Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/94

 CHAPTER V. FORTS AT FRONTENAC. Landing 1 of Count Frontenac — Building of Fort Beauharnois by Du Boucher in 1727 — Work of the Jesuits — Disastrous Freshets — Capture of Father Guingas — Linctot's Stockade — St. Pierre and His Meeting With Washington — Abandon- ment of Stockade — Marin's Fort in 1750 — Final Evacuation by the French — Modern Evidences. Goodhue county boasts of four of the early French forts. The one built in 16!)o by LeSueur has already been mentioned. The three at Frontenac are worthy of extended historical research. Tradition declares that Counl Frontenac, in conducting his explorations along the upper Mississippi, landed at practically the present site of Frontenac in the middle of the seventeenth century, hi the late twenties of the eighteenth century, the French, who had some twenty years previous, abandoned the forts at Prairie Island and Wabasha, sawJthe necessity of again establishing some sort of ;i sovereignty over the territory drained by the waters of the upper Mississippi, the French government having been awakened to activity in the matter by the following communication sent from the governor of Canada. "It is more than obvious that the English are endeavoring to interlope among the Indian nations and attach them unto themselves. They entertain constantly the idea of becoming masters of North America, and are persuaded that the Euro- pean nation which shall be in possession of the territory of the Sioux and Chippewas will in the course of time be also masters of all of the North American continent, because it is there that men live in health and produce strong and robust children."' Accordingly, peace having been concluded by the French with several tribes at Green Bay, another occupancy of the country by the French was determined upon, and Sieur de la Pierriere (also known as La Perriere, or Pierrie, du Bouche and Rene, or Reni, Boucher), with a company which included two Jesuits. Louis Ignatius Guignas and a companion, De Ganor, left 62