Luis
Joliet was born in France. He emigrated
to New France and while on an expedition to find copper around Lake
Superior he met the Roman Catholic missionary, Jacques
Marquette.
In 1673 Joliet and Marquette explored the central portion of the Mississippi
River and eventually reached the mouth of the Arkansas River. Joilet
also explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Hudson Bay region.
Last
updated: 26th July, 2002
(1)
In 1673 Luis Joliet and Jacques
Marquette travelled along the Illinois River. Joliet wrote about
his experiences in a letter to Claude Dablon (1st August, 1674).
The river which we named for Saint Louis, which rises near the
lower end of the lake of the Illinois, seemed to me the most beautiful,
and the most suitable for settlement. The place at which we entered
the lake is a harbor, very convenient for receiving vessels and sheltering
them from the wind. The river is wide and deep, abounding in catfish
and sturgeon. Game is abundant there; oxen, cows, stags, does, and
turkeys are found there in greater numbers than elsewhere.
A settler would not spend ten years in cutting down and burning the
trees; on the very day of his arrival, he could put his plow into
the ground. After sowing grain of all kinds, he might devote himself
especially to planting the vine, and grafting fruit-trees; to dressing
ox-hides, wherewith to make shoes; and with the wool of these oxen
he could make cloth, much finer than most of that which we bring from
France. Thus he would easily find in the country his food and clothing,
and nothing would be wanting except salt.
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