at the top of Lake Michigan. In that year, the first Intendant (administrator) of New France, having heard of reports of a great river to the West and hoping it would be the long-sought "Northwest Passage" to the Pacific Ocean, ordered a reconnaissance mission to find and explore this river. In May of that year the group, consisting of Louis Jolliet, Father Jacques Marquette, and five voyageurs set out on their voyage of discovery. The explorers found the Mississippi River, explored it, and then returned to Michilimakinac by a different route on the advice of Native Americans they had encountered along the way, who told them that there was a better way to return to Lake Michigan. Travelling by stages up the Illinois River to the Des Plaines River, in September 1673 members of the Caskaskia, a tribe of the Illinois Confederation, led Jolliet and Marquette to the western end of what became known as the Chicago Portage. During the 18th century, the Chicago Portage was one of the most strategic locations in the interior of the North American continent for the French. Particularly it provided an easy connection between the French cities of Montreal and New Orleans. An indication of the importance of portages that potentially could make this connection is shown in early maps of the region. For example, this French map of the western regions of New France, published 1755, shows the “R.(iviere) et Port de Checageu” (River and Port of Checageu), the “Checageu River”, and the “Portage des Chenes” (the portage of oak trees), the name the French originally attached to the Portage. Crossing the portage If water level in the portage was high enough to allow passage by canoe for most of the way, passage across the portage was relatively easy. Accounts from soldiers stationed at Fort Dearborn, at the mouth of the Chicago River, describe a passage from west to east. Starting at the west end of the portage at the Des Plaines River they paddled east through Portage Creek into the marsh that would later be known as Mud Lake. At the east end of the marsh they portaged their boats, equipment, and supplies over the low rise of land that was the St Lawrence River continental divide. They then entered the South Branch of the Chicago River, and paddled north to the Fort. If water levels in the portage were low, passage