PART II

Origin and History of the Lakes

I

Origin and Early History

While the modern romance of the Great Lakes, the vast commerce that has

grown upon them, the great cities along their shores, and the part they

have played in the history of the last generation form, to my mind, one

of the most absorbing and at the same time one of the most fruitful

subjects for the writer of to-day, it is to the “dim and mysterious

ages of long ago” that one must allow his imagination to be carried, if

he would understand, in its fullest measure, the part that our Inland

Seas should hold within the hearts of the American people. It has been

my desire, in this volume, to establish between our people and our

Lakes that bond of friendship which unfortunately has never existed

except upon their very shores. In the years in which I have studied

the Lakes, their commerce, and their people, I have been astonished at

the dearth of material which has been published about them, and not

until this discovery came upon me forcefully did I understand that our

own glorious Inland Seas, holding in perpetual inheritance for the

American people one half of the fresh water of the whole globe, are,

indeed, “aliens in the land of their birth.”

[Illustration: Arch Rock, Mackinac Island.

One of the natural wonders of the world.]

For this reason, I am adding to my preceding chapters a brief history

of the Lakes. It is not what might be called a history in detail, for

such a story of the Inland Seas would fill volumes in itself. No other

portion of the globe has been fraught with more incident of historical

and romantic interest than these fresh-water heritages of our nation.

The dramas that have been played upon them or along their shores would

fill libraries. Their unrevealed pages of romance and tragedy would

furnish rich material for the writers of a century. About them lie the

dust of three quarters of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America.

Along their shores were fought some of the world’s most relentless wars

of absolute extermination. Upon their waters occurred the most romantic

adventures of the early exploration of the continent. Every mile of

these waters, now clouded with the smoke of a gigantic commerce, is

fraught with the deepest historical interest. And yet, as I write

this, there comes to my mind a thought of those countless thousands

of Americans who, travelling afar for their pleasures, seek in every

quarter of the globe that their feet may tread in awesome respect upon

spots hallowed because of their historical associations, whether those

associations be of fact, of legend, or of song.

The romance of the Lakes does not begin with their early discoverers;

neither does it begin with the primitive inhabitants along their

shores. It dawns with their making. Unnumbered thousands of years

ago, before the glaciers of the Ice Age crept over the continent;

when prehistoric monsters, still living in a tropical world, roamed

throughout what is now the Lake region; and when man, if he existed

at all, was in his crudest form, the Great Lakes were still unborn.

Where their ninety-five thousand square miles of surface now afford

the world’s greatest highways of water commerce there were then vast

areas of plain, of highland and plateau, rising at times to the

eminence of mountains. Those were the days when the North American

continent was completing itself, when the last handiwork in the

creation of a world was in progress. In place of the Lakes there were

then a number of great rivers in these regions--rivers, which despite

the passing of ages, have left their channels and their marks to

this day. These rivers were all of one system and were all tributary

to one great stream, the Laurentian River, whose channel to the sea

was that of the St. Lawrence of to-day. Were it possible for one to

conceive himself back in those primitive times a journey over this

first great river system of the continent would have carried him,

first of all, from the still unfinished ocean along the south shore of

what is now Lake Ontario. He would have travelled within ten miles of

where scores of towns and cities now flourish, and almost directly

opposite what is now the Niagara River he would have encountered

another great stream pouring into the Laurentian from the south and

west. This river continued almost through the middle of what is now

Lake Erie, and opposite where Sandusky is now situated divided itself

into two branches, which still exist in the Maumee and the Detroit.

The Laurentian continued northward close along the southern shore of

Georgian Bay, turned southward to the centre of the Lake Huron basin,

where the Huronian River, sweeping across central Michigan, joined

it from Saginaw Bay. The Laurentian itself passed northward through

the Straits of Mackinaw and terminated in what is now Lake Michigan.

The story of this vast water system has been left in clearly defined

outlines; its indelible marks are ancient valleys, sand-filled channels

of the great streams, and worn escarpments. Seldom has science had an

easier story to read of ages that are gone.

Then came the second step in the creating of the Lakes of to-day.

Slowly life changed as the Glacial Age approached, and with the

sweeping back of life the rivers, too, passed out of existence. During

the slow passing of centuries, their channels were filled, and the

valleys were obstructed with drift, so that when the Ice Age had come

and gone their channels no longer ran clear and unobstructed to the

sea. As a consequence, great areas were submerged, and hundreds of

thousands of square miles of what is now fertile land, populated by

millions and dotted by cities, became an ocean. But the continent

was still in process of formation. The land in the Lake region began

to rise, and continued in its elevation until out of the chaos of

sea the Lakes were formed. To the north-east, as the centre of the

continent rose, there was a tilting of the land oceanward, and this

warping dropped Lake Ontario below the level of the other Lakes, thus

interposing a barrier to free communication to the sea and giving birth

to Niagara Falls.

In this way, so far as science can tell, the Great Lakes of to-day

were brought into existence. How early human life existed along their

shores it is impossible even to guess, but that the earliest life of

the continent should first of all gather in the valleys of the vast

water system that gave them birth, and afterward reassemble along their

shores, is highly probable. The earliest discoverers to penetrate into

the wildernesses of the West found these shores inhabited by powerful

nations. Other nations were facing extermination. Still others had

ceased to exist and were forgotten except in legend. Along the Inland

Seas have been found evidences of a superior race to the warlike

aborigines of the days of La Salle. But only these evidences, utensils

of copper and stone and clay, remain as proof of their existence. What

they were, when they lived, and how they died, is one of the mysteries

that will remain forever unsolved.

By the time the known history of the Lakes really begins their

inhabitants had degenerated into warlike, ferocious savages, bent upon

battle and extermination, and for the most part constantly embroiled in

war of one kind or another. From Lake Ontario to the end of Superior

the Lake regions were one great battle-ground, and this sanguinary

history had extended so far into the past that with the coming of the

first French explorers the Indians could give no comprehensive idea

of when it had begun. At this time, early in the seventeenth century,

the Lake country was the bone of contention among three quarters of

the aborigines of North America. There was hardly a tribe that was not

fighting some one of its neighbours, and the remnants of vanquished

nations were constantly fleeing from their enemies and escaping total

extermination by seeking safety in the West and South. In Northern

Michigan and in Wisconsin there lived three branches of the Algonquin

tribe, the Ottawas, the Ojibwas, and the Pottawatomies. The Ottawas had

been driven westward, and the Ojibwas at this time were invading the

hunting grounds of the Crees, who were entrenched on the northern shore

of Lake Superior, their territory extending northward to Hudson Bay.

On their west, the Ojibwas were also at war with the powerful Dakotas,

who, fighting eastward from the Mississippi, had secured a foothold on

Superior. To the eastward, encroaching upon the tribes of Lake Ontario,

were the Iroquois, or Five Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, Oneidas,

Onondagas, Cayugas, and the Senecas. Between these and the fierce

Algonquins of the Upper Lakes were wedged the Hurons and the Eries,

fighting vainly against the almost total extermination which became

their fate a little later. It was in the war between 1650 and 1655 that

both the Eries and the Neuters, on the southern shore of Lake Erie,

were wiped out of existence by the Iroquois, and it was about this same

time that the Hurons received their death-blow. The few that escaped

fled to the Mississippi and promptly became involved in a war with the

Sioux. Reduced to a pitiable remnant the once powerful Sacs and Foxes

were awaiting their end along Green Bay.

In these days, the Lakes were already playing a part in commerce as

well as in war. Great fleets of Indian canoes made annual voyages from

the Upper to the Lower Lakes, and war fleets were common spectacles

from almost every coast. The greatest of these fleets, so far as is

known, was that of the Iroquois, which in 1680 carried six hundred

selected braves across Lake Erie, up the Detroit River, through Lake

St. Clair, Lake Huron, the Straits of Mackinaw, and down to the foot

of Lake Michigan, where the adventurous navigators were utterly

repulsed by the warriors of the Illinois. Another Iroquois fleet was

annihilated near Iroquois Point, in Lake Huron. In 1600, according to

stories told by the Indians, a fierce naval battle in which several

hundred war canoes were engaged was fought in the middle of Lake Erie

by the Wyandots and the Senecas. Only one Seneca canoe escaped.

It was at this time, when the Lake country and the Lakes themselves

were the stage upon which were being played the most thrilling dramas

of aboriginal history, that the Inland Seas were first visited by

their white discoverers. In 1615, the Franciscan friar, Joseph Le

Caron, in company with three other Franciscans and twelve Frenchmen,

invaded the seat of the Huron nation on Matchedash Bay, where Champlain

joined him a few days later. The Hurons were preparing to attack

their old enemies, the Iroquois, and Champlain accompanied them on

their expedition. The campaign was unsuccessful but it led to the

Frenchman’s discovery of Lake Ontario. Stephen Brule, an unlettered

and reckless adventurer, was the first white man to rest eyes upon

Lake Superior, his voyage up Lake Huron being made some time in 1629.

Brule, however, was more interested in ingots of copper which he found

than in the greatest body of fresh water on the globe, and he returned

south almost immediately, while it was left for Raymbault and Jogues,

two hopeful missionaries in search of a passage to China, to make the

first navigation of Superior. This they did in 1641. Five years after

Brule’s discovery, another adventurer, Jean Nicolet, paddled in a birch

canoe from Georgian Bay across Lake Huron and through the Straits of

Mackinaw, and thus discovered Lake Michigan. As surprising as it may

seem, Erie was the last of the Great Lakes to be found by white men,

and although its existence was known to the French as early as 1640, it

was not until 1669 that Joliet, its discoverer, made his voyage upon it.

The situation as it existed in the entire Lake country at the time of

the coming of these first explorers was so unreasonably tragic that,

viewed from the present day, it approaches dangerously near to having

a touch of the comic about it. As one early writer says, “It was as if

a pack of dogs were fighting over a bone. Only--where was the bone?”

There was hardly an Indian tribe that was not at war with some other

tribe, and in most instances, according to the discoverers, there were

no evident causes for the sanguinary conflicts. “It was as if all the

savages were impelled by a bad spirit, and a rage of extermination

was sweeping over the land,” wrote one of the early Fathers. It is

a popular superstition that the extinction of the red man must be

ascribed to the coming of the white, but nothing shows more graphically

the error of this belief than these conditions of the seventeenth

century in the Lake country. The aborigines were exterminating

themselves. They were doing the work completely, mercilessly. Nations

had already been put out of existence. The Eries and Neuters were

but lately annihilated. The once powerful Hurons were reduced to a

remnant. The Sacs and Foxes were doomed. Existing tribes were weakened

and scattered by ceaseless war. And sweeping down from the east the

all-powerful Iroquois, the Romans of the wilderness, were coming each

year to add to the completeness of the extermination.

[Illustration: Fort Mackinac.]

Now came the whites, and with their presence there developed slowly

a check to the indiscriminate slaughter. At no time in the world was

the missionary spirit more active, and scores of the disciples of the

Church plunged fearlessly into the wilderness of the Lake regions,

daring their perils of starvation and torture and death that the word

of God might reach the hearts of the savages. And with them there came

hundreds of adventurous spirits, trappers employed by the “Hundred

Associates,” fortune-hunters, and reckless souls who had no other

object than the excitement of exploration and discovery, but all of

whom were staunch Catholics. The very fearlessness of these white

invaders acted as a governor on the hostile energies of the savages,

and their interests, in a small way at first, began to be diverted

into other channels than those of war. Among the neutral nations on

the Niagara River, Father Joseph de la Roche d’Aillon formed a mission

early in the seventeenth century. As early as 1615, the Recollects

had established a mission among the Hurons, which was later continued

by the Jesuits. For more than thirty years, the missionaries had

laboured among the Hurons when, in 1648, the Senecas and Mohawks fell

upon their country, razed twenty of their villages, killed most of

their 3000 fighters, and totally destroyed them as a people. Two of

the Jesuit Fathers, Brébeuf and Daniel, gave up their lives in the

fearful massacres of those days. It was only five years later that

the Iroquois, destroyers of the Hurons, requested the French to send

missionaries among them, and for nearly twenty years the zealous

Jesuits brought about a lull in the sanguinary conflicts of the Five

Nations, but at the end of that time when war flamed out anew they were

compelled to abandon their missions. Meanwhile, along the Upper Lakes,

the missionary movement was being prosecuted with extreme vigour.

Garreau and Claude Allouez, with other missionaries, worked along the

shores of Superior, establishing missions among the Sacs and Foxes

and Pottawatomies. In 1668, Marquette established his famous mission

at Sault Ste. Marie, and three years later founded the mission of St.

Ignace on the Straits of Mackinaw.

It would take a volume to describe the adventures of these early

Fighters of the Faith, their trials and sacrifices, their successes and

failures. The briefness of our sketch compels us to move quickly from

these absorbing scenes to the first great event in the history of Lake

navigation, and to the beginning of that encroachment of the English

which was to develop a hundred years of war along the Inland Seas.

While the Jesuit Fathers were sacrificing their lives among the savages

and while the Indian wars of extermination were still in progress, the

French farther east had already begun to feel the hostile influence

of the English. To check this influence La Salle and Count Frontenac

brought about the erection of Fort Frontenac, in 1673, on the present

site of Kingston. At this time, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, a

young man of eminence and learning, was of the supreme faith that he

was destined to discover a water passage through the American continent

to China and Japan, and the building of Fort Frontenac was only the

first step in the gigantic scheme which he planned to carry out. A part

of this scheme was the building of a vessel of considerable size in

which La Salle planned not only to make a complete tour of the Lakes

but in which he hoped to discover the route that would lead to the

Orient. Five years later, the young adventurer made the portage around

Niagara Falls, and at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, in Niagara County,

New York, where is now located the town of La Salle, he began the

construction of the first vessel ever to sail the Inland Seas.

There are different estimates as to the size of the ship, but that it

was somewhere between fifty and sixty tons there is little doubt.

Assisting in this work were Tonty and Hennepin, and it took all of the

persuasive powers of the three to keep the _Griffin_, as the vessel

had been named, from the hostile hands of the Senecas as she lay in

her stocks. The ship, when launched, was completely rigged, found

with supplies for a long voyage, and armed by seven pieces of cannon

and a quantity of muskets. She carried two masts and a jib, and was

decorated with the usual ornaments of an ancient ship of war, including

a flying griffin at the jib-boom and a huge eagle aft. For hundreds of

miles about, the Indians came to see this wonderful “floating fort”

before she set sail. Thirty-two souls were to form the crew of the

_Griffin_ in her adventurous search for the route to Cathay, and on

the day that she turned her prow up the Niagara River, La Salle and

his followers fell upon their knees, invoking upon themselves the

mercies of God in an undertaking which, they believed, was to be one of

the most venturesome of their age. With all on board singing the _Te

Deum Laudamus_, the _Griffin_ passed into Lake Erie, and while at the

sight of the great water ahead of them the priests again invoked the

blessings of God, the first ship to sail the Lakes boldly headed into

those “vast and unknown seas of which even their savage inhabitants

knew not the end.”

According to the historian Hennepin, who was a member of the

expedition, days and nights of the wildest speculation, of hope, of

fear, and of anxious anticipation now followed. Rumour filled the seas

ahead of them with innumerable perils. The hardy navigators knew not

at what instant destruction might overtake them in any one of a dozen

ways in which they supposed themselves to be threatened. Each morning

and night the entire crew joined in prayers and in singing the hymns

of the Church. Lake Erie was crossed in safety, and on the eleventh of

August the _Griffin_ entered the Detroit River. Hennepin was enthralled

with its wonderful beauty. “The river was thirty leagues long,” he

says, “bordered by low and level banks, and navigable throughout its

entire length. On either side were vast prairies, extending back to

hills covered with vines, fruit trees, thickets, and tall forest trees,

so distributed as to seem rather the work of art than nature.” Passing

between Grosse Isle and Bois Blanc Island, the _Griffin_ sailed slowly

up the river, frequent stops being made along its course; it passed

the present site of Detroit, and on the day of the festival of Saint

Claire the navigators entered the lake which they gave that name. On

the twenty-third of August, the _Griffin_ entered into Lake Huron, the

Franciscans chanting the _Te Deum_ for the third time, and the entire

crew joining in offering up thanks to the Almighty for the smiling

fortune that had thus far accompanied them on their voyage.

Crossing Saginaw Bay the _Griffin_ lay for two days among the

Thunder Bay islands and then continued her way into the North. Almost

immediately after this, La Salle and his companions were caught in a

terrific storm, and in the height of its fury, when it was thought

that the end had come and that all the demons of this mysterious

world were working their destruction, La Salle made a vow that if God

would deliver them he would erect a chapel in Louisiana to the memory

of St. Anthony de Padua, the tutelary saint of the sailor. As if in

response to this vow, the wind subsided and the storm-beaten _Griffin_

found shelter in Michilimackinac Bay, where a mission had been built

among the Ottawas. Early in September, the _Griffin_ sailed into Lake

Michigan and continued to Washington Island, at the entrance to Green

Bay. Here a party of missionaries and traders had been established for

a year. They had collected a large quantity of furs, valued at about

twelve thousand dollars, and La Salle changed his original plans and

sent the _Griffin_ back to Niagara with this treasure, with the idea of

continuing his own exploration by canoe.

On the eighteenth of September, 1679, La Salle bade adieu to the

_Griffin_ and her crew, and from the point of a headland watched her

white sails until they dropped below the horizon. It was the last

he ever heard or saw of the ship. No sign of her was ever afterward

found, no soul who sailed with her lived to tell the story of her

tragic end. In the years that followed, it was rumoured that Indians

boarded and destroyed her, and massacred her crew. Hennepin was of the

opinion that she was lost in a storm. Others believed that some of her

crew had mutinied and that after murdering their companions they had

joined the Ottawas, where they met their own fate. From time to time in

recent years, relics have been found along the Lakes which have revived

stories of the mysterious disappearance of the _Griffin_, but none of

these finds have yet thrown reasonable light upon the tragic end of

this first vessel to navigate the Inland Seas and of the venturesome

spirits who manned her. By all but a few the _Griffin_ is forgotten,

or has never been known. Yet by the millions who live along the Great

Lakes she should be held in much the same reverence as are the caravels

of Columbus by the whole nation.

[Illustration: Marquette’s Grave, St. Ignace, Michigan.]

II

The Lakes Change Masters

For more than a hundred years after the sailing of the _Griffin_ the

Great Lakes and the country about them were destined to be the scenes

of almost ceaseless war. The fury of the internecine strife of the

Indians was on the wane. Their conflicts of extermination had worked

their frightful end and it now came time for them to give up the red

arena of the Inland Seas to other foes, among whom the last vestiges

of their power were doomed to melt away like snow under the warmth of

the sun. For unnumbered generations they had fought among themselves.

Nations of red men had been born, and nations had died. The Lake

regions were white with their bones and red with their blood, and now

those that remained of them were to be used as pawns in the games of

war between the English and the French, among whom they were still to

play an important though a fatal part.

The romantic voyage of the _Griffin_ marked that era when the French

were gaining possession of the Lakes. Eight years before La Salle’s

expedition, Simon Francis Daumont had taken formal possession of the

Inland Seas in the presence of seventeen different Indian nations. In

1761, a fort had been erected at Mackinaw, and Daniel Deluth, after

whom the city of Duluth was named, planted a colony of French soldiers

among the Sioux and Assiniboines of Minnesota. From this time on, the

power of the French steadily gained in ascendancy and the work of

winning the allegiance of the Indians progressed for a number of years

without interruption. In 1686, Fort Duluth was built on the St. Clair

River, and fifteen years later, in 1701, Cadillac built a fort on the

present site of Detroit, which was destined to play a picturesque and

important part in the century of war that was to follow. Other forts

of the French were at Michilimackinac (Mackinac), Chicago, Green

Bay, and on the Niagara River. Nearly all of the Indians of the Lake

regions had become their allies, with the exception of the Iroquois.

The forests and streams were the haunts of French traders. The Church

was establishing itself more and more firmly among the tribes. The

adventurous trappers of the fur companies were even living among the

savages, and there was fast developing between the red men and the

French that bond of friendship which was to remain almost unbroken

through all of the troublous times that were to follow. The power of

France, at this time, seemed bound to rule the destinies of the Inland

Seas.

On the other hand, the Iroquois were the implacable enemies of the

French and their allies, and the friends of the English. They were

distributed over a territory which embraced the Lake Ontario regions

and which extended to the English settlements of the East, thus

offering a free and safe road of travel to English traders into the

domains of the French. Reduced to less than a quarter of the fighting

strength that they had possessed before the wars of extermination, they

were still the terror of all other Lake tribes, and the English were

not slow to take advantage of the opportunities which their friendship

offered them. At every possible point the Five Nations checked the

movements of the French, and at the same time assisted the English

traders to invade their territory. In 1684, De la Barre, then Governor

of Canada, determined to destroy this last menace to French dominion,

and sent word throughout the Lake regions calling upon his warrior

allies to assemble at Niagara for a great war of extermination upon the

Iroquois. De la Barre himself proceeded to Lake Ontario with a powerful

force of nearly two thousand men, but an epidemic of sickness attacked

his army and the only result of the “campaign of extermination” was a

peaceful conference with the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas.

The failure of De la Barre’s plans was the first great blow to French

dominion. The English traders became more daring and parties penetrated

even as far as Michilimackinac, one of the French strongholds. These

traders were regarded as fair game by the French wherever found, but

though several parties were captured the invasion from the East did not

cease. Alarmed at the growing danger, the French determined to make

another campaign against the Iroquois. To the existence of the Five

Nations they ascribed their peril. With these fierce warriors out of

the way they could easily hold the English back.

In 1687, the Marquis Denonville, who had succeeded De la Barre,

gathered two thousand troops and six hundred Indian warriors at

Montreal, and with the advice that a thousand Indian allies would meet

him at Niagara set out for the land of the Iroquois. On June 23d, the

forces met at Fort Frontenac and from there proceeded to Irondequoit,

in the enemy’s country. Only the Senecas, one branch of the Five

Nations, had gathered to meet the invaders, and in the fierce battle

that followed, the French and their allies were defeated and driven

to the shores of the lake. Satisfied with their victory, the Senecas

did not press the invaders, and Denonville took advantage of his

opportunity to build Fort Niagara, after which he led the remnant of

his defeated army back to Montreal, leaving a garrison of one hundred

men in the new stronghold. During the winter that followed, the Senecas

besieged the fort with such success that less than a dozen of its

defenders escaped with their lives.

News of the defeat of the French spread like wildfire. It penetrated

to the farthest fastnesses of the known wildernesses. English traders

began to swarm into the Lower Lake regions. The Indian nations allied

to the French were thrown into a panic. The war spirit of the Iroquois

was aroused to a feverish height by their victory, and they swarmed to

the invasion of the French dominions. Fort Frontenac was captured and

burned. Both the allies and the French were swept back with tremendous

slaughter, and their power upon the Lower Lakes was broken. “It

seemed,” said an early writer, “as if the Five Nations would sweep over

the entire Lake country, driving all enemies from their shores, and

thus delivering into the hands of the English all that the French had

gained.”

But, in this hour of victory, the shadow of doom was hovering over the

martial people of the Five Nations. For unnumbered years the conquerors

of the New World, the time had at last come for their fall. The War

of the Palatinate was at hand, and the hostilities of the French and

the English spread to land and sea. Rumours came that Frontenac was

about to sweep down upon New York, and the faithful Iroquois turned

back to defend the city of their White Father. They threw themselves

between the invaders and their friends, an unconquerable barrier. New

York was saved, but in the struggle the power of the Five Nations was

broken. For many years they still remained a force to be reckoned

with, but as the conquering Romans of the Wilderness and the terror of

a score of nations, extending even to the Mississippi, their history

was at an end. In their passing it must be said that a braver man, a

truer friend, or a more relentless foe never existed on the American

continent than the Iroquois warrior.

There now came a brief lull in the warfare of the Lakes. The end of

the War of the Palatinate was closely followed by Queen Anne’s War,

but hostilities did not openly break out along the Inland Seas. The

Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 left France technically in possession of

the Lakes, but, even after this treaty, the English claimed as a sort

of inheritance from the Iroquois the regions of Lake Ontario and Lake

Erie. This fact again gave opportunity for plenty of excitement and

trouble. The French had rebuilt Fort Frontenac and were establishing

other strongholds, their object being to hem the English along their

seacoast possessions by means of a string of forts extending from

Canada southward. To frustrate these designs Governor Burnett, of

New York, began the erection of a trading-post at Oswego in 1720.

The French at once reciprocated by rebuilding Fort Niagara of stone,

whereupon, in 1727, the English added a strong fort to their holdings

in Oswego. This all but started active hostilities again. Beauharnois,

the Governor of Canada, flew into a high dudgeon, sent a written demand

for the English to abandon the fort, and threatened to demolish it

unless this was done. The response of the English was to strengthen

their garrison. Instead of carrying out his threat of war, Beauharnois

began the strengthening of all the French forts, a work which continued

for several years. Meanwhile the French trappers, traders, and priests

of the Upper Lakes had been stirring the passions of the Indians

against the encroaching English. The latter, in 1755, built two

warships on Lake Ontario, and it was pointed out to the Western tribes

that these were two of the terrible engines that were intended to work

their destruction. By the time of the breaking out of the Seven Years’

War, the French, though their population was less than a tenth of that

of their enemies, were splendidly prepared for war.

Actual operations in this last struggle between the French and the

English for the possession of the Lakes began in 1756, when De Lery

and De Villier set out with some six hundred men to capture Oswego and

other forts. On the Onondaga River, De Villier encountered Bradstreet

and his English and was completely defeated, more than a hundred of his

men being killed. Meanwhile, from Fort Frontenac, General Montcalm was

preparing to descend upon Oswego, and on the ninth of August, 1756,

he arrived in sight of the English stronghold with three thousand men

under his command. On the twelfth the battle began. From the beginning

it was a surprise to both combatants. The victory of the French was

comparatively easy and complete. The English loss was one hundred and

fifty killed and wounded. Nearly two thousand prisoners were taken, one

hundred and twenty cannon and mortars, six war vessels, and an immense

amount of stores and ammunition. The blow was a terrific one for the

English. Oswego had been their Gibraltar. In it were their shipbuilding

yard, nearly all of their heavy ordnance, and a large part of the

stores that were to supply them during the war. For the first time,

the English realised what a terrible loss they had sustained in the

breaking of the power of the Five Nations.

[Illustration: Monument at Put-in-Bay in Memory of the British and

Americans who Died in the Battle of Lake Erie.]

It was not until 1758 that the English regained a little of their

lost prestige. Everywhere the French had been victorious. But, in the

summer of this year, Colonel Bradstreet attacked Fort Frontenac with

thirty-five hundred men, and after two days of battle the garrison

surrendered. This was as decisive a blow to the French as was the loss

of Oswego to the English. Ten thousand barrels of supplies, nearly a

hundred cannon, and five vessels were destroyed. The French now saw

that the beginning of the end was at hand. Little Fort Niagara was

burned the following year to keep it from falling into the hands of

their enemies, and a little later Fort Niagara surrendered. At this

time French reinforcements were on their way to Niagara, but hearing

of the fall of this last stronghold the ships which bore them were

destroyed at the northern end of Grand Island, in a bay which from that

time has been known as Burnt Ship Bay, and at the bottom of which,

until a comparatively short time ago, the remains of the old vessels

were plainly to be seen. With the fall of Montreal in 1760, the last

flag of the French passed from the Great Lakes. Their warships were

scuttled, their forts in the North surrendered, and within a few months

England was everywhere supreme along the Inland Seas.

There now followed a curious and absorbingly interesting phase of

Lake history. The English had conquered the French--but they had not

conquered the red allies. The warriors of the Upper Lakes could not

be made to understand the situation. “We fight until there are none

of us left to fight,” they said. “Why is it that our French brothers

have run? Shall we run because they have run? We were their friends and

brothers. We are their friends now, and though you have conquered them

we will still fight for them, so long as there are among us men who can

fight.” A more beautiful illustration of the friendship and loyalty of

the Indian warrior could hardly be conceived than this.

And it was largely this loyalty, this loyalty to a race that had been

destroyed in their regions, that was to result in those terrible wars

and massacres which marked the course of English rule along the Lakes,

almost as regularly as mile-posts mark the course of a road. In the

hearts of the savages there was an intense, ineradicable hatred of the

English. They, and not the French, were regarded as the usurpers and

despoilers of the country. This hatred was even greater than that of

the Five Nations toward the French. It was something, as one old writer

says, “beyond description, beyond the power to measure.”

In these days, a fearful fate was rolling up slowly for the string of

forts along the Inland Seas, a doom that came without warning and with

terrible completeness. At the head of the great conspiracy which was

to result in the destruction of all the forts held by the English,

with the exception of that at Detroit, was Chief Pontiac. On May 16,

1763, the first blow fell. By what was called treachery on the part of

the Indians, but what would be termed stratagem in a white man’s war,

Fort Sandusky was captured and its entire garrison, with the exception

of one man, was massacred. Meanwhile a band of Pottawatomies from

Detroit had hurried to the fort at the mouth of St. Joseph’s River, at

the head of Lake Michigan, and, on the morning of the twenty-fifth,

killed the whole of its garrison with the exception of three. Eight

days later Michilimackinac (Mackinac) fell. On the morning of this

fatal day, a large party of Ojibwas were to play a game of ball with

the Sacs, and not a breath of suspicion filled the breasts of the

doomed officers and men. Discipline was relaxed on account of the

game. Excitement ran high. The Indians were in the best of spirits,

and had never seemed more friendly. Their sole thought seemed to be of

the great game. Scores of blanketed squaws and old men had assembled,

and these, without creating suspicion, had gathered close to the open

gates. The game began, and the shouting, struggling savages rushed this

way and that in pursuit of the ball. Now they would surge far from

the stockade, now so close that they would crush against its pickets.

Suddenly the ball shot high into the air and fell inside the fort, and

a hundred yelling savages rushed to the gates. Instantly the scene was

changed. The squaws and the old men threw back their blankets and gave

hatchets and guns to the warriors as they rushed past them. Within a

few minutes, seventeen men were killed and the rest of the garrison

were prisoners. Five of these prisoners were afterward killed by their

captors. The fate of the garrison at Presque Isle was less terrible.

For two days, the defenders of the fort held off the savages and then

surrendered upon the promise that their lives would be spared. The

prisoners were carried to Detroit.

During this time, while the conspiracy was working with such terrible

success at nearly every point, the great Pontiac himself had failed in

his designs upon Detroit. The garrison at this point was the strongest

on the Lakes, being composed of one hundred and twenty men under the

command of Major Gladwin and some forty or fifty traders and trappers.

They were strongly entrenched behind palisades twenty-five feet high,

were well supplied with the necessities of war, and Pontiac regarded

them as invincible unless he could overcome them by stratagem. By

the merest chance a fearful massacre was averted. Early in May Major

Gladwin received warning of Pontiac’s plotting, but paid comparatively

little attention to it until, under a clever pretext, the Indian

chieftain asked that he and a number of his warriors be allowed to

enter the fort. Under their blankets Pontiac and his braves carried

hatchets and short-barrelled rifles, their intention being to take the

unprepared garrison by surprise and during the first excitement of the

fray to throw open the gates for the hundreds of armed savages waiting

near. But when the Indians came within the palisades they found the

garrison under arms and awaiting them.

[Illustration: Old West Blockhouse, Fort Mackinac.

Built by the British, about 1780.]

This frustrated all of the great chief’s carefully laid plans, and the

attack was postponed. Three days later Pontiac again asked admittance

to the fort, but was refused. Knowing that in some way his plot had

been revealed to the English, Pontiac at once began his attack and

for several hours fought desperately to take the stronghold, but was

repulsed again and again with great loss. Desultory fighting, attacks

and counter-attacks, were frequent features of the siege that followed.

Meanwhile twenty boats and a hundred men, together with a large

quantity of supplies, had left Fort Niagara for Detroit under the

command of Lieutenant Cuyler, and these reinforcements were anxiously

awaited by the besieged. They were destined never to reach Detroit.

On June 28th, Lieutenant Cuyler and his command landed on Point Pelee

with the intention of camping there for the night. Hardly had they

drawn their boats upon the beach when they were greeted by a tremendous

volley of musketry, and with frightful yells a horde of savages rushed

down upon them from their ambush. Taken completely by surprise the

English made no resistance but fled precipitately for their boats. Less

than forty men, many of them wounded, escaped in three boats and made

for Fort Sandusky, which they found had been destroyed. All hope of

reaching Detroit was now abandoned and the worn and wounded remnants of

the reinforcing party rowed back to Niagara.

Meanwhile the condition of the garrison at Detroit was becoming

desperate. Both ammunition and food were becoming exhausted, many of

the defenders were wounded or sick, and each day seemed to add to

the strength of the savage besiegers. On the morning of June 30th,

seven weeks after the beginning of the siege, a large number of boats

flying the English flag were seen coming up the river. Joy gave place

to horror when it was seen that these boats were filled with Indians

and with white prisoners, the latter being those who were captured

at Point Pelee. While these savage victors had been making their way

westward, Lieutenant Cuyler and his handful of fugitives were on their

way to Niagara, where they brought news of the destruction of Fort

Sandusky and of the possible fate of Detroit. At Fort Niagara was

the armed schooner _Gladwin_, named after the defender of Detroit,

and on July 21st, she sailed for the besieged fort carrying with her

supplies and a reinforcement of sixty men. On the night of the 23d,

while the schooner was lying becalmed between Fighting Island and the

mainland in the Detroit River, she was attacked by the Indians, who

were completely repulsed. For several days, while slowly making her

way up the river against headwinds and current, the cannon of the

_Gladwin_ spread consternation and havoc among the savages along the

shores. Late in July, Captain Dalzell arrived with a score of barges,

bringing cannon, ammunition, supplies, and an additional force of

three hundred men. Pontiac, however, was still hopeful of success. His

force had been increased by more than a thousand warriors, and this

fact led to the sending of another reinforcement from Fort Niagara.

Six hundred regulars under the command of Major Wilkins left late in

September. Near Pointe-aux-Pins they encountered a terrific gale on

Lake Erie in which seventy men and three officers besides an immense

amount of stores and ammunition were lost, a calamity which compelled

the survivors to return to Niagara. Winter brought partial relief to

Detroit. The great number of Pontiac’s warriors made the struggle for

subsistence a hard one and with the coming of the cold months the

tribes separated to keep from starvation, leaving only a part of their

fighting men to maintain the siege, thus removing for the time being

the immediate danger of the capture and massacre of the garrison.

During the winter that followed, the English prepared to begin a

campaign in the spring of a magnitude heretofore unknown among the

wilderness tribes. The daring and confidence of the Indians were

becoming more and more menacing. On September 14th, one of the most

terrible massacres of the Lake country occurred at Devil’s Hole, three

miles below Niagara Falls. The Devil’s Hole is now visited by thousands

of tourists each year, but probably not one in a hundred knows of

the bloody conflict that gave it its name. On that day, a convoy of

soldiers were returning to Fort Niagara from Fort Schlosser, and in

the gloomy chasm of the “Hole,” which leads from the bluffs above down

to the river, a party of ambushed Senecas were awaiting them. Unaware

of their danger, the soldiers came within a few rods of the ambush,

and in the massacre that followed all but three of the total number of

twenty-four were killed. A strong force from Niagara came to give the

Indians battle and was completely defeated, losing about twoscore of

its men.

The English were now practically wiped out of the Lake country, with

the exception of along the Niagara and at Detroit, and the investment

at the latter place threatened to be successful unless prompt steps

were taken for the relief of the fort with an overwhelming force. It

was not until August of the following year that a force sufficiently

powerful for the campaign was gathered at Fort Schlosser. With three

thousand men, General Bradstreet set out in bateaux to first strike

a blow at the Indians along Lake Erie. Instead of fighting, however,

the Ohio tribes were anxious to make peace with the invaders, and

after a few skirmishes and many promises on the part of the Indians,

Bradstreet reached Detroit. The long siege, which had existed for more

than a year, was broken, treaties of peace were signed with many Indian

tribes, and the English again secured possession at Michilimackinac,

Green Bay, and Sault Ste. Marie. But Pontiac was irreconciliable

and, like Robert Bruce of old, fled into the West with a few of his

followers to await another opportunity to swoop down upon his enemies.

[Illustration: The Monument Erected to those who Fought and Died on

Mackinac Island.]

But the balance of fate still seemed to be with the untamed children

of the wilderness, for Bradstreet’s return to Fort Niagara was marked

by disasters sufficient to offset much that he had achieved. At Rocky

River, near Cleveland, he was caught in a terrific gale and met a

fate similar to that which had overtaken Major Wilkins in the preceding

September. In the rush for shore, twenty-five of his bateaux, six

cannon, and a great quantity of his baggage and ammunition were lost,

together with scores of his men. The force was now divided, a part of

it to make its way through the wilderness, and the remainder to travel

in the uninjured bateaux. Bradstreet reached Niagara on November 4th,

but for twelve weeks the land force fought its way through tangles

of forest and swamp, fighting, starving, and dying of disease and

exposure. The number of those who were lost in the storm and in this

overland march has never been recorded, but it was so large as to

occasion petitions to the government, which was an unusual thing in

those days of war and carnage. From that day to this, at various

times, Lake Erie has given up relics of the lost fleets of Major

Wilkins and General Bradstreet in portions of old bateaux, gun-flints,

musket-barrels, bayonets, cannon balls, and other objects. At one time,

when a sandbar at the mouth of the Rocky River changed its position, a

vast quantity of these relics were revealed, showing that one of the

lost bateaux had sunk there and had been uncovered after a lapse of

many generations.

For a number of years after the subjugation of the Indian tribes,

the peace of the Lakes was disturbed only by the rivalries of the

fur-traders and unimportant skirmishes with the savages. The era

of warships on the Inland Seas had now begun, and by the time the

Revolutionary War broke out, they were patrolled by quite a number of

armed vessels bearing the flag of England. The Lakes were destined to

play but a small part in the struggle for independence, however, and

the most tragic event of these years upon them was the loss in a storm

of the British ship _Ontario_, of twenty-two guns, which went down

between Niagara and Oswego with her entire crew and more than a hundred

of the 8th King’s Own Regiment. At this time, Spain was scheming to

gain a foothold in the Lake regions, and, in 1781, a force under Don

Eugenio Purre left St. Louis in the depth of winter and captured the

English fort at St. Joseph. For only a few hours the flag of Spain

floated over the Lake country, Don Eugenio’s scheme being merely

to secure a “claim” to the regions, and once his banner had risen

triumphantly above the captured fort he abandoned his position and

retreated to St. Louis.

Several times during the Revolutionary War it was proposed that an

attempt be made to capture Detroit, but no efforts were made in this

direction, so that when peace was declared and the colonies were

granted their independence, England still remained in possession of the

Great Lakes. It was not until 1796 that the line of forts along their

shores were surrendered into the hands of the Americans. On July 4th

of that year, Forts Niagara, Lewiston, and Schlosser floated for the

first time in history the banner of the new nation, and a week later,

Captain Moses Porter raised the same emblem above Detroit. Thus after

having been the stage of almost ceaseless war for more than a century

and a half did it seem that peace had at last come to the Great Lakes

regions. Yet were the clouds already gathering which a few years later

were to burst forth in another storm of blood along the shores and upon

the waters of the Inland Seas.

III

The War of 1812 and After

The years of peace which followed the surrender of the English along

the Lakes were not ones of rapid development. It was as if this vast

country, bathed in blood for more than a hundred and fifty years, had

fallen into a restful sleep. Until 1800 there was almost no emigration

west. By the new nation, the shores of Lake Erie were still regarded as

in the far wilderness. The fur-trade, it is true, increased in volume,

but not until after 1805 did the traffic of the Lakes begin to show

any decided growth. From then on conditions brightened. Settlers began

going into Ohio. Lake Ontario developed a considerable shipping-trade,

and both the United States and Great Britain began to strengthen their

naval forces, the American ships being almost entirely on Lake Ontario.

At the time of the breaking out of the War of 1812, American interests

on Lake Erie were almost entirely unguarded, the only vessel patrolling

it being a small brig armed with six-pounders which, after its capture

by the British, was named the _Detroit_. To make the situation of

the Americans still worse a curious change had been working among the

Indians and French. The bitter enemies of the English only a few years

before, they now became their staunchest allies, and the first blow

struck was largely by the Ottawas and Chippewas, who joined Captain

Roberts at St. Joseph in an attack upon Mackinac. Lieutenant Hanks,

who was in command of the fort, had no knowledge of the declaration of

war and fell an easy victim to the strategy of Roberts and his Indians

and French. Not a gun was fired in the capture of this important post,

which gave to the victors the key to the entire North, and at once

placed them in a commanding position for the approaching struggle.

[Illustration: Mackinac Island, Showing Old Fort Mackinac.]

Events now began to assume a more warlike aspect along the Lakes.

At Detroit, the Americans had been assembling in force, and on July

12, 1812, General Hull crossed the river into Canada at the head

of twenty-two hundred men, his object being to prevent further

construction on British fortifications which were in progress near

Sandwich. Seven days later, Commodore Earle, in command of the British

naval forces on Lake Ontario, made a futile bombardment of Sacketts

Harbour. Meanwhile at York, now Toronto, Major-General Brock was

assembling his forces, and before Hull crossed the river, he had

established himself at Fort Niagara and had sent reinforcements under

Colonel Proctor to Amherstburg, a few miles down the river from

Detroit, where the British were to act as a check to Hull. The latter

had prepared to march upon Malden when General Brock’s appearance at

the head of a large body of British and Indian troops sent him in

precipitate retreat to Detroit.

Before his attack upon the Americans, Brock sought an interview with

the Indian chief Tecumseh and succeeded in winning his friendship to

the British cause. On August 15th, the attack upon Detroit was made,

beginning with a bombardment from guns situated across the river. The

Americans in their trenches were eager for battle. Never had a garrison

been more confident of repulsing an enemy. As the British and Indians

swept up to the attack, the men stood behind their shotted guns with

lighted matches in their hands. When the enemy was less than five

hundred yards away, and as his men, anxiously awaiting the order to

fire, were sighting along their guns, General Hull suddenly commanded

the white flag to be hoisted above the fort. Never were two combatants

more thoroughly astounded. With a powerful force, strongly entrenched,

Hull had surrendered without firing a shot. Two thousand men longing

for battle and with the odds all in their favour became the prisoners

of less than eight hundred British and six hundred Indians. It was a

humiliating defeat. In an hour the prowess of the Americans had dropped

to the lowest ebb. Hull’s cowardice not only placed the British in

supreme control of the Upper Lake region but added greatly to the

foes of the Americans. Those Indian tribes that had remained neutral

at once turned to the British, and the disaffected militia of Canada

were moved into enthusiastic support of Brock. On this same day Hull

was directly responsible for one of the most horrible massacres of

the Lake country. The commander at Fort Dearborn, which stood on the

present site of Chicago, had received orders from Hull to evacuate his

position, and, on the morning of Brock’s bombardment of Detroit, the

fort’s entire garrison of seventy soldiers, together with many women

and children, set out from its protection. They had gone as far as

what is now Eighteenth Street when they were attacked from the rear

by Miami Indians and a merciless slaughter followed. When only twenty

men remained, the little force surrendered, and the captives were

distributed among the savages.

At about this time there occurred an event on Lake Erie which somewhat

lightened the gloom occasioned by the American reverses. Commodore

Chauncey, in command of the American naval forces on Ontario, had sent

Commander Jesse D. Elliott up to Erie to begin the construction of a

navy. Elliott was a born fighter and not slow to grasp opportunities

that came his way, and when he learned that the British ships _Detroit_

and _Caledonia_ were anchored under Fort Erie, he set out from Black

Rock with one hundred and twenty-eight men, ran his boats alongside

the two ships, and captured them in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict

which began at three o’clock in the morning. The two vessels were

at once got under way and the _Caledonia_ was brought within the

protection of an American battery near Black Rock. The _Detroit_ was

less fortunate and was compelled to haul to within a few hundred

yards of a British battery. Elliott refused to abandon her until his

ammunition gave out, and even then succeeded in bringing his prize

to Squaw Island, where she was within the range of both American and

British batteries. No sooner would one side gain possession of her than

her captors would be driven off by the guns of the other, and in these

attacks and counter-attacks the vessel was destroyed. Elliott, however,

had the nucleus for his new fleet in the captured _Caledonia_.

At the beginning of the war, it was believed by both British and

American officers that at least one of the decisive battles for the

mastery of the Lakes would be fought somewhere on the Niagara frontier,

and no sooner had Brock arranged civil and military matters in the

West after the fall of Detroit than he hastened back to this scene of

action. Meanwhile the Americans had been preparing to attack Queenston,

near Niagara Falls, and from that point begin their invasion of Canada.

The British were strongly entrenched upon the Heights but their force

was considerably inferior in number to that of Colonel Van Rensselaer,

who was in command of the Americans. On the evening of October 12th,

a dozen boats began ferrying the troops across the river, while at

the same time, Colonel Chrystie, with three hundred men, and Colonels

Stranahan, Mead, and Bloom were marching to Lewiston. Early on the

morning of the 13th, the British opened fire, in the face of which

the Americans began scaling the Heights, driving the enemy back as

they advanced. At the time of the crossing of the Americans, Brock was

at Fort George but lost no time in hastening to the field of battle.

In a little marshy plot at the foot of the summit on which the final

struggle occurred, now marked by a small stone monument and overgrown

with long grass and weeds, a bullet struck him through the body and he

fell mortally wounded. This was a terrible blow to the British, but,

in the face of the calamity, they gallantly mustered their forces for

the recapture of the Heights. There were still about fifteen hundred

Americans across the river, and if once they were allowed to join

Colonel Van Rensselaer a position would be achieved of even greater

importance than that of the British at Detroit and Mackinac. With

one thousand men, the British began a furious attack of the Heights,

which were defended by not more than three hundred of the Americans

who had crossed the river. The battle was one of the most desperate

and at the same time one of the most picturesque of the war, parties

of the combatants being at times on ground so precipitous that it

was difficult to maintain a footing. The Americans were gradually

beaten back, and, notwithstanding the fact that a superior force was

only a short distance away, they were compelled to surrender, those

surrendered including all that had crossed the river, the majority of

whom took no part in this last battle of the Heights. Ninety Americans

were killed, about one hundred wounded, and over eight hundred became

prisoners of war. The British lost less than one hundred and fifty men

killed and wounded.

[Illustration: Once the Scene of Bloodshed and Strife, these Old Trees

Stand where French, Indian, and British Fought Years ago.]

Thus far almost unbroken disaster had followed the American land

forces in the Lake regions, much of which must be ascribed to the

incompetence of commanding officers. Another fatal mistake was made a

few weeks after the battle of Queenston Heights when, on November 28th,

another invasion of Canada was attempted. Three thousand men under

General Smyth were to comprise this expedition. At three o’clock in

the morning, twenty-one boats left the American shore near Black Rock,

but met with such a warm reception at the hands of the British that a

number of the boats were compelled to fall back, and in the general

excitement only a part of the force landed. Captain King, in command of

one division, captured two batteries after a desperate struggle, spiked

the guns, and with the assistance of Commander Angus and his men

would have won a complete victory had not the latter, for some reason

that has never been explained, retreated in his boats. As a consequence

Captain King and a number of his men were captured, and thus a second

attempt at a Canadian invasion fizzled out in complete disaster. This

was practically the end of the campaign of the year 1812. There had

been several minor naval events besides those which I have described

and a few small operations on land, but all of them were unimportant.

The following year opened more auspiciously for the Americans, who

were the first to begin active hostilities. On April 25th, Commodore

Chauncey set sail with a squadron of fourteen vessels and seventeen

hundred troops to attack York (Toronto). At this time York was poorly

defended notwithstanding the fact that a 24-gun ship was almost

completed in the harbour and an immense quantity of supplies were

stored there. The Americans began disembarking early in the morning

of the 27th, under the command of Brigadier-General Pike, while the

armed schooners beat up to the fort and opened on it with their long

guns. A strong wind forced the small boats, in which the troops were

being carried, so close to the works that the landing instead of

being made at a safe distance as had been planned was in the face of

a galling fire. Despite this, General Pike assembled his men on the

beach and began an immediate assault, the Canadians and English being

driven from their works with heavy loss. In the moment of defeat, the

garrison fired their powder magazine, and in the terrific explosion

that followed, fifty-two of the victors were killed and one hundred

and eighty wounded. Altogether the Americans lost seventy killed in

both the land and naval forces, and the British one hundred and eighty

killed and wounded and two hundred and ninety prisoners. The 24-gun

ship was burned, and another vessel, the _Gloucester_, was added to the

American fleet.

This victory was of tremendous importance to the Americans, and it

was determined to at once follow it up by an attack on Fort George,

where the British General Vincent was stationed with a force of over

two thousand men, fifteen hundred of whom were regulars. On May 26th,

Commodore Chauncey reconnoitred the enemy’s position and afterward

held their interest while the _Conquest_ and _Tompkins_ destroyed

a battery some distance down the lake. A part of General Vincent’s

regulars attempted to prevent a landing at this point, but they were so

terribly cut up by the short-range fire of the ships that they could

offer but little opposition. So great was their loss that the British

made little further effort to hold their position, blew up their fort,

and retreated. Of the Americans, eighteen were killed and forty-seven

wounded. The British loss was fifty-two killed, nearly three hundred

wounded, and five hundred taken prisoners.

This last blow lost the Niagara frontier to the British. General

Vincent at once gave orders that Forts Chippewa and Erie and all public

property as far down as Niagara Falls should be destroyed. The magazine

at Fort Erie was fired, and a little later, Lieutenant-Colonel Preston,

in command of the Americans at Black Rock, took possession of what

remained of the stronghold, thus giving Perry an opportunity to get

out of the Niagara River five of the vessels which were to play such

an important part in the naval history of Lake Erie. Sacketts Harbour

was now in much the same condition that York (Toronto) had been, and

was even more poorly defended. The British planned to regain a part

of their lost prestige by its capture, and on May 27th, Commodore Sir

James Lucas Yeo sailed with a large fleet and a strong land force under

Sir George Prevost to make the attack. On the 29th, eight hundred of

the British regulars landed, but despite the astonishing inadequacy of

the American garrison they were beaten back with a loss of fifty-two

killed and two hundred and eleven wounded, while the Americans lost

but twenty-three killed and one hundred and fourteen wounded. The

British squadron returned to Kingston, and for several weeks thereafter

co-operated with the army forces and made several unimportant naval

captures while Chauncey awaited the completion of the new ship _Pike_.

During July, General Dearborn was recalled from his command at Fort

George because of the capture by the British of Lieutenant-Colonel

Boerstler and seven hundred men, and during this same month Black Rock

was captured by the enemy and recaptured by the Americans, but it was

not until the 30th that an important blow was struck by either side.

On this day the Americans again descended upon York, destroyed eleven

transports, burned the barracks, and captured a considerable quantity

of supplies and ammunition.

Both the Americans and the British were now looking for a decisive

naval battle between Yeo and Chauncey upon Lake Ontario. The squadrons

were quite evenly matched with the advantage, if any, in favour of

the Americans. Both commanders watched for a favourable opportunity

to attack, but not until the 11th of August was a gun fired. After an

almost harmless long-distance cannonade between the fleets, the _Julia_

and _Growler_, two of Chauncey’s vessels, became separated from the

main squadron and were cut off and captured by Yeo. For a month, the

two fleets were chasing or evading each other, and it was not until

the 11th of September that they approached close enough for another

engagement, which was only slight. These “chase-and-run tactics”

continued until the 28th, when the squadrons came together again in

York Bay. In the action that followed, Yeo’s ships were badly damaged

and ran for protection into Burlington Bay. This victory, although not

resulting in the capture of the British fleet, completely established

Chauncey’s supremacy and for the remainder of the season Yeo remained

at Kingston.

For some months past, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, acting under

Commodore Chauncey, had been devoting his energies to the creating

of a fleet on Lake Erie, and with such energy that on the memorable

morning of September 10th, when from the masthead of the _Lawrence_

at Put-in-Bay was seen the approaching squadron of Captain Robert

Barclay, he had under his command nine vessels carrying a total of

fifty-four guns and five hundred and thirty-two men. These vessels

were the _Lawrence_, _Niagara_, _Caledonia_, _Ariel_, _Scorpion_,

_Somers_, _Porcupine_, _Tigress_, and the _Trippe_. Barclay’s fleet was

composed of the _Detroit_, _Queen Charlotte_, _Lady Prevost_, _Hunter_,

_Chippeway_, and _Little Belt_, carrying a total of sixty-three guns

and four hundred and forty men. It is interesting to note, according

to Theodore Roosevelt’s _Naval War of 1812_, that notwithstanding

the superior number of their guns the British ships were capable of

throwing a broadside of only 459 pounds as against 936 pounds from the

American squadron, a fact which shows the overwhelming superiority of

Perry’s fleet and incidentally robs his victory of some of its glory.

In my examination of the many and various accounts of the naval

battle of Lake Erie, I have found that the most complete and authentic

report is that of Mr. Roosevelt, who goes with minute detail into the

preparation, comparative strength, and handling of the two squadrons,

and inasmuch as this battle of Erie is one of the most thrilling

episodes of our Inland Seas, I have secured the very kind permission of

Mr. Roosevelt to use a part of his description of the actual contest.

Soon after daylight, on September 10th, Perry got under way and

advanced toward the enemy in battle form.

[Illustration: A View of the Historic Battle-ground on Mackinac Island.]

“As, amid light and rather baffling winds, the American

squadron approached the enemy” [says Roosevelt], “Perry’s

straggling line formed an angle of about fifteen degrees with

the more compact one of his foes. At 11.45, the _Detroit_

opened the action by a shot from her long 24, which fell short;

at 11.50, she fired a second which went crashing through the

_Lawrence_, and was replied to by the _Scorpion’s_ long 32.

At 11.55, the _Lawrence_, having shifted her port bow-chaser,

opened with both the long 12’s, and at meridian began with

her carronades, but the shot from the latter all fell short.

At the same time, the action became general on both sides,

though the rearmost American vessels were almost beyond the

range of their own guns, and quite out of range of the guns

of their antagonists. Meanwhile, the _Lawrence_ was already

suffering considerably as she bore down on the enemy. It was

twenty minutes before she succeeded in getting within good

carronade range, and during that time the action at the head

of the line was between the long guns of the _Chippeway_ and

_Detroit_, throwing 123 pounds, and those of the _Scorpion_,

_Ariel_, and _Lawrence_, throwing 104 pounds. As the enemy’s

fire was directed almost exclusively at the _Lawrence_ she

suffered a great deal. The _Caledonia_, _Niagara,_ and _Somers_

were meanwhile engaging, at long range, the _Hunter_ and _Queen

Charlotte_, ... while from a distance the three other American

gun-vessels engaged the _Prevost_ and _Little Belt_. By 12.20

the _Lawrence_ had worked down to close quarters, and at 12.30

the action was going on with great fury between her and her

antagonists, within canister range. The raw and inexperienced

American crews committed the same fault the British so often

fell into on the ocean and overloaded their carronades. In

consequence, that of the _Scorpion_ upset down the hatchway in

the middle of the action, and the sides of the _Detroit_ were

dotted with marks from shot that did not penetrate. One of the

_Ariel’s_ long 12’s also burst. Barclay fought the _Detroit_

exceedingly well, her guns being most excellently aimed, though

they actually had to be discharged by flashing pistols at the

touchholes, so deficient was the ship’s equipment. Meanwhile,

the _Caledonia_ came down too, but the _Niagara_ was wretchedly

handled, Elliott keeping at a distance which prevented the use

either of his carronades or of those of the _Queen Charlotte_,

his antagonist; the latter, however, suffered greatly from

the long guns of the opposing schooners, and lost her gallant

commander, Captain Finnis, and first lieutenant, Mr. Stokes,

who were killed early in the action; her next in command,

Provincial Lieutenant Irvine, perceiving that he could do no

good, passed the _Hunter_ and joined in the attack on the

_Lawrence_ at close quarters. The _Niagara_, the most efficient

and best-manned of the American vessels, was thus almost kept

out of the action by her captain’s misconduct. At the end of

the line the fight went on at long range between the _Somers_,

_Tigress_, _Porcupine_, and _Trippe_ on one side, and _Little

Belt_ and _Lady Prevost_ on the other; the _Lady Prevost_

making a very noble fight, although her 12-pound carronades

rendered her almost helpless against the long guns of the

Americans. She was greatly cut up, her commander, Lieutenant

Buchan, was dangerously, and her acting first lieutenant, Mr.

Roulette, severely wounded, and she began falling gradually to

leeward.

“The fighting at the head of the line was fierce and bloody to

an extraordinary degree. The _Scorpion_, _Ariel_, _Lawrence_,

and _Caledonia_, all of them handled with the most determined

courage, were opposed to the _Chippeway_, _Detroit_, _Queen

Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, which were fought to the full as

bravely. At such close quarters the two sides engaged on about

equal terms, the Americans being superior in weight of metal,

and inferior in number of men. But the _Lawrence_ had received

such damage in working down as to make the odds against Perry.

On each side almost the whole fire was directed at the opposing

large vessel or vessels; in consequence the _Queen Charlotte_

was almost disabled, and the _Detroit_ was frightfully

shattered, especially by the raking fire of the gunboats,

her first lieutenant, Mr. Garland, being mortally wounded,

and Captain Barclay so seriously injured that he was obliged

to quit the deck, leaving his ship in command of Lieutenant

George Inglis. But on board the _Lawrence_ matters had gone

even worse, the combined fire of her adversaries having made

the grimmest carnage on her decks. Of the 103 men who were fit

for duty when the action began, 83, or over four fifths, were

killed or wounded. The vessel was shallow, and the wardroom,

used as a cockpit, to which the wounded were taken, was mostly

above water, and the shot came through it continually, killing

and wounding many men under the hands of the surgeon.

“The first lieutenant, Yarnall, was three times wounded,

but kept to the deck through all; the only other lieutenant

on board, Brooks, of the marines, was mortally wounded.

Every brace and bowline was shot away, and the brig almost

completely dismantled; her hull was shattered to pieces,

many shot going completely through it, and the guns on the

engaged side were by degrees all dismounted. Perry kept up

the fight with splendid courage. As the crew fell one by one,

the commodore called down through the skylight for one of the

surgeon’s assistants; and this call was repeated and obeyed

till none were left; then he asked, ‘Can any of the wounded

pull a rope?’ and three or four of them crawled up on deck to

lend a feeble hand in placing the last guns. Perry himself

fired the last effective heavy gun, assisted only by the purser

and chaplain. A man who did not possess his indomitable spirit

would have then struck. Instead, however, Perry determined to

win by new methods, and remodelled the line accordingly, Mr.

Turner, in the _Caledonia_, when ordered to close, had put his

helm up, run down on the opposing line, and engaged at very

short range, though the brig was absolutely without quarters.

The _Niagara_ had thus become next in line astern of the

_Lawrence_, and the sloop _Trippe_, having passed the three

schooners ahead of her, was next ahead. The _Niagara_ now,

having a breeze, steered ahead for the head of Barclay’s line,

passing over a quarter of a mile to windward of the _Lawrence_,

on her port beam. She was almost uninjured, having so far taken

very little part in the combat, and to her Perry shifted his

flag. Leaping into a rowboat, with his brother and four seamen,

he rowed to the fresh brig, where he arrived at 2.30, and at

once sent Elliott astern to hurry up the three schooners. The

_Trippe_ was now very near the _Caledonia_. The _Lawrence_,

having but fourteen sound men left, struck her colors, but

could not be taken possession of before the action recommenced.

She drifted astern, the _Caledonia_ passing between her and her

foes. At 2.45, the schooners having closed up. Perry, in his

fresh vessel, bore up to break Barclay’s line.

“The British ships had fought themselves to a standstill.

The _Lady Prevost_ was crippled and sagged to leeward, though

ahead of the others. The _Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_ were

so disabled that they could not successfully oppose fresh

antagonists. There could thus be but little resistance to

Perry, as the _Niagara_ stood down, and broke the British line,

firing her port guns into the _Chippeway_, _Little Belt_, and

_Lady Prevost_, and the starboard ones into the _Detroit_,

_Queen Charlotte_, and _Hunter_, raking on both sides. Too

disabled to tack, the _Detroit_ and _Charlotte_ tried to wear,

the latter running up to leeward of the former; and, both

vessels having every brace and almost every stay shot away,

they fell foul. The _Niagara_ luffed athwart their bows, within

half pistol-shot, keeping up a terrific discharge of great guns

and musketry, while on the other side the British vessels were

raked by the _Caledonia_ and the schooners so closely that some

of their grape-shot, passing over the foe, rattled through

Perry’s spars. Nothing further could be done, and Barclay’s

flag was struck at 3 P.M. after three and a quarter hours’ most

gallant fighting.”

In this conflict off Put-in-Bay, the American loss was twenty-seven

killed and ninety-six wounded. Of these, twenty-two were killed and

sixty-one wounded aboard the _Lawrence_. The British loss was forty-one

killed and ninety-four wounded, the loss falling most heavily on the

_Detroit_ and _Queen Charlotte_.

Immediately after the battle, Perry wrote his famous dispatch to

General Harrison: “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships,

two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop”; and in a postscript he added,

“Send us some soldiers to help take care of the prisoners, who are

more numerous than ourselves.”

It is interesting to note what became of the vessels which played such

an important part in this tragic drama of Lake Erie. The _Lawrence_,

afterward repaired, was sunk in Misery Bay for preservation. Long

afterward a part of her stem was raised and kept as a memorial. For

years the _Niagara_ was a training ship on Lake Erie, and was then

sunk near the Lawrence. The _Ariel_, _Little Belt_, _Chippeway_, and

_Trippe_ were destroyed by the British at Buffalo. The _Detroit_ was

also sunk near the _Lawrence_, but in 1835, she was raised and rigged

by a Captain Miles. She was afterwards purchased by a Niagara man,

and as a spectacle for a crowd of curious people was allowed to break

herself to pieces on the rocks above the Falls. The _Queen Charlotte_,

_Lady Prevost_, and the _Hunter_ were used in the Lake trade, and the

_Caledonia_ became the _General Wayne_. Both the _Scorpion_ and the

_Tigress_ were recaptured by the British on Lake Huron.

The effects of Perry’s victory over Barclay’s squadron were immediate.

The British at once gave up all hope of retaining their possessions

on the Upper Lakes, and General Proctor began the evacuation of Forts

Detroit and Malden. With all the boats that he could get into his

possession he began a precipitate flight up the river Thames, where he

was joined by the Indian chief Tecumseh and his warriors. Encouraged

by this reinforcement he determined to select his own position for

giving battle to the Americans, who were hurrying across country from

Amherstburg under the command of General Harrison. Meanwhile, a number

of the smaller American war vessels made their way up the Thames and

Proctor prepared to meet them with his own armed boats. Harrison’s

force, which outnumbered Proctor two to one, came up to the enemy

close to the river, and the fierce charge of Colonel Johnson and his

Kentucky horsemen almost immediately broke the enemy’s line. After a

desperate struggle the regulars surrendered, but Tecumseh, who had from

one thousand to two thousand warriors, continued to fight until he fell

mortally wounded, when his braves broke and fled. The armed boats in

the river were destroyed to keep them from falling into the hands of

the Americans. Only a few years ago, two of these were discovered and

raised. An accompanying illustration shows one of these vessels just

after it was brought above the water, with a heap of old cannon balls

amidships.

[Illustration: An Old British Gunboat Discovered in the River Thames.]

Perry’s victory and Harrison’s defeat of the British virtually decided

the war along the Lakes, although, during the following winter, the

British prepared to make one more tremendous effort to regain a part

of the supremacy they had lost. This effort was to be made on Lake

Ontario. During the whole of the winter of 1813-14, both Yeo and

Chauncey strained every resource to prepare themselves for this

final conflict, and it was during this time that the largest ships of

war that ever floated on the Lakes were built, among them being the

American ship _Superior_, to carry sixty-two guns, and the British

ships _Prince Regent_, fifty-eight, and the _Princess Charlotte_,

forty-two. The two fleets were pretty evenly matched, each squadron

having eight ships, but with the Americans leading in tonnage, number

of men, and guns. Yeo, however, was prepared for battle earlier than

Chauncey, and taking advantage of this he prepared to attack Oswego,

which was garrisoned by less than three hundred men and was in a

wretched state of defence. On the 3d of May he set sail, having on

board his squadron a detachment of over a thousand troops. The fire of

the fort was drawn on the fifth, but it was not until the following day

that the battle began in earnest, when five of the British warships

began a terrific bombardment under cover of which eight hundred troops

and two hundred seamen were landed. The little garrison fought with

desperate valour and when they were finally driven from their position

the British had lost ninety-five men, a number a third as great as the

American force opposed to them. The Americans lost six men killed and

thirty-eight wounded, the remainder escaping to the Falls.

On May 19th, Yeo transferred his operations to Sacketts Harbour, where

he began a strict blockade, much to the discomfiture of Chauncey, who

still lacked important material for the completion of the _Superior_.

It was while attempting to capture several small boats with a part of

this material that two British gunboats, three cutters, and a gig,

carrying several heavy guns and one hundred and eighty men, started

up Sandy Creek on the thirtieth, and ran into an ambush laid by Major

Appling and one hundred and twenty American riflemen. In the terrific

volleys that followed, the British suffered heavily, eighteen of their

number being almost immediately killed and fifty wounded. The entire

force was captured with a loss on the American side of but one wounded.

On June 6th, Commodore Yeo raised his blockade and from then until July

31st, when Chauncey brought out his squadron, nothing of importance was

accomplished with the exception of two or three successful cutting-out

expeditions on the part of the Americans. Even after this date, until

the close of navigation, the two fleets acted merely in the capacity

of watch-dogs, neither daring to attack the other. During the greater

part of this period, Yeo was penned up in Kingston, while Chauncey,

whose superior force would have made his co-operation of tremendous

value to the land forces under General Brown, peremptorily refused this

assistance, saying that his object was the destruction of the enemy’s

fleet and not to “become a subordinate or appendage of the army.” On

the other hand, he could not get Yeo to fight, so that his powerful

force remained practically useless.

Meanwhile General Brown undertook his contemplated invasion of Canada,

sending Generals Scott and Ripley to the attack of Fort Erie, which

soon surrendered. A few days later, on July 5th, General Riall with

a force of nearly 2000 British met the Americans near Chippewa, and

one of the fiercest and most important battles of the war was the

result. Notwithstanding the superior numbers of the enemy, the victory

fell to the Americans, whose loss was 61 killed and 255 wounded as

against 236 killed and 322 wounded on the British side. It was at this

critical moment, when a successful and complete invasion of Canada

might have been made, that General Brown wrote to Chauncey asking for

his co-operation. Soon after this, General Riall was reinforced by 800

men under Sir George Gordon Drummond, and on the 25th of July, General

Scott was sent against them with a force of 1200 men.

Scott was unaware of the full strength of the enemy until he found

Riall and Drummond drawn up to meet him at Lundy’s Lane. This was at

five o’clock in the afternoon, and with the idea of impressing upon the

British that the entire American army was at his back, General Scott at

once began the attack. The struggle was one of intense courage on both

sides and continued until 10.30 at night, when the British were driven

from the field, leaving General Riall a prisoner. The American loss

had also been so severe that they retired from the field, abandoning a

captured battery. During the night, this battery was again manned by

the British and a bloody fight ensued the following morning before it

was recaptured. At Lundy’s Lane, the Americans lost 171 killed and 571

wounded; the British 84 killed and 559 wounded. General Scott had been

severely wounded in the struggle, and General Brown was laid up with

injuries at Back Rock, so that the command fell upon General Ripley who

at once made preparations to recross into the American frontier. Brown

sent positive orders that this move should not be made and that General

Ripley should hold Fort Erie. On August 2d, General Drummond, who had

been reinforced by over 1000 men, laid siege to this stronghold, and

for two weeks desultory fighting occurred around it. On the night of

the 14th, at twelve o’clock, a terrific assault was begun upon the

works and continued until daylight. The British had captured one of

the bastions and it was while holding this position that a fearful

explosion occurred directly under their feet, killing and wounding the

greater portion of them and striking the decisive blow of the siege.

The American loss was 17 killed and 56 wounded, while the British lost

221 killed and 174 wounded.

[Illustration: Scene when Admiral Dewey Passed through the Soo Locks.]

For several weeks, both sides continued to strengthen their positions,

and by the middle of September, 5000 Americans under Generals Brown

and Porter were ready for an attack on the British. On the 17th, Riall

was engaged by the entire American force and was driven from the

position he had taken, with a loss of about 500 in killed and wounded.

Meanwhile, General Izard’s division was hurrying to the frontier and

with his arrival the American force was increased to 8000. Riall and

Drummond in the face of these overwhelming odds retreated to Fort

George and Burlington Heights, and on November 4th, Fort Erie was blown

up, General Izard believing that it would be of no further use to the

Americans. Active operations along the frontier then ceased for the

winter.

During this breaking of British power along the Niagara frontier, there

had occurred one or two interesting events on the Upper Lakes. Now that

the British had lost their fleet on Erie, and that they had become

almost fugitives from the American forces, those that remained of them

seemed endowed with almost superhuman courage and ability. Captain

Sinclair had sailed up into Lake Huron with the _Niagara_, _Caledonia_,

_Ariel_, _Scorpion_, and _Tigress_, and had burnt the fort and barracks

of St. Joseph, when the first of these exploits occurred. On August

4th, Sinclair had made an unsuccessful attack on Fort Michilimackinac

(Mackinac), had burned a blockhouse, and then departed for Lake Erie,

leaving the _Scorpion_ and _Tigress_ on Lake Huron. On the 3d of

September, four small boats filled with British made an attack on the

_Tigress_ under cover of darkness, and after a brief hand-to-hand

struggle captured her. The commander of the _Scorpion_ had no knowledge

of this attack, and on the 5th, he innocently ran within a couple of

miles of the _Tigress_, which was still flying the American flag. Early

the following morning, the _Tigress_ ran close up to the _Scorpion_,

cleared her deck with a volley of musketry, and captured her without

resistance being made. Meanwhile on the night of August 12th, a daring

British expedition in small boats captured the armed schooners _Somers_

and _Ohio_, with another armed ship, the _Porcupine_, lying near. In

this exploit, seventy British seamen in small boats had captured two

well-armed vessels carrying ninety men and with a strong sistership a

few cable-lengths away, an achievement which has few rivals in naval

history.

But these latter events, brilliant though they were, were of but slight

importance. The British were defeated and broken from end to end of the

Lakes, and peace was at hand. On December 24, 1814, fifteen days before

the battle of New Orleans, peace was declared at Ghent, and with the

signing of the treaty the sanguinary history of the Lakes, a story that

had covered more than two centuries of ceaseless war and bloodshed,

was at an end. From this time on, their history was to be one of

colonization and commerce.

For a number of years previous to the War of 1812, there had been a

growing tendency on the part of the people of the East to emigrate

into the West, but the unsettled conditions of the whole Lake

region, threatened by Indian war and the bloody feuds of rival

trading-companies, held the bulk of the pioneers along Lake Ontario.

Now the floodgates burst loose. Thousands of settlers hurried into

Ohio, and others pushed on through the wilderness into Michigan. In

1818, the _Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamer to float upon the

Upper Lakes, was launched in Lake Erie, and began making trips from

Buffalo to Detroit, charging eighteen dollars per passenger for the

journey. Other vessels engaged in the passenger trade and emigrants

were enabled to travel entirely by water. By 1820, Ohio possessed

a population of over half a million. Nineteen out of twenty of the

west-bound pioneers stopped somewhere along the shores of Lake Erie,

and at this date Michigan’s population was less than nine thousand.

But with the coming of other steamers, not only Michigan, but Illinois

and Wisconsin began to receive a part of the westward-flowing tide.

The Erie Canal had been opened as early as 1825, and the rapidity

of the growth of commerce on the Inland Seas may be judged by the

fact that in 1836 more than three thousand canal-boats were employed

upon it, a large part of their traffic being the transportation of

emigrants and their effects to the larger vessels on Lake Erie.

During this year, there were ninety steamboat arrivals at Detroit, and

one of these vessels, the _United States_, carried as high as seven

hundred emigrants on a single trip. From that day to this, the ships

of the Great Lakes have never been able to more than keep pace with

the demands of trade. In 1836, vessel-men earned as high as eighty

per cent. on the cost of their vessels. To-day they are still earning

thirty.

Beginning with 1839, the emigrant travel to Chicago was so great that

a line of eight vessels engaged in this traffic alone, each vessel

making the trip once in sixteen days. It was now impossible to build

ships fast enough to keep pace with the developing commerce. During

the ten years between 1830 and 1840, the population of Michigan

increased from 31,000 to 212,000, and practically the whole of it came

by lake. In 1840, Wisconsin’s population was less than 31,000; ten

years later, it was 305,000. By 1846, the value of the commerce of the

Lakes was already enormous. Its value for that year is estimated to

have been over eighty millions of dollars. In 1835, the American Fur

Company built the _John Jacob Astor_, the first large ship to sail

Lake Superior, and the trade in copper began soon after. With the

discovery of the rich mineral deposits, hundreds of prospectors began

flocking into the North, men with capital hurried to the regions of

the red metal, and, in the race after wealth, vessel-men did not wait

to build ships on Superior but hauled their vessels bodily across the

mile portage at Sault Ste. Marie. In 1855 was built the Falls Canal,

and from that date, the commerce of Superior became an important factor

in the traffic of the Lakes. All that was needed to make it the most

important body of fresh water on the globe was the discovery of iron.

This discovery, and the part that iron has played in the making of our

nation, have been described in preceding pages.

[Illustration: Map of the Great Lakes Region]

INDEX

A

Aborigines, warlike, of the early history of the Lakes, 163

Adams, Mayor, of Buffalo, 127

Aillon, Father Joseph de la Roche d’, mission formed by, 168

Algonquin, a tribe of Indians, 164

_Alpena_, the, of Lake Michigan, 102

American Fur Company, the, 220

American Shipbuilding Company, the, 15, 16

Argosy, the huge, of the Lakes, 26

_Ariel_, the battle-ship, 217

Assiniboines, the, of Minnesota, 176

Astor, John Jacob, 220

_Atlanta_, the loss of the, 102

_Atlantic_, loss of, with valuable cargo, 110

B

_Bannockburn_, the mystery of the, 103

Barre, Governor De la, of Canada, 177

Beauharnois, Governor, of Canada, 1727, 180

Beaver Island, 88

Belle Isle, a great pleasure ground, 85

_B. F. Jones_, the cargo of, 60

“Bread Basket of the World,” the future, 60

Brock, General, the death of, 84

Brule, Stephen, discovers Lake Superior, 166

Buffalo, shipyards at, 10

Burnett, Governor, of New York, 180

C

Cabins on a freighter, 138

Calbick, James A., President of the Lumber Carriers’ Association, 51

_Caledonia_, the capture of, 198

Canada, the fertile regions of western, 63

Canadian Niagara Falls Company, the, 133

Canals, the, at Sault Ste. Marie, 27

Cargoes of the Great Lakes, 1

Caron, Joseph Le, discovers Lake Ontario, 166

“Carriers,” the, of the Great Lakes, 24

Cayuga Indians, the, 165

Cheapness of travel on the Lakes, 75

Chicago, shipyards at, 10

_Chicora_, the passenger steamer, 42

“City of the Five Great Lakes,” the, 48

_City of St. Ignace_, the, a passenger steamer, 74

Cleveland, shipyards at, 10

Cliff stamp mill, the, 32

Coal, immense amount consumed, 27

Cole, Thomas F., President of the Oliver Mining Company, 32

Collisions, danger of, 94

Commerce, the, on the Lakes, 11, 49

Construction of a Lake ship, 23

_Cordurus_, the freighter, 100

Coulby, Harry, President of the Pittsburg Steamship Company, 12

_Cruise of a Lonely Heart, The_, 93

Cuyler, Lieutenant, defeat of, 187

D

_Dacotah_, the loss of the, 104

Dakotas, the powerful tribe of the, 164

Daumont, Simon Francis, takes possession of the Lakes, 175

Davidson, James, mentioned, 40

_Dean Richmond_, the treasure ship, 108

Deluth, Daniel, a fort erected by, 1761, 176

Denonville, Marquis, 178

Detroit, shipyards at, 10;

great industry at, 15;

tonnage passing, 27;

the defence of, 188

Detroit _Journal_, the, 42

Detroit River, the, 27

Detroit Shipbuilding Company, the, 17

Detroit _Tribune_, the, 42

Development, the, of the region, 6

Devil’s Hole, the massacre at, 189

Dining-room on a freighter, 144

Dividends on an investment in a Lake freighter, 61

Douglas, G. L., 14

Duluth, the “highway” to, 3;

the great future of, 123

E

Earle, Commodore, on Lake Ontario, 195

_Earling_, the loading of the, 43

Early history of the Lakes, 159 _ff._

Electrical Development Company, the, 133

Elevators, the building of, 63

Elliott, Commander Jesse D., 197

Elwood, H. C., of the Chamber of Commerce in Buffalo, 116

English, settlements of the olden time on the Lakes, 177;

traders, 179

Erie Basin, the, 131

Erie Canal, transportation on, 7;

the widening of, 63;

the new era for, 132

Escarpments, the worn, of the Lakes, 162

Extent of the ore deposits, 36

F

Five Nations, the Indian tribes known as the, 165

_Flagg_, a cargo of copper on the, 66

Flour, amount carried on the Lakes, 50

Flying Dutchman, the, of the Lakes, 103

Food, the various kinds of, on a freighter, 153

Forests of Minnesota, the, 53

Fort Niagara, the remains of, 84

Foxes, the extermination of the, 165

Freight, amount of, on the Great Lakes, 25

Freighters, the largest fleet of, iii;

the luxuriance of the, 20

Fresh-water seas, iii

Frontenac, Fort, built, 1673, 170;

taken by English, 1758, 182

“Frozen Ship,” the mystery of the, 111

Fuel, the loading of, 65

Fur trade, the increase of the, 194

G

_George W. Perkins_, the record of the, 45

Georgian Bay, a trip past, 86

_Gilcher_, the loss of the, 102

Gilchrist, J. C., the head of the Gilchrist Transportation Company, 13

Glacial Age, the, in North America, 162

Gladwin, Major, defends Fort Detroit, 186

_G. P. Griffin_, the burning of the, 105

“Grain Age,” the beginning of the, 63

“Grand Army,” the, of the Lakes, 52

Great Lakes, the (see Inland Seas)

_Griffin_, the, 84;

the romantic loss of, 111;

the history of the, 171 _ff._

“Groves” as pleasure resorts, 81

“Guests’ quarters,” the, on a freighter, 139

H

_Harry Berwind_, a private room on the, 139

Hatch-bag, playing of, 150

Hazard, Captain Oliver, 205

_Hudson_, the loss of the, 102

Hull, General, invades Canada, 195;

cowardice of, 196

Huron, Lake, a trip up, 3

I

Ice Age, the waning of the, 162

“Ice devils,” the damage done by, 99

Indian canoes, fleets of, 165

Industrial supremacy, 5

Inland Seas, the, commercial life of, iv;

the leviathans of, 3;

the spirit of, 4;

normal condition, 7;

shipbuilding on, 11;

the wonders of, 12;

fortune-making on, 18;

cargoes on, 26;

commerce of, 48;

death of the lumber fleets of, 52;

cheap transportation on, 62;

transportation of copper on, 66;

passenger traffic on, 68;

summer life, 68 _ff._;

Admiral Dewey visits, 73;

marine tragedies of, 77;

the spring rush on, 89;

dangers of navigation, 91;

danger of ice, 96;

mysteries of, 103;

struggle for supremacy of, 117;

greatest ship on the, 137;

early history of, 159 _ff._;

missions established on, 169;

change of masters, 175;

England supreme, 183;

peace on, 193;

naval battle of Lake Erie, 206

“Inner life,” the, of a great freighter, 137

Iron, the prominence of, 28

Iron ore, the transportation of, 8

_Ironsides_, the steamer, 104

Iroquois, the, of Lake Ontario, 165

J

Jackson, Captain James, the heroism of, 95

Jesuits, the missions established by the, 169

K

_Kent_, the wreck of the, 109

King Strang, the Mormon, 88

L

Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company, the, 125

_Lady Elgin_, the sinking of the, 104

Lake Carriers’ Association, the, 46

Lakeside inns, life at the, 82

Laurentian River, the, 161

_Lawrence_, the attack on the, 207

_Lexington_, lost with a cargo of whisky, 110

Life of the Great Lakes, iii

Little Venice, mentioned, 85

Livingston, William, President of the Lake Carriers’ Association,

40, 46

Lorain, shipyards at, 10

Loyalty, the, of the Indians, 183

Lumber Carriers’ Association, the, 50

Lumber industry, the extinction of, 52

M

Mackinaw Island, 78

_Maid of the Mist_, the, 83

Manitou Island, a wreck near, 110

Manitowoc, shipyards at, 10

Mapleson Opera Company, the, 42

Mason, F. Howard, 126

_Mataafa_, the steel ship, 105

Matchedash Bay, 166

McKenzie, Captain, peculiar situation of, 100

Mesaba, the, as a wilderness, 34

Mesaba range, the richness of the, 40

Mess-room, the, on a freighter, 154

Mexican mahogany woodwork, 73

Miami Indians, the, 197

Michilimackinac, the fort at, 176;

the destruction of the garrison at, 185

Mines, the working of, 37

Mitchell, Captain John, 14

Mohawks, the, 165

Montreal, the fall of, 1760, 183

N

_Nashua_, the disappearance of, 102

Neuters, a tribe of Indians, 165

New York Steel Company, the, 125

Niagara Falls, money expended above, 9

Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, 133

Niagara Falls Power Company, the, 133

Nicolet, Jean, 167

North Tonawanda, the growth of, 130

O

“Observation room,” the, of a freighter, 142

Ohio River, the country north of, 8

Ojibwas, the, 164

Oliver Mining Company, the, 32

Oneida Indians, the, 165

Onondaga Indians, the, 165

_Ontario_, the battle-ship, 192

Ontario Power Company, the, 134

Ore beds, the, of Minnesota, 4

Ore docks, the, at Duluth, 43

Origin, the, of the Great Lakes, 161 _ff._

_Ostrich_, the resting place of the, 110

Oswego, a trading-post at, 180

Ottawas, the tribe of the, 164

Owners, the ship, 1

P

Palatinate, the War of the, 179

Passenger steamers, the, 69

Passenger traffic, the, 68 _ff._

Pay-rolls, the, of Buffalo, 126

Perry, Commodore, the victory of, 211

Pessano, Antonio C., 15

_Pewabic_, the, in Thunder Bay, 106;

the finding of, 109

Phœnix mine, an accident in the, 32

Pike, Brigadier-General, 201

Pilot-house, the, on a Lake steamer, 149

Pine wood, the total amount from Michigan, 57

“Pittsburg of the North,” the, 124. (See Duluth)

Pittsburg Steamship Company, the, 12

“Plate department,” the, of a shipyard, 22

Point Pelee, the battle of, 187

Pontiac, the Indian chief, 85

Port Arthur, the shipping of, 62

Porter, Moses, 193

Pottawatomies, a tribe of Indians, 164

Purre, Don Eugenio, departure of, 192

Put-in-Bay, historical events at, 84;

the great naval battle of, 210

Q

Queen Anne’s War, 180

_Queen of the West_, the loss of the, 99 _ff._

Queenston, the attack on, 198

Queenston Heights, the battle of, 84

R

Richardson, W. C., 40

Riveting machines, the, 24

Roberts, Captain, at St. Joseph, 195

Rocky River, the change of position of, 191

Romans of the Wilderness, the, 180

Roosevelt, President Theodore, account by, 206

Ruggles’ Grove, overlooking the Lake, 79

S

Sacketts Harbour, operations at, 213

Sacs, a tribe of Indians, 165

Sailors on the Lakes, 1

Sandusky, Port, the capture of, 184

Sault Ste. Marie canals, the, 27

Savages, the first, near the Lakes, 164

Schantz, A. A., General Manager, 72

_Scorpion_, the battle-ship, 218

Sellwood, Captain Joseph, 29

Seneca Indians, the, 165

Seven Years’ War, the beginning of the, 181

Shattuck’s Grove, an inexpensive resort, 79

Sheadle, J. H., 14

Ship-builders, the, of the Lakes, vi

Ships, the, of the Great Lakes, 1

Shuffle-board, the playing of, 150

Signals in code used on the Lakes, 156

Silver-ware on a freighter, 144

Sinclair, Captain, on Lake Huron, 217

Sioux Indians, the, 165

Snyder, W. P., 30

Social equality on the Lakes, the, 70

“Soo,” records of tonnage at the, 27

St. Clair, Lake, a summer at, 83

Steam shovels, the work of, 38

Steel Corporation, the, 122

St. Mary’s River, the, 87

“Stripping,” the work of, 39

Suez Canal, the, in 1908, 6

Summer life on the Lakes, the, 68 _ff._

_Superior_, the steamer, 98

Superior, Lake, commerce on, 10

Supremacy, the struggle for, 114

T

Taxes in Michigan, the lapse of, 58

_Te Deum Laudamus_, the singing of, 171

Thames, the battle of the, 85

_Thomas F. Cole_, the steamer, 19

“Thousand-mile highway,” the, 3, 13

Toledo, shipyards at, 10

Toledo Shipbuilding Company, the, 18

Tomlinson, G. Ashley, 14;

an opinion of, 36

Tonawandas, the twin, 46

Tower, Charlemagne, Ambassador to Germany, 1884, 34

Tragedies, the, of the Lakes, 95

“Twin Cities,” the, 54

“Two Lost Tows,” the, 102

U

_United States_, the emigrant ship, 220

Upper Peninsula, the, 87

Utes, the, of White River, 41

Utrecht, the Treaty of, 1713, 180

V

Van Rensselaer, Colonel, 199

Vermilion ranges, the, 29

Vessels of the Lakes, the construction of, 10 _ff._

W

_Walk-in-the-Water_, the first steamboat of the upper Lakes, 219

Wallace, James C., of Cleveland, 16

War of 1812, the, 194 _ff._

_W. B. Kerr_, capacity of the, 61

West Superior, shipyards at, 10

_Western Reserve_, the, 98

Westinghouse, George, an opinion by, 133

_Westmoreland_, loss of the, 110

_W. F. Sauber_, the, 96;

the sinking of, 97

Whisky, a valuable cargo, 110

White River Utes, the, 41

Wickwire Steel Company, the, 125

_William H. Stevens_, the treasure ship, 108

Wolvin, A. B., 40

Y

_Yale_, the steamer, 96

Yellow pine of Louisiana, the, 58

Yeo, Sir James Lucas, 203

_Young Sion_, the disappearance of the, 109

_American Waterways_

The Romance of the Colorado River

The Story of its Discovery in 1540, with an account of the Later

Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell

through the Line of the Great Canyons.

By Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Member of the United States Colorado River Expedition of 1871 and 1872

_435 pages, with 200 Illustrations, and Frontispiece in Color. $3.50

net_

“His scientific training, his long experience in this region, and his

eye for natural scenery enable him to make this account of the Colorado

River most graphic and interesting. No other book equally good can be

written for many years to come--not until our knowledge of the river is

greatly enlarged.”--_The Boston Herald._

“Mr. Dellenbaugh writes with enthusiasm and balance about his chief,

and of the canyon with a fascination that make him disinclined to

leave it, and brings him thirty years later to its description with

undiminished interest.”--_New York Tribune._

The Ohio River

A COURSE OF EMPIRE

By Archer B. Hulbert

Associate professor of American History, Marietta College, Author of

“Historic Highways of America,” etc.

_390 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_

An interesting description from a fresh point of view of the

international struggle which ended with the English conquest of the

Ohio Basin, and includes many interesting details of the pioneer

movement on the Ohio. The most widely read students of the Ohio Valley

will find a unique and unexpected interest in Mr. Hulbert’s chapters

dealing with the Ohio River in the Revolution, the rise of the cities

of Pittsburg, Cincinnati, and Louisville, the fighting Virginians, the

old-time methods of navigation, etc.

“A wonderfully comprehensive and entirely fascinating book.”--_Chicago

Inter-Ocean._

Narragansett Bay

_Its Historic and Romantic Associations and Picturesque Setting_

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon

Author of “The Hudson River,” “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” etc.

_340 pages, with 50 Drawings by the Author, and with Numerous

Photographs and a Map. $3.50 net_

Impressed by the important and singular part played by the settlers

of Narragansett in the development of American ideas and ideals, and

strongly attracted by the romantic tales that are inwoven with the

warp of history, as well as by the incomparable setting the great bay

affords for such a subject, the author offers this result of his labor

as a contribution to the story of great American Waterways, with the

hope that his readers may be imbued with somewhat of his own enthusiasm.

“An attractive description of the picturesque part of Rhode Island.

Mr. Bacon dwells on the natural beauties, the legendary and

historical associations, rather than the present appearance of the

shores.”--_N. Y. Sun._

The Great Lakes

By James Oliver Curwood

_With about 80 Illustrations. Probable price $3.50 net_

This profusely illustrated book, as entertaining as it is informing,

has the twofold advantage of being written by a man who knows the Lakes

and their shores as well as what has been written about them. The

general reader will enjoy the romance attaching to the past history

of the Lakes and not less the romance of the present--the story of

the great commercial fleets that plough our inland seas, created to

transport the fruits of the earth and the metals that are dug from the

bowels of the earth. To the business man who has interests in or about

the Lakes, or to the prospective investor in Great Lakes enterprises,

the book will be found suggestive. Comparatively little has been

written of these fresh-water seas, and many of his readers will be

amazed at the wonderful story which this volume tells.

The St. Lawrence River

_Historical--Legendary--Picturesque_

By George Waldo Browne

Author of “Japan--the Place and the People,” “Paradise of the Pacific,”

etc.

_385 pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_

While the St. Lawrence River has been the scene of many important

events connected with the discovery and development of a large portion

of North America, no attempt has heretofore been made to collect and

embody in one volume a complete and comprehensive narrative of this

great waterway. This is not denying that considerable has been written

relating to it, but the various offerings have been scattered through

many volumes, and most of these have become inaccessible to the general

reader.

This work presents in a consecutive narrative the most important

historic incidents connected with the river, combined with descriptions

of some of its most picturesque scenery and delightful excursions into

its legendary lore. In selecting the hundred illustrations care has

been taken to give as wide a scope as possible to the views belonging

to the river.

The Niagara River

By Archer Butler Hulbert

Professor of American History, Marietta College; author of “The Ohio

River,” “Historic Highways of America,” etc.

_350 pages, with 70 Illustrations and Maps. $3.50 net_

Professor Hulbert tells all that is best worth recording of the history

of the river which gives the book its title, and of its commercial

present and its great commercial future. An immense amount of carefully

ordered information is here brought together into a most entertaining

and informing book. No mention of this volume can be quite adequate

that fails to take into account the extraordinary chapter which is

given to chronicling the mad achievements of that company of dare-devil

bipeds of both sexes who for decades have been sweeping over the Falls

in barrels and other receptacles, or who have gone dancing their dizzy

way on ropes or wires stretched from shore to shore above the boiling,

leaping water beneath.

The Hudson River

FROM OCEAN TO SOURCE

_Historical--Legendary--Picturesque_

By Edgar Mayhew Bacon

Author of “Chronicles of Tarrytown,” “Narragansett Bay,” etc.

_600 Pages, with 100 Illustrations, including a Sectional Map of the

Hudson River. $3.50 net_

“The value of this handsome quarto does not depend solely on the

attractiveness with which Mr. Bacon has invested the whole subject,

it is a kind of footnote to the more conventional histories, because

it throws light upon the life and habits of the earliest settlers. It

is a study of Dutch civilization in the New World, severe enough in

intentions to be accurate, but easy enough in temper to make a great

deal of humor, and to comment upon those characteristic customs and

habits which, while they escape the attention of the formal historian,

are full of significance.”--_Outlook._

The Connecticut River

AND THE

Valley of the Connecticut

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES FROM MOUNTAIN TO SEA

_Historical and Descriptive_

By Edwin Munroe Bacon

Author of “Walks And Rides in the Country Round About Boston,” etc.

_500 Pages, with 100 Illustrations and a Map. $3.50 net_

From ocean to source every mile of the Connecticut is crowded with

reminders of the early explorers, of the Indian wars, of the struggle

of the Colonies, and of the quaint, peaceful village existence of the

early days of the Republic. Beginning with the Dutch discovery, Mr.

Bacon traces the interesting movements and events which are associated

with this chief river of New England.

The Columbia River

_Its History--Its Myths--Its Scenery--Its Commerce_

By William Denison Lyman

Professor of History in Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington

_Fully Illustrated. Probable price, $3.50 net_

This is the first effort to present a book distinctively on the

Columbia River. It is the intention of the author to give some special

prominence to Nelson and the magnificent lake district by which it is

surrounded. As the joint possession of the United States and British

Columbia, and as the grandest scenic river of the continent, the

Columbia is worthy of special attention.

_In Preparation_:

_Each will be fully illustrated and will probably be published at $3.50

net_

1.--Inland Waterways

By Herbert Quick

2.--The Mississippi River

By Julius Chambers

3.--The Story of the Chesapeake

By Ruthella Mory Bibbins

4.--Lake George and Lake Champlain

By W. Max Reid

Author of “The Mohawk Valley,” “The Story of Old Fort Johnson,” etc.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a

predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not

changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced

quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

Page 190: “irreconciliable” probably is a misprint for “irreconcilable”.

Page 226: Index entry for “Ship-builders” referenced page v, but the

term was split across pages vi-vii, and is shown here as being on page

vi.