A fact from History of the French in Louisville appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 27 March 2008, and was viewed approximately 2,900 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
This article is within the scope of WikiProject France, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of France on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.FranceWikipedia:WikiProject FranceTemplate:WikiProject FranceFrance
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States History, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of the United States on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United States HistoryWikipedia:WikiProject United States HistoryTemplate:WikiProject United States HistoryUnited States History
This factoid is ambiguous and quite dubious. No date, not even a decade or century, no names of principals, or how they got there, or what became of them. The citation devolves to citations that support the Encyclopedia of Louisville entry as whole, and two of those three do not mention La Belle. One guy can't be the only historical figure who knows about a French settlement at the Falls of the Ohio. This is a place where we need an indisputable citation like Clark or Harrison, or Parkman. Or better yet, a French colonial document that records this. To call an event history, we need a date to anchor it. This is somewhat like Fort Industry, but in that case the only thing we do not know is the location. Here the only thing we DO know is the putative location. The event was most likely a landing or brief encampment. I don't see an account of any French settlement at the Falls in colonial documents. It is overwhelmingly likely that it post dated the establishment of Duquesne in 1754, because that'd provide a staging place for emigrants from coastal New England. It couldn't have existed past 1763. We have pretty good records for the French and Indian War. Thomas Bullitt does not record any evidence of prior settlements during his 1773 survey and platting of Louisville. So how/where does this fit in? Sbalfour (talk) 18:56, 9 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]
