a lake into water in which there
was a tide. Then the Indian drew a rough map on birch bark, a copy of
which is still in existence. Could this be the long-desired route to
the Pacific? He hoped it and was resolved to ascertain the truth. But
first he must get leave and an outfit. Having made the long and
dangerous journey in his birch-bark canoe, that is, gone from Lake
Nipigon into Lake Superior, traversed the entire length of the lakes,
and then descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, he laid before the
French governor, Beauharnais, his plan for reaching the Pacific by the
net-work of lakes and rivers north and west of Lake Superior. The
Governor approved, but Verendrye, applying to the King for men and
means, got nothing but a grant {316} of the monopoly of the fur-trade
north and west of Lake Superior. He must raise the money himself.
With difficulty and at exorbitant rates of interest, he obtained
advances from Quebec merchants and set out, June 8, 1731, with his
three sons and a nephew, LaJemeraye. At the close of the season he
built his first fort, St. Pierre, on Rainy River. The next year he
established his second fort, St. Charles, on the southwest shore of the
Lake of the Woods.

Terribly embarrassed by lack of money, he returned to Quebec and
represented his deplorable situation. The Governor reported it to the
King, but could get no more from him than the renewal of the fur-trade
monopoly. Undaunted, Verendrye persisted, though obliged to suspend
exploration and devote himself for a while to trading, in order to
secure money. There was enough to dishearten a man of less than heroic
stuff. In 1736, his eldest son, with a Jesuit priest and twenty
others, was surprised and massacred by the Sioux on an island in the
Lake of the Woods. Also he was harassed by creditors and compelled
repeatedly to make the long and tedious journey to Montreal. In spite
of all these mishaps, he pushed his posts gradually westward and by
1738 {317} he had established six, viz., St. Pierre, on Rainy Lake; St.
Charles, on the Lake of the Woods; Maurepas at the mouth of the
Winnipeg River; Bourbon on the east shore of Lake Winnipeg; La Reine on
Assiniboine River; and Dauphin on Lake Manitoba.

In 1738 he made a bold push for the Pacific, with fifty persons, French
and Indians. After many devious wanderings, seeking a band that could
conduct him to the Western Ocean, he reached the Mandans, on the upper
Missouri, the si