6. Docteur Gendron
In 1660, another, and a most interesting reference to our Cataract appeared in print; written by one Docteur Gendron. It does not appear that he ever saw it, but he seems to have learnt a good deal about it; of course he learnt it from the Indians; moreover, he learnt it from Hurons, who dwelt in more or less proximity to it; from men who, no doubt, themselves had seen it. He learnt it from the same source, not improbably from the same men, from whom Fathers Ragueneau and Bressani had gotten their less comprehensive knowledge of it--for he had a special reason, in the line of his profession, for learning about it. He had written home to France concerning it, at least three years before Ragueneau, at least seven years before Bressani, had done so. And, curiously enough, at the very time when Docteur Gendron wrote his letters, Fathers Ragueneau and Bressani were also in that Huron Country. It is, therefore, more than reasonably certain, that all three of them being Europeans, all three living among the Hurons,--whose territory was not large, through which news of the presence of white men in those days traveled fast,--that they must have known each other, not only as acquaintances, but as intimates. The Priests had their headquarters at the Home of the Huron Mission, and the Docteur would, for every reason, take up his residence in that same Indian Village. Those three men,--with the exception of Champlain, the earliest known chroniclers of the existence of Niagara Falls,--were doubtless near neighbors and close friends, in the Huron Country, in the wilds of Canada, over two hundred and fifty years ago.
NIAGARA IN EARLY DAYS, BY THOMAS COLEIn 1636, there had been published at Paris a work in five volumes, written by one Pierre Davity, who had died the year before, entitled "The Whole World; With all its Parts, States, Empires, Kingdoms, Republics and Governments." It had been reissued at least twice by 1649. In all three of those Editions, "America, The Third Part of the World," had been treated of at some length--especially the Southern Hemisphere;--and while Canada had not been overlooked, there had been no mention of Niagara.
In 1660, Jean Baptiste de Rocoles, who was both a Counsellor to the King and also his State Historian, reissued the work, enlarged and "brought up to date." This issue was in three volumes, folio; rather ponderous tomes; well printed, and elaborately bound. As in the previous editions, it was issued by consent of the King, and with the approval of the Clergy; and it now had the official editing of the King's Historian.
At the end of the portion relating to America--that is, at the very end of the last volume--its contents evidently coming to Rocoles' notice at the last moment; probably after the work was entirely printed (for the preceding page bears the imprint, "End of America"; and there is no mention of its contents in the Index), is a short Chapter entitled (translated),
"Certain Special Information about the Country of the Hurons in New France. Recorded by the Sieur Gendron, Doctor of Medicine, who has lived for a long time in that Country."
This supplementary Chapter is six pages in length, and, while it is not signed, we may justly assume that Rocoles himself, and none other, wrote it. It begins,--
"One of my friends having lately placed in my hands a few letters written in the years 1644 and 1645, which Sieur Gendron, native of Voue in Beausse, had sent to him from that Country [of the Hurons], where he was at that time; I have had the curiosity to transcribe from them, word for word, what follows; for a better knowledge and acquaintance of those lands, newly discovered. And I have done so the more willingly because this person is worthy of credence, and he wrote these letters to men of merit, who had travelled much."
In the letters thus transcribed, "word for word," Sieur Gendron gives the location of the Huron Country, where he writes,--
"I now am," "as between the 44th and 45th degrees of Latitude; and as to Longitude, it is half an hour more to the west than Quebec."
From his descriptions of the Lake Region, from his location of other Indian tribes, and from the context, Sieur Gendron was very near the southern end of Georgian Bay, when he wrote those letters. That he was in the same Indian Village, as was the House, or Headquarters, of the Mission to the Hurons (which was located at that point), is deducable even more strongly, from the fact, that Father Ragueneau, in his report to his Superior, in 1648, uses, word for word, over more than a score of printed lines, in locating the adjoining Indian tribes, the language of Sieur Gendron, written at least three, possibly four, years before, and published by Rocoles in 1660.
That he did so, not plagiarizing, but with the knowledge and consent, and not improbably (in those parts of his letter which dealt with physical conditions) with the assistance, of Docteur Gendron, must be admitted by those who know from history of the splendid abilities, the exalted piety, and the noble character of Father Paul Ragueneau, S.J., who, after his labors amongst the Hurons were ended, became the Superior of his Order at Quebec--that is, in Canada.
A little further on, Docteur Gendron writes,--
"Towards the south, and a little towards the west, is the Neuter Nation, whose villages, which are now on the frontier, are only about thirty leagues distant from the Hurons. It is forty or fifty leagues in extent" [that is from west to east, for it extended from the Detroit River to some distance east of the Niagara River].
Then he writes, what for the purpose of this article is the most interesting portion of the letters, as follows:
"Almost south of the Neuter Nation is a large lake, almost 200 leagues in circumference, called Erie, which is formed from the Fresh Water Sea, [Lake Huron] and falls, from a terrible height, into a third lake called Ontario, which we call St. Louis.
"From the foam of the waters, roaring at the foot of certain large rocks, which are found at this place, is formed a stone, or rather pulverized salt, of a somewhat yellowish color, of great virtue for healing wounds, fistulas, and malignant ulcers. In this place, full of horrors, live also certain savages, who live only on elk, deer, buffalos, and all other kinds of game that the rapids drag and bring down to the entrance of these rocks; where the savages catch them, without running for them, more than sufficient for their needs, and the maintenance of strangers [Indians from other and distant tribes], with whom they trade in these 'Erie Stones' ['Pierres Eriennes']--thus called because of this lake--who carry and distribute them to other Nations."
In confirmation of the Doctor's statement that articles were brought to Niagara, for the purposes of trade,--in 1903 there was opened an Indian Mound, on top of and close to the edge of the Mountain Ridge, some three and a half miles east of the Niagara River, on the Tuscarora Reservation, in the town of Lewiston, Niagara County, N.Y. It was a Burial Pit; and a Peace Burial Pit; more than probably dating from 1640, which was the last date of the ten-year Ceremonial Burials observed by the Neuters, who then owned and occupied all this Niagara Region; for before the expiration of the next ten year period, the Neuters had been annihilated by the Senecas. In it were found nearly 400 skulls, and the bones of probably an equal number of bodies, some articles of copper (made by the French, and proving trade with them), many hundreds of shell beads, and other articles of Indian make, among them some made from large Conche Shells, such as are found on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and curiously enough three or four large, unbroken, Conche Shells. These latter, it is fair to assume, were brought nearly 2,000 miles, to Niagara, there to be traded for those "Erie Stones" (and they were brought unbroken, so that their buyer could cut from them gorgets and other ornaments of the shape and size that suited his fancy), thus proving, that for some years, no one can pretend to say how many, perhaps centuries before Docteur Gendron wrote the second known reference to Niagara, the fame of the Cataract was widely known among the Indians of North America; even beyond the far-off, sunny lands, inhabited by the Arkansaws; clear to the mouths of the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters," and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.
So it was a Physician, in a letter written from an unnamed place in the wilds of Canada, to a friend, of whose name we are ignorant, in France,--the contents of which letter were, in a few years, to be published to the World,--that was, in date the second, though in print the fourth, man ever to refer directly to Niagara Falls.
Yet, it is not surprising that it should have been so, for almost every instance in History tells us that, so far as newly discovered lands are concerned, it is the Explorer, or Empire-Builder, who first penetrates them, and the Priest soon follows the explorer, and the Physician soon follows the Priest. And that was exactly the order which was followed in the explorations of the Great-Lakes-Region of North America.
The Quartette--the third was an Italian, the other three were Frenchmen--who first referred directly to Niagara in print, stands--Champlain, Ragueneau, Bressani, Gendron, and in that order:--A Soldier of the Sword; two Soldiers of the Cross; and a Soldier of Medicine--though, so far as the dates when the letters of those four were written, and the information thus put in form which made its publication possible, are concerned, the Physician, Gendron, should occupy the second--instead of the fourth place. And, by-the-way, this Sieur Gendron was the first white Physician who is known to have lived anywhere in the western portion of this Country; the first white Physician in the limits of the present province of Ontario in Canada; and the first white Physician among the Indians of North America.
In the case of the good Docteur Gendron--who, next to Champlain, was the earliest to mention Niagara,--it was not the scenic beauty of the Falls (he does not say that he ever saw them), but it was something in the direct line of his profession which caused him to refer to them. It was because, at their base, and created, as he was told, by their waters, there was found--and there only--a panacea for many, if not for all, human ills. From his statements, it seems clear, that those "Erie Stones," which were "found only at Niagara," were themselves widely known amongst the Savages; and were a considerable article of trade between many, even to the most distant, Tribes.
And, even as to the minds of the Aborigines who dwelt far from it, the triple importance of Niagara was that it necessitated a long Land Carriage or Portage in their canoe voyages, that it was a famous "trading place," and, that it was the only source of supply of those famous "Erie Stones"; even so, to the mind of Docteur Gendron, their main importance lay, not in their imagined grandeur, but in the authenticated statement, that it, and it alone, produced a stone or powder, efficacious in the treatment of certain ills; which was undoubtedly a very welcome and a very decided addition to the probably very limited stock of his Materia Medica. Thus, Niagara, which to-day is famous the World over, for its Scenery, for its Botany, for its Geology, for its History, for its Hydraulic works, and lastly (and almost equally with its Scenery), for its Electrical developments, has also, through Docteur Gendron's "hasty letter"--written in 1644 or 1645--a distinct, and a very, very early claim to a place in the annals of the Healing Art--as it was known and practiced on the Continent of North America, during the first half of the 17th Century; and also therefrom another distinct proof that the locality was an Aboriginal Center of Trade.
This "Trade" in those "Erie Stones" must have been a most important thing for those Savages,--the Onguiaahras--who dwelt close to the Cataract at that time, and prior thereto.
It is further a most interesting fact, that the "Trade" therein was the first recorded trade ever carried on at Niagara; and it is also most interesting to recall, that this first Trade, at this famous spot, was in an article used for the relief of human suffering,--a simple remedy, furnished by Nature, and "all ready for use."
That Niagara product; which, possibly long before Columbus landed at San Salvador, probably during all the 16th, certainly during the 17th Century; made the locality famous, far and wide; was among the earliest known of America's healing remedies. It was evidently a leading, and a much-sought-for, prescription among the Aborigines. To-day, it has no value whatever. It is still to be found in abundance in the immediate vicinity of the Falls, in the Gorge below them; but no one seeks to gather it, save as a curiosity.
But, in those early days, among the ignorant and phenomenally superstitious Savages, those "Erie Stones," to be "found only at Niagara," seemed to them a special gift from the Great Spirit to his children. To the Savages, they were, veritably, "Big Medicine."
Their fame lasted for many a year. They were gathered and traded in--yes, and used--even until the middle of the 18th Century. As late as 1787, their reputation still clung to the great Fall.
That year, Capt. Enys, of the 29th Regiment, British, was at Niagara, and wrote of them--they were no longer called "Erie Stones," but the substance was known as "petrified spray of the Falls,"--
"On our return" [from the base of the Fall, and walking along the water's edge, under the cliff], "we employed ourselves in picking up a kind of stone, which is said to be the Spray of the Fall, petrified, but whether it is or no, I will not pretend to determine; this much I can say, that it grows, or forms itself in cavities in the cliff, about half way to the top, from whence it falls from time to time; its composition is a good deal like a piece of white marble which has been burnt in the fire, so that it may be pulverized with ease. Whatever may be its composition, it does not appear that it will bear to be exposed to the air, as some pieces which seem to have fallen longer than the rest are quite soft; while such as had lately fallen are of a much harder nature."
Robert McCauslin, M.D., who, during and after the War of the Revolution, spent nine years at Niagara--undoubtedly as British Post Surgeon at Fort Niagara,--furnished a scientific paper entitled, "An account of an earthly substance, found near the Falls of Niagara, and vulgarly called the Spray of the Falls," to Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton; and he, on October 16, 1789, communicated it to the American Philosophical Society; in whose Transactions it was subsequently published. Dr. McCauslin specially noted, that
"This substance is found, in great plenty, everywhere about the bottom of the Falls; sometimes lying loose among the stones on the beach, and sometimes adhering to the rocks, or appearing between the layers upon breaking them. The masses are of various sizes and shapes, but seldom exceed the bulk of a man's hand. Sometimes they are of a soft substance and crumble like damp sugar; while other pieces are found quite hard, and of a shining, foliated appearance; or else opaque and resembling a piece of burnt allum. It often happens that both these forms are found in the same mass. Pieces which are taken up whilst soft soon become hard by keeping; and they are never known to continue long in a soft state, as far as I have been able to learn."
He records that it is not found at all above the Falls, in the greatest amounts in the Gorge, close to the Falls; and in decreasing quantities as the distance from them increases; and is never found at a greater distance from them than perhaps a mile. From several scientific experiments which he made upon this substance, he deduced,
"1st, That this concrete is not an alkaline earth, as it is not affected either by the vitriolic or vegetable acids.
"2d, That we may, with more probability, say that it is a combination of an acid with a calcareous earth, and that it might with propriety be ranked amongst the selenites."
He thought it was formed by the moisture arising from the Falls constantly and slowly filtering between the layers of rock, in whose crevices it deposited its heavier portions, and that the violent agitation which the water had undergone disposed it to part with its earth more easily than it would otherwise do.
He adds, "The circumstance of this Spray not being found above the Falls seems to suggest an opinion that that part of the vapor which hangs upon the surrounding rocks is the heaviest, as being most loaded with earthy particles, whilst the remainder which mounts up is the purest and contains little or no earth."
Dewit Clinton, when he visited Niagara in 1810--as a Member of the first Board of Commissioners, appointed by the State of New York, to report on the whole subject of the proposed Erie Canal, noted in his diary,
"A beautiful white substance is found at the bottom of the Falls; supposed by some to be Gypsum, and by the vulgar, to be a concretion of foam, generated by the forces of the Cataract. But it is unquestionably part of the limestone, dissolved and re-united."
Since Clinton's time no attention has been paid to this substance as a curative agent.
As a geological substance it is still collected, but with greater ease than formerly, for, besides being found on and below the face of the cliff, its existence in the limestone all over the vicinity of the Falls has been demonstrated by means of the huge excavations that have been made in the development of the various Power Plants at Niagara.