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Jean Nicolet was about twenty years of age when he came to Canada in 1618. He spent two years on the upper Ottawa and Lake Nipissing among the Algonquins, learning their language and ways, and sharing in their expeditions and privations. For two years he saw not a single Frenchman. Once he went with four hundred Algonquins on an embassy to the Iroquois country, and succeeded in effecting a temporary peace. During the English occupation he remained among the savages. On the return of Champlain, Nicolet reappeared at Quebec, only to receive the governor’s orders to continue the work of exploration. He set out with Brébeuf in 1634 for Georgian Bay. Parting at Allumette, they met once more in the Huron country. When he again turned his face westward he was accompanied by seven Hurons. His instructions were to establish friendly relations between their nation and the Gens de la Mer, otherwise known as the Puants or Winnebagoes, who then inhabited Green Bay. Plying their paddles along the north shore of Georgian Bay, the explorers at length reached the Falls of St Mary, where they rested for a short time at an Indian village. Then they proceeded westward to Michilimackinac and Green Bay. Nicolet was, as far as is definitely known, the first European to enter Lake Michigan, although it is possible Brûlé may have been there before him. The Gens de la Mer occupied the territory between Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. They welcomed their strange visitors, especially after they learned that one was a European. They spoke of Nicolet as ‘the Great-Spirit Man.’

Champlain still entertained hopes that China might be reached by journeying towards the west, and Nicolet carried with him a costume calculated to produce the most favourable impression upon an Eastern potentate. According to Father Vimont, he appeared before the admiring savages in a great robe of Chinese damask, embroidered all over with flowers and birds. As he approached the first village he carried in each hand a pistol, which he discharged as he advanced. The women and children fled in terror; never before had they seen a man who carried thunder in his hands. Four or five thousand natives assembled to see and hear the stranger. Every chief furnished a feast. At one banquet not less than a hundred and twenty beavers were served to the guests. At Nicolet’s request the Winnebagoes readily concluded a treaty of peace.

Crossing Lake Winnebago and entering Fox River, Nicolet went on to villages of the Mascoutens, or Fire Nation, and looked out upon boundless prairies. Three days more on the river would have taken him to the sea. So at least he reported. He was in fact within easy reach of the upper waters of the Wisconsin, an important tributary of the Mississippi, but, for some reason unknown to us, he turned back. Had he gone on he might have anticipated by a quarter of a century the discovery of the Mississippi.

He evidently wintered in the region, for he made the acquaintance of many famous tribes, including the Sioux, Assiniboines, Illinois and Pottawatamies.

Nicolet’s exploration, there is little reason to doubt, took place in 1634. We find him back in Quebec in 1635. Shortly afterwards he took up his residence at Three Rivers, then the chief trading post in the colony, where he acted as general agent and interpreter for the trading company. He was drowned in 1642 in an attempt to reach Three Rivers to save the life of an Iroquois who was being tortured to death by Algonquins. A man of exceptional ability and high character, he was held in esteem by Frenchmen and natives alike.

Nicolet’s claim to immortality does not rest upon the discovery of Lake Michigan alone. By establishing friendly relations with the Winnebagoes and Mascoutens, he contributed to the permanent direction of the north-western fur trade to the Nipissing route, and its practical monopoly by the French for a long period.

On Christmas Day 1635 the heroic figure of Champlain quits the stage of action. Soldier, statesman, navigator, explorer, writer, he was not only a great, but, in the light of his age and surroundings, a good man.