THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY
The last sixty years of the nineteenth century witnessed on the shores
of the Great Lakes the development of the city. The towns which we
have traced through their early stages as forts, trading posts,
and villages began in 1840 to make their appearance on the census
lists with populations that could be counted in thousands instead of
hundreds. If we reckon a population of eight thousand or over as the
requisite number to raise a town to the rank of city, Buffalo with
eighteen thousand and Detroit with nine thousand inhabitants were in
1840 the only cities on the lakes. Cleveland had six thousand, and
Chicago and Milwaukee timidly entered the lists with records of less
than five thousand and two thousand respectively. In the proportionate
size of cities in the whole United States these five ranged from being
sixteenth, as was Buffalo, to being fifty-fourth, as was Chicago, and
down to Milwaukee, which was the seventy-ninth on the list. In 1906
these five cities are among the first twelve on the list, and their
joint population is three million six hundred thousand, nearly one
hundred times the total population of sixty-five years ago. Figures
express this change as well as anything can, but even figures can
hardly suggest the wonder of this unparalleled development. It makes
this last era of the life of the Great Lakes one of great and unique
interest.
Immediately after 1840 this swift growth of the city began. Within
twenty years Detroit was five times as large as in 1840, Buffalo and
Cleveland were seven times as large, while Chicago and Milwaukee had
multiplied their numbers by twenty and twenty-five. Smaller cities,
too, like Toledo had had a rapid increase in their population.
This sudden tide of immigration and of urban concentration was the
natural result of the widespread westward movement of the twenty-five
preceding years which had developed the country and created demands
for central markets, and of the rise of the great industries described
in the preceding chapters with their attendants, the railroad and
the steamboat. No communities have ever come into being for more
immediate commercial reasons than the cities of the Great Lakes,
and the immense wealth derived from their great industries has been
directly responsible for their rapid growth and succeeding prosperity.
With this story of the industrial side of the life of the lakes we
are all familiar. Each city has necessarily passed through a stage
when it spent its time and energy trying with breathless haste to
keep pace with the outside demands made upon it by commerce. Now that
stage has passed, at least in so far as this industrial side takes
precedence over everything else and stands out preëminent and alone as
the characteristic spirit of the lake city. Great fortunes have been
and are being made, and reasonable prosperity has come to thousands of
citizens. The last twenty years have seen these cities broaden their
interests, and stand out as centres of education, art, sociology,
politics, and religion, till now they are leaders as types of all-round
development, including all these and many other lines.
Each city claims and has a right to claim an individual spirit and an
achievement of its own. But to the student of the past and present of
these lake dwellers there comes the evidence of a broader unity under
whose general aims and purposes, fostered by similar conditions, the
local successes have been accomplished.
In education these cities are preëminent. They have been willing to
expend large sums on the public school systems, and have adapted high
educational principles to local needs with an independence that has
made for a departure from many old and conventional methods, but has
resulted almost always in greater efficiency. The large proportion of
foreign-born children in the public schools has created many problems
and brought the opportunity for great success in dealing with them.
Nor does state and city interest stop with the usual public school
system. Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
have strong state universities, for whose support they give lavishly;
and beside them have grown up three other great universities, Chicago
and Northwestern in Chicago, and the Western Reserve in Cleveland.
There is a widespread enthusiasm for higher education, and these
educational centres exert a great influence both as scientific
experiment stations, whose discoveries are hailed with delight by the
farmer and the mechanic, and as dominant centres of thought. The
universities and schools do not wait for the people to come within
their walls. They go out with exhibitions and instruction of all kinds.
The state legislatures have instituted systems of travelling and branch
libraries, and education is being diffused among the people.
As a natural result of high average intelligence and of industrial
conditions there has originated in the region bordering on the lakes
a political unrest which is being worked out, under the leadership of
the cities, into an encouraging independence of party spirit and a
striving for the improvement of municipal and state conditions. With
the coming of the city there have arisen problems entirely new to the
administrators, and these each city is working out in its own way.
Cleveland by government by commission, and the other cities by reform
mayors running on independent platforms, and everywhere by intelligent
open discussion of such questions as municipal ownership of street
railways, control of corporations, labor questions, and other matters
of public interest which make the party divisions based on live social
and industrial issues, not on state and national party platforms. The
region of the lower lakes is a political storm centre for the nation
as well as for the immediate locality, and conditions there are likely
to have great influence throughout the country.
Municipal improvement has long been the watchword of all parties, and
the result has been the development of splendid water fronts, the
setting apart of land for beautiful park and boulevard systems, the
provision of playgrounds for children, and the constant beautifying of
the cities. Modern architecture has had its chance here, and has proved
itself. The results have made our modern lake city the admiration of
all visitors, both from this country and from across the water.
The two periods of rapid industrial growth and of broadening
self-improvement each lake city has passed through in the last sixty
years. Into the local details of each we have not space to enter,
although each is an interesting story by itself. One city has come to
be in size and standing the second city of our nation, and in passing
briefly over the steps of her growth we can see on a large scale what
have been the conditions which have been met in a smaller way by her
neighboring cities.
With our traveller of 1840, we visited Chicago and found her a
flourishing and rapidly increasing town of nearly five thousand
inhabitants. Even then she was recognized as a centre for the region
immediately surrounding her. The radius of her influence has extended
in a way that would have seemed at that time inconceivable. Her
population has run up to over two millions, and in wealth as well she
has come to be the second great financial centre of the United States,
ranking in this as in population next to New York. She began her city
life in 1837 with $1993 in her treasury. To get money for sanitary
drainage, for paving a few streets, and purchasing two fire engines
the finance committee of the common council applied to the State Bank
of Illinois for a loan of twenty-five thousand dollars, to be paid
back within five years,--a request which the State Bank politely but
curtly declined to grant. To-day her bank clearances amount to some
seven thousand million dollars. And so we might go on with striking
and astonishing contrasts. We have come to take large statements and
superlative adjectives for granted about Chicago’s size, wealth, and
commerce. Do we realize that she is the leading lake city in the other
lines of which we have spoken?
The public school system of Chicago with its million of children
has been and is being developed along the best modern pedagogical
principles by men and women who are recognized leaders in the
educational world. As a centre for higher education the city takes high
rank. Besides its technical schools, like the Armour Institute, it has
two great universities, Chicago and Northwestern. The former began its
career when John D. Rockefeller decided to take the name and property
of the old denominational university of that name, sold at auction
under foreclosure, and to found a great institution. To this end he
set apart a large sum of money and secured as president Dr. William R.
Harper of Yale. With the remarkable growth of the university since it
opened in 1892 with seven hundred and two students, we are all familiar.
In music and art Chicago is preëminent, both for its high grade of
achievement and for the widespread diffusion of its culture among its
citizens. In 1905 Orchestra Hall was dedicated as a home for music,
and this building, one of the finest in the world, had been built by
a popular subscription, to which thousands of the middle and poorer
classes contributed their dollars. The Chicago Art Institute has an
attendance yearly of over half a million visitors, a number exceeding
that of any art museum in America, and its library is consulted
annually by fifty thousand people. Such a record is remarkable, and
such enthusiasm has produced and is producing recognized artists. In
architectural excellence the story is the same. In philanthropy and
social settlement work Hull House, under the leadership of Jane Addams,
is only the most conspicuous of many powerful agencies for good.
For the Great Lakes to have developed, in the sixty years that have
marked the growth of the big city throughout the land, five of the
twelve largest cities of the United States is a remarkable showing.
Not only have these cities become leaders industrially, politically,
and socially, but they are constantly increasing at a rapid rate in
size, volume of commerce, and most of all in plans and forecasts for
the future. From 1880 to 1890 the most rapid growth of the city was in
this region. During these ten years, while the rate of increase of the
ocean ports ranged from San Francisco’s fourteen per cent to New York’s
thirty-eight per cent, and that of the river cities from Cincinnati’s
nine per cent to St. Louis’ twenty-seven, no one of the six great
ports of the lakes fell below an increase of thirty-seven per cent,
and Chicago’s ran up to fifty-four, and Toledo’s to sixty-one. This
is a striking exhibition of the movement of population in the wake of
commercial opportunity.
In the Old World such a group of cities situated close together on
immense bodies of water would create an individual empire of great
wealth and prosperity. In the United States they are recognized as a
leading factor in our prosperity, and a centre from which not only will
great wealth and natural resources be evolved and distributed, but
great leaders, great policies, and great ideals will come forth, making
the lake region a force to be reckoned with and depended upon in the
future of the Nation.
A BRIEF LIST OF BOOKS
_General Works_
There is no important general work covering the entire field. The
best single book is Charles Moore’s _The Northwest under Three Flags,
1635–1796_. B. A. Hinsdale’s _Old Northwest_ (2 vols.) deals with this
region, but with especial emphasis on the geographical and political
phases. Francis Parkman treats of French and English occupation in his
_Series of Historical Narratives, France and England in North America_,
the nine volumes of which will be cited under their individual names.
Besides his _Narrative and Critical History of America_ in eight
volumes, Justin Winsor has three books on the history of this region:
_Cartier to Frontenac_, 1534–1700; _The Mississippi Basin_; and
_The Westward Movement_. Under this heading should be mentioned the
publications of the various historical societies of the lake states,
especially the Buffalo, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota collections.
PART I. _Discovery and Exploration, 1615–1700_
This period is taken up in Parkman’s _Pioneers of France in the New
World_, _The Jesuits in North America_, _La Salle and the Discovery of
the Great West_, and _Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV._
The seventy-three volumes of _Jesuit Relations and Allied Volumes_,
edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites, are the source books for accounts of
the Jesuits. A modern book which covers this period is C. W. Colby’s
_Canadian Types of the Old Régime, 1608–1698_. E. B. O’Callaghan’s
_Documentary History of the State of New York_ (4 vols.), 1849, and
L. H. Morgan’s _League of the Iroquois_ (2 vols.), 1901, give good
accounts of the Indians, while the former has reprints of valuable maps
and documents.
The original accounts of the voyages of the explorers are as follows:
_Voyages of Samuel de Champlain_, translated by C. P. Otis, and edited
by E. F. Slafter (3 vols.) (a handy one-volume edition is that of W. L.
Grant, 1907); _Relation of the Discoveries and Voyages of Cavelier de
La Salle from 1679 to 1681_, translated by M. B. Anderson; and Louis
Hennepin’s _A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America_ (2 vols.),
and Lahontan’s _New Voyages to North America_, both reprinted and
edited by R. G. Thwaites. C. W. Butterfield has written a _History
of Brulé’s Discoveries and Explorations_, 1610–1626. The story of
the pageant of Saint Lusson comes to us from his _Procès-Verbal_ in
the _Wisconsin Historical Collections_, xi, 26, and in Father Claude
Dablon’s account in the _Jesuit Relations_, lv, 105–115.
PART II. _The Struggle for Possession, 1700–1832_
For the struggle between France and England Parkman’s _Half Century of
Conflict_ (2 vols.), _Montcalm and Wolfe_ (2 vols.), and _Conspiracy
of Pontiac_ (2 vols.) give the best connected account. S. Farmer’s
_History of Detroit and Michigan_, A. Hulbert’s _The Niagara River_,
and other local histories of Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Niagara,
as well as chronicles of the war, contribute to this history. Mr.
C. M. Burton has published a very interesting pamphlet on _Cadillac’s
Village, or Detroit under Cadillac_, which is the result of his own
research in the records of this time. Besides Parkman’s two-volume
story of the _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, it is well to read Major
Robert Rogers’ _Journals of the Siege of Detroit_, and _Concise
Account of North America, 1765_, and also a _Diary of the Siege of
Detroit_, edited with other documents by F. B. Hough, and _The Gladwin
Manuscripts_, edited by Charles Moore. Alexander Henry tells his own
story in _Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories_,
1809.
For the period of the war between England and America, Henry Adams’
_History of the United States, 1800–1817_ (9 vols.), is the authority.
T. Roosevelt in his _The Winning of the West, 1777–1807_ (5 vols.),
gives his fifth volume to _St. Clair and Wayne_. There are three
standard works on the naval part of the war, J. Barnes’ _Naval Actions
of the War of 1812_, Roosevelt’s _The Naval War of 1812_, and A. T.
Mahan’s _Sea Power in its Relations to the War of 1812_ (2 vols.).
There are many contemporary accounts of the battles and defences of
the leading participants, such as _The Defence of Brigadier-General
Hull Written by Himself_, 1814. Three leading documents of the Chicago
massacre are the _Narrative of the Massacre at Chicago, 1844_,
supposed to be the Kinzie account, _The Chicago Massacre in 1812_,
which is the Heald account, written at a much later date by Joseph
Kirkland, and an anonymous document in the _Michigan Pioneer and
Historical Collections_, viii, 648–652. The Black Hawk War is treated
in all histories of the time. The material about Black Hawk himself
is gathered from B. Drake’s _Life and Adventures of Black Hawk_ (7th
ed., 1846), _Life of Black Hawk, Dictated by Himself_, 1834, and S. G.
Drake’s _Book of the Indians_ (8th ed., 1841), which has also accounts
of Pontiac and Tecumseh. R. G. Thwaites’ _How George Rogers Clark
Won the Northwest_, has an essay on the Black Hawk War, as well as
other interesting essays on this period. Randall Parrish’s _Historic
Illinois_ should be mentioned in this connection as the best book of
its kind on this whole region, with a clear account of the events that
took place in Illinois and a graphic picture of pioneer conditions.
The biographies of Cass and Wayne are valuable. The two contemporary
books on Cass are W. L. G. Smith’s _The Life and Times of Lewis Cass_,
and W. T. Young’s _Life and Public Services of Lewis Cass_. A. C.
McLaughlin has written a good biography with the title, _Lewis Cass_,
for the American Statesman Series. John R. Spears is the author of a
biography of _Anthony Wayne_, 1903.
PART III. _Occupation and Development_
The bibliography of this section would include all that has come
before, and much from pamphlets, historical society publications, local
histories, and records of anniversary celebrations, which would make
too long a list of sources. There are no general works on this phase
of the life of the Great Lakes. Archer B. Hulbert’s _Historic Highways
of America_ (16 vols.) contains much that is of interest about roads
to the lakes, especially in volumes 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 12, and 14. J. F.
Rhodes’ _History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850_ (7
vols.) has in its earlier volumes valuable references and accounts of
happenings in its period. In general, however, one must turn to the
local records and state histories.
L. P. Powell has gathered and edited two volumes entitled _Historic
Towns of the Middle States_, and _Historic Towns of the Western
States_. Seven suggestive books are: Parker’s _Rochester, A Story
Historical_, and H. O’Reilly’s _Sketches of Rochester_; _The Niagara
Book_, by W. D. Howells, N. S. Shaler, and others, and F. H.
Severance’s _Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier_; Urann’s _Centennial
History of Cleveland_; W. P. Strickland’s _Old Mackinaw_, 1860; and
A. T. Andreas’ _History of Chicago_ (3 vols.).
The Buffalo Historical Collections have much material about the Erie
Canal, as has W. W. Campbell’s _Life and Writings of De Witt Clinton_.
J. L. Barton’s _Commerce of the Lakes and the Erie Canal_, William
Norris’ _Map of the Railroads and Canals in the United States and
Canada, August, 1834_, _Early Chicago Railroads, 1838_, and W. K.
Ackerman’s _Early Illinois Railroads_, in _Fergus Historical Series_,
No. 23, pp. 3–62, and a little book, _Instructions for Running
Railroads_, 1862, are all good for the years of rapid development about
the lakes. Two other books on railroads should be included: F. H.
Spearman’s _The Strategy of Great Railroads_ and Mott’s _Between Ocean
and Lakes_.
There are two contemporary lives of Stephen A. Douglas, one by J. W.
Sheahan, published in 1860 for campaign purposes, and another, _The
Life and Speeches of Stephen A. Douglas_, by a “Member of the Western
Bar.” Allen Johnson has recently brought out a valuable life of this
Illinois statesman. Nicolay and Hay’s _Abraham Lincoln, A History_ (10
vols.) is the standard work on Lincoln. J. W. Headley has written on
_Confederate Operations in Canada and New York_, giving an intimate
account of events in which he played an active part. F. J. Turner
is the authority on the fur trade, which he has described in _The
Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin_, Johns
Hopkins Studies, Vol. IX.
_Gazetteers and Travels_
In the numerous guide-books and records of travellers of the past one
hundred and twenty-five years is written most vividly the story of the
Great Lakes. Each one of those we mention contributes something to the
account of the region.
_Travels._ J. Carver’s _Travels through the Interior Parts of North
America in 1766, 1767, 1768_; I. Weld’s _Travels, 1795–1797_; J.
Harriott’s _Struggles through Life_, etc., 1796, ii, 97–149; Sutcliff’s
_Travels, 1804, 1805, 1806_; John Melish’s _Travels in the United
States in 1806 and 1807 and 1809, 1810, 1811_ (2 vols.); Schultz’
_Travels on an Inland Voyage_, 1807 and 1808; F. Hall’s _Travels in
1816 and 1817_; J. M. Duncan’s _Travels_, ii, 3–120; _Views of Society
and Manners in America, 1818–1820_, pp. 125–181; H. R. Schoolcraft’s
_Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest in 1820_, which
gives an official account of the Cass expedition; William Dalton’s
_Travels_, 1821; P. Stansbury’s _Pedestrian Tour in 1821_, giving an
account of a trip from Albany to Niagara; C. H. Wilson’s _The Wanderer
in America_, 1823; T. L. McKenney’s _Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes_,
which is very valuable; Basil Hall’s _Travels in North America in 1827
and 1828_, treating in vol. i of this region; Anne Royall’s _Black
Book_, vol. i; John Fowler’s _Journal of a Tour in the State of New
York in 1830–1831_. We come now to a set of travels which tell of
the western lakes in particular and give a picture of their towns:
_A Winter in the West, by a New Yorker_ (2 vols.), 1835; _Life on
the Lakes_, telling of a Lake Superior trip in 1836 by the author of
“Legends of a Log Cabin”; Bela Hubbard’s _Memorials of Half a Century_,
also of a voyage to Lake Superior. J. L. Peyton’s _Over the Alleghanies
and Across the Prairies_, 1848, and Captain Mackinnon’s _Atlantic and
Trans-Atlantic Sketches_, i, 141–233, give vivid pictures of lake
travel. Lillian Foster was in Chicago in 1860, and tells in _Wayside
Glimpses_, pp. 200–224, her impressions of Douglas and the political
situation. Margaret Fuller spent a _Summer on the Lakes in 1843_;
Charles Dickens went to Niagara, which he describes in his _American
Notes_, 1842, and Harriet Martineau wrote a _Retrospect of Western
Travel_ (3 vols.), 1838, in which she devotes seventy pages of the
first volume to a trip from Albany to Niagara. Two accounts of travel
in Minnesota are E. S. Seymour’s _Sketches of Minnesota_, 1850, and
C. C. Andrews’ _Minnesota and Dacotah_, 1857.
_Gazetteers and Guides_ (arranged alphabetically). S. R. Brown’s _The
Western Gazetteer_, 1817; E. Dana’s _Description of the Bounty Lands of
Illinois in 1819_, and _Geographical Sketches on the Western Country_,
1819; William Darby’s _Emigrants’ Guide to the Western and Southwestern
States and Territories_, 1818; G. M. Davison’s _The Fashionable Tour_,
with several successive editions under the title, _The Traveller’s
Guide_, 1830–1840; J. Disturnell’s _The Western Traveller_, 1844, and
_A Trip through the Lakes of North America_, 1857; T. Dwight’s _The
Northern Traveller_; A. D. Jones’ _Illinois and the West_, 1838, which
is especially good on pioneer conditions; John Melish’s _Geographical
Description of the United States_, _Information and Advice to
Emigrants_, and _Traveller’s Directory_, 1815–1826; S. A. Mitchell’s
_Illinois in 1837_; J. M. Peck’s _Gazetteer of Illinois_, _Guide for
Emigrants_, and _New Guide for Emigrants to the West_, 1831–1848;
J. C. Smith’s _The Western Tourist_, 1840, and Steele’s _Western
Guide-Books_, 1830–1840; H. Spofford’s _Pocket Guide of the State of
New York_, 1824; H. S. Tanner’s _The American Traveller_ (8th ed.,
1842); and George Temple’s _The American Tourist’s Pocket Companion_,
1812.
INDEX
Adrian, 276, 285.
Albany, 91, 102, 228, 232, 237, 242, 248, 252, 256, 259.
Allouez, Father Claude, 41;
address to Indians, 45–47.
American Fur Company, 338.
Anderson, Robert, 207.
André, Father Louis, 41.
Astor, John Jacob, 338, 357.
Barclay, Commodore,
in command of British fleet on Lake Erie, 182, 183;
defeated by Perry, 184–187.
Battles,
Niagara, 108–111;
Bloody Run, 129, 130;
Fallen Timbers, 160, 161;
Tippecanoe, 166;
River Raisin, 180, 181;
Lake Erie, 183–187;
The Thames, 188, 189;
Chippewa Creek, 189;
Lundy’s Lane, 189;
Wisconsin Heights, 210, 211;
Bad Axe, 211.
Beall, John Yates, Confederate agent on the lakes, 322–326, 328, 329.
Bibliography, 385–391.
Black Hawk,
appearance and early career, 201–203;
his war, 205–212;
his eastern trip, 212–214.
Black Rock, 181, 182, 254.
Boone, Daniel, at Detroit, 152.
Brébeuf, Father Jean,
Jesuit missionary to Hurons, 25–37;
founder of mission, 25;
life among Indians, 25–33;
killed by Iroquois, 37.
Brock, Gen. Isaac, captures Detroit for British, 168–172.
Brulé, Étienne, first white man to see Lake Huron, 10, 14.
Buffalo,
founded, 220, 221;
in 1811, 246, 247;
terminus of Erie Canal,
254–256, 260;
in 1840, 266–269;
lumber market, 345, 346;
first steamboat launched at, 360;
grain elevators, 370;
rapid growth, 374, 375.
Buffalo roads, 229, 230.
Cadillac, La Mothe,
founder of Detroit, 88–98;
character, 88;
at Mackinac, 88;
at Detroit, 89–98.
Cadillac, Madame, 96.
Campbell, Capt., 124, 126.
Camp Douglas, 319–322, 326.
Canals,
Welland, 5, 283;
Hennepin, 6;
Rock River, 224;
Pennsylvania and Erie, 272, 284;
Ohio and Erie, 273, 283, 284;
Wabash and Erie, 276, 284;
Miami, 284;
Erie, _see under_ Erie;
“Soo,” _see under_ Sault Ste. Marie.
Cass, Lewis,
in War of 1812, 170;
governor of Michigan territory, 191–200;
early life, 192;
management of the territory, 193–196;
dealings with Indians, 196–200;
at Duluth, 200, 224, 225.
Champlain, Samuel de,
on Lake Huron, 10, 14;
early career, 12, 13;
among the Hurons, 14–23;
his writings, 23, 24.
Chicago,
military post, 166;
massacre at, 172–177;
under Governor Cass, 193, 198, 200;
town begun, 222, 223;
in 1840, 266, 275–279;
Lincoln and Douglas in, 299–316;
in Civil War, 318–322, 327–329;
first steamboat to, 361;
grain elevators, 369, 370;
the modern city, 379–383;
_see also_ Chicago River, _and_ Fort Dearborn.
Chicago University, 319, 381.
Cleveland,
founded, 164, 165, 219, 220;
in 1840, 272, 273;
coming of the first train, 289–291;
commerce, 291, 350, 351;
shipyards, 372, 373;
rapid growth, 374, 375, 377, 378.
Cleveland, Moses, 164, 219.
Clinton, De Witt, and the Erie Canal, 237, 238, 251, 254–260.
Confederate operations on the lakes, 317–329.
Connecticut, land cession, 219.
Conventions,
National Republican of 1860, 300, 311–314;
National Democratic of 1864, 321, 322.
Coureurs de bois, 41, 47, 107, 333, 334.
Dablon, Father Claude, 41.
Dalyell, Capt.,
at siege of Detroit, 128, 129;
killed, 130.
Davis, Jefferson,
in Black Hawk War, 207;
sends commissioners to Canada, 317.
Davison, Gideon, his Travellers’ Guides, 267–269.
Denonville, governor of New France, 87, 104.
Detroit,
founded by French, 87–100;
taken by British, 116;
blockaded by Pontiac, 118–134;
in 1776, 151–153;
an American post, 154, 163, 164;
taken by British, 166–172;
under Gov. Cass, 194, 195;
fire at, 221;
in 1840, 274, 275;
terminus of Michigan Central, 288;
rapid growth, 374, 375.
Detroit River,
visited by La Salle, 62, 63;
first recorded passage of, 63;
importance of, 88–91;
beauty of, 91–93;
military operations on, 125–131, 167–170, 187, 190, 323, 325;
commerce of, 371–373.
Douglas, Stephen A., 299–316;
early career, 302–306;
debates with Lincoln, 300, 309–311;
Senator, 305, 311, 314, 315;
supporter of Lincoln, 314–316;
death, 316.
Druilletes, Gabriel, 41.
Du Luth, Daniel G., 224, 334, 335.
Duluth,
Indian trading station, 224, 225, 334;
becomes a town, 225;
commerce of, 344, 354, 369.
Dunkirk, railroad celebration at, 291–293.
Erie, Lake,
discovered and explored, 61, 63;
forts on, 104, 108, 109, 118, 125, 164;
in War of 1812, 165–168, 179–190;
settlements on, 219, 220;
roads, canals, and railroads to, 232–241, 242, 251–265, 283–297;
travel on, 268–274;
in Civil War, 322–326;
commerce of, 343, 345, 360.
Erie, Penn.,
in 1840, 268, 272;
railroad war, 294–298;
underground railroad station, 302;
_see also_ Presque Isle _under_ Forts.
Erie Canal, 5, 195, 221, 226, 237, 238, 251–265;
building of, 251–254;
ceremony of opening, 254–260;
travel on, 261–263;
enlarged, 263–265, 271, 283.
Forts,
Frontenac, 52, 61, 105, 218;
Duquesne, 104;
Le Bœuf, 104, 106, 109;
Sandusky, 104, 125, 219;
Venango, 104, 106, 291;
Presque Isle, 104, 106, 109, 118, 125, 164, 219;
Washington, 158;
Recovery, 158;
Defiance, 159;
Harrison, 166;
Dearborn, 166, 172–177;
Wayne, 166, 174, 276;
Malden, 167–170, 180, 183, 187, 188;
William, 338–341.
Franklin, Benjamin, makes Great Lakes U.S. boundary, 347.
Frenchtown,
Hull at, 167;
American defeat at, 179–181.
Frontenac,
governor of New France, 50, 59, 67;
recalled, 73;
returns, 87;
his plan to occupy Great Lakes, 87, 88;
death, 87.
Fuller, Margaret, trip to the lakes, 278–282.
Fur trade,
carried on by French and English, 39, 51, 52, 66–68, 88, 89, 101,
102, 135, 145;
leading interest on the lakes, 330–342;
under the French, 331–335;
under the British, 335–342;
under the Americans, 155, 165, 337, 338, 341, 347.
Genesee Turnpike, 233.
Georgian Bay, 10, 12, 14, 25, 28, 148, 218.
Gladwin, Major,
in command at Detroit, 119;
blockaded by Pontiac, 119–133;
saves Detroit, 133.
Grain, handled by lake ports, 6, 369, 370.
Greeley, Horace, 297.
Green Bay, 76, 333, 337.
_Griffon_, _see under_ Ships.
Groseilliers, 39.
Hamilton, Gen.,
at Detroit, 151–153;
captured by Clark, 153.
Harmar, Gen., unsuccessful expedition against Indians, 156, 161, 174.
Harriott, John, journey to Lake Erie, 242–246.
Harrison, Gen. W. H.,
at Tippecanoe, 166;
Lake Erie expedition, 179, 180;
battle of the Thames, 187–189.
Harvey, C. T., designer and builder of “Soo” Canal, 362–364.
Hawley, Jesse, and Erie Canal, 237.
Heald, Capt.,
in command at Fort Dearborn, 172–177;
escapes massacre, 176, 177.
Hennepin, Father Louis,
companion of La Salle, 51;
writes of Niagara, 52, 53;
and of the voyage, 58, 59;
names Lake St. Clair, 63.
Henry, Alexander,
adventures at Mackinac, 135–150;
copper mining, 347.
Hines, Capt., Confederate agent, 321, 322.
Hotels,
American, and Franklin, in Cleveland, 273;
Lake House, in Chicago, 277, 278;
Tremont House, in Chicago, 307, 308, 314, 316.
Hull, Gen.,
in War of 1812, 166–172;
surrenders Detroit, 171.
Huron, Lake,
discovered and explored, 10–14, 25–28, 37, 65, 71, 88, 150, 218;
travel on, 282;
commerce of, 336, 337, 360, 372.
Illinois,
part of Northwest Territory, 155;
becomes a state, 193;
Black Hawk War in, 201–214;
in 1840, 266, 267, 269, 270;
in 1850–1860, 299, 300, 302, 304, 305;
in Civil War, 318.
Indiana,
part of Northwest Territory, 155, 165;
becomes a territory, 191;
becomes a state, 193;
in 1840, 266, 267;
in Civil War, 318.
Indian treaties,
with La Salle, 56;
with La Barre, 76–83;
with Le Moyne, 102;
with Johnson, 131–133, 145, 149;
with Wayne (Treaty of Greenville), 162, 164, 219, 222;
with Cass, 198–200, 224, 225;
with U. S. government, 202.
Indian tribes,
_Iroquois_ or Five Nations, location and organization, 11, 12, 232;
their relations to the French, 17–22, 36–38, 54, 60, 74–84;
at Niagara, 102, 217;
_Hurons_, location, 12–16;
at war with Iroquois, 16–23, 36, 37;
_Algonquins_, 12, 114;
_Neutral Nation_, 33;
_Ojibways_, 114;
_Ottawas_, 114, 120, 144, 145;
_Illinois_, 114, 134;
_Chippewas_, 138–145;
_Sauk_ and _Fox_, 202–214.
_For Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas_, see under
_Iroquois_.
Iroquois Trail, 231, 232, 251.
Jesuits,
missions to Hurons, 25–38;
to Iroquois, 38;
at Sault Ste. Marie, 34, 35, 39;
at La Pointe, 39, 41;
at Manitoulin Island, 41.
Jogues, Father Isaac, Jesuit missionary,
among Hurons, 32, 34;
visits and names Sault Ste. Marie, 35;
captured and killed by Iroquois, 35, 36.
Johnson, Sir William,
captures Niagara, 106–111;
Indian conferences, 131, 132, 133, 146–149.
Johnston, Albert, 207.
Joncaire, 101, 108.
La Barre, Gen. Le Febvre de, 73–84;
expedition against Iroquois, 74–84.
La Motte, companion of La Salle, 53–56.
La Pointe, 39, 41.
La Salle, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de,
early career, 49–51;
builds the _Griffon_, 56–60;
on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, 61–71.
Le Caron, Father Joseph, 10, 15, 16.
Le Moyne, Charles (1st), 103.
Le Moyne, Charles (2d), with La Barre, 75, 80, 82, 104.
Le Moyne, Charles (3d), builds Fort Niagara, 102–104.
Le Moyne, Father, 38.
Lewiston, 54, 102, 232, 238.
Lincoln, Abraham,
in Black Hawk War, 206;
debates with Douglas, 300, 302, 308–311;
nominated for presidency, 311–314.
Lockport, 253, 256, 257, 264.
Logan, Gen. John A., 3, 316.
Lumber,
forest distribution, 342, 343;
industry, 343–347.
McDougall, Lieut., at Detroit, 124, 126.
Mackinac (called Michilimackinac, Mackinaw),
trading post, 66, 67, 88, 218, 223, 224, 281;
Northwest Fur Company and American Fur Company station, 335–338,
357;
lumber region, 344;
fort at, 118, 135–150, 166, 168, 169, 177, 224, 268.
Manitoulin Island, 41, 281.
Marquette, 42, 218.
Massachusetts land cession, 220.
Melish, John, journey in western New York, 246–248.
Ménard, Father, on Lake Superior, 39.
Michigan,
part of Northwest Territory, 155;
a separate territory under Cass, 191–196;
becomes a state, 196;
in 1840, 266, 267;
railroads, 284–288;
lumber trade, 343–345;
mineral wealth, 347–351.
Michigan, Lake,
discovered and explored, 35, 39, 40, 49, 67–71;
forts on, 70, 118, 119, 166, 172–178;
settlement on, 198, 200, 222, 223;
travel on, 279–281;
commerce of, 337, 357, 361, 369, 370.
Michigan City,
in 1840, 266, 276;
underground railroad station, 302.
Milwaukee,
founded, 223, 224;
in 1840, 266, 279, 280;
fur trade of, 337;
port for grain, 369;
rapid growth, 374, 375.
Minerals,
copper, 4, 8, 347, 348;
iron, 4, 8, 348–354, 367–369;
lead, 201, 202.
Minnesota,
lumber trade, 343, 344, 346;
mineral wealth, 352–354.
New York,
home of Iroquois tribes, 11, 12;
Indian trails, 231, 232;
turnpikes, 232–236, 242–250;
canals, 237, 250–265;
railroads, 238–241, 291–298.
Niagara,
discovered, 52–61;
held by French, 101–105;
taken by English, 105–112;
Indian convention at, 132, 149;
in War of 1812, 181, 182, 189.
Niagara Falls,
location, 5;
seen by Hennepin, 52, 53;
description of, 53;
visited, 246.
Niagara, Fort,
built, 101–105;
captured by British, 105–113;
centre of British influence, 153.
Niagara River,
key to the lakes, 54–60;
in War of 1812, 181, 182, 189.
Nicolet, 35, 331.
Nipissing, Lake, 13, 27, 34, 218.
Northwestern Fur Company, 224, 335, 338–341.
Ohio,
part of Northwest Territory, 155;
becomes a state, 191;
in 1840, 266, 267;
canals, 283, 284;
railroads, 284–291;
underground railroad, 301, 302;
in Civil War, 318.
Onondaga, _see_ Syracuse.
Ontario, Lake,
discovered and explored, 17, 22, 52, 56, 75;
forts on, 52, 61, 100–112, 189, 218;
travel on, 242;
commerce of, 336.
Ordinance of 1787, 155, 191.
Oswego,
trading post, 102, 105, 333;
Johnson at, 132, 133;
fort, 219;
village, 220, 221.
Pennsylvania,
canals, 284;
railroads, 291–297, 299, 302, 368.
Perrot, Nicholas, 201.
Perry, Oliver Hazard,
early life, 181;
in charge of Lake Erie fleet, 181–182;
battle of Lake Erie, 183–187, 190.
Pontiac,
meets Rogers, 113;
character and early career, 113–116;
blockades Detroit, 119–131;
later life and death, 133.
Pouchot, Capt., French officer at Niagara, 105;
besieged by English, 106–111;
surrenders, 111.
Prideaux, Gen., killed at Niagara, 105, 106.
Proctor, Gen. Henry,
at Malden, 180, 187;
defeated, 188, 189.
Radisson, 39.
Railroads,
Mohawk and Hudson, 238, 240;
New York Central, 241, 291, 298;
Michigan Central,
284, 287, 288;
Kalamazoo and Erie, 285, 286;
Michigan Southern, 285;
Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, 288–291;
New York and Erie, 291–298;
Illinois Central, 305, 306;
Iron Mountain Road, 351;
_see also under_ Roads.
Rivers,
Chicago, 70, 218, 222;
Cuyahoga, 113, 219;
Detroit, _see under_ Detroit River;
Fox-Wisconsin, 98, 218;
Genesee, 56, 220, 233, 235, 246, 252, 257;
Illinois, 66, 71, 106;
Maumee, 133, 159, 178, 179, 218, 276, 284;
Milwaukee, 223;
Mississippi, 12, 49, 104, 154, 155, 201–203, 211, 218, 225, 299;
Mohawk, 232, 237, 246, 252, 259, 264;
Niagara, _see under_ Niagara River;
Ohio, 49, 104, 154, 158, 165, 228, 284, 302;
Oswego, 102;
Ottawa, 10, 13, 27, 51, 90, 154, 218;
Raisin, 179–181;
Rock, 201–208, 212;
Sandusky, 183, 187;
St. Croix, 225, 344;
St. Joseph’s, 70, 119, 161, 218, 275;
St. Lawrence, 12, 13, 74, 84, 96, 104, 147, 236;
Thames, 188–190;
Wabash, 177, 218;
Wisconsin, 201, 202, 210, 211, 212.
Roads,
buffalo roads, 229, 230;
Indian trails, 230–232;
turnpikes, 232–236, 247–250;
log-roads, 243;
railroads, 238–241, 283–298, 305, 344, 351, 353.
Rochester,
founded, 220;
turnpike to, 235, 236;
on Erie Canal, 252;
canal celebration at, 257, 258.
Rochester, Nathaniel, 220, 235.
Rogers, Major Robert,
meets Pontiac, 113;
at Detroit, 116, 128, 129.
Rome, 232, 258, 259.
Saginaw, 198, 344.
St. Clair, Gen., his defeat, 156–159, 174.
St. Clair, Lake, named, 63, 64.
Saint Lusson, Daumont de, his ceremony at Sault Ste. Marie, 40–48.
Sandusky,
in 1840, 268, 272, 273;
Underground Railroad station, 302;
in Civil War, 322–325, 328;
_see also under_ Forts.
Sandwich,
American army at, 168, 169;
evacuated by British, 187, 188.
Sault Ste. Marie,
discovered, 34, 35, 39;
Saint Lusson at, 39–48;
Henry at, 137, 145–148;
Cass at, 199;
Margaret Fuller at, 282;
“Soo” Canal built, 7, 8, 351, 362–365;
commerce of, 8, 364, 372.
Schenectady, 232, 238, 240, 268.
Scott, Gen. Winfield, in Black Hawk War, 207, 212.
Ships,
kinds of,
bateau, 127, 129, 358, 359;
canal boat, 255–259, 261–264;
canoe, 356–359;
pirogue, 359;
sailing vessel, 359, 360, 365;
steamboats, 268, 269, 279, 360–362, 371;
steel freighters, 365–370;
whalebacks, 370, 371;
ice-breakers, 371, 372;
_Griffon_,
first sailing vessel on the lakes, 51–69;
built by La Salle, 51–60;
on the lakes, 61–68;
lost, 69, 359, 373;
_Beaver_, at Detroit, 120, 127, 359;
_Gladwin_, at Detroit, 120, 126, 127, 130, 359;
ships in battle of Lake Erie, 183–187;
on Erie Canal, 255–259;
in Civil War, 322–326, 329;
_Walk-in-the-Water_, first steamboat on the lakes, 360, 361, 373.
Sons of Liberty, 318–322, 328.
Stage wagons, 234, 236, 243–245, 247, 248.
Superior,
Indian trading station, 224, 225;
became a town, 225;
commerce of, 344, 369.
Superior, Lake,
discovered and explored, 39, 198–200, 224;
settlement on, 225;
commerce of, 336–341, 344, 347–354, 357, 360–370.
Syracuse (Onondaga), 232, 252, 264.
Taylor, Col. Zachary, 207.
Tecumseh,
leads Indian uprising, 165, 166;
with the British, 169, 170, 187–189;
killed, 189.
Toledo,
in 1840, 266, 276;
terminus of canal and railroad, 284, 287;
rapid growth, 375, 383.
Tolls, table of, 235, 236.
Tonty, companion of La Salle, 56, 70.
Tonty, Madame, 96.
Toronto, 148, 219.
Tower, Charlemagne, opens iron mines, 352, 354.
Travel,
bibliography, 389–391;
to Lake Erie, in 1796, 242–246;
in 1811, 246–250;
on Erie Canal, 261–263;
on Great Lakes in 1840, 266–282.
Travellers,
John Harriott, 242–246;
John Melish, 246–248;
an Englishwoman, 248, 249;
Anne Royall, 261–263;
Margaret Fuller, 278–282.
Treaties,
treaty of Paris, 1782, 153, 154;
Jay’s treaty, 1796, 163;
treaty of Ghent, 1814, 190;
_see also_ Indian treaties.
Turnpikes, _see under_ Roads.
Two Harbors, 353, 354.
Underground Railroad, 301, 302.
Utica (Fort Schuyler), 232, 233, 238, 245, 248, 260, 262.
_Walk-in-the-Water_, _see under_ Ships.
Wayne, Anthony,
Indian campaign, 156–164;
makes treaty of Greenville, 162;
death, 164.
Wells, William, at Fort Dearborn massacre, 174–177.
Wigwam, Republican, 311–315.
Wisconsin,
part of Northwest Territory, 155;
called Huron district, 193;
Black Hawk War in, 201, 210–212;
in 1840, 266, 267;
lumber trade, 343–346;
mineral wealth, 351, 352, 354.
Stories from American History
Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors
By JAMES BARNES
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The Story of the Great Lakes
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Transcriber’s Note
Some inconsistencies in spelling, hyphenation, and punctuation have
been retained. If there were small-caps, Small capitals changed to all
capitals.
This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text.
The transcriber was born and raised in the Great Lakes region (the
greater Cleveland area) and still lives there as of this writing.
p. 332: changed “Groseillers” to “Groseilliers” (Radisson and
Groseilliers returned to Quebec)
p. 395: changed “Groseillers” to “Groseilliers” (Groseilliers, 39.)