Page 17 - Fur Trade program Curriculum

There were several tribes that called Northern Indiana and Southern Michigan home
throughout several centuries. What follows is a description of these tribes and some of
their more peculiar habits and lifestyles. Some of these tribes LaSalle and his men
would have (or may have) encountered in their explorations to this area.

Mascouten

Jacques Marquette, who made a long journey by canoe by way of the Illinois River
to the Mississippi and down that river to Arkansas, visited the Mascouten tribe in 1673.

Marquette has left an account of this voyage in his journal. He found the Mascouten
in their village at the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, living with the
Miami and Kickapoo. Marquette mentions that the Mascouten and Kickapoo were a
ruder type of people than the Miami and seemed peasants by comparison. He also
observed that they lived in cabins made of rushes, which didn’t afford them much
protection. They could be rolled up, however, and were easily transported whenever
necessary.

Louis Hennepin, a missionary who claimed to be the first to descend to the mouth of
the Mississippi, though this claim is open to dispute, also mentions the Mascouten. He
describes the Mascouten as being very clownish and differing distinctly from the Miami.
It is believed that the Mascouten, along with the Kickapoo, had a reputation for
treachery and deceit, and were of an uneasy and warlike nature. These missionaries
said that the Mascouten worshiped the sun and thunder, but did not practice rites nor
honor a variety of minor deities, as did many Indian tribes.

In 1712 the Mascouten and Kickapoo joined the Fox as allies against the French. In
this same year the Potawatomi and other northern tribes attacked the Fox and the
Mascouten at the siege of Detroit, taking prisoners and killing almost two thousand Fox
and Mascouten. By 1780 the Mascouten seem to have faded into history. Probably the
Sauk and Fox absorbed the northern group and the Kickapoo the southern group.

Miami

The Miami probably occupied the western portion of Michigan at an early time in
history, although they later left this area for reasons unknown. The Jesuits arrived at
the St. Joseph River in 1673, naming it “River of the Miamis,” because it ran through the
country of these Indians. Although the Miami still inhabited the area, it is believed they
were not very numerous.

The major village of the Miami was on the Kankakee River, which rises in northern
Indiana and flows westward through southern Illinois. LaSalle, famous French explorer,
visited this village while he tried to make peace with the Indians of the area. LaSalle
accomplished his goal, but the peace was short-lived, for the Miami feared the approach
of Iroquois war parties. In 1680 a party of Iroquois was returning from a foray with one
of the Illinois tribes, and while traveling back toward their country they surprised a small
band of Miami and killed them. They then built crude forts with brush and trees right in