La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

314 ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. [1682.itsremains, dragged timber up the rugged pathway,and encircled the summit with a palisade. 1Thus the winter passed, and meanwhile the work1 " Starved Rock " perfectly answers, in every respect, to theindications of the contemporary maps and documents concerning"Le Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is laiddown on several contemporary maps, besides the great map of LaSalle's discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the southside of the river ; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, whichhas been supposed to be the site of the fort, is on the north. Thelatter is crowned by a plateau of great extent, is but sixty feet high,is accessible at many points, and would require a large force todefend it ; whereas La Salle chose " Le Rocher," because a few mencould hold it against a multitude. Charlevoix, in 1721, describesboth rocks, and says that the top of Buffalo Rock had been occupiedby the Miami village, so that it was known as Le Fort desMiamis.This is confirmed by Joutel, who found the Miamis hereCharlevoix then speaks of " Le Rocher," calling it by thatin 1687.name ; says that it is about a league below, on the left or southside, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking like a fortress onthe border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at the top,which, he thinks, were made by the Illinois (Journal Historique, Let.xxvii.), though his countrymen had occupied it only three yearsbefore. " The French reside on the rock (Le Rocher), which isvery lofty and impregnable." (MemAr on Western Indians, 1718, inN. Y. Col. Docs., ix. 890.) St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699,mentions it as " Le Vieux Fort," and says that it is " a rock abouta hundred feet high at the edge of the river, where M. de la Sallebuilt a fort, since abandoned." (Journal de St. Cosme.) Joutel,who was here in 1687, says, " Fort St. Louis is on a steep rock,about two hundred feet high, with the river running at its base."He adds that its only defences were palisades. The true height, asstated above, is about a hundred and twenty-five feet.A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said that,in the Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a fewyears after the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed bythe Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At lengththey were all destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of'Starved Rock."For other proofi concerning this locality, see ante, 239.