Mississippi was attained. The voyagers were now under the thirty-third
parallel of north latitude, at a point of the river-course reported to have
been previously reached, from the opposite direction, by the celebrated
Spanish mariner De Soto. Here the Illinois chief's present stood the party
in good stead, for on exhibiting his ornate calumet they were treated with
profuse kindness. Bread, made of maize, was offered by the chief of the
horde located at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Hatchet-heads of steel,
in use by the natives, gave intimation that they traded with Europeans, and
that the Spanish settlements on the Bay of Mexico were probably not far
off. The waxing summer heats, too, gave natural corroboration to the same
inferences. The party had now, in fact, attained to a region without a
winter, unless as such be reckoned that part of its year known as "the
rainy season."
It now became expedient to call a halt, for the stored provisions were
beginning to fail, and chance supplies could not be depended upon in such
a wilderness as the bold adventurers had already traversed; and they were
still more uncertain as to what treatment they might receive from savage
populations if they proceeded farther. One thing was made plain to their
perceptions: the Mississippi afforded no passage to the East Indian seas.
They rightly concluded, also, that it found its sea outlet in the Bay
of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean. They had therefore now done enough to
entitle them to the grateful thanks of their compatriots, and for the
names of their two leaders to take a permanent place in the annals of
geographical discovery.
The task of ascending the great river must have been arduous, and the
return voyage protracted. Arrived at the point where it is joined by the
Illinois, they left it for that stream, which, ascending for a part of its
lower course, Père Marquette elected to remain with the natives of tribes
located near to its banks; while M. Joliet, with the rest of the party,
passed overland to Chicago. Thence he proceeded to Québec, and reported his
proceedings to the Governor, M. Talon at that time being in France. This
duty he had to perform orally, having lost all his papers when shooting the
rapids of the St. Lawrence, above Montreal. He afterward drew up a written
report, with a tracing of his route, from memory.
The encouragement the intendant procured for the enterprise fairly entitles
him to share its glory with those who so ably carried it out; for we cannot
attach too much honor to the memory of statesmen who turn to account their
opportunities of patronizing useful adventure. M. Joliet received in
property the island of Anticosti as a reward for his Western discoveries
and for an exploratory voyage he made to Hudson's Bay. He was also
nominated hydrographer-royal, and got enfeoffed in a seigniory near
Montreal. Expecting to reap great advantage from Anticosti as a fishing and
fur-trading station, he built a fort thereon; but after living some time on
the island with his family, he was obliged to abandon it. His patronymic
was adopted as the name of a mountain situated near the Rivère des Plaines,
a tributary of the Illinois; and Joliet is also the appellation, given in
his honor, of a town near Chicago.
Père Marquette proceeded to Green Bay by Lake Michigan, in 1673; but
he returned soon afterward and resumed his missionary labors among the
Illinois Indians. Being then at war with the Miâmis, they came to him
asking for gunpowder. "I have come among you," said the apostolic priest,
"not to aid you to destroy your enemies' bodies, but to help you to save
your own souls. Gunpowder I cannot give you, but my prayers you can have
for your conversion to that religion which gives glory to God in the
highest and on earth peace to all men." Upon one occasion he preached
before two thousand warriors of their nation, besides the women and
children present. His bodily powers, however, were now wellnigh exhausted.
He decided to return to Mackinac; but while coasting the lower shores of
Lake Michigan, feeling that his supreme hour was nigh, he caused the people
in his canoe to set him ashore. Having obtained for him the shelter of
a hut formed of branches, he there died the death of the righteous. His
companions interred his remains near the river which yet bears his name,
and set up a crucifix to mark the spot. Thus ended, amid the solitudes
of the Western wilderness, the valuable existence of one whose name, too
little known to his own age, will be remembered when hundreds of those
which, however loudly sounded in the present, shall have passed into utter
oblivion.[1]
[Footnote 1: Guérin observes that, according to some authorities, La
Salle, some time between the years 1669 and 1671, descended the
Mississippi, as far as the Arkansas, by the river Ohio. There can be no
doubt that the story is a mere figment.]
The news of the discovery of the Mississippi made a great sensation
in Canada, and eclipsed for a time the interest attaching to other
explorations of the age, which were becoming more and more rife every year.
Every speculative mind was set to work, as was usual on such occasions,
to calculate the material advantages which might result, first to the
colonists, and next to their mother-country, from access being obtained to
a second gigantic waterway through the territories of New France; serving,
as it virtually might in times to come, as a complement, or completing
moiety for the former, enabling the colonists to have the command of two
seas. Still, as the Gulf of Mexico had not been reached by the adventurers
upon the present occasion, some persons had their doubts about the real
course of the lower flood. There was therefore still in store credit for
those who should succeed in clearing up whatever uncertainty there might be
about a matter so important.
"New France," says Raynal, "had among its people a Norman named Robert
Cavalier de la Salle, a man inspired with the double passion of amassing a
large fortune and gaining an illustrious name. This person had acquired,
under the training of the Jesuits, among whom his youth was
passed, activity, enthusiasm, firmness of character, and
high-heartedness--qualities which that celebrated confraternity knew so
well to discern and cultivate in promising natures committed to their care.
Their most audacious and enterprising pupil, La Salle, was especially
impatient to seize every occasion that chance presented for distinguishing
himself, and ready to create such opportunities if none occurred." He had
been resident some years in Canada when Joliet returned from his expedition
to the Mississippi. The effect of so promising a discovery, upon such a
mind as La Salle's, was of the most awakening kind. Joliet's report of what
he experienced, and his shrewd conjectures as to what he did not see but
which doubtless existed, well meditated upon by his fellow-genius, inspired
the latter to form a vast design of exploration and traffic conjoined, in
realizing which he determined to hazard both his fortunes and reputation.
Cavalier Sieur de la Salle was born in Rouen, and the son of respectable
parents. While yet a young man he came to Canada full of a project he had
conceived of seeking a road to Japan and China by a northern or western
passage, but did not bring with him the pecuniary means needful even to
make the attempt. He set about making friends for himself in the colony,
and succeeded in finding favor with the Count de Frontenac, who discerned
in him qualities somewhat akin to his own. With the aid of M. de Courcelles
and Talon he opened a factory for the fur traffic at Lachine, near
Montreal, a name which (_China_) he gave to the place in allusion to the
oriental goal toward which his hopes tended as an explorer.
In the way of trade he visited Lakes Ontario and Erie. While the Canadians
were yet excited about the discovery of the Mississippi, he imparted
his aspirations regarding it to the Governor-general. He said that, by
ascending, instead of descending, that great stream, a means might be
found for reaching the Pacific Ocean; but that the outlay attending the
enterprise could only be defrayed by combining with it an extended traffic
with the nations of the West; that he would gladly make the attempt himself
if a trading-post were erected for his use at the foot of Lake Ontario, as
a basis for his operations, with an exclusive license to traffic in the
Western countries. The Governor gave him the command of Fort Frontenac, to
begin with. Obtaining, also, his recommendations to the Court, La Salle
sailed for France in 1675, and gained all he wanted from the Marquis de
Seignelai, son and successor of the great Colbert as minister of marine.
The King bestowed on La Salle the seigniory of Cataraqui (Kingston) and
ennobled him. This seigniory included Fort Frontenac, of which he was made
the proprietor, as well as of Lake Ontario; conditioned, however, that he
was to reconstruct the fort in stone. His majesty also invested him with
all needful credentials for beginning and continuing his discoveries.
La Salle, on his return to Canada, actively set about aggrandizing his
new possession. Several colonists and some of the natives repaired to
the locality, and settled under protection of his fort. He built in its
vicinity three decked vessels--the first ever seen upon Lake Ontario. In
1677 he visited France again, in quest of aid to carry out his plans.
Colbert and Seignelai got him a royal commission as recognized explorer of
Northwest America, with permission to erect fortified posts therein at his
discretion. He found a potent protector, also, in the Prince de Conti.
La Salle, full of hope, sailed from La Rochelle in summer, 1678, with
thirty seamen and artisans, his vessel freighted with equipments for
his lake craft, and merchandise for barter with the aborigines. A brave
officer, Chevalier de Tonti, went with him, proposing to share his
fortunes. Arrived at Cataraqui, his energy put all his workpeople in
activity. On November 18th he set sail from Fort Frontenac in one of his
barks, loaded with goods and materials for constructing a second fort and a
brigantine at Niagara. When he reached the head of Lake Ontario, his vessel
excited the admiration of the savages; while the Falls of Niagara no less
raised the wonder of the French. Neither had before seen the former so
great a triumph of human art; nor the latter, so overpowering a spectacle
of nature.
La Salle set about founding his proposed stronghold at Niagara; but the
natives, as soon as the defensive works began to take shape, demurred to
their being continued. Not caring to dispute the matter with them, he gave
his erections the form of a palisaded storehouse merely. During winter
following, he laid the keel of a vessel on the stocks, at a place some six
miles above the Falls. His activity redoubled as his operations progressed.
He sent on his friend Tonti with the famous Récollet, Père Hennepin, to
seek out several men whom he had despatched as forerunners, in autumn
preceding, to open up a traffic he intended to carry on with the aborigines
of the West. In person he visited the Iroquois and several other nations,
with whom he wished to form trading relations. He has the honor of founding
the town of Niagara. The vessel he there built he called the Griffin,
because, said he, "the griffin has right of mastery over the ravens": an
allusion, as was said, to his hope of overcoming all his ill-willers, who
were numerous.[1] Be this as it may, the Griffin was launched in midsummer,
1679, under a salute of cannon, with a chanting of _Te Deum_ and shouts
from the colonists; the natives present setting up yells of wonder, hailing
the French as so many _Otkou_ (or "men of a contriving mind").
[Footnote 1: Some authors say that he named his vessel the Griffin in honor
of the Frontenacs, the supporters in whose family coat-of-arms were two
Griffins. Where all is so uncertain in an important matter, a third
suggestion may be as near the mark as the first two. As the Norse or Norman
sea-kings bore the raven for a standard, perhaps La Salle adopted the
raven's master-symbol, in right of a hoped-for sovereignty over the
American lakes.]
On August 7th the Griffin, equipped with seven guns and loaded with small
arms and goods, entered Lake Erie; when La Salle started for Detroit, which
he reached in safety after a few days' sail. He gave to the expansion of
the channel between Lakes Erie and Huron the name of Lake Ste. Claire,
traversing which, on August 23d he entered Lake Huron. Five days later he
reached Michilimackinac, after having encountered a violent storm, such as
are not unfrequent in that locality. The aborigines of the country were
not less moved than those of Niagara had been, at the appearance of the
Griffin; an apparition rendered terrible as well as puzzling when the sound
of her cannon boomed along the lake and reverberated from its shores.
On attaining to the chapel of the Ottawa tribe, at the mission station, he
landed and attended mass. Continuing his voyage, some time in September he
reached the Baie des Puants, on the western lake board of Michigan, where
he cast anchor. So far the first ship navigation of the great Canadian
lakes had been a triumph; but the end was not yet, and it proved to be
disastrous, for La Salle, hearing that his creditors had in his absence
confiscated his possessions, despatched the Griffin, loaded with peltry, to
Niagara, probably in view of redeeming them; but his vessel and goods were
totally lost on the way.
Meanwhile he started, with a trading-party of thirty men of different
callings, bearing arms and merchandise. Passing to St. Joseph's, at the
lower end of Lake Michigan, whither he had ordered that the Griffin should
proceed on her proposed second voyage from Niagara, he laid the foundations
of a fort on the crest of a steep height, washed on two sides by the river
of the Miâmis, and defended on another side by a deep ravine. He set
buoys at the entrance of the stream for the direction of the crew of
the anxiously expected vessel, upon whose safety depended in part the
continuation of his enterprises; sending on some skilful hands to
Michilimackinac to pilot her on the lake. The vessel not appearing, and
winter being near, he set out for the country of the Illinois Indians,
leaving a few men in charge of the fort, and taking with him the
missionaries Gabriel, Hennepin, and Zenobe, also some private men; Tonti,
who was likewise of the party, having rejoined his principal, but without
the men he was sent to seek, as he could not find them.
The expedition, thus constituted, arrived toward the close of December at a
deserted native village situated near the source of the Illinois River,
in the canton which still bears La Salle's name. Without stopping here
he descended that stream as far as Lake Peoria--called by Hennepin,
"Pimiteoui"--on the margin of which he found encamped a numerous body of
the Illinois. These Indians, though naturally gentle, yet turned unfriendly
regards at first on the party, but, soon recovering from surprise at the
appearance of the French, treated them with great hospitality; one of their
attentions to the supposed wants of the visitors being to rub their wearied
legs with bear's-grease and buffalo fat. These friendly people were glad to
learn that La Salle meant to form establishments in their country. Like the
Huron savages of Champlain's time, the Illinois, harassed as they were by
the Iroquois, trusted that the French would protect them in future. The
visitors remarked that the Illinois formed the sides of their huts with
mats of flat reeds, lined and sewed together. All those the party saw were
tall, robust in body, and dexterous with the bow. But the nation has been
stigmatized by some early reporters as cowardly, lazy, debauched, and
without respect for their chiefs.
La Salle's people, hearing no mention of his ship all this while, began
first to murmur, and then to leave him: six of them deserted in one night.
In other respects events occurred ominous of evil for the termination of
the enterprise. To occupy the attention of his companions, and prevent
them from brooding on apprehended ills, as well as to guard them against
a surprise by any hostile natives, he set them on erecting a fort upon an
eminence, at a place four days' journey distant from Lake Peoria; which,
when finished, he named Breakheart (_Crèvecoeur_), in allusion to the
mental sufferings he then endured. To put an end to an intolerable state
of suspense, in his own case he resolved to set out on foot for Frontenac,
four hundred or five hundred leagues distant--hoping there to obtain good
news about the Griffin; also in order to obtain equipments for a new bark,
then in course of construction at Crèvecoeur, in which he meant to embark
upon his return thither, intending to descend the Mississippi to its
embouchure. He charged Père Hennepin to trace the downward course of the
Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, then to ascend the former as
high as possible and examine the territories through which its upper waters
flow. After making Tonti captain of the fort in his absence, he set out,
March 2, 1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by three or four whites
and one Indian.[1]
[Footnote 1: Charlevoix, by following the relation attributed to Tonti, has
fallen into some obvious errors respecting La Salle's expedition to
the Illinois River. Hennepin, an ocular witness, is assuredly the best
authority, corroborated, as his narration is, by the relation and letters
of Père Zenobe Mambrè.]
Père Hennepin, who left two days before, descended the Illinois to the
Mississippi, made several excursions in the region around their confluence;
then ascended the latter to a point beyond the Sault St. Antony, where he
was detained for some months by Sioux Indians, who only let him go on his
promise to return to them next year. One of the chiefs traced on a scrap of
paper the route he desired to follow; and this rude but correct chart, says
Hennepin, "served us truly as a compass." By following the Wisconsin, which
falls into the Mississippi, and Fox River, when running in the opposite
direction, he reached Lake Michigan mission station, passing through,
intermediately, vast and interesting countries. Such was the famous
expedition of Hennepin; who, on his return, was not a little surprised to
find a company of fur-traders near the Wisconsin River, led by one De Luth,
who had probably preceded him in visiting that remote region.
While Hennepin was exploring the upper valley of the Mississippi, La
Salle's interests were getting from bad to worse at Crèvecoeur. But, for
rightly understanding the events which at last obliged him to abandon that
post, it is necessary to explain the state of his affairs in Canada, and to
advert to the jealousies which other traffickers cherished regarding his
monopolizing projects in the western regions of the continent. He came to
the colony, as we have seen, a fortuneless adventurer--highly recommended,
indeed; while the special protection he obtained from the Governor,
with the titular and more solid favors he obtained at court, made him a
competitor to all other commercialists, whom it was impossible to contend
with directly. Underhand means of opposition, therefore--and these not
always the fairest--were put in play to damage his interests and, if
possible, effect his ruin.
For instance, feuds were stirred up against him among the savage tribes,
and inducements held out to his own people to desert him. They even induced
the Iroquois and the Miâmis to take up arms against the Illinois, his
allies. Besides this hostility to him within New France, he had to face the
opposition of the Anglo-American colonists, who resisted the realization
of his projects, for nationally selfish reasons. Thus they encouraged the
Iroquois to attack La Salle's Indian allied connections of the Mississippi
Valley; a measure which greatly increased the difficulties of a position
already almost untenable. In a word, the odds against him became too great;
and he was constrained to retire from the high game he wished to play out,
which, indeed, was certainly to the disadvantage of individuals, if tending
to enhance the importance of the colony as a possession of France.
La Salle's ever-trusty lieutenant, the Chevalier de Tonti, meanwhile did
all he could, at Crèvecoeur, to engage the Illinois to stand firm to their
engagements with his principal. Having learned that the Miâmis intended to
join the Iroquois in opposition to them, he hastened to teach the use of
fire-arms to those who remained faithful, to put the latter on a footing
of equality with these two nations, who were now furnished with the like
implements of war. He also showed them how to fortify their hordes with
palisades. But while in the act of erecting Fort Louis, near the sources
of the river Illinois, most of the garrison at Crèvecoeur mutinied and
deserted, after pillaging the stores of provision and ammunition there laid
up.
At this crisis of La Salle's affairs (1680) armed bands of the Iroquois
suddenly appeared in the Illinois territory and produced a panic among its
timid inhabitants. Tonti, acting with spirit and decision as their ally,
now intervened, and enforced upon the Iroquois a truce for the Illinois;
but the former, on ascertaining the paucity of his means, recommenced
hostilities. Attacking the fort, they murdered Père Gabriel, disinterred
the dead, and wasted the cultivated land of the French residents. The
Illinois dispersed in all directions, leaving the latter isolated among
their enemies. Tonti, who had at last but five men under his orders, also
fled the country.
While the Chevalier, in his passage from Crèvecoeur, was descending the
north side of Lake Michigan, La Salle was moving along its southern side
with a reënforcement of men, and rigging for the bark he left in course of
construction at the above-named post, where, having arrived, he had the
mortification to find it devastated and deserted. He made no attempt
to refound it, but passed the rest of the year in excursions over the
neighboring territories, in which he visited a great number of tribes;
among them the Outagamis and Miâmis, whom he persuaded to renounce an
alliance they had formed with the Iroquois. Soon afterward he returned to
Montreal, taking Frontenac on his way. Although his pecuniary losses had
been great, he was still able to compound with his creditors, to whom he
conceded his own sole rights of trade in the Western countries, they in
return advancing moneys to enable him to prosecute his future explorations.
Having got all things ready for the crowning expedition he had long
meditated, he set out with Tonti, Père Mambré, also some French and native
followers, and directed his course toward the Mississippi, which river he
reached February 6, 1682. The mildness of the climate in that latitude, and
the beauties of the country, which increased as he proceeded, seemed to
give new life to his hopes of finally obtaining profit and glory.[1]
In descending the majestic stream, he recognized the Arkansas and other
riverain tribes visited by Marquette; he traversed the territories of many
other native nations, including the Chickasaws, the Taensas, the Chactas,
and the Natchez--the last of these rendered so celebrated, in times near
our own, by the genius of Chateaubriand.