Vermilion County, Illinois - Chapter 10: The Several Mtamis-La Salle's Voyage Down the Illinois, 1879

Chapter 10: The Several Mtamis-La Salle's Voyage Down the Illinois

Much confusion has arisen because, at different periods, the name of " Miami " has been applied to no less than live different rivers, viz. : The St. Joseph, of Lake Michigan*; the Maumee, often designated as the Miami of the Lakes, to distinguish it from the Miami which falls into the Ohio River below Cincinnati ; then there is the Little Miami of the Ohio emptying in above its greater namesake ; and finally the Wabash, which with more propriety bore the name of the " River of the Miamis." The French, it is assumed, gave the name " Miami " to the river emptying into Lake Michigan, for the reason that there was a village of that tribe on its banks before and at the time of La Salle's first visit, as already noted on page 24. The name was not of long duration, for it was soon exchanged for that of St. Joseph, by which it has ever since been known. La Hontan is the last authority who refers to it by the name of Miami. Shortly after the year named, the date being now unknown, a Catholic mission was established up the river, and, Charlevoix says, about six leagues below the portage, at South Bend, and called the Mission of St. Joseph ; and from this circumstance, we may safely infer, the river acquired the same name. It is not known, either, by whom the Mission of St. Joseph was organized ; very probably, however, by Father Claude Allouez. This good man, and to whose writings the people of the west are so largely indebted for many valuable historical reminiscences, seems to have been forgotten in the respect that is showered upon other more conspicuous though less meritorious characters. The Mission of the Immaculate Conception, after Marquette's death, remained unoccupied for the space of two years, then Claude Jean Allouez received orders to proceed thither from the Mission of St. James, at the town of Maskoutens, on Fox River, Wisconsin. Leaving in October, 1676, on account of an exceptionally early winter, he was compelled to delay his journey until the following February, when he again started ; reaching Lake Michigan on the eve of St. Joseph, he called the lake after this saint. Embarking on the lake on the 23d of March, and coasting along the western shore, after numerous delays occasioned by ice and storm, he arrived at Chicago River. lie then made the portage and entered the

La Salle Reaches The St. Joseph

Kaskaskia village, which was probably near Peoria Lake, on the 8th of April, 1677. The Indians gave him a very cordial reception, and flocked from all directions to the town to hear the "Black Gown" relate the truths of Christianity. For the glorification of God and the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, Allouez " erected, in the midst of the village, a cross twenty-five feet high, chanting the Vexilla Regis in the presence of an admiring and respectful throng of Indians ; he covered it with garlands of beautiful flowers."* Father Allouez did not remain but a short time at the mission ; leaving it that spring he returned in 1678, and continued there until La Salle's arrival in the winter of 1679-80. The next succeeding decade Allouez passed either at this mission or at the one on St. Joseph's River, on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, where he died in 1690. Bancroft says: v Allouez has imperishably connected his name with the progress of discovery in the West ; unhonored among us now, he was not inferior in zeal and ability to any of the great missionaries of his time."

"We had appointed this place (the month of the St. Joseph) for our rendezvous before leaving the outlet of Green Bay, and expected to meet the twenty men we had left at Mackinaw, who, being ordered to come by the eastern coast of the lake, had a much shorter cut than we, who came by the western side ; besides this, their canoes were not so heavily laden as onrs. Still, we found no one here, nor any signs that they had been here before us.f

"It was resolved to advise M. La Salle that it was imprudent to remain here any longer for the absent men, and expose ourselves to the hardships of winter, when it would be doubtful if we could find the Illinois in their villages, as then they would be divided into families, and scattered over the country to subsist more conveniently. We further represented that the game might fail us, in which event we must certainly perish with hunger ; whereas, if we went forward, we would find enough corn among the Illinois, who would rather supply f In some works, the Geological Surveys of Indiana for 1873, p. 458, among- others, it is erroneously assumed that La Salle was the discoverer of the St. Joseph River. While Fathers Hennepin and Zenobe Membre, who were with La Salle, may be the only accessible authors who have described it, the stream and its location was well known to La Salle and to them, as appears from their own account of it before they had ever seen it. Before leaving Mackinaw, Tonti was ordered to hunt up the deserters from, and to bring in the tardy traders belonging to, La Salle's party, and conduct them to the mouth of the St. Joseph. The pilot of the Griffin was under instruction to bring her there. Indeed, the conduct of the whole expedition leaves no room to doubt that the whole route to the Illinois River, by way of the St. Joseph and the Kankakee portage, was well known at Mackinaw, and definitely fixed upon by La Salle, at least before leaving the latter place.

fourteen men than thirty -two with provisions. We said further that it would be quite impossible, if we delayed longer, to continue the voyage until the winter was over, because the rivers would be frozen over and we could not make use of our canoes. Notwithstanding these reasons, M. La Salle thought it necessary to remain for the rest of the men, as we would be in no condition to appear before the Illinois and treat with them with our present small force, whom they would meet with scorn. That it would be better to delay our entry into their country, and in the meantime try to meet with some of their nation, learn their language, and gain their good will by presents. La Salle concluded his discourse with the declaration that, although all of his men might run awav, as for himself, he would remain alone with his Indian hunter, and find means to maintain the three missionaries - meaning me and my two clerical brethren. Having come to this conclusion, La Salle called his men together, and advised them that he expected each one to do his duty ; that he proposed to build a fort here for the security of the ship and the safety of our goods, and ourselves, too, in case of any disaster. None of us, at this time, knew that our ship had been lost. The men were quite dissatisfied at La- Salle's course, but his reasons therefor were so many that they yielded, and agreed to entirelv follow his directions.

" Just at the mouth of the river was an eminence with a kind of plateau, naturally fortified. It was quite steep, of a triangular shape, defended on two sides by the river, and on the other by a deep ravine which the water had washed out. We felled the trees that grew on this hill, and cleared from it the bushes for the distance of two musket shot. We began to build a redoubt about forty feet long by eighty broad, with great square pieces of timber laid one upon the other, and then cut a great number of stakes, some twenty feet long, to drive into the ground on the river side, to make the fort inaccessible in that direction. We were employed the whole of the month of November in this work, which was very fatiguing. - having no other food than the bears our savage killed. These animals are here very abundant, because of the great quantity of grapes they find in this vicinity. Their flesh was so fat and luscious that our men grew weary of it, and desired to go themselves and hunt for wild goats. La Salle denied them that libertv, which made some murmurs among the men, and thev went unwillingly to their work. These annoyances, with the near approach of winter, together with the apprehension that his ship was lost, gave. La Salle a melancholy which he resolutely tried to but could not conceal.

Fort Miamis

day ; and Father Gabriel and myself, who preached alternately, carefully selected such texts as were suitable to our situation, and fit to inspire us with courage, concord, and brotherly love. Our exhortations produced good results, and deterred our men from their meditated desertion. We sounded the mouth of the river and found a sand-bar, on which we feared our expected ship might strike ; we marked out a channel through which the vessel might safely enter by attaching buoys, made of inflated bear-skins, fastened to long poles driven into the bed of the lake. Two men were also sent back to Mackinac to await there the return of the ship, and serve as pilots.*

" M. Tonti arrived on the 20th of November with two canoes, laden with stags and deer, which were a welcome refreshment to our men. He did not bring more than about one-half of his men, having left the rest on the opposite side of the lake, within three days' journey of the fort. La Salle was angry with him on this account, because he was afraid the men would run away. Tonti's party informed us that the Griffin had not put into Mackinaw, according to orders, and that they had heard nothing of her since our departure, although they had made inquiries of the savages. living on the coast of the lake. This confirmed the suspicion, or rather the belief, that the vessel had been cast away. However, M. La Salle continued work on the building of the fort, which was at last completed and called Fort Miamis.

" The winter was drawing nigh, and La Salle, fearful that the ice would interrupt his voyage, sent M. Tonti back to hurry forward the men he had left, and to command them to come to him immediately ; but, meeting with a violent storm, their canoes were driven against the beach and broken to pieces, and Tonti's men lost their guns and ecpiipage, and were obliged to return to us overland. A few daysafter this all our men arrived except two, who had deserted. We prepared at once to resume our voyage ; rains having fallen that melted the ice and made the rivers navigable.

" On the 3d of December, 1679, we embarked, being in all thirtythree men, in eight canoes. We left the lake of the Illinois and went up the river of the Miamis, in which we had previously made soundings. We made about five-and-twenty leagues southward, but failed to discover the place where we were to land, and carry our canoes and effects into the river of the Illinois, which falls into that of the Meschasipi, that is, in the language of the Illinois, the great river. We had already gone beyond the place of the portage, and, not knowing where we were, we thought proper to remain there, as we were expecting M. La Salle, who had taken to the land to view the country.

We staid here quite a while, and, La Salle failing to appear, I went a distance into the woods with two men, who fired off their guns to notify him of the place where we were. In the meantime two other men went higher up the river, in canoes, in search of him. We all returned toward evening, having vainly endeavored to find him. The next day I went up the river myself, but, hearing nothing of him, I came back, and found our men very much perplexed, fearing he was lost. However, about four o'clock in the afternoon M. La Salle returned to us, having his face and hands as black as pitch. He carried two beasts, as big as muskrats, whose skin was very fine, and like ermine. He had killed them with a stick, as they hung by their tails to the branches of the trees.

" He told us that the marshes he had met on his way had- compelled him to bring a large compass ; and that, being much delayed by the snow, which fell very fast, it was past midnight before he arrived upon the banks of the river, where he fired his gun twice, and, hearing no answer, he concluded that we had gone higher up the river, and had, therefore, marched that way. He added that, after three hours' march, he saw a fire upon a little hill, whither he went directly and hailed us several times; but, hearing no reply, he approached and found no person near the fire, but only some dry grass, upon which a man had laid a little while before, as he conjectured, because the bed was still warm. He supposed that a savage had been occupying it, who fled upon his approach, and was now hid in ambuscade near by. La Salle called out loudlv to him in two or three lanmia^es. saying that he need not be afraid of him, and that he was agoing to lie in his bed. La Salle received no answer. To guard against surprise, La Salle cut bushes and placed them to obstruct the way, and sat down by the fire, the smoke of which blackened his hands and face, as I have already observed. Having warmed and rested himself, he laid down under the tree' upon the dry grass the savage had gathered and slept well, notwithstanding the frost and snow. Father Gabriel and I desired him to keep with his men, and not to expose himself in the future, as the success of our enterprise depended solely on him, and he promised to follow our advice. Our savage, who remained behind to hunt, finding none of us at the portage, came higher up the river, to where we were, and told us we had missed the place. We sent all the canoes back under his charge except one, which I retained for M. La Salle, who was so weary that he was obliged to remain there that nicrht. I made a little hut with mats, constructed with marsh rushes, in which we laid down together for the night. By an unhappy accident our cabin took fire, and we were very near being burned alive after we had gone to sleep."

Here follows Hennepin's description of the Kankakee portage, and of the marshy grounds about the headwaters of this stream, as already quoted on page 24.

" Having passed through the marshes, we came to a vast prairie, in which nothing grows but grasses, which were at this time dry and burnt, because the Miamis set the grasses on fire every year, in hunting for wild oxen (buffalo), as I shall mention farther on. We found no game, which was a disappointment to us, as our provisions had begun to fail. Our men traveled about sixty miles without killing anything other than a lean stag, a small wild goat, a few swan and two bustards, which were but a scanty subsistence for two and thirty men. Most of the men were become so weary of this laborious life that, wTere it practicable, they would have run away and joined the savages, who, as we inferred by the great fires which we saw on the prairies, were not very far from us. There must be an innumerable quantity of wild cattle in this country, since the ground here is everywhere covered with their horns. The Miamis hunt them toward the latter end of autumn.''*

That part of the Illinois Eiver above the Desplaines is called the Kankakee, which is a corruption of its original Indian name. St. Cosme, the narrative of whose voyage down the Illinois Eiver, by way of Chicago, in 1699, and found in Dr. Shea's work of " Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi," refers to it as the The-a-li-ke, " which is the real river of the Illinois, and (says) that which we descended (the Desplaines) was only a branch." Father Marest, in his letter of November 9, 1712, narrating a journey he had previously made from Kaskaskia up to the Mission of St. Joseph, says of the Illinois River : " We transported all there was in the canoe toward the source of the Illinois (Indian), which they call Hau-ki-ki." Father Charlevoix, who descended the Kankakee from the portage, in his letter, dated at the source of the river Theakiki, September 17, 1721, says : " This morning I walked a league farther in the meadow, having my feet almost always in the water ; afterward I met with a kind of a pool or marsh, which had a communication with several others of different sizes, but the largest was about a hundred paces in circuit; these are the sources of the river The-a-ki-ki, which, by a corrupted pronunciation, our Indians call Ki-a-ki-ki. Theak signifies a wolf, in what lan^ua^e I do not remember, but the river bears that name because the Mahingans (Mohicans), who were likewise called wolves, had formerly

* Hennepin and his party were not aware of the migratory habits of the buffalo ; and that their scarcity on the Kankakee in the winter months was because the herds had gone southward to warmer latitude and better pasturage.

Historic Notes Ox The X'Orthwest

taken refuge on its banks." * The Mohicans were of the Algonquin stock, anciently living east of the Hudson River, where the)' had been so persecuted and nearly destroyed by the implacable Iroquois that their tribal integrity was lost, and they were dispersed in small families over the west, seeking protection in isolated places, or living at sufferance among their Algonquin kindred. They were brave, faithful to the extreme, famous scouts, and successful hunters. La Salle, appreciating these valuable traits, usually kept a few of them in his employ. The "savage," or '-hunter." so often referred to by Hennepin, in the extracts we have taken from his journal, was a Mohican.

In a report made to the late Governor Ninian Edwards, in 1S12, by John Hays, interpreter and Coureur de Bois of the routes, rivers and Indian villages in the then Illinois Territory, Mr. Hays calls the Kankakee the Quin-que-que, which was probably its French-Indian name.f Col. Guerdon S. Hubbard, who for many years, dating back as early as 1819, was a trader, and commanded great influence with the bands of Pottawatomies, claiming the Kankakee as their country, informs the writer that the Pottawatomie name of the Kankakee is Ky-an-ke-a-kee, meaning " the river of the wonderful or beautiful land, - as it really is, westward of the marshes. "A-kee," "Ah-ke" and "Aki," in the Algonquin dialect, signifies earth or land.

The name Desplaines, like that of the Kankakee, has undergone changes in the progress of time. On a French map of Louisiana, in 1717, the Desplaines is laid down as the Chicago Piver. Just after Great Britain had secured the possessions of the French east of the Mississippi, by conquest and treaty, and when the British authorities were keenly alive to everything pertaining to their newly acquired possessions, an elaborate map, collated from the most authentic sources by Eman Bowen, geographer to His Majesty King George the Third, was issued, and on this map the Desplaines is laid down as the Illinois, or Chicago Piver. Many earlv French writers speak of it. as thev do of the Kankakee above the confluence, as the " Piver of the Illinois." Its French Canadian name is An Plein, now changed to Des- 2)laines, or Riviere An Plein, or Despleines, from a variety of hard maple, - that is to say, sugar tree. The Pottawatomies called it Sheshik-mao-shi-ke Se-pe, signifying the river of the tree from which a great quantity of sap flows in the spring.^: It has also been sanctified by Father Zenobe Membre with the name Divine Piver, and by authors

Names Of The Illinois

Below the confluence of the Desplaines, the Illinois River was, by La Salle, named the Seignelay, as a mark of his esteem for the brilliant young Colbert, who succeeded his father as Minister of the Marine. On the great map, prepared by the engineer Franquelin in 1684, it is called River Des Illinois, or Macoupins. The name Illinois, which, fortunately, it will always bear, was derived from the name of the confederated tribes who anciently dwelt upon its banks.

"We continued our course," says Hennepin, " upon this river (the Kankakee and Illinois) very near the whole month of December, at the latter end of which we arrived at a village of the Illinois, which lies near a hundred and thirty leagues from Fort Miamis, on the Lake of the Illinois. We suffered greatly on the passage, for the savages having set fire to the grass on the prairie, the wild cattle had fled, and wre did not kill one. Some wild turkeys were the only game we secured. God's providence supported us all the while, and as we meditated upon the extremities to which we were reduced, regarding ourselves without hope of relief, we found a very large wild ox sticking fast in the mud of the river. We killed him, and with much difficulty dragged him out of the mud. This was a great refreshment to our men; it revived their courage, - being so timely and unexpectedly relieved, they concluded that God approved our undertaking.

The great village of the Illinois, where La Salle's party had now arrived, has been located with such certainty by Francis Parkman, the learned historical writer, as to leave no doubt of its identity. It was on the north side of the Illinois River, above the mouth of the Vermillion and below Starved Rock, near the little village of Utica, in La Salle county, Illinois.*

" We found," continues Father Hennepin, " no one in the village, as we had foreseen, for the Illinois, according to their custom, had divided themselves into small hunting parties. Their absence caused great perplexity amongst us, for we wanted provisions, and yet did not dare to meddle with the Indian corn the savages had laid under ground for their subsistence and for seed. However, our necessity being ver}7 great, and it being impossible to continue our voyage without any provisions, M. La Salle resolved to take about forty bushels of corn, and hoped to appease the savages with presents. We embarked again, with these fresh provisions, and continued to fall down the river,'

* Mr. Parkman gives an interesting account of his recent visit to, and the identification of. the locality, in an elaborate note in his " Discovery of the Great West," pp. 221, 222.

which runs directly toward the south. On the 1st of January we went through a lake (Peoria Lake) formed by the river, about seven leagues long and one broad. The savages call that place Pimeteoui, that is, in their tongue, ' a place where there is an abundance of fat animals. ' * Resuming Hennepin's narrative : "The current brought us, in the meantime, to the Indian camp, and M. La Salle was the first one to land, followed closely by his men, which increased the consternation of the savages, whom we easily might have defeated. As it was not our design, we made a halt to give them time to recover themselves and to see that we were not enemies. Most of the savages who had run away upon our landing, understanding that we were friends, returned ; but some others did not come back for three or four days, and after they had learned that we had smoked the calumet.

" I must observe here, that the hardest winter does not last longer than two months in this charming country, so that on the 15th of January there came a sudden thaw, which made the rivers navigable, and the weather as mild as it is in France in the middle of the spring. M. La Salle, improving this lair season, desired me to go down the river with him to choose a place proper to build a fort. We selected an eminence on the bank of the river, defended on that side by the river, and on two others by deep ravines, so that it was accessible only on one side. We cast a trench to join the two ravines, and made the eminence steep on that side, supporting the earth with great pieces of timber. We made a rough palisade to defend ourselves in case the Indians should attack us while we were engaged in building the fort ; but no one offering to disturb us, we went on diligently with our work.

* Louis Beck, in his " Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri," p. 119, says: "The Indians call the lake Pin-a-tah-wee. on account of its being frequently covered with a scum which has a greasy appearance." Owing to the rank growth of aquatic plants in the Illinois River before they were disturbed by the frequent passage of boats, and to the grasses on the borders of the stream and the adjacent marshes, and the decay taking place in both under the scorching rays of the summer's sun, the surface of the river and lake were frequently coated with this vegetable decomposition. Prof. Schoolcraft ascended the Illinois River, and was at Fort Clark on the 19th of August, 1821. Under this date is the following extract from his "Narrative Journal": "About 9 o'clock in the morning we came to a part of the river which was covered for several hundred yards with a scum or froth of the most intense green color, and emitting a nauseous exhalation that was almost insupportable. We were compelled to pass through it. The fine green color of this somewhat compact scum, resembling that of verdegris, led us at the moment to conjecture that it might derive this character from some mineral spring or vein in the bed of the river, but we had reasons afterward to regret this opinion. I directed one of the canoe men to collect a bottle of this mother of miasmata for preservation, but its fermenting nature baffled repeated attempts to keep it corked. We had daily seen instances of the powerful tendency of these waters to facilitate the decomposition of floating vegetation, but had not before observed any in so mature and complete a state of putrefaction. It might certainly justify an observer less given to fiction than the ancient poets, to people this stream with the Hydra, as were the pestilential -breeding marshes of Italy." - Schoolcraft's "Central Mississippi Valley." p. 305.

Fort Crevecoeur And Its Location

When the fort was half finished, M. La Salle lodged himself, with M. Tonti, in the middle of the fortification, and ever}' one took his post. We placed the forge on the curtain on the side of the wood, and laid in a great quantity of coal for that purpose. But our greatest difficulty was to build a boat, - our carpenters having deserted us, we did not know what to do. However, as timber was abundant and near at hand, we told our men that if any of them would undertake to saw boards for building the bark, we might surmount all other difficulties. Two of the men undertook the task, and succeeded so well that we began to build a bark, the keel whereof was fortv-two feet lone:. Our went on so briskly with the work, that on the 1st of March our boat was half built, and all the timber ready prepared for furnishing it. Our fort was also very near finished, and we named it ' Fort Crevecceur, ' because the desertion of our men, and other difficulties we had labored under, had almost ' broken our hearts. ' *

"M. La Salle,'1 says Hennepin, " no longer doubted that the Griffin was lost; but neither this nor other difficulties dejected him. His great courage buoyed him up, and he resolved to return to Fort Frontenac by land, notwithstanding the snow, and the great dangers attending so long a journey. We had many private conferences, wherein it was decided that he should return to Fort Frontenac with three men, to bring with him the necessary articles to proceed with the discovery, while I, with two men, should go in a canoe to the River Meschasipi, and endeavor to obtain the friendship of the nations who inhabited its banks.

"M. La Salle left M. Tonti to command in Fort Crevecceur, and ordered our carpenter to prepare some thick boards to plank the deck of our ship, in the nature of a parapet, to cover it against the arrows of the savages in case they should shoot at us from the shore. Then, calling his men together, La Salle requested them to obey M. Tonti's orders in his absence, to live in Christian union and charity ; to be courageous and firm in their designs ; and above all not to snve credit to false reports the savages might make, either of him or of their comrades who accompanied Father Hennepin."

* " Fort Crevecceur," or the Broken Heart, was built on the east side of the Illinois River, a short distance below the outlet of Peoria Lake. It is so located on the great map of Franquelin, made at Quebec in 1684. There are many indications on this map, going- to show that it was constructed largely under the supervision of La- Salle. The fact mentioned by Hennepin, that they went down the river, and that coal was gathered for the supply of the fort, would confirm this theory as to its location; for the outcrop of coal is abundant in the bluffs on the east side of the river below Peoria. There is also a spot in this immediate vicinity that answers well to the site of the fort as described by Fathers Hennepin and Membre.

for the Indian trade, left Fort Crevecoeur for the Mississippi, on the 29th of February, 1(580, and were captured by the Sioux, as already stated. From this time to the ultimate discovery and taking possession of the Mississippi and the valleys by La Salle. Father Zenobe Membre was the historian of the expedition.

La Salle started across the country, going up the Illinois and Kankakee, and through the southern part of the present State of Michigan. He reached the Detroit River, ferrying the stream with a raft ; he at length stood on Canadian soil. Striking a direct line across the wilderness, he arrived at Lake Erie, near Point Pelee. I3y this time only one man remained in health, and with his assistance La Salle made a canoe. Embarking in it the party came to Niagara on Easter Monday. Leaving his comrades, who were completely exhausted, La Salle on the 6th of May reached Fort Frontenac, making a journey of over a thousand miles in sixty-five days, " the greatest feat ever performed by a Frenchman in America."*

La Salle found his affairs in great confusion. His creditors had seized upon his estate, including Fort Frontenac. Undaunted by this new misfortune, he confronted his creditors and enemies, pacifying the former and awing the latter into silence. He gathered the fragments of his scattered property and in a short time started west with a company of twenty-five men, whom he had recruited to assist in the prosecution of his discoveries. He reached Lake Huron by the way of Lake Simcoe, and shortly afterward arrived at Mackinaw. Here he found that his enemies had been very busy, and had poisoned the minds of the Indians against his designs.

We leave La Salle at Mackinaw to notice some of the occurrences that took place on the Illinois and St. Joseph after he had departed for Fort Frontenac. On this journey, as La Salle passed up the Illinois, he was favorably impressed with Starved Rock as a place presenting strong defenses naturally. He sent word back to Tonti, below Peoria Lake, to take possession of " The Rock " and erect a fortification on its summit. Tonti accordingly came up the river with a part of his available force and began to work upon the new fort. While engaged in this enterprise the principal part of the men remaining at Fort Crevecoeur mutinied. They destroyed the vessel on the stocks, plundered the storehouse, escaped up the Illinois River and appeared before Fort Miami. These deserters demolished Fort Miami and robbed it of goods and furs of La Salle, on deposit there, and then fled out of the country. These misfortunes were soon followed by an incursion of the Iroquois, who attacked the Illinois in their village near the Starved Rock. Tonti, acting as mediator, came near losing his life at the hand of an infuriated Iroquois warrior, who drove a knife into his ribs. Constantly an object of distrust to the Illinois, who feared he was a spy and friend of the Iroquois, in turn exposed to the jealousy of the Iroquois, who imagined he and his French friends were allies of the Illinois, Tonti remained faithful to his trust until he saw that he could not avert the blow meditated by the Iroquois. Then, with Fathers Zenobe Membre and Gabriel Rebourde, and a few Frenchmen who had remained faithful, he escaped from the enraged Indians and made his way, in a leaky canoe, up the Illinois River. Father Gabriel one fine day left his companions on the river to enjoy a walk in the beautiful groves near by, and while thus engaged, and as he wras meditating upon his holy calling, fell into an ambuscade of Kickapoo Indians. The good old man, unconscious of his danger, was instantly knocked down, the scalp torn from his venerable head, and his gray hairs afterward exhibited in triumph by his young murderers as a trophy taken from the crown of an Iroquois warrior. Tonti, with those in his company, pursued his course, passing by Chicago, and thence up the west shore of Lake Michigan. Subsisting on berries, and often on acorns and roots which they dug from the ground, they finally arrived at the Pottawatomie towns. Previous to this they abandoned their canoe and started on foot for the Mission of Green Bay, where they wintered.

La Salle, when he arrived at St. Joseph, found Fort Miamis plundered and demolished. He also learned that the Iroquois had attacked the Illinois. Fearing for the safety of Tonti, he pushed on rapidly, only to find, at Starved Rock, the unmistakable signs of an Indian slaughter. The report was true. The Iroquois had defeated the Illi- "nois and driven them west of the Mississippi. La Salle viewed the wreck of his cherished project, the demolition of the fort, the loss of his peltries, and especially the destruction of his vessel, in that usual calm way peculiar to him ; and, although he must have suffered the most intense anguish, no trace of sorrow or indecision appeared on his inflexible countenance. Shortly afterward he returned to Fort Miamis. La Salle occupied his time, until spring, in rebuilding Fort Miamis, holding conferences with the surrounding Indian tribes, and confederating them against future attacks of the Iroquois. He now abandoned the purpose of descending the Mississippi in a sailing vessel, and determined to prosecute his voyage in the ordinary wooden pirogues or canoes.

and his party left St. Joseph and came around the southern extremity of the lake. The goods and effects were placed on the sledges prepared by Tonti. La Salle's party consisted of twenty-three Frenchmen and eighteen Indians. The savages took with them ten squaws and three children, so that the party numbered in all fifty-four persons. They had to make the portage of the Chicago River. After dragging their canoes, sledges, baggage and provisions about eighty leagues over the ice, on the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers, they came to the great Indian town. It was deserted, the savages having gone down the river to Lake Peoria. From Peoria Lake the navigation was open, and embarking, on the 6th of February, they soon arrived at the Mississippi. Here, owing to floating ice, they were delayed till the 13th of the same month. Membre describes the Missouri as follows: "It is full as large as the Mississippi, into which it empties, troubling it so that, from the mouth of the Ozage (Missouri), the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians assured us that this river is formed by many others, and that they ascend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it rises; that beyond this mountain is the sea, where they see great ships ; that on the river are a great number of large villages. Although this river is very large, the Mississippi does not seem augmented by it, but it pours in so much mud that, from its mouth, the water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the Mississippi." From this time, until they neared the mouths of the Mississippi, nothing especially worthy of note occurred. On the 6th of April they came to the place where the river divides itself into three channels. M. La Salle took the western, the Sieur Dan tray the southern, and Tonti, accompanied by Membre, followed the middle channel. The three channels were beautiful and deep. The water became brackish, and two leagues farther it became perfectly salt, and advancing on they at last beheld the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the borders of the sea, and then the parties assembled on a dry spot of ground not far from the mouth of the river. On the 9th of April, with all the pomp and ceremony of the Holy Catholic Church, La Salle, in the name: of the French King, took possession of the Mississippi and all its tributaries. First they chanted the "Yexilla Regis" and " Te Deum," and then, while the assembled vovageurs and their savage attendants fired their muskets and shouted " Vive le Roi," La Salle planted the column, at the same time proclaiming, in a loud voice, "In the name of the Most High, Mighty,

Taking Possession Of Louisiana

Invincible, and Victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of God King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, I, this 9th day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of His Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the people, nations, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, otherwise called Ohio, as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the country of the Nadonessious (Sioux), as far as its mouth at the sea, and also to the mouth of the river of Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries that we were the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the river Colbert (Mississippi) ; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples or lands, to the prejudice of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary here present."

At the foot of the tree to which the cross was attached La Salle caused to be buried a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraven the arms of France, and on the opposite, the following Latin inscription:

Pervivm, Nono Aprilis Anni

" Louis the Great reigns. "Robert Cavalier, with Lord Tonti as Lieutenant, R. P. Zenobe Membre, Recollect, and twenty Frenchmen, first navigated this stream from the country of the Illinois, and also passed through its mouth, on the 9th of April, 1682."

After which, La Salle remarked that His Majesty, who was the eldest son of the Holy Catholic Church, would not annex any country to his dominion without giving especial attention to establish the

Christian religion therein, lie then proceeded at once to erect a cross, before which the "Vexilla" and " Domine Salvnm fac Regem " were sung. The ceremony was concluded by shouting "Vive le Roi ! "

Thus was completed the discovery and taking possession of the Mississippi valley. By that indisputable title, the right of discovery, attested by all those formalities recognized as essential by the laws of nations, the manuscript evidence of which was duly certified by a notary public brought along for that purpose, and witnessed by the signatures of La Salle and a number of other persons present on the occasion, France became the owner of all that vast country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Bounded by the Alleghanies on the east, and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and extending from an undefined limit on the north to the burning sands of the Gulf on the south. Embracing within its area every variety of climate, watered with a thousand beautiful streams, containing vast prairies and extensive forests, with a rich and fertile soil that only awaited the husbandman's skill to yield bountiful harvests, rich in vast beds of bituminous coal and deposits of iron, copper and other ores, this magnificent domain was not to become the seat of a religious dogma, enforced by the power of state, but was designed under the hand of God to become the center of civilization, - the heart of the American republic, - where the right of conscience was to be free, without interference of law, and where universal liberty should only be restrained in so far as its unrestrained exercise might conflict with its equal enjoyment by all.

Had France, with the same energy she displayed in discovering Louisiana, retained her grasp upon this territory, the dominant race in the valley of the Mississippi would have been Gallic instead of Anglo- Saxon.