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

1671.] THE MISSISSIPPI. 33he discovered the Ohio may then he regarded asestablished. That he descended it to the Mississippi,he himself does not pretend ; nor is there reason tobelieve that he did so.With regard to his alleged voyage down theIllinois, the case is different. Here, he is reportedto have made a statement which admits but one interpretation,— that of the discovery by him of theMississippi prior to its discovery by Joliet andMarquette. This statement is attributed to a man) /not prone to vaunt his own exploits, who never pro-lx/claimed them in print, and whose testimony, even in \his own case, must therefore have weight. But itcomesto us through the medium of a person strongly ^.*biassed in favor of La Salle, and against Marquetteand the Jesuits.Seven years had passed since the alleged discovery,and La Salle had not before laid claim to it; althoughit was matter of notoriety that during five years ithad been claimed by Joliet, and that his claim wasgenerally admitted. The correspondence of thegovernor and the intendant is silent as to La Salle'shaving penetrated to the Mississippi, though theattempt was made under the auspices of the latter,as his own letters declare; while both had the discoveryof the great river earnestly at heart. Thegovernor, Frontenac, La Salle's ardent supporter andde la Salle est descendu." The Mississippi is not represented onthis map ; but— and this is very significant, as indicating the extentof La Salle's exploration of the following year — a amall part ofthe upper Illinois is laid down.