Chapter 4
"It put me in mind of those ancient patriarchs who had no fixed abode, dwelt under tents, were in some manner master of all the countries they travelled over, and peaceably enjoyed all their productions without having the trouble which is inavoidable in the possession of a real domain. How many oaks represented to me that of _Mamre_? How many fountains made me remember that of Jacob? Every day a situation of my own choosing, a neat and convenient house set up and furnished with necessaries in a quarter of an hour, spread with flowers always fresh, on a fine green carpet, and on every side plain and natural beauties which art had not altered and which it can not imitate. If the pleasures suffer some interruption either by bad weather or some unforseen accident, they are the more relished when they reappear."
"If I had a mind to moralize, I should add, these alternations of pleasure and disappointment which I have so often experienced since I have been travelling, are very proper to make us sensible that there is no kind of life more capable of representing to us continually that we are only on the earth like pilgrims, and that we can only use, as in passing, the goods of this world; that a man wants but a few things; and that we ought to take with patience the misfortunes that happen in our journey, since they pass away equally, and with the same celerity. In short how many things in travelling make us sensible of the dependence in which we live upon Divine providence, which does not make use of, for this mixture of good and evil, men's passions, but the vicissitudes of the seasons which we may foresee, and of the caprice of the elements, which we may expect of course. Of consequence, how easy is it, and how many opportunities have we to merit by our dependence on and resignation to the will of God?"
"They say commonly that long voyages do not make people religious, but nothing one would think should be more capable of making them so, than the scenes they go through."
THE BRITISH OCCUPATION.
The conquest of Canada in 1759 was followed by the occupation of Detroit and the upper forts by a British force under the famous Major Robert Rogers. He followed the south shore of Lake Erie, and near the site of Cleveland was met by the celebrated Ottawa chief, Pontiac, who challenged his right to pass through the country without the formal permission of its savage sovereign. The operations of the conspiracy of Pontiac (1763-5) are described in Parkman's glowing pages. The success of the American Revolution was followed by the settlement not only of the U.E. Loyalists but also of many of the disbanded British troops in the most fertile districts north of the lakes. To locate these advantageously a Land-board was established at Detroit by the Canadian Government and it continued to perform its functions until the surrender of that post to the United States under the provisions of the Jay Treaty of 1794.
McNIFF'S EXPLORATION.
The Indian title to the whole north shore region having been surrendered to the Crown, no time was lost in opening the territory for settlement. Patrick McNiff, an assistant surveyor attached to the Ordinance Department, was ordered by Patrick Murray, Commandant at Detroit, to explore the north shore from Long Point westward and investigate the quality and situation of the land. His report is dated 16th June 1790. The following extract is interesting:
"From Pointe aux Pins to the portage at Long Point, no possibility of making any settlement to front on the Lake, being all the way a yellow and white sand bank from 50 to 100 feet high, top covered with chestnut and scrubby oak and no harbours where even light boats may enter except River Tonty and River a la Barbue.[15] A load boat may enter the latter having four and a half feet water on the bar; on each side of River a la Barbue are flats of excellent lands, but not above fifteen or twenty chains wide, before very high land commences, which in many places does not appear to be accessible for any carriage. On the tops of these very high hills, good land, timber, some very large chestnut, hickory and bass. These hills are separated by dry ravines almost impassable from their great depth--on the back of Long Point very good land, not so hilly as what I have passed. Timber bass, black walnut and hard maple, but marshy in front for twenty or thirty chains."
[15] Kettle and Catfish Creeks.
In consequence of this unfavorable report, townships were directed to be laid out on the River Thames, instead of the lake shore.
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR SIMCOE.
In the year 1791 the Quebec Act was passed, dividing Quebec into two provinces, and Colonel John Graves Simcoe became the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada. Before the Bill was introduced into parliament, it was understood that Simcoe had been selected by Pitt to govern the new province, direct its settlement and establish constitutional government after the model of the British system. As early as January, 1791, he had written a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society,[16] in which after mentioning his appointment, he explained his own plans as to the administration, and stated his desire to profit by the ideas of his correspondent whom he would wait upon for that purpose.
[16] Record book of the Land Board at Detroit, now in the Crown Lands Department at Toronto.
"For the purpose of commerce, union and power, I propose that the site of the colony should be in that Great Peninsula between the Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, a spot destined by nature, sooner or later, to govern the interior world."
"I mean to establish a capital in the very heart of the country, upon the River La Tranche, which is navigable for batteauxs for 150 miles--and near to where the Grand River, which falls into Erie, and others that communicate with Huron and Ontario almost interlock. The capital I mean to call Georgina--and aim to settle in its vicinity Loyalists, who are now in Connecticut, provided that the Government approve of the system."
As a member of the House of Commons, Simcoe spoke in support of a provision in the bill for the establishment of an hereditary nobility, which Fox had moved to strike out. The report states that Colonel Simcoe "having pronounced a panegyric on the British constitution, wished it to be adopted in the present instance, as far as circumstances would admit." The provision was in the bill as finally passed.
Having proceeded to Quebec to enter upon the performance of his duties, he appears to have utilized every opportunity for informing himself of his new domain. He writes to Hon. Henry Dundas from Montreal, December 7, 1791, in a letter marked "secret and confidential," as follows:--
"I am happy to have found in the surveyor's office an actual survey of the River La Tranche. It answers my most sanguine expectations, and I have but little doubt that its communications with the Ontario and Erie will be found to be very practicable, the whole forming a route which, in all respects, may annihilate the political consequences of Niagara and Lake Erie. * * * My ideas at present are to assemble the new corps, artificers, etc., at Cataraqui (Kingston), and to take its present garrison and visit Toronto and the heads of La Tranche, to pass down that river to Detroit, and early in the spring to occupy such a central position as shall be previously chosen for the capital."
On the 16th July, 1792, the name of the River La Tranche was changed to the Thames by proclamation of the Governor, issued at Kingston. In the spring, he had written that "Toronto appears to be the natural arsenal of Lake Ontario and to afford an easy access overland to Lake Huron." He adds: "The River La Tranche, near the navigable head of which I propose to establish the Capital, by what I can gather from the few people who have visited it, will afford a safe, more certain, and I am inclined to think, by taking due advantage of the season, a less expensive route to Detroit than that of Niagara."
At Quebec Simcoe had met the Hon. Thomas Talbot, who had joined the 24th Regiment as Lieutenant in the previous year. Talbot was then a young man of twenty, whilst Simcoe was in his fortieth year. A strong attachment sprang up between these two remarkable men, and Talbot accompanied the lieutenant-governor to Niagara, in the capacity of private and confidential secretary. After meeting the first Legislature elected in Upper Canada during the fall of 1792 Simcoe decided to make a journey overland to Detroit. He left Navy Hall on the 4th February, 1793, and returned on the 10th March. His travelling companions were Capt. Fitzgerald, Lieutenant Smith (previously Secretary to the Detroit Land Board, subsequently the first Surveyor General of Upper Canada, an M.P.P., Speaker of the House, etc., and afterward created a baronet), Lieutenants Talbot, Gray, Givens and Major Littlehales. All of these were prominent afterward in the history of the Province. Talbot became the founder of the Talbot Settlement. Gray was appointed Solicitor General; he perished in the schooner 'Speedy' on Lake Ontario in 1804 with Judge Cochrane, Sheriff Macdonell and others. Givens was afterward the well-known Colonel Givens, Superintendant of Indian Affairs at York. Littlehales was afterward Sir E. B. Littlehales, Secretary of War for Ireland, during the Lord-Lieutenancy of the Marquis of Cornwallis; he married in 1805 the Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, daughter of the Duke of Leinster and sister of the unfortunate Lord Edward Fitzgerald.[17]
[17] Dr. Scadding's notes to his reprint of Littlehales' Journal.
The journey was made partly in sleighs, but chiefly on foot. Littlehales kept a diary of the occurrences on the way. The route was by Ten-mile Creek, Nelles' house at the Grand River, the Mohawk Indian village (a little below Brantford), the portage route to the Forks of the Thames (London), and then down or along the River to Detroit. Joseph Brant with about a dozen of his Indians accompanied the party from the Mohawk Village to Delaware, doubtless to furnish them with game and guide them over the long portage. The Indians excited admiration by their skill in constructing wigwams of elm bark to lodge the company. After leaving the Grand River the trail passed a Mississaga encampment, a trader's house, fine open deer plains, several beaver dams, "an encampment said to have been Lord Fitzgerald's when on his march to Detroit, Michilimackinac and the Mississippi," a cedar grove; crossed a small branch of the La Tranche, and the main branch soon afterwards; "went between an irregular fence of stakes made by the Indians to intimidate and impede the deer, and facilitate their hunting;" again they crossed the main branch of the Thames,[18] and "halted to observe a beautiful situation, formed by a bend of the river--a grove of hemlock and pine, and a large creek. We passed some deep ravines and made our wigwam by a stream on the brow of a hill, near a spot where Indians were interred. The burying ground was of earth raised, nearly covered with leaves; and wickered over--adjoining it was a large pole, with painted hieroglyphics on it denoting the nation, tribes and achievements of the deceased, either as chiefs, warriors, or hunters." This was on the 13th February. The food of the party consisted of soup and dried venison, to which squirrel and racoon meat added variety. Littlehales remarks about the latter: "The three racoons when roasted made us an excellent supper. Some parts were rancid, but in general the flesh was exceedingly tender and good." On the 14th they encamped a few miles above the Delaware village. During the day the diarist had "observed many trees blazed, and various figures of Indians (returning from battle with scalps) and animals drawn upon them, descriptive of the nations, tribes and number that had passed. Many of them were well drawn, especially a bison."
[18] This was no doubt where London now is.
"This day we walked over very uneven ground, and passed two lakes of about four miles in circumference, between which were many fine larch trees."
Next morning they walked on the ice of the river five or six miles to the Delaware village, where the chiefs received them cordially and regaled them with eggs and venison. "Captain Brant being obliged to return to a council of the Six Nations, we stayed the whole day. The Delaware Castle is pleasantly situated upon the banks of the Thames; the meadows at the bottom are cleared to some extent, and in summer planted with Indian corn. After walking twelve or fourteen miles this day, part of the way through plains of white oak and ash, and passing several Chippawa Indians upon their hunting parties, and in their encampments, we arrived at a Canadian trader's; and a little beyond, in proceeding down the river the Indians discovered a spring of an oily nature, which upon examination proved to be a kind of petroleum. We passed another wigwam of Chippawas, making maple sugar, the mildness of the winter having compelled them in a great measure to abandon their annual hunting. We soon arrived at an old hut where we passed the night."
On the 17th, after a journey of four or five miles, they passed the Moravian Village which had been begun in May, 1792. The Delaware Indians were "under the control, and in many particulars, under the command of four missionaries, Messrs. Zeisberger, Senseman, Edwards and Young." They were making progress towards civilization, and already had corn fields and were being instructed in different branches of agriculture. "At this place every respect was paid to the Governor, and we procured a seasonable refreshment of eggs, milk and butter. Pursuing our journey eight or nine miles, we stopped for the night at the extremity of a new road, cut by the Indians and close to a creek."
"18th--Crossing the Thames and leaving behind us a new log house, belonging to a sailor named Carpenter, we passed a thick, swampy wood of black walnut, where His Excellency's servant was lost for three or four hours. We then came to a bend of the La Tranche (Thames)[19] and were agreeably surprised to meet twelve or fourteen carioles coming to meet and conduct the Governor, who, with his suite, got into them, and at about four o'clock arrived at Dolsen's, having previously reconnoitred a fork of the river, and examined a mill of curious construction erecting upon it. The settlement where Dolsen resides is very promising, the land is well adapted for farmers, and there are some respectable inhabitants on both sides of the river: behind it to the south is a range of spacious meadows--elk are continually seen upon them--and the pools and ponds are full of cray fish."
[19] Afterwards referred to by the diarist as the high bank.
"From Dolsen's we went to the mouth of the Thames in carioles, about twelve miles, and saw the remains of a considerable town of the Chippawas, where, it is reported, a desperate battle was fought between them and the Senecas, and upon which occasion the latter, being totally vanquished, abandoned their dominions to the conquerors. Certain it is, that human bones are scattered in abundance in the vicinity of the ground, and the Indiana have a variety of traditions relative to this transaction."[20]
[20] Note Peter Jones' statement as quoted on page 28.
We pass over briefly the Governor's reception at Detroit. The Canadian militia on the east bank fired a _feu de joie_. He crossed the river in boats amidst floating ice. The garrison of Detroit was under arms to receive His Majesty's representative. A royal salute was fired.
The farms, the apple orchards, windmills and houses close together on the river bank gave an appearance of population and respectability. Talbot's regiment, the 24th, was stationed at Detroit. Fort Lenoult and the rest of the works were inspected. The party visited at the River Rouge a sloop almost ready to be launched. They went to see the Bloody Bridge, memorable for the slaughter of British troops by Pontiac 30 years before.
On the 23rd, the Governor left Detroit on his homeward journey. Col. McKee, Mr. Baby and others escorting His Excellency as far as the high bank where the carioles had met the party on the 18th. "Here we separated; and each taking his pack or knapsack on his back, we walked that night to the Moravian village."
On the 27th the chiefs at the village entertained the party with venison, and dancing, "a ceremony they never dispense with when any of the King's officers of rank visit their villages."
"28th.--At six we stopped at an old Misissaga hut, upon the south side of the Thames. After taking some refreshment of salt pork and venison, well cooked by Lieutenant Smith, who superintended that department, we, as usual, sang God Save the King, and went to rest."
"March 1st.--We set out along the banks of the river; hen, ascending a high hill, quitted our former path, and directed our course to the northward. A good deal of snow having fallen, and lying still on the ground, we saw tracks of otters, deer, wolves and bears and other animals many of which being quite fresh induced the Mohawks to pursue them, but without success. We walked 14 or 15 miles and twice crossed the river, and a few creeks, upon the ice; once we came close to a Chippawa hunting camp, opposite to a fine terrace, on the banks of which we encamped, near a bay. * * * 2nd.--We struck the Thames at one end of a low flat island enveloped with shrubs and trees; the rapidity and strength of the current were such as to have forced a channel through the main land, being a peninsula, and to have formed the island. We walked over a rich meadow, and at its extremity came to the forks of the river.[21] The Governor wished to examine this situation and its environs: and we therefore remained here all the day. He judged it to be a situation eminently calculated for the metropolis of Canada. Among many other essentials, it possesses the following advantages: command of territory,--internal situation,--central position,--facility of water communication up and down the Thames into Lakes St. Clair, Erie, Huron and Superior,--navigable for boats to near its source, and for small crafts probably to the Moravian settlement--to the northward by a small portage to the waters flowing into Lake Huron--to the south-east by a carrying place into Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence; the soil luxuriantly fertile,--the land rich, and capable of being easily cleared, and soon put into a state of agriculture,--a pinery upon an adjacent high knoll, and other timber on the heights, well calculated for the erection of public buildings,--a climate not inferior to any part of Canada."
[21] Now the city of London.
"To these natural advantages an object of great consideration is to be added, that the enormous expenses of the Indian Department would be greatly diminished, if not abolished; the Indians would, in all probability, be induced to become the carriers of their own peltries, and they would find a ready, contiguous, commodious, and equitable mart, honorably advantageous to Government, and the community in general, without their becoming a prey to the monopolizing and unprincipled trader."
"The young Indians, who had chased a herd of deer in company with Lieutenant Givens, returned unsuccessful, but brought with them a large porcupine; which was very seasonable, as our provisions were nearly expended. This animal afforded us a very good repast, and tasted like a pig. The Newfoundland dog attempted to bite the porcupine, but soon got his mouth filled with the barbed quills, which gave him exquisite pain. An Indian undertook to extract them, and with much perseverance plucked them out, one by one, and carefully applied a root or decoction, which speedily healed the wound."
"Various figures were delineated on trees at the forks of the River Thames, done with charcoal and vermillion; the most remarkable were the imitations of men with deer's heads."
"We saw a fine eagle on the wing, and two or three large birds, perhaps vultures."
"3rd.--We were glad to leave our wigwam early this morning, it having rained incessantly the whole night; besides, the hemlock branches on which we slept were wet before they were gathered for our use.--We first ascended the height at least 120 feet into a continuation of the pinery already mentioned; quitting that, we came to a beautiful plain with detached clumps of white oak, and open woods; then crossing a creek running into the south branch of the Thames, we entered a thick swampy wood, where we were at a loss to discover any track; but in a few minutes we were released from this dilemma by the Indians, who making a cast, soon descried our old path to Detroit. Descending a hill and crossing a brook, we came at noon to the encampment we left on the 14th of February, and were agreeably surprised by meeting Captain Brant and a numerous retinue; among them were four of the Indians we had despatched to him when we first altered our course for the forks of the River Thames."
On the 4th, after crossing brooks and rivulets, much swollen by a thunder-storm, and passing the hut occupied by them on the 12th February they noticed "very fine beech trees."
Next day:--"We again crossed one of the branches of the south-east fork of the Thames, and halted in a cypress or cedar grove, where we were much amused by seeing Brant and the Indians chase a lynx with their dogs and rifle guns, but they did not catch it. Several porcupines were seen."
On the 6th they reached the Mohawk village, crossing the river at a different place and by a nearer route than before. The Indians had met the Governor with horses at "the end of the plain, near the Salt Lick Creek." The party finally arrived at Navy Hall on the 10th day of March.
At this period the overland route from Detroit to Niagara was apparently well known. There was an annual "Winter-express" each way, which Simcoe met on his westward journey on the 12th February and on his homeward route on the 5th March. Littlehales mentions a Mr. Clarke as being with it on each occasion. On their first meeting, the express was accompanied by a Wyandot and a Chippawa Indian. The second time, Mr. Augustus Jones, the surveyor, was either with or following it. He surveyed the north-west part of Southwold in the following year. On the up trip, the Governor's party met one man, who afterward proved to be a runaway thief from Detroit. They were also overtaken by a traveller, who, as they were subsequently informed, had got himself supplied with provisions and horses to the Grand Rivet, and a guide from thence to Detroit, by the false representation that he had despatches for the Governor. "He quitted us under the plausible pretence of looking for land to establish a settlement."