FURS! Nothing else beckoned the first whites to Michigan like the smell of furs. Or more accurately, the profit to be made from the European demand for fur. Through many other plentiful resources adorn the landscape of mid-Michigan, this was a commodity that could be harvested by one or two rugged individuals on their own...and it could make them rich!

When the first French explorers came into Michigan, they immediately recognized the wealth to be had. They found the natives to be generally hospitable, if unpredictable. The summer insects were bearable, the winter temperatures survivable, and the great networks of navigable waterways made traversing this rich country almost an easy task.

The first to come to central Michigan followed the rivers inland. Robert de la Salle was the first white to record a journey on the Grand River across the lower peninsula in 1680, but white trappers had been on the river many times before that.

The natives found that they could prosper from this harvest as well, and began trade with the Europeans. The first known trading post in the Ionia area was a temporary seasonal camp established near Lowell (just west of Ionia County) by a Madame Framboise around the year 1796.

The history of the white man in Michigan is steeped in colonialism and war. As Europeans strove to wave their flags over these lands, the natives struggled with their own identity in the shifting white territorial claims. Finally, after bloody wars between the French and English, there came one last battle for dominance in the region. The English, firmly in control of the Michigan territory since a treaty with France in 1763, lost that control to the United States of America in 1786 with the surrender of Fort Detroit.

European names that appear in the early history of the area include Joseph Bailly, who lived with the Ojibway in their village of Chig-au-mish-kene near what is now the village of Muir. Bailly married Bead-way-way, the daughter of local Chief Black Cloud, around 1800. He apparently raised a family among the natives - though no record of his descendants survives today.

The Americans then took control, installing a Territorial Governor and sending troops to Detroit. Fur was still king in the economy of Michigan, and the rugged trappers in the interior got their news from the natives: A new white initiative had begun. They would aggressively settle these lands as part of the new American nation.

"Indian Skirmishes" and epidemics still swept through the land at that time, and the whites began to move inland in greater numbers, away from their port settlements along the coasts. Then, in 1812, war was brewing with the English, and again the natives took part in the war. The last war to be fought in Michigan was to decide white rule in the territory for good, and among the names we remember are Chief Okemos, an Ottawa, and Chief Tecumseh, a Patowatomie.

Finally, with the war over, and with the completion of the Erie Canal in 1813, the way was clear for the next wave of settlers. They were lured by the prospect of these "beautiful peninsulas" with a newfound American pioneer spirit.

Early surveys of the territory were begun, and the influence of the fur trading companies continued to spur the growth of trade and travel throughout the region. Treaties were made with the tribes of the Three Fires - treaties often ignored or broken by both sides. But generally the countryside began to look more hospitable to settlers.

Among the first whites to settle the central Grand River valley were:

Rix Robinson established a trading post for the Astor Fur Company in 1821 near present-day Lowell on the O-wash-to-nong (Grand River) just west of Ionia County.

Louis Genereaux built a trading post at Chig-au-mish-kene near today's village of Muir) around 1827, which became a multi-family settlement called Genereauxville. In 1830, this post was sold to Antoine Campau & Company.

Louis Campau was most likely well known to the locals when he camped along the river on his many journeys trapping. In 1827 Campau set up a trading post at the native village of Brock-a-tinck about 25 miles down-river along the O-wash-to-nong. That site is now in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids.

Rufus Cook built a cabin along the Quab-i-quash-sha (now known as the Flat River) around 1828, a plot still known today as "Cooks Corners."

William Hunt settled near Genereauxville in 1830, having come from New York. He had a sometime partner named Brown, and was often joined by his brother-in-law Elisha Belcher. Belcher later relocated to Kalamazoo (about 1834) and opened a law office there.

Daniel Marsaque took over the Robinson trading post in 1831, when Robinson moved down river to present-day Ada.