But, while white men were no doubt at Niagara early in the 17th
Century--possibly as early as 1611--and while we know that Traders and
Priests were in its immediate vicinity at various times prior to 1669;
and while we have good reason to believe, that in that latter year
LaSalle himself explored the whole of the Niagara Frontier; yet it is
not until 1678 that we have any positive record of any visit, nor any
description of the Cataract by a man who claimed to have actually seen
it.
Father Hennepin's first work, "Louisiana," published in 1681, tells of
that first recorded visit, and gives the first description of Niagara
by an eye-witness.
At the time when that first unnamed white man saw the Cataract the
Indians had, and firmly believed in, at least one positive tradition
regarding it; one which had long been believed in by the tribes far and
near, and which had long been turned to good account in trade by former
generations of Indians who dwelt at Niagara; and which was believed in
and maintained for many a year afterwards. It was a tradition which had
long caused the vicinity of the Cataract to be known far and wide as,
and to be, a great Center of Trade; because it related to a
highly-prized commodity which was found and primarily procurable only
at this spot.
The first printed direct mention of Niagara referred to its famous
Portage. The two next references to it were indirect and poetic, and,
in so far as geographical location, certainly exemplified a poet's
license.
The second printed allusion to it,--an indirect one, as noted
later,--was in regard to trade.
Champlain was on the lower St. Lawrence River when, in 1603, he first
heard of the Niagara Portage; Father Daillon was within a hundred miles
of the Cataract when, in 1626, he first heard of Niagara as a "trading
place."
When white men first became really acquainted with the Indians, 300
years ago, the various tribes had, and no doubt had long had, certain
"trading places" where they annually met for barter.
At that time, the Hurons and Algonquins had such a meeting place on the
upper Ottawa River.
It was at such a trade gathering at Lake Saint Peter, that Iroquet, in
1610, received Brule as a gift.
Father Sagard, who in 1625 was a Missionary among them at Lake
Nipissing, has stated that the Hurons used each summer to travel for
five or six weeks southerly, in order to meet the tribes which had
goods they wanted; and that they brought back those articles both for
their own use and for sale to other tribes. From the direction stated,
and from other deductions, it is probable that that annual summer
journey of the Hurons "for trade" had Niagara as its objective point.
That the Indians traded among themselves is unquestioned. When Cartier,
in 1534, ascended the St. Lawrence River, the Indians of Hochelaga were
smoking tobacco which had been grown in the sunny south lands. The
Muskegons, around James Bay, traded their furs with their southern
neighbors for birch bark, out of which to make their canoes. Axes and
arrow heads of obsidian--a stone found on the lower Mississippi--were
in use among the tribes to the north of Quebec. The Indian "trade" was
not all done haphazard. The most of it was done at gatherings held at
regularly agreed upon times and places. And in the selection of
localities, Niagara must have been a favored meeting place.
That there, and there only, were found those "Erie Stones," a
much-sought-for article, was an important reason for its selection as
such; its central location and its accessibility from all points were
other reasons.
No tribe which feared the fierce Iroquois--and that embraced almost
every known tribe--would have dared to go to a "trading place," when in
order to reach it they had to cross the country of the Iroquois. But
they could get to Niagara from all sides without touching that Iroquois
territory. There they could meet and barter with tribes otherwise
almost impossible for them to reach.
The tribes of the southeast, and those of the northeast, could there
meet in safety.
Again, it was in the Country of the Neutrals, whose territory lay
between that of the Iroquois and the Hurons. And Indian law
decreed--and it was observed--that in the cabins of the Neutrals even
those bitter foes, Iroquois and Hurons, met in peace.
Champlain was certainly the first white man to mention the Falls of
Niagara in Literature; Brule was probably Niagara's first white
visitor; and equally probable, he was the first white man ever to
"trade" there. One would like well to know the particulars of that
"trade"--what he got and what he gave.