icago As seen hy a cartoonist 1/1 B R.AHY OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS 977.31 W?3e JLLMOIB BIBTOBTCAL HtlMTET Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/earlychicagoasseOOwins EARLY CHICAGO Jis Seen by a Cartoonist 53B Cartoonist RALPH E. WILDER Author CHARLES S. WINSLOW Copyright 1947 by CHARLES S. WINSLOW PRINTED IN U. S. A. Publisher CHARLES S. WINSLOW 1344 N. Dearborn Parkway Chicago 10, Illinois Printed by BLOOM PRINTING COMPANY 216 Institute Place Chicago 10, Illinois Superior 3384 IV VJ-nlL ZLL.WSr.SvM CONTENTS CHAPTER TITLE PAGES I 1673 In 1673 Louis Joliet explored the Chicago — then known as the "Wild Onions-river 1-12 II 1682 In 1682 Robert Cavelier La Salle visited this portage. La Salle street was named in his honor 13-32 III 1776 The first flat in Chicago 33-39 IV 1779 In 1779 General George Rogers Clark wrested the Illinois country from the British. Clark street now bears his name 40- 53 V 1795 In 1795, at Greenville, Ohio, "Mad Anthony" Wayne induced the Indians to sign a treaty by which six square miles at the mouth of the river was ceded to the government for a trad- ing post 54- 62 VI 1803 In 1803 Captain John Whistler was sent to build a fort at the mouth of the Chicago river. This was the first Fort Dearborn 63- 73 VII 1803 Chicago's first real estate transfer. In 1803 John Kinzie bought a home from Monsieur Le Mai 74-87 VIII 1805 The new post-office is begun 88-96 IX 1806 The Lake Shore drive in 1806 97-102 X 1812 Fort Dearborn Massacre group at foot of Eighteenth street. This was Chicago's part in the War of 1812 103-108 XI 1816 Capt. Hezekiah Bradley arrived in Chicago with companies of soldiers and rebuilt Fort Dearborn 109-114 XII 1829 The forks of the Chicago river in 1829. "Hail- ing the ferryman." The Wolf Tavern on the left and the Miller House on the right were the oldest taverns in Chicago 115-126 v XIII 1830 Plans drawn for improving- Chicago river — then a beautiful stream. The first vessel to reach the coveted port was the brig "Illinois", Captain Pickering, July 12, 1834 127-131 XIV 1830 Hunting was a favorite pastime in and about Chicago. A bear weighing 400 pounds was shot on October 6, 1834, in a tree near La Salle and Adams streets 132-135 XV 1830-31 What was known as the " Winter of the Deep SYiow" occurred in 1830-31. For several weeks the snow was four feet deep on the level 136-139 XVI 1831 In the early Thirties mail was received twice a month from the East, coming' by way of Niles, Michigan. Its arrival was the occasion of much local excitement 140-147 XVII 1832 During the Blackhawk War settlers within a radius of fifty miles flocked to Chicago to seek protection of Ft. Dearborn. The town then numbered about 150 inhabitants 148-157 XVIII 1833 The year 1833 witnessed great activity in ibuilding. The Democrat, Chicago's first news- paper, was issued that year 158-171 XIX 1834 The first lift bridge in Chicago at Dearborn street. It was of the gallows pattern, about 300 feet long, and was worked by chain cables, and opened with cranks 172-174 XX 1834 5000 Indians gathered at Chicago to negotiate the sale of their lands to the white settlers. The Indians spent a night in wild dissipation, then left Chicago for good 175-177 XXI 1836 On July 4, 1836, work was begun on the Illi- nois and Michigan canal. The steamer "Chi- cago" and schooners "Sea Serpent" and "Llewellen" left the wharf at Dearborn street. 178-188 XXII 1840 The Hard Cider Log Cabin Campaign was the political feature of 1840. A delegation of seventy citizens went to Springfield in four- teen canvas-covered wagons 189-194 XXIII 1842 In 1842 Chicago began to be called "The Garden City". That year Ira Miltimore suc- cessfully established the first waterworks system, at Michigan avenue and Lake street 195-202 vi XXIV 1845 The Dearborn school, known as "Miltimore's Folly", stood in Madison street opposite Mc- Vicker's Theater. The first permanent public school building in Chicago 203-209 XXV 1847 During the Mexican War the Chicago Horse Company, comprising the flower of the city's young men, was accepted as an infantry com- pany in the new Fifth Illinois 210-213 XXVI 1847 The River and Harbor Convention met July 5-7, 1847. Distinguished men from eighteen states discussed improving western waterways 214-222 XXVII 1848 On October 26, 1848, the "Pioneer", with tender and two cars, started on strap rails for Sand Ridge (Austin) over the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, forerunner of the Chicago and North Western 223-227 XXVIII 1850 On Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1850, Chicago first used gas. Lake street was brilliantly illumi- nated by torches on both sides of the street 228-232 XXIX 1856 The Illinois Central Railroad Company was the first to establish a suburban train service. On June 1, 1856, three trains were placed on the line between the city and Hyde Park 233-236 XXX 1860 Republican National Convention nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, May 16, 1860. It was held at the Wigwam, corner of Market and Lake streets 237-241 XXXI 1860 The Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, visited Chicago in the autumn of 1860. Numerous entertainments were arranged, includng a grand ball 242-245 XXXII 1868 Terrace Row, one of the most fashionable blocks of dwellings in Chicago, stood on Mich- igan avenue, extending from Congress to Van Buren streets 246-248 XXXIII 1871 The Great Fire began on Sunday evening, Oc- tober 8, 1871, in the rear of No. 137 DeKoven street, on the West Side 249-259 vn JUST A WORD ON SEPTEMBER 26, 1903, Chicago began a week's cele- bration to commemorate the founding of Fort Dearborn a hundred years earlier. Friends of Chicago from all over the West came to join in the celebration. Chicag, chief of the Chippewas, sat on the same platform with descendants of John Kinzie, of Captain John Whistler and of Lieutenant Swearingen. A reproduction of the first Fort Dearborn was placed in the Public Library. Scenes of early Chicago were reproduced. The city gave itself wholeheartedly to memories of earlier days. Prior to this Ralph E. Wilder, a commercial artist, had drawn a series of cartoons for Swift and Company to portray in a humorous way some of the events of the preceding cen- tury. The company issued these cartoons first in connection with advertisements for one of their brands of soap. They attracted such favorable attention that the company then re-issued them in a small booklet, as a contribution to the more general celebration of this centennial. The original car- toons were presented to the Chicago Historical Society by Swift and Company in 1905. Ralph Everett Wilder, the cartoonist, was born in Wor- cester, Massachusetts, February 23, 1875. He received his education in the public schools of Chicago and in Morgan Park Academy, then in the Art Institute of Chicago and in the Chicago Art Academy. As a commercial artist he won recognition, and on June 6, 1903, joined the staff of the Record-Herald. He became their front-page cartoonist and remained with the paper until 1914. In that year he gave up his art work and turned to farming. His death occurred suddenly at his farm near Coldwater, Michigan, on February 19, 1924. These cartoons of Ralph "Wilder on Early Chicago are the keynote to this volume. They point the way to a different but interesting approach to the reading and study of history. All honor to the artist — Ralph Everett "Wilder. The cover design follows fairly closely that of the cover of the original booklet. In this two symbols of Chicago are prominent. The "Y" represents the division of the city into three parts through the joining of the north and south branches to form the main stream. This "Y" symbol was designed in 1892 by A. J. Roewad, winner in a contest for a municipal design. The other symbol, the goddess bearing the motto "I WILL," was also the outcome of a contest in March 1892, in which the winner was Charles Holloway. Of him it was said, "Charles Holloway was the first interpreter of the genius of Chicago to associate with an artistic person- ification of this city an expression of the dominant power of its soul." CHAPTER I 1673 "In 1673 Louis Joliet explored the Chicago — then known as the 'Wild Onion' — river." Early Chicago Joliet and Marquette LOUIS JOLIET the explorer and Jacques Marquette the priest, with their companions, passed through the Chicago river on their return from the long voyage of discovery down the Mississippi. It was the month of September in the year 1673. Very affecting to Joliet and to his companions must have been the sight of this future metropolis of the Middle West, and even more affecting evidently was the odor of the wild onion that grew so plentifully along the banks of this beautiful little stream. Ralph Wilder doubtless knew that the wild onion, which may still be found in the Chicago region, does not as a flowering plant have the pungent odor associated with the onion when cooked, nor have the power to make one's eyes water through the strong oil it contains. However, the sug- gestion by the artist of an odor and of tears conveys the idea of wild onions most vividly. In the year 1673, and for many years to follow, the Wild Onion river was an innocent, sweet-smelling, little stream flowing gently into Lake Michigan. Possibly the artist was hinting at a later time when part of this little stream was well and unfavorably known to Chicagoans as Bubbly Creek, constantly effervescing because of the decomposing ■ animal matter from the neighboring Stock Yards. Possibly he had in mind the condition of the river when as the main sewer of the city it forced people to construct the Sanitary and Ship Canal in their efforts to secure pure drinking water and to prolong their lives. 4 Early Chicago Joliet and Marquette had set forth from St. Ignace, at the northern end of Lake Michigan, on the seventeenth of May, 1673. With them were five French companions and two canoes. Discovery of a water route across the continent was very important to the French. They wanted an easy trade route to the rich countries of the Orient — India and China. The Indians, as they brought their furs to the trading posts of New France, had spoken rather vaguely of a great river to the west. So Joliet was recommended by Talon, Intendant of Canada, and commissioned by Governor Frontenac to dis- cover this unknown river and to determine its course. As it was usual for priests to accompany such exploring parties, Jacques Marquette was selected as Joliet 's companion. Louis Joliet (spelled Jolliet in early times) had been born in Quebec in the year 1645, the son of a wagon maker. He was accordingly twenty-seven years of age at the time of this adventure. He had first studied with the Jesuits for the priesthood, but had early decided that he was better fitted for the adventurous life of a fur trader. In 1669, under the direction of the Intendant Talon he had explored the Lake Superior region for sources of copper ore, of which the Indians had spoken. In this quest he was unsuccessful. As he was returning to Montreal, along the shore of Lake Erie, he met La Salle, who was just starting on his tour of exploration of the Ohio valley. Late in the fall of 1672 Joliet started for the Lake of the Illinois, Lake Michigan, to join Father Marquette, and to prepare for his trip into the unknown country in search of the " Great River." In early December, as ice was beginning to form, he reached St. Ignace. Here he found Marquette in his little cabin, and he reported his mission. The young priest was delighted to receive his guest and to learn of the intended journey. It seemed to him an espe- Joliet and Marquette 5 cially good omen that Joliet had arrived on the day of the celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin, whom he had often implored to direct him to the land of the Illinois. Jacques Marquette was born at Laon, in northern France, in 1637. "When seventeen years of age he joined the Jesuits, and in 1666 was sent to the missions of Canada. Two years later he went to Lake Superior and then to the mission at Point St. Ignace. Among the Indians he learned to speak six of their languages with ease. To these missions each year came the Illinois Indians. Their name meant "real men." Marquette thought these savages to be of better physique and of nobler character than were the other tribes. They told him of their country and of the "Great River/' This made him eager to meet them in their own villages and to teach them the meaning of the white man's religion. It was therefore a real pleasure to greet Joliet on that December day in 1672 and to learn that his cherished hopes of entering the country of the Illinois were about to be realized. The two young men made their plans for the journey. They drew maps as best they could of the country to which they were going. They laid in a supply of smoked meat and of Indian corn. They provided two birchbark canoes. Mar- quette later wrote, ' ' I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she grantd us the favor of discovering the great river, I would give it the name of Conception." Five hardy French voyageurs paddled the two canoes westward on that spring day of May 17, 1673, westward along the north shore of the Lake of the Illinois into Green Bay. They stopped to visit the "Wild-rice Indians" on the Menominie river, which flows into Green Bay. Here the friendly savages tried to persuade them to go no farther. 6 Early Chicago The banks of the Great River, they said, were peopled by ferocious tribes who put to death by the tomahawk all who were strangers to them. In a certain part of the river was a terrible demon who would be certain to engulf them in the abyss where he lived, if they succeeded in getting that far. Moreover, the heat in the south was so great that they could not possibly endure it. Father Marquette taught them a prayer, and the travellers then departed. With two Indian guides they paddled up the Fox river from Green Bay, across the portage, and down the Wisconsin. Just a month after they had started, they floated out upon the Mississippi. For two w T eeks, as they paddled and floated down stream, they saw no signs of man. But they did see great herds of buffalo, and each night they anchored in mid- stream lest they might be attacked by unseen enemies. Finally, on the west side of the river, they discovered a path, evidently made by man. Joliet and Marquette decided to follow this path, leaving their men with the canoes. A walk of about six miles through the forest and across the prairie brought them to an Indian village. As they had not been discovered, they stepped out into the open and shouted to attract attention. This created great excitement in the village. Soon four of the chief men came to meet them, hold- ing up two peace pipes adorned with feathers. Marquette spoke to them and learned that they were Illinois. Together they smoked the pipe of peace and went into the village. The chief here welcomed them in these words: "Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us ! All our village awaits you ; and you shall enter our wigwams in peace.' ' The following day they visited the great chief of the Illinois at a village not far distant. Again they were cordially received, and were here presented with a calumet, or peace Joliet and Marquette 7 pipe. They were also treated to a banquet of four courses — corn meal porridge, fish, roast dog and buffalo meat. They continued their voyage the next day. Down the river, past the mouth of the Illinois, they glided. On the rock bluff, later the site of Alton, they saw carved and painted two figures of the terrible piasa bird. This was a mythical character of the long ago. It had a large scaly body, about which was wrapped its long tail ending like the tail of a fish. Its four feet were webbed. Its head was somewhat like that of a bearded man, but with horns like those of a deer. Indians passing this way either kept as far from the rock as possible or shot their poisoned arrows at the painted monster. To them it was an evil spirit. In life, according to cheir belief, it had feasted on the flesh and blood of Indians, but had finally been killed by an Indian chief and his war- riors w T ho attacked it under the direction and protection of a good manitou, or spirit. The Frenchmen could not forget the appearance of this ugly monster. Marquette, though himself frightened, made and preserved a sketch of it. Farther down the river the two canoes were almost upset when they came to the meeting of the muddy and turbulent Missouri with the Mississippi. As they approached the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw a number of wigwams on the west bank. The savages saw them about the same time. Giving their war whoops, the young warriors put out in their canoes to attack the Frenchmen. Marquette held his calumet above his head. The excited savages paid no attention to the peace pipe, until the older men caught sight of it and urged the strangers to land. After a friendly conference and a feast the Frenchmen spent the night with their new friends. These Indians were the Metchigami, or Michigans, one of the tribes of the Illinois. A few miles farther down the river Joliet and Marquette 8 Early Chicago were welcomed at a village of the Arkansas Indians. Here they were told that the Mississippi farther south was peopled by hostile Indians who were armed with guns secured from white men, evidently Spaniards. Thereupon the Frenchmen decided to return. They had learned that the Great River flowed into the Gulf of Mexico and not into the Gulf of California as they had hoped. It did not lead to the Orient, but it might prove a means of communication with their own France. It seemed better to return with this information than to run the risk of capture by the Spaniards or of death by hostile Indians. So they turned back and struggled against the current in the heat of the summer's sun. When they came to the mouth of the Illinois river, they turned up this stream, for the Indians had told them that this was a shorter and better route back to their starting place. Finally, only a mile west of what later became known as Starved Rock, they came to a large Indian village, Kaskaskia. Here they were gladly re- ceived. As Marquette preached to them of his religion, they made him promise to return to them at a later time. Then the Indians guided the little party up the Illinois and up the Desplaines till they reached the little Portage creek. At that point they turned eastward through Mud Lake and entered the South Branch of the Chicago river. Joliet remarked that it would be a very simple matter to dig a little canal from the South Branch to Mud Lake, which would allow boats to go from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi and so to the Gulf without making any portage. It was late in the fall of 1673 when they arrived at Marquette's new mission assignment on Green Bay. Joliet and Marquette spent the winter together here, Joliet prepar- ing his report to the governor and Marquette carrying on the duties of the mission, writing reports to his superior and Joliet and Marquette 9 trying; to recover from a serious illness brought on by the exertions of the trip. The next spring, as Joliet was approaching Montreal on his return, his canoe was upset in the rapids, his maps and notes of the trip were lost, and he himself narrowly escaped death. Knowledge of their exploration has been gained from the accounts written by Marquette and published in France in the Jesuit Relations. Joliet never again passed this way, but Father Marquette returned a little more than a year later with two French companions on his way back to the town of Kaskaskia on the Illinois river. Because of a serious attack of dysentery he was obliged to spend most of the winter of 1674-75 in a little log cabin on the South Branch, about where Damen street crosses the stream. Finally, in March he went on to Kaskaskia, but his days were numbered. As he was returning shortly after Easter in that year of 1675 his strength failed, and he died on the opposite shore of Lake Michigan. A grateful city has erected numerous memorials in honor of her early discoverers. The northeast pylon of the Michigan avenue bridge portrays the two men surrounded by a group of friendly Indians but under the guidance of a heavenly visitor. Across from the Harrison Technical High School, at Marshall and Twenty-fourth street boulevards, stands a colossal monument with the figures of Joliet, Marquette and an Illinois Indian. This monument has been placed close to the old Chicago Portage over which they passed in Septem- ber of 1673. Marquette boulevard crosses the city on the South Side. Two public schools have carried the name of Marquette. The first, at Wood and Congress, was opened in 1879, but has recently been razed. The present school stands at 6550 South Richmond and was opened in 1925. In some respects the most 10 Early Chicago interesting memorial is the Marquette building on the north- west corner of Adams and Dearborn. Over the entrance and around the lobby is a series of glass mosaics and of bas reliefs in bronze that portray many of the incidents in the voyage of these two explorers. Joliet is honored in this city by no separate monument. Yet only forty miles distant is the city of Joliet on the Desplaines river through which the two men passed. Strange to say, the place was first named Juliet by James B. Camp- bell, founder of the city, in honor of his daughter. Connected with this name was that of Romeo, a town only a few miles farther up the river. It was in January 1845 that the city changed its name to Joliet through an act of the legislature. President Van Buren was said to have expressed a wish that the city be renamed Joliet in honor of Louis Joliet. Just southwest of the city of Joliet was formerly a large mound of sand and gravel that early gained the name of Mount Joliet. One of the more obscure legends relates that here Pontiac was tomahawked by an enraged Indian of the Illinois tribe. Mount Joliet has disappeared. Its later history was sad. Chicago coveted the material for the improvement of some of her streets, so in May 1858 the gravel was brought to this city and spread over Michigan avenue. No question of honoring or of dishonoring the name of the intrepid explorer entered the minds of the City Fathers. In this cartoon the artist raises, if he does not settle, the question of the origin of the name "Chicago. " Historians have long disagreed and continue to disagree as to its origin. Writing from Chicago to a friend in France, La Salle said in 1682: "After many toils I came to the head of the great lake and rested for some days on the bank of a river of feeble current now, flowing into the lake, but which occu- pies the course that formerly the waters of the Great Lakes Joliet and Marquette 11 took as they flowed southward to the Mississippi river. This is the lowest point on the divide between the two great valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. The bound- less regions of the West must send their products to the East through this point. This will be the gate of empire, this the seat of commerce. Everything invites to action. The typical man who will grow up here must be an enterprising man. Each day as he rises, he will exclaim, "I act, I move, I push/ 7 and there will be spread before him a boundless horizon, an illimitable field of activity ; a limitless expanse of plain is here — to the east water and all other points land. If I were to give this place a name, I would derive it from the nature of the place and the nature of the man who will occupy this place — ago, I act; circum, all around; Circago. 77 In a romantic little story written in 1851 about the court- ship and elopement of Chicagou, chief of the Metchigami tribe of the Illinois, and Tonika, princess sister of the great chief of the Natchez Indians, is this closing sentence, "They both lived to be old — to be respected by the red man and white man alike — and dying left their name to be perpetu- ated by the flourishing city of Chicago.' 7 Mrs. John H. Kinzie, in her story "Wau-Bun, " gives a similar derivation. "The Indians all agree, 77 she says, "that the place received its name from an old chief who was drowned in the stream in former times, which must have occurred in a very remote period. 77 There are many indications, however, that the name is derived from the Indian word which in some of the dialects meant "wild onion. 77 Cadillac, writing in 1695 from Michilli- mackinac about the various French posts and Indian villages, says: "The post of Chicagou comes next. The word signifies the ' River of Garlic, 7 because it produces naturally, without any cultivation, a very large quantity of it. 7 ' 12 Early Chicago A deed to an extensive tract of Illinois land was given to William Murray by the Indians, in which the boundaries are given thus: "Then up the Illinois river, by the several courses thereof to Chicagou, or Garlic Creek. " And La Salle himself in 1683 said, with reference to the Chicago portage, "The land there produces naturally a quantity of roots good to eat, as wild onions. ' ' It may be wise to agree with the artist and to accept his wild onion theory as the true explanation of the origin of the name "Chicago." CHAPTER II 1682 "In 1682 Robert Cavelier La Salle visited this portage. La Salle street was named in his honor." 14 Early Chicago toiPH v*ii.pe*, La Salle 15 WHAT WALL STREET is to New York City and what Threadneedle street is to London, La Salle street is to Chicago. If the ghost of La Salle, accompanied by the shade of Nika, his faithful Shawnee slave, had visited Chicago in 1903, he would have seen tremendous changes in the place which he knew in life only as a marshy waste at the lake end of the Chicago Portage. A street which did not exist during his lifetime had become the financial center of the "West, with a magnificent Board of Trade building at the south end of the street and an equally magnificent Lincoln Park at the north end. The rush and worry of city men in their efforts to make fortunes would have seemed very strange to La Salle, nor would he have understood the uplifted hand of the blue- coat, he whom only armed bands of hostile Indians had been able to check. John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat in the early days of the city, said on one occasion: "He (La Salle) went immediately into commerce with Hennepin as chaplain and Tonti as chief superintendent. Thus, whilst Marquette was our first clergyman, La Salle was our first member of the Board of Trade — the first of that large number of men who make such slow progress toward the Kingdom of Heaven that they let the camel beat them in getting through the eye of a needle. Hence, it is very proper that the street upon which our Board of Trade stands should be named for him." On the twenty-second of November, 1643, a babe was born in France who later made a great name for himself in the 16 Early Chicago Illinois country. It was Robert Cavelier. Both his father and his uncle were wealthy merchants. One of the estates owned by Robert's father was called La Salle. This is the name by which he became generally known. As a boy he was very bright and was given a good educa- tion. He liked science and mathematics, especially arithmetic and geometry. When he became older he entered a Jesuit monastery for further study and to prepare for the priest- hood. He even taught for a time, but he was not satisfied with the dull life of a monastery, with the same things hap- pening day after day. He was too active in body and mind to be acting under the orders of some one else. He wanted to be free to come and go, to be a leader himself, so he left the monastery. According to the laws of France, when he entered the monastery he lost the right to receive any of the property of his father, who had died not long before. The purpose of the law was to keep the priests poor so they would think of religion instead of wealth. Canada, or New France as it was then called, was the great land of adventure for the French. In the spring of 1666 La Salle set sail for this new land to join his older brother, the Abbe Jean Cavelier, a Sulpician priest in Mon- treal. At this time Montreal was just a small village owned by the Sulpician priests. It was a place of danger, too, for the Iroquois Indians of the Hudson Valley to the south could reach it easily and might attack at any time. They were not on friendly terms with the French. So these priests were very glad to give this young man of twenty-three a large portion of land, an island about eight miles farther up the St. Lawrence river. La Salle with his little colony could stand between them and danger. At least he could warn them when the Indians were likely to attack. On this island La Salle built a little fort and sold land to La Salle 17 those who wished to join him. This was also a central place from which to trade with the Indians for furs, After a time the place became known as La Chine. The name means China, and was given in ridicule of La Salle's known desire to find a passageway across the continent to China. One winter a band of Seneca Indians, one of the tribes of the Iroquois, camped near him. They told him of the Ohio river. This river, they said, flowed into the sea, but at such a distance that it would take eight or nine months to make the journey to its mouth. La Salle thought the sea into which this river flowed might be the Vermilion Sea, the present Gulf of California. If so, this river would lead across the continent and open up a new way to China, that country rich in silks and spices. He determined to find and to follow this great stream. First he went to Quebec to get permission of Governor Cour- celle and his minister of finance, the Intendant Talon. They were both in favor of the idea and gave him the right to go ahead with his plans. In order to raise money he sold his property at La Chine. He bought four canoes and the sup- plies that he needed. He also hired fourteen men to go with him. La Salle set out on this journey to find the Ohio river on the sixth of July, 1669, paddling westward along the south shore of Lake Ontario, past the mouth of the Niagara river, to the Indian village at the west end of the lake. Here La Salle was given the present of a captive Shawnee Indian, Nika, who became his faithful companion and hunter until the time of his death. Nika said he could guide the party to the Ohio, an undertaking which would require six weeks. Before they left this Indian town Louis Joliet arrived, a young man almost La Salle's own age. Joliet had been ex- ploring the Lake Superior region in the hope of finding 18 Early Chicago copper mines, but had been unsuccessful. He showed La Salle a map he had drawn of the Great Lakes region through which he had passed. La Salle spent the next two years in the Ohio region. He found a stream flowing southward into the Ohio river, and followed this stream and the Ohio as far down as the rapids at Louisville. It is believed that he also discovered the Illinois river. His men deserted him and he had to give up his hope of going farther toward the sea. His discoveries led him to have visions of a new France in the rich and pleasant country of the Ohio and the Illinois, a land much more agreeable in climate and products than the land of Canada. He believed the rivers flowed southward into the Gulf of Mexico. If so, a fort at the mouth of the great river would enable him to carry on trade between France and this new country throughout the entire year. After La Salle had returned to Canada from his trip to the Ohio river, he met Governor Frontenac, who had lately come from France to replace Governor Coureelle. The governor planned a trip, partly to make friends with the Indians and partly to get control of the fur trade. He sent La Salle ahead to invite the Indians to meet him at a certain place on the north shore of Lake Ontario not far from the St. Lawrence. Then with four hundred men and one hundred twenty canoes and two flatboats he made his way up the rapids of the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario. It was a regular war party that thus paddled along the shore of the lake. When Governor Frontenac received the Indians in council, he had them march between two lines of his soldiers. He wanted the Indians to know that the French were ready and able to fight. While these councils were being held, the soldiers were building a fort of logs. It was to be a trading post where La Salle 19 the Indians could bring their furs and trade them for cloth, for guns and for other things they might like. A guard of soldiers was left in the fort when the governor returned to Quebec. La Salle and the governor had become warm friends. In the meantime Joliet and Marquette had made their voyage of discovery down the Mississippi and back through Illinois. In the fall of 1674 La Salle went back to France. He was received graciously by the king, who made him a noble and gave him the fort which the governor had built on Lake Ontario, together with a great deal of land about the fort. La Salle promised he would rebuild this fort with stone and would always keep a certain number of men in it. He named it Fort Frontenac, in honor of Governor Frontenac. When he got back to Canada he took charge of the fort and built up a great fur trade there. While he was at the fort one of his men tried to kill him by putting poison in his salad. The man had done this at the urging of a married woman who had tried to make love to La Salle, but with whom he would have nothing to do. La Salle made money in his fur trading at the fort, but he wasn't satisfied. He hoped to have a chance at greater things. In the fall of 1677 he left the fort in charge of his lieutenant and sailed again for France. He asked the king for the right to build more forts and to form colonies in the land south of the Great Lakes. He promised to do this at his own expense, but he asked the control of the fur trade and the right to govern any country he might discover and colonize. This new country to the southward he described as beautiful and fertile, free from forests, and with plenty of fish and game. Canada, on the other hand, was poor in soil. Its forests were dense, its climate harsh. Snow covered the ground for half the year. The king gladly granted most of his request. La Salle didn't have money enough of his own, 20 Early Chicago so he borrowed large sums, offering to pay as much as forty per cent interest annually. While in France he was introduced to a young man by the name of Henry de Tonti. Tonti was an Italian and had lost his right hand in one of the wars of Sicily. In place of it he wore a metal hand, which was usually covered with a glove. He thus became known as the "Iron-Handed." Tonti wanted to join La Salle in his enterprises, and La Salle was glad to have him. Tonti became his best friend and his lieutenant. When La Salle reached Quebec he found Father Louis Hennepin, a Sulpician, or gray-frocked, priest, who seemed never so happy as when on some adventure or when he was relating stories of his adventures. As a young man he had become a priest, but he had always enjoyed travel. He said of himself : "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me sick at the stomach, but, notwithstanding, I listened at- tentively to all they said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." Hennepin had come to New France in 1675 on the same ship with La Salle, and had been sent as a missionary to Fort Frontenac. When La Salle met him at Quebec in 1678, he gave the priest a letter from his superior granting him permission to go with La Salle on his great adventure. La Salle was now ready to start. He sent some of his men across Lake Ontario to the mouth of the Niagara river. Here they made friends with the Indians and built a fort a few miles back from the shore of the lake. This they called Fort Niagara. It would help to prevent the Indians of the Great Lakes region from trading with the English and the Dutch La Salle 21 farther east. Several men were sent on in advance to the northern end of Lake Michigan to gather furs. Under Tonti 's direction the men in January, 1679, built a sailing vessel in the river above the Niagara Falls. They called this the ' ' Griffin, ' ' because a griffin was the emblem of Governor Frontenac. La Salle tramped back to Fort Fron- tenac, two hundred fifty miles, to get more supplies, for one of his boats had been wrecked by a careless pilot, and he needed anchors and other things for the new vessel. Early in August, 1679, they set forth on the first sailing vessel ever to be seen on Lake Erie. Part of the voyage was very stormy, but they sailed on and on till they reached Point St. Ignace, the very place from which Joliet and Marquette had set out a little more than six years earlier. Here they found a Jesuit mission and a center for the Indian tribes. Some of the men whom La Salle had sent ahead to secure furs had run away with his goods. He sent Tonti in search of these men. The furs that had been collected he loaded on the new vessel. The Griffin then started back for Fort Niagara, with orders to return to the southern end of Lake Michigan as soon as possible. La Salle with fourteen men set out in four canoes, carry- ing a forge, tools, goods for trading, and weapons. They paddled southward along the west shore of Lake Michigan, taking their canoes onto the shore at night. Several times they almost starved. Once they found the body of a deer that had been killed by wolves, and they feasted on this, after driving away the buzzards. They went on past the mouth of the Chicago, the first time that La Salle had been here, on to the mouth of the St. Joseph river in Michigan. Here they built Fort Miami while waiting for Tonti and his party to come up the eastern shore. The Griffin should have arrived, and they began to fear 22 Early Chicago that something had happened to her. Two men were sent back to St. Ignace to meet her on her arrival. The rest of the party started up the St. Joseph to cross the portage to the Kankakee and so on down to the Illinois country. It was the beginning of winter, December third, and ice was already to be seen on the streams. Nika, the Indian hunter, was away from the party, hunt- ing game. Without his sharp eyes they passed the beginning of the portage trail without seeing it. When La Salle left the party to hunt the trail he became lost and didn't return until four o'clock the next afternoon. After Nika had found the portage trail, they camped for the night. La Salle and Hennepin slept in a wigwam covered with mats woven of reeds. Their wigwam caught fire that night, and both sleepers barely escaped with their lives. The next day while on the march the man walking behind La Salle raised his gun to shoot him in the back, but was stopped by one of his com- panions. These incidents show some of the dangers of this adventure. There were still more in store for this daring man. They had difficulty in finding game for food. When they reached the Indian village of Kaskaskia not an Indian could be found. The entire village was away at the winter hunt. They opened pits in the ground and took some of the corn which the Indians had stored in them. La Salle planned to pay for this corn when he should find the Indians. On down the river they paddled in their eight canoes until they reached a point near the present city of Peoria. Here they saw wigwams on both sides of the river. La Salle had the canoes brought into line side by side. Then the men seized their weapons. The Indians were in a panic when they saw the Frenchmen. "Warriors whooped and howled; squaws and children screeched in chorus. Some snatched their bows and war clubs; some ran in terror. " La Salle and his band La Salle 23 of Frenchmen landed and stood with their guns in hand, ready for war or for friendship. Soon the Indians made signs of friendship. Then the white men were seated and given food. La Salle made the Indians a present of tobacco and hatchets and promised to pay for the corn he had taken from the pits in the Kaskaskia village. He told them he wished to build a fort to protect his men, and also wished to build a great "wooden canoe," in which to go on to the sea and to get the goods they might need. The rest of the day they spent in feasts and dances. That night a stranger chief, Monso, appeared and told the Indians in secret council that La Salle was a spy of the Iroquois, who were enemies of the Illinois, and that he was trying to stir up the other tribes against the Illinois. "When La Salle learned of Monso 's statements, he persuaded the Indians that he was really their friend. Not far below, on the bank of the river, he built his fort and called it Fort Crevecouer. Then he began his boat. Since many of the supplies needed for the new boat were to have been brought on the Griffin and since no news had been re- ceived from her, he planned to go back to Canada on foot to learn what had happened and to get the needed supplies. Before he started, he sent Father Hennepin and two companions in a canoe to explore the lower part of the Illinois river and then to go up the Mississippi to its sources. Hennepin wasn't at all eager to go on this dangerous canoe voyage, but on the last day of February 1680 he said goodbye to his friends and started on what proved to be a trip full of adventures and one that almost ended in his death. The next morning La Salle started on his long journey of a thousand miles back to Canada. He had with him four Frenchmen and his faithful Nika. The river was frozen, but the snow on the ground was slushy, so the men often waded 24 Early Chicago knee-deep in the snow, carrying their canoes and other burdens. When he reached Fort Miami he learned that nothing had been heard of the Griffin. To this day it isn't known whether the ship was destroyed by Indians, by the crew, or by a storm on the lake. When he reached Fort Niagara his companions were exhausted, so La Salle took three fresh men and went on to Fort Frontenac. He had traveled on foot for sixty-five days, the hardest journey ever made by a Frenchman in America. He had a frame of iron and a mind that would not admit of defeat. From Montreal he got the supplies he needed, then re- turned to Fort Frontenac. Here he received a letter from Tonti saying that soon after he had left Fort Crevecouer nearly all the men had deserted. They had also destroyed the fort and had thrown into the river what they couldn't carry away. Soon other messengers arrived telling La Salle that the deserters had destroyed Fort Miami on the St. Joseph, had seized furs belonging to him at St. Ignace and had robbed Fort Niagara. Twelve of them in their canoes were headed for Fort Frontenac, according to the report, to kill La Salle. With nine men La Salle went to meet these deserters who were planning to kill him. He surprised them, killed two in the fight that took place, and took ten of them prisoners to Fort Frontenac. Here he left his prisoners for the governor to deal with. He was worried about Tonti, and wondered whether he had been able to save the vessel they had started and the tools they needed. With twenty-five men he started again for the Illinois region, going around the Great Lakes to Fort Miami. From here he hurried on to the Kankakee river and the Illinois, down to the village of Kaskaskia. The place was deserted. Even the graves had been opened and the corpses La Salle 25 had been dragged out. It was evident that the Iroquois Indians had attacked and destroyed the Illinois. There were no traces of Tonti and his party, so La Salle went on to Fort Crevecouer. Nobody was here, though the boat still remained as it was, except that the iron nails and spikes had been pulled out by the Indians. Down to the mouth of the Illinois, where it empties into the Mississippi they went, and still found no sign of Tonti. They painted a message in Indian signs on a board for Tonti in case he should come this way. Then they started back. This time they followed up the Desplaines river. Near the water's edge they saw a rude cabin of bark. When La Salle examined it he found a board that had been cut by a saw. He was sure it had been done by white men, and he felt sure it must have been Tonti 's party on its way north to St. Ignace. La Salle now went across country to Fort Miami. Here he spent the winter. During his stay at this fort he changed his plans somewhat. He saw that the Iroquois must be stopped from attacking the Indians of this region if his plan of settling the country should ever be successful. So he made friends with different tribes near by and told them he would help to protect them from the Iroquois, but they must be friendly among themselves. He planned to build a fort on the Rock, now Starved Rock, and to make it a great trading center, with the Indians settling nearby. To make this plan a success he saw he must find the mouth of the Mississippi so as to be able to ship his furs easily to Europe. Towards the end of May 1681 he set out in canoes for St. Ignace, where he found Tonti. They then paddled their canoes over a thousand miles to Fort Frontenac. That fall he started back to the Illinois country. At Fort Miami he chose eighteen Indians to go with his twenty-three Frenchmen/As 26 Early Chicago the Indians insisted on taking their ten squaws and their children, the entire party was fifty-four persons. On the twenty-first of December, 1681, Tonti with some of the party set out from Fort Miami in six canoes for the little Chicago river. Here near the mouth of the river La Salle and the rest of the party joined them in a few days. As the streams were covered with ice they made sleds. On these they dragged their canoes, the baggage, and a French- man who had been hurt. They crossed the Chicago portage that Joliet and Marquette had crossed eight years before. They dragged their sleds till they reached open water near Peoria. In their canoes they then paddled down the Illinois to the Mississippi, and then followed this stream downward. At one place the hunters went out to look for game. All returned but one, Prudhomme. They spent several days searching for him. Finally he was brought in, half starved. He had lost his way. The fort they had built while waiting for Prudhomme was named in his honor, and here with a few others he was left as the rest of the party went on their way. They passed various tribes of Indians and were enter- tained royally by them. At one place they visited the village of the Natchez Indians, whose chief was the Brother of the Sun. The temple was made of sun dried brick. Within it was the sacred fire. On the sixth of April, 1682, the party reached the place where the river divided into three broad channels. La Salle followed the one to the west, Dautray the one to the east, and Tonti the one in the middle. After they had reached the Gulf of Mexico they turned back. On a spot of dry ground not far from the mouth of the river they put up a column with the arms of France, also a cross. Near by they buried a leaden plate. La Salle then laid claim to all the land drained La Salle 27 by the Mississippi, and named it Louisiana in honor of the king, Louis the Fourteenth. This was on the ninth of April, 1682. On the way back, as they paddled up the Mississippi, La Salle became very sick. Tonti hastened to St. Ignace to send word to Canada of the success of their voyage, but La Salle stayed at Fort Prudhomme. In one of his letters he wrote, ' ' On the way back I was attacked by a deadly disease which left me in danger of my life for forty days, and left me so weak that I could think of nothing for four months after. ' ' As soon as he was well enough he came back into the country of the Illinois. On top of the great rock near the Indian village of Kaskaskia he and Tonti built a fort. This was in December 1682. They cut away the trees on top of the rock, built a storehouse and homes, and then built a fence of logs, a palisade, around the edge of the rock. La Salle called this place Fort St. Louis. It is now called Starved Rock. The Illinois Indians, as many as six thousand, came back to their village Kaskaskia. Other Indians made their villages near the foot of the rock. La Salle reported there were about twenty thousand Indians around his new fort. He planned to protect these Indians against the Iroquois. He also planned to trade the furs he got from them for goods from France. Another fort and a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi were included in his plans, so that it might be possible to go to France and back again without going through Canada, the land of ice and snow. As long as Frontenac was governor, La Salle had an opportunity to work out his plans, but Frontenac was re- called by the king. La Barre was sent out as the new governor, and La Barre didn't like La Salle. He ordered 28 Early Chicago La Salle to return to Canada, and he sent another man to take his place. But La Salle had already started back. He went on to France and talked to the king himself about this new country. He told the king also that if he would provide a vessel with thirty guns and two hundred armed men he himself would build a fort near the mouth of the Mississippi, or Colbert as he called it, and would then drive the Spanish out of northern Mexico. The king w r as greatly pleased with La Salle and with his plans. He sent word to La Barre, governor of Canada, to give back everything he had taken from La Salle. The king helped to secure four vessels. A hundred soldiers and a num- ber of workmen joined the party, also men of a better class, and a number of young women. B