[1] Father Marquette was born at Laon, in France, in 1637, and died on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan in 1675.  Marquette had kept daily memoranda of his expedition, but during the return voyage up the Mississippi his papers were lost.  He afterward composed from memory his narrative published under the title “Travels and Discoveries in North America.”  It has been printed in the “Historical Collections of Louisiana,” and in Hart’s “American History Told by Contemporaries.”

In this journey, occupying about four months, Marquette and Joliet paddled their canoes more than 2,500 miles.  It has been maintained by some writers, and among them Mr. Thwaites, that Joliet and Marquette were as much the real discoverers of the Mississippi as Columbus was the discoverer of America.  While Europeans had actually reached the Mississippi before them, just as Asiatics and Norwegians probably had reached America before Columbus, it was Joliet and Marquette who first wrote narratives of their expedition, prepared excellent maps, and were followed by others who opened the region to enterprise and settlement.  Of de Soto’s century-and-a-quarter earlier discovery, nothing came, while the contention put forth for La Salle that he made an earlier visit than Joliet and Marquette is based “on the merest surmise.”

    [2] The Mississippi.

    [3] The arm of Lake Michigan, now called Green Bay.

    [4] The town of Prairie du Chien lies just north of the confluence
    of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.

THE DEATH OF MARQUETTE

(1675)

BY FATHER CLAUDE DABLON[1]

Father James Marquette, having promised the Illinois, called Kaskaskia, to return among them to teach them our mysteries, had great difficulty in keeping his word.  The great hardships of his first voyage had brought on a dysentery, and had so enfeebled him that he lost all hope of undertaking a second voyage.  Yet, his malady having given way and almost ceased toward the close of summer in the following year, he obtained permission of his superiors to return to the Illinois to found that noble mission....

After the Illinois had taken leave of the father, filled with a great idea of the gospel, he continued his voyage, and soon after reached the Illinois Lake, on which he had nearly a hundred leagues to make by an unknown route, because he was obliged to take the southern [eastern] side of the lake, having gone thither by the northern [western].  His strength, however, failed so much that his men despaired of being able to carry him alive to their journey’s end; for, in fact, he became so weak and exhausted that he could no longer help himself, nor even stir, and had to be handled and carried like a child....