THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Extract, Memoir on Louisiana, ca. 1702
(Due to length divided here into two
parts.)
Beaurain, Chevalier de in: English Translation
of Margry, Vol. 6, pp. 93-110.
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(Not found-indicated in the Index by Margry as with the booksellers Maisonneuve & Leclerc.)
Extract from the memoir of the
Chevalier de Beaurain
on Louisiana.
On the 10th of February 1702 M. Le Sueur arrived with two thousand hundredweight of blue and green earths, coming from the Sioux country. The following is an extract from the account of his journey. It has already been stated that he arrived in the Colony, in the month of December 1699, with a party of thirty workmen; he was not able to proceed to the Tamaroas until the following June, having gone up to that time . . . leagues from the mouth of the river. He left them on the 12th of July 1700, with a felucca and two canoes manned by nineteen men.(see fn. 1)
On the 13th, after going six and a quarter leagues on, he stopped at the outfall of the Missouri, and, six leagues further up, he left the River of the Illinois, on the east of the great river; there he met three Canadian Voyageurs, who came to join his party. They brought him a letter from Father Marest, a Jesuit, dated the 10th of July 1700, from the Mission-station of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin in the Illinois country, in the following terms:-
"I have the honour of writing to warn you that the Peanquichas have been routed by the Sioux and the Ayavois. They have combined with the Quicapous and some Mascoutins, Renards and Metesigamias and are going to wreak their vengeance,- not upon the Sioux, for they are too much in fear of them,- but perhaps on the Ayavois or on the Paoutes, or, more probably, on the (page 94) Ozages, for these last suspect nothing, while the others are on their guard. As you may fall in with the allied tribes, you should take precautions against any attack from them, and prevent them from approaching you, for they are treacherous and not to be trusted. May God accompany you in all you undertake."
Twenty-Two leagues above the River of the Illinois he passed a small stream, which he called Oxen River. Nine leagues further, he left a small river on the west and met with four Canadians, who were coming down the Mississippi to go to the Illinois.
On the 30th of July, nine leagues above the river last mentioned, he fell in with seventeen Sioux in seven canoes, going to avenge the death of three Sioux, of whom one had been burned and the others killed among the Tamaroas, a few days before his arrival at their village. As he had promised the chief of the Illinois that he would pacify the Sioux who should come to fight against his tribe, he made a present of some goods to the leader of this expedition, to induce him to turn back. He told him that the King of France did not wish this river to be stained with blood any more, and had sent him to tell them that, if they obeyed his commands, all the things they needed should afterwards be given them. He replied that he accepted the present, that is, that he would do what he was told.
Between the 30th of July and the 25th of August M. Le Sueur went fifty-two leagues and a quarter, up to a small river called the River a la Mine; it comes from the north to its outfall, but doubles back to the north-east, seven leagues up on the right. There is a lead mine on a prairie, a league and a half back from the stream. This river, except for the first three (page 95) leagues, is navigable only when the waters are in flood, that is, from the early spring to the month of June.
From the 25th to the 27th he went ten leagues, passing two small rivers, and discovered a lead mine; he laid in a stock of it.
From the 27th to the 30th he went eleven leagues and a half, and fell in with five Canadians, one of whom was dangerously wounded in the head. They were naked, and had no weapons except one wretched gun with five or six charges of powder and bullets. They said that they were coming down the Sioux to go to the Tamaroas; and, forty leagues higher up, they had seen nine canoes on the Mississippi in which there were ninety Indians, who had robbed them and beaten them cruelly. This party was going to fight against the Sioux; it was made up of four different tribes,- Outagamis, Saquis, Poutouatamis and Puans, who live in a district eighty leagues to the east of the River and from the place where M. le Sueur then was. The Canadians determined to accompany the detachment, which was thus made up of twenty-eight men. That day, he went four and a half leagues.
On the 1st of September he passed the River of the Wisconsins. It comes from the north-east to its outfall, and turns to the east. It is half a league wide almost throughout its course. About forty-five leagues up this river, on the right as you go up, you come to a portage over a league in length; half of this portage is a morass. At the end of the portage, a small stream runs down into the bay, called the Bay des Puants, inhabited by a large number of tribes which take their furs to Canada. It was by the River of the Wisconsins that M. Le Sueur came into the Mississippi the first time, 1683(see fn. 2), on his way to the (page 96) country of the Sioux, where he has lived for seven years at various times.(see fn. 3) The River Mississippi, opposite the outfall of this river, is only about an eighth of a league broad.
From the 1st of September to the 5th he advanced fourteen leagues; that day he passed the River aux Ganots, which comes from the north-east, and then the River of the Quicapons, so called from the name of a tribe which formerly dwelt on its banks.
From the 5th to the 9th he went ten leagues and a half, passing the River Cachee and the River aux Ailes. The same day, he saw some canoes full of Indians coming down the Mississippi; and the five Canadians recognized them as the party that had robbed them. Sentinels were posted in the woods, for fear of a surprise attack by land; and when they were within hail, they shouted to them that if they came any nearer they would fire at them. They drew up along the island, within half gun-shot range; and, shortly after, four of the most important of the party came in a canoe and asked whether they had forgotten that they were the brothers of the French, and with what purpose they had taken up arms when they saw their party. M. Le Sueur replied that, after the manner in which they had treated the five Frenchmen who were present, he had good reason to distrust them. However, as it was essential for the security of his trading to be at peace with all the tribes, he did not wish to punish them for the robbery; he only added that the King, their master and his, wished that all his subjects should use that river without being attacked by anyone, and therefore they must take care what they did. The Indian who had delivered the message seemed confounded and made no reply; another one (page 97) simply said that they had been attacked by the Sioux, who had compelled them to abandon all their baggage and that, if someone did not take pity on them and give them a little powder, they would be unable to get back to their village. Out of consideration for a missionary who was to go up to the Sioux, whom these Indians might meet, two livres of powder was given to them. That day, M. Le Sueur went three leagues, passing a small river on the west of the Mississippi, and then a large one on the east side, navigable at all seasons. The Indian tribes who know it, call it the Red River.
On the 10th, at daybreak, they heard a stag calling from the other bank of the river. A Canadian crossed in a small Sioux canoe which they had found; and a little while after he returned with the flesh of the animal, which is very easy to kill when it is rutting, that is, from the beginning of September. At that time, the hunters make a small whistle out of any piece of wood or cane, and when they hear a stag call, they answer it, and the animal, thinking it is another stag calling, come to them and they kill it without difficulty.
From the 10th to the 14th, M. Le Sueur went seventeen leagues and a half, passing Grapes River and the River of the Paquitanettes. The same day, he left to the east of the River a fine and large stream, which comes from a very long way off; it is called Bon Secours, on account of the large number of oxen, stags, bears and roebucks found there; it runs from the north to its outfall. Three leagues up this river, there is a lead mine; and seven leagues farther up, on the same side, you come to another stream with a long course, in the vicinity of which there is a copper mine from which he obtained a piece weighing sixty livres on his (page 98) previous journeys. In order to turn it to account, it would be necessary to contrive to make peace between the Sioux and the Outagamis, for the latter tribe, who dwell on the lands to the east of the Mississippi; are continually passing that way when going to make war on the Sioux. In this neighbourhood, half a league towards the north-west, is the beginning of a lake six leagues long and over a league broad, which is called Lake Pepin;(see fn. 4) it is bordered on the west by a chain of mountains; on the other side, to the east, is a flat prairie, and to the north-west of the lake another prairie, two leagues long by half a league broad. In the vicinity there is a chain of mountains, with a precipice of rocks one above another, fully two hundred feet high and over half a league in length. In this steep are a number of caves, into which bears retire in winter. Most of the caves are over forty feet deep and about three or four feet high. The mouths of some of them are very narrow, and they all contain a quantity of saltpetre. It would be risky to go into them in summer, for they are full of rattle-snakes, the bite of which is most dangerous. M. Le Sueur saw some of these snakes which were six feet long; but generally they are only about four feet in length. Their teeth are like those of the pike, and their gums are full of little bladders in which their poison is contained; the Sioux say they take it in every morning and expel it at night. They have something like scales in the tail, which makes a noise; this is what is called their rattle. That day M. Le Sueur travelled seven and a half leagues, and passed another river, called Hihanbouxeate- Ouataba, which means 'river' with the flat rocks.
On the 15th he passed a small stream, and near it saw a number of canoes, full of Indians, coming down the Mississippi. At first he thought they were Sioux, for he could not make out whether the canoes were large or small, and he had the arms got ready. Shortly after, they heard the Indians shouting the cries which they are accustomed to raise when they dash upon their enemies. He made his men reply in the same way, and then stationed them all behind trees, but forbade them to fire until he gave the word. He himself remained at the water's edge to watch their movements; and, on seeing that they landed two men, to the top of a height on the other side of the river to observe the number of his men and his forces; he made his men keep passing in and out of the wood and to the water's edge so that they might think there were more of them. This succeeded; for, as soon as the look-out men came down from the mountain, the chiefs of the party came to bring them a calumet, which is a signal of peace among the Indians. They said that, as they had never seen the French sailing on the Mississippi with vessels like the felucca, they had believed them to be Englishmen, and that was the reason why they had shouted the war-cry and had drawn up on the other side of the river, but, when they saw their mistake by the flag, they had come without fear, to inform them that one of their men, who had lost his intelligence, had accidentally killed a Frenchman by a bullet from a gun; that they would bring his companion, who would tell them how this misfortune happened. M. Le Sueur sent for this Frenchman, who was a Canadian named Denis; he told him that his companion had been killed inadvertently; his name was Laplace, an army deserter from Canada who had taken refuge in that district.
M. Le Sueur replied to the Indians that as Onontio, (which is the name they give to all the governors of Canada), was their father and his, they must not seek to clear themselves except before him; that he advised them to go and see him as soon as possible and beg him to wipe away the blood of the Frenchman from off their village. The party consisted of forty-seven men of various tribes living a very long way to the east of the 44 degrees latitude of the River Mississippi. M. Le Sueur knew the chiefs personally. He told them that the King, whom they had so often heard spoken of in Canada, had sent men to form a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi, and that he wished that the tribes who dwelt upon it, and those which were under his protection should all live at peace. That day, he went three leagues and three quarters.
On the 16th he left on the east of the river a large stream, called River de Sainte Croix, because a Frenchman of that name lost his boat at its outfall; it comes from the north-north-west. Four leagues further up, you come to a small lake, at the entrance to which there is a very large mass of copper; it is at the water's edge, in a small cliff of sandy earth, on the west of the lake.
Between the 16th and the 19th he advanced
thirteen leagues and three quarters. Having gone a distance of two hundred and
seven leagues and a half since he left the Tamaroas, he left the Mississippi at
this place and went up the River de Saint Pierre, on the west of the main
stream, on which he travelled forty-four league and a quarter, up to the 1st of
October. He then entered the Blue River, so called on account of the mines of
blue earth found there.
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1. See Penicant's narrative, Vol. V, p. 400.
2. Is there a clerical error here? Compare a petition from Le Sueur, which will be found further on.
4. Du Lhut's letter of the 5th of April 1679 mentions the brothers Pepin.
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