Des groseilliers biography of christopher

The Jesuits in New France were much impressed by the new geographical facts afforded by the reportof the two men upon their return, and they devote considerable space to it in their Relation of The years from to are well documented for Des Groseilliers' career. The village records have been preserved and contain many documents relating to Des Groseilliers and his wife.

They were a litigious pair and were often in court - to the satisfaction of historian and biographer, if not to neighbours of this typically frontier family. Court records cease abruptly for Des Groseilliers, however, in the summer of The reason, of course, was that he had gone once more into the Upper Country. Radisson by this time was back from two sojourns in the Iroquois country - one while a captive and the other as a member of a Jesuit missionary venture at Onondaga - and he was now old enough to accompany his brother-in-law.

The two men set out in August and returned the following summer. Again we must rely principally upon Radisson's narrative of for details, but this time it is clear and consecutive. They met returning tribesmen farther up the St. Lawrence, who helped repel an Iroquois attack on the Ottawa River; followed the traders' route to Lake Huron; passed along its northern coast to Sault Ste.

Marie; portaged around the falls there; idled along the picturesque south shore of Lake Superior, whose sand dunes and portalled cliffs delighted the young Radisson; and came to the large inlet known today as Chequamegon Bay but given no name by Radisson in his account. Here, beyond the sand spit La Pointe guarding the bay from northeasters and des groseilliers biography of christopher to the Apostle Islands, the displaced Ottawas, Hurons, and Chippewas turned inland to their temporary homes, probably on Lac Courte-Oreille, or Ottawa Lake.

After caching their trade goods and building a rude shelter, the Frenchmen also wenton to that lake. The following winter was a severe one. Heavy snow-falls made it impossible to kill game for food and starvation faced even the white guests more than once. Toward spring the Sioux, the permanent residents of much of the region south and west of Lake Superior, sent representatives and gifts, inviting the strangers to visit them.

Before doing so the Frenchmen witnessed a great Feast of the Dead, faithfully described in Radisson's narrative, our earliest account of the culture of the eighten severall nations that he says participated in the festivities. Six weeks, according to Radisson, were then spent among the Sioux, who were practically unknown to white men before this time.

Spring having now begun, the two white men returned with some Chippewas to their cache near La Pointe, and then crossed Lake Superior to its north shore. James Bain Toronto, Though Radisson injects at this point in his narrative a very brief account of a trip from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay, it is certain that this was wholly imaginary and only inserted in to further his plans of the moment, namely, a trip to Hudson Bay financed by Londoners.

While on the north shore the explorers visited the Cree Indians and probably learned of the Grand-Portage - an important spot in North American history as the subject of international dispute over ownership and because it was the beginning of practically the only good canoe route to the far west via Pigeon River and the lakes and rivers of the present international boundary line.

The summer months of were spent in returning to the lower St. Accompanying the two Frenchmen were many Indians and a rich harvest of furs. At the Long Sault on the Ottawa River Radissondescribes the remains of the Dollard massacre, which had occurred a few weeks earlier, and mentions that it was here on an earlier trip that Des Groseilliers was shipwrecked and lost his diaries.

A document of 22 Aug. The Jesuits were eager for news of the countries to the west and duly reported in the year's Relation their interviews with Des Groseilliers upon his return. There is good evidence that the western trip of the two brothers-in-law saved the colony from economic ruin - probably preserved its very existence - but Governor d'Argenson seized the explorers' furs, fined them, and, according to Radisson, threw Des Groseilliers into jail, presumably for departing without his sanction.

This treatment infuriated both men and they resolved to seek assistance for their trading and exploration plans from New France's enemies and rivals, the English in New England or the Dutch in New Holland. It was a crucial moment. A decision in ownership of much of the continent and possession of the lucrative beaver trade was in the making.

Some persons at the time believed that the defection of these two men decided the issue. A train of events, therefore, was started by them which would come to an end only with the British conquest of Canada in The details of Des Groseilliers' preparations for his next venture - to the Ottawa country by way of Hudson Bay - are rather involved.

With his des groseilliers biography of christopher he eventually departed down the St. Lawrence in a bark canoe with ten voyageurs in late April or early Mayhaving returned the previous year from a trip to France. In Massachusetts he found men willing to venture with him, and several journeys to Hudson Bay were begun. Clair to the site of Detroit.

Seemingly they crossed over the lower Michigan peninsula into Lake Michigan and followed its west shore up to the Straits of Michilimackinac. The return trip to Quebec again is plain, for Radisson could always describe clearly any region with which he was well acquainted. The village records have been preserved and contain many documents relating to Des Groseilliers and his wife.

They were a litigious pair and were often in court — to the satisfaction of historian and biographer, if not to neighbours of this typically frontier family. Court records cease abruptly for Des Groseilliers, however, in the summer of The reason, of course, was that he had gone once more into the Upper Country. Radisson by this time was back from two sojourns in the Iroquois country — one while a captive and the other as a member of a Jesuit missionary venture at Onondaga — and he was now old enough to accompany his brother-in-law.

The two men set out in August and returned the following summer. They met returning tribesmen farther up the St. Marie; portaged around the falls there; idled along the picturesque south shore of Lake Superior, whose sand dunes and portalled cliffs delighted the young Radisson; and came to the large inlet known today as Chequamegon Bay but given no name by Radisson in his account.

Here, beyond the sand spit La Pointe guarding the bay from northeasters and close to the Apostle Islands, the displaced Ottawas, Hurons, and Chippewas turned inland to their temporary homes, probably on Lac Courte-Oreille, or Ottawa Lake. After caching their trade goods and building a rude shelter, the Frenchmen also went on to that lake.

The following winter was a severe one.

Des groseilliers biography of christopher

Heavy snow-falls made it impossible to kill game for food and starvation faced even the white guests more than once. Toward spring the Sioux, the permanent residents of much of the region south and west of Lake Superior, sent representatives and gifts, inviting the strangers to visit them. Six weeks, according to Radisson, were then spent among the Sioux, who were practically unknown to white men before this time.

Such a journey could not have been made in the remaining time in before the return trip to Quebec. While on the north shore the explorers visited the Cree Indians and probably learned of the Grand-Portage — an important spot in North American history as the subject of international dispute over ownership — and because it was the beginning of practically the only good canoe route to the far west via Pigeon River and the lakes and rivers of the present international boundary line.

The summer months of were spent in returning to the lower St. Accompanying the two Frenchmen were many Indians and a rich harvest of furs. At the Long Sault on the Ottawa River Radisson describes the remains of the Dollard massacre, which had occurred a few weeks earlier, and mentions that it was here on an earlier trip that Des Groseilliers was shipwrecked and lost his diaries.

A document of 22 Aug. The voyage took two years to complete and upon returning in Augustthey carried in their canoes reports of contact with several First Nations, among them the SiouxPottawattomiWinnebago and Fox peoples and furs worth "14 to 15 thousand livres ". According to Radisson's account of the voyage, they helped repel an Iroquois attack along the Ottawa River and that the idea for trading furs from Hudson Bay came to them at this time.

They returned in the summer of and upon return to New France, they were fined most of their profits by the colonial government because they had left New France without a license. Colbert thought it a waste of resources and refused to support the project. However, the plans fell through and Groseilliers and Radisson instead searched further south in New England in hope of finding a suitable vessel.

They organized another expedition into Hudson Bay inbut it was turned back by the ice. Captured by Dutch privateers on the voyage, the French men were put ashore in Spain. Eventually Prince Rupert chartered two vessels for Radisson and Groseilliers.