European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse The strange wonders of a new land stars Nncy stripes daily Magazine by Mark Dahlinger staff writer the a poly controversy on the 300thanniversary of the adventures of father Jacques Marquette Pete mar Quette if you Wims did he have a eard his likeness in the Capitol s statuary Hall in Washington shows him As bearded 17th Century French priest. The commemorative stamp being issued by the Post office department s fall has him beardless. The new stamp also puts two european paddlers n his Canoe after research proved that the two indians placed there on a stamp issued in 1898 were More fancy than fact. Jere Marquette s Beard might be i dispute but the accomplishments of the Jesuit priest Are not. And to Honor him Congress has established a Marquette tercentenary commission which will sponsor observances Over a five year period ending in 1973. The six cent stamp to be Issue sept. 20 at Sault Ste. Marie Mich. Third oldest City in the United states is just a Start in salutes to the Brave missionary and explorer. Sault is where Marquette in 1668 Stab lays later i5i to Coni Iier shed the first permanent settlement what has become Michigan. To any schoolchild the names mar Quette and Joliet Are always teamed As co adventurer in a famed Canoe trip Down the Mississippi River in 1873. Louis Johnet was the fur trader named by the Quebec governor Gount Frontenac to travel with Marquette in tracing the out of the indians rumoured great water that was the Mississippi. Paced link Down the unknown Mississippi May be Marquette s greatest achieve ment in the history books but As Jesuit missionary of the roman Catholic lurch his primary Job was to win Indian converts to christianity and this he Hardy priest did All through his m v v to Marquette was Borjie in Laon France on june 1, 1837, to a Elmo do family. A Sti lied at Jesuit institutions and i by was named a missionary to new prance what is now generally regarded As French the Canadian jesuits at Quebec noted heir records on sept. To 1666, Only Nat Pere Jacques Marquette arrived Kocol his first assignment since lie Wasto work among the indians was to learn Indian languages and he was immedi Ateiya sent on to three Rivers where for two years he worked under a a Man Well steeped in the Rigours and problems of missionary life in the wilderness. Father Marquette eventually mastered six Indian dialects serving him not Only As priest but later in helping his Home land expand its claim to new fur trap Ping lands in the new world. His apprenticeship completed he was recalled to Montreal where it was decided that he should work in the Ottawa country Home of Many tribes Sioux Miami Winnebago Fox Sac Beaver Chippawa Creek and the Illinois among a 10-week journey he reached the site of Sault Ste. Marie and in the Winter of 1668 said his daily mass in a Forest hut baptizing 80 infants in the name of his Church. From the sub Lish ment of his hut the City this earmarks its 300lh anniversary. The priests next assignment took him to la pome do Saint Esprit now Ashland wis and it was there that wandering Hunters from the Illinois tribe told him of a great River which is nearly a league in Width flowing North and South and so Long that the indians did not know of its Mouth. This word was faithfully passed on and in Quebec it joined other reports of the big River that no White Man had seen. The Wrath of the Sioux indians caused tribes with which Marquette was work ing to flee in 1g71 to Mackinac Island then Michilli Mackinac and it was on the Island or the town of St. Ignace on the Mainland the fact is in dispute where father Marquette built his own Chapel in 1671. In thai following months count fron Tenae decided that the Story of the great River should be investigated. It was generally believed that the great River flowed West to the Pacific Ocean. Just Why father Marquette was named to travel with Joliet is no known. On May 17. 1673. Marquette Joliet and five tit her europeans left in two Birch bark canoes hugging the North Ern Lake Michigan Shore until they reached Green Bay then going along the Fox River to Lake Winnebago. Arduous portages guided by indians brought them to the Wisconsin River on june 10, 1673.seven Days later they found the indians fabled great water the missis Sippi was theirs to conquer on june 17, 1873.they beheld it with a Joy i cannot express Marquette wrote in his account. For a month the adventurers paddle Down the Mississippi staying Here and there with Friendly indians along the Shore but the new territory the indians and the River itself were not Al that Friendly and after reaching the area of the Arkansas River the explorers turned Back. They were sure now that the River flowed to the South and into the Gulf of Florida or Mexico which posed the Pere Marquette beardless in portrait bearded in Capitol statue. Indians led Marquette and Joliet not shown to Wisconsin River. Possibility that they would be captured by the Spanish should they wander Loo far downstream. Their exact route of return is no known but they Are believed to have taken the Illinois River entering Lake Michigan near what is now Chicago. Whatever their route the journey was More trying than Ever and Marquette s strength was completely sapped by the time they reached Green Bay. The trip had covered almost 3,000 Miles. Marquette remained at St. Franci Xavier Mission while Joliet travelled on to Montreal with his report on their finding of the Mississippi. Joliet s writ ten record unfortunately was lost when his Canoe overturned in rapids in the Vicinity of Montreal m my has Only european in Canoe but commemorative medal shows Indian. _ Arquette spent More than a year regaining his health. Somewhat fit again he set out with a Small party on oct. 25, 1674, to found a new mis Sion in Illinois. Canoeing along the Lake Michigan Shore he stopped for a week in novem Ber at what is now Milwaukee where Marquette University a Jesuit school is joining in the tercentenary Salute tits namesake. On the Campus a splendid Bell bearing the words "1 am Pere Wandav july 15,1968 the stars and stripes Marquette rings in Honor of the april 1675. Father Marquette reached an Illinois Village and founded his Mission naming it immaculate con caption. But he was ill once More an started out to return to the St. Xavier Cut Short his trip on May 18, 1675, at the site of Ludington. converts carried his body to St. Ignace for University where his Bones now rest explains father Marquette Ina Booklet entitled the inspiration for a great ". In the Jesuit system of though there was a place for consideration of the strange wonders of a new land of mines oozing pure Copper of lakes in exhaustible of fish of mighty River flowing toward unknown seas. In his exploration of that new world As Wellas in his missionary labors Pere mar Quette exemplified the unchanging principles of his order. ". He earned a place in the history of a Century proud of its exploitation of the terrestrial present As one of it most intrepid explorers and he demonstrated the Utility of Christian humanistic learning by laying Down his life for his red Brothers in the spirit of the master to whose company he be longed.1 Page 11
