When France was secure at Niagara and at Detroit, two problems
still remained unsolved. One was that of occupying the valley of
the Ohio, the waters of which flow westward almost from the south
shore of Lake Erie until they empty into the vaster flood of the
Mississippi. Here there was a lion in the path, for the English
claimed this region as naturally the hinterland of the colonies
of Virginia and Pennsylvania. What happened on the Ohio we shall
see in a later chapter. The other great problem, to be followed
here, was to explore the regions which lay beyond the
Mississippi. These spread into a remote unknown, unexplored by
the white man, and might ultimately lead to the Western Sea. We
might have supposed that France's farther adventure into the West
would have been from the Mississippi up its great tributary the
Missouri, which flows eastward from the eternal snows of the
Rocky Mountains. Always, however, the uncertain temper of the
many Indian tribes in this region made the advance difficult. The
tribes inhabiting the west bank of the Mississippi were
especially restless and savage.
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