He left Canada early in December, 1681, and by
February 6, 1682, reached the majestic flood of the mighty stream. On the 24th, they ascended the Chickasaw Bluff's, and, while waiting to find a sailor who had strayed away, erected Fort Prudhomme. They passed several Indian villages further down the river, in some of which they met with no little opposition. Proceeding onward, ere-long they encountered the tide of the sea, and
April 6, they emerged on the broad bosom of the
Gulf, "tossing its restless billows, limitless, voiceless and lonely as when born of chaos, without a
sign of life."
Coasting about a short time on the shores of the Gulf, the party returned until a sufficiently dry place was reached to effect a landing. Here another cross was raised, also a column, on which was inscribed these words:
" Louis le Grand, Roi de France et de Navarre, Regne; Le Neuvieme, Avril., 1682. " *
"The whole party," says a "proces verbal," in the archives of France, "chanted the Te Deum, the Exanudiat and the Domine salvum fac Regem and then after a salute of fire-arms and cries of Vice le Roi, La Salle, standing near the column, said in a loud voice in French :
" In the name of the most high, mighty, invin- cible and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty two, I, in virtue of the commission of His Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of His Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbor, ports, bays, adjacent straights, and all the nations, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers, comprised in the extent of said Louisiana, from the north of the great river St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio, Alighin, Sipore or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chavunons, Chickachaws, and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance; as also along the river Colbert or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein from its source beyond the Kious or Nadouessious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Illinois, Mesigameas, Natchez, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance, either by ourselves or others in our behalf, as far as its mouth at the sea or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of its elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the River of Palms; upon the assurance which we have received from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the river Colbert, hereby protesting against all those who may in future undertake to invade any or all of these countries, peoples or lands, to the prejudice of the right of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations herein named."
The whole assembly responded with shouts and the salutes of fire-arms. The Sieur de La Salle caused to be planted at the foot of the column a plate of lead, on one side of which was inscribed the arms of France and the following Latin inscription:
Robertvs Cavellier, cvm Domino de Tonly, Legato, R. P. Zenobi Membro, Recollecto, et, Viginti Gallis Primos Hoc Flvmen inde ab ilineorvni Pago, enavigavit, ejvsqve ostivm fecit Pervivvm, nono Aprilis cio iae LXXXII
The whole proceedings were acknowledged before La Metaire, a notary, and the conquest was considered complete.
Thus was the foundation of France laid in the new republic, and thus did she lay claim to the Northwest, which now includes Ohio, and the county, whose history this book perpetuates.
La Salle and his party returned to Canada soon after, and again that country, and France itself, rang with anthems of exultation. He went on to France, where he received the highest honors. He was given a fleet, and sailors as well as colonists to return to the New World by way of a southern voyage, expecting to find the mouth of the Mississippi by an ocean course. Sailing past the outlets, he was wrecked on the coast of Texas, and in his vain endeavors to find the river or return to Canada, he became lost on the plains of Arkansas, where he, in 1687, was basely murdered by one of his followers. "You are down now, Grand Bashaw," exclaimed his slayer, and despoiling his remains, they left them to be devoured by wild beasts. To such an ignominious end came this daring, bold adventurer. Alone in the wilderness, he was left, with no monument but the vast realm he had discovered, on whose bosom he was left without covering and without protection.
" For force of will and vast conception; for various knowledge, and quick adaptation of his genius
- Louis the Great, King of France and of Navarre, reigning the ninth day of April, 1682.
