lle under the Indian name of
Na-goh-quan-gogh. Directly south of this village ran the St. Marys, and
to the west of it was a small wooded creek known as Spy Run.

To these villages in August, 1765, came George Croghan on his way to
Detroit. He describes the carrying-place between the Wabash and the
Maumee systems to be about nine miles in length, "but not above half
that length in freshes." He reported navigation for bateaux and canoes
between the carrying place and Ouiatenon as very difficult during the
dry season of the year on account of many rapids and rifts; but during
the high-water time the journey could be easily made in three days. He
says the distance by water was two hundred forty miles and by land about
two hundred ten. Within a mile of Miamitown he was met by a delegation
of the Miami chiefs and immediately after his entrance into the village
the British flag was raised. He describes the villages as consisting of
about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine or ten French houses. He
entertained no very high opinion of the French and describes them as
refugees from Detroit, spiriting up the Indians against the English. He
describes the surrounding country as pleasant, well watered, and having
a rich soil.

Recently another account of these villages has been given to the world
by the publication of the diary of one Henry Hay, who, as a
representative of certain merchants and traders of Detroit, visited
these villages in the winter of 1789-1790, while they were still under
the influence of the British agents at Detroit, although the soil was
within the jurisdiction of the United States government. It was then one
of the most important trading places for the Indian tribes in the
northwest, and in close proximity to the great council grounds of the
northwestern Indian confederacy in the valley of the Maumee. Le Gris,
was there, and Jean Baptiste Richardville, then a youth; also the Little
Turtle himself, about to become the most famous and wily strategist of
his day and time.

Let there be no mistaken glamour cast about this scene. Already the
disintegration of the Indian power was setting in. The traders among
them, both English and French, seem to have been a depraved, drunken
crew, trying to get all they could "by foul play or otherwise," and
traducing each other's goods by the circulation of evil reports. Hay
says, "I cannot term it in a better manner than calling it a rascally
scrambling trade." Winter came