Consul Willshire Butterfield

“ Champlain knew, from personal observation made while traveling upon the Ottawa and the shores of the Georgian bay of Lake Huron—from the reports of savages who came from their homes still further westward, and from what fur-traders, missionaries, and the young men sent by him among the savages to learn their languages (of whom Nicolet himself was a notable example) had heard that there were comparatively easy facilities of communication by water between the upper country and the St. Lawrence. He knew, also, that the proper time had come to send a trusty ambassador to these far-off nations ”

“ The first white men who passed up the Fox river above the Mascoutins, were Louis Joliet and Father James Marquette, with five French attendants, in June, 1673. "We knew," says Marquette, "that there was, three leagues from Maskoutens [Mascoutins] , a river [Wisconsin] emptying into the Mississippi; we knew, too, that the point of the compass we were to hold to reach it, was the west-southwest; but the way is so cut up by marshes, and little lakes, that it is easy to go astray, especially as the river leading to it is so covered by wild oats, that you can hardly discover the channel." ”

“ There is nothing to connect "the dark backward and abysm" of mound-building times with those of the red race of the Northwest; and all that is known of the latter dating earlier than their first discovery, is exceedingly dim and shadowy. Upon the extended area bounded by Lake Superior on the north, Lake Michigan on the east, wide-spreading prairies on the south, and the Mississippi river on the west, there met and mingled two distinct Indian families—Algonquins [viii] and Dakotas. Concerning the various tribes of these families, nothing of importance could be gleaned by the earliest explorers ”

“ We [the missionaries] have also thought of applying ourselves, some of us, to the task of acquiring a knowledge of new languages. We turn our eyes on three other nations nearer: on that of the Algonquins, scattered on every side, both to the south and north of our great lake [Huron] ; on that of the Neuter nation, which affords a principal entrance to the countries on south; and on that of the nation of the Puants [Winnebagoes] , which is one of the more important thoroughfares to the western countries, a little more northern. ”

“ La rivière Nicolet est formée de deux rivières qui gardent chacune ce nom; l'une au nord est sort d'un lac appelé Nicolet, dans le comté de Wolfe, township de Ham; l'autre, celle du sud ouest, qui passe dans le comté de Richmond, a donné le nom de Nicolet à un village situé sur ses bords, dans le township de Shipton. Ce village que les Anglais nomment 'Nicolet Falls' est un centre d'industrie prospère. La ville de Nicolet, ainsi que le collége de ce nom, sont situés près de la décharge des eaux réunies de ces deux rivières au lac Saint-Pierre. ”

“ At the site of the present city of Montreal, there had assembled, in the summer of 1615, Hurons from their distant villages upon the shores of their great lake, and Algonquins from their homes on the Ottawa—come down to a yearly trade with the French upon the St. Lawrence. Champlain, who had returned in May from France, was asked by the assembled savages [19] to join their bands against the Iroquois. He consented; but, while absent at Quebec, making needful preparations, the savages became impatient, and departed for their homes. ”

“ Making his way up Green bay, he finally reached the Menomonee river, its principal northern affluent. [53] [57]
In the valley of the Menomonee, Nicolet met a populous tribe of Indians—the Menomonees. [54] To his surprise, no doubt, he found they were of a lighter complexion than any other savages he had ever seen. Their language was difficult to understand, yet it showed the nation to be of the Algonquin stock. Their food was largely of wild rice, which grew in great abundance in their country. They were adepts in fishing, and hunted, with skill, the game which abounded in the forests. ”

“ INTRODUCTION. PRE-HISTORIC MAN IN THE NORTHWEST—THE RED RACE—FIRST DISCOVERIES IN NEW FRANCE. Of the existence, in what are now the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, at a remote period, of a race superior in intelligence to the red men who inhabited this region when first seen by a European, there are indubitable evidences. Who were these ancient occupiers of the territory just mentioned—of its prairies and woodlands, hills and valleys? ”

“ Champlain had, also, early information that there dwelt in those [37] far-off countries a nation which once lived upon the borders of a distant sea. These people were called, for that reason, "Men of the Sea," by the Algonquins. Their homes were less than four hundred leagues away. It was likewise reported that another people, without hair or beards, whose costumes and manners somewhat resembled the Tartars, came from the west to trade with this "sea-tribe." These more remote traders, as was claimed, made their journeys upon a great water in large canoes. ”

“ Nicolet, while residing with the Algonquins of Isle des Allumettes, with whose language he had now become familiar, accompanied four hundred of those savages upon a mission of peace to the Iroquois. The voyage proved a successful one, Nicolet returning in safety. Afterward, he took up his residence among the Nipissings, with whom he remained eight or nine years. He was recognized as one of the nation. He entered into the very frequent councils of those savages. He had his own cabin and establishment, doing his own fishing and trading. ”

“ There are no traditions of their power, of their labor, or of their wisdom—no record of their having lived, except in rapidly-decaying relics. They left no descendants to recount their daring deeds. All that remain of them—the so-called Mound-Builders—are mouldering skeletons. All that are to be seen of their handicraft are perishing earth-works and rude implements. ”

“ Joliet and Marquette were seven days in their journey from the Mascoutins to the Mississippi; this gave them three days upon the Fox and four upon the Wisconsin (including the delay at the portage) . Canoes have descended from the portage in two days.
The Relation of 1670 (pp. 99, 100) says: "These people [the Mascoutins] are established in a very fine place, where we see beautiful plains and level country, as far as the eye reaches. Their river leads into a great river called Messisipi; [to which] their is a navigation of only six days." ”

“ Who was there better qualified than his young protégé, familiar as he was with the Algonquin and Huron-Iroquois tongues, to hold "talks" with savage tribes still further west, and smoke with them the pipe of peace—to the end that a nearer route to China and Japan might be discovered; or, at [34] least, that the fur-trade might be made more profitable to the Hundred Associates? Surely, no one. Hence it was that Nicolet was recalled by the governor of Canada. ”

“ When the year 1627 was reached, the settlement at Quebec had a population of [21] about one hundred persons—men, women, and children. The chief trading stations upon the St. Lawrence were Quebec, Three Rivers, the Rapids of St. Louis, and Tadoussac. Turning our eyes to the western wilds, we see that the Hurons, after the return of Le Caron, were not again visited by missionaries until 1622.
In the year 1627, the destinies of France were held by Cardinal Richelieu as in the hollow of his hand. He had constituted himself grand master and superintendent of navigation and commerce. ”

“ At Three Rivers, Nicolet assisted in a manner in the permanent foundation of the place, by helping to plant some of the pickets of the fort just commenced. The Hurons, assembled there for the purposes of trade, were ready to return to their homes, and with them the missionaries, as well as Nicolet, expected to journey up the Ottawa. The savages were few in number, and much difficulty was experienced in getting permits from them to carry so many white men, as other Frenchmen were also of the company. ”

“ But the Iroquois had long before become the enemies of the French, sometimes seriously threatening Quebec. So, upon the Island of Montreal, every precaution was taken to avoid surprise. Solid structures of wood soon defied the attacks of the savages; and, to give greater security to the colonists, [77] Montmagny caused a fort to be erected at the mouth of the Richelieu, in the following August. But the end of the year 1642 brought no relief to the Algonquins or Hurons, and little to the French, from the ferocious Iroquois. ”

“ Although, in the citation from the Relation of 1640, just given, the band of the Ottawas upon the Great Manitoulin are said to have "come from the nation of the Standing Hair," it does not fix the residence of those from whom they came as in the valley of the Ottawa river. On the contrary, Champlain, in his "Voyages" and Map, places them in an opposite direction, not far from the south end of the Nottawassaga bay of Lake Huron. ”

“ This, moreover, was not the first occasion on which Nicolet had [106] encountered peril of his life for the safety of savages. He had frequently done the very same thing before, says the French writer; and to those with whom he associated he left proofs of his virtues by such deeds as could hardly be expected of a man entangled in the bonds of marriage; they were indeed eminent, and rose to the height of apostolic perfection; and, therefore, was the loss of so great a man the more grievous. ”

“ The residue of the Northwest was the dwelling-place of Algonquins alone. In reality, therefore, "the territory northwest of the river Ohio" has no veritable history ante-dating the period of its first discovery by civilized man. Portions of the country had been heard of, it is true, but only through vague reports of savages. There were no accounts at all, besides these, of the extensive region of the upper lakes or of the valley of the Upper Mississippi ”

“ Quebec, at this period, could hardly be called a settlement. It contained a population of fur-traders and friars of fifty or sixty persons. It had a fort, and Champlain was the nominal commander. In the interest of the infant colony he went every year to France. His was the duty to regulate the monopoly of the company of merchants in their trade with the Indians. In the summer of 1622, the Iroquois beset the settlement, but made no actual attack. ”

“ He is fairly entitled to the honor of its discovery; for no white man had ever before looked out upon its broad expanse. Nicolet was soon gliding along upon the clear waters of this out-of-the-way link in the great chain of lakes. The bold Frenchman fearlessly threaded his way along its northern shore, frequently stopping upon what is now known as "the upper peninsula" of Michigan, until the bay of Noquet [48] was reached, which [56] is, in reality, a northern arm of Green bay. [49] Here, upon its northern border, he visited another Algonquin tribe ”

“ An Indian interpreter—one well acquainted with the Algonquins of the Ottawa, and to a certain extent with the Hurons of Georgian bay—who could Champlain more safely depend upon than Nicolet to develop his schemes of exploration in the unknown western country, the door of which he had himself opened in previous years? ”

“ They passed along the shore of Lake Huron, northward, and pushed as far up St. Mary's strait as the "Sault," which they reached after seventeen days' sail from their place of starting. There they—the first white men to visit the Northwest after Nicolet—harangued two thousand of that nation, and other Algonquins. Upon their return to the St. Lawrence, Jogues was captured by the Iroquois, and Raymbault died on the twenty-second of October, 1642—a few days before the death of Nicolet. ”

“ Sagard, in 1636 ("Histoire du Canada," p. 201) , is equally indefinite as to locality, though placing them westward of the south end of the Georgian bay of Lake Huron, "nine or ten days' journey by canoe, which makes about two hundred leagues, or more." He says: "Tous essemble [the different bands of the Ottawas] sont la guerre a une autre nation nommée Assistagueronon, qui veut dire gens feu: car en langue Huronne Assista signifie de feu and Eronon signifie Nation. ”

“ Their country extended eastward to Lake Michigan, and westward to the Mississippi, if not beyond it. This nation was of too much importance, and their homes too easy of access, for Nicolet not to have visited them. [83] Upon the beautiful prairies of what is now the state bearing their name, [71] was this tribe located, with some bands, probably nearly as far northward as the southern counties of the present State of Wisconsin. It is not known in how many villages of these savages he smoked the pipe of peace. From their homes he returned to the Winnebagoes. ”

“ Parkman's "Jesuits in North America," p. 53.
[27] The Mattawan has its source on the very verge of Lake Nipissing, so that it was easy to make a "portage" there to reach the lake. The Indians, and afterward the French, passed by the Mattawan, Mattouane, or Mattawin ("the residence of the beaver") , went over the small space of land called the "portage," that exists between the two waters, floated on Lake Nipissing, and followed the French river, which flows directly out of that lake to the Georgian bay. ”

“ In consideration of a monopoly of the fur-trade, granted them by the king of France, these men undertook to establish a colony of five hundred persons in New France. At Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay, they built a cluster of wooden huts and store-houses, where sixteen men were left to gather furs; these either died or were scattered among the Indians before the return of the spring of 1601. Chauvin made a second voyage to Tadoussac, but failed to establish a permanent settlement. ”

“ Nicolet's journey was, for the present, at an end. He and his Huron's "rested from their labors," among the Winnebagoes, [60] who were located around the head of Green bay, [61] [61] contiguous to the point where it receives the waters of Fox river. [62] Nicolet found the Winnebagoes a numerous and sedentary [62] people, [63] speaking a language radically different from any of the Algonquin nations, as well as from the Hurons. [64] They were of the Dakota stock. [65] The news of the Frenchman's coming spread through the country. Four or five thousand people assembled of different tribes. ”

“ It rises in Lake Vieux Desert (which is partly in Michigan and partly in Wisconsin) , flows generally a south course to Portage, in what is now Columbia county, where it turns to the southwest, and, after a further course of one hundred and eighteen miles, with a rapid current, reaches the Mississippi river, four miles below Prairie du Chien. Its entire length is about four hundred and fifty miles, descending, in that distance, a little more than one thousand feet. Along the lower portion of the stream are the high lands or river hills. ”

“ As interpreter for one of the missionaries, he accompanied him from Three Rivers on a journey some leagues distant, on the twelfth of April, 1636, to visit some savages [79] who were sick; thus constantly administering to their sufferings. [96]
Notwithstanding the colonists of New France were living in a state of temporal and spiritual vassalage, yet the daring Nicolet, and others of the interpreters of Champlain, although devout Catholics and friendly to the establishment of missions among the Indian nations, were not Jesuits, nor in the service of these fathers ”