CHAPTER IV
THE next expedition sent to the valley of the Mississippi was led by Cavalier de La Salle. He was a young and ambitious Frenchman who had recently come to New France; a man of great courage and robust constitution. He was highly educated and well equipped for the work. Governor Frontenac heartily cooperated with La Salle in his plans to explore the river to its mouth.
The expedition embarked on Lake Frontenac (Ontario) on the 18th of November, 1678. When it reached Niagara Falls the weather had become so cold that it was necessary to go into winter quarters. In the spring reinforcements came, and among them was Father Louis Hennepin, a daring Franciscan friar, who had been a missionary among the Indians. As the vessel could not proceed beyond the falls, another had to be built, detaining the explorer for six months. On the 7th of August, 1679, they reëmbarked and reached Green Bay on the 8th of October.
Collecting a load of furs, La Salle sent his vessel back with them and set out with thirty-five men for the Illinois River. Sixty miles below he erected a fort and opened trade with the Indians. Here the party remained until March, 1680, when a company of seven, led by Father Hennepin, was sent down the Illinois River to explore the upper Mississippi Valley. These men ascended the river in a canoe for 800 miles, past the eastern shore of Clayton and Allamakee counties in Iowa as well as the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota. They reached the falls above the present site of St. Paul, and gave them the name of St. Anthony.
