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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



into Lac la Biche. The j)resent name is said to have been the joint 

 production of Schoolcraft and the Rev. Dr. Boutwell, who were the 

 first white men to seek this lake as the Mississippi's source. Desiring 

 to hail it at first sight with an appropriate title, Schoolcraft asked his 

 companion for the Greek or Latin words meaning the true source of a 

 river. Though somewhat rusty in his classics, the reverend explorer 

 finally recalled the two Latin words Veritas caput — truth head. These 



JtMap 



of the 



Upper Prainane Basin 



of the 

 Mississippi River 



atm e Pokegama Falls. 

 Pre-rttstortc Mounds. 

 Vintage sires and indications 

 are /narAed 



MAP OF THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN ABOVE POKEGAMA PALLS. 



were written down, the first and last syllables crossed out, and presto ! 

 the name Itasca. The former designation, Elk Lake, is now applied 

 to the largest of the tributary lakes.. 



The single island in Itasca is called Schoolcraft, in honor of the 

 pioneer explorer, who spent a few hours upon it in 1832. The Missis- 

 sippi, a tiny stream ten to fifteen feet in width and one or two in 

 depth, issues from the north end of the lake, and, though its general 

 course to the Gulf is east of south, its direction at first is west of 

 north ! By a curious coincidence a tributary of the Red River of the 

 North, rising but fifteen miles west of Itasca, also begins its long race 

 to the sea by taking a direction diametrically opposite to the true one 

 — flowing south instead of north ! 



The peril mentioned in my first paragraph assailed the forests 

 about the headwaters. The fine stand of white and Norway pines that 

 once covered that part of Minnesota is fast disappearing, and the great 

 lumber companies are on the lookout for every acre that can be made 

 to yield its growth of centuries for their enrichment. For convenience 

 of transportation the lumbermen have followed in the main the natural 

 waterways, floating their logs down-stream to some suitable point for 



