EXPLORATIONS FROM A. D. 1800 To A. p. 1832. 25 
which they named Bell's Springs, after Major Bell. The command was divided on the Arkansas, 
about twenty-five miles above Old Bent's Fort. One detachment, under Major Bell, explored 
the Arkansas to Fort Smith, continuing all the way on the left bank. "The other, under Major 
Long, left the Arkansas, and travelling in a direction a little east of south, intended to strike the 
sources of Red river and explore that stream toits mouth. They, however, tookthe Canadian for 
the Red river, and proceeding down its valley did not discover their mistake until they reached 
the Arkansas. The most western sources of the Canadian lie about 150 miles in a straight line 
west of the place where Major Long first struck it. 
This was the third attempt by exploring parties, under the United States government, 
to discover the sources of Red river. The explorations of Major Long’s expedition, made 
in Arkansas and Missouri on their return, have been replaced by the surveys of the United 
States Land Office. The only portions of the route of this exploration which have not been re-ex- 
amined are the trails from the Arkansas to the Canadian, and from the Great Bend of the 
Arkansas to Fort Gibson. 
The astronomical observations by Major Long, Lieutenant Graham, and Lieutenant Swift, 
consisted of altitudes and lunar distances by the sextant, and eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, 
observed with a four feet telescope. The relation of their determinations to those of subse- 
quent parties will be discussed hereafter. "Their barometers were all broken before they 
reached the forks of the Platte. On the map which was made by Major Long we see the 
Black Hills of Nebraska represented as a north and south range, differing from Lewis and Clarke's 
map, which gave them a northwest trend. This is the first original map which represents 
this range as running north. 
MAJOR LONG’S EXPEDITION TO THE SOURCE OF THE ST. PETER'S RIVER. 
The work I have consulted is entitled ‘‘ Travels in the Interior of North America, with the 
particulars of an Expedition to the Lakes, and the source of the St. Peter s river. By Messrs. Long, 
Keating, and Colhoun ; in two volumes. London: Printed for G. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria lane.— 
1828." It is accompanied by a map, on a scale of 35 miles to an inch, exhibiting the route of 
the expedition. It includes the area limited on the northeast by a line drawn from Lake 
Winnipeg to the east end of Lake Ontario; on the southeast by a line from Lake Ontario to 
Pittsburg; on southwest by one from Cincinnati to Rock Island, in the laine and on 
the See ae rom the Mandan villages to Lake Winnipeg- 
This ( commanded by Major S. H. Long, toptgnafidi ab imyltsor, bó was 
assisted by Thomas Say, zoologist, antiquarian, and botanist; William H. Keating, mineralogist 
and geologist; and James C. Colhoun, astronomer, who was supplied with a sextant and 
pocket chronometer. Distances were estimated and courses taken by compasses. Mr. Say 
and Mr. Keating, by the latter of whom the published narrative was written, acted as joint 
literary journalists. They started from Philadelphia in April, 1823; travelled to Wheeling; 
thence to Columbus; thence to Fort Wayne, on the Miami river, where they obtained a few 
soldiers to accompany them, and thence to the southern extremity of Lake Michigan. The 
journey between these last two places was through a wilderness, and on reaching Chicago they 
found it to consist ‘‘of a few miserable huts, inhabited by a miserable race of men," though it 
was, ‘‘ perhaps, one of the oldest settled places in the Indian country." From this point they 
proceeded through the unknown wilderness to Fort Crawford or Prairie du Chien, at the junc- 
tion of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. From this point one portion proceeded rapidly 
i 
