CHAPTER II THE FRENCH PERIOD (1701 TO 1759) The French first visited the Strait (d'Étroit) in 1610, two years after the founding of Quebec. LaSalle and his band of venturesome explorers found several Indian villages along the river banks in 1679. One of these villages occupied a portion of the present site of Detroit and was peopled by a branch of the Huron tribe. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, Commandant at Michilimackinac from 1695 to 1699, went to Versailles, France, in person to interview Count Ponchartrain, the colonial minister, on the subject of constructing a fort on the strait (d'Étroit) to secure the savage trade. In presenting his argument to the minister he said:1 "It is incontrovertible that all the waters of the great lakes pass through this strait, and this is the only practicable path by which the English can carry on their trade with the savage nations which have correspondence with the French. The English use every possible means to obtain trade, but if that post were fortified in form, the English would entirely abandon the hope of depriving us of its advantage . One cannot deny that our savages have hitherto hunted north of Lake St. Clair, but by this establishment they would pursue the chase as far as 200 leagues south of Lake Erie towards the sea, consequently those furs that make the greater part of the trade of the English by their savages, would be conveyed by ours into the French colony and make a very considerable improvement in its commerce." Louis XIV passed favorably upon this project and gave Cadillac a commission as commandant and a grant of land, 15 acres square, "wherever on the Detroit the new fort should be established." Cadillac arrived at Detroit on July 24, 1701, with 50 soldiers and 50 Canadian traders and artizans, and proceeded to erect 1 Roberts, Robert E. City of the Straits, Detroit, 1884. Fort Pontchartrain. The space inclosed by a wooden stockade was between the bank of the river and what is now Jefferson Avenue, between Griswold and Shelby Streets. A few wooden huts with grass-thatched roofs were erected in the stockade. In 1704 the first white child born at the fort was baptized at St. Anne's church, and in 1710 the first marriage between white people was solemnized. Cadillac remained commandant until 1710, and under his successors the settlement underwent all the vicissitudes of a frontier post, including attacks by hostile Indians. A fire partially destroyed the town in 1712, when it was besieged by the Ontagamie Indians. It was not until 1749 that settlers were sent from France at government expense. Farms were given to them in an attempt to develop a permanent civilian settlement. These farms were on both sides of the river with a water front of four arpents2 and running back 40 arpents. Farm implements and seeds were furnished by the government. Among these supplies were young apple and pear trees from France. Orchards of these lined both shores of the river. In 1828 the excellent apples from these trees sold at 10 cents a bushel 3. In 1881 some of these trees were still standing, resembling huge oaks more than ordinary fruit trees. This frontier post was concerned chiefly with the struggle for a foothold in a virgin land, harried intermittently by hostile forces. Nature was bountiful and generally sufficient crops were raised, but on several occasions help was required from Montreal to prevent starvation. The principal industry was the taking of furs. Comparatively little thought was given to education under these primitive conditions. Cadillac had conceived the idea of transforming the savages, through education in the French language, upon the same idea that "one takes wild beasts at their birth, birds in their nests, to tame and free them." In 1703 he urged the establishment of a seminary at Detroit for teaching the Indian and French children piety and the French language, but to this request Count Ponchartrain appears to have given little attention. In 1755 Jean Baptiste Rocaux is identified in the marriage register of St. Anne's church as "Director of the Christian Schools." In 1760 he started a French school which continued until after the revolution.5 The French families who had the means sent their sons and daughters to Montreal and Quebec to be taught. The St. Anne's entry is the only trace of a school found during this period. D Roberts, Op. cit., p. 21. Hinsdale. History of the University of Michigan, p. 6. 'Burton, C. M. Essay on Education. Burton Collection, Detroit Public Library. |