December 34, 1886.] 



SCIENCE. 



601 



Elk Lake, Gabukegumag, which means, ' water 

 which juts off to one side ' of another lake ; that 

 is, branches or projects out from it like a finger 

 from a hand. This would indicate, that, when 

 this name was given to it, Elk Lake was simply 

 an arm or bay putting out from Lake Itasca, and 

 that with the filling-up of the channel between 

 the two, and the lowering of the level of Itasca, 

 the difference in level, which amounts to only 

 thirteen inches, contributed to make the one lake 

 distinct from the other, and a feeder to it. 



We may briefly sum up the results of this ex- 

 ploration to be : — 



1. The confirming of the substantial accuracy of 



the government survey. 



2. The proof of the general correctness of Nicol- 



let's report and map. 



3. Nicollet's creek is still by far the largest afflu- 



ent of Itasca, contributing about three-fourths 

 of the regular perennial inflow of water. 



4. It can be traced beyond the point to which 



Nicollet followed it to the lake that heads in 

 section 34, Tp. 143 N., R. 36 W. 5th meridian; 

 and at this point it is 93 feet above the level 

 of Lake Itasca. 



5. Following its windings, it is also the longest 



tributary of Lake Itasca ; and therefore, - 



6. As the largest and longest tributary stream, 



and the one most elevated in its source, it is 

 entitled to be caUed the upper course of the 

 Mississippi. 



7. Considerable changes have taken place in the 



nature of the streams in this region since the 

 exploration of Nicollet, but these are all 

 easily accounted for by natural causes. 



8. The principal tributaries of Lake Itasca are fed 



by springs, artesian in their character, which 

 have their reservoirs in the strata of the hills, 

 and in lakes and ponds probably miles to the 

 south and west. 



9. There is no large lake directly tributary to Lake 



Itasca, five, four, three, or two miles, or even 

 one mile south of that lake ; and Elk Lake, 

 whose shore is only a stone's throw from 

 Itasca (350 feet), is the only tributary lake 

 within the Itasca basin which has an area of 

 more than 40 acres. 



10. Elk Lake, with its feeders, is clearly shown 



on Nicollet's map of 1836-37. Its position is 

 more accurately given than on Glazier's 

 map ; its distance from Itasca is much nearer 

 to truth ; and as to its size, NicoUet has 

 drawn it about as much too small as Glazier 

 drew it too large. 



11. Captain Glazier has added nothing to what 



Nicollet's map presents to us. On the other 

 hand, 



12. Glazier shows us nothing of Nicollet's creek 

 which is the main tributary of Itasca ; 

 nothing of the eastern feeder of Elk Lake, 

 which is the main source of its waters ; 

 nothing whatever that is not misleading and 

 worse than worthless. 

 But what is the use of seriously going over this 

 subject ? Whatever of merit or accuracy there is 

 in Captain Glazier's map is not in the slightest 

 degree due to any thing done by him, or to any 

 erudition possessed by his guide, Che-no-wa-ge-sic^ 

 His map, as he has published it, was drawn and 

 engraved by Mr. G. Woolworth Colton of thia 

 city, and was made as near like the govern- 

 ment surveys as Captain Glazier would permit.. 



LAKE ITASCA 



AND VICINITY 

 From Caj't. Glazier's large map. 



The public will never be permitted to gaze 

 upon the miserable travesty on geography and 

 map-making which Glazier took to Mr. Colton 

 to be doctored up and put in shape. But 

 it wUl be interested to read Mr. Colton's 

 account of how he became the innocent acces- 

 sory of the Glazier fraud. The following is an 

 extract from a pubHshed letter of Mr. Colton, to 

 be found in the American canoeist for November,. 

 1886: — 



" When Glazier came to me in the fall of 1883 

 with his very rough map, to talk of his claim and 

 to give us the geographical data for adding his 

 streams and lake to our maps, I saw at once that 



