The maps of other nations for a long time after show no practical knowledge of the interior, being quite constant differences in grossest blunders. But in the meantime the French—“shut up,” says the English geographer, Heylin, “in a few weak forts on the north of Canada,”—were really by missionaries and teachers, pushing far into the interior. The Jesuit map of Lake Superior, of 1671, is wonderful. In a map published by the Royal Geographer Sanson, in Paris in 1669, Lake Erie is not far from its true shape, and lake Chautauqua appears with a small stream—meant, I think, for a little of the Ohio, known from Indian report.
It is worth while to stop for a moment to glance at the then position of our State. Between it and the east are the Alleghanies, in those days a great natural barrier, and not inaptly called “Endless Mountains.” It was to be nearly one hundred years before the whites were to cross them, proposing to drive away the French, but really to meet the most disastrous defeat of Braddock’s field.
At the south was a broad river separating from Kentucky, and not until still later and many a “dark and bloody” fight was Virginia to assert its empire over an unknown northwest by calling it “Illinois county.” Nor was New York to discover Ohio. All along through Western New York, and controlling the easiest avenues, were the Iroquois, the “Romans of the new world,” the conquerors of Ohio, who submitted to neither the English nor the French, and who long asserted an equality with either. The French were more sociable with Indians, but the introduction of the Iroquois to civilization was a battle with Champlain in 1608, which made the Hurons friends of the French, but lost them the conquerors of the Hurons.
The French had been pursuing their occupation, such as it was, over the peninsula north of Lake Erie, and established several posts around Lakes Superior and Huron and at Detroit, where was carried on a valuable trade. The routes north of the lakes or by the Ottawa, were the shortest, easiest and much the safest. All the while they were looking for larger things and full of schemes. Rumors of great rivers reached them, including some report of that which started from the country of the Iroquois and gathered strength for its immense unknown course through distant lands.
No more resolute discoverer than La Salle ever came to New France. A young man, only twenty-three, he was of good family; lost his inheritance by joining the Jesuits, but had given up his intention of becoming a priest. One can see, however, that he had imbibed their enthusiasm for geographical extension, and turned to designs for commerce and the king their zeal for their order. His whole life is so harmonious in its unity that it gives color to the suggestion of Mr. Parkman that he had planned it before he came. He had a grant at once, through the influence of his brother, at La Chine, named, it is said, in ridicule of his plans for a route to China. He palisaded it, traded in furs, and studied with industry the Indian tongues, learning, it is said, seven or eight. The Indians who came there talked of the Ohio, a grand river which rose near Lake Erie, but after a journey requiring eight or nine months to follow, emptied into a vast sea. La Salle believed the sea to be the Gulf of California, then thought to communicate, by a broad passage at its north, with the ocean. Here was the passage to the commerce of the South Sea and valuable trade with nations along its banks. In 1667 he asked to be allowed to discover it. He had the privilege, but his company was merged with that of two missionaries, Galinée and Dollier. With them, in 1669, he visited the Iroquois. The river was in its old place, but the Iroquois were not inclined to have the Frenchmen penetrate their country, intercept their trade and supply the nations to their rear with the fire arms which made the Iroquois themselves omnipotent in battle.
They talked of the long, hard journey—almost impossible; of the Andastes, a terrible nation almost sure to kill them, and the still more terrible Shawnees. The courage of the missionaries failed them, and La Salle was obliged to turn with them to the north.
There has lately been published in Paris, by M. Margry, a series of documents which add much to our knowledge of him. In these volumes appear his plans, expenses, poverty, drafts upon his family and friends; how he built upon Lake Ontario and Niagara, and planned to build on Lake Erie and further west.
In 1667 he was in France. He was already famous and of influence. His scheme was vast. He wished to penetrate to the great valley of our continent and lay there the foundation of powerful colonies “in a country temperate in climate, rich and fertile, and capable of a great commerce.” He told the king “such a hold of the continent would be taken, that in the next war with Spain, France would oust her from North America.” He was graciously allowed to pursue this vast enterprise, provided he did so at his own expense.
In 1679 he built the Griffin, the first vessel upon Lake Erie. He founded Fort Miamis upon the river St. Joseph, in southwest Michigan, and Fort Crèvecœur upon the Illinois, intending to there build a vessel to descend the Mississippi. The Griffin returned to bring supplies. He never saw her again. She was lost, he believed, by treachery, and he must return for succor. Arrived overland at Niagara, he found he had also lost a vessel with supplies from France. He reached Montreal May 6, 1680. His creditors had seized his property and his resources seemed entirely wasted. He learned by letter from Tonty, that the men left at Crèvecœur had deserted after destroying the fort, carrying away what property they could and destroying the balance. They also destroyed Fort St. Joseph and seized his property at Niagara. But La Salle was not disheartened. He started to succor Tonty and save the vessel on the Illinois. As he reached Crèvecœur, in the winter of 1680, all was silent; the planks of the vessel were there and on one was written “Nous sommes tous sauvages: ce 19, A. 1680.” Was it prophetic that he had named the place Crèvecœur (Broken Heart)? Not at all. His first thought was, did A. stand for April or August, and where was Tonty. The resolute will and wonderful power of La Salle appear nowhere so strongly as in the narrative of the Illinois. There seems almost a direct triumph of mind over matter. He found Tonty at Michilimackinac, and in 1682–3 accomplished his purpose of descending the Mississippi to the sea. He returned up the river and to France, and in 1685 was in a sea expedition to found a colony at its mouth. The captain, against his protest, carried him by and landed him in Texas. He still persisted, with the men left with him, in the resolve to find the Mississippi, with great suffering and opposition on their part, but not at all daunted himself. A part of them revolted from the enterprise, and one of them shot La Salle, exclaiming: “Lie there Grand Bashaw,” and that resolute will was still.
Such was the man, who, almost at the outset of his career, and when hardly twenty-seven, discovered the Ohio. There are no journals or maps of that discovery, and I have traced the man to enable us to judge of the manner in which he no doubt pursued that project. We left him with Galinée in 1669, sadly turning to the north. Of the captive guides furnished by the Iroquois, he got a Shawnee from Ohio, and persisted in wishing to seek that river. He shortly separated from the expedition. The opposition which we have related was not all. The Jesuits were jealous of his schemes—the only ones more vast and energetic than their own. Frontenac, the governor, says: “Their design, as appeared in the end, was to set a trap whichever path I took, or to derange everything; to place the country in disorder, from which they would not hesitate to profit and to ruin M. de La Salle.”