These figures give some idea of the importance of the Great Lakes in the economic development of the United States. Three hundred years have seen this region converted from a wilderness peopled by Indian tribes to the uses of modern civilization. This time might well be shortened, since at the beginning of the nineteenth century the Great Lakes and bordering lands were still occupied by the red man and a few small villages and trading stations of the whites. It is indeed wonderful what changes a century has witnessed. [Illustration: The “Soo” Canal. Copyright, 1904, by Detroit Photographic Co. Photograph of ships in a canal taken from shore.] CHAPTER II CHAMPLAIN ON THE GREAT LAKES On the 28th of July, 1615, Samuel de Champlain paddled out of the mouth of the French River into the waters of Georgian Bay, an arm of Lake Huron; or, as he named it from its great expanse, the “Mer Douce,” or “Freshwater Sea.” With him was a young interpreter, Étienne Brulé, who had been sent by Champlain when a mere lad to winter in the Huron country, and to learn from the Indians their languages and customs. As a member of this Huron party, in 1610, he had been the first white man to look upon the waters of Lake Huron, the central of the five Great Lakes. Now Champlain himself had come, journeying from Montreal with a trading party of Indians. Some of the Indians had slipped away before the rest of the expedition was ready, taking with them a missionary. Father Joseph Le Caron had, therefore, made the journey a few days before his leader, but at last Champlain had reached the marvellous sea of Indian story, and was on the point of exploring the region of the Great Lakes. He found the lands bordering the lakes occupied by three groups of Indians: the Iroquois, who were closely banded together into a league known as the Five Nations; the Hurons, who were related to them, but were always at war with them; and the Algonquins, who belonged to one great family, but were now divided into many widely scattered and independent tribes. The Five Nations of the Iroquois were joined in a loose but effective confederacy. Originally they had formed one great tribe, but internal dissension had split them into five,--the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Legend states that Hiawatha had counselled union and had thus brought about the League of the Iroquois, which was the most important Indian organization north of Mexico. The confederation was governed by fifty sachems, ten from each nation, who made up a grand council. Unanimity was required in all decisions, but when these were once arrived at the tribes were obedient. The Iroquois lived in a wide strip of country extending from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario eastward across central New York. They called this section of country “The Long House” from its resemblance in shape to one of their oblong dwellings.