Adventures Beyond the Great Lakes
At this time Robert Cavalier de la Salle, a young Frenchman who had been educated for the priesthood in a Jesuit seminary, but who preferred a secular life, was seated at the foot of Lake Ontario, and was enjoying a monopoly of the fur trade with the Five Nations south of the lake. He had built a fort on the site of modern Kingston and named it Frontenac, in honor of his patron. The mild Franciscans, who were now tolerated in Canada, were carrying on their religious work among the Indians under the favor of La Salle.
The enterprising young Frenchman had been stirred by accounts of the Spanish voyages to America, and especially by the adventures of De Soto, and the events attending his discovery of the Mississippi River in the warmer regions of the continent. His ambition was influenced by the story of Marquette's voyage on that stream so mighty in the higher latitudes, with a desire to become a pioneer in those far-off regions and perfect the explorations of the "Great Water." He had heard, also, of the Ohio River, and the beauty and wealth of the country through which it flowed; and he resolved to attempt the establishment of a widely-extended commerce with the natives there, and, if possible, plant colonies in the vast wilderness. With these aspirations he went to France, and there found favor with Colbert, the famous minister of Louis the Fourteenth.
The sagacity of Colbert comprehended the possibilities of La Salle's scheme, and he induced the king to extend La Salle's monopoly of the fur trade among the Indians, and to give him a commission to perfect the explorations of the Mississippi River. With some mechanics and others, and Tonti, an Italian, as his lieutenant, La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac late in 1678. With these, and Franciscan priests, in a great canoe, they crossed Lake Ontario and went up the Niagara River to the site of Lewiston. In that region a trading-house was established; and at near the site of Buffalo, above the cataract, they built a sailing vessel in which they crossed the lakes to Mackinack, and pushing forward, anchored in Green Bay, west of Lake Michigan. From Mackinack or Mackinaw, La Salle sent back his brig laden with a rich cargo of furs, and awaited her return. He tarried impatiently among the Miamies at Chicago, for some time, when with Tonti, Father Hennepin and two other Franciscans, and about thirty followers, he boldly penetrated the wilderness westward on foot and in canoes, until he reached Lake Peoria, in Illinois. There he built a fort, and sent Father Hennepin forward to explore the Upper Mississippi, while he returned to Frontenac to look after his property.
Hennepin, with two oarsmen, went down the Illinois River to the "Great Water," which they reached late in March. When the floating ice in the Mississippi had passed by, he invoked the aid of St. Anthony of Padua, and ascended the stream to the great falls which bear the name of his patron saint. Hennepin was a man much given to romancing, and permitting the creations of imagination to be represented as realities. He claimed to have discovered the source of the Mississippi, when it is known that he never went above the Falls of St. Anthony. These he described with tolerable accuracy, and near them he carved a cross and the arms of France upon the forest trees. In the autumn of 1680 he returned to Green Bay by the way of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers. In the meantime Tonti had been driven out of Illinois by the savages, and had taken refuge among the barbarians on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
La Salle returned to the Illinois country with men and supplies for an exploration of the Mississippi. That enterprise was undertaken early in 1682. La Salle was accompanied by twenty-three Frenchmen, and eighteen New England Indians with ten women and three children. They reached the Mississippi in February, and embarked upon its bosom in a strong and spacious barge which had been constructed, and his people followed in canoes. They descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, everywhere observing the evidences of unbounded wealth in the bosom of the soil along its course. They stopped at many places and held intercourse with the natives, who came to the river banks in large numbers to meet them. At one place below the mouth of the Arkansas River, they found a powerful king over many tribes, to whom La Salle sent presents. His embassadors were received with great respect, and the monarch sent word by them that he should visit their chief in person. He came in great state. He was preceded by two horses, and by a master of ceremonies with six men, who cleared the ground over which his majesty was to pass, and erected a pavilion of mats to shield the king from the sun. The monarch was dressed in a white robe falling to his knee, that had been beautifully woven of the inner bark of trees. He was on foot, and was preceded by two men bearing immense feather fans as white as snow. A third carried plates of copper highly polished. With grave demeanor and gracious words, he held an interview with La Salle, and they parted with mutual assurances of friendship. The people over whom the king ruled were a part of those barbarians of the Gulf region who worshipped the sun. They were called Taenses.