ST. LAWRENCE 
 RIVER 
 
 ANDTHE 
 
 THOUSAND 
 ISLANDS 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 AN D 
 
 LEGENDS 
 
ST. LAWRENCE RIVER 
 
 AND THE 
 
 THOUSAND ISLANDS 
 
 HISTORY AND LEGENDS 
 By Richard Cough] in 
 
 Copyright by Santway Photo-Craft 
 Company Inc. Watertown, N. Y. 
 
 - 110,0- 
 

 ©CI,A608359 
 JUL 22 1920 
 
 
 H 
 
^ HISTORY OF THE THOUSAND ISLANDS 
 
 "^ The great highway of the north and west during the 
 ^ decades when the early French explorers, missionaries, 
 li^ colonizers and traders were searching out an lanknown 
 continent, the St. Lawrence River, trade artery and sum- 
 mer playground, is rich In historic incidents and legends. 
 Across it has swept the tide of contending empires In the 
 long struggle between white races for dominance In the 
 new world, just as the Indian tribes and nations had 
 made it debatable territory for centuries before the coming 
 of the palefaces. 
 
 Indians of the Algonquin tribes of the north and 
 Iroquois of the Five Nations to the south of Lake Ontario 
 first used the river for hunting and fishing excursions and 
 frequent war expeditions. When Cartier, de la Roque, 
 Champlain and their hardy soldiers, sailors and traders 
 established the first trading settlements on the lower St. 
 Lawrence they were told of the mighty stream whose 
 length was measured In terms of days, and beyond that 
 river were vast expanses of fresh water leading to regions 
 of which the Indians knew'llttle more than campfire 
 legends. •- 
 
 Jacques Cartier 
 
 It was Jacques Cartier whose explorations of the, lower 
 St. Lawrence with two vessels In 1534 are first recorded, 
 though Cartier believed that he found evidence and talk 
 
among Indians of previous explorations by Spaniards who 
 were disappointed in their search for mines or other 
 riches. For years previous the waters about Newfound- 
 land and the islands at the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
 had been frequented by Breton, Norman and Basque cod- 
 fishermen — according to tradition even before Columbus 
 discovered the islands of the West Indies in 1492. In 
 the next year Cartier returned and on the lOth day of 
 August landed on the shores of a bay in the lower river, 
 which bay he named St. Lawrence in honor of that saint's 
 day. The river has taken its name from the bay named 
 for the Spanish saint. 
 
 Cartier sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec, 
 and later visited the present site of Montreal, where a 
 great Iroquois Indian camp was found. The winter was 
 passed at a camp constructed near Quebec, a winter of 
 great privations and disease which took heavy toll of the 
 adventurous band. In 1536 the explorers returned to 
 France without finding that passage to the Indies so much 
 desired, or the illusory land of gold and rubies and wealth 
 described by the crafty Indians. 
 
 Francis de la Rogue 
 
 In 1542 Francis de la Roque, with a commission from 
 King Francis First of France, sailed up the St. Lawrence 
 and founded a station between Quebec and Montreal, 
 or Hochelaga, as the Indians called their ancient meeting 
 place, and site of a fortified village of an Iroquois tribe. 
 ( 4 ) 
 
It was at the river of Cap Rouge, the same place where 
 Cartier and the men of his third expedition had spent the 
 previous winter, under direction of de la Roque, who 
 intended to follow the same year. Cartier held the title 
 of Captain-General of the expedition of 1541, but w^ould 
 not remain w^ith de la Roque when the latter arrived with 
 more colonists the next year. Cartier returned to France. 
 The first settlers experienced many hardships from un- 
 friendly Indians, wild animals and sickness incident to 
 poor provisions and a winter climate to which they were 
 unaccustomed, with the result that these trading posts 
 were abandoned and those who remained alive returned to 
 France, or in a few cases men abandoned the life of the 
 whites, and were adopted into Indian tribes. 
 
 Not until the seventeenth century did any white man 
 record the complete journey from Montreal to Lake 
 Ontario, ^'beautiful lake" as it was interpreted in the 
 Indian tongue. These dusky natives told many stories of 
 the countless islands and broad waters ''ten days above the 
 rapids that are near Montreal," as a grand-nephew of 
 Cartier wrote in 1587. The lower reaches of the river 
 from Montreal to the sea early bore the name St. Law- 
 rence, but for decades the mighty stream of blue water 
 flowing from Ontario to Montreal was called the "Great 
 River." 
 
 Samuel de Champlmn 
 Champlain, the able governor-£xplorer of New^ France, 
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
himself recounted in detail the wonders of scenery, the 
 Indian customs and laws and the possibilities of develop- 
 ing the region to the spiritual and material benefit of the 
 aboriginees as well as to the greater honor and glory of 
 his native France and her children. Champlain was the 
 first great explorer and exploiter of the region beyond 
 Montreal, though historians disagree as to whether he 
 ever made the complete journey through the St. Lawrence. 
 For years he continued in personal contact with the chief- 
 tans and visited the tribes from Lake Huron to Lake 
 Champlain, which latter he discovered in 1609, and the 
 former in 16 15. He became a great father to the north- 
 ern Indians, counseling them in their troubles and dis- 
 putes, and bringing them greater comforts and wiser pro- 
 vision for the future through the influence of trade and 
 commerce early established on a large scale at Montreal. 
 
 In 1608 Champlain renewed the effort to found a 
 permanent colony in New France, sailing up the St. Law- 
 rence to the site of Quebec and building a fortified station 
 on the land between the river's edge and the high rock 
 which in later years became the stronghold of tiie lower 
 river. Champlain also visited Hochelaga, the present site 
 of Montreal which Cartier had visited seventy years be- 
 fore, but Champlain found no trace of that heavily- 
 stockaded Iroquois town — only a few families of the Al- 
 gonquin Indians living in rude shelters. This was one year 
 after Jamestown in Virginia was settled by that English 
 company which endured so many hardships before relief 
 ( 6 ) 
 
came, and they were able to win a living from the soil 
 and woods. 
 
 Discovery of Ontario 
 
 In 1 615 Champlain crossed the upper entrance to the 
 St. Lawrence, at the mouth of Lake Ontario, with a war 
 party of Hurons who had come down the Trent river 
 and through the Bay of Quinte, bent on vengeance for 
 past depredations of their ancient enemies, but kindred 
 people, the Iroquois of central New York. In October 
 of that year he landed on the south shore of Lake Ontario, 
 near Henderson Bay, five years before the first white 
 settlers landed on the Massachusetts coast and six years 
 after the Dutch landed on Manhattan and sailed up the 
 Hudson river. The expedition was not successful, and 
 returned to spend many weeks in hunting game for the 
 winter near the site of the present city of Kingston. It 
 was not until the following year that Champlain was 
 able to return to his settlements at Montreal and Quebec, 
 as the Indians used various pretexts to keep their wise 
 counselor with them throughout the cold months until 
 spring loosened the ice in the northern rivers. Champlain 
 passed the winter in the Huron country and returned by 
 way of the Ottawa river. 
 
 In following decades the St. Lawrence river saw an 
 increasing flotilla of canoes, batteaux and galleys of the 
 traders, explorers and zealous French missionaries pushing 
 westward. Among the Thousand Islands the traders 
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
stopped to barter for pelts, the explorers gained informa- 
 tion of the lakes and rivers of the west, and the mission- 
 aries learned of the tribes and tongues of the new wards 
 of old France. The Island region was a great store- 
 house of food for the red men, who came in large 
 numbers during the fall months to catch and dry oc smoke 
 the pike, muscallonge, eel and sturgeon of these waters, 
 returning to their winter encampments with heavily 
 ladened conoes. The early missionaries and voyageurs 
 remarked upon the varied beauty of Island scenery, the 
 broad and narrow reaches of blue waters, and the great 
 abundance of game and fish. "Les Mille Isles" or "Lake 
 of the Thousand Islands" it was called by the French, 
 and the English later used the same titles. 
 
 The Indian Barrier 
 
 Though Indians of the Algonquin and Huron tribes 
 frequented the Thousand Island regions for hunting and 
 fishing purposes, yet it was the northern rampart of that 
 remarkable federation, the five nations of the Iroquois — 
 later called the "Six Nations," when a kindred people, 
 the Tuscaroras of the Carolinas, were admitted to mem- 
 bership. Here the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cay- 
 ugas and Senecas gathered for fishing, and expeditions to 
 ths smaller beaver lakes lying inland a short distance on 
 the south of the St. Lawrence. These hardy warriors, es- 
 pecially the Mohawks, made frequent raids to the head- 
 waters of the Ottawa river as well as to the foot of the 
 ( 8 ) 
 
rapids above Montreal, waylaying their enemies, killing 
 and plundering, and never becoming subject to the French 
 authority. Frequent truces were made, principally 
 through the efforts of the intrepid missionaries, but these 
 lasted for only a short period, and then again the war 
 drums would sound, orators would carry the word from 
 nation to nation of the central New York warriors, and 
 again the forest trails would be full of painted savages 
 seeking plunder and scalps. From the St. Lawrence to 
 the Ohio river and from the Main woods to the Mississip- 
 pi these savages carried their war raids, exacting tribute 
 or exterminating their enemies, the latter lacking especial- 
 ly discipline and the disposition to unite for common 
 defense. 
 
 The friendship which these Iroquois bore the Dutch 
 and English was due in the first instance to Champlaln's 
 encounter with the Mohawks at Lake Champlain in 1609, 
 when the red warriors of the federation were defeated by 
 their ancient enemies the Algonquins, aided principally by 
 the muskets of Champlain and his two white companions. 
 To this encounter may be traced the long history of 
 border warfare which held back French settlement along 
 the Great Lakes, and enabled the English colonists to 
 expand and accumulate power behind the narrow barrier 
 of Iroquois until at last the British wrested control of the 
 "Great River" and Its settlements from France. 
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
The Missionary Explorers 
 
 From the time of Champlain's memorable journey 
 across the headwaters of the St. Lawrence in 1615 until 
 1653 no white man recorded any impressions of the 
 scenery of the Thousand Islands, though it is probable 
 that venturesome French traders unknown to history were 
 carried by Indian friends up through the waters of the 
 "Great River." The first man to write of those Impres- 
 sions was Pere Poncet, a Jesuit missionary, who had 
 escaped from captivity among the Mohawks and in 1653 
 reached the shores of Ontario, where his Indian guides 
 fabricated a canoe and paddled him to Montreal and 
 safety. The missionary's impressions were rather solemn 
 ones, for the bold rocks and bluffs, the dark woods and 
 shrubbery of the Islands seemed to him forbidding. 
 
 In 1654 Father Simon le Moyne, another Jesuit, pad- 
 dled up the St. Lawrence through the countless islands, 
 along the esatern shores of Ontario, and through the 
 Oswego river to the Onondaga country. Le Moyne was 
 the white discoverer of the Onondaga salt springs, and 
 told of the quality of salt obtained by boiling down the 
 waters — equal to that obtained from sea water. Follow- 
 ing these men came Father Chaumonot and Father Dablon 
 in 1655, and In 1656 Joseph Lamercler, followed by 
 Father Paul Ragueneau in 1657. In 1658 the Indians 
 plotted the murder of the French missionaries, but the 
 latter discovered the plot In time to escape from the 
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
savages on March 20 of that year. They found the 
 entrance to the St. Lawrence still frozen, but chopped 
 their way through the obstruction and landed at Montreal 
 on April 3. In 1661 the zealous missionary Le Moyne 
 again paddled up the St. Lawrence and Ontario, through 
 a region infested with Mohawk war bands, to the camps 
 of those Onondagas who had previously treated him with 
 respect. 
 
 For a decade the Iroquois increased the number of 
 their war raids down the St. Lawrence, waylaying trading 
 parties and camps of Canadian Indians and trappers. 
 
 A great earthquake brought terror and confusion to the 
 native and white inhabitants of the St. Lawrence region 
 in 1663. First great tremors were felt in February, and 
 the last diminishing ones in August. There were tre- 
 mendous upheavals that changed hills and rivers, accord- 
 ing to narratives of that period, but there are no compara- 
 tive topographical records to show what changes followed 
 the series of disturbances. 
 
 The tide of French trading and exploration was 
 stemmed by the frequent and continued raids of the 
 Iroquois war bands, who descended the St. Lawrence or 
 crossed the end of Ontario to the present site of Kingston, 
 to paddle up the Cadaraqui river and waylay traders and 
 trappers along the Ottawa river. The Iroquois had by 
 this time obtained guns and powder from the Dutch at 
 
 ( II ) 
 
Albany, and had become experienced In the use of fire- 
 arms. 
 
 Governor Courcelles 
 
 A new governor of Canada, Seigneur de Courcelles, 
 with the able assistance of Marquis de Tracy, organized 
 counter attacks upon the Mohawk raiders In 1665-66, 
 and peace negotiations were entered Into, resulting In the 
 French traders resuming their adventurous traffic up the 
 river through the Island country and beyond toward the 
 west. La Salle's first voyage up the St. Lawrence, 
 through the Thousand Islands and on to the western lakes 
 and rivers was made at this time. Through La Salle, 
 Marquette, Jollet, Du Luth, Cadillac and others, whose 
 names are perpetuated In the geography of the middle 
 west, France was to gain the vast Inland territories of 
 North America. 
 
 Governor Courcelles, In 1671, made the journey from 
 Montreal to Ontario, entering the lake on June 12. Here 
 on one of the eastern bays (undoubtedly Chaumont, 
 Henderson or Black River Bay) he met a band of 
 Iroquois hunters and fishermen, who had been told of the 
 governor's coming by the missionary Le Moyne, sent on 
 in advance. Besides the canoes of his white and red 
 attendants Governor Courcelles had brought along a flat- 
 bottomed galley of two or three tons, with which to 
 impress the Indians. Courcelles was able to appreciate 
 the advice offered by the French intendant, Jean Baptiste 
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
Talon, that two posts should be located on the eastern 
 end of the lake, one on the north and another on the 
 south shore. This was the first official action taken 
 toward a settlement on the upper reaches of the St. Law- 
 rence, but it remained for the next governor to carry out 
 only a part of the plan. 
 
 A description of navigation on the St. Lawrence and 
 Ontario contained in an account of Courcelle's expedi- 
 tion is of interest to present-day visitors to the Islands who 
 have experienced some of the difficulties of navigation in 
 the rapids and swift waters between Ogdensburg and. 
 Montreal : 
 
 "When the mouth of the Great Lake is reached, the 
 navigation is easy, when the waters are tranquil, becom- 
 ing insensibly wider at first, then about two-thirds, next 
 one-half, and finally out of sight of land, especially after 
 one has passed an infinity of little islands which are at the 
 entrance of the lake in such great numbers, and in such a 
 variety, that the most experienced Iroquois pilots some- 
 times lose themselves there, and have considerable diffi- 
 culty in distinguishing the course to be steered in the con- 
 fusion, and as it were in the labyrinth formed by the 
 islands. Some of these are only huge rocks rising out of 
 the water, covered merely by moss or a few spruce or 
 other stunted wood, whose roots spring from the clefts of 
 the rocks which can supply no other element or moisture 
 to these barren trees than what the rains furnish them. 
 ( 13 ) 
 
After leaving this abode the lake is discovered appearing 
 like unto a sea without' islands or bounds, w^here barks 
 and ships can sail in all safety so that the communications 
 would be easy between all the French colonies that could 
 be established on the borders of this great lake which is 
 more than a hundred leagues long, by thirty or forty 
 wide." 
 
 Count de Frontenac 
 
 Count de Frontenac succeeded Courcelles when the 
 latter's ill health caused retirement in 1672, and in 1673 
 the new governor decided to visit the head of the great 
 river with an imposing array of military. He left 
 Montreal on June 3, with one hundred twenty canoes and 
 two flatboats, carrying about four hundred men. Guides 
 sent by La Salle conducted the expedition to the present 
 site of Kingston, or Cadaraqui as the Indians sometimes 
 called it. Frontenac explored the bays and shores of the 
 eastern end of Ontario, and held a great conference with 
 the Iroquois warriors and chieftans, impressing upon them 
 the might of France and the necessity for keeping peace. 
 On July 13 a fort was laid out by the engineer Raudin, 
 and when completed was left In command of La Salle. 
 
 Governor Frontenac named his fort "Frontenac" and 
 also gave his name to the lake, but the latter name did 
 not remain long with early mapmakers. La Salle's 
 energy and foresight brought an increasing trade to the 
 fort, and a growing white settlement around It. Friendly 
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
Indians made permanent camp nearby, and the St. Law- 
 rence river bore a great traffic in furs and the innumer- 
 able articles of barter carried by the traders. 
 
 La Salle was created a noble by the King of France In 
 1675, and was given seignorial rights over Fort Frontenac 
 and the nearby islands, as well as a monopoly of the hunt- 
 ing and fishing on Ontario and its rivers. La Salle's 
 reports tell of the vast number of otter, bear, moose, elk 
 and other game found in the woods and islands, as well 
 as whitefish, salmon and trout of lakes and streams. 
 
 One of the early historians or descriptive writers was 
 Louis Hennepin, a member of the Reccolet order, who 
 was stationed at Fort Frontenac for missionary work 
 among the Indians. He visited the tribes from the 
 Ottawa to Niagara and the Mississippi country, and 
 ventured inland to the south and east of Lake Ontario to 
 the villages of the Oneidas and Mohawks during the 
 winter of 1677. From the latter journey he returned by 
 way of the Black river to Ontario and Fort Frontenac. 
 His book of travels with its quaint illustrations is of 
 interest to those who delve in early history of North 
 America. 
 
 Governor de la Barre 
 
 In 1682 a new governor was appointed to succeed 
 Frontenac, who was recalled to France. At this time 
 La Salle was absent in the west where he had made ex- 
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
tensive explorations. The post at Frontenac was not 
 profitable, though trade was extensive, and the new 
 governor, Marquis de la Barre, seized the post and 
 seignorial rights which he declared La Salle had forfeited 
 by not maintaining an adequate fort. Two years later in 
 1684 La Barre was compelled to collect a force of eight 
 hundred whites and two hundred Indians for an expedi- 
 tion to the south shore of Ontario. This great array of 
 soldiers, militia, traders and coureurs de bois may have 
 presented an imposing spectacle as it wound through the 
 channels of the Thousand Islands, but at the La Famine 
 bay conference on the south shore of Ontario it was deplet- 
 ed and discouraged by fever and loss of provisions due to 
 dampness. The result of this conference, which was 
 arranged to make a formidable impression upon the 
 savages, was an inglorious peace with the Iroquois, who 
 had been waging a successful war with the western allies 
 of the French, the Illinois. 
 
 Denonvilles Expedition 
 
 A new governor, Denonville, succeeded the unfortunate 
 La Barre, who had previously won military laurels in the 
 service of France in the Indies. In 1687 another mili- 
 tary expedition came up the river from Montreal to Fort 
 Frontenac. On July 4 the expedition of some sixteen or 
 seventeen hundred men in forty batteaux and many canoes 
 crossed the end of Ontario as far as the island "des 
 Galots" and on the 6th reached La Famine, scene of La 
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
Barre's humiliating experience. Denonville completely 
 circled the lake with his forces and restored somewhat the 
 prestige of France. Owing to the seizure of Iroquois 
 warriors at Frontenac, and to intrigue on the part of an 
 Indian ally of the French, Chief Kondiaronk of the 
 Dinondadies of Michillimacinac, as well as the encourage- 
 ment given the Iroquois by the English governor of New 
 York, Jacob Leisler, the border warfare was renewed to 
 such an extent that Fort Frontenac was invested, and this 
 post as well as the French post at Niagara were abandon- 
 ed in 1688 by the delepted garrisons. Again the Iroquois 
 had wrested control of the upper St. Lawrence, the high- 
 way to the west, from France and the savages continued 
 their raids to the outlying farmlands at Montreal, burn- 
 ing and slaying and taking hundreds into captivity. 
 
 Frontenac Recalled 
 
 Frontenac was now called upon by the French King to 
 resume the governorship of the hard-pressed colony, and 
 the sturdy old Count soon undertook to restore anil 
 protect the former trade routes. In 1695 he sent up the 
 St. Lawrence a strong force to rebuild and garrison Fort 
 Frontenac, and in July 1696 the great military expedi- 
 tion of two thousand men embarked for the journey up 
 the river. The soldiers and their Indian allies, the latter 
 commanded by the scout Mantet, remained at Frontenac 
 from the 18th to the 20th of July, and then re-embarked 
 for an invasion of the Iroquois lands. Camp was made 
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
over night at Grenadier Island on the eastern shore of 
 Ontario, and on July 28 the force proceeded up the 
 Oswego river. The Onondagas and Oneidas were com- 
 pelled to make peace, and the expedition returned com- 
 pletely successful after three weeks of arduous efforts. 
 
 The St. Lawrence outposts were made secure to the 
 French for over sixty years, with the result that trade 
 and settlements on the lower river increased and prosper- 
 ed. The new lands about the Great Lakes to the wTst- 
 ward were sought out by soldier-explorers, traders and 
 missionaries and the foundations laid for a great empire. 
 Fort Frontenac remained in possession of the French until 
 wrested from them by the English in 1758, during those 
 last few years of border warfare which gave Britain 
 dominion over the vast northern territories of New 
 France. 
 
 The English on Lake Ontario 
 
 A formidable step in the rivalry for trade and power 
 between the two conflicting forces along the St. Lawrence 
 and the Great Lakes was the establishment by Governor 
 Burnet of the Province of New York of a fort at the 
 mouth of the Oswego river in 1727. The English had 
 maintained a trading post at this old Iroquois camp site, 
 Swa-geh, for five or six years previous to the establish- 
 ment of a fort, and when the latter was built the 
 French governor, Marquis de Beauharnois, made vigorous 
 objection. An agent of the French governor known as 
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
Chevalier Begon was ordered to proceed to Oswego and 
 demand the surrender of this post situated on lands 
 claimed by the northern colonj^ Begon held a great 
 parley with representatives of the Onondagas and Oneidas 
 on "Galots" island in Lake Ontario, previous to his visit 
 to Oswego, and these Indians agreed to demand the ex- 
 clusion of the English from their lands. They failed to 
 make any such demand, and Begon's mission to Oswego 
 brought no response from the English. 
 
 For thirty years down to 1755 there was peace along 
 the northern frontier, and both French and English trade 
 and settlements grew and prospered. There was keen 
 rivalry for barter and influence with the Indian tribes of 
 the border waters and the great forest country of the 
 central west. The French built a few small armed craft 
 at Fort Frontenac for trading and courier services, and the 
 English constructed similar craft at Oswego. 
 
 La Presentation 
 
 Another trading post and mission center was established 
 by the French on the south side of the St. Lawrence in 
 1749 at the mouth of the Oswegatchie, called La Pre- 
 sentation, where the city of Ogdensburg now stands. A 
 Sulpician father, Francis Picquct, was given charge of the 
 mission, having under his care a number of Indians of the 
 Iroquois who had decided to settle along the St. Law- 
 rence under the friendly guidance of the French, who 
 were anxious to gain recruits from these fierce allies of 
 
 ( 19 ) 
 
the English. A storehouse and small fort were erected, 
 but were destroyed within the year by a war party of 
 Mohawks, who also burned two craft moored before the 
 post. Soldiers were thereupon sent to the post by the 
 French, and the Indian settlement grew steadily, to the 
 annoyance and displeasure of English officials and colon- 
 ists of New York. A protest was made before the con- 
 gress of English colonists at Albany in 1754, because the 
 position was recognized as of decided strategic value in 
 the long-threatened conflict, which broke out in 1755. La 
 Presentation was an outfitting station and information 
 center during the following years of border warfare, and 
 many raids w^re planned upon the frontier stations and 
 settlements of the English as far south as Pennsylvania 
 and Virginia. 
 
 The War of 1755-60 
 
 Upon the renewal of hostilities in 1755 the St. Law- 
 rence became a great highway for military activity upon 
 the part of the French. The forts at Frontenac and 
 Niagara were strengthened, and Governor Vaudreuil 
 made active preparations for carrying the war into the 
 enemy's terrltorj^ In August a detachment of military 
 proceeding up the St. Lawrence met a body of Indians 
 among the Islands, with scalps taken at the defeat of the 
 English General Braddock at Fort Du Quesne. This 
 news brought additional Indian reenforcements to the 
 side of the French. 
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
Early in the following spring as soon as ice was out of 
 the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario the French estab- 
 lished a fortified camp on the south side of the lake, at the 
 present end of Six Town Point, guarding the waters of 
 "Nioure Bay" and the shores and portage to Stony Creek, 
 from the present Henderson Bay. The camp was in 
 charge of Captain de Villiers, and was named "Camp 
 rObservation," for the use of scouting parties and to 
 watch the passages along the eastern end of Lake Ontario. 
 An English scouting expedition encamped on the "He aux 
 Galots" a few miles out in the lake was surprised by 
 Indians from the French camp, and a number killed or 
 captured, a few regaining their sloop which carried them 
 to safety at Oswego. Later in 1756 occurred the first 
 naval battle on the Great Lakes, when two French vessels 
 attacked three English sloops in the vicinity of the Ducks 
 islands, in Ontario, putting two of the English craft to 
 flight and capturing the third sloop with fourteen men 
 aboard. 
 
 The Marquis de Montcalm had arrived from France 
 to take command of the French forces, and in May, 1756, 
 a force of thirteen hundred regulars, fifteen hundred 
 colonials and two hundred and fifty Indians proceeded up 
 the St. Lawrence to Fort Frontenac. Earlier in the year 
 before the snow had left Lieutenant de Lery, a Canadian 
 militia officer, had led an expedition on snowshoes from 
 La Presentation, at the mouth of the Oswegatchie, against 
 Fort Bull near the present city of Rome, N. Y. His 
 
 ( 21 ) 
 
force of two hundred and fifty Canadians and a hundred 
 Indians compelled the surrender of the fort. De Lery 
 destroyed the stores at the fort and returned with thirty 
 prisoners along the south and west banks of Black River 
 to Ontario, and was ferried across to the north shore of 
 Black River by French batteaux on a scouting expedition 
 from Frontenac. This must have been one of those 
 "record" years for an early break-up of ice in the lake 
 and bays. De Lery's force marched through the unbroken 
 forest to the St. Lawrence and down the shore to La Pre- 
 sentation. 
 
 Fall of Oswego 
 
 On August 5, 1756, Montcalm's main force left Fort 
 Frontenac for the attack on Oswego. His regular troops 
 were the three regiments of Guyenne, Beam and La Sarre, 
 the latter having been sent on ahead July 29 to camp 
 de rObservation. Montclam's forces remained two days 
 on Galoup Island because of storms, and on August 8 
 arrived at the camp located on "Nioure Bay," as the 
 waters of Black River Bay and Henderson Bay were then 
 termed on the uncertain charts of the period. On the 9th 
 the troops proceeded overland to Stony Creek, and along 
 the sandy shore of Ontario toward Oswego which they 
 reached on August 12. After a few days of selge the 
 English commander. Colonel Mercer, surrendered the 
 older Fort Ontario on the east side of Oswego River, the 
 newer position. Fort Pepperell, on the west side having 
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
been abandoned on the approach of the French. Over 
 two thousand men, with all of their arms, cannon and 
 military stores were taken back by way of Camp de TOb- 
 servation to Fort Frontenac and carried down the St. 
 Lawrence to Montreal, the prisoners later being ex- 
 changed. The French did not attempt to garrison 
 Oswego, but razed the fortifications, and sent all avail- 
 able troops down the river to Montreal for operations 
 later in the same year around Lake Champlain. 
 
 Destruction of Fort Frontenac 
 
 The tide of French fortune began to ebb when the 
 English took the offensive on Lake Ontario in 1758. 
 General Bradstreet assembled at Oswego a force of about 
 thirty-five hundred men, and in August set out along the 
 lake shore for Fort Frontenac. On August 26 Indian 
 scouts from Frontenac discovered the English at Hender- 
 son Bay, and on the next day Bradstreet's forces appeared 
 before the fort, which surrendered readily, having a garri- 
 son of but some fifty men. The English secured large 
 quantities of military supplies and naval stores, including 
 seven vessels. Five of the boats were burned and two 
 retained to help carry back the booty, which included 
 cannon captured from General Braddock by the French. 
 The forces of General Bradstreet returned to the shores 
 of Henderson Bay and remained there several days so as 
 to avoid French reenforcements en route up the river to 
 Frontenac. The latter forces retired when they learned 
 
 { 23 ) 
 
of the surrender and destruction of Fort Frontenac, 
 whereupon the English returned to Oswego and greatly 
 strengthened its fortifications. Oswego remained in 
 British possession until June, 1796, when it was turned 
 over to the United States under treaty. 
 
 In 1759 the French had withdrawn to La Preseatation 
 and Fort Levis, on an island nearby, as fortified outposts 
 to guard the upper river. Small scouting camps were 
 located on Galloup Island, Grenadier Island in Ontario, 
 and near the present site of Cape Vincent, and from these 
 points the Indians and colonial scouts of the French kept 
 watch upon English frontier operations. 
 
 General Amherst's River Expedition 
 
 In September of 1759 Quebec fell before the English 
 and colonials, who had also captured Niagara, Ticonder- 
 oga and Crow^n Point. Of the vast highway to the west, 
 the French held only that part of the St. Lawrence be- 
 tween Montreal and the Thousand Islands, and this they 
 held under hopeless struggle for a year. In 1760 the 
 English made plans for the capture of Montreal, despatch- 
 ing three expeditions for the purpose, one from Quebec, 
 another by way of Lake Champlain, and the largest from 
 Oswego through Ontario and the St. Lawrence. General 
 Jeffrey Amherst was placed in command of the expedi- 
 tion outfitted at Oswego, which numbered some ten thou- 
 sand regular and colonial forces and seven hundred 
 Indians under Sir William Johnson, the great Commis- 
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
sioner to the Iroquois nations. Colonel Sir Frederick 
 Haldimand led a small force ahead of the main detach- 
 ment, but found that enemy outposts had been withdrawn 
 to La Presentation and Fort Levis. The first troops 
 embarked on the vessels Mohawk and Onondaga August 
 7, 1760, and the main forces in 177 batteaux and 72 
 ivhaleboats had all embarked by the 13th, encamping the 
 night of the 13th or 14th on Grenadier Island beyond the 
 head of the St. Lawrence river. The first sailing vessels, 
 while pursuing a French batteau discovered at Buck 
 (Carleton) Island, became lost in the maze of channels 
 of the middle islands, and arrived at the new French ship- 
 yard at Point Baril, near the site of the village- of Mait- 
 land, after the great fleet of small boats had swept down 
 through the river and landed near La Presentation to 
 prepare for the attack on Fort Levis. This fortified posi- 
 tion was on an island sometimes called He Royale, or by 
 its Indian name Oraconenton, and completely commanded 
 the St. Lawrence. The fortifications were laid out in 
 1759 hy Chevalier de Levis, completed by Pouchot, 
 French commander of the post, the next year, and con- 
 sisted of an outer row or girdle of fallen trees, a water- 
 filled ditch and sharpened stakes and an earth-banked 
 parapet enclosing the gun mounts and quarters. 
 
 The English soon reduced the fortification by the use of 
 artillery, losing about twenty killed and as many wound- 
 ed, while the defenders suffered a dozen killed and about 
 forty wounded. The surrendered men were sent back 
 
 ( 25 ) 
 
on the long overland and water journey to New York, 
 and Lord Amherst's expedition continued down the river. 
 During the attack on Fort Levis the English burned a 
 small church and trading outpost on Gallop island, below 
 the fortificatioii a short distance, claiming that a scalp 
 was found in the religious edifice. 
 
 Canada Won For The English 
 
 The last stronghold of French authority, Montreal, 
 was invested by the three armies on September 7, 1760, 
 and Governor Vaudreuil was compelled to make a formal 
 surrender of his Canadian dominions. 
 
 General Amherst's expedition returned up the St. Law- 
 rence from the successful investment of Montreal in 
 October, reaching the head of the Thousand Islands the 
 2 1 St. Camp was made near Lake Ontario on the south 
 side when a storm of rain and snow held the forces two 
 days, and the men finally reached Oswego October 27, 
 many of the troops marching overland and along the 
 sandy beaches of Ontario because of the inclement 
 weather. 
 
 English soldiers now replaced the French throughout 
 the long water route to the west, and English and colonial 
 traders entered into the Indian fur traffic by way of the 
 St. Lawrence, In competition with the older French asso- 
 ciations. Great fur companies were organized, as well 
 as land companies to Induce settlements, and extensive 
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
import houses to distribute the manufactured wares of 
 England. The traffic in pelts increased along the upper 
 river and through Lake Ontario, but the English made 
 no attempts to establish strong forts or protected trading 
 settlements along the Thousand Islands or at the site of 
 Fort Frontenac. 
 
 Carleton Island During The Revolution 
 
 It was not until mutterings of the coming struggle of 
 the American colonial revolution were heard along the 
 border that the Island region resumed its strategic impor- 
 tance. The English traders had established themselves 
 in a small way at Buck or Deer Island, later named 
 Carleton Island, a few miles below Cape Vincent, for 
 traffic with the Indians, and the English in 1774-75 main- 
 tained a few men for the transshipment of military and 
 naval stores to the upper lake posts. It became a great 
 gathering place for Island Indians and other tribesmen 
 friendly to the English, and a retreat for Loyalists from 
 the revolting colonies. 
 
 Expeditions of scouts and raiding parties were assem- 
 bled at the island, or at the "Great Camp" of the red 
 allies on the mainland nearby, and from here the Indians, 
 white woodsmen and regular troops of the British plunged 
 into the woods or followed the lake shore to Salmon 
 River or Oswego, then on to the frontier line of the 
 colonists, the Mohawk river and the Susquehanna. The 
 raiders from Carleton w^ere responsible for the slaughter 
 ( 2'/ ) 
 
and destruction of farm homes and settlements at Cherry 
 Valley, Wyoming, the Cedars, Stony Arabia, and the sur- 
 rounding country. 
 
 In 1775 Colonel Guy Johnson, son-in-law and nephew 
 of the famous old English commissioner to the Iroquois 
 (who had died the previous year), stopped at Carleton on 
 his way from Oswego down the St. Lawrence to Montreal 
 with a band of Indian warriors and many Tories who had 
 abandoned colonial New York upon the outbreak of the 
 revolution. The younger Johnson had assembled a great 
 conference of Indians at Oswego in May, 1775, and 
 persuaded nearly all with the exception of the Oneidas 
 and some Tuscaroras to espouse the cause of the English. 
 He was assisted by the two Butlers, whose name becarne 
 a curse among the outlying settlers of New York, and 
 Johnson also persuaded the Mohawk Chief Thaj^endane- 
 gea, called Joseph Brant, brother of old Sir William 
 Johnson's Indian wife, MoUie Brant, to take up arms 
 against the colonists. 
 
 In 1776 Sir John Johnson, son and heir by his English 
 wife of the late commissioner, also left his extensive lands 
 and fine dwelling in the Mohawk country and fled to 
 Canada with numerous retainers and settlers. In Canada 
 he recruited the Royal New York Regiment, known as 
 the "Royal Greens" or "Johnson Greens." With Johnson 
 came a son-in-law of Sir William, Colonel Daniel Claus, 
 who became an Indian commissioner in Canada for opera- 
 tions along the New York frontier. 
 
 ( 28 ) 
 
When the plan of reducing the colony of New York 
 was put into operation in 1777 bj- means of an expedition 
 up through Lake Champlain from Montreal under 
 General Burgoyne, with a second force working up the 
 Hudson from New York and a third coming from the St. 
 Lawrence and Ontario through the Mohawk valley, 
 Carleton Island was chosen as the rendezvous for the 
 Indians of the third contingent. Lt. Col. Barry St. 
 Ledger was put in command of the St. Lawrence forces, 
 and on July 8 the expedition was assembled at Carleton 
 and at the big Indian camp on the mainland nearby. Col. 
 John Butler came from Oswego to join the force, which 
 proceeded by water to Henderson Bay and then along the 
 old war trail, the sandy beaches, to Oswego. The follow- 
 ing engagement at Oriskany prevented this force from 
 carrying out its object, and the retreat was made through 
 forest trails and rivers to Oswego, and thence back to 
 Carleton and Montreal. The failure of this expedition 
 contributed to the defeat of Burgoyne's army, which also 
 failed to receive any aid from Sir Henry Clinton's army 
 at New York. 
 
 Fort Haldimand 
 
 Carleton Island received its name in 1778 as the result 
 of the reports of Lieutenants Twiss and Glennie and 
 Captain Schank of the Navy, sent up the St. Lawrence 
 by General Haldimand to report on the advisibility of 
 strengthening the defenses of the upper river. After a 
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
complete inspection of La Presentation at Oswegatchie, 
 Cadaraqugi (now Kingston) and "Buck or Deer Island" 
 as it was called, the military men decided that the post at 
 the latter place possessed superior merits for shipbuilding; 
 cultivation of the land and ease of defense w^hen a suitable 
 fort should be constructed. As the island's name had 
 been confused often with the "Isle aux Chevreuil" of the 
 French (Grenadier in Lake Ontario) Lieutenant Twiss 
 suggested that the island be named Carleton in honor of 
 the retired governor of Canada, and the fortification 
 "Fort Haldim.and." General Haldimand gave his en- 
 dorsement, and the island has since been known by that 
 name. 
 
 Governor Haldimand was familiar with the Thousand 
 Islands as a result of his experiences there during the 
 French war, and this accounts for his determination to 
 make a strong post at Carleton. 
 
 The fort on the bluff was continually strengthened 
 throughout the years of the Revolution, and the shipyard 
 on the point below the fort was a scene of continuous 
 activity. Carleton became the chief storehouse and point 
 of transshipment for supplies going to Oswego, Niagara 
 and Detroit. .A number of armed sailing vessels a§ well 
 as numerous batteaux and scows were constructed for the 
 use of the military forces, and both military and naval 
 detachments of artificers were continually employed until 
 the order was received from General Haldimand to cease 
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
construction work in the spring of 1783, when news 
 reached Canada of the peace negotiations of November, 
 1782. 
 
 The point of land extending westward from the fort 
 was known as "Government Point" and was restricted to 
 use for quarters and storehouses. The commander of the 
 post was not permitted to honor ''patents" for grants of 
 land to individuals on the point, as was done on the main 
 body of the island. The "King's Garden," a tract of 
 twenty or thirty acres first cleared and planted, is still 
 pointed out on the south side of the island. 
 
 From Carleton Island the English sent their scouting 
 parties to the Mohawk country and watched the moves of 
 the Continental forces at Fort Stanwix, Schenectady, 
 Fort Hunter and elsewhere in central New York. The 
 Indians assembled in large numbers to draw supplies and 
 presents and to receive instructions and rewards for raids 
 upon the settlers. At no time was the post in danger of 
 attack, though the efforts of the commanders to strengthen 
 the fortifications were made with that eventuality in view. 
 Traders bound up or down the Great Lakes and St. Law- 
 rence tarried a while under the sheltering protection of 
 Fort Haldimand, and bartered powder, shot, rum, knives, 
 beads and blankets for the furs of the Indians. The com- 
 mander of the post complained that when the traders 
 were operating too freely the Indians failed to bring in 
 fresh venison for exchange at the post, preferring to barter 
 at the nearest source of desired supplies. 
 
 ( 31 ) 
 
Kingston Established 
 
 Carleton Island and Fort Haldimand remained in the 
 possession of the English, owing to uncertainty about the 
 boundary lands and waters, until the outbreak of the war 
 of 1812. In 1788 a new survey of Carleton and Kings- 
 ton was made by Captain Mann for the British, to decide 
 which was the better station for the King's ships and pro- 
 tection of lake navigation. Kingston was decided upon, 
 and construction work started at that port, with the result 
 that in 1789 all of the stores with the exception of a few 
 cannon were removed to the north mainland. In 1793 
 there were still nineteen guns at Fort Haldimand and a 
 few soldiers to prevent the burning of wooden quarters 
 and storehouses by Indians, or encroachment by Ameri- 
 cans. The guns were taken in that year to Toronto. 
 
 The port of Kingston grew steadily with the develop- 
 ment of lake navigation and the settlement of the sur- 
 rounding country by emigrants from the British islands as 
 well as large numbers of Loyalists w^ho had abandoned 
 the American colonies, now free states, and were allotted 
 as compensation tracts of the forest lands along the St. 
 Lawrence and Bay of Quinte. In 1799 Kingston posses- 
 sed a large barracks, a hospital, storehouses and a church. 
 The remains of old Fort Frontenac were still visible. 
 Kingston became the storehouse for military and civilian 
 supplies destined for the forts and settlements of the west, 
 where new towns were being laid out and great reaches of 
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
the forest lands were being cleared by the hardy pioneers. 
 Many vessels were constructed in the shipyard established 
 by the naval officers, while civilians also entered into the 
 task of providing shipping for the increasing traffic on 
 Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. 
 
 In 1808 a formal demand for the surrender of Carleton 
 Island was made by Agustus Sacket, collector of Sackets 
 Harbor, and by Lieut. T. Cross of the same place, com- 
 manding a detachment assigned to the duty of guardin;^ 
 some point on the river. The request was refused by 
 Major McKenzie of Kingston, who added six men to the 
 post previously occupied by a corporal and three men. In 
 June of 1812 after news of the formal declaration of war 
 was received along the northern border a small force of 
 volunteers from Millen's bay, on the American shore 
 nearby, surprised the garrison of three men and two wo- 
 men, captured the fort and burned all of the wooden 
 buildings. It was never after used as a fortified post. 
 Some of the stone chimneys of the quarters in the fort on 
 the bluff are still standing, much battered by winds and 
 storms of a century. 
 
 The Border in 1812-14 
 
 The troublesome years of of the conflict from 1812 to 
 1 81 4 were a time of trial and anxiety along the Island 
 region. Settlers were in continual fear of raids by enemy 
 bands, and Indians still lurked in the wood§ throughout 
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
the border country and among the Islands, ready to 
 plunder whenever the opportunity offered. 
 
 Kingston had become the trading center for both shores 
 of the St. Lawrence, where the ashes of forest clearings 
 as well as grain and produce were exchanged for manu- 
 factured goods. Montreal and Quebec were the great 
 markets for logs and lumber cleared from the banks of 
 the St. Lawrence and its tributary streams — a trade which 
 had grown to large proportions, especially on the Ameri- 
 can side where Macomb's great purchase of 1791 in 
 northern New York was gradually being parcelled out to 
 land companies and settlers, but where there was much 
 valuable timber land easy of access without sufficient 
 guardians. 
 
 On the upper river about two miles below the present 
 site of the village of Cape Vincent a settlement called 
 Port Putnam had been established following the clearing 
 made in 1801 by Abijah Putnam. This small settlement 
 did not flourish, and was abandoned in favor of the Port 
 of Cape Vincent established by the great French land- 
 owner, James de Le Ray, who had a small clearing made 
 at Gravelly Point in 181 1, and also a dock, house and 
 tavern. These were soon followed by stores and dwellings 
 until a considerable settlement, with a customs officer, 
 was formed by the year 181 2. The port was named Cape 
 Vincent after James de Le Ray's son, Vincent, who re- 
 mained as agent in northern New York many years 
 
 ( 34 ) 
 
while the lands purchased by his father were being settled, 
 and where so many friends of Napoleon and his brother 
 Joseph Bonaparte gathered during the latter's years of 
 exile in Northern New York. 
 
 Because of the American embargo law of 1808 the trade 
 between individuals and traders in the settlements across 
 the border waters was restricted to a considerable extent 
 until the outbreak of hostilities in 1812, and then for 
 three years traffic up and down the Island reaches of the 
 St. Lawrence was limited to the movement of military 
 and naval supplies and men, with occasional smuggling 
 operations to and from the settlements at Kingston, Cape 
 Vincent, Gananoque, Brockville, Prescott and Ogdens- 
 burg. 
 
 On Kingston w^as based the fleet of Sir James Yeo, and 
 at Sackets Harbor was the flotilla commanded by Com- 
 modore Chauncey, both of which did considerable cruising 
 up and down the lake but never engaged in any action of 
 a decisive nature. The British fleet made a short bom- 
 bardment of the entrenchments at Sackets Harbor in July 
 1812, and again in 181 3 covered the landing of troops on 
 May 29 which resulted in the "Battle of Sackets Harbor," 
 in which both sides retreated after the loss of important 
 officers. The American fleet in November of 18 12 made 
 an attack on the British vessel Royal George and the land 
 batteries of Kingston, and then withdrew. 
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
At French Creek and Bartletts Point, now Clayton, 
 was fought another small engagement between British 
 military and naval forces and part of the ill-fated expedi- 
 tion of the American General Wilkinson which met 
 disaster on Chryslers field in Canada. General Brown 
 of Brownville, Jefferson County, N. Y., commanded the 
 battery at Bartletts Point, and the naval attack was 
 repelled. Raids were made and prisoners and supplies 
 captured on the American side at Cape Vincent, at Og- 
 densburg, the Britton Tavern near Linda Island below 
 Cape Vincent ; on the Canadian side, Brockville, Ganan- 
 oque, Prescott, and throughout the Island region. Many 
 people of the larger settlements along the river moved to 
 the Interior. However, there was never the ferocity of the 
 Indian raids of the Revolutionary period, and settlers 
 continued to take up land along the St. Lawrence 
 throughout these years of conflict. 
 
 The Peace of a Century 
 
 The conclusion of peace in the latter part of 1814 
 brought military operations to a close, and the naval 
 equipment at both Kingston and Sackets Harbor ship- 
 yards fell into disuse and decay. A treaty was entered 
 into limiting the armament of craft on either side of the 
 Great Lakes, which has resulted In quieting suspicion and 
 has helped to maintain that peace of a century during 
 which industry and civilization have brought prosperity 
 and friendly sentiments along the northern border lands. 
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
The only serious disturbances along the river since the 
 days of 1812-14 were those of the so-called "Patriot War" 
 in 1838, when conspirators on both sides of the border 
 attempted an armed revolution and invasion, to free 
 Canada and organize a republic. The venture lacked 
 popular support, and was quelled at the "Battle of the 
 Windmill," near Prescott, after which a number of con- 
 spirators including men from the American side were tried 
 by court martial and sentenced to death. Some of the rebels 
 were banished to Van Dieman's Land, from which a few 
 returned in after years to their northern homes. 
 
 The Summer Playground 
 
 From the earliest days of settlement along the Thou- 
 sand Island region of the St. Lawrence there was a keen 
 appreciation of the natural beauties of scenery and abun- 
 dance of fishing and hunting in the innumerable blue- 
 water channels and bays. In the 40's and 50's of the 
 past century there began that steady stream of enthu- 
 siasts to the Islands for summer and fall weeks. As rail- 
 road facilities increased and steamboat traffic through the 
 Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence brought increasing 
 trade and growth of population, there was a correspond- 
 ing increase in the number of people who made yearly 
 pilgrimages for health and recreation to northern border 
 waters. The early builders and statesmen of Canada as 
 well as governors, senators, presidents and legislators of 
 the United States seemed to have a marked preference for 
 
 ( 37 ) 
 
the wholesome sport and vigorous atmosphere of the 
 Island region, or perhaps the fact that these men were 
 frequent visitors was of more note in the correspondence 
 and newspaper reports of the middle decades of the nine- 
 teenth century. It was during these years that fishing 
 and hunting camps were first built along the American 
 Islands, for the Canadian government retained title to 
 most of the land within its border vv^aters, and still retains 
 much of it. In succeeding years the tide of summer 
 traffic swelled steadily, and parks and cottages, hotels and 
 palatial "camps" increased until the name "Venice of 
 America" bore a fitting tribute. 
 
 The Indians of the Islands 
 
 ■ All that remains of the great and little tribes and 
 nations of Indians who hunted, fished and lived among the 
 Thousand Islands — the last representatives of those 
 warriors and trappers to come before the modern-day 
 travelers on the St. Lavv^rence are the occasional peddlers 
 of baskets and bead-decorated bags and moccasins from 
 the St. Regis reservation below Ogdensburg, or perhaps 
 from one of the northern reservations or Indian villages 
 of Canada. Some students of Indian customs, habits and 
 relics believe that a race closely akin to the Esquimaux 
 once inhabited the St. Lawrence region, the supposed 
 proof being found In fishing gear and implements occa- 
 sionally excavated over a broad area. The Algonquin 
 Indians of Canada ^had no traditions of an earlier race 
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
such as the Esquimaux, nor did the Iroquois Indians of 
 New York. 
 
 From the earliest experience of the French as well as 
 stories and traditions told to explorers and traders of a 
 later day it is evident that tribes or families or groups of 
 the Iroquois were in possession of the river territory as 
 far as Montreal, or Hochelaga, from some distant time 
 down to the first visit of a Frenchman, Cartier, to that 
 Indian settlement in 1534. Other Iroquois villages and 
 summer camps were undoubtedly located along the St. 
 Lawrence and Lake Ontario, especially in that section so 
 famous for its hunting and fishing in the early days of 
 white settlement — the lakes and bays and wooded lands 
 between the south shore of the St. Lawrence and the 
 Black River country in northern New York. 
 
 The constant warfare between Algonquins of the north 
 and west — the term Algonquin including all tribes of 
 kindred tongue and customs in Canada — and the Iroquois 
 federation to the south had finally concentrated the latter 
 throughout the beautiful lake district of central New 
 York. Here the Iroquois constructed their "long houses" 
 for permanent abode and fortified the larger villages with 
 imposing stockades of crossed tree trunks. Outside the 
 villages were the areas of cultivated tobacco, maize, beans 
 and pumpkins which enabled these Indians to subsist 
 throughout the winter months, and sometimes- led to 
 forays by the less provident savages of the north. Though 
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
their permanent homes were concentrated within a re- 
 stricted area, the Iroquois hunted far and wide for beaver, 
 deer, fish and scalps of their enemies. 
 
 The People of the Long House 
 
 That remarkable federation called themselves the "Ho- 
 de-no-sau-nee" or "people of the long house," from the 
 typical construction of their abodes. These were narrow 
 houses containing many families, each with its own space 
 and fire,. The houses were made of long rows of poles 
 stuck in the ground and bent together to form the roof 
 support, the whole being covered with bark to shed water 
 and to keep out a great measure of the cold In winter. 
 Apertures in the roof allowed the smoke to escape, and 
 doorways at each end were covered with loose hides. 
 
 By agreement their hunting grounds were divided by 
 well-defined boundary lines within which the particular 
 nation was soverign, subject to such agreements as might 
 be made at the great yearly council fire in the country of 
 the Onondagas. Northern New^ York, from the Mohawk 
 river through the Adirondacks on the north and to the 
 St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario on the west was set off 
 by "lines of property" — to the Mohawk nation on the 
 east and north, the Oneldas on the northwest, Including 
 the present limits of the Thousand Islands, and the Onon- 
 dagas in the central part, with a narrow strip running to 
 eastern Lake Ontario. To the south and west extending 
 to Lake Erie were the Cayugas, the Senecas, and later the 
 
 ( 40 ) 
 
Tuscaroras, a kindred people from the Carolinas admit- 
 ted by treaty in 17 15. 
 
 The northern Adirondacks were also claimed by 
 Indians of the Canadian Algonquin family who originally 
 came from the neighborhood of the Saguenay river. Their 
 improvidence in failing to provide stores for winter use 
 often led to the eating of bark and buds, which gained 
 for them the name Adirondacks, "tree eaters," applied by 
 the hardy and more intelligent Mohawks. This name 
 early supplanted the old Iroquois designation "Couch- 
 sach-ra-ge" for the great northern wilderness. 
 
 The Iroquois were never subdued by Indian opponents, 
 and only made peace with their Algonquin enemies when 
 the power of the latter was used in cooperation with the 
 mightier arm of the French. Whether their enemies 
 were kindred peoples of the western lakes or Algonquins 
 of the north and the Hudson River and New England 
 villages, there was no mercy shown in warfare. The 
 country of the Hurons north and east of the lake of that 
 name was devastated in 1650, and the next year the 
 Neutral Nation, living between the Hurons and the 
 Niagara river, was destroyed by these relentless kinsmen. 
 The Eries on the south side of Lake Erie were destroyed 
 in 1652, and in 1672 the kindred people on the banks of 
 the Susquehanna, the Andastes, were conquered and forced 
 into humiliating tribute. 
 
 Other war raids were carried through the country of 
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
the Illinois to the Mississippi, and eastward to the Main 
 woods. The furious warriors of the Mohawk and 
 Oneida nations nearly carried out their threat to extermi- 
 nate their French and Algonquin opponents in those 
 devastating raids to the very doorsteps of Montreal fol- 
 lowing Governor Denonville's puntitive expedition around 
 Lake Ontario in 1687, and the seizure of Iroquois war- 
 riors at Fort Frontenac in 1688. 
 
 In one of the communications received by Sir William 
 Johnson, the Indian Commissioner of New York, in 1756 
 from the OnonHagas complaint was made of encroachment 
 by Pennsylvania forces on the south of the Federation, in 
 the lands of tribes subdued by the Iroquois. The English 
 were building forts there, and this caused the Onon- 
 dagas to say that they did not understand the manner of 
 warfare of the English. When the Iroquois went to 
 war they exterminated their enemies, and that ended it, 
 but the English built forts, seeming to desire possession of 
 the land only. 
 
 Throughout the French occupation of Canada the 
 Thousand Islands were frequently visited by both Iroquois 
 and Algonquin tribes, and scattered families of the latter 
 undoubtedly remained hidden among the secluded retreats 
 through all those years of conflict. When the English 
 took over control of the river there was peace between 
 the tribes, for the Iroquois were staunch allies of the 
 new masters of Canada, and the English continued the 
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
policy of developing trade and friendship with Canadian 
 tribes. 
 
 The Mississaguas 
 
 Between the years 1760 and 1783, the closing years 
 respectively of the French war and the American revolu- 
 tion, there was little attempt at settlement within the 
 Island region, as traders at Buck Island (Carleton), old 
 Frontenac (Kingston) and Oswegatchie (Ogdensburg) 
 were interested in bartering for pelts rather than the less 
 remunerative burdens of clearing and settling the country. 
 The Indians of the Islands made permanent homes within 
 those secluded haunts, and for two or three generations 
 their descendants remained along the river — being known 
 as the Mississaguas as far down the St. Lawrence as 
 Prescott. Below that point the islands were claimed by 
 the St. Regis Indians. 
 
 The Indians of the islands may have been of Iroquois 
 or Algonquin extraction, or perhaps a mixture, for the 
 earlier settlers along the shores differed in their recollec- 
 tions. Fishing and hunting were their means of gaining 
 a living, and periodic migrations w^ere made to the island 
 lakes and woods to the north of the St. Lawrence, or 
 south and east toward the Lesser Wilderness and the 
 Great Wilderness. The Indians called the Adirondack 
 woods and mountains the Great Wilderness, and the 
 region between Black River, the Lake Ontario shore and 
 Oriedia Lake was the Lesser Wilderness, in which there 
 
 .( 43 ) 
 
were vast tracts of virgin forests and fine hunting for 
 
 deer, bear, elk, fox, beaver and other game even after 
 
 white settlers had moved in and cleared farms and built 
 settlements. 
 
 These Indians were staunch supporters of the English 
 during the wars of 1775-83 and 1812-14, but in the latter 
 were used only to a very small extent. They continued 
 upon the Islands until 1826, by which time the increased 
 number of farms and villages and the operation of 
 lumbermen and squatters had restricted their sources of 
 food supply and revenue. Many of the Indians left for 
 the northern w^oods of Canada, and the streams and bays 
 of the lower reaches of the St. Lawrence, leaving but a 
 few families of the once numerous Island Indians. These 
 were persuaded to settle on an island in the upper Bay of 
 Quinte, near Belleville, where they were taught farming 
 under missionary guidance, and later were transferred to 
 a large tract of land north of Coburg, Ontario. 
 
 The Canadian government took over whatever title 
 these MIssissaguas had in the Islands of the Canadian 
 waters, and administered the revenue for the benefit of 
 the Indians and their descendants. 
 
 The various agencies of the Canadian government in 
 which rested the administration of Canada's portion of 
 the Thousand Islands withheld the larger number from 
 private title. This accounts for the difference in appear- 
 ance and use of the two sides of the river todav. Many 
 
 ( 44 ) . 
 
of the Canadian islands still possess the rugged charms 
 which attracted the first voyageurs and early travelers, 
 while on the American side the summer camps and cot- 
 tages show the great popularity and development due to 
 private ownership. In the interests of public health and 
 recreation the Canadian government grants permission for 
 temporary camps on its islands, and the privilege is made 
 available to large numbers throughout the summer and 
 fall months. 
 
 The Painted Rock 
 
 One of the old Indian land-marks often cited by writers 
 and travelers was the painting on the riverside cliff to the 
 east of Brockville. Many deductions have been drawn 
 from it, but early legend made easy explanation. The 
 painting represented roughly a canoe containing several 
 Indians and two white men, the latter in postures indi- 
 cating that they were falling out of the craft. Each year a 
 group of Indians would appear and re-color the lines of 
 the painting, with incidental wierd ceremonies under- 
 standable to the Indians only. These visits continued 
 long after the river shores were settled with farm homes 
 and villages. 
 
 According to legend, the occasion of this rude painting 
 was an accident which befell some of Frontenac's Indians 
 back in 1696, upon the return of the vigorous old gov- 
 ernor's punative expedition into the country of the Onon- 
 dagas in central New York. Among the prisoners taken 
 ( 45 ) 
 
were two Englishmen, who were being carried down the 
 St. Lawrence in a canoe propelled by several Indians. 
 Near Brockville a severe storm threatened the heavily 
 ladened canoe, so the Indians threw overboard the two 
 Englishmen to lighten the craft or as a sacrifice to the 
 angry spirit of the storm. The sacrifice proved unaccep- 
 table, for the Indians w^re all wrecked and drowned in 
 the St. Lawrence near the great cliff. Other Indians of 
 their tribe painted the picture commemorating the dis- 
 aster, and apparantly continued for many generations to 
 offer incantations and pleas to the angry spirit. 
 
 The American Islands 
 
 The earliest grants of title to the Thousand Islands 
 were made under the French administration in 17 14, 
 when they were conveyed as a "fief" to Sieurs Piot de 
 Langlosierie and Peti|: who took the oath of fealty. When 
 these men died half of the islands were granted to Louis 
 Hertel and Sieur Lamarque, who married daughters of 
 Langloisierie, and the other half to Eustace Dumont, who 
 had also married a daughter of the original owner. One 
 of the later claimants of part of the islands through pur- 
 chase was William Claus, son of Colonel Daniel Claus, 
 the latter known for his work among the Indian allies of 
 the English during the Revolutionary period. The widow 
 of William Claus, Catherine Claus, together with her 
 four children, John Johnson Claus, Warren Claus, the 
 widow Geale and her children and Catherine Anne Claus 
 
 ( 46 ) 
 
took the oath of fealty for one-fourth of the fief. This 
 had come through purchase from Jacob Jordan, Simon 
 Fraser and Louis de Chambly, v/hose title to half the fief 
 was confirmed in 1781. One-fourth was held by Jouvier 
 Dontail Lacroix, through gift to his father by Marie 
 Anne Celeron, widow of Sieur Lamarque. 
 
 Evidently the early French and English owners never 
 made use of the lands conveyed, nor does it appear that 
 the British government made compensation when half the 
 islands were conveyed to the United States following the 
 boundary survey begun in 181 7, and the Porter-Barclay 
 treaty signed in 1822. 
 
 This survey and agreement settled the title to the 
 Thousand Islands, which had been in dispute and un- 
 certainty ever since the close of the Revolution in 178.3, 
 when the dividing line was set at the "main channel of 
 the St. Lawrence." Though title to the islands could 
 not be guaranteed, this was not sufficient impediment to 
 settlers or timber operators. On the larger islands small 
 farms were cleared and cultivated, after the timber had 
 been made into staves or rafted down to the great ship- 
 yards and lumber mills of Montreal and Quebec. One 
 of the earliest of these men was William Wells, whose 
 name was given to the large island known as Wellsley 
 Island. About 1790 he began cutting timber which he 
 converted into staves for the English market, and in the 
 course of a number of years he and his men had cleared 
 the best timber from a number of the islands. 
 
 ( 47 ) 
 
Carleton Island was similarly cleared at an early date, 
 and the land cultivated by people who were anxious for a 
 clear title from the American government. Around the 
 shores of Carleton Island there were a great many 
 "shanties" of the fishermen during the early years of the 
 last century. 
 
 After the larger islands and accessible lands along shore 
 were cleared of the best timber, and following the advent 
 of steam navigation, two points in the St. Lawrence 
 became headquarters for making up rafts and squaring 
 timber for Montreal and Quebec — the busy settlement at 
 French Creek, later named Clayton, and Wolf Island. 
 At the latter place there is a small cove near the foot, on 
 the north side, where logs and poles may yet be seen in the 
 depths of clear blue water. At Garden Island, opposite 
 Kingston near Wolf, was another one of the later stations 
 for shipwork and timber operations. 
 
 The Indian Title 
 
 Title to all the lands bordering upon the south shore of 
 the St. Lawrence adjacent to the Thousand Islands came 
 to the State of New York by treaty made with the 
 Oneida Indians at Fort Stanwix in 1788. The Oneidas, 
 who alone of the six nations of the Iroquois remained 
 steadfast friends of the colonists during the Revolution, 
 claimed title to all this territory under ancient agreement 
 of the Indian federation, though it was common hunting 
 ground for all the Iroquois. 
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
When the State of New York conveyed these lands to 
 Alexander Macomb in 1791 the islands within the boun- 
 dary waters were supposed to be included, with the ex- 
 ception of Carleton. However, these islands were never 
 conveyed until after the formal survey begun in 181 7, 
 which attached the American islands to the adjacent 
 townships. Colonel Elisha Camp, a prominent resident 
 of Sackets Harbor, N. Y., then became owner, and trans- 
 ferred his title to Yates & Mclntyre of New York city. 
 
 In the early days of "tourist" fishermen Azariah 
 Walton and Chesterfield Parsons of Alexandria Bay 
 purchased the northern half of Wellsley Island from 
 Yates & Mclntyre and also "all the islands in the Ameri- 
 can waters from the foot of Round Island, at Clayton, to 
 Morristown" for $3,000. This was in 1845. Mr. Walton, 
 who was senior member of the firm Walton & Cornwall, 
 later became sole owner of the islands, and when he died 
 in 1853 Andrew Cornwall continued the business with 
 John F. Walton as junior partner of Cornwall & Walton. 
 This firm purchased from the estate of Azariah Walton 
 all the islands owned by him and also nearly all of the 
 remaining half of Wellsley Island, thus becoming owners 
 of practically all the American islands. 
 
 The firm cut fire wood for steamers on the most acces- 
 sible islands, and soon after the Civil War of 1861-65 
 they were able to realize a further profit in the sale of 
 land to summer visitors. This was a course decided upon 
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
when coal began to supplant wood in river and lake navi- 
 gation about i860. In 1877 both Cornwall and Walton 
 retired and the firm of Cornw^all Brothers was formed to 
 continue the real estate projects and general trading of 
 the founders. 
 
 Early Tourists 
 
 Among the early visitors to the St. Lawrence for fish- 
 ing and hunting were Martin Van Buren and Silas 
 Wright, the one a president of the United States and the 
 other a senator and governor of New York. Other men 
 who frequented the river in the 40's and 50's were Wil- 
 liam L. Marcy, William H. Seward, Thomas G. Alvord, 
 lieutenant-governor of New York, and a genial crowd of 
 political notables who listened to the stories of Azariah 
 Walton, or gathered under the hospitable roof of Charles 
 Grossman's tavern. The latter succeeded to the business 
 of his father-in-law in 1848, and helped to spread the 
 fame of the Thousand Islands as a resort for hunters, 
 fishermen and seekers for healthful recreation in summer. 
 
 Among the later presidents who fished at the Thousand 
 Islands were Grant, Arthur, Cleveland and Roosevelt. 
 
 President Monroe in 18 17 visited the St. Lawrence. 
 He arrived in Ogdensburg August i, and was joined by 
 General Jacob Brown and others and the party proceeded 
 to Sackets Harbor where the barracks and fortress were 
 inspected, and then the chief executive embarked on board 
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
the U. S. brig Jones and sailed over Lake Ontario to 
 Niagara. 
 
 Other men of note who traveled upon the river and 
 remarked upon the beauty of the Thousand Islands were 
 the authors, James Fenimore Cooper and Washington 
 Irving, later Dr. Johan Kohl, the great traveler and 
 scientist of Bremen, Benson J. Lossing, historical writer, 
 the Prince of Wales and his imposing staff of military 
 and civilian notables in i860, who visited the Canadian 
 towns along the St. Lawrence and were given a rousing 
 reception previous to the Prince's visit to the United 
 States. 
 
 Writers, scientists, statesmen, clergymen, diplomats, 
 captains of Industry and other notables of later days 
 came in numbers too numerous to mention, and carried 
 away with them a keen appreciation of the natural beau- 
 ties and healthful climate of the Islands, as well as its 
 abundance of game fish and birds. 
 
 Lost Channel 
 
 If the present-day visitor to the Thousand Islands will 
 venture into that maze of channels and small islands on 
 the north of Wellsley Island, above Rockport, without 
 the guidance of one familiar with the waters, he will have 
 about the same experience as those puzzled English sailors 
 and soldiers back In 1760 — the last year of the French 
 war. When General Amherst's great flotilla of small 
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
boats was bound down the St. Lawrence from Oswego In 
 August of that year the leading boats were two armed 
 sail craft, the Onondaga and Mohawk. The lookouts 
 discovered a batteau leaving Buck (Carleton) Island just 
 before the English approached, and the latter immediately 
 gave pursuit down the river, led by the Onondaga. 
 
 The fleeing craft was able to keep clear, and soon 
 crossed to the north side of the river, where the islands 
 were more numerous and closely grouped. Here the 
 English vessel was met by a hot fusilade of arrows and 
 musketry from the wooded shores and rocky bluffs, but 
 cleared away opposition by heavy gunfire. The wind 
 lightened, and the lookout lost sight of the fleeing boat, 
 nor was he able to discern a good channel. 
 
 Captain Loring of the Onondaga gave orders to lower 
 a boat and sent word back to the Mohawk not to ap- 
 proach the dangerous rocks, uncertain channels and swift 
 waters. Another small boat found a safe passage for the 
 vessel, and anchor was dropped below the thickest of the 
 islands. Here the Onondaga waited for Coxswain Terry 
 and his crew, who had set out to find the Mohawk. 
 Captain Loring's own narrative tells of the naming of 
 this channel, as follows: 
 
 "After some time, I ordered Ensign Barry to take the 
 cutter and search for the coxswain and his crew. After 
 some hours Ensign Barry returned. He had been bewild- 
 ered among the numerous channels, not being able to 
 
 ( 52 ) 
 
even distinguish the channels through which the vessel had 
 come, nor the one by which she entered the group of 
 islands, nor had he discovered the first boat lowered. 
 Ensign Barry called it "The River of the Lost Channel," 
 and in that way was it ever after spoken of among the 
 men. Thinking that coxswain Terry and his crew had 
 boarded the Mohawk, and that they would return to 
 us when we joined the fleet, I determined to sail as soon 
 as the wind freshened." 
 
 Captain Loring was unable to sail that day, August 14, 
 and was compelled to wait because of contrary winds and 
 narrow channels until the i8th, and the army before Fort 
 Levis was reached on the 19th. Firing had been heard a 
 short distance from the Onondaga, from which a lookout 
 had discovered a French brig a few miles away, and 
 under date of the 19th Captain Loring's journal said: 
 
 "Reached the army today and reported to General 
 Amherst. Coxswain Terry and his crew are undoubt- 
 edly lost, as they did not board the Mohawk, but started 
 to return to the Onondaga. The firing on the day be- 
 fore yesterday was the attack on the French brig by our 
 armed gallies under the command of Col. Williamson, 
 who captured her after a severe engagement lasting two 
 hours. It was a most gallant affair. The brig has been 
 named the Williamson, after the gallant colonel. The 
 fort is to be invested tomorrow." 
 
 X 53 ) 
 
Thousand Island Park 
 
 The southwesterly part of Wellsley Island has been 
 known for nearly half a century as Thousand Island 
 Park and the popularity of this beautiful resort owes its 
 inception to the efforts of the late Rev. J. F. Dayan, then 
 a retired Methodist minister, who sought to establish a 
 development among the Islands comparable to Asbury 
 Park, Ocean Grove and Chautauqua. 
 
 It was recognized by this pioneer of the park that there 
 was a demand among religious people for a place to spend 
 their summers which would provide the benefits of change 
 of scene, healthful location, accessibility, beauties of 
 nature, and yet be free from the dissipations and excesses 
 of frivolous people. Indeed, the thought of religion was 
 first in the minds of the men who sponsored the move, 
 and the numerous restrictions which were placed on the 
 island such, for instance, as the non-stopping of the Island 
 steamers at the dock on Sunday and the ban on amuse- 
 ments, brought much criticism from other island visitors 
 who felt that the Sabbath was a day of recreation as well 
 as the other six days of the week, and that the operations 
 of steam boats on Sundays meant a pleasant day for many 
 whose holidays were restricted to the week end. 
 
 However, there were enough who felt as did Parson 
 Dayan and in a single day the original association sold 
 $22,000 worth of lots. The magnificent Columbian 
 
 ( 54 ) 
 
hotel was built and for years was a mecca for tourists. 
 Many conventions were held there, until fire wiped out 
 this great hotel. 
 
 During the recent years there has been a disposition on 
 the part of many of the stockholders to change the policy 
 of the association. The majority of the stock is owned 
 by residents of Syracuse. Recent negotiations by Mor- 
 mons, now known as Saints of the Latter Day Church of 
 Christ, for a controlling interest in the association failed 
 though the report caused considerable fear on the part of 
 many of the minority stockholders that a colony of this 
 western church would be established in this, the mother 
 state of the Saints. 
 
 Thousand Island park contains scores of cottages of 
 families residing in all parts of the United States, and 
 there is a strong community spirit, for some of the people 
 have returned there year after year for a span of two 
 generations. 
 
 The Legend of Hiawatha 
 
 To most students of Iroquois legends and Thousand 
 Island history there has come a certainty that the St. 
 Lawrence bore some part in the origin of that beautiful 
 legend of Hiawatha. The poem of Longfellow placed 
 Hiawatha in the west, but the poem does not give the 
 ( 55 ) 
 
legend in the strict interpretation of the Iroquois. Kindred 
 tribes of the Five Nations living at the headv^aters of the 
 Great Lakes preserved in a large measure the same tradi- 
 tions as the distant Iroquois of central New York, tradi- 
 tions told around the great council fires when the old 
 wampum records were scanned to reveal ancient facts and 
 treaties. 
 
 The Thousand Island region may justly lay claim to 
 the origin of this legend, which must have had some basis 
 in fact. The scenery of the Islands corresponds to the 
 Indian stories, which liken this region to Manatoana, the 
 garden of the Great Spirit. Early recognition of this 
 was made in the name of Calumet Island, opposite Clay- 
 ton, which resembles the shape of the great peace pipe 
 fashioned by Gitche Manito when he called for peace on 
 earth. Afterward, when peace was broken and the beau- 
 tiful garden with the peace pipe was gathered up by 
 Gitche Manito, the mighty, into the vast blanket to be 
 carried away from the recreant people, the blanket broke 
 and the garden fell into the St. Lawrence, forming the 
 Thousand Islands. 
 
 The best rendering of the Iroquois version was made 
 by Mr. J. V. Clark of Manlius, as related to him by 
 Onondaga chiefs in 1843 and reported to the New York 
 Historical Society. Mr. Clark's version is quoted by 
 most writers of historical articles relating to hunting 
 grounds and legends of the Iroquois and the early settle- 
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
merit of New York. It was generally accepted that 
 Hiawatha came to live among the Onondagas, and was 
 considered their w^isest counselor and ablest hunter. He 
 was the legendary founder of the federation of Five 
 Nations. 
 
 The hero of Longfellow's poem is of the Algonquins, 
 ancient enemies of the Iroquois. The poet used the name 
 Hiawatha because of its cadence. His hero's real name 
 was Manabozho, or Michabou, which means Great Hare. 
 His geneology was thus rendered by Longfellow: 
 
 Nakomis, swinging among the grape vines on the full 
 moon, fell to the pararies of the earth. She bore a daughter 
 named Wenonah, who was espoused of the west wind, 
 Mudjekeewis: 
 
 "Thus was born my Hiawatha, 
 Thus was born the child of wonder." 
 
 But this was, as admitted by the poet, fancy added to 
 lore learned from the works of Schoolcraft, Catlin and 
 others, including an Objibway chief who lectured in 
 Boston in 1849. 
 
 The legend as preserved by the Iroquois is as follows: 
 
 In the dim vista of ages past the diety presiding over 
 the streams which provided food for the peoples of the 
 earth came to earth to visit its inhabitants, being commis- 
 sioned by the greater diety, Ha-w^a-ne-u, to clear streams 
 for passage and to find good things for his people. 
 
 ( 57 ) 
 
Ta-onu-ya-wat-ha was the lesser diety and he appeared 
 as a speck over the waters to two 3'oung Onondaga braves, 
 who were looking over the blue expanse of the waters of 
 the Thousand Islands. The speck danced over the river, 
 ever growing in size and ever approaching the mortals 
 who watched with fear its approach. 
 
 As it neared the shore it assumed the form of a vener- 
 able Indian, seated in a pure white canoe propelled by the 
 strong arm of the god. Silently he made his way to the 
 shore and there he landed, making fast his canoe, then 
 ascending a nearby hill on the summit of which he stood 
 gazing in contemplation and approval of the vista spread 
 before him. 
 
 Then he came to the hunters and after inquiring of the 
 difficulties of their state of life he disclosed his exalted 
 character. He bade the men accompany him on this first 
 "tour of the Islands," from which they ascended to the 
 lesser lake country. He made the fishing and hunting 
 grounds free to all, taught the men how to raise corn and 
 beans, removed all obstructions from the navigable streams 
 and became so enamoured of the world as reconstructed 
 that he assumed the character and habits of a man — Hi-a- 
 wat-ha, "very wise man." 
 
 He called a council of the tribes when a hostile inva- 
 sion of enemies was threatened, and urged the need of a 
 league for common defense. The Indians immediately 
 formed the federation of the Five Nations. Thereafter 
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
the great man arose and addressed the assembly as follows : 
 
 "Friends and Brothers, I have now fulfilled my mission 
 on earth; I have done everything which can be done at 
 present for the good of this great people. Age, infirmity 
 and distress sit heavily upon me. During my sojourn 
 among you I have removed all obstructions from your 
 streams. Canoes can now pass everywhere. I have 
 given you good fishing waters and good hunting grounds ; 
 I have taught you how to cultivate corn and beans, and 
 have showed you the art of making cabins. Many other 
 blessings I have liberally bestowed upon you. 
 
 "Lastly, I have now assisted you to form an everlasting 
 league and covenant of strength and friendship, for your 
 future safety and protection. If you preserve it without 
 the admission of other people you will always be free, 
 numerous and mighty. If other nations are admitted to 
 your councils, they will sow jealousies among you and you 
 will become enslaved, few and feeble. 
 
 "Remember these words ; they are the last you will 
 hear from the lips of Hiawatha. Listen, my friends: the 
 Great-Master-of-Breath calls me to go. I have patiently 
 awaited His summons. I am ready. Farewell." 
 
 Celestial voices in wonderful harmony sounded and the 
 
 choirs of the Happy Hunting Grounds chanted the praises 
 
 of the law giver and peacemaker, according to the legend. 
 
 Then, w^hile eyes were turned heavenwards, Hiawatha, 
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
seated in his pure white canoe, was seen to rise, higher 
 and higher to the vault of blue above, fading and fading 
 from sight, going as he came, a speck of w^hite against 
 the blue. 
 
 Other Traditions 
 
 One of the traditions having to do with the migration 
 of the Iroquois from their northern homes along the 
 lower St. Lawrence to central New York tells of the 
 fued with the Algonquins. At that time the Iroquois 
 were few in numbers, and lived largely through the peace- 
 ful pursuits of agriculture, though somewhat under the 
 dominance of the Algonquins who lived by hunting only. 
 In a joint expedition of young braves of both peoples the 
 Algonquins took the lead in the chase for several days, on 
 the assumption that they were better hunters, and that 
 the more peaceful Iroquois should do the menial work of 
 skinning and preparing the game killed by the Algonquins. 
 These latter met with no success, and the hunt was then 
 in turn taken up by the young Iroquois, who brought in 
 abundant game the first day for their Algonquin friends 
 to skin and clean. This so angered the latter that in the 
 night they murdered all the sleeping Iroquois. 
 
 The feeling between the tribes burst into open warfare, 
 
 and gradually the Iroquois retreated up the St. Lawrence 
 
 and to their final homes in central New York. This 
 
 slow and bitter retreat was prolonged through many gen- 
 
 ( 60 ) 
 
crations, until the warlike ferocity of the Iroquois became 
 a menace to all surrounding peoples. 
 
 Another story of mythical character gives a pretty 
 picture of the birth of the Iroquois peoples. On the 
 South Branch of Sandy Creek at the eastern end of Lake 
 Ontario, where a small stream emptied into the larger one 
 amid tall woods of aged pine and tumbled heaps of rock, 
 a blast of the storm god burst open the ground, and from 
 the opening came forth a man and woman. They built 
 a hut and reared a family in this beautiful hunting 
 ground, full of beaver and deer and elk, and the streams 
 teeming with salmon. From this family sprang the great 
 race of Iroquois, as recounted to the children of many 
 generations in the Long Houses. 
 
 In all the legends and mythical stories concerning the 
 origin of these people the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario 
 region figure prominently. The present day summer 
 playground of the border was their ancient homeland. 
 
 Refugees of Napoleon's Empire 
 
 Among the points of interest at Cape Vincent is 
 Restland, a summer home recently purchased by a Water- 
 town resident from the descendants of Louis Peugnet, 
 captain in the Emperor's body guard, who still wore in 
 this country the cross of the Legion d' Honneur pinned on 
 his breast by Napoleon Bonaparte. The home is located 
 
 ( 61 ) 
 
on the shore of the St. Lawrence and faces Wolfe Island. 
 For a century it remained in possession of the Peugnet 
 family, but the last owners of this line resided in St. 
 Louis, so they were willing to dispose of a property that 
 had family associations for five generations and historical 
 associations dating to the overthrow of Napoleon. 
 
 Louis Peugnet came to Cape Vincent in 1815, joining 
 there a notable band of French exiles who had purchased 
 land from the agency of Count James LeRay. There on 
 the shores of the St. Lawrence it was proposed by some 
 of the adventurous members of nobility and adherents of 
 the Bonaparte regieme to establish another "New France," 
 and it was near the Peugnet home that the Cup and 
 Saucer House was built for Napoleon, who was in exile 
 at St. Helena. But the plot came to naught, owing to 
 the death of the ex-emperor, and the next generation 
 sought nothing more exciting in political fortunes than 
 the ofKces of overseer of roads, poundmasters, county 
 supervisor, etc. 
 
 The Peugnets became one of the substantial families of 
 the town of Cape Vincent and numerous descendants of 
 of the former captain of Napoleon's body guard now 
 reside throughout that section. 
 
 The Peugnet home was well built and, being modeled 
 to French types, was artistic, a spot of loveliness in a 
 wilderness country. To it came General LaFayette 
 when he made a tour of the United States years after he 
 
 ( 62 ) 
 
had come to the rescue of Washington In the war of the 
 Revolution. 
 
 The owner has repaired and Improved the property and 
 has rechrlstened It **Restland," a title which bears much 
 truth, for there Louis Peugnet, and his brothers Hyacinthe 
 and Theophllus, found quiet and happiness after witness- 
 ing the collapse of their beloved empire. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte, exiled ex-kIng of Spain, Naples and 
 Jerusalem, was a visitor there and the Peugnet brothers 
 were wont to go to Natural Bridge In Jefferson County, 
 where the brother of Napoleon and possessor of the triple 
 titles maintained a forest court In regal splendor. 
 
 Coaches in four made trips from one colony to another 
 and the conventions of the capltols of Europe were main- 
 tained in a wilderness. Furniture, silver, candelabra and 
 clothing, all came from France, and the beautiful scenery 
 of this section provided a rare setting for the spendors of 
 Paris. 
 
 The Island region claims one of the features of the 
 Sahara — mirages. Due to the clearness of the atmosphere 
 the city of Kingston has been mirrored In the skies and 
 the great forts of the Canadian city have been seen from 
 long distances, sometimes erect and sometimes Inverted, 
 by residents of river towns. This phenomenon has also 
 been observed at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario. 
 
 ( 63 ) 
 

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