Let us follow him in another direction.  He had tried to extend the sphere of French influence towards the west and south, and was doing his best to strengthen Canada on the New England border by promoting the development of Acadia.  His next attempt was to bring the northern tribes into the French alliance and to open to the colony the trade of the wide area extending from Lake St John to Lake Mistassini and thence to Hudson Bay.  For an expedition to Hudson Bay he chose Father Albanel, a Jesuit, and M. de Saint-Simon.  They left Quebec for Tadoussac in August 1671, and ascended the Saguenay to Lake St John where they wintered.  In June 1672 they continued their journey, reaching Lake Mistassini on the 18th of the same month and James Bay on the 28th.  After formally taking possession of the country in the name of France, they returned by the same route to Quebec, where on July 23 they laid their report before the intendant.

One of the last but not the least of the explorations made under Talon’s auspices was that which he entrusted to Louis Jolliet, and which resulted in the discovery of the upper Mississippi.  Jolliet left Montreal in the autumn of 1672 and wintered at Michilimackinac, where he joined Father Marquette.  Next spring they set out together, and by way of Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Fox river, and the Wisconsin they reached the giant river, the mighty Mississippi, which they followed down as far as latitude 33 degrees.  Thus was discovered the highway through the interior of the continent to the Gulf of Mexico.  One result of the discovery was the birth of Louisiana a few years later.

Talon’s patriotic enthusiasm was justified when he wrote to Louis XIV:  ’I am no courtier and it is not to please the king or without reason that I say this portion of the French monarchy is going to become something great.  What I see now enables me to make such a prediction.  The foreign colonies established on the adjoining shores of the ocean are already uneasy at what His Majesty has done here during the last seven years.’  This confidence was probably not shared by the king and his minister, for, in a letter to Frontenac some time later, Colbert remonstrated against long journeys to the upper St Lawrence and outlying settlements, and expressed his disapproval of discoveries far away in the interior of the continent where the French could never settle or remain.  Undoubtedly it was wise to advise concentration, and Talon himself would not have differed on that score from the minister.  He was too sagacious not to see that Canada with a small population should abstain from remote establishments.  His policy of exploration and discovery did not aim at the immediate foundation of new colonies, but was only directed towards increasing the prestige of the French name, developing trade, and thus preparing the way for the future greatness of Canada.  It was a far-sighted policy, not seeking impossible achievements for to-day, but gaining a foot-hold for those of to-morrow.