church, they did not make their explorations subservient to the
propagation of the faith. In consequence, they were ignored by both
Church and State. The _Jesuit Relations_ repeatedly refer to two young
Frenchmen who went beyond Lake Michigan to a "Forked River" (the
Mississippi), among the Sioux and other Indian tribes that used coal
for fire because wood did not grow large enough on the prairie.
Contemporaneous documents mention the exploits of the young Frenchmen.
The State Papers of the Marine Department, Paris, contain numerous
references to Radisson and Groseillers. But, then, the _Jesuit
Relations_ were not accessible to scholars, let alone the general
public, until the middle of the last century, when a limited edition
was reprinted of the Cramoisy copies published at the time the priests
sent their letters home to France. The contemporaneous writings of
Marie de l'Incarnation, the Abbé Belmont, and Dollier de Casson were
not known outside the circle of French savants until still later; and
it is only within recent years that the Archives of Paris have been
searched for historical data. Meantime, the historians of France and
England, animated by the hostility of their respective governments,
either slurred over the discoveries of Radisson and Groseillers
entirely, or blackened their memories without the slightest regard to
truth. It would, in fact, take a large volume to contradict and
disprove half the lies written of these two men. Instead of consulting
contemporaneous documents,--which would have entailed both cost and
labor,--modern writers have, unfortunately, been satisfied to serve up
a rehash of the detractions written by the old historians. In 1885
came a discovery that punished such slovenly methods by practically
wiping out the work of the pseudo-historians. There was found in the
British Museum, the Bodleian Library, and Hudson's Bay House, London,
unmistakably authentic record of Radisson's voyages, written by
himself. The Prince Society of Boston printed two hundred and fifty