August 13, 1886.] 



SCIEJS'CE. 



143 



tion, which was published by Harpers in 1834, and is 

 accompanied by a map of the region, compiled by 

 Lieutenant Allen. A reduced facsimile of a por- 

 tion of this map is here reproduced. From Lac 



report and map published by the U. S. bureau of 

 topographical engineers, as ' Senate document No. 

 237, 26th congress, 2nd session, 1843.' A reduced 

 fac-simile of a portion of this map is here reproduced. 



I /I I li III II liiilrorMf.riei'i.lOOimhs 

 I t I'l I U>H I i.h.ul i:;'!'.luhltiM.\ . 



Fig. 1. — Schoolcraft's map. — 1832. 



Travers (Bunidji Lake) the expedition ascended the 

 Plantagenian Fork, ' carried ' over a six-mile portage 

 to Lake Owashkos (Elk), which Schoolcraft named 

 Itasca, and descended the Itasean Fork, having spent 

 three days in making the circuit. 



That Schoolcraft knew of an inlet to Lake Itasca 

 is evident from his map, on which an inlet leading 

 from a smaller lake to the south is indicated, but in 

 addition to this he says on p. 58 of his ' Narrative: ' 

 " The outlet of Itasca Lake is perhaps ten to twelve 

 feet broad, with an apparent depth of twelve to 

 eighteen inches. The discharge of water appears to 

 be copious, comjiarecl to its inlet." 



It may be asserted that Schoolcraft knew of an 

 inlet only from visiting its mouth, but that he neg- 

 lected to ascend and explore it, and that his knowl- 

 edge of the existence of the small lake from which it 

 leads was gathered from his Indian guide — or was 

 entirely hypothetical. Although this is unlikely, 

 owing to the object of the expedition and to the fact 

 that the map does not show other and larger lakes 

 which were not visited, still, as no mention of this 

 small lake is made in the narrative, let this view of 

 the case be conceded, and let us pass to the next ex- 

 plorer. 



Four years later, in 1886, Mr. J. N. Nicollet visited 

 and made an instrumental exploration of this region. 

 The results of his explorations he incorporated in a 





Fig. 2. — Nicollet's map. — 184:3. 



From his report we learn that Nicollet approached 

 Itasca via Leech Lake and Kabekona lake and river ; 

 his route joining Schoolcraft's near the mouth of the 

 Naiwa River — on the Plantagenian Fork, which Nic- 

 ollet named La Place River. Arrived at Itasca, 

 his report proceeds (pp. 57-59): "The Mississippi 

 holds its own from its very origin ; for it is not ne- 

 cessary to suppose . . . that Lake Itasca may be 

 supplied with invisible sources. . . . There are 

 five creeks that fall into it, formed by innumerable 

 streamlets oozing from the clay beds at the bases of 

 the hills . . . known here by the name of ' heights 

 of land.' South of Lake Itasca, they (the heights of 

 land) form a semicircular region with a boggy bot- 

 tom, extending to the south-west a distance of sev- 

 eral miles. . . . The waters supplied by the 

 north flank of these heights of land . . . give 

 origin to the five creeks of which I have spoken 

 above. These are the waters which I consider to be 

 the utmost sources of the Mississippi. 



"Now, of the five creeks that empty into Itasca 

 Lake, . . . one empties into the east bay of the 

 lake, the four others into the west bay. I visited 

 the ivhole 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 fi-om its 

 mouth,' this creek is truly the infant Mississippi. . 

 . . "The day on which I explored this principal 

 creek (August 29th, 1836) I judged that, at its en- 

 trance into Itasca Lake, its bed was from 15 to 20 

 feet wide, and the depth of water fi-om 2 to 3 feet. 

 . . . As a fui-ther description of these head- waters, 

 I may add that they unite at a small distance from the 

 hills wherein 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 fbot. At no great 

 distance, however, this rivulet . , . supplies a 

 second minor lake. . . . From this lake issues a 

 rivulet . . . into the basin of a third lake some- 

 what larger than the two preceding:. Having hei-e 

 acquired renewed vigor, and tried its consequence 



