The map on the right, claimed to be Marquette's, is the only map that appeared before 1813 with the approximately accurate contour of the Illinois River. Marquette is nowhere else claimed to be identified with map making. Ergo, the map was neither drawn by Marquette nor before the 19th century.

Examples of Pre-Melish Illinois River Map Details.
Detail images used with permission of The University Library
of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The authenticity of the Marquette Map becomes highly suspect when it is compared with historical maps. The Illinois River, roughly approximating three sides of an octagon, is unseen in the cartographical record before 1813, except for the "Marquette" image on the right above.

More maps

The place of The Marquette Autograph map in the history of cartography is anything but humble. It has long been championed as the first map of the Continental Interior, the first map of the Mississippi Valley, of the Illinois River, of the Chicago region, and so on. It has also become the most important supporting document of the 1673 Jolliet/Marquette expedition of discovery.

Students and scholars today, who trust what eminent historians of the past have said about this map, should consider the new evidence made possible by the Internet. In historical writing of the past, there had been five primary source documents posited as evidence of the Jolliet/Marquette expedition. They fell by the way side, but for the map. If the comparative cartography presented here is accepted, there are none.