Shared Waters: Natives and French Newcomers on the Great Lakes, reflects the maritime environment which shaped and continues to shape Southwest Michigan’s history because of the importance of the maritime environment. In its earliest days the area was a trade nexus for Natives and became a central place for Native-European trade. Lake Michigan shores also served as a starting point for French exploration into the Southern and Western interior.

The marine environment was key in fostering interaction and acculturation between Natives and French newcomers and was the basis for the development of the Niles, St. Joseph, and Benton Harbor region. The meeting of two cultures produced both conflict and cooperation. French dependence on Natives for navigational technology and diplomatic guidance and the Native’s reliance on the French for trade goods and military assistance produced a unique symbiotic relationship which helped both groups in their struggle for survival in the harsh environment of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Valley.

Because of water’s importance, both Natives and French established settlements along rivers and lakes. For example, both Fort Miami and St. Joseph were located along the St. Joseph River. La Salle, the French explorer, established the first fort there as a base for further southward and westward exploration, and the Catholic mission was established at the river because the Natives were already there. The posts were also located such that traders could go west or south for trading and go north and east to take their goods to Montreal.

Fort Michilimackinac, at the tip of the Lower Peninsula, sits on the shores of the Straits of Mackinac, where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. This crossroads of two Great Lakes made the fort an important trade entrepot and a bastion of defense for the French and later the British. It was centrally located in the French network of trade forts. It was also affiliated with a Jesuit mission across the strait at St. Ignace and Ste. Anne’s church which was located in the fort. Fort Michilimackinac was a place of trade, cultural exchange, and spiritual exchange, fostered by its location on the shores of the Great Lakes.

At Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, the idea of water as life force is best illustrated. The mission was established on the shores of Georgian Bay, where the Wye (Isaraqui) River flows into the bay. The Ouendat (called the Huron by the French) who lived there relied heavily on fishing to supplement their diet of corn, beans, squash, and game. The French adapted to the diet of the Ouendat, especially the fish, as there were many days in the church year when the priests and the faithful could not eat meat. The location of Sainte-Marie made it a stopping point for many on their way into, and out of, the trapping and trading areas, and it became a place of cultural exchange between the French and the Huron. The priests relied heavily on the Huron for transportation to and from village missions and other mission outposts as well. Sainte-Marie was also a place of cultural conflict; Sainte-Marie was burned by the Iroquois, long-time enemies of the Huron, and closed. It was also boiling water, in a mock baptism that ended the life of North American saint and martyr, Father Jean de Brebeuf.

The location of Montreal made it the cultural and economic heart of New France. It was the meeting point of two major waterways, the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River, and the city itself is located on an island at the confluence of the two rivers. French ships too large to navigate further inland stopped there to drop off French goods and to pick up furs brought by canoe and bateau from the interior for shipment back to France. Its existence as a very small town on an island represents the isolation of many of the forts and missions in New France.

These four sites, and others in New France, allowed for cultural exchanges between the French and Natives. The French needed to adapt their lifestyle to the rugged conditions of eastern Canada and the Upper Midwest and relied upon Native experience to get them through harsh winters, hot summers, and terrible fall gales on the Great Lakes. The French also needed the Natives for trade purposes. It was the Natives, for the most part, who trapped and skinned the beavers and prepared the pelts for shipment. The Natives also traded items such as food and offered transportation and guide services. Natives, likewise, came to rely on the French for trade goods such as beads, trinkets, metalwork, alcohol and guns. Some also relied on the missionaries for spiritual needs.

Fort St. Joseph was one small, but important, place in the network of forts and missions in the Great Lakes. The Miamis, Potawatomies, and the French represent some of the cultures that settled here. They are a beginning point for the Fort Miami Heritage Society to start telling the story of the area it serves. The St. Joseph River was both an entry point and departure point for trade and a base for further explorations.

With excavation at the site of Fort St. Joseph continuing, the information revealed through discoveries there will expose the full extent of life along the St. Joseph River during the region’s early history. This exhibit is only the beginning of what the Fort Miami Heritage Society can do to foster pride in the area’s heritage and give the citizens of the region a true sense of its place in history.

Exhibit scheduled to close January 2005.