The History of Henry County, Iowa; Containing a History of the County, Its Cities, Towns, &C., a Biographical Directory of Citizens, War Record of Its Volunteers in the Late Rebellion, General and Local Statistics History of the Northwest, History of Iowa (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: from the Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them that they could there find guides, and offered to conduct them thence. On their way they passed the mouth of the Niagara River, when they beard for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving IKOtUU18 CHIEF. among the Iroquois, they met with a friendly reception, and learned from a Shawanee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks. Delighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume their journey; but just as they were about to start they heard of the arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved to Louis Joliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the West. Hehad been sent by the Canadian Government to explore the copper mines on Lake Superior, but had failed, and was on his way back to Quebec. He gave the missionaries a map of the country he had explored in the lake region, together with an account of the condition of the Indians in that quarter. This induced the priests to determine on leaving the expedition and going to Lake Superior. LaSalle warned them that the Jesuits were probably occupying that field, and that they would meet with a cold reception. Nevertheless they persisted in their purpose, and after worship on the lake shore, parted from LaSalle. On arriving at Lake Superior, they found, as LaSalle had predicted, the Jesuit Fathers, Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field. These zealous disciples of Loyola informed them that they wanted no assistance from St. Sulpice, nor from those who made him their patron saint; and thus repulsed, they returned to Montreal the following June without having made a single discovery or converted a single Indian. After parting with the priests, LaSalle went to the chief Jroqu...