Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/74

 44 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY have lost power of his "enraptured vision" before he reached this locality, for there is no description in the entire narrative that in any way describes the scenery along the Mississippi from the mouth of the Wisconsin to Prairie Island. I do not know of a single early voyager who has left any written record of his travel in this region that has not gone into ecstasies over the beautiful panoramic views ever presenting to his vision as he was paddled up the river in the vicinity of Lake Pepin. If Radisson had remained on Prairie Island fourteen months he surely would have seen Barn Bluff many times, and if he did see it and not mention it he cannot hope for forgiveness. In March, 1660, Radisson did not understand the Dakota lan- guage. On page 45 of his work, Mr. Upham says: "The next morning, in March, 1660, they were called by an interpretor. "We understood not a word of their language, being quite contrary to those that we were with." Jean Nicollet discovered Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the year 1634, and reported a wild tribe of Indians in this region which he calls the Nandusin (Sioux). Hennepin found the Sioux here in 1680. Le Sueur lived with them on Prairie Island 1695, and, from Indian tradition, their ancestors had made Prairie Island their home for ages before Radisson was born. Now we are asked to accept as an historical fact that Radisson spent fourteen months on Prairie Island and never heard the Dakota tongue spoken, and that the first time he did hear it was in March, 1660. in the northern part of the state. I do not intend to burden the reader with my views on this Radisson matter at this time, for in my opinion the facts are not sufficiently historical to warrant the great publicity already given by the Minnesota Historical Society to what some of our most able writers on early explorations consider as "pure romance." The claims made by Mr. Upham are being so persistently forced onto the citizens of this state that they will soon be accepted as an historical fact, without someone call a halt and ask for a more thorough investigation, and I regret very much that someone more competent than myself has not felt it his duty to ask for more light on this very important subject. As this Radisson mat- ter is a subject of local interest to the people of Goodhue county, and as I have been asked to contribute a chapter on early times, I will take the opportunity to present some evidence to show that Mr. Upham 's position is not well taken. In doing so I will quote from Mr. Upham 's own work. "First White Men in Minnesota." William Kingsford. The History of Canada. (Toronto, 1887- 98; ten volumes.) Pages 1-12 and 45-49, in volume III, 1889, notice the relation of Groseilliers and Radisson to the beginnings of English commerce with the region of Hudson bay. The author ignores the narratives of the four land expeditions, ascribed to