ROBERT CAVELIER, SIEUR DE LA SALLE encountered four villages of the Illinois nation during his first journey to Illinois in 1679–80. Only the summer village of the migratory Kaskaskia has ever been correctly identified. It lies on the upper Illinois River, less than a mile and a half east of the landmark known as Starved Rock. As “the Zimmerman site,” it has hosted archaeological excavations in 1941, 1970, and 1991.1 However, two small winter villages and the Grand Village of the Illinois, which all families of the Illinois tribe called their home, have never been found. The documents left by La Salle and his contemporaries make the locations of these places surprisingly clear. Together, the historical records offer a new picture of the populous Illinois peoples, their migratory habits, and their relationship to the Europeans in their midst.
In the early winter of 1679, La Salle and a small...
