10 EXPEDITION TO THE 



thrown upon the history of the Upper Mississippi, which 

 was previously known only through the fascinating, but 

 imperfect, and in many instances, fabulous accounts of old 

 travellers, and through the hasty observations of the late 

 General, (then Lieut.) Pike, an officer whose zeal made 

 him overlook difficulties which would have arrested a less 

 hardy explorer, but who unfortunately was not provided 

 with the means of making accurate observations. 



All the later travellers who had visited the Upper Mis- 

 sissippi concurred in mentioning a river, discovered at the 

 end of the seventeenth century, and known by the name 

 of the St. Peter. This river, which discharges itself into 

 the Mississippi at a short distance below the Falls of St. 

 Anthony, had not been visited by any traveller but Car- 

 ver, whose account of it, published about the year 1778, 

 contains many circumstances which might induce us to 

 question the accuracy of his report. 



The extent of the fur trade carried on by the British and 

 American trading companies in that part of the country, 

 the report of the easy communication between the head of 

 the St. Peter and that of the Red River, whose waters 

 running into Lake Winnepeek finally empty themselves 

 into Hudson's Bay, and the various contradictory reports 

 of the quality of the soil and the nature of the country on 

 Red River, resulting from the conflicting interests of the 

 two rival British companies, made it an object of interest 

 to our government, to obtain correct information upon the 

 country which lies on the St. Peter and the Red River to 

 the 49th parallel of north latitude, as well as to ascertain the 

 nature of the country along our, as yet unsurveyed, northern 

 boundary. 



Accordingly, it was determined in the spring of 1823, 

 ^' by the Executive, that an expedition be immediately 



