308 GENERAL HISTORY. 



HISTORY OF COUNTIES. 



MONROE COUNTY. 



There seem to be good reasons for the belief that French settlers located 

 at or near the present city of Monroe, very probably for fur-trading purposes^ 

 as early as the year 1763. ' v* 



We quote from a paper read at a meeting of the Michigan State Pomolog- 

 ical Society, at its session at the city of Monroe on June 30th, 1874, by Ed- 

 win Willits, then a resident of that city, now president of the State Agri- 

 cultural College, as follows : — 



In the three-quarters of a century that had elapsed since the settlement of 

 Detroit, we can easily conceive that these French ^'voyageurs," who had 

 coasted the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario, had carried their canoes around 

 the Niagara, launched them in the waters of Lake Erie, and had followed 

 its shores until the delightful "straits" came to their gladdened sight ; we can 

 well imagine, I say, that these hardy "voyageurs" had not failed to explore 

 every nook and outlet of the vast waters their enterprise had made known to 

 the world. 



From all accounts, in all their explorations no fairer spot was found than 

 the region we possess this day. They had explored the Raisin Valley. In 

 their canoes they had left their homes on the straits, came down past Grosse 

 Isle, across the head of the lake to Pointe de Peaux (Point of Furs), thence 

 around Pointe de Roches (Stony Point) into a beautiful bay, thence across 

 the bay to the mouth of a river. Ascending the river amid the wild rice for 

 two miles, passing islands of the most luxuriant verdure, crowned with a 

 mantle of grape-vine, they came to where the rich bottom land yielded to 

 high and sloping banks. As they rounded the bend near where the railroad 

 bridge now stands, I can well imagine the beautiful scene before them. For 

 centuries the Indians had made their camp-fires on the banks of the river. 

 At intervals the undergrowth had been destroyed, and the grassy slopes be- 

 neath the groves of black walnut, elm and maple were as inviting as the most 

 artistic park designed by the landscape gardener- At intervals the wild, un- 

 broken forest came to the water's edge, and cast the shade of giant trees into 

 the river, and everywhere, in the wildwood, and in the glade, on the river's 

 edge, and as far away under the overarching trees as the eye could see, was 

 a wealth of grape-vines. Everywhere hung clusters of rich purple fruit — 

 everywhere, with a wild luxuriance that far surpassed the stories their fathers 

 had told of the vineyards of sunny France. Within the present century, 

 from a point near the foot of the street on which this building stands, to 

 where the mill-dam has been placed, a man now living walked and climbed 

 the whole distance, over eighty rods, on grape-vines, climbing from tree to tree 

 without touching the ground. No wonder these warm-hearted, enthusiastic 

 " voyageurs," as they paddled along up the river, cried out " Le raisin I Le 

 raisin! " (the grape, the grape) and that they then named the beautiful river, 

 " La Riviere au Raisin." 



