USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 6
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They justified their return in the following manner: First, they were satisfied that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico.
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and not into the Gulf of California, nor the Atlantic Ocean in Vir- ginia. Second, they feared a conflict with the Spaniards, who oecu- pied and elaimed the Gulf coast. Third, they feared the Indians of the Lower Mississippi, for they used firearms and might oppose their further progress south. Fourth, they had aequired all the informa- tion they started out to obtain.
RETURN VIA THE ILLINOIS RIVER
And so, on the 17th of July, 1674, they turned their faces home- ward. They had been just two months, from May 17th to July 17th, on their journey. They had traveled more than a thousand miles. They had faced all forms of danger and had undergone all manner of hardships. Their provisions had been obtained en route. Franee owed them a debt of gratitude which will never be fully paid. Indeed not only France, but the world is their debtor.
Nothing of interest occurred on their return journey until they reached the mouth of the Illinois River. Here they were told by some Indians that there was a much shorter route to Green Bay than by way of the Upper Mississippi and the Wisconsin and Fox portage. This shorter route was up the Illinois River to the Chicago portage, thence along Lake Michigan to Green Bay.
Marquette and Joliet proceeded up the Illinois River. When passing by Peoria Lake they halted for three days. While here Marquette preached the gospel to the natives. Just as Marquette was leaving they brought him a dying child which he baptized. When in the vicinity of Ottawa, they came to a village of the Kas- kaskia Indians. Marquette says there were seventy-four cabins in the village and that the Indians received them kindly. They tarried but a short time and were eseorted from this point up the Illinois and over the Chicago portage by one of the Kaskaskia chiefs and several young warriors.
While in the village of the Kaskaskias, Marquette told the story of the Cross to the natives, and they were so well pleased with it that they made him promise to return to teach them more about Jesus. Marquette and Joliet reached Green Bay in the month of September, 1673. Probably they both remained here during the ensuing winter. In the summer of 1674, Joliet returned to Quebee to make his report to the governor. On his way down the St. Lawrence, his boat upset and he eame near losing his life. He lost all his maps, papers, ete., and was obliged to make a verbal report to the governor.
LAST DAYS OF MARQUETTTE
Father Marquette remained in the mission of St. Franeois Xavier through the summer of 1674; and late in the fall started on his journey back to Kaskaskia. The eseort consisted of two Frenchmen and some Indians. They reached the Chieago portage in the midst
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of discouraging circumstances. The weather was severe and Father Marquette, siek unto death, was unable to proceed further. On the banks of the Chicago River they built some huts and here the party remained till spring. During the winter Father Marquette did not suffer for want of attention, for he was visited by a number of Indians and by at least two prominent Frenehmen.
By the last of March he was able to travel. He reached the Kas- kaskia Village Monday, April 8, 1675. He was received with great joy by the Indians. He established the mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Seeing he could not possibly live long, he returned to St. Ignaee by way of the Kankakee portage. He never lived to reach Mackinaw. He died the 18th of May, 1675.
This expedition by Marquette and Joliet had carried the lilies of France nearly to the Gulf of Mexico. The Indians in the great plains between the Great Lakes and the gulf had been visited and the re- sourees of the country noted. There remained but a slight strip of territory over which the banner of France had not floated, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. If this short dis- tanee were explored, then the French government would have com- pletely surrounded the English colonies in North America.
Chevalier de La Salle eame to America in the year 1667. Shortly after arriving in this country he established himself as a fur trader at a trading post ealled La Chine, on the Island of Montreal, Here he came in contact with the Indians from the Far West. Within two years he had departed on an exploration. For the next two or three years he had probably visited the Ohio River and had become quite familiar with the country to the south and west of the Great Lakes.
LA SALLE CONSOLIDATES FRENCH EMPIRE IN AMERICA
Count Frontenae built a fort on the shore of Lake Ontario where the lake sends its waters into the St. Lawrence River. La Salle was put in charge of this fort. He named it Fort Frontenac. The pur- pose of this fort was to control the fur trade, especially that from up the Ottawa, and prevent it from going to New York. In 1674 La Salle went to France and while there was raised to the rank of a noble. The king was greatly pleased with the plans of La Salle and readily granted him the seigniory of Fort Frontenae, together with a large quantity of land. For all this La Salle promised to keep the fort in repair, to maintain a garrison equal to that of Montreal, to clear the land, put it in a state of cultivation, and continually to keep arms. ammunition and artillery in the fort. He further agreed to pay Count Frontenae for the erection of the fort, to build a church, attraet Indians, make grants of land to settlers and to do all for the ultimate purpose of furthering the interest of the French government.
La Salle returned from France and was perhaps at Fort Frontenae when Joliet passed down the lakes in the summer of 1674. The next
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year he began the improvement of his fort. For two years he pros- ecuted a thriving trade with the Indians and also engaged in farming, ship-building, cattle-raising, and study.
The fall of 1678 found him in France with a request that the king grant him permission to explore the western part of New France and if possible find the mouth of the Mississippi River. La Salle had matured plans by which New France was to be connected with the western country by a line of strong fortifications. Fort Frontenae was the first step in this plan. He there explained how easy it would he to reach the region of the Great Lakes by the St. Lawrence route or by the Mississippi. There is no doubt that both Frontenae and La Salle wished to transfer the emphasis from the converting of the Indians to that of the conquest of territory for France, and to the more profitable business, as they saw it, of commerce. Frontenac had therefore strongly endorsed La Salle and his plans. Through Colbert and his son, La Salle succeeded in getting his patent from the king.
BRAVE AND FAITHFUL TONTI
While in France La Salle met Henri de Tonti, an Italian who had just won distinction in the French army. His father had been engaged in an insurrection in Italy and had taken refuge in France where he became a great financier, having originated the Tontine system of life insurance. Henri de Tonti had lost a hand in one of the campaigns, but he was nevertheless a man of great energy, and destined to win for himself an honored name in the New World.
La Salle returned to New France in 1678, bringing with him about thirty craftsmen and mariners, together with a large supply of military and naval stores. It can readily be seen that La Salle would be opposed by the merchants and politicians in the region of Quebec and Montreal. He had risen rapidly and was now ready to make one of the most pretentious efforts at discovery and exploration that had been undertaken in New France.
Late in the fall of 1678, probably in December, he sent Captain La Motte and sixteen men to seleet a suitable site for the building of a vessel with which to navigate the upper lakes. Captain La Motte stopped at the rapids below Niagara Falls and seems to have been indifferent to his mission. La Salle and Tonti arrived the 8th of January, 1679. The next day La Salle went above the falls, probably at Tonawanda Creek, and selected a place to construct the vessel.
Tonti was charged with building the vessel. It was launched in May, 1679, and was christened the Griffin (Griffon). It was forty- five to fifty tons burden and carried a complement of five eannon, and is supposed to have cost about $10,000.
An expedition of traders had been dispatched into the Illinois country for the purpose of traffic, in the fall of 1678. Tonti and a small party went up Lake Erie and were to await the coming of the
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LA SALLE STARTS FOR THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY
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Griffin at the head of the lake. The Griffin weighed anchor August 7, 1679, amid the booming of cannon and the chanting of the Te Deum. It arrived at what is now Detroit on the 10th, and there found Tonti and his party. The vessel reached Mackinaw on the 27th of August. Ifere La Salle found the men whom he had dispatched the year before to traffie with the Indians. He found they had been dissuaded from proceeding to the Illinois country by the report that La Salle was visionary and that his ship would never reach Mackinaw. Tonti was given the task of getting these men together, and while he was thus engaged, La Salle sailed in the Griffin for Green Bay.
Green Bay had been for several years a meeting place between white traders and explorers, and the Indians. When La Salle reached the point, he found some of the traders, whom he had sent ahead the year before. These traders had collected from the Potta- watomies large quantities of furs. For these furs La Salle exchanged a large stock of European goods with which the Griffin was loaded. It is said that he made a large sum of money in this transaction. The Griffin was loaded with these furs and made ready to return to the warehouses at Niagara.
COMMERCIAL VENTURE INTO ILLINOIS COUNTRY
On September 18th, the Griffin, in charge of a trusted pilot, a supercargo and five sailors, started on the return voyage. La Salle on the 19th of September, 1679, with a company of fourteen persons in four birch bark canoes, loaded with a blacksmith's forge, car- penter's tools, merchandise, arms, provisions, etc., started on his journey for the Illinois country. He coasted along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Their provisions were exhausted before they reached the present site of Milwaukee. They had been forced ashore three times to save their boats and their lives. They now went in search of food and fortunately found a deserted Indian village with plenty of corn. They appropriated the corn, but left some articles as pay. The next day the Indians returned and fol- lowed the whites to their boats and it was only by presenting the calumet that La Salle was able to appease them.
From Milwaukee they coasted south past the mouth of the Chicago River and following the southerly bend of the lake reached the mouth of the St. Joseph River November 1, 1679. This had been appointed as the meeting place of the two expeditions-the one under La Salle and the one under Tonti. La Salle was anxious to get to the Illinois country, but he also desired the help of Tonti, and as the latter had not yet arrived, La Salle occupied the time of his men in building a palisade fort which he named Fort Miami. Near by, he ereeted a bark chapel for the use of the priests, and also a storehouse for. the goods which the Griffin was to bring from Niagara on its return.
Tonti arrived at Fort Miami on the 12th of November with only a portion of his company, the rest remaining behind to bring word
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of the Griffin. La Salle was not impatient to proceed, and dispatch- ing Tonti for the rest of his crew waited for his return. The iee began to form and fearing the freezing over of the river, La Salle ascended the St. Joseph in search of the portage between the Kan- kakee and the St. Joseph. He went up the St. Joseph beyond the portage and while searching for it was overtaken by a courier who told him Touti and his party were at the portage farther down the river. This point is supposed to have been near the present city of South Bend, Indiana. Here was now assembled the party which was to become a very historie one. There were in all twenty-nine Frenehmen and one Indian. Among them were La Salle, De Tonti, Fathers Louis Hennepin, Zenobe Membre, Gabriel de La Ribourde. La Metairie (a notary) and De Loup, the Indian guide. They crossed the portage of three or four miles under great difficulties, dragging their canoes and their burdens on sledges. The ice was getting thick and a heavy snow storm was raging.
AFLOAT ON THE KANKAKEE
By the 6th of December, 1679, the expedition was afloat on the Kankakee. For many miles the country was so marshy that scarcely a camping place could be found, but soon its members emerged into an open region of the country, with tall grass and then they knew they were in the Illinois country. They suffered from lack of food, having killed only two deer, one buffalo, two geese, and a few swans. As they journeyed on they passed the mouths of the Iroquois, the Des Plaines, and the Fox. They passed the present site of Ottawa and a few miles below they came to the Kaskaskia village where Mar- quette had planted the mission of the Immaculate Conception in the summer of 1675. Father Allouez had succeeded Marquette and had spent some time at the Kaskaskia village in 1676, and in 1677 he returned. But on the approach of La Salle, Allouez had departed, for it was understood that almost all of the Jesnit priests were opposed to La Salle's plans of commercializing the interior of North America. The Kaskaskia Indians were themselves absent from the village on an expedition to the Southland, as was their winter custom.
LA SALLE MEETS THE KASKASKIN INDIANS
This Kaskaskia village of four hundred lodges was uninhabited. The huts were built by covering a long arbor-like frame work with mats of woven rushes. In each lodge there was room for as many as ten families. In their hiding places, the Indians had secreted large quantities of corn for the spring planting and for sustenance until another erop could be raised. La Salle's party was so sorely in need of this corn that he decided to appropriate as much as they needed. This he did, taking 30 minots. On January 1. 1680, after mass by Father Hennepin, they departed down the Illinois River. On the 1%1. 1-4
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morning of the 5th they had arrived at the outlet of what we call Peoria Lake. Here they saw large numbers of boats and on the banks wigwams and large numbers of Indians. The Indians were much disconcerted upon seeing La Salle's party land, and many fled while a few held communication with the new comers. La Salle held a consultation with the chiefs and told them of his taking their corn and said that if he were compelled to give up the corn he would take his blacksmith and his tools to the next tribe, the Osages, whereupon the Indians gladly accepted pay for the corn taken and offered more.
La Salle told them he wished to be on friendly terms with them, but that they must not expect him to engage in conflicts with the Iroquois whom his king regarded as his children. But if they would allow him to build a fort near, that he would defend them, the Kas- kaskias, against the Iroquois if they were attacked. He also told them he wished to know whether he could navigate a large boat from that point to the mouth of the Mississippi River, since it was very difficult as well as dangerous to bring such European goods as the Indians would like to have from New France by way of the Great Lakes, and that it could not well be done by coming across the Iroquois country, as they would object, since the Illinois Indians and the Iroquois were enemies.
The Kaskaskia chiefs told La Salle that the mouth of the Missis- sippi was only twenty days' travel away and that there were no. obstructions to navigation. Certain Indian slaves taken in battle said that they had been at the month of the river and that they had seen ships at sea that made noises like thunder. This made La Salle more anxious to reach the mouth of the river and take possession of the country. The chiefs gave consent to the construction of the fort and La Salle had a bright vision before him. This vision was sadly clouded on the morrow when an Indian revealed to him the visit to the chiefs, on the night before, of a Miami chief by the name of Monso who tried to undermine the influence of La Salle. He said La Salle was deceiving them. In a council that day he revealed his knowledge of the visit of Monso and by great diplomacy won the Kaskaskia chief to his cause the second time. It was supposed this chief Monso was sent at the suggestion of Father Allouez. Four of La Salle's men deserted him and returned to the region of Lake Michigan.
BUILDS FORT CREVECOEUR BELOW PEORIA
La Salle, fearing the influence of the stories among the Indians, upon his men, decided to separate from them and go further down the river where he could construct his fort and built his boat. On the evening of the 15th of January, 1680, La Salle moved to a point on the east side of the river three miles below the present site of Peoria. There on a projection from the bluffs he built with considerable labor
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a fort which received the name of Crevecoeur. This was the fourth of the great chain of forts which La Salle had constructed, namely : Fort Frontenae at the ontlet of Lake Ontario; Fort Tonti on the Niagara River; Fort Miami at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, and Crevecoeur below Lake Peoria on the Illinois River.
Fort Crevecoeur is currently believed to have been so named because of the disheartened frame of mind of La Salle, but this would not be complimentary to the character of the man. It is now rather believed to have been so named in honor of Tonti, since as a soldier in the Netherlands he took part in the destruction of Fort Crevecoeur near the Village of Bois le Due in the year 1672.
In addition to the building of the fort, La Salle began the con- struction of a vessel with which to complete his journey to the mouth of the river. The lumber was sawed from the timber and rapid progress was made. The keel was 42 feet long, and the beam was 12 feet. While this work was in progress and during the month of February several representatives of tribes from up the Mississippi and down the Mississippi, as well as from the Miamis to the North- east, came to consult with La Salle. His presence in the Illinois country was known near and far. The Indians from the Upper Mississippi brought tempting descriptions of rontes to the western sea, and also of the wealth of beaver with which their country abounded.
SENDS FATHER HENNEPIN TO UPPER MISSISSIPPI
La Salle desired to make a visit to Fort Frontenac for sails, cordage, iron, and other material for his boat ; besides he was very anxious to hear something definite about the Griffin and its valuable cargo. But before embarking on his long journey he fitted out an expedition consisting of Michael Ako, Antony Auguel, and Father Hennepin, to explore the Upper Mississippi. Michael Ako was the leader. They started February 29th, passed down the Illinois River and thence up the Mississippi. They carried goods worth a thou- sand livres, which were to beexchanged for furs. Father Hennepin took St. Anthony for his patron saint, and when near the falls which we know by that name he set up a post, upon which he engraved the cross and the coat of arms of France. He was shortly captured by the Indians, and was later released by a French trader, De Chut. He then returned to France.
THE DISASTER AT STARVED ROCK AND FORT CREVECOEUR
Before starting for Frontenac. La Salle commissioned Tonti to have charge of the Crevecoeur fort, and also to build a fort at Starved Rock. On March 1st, the day following the departure of Ako and Hennepin for the Upper Mississippi, La Salle departed, with three companions, for Fort Frontenac. This was a long, dangerous, and
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discouraging journey. Every venture which he had engaged in seems to have failed. After finally getting together supplies sueh as were needed he started on his return journey. He was continually hearing stories from the travelers of the desertion of Crevecoeur. When he came within a few miles of the Kaskaskia village he began to see signs of destruction. On arriving at the village, nothing but a few blackened posts remained. The Iroquois Indians had made a campaign against the Illinois Indians, and their trail could be traced by death and destruction.
When La Salle left the locality of Starved Roek for Fort Creve- coeur, on his way from Canada, he passed the Iroquois on one side of the river, and the Illinois on the other. He searched everywhere for Tonti, but could find no trace of him. He came to Crevecoeur about December 1, 1680, and found the fort deserted and the store- house plundered; the boat, however, was without damage. La Salle went to the mouth of the Illinois River in search of Tonti, but with- out success. He returned to Fort Miami in the spring of 1681. Here he began the organization of all the Indian tribes into a sort of confederation.
LA SALLE'S SECOND VOYAGE
Upon the approach of the Iroquois, shortly after the departure of La Salle from Fort Crevecoeur, in March, 1680, Tonti and his party were scattered far and near. Tonti and Father Membre made their way to Green Bay, and from there to Mackinaw. La Salle heard of them here and went immediately to them. Another expedi- tion was organized. La Salle, Father Membre and Tonti visited Fort Frontenac, where supplies were procured, and late in December, 1681, the expedition had crossed the Chicago portage. There were in this company fifty-four people-twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty- one Indians.
They passed the Kaskaskia Village near Starved Rock, but it was in ruins. On January 25, 1682, they reached Fort Crevecoeur. The fort was in fair condition. Here they halted six days, while the Indians made some linn bark canoes. They reached the Mississippi February 6th. After a little delay they proeceded down the river, passed the mouth of the Missouri, and shortly after that a village of the Tamaroa Indians. The village contained 120 cabins, but they were all deserted. La Salle left presents on the posts for the villagers when they returned. Grand Tower was passed; later, the Ohio.
AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI
The trip to the month of the Mississippi was without special interest. They reached the month of the river in April, and on the 9th of that month erected a post, upon which they nailed the arms of France wrought from a copper kettle. A proclamation was
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prepared by the notary, Jacques de la Metairie, and read. It recited briefly their journey to the country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries.
On April 10th the party began the return journey. La Salle was strieken with a severe illness and was obliged to remain at Fort Prudhomme, which had been erected on the Chickasaw bluffs, just abovo Vicksburg. Tonti was sent forward to look after his leader's interests. He went by Fort Miami, but found everything in order. Ife reached Mackinaw July 22d.
MESSENGER SENT TO FRANCE
La Salle reached Crevecoeur on his way north. IIe left eight Frenehmen here to hold this position. He reached Fort Miami, and thenee passed on to Mackinaw. He then sent Father Membre to France to report his discovery to the king, while he himself set about the building of Fort St. Louis, at Starved Roek, on the Illinois. The detachment left by La Salle at Crevecoeur was ordered north to Fort St. Louis, and he began to grant his followers small areas of land in recognition of their services with him in the past few years. The fort was completed and in March, 1683, the ensign of France floated to the breeze. The tribes for miles in eireuit came to the valley about the fort and encamped. La Salle patiently looked for French settlers from New France, but they did not come.
During the absence of La Salle at the mouth of the Mississippi, Count Frontenac had been superseded by Sienr de la Barre, who had assumed the duties of his office October 9, 1782. Ile was not friendly to La Salle's schemes of extending the possessions of France in the New World. La Salle suspected, in the summer of 1683, that the new governor was not in sympathy with him. After a great deal of fruitless correspondence with the new governor, La Salle repaired to France to lay before the king his new discoveries, as well as plans for the future.
DEATHIS OF LA SALLE AND TONTI
Tonti was displaced as commander at Fort St. Louis and ordered to Quebee. La Salle not only secured a fleet for the trip to the mouth of the Mississippi, but also had Tonti restored to command at Fort St. Louis. La Salle sailed to the Gulf in the spring of 1685. He failed to find the mouth of the river and landed in what is now Texas. After hardships and discouragements almost beyond belief, he was murdered by some of his own men the latter part of March, 1687.
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