"
Now _Kathaga_ (Mr. Neill's _Kathio_) was located at the Falls of St.
Anthony on the Mississippi as the whole current of Dakota traditions
clearly shows and DuLuth's dispatches clearly indicate. Besides, the
_Songaskicons_ and _Houetepons_ were _not_ and never were "dwellers in
the Mille Lac region." The Songaskicons (Sissetons) were at that time
located on the Des Moines river (in Iowa), and the Houetabons
(Ouadebatons) at and around Big Stone Lake. The Isantees occupied the
region lying between the mouth of the Minnesota River and Spirit Lake
(Mille Lacs) with their principal village--_Kathaga_--where the city of
Minneapolis now stands. These facts account for the "one hundred and
twenty leagues" as distances were roughly reckoned by the early French
explorers.
September 1, 1678, Daniel Greysolon DuLuth, a native of Lyons, France,
left Quebec to explore the country of the Dakotas. "The next year (1679)
on the 2nd day of July, he caused the king's arms to be planted in the
great village of the Nadouessioux (Dakotas) called Kathio" (_Kathaga_)
"where no Frenchman had ever been, also at the Songaskicons and
Houetabons, one hundred and twenty leagues distant from the former.
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