When the explorer ordered his men once more in line to launch for the
Western Sea, there was outright mutiny. Soldiers and boatmen refused
to go on. The Jesuit Messaiger threatened and expostulated with the
men. Jemmeraie, who had been among the Sioux, interceded with the
_voyageurs_. A compromise was effected. Half the boatmen would go
ahead with Jemmeraie if M. de la Verendrye would remain with the other
half at Lake Superior as a rear guard for retreat and the supply of
provisions. So the explorer suffered his first check in the advance to
the Western Sea.
III
1732-1736
Equipping four canoes, Lieutenant de la Jemmeraie and young Jean
Ba'tiste de la Verendrye set out with thirty men from Kaministiquia,
_portaged_ through dense forests over moss and dank rock past the high
cataract of the falls, and launched westward to prepare a fort for the
reception of their leader in spring. Before winter had closed
navigation, Fort St. Pierre--named in honor of the explorer--had been
erected on the left bank or Minnesota side of Rainy Lake, and the two
young men not only succeeded in holding their mutinous followers, but
drove a thriving trade in furs with the Crees. Perhaps the furs were
obtained at too great cost, for ammunition and firearms were the price
paid, but the same mistake has been made at a later day for a lesser
object than the discovery of the Western Sea. The spring of 1732 saw
the young men back at Lake Superior, going post-haste to
Michilimackinac to exchange furs for the goods from Montreal.
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