xt7qnk361k8t https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7qnk361k8t/data/mets.xml Barce, Elmore. 1922  books b92-107-27905042 English Benton Review Shop, : Fowler, Ind. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Northwest, Old History. Miami Indians. Indians of North America Wars 1750-1815. Land of the Miamis  : an account of the struggle to secure possession of the Northwest from the end of the revolution until 1812 / by Elmore Barce. text Land of the Miamis  : an account of the struggle to secure possession of the Northwest from the end of the revolution until 1812 / by Elmore Barce. 1922 2002 true xt7qnk361k8t section xt7qnk361k8t 



































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                     THE

LAND OF THE MIAMIS


               By Elmore Barce
     Member of the State and National Bar Associations
         Member Indiana State Historical Society
           Author "Land of the Potawatomi"







           An Account of the Struggle to
           Secure Possession of the North-
           West from the End of the Rev-
           olution until 1812.










                 Fowler, Indiana
       THE BENTON REVIEW SHOP
                     1922


 
























Copyrighted, 1922, by the
Benton Review Shop, Fowler, Ind.


      Photos and Maps by
      Lieut. Don Heaton


 




















    Dedicated to
CARRIE MAY BARCE
     My Wife.


 
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V



             TABLE OF CONTENTS
A BRIEF RETROSPECT-A general view of the
  Indian Wars of the Early Northwest ----------------------  1
WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US-A topo-
  graphical description of the country north of the
  Ohio at the close of Revolutionary War -        6
THE BEAVER TRADE-A description of the
  wealth in furs of this section at the close of the
  Revolutionary War and the reasons underlying
  the struggle for its control -              12
THE PRAIRIE AND THE BUFFALO-The buffalo
  as the main food supply of the Indians -20
THE WABASH AND THE MAUMEE-Chief line
  of communication with the tribes of the Early
  Northwest. The heart of the Miami country ..........  34
THE TRIBES OF THE NORTHWEST-A descry-
  tion of the seven tribes of savages who opposed
  the advance of settlement in the Northwest. Their
  location. Kekionga, the seat of Miami power -  44
REAL SAVAGES-The Savage painted in his true
  colors from the standpoint of the frontiersman-  68
OUR INDIAN POLICY-The Indian right of occu-
  pancy recognized through the liberal policy of
  Washington and Jefferson ---------------------.....-----..-.80

THE KENTUCKIANS-The first men to break
  through the mountain barriers to face the British
  and the Indians -                          112


 


vi



THE BRITISH POLICIES-The British reluctant
  to surrender the control of the Northwest-Their
  tampering with the Indian tribes -         126
JOSIAH HARMAR-The first military invasion of
  the Northwest by the Federal Government after
  the Revolution -145
SCOTT AND WILKINSON-The Kentucky raids on
  the Miami country along the Wabash in 1791 -   173
ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT-The first great disaster to
  the Federal armies brought about by the Miamis- 195
WAYNE AND FALLEN TIMBERS-Final tri-
  umph of the Government over Indians and British 207
THE TREATY OF GREENVILLE-The surrender
  of the Ohio lands of the Miamis and their final
  submission to the government -238
GOVERNOR HARRISON AND THE TREATY-
  Purchase of the Miami lands known as the N'ew
  Purchase which led to the strengthening of Te-
  cumseh's Confederacy-the final struggle at Tip-
  pecanoe -245

RESULTS OF THE TREATY-Harrison's political
  enemies at Vincennes rally against him in the
  open, and are defeated in the cvourts --.     271
THE SHAWNEE BROTHERS-The Prophet as an
Indian priest and Tecumseh as a political organ-
izer-The episode of the eclipse of 1806-Tecum-
seh's personal appearance described  ..-.- .... 280

PROPHET'S TOWN-The capital of the Shawnee
Confederacy in the heart of the Miami Country---- 295
HARRISON'S VIGILANCE-His political courage
and activities save the frontier capital -     305


 


vii



THE COUNCIL AT VINCENNES-The dramatic
  meeting between Harrison and Tecumseh-Te-
  cumseh announces his doctrine of the common
  ownership of the Indian lands -316
THE SECOND AND LAST COUNCIL-The last
  meeting between the two leaders before Harrison
  marched into the Indian country ------------------------------ 332
THE MUSTER AND THE MARCH-The rally of
the Kentuckians and their clansmen in southern
Indiana to Harrison's support-The coming of the
Faurth United States Regiment-The march to
the Tippecanoe battlefield -               352
THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE-The night at-
tack on Harrison's forces-The destruction of
Tecumseh's Confederacy -                   371
NAYLOR'S NARRATIVE-A description of the
battle by one of the volunteers -381


 
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                                                  ix






      LIST OF MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

                                               PAGE
 1. The Home of General William Henry Harrison,
   at Vincennes, as it now appears -     Frontispiece
 2. A Section of the Grand Prairie in Benton Coun-
   ty, Indiana, which extends West to Peoria, Illi-
   nois -                                       25
 3. A Typical Buffalo Wallow on the Donaldson
   Farm, in Benton County, Indiana ------------------------  33
 4. The Wabash River at Merom Bluff, Sullivan
   County, Indiana-LaMotte Prairie beyond -     41
 5. Location of the Indian Tribes of the Northwest  57
 6. Shaubena, the best of the Potawatomi Chiets,
   and a follower of Tecumseh ----------------------  73
 7. Thomas Jefferson, Third   President of tne
   United States --------              -        97
 8. Map of the Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne Cam-
   paigns --   -   .      --....... -------..-161
 9. Map showing the Wea Plains, and the Line of
   Scott's March. Tippecanoe County, Indiana-- 185
10. Indian Hills on the Wabash River, just below
   the old site of Fort Ouiatenon -.           193
11. General Anthony Wayne and Little Turtle, at
   Greenville. From an old painting by one of
   Wayne's staff -                             241
12. Governor William Henry Harrison -257


 



x


13. Another View of the Wabash. A land of great
   beauty - ------------------------------------------ 291
14. Raccoon Creek, Parke County, Indiana. The
   North Line of the New Purchase -323
15. The Line of Harrison's March to Tippecanoe
   and the New Purchase of 1809 -              363
16. Pine Creek, in Warren County, Indiana, near
   the place where Harrison crossed -371
17. Judge Isaac Naylor. From an old portrait in
   the Court Room at Williamsport, Indiana -     387


 


xi



                      PREFACE
     In presenting this book to the general public, it is
the intention of the author to present a connected story
of the winning of the Northwest, including the Indian
wars during the presidency of General Washington,
following this with an account of the Harrison-Tecumseh
conflict in the early part of the nineteenth century, end-
ing with the Battle of Tippecanoe.
    The story embraces all of the early efforts of the
Republic of the United States to take possession of the
Northwest Territory, acquired from Great Britain by the
Treaty of 1783 closing the Revolutionary War. The
whole western country was a wilderness filled with savage
tribes of great ferocity, and they resisted every effort of
the government to advance its outposts. Back of them
stood the agents of England who had retained the west-
ern posts of Detroit, Niagara, Oswego, Michillimacinac
and other places in order to command the lucrative fur
trade, and who looked upon the advance of the American
traders and settlers with jealousy and alarm. They en-
couraged the savages in their resistance, furnished them
with arms and ammunition, and at times covertly aided
them with troops and armed forces. In other words,
this is a part of that great tale of the winning of the
west.
    We are well aware that there is a very respectable
school of historians who insist that the British took no
part in opposing the American advance, but the cold and


 


xii



indisputable facts of history, the words of Washington
himself, contradict this view. England never gave up
the idea of retrieving her lost possessions in the western
country until the close of the War of 1812.

    An attempt has also been made in this work to pre-
sent some of the great natural advantages of the North-
west; its wealth of furs and peltries, and its easy means
of communication with the British posts. The leading
tribes inhabiting its vast domain, the Indian leaders con-
trolling the movements of the warriors, and the respec-
tive schemes of Brant and Tecumseh to form an Indian
confederacy to drive the white man back across the Ohio,
are all dwelt upon.

    The writer is confessedly partial to the western
frontiersmen. The part that the Kentuckians played in
the conquest of the Northwest is set forth at some length.
The foresight of Washington and Jefferson, the heroism
of Logan, Kenton, Boone and Scott and their followers,
play a conspicuous part. The people of the eastern states
looked with some disdain upon the struggles of the west-
ern world. They gave but scanty support to the govern-
ment in its attempts to subdue the Indian tribes, voted
arms and supplies with great reluctance, and condemned
the borderers as savages and barbarians. There is no
attempt to condemn the eastern people for their short-
sightedness in this regard, but after all, that is the term
exactly applicable. The West was won despite their dis-
couragement, and the empire beyond the mountains was
conquered notwithstanding their opposition.

    William Henry Harrison has been condemned with-


 
xiii



out mercy. Much of this hostile criticism has proceeded
from his political enemies. They have distorted the plain
facts of history in order to present the arguments of
faction. Harrison was the greatest man in the western
world after George Rogers Clark. The revelations of his-
tory justify his suspicion of the British. The people of
the West were alone undeceived. The General was al-
ways popular west of the Alleghenies and justly so.
Tecumseh and the Prophet were, after all is said, the paid
agents of the English government, and received their
inspiration from Detroit. Jefferson knew all these facts
well, and so wrote to John Adams. Jefferson's heart beat
for the western people, and throughout the whole conflict
he stood stoutly on the side of Harrison.

    We recognize the fact that we have done but poorly.
Out of the great mass of broken and disconnected mate-
rial, however, we have attempted to arrange a connected
whole. We submit the volume with many misgivings and
pray the indulgence of the reading public. We have en-
deavored at all times to quote nothing that we did not
deem authentic, and have presented no fact that is not
based on written records.

    We desire to express our appreciation of the valuable
help afforded by the State Library people at Indianapolis,
by Prof. Logan Esarey of Indiana University, who kindly
loaned us the original Harrison letters, and by Ray Jones
and Don Heaton of Fowler, Indiana, who were untiring
in their efforts to give us all the assistance within their
power.



E. B.


 
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                    CHAPTER I
              A BRIEF RETROSPECT
-A general view of the Indian Wars of the Early North-
west.
    The memories of the early prairies, filled with vast
stretches of waving grasses, made beautiful by an end-
less profusion of wild flowers, and dotted here and there
with pleasant groves, are ineffaceable. For the boy who,
barefooted and care-free, ranged over these plains, in
search of adventure, they always possessed an inexpress-
ible charm and attraction. These grassy savannas have
now passed away forever. Glorious as they were, a
greater marvel has been wrought by the untiring hand
of man. Where the wild flowers bloomed, great fields
of grain ripen, and vast gardens of wheat and corn, inter-
spersed with beautiful towns and villages, greet the eye
of the traveler. "The prairies of Illinois and Indiana
were born of water, and preserved by fire for the children
of civilized men, who have come and taken possession of
them."
    In the last half of the eighteenth century, great
herds of buffalo grazed here, attracting thither the wan-
dering bands of the Potawatomi, who came from the
lakes of the north. Gradually these hardy warriors and
horse tribes drove back the Miamis to the shores of the
Wabash, and took possession of all that vast plain, ex-
tending east of the Illinois river, and north of the Wabash


 


THE LAND OF THE MIAMIS



into the present confines of the state of Michigan. Their
squaws cultivated corn, peas, beans, squashes and pump-
kins, but the savage bands lived mostly on the fruits
of the chase. Their hunting trails extended from grove
to grove, and from lake to river.
     Reliable Indian tradition informs us that about the
year 1790, the herds of bison disappeared from the plains
east of the Mississippi. The deer and the raccoon re-
mained for some years later, but from the time of the dis-
appearance of the buffalo, the power of the tribes
was on the wane. The advance of the paleface and the
curtailment of the supply of game, marked the begin-
ning of the savage decline. The constant complaint of
the tribes to General William Henry Harrison, the first
military governor of Indiana, was the lack of both game
and peltries.
    From the first the Indians of the Northwest were pro-
British. Following the revolutionary war they accepted the
overtures of England's agents and traders, and the end of
the long trail was always at Detroit. The motives of
these agents were purely mercenary. They were tres-
passers on the American side of the line, for England had
agreed to surrender all the posts within the new territory
by the treaty of 1783. The thing coveted was the trade
in beaver, deer and raccoon skins. In order that this
might be done, the Americans must be kept south of the
Ohio. The tribes were taught to regard the crossing of
the Alleghenies as a direct attempt to dispossess them of
their native soil. To excite their savage hatred and jeal-
ousy it was pointed out that a constant stream of keel-



2


 


A BRIEF RETROSPECT



boats, loaded with men, women, children and cattle, were
descending the Ohio; that Kentucky's population was
multiplying by thousands, and that the restless swarm of
settlers and land hunters, if not driven back, would soon
fill the whole earth. Driven as they were by rage and
fear, all attempts at treaty with these savages were in
vain. The Miamis, the Potawatomi and the Shawnees
lifted the hatchet, and rushed to the attack of both keel
boats and settlements.

    The wars that followed in the administration of
George Washington are well known. Back of them all
stood the sinister figure of the English trader. Harmar
was defeated at Miamitown, now Fort Wayne; St. Clair's
army was annihilated on the head waters of the Wabash.
For a time the government seemed prostrate, and all at-
tempts to conquer the savages in their native woods,
futile. But finally General Anthony Wayne, the hero of
Stony Point, was sent to the west. He was a fine disci-
plinarian and a fearless fighter. At the battle of Fallen
Timbers, in 1794, he broke the power of the northwestern
Indian confederacy, and in the following year forced the
tribes into the Treaty of Greenville.

    On July 11th, 1796, the British, under the terms of
Jay's Treaty, evacuated the post of Detroit, and it passed
into the hands of its rightful owners, the American peo-
ple. Well had it been for the red men, if, with this
passing of the British, all further communication with
the agents of Great Britain had ceased. Already had
the tribes acquired a rich legacy of hate. Their long
intercourse and alliance with the English; their terrible



3


 


THE LAND OF THE MIAMIS



inroads with fire and tomahawk, on the settlements of
Kentucky; their shocking barbarities along the Ohio,
had enraged the hearts of all fighting men south of that
river. But the British in retiring from American soil
had passed over to Malden, near the mouth of the Detroit
river. Communication with the tribes of the northwest
was still kept up, and strenuous efforts made to monop-
olize their trade. At last came Tecumseh and the Pro-
phet, preaching a regeneration of the tribes, and a re-
newal of the contest for the possession of the lands north-
west of the Ohio. All past treaties were to be disregarded
as impositions and frauds, and the advance of the pale-
face permanently checked. The joy of the British agents
knew no bounds. Disregarding all the dictates of con-
science and even the welfare of the tribes themselves,
they whispered in the ears of the Wyandots of Sandusky
and began to furnish ammunition and rifles. As a result
of this fatal policy the breach between the United States
and the Indian confederates was measurably widened.
The end was Tippecanoe, and the eternal enmity of the
hunters and riflemen of southern Indiana and Kentucky
who followed General Harrison on that day. One of the
ghastly sights of that sanguinary struggle, was the
scalping by the white men of the Indian slain, and the
division of their scalps among the soldiers after they had
been cut into strips. These bloody trophies were carried
back to the settlements along the Ohio and Wabash to
satisfy the hatred of all those who had lost women and
children in the many savage forays of the past.



With the death of Tecumseh at the battle of the



4


 


A BRIEF RETROSPECT



Thames and the termination of British influence in the
west, the tribes soon surrendered up their ancient de-
mesne, and most of them were removed beyond the Mis-
sissippi. The most populous of all the tribes north of the
Wabash were the roving Potawatomi, and their final ex-
pulsion from the old hunting grounds occurred under the
direction of Colonel Abel C. Pepper and General John
Tipton, the latter a hero of the Battle of Tippecanoe, and
later appointed as Indian commissioner. At that time
the remnants of the scattered bands from north of the
Wabash amounted to only one thousand souls of all ages
and sexes. The party under military escort passed eight
or nine miles west of the city of Lafayette, probably over
the level land east of the present site of Otterbein,
Indiana.

    Thus vanished the red men. In their day, however,
they had been the undoubted lords of the plain, following
their long trails in single file over the great prairies, and
camping with their dogs, women and children in the
pleasant groves and along the many streams. They were
savages, and have left no enduring temple or lofty fane
behind them, but their names still cling to many streams,
groves and towns, and a few facts gleaned from their his-
tory cannot fail to be of interest to us, who inherit their
ancient patrimony.



0




 












                    CHAPTER II
       WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US
-A topographical description of the country north of
the Ohio at the close of the Revolutionary War.
    In the early councils of the Republic the stalwart
sons of Virginia exercised a preponderating influence.
As men of broad national conceptions, who were unafraid
to strike a decisive blow in the interests of freedom, they
were unexcelled. Saratoga had already been won, but
at the back door of the new-born states was a line of
British posts in the valleys of the Wabash and Missis-
sippi and at Detroit, that stood ready to pour forth a
horde of naked savages on the frontier settlements of
the west and bring murder and destruction to the aid of
England's cause. In December, 1777, George Rogers
Clark came from Kentucky. He laid before Patrick
Henry, the governor of Virginia, a bold plan for the
reduction of these posts and the removal of the red men-
ace. Into his councils the governor called George Wythe,
George Mason and Thomas Jefferson. An expedition
was then and there set on foot that gave the nation its
first federal domain for the erection of new republican
states. With a lot of worthless paper money in his
pocket, and about one hundred and seventy-five hunting
shirt men from Virginia and Kentucky, Clark marched
                       6


 


WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US



across the prairies of southern Illinois, and captured
Kaskaskia. Later he took Vincennes. Thus by the cool
enterprise and daring of this brave man, he laid the
foundation for the subsequent negotiations of 1783, that
gave the northwest territory to the United States of
America.

    The country thus conquered covered more than two
hundred and forty-four thousand square miles of the
earth's surface, and comprised what are now the states
of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. With-
in its confines were boundless plains and prairies filled
with grass; immense forests of oak, hickory, walnut, pine,
beech and fir; enormous hidden treasures of coal, iron and
copper. Add to all these natural resources, a fertile soil,
a temperate climate, and unlimited facilities for commerce
and trade, and no field was ever presented to the hand
and genius of man, better adapted to form the homes and
habitations of a free and enterprising people. This was
known and appreciated by the noble minds of Washing-
ton and Jefferson, even at that day, and they above all
other men of their times, saw most clearly the great
vision of the future.

    At the close of the revolution, however, only a few
scattered posts, separated by hundreds of miles, were
to be found. Detroit, Michillimacinac, Vincennes, Kas-
kaskia and a few minor trading points, told the whole
tale. Kentucky could boast of a few thousands, main-
taining themselves by dauntless courage and nerves of
steel against British and Indians, but all north of the
Ohio was practically an unbroken wilderness, inhabited



7


 


THE LAND OF THE MIAMIS



by the fiercest bands of savages then in existence, with
the possible exception of the Iroquois.

    Over this territory, and to gain control of these
tribes, England and France had waged a long and bitter
conflict, and the gage of battle had been the monopoly of
the fur trade. The welfare of the savages was regarded
but little; they were the pawns in the game. The great
end to be acquired was the disposal of their rich peltries.
No country was more easily accessible to the early voy-
ageurs and French fur traders. It was bounded on the
north and northeast by the chain of the Great Lakes, on
the south by the Ohio, and on the west by the Mississippi.
The heads of the rivers and streams that flowed into these
great water-courses and lakes were connected by short
portages, so that the Indian trapper or hunter could carry
his canoe for a few miles and pass from the waters that
led to Lake Michigan or Lake Erie, into the streams that
fed the Mississippi or the Ohio. The headwaters of the
Muskingum and its tributaries interlocked with those of
the Cuyahoga; the headwaters of the Scioto with those
of the Sandusky; the headwaters of the Great Miami
with those of the Wabash and the St. Marys. In northern
Indiana another remarkable system of portages ap-
peared. The canoes of the traders were carried some
eight or ten miles from the little Wabash to the Maumee,
placing the command of the whole Wabash country in the
hands of the Detroit merchants. The sources of the Tip-
pecanoe were connected by portages with the waters of
the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, and a like connection
existed between the waters of the Tippecanoe and the



8


 


WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US



waters of the Kankakee. These portages were, as Gen-
eral Harrison observes, "much used by the Indians and
sometimes by traders." LaSalle passed from Lake Michi-
gan to the waters of the St. Joseph, thence up that river
to a portage of three miles in what is now St. Joseph
county, Indiana, thence by said portage to the headwaters
of the Kankakee, and down that river to the Illinois. At
the post of Chicago the traders crossed from Lake Mich-
igan by a very short portage into the headwaters of the
Illinois, and General Harrison says that in the spring,
the boats with their loading "passed freely from one to
the other." In Michigan the heads of the streams that
flowed into Lake Huron interlocked with the heads of
those that went down to Lake Michigan. In Wisconsin,
the voyageurs passed from Green bay up the Fox river to
Lake Winnebago, thence by the Fox again to the portage
between the Fox and Wisconsin, thence down the Wis-
consin river to the Mississippi. Through this important
channel of trade passed nine-tenths of the goods that sup-
plied the Indians above the Illinois river and those in
upper Louisiana.

    This great network of lakes, rivers and portages
was in turn connected by the waterways of the Ottawa
and the St. Lawrence, with the great head and center of
all the fur trade of the western world, the city of
Montreal.

    The only practicable means of communication was
by the canoe. Most of the territory of the northwest,
being, as General Harrison observes, "remarkably flat,
the roads were necessarily bad in winter, and in the sum-



9


 


THE LAND OF THE MIAMIS



mer the immense prairies to the west and north of this,
produced such a multitude of flies as to render it impos-
sible to make use of pack horses." Bogs, marshes and
sloughs in endless number added to the diffculties of
travel. Hence it was, that the power that commanded
the lakes and water courses of the northwest, commanded
at the same time all the fur trade and the Indian tribes
in the interior. France forever lost this control to Great
Britain at the peace of 1763, closing the French and In-
dian war, and at the close of the revolution it passed to
us by the definitive treaty of 1783.
    The importance of the posts of Detroit and Michilli-
macinac, forming the chief connecting links between the
northwest and the city of Montreal, now fully appears.
First in importance was Detroit. It commanded all the
valuable beaver country of northern Ohio and Indiana,
southern Michigan, and of the rivers entering Lakes Erie
and Huron. The trade coming from the Cuyahoga, the
Sandusky, the tributaries of the Miami and Scioto, the
Wabash and the Maumee, all centered here. The French
traders, and after them the British, did a vast and flour-
ishing business with the savages, trading them brandy,
guns, ammunition, blankets, vermilion and worthless
trinkets for furs of the highest value. The significance
of the old trading posts at Miamitown (Fort Wayne),
Petit Piconne (Tippecanoe), Ouiatenon, and Vincennes,
as feeders for this Detroit market by way of the Wabash
and Maumee valleys, is also made plain. A glimpse of the
activities at Miamitown (Fort Wayne), in the winter of
1789-1790, while it was still under the domination of the



10


 


WHAT THE VIRGINIANS GAVE US



British, shows the Miamis, Shawnees and Potawatomi
coming in with otter, beaver, bear skins and other peltry,
the presence of a lot of unscrupulous, cheating French
traders, who were generally drunk when assembled to-
gether, and who took every advantage of each other, and
of the destitute savages with whom they were trading.
At that time the French half-breeds (and traders) of the
names of Jean Cannehous, Jacque Dumay, Jean Coustan
and others were trading with the Indians at Petit
Piconne, or Tippecanoe, and all this trade was routed
through by way of the Wabash, the portage at Miami-
town, and the Maumee, to Detroit. The traders at
Ouiatenon, who undoubtedly enjoyed the advantage of
the Beaver lake trade in northwestern Indiana, by way
of the Potawatomi trail from the Wabash to Lake Mich-
igan, were also in direct communication with the mer-
chants of Detroit, and depended upon them. It is inter-
esting to observe in passing, that the rendezvous of the
French traders at the Petit Piconne (termed by General
Charles Scott, as Keth-tip-e-ca-nunk), was broken up by
a detachment of Kentucky mounted volunteers under
General James Wilkinson, in the summer of 1791, and
utterly destroyed. One who accompanied the expedition
stated that there were then one hundred and twenty
houses at this place, eighty of which were shingled; that
the best houses belonged to French traders; and that the
gardens and improvements around the place were de-
lightful; that there was a tavern located there, with cel-
lars, a bar, and public and private rooms. Thus far had
the fur trade advanced in the old days.



11




 








                   CHAPTER III
               THE BEAVER TRADE
-A description of the wealth in furs of this section at
the close of the Revolutionary War and the reasons of
the struggle for its control.
    Perhaps no country ever held forth greater allure-
ment to savage huntsmen and French voyageurs than the
territory acquired by Clark's conquest. Its rivers and
lakes teemed with edible fish; its great forests abounded
with deer, elk, bears and raccoons; its vast plains and
prairies were filled with herds of buffalo that existed
up almost to the close of the eighteenth century; every
swamp and morass was filled with countless thousands of
geese, ducks, swan and cranes, and rodents like the beaver
and other animals furnished the red man with the warm-
est of raiment in the coldest winter.
    To give some idea of the vast wealth of this domain
in fur bearing animals alone, it may be taken into ac-
count that in the year 1818 the American Fur Company,
under the control of John Jacob Astor, with headquarters
at Mackinaw, had in its employ about four hundred
clerks and traders, together with about two thousand
French voyageurs, who roamed all the rivers and lakes
of the Indian country from the British dominions on the
north, to as far west as the Missouri river. Astor had
established a great fur business in direct competition with
the British Northwest Company and commanded atten-
                        12


 


THE BEAVER TRADE



tion in both London and China. The "outfits" of this
company had trading posts on the Illinois, and all its
tributaries; on the Muskegon, Grand, Kalamazoo and
other rivers in Michigan; on the line of the old Pota-
watomi trail from the Wabash country to post Chicago,
and in the neighborhood of the Beaver lake region in
northern Indiana, and at many other points. The fu'l
handled by them consisted of the marten (sable), mink,
musk-rat, raccoon, lynx, wildcat, fox, wolverine, badger,
otter, beaver, bears and deer, of which the most valuable
were those of the silver-gray fox and the marten. The
value of these furs mounted into the hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars and they were originally all consigned to
New York. For these interesting observations history
lovers are indebted to the autobiography of the late Gur-
don S. Hubbard of Chicago, who was, in his youth, in the
employ of Astor, and who later in his lifetime conducted
a trading post at Bunkum, now Iroquois, in Iroquois
County, Illinois. It has been estimated that in the days
of England's control of Canada and of all the northwest
territory, that more than half in value of all the furs
exported "came from countries within the new boundaries
of the United States," that is, from the district north and
west of the Ohio river.

    Of all the fur-bearers, the most interesting were the
beavers. How much these industrious gnawers had to do
with the French and Indian wars and the rivalry be-
tween England and France for the control of their do-
main north of the Ohio, is not generally appreciated. An
animal that could be instrumental in part, in bringing



13


 


THE LAND OF THE MIAMIS



about an armed conflict between the two greatest powers
of that day, should not be entirely eliminated from
history.

    At the time of Braddock's defeat, Colonel James
Smith, then a boy, was captured by what seems to have
been a party of the Caughnawaga Indians, some of whom
lived along the rivers and streams in northern Ohio. He
lived among the savages for some years and was adopted
into one of their families. Later in life, he left a written
account of many of his experiences, and among other
things he tells us some interesting things concerning the
beavers. "Beavers," says Caleb Atwater, an Ohio his-
torian, "were once here in large numbers on the high
lands at the heads of the rivers, but with those who
caught them, they have long since disappeared from
among us."