EARLY NOTICES OF 7^ HE MISSOURI RIVER AND INDIANS. Ill 



cerniug the Mississippi river, at this date only known by report, and the IlUnois 

 Indians, to whom he was expecting to be sent as a missionary, he says : 



" Six or seven days below the Illinois is another great river, on which 

 are prodigious nations, who use wooden canoes. Of these we cannot write more 

 till next year, if God does us the grace to lead us there." 



This is the only allusion to the Missouri river that I know of as occurring 

 in the writings of any of the western missionaries prior to the exploration of the 

 Mississippi river. 



The Illinois Indians at this time occupied territory on both side of the 

 Mississippi, and the Missouri would be six or seven days below them. The word 

 Missouri means canoe in the Algonquin language, and it should be born in mind 

 that it is the name applied by Indians of that stock to our Indians, who used 

 canoes made out of logs while their own were made of birch bark. Three 

 years later in company with Joliet, * Marquette embarked from Mackinaw on 

 the voyage that resulted in the exploration of the Mississippi river, and in the 

 latter part of June, 1673, passed the mouth of the Missouri. The noble river," 

 gorged with its annual spring rise, seemed as it poured out its mighty volume to 

 contend with the Mississippi for the mastery, and Marquette, in his relation of 

 the voyage, refers to it as follows : "As we were saiUng gently down a beautiful 

 still, clear water we heard the noise of a rapid into which we were about to fall; 

 I have seen nothing more frightful; a mass of large trees entire with branches, 

 real floating islands came rushing from the mouth of the river Pehitanoui f so 

 impetuously that we could not without great danger expose ourselves to pass 

 across ; the agitation was so great that the water was all muddy and could not get 

 clear. Pehitanoui is a considerable river which coming very far in the northwest 

 empties into the Mississippi. Many towns are ranged along this river, and I 

 hope by its means to make the discovery of the Red or California Sea. "J 

 The Gulf of California had been called the Red Sea by the Spaniards on account 

 of its fancied resemblance to the Red Sea of Asia. Prior to this voyage of 

 Marquette and Joliet the French authorities had hoped that the Mississippi would 

 be found to empty into the Gulf of California, and by this means give them a 

 passage to the South Sea. Marquette had now proceeded far enough to enable 

 him to conclude that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and he, 

 therefore, expressed the hope that the route to the Gulf of California might be 

 found by the way of the Missouri. From 1673 to 1680 the valley of the Missis- 



*Louis Joliet was born in Quebec, in 1645, joined the Jesuits at an early age, and was educated by them, 

 became a free trader, and was noted for his acquaintance with the Indian character and languages, was 

 named by the French authorities in 1672 to explore the Mississippi river. Made a journey to Hudson's Bay in 

 1679. In 1680 he received a grant of the island of Anticosti, for his services. In 1694 he explored the coast 

 of Labrador, was made royal pilot for the St. Lawrence in 1695, and died about 1700. 



■j-Pehitanoui is the name by which the Indians accompanying Marquette called the Missouri river. The 

 word is probably Algonquin. The Missouri's spoke a dialect of the Dacotah language and their name for the 

 river is unknown. 



JOn June 4th, 1672, the French Minister wrote to Talon, then Intnedant of Canada, as follows : " As 

 after the increase of the colony there is nothing more important than the discovery of a passage to the South 

 Sea, his majesty wishes you to give it your attention." 



