LA SALLE PUSHED FORWARD THE WORK BEGUN BY JOLIET AND MARQUETTE
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.
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
Reproduced from a design based on an old engraving
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.
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.
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.
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.
ROUTES OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
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.
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.
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.
FRENCH FUR TRADERS BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS
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.
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.
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.
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.
LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.