USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 2
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Choice of Leader .- The authorities were not mistaken in the choice they made of Louis JJoliet. He was a young man then twenty-eight years old, possessing all the qualifications that could be desired for such an undertaking : he had had experience among the Indians, and knew their language; he had tact, prudence and courage, and, as the event proved, he fulfilled all the expectations which were entertained of him by his superiors. Father James Marquette was a Jesnit missionary, thirty-six years old, and, in addition to his zeal for the conversion of the Indians, he was filled with a burning desire to behold the "Great River" of which he had heard so much. Ile was sta- fioned at this time at St. Ignace, and here Joliet joined him late in the year 1672. and brought him the intelligence of his appointment to go with him in the conduet of the expedition. "I was all the more delighted at this good news." writes Marquette in his journal, "since I saw that my plans were about to be accomplished ; and since I found myself in the blessed necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these peoples, and especially of the Illinois, who had very urgently entreated me, when I was at the point of St. Esprit, to carry the word of God to their country." Here at St. Ignace they passed the winter.
As the spring advanced, they made the necessary preparations for their journey, the duration of which they could not foresee. In two bark eanoes. manned by five Frenchmen, besides the two intrepid leaders, the party em- barked. "Fully resolved to do and suffer everything for so glorious an enter-
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DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST
prise :" and on the 17th of May, 1673, the voyage began at the mission of St. Ignace. Father Marquette writes in his journal: "The joy that we felt at being selected for this expedition animated our courage, and rendered the labor of paddling from morning to night agreeable to us. And because we were going to seek unknown countries, we took every precaution in our power, so that if our undertaking were hazardous, it should not be foolhardy." The journal of Father Marquette is the principal source of our information, and is full of detail and written in a simple style. Joliet also kept a record and made a map, but, most unfortunately, all his papers were lost by the up- setting of his canoe in the St. Lawrence, while he was returning to Queber the following year to make a report of his discoveries. Thus it happens that Marquette's name is more frequently and prominently mentioned in all the accounts than that of Joliet.
Beginning of the Journey .- The adventurous voyagers proceeded along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the only portion of the lake which had at that time been explored, and entered Green Bay. They arrived at the mis- sion established by Father Allouez two years before, and from here they began the difficult ascent of the Fox River. On its upper waters they stopped at a village of the Maseoutins, from whom they proenred guides; and by these friendly savages they were conducted across the portage into the upper waters of the Wisconsin River, whence the travelers made their way alone. As the Indians turned back, they "marvelled at the courage of seven white men, ven- turing alone in two canoes on a journey into unknown lands. "
They were now embarked on the Wisconsin River and soon passed the utmost limits of Nieollet's voyage on this river made thirty-five years before. Their route lay to the southwest, and, after a voyage of seven days on this river, on the 17th day of June. just one month from the day they started from St. Ignace, they reached its month and steered their canoes forth npon the broad bosom of the Mississippi, "with a joy that I cannot express," wrote Marquette.
"Here, then, we are," continues the good Father in his journal. "on this so renowned river." Westward, coming down to the water's edge, were lofty wooded hills interseeted by deep gorges, fringed with foliage. Eastward were beautiful prairie lands; while great quantities of game-deer, buffalo and wild turkey-were seen everywhere. In the river were islands covered with trees and in the water they saw "monstrous fish," some of which they caught in their nets. Following the flow of the river, they note the changes in the scenery, while passing between shores of unsurpassed natural beauty, along which a chain of flourishing eities was afterwards to be built.
Afloat on the Mississippi .- Steadily they followed the course of the river towards the south, and on the eighth day they saw, for the first time since entering the river, traeks of men near the water's edge, and they stopped to examine them. This point was near the mouth of the Des Moines River, and thus they were the tirst white men to place foot on the soil of Iowa. Leaving their men to guard the canoes the two courageous leaders followed a path two leagues to the westward, when they came in sight of an Indian village. As they approached, they gave notice of their arrival by a lond call, upon
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LAKE MICHIGAN
MILWAUKEE
1840
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OUTLINE MAP OF MILWAUKEE MADE IN 1840 See Key on opposite page
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KEY TO MILWAUKEE MAP OF 1840
A. The East Side.
B. Kilbourn Town.
C. Walker's Point.
D. Milwaukee River.
E. Menomonee River.
F. Red Bridge.
G. Menomonee Bridge.
HI. Spring Street Ferry (Grand Avenue).
I. Walker's Point Ferry.
K. Old Harbor Entrance.
L. Proposed Straight Cut (New Harbor En- trance ).
N. Lighthouse.
0. Courthouse.
P. The Canal.
1. East Water Street.
2. Swamp-Present City Hall Site.
3. Market Street.
4. Division Street (Juneau Aveme ).
5. Chestnut Street.
6. West Water Street.
7. Spring Street (Grand Avenue).
S. Chieago Road.
9. Prairieville Road.
10. Green Bay Road.
11. Washington House.
12. Kilbourn Warehouse.
13. Leland & American House.
14. Fischer Kroeger's German House.
15. St. Peter's Chapel (Cathedral).
16. Fountain House.
17. Milwaukee House.
18. Cottage Inn.
19. Ludington's Corner.
20. Wisconsin Street.
21. Beam & Company Store.
22. George H. Walker's IJome.
23. Rogers Old Corner.
24. Market Square.
25. George Dousman's Warehouse.
26. Longstreet's Warehouse.
27. Walker's Warehouse.
28. Sweet & Jervis Warehouse.
29. Barber's Wharf near Ludwig's Garden.
30. Little German Tavern.
32. River Street Swamp.
33-34. Small Islands in the Milwaukee River Later Removed.
35. Lake Brewery.
36. Huron Street.
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
which the savages quickly came forth from their huts and regarded the stran- gers attentively. Some of their miuber who had evidently visited the mis- sion stations recognized them as Frenchmen. and they responded to Mar- quette's greeting in a friendly manner and offered the "calumet, " or peace pipe, which greatly reassured the visitors. Four of the elders advanced and elevated their pipes towards the sun as a token of friendship: and. on Mar- quette's inquiring who they were, they replied, "we are Ilinois:" at the same time inviting the strangers to walk to their habitations. An old man then made them a speech in which he said, "All our people wait for thee. and thou shalt enter our cabin in peace."
The Illinois Indians lived at this time beyond the Mississippi, whither they had been driven by the fioree Iroquois from their former abode, near Lake Michigan. A few years later most of them returned to the east side and made their abode along the llinois River. Indeed. JJoliet and Marquette found a large village of them on the upper waters of the Illinois, while ascending that river a few weeks later. It may be remarked here. however, that the Illinois Indians never fully recovered from the disastrous defeats they suffered from the Iroquois, and held only a precarions possession of their lands along the Illinois River after that time : until a century later, the last broken remuant of them was exterminated at Starved Rock by the Pottawatomies and Ottawas.
Visit to the Illinois Indians .- While still at the village of these Ilinois Indians, a grand feast was prepared for the travelers, and they remained until the next day, when they made preparations for their departure.
The chiel made them two gifts which were a valuable addition to their equipment, uamely, an Indian lad. the chief's own son, for a slave, and "an altogether mysterious calumet, upon which the Indians place more value than upon a slave." The possession of this "mysterious calumet." was th' means of placating several bands of hostile Indians, whom they met later in their journey. The chief, on learning their intention to proceed down the river "as far as the sea." attempted to dissuade them on account of the great dangers to which they would expose themselves. "I replied," says Marquette, "that I feared not death, and that I regarded no happiness as greater than that of losing my life for the glory of Him, who has made us all. This is what these poor people cannot understand." These were no idle words of Marquette's, for before the lapse of two years from that date, he died of privation and exposure. a martyr to the cause he had so much at heart.
The sequel to the story of the little Indian boy mentioned above was a sad one. He accompanied the voyagers to the end of their journey. In the following year, when doliet was on his way to Quebee to make the report of his discoveries, bis canoe was overturned in the rapids of the St. Lawrence near Montreal, as previously stated. The rest of the narrative is quoted from Mason's "Chapters from Ilinois History." "His box of papers, containing his map and report. was lost, and he himself was rosened with difficulty. Two of his companions were drowned; one of these was the slave presented to him by the great chief of the Ilinois, a little Indian lad ten years of age. whom
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DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST
he deeply regretted, describing him as of a good disposition, full of spirit, industrions and obedient, and already beginning to read and write the French language."
Friendship of Marquette and Joliet,-On the departure of the party, Mar- mette promised the Indians to return to them the next year and instruet them. They embarked in the sight of the people, who had followed them to the landing to the number of some six hundred. The people admired the canoes and gave them a friendly farewell. We cannot fail to note the har- mony which existed between the two leaders on this expedition, in such strik- ing contrast with the biekerings and disagreements observed in the accounts of other expeditions of a like nature. For there is no severer test of the friendly relations between officers of an exploring expedition than a long absence in regions beyond the bounds of civilization. Joliet and Marquette were friends long before they started together on this journey, and both were single minded in their purpose to accomplish its objeets. No more lovely char- acter appears in the history of western adventure than that of Marquette, a man who endeared himself to all with whom he came in contaet, and made himself an example for all time. JJoliet, in turn, "was the foremost explorer of the West, " says Mason, "a man whose character and attainments and public services made him a man of high distinction in his own day."
Continuing their journey the voyagers passed the mouth of the Illinois, without special notice, but when in the vicinity of the place where the eity of Alton now stands, and while skirting some high rocks, they "saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made them afraid." The paintings were "as large as a calf," and were so well done that they could not believe that any savage had done the work. JJontel saw them some eleven years later, but could not see anything particularly terrifying in them, though the Indians who were with him were much impressed. St. Cosme passed by them in 1699, but they were then almost effaced ; and when, in 1867, Parkman visited the Mississippi, he passed the rock on which the paintings appeared, but the roek had been partly quarried away.
They had scarcely recovered from their fears before they found themselves in the presence of a new danger, for they heard the noise of what at first they supposed were rapids ahead of them; and directly they came in sight of the turbulent waters of the Missouri River, pouring its flood into the Mississippi. Large trees, branches and even "floating islands" were borne on its surface, and its "water was very muddy. " The name Missouri, which was afterwards applied to this river, means in the Indian language "muddy water, " and the river is often spoken of to this day as the "Big Muddy." They passed in safety, however, and continued on their journey in good spirits and with thankful hearts.
They now began to think that the general course of the river indicated that it would discharge itself into the Gulf of Mexico, though they were still hoping to find that it would lead into the South Sea, toward California. As they passed the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi, the shores changed their character. They found the banks lined with extensive fields of cane- brakes; mosquitoes filled the air, and the excessive heat of the sun obliged
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
them to seek protection from its rays by stretching an awning of eloth over their canoes. While they were thus floating down the current of the river, they were in communication with Europeans, probably the Spaniards of some savages appeared on the banks armed with guns, thus indicating that Florida. The savages at first assumed a threatening attitude, but Marquette offered his "plumed calumet," so called because of the feathers it was adorned with, which the Illinois chief had given him, and the strangers were at onee received as friends. These savages told them that they were within ten days' journey of the sea, and with their hopes thus raised they soon resumed their course.
Soothing Effect of the Calumet .- They continued down past the monot- onons banks of this part of the river for some three hundred miles from the place where they had met the Indians just spoken of, when they were sud- denly startled by the war-whoops of a numerous band of savages who showed every sign of hostility. The wonderful calumet was held up by Marquette, but at first without producing any effect. Missiles were flying, but fortunately doing no damage, and some of the savages plunged into the river in order to grasp their canoes ; when presently some of the older men, having perceived the calumet steadily held aloft, called back their young men and made re- assuring signs and gestures. They found one who could speak a little Illinois ; and, on learning that the Frenchmen were on their way to the sea, the Indians escorted them some twenty-five miles, until they reached a village ealled Akamsea. Here they were well received, but the dwellers there warned them against proceeding, on account of the warlike tribes below who would bar their way.
Joliet and Marquette here held a eonneil whether to push on, or remain content with the discoveries they had already made. They judged that they were within two or three days' journey from the sea, though we know that they were still some seven hundred miles distant from it. They decided however, that beyond a doubt the Mississippi discharged its waters into the Gulf of Mexico, and not to the East in Virginia, or to the West in California. They considered that in going on they would expose themselves to the risk of losing the results of their voyage, and would, without a doubt, fall into the hands of the Spaniards, who would detain them as captives. The upshot of their deliberations was the decision that they would begin the return voyage at once. The exploration of the river from this point to the sea was not accomplished until nine years later, when that bold explorer. La Salle, passed entirely down the river to its mouth ; where he set up a column and buried a plate of lead, bearing the arms of France: took possession of the country for the French King, and named it Louisiana.
The party were now at the month of the Arkansas, having passed more than one hundred miles below the place where De Soto erossed it in the previous century, had sailed eleven hundred miles in the thirty days since they had been on the great river, an average of abont thirty-seven miles a day, and had covered nine degrees of latitude. On the 17th of July, they began their return journey, just one month to a day after they had entered the river, and two months after they had left the mission at St. Ignaec.
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DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST
The voyage up the river in the mid-summer heat was one of great diffi- culty, but steadily they "won their slow way northward," passing the month of the Ohio and that of the Missouri; until at length they reached the mouth of the Illinois River. Here they left the Mississippi and entered the Illinois, being greatly charmed "with its placid waters, its shady forests, and its rich plains, grazed by bison and deer." They passed through the wide portion of the river, afterwards known as Peoria Lake, and reached its upper waters, where, on the south bank, rises the remarkable cliff, since called "Starved Roek." They were thus "the first white men to see the territory now known as the State of Illinois."
On the opposite bank of the river, where the Town of Utica now stands, they found a village of Illinois Indians, called Kaskaskia, consisting of sev- enty-four cabins. It should here be stated that the Indians removed this village, some seventeen years later, to the south part of the present State of Illinois, on the Kaskaskia River, where it became noted in the early annals of the West. The travelers were well received here, and, on their departure, a chief and a number of young men of the village joined the party for the purpose of guiding them to the Lake of the Illinois, that is, Lake Michigan.
The course of the river was now almost directly east and west, and the voyagers could not fail to notice the ranges of bluffs flanking the bottom lands through which the stream meanders in its flow. This broad channel once carried a mighty volume of water from Lake Michigan to the Missis- sippi, at a time when the glaciers were subsiding and the lake level was some thirty feet higher than in historie times.
The travelers soon arrived at the confluence of the Desplaines and the Kankakee rivers which here, at a point some forty-five miles from Lake Michigan, unite to form the Illinois River. Under the guidance of their Indian friends they chose the route by way of the Desplaines as the shortest to the lake. On reaching the place where the portage into the waters tribu- tary to Lake Michigan was to be made, their Indian guides aided them in carrying their canoes over the "half league" of dry land intervening. As this portage is much longer than that, it is likely that the "half league" mentioned by Marquette referred to one stage of the portage, between the Desplaines and the first of the two shallow lakes which they found there and on which they, no doubt, floated their canoes several miles on their way to the waters of the south branch of the Chicago River.
Reaching Lake Michigan .- Here their Indian friends left them while they made their way down the five miles that yet intervened before they would reach Lake Michigan. Groves of trees lined its banks, beyond which a level plain extended to the margin of the lake. This level plain was the only por- tion of the "Grand Prairie" of Illinois which anywhere reached the shore of Lake Michigan, a space limited to some four miles south of the mouth of the Chicago River. They were not long in coming into view of that splendid body of water which they were approaching, and must have beheld its vast extent with the feelings of that "watcher of the skies" so beautifully written of by Keats, "when a new planet swims into his ken."
No date is given by Marquette in his journal of the arrival of the party
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
at this point, but it was probably early in September of the year 1673 that the site of the present City of Chicago was first visited by white men. It is quite possible that conrent's de bois ("wood-rangers") may have visited the spot while among the Indian tribes, but no record was ever made of such visits before the time that Joliet and Marquette arrived upon the scene, and made known the discovery to the world. The mouth of the river is shown on all the early maps as at a point a quarter of a mile south of the present outlet, owing to a long sand spit that ran out from the north shore of the river near its confluence with the lake, which has long since been dredged away. This was Joliet's first and only view of the Chicago River and its banks, as he never passed this way again.
The stimulating breath of the lake breezes which met them as they issued forth upon the blue waters of the "Lake of the Illinois," must have thrilled the explorers with feelings of joy and triumph, having escaped so many dangers and won such imperishable renown. Turning the prows of their canoes northward, they passed the wooded shores still in their pristine love- liness. The emerald hues of the prairies, which they had left behind them, wore now replaced by the mottled foliage of the early autumn, and the waves breaking on the beach of sand and gravel must have impressed them deeply as they proceeded on their way. The shores began to rise and form bluff's as they passed the regularly formed coast on their course.
Throughout their journey the voyagers gaze on seenes familiar now to millions of people, then unknown to civilized man. They see the gradnal increase in the height of the bluffs, reaching an elevation at the present town of Lake Forest of 100 feet or more above the surface of the lake, and the bold shores of the present site of the City of Milwaukee. No comments are made regarding the events of this part of the journey by Marquette in his journal, and it most likely was made without special incident. He closes his narra- tive by saying that "at the end of September, we reached the Bay des Puants (Green Bay), from which we started at the beginning of June."
The world renowed voyage of Joliet and Marquette thus ended at the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, where the Village of De Pere, Wisconsin, now stands. The explorers had traveled nearly twenty-five hundred miles in about one hundred and twenty days, a daily average of nearly twenty-one miles, had discovered the Mississippi and the Chicago rivers, as well as the site of the present City of Chicago; and had brought back their party without any serions accident or the loss of a single man. Here they remained during the fall and winter, and in the summer of the following year (1674), Joliet set out for Quebee to make a report of his discoveries to the governor of Canada. It was while nearing Montreal on this journey that his canoe was upset in the rapids, his Indians drowned, and all his records and a map that he had vare- fully prepared were lost. Joliet never returned to the West. He was rewarded For his splendid services with a grant of some islands in the lower St. Lawrence, including the extensive island of Anticosti, and died in 1700. As regards the credit due Joliet for the discovery made, the late Mr. Edward G. Mason in his valuable work entitled. "Chapters from Ilinois History," says : "Popular error assigned the leadership of the expedition which discovered
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DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST
the Upper Mississippi and the Hlino's Valley to Marquette, who never held or claimed it. Every reliable authority demonstrates the mistake, and yet the delusion continues. But as Marquette himself says that Joliet was sent to liseover new countries, and he to preach the gospel; as Count Frontenac reports to the home authorities that Talon selected Joliet to make the dis- covery ; as Father Dablon confirms this statement; and as the Canadian authorities gave rewards to Joliet alone as the sole discoverer, we may safely vonehide that to him belongs the honor of the achievement. He actually necomplished that of which Champlain and Nicollet and Radisson were the heralds, and, historically speaking, was the first to see the wonderful region of the prairies. At the head of the roll of those indissolubly associated with the land of the Thinois, who have trod its soil, must forever stand the name of Louis Joliet."
Marquette Continues Exploration .- Father Marquette was destined never to return to the French colonial capital. His health had become impaired on account of the hardships he had suffered during the return journey on the Mississippi, and he remained nearly a year at the Mission of St. Francis Xavier in an effort to recover his health and prepare himself for another journey to the Illinois Country, as he had promised his Indian friends he would do.
Early in the summer of 1674, that is, about seven or eight months after his return to Green Bay from the voyage described in the previous pages, Joliet started on his journey to Quebec to inform the authorities regarding the new countries he had found. As already related, Joliet met with disaster on this journey, and had it not been for the journal kept by Marquette we should have had no detailed record of the explorations of the previous year, though Joliet gave some oral accounts afterwards, records of which have only in recent years come to light. Later in the same year Marquette, having re- covered from the poor health he had been suffering, received "orders to pro- ered to the mission of La Concepcion among the Ilinois." On the 25th of October, 1674, accordingly, he set out with two companions, named Pierre and Jaeques; one of whom had been with him on his former journey of dis- covery. From this journey Marquette never returned; and indeed it woukd seem to have been a most perilous risk for him to have taken considering his physical condition, having only recently been "cured," as he says, of his "ailment, " and starting at a time of year when he would soon be overtaken by the winter season. But no toils or exposure could deter those devoted missionaries of the cross from engaging in any undertaking which seemed to hold out the least prospect of saving souls, as the history of those times abundantly shows.
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