Chief Otusson
Of the Thumb of Michigan
The Mattawan River:
The Place of the Magical Fur
By Mark R. Putnam
The Native People, the
Wakisos, hunting along the Cass, or Mattawan, River.
Copyright 2010
Caro, Michigan
The early written history of
Michigan's Thumb mentions the noble Chief Otusson.
His wigwam, or lodge, was located on the
river that was called then the Wakishegan.
The Wakishegan was also called the Upper Huron and Mattawan.
Chief Otusson likely was a member of the Native
American band
called the Wakisos.
That is what we may suppose.
The name Wakisos seems to mean "It sparkles or glitters".
Into the Saginaw River emptied three great rivers:
The Tittabawassee, the Rolling, Twisting,
Sparkling Stream.
The Shiawassee, the Straight Ahead, Sparkling
Stream.
And, the Wakishegan, the Shining or Glittering
Stream.
In Chippewa and Ottawa, the personal name Otusson,
Was said to mean "The Bank" . . . the
lodge platform or bench.
Chief Otusson was a native sovereign over a great fen.
During the 1700's, the Thumb of Michigan
was called by the French
The Country that is flat,
Or, "Les Pays Plat",
In Algonquin, the early Thumb of Michigan was
also likely called Tessi-aki,
Or, the Flat Country.
This name Tessi-aki was later Latinized by
Henry Schoolcraft to Tuscola.
There are similar origins in the names Otusson
and Tuscola.
In Chippewa and Ottawa, "tessi-nagan"
meant the flat plate or dish.
The root seems to be "esse", which meant a
shell.
Chief Otusson's lodge, Matotiswaning, was located
in a great pine plain.
The Wakishegan River supplied the Wakisos with many sturgeon, pike, bass, and other
valuable fish.
This was also the land of the hawk, pigeon, heron,
duck, goose, and
crane.
It was the place of the sugar or maple
tree, the corn field, wild berry, and morel.
This land held elk, bear, and moose,
And also the majestic pine tree, oak, and spruce.
Tuscola was the "Flat Land",
The elevated table land,
Michigan's Thumb shows as Pays Plats--in
1755.
It was here that the beaver did thrive.
The Chippewa word "tessi" means
stretched out, level, or flat.
The Onondaga word "atesa" meant
a spoon or dish that was also flat.
One may not be able to say whether this land by the Saginaw Bay,
Was named first by Native People,
Or, whether it was named first by European People.
The Thumb of Michigan was "The Beaver Hunting Ground".
Everywhere here the beaver was to be found.
The Thumb of Michigan was the land of peltries,
And, was also called Les Pays Peles,
Which seems to mean the "Country of the Fur".
Most enchanting hunting and trapping was found along the Wakishegan or Mattawn River,
And, also to the southeast along the river
called Belle Chasse.
In French, "Good Hunting" was the
meaning of the Belle Chase.
Chief Otusson's Village was called Matotiswaning.
To the north of his village was the Saginaw Bay.
The Mattawan River ran went westward to the Saginaw River and
then out to the bay.
The Chippewa word meaning fur at thewnd of a
word was "-waian".
This seems to be the root of the word Mattawan.
In Western Michigan, there was another place later
also called Mattawan.
Its name was said to be named for Matteawan,
New York, which meant "Good or Enchanted Fur".
The New Jersey place name called Mattawan,
Was said to mean "The Place of the Enchanted Fur".
The Chippewa word for "I
Scrape a Skin or Fur", is Madawa" and "Madaan",
Which is similar to the meaning of Matteawan.
The meaning of Mattawan was not just "Good
Fur",
I meant "The Enchanted or Magical Fur".
The name was connected with Algonquin word "mamanda"
meaning wonderful.
Mattawan was the place where fur was the best,
the most in quality, or magical.
Chief Pontiac who was an Ottawa,
Had
a son whose name also was Otusson and sometimes written Otressa.
In English, a trestle, or transom, is a beam [or
platform] that
goes across.
Also, Chief Tecumsee in Southeast Michigan
had a name that meant "He [a shooting star] goes
across".
Chief Otusson lived on the Mattawan River upstream of the "River's Great Bend"
now called Bridgeport.
He lived a just east of the Great Saginaw Trail.
He was the great chief of this inland
resort,
And led a life of hunting, fishing, and
cultivating in the land eastward of the Great Trail.
Another Native leader, Ish-do-nquit was
also a
resident of Tuscola.
He came to the area from Detroit at an
early age.
Ish-do-nquit was a member of an Ottawa Village.
His name too was said to be connected with the name
Tuscola.
A member of a Native American clan,
Ish-do-nquit traveled Tuscola's hills of gravel
and sand.
His name meant "Crossing Cloud."
In Ottawa "anakwad" meant cloud,
"Ajidesse" meant he goes across.
Ish-do-nquit [Ajidesse-anakwad] also
frequently canoed the
Mattawan the "River of Gloss".
"Tesse" meant it is flat, athwart,
or stretched out.
Ish-do-nquit's name also had an element of the word Tuscola
with out any doubt.
In 1824, this was the Village of Otusson along the Cass
River in the Thumb of
Michigan
Chief Otusson and his Native group traversed Tuscola's hills that
served as causeways above the wetland.
The Village of Otusson, Matotiswaning, the
Place of the Magical Furr, was also a "High Bank".
Along the Saginaw Bay, Chief Otusson and his band
during spring and summer fished each river,
And camped in the oak openings that lay dry above
the wet prairies
dark and dank.
During winter, they trapped the swamps and marshland.
In the spring, they also gathered sap from maple trees,
and made sugar by boiled it in kettles of copper.
In the spring, they planted potatoes, squash,
and corn and harvested them during the summer.
In 1754, the Thumb of Michigan was also
called the Flat Country and Skenchiotuate a form of Skenchioe.
After 1819, the Mattawan River was named for Lewis Cass and
called the Cass River.
The trails along the stream ran along the high
ground and avoided the bogs.
The trails lay high above the ponds filled with
green frogs.
North of the Mattawan River flowing north into
the Saginaw Bay,
Was the Thread, Du Fil, Crooked, or Sebewaing
River,
Which ran north into the eastern part of
Saginaw Bay.
The sandy shore of Michigan's Thumb was
also a Native pathway.
The name Sebewaing seems to mean "The
River
Wags or is Crooked".
"Wag" in Chippewa/Ottawa means it is inclined,
round, bent, or crooked.
In French, "Du Fil" means "Thread".
In Chippewa, "assabab" means thread.
Just a few miles east of Saginaw River's mouth,
the
[Ma]Quanicassee River,
Also empties in the Saginaw Bay.
"Makons Sebee" meant "Little Bear River".
"Makwa" meant big bear.
Also emptying into the Saginaw Bay,
Between Quanicasse and Sebewaing was the Wiscoggin River.
Wiscoggin likely meant "The Place of the
Small Animal
Lodge or Den",
The Wiscoggin River was surrounded by a great swamp or fen.
Above Sebewaing along the Saginaw Bay was Shebeon: The place of cached things
or the place of hidden iron.
To hide in Chippewa was "Ka" and "Biwa-bik"
meant iron.
Going inland from Quanicassee coming in from
the bay there was a
passageway,
That lead to a place in the center of the Thumb called Podunk.
This was the major inland corridor
coming in from the Saginaw Bay.
The trail went southeast to eventually meet
the Mattawan River and
Podunk.
The trail went onward southward to the place
called Lapeer,
"The Place of the Stones" was the meaning of
Lapeer.
The name Podunk meant the Podium.
It was the place of the High Bank.
Near the trail ground into wetlands sank,
Which was typical of much of the land of Michigan's early Thumb.
The Thumb of Michigan, and the land about
Podunk,
Was a tablet land with a small transversing hills.
It was a land both elevated and sunk.
Large quantities of great scattering pine trees
were lined
along the hills.
The hills and beaver swamps were filled with game.
West of the Wiscoggin River was the
Elk Land.
It was in the middle of the Thumb and was
a gentle highland.
Between the Elk Lands and Podunk was also a
trail.
Here the moose and elk would be hunted without
fail.
Pays Peles--Michigan's Thumb near
the Baye of Saguinam.
Years later the great pine trees of Michigan's
Thumb would be
cut to the ground.
And, under the woodsman's axe, the trees of the
forest would fall with a
great sound.
White pine filled the
highlands,
While tamarack and hemlock choose the edges
that dipped into wetlands.
Trails were made mostly along the sandy hills,
Away from the swamps that brought on chills.
The lowlands north of the river were composed of soil that was
very fertile,
But, along the hills or ridges the ground
was mostly sand
and gravel.
The Thumb of Michigan was like a stage,
And Podunk was at the center . . . it was the central village,
A land of the weasel, mink, raccoon,
and chipmunk.
Such was the Land of Podunk.
Located near the fishing holes of the Mattawan
River,
The stream itself stream itselfe was said to be cold and would caused one to shiver.
In the center of this kingdom stood Podunk,
A magical podium whose feet into swamps sunk.
From Podunk, the Mattawan Trail, went along the north bank
of the Mattawan River.
It went westward to the Matotiswaning, the Great Bend, and Saginaw.
Also, from Podunk, the Podunk Trail went southward
to Lapeer.
The trail branched above Lapeer with one branch
going on to the
Belle Chasse River.
Those were the major Indian trails of Tuscola.
.
In Podunk, there were often many a Native Wigwam,
Raising into the air that was often still and calm.
Native People during winters came to Podunk to
hunt and rest.
This was Native land of Michigan at it best.
Filled with the tang of pine punk,
The haughty hills of Podunk,
Housed massive trees that ascended tall, broad,
and wide,
Near the great Matawan River's side.
At Podunk, potatoes, corn, and squash
were also easy to provide.
Northwest of Podunk, at the Bear River or [Ma]Quanicassee,
Were many beaver dams and lands that were boggy.
Podunk, along the Mattawan River, was at a most healthful elevation.
Elsewhere the ground was often sodden,
While at Podunk the ground was often trodden.
The Thumb of Michigan was the best fur hunting
ground,
That anywhere in the land could be found.
The elevations, the high banks, of Podunk,
Were hale and hearty,
It was a place of hostelry.
The land elsewhere rolled gently and fell
into many a pool,
This was Otusson's Land . . . a magical land
of bounty as a rule.
On Saginaw Bay, sandy ridges lined the shores of
[Ma]Quanicassee,
Each spring, Quanicasse was the great fishing retreat.
To this spot came many a Native
fishing fleet.
Fishing was also done in winter through ice.
Quanicassee was a paradise.
Going from Podunk to Quanicassee,
Was an narrow strip of elevated land, the passageway.
Along this Quanicasse Trail about mid-way,
Was a grove of pine trees, a stopover place,
Which was called "Fair Grove" resting place.
In the Land of Podunk were majestic white pine trees.
They would float high in the water, were light, and
were easily to cut.
On the high banks of Mattawan, these massive pine trees,
Stammered and stuttered, clanked and rolled, and waved in the breeze.
High out of reach, their green branches dipped, and
the trees would seem to strut.
Along the streams, many a beaver made a
dam or lock.
In this forest of grandiose pine that Native People called "zhingwaak",
The pines filled the heights of the sky.
The river and streams were also filled with
sturgeon, pike, bass, and walleye.
The stained glass mural at the Tuscola County
Court House shows General Lewis Cass meeting with Chief Otusson on the Upper Huron River also called the Cass
and Mattawan.
Chief Otusson's Village, Matotiswaning, was
just below a great portage,
Between Podunk and the Great Bend in the
Mattawan River.
At the Great Bend, or "Skop-ti-qua-nou",
Was the trading post of Arie Campeau.
Here the Saginaw Trail crossing
the Cass or Mattawan River.
It was a place for an occasional Native
Village.
Otusson knew the Mattawan River, the pine forest, and
each woodland trail.
This was the land from whence he would hail.
He knew the tall green woods filled with majestic pine,
And, the animals and their dens that were often hidden from sunshine.
He knew the flowers lavender and blue,
And, the streams and their quiet rushing beauty all fresh and
new.
This was the Land of Otusson,
The land of the Mattawan.
The land of the Magical Fur,
That here was sought along the river.
Another thought:
Mo-kish-e-no-qua was an early mystic warrior maiden of the
Mattawan River.
Her name likely meant "Shoe Lady".
Or, Moccasin Lady.
Other Native People of the Mattawan River,
Who venture here included
Naomi.
Naomi was Chief of the Flint River Tribe, and
his name meant "Sturgeon".
He was a leader then of Eastern Michigan.
Meno-cum-se-qua was the sister of Naomi.
She married first James Van Slycke Riley or
Kassegans.
The "cache" or case of valuables may be the meaning of Kassegans.
Menocumsequa may mean "Good Lady",
Or, more likely, "Spring Lady".
Laster, Chief Mash-Ke-yosh was also a member of the Mattawan.
His name was said to mean "Falling
Snow".
In Chippewa/Ottawa "sogipo" meant to snow.
"Madji-sogipog" meant it begins or starts to
snow.
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