FROM LA SALLE TO DE TONTI
Continued

Provided with supplies and interpreters, the French went on to Tongigua and then to Tourima. They heard about Osotouy and Father Membre estimated the population of the Quapaw to be between 15,000 to 20,000. This was probably an exaggeration as De Tonti said they had no more than 1,500 warriors. But the Quapaw were happy about the French and expected help against their enemies.

The French left March 17, and after traveling through the lands of the Tunicas, Taensas, Natchez, Caroas, Houmas, Quinepissas and the Tangipahoa; seeing, killing and probably eating their first alligators; reached the Head of Passes where the Mississippi divides into three arms on April 6. De Tonti went straight ahead, La Salle to the west and a party under De Forest to the east. They each found the Gulf of Mexico and returned to the Head of Passes. On April 9, they raised another cross and the Arms of France, celebrated Mass and sang the “Te Deum," fired a volley and claimed all the land drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France and Louis X and named it Louisiana in his honor. Then they turned around and headed back to Canada.

On the way back, La Salle fell ill and stayed over a month at Fort Prud’homme. He did not reach Fort Frontenac until September. On the way back, he dropped off De Tonti at Fort Saint Louis in Illinois. On the way back and while recuperating at Fort Prud’homme, La Salle did some thinking. Claiming Louisiana and controlling it were two entirely different propositions. Louis XIV should set up a series of posts from the Great Lakes down the Mississippi with a major base near the mouth of the Mississippi. The French could then control the fur trade and possibly oust the Spanish from Mexico. Somehow the Quapaw sensed this and more or less allied themselves to the French, hoping to be a beneficiary of the French dominion.

Consequently, after clearing up some administrative matters in Canada, La Salle returned to France in 1683. He laid his ideas of an empire and commercial exploitation before Louis XIV. The king was infected by La Salle’s enthusiasm and eventually gave him his support. On July 24, 1864, La Salle left La Rochelle on four vessels with 280 men including his brother, Abbe Jean, intending to set up a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi. Then everything went wrong.

Nobody is sure what happened. Even Henri Joutel, La Salle’s historian and nephew who went with the expedition, does not say specifically how it happened, but after passing into the Gulf of Mexico, La Salle missed the mouth of the Mississippi. The most likely reason is that a hurricane blew up and they went much too far west. The fleet finally put in at Matagorda Bay on the central Texas coast. One boat was lost at landing, two others returned to France shortly afterwards, leaving La Salle one ship, La Belle, to find the Mississippi Delta. This boat sank in an accident in the bay and the expedition was stranded.

A small fort was built at the entrance to the bay. During 1685, a small scale attempt at farming was made, but the depredations of the Indians and the indolence of the settlers prevented much being done. Instead of trying to find the Mississippi that had inspired his dreams, La Salle went searching into west Texas to find Gran Quivira, the Mountain of Silver. He did not find it. Then the food began to run out. The last straw was a tropical disease picked up in Santo Domingo that became epidemic and over 100 men died.