THE STORY OF DETROIT CHAPTER I THE CAUSE OF DETROIT'S FOUNDING W HO founded Detroit? Every child of the fifth grade in Detroit public schools answers at once and in chorus: "Cadillac." The founder's full name was Antoine Laumet de la Mothe Cadillac, but life is short and there is so much to learn and so much that should be learned that we will introduce the founder of our city as plain Cadillac, for that is the name that is blazoned upon its history, the name of an avenue, a square, a hotel and several monumental tablets. When did Cadillac arrive? On July 23, 1701, which should be a date fixed in the mind of every native and inhabitant of the city. But back of every action lies a cause, and back of the founding of Detroit lies a train of curious causes. Spain, Portugal, France and Great Britain, all thrilled by the discovery of a new world of unknown extent, rushed across the ocean to grab as much of it as possible. Exploration costs money. Settlement must be encouraged by a show of personal as well as national profit. How could France induce her people to migrate to the New World and make it a profitable possession and a producer of revenue for the King? Spain sought gold and robbed the treasuries of Mexico, Central and South America. Great Britain promoted tobaccogrowing in Virginia. France explored in search of gold, silver and copper, but she found a more immediate source of wealth in a very different natural product, the skins of the beaver. It was the beaver which led to the founding of Detroit. And the skin of the beaver was sought chiefly as a material for making fashionable headgear or hats for both men and women. Up to the time of Louis XII, at the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, the men of Europe had worn caps of velvet and other soft fabrics. Then they began to wear fine fur caps. Louis XII one day made a public appearance wearing the first high hat of record, a lofty-crowned, narrow-brimmed conical affair made of the fine inner fur of the beaver, and immediately a new fashion in hats and hat materials was established. The supply of beaver in the old world was very limited, but the early explorers of Canada, New England and, particularly, of the Great Lakes region found beaver colonies in every stream, and the harvest began. Traders established local markets and the Indians of the Iroquois and Algonquin tribes began trapping beaver and bringing their pelts to these centers to trade for blankets, knives, hatchets, kettles and also for French brandy distilled from the wines produced by the vineyards of France. Brandy had a magnetic attraction for the Indians. They would bring their packs of fur 500 miles or more to trade for a few urgent necessities and then enjoy a drunken debauch. Mackinac at the tip of the southern peninsula of Michigan became a trading center to which the Chippewa Indians, the Sacs and Foxes, the Sioux from Minnesota and Dakota, the Winnebagoes from Wisconsin and the Crees from the Hudson Bay country came to trade their peltry for goods and brandy. The fashion in hats spread from France to England, so the English traders set up a post on the Hudson River where Albany now stands and called it Fort Orange. English traders began coming up Lake Erie to Detroit River to buy beaver skins. The region about Detroit was known as Teuscha-Gronde, the country of the beaver." French brandy was rather expensive and the English had a cheaper liquor distilled from molasses. It was called rum. The English traders could afford to give twice as much in trade for beaver skins. Suddenly the fur trade at Mackinac began to fall off rapidly and it was discovered that the Indians were making the longer journey to Detroit in order to get more "firewater" for their peltry. The traders complained to their government and their government directed that a strong military post be established at the best site on the Detroit River or Strait to prevent the English traders from coming up the lake to buy fur from the Indians. This order came direct from Count Pontchartrain, minister of marine in the cabinet of Louis XIV, to Gov. Frontenac, of New France. Cadillac had been for several years commandant of the French fort at Mackinac. He was called to Montreal to fit out an expedition which was authorized to found a settlement on Detroit River, build a fort, garrison it and hold it as a barrier against the invasion of the English traders from Fort Orange. The French language has two words signifying "straight." The adjective word is "droit," but the noun is "Detroit." Therefore the name of Detroit signifies that it is the “city of the strait." CHAPTER II THE COMING OF CADILLAC T was an imposing flotilla which set out from Montreal, I' There were 25 large canoes manned by 100 Frenchmen and carrying bundles of supplies. As an escort there were many more small canoes manned by Indians, who were to act as a convoy and as ambassadors to explain the purpose of the expedition to the Indians of the Straits district and make themselves useful at the portages. Up the Ottawa River, across to Lake Nipissing, down French River to Georgian Bay, across the great bay to Lake Huron and, then, skirting the eastern shore, they came to St. Clair River and thence through Lake St. Clair to Detroit River. There were 50 soldiers, in blue uniforms faced with white, 50 hardy Canadian voyageurs of iron constitution who paddled two hours at a stretch at racing speed. Then the flotilla would stop for a smoke and rest and a new set of paddlers would hurl the canoes along through the clear water. The strokes were timed to the cadence of many boating songs in which the soldiers soon learned to join. Distances were rated by smokes rather than by miles. At night they camped at some convenient place along the shore. On this route they spent 49 days, for the distance was 300 leagues and there were more than 30 portages to be made. Each morning the two Recollet priests who accompanied the expedition celebrated the mass at sunrise. In the head canoe sat Cadillac, leader of the expedition. As they passed densely wooded Belle Isle he began to study the shore on both sides, looking for a site for his fort. They paddled down as far as Grosse Ile and spent the night there. Cadillac discussed the lay of the land with the soldiers and they agreed that the narrowest part of the river was the place for the fort, and on the highest ground that offered a strongly defensible location. Back up the river they came, hugging the shore and battling with the strong current. Cadillac noted that the narrowest part of the river was faced on either side by a bluff about 40 feet high. "On which side shall I plant the fortified town that is to guard this strait; which place offers the best defensive conditions?" he asked himself and his soldier associates. On the north side of the river he saw that the bluff ended rather abruptly at its western end in a round-topped hill and around the foot of this hill poured the waters of a small river about 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep. That hill stood near the present foot of First Street and that little river, later known as the Savoyard, emptied into Detroit River near the present line of Third Street. For some distance above its mouth, it ran parallel to Detroit River along the present lines of Larned and Congress streets, crossing the present Woodward Avenue where Congress now intersects. A little to the eastward of that point its course turned north, crossing the site of the present County Building. This parallel course of the two rivers created a narrow tongue or peninsula of high ground which was fairly level at the top and heavily wooded. "There," said Cadillac, "is the place for the fort and the new town. It is defended on three sides by a water front. It commands a fine view up and down the river. Our little brass cannon can send a shot clear across the big river and we can hold the fort against either English invaders or hostile Indians. Here we land and set to work. Within two hours the canoes were unloaded and a camp was made in the woods on the bluff. A hasty meal had been eaten and the axes of 50 expert woodsmen were soon breaking a silence that had brooded over the site since time immemorial. The crash of falling trees scattered wild animals in alarm. The trunks were rapidly shaped into logs and the larger of the logs were set aside for the building of a church—the Church of Ste. Anne-which still endures after being twice destroyed by fire and undergoing two removals. The more slender saplings were cut into 20-foot lengths and sharpened at the smaller end |