Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet
(Marquette:
France 1673)
Father
Jacques Marquette came from France to teach Christianity to
the Native people in Machilimackinac.
Father Marquette’s
mission was called St. Ignace. When Father Marquette arrived at
St. Ignace, he got to know many Native people. He learned to speak
one of their languages. One of the Native people Father Marquette
got to know was named Louis Joliet. Joliet was a good fur trapper
and knew the waters around that area very well. Governor Frontenac
asked Marquette and Joliet to find and explore the Mississippi.
Some
of the Native people called the Mississippi River the "Father
of Waters". The Natives warned Marquette and Joliet not to
go there. Some Natives believed there was an evil demon living
in the water whose roar could be heard from a long, long ways away
and that this evil demon could swallow whole canoes! But Marquette
and Joliet did not believe this story. They believed that the great
Mississippi River might flow all the way to the Gulf of California
and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It could maybe even be a
shorter passage to the Spice Islands.
There
were many people on the shore who watched Marquette and Joliet
leave to find the Mississippi.
They bought two canoes made of birch
bark. They brought paper, pens, and charcoal to use to write
and draw what they saw on their journey. Three other French
men made
the journey with Marquette and Joliet. The canoes were loaded
with lots of smoked meat, dried corn, muskets (guns), gunpowder,
and
bullets.
When
they finally found the Mississippi River, they wrote notes and
drew pictures of it. They floated down the Mississippi River for
months! Louis Joliet knew that the Mississippi River ran into
the Gulf of Mexico. When they got all the way to the Gulf
of Mexico - the end of the Mississippi River, they had to turn
around and go all the way back to Canada. It was a v ery
long and difficult trip back!
Information
taken from:
Explorers
Cooperative Learning Activities
by
Mary Strohl and Susan Schneck
Scholastic
1999
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