darin's robe that he might be suitably dressed when he arrived at the Chinese court. He found, however, only naked Indians along the Wisconsin River.
Radisson and Grosseilliers. — Radisson and his brother-in-law Grosseilliers made a western expedition in 1660. Launching their canoes upon Lake Superior, they followed the south shore to the end of the lake. They then made an extensive overland journey which probably took them as far west as the Mississippi. In his journal Radisson mentions, among the Indian tribes he had met, the Maingonis. "These," says Professor Lænas G. Weld, "were probably the Moingonas, who at this period dwelt along the Illinois River, though they were found in Iowa not many years later. Our capital city is named from the river Des Moines, i.e. La riviere des Moingonas" It is believed that this is the earliest appearance of the name Des Moines in history.
Marquette and Joliet. — To Iowans the famous first voyage of Marquette and Joliet down the Mississippi in 1673 is of the greatest interest. For they were the first white men to discover the upper Mississippi and to make explorations within the present limits of the State of Iowa. From Marquette's journal and map we know that it was upon June 25, 1673, that the two men landed near the
mouth of the Iowa River in Louisa County,[1] and proceeded inland along the Iowa River for some miles. Having discovered a village of Illinois Indians, they tarried several
- ↑ Weld's Joliet and Marquette in Iowa in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Vol. I, No. I, pp. 3-16.
