"Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette A.D. 1673", circa 1903
Singer Sewing Machine Company
USA, TX
circa 1903
paper
overall: 4-3/8 x 7-1/8 in.
Print; "Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette A.D. 1673"; print from 2005.34.124 in the collection of Captain Richard C. Mears (1829-1899); re-print of a painting of an image of Marquette exploring the Mississippi by canoe; printed on front "DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI BY MARQUETTE A.D. 1673; printed on back "THE SINGER TAPESTRIES/ Illustrating the Exploration of the MIssissippi Valley/ This picture from the original painted/ for the Singer Manufacturing Com-/ pany, by Mr. J. N. Marchand, has been/ beautifully reproduced in silk stitching on/ bolting cloth, in size 4-1/2 feet by 3-1/2 feet,/ all the work being done on a Singer Sewing/ Machine, without special attachment of any/ kind./ It is a wonderful example of woman's/ work on a sewing machine and is one of/ five similar tapestries illustrating the dis-/ covery by the Spanish and French in the Mississippi Valley during the 16th and 17th/ Centuries. The description of this subject/ is taken from Parkman's History, as fol-/ lows:/ Discovery of the Mississippi by Marquette/ June 17, 1673./ 'After carrying their canoes a mile and a half,/ over the prairie and through the marsh, they launched/ them on the Wisconsin, and committed themselves/ to the current that was to bear them they knew not/ wither -- perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps/ to the South Sea or the Gulf of California./ 'On the seventeenth of June they saw on their/ right the broad meadows, bounded in the distance/ by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort/ of Prairie du Chien. Before them a wide and rapid/ current coursed athwart their way, by the foot of/ lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They had/ found what they sought, and 'with a joy,' writes/ Marquette, 'which I cannot express,' they steered/ forth their canoes on the eddies of the Mississippi./ Turning southward, they paddled down the stream,/ through a solitude unrelived by the faintest trace of/ man. They passed the lonely forest that covered/ the site of the destined city of St. Louis, and, a few/ days later, saw on their left the mouth of the stream/ to which the Iroquois had given the well-merited/ name of Ohio, or the 'Beautiful River.' '"
2005.34.124.2