nipeg River was not the river flowing westward
which he sought. We know now that the northern regions of the American
continent east of the Rocky Mountains are tilted towards the east and
the north and that in all its vast spaces there is no great river which
flows to the west. La Verendrye, however, ignorant of this dictate of
nature, longed to paddle with the stream towards the west. The Red River
flows from the south into Lake Winnipeg at a point near the mouth of
the Winnipeg River. Up the Red River went La Verendrye and found a
tributary, the Assiniboine, flowing into it from the west. At the point
of junction, where has grown up the city of Winnipeg, he built a tiny
fort, called Fort Rouge, a name still preserved in a suburb of the
modern Winnipeg. The explorers went southward on the Red River, and
then went westward on the Assiniboine River only to find the waters
persistently flowing against them and no definite news of other waters
leading to the Western Sea. On the Assiniboine, near the site of the
present town of Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, La Verendrye built Fort
La Reine. Its name is evidence still perhaps of hopes for aid through
the Queen if not through the King of France.

In 1737 La Verendrye made once more the long journey to Montreal. His
fourteen canoes laden with furs were an earnest of the riches of the
wonderful West and so pleased his Montreal partners that again they
fitted him out with adequate supplies. In the summer of 1738 we find him
at Fort La Reine, rich for the moment in goods with which to trade, keen
and competent as a trader, and having great influence with the natives.
All through the West he found Indians who went to trade with the English
on Hudson Bay, and he constantly urged them not to take the long journey
but to depend upon the French who came into their own country. It was a
policy well fitted to cause searching of heart among the English traders
who seemed so secure in their snug quarters on the seashore waiting for
the Indians to come to them.

La Verendrye had now a fresh plan for penetrating farther on his
alluring quest. He had heard of a river to the south to be reached by a
journey overland. It was a new thing for him to abandon canoes and march
on foot but this he now did and with winter approaching. On October 16,
1738, when the autumn winds were already chill, there was a striking
little parade at Fort La Reine. The drummer beat the garrison to arms.
What with