Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Thompson's Coast Pilot for the Upper Lakes, on Both Shores, from Chicago to Buffalo, Green Bay, Georgian Bay and Lake Superior ... [4th ed.], p. 155

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THOMPSON'S COAST PILOT. 155 steam ferries, thus affording a speedy line of travel through Canada, and thence to eastern cities of the United States. ; Steamers of a large class run from Detroit to Cleveland, Toledo, and other ports on Lake Erie; others run to Port Huron, Saginaw, Goderich, C. W., and other ports on Lake Huron. - The Lake Superior line of steamers running from Cleveland and Detroit, direct for the Sault Ste. Marie and all the principal ports on Lake Superior, are of a large class, carrying passengers and freight, This has become one of the most fashionable and healthy excursions on the continent. , The Detroit River or Strait, is a noble stream, through which flow the surplus waters of the Upper Lakes into Lake Erie. It is 27 miles in length, and from half a mile to two miles in width, form- ing the boundary between the United States and Canada. It has a perceptible current, and is navigable for vessels of the largest class. Large quantities of fish are annually taken in the river, and the sports- man usually finds an abundance of wild ducks, which breed in great numbers in the marshes bordering some of the islands and harbors of the coast. , There are altogether seventeen islands in the river. The names of these are: Clay, Celeron, Hickory, Sugar, Bgis Blanc, Ella, Fox, Rock, Grosse Isle, Stony, Fighting, Turkey, Mammajuda, Grassy, Mud, Belle or Hog, and Ile la Peche. The two latter are situated a few miles above Detroit, near the entrance to Lake St. Clair, where large quantities of whitefish are annually taken. Ile la Peche, attached to Canada, was the home of the celebra- ted Indian chief, Pontiac. Parkman, in his '" History of the Con- spiracy of Pontiac," says: " Pontiac, the Satan of this forest para- dise, was accustomed to spend the early part of the summer upon a small island at the opening of Lake St. Clair.'? Another author says: 'The king and lord of all this country lived in no royal state. His cabin was a small, oven-shaped structure of bark and rushes. Here he dwelt with his squaws and children; and here, doubtless, he might often have been seen carelessly reclining his naked form on a rush mat or a bear skin, like an ordinary Indian warrior."' The other fifteen islands, most of them small, are situated below Detroit, within the first twelve miles of the river after entering it

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