Settlement of Peoria, Detweiller Marina - Peoria, IL
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NorStar
N 40° 42.079 W 089° 34.267
16T E 282781 N 4508779
This plaque, mounted on a planter near the Detweiller Marina, is about explorers Marquette and Joilet landing here and having a fort established that would later become the present city of Peoria.
Waymark Code: WMJGXC
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 11/17/2013
Views: 2
In Peoria, near the entrance to the Detweiller Marina, is this plaque on a planter.
The plaque is located to the northeast of the entrance road and southeast of the railroad crossing. The entrance is at the end of Caroline Street, which is off Jefferson and Adams Streets.
The plaque has the following text:
"When Father Marquette, the missionary, and Louis Joliet, the trader, first white men to see the site of Peoria came ashore here in the summer of 1673, there was an Indian village at this location. 100 years later, the French had bult a village and fort here.
FPF 2 1988 Peoria Historical Society"
Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were sent by the French crown to explore the New World and find the Mississippi River. Their expedition started on May 17 1673. Marquette was a fur trader who was an excellent geographer, while Joliet was a Jesuit missionary, who could speak half a dozen Native American language. They traveled down the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, then went down the Mississippi River to about the mouth of the Arkansas, then back via the Illinois River. The stop at present day Peoria was on the way back. The actual journey is on par with what Lewis and Clark did years later going up the Mississippi and to the Pacific Coast. They helped to cement France's claims to the New World.
More about Peoria:
Wikipedia (Peoria):
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visit link)
PBS American Experience:
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visit link)
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