they become icy cold as they approach the sea and mingle with the
tide which flows into the great Gulf of St. Lawrence from the
Arctic regions. The Mississippi, on the other hand, is a turbid,
warm stream, flowing through soft lands. Its shifting channel is
divided at its mouth by deltas created from the vast quantity of
soil which the river carries in its current. On the low-lying,
forest-clad, northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico it was not easy
to find the mouth of the Mississippi by approaching it from the
sea. The voyage there from France was long and difficult; and,
moreover, Spain claimed the lands bordering on the Gulf of Mexico
and declared herself ready to drive out all intruders.

Nature, it is clear, dictated that, if France was to build up her
power in the interior of the New World, it was the valley of the
St. Lawrence which she should first occupy. Time has shown the
riches of the lands drained by the St. Lawrence. On no other
river system in the world is there now such a multitude of great
cities. The modern traveler who advances by this route to the
sources of the river beyond the Great Lakes surveys wonders ever
more impressive. Before his view appear in succession Quebec,
Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Duluth,
and many other cities and towns, with millions in population and
an aggregate of wealth so vast as to stagger the imagination.
Step by step had the French advanced from Quebec to the interior.
Champlain was on Lake Huron in 1615, and there the Jesuits soon
had a flourishing mission to the Huron Indians. They had only to
follow the shore of Lake Huron to come to the St. Mary's River
bearing towards the sea the chilly waters of Lake Superior. On
this river, a much frequented fishing ground of the natives, they
founded the mission of Sainte Marie du Saut. Farther to the