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MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
Hither came also Dablon and Marquette. The latter established the mission at St. Ignace, which was some years afterward transferred to the south side of the strait near the locality now known as Mackinaw City. Marest and de Carheil were stationed here, but the mission was finally abandoned by the Jesuits in 1707.
The government placed military commandants at Sault Ste Marie and Michilimackinac. The fur trade carried on at these posts brought to them a great number of traders, as well as supernumeraries and Indians. The presence of an armed force was necessary to preserve order and to hold the natives in subjection. In 1694 de Ia Motte Cadillac was appointed to the command at Michilimackinac, and he had supervision over all the surrounding country. Writing from here to the governor-general under date of August 3, 1695, he says: This village is one of the largest in all Canada. There is a fine fort of pickets, and sixty houses that form a street in a straight line. There is a garrison of well-disciplined, chosen soldiers, consisting of about two hundred men, besides many others who are residents here during two or three months in the year. The houses are arranged along the shore of this great Lake Huron, and fish and smoked meats constitute the principal food of the inhabitants, so that a drink of brandy after the repast seems necessary to cook the billious meats and the crudities which they leave in the stomach. The air is penetrating and corrosive and without the brandy that they use in the morning, sickness would
be much more frequent. The villages of the savages, in which there are six or seven thousand souls, are about a pistol shot distant from ours. All the lands are cleared for about three leagues around their village and perfectly well cultivated. They produce a sufficient quantity of Indian corn for the use of both the French and the savage inhabitants.
MICHIGAN
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