The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-12-12
CAPTAINS OF
DVENTUR
Copyright by Rcbbs.Mer-il1 Company
By ROGER POCOCK

China by way OF the western rivers,
so the colonists, chatting him. gave the
name La Chine TO his settlement and
the rapids. Today the railway trains
come swirling by, with loads of tea
from China to ship from Montreal, but
not to France.
During La Sales first five years In
the wilderness he discovered the Ohio
and the Illinois, branch waters of the
Mississippi. The Indians told him Of
that big river, supposed to be the way
to the Pacific. A year later the trader
Joliet, and the Jesuit, Father Mar
quette, descended the Mississippi as
far as the Arkansas. So La Sale
dreamed of a French empire in the
West, Shutting the English between
the A~ppalachians and the Atlantic,
with a base at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi for raidin9 the Spanish In
dies, and a trade route across the west
ern sea to China. All this lie told to
Count Frontenac, the new governor
general, a man of business who saw
the worth of the adventure. Fronte-
nae sent La Sale TO talk peace with
the Iroquois, while he himself founded
Fort Frontenac at the outlet of Lake
Ontario. From here he cut the trade
routes of the West. so That no furs
would ever reach the French traders
of Montreal or the English of New
York. The governor had not come to
Canada for his health.
La Sale was penniless, out his mind
went far beyond this petty trading;
he charmed away the dangers from
hostile tribes; his heroic record Won
him help from France. Within a year
he began his adventure of the Missis-
sippl by buying out Fort Frontenac
as his base camp. Here he built a
ship, and though she was wrecked he
saved stores enough to cross the Nj
agara heights, and build a second YES
sci on Lake Erie. With the Griffin he
came to the meeting place of the Hlree
upper OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Jesuit headquarters. Being a good
natured man bearing no malice, it was
with a certain pomp of drums, flags
and guns that he saluted the fort,
quite forgetting that he came as a
t%respasser into the Jesuit mission.
Leaving the Jesuit mission an enemy
in his rear, La Sale built a fort at
the southern end of Lake Michigan,
sent off his ship for supplies, and en-
tered the unknown wilderness. As
winter closed down he came with 80
men in eight b%irchbark canoesfto the
Illinois nation on the River Illinois.
Meanwhile messengers followed to
raise the Illinois tribes for war against
La Sale, TO kill him by poison, and
to persuade his men to desert. La
Sale put a rising of the Illinois to
shame, ate three dishes of poisons
without impairing his very sound di-
gestion, and made his men too busy
for revolt; building Fort Brokenheart,
and a third ship for the voyage down
the Mississippi to the Spanish Indies.
Then came the second storm of trou-
BILE, news that his relief ship from
France vas cast away, his fort at
Frontenac was seized for debt, and
his supply vessel on the upper lakes
was lost. He must go to Canada.
The third storm was still TO come,
the revenge of the English for the cut
ting of their fur trade at Fort Fronte-
nae. They armed five hundred Iro-
quois to massacre the Illinois who
had befriended him in the wilderness.
AT Fort Brokenheart La Sale had a
priest named Hennepip. With two
voyageurs Pere Hennepin was sent to
explore the river down to the Missis-
sippi, and there the three Frenchmen
were captured by the Sioux. Their
Mississippi TO the Falls of Saint An
thony, SO named by Hennepin. Thence
they were driven afoot to the winter
villages Of the tribe. Hennepln being
slow afoot, they mended his pace by
setting the prairie afire behind him.
Likewise they anointed him with Wild
cat fat to give him the agility of that
animal. Still he was never popular,
and in the end the three wanderers
were turned loose. Many were their
vagabond adventures before they met
the explorer Greysolon Du Luth, who
took them back with him Ia Canada.
Meanwhile La Sale set out from
Fort Brokenheart in March. attended
by a Mohegan hunter who loved him,
and by four gallant Frenehmen. Their
Journey was a miracle OF courage
across the ~unexplored woods to Lake
Erie, and on to Frontenac. There La
Sale heard that the moment his back
was turned his garrison had looted
and burned Fort Brokenheart but he
caught these deserters as they attempt
ed to pass Fort Frontenac, ard left
them there in irons.
Every man has power to make of his
mind an empire or a desert. At this
time Louis the Great was master Of
Europe, La Sale a broken a~dyenturer,
but it was the kings mind which was
a desert, compared with the imperial
brain of this naughty, silent, manful
pioneer. The creditors forgot that he
owed them money, the governor caught
fire from his enthusiasm. and La Sale
went back equipped for his gigantic
venture in the West.
The officer lie had left In charge at
Fort Brokenheart was an Italian gem
tleman by the name of Tonty, son Of
the man who invented the tontine life