History of the Discovery of the Northwest

CONTENTS.


INTRODUCTION.
PAGE.
Pre-historic Man in the Northwest--The Red Race--First
Discoveries in New France, vii

CHAPTER I.

Events Leading to Western Exploration, 11

CHAPTER II.

John Nicolet, the Explorer, 26

CHAPTER III.


Nicolet Discovers the Northwest, 35

CHAPTER IV.

Subsequent Career and Death of Nicolet, 75

APPENDIX, 93

INDEX, 107




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? 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. These sum up the "types and
shadows" of the pre-historic age.

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
and Dakotas. Concerning the various tribes of these families, nothing of
importance could be gleaned by the earliest explorers; at least, very
little has been preserved. Tradition, it is true, pointed to the
Algonquins as having, at some remote period, migrated from the east; and
this has been confirmed by a study of their language. It indicated,
also, that the Dakotas, at a time far beyond the memory of the most
aged, came from the west or southwest--fighting their way as they came;
that one of their tribes[1] once dwelt upon the shores of a sea; but
when and for what purpose they left their home none could relate.

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; while nothing whatever was known of the
Ohio or of parts adjacent.

The first of the discoveries in the New World after that of Columbus, in
1492, having an immediate bearing upon this narrative, was that of John
Cabot, in 1497. On the third of July, of that year, he saw what is now
believed to have been the coast of Labrador. After sailing a short
distance south, he probably discovered the island of Newfoundland. In
1498, his son, Sebastian, explored the continent from Labrador to
Virginia, and possibly as far south as Florida. Gaspar Cortereal, in
1500, reached the shore seen by John Cabot, and explored it several
hundred miles. He was followed, in 1524, by John Verrazzano, who
discovered the North American coast in, probably, the latitude of what
is now Wilmington, North Carolina. He continued his exploration to the
northward as far as Newfoundland. To the region visited by him, he gave
the name of New France. The attention of the reader is now directed to
some of the most important events, in the country thus named, which
followed, for a period of a hundred and ten years, the voyage of
Verrazzano.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Ancestors of the present Winnebagoes.]