MASSACRE ISLAND
Vérendrye had failed as a trader; moreover he was the object of the jealousy of the traders who wrongfully accused him of private speculation and who now desired to exploit the trade of the trail he had blazed along the Assiniboine and the Missouri. The ruined man was recalled to Quebec in 1746 and M. de Noyelles was given his command. Governors Beauharnois and de la Galissonière were believers in his honesty. He was decorated with the Order of the Cross of St. Louis and given permission to continue his explorations. His constitution was broken and on December 6, 1749, while preparing for a further quest, he died suddenly at Montreal. But he had opened the door to the west, leaving it to another fur trader of Montreal, Alexander Mackenzie, to be the first to cross the Rockies and to reach, by land, on July 22, 1793, the Pacific Ocean—the western sea, the dream of Cartier, LaSalle and Vérendrye at last come true!
NOTE II
CHATEAU VAUDREUIL
MARQUIS PHILIPPE DE RIGAUD DE VAUDREUIL
CHATEAU VAUDREUIL