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

34 LA SALLE AND THE SULPITTANS. [1671.ally, believed in 1672, as his letters show, that theMississippi flowed into the Gulf of California ; and,two years later,its discovery by Joliet. 1he announces to the minister ColbertAfter La Salle's death, hisbrother, his nephew, and his niece addressed a memorialto the king, petitioning for certain grants inconsideration of the discoveries of their relative,which they specify at some length ;but they do notpretend that he reached the Mississippi before hisexpeditions of 1679 to 1682. 2 This silence is the^/more significant, as it is this very niece who hadpossession of the papers in which La Salle recountsthe journeys of which the issues are in question. 31 Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre, 14 Nov., 1674. He here speaksof " la grande riviere qu'il [Joliet] a trouvee, qui va du nord au sud,et qui est aussi large que celle du Saint-Laurent vis-a-vis de Quebec."Four years later, Frontenac speaks slightingly of Joliet, butneither denies his discovery of the Mississippi, nor claims it for LaSalle, in whose interest he writes.a Papiers de Famille; Memoire prisente au Roi. The following isan extract: "II parvient . . . jusqu'a la riviere des Illinois. IIyconstruisit un fort situe* a 350 lieues au-dela du fort de Frontenac,et suivant ensuite le cours de cette riviere, il trouva qu'elle se jettoitdans un grand fleuve appelle' par ceux du pays Mississippi, c'est adire grande eau, environ cent lieues au-dessous du fort qu'il venoitde construire." This fort was Fort Crevecoeur, built in 1680, nearthe site of Peoria. The memoir goes on to relate the descent of LaSalle to the Gulf, which concluded this expedition of 1679-82.1The following is an extract, given by Margry, from a letter ofthe aged Madeleine Cavelier, dated 21 FeVrier, 1756, and addressedto her nephew, M. Le Baillif, who had applied for the papers inbehalf of the minister, Silhouette " : J'ay cherche* une occasion sftrepour vous anvoye' les papiers de M. de la Salle. II y a des cartesque j'ay jointe a ces papiers, qui doivent prouver que, en 1676, M.de Lasalle avet dCja fet deux voyages en ces decouverte, puisqu'il7 avet une carte, que je vous envoye, par laquelle il est fait men-