Plainly, Assiniboine
Valley was not the way to the Western Sea. But what lay just beyond
this Assiniboine Valley? An old Cree chief warned the boatmen that the
Assiniboine River was very low and would wreck the canoes; but he also
told vague yarns of "great waters beyond the mountains of the setting
sun," where white men dwelt, and the waves came in a tide, and the
waters were salt. The Western Sea where the Spaniards dwelt had long
been known. It was a Western Sea to the north, that would connect
Louisiana and Canada, that De la Verendrye sought. The Indian fables,
without doubt, referred to a sea beyond the Assiniboine River, and
thither would De la Verendrye go at any cost. Some sort of barracks or
shelter was knocked up on the south side of the Assiniboine opposite
the flats. It was subsequently known as Fort Rouge, after the color of
the adjacent river, and was the foundation of Winnipeg. Leaving men to
trade at Fort Rouge, De la Verendrye set out on September 26, 1738, for
the height of land that must lie beyond the sources of the Assiniboine.
De la Verendrye was now like a man hounded by his own Frankenstein. A
thousand leagues--every one marked by disaster and failure and sinking
hopes--lay behind him. A thousand leagues of wilderness lay before
him. He had only a handful of men. The Assiniboine Indians were of
dubious friendliness. The white men were scarce of food. In a few
weeks they would be exposed to the terrible rigors of Northern winter.
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