292 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



came quietly as friends, and were allowed to establish 

 themselves without interference. 



On the first rise of ground overlooking the river, 

 the palisades were raised and the guns set, and by the 

 close of August, Fort Ponchartrain became a reality. 

 The Miamis and Pottawattomies were soon induced to 

 make a settlement near by, and afterwards a few Huron 

 and Ottawa bands collected on the opposite shore of 

 the river near the site of Windsor. The point quickly 

 attracted the fur trader, being in a direct line from 

 Michilimackinac to Montreal and Quebec. For sixty- 

 two years the French held possession of Detroit, profit- 

 ing by her superior location, and the friendship of 

 the Indians, but their day ended when the sharp eyes 

 of Wolfe discovered the steep ascent to the " Plains of 

 Abraham," in Canada, and pointed a way for British 

 supremacy. 



The Treaty of Paris, which was the outcome of the 

 French and Indian War, called for the surrender of 

 all the forts held by the French, but news travelled 

 so slowly that when Captain Rodgers wdth his two 

 hundred rangers came to take possession of Fort 

 Ponchartrain, he found still floating over it the flag of 

 France. While on his way to execute this mission, 

 he was met by Pontiac, the Ottawa chief, who was 

 angered by the transfer of claimants to his land, and 

 who demanded of Rodgers " what right he had in 

 entering the dominion of the great Indian King with- 

 out permission." The answer he received was far 

 from satisfactory, but he bided his time to make his 

 dissatisfaction felt. The same feeling was manifested 

 everywhere by the Indian allies of the French, 

 but their wrath was concentrated upon Detroit, on 



