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MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
Cadillac advised them to marry Indian maidens, for he thinks they will make good wives and good mothers, and such a course would help to christianize the race. His suggestion was followed in some cases, but not many. In 1703 an incendiary fire destroyed a portion of the fort, the church and several of the houses. The fire was started by an Indian who paid with his life the penalty of his crime. There had been some underhand work in disposing of the supplies sent on by the Company, and when this came to the knowledge of Cadillac he sternly reproved Captain Tonty for his conduct in the matter. This provoked some feeling between the two men. The friction with the Company led Cadillac in 1704 to appeal to Pontchartrain to be relieved from its surveillance. He asked to be given feudal tenure in respect to the town and all its surroundings, with the right to issue grants to those who should settle there for purposes of agriculture, etc. His request was granted and the king issued orders to the Company to surrender its rights
on the condition of being reimbursed for the goods in store. The governor, Vaudreuil, was also instructed to aid Cadillac in furnishing to him soldiers and settlers and protecting the interests of the new settlement in all possible ways.
Cadillac made grants or leases of small lots to upwards of one hundred and fifty persons at a fixed annual rental. These were outside the palisades, on the east side of Randolph street, from the river northward, and on both sides of the street called St. Ann, which was nearly on the line of the present Jefferson avenue, extending from Griswold street to Wayne. Houses built upon these lots consisted of stakes driven into the ground and chinked with clay, the roofs being constructed of "shakes, " or free grained logs of oak split into thin strips of considerable width, and held in place by poles laid crosswise and fastened at the ends with "withes" of twisted green saplings.
MICHIGAN
Page 69
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