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50
The Society for Visual Education
FRENCH EXPLORATIONS IN NORTH
AMERICA
Purpose of the reel: To picture the extent and character of the French occupation of North America, as a background for the study of the first of the great events that brought our country into being.
That event was the French and Indian War, which determined that the new nation was to be English and not French. The struggle between France and England for the possession of North America, by giving the Scattered English Colonies a problem whose solution forced them to think and act together, bound them in closer union, and proved one of the most significant of the influences that combined to transform Englishmen into Americans.
CANOES ARE CARRIED AROUND ROUGH WATER At Detroit, a point of military advantage, fort and trading post are built. The animated exploration line continues along the St. Clair River, through Lake Huron and the Straits of Mackinac, and along the western shore of Lake Michigan. Other lake routes are pictured. But since the French have come to the New World as trappers, traders and missionaries, they leave the lakes and push resolutely into the interior. Animated maps trace their progress, until their thin line of forts, missions and trading posts stretches from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. They found few settlements. We see LaSalle, and the map visualizes his famous journey to the Mississippi via the Chicago, Desplaines and Illinois Rivers. Ruins of an old fort near St. Louis tell of the French dream of empire.
CARTIER CROSSES TH10 ATLANTIC AND DISCOVERS THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER
In an animated drawing, a vessel sails from France to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. As the gulf narrows, the ship gives place to a moving line which traces the route of these daring French explorers up the St. Lawrence River. The map points out Quebec and Montreal, and then upon the screen looms the great hill which Cartier christened "Mount Royal." The animated line follows the route up the Ottwa River, overland to Lake Nipissing, then by water to Lake Huron. Little by little the French explore the Great Lakes region. We are shown a detail map of the Niagara River and Father Hennepin's quaint sketch of Niagara Falls ; and then the scene is pictured for us by modern motion picture views. Moving pictures show how the explorers pass rapids and waterfalls by "portage."
THE REGION EXPLORED BY T! FRENCH BEFORE 1750
THE SI EUR DE LA SALLE PUSHES ON TO THE MISSISSIPPI The western routes were developed first, because the Indians there were less dangerous than the hostile tribes of the East. Gradually, however, the animated lines of travel and trade progress eastward, until they reach the eastern shores of Lake Erie and the head waters of the Ohio. At strategic points in the Ohio Valley, forts and posts are built. Here the French are standing at the very back door of the English colonies, blocking their growth to the west. It creates a situation which is bound to bring about a conflict for the possession of North America. By 1750, as the map makes clear, France is laying claim, by right of exploration and occupation, to all of the great central valley of our continent.