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Madisonia.Reviewing our heritageBy TED SLOATThe trip in 1973 by seven men in two birch bark canoes to observe the historic 1673 voyage of exploration by Pierre Marquette and Louis Joliet down the Mississippi, calls to mind a similar trip more than 50 years ago from the mouth of the Wisconsin River to Montrose by Bruce Mahon, of Iowa City, and C A Bond, of Burlington in a canoeThe journey ended at Montrose because it was only intended to commemorate Iowa s part in the entire journey which began at St Ignace. Mich . on the Great Lakes, entered the Mississippi from the Wisconsin River and continued down to the Arkansas River, returning up the Mississippi and up the Illinois River to Lake MichiganSince the commerative journey in 1923 Tooiesboro on the Iowa River decided that it «» the place Marquette and Joliet made their one stop on Iowa soil and the D.A R there has erected an aluminum marker announcing their claim Actually no one knows just where the two explorers made their one stop in Iowa Marquette's diary says 60 leagues from the mouth of the Wisconsin RiverBut in 1923 everybody accepted Montrose as the proper historic spot and the big celebration of the substitute explorers ended their trip there I’nlike the original explorers. Mahon and Bond generally stopped at every town on the Mississippi on their trip, visiting local historical spotsAt Fort Madison the historic bell from the Osprey the steamboat owned by Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, and later became the first bell of St Joseph's church here, rang out a greeting when the canoe was sighted by watchers posted on the Santa Fe bridge.A flag-draped automobile met the explorers at the liver front and took them to the Lone C himney memorial which then stood in the middle of Avenue H near the Shaffer main plant, and speeches were made.Next stop w. a visit to the well of the old fort which ha since vanished under the paving of the Sheaffer parking lot near the stone chimney. Various attempts have been made by historian* to move it further east But in 1923 it wa* still in place and the explorers drank from itA visit to St Joseph * church and Dr John Down s Marquette building named for the explorer, completed the Fort Madison visit, and the explorers paddled on down the river to Montrose to probably the biggest celebration that historic old town has ever known Dedication of the first Fort Des Moines was held David Houghton, whose grandlathci had been a dragoon at the tort, accepted the American flag for the occasion J I’ Kennedy gave the address of welcome and J P. Cmikshank. whose lather had built the chimneys of the fort made a talk Next the party visited the grave of Ka-la-we-quois. believed to be the first Indian girl to die of tuberculosis in Iowa, whose death was immortalized by a poem written bv Mrs Sigournev. a popular New England poetStudents of Iowa Wesleyan college presented a pageant at the river front deputing the arrival of the original explorers 250 years before Keokuk's municipal band furnished music. Lieut Gov Hamill made a speech, and Dr Benjamin Shambaugh. head of the Iowa State Historical Society, summed it all up thus I want to thank Tracy Garrett and the voyageurs for the wonderful success of this river journey Seriously and honestly these men have done more to teach Iowa history and the deeds of its pioneers and explorers in 10 days than I have been able to do in 25 years of endeavor ' They have done what we all hoped to do - bnng history to the people and inspire imagination of Iowan* to more fully appreciate the romance and hbtoiy of their own lands
Newspaper Details
Fort Madison Evening Democrat
Fort Madison, Iowa, US
Fri, Jan 07, 1977
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Musser P.
IA, USA 14 Mar 2017
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An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Lee County Iowa
