The Arizona sentinel., 1893-08-26
AN HISTORICAL :
Wisoonsin's State Display at the
 Columbian Exposition.
Relics of Rare Interest Which Cannot Be Duplicated in This Country and Dating Back Hundreds
 of Years.

The Wisconsin Historical societys ex- hibit at Che worlds fair will be an es- pecially interesting and valuable one. Great preparations have been made for the "big shOw," and the many relics and curiosities of the historical mu- scum will attract no little attention. While there are thousands of relics of more or less interest, Secretary Thwaites has carefully selected objects for the exhibit that stand without ri- vals in their class.
 No other relic attesting the presence of white men west of the Alleghenies so long ago has ever been discovered, and in this fact lies the value of the fa- nous ostensorium, which will be the most prominent feature of this collec- ton of curios at the fair. The vessel, which is made of silver and handsome ly engraved was presented Co the mis- sion at De Pere in 1886. The osten- Sorium, so called because it ostentates the sacred wafer, is also termed the soleil, from its resemblance in shape to the solar orb. In 1886 there were only two white settlements west of the Ale ghenies, one at La Pointe and the other at Mackinaw. When the mission was burned by the Indians it was thought that the holy vessel had been de- stroyed, but it was afterwards un- earthed by a man named Grignon in the latter part of the seventeenth cen tury. The relic was preserved in his house for a time, but later was removed to the new church at Green Bay. A number of years afterward the osten- sorium was discovered in the St. Ann Catholic church at Detroit, and upon being identified was returned to Green Bay, the Detroit Catholics releasing all claim to it upon the payment of its value as old metal The archbishop of the diocese at the latter place was the last possessor of the relic before its pre- sentation to the historical society. The inscription on the osGensorium reads as follows:
 k 'This Soleil Was Given by M. Nicho- las Perrot to the Mission of St. Francis, in the Bay of Puans, 1696." -sr--
 Although the words are -rudely cut every letter is distinctly legible. The date corresponds to the time when Per rot was at Green Bay as governor of the northwest. The workmanship of the silver shrine is of type well known as marking the last half of the seventeenth century. --,s--.
 The Historical society will also ex- hibit the batteau, which is a style of boat that was in use by French fur traders on Wisconsin waters and the great lakes. The craft is thirty feet long and weighs eleven hundred pounds. Its age is unknown, but its interest lies in the fact that it is an excellent specimen of pioneer boat architecture. The traders would start from point above the Lachine rapids at Montreal, and come out to Wisconsin, either by the Wisconsin or Ottawa river, from the headwaters of which they would portage over to a stream emptying into Georgian bay and thence into Lake Huron. or up to Che chain of lakes by way of Niagara and Detroit. With his goods for the Indian trade, chiefly hawk bells, paint, combs, flash jewelry and brass and glass beads, and his crew of gayly appareled voyageurs, the bour- ger LOT maSUer) SedUeu III HIS DdUGedu, entered the furthermost haunts of say agery, prepared to fight or barter, marry Indian squaws or take Indian scalps, browbeat his dusky customers or cajole them as the case might be. The batteau carried eighteen men as well as ton of goods. It was procured for the society at the headwaters of the St CY-oix river in 1SQ0
 Another valuable curiosity which will be included in the collection is the perfect model of the Murdock locomo- tive, made ill Soho, England, in 17s1, and given to the Historical museum last year by R. and c. Tangye, the great locomotive builders of Birming- ham, England. The original owned by them is on exhibition in the Birming- ham town hall, and the model in pos session of the Historical society of Wis consin is the only copy in America, be- ing exactly like the original in every re- Spect even to size and color