A history of the United States for schools . across the portage, orplace, from the Chicago to the Illinois; thenthe canoes again on the latter river, and thence, coming out upon the Missis-sippi, glided downto its mouth. Onthe 9th of April,1682, the bannerof France wasplanted there, andLa Salle took pos-session of the greatriver and its country in the name of Louis XIV., Kingof France, after whom he called the country Louisiana. That name Louisiana is now restricted to the statethrough which the Mississippi River in its lowest portionflows into the Gulf of Mexico. When first given by LaSalle i
A history of the United States for schools . across the portage, orplace, from the Chicago to the Illinois; thenthe canoes again on the latter river, and thence, coming out upon the Missis-sippi, glided downto its mouth. Onthe 9th of April,1682, the bannerof France wasplanted there, andLa Salle took pos-session of the greatriver and its country in the name of Louis XIV., Kingof France, after whom he called the country Louisiana. That name Louisiana is now restricted to the statethrough which the Mississippi River in its lowest portionflows into the Gulf of Mexico. When first given by LaSalle it had a much wider meaning. The French main-tained that to discover a river establishes a claim to allthe territory drained by that river and by its , nearly all the rain that falls in the United States,from the crest of the Alleghanies all the way to the crestof the Rocky Mountains (except what runs into the GreatLakes), is drained off through the Mississippi River. LaSalle knew nothing about the regions west of that river,. NEW FRANCE. §§68,69. OVERTHROW OF NEW FRANCE. 159 but the name Louisiana covered tiie country from theAlleghanies to the Rocky Mountains. The water that runs into the Great Lakes is drainedoff through the St. Lawrence, of which the French hadalready taken possession. As Champlain was the founderof New France with his Canadian colony, so La Sallegave to New France its widest extension with his acqui-sition of Louisiana. Compared with this enormousstretch of territory, the strip of English colonies alongthe Atlantic coast would seem very narrow. But La Salle well knew that to make other nationsrespect the claims of discoverers, it is necessary for thediscoverers to take armed possession of the ter- ^^^^.^^ ^^ritory claimed. So he returned to France, and take armed . , possession fitted out an expedition to come by sea and ofLouisi-found a colony at the mouth of the Missis- ^sippi. But his pilots missed the entrance to the riverand landed fou
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