RAINY Lake and Rainy River, on the boundary between 

 Canada and the United States, have long held an im- 

 portant position in the history and progress of civiliza- 

 tion of the western hemisphere. French explorers, as early 

 as 1683, had passed over the portage at the falls three miles 

 below the outlet of the lake, naming it and the stream "Lac" 

 and Riviere a la Pluie from the mist made by the river in its 

 mad perpendicular plunge, hence Rainy Lake and Rainy River. 

 Down the inviting expanse of this broad highway, Jaques De 

 Noyon ventured as far as the "Lake of the Islands" or Lake 

 of the Woods, where he spent one winter listening to the 

 legends of the Indians about the dwarfs and white men who 

 they claimed inhabited the unknown country to the westward. 

 It was not until the spring of 1731 that a settlement project 

 was started on Rainy Lake. The French were very anxious 

 to secure some of the big fur trade being carried on by the 

 Hudson Bay Company with the Indians, and in the hope of 

 gaining this, they decided to build a chain of forts at con- 

 venient intervals. This work was entrusted to Pierre Gaultier 

 de Verennes de la Verendrye, a man about forty years of age, 

 who had seen service in both the English colonial wars and 

 the wars in France. During the winter of 1730-31, his plans 

 were made, and with the help of several prominejit merchants, 

 an outfit for about sixty men was purchased. With his 

 nephew, M. de la Jemmeraie and his three sons and a crew 

 of fifty men, Verendrye left Montreal early in the spring of 

 1731. At Michillimacimac (now Mackinac, Mich.) a Jesuit 

 Father, Messaiger by name, joined the party. So arduous was 

 the way and so many difficulties had to be overcome that it 

 took the party seventy days to reach Grand Portage on Lake 

 Superior. 



When this point was reached, the prospect of a nine mile 

 portage was too great for the waning courage. So discour- 



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