Explorer; born in
Rouen, France, Nov. 22. 1643: in early life became a Jesuit, and thereby forfeited his patrimony.
He afterwards left the order, and went to
Canada as an adventurer in 1666.
From the Sulpicians, seigneurs of
Montreal, he
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obtained a grant of land and founded Lachine.
Tales of the wonders and riches of the wilderness inspired him with a desire to explore.
With two Sulpicians, he went into the wilds of western New York, and afterwards went down the
Ohio River as far as the site of
Louisville.
Governor Frontenac became his friend, and in the autumn of 1674 he went to
France bearing a letter from the governorgeneral, strongly recommending him to
Colbert, the
French premier.
Honors and privileges were bestowed upon him at the French Court, and he was made governor of
Fort Frontenac, erected on the site of
Kingston, at the foot of
Lake Ontario, which he greatly strengthened, and gathered Indian settlers around it. He had very soon a squadron of four vessels on the lake, engaged in the fur-trade, and
Fort Frontenac was made the centre of that traffic, in which he now largely engaged and sought the monopoly.
Conceiving a grand scheme of explorations and trade westward, perhaps to
China, he went to
France in 1678 and obtained permission to execute it. He was allowed to engage in explorations, build forts, and have the monopoly of the trade in buffaloskins, during five years, but was forbidden to trade with tribes accustomed to take furs to
Montreal.
Henri de Tonti, a veteran
Italian, joined him, and, with thirty mechanics and mariners, they sailed from
Rochelle in the summer of 1678, and reached
Fort Frontenac early in the autumn.
De Tonti was sent farther west to establish a trading-post at the mouth of the
Niagara River.
He proceeded, also, to build a vessel above the great falls for traffic on
Lake Erie, and named it the
Griffin.
In August, 1679,
La Salle sailed with
De Tonti through the chain of lakes to
Green Bay, in the northwestern portion of
Lake Michigan.
Creditors were pressing him with claims, and he unlawfully gathered furs and sent them back in the
Griffin to meet those claims.
Then he proceeded, with his party, in canoes, to the mouth of the
St. Joseph River, in southwestern
Michigan, where he established a trading-house and called it
Fort Miami.
Ascending the
St. Joseph, he crossed to the
Kankakee, and paddled down it until he reached an Illinois village, and, in January, 1680, he began the establishment of a trading-post on the site of the present
Peoria, Ill., which he called Fort
Crevecoeur.
Disappointed in the failure of the
Griffin to make a return voyage with supplies, he put
De Tonti in command of the fort and despatched
Hennepin and Acau to explore the
Illinois to its mouth and the
Mississippi northward.
With five companions,
La Salle started back for
Canada, and from the mouth of the
St. Joseph he crossed
Michigan to a river flowing into the
Detroit, and thence overland to
Lake Erie.
From its western end he navigated it in a canoe to
Niagara, where he was satisfied that the
Griffin had perished somewhere on the lakes.
He also heard of the loss of a ship arriving from
France with supplies.
Settling as
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well as he could with his creditors,
La Salle, with a fresh party of twenty-three Frenchmen and eighteen
New England Inddians, with ten women and children, began a return journey to
Fort Crevecoeur, with supplies.
De Tonti had been driven away by an attack on the
Illinois settlement of the
Iroquois.
The desertion of his men had compelled him to abandon the fort and return to
Green Bay.
La Salle and his party went down the
Illinois to its mouth, when he returned to gather his followers and procure means for continuing his explorations.
Late in December, 1681, he started from
Fort Miami with his expedition, coasted along the southern shore of
Lake Michigan, ascended the
Chicago River, crossed to the
Illinois, descended to the
Mississippi, and went down that stream until it separated into three channels, which he explored to the
Gulf of Mexico.
La Salle named the great stream River
Colbert, in compliment to his patron at the Court of France.
De Tonti explored the great middle channel.
Then the whole company assembled at a dry spot near the
Gulf, and there prepared a cross and a column, affixing to the latter the arms of
France and this inscription, “Louis the
Great,
King of
France and Navarre, April 9, 1682.”
He also buried there a leaden plate, with a Latin inscription.
The whole company then signed a
proces verbal, in the following order: La Metarie (notary),
De la Salle,
P. Zenobe (Recollet missionary),
Henri de Tonti,
Francois de Bousvoudet,
Jean Bourdon,
Sieur d'autray,
Jacques Cauclois, Pierre You,
Giles Mencret,
Jean Michel (surgeon),
Jean Mas,
Jean Duglignon,
Nicholas de la Salle.
La Salle formally proclaimed the whole valley of the Mississippi and the region of its tributaries a part of the
French dominions, and named the country
Louisiana, in compliment to the
King.
So was first planted the germ of the empire of the
French in that region, which flourished in the eighteenth century.
La Salle ascended the
Mississippi the next year, and returned to
Quebec in November, leaving
Tonti in command in the west, with directions to meet him at the mouth of the
Mississippi the following year.
Then he proceeded to
France and proposed to the government a settlement in
Louisiana and the conquest of the rich mining country in
northern Mexico.
A patent was granted him, and he was made commandant of the vast territory from the present
State of Illinois to
Mexico, and westward indefinitely.
With 280 indifferent persons he sailed from
France Aug. 1, 1684, with four ships; but disputes between
Beaujeu, the navigator of the squadron, and
La Salle proved disastrous to the expedition.
Touching at
Santo Domingo, they entered the
Gulf of Mexico, and, by miscalculations, passed the mouth of the
Mississippi without knowing it.
La Salle became satisfied of this fact, but
Beaujeu sailed obstinately on, and finally anchored off the entrance to
Matagorda Bay.
The colonists debarked, but the store-ship containing most of the supplies, was wrecked.
Beaujeu, pleading a lack of provisions, deserted
La Salle, leaving him only a small vessel.
He cast up a fort, which he called
St. Louis, and attempted to till the soil; but the Indians were hostile.
Some of the settlers were killed, others perished from disease and hardships, and, after making some explorations of the country, the party, at the end of the year, was reduced to less than forty souls.
Leaving half of them, including women and children,
La Salle set out, at the beginning of 1688, to make his way to the
Illinois.
His party consisted of his brother, two nephews, and thirteen others, some of whom were sullen and ripe for revolt.
Penetrating the present domain of
Texas to
Trinity River, revolt broke out, and the two ringleaders killed
La Salle's nephew in a stealthy manner; and when the great explorer turned back to look for him, they shot him dead.
March 20, 1687.
Nearly all of those who were left at
Fort St. Louis were massacred by the Indians, and the remainder fell into the hands of the Spaniards, sent to drive out the
French.
La Salle, lured by tales of an abundance of precious metals in
New Mexico, had penetrated that country, with a few followers, before leaving
Fort St. Louis, but he was disappointed.
