A Half-Century of Conflict, vol 2 | Page 4

opened, he set out in search of mines, and found, not far
above the fort, those beds of blue and green earth to which the stream
owes its name. Of this his men dug out a large quantity, and selecting
what seemed the best, stored it in their vessel as a precious commodity.
With this and good store of beaver-skins, Le Sueur now began his
return voyage for Louisiana, leaving a Canadian named D'Éraque and
twelve men to keep the fort till he should come back to reclaim it,
promising to send him a canoe-load of ammunition from the Illinois.
But the canoe was wrecked, and D'Éraque, discouraged, abandoned
Fort l'Huillier, and followed his commander down the Mississippi.
[Footnote: In 1702 the geographer De l'Isle made a remarkable MS.
map entitled _Carte de la Rivière du Mississippi, dressée sur les
Mémoires de M. Le Sueur_.]
Le Sueur, with no authority from government, had opened relations of
trade with the wild Sioux of the Plains, whose westward range
stretched to the Black Hills, and perhaps to the Rocky Mountains. He
reached the settlements of Louisiana in safety, and sailed for France
with four thousand pounds of his worthless blue earth. [Footnote:
According to the geologist Featherstonhaugh, who examined the
locality, this earth owes its color to a bluish-green silicate of iron.]
Repairing at once to Versailles, he begged for help to continue his
enterprise. His petition seems to have been granted. After long delay,
he sailed again for Louisiana, fell ill on the voyage, and died soon after
landing. [Footnote: Besides the long and circumstantial Relation de
Penecaut, an account of the earlier part of Le Sueur's voyage up the
Mississippi is contained in the _Mémoire du Chevalier de Beaurain_,
which, with other papers relating to this explorer, including portions of

his Journal, will be found in Margry, VI. See also _Journal historique
de l'Etablissement des Français à la Louisiane_, 38-71.]
Before 1700, the year when Le Sueur visited the St. Peter, little or
nothing was known of the country west of the Mississippi, except from
the report of Indians. The romances of La Hontan and Matthieu Sagean
were justly set down as impostures by all but the most credulous. In
this same year we find Le Moyne d'Iberville projecting journeys to the
upper Missouri, in hopes of finding a river flowing to the Western Sea.
In 1703, twenty Canadians tried to find their way from the Illinois to
New Mexico, in hope of opening trade with the Spaniards and
discovering mines. [Footnote: _Iberville à ----, 15 Fév. 1703_ (Margry,
VI. 180).] In 1704 we find it reported that more than a hundred
Canadians are scattered in small parties along the Mississippi and the
Missouri; [Footnote: Bienville au Ministre, 6 _Sept._ 1704.] and in
1705 one Laurain appeared at the Illinois, declaring that he had been
high up the Missouri and had visited many tribes on its borders.
[Footnote: Beaurain, Journal historique.] A few months later, two
Canadians told Bienville a similar story. In 1708 Nicolas de la Salle
proposed an expedition of a hundred men to explore the same
mysterious river; and in 1717 one Hubert laid before the Council of
Marine a scheme for following the Missouri to its source, since, he says,
"not only may we find the mines worked by the Spaniards, but also
discover the great river that is said to rise in the mountains where the
Missouri has its source, and is believed to flow to the Western Sea."
And he advises that a hundred and fifty men be sent up the river in
wooden canoes, since bark canoes would be dangerous, by reason of
the multitude of snags. [Footnote: Hubert, _Mémoire envoyé au
Conseil de la Marine._]
In 1714 Juchereau de Saint-Denis was sent by La Mothe-Cadillac to
explore western Louisiana, and pushed up Red River to a point
sixty-eight leagues, as he reckons, above Natchitoches. In the next year,
journeying across country towards the Spanish settlements, with a view
to trade, he was seized near the Rio Grande and carried to the city of
Mexico. The Spaniards, jealous of French designs, now sent priests and
soldiers to occupy several points in Texas. Juchereau, however, was

well treated, and permitted to marry a Spanish girl with whom he had
fallen in love on the way; but when, in the autumn of 1716, he ventured
another journey to the Mexican borders, still hoping to be allowed to
trade, he and his goods were seized by order of the Mexican viceroy,
and, lest worse should befall him, he fled empty handed, under cover of
night. [Footnote: Penecaut, Relation, chaps, xvii., xviii. Le Page du
Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, I. 13-22. Various documents in Margry,
VI. 193-202.]
In March, 1719, Bénard de la Harpe left the feeble little