The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-11-28
Communicated for The minnesota Pioaeer.l
Sketch of the Life and Explorations Of
Robert de La Sale.

Communicated for The Minnesota Pioaeer.l
Sketch of the Life and Explorations of
Robert de La Sale.
The man who was yet 10 ''be remember
ed through all time as the father of coloniz-
ation in the great central valley Of the
west" had not yet visited the new world
Rober, de La Sale, native of Rouen, of
an ancient family, and who had yielded
his inheritance for the purpose of entering
the schools fthe Jesuiis. departed for New
France about 1871. Of an active, enter
prising spirit, and polished in the schools
of the Jesuits, he sought for fame and for
tune in the wilis of The west, and became
fur trader m Canada.
Under the direction of Talon, the Inten-
dant General of Canada, he examined
the shores of Lake Ontario, aud the east
end of Lake Erie. In 1878, he returned TO
France, and with the assistance of Count
Frontenac, was ennobled by the King; re-
ceived grant Of Fort Frontenac at the
junction of Lake Ontario and the St. Law
renee, now Kingston, and exclusive per-
mission to trade with the Five Nations -
Success attended him, and he was rapidly
accumulat,ng a fortune, when TOnti re-
turned from the west to stimulate, by the
recital of his own adventures, his country
men 10 further eXI. .lOratioDs. The life of a
petty trader did not suit the active and en-
ereetic mind of La Sale; and he louged to
establish a commercial business, on an ex-
tended scale, between France aud the M s-
sissippi, on whose hanks be designed TO
plant colonies.
| He returned to France, where he receiv-
ed from, Colbert, the celebrated financier,
commission for exploring the Mississippi.
He embarked at Rochelle, July IA, 167S-
arrived at Quebec in September, and as
cepding the St. Lawrence and Lake Onta-
rio, 'Iaid the foundation of Fort Niagara
/ in the fall Of that year, at the mouth Of
Tonawanda creek.
! His boat, 'of ten tons burthep, was the
first that ever sailed into Niagara river.''--
/ The next year he ascended the Niagara
estimating the Falls at six hundred feet
and in the Griffin, a bri of sixty tons which
he had caused TO he built and launched on
the upper Niagara river, proceeded through
Lakes Erie, ST. Clair, which he named,
and Huron, and reached Mackinaw where
he established a trading house, in August -
He'then visited the Saut de St. Marie, but
soon returned to Mackinaw; then sailed in
to Lake Michigan, or Illinois as it was then
I Cd1eu, anu UuCuOTc1 ntOuCeF DARK III
Green Bay, or the Baye Des Puans Of the
French. Here he freighted his vessel with
valuable cargo of furs, and despatched her
| to Niagara, which she was fated never TO
reach. 1t is supposed that she foundered
| in one of those terrific storms that sweep
with appalling force over the bosom of
! Lake Huron. He then started for the head
of Lake Michigan, and at the mouth Of the
c IL L., q.
try of the Mamis, i'm honor of which tribe
/ il was named.
! Having waited some months for the return
of the Griffin, be became impatient and rest
less, and determined to proceed westward on
tour of observatiO and discovery. Gar
risoning his little Fort with ten men, and
accompanied by Tont, ''an Italian veter-
an" three Franciscan priests, one OF whom
was Hennepin, and about thirty men. La
Sale proceeded up the ST. Joseph's, CT ossed
the carrying place to the Kankakee, which he
entered and descended to an Indian village on
the Illinois. Discomfort began TO pervade
his little party, and murmurings of dissatis-
| faction reached the ears Of the bold cxplor-
er; yet calm and undismayed, he preached
the necessity of union for their safety, and
secured obedience and fidelity by promise
that 'tNone shall stay after the spring, un-
less from choice"
Below Lake Peoria, Oh the Illinois river,
IN the winter Of 1850, he erected fort,
which, under the influence of his feelings,
| he named Fort CrevecGur. From This post
attended by two men. he sent Father Hen
nepin to explore the Upper Mississippi; and
in March, with only three followers, he
started for fort Frontenac, on Lake Onta-
rio, TO procure supplies and recruits for
his little post.
In the fall Of 1851, he returned to Fort
Creveceur and found it deserted. Tonti,
who had been left in charge oft, unable 10
control the men, who were daily deserving
him, was threatened with an attack by the
/ lroquois, and escaped with the remnant of
the garrison to Lake Michigan, and took
refuge with the Potawatomies. This mis-
fortune detained La Sale another year in
the vinciniiy Of the Lakes; aud we next
| find him at Green Bay trading with the ma
tives. building boat, and collecting his dis
persed garrison. aa -. lr
| la the spring Of 1852, this intrepid and
adventurous traveller again turned his face
to the west: descended the illinois to its
junction with the MississIppi; and rode up-
on its descending flood to its embouehure in
the Gulf of Mexico, which he reached on
the seventh day of April, 1853. He had
now discovered what the Spanish navIga-
tors had long searched for in vain-the
mouth OF the "Great River .Messippi"
He returned, by way -of the Lakes, to
Quebec; and embarked for France, where
he safely arrived, and was received by the
| King with marked favor. who gave him