44 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Long, 1823. 



MAJOR LONG'S RESUME OP THE EXPEDITION. 



In a general topographical report of the expedition Major Long men- 

 tions the chief physical features of the country traversed, repeating many 

 of the facts given by Keating in his journal. The Coteau des Prairies, he says, 

 is a very remarkable feature in the aspect of the country about the head- 

 waters of the Minnesota river. He regards it not only as the dividing ridge 

 between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, but as a "grand dike," 

 obstructing the latter in its progress eastward. Its elevation he gives at 

 one thousand feet above the common level of the country. He mentions a 

 second ridge west of the main one, with the James river between them, the 

 two being thirty or forty miles apart. Of the Red river he says it is navi- 

 gable for canoes, and even for pirogues of two tons burden, from its mouth 

 to its source, as also to the sources of several of its tributaries when swollen 

 by freshets. "On such occasions canoes have been known to pass from lake 

 Travers, its source, into the St. Peter, and back again, without inconven- 

 ience." He estimates the descent from lake Traverse to lake Winnipeg at 

 200 feet, and that from the lake of the Woods at 400 feet. Lake Winnipeg he 

 places at 630 feet above the ocean, Rainy lake 1100 feet, and lake of the 

 Woods at 1040 feet, and the general elevation of the country containing 

 the sources of the streams tributary to lakes Superior and Winnipeg, and 

 to the Mississippi river, at 1200 feet. 



BELTRAMI DISCOVERS THE JULIAN SOURCES OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



In Major Long's party for the exploration of the St. Peter's river, was 

 an educated Italian gentleman, a political exile, of a romantic and senti- 

 mental cast of mind, named J. C. Beltrami, who, having joined the expedi- 

 tion at Fort Snelling, accompanied it as far as "Pembinar," where, considering 

 himself rather discourteously treated by Major Long, and wishing to signalize 

 his visit to the Northwest by some noteworthy discovery on his own account, 

 he parted from Major Long and reached the upper Mississippi at Red Cedar 

 lake, by way of Bloody river,* Red lake, and Turtle lake, and descended it 

 as far as New Orleans, where he published his notes in French,! at a date 



Now the Red Lake river. 



t La Deeouverte des Sources du Mississippi et de IK riviere Sanglante. One volume Ivo. 328 p., New Orleans, 18S4 



