Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-09-28
SETTLEMENT oE DETROIT.
The First Permanent Settlers OF q Now
Prosperous American City.

birch-bark canoes, turned southwest
from Lake st. Clair and entered the
broad, clear, beautiful river now known
as 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 the strange
tlotilla. 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 sounds
OF the fife and drum, and the joyful
shout that a long journey was over. Tho
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 oj
Il new town in the wilderness. Besides
there were on boatd two Roman
Catholic priests, for, like all good
Frenchmcn, Cadillac had tender con-
Germ for the souls of his people. He
intended they should not neglect the
mass, or forget their pator-noster.
They had come 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 tho river leaves Lake Huron
it is more than half league in width
and broken by picturesque islands;
but as 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-Detroit-to both the
river and the city to be built upon its
northern bank. Here, at sudden
bend in the stream, the canoes were
drawn up on the beach, and landing,
the voyagers assembled to a level plateau
which rose by successive terraces to a
height of about fifty feet above the bed
of the river. From this elevation they
had a view of the whole broad water
as it flows southwark, shut in at first
by 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 greater volume of water than
any other in the world excepting only
the Niagara and st. Lawrence, which
receives its fow Cadillac was y man
Of broad, forecasting intellect, but 1t
may be questioned il even he would
have credited prediction that within
two hundred years that river, FROST
bound as it is nearly four months in
the year, would give passage to II
greater annual tonnage than would
enter London-thc largest seaport in
the world. And yet such is the fact,
as shown by the maritime tables for the
year 1881.
Cadillac formed temporary en-
campmcnt under tho great spreading
trees, and, within two days, laid tho
foundation of a church In which to
worship God after the manner Of his
fathers. Then he staked out the ground
for fort and q stockade, and set at
work to get the settlers housed before
tho winter, which he knew from eXpe-
ricnce to be sometimes severe in this
latitude. The stockadc is supposed to
have included about twenty acres. 1t
was located on the first rise of ground
near the river-in what is now the
business part of the city--that the guns
of the fort might command the strait
and the opposite shore; and was made
thus roomy to aIuw each settler space
for dwelling inside the pickets, safety
being the thing to be first thought OF
by the new settlement. The settlers
were but handful, and they knew
themselves surrounded by at least forty
thousand savages, friendly then. but
liable ut 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 twelys 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
builta capital and assumed the gov.
ernorship of q 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 rcsorted to the novel expedient
of settling the Indians about him, and
encouraging his soldiers to marry theil
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 overture'
kindly, and before long four different
tribes had established settlements with
in oannon-shot Of the fort-the Miamis
and Pottawatamies within half milt
on its either side, and the Hurons ant
Ottawas on the opposite side of thu
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 soor
learned to prefer Johnny Crapeau fol
husband. He did not require her t
plant his corn and dig his potatoe!
while he was away upon the hunt o.
lounging idly about the wigwam.
To enable him to raise agriculture
products, Cadillac granted the settler
land outside the fort. generally In strip
having a few hundred feet of frontag'
upon the river, and extending back s.
as to form tracts Of from thirty to tift.
acres. He conveyed these lands /,
actual fee, and In some instances wer'
the source of large fortunes to the ol'
families; but in every grant Cadilla
reserved to himself certain rights
which curiously illustrate the sort o
feudal system which he attempted t.
establish. He sought to reproduce II
those uncivilized wilds the system thel
existing where he was born, in Haute
! n Al