Fort Niagara: The Key to the Inland Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America

By William Edward Utley and Patricia Kay Scott

Fort Niagara is located twelve miles downriver from the world-renowned
Niagara Falls, yet few visitors to either site know this was once
Iroquois territory and claimed by France.

This volume summarizes the fascinating span of North American history when New France was established during the sixteenth century in present-day Canada, explored, and expanded to the Niagara River — a strategic water and portage route connected to the Great Lakes.

Chronologically the authors dramatically trace how the Iroquois gained the Niagara River, and how they kept this lucrative trade route for themselves long after the French became established fur traders in the Great Lakes. The Iroquois continued to control the Niagara River as the French built the short-lived Forts Conti (1669), Denonville (1687/1688), and finally Fort Niagara (1726-1759).

Fort Niagara: The Key to the Inland Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America incorporates actions and political changes elsewhere that influenced the French and Iroquois at Niagara, especially during the French and Indian War, which ended the French Occupation of Fort Niagara and set the stage for the Iroquois to lose their long-held Niagara River territory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532070648

William Edward Utley

Patricia Kay Scott earned a bachelor's degree from the Anthropology Department of the State University of New York at Buffalo. During a museum and teaching career, she spent summers researching historical aspects of the Conquest and Early Postconquest Periods in the Marismas Nacionales on the west coast of Mexico. After retiring in 1981, she worked with her husband, Dr. Stuart D. Scott, in co-directing the 1979–1990 Old Fort Niagara Archaeology in Progress Project and the 1984 excavations of Fort Ontario. Patricia Kay Scott was awarded the 1999 New York State Seaway Trail's Award for spearheading the creation of the Lower Landing Archeological District National Historic Landmark. William Edward Utley earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of New Haven, and a master's degree in military history from Norwich University. He served in the US Army as an infantry officer and in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He was a special agent with the Treasury Department for twenty-seven years. As an avocational archaeologist he has participated in numerous site excavations, including Thanet, England; LaBelle; Yorktown Shipwreck Project; George Washington’s Ferry Farm; Gettysburg National Military Park; and Fort Niagara. At Niagara, Utley was involved with all aspects of the research and especially known for his knowledge of arms, artillery, ammunition, and metal conservation. William Utley and Patricia Kay Scott have previously co-authored contract reports for the New York State of Parks Recreation, and Historic Preservation, such as the 2007 An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara, Volume II about the excavated Small Arms & Artillery Ammunition, and the 2012 digitized version of Volumes I–IV of An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara. In 2019, they published Fort Niagara: The Key to the Inland Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America. While Scott is now retired in Tucson, Arizona, Utley is also retired but remains actively involved as a volunteer in archaeological projects at Gettysburg.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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About The Authors

Preface

Acknowledgments

Note About Terminology

Part One

The Origin and Expansion of the Fur Trade

Introduction

1 The Niagara River, Its Setting and Indigenous People

2 New France and the French Fur Trade

3 Champlain and the French Expansion Toward the Great 4 The Iroquois Expansion and Conquest of the Niagara River

Part Two

Early French Forts and Trade on the Niagara River

5 La Salle at Niagara and the Building of the Griffon

6 La Salle’s Fort Conti and the Voyage of the Griffon

7 French, Iroquois, and English Conflicts in the 1680s

8 Fort Denonville

9 Continued Struggles for French Dominance

10 Joncaire and Early French Trade on the Niagara River

11 Joncaire’s Magazin Royale at Niagara

Part Three

Fort Niagara

12 La Maison à Machicoulis and Early French Military at Niagara

13 Fort Niagara Expands

14 French Movement from Niagara into the Ohio Country

15 Niagara’s Ohio Country Outposts

16 British Turmoil and French Triumph

17 Captain Pierre Pouchot and Fort Niagara’s Enlargement

18 The Tide Turns at Niagara

19 Struggles for Survival at Niagara

20 The British Siege

21 Countdown to the End and Conclusion

Afterword

A Note About The 1979-1990 Archaeology Project

Notes

Works Cited

Maps Cited

ILLUSTRATIONS

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Part One

1. Aerial view of Niagara River

2. Aerial View of Fort Niagara’s Structures

3. Great Lakes Map

4. Niagara River Map

5. Indian Territory Map

6. Finger Lakes Map

7. Lake Champlain Map

8. Ohio Outposts Map

9. Oneida Carry Map

10. St. Lawrence River Map

11. Ottawa River Map

12. Straits of Mackinac Map

13. Ontario Lake Map

Part Two

14. Trade room photo

15. Fort Conti Map

16. Fort Denonville Map

17. Joncaire’s Site at Artpark

Part Three

18. Modern Seawall Photo

19. French Castle Photo

20. Fort Niagara 1726 Map

21. Fort Niagara 1755 Map

22. Fort Niagara 1756 Map

23. Fort Niagara 1757 Map

24. Fort Niagara 1759 Map

25. Niagara’s Stockades Graphic

26. Lakeside Erosion Graphic

27. Castle’s Floor Plans

28. First Floor Castle Photos

29. Second Floor Castle Photos

30. Well in the Castle

31. Winter at Niagara Photos

32. French Powder Magazine Photos

33. French Drawbridge and Dauphine Battery Photos

34. Gate of the Five Nations Photos

35. 1759 Siege Trenches Map

36. US Coast Guard Station Niagara

For

Anne

Molineaux Utley

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

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W illiam Edward Utley graduated with a BA in History from Syracuse University. He also holds a master’s degree in the Science of Criminal Justice from the University of New Haven, and a Master of Arts degree in Military History from Norwich University. He served in the US Army as an Infantry Officer, and in Vietnam with the 101 st Airborne Division. William, better known as Bill, was a Special Agent with the Treasury Department for twenty-seven years, which included work as a Criminal Investigator and a Bomb Technician. As an avocational maritime and terrestrial archeologist, he has participated in various site excavations in the US, Caribbean, and England since 1984. Bill is a Life Member of the Old Fort Niagara Association where he was a member of the Old Fort Niagara Archaeology in Progress Project under Dr. Stuart D. and Patricia Kay Scott. He continues his association with the fort by helping with the conservation of excavated ordnance.

Patricia Kay Scott graduated with a BA from the Anthropology Department of the State University of New York at Buffalo. After a career at the Buffalo Museum of Science and the Buffalo Board of Education, she assisted her husband, Dr. Stuart D. Scott, in directing the Old Fort Niagara Archaeology in Progress Project from 1979 into 1990, and the 1984 excavations at Fort Ontario. From 1990 to the present Patricia, as a Life Member of the Old Fort Niagara Association, has maintained a relationship with the Fort providing analysis for artifacts; applying the ARC/INFO computer program to determine the ground locations of buildings plotted on thirty-one French, British, and early US maps of Fort Niagara; producing with co-authors the four-volume project report, An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara; and spearheading the 1999 Lower Landing Archaeological District National Historic Landmark designation.

PREFACE

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F ort Niagara is located about twelve miles downriver of the world-renowned, spectacular Niagara Falls. Yet, few visitors to the Falls or the Fort know that this River was a strategic water and portage route into the Great Lakes for thousands of years. Nor do they realize that the River was once Iroquois and French territory. Yes, for a time, the Niagara River belonged to the Iroquois and was part of France! If that surprises or intrigues you, read on.

This book, written in a chronological manner, is about that fascinating span of North American history when New France was established in present-day Canada and then explored and expanded to the Niagara River, within Iroquois territory. It summarizes how the French fur trade developed in the sixteenth century, how the Iroquois gained the Niagara River in the mid-seventeenth century, how they controlled the River for hundreds of years as the French became established traders in the Great Lakes, and how the Iroquois still protected the River as the French in the late-sixteenth century tried to establish Forts Conti and Denonville where Fort Niagara now stands. It was only in the early eighteenth century that one Frenchman reached across the cultural divide to share the River with the Iroquois for mutual political, economic, and social benefits. The actions of this one man finally led to Fort Niagara being built in 1726 at the northern end of the Niagara River overlooking Lake Ontario.

The narrative is interspersed with some archaeological data to show how Fort Niagara was established first as a wilderness fur-trading post and then expanded into a strong French military site at a time when rivalries between Indians, British, and the English colonists were impeding the French desire to dominate North America. Mosaics of peaceful and violent cultural interactions happening elsewhere are interwoven into chapters, when such actions affected the French and Iroquois at Niagara. The final chapters describe the importance of Fort Niagara leading up to and through the dramatic French and Indian War — a war which ended the French attempt to dominate North America and set the stage for the Iroquois to lose the Niagara River.

The authors show that the French learned the importance of alliances formed through respect, cooperation, exchanges of gifts, and ceremonies. Once that middle ground of accommodating differences broke down, the sharing of the Niagara River was no longer tenable and both the French and Iroquois lost Niagara to others. In that light, this saga of the French occupation of the Niagara River is a universal story regarding how difficult it is for people to reach across cultural differences to share spaces, resources, power, and prestige.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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T his book is the direct outcome of the 1979-1990 Old Fort Niagara Archaeology in Progress Project. Dr. Stuart D. Scott established the project and garnered a dedicated corps of volunteers and archaeology students. He saw that the project was continually funded by the Fort; the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; the Anthropology Department of the State University of New York at Buffalo; and local individuals, businesses, and corporations. Scott also utilized his surveying skills to produce an accurate modern map of the Fort and the archaeological finds. His 1985 map made it possible to interpret Dale Ringrose’s aerial infrared photography findings, and to apply a computer-mapping program in a way that unraveled the ground locations of buildings shown on thirty-one earlier maps of Fort Niagara. Shortly after Scott started his project, Brian Leigh Dunnigan became the Fort’s Executive Director and began to systematically study documents and maps related to the Fort’s history. A symbiotic relationship developed between Dunnigan and Scott, which led to many results, which would have not been possible by archaeologists or historians working alone.

Scott’s archaeological excavations, mapping, and research were only possible because over one hundred volunteers, fondly known as Scott’s Regiment Underfoot, participated between 1979-1990 and freely lent specialized skills. While we cannot thank each of them in this publication, they have been listed in the acknowledgments in available reports entitled An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara. There are, however, several people we want to recognize here. At the State level we wish to thank Dr. Paul Huey, who set a high tone for the research during his years as the Senior Archaeologist for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. His enthusiasm for the project often was what carried it on. At the local level two Board Members, Robert Rieger and Charles Rice, spearheaded the creation of an archaeological laboratory (Building 42) from a remodeled nineteenth-century US Army building; Kenneth Wieland, formerly from the Maintenance staff, assisted the archaeologists in too many ways to enumerate; Betsy Diachun, as the Assistant Director of the Fort during the project, endlessly helped the archaeology crew; Mary Wieland, as the Fort’s secretary, typed Dunnigan’s vast research notes, which we heavily relied on for this book; David Witmer and Ben Roenish assisted Scott in surveying the Fort; Garry Forger and Marbud Prozeller spent years cataloging the excavated artifacts; Kenneth Slaugenhoupt and Nancy Weisbeck edited the manuscript; and Harry DeBan, as the Editor of the Fort’s Publications, encouraged us to publish this book.

We also want to thank Dale Ringrose, who with his wife, Audrey, came many weekends from Rochester to undertake the Aerial Infra Red Photographic studies, and Kurt Knoerl, who spent several seasons involved in an underwater survey. Beyond that, we want to thank Bill Siddall and Douglas Knight for their years of excavating the largest and deepest units, and for Knight continuing the project in 1990. The multi-year projects of Ringrose, Knoerl, Siddall, and Knight produced much of the archaeological information incorporated in our book. We also wish to thank Jerome Brubaker, the Assistant Director and Curator of Fort Niagara, for helping with bibliographic references along with other important details, and Kay Sullivan — a Tucson, Arizona artist—for editing the manuscript and using her keen eye and artistic talents to produce many of the maps for this book.

Both of us wish to thank our spouses for their years of help in writing this book. Indeed, this book would not have been possible without the loving support and assistance of Stuart Scott, Patricia’s husband. It also would not have been possible without the patient encouragement of Anne Utley, to whom the book is dedicated. As Bill’s wife, and Patricia’s dear friend, Anne was an integral part of Scott’s Regiment Underfoot, and she always lent her positive attitudes and moral support to the authors and other participants in the 1979-1990 archaeological research, which is now carried on by the State University of New York College at Buffalo under the directorship of Dr. Susan Maguire.

NOTE ABOUT TERMINOLOGY

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O ver the mid-sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries France claimed various parts of North America as New France. In this book we refer to the French possessions as New France, even though French areas now Canada were known as Canada at times, and the Mississippi River Valley was known as Louisiana. Much of this book relates to conflicts between England and France. We have used French to denote the explorers, missionaries, settlers, merchants, etc. who came to New France, even if in reality they were of some other European extraction. We have used English in general to denote England’s government, military forces, colonists, and colonies even as some of the military and many of the colonists were from European countries other than England. We also used the English and England throughout our book, even knowing that after 1707 England was known as Great Britain, and the people were more commonly known as the British. We have chosen to do this because the colonists and Indians of the time of the French and Indian War saw this as a battle between the French and the English with and against Indians.

Terminology changes through time. The indigenous nations and their descendants of Canada are now usually referred to as the First Nations, and those in the United States as Native Americans. We have chosen to use Indian for the indigenous people and their descendants, because during the epoch the book describes, Indian was the common collective name for the non-Europeans. The Indians, like Europeans, identify with inclusive groups from kin to nation and sometimes even to a confederacy. The French recognized the Indians as speaking a variety of related languages, and today are understood as being a part of individual nations or confederacies.

Indian nations, confederacies, and subgroups within nations have names for themselves. For example, the Iroquois League call themselves the Haudenosaunee, composed of the Mohawk (Kaien’kehá:ka), the Oneida (Oneniote’á:ka), the Onondaga (Ononta’kehá:ka), the Cayuga (Kaion’kehá:ka), the Seneca (Shotinontowane’á:ka), and the Tuscarora (Tehatiskaró:ros). The Pottawatomi (Pottawatomie) are Algonquian-speaking people, who call themselves Neshnabé. They are part of the Anishinaabe Confederacy along with the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and others. The Huron (also now known as Wendat) are an Iroquoian speaking confederacy, which is composed of five nations: Attignawantans, Attigneenongnahacs, Arendarhonons, Tahontaenrats, and Ataronchronons. We, however, have used names which have become popularly known, such as Iroquois (Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, Tuscarora), Huron (Wyandot, Wendat), Neutral, Erie, Wenro, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Nipissing, Algonquin, Odawa, Fox, etc., all of which can be seen with different spellings. We urge the reader to explore the histories and modern lives of each of the Indian nations and individuals that appear in this book.

PART ONE

The Origin and Expansion of the Fur Trade

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Fig. 1. Aerial View of Fort Niagara, Fort Niagara State Park, and the United States Coast Guard Station in the 1980s. Photograph by William Utley.

INTRODUCTION

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F ort Niagara’s majestic buildings, originally constructed in a wilderness in the era of the North American fur trade, still stand within Fort Niagara on a bluff overlooking the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario (Figs. 1–2). Started as a fur-trading post, the Fort became a military stronghold protecting this valued water route into the Great Lakes. Today, as a National Landmark, Fort Niagara is a monument to the time when this piece of land and the River held the future for the Iroquois Nation, France, England, Canada , and the United States. ¹ The history of Fort Niagara spans three centuries from 1726 to the present, but it evolved out of New France (Canada) and the North American fur trade. This was a time when movement by land was confined to meandering Indian trails and water routes, which were links for forming alliances, trading with allies, hunting, waging war on enemies, taking captives, and gaining territory or powerful geographic positions.

This book is divided into three parts. Part I focuses on the origin of the sixteenth-century fur trade in New France (Canada); how the Iroquois took possession of the Niagara River in the mid-seventeenth century; and how Indian alliances helped the French expand their trade through ancient trails and water routes to arrive on the Niagara River in 1669. Part II recounts the early years of French activity within Iroquois Territory on the Niagara River, the building and loss of Forts Conti (1678–1679) and Denonville (1687–1688), and the French, Iroquois, and English conflicts of the 1680s. This second section ends with the story of how a formal French trading post, the Magazin Royale, was established. Part III details the evolution of Fort Niagara as the French and Iroquois used the Fort and the Niagara River to dominate their commerce, expansion, and political power in parts of North America from 1726 to 1759. The book concludes with the dramatic 1759 confrontations during the French and Indian War when French and English armies with their allied Indian forces fought to control Fort Niagara, the Ohio River Valley, the Great Lakes, and much of eastern North America to the Mississippi River. From start to finish the book describes cultural interactions of the sixteenth through mid-eighteenth centuries between Indians and Europeans and between the French and English, which involved times of violent conflicts, misunderstandings, manipulative and disingenuous speech and behaviors, as well as actions of accommodation and compromise.

This book involves waves of seventeenth and eighteenth-century French, Indian, English, and colonial warfare, during which revenge or attempts for self-preservation became a cycle as each side reacted to the latest or earlier outrages. Flames consumed protective stockades, homes, or whole villages and settlements. Crops were destroyed and farm animals killed. An untold number of people were killed in waves of mutual destruction. There were seasons of despair, hunger, and even famines. There were atrocities committed by all involved. Where we recount a few violent instances, we hope that you realize that we are not ascribing blame, but are rather, describing the reality of actions that were often cruel and heartless. Each raid, attack, siege, skirmish, or ambush left suffering and hatred on all sides.

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Fig. 2. Old Fort Niagara is a composite of French, British, and United States’ military buildings and protecting structures dating from 1726 to the present. The Fort has undergone many changes, and what is now an open Parade was often full of other buildings. 1979 photograph courtesy of Dale Ringrose.

CHAPTER 1

The Niagara River, Its Setting and Indigenous People

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F rancis Parkman, a nineteenth-century American historian, described the Niagara River as the key to the inland oceans. ¹ Parkman’s inland oceans refer to Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, collectively known as the Great Lakes (Fig. 3). The Niagara River, technically a thirty-five-mile strait between Lakes Erie and Ontario, is an integral part of these interconnected large bodies of fresh water. The River was used as a conduit to and from the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean from an unknown time until the Erie Canal was built in the nineteenth century. Water from Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron flows through Lake Erie and then into the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York (Fig. 3). Downriver it flows around Grand Island, and shortly thereafter the water separates again and plunges over the Horseshoe and American Falls. The River then rushes as rapids northward through the Niagara Gorge and continues in a calmer but strong manner from Lewiston, New York to Lake Ontario where Fort Niagara now stands. After moving through Lake Ontario, the water enters the St. Lawrence River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

While for centuries the Niagara River (Fig. 4) was a valued Indian conduit into and out of the Great Lakes, Niagara Falls and the un-navigable Niagara Rapids of the Niagara Gorge together formed a choke point that impeded continued travel between Lakes Ontario and Erie. Unknown Indian nations overcame this impediment by creating a portage trail around the Falls and Gorge. The northern end of the Niagara Portage was established about seven miles upriver from Lake Ontario on the eastern banks of the River where Artpark is now located in Lewiston, New York. There, at the base of the cliff-like, three-tiered Niagara Escarpment, a gully provided a rare access to land at the northern end of the Niagara Rapids. In the past, the waters along the shoreline of this gully provided a docking area. From the shoreline there was a sixty-foot rise through the gully to the flat first tier of the Escarpment, which became the Lower Landing of the Portage.

From the Lower Landing several hundred feet had to be climbed up two more steep embankments leading to the top of the Escarpment where the Portage continued through a forested path. This trail along the high eastern side of the Niagara Gorge ended above the Falls at the Upper Landing near Gill Creek within what is today the city of Niagara Falls, New York. From the Upper Landing everything could be reloaded and carried by vessels through the Upper Niagara River to Lake Erie. Of course, the Niagara River and Portage could be travelled in the reverse direction.

The Niagara River area was mostly a wilderness forested by varieties of maple, hickory, ash, walnut, sycamore, oak, and other trees and shrubs, while some of the region was swampy. There was an abundance of edible and useful plants, wild animals, and fish, all of which Indians utilized for centuries before Europeans arrived in North America. Various Indian nations utilized the region and its vast resources as soon as the glaciers retreated from Western New York about ten to twelve thousand years ago. Artifacts related to Paleo-Indian, Archaic, early Woodland and Pre-contact Periods, as well as artifacts of the later Neutral and Iroquois, are found throughout the Niagara region.

As New France was created in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the closest Indian nations to the Niagara River were known as the Neutral. They lived in what is now the Canadian Niagara Peninsula between Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario. The Huron lived somewhat east of the Neutral in present-day Ontario, and various Algonquians lived east of them in a vast area extending to the St. Lawrence River. The Wenro and Erie lived south of Lake Ontario and east of Lake Erie in what is now Western New York and Pennsylvania, while the Iroquois occupied most of present-day New York State (Fig. 5).

When the French actually arrived at the Niagara River in the late seventeenth century Niagara was the territory of the Iroquois, who had experienced European influence for at least one hundred and seventy-five years, and had had varying degrees of actual contact with Europeans for over ninety years. ² More will be said about Indian nations related to Niagara’s history in later chapters, but since the Iroquois played such an important role in the French occupation of Niagara, it is important to note here that the Iroquois, who call themselves the Haudenosaunee, were a union of the Mohawk (Kaien’kehá:ka), Oneida (Oneniote’á:ka), Onondaga (Ononta’kehá:ka), Cayuga (Kaion’kehá:ka), and Seneca (Shotinontowane’á:ka).

Europeans knew the Iroquois as the Five Nations, Iroquois League, Iroquois Confederacy, or Confederacy of the Five Nations. After the 1720s, when the Tuscarora (Tehatiskaró;ros) were officially added to the union, the Iroquois were often identified as the Six Nations.

Europeans tended to think and speak of the Iroquois as united in the sense of a European nation. The Iroquois were indeed a united entity in many aspects, but they still maintained divisions, spoke various forms of the Iroquoian language, and held that no one person ruled the whole. Agreements about actions came from a consensus obtained in councils with each point of view deliberated. Anyone had the freedom to follow or not follow group decisions, and women held a special role in this matrilineal society. Women controlled who became their leaders (sachems); inheritances of land came through them; they made life and death decisions related to warfare and adoption; and their views were sought, as well as respected. Such a union didn’t mean there were not frictions, jealousies, and splits among the Iroquois especially because they, as a whole or separately, had to deal with growing populations of Europeans. Even if individual schisms arose, the Iroquois were united in wanting to maintain their homelands and way of life. ³

The Mohawk lived in the Mohawk River Valley, primarily near the present-day town of Canajoharie. They were the first of the Iroquois in New York to be impacted by colonial development as they came in contact with the French to the north and the Dutch to the east. The Oneida lived around Oneida Lake and in the upper area of the Susquehanna Valley (Fig. 6). Later they shared this land with the Tuscarora. The Onondaga lived southwest of Lake Oneida near present-day Syracuse, New York, and for many years were the keepers of the ceremonial fire around which the Iroquois made important decisions. The Cayuga also lived in the Finger Lakes region around Cayuga Lake. The Seneca lived the closest to the Niagara River, and by the time the French came to the River, the land was Seneca hunting grounds extending from their Seneca Lake homeland and the Genesee and Allegheny River Valleys to Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. They and their fellow Iroquois owned the Niagara River and controlled the Niagara Portage.

The Iroquois homeland was connected to the Niagara, Mohawk, Hudson, Susquehanna, Allegheny, and other rivers and navigable streams. From this homeland it was possible to canoe into what is now Canada via the Hudson River to Lakes George and Champlain, then to the Richelieu and the St. Lawrence Rivers (Fig. 7). They could access areas to the west, even as far as the Mississippi River, through the Great Lakes or via the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers (Fig. 8). They could venture into Lake Ontario either directly through the Genesee River or small streams, or via the Mohawk River to a portage (Oneida Carry) near present-day Rome, New York. From that portage they could canoe on to the Oneida and Oswego Rivers and to Lake Ontario at present-day Oswego east of Niagara (Fig. 9). Other smaller waterways provided more links to Lake Erie. These Iroquois water routes became French water highways during the political, economic, and military struggles that swirled through seventeenth and eighteenth-century North America when the Niagara River was Iroquois territory but claimed by the French as part of New France. ⁴

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Fig. 3 .The Great Lakes. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from the 1907 Principal Railway and Water Routes: Great Lakes to Montreal, a Wikimedia Commons map.

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Fig. 4. The Niagara River flows 32–35 miles from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from The Straits of Niagara engraved for Darby’s Tour (circa 1819). Courtesy of Brock University. Historical Maps of Niagara, http://hdl.handle.net/10464/10536.

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Fig. 5. The approximate locations of various Indian nations when the French reached the St. Lawrence River. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from the 1907 Principal Railway and Water Routes: Great Lakes to Montreal, a Wikimedia Commons map.

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Fig. 6. The region of the Finger Lakes of present-day New York State was the heartland of the Iroquois Nation. The Seneca, of the Iroquois Nation, in the mid-seventeenth century claimed a homeland extending from the Genesee River to the Niagara River as well as most of present-day Western New York. The Finger Lakes vary in size with Oneida being 21 miles long, Cayuga 35 miles long, Seneca 34 miles long, and Canandaigua only 20 miles long. Most are connected through small streams, creeks, or marshy areas. The Genesee, Niagara, and the Allegheny Rivers along with Lakes Ontario and Erie provided the Seneca with access into the Great Lakes and north into the St. Lawrence River. In approximate linear miles Fort Niagara is 73 miles from the Genesee River, 129 miles from Oswego, and 69 miles from the Westfield access to the Chautauqua Portage leading to the Allegheny River. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 7. The Richelieu River, Lakes Champlain and George, and the Hudson River connected New France to colonial New York. In linear miles it was 115 miles from Montreal to Fort Carillon on the Ticonderoga peninsula, 33 miles from there to the end of Lake George, where a 13-mile portage led to the Hudson River and to Albany 43 miles farther. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 8. The Ohio Outposts. From Fort Niagara via Buffalo it is about 114 linear miles to Presque Isle near present-day Erie, Pennsylvania (5), 15 miles over a portage to Fort Le Boeuf (6), 39 miles farther to Fort Machault (7), and 67 miles southwest to Fort Duquesne (9). All these posts were accessed through meandering rivers and streams in the rugged Ohio Country wilderness. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 9. The Oneida Carry Route is an ancient water route across what is now New York State from Albany to Lake Ontario. From New France this route could be accessed through Lakes Champlain and George and the Hudson River. From Albany the route followed the Mohawk River a distance of 94 linear miles to what is now Rome, New York, where there was a 10 to 12-mile portage, known as the Oneida Carry, to Wood Creek. The route followed about 12 linear miles through the Creek and then 21 miles through Oneida Lake. It was then about 24 linear miles through the Oneida and Oswego Rivers to Oswego on Lake Ontario. Along the Oswego River another short portage was necessary where the River fell over ten feet. The Oneida Carry Route is still used today by boaters but has been enhanced by canals. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 10. The Saint Lawrence River provides access from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario, to Lake Huron via the Ottawa River Route, and to Albany via the Lakes Champlain and George Route. In terms of linear distances it is about 115 miles from Tadoussac to Quebec City. From there to Trois-Rivières is 71 miles, and Montreal — with its portage around the La Chine Rapids — is 76 farther. It is 168 miles from Montreal to Fort Frontenac, and 196 miles to Albany. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 11. The Ottawa River Route between Montreal and Lake Huron follows the Ottawa and Mattawa Rivers, involves a portage to North Bay of Lake Nipissing, continues along the eastern and southern shores of that lake and, after another portage, leads via the French River to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. It is about 103 linear miles from Montreal to Ottawa, 191 miles farther to North Bay, 41 miles on Lake Nipissing to the French River, and 61 more miles to Georgian Bay. This water route meanders through deep canyons, small lakes and streams, rocky landscapes, forests, and marshes, and in the past involved many other portages around areas of low water, rapids, and water falls. Even today with added canals around former obstacles, the route is only suitable for canoes and small boats. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 12. The area of the Straits of Mackinac connecting Lakes Huron and Michigan is an ancient trading area of Mackinac Island, Saint Ignace on the northern side of the Straits, and Michilimackinac on the southern side. It is about 550 linear miles from Montreal via the Ottawa River route into and through upper Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to the Straits. The route from Montreal via the Niagara River, Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and River, and Lake Huron is at least 1005 linear miles. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

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Fig. 13. Lake Ontario at its maximum length is about 182 miles long. It is about 54 linear miles from Kingston, Ontario (where Fort Frontenac was located) to Oswego, and from Oswego to Niagara is 129 miles. In linear miles it is 150 miles from Fort Frontenac to Toronto, which is just 33 miles across the Lake from Fort Niagara. The usual canoe trip from Toronto to Niagara is around the western shoreline of Lake Ontario and entails about 80 miles. It is 12 miles from Fort Niagara to Niagara Falls, New York, and Buffalo is 20 to 23 miles farther depending on the route around Grand Island. From Buffalo to Erie and Presque Isle is 81 linear miles. Map by Kay Sullivan adapted from Smyth’s 1800 A Map of the Province of Upper Canada. Courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection.

CHAPTER 2

New France and the French Fur Trade

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T he record of the beginnings of New France might seem to have little bearing on the history of Fort Niagara and the fur trade on the Niagara River, but it was from New France that the French through decades of progressive movements extended their territory and influence from the St. Lawrence River to the Niagara River. Multiple events, cultural interactions, and governmental policies of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century New France set the tone for the beginnings of the North American fur trade and for what occurred at Niagara in later years. The fur trade that brought the French to the Niagara River in the late seventeenth century started in the 1500s as European fishermen were lured by the abundance of fish, especially cod, off the North Atlantic coastlands. By 1510 Frenchmen had joined other Europeans at the fisheries off Newfoundland and later in the Gulf of St. Lawrence River. ¹ These fishermen were often ashore weeks at a time drying fish on wooden racks, and consequently, they could not help but come in contact with Indians. With such contact, casual trading started as fishermen bartered for food.

At some point Indians began to offer furs as well as food in exchange for useful items, such as metal tools, or materials that were symbolically meaningful in their culture, such as beads. Accumulating furs of deer, mink, muskrats, fox, raccoon, and the most valued beaver, came with a cost. Once the animals were found and killed, they had to be skinned and processed in a manner that would preserve the fur in the excellent condition that Europeans began to expect. Then the furs had to be carefully stored until it was time to transport them over long distances to trading sites along the coastline or rivers. Engaging in the developing fur trade also meant that some traditional activities were by necessity changed or ignored, and some native-made tools and household goods were replaced with European trade goods.

As the fishing and trading continued, some European fishermen and local Indians began living side-by-side, sharing food and trading in these coastal areas. When these Indians were solicited to help with endless tasks related to cleaning and drying fish, it quickly became apparent that they expected an exchange for their efforts. ² This expected exchange was more than just a payment; it echoed the long-held Native tradition in which tribute was given to express friendliness; offer condolences for the dead; gain trade partners, favors, assistance, allies, or safe passage through others’ territories; and as a ceremonial way to begin and end councils. It was during this early development of New France that Europeans came to understand the importance of giving gifts beyond the exchange of furs for trade goods. This cultural awareness played a big role later when the French occupied Niagara. The intrusive Frenchmen and the local indigenous people each had to make accommodations and assimilations for mutual survival and benefit. The historian Richard White has termed this process as reaching a middle ground. A simplified version means each side had to come to some understanding of the other side and figure out how to coexist while at the same time obtain what each wanted materially, socially, or politically. ³ Frenchmen who associated the most with local populations, and especially those who lived with them and even had families, quickly began to understand Indian lifestyles, customs, and diplomacy. In turn, such relationships enhanced the early trade. ⁴

The fur trade was promoted by both parties, and all the trading activities affected their everyday lives. ⁵ The indigenous populations and their descendants attempted to maintain their recognized territory while keeping French trade connections, and the French attempted to increase the trade and find new sources of furs. One of the major negative factors in the evolving fur trade was that once a wanted animal population declined in an Indian homeland, hunters and trappers had to look elsewhere. Elsewhere usually meant going into someone else’s territory to obtain furs forcefully or diplomatically.