Father Marquette statue (+43.049, -91.151)
In 1673, Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to see and explore the upper Mississippi River. Marquette is prominent in Great Lakes history. He helped found Jesuit missions in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace). While there, he heard rumors of a large river to the west. He joined an expedition of Louis Joliet to find it. They took canoes along the edge of Lake Michigan to Green Bay, traveled up the Fox River to its source, portaged to the Wisconsin River, then followed it to where it emptied into the Mississippi. This junction is just downstream of present-day Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. In 1910, St. Mary’s Academy in Prairie du Chien erected a statue of Marquette on a pillar. It later was moved to the grounds of the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce (along highway US-18), near the banks of the Mississippi River. Curiously, Marquette is facing east, so he has his back to the river.
The plaque at the base of the monument is labeled “Father James Marquette, S.J. who discovered the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, June 17, 1673.”
References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Marquette www.wisconsinhistory.org 1920 photo
