The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1906-07-13

lie tltatN vi peace az
in 1863 marked the close of great war
between France and England, and this
vast empire of country then claimed by
both of those nations was divided be-
tween them. the line of division being
the Mississippi river from the Gulf OF
Mexico to its source. from thence a line
running due north to the forty ninth
parallel, England taking all east of the
line and France all west of it and giving
to it the name of Louisiana. England's
portion was in a short time wrested
from her by the patriots of the RevOlu-
ton. or, so much of it as is now EN-
braced within the boundaries of the Uni
ted States. France held her immense
domain until the year 1903. when in an
other war with England she was driven
to a choice between selling her posses
sions or losing them to her ancient en-
envy. sold to our government during the
administration of Thomas jefferson that
vast territory known as the Louisiana
purchase. for the comparatively small
sum of $l5.O00,000. In contemplating
the magnitude of that deal, together
with its present status, with its galaxy
of magnificent states carved therefrom
with its millions of happy and prosper
Gus people, its thousands of growing
cities and villages, its grand educational
institutions, its busy factories, its many
thousands of fine farms and it's superb
railway system, together with all the
! ilization, we realize that far-seeing
Isttaesmanship and wisdom that charact'
prophetic words of the great Napoleon
then emperor of France, when he said:
IF | cannot hold my possessions against
the British | will dispose of them so as
to build up a nation that will be me
mace and rival to her and who some day
will humble her pride"
a highly interesting subject to the
student of history in the northwest i
the narrative of the trades and explor
ations of those early French voyageri
woods and the old Jesuit missionaries
who impelled by various motives were
the first to penetrate to what was know
later as the territory of Minnesota
| Their routes of travel were the 9rea
waterways of the continent, the glel
distances traversed by them in followin:
the Saguenoy and the Colbert as the,
sippi from Quebec on one and New Or
| leans on the other, to their headwaters
consuming several months in their jour
ney, steadily flying the paddle, forcin:
their canoes against the current farthe
and farther into country inhabtet
only by savages and each day piacin,
them farther from the reach of friend
and civilization. presents picture o
jindomitable perseverance and resolution
that has rarely been equaled. In fact
the world today presents no such fell
for exploration. When Livingstone visit
ed the clark continent" and traced tn
baa1 Of tho nd in
Baker and Spoke followed the Nile II
the great Nyanzas, they foretold all fu
ture action embraced in the great geo
graphical discovery. Nothing now is lef
to crafty human endeavor along thos
lines but the pole to the north. Pear,
is still persevering and determine
through sheer ambition to gain a worth
less goal. Foremost among the first Eu
ropeans that came to what is now Min
nesota, were LaSalle, Marquette, Du
Luth. Nicollet. Hennepin and LeSueur
To Nicollet and Marquette is credi
given for being the first white men t.
visit the Mississippi river above tn
place were DeSotO first discovered i
near Matches, Miss. in l54O. LaSalle
who is probably the ablest of the oil
voyagers, was occupied with Marquett
farther to the south. while Duluth
field of operations was to the nortl
about Lake Superior and the region
westward.
| 1t is of LeSueur that | more especial
ly invite your attention. 1t was he VIII,
first visited the Minnesota river in 1906
1t is, however, both claimed and denied
that one LaSoutan came up the common
river and crossed over to and reached
the Minnesota at an earlier date Ii
| 1899 LeSueur received commission
from D'Iverville. the French governor o
Louisiana, to work a copper mine tina
he had previously discovered and o.
which | dare say your society has hearo
a great deal, at your annual meetings il
the past.
Penicault, LeSueur's narrator has thi.
to say of the expedition. He left New
Orleans in April, 100, with single
shallop and twenty-five men for the
Minnesota river Of CT Dorro foe Il,