St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-09-25
SETTLEMENT OF DETROIT.


Prosperous American City.
1t was a sweltering day in July. 1701,
when Cadillac, with his little feet OF
birch-bark canoes, turned southwest
from Lake st. Clair and entered the
broad, clear, beautiful river now known
Is the Detroit. Had some native OF
the forest stood then upon its banks. he
must have been lost in wonder at the
unwonted spectacle of tho strange
hotilla- Twenty. five birchen boats
some measuring six feet wide and thirty.
five feet long-gaudily decorated with
Indian symbols and waving gaily the
flags of France, glided gracefully down
the stream to the exhilarating sound.
Of the fife and drum, and the joyful
shout that long journey was over. The
boats were manned by fifty soldiers in
''bright blue coats and white facings;
and carried four officers and fifty emf
grants, with an abundant store of pro-
visions and all the tools and utensils
needed in the building and settling OF
a new town in the wilderness. Besides,
there were on board two Roman
Catholic priests. for. like all good
Frenchmen, Cadillac had tender con-
Germ for the souls of his people. He
intended they should not neglect the
mass, or forget their pater-noster.
They had come u weary journey OF
forty-nine days. in those frail boats.
over rough waves, the men bearing
them on their shoulders on the long
portage between the Ottawa river and
Lake Huron. and it was but natural
they should rejoice at the end of their
voyage.
Where the river leaves Lake Huron
it is more than half Il league in width
and broken by picturesque islands;
but rs it flows southwestward it con-
tracts into single channel, and grad.
ually narrows till at about ten miles
distance it has breadth of only half a
mile. This is the strait which was to
give its name-De;roit-:o both the
river and the city to be built upon it,
northern bank. Here, at sudden
bend in the stream. the canoes were
drawn up on the beach, and land ng.
the voyagers assembled to level plateau
which rose by successive terraces to d
height of about fifty feet above the bed
of the river. From this elevation they
had view of the whole broad water
as it flows southwark, shut in at first
bv steep bluffs. but then broadening
out. dotted with beautiful islands, till
at the distance of about twenty miles
its clear green current is lost in the
deep blue waves of Lake Erie. The
river here is three miles wide. discharg-
ing 4 greater volume of water than
any other in the world, excepting only
the Niagara and st. Lawrence, which
receives its flow. Cadillac was man
of broad, forecasting intellect, but j.
may be questioned if even he would
have credited a prediction that within
two hundred years that river, frost
bound Is it is nearly four months in
the year, would give passage to L
greater annual tonnage than would
enter London-the largest seaport in
the world. And vet such is the fact,
as shown by the maritime tables for the
year 1884.
Cadillac formed temporary en-
campment under the great spreading
trees. and, within two days, laid the
foundation of church in which tC
worship God after the manner of his
fathers. Then he staked out the ground
for a fort and a stockade, and set al
work to get the settlers housed before
the winter, which he knew from expe.
rience to be sometimes severe in this
latitude. The stockade is supposed tc
~ nh txVyn ntu
was located on the first rise of ground
near the river-in what is now the
business part of the city--that the gun.
of the fort might command the strait
and the opposite shore; and was made
thus roomy to allow each settler space
for a dwelling inside the pickets. safety
being the.thing to be first thought OF
by the new settlement. The settlers
were but a handful. and they knew
themselves surrounded by at least forty
thousand savages, friendly then. but
liable at any moment to become hostile
upon occasion of some real or fancied
injury. The area within the stockade
was laid out into lots and streets, and
surrounded by lane twelve feet in
width, to allow the garrison. in the
event of attack. free access to every
part of the enclosure. Thus Cadillac
was soon in command of walled city,
built, it is true, of rough logs, and not
in the latest style of European archi-
lecture, but reasonably secure. il
bravely defended, against attacks from
such desultory warriors as the Indians.
By means of this fort the French
secured control of the Great Lakes and
the fur trade of the Northwest; and
here the traders and soldiers of that
nation congregated. and proclaimed
Louis XIV. lord paramount of all the
vast region that stretches away to the
setting sun.
The adventurous Frenchman had now
built capital and assumed the gov
ernorship of a vast territory. His next
step was to people his settlement. and
obtain the permanent goodwill of the
natives of the lake region. To these
ends he resorted to the novel expedient
of settling the Indians about him. and
encouraging his soldiers to marry their
young women. IN this way he hoped
to augment his population, and attach
the aborigines to him by ties of kinship.
The natives received his overtures
kindly. and before long four different
tribes had established settlements with
in cannon-shot of the fort-the Miamis
and Pottawatamies within half mile
on its either side, and the Hurons and
Ottawas on the opposite side of the
river, near the present town of Wind
sor. His scheme for intermingling the
white and red races was equally sue
cessful, for the Indian maiden soon
learned to prefer Johnny Crapeau for
a husband. He did not require her to
.,lant his corn and Nu his nntafons