Eventually, the two La
Verendrye brothers were obliged to make their way to the Missouri
River, and abandon any idea of finding a way to the Western Ocean
across the Rocky Mountains.
The French pioneers had already heard of the Spaniards in California,
and the possibility of getting into touch with them. They had now
discovered, first of all Europeans, the Rocky Mountains--that great
snowy range of North America which extends from Robson Peak on the
eastern borders of British Columbia to Baldy Peak in New Mexico.
Afterwards the La Verendryes directed their attention more to the
opportunities of reaching the Far West through the streams that flowed
into the system of Lake Winnipeg, and in this way discovered, in or
about 1743, the great River Saskatchewan. This river La Verendrye's
sons followed up till they reached the junction between the North and
the South Rivers, and then they probably learnt a good deal more of
the Southern Saskatchewan, on which they may have built one or two
posts. La Verendrye himself thought that this would prove to be the
best route by which the French could reach the Western Sea.
By this time the French Government was becoming alive to the
importance of these discoveries, and it conferred a decoration on La
Verendrye, and allowed him to hope that he might be furnished with
means for further exploration.
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