We do not know, and we never shall know, the name of the first white
man who gazed upon the Cataract of Niagara; that marvelous spot, the
scenic wonder of the World, that glory of Nature, which has been
referred to as "The Emblem of God's Majesty on Earth,"--where, in the
words of Father Hennepin, in 1697,--
"Betwixt the lakes Erie and Ontario, is a great and prodigious
cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and
astonishing manner; insomuch that the Universe itself does not
afford its parallel."
Which description, even to-day, two Centuries later, stands out as the
most impressive, as well as the quaintest, brief mention of Niagara
that was ever penned. And Father Hennepin also gave to the World, in
the same volume, the first known picture of Niagara.
It was unquestionably a Frenchman who first, through pale-face eyes,
saw the great Cataract; and it was later than 1608, the year when the
ancient City of Quebec was founded, and white men first settled in the
northern part of this Continent.
Possibly, though improbably, he may have been one of those holy men,
Priests of the Catholic Church, who devoted their learning, their
strength, and their years to the cause of their Maker; who daily risked
their lives, as alone they braved the hardships and the sufferings of
long journeys through pathless forests, and who encountered the fury of
unknown savages, as they carried the Gospel to Tribes who dwelt along
the shores of mighty waters, in a vast and an unexplored wilderness;
and tried, though in vain, to lead those strange peoples to the Ways of
God.
[Illustration: FIRST PICTURE OF NIAGARA, BY FATHER
HENNEPIN--1697.]
It is more likely to have been one of those fearless and hardy men, one
of the earliest members of what later became a distinct class--the
Coureurs de Bois, or Woodsmen--a class founded by Champlain; on a
correct principle for commercial intercourse and the extension of
sovereignty, under conditions as they then and there existed (but
probably without any full appreciation of the important and prominent
part it was destined, later, to play in the development of New France);
when, in 1610, he gave a young Frenchman, Etienne Brule, to the
Algonquin chief Iroquet; who, in appreciation of Champlain's
confidence, gave him a young savage named Savignon, as a pledge of
future friendship.
Brule was the first Frenchman known to have joined the savages, to
become one of them, and adopt their manner of life. He spent years
amongst them, was a woodsman or trader, learnt their languages, was
Champlain's personal interpreter among the various tribes, and was
often sent as Ambassador from the French at Quebec to savage Nations.
Beloved and trusted by the Indians for years, traveling all over the
Northwest, claiming to have discovered Lake Superior, and a copper mine
on its shores (in proof of which he brought back samples of that metal
to Quebec), he was finally tortured, put to death, and eaten by the
Savages.
By reason of his acquaintance with many tribes, of his occupation, and
of his travels, there is no one who is more likely to be entitled to
the distinction of having been the first of the white man's race to
behold Niagara than this same Etienne Brule.
From his intimacy with Champlain, he must have known--what Champlain
knew and had recorded--of the existence of such a waterfall; indeed, it
is by no means improbable that many of the details of Champlain's maps
(especially those relating to regions which Champlain never saw, but
which Brule did visit) were drawn from the latter's descriptions.
From his intimacy with Iroquet--Brule spent the better part of eight
years in his Country and in that of his allies; being the territory
lying to the north of Lake Ontario--he must have known what Iroquet
knew of the location of such a waterfall (which was only about 150
miles from the center of his territory, and a journey of that distance
was of small moment to the Indians of those days); and when Iroquet
went to it as a "trading place," Brule doubtless accompanied him.
It must also be remembered that it was this same chief, Iroquet, who
later confirmed to Father Daillon the renown of "the great River of the
Neutrals"--that is the Niagara--as a Center of Trade; whose location he
knew well, but refused to divulge to the Priest.
Knowing of such a wonderful waterfall's existence, and its general
location; being a "trader," and Niagara being even then a well-known
Center of Trade, the probabilities are that Brule visited it at a very
early date.