Historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts . . . and other . . . sources

Preface

In the following pajyes the writer has hmited himself, for the most part, to the territorj' watered by the Illinois, the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan, the Mauniee and the Wabash rivers. He has chosen to do so to the end that the early history of the country treated of might be the more fully considered. The topographical features of, and the military and civil events occurring in, localities beyond these limits have been noticed only in so far as they are directly connected with, or tend to illustrate the field occupied.

It has been an aim of the writer to.perpetuate the history of the relations which the discovery and early commerce of the northwdfet has sustained to its peculiar topographical features. Nature made the routes and pointed out the means of our inland communication. The first explorations of the northwest were made by way of the lakes, the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the St. Josephs of Lake Michigan, the Illinois River and Chicago Creek, the Maumee and' the Wabash and their connecting portages. These were also the routes by which the first commerce was carried on. Formerly the country was a wilderness of forests and praii'ies, and the abode of wild animals and the wild men who hunted them for their furs and skins, which were the only commodities for export. In the progress of time the fur-bearing animals and the Indians have disappeared. The wilderness has been subdued, and the products of its cultivated fields now find their way to the marts of Europe. The canoe which carried the furs and peltries to tide water gave way to the canal boat, and the canal boat has been supplanted by the steamer and the railway car. The routes have ahrnj/s remained essentiaUi/ the same. They have merely been enlarged and perfected from time to time, to meet the ever-increasing demands of the west in the successive stages of its development.

The country drained by the rivers we have named is x-ich in the poesy and romance of history, reaching back nearly two centuries in the past, where the outlines of written records fade away in the twilight and charm tradition. By the routes we have named came the Jesuit Fathers, with crucifix and altar, bearing the truths of Christianity to distant and savage tribes. Along these routes passed the Coureurs-de-hois and the VoyageHrs, — gay and happy sons of France — with knives, guns, blankets and trinkets to exchange with the Indians for products of the chase. Following the traders came French colonists, who, on their way from Canada to Louisiana, passed up the Maumee and down the Wabash, nearly three-quarters of a century before the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed.

Along these streams were the villages of the most powerful Lidian confederacies. It was but natural that they should defend their country against the encroachment of another race; and the strife between the two for its possession furnishes material for many thrilling events in its history. In treating of the Indians, the writer has had no theories to advocate or morbid sentiments to gratify; he has only quoted what he has found in volumes regarded as standard authorities, without prejudice in favor or against this people. They have given away before an inexorable law, the severity of which could have been only modified at best. The writer believes the dominant race, out of their love for truth, will accord the Indian that even-handed justice to which he

4 PREFACE.

is liistoriciilly entitled. Our knowledge of this people is fragmentary at best. They kept no records, and have no historians. All we know of them is to be found in the writings of persons who, if not their open enemies, at least had little interest in doing them justice. As a rule, early travelers have only alluded in an incidental way to the aboriginal inhabitants, or their manners and customs. We know, at best, but very little of the Indians who formerly occupied the country east of the Mississippi. They have passed away, and the information that has been preserved concerning them is so scattered through the volumes of authors who have written from other motives, and at different dates or of different nations, without taking thought to discriminate, that anything like a satisfactory account of a particular tribe is not attainable. However, the writer has in the following pages given the result of his gleanings over a wide field of authors, — French, English and American, — so far as they relate to the several tribes who formerly occupied that portion of the Northwest to which the attention of the reader has been called. The writer has preserved the aboriginal, as well as the French and early English names of the lakes, rivers, Indian villages and other localities possessing historical interest, whenever attainable from books, maps or manuscripts to which he has had access.

Commercial enterprise led to the exploration of the northwest. It was competition for the fur trade between rival races, the French and the Anglo-Saxon, that produced the collision between the subjects of the two colonies in America, that finally culminated in a war between France and England, aided by their respective colonies, that resulted in the loss of the whole Mississippi valley to its first discoverers. It was a desire to retain control of the fur trade that contributed largely to the bitterness of the Indian border wars that commenced as soon as emigration began to extend itself west of the AUeganies; and the same cause prolonged the Indian ti-oubles for years after the country had ceased to be a part of the dominion of either France or Great Britain.

Beginning with the mission work of the Jesuit Fathers on the southern shore of Lake Superior, in 1660, and extending down to 1800, but little is known of the country lying north and west of the Ohio river; and the meagre material is only to be found in antiquated books and maps long out of print, or in manuscript correspondence of a private or official character, none of which is accessible to the general reader. It is chiefly from these sources that most of the matter contained in the present volume has been collated. As far as practicable the writer has preferred to introduce his authorities upon the stand and let them tell their stories in their own language, leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions from what the witnesses have stated. Wherever attainable, original sources of information are given.

Besides such authors as Hennepin, Charlevoix and the invaluable translations and contributions of Dr. John G. Shea, the writer has availed himself freely of the Jesuit Relations and the publications of the historical societies of Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin.

The writer is conscious that his task, voluntarily assumed, has been but indifterently performed. H. W. B.

Danvillk, Ii.i,., Nov. 5, 1879.

Chapter I

Topography — The drainage of the Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Indian and

French names by which they were severally called 10

CHAPTER n.

Drainage of the Illinois and Wabash — Their tributary streams — The portages connecting the drainage to the Atlantic with that of the Gulf 17

Chapter VI

Early French discoveries — Jaques Cartier ascends the St. Lawrence in 1535 — Samuel Champlain founds Quebec in 1608 — In 1642 Montreal is established — Influence of Quebec and Montreal upon the Northwest continues until subsequent to the war of 1812 — Early explorations of the French missionaries along the shore of Lake Superior — They first learn of the Mississippi — Father Marquette desires to explore it — The French government determine on its exploration — Theories as to whether the Mississippi emptied into the Sea of California, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Atlantic — Joliet and Marquette selected to solve the problem — Spanish discoveries of the lower Mississippi in 1525 37

Chapter VII

Joliet and Marquette's Voyage— They leave Mackinaw May 17, 1673 — They proceed, by way of Green Bay and the Wisconsin, as far as the mouth of the Arkansas — Return by way of the Illinois and Chicago Creek — Father Marquette's Journal, descriptive of the journey and the country through which they traveled — Biographical sketches of Marquette and Joliet. 43

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII

La Salle's Voyage — Biographical sketch of La Salle — His noncessions and titles of nobility — Preparations for his explorations — Sketch of Father Hennepin and the merit of his writings — La Salle reaches the Niagara River in December, 1C78, builds the ship Griffin and proceeds up Lake Erie, and reaches Mackinaw in August, 1679 54

Chapter IX

La Salle's Voyage continued — Mackinaw the headquarters of the Indian trade — The Griffin starts back to Niagara River with a cargo of furs, and is lost upon the lake — La Salle resumes his voyage in birch canoes, south along the west shore of Lake Michigan, and around its southern extremity to the mouth of the St. Joseph, where he erects Fort Miamis 68

Chapter X

The several rivers called the Miamis — La Salle's route down the Illinois — The Kankakee Marshes — The French and Indian names of the Kankakee and Des Plaines — The Illinois — "Fort Crevecoeur " — La Salle goes back to Canada — Destruction of his forts by deserters — His return to Fort Miamis, and the successful prosecution of his exploration to the mouth of the Mississippi — The whole valley of the great river taken possession of in the name of the King of France 73

Chapter XI

Death of La Salle, in attempting to establish a colony near the mouth of the MissLssippi — Chicago Creek — The origin of the name — Fort St. Louis built by Tonti at Starved Rock — La Salle assassinated and his colony destroyed — Joutel, with other survivors, return by way of the Illinois — Second attempt of France, under Mons. Iberville, in 1699, to establish settlements on the Gulf — Cession of all Louisiana to M. Crozat^Crozat's deed from the King — The Western Company — Law's scheme of inflation and its consequences — New Orleans founded in 1718 — Fort Chartes erected, and its appearance 87

Chapter XII

Surrender of Louisiana to the French Crown in 1731 — Early routes by way of the Kankakee, Chicago Creek, the Ohio, the Maumee and Wabash described — The Maumee and Wabash, and the number and origin of their several names — Indian villages 96

Chapter XIII

Aboriginal inhabitants — The several Illinois tribes — "Of the name Illinois, andist origin — The Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Taniaroas, Peorias and Metchigamis, subdivisions of the Illinois Confederacy — First mentioned by the Jesuit missionaries in 1655 — Tlieir habits and morals — Their country and villages — Their wars with the Iroquois and othi'r tribes — The tradition concerning the Iroquois River — Their decline and removal westward of the Missouri 105

TARLE OF CONTKNTS.

Chapter XIV

The Mianiis — The Miami, Piankeshaw and Wea bands— Tliey are kindred to the Illinois, originally from the west of the Mississippi — Their superiority and their military disposition — Their subdivisions and various names — Their trade and difficulties with the French and the English' — Their migrations — They are upon the Maumee and Wabash — Their Villages — From their position between the French and English they suffer at the hands of both — They defeat the Iroquois — They trade with the English, and incur the anger of the French — Their braverj- — Their decline — Destructive effects of intemperance — Cession of their lands in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. — Their removal westward and present condition 119

Chapter XV

The Pottawatomies — They and the Ottawas and Ojibbewaj's one people — Originally from the north and east of Lake Huron — Their migrations by way of Mackinaw to the country west of Lake Michigan, and thence south and eastward — Their games — Origin of the name Pottawatomie — Allies of the French

— Occupy a portion of the country of the Miamis along the Wabash — Their villages — At peace with the United States after the war of 1812 — Cede their lands — Their exodus from the Wabash, the Kankakee and Wabash — Their condition in Kansas — Their progress toward civilization 137

Chapter XVI

The Kickapoos and Mascoutins reside about Saginaw Bay in 1612; on Fox River, Wisconsin, in 1670 — Their reception of the Catholic fathers — Not inclined to their teachings — They kill one missionary and retain another in captivity — On the Maumee in 1712 — In southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois

— Migrate to the Wabash — Derivation of the name Mascoutin — Dwellers of the prairie — Identity of the Kickapoos with the Mascoutins — Their destruction at the siege of Detroit — They were always enemies of the French, English and Americans — Nearly destroy the Illinois and Piankeshaws, and occupy their country — Join Tecumseh in a body — They, with the Winnebagoes, attack Fort Harrison — Pa-koi-shee-cnu'' s account of the engagement — Ka-en-ne-kuck becomes a religious teacher — The wild bands make trouble on the Texas border — Their country between the Illinois and Wabash — Their resemblance to the Sac and Fox Indians 153

Chapter XVII

The Shawnees and Delawares — Originally east of the Alleghany Mountains — Are sybdued aud driven out by the Iroquois — Marquette finds the Shawnees on the Tennessee in 1673 — At one time in Florida — In 1744 they are in Ohio — They war on the American settlements — Their villages on the Big and Little Miamis, the St. Mary's, the Au Glaize, Maumee and Wabash — The The Delawares — Made women of by the Iroquois — Their country on White River, Indiana, and eastward defined — Become friendly to the United States after Wayne's victory at Maumee Rapids, in 1794 — They, with the Shawnees, sent west of the Mississippi — They furnish soldiers in the war for the Union

— Adopting ways of the white people l'<^0

8 TABLE OP CONTEXTS.

Chapter XVIII

The Indians — Their implements, utensils, fortifications, mounds, manners and customs 1^0

Chapter XIX

Stone implements used by the Indians before they came in contact with the Europeans — Illustrations of various kinds of stone implements, and suggestions as to their probable uses 195

Chapter XX

The war for the fur trade — Former abundance of wild animals and water-fowl in the Northwest — The buffalo; their range, their numbers, and final disappearance — Value of the fur trade; its importance to Canada — The conreurs de bois; their food and peculiai'ities — Goods for Indian trade — The distant parts to which the fur trade was carried, and the manner in which it was conducted — Competition between French and English for control of the fur trade — It results in broils — French traders killed on the Vermilion — The French and • Indians attack Fort Pickawillany — War 208

Chapter XXI

The war for the empire — English claims to the Northwest — Deeds from the Iroquois to a large part of the country — Military expeditions of Major Grant, Mons. Aubrj' and M. de Ligneris — Aubry attempts to retake Fort Du Quesne — His expedition up the Wabash — Goes to the relief of Fort Niagara — Is defeated by Sir William Johnson — The, fall of Quebec and Montreal — Surrender of the Northwest to Great Britain — The territory west of the Mississippi ceded to Spain 224

Chapter XXII

Pontiac's war to recover the country from the English — The siege of Detroit — The fall of Mackinaw, Saint Joseph, Miamis and Ouiatanon — Relief of Detroit — Pontiac's confederacy falls to pieces — Croghan sent west to recover possession of the country from the Indians — Is captured and carried to Fort Ouiatanon — The country turned over to the English — Pontiac's death 234

Chapter XXIII

Gen. Clark's conquest of the "lUinois" — The Revolutionary war — Indian depredations upon the settlements of Kentucky — The savages are supplied with ai'ms and ammunition from the English posts at Detroit, Vincennes and Kaskaskia — Gen. Clark applies to Gov. Henry, of Virginia, for aid in an enterprise to capture Kaskaskia and Vincennes — Sketch of Gen. Clark — His manuscript memoir of his march to the Illinois — He captures Kaskaskia — The surrender of Vincennes — He treats with the Indians, who agree to quit their warfare on the Big Knife — Gov. Hamilton, of Detroit, re-captures Vincennes — Clark's march to Vincennes — He re-takes Vincennes, and makes the English forces prisoners of war — Capt. Helm surpi'ises a convoy of English boats at the mouth of the Vermilion River — Organization of the northwest territory into Illinois county of Virginia — Clark holds the Northwest until the conclusion of the revolutionary war. For this reason only it became a part of the United States 246

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Chapter XXIV

Illinois county established — The northwest territory — The ordinance of 1787 — A bill of rights — Free-school system — Provisions for states — Old boundaries between Canada and Louisiana — Indian wars — The Indian country on the Wabash and Maumee ravaged — England refuses to surrender military posts within the northwest territory — The first treaty between the United States and the Wabash tribes, at Vincennes. in 1792 — The great white wampum belt of peace, with medal suspended, delivered by Gen. Putnam — The medal, and where afterward found — The British medal — St. Clair's defeat — Futile efforts ta obtain peace — Wayne marches from Greenville to the Maumee and gains a great victory over the confederated tribes — Treaty of Greenville — Wayne's death 260

Chapter XXV

The northwest territory divided — Wm. H. Harrison appointed governor of the Indiana territory — Its subdivision into counties — Biographical sketch of Gov. > Harrison — Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet — They organize a scheme to drive the white settlers beyond the Ohio — Illinois Territory formed — Its subdivision into the counties of Randolph and St. Clair — DeTelopment of Tecumseh 's plans — The Tippecanoe campaign — Lme of Harrison's march — Official account of the battle — Incidents — War of 1812 — A large part of the Northwest in the hands of the English and Indians — Fall of Fort Dearborn — Siege of Forts Wayne and Harrison — Gen. Taylor's report of the attack on Fort Harrison — The naval engagement on Lake Erie — The battle of the Thames — Tecumseh had "fought it out" with Gen. Harrison — The north recovered by Gen. Harrison — The old boundaries restored — Peace concluded — Advance of population — Conclusion .* . . v. 278

HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.

Chapter I. Topography

The reader will have a better understanding of the manner in wliich the territory, herein treated of, was discovered and subsequently occupied, if reference is made, in the outset, to some of its more important topographical features.

Indeed, it would be an unsatisfactory task to try to follow the routes of early travel, or to undertake to pursue the devious wanderings of the aboriginal tribes, or trace the advance of civilized society into a conntry, without some preliminary knowledge of its topograph3\

Looking upon a map of Xorth America, it is observed that westward of tlie Alleghany Mountains the waters are divided into two gi-eat masses ; the one, composed of waters floM'ing into the great northern lakes, is, by. the river St. Lawrence, carried into the xVtlantic Ocean ; the other, collected by a multitude of streams spread out like a vast net over the surface of more tlum twenty states and several territories, is gathered at last into the Mississippi River, and thence discharged into the Gulf of Mexico.

As it was by the St. Lawrence River, and the great lakes connected with it, that the Northwest Territory was discovered, and for many years its trade mainly carried on, a more minute notice of this remarkable water communication will not be out of place. Jacques Cartier, a French navigator, having sailed from St. Malo, entered, on the 10th of August, 1535, the Gulf, whicli he had explored the year before, and named it the St. Lawrence, in memory of the holy martyr wliose feast is celebrated on that day. This name was subsequently extended to the river. Previous to this it was called the River of Canada, the name iriven l)v the Indians to the whole countrv.* Tlie drainage of the St. Lawrence and the lakes extends through 11 degrees of longitude, and covers a distance of over two thousand miles. Ascending

* Father Charlevoix' "History and General Description of New France;" Dr. John G. Shea's translation ; vol. 1, pp. 37, 115.

12 HISTORIC NOTES OF THE NORTHWEST.

this river, we behold it flanked with bold crags and sloping hillsides ; its current beset with rapids and studded with a thousand islands ; combining scenery of marvelous beauty and grandeur. Seven hundred and fifty miles above its mouth, the channel deepens and the shores recede into an expanse of water known as Lake Ontario.*

Passing westward on Lake Ontario one hundred and eighty miles a second river is reached. A few miles above its entry into the lake, the river is thrown over a ledge of rock into a yawning chasm, one hundred and fifty feet below ; and, amid the deafening noise and clouds of vapor escaping from the agitated waters is seen the great Falls of Niagara. At Bufflilo, twenty-two miles above the falls, the shores of Niagara River recede and a second great inland sea is formed, having an average breadth of 40 miles and a length of 240 miles. This is Lake Erie. The name has been variously spelt, — Earie, Ilerie, Erige and Erike. It has also born the name of Conti.f Father Hennepin says : " The Hurons call it Lake Erige, or Erike, that is to say, the Lake of the Cat, and the inhabitants of Canada have softened the M'ord to Erie ; " vide " A New Discovery of a Vast Countr}^ in America," p. 77 ; London edition, 1698.

Hennepin's derivation is substantially followed by the more accurate and accomplished historian, Father Charlevoix, who at a later period, in 1721, in writing of this lake uses the following words: " The name it bears is that of an Indian nation of the Huron language, which was formerly settled on its banks and who have been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. Erie in that language signifies cat, and in some accounts this nation is called the cat nation." He adds : " Some modern maps have given Lake Erie the name of Conti, but with no better success than the names of Conde, Tracy and Orleans which have been given to Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan. ";};

At the upper end of Lake Erie, to the southward, is Maumee Bay, of which more hereafter; to the northward the shores of the lake again

* Ontario has been favored with several names by early authors and map makers. Champlain's map, 1633, lays it down as Lac St. Louis. The map prefixed to Colden's "History of the Five Nations" designates it as Cata-ra-qui, or Ontario Lake. The word is Huron- Iroquois, and is derived, in their language, from Onfra, a lake, and io, beautiful, the compound word meanmg a beautiful lake ; vide Letter of I>ul5ois D'Avaugour, August 16, 1663, to the Minister: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 16. Baron LaHontan, in his work and on the accompanying map, calls it Lake Frontenac; ride " New \'oyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 219. And Frontenac, the name by which, this lake was most generally designated by the early French writers, was given to it in honor of the great Count Frontenac, Governor-General of Canada.

t Narrative of Father Zenolna Membre, who accompanied Sieur La Salle in the voyage westward on tliis lake in 1679 ; vide " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi." by Dr John G. Shea, p. 90. Barou La Hontan's "Voyages to North America," vol. 1, p. 217, also map prefixed ; London edition, 1703. Cadwalder Colden's map, referred to in a previous note, designates it as "Lake Erie, or Okswego."

t Journal of a Voyage to North America, vol. 2, p. 2 ; London Edition, 1761.

THE LAKES. 13

approach each other and form a channel known as the River Detroit, a French word signifying a strait or narrow passage. Northward some twenty miles, and above the city of Detroit, the river widens into a small body of water called Lake St. Clair. The name as now written is incorrect : " we should either retain the French form, Claire, or take the English Clare. It received its name in honor of the founder of the Franciscan nuns, from the fact that La Salle reached it on the day consecrated to her."* Northward some twelve miles across this lake the land again encroaches upon and contracts the waters within another narrow bound known as the Strait of St. Clair. Passing up this strait, northward about forty miles. Lake Huron is reached. It is 250 miles long and 190 miles wide, including Georgian Bay on the east, and its whole area is computed to be about 21,000 square miles. Its magnitude fully justified its early name. La Mer-douce, the Fresh Sea, on account of its extreme vastness.f The more popular name of Huron, which has survived all others, was given to it from the great Huron nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the country lying to the eastward of it. Indeed, many of the early French writers call it Lac des Hurons, that is, Lake of the Hurons. It is so laid down on the maps of Hennepin, La Hontan, Charlevoix and Colden in the volumes before quoted.

Going northward, leaving the Straits of Mackinaw, through which Lake Michigan discharges itself from the west, and the chain of Manitoulin Islands to the eastward, yet another river, the connecting link between Lake Huron and Superior, is reached. Its current is swift, and a mile below Lake Superior are the Falls, where the water leaps and tumbles down a channel obstructed by boulders and shoals, where, from time immemorial, the Indians of various tribes have resorted on account of the abundance of fish and the ease with which they are taken. Previous to the year 1670 the river was called the Sault, that is, the rapids, or falls. In this year Fathers Marquette and Dablon founded here the mission of " St. Marie du Sault " (St. Mary of the Falls), from which the modern name of the river, St. Mary's, is derived.:}: Recently the United States have perfected the ship canal cut in solid rock, around the falls, through which the largest vessels can now pass, from the one lake to the other.

Lake Superior, in its greatest length, is 360 miles, with a maximum breadth of 140, the largest of the five great American lakes, and the most extensive body of fresh water on the globe. Its form has been

*Note by Dr. Shea, " Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," p. 143. tChamplain's map, 1632. Also "Memoir on the Colony of Quebec, ' Angnst 4, 1663 : Paris Documents, vol. 9. p. 16.

1 Charlevoix' " History of New France, " voi. 3, p. 110; also note.

14 HISTOKIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.

poetically iind not inaccurately described by a Jesuit Father, whose account of it is preserved in the Relations for the years 1669 and 1670 : " This lake has almost the form of a bended bow, and in length is more than 180 leagues. The southern shore is as it were the cord, the arrow being a long strip of land [Keweenaw Point] issuing from the southern coast and running more than 80 leagues to the middle of the lake." A glance on the map will show the aptness of the comparison. The name Superior was given to it by the Jesuit Fathers, " in consequence of its being xihove that of Lake Huron.* It was also called Lake Tracy, after Marquis De Tracy, who was governor-general of Canada from 1663 to 1665. Father Claude Allouez, in his " Journal of Travels to the Country of the Ottawas," preserved in the Relations for the years 1666, 1667, says : " After passing through the St. Mary's River we entered the upper lake, which will hei-eafter bear the name of Monsieur Tracy, an acknowledgment of the obligation under which the people of this country are to him." The good father, however, was mistaken ; the name Tracy only appears on a few ancient maps, or is jierpetuated in rare volumes that record the almost forgotten labors of the zealous Catholic missionaries ; while the earlier name of Lake " Superior " is familiar to every school-boy who has thumbed an athis.

At the western extremity of Lake Superior enter the Rivers Bois- Brule and St. Louis, the upper tributaries of which have their sources on the northeasterly slope of a water-shed, and approximate very near the head-waters of the St. Croix, Prairie and Savannah Rivers, which, issuing from the opposite side of this same ridge, flow into the upper Mississippi.

The upper portions of Lakes Huron, Michigan, Green Bay, with their indentations, and the entire coast line, with the islands eastward and westward of the Straits of Mackinaw, are all laid down with quite a degree of accuracy on a map attached to the Relations of the Jesuits for the years 1670 and 1671, a copy of which is contained in Bancroft's History of the United States,t showing that the reverend fathers were industrious in mastering and preserving the geographical features of the wilderness they traversed in their holy calling.

Lake Michigan is the only one of the five great lakes that lays wholly within the United States, — the other four, with their connecting rivers and straits, mark the boundary between the Dominion of Canada and the United States. Its length is 320 miles ; its average breadth 70, with a mean depth of over 1,000 feet. Its area is some