19 - Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley by John Gilmary Shea

Embark on a historical journey through the early narratives of the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi Valley. This podcast brings to life Marquettes authentic maps and voyages as they were originally documented. Listen to the stories of the missionaries who accompanied La Salle on his expedition, previously unpublished and now accessible for the first time. This detailed study of the life of Marquette and the exploration itself is the culmination of years of research into early Spanish and French sources, many of which have never before been publicly explored.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section eighteen of Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Patrick mccaffee, Chicago. Discovery

(00:20):
and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley by John Gilmery shas
part one Narrative of a Voyage to the Upper Mississippi
by Father Louis Hennepin. Narrative of the Voyage to the
Upper Mississippi by Father Louis and Eppin from its description

(00:41):
De la Lucian, printed at Paris in sixteen eighty three.
We set out from Fort Crebacouer on the twenty ninth
of February sixteen eighty and toward evening, while descending the Seignelais, Illinois,
we met on the way several parties of Illinois, returning

(01:02):
to their village in their periguas or gondolas loaded with meat. Footnote.
We have retained Annipin's orthography of proper names throughout this narrative.
End footnote. They would have obliged us to return. Our
two boatmen were even shaken, but as they would have

(01:22):
had to pass by Fort Crevecoer, where our frenchmen would
have stopped them, we pursued our way the next day,
and my two men afterward confessed the design which they
had entertained. Hennipan's party, according to his account, consisted of
himself and two men, Anthony Arguelles, commonly called the Picard

(01:46):
du Guai, and Michael Acco. The latter was entrusted by
LaSalle with the goods, and is probably the Sieur Dacan
of some other writers, as mister Sparks informs me that
he saw manuscripts in which it was written dach Cao. Hennepin,
in the preface to the first part of the English volume,

(02:09):
charges LaSalle with having maliciously caused the death of one
of his two companions, meaning Aco, as he represents the
other to be alive. End footnote. The river Segnel on
which we were sailing is as deep and broad as
the Seine at Paris, and in two three places widens

(02:32):
out to a quarter of a league. It is lined
with hills whose sides are covered with fine, large trees.
Some of these hills are half a league apart, leading
between them a marshy strip, often inundated, especially in the
spring and fall, but producing nevertheless quite large trees. On

(02:53):
ascending these hills you discover prairies further than the eye
can reach, studded at inns, with groves of tall trees
apparently planted there intentionally. The current of the river is
not perceptible except in time of great rains. It is
at all times navigable for large barks, about one hundred

(03:15):
leagues from its mouth to the Illinois village, whence its
course almost always runs south by southwest. On the seventh
of March we found about two leagues from its mouth
a nation called Tamaroa or Maroa, composed of two hundred families.

(03:38):
They would have taken us to their village west of
the river Colbert parentheses Mississippi, six or seven leagues below
the mouth of the river Segnelais. But our two canoemen,
in hopes of still greater gain, preferred to pass on
according to the advice I then gave them. These last Indians,

(04:01):
seeing that we carried iron and arms to their enemies,
and unable to overtake us in their periaguas, which are
wooden canoes, much heavier than our bark ones, which went
much faster than their boats, despatched their young men after
us by land, to pierce us with their arrows at

(04:22):
some narrow part of the river, but in vain for
soon after discovering the fire made by these warriors at
their ambuscad, we crossed the river at once, and, gaining
the other side, camped in an island, leaving our canoe
loaded and our little dog to wake as so as

(04:43):
to embark with all speed should the Indians attempt to
surprise us by swimming across. Soon after leaving these Indians,
we came to the mouth of the river Segnele fifty
leagues distant from Fort Crevecuer and about a hundred from
the Great Illinois village. It is between thirty six degrees

(05:07):
and thirty seven degrees north latitude, and consequently one hundred
and twenty or thirty leagues from the Gulf of Mexico.
In the angle formed on the south by this river,
at its mouth is a flat, precipitous rock about forty
feet high, very well suited for building a fort. On

(05:28):
the northern side, opposite the rock, and on the west
side beyond the river are fields of black earth, the
end of which you cannot see all ready for cultivation,
which would be very advantageous for the existence of a colony.
The ice which floated down from the north kept us

(05:49):
in this place till the twelfth of March, when we
continued our route, traversing the river and sounding on all
sides to sea, whether it was navigable. There are indeed
three islets in the middle near the mouth of the
river Seenelee, which stop the floating wood in trees from

(06:09):
the north and form several large sand bars. Yet the
channels are deep enough and there is sufficient water for barks.
Large flat boats can pass there at all times. The
River Colbert runs south southwest and comes from the north
and northwest. It runs between two chains of mountains, quite

(06:32):
small here, which wind with the river, and in some
places are pretty far from the banks, so that between
the mountains and the river there are large prairies where
you often see herds of wild cattle browsing. In other places,
these eminences leave semicircular spots covered with grass or wood.

(06:55):
Beyond these mountains you discover vast plains. But the more
we approached the northern side, ascending the earth became apparently
less fertile and the woods less beautiful than in the
Illinois country. This great river is almost everywhere a short
league in width, and in some places two or three.

(07:19):
It is divided by a number of islands covered with
trees interlaced with so many vines as to be almost impassable.
It receives no considerable river on the western side, except
that of the Ententeta and another, Saint Peter's, which comes
from the west northwest, seven or eight leagues from Saint

(07:42):
Anthony of Padua's Falls Footnote one. This would seem the
des mois the largest south of Saint Peter's, but the
Iowa is not much inferior and would better suit his
description as being near half way between the Illinois and

(08:02):
Lake Papin. The name, too, would induce us to put
it higher, as he doubtless means the tribe called by
Membre Antuntantas and by Marquette on his map Ottontanta the
same as the former if U and N are transposed

(08:24):
and footnote footnote two. The Saint Peter's River flows through
the center of the Sioux territories and is a magnificent river.
It was visited by Les Sour, the French geologist as
early as sixteen eighty eight, and is very correctly described

(08:46):
by him. It is remarkable for its mineral deposits and
the variety of clays found on its banks, which are
employed by the Indians in painting their faces and bodies.
Its waters are trans parent, hence the Indian name of
Waatee Pamene Soote or clear water river. The Minno Kantanga

(09:11):
or people of the Waters, are located about its mouth,
and the Yengetonga and the Sisitonga inhabit the upper part
of it. Their principal traffic is in buffalo robes. The
numerical strength of the Sioux nation is now estimated at

(09:32):
about twenty two thousand in footnote. On the eastern side
you meet first and inconsiderable river Rock River, and then
further on another called by the Indians Onisconsin or Misconsin,
which comes from the east and east northeast sixty leagues up.

(09:57):
You leave it and make a portage of half a
league to reach the bay of the fetid Puance by
another river which near its course meanders most curiously. It
is almost as large as the river Seignola or Illinois,
and empties into the river Colbert a hundred leagues above

(10:21):
the river Seenno lay footnote it must have been just
here that he was taken by the Sioux if he
sailed up the Mississippi before his capture, for he had
gone two hundred leagues after leaving the Illinois, who were
one hundred leagues from the mouth of their river, and

(10:43):
the other one hundred would bring him to the Wisconsin.
Though if he counts the hundred on the Illinois from
the village proper and not from the camp, we must
go thirty leagues further above Black River. But if sured here,
how could it have taken the Indians, rowing from morning

(11:04):
till night nineteen days to reach Saint Anthony's Falls? And
footnote Twenty four leagues above you come to the Black River,
called by the Naduecions or Islati, Chabadba or Chaban Deba,

(11:24):
it seems quite inconsiderable. Thirty leagues higher up you find
the Lake of Tiers, Lake Papan, which we so named
because some of the Indians who had taken us, wishing
to kill us, wept the whole night to induce the
others to consent to our death. This lake which is

(11:46):
formed by the River Colbert, is seven leagues long and
about four wide. There is no considerable current in the
middle that we could perceive, but only at its entrance
and exit. Footnote. This beautiful sheet of water is an
expansion of the Mississippi River six miles below the Sioux

(12:09):
village of Talangamane and one hundred below the falls of
Saint Anthony. It is indented with several bays and prominent points,
which serve to enhance the beauty of its scenery. A
few miles below this lake, on the west bank of
the Mississippi, are the remains of one of the most

(12:30):
interesting and extensive of those ancient circumvallations which are spread
over the valley of the Mississippi. It was first described
by Carver in seventeen sixty eight and footnote. Half a
league below the Lake of Tiers on the south side

(12:51):
is Buffalo River, full of turtles. It is so called
by the Indians on account of the numbers of buffalo
biffs found there. We followed it for ten or twelve leagues.
It empties impetuously into the River Colbert, but as you
ascend it it is constantly calm and free from rapids.

(13:15):
It is skirted by mountains far enough off at time
to form prairies. The mouth is wooded both sides and
is full as large as that of the Seinelas. Forty
leagues above is a river full of rapids, Saint Croix,
by which, striking northwest, you can reach Lake Conde Superior,

(13:39):
that is as far as nimisakuat river which empties into
the lake. Footnote. This is probably the Saint Louis, which,
on the map of the Jesuit Relation of sixteen seventy
through seventy one is marked as the way to the
Sioux sixty leagues west, being nearly the distance here given

(14:04):
by Hennepan between Mililachs and Lake Superior and footnote. The
first river is called the tomb river because the Isati
left there the body of one of their warriors killed
by a rattlesnake. According to their custom, I put a

(14:25):
blanket on the grave, which act of humanity gained me
much importance by the gratitude displayed by the deceased countrymen
in a great banquet which they gave me in their country,
and to which more than one hundred Indians were invited.
Continuing to ascend the Colbert ten or twelve leagues more.

(14:48):
The navigation is interrupted by a fall, which I called
Saint Anthony of paduas ingratitude for the favors done me
by the Almight, through the intercession of that great Saint
whom we had chosen patron and protector of all our enterprises.

(15:09):
This fall is forty or fifty feet high, divided in
the middle by a rocky island of pyramidal form. Footnote.
These celebrated falls, now no longer beyond the pale of civilization,
have been much better described by modern travelers. School Craft

(15:30):
places them fourteen miles below the confluence of the Mississi
Waigagon or Rum River. The village of Saint Anthony, with
its schools and its churches, now occupies the east bank
of the river at the head of the cataract. The
scenery is picturesque and beautiful, but presents none of that

(15:54):
majesty and grandeur which belonged to the Cataract of Niagara.
The Indian name of these falls in the Sioux language
is o Wamena, or the falling water end footnote. The
high mountains which skirt the River Colbert last only as

(16:17):
far as the river Onisconsin, about one hundred and twenty leagues.
At this place it begins to flow from the west
and northwest. Without our having been able to learn from
the Indians who have ascended it very far where it rises,
they merely told us that twenty or thirty leagues below

(16:39):
Des Sus there is a second fall, at the foot
of which are some villages of the prairie people called Thinthonha,
who live there a part of the year. Eight leagues
above Saint Anthony of Padua's falls. On the right you
find the Isati or Nade de Ducion River, Rum river

(17:03):
with a very narrow mouth, which you can ascend to
the north for about seventy leagues to Lake Baoud or
Isaate Mill Lake. Where it rises, we called this Saint
Francis River. This last lake spreads out into great marshes,

(17:26):
producing wild rice. Like many other places down to the
extremity of the Bay of the Fetid, this kind of
grain grows wild in marshy places. It resembles oats, but
tastes better, and the stems are longer as well as
the stalk. The Indians gather it. When ripe, the women

(17:48):
tie several stalks together with white wood bark, to prevent
its being all devoured by the flocks of duck and
teal found there. The Indians lay in a stock for
part of the year to eat out of the hunting season.
Lake Baudet, or Lake of the Isati Mill Lake, is

(18:11):
about seventy leagues west of Lake konde. It is impossible
to go from one to the other on account of
the marshy and quaggy nature of the ground. You might go,
though with difficulty on the snow in snow shoes. By
water it is one hundred and fifty leagues on account

(18:31):
of the many detours to be made, and there are
many portages from Lake Kondee. To go conveniently in canoe
you must pass by Tomb River, where we found only
the bones of the Indian whom I mentioned above, the
bears having eaten the flesh and pulled up poles which

(18:52):
the deceased relatives had planted in form of a monument.
One of our boatmen found a war calumet beside the grave,
and an earthen pot upset in which the Indians had
left fat buffalo meat to assist the departed, as they say,
in making his journey to the land of Souls in

(19:16):
the neighborhood of Lake Baldei. Are many other lakes, whence
issue several rivers on the banks of which live the Isati.
Nadusans tin Tona, which means prairie men, chong gast Skeethon
dog or wolf tribe Forchanga among these nations means dog

(19:42):
or wolf, and other tribes, all which we comprise under
the name Nadnecion. These Indians number eight or nine thousand warriors,
very brave, great runners, and very good bowmen. It was
by a part of these tribes that I and our

(20:05):
two canoe men were taken. In the following way, we
scrupulously said our morning and evening prayers every day on embarking,
and the Angelus at noon, adding some paraphrases on the
response of Saint Bonaventure in honor of Saint Anthony of Padua.

(20:27):
In this way we begged of God to meet these
Indians by day, for when they discover people at night,
they kill them as enemies, to rob those whom they
murder secretly of some axes or knives, which they value
more than we do gold and silver. They even kill
their own allies when they can conceal their death, so

(20:49):
as afterward to boast of having killed men and so
pass for soldiers. We had considered the River Colbert with
great pleasure and without hindrance to know whether it was navigable.
Up and down. We were loaded with seven or eight
large turkeys, which multiply of themselves. In these parts. We

(21:13):
wanted neither buffalo, nor deer, nor beaver, nor fish, nor
bear meat, for we killed those animals as they swam
across the river. Our prayers were heard when on the
eleventh of April sixteen eighty, about two o'clock in the afternoon,
we suddenly perceived thirty three bark canoes manned by one

(21:36):
hundred and twenty Indians, coming down with extraordinary speed to
make war on the Miamis, Illinois and Moroa. These Indians
surrounded us, and while at a distance, discharged some arrows
at us. But as they approached our canoe, the old men,
seeing us with the calumet of peace in our hands,

(21:59):
prevented the young men from killing us. These brutal men,
leaping from their canoes, some on land, others into the water,
with frightful cries and yells, approached us, and as we
made no resistance, being only three against so great a number.
One of them wrenched our calumet from our hands, while

(22:21):
our canoe and theirs were tied to the shore. We
first presented them a piece of French tobacco, better for
smoking than theirs, and the eldest among them uttered the
words miamiha, miamiha. As we did not understand their language,
we took a little stick, and by signs which we

(22:43):
made on the sand, showed them that their enemies, the
Miamis whom they sought, had fled across the river Colbert
to join the Illinois. When they saw themselves discovered and
unable to surprise their enemies, three or four old men,
laying their hands upon my head, wept in a lugubrious tone.

(23:08):
With the wretched handkerchief I had left, I wiped away
their tears, but they would not smoke our piece calumet.
They made us cross the river with great cries, which
all shouted together with tears in their eyes. They made
us row before them, and we heard yells capable of
striking the most resolute with terror. After landing our canoe

(23:32):
and goods, part of which had been already taken, we
made a fire to boil our kettle. We gave them
two large wild turkeys that we had killed. These Indians,
having called an assembly to deliberate what they were to
do with us. The two head chiefs of the party approaching,
showed us by signs that the warriors wished to tomahawk us.

(23:58):
This compelled me to go to the war chiefs with
one of my men, leaving the other by our property,
and throw into their midst six axes, fifteen knives, and
six fathom of our black tobacco. Then, bowing down my head,
I showed them with an axe that they might kill

(24:19):
us if they thought proper. This present appeased many individual members,
who gave us some beaver to eat, putting the three
first morsels in our mouth, according to the custom of
the country, and blowing on the meat which was too hot,
before putting their bark dish before us to let us

(24:41):
eat as we liked. We spent the night in anxiety,
because before returning at night, they had returned to us
our piece calumet. Our two boatmen were, however, resolved to
sell their lives dearly and to resist if attacked. Their

(25:02):
arms and swords were ready as for my own part.
I determined to allow myself to be killed without any resistance,
as I was going to announce to them a god
who had been falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and cruelly crucified,
without showing the least aversion to those who put him

(25:25):
to death. We watched in turn in our anxiety, so
as not to be surprised. Asleep. In the morning April twelfth,
one of their captains, named Nribtoba, with his face and
bare body smeared with paint, asked me for our peace.

(25:45):
Calumet filled it with tobacco of his country, made all
his band smoke first, and then all the others who
plotted our ruin. He then gave us to understand that
we must go with them to their country, and they
all turned back with us, having thus broken off their voyage.

(26:07):
I was not sorry in this conjecture to continue our
discovery with these people. But my greatest trouble was that
I found it difficult to say my office before these Indians. Many,
seeing me move my lips, said in a fierce tone Jakanti,
And as we did not know a word of their language,

(26:29):
we believed that they were angry at it. Michael Acco,
all out of countenance, told me that if I continued
to say my Breviary, we should all three be killed,
and the picard begged me at least to pray a
part so as not to provoke them. I followed the
latter's advice. But the more I concealed myself, the more

(26:52):
I had the Indians at my heels. For when I
entered the wood, they thought I was going to hide
some goods under ground, so that I knew not on
what side to turn to pray, for they never let
me out of sight. This obliged me to beg pardon
of my two canoe men, assuring them that I could
not dispense with saying my office that if we were massacred,

(27:16):
for that I would be the innocent cause of their
death as well as of my own. By the word wakanchi,
the Indians meant that the book I was reading was
a spirit. But by their gesture they nevertheless showed a
kind of aversion, so that to accustom them to it,

(27:37):
I chanted the Litany of the Blessed Virgin in the
canoe with my book open. They thought that the Breviary
was a spirit, which taught me to sing for their diversion,
for these people are naturally fond of singing. The outrages
done us by these Indians during our whole route was incredible,

(28:00):
foreseeing that our canoe was much larger and more heavily
laden than theirs. For they have only a quiver full
of arrows, a bow, and a wretched dressed skin to
serve two as a blanket at night, for it was
still pretty cold at that season. Always going north, and
that we could not go faster than they, they put

(28:23):
some warriors with us to help us row, to oblige
us to follow them. These Indians sometimes make thirty or
forty leagues when at war and pressed for time, or
anxious to surprise some enemy. Those who had taken us
were of various villages and of different opinions As to us.

(28:45):
We cabined every night by the young chief who had
asked for our peace, Calumet, and put ourselves under his protection.
But jealousy arose among these Indians, so that the chief
of the party named Accuipakettin, one of whose sons had
been killed by the Miamis, seeing that he could not

(29:07):
avenge his death on that nation, as he had wished
turned all his rage on us. He wept through almost
every night him he had lost at war, to oblige
those who had come out to avenge him to kill
us and seize all we had so as to be

(29:28):
able to pursue his enemies. But those who liked European
goods were much disposed to preserve us so as to
attract other Frenchmen there and get iron, which is extremely
precious in their eyes, but of which they knew the
great utility only when they saw one of our French

(29:51):
boatmen kill three or four bustards or turkeys at a
single shot, while they can scarcely kill only one with
an air. In consequence, as we afterward learned that the
words manza wocanchi mean iron that has understanding, and so

(30:12):
these nations call a gun which breaks a man's bones,
while their arrows only glance through the flesh. They pierce,
rarely breaking the bone of those whom they strike, and
consequently producing wounds more easily cured than those made by
our European guns, which often cripple those whom they wound.

(30:37):
We had some design of going to the mouth of
the River Colbert, which more probably empties into the Gulf
of Mexico than into the Red Sea. But the tribes
that seized us gave us no time to sail up
and down the river. We had made about two hundred
leagues by water since leaving the Illinois, and we sailed

(31:01):
with the Indians who took us during some nineteen days,
sometimes north, sometimes northwest, according to the direction which the
river took. By the estimate which we formed during that
time de puis seetames La, we made about two hundred

(31:21):
and fifty leagues or even more on Colbert River. For
these Indians rowe in great force from early in the
morning till evening, scarcely stopping to eat during the day.
To oblige us to keep up with them, they gave
us every day four or five men to increase the
crew of our little vessel, which was much heavier than theirs.

(31:45):
Sometimes we cabined when it rained, and when the weather
was not bad, we slept on the ground without any shelter.
This gave us all time to contemplate the stars and
the moon when it shone. Notwithstanding the fatigue of the day.
The youngest of these Indian warriors danced the calumet to

(32:07):
four or five of their chiefs till midnight, and the
chief to whom they went sent a warrior of his
family in due ceremony to those who sang, to let
them in turn smoke his war calumet, which is distinguished
from the peace calumet by different feathers. The end of

(32:29):
this kind of pandemonium was terminated every day by two
of the youngest of those who had relations killed in war.
They took several arrows, which they presented by the points,
all crossed to the chiefs. Weeping bitterly, they gave them
to them to kiss. Notwithstanding the force of their yelling,

(32:52):
the fatigue of the day, the watching by night, the
old men almost all awoke at daybreak for fear of
being surprised by their enemies. As soon as dawn appeared,
one of them gave the cry, and in an instant
all the warriors entered their bark canoes, some passing around
the islands in the river to kill some beasts, while

(33:15):
the most alert went by land to discover whether any
enemy's fire was to be seen. It was their custom
always to take post on the point of some island
for safety's sake, as their enemies have only Periagua's wooden canoes,
which cannot go as fast as they do on account

(33:37):
of their weight. Only northern tribes have birch to make
bark canoes. The southern tribes, who have not that kind
of tree, are deprived of this great convenience, which wonderfully
facilitates the Northern Indians in going from lake to lake
and by all rivers, to attack their enemies, and even

(33:59):
when discovered, they are safe if they can get into
their canoes, for those who pursue them by land or
in periaguas cannot attack or pursue them quickly enough. During
one of these nineteen days of painful navigation, the chief
of the party, by name Accipagettin, resolved to halt about

(34:24):
noon in a large prairie. Having killed a very fat bear.
He gave a feast to the chief men, and after
the repast all the warriors began to dance. Their faces,
and especially their bodies, were marked with various colors, each
being distinguished by the figure of different animals according to

(34:49):
his particular taste or inclination, some having their hair short
and full of bare oil, with white and red feathers,
others besprinkled their heads with the down of birds which
adhered to the oil. All danced with their arms akimbo,
and struck the ground with their feet so stoutly as

(35:10):
to leave the imprint visible. While a son, master of ceremonies,
gave each in turn the war calumet to smoke. He
wept bitterly. The father, in a doleful voice, broke with
sighs and sobs, with his whole body bathed in tears,
sometimes addressed the warriors, sometimes came to me and put

(35:35):
his hands on my head, doing the same to our
two frenchmen. Sometimes he raised his eyes to Heaven, and
often uttered the word lewis, which means son, complaining to
that great luminary of the death of his son. As
far as we could conjecture, this ceremony tended only to

(35:58):
our destruction. In fact, the course of time showed us
that this Indian had often aimed at our life, but
seeing the opposition made by the other chiefs who prevented it,
he made us embark again and employed other trickery to
get by degrees the goods of our canoemen, not daring

(36:19):
to take them openly, as he might have done for
fear of being accused by his own people of cowardice,
which the bravest hold in horror. This wily savage had
the bones of some important deceased relative, which he preserved
with great care in some skins, dressed and adorned with

(36:40):
several rows of black and red porcupine quills. From time
to time he assembled his men to give it a smoke,
and made us come several days in succession to cover
the deceased bones with goods, and by a present, wipe
away the tears he had shed for him and for

(37:01):
his own son killed by the Miamis. To appease this
captious man, we threw on the bones several fathoms of
French tobacco, axes, knives, beads, and some black and white
wampum bracelets. In this way, the Indians stripped us under

(37:22):
pretexts which we could not reproach him with, as he
declared that what he asked was only for the deceased
and to give the warriors. In fact, he distributed among
them all that we gave him. By these feints he
made us believe that, being a chief, he took nothing

(37:43):
for himself but what we gave him of our own accord.
We slept at the point of the lake of tears,
which we so called, from the tears which this chief
shed all night long, or by one of his sons,
whom he called to weep when tired himself, in order

(38:03):
to excite his warriors to compassion, and oblige them to
kill us and pursue their enemies to avenge his son's death.
End of section eighteen. Recording by Patrick mccaffee, Chicago,