Erie, Lake

Area 10,000 square miles. Discovered by Brébeuf and Chau monot, 1640. It is po ible that the lake may have been first seen by white men at a still earlier date, when the Francis can friar, La Roche Dallion, visited the Neutral nation, 1626, but there is no direct evidence. The lake is mentioned under its present name in Lalemant's Relation of 1641, as well as in that of Ragueneau, 1648. La Salle's Griffon was the first ship to sail its waters, 1679. First clearly shown on Sanson map of 1650. Bib. : Chaumonot, Vie ; Harris, Early Mi ions ; Parkman, Jesuits in North America .