[3] Estimated by him at 233 miles.
[4] The surrender of the lake country by Great Britain, in 1796, at the close of what is known as General Wayne's war, extended to Michilimackinac, the remotest British garrison. The region northwest of this post was occupied by numerous tribes of Indians, who continued to be supplied with goods by British traders till after the close of the war of 1812. In 1816, Congress passed an act confining the trade to American citizens. Under this state of affairs, the Northwest Company of Montreal sold out their trading-posts and fixtures, northwest of Michilimackinac, to Mr. John Jacob Astor, of New York, who, from an account of one of his active factors, invested about $300,000 per annum in merchandise adapted to the Indian habits.
[5] Vide Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, with a View of the Lead-Mines of Missouri. New York, 1819. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 256. 1853.
[6] Professor F. Hall.
[7] Clarke's Travels.
[8] This is an Iroquois word, said to signify the thunder of waters. The word, as pronounced by the Senecas, is Oniágarah. For additional information on this subject, see Notes on the Iroquois, p. 453. The etymology of the word has not, however, been fully examined. It is clear the pronunciation of the word in Goldsmith's day was Niagára.
[9] Report of the New York Canal Commissioners.
[10] The census of Detroit in 1850 gives it 21,019.
[11] Michigan. This Territory contained, at this period, a population of 8,896 inhabitants, principally Frenchmen, who were the descendants of the original settlers of the time of Louis XIV. In 1835, the population had so increased, chiefly by emigration from the older States, that the inhabitants applied for admission into the Union. The act of Congress admitting it was passed in 1836. In 1846, it had 212,267 souls. By the seventh national census, in 1850, it is shown to have a population of 397,654, entitling it to four representatives in Congress, with a large fraction. Its resources, its healthful climate, fertile soil, and very advantageous position on the great chain of navigable waters of the Upper Lakes, must insure a rapid development of its means and resources, and place the State, in a few years, in a high rank among the circle of American States.
[12] Now called Clinton River, a change made by Act of Legislature, the frequent repetition of this name by the French having been found inconvenient in the lake geography. 1853.