Answer.—J. Fenimore Cooper, the pioneer of American novelists, was born in Burlington, N. J., Sept. 15, 1789. Reared in the wild country surrounding Otsego Lake, he early became acquainted with the natural scenery which he afterward so vividly described. His father, who was a member of Congress, sent him when but 13 to Yale College, where he remained two years. At the age of 16 he joined the United States navy, and made two extended cruises, which gave him all the information he desired concerning the sea. Resigning, he married, and settled at Westchester, N. Y., where he began to write his novels. The first, “Precaution,” appeared in 1819, and from that time he continued to write until his death, in 1851. In 1826 he visited Europe, returning in 1833. The novels of Cooper are considered remarkable for their descriptions; but in the general finish of his stories he has many superiors. His histories, while they are fascinating in interest, are not considered altogether reliable. His principal works are “The Pioneers,” “The Spy,” “The Pilot,” “The Prairie,” “Naval History of the United States,” and “The Pathfinder.”
MACKINAC.
Brimfield, Ind.
Please give a short history of Mackinac Island.
D. D. Poitner.
Answer.—The island of Mackinac, famed in Indian legends and the early French and English history of the West, was first visited by white men in 1634, when John Nicollet and a few Hurons and French voyageurs came to Green Bay to make a treaty with the Indians of that region. In 1670 that devout Jesuit missionary, Jean Marquette, lived on this island for about two years while building a chapel and dwelling on a point opposite on the site of the present Mackinac City. While here he wrote the following description: “Missili-Mackinac is an island, famous in these regions. It is of more than a league in diameter, and elevated in some places into such high cliffs as to be seen more than twelve leagues off. It is situated just in the strait forming the communication between Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan). It is the key and, as it were, the gate for all the tribes from the south.” “This place is the most noted in these regions for the abundance of its fisheries; for, according to the Indian saying, this is the home of the fishes.” The history of this gem of the lakes is intertwined with that of the old Mackinac town. This ancient village was for many centuries the headquarters of the Ottawa, Objibwa, and other Indian nations, and when Marquette succeeded in winning their friendship and in constructing his chapel, it became the great trading post of the French-Canadians. Soon a fort was constructed, and the white foreigners lived here and traded in peace. But when in 1759 Quebec was taken by the English, Mackinac fell to the conquerors. These new masters were very unpopular with the suspicious inhabitants, who soon found an opportunity to avenge their previous wrongs and defeats by a complete massacre of the garrison. In order to retain a post in that locality and prevent a repetition of such slaughter, the English constructed in 1780 a fort on the island, which in 1793 was surrendered to the United States. In the war of 1812 it was surprised before its garrison was aware of the declaration of war and surrendered to the English besiegers. Upon the close of the struggle it was returned to the jurisdiction of the United States. For many years the island was the outfitting and furnishing place of John Jacob Astors’ Indian traffic, under the name of the Northwestern Fur Company, but when that gentleman sold out in 1834 to Ramsey Crooks, of New York, the trade of the post gradually decreased. The island is one of the most beautiful localities, in its natural scenery and surroundings, of which our country can boast. The clear water, the imposing rocks, and the old fort, all add luster to its many charms. One of its chief natural attractions is Arch Rock, which, projecting from the precipice on the northeastern side of the island, forms a natural bridge 140 feet in height. The bridge, the Indians say, was constructed by the giant fairies, who formerly made the island their abode, but the unpoetical scientist declares that at one time the water was much higher than in this age, and that its continuous action wore away the calcareous rock, and left this arch.
METALS AND THEIR USES.
Wall Lake, Iowa.