Original - North Central Michigan College Library

A VISIT TO SAULT STE. MARIEdesirous of visiting the Sault deSte. Marie I left Michilimackinac on theBEINGfifteenth of May in a canoe. The Saultde Ste. Marie is distant from Michilimackinacthirty leagues and lies in the strait whichseparates Lake Huron from Lake Superior.Having passed Le Detour, a point of land atthe entrance of the strait, our course lay amongnumerous islands, some of which are twentymiles in length. We ascended the rapid ofMiscoutinsaki, a spot well adapted for millseats, and above which is the mouth of theriver of the same name. The lands on the southshore of this river are excellent. The lake isbordered by meadows, and at a short distanceback are groves of sugar maple. From thisriver to the Sault de Ste. Marie is one continuedmeadow.On the nineteenth I reached the Sault. Herewas a stockaded fort in which under the Frenchgovernment there was kept a small garrison,commanded by an officer who was called thegovernor, but was in fact a clerk who managedthe Indian trade here on government account.The houses were four in number, of whichthe first was the governor's, the second the59