February 1679

On February 1st, 1679, M. de La Salle staked out at the mouth of the Niagara River into Lake Frontenac/Lake Ontario for a fort called Conty/Conti. The Conti Fort was intended to check the Iroquois, and especially the Sonnontouans, the most powerful of all, and to prevent their trade with the English and the Dutch in quantities of furs. They were obliged to go to the western country, passing as they go and returning by way of the Niagara, where they might be stopped, in a friendly manner in times of peace, and by force in the time of war.

The majority of the Iroquois had gone the war path beyond Lake Erie. Those who had remained at home were rendered less insolent by the absence of the rest. They did not fail to visit the shipyard frequently where the work was going forward, to exhibit their displeasure. One of the Iroquois played the drunkard, had almost killed the blacksmith, but the resistance of the French, and the measures they took to repulse the Iroquois, forced the latter to retire. Word was brought some time afterward that they meant to set fire to the vessel upon the stocks.

As they finished the vessel, there was talk that M. de La Salle’s creditors, who, without awaiting his return and without notifying him, made a seizure of all the goods he possessed at Montreal and Quebec. They even took his secretary’s bed, having them appraised at their rates. Although Fort Frontenac alone, of which he is the proprietor, would suffice to pay all his debts twice over, should he die in the prosecution of his discoveries.

It was stated that the privileges which M. de La Salle had been granted by the Court had made him many enemies, who did what they could to destroy La Salle’s enterprise, debauching his men and sowing suspicion among the Iroquois. La Salle was compelled to send M. de La Motte to pacify the Iroquois, who were in a position to do them harm, finding them in their country in mall force. During La Salle’s absence, Henri de Tonty was poisoned, but he was taking orvietan, which restored his health and saved him from the poison.