It is not important to dwell upon the minor excursions which Champlain made from his headquarters at Quebec into the country of the Montagnais. [Footnote:  An Algonquin tribe dwelling to the north of the St Lawrence, for the most part between the Saguenay and the St Maurice.] He saw little of the rocky northland which, with its myriad lakes and splendid streams, sweeps from the St Lawrence to Hudson Bay.  Southward and westward lay his course to the cantons of the Iroquois south of Lake Ontario and the villages of the Hurons north of Lake Simcoe.  Above all, the expeditions of 1609, 1613, and 1615 are the central episodes of his work as an explorer, each marked by a distinct motive and abounding with adventures.  In 1609 he discovered Lake Champlain and fought his first battle with the Iroquois.  In 1613 he was decoyed by a lying guide into a fruitless search for the North-West Passage by the route of the Ottawa.  In 1615 he discovered Lake Huron, traversed what is now Central Ontario, and attacked the Iroquois in the heart of their own country.  These three journeys make the sum of Champlain’s achievements as a pioneer of the interior.  For all three, likewise, we have his own story, upon which all other versions are based and from which they draw their most striking details.

The discovery of Lake Champlain had its root in Champlain’s promise to the Algonquins that he would aid them in their strife with the Iroquois.  In turn this promise was based upon the policy of conciliating those savage tribes from whom the French derived their supply of furs, and with whom throughout the St Lawrence basin they most constantly came in contact.

It was the year which followed the founding of Quebec.  Of the twenty-eight who entered upon the first winter eight only had survived, and half of these were ailing.  On June 5 relief came in the person of Des Marais, who announced that his father-in-law, Pontgrave, was already at Tadoussac.  Champlain at once set out to meet him, and it was arranged that Pontgrave should take charge of the settlement for the coming year, while Champlain fulfilled his promise to aid the Algonquins in their war with the Iroquois.  The full plan required that Pontgrave should spend the winter in Canada, while Champlain, after his summer campaign, was to return to France with a report of his explorations.

The Indians had stated that the route to the land of the Iroquois was easy, and Champlain’s original design was to proceed in a shallop capable of carrying twenty Frenchmen.  Early in July he reached the mouth of the Richelieu, but on arriving at Chambly he found it quite impossible to pass the falls with his shallop.  Either the expedition must be abandoned or the plan be radically changed, with the consequence of incurring much greater risks.  To advance meant sending back the shallop with its crew and stores, embarking in a canoe, and trusting wholly to the good faith of the savages.  The decision was not easy.