=60. Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.= While Joliet and Marquette
were on their long journey, Frontenac was making use of another fur
trader, La Salle, and of another missionary, Hennepin. La Salle
belonged to a rich French family, and had left home at the age of
twenty-three (1666) for the wild life in the American forests.
[Sidenote: =Fort Frontenac built=]
He first built a fort-like post just above Montreal and named it
Lachine, because he supposed it was located on the route to China. In
1673 he helped build Fort Frontenac where the Canadian city of Kingston
now stands.
La Salle returned home, and the king received him with honor and made
him governor of the region around Fort Frontenac. He came back and
built a great stone fort. Settlers soon came and built their cabins
around the fort, making a little frontier village.
[Illustration: LA SALLE
_Reproduced from a design based on an old engraving_]
Here the fur trader came each season with his pack, and here the
faithful missionary said good-by before plunging into the wilds of the
unknown wilderness, perhaps never to return.
[Sidenote: =La Salle not content to get rich only=]
La Salle was growing rich, but he longed to make good his country's
right to the richer soil and to the milder climate of the Mississippi
Valley. Once more he returned to France, and the king gave him
permission to explore the great valley and to build forts along the way.
[Sidenote: =Hennepin and his altar=]
La Salle came back bringing sailors, carpenters, anchors, and cables,
for he intended to build a ship on the lakes. But best of all, he
brought Tonti, his faithful Italian friend and helper. Hennepin, the
missionary, carried an altar so made that he could strap it on his back
and set it up for worship wherever he chose.
La Salle had resolved to build his first fort at the mouth of the
Niagara River, but the Iroquois permitted him to build only a large
storehouse. They were greatly displeased when he set about building a
ship above Niagara to sail the Great Lakes to the west, and threatened
to burn it.
[Sidenote: =The first ship on the Great Lakes=]
When the new ship, the _Griffin_, was ready to sail, they towed her up
the Niagara River and then into Lake Erie. There was great rejoicing
over the _Griffin_. Amid the firing of cannon and the singing of songs
she spread her sails, the first to whiten the waters of Lake Erie.
[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS WHO
EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY]
[Sidenote: =The visit to Mackinac=]
On they sailed, through sunshine and storm, up Lake Huron until the
mission town where Marquette was buried came into view. When the
_Griffin_ fired her cannon, all was astir in that town of fur traders,
missionaries, and Indians. La Salle's men landed with great show. They
marched to the little chapel and knelt before the altar.
[Sidenote: =The "Griffin" sails for the storehouse=]
La Salle then sailed through the straits and to the head of Green Bay,
where some of his men, sent out many months before, had collected a
great quantity of furs. Laden with these, the _Griffin_ sailed for the
storehouse on the Niagara, but La Salle never saw again this first ship
of the lakes.
=61. Exploring the Mississippi Valley.= With fourteen men in four large
canoes, La Salle set out for the Illinois River. They passed southward
along the Wisconsin shore, sometimes living only on parched corn and
wild berries, but at other times feasting on the wild game killed by
their Indian hunter.
[Illustration: FRENCH FUR TRADERS BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS]
[Sidenote: =The journey by canoe to the Illinois River=]
They passed the spot where Chicago stands, and reached the mouth of the
St. Joseph River. Here another fort was built while waiting for the
return of Tonti, who had gone to find the _Griffin_. Three months had
passed since the ship sailed. Tonti finally came, but brought no word
of the ill-fated _Griffin_.
[Sidenote: =They reach Starved Rock=]
Disappointed, but still brave, La Salle with a party of thirty men and
fourteen canoes paddled up the St. Joseph River to where South Bend now
is. From this point the party, carrying canoes and baggage, made its
way over to the headwaters of the Illinois. They were glad to reach
the region near the present site of Ottawa, where Marquette had been a
few years before. They saw Buffalo Rock and Starved Rock, high bluffs
renowned in Indian history.
[Sidenote: =Surprising an Indian camp=]
Just as the little fleet was passing through Peoria Lake, some one
saw the smoke of an Indian camp. At once every Frenchman dropped his
paddle, seized his gun, and sprang ashore. The Indians ran about in
wild excitement, but La Salle talked peace to the chiefs while Hennepin
tried to quiet the children.
[Illustration: LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN SURPRISING THE INDIANS ON THE
SHORES OF PEORIA LAKE]
The Indians told La Salle of fierce warriors farther on who would kill
them, and of great monsters ready to eat them. These stories frightened
some of La Salle's men and they ran away.
[Sidenote: =The fort of the broken heart=]
La Salle decided to build a fort on the bluff overlooking the river and
remain there through the winter (1680). They named it Fort Crèvecœur,
meaning that the builders had grieved until their hearts were broken.
[Illustration: LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI]
La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac. In the meantime he ordered Tonti
to fortify Starved Rock, and Hennepin to explore the Illinois and the
upper Mississippi rivers.
[Sidenote: =Iroquois destroy villages of the Illinois=]
While La Salle was gone, a great army of fierce Iroquois destroyed the
villages of the Illinois Indians, "the children of Count Frontenac."
[Sidenote: =A union of Indian tribes proposed=]
La Salle's heart was indeed full of grief when he returned and saw the
awful desolation where once stood the villages of his Indian friends.
But worse still, he could not find Tonti. With a sad but brave heart
the great leader resolved to bring all the Illinois tribes into a union
that should be a match for the Iroquois. He went from tribe to tribe,
and night after night he sat around the council fires with the chiefs.
[Sidenote: =La Salle journeys to the mouth of the Mississippi=]
Before he could unite them he heard that Tonti was safe at Mackinac.
He hastened to meet his long-lost friend, and there he and Tonti once
more planned the exploration of the lower Mississippi. He returned to
Fort Frontenac, collected supplies, and was soon crossing the portage
between the Chicago and Illinois rivers. On they went, till early in
February their canoes floated out upon the bosom of the "Father of
Waters" (1682).
Down the river they floated, passing the Missouri, the Ohio, and the
Arkansas, where Joliet and Marquette had turned back. With the kindly
help of new guides, they passed on until they found the Mississippi
branching into three streams. La Salle divided his party, and each took
a stream to the Gulf.
[Sidenote: =La Salle takes possession of new country=]
On shore, just above the mouth, a cross was raised and La Salle took
possession of all the country he had explored "in the name of Louis the
Great, King of France." The company shouted, "Long live the king!" La
Salle's first great object had been accomplished.
Then the party began the slow journey up stream. La Salle finally
reached Mackinac, and there again began to lay great plans. The first
thing he did was to go to Starved Rock and build a fort for the
protection of his union of Indian tribes.
[Sidenote: =Builds Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock=]
Starved Rock is a rough cliff which rises one hundred thirty-five feet
high, right out of the valley. Its sides are almost perpendicular. La
Salle and his men cut away the trees on top and built storehouses,
log huts, and a palisade. They named it Fort St. Louis. In the valley
below, hundreds of Indians came and built their wigwams that they might
be safe from their enemies, the Iroquois. Tonti was put in command of
the fort.
[Sidenote: =La Salle misses the mouth of the Mississippi=]
La Salle's next step was to return to France and ask the king to plant
a colony of Frenchmen at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The king
agreed, and La Salle set sail for the Gulf of Mexico with a fleet of
four ships and a colony of more than one hundred fifty persons (1684).
But he missed the Mississippi and landed at Matagorda Bay in Texas. The
colonists blamed La Salle. He tried in vain to find the Mississippi.
[Illustration: STARVED ROCK ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER
_Many interesting Indian legends are connected with this rock, which
stands one hundred thirty-five feet above the river below_]
[Sidenote: =La Salle's death=]
Suffering and discontent increased until a party of La Salle's men lay
in ambush and shot him, and left his body in the woods. More than a
year went by before the faithful Tonti at Starved Rock heard of the sad
fate of the great leader.
[Sidenote: =The heroic Tonti=]
The French king refused to send aid to the starving colonists in
Texas, but the brave and heroic Tonti, though saddened by the death of
La Salle, resolved to rescue them. His rescuing party suffered awful
hardships. They deserted Tonti on the lower Mississippi, and he was at
last forced to return to Starved Rock.