It is more likely to have been one of those fearless and hardy men, one of the earliest members of what later became a distinct class—the Coureurs de Bois, or Woodsmen—a class founded by Champlain; on a correct principle for commercial intercourse and the extension of sovereignty, under conditions as they then and there existed (but probably without any full appreciation of the important and prominent part it was destined, later, to play in the development of New France); when, in 1610, he gave a young Frenchman, Etienne Brule, to the Algonquin chief Iroquet; who, in appreciation of Champlain's confidence, gave him a young savage named Savignon, as a pledge of future friendship.
Brule was the first Frenchman known to have joined the savages, to become one of them, and adopt their manner of life. He spent years amongst them, was a woodsman or trader, learnt their languages, was Champlain's personal interpreter among the various tribes, and was often sent as Ambassador from the French at Quebec to savage Nations.
Beloved and trusted by the Indians for years, traveling all over the Northwest, claiming to have discovered Lake Superior, and a copper mine on its shores (in proof of which he brought back samples of that metal to Quebec), he was finally tortured, put to death, and eaten by the Savages.
By reason of his acquaintance with many tribes, of his occupation, and of his travels, there is no one who is more likely to be entitled to the distinction of having been the first of the white man's race to behold Niagara than this same Etienne Brule.
From his intimacy with Champlain, he must have known—what Champlain knew and had recorded—of the existence of such a waterfall; indeed, it is by no means improbable that many of the details of Champlain's maps (especially those relating to regions which Champlain never saw, but which Brule did visit) were drawn from the latter's descriptions.
From his intimacy with Iroquet—Brule spent the better part of eight years in his Country and in that of his allies; being the territory lying to the north of Lake Ontario—he must have known what Iroquet knew of the location of such a waterfall (which was only about 150 miles from the center of his territory, and a journey of that distance was of small moment to the Indians of those days); and when Iroquet went to it as a "trading place," Brule doubtless accompanied him.
It must also be remembered that it was this same chief, Iroquet, who later confirmed to Father Daillon the renown of "the great River of the Neutrals"—that is the Niagara—as a Center of Trade; whose location he knew well, but refused to divulge to the Priest.
Knowing of such a wonderful waterfall's existence, and its general location; being a "trader," and Niagara being even then a well-known Center of Trade, the probabilities are that Brule visited it at a very early date.
A TRADING PLACE
But, while white men were no doubt at Niagara early in the 17th Century—possibly as early as 1611—and while we know that Traders and Priests were in its immediate vicinity at various times prior to 1669; and while we have good reason to believe, that in that latter year LaSalle himself explored the whole of the Niagara Frontier; yet it is not until 1678 that we have any positive record of any visit, nor any description of the Cataract by a man who claimed to have actually seen it.