Voyageurs to the Back Country
The greatest and most enduring achievement of Frontenac's first
term was the exploration of the territory southwestward of the Great
Lakes and the planting of French influence there. This work was due,
in large part, to the courage and energy of the intrepid La Salle.
Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, like so many others who
followed the fleur-de-lis into the recesses of the new continent,
was of Norman birth and lineage. Rouen was the town of his nativity;
the year 1643 probably the date of his birth. How the days of his
youth were spent we do not know except that he received a good
education, presumably in a Jesuit seminary. While still in the early
twenties he came to Montreal where he had an older brother, a priest
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice. This was in 1666. Through, the
influence of his brother, no doubt, he received from the Seminary a
grant of the seigneury at Lachine on the river above the town, and
at once began the work of developing this property.
If La Salle intended to become a yeoman of New France, his choice of
a site was not of the best. The seigneury which he acquired was one
of the most dangerous spots in the whole colony, being right in the
path of Iroquois attack. He was able to gather a few settlers around
him, it is true, but their homes had to be enclosed by palisades,
and they hardly dared venture into the fields unarmed. Though the
Iroquois and the French were just now at peace, the danger of
treachery was never absent. On the other hand no situation could be
more favorable for one desiring to try his hand at the fur trade. It
was inevitable, therefore, that a young man of La Salle's
adventurous temperament and commercial ancestry should soon forsake
the irksome drudgery of clearing land for the more exciting and
apparently more profitable pursuit of forest trade. That was what
happened. In the winter of 1668-1669 he heard from the Indians their
story of a great southwestern river which made its way to the
"Vermilion Sea." The recital quickened the restless strain in his
Norman blood. Here, he thought, was the long-sought passage to the
shores of the Orient, and he determined to follow the river.
Having no other means of obtaining funds with which to equip an
expedition, La Salle sold his seigneury and at once began his
preparations. In July, 1669, he set off with a party of about twenty
men, some of whom were missionaries sent by the Seminary of St.
Sulpice to carry the tidings of the faith into the heart of the
continent. Up the St. Lawrence and along the south shore of Lake
Ontario they went, halting at Irondequoit Bay while La Salle and a
few of his followers went overland to the Seneca villages in search
of guides. Continuing to Niagara, the party divided and the
Sulpicians made their way to the Sault Ste. Marie, while La Salle
with the remainder of the expedition struck out south of Lake Erie
and in all probability reached the Ohio by descending one of its
branches. But, as no journal or contemporary record of the venture
after they had left Niagara has come down to us, the details of the
journey are unknown. It is believed that desertions among his
followers prevented further progress and that, in the winter of
1669-1670, La Salle retraced his steps to the lakes. In its main
object the expedition had been a failure.
Having exhausted his funds, La Salle had no opportunity, for the
present at least, of making another trial. He accordingly asked
Frontenac for trading privileges at Cataraqui, the site of modern
Kingston, where stood the fortified post named after the governor.
Upon Frontenac's recommendation La Salle received in 1674 not only
the exclusive right to trade but also a grant of land at Fort
Frontenac on condition that he would rebuild the defenses with stone
and supply a garrison. The conditions being acceptable, the explorer
hastened to his new post and was soon engaged in the fur trade upon
a considerable scale. La Salle, however, needed more capital than he
himself could supply, and in 1677 he made a second trip to France
with letters from Frontenac to the King and Colbert. He also had the
further design in view of obtaining authority and funds for another
trip of exploration to the West. Since his previous expedition in
1669 two of his compatriots, Pere Marquette and Louis Joliet, had
reached the Great River and had found every reason for believing
that its course ran south to the Gulf of Mexico, and not
southwestward to the Gulf of California, as had previously been
supposed. But they had not followed the Mississippi to its outlet,
and this was what La Salle was now determined to do.
In Paris he found attentive listeners to his plans, and even the
King's ministers were interested, so that when La Salle sailed back
to Quebec in 1678 he brought a royal decree authorizing him to
proceed with his project. With him came a daring spirit who was to
be chief lieutenant and faithful companion in the ensuing years,
Henri de Tonty. This adventurous soldier was later known among the
Indians as "Tonty of the Iron Hand," for in his youth he had lost a
hand in battle, and in its stead now wore an artificial one of iron,
which he used from time to time with wholesome effect. He was a man
of great physical strength, and commensurate courage, loyal to his
chief and almost La Salle's equal in perseverance.
Back to: French Exploration of America
