Book Description

Excerpt from Starved Rock: A Historical Sketch Rancis parkman's La Salle and the Discovery of the Great I: West must be hereafter the basis of any repetition of the story of the discovery and settlement of the Illinois river valley. That I have, in this little sketch, availed myself of the results Of Dr. Park man's labors will be apparent to every reader of his'fielig'rrt'ffil volumes. 1 the more readily acknowledge this indebtedness in view of the fact that even before he had himself stoo'd upon Starved Rock, his studies of the original authorities had led to his rejection of the supposition of Sparks and others, that it was Buffalo Rock which was the site of La Salle's famous Rock Fort. Dr. Parkman established beyond question, from documents contemporary with La Salle, corroborating this conclusion of the student of manuscripts by subsequent-personal observations on the ground, that Starved Rock was the true site of the ancient Fort St. Louis, around which was planted the first permanent settlement of the white race in the Mississippi valley, thus giving to Starved Rock a prestige historically equal to the fame it has ever had as a unique landmark of the Great West. I have not attempted here to rewrite the history of the Illinois 'country, but simply to bring together in one place such authenticated facts relating to Starved Rock, scattered through many volumes, as may assist in giving the Rock its proper perspective on the canvas of Western and our national history, as well as interest the thousands of strangers who annually visit this beautiful and interesting spot. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.