CONTENTS—Indian paths—Portages—Original French routes—Mer de Canada—
Original names of St. Lawrence—Ontario—Huron—Route by Bay Quinté—
Old French maps—Original English routes—Four ways from Atlantic to
the Lakes—Mississippi—Potomac—Hudson—Indian name of Erie—From New
York to Ontario—The Hudson River—Mohawk—Wood creek—Oneida Lake—
Oswego River—The carrying places—West Canada Creek—Black River—
Oswegotchie—The navigation—Military highway—Lower Canada—An
historic route—The paths followed by the Loyalists—Indian paths
north of Lake Ontario—Crossing the Lake—From Cape Vincent to the
Bay Quinté—From Oswego by Duck Islands—East Lake—Picton Bay—
Coasting Ontario—Two ways to Huron—By Bay Quinté and Trent; by Don
River—Lake Simcoe—Point Traverse—Loyalists—Traveling by the St.
Lawrence—First road—Long remembered event.
Although the European found the American continent a vast unbroken
wilderness, yet the native Indians had well defined routes of travel.
Mainly, the long journeys made by them in their hunting excursions, and
when upon the war path, were by water up and down rivers, and along the
shores of lakes. And at certain places around rapids, and from one body
of water to another, their frequent journeyings created a well marked
path. These portages or carrying places may even yet, in many places be
traced, and are still known by such appellations. The arrival of the
European in America was followed by his penetrating, step by step, to
the further recesses of the north and west. The opening of the fur trade
with the Indians led to increased travel along some of the original
paths, and probably to the opening of new ones. While the French by the
waters of the Lower St. Lawrence, found it convenient to ascend by the
great streams, the English had to traverse the high lands which separate
the sources of the rivers which empty into the Atlantic, from those
which rise to flow to the lakes and rivers of fresh water to the north.
The original routes of travel taken by the French were up the St.
Lawrence, at first called the “Grand River of Canada,” while the gulf is
marked Galpo di Canada O’S Larenzo. The water of the Atlantic, south of
the Chesapeake River to Newfoundland and the gulf, was known as the _Mer
de Canada_. From the seaboard the traveler sometimes, having ascended to
the mouth of the Sorel River, turned west to lake Champlain, and thence
into the western part of the present New York State, or continuing up
the St. Lawrence to its confluence with the Ottawa, or as it was
sometimes called Grand River, selected one or the other of these
majestic streams, by which to continue the journey westward. Following
the Ottawa, the way led to the north as far as Lake Nippissing, and
thence westward to the Georgian Bay. Sometimes the voyager would
continue to ascend the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario, a portion of the
St. Lawrence sometimes called Cataraqui River, or the Iroquois River,
that is to say, the river which leads to Cataraqui, or the Iroquois
country. Lake Ontario was called by Champlain, Lake St. Louis, and
subsequently for a time it was known as Lake Frontenac. According to a
map observed in the French Imperial Library the Indian name of Ontario
was Skaniadono, 1688.
From Lake Ontario to Lake Huron, at first named Mer Douce, and, then
after the Huron Indians, who were expelled from that region by the
Iroquois in 1650, a very common route was up the Bay Quinté, the River
Trent, Lake Simcoe, and to Georgian Bay. That this was a not unfrequent
way is well exhibited by the old French maps, which, prepared to
indicate the principal waterways to the traveler, had the waters of the
Bay and Trent, even to its source, made broad, so that the observer
might imagine that the bay and the river were one continuous bay of
navigable waters. As this route was adjacent to the territory of the
Iroquois nation, it was only when the French were at peace with them
that this course was taken, until the establishment of the fort at
Cataraqui. Again, the French occasionally followed the south shore of
Lake Ontario to the Niagara River and ascended it to Lake Erie, and thus
approached the far west.
While the French with comparative ease, reached the vast inland seas,
the English by more difficult channels sought the advantages, which
intercourse with the lake Indians afforded. An early writer of American
history, Isaac Weld, says: “There are four principal channels for trade
between the ocean and the lakes. One by the Mississippi to Lake Erie, a
second by the Potomac and French Creek to Lake Erie. (Lake Erie was at
first called Okswego, and the territory to the south of Lake Erie was
sometimes called Ontario Nous.) A third by the Hudson, and a fourth by
the St. Lawrence.” A later writer says: “It is worthy of notice, that a
person may go from Quebec to New Orleans by water all the way except
about a mile from the source of Illinois River.” The last mentioned
route we have seen belonged to the French, and was the best to follow,
as well as the most direct to Europe. Of the other three, we have only
to speak of that by the Hudson.
The distance from New York to Lake Ontario is laid down as being 500
miles. From New York Bay to Albany, the Hudson is navigable, 180 miles.
Ten miles north of Albany the river divides into two branches. The
western branch is the Mohawk and leads to Rome, formerly Fort Stanwix. A
branch of the Mohawk, Wood Creek, leads toward Oneida Lake, which was
reached by a portage. A branch of Wood Creek was called Canada Creek,
and led toward Lake Champlain. From Oneida Lake, the larger lake,
Ontario, is reached by the Oswego River. Weld probably refers to this
route when he says that the distance over which boats had to be hauled
by land, (perhaps, from New York to Ontario) was altogether thirty
miles. This was no doubt the most speedy route by which to reach Upper
Canada from the Hudson. Frequent reference is made to it, in the
accounts of journeying, by the U. E. Loyalists, which have come under
notice. It was by far the most commonly traveled way, taken by those who
came into Canada after the close of the war. And, it is stated, 1796,
that the chief part of the trade between New York and the lake is by
this way. But sometimes, the traveler up the Mohawk, instead of turning
into Vilcrik, or Wood Creek, would continue to ascend the Mohawk, which
turned more toward the east; and then into a branch sometimes called,
1756, West Canada Creek, by which he was brought contiguous to the head
waters of the Black River, which empties into the lake at Sacket’s
Harbor. But the Black River was sometimes reached by ascending the
Hudson, above the mouth of the Mohawk, away eastward to the Mohegan
mountains, where the Hudson rises. Crossing these mountains he would
strike the Moose River, which is a tributary to the Black River.
Occasionally, instead of Moose River, the Oswegotchie was reached, and
followed to its mouth at La Présentation, the present town of
Ogdensburgh That this route was well known, is shown from the statement
of Weld, that, “It is said that both the Hudson and Oswegotchie River
are capable of being made navigable for light batteaux to where they
approach within a short distance, about four miles.” All of these
branches of the Hudson are interrupted by falls.
Still another way was now and then taken, after having crossed the
Mohegans, namely, by Long Lake which feeds Racket River, that empties
into the St. Lawrence, at St. Regis, opposite Cornwall. Again, numerous
accounts have been furnished the writer, in which the traveler followed
the military highway to Lower Canada, by Whitehall, Lake Champlain, Fort
Ticonderoga, Plattsburgh, and then turning northward proceeded to
Cornwall. But this way was the common one to Lower Canada, and by the
Sorel. This historic route was no doubt long used by the Indians, before
the European trod it, and Champlain at an early period penetrated to the
lake, to which his name is forever attached. Along this road passed many
a military expedition; and during the wars between the colonies of
France and England, here ebbed and flowed the tide of strife. The
rebellion of 1776 witnessed Burgoyne with his army sweep by here
westward to meet his disastrous fate; and thereafter set in the stream
of refugees and loyalists, which ceased not to flow for many a year,
along this path.
While the great majority of the loyalists who came to Canada, followed
one or other of the routes above mentioned, there were some who came
around by the Atlantic, and up the St. Lawrence. There were at least two
companies, one under the leadership of Captain Grass, and one under
Captain Van Alstine, who sailed from New York in ships under the
protection of a war vessel, shortly before the evacuation by the British
forces in 1783.
Directing our attention to the territory north of Lake Ontario, and the
Upper St. Lawrence, we find some interesting facts relative to the
original Indian paths; sometimes, followed on hunting and fishing
expeditions, and sometimes in pursuit of an enemy. There is evidence
that the Mohawks, upon the southern shore of Lake Ontario, were
accustomed to pass across the waters, to the northern shores by
different routes. Thus, one was from Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island, and
thence along its shore to the west end, and then either to Cataraqui, or
up the Bay Quinté, or perhaps across to Amherst Island, where, it seems,
generally resided a Chief of considerable importance. A second route,
followed by them, in their frail bark canoes, was from a point of land
somewhat east of Oswego, called in later days Henderson’s Point, taking
in their way Stony Island, the Jallup Islands, and stretching across to
Yorkshire Island, and Duck Island, then to the Drake Islands, and
finally to Point Traverse. Following the shore around this point,
Wappoose Island was also reached; or, on the contrary, proceeding along
the shore westward they reached East Lake. From the northernmost point
of this lake they directed their steps, with canoes on their heads,
across the carrying place to the head of Picton Bay, a distance of a
little over four miles. It is interesting to notice that upon the old
maps, by the early French navigators, the above mentioned islands are
specified as “_au des Couis_;” while at the same time the Bay of Quinté
bears the name of _Couis_, showing unmistakably that the Mohawk Indians
passed by this way to the head waters of the bay and to the Trent River.
Herriot designates one of these islands, Isle de Quinté. Two maps in the
Imperial library of Paris, give these islands, above mentioned, the name
of Middle Islands, and the waters east of them are named Cataraqui Bay.
It is not at all unlikely that Champlain, when he first saw Lake
Ontario, emerged from the water of East lake. Again, instead of entering
the Bay Quinté with a view of passing up the River Moira, or Trent, they
would continue along the south shore of Prince Edward, past West Lake
and Consecon Lake, and proceed westward, sometimes to the river at Port
Hope, sometimes further west, even to the Don, and ascend some one of
the rivers to the head waters of the Trent or Lake Simcoe. The early
maps indicate Indian villages along at several points. Owing to the
dangerous coast along the south shore of Prince Edward, sometimes they
chose the longer and more tedious route through the Bay Quinté to its
head. That here was a common carrying place is well attested by the
statements of many. Indeed, at this point upon the shores of the lake
was an Indian village of importance. An old graveyard here, upon being
plowed, has yielded rich and important relics, showing that the Indians
were Christianized, and that valuable French gifts had been bestowed.
It would seem from a letter of DeNonville, that there were two ways to
reach Lake Huron from Lake Ontario: one by the Bay Quinté and the Trent;
the other by the way of the Don River and Lake Simcoe, called by him
“Lake Taranto.” In the selection of routes they were guided by Indians.
The route by the Trent and the Bay Quinté was for many a day regarded as
the most direct, and the best route to Lake Huron, even since the
settlement by Europeans. Its supposed importance was sufficient to lead
to the attempt to construct a canal with locks, to make it navigable.
Gourlay says, sometime after the war of 1812, that “in course of time it
may become an object of importance to connect Rice Lake by a canal with
Lake Ontario direct, instead of following the present canoe route by its
natural outlet into the Bay Quinté.”
The Marquis DeNonville, in 1685, moved on the Five Nations with his
little army in canoes, in two divisions. On the 23rd June, one-half
proceeded on the south side from the fort Cataraqui, and the other on
the north side of the lake, and met near Oswego. Now, there can be no
doubt, that the latter party crossed the bay to Indian Point, passed
along its southern shore, then across the bay by Wappoose Island, and
then around, or crossing Point Traverse struck far into the lake, by the
islands which constituted the guides of this early Indian route. It may
be that this was so commonly traveled that the old name of Point
Traverse was thus derived.
We have indicated the several routes followed by the Indians, the
French, the English, and finally by the Refugees, so far as relate to
the territory now comprising Upper Canada, that is by which it was
originally reached and settled. Beside, there were some who found their
way by land from the head waters of the Susquehanna to Lake Erie and
Niagara. But the vast majority of pioneers of Upper Canada entered by
the channels aforesaid.
For many years, the only road from Lower Canada was by the St. Lawrence,
ascending wearily up the dangerous rapids in canoes and batteaux; and it
will be found that the lots in the first townships were surveyed narrow
in order to secure a water frontage to as many as possible, because
there was no other means of transit than by water. But those who settled
in the second concessions, a year or two later, were obliged to tread
the length of the long front lots, in order to reach the water. At the
same time the communication with Lower Canada, up and down the rapids,
was attended with many hazards and inconveniences. It consequently
became a matter of no little importance to have a road through the
settlements to Montreal, which might be traveled by horse, a King’s
highway from the eastern Provincial line. It was, however, some years
after the first settlement before this was secured. The original survey
for a road was made by one Ponair, assisted by one Kilborne. “The
opening” Sherwood says, “of this road from Lower Canada to Brockville
and thence to Cataraqui, a distance of 145 miles, was an event long
remembered by the pioneers. At the end of each mile was planted a red
cedar post with a mark upon it indicating the number of miles from the
Provincial line.”—(See First Years of Upper Canada—Construction of
Roads).