50 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Schoolcraft, 1833. 



tance, two great masses of water unite at the foot of an island which they encircle, and whose majestic 

 trees deck them with the loveliest hues, in which all the magic play of light and shade are reflected 

 on their brilliant surface. From this point they rush down a rapid descent about 200 feet long, 

 and, breaking against the scattered rocks which obstruct their passage, they spray up and dash 

 together in a thousand varied forms. They then fall into a transverse basin, in the form of a 

 cradle, and are urged upwards by the force of gravitation against the side of a precipice, which 

 seems to stop them but a moment, only to increase the violence with which they fling themselves 

 down a depth of twenty feet. The rocks against which these great volumes of water dash, throw 

 them back in white foam and glittering spray ; then, plunging into the cavities which this mighty 

 fall has hollowed, they rush forth again in tumultuous waves, and once more break against a 

 great mass of sandstone forming a little island in the midst of their bed, on which two thick 

 maples spread their shady branches. 



SCHOOLCRAFT AT ITASCA LAKE IN 1832. 



In 1832 Mr. Henry R. Schoolcraft conducted an expedition to the source 

 of the Mississippi river, pursuing nearly the same route from Sault St. Mary, 

 as in 1820. From Upper Red Cedar lake he passed up the Mississippi under 

 the guidance of a Chippewa chief named Ozawindib, accompanied by Dr. 

 Douglass Houghton, afterward state geologist of Michigan, Lieut. James 

 Allen, U. S. A., and Rev. W. T. Boutwell, and a sufficient number of packers 

 and canoe-men. Mr. Schoolcraft regarded himself as the discoverer of the 

 true source of the river, and in the absence of published accounts by other 

 travelers it was a just claim. Still there is no doubt that among the 

 coureurs des bois of the fur companies there were several who knew well 

 that the Mississippi could not be followed further than to Itasca lake. Mr. 

 Schoolcraft's claim was generally scouted among the white residents of the 

 northwest who were at all conversant with the country during the previous 

 twenty-five years. The statement of Mr. Morrison of his visit to the lake 

 in 1804 has already been referred to, and to him it is just to accord the 

 discovery of the source of the great river, although first published so late as 

 1856. Mr. Schoolcraft's expedition, however, enjoyed the zest, as it received 

 the popular acceptance, of a first discovery, and he fully described the 

 route he took, giving several names to lakes before unknown. He named 

 the first lake west of Cass lake, formed by the expansion northward of the 

 Mississippi, lake Andrusia. This is in T. 146, R. 31. The next, which 

 enlarges toward the south, situated in T. 146, R. 32, he styled the Twin 

 of lake Andrusia. Its Indian name was Pamitascodiac, preferable to that 

 which he applied. A few miles above this point begin a series of rapids, 

 ten in number, styled Metoswa rapids. The Indian name Pemidjegumaug 



