How an Indian woman saved the Governor’s life

In 1820 The new governor of Michigan was Lewis Cass.  He had a problem.  It seems that rumors were being spread that Michigan was a swamp and terrible place to live.  This had happened because surveyors had been sent out during a wet season and found many wet areas. He began a campaign to build roads, lighthouses, and he negotiated land treaties with the remaining Indians.  He wanted to see for himself what the state was like so he on a 4,200 mile trip around the state.  He and his men camped near where Sault Ste Marie is now located.  He met with the local chiefs and asked their permission to build a fort there.  They told him, no left the meeting and went over to a wigwam nearby and raised a British flag.  Cass walked boldly over to the flagpole with only his interpreter, an Indian woman named Neenay.  He told the chiefs thru his interpreter that no foreign flag was to be raised.  Then he took the British flag down, stepped on it and removed it to his tent.  At this point it was very likely that he would have been killed.  But his interpreter who was the daughter of an Indian chief and who had gone to school told the chiefs that it would be unwise to kill him as it would bring in the American army.  And thru her another meeting was set up resulting in permission to build the fort and gifts to the Indians.  Had there not been an interpreter or a common language another war would probably happened and thousands would have died.  Humans need to communicate with each other especially in emergencies.  Have you ever tried to talk to someone who does not understand English. What if your life depended on it?  Relating it to today’s world 90% of the world does not understand English now and will not learn it in our lifetime.  If a few people in each community would invest ten minutes a day to learning the international vocabulary, we could understand and be understood regardless of the local language.  See the file on this CD about international vocabulary.  Why has it been mentioned here?  Because it can save lives and save the US millions wasted in translating costs at the UN which all ends up in the trash within a short time.  Is it historic?  Yes because it has been scientifically proven to be the most time and cost efficient solution to the world language problem.  And is historic fact that many people have died because of language nonunderstandings.  In 1820 our first governor almost died.