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HISTORY
OF THE
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST
BY
JOHN NICOLET
IN 1634
WITH A
SKETCH OF HIS LIFE
BY
C. W. BUTTERFIELD
Author of "Crawford's Campaign against Sandusky," "History of Wisconsin"
In Historical Atlas of the State, "The Washington-Crawford Letters,"
"History of the University of Wisconsin," etc.
CINCINNATI
ROBERT CLARKE & CO.
1881
COPYRIGHTED, 1881,
BY C. W. BUTTERFIELD.
PREFACE.
In the following pages, I have attempted to record, in a faithful
manner, the indomitable perseverance and heroic bravery displayed by
John Nicolet in an exploration which resulted in his being the first of
civilized men to set foot upon any portion of the Northwest; that is,
upon any part of the territory now constituting the States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It is shown how he brought
to the knowledge of the world the existence of a "fresh-water sea"--Lake
Michigan--beyond and to the westward of Lake Huron; how he visited a
number of Indian nations before unheard of; how he penetrated many
leagues beyond the utmost verge of previous discoveries, with an almost
reckless fortitude, to bind distant tribes to French interests; and how
he sought to find an ocean, which, it was believed, was not a great
distance westward of the St. Lawrence, and which would prove a near
route to China and Japan.
The principal sources from which I have drawn, in my investigations
concerning the life and explorations of Nicolet, are the Jesuit
Relations. So nearly contemporaneous are these publications with his
discoveries--especially those which contain a record of them--and so
trustworthy are they in their recital of facts connected therewith, that
their value, in this connection, can hardly be over-estimated. Each one
of the series having a particular bearing upon the subject of this
narrative has been studied with a care commensurate with its importance.
Other accounts of the same period, as well as of a somewhat later date,
together with the researches of modern writers, concerning the daring
Frenchman, whose name stands first on the list of the explorers of the
Northwest, have, likewise, been carefully examined, the object being, if
not to exhaust all known sources of information illustrative of these
discoveries, at least to profit by them. Aid has been received, in
addition, from several living authors, especially from Benjamin Sulte,
Esq., of Ottawa, Canada, to whom, and to all others who have extended a
helping hand, I return my sincere thanks.
C. W. B.
MADISON, WISCONSIN, 1881.
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
PAGE.
Pre-historic Man in the Northwest--The Red Race--First
Discoveries in New France, vii
CHAPTER I.
Events Leading to Western Exploration, 11
CHAPTER II.
John Nicolet, the Explorer, 26
CHAPTER III.
Nicolet Discovers the Northwest, 35
CHAPTER IV.
Subsequent Career and Death of Nicolet, 75
APPENDIX, 93
INDEX, 107
INTRODUCTION.
PRE-HISTORIC MAN IN THE NORTHWEST--THE RED RACE--FIRST DISCOVERIES IN
NEW FRANCE.
Of the existence, in what are now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and Wisconsin, at a remote period, of a race superior in
intelligence to the red men who inhabited this region when first seen by
a European, there are indubitable evidences. Who were these ancient
occupiers of the territory just mentioned--of its prairies and
woodlands, hills and valleys? There are no traditions of their power, of
their labor, or of their wisdom--no record of their having lived, except
in rapidly-decaying relics. They left no descendants to recount their
daring deeds. All that remain of them--the so-called Mound-Builders--are
mouldering skeletons. All that are to be seen of their handicraft are
perishing earth-works and rude implements. These sum up the "types and
shadows" of the pre-historic age.
There is nothing to connect "the dark backward and abysm" of
mound-building times with those of the red race of the Northwest; and
all that is known of the latter dating earlier than their first
discovery, is exceedingly dim and shadowy. Upon the extended area
bounded by Lake Superior on the north, Lake Michigan on the east,
wide-spreading prairies on the south, and the Mississippi river on the
west, there met and mingled two distinct Indian families--Algonquins
and Dakotas. Concerning the various tribes of these families, nothing of
importance could be gleaned by the earliest explorers; at least, very
little has been preserved. Tradition, it is true, pointed to the
Algonquins as having, at some remote period, migrated from the east; and
this has been confirmed by a study of their language. It indicated,
also, that the Dakotas, at a time far beyond the memory of the most
aged, came from the west or southwest--fighting their way as they came;
that one of their tribes[1] once dwelt upon the shores of a sea; but
when and for what purpose they left their home none could relate.
The residue of the Northwest was the dwelling-place of Algonquins alone.
In reality, therefore, "the territory northwest of the river Ohio" has
no veritable history ante-dating the period of its first discovery by
civilized man. Portions of the country had been heard of, it is true,
but only through vague reports of savages. There were no accounts at
all, besides these, of the extensive region of the upper lakes or of the
valley of the Upper Mississippi; while nothing whatever was known of the
Ohio or of parts adjacent.
The first of the discoveries in the New World after that of Columbus, in
1492, having an immediate bearing upon this narrative, was that of John
Cabot, in 1497. On the third of July, of that year, he saw what is now
believed to have been the coast of Labrador. After sailing a short
distance south, he probably discovered the island of Newfoundland. In
1498, his son, Sebastian, explored the continent from Labrador to
Virginia, and possibly as far south as Florida. Gaspar Cortereal, in
1500, reached the shore seen by John Cabot, and explored it several
hundred miles. He was followed, in 1524, by John Verrazzano, who
discovered the North American coast in, probably, the latitude of what
is now Wilmington, North Carolina. He continued his exploration to the
northward as far as Newfoundland. To the region visited by him, he gave
the name of New France. The attention of the reader is now directed to
some of the most important events, in the country thus named, which
followed, for a period of a hundred and ten years, the voyage of
Verrazzano.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Ancestors of the present Winnebagoes.]
HISTORY
OF THE
DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST.
CHAPTER I.
EVENTS LEADING TO WESTERN EXPLORATION.
The discovery of the river St. Lawrence, and of the great lakes which
pour their superabundant waters through it into the gulf, was not the
least in importance of the events which signalized the opening of the
history of the New World. The credit of having first spread a sail upon
the majestic stream of Canada, and of obtaining such information as
afterward led to a knowledge of the whole of its valley, belongs to
James Cartier, a native of St. Malo--a port in the north of France.
Cartier was a skillful mariner. On the twentieth of April, 1534, he
sailed from his native place, under orders of the French admiral, for
the coast of Newfoundland, intent on exploring unknown seas, and
countries washed by them. He took with him two ships of fifty tons each,
and in twenty days saw the large island lying between the ocean and the
river he was soon to discover. Favorable winds had wafted him and his
hundred and twenty-two sailors and adventurers to inhospitable shores,
but at an auspicious season of the year.
Having sailed nearly around Newfoundland, Cartier turned to the south,
and, crossing the gulf, entered a bay, which he named Des Chaleurs,
because of the midsummer heats. A little farther north he landed and
took possession of the country in the name of the French king. His
vessels were now at anchor in the smaller inlet of Gaspe. Sailing still
further north, Cartier, in August, discovered the river St. Lawrence. He
moved up its channel until land was sighted on either side; then, being
unprepared to remain through the winter, he sailed back again to the
gulf, crossed the ocean, and moored his vessels in safety in St. Malo.
He made the return voyage in less than thirty days. This was, at that
period, an astonishing achievement. The success of the expedition filled
the whole of France with wonder. In less than five months, the Atlantic
had been crossed; a large river discovered; a new country added to the
dominions of France; and the ocean recrossed. All this had been
accomplished before it was generally known that an expedition had been
undertaken.
The remarkable pleasantness of this summer's voyage, the narratives of
Cartier and his companions, and the importance attached to their
discoveries, aroused the enthusiasm of the French; and, as might be
expected, a new expedition was planned. Three well-furnished ships were
provided by the king. Even some of the nobility volunteered for the
voyage. All were eager to cross the Atlantic. On the nineteenth of May,
1535, the squadron sailed. But Cartier had not, this time, a pleasant
summer cruise. Storms raged. The ships separated. For seven weeks they
buffeted the troubled ocean. Their rendezvous was the Straits of Belle
Isle, which they finally reached; but the omens were bad. The
adventurers had confidently looked for pleasant gales and a quick
voyage, and these expectations had all been blasted. Now, however, they
arrived within sight of Newfoundland, and their spirits rose. Carried to
the west of that island, on the day of Saint Lawrence, they gave the
name of that martyr to a portion of the gulf which opened before them.
The name was afterward given to the whole of that body of water and to
the river Cartier had previously discovered. Sailing to the north of
Anticosti, they ascended the St. Lawrence, reaching, in September, a
fine harbor in an island since called Orleans.
Leaving his two largest ships in the waters of the river now known as
the St. Charles, Cartier, with the smallest and two open boats, ascended
the St. Lawrence until a considerable Indian village was reached,
situated on an island called Hochelaga. Standing upon the summit of a
hill, on this island, and looking away up the river, the commander had
fond imaginings of future glory awaiting his countrymen in colonizing
this region. "He called the hill Mont-Real, and time, that has
transferred the name of the island, is realizing his visions;" for on
that island now stands the city of Montreal. While at Hochelaga, Cartier
gathered some indistinct accounts of the surrounding country, and of the
river Ottawa coming down from the hills of the Northwest. Rejoining his
ships, he spent the winter in a palisaded fort on the bank of the St.
Charles, with his vessels moored before it. The cold was intense. Many
of his men died of scurvy. Early in the spring, possession was again
taken of the country in the name of the French king; and, on the
sixteenth of July, 1536, the Breton mariner dropped anchor in St.
Malo--he having returned in two ships; the other was abandoned, and
three hundred and twelve years after was discovered imbedded in mud.
France was disappointed. Hopes had been raised too high. Expectations
had not been realized. Further explorations, therefore, were, for the
time, postponed.
Notwithstanding the failure of Cartier's second voyage, the great valley
of the St. Lawrence was not to remain very long unknown to the world, in
any of its parts. It was thought unworthy a gallant nation to abandon
the enterprise; and one more trial at exploration and colonization was
determined upon. Again the bold mariner of St. Malo started for the St.
Lawrence. This was on the twenty-third of May, 1541. He took with him
five ships; but he went, unfortunately, as subordinate, in some
respects, to John Francis de la Roque, Lord of Roberval, a nobleman of
Picardy, whom the king of France had appointed viceroy of the country
now again to be visited. The object of the enterprise was declared to be
discovery, settlement, and the conversion of the Indians. Cartier was
the first to sail. Again he entered the St. Lawrence.
After erecting a fort near the site of the present city of Quebec,
Cartier ascended the river in two boats to explore the rapids above the
island of Hochelaga. He then returned and passed the winter at his fort;
and, in the spring, not having heard from the viceroy, he set sail for
France. In June, 1542, in the harbor of St. John, he met the Lord of
Roberval, outward bound, with three ships and two hundred men. The
viceroy ordered Cartier to return to the St. Lawrence; but the mariner
of St. Malo escaped in the night, and continued his voyage homeward.
Roberval, although abandoned by his subordinate, once more set sail.
After wintering in the St. Lawrence, he, too, abandoned the
country--giving back his immense viceroyalty to the rightful owners.
In 1578, there were three hundred and fifty fishing vessels at
Newfoundland belonging to the French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English;
besides these were a number--twenty or more--of Biscayan whalers. The
Marquis de la Roche, a Catholic nobleman of Brittany, encouraged by
Henry IV., undertook the colonization of New France, in 1598. But the
ill-starred attempt resulted only in his leaving forty convicts to their
fate on Sable island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. Of their number,
twelve only were found alive five years subsequent to La Roche's voyage.
In 1599, another expedition was resolved on. This was undertaken by
Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, and Chauvin, a captain of the marine.
In consideration of a monopoly of the fur-trade, granted them by the
king of France, these men undertook to establish a colony of five
hundred persons in New France. At Tadoussac, at the mouth of the
Saguenay, they built a cluster of wooden huts and store-houses, where
sixteen men were left to gather furs; these either died or were
scattered among the Indians before the return of the spring of 1601.
Chauvin made a second voyage to Tadoussac, but failed to establish a
permanent settlement. During a third voyage he died, and his enterprise
perished with him.
In 1603, a company of merchants of France was formed, and Samuel
Champlain, with a small band of adventurers, dispatched, in two small
vessels, to make a preliminary survey of the St. Lawrence. He reached
the valley in safety, sailed past the lofty promontory on which Quebec
now stands, and proceeded onward to the island of Hochelaga, where his
vessels were anchored. In a skiff, with a few Indians, Champlain vainly
endeavored to pass the rapids of the great river. The baffled explorer
returned to his ships. From the savages, he gleaned some information of
ulterior regions. The natives drew for him rude plans of the river
above, and its lakes and cataracts. His curiosity was inflamed, and he
resolved one day to visit the country so full of natural wonders. Now,
however, he was constrained to return to France. He had accomplished the
objects of his mission--the making of a brief exploration of the valley
of the chief river of Canada.
It was the opinion of Champlain that on the banks of the St. Lawrence
was the true site of a settlement; that here a fortified post should be
erected; that thence, by following up the waters of the interior region
to their sources, a western route might be traced to China, the distance
being estimated by him at not more than two or three hundred leagues;
and that the fur-trade of the whole country might be secured to France
by the erection of a fort at some point commanding the river. These
views, five years subsequent to his visit to the St. Lawrence, induced
the fitting out of a second expedition, for trade, exploration, and
colonization. On the thirteenth of April, 1608, Champlain again
sailed--this time with men, arms, and stores for a colony. The fur-trade
was intrusted to another. The mouth of the Saguenay was reached in June;
and, soon after, a settlement was commenced on the brink of the St.
Lawrence--the site of the present market-place of the lower town of
Quebec. A rigorous winter and great suffering followed. Supplies arrived
in the spring, and Champlain determined to enter upon his long-meditated
explorations;--the only obstacles in the way were the savage nations he
would every-where meet. He would be compelled to resort to diplomacy--to
unite a friendly tribe to his interests, and, thus strengthened, to
conquer, by force of arms, the hostile one.
The tribes of the Hurons, who dwelt on the lake which now bears their
name, and their allies, the Algonquins, upon the Ottawa and the St.
Lawrence, Champlain learned, were at war with the Iroquois, or Five
Nations, whose homes were within the present State of New York. In June,
1609, he advanced, with sixty Hurons and Algonquins and two white men,
up what is now known as the Richelieu river to the discovery of the
first of the great lakes--the one which now bears his name. Upon its
placid waters, this courageous band was stopped by a war-party of
Iroquois. On shore, the contending forces met, when a few discharges of
an arquebuse sent the advancing enemy in wild dismay back into the
forest. The victory was complete. Promptly Champlain returned to the St.
Lawrence, and his allies to their homes, not, however, until the latter
had invited the former to visit their towns and aid them again in their
wars. Champlain then revisited France, but the year 1610 found him once
more in the St. Lawrence, with two objects in view: one, to proceed
northward, to explore Hudson's bay; the other, to go westward, and
examine the great lakes and the mines of copper on their shores, of the
existence of which he had just been informed by the savages; for he was
determined he would never cease his explorations until he had penetrated
to the western sea, or that of the north, so as to open the way to
China. But, after fighting a battle with the Iroquois at the mouth of
the river Richelieu, he gave up, for the time, all thought of further
exploration, and returned to France.
On the thirteenth of May, 1611, Champlain again arrived in the St.
Lawrence. To secure the advantages of the fur-trade to his superiors was
now his principal object; and, to that end, he chose the site of the
present city of Montreal for a post, which he called Place Royale. Soon
afterward, he returned to France; but, early in the spring of 1613, the
tireless voyager again crossed the Atlantic, and sailed up the St.
Lawrence; this time bound for the Ottawa to discover the North sea.
After making his way up that river to the home of the Algonquins of Isle
des Allumettes, he returned in disgust to the St. Lawrence, and again
embarked for France.
At the site of the present city of Montreal, there had assembled, in the
summer of 1615, Hurons from their distant villages upon the shores of
their great lake, and Algonquins from their homes on the Ottawa--come
down to a yearly trade with the French upon the St. Lawrence. Champlain,
who had returned in May from France, was asked by the assembled savages
to join their bands against the Iroquois. He consented; but, while
absent at Quebec, making needful preparations, the savages became
impatient, and departed for their homes. With them went Father Joseph le
Caron, a Recollet, accompanied by twelve armed Frenchmen. It was the
intention of this missionary to learn the language of the Hurons, and
labor for their spiritual welfare. His departure from the St. Lawrence
was on the first day of July. Nine days afterward, Champlain, with two
Frenchmen and ten Indians followed him. Both parties traveled up the
Ottawa to the Algonquin villages; passed the two lakes of the
Allumettes; threaded their way to a well-trodden portage, crossing which
brought them to Lake Nipissing; thence, they floated westward down the
current of French river, to what is now known as Georgian bay;
afterward, for more than a hundred miles, they journeyed southward along
the eastern shores of that bay to its head; and there was the home of
the Hurons.
Champlain, with a naked host of allies, was soon on the march against
the Iroquois from the Huron villages, moving down the river Trent, as
since named, to its mouth, when his eyes were gladdened with the view of
another of the fresh water seas--Lake Ontario. Boldly they crossed its
broad expanse, meeting the enemy at a considerable distance inland from
its southern shores. Defensive works of the Iroquois defied the assaults
of the besiegers. The Huron warriors returned in disgust to their homes,
taking Champlain with them. He was compelled to spend the winter as the
guest of these savages, returning to the St. Lawrence by way of the
Ottawa, and reaching Quebec on the eleventh of July, 1616. He had seen
enough of the region traversed by him to know that there was an immense
country lying to the westward ready to be given to his king the moment
he should be able to explore and make it known. Father le Caron, who had
preceded Champlain on his outward trip to the Huron villages, also
preceded him on his return; but he remained long enough with those
Indians to obtain a considerable knowledge of their language and of
their manners and customs.
Quebec, at this period, could hardly be called a settlement. It
contained a population of fur-traders and friars of fifty or sixty
persons. It had a fort, and Champlain was the nominal commander. In the
interest of the infant colony he went every year to France. His was the
duty to regulate the monopoly of the company of merchants in their trade
with the Indians. In the summer of 1622, the Iroquois beset the
settlement, but made no actual attack. A change was now at hand in the
affairs of New France. Two Huguenots, William and Emery de Caen, had
taken the place of the old company of St. Malo and Rouen, but were
afterward compelled to share their monopoly with them. Fresh troubles
were thus introduced into the infant colony, not only in religious
affairs, but in secular matters. The Recollets had previously
established five missions, extending from Acadia to the borders of Lake
Huron. Now, three Jesuits--among their number John de Brebeuf--arrived
in the colony, and began their spiritual labors. This was in 1625. When
the year 1627 was reached, the settlement at Quebec had a population of
about one hundred persons--men, women, and children. The chief trading
stations upon the St. Lawrence were Quebec, Three Rivers, the Rapids of
St. Louis, and Tadoussac. Turning our eyes to the western wilds, we see
that the Hurons, after the return of Le Caron, were not again visited by
missionaries until 1622.
In the year 1627, the destinies of France were held by Cardinal
Richelieu as in the hollow of his hand. He had constituted himself grand
master and superintendent of navigation and commerce. By him the
privileges of the Caens were annulled, and a company formed, consisting
of a hundred associates, called the Company of New France. At its head
was Richelieu himself. Louis the Thirteenth made over to this company
forever the fort and settlement at Quebec, and all the territory of New
France, including Florida. To them was given power to appoint judges,
build fortresses, cast cannon, confer titles, and concede lands. They
were to govern in peace and in war. Their monopoly of the fur-trade was
made perpetual; while that of all other commerce within the limits of
their government was limited to fifteen years, except that the
whale-fishery and the cod-fishery were to remain open to all. They could
take whatever steps they might think expedient or proper for the
protection of the colony and the fostering of trade. It will thus be
seen that the Hundred Associates had conferred upon them almost
sovereign power. For fifteen years their commerce was not to be troubled
with duties or imposts. Partners, whether nobles, officers, or
ecclesiastics, might engage in commercial pursuits without derogating
from the privileges of their order. To all these benefits the king added
a donation of two ships of war. Of this powerful association, Champlain
was one of the members.
In return for these privileges conferred, behold how little these
hundred partners were compelled to perform. They engaged to convoy to
New France, during 1628, two or three hundred men of all trades, and
before the year 1643 to increase the number to four thousand persons of
both sexes; to supply all their settlers with lodging, food, clothing,
and farm implements, for three years; then they would allow them
sufficient land to support themselves, cleared to a certain extent; and
would also furnish them the grain necessary for sowing it; stipulating,
also, that the emigrants should be native Frenchmen and Roman Catholics,
and none others; and, finally, agreeing to settle three priests in each
settlement, whom they were bound to provide with every article necessary
for their personal comfort, and to defray the expenses of their
ministerial labors for fifteen years. After the expiration of that time,
cleared lands were to be granted by the company to the clergy for
maintaining the Roman Catholic Church in New France. It was thus that
the Hundred Associates became proprietors of the whole country claimed
by France, from Florida to the Arctic Circle; from Newfoundland to the
sources of the St. Lawrence and its tributaries. Meanwhile, the
fur-trade had brought a considerable knowledge of the Ottawa, and of the
country of the Hurons, to the French upon the St. Lawrence, through the
yearly visits of the savages from those distant parts and the
journeyings of the fur-trader in quest of peltry.
In April, 1628, the first vessels of the Hundred Associates sailed from
France with colonists and supplies bound for the St. Lawrence. Four of
these vessels were armed. Every thing seemed propitious for a speedy
arrival at Quebec, where the inhabitants were sorely pressed for food;
but a storm, which had for some time been brewing in Europe, broke in
fury upon New France. The imprudent zeal of the Catholics in England,
and the persecution of the Huguenots in France, aroused the English, who
determined to conquer the French possessions in North America, if
possible; and, to that end, they sent out David Kirk, with an armed
squadron, to attack the settlements in Canada. The fleet reached the
harbor of Tadoussac before the arrival of the vessels of the Company of
New France. Kirk sent a demand for the surrender of Quebec, but
Champlain determined to defend the place; at least, he resolved to make
a show of defense; and the English commander thought best not to attack
such a formidable looking position. All the supplies sent by the Hundred
Associates to the St. Lawrence were captured or sunk; and the next year,
after most of its inhabitants had dispersed in the forests for food,
Quebec surrendered. England thus gained her first supremacy upon the
great river of Canada.
The terms of the capitulation were that the French were to be conveyed
to their own country; and each soldier was allowed to take with him furs
to the value of twenty crowns. As some had lately returned from the
Hurons with peltry of no small value, their loss was considerable. The
French prisoners, including Champlain, were conveyed across the ocean by
Kirk, but their arrival in England was after a treaty of peace had been
signed between the two powers. The result was, the restoration of New
France to the French crown; and, on the 5th of July, 1632, Emery de Caen
cast anchor at Quebec to reclaim the country. He had received a
commission to hold, for one year, a monopoly of the fur-trade, as an
indemnity for his losses in the war; after which time he was to give
place to the Hundred Associates. The missions in Canada which by the
success of the British arms had been interrupted, were now to be
continued by Jesuits alone. De Caen brought with him two of that
order--Paul le Jeune and Anne de la Noue.
On the twenty-third of May, 1633, Champlain, commissioned anew by
Richelieu, resumed command at Quebec, in behalf of the Hundred Partners,
arriving out with considerable supplies and several new settlers. With
him returned the Jesuit father, John de Brebeuf. The Recollets had been
virtually ejected from Canada. The whole missionary field was now ready
for cultivation by the followers of Loyola. New France was restored to
Champlain and his company, and to Catholicism.
Champlain's first care was to place the affairs of the colony in a more
prosperous condition, and establish a better understanding with the
Indians. In both respects, he was tolerably successful. His knowledge of
the western country had been derived from his own observations during
the tours of 1613 and 1615, but especially from accounts given him by
the Indians. At the beginning of 1634, the whole French population,
from Gaspe to Three Rivers, was hardly one hundred and fifty souls,
mostly engaged in the trading business, on behalf of the Hundred
Partners, whose operations were carried on principally at the point last
named and at Tadoussac--sometimes as far up the St. Lawrence as the site
of the present city of Montreal, but not often. Of the small colony upon
the great river of Canada, Champlain was the heart and soul. The
interior of the continent was yet to be explored. He was resolved to
know more of ulterior regions--to create more friends among the savages
therein. The time had arrived for such enterprises, and a trusty
conductor was at hand.