Summary Narrative of an exploratory expedition to the sources of the Mississippi river in 1820: resumed and completed by the discovery of its origin in Itasca Lake in 1832. With appendices

Front matter

DISCOYEEY OF THE SOURCES OE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. SUMMARY NARRATIVE OF AN EXPLORATORY EXPEDITION TO THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER, IN 1820: RESUMED AND COMPLETED, BY THE DISCOVERY OF ITS ORIGIN IN ITASCA LAKE, IN 1832. 33a &ntl)oritE of tlje Hniteb States. WITH APPENDICES, COMPRISING THE ORIGINAL REPORT ON THE COPPER MINES OP LAKE SUPERIOR, AND OBSERVATIONS ON THE GEOLOGY OP THE LAKE BASINS, AND THE SUMMIT OF THE MISSISSIPPI; TOGETHER WITH ALL THE OFFICIAL REPORTS AND SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF BOTH EXPEDITIONS. By HENEY E. SCHOOLCEAFT. PHILADELPHIA: LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO, AND CO. 1855. Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO, AND CO., in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. [Original Dedication.]

TO THE Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN, SECRETARY OP WAR. Sir : Allow me to inscribe to vou the following J our nals, as an illustration of my several reports on the mineral geography of the regions visited by the recent Expedition under Governor Cass. I beg you will consider it, not only as a proof of my anxiety to be serviceable in the station occupied, but also as a tribute of individual respect for those exertions which have been made, during your administration of the War Department, to develop the physical character and resources of all parts of our Western country ; for the patronage it has extended to the cause of geographical science ; for the protection it has afforded to a very extensive line of frontier settlements by stretching a cordon of military posts around them ; and for the notice it has bestowed on one of the humblest cultivators of natural science.

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. Alba>% 1821. PREEACE. The following pages embrace the substance of the narratives of two distinct expeditions for the discovery of the sources of the Mississippi River, under the authority of the United States. By connecting the incidents of discovery, and of the facts brought to light during a period of twelve years, unity is preserved in the prosecution of an object of considerable importance in the progress of our geography and natural history, at least, from the new impulse which they received after the treaty of Ghent. Geographers deem that branch of a river as its true source which originates at the remotest distance from its mouth, and, agreeably to this definition, the combined narratives, to which attention is now called, show this celebrated stream to arise in Itasca Lake, the source of the Itasca Eiver.

Preface

. population over regions where, but lately, the Indian was the only tenant, that we are in danger of having but a confused re cord of them, if not of losing it altogether. It is some abatement of this fear to know that there is always a portion of the com munity who take a pleasure in remembering individuals; who have either ventured their lives, or exerted their energies, to pro mote knowledge or advance discovery. It is in this manner that, however intent an age may be in the plans which engross it, the sober progress and attainments of the period are counted up. An important fact discovered in the physical geography or natural history of the country, if it be placed on record, remains a fact added to the permanent stores of information. A new plant, a crystal, an insect, or the humblest invertebrate object of the zoo logical chain, is as incontestable an addition to scientific know ledge, as the finding of remains to establish a new species of mastodon.

They only differ in interest and importance. It is not the province of every age to produce a Linnæus, a Buffon, or a Cuvier; but, such are the almost endless forms of vegetable and animal life and organization — from the infusoria upward — that not a year elapses which may not enlarge the boundaries of science. The record of discovery is perpetually accumulating, and filling the list of discoverers with humbler, yet worthy names. Whoever reads with care the scientific desiderata here offered will find matter of description or comment which has employed the pens of a Torrey, a Mitchell, a Cooper, a Lea, a Barnes, a Houghton, and a Nicollet. It is from considerations of this nature, that the author has appended to this narrative the original observations, reports, and descriptions made by his companions or himself, whde engaged in these exploratory journeys, together with the determinations made on such scientific objects as were referred to other competent hands.

These investigations of the physical geography of the West, and the phenomena or resources of the country, constitute, indeed, by far the most important permanent acquisitions of the scrutiny devoted to them. They form the elements of classes of facts which will retain their value, to men of research, when the incidents of the explorations are forgotten, and its actors them selves have passed to their final account. It would have been desirable that what has here been done

PREFACE.

. IX should have been done at an earlier period; but it may be sufficient to say that other objects engrossed the attention of the author for no small part of the intervening period, and that he could not earlier control the circumstances which the publication demanded. After his permanent return from the West — where so many years of his life passed — it was his first wish to accomplish a long-cherished desire of visiting England and the Continent, in which America, and its manners and institutions, might be contemplated at a distance, and compared by ocular proofs. And, when he de termined on the task of preparing this volume, and began to look around for the companions of his travels, to avail himself of their notes, he found most of them had descended to the tomb. For the narrative parts, indeed, the manuscript journals, kept with great fulness, were still preserved ; but the materials for the other division of the work were widely scattered.

Some of them remained in the archives of the public offices to which they were originally com municated. Other papers had been given to the pages of scientific journals, and their reprint was inexpedient. The rich body of topographical data, and the elaborately drawn map of this portion of the United States, prepared by Captain Douglass, U. S, A., which would have been received with avidity at the time, had been in a great measure superseded by subsequent discoveries.* The only part of this officer's observations employed in this work, are his determinations of the geographical positions. The latter have been extended and perfected by the subsequent observations of Mr. Nicollet. At every point, there have been difficulties to overcome. He has been strenuous to award justice to his deceased companions, to whose memory he is attached by the ties of sym pathy and former association.

If more time has elapsed in pre paring the work than was anticipated, it is owing to the nature of it ; and he can only say that still more time and attention would be required to do justice to it. * This remark is limited to the country south of about 46°. North of that point, there are no explorations known to me, except those of Lieutenant James Allen, who accompanied me above Cass Lake, in 1832, and those of J. N. Nicollet, in 1836, which were reported by him to the Topographical Bureau, and by the latter transmitted to Congress.— Vide Senate Doc. No. 237, 1843. These observations relate to the line of the Mississippi. Maj. Long's journey, in 1823, was west and north of that river.

PREFACE.

. X A word may be added respecting the period of these explora tions. The year 1820 marked a time of much activity in geogra phical discovery in the United States. The treaty of Ghent, a few years before, had relieved the frontiers from a most sanguinary Indian war. This event enlarged the region for settlement, and created an intense desire for information respecting the new countries. Government had, indeed, at an earlier period, shown a disposition to aid and encourage discoveries. The feeling on this subject cannot be well understood, without allusion to the name of John Ledyard. This intrepid traveller had accompanied Captain Cook on his last voyage round the world. In 1786, he presented himself to Mr. Jefferson, the American minister at Paris, with a plan of extensive explorations. He proposed to set out from St. Petersburg, and, passing through Russia and Tartary to Behring's Straits, to traverse the north Pacific to Oregon, and thence cross the Eocky Mountains to the Missouri Valley.* Mr. Jefferson communicated the matter to the Eussian plenipotentiary at Paris — and to the Baron Grimm, the confidential agent of the Empress Catherine — through whose influence he received the required passports.

He proceeded on this adventure, and had reached within two hundred miles of Kamschatka, where he was arrested, and taken back, in a close carriage, to Moscow, and thence con ducted to the frontiers of Poland. On reaching London, the African Association selected him to make explorations in the direction of the Niger. Beaching Egypt, he proceeded up the Nile to Cairo, where, having completed his preparations for en tering the interior of Africa, he sickened and died, in the month of November, 1788. — Life of Ledyard, Sparks's Amer. Biog. vol. xvi. The suggestion of Ledyard to explore Oregon became the germ of the voyages of Lewis and Clark. It appears that, in 1792, Mr. Jefferson proposed the subject to the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia.* It is not known that its action resulted in anything practical.

After Mr. Jefferson himself, however, came to the presidency, in 1801, he called the attention of Congress to the matter. Louisiana had been acquired, under his auspices, in 1803, which furnished a strong public reason for its exploration. To conduct it, he selected his private secretary and relative, Mer- * Lewis and Clark.

PREFACE.

. XI riweather Lewis, of Virginia; Captain "William Clark was named as his assistant. Both these gentlemen were commissioned in the army, and the expense thus placed on a public basis. Captain Lewis left the city of Washington, on this enterprise, on the 5th of July, 1803, and was joined by Captain Clark west of the Alle ghanies. Having organized the expedition at St. Louis, they began the ascent of the Missouri Eiver on the 14th of May, 1804. They wintered the first year at Port Mandan, about 1,800 miles up the Missouri, in the country of the Mandans. Crossing the Eocky Mountains the next year, and descending the Columbia to the open shore of the Pacific, they retraced their general course to the waters of the Missouri, in 1806, and returned to St. Louis on the 23d of September of that year.

(Lewis and Clark, vol. ii. p. 433.) To explore the Missouri to its source, and leave the remote summits of the Mississippi untouched, would seem to have ill accorded with Mr. Jefferson's conceptions. It does not appear, however, from published data, that he selected the person to perform the latter service, leaving it to the military commandant of the district. (Life of Pike, Sparks's Amer. Biog. vol. xv. pp. 220, 281.) General Wilkinson, who had been directed to occupy Louisiana, appears to have made the selection. He desig nated Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike. This officer left Bellefontaine, Missouri, on the 9th of August, 1805, with a total force of twenty men, at least four months too late in the season to reach even the central part of his destination, without an aid in the command, without a scientific observer of any description, and without even an interpreter to communicate with the Indians.

That he should have accomplished what he did, is altogether owing to his activity, vigilance, and enterprise, his knowledge of hunting; and forest life, and his well-established habits of mental and military discipline. Winter overtook him, on the 16th of October, in his ascent, when he was about one hundred and twenty miles (as now ascertained) above the Falls of St. Anthony * Severe cold, snow, and ice, rendered it impossible to push his boats fur ther. Devoting twelve days in erecting a blockhouse, and leav ing his heavy stores and disabled men in charge of a non com missioned officer, he proceeded onwards, on snow shoes, with * Estimated by him at 233 miles.

PREFACE.

. small hand-sledges, and, by great energy and perseverance, reached, at successive periods, Sandy Lake, Leach Lake, and Upper Eed Cedar Lake, on the third great plateau at the sources of the Mississippi. On the opening of the river, he began his descent, and returned to his starting-point, at Bellefontaine, on the 30th of April, 1806, having been absent a little less than nine months. On his visiting the country above the point where the climate arrested his advance, the whole region was found to be clothed in a mantle of snow. On his journey, the deer, elk, buffalo, and wolf, were found on the prairies — the waters were inhabited by wild fowl; as he acted the part of hunter, and, to some extent, guide, these furnished abundant employ for his efficient sportsman-like propensities. Of its distinctive zoology, minerals, plants, and other physical desiderata, it was not in his power, had he been ever so well prepared, to make observations.

Even for the topography, above the latitude of about 40°, he was dependent, essentially, on the information furnished by the factors of the Northwest British Fur Company, who, at that period, occupied the country.* This information was readily given, and en abled him, with general accuracy, to present the maps and descrip tions Avhich accompany his account of the region. He was, however, misled in placing the source of the river in Turtle Lake, and in the topography of the region south and west of that point. Pike's account of his expedition did not issue from the press till 1810. The narrative of the expedition of Lewis and Clark was still longer deWed — owing to the melancholy death of Lewis — and was not given till 1814; a period of political com motion by no means favorable to literary matters.

It was, how ever, at once hailed as a valuable and standard accession to * The surrender of the lake country by Great Britian, in 1796, at the close of what is known as General Wayne's war, extended to Michilimackinac, the remotest British garrison. The region northwest of this post was occupied by numerous tribes of Iudians, who continued to be supplied with goods by British traders till after the close of the war of 1812. In 1816, Congress passed au act confining the trade to American citizens. Under this state of affairs, the Northwest Company of Montreal sold out their trading-posts aud fixtures, northwest of Michilimackinac to Mr. John Jacob Astor, of New York, who, from au account of one of his active factors, invested about $300,000 per annum in merchandise adapted to the Indian habits.

PREFACE.

. XIII geographical science. Public opinion had for years been called to this daring enterprise. Such was the state of geographical discovery in the United States in 1816. The war with Great Britain had had an exhaust ing effect upon the resources and fiscal condition of the countrv. But, owing to the information gained by the operation of armies in the ample area west of the Alleghanies, it opened a new world for enterprise in that quarter. The treaty of 1814 with Great Britain, which affirmed the original boundaries of 1783, by ter minating, at the same time, the war and the fallacious hopes of sovereignty set up for the Indian tribes, truly opened the Missis sippi Valley to settlement. All eyes were turned to the general climate of the West, and its capacities of growth and expansion. The universal ardor which then arose and was spread, of its fertility, extent, and re sources, has, from that era, filled the public mind, and fixed the liveliest hopes of the extension of the Union.

The accession of Mr. Monroe to the presidency, 4th March, 1817, formed the opening of this new epoch of industrial empire and progress in the West. This period brought into the administration a man of great grasp of intellect and energy of character in Mr. Calhoun. By placing the army in a series of self-sustain ing posts on the frontiers, in advance of the settlements, he gave them efficient protection against the still feverish tribes, who hovered — feeble and dejected from the results of the war, but in broken, discordant, and hostile masses — around the long and still dangerous line of the frontiers, from Florida to Detroit and the Falls of St. Anthony. He encouraged every means of acquiring true information of its geography and resources. In 1819, the military line was extended to Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, and to the Falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi.

Major S. H. Long, of the Topographical Engineers, was directed to ascend the Missouri, for the purpose of exploring the region west to the Eocky Mountains. During the same year, he approved a plan for exploring the sources of the Mississippi, submitted by General Cass, who occupied the northwestern frontiers. The author having then returned from the exploration of the Ozark Highlands, and the mine country of Missouri and Ark-

PREFACE.

. ansas,* received from Mr. Calhoun the appointment of geologist and mineralogist on this expedition; and having, at a subsequent period, been selected, as the leader of the expedition of 1832, to resume and complete the discoveries under the same authority, commenced in 1820, it is to the journals and notes kept on these separate occasions, that he is indebted for the data of the narra tives and for the body of information now submitted. * Vide Scenes and Adventures in the Semi- Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, with a View of the Lead- Mines of Missouri. New York, 1819. Philadelphia: Lippincott, Grambo, and Co. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 256. 1853. Washington, D. C, October 24, 1854. CONTENTS. EXPEDITION OF 1820. Introduction 17 Preliminary Documents 25 Narrative of the Expedition 37

Chapter I

Departure —Considerations on visiting the northern summits early in the season — Cross the Highlands of the Hudson — Incidents of the journey from Albany to Buffalo — Visit Niagara Falls— Their grandeur the effect of magnitude — Embark on board the steamer Walk-in-the-Water — Passage up Lake Erie — Reach Detroit 39

Chapter II

Preparations for the expedition — Constitution of the party — Mode of travel in canoes — Embarkation, and incidents of the journey across the Lake, and up the River St. Clair — Head winds encountered on Lake Huron — Point aux Barques — Cross Saganaw Bay — Delays in ascending the Huron coast — Its geology and natural history — Reach Michilimackinac 47

Chapter III

Description of Michilimackinac — Prominent scenery — Geology — Arched Rock — Sugarloaf Rock — History- — Statistics — Mineralogy — Skull Cave — Manners — Its fish, agriculture, moral wants — Ingenious manufactures of the Indians — Fur trade — Etymology of the word — Antique bones disclosed in the interior of the island 59

Chapter IV

Proceed down the north shore of Lake Huron to the entrance of the Straits of St. Mary's — Character of the shores, and incidents — Ascend the river to Sault Ste. Marie — Hostilities encountered there — Intrepidity of General Cass . . CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Embark at the head of the portage at St. Mary's — Entrance into Lake Superior — Journey and incidents along its coasts — Great Sand Dunes — Pictured Rocks — Grand Island — Keweena peninsula and portage — Incidents thence to Ontonagon River 83

Chapter VI

Chippewa village at the mouth of the Ontonagon — Organize an expedition to explore its mineralogy — Incidents of the trip — Rough nature of the country — Reach the Copper Rock — Misadventure — Kill a bear — Discoveries of copper — ■ General remarks on the mineral affluence of the basin of Lake Superior . 94

Chapter VII

Proceed along the southern coast of Lake Superior from the Ontonagon, to Fond du Lac — Porcupine range of mountains — Streams that run from it, at parallel distances, into the lake — La Pointe — Group of the Federation Islands — River St. Louis — Physical geography of Lake Superior 102

Chapter VIII

Proceed up the St. Louis River, and around its falls and rapids to Sandy Lake in the valley of the Upper Mississippi — Grand Portage — Portage aux Coteaux — A main exploring party — Cross the great morass of Akeek Scepi to Sandy Lake — Indian mode of pictographic writing — Site of an Indian jonglery — Post of Sandy Lake 110

Chapter IX

Reunion of the expedition on the Savanna Portage — Elevation of this summit — Descent to Sandy Lake — Council with the Chippewa tribe — Who are they? — Traits of their history, language, and customs — Enter the Mississippi, with the main exploring party, and proceed in search of its source — Physical characteristics of the stream at this place — Character of the Canadian voyageur . . 118

Chapter X

Proceed up the Mississippi River — Its velocity and character — Swan River — Trout River, and Mushcoda or Prairie River — Rapids ascended — Reach, and make a portage around Pakagama Falls — Enter a vast lacustrine region — Its character and productions, vegetable and animal — Tortuous channel — Vermilion and Deer Rivers — Leech Lake branch — Lake Winnipek — Ascent of the river to Upper Red Cedar, or Cass Lake — Physical character of the Mississippi River . . CONTENTS. XVII

CHAPTER XL

Physical traits of the Mississippi — The elevation of its sources — Its velocity and mean descent — Etymology of the name Mississippi — Descent of the river to Sandy Lake, and thence to the Falls of St. Anthony — Recross the great Bitobi Savanna — Pakagama formation — Description of the voyage from Sandy Lake to Pine River— Brief notices of the natural history 137

Chapter XII

Description of the descent from Pine River — Pine tracts — Confluence of the Crow-wing River — Enter a sylvan region — prairies and groves, occupied by deer, elk, and buffalo — Sport of buffalo hunting — Reach elevations of sienitic and metamorphic rocks — Discover a pictographic inscription of the Sioux, by which they denote a desire for peace — Pass the Osaukes, St. Francis's, Cornielle, and Rum Rivers— St. Anthony's Falls — Etymology of the name — Geographical considerations ............. 145

Chapter XIII

Position of the military post established at the mouth of the St. Peter's — Beauty, salubrity, and fertility of the country — Pictographic letter — Indian treaty — The appearance of the offer of frankincense in the burning of tobacco — Opwagonite — native pigments — Salt ; native copper — The pouched or prairie rat — Minnesota squirrel — Etymology of the Indian name of St. Peter's River — Antiquities — Sketch of the Dacota— Descent of the Mississippi to Little Crow's village — Feast of green corn 153

Chapter XIV

Descent of the river from the site of Little Crow's Village to Prairie du Chien — Incidents of the voyage, and notices of the scenery and natural history . 162

Chapter XV

Mr. Schoolcraft makes a visit to the lead mines of Dubuque — -Incidents of the trip — Description of the mines — The title of occupancy, and the mode of the mines being worked by the Fox tribe of Indians — Who are the Foxes ? . . 169

Chapter XVI

The expedition proceeds from Prairie du Chien up the Wisconsin Valley — Incidents of the ascent — Etymology of the name — The low state of its waters favorable to the observation of its fresh-water conchology — Cross the Wisconsin summit, and descend the Fox River to Winnebago Lake 178 CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII

Descent of the Fox River from Winnebago Lake to Green Bay — Incidents — Etymology, conchology, mineralogy — Falls of the Konomic and Kakala — Population and antiquity of the settlement of Green Bay — Appearances of a tide, not sustained 186

Chapter XVIII

The expedition traces the west shores of Lake Michigan southerly to Chicago — Outline of the journey along this coast — Sites of Manitoowoc, Sheboigan, Milwaukie, Racine, and Chicago, being the present chief towns and cities of Wisconsin and Rlinois on the west shores of that Lake — Final reorganization of the party and departure from Chicago 193

Chapter XIX

South and Eastern borders of Lake Michigan — Their Flora and Fauna — Incidents of the journey — Topography — Geology, Botany, and Mineralogy — Indian Tribes — Burial-place of Marquette — Ruins of the post of old Mackinac — Reach Michilimackinac after a canoe journey north of four hundred miles . . . 200

Chapter XX

Topographical survey of the northern shores of Green Bay and of the entire basin of Lake Michigan — Geological and Mineralogical indicia of the coast line — Era of sailing vessels and of the steamboat on the lakes — Route along the Huron coast, and return of the expedition to Detroit CONTENTS. XIX EXPEDITION OF 1832. Discovert of the Source of the Mississippi River in Itasca Lake . . 221

Chapter XXI

The search for the veritable source of the Mississippi is resumed. — Ascent to Cass Lake, the prior point of discovery — Pursue the river westerly, through the Andrusian Lakes and up the Metoswa Rapids, forty-five miles — Queen Anne's Lake 223

Chapter XXII

Ascent of the Mississippi above Queen Anne's Lake — Reach the primary forks of the river — Ascend the left-hand, or minor branch — Lake Irving — Lake Marquette —Lake La Salle — Lake Plantagenet — Encamp at the Naiwa rapids at the base of the Height of Land, or Itasca Summit 231

Chapter XXVII

Complete the exploration of the Crow-Wing River of Minnesota— Indian council- Reach St. Anthony's Falls— Council with the Sioux— Ascent and exploration of the River St. Croix and Misakoda, or Broule", of Lake Superior— Return of the party to St. Mary's Falls, Michigan XX CONTENTS.

Appendix

NO. 1. Departmental Reports 279 General Cass's Official Report 280 " " Memoir suggesting further Explorations .... 285 " " Personal Testimonial 287 " " Communication on Indian Hieroglyphics, &c. . . . 430 " " Queries respecting Indian History, &c 438 Indian History and Languages 430 Topography and Astronomy ......... 288 Mineralogy and Geology 292 Mr. Schoolcraft's Report on Copper Mines 292 " " on Geology and Mineralogy ..... 303 " " on the Value of the Mineral Lands on Lake Superior 362 " Memoir on the Geology of Western New York . . . 381 " on the Elementary Sounds of the Chippewa Language . 442 Botany 408 Zoology 408 Meteorology • . . . 418

APPENDIX.

NO. 2. Indian Language ............ 453 Mr. Schoolcraft's Essay on the Indian Substantive 453 " " on the Noun-Adjective 489 " on the Principles of the Pronoun .... 502 Natural History 515 Conchology % 515 Botany 519 Mineralogy and Geology . ■ 526 Mr. Schoolcraft's Remarks on the Occurrence of Silver .... 531 General List of Mineral Localities ..... 534 " Geological Outline of Taquimenon Valley .... 537 " Suggestions respecting the Epoch of the St. Mary's Sandstone

Introduction

. Charlevoix informs us that the discovery of the Mississippi River is due to father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, who mani fested the most unwearied enterprise in exploring the northwestern regions of New France ; and after laying the foundation of Michilimackinac, proceeded, in company with Sieur Joliet, up the Fox River of Green Bay, and, crossing the portage into the "Wisconsin, first entered the Mississippi m 1673. Robert de la Salle, to whom the merit of this discovery is generally attributed, embarked at Rochelle, on his first voyage of dis covery, July 14, 1678; reached Quebec in September following, and, proceeding up the St. Lawrence, laid the foundation of Fort Niagara, in the country of the Iroquois, late in the fall of that year. In the following year, he passes up the Niagara River ; estimates the height of the falls at six hundred feet ; and proceed ing through Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, reaches Mickdi mackinac in August.

He then visits the Saidt de St. Marie, and returning to Michilimackinac, continues his voyage to the south, with a view of striking the Mississippi River; passes into the lake of the Illinois ; touches at Green Bay ; and enters the River St. Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, where he builds a fort, in the country of the Miamies. In December of the same year, he crosses the portage between the St. Joseph's and the Illinois ; descends the latter to the lake, and builds a fort in the midst of the tribes of the Illinois, which he calls Crevecoeur. Here he makes a stand ; sends persons out to explore the Mississippi, traffics with the Indians, among all of whom he finds abundance of Indian corn ; and returns to Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, in 1680. He revisits Fort Crevecoeur

INTRODUCTION.

. late in the autumn of the following year, and finally descends the Illinois, to its junction with the Mississippi, and thence to the embouchure of the latter in the Gulf of Mexico, where he arrives on the 7th of April, 1683, and calculates the latitude between 23° and 24° north. The Spaniards had previously sought in vain for the mouth of this stream, and bestowed upon it, in anticipation, the name of Del Rio Ascondido. La Salle now returns to Quebec, by way of the Lakes, and from thence to France, where he is well received by the king, who grants him an outfit of four ships, and two hundred men, to enable him to continue his discoveries, and found a colony in the newly discovered territories. He leaves Rochelle in July, 1684, reaches the Bay of St. Louis, which is fifty leagues south of the Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico, in February following, where he builds a fort, founds a settlement, and is finally assassinated by one of his own party.