mouths
of the river. His great desire was to possess this entire
country for his king, and in January, 1682, he and his band
of explorers left the shores of Lake Michigan on their third
attempt, crossed the portage, passed down the Illinois River,
and on the 6th of February, reached the banks of the Mississippi.
On the 13th they commenced their
downward course, which they pursued with but one interruption,
until upon the 6th of March they discovered the three great
passages by which the river discharges its waters into the
gulf. LaSalle thus narrates the event:
"We landed on the bank
of the most western channel, about three leagues (nine miles)
from its mouth. On the seventh, M. de LaSalle went to reconnoiter
the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tontil meanwhile
examined the great middle channel. They found the main outlets
beautiful, large and deep. On the 8th we reascended the
river, a little above its confluence with the sea, to find
a dry place beyond the reach of inundations. The elevation
of the North Pole was here about twenty-seven degrees. Here
we prepared a column and a cross, and to the column were
affixed the arms of France with this inscription:
"Louis
Le Grand, Roi De France et de Navarre, regne; Le neuvieme
Avril, 1682.
The whole party, under arms,
chanted the Te Deum, and then,
after a salute and cries of "Vive le Roi,"
the column was erected by M. de LaSalle, who, standing near
it, proclaimed in a loud voice the authority of the King
of France. LaSalle returned and laid the foundations of
the Mississippi settlements in Illinois, thence he proceeded
to France, where another expedition was fitted out, of which
he was commander, and in two succeeding voyages failed to
find the outlet of the river by sailing along the shore
of the gulf. On his third voyage he was killed, through
the
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treachery of his followers, and the object
of his expeditions was not accomplished until 1699, when
D'Iberville, under the authority of the crown, discovered,
on the second of March, by way of the sea, the mouth of
the "Hidden River." This majestic steam was called
by the natives "Malbouchia,"
and by the Spaniards, "la Palissade,"
from the great
Trapping
(click on image for larger size)
number of trees about its mouth. After traversing
the several outlets, and satisfying himself as to its certainty,
he erected a fort near its western outlet, and returned
to France.
An avenue of trade was now opened
out which was fully improved. In 1718, New Orleans was laid
out and settled by some European colonists. In 1762, the
colony was made over to Spain, to be regained by France
under the consulate of Napoleon. In 1803, it was purchased
by
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the United States for the sum of fifteen million
dollars, and the territory of Louisiana and commerce of
the Mississippi River came under the charge of the United
States. Although LaSalle's labors ended in defeat and death,
he had not worked and suffered in vain. He had thrown open
to France and the world an immense and most valuable country;
had established several ports, and laid the foundations
of more than one settlement there. "Peoria, Kashkaskia
and Cahokia, are to this day monuments of LaSalle's labors;
for, though he had founded neither of them (unless Peoria,
which was built nearly upon the site of Fort Crevecœur,)
it was by those whom he led into the West that these places
were peopled and civilized. He was, if not the discoverer,
the first settler of the Mississippi Valley, and as such
deserves to be known and honored."
The French early improved the
opening made for them. Before the year 1698, the Rev. Father
Gravier began a mission among the Illinois, and founded
Kaskaskia. For some time this was merely a missionary station,
where none but natives resided, it being one of three such
villages, the other two being Cahokia and Peoria. What is
known of these missions is learned from a letter written
by Father Gabriel Marest, dated "Aux Cascaskias, autrement
dit de l'Immaculate Conception de la Sainte Vierge, le 9
November, 1712." Soon after the founding of Kaskaskia,
the missionary, Pinet, gathered a flock at Cahokia, while
Peoria arose near the ruins of Fort Crevecœur. This
must have been about the year 1700. The post at Vincennes
on the Oubache river, (pronounced Wă-bă, meaning
summer cloud moving swiftly) was established
in 1702, according to the best authorities.* It is
altogether probable that on LaSalle's last trip he established
the stations at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. In July, 1701, the
foundations of Fort Ponchartrain were laid by De la Motte
Cadillac on the Detroit River. These stations, with those
established further north, were the earliest attempts to
occupy the Northwest Territory. At the same time efforts
were being made to occupy the Southwest, which finally culminated
in the settlement and founding of the City of New Orleans
by a colony from England in 1718. This was mainly accomplished
through the efforts of the famous Mississippi Company, established
by the notorious John Law, who so quickly arose into prominence
in France, and who with his scheme so quickly and so ignominiously
passed away.
From the time of the founding
of these stations for fifty years the French nation were
engrossed with the settlement of the lower Mississippi,
and the war with the Chicasaws, who had, in revenge for
repeated
*There is considerable
dispute about this date, some asserting it was founded as
late as 1742. When the new court house at Vincennes was
erected, all authorities on the subject were carefully examined,
and 1702 fixed upon as the correct date. It was accordingly
engraved on the corner-stone of the court house.
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injuries, cut off the entire colony at Natchez.
Although the company did little for Louisiana, as the entire
West was then called, yet it opened the trade through the
Mississippi River, and started the raising of grains indigenous
to that climate. Until the year 1750, but little is known
of the settlements in the Northwest, as it was not until
this time that the attention of the English was called to
the occupation of this portion of the New World, which they
then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary among the
Illinois, writing from "Aux Illinois," six leagues
from Fort Chartres, June 8, 1750, says: "We have here
whites, negroes and Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds.
There are five French villages, and three villages of the
natives, within a space of twenty-one leagues situated between
the Mississippi and another river called the Karkadaid (Kaskaskias).
In the five French villages are, perhaps, eleven hundred
whites, three hundred blacks and some sixty red slaves or
savages. The three Illinois towns do not contain more than
eight hundred souls all told. Most of the French till the
soil; they raise wheat, cattle, pigs and horses, and live
like princes. Three times as much is produced as can be
consumed; and great quantities of grain and flour are sent
to New Orleans." This city was now the seaport town
of the Northwest, and save in the extreme northern part,
where only furs and copper ore were found, almost all the
products of the country found their way to France by the
mouth of the Father of Waters. In another letter, dated
November 7, 1750, this same priest says: "For fifteen
leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi one sees no dwellings,
the ground being too low to be habitable. Thence to New
Orleans, the lands are only partially occupied. New Orleans
contains blacks, white and red, not more, I think, than
twelve hundred persons. To this point come all lumber, bricks,
salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins and bear's grease; and above
all, pork and flour form the Illinois. These things create
some commerce, as forty vessels and more have come hither
this year. Above New Orleans, plantations are again met
with; the most considerable is a colony of Germans, some
ten leagues up the river. At Point coupee, thirty-five leagues
above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within
five or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations.
Fifty leagues farther up is the Natchez post, where we have
a garrison, who are kept prisoners through fear of the Chickasaws.
Here and at Point Coupee, they raise excellent tobacco.
Another hundred leagues brings us to the Arkansas, where
we have also a fort and a garrison for the benefit of the
river traders. * * * From the Arkansas to the Illinois,
nearly five hundred leagues, there is not a settlement.
There should be, however, a fort at the Oubache (Ohio),
the only path by which the English can reach the Mississippi.
In the Illinois country are numberless mines, but no one
to
32
work them as they deserve." Father Marest,
writing from the post at Vincennes in 1812, makes the same
observation. Vivier also says: "Some individuals dig
lead near the surface and supply the Indians and Canada.
Two Spaniards now here, who claim to be adepts, say that
our mines are like those of Mexico, and that if we would
dig deeper, we should find silver under the lead; and at
any rate the lead is excellent. There is also in this country,
beyond doubt, copper ore, as from time to time large pieces
are found in the streams."
Hunting
(click on image for larger size)
At the close of the year 1750,
the French occupied, in addition to the lower Mississippi
posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at the
Maumee in the country of the Miamis, and one at Sanduky
in what my be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part
of the Northwest they had stations at St. Joseph's on the
St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, at Fort Ponchartrain (Detroit),
at Michillimackanac or Massillimacanac, LaSalle was now
fully realized. The French alone were possessors of this
vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and settlements.
Another nation, however, was now turning its attention to
this extensive country,
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and hearing of its wealth, began to lay plans
to occupy it and for securing the great profits arising
therefrom.
The French, however, had another
claim to this country, namely, the
Discovery of the
Ohio
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