Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-11-19
HK ADVENTURES OF MARQUETTE.
BY JOHN s. C. ABBOTT.

Nearly three hundred and fifty years
age. in April, l541, De Soto, in his ad-
venturous march, discovered the majes-
tio Mississippi, not far from the south
ern border of the State of Tennessee.
No white mans eye had ever before be-
held that flood, whose banks are now
Inhabited by busy millions. The In
dams informed him that all the region
below consisted of dismal, endless, I'M
inhabitable swamps. De Soto, world
weary and wOe-stricken, died upon the
banks of the river, and in its fathomless
depths bis body found burial.
These cruel adventures, insanely i'm
PEELED in search of mines of gold, found
ed no settlements, and left behind them
no traces of their passage, save that by
their cruelties they had excited the i'm
piacsble IRE OF the Indians against the
white man. A hundred years of earth's
many griefs fingered slowly away, while
these vast solitudes were peopled only
bywandering Indian tribes whose record
must forever remain unknown.
In the year 1641, some French ENJOYS
from Canada, seeking to open friendly
trade with the Indians fer the purchase
of furs, penetrated the northwest of our
country as far as the Falls of st. Mary,
near the outlet of Lake Superior. The
most friendly relations existed between
these Frenchmen and the Indians, wher-
ever the tribes were encountered. This
visd led to no settlement. The adven-
turous traders purchased many furs,
with which they loaded their birch
canoes; established friendly relations
with these distant Indians, and greatly
extended the region from which furs
were brought 10 Their trading posts in
Canada.
Twenty more years passed away, over
the silent and gloomy wilderness, when,
IN 1859, little band of these bold and
hardy explorers, in their frail canoes,
with Indian guides, padded along the
lonely, forest-fringed shores of Lake
Ontario, assembled the Niagara river to
the Falls, carried their canoes on their
shoulders around the rapids, launched
them again on Lake Erie, traversed that
inland sea over two hundred and fifty
miles, entered the magnificent strait,
passed through it to Lake st. Clair,
crossed that lake, assembled the st.
Clair river to Lake Huron, and travers-
ing its whole length, distance of three
hundred miles, reached the Falls of st.
Mary.
Here, at the distance of more than a
thousand miles from the least vestiges
Of civilization, and surrounded by nu-
nerous and powerful bands of savages.
these hardy men passed an inclement
winter. Amidst rocks and gloomy pines
they reared their hut. Game was abun-
4ant, fuel was at their door, the Indians
were hospitable, and they wanted for
nothing. One event only darkened
these wintry months. The leader of the
band became lost in the woods and per-
3hed.
In the spring the men returned re-
ioicingiy to Canada, with their canoes
akden with the richest furs. They also
drought such reports of the docility and
Instability of the Indians as to inspire
the Christians In Canada with the in
tense desire to establish missionary sta
lions among them. Five years passed
away, when Father Claude Allouez, with
Q small band of Christian heroes, pene-
%rated these wilds TO proclaim the glad
tadings of the gospel. Two years after,
he was followed by Father James Mar
luette, noble man, whose name will
never die.
Marquette established a mission about
forty miles below the Falls of ST. Mary,
at peint on the main land, which ne
named ST. I.,natius, just north of the
island on NJ -akinaw. Here he gathered
8 little band 81. loving disciples. His
gentle and devoted spirit won, not
9erely the friendship of the Indians,
hut their ardent affections. He was
lust as safe among them as the most be-
loved father surrounded by his children.
Three years this good man remained in
these lonely wiids, peacefully and sue
cessfuIIy teaching these benighted chill
drer OF the forest salvation through an
: st0ning Savior. During all this time
his mind hai been much exercised with
The thonght Of exploring the Hmitless
. md unknown regions sonth and west
= He had heard rumors of the Missis-
I eippf. the. Father of Waters, and his
1eyout mind peopled the vast realms
|. Ghron which, it flowed with the lost
children of God, whom he perhaps
.r1iehk reclaim through the gospel of
1esue, who had come from heaven for