" Winsor
argues that in the minds of those who knew him in Montreal, La Salle's
projects had failed, since it was then that the mocking name was given to
his estate--a name which, by the way, has been made good, as some one
remarks, "by the passage across La Salle's old possessions of the Canadian
Pacific Railway," a new way to China.
I think we must admit, with his enemies of that day and hostile
authorities of this, despite Margry's documents, that except for his
increased knowledge of the approaches and his acquaintance with Indians
and the conditions of nature in that valley, La Salle's expedition was a
failure. It was his first defiance of the wilderness before him and the
first victory of his enemies behind him.
While Marquette is spending the winter, sick of a mortal illness, in the
hut on the Chicago portage, La Salle is in Paris, bearing a letter from
Frontenac, in which he is recommended to Minister Colbert as "the most
capable man I know to carry on every kind of enterprise and discovery" and
as having "the most perfect knowledge of the state of the country,"
[Footnote: Margry, "Decouvertes et etablissements des Francais," 1:227.
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