History of the Ojibway Nation/Chapter 24

by William W. Warren

 

CHAPTER XXIV.

 

THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI BECOME OPEN TO THE ENTERPRISE OF THE FUR TRADE, 1792.

 

John Baptiste Cadotte—His early career as an Indian trader—He organizes a large trading expedition to explore the sources of the Mississippi—He winters on Leaf River and is attacked by the Dakotas—Peace effected and he visits the camp of his enemies to trade—Treachery of the Dakotas—A division of Cadotte's party winter at Prairie Portage, on Red River, and another at Pembina—Trouble with the Dakotas at Prairie Portage—Return of the Expedition by way of Rainy Lake and Pigeon River—Arrival at Grand Portage—Northwest Fur Company proceed to occupy the Upper Mississippi country—They locate a depot at Fond du Lac—They build stockaded posts at Sandy Lake and at Leech Lake—Occupation of Red Lake by the Ojibways dated from this Expedition—Death of Negro Tom.

 

The great Basin covered with innumerable lakes and streams, from which the Mississippi, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, and Red River, flowing into Hudson's Bay, take their rise, was first fully opened to the enterprise of the old northwestern fur traders, by John Baptiste Cadotte, a son of the Mons. Cadotte, who is so often mentioned in the earliest era of the white man's intercourse with the Ojibways, and who figures so prominently in the simple but truthful narrative of Alexander Henry.

John Baptiste Cadotte^[1] received a college education at Montreal. He was among the first individuals whose European, or white blood, became intermixed with the blood of the Ojibways. On leaving college, he became possessed of forty thousand francs which had been bequeathed to him by his father, and with this sum as a capital, he immediately launched into the northwestern fur trade. He wintered on the Bay of Shag-a-waum-ik-ong, and made large returns of beaver skins to the market at Montreal. His careless and spendthrift habits, however, and open-handedness and generosity to his Indian relatives, soon caused him to run through with his capital and profits of his trade. Unable to raise an equipment on his own account, he applied for help to Alexander Henry, who had traded in partnership with his deceased father, and who still, from his establishment at Montreal, continued in the fur trade. Henry provided him with a large equipment for an expedition, which Cadotte proposed to make to the headwaters of the Mississippi, where beaver were reported to abound in great plenty.

The ferocity of the Naud-o-wa-se, or Dakotas, who still kept possession of this region of country, battling stoutly for it against the persevering pressure of the Ojibway hunters, was the theme of every lip at Montreal, Mackinaw, and Sault Ste. Marie, and deterred many an enterprising trader from proceeding to winter on these dangerous grounds. The few enterprising men who had risked these dangers from time to time, had been attacked by the Dakotas, and the pillage of the sick trader by the Ojibways, which has given the distinctive name of Pillagers to an important division of this tribe, also contributed greatly to shut up this, then almost unknown, region of country to the enterprise of the fur trader.

Cadotte, noted for courage and fearlessness, easily formed a large party, consisting of traders, "coureurs du bois," trappers, and a few Iroquois Indians, who had assumed the habits and learned to perform the labor, of Canadian "voyageurs," to accompany him on an expedition to these dangerous regions. Besides his own immediate engagees and servitors, the party consisted of the trader Reyaulm and his men; Pickette, Roberts, and Bell, with their men fully equipped for trading and trapping. Altogether they numbered sixty men, among whom was also a younger brother of Cadotte, named Michel, who managed an outfit on his own account.

This large party started from Sault Ste. Marie late in the summer, in large birch bark canoes, of over a ton burthen each, which were then denominated "Canoe du maitre," and made expressly for the fur trade, they being comparatively light and easily carried across portages on the shoulders of the "coureurs du bois." Cadotte coasted along the southern shores of Lake Superior, and proceeded to Fond du Lac, its extreme head. He entered the St. Louis River, and packing their canoes and equipments over the nine-mile, or "grand portage," which leads around the tremendous rapids and falls on this river, they poled up its rapid current, and proceeded by the old or prairie portage route, into Sandy Lake. From this point, my informants differ as to which route the party took. Some state, that they ascended the Mississippi to Leech Lake, crossed over to Cass Lake by a short portage, proceeded to Red Lake, thence into Red River, up which stream they proceeded a short distance and finally located their winter quarters at "Prairie portage," where they were met by two traders who had come by the Grand Portage, or Rainy Lake route, one of whom was Cameron,^[2] noted as being among the earliest pioneers into these then remote northwestern regions. This is the account as given by Mr. Bruce, a half-breed Ojibway who was born at Grand Portage on Lake Superior, and is now seventy-eight years of age, still possessing a perfect and surprising memory. He was a young man at the time of this celebrated expedition, and wintered the same year of its occurrence, as an engagee, at a small trading post on Great Lake, Winnipeg, and made, on a small outfit, the enormous returns of forty-eight packs of beaver skins, showing the great abundance of this valuable animal in those times, in these northern regions.

Madame Cadotte, relict of Michel Cadotte, who is mentioned as having joined this party, and who is now nearly ninety years of age, relates that she, with many other women of the party, were left to winter at Fond du Lac, as their husbands were going into a dangerous region, and did not wish to be encumbered with women. Her son, Michel Cadotte, Jr., now living at La Pointe, and aged sixty-one years, was then in his cradle. This old woman's memory is still good, and she gives the following account of the progress and adventures of the party after they reached Sandy Lake:—

They proceeded down the Mississippi to the forks or entry of Crow Wing River, which they ascended, and cold weather overtaking them at the mouth of Leaf River, which empties into the Crow Wing, and discovering here numerous signs of beaver, and it, also, being as far as they dare proceed into the country of the fierce and warlike Dakotas, Mons. Cadotte located his winter quarters, and set his men immediately to work in erecting log huts sufficient to hold his whole party and his winter supplies. The country was then covered with game, such as buffalo, elk, bear, and deer, and the hunters soon collected a sufficient quantity of meat for their winter's consumption. Signs of the vicinity of the much dreaded Dakotas being discovered, Cadotte ordered a log fence or wall to be thrown up around his cabins for a defence against any attack which these people, on whose hunting grounds he was encroaching, might think proper to make on him.

In those days. Leech Lake was considered as the extreme northwestern frontier of the Ojibway country, and but a few hardy and fearless hunters, who had already earned the name of Pillagers, remained permanently located on the islands of the lake, for greater security against the oft-repeated attacks and incursions of their enemies. Happy to hunt on the rich hunting grounds of the Dakotas, under the protection of such a large party of white traders, the Pillager and Sandy Lake hunters moved in their wake, and lay scattered about in different winter camps, in the vicinity of their winter quarters, carrying on, with the different traders, an active barter of furs for their merchandise.

When all the preparations for passing the winter comfortably and safely had been completed, the trappers were sent out in small parties, to pursue their winter's avocation, wherever they discovered the wigwams of the industrious but fated beaver to abound in the greatest plenty. Cadotte, was left with but few men at the winter quarters, when early one morning a large party of Dakota warriors made their appearance, arrayed and painted for battle. They approached the wall which surrounded the log cabins, leaping from side to side and yelling their war-whoop, and when arrived within bullet range they discharged a cloud of arrows, and such few as were armed with guns fired upon the white man's defences. Two of Cadotte's men were slightly wounded from the repeated discharges and volleys of the enemy, yet he desisted from returning their fire, and commanded his exasperated men not to fight. His numbers being feeble, he could not be certain as to the result of a battle, and at the same time being anxious to conciliate and be at peace with the Dakotas, for the sake of their trade, he determined to make a trial to disarm their enmity. He ordered the British flag to be planted on his defences, and hoping that his assailants might understand its import, he hung out a white flag on a pole. His hopes were not disappointed, for as soon as the flags were fully displayed, the enemy ceased firing, and after a short consultation among themselves, a number of their warriors cautiously approached the defences which surrounded the traders' cabins.

Mons. Cadotte, standing in his gateway, informed them, through a "coureur du bois" named Rasle, who could speak the Dakota tongue, that "he had not come into their country to make war on them, but to supply them with necessaries in exchange for their furs." The Dakotas replied to the effect, that, considering them to be a party of Ojibways interloping on their best hunting grounds, they had collected their warriors to destroy them; but as they had now discovered them to be white men, with whom they wished to be friends, they would shake hands with them, and smoke with them from the same pipe, intimating that they wished to enter within his dwelling.

Cadotte, who possessed a perfect knowledge of Indian character, perceived at once the necessity of complying with their request, for the purpose of proving to them that he confided in their words, and to show to them that he feared them not. He therefore opened his gate, and allowed the chiefs and principal men to fill his cabin, where he held a short council with them, while his men vigilantly guarded the defences, and keenly watched the movements of the numerous Dakota warriors, who stood outside. He gave the Dakotas presents of tobacco and ammunition, and he distributed amongst them meat sufficient for a meal. In return, they welcomed him with apparent cordiality to their country, and invited him to go back with them to their winter camp, where they told of possessing many beaver skins.

Cadotte, placing confidence in their expressions of goodwill, determined to accept their invitation. Most of his men, who were hunting in the vicinity of his trading house, had now arrived, having heard the report of the Dakota guns, as they made their attack in the morning. The Indians, only, kept aloof for fear of the enemy.

He selected thirty of his best men, well-armed, and giving them packs of goods to carry, at their head, he accompanied the Dakotas back to their camp, which they reached at the distance of one day's march. They found the camp to number over one hundred lodges, formed of leather. They were well received, and entertained with the choicest portions of the buffalo, elk, and bear meat, which abounded in every lodge. Cadotte was himself installed in the chief's more extensive lodge, where the whole night long he carried on an active trade, as one after the other, warriors, hunters, and women, entered to exchange their furs for such articles as they needed, or such trinkets as struck their fancy. He soon collected as many packs of beaver and other fur as his men could well carry away. Notwithstanding his brisk trade, many of the goods still remained on his hands, and Cadotte could not help but notice the covetous looks which the chief and his warriors cast on these as he ordered his men to bale them into packs in order to carry away.

In the morning, after the Dakotas had again feasted and smoked with them, the trader prepared to depart. The Dakota chief insisted on accompanying him a part of the way with a guard of his warriors, as a mark of honor and respect, and Cadotte, unable to resist his importunities, at last accepted the offer of his company, and together they left the camp. The Dakotas, nearly equal in number to themselves, led the van, and in this order they travelled, occasionally making short halts to smoke and rest, till they reached about half the distance to their trading house, when, just as they were about to enter a heavy clump of trees and thickets, through which winded their path, the Dakota chief and his men suddenly stopped, sat down on the roadside, and prepared to fill their pipes, requesting their white brothers to take their turn and go ahead, while they, being light, would take a smoke, and soon catch up with them.

Mons. Cadotte, perfectly unsuspicious, followed the wishes of the chief, and at the head of his men, he was leading off, when his interpreter, Rasle, approached and remarked to him, that he suspected treachery. He had noticed in the morning when they started to leave the camp, that all the men but those who accompanied them, had disappeared, and also that they had been holding secret councils in different lodges during the whole night. Rasle further intimated that the heavy clump of trees through which they were about to pass, being the only spot on the route adapted to an ambuscade, he suspected that men, who had so early made their disappearance from the camp, had been sent ahead to here lay in wait and surprise them, while the chief, with his pretended guard, would attack in the rear, as his present movement and request for them to go ahead plainly indicated. The truth of these suspicions flashed through Cadotte's mind, and being of an impulsive nature, he instantly ordered his men to throw down their packs, and prepare for instant action. Then suddenly approaching the chief, who was now quietly smoking his pipe, he cocked his gun, and presented it to his breast, telling Rasle to say to him, that "he saw through his treachery, and that he would be the first to suffer death, unless he ordered his warriors to give up their arms, and also cleared the path he was travelling, of the men whom he had sent ahead to waylay him."

The chief at first stoutly denied the charge, but when he saw Cadotte's men forcibly take the arms out of the hands of his chosen warriors, whom they outnumbered, he burst into tears, and begged for his life, and the lives of his men. This being assured in case the ambuscade amongst the trees ahead would disperse, the chief sent one of his disarmed warriors thither, and a few moments after, a large body of painted warriors emerged from the wood, and quietly marched off in single file across the wide prairie towards their camp. The treacherous chief, with his guard, were taken by Cadotte to his post, and kept as hostages, till he could collect and warn his scattered trappers and Pillager hunters, against feeling too secure, in the idea that a firm peace had been effected with the Dakotas. When this had been effected, the post more fully manned, and every man been put on his guard, the chieftain with his men were allowed to go home, once more loaded with tobacco and presents, in hopes that his people would appreciate the kindness and forbearance of their white neighbors.

Mons. Cadotte's party remained at this post all winter, and they received no more molestation from the Dakotas, who did not thereafter even make their appearance in the vicinity of their hunting range. In the spring, after the snow had disappeared, and the ice melted on the lakes and rivers, these adventurers evacuated their winter quarters, and proceeding up Leaf River in their canoes, they made a portage into Otter Tail Lake, and descended from thence down the Red River.

The variance in the different accounts which have been given to me of this expedition, lies mostly in different spots being mentioned where the party are said to have wintered, and different routes having been taken to reach these spots. I am disposed to account for these disagreements, in the accounts of persons whose memory and veracity cannot well be questioned, by assuming the ground that the party, consisting of several different traders, each with his own equipment of supplies and men, must have separated at Sandy Lake, and while one party proceeded (as has been mentioned) up the Mississippi to Red Lake, and wintering at Prairie Portage, and at Pembina, the other party under Cadotte in person, took their course down the Mississippi, and underwent the adventures which we have related.

It is stated, that at Prairie Portage, after the traders had all again collected in the spring, the Dakotas in large numbers made demonstrations to fall upon and pillage them, and the only manner in which the whites succeeded in intimidating them to forego their designs, was to heap their remaining powder kegs into a pile in the centre of their camp, and threatening to set fire to them the moment the Dakotas attempted to pillage. At Pembina the party were obliged to make new canoes of elk and buffalo hides, the seams of which, thickly covered with tallow, made them nearly as water-tight as birch canoes. In these they descended the current of the Red River, and returned to Lake Superior by the Great Lake Winnipeg, a northern route. At Rainy Lake they made birch-bark canoes, in which, late in the summer, they reached Grand Portage, the principal northwestern depot of the Northwest Company. The accounts which they gave of the country which they had explored, induced this rich company immediately to extend their operations throughout its whole extent, and this portion of their trade became known as the Fond du Lac department. The depot, or collecting point, was built at Fond du Lac, near the entry of the St. Louis River, and this post, or "Fort," was surrounded with strong cedar pickets. The remains of this old establishment are still plainly visible. In 1796, the Northwest Company built a stockaded post at Sandy Lake, and soon after, they located another at Leech Lake. These were the immediate results of Cadotte's expedition, and from that period, now sixty years ago, the Ojibways of the Upper Mississippi River have been constantly supplied with resident traders, and their former periodical visits to Sault Ste. Marie and Mackinaw ceased almost entirely.

Wa-won-je-gnon, the aged and intelligent chief of the Red Lake band of the Ojibways, states, that from this expedition can be dated the settlement of Red Lake by the Ojibways. He also states that the traders on this occasion, made a minute exploration of the lake and sounded the depth of its waters. In the deepest portions they discovered it to be but eight fathoms.

There is living at Red Lake an aged Indian, whose name is Bow-it-ig-o-win-in, signifying "Sault Ste. Marie man," who first came into the country as an engagé to Mens. Cadotte during this voyage, and has remained in it ever since, having married and raised a family of children. So far as I can learn, this old Indian is now the only survivor of the sixty men who are said to have formed the party. An incident is currently related among the northern Ojibways, which is said to have happened while Cadotte's party were wintering on Leaf River. Mr. Bell, one of the traders or clerks associated with him, kept in his employ a gigantic negro, whose name was "Tom." Mr. Bell himself was a small and feebly constituted man, but of very irritable disposition, especially when under the influence of liquor. One evening he quarrelled with his negro Tom, and both being somewhat intoxicated, they grappled in mortal strife. The huge negro easily threw his master on the floor, and pressing him forcibly down, he unmercifully and dreadfully beat him with his fists. Mr. Bell's Indian wife was sitting by a table making moccasins, and held in her hand a penknife which she was occasionally using. Seeing the hopeless situation of her husband, she ran to his rescue, and stabbed the negro with her penknife till she killed him.

 

1. A record of the Cadotte family from parish and other records is given in another article in this volume.—E.D.N.
2. For a notice of Cameron see "History of Ojibways based upon official and other records" which follows Warren's History in this volume.—E.D.N.