Therefore he joined the fishing fleet that was sailing for the Banks of Newfoundland, and made his way back to Three Rivers in May of 1654, just two years after he had disappeared. His sister, Marguerite, had lost her husband in a fight with the Mohawks, and had married Chouart, a famous fur trader. This man was a widower, his wife having been a daughter of Abraham Martin, whose farm near Quebec City was in another century to become famous as the scene of the battle of the Plains of Abraham. These two men, Radisson and Chouart, became not only fast friends, but inseparable companions in a life of adventure. The traders coming East to dispose of their furs told of a great country beyond the Great Lakes, and these two lovers of the wild set off up the Ottawa across Lake Huron and Michigan, over what is now Wisconsin, and came to a “mighty river, great, rushing, profound, and comparable to the St. Lawrence.” This undoubtedly was the Upper Mississippi, and these two white men were the first to see it and the “farflung, fenceless prairie, where the quick cloud-shadows trail,” which make up what we call the Great North West. The Indians told them of a great river to the south which divided itself in two, the Forked River, the junction of Missouri and Mississippi, but the adventurers decided to make their way back again, and crossing through what is now Nebraska, North Dakota, and Minnesota, they came to Lake Superior and the Sault. Here the Crees told Radisson of a great sea to the north, Hudsons Bay, where there were quantities of furs. So alluring was the description that he set off on snow shoes, but the season was too late and he returned and made his way east. At the rapids of the Long Sault his large party came upon the Iroquois who had massacred Dollard and his noble band of Frenchmen. These they put to flight and as deliverers they made a triumphant journey to Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec. Their one thought was when could they resume their explorations in the North, and as they could not come to terms with the Governor, who wanted all the profits without assuming any of the risks, they stole away and in October reached Lake Superior. Pressing on they came to where Duluth now stands, and there they established a fur trading post, the first between the Missouri River and the North Pole. This marks the opening of the Great West as truly as when the railway passing through unknown portions of our Great West established a station as a centre of influence and trade.