Before 1700

Before 1700 4 dated mentions

1. 1679
   The first passage, and the French century upriver

   The first European passage of this valley is dated to the month: in December 1679 La Salle's party — thirty-three persons in eight canoes, Tonty and Hennepin among them, with three Récollet friars…

2. 1679–1763
   The ground on imperial maps first: the river on French sheets, 1679–1763

   The river enters print before the ground does: the St. Joseph River reached European paper with La Salle's expedition of December 1679 — the party raised Fort Miami at the river's mouth and on 3 December 1679 ascended the river to the south bend, crossing to the Kankakee portage above this ground.

3. 1679–1837
   The mission era whole: from the river missions to the first resident congregation

   The sequence, consolidated from this build's Before the City and Tribes legs and not retold at their depth, runs: La Salle's passage in December 1679; the French century administered from Fort St. Joseph (raised 1691, at present Niles) and its missions, and from the portage post where South Bend now stands…

4. 1679–1845
   The working river: what floated, what was locked, and what never reached Osceola

   The river's first working use was the canoe and voyageur route tied to the St. Joseph–Kankakee portage, passable all year (Knoblock, 1925): La Salle ascended in 1679 with thirty men, and a brisk fur trade ran from about 1700.