Pere Marquette and Sieur Jolliet - Prairie du Chien, WI
N 43° 02.970 W 091° 09.011
15T E 650656 N 4767972
This marker is located at the Prairie du Chien Visitors Center at the Mississippi River Bridge in Prairie du Chien, WI.
Waymark Code: WM524M
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 10/28/2008
Views: 16
The marker reads:
"PERE MARQUETTE AND SIEUR JOLLIET
In 1673, Louis Jolliet, Canadian fur-trader and explorer, and Father Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit Missionary, with five French Canadian boatmen, were the first white men to enter the upper Mississippi River.
Indians directed them to the Great River via Fox-Wisconsin waterway from the present site of Green Bay to Prairie du Chien. The Frenchmen entered the Mississippi River June 17, 1673.
Descending the river until July 16, the explorers turned back at the Arkansas River because they anticipated possible danger ahead from the Spanish and Indians. Returning North, the expedition pioneered what is now the Illinois - Des Plaines - Chicago River passage to Lake Michigan.
Marquette and Jolliet were back at the mouth of the Fox River by the end of September. The trip had taken them over 2,000 miles through country never before seen by white men.
Erected 1973"
County: Crawford
Location: Wayside
MarkerID: 188
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Visit Instructions:
- A picture of the marker with your GPSr or you holding your GPSr.