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Tracking Chief O-ta-was – The Story of a Teen Fur Trader Edward Petit on Saginaw Bay
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Apr 13, 2025
In this episode of End of the Road in Michigan, we uncover the remarkable 1838 journey of 15-year-old Edward Petit, the first European child born in Port Huron. As a teenage fur trader fluent in Ojibwe, Petit set out to locate a lost winter camp led by the elusive Chief O-ta-was. Braving freezing rain, hunger, and vast wilderness along the shores of Saginaw Bay, he completed one of the most successful trades in Michigan's early frontier history. This story sheds light on the human side of early settler-Indigenous relations and the forgotten routes that shaped Michigan’s Thumb.
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[Music]
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you're listening to End of the Road in
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Michigan a podcast about the forgotten
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stories lost places and quiet legends
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that shaped the Great Lakes State
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brought to you by Thumbwind Publications
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Today's story takes us back nearly two
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centuries to a time when Michigan was
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wilderness Sageno Bay was a frontier and
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one young man part French part explorer
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and all guts wandered the thumb in
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search of a trade most couldn't find His
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name was Edward Patit and his journey
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helped lay the path for settlement along
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Sageno Bay Edward Pati was born on
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February 7th 1843 in what is now Port
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Hiron Michigan His family lived in a
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small log cabin near the foot of Court
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Street a structure surrounded by forest
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bluffs and a river that fed into Lake
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Huron He was the first European child
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born in that spot It was an isolated
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outpost of mixed French and indigenous
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influence at the time where trappers and
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traders mingled with the native Ojiway
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As a boy Edward lived between two worlds
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He spoke English and French And by the
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time he was a teen he had picked up
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fluent Ojiway He learned to paddle and
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fish from the tribes who still lived
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near the Osaba River and hunted along
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the interior He was comfortable in the
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forest and even more comfortable in the
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water By age 15 Petite was already
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working in the fur trade In the winter
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of 1838 a problem arose One of the
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largest fur trading companies in the
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Sageno Valley G and W Williams had lost
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contact with an indigenous encampment
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believed to be holding an enormous cache
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of fur Multiple traders had attempted to
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find the elusive camp said to be led by
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an Ojiway elder named Tawwas but none
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had succeeded The camp had moved into
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remote uncharted territory for the
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winter But those families were still
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trapping somewhere along Sagenol Bay and
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sitting on a fortune That's when Pettit
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stepped up Armed with a sack of
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provisions a few goods for barter and a
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week's worth of determination he took
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one companion a one-armed Ojiway guide
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and left the Cass River Post on foot
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They traveled along the shores of the
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bay eventually passing Chevy now long
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vanished from modern maps It was 1829
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when Williams' company had built a small
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outpost there a rudimentary shelter run
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by native women trading furs and fish
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From there they moved toward White Rock
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following the frozen shoreline They
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built a temporary bark lodge to take
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shelter but rain and sleep battered them
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all night By morning they had just one
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loaf of bread left Still they pushed
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forward Five more miles inland deep into
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the forest they finally spotted smoke
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rising through the trees It was Tawas
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and his families What Petique found was
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a scene of hardship The camp had plenty
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of furs martin mink fox but they were
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starving Their only food was a small
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reserve of moose tallow and their brass
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kettles issued decades earlier by the
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British were empty Petite shared his
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last bread with them then opened his
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packs In a single trade he acquired over
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500 martin skins He paid just $41 in
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goods The same furs would fetch more
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than $2 a piece on the eastern market a
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10-fold profit Petit only took the best
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pelts leaving the rough stock for other
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traders It was one of the most
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successful solo trades in company
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history When he returned to the Cass
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River post G and W Williams quadrupled
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his wages Long after Pettit's journey
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the remnants of Tawas's camp lingered In
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the 1850s a man named Robert Morse
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uncovered a large brass kettle while
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clearing land in McKinley Township It
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had been buried beneath the roots of a
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fallen tree untouched for generations
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Another kettle found in Caseville during
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a basement dig was later used for years
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by a settller's wife These relics told a
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story one of British influence
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indigenous tradition and a trade economy
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that depended entirely on the changing
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seasons and traveling men like Pet They
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were not just cooking pots They were
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artifacts of an era when fur was
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currency and survival depended on trust
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risk and route finding across untamed
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land Though Edward Pati never became
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famous his work helped define the
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region's early economy He was one of the
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first outsiders to build long-term
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peaceful relationships with the
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Anishinab tribes He bridged two cultures
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French and native and showed what could
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be gained from respect perseverance and
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a little bit of teenage stubbornness He
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wasn't a conqueror He wasn't a general
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or a governor He was a boy with a paddle
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and a trade pack And yet his story hints
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at the roots of Huron County's later
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settlements like Sand Beach Sebaw Wang
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and Caseville
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Today no statues mark Pati's name but
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the rivers he walked beside the Cass the
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Sable and the inland trails near White
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Rock still flow And if you dig deep
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enough the stories are still there
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waiting beneath the moss and the maple
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trees We'll be right back to our story
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after this message In our modern era
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it's easy to forget how uncertain
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Michigan's early frontier was Maps were
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incomplete Trails were overgrown
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Settlements rose and vanished within
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years For a teenager like Edward Petit
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success wasn't about conquering land It
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was about learning from it surviving in
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it and earning trust among those who
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called it home long before he did In
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many ways his was the first true journey
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on Sageno Bay Not to chart it not to
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claim it but to live in it even briefly
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as part of its rhythm Maybe that's why
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his story still matters Thanks for
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joining us for this episode of End of
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the Road in Michigan If you like this
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story leave us a rating and share it
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with someone who loves Great Lakes
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history You can find show notes and
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other episodes at thumbwind.com and
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wherever you get your podcasts Until
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next time keep your boots dry your eyes
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open and don't be afraid to follow an
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old trail to the end of the road