CHAPTER X.

THE SEVERAL MIAMIS-LA SALLE'S VOYAGE DOWN THE ILLINOIS.

MгCH confusion has arisen because, at different periods, the name of "Miami" has been applied to no less than five different rivers, viz.: The St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan; the Maumee, often designated as the Miami of the Lakes, to distinguish it from the Miami which falls into the Ohio River below Cincinnati; then there is the Little Miami of the Ohio emptying in above its greater namesake; and finally the Wabash, which with more propriety bore the name of the "River of the Miamis." The French, it is assumed, gave the name "Miami" to the river emptying into Lake Michigan, for the reason that there was a village of that tribe on its banks before and at the time of La Salle's first visit, as already noted on page 24. The name was not of long duration, for it was soon exchanged for that of St. Joseph, by which it has ever since been known. La Hontan is the last authority who refers to it by the name of Miami. Shortly after the year named, the date being now unknown, a Catholic mission was established up the river, and, Charlevoix says, about six leagues below the portage, at South Bend, and called the Mission of St. Joseph; and from this circumstance, we may safely infer, the river acquired the same name. It is not known, either, by whom the Mission of St. Joseph was organized; very probably, however, by Father Claude Allouez. This good man, and to whose writings the people of the west are so largely indebted for many valuable historical reminiscences, seems to have been forgotten in the respect that is showered upon other more conspicuous though less meritorious characters. The Mission of the Immaculate Conception, after Marquette's death, remained unoccupied for the space of two years, then Claude Jean Allouez received orders to proceed thither from the Mission of St. James, at the town of Maskoutens, on Fox River, Wisconsin. Leaving in October, 1676, on account of an exceptionally early winter, he was compelled to delay his journey until the following February, when he again started; reaching Lake Michigan on the eve of St. Joseph, he called the lake after this saint. Embarking on the lake on the 23d of March, and coasting along the western shore, after numerous delays occasioned by ice and storm, he arrived at Chicago River. He then made the portage and entered the

LA SALLE REACHES THE ST. JOSEPH.

73

Kaskaskia village, which was probably near Peoria Lake, on the 8th of April, 1677. The Indians gave him a very cordial reception, and flocked from all directions to the town to hear the "Black Gown" relate the truths of Christianity. For the glorification of God and the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, Allouez "erected, in the midst of the village, a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Regis in the presence of an admiring and respectful throng of Indians; he covered it with garlands of beautiful flowers."* Father Allouez did not remain but a short time at the mission; leaving it that spring he returned in 1678, and continued there until La Salle's arrival in the winter of 1679-80. The next succeeding decade Allouez passed either at this mission or at the one on St. Joseph's River, on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, where he died in 1690. Bancroft says: Allouez has imperishably connected his name with the progress of discovery in the West; unhonored among us now, he was not inferior in zeal and ability to any of the great missionaries of his time."

We resume Hennepin's narrative:

"We had appointed this place (the mouth of the St. Joseph) for our rendezvous before leaving the outlet of Green Bay, and expected to meet the twenty men we had left at Mackinaw, who, being ordered to come by the eastern coast of the lake, had much shorter cut than we, who came by the western side; besides this, their canoes were not so heavily laden as ours. Still, we found no one here, nor any signs that they had been here before us.†

"It was resolved to advise M. La Salle that it was imprudent to remain here any longer for the absent men, and expose ourselves to the hardships of winter, when it would be doubtful if we could find the Illinois in their villages, as then they would be divided into families, and scattered over the country to subsist more conveniently. We further represented that the game might fail us, in which event we must certainly perish with hunger; whereas, if we went forward, we would find enough corn among the Illinois, who would rather supply

*"Allouez' Journal," published in Shea's "Discovery on Exploration of the Mississippi Valley.'

In some works, the Geological Surveys of Indiana for 1873, p. 458, among others, it is erroneously assumed that La Salle was the discoverer of the St. Joseph River. While Fathers Hennepin and Zenobe Membre, who were with La Salle, may be the only accessible authors who have described it, the stream and its location was well known to La Salle and to them, as appears from their own account of it before they had ever seen it. Before leaving Mackinaw, Tonti was ordered to hunt up the deserters from, and to bring in the tardy traders belonging to, La Salle's party, and conduct them to the mouth of the St. Joseph. The pilot of the Griffin was under instruction to bring her there. Indeed, the conduct of the whole expedition leaves no room to doubt that the whole route to the Illinois River, by way of the St. Joseph and the Kankakee portage, was well known at Mackinaw, and definitely fixed upon by La Salle, at least before leaving the latter place.

fourteen men than thirty-two with provisions. We said further that it would be quite impossible, if we delayed longer, to continue the voyage until the winter was over, because the rivers would be frozen over and we could not make use of our canoes. Notwithstanding these reasons, M. La Salle thought it necessary to remain for the rest of the men, as we would be in no condition to appear before the Illinois and treat with them with our present small force, whom they would meet with scorn. That it would be better to delay our entry into their country, and in the meantime try to meet with some of their nation, learn their language, and gain their good will by presents. La Salle concluded his discourse with the declaration that, although all of his men might run away, as for himself, he would remain alone with his Indian hunter, and find means to maintain the three missionariesmeaning me and my two clerical brethren. Having come to this conclusion, La Salle called his men together, and advised them that he expected each one to do his duty; that he proposed to build a fort here for the security of the ship and the safety of our goods, and ourselves, too, in case of any disaster. None of us, at this time, knew that our ship had been lost. The men were quite dissatisfied at LaSalle's course, but his reasons therefor were so many that they yielded, and agreed to entirely follow his directions.

"Just at the mouth of the river was an eminence with a kind of plateau, naturally fortified. It was quite steep, of a triangular shape, defended on two sides by the river, and on the other by a deep ravine which the water had washed out. We felled the trees that grew on this hill, and cleared from it the bushes for the distance of two musket shot. We began to build a redoubt about forty feet long by eighty broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon the other, and then cut a great number of stakes, some twenty feet long, to drive into the ground on the river side, to make the fort inaccessible in that direction. We were employed the whole of the month of November in this work, which was very fatiguing,- having no other food than the bears our savage killed. These animals are here very abundant, because of the great quantity of grapes they find in this vicinity. Their flesh was so fat and luscious that our men grew weary of it, and desired to go themselves and hunt for wild goats. La Salle denied them that liberty, which made some murmurs among the men, and they went unwillingly to their work. These annoyances, with the near approach of winter, together with the apprehension that his ship was lost, gave La Salle a melancholy which he resolutely tried to but could not conceal.

"We made a hut wherein we performed divine service every Sun

day; and Father Gabriel and myself, who preached alternately, carefully selected such texts as were suitable to our situation, and fit to inspire us with courage, concord, and brotherly love. Our exhortations produced good results, and deterred our men from their meditated desertion. We sounded the mouth of the river and found a sand-bar, on which we feared our expected ship might strike; we marked out a channel through which the vessel might safely enter by attaching buoys, made of inflated bear-skins, fastened to long poles driven into the bed of the lake. Two men were also sent back to Mackinac to await there the return of the ship, and serve as pilots.*

"M. Tonti arrived on the 20th of November with two canoes, laden with stags and deer, which were a welcome refreshment to our men. He did not bring more than about one-half of his men, having left the rest on the opposite side of the lake, within three days' journey of the fort. La Salle was angry with him on this account, because he was afraid the men would run away. Tonti's party informed us that the Griffin had not put into Mackinaw, according to orders, and that they had heard nothing of her since our departure, although they had made inquiries of the savages living on the coast of the lake. This confirmed the suspicion, or rather the belief, that the vessel had been cast away. However, M. La Salle continued work on the building of the fort, which was at last completed and called Fort Miamis.

"The winter was drawing nigh, and La Salle, fearful that the ice would interrupt his voyage, sent M. Tonti back to hurry forward the men he had left, and to command them to come to him immediately; but, meeting with a violent storm, their canoes were driven against the beach and broken to pieces, and Tonti's men lost their guns and equipage, and were obliged to return to us overland. A few days after this all our men arrived except two, who had deserted. We prepared at once to resume our voyage; rains having fallen that melted the ice and made the rivers navigable.

"On the 3d of December, 1679, we embarked, being in all thirtythree men, in eight canoes. We left the lake of the Illinois and went up the river of the Miamis, in which we had previously made soundings. We made about five-and-twenty leagues southward, but failed to discover the place where we were to land, and carry our canoes and effects into the river of the Illinois, which falls into that of the Meschasipi, that is, in the language of the Illinois, the great river. We had already gone beyond the place of the portage, and, not knowing where we were, we thought proper to remain there, as we were expecting M. La Salle, who had taken to the land to view the country.

*This is the beginning, at what is now known as Benton Harbor, Michigan.

We staid here quite a while, and, La Salle failing to appear, I went a distance into the woods with two men, who fired off their guns to notify him of the place where we were. In the meantime two other men went higher up the river, in canoes, in search of him. We all returned toward evening, having vainly endeavored to find him. The next day I went up the river myself, but, hearing nothing of him, I came back, and found our men very much perplexed, fearing he was lost. However, about four o'clock in the afternoon M. La Salle returned to us, having his face and hands as black as pitch. He carried two beasts, as big as muskrats, whose skin was very fine, and like ermine. He had killed them with a stick, as they hung by their tails to the branches of the trees.

"He told us that the marshes he had met on his way had compelled him to bring a large compass; and that, being much delayed by the snow, which fell very fast, it was past midnight before he arrived upon the banks of the river, where he fired his gun twice, and, hearing no answer, he concluded that we had gone higher up the river, and had, therefore, marched that way. He added that, after three hours' march, he saw a fire upon a little hill, whither he went directly and hailed us several times; but, hearing no reply, he approached and found no person near the fire, but only some dry grass, upon which a man had laid a little while before, as he conjectured, because the bed was still warm. He supposed that a savage had been occupying it, who fled upon his approach, and was now hid in ambuscade near by. La Salle called out loudly to him in two or three languages, saying that he need not be afraid of him, and that he was agoing to lie in his bed. La Salle received no answer. To guard against surprise, La Salle cut bushes and placed them to obstruct the way, and sat down by the fire, the smoke of which blackened his hands and face, as I have already observed. Having warmed and rested himself, he laid down under the tree upon the dry grass the savage had gathered and slept well, notwithstanding the frost and snow. Father Gabriel and I desired him to keep with his men, and not to expose himself in the future, as the success of our enterprise depended solely on him, and he promised to follow our advice. Our savage, who remained behind to hunt, finding none of us at the portage, came higher up the river, to where we were, and told us we had missed the place. We sent all the canoes back under his charge except one, which I retained for M. La Salle, who was so weary that he was obliged to remain there that night. I made a little hut with mats, constructed with marsh rushes, in which we laid down. together for the night. By an unhappy accident our cabin took fire, and we were very near being burned alive after we had gone to sleep."