May – The Huron River
Patricia Quick, Rockwood Area Historical Society
Have you ever taken time to take a really good look at the Huron River? There are places along the shore,
visible from the road, that are as pretty a scene as can be viewed in all Michigan. The clouds of red-bed
and hawthorn trees, blossoming along the river in the spring, is a sight to behold. The lazy stream in
summer, with the large white sycamores, and graceful, pale-green willows, is cooling and refreshing to
the eye. In the fall the crimson-red, the purple, brown, and gold of the autumn leaves reflecting in the
water creates a scene that any artist would love to paint. Even in winter, the inky blackness of the rushing
current between the icy, snow-covered banks is a chilly, thrilling sight.
Ask a former student of the U. of M. from anywhere in the U.S.A. or a foreign country about the Huron
River. He will appear puzzled for a moment, then will smile as memories of under-grad days, of boating,
or merely strolling along the river come flooding back. It is safe to say that even though the Huron River
is not significant or important, it truly is a river known ‘round the world.
In 1966, two boys digging in the sandy bank at Cara Lane and Huron River Drive found bones and Indian
artifacts. A spokesman from the University of Michigan stated that an Indian village could have been
located here as early as 500 BC. So you see the river has been in this area for quite some time.
The Riviere Aux Huron first appeared on a map drawn by Joseph Gaspard de Lery in 1749. It is shown
on another French map dated 1752. Jean Baptiste Sanscrainte (John Soncrant) came from Quebec in 1765
and settled on the north bank of the river at present day West Jefferson. He sold this property to Gabriel Godfroy in 1796. On early maps you will see the name “Godfroy” on many acres of land throughout this
area. Notations on a 1790 map are as follows:
“The Riviere Aux Hurons is navigable for large canoes for 100 miles. There is a portage of 64
chains to the Grand River, thence to Lake Michigan. The Riviere Aux Hurons is a very rapidly
flowing stream with a sandy bottom”.
It was a land of plenty for the Native Americans. The lakes and rivers provided food and transportation.
They journeyed down the river to the British Ford Malden at Amherstburg where they bartered for
trinkets and hatchets.
A 1798 church census shows twenty Protestant families and eight Catholic families living along both
sides of the river. In 1803 the Office of Indian Affairs sent Jouett to conduct a census of sorts. He
reported The Riviere Aux Hurons deep, with gentle current, navigable for large boats for more than
twenty miles. In this same year, 1803, Gabriel Godfroy provided a ferryboat for travelers using Anthony
Wayne’s trail across the Huron River. His tenant farmer Claude Campeau worked the farm and operated
the ferry. Mr. Compeau operated the ferry until the War of 1812. The first bridge across the Huron River
was hastily constructed by the troops of Gen. William Hull’s American Army on July 4, 1812. The
soldiers laid additional logs on Anthony Wayne’s corduroy road to enable the supply wagons to cross the
low-lying marsh at this time. March of 1817 saw a survey party paddling up the Huron. They sought the
site of the Indian portage to the Grand River. In his journal, Joseph Fletcher writes of the rain and bitter
cold. The survey lists meander posts, claims, types of land, trees and their diameter. Except for the marsh
and swampland, the most frequent description reads: “Very good farmland, heavily timbered”. Distances
were measured in links and chains.
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"Gabriel Godfroy, ... of the Miami tribe, and son, Durand. (Robes worn ... were Frances Slocum's.)" From the poster announcing the Slocum family reunion, Peru, Indiana, August 15, 1916. Click image for a larger postcard version. "Gabriel Godfroy is very popular among his acquaintances, and is noted for his liberal and princely hospitality. He is widely known, and is visited by many strangers, on account of being the son of the last war chief of the Miami's, [Francis Godfroy], and the husband of a grand-daughter of Frances Slocum." From page 222, Biography of Frances Slocum, by John F. Meginness, 1891. Kin-o-zach-qua;
Mrs. Gabriel Godfroy
From page 184, Biography of Frances Slocum, by John F. Meginness, 1891.
Gabriel Godfroy
From ArborWiki
| Gabriel Godfroy | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Gabriel Godfroy |
| Born: | 1758 |
| Died: | 1832 |
In 1809, Col. Gabriel Godfroy (1758 - 1832) (alt spelling: Godfrey) established a trading post where the Potawatomi Trail crossed the Huron River - approximately where the Riverside Arts Center stands today - becoming the man whom most histories of Washtenaw County or Ypsilanti begin with. While other French traders had passed through the area before, Godfroy's post was the first intended to be permanent. (His partners in the project, Francois Pepin (or "Francis Pepin") and Romaine De Chambre (or "Louis Le Shambre"), receive less recognition.)
Col. Godfroy was, as Beakes puts it, "a man of means. He was a man of influence." Not merely a man with a tradinghouse, Godfroy held various military and political posts during his life. At the beginning of the 19th century, he followed Judge Woodward as Colonel of the First Michigan Regiment. In 1803, he was made Assessor for the City of Detroit. Later, Gen. William Henry Harrison, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, appointed Godfroy to the post of Subagent and Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs.
Godfroy was additionally an experienced businessman. Around 1795, he and two partners purchased a pair of mills in Detroit. In 1802, he ran a ferry across the Detroit River. In 1815, he owned a Detroit tannery. One account has him running multiple other trading posts between Monroe and Fort Vincennes. Between these various business and political responsibilities, it is unlikely that Godfroy (or his partners) ever maintained a permanent residence in Ypsilanti.
The trading post was profitable in its early years, but as the natives were moved further west by treaty, the volume of trade dropped off. It was abandoned as not profitable enough in 1820, three years before Benjamin Woodruff and company established a permanent settlement.
Sources:
- Beakes, 1905, pp. 540-542.
- The Past of Ypsilanti, 1857. p. 6.
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