FRENCH CANADIANS EXPLORE THE INTERIOR.
The "Western Sea"--Ardent Duluth--"Kaministiquia"--Indian
boasting--Père Charlevoix--Father Gonor--The man of the hour:
Verendrye--Indian map maker--The North Shore--A line of forts--The
Assiniboine country--A notable manuscript--A marvellous
journey--Glory but not wealth--Post of the Western Sea.
Even the French in Canada were animated in their explorations by the
dream of a North-West Passage. The name Lachine at the rapids above
Montreal is the memorial of La Salle's hope that the Western Sea was to
be reached along this channel. The Lake Superior region seems to have
been neglected for twenty years after Radisson and Groseilliers had
visited Lake Nepigon, or Lake Assiniboines, as they called it.
But the intention of going inland from Lake Superior was not lost sight
of by the French explorers, for on a map (Parl. Lib. Ottawa) of date
1680, is the inscription in French marking the Kaministiquia or Pigeon
River, "By this river they go to the Assinepoulacs, for 150 leagues
toward the north-west, where there are plenty of beavers."
The stirring events which we have described between 1682 and 1684, when
Radisson deserted from the Hudson's Bay Company and founded for the
French King Fort Bourbon on the Bay, were accompanied by a new movement
toward Lake Superior, having the purpose of turning the stream of trade
from Hudson Bay southward to Lake Superior.
At this time Governor De La Barre writes from Canada that the English at
Hudson Bay had that year attracted to them many of the northern Indians,
who were in the habit of coming to Montreal, and that he had despatched
thither Sieur Duluth, who had great influence over the western Indians.
Greysolon Duluth was one of the most daring spirits in the service
of France in Canada. Duluth writes (1684) to the Governor from Lake
Nepigon, where he had erected a fort, seemingly near the spot where
Radisson and Groseilliers had wintered.
Duluth says in his ardent manner: "It remains for me, sir, to assure
you that all the savages of the north have great confidence in me, and
that enables me to promise you that before the lapse of two years not
a single savage will visit the English at Hudson Bay. This they have
all promised me, and have bound themselves thereto, by the presents I
have given, or caused to be given them. The Klistinos, Assinepoulacs,
&c., have promised to come to my fort.... Finally, sir, I wish to lose
my life if I do not absolutely prevent the savages from visiting the
English."
Duluth seems for several years to have carried on trade with the Indians
north and west of Lake Nepigon, and no doubt prevented many of them from
going to Hudson Bay. But he was not well supported by the Governor,
being poorly supplied with goods, and for a time the prosecution of
trade by the French in the Lake Superior region declined. The intense
interest created by D'Iberville in his victorious raids on Hudson Bay no
doubt tended to divert the attention of the French explorers from the
trade with the interior. The Treaties of Ryswick and Utrecht changed the
whole state of affairs for the French King, and deprived by the latter
of these treaties of any hold on the Bay, the French in Canada began to
turn their attention to their deserted station on Lake Superior.
Now, too, the reviving interest in England of the scheme for the
discovery of the North-West Passage infected the French. Six years
after the Treaty of Utrecht, we find (MSS. Ottawa) it stated: "Messrs.
de Vaudreuil and Begin having written last year that the discovery of
the Western Sea would be advantageous to the Colony, it was approved
that to reach it M. de Vaudreuil should establish these posts, which he
had proposed, and he was instructed at the same time to have the same
established without any expense accruing to the King--as the person
establishing them would be remunerated by trade."
In the year 1717 the Governor sent out a French lieutenant, Sieur De
la Noue, who founded a fort at Kaministiquia. In a letter, De la Noue
states that the Indians are well satisfied with the fort he has erected,
and promise to bring there all those who had been accustomed to trade
at Hudson Bay. Circumstances seem to have prevented this explorer from
going and establishing a fort at Tekamiouen (Rainy Lake), and a third at
the lake still farther to the north-west.
It is somewhat notable that during the fifty years succeeding the early
voyages of Radisson and Groseilliers on Lake Superior, the French were
quite familiar with the names of lakes and rivers in the interior
which they had never visited. It will be remembered, however, that the
same thing is true of the English on Hudson Bay. They knew the names
Assiniboines, Christinos, and the like as familiar terms, although they
had not left the Bay.
The reason of this is easily seen. The North-West Indian is a great
narrator. He tells of large territories, vast seas, and is, in fact, in
the speech of Hiawatha, "Iagoo, the great boaster." He could map out his
route upon a piece of birch-bark, and the maps still made by the wild
North-Western Indians are quite worthy of note.
It will be observed that the objection brought by the French against
the Hudson's Bay Company of clinging to the shores of the Bay, may be
equally charged against the French on the shore of Lake Superior, or
at least of Lake Nepigon, for the period from its first occupation of
at least seventy years. No doubt the same explanation applies in both
cases, viz. the bringing of their furs to the forts by the Indians made
inland exploration at that time unnecessary.
But the time and the man had now come, and the vast prairies of the
North-West, hitherto unseen by the white man, were to become the
battle-ground for a far greater contest for the possession of the fur
trade than had yet taken place either in Hudson Bay or with the Dutch
and English in New York State.
The promoting cause for this forward movement was again the dream of
opening up a North-West Passage. The hold this had upon the French we
see was less than that upon Frobisher, James, Middleton, or Dobbs among
the English. Speaking of the French interest in the scheme, Pierre
Margry, keeper of the French Archives in Paris, says: "The prospect of
discovering by the interior a passage to the _Grand Océan_, and by that
to China, which was proposed by our officers under Henry IV., Louis
XIII., and Louis XIV., had been taken up with renewed ardour during
the Regency. Memorial upon memorial had been presented to the Conseil
de Marine respecting the advisability and the advantage of making this
discovery. Indeed, the Père de Charlevoix was sent to America, and made
his great journey from the north to the south of New France for the
purpose of reliably informing the Council as to the most suitable route
to pursue in order to reach the Western Sea. But the ardour which during
the life of Philip of Orleans animated the Government regarding the
exploration of the West became feeble, and at length threatened to be
totally extinguished, without any benefit being derived from the posts
which they had already established in the country of the Sioux and at
Kaministiquia."
"The Regent, in choosing between the two plans that Father Charlevoix
presented to him at the close of his journey for the attainment of a
knowledge of the Western Sea, through an unfortunate prudence, rejected
the suggestion, which, it is true, was the most expensive and uncertain,
viz. an expedition up the Missouri to its source and beyond, and
decided to establish a post among the Sioux. The post of the Sioux was
consequently established in 1727. Father Gonor, a Jesuit missionary who
had gone upon the expedition, we are told, was, however, obliged to
return without having been able to discover anything that would satisfy
the expectations of the Court about the Western Sea."
At this time Michilimackinac was the depôt of the West. It stood in the
entrance of Lake Michigan--the Gitche Gumee of the Indian tribes, near
the mouth of the St. Mary River, the outlet of Lake Superior; it was at
the head of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay alike. Many years afterwards it
was called the "Key of the North-West" and the "Key of the Upper Lakes."
A round island lying a little above the lake, it appealed to the Indian
imagination, and, as its name implies, was likened by them to the
turtle. To it from every side expeditions gathered, and it became the
great rendezvous.
At Michilimackinac, just after the arrival of Father Gonor, there
came from the region of Lake Superior a man whose name was to become
illustrious as an explorer, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de
la Verendrye. We have come to know him simply by the single name of
Verendrye.
This great explorer was born in Three Rivers, the son of an old officer
of the French army. The young cadet found very little to do in the
New World, and made his way home to France. He served as a French
officer in the War of the Spanish Succession, and was severely wounded
in the battle of Malplaquet. On his recovery, he did not receive the
recognition that he desired, and so went to the western wilds of Canada
and took up the life of a "coureur de bois."
Verendrye, in pursuing the fur trade, had followed the somewhat deserted
course which Radisson and Groseilliers had long before taken, and which
a decade before this La Noue had, as we have seen, selected. The fort on
Lake Nepigon was still the rendezvous of the savages from the interior,
who were willing to be turned aside from visiting the English on Hudson
Bay. From the Indians who assembled around his fort on Lake Nepigon,
in 1728, Verendrye heard of the vast interior, and had some hopes of
reaching the goal of those who dreamt of a Western Sea.
An experienced Indian leader named Ochagach undertook to map out on
birch bark the route by which the lakes of the interior could be
reached, and the savage descanted with rapture upon the furs to be
obtained if the journey could be made. Verendrye, filled with the
thought of western discovery, went to Quebec, and discussed his purpose
with the Governor there. He pointed out the route by way of the river
of the Assiniboels, and then the rivers by which Lake Ouinipegon might
be reached. His estimate was that the Western Sea might be gained by an
inland journey from Lake Superior of 500 leagues.
[Illustration: CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE.
A daring Pioneer of New France.
(_From his statue in Montreal._)]
Governor Beauharnois considered the map submitted and the opinions of
Verendrye with his military engineer, Chaussegros De Lery; and their
conclusions were favourable to Verendrye's deductions. Verendrye
had the manner and character which inspired belief in his honesty and
competence. He was also helped in his dealings with the Governor at
Quebec by the representations of Father Gonor, whom we have seen had
returned from the fort established among the Sioux, convinced that the
other route was impracticable.
Father Gonor entirely sympathized with Verendrye in the belief that
the only hope lay in passing through the country of the Christinos
and Assiniboels of the North. The Governor granted the explorer the
privilege of the entire profit of the fur trade, but was unable to give
any assistance in money. Verendrye now obtained the aid of a number of
merchants in Montreal in providing goods and equipment for the journey,
and in high glee journeyed westward, calling at Michilimackinac to take
with him the Jesuit Father Messager, to be the companion of his voyage.
Near the end of August, 1731, the expedition was at Pigeon River, long
known as Grand Portage, a point more than forty miles south-westward of
the mouth of the Kaministiquia.
This was a notable event in history when Verendrye and his crew stood
ready to face the hardships of a journey to the interior. No doubt the
way was hard and long, and the men were sulky and discouraged, but the
heroism of their commander shone forth as he saw into the future and led
the way to a vast and important region.
Often since that time have important expeditions going to the North-West
been seen as they swept by the towering heights of Thunder Cape, and,
passing onward, entered the uninviting mouth of Kaministiquia.
Eighty-five years afterward, Lord Selkirk and his band of one hundred De
Meuron soldiers appeared here in canoes and penetrated to Red River to
regain the lost Fort Douglas.
One hundred and twenty-six years after Verendrye, according to an
account given by an eye-witness--an old Hudson's Bay Company officer--a
Canadian steamer laden high above the decks appeared at the mouth of the
Kaministiquia, bearing the Dawson and Hind expedition, to explore the
plains of Assiniboia and pave the way for their admission to Canada.
One hundred and thirty-nine years after Verendrye, Sir Garnet Wolseley,
with his British regulars and Canadian volunteers, swept through Thunder
Bay on their way to put down the Red River rebellion.
And now one hundred and sixty-nine years after Verendrye, the splendid
steamers of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company thrice a week in summer
carry their living cargo into the mouth of the Kaministiquia to be
transported by rail to the fast filling prairies of the West.
Yes! it was a great event when Verendrye and his little band of
unwilling voyageurs started inland from the shore of Lake Superior.
Verendrye, his valiant nephew, De La Jemeraye, and his two sons, were
the leaders of the expedition. Grand Portage avoids by a nine mile
portage the falls and rapids at the mouth of the Pigeon River, and
northward from this point the party went, and after many hardships
reached Rainy Lake in the first season, 1731. Here, at the head of Rainy
River, just where it leaves the Lake, they built their first fort, St.
Pierre. The writer has examined the site of this fort, just three miles
above the falls of Rainy River, and seen the mounds and excavations
still remaining. This seems to have been their furthest point reached
in the first season, and they returned to winter at Kaministiquia. In
the next year the expedition started inland, and in the month of June
reached their Fort St. Pierre, descended the Rainy River, and with
exultation saw the expanse of the Lake of the Woods.
The earliest name we find this lake known by is that given by Verendrye.
He says it was called Lake Minitie (Cree, Ministik) or Des Bois. (1) The
former of these names, Minitie, seems to be Ojibway, and to mean Lake
of the Islands, probably referring to the large number of islands to
be found in the northern half of the Lake. The other name (2), Lac des
Bois, or Lake of the Woods, would appear to have been a mistranslation
of the Indian (Ojibway) name by which the Lake was known. The name (3)
was "Pikwedina Sagaigan," meaning "the inland lake of the sand hills,"
referring to the skirting range of sand hills running for some thirteen
miles along the southern shore of the Lake to the east of the mouth of
Rainy River, its chief tributary.
Another name found on a map prepared by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1748
is (4) Lake Nimigon, probably meaning the "expanse," referring to the
open sheet of water now often called "La Traverse." Two other names,
(5) Clearwater Lake and (6) Whitefish Lake, are clearly the extension
of Clearwater Bay, a north-western part of the Lake, and Whitefish
Bay, still given by the Indians to the channel to the east of Grande
Presqu'île.
On the south-west side of the Lake of the Woods Verendrye's party built
Fort St. Charles, probably hoping then to come in touch with the Sioux
who visited that side of the lake, and with whom they would seek trade.
At this point the prospect was very remote of reaching the Western
Sea. The expenses were great, and the fur trade did not so far give
sufficient return to justify a further march to the interior. Unassisted
they had reached in 1733 Lake Ouinipegon (Winnipeg), by descending the
rapid river from Lake of the Woods, to which they gave the name of
Maurepas.
The government in Quebec informed the French Minister, M. de Maurepas,
that they had been told by the adventurous Jemeraye that if the French
King would bear the expense, they were now certain that the Western Sea
could be reached. They had lost in going to Lake Ouinipegon not less
than 43,000 livres, and could not proceed further without aid. The reply
from the Court of France was unfavourable; nothing more than the free
privilege of the fur trade was granted the explorers.
In the following year Verendrye built a fort near Lake Ouinipegon, at
the mouth of the Maurepas River (which we now know as Winnipeg River),
and not far from the present Fort Alexander. The fort was called Fort
Maurepas, although the explorers felt that they had little for which
to thank the French Minister. Still anxious to push on further west,
but prevented by want of means, they made a second appeal to the
French Government in 1735. But again came the same reply of refusal.
The explorers spent their time trading with the Indians between Lake
Winnipeg and Grand Portage, and coming and going, as they had occasion,
to Lake Superior, and also to Michilimackinac with their cargoes.
While at Fort St. Charles, on the shores of the Lake of the Woods, in
1736, a great disaster overtook the party. Verendrye's eldest son was
very anxious to return to Kaministiquia, as was also the Jesuit priest,
Anneau, who was in company with the traders. Verendrye was unwilling,
but at last consented. The party, consisting of the younger Verendrye
and twenty men, were ruthlessly massacred by an ambush of the Sioux on
a small island some five leagues from Fort St. Charles, still known as
Massacre Island.
A few days afterwards the crime was discovered, and Verendrye had
difficulty in preventing his party from accepting the offer of the
Assiniboines and Christinos to follow the Sioux and wreak their
vengeance upon them. During the next year Fort Maurepas was still their
farthest outpost.
The ruins of Fort St. Charles on the south side of the north-west
angle of the Lake of the Woods were in 1908 discovered by St. Boniface
Historical Society and the remains of young Verendrye's party found
buried in the ruins of the chapel.
Though no assistance could be obtained from the French Court for western
discovery, and although the difficulties seemed almost insurmountable,
Verendrye was unwilling to give up the path open to him. He had the true
spirit of the explorer, and chafed in his little stockade on the shores
of Lake Winnipeg, seeking new worlds to conquer.
If it was a great event when Verendrye, in 1731, left the shores of Lake
Superior to go inland, it was one of equal moment when, penniless and in
debt, he determined at all hazards to leave the rocks and woods of Lake
Winnipeg, and seek the broad prairies of the West. His decision being
thus reached, the region which is now the fertile Canadian prairies was
entered upon.
We are fortunate in having the original journal of this notable
expedition of 1738, obtained by Mr. Douglas Brymner, former Archivist
at Ottawa. This, with two letters of Bienville, were obtained by Mr.
Brymner from a French family in Montreal, and the identity of the
documents has been fully established.
This journal covers the time from the departure of Verendrye from
Michilimackinac on July 20th, till say 1739, when he writes from the
heart of the prairies. On September 22nd the brave Verendrye left Fort
Maurepas for the land unknown. It took him but two days with his five
men to cross in swift canoes the south-east expanse of Lake Winnipeg,
enter the mouth of Red River, and reach the forks of the Red and
Assiniboine Rivers, where the city of Winnipeg now stands.
It was thus on September 24th of that memorable year that the eyes of
the white man first fell on the site of what is destined to be the great
central city of Canada. A few Crees who expected him met the French
explorer there, and he had a conference with two chiefs, who were in the
habit of taking their furs to the English on Hudson Bay.
The water of the Assiniboine River ran at this time very low, but
Verendrye was anxious to push westward. Delayed by the shallowness of
the Assiniboine, the explorer's progress was very slow, but in six days
he reached the portage, then used to cross to Lake Manitoba on the route
to Hudson Bay. On this portage now stands the town of Portage la Prairie.
The Assiniboine Indians who met Verendrye here told him it would be
useless for him to ascend the Assiniboine River further, as the water
was so low. Verendrye was expecting a reinforcement to join his party,
under his colleague, M. de la Marque. He determined to remain at Portage
la Prairie and to build a fort. Verendrye then assembled the Indians,
gave them presents of powder, ball, tobacco, axes, knives, &c., and in
the name of the French King received them as the children of the great
monarch across the sea, and repeated several times to them the orders of
the King they were to obey.
It is very interesting to notice the skill with which the early French
explorers dealt with the Indians, and to see the formal way in which
they took possession of the lands visited. Verendrye states that the
Indians were greatly impressed, "many with tears in their eyes." He adds
with some _naïveté_, "They thanked me greatly, promising to do wonders."
On October 3rd, Verendrye decided to build a fort. He was joined shortly
after by Messrs. de la Marque and Nolant with eight men in two canoes.
The fort was soon pushed on, and, with the help of the Indians, was
finished by October 15th. This was the beginning of Fort de la Reine.
At this stage in his journal Verendrye makes an important announcement,
bearing on a subject which has been somewhat discussed.
Verendrye says, "M. de la Marque told me he had brought M. de Louvière
to the forks with two canoes to build a fort there for the accommodation
of the people of the Red River. I approved of it if the Indians were
notified." This settles the fact that there was a fort at the forks of
the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, and that it was built in 1738.
In the absence of this information, we have been in the habit of fixing
the building of Fort Rouge at this point from 1735 to 1737. There can
now be no doubt that October, 1738, is the correct date. From French
maps, as has been pointed out, Fort Rouge stood at the mouth of the
Assiniboine, on the south side of the river, and the portion of the city
of Winnipeg called Fort Rouge is properly named.
It is, of course, evident that the forts erected by these early
explorers were simply winter stations, thrown up in great haste.
Verendrye and his band of fifty-two persons, Frenchmen and Indians, set
out overland by the Mandan road on October 18th, to reach the Mandan
settlements of the Missouri. It is not a part of our work to describe
that journey. Suffice it to say that on December 3rd he was at the
central fort of the Mandans, 250 miles from his fort at Portage la
Prairie.
Being unable to induce his Assiniboine guides and interpreters to
remain for the winter among the Mandans, Verendrye returned somewhat
unwillingly to the Assiniboine River. He arrived on February 10th at his
Fort de la Reine, as he says himself, "greatly fatigued and very ill."
Verendrye in his journal gives us an excellent opportunity of seeing
the thorough devotion of the man to his duty. From Fort Michilimackinac
to the Missouri, by the route followed by him, is not less than 1,200
miles, and this he accomplished, as we have seen with the necessary
delay of building a fort, between July 20th and December 3rd--136
days--of this wonderful year of 1738.
Struggling with difficulties, satisfying creditors, hoping for
assistance from France, but ever patriotic and single-minded, Verendrye
became the leading spirit in Western exploration. In the year after his
great expedition to the prairies, he was summoned to Montreal to resist
a lawsuit brought against him. The prevailing sin of French Canada was
jealousy. Though Verendrye had struggled so bravely to explore the
country, there were those who whispered in the ear of the Minister of
the French Court that he was selfish and unworthy. In his heart-broken
reply to the charges, he says, "If more than 40,000 livres of debt which
I have on my shoulders are an advantage, then I can flatter myself that
I am very rich."
In 1741 a fruitless attempt was made to reach the Mandans, but in the
following year Verendrye's eldest surviving son and his brother, known
as the Chevalier, having with them only two Canadians, left Forte de la
Reine, and made in this and the succeeding year one of the most famous
of the Verendrye discoveries. This lies beyond the field of our inquiry,
being the journey to the Missouri, and up to an eastern spur of the
Rocky Mountains. Parkman, in his "A Half Century of Conflict," has given
a detailed account of this remarkable journey.
Going northward over the Portage la Prairie, Verendrye's sons had
discovered what is now known as Lake Manitoba, and had reached the
Saskatchewan River. On the west side of Lake Manitoba they founded
Fort Dauphin, while at the west end of the enlargement of the
Saskatchewan known as Cedar Lake, they built Fort Bourbon and ascended
the Saskatchewan to the forks, which were known as the Poskoiac. Tardy
recognition of Verendrye's achievements came from the French Court in
the explorer being promoted to the position of captain in the Colonial
troops, and a short time after he was given the Cross of the Order of
St. Louis. Beauharnois and his successor Galissionière had both stood
by Verendrye and done their best for him. Indeed, the explorer was just
about to proceed on the great expedition which was to fulfil their hopes
of finding the Western Sea, when, on December 6th, he passed away, his
dream unrealized. He was an unselfish soul, a man of great executive
ability, and one who dearly loved his King and country. He stands out in
striking contrast to the Bigots and Jonquières, who disgraced the name
of France in the New World.
From the hands of these vampires, who had come to suck out the blood of
New France, Verendrye's sons received no consideration. Their claims
were coolly passed by, their goods shamelessly seized, and their
written and forcible remonstrance made no impression. Legardeur de St.
Pierre, more to the mind of the selfish Bigot, was given their place
and property, and in 1751 a small fort was built on the upper waters
of the Saskatchewan, near the Rocky Mountains, near where the town of
Calgary now stands. This was called in honour of the Governor, Fort La
Jonquière. A year afterward, St. Pierre, with his little garrison of
five men, disgusted with the country, deserted Fort La Reine, which, a
few weeks after, was burned to the ground by the Assiniboines.
The fur trade was continued by the French in much the same bounds, so
long as the country remained in the hands of France.
We are fortunate in having an account of these affairs given in De
Bougainville's Memoir, two years before the capture of Canada by Wolfe.
The forts built by Verendrye's successors were included under the "Post
of the Western Sea" (La Mer de l'Ouest). Bougainville says, "The Post of
the Western Sea is the most advanced toward the north; it is situated
amidst many Indian tribes, with whom we trade and who have intercourse
with the English, toward Hudson Bay. We have there several forts built
of stockades, trusted generally to the care of one or two officers,
seven or eight soldiers, and eighty _engagés Canadiens_. We can push
further the discoveries we have made in that country, and communicate
even with California."
This would have realized the dream of Verendrye of reaching the Western
Sea.
"The Post of La Mer de l'Ouest includes the forts of St. Pierre, St.
Charles, Bourbon, De la Reine, Dauphin, Poskoiac, and Des Prairies (De
la Jonquière), all of which are built with palisades that can give
protection only against the Indians."
"The post of La Mer de l'Ouest merits special attention for two reasons:
the first, that it is the nearest to the establishments of the English
on Hudson Bay, and from which their movements can be watched; the
second, that from this post, the discovery of the Western Sea may be
accomplished; but to make this discovery it will be necessary that the
travellers give up all view of personal interest."
Two years later, French power in North America came to an end, and a
generation afterward, the Western Sea was discovered by British fur
traders.