La Salle and Le Griffon - Part 3

Image of Le Griffon from an old wood block



In 1678, while The Griffon project was being executed, La Salle had sent about a dozen men and merchandise to Michilimackinac to begin trading with the Illinois Indians. This advance party of Frenchmen, eventually convinced themselves that La Salle would never successfully build a large sailing ship in the wilderness and sail it on the Great Lakes. Hence, they chose to serve their own self-interests rather than carry out La Salle’s orders.

At Michilimackinac, a handful of these mutinous men, as well as what was rightfully La Salle’s trade goods and furs, were seized. A posse, lead by La Salle's second in command, Tonty, was sent to Sault Ste. Marie to arrest a few more deserters and recover more of La Salle’s property.

As the summer season was nearly over, La Salle ordered is men to raise anchor. The Griffon set sail for the straits and into Lake Michigan (then called Lake Illinois) on September 12. A fair wind propelled the ship to Washington island, situated at the entrance to La Grand Baie, now called Green Bay, about forty leagues from Michilimackinac. Washington Island was inhabited by Pottawatomie.

Some of the party La Salle had sent to Lake Illinois, the previous year, were found here. They had followed the instructions of their employer and traded merchandise for nearly twelve thousand pounds of furs, in anticipation of the arrival of the Griffon. The ship anchored in a small bay, known now as Detroit Harbor, on the south side of the island, and weathered a violent storm that lasted four days.

Winter was not far away. La Salle’s crew packed the Griffon with the furs and were ordered to sail back to the Niagara River and store the furs at a log cabin warehouse that had been built above Niagara Falls. From here, the men would transship the furs to Fort Frontenac where they would be used to settle La Salle’s debts.

La Salle did not accompany his crew aboard the Griffon. Instead, he planned to travel by canoe south to the head of Lake Michigan and on to the land of the Illinois.

La Salle could only trade for four canoes. Hence, much of the merchandise and supplies he planned to take with him on his southern exploration was left on the Griffon with instructions to drop it off at Michillimackinac and then proceed to the Niagara River.

On September 18, the crew prepared to sail. A west wind slowly propelled the Griffon from her safe harbor. A single cannon thundered as she bade “farewell” to La Salle and his small party of French explorers.

The Griffon, under the command of the pilot, Luc and assisted by a crew of five experienced sailors, carried a fabulous cargo of great value.

Nothing more was heard or seen of her. . . until recently!

La Salle and the Griffin, Part 2

In 1678-79 La Salle, the famous French Explorer, financed the construction of the first sailing ship on the Great Lakes. The ship was built in the wilderness near on the Niagara River. La Salle’s plan was to buy a ship-load of furs at deeply-discounted wilderness prices and sell them in Montreal at a huge profit.

In May 1679, the massive hull of the sailing ship was launched, sliding easily off her stocks into the Niagara River. A party of Iroquois Indians who witnessed the launching were shocked that the Frenchmen could build what the Iroquois thought was a large, floating fort in so short a time.
LaSalle named his ship Le Griffon (The Griffin), after a mystical creature with the body and legs of a lion and the beak and wings of an eagle. The ship carried a carved image of Le Griffon on her bow.

The Griffin was anchored in the Niagara River for several weeks while her masts and rigging were completed and supplies and gear carried aboard. The ship was loaded with all necessary arms, merchandise and provisions, including seven cannon.

On August 7, 1679, Le Griffon was towed into Lake Erie. A wished-for wind from the northeast arose. The 32 Frenchmen on board asked God to bless their venture as Le Griffon got underway.

For eons, the Native Americans could only hug the safety of the shore as they paddled their fragile canoes around the lakes. Le Griffon was the first craft to boldly cross the fresh-water seas called the Great Lakes.

Three days later, August 10th, Le Griffon reached the Detroit River, sailing between Grosse Isle and Bois Blanc island. The river was bordered on each side by vast prairies. In the distance were hills covered with vines, fruit trees, thickets and tall forest trees. Wild game abounded, including many species new to the crew. Soon the sails used to shade the deck of the Griffin, sagged with the carcasses of several deer killed by the crew. A variety of trees suitable for building covered the shore. Nut and fruit trees as well as wild vines, heavy with ripening grapes, grew in abundance.

The Griffon entered Lake Huron on August 23, crossed the Bay of Saginaw and was becalmed among the islands of Thunder Bay. Near Presque Isle on the 25th and 26th of August, the ship was battered by storms and rough seas.

On the 27th of August the ship rounded Point St. Ignace, and anchored in the bay of Michilimackinac. Here the crew found a settlement of Huron, Ottawa and a few Frenchmen.

The weary crew rejoiced as The Griffin anchored in this safe harbor. A salute was fired from the deck, and thrice answered by Huron firearms. The Franciscans celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Ottawa, thanking God for their safe arrival. La Salle attended the Mass, dressed in fine clothes, including a scarlet cloak bordered with gold lace. More than a hundred bark canoes, filled with curious Indians, swirled around the mighty ship.

The first sailing ship on the Great Lakes - Part 1

Old wood cut of the Griffon

For most of its history, New France controlled the lucrative fur trade. Frenchmen penetrated far into the North American wilderness to purchase luxurious furs from the Native Americans. The French purchased the furs with a variety of manufactured items such as iron pots, cloth, mirrors, blankets, guns, brandy and knives that they carried with them.

All the manufactured items and furs were transported in hundreds of birch-bark canoes. The fragile canoes were 35-40 feet in length and capable of carrying about two tons of cargo. Crews of men, known as voyageurs, paddled the canoes and, when necessary, carried the cargo and canoes over dry land when a “portage” was necessary.

A round trip voyage, which began and ended in Montreal, was long, dangerous, time-consuming and physically demanding. The fur trade needed to hire hundreds of young men from the fledgling colony of New France which often created a shortage of labor.

Hiring crews of young, strong men was not difficult. Paddling a canoe, discovering new lands, living with Native Americans, trading for furs and making good money was far more exciting than the drudgery of clearing new farmland and performing the never-ending chores of farming.

In 1678, Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle, the famous French explorer, thought he had a better idea.

La Salle’s business plan might have read like this:

1. Build a large ship to sail the Great Lakes. A sailing ship can travel round the clock in all weather and requires few men to transport a very large cargo.

2. Fill the ship with trade goods. Use the trade goods to purchase large quantities of prime furs cheaply in the wilderness.

3. Sail back to Lake Erie and transship the furs on to Montreal where they can be sold at an huge profit.

In 1678, la Salle led a party of Frenchmen he had hired to a site about six miles above Niagara Falls on the Niagara River. Here, his men were ordered to build a sailing ship of about 45 tons burden. This large schooner would be the first sailing ship to ply the waters of the Great Lakes.

It took most of the winter of 1678-79 to construct the ship. La Salle was absent much of the time as he needed to resolve his private financial affairs. Building a large ship, especially in the wilderness, required the transportation of men, tools and many supplies. . . all of which had to be carried in by canoes. The men would also have built rough-hewn log cabins in which to live and work.

La Salle had borrowed all the money he could to finance his fur trading endeavor and was now overextended. In his absence, he had his second-in-command, Tonty, supervise the ship’s construction.

Louisiana Purchase

You probably know about "The Louisiana Purchase" made during Thomas Jefferson's presidency. The Purchase was vast, consisting of all the lands drained by all the rivers that flowed into the Mississippi river. France originally claimed the Mississippi River because the upper regions were explored by Father Marquette and Louis Joliet in 1673. At that time, Europeans had this belief that if my countryman saw it first, it was mine. The lower Mississippi was explored and claimed for France by La Salle a little later.

Obviously, the Native Americans had been fishing, traveling and living on the banks of the Mississippi River for eons.

Anyway, prior to the American Revolution, French forts dotted the Great Lakes at Detroit, Duluth, Niagara and Mackinaw to protect the the French fur-trading monopoly.

French voyageurs traveled by canoe as far as the Rockies, naming the Grand Teton range near today’s Yellowstone National Park. The Great Lakes, the St Lawrence, Ottawa and many other rivers became the super highways of the French. Frenchmen paddled 35 foot canoes with almost 2 tons of trade goods into the wilderness. At times, they were able to paddle 70 miles in a day. At other times, they carried (portaged) their large, birch bark canoe and its' cargo from one waterway to another. Their destinations were log cabin trading posts and Native American villages scattered throughout the wilderness. The native peoples trapped and prepared plush wild animal skins which they traded for a variety of French manufactured merchandise.

On their return trips, the voyageurs carried dozens of 80 lb. bundles of valuable furs back to Montreal. The economy of New France depended on these skins arriving each year. Shiploads of furs were shipped from Quebec to France, each year, where most of them were processed into felt and fashioned into stylish, very expensive hats.

Kinmundy, Illinois

The small town of Kinmundy, in southern Illinois, is home to Ingram's Pioneer Log Cabin Village. Here, in a secluded forest, more than a dozen pre-Civil War cabins have been moved, carefuly restored and reassembled. Several contain period furniture.It is an interesting place because of its' authentic feel. The paths are dirt, the parking lot is a grassy field, the log cabins are rustic, small and seasoned by over a 150 years of Illinois weather. Yet, the antique family homes are sound and cozy. I recommend visiting the place as a family outing. There is plenty of room to run and play.It was in a log cabin home, much like this, that Daniel Boone, Abraham Lincoln and other pioneers lived and raised their families.

Two Pen Log Cabin

This log cabin model is based on a pre-Civil War log cabin home I toured several years ago. If you are a real estate agent you might list this dwelling as double cabins connected by a breezeway. The folks who built the original called this log cabin home a two-pen-dog trot. Let me explain. The pioneers called a room a pen. This cabin has two rooms . . or two pens. The open, roofed area between the cabins was called a dog trot. Likely, this area was taken over by the family dogs as they were protected from inclement weather and close to family members who fed, played and hunted with them. If you have a few dogs, you know how restless they can get! Thus, the antsy dogs trotting around became the name for this sheltered space.