CHAPTER III
THE FOX WARS: A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT
With the dawn of the eighteenth century the character of the annals of Chicago undergoes a radical change. The period which had just closed had been marked by great activity on the part of the French in the adjoining region. For a quarter of a century the Illinois River had constituted their chief highway from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi. Upon its placid bosom trader, priest, and warrior alike had plied their bark canoes. For the time being the Illinois realized La Salle's design for it of furnishing the connecting link between the two great river systems of New France. The Chicago River and Portage thus became an important feature in the geography of New France, although it shared with the Kankakee the sum total of travel by the Illinois River route.
But already forces were at work which were to effect a complete readjustment of the Indian map of Illinois and Wisconsin, to shift the center of French influence in this region from northern Illinois to its lower Mississippi border, and to furnish one of the interesting although much-neglected chapters in the history of the long struggle between France and England for the supremacy of the continent. An adequate understanding of the character and operation of these influences necessitates a brief review of the circumstances of their origin.
In the year after the founding of Quebec, Champlain, the "Father of New France," engaged in an enterprise which proved to be fraught with far-reaching consequences for his countrymen. To gain the favor of the dusky neighbors of the infant colony he accompanied an Algonquin war party on a foray against their ancient foes, the Iroquois.[100] The latter had never seen a firearm, and their warriors fled in terror before the death-dealing device of the white man. The Algonquins gained a temporary triumph, and Champlain gave his name to the beautiful lake which still bears it. But of greater moment was it that New France, almost at its birth, gained the undying enmity of the Iroquois.
[100] For this expedition and its results see Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, IV, 117-21; 167-68.
Before the death of Champlain, and largely due to his zeal, the French had extended their explorations and trading-houses to the Great Lakes. In 1634 Nicolet passed through the Straits of Mackinac to Lake Michigan, traversed Green Bay, and revealed to his countrymen the region now known as Wisconsin. But now ensued a lull in the exploring activities of the French, and soon they were led to abandon their trading-posts on the lakes. The Iroquois had succeeded in establishing friendly relations with the Dutch along the Hudson, and by them were provided with guns and ammunition.[101] Thus armed they turned upon their enemies. The French had at first refrained from supplying their red allies with guns, and these now fell an easy prey to the combination of Iroquois courage and Dutch guns. In the ensuing years the Hurons were ruined, the Fries were exterminated, the region to the west, between the Ohio and the Great Lakes, was turned into a desert, and life was made a burden to the French of Canada.
[101] Winsor, op. cit., chap, v; Turner, "Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin," 14.
The expansion of New France was shortly resumed, but the hostility of the Iroquois operated powerfully to determine its course. By their victories the Iroquois secured possession of the upper St. Lawrence and of Lakes Erie and Ontario. The French were thus prevented from expanding southward. Their natural entrance to the Great Lakes by way of the upper St. Lawrence was closed, and they were forced to seek the upper lakes by the Ottawa River route to Georgian Bay. The alliance with the Algonquins, begun by Champlain, became general, and the French control over these tribes in the Great Lakes region was firmly established. The fur trade of the great interior thus became the chief financial support of Canada. On the other hand the English succeeded to the Dutch trade and friendship with the Iroquois, and, working through them as middlemen, competed actively with the French for the trade of the Northwest.
The effect of this combination on the execution of La Salle's designs has already been seen. The desire of the English to share in the fur trade of the Northwest furnished the principal motive for fomenting the wars between the French and the Iroquois.[102] Protection of his Indian allies against the Iroquois war parties was one of the conditions essential to the maintenance of La Salle's Illinois colony. The active competition of the English for the fur trade of the interior shortly produced another result. Before the advent of the white man in America the Indian had been economically self-sustaining.[103] Contact with civilization speedily developed in him new wants and tastes without developing the corresponding ability to satisfy them. In the fur-bearing animals of his country, however, he possessed a source of wealth greatly prized by the European peoples. Hence the basis of the barter which constituted the Indian trade. In this barter the red man should have occupied a position of equality with the white, since each possessed articles valuable in the eyes of the other. But, as always in bargaining, where the parties are unequally matched, the Indian, less intelligent and less shrewd than the white man, and dependent on the supplies of the latter for his very existence, got the worst of it. As long as the French monopolized the trade of the Northwest, so long was their control over the Indians absolute. The entrance of the English into competition for this trade, by giving the Indian another market for his furs and another source of supply of the goods needed, tended to free him from this control.
[102] Turner, "Character and Influence of the Fur Trade in Wisconsin," in Wisconsin State Historical Society Proceedings for 1889, 69.