Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/873

* LA SALLE. 789 LA SALLE. least for tlirce years. He was invited to Paris in 1088 by the cure of Saint Sul[)ice, to build up a school in that parisli. In lO'Jl he took a house at Vaugirard, near Paris, and made life- long vows with two others. James II. of Eng- land intrusli'd the education of fifty Irish boys of good family to liim in 1098. A year later he established a technical school, which met every Sunday from 12 to 3, and soon numljcred 300 members. In this, the first school of the kind in Euro])e, geograjjhy, geometry, building, drawing, and bookkeeping were taught, the session closing with religious instruction. In 170.5 the novitiate was transferrcil from Vaurigard to Saint-Y(jn, near Rouen, «here a large estaljlishment was erected. The founder died at Boulogne in 1710, leaving 274 brothers, with nearly 10.000 pupils. He was beatified by Pius IX. and canonized by Leo XIII. Some of his books have appeared in English: The Hides of Christian Politeness (Dub- lin, 1802); Mriniigeincnt of Christian Schools (New York, 1893). For his life, consult Ravetet (Paris, 1S88). LA SALLE, Rex£-Robert C.T;LrEB, Sieur de (1043-871. The disc-overer of the Ohio, and the first explorer of the greater part of the Mississip- pi River. He was a member of a wealthy mer- chant family of Rouen, and when twenty-three emigrated to Canada, where the superior of the Seminar.v of Saint Sulpice made him a grant of a large tract of land at the place now called La- chine, eight or nine miles above Montreal, on the Saint Lawrence. His imagination was stirred by the tales of the Indians respecting a mighty river which they called the Ohio, which flowed into the sea at a distance of some eight months' journey. La Salle conceived that 'the sea' couUl be no other than the long-sought Gulf of California, and that the northern water route to China was |)robably within his reach. He disclosed his views to Courcelles, the Governor of Xew France, and received letters patent au- thorizing his venture. In order to obtain the necessary- funds, he sold his seigniory. He bought four canoes, and hired fourteen men. and was joined by another expedition under Dollier dc Casson, which was fitted out by the seminary priests for the conversion of the Indians. The combined forces consisted of seven canoes and twenty-four men. They started up the Saint Lawrence on July 0. 1669. They went through Lake Ontario, at the western end of which they met the explorer .Joliet. returning to Canada. From him a map of the northern lakes was obtained, and with it such accounts of the spirit- ual destitution of the Indians in that region as determined Dollier to strike north and estab- lish a mission. La Salle separated from the missionaries, and for the next two years devoted himself to ex- plorations, of which we have only vague and unsatisfactory information. His maps and jour- nals have disappeared, although it was asserted, as late as 1750. that they were in existence. It would seem that La Salle turned southeast from Lake Erie, reached a branch of the Ohio, and followed that river certainly as far as the Louis- ville Rapids, possibly to its junction with the Mississippi. Here his men deserted, and La Salle returned to Lake Erie alone. In 1671 he orgiinized another expedition — respecting which we have no authentic and detailed informa- tion; passed up the Detroit River to Lake Hu- ron; thence to Lake Michigan, and across the Chicago portage to the Illinois River, and may have descended this stream to the Mississippi. He returned to Montreal before 1673, when he laid Ijefore Count Frontenac his project for the exploration of the Mississippi. The Governor gave La Salle a new seigniory in the West, which included the new Fort Frontenac, near the pres- ent town of Kingston, on Lake Ontario, and also a virtual monopoly of the fur trade in that region. In 1074, and again in 1677, Frontenac sent La Salle to France, to push his fortunes at Court. He was favorably received on both occasions, and on his second visit received a patent empowering him to pursue his discover- ies at his own expense, on condition of com- pleting them within five jears, to build fort.s, and to monopolize the trade in buffalo-skins. He raised funds, and returned to Canada, with thirty men and the equipment for another expedition. Seventeen men under La Mothe Cadillac, and including the Franciscan Hennepin (q.v.). sailed from Fort Frontenac in a little vessel of ten tons on Xovember 18, 1078. They reached Niagara River on December .5. and began the construction of a palisade fort. They were joined by La Salle and Tonty on .lanuary 8, 1679. The vessel was wrecked soon after, but the stores were saved, and the keel of a new vessel of forty-five tons was soon laid at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, an affluent of the Niagara River. This was named the Griffon. Meanwhile La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac for supplies, and on August 7, 1079, the voyagers set sail on Lake Erie for the great river. By September they had reached (Jreen Bay (Lake Jlichigan). Here La Salle loaded the Griffon with furs and sent her back to the settlements. She was never again heard from. With four canoes and fourteen men La Salle followed up the western shores of Lake Michigan, while his lieutenant, Tonty, with twenty men, took the eastern. The two finally met at the Miami, or Saint .Joseph River, at the southeast corner of the lake, where Fort Miami was built. The party .started up the Saint .Jo- seph on December 3. 1079. and crossed the por- tage to the Kankakee, a tributary of the Illinois River. X'ear the present town of Utica. 111., they found an Indian village of 460 lodges. A little below Peoria Lake another Indian village was reached, and there La Salle heard circumstantial accounts of the efforts made by his enemies — both .Jesuits and fur-traders in Canada — to thwart his plans and even endanger his life. Sev- eral of the party deserted at this place. In .Jan- iary (1080) La Salle built a fortified camp, which he named Fort Cr&vec(eur. and soon after began the construction of another vessel of forty tons. Leaving Tonty in command of the fort. La Salle with four men and a guide started in March to return to Fort Frontenac for supplies. He arrived there in safety, in May. to find his sup- plies lost and the revenues plundered by dis- honest agents. News followed him that Tonty's men had mutinied and deserted. La Salle at once organized another expedition, and started in search of his friend. The Illinois country had suffered a terrible invasion of the Iroquois, and devastation met him everywhere. He reached the ruins of Fort Crfvecfleur. ami went down the Illi- nois to the Mississippi, finiling no trace of Tonty. who had made his way down the western side of Lake iliehigan to Green Bay.