Part 6 (1/2)

Sometime after a mission was established at La Pointe near the southern extremity of Lake Superior. The Mission at Mackinac was subsequently revived and continued until 1837, when the population had so entirely changed, and the Indians had discontinued their visits for purposes of trade, that it was deemed best to abandon it, which was done, and the property sold. The Rev. Mr. Pitezel, in his ”Lights and Shade of Missionary Life,” who visited the island in 1843, thus speaks of this mission: ”We visited the mission establishment once under the care of the Presbyterian Church, but now abandoned. It is a s.p.a.cious building, and was once thronged with native and half-bred children and youth, there educated at vast expense. Little of the fruit of this self-sacrificing labor is thought now to be apparent, but the revelations of eternity may show that here was a necessary and a very important link in the chain of events, connected with the Christianization of benighted pagans.” During the time of Mr.

Pitezel's visit, a large number of Indians of different tribes had a.s.sembled at the island, for the purpose of receiving their annuity, among which were several Christian Indians, from Saut St. Mary, Grand Traverse, and elsewhere. The Rev. Mr. Daugherty, a Presbyterian minister, from the latter place, accompanied his Indians, and had his tent among them for the purpose of keeping his sheep from the hands of the wolfish white man, who would first rob him of his religion, and then of his money.

In 1828, the Baptists established a mission at Saut St. Mary. This mission was opened under the most favorable auspices by the Rev. A.

Bingham, and continued in a state of prosperity for many years. In 1843 it was still under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Bingham, who for twenty years had been laboring to bring the Indians under Christian influence. Indian children were boarded in the mission establishment, and a school was kept up, which, in the language of one, would have been a credit to any land. The Rev. Mr. Porter, a Congregationalist missionary, also labored here. The labors of these missionaries were greatly blessed, and numbers of officers and soldiers at the fort and garrison, as well as Indians, were converted.

The Baptist missionaries extended their labors to various points on the northern peninsula and on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior.

The Methodists commenced a mission at Saut St. Mary, under the labors of ”John Sunday,” a converted Indian, soon after that established by the Baptists. In 1831 a portion of the Oneida Indians removed to Green Bay, and the Rev. John Clark was sent out as a missionary among them the following year. In a report made by the missionary to the Board, he thus describes his field of labor: ”The white settlement is located on the left bank of the Fox River, extending up the river about five miles from the head of the bay. The population is about one thousand, but greatly amalgamated with the Menominee Indians, over whom it is said they have great influence. The Indian settlement is about twenty-five miles from this place, on the left bank of the Fox river.”

Mr. Clark preached at this settlement and at Green Bay on alternate Sabbaths. Messrs. Marsh and Stevens, of the Presbyterian church, were located here, laboring among the Stockbridge Indians and kindly welcomed Mr. Clark among them. These Indians emigrated from Stockbridge, Ma.s.s., and were at one time under the pastoral care of Jonathan Edwards. While this distinguished divine was missionary among these Indians, at Stockbridge, he wrote his famous ”Treatise on the Will.” Mr. Clark was cordially received by the Indian agent, Mr.

Schoolcraft.

In 1833, he visited Saut St. Mary, and found a revival in progress.

Nearly all the officers, and thirty or forty soldiers, in Fort Brady had been converted. The command was soon after removed to Chicago, and was succeeded by another. A gracious revival followed his labors at the fort, and officers and soldiers were seen bowing at the same altar, happy in the enjoyment of a common salvation. Still holding his connection with Green Bay, he visited that place and preached in Fort Howard and also among his Indians who had removed to Duck Creek.

At Ke-wee-naw, John Sunday commenced a mission among the Chippewas, and in 1834 Mr. Clark visited that interesting field. He continued to superintend the missions in this region, until he volunteered as a missionary for Texas, and the superintendence of the Indian mission was given to the Rev. W. H. Brockway. The Rev. Mr. Pitezel labored at Ke-wee-naw with great success for several years, preaching at the different mines on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Superior. The Methodists also established a mission at Fon du Lac near the east sh.o.r.e of the Winnebago Lake. In the year 1830, a branch mission was organized among the Wyandottes and Shawnees on the Huron river, and also one among the Pottawatimees at Fort Clark on the Fox river, at which place, in 1837, upward of one hundred were converted.

In 1847 a mission was established at the Cliff Mine, on Eagle River, a stream which empties into Lake Superior, about twenty miles west of Copper Harbor. The Methodists have missions also at Ontonagon and Carp River, all of which are more or less prosperous.

At present this church has maintained missions and schools among small bands of Indians collected on reserves in Isabella and Oceana counties in the lower peninsula of Michigan. The Indians at the old mission in the vicinity of Saut St. Mary, are a.s.sembling at Iroquois Point at the lower end of Lake Superior, and are supplied with a missionary. A mission was also established in the Bay Sh.o.r.e Reservation, among the Saginaw Indians, which still exists.

It is a matter of melancholy reflection, that the immense tribes, each of which could muster thousands of warriors in this vast region, have dwindled down to small and feeble bands. The same remark will apply to all the tribes in North America. The race is rapidly pa.s.sing away, and the nation, like that of Edom, will at no distant day become entirely extinct. The last report of the Secretary of the Interior, states, that the whole number of Indians within the limits of the States and Territories of the Union, does not now exceed three hundred and twenty-five thousand.

CHAPTER IX.

Indian name of Michigan -- Islands -- Lanman's Summer in the wilderness -- Plains -- Trees -- Rivers -- A traditionary land -- Beautiful description -- Official report in relation to the trade of the lakes -- Green Bay -- Grand Traverse Bay -- Beaver Islands -- L'Arbre Croche -- Boundaries of Lake Michigan -- Its connections -- Railroad from Fort Wayne to Mackinaw -- Recent report of -- Amount completed -- Land grants.

The Indian name of the State of Michigan, is Michi-sawg-ye-gan, the meaning of which in the Algonquin tongue is the Lake country.

Surrounded as it is almost entirely by water, it possesses all the advantages of an island. It has numerous streams which are clear and beautiful, abounding in fish. The surface of the western half (we allude now to the lower or southern peninsula) is dest.i.tute of rocks, and undulating. In the language of Lanman in his ”Summer in the Wilderness,” ”It is here that the loveliest of lakes and streams and prairies are to be found. No one who has never witnessed them can form any idea of the exquisite beauty of the thousand lakes which gem the western part of Michigan. They are the brightest and purest mirrors the virgin sky has ever used to adorn herself. On the banks of these lakes, grow in rich profusion, the rose, the violet, the lily and the sweet brier.

”A great proportion of Michigan is covered with white-oak openings.

Standing on a gentle hill, the eye wanders away for miles over an undulating surface, obstructed only by the trunks of lofty trees,--above you a green canopy, and beneath, a carpet of velvet gra.s.s, sprinkled with flowers of every hue and form.

”The prairies are another interesting feature of Michigan scenery.

They meet the traveler at every point, and of many sizes, seeming often like so many lakes, being often studded with wooded islands, and surrounded by sh.o.r.es of forests. This soil is a deep black sand. Gra.s.s is their natural production, although corn, oats and potatoes flourish upon them. Never can I forget the first time I entered White Pigeon Prairie. Sleeping beneath the shadows of sunset, as it was, the effect upon me was like that which is felt on first beholding the ocean,--overpowering awe. All that the poet has said about these gardens of the desert is true.

”Burr Oak Plains. The only difference between these and the oak openings, is the character of the trees and the evenness of their surface. The soil is a mixture of sand and black loam. They have the appearance of cultivated orchards, or English parks; and on places where the foot of the white man has never trod, a carriage and four could easily pa.s.s through. They produce both wheat and corn.

”The wet prairies have the appearance of submerged land. In them the gra.s.s is often six or seven feet high. They are the resort of water-fowl, muskrats, and otters.

”But the best and most fertile soil in Michigan is that designated by the t.i.tle of timbered land. It costs more to prepare it for the plough, but when once the soil is sown it yields a thousand-fold. And with regard to their beauty and magnificence, the innumerable forests of this State are not surpa.s.sed by any in the world, whether we consider the variety or grandeur of their production. This timber is needed for prairie States, Lake cities, and exports.

”A friend of mine, now residing in western Michigan, and who once spent several years in Europe, thus writes respecting this region:

”'Oh, such trees as we have here! Magnificent, tall, large-leafed, umbrageous. Vallombrosa, the far-famed Vallombrosa of Tuscany, is nothing to the thousand Vallombrosas here! A fig for your Italian scenery! This is the country where nature reigns in her virgin beauty; where trees grow, where corn grows; where men grow better than they do anywhere else in the world. This is the land to study nature in all her luxuriant charms, under glorious green branches, among singing birds and laughing streams; this is the land to hear the cooing of the turtle-dove, in far, deep, cool, sylvan bowers; to feel your soul expand under the mighty influences of nature in her primitive beauty and strength.'

”The princ.i.p.al inland rivers of Michigan, are the Grand River, the Kalamazoo, the St. Joseph, the Saginaw, and the Raisin. The first three empty into Lake Michigan, and are about seventy miles apart.

Their average length is about two hundred and fifty miles, and they are about thirty or forty rods in width. At present, they are navigable about half their length for small steamboats and bateaux.