In the hope of meeting them he pushed on down the Illinois to the Mississippi.

To go on would have been easy, but he turned back to find Tonty, and passed the winter on the St.Joseph River.
From there in November, 1681, he once more set forth, crossed the lake to the place where Chicago now is, went up the Chicago River and over the portage to the Illinois, and early in February floated out on the Mississippi.

It was, on that day, a surging torrent full of trees and floating ice; but the explorers kept on their way and came at last to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

There La Salle took formal possession of all the regions drained by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and their tributaries, claiming them in the name of France, and naming the country thus claimed "Louisiana." The iron will, the splendid courage, of La Salle had triumphed over every obstacle and made him one of the grandest characters in history.
But his work was far from ended.

The valley he had explored, the territory he had added to France, must be occupied, and to occupy it two things were necessary: 1.