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This "Beautiful" river was discovered
by Robert Cavalier de LaSalle in 1669, four years before the discovery
of the Mississippi by Joliet and Marquette.
While LaSalle was at his trading post on the St. Lawrence, he found leisure
to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois. He
not only desired to facilitate his intercourse in trade, but he longed
to travel and explore the unknown regions of the West. An incident soon
occurred which decided him to fit out an exploring expedition.
While conversing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the
Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea, but at such a
distance that it required eight months to reach its mouth. In this statement
the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream. LaSalle
believing, as most of the French at that period did, that the great rivers
flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to embark
in the enterprise of discovering a route across the continent to the commerce
of China and Japan.
He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Governor.
His eloquent appeal prevailed. The Governor and the Intendant, Talon,
issued letters patent authorizing the enterprise, but made no provision
to defray the expenses. At this juncture the seminary of St. Sulpice decided
to send out missionaries in connection with the expedition, and LaSalle
offering to sell his improvements at LaChine to raise money, the offer
was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred dollars were
raised, with which LaSalle purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies
for the outfit.
On the 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twenty-four persons, embarked
in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence; two additional canoes carried the
Indian guides. In three days they were gliding over the bosom of Lake
Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the Seneca village on
the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present City of Rochester,
New York. Here they expected to procure guides to conduct them to the
Ohio, but in this they were disappointed.
The Indians seemed unfriendly to the enterprise. LaSalle suspected that
the Jesuits had prejudiced their minds against his plans. After waiting
a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian
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from the Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, who
assured them that they could there find guides, and offered to conduct them
thence.
On their way they passed the mouth of the Niagara River, when they heard
for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving
[picture inserted of]
HIGH BRIDGE, LAKE BLUFF, LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS.. |
among the Iroquois, they met with a friendly reception, and learned from
a Shawanee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks. Delighted
with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume their journey;
but just as they were about to start they heard of the arrival of two
Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved to be Louis Joliet,
afterwards famous as an explorer in the West. He
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and was on his way back to Quebec. He gave the missionaries
a map of the country he had explored in the lake region, together with an
account of the condition of the Indians in that quarter. This induced the
priests to determine on leaving the expedition and going to Lake Superior.
LaSalle warned them that the Jesuits were probably occupying that field,
and that they would meet with a cold reception. Nevertheless they persisted
in their purpose, and after worship on the lake shore, parted from LaSalle.
On arriving at Lake Superior, they found, as LaSalle had predicted, the
Jesuit Fathers, Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field.
These zealous disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted no assistance
from St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him their patron saint; and
thus repulsed, they returned to Montreal the following June without having
made a single discovery or converted a single Indian.
After parting with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Iroquois village
at Onondaga, where he obtained guides, and passing thence to a tributary
of the Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as far as the
falls at Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by LaSalle, the persevering
and successful French explorer of the West, in 1669.
The account of the latter part of his journey is found in an anonymous
paper, which purports to have been taken from the lips of LaSalle himself
during a subsequent visit to Paris. In a letter written to Count Frontenac
in 1667, shortly after the discovery, he himself says that he discovered
the Ohio and descended it to the falls. This was regarded as an indisputable
fact by the French authorities, who claimed the Ohio Valley upon another
ground. When Washington was sent by the colony of Virginia in 1753, to
demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French had built a fort on the
Monongahela, the haughty commandant at Quebec replied: " We claim
the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discoveries of LaSalle, and will
not give it up to the English. Our orders are to make prisoners of every
Englishman found trading in the Ohio Valley." |