year afterwards. It was a tradition which had
long caused the vicinity of the Cataract to be known far and wide as,
and to be, a great Center of Trade; because it related to a
highly-prized commodity which was found and primarily procurable only
at this spot.

The first printed direct mention of Niagara referred to its famous
Portage. The two next references to it were indirect and poetic, and,
in so far as geographical location, certainly exemplified a poet's
license.

The second printed allusion to it,--an indirect one, as noted
later,--was in regard to trade.

Champlain was on the lower St. Lawrence River when, in 1603, he first
heard of the Niagara Portage; Father Daillon was within a hundred miles
of the Cataract when, in 1626, he first heard of Niagara as a "trading
place."

When white men first became really acquainted with the Indians, 300
years ago, the various tribes had, and no doubt had long had, certain
"trading places" where they annually met for barter.

At that time, the Hurons and Algonquins had such a meeting place on the
upper Ottawa River.

It was at such a trade gathering at Lake Saint Peter, that Iroquet, in
1610, received Brule as a gift.

Father Sagard, who in 1625 was a Missionary among them at Lake
Nipissing, has stated that the Hurons used each summer to travel for
five or six weeks southerly, in order to meet the tribes which had
goods they wanted; and that they brought back those articles both for
their own use and for sale to other tribes. From the direction stated,
and from other deductions, it is probable that that annual summer
journey of the Hurons "for trade" had Niagara as its objective point.

That the Indians traded among themselves is unquestioned. When Cartier,
in 1534, ascended the St. Lawrence River, the Indians of Hochelaga were
smoking tobacco which had been grown in the sunny south lands. The
Muskegons, around James Bay, traded their furs with their southern
neighbors for birch bark, out of which to make their canoes. Axes and
arrow heads of obsidian--a stone found on the lower Mississippi--were
in use among the tribes to the north of Quebec. The Indian "trade" was
not all done haphazard. The most of it was done at gatherings held at
regularly agreed upon times and places. And in the selection of
localities, Niagara must have been a favored meeting place.

That there, and there only, were found those "Erie Stones," a
much-sought-for article, was an important reaso