<P> Beginning in 1700, the French Government began to become interested in the discoveries made by La Salle . The land was better for farming and settlement than lands in Canada and the government began plans to colonize the region . The land gained further importance with the growing power of the English colonies on the eastern seaboard . To counter the English colonies' growth a series of forts and outposts was built along the important trade routes pioneered by La Salle, including a new post named St Louis, this time on the west shore of Mississippi River . The French continued to control parts of La Salle's discoveries until as late as 1803 . </P> <P> La Salle's expedition began written history for most of the Midwest and his contact with the tribes of the west served as an important record of the early history of North America . </P> <P> La Salle Texas expedition between 1685 and 1688, in which triggered a series of events that culminated in Texas with all its wealth joining the United States of America . </P> <P> La Salle was never reported to have problems associating or interacting with the indigenous people in North America except for the Karankawa Indians of the gulf coast of Texas . Soon after his arrival in Texas in Jan 1685, La Salle was able to determine from the tool marks on human bones at old Karankawa campsites that they practiced cannibalism as a matter of course . Thereafter, likely as a matter of self - preservation, La Salle and his settlers viewed themselves in a state of war with the Karankawas . In fact, many settlers were lost to the Karankawas in the years that followed and the settlement itself, Fort St Louis, was overrun by the Karankawas in Dec 1688 and all remaining adults killed . In early 1689, a Spanish column searching for the French settlement happened upon the devastation that had been the fort and buried the remains of the dead which, inter alia, consisted of bones with tool marks scattered about the site . </P>

This was the location of french outposts that allowed colonists to access inland rivers