Niagara: An Aboriginal Center of Trade

by Peter A. Porter

A little further on, Docteur Gendron writes,—

"Towards the south, and a little towards the west, is the Neuter Nation, whose villages, which are now on the frontier, are only about thirty leagues distant from the Hurons. It is forty or fifty leagues in extent" [that is from west to east, for it extended from the Detroit River to some distance east of the Niagara River].

Then he writes, what for the purpose of this article is the most interesting portion of the letters, as follows:

"Almost south of the Neuter Nation is a large lake, almost 200 leagues in circumference, called Erie, which is formed from the Fresh Water Sea, [Lake Huron] and falls, from a terrible height, into a third lake called Ontario, which we call St. Louis.

"From the foam of the waters, roaring at the foot of certain large rocks, which are found at this place, is formed a stone, or rather pulverized salt, of a somewhat yellowish color, of great virtue for healing wounds, fistulas, and malignant ulcers. In this place, full of horrors, live also certain savages, who live only on elk, deer, buffalos, and all other kinds of game that the rapids drag and bring down to the entrance of these rocks; where the savages catch them, without running for them, more than sufficient for their needs, and the maintenance of strangers [Indians from other and distant tribes], with whom they trade in these 'Erie Stones' ['Pierres Eriennes']—thus called because of this lake—who carry and distribute them to other Nations."

In confirmation of the Doctor's statement that articles were brought to Niagara, for the purposes of trade,—in 1903 there was opened an Indian Mound, on top of and close to the edge of the Mountain Ridge, some three and a half miles east of the Niagara River, on the Tuscarora Reservation, in the town of Lewiston, Niagara County, N.Y. It was a Burial Pit; and a Peace Burial Pit; more than probably dating from 1640, which was the last date of the ten-year Ceremonial Burials observed by the Neuters, who then owned and occupied all this Niagara Region; for before the expiration of the next ten year period, the Neuters had been annihilated by the Senecas. In it were found nearly 400 skulls, and the bones of probably an equal number of bodies, some articles of copper (made by the French, and proving trade with them), many hundreds of shell beads, and other articles of Indian make, among them some made from large Conche Shells, such as are found on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and curiously enough three or four large, unbroken, Conche Shells. These latter, it is fair to assume, were brought nearly 2,000 miles, to Niagara, there to be traded for those "Erie Stones" (and they were brought unbroken, so that their buyer could cut from them gorgets and other ornaments of the shape and size that suited his fancy), thus proving, that for some years, no one can pretend to say how many, perhaps centuries before Docteur Gendron wrote the second known reference to Niagara, the fame of the Cataract was widely known among the Indians of North America; even beyond the far-off, sunny lands, inhabited by the Arkansaws; clear to the mouths of the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters," and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

So it was a Physician, in a letter written from an unnamed place in the wilds of Canada, to a friend, of whose name we are ignorant, in France,—the contents of which letter were, in a few years, to be published to the World,—that was, in date the second, though in print the fourth, man ever to refer directly to Niagara Falls.

Yet, it is not surprising that it should have been so, for almost every instance in History tells us that, so far as newly discovered lands are concerned, it is the Explorer, or Empire-Builder, who first penetrates them, and the Priest soon follows the explorer, and the Physician soon follows the Priest. And that was exactly the order which was followed in the explorations of the Great-Lakes-Region of North America.

The Quartette—the third was an Italian, the other three were Frenchmen—who first referred directly to Niagara in print, stands—Champlain, Ragueneau, Bressani, Gendron, and in that order:—A Soldier of the Sword; two Soldiers of the Cross; and a Soldier of Medicine—though, so far as the dates when the letters of those four were written, and the information thus put in form which made its publication possible, are concerned, the Physician, Gendron, should occupy the second—instead of the fourth place. And, by-the-way, this Sieur Gendron was the first white Physician who is known to have lived anywhere in the western portion of this Country; the first white Physician in the limits of the present province of Ontario in Canada; and the first white Physician among the Indians of North America.

In the case of the good Docteur Gendron—who, next to Champlain, was the earliest to mention Niagara,—it was not the scenic beauty of the Falls (he does not say that he ever saw them), but it was something in the direct line of his profession which caused him to refer to them. It was because, at their base, and created, as he was told, by their waters, there was found—and there only—a panacea for many, if not for all, human ills. From his statements, it seems clear, that those "Erie Stones," which were "found only at Niagara," were themselves widely known amongst the Savages; and were a considerable article of trade between many, even to the most distant, Tribes.