| East Dubuque Local Area History Project | |
 |
|
 A Marquette & Joliet exhibit at the Dubuque River Museum |
|
Marquette was born in the year 1637 and died in the year 1675. He was born in France and came to the Great Lakes area of Canada. He was a Catholic priest, a Jesuit. He was a missionary to the Indians he could speak six different Indian languages. |
|
| Joliet was born into year 1645 and died in the year 1700. He came from Canada. He was a fur trader, a map maker and an explorer. He and Marquette were friends. | |
| France wanted to find a water route to the west and was sending expeditions to find the way. Joliet was appointed to lead the expedition and Marquette went with him because he knew Indian languages. Most of North America had not been explored. They prepared for the trip in 1672 by studying all the information there was about the area, although there wasn’t much information to study. | |
| They left in 1673 from St. Ignace Mission in two canoes with five other men. They padded to the Straits of Mackinac. Then they went south to Lake Michigan, then to Green Bay. At Green Bay they came to the Fox River. They portaged, or carried, their canoes to the Wisconsin River. From there, they paddled to the Prairie Du Chien. They watched for monsters that the Indians warned them about. | |
| They discovered and explored the Mississippi River in 1673. We know because Marquette kept a journal. Joliet kept a journal also, but it was lost when his canoe turned over. They met Illini Indians and smoked peace pipes with them and had a feast. They also saw a cliff painting. The painting had a head like a deer, the face of a man, a scaly body, and a snake tail. This was probably the Piasa Bird near Alton. In September, they reached the Illinois River and found a Caskaskia Indian village. They kept journals and made maps of the places they went. Many other people came after Marquette and Joliet, but their trip made it easier for the others to find the way. | |
|
Bibliography Gray, Lucile M. The Story of Illinois. Fenton: McRoberts Publishing Inc., 1977. |
|
