604 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. Vin., No. 203 



discovery of the source of the Mississippi. When 

 he finished his speech, I, on a suggestion previous- 

 ly made by him, proposed that the lake be named 

 'Lake Glazier.' The third member joined in the 

 suggestion, as did the Indians. That night we 

 l)egan our return journey, and when we reached 

 St. Paul I went up and examined the charts in the 

 surveyor-general's office to see if the lake was an 

 actual discovery. I found it was on the govern- 

 ment maps, but I did not tell Glazier. Why ? Oh, 

 well, I thought I would let him think he had 

 made a discovery. I accompanied him to the 

 Gulf of Mexico. He had no more claim to the 

 discovery than you have. Mr. Glazier recently 

 wrote to me, asking if I had any objections to his 

 nsing my signature to a few communications to 

 certain newspapers or magazines. I replied that I 

 had. There has since appeared an article in the 

 December number of Outing on the subject of this 

 controversy. It had my name attached, but I 

 don't know by whom it was written. I didn't 

 write it. In Mr. Glazier's recent letter I see that 

 he puts forth the statement that the lake was 

 named ' Lake Glazier ' contrary to his wishes, and 

 that he desired the Indian name 'Pokegama.' 

 That statement is not true. The captain was not 

 only anxious, but extremely solicitou?, that the 

 lake should be named 'Lake Glazier.' Captain 

 Glazier took no observations at Elk Lake. He had 

 no instruments with him." 



As to the name of Elk Lake, the former sur- 

 veyor-general of Minnesota, who had charge of 

 the government land-ofiice at St. Paul, states, 

 that, acting in accordance with his general in- 

 structions from the government, he called it Elk 

 Lake, in order to retain the designation origi- 

 nally used by the Indians for the larger lake, 

 which Schoolcraft named Itasca. We certainly 

 think that the official designation should stand. 



It wiU be noted that the map shows parts of 

 two adjoining townships. The six eastern sections 

 (square miles) are in township 143 N., range 35 

 W., and the other thirty sections are in township 

 143 N., range 36 W., 5th principal meridian. 



It only remains for us to say that we can most 

 thoroughly vouch for the care and accuracy with 

 which this exploration has been made. Mr. Hope- 

 well Clarke, the chief of the party, has long been 

 one of the most experienced and capable land ex- 

 plorers of the N. P. R. R. Co. In this service he 

 has spent years in inspecting the timber, and 

 verifying the work of the government surveyors 

 throughout the immense land-grant of that com- 

 pany. We placed at his disposal every instrument 

 for an accurate determination of elevations, levels, 

 and drainage, which could be desired for the most 

 complete execution of his work. He had in his 

 party two capable assistants ; and we place the 

 record of their exploration before the public, satis- 

 fied that it is the conscientious work of the very 



best men whom we could command for the im- 

 portant task which we undertook to accomplish. 

 IvisoN, Blakeman, Tayloe, & Co. 



THE REPORT. 



Messrs. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor, & Co. 

 753 Broadway, New York. 



Gentlemen, — I herewith submit my report of 

 the trip to the head waters of the Mississippi, un- 

 dertaken in your interest in the month of October 

 last. Among the causes of delay in forwarding 

 this paper, were my sickness immediately after 

 my return from Itasca ; the great quantity of facts 

 contained in my field notes, which I desired to 

 condense as much as possible ; some mishaps 

 which always enter more or less into such under- 

 takings ; and a great pressure of regular work in 

 the line of my daily duties consequent upon my 

 absence and illness. 



The route which I selected for my trip was by 

 N. P. R. R. to Morley ; thence by stage to Park 

 Rapids ; and the balance of the way by wagon 

 conveyance to the south-eastern arm of Lake 

 Itasca. 



The company consisted of three persons, — one a 

 trained land-explorer, a second to serve as driver 

 and general assistant, and myself as the leader 

 of the party. I had originally planned taking 

 others with me ; but I am satisfied, that, with the 

 amount of work we had to do, it would have 

 taken twice as long with help not accustomed to 

 the woods, and I am afraid we would have killed 

 a green man, travelling and working as we did. 

 So, though at first I was disappointed at the loss 

 of one or two whom I had expected to have with 

 me, I am satisfied that the party would not have 

 been better made up than as it was. 



In the matter of equipment for measurements 

 and for observations, we had the following : 

 pocket-sextant, aneroid barometer, drainage-level, 

 Locke's hand-level, thermometers, surveyor's com- 

 pass and chain, levelling -rod, pocket-compasses. 



We arrived at the south-eastern arm of Lake 

 Itasca at noon on the 13th of October, and after 

 taking dinner embarked at once for the south- 

 western arm, which we proposed to make the 

 centre of our operations. We approached this 

 portion of the lake with considerable curiosity, 

 and as we drew near our journey's end we stopped 

 a few moments to admire the scene before us. 



Directly in front, a small, bare, mound-like ele- 

 vation or knoll rises from the edge of Lake Itasca 

 near the centre of an open space of about ten 

 acres between it and Elk Lake. The inlet of the 

 principal stream flowing into Lake Itasca is seen 

 on the right, and the outlet of Elk Lake comes in 

 at the left, of the knoll. We are looking south- 



