of man there were no signs visible, save a few bark wigwams, in a narrow break in the fringe of forest, from one of which a thin column of blue smoke curled lazily upward.

The adventurers landed near where the wharf has since been built. They found only one Indian in the village. He informed them that the band were encamped at the mouth of the river, on the opposite side of the bay. The Indian made a signal with a column of smoke, which had the effect of bringing over a canoe, full of young men, who came to inquire who the strangers were and what was wanted.

The next day a chief, with a number of men, came over. Messrs. Fleming and Dougherty informed him that they had come, by direction of their agent at Mackinac, and by permission of their great father, the president, to establish a school among them for the instruction of their children, and to teach them a knowledge of the Savior. The reply was that the head chief, with his men, would come in a few days, and then they would give an answer.

On the arrival of the head chief, Aish-qua-gwon-a-ba, a council was held for the purpose of considering the proposal of the missionaries. At its close Messrs. Fleming and Dougherty were informed that the Indians had decided to unite the bands living in the vicinity, and locate near the river, on the east side of the bay. If the missionaries would go with them they would show them the intended location of their new villages and gardens, so that they could select a good central site for their dwelling and school.

About the 20th of the month, the white men, in their boat, accompanied by a fleet of Indian canoes, crossed the bay, landing at the mouth of the river, where the village of Elk Rapids is now situated. The Indians proposed to divide their settlement into two villages. After looking over the ground, the missionaries chose a location, something more than a quarter of a mile from the river, on the south side.

The day after the missionaries landed at Elk river the Indians came to their tent in great excitement, saying there were white men in the country. They had seen a horse's track, which contained the impression of a shoe. Their ponies were not shod. Shortly after a white man came into the camp. He proved to be a packman belonging to a company of United States surveyors, who were at work on the east side of Elk and Torch lakes. He had lost his way, and wanted a guide to pilot him back to his company. An Indian went with him several miles, returning in the afternoon with the man's hatchet in his possession, having taken it on the refusal of the latter to pay him for his services. The next day

the whole company of surveyors came in and encamped for a short time at the river.

Immediately after deciding upon the location Messrs. Fleming and Dougherty commenced cutting logs for the construction of a dwelling and schoolhouse. Hard work and the discomforts of a wilderness, the latter of which were doubly annoying to the inexperienced missionaries, filled up the next few days. Among other evils from which they could not escape, the sand flies were a terrible torment. Finally the body of the house was raised, the doors and windows brought from Mackinac were put in their places, and the gables and roof were covered with sheets of cedar bark purchased of the Indians.

Then an unexpected blow fell upon the devoted missionaries, crushing the hopes and changing the life prospects of one, and plunging both into deep sorrow. A messenger came from Mackinac with intelligence that Mr. Fleming's wife had suddenly died at that place. The bereaved husband, with the four men who had come with them, immediately embarked in their boat for Mackinac. He never returned to the mission. Mr. Dougherty was left alone. With the exception of the surveyors at work somewhere in the interior, he was the only white person in the country.

After the departure of his comrade Mr. Dougherty, with the assistance of Peter Greensky, the interpreter, busied himself with the work of finishing the house, and clearing away the brush in the vicinity. Once or twice the cedar bark of the roof took fire from the stove-pipe, but fortunately the accident was discovered before any serious damage was done. The old chief, Aish-qua-gwon-a-ba, and his wife, perhaps to show their friendliness and make it less lonely for the missionary, came and stayed with him several days in his new house.

About the 20th of June Henry R. Schoolcraft, Indian agent at Mackinac, arrived in a small vessel, accompanied by his interpreter, Robert Graverat, and Isaac George, an Indian blacksmith. From information received at Mackinac, Mr. Schoolcraft had come impressed with the notion that the harbor near the little island, on the west side of the peninsula (Bower's Harbor), would be a suitable point at which to locate the blacksmith, carpenter, and farmer, that, by the terms of the recent treaty, the government was obligated to furnish for the benefit of the Indians. Looking over the ground, and consulting the wishes of the Indians, he finally came to the conclusion that Mission Harbor was a more suitable place. Accordingly, Mr. George was left to commence operations, and Mr. Schoolcraft returned to Mackinac.

Soon after the departure of Mr. Schoolcraft, Ah-go-sa, the chief at Mission Harbor, accompanied by the principal men of his band, visited Mr. Dougherty, saying that most of the Indians at that place were unwilling to move over to the east side of the bay, and offering to transport him and his goods across to Mission Harbor, and furnish him a house to live in, if he would take up his residence with them. Convinced that, all things considered, the harbor was a more eligible site for the mission, Mr. Dougherty at once accepted the proposal. Leaving what things were not needed for immediate use, and loading the balance in Indian canoes, he was ferried across the bay to the scene of his future labors-the place where he had first landed, not many weeks before, and which, under the name of Old Mission, has since become famous as a center of development of the agricultural interests of northwestern Michigan.

The next day arrangements were made for opening a school, with interpreter Greensky as teacher, in the little bark wigwam that the Indians had vacated for Mr. Dougherty's use. Then followed a hard summer's work. Mr. Dougherty and Mr. George commenced the construction of a house for themselves. The logs for the building were cut close along the border of the harbor, floated to a point near where they were to be used, and then dragged to the site of the building by hand. Of course, the work could never have been accomplished without the aid of the Indians. The house was covered with shingles, such as the two inexperienced men were able to make, and a few boards brought from Mackinac with their fall supplies. The building was so nearly completed that the men found themselves comfortably housed before winter fairly set in. Desiring not to be left alone while the Indians were absent on their annual winter hunt, Mr. Dougherty induced the chief, Ah-go-sa, and two others, with their families, to remain till sugar-making time in the spring, by offering to help them put up comfortable houses for winter. There is some uncertainty about the style of these houses. We are informed that the offer was to help them put up log or slab shanties. If finally the latter was determined on, the slabs must have been rough planks, split out of suitable logs with beetle and wedges, and smoothed with an ax. Whether the shanties were built cone-shaped or not, by placing the planks on end in a circle, with the tops inclining inward, like the Ottawa pe-bone-gawn, does not appear. Before they were finished, the weather had become so cold that boiling water had to be used to thaw the clay for plastering the chinks in the walls. Mr. Dougherty's house stood on the bank of the harbor, east of the site afterwards occupied by the more commodious and comfortable mission house. The chief's shanty was

built on the south side of the little lake lying a short distance northwest of the harbor. The cabins for the other two Indian families were located a little way south of where the mission church was afterwards built.

In the fall Mr. John Johnston arrived at the mission, having come by appointment of Mr. Schoolcraft to reside there as Indian farmer. During the winter the mission family consisted of the four men-Dougherty, George, Greensky, and Johnston. Mr. Johnston had brought with him a yoke of oxen for use in Indian farming. There was no fodder in the country, unless he may have brought a little with him. Be that as it may, he found it necessary to browse his cattle all winter.

In the spring of 1840 the log house which had been built at Elk Rapids the previous year was taken down, and the materials were transported across the bay and used in the construction of a schoolhouse and woodshed. Until the mission church was built, a year or two after, the schoolhouse was used for holding religious services, as well as for school.

In the fall of 1841, besides Indian wigwams, there were five buildings at the mission-the schoolhouse and four dwellings. All were built of logs, and all, except Mr. Dougherty's house, were covered with cedar bark. The dwellings were occupied by Mr. Dougherty, missionary, Henry Bradley, mission teacher, John Johnston, Indian farmer, and David McGulpin, assistant farmer. Mr. George was still there, and there had been another addition to the community in the person of George Johnston, who had come in the capacity of Indian carpenter. As regards race, the little community, the only representative of Christian civilization in the heart of a savage wilderness, was somewhat mixed. John Johnston was half Indian, with a white wife; McGulpin was a white man, with an Indian wife. All the others, except Greensky the interpreter, were whites.

As the little community represented two races, so also it represented two distinct agencies, working in harmony for the improvement of the physical, intellectual, and moral condition of the Indians. The blacksmith, carpenter, and farmer were employés of the United States government, appointed by the Indian agent at Mackinac, and subject to his control. It was their duty to instruct the Indians in the simpler and more necessary arts of civilization. The missionary and his assistants, the interpreter and teacher, were employed by the Presbyterian board, and supported by missionary funds. The only assistance they received from the government was an allowance for medicines dispensed to the Indians.

CHAPTER VI.

Mrs. Dougherty-The Dame Family-Lewis Miller-The Mission School -First Frame Building-Church Built-First White Settlers—Scattering of the Indians-Removal of the Mission-Manual Labor School -The Mission Discontinued.

In the fall of 1841 an event occurred that must have created a little flutter of excitement in the quiet and isolated settlement at the mission. It was on a pleasant morning in September that the little schooner Supply came into the harbor, having on board as passengers, besides Mr. and Mrs. Dougherty and their infant daughter, Henrietta, two persons whose names have since become intimately associated with the events of the early history of the Grand Traverse country. These two persons were Deacon Joseph Dame and Lewis Miller.

We are not informed at what time Mrs. Dougherty first came to the mission. On the occasion referred to, she and her husband were returning from a visit to Mackinac, where they had gone some time previously, in order to be within reach of suitable assistance at the period of Mrs. Dougherty's confinement.

Deacon Dame had received the appointment of Indian farmer, as successor to John Johnston, and came to enter upon the duties of his office. With him were Mrs. Dame, their eldest son, Eusebius F., and two daughters, Almira and Mary. Another daughter, Olive M., came the following year.

Lewis Miller was an orphan, left alone to make his way in the world. His birthplace was Waterloo, Canada West; the date of his birth, September 11, 1824. The year 1839 found him in Chicago. From that city, in 1840, he made his way to Mackinac. Here he became acquainted with the Dames. A strong friendship grew up between him and Mr. and Mrs. Dame. When, in 1841, Deacon Dame received his appointment as Indian farmer and commenced preparations for removal to his new field of labor, Miller, then 17 years of age, resolved to accompany him, more for the novelty of the thing than from any definite purpose with reference to the future. Except the children who came with their parents, he was the first white settler in the Grand Traverse country who did not come in consequence of an appointment from the Presbyterian board or the Mackinac Indian agency.