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

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

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

Duluth, Minnesota Duluth ( ) is a Port, port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of St. Louis County, Minnesota, St. Louis County. Located on Lake Superior in Minnesota's Arrowhead Region, the city is a hub for cargo shipping. The population ...

, United States, is now located and the head of

Lake Superior Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. Lake Michigan–Huron has a larger combined surface area than Superior, but is normally considered tw ...

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 United States census, 2020 census, Duluth had a population of 31,873, and the United Stat ...

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

Early life

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

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

, France, and first visited New France in 1674.

Exploration

In September 1678, Dulhut left

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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 Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

( Saulteur) and Dakota (

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin ( ; Dakota/ Lakota: ) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations people from the Great Plains of North America. The Sioux have two major linguistic divisions: the Dakota and Lakota peoples (translati ...

) peoples. On 2 July 1679, DuLhut planted the

flag of France The national flag of France () is a Tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured blue (Flag terminology#Description of standard flag parts and terms, hoist side), white, and red. The design was adopted after the French Rev ...

"in the great village of the Nadouecioux, called ''Izatys''", a Dakota Mdewakanton 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 Louis Hennepin, OFM (born Antoine Hennepin; ; 12 May 1626 – 5 December 1704) was a Belgian Catholic priest and missionary best known for his activities in North America. A member of the Recollects, a minor branch of the Franciscans, he travel ...

) 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, partic ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

), Duluth reached the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

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

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

merchants and the

intendant An intendant (; ; ) 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 the War of the Spanish Success ...

Jacques Duchesneau de la Doussinière et d'Ambault 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 (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

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

Lake Nipigon Lake Nipigon ( ; ; ) is a freshwater lake in Northwestern Ontario. Part of the Great Lakes drainage basin, it drains through the Nipigon River into Lake Superior. It is the largest lake entirely within the Canadian province of Ontario. Ety ...

and Fort Caministigoyan at the mouth of the

Kaministiquia River The Kaministiquia River () is a river which flows into western Lake Superior at the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. ''Kaministiquia'' () is an Ojibwe word meaning "where a stream flows in island" due to two large islands (McKellar and Mission) at ...

, 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 population i ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

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

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) 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 also has the shortest avera ...

and

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

, which was garrisoned with 50 men.

Death

He died of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of pain in a red, tender, hot, and Joint effusion, swollen joint, caused by the deposition of needle-like crystals of uric acid known as monosodium urate crysta ...

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 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 19th-century French literature, French Epic (genre), epic historical fiction, historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published on 31 March 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. '' ...

''), 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