The Voyage of Dollier de Casson & Galinee 1669-1670: This Paradise of Canada

THE VOYAGE OF DOLLIER DE CASSON & GALINEE, 1669-1670 chronicles the journey of two Sulpician Priests and their seven soldier companions who set out from Montreal in birch bark canoes first accompanied and later abandoned by Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. Taken from Galinee’s journal and the map he prepared, this text describes their ascent of the St. Lawrence River and the crossing of upstate New York and Five Nations Iroquois Territory at Ganondagon near Victor, New York. It tells of their ultimate arrival on the north shore of Lake Erie where they spent five months overwintering in solitude at Port Dover only to return later to Montreal via Sault Ste. Marie after disaster halted their expedition near Point Pelee. Their interactions with First Nations and their struggles with nature as recorded by Galinee in this marathon canoe journey to lands where no European had ventured before, were reported at the conclusion of the voyage to the King of France and of New France, Louis XIV. The story of Dollier and Galinee has not been written about at length for over one hundred years. It is time to retell their story.