270 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of St. Francois county, a point so noted for its iron mountains, and the 

 cobalt and lead mines of La Motte. Failin*? to find the precious met- 

 als, the Spanish adventurers were led to search for the rich rejjion 

 called Cayas, and from the White river they crossed the Ozark moun- 

 tains, spending the winter of 1541-2 on the plains beyond — the first 

 white men to set foot on the soil of what is now Missouri. But, failing 

 to discover the object of their search, they retraced their steps, follow- 

 ing the the Arkansas river to its mouth, where, overcome by hardship 

 and disease, DeSoto died, a discouraged and disappointed man, and 

 was buried beneath the waters of the stream that he had been the first 

 to discover. It is said that not more than three huadred of the large 

 band of men who went out with this leader survived him, and these^ 

 deprived of their head and thrown upon their own resources, must 

 have scattered widely in seeking their separate fortunes in this un- 

 known land. There is some evidence that members of this expedition 

 penetrated as far as the western boundaries of the State. An ancient 

 silver medal recently discovered by a negro in cleaning out a springs 

 near Ash Grove, in Greene county, shows every sign of having been an 

 amulet worn by some of the early adventurers, and bears a date of 

 about the time of the famous expedition. 



For a hundred and thirty years this region remained a veritable 

 unknown land. But as early as 1673, the French began to enter this 

 portion of the country at about the time that the English were making 

 their settlements at Jamestown, and after the Spanish had already 

 established themselves in Florida. It was a descendant from the noble 

 house of the Marquettes, from the ancient city of Laon, near Paris, 

 whose chivalric courage and ardent devotion to the cause of religion 

 impelled him, at the age of 29 years, to undertake that first missionary 

 journey into the interior of our great continent. Since, as an ambas- 

 sador of Christ, his religion would not allow him to command, Joliet, 

 a native of Canada, was chosen to represent the king of France, while 

 Marquette was simply the missionary of the expedition, in name, 

 although he was "its real leader, its very soul." These two explorers, 

 the first who had had an unselfish end in view, and by virtue of which, 

 perhaps, they were so successful in winning their way among the 

 Indians, followed a course down Lake Michigan and into the Fox river 

 to the Wisconsin, whence they floated down the Mississippi, reaching 

 the Missouri in June, 1C73. One author remarks that they passed the 

 site of St. Louis "without taking the least notice of it," and followed 

 down to the mouth of the Arkansas, whence they returned to Lake 

 Michigan. A map made by Joliet was the first one to locate the 

 mouth of the Missouri river. 



