Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-04-01

Plymouth rock. Here occurred man,
wild and thrilling scenes in the live
Of Marquette, Hennepin, Micollet ant
LaSalle; and over at Point st. Igna
thus, in plain view, five miles acros
one channel of the lake, Marquette
was escorted to his burial-place by
hundred canoes of plumed and painted
Indian warriors in 1879. Here werl
two battles of the war of 1872 fought
and here, for fifty years, were tn,
headquarters of the American Ful
Company, of which old John jacob
Astor was President. Here, by al
sorts of rascalities and swindles upoS
the Indians, and by trading in skim
and hides, skunk .pelts, and rot-gu
whisky, old John Jacob made th,
money on which the present Astol
gang in New York set up their aristo
cratic pretensions. Somehow, I've al
ways thought their name should b
spelled with a double s. Just across
on the tip end of the southern PENN.
sula, stood old Fort Northumberland
the scene of the terrible massacre b.
the Indians under Pontiac, in 1863
In fact, the whole region is soaked in
historic, legendary aud poetic memo.
ries and associations. and Lieutenant
D. II. Kelton, one of the most accom-
plished young officers Of the United
States army, has, for the past two
years, been preparing the material for
volume entitled, The Annals OF
MackinaW, which is soon to be issued,
and will undoubtedly be one of the
most interesting books of the day."
A GLOWING DESCRIPTION.
What is the character, Colonel, Of
the scenery on the islsnd2"
"Indescribably varied, grand and
beautiful. The whole island is vast
labyrinthine tangle of miniature
mountains, wild precipices, overhang.
ing cliffs and crags; strange rocky for.
nations, like the famous Giants
Causeway, tall, fnger-like pillars Of
stone, hundreds of feet high, straight
and slender as Cleopatra's Needle;
cstaracts Of dizzy hight, leaping from
perpendicular walls Of rock, far out
into the lake at their feet; glorious
shelving beaches of snow white sand
and gravel, hard and smooth as ball
room floor, on which one can ride or
drive or stroll for miles at a stretch,
with the never ceasing melody OF
FLASHING waters lulling every sense but
that Of tender bliss; occasional views
of storm lushed pillows, rivaling in the
grandeur of their savagery the ocean
at its maddest; fort dating back
through more than a century of war
and romance, grass bordercd parade
grounds, troops Of gilt tinseled young
officers who have just learned the last
waltz or galop step on the Hudson, a
splendid military band, two battle
fields Of the war of 1872, a burial
ground where the dead were laid away
to await the last great revsille sounded
by an archangelic bugle from the
battlements above, old jesuit churches
and mission houses, gray and moss
grown ruins, history, poetry, legend,
SIX pound brook trout, bass, pickerel,
delightful bathing. Indian villages
and birch bark canoes, hoary survivors
Of the death grapples with the British
and Indians seventy FIVE years ago,
forty pound whitefsh and silver moon
light glinting on silver floods, steam
ships and fleets Of tiny white sailed
boats darting hitler and thither like
happy swallows on the wing; and,
around and above all, like an upper
and lower canopy, the boundless
drapery Of blue water and blue sky
melting into one along the far off hori-
zon line, where heaven and earth seem
to meet and kiss each other. Young
man, isn't having seen all these things
almost an education Of itselt?"
The reporter gasped for breath a
moment, under the food of the elo-
quent Dakotan's glowing description
and had just started to stammer out a
question as to whether it had been
possible to learn anything more in a ter
days tour, when the Colonel added:
AN AMERICAN KING.
Zone thing more | learned, anC
with it | must ask you to let me off
| Did you ever know that an American
King rained on an islazd near Mack
nav less than thirty years ago?
never did; and yet, almost in sight O
the ruins Of old Fort Holmes, OF
Mackinaw Island-named in honor oil
Major Holmes, one of the American
officers, who was killed in an uusuc
cessful attempt to retake the IslanC
from the British in l8l4-forty- fou
miles away to the westward, lies Bea
yer Island, on which james Jess
Strang, one Of the early Mormons
proclaimed himself King, issued hi
royal code oil laws, and for many year
ruled with rod Of blood and iron
levying private tribute on the shipping
and commerce both of the United
States and Canada. He was a man o
ability, and during all his reign pub
lished. as a sort OF court journal,
paper Of decided literary merit. H,
and his horde of fanatics and despera
does committed innumerable murder
and other outrages, seized vessels AM
made themselves what Dakotan-
mind you spell that without an e.
would call holy terror to all tn,
region. The United States govern
ment was appealed to time and agair
for protection and redress, but as tn,
average American statesman is onl,
another variety Of pirate and Mormon
no help was obtained, and KIM
Strang might have been swaying tn
scepter yet, if one Of his subjects hat
not assassinated him in 1855. TIL
long outraged people Of Shebeygan
Mackinaw, and all the neighborin.
islands and villages, organized a nava
expedition the next year, and drov
his defunct majesty's rabble from tn