Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820 / Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

PREFACE.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

PRELIMINARY DOCUMENTS. I.

NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. CHAPTER I.

DISCOVERY OF THE ACTUAL SOURCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN

APPENDIX. 1. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. I.

APPENDIX. INDIAN LANGUAGES I. Observations on the Grammatical

INDEX

FOOTNOTES:

Title: Summary Narrative of an Exploratory Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi River, in 1820

Resumed and Completed, by the Discovery of its Origin in Itasca Lake, in 1832

Author: Henry Rowe Schoolcraft

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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Transcriber's note:

Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved.

Obvious typographical and errors have been corrected.

The cover image has been fabricated and is placed in the public domain.

[i]

DISCOVERY
OF THE
SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

[ii] [iii]

SUMMARY NARRATIVE
OF AN
EXPLORATORY EXPEDITION
TO THE
SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER,
IN 1820:

RESUMED AND COMPLETED,
BY THE
DISCOVERY OF ITS ORIGIN IN ITASCA LAKE, IN 1832.

By Authority of the United States

WITH APPENDIXES,
COMPRISING THE
ORIGINAL REPORT ON THE COPPER MINES OF LAKE SUPERIOR, AND OBSERVATIONS
ON THE GEOLOGY OF THE LAKE BASINS, AND THE SUMMIT OF THE MISSISSIPPI;

TOGETHER WITH ALL THE OFFICIAL REPORTS AND SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF BOTH EXPEDITIONS.

BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

PHILADELPHIA:
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO, AND CO.
1855.

[iv]

Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1854, by
LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO, AND CO.,
in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

[v]

[Original Dedication.]

TO THE
Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN,
SECRETARY OF WAR.

Sir : Allow me to inscribe to you the following Journals, as an illustration of my several reports on the mineral geography of the regions visited by the recent Expedition under Governor Cass.

I beg you will consider it, not only as a proof of my anxiety to be serviceable in the station occupied, but also as a tribute of individual respect for those exertions which have been made, during your administration of the War Department, to develop the physical character and resources of all parts of our Western country; for the patronage it has extended to the cause of geographical science; for the protection it has afforded to a very extensive line of frontier settlements by stretching a cordon of military posts around them; and for the notice it has bestowed on one of the humblest cultivators of natural science.

HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.

Albany, 1821.

[vi]

[vii]

Clyx.com

DISCOVERY OF THE SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

DISCOVERY
OF THE
SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.