The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1934-07-06
@pac.
NAVIGATION co.

entails Marco Polo had written about several
centuries before and that in finding them, the
long-sought new route to China might be discov-
cred. That was why Nicolet carried with him "a
superb robe of Chinese damask, embroidered all
over with flowers and birds" He was prepared
to make a proper appearance on meeting the
Chinese mandarins.
Nicoet left Three Rivers, Que, July 1, 1884
in company with three Jesuits, Fathers Brebeuf,
Daniel and Davost, who were accompanying
band of Hurons their way home from their
annual trading visit to Quebec. He Travelled with
them to the Isles des Allumettes where he lin
gered for a time with his friends the Algon-
quins. Later he Joined the Jesuits at Ihonatiria,
where he assembled a party of seven Hurons
and embarked in frail canoe for his journey
into the West.
Crossing Lake Huron, the party journeyed up
St Marys river to what Is now Sault Ste. Marie,
returned south, then proceeded west through the
Straits of Mackinac and padded out into Lake
Michigan, which was known then and for many
years afterward as the Lake of the Illinois. Con-
tinuing southwark Nicoet and his Indian friends
entered Green bay and the head Of that
body Of water he found the people he had been
sent to fnd-the winnebagoes who had come to
blows with the Hurons allies of the French, and
with whom he had been charged to negotiate a
peace.
"When he neared the Winnebago town, he sent
a messenger ahead to announce his coming and,
having put on his gorgeous robe, followed him
on the scene" writes William Henry Johnson in
French Pathfnders In North America" Never
did a circus, making it's grand entry into viii
lage In all the glory of gilded chariots and brass
band inspire deeper awe than this primitive
bassador, with his flaming robe and pair OF
pistols which he fired continually. His pale face,
the first the Winnebagoes had ever seen, gave
them a sense of something unearthly. The sQuaws
and children fed into the woods, shrieking that
1t was a manitou (spirit) armed with thunder
and lightning The warriors, however stood their
ground bravely and later entertained him with
a feast of one hundred and twenty beaver.
"But II Nicolet did not succeed in opening
relations with Cathay and Cpango (China and
JAPAN, he did something else that entities him
TO be commemorated among the Pathfnders. he
assembled Fox river to its headwaters, crossed
the little divide that separates the waters flowing
into the Lakes from those that empty into the
Gulf Of Mexico, and launched his canoe on the
Wisconsin, first white man, so far as we know.
who foated on one of the upper tributaries OF
the mighty river"
Nicolet made such favorable impression on
the Winnebagoes that he able to negotiate
a treaty with them by which they agreed to take
their furs to the French posts on the st. Law
renee He also won the friendship of the Mas
coutins spent the winter with them and returned
to Quebec in 1885 to report to Champlain OF his
adventures In the west.
Eight years after this historic journey, Nico-
let met a tragic death In the st. Lawrence river.
BY this time he was the chief official or the
trading company at Quebec and his influence
among the Indians perhaps greater unan
that of any other man Of his time.
In 1912 word reached Quebec that Sokoh