tward from the eternal snows of the Rocky Mountains. Always,
however, the uncertain temper of the many Indian tribes in this region
made the advance difficult. The tribes inhabiting the west bank of
the Mississippi were especially restless and savage. The Sioux, in
particular, made life perilous for the French at their posts near the
mouth of the Missouri.

It thus happened that the white man first reached the remoter West by
way of regions farther north. It became easy enough to coast along the
north and the south shore of Lake Superior, easy enough to find rivers
which fed the great system of the St. Lawrence or of the Mississippi.
These, however, would not solve the mystery. A river flowing westward
was still to be sought. Thus, both in pursuit of the fur trade and
in quest of the Western Sea, the French advanced westward from Lake
Superior. Where now stands the city of Fort William there flows into
Lake Superior the little stream called still by its Indian name of
Kaministiquia. There the French had long maintained a trading-post from
which they made adventurous journeys northward and westward.

The rugged regions still farther north had already been explored, at
least in outline. There lay the great inland sea known as Hudson Bay.
French and English had long disputed for its mastery. By 1670 the
English had found trade to Hudson Bay so promising that they then
created the Hudson's Bay Company, which remains one of the great trading
corporations of the world. With the English on Hudson Bay, New France
was between English on the north and English on the south and did not
like it. On Hudson Bay the English showed the same characteristics which
they had shown in New England. They were not stirred by vivid imaginings
of what might be found westward beyond the low-lying coast of the great
inland sea. They came for trade, planted themselves at the mouths of the
chief rivers, unpacked their goods, and waited for the natives to come
to barter with them. For many years the natives came, since they
must have the knives, hatchets, and firearms of Europe. To share this
profitable trade the French, now going overland to the north from
Quebec, now sailing into Hudson Bay by the Straits, attacked the
English; and on those dreary waters, long before the Great West was
known, there had been many a naval battle, many a hand-to-hand fight for
forts and their rich prize of furs.

The chief French hero in this struggle was that son of