364 OCEAN TO OCEAN ON HORSEBACK. 



Or perhaps the city was named from the successive 

 titles of the proud, old Tamawas Chiefs. 



*' Not a monarch in all that proud Old World beyond 

 the deep '^ bore more haughtily his inherited title of 

 Herod or Caesar than did one of these Tamawas 

 rulers exult in the ancient title of Chacaqua. If this 

 theory of the origin of Chicago's cognomen be accepted, 

 then indeed can the " Windy City " claim a royal title 

 from the first. 



In 1673, certain Catholic missionaries became inter- 

 ested in exploring the Western Wilds. They were es- 

 pecially enthusiastic in regard to the waterways of 

 darkest America. The Mississippi they had heard of. 

 Was it possible that it ever could be made to join 

 hands with the Great Lakes, of which they had some 

 knowledge ? 



So questioning, Fathers Marquette and Joliet took 

 two canoes and five men from the upper lake regions, 

 and started to explore the charming Valley of the 

 Mississippi. 



On their return they reached the mouth of the 

 Illinois, where they were informed of a new way of 

 reaching Lake Michigan. 



"Taking the Des Plaines branch, they were able to 

 reach the w^ater shed, but eight feet higher than ca- 

 noeable waters, crossing which they launched into the 

 stream which conducted them into the lake." 



In so doing they made perhaps the greatest dis- 

 covery of their time — namely, a discovery of that su- 

 premely important portage which insures Chicago's 

 supremacy so long as American civilization exists. 



In October, 1674, Marquette returned to this spot 

 and erected the first white man's dwelling which 



