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.
Memoire sur l'Etat de la Colonie
de la Louisiane en 1746
(Memoir on the State of the Colony
of Louisiana in 1746)
Extract in: Dunn, J. P., The
Mission
to the Ouabache, pp. 326-327.
p. 327.
et ou il ya encore un poste Franais a peu prs aussi foible que celui des grands ouyas. L'objet est le mesme, qui est d'assurer de la traite des pelleteries.
[TRANSLATION. Such are the French settlements on the Mississippi river. There are still two others which should not be omitted. The first is on the Missouri about 90 leagues from where it empties into the Mississippi river, and about 100 leagues from the Illinois. The other is called the Little Weas,* situated on the Ouabache, which holds this name after its junction with the Ohio, and under it flows into the Mississippi. The Little Weas is about 70 leagues from the junction of the Ohio, and about 100 leagues from the Illinois. These two establishments are quite inconsiderable, that of the Missouris being composed of only about 20 men and 10 negroes, and that of the Little Weas having about 40 men and 5 negroes. Their occupation is hunting and the culture of wheat and tobacco. * * *
(P. 27.) I have already spoken of the post of the Little Weas, which belongs
to Louisiana. Going higher up the same river, at a distance of 60 leagues,
there is a little establishment at the Great Weas; it is the nearest to
Louisiana of those belonging to Canada. It has about 20 residents. It has quite
a considerable Indian trade. * * * At the head of the Ouabache are found the
Miamis, who are about 300 warriors in number, and here there is still another
French post almost as weak as that of the Great Weas. Its purpose is the same,
which is to assure the trade in skins.]
________________________
* The Vincennes post. The name refers to the Ouiatenon or Wea Indians, of whom the Piankeshaws were sometimes considered a part. At that time the common English rendering of this name was Little Wiautanon, which was usually abbreviated "L. Wiaut."
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TOC, p. 11
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