Native Americans enjoyed the region’s wealth of natural resources—abundant game, navigable waterways, and flint for tools—for thousands of years. By the early 1700s, Miami Indians controlled the Long Portage, one of three principal routes between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi watershed.

French trappers and English settlers enjoyed peaceful commerce with the Miamis until increased settlement made conflict inevitable. Led by Chief Little Turtle, the Indians won several notable battles but were ultimately defeated by Anthony Wayne in 1794. John Richardville, an able negotiator and savvy businessman, led the Miami from 1816 to 1841. His son-in-law, Francis Lafontaine, presided over the Miamis’ removal to Kansas in 1846.