Detroit
"We arrived at Detroit at three o'clock. Detroit is a small town of two or three thousand souls, which was founded in the middle of the woods by the Jesuits in 1710, and which still contains a very great number of French families."
Tocqueville, diary (Pierson 239)
"I forgot to tell you that on information given us that Saginaw and its neighbourhood was infested with
cousins or mosquitoes, we went to a Mme de Moderl of Detroit to buy some mosquito netting.
While she was giving us what we asked, my eyes happened to encounter a little print posted in her store.
This print represents a very well dressed lady and at the bottom is written: Mode de Longchamps
1831. How do you find the inhabitants of Michigan who give themselves the styles of Paris? It's a fact
that in the last village of America the French mode is followed, and all the fashions are supposed to come
from Paris.
From this anecdote you will believe that Detroit is very civilized. It is, however, not very far from the wild
forest and the latter's inhabitants. At half a league you see woods which begin and do not end. Besides,
here is something that happened only last year and that proves more than all one could say. A bear, bayed
by the hounds near the forest, came into the main street of Detroit and ran down its whole length, to the
entertainment of the Americans, whose gravity probably did not betray them even on this occasion."
Beaumont, letter to Chabrol (Pierson 284)
Itinerary