A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

1731-1750.] FRANCE FORTIFIES THE WEST. 57While making this bold push against their neighborsof the South, the French did not forget theWest; and towards the middle of thecentury theyhad occupied points controlling all the chief waterwaysbetween Canada and Louisiana.the passage from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.Niagara heldDetroitclosed the entrance to Lake Huron, and Michilimackinacguarded the point where Lake Huron isjoined by Lakes Michigan and Superior; wliile thefort called La Baye, at the head of Green Bay,stopped the way to the Mississippi by Marquette's oldroute of Fox River and the Wisconsin. Anotherroute to the Mississippi was controlled by a post onthe Maumee to watch the carrying-place between thatriver and the Wabash, and by another on the Wabashwhere Vincennes now stands. La Salle's route, byway of the Kankakee and the Illinois, was barred bya fort on the St. Joseph; and even if, in spite ofthese obstructions, an enemy should reach the Mississippiby any of its northern affluents, the cannon ofFort Chartres would prevent him from descending it.These various western forts,except Fort Chartresand Fort Niagara, which were afterwards rebuilt,one in stone and thetheother in earth, were stockadesof no strength against cannon. Slight as they were,their establishment was costly ; and as the King, towhom Canada was a yearly loss, grudged every francspent upon it, means were contrived to make themself-supporting. Each of them was a station of thefur-trade, and the position of most of them had been