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able lakes and rivers that so peculiarly characterize this region of coun- 

 try. 



One of these ramifications extends in a southerly direction, under the 

 Coteau du Grand name of Coteau du Grand Bois ; and it is this which sep- 



Bois and divid- arates the Mississippi streams from those of the Red river 



ing ridge. of the North. 



The waters supplied by the north flank of these heights of land — still 

 on the south side of lake Itasca — give origin to the five creeks of which I 

 have spoken above. These are ihe waters which I consider to be the 

 utmost sources of the Mississippi. Those that flow from the southern 

 side of the same heights, and empty themselves into Elbow lake, are the 

 utmost sources of the Red river of ihe North; so that the most remote 

 feeders of Hudson bay and the gulf of Mexico are closely approximated to 

 each other. 



Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca lake, (the Omoflikos 

 Sagaii^on of the Chippeways, or the Lac a la Biche of the 

 Elk lake, prciich, or the Elk lake of the British,) one empties into the 

 east bay of the lake; the four others into the west bay, I visited the 

 whole of them ; and among the latter there is one remarkable above the 

 others, inasmuch as its course is longer, and its waters more abundant : 

 so that, in obedience to the geographical rule, "that the sources of a river 

 are those which are most distant from its mouth,"' this creek is truly the in- 

 fant Mississippi ; all others below, its feeders and tributaries. 



The day on which I explored this principal creek, (August 29, 1836,) 

 1 judged that, at its entrance into Itasca lake, its bed was from 15 to 29 

 feet wide, and the depth of water from 2 to 3 feet. We stemmed its pretty- 

 brisk current during ten or twenty minutes ; but the obstructions occasion- 

 ed by the fall of trees compelled us to abandon the canoe, and to seek its 

 springs on foot, along the hill's. After a walk of three miles, during which 

 we took care not to lose sight of the Mississippi, my guides informed me 

 that it was better to descend into the trough of the valley ; when, accord- 

 ingly, we found numberless streamlets oozing from the bases of the hills. 

 The temperature obtained at a great number of places, by plunging* the 

 thermometer in the mud whence these springs arose, was always between 

 43" 5' and 44" 2' Fahrenheit; that of the air being between 63° and 70"^. ' 

 Having taken great pains in determining the temperature, 1 have a right to 

 believe that it represents pretty accurately the mean annual temperature of 

 the country under examination. 



As a further description of these head waters, I may add that they unite 

 at a small distance from the hills whence they originate, and form a small 

 lake, from which the Mississippi flows with a breadth of a foot and a half, 

 and a depth of one foot. At no great distance, however, this rivulet, uni- 

 ting itself with other streamlets coming from other directions, supplies a 

 second minor lake, the waters of which have already acquired a temperature 

 of 48°. From this lake issues a rivulet, necessarily of increased importance 

 — a cradled Hercules, giving promise of the strength of his maturity ; for 

 its velocity has increased; it transports the smaller branches of trees; it 

 begins to form sand bars ; its bends are more decided, until it subsides again 

 into the basin of a third lake somewhat larger than the two preceding. Hav- 

 ing here acquired renewed vigor, and tried its consequerice upon an addition- 

 al length of two or three miles, it finally empties into Itasca lake, which is 

 the principal reservoir of all the sources to which it owes all its subsequent 

 majesty. 



