The evening times., 1896-03-23

| The eagitationoyer the placing OF tiiestatue
| OF Father Marquette, the gift or the State Vi
| Wisconsin, in Statuary Hall, has brought
| up the question Of what Father Marquette
| really accomplished in the way OF expiora-
| ton and discovery.
4 Dr. Elliott Coues, well known as historian
| and scientist, has made the subject OF tie
| Mississippi a study. He is one OF the latest
| historians, and has become well known as
| the editor OF the recently issued edition Of
/ the travels OF q. n. Pike 10 the source OF the
1 Mississippi In sO5.
4 In an interview with Times representa-
tive on the subject OF Father Marquette's
| achievements, DIR. Coues said:
I'VE understand, OF course, the prior dis
covery VI the lower Mississippi by he Soto.
Turning now to the upper Mississippi, we
find certain Indications. indefinite. hut
true, that that part OF the riverswas reached
prior 20 1878. Waiving this, we proceed to
| Joliet and Marquette, for the two men We're
| connected In their trip. Theirs was a trad
ing expedition, for the head OF which Tilon.
intendant general OF New France, when
Frontenac was governor, had recommended
Louis Joliet, a well-known trader. From
tenac acted upon the suggestion of Tilon and
selected Joliet to command the enterprise.
Louis Joliet was the son OF wagon
maker in the service Of the famous Com
pany of the Hundred Associatcs,' then prac-
tically masters of Canada. He was born
at Quebec in 1s4o; was educated by the
Jesuits for the priesthood. receiving the
Tonsure and minor orders when he was
a rl old m re-
nounced the profession and turned fur
trader. Tilon sent him into the copper
mines OF Lake Superior. and on his return
sent him the expedition mentioned,
probably through the influence of the Jc-
suits a well as Frontenac.
JOLIET IN CHARGE.
'Parkman is an accepted authority on
such matters, and from him We learn that
Joliet was the head OF the expedition which
discovered the Upper Mississippi, and the
good Father Marquette accompanied him
under his orders, not in any political, COM
mercal or exploratory capacity, but sim
ply in his ecclesiastical character of Je
suit missionary for the conversion OF the
heather to the Roman Catholic faith.
Marquette was found by Joliet at Port
St.Ignace, where he had erected his mission
house and had been lahorng for ten years
to convert certain Huron and Ottawa In
dans. Father Marquette was a French
Jesuit. born in the north of France, at
Laow, in 1887, and was at the time OF
his mission in America about thirty-five
years of age. He had been sent 10 the
New World TO do Canadian missionary
work in 1866, and to the Great Lakes in
1893 -h.arn find i'm
He was devout man and begins the
Journal of his voyage thus: The day Of
the Imma culate Conception of the Holy Viz
gin whom had continua ily invoked since
came to this country of the ottawas. TO
obtain from God the favor OF being enabled
TO visit the nations on the river MissiSsip-
pi. This very day was precisely the one
on which Joliet arrived. with orders from
Frontenac, our governor, and Tiion, our
intendant. Marquette adds, i placed our
voyage under the protection of the Holy
Virgin immaculate. promising that if She
granted US the favor of discovering the
great river would give it the name OF the
conception
Joliet and Marquette assembled the Fox
river in Wisconsin aud descended the Wis.
consin river in two canoes, which they
launched on the Mississippi at Prairie de
Chic on the 10Th or the 18th of June,
1873. The journals OF J oliet and Marquette
differ as TO the exact date.
Marquette thereupon fulfilled the pledge
TO the Holy Virgin by naming the great
river La Riviere dc la Conception Immae.
ulie.' oliet and the priest proceeded
down the river as far. probably. as the
mouth OF the Arkansas. when they turned
about on the 18th of July. assembled the
river to the mouth or the Illinois, up the
Illinois. over to the 6 rcat Lakes and rea ched
Green Bay, Lake Michigan, about the end
of September, after an absence of four
months and voyage of probably over
1000 miles. Joliet Immediately repaired
to Quebec and reported his discovery of the
Mississippi TO Count Frontenac.
DEATH OF MARQUETTE.
Poor Marquette was taken sick and did
not go to Quebec. but returned to Cascasia,
ON the Illinois, October 20, 1863. He spoke
TO the Indians on the mysteries of his faith,
and a few days after Easter of 1874 start
ell to return to Michilin,acinac, but died on
the way May 10. 1874.
THE next voyage on the Mississippi of
which we have any account was made in
1850. when Aceault Aneuelle. accompanied
by Louis Henncpin. the Reccolect priest,
WAS sent by La Sale from Crere Coer. at
Peoria. Ill. February, 1850, on a trading
expedition up the Mississippi. He was cap
tured by the Sioux, taken to the site of the
present st. Paul, and soon afterward
discovered the falls OF St Anthony.
'.An such expeditions were more COM
nsercial enterprises than exploring con.
Germs. The Joliet and almost all Others were
conducted by professional fur traders. with
the ey1pr self-sacriffcing Jesuit missionaries
purely in ecclesiastical capacity.
''Now. TO answer your query plainly CON
cluded DR.. Coues jacques Marquette did
not discover the Mississippi and all his
toricai authorities argue that he was merely
spiritual adviser sent with the trading
expeditions. You can see from the ac-
count that he was neither discoverer nor ex-