The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-02-20
James Marquette, who with Louis
Joliet Discovered the Mississippi in

Joliet Discovered the Mississippi in
1878
Here we meet conflicting claimants.
The Mississippi was discovered in 1889
and 1878; it was discovered by De Soto
and by Marquette. To whom does the
honor belong? Does the discovery of
the one detract from that OF the other:a
What right has Marquette to the hon
ors OF discovery since De Soto stood
upon the banks of the great river OF
the New World 100 years before Mar
quette was born? Is the title 'discov-
erer' misnomer when applied to the
Jesuit missionary? Should not the
sculptor have carved the word 'ex-
plorer' on the pedestal OF the statue
in the capitola
In an Grafton delivered at Mackinac
August LIST, 1900, Gen. j c. Black
spoke OF Father Marquette as follows:
"'Pere Marquette was not in the
strict sense discoverer; nearly a
century and a quarter before he saw
the Mississippi De Sofa, the dauntless
Spanlard, was buried in its vast tide;
later on Moscoso had crossed and re-
crossed it, and the courts of Europe
were familiar with the story OF the
great river; many men had told Mar
quettc oil its upper channel, and from
their accounts he had prepared the
map which bears his name before he
stood upon its banks. But he was
dauntless explorer, a thoughtful OBJ
server and faithful chronicler; prirnus
lnterpares, he is in the front rank with
Folio and Livingstone and Stanley; he
was in the race OF civilization; leader
Ill the ways where multtudes have fol-
lowed; where he walked brushing the
dews from the wild grasses with his
sandaled feet and hearing only the
sound OF solitude, railways and canals
bear busy myriads in their rushing
ways. Nor in his great Journey was
he ever chief, for Joliet was his super
ior and he his assistant and follower
True, De Soto and Moscoso stoo.
upon the bank OF the great river OF
the New World century before Mar
quette launched his boat upon it's
waters; bat this does not prove that
the latter was not a discoverer. Lei
and Thorfinn and Thorvald visited the
North American continent. cut timber,
built hits an attempted colonization;
yet we do not call them the discoverers
OF America. A discoverer is not the
one who simply visits STRANGE land.
who touches an unknown coast. who
crosses a stream which no human eve
has seen before; he is one whose work
results in something permanent, who
adds something to the knowledge OF
the people calling him discoverer,
whether this knowledge be historical,
geographical or clinical.
""There is not race OF Asia, East
ern-Siberian, Tartar Chinese, Japan
csc, Malay with the Polynesians-
which has not been claimed as dis
coverers, intending or accidental, OF
American shores, or as progenitors.
more or less perfect or remote, of
American peoples; and there is no
good reason why any one OF them may
not have done all that is claimed
(Winsor's Mar. and Cri. His, Vol. I,
page 5o) Yet we do not call any one
Of the nations the discoveries of Amer
lea.
"Before beginning his voyage of
discovery. Marquette collected all the
information he could in regard to the
great river which he hoped to find. He
did not undertake the task blindly, as
La Sale had done, in seeking a north
ern passage; and it was just this care
full preparation that crowned his work
with success. But it will be noticed
that the missionary derived none OF
his knowledge from the former discov-
cries OF De Soto. That knowledge,
whatever had been its extent, had long
since vanished from the minds OF men
then living. 1t was only after years
OF patient investigation that the Jesuit
was assured that the great body Of
water was not an ocean, as Nicollet
had thought, but an immense river.
Where it rose he did not live to know;
where it flowed he knew only after
navigating it for thousand miles.
'"Ihc autographed knowledge which
he was enabled to accumulate before
his own explorations, far from detract-
ing from his right to the honors of
discoverer, only increases. our adnira-
ton for the intrepid missionary. Nor
was this information as accurate as
some writer's would have us believe,
and the map which we have from the
hand of Father Marquette could not
possibly have been drawn before the
voyage down the Mississippi. Exam
inc the Photographic facsimile of the
map in the fifty-ninth volume of the
Relations and you will see at glance
that the original could not have been
prepared by anyone who had not gone
over the whole ground.
.'It seems ungrateful to deny to the
bold Spanish adventurer the honors
which his explorations and discoveries
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