The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-15

which John Jacob Aston made his
headquarters. in the days when he was
the head of the great American Fur
company. The party Inspected the his
toric old fort, visited Arch rock, Sugar
Loaf rock, the Devils Kitchen and
other points, but their stay was cut
short by the necessity of starting OH
the return trip in time to reach Duluth
Tuesday night.
1t was a matter of much regret to
the members Of the party that the stay
at the island was necessarily so short,
as there is no place in the Northwest
which would more thoroughly repay the
tourist than this famed Mackinac., 1t
has, the only battle-ground in the North
west in which American troops have
met foreign. u ies to- 81 14fT@
The fort itself is one Of the oldest
buildings west of the Alleghanies-
almost the only one that dates back
to the time of the British occupation
and Is still in good state ofspreserva-
ton; and the country has not enough
of ancient landmarks to spare this one
The original Fort Michilimackinac
was built close to the. site of the pres
emit town of Mackinaw,. City rnen4sthe
south side of the straits and distant
seven or eight miles from the island.
At the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, In
1863, the post was captured by the In
dians and most of the garrison were
put to death. After the conclusion Of
the war and the signing of the treaty
another detachment of soldiers was
! sent to the place. but In 1880 they
moved to the island for the sake of the
| greater security which 1t afforded
| Two or three years were required for
| the building Of the present fort and it
was not completed till, 1888. 1t stands
upon the edge of a bluff, $50 feet above
the lake, faces the south and overlooks
| the village and harbora. The front and
rear walls are of massive limestone
masonry, capped for 1.-THE most part,
with short cedar beams placed cross
| wise to protect the 5stonework. The
| ends are formed mainly of natural en-
| bankments The whole was originally
| surmounted by a. palsade of cedar
posts about ten feet In height, made
| still more unassaifable by iron hooks
| fastened to the outside and sharp iron
| prongs in the top. Three two-Story
| block houses were built at the most
| prominent angles of the wall, the lower
story of each being Of masonry and
! the upper story, whichv was larger and
| projected somewhat ON each side, of
| timber, pierced for musketry. Two or
/ three small guns were mounted on the
walls and small piece was placed in
| each block house. A number of stone
]
mediation of the officers and men and
! the fort was complete.
TWICE TAKEN BY THE BRITISH.
1t was admirably adapted for defense
against attacks by the Indians or by
| the small war vessels which were in use
on the Great Lakes in the early part
of the present century. It's walls would
/ probably be very slight protection
against modern heavy ordnance, but
the artillery of that day was too light
! ever to make much impression on them,
and, in fact, the fort was SO high above
| the lake that it would have been al
most impossible for a vessel to have
elevated her guns sufficiently to bring
them to bear on it,
The fort was held by the British until
! 1896, when, in accordance with the
terms of the treaty which ended theWar
of the Revolution, it was surrendered to
| the Americans, who occupied it until
| 1912. At the outbreak-of the second war
by force of over 1000, men, consisting
of British soldiers. Canadians and In
lians, who surprised the American
/ garrison of less than sixty men and
compelled them tes surrender without
firing a shot In 1914 an attempt was
made to reca pturet the fort and a holly
contested battle took place in the woods
north of the center Of the island. The
| Americans were unsuccessful and the
British retained possession until the
close of the war, when the fort once
mere passed into the hands of the Yam
KEGS.
Some changes have been made in the
113 years which have elapsed since
1853; but much remains substantially as
it was when first finished. The pail
sade stood for over seventy years but
finally portion of 'ito fell down and
| the rest was removed The blockhouses
are standing and one of them has been
used of late years as reservoir to sup
ply the garrison with water The old
stone walls are the same as eyer and
some of the first buildings still remain
4 To the right of the gateway and a little
| above 1t is the sally port, so placed
that it would be impossible for troops
to sally from 1t except by jumping down
over two or three stone walls at the
imminent risk of breaking their necks.
A little farther on are two or three of
the original buildings, the principal one