59 [ 237 ] 



The stream which Messrs, Schoolcraft and Allen have designated as 

 the East fork of the Mississippi, and which I have named 

 La Place river after ihe illustrious La Place, (on which there is a lake that I 

 kke.^"^^'^^*^ have called after the celebrated translator of the M6canique 

 Celeste, Mr. Bowditch,) hns its source perhaps as distant as that 

 to which I have exclusively preserved the name of Mississippi. But, as it 

 is less important, from having' less water, 1 have considered it only a tribu- 

 tary 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 Lieutenant 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, 

 1 believe, the first traveller who has carried with him astronomical instru- 

 ments, and put them to profitable account, along the whole course of the 

 Mississippi, from its mouth to its sources. 



The chronicle of geographical discoveries requires that I should men- 

 .. „ , . tion, in this place, the name of Mr. Beltrami. This traveller, 

 ■ (who, in 1825, volunteered to accompany the expedition of 

 Major Long, from which he separated himself on the plains of the Red 

 river of the North,) in the course of his adventures fell into the vicinity 

 of Red lake. He descended Turtle riverj which empties into lake Cass ; — - 

 that had been the terminus of the expedition of 1820, under the command 

 of General Cass, and in honor of whom it is so named. Now, as the 

 sources of Turtle river are more distant from the mouth of the Mississippi 

 than this lake, Mr. Beltrami thought himself authorized to publish that he 

 had discovered the sources of the Mississippi. Hence, perhaps, may be 

 explained why, as late as Mr. Schoolcraft's expedition of 1832, the sources 

 of the river were laid down as NW. of lake Cass. 1 may be mistaken, 

 but it strikes me that American critics have been too disdainful of Mr. 

 Beltrami's book, which found many readers on both continents, whilst it 

 propagated some painful errors. My opinion is, that it deserved a critical 

 revievv, and a severe refutation; for it is full of mistakes, both unjust 

 and illiberal, as regards the character and customs particularly of the 

 Indians. 



After having devoted three days to an exploration of the sources of 

 the Mississippi, and spent portions of the nights in making astronomical 

 observations^ I took leave of liasca la/ce, to the cxammation of which 

 the expedition that preceded me by four years had devoted but a short 

 time.* 



The actual name of this lake, given by Mr. Schoolcraft, without de- 

 fining it, is already laid down in some book as of Indian origin. The 

 only island that adorns it is not more than 222 yards long, with a sandy- 

 gravelly soil, but covered by a full growth of northern trees, that give it 

 quite a picturesque appearance. The Mississippi, on issuing from the lake, 

 is 16 feet wida; the depth of its water 14 inches, beautifully transparent, 

 with a swift current. The temperature of the water at seven o'clock in 

 the morning was 62°; whilst that of the air was 56°. After an hour's descent, 

 the breadth of the stream had enlarged to 25 feet, with a depth of 3 feet. 



" Allen's Report, * page 44. 



