THE PURSUERS DESTROYED, 



HON. C. L. BAILEY. 



"Ye who love a nation's legends. 

 Love the ballads of a people, 

 That like voices from afar off 

 Call to us to pause and listen, 

 Speak in tones so plain and childlike, 

 Scarcely can the ear distinguish 

 Whether they are sung or spoken — 

 Listen to this Indian legend." 



On the Eastern side of Michigan, just 

 North of the mouth of Saginaw bay, is the 

 outlet of the Au Sable river, a stream that 

 comes from the Northwest and rises on the 

 watershed of that portion of the State. 

 West of these headwaters the Manistee 

 river rises in a series of small lakes, and 

 flows Southwest into Lake Michigan a few 

 miles South of the mouth of the Au Sable 

 on the opposite side of the State. 



From this watershed the Jordan river 

 flows Northwest into Pine lake, which 

 empties into Lake Michigan at Charlevoix. 

 West of the upper end of the South arm of 

 Pine lake are the headwaters of the inter- 

 mediate chain of lakes, of which the largest 

 and most picturesque is Torch lake. It lies 

 almost North and South, and is joined by 

 the lakes above through Clam river, which 

 flows in to Torch lake about the middle of 

 the East shore. 



At the beginning of the 19th century the 

 Saginaw region was occupied in part by 

 Hurons, in part by Chippewas and in part 

 by Osakis, who had come there at some 

 earlier date from the territory about the 

 mouth of the St. Lawrence river. The Ot- 

 tawas, then a powerful nation, occupied the 

 Northwestern portion of the State from 

 the Straits of Mackinaw South to the 

 Kalamazoo river. South of the Ottawas, 

 in the territory between the Kalamazoo and 

 the St. Joe rivers, were the Pottawatomies. 

 They were under the great chief Po- 

 kagon. He was succeeded by his son, 

 Simon Pokagon, who has only recently 

 died, and who had becOme an authority in 

 contemporary literature as to Indian af- 

 fairs and traditions in Michigan. 



For years there had been a desultory 

 warfare between the 3 tribes of the Sagi- 

 naw region, which finally culminated in a 

 union of the Chippewas and the Hurons for 

 the avowed purpose of exterminating the 

 Osakis. Their chiefs and warriors were 

 bound by a mighty oath, witnessed by the 

 Great Spirit, that no taint nor vestige of 

 Osaki blood should be left among them, 

 nor should one of that tribe escape their 

 wrath. 



Knowing as they did thrt the Osakis 

 originally came from the St. Lawrence 

 country, they took it for granted that when 

 they discovered they were too weak to cope 



with the combined enemy, they would nat- 

 urally take once more to the great waters 

 and attempt to regain their old hunting 

 grounds to the Northwest. The Hurons 

 and Chippewas took as their first step to- 

 ward the total annihilation of the enemy, 

 precautionary measures to prevent their 

 escape by water, and guarded each point 

 along Lake Huron that would possibly per- 

 mit of the embarkation of the Osaki tribe. 

 To the West of them were the powerful 

 Ottawas, whose feelings were hostile alike 

 to Osakis, Chippewas and Hurons, and 

 whose territory was too broad to be 

 crossed without almost certain discovery. 

 It was thought the Osakis would fight and 

 die on their own territory rather than at- 

 tempt to invade or cross the Ottawa lands. 



During the making of these arrange- 

 ments by the Hurons and their allies, the 

 Osakis had not been idle nor were they 

 in ignorance of the plans of their enemies. 

 They had determined to escape if possible, 

 by some ruse which would enable them to 

 avoid a battle ; to reach the great lakes and 

 to make their way back to their old home 

 on the St. Lawrence or to find other hunt- 

 ing grounds around the great lakes. They 

 intended to risk crossing the Ottawa coun- 

 try, and trust to gaining Lake Michigan on 

 the West rather than attempt to reach 

 Lake Huron direct from their own terri- 

 tory and fall into the trap set for them by 

 their enemies. 



Feigning ignorance of all hostile intent 

 on the part of the Hurons and Chippewas, 

 the Osakis gathered together their whole 

 tribe and started ostensibly on a fishing 

 and hunting pilgrimage up the Au Sable 

 river. Their idea was to push with their 

 canoes up that river to a point where it 

 approached nearest the Manistee river and 

 then portage across to the last named 

 stream, only 6 or 8 miles to the West ; to 

 there abandon their ponies, take to the 

 canoes, which would leave no tracks to 

 catch the eyes of the watchful Ottawas, 

 and make runs, by night only, down the 

 hundred or more miles of the Manistee 

 river to Lake Michigan, thence North to 

 the Straits of Mackinaw, which they hoped 

 to pass at night undiscovered, as also the 

 rivers connecting the great lakes farther 

 down. 



So guardedly was this plan of escape 

 carried out by the Osakis that no hint of 

 it reached their enemies until they were 

 well on their way up the Au Sable. Their 

 intention was to leave that stream at a 

 point near the present site of the village of 

 Grayling. Before they could reach that 



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