[Footnote 21: The exact spot of building is the subject of a monograph _The Shipyard of the Griffon_ by Cyrus Kingsbury Remington (Buffalo, N. Y. 1891), in which the author, while advocating his own theory, presents liberally views held by those in disagreement with himself. We find O. H. Marshall in accord with Mr Remington that what is known as the "Old Ship Yard" or Angevine place, at La Salle, was the site of the building of the _Griffon_.] [Footnote 22: The Narrative is given in full with careful introduction and explanations in Marshall's _Writings_, pp. 123-186.] [Footnote 23: A most thrilling account of this fort-building effort at the mouth of the Niagara is to be found in Severance, _Old Trails of the Niagara Frontier_, on which the present writer has based his description here given.] Chapter IX Niagara under Three Flags The abdication of De Nonville at Niagara marks, as nothing else perhaps can, the rise of English influence along the Lakes and among the crafty Iroquois. Slowly but surely this influence made itself felt among the Six Nations in the attempt to swing the entire current of the fur trade from the north-west through the Long House to New York. With the destruction of the little fort built by De Nonville, however, it becomes clear that when on the same basis the English were no match for the French, so far as winning the redskins to their interests was concerned; it may be that with the withdrawal of the French there followed a natural diminution of English anxiety and activity in the matter: whether this was true or not there immediately ensued a notable increase of French attention to the Six Nations who, after all, controlled the destinies of this key of the continent. As days of war and days of peace came and went the governors both of New York and Quebec sought permission to fortify the Niagara River, but the eighteenth century dawned with no step taken by either side, though each had most jealously been watching the other.