CHAPTER III.

Description of Michilimackinac--Prominent scenery--Geology--Arched Rock--Sugarloaf Rock--History--Statistics--Mineralogy--Skull Cave--Manners--Its fish, agriculture, moral wants--Ingenious manufactures of the Indians--Fur trade--Etymology of the word--Antique bones disclosed in the interior of the island.

Nothing can exceed the beauty of this island. It is a mass of calcareous rock, rising from the bed of Lake Huron, and reaching an elevation of more than three hundred feet above the water. The waters around are purity itself. Some of its cliffs shoot up perpendicularly, and tower in pinnacles like ruinous Gothic steeples. It is cavernous in some places; and in these caverns, the ancient Indians, like those of India, have placed their dead. Portions of the beach are level, and adapted to landing from boats and canoes. The harbor, at its south end, is a little gem. Vessels anchor in it, and find good holding. The little old-fashioned French town nestles around it in a very primitive style. The fort frowns above it, like another Alhambra, its white walls gleaming in the sun. The whole area of the island is one labyrinth of curious little glens and valleys. Old green fields appear, in some spots, which have been formerly cultivated by the Indians. In some of these there are circles of gathered-up stones, as if the Druids themselves had dwelt here. The soil, though rough, is fertile, being the comminuted materials of broken-down limestones. The island was formerly covered with a dense growth of rock-maples, oaks, ironwood, and other hard-wood species, and there are still parts of this ancient forest left, but all the southern limits of it exhibit a young growth. There are walks and winding paths among its little hills, and precipices of the most romantic character. And whenever the visitor gets on eminences overlooking the lake, he is transported with sublime views of a most illimitable and magnificent water prospect. If the poetic muses are ever to have a new Parnassus in America, they should inevitably fix on Michilimackinac. Hygeia, too, should place her temple here, for it has one of the purest, driest, clearest, and most healthful atmospheres.

We remained encamped upon this lovely island six days, while awaiting the arrival of supplies and provisions for the journey, or their being prepared for transportation by hand over the northern portages. Meats, bread, Indian corn, and flour, had to be put in kegs, or stout linen bags.

The traders and old citizens said so much about the difficulties and toils of these northern portages that we did not know but what we, ourselves, were to be put in bags; but we escaped that process. This delay gave us the opportunity of more closely examining the island. It is about three and a half miles long, two in its greatest width, and nine in circumference. The site of Fort Holmes, the apex, is three hundred and twelve feet above the lake. The eastern margin consists of precipitous cliffs, which, in many places, overhang the water, and furnish a picturesque rocky-fringe, as it were, to the elevated plain. The whole rock formation is calcareous. It exhibits the effects of a powerful diluvial action at early periods, as well as the continued influence of elemental action, still at work. Large portions of the cliffs have been precipitated upon the beach, where the process of degradation has been carried on by the waves. A most striking instance of such precipitations is to be witnessed at the eastern cliff, called Robinson's Folly, which fell, by its own gravitation, within the period of tradition. The formation, at this point, formerly overhung the beach, commanding a fine view of the lake and islands in all directions, in consequence of which it was occupied with a summer-house, by the officers of the British garrison, after the abandonment of the old peninsular fort, about 1780.

The mineralogical features of the island are not without interest. I examined the large fragments of debris, which are still prominent, and which exhibit comparatively fresh fractures. The rock contains a portion of sparry matter, which is arranged in reticulæ, filled with white carbonate of lime, in such a state of loose disintegration that the weather soon converts it to the condition of agaric mineral. These reticulæ are commonly in the slate of calcspar, crystallized in minute crystals. The stratum on which this loose formation rests is compact and firm, and agrees in structure with the encrinal limestone of Drummond Island and the Manitouline chain. But the vesicular stratum, which may be one hundred and ten or twenty feet thick, has been deposited in such a condition that it has not had, in some localities, firmness enough permanently to sustain itself. The consequence is, that the table-land has caved in, and exhibits singular depressions, or grass-covered, cup-shaped cavities, which have no visible outlet for the rain-water that falls in them, unless it percolates through the shelly strata. Portions of it, subject to this structure, have been pressed off during changing seasons, by frosts, and carried away by rains, creating that castellated appearance of pinnacles, which gives so much peculiarity to the rocky outlines of the island.

The ARCHED ROCK is an isolated mass of self-sustaining rock, on the eastern facade of cliffs; it offers one of those coincidences of geological degradation in which the firmer texture of the silicious and calcareous portions of it have, thus far, resisted decomposition. Its explanation, is, however, simple: The apex of this geological monument is on a level, or nearly so, with the Fort Holmes summit. While the diluvial action, of which the whole island gives striking proofs, carried away the rest of the reticulated or magnesian limestone, this singular point, having a firmer texture, resisted its power, and remains to tell the visitor who gazes at it, that waters have once held dominion over the highest part of the island.

Before dismissing the subject of the geological phenomena of this island, it may be observed that it is covered with the erratic block or drift stratum. Primitive or crystalline pebbles and boulders are found, but not plentifully, on the surface. They are observed, however, on the highest summit, and upon the lower plain; one of the best localities of these boulders, exists on the depressed ground, leading north, in the approach to Dousman's Farm, where there is a remarkable accumulation of blocks of granite and hornblende drift boulders. The principal drift of the island consists of smooth, small, calcareous pebbles, and, at deeper positions, angular fragments of limestone. Sandstone boulders are not rare. Over the plain leading from the fort north by way of the Skull Rock, are spread extensive beds of finely comminuted calcareous gravel, the particles of which often not exceeding the size of a buck-shot, which makes one of the most solid and compact natural macadamized roads of which it is possible to conceive. Carriage wheels on it run as smoothly, but far more solid, than they could over a plank floor. This formation appears to be the diluvial residuum or ultimate wash, which arranged itself agreeably to the laws of its own gravitation, on the recession of the watery element, to which its comminution is clearly due. It would be worth transportation, in boxes, for gravelling ornamental garden-walks. The soil of the island is highly charged with the calcareous element, and, however barren in appearance, is favorable to vegetation. Potatoes have been known to be raised in pure beds of small limestone pebbles, where the seed potatoes had been merely covered in a slight way, to shield them from the sun, until they had taken root.

The historical reminiscences connected with this island are of an interesting character. It appears from concurrent testimony, that the old town on the peninsula was settled about 1671,[22] which was seven years before the building of Fort Niagara. In that year, Father Marquette, a French missionary, prevailed on a party of Hurons to locate themselves at that spot, and it was therefore the first point of settlement made northwest of Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. It was probably first garrisoned by La Salle, in 1678, and continued to be the seat of the fur trade, and in many respects, the metropolis of the extreme northwest, during the whole period of French domination in the Canadas. After the fall of Quebec, in 1759, it passed by treaty to the British government, but much against the wishes of the Indian tribes, who retained a strong partiality for their early friends, the French. Pontiac arose at this time, to dispute the English authority in the northwest, and with confederates projected a series of bold attacks upon the forts extending from the Ohio to this post. Most of these were successful, but he was defeated at Detroit, where he commanded in person, after a series of extraordinary movements. While he was pressing the siege of the garrison, he enjoined neutrality upon the French inhabitants, who were nevertheless called on to furnish cattle and corn for the subsistence of his warriors. It is remarked on good authority that, for these supplies, he issued evidences of debt. When General Bradstreet marched to the relief of the fort, with an army of three thousand men, the spirit and laconic temper of the warrior were at the same time evinced. He sent a deputation of chiefs to meet the herald of the British general, at Maumee, with the laconic and symbolic message: "I stand in the path."

[22] Neither Fort Niagara nor Fort Ponchartrain (at the present site of Detroit) were then in existence. The foundation of the former was laid by La Salle, in 1678; the latter had not been erected when La Hontan passed through the country, in 1688.--_Herriot's Travels through Canada_, p. 196.

The execution of the plan of attack on Old Fort Mackinac appears to have been intrusted to Minnawanna, a Chippewa chief, who, in addition to his own people, was aided by the Sacs. The Ottowas afterwards expressed displeasure in not having been admitted to a participation in the attack. The plan was ingeniously laid. The king's birthday, the 4th of June (1763), having arrived, the Chippewas and Sacs turned out to play, for a high wager, at ball. Many of the garrison, and the commanding officer himself, came out to witness the sport; and there was such a feeling of security that the gates of the fort were left open. To put the troops more off their guard, the ball had been thrown over the picket, and when once there, it was natural that it should be followed by the opposite parties, heated with the contest and eager for victory. But this artifice was the accomplishment of the plan. The war-whoop was immediately sounded, and an indiscriminate slaughter commenced. A few moments of intense anxiety ensued. They were passed by the officers eagerly listening for the roll of the drum. But they were passed in disappointment. There was no call of this kind to concentrate resistance. Panic and slaughter raged in their most fearful forms. None were spared who were deemed friendly to the English interest but such as were effectually secreted. Some of the soldiers who escaped the first onset, were incarcerated in a room, where they were sacrificed to glut the vengeance of a chief, who did not arrive till the principal work of slaughter had been accomplished.

This event sealed the fate of the old fort and the town on the peninsula. The British afterwards took possession of the island, which had served to give name to the peninsular fort. The town was gradually removed, by pulling down the buildings, and transporting the timber to the island, till there was not a building or fixture left; and the site is now as silent and deserted as if it had never been the scene of an active resident population.

The Island of Michilimackinac appears to have been occupied first as a military position by the British, about 1780, say some seven years after the massacre of the garrison of the old peninsular fort of the same name.

Wherever Michilimackinac is mentioned in the missionary letters or history of this period, it is the ancient fort, on the apex of the Michigan peninsula, that is alluded to.

The present town is pleasantly situated around a little bay that affords good clay anchorage and a protection from west and north winds. It has a very antique and foreign look, and most of the inhabitants are, indeed, of the Canadian type of the French. The French language is chiefly spoken. It consists of about one hundred and fifty houses and some four hundred and fifty permanent inhabitants.

It is the seat of justice for the most northerly county of Michigan. According to the observation of Lieut. Evelith, the island lies in north latitude 45° 54´, which is only twenty-three minutes north of Montreal, as stated by Prof. Silliman.[23] It is in west longitude 7° 10´ from Washington.

[23] Tour from Hartford to Quebec, p. 341.

Col. Croghan's attempt to take the island, during the late war, was most unfortunate. He failed from a double spirit of dissension in his own forces, being at odds with the commanding officer of the fleet, and at sword's points with his second in command, Major Holmes. After entering the St. Mary's, and taking and burning the old post of St. Joseph's, where nobody resisted, instead of sailing direct to Mackinac, a marauding expedition was sent up this river to St. Mary's, and when the fleet and troops finally reached Mackinac, instead of landing at the town, under the panic of the inhabitants, it sailed about for several days. In the mean time the island filled with Indians from the surrounding shores.

Fort "Mackina" is eligibly situated on a cliff overlooking the town and harbor, and is garrisoned by a company of artillery. The ruin of Fort Holmes, formerly Fort George, occupies the apex of the island, and has been dismantled since the British evacuated it in 1815.[24]

[24] Tour from Hartford to Quebec, p. 341.

It happened that the British authorities on the island of St. Joseph, got intelligence of the declaration of war, in 1812, through Canada, before the American commander at Mackinac heard of it. Mustering their forces with such volunteers, militia, and Indians as could be hastily got together, they proceeded in boats to the back of the island, where they secretly landed at night with some artillery, and by daylight the next morning got the latter in place on the summit of Fort Holmes, which completely commanded the lower fort, when they sent a summons of surrender, which Captain Hanks, the American commanding officer, had no option but to obey.

Colonel Croghan, the hero of Sandusky, attempted to regain possession of it, in 1814, with a competent force, and after several demonstrations of his fleet about the island, by which time was lost and panic in the enemy allayed, he landed on the northern part of it, which is depressed, and his army marched through thick woods, most favorable for the operations of the Indians, to the open grounds of Dousman's Farm, where the army was met by Colonel McDouall, who was eligibly posted on an eminence with but few regular troops, but a heavy force of Indian auxiliaries and the village militia. Major Holmes, who gallantly led the attack, swinging his sword, was killed at a critical moment, and the troops retreated before Colonel Croghan could reach the field with a reinforcement. Thus ended this affair.

My attention was directed to the plaster stated to exist on the St. Martin Islands. These islands compose a small group lying about nine or ten miles north-northeast of Michilimackinac. Captain Knapp, of the revenue service, had been requested to take me to the spot with the revenue cutter under his command. I was accompanied by Captain Douglass, of the expedition, and by Lieutenant John Pierce, U. S. A., stationed at the fort.

The gypsum exists in a moist soil, not greatly elevated, during certain winds above the lake. Pits had been dug by persons visiting the locality for commercial purposes. It occurs in granular lumps of a gray color, as also in foliated and fibrous masses, white, gray, chestnut color, or sometimes red. No difficulty was encountered in procuring as many specimens as were required. This group of islands is noticeable, also, for the large boulder masses of hornblende and granite rock, which are found imbedded in, or lying on the surface, along with fragments of breccia, quartz, &c. This drift is more abundant, on all the islands I have seen, as we approach the north shores of Lake Huron. Having completed the examination of these islands, we returned to the harbor after an agreeable excursion.

To observe the structure and character of the Island of Michilimackinac, I determined to walk entirely around it, following the beach at the foot of the cliffs. This, although a difficult task, from brush and debris, became a practicable one, except on the north and northwest borders, where there was, for limited spaces, no margin of debris, at which points it became necessary to wade in the water at the base of low precipitous rocks. In addition to the reticulated masses of limestone covered with calcspar from the fallen cliffs, the search disclosed small tabular pieces of minutely crystallized quartz and angular masses of a kind of striped hornstone, gray and lead colored, which had been liberated from similar positions in the cliffs. On passing the west margin of the island, I observed a bed of a species of light-blue clay, which is stated to part with its coloring matter in baking it, becoming white.

While the British possessed the island, they attempted to procure water by digging two wells at the site of Fort George (now Holmes), but were induced to relinquish the work without success, at the depth of about one hundred feet. Among the fragments of rock thrown out, are impressions of bivalve and univalve shells, with an impression resembling the head of a trilobite. These are generally in the condition of chalcedony, covered with very minute crystals of quartz. I also discovered a drift specimen of brown oxide of iron, on the north quarter. This sketch embraces all that is important in its mineralogical character.

This island appears to have been occupied by the Indians, from an early period. Human bones have been discovered at more than one point, in the cavernous structure of the island; but no place has been so much celebrated for disclosures of this kind, as the SKULL CAVE. This cave has a prominent entrance, shaded by a few trees, and appears to have been once devoted to the offices of a charnel-house by the Indians. It is not mentioned at all, however, by writers, till 1763, in the month of June of which year the fort of old Mackinac on the peninsula, was trea-cherously taken by the Sac and Chippewa Indians. An extensive and threatening confederation of the western Indians had then been matured, and a large body of armed warriors was then encamped around the walls of Detroit, under the leadership of Pontiac, who held the garrison in close siege day and night. The surrender of Canada to Great Britain, which had followed the victory of General Wolfe at Quebec, was distasteful to these Indians, and they attempted the mad project of driving back beyond the Alleghanies the English race; making a simultaneous assault upon all the military posts west of that great line of demarcation, and preaching and dealing out vengeance to all who had English blood in their veins. Alexander Henry, a native of Albany,[25] was one of those enterprising men who had pushed his fortunes West, with an adventure of merchandise, on the first exchange of posts, and he was singled out for destruction, as soon as the fort was taken. He had taken refuge in the house of a Frenchman named Longlade, where he was concealed in a garret by a Pawnee slave, and where he hid himself under a heap of birch-bark buckets, such as are employed in the Indian country, in the spring season, in carrying the sap of the sugar-maple. But this temporary reprieve from the Indian knife seemed only the prelude to a series of hairbreadth escapes, which impressed him as the direct interposition of Providence. At length, when the scenes of blood and intoxication began to abate a little, an old Indian friend of his, called Wawetum, who had once pledged his friendship, but who had been absent during the massacre, sought him out, and having reclaimed him by presents, in a formal council, took him into his canoe and conducted the spared witness of these atrocities three leagues across the waters of Lake Huron in safety to this island.

[25] _Vide_ Henry's Travels, New York, 1809, 1 vol. 8vo.

To this place they were accompanied by the actors in this tragedy to the number of three hundred and fifty fighting men,[26] and he would now, under the protection of Wawetum, have been safe from immediate peril, but that in a few days a prize of two canoes of merchandise in the hands of English traders was made, amongst which was a large quantity of liquor. Hereupon, Wawetum, foreseeing another carousal, and always fearful of his friend, requested him to go up with him to the mountain part of the island. Having ascended it, he led him to this cave, and recommended him to abide here in concealment until the debauch was over, when he promised to visit him.

[26] Henry, p. 109.

Breaking some branches at its mouth for a bed, he then sought its recesses, and spreading his blanket around, laid down and slept till morning. Daylight revealed to him the fact that he had been reposing on dry human bones, and that the cave had anciently been devoted by the Indians as a sepulchre. On announcing this fact to his deliverer, two days afterward, when he came to seek him, Wawetum expressed his ignorance of it, and a party of the Indians, who came to examine it in consequence of the announcement, also concurred in declaring that they had no tradition on the subject. They conjectured that the bones were either due to the period when the sea covered the earth--which is a common belief with them--or to the period of the Huron occupancy of this island, after that tribe were defeated by the Iroquois, in the St. Lawrence valley.

So much for tradition.

This island has been long known as a prominent point in the fur trade. But of this I am not prepared to speak. It was selected by Mr. J. J. Astor, in 1816, as the central point of outfit for his clerks and agents in this region; and the warehouses erected for their accommodation constitute prominent features in its modern architecture. The capital annually invested in this business is understood to be about three hundred thousand dollars. This trade was deemed an object of the highest consequence from the first settlement of Canada, but it was not till 1766, agreeably to Sir Alexander Mackenzie, that it commenced from Michilimackinac.[27] The number of furred animals taken in a single year, the same author states to be one hundred and eighty-two thousand two hundred; of which number, the astonishing proportion of one hundred and six thousand were beavers.[28] Estimating each skin at but one pound, and the foreign market price at four dollars per pound, which are both much below the average at this era, this item of beaver alone would exceed by more than one-third the whole capital employed, taking the data before mentioned, and leave the seventy-six thousand smaller furred animals to be put on the profit side. No wonder that acts of perfidy arose between rivals, such as the shooting of Mr. Waden at his own dinner-table, where he was entertaining an opponent or copartner in the trade; or the foul assassination of Owen Keveny on the Rainy Lakes.[29] Indeed, the fur trade has for a long period been more productive, if we are to rely on statements, than the richest silver mines of Mexico or Peru.

[27] Mackenzie's Voyages, Hist. Fur Trade, vii.

[28] Mackenzie, xxiv.

[29] Report of the Trials of De Reinhard, &c. Montreal, 1818.

Society at Michilimackinac consists of so many diverse elements, which impart their hue to it, that it is not easy for a passing traveller to form any just estimate of it. The Indian, with his plumes, and gay and easy costume, always imparts an oriental air to it. To this, the Canadian, gay, thoughtless, ever bent on the present, and caring nothing for to-morrow, adds another phase. The trader, or interior clerk, who takes his outfit of goods to the Indians, and spends eleven months of the year in toil, and want, and petty traffic, appears to dissipate his means with a sailor-like improvidence in a few weeks, and then returns to his forest wanderings; and boiled corn, pork, and wild rice again supply his wants. There is in these periodical resorts to the central quarters of the Fur Company, much to remind one of the old feudal manners, in which there is proud hospitality and a show of lordliness on the one side, and gay obsequiousness and cringing dependence on the other, at least till the annual bargains for the trade are closed.

We were informed that there is neither school, preaching, a physician (other than at the garrison), nor an attorney, in the place. There are, however, courts of law, a post-office, and a jail, and one or more justices of the peace.

There is a fish market every morning, where may be had the trout--two species--and the white fish, the former of which are caught with hooks in deep water, and the latter in gill nets. Occasionally, other species appear, but the trout and white fish, which is highly esteemed, are staples, and may be relied on in the shore market daily; whole canoe-loads of them are brought in.

The name of this island is said to signify a great turtle, to which it has a fancied resemblance, when viewed from a distance. Mikenok, and not Mackenok, is, however, the name for a tortoise. The term, as pronounced by the Indians, is Michinemockinokong, signifying place of the Great Michinamockinocks, or rock-spirits. Of this word, _Mich_ is from _Michau_ (adjective-animate), great. The term _mackinok_, in the Algonquin mythology, denotes in the singular, a species of spirits, called turtle spirits, or large fairies, who are thought to frequent its mysterious cliffs and glens. The plural of this word, which is an animate plural, is _ong_, which is the ordinary form of all nouns ending in the vowel _o_. When the French came to write this, they cast away the Indian local in _ong_, changed the sound of _n_ to _l_, and gave the force _mack_ and _nack_, to _mök_ and _nök_. The vowel _e_, after the first syllable, is merely a connective in the Indian, and which is represented in the French orthography in this word by _i_. The ordinary interpretation of great turtle is, therefore, not widely amiss; but in its true meaning, the term enters more deeply into the Indian mythology than is conjectured. The island was deemed, in a peculiar sense, the residence of spirits during all its earlier ages. Its cliffs, and dense and dark groves of maples, beech, and ironwood, cast fearful shadows; and it was landed on by them in fearfulness, and regarded far and near as the _Sacred Island_. Its apex is, indeed, the true Indian Olympus of the tribes, whose superstitions and mythology peopled it by gods, or monitos.

Since our arrival here, there has been a great number of Indians of the Chippewa and Ottowa tribes encamped near the town. The beach of the lake has been constantly lined with Indian wigwams and bark canoes. These tribes are generally well dressed in their own costume, which is light and artistic, and exhibit physiognomies with more regularity of features and mildness of expression than it is common to find among them. This is probably attributable to a greater intermixture of blood in this vicinity. They resort to the island, at this season, for the purpose of exchanging their furs, maple-sugar, mats, and small manufactures. Among the latter are various articles of ornament, made by the females, from the fine white deer skin, or yellow birch bark, embroidered with colored porcupine quills. The floor mats, made from rushes, are generally more or less figured. Mockasins, miniature sugarboxes, called mo-cocks, shot-pouches, and a kind of pin and needleholders, or housewives, are elaborately beaded. But nothing exceeds in value the largest merchantable mockocks of sugar, which are brought in for sale. They receive for this article six cents per pound, in merchandise, and the amount made in a season, by a single family, is sometimes fifteen hundred pounds. The Ottowas of L'Arbre Croche are estimated at one thousand souls, which, divided by five, would give two hundred families; and by admitting each family to manufacture but two hundred pounds per annum, would give a total of forty thousand pounds; and there are probably as many Chippewas within the basins of Lakes Huron and Michigan. This item alone shows the importance of the Indian trade, distinct from the question of furs.

During the time we remained on this island, the atmosphere denoted a mean temperature of 55° Fahrenheit. The changes are often sudden and great. The island is subject to be enveloped in fogs, which frequently rise rapidly. These fogs are sometimes so dense, as to obscure completely objects at but a short distance. I visited Round Island one day with Lieut. Mackay,[30] and we were both engaged in taking views of the fort and town of Michilimackinac,[31] when one of these dense fogs came on, and spread itself with such rapidity, that we were compelled to relinquish our designs unfinished, and it was not without difficulty that we could make our way across the narrow channel, and return to the island. This fact enabled me to realize what the old travellers of the region have affirmed on this topic.

[30] Lieut. Eneas Mackay. This officer, after the return from this expedition, went through the regular grades of promotion in the army, and had at the period of his death, which took place in 1850, at St. Louis, Missouri, reached the brevet rank of colonel.

[31] For the view from this point, see Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States, vol. iv. Plate 42.

We were received during our visit here in the most hospitable manner, as well as with official courtesy, by Capt. B. K. Pierce, the commanding officer, Major Puthuff, the Indian agent, and by the active and intelligent agents of Mr. John Jacob Astor, the great fiscal head of the Fur Trade in this quarter.