Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: Stealing from the Fort by Night.]
Pathfinders of the West
BEING
THE THRILLING STORY OF THE ADVENTURES
OF THE MEN WHO DISCOVERED THE GREAT NORTHWEST
RADISSON, LA VÉRENDRYE, LEWIS AND CLARK
BY
A. C. LAUT
AUTHOR OF "LORDS OF THE NORTH," "HERALDS
OF EMPIRE," "STORY OF THE TRAPPER"
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
REMINGTON, GOODWIN, MARCHAND
AND OTHERS
NEW YORK
GROSSET & DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, 1904,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1904. Reprinted February,
1906.
WILDWOOD PLACE, WASSAIC, N.Y.
August 15, 1904.
DEAR MR. SULTE:
A few years ago, when I was a resident of the Far West and tried to trace
the paths of early explorers, I found that all authorities--first,
second, and third rate--alike referred to one source of information for
their facts. The name in the tell-tale footnote was invariably your own.
While I assume _all_ responsibility for upsetting the apple cart of
established opinions by this book, will you permit me to dedicate it to
you as a slight token of esteem to the greatest living French-Canadian
historian, from whom we have all borrowed and to whom few of us have
rendered the tribute due?
Faithfully,
AGNES C. LAUT.
MR. BENJAMIN SULTE,
PRESIDENT ROYAL SOCIETY,
OTTAWA, CANADA.
THE GREAT NORTHWEST
I love thee, O thou great, wild, rugged land
Of fenceless field and snowy mountain height,
Uprearing crests all starry-diademed
Above the silver clouds! A sea of light
Swims o'er thy prairies, shimmering to the sight
A rolling world of glossy yellow wheat
That runs before the wind in billows bright
As waves beneath the beat of unseen feet,
And ripples far as eye can see--as far and fleet!
Here's chances for every man! The hands that work
Become the hands that rule! Thy harvests yield
Only to him who toils; and hands that shirk
Must empty go! And here the hands that wield
The sceptre work! O glorious golden field!
O bounteous, plenteous land of poet's dream!
O'er thy broad plain the cloudless sun ne'er wheeled
But some dull heart was brightened by its gleam
To seize on hope and realize life's highest dream!
Thy roaring tempests sweep from out the north--
Ten thousand cohorts on the wind's wild mane--
No hand can check thy frost-steeds bursting forth
To gambol madly on the storm-swept plain!
Thy hissing snow-drifts wreathe their serpent train,
With stormy laughter shrieks the joy of might--
Or lifts, or falls, or wails upon the wane--
Thy tempests sweep their stormy trail of white
Across the deepening drifts--and man must die, or fight!
Yes, man must sink or fight, be strong or die!
That is thy law, O great, free, strenuous West!
The weak thou wilt make strong till he defy
Thy bufferings; but spacious prairie breast
Will never nourish weakling as its guest!
He must grow strong or die! Thou givest all
An equal chance--to work, to do their best--
Free land, free hand--thy son must work or fall
Grow strong or die! That message shrieks the storm-wind's call!
And so I love thee, great, free, rugged land
Of cloudless summer days, with west-wind croon,
And prairie flowers all dewy-diademed,
And twilights long, with blood-red, low-hung moon
And mountain peaks that glisten white each noon
Through purple haze that veils the western sky--
And well I know the meadow-lark's far rune
As up and down he lilts and circles high
And sings sheer joy--be strong, be free; be strong or die!
Foreword
The question will at once occur why no mention is made of Marquette and
Jolliet and La Salle in a work on the pathfinders of the West. The
simple answer is--they were _not_ pathfinders. Contrary to the notions
imbibed at school, and repeated in all histories of the West,
Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle did not discover the vast region
beyond the Great Lakes. Twelve years before these explorers had
thought of visiting the land which the French hunter designated as the
_Pays d'en Haut_, the West had already been discovered by the most
intrepid _voyageurs_ that France produced,--men whose wide-ranging
explorations exceeded the achievements of Cartier and Champlain and La
Salle put together.
It naturally rouses resentment to find that names revered for more than
two centuries as the first explorers of the Great Northwest must give
place to a name almost unknown. It seems impossible that at this late
date history should have to be rewritten. Such is the fact _if we
would have our history true_. Not Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle
discovered the West, but two poor adventurers, who sacrificed all
earthly possessions to the enthusiasm for discovery, and incurred such
bitter hostility from the governments of France and England that their
names have been hounded to infamy. These were Sieur Pierre Esprit
Radisson and Sieur Médard Chouart Groseillers, fur traders of Three
Rivers, Quebec. [1]
The explanation of the long oblivion obscuring the fame of these two
men is very simple. Radisson and Groseillers defied, first New France,
then Old France, and lastly England. While on friendly terms with the
church, they did not make their explorations subservient to the
propagation of the faith. In consequence, they were ignored by both
Church and State. The _Jesuit Relations_ repeatedly refer to two young
Frenchmen who went beyond Lake Michigan to a "Forked River" (the
Mississippi), among the Sioux and other Indian tribes that used coal
for fire because wood did not grow large enough on the prairie.
Contemporaneous documents mention the exploits of the young Frenchmen.
The State Papers of the Marine Department, Paris, contain numerous
references to Radisson and Groseillers. But, then, the _Jesuit
Relations_ were not accessible to scholars, let alone the general
public, until the middle of the last century, when a limited edition
was reprinted of the Cramoisy copies published at the time the priests
sent their letters home to France. The contemporaneous writings of
Marie de l'Incarnation, the Abbé Belmont, and Dollier de Casson were
not known outside the circle of French savants until still later; and
it is only within recent years that the Archives of Paris have been
searched for historical data. Meantime, the historians of France and
England, animated by the hostility of their respective governments,
either slurred over the discoveries of Radisson and Groseillers
entirely, or blackened their memories without the slightest regard to
truth. It would, in fact, take a large volume to contradict and
disprove half the lies written of these two men. Instead of consulting
contemporaneous documents,--which would have entailed both cost and
labor,--modern writers have, unfortunately, been satisfied to serve up
a rehash of the detractions written by the old historians. In 1885
came a discovery that punished such slovenly methods by practically
wiping out the work of the pseudo-historians. There was found in the
British Museum, the Bodleian Library, and Hudson's Bay House, London,
unmistakably authentic record of Radisson's voyages, written by
himself. The Prince Society of Boston printed two hundred and fifty
copies of the collected Journals. The Canadian Archives published the
journals of the two last voyages. Francis Parkman was too
conscientious to ignore the importance of the find; but his history of
the West was already written. He made what reparation he could to
Radisson's memory by appending a footnote to subsequent editions of two
of his books, stating that Radisson and Groseillers' travels took them
to the "Forked River" before 1660. Some ten other lines are all that
Mr. Parkman relates of Radisson; and the data for these brief
references have evidently been drawn from Radisson's enemies, for the
explorer is called "a renegade." It is necessary to state this,
because some writers, whose zeal for criticism was much greater than
their qualifications, wanted to know why any one should attempt to
write Radisson's life when Parkman had already done so.
Radisson's life reads more like a second Robinson Crusoe than sober
history. For that reason I have put the corroborative evidence in
footnotes, rather than cumber the movement of the main theme. I am
sorry to have loaded the opening parts with so many notes; but
Radisson's voyages change the relative positions of the other explorers
so radically that proofs must be given. The footnotes are for the
student and may be omitted by the general reader. The study of
Radisson arose from, using his later exploits on Hudson Bay as the
subject of the novel, _Heralds of Empire_. On the publication of that
book, several letters came from the Western states asking how far I
thought Radisson had gone beyond Lake Superior before he went to Hudson
Bay. Having in mind--I am sorry to say--mainly the early records of
Radisson's enemies, I at first answered that I thought it very
difficult to identify the discoverer's itinerary beyond the Great
Lakes. So many letters continued to come on the subject that I began
to investigate contemporaneous documents. The path followed by the
explorer west of the Great Lakes--as given by Radisson himself--is here
written. Full corroboration of all that Radisson relates is to be
found--as already stated--in chronicles written at the period of his
life and in the State Papers. Copies of these I have in my possession.
Samples of the papers bearing on Radisson's times, copied from the
Marine Archives, will be found in the Appendix. One must either accept
the explorer's word as conclusive,--even when he relates his own
trickery,--or in rejecting his journal also reject as fictions the
_Jesuit Relations_, the _Marine Archives_, _Dollier de Casson_, _Marie
de l'Incarnation_, and the _Abbé Belmont_, which record the same events
as Radisson. In no case has reliance been placed on second-hand
chronicles. Oldmixon and Charlevoix must both have written from
hearsay; therefore, though quoted in the footnotes, they are not given
as conclusive proof. The only means of identifying Radisson's routes
are (1) by his descriptions of the countries, (2) his notes of the
Indian tribes; so that personal knowledge of the territory is
absolutely essential in following Radisson's narrative. All the
regions traversed by Radisson--the Ottawa, the St. Lawrence, the Great
Lakes, Labrador, and the Great Northwest--I have visited, some of them
many times, except the shores of Hudson Bay, and of that region I have
some hundreds of photographs.
Material for the accounts of the other pathfinders of the West has been
drawn directly from the different explorers' journals.
For historical matter I wish to express my indebtedness to Dr. N. E.
Dionne of the Parliamentary Library, Quebec, whose splendid sketch of
Radisson and Groseillers, read before the Royal Society of Canada, does
much to redeem the memory of the discoverers from ignominy; to Dr.
George Bryce of Winnipeg, whose investigation of Hudson's Bay Archives
adds a new chapter to Radisson's life; to Mr. Benjamin Sulte of Ottawa,
whose destructive criticism of inaccuracies in old and modern records
has done so much to stop people writing history out of their heads and
to put research on an honest basis; and to M. Edouard Richard for
scholarly advice relating to the Marine Archives, which he has
exploited so thoroughly. For transcripts and archives now out of
print, thanks are due Mr. L. P. Sylvain of the Parliamentary Library,
Ottawa, the officials of the Archives Department, Ottawa, Mr. F. C.
Wurtele of Quebec, Professor Andrew Baird of Winnipeg, Mr. Alfred
Matthews of the Prince Society, Boston, the Hon. Jacob V. Brower and
Mr. Warren Upham of St. Paul. Mr. Lawrence J. Burpee of Ottawa was so
good as to give me a reading of his exhaustive notes on La Vérendrye
and of data found on the Radisson family. To Mrs. Fred Paget of
Ottawa, the daughter of a Hudson's Bay Company officer, and to Mr. and
Mrs. C. C. Farr of the Northern Ottawa, I am indebted for interesting
facts on life in the fur posts. Miss Talbot of Winnipeg obtained from
retired officers of the Hudson's Bay Company a most complete set of
photographs relating to the fur trade. To her and to those officers
who loaned old heirlooms to be photographed, I beg to express my
cordial appreciation. And the thanks of all who write on the North are
permanently due Mr. C. C. Chipman, Chief Commissioner of the Hudson's
Bay Company, for unfailing courtesy in extending information.
WILDWOOD PLACE,
WASSAIC, N.Y.
[1] I of course refer to the West as beyond the Great Lakes; for
Nicotet, in 1634, and two nameless Frenchmen--servants of Jean de
Lauzon--in 1654, had been beyond the Sault.
Just as this volume was going to the printer, I received a copy of the
very valuable Minnesota _Memoir_, Vol. VI, compiled by the Hon. J. V.
Brower of St. Paul, to whom my thanks are due for this excellent
contribution to Western annals. It may be said that the authors of
this volume have done more than any other writers to vindicate Radisson
and Groseillers as explorers of the West. The very differences of
opinion over the regions visited establish the fact that Radisson _did_
explore parts of Minnesota. I have purposely avoided trying to say
_what_ parts of Minnesota he exploited, because, it seems to me, the
controversy is futile. Radisson's memory has been the subject of
controversy from the time of his life. The controversy--first between
the governments of France and England, subsequently between the French
and English historians--has eclipsed the real achievements of Radisson.
To me it seems non-essential as to whether Radisson camped on an island
in the Mississippi, or only visited the region of that island. The
fact remains that he discovered the Great Northwest, meaning by that
the region west of the Mississippi. The same dispute has obscured his
explorations of Hudson Bay, French writers maintaining that he went
overland to the North and put his feet in the waters of the bay, the
English writers insisting that he only crossed over the watershed
toward Hudson Bay. Again, the fact remains that he did what others had
failed to do--discovered an overland route to the bay. I am sorry that
Radisson is accused in this _Memoir_ of intentionally falsifying his
relations in two respects, (1) in adding a fanciful year to the
1658-1660 voyage; (2) in saying that he had voyaged down the
Mississippi to Mexico. (1) Internal evidence plainly shows that
Radisson's first four voyages were written twenty years afterward, when
he was in London, and not while on the voyage across the Atlantic with
Cartwright, the Boston commissioner. It is the most natural thing in
the world that Radisson, who had so often been to the wilds, should
have mixed his dates. Every slip as to dates is so easily checked by
contemporaneous records--which, themselves, need to be checked--that it
seems too bad to accuse Radisson of wilfully lying in the matter. When
Radisson lied it was to avoid bloodshed, and not to exalt himself. If
he had had glorification of self in mind, he would not have set down
his own faults so unblushingly; for instance, where he deceives M.
Colbert of Paris. (2) Radisson does not try to give the impression
that he went to Mexico. The sense of the context is that he met an
Indian tribe--Illinois, Mandans, Omahas, or some other--who lived next
to another tribe who told _of_ the Spaniards. I feel almost sure that
the scholarly Mr. Benjamin Sulte is right in his letter to me when he
suggests that Radisson's manuscript has been mixed by transposition of
pages or paragraphs, rather than that Radisson himself was confused in
his account. At the same time every one of the contributors to the
Minnesota _Memoir_ deserves the thanks of all who love _true_ history.
ADDENDUM
Since the above foreword was written, the contents of this volume have
appeared serially in four New York magazines. The context of the book
was slightly abridged in these articles, so that a very vital
distinction--namely, the difference between what is given as in
dispute, and what is given as incontrovertible fact--was lost; but what
was my amusement to receive letters from all parts of the West all but
challenging me to a duel. One wants to know "how a reputable author
dare" suggest that Radisson's voyages be taken as authentic. There is
no "dare" about it. It is a fact. For any "reputable" historian to
suggest--as two recently have--that Radisson's voyages are a
fabrication, is to stamp that historian as a pretender who has not
investigated a single record contemporaneous with Radisson's life. One
cannot consult documents contemporaneous with his life and not learn
instantly that he was a very live fact of the most troublesome kind the
governments of France and England ever had to accept. That is why it
impresses me as a presumption that is almost comical for any modern
writer to condescend to say that he "accepts" or "rejects" this or that
part of Radisson's record. If he "rejects" Radisson, he also rejects
the _Marine Archives of Paris_, and the _Jesuit Relations_, which are
the recognized sources of our early history.
Another correspondent furiously denounces Radisson as a liar because he
mixes his dates of the 1660 trip. It would be just as reasonable to
call La Salle a liar because there are discrepancies in the dates of
his exploits, as to call Radisson a liar for the slips in his dates.
When the mistakes can be checked from internal evidence, one is hardly
justified in charging falsification.
A third correspondent is troubled by the reference to the Mascoutin
Indians being _beyond_ the Mississippi. State documents establish this
fact. I am not responsible for it; and Radisson could not circle
west-northwest from the Mascoutins to the great encampments of the
Sioux without going far west of the Mississippi. Even if the Jesuits
make a slip in referring to the Sioux's use of some kind of coal for
fire because there was no wood on the prairie, and really mean turf or
buffalo refuse,--which I have seen the Sioux use for fire,--the fact is
that only the tribes far west of the Mississippi habitually used such
substitutes for wood.
My Wisconsin correspondents I have offended by saying that Radisson
went beyond the Wisconsin; my Minnesota friends, by saying that he went
beyond Minnesota; and my Manitoba co-workers of past days, by
suggesting that he ever went beyond Manitoba. The fact remains that
when we try to identify Radisson's voyages, we must take his own
account of his journeyings; and that account establishes him as the
Discoverer of the Northwest.
For those who know, I surely do not need to state that there is no
picture of Radisson extant, and that some of the studies of his life
are just as genuine (?) as alleged old prints of his likeness.
CONTENTS
PART ONE
PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON
ADVENTURES OF THE FIRST WHITE MAN TO EXPLORE THE WEST, THE NORTHWEST,
AND THE NORTH
CHAPTER I
RADISSON'S FIRST VOYAGE
The Boy Radisson is captured by the Iroquois and carried to the Mohawk
Valley--In League with Another Captive, he slays their Guards and
escapes--He is overtaken in Sight of Home--Tortured and adopted in the
Tribe, he visits Orange, where the Dutch offer to ransom him--His Escape