Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/85

Rh though partially carried out, the resultant activities did not promote the western exploration. It often seems as if important achievements wait for the men especially fitted—one might almost say inspired or destined to bring them about. At any rate, no progress toward the discovery was made until a Canadian officer, the Sieur de la Verendrye, took up the quest with an ardent enthusiasm which was to endure for many years and meet without flagging many heart breaking difficulties.

Unlike most explorers of those early days who came from France and England seeking adventure in the New World, the Verendryes, father and sons, were natives of North America. About seventy miles above Quebec, the St. Maurice River flows into the St. Lawrence from the north. Near its mouth there are two islands which divide it into three channels. Here, in 1617, a post had been established and aptly called Three Rivers, and here in 1685, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye, was born. His mother was the daughter of Pierre Boucher, Governor of Three Rivers, and his father was Rene Gaultier de la Verennes, who succeeded to that office in 1688.

La Verendrye became a soldier when very young, having entered the army as a cadet at the age of twelve. He was engaged with the French colonial troops in frontier warfare against the Indians and the English colonists, but this command was transferred to France, and we find him, in 1707*, fighting in Flanders. There he remained until 1711, a French soldier in the war of the Spanish Succession. That he saw desperate service is evidenced by the fact that he was so severely wounded as to be left for dead on the victorious battle field of Malplaquet. He married Marie-Anne Dandonneau at Three Rivers in 1712 and lived near there until 1726. During this time he engaged in trading along the St. Maurice River, and had charge, a part of the time, of