Father Louis Hennepin wrote in 1683, from information probably provided by Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut: "There is another River which falls ... into the Meschasipi ... We named it "The River of the Grave", or "Mausoleum", because the Savages buried there one of their Men ... who was bitten by a Rattlesnake." Father Hennepin called it in French "Rivière du Tombeaux".