Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-10-23
EARLY TRANSPORTATION.


EARLY TRANSPORTATION.
The Chief Means OF Conveyance In the
Early Days OF the West
In the Magazine of American History IL
an article on early Transportation in the
West-the First and Latest Steamer on
Lake Erie" by Mr.. d. W. Manchester. SEQ
retary Of the Cleveland Historical Society.
Primitive transportation was crude and
laborious. On this point Mr.. Manchester
says:
Before the discovery and development Of
the great mining and lumber industries OF
the West, or the demands of commerce had
rendered possible the facilities of modern
transportation, the chief means Of convey
ance was the birch bark canoe and pony Of
the Indian. The carrying capacity of each
was enormous and somethin z wonderful
With canoes sometimes SIX feet wide and
thlrty-hve feet long, sixty packs Of furs,
each pack weighing a hundred pounds; q
thousand pounds of provisions, sufficient
for crew of eight or ten men, IN addition
to bark and gum for repairs, the early trav-
eler and explorer tells US was not an un-
usual load down the Great Lakes to
Quebec and as far as Albany. OF
course transportation In this way
was necessarily slow, because these
canoes were so slight and fragile that when
loaded they could not withstand rough
weather, nor approach rough beach. In
the latter event, freight and canoe were
"backed" around q portage, reloaded and
the journey resumed. A very convenient
and useful trading boat was the Mackinaw
bateau. 1t was built Of oak or pine boards,
had fiat bottoms, shaped the same at each
end and had high sides. The pirouge was q
long canoe frequently made of large red
(adar froo rr,ifh trh a.
was used mainly for passengers, carrying
about eight persons. A canoe in common
use was called a ''dug-out," !" because it was
made by chopping, digging and burning out
the trunkof tree. Some of the trees were
enormous and capacious, but it required
great skill and experience to successfully
manage canoe thus constructed, a slight
lateral motion or unsteady position being
sufticient to capsize it. Little wonder that
the Indian was erect and straight as an
arrow" He spent much of his time, too, in
the midst Of tall, straight trees.
In his famous expedition to the upper
lakes in 1890, Governor Cass employed ca
noes for transportation. This expedition,
at the time it was made, was the most i'm
portant, taken in all, that had ever been un-
dertaken with the sanction and authority Of
the general Government. The objects pri-
marlly were an examination into the con-
d1tlon OF the Indian tribes who occupied
that country, and to procure the extinction
OF Indian titles to the land about the straits
OF st. Mary's, Prairie du Chen and Green
bay and to open up communication between
the two latter points. The expedition
also had in contemplation a thorough
and scientific examination of the COD
per region in the vicinity of Lake Superior.
Much has been heard of this section through
Indians and half-breeds, who said a large
mass OF virgin ore, weighing several tons,
mad fallen from hill; specimens had been
sent TO Washington, and in 1900 Mr.. Tracy,
aSenator from Connecticut, had been DIS
patched to make an examination, but he
proceeded no further than Mackinaw.
Governor Cass also intimated that it would
be well to consider the natural history of
the country through which the expedition
would pass, and accordingly made request
that the Government send some person who
was acquainted with zoology, botany and
mineralogy. For the latter position, the ex-
pedltion was fortunate in having Henry r.
Schoolcraft, since of wide celebrity and
greatness in many respects, especially as
an author, and deservedly so as the writer
on chronological researches respecting the
Indians of North America. Other promi-
nent members of the party, besides Cover
nor Cass, were Captain D. B. Douglass.
professor of engineering at West Point;
Alexander Wolcot, NJ ID. Lieutenant Evans
Mackey, U. s. artillery; James Doty, official
secretary, and Charles Trowbridge, assist
ant topographer There were also ten
United States soldiers as escort, ten Indians
to act as hunters, two interpreters and ten
Canadian voyageurs to manage the canoes
FOrty-one in all in four birch bark canoes
They reached Mackinuw in fourteen DAYS a
distance OF three hundred and sixty miles
from Detroit, the starting point, which
they left the oath of May. General Cass
reached this place on his return the 10th of
September following, having travelled al
most entirely by canoe over four thousand
miles.
In early times In the West the horse also
played prominent part IN the transporta-
tlon OF persons and freight. The French
or Indian pony was indispensable TO the
1ur-trader and Indian in getting their furs
and peltries to points where they could be
transported to canoes or bateaux, and the
immense load Of buffalo and other skins
that these small animals would carry Is
astonishing. They were very hardy, and
have been known to travel under the saddle
sixty to seventy miles day for MANY sue
cessive days. 1t Is not quite clear when the
larger, modern horses were first used In
the West, but they are reported to have
peen Drought from Fort DuQuesna to De-
troit Immediately following the defeat of
General Braddock, in 1755, but it is prob
able that they were there much earlier, as
Cadillac, who founded Detroit in July, l7O1.
without doubt had them, and in q grant of
land from him to Joseph Parent, in l7Os.
there was condition that the latter was to
keep Cadillac's horses shod. They were.
however, not plenty, and often there was
only one horse for two or three persons, In
which case the ride and tie'' method was
adopted In journeying-which was that
one person would ride few miles, when
he would dismount, tie the horse and pro-
ceed on foot The next one who came along
would take the horse, ride on ahead of the
hrst and tie the horse. This rested both
man and beast and fairly good progress
was made. Journeys on horseback were
frequently made from Detroit to New York
and Washington. Major BIddle, q Terri
torial delegate to the latter place, went on
horseback, travelling upwards of nine hun
dred miles In that way.