Week 9 of 32 • Page 4
Week 9 of 32 • Page 1
Across
4. early fort built near the town of Lafayette
7. early French explorer who traveled from
Canada to Texas
10. built to keep out enemies
Down
1. French fur trader and trapper
2. the French brought this religion to Indiana
3. La Salle’s ship discovered in Texas in 1996
5. St. Francis ______ was the first church in
Indiana
6. river most commonly used by voyageurs
8. La Salle’s partner
9. long, detailed story
How Do I Read Tables?
By learning to read tables, you can quickly compare information. Tables have text and numbers. When reading a table,
carefully read the text.
Try It!
The table below shows baseball players and their career home runs. Study the table, then answer the questions that follow.
1. What does this table show? ________________________
Baseball Player
Home Runs (As of July 2008)
Barry Bonds
762
Hank Aaron
755
Babe Ruth
714
Willie Mays
660
Sammy Sosa
609
Ken Griffey Jr.
605
Frank Robinson
586
Mark McGwire
583
Harmon Killebrew
573
4. Who had the same amount of home runs as another?
Rafael Pameiro
569
_______________________________________________
Reggie Jackson
563
Mike Schmidt
548
Alex Rodriguez
537
Mickey Mantle
536
Jimmie Foxx
534
Jim Thome
525
Willie McCovey
521
Ted Williams
521
Frank Thomas
520
Eddie Mathews
512
Ernie Banks
512
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
2. Who hit the most home runs? ______________________
3. Who hit the least home runs? ______________________
5. Who had 563 home runs? _________________________
6. Who had more home runs, Ted Williams or Mark McGwire?
_______________________________________________
7. How many home runs did Mike Schmidt hit? ____________
The movie “Titanic” cost about $200 million to
make, while it would cost about $123 million to
build the ship in today’s dollars.
If you’d like to make any editorial comments about
our paper, please write to us at
[email protected].
Vol. 9 Issue 1
First Quarter
Week 9
European Powers Compete for
Indiana’s Land and Fur
THIS WEEK
European
Explorers
• LaSalle
• Animal Tracks
• Resourcefulness
E
arly 1700s —The secret is out. The
Indiana area is huge. The Indiana area
is beautiful. The Indiana area is rich in fur.
Explorers who come here are excited to find
a land with an abundance of fur-bearing
animals. Free for the trapping and trading, it
seems, are beaver, otter, deer, panther, bear,
raccoon, mink and opossum.
Europe’s fashion right now includes
fur hats and clothing trimmed with animal
fur. That’s why beaver and other furbearing animals are quickly becoming
scarce. Explorers have discovered that
a lot of money can be made from fur
trading in North America. The fur trade,
more than anything else, is leading to the
wide exploration and opening of the new
wilderness later known as the Indiana area.
The countries most excited about this new
money-making market are France, England,
Holland, Russia and Spain.
Although the governments of those
countries want to colonize, it’s not happening
quickly. Many of those who come here to
colonize are drawn to the fur trade because of
the money that can be made.
At first, the French were interested in
missionary work among the native tribes.
They hoped to convert them to the Catholic
faith. But the large missionary center,
Montreal, became a base for fur trading.
Then trading posts were built. Trading posts
are becoming military posts. Then who
knows? Are permanent settlements in our
future?
Fur trading, in the beginning, was just
that—trading. Frenchmen mostly traded
muskets, iron tools, blankets and colorful
glass beads for fur with the American
Indians who did all the trapping. The French
are learning to trap, too. These men are
called voyageurs, and they often live among
the native tribes. Many are married to
American Indians.
As the competition for fur grows,
Europeans continue to push westward. As
we all know, competition often leads to war.
Now, on the brink of this new discovery
of fur, it remains to be seen: Will the
Indiana area end up an English-speaking
or a French-speaking territory? Or will the
residents here continue to speak American
Indian languages? Stay tuned to Indiana
Studies Weekly as the exciting saga unfolds
(saga: a long, detailed story).
Who Needs Math?
Over the years, many children have asked
their teachers, “Why do I need to learn
math? I’ll never use it in the real world.”
While most students your age haven’t started
learning higher math, it won’t be long until
you are tempted to ask your teacher this
same question. With math scores going
down across the country, Indiana schools are
looking for ways to help students improve
their math skills to help them succeed in
life. If students can see that math really does
help them in the real world, they may be
more likely to work harder at learning these
important skills.
Learning higher math is a requirement if
you want to work at certain jobs. Doctors,
engineers, computer programmers, architects,
pharmacists and scientists are just a few of
the people who use higher math skills in their
jobs each day. But what if you don’t want
to do any of these jobs when you grow up?
You may still need higher math skills to take
control of your daily life.
Higher math skills are important in
figuring out how much carpet you should
buy and how much it will cost. If you plan
to repaint your house, you will also need to
know how to figure out how much paint you
need and which brand would be the best deal.
If you are shopping for clothes, furniture or
electronic items on sale, it is important to be
able to find out how much these items will
cost once you take the discount offered by
the sale. If you can’t do the math, you may
pay more than you need to by shopping at the
wrong store or choosing the wrong sale.
Even if you don’t think you will need
higher math later in life, the skills used in
solving math problems are also useful in
solving other types of problems. Knowing
math opens your mind and gives you more
tools for solving any problem life might bring.
Week 9 of 32 • Page 3
Week 9 of 32 • Page 2
Early European
Explorers
Make Your Own
Coat of Arms
This week, let’s take a look at Indiana as it was being discovered by explorers. The fur industry was
growing by leaps and bounds!
La Salle Discovers Indiana
Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle was born in France in 1643. He
studied to become a priest, but left the religious life to become an
explorer. When he was 23, he set sail for Canada. He immediately
became interested in fur trading. La Salle set up a trading post and
became friends with the Iroquois Indians. They told him about a
great river that led to a sea. He became convinced that this was the
great water route that would lead to Asia and make fur trading with
the Far East easier. He decided to find that route.
In 1669, he sold his land and spent two years exploring. He
went up the St. Lawrence River to Lake Ontario, then to the
Ohio River region. In 1673, La Salle was appointed to be the
commandant of Fort Frontenac in Ontario. He and his partner,
Henri de Tonti, had a great scheme — to carry cargo in sailing
vessels on the Great Lakes and down the Mississippi. In 1679,
La Salle set sail again. He sailed along Lake Michigan and up
the icy St. Joseph River. Paddling through the cold and snow,
they finally found a bend in the river. La Salle called it the “south
bend,” and that’s how South Bend,
Indiana, was born! Sailing down the
Kankakee River, he continued down the
Mississippi and claimed all the land for
France. This land included Indiana.
On the Floor of a Texas Bay
La Salle took one more trip down the
Mississippi, and it ended in tragedy. His
ships were lost by piracy and shipwreck,
and sickness took the lives of many of
his crew. By a terrible miscalculation, La
Salle and his crew ended their journey in
Matagorda Bay in Texas. La Salle’s own
men killed him near the Brazos River.
In 1996, one of La Salle’s ships was
found in 12 feet of water off the Texas
coast. This ship was La Salle’s favorite
—the Belle. This is the oldest French colonial shipwreck found
in the New World. In 1999, another of La Salle’s ships was
located. The Aimable was found in 20 feet of water in the same
bay. Many of La Salle’s belongings were recovered. La Salle was
Indiana’s first explorer, but his legend lives on in Texas.
Life at the Fort
Traders thought of the forts as their real homes. The forts were
like small towns once the traders’ families came to live in them.
Many languages were spoken in the forts. The settlers spoke
French, but many also knew American Indian languages and used
them to speak to the American Indians who lived nearby.
The French settlers celebrated holidays and followed their
traditions as they had in France. The New Year’s celebration
was one of the most exciting holidays. It was tradition to give
forgiveness to others as a New Year’s gift. People sang and
danced. Children helped their parents by tending crops that grew
outside the stockade. Boys helped their fathers bundle furs and
ship them in canoes down the Wabash River. Girls helped their
mothers sew cloth and skins into clothing.
Early Forts
In order to protect fur traders, the French built forts throughout
the area. These forts made traders safe and gave them homes.
Fort Ouiatenon was one important French fort. It was built on
the Wabash River in 1717 near present-day Lafayette.
Fort Miami was built in 1715. Vincennes, much farther south,
became the home of most of the French families who lived in
the area. It was built in 1732. A large fence called a stockade
surrounded each fort. The stockade kept out enemies. These forts
protected the traders and allowed them to do their trading for
almost 40 years.
I’m a French Voyageur
“My name is Jean-Paul. I came here from a small town in
northern France in 1610. I was hired by a big fur company to
Resourcefulness
I
f you have ever solved a problem
in a clever way or found a creative
way to use an ordinary item, you
have demonstrated resourcefulness.
Resourcefulness is the ability to solve
problems creatively or find handy
uses for objects other people might
overlook.
Think about the yellow pencil you
use at school. Everyone knows that
pencils were made for writing, but
can you think of any other uses for
pencils? Pencils could make great
back scratchers, hairpins, rulers
or even handy drumsticks. Can you
think of creative uses for a jar, ball
or egg carton? Now you’re thinking
resourcefully!
American Indians were great
examples of resourcefulness. When
they caught a deer, they found a
good use for almost every part of the
animal. They ate the meat, used the
skin for clothing and blankets, made
arrowheads and needles from pointed
antlers, fashioned tools and jewelry
from bones, created bow strings from
tendons and made glue from hooves.
They used each part of the animal
to creatively meet their needs. They
also avoided being wasteful. American
Indians were grateful for their
resources and used them wisely.
There are many ways you can be
resourceful around your home and
school. You could repair and reuse old
items, avoid wasting food, use ordinary
items in new ways, recycle, reuse
paper scraps instead of throwing them
in the trash and save some of the
money you earn. Can you think of other
ways to be resourceful?
trap, transport and trade for small, fur-bearing animal pelts,
especially beaver. I’ve learned some American Indian languages,
and I paddle the same canoes the American Indians use. I even
dress in buckskin. You couldn’t tell the difference between me
and a member of a Miami tribe if it weren’t for the bright red
berets all us voyageurs wear! I’m even married to a beautiful
Kickapoo woman named Laughing Brook. I make lots of money,
and I could be living high in my home in northern France, but
I’m content to stay right here with my new family in peaceful
Indiana.”
St. Francis Xavier
The French brought CAtholicism to Indiana. The first church
in Indiana was St. Francis Xavier at Vincennes, built in 1732. A
new building was finished in 1834. The first church bell brought
to Indiana probably was a bell from France put in the original
log chapel of St. Francis Xavier Church in 1740. The bell was
eventually recast. Later, the church was the site of the archdeacon
center. Bishops are buried there. There is a pioneer cemetery of
French and American Indian graves adjoining the church.
Please Make
Me a Hat!
The best hats of the 18th and 19th
centuries were made from beaver fur.
The fur was shaved from the pelts,
matted together and boiled in acid. It
was then beaten and cut to create felt.
You can see why beaver pelts were so
highly prized.
© Indiana Studies Weekly • Toll free phone (800) 361-0502 • For pricing information go to www.studiesweekly.com • For ordering information or questions e-mail [email protected] • For editorial comments and feedback e-mail feedback@
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Many years
ago, people
would use a
coat of arms
to show which
group or family
they belonged
to. They put
their coat of
arms up on
flags in the
territories
they explored.
A coat of arms
was used as
a symbol of
This is the seal of the president of the
one’s great
United States.
achievements,
goals and beliefs.
Believe it or not, we still use the concept of a
coat of arms today. Each state has a state seal,
and we have a national seal. They are used to show
achievements, goals and beliefs of the country or
region they represent.
Now, draw your own symbols for your coat of
arms. You may wish to put decorations around it.
Symbols are very important to us. In fact, we
can’t do without them. We go to school to learn
about symbols. The words on a page are symbols of
meanings or things. Pictures and icons are symbols
too. Although some words are used on a coat of
arms or seal, we mostly use pictures because they
can be read at a glance by everyone, even those
who don’t know how to read. Sometimes animals
are used to stand for things. Colors can mean
different things too. What does the red, white and
blue of our flag stand for? On the state seal, what
does the eagle, olive branch, arrows, stars, eye and
pyramid mean? Another reason not to use words on
symbols is the language problem. Can you read the
Latin inscription on our country’s seal?
Know Your Animal Tracks
How big is your hide?
Speaking of fur, humans have fur,
too, you know! It’s a very fine version
of fur, called hair. And under that
hair, we have hide, just like our furry
friends. Only it’s called skin! You don’t
think of skin as an organ like your
heart or kidneys, but it is. It’s the
largest organ of your body. If you
were to take your skin off and lay it
out on the ground, it would measure
10-12 square feet and weigh about
four pounds, depending on your size.
Adult skin covers more than 18 square
feet and weighs about six pounds.
Some adults wish their skin could
get smaller, especially after eating
too much pumpkin pie after that big
Thanksgiving dinner!
I
t’s a beautiful day, and you’re
hiking through the woods of
Indiana with your family. You
spy animal tracks in the soft
dirt. Your big sister shouts, “A
skunk has been here!” How did
she know that?
Somewhere — in school, in
Girl Scouts, in her church youth
group or from hiking with your
family — she studied animal
tracking, and now she knows
more than you! You can learn to
recognize animal tracks, too, by
studying this page. There are
many more sources available
for animal-track identification.
Have fun learning to become a
real Daniel or Danielle Boone!