5857889 La Salle\'s Party Entering the Mississippi in Canoes, February 6th 1682, 1847-48 (oil on canvas) by Catlin, George (1796-1872); 37.8x56.4 cm; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA; (add.info.: Lasalle\'s party in eight bark canoes, entering the Mississippi from the Illinois near the site of present Memphis where he ordered Fort Prud\'homme be built Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-87) French explorer and fur trader in North America, best known for this expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the whole river basin for Louis XIV and France.).