Editing Calhoun County, Illinois (section)

==Marquette and Joliet Exploration==
In the town of Grafton, Illinois, downriver from Calhoun County, a statue was placed to mark where Marquette and Joliet are claimed to have landed during their famous exploration. Historians base claims upon one of Marquette's diary entries. In the entry Marquette mentions that they entered the mouth of the Illinois River early in the morning, which would mean that the party had camped somewhere below the mouth during the previous evening. The territory about Grafton is high and a desirable place to camp, while the land opposite, on the Missouri side is low and swampy and would have made an undesirable camping place. However, local historians in Calhoun County claim that the true stopping point of the expedition is a place now called "Perrin's Ledge", located several miles above Kampsville, Illinois. Their claims seem to be much better supported by Marquette's diary where he writes, "We entered the mouth of the Illinois River very early in the morning", and further on he says: "We spent the night with some friendly Indians." From other parts of the diary we find that the party was traveling about twenty -five miles a day up the Mississippi River, but it is likely that they made better time on the Illinois River because there would be less current. If they were traveling at a rate of slightly better than twenty-five miles a day and entered the river early in the morning (this was the last week in August) they would have been in the Kampsville area by evening. At the place now called "Perrin's Ledge" several large Indian mounds are to be found and the first settlers in this part of the county found evidences to show that a small Indian village had been located here. Here at the ledge, the bluff is very near to the water and the rocks project themselves in such a manner that they can be seen for miles down the river. From a distance they have the appearance of the walls of a castle. There can be little doubt that it was at this place that the Marquette-Joliet party stopped for the night.<ref name="archive.org"/>