Riverwalk Gateway [Murals- I: Exploration] - by Ellen Lanyon

Riverwalk Gateway Continued from the post, Riverwalk Gateway.. click here.. 

Murals-I Exploration 1673: Guided by the Kaskaskia Indians, Pere Jacques Marquette - a Jesuit missionary, and Louis Jolliet - an explorer, arrive at the portage to Lake Michigan. Jolliet envisioned a waterway that would provide clear passage to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi. 

Insets.. Chicago [Chicagou in the Algonquin tongue] was named for the wild onions that grew in abundance on the riverbanks. 1679: Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, who built Le Griffon, the first ship of commerce on the Great Lakes, predicted that one day Chicago would be a great city.

1703: La Hontan's map indicated the portage and the site of Chicago on Lake Michigan.