Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/78

 48 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY its sister society at Madison, Wis., as a part of the history of that state, an alleged snowshoe voyage urged in the foregoing paper as certainly having been made by Radisson and Chouart in 1655 from Green Bay to the Mississippi ? The historians of that state have rejected the proposition and it has been declared to be a presumption to force upon them an unwelcome page in their his- tory which lacks any confirmation whatsoever of a reliable char- acter. The opinion of one writer unsupported by sufficient con- firmatory evidence cannot and ought not to unduly influence the history of the discovery of the area of Wisconsin and Minnesota, especially so in the event that all the facts concerning Radisson have not become fully known so that we can advisedly and dis- cretely complete our history harmoniously with a neighboring society." From these opinions Mr. Upham reaches the following conclu- sion : "In view of the very diverse opinions expressed by the many writers cited in the foregoing bibliography, concerning the routes and dates of the western expeditions of Groseilliers and Radisson, it would certainly be unreasonable for the present writer to expect his studies and conclusions, stated in this paper, to be accepted without challenge and adverse discussions. It will require probably many years for historians to reach a general agreement as to the interpretation of Radisson 's uncouth but exceedingly interesting narratives of these earliest expeditions to the upper Mississippi river (if, indeed, he came there, which some deny) and to the area which is now Minnesota. "Careful studies of this subject during seven years have led me to believe, with full confidence, that the arguments and results here presented are true, and that they will ultimately be so received by all students of our Northwestern history." This appears on the last page of the book entitled "First White Men in Minnesota," by Mr. Upham, and appears to me to be in the nature of an apology to the readers by the author for having asked the public to consider in a serious manner the proposition that these two French adventurers were ever within two hundred miles of Prairie Island. The first European to explore the Mississippi above the mouth of the Wisconsin, the first to set foot on the soil of Goodhue county, was undoubtedly Father Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan priest of the Recollect Order. LaSalle, in February, 1680, had erected a fort on an eminence near Lake Peoria, in Illinois, and from this point he determined to send an expedition up the Mis- sissippi. For this task he selected three of his faithful followers. Accordingly, on February 29, Father Hennepin, with two compan- ions named Picard du Gay and Michael Accault set out in a canoe for the upper Minnesota. On the way they fell in with a band of