| Summary: | EARLY HISTORY OF NORTH DAKOTA 55 cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers, comprised in the extent of said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis on the eastern side otherwise called Ohio, Aligin, Sipore or Chukagona, and this with the consent of the Chaonanong, Chickachas and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance, as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source, beyond the country of the Kious or Nadoucessious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantes, Illinois, Mesiganeas, Natches, Koreas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have made alliance, either by ourselves or by others in our behalf, as far as its mouth by the sea or Gulf of Mexico, about the twenty-seventh degree of the ele-vation of the North Pole and also to the mouth of the River of Palms; upon the assurance which we have received from all these nations that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said River Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may in future undertake to invade any or all of these countries, people or lands, above described, to the prejudice of the rights of His Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations therein named. Of which, and all that can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who hear me and demand an act of the notary as required by law." Spain was then in possession of the Floridas and of the country west of Louisiana, which territory embraced all of the country lying between the AUe-ghanies and the Rocky Mountains, drained by the streams entering the Gulf of Mexico, and their tributaries. It embraced West Virginia, part of Pennsyl-vania, North Carolina and Georgia on the east, and parts of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado on the west, and all of the present states of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota and parts of North Dakota, New Mexico and Texas. On La Salle's way back to Canada, he laid the foundations of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois, and in November, 1683, reached Quebec. He then pro-ceeded to France and proposed the settlement of the Mississippi region and the conquest of the mining country of Mexico then held by Spain, and April 14, 1684, he was appointed commandant of all the country from Fort St. Louis to the mouth of the Mississippi. He then, on August ist, headed an expedition of four ships with 280 colonists to go by sea to the Gulf of Mexico, stopping at Santo Domingo, but they passed the mouth of the Mississippi, early in January, 1685, and landed at the entrance of Matagorda Bay, where he built a fort, called St. Louis, and made an attempt at settlement, but it was savagely attacked by the Indians and Spanish, who claimed the country, and it proved a failure. January 7, 1687, he undertook to make his way back to the Illinois, and on March 19th, was shot and killed in a revolt of his men. LIMITS AND TRANSFER The line defining the draina^ge basin of the Mississippi River on the ^vest constituted the limits of "Louisiana" as proclaimed by La Salle, and was adopted as the "Louisiana Purchase." The River Palms which was the eastern limit of Louisiana, flows into Palm Sound, now called Sarasota Bay, its mouth being opposite the southern extremity of 'Palm Island, now called Sarasota Key. Internet Archive
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