La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West
By Francis Parkman (1869)
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman (1869). Unabridged Charlotte Mason living book edition for Form III-VI History.
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Chapter 2: Introduction
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 2
The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De Soto was buried beneath its waters; and it was down its muddy current that his followers fled from the Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a wilderness of misery and death. The discovery was never used, and was well-nigh forgotten. On early Spanish maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from other affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after De Soto's journeyings in the South, before a French explorer reached a northern tributary of the great river.
This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian in all [Pg 4] his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a people without hair or beard, who came from the West to trade with a tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's curiosity; and when, in 1635, or possibly in 1638, he was sent as an ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Perhaps it was with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress of ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes, living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask, and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed westward, ascended Fox [Pg 5] River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended it so far that, as he reported on his return, in three days more he would have reached the sea. The truth seems to be that he mistook the meaning of his Indian guides, and that the "great water" to which he was so near was not the sea, but the Mississippi.
It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a branch of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that about 1670 a certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither statement is sustained by sufficient evidence. It is further affirmed that, in 1678, a party from New England crossed the Mississippi, reached New Mexico, and, returning, reported their discoveries to the authorities of Boston,—a story without proof or probability. Meanwhile, French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached the Faith to a concourse of Indians at the outlet of Lake Superior. Then came the havoc and desolation of the Iroquois war, and for years farther exploration was arrested. In 1658-59 Pierre Esprit Radisson, a Frenchman of St. Malo, and his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart des Groseilliers, penetrated the regions beyond Lake Superior, and roamed westward till, as Radisson declares, they reached what was called the Forked River, "because it has two branches, the one towards the west, the other towards the south, which, we believe, runs towards Mexico,"—which seems to point to the [Pg 6] Mississippi and its great confluent the Missouri. Two years later, the aged Jesuit Ménard attempted to plant a mission on the southern shore of Lake Superior, but perished in the forest by famine or the tomahawk. Allouez succeeded him, explored a part of Lake Superior, and heard, in his turn, of the Sioux and their great river the "Messipi." More and more, the thoughts of the Jesuits—and not of the Jesuits alone—dwelt on this mysterious stream. Through what regions did it flow; and whither would it lead them,—to the South Sea or the "Sea of Virginia;" to Mexico, Japan, or China? The problem was soon to be solved, and the mystery revealed.
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Table of Contents
62 ChaptersEvery chapter below is pre-indexed for oral narration and easy 1-click scheduling into your weekly Charlotte Mason lesson plan.
Chapter 2: Introduction
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 2
Chapter I
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 3
Chapter 4: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 4
Chapter Ii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 5
Chapter 6: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 6
Chapter Iii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 7
Chapter 8: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 8
Chapter Iv
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 9
Chapter 10: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 10
Chapter V
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 11
Chapter 12: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 12
Chapter Vi
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 13
Chapter 14: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 14
Chapter Vii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 15
Chapter 16: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 16
Chapter Viii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 17
Chapter 18: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 18
Chapter Ix
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 19
Chapter 20: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 20
Chapter X
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 21
Chapter 22: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 22
Chapter Xi
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 23
Chapter 24: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 24
Chapter Xii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 25
Chapter 26: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 26
Chapter Xiii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 27
Chapter 28: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 28
Chapter Xiv
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 29
Chapter 30: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 30
Chapter Xv
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 31
Chapter 32: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 32
Chapter Xvi
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 33
Chapter 34: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 34
Chapter Xvii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 35
Chapter 36: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 36
Chapter Xviii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 37
Chapter 38: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 38
Chapter Xix
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 39
Chapter 40: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 40
Chapter Xx
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 41
Chapter 42: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 42
Chapter Xxi
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 43
Chapter 44: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 44
Chapter Xxii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 45
Chapter 46: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 46
Chapter Xxiii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 47
Chapter 48: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 48
Chapter Xxiv
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 49
Chapter 50: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 50
Chapter Xxv
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 51
Chapter 52: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 52
Chapter Xxvi
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 53
Chapter 54: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 54
Chapter Xxvii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 55
Chapter 56: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 56
Chapter Xxviii
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 57
Chapter 58: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 58
Chapter Xxix
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 59
Chapter 60: Footnotes:
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 60
Chapter 61
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 61
Chapter 62
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 62
Chapter 63: New Library Edition
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West by Francis Parkman — Chapter 63
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