| Show That Maw Mawr r rv p v I c i 1 r r i iI I fr o osa tt sa if f t qi l t r c i rt fa i r rr rr r j j jr r 4 t l r l VI r r r to tov v If 7 n j y V l i i 1 I 1 i y i Th I ITh F I IAu i v vo vf L o f f ti tie e 1 q y 1 fr G Jd f s v Pl 6 t I f fy y sit Nicolet's with the at Green Bay the Painting bj in the Wisconsin Ii t F Il old Deb Debr DebT r T w ui r y y iG 4 p s w Imo BA y p o t 1 4 l lo Old Fort t Mackinac on the tH ItH ill Ilof Il of H 4 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON the last Pr nUal campaIgn we heard n a great deal about the D Maa e esen en thou though h no one seems to hale e known exactly who ho hohe he was and why hy he was forgotten ThIs summer tards tard honors are to be iI ii paid to a real rell forgotten man one whose hose name and whose right to fame Came have ha been allowed cd to remain In obscurity for a matter ot of years vears I He was Jean a courIer de bolo bets Indian Interpreter and t explorer lorer the dIscoverer of Lake Michigan and the first white hite man to visIt the present states tes of MIchigan and WIsconsin In vIew of the latter fact It would seem appropriate if eIther Or both of these states had chosen to perpetuate hIs name In at least one ot of Its towns counties or rn risers ers But you yon will search the gazetteer In vain for such a name It Is true that a tablet was dedicated on Mackinac Island In Michigan by bj the Mackinac Island State Park commIssion and the Michigan Historical commission on July 13 1 1015 and that In the WisconsIn State historical society at Mad MadIson MadIson Ison hangs a painting by bv l Edwin ln d illard Deming depicting meeting with the goes on the shores of Green Bl Bay But aSIde from these memorials he has been ne neglected by two t 0 commonwealths who had the bc t reason for remembering him However July 1 of this year marks the begin beginning ning of the l celebration of the state of Michigan and the week of July 1 to 8 will III be observed as W Week k on island where a pageant sponsored ored by the Michigan Daughters of the American ne Revolution Daugh Daughters Daughters of 1812 and the Michigan Historical corn com mission will help bring his name mme out of the obscurity Into which It has been lost for three centurIes and make It better known not only to citizens of that state but to all Americans as aswell well Nicolet was as born In Cherbourg I ranee about 1598 1528 and as a soung oung man he Is described as being full fuU of religious zeal and enthusiasm and possessed of a consuming desire for Cor adventure This naturally led him to seek seel hi his fortune In Frances France's dominions across the Atlantic and In 1618 he cast his lot with Ith ChamplaIn the rounder of ew l France Champlain already had Instituted a policy ot of sending promising young j oung ers to the Indians so 60 that they could gaIn a led c ot of the lan Ian languages customs custom country and of the red man NIcolet s as sent bent to the on the Isle deg e In the Otta a rh riser er Here lie he 11 hued ed among the Indians as one of them and for two years did not see a fellow countryman Be Becoming Becoming coming n a trusted friend he as made one of an embassy of some who ho journe journeyed ed to the Iroquois and negotiated a temporary peace with that tradItional enem enemy After his two years with ith the Nico Nicolet let next took tooh up residence with the near the lake lahe which bears their name He re remained there for el eight ht or nine sears ears lIe He was recalled by Champlain In 1633 and Instructed to e for the he trip Into the western wilderness to to learn ot of those distant Western people who had neither huir nor beards and who journeyed In 11 great canoes It was as believed these people might be the tho Orl Orl- t I IS S 08 D c NAVIGATION CO I 1010 h Id sv ritten about ses e eer er tl 11 centuries before and that In finding them the thelong thelong long sought new ne route to China might be 11 co coI I ered cred That svgs why h 1 colet carrIed with Ith him a I superb robe of Chinese damask embroidered ered all 0 oser er with Ith Mowers el s and birds lIe fie was lS prepared to make mahe a proper appearance on meeting the Chinese mandarins left Three Inters It ers Que July I 1 1634 1034 In company compan nUh three Jesuits rathers Daniel and Dl ost alto were cre accompanying Ing a band of oC on their way home from their annual trading wish to Quebec lIe tra with Ith them to the thc Isles des where here he for a time with his friends c the Alon Algon quins Later he joined the Jesuits at where he assembled a party or of sewn se and embarked In a frail canoe for his journey journe Into the West Nest Crossing Lake Huron Buron the party journe journeyed cd up St Mary s 8 rl riser er to what hat Is now nO Sault Ste Marie l returned south then proceeded west est through the Straits of Mackinac and paddled out into Dike Lahe Michigan l which was as known then and for mn many years ears afterward aften ard as the Lale e of the Illinois Con Continuing southward 1 and his Indian Inchan friends friend entered Green bay and near the head of that of venter ater he found the people he had been sent to the find oes who ho Ii h td Id come to blows s with the allies of the French and with whom he had been heen charged to negotiate 1 u pence peace lien hen he be neared the theS S town lie he cent ent centa a messenger ahead to announce his coming and hm hating Ins put on his gorgeous gor robe followed follo e him himon himon on the scene writes rites SIlliam henry n In French Pathfinders In North mer Ica ever i did a cIrcus making Its grand entry Into a sll 11 lage In all the glory or of glided gilded chariots and brass band inspire deeper awe fi than thIs am amba ba with Ith hIs flamIng robe and a pair of pistols he fire fired continually Ills His pale face the first the had e eser eer er seen Slen gale e them a sense of something une The squa s and ren fled fied Into tile the woods shrieking that It was as a manitou sprit spirit armed with thunder and lI lightning The us ho hoer er stood their ground ely and later entertaIned him with witha a 1 feast of one hundred and 1 twenty enty bearer bea er But But If Nicolet did not succeed In opening relations with and China and Japan he did something else that t entitles entitle him to be commemorated the Pathfinders lIe ascended Fo Fox rh riser er to Its headwaters head aters crossed the little dh Ide that separates the ss atus flowing Into the Lakes from those that empty Into the Gulf of MexIco and launched his hl curios on the Wisconsin first min InD 1 so 0 far as we e knoss who ted floated on one of the upper tributaries of the mighty riser Nicolet made such a fu Impression on the that he Has as able to negotiate a treaty them by which the they agreed to tuk their furs to the th French post posts on the St L Law Lawrence 1 rence lIe also won on the friendship of the Mas spent the thew Inter w Ith them and returned to Quebec In 1633 to report to Champlain or of his adventures In the tho west Eight I ht years after this historic journey Nico Nicolet let met n a death deaUl In the St St I awrence rIver rIverBy riverBy By this time he us us IS the chief of the trading company nt at Quebec and his Influence among the was as perhaps greater than that of any other man of his time In 1642 word reached Quebec that n a b All Helped Make History at ai Mackinac Indian ss IS about to 1 le e put to death by the llie 1 he were ere allies or of the Iro Iroquois and Nicolet knew that If the killed hilled the e that it meant a renewal of the blood strife bet between cen the and the It Ii It was as then late In October and Ice was In the rl riser er Nicolet ha hastened n a shallop shall l making for A quail struck the bOlt boat overturning o It and throwIng Nicolet a friend and the crew Into the Icy water One by byone byone one they LIllY went ent do down don n Nicolet an and one other were ere left Then chilled by bv the hitt hitter r cold and exhausted In his aln attempt to reach shore Nicolet called to his friend Mlle Make for the shore De Chas Cha Ibn luy j you ou can s swim BId hood In bs to my wife fc and coil dren I am going to God A moment later he fore er erI I was as not a great e explorer like Hum plaIn lIther I ither ampbell who ho spoke at atthe atthe the dedication of the Nicolet tablet on the island In 1915 not not n a picturesque gO like nac or even en a successful discoverer like Mar Marquette quette nor n a marh r like the de denoted Jesuit missionaries us ho follow follo ed cd the Is kolet train Into the Northwest est loues Daniel and liar reau since canonized b the Church of Home flame Hc He was as simply an In Indian ian Interpreter and ex e explorer unspoiled by selfish or surround surroundIngs Ings calculated to destro destro e eer er noble ambItion who proved beneath so plain an e to be bea a 1 man whose virtues ml mis he be to the youth or of our as un ln example and an In In- In In his tribute to Nicolet another erect ere church churchman churchman man flight net Re BIshop Prank A 0 Brien has said Under the banner of the Cross he went forward lIe led his chosen bands through wilds n NIcolet suns as Intrepid unafraid m jp s tie tic and courageous Certainly such n a person es a better hettel rate fate than to be a fOI forgotten gotten mutt In American his history history tory and one of the po es of the pageant that 1 Is being gh gisen cn In north un is to pay him a desen ll thou though h belated rib ute ule But he is s not the only historIc figure who I is to b be memorIalized daring the week eek for the thrilling of the Struts settlements Mackinac Sault Ste Marie and St St Is Ignace-is to be tobe depicted b by costumed performers Included In the episodes of the pageant be besides besides sides thell the of Nicolet are arc the comIng of the missionaries the err en of the explorer Joliet I Ia a Salle and 1 the rule of lac nt at the 01 name ot of the place th tic Bi regime and the famous massacre there during s the con conte contest te test t bet between een tile the and the Americans for pO of thIs strategic spot clot the ne thene Resolution and again during the W lr of 1812 and the be beginning of the American n fur tn trade e under John Jacob Astor AstorI lor I or all or of these Ire are links In 10 the chaIn of Mackinac S hIstory which bigan on a July d ty IY 00 yours ago with the comin of that forgot ten man mm who ho Is now o being Jean honored NIcolet the Intrepid majestic un un- un afraid unafraid by western Union |
