All these must have written from
hearsay, for they were at Quebec and Montreal. Radisson was on the
spot a week after the tragedy; so that his account may be supposed to
be as accurate as any.
[23] Mr. Benjamin Sulte states that the explorers wintered on Green
Bay, 1658-1659, then visited the tribes between Milwaukee and the river
Wisconsin in the spring of 1659. Here they learn of the Sioux and the
Crees. They push southwest first, where they see the Mississippi
between April and July, 1659. Thence they come back to the Sault.
Then they winter, 1659-1660, among the Sioux. I have not attempted to
give the dates of the itinerary; because it would be a matter of
speculation open to contradiction; but if we accept Radisson's account
at all--and that account is corroborated by writers contemporaneous
with him--we must then accept _his_ account of _where_ he went, and not
the casual guesses of modern writers who have given his journal one
hurried reading, and then sat down, without consulting documents
contemporaneous with Radisson, to inform the world of _where_ he went.
Because this is such a very sore point with two or three western
historical societies, I beg to state the reasons why I have set down
Radisson's itinerary as much farther west than has been generally
believed, though how far west he went does not efface the main and
essential fact _that Radisson was the true discoverer of the Great
Northwest_. For that, let us give him a belated credit and not obscure
the feat by disputes.
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