, to
adopt a policy which terminated in the conquest of the country south
of it--it was there that the tramping feet of thousands of plumed and
painted warriors shook Pe-quod-e-non-ge, while dancing their war
dances--it was from there that the startling sound of the war yell of
these thousands was wafted to the adjacent coast and islands, making
the peaceful welkin ring with their unearthly shouts of victory or
death. In process of time a Chapel and Fort were erected, and it
became a strong-hold and trading post of the greatest importance to
the entire region of the northwest, being the gateway of commerce
between the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and also the grand
avenue to the Upper Lakes of the north, and the rendezvous of the
traders, merchants, trappers, soldiers, missionaries and Indians of
the whole northwest. Villages of Hurons and Ottawas were located in
the vicinity of the Fort and Chapel. The Fort inclosed an area of
about several acres, and was surrounded with cedar pickets. The
remains of the fort and buildings can still be seen. On an eminence
not far from the fort, the Ottawas erected a fortification. Within the
inclosure of the Fort and adjoining the Chapel, the Jesuits erected a
College, the first institution of the kind in the Western country. It
was also the great depot for the _Courriers des Bois_, or rangers of
the woods, who, from their distant excursions, would congregate here.
The goods which they had brought from Canada, for the purpose of
exchanging for furs with the Indians of Green Bay and Illinois, and
along the shores of Lake Superior, and the region lying between that
and the banks of the Mississippi, had to be deposited here, and they
were usually on hand a long time before they could be disposed of and
transferred to the distant marts of trade.

In the year 1672, while Marquette was engaged in his duties as priest
at the Chapel, the site of which now bears the name of St. Ignatius,
and also employed in instructing the Indian youth of the villages, he
was visited by Joliet, a member of the same order who bore a
commission from Frontenac, then Governor of Canada, empowering him to
select Marquette as a companion and enter upon a voyage of discovery.
The winter was spent by these men in making preparations to carry out
the commands of their superiors. The specific object of their mission
was to explore the Mississippi, which was supposed to empty into the
Gulf of California. That all