INTRODUCTION. 



Charlevoix informs us tbat tlie discovery of tlie Mississippi 

 River is due to father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, who mani- 

 fested the most unwearied enterprise in exploring the north- 

 western regions of New France; and after laying the foundation 

 of Michilimackinac, proceeded, in company with Sieur Joliet, up 

 the Fox River of Green Bay, and, crossing the portage into the 

 Wisconsin, first entered the Mississippi m 1673, 



Robert de la Salle, to whom the merit of this discovery is gene- 

 rally attributed, embarked at Rochelle, on his first voyage of dis- 

 covery, July 14, 1678; reached Quebec in September following, 

 and, proceeding up the St. Lawrence, laid the foundation of Fort 

 Niagara, in the country of the Iroquois, late in the fall of that 

 year. In the following year, he passes up tlip Niagt'^q, River ; 

 estimates the height of the falls at six hundre^l. feet ; and pjL ' '".eed- 

 ing through Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron, reaches Michi..' 

 mackinac in August. He then visits the Sault de St. Marie, and 

 returning to Michilimackinac, continues his voyage to the south, 

 with a view of striking the Mississippi River ; passes into the lake 

 of the Illinois ; touches at Green Bay ; and enters the River St. 

 Joseph's, of Lake Michigan, where he builds a fort, in the country 

 of the Miamies. 



In December of the same year, he crosses the portage between 

 the St. Joseph's and the Illinois ; descends the latter to the lake, 

 and builds a fort in the midst of the tribes of the Illinois, which 

 he calls Crevecoeur. Here he makes a stand ; sends persons out 

 to explore the Mississippi, trafiics with the Indians, among all of 

 whom he finds abundance of Indian corn ; and returns to Fort 

 Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, in 1680. He revisits Fort Crevecoeur 

 9 



