THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. n were laid by De la Motte Cadillac, on the Detroit River. These We have here whites, negroes and Indians, to say nothing of cross-breeds. There his city was now the seaport town of the Northwest, and save in the eme northern part, where only furs and copper ore were found, st all the products of the country found their way to France by nouth of the Father of Waters. In another letter, dated November 50, this same priest says: ons Fifty leagues or fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Mississippi one sees no dwellings, the d being too low to be habitable. Thence to New Orleans, the lands are only paroccupied. New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I think, than e hundred persons. To this point comes all lumber, bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, and bear's grease; and above all, pork and flour, from the Illinois. These things some commerce, as forty vessels and more have come hither this year. Above Orleans, plantations are again met with; the most considerable is a colony of Ger de adividuals dig lead nea car now here, who clai ed that if we would dig d the lead is excellent. The ime to time large pieces ar close of the year 175 issippi posts and t ee, in the country be termed the Oh they had stations a at Fort Ponchartrai Fox River of G eams of LaSalle wer sessors of this vast re ying it and for securi four years before the ette. LaSalle was at his trad study nine Indian He not only desired ed to travel and exp et soon occurred whic conversing with some ach rose in thei Fifty leagues farther up is the Natchez post, where we have a garririsoners through fear of the Chickasaws. Here and at Point Coupee, tobacco. Another hundred leagues brings us to the Arkansas, where and a garrison for the benefit of the river traders. From e Illinois, nearly five hundred leagues, there is not a settlement. >wever, a fort at the Oubache (Ohio), the only path by which the le Mississippi. In the Illinois country are numberless mines, but 1 as they deserve." t, writing from the post at Vincennes in 1812, makes ation. Vivier also says: s dig lead near the surface and supply the Indians and Canada. here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are like those of we would dig deeper, we should find silver under the lead; and at xcellent. There is also in this country, beyond doubt, copper ore, large pieces are found in the streams." the year 1750, the French occupied, in addition to the i posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Quesne, one at the country of the Miamis, and one at Sandusky, in -med the Ohio Valley, In the northern part of the ad stations at St. Joseph, on the St. Joseph's of Lake Ponchartrain (Detroit), at Michillimackinac or MasRiver of Green Bay, and at Sault Ste. Marie. The LaSalle were now fully realized. The French alone f this vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and ther nation, however, was now turning its attention country, and hearing of its wealth, began to lay plans nd for securing the great profits arising therefrom. vever, had another claim to this country, namely, the Ohio. ' river was discovered by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, s before the discovery of the Mississippi by Joliet as at his trading post on the St. Lawrence, he found ine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the only desired to facilitate his intercourse in trade, avel and explore the unknown regions of the West. ccurred which decided him to fit out an exploring x with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a the in magh its month In this state THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. e great rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, xious to embark in the enterprise of discovering a route across ntinent to the commerce of China and Japan. repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Gover- he 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twenty-four persons, c. at Lake Superio Stance from St. Sul at Onondaga, wher ENGLISH EXPLO To the new year of 1750 reat Northwest, all was s ed. In 1749, when the ending men into the W Ohio, Illinois, Michig the dominion of the red ively, of the nature of overnor Spotswood, of he country west of the rania, Governor Keith a from 1719 to 1731, repre Sy of securing the Weste power save to tol › Superior, they found, as LaSalle had predicted, the Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field. disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted om St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him their patrepulsed, they returned to Montreal the following June, made a single discovery or converted a single Indian. with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Iroquois laga, where he obtained guides, and passing thence to he Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as t Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by LaSalle, and successful French explorer of the West, in 1669. f the latter part of his journey is found in an anonych purports to have been taken from the lips of LaSalle subsequent visit to Paris. In a letter written to Count 67, shortly after the discovery, he himself says that he Ohio and descended it to the falls. This was regarded ole fact by the French authorities, who claimed the n another ground. When Washington was sent by the ia, in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why Quilt a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty commanreplied: "We claim the country on the Ohio by virtue s of LaSalle, and will not give it up to the English, o make prisoners of every Englishman found trading ey." NGLISH EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS. year of 1750 broke in upon the Father of Waters and vest, all was still wild save at the French posts already 749, when the English first began to think seriously en into the West, the greater portion of the States of inois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were yet on of the red men. The English knew, however, pretty he nature of the wealth of these wilds. As early as potswood, of Virginia, had commenced movements to y west of the Alleghenies to the English crown. In ་་ care of the nue: THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. ground that the discovery of the seacoast and its possession was very and possession of the country, and, as is well known, her to the colonies extended "from sea to sea." This was not all her She had purchased from the Indian tribes large tracts of land. tter was also a strong argument. As early as 1684, Lord Howard, or of Virginia, held a treaty with the Six Nations. These were at Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first the Mohawks, s, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras aken into the confederacy, and it became known as the Six s. They came under the protection of the mother country, and n 1701, they reaffirmed the agreement, and in September, 1726, al deed was drawn up and signed by the chiefs. The validity of im has often been disputed, but never successfully maintained. , a purchase was made at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, of certain within the "Colony of Virginia," for which the Indians received n gold and a like sum in goods, with a promise that, as settleincreased, more should be paid. The commissioners from Virginia Colonel Thomas Lee and Colonel William Beverly. As settleextended, the promise of more pay was called to mind, and Mr. - Weiser was sent across the mountains with presents to appease ages. Colonel Lee and some Virginians accompanied him, with ention of sounding the Indians upon their feelings regarding the . They were not satisfied with their treatment, and plainly told mmissioners why. The English did not desire the cultivation of antry, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. In 1748, the Ohio ny was formed, and petitioned the king for a grant of land the Alleghenies. This was granted, and the government of a was ordered to grant to them a half million acres, two hundred nd of which were to be located at once. On the 12th of June, 00,000 acres from the line of Canada north and west, was made Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, 100,000 acres iven to the Greenbriar Company. All this time the French were e. They saw that, should the British gain a foothold in the West, lly upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent the French g upon it, but in time would come to the lower posts, and so gain sion of the whole country. Upon the 10th of May, 1774, VaudGovernor of Canada and the French possessions, well knowing sequences that must arise from allowing the English to build. I posts in the Northwest, seized some of their frontier posts, and her secure the claim of the French to the West, he, in 1749, sent Celeron with e party of soldiers to plent the Ohio Rivor mounds and at the 32, and within th Tas gathering, and el captured the garrison arish determined to purch ing is a translation of the inscriptio we, Celeron, commandant of a de chief of New France, to establish tr The plate at the confineme |