MIOHIGAI^. 



A HISTORY OF ITS HORTICULTURE. 



As preliminary to a history of horticulture in Michigan, it seems emi- 

 nently proper, if not indeed essential, that the subject be opened by some 

 account of the discovery and early settlement of the country. 



The first authentic record of the visit of Europeans to what is now the 

 State of Michigan is that of two Jesuit Fathers, Charles Kaymbault and 

 Isaac Jaques, who visited Sault Ste. Marie during the latter part of the year 

 1641, where they remained for some time, teaching the doctrines of Christi- 

 anity to the Chippewa Indians, but leaving with the purpose to return and 

 establish a permanent mission. The former fell a victim to disease, while 

 the latter met a martyr's death at the hands of the Iroquois. 



In the autumn of 1660, Rene Menard, also a Jesuit, coasted in a birch bark 

 canoe along the south shore of Gitchi Gomee (Lake Superior), as far as the 

 head of Keweenaw bay, where he spent the long, cold winter with no white 

 man nearer than the vicinity of Montreal. Continuing his journey the ensu- 

 ing summer, he became lost from his Indian guide, and was never heard of 

 afterward. 



Menard was followed the next year by another Jesuit, Claud Allouez, who 

 is said to have established a mission on the south shore of Lake Superior, 

 just without the present boundary of Michigan. He seems to have carefully 

 explored and mapped the entire lake, spending several years in this region. 



In 1668, Claud Dablon and (Pere) James Marquette established the first 

 permanent mission within the present borders of Michigan, at Sault Ste. 

 Marie. They seem to have remained here a considerable time, during which, 

 in company with Allouez, they are supposed to have explored Lake Michigan, 

 and are said to have visited the St. Joseph river, ascending it far enough to 

 learn something of its course and size, and, about 1679, established a mission 

 at the mouth of the river, and built a fort, which was occupied up to the time 

 of the revolutionary war. 



In the summer of 1679, La Salle and Hennepin built and launched the 

 Griffin, the first European vessel above the falls of Niagara, armed her with 

 five guns, and, during the succeeding autumn, made a voyage through the 

 upper lakes and rivers, as far as a point opposite the island of Michilimack- 

 inac — the present Mackinaw — passing up the Detroit river during August of 

 that year, and finding the Indian village of Teuchsagrondie, occupying the 

 site of the present city of Detroit. 



