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Sac & Fox Indians preparing for battle. SKULL ISLAND: New Book Explores Indian Massacre, British Chemical Firm Site
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: In anticipation of the State History Conference slated to be held at Saginaw Valley State University Sept. 25-27, 2015, MyBayCity.com will be publishing occasional articles on the history of Native Americans and other information of historical interest regarding this area.)
The Saginaw Valley, and Michigan, were one of the most productive areas for fur-bearing animals, beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, fox, bear, deer.
World powers France and Britain fought here to control the incredible wealth of the fur trade. That was the main activity of the 18th and early 19th century in this area. Detroit was founded in 1701 by the French as its base for the fur trade.
The first tribal peoples known to control the fur trade in this part of Michigan were the Sauk Indians, also known as the Sac & Fox. This area was known as O-Sauk-e-non, which meant Land of the Sauks, translated in English: SAGINAW.
Part of the so-called Beaver Wars between the French and the British spilled over into the Indian tribes. The French armed their allies the Chippewa, Ottawa and Pottawatomi with firearms to massacre the Sauks and take over the rich fur territory of the Saginaw Valley.
Among several sites of the massacres, one later known as Skull Island, was located in the Saginaw River near the village of Portsmouth that became part of Bay City. Other massacre sites were in Tawas, Midland and Flint, as documented in county histories from those communities.
Some historians claim there is no physical evidence the Sauks ever lived here. I wondered about that while growing up but in 1980 I met the Sauks, then called the Sac & Fox Indians, in Oklahoma. Chief Jack Thorpe, son of the famous athlete Jim Thorpe, told me the tribe's oral history was all about their time in Michigan 400 years before.
The Sauk massacre was about 1640. Some 20 years earlier Herbert Dow's ancestor John Alden was landing with the Pilgrim Separatists from England at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. What part did that event play in shaping the United States?
The Pilgrim ship Mayflower was blown off course and landed far from their actual destination - Virginia - where they were to come under the charter of the previous group of settlers who had established the Virginia Company.
Since the Mayflower group was not in Virginia and had no charter, they established self-government by signing the Mayflower Compact. Thus they governed themselves rather than being subject to a contract with the British queen - a quirk of fate that led to New England town meetings - and American democracy.
After the American Revolution the losing side - the British, refused to leave Michigan for 15 years after they lost the war in 1781. They couldn't bear to part with the lucrative fur trade. The U.S. had to fight another war in 1812-1815 and make another treaty to finally get them out of Michigan.
No one could have imagined how the place of lumberjacks and salt block operators of rural mid-Michigan, in the middle of the forest, could have challenged the mighty German Empire that controlled the world of chemistry and its related science - medicine - in the first quarter of the 20th century.
At that time any student of science was drawn to study in Germany, the world headquarters of scientific knowledge. Students had to learn German to tap this knowledge base. Their doctoral dissertations had to be in German - the international scientific language.
While academics were one area of German monopoly, militarism was another. German national policy, as shaped by the warlord Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm, was domination. WORLD DOMINATION.
Although the Kaiser was the grandson of Britain's Queen Victoria, he told the U.S. Ambassador to Germany he would blow up Windsor Castle and kill the entire British royal family - his own relatives - if the naval blockade of Germany was not ended.
German domination of the chemical industry was achieved by a $25 million dollar "yellow dog" fund used to undercut American industries like the infant Dow Chemical Company of Midland. In fact Mr. Dow had been fired by his investors in his first Midland company in 1890 because he would not kow-tow to Ohio River firms who had a monopolistic pact with the German firms dominating the market.
How Mr. Dow defeated the German chemical monopoly and helped his friend Dr. Albert W. Smith of Cleveland's Case Institute to overcome many obstacles and make mustard gas to counter the Germans on the battlefield is the topic of another of my books "The G-34 Paradox: Inside the Army's Secret Mustard Gas Project at Dow Chemical in World War I."
And because Hitler knew the Americans could make mustard gas better and faster, the most evil autocrat in history was deterred from using it in World War II. However, he used ZyklonB and other poison gases on helpless concentration camp victims.
Why and how the British established a huge chemical company on the banks of the Saginaw River in Bay City, furnishing explosives to the British Army in World War I, is another topic of Mysteries of Skull Island & the Alkali.
Both recently published books are available for $20 each from Historical Press L.L.C., 4659 Dale Ct., Bay City, MI 48706, or by calling 989-686-5544 or e-mailing dlaurencerogers@gmail.com. ###
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"The BUZZ" - Read Feedback From Readers! |
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Albee_fire_22 Says:
On June 18, 2019
at 02:00 AM
What is the title of the book referenced to in this article? And the author?s name please. I am interested in seeking it out.
Thank you |
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Dave Rogers |
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