Discoverer; born in
Quebec,
Canada, Sept. 21, 1645; was educated at the
Jesuit college in his native city, and afterwards engaged in the furtrade in the
Western wilderness.
In 1673 Intendant Talon, at
Quebec, with the sanction of
Governor Frontenac, selected
Joliet to find and ascertain the direction of the course of the
Mississippi and its mouth.
Starting from
Mackinaw, in May, 1673, with
Father Marquette and five other Frenchmen, they reached the
Mississippi June 17.
They studied the country on their route, made maps, and gained much information.
After intercourse with Indians on the
lower Mississippi, near the mouth of the
Arkansas, who had trafficked with Europeans, they were satisfied that the
Mississippi emptied into the
Gulf of Mexico, and made their way back to
Green Bay, where
Joliet started alone for
Quebec to report to his superiors.
His canoe was upset in Lachine Rapids, above
Montreal, and his journals and charts were lost, but he wrote out his narrative from memory, which agreed, in essentials, with that of
Marquette.
Joliet afterwards went on an expedition to
Hudson Bay, in the service of his
King, and was rewarded by his sovereign with the appointment of hydrographer to his Majesty, and was favored with the seigniory of the island of Anticosti in 1680.
La Salle's pretensions denied him the privilege of making explorations in the
West.
He died in
Canada in May, 1700.
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