XO. 14 REMAINS OF CHIPPEWA SETTLEMENTS MEANS J 



site of this fort is in the large field on the southwestern end of the 

 island. A description of this, the " French Fort Site," will be given 

 later, together with a report on present conditions there. The 

 fur-trade flourished under the French throughout the region from 

 1 693-1 756. There was a succession of French commandants, one of 

 whom, Linctot, made peace between the Ojibwa and the Sioux about 

 1720.^ In this long stretch of years the Ojibwa, who by now had 

 returned to the island, passed through many changes. Their needs 

 were elaborated and Europeanized ; race intermixture occurred, and 

 new forms of disease were introduced, together with a craving for 

 whiskey. The anthropologist who wishes to study the Ojibwa in 

 their primitive circumstances must, then, look behind this period. 



From 1 730- 1 744, the Chequamegon region was controlled by the 

 Sieur La Ronde Denis and his son. They were not successful in their 

 search for copper mines, but they built a forty ton sailboat which 

 was the first on Lake Superior.- At that period the island was called 

 Isle La Ronde. 



In 1 760-1 761 the French fort on La Pointe was destroyed by some 

 traders who were horrified by the crimes of a voyageur who, in that 

 winter, had killed Joseph, a clerk, and his master, as well as Joseph's 

 wife and child. 



In 1765-66 Alexander Henry, a British trader, was vested with 

 sole right to trade on Lake Superior. He associated with him in his 

 business a young Frenchman named Jean Baptiste Cadotte.^ During 

 the same period ( 1760- 1800) a Scotch-Irishman named John Johnston 

 established himself near the old French fort at La Pointe Island, 

 not far from the spot later occupied by the " Old Mission," and 

 carried on trade with an Ojibwa village on the site of the modern 

 Bayfield. Johnston married a daughter of the chief of La Pointe.* 



The family of Jean Baptiste Cadotte, Sr., soon arose to prominence 

 among the Chippewa. He married a girl of the tribe and lived with 

 her at Sault Ste. Marie. His two sons, Jean Baptiste, Jr., and 

 ]^Iichel, took up his business in 1796. In 1802 Michel moved to La 

 Pointe, where he married Equaysayway, daughter of White Crane, 

 chief of La Pointe." Michel Cadotte occupied the site of the old 

 French fort. His house, dismantled and dilapidated, remains to this 

 dav. He became an agent of Astor's American Fur Company, which 



^ Thwaites, 1895, p. 411. 



- Thwaites, 1895, p. 411; Butler, 1894, p. 87. 



* Henry, 1809, p. 197 ff. 



"Thwaites, 1895, p. 415. 



'Thwaites, 1895, p. 415. 



