To support the fur trade the French erected forts at strategic locations throughout the north. One of these was located at Mackinac and at the turn of the century it was under the command of Seiur Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. He had explored much of the surrounding country in search of a suitable site for a settlement. Finally he decided that the best location was the strait between two lakes or Detroit as the French say. After considerable delay, he obtained permission from Paris to proceed with the project and in June 1701 he set out from Montreal with a large party, which included 100 Indians, 25 canoes, and several tons of cargo. He followed the old fur-trading route up the Ottawa River and arrived eventually at Georgian Bay.

He traveled south across Lake Huron down the St. Clair River, across Lake St. Clair, down the Detroit River and disembarked at the narrow point. Cadillac claimed the land for the King of France, built a fort, and called the settlement Fort Pontchartrain. He also invited several tribes of friendly Indians to establish villages under the protection of the post. Carrying out his plan of settlement, he divided the land around the fort into long narrow farms numbered from the fort 1, 2, 3, etc. in both directions. At a later date on the south, or Essex County side, farms were similarly numbered beginning at La Pointe de Montreal, which is where the Ambassador Bridge is now located.

In 1728 a mission to the Huron Indians was started by Father de la Richardie, a Jesuit, on the south side of the river. Because of Indian harassment for 20 years, it was moved first to Bois Blanc (Boblo) Island and then back to La Pointe de Montreal. The village of the Huron Indians was located just below the mission near the road in Windsor now known as the Huron Line. In the spring of 1749 a determined effort was made to increase the population of Detroit on both sides of the strait. The following proclamation from Governor Gallioniere of New France was read in every parish along the St. Lawrence River:

"Every man who will go to settle at Detroit will receive gratuitously one spade, one axe, one ploughshare, and one small auger. Other tools will be advanced to be paid for in two years only. The settler will also be given a cow, which he shall return at the time of the increase; the same for a sow. Seed will be advanced the first year, to be returned at the third harvest. The women and children will be supported for one year. Those men will be deprived of the liberality of the King who shall give themselves up to trade instead of agriculture."

A large number of people from the district of Montreal took up the government's offer and came to Detroit in batteaux. Some of them had seen the settlement previously on fur-trading expeditions. At the same time a number of settlers moved to the south side of the strait and a company of French soldiers was also granted land. More than 2½ miles of water frontage in the vicinity of Turkey Creek were divided into 23 lots, 3 arpents wide and 40 arpents deep. The first settler was Louis Gervais, who arrived from Montreal with his wife and two children on July 26, 1749. A contemporary document called the Cicotte Book records that Louis Plichon on his arrival received a donation of four rations for the first year, which was later increased to five on the birth of another child whose baptism is duly recorded. He also received 2 roebucks for meat, 2 measures of flour, 1 hoe, 1 axe, 1 ploughshare complete, 1 scythe, 2 augers, 1 sow, 7 chickens, 80 roofing nails, 4 lb of powder, 5 lb of lead, 20 bu of wheat, 1 bu of corn, 1 cow, and 1 ox. The last four items had to be returned or paid back.

In 1750 there were 102 farms settled: 52 were on the north side of the river, 15 on the south side, and 35 in Petite Cote. The first census was taken in that year and gives the south shore population as 483: 96 men, 80 women, 146 boys, 128 girls, and 33 slaves. There were also a few soldiers. The names of many of these settlers have been preserved on a map made at the time. For many years Detroit was the only settlement west of Montreal.

The settlers lived in log houses surrounded by gardens. There was an abundance of fish and game. They had guns, but if powder was scarce they used bows and arrows with which they were as expert as the Indians. They had apples, but their favorite fruit was pears. Each family had about two fields in which they alternated crops, which were mainly spring wheat and peas.

At the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759 the English defeated the French and took over the control of Canada. In 1760 Major Robert Rogers of the Royal American Regiment was sent from Montreal with 200 rangers to take possession of the Detroit settlement and Fort Mackinac. The surrender took place without the firing of a shot. British rule at Detroit lasted for 36 years. During this period the American Revolutionary War was fought, but it was not until 1796 that Detroit became a part of the United States and the river became an international boundary. During the war of 1812-14 Detroit was again captured by the British under General Sir Isaac Brock, but it remained under their control for only a few months and was returned to the Americans at the conclusion of the conflict following the Battle of Queenston Heights.

The early settlement gradually spread out along the Detroit River, but the roads connecting the small communities were very poor. Inland roads were lacking because of the difficulty and expense of constructing them in heavily wooded and sometimes marshy country. However, the stage was set for later settlement by the Indian land purchase of 1790 by which a large area in southwestern Ontario,, including most of Essex County, passed into British hands. The closing years of the 1 8th century witnessed the establishment of the so-called "New Settlement" by United Empire Loyalists and others adjacent to Lake Erie in what is now the Colchester-Gosfield section. The term "New Settlement" served to distinguish the section so designated from the "Old Settlement" of French Canadians along the Detroit River. Communication between these areas was mainly by water and apart from these two areas there was little settlement in Essex County until well on into the 19th century. The opening of the Talbot Road (now King's Highway No. 3) in the 1820s started some settlement in the interior of the County, but it was only with the coming of the railways after the middle of the century that any extensive land clearing occurred. The Talbot Road, which was surveyed and engineered by Colonel Talbot, followed the high ridges of the interlobate moraine, a glacial deposit from early times. The use of the higher and drier land made roadbuilding easier and avoided the high water table, which was considerably higher than it is today.

Early in the nineteenth century the influx of land-seeking Americans and immigrants from Britain resulted in a growth of farming activity particularly around the borders of the Essex County area. A number of small hamlets arose and a few lake ports, which soon carried on a flourishing shipping trade. There was a brief period of lumbering when the land was being cleared for farming. The beautiful hardwood forests yielded large quantities of oak, walnut, and hickory, which were shipped to Canadian furniture factories and to the British market through the ports at Union and Albertville, which have long since vanished.

The settlers on their small farms were concerned mainly with growing produce and livestock for the support of their own families and the local inhabitants. However, it was not long before the growing of wheat became such a successful operation that large quantities were soon being shipped first to Montreal and eventually to Britain. To support this trade a large warehouse was located at Union to serve the Olinda-Ruthven district. In those days also an "iron furnace" and foundry were located at Olinda where bog iron ore, which was found in abundance in the vicinity, was fashioned into a variety of tools and other articles required by the farmers.

Most of the farmers grew tobacco for their own use. However, in the early part of the 19th century, when money was scarce and much of the settlers' produce was bartered, tobacco was one of the crops grown to bolster cash income. When the American settlers arrived in Essex County, they brought a certain amount of expertise in tobacco growing and curing as well as a supply of seed of some of the better types and varieties. Early in the century enough tobacco was grown so that the surplus was shipped to manufacturers in Montreal and Kingston. Some Canadian leaf was shipped down the Mississippi River to New Orleans for a short period. By 1840 100-ft barns, which were used in the air-curing of tobacco, dotted the landscape along Lake Erie. In 1850 the crop, most of which was grown in Essex and Kent counties, exceeded 750,000 lb.