Mrs. Jacobson here examines the history of the area along Lake Erie encompassed by Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. Genealogists will find most valuable the collection of sketches spanning the 18th and 19th centuries on the following border families: Askins, Barthe, Baudry, Bondy, Brush, Burns, Campeau, Cassidy, Chapoton, Donovan, Elliott, Fields, Jacob, Landon, McKee, May, Navarre, Pattinson, Reddick, Richardson, Robertson, and Viller/Villier.

French explorers called the Ecorse River the river of bark, or Ecorces, because the Huron Indians who lived in the villages surrounding it wrapped their dead in the bark of the birch trees that grew along its banks. White pioneers settled on French ribbon farms along the Detroit River, and a small village called Grandport sprang up where the Ecorse River met the Detroit River. By 1836, Grandport, now known as Ecorse, had grown into a fishing and farming center, and, by the 1900s Ecorse had gained fame as a haven for bootleggers during Prohibition, an important shipbuilding center, and the home of several championship rowing teams.

Scholars of the Underground Railroad as well as those in borderland studies will appreciate the interdisciplinary mix and unique contributions of this volume.

A close look at the history of Detroit's distinguished waterway that also documents the Detroit River's ecosystem problems and explains how it can be further protected and remain one of the world's great rivers.