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HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS CONNECTED WITH WYANDOTTE AND
VICINITY BY DR. E. P. CHRISTIAN
In the spring of 1793 there were anchored in front of the town (Detroit) three brigs of about 200 tons each—the Chepeway and Ottawa, new vessels carrying eight guns each, the Dominion, an old vessel of six guns, and a sloop, the Felicity, of about 100 tons, armed with only two swivels, all belonging to His Majesty George III. and commanded by Commander Grant. There were besides several merchantmen, sloops and schooners, the property of private individuals. "
As illustrating the meager facilities for travel on the upper lakes, even at a much later period, when the tide of emigration had fairly set in, and the region beyond the lakes and entrance to the promised land of the western prairies was sought by this natural highway, I may mention the fact that in 1832, my father wishing to go from Detroit to Chicago, could only succeed in finding passage by a schooner to St. Joseph, on the Michigan shore of Lake Michigan, whence he made his way to Chicago around the head of Lake Michigan on foot, meeting no settlement except at Michigan City, where the first building was being erected.
We are not sure but that even in 1793 there were more war vessels on the lakes than at the present time, but contrast the amount of the merchant marine of even the time of Mr. George Clark's first visit, in 1817, with the mighty procession of the immense and magnificent steam propelled vessels, compared with the few tiny and sail driven vessels of that day; a constant and uninterrupted procession day and night, from the disappearance of the ice in Mackinaw straits and the Sault Ste. Marie, in the spring, till their closing again in November, all in full view from where stood the log cabin of Blue Jacket, in which Mr. Clark had resided, on the banks of the Detroit.
Michigan
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