Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-01-08
NUMBER x6.
On the Sault Ste. Marie.

On the Sanlt Ste. Marie.
st. Mary's River separates American
and Canadian territory. and connects
Lake Huron with the vast fresh water
sea of Lake Superior. The river or
strait is about sixty miles long. and
is difficult of navigation. Two or
three miles tTide at the mouth and stud
ded with numerous islands, beautiful
in the bright days of summer, it mar
rows ut many points, and opens out
into picturesque lagoons The Sault,
or rapid proper, is only three-quarters
of mile in length, with descent of
TWENTY-FIVE feet: it has no bold preci-
piees over which the str2am throws its
its water in foam, but the river rushes
down the slope in fury, whirling around
and among the small islands which are
scattered in its course, and leaping wild
ly over many powders. 1t is navigable
enough for the light birch barks of the
Indians, but only half century ago it
used to place an ef1ectual bar to the
progress of large vessels. Thirty-five
years since single schooner sufficed for
the traffic of Lake Superior, and five
wears later three more were all that
the commerce of the inland sea de-
manded, but the construction of the can
al, about twenty-five years ago, at once
made change, and opened passage
for continuous navigation. The canal
is a noble monument of engineering
skill, commercial enterprise, and wise
liberality on the part Of the State OF
Michigan. 1t was built by the funds Of
the State, supplemented by grant from
Congress of one hundred and fifty thou
sand acres of land. 1t is mile and a
half long, seventy feet deep, and con-
strfcted of colossal masonry. The
locks, two in number, are among the
largest in the world, and are wide
enough to admit the largest boats in
the trade. In winter, however, trade
is suspended on this waterway; the
boats can rarely enter the lake, on ac-
count of the ice, earlier than the first
of May, and navigation ceases in No
vember, as the fall storms are very Sc
we're. Ten years ago a journey to the Sault
in winter was an arctic expedition;
the mails to the fort were carried in
sledges drawn by dogs, and took fort
night on the journey. In summer reg
ular steamers, as well appointed as any
Atlantic fleet, run from Chicago and
Cleveland, and the travel on them is i'm
mense.
The Sault Ste. Marie is historic
ground. Though these eddying rapids
passed the first missionaries and ex-
plorers of the unknown West, the La
SALES. the Joliets, the Hennepins, and
not far from their rushing waters, IN
Michilimackinac. lie the bones of
Marquette. the explorer of the Missis-a
sippi. Here the fathers established
their central station, whence they
could start out to visit al the tribes of
the North and West, and whittier they
could return when wearied with their
labors or in want of supplies. Father
Jogues pitched his tent here in 1910, and
in 1871, on the very site of the modern
town, an envoy of the Most Christian
King had grand council with several
thousand Indians for making treaty
of offensive and defensive alliance
against the incursions of those friends
of our school-boy days, the Six Nations.
The river is the only outlet from the
vast lake, but some theories have been
advanced to favor the conjecture that
there exists subterranean channel, for,
it is difficult to conceive that one chan
from such an immense lake, whose
area is $4,000 square miles, and whose
drain more than twice that
extent of territory.
The Indians have mostly been con-
verted long ago to the Roman Catholic
faith, the missionary work having been
begun by the martyr of the iroquis,
the Father Jogues just mentioned. The
French settlers and pioneers, to their
lasting credit, have always treated the
Indians in the way which, to their last
ing shame, men of English blood seem
unable to comprehend. One of the
chief occupations of the Indians on the
Sault and the various lakelets it forms
in its course is fishing. Mackinac and
speckled trout are plentiful, but the
pride and boast of Lake Superior and
its adjacent tributaries is the white fish.
In the lake itself, with its waters crys-
tai clear AMI icy cold, it attains the
finest favor, and is without rival. 1t
is abundant in the rapids, and at all
hours of the summer day Indians and
half breeds may be seen scooping them
up with their apparently unWieldly
gaffs. Two fishermen form the crew
Of each canoe, and go right out into
the most turbulent parts of the channel.
One man sits in the stern, and with
single oar holds her head in the dash
ing stream, steady as though at anchor,
the light birch bark rising over the boil
ing rapids and its delicate bow part
ing the waters gracefully. The art of
thus managing the frail skiff has never
been attained, it is said, by any white |
man. The Indian who handles the net
peers down into the waters, dips it
quickly at the right time, and takes the
fish as he is struggling bravely against
The current. When the fish are plen- |
.iful score or more of canoes put out
INTO the rapids, and the scene is one of
interest and excitement. Shooting the
rapids is a common amusement to dar-
ng travellers. They walk up the river
bank to the head of the falls, step into
! canoe with an Indian guide. and rush
Town some one of the channels. If
goes right all is well. but a
little oversight. in all probability, costs
Vou your life.
Sault Ste. Marie can be reached, as
We have said. in the summer bv steam
r from the States by Cleveland or
chicago, or from Canada by way of
Jollingwood or Georgia Bay. Passing
through the canal, the vessels touch al
the center of the iron trade
If the district, and Keweenaw Point,
he seat of the first and principal cop
town. till they reach Su-
1erior Bay, with Superior City, in Wis
,onsin, on one side. and Duluth in Min
,esota, on the other, the head of the
yrandest line of fresh-water navigation
n the world. From the Gulf of ST.
awranee fhr.,uOh the yivo-s c. -.