LA SALLE, Rene Robert Cavalier, Stem DE, French explorer: b. Rouen, France, 21 Nov. 1643; d. Texas, 19 March 1687. Born of a wealthy family, he became a novice of the Jesuit order, 5 Oct. 1658, and two years later took the vows and was known as Brother Robert Ignace. In October 1667 he left the order. He sailed for Canada in 1668 with the hope of making his fortune there; became owner of a seigniory and a fur trader at La Chine (so named for its supposed position on the route to China), explored Lake Ontario, established forts on the Saint Lawrence, was made by Frontenac commander of a fort which stood where Kingston, Ontario, now stands, and was the discoverer of the Niagara and Ohio rivers. Returning to France he received large grants of land in Canada, and was ennobled, but on the discovery by Marquette of the Mississippi, he left his new estate to seek the mouth of the great stream. His designs were favored by the French Minister of Marine, who supplied him with men and ships. In 1679 he had built and launched on the Niagara River a bark of 45 tons, the Griffin, crossed Lake Erie and Lake Saint Clair, and reached Green Bay. Here he loaded the Griffin with rich furs and sent it to meet the claims of his creditors at Montreal. He then proceeded in bark canoes and reached the banks of Lake Peoria, Illinois, where he built Fort Crevecceur, and from thence he made a memorable journey, mostly on foot, back to Fort Frontenac, where be learned of the wreck of the Griffin, and another ship sent with supplies for him from France. In the meantime his little band of explorers had been scattered through dissensions, but he succeeded in gathering them and, late in 1681 he set out with an expedition and descended to the mouth of the Mississippi, of which he took formal possession in name of the French king (9 April 1682), and named the adjacent lands Louisiana, and built a fort. This was
the great achievement of his life. In 1683 he constructed Fort Saint Louis, on "Starved near Utica, Ill. The recall of Frontenac was disastrous to the explorer's in terest; his successor, La Barre, was hostile to western expansion. After a visit to France he failed on his return (1684) with 4 vessels and 280 men, to locate the mouth of the Missis sippi. He had a difference on this point with Beaujeu, the naval commander, who persisted in sailing on to Matagorda Bay in Texas. Here La Salle, to avoid further quarrels and recriminations, abandoned his companions; the colonists who followed him lost most of their supplies in a gale of wind, but managed to fortify the fort of Saint Louis; they failed in their agricultural attempts, and sought in vain for gold. Their nunibers were reduced to 35, and in 1687 he set out for a return to Canada. Two men, Dubant and L'Archeveque, who had embarked capital in the enterprise, were in censed at its failure, and in a quarrel murdered the nephew of La Salle, who, when he en quired into the matter, was shot dead froni ambush. Consult for memoir, in French, 'His torical Collections of Louisiana' (2d series, Vol. II); for letters and other documents, Pierre Margry's (Decouvertes'; Abbott, 'Adventures of Chevalier de la Salle and his Companions' (New York 1903) ; Parlanan, 'La Salle and the Discovery of the Great (in 'French and English in North America,' Boston 1907) ; Shea, 'Early Voyage up and down the Mississippi) (Albany 1861) ; Justin Winson, 'Cartier to Frontenac> (Boston 1894).