The first white man known to have visited the site was Father Hennepin in 1680; later in the same year the trader Du Lhut (or Duluth) was here.
Polished rocks outside the cavern and pictographs in the vicinity indicate the work of a prehistoric race earlier than the Osage Indians, who were the historic owners previous to the advent of the white man.
In 1843, for instance, no fewer than 50,000 Zulus crossed the Tugela seeking the protection of the white man.
In 1884 New Guinea was absolutely wild, not a single white man living on what is now the German part.
He was the third white man to descend, and the second to descend successfully, the Lachine Rapids.
