Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut ( 1639 – 25 February 1710) was a French soldier and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

who is the first European known to have visited the area where the city of

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior, Wisconsin, Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: Downtown Dul ...

, United States, is now located and the head of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

in Minnesota. His name is sometimes anglicized as "DuLuth", and he is the namesake of Duluth, Minnesota, as well as

Duluth, Georgia Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. Located north of Interstate 85, it is approximately northeast of Atlanta. As of the 2020 census, Duluth had a population of 31,873, and the United States Census Bureau estimated the ...

. Daniel Greysolon signed himself "Dulhut" on surviving manuscripts.

Early life

He was born about 1639 in Saint-Germain-Laval, near

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

, France, and first visited New France in 1674.

Exploration

In September 1678, Dulhut left

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

for

, spending the winter near Sault Sainte Marie and reaching the western end of the lake in the fall of the following year, where he concluded peace talks between the

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawa ...

( Saulteur) and Dakota (

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...

) peoples. On 2 July 1679, DuLhut planted the

flag of France The national flag of France (french: link=no, drapeau français) is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue ( hoist side), white, and red. It is known to English speakers as the ''Tricolour'' (), although the flag of Irela ...

"in the great village of the Nadouecioux, called ''Izatys''", a Dakota

Mdewakanton The Mdewakanton or Mdewakantonwan (also spelled ''Mdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' and currently pronounced ''Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'') are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti (Santee) Dakota ( Sioux). Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake (Dakota: ''Mde W� ...

town on what is now called Mille Lacs Lake.''Memoir of Greysolon du Luht'' pp. 375-376, in Louis Hennepin, ''Description de la Louisiane'' (Paris, 1683), translated from the edition of 1683, and compared with the ''Novella Decouverte, the La Salle Documents and other Contemporaneous Papers'', New York, by John G. Shea, 1880 In June 1680, Duluth heard of the capture of a Catholic priest by the name of "Louis Henpin" (

Louis Hennepin Father Louis Hennepin, O.F.M. baptized Antoine, (; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Roman Catholic priest and missionary of the Franciscan Recollet order (French: ''Récollets'') and an explorer of the interior of North Ameri ...

) who had been captured by other "Nadouecioux" (Sioux), among whom Duluth was living. After receiving word of his capture, Duluth set out at once to find the Franciscan priest and demand his release. Duluth bartered for the priest's freedom, but in so doing he broke laws banning trading with Natives without government approval, which ultimately led to troubles back in Montreal. Lured by native stories of the Western or Vermilion Sea (likely the

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particu ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

), Duluth reached the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

via the Saint Croix River in 1680 and then headed back to Fort de Buade, where he heard that jealous

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

merchants and the

intendant An intendant (; pt, intendente ; es, intendente ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In ...

Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault, chevalier (died 1696, Ambrault, near Issoudun, Berry), was intendant of New France from 1675 to 1682. His other offices included counsellor to His Majesty, treasurer of France, commissary for th ...

were slandering him. He was forced to return to Montreal and then France in 1681 to defend himself against false accusations of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

, returning the following year. Duluth subsequently established fur trading posts to further French interests at

Lake Nipigon Lake Nipigon (; french: lac Nipigon; oj, Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan) is part of the Great Lakes drainage basin. It is the largest lake entirely within the boundaries of the Canadian province of Ontario. Etymology In the Jesuit Relations the lake is ...

and Fort Caministigoyan at the mouth of the Kaministiquia River on

, the site of the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its populati ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, probably 1684/85, not 1679 as many sources suggest, and at Fort St. Joseph (Port Huron) between

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

and

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Straits of Mack ...

, which was garrisoned with 50 men.

Death

He died of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

in Montreal on 25 February 1710, and was buried in the Recollet church.

Legacy

Montreal has a Duluth Avenue (''Avenue Duluth'' in French), named after Greysolon, located in "The Plateau" borough of the city (known as ''Le Plateau-Mont Royal'' in French). The avenue became quite popular with both residents and tourists after it was redesigned in the early 1980s. It was made to be more pedestrian-friendly with pleasantly-designed sidewalks, many trees, and flower boxes. It is said to have been modeled after

Woonerf A woonerf () is a living street, as originally implemented in the Netherlands and in Flanders ( Belgium). Techniques include shared space, traffic calming, and low speed limits. The term "woonerf" has been adopted directly by some English-la ...

streets in the Netherlands and Belgium where pedestrians and cyclists have priority over motorized vehicles, which have a reduced speed limit.

, also has a road named after duLhut, Greysolon Road, stretching from the Endion to Congdon neighborhoods.

In popular culture

Colder by the Lake, a theater company in Duluth, Minnesota, produced an original comic opera based on the life of Daniel Greysolon, entitled '' Les Uncomfortables'' (a play on the title of the musical ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

''), the music was composed by Tyler Kaiser and the libretto written by Margi Preus and Jean Sramek, all of Duluth. The work was performed in 2001, 2002, and 2016.

References

* Duluth, Daniel Greyselon. Memoir of Duluth on the Sioux Country, 1678–1682. 331–335.
Antoine d’Eschambault, "La vie aventureuse de Daniel Greysolon, sieur Dulhut,"
''Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française'', V (1951–52), 320–39. The best written account. This article has been translated by F. Brent Scollie, "The Adventurous Life of Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Dulhut," Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society, ''Papers and Records'', XXXIX (2011), 55–79.
Gérard Malchelosse, "Un gentilhomme coureur de bois: Daniel Greysolon, sieur Du Lhut,"
''Cahiers des Dix'', XVI (1951), 195–232. Useful primarily for Dulhut's ancestry with a helpful chronology of his early years in New France. * Yves F. Zoltvany
''GREYSOLON DULHUT (sometimes written Du Lhut or Du Luth), DANIEL''
In ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography''.

External links

Canadian Museum of History: Daniel Greysolon Duluth

* Avenue Duluth in Montreal (in French)
Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut in MNopedia, the Minnesota Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lhut, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du 1630s births 1710 deaths People from Loire (department) French explorers of North America Explorers of Canada French nobility Pre-statehood history of Minnesota People of New France Duluth, Minnesota