HISTORICAL SKETCH 77 



1836, Nicollet.] 



third lake somewhat larger than the two preceding. Having here acquired renewed vigor, and 

 tried its consequence upon an additional length of two or three miles, it finally empties itself into 

 Itasca lake, which is the principal reservoir of all the sources, to which it owes all its subsequent 

 majesty. 



The stream which Messrs. Schoolcraft and Allen have designated as the East Fork of the 

 Mississippi, and which I have named after the illustrious La Place (on which there is a lake that 

 I have called after the celebrated translator of the Mechanique Ceteste, Mr. Bowditch), has its 

 source, perhaps, as distant as that to which I have exclusively perserved the name of Mississippi; 

 but as it is less important, from having less water, I have considered it only a tributary to that 

 to which it unites itself. 



The honor of having first explored the sources of the Mississippi, and introduced a knowledge 

 of them in physical geography, belongs to Mr. Schoolcraft and Lieut. Allen. I come only after 

 these gentlemen ; but I may be permitted to claim some merit for having completed what was 

 wanting for a full geographical account of these sources. Moreover, I am, I believe, the first 

 traveler, who has carried with him astronomical instruments and put them to profitable account 

 along the whole course of the Mississippi, from its mouth to its sources. 



Mr. Nicollet returned from lake Itasca by way of lake Pemidji, the 

 Metoswa rapids, and Cass and Leech lakes, stopping again with Rev. Mr. Bout- 

 well. Of this last lake he says that its name, both in English and Chippe- 

 way, implies that "its waters contain a remarkable number of leeches." 

 The Pokegama falls ("rapids") are said to have a fall of nine feet in the 

 distance of eighty yards. The rock over which the water passes is styled 

 a gray quartzyte, seen in the banks and bed of the river. He parallelizes 

 it with the rocks on the St. Louis river, " where are found calciferous and 

 argillaceous steachists, conglomerates formed of quartz pebbles, and bound 

 together by steachist, containing sulphuret of iron, and a sandstone which 

 may be possibly referred to the 'old red sandstone.' " 



THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI COUNTRY. 



Over the whole route which I traversed after leaving Crow Wing river, the country has a 

 different aspect from that which the banks of the Mississippi above the falls of St. Anthony 

 present. The forests are denser and more varied ; the soil, which is alternately sandy, gravelly, 

 clayey and loamy, is, generally speaking, lighter, excepting on the shores of some of the larger 

 lakes. The uplands are covered with white and yellow pines, spruce and birch, and the wet low 

 lands by the American larch and the willow. On the slopes of sandy hills, the American aspen, 

 the canoe birch, with a species of birch of dwarfish growth, the alder and wild rose, extend to 

 the very margin of the river. On the borders of the larger lakes, where the soil is generally, 

 better, we find the sugar maple, the black and bur oaks (also named over-cup white oak, but 

 differing from the white oak), the elm, ash, lime tree, &c. Generally speaking, however, this 

 woodland does not extend back farther than a mile from the lakes. The white cedar, the 

 hemlock,* spruce pine, and fir, are occasionally found ; but the red cedar is scarce throughout 

 this region, and none, perhaps, is to be seen, except on islands of those Jakes called by the 

 Indians Bed Cedar lakes. The shrubbery consists principally of the wild rose, hawthorn, and 

 wild plum; and raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and cranberries are abundant. 



The aspect of the country is greatly varied by hills, dales, copses, small prairies, and a great 

 number of lakes ; the whole of which I do not pretend to have laid down on my map. The 



The hemlock, Abies Canndetuis. does not grow in the state of Minnesota. N. H. VV. 



