By MARK RUGE

Special to the Journal

MARQUETTE – Sunday, May 18 marks the 350th anniversary of the death of Father Jacques Marquette, the French Jesuit priest who famously explored the route from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River in 1673. Few men or women so strongly associated with the Upper Peninsula have achieved his level of celebrity. Even after three-and-a-half centuries, his fame endures, seemingly stronger than ever.

Some might say he is the most famous Yooper ever!

Nowhere is his fame more evident than in the city of Marquette, located in Marquette County and adjacent to Marquette Charter Township, three units of government named after the explorer. A statute of Father Marquette stands in Father Marquette Park at the corner of Front and Badger Streets, surveying the Lake Superior waters where he and his canoe party are believed to have passed hundreds of years ago.

But Marquette’s notoriety extends far beyond the borders of Marquette County, the Upper Peninsula or even the state of Michigan. A recent study by the Mellon Foundation analyzed tens of thousands of monuments in every corner of the United States in an attempt to determine which individuals in world history have been most honored in the United States. Not surprisingly, the list includes many American military leaders and presidents. More surprisingly, Father Marquette appears as #31 on the list, behind Thomas Jefferson and William Shakespeare but, remarkably, ahead of some of our most famous American presidents – ahead even of presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Father Marquette, embarking on his explorations with Louis Jolliet and a small team, was known for many qualities that are often associated with Yoopers, including hardiness, tenacity, self-sufficiency, and grit. One notable quality was his bravery – he plunged forward in his explorations despite being warned of extreme danger ahead, including supposed giant river monsters. Ultimately, he traveled along the southern part of the Upper Peninsula and across Wisconsin until he met up with the Mississippi River and voyaged further south toward the Gulf of Mexico before returning north again.

The most famous Yooper ever? Why not? His name appears on a surprisingly long list of places or things in the U.S. and Canada – many businesses, a national award, rivers, postage stamps, schools at every level, roads, an island, units of government, a Catholic diocese, a national memorial, a state park, a beach, buildings, a vessel, and a railroad. Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois all lay claim to his exploits. His statute is one of 100 on display in the U.S. Capitol.

Father Marquette is credited with founding Sault Ste. Marie, “the oldest city in Michigan,” according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency. He also founded missions on Mackinac Island and St. Ignace. He is known to have traveled by canoe on the north side of the Upper Peninsula, past Marquette.

Marquette’s voyage to the Mississippi River was extraordinary and highly influential because it led to further explorations in the American West, according to historian Mark Walczyerski in his recent book, “Jolliet and Marquette, A New History of the 1973 Expedition.”

One of the greatest tributes to Father Marquette may be the enduring mutual respect between him and the native American populations with whom he interacted. Many early explorers seized land and other properties and exploited native populations. Father Marquette lived with the native populations and respected them by learning their languages. (It was said he could speak with fluency in a half dozen native American languages.) He died in 1675 and two years later a flotilla of canoes of the Anishinaabeg, which means the original people, carried his remains to St. Ignace, home of one of his original missions. Later those remains were transferred to Marquette University in Milwaukee.

In 2022, after years of planning, his remains were “reburied at their original gravesite in St. Ignace” next to the Museum of Ojibwa Culture in a ceremony led by “Native American spiritual leaders,” according to the makers of a documentary film about the reburial called “The Return.” The documentary, produced by Cedar Tree Institute, called Marquette “a peaceful ‘Black Robe’ who became a friend and sacred pipe carrier of the Anishinaabeg, of whom, regarded Marquette as one of their own.” According to the documentary, Marquette’s “final wish” was to be buried in St. Ignace.

The reburial took place on June 18, 2022 before hundreds. “Father Jacques Marquette has come home,” the documentary said.