Anxious to know more of the
Northwest, he sent his sons to the banks of a great northern river.
This was the Saskatchewan. In their search of the Northwest, they
constructed two more trading posts, Fort Dauphin near Lake Manitoba,
and Bourbon on the Saskatchewan. Winter quarters were built at the
forks of the river, which afterwards became the site of Fort Poskoyac.
This spring not a canoe load of food came up from Montreal. Papers had
been served for the seizure of all De la Verendrye's forts, goods,
property, and chattels to meet the claims of his creditors. Desperate,
but not deterred from his quest, De la Verendrye set out to contest the
lawsuits in Montreal.
V
1740-1750
Which way to turn now for the Western Sea that eluded their quest like
a will-o'-the-wisp was the question confronting Pierre, Francois, and
Louis de la Verendrye during the explorer's absence in Montreal. They
had followed the great Saskatchewan westward to its forks. No river
was found in this region flowing in the direction of the Western Sea.
They had been in the country of the Missouri; but neither did any river
there flow to a Western Sea. Yet the Mandans told of salt water far to
the west. Thither they would turn the baffling search.
The two men left among the Mandans to learn the language had returned
to the Assiniboine River with more news of tribes from "the setting
sun" who dwelt on salt water. Pierre de la Verendrye went down to the
Missouri with the two interpreters; but the Mandans refused to supply
guides that year, and the young Frenchman came back to winter on the
Assiniboine.
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