RIVER ST. CLAIR, &c.
After leaving Lake St. Clair, we run in the evening about fifteen
miles up the river, having enjoyed one of the most brilliant sunsets
that Italy, or Greece could ever boast of,--and then stopped to take
in a supply of fuel for Mackinaw. The rest of the night from nine in
the evening, till four in the morning, was industriously occupied in
running twenty-five miles to Fort Gratiot, having the double obstacle
of a stiff current to stem, equal to a rapid, and a schooner in tow,
which with us, was bound for the Upper Lakes. If this vessel in _tow_
could not classically be called an _obsta_-cle, it was at least a grave
Saxon _hold back_. But nevertheless, as the master of the steamer was
sure of _our_ money, there seemed no objection in his mind to get a
little more, for helping this weather-bound ship; although he had never
stipulated with us for the privilege. And besides, if it was not an act
of humanity, it was a kindness--it being understood, that vessels,
upward bound, are often detained in this current, not only days, but
weeks, before a south wind springs up, sufficiently strong to bear them
into Lake Huron.
Fort Gratiot has the honour of its name from its original projector,
Colonel Gratiot, now chief engineer of the United States at Washington.
The fort has a beautiful and commanding position, immediately at the
outlet of Huron, and of course at the commencement of the strait,
called the river St. Clair; which, opposite the fort, is so narrow and
rapid, as to require nearly the full power of a steamer to force her
up. With our schooner _hold back_, it seemed for a long time doubtful,
whether the packet would be able to run into the lake. She buffeted the
current “with lusty sinews,” springing to one side, then to the other,
like the draught-horse, pulling his burden up hill; but notwithstanding
often went backward instead of forward, and gained nothing, until, by
raising the steam, more perhaps, than what was prudent, she finally
carried her companion into the sea above, and then dismissed her to
make her own way. This current is deep, and a sublime object, not only
in consideration of its own rapid career, but more especially, when we
reflect, that here all the waters of Huron, Michigan, and Superior,
are disemboguing through so narrow a channel, with a determination not
to be resisted.
Those of the passengers, who were disposed, had time at Gratiot to go
on shore, and view the fort. At that time it was surrounded only by
pickets, fit only to check an Indian assault. It was ordered, however,
from the importance of its position on the Canada frontier, to be
made a strong place. It is understood, that the opposite side of the
river, within musket shot, is in the British dominions. Our reception
at the fort was not only polite and cordial, but even in the forms of
drawing-room parade. They had been notified of the visit, and knew
the very hour to expect it. And as such a call rarely happens in that
secluded and wild retreat, they must needs take it when it comes, and
make the most of it. It was in all respects a grateful interview, and
well improved. An hour’s interchange of civilities on such an occasion,
and in such a place, are moments of high enjoyment--they make an
incident in the common monotony of life, and a subject of interesting
recollections.
Among my memoranda of this voyage, I find the following:--
August 6:--Still in Lake Huron, and borne onward with great rapidity
by wind and steam,--the latter of which we always have at command,
and the former being most favourable;--our course laid for the river
St. Mary, or rather for the common passage, leading to Lake Superior.
For there is no such thing, as the river St. Mary, commonly marked
as such, in the books and charts. That region is a world of islands,
straits, and bays. Lake Huron, as the map will show, is one of the
great inland seas of the North-West. Our course from the river St.
Clair to St. Mary’s, is nearly a direct line, keeping the west shore
ordinarily in sight, when the weather will permit. The borders of this
lake present a wild, uninhabited region--and the navigation beautiful
in its stillness; but doomed to fitful and terrible agitations by the
sudden waking of the tempest. The greatest fury of the wide Atlantic
is mere mockery to Huron’s maddest moods and roughest shapes. The most
experienced mariner of the former has been filled with wonder, and
stood aghast at the terrors of the latter.
_Evening of the same day_:--At anchor in St. Mary’s Straits, five miles
from the Falls. Our passage from Fort Gratiot to the west straits,
plunging into an open and wide sea, we made in thirty-six hours, the
wind all the way in favour, and for a good part of the time leaving the
western shore, and of course all other land out of sight. To such a
scene in good weather, as we have had, there is but one page. But those
of us, who are strangers here, felt that we were entering a region
remote from civilization, and but little marked with the traces of
human enterprize. Since we approached the northern shores of this lake
and entered the straits, no pictures of romance could divide us farther
from accustomed scenes and associations. The great _Maniton_, or
_Spirit_-island--in Indian tradition and belief the home and residence
of spirits--lifted up a prominence in its centre, which might well
pass among heathen, as a sanctuary of the gods. And so is it esteemed.
Next the little _Maniton_--and then the Drummond Isle--on the last of
which and near the straits, as we approached, was distinctly brought
under our eye, through a beautiful harbour, and within one mile of our
course, a fort and little village, erected by and formerly belonging
to the British, apparently well built;--but now without a solitary
human being, since, by the recent demarcation of the boundary line,
the island has fallen within the jurisdiction of the United States.
A deserted village, in this uninhabited region, was a melancholy
spectacle--and resting, as it does, in such a beautiful spot! It really
looked covetable--like a little paradise, peeping out upon the sea,
by the point of land, which defends the harbour, skirted by a lovely
forest-scene, and spreading its fair bosom to the heavens, seems to
invite those, who may be tired of the world, to its enchanting retreat.
I cannot imagine, how it should be left unoccupied; and I can hardly
yet persuade myself, that such is the fact. I strained my eyes through
the glass, as we passed, to see the busy population; but no human form
appeared. And thus I thought it must be a fairy creation, in kindness
laid before our eye, to relieve us for a moment, from the monotony of
these desolate abodes;--for we had seen nothing like the feature of an
inhabited world, since we left Fort Gratiot, except a solitary sail,
far off on the bosom of the lake;--but the melancholy effect upon my
own feelings, when I was obliged to believe, that no man, or woman, or
child was there--none of human kind to enjoy the apparent desirableness
of the place--will not allow me to appreciate the favour intended.
And the _lusus naturæ_ of all the regions we have passed, within a
few hours, from that point, till we came to anchor this evening--the
veriest sportings of nature, in her most fantastic creations of islets,
and bays, and straits; the former springing up and the latter opening
in every direction; accompanied with the thought, that nowhere among
them all rests the habitation of civilized man, or is often found the
track of the savage;--these all made fancy more vivid, romance more
romantic, and the very wildness of nature more wild. We also passed
the ruins of another fort, on the island of St. Joseph, a valuable and
beautiful territory, twenty miles by ten, lifting up a mountain in its
centre, and said to embosom a mine of silver, known only to an Indian,
whose guardian spirit will not permit either himself, or others, to
reap the advantages of the disclosure. This island, formerly belonging
to the United States, has, by the recent settlement of the boundary
line, fallen to the British Government, in exchange, we may suppose,
for Drummond’s Isle.
On turning an island of some two or three miles in extent this
afternoon--(for since we entered the straits, we have been penetrating
the vast cluster of islands, with which the northern parts of
Huron are sprinkled, of such various dimensions, that some of the
smallest, crowned with trees and shrubbery, have reminded me of the
tuft of feathers in the peacock’s head, and they are scarcely less
beautiful)--on turning this island, and running into a bay of some
several miles in diameter, we suddenly met an Indian canoe, of great
beauty, its sides and many paddles glaring with various and rich
colours, propelled by eight Indians, dressed in a singularly gaudy,
yet uniform costume;--who bore down upon us with apparent intent of
speaking. But _our_ canoe, not responding with a favourable disposition
to their signs, but dashing forward with unbending course, the Indians
suddenly lifted their paddles from the water, and sat down. When lo! a
white man, well dressed, stood up in the middle of the bark, uncovered,
and made obeisance. We all responded. But the distance was too great
to hold a conversation. Our captain, knowing his time was precious, to
accomplish the object of the day--that is, to get to the Falls, which
after all we have not reached--and being more accustomed to such sights
than we, did not show himself inclined to gratify our curiosity, in
coming to an interview. Whereupon, as the gentleman in the canoe found
he could not speak us, he resumed his sitting out of our sight; and the
Indians, rising to their paddles, gave one tremendous and frightful
yell, resounding through all the bay, and sending back its echoes from
the hills;--and then to a time-keeping song, they sprung away, as if
in challenge, for a trial of speed with us, and darted off for the
great lake, with a celerity, for which we all agreed to award them the
victory;--and in a few moments they turned an island, and were out
of sight. This unexpected and novel exhibition threw us all into an
ecstacy of admiration. The singular costume of the Indians, with many
and various coloured feathers, bending and waving on their heads; the
exquisite beauty of their canoe; their paddles of the most glaring red,
so far as they are immersed; the perfect time and admirable exactitude
of their movements, as if they and their bark were only so many parts
of a piece of mechanism; and the amazing celerity, with which they
seemed to fly over the tops of the waves;--absolutely confounded all
the ideas I had ever indulged of the Indian’s skill and dexterity in
this exercise.
I would here remark, that this canoe had been charted, as was
afterwards learned, by the gentleman passenger before noticed, to take
him from the Falls of St. Mary to Mackinaw, a distance of an hundred
miles, the half of which is over the open sea of Huron. This mode of
travelling in the North-West, resorted to by necessity, is not only
a substitute for stage-coaches and steam-boats, but is scarcely less
expeditious, when the canoe is manned and propelled by a select corps
of Indians.
Our passage this afternoon has been picturesque and interesting,
especially when allied to its associations, beyond my powers to
describe. The scenery in itself stands unrivalled, by anything I have
ever seen, or conceived, for its variety, and wildness, and beauty.
And then it is to be observed, that scarcely a trace of man is left
imprinted here, except rarely, upon the shores, may be found the
marks of a transient Indian encampment;--that the forests are so dark
and thick, that the wild buck, with his branching horns, cannot run
among them;--that the trees and shrubbery are of a character peculiar
to the climate;--and that innumerable firs may be seen shooting up
their conical tops, over the rest of the forest, not inferior, in the
exactitude and symmetry of their proportion, to the most beautiful
spire of a church. And the frequent islands, together with the straits
and bays, which they necessarily create, would utterly defy any but an
experienced pilot, with his compass, to make his way from Lake Huron
to Lake Superior. Often we have seemed to be running directly on the
shore; when in an instant some channel, darkened by the overhanging
wood, opened and invited us to enter, as the only way of egress. And
then again a half-dozen channels offer themselves, each perhaps equally
attractive, and confounding choice. And their serpentine course, and
the abruptness of their angles, after once the right one is selected,
by dodging the islands and shooting across the bays;--the alternate
expansions and contractions, forming successively small basins and
narrows;--contribute equally to amaze and delight the unexpecting
voyager. Hills and mountains too, in every shape--not even the likeness
of which presents itself on any shore of the lakes between this region
and Buffalo--here lift themselves up in near and distant vision, one
above another, restoring the long-lost charm of such a scene, and
making the accustomed tenant of the hills at home again.
The chapter of incidents also gave additional variety and interest to
this new and rapidly shifting scene. On turning one of those sharp
angles, about twenty miles above the point, where we first entered
these straits, some _lodges_ of Indians, as they are called, perched
in the bushes on the bank, opened upon us, being recognised by the
reflection of white birch bark, with which they are covered. These
lodges, are made as light, and are as soon taken down and removed, as
a soldier’s camp tent. And they are the only habitations of the wild
Indians, in their migratory enterprises of war, hunting, and fishing.
In these regions, indeed, they have little else to shelter them, either
in winter, or summer. The _wall_ of the lodge, is a sort of mat, or
woven texture of the wild rice stalk, found growing in shallow waters;
and which, after being shaken of its fruits into a floating canoe, for
food, is pulled up and manufactured into this useful article, serving,
like the Turk’s rug, for bed and chair, to the more luxurious; and
also for a part of the lodge, or house, by being drawn, itself erect,
in a circle of some ten, or fifteen feet in diameter, according to the
extent of the household to be accommodated;--the whole being capped
with pieces of birch bark to turn the rain; in the apex of which,
ordinarily from six to ten feet in elevation, is left a small aperture
for the escape of the smoke. The Indians here, depending more upon
fish, than upon the chase, make these slender encampments immediately
upon the margin of the waters, each consisting generally, in times
of peace, of a group of a few families, with one canoe, or two, for
each household, according to its number. At a few minutes’ notice,
whether started by alarm, or actuated by motives of change, the whole
encampment, with all their furniture, may be seen afloat, and darting
off for some new retreat. The encampment is again established, with
the same dispatch, as that, which characterised its breaking up;--and
they are all at home again, with their canoes drawn ashore, and turned
bottom upwards; and the smoke is seen, emitting its lazy currents from
their newly-erected lodges.
One of these encampments suddenly burst upon us, as we made a turning
this afternoon. Immediately a canoe, filled with these sons of the
forest--and it might be added, the lords of these wild waters--with
rifles in hand, launched from the shore, in our advance, and bore
down upon us. And what was amusing, the American ensign floated over
it, though somewhat smoked and rent by use, or abuse. This was an
indication, that a chief was on board of the canoe, as men of this rank
in the Tribes within the jurisdiction of the United States, are often
presented with a government flag. On the Canadian frontier they are not
unfrequently able to display the flag of either nation, Great Britain,
or the States, as may suit their purposes. Instantly, as they shot from
the shore, a _feu de joie_ saluted us; and the channel, pent up by
the dark forests, echoed as briskly with the popping of their rifles,
as if they had been engaged in a running fight. They seemed to paddle
with one hand, and load and fire with the other; and in such rapid
succession, that no Yankee could equal them, even with both hands. But
with all their eagerness and noise, they could not bring our captain to
speak. Whether he doubted their intent, and was afraid of being shot, I
cannot tell. Perceiving the captain’s incivility, and themselves fast
dropping astern of us in consequence, down went their rifles into the
bottom of the canoe, and both hands of every Indian being applied to
the paddles, they seemed resolved on overtaking us: and so indeed they
did, deciding the question at once, that the Indian paddle is swifter
than steam. As a reward for this extraordinary feat,--they seeming no
wise unfriendly in their dispositions, but making all signs of good
feeling, laughing, and rattling off with indescribable volubility their
unintelligible jargon--we threw them a tow-line, and having caught it,
they immediately dropped under our stern;--and in this relation we
held a long parley with them, by means of an interpreter on board our
vessel, ascertaining them to be of the Chippewa tribe, and possessing
ourselves of sundry items of information, which they were able to
communicate, and which we were curious and much gratified to know.
Some of our passengers, delighted with such a visit, threw them some
pieces of money; and the scramble, which ensued in the canoe, plainly
proved, that however perfect their unsophisticated society may be,
they had not yet arrived to the happy condition of holding all things
_common_. The amusement, which this strife occasioned, turned out to
the no small profit of the Indians. For a shower of copper and silver
coin poured into the canoe, till they all had busy work in picking it
up. And when, perchance, a white piece fell into the water--(as some
of them did)--alas! what a grave countenance the poor Indians put on,
and smote their hands in agony, and looked up, as if they were about
to expire with regret. The rattling of another piece of coin in the
bottom of their canoe would bring them to their senses again, and renew
the squabble. When, however, the purse was satisfied, in rendering its
contents, a bottle of whiskey, with a cord to its neck, was lowered to
the eager grasp of these tawney and simple folk. But not being inclined
to drink it on the spot, how should they dispose of it, and return the
bottle, which for some reason was not offered them. It was a decanter,
I believe, belonging to the steward. Necessity being the mother of
invention, a smoked tin kettle, of some gallons’ capacity, used for
cooking over their fires, yet having been well cleaned by the tongue
of the dogs, the common way of performing this office--was snatched
up from the bottom of the canoe for the occasion, and received the
contents. The bottle was returned, and filled, and sent down again, a
plural number of times; till, I am sorry to say, they had got enough,
in their capacious vessel, to make the whole camp drunk--and which
will probably occasion a famous _pow-wow_, or Indian carousal. After
our guests had been kept in tow long enough to satisfy curiosity, and
to enrich them by these bounteous gifts, we let them drop, and they
returned to their lodges.
A few miles above at another turning, another Indian camp, and much
larger than the last, opened upon us, showing an extended cluster
of lodges, on the shore; and numerous canoes drawn up in the usual
style. As they were unapprised of our coming, they seemed utterly
amazed--and men, women, and children ran about, and the dogs barked,
as if confusion and war had come upon them. Immediately the men darted
from their lodges, with rifle in hand, while the women and children
launched the canoes; and in the shortest imaginable space we were right
on the shore, within thirty feet of this strange assemblage of human
beings;--and pop--pop--pop--went their rifles, directly at us, in a
quick and furious volley, as if they would shoot every one of us from
the deck. I am sure for one, I started back, contracted myself within
the smallest possible dimensions, and dodged a little. And I dare to
say, I was not alone in these sensations. To be thus saluted, by such
uncertain beings, having nothing to defend us, was not altogether
welcome. Even if their rifles had nothing in them more solid, the very
wadding might have come in our faces. No one, however, was killed;
and it proved to be a mere _feu de joie_, to express how glad they
were to see us. Ours is only the third Steam-packet, that has ever
penetrated this region; and this particular group of Indians probably
never saw one before. We soon ran by them; but had not passed out of
sight, before we plunged upon a sand-bar. This accident gave them an
opportunity to fill their canoes, and come along side, and offer their
assistance and hospitality: the _manner_ of which was certainly very
grateful, although the things offered were not very valuable. While we
were engaged in working off the vessel, which occupied an hour, they
amused us greatly by their talk and manners, and received, like our
other guests, no trifling donations from the passengers--not trifling
to them. Through ignorance of these channels, we have run aground some
half-dozen times, and being overtaken by night, in this wild and dark
retreat, under the very boughs of the forest, we are compelled to lie
at anchor, and wait for day-light--within five miles of our place of
destination:--_the Saut de St. Marie_.