unflinching courage, were commissioned to discover the great river which had proved so elusive, the Mississippi. From Mackinaw they journeyed to Green Bay and entered Fox River. With the aid of Indian guides they found their way to a portage which brought them to the Wisconsin River. "They bade farewell to the waters that flowed to the L. Jollies AUTOGRAPH OF JOLLIET, St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current that Or Joliet as THE NAME Was to bear IS USUALLY SPELLED them, they knew not whither, perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea, or the Gulf of California." 1 On June 17 they reached the present site of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and there before them stretched the stream which was the object of their quest. Day after day, in spite of strange and terrifying adventures, they kept their way 1 Parkman, “La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West." (From Trentanove's statue in the Capitol at Washington) This is an ideal figure. In 1897 a painting was discovered in Montreal which is claimed to be a portrait. down the great river, passing the mouth of the Missouri, which Lewis and Clark were afterwards to ascend, and finally reaching the mouth of the Arkansas. They were seven hundred miles from the mouth of the Mississippi, although they thought themselves much nearer; but their journey had made it clear that the Mississippi flowed southward to the Gulf of Mexico. This fact was ascertained, and, since below them lay danger from hostile Indians and possibly from Spaniards, they reëmbarked on July 17, and set forth on their arduous return journey to report their discovery. In accordance with the custom of these pioneer priests Father Marquette kept a careful journal, and this "Relation," as it is called, preserves the record of the perilous quest of a classic figure in the discovery of the West.1 In 1682 La Salle, seeking a trade route for the transportation of heavy skins, descended the Mississippi to its mouth. This was the first time that the entire course of the "Father of 1 Mr. Reuben G. Thwaite's "Father Marquette" is an excellent presentation of this story. |