The Washington herald., 1907-05-29
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

Though Wisconsin, as a State is only
fifty-nine years old to-day, geologists tell
us that it is one Of the oldest spots in
the world. Il was part of the original
LduTentiau Highlands and once possessed
mountains that rivaled those Of Tibet.
standing for cons as portion Of a great
litary island built directly from prime
val chaos. Wind and wave did their pa
tient work and disintegrated the noun
tains until they were hardly half their
former height: then the great glaciers
came down from the north and secured
the face of the earth until the mountains
were only hills When the eternity Of ice
was passed, the melted glaciers lay as
limpid lakes al the foot Of the hills, and "a
garden spot was ready for the prehistoric
men who came 20 build great mounds
down the valleys
II was such a garden spot that the
voyageurs and couriers des bOis found
when they let Quebec and pushed their
way through forest and over inland seas
to the west IN quest of fuTs and game.
Ii was this country that Jean NIcoiiet
found IN l5}i when GOV. Champl1in sen-
him to explore the unknown lands and
open a way Cor Western trade-d way
that John Jacob Ast0r was 4 follow two
centuries later NiCoilet believed that the
strange waters" of winch the Indians
told we're none other than those Uf the
China Sea. lie expected 10 be- welcomed
by mandarirs at the end of his Journey
and included IN his outht gorgeous robe
Of gold brocade. i'm which To be presented
10 the powers and p0tentates Of Cathay,
but only q band II naked savages with
peace pipes welcomed him. He was sore
with disappointment fJr many days. and
even al the end Of long years still be-
lieved that the sea Of California on Span
ism maps must be very near MIN, and
only a branch Of the Sea Of Chine
The JesUits were almost the first white
people in Wisconsin. The martyrs Bra-
beJf and JoguCs were two of these, and
so.ne day when America has a saints
calendar Of her own. it is expected that
they viii be canonized D'Esput and
Chouart passed through this region in
l5JS on their way To explore Minnesota.
d'Esprit wrote an account Of the trip
for Chnrles II of England, Indifferent TO
the sources Of revenue, just so he was
paid The old Jesuit priest, Pere Rene
MeuaId, passed on TO his death in the
wilderness over the Fox River prairies
and l. tradition be accepted. he one time
reached the source OF the Mississippi
River before Joliet j0urneyed there In
1865 Claude AliOuez established the first
house Of worship in what IS now Wis
COnsin. building a mission at Pointe Saint
Esprit. on CheuuamegOu Bay. near the
present site of Ashland. Four years later
he was reiiered by James Marquette. d
youthful zea.ot. and going near the mouth
Of Fox River, I'm the Green Bay country
established a mission where the city of
prperr now stands. In 1911 an assistant
was sent 10 PeTe All0uez. and he left the
mission 10 become the first itinerant min
:ster IN that state, preaching to villages
of Ouawas. Chippewas, Pottswatomies.
Mi2Wis. KiCkapOOs. Sioux. and Illinois.
On June Il. 161 Saint LussOn. envoy
from Quebec, took possession Of the
Northwest in the name Of Louis XIV o:
France. and IL remained French for many
years. a Wisconsin Frenchman with
following of Indians and haH-breeds went
out in the next century against Braddock.
LanClade. Of Green Bay settlement, led
the Indians on the Plains of Abraham.
and Rene de Boucher drew his fighters
from the Indians Of Wisconsin when he
went to sack Haverhiu. Mass In 1913.
FrOnteuac, then governor Of quebec. sent
Louis Joliet % explore the Fox and Wis
c0nsiu rivers the natural waterway that
connects. with slight portage, the Great
Lakes with the Mississippi Joliet was
Joined by Pere Marquette. his former
teacher, and these two. with their party,
made one Of the most famous expeditions
in history. They went down the MissiS-
sippi as far as the mouth Of the Arkansas
IL was i'm sight Of Montreal on their re-
turn trip that Joliet lost his box of maps
and notes IN the rapids and so Marquette
must needs write the story OF the long
journey from his own notes, and get most
credit for the exploration.
Robert Cavellier. known to history as
la Sale. came % the Wisconsin lands in
1873, and in 1879 his trading boat. the
Griffon, was the first sailboat on the
Lakes in 1855 PerrOt, the trader soldier
O. fortune, and diplomat among the In
di8ns. was appointed "Commandant Of the
West" and given a force Of twenty men
with which to hold all the great unknown
wilderness. He built a rude fort on the
banks Of the Mississippi in Southwest
Wisconsin.
In 1880 Louis Hennepin a Franciscan
frisr, going up the Mississippi. and David
Graysolon Du Luth. gentleman Of the
Kings Guard" coming down the river,
met on Wisconsin soil. It was an event
that proves how small the world is. after
all for when they had last met II was
as companions on the field of Seneffe in
Hainault the day Of the French victory
over William of Orange. when Friar Hen
nepin was an almoner in the Kings army,
and Du Luth was squire 10 the Marquis
de Lassay. They had each gone TO an
extreme end of the New World, and had
met by accident almost in its center,
the only white men save a handful with
in thousands Of miles.
After the French and Indian war. Wis
consin became English and remained so
until after the war Of 1s12-1Sl5, longer pos
sibly than any other State now In the
Union French half-bTeeds and Indians
donned the British uniform and Tough.
zealously for King George in the Revou-
ton. They set the British flag over the
forts Of Green Bay and Prairie du Chen.
and long after ZebulOn NJ Pike had
passed through this new territory on his
journey of exploring the new Louisiana
Purchase, the cross Of St George fioated
over the trading posts of Wisconsin. An
admirable line OF defense was established
By the British along the Fox and Wiscon-
sin rivers, diagonally across the State.
and that section was held by them until
the summer Of 1916
After the Revolution, Wisconsin was
part Of the famous Northwest Territory,
having been saved for the United States
nv of the frou 4iarsr,ar, of