. The history of Will County, Illinois, containing a history of the county .. . pon the Wisconsin,which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknownwaters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struckout into the broadening current and became conscious that they werenow upon the bosom of th3 Father of Waters. The mystery was aboutto be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in tha^ locality isbeautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have beenclad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of THE NORTHWEST TERR
. The history of Will County, Illinois, containing a history of the county .. . pon the Wisconsin,which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknownwaters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struckout into the broadening current and became conscious that they werenow upon the bosom of th3 Father of Waters. The mystery was aboutto be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in tha^ locality isbeautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have beenclad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 23 Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either handreminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers ofFrance. By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appearedon the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see acountry of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab-itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas-tidious cultivation of lordly — f^~^ THE WILD PRAIRIE. On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men uponthe sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in theboat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered avillage on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within ahalf league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received mosthospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river toabout latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and beingsatisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course 24 THE NORTHWEST TERTITTORY. up the liver, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois,rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that pointto the lakes. Nowhere on this journey, says Marquette, did we seesuch grounds,
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