Part 1

JOUTEL’S JOURNAL OF LA SALLE’S LAST VOYAGE.

Edition limited to five hundred copies printed from type of which this is No.____

Joutel’s Journal of La Salle’s Last Voyage 1684–7

WITH A FRONTISPIECE OF GUDEBROD’S STATUE OF LA SALLE AND THE MAP OF THE ORIGINAL FRENCH EDITION, PARIS 1713, IN FACSIMILE.

NEW EDITION WITH HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION, ANNOTATIONS AND INDEX BY _HENRY REED STILES, A. M., M. D._

TO WHICH IS ADDED A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI BY _APPLETON P. C. GRIFFIN_, OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

ALBANY, N. Y. JOSEPH McDONOUGH 1906

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1906 BY JOSEPH McDONOUGH, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington.

TO THE MEMORY OF

JOHN GILMARY SHEA, LL. D.,

THE INDEFATIGABLE HISTORIAN OF THE MISSIONS, LITERATURE AND HISTORY OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NORTH AMERICA, AND A MAN OF MODEST, PIOUS AND BLAMELESS LIFE THIS, THE FINAL VOLUME OF A SERIES PROJECTED BY HIMSELF, OVER FORTY YEARS AGO, IS SINCERELY DEDICATED BY THE PUBLISHER AND EDITOR.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE.

This volume is the concluding one of a series projected by the late JOHN GILMARY SHEA, LL. D., on the “Discovery and Explorations of the Mississippi Valley.” The initial volume, issued in 1852, comprises the Narratives of Marquette, Allouez, Membré, Hennepin and Anastase Douay. The second, issued in 1861, contains those of Cavelier, St. Cosme, Le Seuer, Gravier and Guignas.

The present volume, giving Joutel’s Journal of La Salle’s third and last voyage, is reprinted from the first English translation of 1714, of the original French edition of 1713.

A _facsimile_ reprint of the above English edition was issued (privately) by the Caxton Club of Chicago, in 1896, in an edition of 203 copies, and enriched by textual notes by Prof. MELVILLE B. ANDERSON, now of Menlo Park, California,—the result of his careful collation of the English with the French original. These notes, by the special permission of Mr. Anderson, have been incorporated in the present volume and indicated by his initials.

With a view, also, to render this edition as compendious a source of reference as possible for the student of this subject, we have added, by the courtesy of the author, the exceedingly full and valuable “Bibliography of the Discovery and Explorations in the Mississippi Valley,” by Mr. APPLETON P. C. GRIFFIN, formerly of the Boston Public Library, now Chief Bibliographer of the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Dedication v

Publisher’s Note vi

Historical Introduction 1

Biographical Notice of Joutel 27

Original Title Page in facsimile 31

The French Bookseller to the reader 33

The Preface written by Sieur de Mitchell 47

Joutel’s Journal with notes and annotations 53

Remainder of Letter by he who revis’d this Journal, being sequel to same 203

Letters Patent granted by the King of France to M. Crozat 212

Bibliography of “The Discovery of the Mississippi,” by Appleton P. C. Griffin 221

Index 241

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Heliotype reproduction of Gudebrod’s Statue of La Salle produced for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at Saint Louis, 1904 _Frontispiece_

Reproduction in facsimile of Joutel’s Map originally published in the Paris edition of 1713 _End of volume_

_Historical Introduction._

LA SALLE’S TWO PREVIOUS VOYAGES.

The earliest French explorers of the seventeenth century, among the great lakes and rivers of the North American continent,—Champlain, Nicolet, Marquette, Hennepin, Joliet and La Salle—were men of no common mould. Whether clerics, imbued with the enthusiasm of their holy faith, or laymen, dominated by the love of adventure and the prospect of adding to the wealth and glory of their beloved France, their ideals were sublime, their labors prodigious, their sufferings heroic, their perseverance indomitable. They possessed “the courage of their convictions;” and despite the difficulties, dangers, and reverses which befell them, their successive explorations all contributed to the result finally achieved by La Salle,—the discovery of the “Father of Waters”—the Mississippi.

“Second only to Champlain, among the heroes of Canadian history,” says John Fiske,[1] “stands Robert Cavelier de la Salle—a man of iron, if ever there was one—a man austere and cold in manner, and endowed with such indomitable pluck and perseverance as have never been surpassed in the world. He did more than any other man to extend the dominion of France in the New World. As Champlain had founded the colony of Canada, and opened the way to the great lakes, so La Salle completed the discovery of the Mississippi, and added to the French possessions the vast province of Louisiana.”

René Robert Cavelier, better known as La Salle, from the name of the family’s estate, was born, in 1643, at Rouen, Normandy, France. The Caveliers, though not ennobled, were citizens of marked social and some official distinction in that ancient and wealthy city. His father, Jean, and his uncle Henri, were rich merchants, and the latter, at least, was one of the “Hundred Associates” of Cardinal Richelieu, a syndicate largely interested in trade with the territorial possessions of France, in America.[2] Being an earnest Catholic, Robert, at an early age, became connected with the Jesuits, and in their schools acquired an excellent education, especially in the higher mathematics and the exact sciences. His nature, however, was one which chafed under the restrictions of a monastic order; and he subsequently withdrew from them, though on good terms, and with a reputation as a bright scholar, and of unimpeachable morals. Free to seek a wider field for his activities than that offered by an ecclesiastical career, his attention was drawn to Canada, where an elder brother, John Cavelier, a priest of the Sulpitian order, was then residing. But, as his connection with and withdrawal from the Jesuit order had—under a recent French law—deprived him of any claim upon the estate of his recently deceased father, he lacked the means needed for the voyage thither. Finally, he obtained an allowance (probably from his family) of 300 or 400 livres, with which slender sum he sailed to seek his fortune, in the spring of 1666.

Shortly after his arrival at Montreal, he received from the Superior of the Sulpitian Seminary, which had recently become the feudal lord of that city, a large grant of land (a “seigniory”) in that vicinity.[3] This he immediately proceeded to improve, by the introduction of new settlers as tenants, the erection of buildings, and the cultivation of the soil. It is probable, however, that even before coming to Canada he had outlined to himself a much wider sphere of activity. For, with the prevision which was a feature of his character, he spent much of his time during the first two years of his life at La Chine, in mastering the Indian languages, especially those of the Iroquois and Algonquin dialects. And in this, he evidently struck upon the initial point of his future career. For, from a party of Senecas who visited with him several weeks at his seigniory, he learned of a great river (which they called the Ohio) “flowing into the sea,” and only to be reached by a journey of eight or nine months. This, he conceived, might be the river of which he had already heard as emptying into the “Vermilion Sea,” or Gulf of California, and, thinking that perchance it might possibly prove to be a northwest route to China, he projected a voyage of discovery thither.[4] With this in view he planned a visit to the Senecas, to learn all that they might know in relation to the matter. Communicating his plans to the Governor (Courcelle) and the Intendant (Talon) of Canada, he received from them the necessary authorization to make the attempt. But first, as it must be made at his own expense, and as he had already spent all his means upon the improvement of his seigniory, he was obliged to sell his lands, etc., mainly to the Seminary, from which he had obtained them. He, also, though perhaps rather unfortunately, joined his interests with those of the Sulpitians, in a voyage of discovery which that order were about to make for missionary purposes, in the same direction.

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION, 1669–1675.

This joint expedition, under command of La Salle, started from La Chine, July 6th, 1669, with the Ohio river as its objective point. It consisted of 4 canoes, and 15 men of La Salle’s party; 3 canoes and 7 men of the Sulpitian contingent, and 2 canoes of Seneca Indians, acting as guides—9 canoes and 24 men in all. Thirty-five days travel brought them to the Seneca village (Irondequoit, on the south side of Lake Ontario), where they found a cordial welcome, but, also, difficulty in obtaining guides. While thus delayed, there arrived in camp two Frenchmen, one of whom was Louis Joliet, fur-trader and voyageur, himself an honorable figure in the annals of western discovery. Joliet, who had visited the upper lakes, whither he had been sent by Talon, the French Intendant at Montreal, to discover and report upon the copper mines of Lake Superior, showed to the priests of La Salle’s party a map which he had made of that region, and of which he gave them a copy; and he told them, moreover, of the heathenish condition of the Pottawatomies and other tribes dwelling in those parts. This so inflamed the religious zeal of the priests that they incontinently lost all their interest in the Ohio project, and determined to deflect their course toward the lake region, despite all the objections which La Salle could urge. So that, being firmly set in his own designs, he urged a recent illness as his excuse for parting with them; and the Sulpitians started northward, and got back to Montreal in June, 1670, with nothing to show (owing to sundry misfortunes and losses, especially that of their altar-service, without which they could not convert the heathen) either in the way of discovery, or of missionary results. La Salle’s movements, after this “parting of the ways,” and for two years following, are somewhat involved in obscurity. There is little doubt, however, that he was busily engaged in explorations and discoveries of some importance.[5] Certain it is, that he discovered the Ohio, since his own assertion of the fact, in a memoir addressed to Count Frontenac, in 1677, is confirmed by the testimony of his rival, Joliet, upon whose two maps of the Mississippi and the great lakes, the Ohio is depicted with an inscription stating that it had been explored by La Salle.

The evidence of his having, on this voyage, reached and descended the Mississippi is not so clear. What militates most strongly against the assumption that he did so, is the fact, that, though he kept journals and made maps of this trip, which were, as late as 1765, in possession of a niece then living in France, at an advanced age; yet, when, after La Salle’s death, this niece together with an uncle and a nephew of the explorer petitioned the King for a certain grant in consideration of the discoveries made by their distinguished relative, they made no mention of such discovery, as they would most likely have done if they had known of it.

But the discovery of the Illinois river must, undoubtedly, be credited to him.

Returning to Canada, from his long wanderings, he found great changes going on in that country. It was no longer simply a missionary field, but was fast assuming the form and character of a colony. A royal Viceroy, or Governor-General, had taken the place of the former Governor and Intendant; and the controlling interests of the Sulpitian order were now largely overshadowed by those of the Jesuits. Both Count Frontenac, the Governor, and the Intendant Talon, were men of similar character and held like views with La Salle. Like him, they entertained plans of wider scope than those of any previous Canadian officials. And when he broached his plan of finding and opening up of the Mississippi, and the rich southern country through which it ran, and of fortifying along its course, and especially at its outlet, against the incursions of the Spanish and English, he enlisted their ready sympathy. Thus, leaving to the Jesuits, with a dislike of whom they all three seemed to have been imbued, the frozen Canadian country; and to the English, that portion of the continent east of the Alleghanies, they proposed to themselves to conquer the remainder of this vast territory for the King of France.

The generally accepted French policy of that day, in regard to the acquisition of new territory in North America, was that the discovery of a great river gave to all the territory drained by such river an inchoate (or inceptive) title, which later could be completed by occupation. It was the attempt to carry out this policy which cost (and lost) France the Seven Years War, in which the politics and history of America and Europe became inextricably mixed. And of this policy, Count Frontenac, the Governor, Talon, the Intendant, and La Salle, the explorer, now became the leading exponents in Canada. They were all exceptionally strong men, full of ambitions and untiring energy, and their scheme combined not only military occupation, but the reclamation of the Indian tribes and their concentration around the proposed chain of French forts, together with colonies of French immigrants of an agricultural and industrial character, the extension of the buffalo fur-trade, etc.—in fact a most enchanting _mirage_ of future civilization and Christianity in the vast central area of this continent. In itself, the scheme was too vast to be more than a sketch of future possibilities; and, moreover, it ignored certain needs and facts which were most important to its success. For instance, the French immigration to this country, at that time, was totally inadequate to furnish settlers enough, and with sufficient rapidity to ensure the successful colonization of the new territory. Again, the pacification among themselves, of the numerous and warring Indian tribes which occupied this western continent, and the securing of their peaceful and friendly co-operation with the whites, was a work almost impossible within the limits of a generation or more—and, until it was done, colonization would be slow, and its difficulties and dangers deterrent to such emigration. Another inherent point of weakness in the plan was the difficulty of keeping in touch with and depending upon a home government thousands of miles away, as well as the uncertain nature of such dependence in the political, commercial, and ecclesiastical conflicts which would be apt to arise, and necessarily would have to be adjusted, more or less, through the medium of Colonial officials—whose motives would not always be free from the imputation of self-interest.

The jealousy of the Jesuits, now conscious of their waning power in the affairs of the new Colonial _régime_, had always been felt by La Salle—and probably with good reason—to be inimical to his plans; and the future held out no hope of its being less persistent or bitter.

The personality of the explorer, also, weighed fully as much against, as for, the success of his undertaking. By nature cold, reserved, and reticent, he was not a genial man; and possessed little or none of that magnetism which wins men’s hearts. Absorbed, as he was, with the details of his great plans, and the responsibilities which they imposed upon him, he was ever self-contained and self-repressed. Even the few most faithful and trusted companions of his labors could hardly be considered as on terms of intimacy with him. And the necessity of maintaining the strictest discipline among the class of men by whose following and aid he had to carry on his work—voyageurs, courriers des bois, traders, canoeists, and Indians—who comprehended him not, but were simply compelled by the force of his will, certainly did not tend to establish that community of interest which should have existed between them. It was, in fact, this lacking quality in an otherwise magnificent character, which was ever thwarting his plans and which rendered his brief career of eight years in exploration work an almost uninterrupted record of disaster—leading—though with one momentary triumph—to a tragic end.

Omniscience is denied to Man. It belongs only to the Creator, who has given to men, in its place, the limited faculty of foresight. And, with such foresight as they had, the three promoters of the fortunes of New France—Count Frontenac, Talon, and La Salle—formulated their plans, and in the autumn of 1674 the latter sailed for France, to obtain the royal sanction and the moneyed help which were needed. Whatever the strength or the weaknesses of their project, money was their _sine qua non_.

_La Salle’s first return to France._ Bearing strong letters of recommendation from Frontenac to the French Minister of State, Colbert,[6] he met with a cordial reception at home. In response to his petitions to the King, he was, in consideration of his services as an explorer, raised to the ranks of the untitled nobility[7] and was granted the seigniory of the new post on Lake Ontario, which, in honor to his patron, was named Fort Frontenac. He was also invested with the command of the same, together with that of the settlement around it, subject to the authority of his friend the Governor-General. On his part he undertook to repay to the King the cost of the fort, to maintain it, at his own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides laborers; to form a French colony around it, as well as one of domesticated Indians near by; to build a church and support one or more Récollet friars.

He had but little trouble, now that he was in the sunshine of royal favor, in obtaining from his gratified family and friends the needed funds; and on his return to Canada (1675), proceeded to comply with the terms of his seigniorial grant. Within two years, the original wooden fort was replaced by a much larger one of cut stone, on the land side, and on the outer side by palisades, and its walls manned by nine small cannon. On the inside it contained barracks, a guard-house, officers’ quarters, a forge, a well, a mill, and a bakery—all of substantial build. Its garrison consisted of two officers, a surgeon, and ten or twelve soldiers, with a large number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men. Near the two villages which stretched along the shore south of the fort (one of French farm-tenants, the other of friendly Iroquois) were the chapel and residence of two Récollet friars. Over a hundred (French) acres of cleared and cultivated land, and cattle, fowl, and swine, brought from Montreal, gave ample evidence of permanent occupation; and four vessels for lake and river navigation, as well as a fleet of canoes, hinted strongly at the seignior’s predilection for travel and exploration. Feudal lord of the entire region around him (for the nearest settlement was a week’s journey distant), commander of a garrison paid by himself, founder and patron of a church, he was now literally “master of all which he surveyed;” and had he been content so to remain, would soon have become a merchant-prince, for, ere long, as estimated by a friend, he was “making more than 25,000 livres a year.”

His cup of success, however, was not without its infusion of bitterness. He found himself in a very maelstrom of opposition and detraction, arising from the jealousy of those interested in the Montreal fur-trade, (especially among the Jesuits), who saw in the royal favors conferred on La Salle the ultimate downfall of their own interests. In this violent imbroglio of commercial, political and priestly rivalry, envy, malice, contemptible, and persistent espionage, and even poison, played their respective parts.

Meanwhile, the free life of Nature was wooing his spirit, the fever of exploration was still strong upon him; and he valued the position he had attained only as a stepping-stone to the realization of his life-long dream.

_La Salle’s second return visit to France._ So, in the autumn of 1677, leaving his fort and seigniory in charge of a trusted lieutenant, La Forest, who was also one of his partners in the proposed fur-trade, La Salle sailed again for France. There, lodged modestly in a rather obscure quarter of Paris, he renewed the friendships and associations which he had formed during his previous visit; and added to them by making new and valuable friends. Among these were the Marquis de Seignelay, the Prince de Conti, La Motte de Sussière, and last but not least, Henri de Tonti, thenceforth his foremost companion in his Western labors.[8] La Salle also received from the King a royal patent authorizing him to explore and occupy the Mississippi country, “through which, to all appearances, a way may be found to Mexico.” This patent, confirmatory of that granted him in 1675, imposed upon him the erection and maintenance of such forts as he might deem necessary, and gave him a monopoly for five years of the trade in buffalo hides. The whole expense was to be borne (as was the custom of the monarchs of that day, in granting lands which they did not own, and the privileges which such grants carried with them) by the grantee. The fur-trade of the Montreal colony was not to be interfered with; nor did the patent include any provision or encouragement of the industrial or colonization scheme which had fully taken possession of La Salle’s mind. Content, however, with what he could get in the way of kingly favor—on the principle, perhaps, that “half a loaf is better than no loaf,” the adventurer turned his attention to securing the needed funds, and soon, by loans from friends and family, and by mortgages upon his Fort Frontenac property, had raised sufficient to carry out his purpose.

On the 14th July, 1678, Le Sieur La Salle, as he must thenceforth be called, with Tonti, La Motte, and 30 men, mostly ship carpenters, with a cargo of iron, cordage, anchors, etc., sufficient for the equipment of two vessels, set sail for Quebec, where they arrived after a two months’ voyage. Here they met with Father Hennepin, a Récollet friar, who had come to Canada three years before, and whose name from this point is prominently connected with American Western exploration.[9]