Mexico, and their provisions well nigh exhausted, they resolved to return.
Father Marquette was the first to observe the muddy waters of the Peketanoni, as he called the Missouri. He represents it as being a very large river, flowing from the north-west, “on which are prodigous nations who use wooden canoes.”[1] From the Indians he gathered the idea that by following this river to its head waters, and crossing a narrow portage, another stream might be found, flowing down through a large lake to the “Red Sea,” or Gulf of California. In the map accompanying his journal he lays down the general course of the Missouri for one hundred miles pretty accurately.
The account of La Hontan's travels through the West, which he dates Feb. 28, 1689, would give him the honor of being the discoverer and explorer of the Missouri, were it entitled to credibility. But it contains so many palpable contradictions and errors that historians refuse to acknowledge its claims.
The next explorer of the Mississippi was the celebrated Robert De La Salle. Though of noble family, on being educated a Jesuit, he lost his patrimony. Obtaining an honorable discharge from this order, he came to Canada in 1667 a penniless, yet ambitious adventurer. While the single hearted Marquette was floating upon the western waters, he was engaged in the fur traffic, revolving plans for future achievements. To discover a short route to China across the western continent was his favorite scheme. When he learned Marquette's discoveries, he conceived the design for the future greatness of France and his own glory of colonizing the valley of the Mississippi and connecting Canada and the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of fortifications. What a mighty undertaking for a poor, unknown wanderer! But this idea that sprung from the warm and fertile brain of La Salle ultimately electrified all France. He lays his plans
- ↑ Among them were the “Kansas.”
